Kiss – don’t shake hands?
Something to contemplate under the Christmas mistletoe: We could be more at risk of picking up illnesses from shaking hands than from kissing says a press release from experts at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. See their studies in British Medical Journal and American Journal of Infection Control on hand hygiene. Certainly…
Wash your hands…not your turkey!
Whatever this man’s doing with this turkey, it’s safer than giving it a bath For those of you tempted to give your Christmas turkey a bath before the big day, STOP. This is madness, what were you thinking?! I don’t want to be a party poo-per, but really there are more entertaining ways to spend…
Trade, biotechnology, biofuels, ethics: some issues that the sugar industry is thinking about
Having more or less recovered from the flu mentioned in Sarah’s blog entry of 22nd November (no, I wasn’t complaining I was dying — quite the opposite; I kept expecting to be fully recovered the next day and then finding I wasn’t), I went last week to the International Sugar Organization’s annual international seminar (see…
Happy holidays! ‘Tis the season to be hypertensive
With Thanksgiving now upon us, the holiday season has well and truly arrived. This not being a diet blog, I will most likely be indulging with the best of them. Well it would be rude not to, wouldn’t it? However, while the marketers are encouraging us to stuff it all in (if you’re UK based,…
Pass the Tamiflu!
A bear, a lion and a chicken meet up in a chat room. The bear types: "If I roar in the forests of North America, the entire forest is shivering with fear." Not to be outdone by a mere bear, the lion taps in, "If I roar on the great plains of Africa, the entire…
Do you blog about peer reviewed research?
If so, the recent announcement from BPR3 (Bloggers for Peer-Reviewed Research Reporting) might be of interest to you and potentially increase the readership of your blog.
Poverty and Human Development, Global theme issue, supported by Tropical Diseases Bulletin
This is the editorial which I wrote for the November issue of Tropical Diseases Bulletin (vol 104 (11), 2007) in support of an international publishing event on Poverty and Human Development. Last month, 234 journals worldwide agreed to publish simultaneously editorials and articles on the theme of Poverty and Human Development, to raise awareness and…
Katrina, flu and bioterrorism
Hello from the American Public Health Association conference. “Whats hot?” you ask. I’d say Katrina, flu and bioterrorism. Yesterday I heard talks from a passionate bunch of people disturbed about how the US government is treating public health in the era of bioterrorism. They talked on flu, bioterrorism and hurricane Katrina but some common threads…
How we keep women workers in poverty
Next time you have a few minutes I would urge you to read ActionAid’s report Who Pays? How British supermarkets are keeping women workers in poverty, which describes how those low, low supermarket prices impact the workforce in the developing world. The report highlights how women, in particular, are more likely to be negatively affected…
(Not-so-)Happy World Food Day!
Today is World Food Day. Or World Food Week. Or World Food Month, depending on which country you’re living in. This year the event, which has been taking place since 1980, centres on the theme of ‘The Right To Food’ and is held each year on the anniversary of the Food and Agriculture Organisation’s foundation…