PLoS medicine
-
Spurred by the creation of potential modified risk tobacco products, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioned the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to assess the science base for tobacco "harm reduction," leading to the 2001 IOM report Clearing the Smoke. The objective of this study was to determine how the tobacco industry organized to try to influence the IOM committee that prepared the report. ⋯ Tobacco companies strategically interacted with the IOM to win several favored scientific and regulatory recommendations.
-
Herpes zoster is common and has serious consequences, notably post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN). Vaccine efficacy against incident zoster and PHN has been demonstrated in clinical trials, but effectiveness has not been studied in unselected general populations unrestricted by region, full health insurance coverage, or immune status. Our objective was to assess zoster vaccine effectiveness (VE) against incident zoster and PHN in a general population-based setting. ⋯ Vaccine uptake was low with variation in specific patient groups. In a general population cohort of older individuals, zoster vaccination was associated with reduction in incident zoster, including among those with immunosuppression. Importantly, this study demonstrates that zoster vaccination is associated with a reduction in PHN. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary.
-
Agnes Binagwaho and colleagues describe Rwanda's experience of pharmacovigilance for malaria and tuberculosis, and call for a global treaty and leadership by the World Health Organization to address the global manufacture and trade in substandard and falsified medicines. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary
-
Comment
Irreconcilable conflict: the tobacco industry and the public health challenge of tobacco use.
Thomas Novotny reflects on new research by Stanton Glantz and colleagues and the implications of their findings for engaging the tobacco industry on tobacco product regulation.
-
Review Comparative Study
Measuring coverage in MNCH: tracking progress in health for women and children using DHS and MICS household surveys.
Household surveys are the primary data source of coverage indicators for children and women for most developing countries. Most of this information is generated by two global household survey programmes-the USAID-supported Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and the UNICEF-supported Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS). In this review, we provide an overview of these two programmes, which cover a wide range of child and maternal health topics and provide estimates of many Millennium Development Goal indicators, as well as estimates of the indicators for the Countdown to 2015 initiative and the Commission on Information and Accountability for Women's and Children's Health. ⋯ These differences need to be considered when comparing estimates of reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health indicators across countries and over time and we discuss the implications of these differences for coverage measurement. Finally, we discuss the need for survey planners and consumers of survey results to understand the strengths, limitations, and constraints of coverage measurements generated through household surveys, and address some technical issues surrounding sampling and quality control. We conclude that, although much effort has been made to improve coverage measurement in household surveys, continuing efforts are needed, including further research to improve and refine survey methods and analytical techniques.