Category: The Basics
What are Clinical Trials ?
If your aim is to gain a bare bones understanding of clinical trials in 5 minutes or less, this is for you. Here I will explain what clinical trials are, some basic history, changes that have been made to effectuate what are called the ‘best’ clinical trials. There will be a part two to this ...
Antimicrobial Resistance Series : Intro to AMR
The term antibiotic was first coined in 1941 by Selman Waksman to describe any small molecule made by a microbe that antagonizes the growth of other microbes. The antibiotic age occurred with the development of other agents such as tetracycline, streptomycin and chloramphenicol from soil bacteria; amongst others. Modern medicine received a lifeline when Sir ...
The Basics: A beginners guide to acronyms and jargon
It’s been a while since I have published a “Basics” series article. I am grateful for the interest I have received on this humble blog of my musings in areas from economic development to novel treatment modes and health policy. Some of the feedback I have received has been concerning my occasionally excessive use of ...
Challenges Facing the South African Pharmaceutical Industry
I am a firm and unapologetic believer that the partnership of NGOs, national and international health governance with the pharmaceutical industry, rather than its exclusion, is vital to the effective treatment of disease globally.
Seven lessons I learned from Professor Hans Rosling: A Tribute
Last week we lost one of the greatest statisticians of our time. A clinician who informed scholars and audiences world over; and a researcher whose work on economic development and global health changed the way we view our world. Personally, too, I have lost a role model, Dr Hans Rosling of the Karolinska Institute. Nonetheless, ...
Coming soon: Rethinking Rabies. A Breakthrough in Management?
Rabies is a vaccine-preventable, zoonotic disease of global concern, resulting in over 55 000 deaths annually. Whilst standard post-exposure treatments are estimated to prevent hundreds of thousands of fatalities, these are not without shortcomings. Recent immunological research into novel treatments has revealed promising results. More on this later this week. For now, have a stellar ...
The Basics: Causes of Death
Everyone dies. And on more than a few occasions, I have heard the comments that all, in their own way, suggest that reducing mortality from specific disease causes is merely an exercise in pushing mortality from one disease cause to another; largely based on funding and location.
The Basics: The Paradox of the Dual Burden – NCDs and CDs
Here’s a fictional allegory: Thelma lives in a rural area in Tanzania. At age 5, she contracted malaria. Due to broadened availability of health services, Thelma received an artemisinin based treatment and, unlike many before her, she survived. In fact, she lived a long, healthy life. Long enough to reach the age of 55; at ...
The Basics: HIV, AIDS and related co-infections
What are HIV and AIDS? An introduction to HIV, AIDS and HIV associated co-infections.
Global Health Conversations 