(2020-07-04). [Correspondence] Time for WHO to declare climate breakdown a PHEIC? thelancet.com At the opening plenary of the World Health Assembly in May, 2019, Richard Horton urged member states and the Secretariat of WHO to recognise climate change as a planetary emergency. A few days later, during a side event on air pollution, climate change, oceans, and health sponsored by the Government of Sweden, the Minister of Health for the Seychelles Jean Paul Adam argued that climate change has to be recognised as a public health emergency at the international level. Johan Giesecke1 once stressed that as public health emergencies of international concern (PHEICs) evolve into more complex forms, it becomes neces…
(2020-07-04). [Comment] Offline: It's time to convene nations to end this pandemic. thelancet.com A historic and calamitous milestone was reached this week. WHO reported more than 10 million cases of COVID-19 and over 500‚Äà000 COVID-19 deaths. The world's political leaders have been tested and they have been found wanting. It's hard to recall a more lamentable response to a global emergency. Even the climate crisis had its Kyoto and Paris agreements. But despite the urgency of this continuing human catastrophe, despite the immediacy of the economic collapse we are witnessing, there has still been no moment when nations have been convened to reflect on lessons to be learned, to coordinate ac…
(2020-07-04). [Comment] The Wakley—Wu Lien Teh Prize Essay 2020: Chinese health workers' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. thelancet.com "I feel deeply the burden of the honour placed upon me in being chairman of this Medical Conference, which is unique in our history, powerful in its representation, and which gives China a strong position amongst nations seeking the welfare of the people", wrote Wu Lien Teh in his first publication in The Lancet,1 on his inaugural address delivered at the International Plague Conference in Shenyang, China, in 1911. Wu was elected as the chair of the conference for his work in controlling the pneumonic plague epidemic outbreak in 1910—11 in northeastern China, which ultimately claimed about 60‚Ä&a…
(2020-07-04). [Correspondence] Methodology in the GBD study of China — Author's reply. thelancet.com The Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) 2017 provides comprehensive assessment of population health for 195 countries and territories and subnational units for selected countries, including all province-level administrative units in China. It is important to point out that, as the GBD uses a hierarchical analytical framework, data input from all GBD 2017 analytical units, national or subnational, are integrated into a single modelling process to provide a set of estimates for all locations that are internally consistent and comparable across locations and over time.
(2020-07-04). [Correspondence] Methodology in the GBD study of China. thelancet.com We found the Article by Maigeng Zhou and colleagues1 intriguing. However, we have some concerns. Our major concern arises from mixing data from mainland China and Taiwan. These two regions have distinct health-care and social welfare systems; they also have different time trends of how socioeconomic conditions evolved during the past half century. Therefore, mixing the data from these two regions might lead to biased estimates, especially for the health outcomes shaped by health policies (eg, vaccination programmes as a prevention strategy).
(2020-07-04). [World Report] Collaborating on kidneys: Haiti's transplantation ambitions. thelancet.com Haiti lacks health programmes and facilities for kidney disease. Jane Regan reports on an ambitious collaboration between Haitian and US doctors to make kidney transplantation widely available.
(2020-07-04). [Comment] Investing in surgery: a value proposition for African leaders. thelancet.com Globally, poor access to high-quality surgical, obstetric, and anaesthesia care remains a main contributor to global disease burden accounting for about a third of deaths worldwide.1 The need for strengthening surgical care systems is especially urgent in sub-Saharan Africa, where access is strikingly limited, leading to the highest mortality and morbidity from surgically preventable and treatable conditions in the world.2,3 Approximately 93% of the population of sub-Saharan Africa lacks access to safe, affordable, and timely surgical care, compared with less than 10% in high-income countries.
(2020-07-04). [Perspectives] Maps and guides. thelancet.com Like many people, I use satnav when I'm driving to an unfamiliar address. I know that if I follow the instructions as they come up, I'll almost certainly get to my destination. But there are times when you need a broader sense of the territory you'll be passing through. If you're plotting a route from one part of the country to another in the car, a small-scale road atlas works well. If you're planning a cross-country hike, however, you'll need a map that shows the landscape in detail—contours, footpaths, points of reference.
(2020-07-04). [Comment] A Lancet Commission on women and cancer. thelancet.com Over the past decade, the global health community has begun to acknowledge that cancer is an increasingly important public health and economic challenge in all countries.1 What is not acknowledged is the disproportionate impact of cancer on the lives and livelihoods of women, and the downstream impacts this creates for societies. In 104 countries, breast cancer has the highest age-standardised incidence rate of all cancers in both sexes combined; in 23 countries, it is cervical cancer.2 Of the 938‚Äà044 deaths from these two cancers in 2018, most were premature and preventable and occurred in a…
(2020-07-04). [Perspectives] Salome Maswime: dynamic leader in global surgery. thelancet.com As Associate Professor and Head of Global Surgery at the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa, Salome Maswime is aware of the scale of the job in front of her. "For me the big problem is the disconnect between health systems and clinical care in low and middle income countries, especially concerning surgical care. Outcomes are often poor, there being not enough focus on the quality of surgery, and how it relates to integrated health care and overarching health systems performance", she explains.
(2020-07-04). [Comment] Ambulatory management of primary spontaneous pneumothorax: when less is more. thelancet.com Spontaneous pneumothorax is a pneumothorax that occurs in the absence of trauma or iatrogenic injury, and occurs in about 20‚Äà000 people per year in the USA.1 Primary spontaneous pneumothorax is typically defined as a pneumothorax that occurs in patients without evidence of underlying lung disease, and is estimated to affect about 3000 people per year in the UK,2 whereas secondary pneumothorax occurs in patients with known lung disease such as emphysema, lymphangioleiomyomatosis, or Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome.
(2020-07-04). [Correspondence] US Global Gag Rule increases unsafe abortion. thelancet.com The Trump administration issued the Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance policy in 2017. This policy is an expansion of the Global Gag Rule that blocks US global health assistance to foreign non-governmental organisations that provide, counsel on, refer to, or advocate for abortion services; even if they do so with their own funding and in countries where abortion is legal. Following an additional policy expansion in 2019, foreign organisations that comply with the policy must now attach it to all subgrants that they give to other foreign organisations, including those that do not involve US global health…
(2020-07-04). [Articles] Ambulatory management of primary spontaneous pneumothorax: an open-label, randomised controlled trial. thelancet.com Ambulatory management of primary spontaneous pneumothorax significantly reduced the duration of hospitalisation including re-admissions in the first 30 days, but at the expense of increased adverse events. This data suggests that primary spontaneous pneumothorax can be managed for outpatients, using ambulatory devices in those who require intervention.
(2020-07-04). [Comment] Surgery for benign prostatic obstruction. thelancet.com Almost all men have some form of benign prostatic hyperplasia as they age, often resulting in lower urinary tract symptoms due to benign prostatic obstruction. Most patients with bothersome lower urinary tract symptoms are treated with drugs (eg, Œ± blockers or 5Œ±-reductase inhibitors) and surgery is usually reserved for patients who do not respond to drug treatment. Both the safety issues of medication and surgery-related morbidity must be weighed against the efficacy of these treatments. The main reasons for discontinuation of drug treatment are serious adverse effects, such as postur…
(2020-07-04). [Articles] Thulium laser transurethral vaporesection of the prostate versus transurethral resection of the prostate for men with lower urinary tract symptoms or urinary retention (UNBLOCS): a randomised controlled trial. thelancet.com TURP and ThuVARP were equivalent for urinary symptom improvement (IPSS) 12-months post-surgery, and TURP was superior for Qmax. Anticipated laser benefits for ThuVARP of reduced hospital stay and complications were not observed.
(2020-07-04). [Clinical Picture] Coarctation of the aorta: a rare cause of severe hypertension in pregnancy. thelancet.com A 24-week pregnant 18-year-old woman was seen at her local health-care centre where she was found to have a respiratory rate of 38 breaths per min, a blood pressure of 250/90 mm Hg, and a heart rate of 39 beats per min. She collapsed and required intubation and ventilation. A chest x-ray showed bilateral infiltrates—pulmonary oedema—and she was treated with furosemide and nitroglycerin and transferred to our intensive care unit.
(2020-07-04). [Editorial] Zoonoses: beyond the human—animal—environment interface. thelancet.com World Zoonoses Day on July 6 marks the day, in 1885, when a young boy received the first vaccine against rabies—a zoonosis, a disease caused by a pathogen transmitted from animals to humans. Rarely is a World Zoonoses Day so relevant to consider these diseases and their disruption of societies.
(2020-07-03). Trump and Pence — Step Aside for Professional Pandemic Scientists and Managers. zcomm.org Major changes in society can be accomplished by a fast-emerging, broad-based civic jolt so obvious and persuasive that it overwhelms the entrenched powers…
(2020-07-03). US Imposes Additional Economic Sanctions Against Venezuela and Iran. globalresearch.ca The US government is seeking to economically drown Venezuela and Iran by wanting to seize fuel that Tehran is sending to Caracas. This is part of a sustained aggressive and illegal policy against both countries. The US Attorney's Office requested …
(2020-07-03). The China-India Trade War: Indian Boycott of Chinese Goods. globalresearch.ca The level of India's economic boycott against Chinese imports will depend on how the two countries resolve their border conflicts and if Indian industry is capable of offsetting the shortage of Chinese goods entering the country. Although the call to …
(2020-07-03). UK Court Denies Venezuela $1bn in Gold Needed to Fight Virus. globalresearch.ca The United Kingdom's High Court has blocked the Venezuelan government's effort to recover 31 tons of the nation's gold held by the Bank of England (BoE). | In a ruling handed down on Thursday, the court said it "unequivocally recognised opposition …
(2020-07-03). Will the ICC Investigation Bring Justice for Palestine? dissidentvoice.org In the past, there have been many attempts at holding accused Israeli war criminals accountable. Particularly memorable is the case of the late Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, (known, among other nicknames, as the 'Butcher of Sabra and Shatila') whose victims attempted to try him in a Belgian Court in 2002. Like all other efforts, …
(2020-07-03). The Racist Counter-Revolution of 1776. counterpunch.org This essay originally appeared six years ago on Telesur English as a review of Gerald Horne's important book The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America (New York, 2014). I offer it for re-publication and hopefully wider readership in the wake of the great 2020 George Floyd uprising, which
(2020-07-03). Another reason to tear down the walls: Ohio jail 100% COVID-positive. workers.org 
Cleveland, Ohio In a recent report, the Ohio Immigrant Alliance stated that the Morrow County Correctional Facility in Mt. Gilead is the first county jail in the state to be 100 percent COVID-positive. The jail, holding local prisoners as well as Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees, is also the first . . . |
(2020-07-03). Connecting the Dates — US Media Used To Stop The 'Threat' of Peace. counterpunch.org This is not a column defending Donald Trump. Across my career I have said more positive words about the scolex family of intestinal tapeworms than I have said about Donald Trump. (Scolex have been shown to read more.) No, this is a column about context. When The New York Times reports anonymous sources from the intelligence community
(2020-07-03). UK Denies Venezuela Access To Its Gold For Food And Medicine. popularresistance.org The United Kingdom's High Court Thursday decided that opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido can access 31 tons of Venezuelan gold held in the Bank of England, which prevents President Nicolas Maduro's administration from using those resources to fight the pandemic. | The ruling about this monetary reserve valued at over US $ 1 billion occurs after months of disputes between Venezuela and the Bank of England, which denied the constitutionally constituted government access to its own resources | On May 14, the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) sued the Bank of England to obtain and sell the Venezuelan gold bars. | The Sout…
(2020-07-03). Bounty-Hunter Hoax to Kill U.S.-Russia Relations. strategic-culture.org Relations between the United States and Russia have already been badly wounded during recent years, largely as a result of baseless allegations such as Moscow interfering in American elections, colluding with President Donald Trump, or regarding other international developments, from the downing of a Malaysian airliner over Ukraine, to purported war crimes in Syria, to the alleged poisoning of British double-agent Sergei Skripal in England. | But the latest U.S. media effort claiming Russian military intelligence involvement in sponsoring Taliban assassins or "bounty hunters" to target American troops in Afghanis…
(2020-07-03). Angela Davis on Abolition, Calls to Defund Police, Toppled Racist Statues & Voting in 2020 Election. democracynow.org 
Amid a worldwide uprising against police brutality and racism, we discuss the historic moment with legendary scholar and activist Angela Davis. She also responds to the destruction and removal of racist monuments in cities across the United States, and the 2020 election.
(2020-07-03). Roaming Charges: Mutiny of the Bounties! counterpunch.org 
+ If I recall, there were serious discussions inside the White House about turning the Afghan War into a bounty hunting operation led by mercenaries on contract with Erik Prince. I'm pretty sure many elements of that scheme have been in place since 1979 at the beginning Carter's secret war and have continued in one
(2020-07-03). Selected Articles: Annexation of Palestine. Crime against Humanity. globalresearch.ca We hope that by publishing diverse view points, submitted by journalists and experts dotted all over the world, the website can serve as a reminder that no matter what narrative we are presented with, things are rarely as cut and …
(2020-07-03). "What to the Slave Is the 4th of July?": James Earl Jones Reads Frederick Douglass's Historic Speech. democracynow.org 
In a Fourth of July holiday special, we hear the words of Frederick Douglass. Born into slavery around 1818, Douglass became a key leader of the abolitionist movement. On July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, he gave one of his most famous speeches, "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro." He was addressing the Rochester Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society. This is actor James Earl Jones reading the speech during a performance of historian Howard Zinn's acclaimed book, "Voices of a People's History of the United States." He was introduced by Zinn.
(2020-07-03). "America's Moment of Reckoning": Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor & Cornel West on Uprising Against Racism. democracynow.org 
Scholars Cornel West and Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor respond to the global uprising against racism and police violence following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. "We're seeing the convergence of a class rebellion with racism and racial terrorism at the center of it," said Princeton professor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor. "And in many ways, we are in uncharted territory in the United States."
(2020-07-03). Video: Syria Prepares for Military Confrontation with Turkey in Northeast. globalresearch.ca The Syrian Army and the National Defense Forces have put their forces on high alert in response to the new round of aggressive actions by the Turkish Army and its proxies in northeastern Syria. | Several convoys of government forces, including …
(2020-07-03). India's Modi Terminates His Weibo Diplomacy. strategic-culture.org What started out as a promising relationship with China is now one struggling to find a direction | MK BHADRAKUMAR | The common perception among Indian analysts, widely articulated in the country's media, is that the government's options to "hit back" at China for whatever has happened in eastern Ladakh during the past two months are very limited. | The reported erasure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "official page" on the Chinese social media website Weibo can only reinforce that impression. It simply doesn't add up. | If reports are to be believed, Modi's official page on Weibo "went blank" on Wednesday with…
(2020-07-03). Challenging the French Republic's Color-Blindness. counterpunch.org 
George Floyd's killing by a policeman in Minneapolis reverberated across the world in an unprecedented fashion. On all continents, young people took to the streets to pay tribute to Floyd. They protested against police brutality which they regarded as 'systemic'. Citizens expressed their anger at the racial profiling of Black people by the police. Those
(2020-07-03). What Happens When Wildfires and Covid Collide? therealnews.com 
COVID-19 may make the impacts of the west's wildfire season more deadly, hitting aging and vulnerable communities the hardest.
(2020-07-03). What do 6 months of COVID-19 pandemic tell us about USA? liberationnews.org 
Given the government's catastrophic profit-driven response and the lack of a vaccine, it's possible this pandemic is only in its early stages.
(2020-07-03). Behind the walls: a summary. workers.org 
Case numbers in the thousands At least 48,764 cases of COVID-19 have been reported among prisoners. The data suggest that even these numbers may be underreported. Texas leads in the number of cases with 7,757, followed by the Federal Bureau of Prisons with 6,621 cases. Ohio, Michigan, California and Tennessee . . . |
(2020-07-03). COINTELPRO: How the U.S. state dealt with the last radicalization. mronline.org 
Twenty-one-year-old Black Panther Party deputy chair Fred Hampton and his comrade Mark Clark were assassinated in a 1969 pre-dawn raid in Chicago. Arguably the most talented and politically astute of the Panther leaders, Hampton was renowned for inspiring activists of all colours. But he was betrayed by William O'Neal, his bodyguard and the Panthers' head …
(2020-07-03). Countries Ranked on "Democracy" in 2020. dissidentvoice.org 
NATO and its supporters and member-nations are hiding the fact that the predominant belief in many of these nations is that they're dictatorships that merely pontificate 'democracy' to other nations. NATO, which is America's propagandistically 'pro-democracy' military alliance against Russia and against China, polled the people in 53 countries — some of which are in …
(2020-07-03). Green structural adjustment in the World Bank's resilient cities. mronline.org 
Cities across the world are facing a double-barreled existential problem: how to adapt to climate change and how to pay for it.
(2020-07-03). India Unlocked: World's "Biggest Lockdown" and Workers' Long March. dissidentvoice.org 
At times, states compete to showcase merchandise and relative productive capacities. Other times, many of these states sell misery to gain access to economic packages, charities and loans. Today is the time when they compete to show off their capacity to impose the most efficient lockdown on their citizenry. Of course, the priority is to …
(2020-07-03). When Rogue States Sanction the International Criminal Court. counterpunch.org 
Even Orwell would be at a loss to make sense of some of the recent antics of leading governments. We would expect Orwell to be out-satirized by the American actions to impose penalties and sanctions on officials of the International Criminal Court, not because they are accused of acting improperly or seem guilty of some
(2020-07-03). Why are Certain Christians Democratic and Others Authoritarian? counterpunch.org 
Why are certain Christians democratic and other Christians authoritarian, yet both profess belief in the same Bible and God? Why do some Christians emphasize personal authenticity and others biblical authority? Why do certain Christians want to empower people, and other Christians want to gain power over people? Why do some Christians believe that the goal
(2020-07-03). A Requiem for George Floyd. counterpunch.org 
However complicit we may be in sustaining the historical-racial schema in this country, we can all now agree that, 'Black Lives Matter', but the tag's emblazonment across the country, and internationally, remains a hollow gesture unless there is meaningful collective action to create a social environment in which all black lives can indeed flourish – and matter.
(2020-07-03). Tearing Down the Idols of Colonialism: Why Tunisia, Africa Must Demand French Apology. counterpunch.org 
The visit by newly-elected Tunisian President Kais Saied to France on June 22 was intended to discuss bilateral relations, trade, etc. But it was also a missed opportunity, where Tunisia could have formally demanded an apology from France for the decades of French colonialism, which has shattered the social and political fabric of this North
(2020-07-03). Police and the Wealth of Nations: Déjà Vu or Unfinished Business? counterpunch.org 
In the 1960s there was a wave of rioting, municipal rebellion, and challenges to property in the USA. In order to see that wave from a working-class point of view I went over to England to study riots and crime. In those days the theory was that the working-class could bring an end to capitalism, but historically before the working-class was "made," it consisted of a mob of the poor given to crimes. The horrid ones against people — assault, rape, murder — were relatively few. The ones against property – highway robbery, burglary, shop-lifting, house-breaking, pocket-picking – tended to be new, i.e., f…
(2020-07-03). Haiti: U.S. deports mortgage fraudster, backs repression. workers.org 
Emmanuel "Toto" Constant was in charge of FRAPH (the Revolutionary Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti) during the 1991-94 coup against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide when this death-squad organization killed 3,000 people and wounded and maimed many more. During that time, he was also on the CIA's payroll. In . . . |
(2020-07-03). On the Road to Justice with im/migrant TPS holders. workers.org 
By G. Lechat Inspired by the great Civil Rights Movement and in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, immigrant Temporary Protected Status recipients organizing with Alianza TPS Nacional are forging a "Road to Justice." This is the name they gave their 200+ car caravan that converged on Washington, D.C., June 23-24 . . . |
(2020-07-03). Twitter targets accounts of MintPress and other outlets covering unrest in Bolivia. mronline.org 
MintPress News, along with a number of independent Bolivian news outlets and journalists covering the unrest there, were all targeted for suspension at the same time.