August 2011

A sketch on a napkin: visualizing the U.S. Prevention System

Submitted by Tim.Byers on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 09:56

There has been a lot of attention on the question of evolving the patchwork of systems we now have for health care in the U.S. into a more rational and coherent single system.  As we strain to visualize a more functional future U.S. Health Care System, maybe we should also take a stab at more specifically designing the U.S.

Cheers for a Public Health Home Run

Submitted by Tim.Byers on Fri, 08/12/2011 - 15:17

I am a baseball fan, so I love to jump to my feet and cheer a home run.

I just now opened up the August 11 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.  There is a clear public health homerun in the lead article (Prevention of HIV-1 infection with early antiretroviral therapy.  Cohen MS et al.  NEJM 2011; 365:493-505).  

This paper describes a randomized controlled trial done in 9 countries.  Partners who were discordant for HIV infection (i.e., one partner was infected and one not) were randomized to receive antiretroviral treatment right away