Jessamy Bagenal BSc, MBBS, MRCS, MPH, FRSPH on LinkedIn: Assisted dying - The Lancet Leader led by Chloe Wilson 🌻 "Assisted… (2024)

There are many times in the past 15 years that I have been ashamed to live in a country where we allow our politicians to so brazenly use fear and hatred as a vehicle to lie, cheat, exclude, and harm those that are most vulnerable. But this is surely one of the worst examples of such behaviour to date.https://lnkd.in/e5-HyAKN

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"There was a total breakdown of the usual medical care that a society would give to its population. Even in the midst of vicious wars such as in Yemen or Syria, people had access to basic life-saving medicines. Not so in Gaza: all pharmacies had closed down and there were no drugs. As a result, there was no access to daily medications for people with chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, and those with cardiological, renal, oncological and haematological diseases. Of the 12 renal dialysis machines that were available in our hospital, ten had broken down and the other two could not cope with the 30-fold increase in patients requiring dialysis. There were no oral antibiotics available for common conditions like chest infections or other gastrointestinal illnesses."Trauma surgeon David Nott's reflections on why Gaza is the worst of war zones. The Economisthttps://lnkd.in/eHKcdRHm

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💓 The Lancet Breast Cancer Commission!We launched The Lancet Breast Cancer Commission this week at the University of Cambridge. The Commission offers the most global and comprehensive perspective on breast cancer care and where it needs to go. It shines a light on the often forgotten topics of breast cancer - like metastatic breast cancer and patient communication to deliver an inclusive and progressive roadmap for how to reduce the burden of breast cancer globally at a population and personal level.The Commission is divided into six themes, illustrated in the attached figure from an amazing infographic. My highlights are:1. 25 % of breast cancers could be prevented through modifiable life style risk factors. This doesn't mean that the Commission is blaming women or putting the responsibility on the individual. Indeed, the report and conversations about the Commission have always been to ensure women are empowered not held responsible.2. We don't know how many women have metastatic breast cancer! 20-30% of early breast cancer recur so it's crucial we get better data on this. Without it metastatic breast cancer is poorly understood, often mismanaged and sometimes stigmatised.3. The hidden burden of suffering for breast cancer is enormous, even in a country with a free at the point of care health system like the NHS.4. Healthcare professionals think they have had sufficient training on how to communicate about breast cancer, but patients have a different view.5. People don't like the word cancer survivors!This Commission was led by Professor Charlotte Coles, whose style of collaborative and inclusive leadership was valued and praised by all. 🎆 It was amazing to hear how much this Commission meant to people with breast cancer. And to work with such an incredibly committed, passionate and productive group of Commissioners. Their efforts will improve the lives of people with breast cancer everywhere.Watch the video:https://lnkd.in/ei9YmKm2

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The Lancet recently published an excellent Series on Menopause. It sparked some lively and useful discussions about how we think about this natural phase in women's lives. Gavin Cleaver and I talk to Professor Gita Mishra, the lead author on one of the papers of the Series on early menopause.In high income countries most women experience the onset of menopause between the ages of 50 and 51. But early menopause is common with around 8% of women in high income countries and 12% of women globally experiencing menopause between the ages of 40 and 44. Early menopause can herald increased risks of some chronic diseases like osteoporosis and can be a very different experience. But there is a gap in knowledge, research and in diagnostic and management guidelines for early menopause. This must be addressed. Hear more about the paper and early menopause 👇 #menopause

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🥁 2nd Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in The Lancet update on GBD data for fertility.🎥 comprehensive estimates of past and future trends in fertility in 204 countries and territories from 1950 to 2100🎥 Fertility has declined steadily at the global level and across almost all countries and territories since 1950 and is likely to continue to do so until 2100, from a global TFR (total fertility rate) of more than 4·8 births per female in 1950 to approximately 2·2 in 2021🎥 TFR projected to get to 1·8 and 1·6 in reference scenario in 2050 and 2100, respectively🎥 Only six of 204 countries and territories (Samoa, Somalia, Tonga, Niger, Chad, and Tajikistan) are projected to have above-replacement levels of fertility by 2100🎥 Fertility rates will go down everywhere, but there will still be large differences between regions resulting in a divided world.What does all this mean?Huge implications for how we view migration - most countries will need immigration to maintain labour workforces. Nationalist governments must wake up to these projections and course correct from hostile policies to those that encourage immigration, or plan to do so in the next decade.Possible environmental benefits with lower birth ratesBut concentration of middle/high birthrates will be very marked in many of the countries where climate change will have the biggest impact.How will healthcare systems support this transitions?A must read for governments, policy makers and interested parties.https://lnkd.in/eqMr3pQB

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As a group we had some very interesting conversations about this topic and agonized over it given the political context. So ably led by Matthew Gilbert The Lancet https://lnkd.in/eQeftf-BBiden's approach to global health, public health and the climate crisis has been a most welcome change. Despite obstacles in how much he has been able to get done and the catastrophe of Roe v Wade he continues to be a champion of health (it is all relative when it comes to US politics). In his recent state of the union address he:1. Criticized the recent Alabama ruling, which essentially said an embryo is a life even if it is not in a womb i.e if it is in an IVF clinic it is a life and destroying it counts as wrongful death of a minor. This jeopardises reproductive rights and health across the US2. Criticized the US Supreme Court for invalidating Roe v Wade3. Discussed how to reduce the cost of prescription drugs4. Wants to expand medicare provision of insulin5. Wants to extend next year’s $2000 limit on out-of pocket spending on drugs for Medicare beneficiaries to all Americans6. Called to pass $12 billion to transform women’s health research7. Supported a ban assault rifleshttps://lnkd.in/e2RkGttpBiden and the Democratic party need to get a hold on the debate over the President's personal health so he can continue to work on improving and protecting the health of the population. Transparency must be the name of the game.#uselections #biden2024

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