In 2002, the Belgian Act on Euthanasia came into effect, regulating the intentional ending of life by a physician at the patient’s explicit request. We undertook this study to describe trends in officially reported euthanasia cases in Belgium with regard to patients’ sociodemographic and clinical profiles, as well as decision-making and performance characteristics.

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Why is India firefighting tuberculosis without adequate data surveillance? (Editorial)

Global withdrawal of serotype-2 oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV2) took place in April 2016. This marked a milestone in global polio eradication and was a public health intervention of unprecedented scale, affecting 155 countries. Achieving high levels of serotype-2 population immunity before OPV2 withdrawal was critical to avoid subsequent outbreaks of serotype-2 vaccine-derived polioviruses (VDPV2s).

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In 1988, the World Health Assembly (WHA) passed a historic resolution to eradicate polio by the year 2000, resulting in the creation of the largest public–private partnership for health—the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI). When GPEI was launched, wild polio virus (WPV) was endemic in 125 countries and resulted annually in the paralysis of more than 350,000 people, mainly children. By 2000, the number of endemic countries had been reduced to 20, with the last WPV type 2 case occurring in 1999.

Many individuals at the end of life are unable to convey their wishes regarding medical treatments. Advance directives (ADs) or living wills (LWs) allow them to crystallise their wishes in a written form so that these can be carried out if the relevant situation arises. In many countries, ADs are legally valid and enforceable; they reduce the use of life-sustaining treatments, which often merely prolong life without improving or even maintaining the quality of life. Such treatment puts a financial burden on the patient’s family, often leading to penury.