The draft National Health Policy 2015 is an improvement over its predecessors--the policies of 1984 and 2002. However, it also reveals several gaps, inconsistencies and blind spots which tend to dilute otherwise constructive proposals. The purpose of this article is to open up the draft to further public debate and comment.

Exposure to secondhand smoke (SHS) from cigarettes causes an estimated 41,000 deaths among nonsmoking U.S. adults each year and an estimated $5.6 billion annually in lost productivity caused by premature death. In a 2006 report, the Surgeon General concluded that there is no risk-free level of exposure to SHS. Although an increasing proportion of the population is covered by state or local comprehensive smokefree laws that prohibit tobacco smoking in all indoor

This paper provides a concise review of the efficacy, effectiveness and affordability of health-care interventions topromote and assist tobacco cessation, in order to inform national guideline development and assist countries in planning their provision of tobacco cessation support. 

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The SQUIRE trial demonstrated that adding necitumumab to chemotherapy for patients with metastatic squamous cell lung cancer (mSqCLC) increased median overall survival by 1.6 months (hazard ratio, 0.84). However, the costs and value associated with this intervention remains unclear. Value-based pricing links the price of a drug to the benefit that it provides and is a novel method to establish prices for new treatments.

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In 1996, the global HIV community gathered in Vancouver, Canada, for the XI International AIDS Conference and shared the clear evidence that triplecombination antiretroviral treatment held the power to stem the tide of deaths from AIDS. The HIV treatment era had begun. As we gathered again in Vancouver in July, 2015, it was clear that a new transformative moment is upon us.

ust three years ago, Nigeria was a threat to the global push to eradicate polio. Africa’s most populous nation recorded 122 cases in 2012, more than all other countries combined, and funders of the eradication campaign were growing exasperated with the nation’s faltering vaccination efforts and exportation of cases. Now Nigeria is on the brink of being free of the virus, thanks in large part to its embrace of innovative approaches to vaccination and public health.

Increased consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) has been linked to increases in obesity in both high-income and low- and middle-income countries. Tobacco and alcohol taxes have proven to be effective tools to reduce tobacco and alcohol use. Many public health advocates propose using similar taxes to reduce consumption of SSBs. South Africa is a middle-income country that is considered a leader in the area of tobacco tax policy. A case study of tobacco and alcohol taxes is used to better understand optimal tax structures for SSBs.