Introduction of Vibrio cholerae to Haiti during the deployment of United Nations (UN) peacekeepers in 2010 resulted in one of the largest cholera epidemics of the modern era. Following the outbreak, a UN-commissioned independent panel recommended three pre-deployment intervention strategies to minimize the risk of cholera introduction in future peacekeeping operations: screening for V. cholerae carriage, administering prophylactic antimicrobial chemotherapies, or immunizing with oral cholera vaccines.

European Union law prohibits companies from marketing drugs off-label. In the United Kingdom—as in some other European countries, but unlike the United States—industry self-regulatory bodies are tasked with supervising compliance with marketing rules. The objectives of this study were to (1) characterize off-label promotion rulings in the UK compared to the whistleblower-initiated cases in the US and (2) shed light on the UK self-regulatory mechanism for detecting, deterring, and sanctioning off-label promotion.

I have posed 50 questions each to the founders of 50 young Indian biomedical firms that are less than 5 years old. The questions were on the following themes: the backgrounds of the founders and their employees, the area of work of the company, its location and incubation experience, its funding and expenditure, its IP and licensing, its clients, and its risks and challenges. Several are doing pioneering work and the overall picture is impressive. The country should become a source of appropriate, high quality and affordable biomedical products and services in a few year.

Military conflict has been a major challenge in the detection and control of emerging infectious diseases such as malaria. It poses issues associated with enhancing emergence and transmission of infectious diseases by destroying infrastructure and collapsing healthcare systems. The Orakzai agency in Pakistan has witnessed a series of intense violence and destruction. Military conflicts and instability in Afghanistan have resulted in the migration of refugees into the area and possible introduction of many infectious disease epidemics.

Carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generation are a major cause of anthropogenic climate change. The deployment of wind and solar power reduces these emissions, but is subject to the variability of the weather. In the present study, we calculate the cost-optimized configuration of variable electrical power generators using weather data with high spatial (13-km) and temporal (60-min) resolution over the contiguous US.

With increasing incidence and mortality, cancer is the leading cause of death in China and is a major public health problem.Because of China’s massive population (1.37 billion), previous national incidence and mortality estimates have been limited tosmall samples of the populat ion using data from the 1990s or based on a specific year.

Civil registration and vital statistics systems are increasingly recognized as drivers of human rights, health, and development programs—especially for women and children. Vital statistics systems are weak in most low-income countries, precisely where the burden of maternal and child deaths is highest and, therefore, the need for up-to-date, high-quality estimates of levels and trends in maternal and child mortality is greatest.

The National Mission for a Green India proposal, released under the aegis of the National Action Plan on Climate Change, is a significant attempt to integrate the mechanism of ecosystem services in the overall framework of forest conservation in India. It suggests a series of strategies for improving the quality of forests and proposes reforms for strengthening joint forest management. This paper discusses the likely impact of these reforms on current forest use practice. It does so by analysing the various provisions of the mission and how they support or contradict ongoing forest uses.

The mohalla or community clinics run by the Delhi government could be termed populist but have the potential to meet the needs of the people, make basic healthcare accessible and decongest higher level health facilities. These could also prove to be a landmark in health service delivery in India.

Agriculture cannot be revived without a different approach to water, soil, crops and research. (Editorial)