Journals Collaborate To Increase Awareness Of Worldwide Problems Of Poverty And Human Development

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 29 Oct 2007 - 3:00 PDT

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More than 200 medical and scientific journals from 34 developing and developed countries are simultaneously publishing articles on poverty and human development to raise awareness and disseminate research about this critically important global topic, according to two editorials in the October 24/31 issue of JAMA. This Global Theme Issue is coordinated by the Council of Science Editors. Seven of these studies will be presented at the National Institutes of Health. A live webcast of these presentations is available at here.

The articles in this week's issue of JAMA focus on a range of poverty- and development-related topics and include reports of new research addressing the need to target funding and programs for the poor. There are also commentaries on microfinance programs and health; China's health care system; health effects of declining U.S. income; innovation, licensing and global health; and disseminating global health change.

"We hope the articles and new research published this week by the world's scientific journals will demonstrate the burgeoning success of efforts to conduct rigorous research on the health needs of the poor, to provide evidence-based solutions, and to target future funding and research on effective development programs that aim to reduce poverty and improve global health," write Annette Flanagin, R.N., M.A., and Margaret A. Winker, M.D., of JAMA.

"This issue of JAMA, along with simultaneous publications of numerous articles in the many other journals participating in the global theme issue, provides a unique forum to address the health and development issues facing billions of individuals burdened and disabled by poverty around the world. Breaking the cycle of disease and poverty and reducing health inequities will require a concerted commitment to create and apply knowledge to improve the capacity of individuals, communities, and health systems to meet global health needs. The international climate has never been more favorable nor the timing more urgent," write Robert B. Eiss, M.A., and Roger I. Glass, M.D., of the Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Md.

More information about the Council of Science Editors' Global Theme Issue on Poverty and Human Development is available here.

More information about the NIH Global Theme Issue event, 10 a.m. (ET) Monday, October 22, 2007, is available here.

JAMA

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