Our Health debates - 057 - Two Serious issues
item #1 -US
Philadelphia, PA, February 1, 2016 - Gun deaths are a serious public health issue in the United States and the scope of the problem is often difficult to illustrate. A new study published inThe American Journal of Medicine lays out the risk in concrete terms. When compared to 22 other high-income nations,
In order to help put America's relationship with guns into perspective, researchers from the University of Nevada-Reno and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health analyzed mortality data gathered by the World Health Organization in 2010. Investigators found that despite having similar rates of nonlethal crimes as other high-income countries, the U.S. has much higher rates of lethal violence, mostly driven by extremely higher rates of gun-related homicides.
The study reveals some stark truths about living and dying in the United States. When compared to other high-income nations, as an American you are:
- Seven times more likely to be violently killed
- Twenty-five times more likely to be violently killed with a gun
- Six times more likely to be accidentally killed with a gun
- Eight times more likely to commit suicide using a gun
- Ten times more likely to die from a firearm death overall
Homicide is the second leading cause of death for Americans 15 to 24 years of age, and the third leading cause of death among those 25 to 34 years of age. Investigators found that for these two groups, the risk relative to their counterparts in other developed nations is alarmingly elevated. Americans 15 to 24 years of age are nearly 50 times more likely to die from firearm homicide compared to similarly aged young people in other high-income nations. For those aged 25 to 34, the risk is just 32 times higher.
- "Differences in overall suicide rates across cities, states, and regions in the United States are best explained not by differences in mental health, suicide ideation, or even suicide attempts, but by availability of firearms," explained study co-author David Hemenway, PhD, Harvard Professor
- America's love affair with firearms has dire consequences, especially when compared to outcomes in the rest of the developed world.
- Investigators found that despite having only half the population of the other 22 high-income nations combined, the U.S. accounted for 82% of all firearm deaths. In addition, the U.S. accounted for slightly over 90% of these three groups:
- all women
- children aged 0 to 14 years
- youth aged 15 to 24 years who were killed by firearms.
- "Overall, our results show that the U.S., which has the most firearms per capita in the world, suffers disproportionately from firearms compared with other high-income countries," noted Dr. Grinshteyn. "These results are consistent with the hypothesis that our firearms are killing us rather than protecting us."
Rounding off:
Choose one of the graphics on the CNN post here.
item # 2 - UK is KO
The state of health in the UK -2016
NHS does it stand for ..........No Health Service?
Jeremy Hunt announces new measures to improve safety across NHS
This announcement formed part of a wider package of announcements today, in which the Health Secretary set out his ambition for an NHS with patients at its centre.
7 February 2016 -
Jeremy Hunt blames unions for junior doctor concernsListen to this video (02:41)
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| Artist Matin Rowson on minister Hunt and NHS |
Here I select some 6 comments:
- the British people will stand by our Doctors and Nurses and against a lying man who is not fit to serve the country, Jeremy Hunt. He should have been fired for the Sky sham, let alone allowed to wreck the NHS for privatisation plndering. What monsters we have in positions of power.
- Here we go . . .: "It's all the fault of the foreigners, nasty scrounging foreigners, coming over here and taking our hospital beds!"
- Exactly! - Ealing hospital maternity wards comes to mind, have you visited it recently?
- And Croydon University Hospital, the one near Luna House, where people get leave to stay.
- It is ridiculous that there is so much despair and complaint about austerity, the NHS, the police cuts the state of education, the cuts to councils Atos etc. etc when this is exactly what the country voted for.
- The NHS clearly can't go on being run by a spectator at its own funeral, who is only interested in accentuating the bad news so as to be able to drive in a privatising wedge.
- Either a capable minister should be appointed or, if the Tories really want to press ahead with privatisation in the face of the feelings of the workforce, we should have a referendum first, to see if the public really wants more of its shared capital distributed to corporates
Martin Rowson on Jeremy Hunt and the NHS – cartoon
To round off:
a couple of follow-up reflections:
on the minus side (1) -Ian Williams
on the plus side (2) - Pemberton
1- A sick joke: the NHS in 2024,
as seen by GP and graphic novelist Ian Williams
In his book The Bad Doctor, Ian Williams explored the life of a troubled family physician. Here, in an exclusive strip for the Guardian, he imagines the future of the NHS ...
2- How to fix the NHS: a doctor's prescription
Competition – and ideology – isn't working
(18-10-2014)
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