Despite fiscal stress, public confidence in the National Health Service (NHS) remains strong; privatisation has not hollowed out the service. But if long term challenges are to be overcome, pragmatism not rhetoric should be the guide.

KEY FINDINGS Data from the National Health Interview Survey. Almost 18% of adults under age 65 with private health insurance were enrolled in some type of high deductible health plan (HDHP), including 5% who were enrolled in a consumer-directed health plan (CDHP), 2% with a flexible spending account (FSA) for medical expenses, and 12% in a HDHP-only plan. Approximately 17% of adults aged 18-64 ...

The need for clearly-defined health research policies and priorities has been emphasized in the international scenario. In Brazil, this process began in 2003, when a group appointed by the National Health Council proposed 20 sub-agendas to account for the various health research specificities. The second step was to identify research priorities for each sub-agenda during national seminars invol...

factors influencing cross-national diffusion of mental health policy are important to understand but complex to research. this commentary discusses shen’s research study on cross-national diffusion of mental health policy; examines the extent to which the three questions researched by shen (whether countries are more likely to have a mental health policy (a) the earlier a country becomes a memb...

background: stroke is one of the leading causes of mortality and long-term morbidity. the aim of the present study was to determine the ability of baseline serum c-reactive protein (crp) and white blood cell count (wbc) values in predicting the outcome of acute ischemic stroke (ais). methods: this study consisted of patients with first ais referred to poursina hospital, rasht, iran. severity of...

background: the purpose of this investigation was to compare empirically predictive ability of an artificial neu­ral network with a logistic regression in prediction of low back pain. methods: data from the second national health survey were considered in this investigation. this data in­cludes the information of low back pain and its associated risk factors among iranian people aged 15 years a...

complementary and alternative medicine (cam) is frequently used in portugal and it contributes to the improvement of people’s health. cam and western medicine (wm) are taken as complements both in the diagnosis and the treatment stage. the portuguese health system is able to generate certified cam professionals but the provision of cam care and services is not included in the national health sy...

Recent research suggests that rising obesity will restrain future gains in US life expectancy and that obesity is an important contributor to the current shortfall in us longevity compared to other high-income countries. Estimates of the contribution of obesity to current and future national-level mortality patterns are sensitive to estimates of the magnitude of the association between obesity ...

BACKGROUND In sub-Saharan Africa, underweight and micronutrient deficiencies account for an estimated 25% of the burden of disease. As the coverage of national health systems expands, increased opportunities exist to address the needs of children and women, the most vulnerable to these deficiencies, through high-quality nutrition services. OBJECTIVES To assess health providers' knowledge and ...