Commentary The economic burden of global blindness: a price too high! The World Health Organisation defines blindness as a best corrected visual acuity of less than 3/60.1 Using this definition it is estimated that there are currently 37 9 million blind people (1-4 million children 0-15 years of age, and 36-5 million adults 15 years of age or greater) worldwide.2 Of this figure roughly 75% of a...

—Engineering cannot wait until all phenomena are explained. Engineers may work effectively, often for centuries, with heuristics. This paper provides thirty one heuristics that have been inspired by the development and application of a systems engineering cost estimation model. The objective of this paper is to present such heuristics in a simple manner so that they can benefit systems engineer...

Economic principles and tools have aided policy-making on the allocation of resources for health and have been applied convincingly to vaccination. In the late 1970s cost-effectiveness studies of immunization programmes in lowand middle-income countries led to a better understanding of the resources required to reduce morbidity and mortality (1). The push for increased coverage under Universal ...

The application of biotechnology to the production of commodity products (fuels, chemicals, and materials) offering benefits in terms of sustainable resource supply and environmental quality is an emergent area of intellectual endeavor and industrial practice with great promise. Such "biocommodity engineering" is distinct from biotechnology motivated by health care at multiple levels, including...

There is a growing recognition that the present demographic patterns in sub-Saharan Africa, including Ghana, do not augur well for the achievement of sustainable development. Ghana is characterized by a youthful population, rapid population growth, uneven population distribution, high fertility, and rural-urban migration which has brought human numbers into collision with resources to sustain ...

Sustainability is a key challenge for humanity in the 21st century. Ecosystem services-the benefits that people derive from nature and natural capital-is a concept often used to help explain human reliance on nature and frame the decisions we make in terms of the ongoing value of nature to human wellbeing. Yet ecosystem service science has not always lived up to the promise of its potential. De...

OBJECTIVES Depressive disorders are significant causes of disease burden and are associated with substantial economic costs. It is therefore important to design a healthcare system that can effectively manage depression at sustainable costs. This article computes the benefit-to-cost ratio of the current Dutch healthcare system for depression, and investigates whether offering more online preven...