Global Alcohol Harm Network: Struggling or Emerging? A Response to Shiffman

Effective global response to emerging infectious diseases.

To discuss the global efforts needed to detect and control emerging infections, I will begin with a personal experience. In 1987, a large epidemic of meningococcal meningitis occurred during the haj, the annual pilgrimage of Moslems to Mecca. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) sent a team of epidemiologists and laboratorians to Kennedy Airport to meet the thousands of pilgrims...

Global Surgery Priorities: A Response to Recent Commentaries

Reducing the harm caused by alcohol: a coordinated European response.

The enjoyable effects of alcohol have paved the way for the mass consumption of a drug which places a huge burden on European health resources and has a devastating effect on some individuals, their families and their communities. Controlling alcohol consumption is notoriously difficult and governments have attempted to tread the line between satisfying the public and limiting harm. There are p...

Eating or Feeding Our Young: A Response to Recent Commentaries

Public policies to prevent alcohol-related harm.

Correspondence: Maristela G. Monteiro Pan American Health Organization, 525 23rd St NW, Washington-DC, USA E-mail: [email protected] Alcohol consumption represents a major social, economical and health challenge and affects millions of people around the world. There is not a unique solution for this complex problem, to which we can add specific difficulties that the different governments face i...