OBJECTIVE to determine the association between firearm availability and female homicide victimization among high-income countries. METHODS Data were assembled for the most recent available year (1994-1999) from the official reports of the ministries of health for those countries that had more than 2 million inhabitants and were dassified as high income by the World Bank. Twenty-five nations p...

BACKGROUND The duration of untreated psychosis (DUP), the period between the first onset of psychotic symptoms and treatment, has an important influence on the outcome of schizophrenia. AIMS To compare the published studies of DUP in low- and middle-income (LAMI) countries with the DUP of high-income countries, and examine a possible association between DUP and per capita income. METHOD We ...

BACKGROUND Previous systematic reviews have identified a high prevalence of HIV infection in transgender women in the USA and in those who sell sex (compared with both female and male sex workers). However, little is known about the burden of HIV infection in transgender women worldwide. We aimed to better assess the relative HIV burden in all transgender women worldwide. METHODS We did a sys...

BACKGROUND Recent reports of high HIV infection rates among men who have sex with men (MSM) from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the former Soviet Union (FSU) suggest high levels of HIV transmission among MSM in low- and middle-income countries. To investigate the global epidemic of HIV among MSM and the relationship of MSM outbreaks to general populations, we conducted a comprehensive review ...

In this article, the reasonswhydeveloping countries trade fewer agricultural products than developed countries are analyzed. Based on earlier findings that low trade volume in the agricultural sector is due to high trade costs, the focus is on evaluating the extent to which bilateral trade costs in the agricultural sector differ among trading partners. Using a neo-Ricardian trade model, the res...

We examine the joint distribution of levels of income per capita, life expectancy, and years of schooling across countries in 1960 and in 2000. In 1960 countries were clustered in two groups; a rich, highly educated, high longevity "developed" group and a poor, less educated, high mortality, "underdeveloped" group. By 2000 however we see the emergence of three groups; one underdeveloped group r...

An analysis of suicide and homicide rates was made for countries of the Eastern Mediterranean Region using global burden disease data for 2000. The suicide/homicide ratio by age, sex and country level of income was calculated by dividing the suicide rate by the sum of the suicide and homicide rate. Males were more often victims of homicide whilst females were more often victims of suicide. For ...

Further development of public health education is critical to improve population health globally. A debate on the relevance and direction of some 400 schools of public health and many other related institutions around the world is therefore timely. Some argue that most public health schools set up in low-income countries blindly follow their counterparts in high-income countries, reproducing cl...

The struggles that challenge health systems in developed countries with respect to innovative high-cost medicines are some of the challenges the Global South face when accessing essential medicines. Asthma is one such example in which access to essential medicines may not be a big problem in high-income countries but that compliance and optimal use may be similar to low-income countries, for so...

BACKGROUND Recent criticisms of the income inequality and health hypothesis have stressed the lack of consistent significant evidence for the stronger effects of income inequality among rich countries. Despite such criticisms, little attention has been devoted to the income-based criteria underlying the stratification of countries into rich/poor groups and whether trade patterns and world-syste...