Prioritisation processes for programme implementation and evaluation in public health: A scoping review.

Background: Programme evaluation is an essential and systematic activity for improving public health programmes through useful, feasible, ethical, and accurate methods. Finite budgets require prioritisation of which programmes can be funded, first, for implementation, and second, evaluation. While criteria for programme funding have been discussed in the literature, a similar discussion around criteria for which programmes are to be evaluated is limited.

Costs and impact on HIV transmission of a switch from a criminalisation to a public health approach to injecting drug use in eastern Europe and central Asia: a modelling analysis.

Background: HIV incidence is increasing in eastern Europe and central Asia, primarily driven by injecting drug use. Coverage of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and opioid agonist therapy are suboptimal, with many people who inject drugs (PWID) being incarcerated. We aimed to assess whether use of monies saved as a result of decriminalisation of drug use or possession to scale up ART and opioid agonist therapy could control HIV transmission among PWID in eastern Europe and central Asia.

Stroke prevention in Europe: how are 11 European countries progressing toward the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) recommendations?

Purpose: Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability, although studies show that 90% of strokes can be prevented. The evidence base for stroke prevention is well established, and this study aimed to investigate how well European countries are adopting the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guidelines, particularly toward implementation of the recommended best practice in stroke prevention.

Materials And Methods: We developed a stroke prevention scorecard - populated with World Health Organization (WHO) data, secondary research, time-series data, and a survey of 550 physicians - to benchmark 11 European countries in the context of the ESC guidelines.

Complementary medicine and safety: a systematic investigation of design and reporting of systematic reviews.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to examine the methods used in systematic reviews of safety across a range of complementary therapies to assess the variation in approach and the potential for developing guidance on conduct and reporting.

Design: Systematic reviews focusing on safety were retrieved from NHS Evidence and searches of major databases. A pre-prepared template was used for data extraction.

St John's wort for depression: time for a different perspective?

Objectives: To review the development of the evidence on the herbal remedy, St John's wort (SJW) (Hypericum perforatum), in the treatment of depression.

Methods: Searches of major biomedical and specialist databases including EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, AMED and HerbMed were conducted. Searches aimed to identify quantitative research (systematic reviews and meta-analyses) and relevant qualitative studies.

"No language restrictions" in database searches: what does this really mean?

The aim of this study was to investigate the coverage of non-English journals by MEDLINE((R)) and EMBASE, the two major biomedical databases used for identifying studies for possible inclusion in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. A series of searches were conducted to compare the coverage of journals in languages other than English. The results were compared against listings in Ulrich's Periodicals Directory, an authoritative source of information on periodicals published in more than 200 countries.