Non-communicable diseases and human rights: Global synergies, gaps and opportunities.

The incorporation of human rights in health policy and programmes is known to strengthen responses to health problems and help address disparities created or exacerbated by illness yet this remains underexplored in relation to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Aiming to understand existing synergies and how they might be further strengthened, we assessed the extent to which human rights are considered in global NCD policies and strategies and the degree of attention given to NCDs by select United Nations human rights mechanisms. Across global NCD policies and strategies, rhetorical assertions regarding human rights appear more often than actionable statements, thus limiting their implementation and impact.

Gendered Disparities in Quality of Cataract Surgery in a Marginalised Population in Pakistan: The Karachi Marine Fishing Communities Eye and General Health Survey.

Background: Marine fishing communities are among the most marginalised and hard-to-reach groups and have been largely neglected in health research. We examined the quality of cataract surgery and its determinants, with an emphasis on gender, in marine fishing communities in Karachi, Pakistan, using multiple indicators of performance.

Methods And Findings: The Karachi Marine Fishing Communities Eye and General Health Survey was a door-to-door, cross-sectional study conducted between March 2009 and April 2010 in fishing communities living on 7 islands and in coastal areas in Keamari, Karachi, located on the Arabian Sea.

Eye Care Service Use and Its Determinants in Marginalized Communities in Pakistan: The Karachi Marine Fishing Communities Eye and General Health Survey.

Purpose: To examine gender, ethnic, and socioeconomic differences in access to eye care services in marine fishing communities in Karachi, Pakistan.

Methods: The Karachi Marine Fishing Communities Eye and General Health Survey was a door-to-door, cross-sectional survey conducted between March 2009 and April 2010 in fishing communities in Keamari, Karachi, located on the coast of the Arabian Sea. Adults aged ≥50 years living on three islands and in four coastal areas were enrolled.

Self-perceived barriers to eye care in a hard-to-reach population: the Karachi Marine Fishing Communities Eye and General Health Survey.

Purpose: We examined self-reported barriers to eye care among marginalized, hard-to-reach fishing communities in Karachi, Pakistan.

Methods: The Karachi Marine Fishing Communities Eye and General Health Survey was a cross-sectional survey conducted between March 2009 and April 2010 in fishing communities in Keamari, Karachi, located on the coast of the Arabian Sea. Adults aged ≥50 years living on seven islands and coastal areas were interviewed regarding sociodemographic background, experience of eye problems, eye care use, and barriers to access.

Noncommunicable diseases and human rights: a promising synergy.

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) have finally emerged onto the global health and development agenda. Despite the increasingly important role human rights play in other areas of global health, their contribution to NCD prevention and control remains nascent. The recently adopted Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs 2013-2020 is an important step forward, but the lack of concrete attention to human rights is a missed opportunity.

Foreword: Public health, public policy, politics and policing.

Reducing harm from drug use lies at the intersection of public health, public policy, politics and policing. In an ideal world, evidence of public health gains achievable through new approaches or technologies should inform public policy, should help shape political agendas in support of policy change, which should translate into law and regulations - and then to their application. The goal of this transformative process should be to yield the highest attainable health benefits to vulnerable individuals and communities and to society as a whole.

Smallpox eradication in Bangladesh, 1972-1976.

Rahima Banu, the world's last endemic case of severe smallpox, Variola Major, developed rash on October 16, 1975 on Bhola Island, Bangladesh. Achieving eradication in a country destroyed by war challenged the achievement of smallpox eradication. Between January 1, 1972 and December 31, 1975, 225,000 smallpox cases and 45,000 smallpox deaths occurred.

From smallpox eradication to contemporary global health initiatives: enhancing human capacity towards a global public health goal.

The eradication of smallpox owes its success first and foremost to the thousands of lay health workers and community members who, throughout the campaign and across continents, took on the roles of advocates, educators, vaccinators, care providers and contributors to epidemic surveillance and containment. Bangladesh provides a good example where smallpox eradication and the capacity enhancement needed to achieve this goal resulted in a two-way mutually beneficial process. Smallpox-dedicated staff provided community members with information guidance, support and tools.

The prevalence of depression among men living with HIV infection in Vietnam.

Objectives: We assessed the prevalence of depression among men living with HIV infection in Vietnam and compared the findings with those from a general population survey of Vietnamese men.

Methods: Between November 2007 and April 2008, 584 participants completed a structured questionnaire in Vietnamese that measured self-reported depression. We used the chi2 test to detect differences in prevalence rates within HIV populations and between our respondents and a general Vietnamese male population.

Universal Access to HIV prevention, treatment and care: assessing the inclusion of human rights in international and national strategic plans.

Rhetorical acknowledgment of the value of human rights for the AIDS response continues, yet practical application of human rights principles to national efforts appears to be increasingly deficient. We assess the ways in which international and national strategic plans and other core documents take into account the commitments made by countries to uphold human rights in their efforts towards achieving Universal Access. Key documents from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Bank, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria (GFATM) and the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) were reviewed along with 14 national HIV strategic plans chosen for their illustration of the diversity of HIV epidemic patterns, levels of income and geographical location.

A perspective on the history of health and human rights: from the Cold War to the Gold War.

Through the end of the Cold War, public health policies were predominantly shaped and implemented by governments and these same governments committed themselves to meet their obligations for health under international and national laws. The post-Cold War era has witnessed the entry of new actors in public health and the sharing of power and influences with non-state actors, in particular the private sector and interest groups. This article examines the emergence of human rights and the rise of health on the international development agenda as the Cold War was ending.