Disability

Published November 27, 2009

Disability is complex, multifactorial, and common: at least 10% of the world's population has some form of disability. This special issue defines disability, includes research on the contributing factors, and discusses how health professionals in particular can do more to help people with disabilities; for example, better training in, and better research on, disability.
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Health and Climate Change

Launched in London, November 25, 2009

Climate change already affects human health, and, if no action is taken, problems such as malnutrition, deaths and injury due to extreme weather conditions, and change in geographical distribution of disease vectors will worsen. This Series is the result of an international collaboration of scientists supported by a consortium of funding bodies coordinated by the Wellcome Trust, UK.
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Surgical Innovation and Evaluation

Published September 25, 2009

Surgery is an important component of healthcare worldwide. However, the overall quality of surgical research is mediocre, despite calls over the past decade to improve practice, and the proportion of RCTs in this discipline remains low.
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Health in South Africa

Published August 25, 2009

A collaboration between The Lancet and academic centres in South Africa to assess the health status in one of the most diverse regions of the world. HIV/AIDS dominate South Africa's health environment, but this Series also highlights many other under-recognised health issues at a time when a new South African administration has a unique opportunity to implement key health policies to shape South Africa's future.
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Indigenous Health

Published July 3, 2009

In 2006, The Lancet published a Series highlighting the poor health status of indigenous populations worldwide. Two reviews provide an update on many of the issues concerning indigenous health, including the perspectives of an author from an indigenous population in North America.
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Alcohol and Global Health

Published June 26, 2009

The adverse effects of alcohol consumption on population health are underestimated; a three-part Series highlights how one in 25 deaths worldwide are attributable to alcohol, and calls for a global framework convention to reduce alcohol harm similar to the global convention on tobacco control.
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Positive Synergies

Published June 20, 2009

This issue of The Lancet focuses on health-policy discussions around the impact of major global health initiatives and their interactions with country health systems
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Managing the Health Effects of Climate Change

Launched in London, UK, May 13, 2009

A collaboration between The Lancet and University College London, UK, resulting in the first UCL Lancet Commission report, setting out how climate change over the coming decades could have a disastrous effect on health across the globe. The report examines practical measures that can be taken now and in the short and medium term to control its effects.
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Health in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

Launched in London, UK, March 4, 2009

"Hope for improving health and quality of life of Palestinians will exist only once people recognise that the structural and political conditions that they endure in the occupied Palestinian territory are the key determinants of population health", states the first report in the Series.
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Trade and Health

Launched in London, UK, Jan 21, 2009

"The fact that trade directly and indirectly affects the health of the global population with an unrivalled reach and depth undoubtedly makes it a key health issue", states a Comment introducing the Series.
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