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The Lancet Series

The Lancet commissions Series to highlight clinically important topics and areas of health and medicine often overlooked by mainstream research programmes and other medical publications. Many of the Series have the specific aim of raising the profile of these neglected areas as an advocacy tool to inform health policy and improve human development.

Current Series

Matchbook, spoon and syringe - Copyright: Corbis

HIV in people who use drugs

Launched in Vienna, Austria, July 20, 2010
Almost three decades after the discovery of HIV, this Series highlights the threat of a largely unpublicised and growing HIV epidemic: in people who use drugs. While large gains have been made in fighting the epidemic in the general population, socially marginalised populations such as people who use drugs, who often enter prison systems, continue to suffer great stigma and lack of access to treatments that can save both their own lives and prevent HIV transmission to others. Read more

Health in the Occupied Palestinian Territory 2010

Published July 2, 2010

When The Lancet published its Series on Health in the occupied Palestinian territory in March, 2009, we pledged to return to the issues raised in the series in subsequent years. On March 1-2 this year, we took part in a research conference on Palestinian health that was held at Birzeit University in the West Bank. The best peer-reviewed abstracts of that meeting are today published online.
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Diabetes

Themed issue, published June 25, 2010

Since 2000, the number of people with diabetes has more than doubled, and an increasing majority live in low and middle income countries. This themed issue has been prepared in collaboration with The American Diabetes Association (ADA), to coincide with their 70th Scientific Sessions meeting in Orlando, FL on June 26–29, 2010.
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CRASH-2

Launched in London, June 14, 2010

Tranexamic acid is a synthetic derivative of the aminoacid lysine that inhibits clot breakdown by blocking the lysine binding sites on plasminogen. In an Article, the CRASH-2 Trial Collaborators assess the effects of early administration of a short course of tranexamic acid on death, vascular occlusive events, and the receipt of blood transfusion in trauma patients with or at risk of significant haemorrhage.
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Women Deliver

Published June 4, 2010

Large numbers of the public remain unaware of the health issues facing women and children. Women and girls make up 60% of the world’s poorest and two-thirds of the world’s illiterate. Yet with education and empowerment, they can lead healthy lives and lift themselves and their families out of poverty. A themed issue of The Lancet covers a range of global issues on maternal, child, and newborn health.
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Tuberculosis

Launched in Geneva, May 19, 2010

Tuberculosis is still a major neglected cause of death and disability worldwide, especially in low-income and middle-income countries. This Series looks at the global prevalence and burden of tuberculosis, and the challenges faced to reduce worldwide cases rapidly and eliminate this disease as a threat by 2050. It also highlights the optimism stemming from the continuing development and identification of new tuberculosis drugs, vaccines, biomarkers, and diagnostics.
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Malaria

Published April 23, 2010

The past decade has seen an unprecedented surge in political commitment and international funding for malaria control. Coverage with existing effective malaria control tools (vector control, artemisinin based combination therapy) is increasing, and, in some Asian and African countries, childhood morbidity and mortality is starting to fall.
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Renal Medicine

Published April 9, 2010

Diseases of the kidney rarely make it onto the global health agenda. Yet chronic kidney disease (CKD) and renal failure are strongly associated with two of the giants of the non-communicable diseases—cardiovascular disease and diabetes—and prevalence is therefore increasing in parallel. Up to 35% of people older than 65 years now meet the criteria for CKD.
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Violent Conflict and Health

Published January 22, 2010

This special issue on violent conflict and health examines the devastating effects of conflict on human health: direct injury from fighting, indirect morbidity and mortality caused by the breakdown of public health, and the effects on mental health which may affect quality of life, disability, and survival many years after the initial trauma.
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Neglected Tropical Diseases

Published January 1, 2010

Neglected tropical diseases, including lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, and soil-transmitted helminthiasis, represent a serious burden to public health. Unlike many public-health risks, such as malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV, the burden of human suffering caused by neglected tropical diseases remains poorly recognised by the global public-health community.
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