非洲：无国界医生在行动

2010年9月29～10月1日，本人应邀出席无国界医生（MSF，Medecins Sans Frontieres）瑞士分部在日内瓦召开的小型国际研讨会，主题是“各方对医疗人道行动的理解”。出席者分别来自无国界医生这一国际非政府组织（INGO，Intemational Nongovemmental Organization）散布于世界的19个分部、联合国相关部门、     

Author's reply: Shell in Nigeria: A further contribution

The Essential Gesture: writing, politics and places. Nadine Gordimer, London: Jonathan Cape. 1988. 356pp. £15.00hb

White Writing: on the culture of letters in South Africa. J M Coetzee, New Haven, Connecticut/London: Yale University Press. 1988. 193pp. £14.95hb     

Danger: implants

The superheated debate over breast implants awakened a sleeping giant of an issue clouding "medical devices"--the government's clumsy nomenclature for any medical product that is not a drug, from breast implants and artificial hips to X-ray machines and surgical thread. Some 130 categories of high-risk devices are in use with little or no proof of safety, reliability or effectiveness. All appeared before 1976, the year that the Food and Drug Administration got the authority to regulate such products. Under activist chief David Kessler and with added clout from a 1990 law, the FDA plans to scrutinize the entire 130-item list. Five will get special attention starting early next year: saline-filled breast implants, inflatable penile implants, testicular implants, heart-bypass pumps and cranial stimulators. U.S. News has looked at all five devices, using FDA data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. In-depth computer analysis suggested that penile implants deserve closer examination. Why is clear from the following report.     

Condition: critical

Millions of Americans have no medical coverage, and costs are out of control. Here are 10 ways to fix what ails us.     

RETRACTED: Institutional relationships in Ukraine: a stable polity?

This article has been retracted at the request of the editors.Reason: This article plagiarizes an article by Oleh Protsyk, ‘Troubled Semi-Presidentialism: Stability of the Constitutional System and Cabinet in Ukraine’ published in Europe-Asia Studies, Volume 55, Number 7, pp.1077–1095 (2003).     

Maytree: A respite center for the suicidal: an evaluation

This paper evaluates the contribution to suicide prevention made by an innovative project, Maytree, a respite center for the suicidal. Maytree offers a distinctive brief period of sanctuary for four nights for suicidal people; within this limited time it aims to provide opportunities through talking, reflecting, and relaxing for reducing the intense feelings that lead to suicidal behavior. The focus of this paper is on evaluating the first 3 years of Maytree's operation, exploring how Maytree works, and its effects on the people who stay there as "guests". This shows that Maytree reaches people who are at significant risk of suicide. Guests report both short term relief and longer term benefits. These changes are understood, through applying crisis intervention theory, as being generated by the opportunities for change in the Maytree approach. Thus, there is the potential for a benign cycle to be established. Maytree's model is different from that of mainstream, statutory services; we conclude that Maytree complements these services and also challenges the values and frameworks of statutory provision in the field of suicide prevention.     

日本“平民宰相”——菅直人

2010年6月4日，曾担任鸠山内阁副首相的菅直人接替鸠山由纪夫出任民主党新党首并就任日本战后第94任、第61位首相。在日本政坛摸爬滚打整整30年的菅直人终于登上了政治生涯的顶峰。菅直人是民主党实现历史性政权更替后推出的第二位首相，也是日本国民在连续经历14年的“世袭议员首相”时代后迎来的又一位“平民宰相”。     

Latin America: Looking North or South?: Globalization From Below

HugoChavez, the controversial president of Venezuela, has been called "Fidel with oil." Before he ran for office and was elected in 1998, Chavez had been imprisoned for two years after leading an attempted coup in February 1992 when he was an army colonel.
In late September, OPEC held its first summit in 20 years in Caracas. NPQ editor Nathan Gardels spoke then with Chavez.     

Reform: health care

The Italian National Health Service was established in 1978 as three-tier system, involving State, Regions, USLs (Unità sanitarie locali, Local Health Care Units). The division between the responsibility of determining the general features of health care policy and financing it, on one side (the State), and that of managing services, on the order side (Regions and USLs), was bound to lead to increasing levels of expenditure and large financial deficits. An important reform has been carried out over the last five years, aiming toward a more decentralized system, which, although still public, were based on competition among suppliers and free choice for consumers. We argue that although the reform seems to have been successful in containing public expenditure, it has left some important issues still unresolved: the relationship between patients' freedom of choice and competition among providers, and the definition of a model of rationing the bundle of health services financed by the public sector.