…not possible, and sudden death is often the initial manifestation of cardiac disease. Most such events occur at home, but up to a quarter occur in public places and are often witnessed by trained personnel who attempt resuscitation. Prompt defibrillation is the most important determinant of survival…

…activities and areas of investment for strengthening the capability of the United States to prepare for, respond to, and recover from large-scale public health emergencies. Fortunately, the strategy is being developed in parallel with a national debate over health care reform, since national health…

…serious health threats. One of the newest targets of public health law is obesity. 5 The past few years have brought a flurry of legislative initiatives aimed at improving nutrition and physical activity among children and adults, highly publicized personal-injury lawsuits against food and beverage companies…

…views of physicians and those of the public on the reporting of medical errors to state agencies, a recommendation embraced by a number of national groups. The public sees reporting as a very effective way of reducing errors and wants these reports to be publicly available. Physicians are more skeptical…

In the past few months, a key point of contention in the health care reform debate has been whether a public health insurance option should be included in the final legislation. Although polls have shown that 52 to 69% of Americans support such an option, 1 the views of physicians are unclear. Physicians…

…must be understood and respected if public health measures are to gain widespread acceptance. Unless the medical and public health communities gain the trust of the diverse public, the legal power affirmed in Jacobson will remain insufficient to safeguard the public's health.

In a radical departure from earlier strategies, public health officials are now arguing that circumcision of men should be a key weapon in the fight against infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Africa. Recent studies have shown that circumcision reduces infection rates by 50 to 60%…

…, its effectiveness diminishes with each passing minute. 3 4 Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) are safe and effective when used by trained public-safety personnel who have a duty to respond to medical emergencies. 5 6 7 8 9 10 However, it is unclear whether trained volunteer laypersons who do…

…“Posting for public accessibility through [PubMed Central] is requested and strongly encouraged as soon as possible (and within twelve months of the publisher's official date of final publication).” 1 2 Currently, about a third of the reports of recent NIH-funded research are publicly available in…

…with it had increased to 81% by November 2007. Despite this negative consensus, however, there is no convergence on proposals for reform. Instead, public opinion is characterized by ambivalence or divergence regarding future directions, which may foil efforts to forge agreement on the best way to improve…

…new public health insurance plan that competes with regulated private plans. The idea — largely ignored in 2008 when it was endorsed by then-presidential-candidate Barack Obama — has come to dominate an increasingly polarized national debate. This polarization is unfortunate, because public-plan…

…politics, ideologies, and greed on science and public health spans a wide range of topics, from breast implants to dietary supplements. The essays are rich in historical perspectives but occasionally lack critical evaluation of the political causes of failed public health policies. Finkel points out many lessons…

…people at risk and the public about the difference between sickle cell disease and sickle cell trait. The result was needless anxiety, stigmatization, and discrimination. New efforts to use genetics to improve public health are complicated by this history of abuses and the public's justifiable concern about…

…to his rejection by the U.S. Navy Medical Corps, which he tried to join at the start of the Spanish-American War. In 1899 Goldberger entered the Public Health Service, in which he spent the rest of his professional life, attracted by both the regular government salary and the opportunities for scientific…

…public health in the United States. Since the founding of the country, public health has been considered primarily the business of the states. The reason is that when the former colonies delegated powers to the federal government in the U.S. Constitution, they retained the authority to protect the public's…

…although the final legislation is likely to be complex, the public will form an overall view leading it either to support or to oppose enactment, but this view can change substantially over time. Multiple factors may contribute to the public's judgment, including the popularity of major policy elements…

…disease, commonly accomplished through public health interventions, appears to be an afterthought, perhaps because the benefits are mistakenly perceived as small and the cost savings delayed. In this issue of the Journal, Bibbins-Domingo and colleagues 1 document a public health intervention designed to reduce…

Public-private partnerships for health have grown rapidly in response to the perceived failure of the health systems of developing countries to address major health problems and the perceived failure of the private market to produce needed vaccines and medicines for neglected diseases such as malaria…

…of U.S. physicians support health care reform that includes a new national public health insurance plan, which would compete with private plans. 1 Polls have shown that a substantial majority of Americans support the public option as well. Yet the idea has occasioned considerable controversy on Capitol…

…of protecting the public health. 1 As the new commissioner and principal deputy commissioner of the FDA chosen by President Barack Obama, we would like to provide a broad overview of how we intend to embrace this role. The Institute of Medicine has defined the mission of public health as “fulfilling…