Against the Flow. Inside Struggles to Prevent Ill-health.
Join my "back to front" journey into medicine and public health. And my homage to the prevention of
Today's pandemic is not the cause of our growing health divide. It simply lays bare the underlying disadvantage and discrimination that this government is unlikely to tackle any time soon.
My memoir "Real doctors Take Sugar" shows how public health action can save lives, but laments the invisibility of the public health frontline.
Yet now the spread of coronavirus has brought the vital importance of public health back into the sunshine. Prevention requires us all to act to protect one another when there are no pills. Keep rational and keep acting for others.
27/02/2020
Today's coronavirus outbreak is a perfect example of the invisibility of our preventive forces. Politicians get it wrong, and the media invite comment from academics- the knowledgeable theoreticians who have no experience of what the public health frontline does: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-51632801
My memoir "Real Doctors Take Sugar" recounts similar stories of that invisibility. Even today, I doubt if anyone appreciates that contact-tracing and isolation are not about cures for individuals, but rather protection for the whole population.
How would the UK tackle a coronavirus outbreak? What will the government do if there is a UK coronavirus outbreak and how prepared is the NHS?
07/02/2020
The coronavirus outbreak: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/06/world/africa/africa-coronavirus-china.html Africa will suffer most yet Ethiopian Airlines continues to fly to/from China. Putting profit before prevention will soon result in suffering and economic decline.
Africa, Intertwined With China, Fears Coronavirus Outbreak There are no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Africa yet, but with steady traffic to and from China, experts worry that the epidemic could overrun already-strained health systems.
20/01/2020
My memoir recalls what it was like on the public health frontline.
BACK IN THE 1980s/90s: they wouldn't dare cut public health spending
TODAY: Robbing public health to pay for libraries....
https://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/18153360.700-000-public-health-cash-reduce-pain-library-cuts/
£700,000 of public health cash to reduce pain of library cuts CUTS to library services will not be as savage as originally thought after Bradford Council decided to use £700,000 of public health money to prop…
01/11/2019
Welcome back to "REAL DOCTORS TAKE SUGAR"-my story of pushing the public health boat out for four decades.
What progress since the 1970s?
TODAY: Has our alcohol-soaked society shown any signs of moderation? Not according to David Nutt of Drug Science : health damage is increasing and government policy is not focussed on reducing harm. Lessons from Scotland not fully learned.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/20/curb-drink-culture-says-drugs-expert-david-nutt?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Gmail
THEN: Alcohol was barely visible on anyone's priorities. And minimising harm in any health area seemed always to block the policy U-bend. Yet we fought successfully to get government agreement on reducing the spread of HIV by providing injecting drug users with safe "works". And it worked.
Why was the HIV harm minimisation strategy successful when we continue to fail on alcohol? Was it fear of HIV or is the power of the alcohol and food industries too great?
What is your view?
‘Curb drink culture’ says drugs expert David Nutt New restrictions needed for leading cause of deaths of men under 50
Welcome to REAL DOCTORS TAKE SUGAR!
It's all about my life in public health trying to prevent ill health, tackle the health divide and live my other lives.
Hoping to publish...
What is it like now compared with how it was then when I was immersed in London's East End? Better or worse?
COMMENTS please!
NOW: Expectation of life has been falling steadily- a first. The health divide is getting bigger. Public health cuts have been punishingly large.
THEN: Life expectancy was rising -even during the Thatcher years. Public health spending was mostly preserved. After 3 Labour terms, the health gap narrowed.
23/08/2019
TODAY: Extinction Rebellion Activists convicted for supporting the earth
4 DECADES AGO: B.U.G.A.U.P -"Billboard Utilising Graffitists Against Unhealthy Promotions"- also convicted for protecting the people against the to***co industry
We won that public health war - eventually.
You will see my story -eventually too.
21/08/2019
IMMUNISATION
NOW : The battle against the Far Right fake news about MMR vaccine https://www.thedailybeast.com/anti-vaxxers-are-cozying-up-to-the-far-right-online
THEN: we battled against the
fake news from so-called doctor Andrew Wakefield.
London Children's health has suffered.
Anti-Vaxxers Are Cozying Up to the Far Right Online They’re anti-science and conspiratorial. Together, they’re building a right-wing populist, measle-stricken future.
21/08/2019