Showing papers by "Jocalyn Clark published in 2005"

Five futures for academic medicine: the ICRAM scenarios

Abstract: Although most people agree that academic medicine needs to reform, the nature of the changes is unclear. ICRAM hopes its five scenarios for the future will aid the debate

Five futures for academic medicine.

Abstract: “Academic medicine” might be defined as the capacity of the health-care system to think, study, research, discover, evaluate, innovate, teach, learn, and improve. As such, little could be more important—particularly as new discoveries in science offer tremendous opportunities and emergent diseases pose huge threats. Yet something is not right with academic medicine. Worse, the diagnosis is not entirely clear, although many august bodies have reported on the issue (Table 1), and the treatment is unknown. Moreover, these previous consultations have been based in the industrialised world, particularly the United Kingdom and the United States, and few have taken a global view. Table 1 Reports of Major National Academic Medicine Organisations The International Campaign to Revitalise Academic Medicine (ICRAM) was founded to give young medical academics an opportunity to think about the future of academic medicine (Box 1). It started with only two premises: (1) at the start of the new millennium it was necessary to think globally, and (2) “more of the same” was not the answer. Reinvention was needed. Box 1. ICRAM In 2003 the BMJ, Lancet, and 40 other partners launched ICRAM, a global initiative that is committed to fostering a debate about the future of academic medicine (bmj.com/academicmedicine). The campaign arose because of a persistent concern that academic medicine is in crisis around the world. At a time of increasing health burden, poverty, globalisation, and innovation, many have argued that academic medicine is nevertheless failing to realise its potential and global social responsibility. ICRAM is composed of the following: A core working party of 20 medical academics representing 14 countries Stakeholder groups representing the areas of academia, business and industry, government and policy makers, journal editors, patients, professional associations, and students and trainees Regional groups covering the world A facilitating committee that helps plan and execute the ICRAM work

A theme issue "by, for, and about" Africa.

Abstract: Call for papers 2 005, it seems, is the year of Africa.1 2 As world leaders gathered in Davos to discuss debt relief and pop stars re-released their poverty anthem, the world's attention is drawn to magnificent Africa—a continent of vast cultural and regional diversity and potential but plagued by extreme poverty and disease. The Roll Back Malaria campaign reports that of the 300 million acute cases of malaria each year around the world (which result in 1 million deaths), over 90% occur in Africa. These mostly affect children under the age of 5.3 A new UN report estimates that more than 80 million Africans will die of AIDS by 2025, and another 90 million—more than one in 10 people on the continent—will become infected.4 Tuberculosis, maternal mortality, domestic violence, and undernutrition pose …

Open your eyes to Africa

Abstract: Africa is big, complex, and confounding. The ambivalence of looking towards a future full of promise but uncertainty is captured in our cover image—that of a child shielding his eyes in front of a Malian textile containing eyes wide open. Achieving a successful future is by no means a task for Africa alone, and the BMJ is contributing through this week's theme issue. But can we do justice to a continent as richly diverse as Africa? We will present this theme issue to the 53 African Union health ministers …