[afro-nets] New Issue of Social Medicine Published

["Claudio Schuftan" <cschuftan@phmovement.org>]

Social Medicine has just published its latest issue at
http://www.socialmedicine.info

We are particularly happy to be able to publish on the web for the first time selections from the original text of Ignaz Semmelweis' "The Etiology, Concept and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever" (originally published in 1861. The text recounts the fascinating natural experiment that arose when in 1840 the maternity wards at the Vienna General Hospital were divided into a clinic for medical students (all male) and a clinic for midwifery students (all female).    The mortality rate from childbed fever amongst the medical students was three times that among the midwives.  Semmelweis describes in these excerpts how he figured what caused this difference and how he eliminated it.  Unfortunately, Semmelweis was a man ahead of his time and the simple, but effective remedy he proposed - handwashing - was rejected by the hospital.  Julie Cwikel of Ben Gurion University of the Negev has written an article describing the contemporary relevance of Semmelweis for issues of maternal mortality.

Alison Katz of Independent WHO and our friends from Italian Global Watch have both written insightful articles about the current state of global health.  You can also read about the activities of MEDICC, an organization that fosters health cooperation between the US and Cuba.

We invite you to review the Table of Contents here and then visit our web site to review articles and items of interest.

Social Medicine
Vol 3, No 1 (2008)
Table of Contents
http://journals.sfu.ca/socialmedicine/index.php/socialmedicine/issue/view/21

Editorials
"New global health": A reversal of logic, history and principles (1-3)       Alison Katz

Classics in Social Medicine
The Etiology, Concept, and Prophylaxis of Childbed Fever (excerpts) (4-12)       Ignac Semmelweis

Social Medicine in Practice
MEDICC: Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba (13-18)       The Editors

Themes and Debates
Lessons from Semmelweis:A Social Epidemiologic Update On Safe Motherhood(19-35)       Julie Cwikel

>From Alma Ata to the Global Fund: The history of international health
policy (36-48)       Italian Global Health Watch

The Editors' Corner
Call for Papers: Special Issue on Health Care in Venezuela (49)        Editors

--
Matthew Anderson 
mailto:bronxdoc@gmail.com