The BMJ Collections

In this collection, experts from China shed light on the current state and challenges of non-communicable chronic disease prevention and control and discuss future strategies for tackling the problem.

In this collection, experts explore priorities for the research community in a post-covid context to help the UK better prepare for future health shocks of all kinds and to mitigate their impact on healthcare practice and health outcomes.

Experts from China analyse the current state of women’s health; review achievements and remaining challenges in the contexts of women’s empowerment and rights, labour force participation, and family and community dynamics; and make recommendations for promoting women’s future health, with a focus on sexual and reproductive health.

Gender equality in the health workforce has been repeatedly called for worldwide, but with little global progress and a lack of deep examination within countries. In this collection, a special focus on India and Kenya is undertaken, with new evidence and analysis considering a range of factors driving equality of opportunity for women’s health careers.

This collection aims to stimulate debate among policymakers, researchers, and communities on how to create healthy societies by considering the political economy, whole of society approaches, and social movements.

The covid-19 burden in the US was among the worst globally and the response followed a uniquely American path — fragmented public health responsibilities across federal and state jurisdictions, chronic underinvestment in public health, absence of social safety nets and workplace protections, insufficient legal infrastructure, and long standing social and income inequalities, underpinned by structural racism.

How can we draw insights from research conducted using social media to understand its effects on beliefs and behaviours around vaccination, and to influence population health outcomes? This collection brings together research examining the diverse relationships between social media use and vaccination beliefs and behaviours globally.

The space given to self care in health policies and national healthcare does not acknowledge how people take care of their health nor the potential self care has for improving health and wellbeing. However, recent years have seen growing interest in the production of evidence reviews and guidelines for self care.This collection of articles focuses on self care interventions for sexual and reproductive health and rights, informing upcoming WHO normative guidance, and recognising the importance of self care as an integral component of the health system that can support people.

How do we maintain a healthy diet to avoid cardiometabolic disease, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes? How does the science and politics of food intertwine to influence our understanding of nutrition and cardiometabolic health? Nutrition is an important part of a public health response to prevent and treat cardiometabolic disease, yet there are major uncertainties and debates in this field.

This BMJ Series calls for a national inquiry and accountability for the failings in Canada’s response to Covid-19 and to forge a better path forward for pandemic preparedness and investment in public health systems.

What does decolonising health and knowledge mean in practical terms for medical professionals, educators, researchers, and journals? Who and what is missing from the current agenda? What institutional leadership and action are needed to drive change?

This collection presents how health and care services can create lasting transformation and tackle long standing problems in the design and delivery of care, and shows that improvement efforts are needed to not only prepare for future challenges, but to fulfil long-term aspirations for health and care services.

This collection of articles examines how the HTA process has evolved in China to decide which new treatments should be funded and help negotiate an affordable price, as well as identifying those that should be discontinued.

This collection provides instructive insights on how a collaborative feminist and decolonial approach can be used to develop the shared global research agenda.

This collection explores themes from health workforce education to implementation research to highlight opportunities to strengthen integrated NCD and MNCH care models in LMICs.

This collection offers critical thinking on both the unfinished agenda and emerging priorities for improving quality of care in low- and middle-income countries.

This collection examines how the domains of adolescent well-being impact on future outcomes, and how these can be supported and promoted by evidence-based policymaking and programming.

This collection of articles considers two key questions. First, to what extent do we understand the relations between food systems and human health, and the risks emerging from climate change? Second, what should we do about them?

This collection of articles considers two key ways of empowering patients through digital means. First, by giving patients access to their own medical records. Second, by rapidly developing decision aids to support patients in making informed choices about their health.

This series of articles analyses the successes and failures of the pandemic response in the UK, how information was misused, abused, and manipulated, and how politicians used, and failed to use, evidence in response to the covid-19 pandemic.

This collection of articles analyses the progress of developing high quality research studies on acupuncture, summarises the current status, and provides critical methodological guidance regarding the production of clinical evidence on randomised controlled trials, clinical practice guidelines and health economic evidence.

This collection of articles analyses the ‘mega trends’ that will shape the rest of this century and the complex interplay between them, including how they are reshaping our global health landscape.

In two years, the covid-19 pandemic has swept the entire globe and caused over 250 million infections and five million deaths, despite unprecedented efforts to stop it. China was the first country affected and held the world’s interest as it battled to understand and contain the new pathogen.

This collection comprises unparalleled analyses of 28 high, middle and low-income country responses to covid-19 and draws on the work and analysis of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response.

We must seize the opportunity to get global preparedness and response in order. A new global agreement on pandemic preparedness and response can protect current and future generations from a global crisis of this kind occurring again.

The international movement pushing to increase transparency by giving patients easy access to their health information parallels a broader shift in healthcare towards increased patient empowerment and participation.

It is lamentable that it has taken a pandemic for the world to see nurses’ value to society, in terms of health and wealth. This collection of BMJ articles, commissioned by World Innovation Summit for Health, explores the evidence available to inform individual nurses, the profession, and policy makers as they reinvent nursing for a post-covid world, including practicable recommendations for ways forward.

Nearly one year after covid-19 was declared a pandemic, the remarkable improvements seen over the past two decades in child and adolescent survival risk reversal. The WHO and UNICEF have initiated efforts to reorient their child health strategy, shifting attention towards a life course perspective and away from a previous exclusive focus on under-5 survival.

AI, a core technology of the fourth industrial revolution, is an important non-medical intervention to overcome the current global health crisis, to build next-generation epidemic preparedness, and to move towards a resilient recovery.

This collection on Increasing the Impact of Health Research through Co-production of Knowledge provides an overview of the evolution, potential, influence, learning and challenges in co-producing evidence to inform decision making in health policy and practice, and points to the core principles which should underpin it.

The covid-19 pandemic is a stark reminder of the importance of equity and solidarity. As we move forward, it is vital that we explore the drivers of the pandemic, learn from the global response, and become more prepared for the future.

Meeting the health and nutritional needs of women and children is particularly difficult in conflict settings due to violence and insecurity faced by both care seekers and providers. Recognising the devastating effects of conflict on women and children, this collection of systematic reviews provides insight into intervention delivery to conflict-affected women and children, and an assessment of the publicly available guidance for promoting health and nutrition.

Many children experience levels of adversity that give rise to toxic stress. Contributors may include war, natural disasters, and displacement, as well as poverty, violence at home, family breakdown–and the effects of the covid-19 pandemic. This collection, commissioned in partnership with WISH, suggests ways forward.

Increases in water scarcity and urbanisation are two of today’s great global health challenges. Dryness, a longstanding reality in much of the world, is becoming increasingly severe and widespread. It is in these contexts that cities face other challenges related to climate change, public health threats. This collection, commissioned in partnership with WISH, shows that healthy dry cities are eminently achievable with the right policies, institutions, technologies, and space for innovation.

In recent decades, the worldwide burden of infectious disease has fallen, thanks to sanitation, hygiene, and prevention and control efforts. But the covid-19 pandemic shows how great a threat to global health remains. This collection, commissioned in partnership with WISH, considers the key threats and showcases evidence informed solutions to monitor, prevent, and control outbreaks.

Twenty-five years after the international community adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action for Women, its commitments and actions are still relevant for promoting women’s health and addressing new and emerging threats.

This collection takes a closer look at the progress of different political systems achieving universal health coverage, explanations for the links between democracy and health, and what measures must be undertaken to better “pandemic proof” this political system.

What is brain health, why is it important, and how we can better prevent and treat brain disorders to improve health across the world? The articles analyse the impact of major neurological disorders on brain health, and discuss how these disorders might be treated and prevented.

How do we maintain a healthy diet? The question is simple, the answer is long, and one which many of us clearly get wrong. We know nutrition is one of the key drivers of chronic disease; yet there is great controversy as to what constitutes a healthy diet and how we should encourage individuals to eat well.

The BMJ in partnership with and funded by The Health Foundation have launched a joint series of papers exploring how to improve the quality of healthcare delivery. This series discusses the evidence for systematic quality improvement, provide knowledge and support to clinicians and ultimately to help improve care for patients.

Understanding the role of hospitals in community wellbeing, the wider social determinants of health, urban planning and the obesogenic environment are all crucial for building healthier communities.

The Anthropocene epoch is characterised by the dominance of humans over the global environment. We hope this special series will raise awareness of the threats to humanity and natural systems in the Anthropocene epoch, but more importantly will inspire creative and far sighted responses to our era’s pressing challenges.

Is leaving no one behind just rhetoric, or is it leading to measurable change? In this collection of articles leading researchers from around the world explore the data on health inequalities in an attempt to answer this question. One third of the way through the SDG era, what will it take to ensure that no woman, child or adolescent is left behind?

There are many public health problems for which there are no treatments. Drug development pipelines are full but mostly focus on potentially profitable diseases that mainly affect high-income countries. In short, the free market does not effectively provide affordable access to medicines for all. This collection of articles outlines evidence and further research that is needed to balance affordability and innovation of medicines.

This BMJ collection contains original research and analysis about the impacts of financial conflicts of interest across research, education, practice and policy, and about the global moves to freedom from commercial influence. The aim of the collection is to encourage the production and use of more trustworthy evidence, and tackle the current epidemic of medical excess.

The BMJ in partnership with The Harvard Global Health Institute has launched a collection of articles exploring how to achieve effective universal health coverage (UHC). The collection highlights the importance of quality in UHC, potential finance models, how best to incentivise stakeholders, and some of the barriers to true UHC.

Anti-immigrant rhetoric permeates today’s political discourse and soaks through much of society. In this highly politicized context, dominated by debates on immigration and border control, understanding and tackling what affects the health of migrants, their families, and communities is often overlooked and underserved. These gaps in understanding the relation between migration and health remain a challenge that policymakers, practitioners, civil society, and researchers must collectively embrace.

We live in critical times for global health. Big gains made during the millennium development goals era, including a halving of child mortality from 1990 to 2015, fuelled optimism about unabated—or even accelerated—progress. We hear talk of the end of AIDS, universal health coverage by 2030, and a pandemic-free world. But in the current political climate these outcomes are a distant dream. Our era is one of retrenchment and disinvestment in global health, throwing cold water on utopian rhetoric and threatening to reverse recent gains.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) constitute a major global health challenge, hampering nations’ economic growth and sustainable development. This new collection issue brings together a wide and diverse author group, to focus on key issues and suggest scalable solutions to accelerate the implementation of the high level commitments made in the three UN general assembly meetings, seeking to cover the major issues in prevention and control of NCDs, and to provide a holistic perspective on the current challenges and scope of future action to tackle NCDs and improve health worldwide.

The sustainable development goals set a target to end epidemics of neglected tropical diseases by the year 2030. Neglected tropical diseases mainly comprise infectious diseases seen in subtropical and tropical regionsm with over one billion people affected worldwide. South Asia has a unique role to play in combating these diseases, given the high disease burden and regional expertise in end-to-end solutions, from drug discovery and clinical studies through to regulation, manufacture and distribution. This collection of articles highlights successes of public health programmes in neglected diseases in South Asia and explores outstanding issues requiring supportive policy and research.

Analysis of factors that contribute to progress in reducing maternal and child mortality suggests that action from sectors beyond health have a profound influence. Recognition of the value of collaboration between sectors is embedded in the sustainable development goal (SDG) targets. However, there is little formal understanding of the general principles that contribute to effective multisectoral collaboration for health. This collection of articles includes twelve country case studies, each an evaluation of multisectoral collaboration in action at scale on maternal, neonatal, and child health, collectively informing and drawing together lessons learned in achieving effective multisectoral collaboration.

With global governance and global health at a turning point, this collection of articles looks at major disruptions that have shaped global health to make it the field it is today, before moving on to look at major disruptions under way at present that are radically changing the face of contemporary global health. Each piece pinpoints the nature, immediate effects, and long term impact of each disruption.

The Alma Ata declaration of 1978 was a pivotal moment in public health, stating primary healthcare would be essential to obtaining the goal of “Health for All” by the year 2000. That vision proved to be a mirage, yet a renewed commitment by WHO and the United Nations to universal health coverage means that 40 years later, the approach championed by the Alma Ata declaration remains an enlightened and forward thinking blueprint for countries striving to achieve health for all. In support of these principles and to further the debate, this special collection brings together content on the progress and future of primary healthcare.

Over the past quarter of a century, child mortality has more than halved. Yet in 2016, globally, an estimated 5.6 million children died before reaching their 5th birthday, most from readily preventable, treatable conditions. Two decades ago, Integrated Management of Childhood Illnesses (IMCI) was introduced by the World Health Organization and Unicef as a global strategy to “reach all children” with prevention, diagnosis and treatment for common childhood illnesses. This collection of articles describes findings from the strategic review of IMCI and iCCM, seeking to provide thoughtful, transparent, evidence based examination of past measures and current best practices, and to consider future needs when rethinking global and national child health strategies.

This collection brings together some of the world’s most thoughtful and influential voices in the field of nutrition and health, representing a range of backgrounds and perspectives, to help make sense of the state of current knowledge, the quality of the evidence on key issues, the extent and implications of potential disagreements between experts, and the agenda for further research.

Strengthening research for health in the Americas

This collection explores how this research can drive effective and efficient health systems across the Americas, and offer insights and perspectives on developments and challenges following the implementation of these policies.

China's health system reforms: review of 10 years of progress

This collection with Peking University analyses the achievements and challenges of the 2009 health system reforms and outlines next steps in improving China's health.

Medical research in China

This BMJ collection analyses progress in the evolution of Chinese medical research in four important areas—evidence informed policy, guidelines development, real world evidence, and big data.

Assisted dying

The BMJ's collection of papers on assisted dying covers a wide range of personal, professional, and religious opinion on a controversial subject that divides doctors, the general public, and parliaments' representatives worldwide .

Accelerating achievement of the sustainable development goals

This collection examines ways in which cross sectoral working, and wider societal engagement are necessary to successfully achieve the sustainable development goals.

Antimicrobial resistance in South East Asia

This collection provides an overview of the political, social, and economic problems caused by AMR in the WHO South East Asia region.

The World Bank and financing global health

This collection provides an overview of the World Bank’s evolving role in global health and follows on from The BMJ's 1999 series on the World Bank by discussing changes in global health governance since the millennium.