Review of Health Trends in 2014 and 2015 Projections

• Author: Otmar Kloiber,Edward Septimus,Arnauld Nicogossian,Bonnie Stabile,Thomas Zimmerman
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/wmh3.125
• Published date: 01 March 2015
• Date: 01 March 2015

Editorial

Review of Health Trends in 2014 and 2015 Projections

Arnauld Nicogossian, Otmar Kloiber, Bonnie Stabile, Edward Septimus,

and Thomas Zimmerman

The editors of World Medical & Health Policy would like to welcome you to

this f‌irst 2015 issue and thank you for your past contributions. We continue to

receive an increasing number of manuscripts, and hope that our readers, peer

reviewers, and editors will continue to submit their research to our journal.

In retrospect, 2014 was a year of many breakthroughs and advances in

biomedicine and global health. Even with persisting shortages of skilled health

workers, the number of deaths among children continues to decline. New cases of

HIV and tuberculosis infections are dropping. Globally, homicide rates are

decreasing. Modest gains in reducing the incidence of healthcare associated/

acquired infections are being achieved. Access to better sanitation and potable

water is improving, and the rate of malnutrition is declining.

Despite these gains, major medical and public health policy concerns, related

to human rights and biosecurity, persist and will continue affect communities

health in 2015. Three of them may highlight the new types of challenges to the

health community:

1. Violence against women and children is on the rise. The World Health

Organization (WHO) estimates that one in four children, and one in six girls,

are physically and sexually abused; one in three women are at risk of falling

victim to physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence.

2. The 2014–2015 season inf‌luenza vaccine does not match the genetically drifted

strain of AH3N2 (A/Switzerland/9715293) virus. The correct virus strains,

based on the WHO recommendations, were included in the Southern

Hemisphere vaccine, but not for the Northern Hemisphere vaccines. H3N2

viruses were predominant during the 2003–2004, 2007–2008, and 2012–2013

seasons. All three seasons had high mortality levels. As of January 2015, WHO

reports increasing inf‌luenza activity in the Northern Hemisphere. The Centers

World Medical & Health Policy, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2015

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1948-4682 #2015 Policy Studies Organization

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