How many infectious foreigners are entering the United Kingdom

"Stigmatising foreigners accessing NHS creates a public health risk" says Diane Abbott MP.

Can Ms Abbott please expand on this?

How many infectious foreigners are entering the United Kingdom and what are the diseases that they are bringing in? 

Lassa fever?  Necrotizing fasciitis?  Chagas disease?

London has been plagued recently by bed bugs that have come into the country from overseas, so we know that this is an area of concern to ordinary people.

And it must obviously be a significant issue for this to be raised by the Shadow Public Health Minister.

Just as an aside on this subject:  given the huge number of foreigners now working in restaurants in London, and given that the majority of the world's population are infected by parasites ("worms"), does it not follow that a large percentage of kitchen assistants and waiters/waitresses working in London have worms?  One hopes of course that stringent hygiene procedures are followed at all food establishments.  But considering the ease with which worm eggs can be conveyed from a dirty restaurant operative onto the food of a diner I am hoping that the Shadow Public Health Minister can ask some questions about this potential health threat.

Leprosy

Above: latest magazine from the Leprosy Mission.

Leprosy is a horrible disease, insidious in the way it spreads and devastating in the ruin it causes.

Untreated, it can lead to disability and blindness. In many parts of the world the disease is regarded with abhorrence, leading sufferers to experience isolation, prejudice and discrimination. Even in the United Kingdom the law treats leprosy sufferers unfairly.

Although there is no preventative vaccine available, leprosy can be cured with a multi-drug therapy.

Roughly a quarter of a million new patients are diagnosed each year, but many more do not seek treatment early enough because of the terrible social stigma they will experience.

Since it is possible to eradicate this disease entirely, it is unacceptable that more effort is not being made to do so. The British government should be supplying free multi-drug therapy wherever it is needed around the world, and also using diplomatic staff to engage with those countries that are not doing enough to end social exclusion of leprosy sufferers. The United Kingdom is a rich and relatively powerful nation, with considerable powers of organization and an extensive state health service that could be focussed outwards - would it be so expensive if we were to automatically enrol all leprosy sufferers, wherever they are in the world, into the NHS and give them a basic level of British diplomatic protection?

Generally you have to ask yourself - if we do not take up this cause, who will?

Campaign to end discrimination against leprosy sufferers in the United Kingdom:
http://www.leprosymission.org.uk/news_events/advocacy.aspx

Just on the subject of what should be Britain's role in the world, there was an interesting article in The Times today by Philip Collins. In my view one of the ways we can demonstrate leadership is by asserting as a fundamental human right access to health care free at the point of delivery. The NHS model may be represented throughout the world as "unaffordable" but somehow we manage to pay for it without too much trouble.

The solution lies in creating meaningful identities

Above: when the Coalition government came to power last year there were hopes that they would start to tackle the entrenched behaviour of binge drinking, especially among young people. Although heavy drinking had been an area of concern for decades, the previous Labour government unintentionally fuelled binge drinking through repeal of almost all drinking laws, expecting to create a "European cafe-style culture" where low-cost alcohol was freely available whenever and wherever someone wanted it. It soon became clear that the policy reforms had backfired and led to unrestricted uncontrolled drinking at levels dangerous to health.

At the same time the "night-time" economy quickly assumed prominence, especially in urban areas, and therefore the Labour administration hesitated to reverse its policy (plus an understandable reluctance to admit they were wrong, and a practical inability to take away a freedom once it has been granted).



Above: article in The Times in August 2010 where Sam Lister and Marcus Leroux present a very troubling statistical picture of the impact heavy drinking is having on society. I have reread this article several times over the last five months. 860,000 hospital admissions per year caused by drinking (up 69% on 2003), a 500% increase in mortality from alcohol-related liver disease, an annual total cost to the nation (through drink-related crimes; absent days from work; costs to the NHS etc) of £50 billion.



Above: article in today's Guardian by Denis Campbell, reporting on a survey published today that reveals the terrible effects excessive alcohol consumption is having, particularly on young people.



Above: the solution to binge drinking is usually seen as higher retail prices, and this policy is being tested in Scotland. However, I am not entirely convinced. Recently I read Violent Night, Urban Leisure and Contemporary Culture by Simon Winlow and Steve Hall.

Some quotes:

There are serious problems besetting young people - anxiety, drugs, violence, suicide, loss of traditional forms of identity, consumer pressure.

In the past society was comprehensible by the majority of individuals, especially in terms of functional roles, identities, and transitions into adulthood.

Today "society" has been replaced by "consumerism" - a megalithic system whose principle political-economic strategy is to infiltrate the dreams and desires of the individual and promise their easy fulfilment in the shape of exotic and seductive lifestyles.

The imagery of the night-time economy has become the exclusive signifier of a pleasureable and hedonistic experience, attracting millions of young people into a mutually understood realm of excess, freedom and debauchery predicated upon the physical delights of sex, drugs and dance, and spiced even further with the risk of violence or some sort of encounter with the law.

In idealized "nights out" entire friendship groups appear to be in the mood for good times, jokes are funnier, alcohol and atmosphere more intoxicating, the music is better, the opposite sex more attractive etc.

There are serious forms of anxiety in youth cultures regarding the construction of identity in a cultural world where the ability to see oneself as part of a broad historical process has been virtually eliminated.

Therefore it doesn't look as if higher prices is going to solve the problem of binge drinking.

The solution lies in creating meaningful identities for young people as "part of a broad historical process" (in other words creating a mythological narrative to replace the one created by consumerism).