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The prevailing views on the role of public health professionals refer to professionals in the academic world, without taking into account the fact that many public health professionals are government employees. For example, the American Public Health Association states that public health professionals play an active role in communicating public health information to nonscientific audiences, such as the general population or the mass media. We propose that public health officials have an important responsibility to promote the practice of public health. However, they must do so within the bureaucracy. Any actions that public health officials wish to take as advocates of particular public health activities should be carried out independent of their role as government officials. (Am J Public Health. 2007;97:S93-S97. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2006.094623) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge of prevalence of illegal drug injection can aid the design and evaluation of services for problem drug users. In this study, prevalence of recent injectors in Spain was estimated with a multiplier method using the number of injectors in a population register of new HIV diagnoses, HIV incidence among injectors from cohort studies and HIV prevalence among injectors in a drug treatment register. Prevalence in 2008 was 38.8 (95% CI 23.8–53.8) per 100 000 population, a 2.8 times reduction compared with 2001. This method permits estimation of both prevalence and trends of drug injection. It is sustainable and routinely applicable in many countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]