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China's HIV/AIDS outbreak among blood donors is arguably the worst medically-caused HIV/AIDS epidemic in the world. The outbreak started among the rural poor who sold their blood in an unregulated [...]

Although recent studies have shown that the diets of homeless adults, especially men, are inadequate, few studies have examined the dietary intakes of homeless children and women. The purpose of this study was to assess the adequacy of the diets of sheltered homeless families and to compare it with that of a low-income but nonhomeless population. The dietary intakes of homeless families (n = 135) staying at shelters and motels were compared with the intakes of low-income families who used free community meal sites (n = 129) in Wisconsin. In addition, the diets of homeless families staying in shelters were compared with the dietary intakes of homeless families living in motels. The diets of homeless adults and children were found to be more adequate than were the diets of the nonhomeless comparison group. Adults in homeless families staying at motels had poorer intakes than did adults staying at shelters, but this difference was not found for their children. Shelter directors reported that they often have difficulty providing appealing but nutritious meals within the constraints of the various meal service methods they used. Shelter foodservice staff should be viewed as an important target group for nutrition education interventions.

The responses of Rwandan women in a highland region to their own and their children's illness episodes are examined. Over 85% of diarrhea cases from monthly morbidity recalls were treated by health-center visits, use of Western medicine, or no treatment. Factors such as the age of the child at the time of the illness, previous child death in the household, and the women's control of various categories of household expenditures exert some influence on health-seeking behavior, according to results of cross-tabulations. Women at the highest altitudes tend to respond less actively to children's diarrhea, possibly because of the relative difficulty of their journey to the health center. Recommendations are offered for policy and further study.

Hunger in the U.S. Brown, J.L. Scientific American 256:35-41, 1987. In the 1980s a series of program changes that reduced and modified the benefits available preceded a rise in people seeking emergency food, as noted by churches and social service agencies. Physicians also noticed an increase in hungry patients and an increase in illnesses associated with hunger, including anemia and poor growth. A series of reports began to document the phenomenon, including those by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and the Physician Task Force on Hunger in America. The consequences of inadequate food and malnutrition are serious for pregnant women, infants, children and the elderly. The poor standing of the U.S. in infant mortality rates compared with that of other industrialized countries (the U.S. ranks 18th) persists. Poor growth measures of children in Massachusetts are associated with children in low income families. The association between poverty and hunger persists, and appears to be related to the condition of the nation's safety net, the economic recession, and cutbacks in food programs. The absence of health insurance for all families and the states with limited AFDC programs are examples of the weakened net. Although these are times of economic stress, the federal government has cut food assistance programs through rule changes, especially the food stamp program and the school nutrition program.

Abstract Background Despite Thailand's official reclassification of drug users as "patients" deserving care and not "criminals," the Thai government has continued to rely heavily on punitive responses to drug use such as "boot camp"-style compulsory "treatment" centers. There is very little research on experiences with compulsory treatment centers among people who use drugs. The work reported here is a first step toward filling that gap. Methods We examined experiences of compulsory drug treatment among 252 Thai people who inject drugs (IDU) participating in the Mitsampan Community Research Project in Bangkok. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify factors independently associated with a history of compulsory treatment experience. Results In total, 80 (31.7%) participants reported a history of compulsory treatment. In multivariate analyses, compulsory drug detention experience was positively associated with current spending on drugs per day (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 1.86; 95%CI: 1.07 - 3.22) and reporting drug planting by police (AOR = 1.81; 95%CI: 1.04 - 3.15). Among those with compulsory treatment experience, 77 (96.3%) reported injecting in the past week, and no difference in intensity of drug use was observed between those with and without a history of compulsory detention. Conclusion These findings raise concerns about the current approach to compulsory drug detention in Thailand. Exposure to compulsory drug detention was associated with police abuse and high rates of relapse into drug use, although additional research is needed to determine the precise impact of exposure to this form of detention on future drug use. More broadly, compulsory "treatment" based on a penal approach is not consistent with scientific evidence on addressing drug addiction and should be phased out in favor of evidence-based interventions.

Background: Despite Thailand's commitment to treating people who use drugs as 'patients' not 'criminals,' Thai authorities continue to emphasize criminal law enforcement for drug control. In 2003, Thailand's drug war received international criticism due to extensive human rights violations. However, few studies have since investigated the impact of policing on drug-using populations. Therefore, we sought to examine experiences with policing among people who inject drugs (PWID) in Bangkok, Thailand, between 2008 and 2012. Methods and Findings: Between July 2011 and June 2012, semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with 42 community-recruited PWID participating in the Mitsampan Community Research Project in Bangkok. Interviews explored PWID's encounters with police during the past three years. Audio-recorded interviews were transcribed verbatim, and a thematic analysis was conducted to document the character of PWID's experiences with police. Respondents indicated that policing activities had noticeably intensified since rapid urine toxicology screening became available to police. Respondents reported various forms of police misconduct, including false accusations, coercion of confessions, excessive use of force, and extortion of money. However, respondents were reluctant to report misconduct to the authorities in the face of social and structural barriers to seeking justice. Respondents' strategies to avoid police impeded access to health care and facilitated transitions towards the misuse of prescribed pharmaceuticals. The study's limitations relate to the transferability of the findings, including the potential biases associated with the small convenience sample. Conclusions: This study suggests that policing in Bangkok has involved injustices, human rights abuses, and corruption, and policing practices in this setting appeared to have increased PWID's vulnerability to poor health through various pathways. Novel to this study are findings pertaining to the use of urine drug testing by police, which highlight the potential for widespread abuse of this emerging technology. These findings raise concern about ongoing policing practices in this setting. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary., Introduction In many countries, repressive criminal law enforcement is the dominant strategy for drug control [1]. However, a growing body of research has suggested that aggressive policing such as crackdowns [...]

Families with children makeup 38% of the homeless population in the United States, an 11% increase from 1985 to 1996, and children account for 27% of homeless Americans (1). Iron [...]