Prevention Matters

A campaign using the World Cup to push for action against malaria was named Partnership for Prevention’s “Best Prevention Idea of the Week,” while doctors’ reported failure to advise cancer patients about smoking cessation was named “Worst Prevention Idea of the Week.”

The Best/Worst Idea awards are a regular feature of Prevention Matters, the blog of Partnership for Prevention. Each week, Partnership for Prevention's staff will choose the designees based on nominations of items in the previous week's news submitted by members, staff and the public at large. To submit a nomination or for more information, contact Damon Thompson at dthompson@prevent.org.

NOTE: After we recently awarded “Best Idea” honors to a Virginia health care system for instituting a drive-through flu shot program, we received word that it was not the first instance of such a program. We congratulate those who have also done such drive-throughs, and assure you that we meant no disrespect. Our honors are based upon nominations that we receive, and we hope anyone with an idea that is worth considering will let us know about it so we can put it to our staff for review.

Soccer players are teaming up with governments, companies and international health campaigners to push for action against malaria ahead of next year's World Cup finals in South Africa. The 'United Against Malaria' campaign, which will start next month and run until the end of the World Cup, has won the backing of singer Bono, actress Ashley Judd and philanthropist Melinda Gates, wife of Microsoft founder Bill. Players such as U.S. captain Landon Donovan and the Ivory Coast team have already said they are behind the campaign, while other prominent footballers backing the movement will be revealed when the campaign is officially launched. Malaria, which spreads through the bites from infected mosquitoes, kills nearly one million people a year, almost all in Africa where a child dies from the disease every 30 seconds. The United Nations is trying to get universal access to diagnostic tests, mosquito nets and malaria medicine as part of its bid to cut the number of deaths to zero by 2015.

In a study of cancer survivors, more than a quarter who smoke say they didn't receive any advice about quitting from their healthcare provider. Researchers examined evaluations from 1,825 men and women, average age 67, who took part in the 2005 National Health Interview Survey, an annual U.S. health survey. All the participants had been diagnosed with cancer at least one year prior, and they reported on their current smoking patterns. A vast majority of all study participants -- 95% -- said they had visited their healthcare provider in the last year, but less than half (41%) said they had been asked about their smoking habits.