Peter Byass

"Please mind the gap..." is a familiar warning for all London Underground passengers! But it is becoming an increasingly important refrain in global health - gaps in geography, wealth and medicine lead to real disadvantage and discrimination for many in terms of living healthy lives.

Despite the amazing sophistication of today's world, many people are born, live and die without even being counted. Billions of tweets and e-mails circulate in cyberspace, but meanwhile we can't even count human beings properly? Incredible, but true. "Born, lived and died - but counted or not?" is...

I first visited Vietnam around 20 years ago - at a time when almost everyone travelled by bicycle, and the whole country operated in a somewhat austere style. Having been back regularly since then, I've seen the bicycles transforming into motorbikes, and more recently the motorbikes into cars. And not...

According to the best estimates of the United Nations and other agencies, our world's population is on the point of exceeding 7 billion for the first time - more than a doubling of population in my lifetime. But although we've a fairly good idea of how many people...

Many people in the world have no idea about dengue fever, while others are all too aware of its dangers and maybe even live in fear of its potentially fatal consequences. Since there is no specific vaccine or treatment for dengue fever, tools for preventing and controlling outbreaks are an...

We're hearing more and more in the media about the UN General Assembly meeting on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), which will take place in New York on 19-20th September. Scientists and researchers are grappling with the technical issues, politicians and diplomats are engaging with economic and policy matters. But...

We have all become used to seeing sad headlines about the numbers of people dying from HIV/AIDS. Current global estimates are well over one million per year. But have you ever asked yourself the question "Who's counting?". The truth is... at the individual level, nobody.

When scientists talk about "estimates",...

Technological capacity for producing graphics has mushroomed in recent years, and the consequences are obvious across all the media. Every newspaper, television bulletin and website tries to wow us with clever illustrations of their key messages, which are increasingly being called "infographics". But do they help, or are they simply...

All around the world mental health care tends to get marginalised - and globally Africa always gets marginalised - so the combination of mental health and Africa must be one of the most neglected subjects imaginable! But there are encouraging signs: Dr. Cathy Abbo, from the Department of Psychiatry at...

Historically, many diseases were first recognised in a particular place and later found on a wider basis. For coeliac disease and gluten intolerance, it's only fairly recently that the problem has been recognised globally, outside western Europe and north America. Data are still very scarce on a global scale, but...