Since over half of the world's population now live in cities, it has become important to monitor the inequities in health that exist within cities worldwide. This month the PLOS Medicine Editors discuss how to generate useful health inequity indicators, and some hazards specific to urban environments—both the obvious and the subtle—with a focus on air quality. The Editors examine the lack of correlation between the size of a city and its air quality, noting that the strength of environmental laws and the accountability of the country's government have a greater impact on urban air quality than a city's size. As the association between hazardous air particulates and adverse effects on health is now well established, the Editors argue that we need to ensure air quality data are truly representative of the quality of air breathed by all city-dwellers, including those working in industrial “hot spots.” The Editors also express their concern about the effects on the quality and transparency of data that national embarrassment over air pollution can produce. Air quality data must be made available transparently if the imbalance in urban health equity is to be redressed, they argue.
Image Credit: David Evers at flickr.com
Editorial
The Air That We Breathe: Addressing the Risks of Global Urbanization on Health
PLOS Medicine: published August 28, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001301
Essays
Challenges for HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis among Men Who Have Sex with Men in the United States
PLOS Medicine: published August 21, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001286
What Is the Relationship of Medical Humanitarian Organisations with Mining and Other Extractive Industries?
PLOS Medicine: published August 28, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001302
Perspective
What Is the Optimal First Line Antiretroviral Therapy in Resource-Limited Settings?
PLOS Medicine: published August 14, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001291
Related Articles
Health in Action
Developing and Costing Local Strategies to Improve Maternal and Child Health: The Investment Case Framework
PLOS Medicine: published August 7, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001282
Policy Forums
Why We Need Urban Health Equity Indicators: Integrating Science, Policy, and Community
PLOS Medicine: published August 14, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001285
Legal Disputes over Duties to Disclose Treatment Risks to Patients: A Review of Negligence Claims and Complaints in Australia
PLOS Medicine: published August 7, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001283
An Alternative Framework for Analyzing Financial Protection in Health
PLOS Medicine: published August 21, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001294
Reviews
Child Mortality Estimation: Accelerated Progress in Reducing Global Child Mortality, 1990–2010
PLOS Medicine: published August 28, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001303
Child Mortality Estimation: Methods Used to Adjust for Bias due to AIDS in Estimating Trends in Under-Five Mortality
PLOS Medicine: published August 28, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001298
Research Articles
Efficacy and Safety of Three Antiretroviral Regimens for Initial Treatment of HIV-1: A Randomized Clinical Trial in Diverse Multinational Settings
PLOS Medicine: published August 14, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001290
Related Articles
The Role of HIV-Related Stigma in Utilization of Skilled Childbirth Services in Rural Kenya: A Prospective Mixed-Methods Study
PLOS Medicine: published August 21, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001295
Feasibility, Yield, and Cost of Active Tuberculosis Case Finding Linked to a Mobile HIV Service in Cape Town, South Africa: A Cross-sectional Study
PLOS Medicine: published August 7, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001281
Multidrug Resistant Pulmonary Tuberculosis Treatment Regimens and Patient Outcomes: An Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis of 9,153 Patients
PLOS Medicine: published August 28, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001300
Related Articles
Effects of Intensive Blood Pressure Lowering on Cardiovascular and Renal Outcomes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
PLOS Medicine: published August 21, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001293
Neonatal Mortality Risk Associated with Preterm Birth in East Africa, Adjusted by Weight for Gestational Age: Individual Participant Level Meta-Analysis
PLOS Medicine: published August 14, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001292
Diagnosing Severe Falciparum Malaria in Parasitaemic African Children: A Prospective Evaluation of Plasma PfHRP2 Measurement
PLOS Medicine: published August 21, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001297
Conflict of Interest Reporting by Authors Involved in Promotion of Off-Label Drug Use: An Analysis of Journal Disclosures
PLOS Medicine: published August 7, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001280
Child Mortality Estimation: Appropriate Time Periods for Child Mortality Estimates from Full Birth Histories
PLOS Medicine: published August 28, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001289
Child Mortality Estimation: Consistency of Under-Five Mortality Rate Estimates Using Full Birth Histories and Summary Birth Histories
PLOS Medicine: published August 28, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001296
Child Mortality Estimation: A Global Overview of Infant and Child Mortality Age Patterns in Light of New Empirical Data
PLOS Medicine: published August 28, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001299
Child Mortality Estimation: Estimating Sex Differences in Childhood Mortality since the 1970s
PLOS Medicine: published August 28, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001287
Child Mortality Estimation: A Comparison of UN IGME and IHME Estimates of Levels and Trends in Under-Five Mortality Rates and Deaths
PLOS Medicine: published August 28, 2012 | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1001288