News

News in brief 2

The World Health Assembly in Geneva adopted the first ever global public health treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) three weeks after the US wrote to all 191 WHO member states urging the inclusion of a clause allowing governments to opt out of any part of the treaty they found unacceptable.

ASH, the anti-tobacco campaign, is calling for the agreement to be ratified by the next World Health Assembly in 2004.

• www.ash.org.uk

Mind, the mental health charity, has welcomed the guidance issued by NICE on the use of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). NICE recommends that ECT should only be given as a last resort and/or when the condition is considered potentially life-threatening and there should be valid consent, without coercion, whenever the individual has the ability to grant or refuse consent.

• www.nice.org.uk

Customers in England can now order up to 30 free copies of all NHS Health Development Agency publications, and those outside the country can download them free from the website. The HDA’s forthcoming titles include evidence briefings on the promotion of breastfeeding, prevention of HIV transmission, depression in later life and accidental injuries in children and older people.

• www.hda.nhs.uk

NHS chief executive Sir Nigel Crisp is calling on senior staff, including chief executives of NHS trusts and other health bodies, to reveal their pay for 2002-03 in the annual accounts published in September.

Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, says a significant number have exercised their right to withhold this information under the 1998 Data Protection Act.