PLoS medicine
-
Kumanan Rasanathan and colleagues argue that the potential of multisectoral collaboration for improving health remains untapped in many low- and middle-income countries.
-
In an Essay to highlight World Health Day 2017, Vikram Patel proposes a staged model, from wellness to distress to disorder, for classifying depressive symptoms.
-
Margaret McNairy and colleagues highlight the need for clinical decision tools to help identify HIV patients who would benefit from tailored services to avoid poor outcomes such as death and loss to follow-up.
-
Three members of PLOS Medicine's editorial board who are leading researchers in implementation science define the characteristics of high-quality studies and invite their submission to the journal.
-
Taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) meant to improve health and raise revenue are being adopted, yet evaluation is scarce. This study examines the association of the first penny per ounce SSB excise tax in the United States, in Berkeley, California, with beverage prices, sales, store revenue/consumer spending, and usual beverage intake. ⋯ One year following implementation of the nation's first large SSB tax, prices of SSBs increased in many, but not all, settings, SSB sales declined, and sales of untaxed beverages (especially water) and overall study beverages rose in Berkeley; overall consumer spending per transaction in the stores studied did not rise. Price increases for SSBs in two distinct data sources, their timing, and the patterns of change in taxed and untaxed beverage sales suggest that the observed changes may be attributable to the tax. Post-tax self-reported SSB intake did not change significantly compared to baseline. Significant declines in SSB sales, even in this relatively affluent community, accompanied by revenue used for prevention suggest promise for this policy. Evaluation of taxation in jurisdictions with more typical SSB consumption, with controls, is needed to assess broader dietary and potential health impacts.