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Social marketing programs that market and distribute subsidized contraceptives in developing countries do not make money, nor are they intended to. Indeed, attempts to make them profitable have generally undermined the effectiveness of such programs, particularly in very poor countries (Harvey, 1999, pp. 213-225). The purpose of such programs is to make contraceptives available to even the lowest-income people in developing country markets and, as such, subsidization of overall project activities will always be required. Indeed, contraceptive services, along with health services in general, are subsidized for low-income people in industrialized countries, leading one expert to suggest that it is "patently absurd" to withdraw contraceptive subsidies "for people who struggle to survive on a dollar a day" (The Lancet Eds., 1990, p. 659). However, there are numerous parties involved in contraceptive social marketing (CSM) projects in the countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin American that do make money from their role in social marketing, and these businesses and entrepreneurs benefit significantly from the parts they play. Such private businesses include, most prominently, advertising agencies, product distribution firms, market research firms, and ancillary businesses like vehicle manufacturers and importers, makers of promotional paraphernalia - from calendars to pens to T-shirts, and others.

The schizophrenia research community, including government, industry, and academia, has made development of procognitive treatment strategies a priority. Much current research is directed at dividing broad impairments in cognition into more delineated components that might correspond to relatively specific neural systems and serve as targets for intervention. Sometimes overlooked in this ambitious agenda is the substantial neuropsychological literature that signals a more broadly generalized dysfunction in higher order cognitive functions in this illness. In this article, we argue that a generalized cognitive deficit is at the core of the disorder, is not a methodological artifact, and deserves more focused consideration from cognitive specialists in the field. Further, we weigh evidence that this broad deficit may have systemic biological underpinnings. At the level of the central nervous system, examples of findings that might help to account for broad cognitive impairment include gray and white matter irregularities, poor signal integration by neurons and neural networks, and abnormalities in glutamate and γ-aminobutyric acid neurotransmission. Other, more speculative hypotheses focus on even broader somatic systems, including energy metabolism and inflammatory processes. Treatment implications of systemic conceptualizations of schizophrenia are also considered.

SummaryIn April 1990, the prices of five brands of contraceptives in the Bangladesh social marketing project were increased, by an average of 60%. The impact on condom sales was immediate and severe, with sales for the following 12 months dropping by 46% from the average during the preceding 12 months. The effect on oral contraceptive sales was less dramatic: average sales in the year following the increases dropped slightly despite a previously established pattern of rapidly rising sales. There appears no reasonable combination of events other than the price increase itself to explain most of the difference.

SummaryThe cost effectiveness of various modes of family planning service delivery based on the cost per couple-year of protection (CYP) is assessed using 1984 data for 63 projects in ten countries (three each in Africa and Asia, and four in Latin America). More than 4·8 million CYPs were provided through these projects during the year studied. Programmes with the highest volume of services delivered corresponded to lowest average costs: social marketing (2·8 million CYPs) and sterilization projects (960,000 CYPs) cost about $2 per CYP, on average; highest costs were for full service clinics and community-based distribution projects ($13–14 per CYP). Costs of clinics combined with community-based distribution services fell approximately midway between these two extremes.

The Quit4Life cessation program was developed in 1993. it was designed to give teenage smokers the tools they need to quit smoking. The idea for the Quit4Life program stemmed from Health Canada's belief that an informational, easy-to-obtain kit could benefit teenagers who are motivated to quit smoking.