A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER IN PUBLIC HEALTH OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NAMIBIA
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Ethnic disparities in COVID-19 persist, with increased rates of infection, severe disease, and death among people from minority ethnic groups. COVID-19 vaccination rates also remain lowest in these communities compared with white people in the UK. Among people older than 18 years, the proportion who... have had three COVID-19 vaccinations in England in March, 2022, was lowest among Black Caribbean (38%), Black African (45%), and Pakistani (45%) ethnic groups. These disparities are likely to be attributed to the intersection of key social determinants, including socioeconomic factors such as deprivation, overcrowding, and working patterns and conditions,
alongside discrimination and structural violence in the health-care system and society.
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April 2022 Volume 35 Issue 2 e00152-21
Population movements have turned Chagas disease (CD) into a global public health problem. Despite the successful implementation of subregional initiatives to control vectorial and transfusional Trypanosoma cruzi transmission in Latin American settings where t...he disease is endemic, congenital CD (cCD) remains a significant challenge. In countries where the disease is not endemic, vertical transmission plays a key role in CD expansion and is the main focus of its control. Although several health organizations provide general protocols for cCD control, its management in each geopolitical region depends on local authorities, which has resulted in a multitude of approaches. The aims of this review are to (i) describe the current global situation in CD management, with emphasis on congenital infection, and (ii) summarize the spectrum of available strategies, both official and unofficial, for cCD prevention and control in countries of endemicity and nonendemicity. From an economic point of view, the early detection and treatment of cCD are cost-effective. However, in countries where the disease is not endemic, national health policies for cCD control are nonexistent, and official regional protocols are scarce and restricted to Europe. Countries of endemicity have more protocols in place, but the implementation of diagnostic methods is hampered by economic constraints. Moreover, most protocols in both countries where the disease is endemic and those where it is not endemic have yet to incorporate recently developed technologies. The wide methodological diversity in cCD diagnostic algorithms reflects the lack of a consensus. This review may represent a first step toward the development of a common strategy, which will require the collaboration of health organizations, governments, and experts in the field.
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Event-based surveillance (EBS) is defined as the organized collection, monitoring, assessment and interpretation of mainly unstructured ad hoc information regarding health events or risks, which may represent an acute risk to health. Both indicator-based and event-based surveillance components serve... the early warning and response (EWAR) function of the public health surveillance system. The Framework for Event-based Surveillance offers guidance to public health practitioners seeking to implement EBS at each administrative level in healthier countries.
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Tanzania, like other developing countries, is facing a higher burden of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). The country is experiencing rapid growth of modifiable and intermediate risk factors that accelerate CVD mortality and morbidity rates. In rural and urban settings, cardiovascular risk factors suc...h as tobacco use, excessive alcohol consumption, unhealthy diet, hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, overweight, and obesity, are documented to be higher in this review. Increased urbanization, lifestyle changes, lack of awareness and rural to urban movement have been found to increase CVD risk factors in Tanzania. Despite the identification of modifiable risk factors for CVDs, there is still limited information on physical inactivity and eating habits among Tanzanian population that needs to be addressed. Conclusively, primary prevention, improved healthcare system, which include affordable health services, availability of trained health care providers, improved screening and diagnostic equipment, adequate guidelines, and essential drugs for CVDs are the key actions that need to be implemented for cost effective control and management of CVDs. Effective policy for control and management of CVDs should also properly be employed to ensure fruitful implementation of different interventions.
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This report analyses the intersection of HIV, COVID-19 and public debt in developing countries. The collision between COVID-19 and a crippling debt crisis have reversed decades of progress - putting present and future investments in health and HIV at risk. Pragmatic options to address the pandemic t...riad are proposed.
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This American Thoracic Society Statement was prepared by a Committee of the Scientific Assembly on Environmental and Occupational Health at the request of the American Lung Association Occupational Health Expert Advisory Group to emphasize the continuing importance of silicosis as a major lung disea...se worldwide and the need for increasing efforts in prevention. Emphasis is placed on public health issues of silicosis rather than on important current research in pathologic mechanisms.
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Many children will not be ‘safe to learn at home’: As of April 2020, 91 percent of the world’s students have been affected by school closures due to COVID-19. While schools are often places where violence occurs, they also offer a comparatively protective and nurturing space for many children.... Especially for the most vulnerable learners -the poorest and most left behind- that rely on school not only for learning and development, but also for food, trusted and accurate information on important issues such as hygiene, and their overall physical and mental health.
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For over 23 years, CDC has collaborated in Malawi with local and international partners to strengthen health systems. The office works to prevent, detect and respond to diseases. Efforts include building healthcare workforce capacity, strengthening laboratory systems, and increasing the capacity of ...surveillance and health information systems. CDC also implements high-impact HIV and tuberculosis programs through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and supports malaria control activities under the U.S. President's Malaria Initiative.
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The Global Antibiotic Resistance Partnership (GARP)-Mozambique team, in partnership with the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy (CDDEP), has produced this report as part of a solid com-mitment to develop actionable policy proposals to tackle antibiotic resistance and improve appropriate... antibiotic access. It is the result of a thorough review of published and unpublished data on antibiotic resistance and a long internal consultation effort that engaged academic scientists, health professionals and other stakeholders within Mozambique.
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In October 2022, President Biden signed the Global Malnutrition Prevention and Treatment Act (GMPTA) into law, which directs USAID to prevent and treat malnutrition globally. The GMPTA further codifies USAID’s leadership on nutrition, with a focus on evidence-based interventions across health syst...ems and food systems, in both development and humanitarian settings.
Realizing the potential of good nutrition to save lives and ensure a brighter future for generations to come is central to U.S. Government priorities. For over 60 years, USAID has been a leader in the fight to end global malnutrition. Nutrition affects every aspect of human development: from the ability to fight disease, to children’s performance in school, to a nation’s health and economic advancement. There is overwhelming evidence of the power of good nutrition but, due to challenges in accessing safe, nutritious foods and health and sanitation services, many people in low- and middle-income countries remain undernourished.
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The COVID-19 pandemic poses an additional and critical challenge in a fragile humanitarian context, where the population is already highly vulnerable and lives in often overcrowded settlements where distancing is impossible, and with limited access to basic health services and hygiene. Further sprea...d of COVID-19 in the EHoA region will burden the already complex humanitarian situation with devastating consequences.
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This report examines the support to private healthcare provision in India by the World Bank’s private sector arm, the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Despite supporting private healthcare in the country since 1997, no healthcare results for lending and investments have been disclosed sinc...e the start of these operations over twenty-five years ago. The IFC has overwhelmingly invested in high-end urban hospitals which are out of reach for the majority of Indians. Several have consistently failed to provide free healthcare to poor patients despite this being a condition under which free or subsidized public land was allotted to these hospitals. Supporting private healthcare in a context where 37% of Indians experience catastrophic health expenditures in private hospitals appears to run counter to the World Bank Group’s focus on poverty reduction. These investments do not contribute to the building of stronger healthcare infrastructure or respond to unmet healthcare needs. Only 14% of IFC-financed hospitals are located in the 10 states ranked lowest in terms of the overall performance of the health system. Furthermore, we found many instances where regulators upheld complaints pertaining to violations of patients’ rights by these hospitals including overcharging, denial of healthcare, price rigging, financial conflict of interest and medical negligence.
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MEDBOX Issue Brief No.2.
The main route of transmission of the Sars-CoV-2 virus are small respiratory droplets. Therefore, thoroughly cleaning of hands with either alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water is one of the corner stones of basic protective measures against COVID-19 for everyone. A part...icular focus of this Issue Brief are documents for the health care sector, but also multilingual material for the public.
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This Interim Guidance is intended for field coordinators, site managers and public health personnel, as well as national and local governments and the wider humanitarian community working in humanitarian situations at food distribution sites, who are involved in the decision making and implementatio...n of multi-sectorial COVID-19 outbreak readiness and response activities – the Guidance is therefore relevant for all Humanitarian Clusters and their partners.
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The International Council of Nurses is a federation of more than 130 national nurses associations, representing the more than 27 million nurses worldwide.
ICN's ever-increasing networks and connections to people reinforce the importance of strong linkages with national, regional and international n...ursing and non-nursing organisations. Building positive relationships internationally helps position ICN, nurses and nursing for now and the future. Our work with the specialised agencies of the United Nations system, particularly with the World Health Organization, the International Labour Organisation and the World Bank, are important for nurses everywhere. In addition, we work closely with a range of international non-governmental organisations and other partners.
accessed 30.07.2021
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PNAS 119 (8) e2113947119 | https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2113947119
Environmental exposure to active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) can have negative effects on the health of ecosystems and humans. While numerous studies have monitored APIs in rivers, these employ different analytical methods, m...easure different APIs, and have ignored many of the countries of the world. This makes it difficult to quantify the scale of the problem from a global perspective. Furthermore, comparison of the existing data, generated for different studies/regions/continents, is challenging due to the vast differences between the analytical methodologies employed. Here, we present a global-scale study of API pollution in 258 of the world’s rivers, representing the environmental influence of 471.4 million people across 137 geographic regions. Samples were obtained from 1,052 locations in 104 countries (representing all continents and 36 countries not previously studied for API contamination) and analyzed for 61 APIs. Highest cumulative API concentrations were observed in sub-Saharan Africa, south Asia, and South America. The most contaminated sites were in low- to middle-income countries and were associated with areas with poor wastewater and waste management infrastructure and pharmaceutical manufacturing. The most frequently detected APIs were carbamazepine, metformin, and caffeine (a compound also arising from lifestyle use), which were detected at over half of the sites monitored. Concentrations of at least one API at 25.7% of the sampling sites were greater than concentrations considered safe for aquatic organisms, or which are of concern in terms of selection for antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, pharmaceutical pollution poses a global threat to environmental and human health, as well as to delivery of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
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There is increasing interest in understanding the role of air pollution as one of the greatest threats to human health worldwide. Nine of 10 individuals breathe air with polluted compounds that have a great impact on lung tissue. The nature of the relationship is complex, and new or updated data are... constantly being reported in the literature. The goal of our review was to summarize the most important air pollutants and their impact on the main respiratory diseases (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, lung cancer, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, respiratory infections, bronchiectasis, tuberculosis) to reduce both short- and the long-term exposure consequences. We considered the most important air pollutants, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, ozone, particulate matter and biomass smoke, and observed their impact on pulmonary pathologies. We focused on respiratory pathologies, because air pollution potentiates the increase in respiratory diseases, and the evidence that air pollutants have a detrimental effect is growing. It is imperative to constantly improve policy initiatives on air quality in both high- and low-income countries.
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The video titled "Ganemos tiempo: podría ser tuberculosis" (Let's save time: it could be tuberculosis) is part of a public health campaign aimed at raising awareness about tuberculosis (TB). It emphasizes the importance of early detection and timely treatment to combat the disease effectively. The ...video highlights common symptoms of TB, such as persistent cough, weight loss, and fever, and encourages individuals experiencing these signs to seek medical attention promptly. By doing so, it aims to reduce transmission rates and improve health outcomes.
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