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The Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak represents the first time that an international health crisis of this level has been experienced in the digital age. This research aims to determine the cau...

Smoking is among the greatest international public health concerns, causing excessive levels of preventable premature death, disability, and economic costs. The prevalence of tobacco use among people with psychiatric disorders (PDs) remains persistently high relative to the general population, highlighting the need to improve smoking cessation (SC) strategies in this group. We aimed to assess the associations between having a PD and baseline motivation to quit (MtQ) smoking and Prochaska's stage of change (SoC), two clinically important metrics linked to SC outcomes.

Medical tourism has developed rapidly and international health care has become a global industry. Indonesia has a great opportunity in the field of medical tourism, but Malaysia still ranks more hi...

Based on the records of these three countries, liberal–communitarian values have acquitted themselves well during a major international health crisis.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on the film industry in 2020. Films that tell the story of the pandemic by giving independent commentaries are important to our understanding of l...

Background: In contexts where prevalence of obesity has increased rapidly, sociocultural causes acquire greater explanatory power as opposed to biological and/or behavioural factors. These models premise worsening diets and sedentary lifestyles as being the main culprits and assume that contemporary societies generate obesogenic and toxic environments. This article analyses and compares preventive models for obesity in Spain, Argentina and Brazil through an examination of the respective measures adopted to counter it in those countries. The primary aim is to delineate the conceptual framework and reflect on the reasons for their relative effectiveness. Methods: This qualitative study is based on the content analysis of programmes developed by the Spanish, Argentinian and Brazilian health authorities to deal with obesity from 2005 to the present. The texts have been carefully collated by accessing the health ministry websites classifying them according to subject, year of publication and implementation, their specific objectives and proposals for action. A total of 46 documents were selected during 2017-19. In a complementary way, statistical sources have been used in order to better understand changes in living conditions and health. Results: Over the last fifteen years, the international health bodies have developed specific strategies to control and prevent obesity based on a global diagnosis, whose features have been supported by these three countries. Although the measures reflect certain particularities, they conform to a common pattern organised from platforms promoting so-called “healthy lifestyles” for all. Most of the measures taken have minimized consideration of the social determinants of health, ignoring that epidemiological sources and statistics indicate that obesity rates have increased most quickly among individuals of low socioeconomic status during this period. In general, the responses have been formulated without further research into the different dimensions of obesity, either because they have been short-term, not based on diagnoses adjusted to each context. Conclusions : The discussion suggests that the excessive emphasis on individual responsibility and the underplaying of the role of food as a complex practice, as well as changing structural factors and the differential distribution of this disease, might largely explain the limited impact of these strategies. Key words : food; obesity; health policies; preventive model; social inequality; cross-cultural analysis.

From the establishment of the World Health Organization in 1948, the question of technical assistance was hotly debated by Eastern European countries. Recuperating from the war and undergoing radic...

Zika is an arboviral illness caused by infection with the Zika flavivirus. Transmission most commonly occurs during a feeding event involving an infected Aedes mosquito or vertical transmission between an infected mother to her fetus. Infection outcomes range from asymptomatic to devastating neurologic injuries in children infected in utero. The recognition of Congenital Zika Syndrome prompted the declaration of an international health emergency and a call to rapidly develop medical countermeasures such as vaccines and therapeutics. A flurry of research and development activity in industry, government, non-governmental organizations, and academia during the most recent Zika epidemic (2015) stimulated the development of a number of vaccine candidate prototypes, generation of pre-clinical data, and the conduct of early phase human trials. The safety and immunogenicity of different vaccine platforms were demonstrated and mouse and non-human primate passive transfer studies hinted at the potential for clinical benefit in humans and defining an immune correlate of protection. A rapid decline in regional transmission, however, prevented the conduct a clinical endpoint efficacy trial. The pathway to licensure of a Zika vaccine remains unclear.

The presence of antibiotics and their metabolites such as ciprofloxacin (CIP) in water resources attracted notable attention as a new international health concern. A systematic and review-meta anal...

Introduction: Humankind is now facing a global crisis. Perhaps the biggest crisis of our generation. However, national and international health systems failed to avoid millions of morbidities and hundred thousands of mortalities. The decisions people and governments take in the next few weeks will probably shape the world for years to come. They will shape not just our healthcare systems but also our economy, politics, and culture. Aim: The overall aim of this report is just to present an outline skeleton of the main elements of a health plan that may be adopted to achieve a high quality medical care services in the near future. Approach: The approach that will be adopted to present the main elements of the health plan will be through a time frame that includes short term (about one year) and long-term measures (five to ten years).

Introduction: Human trafficking is an international public health concern in which healthcare professionals are in a unique position to intervene. It is unclear how professional medical organizatio...

The recent emergence of Asian “traditional” medicines as increasingly popular medical, economic, and cultural resources in national and international health care policies has coincided with a renew...

Jamal Ahmadzadeh, Kazhal MobarakiSocial Determinants of Health Research Center, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Urmia, IranCorrespondence: Kazhal MobarakiEpidemiologist in Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Resalat Street, Urmia, IranTel +98 918 173 2869Fax +98 443 224 0642Email Mobaraki.k@umsu.ac.irPurpose: This study represents the current epidemiological status of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) worldwide in the first three months of 2019.Patients and methods: Full details of the MERS-CoV cases available and published in the disease outbreak news on the WHO website were retrieved. Related details of laboratory-confirmed MERS-CoV were extracted and analyzed by standard statistical methods.Results: A total of 107 cases of MERS-CoV, including 18 deaths (overall case fatality rate (CFR), 16.8%; male-specific CFR was 17.5% [14/80] and female-specific CFR was 14.8% [4/27]) were reported to WHO from the National International Health Regulation Focal Points of Saudi Arabia and Oman. The overall mean age was 50±17 years and 80 patients (74.8%) were male. The average time from the onset of the symptoms to the first hospitalization was 3±3.3 days; from the first hospitalization to laboratory confirmation was 3.6±6.5 days; from the onset of symptom to death was 17.5±11.7 days; and the mean length of hospitalization forpatients with MERS-CoV was 3.5±3.9 days. Males in comparison to females had a 1.5-fold increased chance (adjusted OR =1.5 [95% CI: 1.3–1.8]) of death related to MERS-CoV infection; 1.05 [95% CI: 1.1–3.3], 1.05 [95% CI: 1.2–2.8] and 1.06 [95% CI: 1.2–2.0] for those who had exposure to camels, camel milk consumption, and close contact with MERS-CoV cases, respectively. Health care workers had 2.4 fold [95% CI: 1.2–3.1] greater odds of death compared to other people.Conclusion: The knowledge obtained from this study can contribute to the development of a prevention program and early system warning against MERS-CoV infection.Keywords: Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus, emerging infectious disease, disease outbreaks

Older adults share a disproportionately high burden of vaccine-preventable diseases. Despite recommendations from national and international health organizations, vaccination rates among older patients remain suboptimal, suggesting poor access and barriers to vaccination. Pharmacists are uniquely positioned to assist patients in overcoming many of these barriers. In this commentary, we describe some of the common barriers to vaccination that older adults encounter and the role pharmacists have in overcoming these barriers, in the US and abroad. We provide a case study of pharmacists' impact in supporting herpes zoster vaccination. We also identify areas of opportunities to promote further pharmacist involvement in vaccination efforts.

The emergent Dominican LGBT movement in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, has been embedded in local and global structures and discourses related to HIV/AIDS, women's health, and identity. This article explores how ongoing sociocultural changes, increased international HIV funding, and elite support facilitated a surge of collective actions and the institutional reconfiguration of the movement. However, the entry of new cohorts of leaders and the alignment of leaders with global discourses of gender and human rights exposed some rifts within the movement, including over the framing of identity, confrontational tactics, and the role of health issues. While creating political opportunities, international HIV/AIDS funding also consolidated the social movement around HIV at the expense of other issues. The rapid consolidation of the LGBT movement towards HIV issues in the Dominican Republic raises questions about the role of international health funding and health-related NGOs on a movement's discourses, strategies, and consolidation, and about the recruitment of social movement leaders as public health professionals. I suggest that the trajectories of new movements, when social and political opportunities arise, are ultimately defined by their ability to bridge over generational and ideological rifts, engage in a broader spectrum of strategies, and embrace intersectional collective actions.

COVID-19 is an international public health emergency in need of effective and safe vaccines for SARS-CoV-2. A systematic review has been done to analyze the availability, development and status of new COVID-19 vaccine candidates as well as the status of vaccines for other diseases that might be effective against SARS-CoV-2 infection. PubMed, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Science Direct, Google Scholar, Cochrane library, ClinicalTrials.gov, Web of Science and different trial registries were searched for currently available and probable future vaccines. Articles and ongoing clinical trials are included to ascertain the availability and developmental approaches of new vaccines that could limit the present and future outbreaks. Pharmaceutical companies and institutions are at different stages of developing new vaccines, and extensive studies and clinical trials are still required.

The high rate of mortality and global panic for the past 6 months because of Covid-19 pandemic calls for concern. Among the precautionary measures from international health organizations and governments to her citizens are the total lock-down, self-isolation, physical distancing, and handwashing mechanisms. Thus, this study attempts to investigate the effectiveness and efficiency of these mechanisms by residents and tourists in George Town Heritage City traditional shophouses and proffer possible ways to mitigate future pandemics, especially concerning interior design components of a typical traditional shophouse. To achieve this, a phenomenology type of qualitative research was adopted. Data were collected via observations of selected traditional shophouses in George Town Heritage City, face-to-face interviews conducted, and validated via secondary sources. Findings show that it is difficult to practice some of the precautionary measures as recommended by appropriate authorities in majority of the George Town Heritage City traditional shophouses because of renovation and modernization to the original design. As part of the practical implications, this study is advocating for the modification of future design and construction to mitigate the spread of the contagious pandemic in shophouses. Also, this paper intends to stir-up key stakeholders and open new areas for future research.

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted and transformed continuing education in the health professions to be reliant on digital learning modalities. This retrospective observational study of a large, international health system’s continuing education programme compares educational activities offered, participation, and learning outcomes pre- and intra-pandemic to assess the impact of digitisation advanced because of the pandemic. There was a significant increase in internet-based activities that filled the gap of cancelled or postponed live, in-person activities to keep healthcare professionals up to date in their specialities and prepared to handle the clinical and hospital demands of the pandemic. Compared to live, in-person education, virtual activities were offered in shorter increments, reached a much larger amount of participants, and were equally effective in achieving learning outcomes. Questions remain regarding business model implications to generate adequate revenues to cover costs of virtual education. Additionally, there is a general inadequacy of digital learning environments to coalesce groups and meet social needs. Regardless, the efficiencies and effectiveness of digital modalities will be a primary method of teaching healthcare professionals going forward.

South Africa promotes male circumcision (MC) as an HIV prevention method and implemented a national plan to scale-up MC in the country from 2012 to 2016. Literature has suggested that female risk compensatory behaviours (RCBs) are occurring in countries where these programmes have been implemented. Behaviours such as decreased condom use, concurrent sexual partners and sexual activity during the circumcision wound-healing period have the potential to jeopardise the campaigns' objectives. Literature has shown that directly providing women with MC information results in correct knowledge however, previous studies have not directly sought women's views and ideas on engagement with the information. This study aims to identify and explore female RCBs in relation to MC campaigns in South Africa, and to identify interventions that would result in greater female involvement in the campaigns. Snowball sampling was used to conduct twelve qualitative vignette-facilitated semi-structured interviews with women residing in a municipal housing estate in Durban, Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa. Interviews were audio-recorded, verbatim transcribed and analysed using framework analysis. MC knowledge and understanding varied, with some participants mistaking MC as direct HIV protection for females. Despite a lack in knowledge, the majority of women did not report signs of RCBs. Even with a lack of evidence of RCBs, misinterpretation of the MC protective effect has the potential to lead to RCBs; a concept acknowledged in the literature. Several women expressed that MC campaigns are directed to males only and expressed a keenness to be more involved. Suggested interventions include couple counselling and female information sessions in community clinics. Exploring women's attitude towards involvement in MC campaigns fills in a research knowledge gap that is important to international health, as women have a vital role to play in reducing the transmission of HIV.

Introduction: Domestic violence and abuse has been recognised as an international public health problem. However, the pervasiveness of the problem is unknown due in part to underreporting, especially among women from ethnic minority populations. In relation to this group, this review seeks to explore: (1) the barriers to disclosure; (2) the facilitators of help-seeking; and (3) self-perceived impacts of domestic violence.Design: We systematically identified published qualitative studies conducted among women from ethnic minority populations in the UK. Data analysis was completed using thematic analysis approach.Result: 562 papers were identified and eight papers from four studies conducted among women from ethnic minority populations in the UK met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed. Barriers to disclosure include: Immigration status, community influences, problems with language and interpretation, and unsupportive attitudes of staff within mainstream services. Facilitators of help-seeking were: escalation of abuse and safety of children. Self-perceived impact of abuse includes: shame, denial, loss of identity and lack of choice.Conclusion: There is an on-going need for staff from domestic violence services to be aware of the complexities within which women from ethnic minority populations experience domestic violence and abuse.KEYWORDS: Domestic violence and abuse, ethnic minority, qualitative review, disclosure and help-seeking, immigration, black women

© 2018, © 2018 Taylor & Francis. Exercise prescription is suggested to help manage exercise abuse and improve overall eating disorder (ED) prognosis. This study explored emerging perceptions of ED health professionals concerning the role of exercise as a supportive treatment for EDs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with international health professionals (n=13) with expertise in ED treatment. Verbatim transcripts were analyzed through thematic analysis. Four themes were revealed and titled 1) understanding the current state; 2) gaining perspectives; 3) barriers and benefits; 4) one size does not fit all. Within these themes, participants described the current state of exercise in ED treatment and suggested there exists a gap in research knowledge and practice. Participants also identified the implications of incorporating exercise into treatment and how an exercise protocol may be designed. Results enhance the understanding of the role of exercise in ED treatment and how it may further benefit individuals with EDs.

Residency programs offer international health electives (IHEs), providing multiple educational benefits. This study aimed to identify how IHEs fulfill the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) core competencies.We conducted a thematic analysis of post-rotation reflective reports from residents who participated in IHEs through the Mayo International Health Program. We coded reports using a codebook created from the ACGME competencies. Using a constant comparative method, we identified significant themes within each competency.Residents from 40 specialties participated in 377 IHEs in 56 countries from 2001 to 2014. Multiple themes were identified within each of the six ACGME core competencies: Patient Care and Procedural Skills (4), Medical Knowledge (5), Practice-Based Learning and Improvement (3), Interpersonal and Communication Skills (5), Professionalism (4), and Systems-Based Practice and Improvement (3). Themes included improving physical exam and procedural skills, providing care in resource-limited setting, gaining knowledge of tropical and non-tropical diseases, identifying socioeconomic determinants of health, engaging in the education of others, and increasing communication across cultures and multidisciplinary teams.Through IHEs, residents advanced their knowledge, skills, and attitudes in each of the six ACGME competencies. These data can be used for development of IHE competencies and milestones for resident assessment.

Contemporary biomedical ethics and environmental ethics share a common ancestry in Aldo Leopold's and Van Rensselaer Potter's initial broad visions of a connected biosphere. Over the past five decades, the two fields have become strangers. Public health ethics, a new subfield of bioethics, emerged from the belly of contemporary biomedical ethics and has evolved over the past 25 years. It has moved from its traditional concern with the tension between individual autonomy and community health to a wider focus on social justice and solidarity. Public health has a broad focus that includes individual, community, and environmental health. Public health ethics attends to these broad commitments reflected in the increasing concern with the connectedness of health of individuals to the health of populations, to the health of animals, to the health of the environment; it is well situated to reconnect all three "fields" of ethics to promote a healthier planet.

The objective of this paper is to examine the implementation of Colombia's tobacco control law. Methods involved are triangulated government legislation, news sources, and interviews with policy-makers and health advocates in Colombia. Colombia, a middle-income country, passed a tobacco control law in 2009 that included a prohibition on tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship; and required pictorial health warning labels, ingredients disclosure, and a prohibition on individual cigarette sales. Tobacco companies challenged the implementation through litigation, tested government enforcement of advertising provisions and regulations on ingredients disclosure, and lobbied local governments to deprioritise policy responses to single cigarette sales. A transnational network including international health groups and funders helped strengthen domestic capacity to implement the law by; promoting public awareness of Ley [Law] 1335; training local health department staff on enforcement; facilitating health agencies' sharing of educational strategies; and providing legal defence assistance. This network included vigilant efforts by local health groups, which continuously monitored and alerted the media to noncompliance, engaged government officials and policy-makers on implementation, and raised public awareness. Support from international health NGOs and funders and continuous engagement by local health groups enhanced implementation capacities to counter continued tobacco industry interference and ensure effective tobacco control implementation.

How does one’s own health influence attitudes about national health care policy? Previous research has documented a reliable (though bounded) role of personal interest in shaping policy preferences, but little is known about the role that personal health plays in shaping these attitudes. Using recent General Social Survey data, we find that those with poorer self-rated health were more likely to endorse a strong role for government in providing health care, and more likely to endorse increased spending on health care. Further analysis suggested that this relationship was moderated by political ideology. Implications for better understanding the source of health policy support are discussed.

Faith-based health providers (FBHPs) have historically shaped the national health system in Ecuador, yet there is little robust evidence of this role, or their current contribution to the national health system. This article situates FBHPs in the Ecuadorian health system, using secondary analyses of national health surveys to consider changes in contribution from 1998 to 2014, and synthesising this with secondary literature. The research confirms the important role that FBHPs have historically played in Ecuador, but also shows that their current role needs to be better understood if universalisation of health service coverage is to be achieved.

Despite the alarming prevalence of neuropsychiatric disorders in South Africa, mental health care remains under-resourced. The Mental Health Framework Policy of South Africa outlined the objective to integrate mental health into primary health care. The aim is to make mental health care more accessible, affordable and acceptable. Practitioners, however, find the application of the policy challenging. The identification of challenges can guide efforts to create conditions favourable to the implementation of the policy.To explore and describe primary health practitioners' experience of the integration of mental health into primary health care.A mixed-method exploratory descriptive design was used to collect quantitative data by means of a structured questionnaire from a purposive sample consisting of 95 primary health care practitioners and qualitative data from a sub-sample of 12 participants by means of semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using mixed-method analysis.The results indicated that though progress has been made in the implementation of the integration of mental health into primary health care, several challenges remain.The identified challenges may contribute to inconsistent care and difficulties such as unidentified symptoms, defaulting treatment and the revolving-door phenomenon. Recommendations were made based on the findings of the study.

The new financing landscape for the Sustainable Development Goals has a larger emphasis on domestic resource mobilization. But, given the significant role of donor assistance for health, the fungibility of government health spending, and the downward revision of global growth, this article looks at what is possible with regard to a country's own ability to finance priority health services. Using cross-sectional and longitudinal economic and health spending data, we employ a global multilevel model with regional and country random effects to develop gross domestic product (GDP) projections that inform a dynamic panel data model to forecast health spending. We then assess sub-Saharan African countries' abilities to afford to finance their own essential health needs and find that there are countries that will still rely on high out-of-pocket or donor spending to finance an essential package of health services. To address this, we discuss policy opportunities for each set of countries over the next 15 years. This longer-term view of the economic transition of health in Africa stresses the imperative of engaging policy now to prioritize customized strategies and institutional arrangements to increase domestic financing, improve value for money, and ensure fairer and sustainable health financing. We address the need for rhetoric on UHC to incorporate "progressive pragmatism," a proactive joint approach by developing country governments and their development partners to ensure that policies designed to achieve universal health coverage align with the economic reality of available domestic and donor financing.

Political contestation within liberal democratic states is an important, albeit limited, guide in defining how these states domestically implement their international human rights obligations. While often ritualistically endorsing human rights standards, political actors allow themselves a limited policy space with their domestic political contest circumscribed by more pervasive influences, often at odds with the state's international commitments. This article examines recent health and housing policy initiatives by Australia's two major political parties and assesses them against its international commitments. Applying a social constructivist approach, this article argues that the dominant neoliberal political discourse and the state's institutional structure set contextual boundaries to the parties’ policy contestation and reveal the limited influence of domestic political contestation in determining Australia's rights implementation.

The purpose of this study was to explore prevalent health issues, perceived barriers to seeking health care, and utilization of health care among lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) populations in New Jersey. A cross-sectional online survey was administered to 438 self-identified LGBT people. Results identified health needs, which included management of chronic diseases, preventive care for risky behaviors, mental health issues, and issues related to interpersonal violence. Barriers to seeking health care included scarceness of health professionals competent in LGBT health, inadequate health insurance coverage and lack of personal finances, and widely dispersed LGBT inclusive practices making transportation difficult. There is a need for better preparation of health care professionals who care for LGBT patients, to strengthen social services to improve access and for better integration of medical and social services.

Health care has been an ongoing issue of public concern for decades, well before President Obama took office. Passage of the Affordable Care Act (ACA),1 also known as Obamacare, in March 2010 and u...

The health care system in the United States is becoming increasingly complex, placing greater demands on consumers to be more proactive and informed about their care. However, 88% of the population is unable to successfully navigate the health care system due to low levels of health literacy. Health care organizations can play a role in improving health literacy. The “Ten Attributes of the Health Literate Health Care Organizations” produced by members of the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Health Literacy provides guidance.

The year 2015 was a significant anniversary for global health: 15 years since the adoption of the Millennium Development Goals and the creation of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, followed two years later by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria. 2015 was also the 10-year anniversary of the adoption of the International Health Regulations (May 2005) and the formal entering into force of the Framework Convention on the Tobacco Control (February 2005). The anniversary of these frameworks and institutions illustrates the growth and contribution of 'global' health diplomacy. Each initiative has also revealed on-going issues with compliance, sustainable funding and equitable attention in global health governance. In this paper, we present four thematic challenges that will continue to challenge prioritisation within global health governance into the future unless addressed: framing and prioritising within global health governance; identifying stakeholders of the global health community; understanding the relationship between health and behaviour; and the role of governance and regulation in supporting global health.

Background: Public health faces the paradox of being increasingly emphasized by the key health and social care regulators and stakeholders, while remaining a largely under-represented discipline in the context of medical curricula. Enhancing medical student engagement in public health teaching is one way to address this concern.\ud \ud Methods: We discuss four key solutions to the challenges faced by public health educators in medical schools, and present five case studies which demonstrate innovative approaches to engaging medical students in our discipline.\ud \ud Results: Four different approaches have been piloted by members of the Public Health Educators in Medical Schools (PHEMS) network: (i) ensuring social accountability, (ii) demonstrating clinical relevance, (iii) mapping the core curriculum, and (iv) using technology enhanced learning. Preliminary student feedback suggests that these approaches can be used to position public health as an enabler of modern medical practice, and promote a more holistic understanding of medicine by linking patient-centred care to the population level.\ud \ud Conclusions: The zeitgeist in both academia and the healthcare system supports the teaching of public health within the medical curriculum; there is also consensus at the political and pedagogical level. The challenge of ensuring engagement now needs to be met at the student–teacher interface.

A situation-specific case study was conducted to identify health information services and technology access during and after the October 2015 catastrophic flooding in South Carolina. Using a framew...

Could health learn from design? For most of the target group and the contributors to the first issue of the journal Design for Health, the answer is clear: Yes it can! Even though there is a growing interest in the qualities of design as a way of adding value to health, it is generally still neglected in the scientific disciplines. So, it is about time that a journal on design for health comes into existence. But instead of preaching to the choir, Design for Health should reach out to those who are unfamiliar with the field of design and health. An ambitious task lies ahead for Design for Health: to reach out to the whole of the target group of design and health scholars in what design could mean for health. Let's start with adopting the new concept of health, namely ‘the ability to adapt and self manage in the face of social, physical, and emotional challenges.’ And to strive towards open, fair and inclusive design for health.

During the past 50 years, community development organizations have worked in the low-income communities that face the greatest barriers to good health. While recent changes in the American health care system and philanthropic sector provide new opportunities to partner with community development organizations to address health disparities, knowledge of current health-focused strategies and partnerships among local community-based organizations is limited. Through a survey conducted by NeighborWorks America of 242 high-performing community development organizations across the United States, we examine health strategies, partnerships, and services delivered by community development organizations and professionals. In 2015, 218 organizations (88.62%) engaged in activities at the nexus of health, housing, and community development; strategies focused on healthy homes and food access were the most common. Among respondents, 205 (83.3%) organizations engaged partners to support their work. In addition, ...

Ebola virus (EBOV) is an extremely contagious pathogen and causes lethal hemorrhagic fever disease in man and animals. The recently occurred Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreaks in the West African countries have categorized it as an international health concern. For the virus maintenance and transmission, the non-human primates and reservoir hosts like fruit bats have played a vital role. For curbing the disease timely, we need effective therapeutics/prophylactics, however, in the absence of any approved vaccine, timely diagnosis and monitoring of EBOV remains of utmost importance. The technologically advanced vaccines like a viral-vectored vaccine, DNA vaccine and virus-like particles are underway for testing against EBOV. In the absence of any effective control measure, the adaptation of high standards of biosecurity measures, strict sanitary and hygienic practices, strengthening of surveillance and monitoring systems, imposing appropriate quarantine checks and vigilance on trade, transport, and movement of visitors from EVD endemic countries remains the answer of choice for tackling the EBOV spread. Herein, we converse with the current scenario of EBOV giving due emphasis on animal and veterinary perspectives along with advances in diagnosis and control strategies to be adopted, lessons learned from the recent outbreaks and the global preparedness plans. To retrieve the evolutionary information, we have analyzed a total of 56 genome sequences of various EBOV species submitted between 1976 and 2016 in public databases.

Personal responsibility is widely considered important in mental health recovery as well as in popular models of alcohol and drug treatment. Neo-liberal socio-political rhetoric around consumerism in health care often assumes that people are informed and responsible for their own choices and behaviour. In the mental health care context and especially in emergency or crisis settings, personal responsibility often raises particular paradoxes. People often present whose behaviour does not conform to the ideals of the responsible consumer; they may seek and/or be granted absolution from irresponsible behaviour. This paradox is explored and clinicians are urged to consider the context-bound nature of personal responsibility and how attributions of personal responsibility may conflict with policy and their own professional responsibilities to intervene to protect others.

Some public health crises become threats to national security. In April 2009, the Veratect Corporation provided a series of escalated warnings to key members of the international public health community regarding unusual respiratory disease reporting activity in Mexico, later referred to as the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic. The warning sequence of the H1N1 influenza pandemic highlighted potential complementarity between that of an intelligence-inspired warning culture vs. a risk-averse, forensically oriented response culture favored by traditional public health practitioners. Both are required to address the current range of difficult-to-predict public health crises that become a threat to national security.

The role of librarians in addressing health insurance information needs emerged following a request from President Barack Obama for librarians to assist the public with navigating the Affordable Care Act and the Health Insurance Marketplace. The goal of this article is to highlight a number of concrete ways reference work could be expanded, especially in public library settings, to support health insurance literacy concerns by offering illustrative examples and recommendations for authoritative health insurance information resources. Overall, this article contributes to the existing literature by offering practical recommendations that may be relevant to reference librarians supporting the health insurance information needs of their communities.

With rising healthcare costs, using health personnel and resources efficiently and effectively is critical. International cross-country and simple worker-to-population ratio comparisons are frequently used for improving the efficiency of health systems, planning of health human resources and guiding policy changes. These comparisons are made between countries typically of the same continental region. However, if used imprudently, inconsistencies arising from frail comparisons of health systems may outweigh the positive benefits brought by new policy insights. In this work, we propose a different approach to international health system comparisons. We present a methodology to group similar countries in terms of mortality, morbidity, utilisation levels, and human and physical resources, which are all factors that influence health gains. Instead of constructing an absolute rank or comparing against the average, the method finds countries that share similar ground, upon which more reliable comparisons can then be conducted, including performance analysis. We apply this methodology using data from the World Health Organization’s Health for All database, and we present some interesting empirical relationships between indicators that may provide new insights into how such information can be used to promote better healthcare planning and policy guidance.

Within the last two decades, the Nigerian government has committed to strengthening its primary health care system, through reforms addressing institutional restructuring, deepening decentralized governance, and the incorporation of an alternative health care financing strategy. One of these reforms prescribed the establishment of state primary health care agencies/boards (SPHCDBs) as an integral part of the national health system, with the principal responsibility "for the coordination of planning, budgeting, provision and monitoring of all primary health care services that affect residents of the state." Central to this reform is the integration of primary health care (PHC) governance and management, popularly called primary health care under one roof. Another reform, piloting results-based financing, has been implemented since 2011 in three states under the Nigeria State Health Investment Project. This study assesses the implementation of the Primary Health Care Under One Roof (PHCUOR) policy as part of the broader PHC reforms, with a specific focus on how this policy has been strengthened through the Nigeria State Health Investment Project (NSHIP) in Adamawa, Nasarawa, and Ondo states, documenting the evolution of SPHCDB and PHC service delivery, with a focus on management, accountability, and incentives. The study shows that, in the above-mentioned states, significant milestones were achieved in the establishment of the SPHCDB, the strengthening of PHC systems, the improvement of accountability linkages, and an increase in service utilization. The authors therefore argue that integrated PHC systems through SPHCDBs, as enshrined in the PHCUOR guidelines, are a panacea for effective provision of primary health care and a potential game changer for health outcomes, especially when reinforced with a results-based financing approach.

Policing matters to public health, and it makes sense to consider how greater cooperation and even integration between health and law enforcement systems might lead to new and better approaches to chronic problems at the intersection of health and security. The fact that policing is important to public health does not mean, however, that police work is ‘like’ public health work, let alone that police agencies and public health agencies share important features in culture and methods that might support better alignment. It may be more useful to focus on the similarities between policing and medicine. Medicine and policing devote most of their energies to addressing the acute needs of individuals, and have relatively little capacity to change upstream structural factors. Each is a source of considerable incidental harm. Past and current efforts to align public health and medicine provide useful insights into work at the intersection of policing and public health. In this paper, we pursue analogies b...

ASBTRACT The spread of infectious disease represents a global threat and therefore remains a priority on the international public health agenda. The International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) came into effect in June 2007 and provide a legal framework to which the 196 member states of the World Health Assembly agree to abide. 1 These regulations include implementation of protective, control and response measures at points of entry to a country (i.e. land borders, sea and airports), and of notification measures, all of which aim to prevent or limit the spread of disease while minimising disruption to international trade. The World Health Organization can apply and enforce IHR (2005) to any disease considered to pose a significant threat to international public health. This short paper focuses on 2 diseases; yellow fever and poliomyelitis, both of which have the potential to spread internationally. It will discuss the measures applied under IHR (2005) to minimize the threat, and explore the implications for both travelers and travel health advisors.

Domestic violence and abuse is a considerable international public health problem, which is associated with mental disorders in both women and men. Nevertheless, victimization and perpetration remain undetected by mental health services. This paper reviews the evidence on mental health service responses to domestic violence, including identifying, referring, and providing care for people experiencing or perpetrating violence. The review highlights the need for mental health services to improve rates of identification and responses to domestic violence and abuse,through the provision of specific training on domestic violence and abuse, the implementation of clear information sharing protocols and evidence-based interventions, and the establishment of care referral pathways. This review also highlights the need for further research into mentalhealth service users who perpetrate domestic violence and abuse.

Public speculation about bioterrorism and the increasing obesity epidemic are examples of current public health issues that continue to be illuminated in the spotlight. Major public health threats continue to drive the health job market and impact higher education health curricula (e.g., public health, health promotion, community health). Also, higher education institutions are dealing with more campus health-related challenges than ever before, thus driving a major focus on lowering risk with initiatives such as combating increasing mental health issues, drug abuse, sexual assault, and possible active shooter situations, among others. The current landscape of higher education academic health programs is changing due to a scarcity of funding and national focus on possible threats. Trends in degree offerings, effects of technological changes, possible solutions to current higher education health challenges, and a future forecast of higher education health are discussed.

In the context of American health care, considerable attention has been paid to health disparities based on both race and socioeconomic status. Scholars of public health and other social scientists agree that these inequities are enduring and tied to important social factors. Recently, community-based interventions have become popular to address population health and improve health outcomes. These projects that occur in the third sector are thought to be successful because of the full participation of community members who are familiar with local problems and prepared to design appropriate solutions. In many ways, community-based philosophy is consistent with the commitment to voluntarism found in Evangelical theology and religious practice. We, therefore, offer a framework for future collaboration and health policy dialogue in the third sector between community-based activists and American Evangelicals.

While national concern is growing, the scholarly body of knowledge in health literacy is still relatively small in health communication literature. The field began to distinguish itself as an outgrowth of adult literacy that focused on patient understanding of health information. It grew out of medicine and public health science mostly, and still today the majority of research can be found in health professional journals. However, the links with health communication, particularly with provider-patient communication and with printed health information, have been established and documented over the last decade. This article is a conceptual review that highlights state-of-the-science literature that has made connections between health literacy and health communication. Evidence reveals the contribution that health literacy can have on the health communication body of knowledge. The article illuminates the gaps in research and possibilities for theory development and future studies.

The January 2016 issue of Health Systems and Reform, “Special Issue: Prince Mahidol Award Conference 2016: Priority Setting for Universal Health Coverage, offers some hope for prioritization in health. The issue included several commentaries and articles that urge a balanced approach to prioritization, while others explore the limitations of empirical tools like cost effectiveness and HTA. The main question for me is the following: Will the zeal for a technical answer win over the more pragmatic commentary presented in these articles of HS&R?