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Powerlifting, a competitive strength-based sport, offers a rich and compelling site for investigating the digital mediation of gendered subjectivities. The substantive implications of feminist knowledge as interventions in physical cultures are well documented. This article seeks to extend the onto-epistemological precepts of a Feminist New Materialist framework to further a generative analysis of women's physically active moving bodies. The digital lifting journeys of ten women and their physical-digital everyday experiences of becoming-strong comprise the sample with the intent of understanding something different about the micropolitics of self-world transformations entangled within moving-desiring practices. Hence, we argue in this article that the ephemerality of digital traces embedded within networked-based platforms such as Instagram have the potential to change the 'Face' of strength-based sport with significant implications for expanding the cultural imaginary of/for sportswomen more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Verbal autopsy (VA), though imperfect, serves as a vital tool to determine cause-of-death, particularly for out-of-facility deaths, but challenges persist in integrating VA into Civil Registration and Vital Statistics systems. Objective: To describe the challenges and successes of collecting a national sample of verbal autopsy interviews in South Africa to obtain the cause of death profile in 2017/18. Methods: We recruited next of kin from 27 randomly selected sub-districts (10.5%) across South Africa between September 2017 and April 2018. Trained fieldworkers conducted face-to-face interviews using the WHO2016 VA instrument, with physicians certifying underlying causes of death. Feasibility was evaluated based on response rates, participation, and data quality. Results: Of the total 36,976 deaths registered, only 26% were identified during recruitment, with a 55% overall response rate for VA interviews. Physician-reviewed VA data were deemed of good quality for assigning underlying causes of death in 83% of cases. By comparing cause-specific mortality fractions, physician-reviewed VA identified 22.3% HIV/AIDS and InterVA-5 identified 18.5%, aligning with burden of disease estimates, while Statistics South Africa reported 4.9% HIV/AIDS. Conclusions: The study demonstrated the feasibility of using VA on a national scale, but immense challenges in identifying and recruiting next of kin highlight the importance of formalising VAs within the country's death notification system. Paper context: • Main findings: Next of kin of 9 730 decedents were approached at the time of registration of death and 55% consented to be approached later and agreed to do a VA interview by a trained field-worker; 83% of physician-reviewed VA data were considered high-quality for determining underlying causes and 22.3% of all the deaths were due to HIV/AIDS, much higher than the proportion reported in the national statistical office. • Added knowledge: Implementing the VA on a national scale was achievable but significant challenges in recruiting next of kin, emphasising a need to formalise VAs within the country's death notification system. • Global health impact for policy and action: Accurate cause-of-death data are crucial for policymakers to make informed decisions about the country's health system and could be supported by using VAs, particularly for the deaths that occur outside health facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During an epidemic, rapid mortality surveillance provides essential information to formulate an evidence-based response. Weekly counts of deaths are a key indicator of overall epidemic impact and trajectory. (1, 2) [...]

Author(s): Amitabh Bipin Suthar 1,*, Aleya Khalifa 1, Sherry Yin 1, Kristen Wenz 2, Doris Ma Fat 3, Samuel Lantei Mills 4, Erin Nichols 5, Carla AbouZahr 6, Srdjan Mrkic [...], Background Civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems play a key role in upholding human rights and generating data for health and good governance. They also can help monitor progress in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Although many countries have made substantial progress in strengthening their CRVS systems, most low- and middle-income countries still have underdeveloped systems. The objective of this systematic review is to identify national policies that can help countries strengthen their systems. Methods and findings The ABI/INFORM, Embase, JSTOR, PubMed, and WHO Index Medicus databases were systematically searched for policies to improve birth and/or death registration on 24 January 2017. Global stakeholders were also contacted for relevant grey literature. For the purposes of this review, policies were categorised as supply, demand, incentive, penalty, or combination (i.e., at least two of the preceding policy approaches). Quantitative results on changes in vital event registration rates were presented for individual comparative articles. Qualitative systematic review methodology, including meta-ethnography, was used for qualitative syntheses on operational considerations encompassing acceptability to recipients and staff, human resource requirements, information technology or infrastructure requirements, costs to the health system, unintended effects, facilitators, and barriers. This study is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42018085768. Thirty-five articles documenting experience in implementing policies to improve birth and/or death registration were identified. Although 25 countries representing all global regions (Africa, the Americas, Southeast Asia, the Western Pacific, Europe, and the Eastern Mediterranean) were reflected, there were limited countries from the Eastern Mediterranean and Europe regions. Twenty-four articles reported policy effects on birth and/or death registration. Twenty-one of the 24 articles found that the change in registration rate after the policy was positive, with two supply and one penalty articles being the exceptions. The qualitative syntheses identified 15 operational considerations across all policy categories. Human and financial resource requirements were not quantified. The primary limitation of this systematic review was the threat of publication bias wherein many countries may not have documented their experience; this threat is most concerning for policies that had neutral or negative effects. Conclusions Our systematic review suggests that combination policy approaches, consisting of at least a supply and demand component, were consistently associated with improved registration rates in different geographical contexts. Operational considerations should be interpreted based on health system, governance, and sociocultural context. More evaluations and research are needed from the Eastern Mediterranean and Europe regions. Further research and evaluation are also needed to estimate the human and financial resource requirements required for different policies.

Problem As in many other middle-income countries, Jordanian law mandates that all deaths be registered. However, before 2003 registration was not universal and cause of death certification was often inaccurate. [...], Problem Before 2003 there was substantial underreporting of deaths in Jordan. The death notification form did not comply with World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and information on the cause of death was often missing, incomplete or inaccurate. Approach A new mortality surveillance system to determine the causes of death was implemented in 2003 and a unit for coding causes of death was established at the ministry of health. Local setting Jordan is a middle-income country with a population of 6.4 million people. Approximately 20000 deaths were registered per year between 2005 and 2011. Relevant changes In 2001, the ministry of health organized the first meeting on Jordan's mortality system, which yielded a five-point plan to improve mortality statistics. Using the recommendations produced from this meeting, in 2003 the ministry of health initiated a mortality statistics improvement project in collaboration with international partners. Jordan has continued to improve its mortality reporting system, with annual reporting since 2004. Reports are based on more than 70% of reported deaths. The quality of cause-of-death information has improved, with only about 6% of deaths allocated to symptoms and ill-defined conditions--a substantial decrease from the percentage before 2001 (40%). Mortality information is now submitted to WHO following international standards. Lessons learnt After 10 years of mortality surveillance in Jordan, the reporting has improved and the information has been used by various health programmes throughout Jordan. Probleme Avant 2003, le nombre de deces etait considerablement sous-declare en Jordanie. Le formulaire de declaration de deces n'etait pas conforme aux directives de l'Organisation mondiale de la Sante (OMS) et les informations relatives aux causes des deces etaient generalement manquantes, incompletes ou imprecises. Approche Un nouveau systeme de surveillance de la mortalite pour determiner les causes de deces a ete mis en place en 2003 et une unite chargee de codifier les causes de deces a ete creee au sein du ministere de la Sante. Environnement local La Jordanie est un pays a revenu intermediaire qui compte 6,4 millions d'habitants. Environ 20 000 deces par an ont ete enregistres entre 2005 et 2011. Changements significatifs En 2001, le ministere de la Sante a organise une premiere reunion sur le systeme de surveillance de la mortalite de Jordanie, qui a conduit a l'elaboration d'un plan en cinq points visant a ameliorer les statistiques de mortalite. A partir des recommandations formulees au cours de cette reunion, le ministere de la Sante a amorce en 2003 un projet d'amelioration des statistiques de mortalite en collaboration avec des partenaires internationaux. La Jordanie a poursuivi l'amelioration de son systeme d'etablissement de rapports sur la mortalite avec l'elaboration depuis 2004 de rapports annuels. Ces rapports s'appuient sur plus de 70% des deces signales. La qualite des informations relatives aux causes des deces s'est amelioree, seulement 6% environ des deces etant attribues a des symptomes et a des troubles mal definis, ce qui represente une baisse importante par rapport au pourcentage anterieur a 2001 (40%). Les donnees de mortalite sont desormais soumises a l'OMS conformement aux normes internationales. LeconstireesApreslOansdesurveillancedela mortalite en Jordanie, la diffusion de donnees s'est amelioree et les informations ont ete utilisees dans lecadre de differents programmes de sante dans l'ensemble du pays. Situacion Antes de 2003, existia una infradeclaracion sustancial de las muertes en Jordania. El formulario de notificacion de defunciones no cumplia con las directrices de la Organizacion Mundial de la Salud (OMS), ya que en repetidas ocasiones la informacion referente a la causa del fallecimiento no se proveia, o bien estaba incompleta o era incorrecta. Enfoque En 2003, se implemento un nuevo sistema de vigilancia de la mortalidad para determinar las causas de mortalidad. Tambien se establecio una unidad para clasificar las causas de mortalidad en el Ministerio de Salud. Marco regional Jordania es un pais de ingresos medios y tiene una poblacion de 6,4 millones de personas. Entre 2005 y 2011, se registraron unas 20.000 defunciones por ano. Cambios importantes En 2001, el Ministerio de Salud organizo la primera reunion sobre el sistema de mortalidad de Jordania, cuyo resultado fue un plan de cinco puntos para mejorar las estadisticas de mortalidad. Haciendo uso de las recomendaciones que salieron de esa reunion, en 2003, el Ministerio de Salud inicio un proyecto de mejora de las estadisticas de mortalidad en colaboracion con socios internacionales. Jordania ha seguido mejorando su sistema de presentacion de informes sobre mortalidad, con Informes anuales desde 2004. Dichos Informes se basan en mas del 70% de las defunciones notificadas. La calidad de la informacion referente a la causa de mortalidad ha mejorado, con solo un 6% de las defunciones atribuidas a sintomas y estados no definidos, la cual cosa significa una caida sustancial del porcentaje existente antes de 2001 (40%). Actualmente, la informacion sobre mortalidad se presenta ante la OMS y cumple con las normas internacionales. Lecciones aprendidas Despues de 10 anos de vigilancia de la mortalidad en Jordania, los informes han mejorado y la informacion se ha usado para diferentes programas sanitarios por toda Jordania.

Background: Household contacts who provide care to an Ebola virus disease (EVD) case have a 3-fold higher risk of EVD compared with contacts who do not provide care.Methods: We enrolled persons with confirmed EVD from December 2014 to April 2015 in Freetown, Sierra Leone, and their household contacts. Index cases and contacts were interviewed, and contacts were followed for 21 days to identify secondary cases. Epidemiological data were analysed to describe household care and to identify risk factors for developing EVD.Results: Of 838 contacts in 147 households, 156 (17%) self-reported providing care to the index case; 56 households had no care provider, 52 a single care provider and 39 multiple care providers. The median care provider age was 29 years, 68% were female and 32% were the index case's spouse. Care providers were more likely to report physical contact, contact with body fluids or sharing clothing, bed linens or utensils with an index case, compared with non-care providers (P <0.01). EVD risk among non-care providers was greater when the number of care providers in the household increased (odds ratio: 1.61; 95% confidence interval: 1.1, 2.4). In multivariable analysis, factors associated with care provider EVD risk included no piped water access and absence of index case fever, and protective factors included age <20 years and avoiding the index case.Conclusions: Limiting the number of care providers in a household could reduce the risk of EVD transmission to both care providers and non-care providers. Strategies to protect care providers from EVD exposure are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Author(s): Erin K. Nichols 1,*, Peter Byass 2,3, Daniel Chandramohan 4, Samuel J. Clark 3,5,6,7, Abraham D. Flaxman 8, Robert Jakob 9, Jordana Leitao 9, Nicolas Maire 10,11, Chalapati Rao [...], Background Verbal autopsy (VA) is a practical method for determining probable causes of death at the population level in places where systems for medical certification of cause of death are weak. VA methods suitable for use in routine settings, such as civil registration and vital statistics (CRVS) systems, have developed rapidly in the last decade. These developments have been part of a growing global momentum to strengthen CRVS systems in low-income countries. With this momentum have come pressure for continued research and development of VA methods and the need for a single standard VA instrument on which multiple automated diagnostic methods can be developed. Methods and findings In 2016, partners harmonized a WHO VA standard instrument that fully incorporates the indicators necessary to run currently available automated diagnostic algorithms. The WHO 2016 VA instrument, together with validated approaches to analyzing VA data, offers countries solutions to improving information about patterns of cause-specific mortality. This VA instrument offers the opportunity to harmonize the automated diagnostic algorithms in the future. Conclusions Despite all improvements in design and technology, VA is only recommended where medical certification of cause of death is not possible. The method can nevertheless provide sufficient information to guide public health priorities in communities in which physician certification of deaths is largely unavailable. The WHO 2016 VA instrument, together with validated approaches to analyzing VA data, offers countries solutions to improving information about patterns of cause-specific mortality.

This study explores future mental health providers' assumptions about minor-attracted people, using data from a survey of 200 students preparing for entry into social service professions at a public university in the state of Utah. Survey results show that more than half of the students believe clients who identify themselves as pedophiles must be automatically reported to the police, which has implications for providers' understandings about the term "pedophile," as well as their knowledge of guidelines for when clinicians may break client confidentiality. This belief was not significantly affected by taking ethics courses, nor courses that discussed mandated reporting guidelines. Despite this finding, 91% of students did not believe that they would need to report a client who had attractions to children, but who had never committed a sexual offense against a child. The majority of students indicated a willingness to work with minor-attracted clients, and commonly indicated in comments that they wanted more information about MAPs and when to break client confidentiality in their programs of study. Study results indicate a need for education among social service students about these issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]