Search

Black women in the United States are placed at higher risk for mental health challenges, including distress and depression, due to structural inequities. Black college women enrolled in predominantly White institutions may be particularly exposed to stressors related to gendered racism, but there is limited knowledge about this population's coping strategies. A cross‐sectional survey and focus group were utilized to understand and disrupt participants' experiences of gendered racism. In phase one, a survey assessing coping strategies and mental health outcomes was conducted with 168 Black women enrolled at a predominantly White institution in the southeastern United States. Logistic regression results indicated that several coping strategies including behavioral disengagement, self‐blame, self‐distraction, denial, and positive reframing were significantly associated with depression and psychological distress, all p < 0.05. Phase two included a single focus group with a subset of the sample from phase one. The focus group findings supplemented the survey results, suggesting education (more accurately consciousness‐raising) as a foundational theme that seemed to create space for humor and social support as coping subthemes and created a transformative space where participants spoke openly about gendered racism. Findings from this study highlight the societal underpinnings that shape Black college women's experiences of gendered racism. College settings should endeavor to provide formal and informal support for Black women to minimize the harms related to gendered racism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Trachoma is targeted by the World Health Organization (WHO) for elimination as a public health problem by 2030. Trachoma impact surveys using standardised methodology are recommended to monitor progress towards elimination and to determine eligibility for continued surgery, antibiotics, facial cleanliness, and environmental improvement (SAFE) interventions. From 2007 to 2015, four counties of Eastern Equatoria State, South Sudan, received three to five rounds of mass drug administration with antibiotics. A trachoma impact survey in 2015 indicated all four counties had trachomatous-inflammation follicular prevalence among children ages 1-9 years above the WHO elimination threshold (range 17.4%-47.6%). Based on these results, the recommended number of years of SAFE interventions were implemented and the counties were subsequently resurveyed., Methods: Between 2021 and 2023, trachoma impact surveys were conducted in Budi, Kapoeta East, Kapoeta North, and Kapoeta South counties using a two-stage cluster sample design. Trained and certified graders examined participants for trachoma clinical signs using the WHO simplified grading system to estimate county-level prevalence., Results: A total of 12,570 individuals from 3286 households in 116 survey clusters were examined for trachoma. Prevalence of trachomatous-inflammation follicular among children ages 1-9 years was 5.6% (95% confidence interval [CI]:3.7%-8.3%) in Kapoeta South, 7.4% (CI:5.1%-10.7%) in Budi, 12.3% (CI:7.8%-18.9%) in Kapoeta East, and 18.1% (CI:13.5%-24.0%) in Kapoeta North. Trachomatous inflammation-intense prevalence among children ages 1-9 years ranged from 0.4% (CI:0.2%-1.0%) in Kapoeta East to 2.1% (CI:1.4%-3.2%) in Kapoeta North, and trachomatous trichiasis in individuals ages ≥15 years ranged from 1.0% (CI:0.5%-2.1%) in Kapoeta North to 1.9% (CI:1.3%-2.8%) in Budi., Conclusions: As no county reached the WHO elimination thresholds of trachomatous-inflammation follicular <5% or trachomatous trichiasis <0.2%, SAFE interventions should continue. Furthermore, these districts are classified as having persistent trachoma, based on trachomatous-inflammation follicular levels remaining >5% after two impact surveys. Compared to results from 2015, the prevalence of trachomatous-inflammation follicular, trachomatous inflammation-intense, and trachomatous trichiasis in all counties decreased, indicating that the Republic of South Sudan Ministry of Health's Trachoma Control Program is advancing towards its elimination goal., (© 2025 The Authors Tropical Medicine & International Health published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Purpose: Discrimination is a social determinant of health (SDOH) that negatively affects racially minoritized students and patients. Nurses and nurse educators must understand discrimination, including nuanced and intersecting ways that it negatively affects academic and health outcomes., Method: In-depth interviews were conducted with 12 Black women at a primarily White institution in the Southeast United States. The interview guide, informed by critical race and intersectionality theories, explored experiences of gendered racism, particularly in the students' social environments. Narrative analysis was conducted, then a composite counternarrative was composed to portray experiences of gendered racism across multiple levels, including intrapersonal, interpersonal, and institutional., Results: The composite narrative revealed experiences of multi-leveled gendered racial microaggressions that shape the daily lived experiences of Black college women students. Three main themes emerged: Limited Autonomy , Differential Treatment and Differential Assumptions , and Differential Access to Power and Resources ., Conclusion: Gendered racism differs from White women's experiences of sexism and Black men's experiences of racism. Institutional efforts to support Black college women must be intentional in addressing the unique ways they experience discrimination in various settings on campus. Nurses' and nurse educators' understanding of gendered racism as a SDOH may ease the hesitancy in addressing health inequities. [ Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, xx (x), xx-xx.].

Community-wide distribution of azithromycin, otherwise known as mass drug administration (MDA), is a component of the World Health Organization-endorsed SAFE strategy for the elimination of trachoma as a public health problem. In the Republic of South Sudan, 2.9 million people are known to live in areas that are known to require interventions and warrant MDA. This study estimated the total costs and cost per person treated during MDA in two counties, Kapoeta North and Kapoeta East, in South Sudan. MDA was conducted in Kapoeta North and Kapoeta East counties from October 2020 to January 2021. Following training and community sensitization, a core team, consisting of a height measurer, a drug dispenser, and a data recorder, delivered the intervention. A detailed costing database was developed in Microsoft Excel. An ingredients approach was used to capture all financial and economic costs incurred from a payer perspective. Primary outcomes included the total cost of MDA in each county and the cost per person treated in each county. In Kapoeta North, 58,226 people were treated at a financial cost of $71,350 USD. This corresponds to a unit cost of $1.22 per person treated. The total economic cost of the intervention was $99,036, at a unit cost of $1.70 per person treated. In Kapoeta East, 156,092 people were treated at a total financial cost of $168,404. This corresponds to a unit cost of $1.08 per person treated. The total economic cost of the intervention was $243,205, at a unit cost of $1.56 per person treated. The study highlights the cost variation for MDA implementation across two counties of South Sudan. As the South Sudan trachoma program expands, this information will be valuable for program planning., Competing Interests: This study was led by an independent consultant with funding from The Carter Center., (Copyright: © 2024 Jesudason et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Conflict and violence constitute threats to public health. As levels of conflict increase within and between countries, it is important to explore how conflict resolution initiatives can be adapted to meet the health needs of communities, and how addressing the health needs of communities can assist in conflict resolution and contribute to health security. In conflict-affected central Mali, a Peace through Health Initiative, piloted between 2018 and 2022, used conflict resolution trainings, facilitated community meetings, and human and animal health interventions to negotiate "periods of tranquility" to achieve public health goals. Project activities resulted in improved health, improved livelihoods, reduced violence, improved trust among stakeholders, and greater inclusion of community members in peace and health decisionmaking. The Peace-Health Initiative generated several lessons learned related to 3 phases of peace-health programming: preintervention, program development, and implementation. These lessons can be applied to support expanded Peace through Health Initiatives within Mali, may be adaptable to other conflict-afflicted contexts, and should be considered in relation to the implementation of global health security.