Pandemic Influenza Planning for the Mental Health Security of Survivors of Mass Deaths

Author(s):  
Marie-Jo Medina
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gonca Ustun

COVID-19 was first detected in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and spread rapidly in many other countries. This situation, defined now as a pandemic, has turned into a worldwide public health problem that threatens health security, especially that of healthcare professionals. Nurses, particularly those at the forefront of healthcare and directly involved in COVID-19 patient care, have been affected not only physically but also mentally. Because nurses have longer communication and interaction times with patients, they are more concerned about becoming infected or infecting others. Nurses have the highest level of occupational stress compared to other groups and are accordingly subjected to anxiety and depression. For many reasons such as intense working hours, working in a shift system, an insufficient number of personnel, severe conditions of the unit, being in constant contact with patients and their relatives and showing intense empathy for them, nurses experience primary and secondary traumatic stress, job burnout, compassion fatigue, and moral injuries. For this reason, conducting appropriate prevention activities and planning prevention strategies for future pandemic situations is important to support nurses psychologically and to protect their mental health.


The Lancet ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 374 (9703) ◽  
pp. 1786-1791 ◽  
Author(s):  
ZA Memish ◽  
SJN McNabb ◽  
F Mahoney ◽  
F Alrabiah ◽  
N Marano ◽  
...  

2011 ◽  
Vol 59 (4) ◽  
pp. 797-812 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Abraham

The period beginning in 2004 saw an extraordinary spurt in attention paid to avian and pandemic influenza in the United States and at the global level. A disease that for decades had languished in the ‘dull but worthy’ category of infectious diseases was elevated to a risk to global health security. The securitisation of influenza was not unproblematic. The influenza pandemic of 2009 turned out to be far milder than anticipated, and much of the scientific basis on which planning had proceeded and resources had been mobilised turned out to be wrong. Developing countries with other disease priorities were urged to pour resources into pandemic planning exercises and change poultry-raising practices. The article argues that for an issue to be securitised as a global health threat, it is essential that the United States takes the lead role (or at the very least supports efforts by other leading powers). It uses the Copenhagen School's analysis to examine how avian and pandemic influenza was securitised in the United States, and then uses the concept of framing to examine why this disease was securitised by looking at the prior existence of an issue culture or discourse around emerging infectious diseases, which gained salience after the 2011 anthrax attacks. It finally looks at the impact of securitisation on countries with different priorities.


2016 ◽  
Vol 33 (S1) ◽  
pp. S36-S36
Author(s):  
M. Kastrup

Europe has undergone considerable economic changes that have an impact on mental health of its citizens; have consequences for the organization of mental health services; and raise ethical issues, such as the distribution of wealth, and equity in access to care. Furthermore, Europe is current undergoing serious economic problems that will produce adverse effects on the mental health of its citizens, among them increase in substance abuse related disorders as well as an increase in suicide.The consequences that economic changes have on mental health relate to the conditions of the particular country, as countries with better health security nets would be less likely to experience adverse effects. Different policy measures may reduce the impact on mental health not only within the health sector, but other sectors of society have to be engaged in the process.The symposium will consider these problems from different selected perspectives.An overview of the impact of economic policies on health services will be followed by a presentation of the important role of international organizations like EPA in outlining the problem and finally a presentation of the initiative Choosing Wisely that focuses on communication between health professionals and patients with recommendations of decisions about the most appropriate care based on the patient's individual situation.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.


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