scholarly journals COVID-19 PANDEMIC UPDATES AND PERSPECTIVES. NEED FOR AN INTEGRATED AND EQUITABLE APPROACH.

Author(s):  
Grigoris Gerotziafas ◽  
Mariella Catalano ◽  
Ioannis Theodorou ◽  
Patrick van Dreden ◽  
Vincent Marechal ◽  
...  

One year after the declaration of the COVID-19 pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) and despite the implementation of mandatory physical barriers and social distancing, humanity remains challenged by a long-lasting and devastating public health crisis. Non-pharmacological interventions (NPI) are efficient mitigation strategies. The success of these intense NPI is dependent on the approval and commitment of the population. The launch of a mass vaccination program in many countries in late December 2020 with mRNA vaccines, adenovirus-based vaccines, and inactivated virus vaccines has generated hope for the end of the pandemic. Current issues: The continuous appearance of new pathogenic viral strains and the ability of vaccines to prevent infection and transmission raise important concerns as we try to achieve community immunity against SARS-CoV-2 and its variants. The need of a second and even third generation of vaccines and the possibility of potentially harmful side-effects of the vaccines (i.e. venous thromboembolism ) have already been acknowledged. Perspectives: There is a critical and urgent need for a balanced and integrated strategy for the management of the COVID-19 outbreaks organized on three axes: (1) Prevention of the SARS-CoV-2 infection, (2) Detection and early diagnosis of patients at risk of disease worsening, and (3) Anticipation of medical care (PDA). Conclusion: The “PDA strategy” integrated into state policy for the support and expansion of health systems and introduction of digital organization (i.e. telemedicine, artificial intelligence and machine learning technology) is of major importance for the preservation of citizens’ health and life world-wide.

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. e020022
Author(s):  
Maria Laura Brizio Gomes ◽  
Stephanie Santana Pinto ◽  
Marlos Rodrigues Domingues

Introduction: Regular physical activity (PA) is important for the entire population, equally for healthy people and survivors of breast cancer. Despite the benefits of PA, there are women who do not attain the recommendation from the World Health Organization (WHO). Objective: To describe and compare the barriers to PA in women with and without breast cancer. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was performed. The consisted of 230 women with primary breast cancer diagnosed up to one year and 231 women without breast cancer. Both groups were matched by age (±5 years). The participants answered a questionnaire with questions about barriers to PA and sociodemographic, anthropometric and behavioral characteristics. Results: Women with breast cancer perceived more barriers to PA than those without diagnosis (59.4% versus 40.7%). The barriers most cited by women diagnosed with breast cancer were “feeling discomfort or pain” (59.6%) and “feeling tired” (56.1%). The barriers most mentioned by women without diagnosis were “lack of money” (21.6%) and “lack of company” (19.1%). Conclusion: Women with breast cancer report more barriers than women without the disease. Therefore, it is suggested that they have a lower level of PA in leisure time. The perceived barriers to PA among women with and without breast cancer are similar, but they differ in the physical barriers.


2020 ◽  
pp. 20-25
Author(s):  
Denise Sackett ◽  
Tala Dajani ◽  
David Shoup ◽  
Uzoma Ikonne

The benefits of breastfeeding are well established. The World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that mothers breastfeed infants for at least one year, but most children are not breastfed that long because of many factors. Breastfeeding mothers face many challenges to continued breastfeeding, including medical conditions that arise during this period, such as postpartum depression and lactational mastitis. Because of a perceived lack of consistent guidance on medication safety, it can be difficult for the family physician to treat these conditions while encouraging mothers to continue breastfeeding. The purpose of the current review is to summarize and clarify treatment options for the osteopathic family physician treating lactating mothers. We specifically focus on the pharmacological management of contraception, postpartum depression, and lactational mastitis.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nafisa Qibriya Khan ◽  
A. H. Farooqui ◽  
Syed Ayesha Fatima ◽  
Jalil Ahmad ◽  
Tausif S. Khan

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a pandemic disease of modern time with unique and rapid transmission rate and affected almost all the nations without respecting any border. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is arguably the biggest health crisis the world has faced in 21st century. It is an infectious disease and declared pandemic by the World Health Organization. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, which originated in Wuhan, China, has now spread to 192 countries and administrative regions infecting nearly 800,000 individuals of all ages as of 31 March 2020. Though most infected individuals exhibit mild symptoms including fever, upper respiratory tract symptoms, shortness of breath, and diarrhoea, or are asymptomatic altogether, severe cases of infection can lead to pneumonia, multiple organ failure, and death. Globally, at least 7900 deaths have been directly attributed to COVID19, and this number is expected to rise with the ongoing epidemic. This is particularly crucial as the current outbreak involves a new pathogen (SARS-CoV-2), on which limited knowledge exists of its infectivity and clinical profile. Research is in progress on therapeutic efficacy of various agents including anti-malarials (Chloroquine and Hydroxychloroquine), antiviral drugs, and convalescent serum of recovered patients. Unani system of medicine is one of the traditional systems of medicine which is being explored for providing preventive, supportive and rehabilitative care to patients. Unani system of medicine has a detailed description of drugs that are utilized in many infectious diseases, including respiratory infections. Immune response is essential to eliminate virus and to preclude disease progression to severe stages. Therefore, it is important to summarize the evidence regarding the preventive measures, control options such as immune-stimulator and prophylactic treatment in Unani medicine against Covid19. This review summarizes various pharmacological actions of Unani formulation Tiryaq-e-Arba in Unani literature and various reported pharmacological activities which can possibly provide prevention, control and reduction of complications of this deadly disease.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1496
Author(s):  
Eun-Hee Lee ◽  
Yunsoo Chang ◽  
Seung-Woo Lee

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a general health crisis and has irreversible impacts on human societies. Globally, all people are at risk of being exposed to the novel coronavirus through transmission of airborne bioaerosols. Public health actions, such as wearing a mask, are highly recommended to reduce the transmission of infectious diseases. The appropriate use of masks is necessary for effectively preventing the transmission of airborne bioaerosols. The World Health Organization (WHO) suggests washing fabric masks or throwing away disposable masks after they are used. However, people often use masks more than once without washing or disposing them. The prolonged use of a single mask might—as a result of the user habitually touching the mask—promote the spread of pathogens from airborne bioaerosols that have accumulated on the mask. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate how long the living components of bioaerosols can be viable on the masks. Here, we evaluated the viability of airborne Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) in bioaerosols filtered on woven and anti-droplet (non-woven) face masks. As a simulation of being simultaneously exposed to sand dust and bioaerosols, the viability rates of bioaerosols that had accumulated on masks were also tested against fine dust and airborne droplets containing bacteria. The bioaerosols survived on the masks immediately after the masks were used to filter the bioaerosols, and the bacteria significantly proliferated after one day of storage. Thereafter, the number of viable cells in the filtered bioaerosols gradually decreased over time, and the viability of B. subtilis in bioaerosols on the masks varied, depending on the mask material used (woven or non-woven). Despite the reduction in viability, bioaerosols containing living components were still found in both woven and anti-droplet masks even after six days of storage and it took nine days not to have found them on masks. The number of viable cells in bioaerosols on masks significantly decreased upon exposure of the masks to fine dust. The results of this study should provide useful information on how to appropriately use masks to increase their duration of effectiveness against bioaerosols.


2020 ◽  

In the past 100 years, the world has faced four distinctly different pandemics: the Spanish flu of 1918-1919, the SARS pandemic of 2003, the H1N1 or “swine flu” pandemic of 2012, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Each public health crisis exposed specific systemic shortfalls and provided public health lessons for future events. The Spanish flu revealed a nursing shortage and led to a great appreciation of nursing as a profession. SARS showed the importance of having frontline clinicians be able to work with regulators and those producing guidelines. H1N1 raised questions about the nature of a global organization such as the World Health Organization in terms of the benefits and potential disadvantages of leading the fight against a long-term global public health threat. In the era of COVID-19, it seems apparent that we are learning about both the blessing and curse of social media.


Author(s):  
Ken Hyland ◽  
Feng (Kevin) Jiang

Abstract Covid-19, the greatest global health crisis for a century, brought a new immediacy and urgency to international bio-medical research. The pandemic generated intense competition to produce a vaccine and contain the virus, creating what the World Health Organization referred to as an ‘infodemic’ of published output. In this frantic atmosphere, researchers were keen to get their research noticed. In this paper, we explore whether this enthusiasm influenced the rhetorical presentation of research and encouraged scientists to “sell” their studies. Examining a corpus of the most highly cited SCI articles on the virus published in the first seven months of 2020, we explore authors’ use of hyperbolic and promotional language to boost aspects of their research. Our results show a significant increase in hype to stress certainty, contribution, novelty and potential, especially regarding research methods, outcomes and primacy. Our study sheds light on scientific persuasion at a time of intense social anxiety.


GEOgraphia ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (49) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruno Carneiro de Oliveira ◽  
Denis Castilho

Resumo: A crise sanitária ocasionada pela Covid-19 tem demonstrado que o novo coronavírus não acomete apenas as vias mais distantes do pulmão humano, mas também os fluxos da economia mundializada. Neste artigo analisamos as consequências do novo coronavírus na rede de transporte aéreo no primeiro semestre de 2020 a partir de uma abordagem multiescalar. Os procedimentos metodológicos basearam-se em coleta de dados do fluxo de transporte aéreo e de informações referentes a casos de Covid-19 em localidades selecionadas. As principais bases de dados utilizadas foram a Agência Nacional de Aviação Civil (ANAC), a International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS) e relatórios de concessionárias de aeroportos. A análise leva a refletir sobre a dependência das corporações, especialmente de grandes companhias aéreas, às ações do Estado e revela um sistema de espoliação (e de pilhagem) ainda mais agressivo e articulado em tempos de crise como essa ocasionada e/ou agravada pela Covid-19. Palavras-chave: Covid-19. Transporte aéreo. Fluidez. Crise econômica. Through the flows and the scales: Covid-19 and its implications for the air transportation network in the 1st semester of 2020Abstract: The health crisis caused by Covid-19 has shown that the new coronavirus affects not only the most distant pathways of the human lung but also the flows of the globalized economy. In this paper, we analyze the consequences of the new coronavirus on the air transportation network in the 1st semester of 2020 in a multiscale approach. The methodological procedures were based on the gathering of air transportation flow data and information related to Covid-19 cases in selected locations. The main databases were the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC), the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the World Health Organization (WHO), and reports from highway and airport concessionaires. The analysis leads to reflect on the dependence of corporations, especially large airlines, on the actions of the State and reveals a system of exploitation (and looting) even more aggressive and articulated in times of crisis such as that caused and/or aggravated by COVID -19.Keywords: Covid-19. Air Transportation. Fluidity. Economic crisis. Entre flujos y escalas: Covid-19 y sus implicaciones en la red de transporte aéreo en el primer semestre de 2020Resumen: La crisis sanitaria derivada de la Covid-19 ha demostrado que el nuevo coronavirus no solo afecta a las vías más distantes del pulmón humano, sino también a los flujos de la economía globalizada. En este artículo analizamos las consecuencias del nuevo coronavirus en la red de transporte aéreo en el primer semestre de 2020 desde un enfoque multiescalar. Los procedimientos metodológicos se basaron en la recopilación de datos de flujo de transporte aéreo y de información relacionada con los casos de Covid-19 en ubicaciones seleccionadas. Las principales bases de datos utilizadas fueron la Agencia Nacional de Aviación Civil de Brasil (ANAC), la International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) y los informes de las concesionarias de aeropuertos. El análisis lleva a reflexionar sobre la dependencia de las corporaciones, especialmente las grandes aerolíneas, a las acciones del Estado y revela un sistema de saqueo aún más agresivo y articulado en tiempos de crisis como esta provocada y/o agravada por el nuevo coronavirus.Palabras clave: Covid-19. Transporte aéreo. Fluidez. Crisis económica.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-17
Author(s):  
Mirza Ghulamudin Ghulamudin ◽  
Maufur ◽  
Beni Habibi

Covid-19 has now attacked Indonesia, where the spread of the disease is very fast. Not only in Indonesia, but all corners of the world are currently experiencing a health crisis. In the beginning, the spread of Covid-19 had an impact on economic activity which began to sluggish. This also has an impact on the education system in Indonesia. Until several countries decided to close schools and universities. In an effort to prevent the spread of covid-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends temporarily stopping activities that would potentially cause crowds. Even during the outbreak, covid-19 in Indonesia, there were many ways that the government did to prevent its spread through social distancing. Kemendikbud instructed through the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) Directorate of Higher Education Circular No. 1 of 2020 concerning the prevention of the spread of covid-19 in the world of Education to organize distance learning and advise students to learn from their homes. Teachers and students are starting to be required to follow the current situation by using technology as a distance learning medium. One of the media that is being favored by teachers as a learning medium is the Google Classroom application. This application is an application that can make it easier for students and teachers to create effective learning. Given that students today are a generation who are very familiar with the use of technology. The use of technology in learning is an alternative method used by teachers during the Covid-19 Pandemic.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Vilbert

The COVID-19 has renovated the debate about global health governance. A number of scholars have proposed that the World Health Organization should assume the position of a central coordinator with hierarchical powers, demanding nation-states to “share their sovereignty”. This article presents four main objections to this project. First, when international institutions receive leverage, they use to impose “one-size-fits-all” policies, which conflicts with the characteristic heterogeny across countries. Second, geopolitical questions and the distribution of power in multilateral institutions put developing countries in a position of vulnerability within a hierarchical order. Third, the risk of crowding out parallel initiatives, especially from non-state actors. Fourth, decisions about health can have a major impact on countries, which may thwart the internal democratic principle. A Pareto improvement would be possible by strengthening the WHO’s operational capacity and its ability to issue technical guidance and coordinate with countries. To test this hypothesis, this study analyses the possible influence of the WHO’s guidance in the first year of the coronavirus health crisis, from January 2020 to January 2021, in 37 countries reported in the World Values Survey Wave 7 (2017-2020). The OLS regression performed shows a statistically significant negative relationship between the trust in the WHO, assumed as a proxy for the level of the organization's penetration, and the number of cases of COVID-19 (per million people) in the countries of the sample. These findings reinforce the hypothesis that there is a valid case for the countries to strengthen the WHO’s mandate post-COVID-19, but they should enhance the operations of provision of reliable information and support. Nation-states, in particular the developing ones, should eschew the temptation to create a hierarchical global health structure, which may not only fail due to countries’ asymmetries but is likely to create losers in the process.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Sacco

"H1 N1 is a virus that has been sensationalized by the media since the first case was discovered in Mexico during the spring of 2009. People around the world feared that the virus would mutate into something as severe as the 1918 Spanish flu, one of the deadliest plagues in history. However experts had discovered by June of 2009 that the Spanish flu was not comparable to H1 N1. Yet for six months newspaper reporters continued to compare the ew epidemic to the Spanish flu, thus keeping alive the threat of an unstoppable pandemic. One year has passed since the first case of H1 N1 was confirmed. After all of the attention that H1 N1 received, it proved to be not much different than a typical seasonal flu, resulting in a lower death rate (Schabas and Rau, 2010). Recently, a number of investigations have begun to determine if the World Health Organization (WHO) overemphasized the level of risk, resulting in a large quantity of sensationalized media coverage, and citizens in a state of panic.


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