The View From the Far Side An International Public Health—Primary Care Interface

1995 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Anne Altmann ◽  
Priscilla Robinson ◽  
Tilman Ruff

In this paper, first-hand experience of a three-year project in Indonesia is used to explore the relationship between public health and primary care—disciplines which are too rarely considered in partnership. The Healthy Start for Child Survival Project in Lombok, Indonesia, which has now been running for two years, has integrated them in a way which utilises the strengths of both approaches. The result is a comprehensive series of practical and appropriate health interventions based on the collection of qualitative and quantitative data. Avenues of intervention revolve around active outreach involving both antenatal and postnatal strategies, including strategies to reduce morbidity and mortality from tetanus, hepatitis and acute respiratory infection. The positive effects of these interventions are now visible in the huge improvements to the health status of the local child population. The final stage of the project is designed to identify ways in which the health of the local population can be further improved, and to ensure the sustainability of these interventions after the project has been completed. The extent to which the knowledge gained could be applied to public health and primary care in Australia is discussed.

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
G Cassourret

Abstract The population is increasingly using emergency care services around the world. The underlying interrogation is whether this increase is a consequence from a dysfunction in healthcare provision, from a deterioration in the health status of the population or from socioeconomic determinants. We performed geospatial analyses with 3-year 1,081,026 Emergency Medical Services (EMS) responses in Paris and its suburbs. Incidence of calls per population and complaints were compared, at the neighborhood level, with demographic and socioeconomic determinants. Associations with characteristics of the health system such as the density of primary care doctors were also studied. Spatial autocorrelations were searched with Moran's I analyses. We found a positive correlation between the incidence of EMS calls by population for respiratory problems, and the level of poverty as well as the unemployment rate (p < 0.001). There was no significant correlation between psychiatric complaints and socioeconomic determinants. There was a strong correlation between calls for birth or imminent birth by woman of childbearing age and the unemployment rate among women, the unemployment rate overall and household median household income (p < 0.001). There was no correlation between the density of primary care providers and EMS activity by population. EMS data allowed us to powerfully identify specific socioeconomic determinants of health for a 7 million-inhabitant population at the district level. Results could be used to design and implement tailored public health interventions for maximum impact. The overuse of emergency services does not seem to stem solely from the decrease in the supply of primary care doctors. Innovatively, monitoring the actual use of emergency services could responsively inform policy makers and agencies responsible for prevention and health promotion about the specific needs of the population and the consequences of decisions on the organization of the provision of care. Key messages The use of emergency services is a valid metric to evaluate the health status of the population and identify socioeconomic determinants. It gives specific guidelines for public health interventions. Geospatial analyses can efficiently identify the specific needs of a population at the neighborhood level. It can participate to the evaluation of the organization of healthcare provision.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. maapoc.0000017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shingai D. Gwatidzo ◽  
Petronella K. Murambinda ◽  
Zivanai Makoni

With the sprouting of unregulated outlets on the streets of Zimbabwe, common questions that are raised include: (i) what is the Medicines Control Authority of Zimbabwe (MCAZ) doing about these street vendors? and (ii) is the law against unregulated markets and proliferation of substandard and falsified (SF) medicines being actively enforced? There is no doubt that this is a new challenge for MCAZ because of the risks involved with SF medicines. Notwithstanding the rather strong regulatory framework for the regulated market that the MCAZ has major control over, and its demonstrable regulatory prowess over the last 20 years as a National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA), MCAZ is increasingly challenged to take a leading role in addressing this rising phenomenon. MCAZ has attempted to address the problem through collaboration with the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP), public education and inspections by port officials at ports of entry. However, the problem still persists. A general lack of concrete qualitative and quantitative data on the commonly encountered SF medicinal products on the Zimbabwe market is another major issue. This is evidently a multi-layered problem and as the Shona adage goes “chara chimwe hachitswanye inda” (loosely translated “one thumb cannot crush all lice”), there is need for engaging local and regional partners in a bid to fulfil the MCAZ's mandate of protecting public health by ensuring medicines and medical devices intended for sale and distribution in Zimbabwe, are safe, effective and of good quality.


2021 ◽  
pp. 35-63
Author(s):  
Joia S. Mukherjee

The tide turned in public health due to the fight for AIDS treatment access around the world. While prevention, not treatment was the focus of most health interventions in the 20th century, based on this SPHC model, AIDS resulted in a reversal of the gains made in the child survival revolution. Entire communities collapsed under the weight of AIDS which struck down mothers, fathers, teachers, farmer, and health workers. This chapter focuses on the AIDS pandemic, beginning in the 1980s, and traces the global spread of this deadly disease. Importantly, the chapter covers the emergence of the movement of people living with AIDS both in accelerating the discovery of antiretroviral and as a movement that focused the right to health for all. It is the force of this movement that resulted in novel funding of global health.


2011 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 1550-1556 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Y. Huang ◽  
Alexandra Sedlovskaya ◽  
Joshua M. Ackerman ◽  
John A. Bargh

Contemporary interpersonal biases are partially derived from psychological mechanisms that evolved to protect people against the threat of contagious disease. This behavioral immune system effectively promotes disease avoidance but also results in an overgeneralized prejudice toward people who are not legitimate carriers of disease. In three studies, we tested whether experiences with two modern forms of disease protection (vaccination and hand washing) attenuate the relationship between concerns about disease and prejudice against out-groups. Study 1 demonstrated that when threatened with disease, vaccinated participants exhibited less prejudice toward immigrants than unvaccinated participants did. In Study 2, we found that framing vaccination messages in terms of immunity eliminated the relationship between chronic germ aversion and prejudice. In Study 3, we directly manipulated participants’ protection from disease by having some participants wash their hands and found that this intervention significantly influenced participants’ perceptions of out-group members. Our research suggests that public-health interventions can benefit society in areas beyond immediate health-related domains by informing novel, modern remedies for prejudice.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1604-1614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kylie King ◽  
Marisa Schlichthorst ◽  
Lennart Reifels ◽  
Louise Keogh ◽  
Matthew J. Spittal ◽  
...  

As part of a larger study, we developed a three-part documentary called Man Up that explored the relationship between masculinity, mental health, and suicide. In this study, we examine in detail the qualitative feedback provided by those who viewed Man Up, in order to gain a more in-depth understanding of its impact on them. A total of 169 participants provided qualitative feedback via an online survey 4 weeks after viewing Man Up. We examined their opinions about the show and whether they reported any changes in their attitudes and/or behaviors as a result of watching it. All the men who provided feedback on Man Up were overwhelmingly positive about it. The majority reported significant and profound impacts of viewing the documentary. They reported being more aware of others, more willing to help others, and more open about their emotions and problems, as well as demonstrating associated behavioral changes related to helping others and being more emotionally expressive. The data presented here demonstrate the potential for men’s health outcomes to be positively impacted by novel, media-based public health interventions.


Author(s):  
Folami, Ahmadu Bolanle,

The study aims at shedding light on the positive and negative effects of social media on the lives of Muslim youths’ in Nigeria. although, it is an avenue to reach out to people, gather and spread information to one another in the Muslim domain. However, the youths have also lost their dignity through it, because it is another avenue for fraudulent activities. The work examines the effects of both electronic and print media on the socio-religious spheres of Muslim youths. The ability to use the media for “ networking” has played a significant role in the lives of these youths. As technology continues to evolve, including the means to connect and communicate in cyberspace, young Muslims see it as an opportunity for them to be heard. The researcher employed the use of qualitative and quantitative data analysis in carrying out this study as well as conducting structural interviews inorder to elicit useful information. The research finally suggests that, despite the positive effects of social media on Muslim youths’ through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram WhatsApp, e.t.c in passing meaningful information across the board its negative effect of promoting moral decadence like character assassination, media violence, nudity, obscene movies and videos that have challenged the moral values of a practicing Muslim were not to be overlooked.


Author(s):  
George S Heriot ◽  
Euzebiusz Jamrozik ◽  
Michael J Selgelid

Background: Human infection challenge studies (HICS) with SARS-CoV-2 are under consideration as a way of accelerating vaccine development. We evaluate potential vaccine research strategies under a range of epidemic conditions determined, in part, by the intensity of public health interventions. Methods: We constructed a compartmental epidemiological model incorporating public health interventions, vaccine efficacy trials and a post-trial population vaccination campaign. The model was used to estimate the duration and benefits of large-scale field trials in comparison with HICS accompanied by an expanded safety trial, and to assess the marginal risk faced by HICS participants. Results: Field trials may demonstrate vaccine efficacy more rapidly than a HICS strategy under epidemic conditions consistent with moderate mitigation policies. A HICS strategy is the only feasible option for testing vaccine efficacy under epidemic suppression, and maximises the benefits of post-trial vaccination. Less successful or absent mitigation results in minimal or no benefit from post-trial vaccination, irrespective of trial design. Conclusions: SARS-CoV-2 HICS are the optimal method of vaccine testing for populations maintained under epidemic suppression, where vaccination offers the greatest benefits to the local population.


Author(s):  
Nicole K. Y. Tang ◽  
Esther F. Afolalu ◽  
Fatanah Ramlee

Pain and sleeplessness are two of the commonest reasons for primary care appointments. The prevalence of each problem alone is high, and to add to the complexity, pain and insomnia frequently co-occur, with pain interrupting sleep and pain being further aggravated following a poor night’s sleep. Sleep and pain management are increasingly recognized as important to public health. In particular, insomnia and chronic pain are long-term conditions that actively contribute to morbidity, disability, economic burden to society, and suffering to the individual and immediate family. This chapter examines the interrelationship between the two at the population level. Specifically, evidence from population-based studies regarding the co-occurrence and temporal link of pain and sleep is reviewed, with moderators and mediators of the relationship highlighted. Possible directions for future research and treatment development are also outlined.


2015 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Massimiliano Colucci

A causa del maggior sviluppo della bioetica negli ambiti della clinica e della sperimentazione biomedica, e per la difficoltà di definire la stessa sanità pubblica, quest’ultima manca ancora di un quadro etico di riferimento. Dopo un breve profilo storico e semantico, si esamina perciò l’antitesi, in letteratura, tra bioetica ed etica di sanità pubblica. Quindi si rileggono e sfatano le tre principali dicotomie su cui viene costruita tale antitesi – pazienti vs. assistiti, individuo vs. popolazione, paternalismo vs. autonomia. Si può affermare che la salute individuale e la salute collettiva sono fini simultanei e inseparabili degli interventi di sanità pubblica. Inoltre, l’autonomia relazionale è l’unica alternativa all’autonomia d’impronta liberale. L’autonomia individuale, infatti, si sviluppa attraverso l’influenza di legami umani e la giustizia sociale. La relazione – come capacità di promuovere la partecipazione e di mantenere la fiducia – è la sostanza della sanità pubblica, e fonte assiologica della sua etica. È cioé il primo valore e il principale criterio per indirizzare gli interventi di sanità pubblica, che saranno tanto più etici quanto più saranno in grado di massimizzare la relazione nel contesto in cui vengono attuati. ---------- Owing to a greater development of bioethics in the fields of clinical medicine and biomedical research, and because of the difficulty to define the public health itself, the latter still lacks an ethical framework. Therefore, after a brief historical and semantic outline, we examine the antithesis, as proposed in the literature, between bioethics and public health ethics. Then, we reread and debunk the three main dichotomies on which such an antithesis is built – patients vs. healthcare users, individual vs. population, paternalism vs. autonomy. We may state that the individual health and the collective health are simultaneous and inseparable purposes of public health interventions. Moreover, the relational autonomy it is the only alternative to the liberal-shaped autonomy. Indeed, the individual autonomy develops through the influence of human bonds and the social justice. The relationship – as the capability to promote the engagement and to maintain trust – is the substance of public health, and the axiological source of its ethics. In other words, it is the first value and the main criterion to address public health interventions; these will be ethical as much as they will be able to maximize the relationship in the context of their fulfilment.


2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Min-chen Tseng

<p><em>The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between arts students’ English proficiency level and their self-efficacy. Many studies have proved that self-efficacy is a significant predictor of learning and achievement (Multon, Brown, &amp; Lent, 1991; Pajares, 1996, 1997; Schunk &amp; Pajares, 2005). Does this apply to arts students? Arts students spend most of their time practicing skills related to their professions. They have great confidence with what they were doing in their own fields, but they have to sacrifice the time that could be spent studying English. Therefore, are arts students’ self-efficacy correlated with their English proficiency levels? A total of sixty-eight students participated in this study. They were equally divided into two groups: High Proficiency Learners (HPL) and Low Proficiency Learners (LPL). The results show that there was no significant correlation between students’ English proficiency levels and their self-efficacy levels. The results did not support Bandura’s theory. However, the findings did indicate that although arts students’ English proficiency levels were poor, especially for students in the LPL group, they did believe that they had the ability to achieve a certain task. They did well in their professions but not in English. Further studies and more qualitative and quantitative data on arts students are needed.</em></p>


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