Joining forces to build up knowledge in health promotion: lessons from a French coalition initiative

Abstract Issue French public health authorities increasingly rationalize access to public funding, favoring evidence-based programs. Health Promotion (HP) interventions are especially urged to prove their efficiency in this context. To tackle this issue, HP practitioners hold experiential knowledge (EK) that proves useful to assess both the complexity and efficiency of HP interventions. United by this conviction in a multidisciplinary coalition, HP experts from various backgrounds came together five years ago to promote Experiential Knowledge in HP (EKHP) in France. A national committee to promote EKHP 670 HP practitioners were surveyed in 2016. Results reported vast amounts of under-documented and often untapped field expertise in HP and numerous obstacles regarding access to scientific literature or systematic reviews. Consequently, the coalition launched a National Committee for EKHP, meeting 5 times a year since 2016. Members of 6 national HP organizations, of 4 regional HP institutes, national and local public health administrators, researchers, consultants and field workers participate. Steered by the French Society for Public Health and the National Federation for Health Education and Promotion, the committee devised a threefold action plan: 1/ advocate EKHP in all relevant institutional spaces, 2/ develop tools for EKHP, 3/ mobilize for EKHP at the local level. Results The committee designed a method for capitalizing, collecting and circulating EK and published in 2020 a guidebook and a toolkit. French Public Health authorities agreed to share EK nationwide on their online portal. Dissemination within the French HP community has started, through the committee members' networks, and will be amplified with a training program launched in 2021 at the National School of Public Health. Lessons Attention must be brought to HP practitioners’ experiential knowledge, both to recognize HP practitioners' expertise and to help improve the understanding of how HP interventions work. Key messages Experiential knowledge in HP remains undervalued and untapped in France. Dedicated practitioners, policymakers and researchers formed a multidisciplinary committee to promote and disseminate EKHP. A multilevel strategy combining advocacy and tool building can be effective at promoting experiential knowledge. A multidisciplinary coalition provided the necessary context-specific levers in France.

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Current capacities and challenges for equity-oriented municipal health promotion in Europe

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckz185.730 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽

Author(s):

C Plantz ◽

E Quilling

Keyword(s):

Health Promotion ◽

Health Equity ◽

Local Level ◽

Promising Practices ◽

Existing Structures ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Public Health Authorities ◽

Self Assessments ◽

Regional Public Health ◽

Municipal Health

Abstract As a basis for implementing actions in the frame of Work package 6 - healthy living environments in the Joint Action Health Equity Europe, each of the 13 participating countries conducted a country assessment. Methods The country assessments were self-assessments conducted in the first quarter of 2019. Partners received templates that had been agreed upon beforehand. Most of them conducted the country assessments by themselves or with the help of colleagues from their institutions as a desk-based review, and validated results with external experts and stakeholders. The first part of the country assessment referred to how municipal health promotion capacities are currently developed in the countries. Through the second part of the country assessment, each of the 13 countries selected up to 4 promising practices. Results In most of the 13 countries, municipalities have a clear mandate to promote health. However, there is a big heterogeneity in resources, structures and capacities of municipal health promotion within and between countries. One key challenge is the self-government of municipalities and health promotion as a voluntary task. One of the main problems is a deficit in intersectoral working. It appears that poor municipalities are even more disadvantaged in terms of capacities for municipal health promotion. 33 promising practices were identified, covering programmes, strategies, tools and interventions mostly from the local level, with a big variety of topics and approaches for health equity. Conclusions There is a big fragmentation and heterogeneity in municipal health promotion between and within European countries. National and regional public health authorities are in the position to contribute a lot to support municipalities. This can include promoting quality development, providing data, integrating health equity in existing structures, plans and approaches or collaborating with the broad range of existing stakeholders and networks.

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Key Communicable Diseases of Public Health Significance and UK Legislation

Tutorial Topics in Infection for the Combined Infection Training Programme ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198801740.003.0023 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Marina Basarab

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Local Level ◽

Communicable Diseases ◽

Clinical Syndrome ◽

Clinical Suspicion ◽

Health Protection ◽

Medical Practitioners ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Public Health Authorities ◽

Control And Prevention

Timely reporting to public health authorities of certain infections which are transmissible between individuals and/or are likely to have been acquired from a contaminated source is essential to prompt immediate action to reduce further spread. In England, Health Protection Teams (HPTs) effect health protection actions at local level. They act as the ‘proper officer’ carrying out the function of receiving notifications in relation to the statutory regulations for both attending registered medical practitioners and diagnostic laboratories (see Section 14.6 and Section 14.7). Notification to public health authorities is a legal requirement. It is critical to the control and prevention of outbreaks of communicable diseases and is an integral part of wider local and national infection surveillance. Clinical recognition is the first step and public health authorities should be notified on clinical suspicion before obtaining laboratory test results to look for causative pathogens. As soon as a notification has been made, public health risk assessment and appropriate measures can be initiated. These may include preventing others being exposed to cases or a possible source of contamination, offering chemoprophylaxis, vaccination, education, and closing down of premises. The intervention will depend on the clinical syndrome, the confirmed or presumed infectious agent involved, and any further supporting or refuting diagnostic laboratory results. Time is of the essence; there should be no delay in notifications. Health protection legislation is set out in the Health Protection (Notification) Regulations 2010. It requires both registered medical practitioners (RMPs) and laboratories to notify cases of infection or contamination that could present a significant risk to human health, on the basis of clinical suspicion or laboratory confirmation. The medical doctor (and no other healthcare professional) attending the patient with possible or probable or confirmed infection is responsible for notification to the public health authorities.

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The Internet and health promotion: a content analysis of the official websites of Italian Public Health Authorities

Journal of Medicine and the Person ◽

10.1007/s12682-010-0064-4 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 8 (3) ◽

pp. 121-127 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Grazia Orizio ◽

Sara Rubinelli ◽

Elisabetta Nava ◽

Serena Domenighini ◽

Luigi Caimi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Promotion ◽

Content Analysis ◽

The Internet ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Public Health Authorities

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West Nile Virus Circulation in Mosquitoes in Greece (2010–2013)

BioMed Research International ◽

10.1155/2016/2450682 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2016 ◽

pp. 1-13 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Eleni Patsoula ◽

Annita Vakali ◽

Georgios Balatsos ◽

Danai Pervanidou ◽

Stavroula Beleri ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

West Nile Virus ◽

Surveillance System ◽

Local Level ◽

Northern Greece ◽

West Nile ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Regional Unit ◽

Public Health Authorities ◽

The One

Background of the Study. Following a large West Nile virus (WNV) epidemic in Northern Greece in 2010, an active mosquito surveillance system was implemented, for a 3-year period (2011, 2012, and 2013).Description of the Study Site and Methodology. Using mainly CO2mosquito traps, mosquito collections were performed. Samples were pooled by date of collection, location, and species and examined for the presence of WNV.Results. Positive pools were detected in different areas of the country. In 2010, MIR and MLE values of 1.92 (95% CI: 0.00–4.57) and 2.30 (95% CI: 0.38–7.49) were calculated for the Serres Regional Unit in Central Macedonia Region. In 2011, the highest MIR value of 3.71(95% CI: 1.52–5.91) was recorded in the Regions of Central Greece and Thessaly. In 2012, MIR and MLE values for the whole country were 2.03 (95% CI: 1.73–2.33) and 2.15 (95% CI: 1.86–2.48), respectively, forCx. pipiens. In 2013, in the Regional Unit of Attica, the one outbreak epicenter, MIR and MLE values forCx. pipienswere 10.75 (95% CI: 7.52–13.99) and 15.76 (95% CI: 11.66–20.65), respectively.Significance of Results/Conclusions. The contribution of a mosquito-based surveillance system targeting WNV transmission is highlighted through the obtained data, as in most regions positive mosquito pools were detected prior to the date of symptom onset of human cases. Dissemination of the results on time to Public Health Authorities resulted in planning and application of public health interventions in local level.

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Users’ Beliefs Toward Physical Distancing in Facebook Pages of Public Health Authorities During COVID-19 Pandemic in Early 2020

Health Education & Behavior ◽

10.1177/10901981211014428 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 109019812110144

Author(s):

Soon Guan Tan ◽

Aravind Sesagiri Raamkumar ◽

Hwee Lin Wee

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Belief Model ◽

United States Public Health ◽

Health Belief ◽

The United States ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Public Health Authorities ◽

Control And Prevention ◽

Belief Model ◽

The Health Belief Model

This study aims to describe Facebook users’ beliefs toward physical distancing measures implemented during the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic using the key constructs of the health belief model. A combination of rule-based filtering and manual classification methods was used to classify user comments on COVID-19 Facebook posts of three public health authorities: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the United States, Public Health England, and Ministry of Health, Singapore. A total of 104,304 comments were analyzed for posts published between 1 January, 2020, and 31 March, 2020, along with COVID-19 cases and deaths count data from the three countries. Findings indicate that the perceived benefits of physical distancing measures ( n = 3,463; 3.3%) was three times higher than perceived barriers ( n = 1,062; 1.0%). Perceived susceptibility to COVID-19 ( n = 2,934; 2.8%) was higher compared with perceived severity ( n = 2,081; 2.0%). Although susceptibility aspects of physical distancing were discussed more often at the start of the year, mentions on the benefits of intervention emerged stronger toward the end of the analysis period, highlighting the shift in beliefs. The health belief model is useful for understanding Facebook users’ beliefs at a basic level, and it provides a scope for further improvement.

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Fueling the Covid-19 pandemic: summer school holidays and incidence rates in German districts

Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/pubmed/fdab080 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Thomas Plümper ◽

Eric Neumayer

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Fixed Effects ◽

Summer School ◽

Incidence Rates ◽

Contact Tracing ◽

Robert Koch Institute ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Holiday Period ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Public Health Authorities

AbstractBackgroundThe Robert-Koch-Institute reports that during the summer holiday period a foreign country is stated as the most likely place of infection for an average of 27 and a maximum of 49% of new SARS-CoV-2 infections in Germany.MethodsCross-sectional study on observational data. In Germany, summer school holidays are coordinated between states and spread out over 13 weeks. Employing a dynamic model with district fixed effects, we analyze the association between these holidays and weekly incidence rates across 401 German districts.ResultsWe find effects of the holiday period of around 45% of the average district incidence rates in Germany during their respective final week of holidays and the 2 weeks after holidays end. Western states tend to experience stronger effects than Eastern states. We also find statistically significant interaction effects of school holidays with per capita taxable income and the share of foreign residents in a district’s population.ConclusionsOur results suggest that changed behavior during the holiday season accelerated the pandemic and made it considerably more difficult for public health authorities to contain the spread of the virus by means of contact tracing. Germany’s public health authorities did not prepare adequately for this acceleration.

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Indoor Environmental Quality in Dwellings and Lifestyle Behaviors during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Russian Perspective

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18115975 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (11) ◽

pp. 5975

Author(s):

Vladimir Reshetnikov ◽

Oleg Mitrokhin ◽

Elena Belova ◽

Victor Mikhailovsky ◽

Maria Mikerova ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Medical Students ◽

Environmental Quality ◽

Indoor Environmental Quality ◽

Lifestyle Behaviors ◽

Contagious Diseases ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Public Health Authorities ◽

Isolation Index ◽

Novel Coronavirus

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak is a public health emergency of international concern, and as a response, public health authorities started enforcing preventive measures like self-isolation and social distancing. The enforcement of isolation has consequences that may affect the lifestyle-related behavior of the general population. Quarantine encompasses a range of strategies that can be used to detain, isolate, or conditionally release individuals or populations infected or exposed to contagious diseases and should be tailored to circumstances. Interestingly, medical students may represent an example of how the COVID-19 pandemic can form new habits and change lifestyle behaviors. We conducted a web-based survey to assess changes in lifestyle-related behavior of self-isolated medical students during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then we analyzed the sanitary-hygienic regulations of the Russian Federation to determine the requirements for healthy buildings. Results showed that during the pandemic, the enforcement of isolation affects medical students’ lifestyle-related behavior and accompanies an increase in non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and healthy buildings are cutting-edge factors in preventing COVID-19 and NCDs. The Russian sanitary-hygienic regulations support improving this factor with suitable requirements for ventilation, sewage, waste management, and disinfection. Herein, assessing isolation is possible through the hygienic self-isolation index.

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Preparedness and response in Portuguese emergency plans - Interaction with public health

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa165.868 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽

Author(s):

G Leiras ◽

A Martins

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Health Authority ◽

Civil Protection ◽

Emergency Plans ◽

Emergency Situations ◽

Health Measures ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Public Health Authorities ◽

Protection Authority

Abstract Background Articulation between Civil Protection and Public Health authorities is of paramount importance to control, reduce and prevent threats to the health of the population in situations of crisis or catastrophes. National Civil Protection Authority produces Emergency Plans which describe the role of every stakeholder in emergency situations. Role and importance of Public Health and Public Health Authorities is not always present or well described and known amongst stakeholders. Methods Data was collected from all Districtal Emergency Plans (n = 18). Each document was analysed considering time frame, refences to Public Health and Health Authorities, definition of roles, communication channels, coordination and inclusion of intersectoral communication flow. Quantitative analysis included absolute and relative frequencies and qualitative analysis to all parts related to the terms “Public Health” and “Health Authority”. Each document was reviewed by 2 independent researchers. Results From 18 Districtal Emergency Plans (DEP) analysed, 94,4% (n = 17) had references to Public Health, but none referred the role of Public Health Officers. Only 16,7% referred to Health Authorities, although 94,4% mentioned the law 135/2013, defining the role and attributes of Health Authority. In 72,2%, coordination of Public Health Measures was attributed to the National Medical Emergency Institute. Epidemiological surveillance and Public Health Emergencies were referred in 55,6%, and attributed to the Regional Administration of Health. Conclusions Public Health Authorities and Public Health Medical Officers role in articulation with National Civil Protection Authority in emergency situations lacks severely, with this role being replaced by other entities. This is of great concern regarding management and control of diseases, particularly communicable diseases. Key messages Public Health Authorities lack the necessary involvement in Emergency Plans and emergency situations. Public health measures are coordinated by other entities rather than Public Health Authorities.

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XarxaSalut, network of municipalities for health, Valencia Region (Spain): policy process evaluation

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa165.235 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽

Author(s):

R Peiró Pérez ◽

E Pérez Sanz ◽

E Legaz Sanchez ◽

J Quiles Izquierdo ◽

Grupo XarxaSalut

Keyword(s):

Process Evaluation ◽

Citizen Participation ◽

Policy Process ◽

Local Level ◽

Common Language ◽

Health Authorities ◽

Open Questions ◽

Economic Support ◽

Public Health Authorities ◽

The Impact

Abstract “XarxaSalut” started in 2017, with the municipalities that have taken the commitment to boost the Promotion of Health (HP) at the local level through community participation, intersectorality and equity perspective. The objective is to present a policy process evaluation (2'5 years) of the implementation of XarxaSalut. Different approaches have been used; a questionnaire addressed to the municipalities at the time of adhesion including data on intersectorality, participation, HP actions and open questions; description of instruments that Regional Public Health Authorities (RPHA) has mobilized and an analysis of barriers and strengths made by the coordination office. In 2017, 17 municipalities were joined, being 197 in February 2020 (70% of the population). 65% are in a process of an organizational change through the intersectoral, decision making and participative working group. 35% are doing analysis of determinants and /or health situation, assets maps and a prioritization of HP actions. The main barriers identified by municipalities are lack of economic and personal resources, and difficulties in achieve citizen participation. The main benefits were the optimization of resources, the exchange of experiences, training, or economic support from the RPHA. Some support instruments develop for RPHA are a collection of guides for community development, funds that the municipalities can apply to support actions related with training, HP action on vulnerable population, on asset maps, participation processes, vulnerable neighborhoods, etc.; Community actions have been included in the “Health Observatory” to give visibility and social support to XarxaSalut. Interdisciplinary training processes with health and municipal professionals have been made in order to develop a common language and strength the competences for HP. Lesson learned: The need to improve coordination and a common language between different types of participants and professionals Key messages The decision makers and professionals in the municipalities understand the impact in health of the policies developed at local level but needs guide and support to deal with it. The coordination between different administrations and primary health at local level and the misunderstandings about health and their determinants are the main aspect to reinforce.

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