scholarly journals 3.E. Workshop: The Role of Digital Public Health in the European Climate Pact and Green deal

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (Supplement_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Climate Change ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Digital Systems ◽  
World Health ◽  
Director General ◽  
European Climate ◽  
The World ◽  
Climate Crisis ◽  
The Impact

Abstract   Europe is facing two major structural changes: the climate crisis, having a significant impact on public health, and digitalization of the economy, that could play a role in mitigating climate change and its impacts on public health. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected our lives in many ways including how we see public health, the climate change and has created the conditions for the almost exponential growth for telemedicine and digitalization in healthcare. Underlining that the world is facing an increasing innovation and integration of digital tools to address public health and environmental problems, as the UN Secretary-General and the Director-General of the World Health Organization both declared that we are currently fighting a climate “pandemic” in the same way as we are fighting COVID-19. Digital solutions have been implemented to address COVID-19 and impacted by reducing CO2 emissions and improving quality of life. Digital systems, including Artificial Intelligence, robots and drones, are now changing the paradigm of public health and environment management. Due to the complex nature of the information ecosystem our societies and communities live in, a digital public health approach can be managed to reduce harm to individual, community and population health, support social cohesion and trust in emergency response and interventions to deal with climate change. Digital health could, within 10 years establish a new paradigm in public and environmental health. Public health professionals need urgently to tackle digital health to bridge the gap with others areas of healthcare. During the COVID-19 crisis, national public health authorities have been challenged in the way they communicate with the public, engage with communities in collecting data to improve response, providing the scientific evidence, the day-to-day facts and figures. Likewise, The European Climate Pact provides a space for collectively develop and implement climate solutions. The Climate Pact is an open, inclusive and evolving initiative for climate action through an online platform and citizen dialogues and exchanges, it will foster the link between the digital and green transition. This workshop aims to share the experiences of digital public health interventions with significant impact on climate change mitigation during the pandemic. It will be organised as a round table, starting by setting the scene with an introduction to key digital health concepts and challenges. Each speaker will give a short pitch on how they have experienced the challenge of using digital systems in public health and how they approached its management during the crisis. This will be followed by a panel discussion. Participants will have ample time to ask questions to the panellists. The workshop will end with a summary of a selection of tools participants can use in their own environmental management activities and key take home messages from the panellist will be provided as a conclusion. Key messages Digital Public Health has been establishing evidence on interventions with significant effects on reducing the impact of climate crisis. A Partnership is needed across the health system and society to manage this crisis. European Green Deal and Climate Pact could be used as a roadmap in digital public health.

scholarly journals 13.D. Workshop: SDGs in the focus of environmental and health issues

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Community Engagement ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
The World ◽  
Environmental And Health Issues ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This workshop is dedicated on SDGs in the focus of environmental and health issues, as very important and actual topic. One of the characteristics of today's societies is the significant availability of modern technologies. Over 5 billion (about 67%) people have a cellphone today. More than 4.5 billion people worldwide use the Internet, close to 60% of the total population. At the same time, one third of the people in the world does not have access to safe drinking water and half of the population does not have access to safe sanitation. The WHO at UN warns of severe inequalities in access to water and hygiene. Air, essential to life, is a leading risk due to ubiquitous pollution and contributes to the global disease burden (7 million deaths per year). Air pollution is a consequence of traffic and industry, but also of demographic trends and other human activities. Food availability reflects global inequality, famine eradication being one of the SDGs. The WHO warns of the urgency. As technology progresses, social inequality grows, the gap widens, and the environment continues to suffer. Furthermore, the social environment in societies is “ruffled” and does not appear to be beneficial toward well-being. New inequalities are emerging in the availability of technology, climate change, education. The achievement reports on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also point out to the need of reviewing individual indicators. According to the Sustainable Development Agenda, one of the goals is to reduce inequalities, and environmental health is faced by several specific goals. The Global Burden of Disease is the most comprehensive effort to date to measure epidemiological levels and trends worldwide. It is the product of a global research collaborative and quantifies the impact of hundreds of diseases, injuries, and risk factors in countries around the world. This workshop will also discuss Urban Health as a Complex System in the light of SDGs. Climate Change, Public Health impacts and the role of the new digital technologies is also important topic which is contributing to SDG3, improving health, to SDG4, allowing to provide distance health education at relatively low cost and to SDG 13, by reducing the CO2 footprint. Community Engagement can both empower vulnerable populations (so reducing inequalities) and identify the prior environmental issues to be addressed. The aim was to search for public health programs using Community Engagement tools in healthy environment building towards achievement of SDGs. Key messages Health professionals are involved in the overall process of transformation necessary to achieve the SDGs. Health professionals should be proactive and contribute to the transformation leading to better health for the environment, and thus for the human population.

Developing Medicines in Line with Global Public Health Needs: The Role of the World Health Organization

2011 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 290-297 ◽  
Author(s):  
TIKKI PANG
Keyword(s):  
World Health Organization ◽  
Gender Violence ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
World Health ◽  
Director General ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Absolute Poverty ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Impact

“I want my leadership to be judged by the impact of our work on the health of two populations: women and the people of Africa.” This is how Dr. Margaret Chan, the current Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), described her leadership mission. The reason behind this mission is evident. Women and girls constitute 70% of the world’s poor and 80% of the world’s refugees. Gender violence against women aged 15–44 is responsible for more deaths and disability than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents, and war. An estimated 350,000 to 500,000 women still die in childbirth every year. The negative health implications of absolute poverty are worst in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Hence, Chan aims to have the biggest impact on the world’s poorest people.

scholarly journals Round table: Online anti-vaccination movements: the role of social media in public health communications

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Hpv Vaccine ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Swine Flu ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Digital health has revolutionised healthcare, with implications for understanding public reaction to health emergencies and interventions. Social media provides a space where like-minded people can share interests and concerns in real-time, regardless of their location. This can be a force for good, as platforms like Twitter can spread correct information about outbreaks, for example in the 2009 swine flu pandemic. However, social media can also disseminate incorrect information or deliberately spread misinformation leading to adverse public health sentiment and outcomes. The current issues around trust in vaccines is the best-known example. Vaccine hesitancy, traditionally linked to issues of trust, misinformation and prior beliefs, has been increasingly fueled by influential groups on social media and the Internet. Ultimately, anti-vaccination movements have the potential to lead to outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, especially if refusal is concentrated locally, creating vulnerable populations. For example, 2018-19 saw a large increase in incidence of measles in the US and Europe (where cases tripled from 2017), two regions where the disease was already or almost eliminated. In 2019, the World Health Organisation listed anti-vaccination movements as one of the top 10 threats to global public health. HPV vaccination is another example of the impact of anti-vaccination movements. As viral videos originating on YouTube spread across social networks, uptake has tumbled in a number of countries, with Japan, Denmark, Colombia and Ireland being badly hit. In Japan, the government came under sufficient pressure that they de-recommended HPV vaccine, seeing an 80% uptake rate fall below 1% in 2014. There have been reports of successful interventions by national governments. A recent campaign run by the HPV Alliance (a coalition of some 35 private companies, charities and public institutions) in Ireland has seen rates below 40% back up to a national average of 75%. A combination of hard-hitting personal testimonials, social media and traditional media promoted the HPV vaccine. Despite this, systematic engagement and supranational strategies are still in the early stages of being formulated. As misleading information spread through social media and digital networks has undesirable impact on attitudes to vaccination (and uptake rates), urgent actions are required. Analysis and visualisation techniques mining data streams from social media platforms, such as Twitter, Youtube enable real-time understanding of vaccine sentiments and information flows. Through identification of key influencers and flashpoints in articles about vaccination going viral, targeted public health responses could be developed. This roundtable discussion will showcase different ways in which media and social networks, accessible in real-time provide an opportunity for detecting a change in public confidence in vaccines, for identifying users and rumors and for assessing potential impact in order to know how to best respond. Key messages Social media has significantly enhanced our understanding of anti-vaccination movements and potential impact on public health attitudes and behaviors regarding vaccination. Innovative methods of analysing social media data, from digital health, data science and computer science, have an important role in developing health promotions to counter anti-vaccination movements.

scholarly journals Workshop: EUPHA and Europe-wide action on digital public health

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Digital Technologies ◽  
Digital Transformation ◽  
Health System Strengthening ◽  
World Health ◽  
Collaborative Action ◽  
European Public ◽  
The World

Abstract The World Health Assembly Resolution on Digital Health unanimously approved by WHO Member States in May 2018 demonstrated a collective recognition of the value of digital technologies to contribute to advancing universal health coverage (UHC) and other health aims of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The World Health Organization has just released first ever guideline on digital interventions for health system strengthening. Et the European level, in June 2018 the WHO Regional Office for Europe launched the WHO/Europe initiative for Digitalization of Health Systems and in February 2019 organized the first Symposium on the Future of Digital Health Systems in the European Region. The European Commission in April 2018 published a Communication on Digital transformation of health and care in the digital single market and requested the Expert Panel on effective ways of investing in health (EXPH) to release an evidence-based opinion on how to assess the impact of digital transformation of health services. In such context, the European Public Health Association (EUPHA) has at an early stage acknowledged and understood the crucial importance of applying the potential offered by digitalization to public health. Not only its most prominent members work and research as WHO and EC experts on how to plan, implement and evaluate effective digital public health interventions, but EUPHA itself - as umbrella organization representing public health associations and institutes across Europe had: i) actively participated to the WHO Euro Symposium successfully co-organizing a session on the ‘beautiful marriage’ between digitalization and public health, ii) supported the publication of a EJPH supplement on digital health and iii) has planned to create a EUPHA Section on Digital Health. With the overall goal of positioning the proposed EUPHA Section on Digital Health in the enriching and constructive context of the European Public Health Conference the workshop specifically aims to: present a comprehensive conceptual framework for the application of digital technologies to public health in Europe;present and report on EUPHA collaborative action on digital health, aligned with European institutions;present the structure and content of the EJPH supplement on digital health;present the general aim, specific objectives, scope, mission and preliminary outputs of the proposed EUPHA Section on Digital Health, as well as its synergy with other EUPHA’s Section workPresent the results of two/three specific projects on digital public health to serve as concrete examples of the application of digital solutions to public healthEngage with the audience to promote the active participation of the broader EUPHA community to the activities of the Section, collect interests and best practices, and share ideas and projects worth scaling up at the Section-level. Key messages The ‘beautiful marriage’ between digitalization and public health has to be concretely planned, implemented and evaluated. EUPHA action on digital public health can be further strengthened through the collaborative action and work of its dedicated Section.

scholarly journals Climate change and vector-borne diseases: what are the implications for public health research and policy?

2015 ◽  
Vol 370 (1665) ◽  
pp. 20130552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diarmid Campbell-Lendrum ◽  
Lucien Manga ◽  
Magaran Bagayoko ◽  
Johannes Sommerfeld
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Climate Change ◽  
Political Support ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Determinants ◽  
Financial Investment ◽  
Vector Borne Diseases ◽  
Disease Rates ◽  
The World ◽  
Vector Borne

Vector-borne diseases continue to contribute significantly to the global burden of disease, and cause epidemics that disrupt health security and cause wider socioeconomic impacts around the world. All are sensitive in different ways to weather and climate conditions, so that the ongoing trends of increasing temperature and more variable weather threaten to undermine recent global progress against these diseases. Here, we review the current state of the global public health effort to address this challenge, and outline related initiatives by the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners. Much of the debate to date has centred on attribution of past changes in disease rates to climate change, and the use of scenario-based models to project future changes in risk for specific diseases. While these can give useful indications, the unavoidable uncertainty in such analyses, and contingency on other socioeconomic and public health determinants in the past or future, limit their utility as decision-support tools. For operational health agencies, the most pressing need is the strengthening of current disease control efforts to bring down current disease rates and manage short-term climate risks, which will, in turn, increase resilience to long-term climate change. The WHO and partner agencies are working through a range of programmes to (i) ensure political support and financial investment in preventive and curative interventions to bring down current disease burdens; (ii) promote a comprehensive approach to climate risk management; (iii) support applied research, through definition of global and regional research agendas, and targeted research initiatives on priority diseases and population groups.

scholarly journals The world health organization: The (un)attainable ideal?

2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (91) ◽  
pp. 271-286
Author(s):  
Jovana Blešić
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
International Health ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
World Health ◽  
Director General ◽  
International Health Regulations ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Health Regulations

The World Health Organization (WHO) is one of the UN specialized agencies. Its work and functions gained even more importance in 2020 with the emergence of the corona virus. The eyes of the entire international community focused on this organization and its Director General. Nowadays, its efficiency has been subject to various forms of criticism. In this paper, the author first provides a brief overview of this organization and its significance. The central part of the paper focuses on the activities of the WHO during the Covid-19 pandemic, through the clarification of the concept of public health emergency of international concern and the use of International Health Regulations. Finally, the author discusses the possible reform of this body. The aim of this paper is to familiarize the readers with the World Health Organization and put its activities in the context of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

scholarly journals The relationship of urbanization with the formation and implementation of public health policy in Ukraine

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 59-69
Author(s):  
О. І. Деміхов
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Public Health Policy ◽  
Healthy Lifestyle ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
World Health ◽  
Motor Vehicles ◽  
Industrial Emissions ◽  
The World ◽  
The Impact

The purpose of the research is to study and find out the modern foreign technologies of public health policy in the context of the impact of urbanization processes, to explore the possibilities of implementation of best practices in Ukraine.Materials. Peculiarities of public health policy implementation in developed countries in the context of population density increase and agglomeration expansion are described in the article. The study is based on the analysis of statistics, publications in the media and scientific articles. The comparative statistical analysis of the countries of the world on the incidence of the incidence of different species and the correlation of these processes with the urbanization dynamics is made in the article. Expert assessments of UN and World Health Organization experts on processes of concentration of population around the world, deterioration of living conditions, quality of health, morbidity and appropriate prevention, promotion of healthy lifestyle and quality control of goods, works and services for the population are given in the article. Particular emphasis is placed on the environmental problems of densely populated areas, including through the proliferation of motor vehicles, substandard housing and uncontrolled industrial emissions. The connection of the dynamics of urbanization with the increase of the sedentary lifestyle of the citizens is also described. The urban way of life is assessed as requiring immediate influence by public health policy makers. The current experience of foreign public administration and public policy entities on a proactive approach to shaping the concept of public health in the context of urban transformation in society can be used in Ukraine. Practical results of the work of state institutions in developed countries should be implemented in Ukraine. Conclusions. On the example of the positive experience of the capitalist countries of the world, the further directions of the development of public health policy in Ukraine in the conditions of deepening urbanization processes are clearly defined.

scholarly journals Public Health and Epidemiology Informatics: Can Artificial Intelligence Help Future Global Challenges? An Overview of Antimicrobial Resistance and Impact of Climate Change in Disease Epidemiology

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (01) ◽  
pp. 224-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Rodríguez-González ◽  
Massimiliano Zanin ◽  
Ernestina Menasalvas-Ruiz
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Climate Change ◽  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Antimicrobial Resistance ◽  
World Health ◽  
Special Focus ◽  
Disease Epidemiology ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Public Health Epidemiology ◽  
The Impact

Objectives: To provide an oveiview of the current application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the field of public health and epidemiology, with a special focus on antimicrobial resistance and the impact of climate change in disease epidemiology. Both topics are of vital importance and were included in the “Ten threats to global health in 2019“ report published by the World Health Organization. Methods: We analysed publications that appeared in the last two years, between January 2017 and October 2018. Papers were searched using Google Scholar with the following keywords: public health, epidemiology, machine learning, data analytics, artificial intelligence, disease surveillance, climate change, antimicrobial resistance, and combinations thereof. Selected articles were organised by theme. Results: In spite of a large interest in AI generated both within and outside the scientific community, and of the many opinions pointing towards the importance of a better use of data in public health, few papers have been published on the selected topics in the last two years. We identify several potential reasons, including the complexity of the integration of heterogeneous data, and the lack of sound and unbiased validation procedures. Conclusions: As there is a better comprehension of AI and more funding available, artificial intelligence will become not only the centre of attention in informatics, but more importantly the source of innovative solutions for public health.

scholarly journals Trachoma Prevalence After Discontinuation of Mass Azithromycin Distribution

2020 ◽  
Vol 221 (Supplement_5) ◽  
pp. S519-S524
Author(s):  
William Godwin ◽  
Joaquin M Prada ◽  
Paul Emerson ◽  
P J Hooper ◽  
Ana Bakhtiari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Diagnostic Tests ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
World Health ◽  
Simulation Based ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Program Cycle ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Oral Azithromycin

Abstract Background As the World Health Organization seeks to eliminate trachoma by 2020, countries are beginning to control the transmission of trachomatous inflammation–follicular (TF) and discontinue mass drug administration (MDA) with oral azithromycin. We evaluated the effect of MDA discontinuation on TF1–9 prevalence at the district level. Methods We extracted from the available data districts with an impact survey at the end of their program cycle that initiated discontinuation of MDA (TF1–9 prevalence <5%), followed by a surveillance survey conducted to determine whether TF1–9 prevalence remained below the 5% threshold, warranting discontinuation of MDA. Two independent analyses were performed, 1 regression based and 1 simulation based, that assessed the change in TF1–9 from the impact survey to the surveillance survey. Results Of the 220 districts included, TF1–9 prevalence increased to >5% from impact to surveillance survey in 9% of districts. Regression analysis indicated that impact survey TF1–9 prevalence was a significant predictor of surveillance survey TF1–9 prevalence. The proportion of simulations with >5% TF1–9 prevalence in the surveillance survey was 2%, assuming the survey was conducted 4 years after MDA. Conclusion An increase in TF1–9 prevalence may represent disease resurgence but could also be due to measurement error. Improved diagnostic tests are crucial to elimination of TF1–9 as a public health problem.

Understanding COVID-19 – The Pandemic of 2020

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (SPL1) ◽  
pp. 94-102
Author(s):  
Prasaath Sastha K R ◽  
Balasubramanian Arul ◽  
Ramalingam Kothai
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
H1n1 Influenza ◽  
World Health ◽  
Disease Spread ◽  
Unknown Etiology ◽  
Director General ◽  
Causative Organism ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
The World ◽  
Novel Coronavirus

It all started in December 2019, a seafood market in Wuhan, China, with a series of pneumonia alike cases admitted with severe acute respiratory depression. Since they were unable to detect the precise cause, they named it "Pneumonia of unknown etiology". Later it was identified as SARS COV 2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome – coronavirus 2). At first, the disease spread locally affecting the people of Wuhan, and then started spreading throughout China, creating a worldwide panic. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 in China as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from China and local healthcare units organized an intensive outbreak investigation program. The causative organism of this infection is a new virus that belongs to the “coronavirus (CoV)” family. After which the disease was called nCoV-19 (Novel coronavirus – 19). On February 11, 2020, the WHO Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, renamed the disease as "COVID-19," which is the acronym of "coronavirus disease 2019". Viral epidemics like SARS-CoV in 2002, H1N1 influenza in 2009, and the most recent one the MERS-CoV Middle East Respiratory Distress Syndrome Coronavirus (first identified in Saudi Arabia) in 2012 threatened the health of mankind in the past two decades. All of these were successfully prevented by systematically approaching the problem to solve it. Healthcare professionals around the world are well trained to manage any type of health crisis. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared COVID-19 as a "PANDEMIC" pointing to over 118,000 cases and 80,000 dead in 110 countries or more. In a media briefing, the WHO Director General said: "This is not just a public health crisis, it is a crisis that will touch every sector, so every sector and every individual must be involved in the fight."

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