Case Studies and Caveats

2019 ◽  
pp. 83-101
Author(s):  
Jonathan H. Marks
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
The United States ◽  
Framing Effects ◽  
Noncommunicable Diseases ◽  
Systemic Effects ◽  
Public Health Agencies ◽  
Health Agencies ◽  
Food And Beverage

This chapter outlines several partnership case studies involving the food and beverage sector, especially soda companies. These case studies are drawn from the United States, Britain, and India. The analysis highlights certain problematic features—for example, use of corporate logos, trademarks, and color schemes that are likely to promote consumption of products that are exacerbating obesity and diet-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). But, more fundamentally, the analysis ties the case studies to the broader systemic effects discussed in the preceding chapters. These include framing effects, agenda distortion, and impacts on the integrity of and trust in public health agencies.

scholarly journals International Perspectives on COVID-19 Communication Ecologies: Public Health Agencies’ Online Communication in Italy, Sweden, and the United States

2021 ◽  
pp. 000276422199283
Author(s):  
Serena Tagliacozzo ◽  
Frederike Albrecht ◽  
N. Emel Ganapati
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
The United States ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Public Health Agencies ◽  
Communication Ecology ◽  
Health Agencies ◽  
National Public Health

Communicating during a crisis can be challenging for public agencies as their communication ecology becomes increasingly complex while the need for fast and reliable public communication remains high. Using the lens of communication ecology, this study examines the online communication of national public health agencies during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, Sweden, and the United States. Based on content analysis of Twitter data ( n = 856) and agency press releases ( n = 95), this article investigates two main questions: (1) How, and to what extent, did national public health agencies coordinate their online communication with other agencies and organizations? (2) How was online communication from the agencies diversified in terms of targeting specific organizations and social groups? Our findings indicate that public health agencies relied heavily on internal scientific expertise and predominately coordinated their communication efforts with national government agencies. Furthermore, our analysis reveals that agencies in each country differed in how they diversify information; however, all agencies provided tailored information to at least some organizations and social groups. Across the three countries, information tailored for several vulnerable groups (e.g., pregnant women, people with disabilities, immigrants, and homeless populations) was largely absent, which may contribute to negative consequences for these groups.

scholarly journals Inclusion of environmentally themed search terms improves Elastic Net regression nowcasts of regional Lyme disease rates

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Kontowicz ◽  
Grant Brown ◽  
Jim Torner ◽  
Margaret Carrel ◽  
Kelly Baker ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Lyme Disease ◽  
Disease Burden ◽  
The United States ◽  
Elastic Net ◽  
Disease Symptom ◽  
Public Health Agencies ◽  
Free Data ◽  
Health Agencies

AbstractLyme disease is the most widely reported vector-borne disease in the United States. 95% of human cases are reported in the Northeast and upper Midwest. Human cases typically occur in the spring and summer months when an infected nymph Ixodid tick takes a blood meal. Current federal surveillance strategies report data on an annual basis, leading to nearly a year lag in national data reporting. These lags in reporting make it difficult for public health agencies to assess and plan for the current burden of Lyme disease. Implementation of a nowcasting model, using historical data to predict current trends, provides a means for public health agencies to evaluate current Lyme disease burden and make timely priority-based budgeting decisions. The objective of this study was to develop and compare the performance of nowcasting models using free data from Google Trends and Centers of Disease Control and Prevention surveillance reports for Lyme Disease. We developed two sets of elastic net models for five regions of the United States first using monthly proportional hit data from 21 disease symptoms and tick related terms and second using monthly proportional hit data from all terms identified via Google correlate plus 21 disease symptom and vector terms. Elastic net models using the larger term list were highly accurate (Root Mean Square Error: 0.74, Mean Absolute Error: 0.52, R2: 0.97) for four of the five regions of the United States. Including these more environmental terms improved accuracy 1.33-fold while reducing error 0.5-fold compared to predictions from models using disease symptom and vector terms alone. Models using Google data similar to this could help local and state public health agencies accurately monitor Lyme disease burden during times of reporting lag from federal public health reporting agencies.

A Review of Sentinel Laboratory Performance: Identification and Notification of Bioterrorism Agents

2010 ◽  
Vol 134 (10) ◽  
pp. 1490-1503
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Wagar ◽  
Michael J. Mitchell ◽  
Karen C. Carroll ◽  
Kathleen G. Beavis ◽  
Cathy Anne Petti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Reference Laboratory ◽  
Tularensis Subsp ◽  
Public Health Agencies ◽  
Response Network ◽  
Health Agencies ◽  
Control And Prevention

Abstract Context.—The anthrax incident of 2001 in the United States prompted the College of American Pathologists (CAP), the Association of Public Health Laboratories, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to develop exercises for Laboratory Response Network (LRN) sentinel laboratories. Objective.—To provide an overview of the results of the CAP bioterrorism Laboratory Preparedness Survey (LPS, 2007) and Laboratory Preparedness Exercise (LPX, 2008) and assist LRN sentinel laboratories and public health agencies in planning for bioterrorism events. Design.—Bioterrorism agents and nonbiothreat mimic organisms were provided in 2 mailings per year (2007 and 2008, 20 total challenges). Within each mailing, 2 to 3 agents were category A or category B bioterrorism agents (total of 10 categoric challenges). Some category A/B isolates were modified/vaccine strains. The total number of laboratories participating in these exercises ranged from 1316 to 1381. Isolate characteristics used to identify the organisms were compiled along with the participants' reporting actions. Educational commentary was provided with each exercise. Results.—Acceptable identification responses were as follows: Bacillus anthracis, 90% (2007) and 99.9% (2008); Yersinia pestis, 83.8% (2007) and 87.6% (2008); and Francisella tularensis subsp Holarctica, 86.6% (2007) and 91.6% (2008). The time interval between specimen receipt and notification of results to an LRN reference laboratory decreased from more than 10 days in 2007 to 3 or 4 days in 2008 for some challenges. Conclusions.—The bioterrorism challenge program (LPS, LPX) provides important comparative data from more than 1300 sentinel laboratories that can be used by individual laboratories to evaluate their identification and LRN reporting performance.

The Perils of Partnership

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan H. Marks
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
Public Health Research ◽  
Noncommunicable Diseases ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Public Health Agencies ◽  
Ethical Implications ◽  
Health Agencies ◽  
Public Bodies

Collaboration with industry has become the paradigm in public health. Governments commonly develop close relationships with companies that are creating or exacerbating the very problems public health agencies are trying to solve. Nowhere is this more evident than in partnerships with food and soda companies to address obesity and diet-related noncommunicable diseases. The author argues that public-private partnerships and multistakeholder initiatives create webs of influence that undermine the integrity of public health agencies; distort public health research and policy; and reinforce the framing of public health problems and their solutions in ways that are least threatening to the commercial interests of corporate “partners.” We should expect multinational corporations to develop strategies of influence. But public bodies need to develop counter-strategies to insulate themselves from corporate influence in all its forms. The author reviews the ways in which we regulate public-public interactions (separation of powers) and private-private interactions (antitrust and competition laws), and argues for an analogous set of norms to govern public-private interactions. The book also offers a novel framework that is designed to help public bodies identify the systemic ethical implications of their existing or proposed relationships with industry actors. The book makes a compelling case that, in public health, the paradigm public-private interaction should be at arm’s length: separation, not collaboration. The author calls for a new paradigm to protect and promote public health while avoiding the ethical perils of partnership with industry.

Outdoor Recreationists’ Perceptions of Risk, Agency Trust, and Visitor Capacities During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Rice ◽  
Timothy Mateer ◽  
Peter Newman ◽  
Ben Lawhon ◽  
Nathan Reigner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Outdoor Recreation ◽  
Public Lands ◽  
The United States ◽  
Individual Risk ◽  
Public Health Agencies ◽  
Management Actions ◽  
Health Agencies ◽  
Community Risk

For nearly a century in the United States, visitor capacities have served as a means of preserving resources and the visitor experience on public lands. The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in increased interest in implementing visitor capacities that could potentially limit use on public lands, suggesting a need to understand public support for their use in a timely manner. Risk and trust have been used in previous research concerning support for natural resource and outdoor recreation decision-making. Research in this realm includes investigation at the intersection of outdoor recreation and public health, specific to chronic wasting disease. Following this previous research, this study utilizes the constructs of risk and trust to examine support for visitor capacities that could potentially limit use during the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, this theory-driven research relies on the cultural theory of risk and social trust theory. Using structural equation modeling and a sample of avid outdoor enthusiasts, we examine how well 1) perceived individual risk, 2) perceived community risk, 3) trust in public health agencies, and 4) trust in public land agencies predict support for visitor capacities that could potentially limit use. An email-distributed online survey was available for 48 hours beginning on April 30, 2020—during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Measurement of perceived risk and trust followed previous research relating to outdoor recreation and public health. Results indicate that outdoor enthusiasts are concerned about their individual and community health and reported higher levels of trust in data coming directly from public health agencies as opposed to state or federal land management agencies. Additionally, perceived individual risk and perceived community risk were significant predictors of support for visitor capacities. These findings can be used to improve the effectiveness of messaging intended to connect perceived risk to the management of parks and protected areas, thus providing credibility to management actions implemented during the pandemic. Additional implications from this research include the need for additional research examining support for management actions that could potentially limit use on public lands, the multidimensionality of trust in outdoor recreation, and individual risk in frontcountry outdoor recreation settings.

scholarly journals 1.E. Workshop: Comparative Public Health: Politics, science, and professionalism

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Occupational Health ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Occupational Health And Safety ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Health Systems

Abstract Look around EUPHA, or any other public health conference. Public health is difficult to define, in theory and in practice. Its boundaries are all blurred, whether with medicine, schools, environmental protection or workplace safety inspectorates. Too often, we overstate the similarities between public health systems among countries. Efforts to promote networks, good practice, and even basic coordination have been undermined for decades by misunderstandings born of different educational, organizational, financial and political systems. The lack of comparison, and comparative political analysis in particular, also means that countries can have very similar debates about the proper nature and scope of public health, an about who is to blame for deficiencies, without awareness of when they are distinctive and when they are actually part of larger trends. This project aims to identify and explain variation in the scope and organization of public health systems in selected high-income countries. Based on a formalized comparative historical analysis of Austria, France, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States, researchers in the study first mapped the various axes of divergence: workforce composition, organization, levels of government, relationship to medicine, and the extent to which public health encompassed adjacent areas such as environmental health and occupational health and safety. For each country we then followed both case studies (communicable disease control including vaccines, HIV/AIDS, tobacco control, diet and nutrition, occupational health and safety) as well as the legislative history of the public health field in order to identify its changing organization and scope. It then identifies the relative role of historical legacies, changing science, burden of disease and politics in explaining patterns of both divergence and convergence. This workshop presents four country specific case studies (France, Germany, United Kingdom and the United States) that identify the most important forms of variation and the political, scientific and professional drivers of convergence and divergence. Key messages Political organization and scope as images of public health are grossly under-researched and nonexistent in a comparative nature. Understanding the scope and organization of public health in different countries will permit better lesson-drawing and identification of relevant and effective levers of change.

scholarly journals Strengthening the Capacity of Local Health Agencies through Community-Based Assessment and Planning

2009 ◽  
Vol 124 (6) ◽  
pp. 875-882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlyn Orians ◽  
Shyanika Rose ◽  
Brian Hubbard ◽  
John Sarisky ◽  
Letitia Reason ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Environmental Health ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
National Survey ◽  
Local Health ◽  
Public Health Agencies ◽  
Health Agencies ◽  
Health Practitioners ◽  
Building Community ◽  
Problem Solving Competency

Objectives. We evaluated the effectiveness of the Protocol for Assessing Community Excellence in Environmental Health (PACE EH) in building competency in essential environmental health services and renewing efforts to engage the community in problem solving. Competency and community engagement have been identified by environmental health practitioners as important to meet new threats to public health. Methods. We conducted a national survey and 24 case studies of public health agencies. We invited 917 organizations to participate in the national survey because they had requested a copy of the protocol. Results. We received 656 total responses: 354 had not considered implementation, 302 had considered implementation, and 66 had implemented PACE EH. For the 24 case studies, we interviewed 206 individuals in communities implementing PACE EH. We found that PACE EH has had a positive effect on building community and professional networks, enhancing leadership, developing workforce competence, and expanding definitions of environmental health practice. Conclusions. With appropriate investments, PACE EH can be an effective tool to meet the environmental health challenges identified by local environmental health practitioners and state, tribal, and federal agencies.

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