The Politics of Global Health Agenda Setting

2018 ◽  
pp. 324-345
Author(s):  
Stephanie L. Smith ◽  
Jeremy Shiffman
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Problem Definition ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Trade Regimes ◽  
High Level ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Health Agenda

This chapter examines the politics of global health agenda setting, the process by which global health issues come to receive attention from actors that control or influence the allocation of financial, technical, human, and other kinds of resources. It suggests that the global health agenda is shaped by the capabilities of actors, including policy entrepreneurs, high-level champions, and networks; ideas, especially those surrounding problem definition, solutions, and causal stories; powerful interests, such as the economic and security concerns of wealthy countries and industries; and institutions, such as international law and trade regimes. Most studies of global health agenda setting are of a single case, and many are descriptive. To build the field, future research should supplement these studies with comparative, theoretically grounded inquiry.

scholarly journals The rise and fall of global health issues: an arenas model applied to the COVID-19 pandemic shock

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie L. Smith ◽  
Jeremy Shiffman ◽  
Yusra Ribhi Shawar ◽  
Zubin Cyrus Shroff
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Global Health ◽  
News Media ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Systematic Investigation ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Focusing Events ◽  
Health Agenda ◽  
Hiv Aids

Abstract Background The global health agenda is ill-defined as an analytical construct, complicating attempts by scholars and proponents to make claims about the agenda status of issues. We draw on Kingdon’s definition of the agenda and Hilgartner and Bosk’s public arenas model to conceptualize the global health agenda as those subjects or problems to which collectivities of actors operating nationally and globally are paying serious attention at any given time. We propose an arenas model for global health agenda setting and illustrate its potential utility by assessing priority indicators in five arenas, including international aid, pharmaceutical industry, scientific research, news media and civil society. We then apply the model to illustrate how the status of established (HIV/AIDS), emergent (diabetes) and rising (Alzheimer’s disease) issues might be measured, compared and change in light of a pandemic shock (COVID-19). Results Coronavirus priority indicators rose precipitously in all five arenas in 2020, reflecting the kind of punctuation often caused by focusing events. The magnitude of change varied somewhat by arena, with the most pronounced shift in the global news media arena. Priority indicators for the other issues showed decreases of up to 21% and increases of up to 41% between 2019 and 2020, with increases suggesting that the agenda for global health issues expanded in some arenas in 2020— COVID-19 did not consistently displace priority for HIV/AIDS, diabetes or Alzheimer’s disease, though it might have for other issues. Conclusions We advance an arenas model as a novel means of addressing conceptual and measurement challenges that often undermine the validity of claims concerning the global health agenda status of problems and contributing causal factors. Our presentation of the model and illustrative analysis lays the groundwork for more systematic investigation of trends in global health agenda setting. Further specification of the model is needed to ensure accurate representation of vital national and transnational arenas and their interactions, applicability to a range of disease-specific, health systems, governance and policy issues, and sensitivity to subtler influences on global health agenda setting than pandemic shocks.

scholarly journals The Effectiveness of Virtual Reality Interventions for Adolescent Patients in Hospital Settings: A Systematic Review (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brad Ridout ◽  
Joshua Kelson ◽  
Andrew Campbell ◽  
Kate Steinbeck
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Case Reports ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Single Case Report ◽  
Keywords And Phrases ◽  
Adolescent Patients ◽  
High Level

BACKGROUND Given the high level of interest and increasing familiarity with Virtual Reality (VR) among adolescents, there is great potential to use VR to address their unique health care delivery needs while in hospital. While there have been reviews into the use of VR for specific health conditions and procedures, none to date have reviewed the full scope of VR hospital interventions for adolescents, who despite experiencing virtual environments differently to younger children, are often combined with them as a homogenous group. OBJECTIVE The aim of this review was to systematically identify available evidence regarding the use of VR interventions for adolescent patients in hospital settings, to evaluate their effectiveness, suitability and safety, and to identify gaps and opportunities for future research. METHODS PubMed, PsycINFO, Medline and Scopus databases were searched using keywords and phrases. Retrieved abstracts (n=1,525) were double screened, yielding 276 articles for screening at the full-text level. Of these, eight articles met the review inclusion criteria. Data were extracted into a standardized coding sheet, and a narrative synthesis was performed due to the heterogeneity of the identified studies. RESULTS Four randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and four single case report interventions were identified for inclusion, all of which aimed to reduce pain and/or anxiety. The scenarios targeted were burn pain, venepuncture, chemotherapy, pre-operative anxiety, and palliative care. Three out of four RCTs found significant reductions in pain and/or anxiety outcomes measures when using VR compared to standard care or other distraction techniques. However, only one study combined self-reported experiences of pain or anxiety with any physiological measures. Single case reports relied primarily on qualitative feedback, with patients reporting reduced pain and/or anxiety and a preference for VR over no VR. CONCLUSIONS VR can provide a safe and engaging way to reduce pain and anxiety in adolescents while in hospital, particularly when VR software is highly immersive and specifically designed for therapeutic purposes. As VR becomes more accessible and affordable for use in hospitals, larger and more diverse studies that capitalise on adolescents’ interest and aptitude towards VR, and the full range of capabilities of this emerging technology, are needed to build on these promising results.

A Pilot Study of Mobile Telephone Message Interventions with Suicide Attempters in China

Crisis ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Chen ◽  
Brian L. Mishara ◽  
Xiao Xian Liu
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Text Message ◽  
Text Messages ◽  
Mobile Telephone ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Quick Method ◽  
Suicide Attempters ◽  
To Receive

Background: In China, where follow-up with hospitalized attempters is generally lacking, there is a great need for inexpensive and effective means of maintaining contact and decreasing recidivism. Aims: Our objective was to test whether mobile telephone message contacts after discharge would be feasible and acceptable to suicide attempters in China. Methods: Fifteen participants were recruited from suicide attempters seen in the Emergency Department in Wuhan, China, to participate in a pilot study to receive mobile telephone messages after discharge. All participants have access to a mobile telephone, and there is no charge for the user to receive text messages. Results: Most participants (12) considered the text message contacts an acceptable and useful form of help and would like to continue to receive them for a longer period of time. Conclusions: This suggests that, as a low-cost and quick method of intervention in areas where more intensive follow-up is not practical or available, telephone messages contacts are accessible, feasible, and acceptable to suicide attempters. We hope that this will inspire future research on regular and long-term message interventions to prevent recidivism in suicide attempters.

Power of Modified Brown-Forsythe and Mixed-Model Approaches in Split-Plot Designs

Methodology ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Livacic-Rojas ◽  
Guillermo Vallejo ◽  
Paula Fernández ◽  
Ellián Tuero-Herrero
Keyword(s):  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Statistical Power ◽  
Mixed Model ◽  
Covariance Structure ◽  
Simulation Method ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Repeated Measures Design ◽  
Fixed And Random Effects ◽  
Split Plot ◽  
High Level

Abstract. Low precision of the inferences of data analyzed with univariate or multivariate models of the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) in repeated-measures design is associated to the absence of normality distribution of data, nonspherical covariance structures and free variation of the variance and covariance, the lack of knowledge of the error structure underlying the data, and the wrong choice of covariance structure from different selectors. In this study, levels of statistical power presented the Modified Brown Forsythe (MBF) and two procedures with the Mixed-Model Approaches (the Akaike’s Criterion, the Correctly Identified Model [CIM]) are compared. The data were analyzed using Monte Carlo simulation method with the statistical package SAS 9.2, a split-plot design, and considering six manipulated variables. The results show that the procedures exhibit high statistical power levels for within and interactional effects, and moderate and low levels for the between-groups effects under the different conditions analyzed. For the latter, only the Modified Brown Forsythe shows high level of power mainly for groups with 30 cases and Unstructured (UN) and Autoregressive Heterogeneity (ARH) matrices. For this reason, we recommend using this procedure since it exhibits higher levels of power for all effects and does not require a matrix type that underlies the structure of the data. Future research needs to be done in order to compare the power with corrected selectors using single-level and multilevel designs for fixed and random effects.

COVID-19 Outbreak Prediction with Machine Learning

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sina Faizollahzadeh Ardabili ◽  
Amir Mosavi ◽  
Pedram Ghamisi ◽  
Filip Ferdinand ◽  
Annamaria R. Varkonyi-Koczy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Prediction Models ◽  
Fuzzy Inference ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Inference System ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Standard Models ◽  
High Level

Several outbreak prediction models for COVID-19 are being used by officials around the world to make informed-decisions and enforce relevant control measures. Among the standard models for COVID-19 global pandemic prediction, simple epidemiological and statistical models have received more attention by authorities, and they are popular in the media. Due to a high level of uncertainty and lack of essential data, standard models have shown low accuracy for long-term prediction. Although the literature includes several attempts to address this issue, the essential generalization and robustness abilities of existing models needs to be improved. This paper presents a comparative analysis of machine learning and soft computing models to predict the COVID-19 outbreak as an alternative to SIR and SEIR models. Among a wide range of machine learning models investigated, two models showed promising results (i.e., multi-layered perceptron, MLP, and adaptive network-based fuzzy inference system, ANFIS). Based on the results reported here, and due to the highly complex nature of the COVID-19 outbreak and variation in its behavior from nation-to-nation, this study suggests machine learning as an effective tool to model the outbreak. This paper provides an initial benchmarking to demonstrate the potential of machine learning for future research. Paper further suggests that real novelty in outbreak prediction can be realized through integrating machine learning and SEIR models.

China, International Society, and Global Health Governance

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Youde
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Global Health ◽  
International Society ◽  
Global Health Governance ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Health Governance ◽  
Policy Tool ◽  
Governance Institutions ◽  
Ambivalent Relationship

China possesses the world’s largest economy, but that economic clout has not necessarily translated into taking leading roles within existing global health governance institutions and processes. It is a country that both contributes to and receives financial assistance from global health institutions. It has incorporated health into some of its foreign policy activities, but it has largely avoided proactively engaging with the values and norms embodied within the global health governance system. This ambivalent relationship reflects larger questions about how and whether China fits within international society and what its engagement or lack thereof might portend for international society’s future. This chapter examines China’s place within global health governance by examining its interactions with international society on global health issues, its use of health as a foreign policy tool, and its relationships with global health governance organizations.

scholarly journals Opportunities and Challenges of Green-Lean: An Integrated System for Sustainable Construction

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 4460 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammadsoroush Tafazzoli ◽  
Ehsan Mousavi ◽  
Sharareh Kermanshachi
Keyword(s):  
Cost Savings ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Integrated System ◽  
Waste Minimization ◽  
Sustainable Construction ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Safety Improvement ◽  
The Individual ◽  
High Level ◽  
Industry Professionals

Although the two concepts of lean and sustainable construction have been developed due to different incentives, and they do not pursue the same exact goals, there exists considerable commonality between them. This paper discusses the potentials for integrating the two approaches and their practices and how the resulting synergy from combining the two methods can potentially lead to higher levels of fulfilling the individual goals of each of them. Some limitations and challenges to implementing the integrated approach are also discussed. Based on a comprehensive review of existing papers related to sustainable and lean construction topics, the commonality between the two approaches is discussed and grouped in five categories of (1) cost savings, (2) waste minimization, (3) Jobsite safety improvement, (4) reduced energy consumption, and (5) customers’ satisfaction improvement. The challenges of this integration are similarly identified and discussed in the four main categories of (1) additional initial costs to the project, (2) difficulty of providing specialized expertise, (3) contractors’ unwillingness to adopt the additional requirements, and (4) challenges to establish a high level of teamwork. Industry professionals were then interviewed to rank the elements in each of the two categories of opportunities and challenges. The results of the study highlight how future research can pursue the development of a new Green-Lean approach by investing in the communalities and meeting the challenges of this integration.

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