scholarly journals NeMoR: a New Method Based on Data-Driven for Neonatal Mortality Rate Forecasting

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Eduardo Beluzo ◽  
Luciana Correia Alves ◽  
Natália Martins Arruda ◽  
Cátia Sepetauskas ◽  
Everton Silva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Machine Learning ◽  
Neonatal Mortality ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Neonatal Mortality Rate ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Public Health Policies

ABSTRACTReduction in child mortality is one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. In Brazil, despite recent reduction in child mortality in the last decades, the neonatal mortality is a persistent problem and it is associated with the quality of prenatal, childbirth care and social-environmental factors. In a proper health system, the effect of some of these factors could be minimized by the appropriate number of newborn intensive care units, number of health care units, number of neonatal incubators and even by the correct level of instruction of mothers, which can lead to a proper care along the prenatal period. With the intent of providing knowledge resources for planning public health policies focused on neonatal mortality reduction, we propose a new data-driven machine leaning method for Neonatal Mortality Rate forecasting called NeMoR, which predicts neonatal mortality rates for 4 months ahead, using NeoDeathForecast, a monthly base time series dataset composed by these factors and by neonatal mortality rates history (2006-2016), having 57,816 samples, for all 438 Brazilian administrative health regions. In order to build the model, Extra-Tree, XGBoost Regressor, Gradient Boosting Regressor and Lasso machine learning regression models were evaluated and a hyperparameters search was also performed as a fine tune step. The method has been validated using São Paulo city data, mainly because of data quality. On the better configuration the method predicted the neonatal mortality rates with a Mean Square Error lower than 0.18. Besides that, the forecast results may be useful as it provides a way for policy makers to anticipate trends on neonatal mortality rates curves, an important resource for planning public health policies.Graphical AbstractHighlightsProposition of a new data-driven approach for neonatal mortality rate forecast, which provides a way for policy-makers to anticipate trends on neonatal mortality rates curves, making a better planning of health policies focused on NMR reduction possible;a method for NMR forecasting with a MSE lower than 0.18;an extensive evaluation of different Machine Learning (ML) regression models, as well as hyperparameters search, which accounts for the last stage in NeMoR;a new time series database for NMR prediction problems;a new features projection space for NMR forecasting problems, which considerably reduces errors in NRM prediction.

scholarly journals Formulating evidence-based public health policies: A guide to policy makers

2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 4
Author(s):  
SaurabhR Shrivastava ◽  
PrateekS Shrivastava ◽  
Jegadeesh Ramasamy
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Public Health Policies

scholarly journals The EU Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Knowledge Gateway

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
I Bakogianni
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Risk Factors ◽  
Health Promotion ◽  
Disease Prevention ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
The Eu

Abstract Issue/ problem Unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, alcohol and tobacco use are leading risk factors for non-communicable diseases. They are all modifiable and health promotion policies can support that. Description of the problem However, information overload, controversies and uncertainties, budget constraints and difficulties in balancing disparate interests are common challenges that can hamper action by policy makers in the field of public health. To support them, the European Commission has created the Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Knowledge Gateway. It is a reference point for independent and reliable information to assist policy making; it summarises both the data and knowledge needed to support prioritisation of public health policies and justify investments in health promotion. Results The Knowledge Gateway currently covers the areas of nutrition, physical activity, alcohol, marketing of foods and beverages, and related societal impacts such as disease burden and health inequalities. These topics have been prioritised by Member States representatives and policy makers. The content is organised into concise, well-structured briefs which include definition of each issue, health related effects, and examples of policy recommendations and implemented policies. The high-quality source documents are selected in a tiered approach and are mainly authored or endorsed by authoritative public health organisations. Lessons Judging by the positive feedback received, the Knowledge Gateway is being used widely across Member States and stakeholders. The content of the Knowledge Gateway will be further expanded to support other health priorities such as mental health promotion. Policy makers have a unique, trusted “one-stop-shop” with high quality information to support, justify and strengthen the development of public health policies and health promotion. Key messages The use of reliable authoritative information for the development of public health policies can support the prevention of major non-communicable disease risk factors. The EU Knowledge Gateway is a unique reference point of reliable, independent information to support policy making in the area of public health.

scholarly journals Skills building seminar: How can data on adolescents’ health behavior contribute to public health policies? Lessons from HBSC

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Behaviour ◽  
Health Behaviours ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Public Health Perspective ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Health And Well Being ◽  
Research And Policy

Abstract Adolescents (10-19) are usually thought of as rather healthy and as low users of health care compared with other age groups. Nevertheless, adolescence is a crucial and challenging transitional journey towards adult life, a time when protective health behaviours and the value of a healthy lifestyle can be adopted, or not, depending on complex interactions between determinants and individual factors. Integration of young people’s health in all policies and research agendas is crucial, beyond the health sector, and keeping in mind the needs to reduce health inequalities and to ensure equitable access to services, in a broad Public health perspective. However, Public health policies targeting young people cannot be fully relevant and efficient if they do not rely on quality data collected among young people, on their health and their health behaviours. Under the auspices of WHO, the Health behaviour in School-aged children (HBSC) survey collects data among 11-13 and 15 years-old students since 1982, in a growing number of mostly European countries, every 4 years, through anonymous self-completed questionnaires filled in in class, using shared validated instruments and methods. Our workshop aims at showing how data collected among adolescents, by improving our understanding of their health and health behaviours as well as their determinants and settings, can be used to inform and improve policies at national level. HBSC will be used as an exemple, because of its longevity, breadth, expertise, reputation and uniqueness in the field of adolescent health. Five contrasted experiences will be presented, illustrating the relevance of linking scientific evidence and policy relevance in a Public health perspective. They have been chosen to offer various perspectives in terms of countries (Ireland, Luxembourg, Israel, UK), topics (well-being, suicide, substance-use, school-health), and levels of links between research and policy. All presenters are skilled researchers, have a longstanding experience of conducting the HBSC survey and they share a strong interest in linking with policy makers in advocating the improvement of the health and well-being of the adolescents in their country. Because they all work on the same population (adolescents), and mainly work on the same survey (HBSC), the presentations and debates will start from a common ground, saving space and time to really illustrate how health behaviour data can inform Public health policies. The presenters should give contrasted perspectives, without denying their failures and difficulties, to engage with the audience for a wider discussion, towards a better partnership between research and policy. Key messages There are national examples that illustrate that research on adolescents’ health behaviour can inform Public health policy targeted at this specific population and improve its health and well-being. Networking and exchanging on failures and success through case studies can provide perspectives to other teams and countries on how to better build the link between researchers and policy makers.

scholarly journals A review of the One Health concept and its application as a tool for policy-makers

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-89
Author(s):  
Rodrigo de Macedo Couto ◽  
Danie Friguglietti Brandespim
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Interpersonal Violence ◽  
One Health ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Health Concept ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One

The One Health concept represents the inseparability of human, animal, and environmental health through a unified view of health care. This article addressed the topic of public health policies from the One Health perspective, demonstrating its inclusion in various health agendas such as emerging and reemerging infectious diseases, basic sanitation, mental health, chronic non-communicable diseases, interpersonal violence, and food safety. The results showed that the application of the One Health concept to the development and implementation of policies is associated with a growing need to involve transdisciplinary teams for solving complex problems to improve communication and to ensure the relevance and acceptability of public policies, thus guaranteeing governance. According to the principle of efficiency, the government must be aware of the evolution of technical knowledge and should use the One Health approach to improve the efficacy of already existing systems. We, therefore, conducted this review to contextualize current knowledge in this topic which is becoming an essential tool for public health policy-makers and practitioners around the world promoting a reflection on the importance of multiprofessional articulation in the implementation of intersectoral public health policies.

scholarly journals Data as promise: Reconfiguring Danish public health through personalized medicine

2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 531-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Hoeyer
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Personalized Medicine ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Roles And Responsibilities ◽  
Population Science ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Existing Data

‘Personalized medicine’ might sound like the very antithesis of population science and public health, with the individual taking the place of the population. However, in practice, personalized medicine generates heavy investments in the population sciences – particularly in data-sourcing initiatives. Intensified data sourcing implies new roles and responsibilities for patients and health professionals, who become responsible not only for data contributions, but also for responding to new uses of data in personalized prevention, drawing upon detailed mapping of risk distribution in the population. Although this population-based ‘personalization’ of prevention and treatment is said to be about making the health services ‘data-driven’, the policies and plans themselves use existing data and evidence in a very selective manner. It is as if data-driven decision-making is a promise for an unspecified future, not a demand on its planning in the present. I therefore suggest interrogating how ‘promissory data’ interact with ideas about accountability in public health policies, and also with the data initiatives that the promises bring about. Intensified data collection might not just be interesting for what it allows authorities to do and know, but also for how its promises of future evidence can be used to postpone action and sidestep uncomfortable knowledge in the present.

scholarly journals Comment on “The COVID-19 infodemic does not affect vaccine acceptance”

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riccardo Gallotti ◽  
Federico Pilati ◽  
Pier Luigi Sacco ◽  
Manlio De Domenico
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Main Claim ◽  
Vaccine Acceptance ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Social Media Data ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Media Data

In a recent paper by Valensise et al [1], the authors present an analysis of social media data – from Facebook and Twitter – and vaccine hesitancy data – from Facebook – to provide evidence that the overabundance of potentially unreliable information, known as infodemic, does not affect vaccine acceptance. If confirmed, this result could have a dramatic impact on public health policies across the world, suggesting that current actions taken in place to contain and prevent the spreading of disinformation and misinformation might be useless to significantly hinder vaccine hesitancy. We disagree with this conclusion on the basis of existing literature that the authors fail to consider,of methodological concerns that suggest that their approach might have crucial flaws, and of an alternative empirical analysis unraveling a broader and richer picture to interpret.Simplistic analyses are not enough to assess the complex interplay between two complex social and behavioral phenomena such as vaccine hesitancy and infodemic: more sophisticated analyses are needed to account for the different intervening socio-cultural, behavioral, environmental and epidemiological factors. Under these conditions, we conclude that the authors’ main claim is conceptually and empirically unsupported. We are sincerely concerned that, if measures disregarding the circulating disinformation around the COVID19 vaccines were endorsed by policy makers in the design of future public health policies, it might lead to serious negative consequences by dangerously overlooking a major potential driver of dysfunctional behavioral responses to public health policies and goals.

scholarly journals Utilizando Análise de Sentimentos e SVM na Classificação de Tweets Depressivos

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omar Andres Carmona Cortes ◽  
Wesley Eduardo de Oliveira Melo
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Machine Learning ◽  
Naive Bayes ◽  
Naïve Bayes ◽  
Entire Population ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
The World ◽  
Bayes Algorithm

The number of depression cases has grown worldwide. The WorldHealth Organization estimates that 5.8% of the Brazilian populationalready present depression symptoms. In the world, 4.8% ofthe entire population has presented some symptoms. These dataare alarming because they represent about 12 million people onlyin Brazil and 368 million worldwide. Therefore, it is essential tobuild applications that adequately identify the population’s feelingsabout depression to drive public health policies. Appropriate policiescan save money on public health and keep people active. Thus,this work investigates how to apply machine learning in classifyingdepression posts on Tweeter. The data were extracted from thesocial media network, reaching a total of 31.177 tweets classified asdepressive and non-depressive. The application was implementedin Python with Pandas and SciKit Learning. Results have shownthat SVM overcomes the Naive Bayes algorithm and can reach anaccuracy of 94%, precision of 91%, a recall of 91%, and an F1 Scoreof 91%.

scholarly journals Food industry influence on public health policy, research and practice in Latin America

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Mialon ◽  
E Perez ◽  
C Corvalan ◽  
C Monteiro ◽  
P Jaime ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Public Health Policy ◽  
Food Industry ◽  
Policy Research ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Research And Practice

Abstract One of the key barriers to the development of public health policies, such as restrictions on marketing of unhealthy foods to children, is the influence of corporations, also known as corporate political activity' (CPA). This project aimed to identify the CPA of the food industry in Brazil, Colombia and Chile, over a 2-year period. This research consisted of a document analysis of publicly available information triangulated with interviews. It contributed to, and was based on methods developed by INFORMAS (International Network for Food and Obesity / non-communicable Diseases Research, Monitoring and Action Support), which aims to monitor food environments. In all three countries, the food industry lobbied against public health policies and had direct access to high ranking officials and policy makers. It also shifted the blame away from its products in the obesity and non-communicable diseases epidemic onto individuals and their lack of education. In Brazil, the food industry was active against a new front-of-pack labeling, setting up its own website to promote an alternative model and self-regulation. In Colombia, the food industry captured the media and had strong ties with the government, including through nutrition programmes. Public health advocates felt unsafe when speaking against the industry or its products. In Chile, despite advances with the introduction of public health policies to limit the sales and marketing of unhealthy products, the food industry, including the sweeteners industry, which was not affected by the recent legislation, was still influencing policy, research and practice. Food industry actors, including local companies and transnationals, used several CPA strategies in Latin America to try and influence public health policy, research and practice. It is urgent that policy makers, academics and other individuals in public health are aware of these practices and equipped with solutions to address undue influence by the food industry Key messages In Latin America, the food industry used several CPA practices, which collectively could have a negative influence on public health policy, research and practice. These practices could delay efforts to protect and promote public health in the region.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document