The impact of national culture on COVID-19 pandemic outcomes

2022 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhaochen He ◽  
Yixiao Jiang ◽  
Rik Chakraborti ◽  
Thomas D. Berry
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
National Culture ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Content Type ◽  
State Action ◽  
Cultural Heterogeneity ◽  
Health Response ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThis study aims to uncover the extent to which cultural traits may explain the puzzling international divergence in COVID-19 outcomes, and how those traits interact with state action to produce compliance with pandemic health policy.Design/methodology/approachA theoretical framework illustrates the surprising possibility that culture and state action may not reinforce each other but rather act as substitutes in eliciting anti-pandemic behavior. This possibility is tested empirically in two specifications: a cross-sectional regression that includes several novel COVID-related measures, and a panel model that controls for contemporaneous disease burden. Across these models, we use the measures of national culture developed by Hofstede (1984) and a newer metric developed by Schwartz (1990).FindingsIndividualism and egalitarianism have a positive effect on disease prevalence, while cultural heterogeneity was associated with a more robust public health response. Consistent with our model, we find that culture and state action served as substitutes in motivating compliance with COVID-19 policy.Practical implicationsThe results of this study imply that culture and state interact in determining the effectiveness of public health measures aimed at combating COVID-19; these results recommend culturally aware state intervention when combating pandemics.Originality/valueThis study offers several new contributions. First, it proposes a model to help contextualize the empirical analysis. Second, it examines a wider range of traits than previous studies, including cultural homogeneity and the Schwartz variables. Third, it employs a richer econometric specification that explores the interaction between state and culture in a panel context.

scholarly journals Effect of COVID-19 on childhood Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection in Chengdu, China

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Zhang ◽  
Yijie Huang ◽  
Tao Ai ◽  
Jun Luo ◽  
Hanmin Liu
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mycoplasma Pneumoniae ◽  
Close Contact ◽  
Serum Antibody ◽  
Pathogen Transmission ◽  
Western China ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
The Public ◽  
Health Response ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background Following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a change in the incidence and transmission of respiratory pathogens was observed. Here, we retrospectively analyzed the impact of COVID-19 on the epidemiologic characteristics of Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection among children in Chengdu, one of the largest cities of western China. Method M. pneumoniae infection was diagnosed in 33,345 pediatric patients with respiratory symptoms at the Chengdu Women’s & Children’s Central Hospital between January 2017 and December 2020, based on a serum antibody titer of ≥1:160 measured by the passive agglutination assay. Differences in infection rates were examined by sex, age, and temporal distribution. Results Two epidemic outbreaks occurred between October-December 2017 and April-December 2019, and two infection peaks were detected in the second and fourth quarters of 2017, 2018, and 2019. Due to the public health response to COVID-19, the number of positive M. pneumoniae cases significantly decreased in the second quarter of 2020. The number of M. pneumoniae infection among children aged 3–6 years was higher than that in other age groups. Conclusions Preschool children are more susceptible to M. pneumoniae infection and close contact appears to be the predominant factor favoring pathogen transmission. The public health response to COVID-19 can effectively control the transmission of M. pneumoniae.

Not your typical “historian”

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 523-533
Author(s):  
Adrienne Lefevre ◽  
Madison Walter-Garcia ◽  
Kimberly Hanson ◽  
Julia Smith-Easley
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Incident Management ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Incident Command ◽  
Health Community ◽  
Health Response ◽  
Decision Making Processes

Purpose In the incident command system (ICS) structure, response documentation is formally found within the planning section. However, longer term emergency responses have demonstrated the need for a flexible and innovative role that encompasses a variety of activities, including response documentation, communications science, real-time evaluation of major themes, and information management. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach This need can be universally met through the functional role of “Historian,” a term specific to ICS, or in the case of public health response, incident management system (IMS). It should be noted that the Historian role discussed is not related to the academic study of history, but to archiving key successes and challenges during a response. Ideally the Historian should be activated at the start of an emergency response and remain active to capture the overall picture of the response, including internal information, such as lessons learned, response activities, and decision-making processes. Findings The Historian compiles details of response activities that inform leadership, donors and external communications products while alleviating pressures on the planning section. The primary, minimum output of an IMS Historian is a response timeline, which notes major internal and external events during a response with emphasis on major themes, lessons learned, and creating a user-friendly interface to display this information (see the list “Abbreviated Example of Hurricane Matthew Response Timeline” in the text). Originality/value In a world with competing priorities and ongoing emergencies, the Historian’s role of archiving details of response efforts can help the international public health community to share lessons learned and contribute to lower morbidity and mortality among those affected by emergencies.

scholarly journals Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 Public Health Stages on Paediatric Emergency Attendance

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (18) ◽  
pp. 6719 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thérèse McDonnell ◽  
Emma Nicholson ◽  
Ciara Conlon ◽  
Michael Barrett ◽  
Fergal Cummins ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Chronic Conditions ◽  
Living Conditions ◽  
Response Strategy ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
The Public ◽  
Complex Chronic Conditions ◽  
Paediatric Emergency ◽  
Health Response ◽  
The Impact

This study outlines the impact of COVID-19 on paediatric emergency department (ED) utilisation and assesses the extent of healthcare avoidance during each stage of the public health response strategy. Records from five EDs and one urgent care centre in Ireland, representing approximately 48% of national annual public paediatric ED attendances, are analysed to determine changes in characteristics of attendance during the three month period following the first reported COVID-19 case in Ireland, with reference to specific national public health stages. ED attendance reduced by 27–62% across all categories of diagnosis in the Delay phase and remained significantly below prior year levels as the country began Phase One of Reopening, with an incident rate ratio (IRR) of 0.58. The decrease was predominantly attributable to reduced attendance for injury and viral/viral induced conditions resulting from changed living conditions imposed by the public health response. However, attendance for complex chronic conditions also reduced and had yet to return to pre-COVID levels as reopening began. Attendances referred by general practitioners (GPs) dropped by 13 percentage points in the Delay phase and remained at that level. While changes in living conditions explain much of the decrease in overall attendance and in GP referrals, reduced attendance for complex chronic conditions may indicate avoidance behaviour and continued surveillance is necessary.

scholarly journals The impact of the initial public health response to COVID-19 on swine health surveillance in Ontario

One Health ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 100338
Author(s):  
Tatiana Petukhova ◽  
David L. Pearl ◽  
Maria Spinato ◽  
Jim Fairles ◽  
Murray Hazlett ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Surveillance ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
Health Response ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals The impact of Thailand's public health response to the HIV epidemic 1984–2015: understanding the ingredients of success

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 7-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taweesap Siraprapasiri ◽  
Sumet Ongwangdee ◽  
Patchara Benjarattanaporn ◽  
Wiwat Peerapatanapokin ◽  
Mukta Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
Hiv Epidemic ◽  
Health Response ◽  
The Impact

H1N1 in the ‘A1 Empire’: Pandemic Influenza, Military Medicine, and the British Transition from War to Peace, 1918–1920

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 604-621
Author(s):  
James J Harris
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Influenza Pandemic ◽  
Military Medicine ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Health Response ◽  
War Effort ◽  
History Of ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Impact

Summary The article reexamines the history of the 1918–19 influenza pandemic to better place it in its war-time context. Using Britain as a case study, the essay examines how British military medicine took a leading role in studying and developing a (still largely ineffective) public health response to the epidemic, whereas domestic public health leaders did almost nothing to stem the spread of the pandemic due to the impact measures such as quarantine would have had on the war effort. The article ends by briefly considering how the pandemic affected efforts to restore Britain to ‘normalcy’ during the immediate post-war recovery. In so doing, this essay further argues how it is essential to consider the deep connections between the Great War and the influenza pandemic not simply as concurrent or consecutive crises, but more deeply intertwined.

COVID-19 immunity (or vaccine) passports: a documentary overview and analysis of regimes of health verification within the coronavirus pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc Richard Hugh Kosciejew
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
News Coverage ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Documentary Analysis ◽  
Health Response ◽  
Identity Category ◽  
Material Evidence ◽  
Free Status

PurposeIntroducing immunity or vaccine passports is one non-pharmaceutical intervention that governments are considering to exempt immune, vaccinated or otherwise risk-free individuals from lockdowns and other public health restrictions during the coronavirus pandemic. The primary objective of these documents would be to begin reopening societies, restarting economies and returning to a pre-pandemic normalcy. This article aims to present the start of a conceptual documentary analysis of (proposed and existing) COVID-19 immunity passports in order to more fully center their documentary status within research, considerations and conversations about their potential roles, impacts and implications.Design/methodology/approachInspired by Paula A. Treichler's argument for the importance of theoretical thought for untangling the socio-cultural phenomena of epidemics, and drawing upon interdisciplinary theories of documentation, identity and public health, combined with recent news coverage of the coronavirus pandemic, this article provides a contemporary overview and conceptual analysis of emerging documentary regimes of COVID-19 immunity verification involving immunity or vaccine passports.FindingsThree major interconnected objectives could be fulfilled by immunity passports. First, they would establish and materialize an official identity of COVID-19 immune for people possessing the formal document. Second, they would serve as material evidence establishing and verifying individuals' immunity, vaccination or risk-free status from the coronavirus that would, in term, determine and regulate their movements and other privileges. Third, they would create tangible links between individuals and governments' official or recognized identity category of COVID-19 immune. Immunity passports would, therefore, help enable and enforce governmental authority and power by situating individuals within documentary regimes of COVID-19 immunity verification.Research limitations/implicationsIn the expanding interdisciplinary literature on COVID-19 immunity passports, sometimes also called certificates, licenses, or passes, there appears to be only minimal reference to their documentary instantiations, whether physical, digital, and/or hybrid documents. As yet, there is not any specific documentary approach to or analysis of immunity passports as kinds of documentation. A documentary approach helps to illuminate and emphasize the materiality of and ontological considerations concerning the coronavirus pandemic and its associated kinds of immunity or vaccination.Social implicationsBy beginning an exploration of what makes immunity passports thinkable as a public health response to the coronavirus pandemic, this article illuminates these health and identity documents' material implications for, and effects on, individuals and societies. This article, therefore, helps shed light on what immunity passports reveal about the complicated and contested intersections of identity, documentation, public health and socio-political control and discipline.Originality/valueThis article contributes the start of a documentary analysis of (proposed and existing) COVID-19 immunity passports in order to more fully center their documentary status within research and conversations about them.

scholarly journals Mental Health and the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Call for Action

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 411-412
Author(s):  
G. Kalcev ◽  
A. Preti ◽  
G. Orrù ◽  
M.G. Carta
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Burnout Syndrome ◽  
Physical And Mental Health ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
Health Response ◽  
National Public Health ◽  
The Impact

The current COVID-19 pandemic is likely to affect the physical and mental health and the well-being of people globally. The physicians and nurses on the frontline of patients care will be among the most affected in their psychosocial well-being, being exposed to trauma consequences and burnout syndrome. It is still unknown whether the COVID-19 infection will have direct neuropsychiatric consequences. The impact of the quarantine lockdown on mental health, too, has to be taken into account. The inclusion of mental health as part of national public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic is mandatory in assisting all those in need.

A tale of two epidemics: drugs harm reduction and tobacco harm reduction in the United Kingdom

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 203-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerry V. Stimson
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Harm Reduction ◽  
Tobacco Harm Reduction ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Drug Of Choice ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Health Response ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Hiv Aids

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to compare the response to HIV/AIDS and drug use (drugs harm reduction) with tobacco harm reduction. Design/methodology/approach Analysis of historical and contemporary sources, combined with personal knowledge of key stakeholders in the history and development of both fields. Findings Both drugs harm reduction and tobacco harm reduction share a similar objective – to reduce health risks for people who are unwilling or unable to stop using their drug of choice. Both also share a broader public health aim of helping people to make healthier decisions. Drugs harm reduction – as a response to HIV/AIDS – included the adoption of a wide range of radical harm reduction interventions and was a public health success. It became an established part of the professional Public Health agenda. In contrast the Public Health response to e-cigarettes and tobacco harm reduction has ranged from the negative to the cautious. A recent Public Health England report is exceptional for its endorsement of e-cigarettes. Originality/value Highlights contradictions in Public Health responses to drugs and tobacco; and that public health interventions can be implemented without and despite the contribution of professional Public Health.

Modelling the Impact and Public Health Response to COVID-19 in Uganda

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Galiwango ◽  
John Kitayimbwa ◽  
Agnes N. Kiragga ◽  
Katherine E. Atkins ◽  
Andrew Leigh Brown ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Health Response ◽  
Health Response ◽  
The Impact
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