scholarly journals Digital health for the End TB Strategy: developing priority products and making them work

2016 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Falzon ◽  
Hazim Timimi ◽  
Pascal Kurosinski ◽  
Giovanni Battista Migliori ◽  
Wayne Van Gemert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Electronic Learning ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Health Innovations ◽  
World Health Assembly Resolution ◽  
Health Products ◽  
Health Organization

In 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) developed the End TB Strategy in response to a World Health Assembly Resolution requesting Member States to end the worldwide epidemic of tuberculosis (TB) by 2035. For the strategy's objectives to be realised, the next 20 years will need novel solutions to address the challenges posed by TB to health professionals, and to affected people and communities. Information and communication technology presents opportunities for innovative approaches to support TB efforts in patient care, surveillance, programme management and electronic learning. The effective application of digital health products at a large scale and their continued development need the engagement of TB patients and their caregivers, innovators, funders, policy-makers, advocacy groups, and affected communities.In April 2015, WHO established its Global Task Force on Digital Health for TB to advocate and support the development of digital health innovations in global efforts to improve TB care and prevention. We outline the group's approach to stewarding this process in alignment with the three pillars of the End TB Strategy. The supplementary material of this article includes target product profiles, as developed by early 2016, defining nine priority digital health concepts and products that are strategically positioned to enhance TB action at the country level.

scholarly journals Risk communication during COVID-19: A descriptive study on familiarity with, adherence to and trust in the WHO preventive measures

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. e0250872
Author(s):  
Nirosha Elsem Varghese ◽  
Iryna Sabat ◽  
Sebastian Neumann-Böhme ◽  
Jonas Schreyögg ◽  
Tom Stargardt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Risk Communication ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Preventive Measures ◽  
World Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Hygiene Measures ◽  
Health Organization

Background Risk communication is a key component of public health interventions during an outbreak. As the coronavirus pandemic unfolded in late 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) was at the forefront in the development of risk communication strategies. The WHO introduced a range of activities with the purpose of enabling the public to avail verified and timely information on COVID-19 prevention behaviors. Given the various WHO activities to protect the public health during COVID-19, it is important to investigate the extent of familiarity and uptake of the WHO recommendations among the public during the first wave of the pandemic. Methods To do this, we conducted a large-scale Pan-European survey covering around 7500 individuals that are representative of populations from seven European countries, collected online during April 2-April 15, 2020. We use descriptive statistics including proportions and correlations and graphical representations such as bar charts to analyze and display the data. Results Our findings suggest that information from the WHO in the context of COVID-19 is well trusted and acted upon by the public. Overall familiarity and adherence were quite high in most countries. Adherence was higher for social distancing recommendations compared to hygiene measures. Familiarity and adherence were higher among older, female, and highly educated respondents. However, country level heterogeneities were observed in the level of trust in information from the WHO, with countries severely affected by the pandemic reporting lower levels of trust. Conclusion Our findings call for efforts from health authorities to get regular feedback from the public on their familiarity and compliance with recommendations for preventive measures at all stages of the pandemic, to further develop and adapt risk communication as the pandemic evolves.

Mobile Health

2020 ◽  
pp. 275-291
Author(s):  
Alain B. Labrique ◽  
Dustin G. Gibson ◽  
Radha Rajan ◽  
Lavanya Vasudevan
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Health ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Health Service Delivery ◽  
Health System Strengthening ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Innovations ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Key Resources ◽  
Key Innovations

In this chapter, the authors explore the rapidly changing landscape of mobile health (mHealth) over the past decade. From a time of discordant innovation at the beginning of the global mobile phone “revolution” to one where national mHealth strategies are the norm, a number of key innovations and digital strategies have emerged as catalysts for clinical and public health service delivery. In 2019, the World Health Organization released the first-ever digital health guidelines, based on extensive systematic reviews, to help ministries of health and implementing agencies to make evidence-based investments in digital health. Several key mHealth approaches to health system strengthening have been identified across the various layers of complex health systems—from improving target population denominators to strengthening service quality and affordability. Across layers of patient, provider, and system interventions, examples of digital strategies will be used to illustrate the ways in which mHealth can be used to overcome persistent bottlenecks or cost drivers. Seminal frameworks and tools to describe, evaluate, and measure the maturity of digital health innovations will be introduced, with links to key resources. Finally, the importance of engagement is discussed as an emergent frontier of digital “adherence” to prescription-strength digital applications.

scholarly journals Tuberculosis control, and the where and why of artificial intelligence

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 00056-2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riddhi Doshi ◽  
Dennis Falzon ◽  
Bruce V. Thomas ◽  
Zelalem Temesgen ◽  
Lal Sadasivan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Management Training ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
World Health ◽  
Care Plan ◽  
Training Materials ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Recognition Software

Countries aiming to reduce their tuberculosis (TB) burden by 2035 to the levels envisaged by the World Health Organization End TB Strategy need to innovate, with approaches such as digital health (electronic and mobile health) in support of patient care, surveillance, programme management, training and communication. Alongside the large-scale roll-out required for such interventions to make a significant impact, products must stay abreast of advancing technology over time. The integration of artificial intelligence into new software promises to make processes more effective and efficient, endowing them with a potential hitherto unimaginable. Users can benefit from artificial intelligence-enabled pattern recognition software for tasks ranging from reading radiographs to adverse event monitoring, sifting through vast datasets to personalise a patient's care plan or to customise training materials. Many experts forecast the imminent transformation of the delivery of healthcare services. We discuss how artificial intelligence and machine learning could revolutionise the management of TB.

scholarly journals An Innovative Approach to Designing Digital Health Solutions Addressing the Unmet Needs of Obese Patients in Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 579
Author(s):  
Roberta Patalano ◽  
Vincenzo De Luca ◽  
Jess Vogt ◽  
Strahil Birov ◽  
Lucia Giovannelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Unmet Needs ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Integrated Approach ◽  
World Health ◽  
Obese Patients ◽  
Unhealthy Lifestyle ◽  
Significant Negative Impact ◽  
Related Quality ◽  
Health Organization

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the worldwide obesity rate has tripled since 1975. In Europe, more than half of the population is overweight and obese. Around 2.8 million people die each year worldwide as a result of conditions linked to being overweight or obese. This study aimed to analyze the policies, approaches, and solutions that address the social and health unmet needs of obese patients, at different levels, in order to simulate the definition of an integrated approach, and to provide and share examples of innovative solutions supporting health promotion, disease prevention, and integration of services to improve the collaboration between the different health and care stakeholders involved across the country and in the lives of obese patients. A collaborative approach involving various levels of government and regional experts from different European countries was applied to identify, explore, and evaluate different aspects of the topic, from the innovation perspective and focusing on a European and a regional vision. Currently, people prefer more foods rich in fats, sugars, and salt/sodium than fruits, vegetables, and fiber. This behavior leads to a significant negative impact on their health-related quality of life. Changes in healthcare systems, healthy policy, and approaches to patient care and better implementation of the different prevention strategies between all the stakeholders are needed, taking advantage of the digital transformation of health and care. Such changes can support obese patients in their fight against an unhealthy lifestyle and at the same time reduce healthcare costs.

scholarly journals Overweight and obesity of children in a brazilian elementary school: a comparison of three references

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 341
Author(s):  
Marcella Evangelista Melo ◽  
Giovanna Lima Miguéis ◽  
Mikaela Silva Almeida ◽  
Tatiane Dalamaria ◽  
Wagner De Jesus Pinto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Elementary School ◽  
Task Force ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Overweight And Obesity ◽  
World Health ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Kappa Index ◽  
International Obesity Task Force ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Health Organization

Introduction: In the diagnosis of overweight and obesity based on body mass index in children and adolescents, several national and international anthropometric references are recommended. However, there is a divergence in the estimated prevalence of overweight and obesity among the references. Objective: To identify the prevalence of overweight and obesity and to analyse the magnitude of agreement among the three references. Methods: A cross-sectional study with 975 students from the early grades of elementary school. The prevalence of overweight and obesity were estimated according to the criteria of the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF) and Conde and Monteiro. The Kappa weighted index was calculated to assess the agreement magnitude among the three references. Results: The highest prevalence of overweight and obesity was estimated by the Conde and Monteiro and WHO references, respectively. Overall, the IOTF revealed lower a magnitude of prevalence than the two other references. The agreement among the references identified by the Kappa index had a range of 0.66 to 0.94. Conclusion: Despite the satisfactory agreement among the three references, this research highlighted the differing magnitudes of the prevalence of overweight and obesity. This fact limits the ability to make comparisons among populations and impairs the development of overweight and obesity prevention actions.

Development of Herbal Ayurvedic Formulation as Digestive Tablets, Evaluation of it’s Pharmaceutical, Pharmacognostic Parameters and Screening of its Antioxidant Potential

2021 ◽  
pp. 5849-5855
Author(s):  
Vikas Sharma ◽  
Chandana Majee ◽  
Rahul Kaushik ◽  
Shivani Saxena ◽  
Salahuddin Salahuddin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Volatile Oil ◽  
Antioxidant Potential ◽  
World Health ◽  
Wet Granulation ◽  
Scale Production ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Weight Variation ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Average Size

Herbal digestive tablets are meant for treating indigestion problems. The indigestion problem is one of the major problems of all (the) ages of human beings. As trends for eating fast foods is increasing, simultaneously the improper digestion also tends to increase. There are a number of digestive tablets in the market but in attempt to improve their taste the actual motto behind their use is masked. To combat the indigestion problems, in the present study an attempt has been made to formulate, develop and evaluate herbal digestive tablets. The formula of the digestive tablet has been decided after deep review of Ayurvedic formulary of India. The ingredients of this formulation have been procured from authentic sources. The wet granulation method was used to prepare the granules for punching the tablets. After preparation, the herbal digestive tablets were subjected to various pharmaceutical evaluations and quality control evaluations as per the guidelines from World Health Organization (WHO). The formulation was also subjected to antioxidant screening using Phosphomolybdenum method. The digestive tablets are obtained as light brown-colored round tablets with pleasant odour and spicy taste with an average size of 8mm and smooth edges. Maximum extractive value was observed as 34% in methanol with a total ash value of 10.16%. Other parameters reported as bitterness value- 0.69 units, volatile oil content-8%, loss on drying- 12.3%, swelling and foaming index of 0.27 and less than 100 respectively. The tablets showed a total antioxidant potential of 0.51mg/mg as Ascorbic acid equivalent. Tablets also pass various pharmaceutical evaluation parameters like hardness, friability, weight variation, and disintegration test. Herbal digestive tablets have very excellent taste due to less bitter drugs. The tablet formula can be applied to prepare large scale production of digestive tablets.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document