scholarly journals Breastfeeding practices in a public health field practice area in Sri Lanka: a survival analysis

2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suneth B Agampodi ◽  
Thilini C Agampodi ◽  
Udage Kankanamge D Piyaseeli
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Survival Analysis ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Breastfeeding Practices ◽  
Field Practice ◽  
Health Field

scholarly journals Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation of a Novel In-Service Training Strategy of Public Health Staff: Evidence from Colombo Regional Directorate of Health Services, Sri Lanka

2020 ◽  
Vol 03 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
S.M. Arnold ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Monitoring And Evaluation ◽  
Health Staff ◽  
Training Strategy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Staff ◽  
Service Training ◽  
Novel Strategy ◽  
Health Field

Introduction: Continuous in-service training sessions help in updating and upgrading the competency of the public health field staff. Implementation of these sessions with the uniform delivery of the quality assured content has been a challenge in the Sri Lankan well-established preventive healthcare system. Aim: To describe the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of a novel in-service training strategy of public health staff including Pubic Health Inspectors (PHI) and Public Health Midwives (PHM) conducted in the Colombo Regional Directorate of Health, Sri Lanka from January to June 2018. Methods: A consultative meeting and a workshop was conducted with the participation of all stakeholders in reviewing the existing in-service training methodology and in recommending the strategies of overcoming the limitations of it. A novel strategy was developed for the implementation of in-service sessions with multi-level implementation and evaluation components. The in-service training sessions were conducted to improve the knowledge and quality of service provision by Public Health Inspectors, Public Health Midwives and other public health staff. Four evaluation indicators were defined. Descriptive statistics and the Wilcoxon signed rank test were used in the evaluation. Results: By the consultative meetings and workshops, four main weaknesses of the existing in-service training system were revealed, and three characteristics of an ideal system were defined. Two process indicators have shown a coverage of the intervention of 100% while the median satisfaction scores were observed to be 85% or above. Two output/outcome indicators have shown that the interventions have yielded significantly higher post-intervention scores compared to the pre-intervention scores as perceived by the staff members (p<0.05), while the reception of feedback reports was 100%. Conclusions and Recommendations: The novel strategy is seemingly effective in relation to the four evaluation indicators used. Possibility of implementing similar strategies in other areas must be explored with the view of disseminating quality assured content with uniformity among the public health field staff categories in the monthly in-service sessions.

Capacity building in the public health field in the Tunisian medical faculties

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Coman ◽  
O Oltean ◽  
M Palianopoulou ◽  
D Plancikova ◽  
C Zedini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Health Knowledge ◽  
National Level ◽  
Training Programme ◽  
Local Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Training ◽  
Medical Faculties ◽  
Health Field

Abstract Over the past years, Tunisia has experienced important reforms in the field of public health. The Tunisian medical faculties (Universities of Sfax, Tunis el Manar, Sousse and Monastir) play a key role in this endeavor by training public health professionals who can contribute to the modernization of the health system. Funded by the EC through Erasmus+ programme, the CONFIDE project (coordinated by Babes-Bolyai University, having as EU partners the Universities of Southern Denmark and Trnava, and the above mentioned Tunisian universities) has established the Research into Policy training programme by strengthening their capacity to provide public health training. The Research into Policy training programme has been delivered by the Centres for Evidence into Health Policy (C4EHPs) established within the Tunisian partner universities for the needs of CONFIDE. The training programme was implemented in four steps: (1) train the trainer sessions - the European experts trained 18 Tunisian trainers; (2) shadowing sessions - the trainers participated in shadowing sessions in the European partner institutions; (3) training delivery - the CONFIDE trainers, assisted by the European experts, delivered the training to an interdisciplinary group of 25 students and professionals; (4) internships - the students participated in internships in local health institutions. Three modules have been built within the Research into Policy training programme: Public health research, Health promotion policies and Evidence based public health policy. They contributed to increasing the public health knowledge and skills of the professionals trained. The training programme was well received by the Tunisian universities and the material developed so far during the project was adapted to the Tunisian context in the third step of implementation. On the long term, the project is expected to have an impact at the national level and produce updates at curricula level in the Tunisian medical faculties. Key messages Research into Policy training programme developed by the EC partners and culturally adapted by the Tunisian partners to the Tunisian public health context. Research into Policy training is a well-received tool for the high quality learning process in the public health field in Tunisian medical faculties.

scholarly journals Trends in breastfeeding practices and mothers’ experience in the French NutriNet-Santé cohort

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédéric Courtois ◽  
Sandrine Péneau ◽  
Benoît Salanave ◽  
Valentina A. Andreeva ◽  
Marie Françoise Roland-Cachera ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Breastfeeding Duration ◽  
Breastfeeding Initiation ◽  
Breastfeeding Support ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Breastfeeding Practices ◽  
Breastfeeding Education ◽  
Breastfeeding Cessation

Abstract Background France has one of the lowest rates in the world regarding breastfeeding initiation and duration. Few studies have explored breastfeeding practices in France since the middle of the twentieth century, or following from initiation to cessation. The purpose of our study was to determine trends in breastfeeding over the past decades regarding public health recommendations, and to examine mothers’ perceptions about factors known to have an impact on breastfeeding support and cessation. Methods From the NutriNet-Santé cohort, 29,953 parous women (launched in 2009 to study relation between nutrition and health), were included in the present study. Using web-questionnaires, they were asked retrospectively if they had breastfed their youngest child or not, and if so, the duration of exclusive and total breastfeeding. For those who had breastfed, we investigated their perceptions about support at initiation and during the entire breastfeeding period and reasons for breastfeeding cessation. We also asked those who did not breastfeed about their perceptions and reasons for infant formula feeding their youngest child. Analyses were weighted according to the French census data. Results In the NutriNet-Santé cohort, 67.3% of mothers breastfed their youngest child. The proportion of breastfed children increased over the past few decades, from 55.0% (95% CI 54.3, 55.6) in the 1970s to 82.9% (82.4, 83.4) in the 2010s. Total and exclusive breastfeeding duration went from 3.3 months and 2.4 months respectively in the 1970s to 5.9 months and 3.2 months respectively in the 2010s. Most mothers felt supported at initiation and during the breastfeeding period. A reported desire to have breastfed longer than two months was 59.5%. Mothers who did not breastfeed did it by choice (64.3%). They did not feel guilty (78.2%) and did not perceive a problem not to breastfeed (58.8%), but almost half of them would have liked to have breastfed (45.9%). Conclusion Breastfeeding duration has increased in the past decades but did not reach the public health recommendations threshold. Targets other than mothers have to be considered for breastfeeding education, like the partner and her environment, to increase breastfeeding practices. Trial registration The study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03335644).

scholarly journals Cox regression survival analysis with compositional covariates: Application to modelling mortality risk from 24-h physical activity patterns

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 1447-1465 ◽  
Author(s):  
DE McGregor ◽  
J Palarea-Albaladejo ◽  
PM Dall ◽  
K Hron ◽  
SFM Chastin
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Physical Activity ◽  
Survival Analysis ◽  
Regression Model ◽  
Cox Regression ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Sitting Time ◽  
Cox Regression Model ◽  
Log Ratio ◽  
Activity Behaviour

Survival analysis is commonly conducted in medical and public health research to assess the association of an exposure or intervention with a hard end outcome such as mortality. The Cox (proportional hazards) regression model is probably the most popular statistical tool used in this context. However, when the exposure includes compositional covariables (that is, variables representing a relative makeup such as a nutritional or physical activity behaviour composition), some basic assumptions of the Cox regression model and associated significance tests are violated. Compositional variables involve an intrinsic interplay between one another which precludes results and conclusions based on considering them in isolation as is ordinarily done. In this work, we introduce a formulation of the Cox regression model in terms of log-ratio coordinates which suitably deals with the constraints of compositional covariates, facilitates the use of common statistical inference methods, and allows for scientifically meaningful interpretations. We illustrate its practical application to a public health problem: the estimation of the mortality hazard associated with the composition of daily activity behaviour (physical activity, sitting time and sleep) using data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

Life in Bridgetown, Barbados, According to the Westbury Cemetery Records 1877–1976

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Chami ◽  
Tara Inniss ◽  
Bernd Sing
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Survival Analysis ◽  
General Population ◽  
Living Conditions ◽  
The Public

AbstractWe perform a survival analysis on the records of the burials at the Westbury Cemetery, Barbados, between 1877 and 1976. The goal of the paper is to observe the stratified life expectancies of persons of particular time appropriate occupations. Comparing different occupations through time, amongst each other and to the general population, enables us to get some insights into the public health situations and living conditions of the persons working in the respective occupations.

Sri Lanka: Pandemic-Catalyzed Democratic Backsliding

2021 ◽  
pp. 349-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhavani Fonseka ◽  
Luwie Ganeshathasan ◽  
Asanga Welikala
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Crisis Response ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
The Public ◽  
Comparative Constitutional Law ◽  
Front Line Workers ◽  
Public Health Challenge ◽  
Government Statistics

This chapter investigates Sri Lanka’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Covid-19 has posed for Sri Lanka not only a public health challenge and an economic challenge but also, perhaps most seriously, a crisis of constitutional democracy. Although questions have been raised about the accuracy of government statistics, the scale of testing and contact tracing, and failures in providing protective equipment to front-line workers including military personnel, there is broad public approval of the government’s crisis response. However, much more alarming are the clear signs in the government’s response that the public health emergency has provided the impetus for an aggressive executive takeover of the state, steepening the curve of de-democratization. The chapter then describes the aspects of the governmental crisis response that are the cause of worry, and offers an analysis based on a framework drawn from comparative politics and comparative constitutional law as to the agentic, institutional, and causal dimensions of the democratic backslide underway in Sri Lanka. While the pandemic has undoubtedly boosted the process of executive aggrandizement that had already commenced, this catalysis may in fact also shorten the authoritarian cycle, because the accelerated de-democratization is likely to result in executive actions that cross the threshold of public tolerance sooner in what as yet remains a procedural democracy.

scholarly journals Workshop: Capacity building in public health in Northern Africa. A common effort to develop training programmes

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Capacity Building ◽  
Health Research ◽  
Policy Decision ◽  
Northern Africa ◽  
Integrate Approach ◽  
The Public ◽  
Lessons Learnt ◽  
Building Process ◽  
Health Field

Abstract Background In the years that have followed the overthrow of the former autocratic regime and the democratization of the country, the CONFIDE partner country, Tunisia, has experienced positive political and economic changes. These changes have driven important reforms in the field of public health, yet this country is facing important challenges in building a modern health system and finding an integrate approach to the main national public health problems. In terms of health research system, in Tunisia there is little coordination between stakeholders and the institutions in charge of public health. Moreover, there is no specific mechanism for informing the Ministry of Health about the progress of research in Tunisia and overall there is no structure responsible for the dissemination of research results to the public. To this end, the European and Tunisian members of this consortium have designed together the present capacity building project which aims to inform public health policies in Tunisia based on evidence and contribute to the development of public health research. The CONFIDE project is contributing to the development of the public health field in Tunisia and provides knowhow and tools to the Tunisian public health professions to better collaborate with the local stakeholders. Aim of the workshop The aim of this workshop is to share the experience of the capacity building process in the public health field in Northern Africa. The workshop will discuss and analyse the structure of opportunities for change and reform and the local needs of the public health domain in Tunisia and will identify the main challenges. We will present the processes used and challenges faced, but also the ways to overcome these challenges. This workshop will contribute to the European Public Health field by increasing the visibility at European level of the efforts directed to capacity building interventions and at transferring knowhow outside Europe, specifically Northern Africa. Program The introduction to the workshop will be made by Prof. Razvan Chereches MD, PhD, Professor of Public Health and coordinator of the CONFIDE project. He will describe the methodology used for the capacity building in public health trainings programme in Tunisia. The development of the Centre for Evidence Based Public Health in Tunisia and their impact on the Tunisian local and regional levels will be presented by Prof. Fatma Cheikhrouhou. The link between the knowledge transferred to the young professionals and the policy decision makers will be described by the Tunisian coordinator of the dissemination activities, Prof. Kalthoum Kallel. MScPH Maria Palianopoulou will follow with presenting the evaluation results of the capacity building process and lessons learnt. Last but not least, the sustainability of the trainings and the local effort to integrate the knowledge into the Medical University curricula will be presented by Assistant Prof. Mohamed ben Rejeb. Key messages Discussing lessons learnt can contribute to better tools for the development of public health. Partners` perspective and culturally adapted tools are important for high quality learning process.

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