scholarly journals Testing early warning and response systems through a full-scale exercise in Vietnam

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexey Clara ◽  
Anh T. P. Dao ◽  
Quy Tran ◽  
Phu D. Tran ◽  
Tan Q. Dang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Early Warning ◽  
International Health ◽  
Full Scale ◽  
Viral Pneumonia ◽  
World Health ◽  
After Action Review ◽  
Risk Event ◽  
Process Documentation ◽  
Health Organization

Abstract Background Simulation exercises can functionally validate World Health Organization (WHO) International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) core capacities. In 2018, the Vietnam Ministry of Health (MOH) conducted a full-scale exercise (FSX) in response to cases of severe viral pneumonia with subsequent laboratory confirmation for Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) to evaluate the country’s early warning and response capabilities for high-risk events. Methods An exercise planning team designed a complex fictitious scenario beginning with one case of severe viral pneumonia presenting at the hospital level and developed all the materials required for the exercise. Actors, controllers and evaluators were trained. In August 2018, a 3-day exercise was conducted in Quang Ninh province and Hanoi city, with participation of public health partners at the community, district, province, regional and national levels. Immediate debriefings and an after-action review were conducted after all exercise activities. Participants assessed overall exercise design, conduction and usefulness. Results FSX findings demonstrated that the event-based surveillance component of the MOH surveillance system worked optimally at different administrative levels. Detection and reporting of signals at the community and health facility levels were appropriate. Triage, verification and risk assessment were successfully implemented to identify a high-risk event and trigger timely response. The FSX identified infection control, coordination with internal and external response partners and process documentation as response challenges. Participants positively evaluated the exercise training and design. Conclusions This exercise documents the value of exercising surveillance capabilities as part of a real-time operational scenario before facing a true emergency. The timing of this exercise and choice of disease scenario was particularly fortuitous given the subsequent appearance of COVID-19. As a result of this exercise and subsequent improvements made by the MOH, the country may have been better able to deal with the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and contain it.

A(H1N1)v cases of the 2009/2010 and 2010/2011 influenza seasons in the Medical and Health Sciences Centre of Debrecen University

2012 ◽  
Vol 153 (17) ◽  
pp. 649-654
Author(s):  
Piroska Orosi ◽  
Judit Szidor ◽  
Tünde Tóthné Tóth ◽  
József Kónya
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Influenza Season ◽  
National Level ◽  
Organ Transplant ◽  
High Risk Patient ◽  
Risk Groups ◽  
Health Sciences ◽  
World Health ◽  
Transplant Patients ◽  
Health Organization

The swine-origin new influenza variant A(H1N1) emerged in 2009 and changed the epidemiology of the 2009/2010 influenza season globally and at national level. Aims: The aim of the authors was to analyse the cases of two influenza seasons. Methods: The Medical and Health Sciences Centre of Debrecen University has 1690 beds with 85 000 patients admitted per year. The diagnosis of influenza was conducted using real-time polymerase chain reaction in the microbiological laboratories of the University and the National Epidemiological Centre, according to the recommendation of the World Health Organization. Results: The incidence of influenza was not higher than that observed in the previous season, but two high-risk patient groups were identified: pregnant women and patients with immunodeficiency (oncohematological and organ transplant patients). The influenza vaccine, which is free for high-risk groups and health care workers in Hungary, appeared to be effective for prevention, because in the 2010/2011 influenza season none of the 58 patients who were administered the vaccination developed influenza. Conclusion: It is an important task to protect oncohematological and organ transplant patients. Orv. Hetil., 2012, 153, 649–654.

Organization of restrictive quarantine measures to prevent especially dangerous infections

2020 ◽  
pp. 6-11
Author(s):  
Petr Ilyin
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Clinical Symptoms ◽  
International Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Entire History ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Former Ussr ◽  
Health Regulations

Especially dangerous infections (EDIs) belong to the conditionally labelled group of infectious diseases that pose an exceptional epidemic threat. They are highly contagious, rapidly spreading and capable of affecting wide sections of the population in the shortest possible time, they are characterized by the severity of clinical symptoms and high mortality rates. At the present stage, the term "especially dangerous infections" is used only in the territory of the countries of the former USSR, all over the world this concept is defined as "infectious diseases that pose an extreme threat to public health on an international scale." Over the entire history of human development, more people have died as a result of epidemics and pandemics than in all wars combined. The list of especially dangerous infections and measures to prevent their spread were fixed in the International Health Regulations (IHR), adopted at the 22nd session of the WHO's World Health Assembly on July 26, 1969. In 1970, at the 23rd session of the WHO's Assembly, typhus and relapsing fever were excluded from the list of quarantine infections. As amended in 1981, the list included only three diseases represented by plague, cholera and anthrax. However, now annual additions of new infections endemic to different parts of the earth to this list take place. To date, the World Health Organization (WHO) has already included more than 100 diseases in the list of especially dangerous infections.

scholarly journals How Loud and Clear Rung the Alarm Bell: The Communication Efforts of WHO on the Beginning of COVID-19 Outbreak

2021 ◽  
pp. 002073142110249
Author(s):  
Huriye Toker
Keyword(s):  
Risk Communication ◽  
International Development ◽  
International Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
World Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
News Releases ◽  
The Media ◽  
Credible Information ◽  
Health Organization

As seen clearly from the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, health is an important foreign policy and diplomatic issue connected with security, economic well-being, and international development. According to risk communication researchers, effective, transparent, and timely information sharing is the most important tool after vaccines for responding to pandemics. This study aims to start a scholarly discussion on the risk communication efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO) during the COVID-19 outbreak. We analyzed WHO’s communication efforts during the first 3 months of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the leading international health organization, WHO was responsible for providing rapid, up-to-date, and credible information for the public and the media. The selected research items were 42 news releases and statements provided by WHO between December 31, 2019, and March 30, 2020. These were subjected to qualitative and quantitative content analyses using the NVivo 12 qualitative analysis software program for coding. The data were coded under 6 variables (date of publication, topics, frequency, wording of the COVID-19 outbreak, sourcing, and themes of the releases). While 54.7% of WHO's communications were devoted to the COVID-19 outbreak, more than half were not issued until March. That is, instead of early risk communication and clear warnings about the outbreak, WHO acted overcautiously, preferring messages related to solidarity and cooperation during the most devastating pandemic of the 21st century.

Triage Management, Survival, and the Law in the Age of Ebola

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick M Burkle ◽  
Christopher M Burkle
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
International Health ◽  
Epidemiological Data ◽  
Population Based ◽  
World Health ◽  
Economic Stability ◽  
Budget Cuts ◽  
The Public ◽  
Level 3 ◽  
Health Organization

AbstractLiberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea lack the public health infrastructure, economic stability, and overall governance to stem the spread of Ebola. Even with robust outside assistance, the epidemiological data have not improved. Vital resource management is haphazard and left to the discretion of individual Ebola treatment units. Only recently has the International Health Regulations (IHR) and World Health Organization (WHO) declared Ebola a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, making this crisis their fifth ongoing level 3 emergency. In particular, the WHO has been severely compromised by post-2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) staffing, budget cuts, a weakened IHR treaty, and no unambiguous legal mandate. Population-based triage management under a central authority is indicated to control the transmission and ensure fair and decisive resource allocation across all triage categories. The shared responsibilities critical to global health solutions must be realized and the rightful attention, sustained resources, and properly placed legal authority be assured within the WHO, the IHR, and the vulnerable nations. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2014;0:1-6)

Public Health Control Measures in Response to Global Pandemics and Drug Resistance

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (S2) ◽  
pp. 49-56
Author(s):  
Polly J. Price
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
International Health ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
World Health ◽  
Legal Authority ◽  
List Type ◽  
Resistant Disease ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Health Organization

These teaching materials explore the specific powers of governments to implement control measures in response to communicable disease, in two different contexts:The first context concerns global pandemic diseases. Relevant legal authority includes international law, World Health Organization governance and the International Health Regulations, and regulatory authority of nations.The second context is centered on U.S. law and concerns control measures for drug-resistant disease, using tuberculosis as an example. In both contexts, international and domestic, the point is to understand legal authority to address public health emergencies.

PUBLIC HEALTH, NURSING AND MEDICAL SOCIAL WORK

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1953 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 290-293
Keyword(s):  
World Health Organization ◽  
Health Program ◽  
International Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Expert Committee ◽  
Medical Social Work ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Nursing ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Sales Agents

STANDARDIZATION of terminology for drugs and scientific substances appears to be a highly desirable goal. Exchange of information through publication and individual communication would be far less subject to misinterpretation if nomenclature were precise and unchanged. Furthermore, increase in world travel makes it more necessary than ever that patients, physicians, and pharmacists be able severally to request and comply with requests for drugs without worry about differences in names. International health co-operation and regional health program would obviously benefit from simplification of terminology. The situation has recently been reviewed by P. Blanc, Secretary of the World Health Organization Expert Committee on the International Pharmacopoeia, before the International Pharmaceutical Federation. His paper has been summarized in the Chronicle of the World Health Organization, for November 1952, volume 6, page 322, from which the following extracts are taken: "At first sight it might seem that, for the numerous drugs which are chemical compounds, the chemical names could be used; but the latter are often so complicated that manufacturers and sales agents spontaneously adopt simpler and shorter names. Obviously `riboflavine' sounds better and is more easily remembered than 6:7-dimethyl-9-(D-1'-ribityl)izo-alloxazine. But, unfortunately, the same substance is known elsewhere by the name of `lactoflavine' or `vitamin B2'. Another example may be cited, namely that of the methadone hydrochloride of the Pharmacopoea Internationalis (6-dimethylamino-4,4-diphenyl-3-heptanone), which is known in different countries under the following names: amidone, miadone, diadone, diaminon, mephenon, symoron, etc.

scholarly journals Mitigation/Adaptation and Health: Health Policymaking in the Global Response to Climate Change and Implications for other Upstream Determinants

2010 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 629-639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsay F. Wiley
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
International Health ◽  
Environmental Research ◽  
World Health ◽  
Environmental Concerns ◽  
The Face ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
United Nations System ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Development Objectives

In coming decades, enhanced global health governance will be crucial to achieving international health and development objectives in the face of a number of challenges; this article focuses on one of them. Climate change, which is now widely recognized as the defining challenge of the 21st century, will make the work of ensuring the conditions in which people can be healthy more difficult in a myriad of ways. Scientists from both the health and climate communities have been highlighting the significant interaction between climate and health for decades and have made significant strides in integrating health and environmental research. Those of us in the law and policy community have been a bit slow to catch up, and have only just begun to call for better integration of our responses to health and environmental concerns. Environmental health specialists at the World Health Organization have recently pointed to a mandate for better integration of health and environmental concerns within the United Nations system. The Millennium Development Goals interweave health, environmental, and development concerns.

scholarly journals Disability in people clinically at high risk of psychosis

2010 ◽  
Vol 197 (4) ◽  
pp. 278-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Velthorst ◽  
Dorien H. Nieman ◽  
Don Linszen ◽  
Hiske Becker ◽  
Lieuwe de Haan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Cox Regression ◽  
World Health ◽  
Disability Assessment ◽  
Community Activities ◽  
Transition Group ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

BackgroundDecline in social functioning occurs in individuals who later develop psychosis.AimsTo investigate whether baseline differences in disability are present in those who do and those who do not make a transition to psychosis in a group clinically at high risk and whether disability is a risk factor for transition.MethodProspective multicentre, naturalistic field study with an 18-month follow-up period on 245 help-seeking individuals clinically at high risk. Disability was assessed with the Disability Assessment Schedule of the World Health Organization (WHODAS–II).ResultsAt baseline, the transition group displayed significantly greater difficulties in making new friends (z =−3.40, P = 0.001), maintaining a friendship (z =−3.00, P = 0.003), dealing with people they do not know (z =−2.28, P = 0.023) and joining community activities (z =−2.0, P = 0.05) compared with the non-transition group. In Cox regression, difficulties in getting along with people significantly contributed to the prediction of transition to psychosis in our sample (β = 0.569, s.e. = 0.184, Wald = 9.548, P = 0.002, hazard ratio (HR) = 1.767, 95% CI 1.238–2.550).ConclusionsCertain domains of social disability might contribute to the prediction of psychosis in a sample clinically at high risk.

scholarly journals Triglyceride glucose-body mass index in identifying high-risk groups of pre-diabetes

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunyuan Jiang ◽  
Ruijuan Yang ◽  
Maobin Kuang ◽  
Meng Yu ◽  
Mingchun Zhong ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass Index ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Diagnostic Criteria ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Cox Regression ◽  
Risk Groups ◽  
World Health ◽  
Obese People ◽  
Cox Regression Analysis ◽  
Health Organization

Abstract Background Triglyceride glucose-body mass index (TyG-BMI) has been recommended as an alternative indicator of insulin resistance. However, the association between TyG-BMI and pre-diabetes remains to be elucidated. Methods More than 100,000 subjects with normal glucose at baseline received follow-up. The main outcome event of concern was pre-diabetes defined according to the diagnostic criteria recommended by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in 2018 and the World Health Organization (WHO) in 1999. A Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to evaluate the role of TyG-BMI in identifying people at high risk of pre-diabetes. Results At a mean observation period of 3.1 years, the incidence of pre-diabetes in the cohort was 3.70 and 12.31% according to the WHO and ADA diagnostic criteria for pre-diabetes, respectively. The multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that TyG-BMI was independently positively correlated with pre-diabetes, and there was a special population dependence phenomenon. Among them, non-obese people, women and people under 50 years old had a significantly higher risk of TyG-BMI-related pre-diabetes (P-interaction< 0.05). Conclusions These findings suggest that a higher TyG-BMI significantly increases an individual’s risk of pre-diabetes, and this risk is significantly higher in women, non-obese individuals, and individuals younger than 50 years of age.

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