scholarly journals Public health approaches and policy changes after the inclusion of gaming disorder in ICD-11: global needs

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Jiang Long ◽  
Roshan Bhad ◽  
Marc N. Potenza ◽  
Laura Orsolini ◽  
Vicky Phan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
World Health ◽  
Gaming Disorder ◽  
Policy Changes ◽  
Cultural Training ◽  
Training Tool ◽  
Cross Cultural Training ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Personal Functioning

The World Health Organization (WHO) has added gaming disorder to ICD-11 as a clinical condition associated with distress or interference with personal functioning. This inclusion leads to clinical and public health benefits, such as harmonising terminology, offering clinical landmarks and improving monitoring capabilities and data comparability. Training health professionals to identify and manage gaming disorder is a key challenge for countries. In the present paper we compiled opinions from different countries around the globe on their state of preparedness and needs to tackle this issue. The global views on the topic feed arguments for developing an evidence-based and cross-cultural training tool for gaming disorder management by health professionals.

scholarly journals Scholars' Open Letter to the World Health Organization on Gaming Disorder Proposal

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew K Przybylski ◽  
Antonius J. van Rooij ◽  
Michelle Colder Carras ◽  
Daniel Kardefelt-Winther
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Resources ◽  
World Health ◽  
Medical Community ◽  
Video Gaming ◽  
Gaming Disorder ◽  
The World ◽  
Problematic Gaming ◽  
Video Gamers ◽  
Health Organization

Concerns about problematic gaming behaviors deserve our full attention. However, we claim that it is far from clear that these problems can or should be attributed to a new disorder. The empirical basis for a Gaming Disorder proposal, such as in the new ICD-11, suffers from fundamental issues. Our main concerns are the low quality of the research base, the fact that the current operationalization leans too heavily on substance use and gambling criteria, and the lack of consensus on symptomatology and assessment of problematic gaming. The act of formalizing this disorder, even as a proposal, has negative medical, scientific, public-health, societal and human rights fallout that should be considered. Of particular concern are moral panics around the harm of video gaming. They might result in premature application of diagnosis in the medical community and the treatment of abundant false-positive cases, especially for children and adolescents. Secondly, research will be locked into a confirmatory approach, rather than an exploration of the boundaries of normal versus pathological. Thirdly, the healthy majority of gamers will be affected negatively. We expect that the premature inclusion of Gaming Disorder as a diagnosis in ICD-11 will cause significant stigma to the millions of children who play video games as part of a normal, healthy life. At this point, suggesting formal diagnoses and categories is premature: the ICD-11 proposal for Gaming Disorder should be removed to avoid a waste of public health resources as well as to avoid causing harm to healthy video gamers around the world.

A flexible, multi-faceted profession: Supporting frontline practitioners in the fight against COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 204-206
Author(s):  
Sharin Baldwin ◽  
Patricia Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Public Health Emergency ◽  
World Health ◽  
Wuhan City ◽  
Health Visitors ◽  
The World ◽  
Novel Coronavirus ◽  
Health Organization

Novel coronavirus was first identified in Wuhan City, China and was reported to the World Health Organization (WHO) in China on 31 December, 2019. On 30 January, WHO declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a ‘public health emergency of international concern’. Since then, the virus has spread rapidly across the world, with the WHO declaring it a pandemic on 11 March 2020. This article describes a case study where two health visitors were able to adapt and use their wide-ranging skills to support frontline health professionals in acute settings to meet the demands placed on them during these unprecedented times.

Recomendações de equipamentos de proteção individual no combate ao COVID-19

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (31) ◽  
pp. 87-95
Author(s):  
Nicole Maria Miyamoto Bettini ◽  
Fabiana Tomé Ramos ◽  
Priscila Masquetto Vieira de Almeida
Keyword(s):  
World Health Organization ◽  
Personal Protective Equipment ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Health Personnel ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
World Health ◽  
Protective Equipment ◽  
Effective Strategy ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

A Organização Mundial da Saúde - OMS confirmou a circulação internacional do novo Coronavírus em janeiro de 2020, nomeando-o como COVID-19 e, declarando uma pandemia. É de extrema importância que durante a pandemia, os profissionais de saúde tenham acesso e conhecimento sobre o uso correto dos Equipamentos de Proteção Individual (EPIs) e suas indicações, tomando assim, as devidas precauções na prevenção de infecções. O presente estudo buscou identificar a padronização mundial quanto ao uso dos EPIs utilizados no atendimento a pacientes suspeitos e/ou confirmados de COVID-19 no Brasil, EUA, China, Espanha, Itália e demais países europeus. Os guidelines apresentam a padronização quanto ao uso dos EPIs utilizados no atendimento a suspeitos e/ou confirmados de COVID-19, indo ao encontro das recomendações fornecidas pela OMS. Até o momento, o uso de EPIs é sem dúvida a estratégia mais importante e eficaz para proteger os profissionais de saúde durante a assistência ao paciente com COVID-19.Descritores: Infecções por Coronavírus, Equipamento de Proteção Individual, Pessoal de Saúde, Enfermagem. Recommendations for personal protective equipment to combat COVID-19Abstract: The World Health Organization - WHO confirmed the international circulation of the new Coronavirus in January 2020, naming it as COVID-19 and declaring a pandemic. It is extremely important that during the pandemic, health professionals have access and knowledge about the correct use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and its indications, thus taking appropriate precautions to prevent infections. The present study sought to identify the worldwide standardization regarding the use of PPE utilized to take care of suspected and confirmed patients with COVID-19 in Brazil, USA, China, Spain, Italy and other European countries. The guidelines present a standardization regarding the use of PPE utilized to take care of suspected and confirmed with COVID-19, in line with the recommendations provided by WHO. To date, the use of PPE is undoubtedly the most important and effective strategy to protect healthcare professionals during care for patients with COVID-19.Descriptors: Coronavirus Infections, Personal Protective Equipment, Health Personnel, Nursing. Recomendaciones para el equipo de protección personal para combatir COVID-19Resumen: La Organización Mundial de la Salud - La OMS confirmó la circulación internacional del nuevo Coronavirus en enero de 2020, nombrándolo COVID-19 y declarando una pandemia. Es extremadamente importante que durante la pandemia, los profesionales de la salud tengan acceso y conocimiento sobre el uso correcto del Equipo de Protección Personal (EPP) y sus indicaciones, tomando así las precauciones adecuadas para prevenir infecciones. El presente estudio buscó identificar la estandarización mundial con respecto al uso de EPP utilizado para atender a pacientes sospechosos y/o confirmados con COVID-19 en Brasil, Estados Unidos, China, España, Italia y otros países europeos. Las pautas presentan la estandarización con respecto al uso de EPP utilizado para cuidar COVID-19 sospechoso y/o confirmado, de acuerdo con las recomendaciones proporcionadas por la OMS. Hasta la fecha, el uso de EPP es, sin duda, la estrategia más importante y efectiva para proteger a los profesionales de la salud durante la atención de pacientes con COVID-19.Descriptores: Infecciones por Coronavirus, Equipo de Protección Personal, Personal de Salud, Enfermería.

Should Public Health and Policy Communities Interact With the Food Industry? It Depends on Context Comment on "Towards Preventing and Managing Conflict of Interest in Nutrition Policy? An Analysis of Submissions to a Consultation on a Draft WHO Tool"

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Cullerton ◽  
Jean Adams ◽  
Martin White
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Conflict Of Interest ◽  
Policy Process ◽  
Food Industry ◽  
Nutrition Policy ◽  
World Health ◽  
Business Goals ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Intractable Problem ◽  
Policy Communities

The issue of public health and policy communities engaging with food sector companies has long caused tension and debate. Ralston and colleagues’ article ‘Towards Preventing and Managing Conflict of Interest in Nutrition Policy? An Analysis of Submissions to a Consultation on a Draft WHO Tool’ further examines this issue. They found widespread food industry opposition, not just to the details of the World Health Organization (WHO) tool, but to the very idea of it. In this commentary we reflect on this finding and the arguments for and against interacting with the food industry during different stages of the policy process. While involving the food industry in certain aspects of the policy process without favouring their business goals may seem like an intractable problem, we believe there are opportunities for progress that do not compromise our values as public health professionals. We suggest three key steps to making progress.

COVID-19: A comparative study of SARS, MERS and COVID-19

Coronaviruses ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chandra Mohan ◽  
Vinod Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Central China ◽  
World Health ◽  
Unknown Aetiology ◽  
Economic Sectors ◽  
Past Life ◽  
Current Article ◽  
Disease Spreading ◽  
Health Organization

: World Health Organization (WHO) office in China received the information of pneumonia cases of unknown aetiology from Wuhan, central China on 31st December 2019, subsequently this disease spreading in china and rest of world. Till the March 2020 end, more than 2 lakhs confirmed cases with more than 70000 deaths were reported worldwide, very soon researchers identified it as novel beta Corona virus (virus SARS-CoV-2) and its infection coined as COVID-19. Health ministries of various countries and WHO together fighting to this health emergency, which not only affects public health, but also started affecting various economic sectors as well. The main aim of the current article is to explore the various pandemic situations (SARS, MERS) in past, life cycle of COVID-19, diagnosis procedures, prevention and comparative analysis of COVID-19 with other epidemic situations.

scholarly journals Evaluation of the first pharmacy-led weight management programme in Greece

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. i45-i46
Author(s):  
A Peletidi ◽  
R Kayyali
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Annual Report ◽  
World Health ◽  
Public Health Services ◽  
Cvd Risk ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

Abstract Introduction Obesity is one of the main cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors.(1) In primary care, pharmacists are in a unique position to offer weight management (WM) interventions. Greece is the European country with the highest number of pharmacies (84.06 pharmacies per 100,000 citizens).(2) The UK was chosen as a reference country, because of the structured public health services offered, the local knowledge and because it was considered to be the closest country to Greece geographically, unlike Australia and Canada, where there is also evidence confirming the potential role of pharmacists in WM. Aim To design and evaluate a 10-week WM programme offered by trained pharmacists in Patras. Methods This WM programme was a step ahead of other interventions worldwide as apart from the usual measuring parameters (weight, body mass index, waist circumference, blood pressure (BP)) it also offered an AUDIT-C and Mediterranean diet score tests. Results In total,117 individuals participated. Of those, 97.4% (n=114), achieved the programme’s aim, losing at least 5% of their initial weight. The mean % of total weight loss (10th week) was 8.97% (SD2.65), and the t-test showed statistically significant results (P<0.001; 95% CI [8.48, 9.45]). The programme also helped participants to reduce their waist-to-height ratio, an early indicator of the CVD risk in both male (P=0.004) and female (P<0.001) participants. Additionally, it improved participants’ BP, AUDIT-C score and physical activity levels significantly (P<0.001). Conclusion The research is the first systematic effort in Greece to initiate and explore the potential role of pharmacists in public health. The successful results of this WM programme constitute a first step towards the structured incorporation of pharmacists in public’s health promotion. It proposed a model for effectively delivering public health services in Greece. This study adds to the evidence in relation to pharmacists’ CVD role in public health with outcomes that superseded other pharmacy-led WM programmes. It also provides the first evidence that Greek pharmacists have the potential to play an important role within primary healthcare and that after training they are able to provide public health services for both the public’s benefit and their clinical role enhancement. This primary evidence should support the Panhellenic Pharmaceutical Association, to “fight” for their rights for an active role in primary care. In terms of limitations, it must be noted that the participants’ collected data were recorded by pharmacists, and the analysis therefore depended on the accuracy of the recorded data, in particular on the measurements or calculations obtained. Although the sample size was achieved, it can be argued that it is small for the generalisation of findings across Greece. Therefore, the WM programme should be offered in other Greek cities to identify if similar results can be replicated, so as to consolidate the contribution of pharmacists in promoting public health. Additionally, the study was limited as it did not include a control group. Despite the limitations, our findings provide a model for a pharmacy-led public health programme revolving around WM that can be used as a model for services in the future. References 1. Mendis S, Puska P, Norrving B, World Health Organization., World Heart Federation., World Stroke Organization. Global atlas on cardiovascular disease prevention and control [Internet]. Geneva: World Health Organization in collaboration with the World Heart Federation and the World Stroke Organization; 2011 [cited 2018 Jun 26]. 155 p. Available from: http://www.who.int/cardiovascular_diseases/publications/atlas_cvd/en/ 2. Pharmaceutical Group of the European Union. Pharmacy with you throughout life:PGEU Annual Report [Internet]. 2015. Available from: https://www.pgeu.eu/en/library/530:annual-report-2015.html

A Framework Convention on Alcohol Control: Getting Concrete about Its Contents

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Robin ROOM ◽  
Jenny CISNEROS ÖRNBERG
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Alcohol Industry ◽  
Alcohol Control ◽  
The World ◽  
Draft Convention ◽  
History Of ◽  
Supplementary Material ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Narcotic Drugs

This article proposes and discusses the text of a Framework Convention on Alcohol Control, which would serve public health and welfare interests. The history of alcohol’s omission from current drug treaties is briefly discussed. The paper spells out what should be covered in the treaty, using text adapted primarily from the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, but for the control of trade from the 1961 narcotic drugs treaty. While the draft provides for the treaty to be negotiated under the auspices of the World Health Organization, other auspices are possible. Excluding alcohol industry interests from the negotiation of the treaty is noted as an important precondition. The articles in the draft treaty and their purposes are briefly described, and the divergences from the tobacco treaty are described and justified. The text of the draft treaty is provided as Supplementary Material. Specification of concrete provisions in a draft convention points the way towards more effective global actions and agreements on alcohol control, whatever form they take.

scholarly journals Public Health Considerations for PM10 in a High-Pollution Megacity: Influences of Atmospheric Condition and Land Coverage

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 118
Author(s):  
Carlos Zafra ◽  
Joaquín Suárez ◽  
Jorge E. Pachón
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mixing Layer ◽  
Atmospheric Condition ◽  
World Health ◽  
Measuring Devices ◽  
Reference Limits ◽  
High Pollution ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Daily Pm10 ◽  
Research Period

This paper analyzes the PM10 concentrations and influences of atmospheric condition (AC) and land coverage (LC) on a high-pollution megacity (Bogota, Colombia) from a public health viewpoint. Information of monitoring stations equipped with measuring devices for PM10/temperature/solar-radiation/wind-speed were used. The research period lasted eight years (2007–2014). AC and LC were determined after comparing daily PM10 concentrations (DPM10) to reference limits published by the World Health Organization (WHO). ARIMA models for DPM10 were also developed. The results indicated that urban sectors with lower atmospheric instability (AI) had a 2.85% increase in daily mortality (DM) in relation to sectors with greater AI. In these sectors of lower AI, impervious LC predominated, instead of vegetated LC. An ARIMA analysis revealed that a greater extent of impervious LC around a station led to a greater effect on previous days’ DPM10 concentrations. Extreme PM10 episodes persisted for up to two days. Extreme pollution episodes were probably also preceded by low mixing-layer heights (between 722–1085 m). The findings showed a 13.0% increase in WHO standard excesses (PE) for each 10 µg/m3 increase in DPM10, and a 0.313% increase in DM for each 10% increase in PE. The observed average reduction of 14.8% in DPM10 (−0.79% in DM) was probably due to 40% restriction of the traffic at peak hours.

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)

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