scholarly journals COVID-19 vaccination perceptions and intentions of maternity care consumers and providers in Australia

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. e0260049
Author(s):  
Zoe Bradfield ◽  
Karen Wynter ◽  
Yvonne Hauck ◽  
Linda Sweet ◽  
Alyce N. Wilson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Maternity Care ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Public Health Strategy ◽  
National Guidelines ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Online Study ◽  
Health Strategy ◽  
Childbearing Women

Introduction Vaccination against COVID-19 is a key global public health strategy. Health professionals including midwives and doctors support and influence vaccination uptake by childbearing women. There is currently no evidence regarding the COVID-19 vaccination perceptions and intentions of those who receive or provide maternity care in Australia. The aim of this study was to address this gap in knowledge and explore the perceptions and intentions regarding COVID-19 vaccination from consumers and providers of maternity care in Australia. Methods A national cross-sectional online study conducted in early 2021 in Australia, a country that has had a very low number of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Recruitment was undertaken through parenting and health professional social media sites and professional college distribution lists. A total of 853 completed responses, from women (n = 326), maternity care providers including doctors (n = 58), midwives (n = 391) and midwifery students (n = 78). Findings Personal intention to be vaccinated ranged from 48–89% with doctors most likely and women least likely. Doctors and midwifery students were significantly more likely to recommend the vaccine to pregnant women in their care than midwives (p<0.001). Fewer doctors (2%) felt that women should wait until breastfeeding had concluded before being vaccinated compared with 24% of midwives and 21% of midwifery students (p<0.001). More than half of the midwives (53%) had concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine for the women in their care compared with 35% of doctors and 46% of midwifery students. Despite national guidelines recommending vaccination of breastfeeding women, 54% of practitioners were unlikely to recommend vaccination for this group. Conclusion This is the first study to explore the perceptions and intentions regarding COVID-19 vaccination from the perspective of those who receive and provide maternity care in Australia. Findings have utility to support targeted public health messaging for these and other cohorts.

scholarly journals Bilingualism: A Global Public Health Strategy for Healthy Cognitive Aging

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sahan Benedict Mendis ◽  
Vanessa Raymont ◽  
Naji Tabet
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Cognitive Aging ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Cognitive Outcomes ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Public Health Strategy ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Disease Modifying Drugs ◽  
Health Strategy ◽  
Disease Modifying

Dementia is a global public health priority which cost global societies $818 billion in 2015 and is disproportionately impacting low and middle-income countries (LMICs). With limited availability of disease modifying drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease (AD), researchers have increasingly focused on preventative strategies which may promote healthy cognitive aging and mitigate the risk of cognitive impairment in aging. Lifelong bilingualism has been presented as both a highly debated and promising cognitive reserve factor which has been associated with better cognitive outcomes in aging. A recent metanalysis has suggested that bilingual individuals present on average 4.05 years later with the clinical features of AD than monolinguals. Bilinguals are also diagnosed with AD ~2.0 years later than monolingual counterparts. In this perspective piece we critically evaluate the findings of this metanalysis and consider the specific implications of these findings to LMICs. Furthermore, we appraise the major epidemiological studies conducted globally on bilingualism and the onset of dementia. We consider how both impactful and robust studies of bilingualism and cognition in older age may be conducted in LMICs. Given the limited expenditure and resources available in LMICs and minimal successes of clinical trials of disease modifying drugs we propose that bilingualism should be positioned as an important and specific public health strategy for maintaining healthy cognitive aging in LMICs. Finally, we reflect upon the scope of implementing bilingualism within the education systems of LMICs and the promotion of bilingualism as a healthy cognitive aging initiative within government policy.

Food as medicine: Making ‘better bananas’ in Uganda

2021 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 560-579
Author(s):  
Sandra Calkins
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Recent Trend ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Food Crops ◽  
Micronutrient Deficiencies ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Middle Ground ◽  
Public Health Strategy ◽  
Health Strategy

Cooking bananas ( matooke) are a main staple in central Uganda and are very important to well-being and health. Recently, matooke have also been associated with micronutrient deficiencies among children and women. For a number of years, this fruit has been at the heart of a public health strategy that seeks to create ‘better bananas’, that is, biofortified or nutritionally enriched bananas. The efforts to biofortify food crops are part of a recent trend in the nutrition world towards improving the quality and not only the quantity of food. This article unpacks recent configurations of philanthropy, plant science and global public health and the ways in which they make conventional food crops thinkable, for instance, as cost-effective medicines. This emergent and economized form of valuing bananas is in tension with how Ugandans appreciate bananas in everyday life. I show that emerging valuations of food matter but still should not be mistaken for changes on the ground. This article thereby searches for a middle ground between critiques of global public health and everyday practice in Uganda as well as between praxeological and structuralist/culturalist approaches to food. Instead of dismissing this banana as part of a mere paternalistic project, I show that it also is ‘good’ conceptually in that it makes bananas and health thinkable in new ways.

Maternal Health and Care in India: Why a Major Public Health Strategy Is Essential

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-97
Author(s):  
Andy Beckingham
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Maternal Health ◽  
Health Inequalities ◽  
Maternity Care ◽  
Medical Model ◽  
Social Model ◽  
Health Improvement ◽  
Public Health Strategy ◽  
Apparent Lack ◽  
Health Strategy

India has large inequalities in maternal health and high maternal mortality and morbidity rates. A social model of maternal health was used as a framework for a broad review of online published literature to appraise the approaches used by India to address these issues and to examine the potential for reducing the country’s maternal health inequalities.The review found the following:• An apparent lack of coordinated economic, social, and health strategy and policies focused on improving maternal health• No acknowledgment in national health policy of the limitations of the medical model of maternal health and little apparent mention of the social model• No evident national frameworks for quality assurance in maternity care• Lack of recognition of the importance of woman-centered care• No evident comprehensive maternal health needs assessment to underpin coordinated multisector working• An apparent lack of reliable national data collection for setting inequality targets and monitoring progress• No apparent performance-focused management system for improving maternity care nationally.Although India has made large increases in maternal health care provision over recent decades, a pragmatic review of government policies, the reports of international agencies, and the findings of published research studies indicate that major barriers exist to reducing maternal health inequalities and to achieving good quality care for disadvantaged women. The main barrier appears to be the widespread use at all levels, including government, of the medical model of maternal health, which focuses mostly on obstetric interventions and fails to address the wider economic and social determinants of maternal health or to use a woman-centered approach to maternity care.We recommend that Indian governments adopt instead a “social model” approach to maternal health improvement and urgently employ a public health strategy led by a national multisector task force to reduce inequalities in maternal health.

scholarly journals A Global Public Health Strategy for Autism Spectrum Disorders

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 211-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Wallace ◽  
Deborah Fein ◽  
Michael Rosanoff ◽  
Geraldine Dawson ◽  
Saima Hossain ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Autism Spectrum Disorders ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Public Health Strategy ◽  
Health Strategy ◽  
Spectrum Disorders

scholarly journals Adoption of local public health plan for better health and quality of life in Belgrade

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
G Tamburkovski ◽  
G Belamarić ◽  
D Matijević ◽  
S Mladenović Janković
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Local Government ◽  
Health Plan ◽  
Health Planning ◽  
City Council ◽  
Public Health Strategy ◽  
Public Health Planning ◽  
Health Strategy ◽  
Public Health Plan ◽  
The City

Abstract Issue Development of public health plan for the City of Belgrade, facilitate multisectoral participation and encourage local government to incorporate public health planning into integrated planning framework, including funding. Description of the Problem According to Public Health Low, adopted in Serbia in 2016 and Public health strategy (2018), Council for Health, as a professional body of the City government, was obliged to prepare draft of the Plan. Members of the City Council are representatives from different sectors: health care, public health, private sector, child care, education and civil society. Based on data and information from relevant institutions and organizations, situation analysis and health profile of the City have been prepared during 2018. Results Public health plan for the City of Belgrade has been drafted for a time period from 2020 to 2026, aligned and within time frame of the National public health strategy. Plan included: mission, vision, objectives, activities, responsible institutions, funding sources and indicators for monitoring. Focus was on health promotion and empowerment of citizens to adopt healthy lifestyle as well on investment in environmental sustainability, poverty and inequalities reduction and minimizing risks to human health and well-being. On December 2019, Belgrade City Assembly adopted this document, with full responsibility for implementation and budgeting specific programs and projects from 2020. Lessons Multisectoral working group, with clear defined scope of work, supported by regulations, encouraged and managed by experts in the field, highly motivated to be creator of changes is prerequisite for successful and productive public health planning process. Key messages Public health planning enabled communication and cooperation among experts and decision makers and represented a whole-of-local government approach to public health. Document is used as a resource and model for the other cities and municipalities.

scholarly journals Prevalence and Associated Factors of Anemia among Muslim Students, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand: A Cross-Sectional Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 004695802110134
Author(s):  
Chutima Rattanawan ◽  
Suraiya Cheloh ◽  
Asma Maimahad ◽  
Malatee Tayeh
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Associated Factors ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Economic Factor ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
School Age ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Related Factors ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Prevalence Of Anemia

Anemia is a global public health problem. The prevalence of anemia among different ages, genders or ethnic groups must be clarified in order to solve problems. This study proposed to determine the prevalence and factors related to anemia among the Muslim school-age population in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand. Socio-demographic and anthropometric data were collected by a structured questionnaire. Blood samples were collected from 200 school-age subjects. The thalassemia screening was performed with KKU-OF and KKU-DCIP reagents. The prevalence of anemia in this study was 36.5%, divided into males and females, 33.3% and 39.1%, respectively. The means of Hb, Hct, MCV, MCH, and MCHC in the anemic group were significantly lower. The positive results for KKU-OF or KKU-DCIP or both were 15.0%, 2.5%, and 1.0%, respectively. The result of positive OF test was a significantly independent factor for anemia. The number of family members was 5 to 7 and more than 7 persons are related factors for anemia in this study. In summary, the contribution of thalassemia and socio-economic factor are associated factors to anemia in this population. These findings should be addressed in public health strategies for the control of anemia of school-aged Muslims in the region.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document