scholarly journals A review of the control of schistosomiasis in South Africa

2015 ◽  
Vol Volume 111 (Number 11/12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kundai Magaisa ◽  
Myra Taylor ◽  
Eyrun F. Kjetland ◽  
Panjasaram J. Naidoo ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Control Programme ◽  
World Health ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
School Age ◽  
World Health Assembly Resolution ◽  
The World ◽  
Female Genital

Abstract Schistosomiasis is the second most important tropical disease in the world in terms of public health impact. In South Africa, more than 4 million people are estimated to be infected with schistosomiasis. School-age children usually have the highest prevalence and intensity of infection. Schistosoma haematobium may result in female genital schistosomiasis which presents as inflammation and ulceration of the genital mucosa and pathological blood vessels. These effects may increase the susceptibility of women with female genital schistosomiasis to HIV. Praziquantel is the drug used to treat schistosomiasis and it is best to treat people during the early stages of infection, before female genital schistosomiasis presents as lesions and sandy patches, as there currently is no treatment for these symptoms. Schistosomiasis is not regarded as a serious public health issue in South Africa despite evidence revealing the seriousness of the disease. In areas endemic for schistosomiasis, the World Health Organization recommends regular mass treatment of all school-age children. In 2001, South Africa became a signatory to the World Health Assembly resolution 54.19 which urged all member states to achieve the minimum goal of 75% treatment coverage in school-age children at risk by 2010. This goal was not achieved in South Africa, despite efforts made by the Department of Health, such as the first statutory school-based geohelminth control programme in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. However, this programme has not been continued. Therefore, there is still much work to be done in order to control and decrease the prevalence of schistosomiasis in endemic areas.

Use of Bivariate Random-Parameter Probit Model to Analyze the Injury Severity of Highway Traffic Crashes Involving School-Age Children

2021 ◽  
pp. 036119812110116
Author(s):  
Jaeyoung Lee ◽  
Suyi Mao ◽  
Mohamed Abdel-Aty ◽  
Wen Fu
Keyword(s):  
Traffic Safety ◽  
Injury Severity ◽  
World Health ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
School Age ◽  
Highway Traffic ◽  
Bivariate Model ◽  
Severity Level ◽  
The World

Traffic safety has been a serious public health issue. According to the World Health Organization, annual traffic fatalities and non-fatal injuries are 1.35 million and 20 to 50 million, respectively, worldwide. Vehicle crashes, in particular, are the leading cause of the death of children in the world. This study aims to analyze the injury severity level of drivers and school-age passengers and to identify contributing factors, focusing on the effects of driver characteristics on the severity of injuries to the driver and child passenger. A bivariate model is adopted to capture unobserved shared factors between the driver’s and child’s injury severity levels. The results indicate that the factors contributing to the injury severity level of drivers and school-age passengers are quite different, and some driver characteristics significantly affect the injury severity of the child passenger. The findings from this study can contribute to an efficient strategic plan to reduce the injury severity of vehicle occupants.

SCHOOL VIOLENCE AWARENESS AND PREVENTION PROGRAMS IN SERBIA

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 855-859
Author(s):  
Vesna Lj. Minić
Keyword(s):  
School Violence ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Violent Behavior ◽  
Prevention Programs ◽  
Primary School Children ◽  
World Health ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
School Age ◽  
Peer Violence

The aim of this paper is to provide a systematic review and analysis of school violence in Serbia, as well as to suggest programs and measures that would prevent it from happening. Violent behavior in school-age children is a widespread phenomenon and issue, present not only in our country, but also in other countries and cultures; it is on the rise in both developed and underdeveloped countries, in both urban and rural areas. Age groups most prone to violent behavior are children and young people in the process of maturation, since they do not yet have developed defense mechanisms. Given the fact that there are increased levels of peer violence in modern society, it is important to emphasize its serious, far-reaching and long-lasting both physical and mental health consequences, mostly in primary school children. School violence has also become a public health issue being addressed by the World Health Organization, as it causes chronic fear in students and is responsible for numerous psychosomatic disorders. Social context of violence is also incited by media, especially the Internet, television and video games which encourage and spread certain forms of violence among students. There are different forms and levels of intensity of school violence, but violence is usually acknowledged by the society only when certain incidents get the attention in media. However, in order to put a stop to the increased tendencies of peer violence in school-age children, it is necessary to engage students, teachers, parents, media and the entire society. Due to the complexity and sensitivity of this issue, the studies carried out in Serbia are of great importance, not only to understand this issue, but also to develop prevention programs and measures that would reduce and prevent school violence. There are three categories of prevention used in our country to prevent school violence: primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary prevention is targeted at the entire population, not only certain groups which are considered to be prone to it. Its advantage lies in the fact that it motivates the children who are not prone to violence to help reduce violence occurrences. Secondary prevention involves working with children who are prone to school violence, or with those children involved in mild forms of problem behavior. Tertiary prevention involves working with students who had already exhibited some form of school violence. Serbia has many school violence prevention programs, such as: School without violence: towards a safe and enabling environment for children; Children and Police; Firefighter in School, School Officer, and many other activities which aim to protect children from violence in schools.

scholarly journals Global community perception of ‘surgical care’ as a public health issue: a cross sectional survey

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurhayati Lubis ◽  
Meena Nathan Cherian ◽  
Chinmayee Venkatraman ◽  
Fiemu E. Nwariaku
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Surgical Care ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Issue ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Community Perception ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
World Health Assembly Resolution ◽  
A Priority

Abstract Background In the last decade surgical care has been propelled into the public health domain with the establishment of a World Health Organisation (WHO) designated programme and key publications. The passing of the historic World Health Assembly Resolution (WHA) acknowledged surgical care as a vital component towards achieving Universal Health Coverage (UHC). We conducted the first worldwide survey to explore the perception of surgical care as a public health issue. Method The anonymous, cross sectional survey targeted worldwide participants across a range of professional backgrounds, including non-medical using virtual snowball sampling method (in English) using Google Forms (Google Inc., Mountain View, CA, USA) from 20th February 2019 to 25th June 2019. The survey questions were designed to gauge awareness on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UHC, WHO programmes and key publications on surgical care as well as perception of surgical care as a priority topic in public health. Results The survey was completed by 1954 respondents from 118 countries. Respondents were least aware of surgical care as a teaching topic in public health courses (27%; n = 526) and as a WHO programme (20%; n = 384). 82% of respondents were aware of UHC (n = 1599) and of this 72% (n = 1152) agreed that surgical care fits within UHC. While 77% (n = 1495) of respondents were aware of SDGs, only 19% (n = 370) agreed that surgery was a priority to meet SDGs. 48% (n = 941) rated surgical care as a cost-effective component of Primary Health Care. 88% (n = 1712) respondents had not read the WHA Resolution on ‘Strengthening emergency and essential surgical care and anaesthesia as a component of UHC’. Conclusion There is still a widespread gap in awareness on the importance of surgical care as a public health issue amongst our respondents. Surgical care was not seen as a priority to reach the SDGs, less visible as a WHO programme and not perceived as an important topic for public health courses.

scholarly journals The Myopia Progression in School-Age Children after Home Quarantine Due to COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 922-925
Author(s):  
E. Yu. Markova ◽  
R. S. Isabekov ◽  
L. V. Venediktova
Keyword(s):  
School Curriculum ◽  
School Closure ◽  
World Health ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
World Population ◽  
School Age ◽  
Russian Government ◽  
Myopia Progression ◽  
Number Of Children ◽  
The World

Myopia is an actual health issue in the world. The World Health Organization estimates that 50 % of the world population may be myopic by 2050. In response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak, the Russian government started a nationwide school closure as an emergency measure to prevent spreading of the infection since the 23rd of March 2020. The present study was organized to investigate prevalence of myopia in school-aged children during the COVID-19 home confinement in Moscow. The studied group included school-age children: pupils of 1, 5, 11th classes. The inclusion criteria were: myopia — refraction above –0.5 D in conditions of cycloplegia. The results of survey 523 pupils from Moscow schools, the proportion of patients with myopia was 20.1 %, while the proportion of patients with myopia among 1st class pupils was only 8.3 %. In 5th class, the rate was 16 %, in the 11th grade reached 42.1 %, i.e. increased more than 5 times. The trend with an increase in the number of children with myopia in the learning process is explained by the increased visual load of the high school curriculum. Home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic appeared to be associated with a significant myopic shift for children aged 6 to 8 years due to the visual load increase in and a decrease in time spent outdoors. Further research is needed to evaluate these results and long-term follow-up of these children.

scholarly journals Diagnostic and Therapeutic Value of Aptamers in Envenomation Cases

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (10) ◽  
pp. 3565
Author(s):  
Steven Ascoët ◽  
Michel De Waard
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Viable Alternative ◽  
World Health ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Pharmaceutical Companies ◽  
Therapeutic Value ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Animal Venoms

It is now more than a century since Albert Calmette from the Institut Pasteur changed the world of envenomation by demonstrating that antibodies raised against animal venoms have the ability to treat human victims of previously fatal bites or stings. Moreover, the research initiated at that time effectively launched the discipline of toxicology, first leading to the search for toxic venom components, followed by the demonstration of venoms that also contained compounds of therapeutic value. Interest from pharmaceutical companies to treat envenomation is, however, declining, mainly for economic reasons, and hence, the World Health Organization has reclassified this public health issue to be a highest priority concern. While the production, storage, and safety of antivenom sera suffer from major inconveniences, alternative chemical and technological approaches to the problem of envenomation need to be considered that bypass the use of antibodies for toxin neutralization. Herein, we review an emerging strategy that relies on the use of aptamers and discuss how close—or otherwise—we are to finding a viable alternative to the use of antibodies for the therapy of human envenomation.

scholarly journals How COVID-19 Redefines the Concept of Sustainability

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 3727 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marko Hakovirta ◽  
Navodya Denuwara
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
World Health ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Risk Of Infection ◽  
Work From Home ◽  
The World ◽  
To Come ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Temporary Closure

In January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of a new coronavirus disease, COVID-19, to be a public health emergency of international concern. Currently, in several countries globally, this pandemic continues to enforce the temporary closure of all nonessential shops and services aside from supermarkets and pharmacies. Workers in countries that are at a high risk of infection have been asked to work from home, as cities have been placed under lockdown. Even curfews to combat the spread of the virus have been imposed in several countries, with all this signaling an unprecedented disruption of commerce. Companies are facing various challenges regarding health and safety, supply chain, labor force, cash flow, consumer demand and marketing. People in the thousands are dying every day from the virus’s symptoms, while a public health issue has forced the world to come to a halt and rethink what a sustainable future for our planet and existence is. These drastic recent events have raised the deliberation by the authors to redefine the concept of sustainability.

scholarly journals Special Issue: Preterm Birth: Research, Intervention and Developmental Outcomes

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
pp. 3169
Author(s):  
Annalisa Guarini ◽  
Miguel Pérez Pereira ◽  
Anneloes van Baar ◽  
Alessandra Sansavini
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Preterm Birth ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Causes Of Death ◽  
Developmental Outcomes ◽  
World Health ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

As indicated by the World Health Organization, preterm birth is a relevant public health issue, being one of the leading causes of death in children under five years of age [...]

scholarly journals Rationale for Targeted Confectionery Products for Children over Three Years Old

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-295
Author(s):  
Svetlana Misteneva ◽  
Tatyana Savenkova ◽  
Elena Demchenko ◽  
Natalia Shcherbakova ◽  
Timofey Gerasimov
Keyword(s):  
Critical Factor ◽  
High Energy ◽  
World Health ◽  
Noncommunicable Diseases ◽  
School Age Children ◽  
Mineral Matter ◽  
School Age ◽  
The World ◽  
Confectionery Products ◽  
State Registration

Introduction. According to the World Health Organization, unhealthy diets are a major risk for noncommunicable diseases. These risks begin in childhood and develop throughout life. Scientists around the world are busy establishing optimal requirements for children’s diet that would contribute to their healthy development throughout the entire period of growing up. The quality of nutrition in childhood is a critical factor, since the physiological need for nutrients and energy during this period is especially high. Nutrition for preschool and school age children has its own specifics, e.g. lack of variety and functional products, preference for products with a high content of added sugar, fat, and salt, etc. Results and discussion. The article summarizes various recommendations on nutrition and physiological requirements for basic nutrients and energy. The recommendations are based on modern research on the nature and structure of children’s diet in Russia and abroad. The authors analyzed the Unified Register of State Registration Certificates of targeted functional foods. The paper also describes the main directions of improving the formulation of targeted confectionery products for preschool and school age children, based on taking global trends and principles of healthy eating. Conclusion. Most confectionery products have extreme content of critical substances, high energy value, and almost no dietary fiber, vitamins, or mineral matter. Therefore, new formulations of targeted confectionery products for children over three years of age are relevant and promising if developers take into account the principles of healthy nutrition. The existing regulatory framework for the production and sale of this group of products requires improvement.

scholarly journals New Understanding of Dental Public Health: A Review

2021 ◽  
pp. 72-78
Author(s):  
Vedanti Kitey ◽  
Kumar Gaurav Chhabra ◽  
Priyanka Paul Madhu ◽  
Amit Reche ◽  
Gunjan Hiware ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Dental Care ◽  
World Health ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Dental Public Health ◽  
Digital Dentistry ◽  
Dental Procedures ◽  
Number Of Patients ◽  
The World ◽  
Therapeutic Services

Oral disorders are a most important public health issue in most of the developing countries, and their prevalence is on the rise. To enhance the population's oral wellbeing by providing preventive and therapeutic services is the main aim of dental public health (DPH). However, due to low requirement of capability and ability among DPH personnel, its accomplishment in India is being probed [1]. For many people, dental care has grown expensive, and a huge number of patients around the world are delaying or ignoring important dental procedures. in addition, the ageing of the worldwide populace, as well as the resulting growth in common and dental concern needs, raises worries about the long-term viability of healthcare organization. These changes underscore the critical requirement for a new dental care representation that is both sustainable and efficient [2]. In this regard, the favorable approach for transforming the scene of oral healthcare is the adoption of scientific advancements in dentistry, commonly known as "digital dentistry" by many.  In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) campaigns revolutionize on a regular basis, encouraging the creation and spread of community wellbeing practices that are holded up by both documentation and conveyance technology (e-Health) and mobile phones (m-Health) [3]. We can see how scientific developments could facilitate to accomplish these aims by offering constructive apparatus if we focus on the concept of Dental Public Health (DPH) as “the knowledge and art of arresting and scheming dental disorders and understanding dental wellbeing through efficient group hard work” [4].

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