scholarly journals Big Data and Public Health: Challenges and Opportunities for Low and Middle Income Countries

2016 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 419-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sundeep Sahay ◽  
Author(s):  
Songul Cinaroglu

The field of public health provides a multidisciplinary area of research, and new challenges in analytics and operations management are reshaping the strategic decision-making dynamics. Big data is an emerging and promising area of research that has great potential to transform public health. Developed countries are designing big data tools and analytic techniques and using them to provide leadership. In this respect, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) need to become more engaged in the big data ecosystem and to become more aware of how to use new analytical techniques. This chapter provides an overview of big data analytic techniques in public health and their potential to transform strategic public health management in LMICs. To achieve this goal, this chapter explains big data analytics and big data tools in public health and discusses development strategies for LMIC's big public data potential to ensure a better knowledge base for LMIC health policymakers.


Author(s):  
Songul Cinaroglu

The field of public health provides a multidisciplinary area of research, and new challenges in analytics and operations management are reshaping the strategic decision-making dynamics. Big data is an emerging and promising area of research that has great potential to transform public health. Developed countries are designing big data tools and analytic techniques and using them to provide leadership. In this respect, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) need to become more engaged in the big data ecosystem and to become more aware of how to use new analytical techniques. This chapter provides an overview of big data analytic techniques in public health and their potential to transform strategic public health management in LMICs. To achieve this goal, this chapter explains big data analytics and big data tools in public health and discusses development strategies for LMIC's big public data potential to ensure a better knowledge base for LMIC health policymakers.


Author(s):  
Chris Bullen ◽  
Jessica McCormack ◽  
Amanda Calder ◽  
Varsha Parag ◽  
Kannan Subramaniam ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The global COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted healthcare worldwide. In low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where people may have limited access to affordable quality care, the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to have a particularly adverse impact on the health and healthcare of individuals with noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). A World Health Organization survey found that disruption of delivery of healthcare for NCDs was more significant in LMICs than in high-income countries. However, the study did not elicit insights into the day-to-day impacts of COVID-19 on healthcare by front-line healthcare workers (FLHCWs). Aim: To gain insights directly from FLHCWs working in countries with a high NCD burden, and thereby identify opportunities to improve the provision of healthcare during the current pandemic and in future healthcare emergencies. Methods: We recruited selected frontline healthcare workers (general practitioners, pharmacists, and other medical specialists) from nine countries to complete an online survey (n = 1347). Survey questions focused on the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on clinical practice and NCDs; barriers to clinical care during the pandemic; and innovative responses to the many challenges presented by the pandemic. Findings: The majority of FLHCWs responding to our survey reported that their care of patients had been impacted both adversely and positively by the public health measures imposed. Most FLHCs (95%) reported a deterioration in the mental health of their patients. Conclusions: Continuity of care for NCDs as part of pandemic preparedness is needed so that chronic conditions are not exacerbated by public health measures and the direct impacts of the pandemic.


2017 ◽  
Vol 211 (5) ◽  
pp. 264-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. S. Jacob

SummarySuicide, a common cause of death in many low- and middle-income countries, has often been viewed through a medical/psychiatric lens. Such perspectives medicalise social and personal distress and suggest individual and medication-based treatments. This editorial argues for the need to examine suicide from a public health perspective and suggests the need for population-based social and economic interventions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Belaynesh Tefera ◽  
Marloes L. Van Engen ◽  
Alice Schippers ◽  
Arne H. Eide ◽  
Amber Kersten ◽  
...  

This study looks at the equality challenges and opportunities for women with disabilities in low and middle income countries (LMICs) to participate and succeed in education, employment and motherhood. It is based on a systematic review of the literature from academic and non-governmental organization databases. The search of these databases yielded 24 articles, which were subsequently passed through open, axial, and selective coding. The resulting review found that women with disabilities in LMICs have severe difficulty participating and succeeding in education, employment and motherhood due to a number of interrelated factors: (i) hampered access to education, employment, intimacy and marriage, (ii) stigma and cultural practices resulting in discrimination and prejudice, and (iii) lack of support from family, teachers and institutions—all of which are exacerbated by poverty. Support from families, communities, the government, and non-governmental organizations improves women’s ability to fulfil their social roles (as students, employees and mothers), resulting in a better quality of life. Strategies that create awareness, minimize poverty and facilitate justice may improve the opportunities for women with disabilities in LMICs to participate in education, employment and motherhood, as well as their ability to succeed in these domains.


Author(s):  
Christopher B. Raymond ◽  
Paul R. Ward

(1) Background: COVID-19 disruptions offer researchers insight into how pandemics are at once biological and social threats, as communities struggle to construct meaning from novel challenges to their ontological status quo. Multiple epistemes, in which public health imperatives confront and negotiate locally derived knowledge and traditions, vie for legitimacy and agency, resulting in new cultural forms. (2) Methods: To investigate the context and construction of community responses, a systematic review of qualitative literature was conducted with the aim of evaluating those insights provided by empirical, social field research in low- and middle-income countries since the onset of COVID-19. Six scholarly databases were searched for empirical, qualitative, field-based, or participatory research that was published in peer-reviewed journals between December 2019 and August 2021. (3) Results: Twenty-five studies were selected for data extraction, following critical appraisal for methodological rigor by two independent reviewers, and were then analyzed thematically. Faced with unprecedented social ruptures, restrictions in social and physical mobility, and ever-looming uncertainties of infection, financial insecurity, stigma, and loss, communities worldwide reacted in multiple and complex ways. Pervasive misinformation and fear of social rejection resulted in noncompliance with pandemic sanctions, resistance, and increased isolation, allowing the spread of the disease. The meaning of, and understandings about, COVID-19 were constructed using traditional, religious, and biomedical epistemologies, which were occasionally in conflict with each other. Innovations and adaptations, through syntheses of traditional and biomedical discourses and practice, illustrated community resilience and provided models for successful engagement to improve public health outcomes. (4) Conclusion: Local context and community engagement were indispensable considerations when enacting effective public health interventions to meet the challenges of the pandemic.


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