scholarly journals Global Surgery, Obstetric, and Anesthesia Indicator Definitions and Reporting: An Utstein Consensus Report

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Justine Ina Davies ◽  
Adrian W. Gelb ◽  
Julian Gore-Booth ◽  
Janet Martin ◽  
Jannicke Mellin-Olsen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Health Indicators ◽  
Obstetric Care ◽  
Global Surgery ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Financial Risk Protection ◽  
Current Time ◽  
Timely Access ◽  
Data Points

Background Indicators to evaluate progress towards timely access to safe surgical, anaesthesia, and obstetric (SAO) care were proposed in 2015 by the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery. Despite being rapidly taken up by practitioners, datapoints from which to derive them were not defined, limiting comparability across time or settings. We convened global experts to evaluate and explicitly define - for the first time - the indicators to improve comparability and support achievement of 2030 goals to improve access to safe affordable surgical and anaesthesia care. Methods and findings The Utstein process for developing and reporting guidelines through a consensus building process was followed. In-person discussions at a two day meeting were followed by an iterative process conducted by email and virtual group meetings until consensus was reached. Participants consisted of experts in surgery, anaesthesia, and obstetric care, data science, and health indicators from high, middle, and low income countries. Considering each of the six indicators in turn, we refined overarching descriptions and agreed upon data points needed for construction of each indicator at current time (basic data points), and as each evolves over 2-5 (intermediate) and >5 year (full) timeframes. We removed one of the original six indicators (one of two financial risk protection indicators was eliminated) and refined descriptions and defined data points required to construct the 5 remaining indicators: geospatial access, workforce, surgical volume, perioperative mortality, and catastrophic expenditure. Conclusions To track global progress toward timely access to quality SAO care, these indicators – at the basic level - should be implemented universally. Intermediate and full evolutions will assist in developing national surgical plans, and collecting data for research studies.

scholarly journals Global surgery, obstetric, and anaesthesia indicator definitions and reporting: An Utstein consensus report

PLoS Medicine ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (8) ◽  
pp. e1003749
Author(s):  
Justine I. Davies ◽  
Adrian W. Gelb ◽  
Julian Gore-Booth ◽  
Jannicke Mellin-Olsen ◽  
Janet Martin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Global Surgery ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Surgical Volume ◽  
Perioperative Mortality ◽  
Current Time ◽  
Surgical Workforce ◽  
Timely Access ◽  
Data Points

Background Indicators to evaluate progress towards timely access to safe surgical, anaesthesia, and obstetric (SAO) care were proposed in 2015 by the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery. These aimed to capture access to surgery, surgical workforce, surgical volume, perioperative mortality rate, and catastrophic and impoverishing financial consequences of surgery. Despite being rapidly taken up by practitioners, data points from which to derive the indicators were not defined, limiting comparability across time or settings. We convened global experts to evaluate and explicitly define—for the first time—the indicators to improve comparability and support achievement of 2030 goals to improve access to safe affordable surgical and anaesthesia care globally. Methods and findings The Utstein process for developing and reporting guidelines through a consensus building process was followed. In-person discussions at a 2-day meeting were followed by an iterative process conducted by email and virtual group meetings until consensus was reached. The meeting was held between June 16 to 18, 2019; discussions continued until August 2020. Participants consisted of experts in surgery, anaesthesia, and obstetric care, data science, and health indicators from high-, middle-, and low-income countries. Considering each of the 6 indicators in turn, we refined overarching descriptions and agreed upon data points needed for construction of each indicator at current time (basic data points), and as each evolves over 2 to 5 (intermediate) and >5 year (full) time frames. We removed one of the original 6 indicators (one of 2 financial risk protection indicators was eliminated) and refined descriptions and defined data points required to construct the 5 remaining indicators: geospatial access, workforce, surgical volume, perioperative mortality, and catastrophic expenditure. A strength of the process was the number of people from global institutes and multilateral agencies involved in the collection and reporting of global health metrics; a limitation was the limited number of participants from low- or middle-income countries—who only made up 21% of the total attendees. Conclusions To track global progress towards timely access to quality SAO care, these indicators—at the basic level—should be implemented universally as soon as possible. Intermediate and full indicator sets should be achieved by all countries over time. Meanwhile, these evolutions can assist in the short term in developing national surgical plans and collecting more detailed data for research studies.

scholarly journals P.028 Global surgery for pediatric hydrocephalus in the developing world: a review of the history, challenges, and future directions

2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (S2) ◽  
pp. S20-S20
Author(s):  
S Wang ◽  
RT Muir ◽  
BC Warf
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Developing World ◽  
Pediatric Neurosurgery ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Global Surgery ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Global Burden ◽  
Pediatric Hydrocephalus ◽  
Cost Effective Treatment ◽  
Education Gaps

Background: Pediatric hydrocephalus is one of the most common neurosurgical conditions and is a major contributor to the global burden of surgically treatable diseases. Methods: The authors conducted a literature review around the topic of pediatric hydrocephalus in the context of global surgery, the unique challenges to creating access to care in low-income countries, and current international efforts to address the problem. Results: Developing countries face the greatest burden of pediatric hydrocephalus due to high birth rates and greater risk of neonatal infections. This burden is related to more general global health challenges, including malnutrition, infectious diseases, maternal and perinatal risk factors, and education gaps. Unique challenges pertaining to the treatment of hydrocephalus in the developing world include a preponderance of postinfectious hydrocephalus, limited resources, and restricted access to neurosurgical care. In the 21st century, several organizations have established programs that provide hydrocephalus treatment and neurosurgical training in Africa, Central and South America, Haiti, and Southeast Asia. These international efforts have employed various models to achieve the goals of providing safe, sustainable, and cost-effective treatment. Conclusions: Broader commitment from the pediatric neurosurgery community, increased funding, public education, surgeon training, and ongoing surgical innovation will be needed to meaningfully address the global burden of untreated hydrocephalus.

Microinsurance and Rural Health

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Syed Abdul Hamid
Keyword(s):  
South Asia ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Informal Economy ◽  
Financial Risk ◽  
Access To Healthcare ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Financial Protection ◽  
Health Shocks ◽  
Financial Risk Protection ◽  
Risk Protection

Health microinsurance (HMI) has been used around the globe since the early 1990s for financial risk protection against health shocks in poverty-stricken rural populations in low-income countries. However, there is much debate in the literature on its impact on financial risk protection. There is also no clear answer to the critical policy question about whether HMI is a viable route to provide healthcare to the people of the informal economy, especially in the rural areas. Findings show that HMI schemes are concentrated widely in the low-income countries, especially in South Asia (about 43%) and East Africa (about 25.4%). India accounts for 30% of HMI schemes. Bangladesh and Kenya also possess a good number of schemes. There is some evidence that HMI increases access to healthcare or utilization of healthcare. One set of the literature shows that HMI provides financial protection against the costs of illness to its enrollees by reducing out-of-pocket payments and/or catastrophic spending. On the contrary, a large body of literature with strong methodological rigor shows that HMI fails to provide financial protection against health shocks to its clients. Some of the studies in the latter group rather find that HMI contributes to the decline of financial risk protection. These findings seem to be logical as there is a high copayment and a lack of continuum of care in most cases. The findings also show that scale and dependence on subsidy are the major concerns. Low enrollment and low renewal are common concerns of the voluntary HMI schemes in South Asian countries. In addition, the declining trend of donor subsidies makes the HMI schemes supported by external donors more vulnerable. These challenges and constraints restrict the scale and profitability of HMI initiatives, especially those that are voluntary. Consequently, the existing organizations may cease HMI activities. Overall, although HMI can increase access to healthcare, it fails to provide financial risk protection against health shocks. The existing HMI practices in South Asia, especially in the HMIs owned by nongovernmental organizations and microfinance institutions, are not a viable route to provide healthcare to the rural population of the informal economy. However, HMI schemes may play some supportive role in implementation of a nationalized scheme, if there is one. There is also concern about the institutional viability of the HMI organizations (e.g., ownership and management efficiency). Future research may address this issue.

scholarly journals Health Literacy and Health Behavior Among Women in Ghazni, Afghanistan

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanie Harsch ◽  
Asadullah Jawid ◽  
Ebrahim Jawid ◽  
Luis Saboga-Nunes ◽  
Kristine Sørensen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Literacy ◽  
Health Behavior ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Help Seeking ◽  
Health Indicators ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Public Health Challenge ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Voluntary Basis

Background:Health literacy is a determinant of health and assessed globally to inform the development of health interventions. However, little is known about health literacy in countries with one of the poorest health indicators worldwide, such as Afghanistan. Studies worldwide demonstrate that women play a key role in developing health literacy. Hence, this study's purpose is to explore health literacy of women in Afghanistan and the associated factors.Methods:From May to June 2017, we randomly recruited 7–10 women per day at the hospital in Ghazni, a representative province of Afghanistan. Two trained female interviewers interviewed 322 women (15–61 years old) orally in Dari or Pashto on a voluntary basis and assessed their health literacy using the HLS-EU-Q16, associated socio-demographics, and health behavior.Results:Health literacy of women (among educated and illiterates) is low even compared to other Asian countries. Health literacy is linked to age and education. We found mixed evidence of the relationship between health literacy and contextual factors, help-seeking, and health-related behavior.Conclusion:This study provides novel data on health literacy and astonishing insights into its association with health behavior of women in Afghanistan, thus contributing to health status. The study calls for recognition of health literacy as a public health challenge be addressed in Afghanistan and other low-income countries affected by crises.

scholarly journals Nomogram to Early Screen Multiparous Women for Preterm Birth in a Cohort Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 135-141
Author(s):  
Mayssa A. Traboulsi ◽  
Zainab. El Alaoui Talibi ◽  
Abdellatif Boussaid
Keyword(s):  
Cohort Study ◽  
Preterm Birth ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Health Indicators ◽  
Penalized Regression ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Medical Surveillance ◽  
Spontaneous Preterm Birth ◽  
Multiparous Women ◽  
Low Prevalence

Preterm Birth (PTB) can negatively affect the health of mothers as well as infants. Prediction of this gynecological complication remains difficult especially in Middle and Low-Income countries because of limited access to specific tests and data collection scarcity. Machine learning methods have been used to predict PTB but the low prevalence of this pregnancy complication led to rather low prediction values. The objective of this study was to produce a nomogram based on improved prediction for low prevalence PTB using up sampling and lasso penalized regression. We used data from a cohort study in Northern Lebanon of 922 multiparous presenting a PTB prevalence of 8%. We analyzed the personal, demographic, and health indicators available for this group of women. The improved Positive Predictive Value for PTB reached around 88%. The regression coefficients of the 6 selected variables (Pre-hemorrhage, Social status, Residence, Age, BMI, and Weight gain) were used to create a nomogram to screen multiparous women for PTB risk. The nomogram based on readily available indicators for multiparous women reasonably predicted most of the at PTB risk women. The physicians can use this tool to screen for women at high risk for spontaneous preterm birth to improve medical surveillance that can reduce PTB incidence.

scholarly journals Public Health and Epidemiology Informatics: Recent Research Trends Moving toward Public Health Data Science

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (01) ◽  
pp. 231-234
Author(s):  
Sébastien Cossin ◽  
Rodolphe Thiébaut ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Disease Surveillance ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Health Data ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Editorial Committee ◽  
Disease Surveillance System ◽  
Public Health Data

Objectives: To introduce and summarize current research in the field of Public Health and Epidemiology Informatics. Methods: PubMed searches of 2019 literature concerning public health and epidemiology informatics were conducted and the returned references were reviewed by the two section editors to select 14 candidate best papers. These papers were then peer-reviewed by external reviewers to allow the Editorial Committee a curated selection of the best papers. Results: Among the 835 references retrieved from PubMed, two were finally selected as best papers. The first best paper leverages satellite images and deep learning to identify remote rural communities in low-income countries; the second paper describes the development of a worldwide human disease surveillance system based on near real-time news data from the GDELT project. Internet data and electronic health records are still widely used to detect and monitor disease activity. Identifying and targeting specific audiences for public health interventions is a growing subject of interest. Conclusions: The ever-increasing amount of data available offers endless opportunities to develop methods and tools that could assist public health surveillance and intervention belonging to the growing field of public health Data Science. The transition from proofs of concept to real world applications and adoption by health authorities remains a difficult leap to make.

scholarly journals Review Article on Emergency Obstetric Care

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silas Ochejele
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Mortality ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Newborn Care ◽  
Emergency Obstetric Care ◽  
Skilled Birth Attendant ◽  
Obstetric Care ◽  
Functional Health ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Mortality Reduction ◽  
Maternal Deaths

Maternal death was once a common occurrence worldwide but today, 99% of maternal deaths occur in low income countries. Most of the maternal deaths are due to direct obstetric complications. Emergency obstetric care is the intervention required to save the lives of these women. It is based on a tripod of signal functions, skilled birth attendants and a functional health system. The objective of this article was to discuss the role of Emergency obstetric care in maternal mortality reduction. A systematic review of available articles on Emergency obstetric care; and Emergency obstetric care training materials, experience and observations used/made between 2003 and 2017 in Nigeria was used for this work. Emergency obstetric care is the nucleus on which all other maternal mortality reduction activities are hinged. The paradigm evolvement of Emergency obstetric care offers the last hope for a woman with direct obstetric complication. However, the skilled birth attendant must have the right attitude in addition to her/his professional skills for effective implementation of these interventions. Women need access to and availability of Emergency obstetric care as well as a continuum of care that includes antenatal, intra-partum and postnatal care, newborn care and family planning services to reduce maternal mortality.

scholarly journals A low-resource digital infrastructure to streamline viewing and interpretation of radiographic images: A case study of Uganda’s hospital-wide environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 146045822110431
Author(s):  
Edward Ruhuma ◽  
Fredrick Edward Makumbi ◽  
Josephine Nabukenya
Keyword(s):  
Diagnostic Accuracy ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Communication Systems ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Turnaround Time ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Radiographic Images ◽  
Timely Access ◽  
Picture Archiving And Communication

Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS) are said to improve patient quality of care through timely access to radiological images by clinicians. However, they are costly to be considered for hospital wide environment in low income countries. Ordinary core i3 computer systems (PCs) can provide an affordable and faster alternative solution for PACS workstations. This comparative study assessed the diagnostic accuracy, image quality of ordinary PC systems versus PACS workstations and patient turnaround time (PTAT). Forty images were randomly obtained and viewed by four raters from both PACS and PC. The findings showed modest agreement among raters (kappa 0.644 for PACS and 0.5164 PC) with acceptable diagnostic accuracy for PC (AUC = 0.7990), 97.5% reproduction of images on PC and significant reduction in PTAT after a switch to PC (4.8 min), p < 0.001, suggesting that PC display can improve quality of health care services through timely access to radiographic images.

Complications of Pregnancy in Adolescents

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Logan Todhunter ◽  
Megan Hogan-Roy ◽  
Eva K. Pressman
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Teenage Pregnancy ◽  
Multidisciplinary Approach ◽  
Obstetric Care ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Obstetric Outcomes ◽  
Complex Issue ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Poor Social Support ◽  
Adolescent Pregnancies

AbstractTeenage pregnancy is a complex issue that can have negative socioeconomic and health outcomes. About 11% of births worldwide are by adolescents aged between 15 and 19 years and middle- and low-income countries account for more than 90% of these births. Despite the downward trend in international adolescent pregnancy rates, 10 million unplanned adolescent pregnancies occur annually. Adolescents are also at increase risks of poor obstetric outcomes including preterm delivery, low birth weight, eclampsia, postpartum hemorrhage, anemia, and infant, as well as maternal morbidity. Important additional considerations include increased risk of depression, poor social support, and the need for a multidisciplinary approach to their obstetric care. We look to highlight both the unique socioeconomic and medical factors to consider when caring for these patients and demonstrate that these factors are intertwined.

scholarly journals Structural Adjustment and Health in Pakistan

1998 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Shahrukh Rafi Khan ◽  
Sajid Kazmi
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
South Asian ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Structural Adjustment ◽  
Child Survival ◽  
Health Indicators ◽  
Health Expenditures ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Asian Countries ◽  
Public Sector Health

Government health expenditures as a percentage of GDP have declined in Pakistan, though not in absolute real terms, over the structural adjustment period. Progress over this period is evident on a number of health indicators. However, Pakistan still lags far behind the means of low income countries and South Asian countries in all child survival statistics. In view of this, and since the evidence shows a significant and sizeable association of public sector health expenditures and the decline in infant mortality rates, there seems little justification in cutting public sector expenditures.

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