scholarly journals Public Health Policy Pillars for the Sustainable Elimination of Zoonotic Schistosomiasis

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Janoušková ◽  
Jessica Clark ◽  
Olumayowa Kajero ◽  
Sergi Alonso ◽  
Poppy H. L. Lamberton ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Vital Role ◽  
Zoonotic Transmission ◽  
Transmission Dynamics ◽  
World Health ◽  
Shared Environment ◽  
Terrestrial Mammals ◽  
Schistosoma Mekongi ◽  
Improve Model ◽  
Control Programmes ◽  
Health Organization

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease acquired through contact with contaminated freshwater. The definitive hosts are terrestrial mammals, including humans, with some Schistosoma species crossing the animal-human boundary through zoonotic transmission. An estimated 12 million people live at risk of zoonotic schistosomiasis caused by Schistosoma japonicum and Schistosoma mekongi, largely in the World Health Organization’s Western Pacific Region and in Indonesia. Mathematical models have played a vital role in our understanding of the biology, transmission, and impact of intervention strategies, however, these have mostly focused on non-zoonotic Schistosoma species. Whilst these non-zoonotic-based models capture some aspects of zoonotic schistosomiasis transmission dynamics, the commonly-used frameworks are yet to adequately capture the complex epi-ecology of multi-host zoonotic transmission. However, overcoming these knowledge gaps goes beyond transmission dynamics modelling. To improve model utility and enhance zoonotic schistosomiasis control programmes, we highlight three pillars that we believe are vital to sustainable interventions at the implementation (community) and policy-level, and discuss the pillars in the context of a One-Health approach, recognising the interconnection between humans, animals and their shared environment. These pillars are: (1) human and animal epi-ecological understanding; (2) economic considerations (such as treatment costs and animal losses); and (3) sociological understanding, including inter- and intra-human and animal interactions.

scholarly journals EXPLORING COVID-19 VACCINE ACCEPTANCE AND HESITANCY DETERMINANTS

2021 ◽  
Vol 03 (01) ◽  
pp. 80-91
Author(s):  
Tauheed Zahra ◽  
◽  
Farhan Ahmad Faiz ◽  
Farrah Ahmed ◽  
◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Educational Background ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
World Health ◽  
Vaccine Hesitancy ◽  
Social Worlds ◽  
Vaccine Acceptance ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Low Middle Income Countries ◽  
Health Organization

The World Health Organization recognizes vaccine related myths and conspiracies as the world's top threat to public health safety, particularly in low middle-income countries. The current study aims to explore the beliefs of the general public towards the vaccine acceptance and the hesitancy. The study explicates the COVID 19 vaccine acceptance and hesitancy determinants through an in-depth qualitative approach. A total of 30 male and female millennials from different education backgrounds were interviewed through an interview guide. This study reveals that people have different beliefs related to the vaccine authenticity which plays a vital role in the reluctance towards it. Findings from paper is similar to literature that people from good educational background have similar thoughts towards COVID 19 vaccination. Disregard for the vaccine was caused by various factors, such as misinformation, safety concerns, and personal knowledge. This level of distrust was associated with the social worlds that participants experienced during the pandemic. COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is a complex relationship that involves the spread of misinformation. Vaccine programs should provide a focused, localized, and empathetic response to counter misinformation. Keywords: COVID-19, vaccines, myths, hesitancy, vaccines awareness, pandemic, conspiracy, corona virus

Comprehending the Role of Physicians and Counterfeit Medicine in Bangladesh

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 102-102
Author(s):  
Farzana Nazera ◽  
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Valliappan Raju
Keyword(s):  
Bibliometric Analysis ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
World Health ◽  
Flow Diagram ◽  
Consultation Service ◽  
Counterfeit Medicine ◽  
The World ◽  
Medicinal Formulation ◽  
Health Organization

Counterfeit medicine is a dangerous problem in Bangladesh which make the country's healthcare system in more challenging. For a developing nation like Bangladesh, it is hard to find a perfect solution to curb this problem. According to the World Health Organization (2021), awareness is the key to prevent innocent patient from taking counterfeit medicine. Due to knowledge gap, it's hard for patients to detect the authenticity of medicine because it requires knowledge of medicinal formulation. Physicians of Bangladesh could play a vital role in preventing this counterfeit medicine problem by establishing guidance co-operation relationship with the patients. The study made a literature review of the concept of counterfeit medicine, conducted a bibliometric analysis of counterfeit medicine on Scopus database and provided a relationship flow diagram of prospective guidance relationship between physicians and patients. The study concluded that, this consultation service should be offered by the physicians to the patients and the study expected that, the patient willingly accepts it for getting the safeguard against counterfeit medicine. Keywords: Bibliometric Analysis, Physicians, Patients, Counterfeit Medicine, Bangladesh

scholarly journals Update on field use of the available drugs for the chemotherapy of human African trypanosomiasis

Parasitology ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 139 (7) ◽  
pp. 842-846 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. P. SIMARRO ◽  
J. FRANCO ◽  
A. DIARRA ◽  
J. A. RUIZ POSTIGO ◽  
J. JANNIN
Keyword(s):  
Human African Trypanosomiasis ◽  
Treatment Time ◽  
Financial Burden ◽  
World Health ◽  
African Trypanosomiasis ◽  
Patient Cost ◽  
Drug Of Choice ◽  
Control Programmes ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Cost

SUMMARYDespite the fact that eflornithine was considered as the safer drug to treat human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) and has been freely available since 2001, the difficulties in logistics and cost burden associated with this drug meant that the toxic melarsoprol remained the drug of choice. The World Health Organization responded to the situation by designing a medical kit containing all the materials needed to use eflornithine, and by implementing a training and drugs distribution programme which has allowed a transition to this much safer treatment. The introduction of the combination of nifurtimox and eflornithine (NECT) has accelerated the shift from melarsoprol to the best treatment available, due to reduced dosage and treatment time for eflornithine that has significantly lessened the cost and improved the burden of logistics encountered during treatment and distribution. The decrease in the use of more dangerous but cheaper melarsoprol has meant a rise in the per patient cost of treating HAT. Although NECT is cheaper than eflornithine monotherapy, an unexpected consequence has been a continuing rise in the per patient cost of treating HAT. The ethical decision of shifting to the best available treatment imposes a financial burden on HAT control programmes that might render long-term application unsustainable. These factors call for continuing research to provide new safer and more effective drugs that are simple to administer and cheaper when compared to current drugs.

scholarly journals Impact of seasonal variations in Plasmodium falciparum malaria transmission on the surveillance of pfhrp2 gene deletions

eLife ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oliver John Watson ◽  
Robert Verity ◽  
Azra C Ghani ◽  
Tini Garske ◽  
Jane Cunningham ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
False Negative ◽  
Plasmodium Falciparum Malaria ◽  
Rapid Diagnostic Tests ◽  
World Health ◽  
Seasonal Fluctuations ◽  
Gene Deletions ◽  
Control Programmes ◽  
Sampling Intervals ◽  
Optimum Sampling ◽  
Health Organization

Ten countries have reported pfhrp2/pfhrp3 gene deletions since the first observation of pfhrp2-deleted parasites in 2012. In a previous study (Watson et al., 2017), we characterised the drivers selecting for pfhrp2/3 deletions and mapped the regions in Africa with the greatest selection pressure. In February 2018, the World Health Organization issued guidance on investigating suspected false-negative rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) due to pfhrp2/3 deletions. However, no guidance is provided regarding the timing of investigations. Failure to consider seasonal variation could cause premature decisions to switch to alternative RDTs. In response, we have extended our methods and predict that the prevalence of false-negative RDTs due to pfhrp2/3 deletions is highest when sampling from younger individuals during the beginning of the rainy season. We conclude by producing a map of the regions impacted by seasonal fluctuations in pfhrp2/3 deletions and a database identifying optimum sampling intervals to support malaria control programmes.

scholarly journals Mobile health monitoring based studies for diabetes mellitus: a review

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 1405-1414
Author(s):  
Omar AlShorman ◽  
Mahmoud Saleh Masadeh ◽  
Buthaynah AlShorman
Keyword(s):  
Mobile Health ◽  
Continuous Monitoring ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
World Health ◽  
Diabetic Patients ◽  
Safe Technology ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Diabetes Monitoring ◽  
Mobile Health Monitoring

Diabetes as a chronic disease is considered to be a serious problem not only for diabetic patients but also for caregivers, families and countries. Hazardously, as an example, 16% of the Middle East population died every year because of diabetes as it is reported by World Health Organization (WHO). Therefore, it is crucial to utilize the recent advances and technologies to find the best instrument for diabetes monitoring and management. Recently, mobile health (mHealth) technologies have a vital role in the healthcare industrial world. Undoubtedly, mHealth technologies are used to manage, track, monitor, diagnose, and prevent chronic diseases including, diabetes. Certainly, the main advantages of mHealth include a real-time and continuous monitoring with high reliability, accessibility, and availability. In addition to that, mHealth is considered to be a fast, accurate, simple, cheap, comfortable, and safe technology. Hence, the proposed study aims to review existing mHealth studies for managing, diagnosing, tracking, detecting, and predicting diabetic mellitus. Moreover, challenges and future trends of this emerging topic are also discussed.

scholarly journals Comparison of Measures adopted to combat COVID 19 Pandemic by different countries in WHO regions

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (2 (Supp)) ◽  
pp. 288-299
Author(s):  
Shubha DB ◽  
Malathesh Undi ◽  
Rachana Annadani ◽  
Ayesha Siddique
Keyword(s):  
Virus Disease ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
World Health ◽  
Contact Tracing ◽  
Limited Information ◽  
The World ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Health Organization

Since the emergence of Corona Virus Disease 19 (COVID 19) in China in December 2019, a lot of significant decisions have been taken by the World Health Organization (WHO) and several countries across the globe. As the world reels under the threat of rapid increase in the number of cases and is planning strategies with the limited information available on the virus, it is essential to learn from the experience of countries across the globe. Hence, we selected a few countries in five WHO regions based on their COVID 19 caseload, management strategies and outcome and compared some of the important measures taken by them to contain the spread of infection. Strategies like extensive testing and contact tracing, strict quarantine and isolation measures, Hospital preparedness, complete restriction of non-essential travel, strict border control measures and social distancing measures play a vital role in containment of the spread. All the countries faced the novel strain of virus and implemented similar strategies as per the guidance of WHO, but the extent of preparedness, swiftness with which the decisions were made and the scale of measures made the difference.

scholarly journals One Health for neglected tropical diseases

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabrielle Laing ◽  
Marco Antonio Natal Vigilato ◽  
Sarah Cleaveland ◽  
S M Thumbi ◽  
Lucille Blumberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
One Health ◽  
Neglected Tropical Diseases ◽  
Animal Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Shared Environment ◽  
Tropical Diseases ◽  
Road Map ◽  
The One ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
And Control

Abstract The forthcoming World Health Organization road map for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) 2021–2030 recognises the complexity surrounding control and elimination of these 20 diseases of poverty. It emphasises the need for a paradigm shift from disease-specific interventions to holistic cross-cutting approaches coordinating with adjacent disciplines. The One Health approach exemplifies this shift, extending beyond a conventional model of zoonotic disease control to consider the interactions of human and animal health systems within their shared environment and the wider social and economic context. This approach can also promote sustainability and resilience within these systems. To achieve the global ambition on NTD elimination and control, political will, along with contextualised innovative scientific strategies, is required.

scholarly journals The World Health Organization 2030 goals for Taenia solium: Insights and perspectives from transmission dynamics modelling

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 1546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
World Health Organization ◽  
Taenia Solium ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Transmission Dynamics ◽  
World Health ◽  
Sustainable Solutions ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Transmission Models

Taenia solium (TS), responsible for porcine cysticercosis, human taeniasis and (neuro)cysticercosis, was included in the World Health Organization neglected tropical disease (NTD) roadmap published in 2012. Targets set in this roadmap have not been met, but T. solium has been included in the consultation process for the new 2030 goals proposed for priority NTDs. Taenia solium transmission dynamics models can contribute to this process. A recent review has compared existing T. solium transmission models, identifying their similarities and differences in structure, parameterization and modelled intervention approaches. While a formal model comparison to investigate the impact of interventions is yet to be conducted, the models agree on the importance of coverage for intervention effectiveness and on the fact that human- and pig-focused interventions can be optimally combined. One of these models, cystiSim, an individual-based, stochastic model has been used to assess field-applicable interventions, some currently under evaluation in on-going trials in Zambia. The EPICYST, population-based, deterministic model has highlighted, based on simulating a generic sub-Saharan Africa setting, the higher efficacy (measured as the percentage of human cysticercosis cases prevented) of biomedical interventions (human and pig treatment and pig vaccination) compared to improved husbandry, sanitation, and meat inspection. Important questions remain regarding which strategies and combinations thereof provide sustainable solutions for severely resource-constrained endemic settings. Defining realistic timeframes to achieve feasible targets, and establishing suitable measures of effectiveness for these targets that can be quantified with current monitoring and evaluation tools, are current major barriers to identifying validated strategies. Taenia solium transmission models can support setting achievable 2030 goals; however, the refinement of these models is first required. Incorporating socio-economic elements, improved understanding of underlying biological processes, and consideration of spatial dynamics are key knowledge gaps that need addressing to support model development.

Transmission dynamics and quarantine control of COVID-19 in cluster community: A new transmission-quarantine model with case study for diamond princess

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Qingwu Gao ◽  
Jun Zhuang ◽  
Ting Wu ◽  
Houcai Shen
Keyword(s):  
Real Data ◽  
Transmission Dynamics ◽  
World Health ◽  
Substantial Impact ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Proposed Model ◽  
Conduct Sensitivity Analysis ◽  
Community Transmission ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
And Control

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a zoonotic illness which has spread rapidly and widely since December, 2019, and is identified as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. The pandemic to date has been characterized by ongoing cluster community transmission. Quarantine intervention to prevent and control the transmission are expected to have a substantial impact on delaying the growth and mitigating the size of the epidemic. To our best knowledge, our study is among the initial efforts to analyze the interplay between transmission dynamics and quarantine intervention of the COVID-19 outbreak in a cluster community. In the paper, we propose a novel Transmission-Quarantine epidemiological model by nonlinear ordinary differential equations system. With the use of detailed epidemiologic data from the Cruise ship “Diamond Princess”, we design a Transmission-Quarantine work-flow to determine the optimal case-specific parameters, and validate the proposed model by comparing the simulated curve with the real data. First, we apply a general SEIR-type epidemic model to study the transmission dynamics of COVID-19 without quarantine intervention, and present the analytic and simulation results for the epidemiological parameters such as the basic reproduction number, the maximal scale of infectious cases, the instant number of recovered cases, the popularity level and the final scope of the epidemic of COVID-19. Second, we adopt the proposed Transmission-Quarantine interplay model to predict the varying trend of COVID-19 with quarantine intervention, and compare the transmission dynamics with and without quarantine to illustrate the effectiveness of the quarantine measure, which indicates that with quarantine intervention, the number of infectious cases in 7 days decrease by about 60%, compared with the scenario of no intervention. Finally, we conduct sensitivity analysis to simulate the impacts of different parameters and different quarantine measures, and identify the optimal quarantine strategy that will be used by the decision makers to achieve the maximal protection of population with the minimal interruption of economic and social development.

scholarly journals A geo-coded inventory of anophelines in the Afrotropical Region south of the Sahara: 1898-2016

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 57 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Kyalo ◽  
Punam Amratia ◽  
Clara W. Mundia ◽  
Charles M. Mbogo ◽  
Maureen Coetzee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Malaria Control ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
World Health ◽  
Reference Source ◽  
Vector Species ◽  
Control Programmes ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Formed Part ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Health Organization

Background: Understanding the distribution of anopheline vectors of malaria is an important prelude to the design of national malaria control and elimination programmes. A single, geo-coded continental inventory of anophelines using all available published and unpublished data has not been undertaken since the 1960s. Methods: We have searched African, European and World Health Organization archives to identify unpublished reports on anopheline surveys in 48 sub-Saharan Africa countries. This search was supplemented by identification of reports that formed part of post-graduate theses, conference abstracts, regional insecticide resistance databases and more traditional bibliographic searches of peer-reviewed literature. Finally, a check was made against two recent repositories of dominant malaria vector species locations (circa 2,500). Each report was used to extract information on the survey dates, village locations (geo-coded to provide a longitude and latitude), sampling methods, species identification methods and all anopheline species found present during the survey. Survey records were collapsed to a single site over time.    Results: The search strategy took years and resulted in 13,331 unique, geo-coded survey locations of anopheline vector occurrence between 1898 and 2016. A total of 12,204 (92%) sites reported the presence of 10 dominant vector species/sibling species; 4,473 (37%) of these sites were sampled since 2005. 4,442 (33%) sites reported at least one of 13 possible secondary vector species; 1,107 (25%) of these sites were sampled since 2005. Distributions of dominant and secondary vectors conform to previous descriptions of the ecological ranges of these vectors. Conclusion: We have assembled the largest ever geo-coded database of anophelines in Africa, representing a legacy dataset for future updating and identification of knowledge gaps at national levels. The geo-coded database is available on Harvard Dataverse as a reference source for African national malaria control programmes planning their future control and elimination strategies.

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