scholarly journals Lessons From the Implementation of Mo-Buzz, a Mobile Pandemic Surveillance System for Dengue (Preprint)

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
May Oo Lwin ◽  
Karthikayen Jayasundar ◽  
Anita Sheldenkar ◽  
Ruwan Wijayamuni ◽  
Prasad Wimalaratne ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
General Public ◽  
Management System ◽  
Risk Perceptions ◽  
Community Education ◽  
Dengue Infection ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
The World

BACKGROUND Approximately 128 countries and 3.9 billion people are at risk of dengue infection. Incidence of dengue has increased over the past decades, becoming a growing public health concern for countries with populations that are increasingly susceptible to this vector-borne disease, such as Sri Lanka. Almost 55,150 dengue cases were reported in Sri Lanka in 2016, with more than 30.40% of cases (n=16,767) originating from Colombo, which struggles with an outdated manual paper-based dengue outbreak management system. Community education and outreach about dengue are also executed using paper-based media channels such as pamphlets and brochures. Yet, Sri Lanka is one of the countries with the most affordable rates of mobile services in the world, with penetration rates higher than most developing countries. OBJECTIVES To combat the issues of an exhausted dengue management system and to make use of new technology, in 2015, a mobile participatory system for dengue surveillance called Mo-Buzz was developed and launched in Colombo, Sri Lanka. This paper describes the system’s components and uptake, along with other similar disease surveillance systems. METHODS We developed Mo-Buzz and tested its feasibility for dengue. Two versions of the app were developed. The first was for use by public health inspectors (PHIs) to digitize form filling and recording of site visit information, and track dengue outbreaks on a real-time dengue hotspot map using the global positioning system technology. The system also provides updated dengue infographics and educational materials for the PHIs to educate the general public. The second version of Mo-Buzz was created for use by the general public. This system uses dynamic mapping to help educate and inform the general public about potential outbreak regions and allow them to report dengue symptoms and post pictures of potential dengue mosquito–breeding sites, which are automatically sent to the health authorities. Targeted alerts can be sent to users depending on their geographical location. RESULTS We assessed the usage and the usability of the app and its impact on overall dengue transmission in Colombo. Initial uptake of Mo-Buzz for PHIs was low; however, after more training and incentivizing of usage, the uptake of the app in PHIs increased from less than 10% (n=3) to 76% (n=38). The general public user evaluation feedback was fruitful in providing improvements to the app, and at present, a number of solutions are being reviewed as viable options to boost user uptake. CONCLUSIONS From our Mo-Buzz study, we have learned that initial acceptance of such systems can be slow but eventually positive. Mobile and social media interventions, such as Mo-Buzz, are poised to play a greater role in shaping risk perceptions and managing seasonal and sporadic outbreaks of infectious diseases in Asia and around the world.

scholarly journals Dengue infection during Covid-19 pandemic: A challenge for case management

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-146
Author(s):  
Md Asaduzzaman Miah
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Dengue Infection ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Global Burden ◽  
Public Health Concern ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

The coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) has been caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) that declared as an global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).1,2 This ongoing pandemic causes devastation across the world while multiple countries have been facing with another outbreak- Dengue, a known tropical disease.3 Dengue is the most rapidly spreading mosquito-borne viral infection, also considered as a major public health concern. During COVID-19 pandemic, the increasing incidence of dengue become a further threat especially in the dengue-endemic countries of Southeast Asia and Latin America.4 The global burden of dengue is dynamic,  estimated 50 million real cases per year  across  approximately 100 countries.5 Currently, most of the countries are fighting against COVID-19, therefore, further outbreak of dengue has been posed a number of practical challenges to combat the diseases simultaneously. As dengue cases have been increased during Covid-19 pandemic, both SARS‑CoV‑2 and dengue viruses are co-existing and co-circulating in the environment. Consequently, patients with SARS‑CoV‑2 and dengue co-infection has been reported recently in several countries like Singapore, Thailand, India, and Bangladesh.6-9 Hence, it is speculated that the co-infection cases will be increased and found in another countries in the upcoming days when dengue season goes in its peak. Currently, multiple countries in South America like Brazil, Paraguay, Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia are suffering seriously from co-epidemics of dengue and Covid-19.4 Bangladesh Med Res Counc Bull 2020; 46(2): 145-146

Crowdsourcing Covid-19 signals in sub-Saharan Africa: Leveraging digital contributor networks for participatory surveillance of Covid-19 symptoms and deaths (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ngozi A Erondu ◽  
Sagal A Ali ◽  
Mohamed Ali ◽  
Schadrac C Agbla
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Specific Information ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Health Seeking ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Cross Sectional Survey ◽  
Local Networks ◽  
The World ◽  
Sub Saharan

BACKGROUND In sub-Saharan Africa, underreporting of cases and deaths has been attributed to various factors including, weak disease surveillance, low health-seeking behaviour of flu like symptoms, and stigma of Covid-19. There is evidence that SARS-CoV-2 spread mimics transmission patterns of other countries across the world. Since the Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way research can be conducted and in light of restrictions on travel and risks to in-person data collection, innovative approaches to collecting data must be considered. Nearly 50% of Africa’s population is a unique mobile subscriber and it is one of the fastest growing smart-phone marketplaces in the world; hence, mobile phone platforms should be considered to monitor Covid-19 trends in the community. OBJECTIVE We demonstrate the use of digital contributor platforms to survey individuals about cases of flu-like symptoms and instances of unexplained deaths in Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia, and Zimbabwe. METHODS Rapid cross-sectional survey of individuals with severe flu and pneumonia symptoms and unexplained deaths in Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia and Zimbabwe RESULTS Using a non-health specific information platform, we found COVID-19 signals in five African countries, specifically: •Across countries, nearly half of the respondents (n=739) knew someone who had severe flu or pneumonia symptoms in recent months. •One in three respondents from Somalia and one in five from Zimbabwe respondents said they knew more than five people recently displaying flu and/or pneumonia symptoms. •In Somalia there were signals that a large number of people might be dying outside of health facilities, specifically in their homes or in IDP or refugee camps. CONCLUSIONS Existing digital contributor platforms with local networks are a non-traditional data source that can provide information from the community to supplement traditional government surveillance systems and academic surveys. We demonstrate that using these distributor networks to for community surveys can provide periodic information on rumours but could also be used to capture local sentiment to inform public health decision-making; for example, these insights could be useful to inform strategies to increase confidence in Covid19 vaccine. As Covid-19 continues to spread somewhat silently across sub-Saharan Africa, regional and national public health entities should consider expanding event-based surveillance sources to include these systems.

scholarly journals Ways to Immune Your Finances from the Cost of Heart Disease and Cancer Treatment

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (12S2) ◽  
pp. 43-46
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
Critical Illness ◽  
Cancer Treatment ◽  
General Public ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Insurance Policy ◽  
Public Health Concern ◽  
Questionnaire Method ◽  
The Cost

Threateningdiseases such as, cancer and heart disease are emerging as a major public health concern in India. This paper uses LANCET report to specify the background of heart disease and cancer in India. It also provides ways to transfer the out-of-pocket expenditure caused due to the diagnosis of such disease. Further it discusses about policies such as critical illness, heart and cancer insurance, heart insurance. This paper specifies different factors to be taken into consideration while purchasing a policy and assists in selecting the best insurance policy. To check the awareness among general public this paper uses a questionnaire, method to collect samples (of 417 members) and the results are interpreted accordingly. Finally, this paper also provides recommendations for Cancer Cover to make it more effective.

Phthalimide Analogs for Antimalarial Drug Discovery

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meenakshi Bansal ◽  
Charu Upadhyay ◽  
Poonam Singh ◽  
Sumit Kumar ◽  
Brijesh Rathi
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Antimalarial Drug ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Public Health Concern ◽  
Major Public Health Concern ◽  
The World ◽  
Life Threatening

Malaria remains as one of the most life-threatening diseases and thus major public health concern all around the world. The disease becomes devastating if not treated with proper medication on...

scholarly journals The Effects of Air Pollution on COVID-19 Infection and Mortality—A Review on Recent Evidence

2020 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurshad Ali ◽  
Farjana Islam
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Nitrogen Dioxide ◽  
Air Pollutants ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Public Health Concern ◽  
Short Term ◽  
The World ◽  
Harmful Effects

The outbreak of COVID-19 has created a serious public health concern worldwide. Although, most of the regions around the globe have been affected by COVID-19 infections; some regions are more badly affected in terms of infections and fatality rates than others. The exact reasons for such variations are not clear yet. This review discussed the possible effects of air pollution on COVID-19 infections and mortality based on some recent evidence. The findings of most studies reviewed here demonstrate that both short-term and long-term exposure to air pollution especially PM2.5 and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) may contribute significantly to higher rates of COVID-19 infections and mortalities with a lesser extent also PM10. A significant correlation has been found between air pollution and COVID-19 infections and mortality in some countries in the world. The available data also indicate that exposure to air pollution may influence COVID-19 transmission. Moreover, exposure to air pollution may increase vulnerability and have harmful effects on the prognosis of patients affected by COVID-19 infections. Further research should be conducted considering some potential confounders such as age and pre-existing medical conditions along with exposure to NO2, PM2.5 and other air pollutants to confirm their detrimental effects on mortalities from COVID-19.

scholarly journals Injury Prevention: A Public Health Concern for India

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-276
Author(s):  
R Lakhan
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Community Education ◽  
Research Policy ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Mixed Traffic ◽  
Drinking And Driving ◽  
Public Health Concern ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Education And Awareness

The poor implementation of traffic rules & regulations, heterogeneous mixed traffic, poorly designed roads, traffic vehicles, increasing speed, poor use of protective device such as helmet, drinking and driving, poor visibility, and poor trauma care are a major concern in reducing the prevalence of injuries and related outcome5. Looking at the magnitude of the problems, strong public health emphasis is needed in the areas of research, policy development, community education and awareness, and the health care system in India.  DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/nje.v3i3.9189 Nepal Journal of Epidemiology 2013;3(3): 275-276

scholarly journals Artificial Intelligence-based tools to control healthcare associated infections: where do we stand

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
A Scardoni ◽  
F Balzarini ◽  
F Cabitza ◽  
A Odone
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Performance Measures ◽  
Performance Outcomes ◽  
Health Concern ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Healthcare Associated Infections ◽  
Public Health Action ◽  
Practice Performance ◽  
Healthcare Associated

Abstract Background Control of Healthcare associated infections (HAI) is a key public health concern in Europe. Current HAI surveillance systems are based on manual medical records review, vulnerable to misclassification and expensive. Artificial intelligence (AI) offers great potential to public health action and, specifically, to HAI control. Still, scant evidence is available on both its practice and impact. Methods As part of a broader multidisciplinary project, we conducted a systematic review to retrieve, pool and critically apprize all the available evidence on practice, performance and impact of AI-based HAI control programmes. We followed PRISMA guidelines and searched the Medline and Embase databases for relevant studies. Included studies were stratified by HAI type and outcomes of interest, including all possible performance measures, clinical, organizational and economic outcomes. Results We screened 2873 records, resulting in 27 papers included in the review. Studies were carried out in 9 countries, the majority in the US (56%), 18.5% in EU countries, 25.9% published in 2018. Two thirds of studies focused on selected types of infections. Study designs were very diverse and performance observed for HAI detection were very heterogeneous, precluding pooled calculation of summary diagnostic accuracy estimates in most instances, but generally higher than non AI-based models. The highest performance outcomes were Specificity and Negative Predictive Value. Overall performance measures of AI algorithms were: sensitivity range 19%-92%, specificity range 64%-96%, accuracy 70.2%-96.1%. Conclusions Use of AI algorithms for HAI surveillance of HAI has increased reliability compared to traditional surveillance or to automated surveillance models. With ongoing improvements in information technology, implementation of AI models will improve the quality and capacity of surveillance will support hospital HAI surveillance. Key messages Artificial Intelligence (AI) offer great potential to healthcare associated infections (HAI) control. Preliminary evidence show AI-based models have perform better than manual or automated models for HAIs detection.

scholarly journals Serious non-fatal unintentional injuries among in-school adolescents in Sri Lanka: results from the 2016 Sri Lankan Global School-Based Health Survey

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sashimali Wickramasinghe ◽  
Nalika Gunawardena ◽  
Dhanusha Punyadasa ◽  
Shanthi Gunawardena ◽  
Champika Wickramasinghe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Health Survey ◽  
Health Problem ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Major Public Health Problem ◽  
Age Group ◽  
Unintentional Injuries ◽  
School Based ◽  
The World

Abstract Background Unintentional injuries among adolescents is a major public health problem the world over. A great majority of the annual deaths among adolescents is due to unintentional injuries; it is also the leading cause of death among adolescents in the world. The aim of this study was to estimate the incidence of injuries and their associated factors among school going adolescents aged 13-17 years using data from the most recent Global School-Based Health Survey (GSHS) conducted in Sri Lanka. Methods A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire, among 3,262 adolescents attending government schools. The sample was selected through a two-staged cluster sampling technique. In the first stage, 40 schools were selected using probabilities proportional to school enrollment size, from all schools in the country that have classes in grades 8-12 . Then, from the selected schools, classes were selected using systematic equal probability sampling with a random start. The weighted prevalence was calculated, and logistic regression analysis was conducted in order to determine the correlates. Results During the 12 months before the survey, 35.8% (95% CI-30.7 - 41.1) of the students reported being seriously injured one or more times. The injuries were more common among males, but were equally common among the two different age groups (13-15 age group vs 16-17 age group). The most common type of injury was cut or stab wounds (5.5%), followed by broken bones/dislocated joints (5.3%). Multivariable analysis revealed that only a few factors were associated with injury, such as being of the male sex, being bullied, being physically attacked, and/or being in a physical fight. Conclusion This study demonstrated that the prevalence of serious unintentional injuries among school going adolescents is a major public health problem in Sri Lanka. This timely and comprehensive survey would help policy makers and researchers identify the unmet needs related to adolescent injuries. Furthermore, evidence generated form the study should be given due consideration when designing school-based interventions to prevent adolescent injuries.

scholarly journals Identifying and Communicating the Importance of the Variable Nature of SyS Data

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Rubino ◽  
David Atrubin ◽  
Janet J. Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Trend Analysis ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
General Public ◽  
Syndromic Surveillance ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Subject Matter Experts ◽  
Variable Nature ◽  
The Media ◽  
Time Evaluation

ObjectiveThis roundtable will provide a forum for national, state, and localmanagers of syndromic surveillance systems to discuss how theyidentify, monitor, and respond to changes in the nature of their data.Additionally, this session will focus on the strengths and weaknessof the syndromic surveillance systems for supporting programevaluation and trend analysis. This session will also provide a forumwhere subject matter experts can discuss the ways in which this deepunderstanding of their data can be leveraged to forge and improvepartnerships with academic partners.IntroductionAs syndromic surveillance systems continue to grow, newopportunities have arisen to utilize the data in new or alternativeways for which the system was not initially designed. For example,in many jurisdictions syndromic surveillance has recently becomepopulation-based, with 100% coverage of targeted emergencydepartment encounters. This makes the data more valuable for real-time evaluation of public health and prevention programs. There hasalso been increasing pressure to make more data publicly available –to the media, academic partners, and the general public.

scholarly journals It Will Take a Global Movement to Curb Corruption in Health Systems Comment on "We Need to Talk About Corruption in Health Systems"

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 662-664
Author(s):  
Margot I. Witvliet
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
General Public ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Medical Professionals ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Public Health Professionals ◽  
The World ◽  
Global Movement

Corruption in health systems is a problem around the world. Prior research consistently shows that corruption is detrimental to population health. Yet public health professionals are slow to address this complicated issue on a global scale. In the editorial entitled "We Need to Talk About Corruption in Health Systems" concern with the general lack of discourse on this topic amongst health professionals is highlighted. In this invited commentary three contributing factors that hamper public dialogue on corruption are discussed. These include (i) corrupt acts are often not illegal, (ii) government and medical professionals continued acceptance of corruption in the health systems, and (iii) lack of awareness within the general public on the extent of the problem. It is advocated that a global movement that is fully inclusive needs to occur to eradicate corruption.

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