scholarly journals Hinari and Agora: free access to scientific information for poor countries

2003 ◽  
Vol 02 (04) ◽  
pp. F04 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabetta Tola

In the midst of a debate on access to information, the World Health Organization and the FAO have decided to develop a strategy to guarantee the right of poor countries to have free access to scientific publications. This right is often denied, mainly because of high subscription costs. For this reason, universities and research centres in southern countries must forego buying magazines, which are a valuable instrument for updating, and exchanging information on research and scientific issues. This choice has been made in an historical period when the industrialized world is marked by a knowledge-based economy.

Author(s):  
Maria Gardenia Amorim ◽  
Marcos Kubrusly ◽  
Sócrates Belém Gomes ◽  
Isabella Cabral Marinho Plens ◽  
Hermano Alexandre Lima Rocha ◽  
...  

Abstract: Introduction: The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are around one million deaths by suicide a year worldwide, more than the total sum of deaths caused by wars and homicides, which results in one death every 40 seconds. Despite the existence of several scientific publications on suicide prevention, there have been studies showing that health professionals are not trained to adequately care for individuals at risk of suicide. Objective: This study aimed to understand the attitudes and perceptions of medical school students and teachers regarding suicide. Methods: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive study, with a quantitative and qualitative approach, approved by the Research Ethics Committee, which assessed a sample of 180 students attending the 8th and 11th semesters and 57 teachers from different semesters of the evaluated medical courses. The data were obtained by applying the Suicide Behavior Attitude Questionnaire (SBAQ), in addition to a sociodemographic questionnaire. The data were submitted to descriptive and analytical statistics. Results: Regarding professional capacity, the scores were low for both students (median 5.5) and teachers (median 5.25). Students who had seen someone exhibiting suicidal behavior (p = 0.002) and those attending the more advanced semesters (p = 0.04) felt more confident when treating patients at risk of suicide. There was a significant difference regarding the Right to Suicide factor among students who said they were religious (p = 0.001), as also among the teachers who attended religious services with a higher frequency (p = 0.02). Conclusions: We conclude that students and teachers have had little experience with suicide in the assessed medical courses, which contributes to low level of training and the feeling of insecurity, indicating the need to give more importance to the subject in the undergraduate medical school, aiming to allow the acquisition of knowledge and skills for a competent and preventive medical practice regarding suicide.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-66
Author(s):  
Deganit Kobliner-Friedman, RN, MPH ◽  
Ofer Merin, MD ◽  
Eran Mashiach, MD ◽  
Reuven Kedar, MD ◽  
Shai Schul, MHA ◽  
...  

Emergency medical teams (EMTs) encounter chaos upon arriving at the scene of a disaster. Rescue efforts are utilitarian and focus on providing the technical aspects of medical care in order to save the most lives at the expense of the individual. This often neglects the basic healthcare rights of the patient. The Sphere Project was initiated to develop universal humanitarian standards for disaster response.The increase in the number of EMTs led the World Health Organization (WHO) to organize standards for disaster response. In 2016, the WHO certified the Israel Defense Forces Field Hospital (IDF-FH) as the first to be awarded the highest level of accreditation (EMT-3). This paper presents the IDF-FH’s efforts to protect the patient’s healthcare rights in a disaster zone based on the Sphere Principles.These core Sphere Principles include the right to professional medical treatment; the right to dignity, privacy, and confidentiality; the right for information in an understandable language; the right to informed consent; the obligation to maintain private medical records; the obligation to adhere to universal ethical standards, to respect culture and custom and to care for vulnerable populations; the right to protection from sexual exploitation and violence; and the right to continued treatment.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Nazzal ◽  
Samer Chinder

In Lebanon, the social connections are undeniable and crucial. However, meeting places remain private such as houses, restaurants, malls, and beach resorts. This is mainly due to the shortage of public spaces in Lebanon resulting from lack of planning, regulations and awareness around the right to the city and the importance of public spaces. In main cities where land prices are so expensive, common practice has prioritized the use of land in real estate development, thus trumping other uses such as public and communal spaces.In the late 1990s, Lebanon saw the emergence of malls, which have arguably acted as alternatives to public spaces. Malls, with their wealth of food courts, restaurants, cinemas, and play areas, have become the new downtown for a portion of the Lebanese population. They are also considered safe, which is another important factor.In 2015, the percentage of green spaces in Lebanon has decreased to less than 13%. While the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends a minimum of 9m2 of green space per capita (UN-HABITAT, 2016), Beirut has only 0.8m2.


2018 ◽  
pp. 24-42
Author(s):  
MARÍA DALLI

In 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the first international text recognising universal human rights for all; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Article 25 recognises the right to an adequate standard of living, which includes the right to health and medical care. On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Declaration, this article presents an overview of the main developments that have been made towards understanding the content and implications of the right to health, as well as an analysis of some specific advancements that aim to facilitate the enforcement thereof. These include: a) the implication of private entities as responsible for right to health obligations; b) the Universal Health Coverage goal, proposed by the World Health Organization and included as one of the Sustainable Development Goals; and c) the individual complaints mechanism introduced by the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (adopted on the 10th December 2008, 60 years after the UDHR).


Author(s):  
Mirjana Arandjelovic

AbstractCountries in transition, such as Serbia, have been going through obligatory system reforms, including the reform of the healthcare system. As a rule, occupational health becomes marginalized by the authorities who decide on medical care. In spite of the fact that this branch of medicine cares for working population that mostly carries the burden of transition, when material situation equals the existential minimum, its potentials are not recognized. On the other hand, the World Health Organization makes a remark that such population’s health is undermined now more than ever, and adopts a binding global plan for member countries and their experts in occupational health to take urgent measures for overall working people’s health according to their needs. It seems that former work method of biomedicine specialists could not realize such ambition. This paper discusses the possibilities of occupational health future orientation toward holistic medicine, for the sake of workers’ well-being and better quality of their lives, then creation of more humane society and vocational affirmation. Health promotion at workplace and salutogenic concept may have crucial roles. This concept is a huge challenge for academic public and vocational practitioners in poor countries in transition that are already burdened with the current economic and financial crisis. Each in their own way, helped by self-education and education, without big material investments, together they may take their countries to the road of health, the road still rarely taken, yet more secure.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (7) ◽  
pp. 356-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Silverston

Choosing the right treatment for the patient requires that the right diagnosis is made first. In primary and ambulatory care, however, diagnostic errors are both common and commonly preventable. The World Health Organization has recommended that all health professionals should receive formal training in the principles of diagnostic reasoning and the causes of diagnostic error, and that strategies and interventions to reduce the risk of diagnostic error should be used in clinical practice. This article describes a mnemonic checklist, SAFER PRACTICES, which can be used in an integrated approach to the prevention and detection of diagnostic errors that starts in the classroom and continues through to the consulting room.


Author(s):  
Michelle L. Segar ◽  
Marta M. Marques ◽  
Antonio L. Palmeira ◽  
Anthony D. Okely

Abstract The World Health Organization (WHO) released the 2020 global guidelines on physical activity and sedentary behaviour. The new guidelines contain a significant change from the 2010 guidelines on physical activity for adults and older adults that has important implications for next-generation physical activity messaging: The removal of the need for aerobic activity to occur in bouts of at least 10 min duration. This change in the guidelines provides an opportunity to communicate in new ways that align with behavioural science, permitting physical activity communicators and promoters to better support people’s psychological needs, motivation, and ability to fit healthy levels of physical activity into their lives. The frames and messages we use to communicate about the guidelines matter because they influence whether activity is perceived as relevant, meaningful, and feasible – or not. When developing new physical activity communications there are some overarching principles, based on behavioural science, to keep in mind. Using established theory, this commentary aims to support the creation of more strategic frames and messages for increasing the value and integration of physical activity into daily living. Country-specific physical activity campaigns using these ideas will be discussed.


2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. R65-R79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alfred King-yin Lam

Adrenal lipomatous tumour is a group of adrenal tumours with a significant component of adipose tissue. According to the current World Health Organization (WHO) classification of tumours of endocrine organs, adrenal myelolipoma is the only entity amongst the group of tumours being described. In the literature, other more recently documented adrenal lipomatous tumours included 24 lipomas, 32 teratomas and 16 angiomyolipomas. Rare fatty tumours of the adrenal gland comprised liposarcoma, hibernoma, adrenocortical tumours with fat component and rare adrenal tumours with fat component. Myelolipoma comprises approximately 3% of primary adrenal tumour. It is noted more commonly in females and in the right adrenal gland. Approximately 40 bilateral myelolipomas were reported. The tumour is most frequently recorded in patients between fifth and seventh decades of life. Adrenal lipomas are often seen in males and in the right adrenal gland. They were commonly noted in patients in the sixth decade of life. The diagnosis could only be possible on examination of the surgically removed specimen. Adrenal teratomas were more common in females and with a bimodal age distribution. Slightly over 60% of the patients with adrenal teratoma are symptomatic. Adrenal angiomyolipomas were often symptomatic, more common in females and in the fifth decades of life. To conclude, adrenal lipomatous tumour is uncommon. They are often benign and non-functional. It is important to recognize the features of this group of lipomatous tumours in the adrenal gland as they are being detected on increasing incidence as a result of the wide-spread use of modern imaging modalities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Hery Kurniawan

Kelor is a plant species that has many benefits because of its nutritional content. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared Moringa as a miracle plant, because it has saved many lives, especially children in many poor countries. Kelor has the opportunity to be developed in Sumatra, especially Riau as an alternative food crop, source of some important nutrients such as vitamins, proteins and anti-oxidants. Kelor from East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) is known to have the best quality in Indonesia. Its development in Riau requires preliminary research related to the growth of seedlings in several growing medium that have characteristics similar to those in Riau. This study uses a completely randomized design with treatment of growing medium in the form of three treatments, namely black soil, podsolic soil and peat soil mixture. The analysis was carried out descriptively and inference to the parameters of the percentage of life and height of Moringa seedlings. The results showed that seedling growing medium from top soil + fuel husk were best for Moringa seedling growth. Seedling growing media from top soil  sub soil or from top soil alone can be the best alternative afterwards.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Afzal ◽  
Maqbool Hussain ◽  
Jamil Hussain ◽  
Sungyoung Lee

BACKGROUND Declaring the COVID-19 disease a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), it gained momentum as every day passed, and private and government sectors of different countries pushed funding towards research in various capacities. A great portion of efforts is devoted to information technology and service infrastructure development, including research to develop intelligent models and techniques for alerts, monitoring, early diagnosis, prevention, and other relevant services. As a result, tons of information resource have been created in the global space and are available for use. However, there is lack of a defined structure to organize these resources into categories or classes based on the nature as well the origin of data. OBJECTIVE This study aims to organize COVID-19 information resources into a well-defined structure to facilitate easy identification of a resource, tracing information workflows, and a guide for contextual dashboards design and development. METHODS A sequence of action research was performed that involve a review of COVID-19 efforts and initiatives on a global scale during the year 2020. Data is collected according to a defined structure of primary, secondary, and tertiary categories. Various descriptive statistical analysis techniques were employed to get insights of the data to help in developing a conceptual framework underlining the organization of resources and interactions among different resources. RESULTS In this paper, we present a three-level structure of resource categorization that provides a gateway to access the global initiatives with enriched metadata, assists users in tracing the workflow of tertiary, secondary, and primary resources with relationships among various fragments of information. The results comprise mapping initiatives at the tertiary level to secondary and then to the primary level to reach the firsthand resource of data, research, and trials. CONCLUSIONS Adopting the proposed three-level structure enables a consistent organization and management of existing COVID-19 knowledge resources and provides a roadmap for classifying the futuristic resources. This study is one of the earliest studies to introduce an organized structure and demonstrate the placement of COVID-19 resources at the right place. By implementing the proposed framework according to the stated guidelines, this study facilitates the development of applications such as interactive dashboards to facilitate the contextual identification and tracking of interdependent COVID-19 information resources.


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