scholarly journals Village Health Volunteers: Facing up to the Covid-19 Challenge

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Supattra Changsuphan
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Sick People ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Crucial Component ◽  
The World ◽  
Village Health Volunteers ◽  
Public Health Officials ◽  
Village Health

Village Health Volunteers (VHVs) are a crucial component of primary health care in Thailand. They have applied their role in collaboration with the nation’s public health officials at primary and community hospitals since 1978. The outbreak of the 2019 Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), first recorded in Wuhan, China at the end of 2019, has infected millions of people in almost every country in the world, leading to illness, hospitalization and, in many cases, untimely death. During this time global healthcare systems have been under enormous strain to contain the virus outbreak and treat sick people. COVID-19 first came to the attention of Thailand as a highly infectious disease on 26 February 2020, but the nation has successfully responded to the pandemic by focusing effort and resources on primary healthcare. VHVs have contributed significantly in their central role in preventing and controlling the virus in communities around the country.

scholarly journals A public health perspective on mental health: lessons for population health in the 21st century

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
James V. Lucey
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Population Health ◽  
Royal College ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Public Health Perspective ◽  
The World ◽  
Shared Commitment

In December 2019, clinicians and academics from the disciplines of public health and psychiatry met in Dublin at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), to restate their shared commitment to population health. The purpose of this review is to bring our discussion to a wider audience. The meeting could not have been more timely. Six weeks later, the COVID-19 emergency emerged in China and within 12 months it had swept the world. This paper, the contents of which were presented at that meeting in December recommended that future healthcare would be guided more by public health perspectives and informed by an understanding of health economics, population health and the lessons learned by psychiatry in the 20th century. Ultimately two issues are at stake in 21st century healthcare: the sustainability of our healthcare systems and the maintenance of public support for population health. We must plan for the next generation of healthcare. We need to do this now since it is clear that COVID-19 marks the beginning of 21st century medicine.

Agile stockpiles an insurance for drug supply

2020 ◽  
pp. 4-17
Author(s):  
Eddy Gilissen ◽  
◽  
Chris Mulligan ◽  
Simon Tottman ◽  
Per Troein ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Public Service ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Essential Medicines ◽  
World Health ◽  
Catastrophic Event ◽  
Health Organizations ◽  
Safety Stock ◽  
The World ◽  
Additional Burden

Healthcare systems across the world are looking at ways of maintaining the continuity of supply of medicines to patients in times of crisis.Whilst this is not a new phenomenon, the additional burden placed on the supply chain during COVID-19 has meant it has come more into the spotlight. The need to use a stockpile can be caused by an interruption to supply, a rapid and unexpected peak in demand, or when both an interruption to supply and a peak in demand occur simultaneously. The objectives of a stockpile will guide the portfolio breadth and depth to be held. Stockpile objectives are broadly driven either by government requirements to protect public health or by organisations seeking toachieve commercial gain. These drivers are not mutually exclusive as in the case of holding safety stock and Public Service Obligation stock. An Emergency Stockpile is Public Health driven and held in order to supply essential medicines during a signifcant or catastrophic event. Emergency stockpiles can be split into three categories — preparation for imminent event, disease specifc response and general contingency stockpiles. Governments and authorities determine which products and volumes should be held in an emergency stockpile which may be guided by the World Health Organizations (WHO) l ist of essential medicines.

scholarly journals What is Communicable? Unaccounted Injuries and “Catching” Diabetes in an Illegible Epidemic

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy Moran-Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Disease Transmission ◽  
Communicable Disease ◽  
Treatment Access ◽  
Infectious Disease Transmission ◽  
The World ◽  
Historically Situated ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Non Communicable Disease

Long-accepted models of causality cast diseases into the binary of either “contagious” or “non-communicable,” typically with institutional resources focused primarily on interrupting infectious disease transmission. But in southern Belize, as in much of the world today, epidemic diabetes has become a leading cause of death and a notorious contributor to organ failure and amputated limbs. This ethnographic essay follows caregivers’ and families’ work to survive in-between public health categories, and asks what responses a bifurcated model of infectious versus non-communicable disease structures or incapacitates in practice. It proposes an alternative focus on diabetes as a “para-communicable” condition—materially transmitted as bodies and ecologies intimately shape each other over time, with unequal and compounding effects for historically situated groups of people. The article closes by querying how communicability relates to community, and why it matters to reframe narratives about contributing causalities in relation to struggles for treatment access.

scholarly journals Vietnamese Public Health Practices in the Advent of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Lessons for Developing Countries

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 163-164
Author(s):  
Jeconiah Louis Dreisbach
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Short Communication ◽  
Health Policies ◽  
World Health ◽  
Public Health Policies ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

The 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) presents a great challenge to developing countries with limited access to public health measures in grassroots communities. The World Health Organization lauded the Vietnamese government for its proactive and steady investment in health facilities that mitigate the risk of the infectious disease in Vietnam. This short communication presents cases that could benchmark public health policies in developing countries.

scholarly journals Optimization of the CDC Protocol of Molecular Diagnosis of COVID-19 for Timely Diagnosis

Diagnostics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao-Ju Chen ◽  
Li-Ling Hsieh ◽  
Shu-Kai Lin ◽  
Chu-Feng Wang ◽  
Yi-Hui Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome ◽  
Reverse Transcriptase ◽  
Gold Standard ◽  
Health Needs ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Assay Optimization ◽  
The World ◽  
Polymerase Chain

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the current uncontrolled outbreak of infectious disease, has caused significant challenges throughout the world. A reliable rapid diagnostic test for COVID-19 is demanded worldwide. The real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain was one of the most quickly established methods in the novel viral pandemic and was considered as the gold standard for the detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). In this report, we illustrate our experience of applying a protocol from the Taiwan CDC and achieving assay optimization in the immediate circumstances to meet the urgent medical and public health needs.

scholarly journals Tuberculosis: New Aspects of an Old Disease

2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luisa Jordao ◽  
Otilia V. Vieira
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Nitric Oxide ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Innate Immunity ◽  
Mycobacterium Tuberculosis ◽  
Host Defense ◽  
Molecular Mechanisms ◽  
Nitric Oxide Production ◽  
Phagosome Maturation ◽  
The World

Tuberculosis is an ancient infectious disease that remains a threat for public health around the world. Although the etiological agent as well as tuberculosis pathogenesis is well known, the molecular mechanisms underlying the host defense to the bacilli remain elusive. In this paper we focus on the innate immunity of this disease reviewing well-established and consensual mechanisms likeMycobacterium tuberculosisinterference with phagosome maturation, less consensual mechanism like nitric oxide production, and new mechanisms, such as mycobacteria translocation to the cytosol, autophagy, and apoptosis/necrosis proposed mainly during the last decade.

Communicating Emerging Infectious Disease Outbreaks to the Public Through Local Television News: Public Health Officials as Potential Spokespeople

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 220-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
James M. Pribble ◽  
Erika F. Fowler ◽  
Sonia V. Kamat ◽  
William M. Wilkerson ◽  
Kenneth M. Goldstein ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Television News ◽  
The United States ◽  
Emerging Infectious Disease ◽  
Quality Information ◽  
Health Official ◽  
Local Television ◽  
Local Television News ◽  
Public Health Officials

ABSTRACTObjective: To assess how West Nile virus (WNV) was reported to the American public on local television news and identify the main factors that influenced coverage.Methods: A representative sample of WNV stories that were reported on 122 local television news stations across the United States during October 2002, covering 67% of the nation's population, were coded for self-efficacy, comparative risk scenarios, symptoms and recommendations, high-risk individuals, and frame. In addition, public service professionals (PSPs) interviewed in the segments were identified. Comparisons were made between stories in which a PSP was interviewed and stories without an interview with respect to discussion of the 5 variables coded.Results: Of the 1371 health-related stories captured during the study period, 160 WNV stories aired, the second most common health topic reported. Forty-nine of the 160 WNV stories contained at least 1 of the 5 reporting variables. Forty-two PSPs were interviewed within 33 unique WNV stories. Public health officials composed 81% of all PSP interviews. Stories containing a public health official interview had 15.2 times (odds ratio 15.2, confidence interval 5.1-45.9) higher odds of reporting quality information, controlling for station affiliate or geographic location.Conclusions: Emerging infectious disease stories are prominently reported by local television news. Stories containing interviews with public health officials were also much more likely to report quality information. Optimizing the interactions between and availability of public health officials and the local news media may enhance disaster communication of emerging infections.(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2010;4:220-225)

scholarly journals Recovery Ratios Reliably Anticipate COVID-19 Pandemic Progression

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan V. Nicolau ◽  
Alexander Hasson ◽  
Mona Bafadhel
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Predictive Models ◽  
Recovery Phase ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Epidemiological Models ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
The World ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Pandemic Wave ◽  
Gaining Insight

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic is placing unprecedented demands on healthcare systems worldwide and exacting a massive humanitarian toll. This makes the development of accurate predictive models imperative, not just for understanding the course of the pandemic but more importantly for gaining insight into the efficacy of public health measures and planning accordingly. Epidemiological models are forced to make assumptions about many unknowns and therefore can be unreliable. Here, taking an empirical approach, we report a 20-30 day lag between the peak of confirmed to recovered cases and the peak of daily deaths in each country, independent of the epoch of that country in its pandemic cycle. This analysis is expected to be largely independent of the proportion of the population being tested and therefore should aid in planning around the timing and easing of public health measures. Our data also suggests broad predictions for the number of fatalities, generally somewhat lower than most other models. Finally, our model suggests that the world as a whole is shortly to enter a recovery phase, at least as far as the first pandemic wave is concerned.

scholarly journals Leveraging GIS Technologies for Informed Decision-making in COVID-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rakibul Ahasan ◽  
Md Mahbub Hossain
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Spatial Clustering ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Informed Decision Making ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Gis Technologies ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
The World

With more than 19 million confirmed cases and over 700 thousand case-fatalities around the world, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic had changed the dynamics of human lives globally. Different Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques are widely used across scientific disciplines, including public health since the mid-1960s. Previous studies found that GIS was actively used in infectious disease mapping. Recently, GIS has been playing a critical role in understanding the spatial clustering and transmission trend of the ongoing COVID-19.3 However, it can be argued that the applications of GIS technologies could have provided more insights for research and practice in the context of COVID-19.

Mobile Technology Support for the Assessment and Management of COVID-19 Outbreak

2021 ◽  
pp. 13-24
Author(s):  
Chinazunwa Uwaoma ◽  
Clement C. Aladi
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Disease Management ◽  
Mobile Technology ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Technology Support ◽  
The World ◽  
Obvious Reason ◽  
Entire World

The early months in 2020 saw a rapid increase in the adoption of mHealth and telehealth across the globe. The obvious reason being the sudden outbreak of coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19), which sent the entire world scrambling for solutions to contain and mitigate the spread. Ordinarily, telehealth and mHealth are considered optional in most traditional healthcare systems even in developed countries, but today, these technologies have become the most sought-after tools required to augment the overwhelmed healthcare systems orchestrated by COVID-19. Mobile technology in particular has continued to play important roles in the monitoring, surveillance, and the assessment of the outbreak in so many ways. This chapter offers a window into different ways mHealth and telemedicine are used to provide healthcare services and disease management, as well as the challenges in the implementation of these technologies as the world braces for the devastating effects of COVID-19.

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