scholarly journals Editorial: Diets, Public Health and Environmental Degradation: Trade-Offs, Synergies, and Policy Interventions

2022 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tong Wu ◽  
Lei Liu
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Environmental Degradation ◽  
Policy Interventions ◽  
Trade Offs

Biosecurity and Public Health Ethics Issues Raised by Biological Threats

2019 ◽  
pp. 773-785
Author(s):  
Nicholas Evans ◽  
Thomas Inglesby
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Ethical Issues ◽  
Emerging Infectious Diseases ◽  
Biological Weapon ◽  
Ethical Values ◽  
Dual Use ◽  
Health Concerns ◽  
Trade Offs

This chapter introduces ethical issues that arise in the context of biosecurity: policies and actions intended to prevent the development or emergence, or mitigate the consequences, of serious biological threats. These threats could include deliberate biological weapon attacks (bioterrorism), pandemics, emerging infectious diseases, or major laboratory accidents. The basic values that underpin these public health concerns are first introduced. Ethical issues that arise before, during, and following a biosecurity crisis are then examined, including issues of resource allocation, dual-use research, and the possibility of quarantine. Their resolution requires trade-offs among different ethical values, including utility, fairness, and liberty.

Malnutrition, Public Health, and Ethics

2019 ◽  
pp. 570-584
Author(s):  
Jessica Fanzo
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Food Security ◽  
Overweight And Obesity ◽  
Micronutrient Deficiencies ◽  
Intergenerational Justice ◽  
Ethical Challenges ◽  
Environmentally Sustainable ◽  
Nutritious Food ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Society Today

A major challenge for society today is how to secure and provide plentiful, healthy, and nutritious food for all in an environmentally sustainable and safe manner, while also addressing the multiple burdens of undernutrition, overweight and obesity, stunting and wasting, and micronutrient deficiencies, particularly for the most vulnerable. There are considerable ethical questions and trade-offs that arise when attempting to address this challenge, centered around integrating nutrition into the food security paradigm. This chapter attempts to highlight three key ethical challenges: the prioritization of key actions to address the multiple burdens of malnutrition, intergenerational justice issues of nutrition-impacted epigenetics, and the consequences of people’s diet choices, not only for humanity but also for the planet.

Chinese "Cancer Villages"

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajiang Chen ◽  
Pengli Cheng ◽  
Yajuan Luo
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Economic Growth ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Sociological Analysis ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
The Relationship

The phenomenon of "cancer villages" has emerged in many parts of rural China, drawing media attention and becoming a fact of social life. However, the relationship between pollution and disease is often hard to discern. Through sociological analysis of several villages with different social and economic structures, the authors offer a comprehensive, historically grounded analysis of the coexistence between the incidence of cancer, environmental pollution and villagers’ lifestyles, as well as the perceptions, claims and responses of different actors. They situate the appearance of "cancer villages" in the context of social, economic and cultural change in China, tracing the evolution of the issue over two decades, and providing deep insights into the complex interactions and trade-offs between economic growth, environmental change and public health.

scholarly journals COVID-19: Rethinking the Lockdown Groupthink

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ari R. Joffe
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Cost Benefit Analysis ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Herd Immunity ◽  
Cost Benefit ◽  
Risk Groups ◽  
School Closures ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Care Systems

The Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) worldwide pandemic in 2020. In response, most countries in the world implemented lockdowns, restricting their population's movements, work, education, gatherings, and general activities in attempt to “flatten the curve” of COVID-19 cases. The public health goal of lockdowns was to save the population from COVID-19 cases and deaths, and to prevent overwhelming health care systems with COVID-19 patients. In this narrative review I explain why I changed my mind about supporting lockdowns. The initial modeling predictions induced fear and crowd-effects (i.e., groupthink). Over time, important information emerged relevant to the modeling, including the lower infection fatality rate (median 0.23%), clarification of high-risk groups (specifically, those 70 years of age and older), lower herd immunity thresholds (likely 20–40% population immunity), and the difficult exit strategies. In addition, information emerged on significant collateral damage due to the response to the pandemic, adversely affecting many millions of people with poverty, food insecurity, loneliness, unemployment, school closures, and interrupted healthcare. Raw numbers of COVID-19 cases and deaths were difficult to interpret, and may be tempered by information placing the number of COVID-19 deaths in proper context and perspective relative to background rates. Considering this information, a cost-benefit analysis of the response to COVID-19 finds that lockdowns are far more harmful to public health (at least 5–10 times so in terms of wellbeing years) than COVID-19 can be. Controversies and objections about the main points made are considered and addressed. Progress in the response to COVID-19 depends on considering the trade-offs discussed here that determine the wellbeing of populations. I close with some suggestions for moving forward, including focused protection of those truly at high risk, opening of schools, and building back better with a economy.

scholarly journals Response2covid19, a dataset of governments’ responses to COVID-19 all around the world

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Porcher
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Interest Rates ◽  
School Closures ◽  
Mass Gatherings ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Policy Interventions ◽  
Economic Decision Making ◽  
The World ◽  
Robust Evidence

AbstractFollowing the COVID-19 outbreak, governments all around the world have implemented public health and economic measures to contain the spread of the virus and to support the economy. Public health measures include domestic lockdown, school closures and bans on mass gatherings among others. Economic measures cover wage support, cash transfers, interest rates cuts, tax cuts and delays, and support to exporters or importers. This paper introduces ‘Response2covid19’, a living dataset of governments’ responses to COVID-19. The dataset codes the various policy interventions with their dates at the country-level for more than 200 countries from January 1 to October 1, 2020 and is updated every month. The production of detailed data on the measures taken by governments can help generate robust evidence to support public health and economic decision making.

scholarly journals How to enhance collaboration between primary care and public health?

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
B Rechel
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
International Health ◽  
The United States ◽  
Institute Of Medicine ◽  
Organizational Models ◽  
Scarce Resources ◽  
Policy Interventions ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Public Health Professionals

Abstract Background There are almost universal calls for improved collaboration between public health and primary care, but it is less clear how this can be achieved in practice. This presentation summarises key findings from an Observatory policy brief on how to enhance collaboration. Methods The policy brief iss based on a systematic review of the academic literature on collaboration between public health and primary care, searching the databases Medline and Embase for articles published since 2010. After title, abstract and full-text screening, 46 articles were retained and included in the review. Results Most academic articles on collaboration between primary care and public health are concerned with the United States and Canada. From the European countries, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are most strongly represented. There is also a very uneven timeline in publication, with a spike in articles published in 2012, following an influential Institute of Medicine report. Research has identified organizational models of primary care that are conducive to collaboration with public health, as well as systemic, organizational and interpersonal factors that can facilitate or hinder collaboration. However, the relative importance of these factors remains poorly understood. Improved collaboration between public health and primary care promises to bring major benefits, but these are rarely documented in the literature so far. Furthermore, collaboration may also bring certain risks, such as competition over scarce resources. Conclusions The literature on collaboration between public health and primary care points to many illustrative examples, but also identifies relevant principles and factors that can hinder or facilitate collaboration. Policy interventions to improve collaboration will need to be mindful of potential risks and should aim to demonstrate benefits, which will help to increase buy-in from primary care and public health professionals and the public. Panelists: Ilana Ventura Federal Ministry of Labour, Social Affairs, Health and Consumer Protection, Austrian Government, Vienna, Austria Contact: [email protected] Birger Forsberg International Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden Contact: [email protected] Rémi Pécault-Charby Caisse Nationale de l’Assurance Maladie, Paris, France Contact: [email protected]

scholarly journals Big Data, Decision Models, and Public Health

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (18) ◽  
pp. 6723
Author(s):  
Chien-Lung Chan ◽  
Chi-Chang Chang
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Data Analytics ◽  
Big Data Analytics ◽  
Decision Models ◽  
Medical Decision ◽  
Mining Machine ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Trade Offs

Unlike most daily decisions, medical decision making often has substantial consequences and trade-offs. Recently, big data analytics techniques such as statistical analysis, data mining, machine learning and deep learning can be applied to construct innovative decision models. With complex decision making, it can be difficult to comprehend and compare the benefits and risks of all available options to make a decision. For these reasons, this Special Issue focuses on the use of big data analytics and forms of public health decision making based on the decision model, spanning from theory to practice. A total of 64 submissions were carefully blind peer reviewed by at least two referees and, finally, 23 papers were selected for this Special Issue.

Promoting Healthy Diets and Tackling Obesity and Diet-Related Chronic Diseases: What are the Agricultural Policy Levers?

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (2_suppl2) ◽  
pp. S312-S322 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corinna Hawkes
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Chronic Diseases ◽  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Public Health Problem ◽  
Agricultural Policies ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Healthy Diets ◽  
Production Practices ◽  
Policies And Practices

Background Diet-related chronic diseases are now a serious global public health problem. Public health groups are calling for the agricultural sector to play a greater role in tackling the threat. Objective To identify potential points of policy intervention in the agricultural sector that could be leveraged to promote healthy diets and tackle obesity and diet-related chronic diseases. Methods A review of the literature on the dietary implications of agriculture, a conceptual analysis of the issues, and the identification of relevant examples. Results There are two main potential points of intervention in the agricultural sector that could be leveraged to promote healthy diets: agricultural policies and agricultural production practices. Agricultural policies and practices affect diet through their influence on food availability, price, and nutrient quality, which in turn affects food choices available to consumers. Agricultural policies amenable to intervention include input, production, and trade policies; agricultural production practices amenable to intervention include crop breeding, crop fertilization practices, livestock-feeding practices, and crop systems diversity. Conclusions It is well-known that agricultural policies and production practices influence what farmers choose to grow. Agricultural policies and production practices could also play a role in influencing what consumers choose to eat. To identify how agricultural policies and practices can usefully contribute toward promoting healthy diets and tackling obesity and diet-related chronic diseases, health policymakers need to examine whether current agricultural policies and production practices are contributing to—or detracting from—efforts to attain dietary goals; where and how could agricultural intervention help achieve dietary goals; and whether there are trade-offs between these interventions and other important concerns, such as undernutrition and the livelihoods of agricultural producers. Given the potential of agriculture to contribute to large-scale, population-level dietary improvements, these questions warrant closer attention from health policymakers.

scholarly journals Social Marketing and Public Health

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Social Marketing ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
Structured Learning ◽  
Systemic Analysis ◽  
Policy Interventions ◽  
Programme Development ◽  
Health Need ◽  
Marketing Principles ◽  
Implementation Plans

The premise of this book is that those concerned with public health need to put a lot more effort into understanding why people act as they do and then into using this understanding to develop and deliver social improvement intervention programmes. We need to understand what people are prepared to buy into if we are going to make a significant impact on issues such as smoking or infection control. We need to enable and empower people so that their energy, understanding, and skills are harnessed as part of the solution to improving health. Social marketing is an approach that recognizes that if we are to be successful, it is not about doing things to people but about working with and for them. The second key theme of this book is the need for public health programmes to be more rigorously researched, designed, developed, implemented, and evaluated. Too many public policy interventions have unclear or unrealistic aims, poor pre-testing and piloting, and often weak evaluation. A key feature and strength of social marketing is its obsession with systemic analysis and systematic programme development and implementation. Without clear measurable objectives and cogent implementation plans, little may be achieved or learned about how to help people that can be used to refine new interventions. This book is intended to give the reader a structured learning experience that results in a good understanding of social marketing principles and techniques, alongside examples of real interventions that have made a difference to people’s lives.

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