Majority of Fortune 500 Companies in 2018 Did Not Recognize Risk of Epidemics Such as COVID-19

Infectious disease threats, like the 2002 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) disease, 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1), and the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), pose multisectoral risk with the potential for wide-ranging socioeconomic disruption. In our globally intertwined economy, the impact of such events can elicit economic shock waves that reach far beyond the country of origin. Review of the 2018 Fortune 500 company 10-K filings shows the majority did not document perceived risks associated with epidemics, outbreaks, or pandemics. Enhanced engagement and investment of the public and private sectors in advancing global health security is needed to effectively prevent, detect, and respond to infectious disease events and ensure U.S. economic security.

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The impact of the 2009 influenza A(H1N1) pandemic on attitudes of healthcare workers toward seasonal influenza vaccination 2010/11

Eurosurveillance ◽

10.2807/ese.16.17.19854-en ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 16 (17) ◽

Author(s):

C Brandt ◽

H F Rabenau ◽

S Bornmann ◽

R Gottschalk ◽

S Wicker

Keyword(s):

Medical Students ◽

Influenza Vaccine ◽

Influenza Vaccination ◽

Healthcare Workers ◽

Influenza A ◽

Influenza Season ◽

University Hospital ◽

The Public ◽

Influenza A H1n1 ◽

The Impact

The emergence of the influenza A(H1N1)2009 virus provided a major challenge to health services around the world. However, vaccination rates for the public and for healthcare workers (HCWs) have remained low. We performed a study to review the reasons put forward by HCWs to refuse immunisation with the pandemic vaccine in 2009/10 and characterise attitudes in the influenza season 2010/11 due to the emergence of influenza A(H1N1)2009. A survey among HCWs and medical students in the clinical phase of their studies was conducted, using an anonymous questionnaire, at a German university hospital during an influenza vaccination campaign. 1,366 of 3,900 HCWs (35.0%) were vaccinated in the 2010/11 influenza season. Of the vaccinated HCWs, 1,323 (96.9%) completed the questionnaire in addition to 322 vaccinated medical students. Of the 1,645 vaccinees who completed the questionnaire, 712 had not been vaccinated against the influenza A(H1N1)2009 virus in the 2009/10 season. The main reason put forward was the objection to the AS03 adjuvants (239/712, 33.6%). Of the HCWs and students surveyed, 270 of 1,645 (16.4%) stated that the pandemic had influenced their attitude towards vaccination in general. Many German HCWs remained unconvinced of the safety of the pandemic (adjuvanted) influenza vaccine. For this reason, effective risk communication should focus on educating the public and HCWs about influenza vaccine safety and the benefits of vaccination.

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Psychosocial impact of respiratory infectious disease pandemics on children: a systematic review

10.21203/rs.3.rs-41460/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Chenran Wang ◽

Shuyue Xiao ◽

Yijie Sun ◽

Jinpeng Wang ◽

Tao Xu

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Infectious Disease ◽

Parenting Practices ◽

Influenza A ◽

Behavioral Responses ◽

Healthcare Research ◽

Control Measures ◽

China National Knowledge Infrastructure ◽

Influenza A H1n1 ◽

The Impact

Abstract Objective To examine the impact of respiratory infectious disease pandemics in the new millennium on mental health, behavioral responses, and parenting practices in children, and provide further intervention directions to mitigate negative effects of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Methods We conducted a systemic literature review of researches from January 2003 to May 2020 with three mainstream electronic databases including PubMed, Web of Science, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure. Quality of included studies were assessed using Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS), and Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) according to different study design. Further directions were identified for developing appropriate interventions. Results Twenty-four studies conducted in the context of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) (n = 10), influenza A (H1N1) (n = 3), and COVID-19 (n = 11) pandemics met the inclusion criteria. Children showed emotional conditions such as anxiety, fear, and depression, while psychological responses varied across age and gender groups. Children with mental illness history experienced an exacerbation of psychological symptoms. The pandemics changed hygiene habits and learning styles, and led to the increased participation in unfavorable lifestyles. For families with pediatric patients, the pandemic decreased parents’ participation in providing family-centered care and threatened to supportive family relationship and effective parents-child communication. Conclusion The emerging virus outbreaks and subsequent disease-control measures have impacts on mental health status, behavioral responses, and parenting practices in children. In response to COVID-19, greater efforts taking into account children’s developmental stage should be made to implement evidence-based psychological interventions, enhance effective communication, and encourage collaboration.

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Mortality surveillance in the Netherlands: severity of winter 2016/2017

Online Journal of Public Health Informatics ◽

10.5210/ojphi.v10i1.8946 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Liselotte Van Asten ◽

Marit De Lange ◽

Anne Teirlinck ◽

Lenny Stoeldraijer ◽

Carel Harmsen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Infectious Disease ◽

The Netherlands ◽

Influenza A ◽

Excess Mortality ◽

Winter Season ◽

Historical Period ◽

Time Lags ◽

Influenza Epidemic ◽

Influenza A H1n1 ◽

The Impact

ObjectiveWeekly numbers of deaths are monitored to increase the capacity to deal with both expected and unusual (disease) events such as pandemic influenza, other infections and non-infectious incidents. The monitoring information can potentially be used to detect, track and estimate the impact of an outbreak or incident on all-cause mortality.IntroductionThe mortality monitoring system (initiated in 2009 during the influenza A(H1N1) pandemic) is a collaboration between the Centre for Infectious Disease Control (CIb) of National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and Statistics Netherlands. The system monitors nation-wide reported number of deaths (population size 2017: 17 million) from all causes, as cause of death information is not available real-time. Data is received from Statistics Netherlands by weekly emails.MethodsOnce a week the number of reported deaths is checked for excess above expected levels at 2 different time-lags: within 1 and 2 weeks after date of death (covering a median 43% and 96% of all deaths respectively). A weekly email bulletin reporting the findings is sent to the Infectious Disease Early Warning Unit (at CIb) and a summary of results is posted on the RIVM website. Any known concurrent and possibly related events are also reported. When excess deaths coincide with hot temperatures, the bulletin is sent to the Heat Plan Team (also at RIVM). Data are also sent to EuroMOMO which monitors excess mortality at a European level. For the Dutch system baselines and prediction limits are calculated using a 5 year historical period (updated each July). A serfling-like algorithm based on regression analysis is used to produce baselines which includes cyclical seasonal trends (models based on historical data in which weeks with extreme underreporting have been removed. Also periods with high excess mortality in winter and summer were removed so as not to influence the baseline with previous outbreaks).ResultsIncreased mortality started two weeks after the influenza epidemic started and remained increased during the remainder of the influenza epidemic except for a drop in week 52 (coinciding with Christmas holidays) (Figure 1). Excess mortality was primarily observed in persons 75 years or older. Cumulative excess mortality was estimated at 7,503 deaths occurring during the 15 weeks of the 2016/2017 influenza epidemic (week 48 of 2016 through week 10 of 2017) and at 8,890 during the total winter season (44 weeks running from week 40 up to week 20 of the next year).ConclusionsIn terms of number of deaths during the winter season (weeks 40-20 the next year) and during the influenza epidemic (weeks 48-10), the 2016/2017 season in the Netherlands was of high severity compared with the previous five seasons. Mortality was only higher in the 2014/2015 season when the longest influenza epidemic was recorded of 21 weeks.

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Organisational Capacity and Health Security

Asian Journal of Social Science ◽

10.1163/15685314-04201007 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 42 (1-2) ◽

pp. 103-121 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Allen Yu-Hung Lai

Keyword(s):

Capacity Building ◽

Influenza A ◽

Capacity Development ◽

Public And Private ◽

Health Security ◽

Organisational Capacity ◽

Influenza A H1n1 ◽

Qualitative Interview Study ◽

Response Capacity ◽

Methodological Approaches

Despite the emphasis placed on response capacity building to strengthen health security in this region, no comparative data exists to look into the determinants that drive the capacity. For public and private managers, the ignorance of capacity development and failure to assess it, by and large, points to highly ambiguous and flawed methodological approaches. This paper therefore reports on a qualitative interview study into capacity building around health security and explains the emergence of response capacity against the fight of influenza A H1N1 pandemics in Singapore and Taiwan in 2009. This paper further provides empirically grounded evidence to identify prerequisites for capacity development towards health security in response to (the same type of) public health crises in Asia.

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Long-term effectiveness of elderly health care voucher scheme strategies: a system dynamics simulation analysis

BMC Public Health ◽

10.1186/s12889-021-11280-z ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Ka Chun Chong ◽

Hong Fung ◽

Carrie Ho Kwan Yam ◽

Patsy Yuen Kwan Chau ◽

Tsz Yu Chow ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Primary Care ◽

Chronic Disease ◽

Public Sector ◽

System Dynamics ◽

The Elderly ◽

Healthcare Services ◽

Dynamics Simulation ◽

Public And Private ◽

The Public ◽

The Impact

Abstract Background The elderly healthcare voucher (EHCV) scheme is expected to lead to an increase in the number of elderly people selecting private primary healthcare services and reduce reliance on the public sector in Hong Kong. However, studies thus far have reported that this scheme has not received satisfactory responses. In this study, we examined changes in the ratio of visits between public and private doctors in primary care (to measure reliance on the public sector) for different strategic scenarios in the EHCV scheme. Methods Based on comments from an expert panel, a system dynamics model was formulated to simulate the impact of various enhanced strategies in the scheme: increasing voucher amounts, lowering the age eligibility, and designating vouchers for chronic conditions follow-up. Data and statistics for the model calibration were collected from various sources. Results The simulation results show that the current EHCV scheme is unable to reduce the utilization of public healthcare services, as well as the ratio of visits between public and private primary care among the local aging population. When comparing three different tested scenarios, even if the increase in the annual voucher amount could be maintained at the current pace or the age eligibility can be lowered to include those aged 60 years, the impact on shifts from public-to-private utilization were insignificant. The public-to-private ratio could only be marginally reduced from 0.74 to 0.64 in the first several years. Nevertheless, introducing a chronic disease-oriented voucher could result in a significant drop of 0.50 in the public-to-private ratio during the early implementation phase. However, the effect could not be maintained for an extended period. Conclusions Our findings will assist officials in improving the design of the EHCV scheme, within the wider context of promoting primary care among the elderly. We suggest that an additional chronic disease-oriented voucher can serve as an alternative strategy. The scheme must be redesigned to address more specific objectives or provide a separate voucher that promotes under-utilized healthcare services (e.g., preventive care), instead of services designed for unspecified reasons, which may lead to concerns regarding exploitation.

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Relational cultivation strategies and community building on Fortune 500 company corporate blogs

Corporate Communications An International Journal ◽

10.1108/ccij-12-2020-0163 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Author(s):

Tugce Ertem-Eray ◽

Eyun-Jung Ki

Keyword(s):

Public Relations ◽

Sense Of Community ◽

Communication Channel ◽

Community Building ◽

Online Communication ◽

Fortune 500 ◽

Content Type ◽

The Public ◽

Fortune 500 Companies ◽

Corporate Blogs

PurposeAs the number of corporate blogs has continued to increase over the years, this study examines the use of relationship cultivation strategies of Fortune 500 companies on their corporate blogs. Moreover, it focuses on how companies use corporate blogs as interactive online communication channels to create a sense of community among their publics.Design/methodology/approachA content analysis of Fortune 500 company corporate blogs was conducted to examine the use of relational cultivation strategies and their methods of promoting a sense of community.FindingsFindings indicate that networking and sharing tasks are used most frequently among all relational cultivation strategies on corporate blogs, and that there are statistically significant differences among industries for using relationship cultivation strategies on corporate blogs. The most frequently used dimension of sense of community on corporate blogs is shared emotional connection.Originality/valueStudies analyzing social media as public relations tools have not yet focused on community building. In fact, few studies have examined the community building aspect of corporate blogs in the public relations field. To fill this gap, this study focuses on community building and analyzes how companies use corporate blogs as an interactive online communication channel to create a sense of community among their publics.

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Research from China finds no significant difference in impact of public service motivation (PSM) in public and private sectors

Human Resource Management International Digest ◽

10.1108/hrmid-08-2021-0169 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽

Keyword(s):

Public Sector ◽

Private Sector ◽

Employee Performance ◽

Intention To Leave ◽

Public And Private ◽

Content Type ◽

The Public ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Set Up ◽

The Impact

Purpose The authors assumed PSM would be higher in the public sector, but they set up a trial to find out if this was the case. Design/methodology/approach To test their theories, the authors conducted two independent surveys. The first consisted of 220 usable responses from public sector employees in Changsha, China. The second survey involved 260 usable responses from private sector employees taking an MBA course at a university in the Changsha district. A questionnaire was used to assess attitudes. Findings The results found no significant difference between the impact of public sector motivation (PSM) on employee performance across the public and private sectors. The data showed that PSM had a significant impact on self-reported employee performance, but the relationship did not differ much between sectors. Meanwhile, it was in the private sector that PSM had the greatest impact on intention to leave. Originality/value The authors said the research project was one of the first to test if the concept of PSM operated in the same way across sectors. It also contributed, they said, to the ongoing debate about PSM in China.

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National Immunization Program: Computerized System as a tool for new challenges

Revista de Saúde Pública ◽

10.1590/s0034-8910.2015049005925 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 49 (0) ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Ana Paula Sayuri Sato

Keyword(s):

Implementation Process ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Nominal Data ◽

Immunization Program ◽

High Coverage ◽

Public And Private ◽

The Public ◽

National Immunization ◽

Innovative Tool ◽

The Impact

The scope and coverage of the Brazilian Immunization Program can be compared with those in developed countries because it provides a large number of vaccines and has a considerable coverage. The increasing complexity of the program brings challenges regarding its development, high coverage levels, access equality, and safety. The Immunization Information System, with nominal data, is an innovative tool that can more accurately monitor these indicators and allows the evaluation of the impact of new vaccination strategies. The main difficulties for such a system are in its implementation process, training of professionals, mastering its use, its constant maintenance needs and ensuring the information contained remain confidential. Therefore, encouraging the development of this tool should be part of public health policies and should also be involved in the three spheres of government as well as the public and private vaccination services.

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