scholarly journals Engaging Religious Institutions and Faith-Based Communities in Public Health Initiatives: A Case Study of the Romanian Orthodox Church During the COVID-19 Pandemic

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Dascalu ◽  
Patrik G. Flammer ◽  
Mahan Ghafari ◽  
Shaun C. Henson ◽  
Roger Nascimento ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Faith Based ◽  
Health Initiatives ◽  
Romanian Orthodox Church ◽  
Romanian Orthodox ◽  
Public Health Initiatives

The success of public health interventions is highly dependent on the compliance of the general population. State authorities often implement policies without consulting representatives of faith-based communities, thereby overlooking potential implications of public health measures for these parts of society. Although ubiquitous, these challenges are more readily observable in highly religious states. Romania serves as an illustrative example for this, as recent data identify it as the most religious country in Europe. In this paper, we discuss the contributions of the Romanian Orthodox Church (ROC), the major religious institution in the country, to the national COVID-19 mitigation efforts. We present not only the positive outcomes of productive consultations between public health authorities and religious institutions but also the detrimental impact of unidirectional communication. Our work highlights that an efficient dialogue with faith-based communities can greatly enhance the results of public health interventions. As the outlined principles apply to a variety of contexts, the lessons learned from this case study can be generalized into a set of policy recommendations for the betterment of future public health initiatives worldwide.

Is There a Need for the Church to Officially Assume Mobile Applications? Case Study: Romanian Orthodox Church and Anglican Church

2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-112
Author(s):  
Liviu Vidican-Manci ◽  
Emil M. Mărginean
Keyword(s):  
Digital Media ◽  
Mobile Applications ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Anglican Church ◽  
Digital Space ◽  
Romanian Orthodox Church ◽  
Romanian Literature ◽  
Romanian Orthodox ◽  
The Church

"Abstract Over the past years, there has been a significant increase in mobile applications with religious content. Whether we are talking about Holy Scriptures or the Quran, about liturgical or theological content, digital resources are made available by many interesting applications. The question is, are these applications accurate? How many of them are affiliated with Church institutions? How important would such an affiliation be? What is the situation in Romania, in the Romanian Orthodox Church? In the Romanian-Orthodox digital space there is an abundance of mobile applications, over 20, of which only one is institutionally affiliated. The presence in Romania of many mobile applications developed by private individuals that do not display the source of the liturgical and biblical text is a major concern for the accuracy and authenticity of the information presented. In the first study of this kind in the Romanian literature, we will analyze different examples in order to better understand the functionalities of these applications, but especially to confirm or reject our hypothesis that in the religious environment, an institutionally assumed application is more valuable for keeping the Church teaching unaltered, compared to an application which is the result of a private initiative or even a commercial project. Therefore, we compare the Romanian Orthodox applications with similar applications belonging to a Church that currently has the most complete panel of mobile applications. These are not only fully functional and officially assumed by the Anglican Church, but are constantly updated and maintained. Keywords: mobile applications, Christian apps, digital media, Romanian Orthodox Church, Anglican Church"

Media advocacy for policy influence

2020 ◽  
pp. 340-347
Author(s):  
Simon Chapman ◽  
Becky Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Public Health Interventions ◽  
Media Advocacy ◽  
Effective Media ◽  
Health Initiatives ◽  
The Media ◽  
Public Health Initiatives

Many public health interventions are controversial or potentially controversial. The way the media handle such issues can strongly influence public and policy-maker attitudes towards them, and effective media advocacy can be a powerful way of taking forward public health initiatives. After reading this chapter, you should have a better understanding of: how the media deal with public health issues; how the framing of an issue influences whether and how it leads to changes in policy; what you can do when a public health issue is framed in an adverse or harmful way.

scholarly journals Beacon Communities’ Public Health Initiatives: A Case Study Analysis

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 14
Author(s):  
Barbara L. Massoudi ◽  
Laura H. Marcial ◽  
Saira Haque ◽  
Robert Bailey ◽  
Kelley Chester ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Study Analysis ◽  
Case Study Analysis ◽  
Health Initiatives ◽  
Public Health Initiatives

Developing Public Health Initiatives through Understanding Motivations of the Audience at Mass-Gathering Events

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Hutton ◽  
Jamie Ranse ◽  
Matthew Brendan Munn
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Emergency Medical Services ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Medical Services ◽  
Mass Gathering ◽  
Event Risk ◽  
Emergency Medical ◽  
Health Initiatives ◽  
Risk Managers ◽  
Public Health Initiatives

AbstractThis report identifies what is known about audience motivations at three different mass-gathering events: outdoor music festivals, religious events, and sporting events. In light of these motivations, the paper discusses how these can be harnessed by the event organizer and Emergency Medical Services. Lastly, motivations tell what kinds of interventions can be used to achieve an understanding of audience characteristics and the opportunity to develop tailor-made programs to maximize safety and make long-lasting public health interventions to a particular “cohort” or event population. A lot of these will depend on what the risks/hazards are with the particular populations in order to “target” them with public health interventions. Audience motivations tell the event organizer and Emergency Medical Services about the types of behaviors they should expect from the audience and how this may affect their health while at the event. Through these understandings, health promotion and event safety messages can be developed for a particular type of mass-gathering event based on the likely composition of the audience in attendance. Health promotion and providing public information should be at the core of any mass-gathering event to minimize public health risk and to provide opportunities for the promotion of healthy behaviors in the local population. Audience motivations are a key element to identify and agree on what public health information is needed for the event audience. A more developed understanding of audience behavior provides critical information for event planners, event risk managers, and Emergency Medical Services personnel to better predict and plan to minimize risk and reduce patient presentations at events. Mass-gathering event organizers and designers intend their events to be positive experiences and to have meaning for those who attend. Therefore, continual vigilance to improve public health effectiveness and efficiency can become best practice at events. Through understanding the motivations of the audience, event planners and designers, event risk managers, and emergency medical personnel may be better able to understand the motivation of the audience and how this might impact on audience behavior at the event.HuttonA, RanseJ, MunnMB. Developing public health initiatives through understanding motivations of the audience at mass-gathering events. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2018;33(2):191–196.

Media advocacy for policy influence

2013 ◽  
pp. 302-307
Author(s):  
Simon Chapman
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Public Health Issue ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Media Advocacy ◽  
Effective Media ◽  
Health Initiatives ◽  
The Media ◽  
Public Health Initiatives ◽  
The Way

Many public health interventions are controversial or potentially controversial. The way the media handle such issues can strongly influence public and policy maker attitudes towards them and effective media advocacy can be a powerful way of taking forward public health initiatives. After reading this chapter you should have a better understanding of how the media deal with public health issues, how the way in which an issue is framed influences whether and how it leads to changes in policy, and what you can do when a public health issue is framed in an adverse or harmful way.

scholarly journals “Censorship of the orthodox press in communism. Case study: “Glasul wBisericii” Journal”

Sæculum ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-95
Author(s):  
Silviu-Constantin Nedelcu
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Russian Orthodox ◽  
Orthodox Church ◽  
Russian Orthodox Church ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Doubly Censored ◽  
Romanian Orthodox Church ◽  
Romanian Orthodox

AbstractThe present study treats a very little researched subject in the specialized literature, respectively the censorship of the orthodox press in communism. We turned our attention to the periodical publication “Glasul Bisericii”, the official magazine of the Metropolitan Church of Ungrovlahia. During the communist regime, the religious press was doubly censored. This was exercised by two institutions, namely: the Department of Cults and the General Directorate of Press and Printing. The censors of the Department of Cults who dealt with the journals of religious cults did not necessarily have theological studies, for which reason they could not understand certain specialized terms or phrases. This thing can be seen into the report signed by the censor Ecaterina Durosov Macheev, from 1971. Another example would be the typing mystakes that escaped from the watchful eye of censorship, and that could have affected the relations between Romanian Orthodox Church and Russian Orthodox Church and, implicitly, with the Soviet Union.

Complaint-Oriented “Services”: Shelters as Tools for Criminalizing Homelessness

2021 ◽  
Vol 693 (1) ◽  
pp. 264-283
Author(s):  
Chris Herring
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
San Francisco ◽  
Homeless People ◽  
Public Spaces ◽  
Health Initiatives ◽  
Public Health Initiatives

This article argues that the expansion of shelter and welfare provisions for the homeless can lead to increased criminalization of homeless people in public spaces. First, I document how repression of people experiencing homelessness by the police in San Francisco neighborhoods increased immediately after the opening of new shelters. Second, I reveal how shelter beds are used as a privileged tool of the police to arrest, cite, and confiscate property of the unhoused, albeit in the guise of sanitary and public health initiatives. I conclude by considering how shelters increasingly function as complaint-oriented “services,” aimed at addressing the interests of residents, businesses, and politicians, rather than the needs of those unhoused.

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