Preventable Mortality in Regions of Slovakia—Quantification of Regional Disparities and Investigation of the Impact of Environmental Factors

Environmental health is among the priority areas of public health, and the current professional communities are intensively engaged with it. The main objective of the study is to quantify regional disparities of preventable mortality in Slovakia and to study the extent of the influence of selected environmental factors on changes in the development of its values. A cross-sectional linear regression model is used to quantify effects of environmental factors on the preventable mortality. Also, cluster analysis is used to identify regions with similar levels of air pollution. Environmental factors were selected based on the study of the World Health Organization. From the point of view of the influence of environmental factors on preventable mortality in the case of men, statistically significant connection to sewerage, SO2 production, and production of particulate matter was demonstrated. In the case of women, equally important factors showed connection to sewerage and SO2. The results of this study point to significant regional disparities in preventable mortality and a different degree of impact of environmental factors. Preventable mortality is above the Slovak average in most of the least-developed districts. Even in this group, there are significant differences.

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Trachoma Prevalence After Discontinuation of Mass Azithromycin Distribution

The Journal of Infectious Diseases ◽

10.1093/infdis/jiz691 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 221 (Supplement_5) ◽

pp. S519-S524

Author(s):

William Godwin ◽

Joaquin M Prada ◽

Paul Emerson ◽

P J Hooper ◽

Ana Bakhtiari ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Diagnostic Tests ◽

Public Health Problem ◽

World Health ◽

Simulation Based ◽

The World ◽

Health Organization ◽

Program Cycle ◽

The Impact ◽

Oral Azithromycin

Abstract Background As the World Health Organization seeks to eliminate trachoma by 2020, countries are beginning to control the transmission of trachomatous inflammation–follicular (TF) and discontinue mass drug administration (MDA) with oral azithromycin. We evaluated the effect of MDA discontinuation on TF1–9 prevalence at the district level. Methods We extracted from the available data districts with an impact survey at the end of their program cycle that initiated discontinuation of MDA (TF1–9 prevalence <5%), followed by a surveillance survey conducted to determine whether TF1–9 prevalence remained below the 5% threshold, warranting discontinuation of MDA. Two independent analyses were performed, 1 regression based and 1 simulation based, that assessed the change in TF1–9 from the impact survey to the surveillance survey. Results Of the 220 districts included, TF1–9 prevalence increased to >5% from impact to surveillance survey in 9% of districts. Regression analysis indicated that impact survey TF1–9 prevalence was a significant predictor of surveillance survey TF1–9 prevalence. The proportion of simulations with >5% TF1–9 prevalence in the surveillance survey was 2%, assuming the survey was conducted 4 years after MDA. Conclusion An increase in TF1–9 prevalence may represent disease resurgence but could also be due to measurement error. Improved diagnostic tests are crucial to elimination of TF1–9 as a public health problem.

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A cross-sectional survey of COVID-19 preparedness in governmental hospitals of North-West Ethiopia

SAGE Open Medicine ◽

10.1177/2050312121993292 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 ◽

pp. 205031212199329

Author(s):

Abebe Tiruneh ◽

Tikuneh Yetneberk ◽

Denberu Eshetie ◽

Bassazinew Chekol ◽

Moges Gellaw

Keyword(s):

World Health Organization ◽

Acceptable Level ◽

World Health ◽

Treatment Center ◽

Cross Sectional Survey ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

The World ◽

Health Organization ◽

The Impact ◽

South Gondar

Introduction: The novel coronavirus was first reported in December 2019, from Wuhan, China, and it has been declared as a pandemic by World Health Organization on 7 January 2020, and from that time till now the disease transmitted across the world. Hospitals need to be prepared for the overwhelming COVID-19 cases in their respective hospitals. Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess the level of hospital preparedness for COVID-19 in South Gondar Zone Governmental Hospitals, 2020. Methods: The institutionally based survey was conducted in South Gondar Zone Hospitals from 20 July to 25 July 2020. We used the World Health Organization preparedness checklist for COVID-19, and the checklist has three options for eight hospitals (not started, in progress, and started), so each hospital evaluated out of 208 points (104 items × 2) to assess each hospital their preparedness based on the checklist. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, Version 21, is used for the analysis of the data. We used descriptive statistics and explained by using text and tables. Results: We evaluated all eight hospitals in these zone hospitals and only one hospital was in an acceptable level of preparation (>146 points), three hospitals were in an insufficient level of preparation (73–145 points), and the other four hospitals were grouped under the unacceptable level of preparation (<72 points) for COVID-19. And in all hospitals, there was no laboratory diagnostic method and treatment center for the COVID-19 virus. Conclusion: From the level of COVID-19 pandemic preparation from eight hospitals, only one hospital reaches the level of an acceptable level of preparedness. Mobilizing the community and other stakeholders to equip the hospital with resources and prioritization is recommended to mitigate the impact of COVID-19.

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Expected impact of COVID-19 outbreak in a major metropolitan area in Brazil

10.1101/2020.03.14.20035873 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Tarcísio M. Rocha Filho ◽

Fabiana Sherine Ganem dos Santos ◽

Victor Bertollo Gomes ◽

Thiago Augusto Hernandes Rocha ◽

Julio Henrique Rosa Croda ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Older People ◽

Metropolitan Area ◽

Sao Paulo ◽

World Health ◽

São Paulo ◽

The World ◽

Health Organization ◽

The Impact ◽

The City

AbstractIn January 2020 China reported to the World Health Organization an outbreak of pneumonia of undetermined origin in the city of Wuhan, Hubei. In January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 as a Public Health Emergency of International Interest (PHEI).ObjectivesThe aim of this study is to assess the impact of a COVID-19 epidemic in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil.MethodsWe used a generalized SEIR (Susceptibles, Exposed, Infectious, Recovered) model, with additional Hospitalized variables (SEIHR model) and age-stratified structure to analyze the expected time evolution during the onset of the epidemic in the metropolitan area of São Paulo. The model allows to determine the evolution of the number of cases, the number of patients admitted to hospitals and deaths caused by COVID-19. In order to investigate the sensibility of our results with respect to parameter estimation errors we performed Monte Carlo analysis with 100 000 simulations by sampling parameter values from an uniform distribution in the confidence interval.ResultsWe estimate 1 368 (IQR: 880, 2 407) cases, 301 (22%) in older people (≥60 years), 81 (50, 143) hospitalizations, and 14 (9, 26) deaths in the first 30 days, and 38 583 (IQR: 16 698, 113, 163) cases, 8 427 (21.8%) in older people (≥60 years), 2181 (914, 6392) hospitalizations, and 397(166, 1205) deaths in the first 60 days.LimitationsWe supposed a constant transmission probability Pc among different age-groups, and that every severe and critic case will be hospitalized, as well as that the detection capacity in all the primary healthcare services does not change during the outbreak.ConclusionSupposing the reported parameters in the literature apply in the city of São Paulo, our study shows that it is expected that the impact of a COVID-19 outbreak will be important, requiring special planning from the authorities. This is the first study for a major metropolitan center in the south hemisphere, and we believe it can provide policy makers with a prognosis of the burden of the pandemic not only in Brazil, but also in other tropical zones, allowing to estimate total cases, hospitalization and deaths, in support to the management of the public health emergence caused by COVID-19.

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Epidemiology of overweight and obesity in school going children: 11-15 years in the urban area of Cuttack city

International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences ◽

10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20195926 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (1) ◽

pp. 298

Author(s):

S. Suneeti Kanyari ◽

Durga M. Satapathy ◽

Rama C. Giri

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Absolute Error ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Overweight And Obesity ◽

World Health ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Children And Adolescent ◽

The World ◽

Health Organization ◽

Associated Risk Factors

Background: The world health organization has described obesity as one of today’s most neglected public health problems, affecting developed and developing countries in the world. A dramatic increase in overweight and obesity among children and adolescent has raised the concern of various public health physicians especially in developing country like India. This study was conducted with an objective to study the prevalence of overweight and obesity and its associated risk factors among school going children of Cuttack city.Methods: School based cross sectional study was done among the children of 6th to 10th class. To calculate the maximum sample size prevalence of obesity was assumed to be 10%, taking absolute error of 2% and 10% non-response rate the sample was calculated to be 1000. By multistage sampling method the children were selected. Data was collected using a pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire and analyzed by using SPSS version 16.Results: The combined prevalence of overweight and obesity was 20.2% and it was higher among boys (20.6%) than girls (19.8%). Overweight and obesity was found to be significantly associated with type of school, parent’s occupation, hours of using TV/computer, eating habit, family history of obesity, type of family and mode of transport to school.Conclusions: Prevalence of overweight and obesity was found to be high in school going children, which indicates an urgent need to increase awareness via education and motivation of all stakeholders to prevent the complications in future.

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Religion Influences Community Adherence to COVID-19 Guidelines in Uganda

10.21203/rs.3.rs-59701/v1 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Isaac Echoru ◽

keneth Iceland Kasozi ◽

Ibe Michael Usman ◽

Fred Ssempijja ◽

Emmanuel Tiyo Ayikobua ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

World Health Organization ◽

Religious Practice ◽

World Health ◽

Online Questionnaire ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Attitudes And Practices ◽

National Implementation ◽

The World ◽

Health Organization

Abstract BackgroundSuccess of public health government programs depends on effective partnerships between religious institutions, policy makers and medical professionals. Directives from the World Health Organization (WHO) against social gatherings to control COVID-19 transmission have negatively impacted religious-political partnerships. Compliance of rural communities to national lockdowns requires support from community faith leaders. Across the African sub-continent faith plays an important role within communities that display diverse religious practice. Specific guidelines to prevent community transmission and spread of novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) are however, scarce, complicating adherence to best practice as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO). During the Ebola epidemic in Africa, faith groups played a crucial role in spreading information from the WHO to control community disease transmissions. MethodsHere we examined knowledge, attitudes and practices for COVID-19 among market vendors, of faith, in South-Western Uganda. A cross sectional study was undertaken among rural market vendors (n=248) in southwestern Uganda was undertaken using an online questionnaire.ResultsMost moslems (72%) and protestants (70%) were aware that COVID-19 could present symptomatically and the challenges for control of COVID-19 in Uganda. Definitive knowledge of COVID-19 transmission dynamics was most prevalent among individuals of Protestant faith (70%). Most moslems (66%) interviewed found it difficult to comply with public health measures (lockdowns and self-isolation) while most pentecostals (64%) considered wearing as face mask to be impractical. Such discrepancies within a tight knit community and religious groupings in relation to practice shows a need to strengthen and revise policy for the national implementation of COVID-19 guidelines. ConclusionEngagement from religious leaders to encourage their followers to abide to COVID-19 guidelines would facilitate Africa’s COVID-19 response to become more effective addressing key areas of non-compliance that undermine control e.g. a majority of Pentecostal Christians are hesitant to be associated with alcohol-based hand sanitizers.

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Dampak Covid – 19 Dalam Stabilitas Ekonomi Politik Internasional

Ganaya : Jurnal Ilmu Sosial dan Humaniora ◽

10.37329/ganaya.v4i2.1387 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 654-671

Author(s):

Siti Imalia Tanjung

Keyword(s):

Political Economy ◽

International Political Economy ◽

Point Of View ◽

World Health ◽

Literature Study ◽

Research Journal ◽

The World ◽

The Stability ◽

Health Organization ◽

The Impact

The unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic has caused people all over the world to panic. The World Health Organization (WHO) is taking proactive measures to prevent the spread of the virus, by directing countries around the world to take measures such as social distancing, physical distancing, quarantine, and regional restrictions or known as lock down which ultimately affects various sectors of life. . This research journal discusses the Impact of Covid-19 on International Political Economy Stability. This paper focuses on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic phenomenon, and various global problems in general, and positions the COVID-19 pandemic phenomenon from the point of view of international political economy studies as a study of International Relations. This writing uses a qualitative descriptive research method by using a literature study to systematically study the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the stability of the International Political Economy, in order to formulate future policies in combating the pandemic. After reviewing and analyzing some of the literature, it was concluded that the stability sector of the International Political Economy is the most vulnerable and threatened to the impact of COVID-19.

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EXPLAINABLE-BY-DESIGN APPROACH FOR COVID-19 CLASSIFICATION VIA CT-SCAN

10.1101/2020.04.24.20078584 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Plamen Angelov ◽

Eduardo Soares

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Ct Scan ◽

Point Of View ◽

World Health ◽

Statistical Accuracy ◽

Public Health Perspective ◽

Rapid Spread ◽

The World ◽

Health Organization ◽

Timely Treatment

AbstractThe COVID-19 disease has widely spread all over the world since the beginning of 2020. On January 30, 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global health emergency. At the time of writing this paper the number of infected about 2 million people worldwide and took over 125,000 lives, the advanced public health systems of European countries as well as of USA were overwhelmed. In this paper, we propose an eXplainable Deep Learning approach to detect COVID-19 from computer tomography (CT) - Scan images. The rapid detection of any COVID-19 case is of supreme importance to ensure timely treatment. From a public health perspective, rapid patient isolation is also extremely important to curtail the rapid spread of the disease. From this point of view the proposed method offers an easy to use and understand tool to the front-line medics. It is of huge importance not only the statistical accuracy and other measures, but also the ability to understand and interpret how the decision was made. The results demonstrate that the proposed approach is able to surpass the other published results which were using standard Deep Neural Network in terms of performance. Moreover, it produce highly interpretable results which may be helpful for the early detection of the disease by specialists.

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COVID-19 epidemic response in Ghana

Ghana Medical Journal ◽

10.4314/gmj.v54i4s.2 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 54 (4s) ◽

pp. 3-4

Author(s):

George Amofah

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Fairy Tale ◽

Public Health Emergency ◽

World Health ◽

The Novel ◽

The World ◽

Novel Coronavirus ◽

Health Organization ◽

Epidemic Response ◽

The Impact

The year 2020 has looked like a fairy tale as the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world with devastating socio-economic and health consequences. The impact of the pandemic has depended, largely, on preparedness and response of countries, and their ability to adjust to the fast-evolving pandemic. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the novel coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on 30th January 2020, and Ghana reported its first two confirmed cases on 12th March 2020.

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Violence a global public health problem

Ciência & Saúde Coletiva ◽

10.1590/s1413-81232006000200007 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 11 (2) ◽

pp. 277-292 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Linda L. Dahlberg ◽

Etienne G. Krug

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Ecological Model ◽

Health Sector ◽

Public Health Problem ◽

Point Of View ◽

World Health ◽

General Description ◽

Global Public Health ◽

The World ◽

Health Organization

This article is a version of the Introduction to the World Report on Violence and Health, published by the World Health Organization (WHO). It presents a general description about this phenomenon and points some basic questions: concepts and definitions about the theme; the state of knowledge about it; nature and typology on violence; proposal of a quantitative and qualitative approach of an ecological model; responsibilities and functions of the public health sector and its potentiality to prevent and reduce violence in the world; the responsibilities of the nations and the policy makers in a intersetorial point of view; difficulties and obstacles for actuation and challenges for the health sector.

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Coronavirus and the Law in Europe

10.1017/9781839701801 ◽

2021 ◽

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Public Health Emergency ◽

Fundamental Rights ◽

World Health ◽

Collaborative Effort ◽

Legal Questions ◽

The World ◽

The Law ◽

Health Organization ◽

The Impact

On 30 January 2020, in response to the globalisation of COVID-19, the World Health Organization declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern. The deadly outbreak has caused unprecedented disruption to travel and trade and is raising pressing legal questions across all disciplines, which this book attempts to address. The aims of this book are twofold. First, it is intended to serve as a 'toolbox' for domestic and European judges, who are now dealing with the interpretation of COVID-19-related legislation and administrative measures, as well as the disruption the pandemic has caused to society and fundamental rights. Second, it aims to assist businesses and citizens who wish to be informed about the implications of the virus in the existence, performance and enforcement of their contracts. Coronavirus and the Law in Europe is probably the largest academic publication on the impact of pandemics on the law. This academic endeavour is a joint, collaborative effort to structure the recent and ongoing legal developments into a coherent and pan-European overview on coronavirus and the law. It covers practically all European countries and legal disciplines and comprises contributions from more than 80 highly reputed European academics and practitioners.

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