Zika Virus, Global Health Communication, and Dataveillance

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kirsten Ostherr
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
Communication Networks ◽  
Zika Virus ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
World Health ◽  
Digital Networks ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Filter Bubbles ◽  
Health Organization

Through analysis of media produced by the World Health Organization (WHO) in response to the Zika virus outbreak of 2016, this chapter demonstrates how distributed digital communication networks such as social media platforms have created significant challenges for the WHO’s top-down model of information management. Unlike disease outbreaks of the past, Zika virus media circulated through mobile, social digital networks shaped by invisible algorithms and filter bubbles that helped generate counter narratives opposing the communications of official health organizations. This chapter examines Zika virus media through the analytical frames of datafication, dataveillance, and data-making to explain how diverse sources of information and social contexts of interpretation pose new challenges for global health communications.

Building a better global health security early-warning system post-COVID: The view from Canada

2021 ◽  
pp. 002070202098522
Author(s):  
Wesley Wark
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
Early Warning ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Warning System ◽  
World Health ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Health Security ◽  
Leading Role ◽  
Health Organization

In the years following the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2002–2003, the World Health Organization (WHO) created a new system for global disease outbreak surveillance. The system relied on timely reporting by nation-states and gave the WHO a leading role in the global response. It also recognized the value of a multiplicity of sources of information, including from open-source media scanning. The post-SARS system faced its most significant task with the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the People’s Republic of China and its rapid spread in 2020. The WHO architecture for early warning of disease outbreaks arguably failed and gives rise to questions about how the international community can better respond to pandemic threats in future. This article explores the inter-connectedness of Canada’s system for global health surveillance, featuring the work of the Global Public Health Intelligence Network and that of the WHO, and argues that, while Canada has positioned itself as a global leader, much work needs to be done in Canada, and globally, if the concept of collective health security and shared early warning is to be maintained in the future.

scholarly journals Zika Virus: A Global Threat

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 29-35
Author(s):  
Jannatul Fardows ◽  
Nasreen Farhana ◽  
Abu Bakar Siddique
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Zika Virus ◽  
Rna Virus ◽  
Disease Outbreaks ◽  
Febrile Illness ◽  
Viral Disease ◽  
World Health ◽  
Global Public Health ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Global Threat

Zika virus is a enveloped, non-segmented, ichoshedral single-stranded, negative-sense RNA virus. It belongs to the Flaviviridae and was first isolated in 1947 from a monkey in the Zika forest, Uganda, then in mosquitoes (Aedes africanus) in the same forest in 1948 and in a human in Nigeria in 1952. Before 2007, viral circulation and a few outbreaks were documented in tropical Africa and in some areas in Southeast Asia. In 2015, Zika viral disease outbreaks were reported in Brazil of South America for the first time and it is now considered as an emerging infectious disease. This ongoing outbreak of Zika virus that began in Brazil has spread too much of South and Central America (except Canada and Chile) and the Caribbean. According to the CDC, Brazilian health authorities reported more than 404 cases of microcephaly between October 2015 and January 2016. Seventeen of those cases have a confirmed link to the Zika virus. Its natural reservoir is yet to be unknown. Transmission mainly by mosquito Aedes aegypti but it can be transmitted from human to human by blood transfusion, saliva, urine and sexual contact. Most dangerous transmission is mother to fetus through placenta. Its actual pathogenesis is not clear but the pathogenesis of the virus is hypothesized to start with an infection of dendritic cells near the site of inoculation, followed by a spread to lymph nodes and the bloodstream Other than congenital malformation (microcephaly) disease symptoms are usually mild and short-lasting self-limiting febrile illness of 4-7 days duration without severe complications. No commercial diagnostic method against Zika virus are available. The virus constitutes an important public health threat in America and also worldwide as no effective treatment or vaccine is available till now. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the microcephaly condition, linked to the mosquito-borne virus, a global public health emergency.Anwer Khan Modern Medical College Journal Vol. 7, No. 2: Jul 2016, P 29-35

Analysis of out-of-pocket health expenditure using the WHO Global Health Expenditure Database (GHED): A systematic review

2020 ◽  
Vol 128 (4) ◽  
pp. 474-479
Author(s):  
Marino J González R
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Health Expenditure ◽  
Health Financing ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Coverage ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Meta Analyses ◽  
Country Specific

Introduction: Tracking out-of-pocket (OOP) health expenditure is a very useful reference for knowing the progress of countries in the goal of universal health coverage (UHC) in 2030. The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed the Global Health Expenditure Database (GHED) to facilitate analysis of health financing in countries or regions. The paper explores the use of GHED in the analysis of OOP health expenditure in the specialized literature. Objective: To perform a systematic review of the studies in which GHED is used to analyze OOP health expenditure in countries or groups of countries. Methods: The systematic review followed the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analyses (PRISMA). The database used was PubMed. All publications that were available on PubMed by July 30, 2020, were identified. Results: Twenty-five papers were identified. The use of the GHED to analyze OOP health expenditure was reported in five studies, one country study, and four studies with regional comparisons. The included studies cover the period 1995-2016. Discussion: The use of the GHED for the analysis of the evolution of OOP health expenditure in countries or regions is not very widespread in the specialized literature. The GHED has proven to be a very useful instrument for international comparison, although the fact that there are differences with national reports (public expenditure reviews) makes it advisable to combine both sources of information in the analysis of country- specific health policies. Conclusion: The systematic use of the GHED can be useful to improve the quality of information and estimates, such as country-specific expenditure analyses. To this end, it is particularly important to characterize the levels of OOP health expenditure and to incorporate policy monitoring into the analyses.

Contemporary Global Health Governance Actors

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Youde
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
World Health ◽  
Global Health Governance ◽  
Governance System ◽  
Health Governance ◽  
Current State ◽  
Funding Agencies ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Private Actors ◽  
Public Versus Private

While Chapter 3 focuses primarily on the evolution of global health governance, Chapter 4 pays more attention to its contemporary manifestation as a secondary institution within international society. This chapter discusses the current state of the global health governance architecture—who the important actors are, how they operate, how they have changed over the past twenty-five years, and how they illustrate the fundamental beliefs and attitudes within the global health governance system. In particular, the chapter discusses the relative balance between state-based and non-state actors, as well as public versus private actors. This chapter highlights five key players within contemporary global health governance: states; the World Health Organization; multilateral funding agencies; public–private partnerships; and non-state and private actors

scholarly journals Editorial for the Special Issue: “Honey Bee Products as an Alternative or Complement to Classical Antibiotics”

Antibiotics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 234
Author(s):  
Piotr Szweda
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Honey Bee ◽  
World Health ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Health Challenge ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Global Health Challenge

Based on World Health Organization reports, the resistance of bacteria to well-known antibiotics is becoming a major global health challenge [...]

scholarly journals Nurses’ Knowledge and Anxiety Levels toward COVID-19 in Saudi Arabia

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 356-363
Author(s):  
Fatmah Alsharif
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Psychological Health ◽  
Care Staff ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Online Questionnaire ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
As Stress ◽  
Health Organization

Background: In the battle against the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, medical care staff, especially nurses, are at a higher risk of encountering psychological health issues and distress, such as stress, tension, burdensome indications, and, most importantly, fear. They are also at higher risk of becoming infected and transmitting this virus. In Saudi Arabia, it was noticed that the healthcare workforce suffered from anxiety, and that this more evident in women than men. Objective: This study aimed to assess the knowledge of nurses regarding COVID-19 and the level of anxiety toward the COVID-19 outbreak in the current pandemic situation. Design: A cross-sectional design was used and a validated self-administered online questionnaire with a set of questions related to COVID-19 was distributed to 87 participating nurses. Results: The results showed that more than half of the nurses (71.90%) had an adequate and good knowledge about the causes, transmission, symptoms, treatment, and death rate of COVID-19. The main sources of information for the nurses were social media (51.7%) and the World Health Organization and the Ministry of Health (36.8%). Conclusions: The results allowed the conclusion that, though the nurses had satisfactory knowledge about COVID-19, more than 50% of them experienced mental health issues such as anxiety. To address this, along with providing more knowledge about COVID-19, nurses should be supported in managing their anxiety.

scholarly journals The Covid infodemic

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken Hyland ◽  
Feng (Kevin) Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Global Health ◽  
Medical Research ◽  
World Health Organization ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
World Health ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
Highly Cited

Abstract Covid-19, the greatest global health crisis for a century, brought a new immediacy and urgency to international bio-medical research. The pandemic generated intense competition to produce a vaccine and contain the virus, creating what the World Health Organization referred to as an ‘infodemic’ of published output. In this frantic atmosphere, researchers were keen to get their research noticed. In this paper, we explore whether this enthusiasm influenced the rhetorical presentation of research and encouraged scientists to “sell” their studies. Examining a corpus of the most highly cited SCI articles on the virus published in the first seven months of 2020, we explore authors’ use of hyperbolic and promotional language to boost aspects of their research. Our results show a significant increase in hype to stress certainty, contribution, novelty and potential, especially regarding research methods, outcomes and primacy. Our study sheds light on scientific persuasion at a time of intense social anxiety.

scholarly journals Global Governance and the WHO’s Mandate Post-COVID-19 Crisis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Vilbert
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
World Health ◽  
First Year ◽  
Health Crisis ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Democratic Principle ◽  
The World ◽  
Distribution Of Power ◽  
Health Organization

The COVID-19 has renovated the debate about global health governance. A number of scholars have proposed that the World Health Organization should assume the position of a central coordinator with hierarchical powers, demanding nation-states to “share their sovereignty”. This article presents four main objections to this project. First, when international institutions receive leverage, they use to impose “one-size-fits-all” policies, which conflicts with the characteristic heterogeny across countries. Second, geopolitical questions and the distribution of power in multilateral institutions put developing countries in a position of vulnerability within a hierarchical order. Third, the risk of crowding out parallel initiatives, especially from non-state actors. Fourth, decisions about health can have a major impact on countries, which may thwart the internal democratic principle. A Pareto improvement would be possible by strengthening the WHO’s operational capacity and its ability to issue technical guidance and coordinate with countries. To test this hypothesis, this study analyses the possible influence of the WHO’s guidance in the first year of the coronavirus health crisis, from January 2020 to January 2021, in 37 countries reported in the World Values Survey Wave 7 (2017-2020). The OLS regression performed shows a statistically significant negative relationship between the trust in the WHO, assumed as a proxy for the level of the organization's penetration, and the number of cases of COVID-19 (per million people) in the countries of the sample. These findings reinforce the hypothesis that there is a valid case for the countries to strengthen the WHO’s mandate post-COVID-19, but they should enhance the operations of provision of reliable information and support. Nation-states, in particular the developing ones, should eschew the temptation to create a hierarchical global health structure, which may not only fail due to countries’ asymmetries but is likely to create losers in the process.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document