scholarly journals Municipal public health officials and the Public Health Act

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heidi Lyshol
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Vocational Teachers ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Public Health ◽  
New Public ◽  
Public Health Officials ◽  
Public Health Workers ◽  
Public Health Act

Introduction: The Norwegian Public Health Act of 2012 was intended to give the municipalities a bigger stake in the health of the population by emphasizing public health at a municipal level. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the Act on public health officials in the execution of their vocational roles.Research questions: How do public health officials in Norwegian municipalities balance the requirements of the new Public Health Act and what their local leaders, both politicians and bureaucrats, want? How do they use the Act in the performance of their vocational roles? Does this have any relevance for vocational teachers? Method :After a literature search, semi-formal interviews were conducted with 13 municipal public health officials who were also given practical tasks and short questionnaires. The interview transcripts were analysed using Thematic Analysis. This qualitative research technique is defined and described. Discussion and Results: The study shows that the public health workers see the Act as a useful tool and actively use it to leverage the public health field into greater importance. They feel that the Act is empowering, gives them greater pride in their work, and that it helps both them and their superiors to achieve greater understanding of public health workers’ roles in their municipalities. Using the informants’ own words, changes in the municipal public health workers’ roles and vocational self-definitions are discussed in the context of the new Act and selections from the relevant literature. Conclusion: The Public Health Act has changed the roles of municipal public health workers and helped them to further public health by giving them more responsibility and expanded their duty to safeguard health in all policies. The Act is seen as empowering, giving public health professionals pride in their work and greater role understanding, and should be heavily featured in the curriculum of future public health workers.

scholarly journals Self-Assessment in the Measurement of Public Health Workforce Preparedness for Bioterrorism or other Public Health Disasters

2005 ◽  
Vol 120 (2) ◽  
pp. 186-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dave S. Kerby ◽  
Michael W. Brand ◽  
David L. Johnson ◽  
Farooq S. Ghouri
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
Self Assessment ◽  
Local Public Health ◽  
Public Health Agencies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Control And Prevention ◽  
Public Health Officials ◽  
Public Health Workers

Objective. The purpose of this study was to examine effective ways to evaluate public health workers' competence for preparedness. Methods. The Public Health Ready project, developed by the National Association of County and City Public Health Officials and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a pilot program designed to prepare local public health agencies to respond to emergency events. Workers at a Public Health Ready site ( N=265) rated their need for training and their competence in meeting generic emergency response goals. Cluster analysis of cases was conducted on the self-assessed need for training. Results. Three groups of workers emerged, differing in their overall ratings of need for training. A given worker tended to report similar needs for training across all training goals. Conclusions. In this study, workers' ratings of need for training may reflect an overall interest in training rather than need for training in a particular area. Caution should be exercised in interpretation when generic goals and self-assessment are used to measure need for training. Future assessments of training needs may be more effective if they use objective measures of specific local plans.

Exempting the state and responsibilizing individuals during pandemic governance: Analyzing the health minister’s responses to the Covid-19 pandemic in Turkey

2021 ◽  
pp. 136345932110607
Author(s):  
G Ezgi Akguloglu ◽  
Gulcin Con Wright
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Collective Actions ◽  
Protective Measures ◽  
The Public ◽  
New Public Health ◽  
New Public ◽  
Unique Nature ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
Public Health Strategies

The COVID-19 pandemic pushed the governments of the world to implement different regulative and protective measures. Although these measures required serious re-considerations of public health strategies, they were still grounded on pre-existing contexts of countries’ health systems, namely the “new public health” paradigm. Turkey’s neoliberal health reforms since 2003 coincide with the principles of this paradigm’s trends toward marketizing services and responsibilizing individuals; yet the Turkish context of the pandemic also stands out due to its mixed and unique form of governance. Utilizing the tweets of the Turkish Health Minister between March 13th and October 1st, 2020, we conducted a thematic qualitative analysis investigating the Turkish state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our analysis revealed that state responsibility was framed around building new pandemic hospitals, informing the public, and building trust. Conversely, his tweets assigned Turkish individuals an active role in shaping pandemic outcomes through their “informed” and “empowered” agency. Finally, he coined “togetherness,” referring to the sum of individual actions, as an indispensable goal in assuring public compliance with precautions. The Minister’s tweets reflect the unique nature of pandemic governance in Turkey with a relatively imposing and swift response of centralized power but a primary focus on “responsibilized” individuals’ collective actions.

Public health challenges during the COVID-19 outbreak in Nepal: a commentary

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (4) ◽  
pp. 373-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharmistha Sharma ◽  
Jeevan Bhatta
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Health Challenges ◽  
Current Scenario ◽  
Public Health Officials ◽  
The Government

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to depict the current scenario of coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19) in Nepal, how the government is tackling this pandemic as well as look at the public health challenges that Nepal is facing and might face in the future.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is a viewpoint of COVID-19 activities conducted in Nepal.FindingsNepal is vulnerable to COVID-19, as it shares borders with China and India. Cases have started to be seen in different parts of Nepal. Government of Nepal has started various measures to control the spread of the virus such as deploying health workers, information sharing via different mediums. However, there are still many challenges that the government and public health officials need to be concerned about as well.Originality/valueThis paper provides information about the situation of COVID-19 in Nepal, how the government is handling, and public health challenges that may arise. This paper can be beneficial for further public health interventions.

scholarly journals Formative dialogue research - an appropriate strategy in community public health projects?

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
L H Ausland ◽  
I Stang
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Knowledge Base ◽  
Health Knowledge ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
County Council ◽  
Local Public Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
Preliminary Results ◽  
Self Evaluation ◽  
Public Health Workers

Abstract Background Lately, there has been a call for knowledge-based community public health strategies and for evaluating local public health interventions. In addition to contributing to the public health knowledge base, it is underlined that the evaluations should be formative for ongoing local processes. The community professionals often lack evaluation competency, and a university course (10 ECTS) about process- and self-evaluation has been developed and facilitated for local public health workers. Vestfold County Council and University of South-Eastern Norway have collaborated to develop the course. The course has a particular focus on Formative Dialogue Research (FDR). FDR strategies may emphasize both project impact and processes, and local competences. The FDR approaches also contributes to the public health knowledge base (Rønningen 2010). Objective To examine and discuss whether FDR in combinations with an evaluation course, may be an appropriate strategy to meet the new expectations for community public health evaluations. Results Preliminary results indicate that FDR in combination with a evaluation course, may be an appropriate and desirable approach in community public health projects. The local public health professionals welcome the course. The focus has until now been on the development of the course and the cooperation and dialogues between the university and the county. Questionnaire and interview data collected in September 2019 will exemplify and nuance these preliminary results. Conclusions So far, the developing process indicate that FDR in combination with a course in self- and process evaluation, support FDR as an appropriate evaluation approach in community public health projects and processes. Key messages The local public health workers often lack competences in project evaluation. FDR in combination with a comprehensive course in process and self-evaluation seem appropriate evaluation approaches in community public health projects.

"A New Look in Latin American Relations: A Report on the Denver UNESCO Conference": A Comment

1960 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 168-168
Author(s):  
Howard Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
The Public ◽  
Human Organization ◽  
Public Health Workers ◽  
New Look

I was chuckling along through Mr. Stycos' description of the UNESCO conference in Denver in the Winter issue of Human Organization (Volume 18, Number 4) when I came across his witicisms at the expense of public health, at which point I stopped chuckling. Having known myself some of the kinds of persons of whom Mr. Stycos spoke in his earlier remarks and unfortunately also having known a few of the public health types he ran across, I would not wish this gentleman to rest with the idea that most public health workers are these days as smug and blithely unconcerned for their product as those Mr. Stycos has known.

Mitigate, adapt, or suffer: Peak oil’s new disaster paradigm

2010 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 315-319
Author(s):  
Gerard S. Doyle, MD, MPH
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Disaster Medicine ◽  
Peak Oil ◽  
Journal Articles ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
New Public Health ◽  
New Public ◽  
Pubmed Database

Objectives: To address the impacts of peak oil (PO) on human health and to propose new public health preparedness models and measures mandated by these impacts.Design: Review of relevant literature. Articles were obtained by searching the PubMed database (including manual searches using “related citations” tool) plus Google and Google Scholar search engines using terms such as “peak oil,” “energy scarcity,” “human health,” “public health,” and “preparedness.”Results: Forty-six journal articles were reviewed.Conclusions: The projections about PO are concerning, as illustrated by minor PO events in the recent past. There are many opportunities for devising beneficial solutions within healthcare to mitigate the effects of PO. It is essential for disaster medicine professionals to become aware of PO and to advocate for change in clinical practice with patients as well as policy leaders. If we fail to mitigate the effects of PO on healthcare, we will be left with the less pleasant options of adapting to PO or suffering its effects.

scholarly journals New law on HIV testing in Botswana: The implications for healthcare professionals

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rofiah O. Sarumi ◽  
Ann E. Strode
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Hiv Testing ◽  
Healthcare Professionals ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
New Public Health ◽  
Testing Strategies ◽  
New Public ◽  
Human Rights Norms ◽  
Public Health Act

Background: Botswana is one of the countries with the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world. Innovative HIV testing strategies are required to ensure that those infected or at risk of infection become aware of their HIV status and are able to access treatment, care and support. Despite this public health imperative, HIV testing strategies in Botswana will in future be based around the principles in the new Public Health Act (2013). The present article describes the HIV testing norms in the Act, and sets out the strengths and weaknesses of this approach and its implications for healthcare professionals in Botswana.Objectives: To compare international norms on HIV testing with the provisions governing such testing in the new Botswana Public Health Act and to assess the extent to which the new Act meets international human rights norms on HIV testing.Method: A ‘desktop’ review of international human rights norms and those in the Botswana Public Health Act.Conclusion: HIV testing norms in the new Public Health Act in Botswana violate individual rights and will place healthcare workers in a position where they will have to elect between acting lawfully or ethically. Law reform is required in order to ensure that HIV testing achieves the joint goals of public health and human rights.

Commentary: Who is Remembering Local Public Health? The Forgotten Pandemic Worker

2021 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-117
Author(s):  
Jodi Brookins-Fisher ◽  
Alexis Blavos ◽  
Heidi Hancher-Rauch ◽  
Amy Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Workforce ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Public Health Workforce ◽  
Local Public Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Future ◽  
Public Health Workers ◽  
Health Experts

As the COVID-19 pandemic rages, there is no end in sight to the stress induced on the public health workforce. It is clear over the last 18+ months that the woeful underfunding of public health efforts across the US impacted the speed and agility with which public health experts have tackled the pandemic. This has led to the emotional decimation of public health workers who have plowed forward, even as they have worked long and stressful hours while also being politically and physically vilified. If this continues, what does the future of our public health workforce look like?

Occupational and public health considerations for work-hour limitations policy regarding public health workers during response to natural and human-caused disasters

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 189-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Murray R. Berkowitz, DO, MA, MS, MPH
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Health And Safety ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
The Public ◽  
Safety Concerns ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Public Health Workers ◽  
Work Hour ◽  
The Impact

This article examines the occupational health considerations that might impact the health and wellbeing of public health workers during responses to natural (eg, floods and hurricanes) and humancaused (eg, terrorism, war, and shootings) disasters. There are a number of articles in the medical literature that argue the impact of how working long hours by house staff physicians, nurses, and first-responders may pose health and safety concerns regarding the patients being treated. The question examined here is how working long hours may pose health and/or safety concerns for the public health workers themselves, as well as to those in the communities they serve. The health problems related to sleep deprivation are reviewed. Current policies and legislations regarding work-hour limitations are examined. Policy implications are discussed.

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