Bioethics in Kenya: Who is Interested in Certificate Courses

Inadequate training in matters of ethics renders health care providers unprepared for dilemmas faced in public health, research, and clinical practice. Certificate course training offer opportunities to gain more knowledge and skills on all matter ethics. Over the past decade, the increase in research activities in Kenya has not been proportionate to training in ethics. The centre of Biomedical Ethics and Culture (CBEC), Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) Bioethics training Initiative (CK-BTI) is a Forgaty funded program for building capacity in research ethics for Kenya and Pakistan. This paper evaluates the characteristics of participants that attended the CK-BTI certificate level courses in Kenya between 2017 to 2021. This data was analysed for this paper and utilized information from the training application process. Between November 2017 and July 2021, a total of 1,359 applications were received and 457 (33.6%) trained. The target countries were Kenya and Pakistan but interest was drawn from Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, and Zambia. The continued interest in the certificate level ethics courses may imply a need to increase the number of ethics training offered within the East African region.

A Scoping Review Examining Interventions Intended to Help LGBTQIA+ Youth Transition Out of Homelessness

Objective: Youth self-identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning/queer, intersex, asexual, and other identities (LGBTQIA+) are overrepresented among the homeless youth population in western countries. Although scholars have documented the situations and events contributing to disproportionately high rates of homelessness among LGBTQIA+ youth compared to cisgender peers, researchers have not as thoroughly examined the efficacy of services available to this group to assist their transition from homelessness to stable residency. The purpose of this scoping review was to examine the peer-reviewed literature to determine how many journal articles have been generated that addressed (a) the assessment of client satisfaction or (b) the effectiveness of intervention designed to help LGBTQIA+ homeless youth transition from homelessness to stable tenancy. Method: A database search of six peer-reviewed, health care publication indexes, with 50 key search terms was performed. The database search spanned publication years with no beginning year, but ended in January 2021. Results: Nineteen articles were identified that described programming, reported intervention outcomes, or outlined policies and recommendations intended to help LGBTQIA+ youth transition out of homelessness. Of the 19 studies, only five (26.31%) reported program evaluation (n=1, 5.26%), the assessment of intervention effectiveness (n=2, 10.52%), or an analysis of client satisfaction (n=2, 10.52%). Findings exemplify the dearth of scholarship and research examining this area of academic inquiry and public health need. Discussion: Without empirical research investigating service provision for the LGBTQIA+ homeless youth population, service providers have little data upon which to inform practice based on an understanding of the services that are needed and desired by this population to transition out of homelessness, the effectiveness and perceived satisfaction of those services, and whether services should be modified to better meet the needs of those for whom it was intended. Scholars and researchers are called upon to generate this needed public health research, which should include service recipient perspectives to target outcomes and interpret findings.

Waterborne Diseases Arising From Climate Change

As a result of increased frequency and intensity of heat waves, increased floods and droughts, change in climate will affect biological, physical, and chemical components of water through different paths thus enhancing the risk of waterborne diseases. Identifying the role of weather in waterborne infection is a priority public health research issue as climate change is predicted to increase the frequency of extreme precipitation and temperature events. This chapter provides evidence that precipitation and temperature can affect directly or indirectly water quality and consequently affect the health human. This chapter also highlights the complex relationship between precipitation or temperature and transmission of waterborne disease such as diarrheal disease, gastroenteritis, cryptosporidiosis, giardiasis, and cholera.

Big Data at the Service of the Public Health Systems

The great differential of organizations has been the strategic innovation through the best way to manage existing knowledge. The management of information and knowledge generated in the health area is no different, as is the case with the pharmaceutical sector. The major challenge of public health research is to promote the use of scientific and technological knowledge produced in more effective health policy and action strategies in order to provide effective health gains. New technologies are promising tools to support public health management. The current scenario, in which the world has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, has reinforced this understanding. This chapter aims to highlight the importance of using big data tools to make public health policies more effective. Examples of successful cases in different areas of Brazilian public management will be presented, aiming to reinforce the relevance of these tools for public health systems.

A Systematic Visualization Review of Green Environment and Public Health for 2003-2019 Based on The Co-Citation Bibliometric Analysis Theory

Currently, the world is facing challenges of environmental pollution and public health owing to increasing urbanization. Therefore, many researchers from developed and developing countries are considering environmental pollution and public health to be the most important topics for sustainable development alongside a healthy and green environment. Although in the literature many researchers have investigated a pictorial view of green environment by defining the urban green space and blue space effects on public health, the green environments and public health research trend remains unclear. Thus, this study aimed to contribute to the literature by visualizing the bibliometric for green environments and public health, and to identify the missing research pathway. Data for this study was collected from the Web of Science from 2003-2019 in order to facilitate a visualization and bibliometric analysis carried out by CiteSpace. The visualization results reveal the most influential studies, institutions, authors, countries, keywords, and category cloud in the green environments and public health research field. Furthermore, this study suggests that researchers need to pay attention to how the genome changes due to climate change, as well as environmental pollution and its effect on human health. Mental health and research related to green environment and social health is also missing. In addition, there is also a missing link regarding green environment, underground water and public health. Additionally, this study could help authors and publishers make decisions concerning research on green environments and public health and planning for future perspectives to contribute to both academic development and applied methodology.

Qualitative Research Methods in Chronic Disease: Introduction and Opportunities to Promote Health Equity

Public health research that addresses chronic disease has historically underutilized and undervalued qualitative methods. This has limited the field's ability to advance ( a) a more in-depth understanding of the factors and processes that shape health behaviors, ( b) contextualized explanations of interventions’ impacts (e.g., why and how something did or did not work for recipients and systems), and ( c) opportunities for building and testing theories. We introduce frameworks and methodological approaches common to qualitative research, discuss how and when to apply them in order to advance health equity, and highlight relevant strengths and challenges. We provide an overview of data collection, sampling, and analysis for qualitative research, and we describe research questions that can be addressed by applying qualitative methods across the continuum of chronic disease research. Finally, we offer recommendations to promote the strategic application of rigorous qualitative methods, with an emphasis on priority areas to enhance health equity across the evidence generation continuum. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Public Health, Volume 43 is April 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Taiwan Biobank: a rich biomedical research database of the Taiwanese population

The Taiwan Biobank (TWB) is an ongoing prospective study of over 150,000 individuals aged 30-70 recruited from across Taiwan beginning in 2012. A comprehensive list of phenotypes was collected for each consented participant at recruitment and follow-up visits through structured interviews and physical measurements. Biomarkers and genetic data were also generated for all participants from blood and urine samples. We present here an overview of the genetic data quality, population structure, and familial relationship within TWB, which consists of predominantly Han Chinese-ancestry individuals, and highlight important attributes and genetic findings thus far from the biobank. A linkage to Taiwan's National Health Insurance database of >25 years and other health-related registries is underway that will enrich the phenotypic spectrum of TWB and enable deep and longitudinal genetic investigations. TWB provides one of the largest biobank resources for biomedical and public health research in East Asia that will contribute to our understanding of the genetic basis of human health and disease in global populations through collaborative studies with other biobanks.

Hispanic/Latino Acculturation Profiles and Telomere Length: Latent Class Analysis on a Nationally Representative Sample

Background: Acculturation profiles and their impact on telomere length among foreign-born Hispanics/Latinos living in the United States (US) are relatively unknown. The limited research available has linked acculturation with shortened telomere length.Objectives: To identify acculturation profiles among a US representative sample of Hispanics/Latinos and to then examine telomere length differences between profiles.Methods: We conducted a latent class analysis among a non-institutionalized US-representative sample of Hispanics/Latinos using the 1999–2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (N = 2,292). The latent variable of acculturation was assessed by length of time in the US and language used as a child, read and spoken, usually spoken at home, used to think, and used with friends (i.e., Spanish and/or English). Telomere length assessed from leukocytes was used as the distal continuous outcome.Results: We identified five profiles: (1) low acculturated [33.2% of sample]; (2) partially integrated [18.6% of sample]; (3) integrated [19.4% of sample]; (4) partially assimilated [15.1% of sample]; and (5) assimilated [13.7% of sample]. Acculturation profiles revealed nuanced differences in conditional probabilities with language use despite the length of time spent in the US. While telomere length did vary, there were no significant differences between profiles.Conclusion: Profiles identified revealed that possible life-course and generational effects may be at play in the partially assimilated and assimilated profiles. Our findings expand public health research using complex survey data to identify and assess the dynamic relationship of acculturation profiles and health biomarkers, while being among the first to examine this context using a person-centered approach.

Some evidences and applications of the randomized response crossed model in a survey of sensitive population behaviors

Surveying human behaviors, especially in demographic, social, medical and public health research, often involves sensitive issues. Posing direct inquiries about stigmatizing or threatening topics may lead survey participants to refuse to answer or to give untruthful responses. Nonresponse and misreporting denote measurement errors that are difficult to treat and are likely to yield unreliable analyses of the surveyed topics. This problem can be mitigated by adopting survey methods that enhance anonymity and respondent cooperation. One possibility is to create a trustful and confidential relationship between the interviewer and the survey participants. Alternatively, it is possible to fully protect privacy by adopting indirect questioning procedures that elicit information without posing sensitive questions directly. We consider both above-mentioned possibilities showing the results of a real study which explores the effectiveness of the randomized response crossed model proposed by Lee et al. (2013) to produce prevalence estimates for two sensitive traits, cannabis use and its legalization.

Diverse Approaches to Creating and Using Causal Loop Diagrams in Public Health Research: Recommendations From a Scoping Review

Objectives: Complex systems thinking methods are increasingly called for and used as analytical lenses in public health research. The use of qualitative system mapping and in particular, causal loop diagrams (CLDs) is described as one promising method or tool. To our knowledge there are no published literature reviews that synthesize public health research regarding how CLDs are created and used.Methods: We conducted a scoping review to address this gap in the public health literature. Inclusion criteria included: 1) focused on public health research, 2) peer reviewed journal article, 3) described and/or created a CLD, and 4) published in English from January 2018 to March 2021. Twenty-three articles were selected from the search strategy.Results: CLDs were described as a new tool and were based upon primary and secondary data, researcher driven and group processes, and numerous data analysis methods and frameworks. Intended uses of CLDs ranged from illustrating complexity to informing policy and practice.Conclusion: From our learnings we propose nine recommendations for building knowledge and skill in creating and using CLDs for future public health research.