Out of Nowhere
Rae-Ellen W. Kavey, Allison B. Kavey in Viral Pandemics, 2020
SARS presented emergent requirements to the global health system and despite concurrent outbreaks in multiple locations, these were met by a remarkable international collaboration coordinated by the WHO and the CDC. In the 5 months following the first cases of SARS in China, the epidemiology of this previously unknown disease was described and a novel causative organism identified.45,46 Using a secure Internet site, laboratories shared information about the disease and the virus in real time. SARS-CoV was shown to be accurately diagnosed using enzyme-linked immunoassays (EIA) or RT-PCR tests, performed on respiratory secretions or blood. Classic disease control measures – active surveillance, early diagnosis, hospital infection control with isolation, contact tracing with quarantine, and international reporting – were aggressively implemented in multiple sites and proved effective. While a wide variety of antiviral and anti-inflammatory measures were attempted, there were no conclusive benefits so aggressive supportive care was the recommended approach.50
Smart health communities
Ben Y.F. Fong, Martin C.S. Wong in The Routledge Handbook of Public Health and the Community, 2021
The concept of ‘Smart Health Communities’ (SHC) arises in the context of challenges to both national health systems and global contexts. Most nation states and health systems are facing the challenge of ageing populations, increased chronic disease burdens for those populations, a current pandemic of COVID-19, origins and variable utility of predominantly acute care hospital-based systems, referred to in this chapter as ‘sick care’. This context recognises that health care is mostly viewed as ‘hospital centric delivery systems’ (Li et al., 2020, p. 1802). The concept of smart health communities suggests a focus on primary health care (PHC), while recognising gaps in access and quality to PHC and the need to also increase the structural capacity of public health services and surveillance systems for disease control and prevention (Li et al., 2020, p. 1802).
Beyond Biosecurity
Kevin Bardosh in One Health, 2016
Public health prevention and disease control relies on statistics to improve epidemiological understandings but also to raise funds, secure policy attention and to make investments accountable through monitoring. These concerns were also emphasized by a senior MOHS official: So resources for Lassa sensitisation, Lassa training, are not forthcoming. Last year we approached WHO and we have thrown this to some NGOs working in some of these districts to pick up this as an issue. But you know before even things become a priority you need to see data, case notes, and its coming and by all means the focus on Lassa will soon take place but it won’t take place immediately because there are other priority diseases which have [more] attention. He added later that ‘[Lassa] is an unknown.’ Hard data is required before, and in order for, Lassa to compete with other diseases for attention and resources. There were disagreements about the direction of the LFN-MRU at its outset and some stakeholders wanted to focus on community-based prevention or improving the ward. However, the focus on diagnostics and surveillance won (Khan et al., 2008). Lassa needed to make the transition from an unknown to a known disease, and diagnostics were the building blocks to enable improved understandings of the disease profile, incidence and prevalence.
A communal intervention for military moral injury
Published in Journal of Health Care Chaplaincy, 2022
Chris J. Antal, Peter D. Yeomans, Kelly Denton-Borhaug, Scott A. Hutchinson
Applying this social-cultural lens to understanding MI reveals a public health issue. The Center for Disease Control defines public health as “the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private communities, and individuals” (2021). Swarbrick says public health aims to increase the “wellness” of both individuals and society as a whole and includes eight dimensions: physical, spiritual, social, intellectual, emotional/mental, occupational, environmental and financial concerns (2012, pp. 31–32). War and armed conflict degrade public health, upend “moral worlds,” and “rend the fabric of community” (MacLeish, 2019, p. 204). Armed conflict increases structural violence in human societies; it heightens impoverishment, injuries, grief, and trauma; it results in the loss of economic infrastructure, social safety nets, educational resources, and access to healthcare. The costs of war include decreased access to food, water, health clinics and social networks, and thereby increases mental health problems in societies (Mazzarino, Inhorn, & Lutz, 2019).
Healthcare costs and outcomes in adult patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: a population-based study
Published in Scandinavian Journal of Rheumatology, 2019
NJ Mars, AM Kerola, MJ Kauppi, M Pirinen, O Elonheimo, T Sokka-Isler
Current treatment strategies emphasize early and aggressive use of conventional DMARDs, and use of bDMARDs in case of failure of first line treatment. Medication expenditures represent a substantial part of annual costs, particularly regarding bDMARDs (12), a finding also evident here. Still, the increase in costs may not be as high as expected, and this increase may be advocated considering the long-term benefits of inflammation alleviation (15). Good disease control may also bring economic benefits, as seen in RA (8). The rheumatology unit in Jyväskylä is highly specialized and the local healthcare supply chain is elaborate (9), which may positively influence resource utilization, at least in the long run. In Finland, bDMARDs are used when necessary, and nearly half of the patients overall had received them at some point. In 2014, a quarter used bDMARDs.
The senseless orphanage of Chagas disease
Published in Expert Opinion on Orphan Drugs, 2019
Cristina Alonso-Vega, Irene Losada-Galván, María-Jesus Pinazo, Javier Sancho Mas, Joaquim Gascón Brustenga, Julio Alonso-Padilla
Perhaps the sole exception to the absence of specific attention to Chagas disease was the regional implementation of vector control programs. This, together with the improvement in housing habitability conditions (although these were not specifically aimed at controlling the disease), led to a 40% decrease in the number of people affected over time: from the ~17 million in the 1980s to the ~10 by the end of last century and ~7 million today [23]. However, vector control programs have been irregularly implemented in the region, and become an incomplete and inefficient strategy unless they are not accompanied by other specific measures for disease control such as providing information and education to the community, training health-care personnel, and enabling widespread access to diagnosis and treatment.
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