Category: Crisis

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Crisis Global Health Public Health

Opioids given and monitored by the government instead of various clinics?

In City of Vancouver, a pilot program began in providing Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid used to manage severe pain (it is about 50-100 times more potent than morphine). Public Health Agency of Canada | Agence de la santé publique du Canada finances the program and it is all legal – with the goal of harm reduction for those in need of the drug. This approach is aimed to reduce deaths and severe illnesses from illicit drugs by making the drugs safer for people who use them.

Last year, over 20+ United States Attorneys’​ Offices reject the current bankruptcy plan offered by Purdue Pharma L.P., who have ongoing claims against them for their role in the opioid epidemic in United States. This addiction crisis in the US has killed more than 450,000 Americans.

Today’s thoughts may be deeply controversial in the United States, but how can we provide harm reduction (ie reduce the overdoses) while at the same time providing quality care for those in need of such potent pain medication?

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Crisis Public Health

Severe Flooding in Yellowstone Park

Did you hear about the Major Disaster Declaration last week over the severe flooding in Yellowstone Park?

Last week, US President Biden approved Montana’s request for a major disaster declaration, which sets in motion federal aid for the three counties devastated by severe flooding in Yellowstone Park.

Per the Washington Post, the unprecedented destruction has left many people in the region uneasy about their futures. Extreme weather, from record-breaking heat waves to raging wildfires to more powerful hurricanes, is accelerating as global temperatures rise, destroying livelihoods and putting strain on all kinds of communities just like Yellowstone. Recent news are reporting many residents being stranded and lost their homes.

Photo Credit WP
Map of affected area – Credit: NWS

From one of my research studies on severe flooding (upcoming in-press publication coming soon) included interviews and focus groups of people who were flooded in the UK. From this research, many people reported feeling skeptical after a severe flood that change for the best will happen to them locally despite the news coverage and financial support (which tend to be limited amount and difficult to access). Some of this skeptical feeling was said to be connected to lack of awareness and support felt once the news coverage and financial support disappeared.

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Crisis Global Health Public Health Research

New Study on Basic Emergency Care education course in Ukraine

BMJ open - BEC course in Ukraine

New paper is out now! The publication is open-access and the web link is https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/12/6/e050871.

Publication Title: Evaluation of change in emergency care knowledge and skills among front-line healthcare providers in Ukraine with the Basic Emergency Care course: a pretest/post-test study

Abstract:
Objective: Evaluate the change in participant emergency care knowledge and skill confidence after implementation of the WHO-International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Basic Emergency Care (BEC) course.
Design: Pretest/post-test quasi-experimental study.
Setting: Mechnikov Hospital in Dnipro, Ukraine.
Participants: Seventy-nine participants engaged in the course, of whom 50 (63.3%) completed all assessment tools. The course was open to healthcare providers of any level who assess and treat emergency conditions as part of their practice. The most common participant profession was resident physician (24%), followed by health educator (18%) and prehospital provider (14%).
Interventions: The 5-day WHO-ICRC BEC course.
Primary and secondary outcome measures Change in pre-course and post-course knowledge and skill confidence assessments. Open-ended written feedback was collected upon course completion and analysed for common themes.
Results: Participant knowledge assessment scores improved from 19 (IQR 15–20) to 22 (IQR 19–23) on a 25-point scale (p<0.001). Participant skill confidence self-assessment scores improved from 2.5 (IQR 2.1–2.8) to 2.9 (IQR 2.5–3.3) on a 4-point scale (p<0.001). The most common positive feedback themes were high-quality teaching and useful skill sessions. The most common constructive feedback themes were translation challenges & request for additional skill session time.
Conclusions: This first implementation of the WHO-ICRC BEC course for front-line healthcare providers in Ukraine was successful and well received by participants. This is also the first report of a BEC implementation outside of Africa and suggests that the course is also effective in the European context, particularly in humanitarian crisis and conflict settings. Future research should evaluate long-term knowledge retention and the impact on patient outcomes. Further iterations should emphasise local language translation and consider expanding clinical skills sessions.

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Crisis Public Health Research

1 in 6 Americans live in areas with significant wildfire risk – do you know your risk to wildfire?

Fire Risk Projections in US

1 in 6 Americans live in areas with significant wildfire risk – do you know your city’s risk for wildfire?

Latest modeling built by First Street Foundation shows estimates for America in 2052 along with developing a public estimation tool labeled Fire Factor. The First Street Foundation Wildfire Model incorporates information on fuels, wildfire weather, and ignition into a Fire Behavior Model, building upon and updating the 2016 U.S. Forest Service dataset. Last year, First Street Foundation reported about flood risk in the United States to grow exponentially in upcoming years due to climate change.

Did you know that supporting wildfire suppression at the local, state, and federal levels in the United States is among the most expensive wildfire protection efforts?

Currently, it is costing the US government about $2.0 billion annually. These costs are projected to increase, as recently modeling shows an increased risk to more areas, including areas where fire risks were not historically present but now are.

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Crisis Global Health Research

What role does corruption play in worsening so-called ‘natural disasters’?

What role does corruption play in worsening so-called ‘natural disasters’? (Hint – there are no natural disasters!) With recent “bomb cyclone,” natural hazards could create disasters but in many cases, corruption in development and infrastructure exacerbate the situation with buildings and houses that collapse (which shouldn’t).

Colleagues and I from UNSW, UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, University of Technology Sydney, University of Sydney, Harvard Medical School, & SEEDS explored this question while systematically reviewing the academic literature concerning the degree to which corruption worsens naturally-triggered disasters in the built environment. The early view of our research is now published at Wiley ODI Disasters scientific journal (link).

Continue reading “What role does corruption play in worsening so-called ‘natural disasters’?”
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Crisis Public Health Research

New Report on Flood Risk in US Infrastructure

How informed are you with your flood risk and the flood risk of your community’s essential infrastructure?

New report by First Street Foundation found flood risk in United States to grow exponentially in upcoming years due climate change.

Climate disasters have already caused at least 388 deaths and more than $100 billion in damage this year in the United States (The Wall Street Journal).

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Crisis Public Health

Was Justice Served to Purdue Pharma?

Two demonstrators protest against U.S. Judge Robert Drain, who has granted immunity from future opioid lawsuits to members of the Sackler family. Brian Mann

6 months ago – we were discussing the plea deals with U.S. Department of Justice and Purdue Pharma L.P.. (the bankrupt maker of the OxyContin painkiller).

Purdue Pharma admitted twice (in 2007 and 2020) to illegally marketing opioid medications. Bankruptcy judge recently approves Purdue Pharma plan to resolve the opioid claims, in which also gives civil immunity to owners. The civil immunity gives broad protection from current and future litigation, even though there were objections from nine states and a branch of the Justice Department.

Continue reading “Was Justice Served to Purdue Pharma?”
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Crisis Global Health Public Health Research

2021 Conflict Research Society’s annual conference presentation

Yesterday, our paper addressing how disaster risk in conflict areas can be reduced to meet United Nations Sendai Framework disaster risk reduction priorities was presented at Conflict Research Society’s annual conference.

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Crisis Public Health

Climate change and Hurricane Ida

The situation with Hurricane Ida is very concerning especially with ongoing power outages and extreme weather conditions. Though recently downgraded to tropical depression yesterday, climate change helped make Hurricane Ida one of Louisiana’s worst storm.

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Crisis

OxyContin & Opioid Epidemic in United States

FILE - A Feb. 19, 2013, file photo shows OxyContin pills arranged for a photo at a pharmacy in Montpelier, Vt. A federal bankruptcy judge ruled Tuesday, July 28, 2020 that OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma can't make any more contributions to partisan organizations that seek to boost the election efforts of candidates for state attorney general offices. (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File)

“Right now, millions of people across the country are desperately suffering from opioid addiction. They need help and they need it now”

– Quote from joint statement issued by 20+ US State Attorney Generals

Over 20+ US State Attorney Generals reject the current bankruptcy plan offered by Purdue Pharma, who have ongoing claims against them for their role in the opioid epidemic in United States. Still no admittance from owners of company on wrongdoing, though this addiction crisis has killed more than 450,000 Americans.

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