Category: Global Health

Categories
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?

Categories
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.

Categories
COVID-19 Pandemic Global Health

The death toll of COVID-19 pandemic reached 5 million people today

The global death toll of the COVID-19 pandemic reached 5 million people today, roughly under 2 years since first identification of novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2 (https://time.com/6112287/5-million-covid-deaths/). The pandemic is still not over until it is over everywhere.

The U.S., European Union, Britain and Brazil account for one-eighth of the global population, but almost half of reported deaths from the coronavirus. For example, US leads the world in the number of confirmed deaths from the virus with more than 745,800 people dead from COVID-19, then Brazil (with more than 607,000 deaths) and India (with more than 450,000 deaths) [https://www.npr.org/2021/11/01/1051020063/the-covid-19-pandemic-has-killed-5-million-people-globally].

Continue reading “The death toll of COVID-19 pandemic reached 5 million people today”
Categories
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’?”
Categories
COVID-19 Pandemic Global Health

British Columbia released New Vaccine Passport Program

Are you using vaccine card or digital vaccine passport where you live?

More and more cities and regions are opting into using technology with vaccine passports. British Columbia, Canada just released its new program requiring people to show in order to enter non-essential business activities. There are plans in Alberta, Canada to create a proof of vaccination card and QR code coming soon in upcoming weeks, as well.

Continue reading “British Columbia released New Vaccine Passport Program”
Categories
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.

Continue reading “2021 Conflict Research Society’s annual conference presentation”
Categories
COVID-19 Pandemic Global Health Mental Health

Latest rankings by Bloomberg News of Best and Worst Places to Be

Have you considered moving during the COVID-19 pandemic due to your local government’s response and/or local community’s caseload? Will FDA’s full approval of the Pfizer / BioNTech SE vaccine play a factor in the shift of US?

Continue reading “Latest rankings by Bloomberg News of Best and Worst Places to Be”
Categories
COVID-19 Pandemic Global Health Public Health Research

Third dose of COVID-19 shot?

COVID-19 vaccines are working to protect against death along with some protection against hospitalization and mild infections. The latter protections seem to be declining in effectiveness plus Delta variant (and Lamba variant) are some of the reasons why US announce approval of a third shot (dose) for US population at 8 months or later after receiving the first two doses of Pfizer/BioNTech SE & Moderna.

Continue reading “Third dose of COVID-19 shot?”
Categories
Global Health

World Health Day Clubhouse Room Event Schedule

Start Time: Wed 12am GMT / End Time: Thurs 1am GMT

Time (GMT)@GlobalHealthCH Moderator(s)Room Topic
12amChidi Nwankpa (@chidnwankpa), Tamsin Meekel & Sonny Patel (@sonnypatel)Impacting Global Health Through CH #WHD2021
Join event!
2amAshley Allison (@MsAshleyIndira)Quality for All? Racism and Inequity in Healthcare #WHD2021
Join event!
2pmSam Lippolis (@samiamlip) & Sonny Patel (@sonnypatel) [Collaboration w/ @MedTechClub]Weekly Connections in Global Health: Changemakers & VCs #WHD2021 
Join event!
4pmDonna Patterson (@PharmacySenegal)Global Response to COVID in Different Regions – Are we meeting our goals? #WHD2021
Join event!
6pmGrace Gabagaya (@DrG_Omukali)Vaccine Equity in a Fairer and Healthier World #WHD2021
Join event!
8pmTan Rasab (@sigenexinc) & Sonny Patel (@sonnypatel)Side effects of focusing all health on COVID #WHD2021
Join event!
10pmZabin Patel (zabinsp), Aqsa Suleman (@aqsa_sz) & Sonny Patel (@sonnypatel)Should decolonization of Global Health happen? #WHD2021
Join event!
12amMaria Eduarda Mesquita (@Duda_Mesquita) & Lucas Ponte (@Lucaspontelol)Surgery as Solution for Universal Health Coverage? #WHD2021
Join event!
Join The Events on Clubhouse!

Join the LinkedIn Group

Categories
Global Health

World TB Day – March 24, 2021

1.4 million people with tuberculosis, lost out on treatment during first year of COVID-19 pandemic, according to World Health Organization.

Today is World TB Day. Observed on 24 March each year, the goal is to raise awareness and understanding about one of the world’s top infectious killers and catalyze action to address its devastating health, social, and economic impact around the world.

Continue reading “World TB Day – March 24, 2021”