Journal of Biosocial Science最新文献

The deliberations for the Pandemic Accord have opened an important moment of reflection on future approaches to pandemic preparedness. The concept had been increasingly prominent in global health discourse for several years before the pandemic and had concretised into a set of standardised mainstream approaches to the prediction of threats. Since 2019, the authors and the wider research team have led a research project on the meanings and practices of preparedness. At its close, the authors undertook 25 interviews to capture reflections of regional and global health actors' ideas about preparedness, and how and to what extent these were influenced by Covid-19. Here, an analysis of interview responses is presented, with attention to (dis)connections between the views of those occupying positions in regional and global institutions. The interviews revealed that preparedness means different things to different people and institutions. Analysis revealed several domains of preparedness with distinct conceptualisations of what preparedness is, its purposes, and scope. Overall, there appear to be some changes in thinking due to Covid-19, but also strong continuities, especially with respect to a technical focus and an underplaying of the inequities that became evident (in terms of biosocial vulnerabilities but also global-regional disparities) and, related to this, the importance of power and politics. Here, the analysis has revealed three elements, cutting across the domains but particularly strong within the dominant framing of preparedness, which act to sideline direct engagement with power and politics in the meanings and practices of preparedness. These are an emphasis on urgent action, a focus on universal or standardised approaches, and a resort to technical interventions as solutions. A rethinking of pandemic preparedness needs to enable better interconnections across scales and attention to financing that enables more equitable partnerships between states and regions. Such transformation in established hierarchies will require explicit attention to power dynamics and the political nature of preparedness.

Low birth weight (LBW) and preterm birth (PTB) are primary factors contributing to morbidity and mortality among children aged under 5, resulting in a range of short- and long-term health consequences worldwide. Among the various risk factors, ambient air pollution poses a significant environmental risk and is a key determinant of child health. The prevalence of LBW and PTB among under 5 children sampled from the NFHS-5, 2019-2021, was combined with monthly PM_2.5 data (2013-2021) obtained from the Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group at Washington University. Multivariable logistic regression models were used, and a stratified analysis was applied to understand the potential effect modifiers in LBW and PTB. Further, the geographical variation of LBW and PTB spatial autocorrelation (Moran's I) was used. Geographically weighted regression and ordinary least square spatial regression were used to identify the spatial heterogeneity associated with selected variables. The study comprises a total of 208,181 under 5 children. Out of these children, the LBW rate was 17.41%, and the rate of PTB was 12.42%. The in-utero exposure to the mean concentration of PM_2.5 was 56.01 μg/m³. The odds of suffering from LBW showed a non-linear shift when PM_2.5 levels rose from the first octile (<28.02 μg/m³) to the last octile (>93.84 μg/m³) (adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 1.06, 95% CI: 1.01-1.12). While comparing the first octile of exposure to PM_2.5 (>93.84 μg/m³) to the last octile, there was a 52% more likelihood of having PTB (AOR: 1.52, 95% CI: 1.43-1.61) after accounting for all relevant factors. These findings highlight the urgent need for a thorough strategy to control the air quality in India. Further, to reduce adverse birth outcomes, longitudinal studies and other co-pollutants can consider assessing the possible mechanisms mediating the relationship between maternal exposure and ambient air pollution.

Spousal age differences are highest in Sub-Saharan Africa, where trends in age at first marriage indicate an increase for both men and women. However, the net outcome for spousal age difference is difficult to predict without explicit analysis of these distributions. This study examines differentials in spousal age for women in first union. Further, it examines differences within population sub-groups and across countries, focusing on the influence of age at marriage and educational attainment. The analysis pools 144 survey datasets from the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) conducted between 1980 and 2020 in 34 countries. OLS regression analysis was used to predict the spousal age difference at marriage with five-year cohorts used to study time trends. The analysis finds a decline of 1.7 years in the spousal age difference at first marriage between the earliest (1980-1984) and most recent (2014-2019), indicating that there has been minimal reduction in age at first marriage over four decades, despite rising ages at marriage for females. Increasing age at first marriage and educational attainment of women partly explain the decline observed over time.

When traditional measures for material conditions are scarce or unreliable, body mass, height, and weight are complements to standard income and wealth measures. A persistent question in welfare studies is the 19^th century's 2^nd and 3^rd quarter's stature diminution, a pattern known as the antebellum paradox. However, the question may not be well stated nor experienced equally by women and non-white male samples. The late 19^th century's political Granger, Greenback, and Populist movements may have affected farmer and non-farmer's net nutrition. Despite 19^th and early 20^th century US political movements, farmers had greater BMIs, taller statures, and heavier weights than non-farmers. From the 1870s through 1890s, women's body mass, height, and weight increased relative to men. Individuals of African or mixed European-African descent had heavier weights and greater BMIs than their taller, European-white counterparts, indicating that the traditional antebellum paradox needs to include women and non-European males and weight measures.

For the first time, a question relating to certain long-term health conditions was asked in the 2021 Australian population census. The conditions included arthritis, asthma, cancer (including remission), dementia (including Alzheimer's), diabetes (excluding gestational diabetes), heart disease (including heart attack or angina), kidney disease, lung condition (including COPD or emphysema), mental health condition (including depression or anxiety), and stroke. Respondents could indicate either none or any number of these conditions. In this paper, the data on these conditions have been analysed to compare the self-reported prevalence of diseases among the 23.4 million Australians who responded to this question (median age 39 years), of whom 3.2% were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples (median age 24 years). Standardised Morbidity Ratios for each disease were calculated for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by using the relevant age-disease specific morbidity rates for the total population as the 'standard'. Findings of this research revealed that the prevalence of diseases was much higher among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples compared to the total population. The only exception was cancer, where the rates for the two groups were not much different. Gaps in prevalence of diseases in the two groups generally increased with age. The higher rates among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples emphasise the need for continued action on health equity and the development of more nuanced and focused initiatives to reduce the gaps between the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples vis-à-vis the total population of Australia. Findings in this paper were consistent with similar studies (albeit largely surveys) on health of the Indigenous peoples in Canada and the Maoris in New Zealand.

Premised on the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease theory and on the limited effectiveness of antenatal interventions, interventions in the preconception period are being conducted to potentially improve intergenerational health and non-communicable disease burdens. The Healthy Life Trajectories Initiative (HeLTI) is an international health research consortium primarily investigating the intergenerational effects of behavioural interventions on obesity via a complex four-phase intervention initiated preconceptionally, through pregnancy, and into early childhood. HeLTI, in partnership with the World Health Organization, aims to generate evidence that will shape health policy focused on preconception as part of a life course approach to population health. It is necessary to ensure that a renewed public health focus on preconception prioritises justice and equity in its framing. This article presents collaborative interdisciplinary work with HeLTI-South Africa. It applies a feminist bioethics methodology, which is empirical, situated, intersectional, and fundamentally concerned with justice, to investigate what South African HeLTI community health workers, or 'Health Helpers', who deliver the complex behavioural intervention, think about preconception health and responsibility. Seven semi-structured interviews were conducted with HeLTI-SA Health Helpers, and data were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Our findings show that Health Helpers' perceptions of preconception health and related responsibility were significantly gendered, heteronormative, and concerned with child-bearing intentionality and desires. These themes were inflected with Health Helpers' perceptions about how attributions of responsibility are shaped by culture, demonstrating the situated nature of epistemologies. Their ideas also highlight how preconception health knowledge can distribute responsibility unjustly. Understanding the contextual impact and relevance of values around responsibility is critical to prospectively design preconception health interventions that promote equity and fairness. This understanding can then be used for effective policy translation, with the goal that public health policy is founded upon contextual responsivity and justice for the public it aims to serve.

Biosocial birth cohort studies are uniquely positioned to be novel sites of interdisciplinary research. Their enduring commitment to specific field sites and populations, recurring grant renewal cycles, ability to ask prospective questions while drawing on long-standing data repositories, and more ensure ongoing collaboration and allow research to remain responsive to the evolving needs and timelines of multiple disciplines. However, it is widely recognised that interdisciplinary work is often easier imagined than achieved, and additional conditions are required to facilitate it beyond assembling teams of varied experts. This piece offers mediating practices as a concept that refers to the practical, multi-directional, and relational processes that attempt to resolve tensions that interdisciplinary teams often confront. Mediating practices bridge gaps among different disciplines' data and methods, often relying on pragmatic strategies, like re-designing data infrastructures or planning action items after a meeting, to do so. As such, mediating practices are crucial to conducting successful interdisciplinary research. Further, the concept of mediating practices foregrounds the actions of junior team members who often perform these practices, highlighting the need to foster epistemic humility and models of horizontal knowledge production in interdisciplinary teams. Here, the authors discuss their experiences and insights as members of interdisciplinary projects and outline how mediating practices emerged in these projects and enabled interdisciplinary success.

Current prevalence of disability in Bangladesh stands at 7.14%. Due to various misconceptions, stigma, and lack of policies, they are more vulnerable to violence and abuse from perpetrators. However, there is a paucity of research on the prevalence of emotional, physical, and sexual violence in the country. To address this knowledge gap, the current study aims to estimate the prevalence and explore the experiences of emotional abuse, physical, and sexual violence of persons with disabilities with their coping strategies. This study adopted a mixed-method sequential design comprising qualitative and quantitative components. A total of 5000 persons with disabilities were interviewed during the survey, and mini-ethnographic case studies were conducted with 51 purposively selected persons with disabilities from all eight administrative divisions of Bangladesh. Descriptive and bivariate statistical analysis was performed for quantitative data. Qualitative data were analysed through thematic analysis. The study concludes that the lifetime prevalence of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse is 68.9%, 26.6%, and 11.5%, respectively. Male participants were more prone to experience sexual abuse than females for both lifetimes (male: 12.7% & female: 10.3%) and within the last 12 months before the survey (male: 6.6% & female: 5.1%). Neighbours and close family members were found to be perpetrators of emotional and physical violence, whereas immediate family members were the perpetrators of sexual violence. Even though participants shared several coping mechanisms, equal to or less than 0.5% sought help from a counsellor to cope with the trauma. Results from the study correspond to the earlier studies with implications for future research and urgent policy reform. Although women are more vulnerable to experiencing different forms of violence, men with disabilities are no different. However, this remains unseen and unheard. To reduce the prevalence of violence against this marginalised group, a coordinated and collaborative approach is required targeting nationwide sensitisation, easy access to help-seeking centres, and adequate policy implementation.

Knowledge about HIV and level of HIV-related stigma have been considered the main indicators of the community's readiness to combat and bring the HIV epidemic to an end. Of all Serbia, the northern Kosovo province is especially vulnerable to the HIV spread because the infrastructure and the entire regulatory system had to be rebuilt after the ethnic conflict. The study objective was to examine the association between HIV-related knowledge level and attitudes towards people living with HIV (PLHIV) among university students from northern Kosovo using the quantile regression. A total of 1,017 students filled in an anonymous questionnaire. The questionnaire examined socio-demographic characteristics, HIV-related knowledge, attitudes towards PLHIV, sources of information about HIV, past experiences with PLHIV, and health behaviours. The dependent variable in the model was the attitude score (ATS) divided into quantiles (Q) in quantile regression analysis: Q0.10, Q0.25, Q0.50, Q0.75, and Q0.90. The independent variable was the knowledge score (KNS). The model was adjusted for relevant covariates. The majority of students had adequate HIV-related knowledge (89.6%) and 10.4% had lower knowledge. Most students also had a positive attitude (83.9%), while 16.1% were indecisive towards PLHIV. No students exhibiting wrong knowledge and negative attitudes were observed. The KNS and ATS significantly correlated with one another (ρ = 0.383; p = 0.001). The quantile regression model adjusted for variables associated with both KNS and ATS showed a negative association between KNS and ATS in the lowest quantile (Q0.10) of the ATS. In all other quantiles (Q0.25-Q0.90), a higher KNS was associated with having stronger positive attitudes towards PLHIV. This study confirmed that higher knowledge about HIV was associated with stronger positive attitudes towards HIV. Still, some students remain indecisive despite being knowledgeable about HIV. These students could benefit the most from continuing educational programmes to reduce the HIV-related stigma.