Global health journal (Amsterdam, Netherlands)最新文献

In this paper, we explored to develop a new concept of computer- and internet-based learning and training method in medicine, especially in obstetrics and gynecology, which is named as Virtual Academy of Women’ Health (VA). Especially in the times of infectious disease pandemics worldwide, learning at home rather than in big lectures hall, might be necessary and practical as never before. The VA is based on worldwide knowledge in medicine—free accessible on the internet—in terms of homepages, video and audio platforms, scientific papers, medical books, and different guidelines. A collection of different video-clips in various fields of women's health can assist the student or doctor in understanding the symptoms, diagnostics, and treatment of various diseases. There are two major targets of it—one is online education, and one is testing the knowledge by simulation of clinical cases.

There is a growing demand for customised, biocompatible, and sterilisable components in the medical business. 3D Printing is a disruptive technology for healthcare and provides significant research and development avenues. Simple 3D printing service gives patients low-cost individualised prostheses, implants, and gadgets, enabling surgeons to operate more effectively with customised equipment and models; and assisting medical device manufacturers in developing new and faster goods. 3D printed tissue pieces can overcome various challenges and may eventually allow medication companies to streamline research and development. In the long run, it may also assist in lowering prices and making medicines more accessible and effective for everybody. There is a growing corpus of research on the advantages of employing 3D printed anatomic models in teaching and training. The capacity to 3D printing individual anatomical diseases for practical learning is one of the fundamental contrasts between utilising 3D and regular anatomical models. 3D printing is very appealing for producing patient-specific implants. This literature review-based paper explores the role of 3D printing and 3D bioprinting in healthcare. It briefs the need and progressive steps for implementing 3D printing in healthcare and presented various facilities and enablers of 3D printing for the healthcare sector. Finally, this paper identifies and discusses the significant applications of 3D printing for healthcare research and development. 3D printing services can be deployed to easily construct complex geometries in plastic or metal with good precision. This results in improved prototypes, lower costs, and lower part processing times. They can now physically create with natural materials, previously unattainable with prior technologies. Every hospital should have 3D printers in the future, allowing new organs/parts to be developed in-house.

Objectives

This study aims to explore the role of consultation and relational empathy (CARE) and socio-demographic profile as predictors of patients’ satisfaction among pregnant women attending antenatal care (ANC) in selected public primary health facilities in rural sub-districts of Saki, Oyo State, Nigeria.

Methods

This cross-sectional study recruited a total of 582 pregnant women in four primary health centers. Expectant mothers responded to a questionnaire covering demographic characteristics, clinic visitation, CARE, and patients’ satisfaction. All data was analyzed using descriptive, univariate and multivariate statistical tools. P < 0.05 level was considered statistically significance.

Results

Findings revealed that the participants had a mean age of 23.15±5.23 years. The pattern of patients’ satisfaction revealed that 13.40% (78/582) were highly satisfied with the health care received compared to 86.60% (504/582) with moderate to low satisfaction ratings with ANC. Highly satisfied patients placed higher value on technical quality, interpersonal relation, communication, financial aspects, time spent and accessibility convenience (P = 0.001). Multiple linear regression model indicated that relational empathy (β = 0.28, P < 0.001), 2nd trimester of pregnancy (β = 0.13, P = 0.01), age categories of 30‒< 40 years (β = −0.12, P = 0.02), and 40‒< 50 years (β = −0.11, P = 0.04), religious affiliation (β = 0.10, P = 0.03) predicted satisfaction with ANC.

Conclusion

Low patients’ satisfaction with antenatal healthcare services resulting from hostile attitudes from health workers has implication for the delivery and acceptability of services offered to eradicate maternal mortality globally. Thus, regular training and re-training of health care personnel in frequent contact and interaction with patients will go a long way in reducing untoward work attitude and maternal mortality in rural ANC centers globally.

There is a surge in the burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries. Over the last 50 years there has been a rapid growth in the consumption of ultra-processed food products high in salt, fat, and glycemic load in SSA. There is overwhelming evidence linking UPFP consumption to an increased risk of coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, overall CVD, and all-cause mortality. Front-of-pack labeling (FOPL) represents an important intervention to guide consumers towards healthier diets and ultimately contribute to the prevention of diet-related adverse health outcomes including CVD. This paper discusses the challenges in the development and implementation of FOPL systems in SSA, and proposes some key elements that would be critical for developing an effective FOPL system in SSA countries.

Objective

This study is designed to evaluate the microbiological safety concern of drinking water of the 50 schools of Chattogram city, Bangladesh, and to investigate the sanitation and hygiene conditions of the schools, which are directly related to the health of thousands of students.

Methods

In this study, pour plate method used for total viable count (TVC), most probable number (MPN) method used for the total coliform count (TCC) and fecal coliform count (FCC), and four selective media used to isolate pathogenic bacteria from drinking water samples, and then identified by using morphological, cultural, and biochemical tests. To investigate the water, sanitation, and hygiene conditions a structured questionnaire was used.

Results

A total of 46% samples were found above the acceptable limit (> 500 CFU/ml) for TVC count, 52% samples had coliform, and 28% samples had fecal coliform, which exceeded the WHO guideline value. We categorized 50 studied schools into five groups and found the highest TVC (67%) and TCC (83%) in the water samples of city corporation schools. E. coli, Salmonella, Shigella, Enterobacter, Citrobacter, Klebsiella, and Yersinia were isolated and identified from drinking water samples. In most schools, drinking water reservoirs were found impure and contaminated by various bacteria. In government primary schools, a toilet is used by 143 students, whereas in private English medium schools, a toilet is used by 30 students and found clean. Hand-washing soap was supplied in only 14% of government primary schools, but 100% in private English medium schools.

Conclusion

Our findings suggest that drinking water in most of the schools was found contaminated by pathogens. Poor hygiene, sanitation, and contaminated drinking water seem responsible for different kinds of diseases. Moreover, this study indicates the necessity for raising awareness about drinking water, hygiene, and sanitation facilities of schools, which should monitor at regular intervals.

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has the highest maternal and under-five mortality rates in the world. The advent of the coronavirus disease 2019 exacerbated the region's problems by overwhelming the health systems and affecting access to healthcare through travel restrictions and rechanelling of resources towards the containment of the pandemic. The region failed to achieve the Millenium Development Goals on maternal and child mortalities, and is poised to fail to achieve the same goals in the Sustainable Development Goals. To improve on the maternal and child health outcomes, many SSA countries introduced digital technologies for educating pregnant and nursing women, making doctors’ appointments and sending reminders to mothers and expectant mothers, as well as capturing information about patients and their illnesses. However, the collected epidemiological data are not being utilised to inform patient care and improve on the quality, efficiency and access to maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH) care. To the researchers’ best knowledge, no review paper has been published that focuses on digital health for MNCH care in SSA and proposes data-driven approaches to the same. Therefore, this study sought to: (1) identify digital systems for MNCH in SSA; (2) identify the applicability and weaknesses of the digital MNCH systems in SSA; and (3) propose a data-driven model for diverging emerging technologies into MNCH services in SSA to make better use of data to improve MNCH care coverage, efficiency and quality. The PRISMA methodology was used in this study. The study revealed that there are no data-driven models for monitoring pregnant women and under-five children in Sub-Saharan Africa, with the available digital health technologies mainly based on SMS and websites. Thus, the current digital health systems in SSA do not support real-time, ubiquitous, pervasive and data-driven healthcare. Their main applicability is in non-real-time pregnancy monitoring, education and information dissemination. Unless new and more effective approaches are implemented, SSA might remain with the highest and unacceptable maternal and under-five mortality rates globally. The study proposes feasible emerging technologies that can be used to provide data-driven healthcare for MNCH in SSA, and the recommendations on how to make the transition successful as well as the lessons learn from other regions.

Background

An in-depth understanding of patterns of inequities in healthcare seeking among the urban residents is critical in identifying appropriate interventions strategies. The study evaluates determinants of inequality in health care seeking for childhood illnesses among informal settlement residents in Nairobi, Kenya.

Methods

Data from the second Nairobi Cross-Sectional Slum Survey (NCSS 2012) was examined. The inequality in seeking health care for childhood diarrhea as the prototype illness was assessed using concentration index (CI). The wealth index based on the household possessions and amenities was used as a measure for socioeconomic status.

Results

A total of 2 027 qualified women were included in this study. About 16.6% of children born of younger mothers aged < 20 years had diarrhea and a similar proportion of children (16.3%) was observed among mothers who were unemployed. The CI of −0.026 on health care seeking for diarrhea among children points to significant inequality among the urban poor (95% confidence interval: −0.028 to −0.023).

Conclusion

Occupation of parents, age of mothers, ethnicity, marital status and children's age were major determinants with regard to disease outcome and to a broader extent inequality in health care seeking for childhood illnesses. Enhanced bottom top community health invigoration strategies in health information awareness and services access would be instrumental.

Objective

Examine effect of sleep duration on children's risk of overweight and obesity; and study associations between activities in the last hour before bedtime and sleep outcomes (sleep duration, sleep quality, and sleep onset latency).

Methods

Children's data were recruited using a questionnaire survey from a nationally representative sample of children (n = 10 279) in China in 2013‒2016. Mixed-effects models were used to test associations among variables stratified by sex.

Results

Sleep duration was positively associated with BMI in boys (β = 0.04, P = 0.021). Girls with short sleep durations (< 8 h/d) tended to have higher BMI values than those with normal sleep durations (8‒9 h/d) (β = 0.12, P = 0.063). The top three activities were playing electronic devices (Factor 1), doing homework, and reading (combined as Factor 2). Factors 1 and 2 were both significantly associated with sleep duration (β = 0.17, P < 0.001; β = −0.26, P < 0.001, respectively).

Conclusion

Sleep duration seems to affect BMI in Chinese children. Using electronic devices and reading before bedtime influenced sleep duration. Good bedtime habits and sleep duration can help weight management in children.

Background

Childhood obesity (CHO) is a serious global health challenge affecting both developed and developing nations. The feats attained in addressing this global health challenge can be reflected through the top-cited studies. The study's aim was to analyze the features of the 100 top-cited articles concerning CHO.

Methods

We used a bibliometric analysis, and searched for relevant articles from the Web of Science (December 1, 2021), using an appropriate keyword search-strategy ((child OR childhood OR children OR adolescent) AND (obese OR obesity OR overweight)). The retrieved documents were analysed based on the citation number, publication year, authorship, institution, journal and country. The analyses were performed mainly by the Bibliometrix application (using R-studio cloud) and HistCite.

Results

The 100 top-cited articles were published between 1976 and 2018, their citations ranged from 365 to 10 789, with a mean citation of 1 146.2 and 31 studies had more than 1 000 citations. The articles were published in 31 journals, with the “Pediatrics” journal having the most publications (n = 18). The studies were from 12 countries, with the most-productive being the USA (n = 68), followed by the United Kingdom (n = 12) and France (n = 3). The leading institution was the University of Bristol (n = 8), while Dietz WH (n = 12), and Flegal KM (n = 8) were the most productive authors. The most common research fields covered by these articles were; “General Internal Medicine” (n = 34), “Pediatrics” (n = 29), and “Nutrition Dietetics” (n = 18). The study noted significant correlations between the total article citation and the number of authors (R = 0.203), countries involved (R = 0.407), institutions (R = 0.407), and the publication year (R = 0.847), all with P < 0.001.

Conclusions

Through these top-cited articles, this analysis provides discernment into the historical advancements, including the prime roles performed by various stakeholders in addressing the issue of CHO. However, Asian countries’ contribution is not adequately reflected in these articles, and thus more focus and funding for CHO research are needed for effectual prevention and control.

Objective

Despite recognition that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic created an unprecedented impact on global mental health, information on the psychological health among trauma survivors during the COVID-19 pandemic is rare. We sought to examine psychological outcomes among individuals with preexisting traumatic experiences during COVID-19.

Methods

We sampled 1 242 adults in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States under a state-issued Phase 1 stay-at-home mandate to examine associations between pre-pandemic trauma exposure as measured by the Brief Trauma Questionnaire (BTQ) and anxiety and depression, as measured by the Patient Reported Outcome Scale Anxiety and Depression (PROMIS-A and PROMIS-D).

Results

Pre-pandemic trauma exposure among the sample was reported, with 281 (22.6%) participants identifying as experiencing one trauma, 209 (16.8%) reporting two, and 468 (37.7%) reporting three or more. As reported experiences of trauma increased, so did participant anxiety and depressive symptomatology. One-way Analysis of Variance indicated that reported trauma was significantly positively correlated with anxiety (P < 0.01) and depressive symptomatology (P < 0.01).

Conclusion

Findings highlight the immense psychological toll of the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically with individuals who were previously exposed to trauma. Public health officials can encourage physicians, employers, and universities to screen patients, employees, and students to assess previous trauma, psychological functioning, and risk factors. Collaboration between physicians and mental health providers including psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors, and social workers to provide evidence informed rapid coordination of care can better meet the global mental health crisis that is arising as a result of this unprecedented global trauma.