BMC Proceedings最新文献

Climate change is increasingly recognised as a public health crisis, with extreme weather events intensifying the risk of climate-sensitive diseases and placing additional strain on already vulnerable health systems. Integrating climate and health data is critical to anticipating these risks and strengthening public health preparedness and response. This report presents outcomes from the 9th session of the WHO Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence Innovation Forum, co-hosted with Data.org, which convened experts from academia, public health, and civil society to explore barriers and solutions to integrating climate and health data for decision-making. Participants from institutions including Data.org, the University of Cape Town's Climate System Analysis Group, New York University, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, and SilverLining shared insights on the use of downscaled climate models, cloud-based infrastructures, and cross-sectoral collaboration.Key themes included the need to move from a data-first to a decision-first approach; democratise access to high-resolution climate data; address inequities in funding and analytical capacity, particularly in the Global South; and foster interdisciplinary communities of practice. Challenges such as incompatible data structures, limited local capacity, and inequitable access to computational resources were addressed through innovative examples such as cloud-based climate stacks, integrated forecasting tools, and capacity-building hubs. Moving forward, the forum emphasised strengthening technical infrastructure, data interoperability, and local empowerment as essential to bridging climate and health disciplines and ensuring equitable, data-driven public health responses in a warming world.

Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCD) represent a significant and growing global health challenge, disproportionately affecting low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) like Pakistan. Despite their profound public health and economic implications, efforts to address NCD remain fragmented and insufficient. Collaborative platforms play a crucial role in fostering innovation and shaping policies to tackle this crisis effectively. Addressing the significant gaps in NCD initiatives and interventions in LMICs, particularly in Pakistan, the Aga Khan University (AKU), organized a one-day symposium, AKUPI NCDs Research Symposium: A Dialogue on NCDs. This symposium convened policy makers and public health experts from both local and international institutions. This paper synthesizes expert recommendations from a national symposium designed to identify actionable strategies for NCD prevention and control in Pakistan.

Methods: Five expert panel discussions were conducted on themes critical for Pakistan: cardiovascular health, cancer prevention, mental health, economic perspectives, and sustainable urban design. The discussions were transcribed and analyzed using Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis framework.

Findings: The analysis of discussions from over 30 national and international experts yielded 23 distinct themes. Key recommendations included: 1) Legislating a National NCD Act to establish dedicated units; 2) Shifting resources from tertiary to primary prevention, including integrating CVD risk assessment into existing Lady Health Worker programs; 3) Implementing task-shifting for mental health first aid; 4) Launching targeted, community-co-designed anti-stigma campaigns; and 5) Mandating sustainable urban design principles like the '3-30-300' rule. A critical gap was the absence of dedicated NCD units within the health system and a national policy for NCD and mental health.

Conclusion: The symposium achieved a multi-sectoral expert consensus on a prioritized agenda. These insights provide a clear roadmap for policymakers, emphasizing that effective NCD control requires moving beyond siloed healthcare interventions to address broader social, economic, and environmental determinants through concrete, context-specific policies.

Faculty who are interested in leading grants, education and outreach projects, and other initiatives need evidence to make data-based decisions and demonstrate successes. Evaluations are essential for supporting these efforts and are often required to obtain funding. In fact, a strong evaluation plan within a proposal can ensure alignment between clearly constructed goals and activities in order to promote the likelihood of a project's success as well as provide reviewers with insight into how the faculty plans to use data in order to make midcourse corrections to ensure success. Once faculty learn how evaluation works and can support the achievement of their research and educational goals, they will be better prepared to successfully plan, implement, and improve projects. In this article, we describe the importance of evaluation, considerations when planning evaluations, and recommendations for working effectively with external evaluators.

Fluoride prevents dental caries in a dose-response manner, leading some countries to adjust fluoride levels in water or table salt, as well as to promote the widespread use of topical fluoride. Recent studies have found associations between prenatal fluoride exposure levels of < 1.5 mg/L in water and urine and adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. Although high fluoride levels have been recognized as neurotoxic in the past, a large body of contemporary evidence derived from retrospective analyses of birth cohort studies suggests fluoride may be neurotoxic to children at lower levels, highlighting the need for further, prospective research and multidisciplinary collaborations. The International Fluoride Symposium, held from April 29 to 30, 2024, brought together 20 researchers from the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Spain to discuss the impacts of fluoride on human health and its mechanisms of action. The primary goals of the symposium were to address challenges related to assessing fluoride exposure, share findings from cohort studies, develop a comprehensive research agenda, and foster international research partnerships. Key discussions included the dental caries preventive and toxic effects of fluoride, sources of fluoride exposure, biomarkers, dietary intake assessment methods, and analytical challenges. Presentation of results from cohort studies highlighted research on prenatal fluoride exposure and its association with neurodevelopmental outcomes and presented perspectives for future analyses. The symposium emphasized the need for customized dietary fluoride intake assessment tools, the development of high-throughput analytical methods for fluoride analysis, and research on the combined effects of fluoride with other chemical elements commonly found in the environment and the human diet. Additionally, there was a call for the harmonization of cohort data from diverse populations to address urgent questions about the impact of fluoride on human neurodevelopment and other health outcomes beyond oral health. It was agreed that prospective longitudinal cohort studies intentionally designed to assess fluoride exposure and neurodevelopment are essential, as none of the existing birth cohorts were designed to specifically study fluoride exposure (e.g., selection of biomarkers, collection intervals, diet exposure assessment). Furthermore, broader environmental health cohort studies that incorporate high-quality biomonitoring of waterborne neurotoxicants (such as fluoride, arsenic, lead, mercury), repeated measures of exposure, and inclusion of key covariates (e.g., socio-economic status, diet, iodine) are encouraged. Finally, developing effective communication strategies among scientists and the public was considered crucial for advancing fluoride research and mitigating potential health risks.