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Risk scoring of African swine fever transmission in selected provinces of the Philippines
Get PDFIMPORTANCE: African swine fever (ASF) is a contagious transboundary swine disease that poses a significant threat to the swine industry. As an archipelago, the Philippines has a geographic advantage in reducing ASF transmission risk. However, control efforts remain challenging due to the disease's complex epidemiology, lack of effective treatment, and vaccine availability. ASF transmission risk evaluation currently includes positive cases, population density, and pork production volume, but the potential role of contaminated pork commodities remains unexplored.
OBJECTIVE: Using semiquantitative risk scoring, this study estimated the probability of ASF transmission in 23 selected provinces.
METHODS: The factors influencing ASF spread were identified; 10 through a literature review and the positivity for ASF virus (ASFv) of meat samples from an ongoing surveillance study. Secondary data from each sampled province were collected, and the provinces were scored across these factors and classified into one of three risk categories.
RESULTS: Six out of 23 provinces were categorized as high-risk due to the high number of ASFv-positive meat samples, backyard pigs, and ASF occurrences. Conversely, four provinces were classified as low-risk due to consistently low scores across all indicators. The difference in the meat contamination level between low- and high-risk provinces emphasizes the importance of including this factor in the ASF spread assessment.
CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Risk estimation of ASF transmission must consider meat sample contamination. Active surveillance at local borders can monitor contamination and prevent ASFv sources from entering areas. This approach allows the government to allocate resources and prioritize higher-risk areas
The implementation gap: Cross-sector management of heat-related health risks in Western cape, South Africa.
Get PDFAs temperatures rise due to climate change, so do adverse health effects. In response, many countries, including South Africa, have developed heat health action plans to address these threats to public health. In the Western Cape province, increasing heat events necessitate a well-coordinated response across governance levels and sectors. Understanding how heat risks are governed, particularly at subnational and local levels, is critical for safeguarding public health and building resilience to future climate challenges. This study draws on 31 in-depth interviews and cross-references a previous policy document analysis to examine how South African decision-makers, both within and outside the health sector, at the Western Cape provincial and municipal levels, manage heat-related health risks. Using an adapted Multiple Governance Framework, the analysis investigates how subnational and local stakeholders work to manage heat-related health risks, some of which are aligned with South Africa's 2020 Heat-Health Action Guidelines. The findings reveal that despite the existence of the Action Guidelines and recognition among Western Cape decision-makers of the urgency of heat-related health risks, implementation remains fragmented. While provincial and municipal stakeholders are actively working to mitigate the health impacts of extreme heat, subnational and local actors were not involved in developing the Heat-Health Action Guidelines limiting their applicability at the local level. The analysis further highlights governance challenges and opportunities that emerge across system, organizational, and individual scales, emphasizing the significant role of decision-makers' perceptions in shaping responses. Strengthening coordination, defining departmental roles, and enabling local adaptation of policy strategies will be essential for improving heat-health action. By addressing these governance gaps, decision-makers in the Western Cape can manage current and future heat-related health risks and communities can be better equipped to withstand the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme heat events
Comparative in vitro susceptibility of clinical Leishmania isolates to miltefosine and oleylphosphocholine
Get PDFCutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a neglected tropical disease caused by protozoan parasites of the genus Leishmania. It poses a significant global health burden, particularly because treatment options are limited. More effective and safer treatments are urgently needed. In previous studies, oleylphosphocholine (OlPC), a novel investigational compound structurally related to miltefosine, exhibited comparable activity to miltefosine in intramacrophage assays across various CL-causing laboratory strains and demonstrated superior efficacy in an experimental CL model. This study investigated the in vitro activity of OlPC against clinical isolates of Leishmania spp., comparing its activity with standard anti-leishmanial drugs, including miltefosine, amphotericin B, and pentavalent antimonial agents. Seventy ex vivo isolates (L. major and L. tropica) obtained directly from CL patients before any treatment were used to capture the diversity of drug susceptibilities in circulating parasite populations. Dose-response curves were fitted using a four-parameter log-logistic model to estimate EC50 and EC90 values. Additionally, a linear mixed-effects model was applied to examine the influence of drug type and species on EC50 values while accounting for within-isolate variability. Our findings indicate that OlPC exhibits potent in vitro anti-leishmanial activity, exceeding that of miltefosine in our in vitro intramacrophage model. To facilitate similar analyses, we provide a dedicated wrapper function in R designed to simplify curve fitting and parameter estimation, making the process more accessible to researchers
‘The scales never seem to balance’: exploring the lived realities of poverty during the UK ‘cost-of-living crisis’ through participatory research
Get PDFSince late 2021, the term ‘cost-of-living crisis’, indicating decreased disposable incomes, has gained prominence in the UK. This study draws on the long-running online participatory research project Changing Realities, involving over 100 low-income parents and caregivers across the UK, to provide deeper insights into cost-of-living challenges. Focusing on transcriptions of spoken testimonies and written diary entries between February and June 2023, findings highlight the normalised struggle to meet living costs irrespective of a crisis, emphasising effects on low-income families and the inability to make further sacrifices. The study sheds light on the broader ramifications on family life, prompting an exploration of its enduring nature and temporal support. The article concludes by setting out co-produced policy recommendations, which urge the government to rethink social security as an investment in the future, rather than as a temporary safety net that leaves families exposed to a permanent state of crisis
Falling Asleep on the Job: The Efficacy of a Short App-Based Mindfulness Intervention to Improve Sleep Quality and Quantity Within the Workforce.
No full textQuality sleep is among the most important determinants of psychological and physical well-being. Insufficient sleep quality and quantity directly affect individuals; in turn, they indirectly affect the productivity, viability and safety of workplaces. Sleep issues also represent a global health concern for people and workplaces around the world. In addition to pharmaceutical aids, effective and accessible interventions need to address the underlying problems, as might be achieved by behavioural therapies or structured, cognitive interventions like mindfulness-based programs. The time intensity and relatively high costs of such tactics has limited their widespread adoption though. With a sample of 606 full-time working adults, the current study tests the potential effectiveness of a short, inexpensive, app-based, self-help mindfulness meditation programme for promoting sleep quality and quantity. Using a longitudinal randomised experimental design, the authors compared the utility of a 10-day mindfulness programme with a passive control group, as well as with an active control group that engaged in 10 days of mind-wandering exercises. Sleep benefits emerged immediately after the 10-day intervention but seemingly wore off about three months later. Acknowledging the interactions between sleep, depression and anxiety, we also measured the two latter variables. We also find that the intervention was effective on depression, but not on anxiety. These insights offer implications for both research and practice
The Impact of Stressful Childhood Life Events on Atopic Dermatitis Disease Activity and Severity.
No full textAtopic dermatitis (AD) is a prevalent condition associated with stress. However, epidemiological data on the impact of both common and severe childhood stressors are limited. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of stressful life events throughout early childhood on AD activity and severity. We conducted a longitudinal cohort study of 13,972 children aged 1-8.5 years from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Responses to a standardized stressful life event scale were linked to repeated measures of annual AD period prevalence and severity. After adjusting for potential confounders, we found that for each SD increase in stressful life events, there was a small increased risk of concurrent AD activity (OR = 1.04, 95% confidence interval = 1.01-1.07), which was higher for moderate-to-severe AD (OR = 1.13, 95% confidence interval = 1.03-1.23) and for a cumulative measure of stressful events across childhood (OR = 1.11, 95% confidence interval = 1.07-1.16). The association was driven by common stressful life events which were perceived as more impactful to individual children such as starting a new school or having a new baby sibling, than severe adverse childhood events such as being separated from a parent or abused. These results may help provide anticipatory guidance to families
Evaluation of a domestic violence training and support intervention in Palestinian primary care clinics in the west bank: a mixed method study.
Get PDFBACKGROUND: Domestic violence (DV) is a violation of human rights and a major public health problem that damages the health of women and their families. In the occupied Palestinian territories, 29% of women have a lifetime exposure to intimate partner violence, the most prevalent form of DV. Despite the existence of national policies to prevent and respond to DV, implementation within the Palestinian primary health care system has been weak. We developed, piloted, and evaluated a system-level intervention, including training for health care providers and care pathways for women patients. The aim of our evaluation was to determine the feasibility and acceptability of the HEalthcare Responding to violence and Abuse (HERA) intervention. METHODS: Formative phase: adaptation of a previous (HERA) intervention implemented in primary health care settings in Palestine, informed by stakeholder meetings, interviews with clinic managers and health care providers (HCP), facility-level readiness data, and findings of a previous pilot study. The training component of the intervention, delivered by the Palestinian Counseling Centre, included a train-the-trainer session, two clinic-based training sessions, and reinforcement sessions for front-line healthcare providers in four clinics. INTERVENTION: Healthcare providers were trained to ask about DV, give immediate support, and offer a referral to a nurse case manager. The care pathway beyond the case manager was either referral to a primary-care based psychologist or social worker or to a gender-based violence focal point external to the clinic that coordinated referrals to appropriate external services (e.g. police, safe house, psychologist, social worker). Evaluation phase: Thematic analysis of post-intervention semi-structured interviews with (HCP) and trainers; observations of training sessions and field notes. Provider Intervention Measure (PIM) data on changes in HCP attitudes and practice were analysed with descriptive statistics. Identification and referral rates for women disclosing DV 12 months before and 12 months after the intervention were obtained from clinic registries. We developed a theory of change to triangulate our qualitative and quantitative data. RESULTS: The training proved acceptable to HCPs and there was evidence of positive change in attitudes and readiness to engage with women patients experiencing DV. Compared to the year before the intervention, there was a reduction in the number of patients disclosing DV during the intervention and of referrals in three of the four clinics. This reduction may be explained by the impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on clinic priorities, lack of time, persisting HCP fear about engaging with DV, and HCP rotation between clinics. CONCLUSION: The delivery of the training component of the HERA intervention within the Palestinian primary healthcare system proved partly feasible and was acceptable to HCPs, but contextual factors limited HCP implementation of the training in practice
Maternal religiosity and social support to mothers: helpers’ religious identity matters
No full textResearch demonstrates that religious people are trusted more, receive and provide more cooperation, and have larger cooperative networks. This line of research also suggests, that religious prosociality is not always parochial, and often extends to people outside of a religious ingroup. Here, we test whether the intensity of religious practice associates with received support from coreligionists and/or non-coreligionists among a sample of American mothers. Specifically, we test the association between self-reported behavioral religiosity of religious (here Christian) and non-religious mothers from the Greater Pittsburgh area, USA, and the frequency of emotional support (Nmothers = 517, Nsupporters = 1999) and housework help (Nmothers = 447, Nsupporters = 997) they received from Christian and non-religious supporters. We found that maternal religiosity was positively associated with the frequency of housework help received from Christian supporters, but not from non-religious supporters. We did not find evidence for an association between maternal religiosity and emotional support received from religious nor non-religious supporters. We interpret our results through the lens of religious signaling theory
Public health, war and cross-border challenges: the recent cVDPV2 polio outbreak in Gaza.
Get PDFUNLABELLED: The recent vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2) outbreak in Gaza, linked to strains circulating in Egypt, highlights the challenges of maintaining vaccination efforts in conflict zones. Amid prolonged hostilities and a deteriorating healthcare system, vaccination coverage has significantly declined, leaving many children vulnerable to poliovirus and other preventable diseases. This report analysed the outbreak's context, vaccination strategies, and outcomes by reviewing vaccination coverage data, environmental surveillance reports, and public health interventions. It focused on the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) campaigns and their effectiveness in mitigating transmission. The outbreak, detected in June 2024, included six environmental samples and one confirmed case of poliomyelitis in a 10-month-old child. Despite operational challenges, a vaccination campaign immunised 560,000 children under 10 years by September 2024. However, ongoing violence delayed subsequent rounds of vaccination, particularly in northern Gaza. Contributing factors included vaccine hesitancy, logistical hurdles, and the safety risks healthcare workers face. Regional collaboration remains limited despite cross-border transmission risks. The Gaza outbreak illustrates the critical need for robust vaccination programs, enhanced surveillance, and international cooperation to prevent poliovirus resurgence. Addressing vaccine hesitancy and logistical challenges is vital. Sustained funding and innovative strategies, including nOPV2 use, are essential to combat outbreaks in fragile settings and advance global eradication efforts. FUNDING: No additional funding was used in the preparation of this report
Safe in Pregnancy and Safe in Children: Global Living Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses Hub for Emergency Vaccines.
Get PDFThe coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic encouraged rapid vaccine development, with a fast-evolving evidence base pre- and post-implementation. We developed a comprehensive web hub to promote swift information synthesis for present and future threats. By expanding our coronavirus disease 2019 periodically updated living systematic review to Chikungunya, Lassa fever, and Disease X, we will continuously capture data on vaccine safety and effectiveness