International Public Health Commons^™

Subsidized Housing, Public Housing, And Adolescent Violence And Substance Use, Tamara Leech

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

This study examines the separate relationships of public housing residents and subsidized housing residence to adolescent health risk behavior. Data included 2,530 adolescents aged 14 to 19 who were children of the National the Longitudinal Study of Youth. The author uses stratified propensity methods to compare the behaviors of each group—subsidized housing residents and public housing residents—to a matched control group of teens receiving no housing assistance. The results reveal no significant relationship between public housing residence and violence, heavy alcohol/marijuana use, or other drug use. However, subsidized housing residents have significantly lower rates of violence and hard drug use, …

Implications Of Lifecourse Epidemiology For Research On Determinants Of Adult Disease, Sze Yan Liu, Richard N. Jones, M. Maria Glamour

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Many diseases commonly associated with aging are now thought to have social and physiologic antecedents in early life. Understanding how the timing of exposure to early life risk factors influences later-life health may illuminate mechanisms driving adult health inequalities and identify possible points for effective interventions. Recognizing chronic diseases as developing across the life course also has implications for the conduct of research on adult risk factors for disease. We review alternative conceptual models that describe how the timing of risk factor exposure relates to the development of disease. We propose some expansions of lifecourse models to improve their relevance …

Practice Notes: Strategies In Health Education, Lisa D. Lieberman

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Objective: To monitor the progress in the promotion of walkable community initiatives.

Assessing The Sensitivity Of The Canadian Adverse Event Following Immunization Surveillance System ( Caefiss), Mina Tadrous

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Background: Vaccines are important to public health, but because of the way they are manufactured, their mechanism of action, and their indicated population, careful monitoring of their adverse events is necessary. Canada has a national surveillance system that collects reports on adverse events that may be associated with vaccine administration. Sensitivity is one of the tools used with surveillance systems to study the extent and characteristics of reporting of a surveillance system. To date, the sensitivity of the Canadian system has not been assessed.

Purpose: To assess the sensitivity of the Canadian Adverse Event Following Immunization Surveillance System …

Belize As A Classroom, Jordan Norris, Molly Calico

Impact Belize

During the week of January 7-14, 2010, Molly Calico and Jordan Norris participated in the Impact Belize program through the College of Health and Human Services. This program took place in Gales Point, a rural, underserved community in Belize. Impact students provided medical, dental and public health services to the community in an interdisciplinary service-learning format. As Master of Public Health students, Molly and Jordan directed health education initiatives and served on the Leadership Team for the program. Having participated in January of 2009 as well, Molly and Jordan were well prepared to conduct public health research and to assume …

Practice Notes: Strategies In Health Education, Lisa D. Lieberman

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

Objective: The purpose of the Be Red Cross Ready Community Outreach Project (BRCR) was to train health education students to provide high-quality, theory-driven community preparedness education in a community on the U.S.-Mexico border. This aim was achieved through an innovative partnership between a community organization, a federal research center, and a university. The ultimate goal of the project was to increase disaster and emergency preparation to protect, promote, and preserve the health of the public.

Breast Cancer Care In Canada And The United States: Ecological Comparisons Of Extremely Impoverished And Affluent Urban Neighborhoods, Kevin M. Gorey

Social Work Publications

This study examined the differential effect of extreme impoverishment on breast cancer care in urban Canada and the United States. Ontario and California registry-based samples diagnosed between 1998 and 2000 were followed until 2006. Extremely poor and affluent neighborhoods were compared. Poverty was associated with non-localized disease, surgical and radiation therapy (RT) waits, non-receipt of breast conserving surgery, RT and hormonal therapy, and shorter survival in California, but not in Ontario. Extremely poor Ontario women were consistently advantaged on care indices over their California counterparts. More inclusive health insurance coverage in Canada seems the most plausible explanation for such Canadian …

Income And Long-Term Breast Cancer Survival: Comparisons Of Vulnerable Urban Places In Ontario And California, Kevin M. Gorey

Social Work Publications

Effects of socioeconomic status on the long-term survival of 808 women with node-negative breast cancer in Canada and the United States were observed. Ontario and California samples diagnosed between 1988 and 1990 were followed until 2006. Socioeconomic data were taken from population censuses. Compared with their California counterparts, residents of low-income urban areas in Ontario experienced a significant 15-year survival advantage (RR = 1.66 [95% CI: 1.00, 2.76]). In these and other vulnerable, lower-middle- to working-class neighborhoods, significantly more Ontario residents gained access to adjuvant radiation therapy (RR = 1.75 [1.21, 2.53]) which seemed associated with better long-term survival (RR …

Southern Lagoon And Village Of Gales Point, Belize, Ca: Water Uses, Water Quality, And Potential Health Impacts, Rasmi Nair, Ritchie Taylor

Impact Belize

An International Health Service Learning Program, Impact Belize 2010, was conducted by Western Kentucky University. Faculty and students worked closely with Gales Point villagers to gain an insight into the use of Southern Lagoon. The objective of the study was to assess fecal coliform levels in Southern lagoon, its primary and secondary contact use by villagers and its potential impact on health. Study methodology involved collection of water samples, both near shore and offshore, in the lagoon and incubating them using ColiQuant EZ method approved by EPA. A questionnaire was administered to villagers attending the WKU clinic to collect data …

Encouraging Abandonment Of Fgm/C Among The Somali Community In Wajir, Kenya, Population Council

Reproductive Health

This report summarizes key achievements of a two-year project to foster community‐wide abandonment of FGM/C by developing and testing the feasibility of working closely with communities highly resistant to external influences. The diagnostic study aimed to identify culturally appropriate empowerment strategies for women and youth in the Somali community.

Rapids Evaluation Final Report 2005-2009 Key Findings, Louis Apicella, Katie D. Schenk, Hena Khan

HIV and AIDS

RAPIDS (Reaching HIV/AIDS Affected People with Integrated Development and Support) is an intervention funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and is designed to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS in Zambia. The overall goal of RAPIDS is to improve the quality of life of Zambians affected by HIV and AIDS by expanding successful community-based models of home-based care and support to orphans and vulnerable children and people who are chronically ill, as well as through interventions targeting youth with livelihood opportunities and life-skills training, focusing on initiatives supporting abstinence and being faithful.

Health Research For Development Initiative In Vietnam (Hrdi): Impact Evaluation Results, Katherine Williams, Meiwita P. Budiharsana, Nguyen Thi Phuong Lan

Reproductive Health

The Population Council Viet Nam joined the Hanoi School of Public Health and Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy – Faculty of Public Health to create fellowships to increase research skills, provide competitive awards, and develop a network to link fellows to various national and international institutes and conferences. The core target population of the project is Vietnamese health professionals who have studied overseas and have obtained recent master’s degrees in public health or health social sciences under three programs managed by the Population Council. This evaluation report provides information from baseline and endline surveys of returned …

Pepfar Special Initiative On Sexual And Gender-Based Violence: Baseline Report, Lynne Elson, Jill Keesbury

HIV and AIDS

The PEPFAR Special Initiative on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence aims to strengthen services for survivors of sexual violence (SV) though the implementation of a comprehensive model of care in participating PEPFAR partner facilities. This baseline report examines project sites in Uganda and Rwanda and suggests strengthening health services involving training, community and provider awareness and attitudes.

Prevention With Positives: How Do We Reach Them In The Community?, Avina Sarna, Jerry Okal, Stanley Luchters, Nzioki King'ola, Scott Geibel

HIV and AIDS

In the past, HIV prevention efforts have focused primarily on developing risk-reduction interventions for those presumed to be HIV-negative and therefore at risk of becoming infected with HIV. In recognition of the need for prevention among people living with HIV (PLHIV), programs have been initiated in Africa, but primarily in clinical settings for those who are on antiretroviral therapy (ART). There is little knowledge about how to reach those PLHIV not on ART, and therefore not in regular contact with the health system or with effective prevention messages. This diagnostic study aimed to address the gap in information on how …

Monitoring And Evaluation Of The Emergency Plan Progress (Meepp): End-Of-Project Evaluation, Sam Kalibala

HIV and AIDS

This report evaluates the scope of the Monitoring and Evaluation of the Emergency Plan Progress (MEEPP) and the lessons learned from the project in Uganda, which aims to improve availability and quality of PEPFAR data.

Protecting Hope: Situation Analysis Of Vulnerable Children In Uganda 2009, Sam Kalibala, Lynne Elson

HIV and AIDS

The Government of Uganda has focused attention on the problem of orphaned and other vulnerable children through a number of policies, regulations, and initiatives. In 2004, the Ministry of Gender Labor and Social Development developed the National OVC Policy, aimed at improving the quality of life for poor and vulnerable children, such as children who have been orphaned, children who are living on the streets, children who are at risk of abuse, and children exposed to situations of armed conflict. However, despite the many efforts to improve the circumstances of vulnerable children in Uganda, policymakers, donors, and program managers still …