Other Public Health Commons^™

Why The Affordable Care Act's Individual Purchase Mandate Is Both Constitutional And Indispensable To The Public Welfare, Lawrence O. Gostin

O'Neill Institute Papers

Integral to the Affordable Care Act's (ACA’s) conceptual design is the individual purchase mandate, which requires most individuals to pay an annual tax penalty if they do not have health insurance by 2014. Despite the vociferous opposition, the mandate is the most “market-friendly” financing device because it relies on the private sector. Ironically, less market-oriented reforms such as a single-payer system clearly would have been constitutional.

It is common sense for everyone to purchase health insurance and thus gain security against the potentially catastrophic costs of treating a serious illness or injury. However, Congress’ method of ensuring that everyone has …

The First Year Counts: Cancer Survival Among Indigenous And Non-Indigenous Queenslanders, 1997–2006, Susanna M. Cramb, Gall Garvey, Patricia C. Valery, John D. Williamson, Peter D. Baade

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Objective: To examine the differential in cancer survival between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Queensland in relation to time after diagnosis, remoteness and area-socioeconomic disadvantage.

Design, setting and participants: Descriptive study of population-based data on all 150 059 Queensland residents of known Indigenous status aged 15 years and over who were diagnosed with a primary invasive cancer during 1997–2006.

Main outcome measures: Hazard ratios for the categories of area- socioeconomic disadvantage, remoteness and Indigenous status, as well as conditional 5-year survival estimates.

Results: Five-year survival was lower for Indigenous people diagnosed with cancer (50.3%; 95% CI, 47.8%–52.8%) compared with non-Indigenous …

Incentivized Hiv Testing--Is It Needed And Effective? Developing An Evaluation Tool, Dawn Spellman

Capstone Collection

The following is a case study of agencies in Seattle, WA who provide HIV testing followed by an evaluation tool for the agencies to determine the role of incentivizing HIV testing. Some agencies I interviewed provide incentives for the testing and others do not.

This Capstone will focus on six agencies currently providing HIV testing and provides a tool for agencies to use to attempt to answer the following question: In the face of reduced funding for HIV prevention and a mandate to continue to push for increasingly getting more Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) tested for HIV, …

Environmental Drivers Of Ross River Virus In South-East Tasmania, Australia: Towards Strengthening Public Health Interventions, Angela Werner, Sarah Goater, Scott Carver, Greg Robertson, Philip Weinstein

Global Health Faculty Publications

In Australia, Ross River virus (RRV) is predominantly identified and managed through passive health surveillance. Here, the proactive use of environmental datasets to improve community-scale public health interventions in southeastern Tasmania is explored. Known environmental drivers (temperature, rainfall, tide) of the RRV vector Aedes camptorhynchus are analysed against cumulative case records for five adjacent local government areas (LGAs) from 1993 to 2009. Allowing for a 0- to 3-month lag period, temperature was the most significant driver of RRV cases at 1-month lag, contributing to a 23. 2% increase in cases above the long-term case average. The potential for RRV to …

Multi-Person Sex Among A Sample Of Adolescent Female Urban Health Clinic Patients, Emily F. Rothman, Michele R. Decker, Elizabeth Miller, Elizabeth Reed, Anita Raj, Jay G. Silverman

Prevention and Community Health Faculty Publications

Adolescent sexual activity involving three or more people is an emerging public health concern. The goal of this exploratory, cross-sectional study was to describe the prevalence, correlates, and context of multiple-person sex among a sample of adolescent females seeking health care from an urban clinic. Because sex involving multiple people may either be consensual (i.e., “three-ways” or “group sex”) or forced (i.e., “gang rape”), we use the term “multi-person sex” (MPS) to encompass these experiences. Subjects were 328 females, ages 14–20 years old, who utilized a Boston-area community- or school-based health clinic between April and December of 2006, and completed …

Impact Of Antiviral Treatment And Hospital Admission Delay On Risk Of Death Associated With 2009 A/H1n1 Pandemic Influenza In Mexico, Gerardo Chowell, Cecile Viboud, Lone Simonsen, Mark A. Miller, Santiago Echevarría-Zuno, Margotx González-León, Víctor H. Borja Aburto

Global Health Faculty Publications

Background

Increasing our understanding of the factors affecting the severity of the 2009 A/H1N1 influenza pandemic in different regions of the world could lead to improved clinical practice and mitigation strategies for future influenza pandemics. Even though a number of studies have shed light into the risk factors associated with severe outcomes of 2009 A/H1N1 influenza infections in different populations (e.g., [1-5]), analyses of the determinants of mortality risk spanning multiple pandemic waves and geographic regions are scarce. Between-country differences in the mortality burden of the 2009 pandemic could be linked to differences in influenza case management, underlying population health, …

Healthy Lifestyle Programs For Physical Activity And Nutrition, N.A.

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

No abstract provided.

Do Indigenous Australians Age Prematurely? The Implications Of Life Expectancy And Health Conditions Of Older Indigenous People For Health And Aged Care Policy, Philippa R. Cotter, John R. Condon, Tony Barnes, Ian P.S. Anderson, Leonard R. Smith, Teresa Cunningham

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Objective. To assess whether Indigenous Australians age prematurely compared with other Australians, as implied by Australian Government aged care policy, which uses age 50 years and over for population-based planning for Indigenous people compared with 70 years for non-indigenous people.

Methods. Cross-sectional analysis of aged care assessment, hospital and health survey data comparing Indigenous and non-indigenous age-specific prevalence of health conditions. Analysis of life tables for Indigenous and non-indigenous populations comparing life expectancy at different ages.

Results. At age 63 for women and age 65 for men, Indigenous people had the same life expectancy as non-indigenous people at age 70. …

Socioeconomic Disparities In Physical Health Among Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Children In Western Australia, Carrington C.J. Sheperd, Jianghong Li, Stephen R. Zubrick

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Objective. Few empirical studies have specifically examined the relationship between socio-economic status (SES) and health in Indigenous populations of Australia. We sought to provide insights into the nature of this relationship by examining socio-economic disparities in physical health outcomes among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Western Australia.

Design. We used a diverse set of health and SES indicators from a representative survey conducted in 2000􏰣2002 on the health and development of 5289 Indigenous children aged 0􏰣17 years in Western Australia. Analysis was conducted using multivariate logistic regression within a multilevel framework. Results. After controlling for age and sex, …

Social And Emotional Outcomes Of Australian Children From Indigenous And Culturally And Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds, Naomi Priest, Jennifer Baxter, Linda Hayes

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Objectives: 1) profile the living environments and 2) examine the social and emotional outcomes of Australian children from Indigenous and cultural and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds at school entry. Method: Secondary analysis of cross- sectional data collected in Wave 1 of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (n=4,735). Child mental-health outcomes were measured using parent report of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Results: Significant differences in family and neighbourhood characteristics, including parental income, maternal education, maternal parenting quality and neighbourhood safety, were found in children of Indigenous and CALD backgrounds compared to the reference group of Australian-born, English-speaking children. …

Poor Food And Nutrient Intake Among Indigenous And Non-Indigenous Rural Australian Children, Josephine D. Gwynn, Victoria M. Flood, Catherine A. D'Este, John R. Attia, Nicole Turner, Janine Cochrane, Jimmy Chun-Yu Louie, John H. Wiggers

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Background: The purpose of this study was to describe the food and nutrient intake of a population of rural Australian children particularly Indigenous children. Participants were aged 10 to 12 years, and living in areas of relative socio-economic disadvantage on the north coast of New South Wales.

Methods: In this descriptive cross-sectional study 215 children with a mean age of 11.30 (SD 0.04) years (including 82 Indigenous children and 93 boys) completed three 24-hour food recalls (including 1 weekend day), over an average of two weeks in the Australian summer of late 2005.

Results: A high proportion of children consumed …

‘It Had To Be My Choice’ Indigenous Smoking Cessation And Negotiations Of Risk, Resistance And Resilience, Chelsea Bond, Mark Brough, Geoffrey Spurling, Noel Hayman

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

While Australia is considered a world leader in tobacco control, smoking rates within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population have not declined at the same rate. This failure highlights an obvious shortcoming of mainstream anti- smoking efforts to effectively understand and engage with the socio-cultural context of Indigenous smoking and smoking cessation experiences. The purpose of this article is to explore the narrative accounts of 20 Indigenous ex-smokers within an urban community and determine the motivators and enablers for successful smoking cessation. Our findings indicated that health risk narratives and the associated social stigma produced through anti-smoking campaigns formed …

Area-Based Differentials In Childhood Cancer Incidence In Australia, 1996–2006, Danny R. Youlden, Peter D. Baade, Patricia C. Valery, Timothy E. Hassall, Leisa J. Ward, Adele C. Green, Joanne F. Aitken

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Background. International studies examining the association between the incidence of childhood cancer and characteristics of the area in which the patient lives have generally reported inconsistent patterns. Area-based differentials in childhood cancer throughout Australia have not been previously published at a national level. Procedure. Population-based information from the Australian Paediatric Cancer Registry was used to identify all children aged 0- to 14-years old diagnosed with invasive cancer or intracranial and intraspinal tumors of benign or uncertain behavior between 1996 and 2006. Age-standardized incidence rates per million children per year and the corresponding incidence rate ratios were calculated, categorized by remoteness …

A Bibliometric Analysis Of Research On Indigenous Health In Australia, 1972-2008, Gemma E. Derrick, Andrew Hayen, Simon Chapman, Abby S. Haynes, Berenika M. Webster, Ian Anderson

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Objective: To determine the growth patterns and citation volume of research publications referring to Indigenous health in Australia from 1972 to 2008 compared to seven selected health fields. Methods: Web of Science was used to identify all publications (n=820) referring to the health of Indigenous Australians authored by Australian researchers, 1972 to 2008. Citations for each publication were also captured. Growth was compared with selected health fields as well as with overall Australian research publications. Results: Research publications referring to Indigenous health, while remaining relatively small in number, grew at an average annual rate of 14.1%, compared with 8.2% across …

Developing A Business Plan For Sustaining School Mental Health Services: Three Success Storiess, Donna Behrens, Julia Graham Lear, Olga Acosta Price

Center for Health and Health Care in Schools

No abstract provided.

Urban Governance Of Disease, Rebecca Katz, Sangeeta Mookherji, Morgan Kaminski, Vibhuti Haté, Julie E. Fischer

Global Health Faculty Publications

Rapid population growth, urbanization, and the growing challenges faced by the urban poor require redefining the paradigm for public health interventions in the 21st century, creating new approaches that take urban determinants of health into consideration. The widening disparity between the urban poor and the urban rich further exacerbates health inequities. Existing tools for global governance of urban health risks fall short, particularly in the lack of formal mechanisms to strengthen collaboration and communication among national and municipal agencies and between their local and international non-governmental partners. There is also a clear disconnect between governance strategies crafted at the international …

Smoking Susceptibility And Its Predictors Among Adolescents In China: Evidence From Ningbo City, Cheng Huang, Jeffrey Koplan, Jing Liu, Changwei Li, Jessica Silvaggio, Amanda K. Macgurn, Tao Zhang, Michael P. Erikson, Pam Redmon

Global Health Faculty Publications

Susceptibility to smoking is a risk factor of actual adolescent smoking behaviors. This study aimed to estimate the rate of smoking susceptibility and its predictors in China with a sample of 4,695 junior high school students in Ningbo, China. Core questions from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) were adapted to the China context and administered to these students. The rate of smoking susceptibility, measured by “Do you foresee yourself taking up smoking in the next 12 months”, is 6.1%. Results from logistic regression suggested that among boys, adolescents’ health knowledge that smoking can cause lung cancer (OR=2.73), the belief …

Synthesizing Parasitology With Archaeology In Paleopathology, Karl Reinhard, Adauto Araujo

Karl Reinhard Publications

Parasitology is the study of organisms that are symbiotic with other organisms. In this form of symbiosis, the parasite species by definition benefits from the interaction while the host is harmed to some degree. In actuality, some parasites benefit their hosts. The animals traditionally studied by parasitologists range from protozoa to arthropods, and include all types of internal and external worms. Ticks, fleas, lice, and a variety of insects that transmit parasites are also studied by parasitologists. Recently, a more holistic view of parasitism appeared, including bacteria and viruses. In essence, parasitology is the study of a certain kind of …

Political Competition, Relative Deprivation, And Perceived Threat: A Research Note On Anti- Christian Violence In India, Chad Bauman, Tamara Leech

Department of Public Health Scholarship and Creative Works

A preliminary subnational statistical analysis of violence against Christians in contemporary India, this article suggests that whereas the data provide very little support for simple, demographic explanations of this violence, they do more robustly support theories emphasizing the relative status of ethnic and religious minorities (vis-à-vis majorities) and the perception, among Hindus, that Christians (and other minorities) represent a threat to their numerical, political and economic strength.

New Zealand’S Bold Strategy For Reducing Health Disparities, N.A.

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

No abstract provided.

Improving The Population’S Health: The Affordable Care Act And The Importance Of Integration, Lorian E. Hardcastle, Katherine L. Record, Peter D. Jacobson, Lawrence O. Gostin

O'Neill Institute Papers

Heath care and public health are typically conceptualized as separate, albeit overlapping, systems. Health care’s goal is the improvement of individual patient outcomes through the provision of medical services. In contrast, public health is devoted to improving health outcomes in the population as a whole through health promotion and disease prevention. Health care services receive the bulk of funding and political support, while public health is chronically starved of resources. In order to reduce morbidity and mortality, policymakers must shift their attention to public health services and to the improved integration of health care and public health. In other words, …

Mandatory Hpv Vaccination And Political Debate, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Vaccinations are among the most cost-effective and widely used public health interventions, but have provoked popular resistance, with compulsion framed as an unwarranted state interference. When the FDA approved a human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in 2006, conservative religious groups strongly opposed a mandate, arguing it would condone pre-marital sex, undermine parental rights, and violate bodily integrity. Yet, Governor Rick Perry signed an executive order in 2007 making Texas the first state to enact a mandate — later revoked by the legislature.

Mandatory HPV vaccination reached the heights of presidential politics in a recent Republican debate. Calling the vaccine a "very …

Indigenous Beliefs About Biomedical And Bush Medicine Treatment Efficacy For Indigenous Cancer Patients: A Review Of The Literature, K. D. Schaik, S. C. Thompson

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Background: Australia’s Indigenous people suffer from higher cancer mortality than non-Indigenous Australians, a discrepancy partly caused by differences in beliefs about treatment efficacy between Indigenous patients and their non-Indigenous healthcare providers. This paper critically reviews the literature associated with Indigenous beliefs about cancer treatment, both ‘bush medicine’ and biomedical, in order to provide recommendations to healthcare providers about accommodating Indigenous beliefs when treating cancer.

Methods: A search was undertaken of peer-reviewed journal papers using electronic databases and citation snowballing. Papers were selected for inclusion based upon relevance to themes that addressed the research questions. Results: Literature suggests that Indigenous beliefs …

The Health Status, Concerns, And Reform In Uruguay With An Emphasis On Health Promotion Programs Geared Towards The Care And Development Of The Country's Children And Adolescents, Melissa Raquel Ramírez

Honors Scholar Theses

This study was conducted in Montevideo, Uruguay, where I examined the actions that the country and society as a whole, its various communities, the Uruguayan government, and the people take in order to prevent disease and promote a healthy society. An ethnographic experiential and evidence-based approach, including personal experience, interviews, and official government documents, was used to fully describe the way the system operates. Due to Uruguay's demographic characteristics, particular attention was paid to children and adolescents. For this thesis, Uruguay is described in terms of its history, physical and mental health issues, society's shared health concerns, and its vulnerable …

Counting The Cost: Estimating The Number Of Deaths Among Recently Released Prisoners In Australia, Stuart A. Kinner, David B. Preen, Azar Kariminia, Tony Butler, Jessica Y. Andrews, Mark Stoové, Matthew Law

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

Objective: To estimate the number of deaths among people released from prison in Australia in the 2007–08 financial year, within 4 weeks and 1 year of release. Design, participants and setting: Application of crude mortality rates for ex-prisoners (obtained from two independent, state-based record-linkage studies [New South Wales and Western Australia]) to a national estimate of the number and characteristics of people released from prison in 2007–08. Main outcome measures: Estimated number of deaths among adults released from Australian prisons in 2007–08, within 4 weeks and 1 year of release, classified by age, sex, Indigenous status and cause of death. …

Health Initiatives By Indigenous People In Australia, Stephanie Clark

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

No abstract provided.

Commencement Program 2011, Loma Linda University

Commencement Programs

CONTENTS

1 | Message from the President

3 | 2011 Events of Commencement

4 | The Academic Procession

6 | Significance of Academic Regalia

8 | The Good Samaritan

9 | University History Highlights

11 | Loma Linda University Song - "Healing Love"

12 | The Speakers

20 | The University Honorees

32 | The School Honorees

53 | The Programs

• School of Medicine, 54
• School of Pharmacy, 74
• School of Dentistry, 80
• School of Science and Technology and School of Religion, 96
• School of Nursing, 111
• School of Allied Health Professions - Physical Therapy, 121
• School of Allied Health …

Primary School Vision Screening Involving Teachers In Nampula, Mozambique, Aoife Phelan, Lisa O'Donoghue, Kathryn Saunders, Stephen Thompson, Vivien Ocampo, Kevin Naidoo, James Loughman

Conference Papers

Purpose: There is no plan for a national child eye care programme or existing human resource infrastructure to address the immediate challenge of child eye health in Mozambique.This study aims to design, implement and evaluate a school based pediatric vision screening service, to identify those in need of eye care services, among Mozambique’s 11,561,000 children.

Methods: Primary School Screening took place in three schools in Nampula, Mozambique in September 2010 and March 2011. The children’s vision was screened by an optometry student, optometrist or teacher with Log MAR ETDRS letters at 4 Meters. Ophthalmoscopy was performed on all children by …

Health Conditions And Health-Policy Innovations In Brazil: The Way Forward, Cesar G. Victoria, Mauricio L. Barreto, Maria Do Carmo, Carlos A. Monteiro, Maria Ines Schmidt, Jairnilson Paim, Francisco I. Bastos, Celia Almeida, Ligia Bahia, Claudia Travassos, Michael Reichenheim, Fernando C. Barros

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

No abstract provided.

Individualized Healthcare And Health Disparities: An Examination Of Health Disparities Related To Short-Term Response To Food Insecurity In Low-Income, Urban Communities, Valen R. Diaz

Honors Scholar Theses

The U.S. has seen a spike in chronic diseases along with worsening health outcomes. There are many factors at play to create these circumstances, especially regarding the social determinants of health, like socioeconomic status, access to food, and geographic location. Another concern is health disparities, particularly regarding obesity, and the fact that food access and neighborhood food environments contribute to these disparities. This paper gives a broad overview of American food culture and then focuses on the local food environment in urban, low-income communities, regarding both food deserts and food swamps. There is also a discussion about the response of …