International Public Health Commons^™

In Liberia: A Silent Health Care Catastrophe Replaces A Viral One, Clarissa Sosin

Capstones

Underfunded and understaffed, the structural issues within the Liberian healthcare system were first exposed during the 2014 Ebola Epidemic when the system collapsed under the pressure. Its failure to respond effectively resulted in the deaths of nearly 5,000 people, the highest fatality rate out of the three countries most affected by the epidemic. Years later, despite efforts to rebuild and strengthen the system, many of the issues still remain.

http://www.clarissasosin.com/liberianhealthcare

Worldwide Trends In Body-Mass Index, Underweight, Overweight, And Obesity From 1975 To 2016: A Pooled Analysis Of 2416 Population-Based Measurement Studies In 128·9 Million Children, Adolescents, And Adults, James Bentham, Mariachiara Di Cesare, Ver Bilano, Honor Bixby, Bin Zhou, Gretchen A. Stevens, Leanne M. Riley, Cristina Taddei, Kaveh Hajifathalian, Yuan Lu, Con Burns, Tara Coppinger, Janette Walton, Stefan Savin, Melanie J. Cowan, Christopher J. Paciorek, Adela Chirita-Emandi, Alison J. Hayes, Joanne Katz, Roya Kelishadi, Andre Pascal Kengne, Young Ho Khang, Avula Laxmaiah, Yanping Li, Jun Ma, J. Jaime Miranda, Aya Mostafa, Martin Neovius, Cristina Padez, Lekhraj Rampal, Aubrianna Zhu, James E. Bennett, Goodarz Danaei, Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, Majid Ezzati

Publications

Background Underweight, overweight, and obesity in childhood and adolescence are associated with adverse health consequences throughout the life-course. Our aim was to estimate worldwide trends in mean body-mass index (BMI) and a comprehensive set of BMI categories that cover underweight to obesity in children and adolescents, and to compare trends with those of adults. Methods We pooled 2416 population-based studies with measurements of height and weight on 128·9 million participants aged 5 years and older, including 31·5 million aged 5–19 years. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends from 1975 to 2016 in 200 countries for mean BMI …

A Novel Model Of “Remedy And Elimination Of Tuberculosis”, Akanksha Mishra

Master's Theses

Tuberculosis (TB), is one of the top ten causes of death worldwide. TB is commonly linked to poverty and creates poverty as it is the single largest cause of death in the 15-49-year-old age group in South-East Asia (WHO, 2017). It is also linked to the HIV population, and its leading cause of death. TB is effected by socio-economic factors, cultural factors, and health policy. My goal of this dissertation is to identify systematic approaches that shall support the mission set by World Health Organization (WHO): to eliminate TB globally by the year 2050. Measures might include addressing social barriers …

Global Kidney Exchange: Analysis And Background Papers From The Perspective Of Medical Anthropology, Alejandro Cerón, Kylie Dillinger, Madison Eitniear, Sophia Ernstrom, Walid Hedidar, Christiana Hellinga, Travis Himebaugh, Aaron J. Landau, Julian Nilsson, Lindsey Penn, Madison Redman, Cimmaron Retzik-Stahr, Laurel Schwartz, Isabelle Seeto, Madeline Sweet, Angelina M. R. Thomson, Margaret Wolf, Natalie Wuertz

Anthropology: Undergraduate Student Scholarship

Global Kidney Exchange (GKE) is a program aimed at facilitating trans-national kidney donation. Although its proponents aim at reducing the unmet demand of kidneys in the United States through the trans-nationalization of kidney exchange programs, the World Health Organization (WHO) and The Transplantation Society (TTS) have expressed concerns about its potential effect on black markets of organs and transnational organ trafficking, as well as on low- or middle-income countries health systems. For GKE to be implemented, it would need to be permitted to operate in at least some low- or middle-income countries. Should a low- or middle-income country allow GKE’s …

Global Kidney Exchange: Analysis And Background Papers From The Perspective Of The Right To Health, Alejandro Cerón, Kiaryce Bey, Kelly Bonk, Ellie Carson, Emilia Chapa, Louisa Cohen, Katie Crockford, Rachel Cuda, Sebastian Injac, Kajsa Kirby, Daniela Leon-Alvarez, Mackenzie Looney, Kendall Mcbeth, Winnie Pham, Rose Smith, Margarita Soltero Gutierrez, Katherine Sugura, Alexander Yu, Flinn Lazier

Anthropology: Undergraduate Student Scholarship

Global Kidney Exchange (GKE) is a program aimed at facilitating trans-national kidney donation. Although its proponents aim at reducing the unmet demand of kidneys in the United States through the trans-nationalization of kidney exchange programs, the World Health Organization (WHO) and The Transplantation Society (TTS) have expressed concerns about its potential effect on black markets of organs and transnational organ trafficking, as well as on low- or middle-income countries health systems. For GKE to be implemented, it would need to be permitted to operate in at least some low- or middle-income countries. What are the right to health implications of …

Discovery, Research, And Development Of New Antibiotics: The Who Priority List Of Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria And Tuberculosis, Evelina Tacconelli, Elena Carrara, Alessia Savoldi, Stephan Harbarth, Marc Mendelson, Dominique L. Monnet, Celine Pulcini, Gunnar Kahlmeter, Jan Kluytmans, Yehuda Carmeli, Marc Ouellette, Kevin Outterson, Jean Patel, Marco Cavaleri, Edward M. Cox, Chris R. Houchens, M Lindsay Grayson, Paul Hansen, Nalini Singh, Ursula Theuretzbacher, Nicola Magrini, Who Pathogens Priority List Working Group

Faculty Scholarship

Summary

Background The spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria poses a substantial threat to morbidity and mortality worldwide. Due to its large public health and societal implications, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis has been long regarded by WHO as a global priority for investment in new drugs. In 2016, WHO was requested by member states to create a priority list of other antibiotic-resistant bacteria to support research and development of effective drugs.

Methods We used a multicriteria decision analysis method to prioritise antibiotic-resistant bacteria; this method involved the identification of relevant criteria to assess priority against which each antibiotic-resistant bacterium was rated. The final priority …

Weight Management And Physical Activity Throughout The Cancer Care Continuum., Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, Kathryn H Schmitz, Catherine M Alfano, Jennifer R Bail, Pamela J Goodwin, Cynthia A Thomson, Don W Bradley, Kerry S Courneya, Christie A Befort, Crystal S Denlinger, Jennifer A Ligibel, William H Dietz, Melinda R Stolley, Melinda L Irwin, Marcas M Bamman, Caroline M Apovian, Bernardine M Pinto, Kathleen Y Wolin, Rachel M Ballard, Andrew J Dannenberg, Elizabeth G Eakin, Matt M Longjohn, Susan D Raffa, Lucile L Adams-Campbell, Joanne S Buzaglo, Sharyl J Nass, Greta M Massetti, Erin P Balogh, Elizabeth S Kraft, Anand K Parekh, Darshak M Sanghavi, G Stephen Morris, Karen Basen-Engquist

Global Health Faculty Publications

Mounting evidence suggests that weight management and physical activity (PA) improve overall health and well being, and reduce the risk of morbidity and mortality among cancer survivors. Although many opportunities exist to include weight management and PA in routine cancer care, several barriers remain. This review summarizes key topics addressed in a recent National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine workshop entitled, "Incorporating Weight Management and Physical Activity Throughout the Cancer Care Continuum." Discussions related to body weight and PA among cancer survivors included: 1) current knowledge and gaps related to health outcomes; 2) effective intervention approaches; 3) addressing the …

Challenges In Delivering Refugee Health Services, Thy Vo, Fabiana Kotovicz

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

Background: Aurora Health Care is the major health care system providing care to refugees in Milwaukee, where half of Wisconsin’s refugee population resides. Like many other institutions caring for refugee patients, Aurora faces significant challenges when trying to address refugee health needs. Even with the assistance of medical interpreters, cultural differences, language barriers and limited patient health literacy, as well as lack of knowledge of refugee patients’ backgrounds, are major obstacles encountered by health care providers in this setting.

Purpose: This quality improvement study aims to assess Aurora providers’ perceptions of the benefits and barriers to working with refugee …

Nutritional Status Of Infants At Six Months Of Age Following Maternal Influenza Immunization: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial In Rural Nepal., Joanne Katz, Janet A Englund, Mark C Steinhoff, Subarna K Khatry, Laxman Shrestha, Jane Kuypers, Luke C Mullany, Helen Y Chu, Steven C Leclerq, Naoko Kozuki, James M Tielsch

Global Health Faculty Publications

Background

Maternal influenza vaccination has increased birth weight in two randomized trials in South Asia but the impact on infant growth is unknown.

Methods

A randomized placebo-controlled trial of year round maternal influenza immunization was conducted in two annual cohorts in Sarlahi District, southern plains of Nepal, from April 2011 through April 2014. Infants born to women enrolled in the trial had weight, length, and head circumference measured at birth and 6 months of age. The study was powered for the 3 primary trial outcomes but not for stunting and wasting at 6 months of age.

Results

3693 women received …

Preliminary Evaluation Of An Lyta Pcr Assay For Detection Of Streptococcus Pneumoniae In Urine Specimens From Hospitalized Patients With Community-Acquired Pneumonia, Subathra Marimuthu, James T. Summersgill, Kuldeep Ghosh, Leslie A Wolf

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Community acquired pneumonia (CAP) due to Streptococcus pneumoniae still occurs in at risk populations, despite the availability of effective vaccines. Laboratory confirmation of S. pneumoniae remains challenging in cases of CAP despite advances in blood culture techniques and the availability of nucleic acid amplification tests such as PCR-based methods. Urine specimens are an attractive sample type because they are non-invasive compared to bronchial washes or whole blood specimens for patients with CAP. While urine specimens have been used successfully in antigen detection assays, they have not been extensively evaluated for PCR-based assays. In this preliminary study, we evaluated the potential …

Distributing Data And Analysis Software Containers For Better Data Sharing In Clinical Research, William A. Mattingly Phd, Stephen Furmanek, Christopher M. Sinclair, Timothy L. Wiemken Phd

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Introduction: Data sharing in clinical research is critical for increasing knowledge discovery. Data and software tools should be FAIR: Findable, Accessible, Inter-operable and Re-usable. Many bottlenecks exist in the process of a clinical investigator using shared data including data acquisition and statistical analysis. The objective of this project is to develop a structure for sharing data and providing rapid automated statistical analysis through creation of a pre-packaged, open-source software container.

Methods: We use the open source software container technologies VirtualBox and Vagrant to create a template for sharing clinical data and analysis scripts as a single container. We use …

Streptococcus Pneumoniae Antigen, Missing Opportunities Of A Promising Point Of Care Diagnostic Test, Magdelina Słomka, Ruby Gupta, Baltej Singh, Venkatesh Gondhi, Siddartha Bhandary, Ekezie Francis, Jose Bordon

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Background: The etiologic diagnosis of community acquired pneumonia (CAP) and community-acquired meningitis (CAM) are still far from optimal accuracy and turnaround time. The most common bacterial pathogen identified in both CAP and CAM is Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Methods: We reviewed the literature on S. pneumoniae antigen to highlight opportunities to optimize its use as a point of care diagnostic test to maximize quality of patient care, antimicrobial stewardship outcomes and cost saving. A PubMed search was performed using key words “S. pneumoniae antigen; rapid diagnostic tests for S. pneumoniae”. We selected articles in English and sorted into randomized …

Level Of Recall Bias Regarding Pneumococcal Vaccination History Among Adults Hospitalized With Community-Acquired Pneumonia: Results From The University Of Louisville Pneumonia Study, Sarah Van Heiden, Ruth Carrico, Timothy L. Wiemken, Ronika Alexander, John M. Mclaughlin, Qin Jiang, Paula Peyrani, William A. Mattingly, Stephen P. Furmanek, Connor L. English, Senen Pena, Raul Isturiz, Julio A. Ramirez

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Background: Recall bias is likely to occur in vaccine effectiveness studies using self-reported vaccination history. The validity of patient-reported vaccination status for adults is not well defined. The objective of this study was to evaluate the validity of self-reported pneumococcal vaccination history among patients hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).

Methods: Prospective ancillary study of a population-based observational study of hospitalized patients with CAP in the city of Louisville. To be included in the analysis, patients had to (i) be reached by phone 30-days after discharge from the hospital and (ii) report that they remembered whether or not they received a …

One-Year Mortality In Patients With Community-Acquired Pneumonia, Paula Peyrani, Julio A. Ramirez

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Pneumonia remains a common cause of morbidity and mortality in the US. Although, communityacquired pneumonia (CAP) has traditionally been considered an acute process, more recently, data have emerged showing that patients surviving an episode of CAP are at increased risk of death long after hospital discharged. In this descriptive review, we examine the current knowledge of long-term mortality and propose a hypothesis explaining the pathogenesis of long-term mortality in patients with CAP.

Most Common Statistical Methodologies In Recent Clinical Studies Of Community-Acquired Pneumonia, Stephen Furmanek, Connor L. English, Thomas Chandler, Timothy L. Wiemken Phd

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Background: Training new individuals in pneumonia research is imperative to produce a new generation of clinical investigators with the expertise necessary to fill gaps in knowledge. Clinical investigators are often intimidated by their unfamiliarity with statistics. The objective of this study is to define the most common statistical methodologies in recent clinical studies of CAP to inform teaching approaches in the field.

Methods: Articles met inclusion criteria if they were clinical research with an emphasis on incidence, epidemiology, or patient outcomes, searchable via PubMed or Google Scholar, published within the timeframe of January 1st 2012 to August 1st 2017, …

Antimicrobial Stewardship In Hospitalized Patients With Respiratory Infections: Ten-Year Experience From The Robley Rex Louisville Va Medical Center, Leslie A. Beavin, Forest W. Arnold, Paula Peyrani, Anupama Raghuram, David Newman, Ronald Smith, Carmen Sciortino, Stephen P. Furmanek, Ruth M. Carrico, Julio A. Ramirez

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Rationale: Antibiotic stewardship has been defined as coordinated interventions designed to improve and measure the appropriate use of antibiotic agents. Respiratory infections are the most common infectious reason for hospitalization in the United States. Therefore, one could extrapolate that respiratory infections are then also the most common reason for hospital antibiotic use and possess the highest potential for hospital antibiotic misuse. The primary objective of this article was to evaluate the role of antimicrobial stewardship on improving antibiotic use for respiratory infections in hospitalized patients on intravenous (IV) antibiotics at the Robley Rex Louisville VAMC over a 10-year period.

Methods: …

Rationale And Methods Of The Study Protocol: Streptococcus Pneumoniae Serotypes In Adults 18 Years And Older With Radiographically-Confirmed Community-Acquired Pneumonia (Cap), Ronika Alexander, Paula Peyrani, Julio A. Ramirez, Wesley H. Self Md, Mph, Carlos Grijalva, Francis Counselman, Gregory A. Volturo, Heidi Kabler, Luis Ostrosky-Zeichner, Richard Wunderink, Robert L. Sherwin, Senen Pena, Thomas File, Timothy L. Wiemken, Sharon Gray, Michael Pride, Kimbal D. Ford, Qin Jiang, Raul Isturiz

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

This study was an active, prospective surveillance study of adults 18 years and older hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) due to Streptococcus pneumoniae conducted at 21 hospitals in ten cities across the United States. This report describes the surveillance methodology applied between October 7, 2013 and September 30, 2016, including the identification and description of surveillance areas and populations at-risk for CAP hospitalization for estimation of incidence rates for selected study sites.

Pneumonia Pathogenesis And The Lung Microbiome: Back To The Drawing Board, Julio A. Ramirez

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

No abstract provided.

Community-Based Distribution Of Iron-Folic Acid Supplementation In Low- And Middle-Income Countries: A Review Of Evidence And Programme Implications., Justine A Kavle, Megan Landry

Prevention and Community Health Faculty Publications

The present literature review aimed to review the evidence for community-based distribution (CBD) of iron–folic acid (IFA) supplementation as a feasible approach to improve anaemia rates in low- and middle-income countries.

The literature review included peer-reviewed studies and grey literature from PubMed, Cochrane Library, LILAC and Scopus databases.

Low- and middle-income countries.

Non-pregnant women, pregnant women, and girls.

CBD programmes had moderate success with midwives and community health workers (CHW) who counselled on health benefits and compliance with IFA supplementation. CHW were more likely to identify and reach a greater number of women earlier in pregnancy, as women tended to …

Leading Causes Of Death In Vietnam, Lindsey Roth

CwiC Posters

Vietnam is currently facing a public health crisis. Rates of chronic and preventable diseases are climbing, in addition to mortality rates from these diseases. If nothing is done to halt these rising rates, the health of the Vietnamese people will only continue to decline. Although there may be many factors contributing to these high death rates due to chronic diseases, risky health behaviors, such as smoking, and the state of the healthcare system can be considered two main contributors to the leading causes of death in Vietnam. The high smoking rates and high costs of healthcare are hindering the health …