Other Public Health Commons^™

A Spoonful Of Sugar, Natali Bode

Tredway Library Prize for First-Year Research

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Dream Of Ding Village By Yan Lianke, Mike Frick

China Beat Blog: Archive 2008-2012

Unsurprisingly, the Chinese government levied a “three nos” ban—no sales, no distribution, and no promotion—against Dream of Ding Village after its publication in 2005. Though the storytelling relies heavily on dream sequences, Yan takes little poetic license when exposing the depth of the state’s culpability in spreading HIV among poor, medically-naïve farmers. He is just as uncompromising when detailing how officials denied responsibility for the ensuing AIDS epidemic, even as they profited from its human tragedy. No one in Ding Village receives medical care, mental health counseling, food assistance, or a chance to hold the blood heads legally accountable. Cast …

Performance Changes During A Weeklong High Altitude Training Camp In Lowlander Youth Athletes, Jay R. Hydren

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Manufacture Of Lifestyle: The Role Of Corporations In Unhealthy Living, Nicholas Freudenberg

Publications and Research

Recently, researchers have debated two views on the connection between lifestyle and health. In the first, health-related lifestyles including tobacco and alcohol use, diet, and physical activity are seen as primary influences on health. In the second, social stratification is the dominant influence with lifestyles simply markers of social status. Neither approach leads to interventions that can reverse the world's most serious health problems. This article proposes that corporate practices are a dominant influence on the lifestyles that shape patterns of health and disease. Modifying business practices that promote unhealthy lifestyles is a promising strategy for improving population health. Corporations …

The End Of Nowhere: The History Of Tuberculosis In Ri, Emma G. Sconyers

Senior Honors Projects

The World Health Organization estimates that approximately one third of the word's current population had been infected with tuberculosis. Prior to the 1940's TB was considered an incurable, chronic affliction. Historically, many people were forcibly detained in tuberculosis sanatoria to lessen the spread of the disease; my great granfather being one of them. In 1939, without warning, he was taken from his pregnant, jobless wife and one-year-old daughter, who were left to fend for themselves for two years without government planning or assistance. He spent those two years at Wallum Lake Sanitorium in northern Rhode Island, a place my great-grandmother's …

Perceptions Of Barriers That Inhibit African American Women And Adolescent Girls From Participation In Physical Activity, Sonya Daniels Walker

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examined the barriers to leisure time physical activity for African American women and their adolescent daughters. Six mother-daughter dyads were interviewed who have access to physical activity opportunity. Three of the dyads participated in a follow-up focus group. A qualitative research design that utilized a grounded theory approach identified two themes for the women and two themes for the girls. Themes for the women include influence of culture and low physical activity IQ. Sub-themes of influence of culture are (a) hair and (b) body image. Sub-themes of low physical activity IQ are (a) mommy guilt, (b) perception of …

Conflict Situation For Health Care Workers: A Case Study Of The Occupational Challenges In Kasangati Health Centre Iv And Their Implications For Patient Care., Shannon Mcdowell

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Many factors influence a country’s ability to provide quality health services for its people. Particularly, quality health care hinges upon the availability of properly trained and equipped health care workers (HCWs) to deliver effective care. Resource-strained countries committed to the Millennium Development Goals are confronting the reality that shortages and uneven distribution of HCWs threaten their capacities to encourage and establish healthy communities. A scarcity in HCWs is one challenge of public health initiatives and places stress on existing HCWs. Other challenges faced by HCWs severely affect performance, motivation, and overall care-giving ability.

This study aims to examine the particular …

Healthcare Reform Hangs In The Balance, Lawrence O. Gostin

O'Neill Institute Papers

In this timely new briefing, Professor Lawrence O. Gostin, University Professor and Faculty Director, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University writes:

Prior to Tuesday’s arguments, I believed that the Supreme Court would uphold the health insurance purchase mandate by a comfortable margin. But now I believe that health care reform hangs in the balance. Here are the key arguments on which the future of President Obama’s health care reform depends: a greater freedom, cost-shifting, the health care market, acts versus omissions, limiting principles, the population-base approach, and what is necessary and proper. If the Court strikes …

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 …