Adaptation Community Meeting 9/21: Climate Change and Health in Mozambique – Impacts and Responses

by ihsection, posted in APHA IH Section, Climate Change and Environment, Events and Webinars

Remarkable progress is being made across Sub-Saharan Africa on public health. Child mortality, rates of stunting and incidence of diseases such as malaria and meningitis are dropping. But these gains may be lost as changes in climate and weather promote disease outbreaks and greater food insecurity. Owing to its location, demographics and geography, Mozambique is particularly vulnerable to negative outcomes on health resulting from changes in climate. Malaria is already widespread and poor water supply and sanitation infrastructure lead to frequent contamination of water resources during floods.

Over the past few years, the USAID-funded Climate Change Adaptation, Thought Leadership and Assessments (ATLAS) project has been examining the relationship between temperature and rainfall trends and diarrheal disease and malaria rates in Mozambique.

At the September Adaptation Community Meeting, Climate Vulnerability and Adaptation Specialist Fernanda Zermoglio will provide the latest research and findings from this work, as well as what is being done to strengthen Mozambique’s health system preparedness and response.

Thursday, September 21, 2017
4:00 pm – 5:30 pm ET

Location:
Chemonics International, Inc.
1717 H St. NW, Washington, DC 20006

To join remotely:
Online webinar – https://meet93445775.adobeconnect.com/september2017/
*If it is your first time using Adobe Connect please allow for up to 15 minutes for the plug-in to download before you can join the webinar.

For more details and registration, click here.

Speaker:
Fernanda Zermoglio has been on the forefront of climate change adaptation science, assessment methodology, programming and policy for the past 15+ years. A geographer with a detailed knowledge of climate modeling and various adaptation methodologies, she has synthesized applied research, pragmatic tools and knowledge-sharing platforms to inform the design, implementation and integration of climate adaptation assessments across a number of countries, in support of various donors and local governments. Since 2014 she has been the Climate Vulnerability and Adaptation Specialist on the DC-based ATLAS project.

Check out the Adaptation Community Meetings page on Climatelinks to find: 1) information on upcoming meetings, 2) recordings of previous meetings organized by category and 3) post-event blogs.

Global News Round Up

by abbhirami, posted in APHA IH Section, News

Politics & Policies

In identical language, the House and Senate bills explicitly prohibit the Trump administration from changing the formula used for decades to calculate and pay indirect costs of research financed by health institutes.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in her remarks at the conference’s opening plenary on Thursday noted President Trump’s proposed budget for the 2018 fiscal year would cut … [funding for] the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and … the Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria…”

Programs, Grants & Awards

Duke receives $12.5 million to study children with Autism and ADHD.  NIH funds will be used to improve early screening, develop biomarkers and test therapies.

The University is considering founding a new Global Health Institute, pending the approval of Yale Corporation, as part of a joint effort of the deans of the schools of Public Health, Nursing and Medicine.

The Medical University of South Carolina Center for Global Health has received a $3.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study an integrated approach to screening and treatment for HIV, diabetes and hypertension in Tanzania.

Research

Tungiasis or jigger infestation is a parasitic disease caused by the female sand flea Tunga penetrans. Secondary infection of the lesions caused by this flea is common in endemic communities. This study sought to shed light on the bacterial pathogens causing secondary infections and their susceptibility profiles to commonly prescribed antibiotics.

Diseases & Disasters

The Conch Republic is still here, if dark, dirty, trashed, and weeks away from being what it was before Hurricane Irma blew in. It wasn’t devastated because, for some reason, this massive storm punched below its weight.

Hurricane Irma pounded the Bahamas before making landfall Friday night in the northern part of Cuba as it cycled toward Florida.

Hurricane Irma lashed the Caribbean today, causing at least 10 deaths, while in the U.S., Florida, Georgia and South Carolina are facing states of emergency as residents brace for the monster storm.

Hurricane Irma has landed in the Caribbean and left a path of destruction in its wake.  Images have emerged from Caribbean islands such as Puerto Rico, Antigua and Barbuda that show the powerful Category 5 storm bringing heavy winds, high water and devastation.

More than one million people have been displaced in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, according to estimates reported by Reuters. The storm is shaping up to be one of the costliest disasters in US history.

September has already been a rough month.  Over the past week, catastrophic flooding hit Texas, an unprecedented tide of refugees entered Bangladesh, a nuclear test sent tremors across Asia and a monster hurricane ravaged the Caribbean.

Women going through midlife aren’t getting enough sleep, according to a new government report.

Brazil, which has recently suffered serious outbreaks of Zika virus and yellow fever, now faces a new threat, according to reports from local scientists: Oropouche fever.

Chagas is a deeply misunderstood disease that affects about 8 million people around the world, primarily in Latin America, and is responsible for for 10,000 deaths a year, according to the World Health Organization. It is estimated that 300,000 people in the United States have it, per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This past year China had the largest outbreak of a deadly bird flu since the virus was first detected in March 2013.

Technology

Tuberculosis kills almost two million people a year. A perfect vaccine could save many of them, but the one now in use — invented in the 1920s and known as BCG, for Bacillus Calmette-Guérin — has so many flaws that some countries, including the United States, have never adopted it.

Environmental Health

A new report reveals the widespread microplastic contamination in tap water in countries around the world.

Equity & Disparities

The psychological problems and related influential factors of left-behind adolescents (LBA) in Hunan, China: a cross-sectional study.

When it comes to living a long life, Italy is the place to be.  The high-heeled boot surrounded by five seas is ranked the healthiest country on Earth in the Bloomberg Global Health Index of 163 countries. A baby born in Italy can expect to live to be an octogenarian. But 2,800 miles south in Sierra Leone, the average newborn will die by 52.

Maternal, Neonatal & Children’s Health

Having been awarded a $120 million grant from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, PATH has launched a new maternal immunization initiative aimed to provide pregnant mothers vaccines to protect their newborns from infectious diseases.

Researchers have identified six gene regions linked to preterm births, including a new gene area that suggests a role for selenium.

The Promise of Data for Transforming Global Health

by Jean Armas, posted in APHA IH Section, Data Analysis & Informatics, eHealth, Policy and Advocacy

I recently came back from a field visit and as my organization’s designated data person (among the many other hats I wear), I think constantly about the role of data in our work and more broadly, its role in global health.

We’ve always had a problem with data in our field, more specifically the dire lack thereof. Recent efforts to spotlight the lack of high quality data in global health has led to somewhat of a data renaissance. And you know it’s a big deal when Bill Gates throws his weight behind it. It seems like every global health innovation talk I go to nowadays portrays data (in all its forms, from big data, predictive analytics, and machine learning) as the ultimate game changer in global health. Data is so much easier to collect now with the various technologies and innovations available. Its potential is pretty obvious and I don’t disagree that data can and will create more positive changes in global health. But every time I attend one of these talks or I get an email alert about another new data innovation challenge, part of me gets really excited and the other part remains skeptical.

Anyone who has tried to implement a data collection initiative in the field, whether for research, monitoring and evaluation, or donor reporting, knows the many challenges faced when working in already resource-limited clinics and hospitals: the questionnaires are long and time consuming, we don’t have the resources to hire people to do just data collection (which is especially true in smaller facilities), data collection activities take away from clinical activities, data quality is poor, the staff spends a whole week every month doing reporting, every donor wants a report on different indicators, no one at the clinic knows how or has the time to analyze the data, the data is not in a format that is easy to use, etc. And the list goes on.

One huge barrier to accurate data collection involves the inordinate amount of burden placed on health care providers and/or clinic staff to collect and report data. Data collection is often a task that already busy doctors and nurses have to undertake in addition to their clinic duties. Hiring an extra data collection person is one solution, but may not always be sustainable outside of a research study setting. Reporting data to donors is not any less painful. It is too often a rote and uncoordinated endeavor. Donors ask for the same data, but sliced and diced in a slightly different way. Those asking for data haven’t exactly done a good job making data collection easy to do. Shorter questionnaires, standardizing indicators, simplifying and coordinating reporting are different approaches for addressing these issues. Getting providers and clinic staff to collect high quality data though is another beast. Some argue that doing regular data audits will fix the data quality problem. Others argue that mobile data collection has reduced data entry errors. Mobile data collection has certainly made it easier to collect data and scale-up data collection activities.

And while a lot of work is being undertaken by major development agencies and smaller NGOs alike to improve their data collection efforts in order to deliver on the promise that data has to offer, I’m not entirely convinced we’re there yet. A huge part of my skepticism in why data hasn’t yet reached its transformative power in global health is because even though I think we’ve spent lots of resources in building capacity to collect data, we haven’t spent equal amounts of efforts building capacity for local team members to use the data in a meaningful way.

If those who collect the data don’t understand why or how the indicators they collect impact patient care, then why do it? Although national level data is helpful in understanding what the different health needs are and how to allocate resources to address them, the interventions needed to dramatically move the needle when it comes to decreasing morbidity and mortality happen at the individual facility level, outside of the research setting. The frontline healthcare workers that help in the collection and reporting of data very rarely get the data back in a way that can help them understand how to improve care delivery and health outcomes for their patients.

I believe in the potential of data to transform global health but there are many obstacles to overcome before this happens. First things first, instead of thinking about data collection as an activity that providers and clinic staff have to do, it should be an activity they want to do. By having data available to providers that is easy to understand, timely, and meaningful, only then can the promise that data holds for transforming global health be fulfilled.

The Importance of LGBT Cultural-Competency: A Discussion Towards an Inclusive Approach

by kimberly levitt, posted in APHA IH Section, Human Rights, Policy and Advocacy

The LGBT community is diverse. Although L, G, B, and T are often tied together as an acronym that suggests homogeneity, each letter represents a wide range of individuals of different races, ethnicities, ages, socioeconomic status and identities. Each letter deserves the same amount of care, attention and healthcare services. Sadly, what binds them together as social and gender minorities, especially in international countries, are the common experiences of stigma and discrimination that occur within healthcare, the struggle of living at the intersection of many cultural backgrounds and trying to be a part of each. With respect to healthcare, a long history of discrimination, overall lack of awareness, and simple education of health needs by health professionals. As a result, LGBT people face a common set of challenges in accessing culturally-competent health services and achieving the highest possible level of health. Continue reading “The Importance of LGBT Cultural-Competency: A Discussion Towards an Inclusive Approach” →

Global News Round Up

by abbhirami, posted in APHA IH Section, News

Politics & Policies

A study shows a significant reduction in the India-Nepal drug trade due to the 2015-2016 Indian blockade and thus, potentially leading to shortage of medicines.

Since FY 2010, U.S. funding for global health has remained relatively flat. The FY 2018 President’s budget request proposes to reduce global health funding to $7.9 B, its lowest level since FY 2008.

Guided by the country’s oldest community-based health promotion project Nizwa Healthy Lifestyle Project (NHLP), businesses and communities in the Sultanate of Oman have joined forces to lead the charge against non-communicable diseases.

Yesterday, Global Health Council (GHC) applauded U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Chris Coons (D-DE) who led a bipartisan group of 10 Senators to reintroduce the Reach Every Mother and Child Act (S.1730).  This bipartisan legislation aims to accelerate the reduction of preventable child, newborn, and maternal deaths, putting us within reach of the global commitment to end these deaths within a generation

Programs, Grants & Awards

The WHO has launched the consultation of the draft global action plan to promote physical activity. The overarching goal is to get 100 million people more active by 2030.

Ethiopia will host an International Conference on Maternal and Child health on August 24th and 25th, the theme of which will be “Overcoming critical obstacles to maternal and child survival”.

Distance education graduate courses led by USC faculty are attracting students from around the world to virtual classrooms where they learn about global health leadership and ethics.

Hear from experts in the field, participate in collaborative exercises and network with colleagues at the 2018 UC Global Health Institute’s Women’s Health, Gender and Empowerment Center of Expertise annual retreat.

This year, five new trainees will join the Global Health Pathway for Residents and Fellows, administered by the Duke Hubert-Yeargan Center for Global Health, a part of the Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI).

Research

In this study in French Guiana involving 12 men with ZIKV (Zika Virus) infection for whom semen samples were available, we determined the prevalence of ZIKV RNA, the duration of ZIKV persistence and potential intermittent ZIKV excretion.

Results from a new study shows that people who do not eat a Western diet (such as the Hadza people in Tanzania) have greater diversity of microbes in their guts. Additionally, Western diet seems to lead to a loss of certain bacterial species.

Diseases & Disasters

A woman’s body was discovered as Harvey’s floodwaters started dropping, while Texas says more than 48,700 homes have been affected.

Crews in Texas have found the bodies of 21 victims of Harvey’s wrath, and warned on Wednesday that the number of dead would almost certainly rise as water levels across much of the Houston area start to recede.

City officials in Houston imposed an overnight curfew to guard against opportunistic crimes as Tropical Storm Harvey continued to deluge southeast Texas on Tuesday, breaking the record for the most extreme rainfall on the U.S. mainland.

Emergency workers rescued many more soaked and frightened people in southeast Texas on Tuesday as floodwaters continued to rise and officials counseled patience, warning that conditions would not improve soon.

Tropical Storm Harvey is causing catastrophic flooding along the Texas Gulf Coast as the storm lingers and continues to drop record-breaking rainfall.  Houston is experiencing unprecedented flooding, with shoulder-high water in some areas after a 20-plus-inch rainfall, and Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo calling it “a 500-year event.”

The cholera outbreak in Yemen is overwhelmingly affecting rebel-controlled areas due to Saudi-led air strikes and blockades, according to a letter by researchers from Queen Mary University of London, published in The Lancet Global Health.

Sierra Leone, a country that has been battered by Ebola, civil war and massive floods, suffered yet another tragedy this week,  Government and international aid workers are racing the clock to find survivors after a mudslide struck capital city Freetown early Monday morning.

Of the many steps governments can take to prevent people from getting sick, none can save more lives than reducing tobacco use.  Around the world, 1 in every 10 deaths is caused by tobacco.  In the 20th century, tobacco use killed 100 million people, far more than World War I and II—and most of the other major wars of the past century—combined. In the 21st century, unless we act, tobacco could kill a billion people.

The Cholera epidemic in Yemen is on track to claim more than 2500 lives in the coming months. At the current rate, this easily treatable disease could kill more people than the 2013-2015 Ebola epidemic in Guinea.

Technology

Using a walkie-talkie app called Zello, volunteers in Houston and beyond (including a woman in New Jersey) have established a parallel emergency response network to supplement overwhelmed government agencies, according to The New Yorker. Volunteer dispatchers field desperate calls for help and coordinate volunteer boaters trying to reach the stranded.

Royal Philips, a global leader in health technology, today announced an agreement with Lakeland Health to integrate the Philips IntelliVue Guardian Solution with automated Early Warning Scoring (FWS) at all three of the Lakeland Health’s hospitals. The IntelliVue Guardian Solution contains software and intelligent clinical decision algorithms allowing caregivers to accurately obtain vital signs and seamlessly integrate validated patient data directly to the EHR – reducing human errors and saving time.

Environmental Health

Bad news for humans about the spread of mosquito-borne disease as climate change continues to worsen. New research from the University of Notre Dame, recently published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, proposes a new way that climate change could contribute to mosquitos’ capacity to drive disease epidemics. As climate change continues to rise, so could the speed of epidemics of mosquito-borne diseases like dengue and Zika.

Equity & Disparities

Adolescent girls living in neighborhoods with wide salary gaps and low-income households showed increased thinning in the brain’s cortical thickness, which could indicate higher levels of stress.

Violence, preventable diseases and traffic accidents are to blame for a widening of the youth mortality gap between the developed and developing world, according to a new Guardian analysis of the most recent World Health Organisation (WHO) data.

Maternal, Neonatal & Children’s Health

Globally, nearly eight out of every 1,000 children in the general population Iis estimated to have Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), according to a new study by the Centre for Addiction and and Mental Health (CAMH).

Results from a large clinical trial of a specific combination of oral preparation of probiotics  in newborns in India showed a 40% reduction in sepsis and deaths in the first 2 months of infancy. The trial ended early because it proved to be so effective.

Results from the secondary data analysis from the Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group (CHERG) shows that one in five infants are born small for gestational age and one in four neonatal deaths occur among such infants.

A global study reveals that nearly 8 in every 1000 babies are born with fetal alcohol syndrome.