Media saturation,communication exposure and HIV stigma in Nigeria

HIV-related stigma constitutes an impediment to public health as it hampers HIV/AIDS control efforts in many ways. To address the complex problems of increasing HIV infection rate, widespread misinformation about the infection and the rising level of HIV-related stigma, the various tiers of government in Nigeria are working with local and international non-governmental organizations to develop and implement strategic communication programs. This paper assesses the link between these communication efforts and HIV-related stigma using data from a nationally representative household survey. The results show that accepting attitudes towards people living with HIV are more prevalent among men than among women. Exposure to HIV-related communication on the media is associated with increased knowledge about HIV, which is in turn a strong predictor of accepting attitudes. Communication exposure also has a significant and positive association with accepting attitudes towards people living with HIV. In contrast, community media saturation is not strongly linked with accepting attitudes for either sex. The findings strongly suggest that media-based HIV programs constitute an effective strategy to combat HIV/AIDS-related stigma and should therefore be intensified in Nigeria.     

Australian health and medical workers’ concerns around providing care to people living with hepatitis B

There is established literature on health workers’ attitudes towards working with people living with stigmatised health conditions and behaviours, such as HIV, hepatitis C and injecting drug use. Less is known about health workers’ attitudes and concerns around providing care to people living with hepatitis B virus (HBV), which is concerning as research indicates that negative attitudes may impact on the quality of care provided to these populations, with adverse health outcomes for clients. The aim of this paper is to examine health and medical workers’ concerns about providing care to people living with HBV, and the factors that may influence these concerns. Australian health and medical workers (n = 551) completed an online survey measuring their concerns about providing care to people living with HBV, stigmatising attitudes towards this group, perceived comfort of themselves and colleagues in providing care towards clients with HBV, and witnessing their colleagues behaviour in a discriminatory way towards clients with HBV. Multiple regression was used to ascertain factors predictive of health workers’ concerns about working with clients with HBV. Results showed that older participants and those who had spent less time working in the health and medical field had greater concerns about caring for people living with HBV. Workers who did not know someone living with HBV, who were less comfortable around clients with HBV, who perceived their colleagues to be less comfortable working with clients with HBV, and who had more negative attitudes towards this group also had greater concerns around providing care to people living with HBV. Efforts should be made to improve health and medical workers’ attitudes towards working with people with HBV. This may also improve workers’ level of comfort with people with HBV and reduce the reported reticence they have towards working with this client group.     

Social inequalities in 'sickness': European welfare states and non-employment among the chronically ill

The aim of this paper is to examine educational inequalities in the risk of non-employment among people with illnesses and how they vary between European countries with different welfare state characteristics. In doing so, the paper adds to the growing literature on welfare states and social inequalities in health by studying the often overlooked 'sickness'-dimension of health, namely employment behaviour among people with illnesses. We use European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) data from 2005 covering 26 European countries linked to country characteristics derived from Eurostat and OECD that include spending on active labour market policies, benefit generosity, income inequality, and employment protection. Using multilevel techniques we find that comprehensive welfare states have lower absolute and relative social inequalities in sickness, as well as more favourable general rates of non-employment. Hence, regarding sickness, welfare resources appear to trump welfare disincentives.     

Developing specialist healthcare for older people: a challenge for the European Union

The state of health in the European Union is better than ever before. This is due to spectacular progress made over the second half of this century in terms of medical research, health services provision and living conditions. However, older people require more, and substantially different, health and care services than younger people. The central challenge of the policy makers is to ensure that future health care policies will provide an adequate and cost effective response to the changes brought about by demographic trends.     

United but divided: Policy responses and people’s perceptions in the EU during the COVID-19 outbreak

To understand the public sentiment toward the measures used by policymakers for COVID-19 containment, a survey among representative samples of the population in seven European countries was carried out in the first two weeks of April 2020. The study addressed people’s support for containment policies, worries about COVID-19 consequences, and trust in sources of information. Citizens were overall satisfied with their government’s response to the pandemic; however, the extent of approval differed across countries and policy measures. A north-south divide in public opinion was noticeable across the European states. It was particularly pronounced for intrusive policy measures, such as mobile data use for movement tracking, economic concerns, and trust in the information from the national government. Considerable differences in people’s attitudes were noticed within countries, especially across individual regions and age groups. The findings suggest that the epidemic acts as a stressor, causing health and economic anxieties even in households that were not directly affected by the virus. At the same time, the burden of stress was unequally distributed across regions and age groups. Based on the data collected, we draw lessons from the containment stage and identify several insights that can facilitate the design of lockdown exit strategies and future containment policies so that a high level of compliance can be expected.     

Citizens and rationing: analysis of a European survey

While many studies have reviewed the issues involved in rationing and priority setting within health care services, few studies have comprehensively analysed the views and attitudes of a significant stakeholder in the debate - the public. The aims of this paper are to discuss the issues involved in involving the public in rationing and priority setting decision-making; and to analyse data pertaining to citizen's attitudes towards rationing and priority setting. The data analysed were taken from the 1998 Eurobarometer Survey, with specific questions pertaining to rationing and priority setting asked in six countries within the European Union: Germany; France; Italy; the Netherlands; Britain and Sweden. The review of previous studies and the analysis of the Eurobarometer data, focus on issues relating to funding for health care; the need to set limits in health coverage; the role of stakeholders in setting priorities; and the use of age, and other factors, as a criteria for setting priorities.     

The effect of first year mental health fieldwork on attitudes of occupational therapy students towards people with mental illness

Background and Aims:  Despite recent initiatives to reduce stigma towards people with mental illness, negative attitudes persist both in the community and among health professionals. Fieldwork experience has been identified as the most powerful way of modifying the attitudes of health professional students. Research to date suggests that later placements tend to have a more positive effect on attitudes than do earlier placements. However, inconsistencies within the literature suggest that it is the nature of the fieldwork experience that is the critical factor. We set out to investigate whether a program of fieldwork that included a tutorial component would bring about positive attitudinal change in first year occupational therapy students.
Methods:  We conducted secondary analysis of data collected from first year students before and after first year fieldwork experience in mental health settings. Student statements were rated to identify positive versus negative attitudes, and attitudinal themes were analysed.
Results:  Quantitative analysis revealed that students made significantly more statements reflecting positive attitudes following fieldwork than they did before. From pre- to post-fieldwork, attitudinal themes changed from: people with mental illness as different, fear of people with mental illness, and a deficit focus of mental illness, to: the 'ordinariness' of people with mental illness, students' understanding of people with mental illness, and an enabling approach to people with mental illness.
Conclusions:  A program of fieldwork that includes a structured tutorial component can bring about positive changes in the attitudes of first year students towards people with mental illness.     

Difficulties in the prevention of cervical cancer: adults' attitudes towards HPV vaccination 3 years after introducing the vaccine in Hungary

Cervical cancer is one of the most prevalent gynaecological malignancies worldwide. The Hungarian incidence and mortality of this disease take the 4th-5th places within the European Union. A survey including 785 male and female adults was conducted to assess the knowledge and attitudes concerning HPV vaccination. We focused on the difficulties of the primary and secondary prevention of cervical cancer and examined some potential sociodemographic predictors of HPV vaccine acceptability.Our findings have identified some important issues like: incomplete knowledge, intense distrust and financial concerns. Almost half of the college students (45.6%) are unaware of HPV infections. We confirmed previous findings that older age and female gender correlates with better knowledge on STDs, including HPV. We found that greater exposure to health information comes with better knowledge and more positive attitudes towards vaccination.One quarter of survey respondents do not believe that cervical cancer may be prevented by vaccination. More than half of the adults do not trust national health care system and the preparedness of Hungarian doctors. General attitudes towards vaccination are broadly positive, 80% of survey participants had expressed desire towards HPV vaccination, however if there was a need to pay for the vaccination the willingness would decrease by half.Primary prevention through HPV-focused educational programs, clear communication and financial support would be important for public health to reduce the high incidence and mortality of cervical cancer in Hungary in the future.     

'THAT'S THE PROBLEM WITH LIVING IN A SMALL TOWN': PRIVACY AND SEXUAL HEALTH ISSUES FOR YOUNG RURAL PEOPLE

ABSTRACT: Survey and focus group discussions examining sexual health issues for young people were conducted with 1168 year 8 and year 10 secondary school students living in small rural communities across Australia. Growing up in the country was generally perceived as a positive experience; however, many young people felt that they had little privacy. Two main areas of concern emerged in relation to sexual health issues: worries about being recognised in public venues such as doctor's surgeries and chemists, and the informal mechanisms among peer groups that appraised and regulated sexual behaviour and attitudes. There were some significant gender differences evident in the expectations and experiences attached to these concerns, with girls expressing more awareness of and concern towards their public reputations when accessing sexual health services. They also felt that their sexual reputations among peers were closely monitored by way of their behaviour and appearance. This can militate against confident and assertive safer sex strategies such as condom use, when initiating or insisting upon condom use is construed as evidence of promiscuity or a preparedness to engage in sex. Concerns around privacy may be acutely experienced by young rural women, and health services providers need to be aware of these issues and efforts need to be made to address and allay the apprehensions of young people in this sensitive area.     

A “healthy immigrant effect” or a “sick immigrant effect”? Selection and policies matter

Previous literature on a variety of countries has documented a “healthy immigrant effect” (HIE). Accordingly, immigrants arriving in the host country are, on average, healthier than comparable natives. However, their health status dissipates with additional years in the country. HIE is explained through the positive self-selection of healthy immigrants as well as the positive selection, screening and discrimination applied by host countries. In this article we study the health trajectories of immigrants within the context of selection and migration policies. Using SHARE data we examine the HIE, comparing Israel and 16 European countries that have fundamentally different migration policies. Israel has virtually unrestricted open gates for Jewish people around the world, who in turn have ideological rather than economic considerations to move. European countries have selective policies with regards to the health, education and wealth of migrants, who also self-select themselves. Our results provide evidence that (1) immigrants who move to Israel have compromised health and are significantly less healthy than comparable natives. Their health disadvantage persists for up to 20 years of living in Israel, after which they become similar to natives; (2) immigrants who move to Europe have significantly better health than comparable natives. Their health advantage remains positive for many years. Even though during some time lapses they are not significantly different from natives, their health status never becomes worse than that of natives. Our results are important for migration policy and relevant for domestic health policy.