Developing a health and human rights training program for french speaking Africa: lessons learned, from needs assessment to a pilot program

Background  

The importance of human rights education has widely been recognized as one of the strategies for their protection and promotion of health. Yet training programs have not always taken into account neither local needs, nor public health relevance, nor pedagogical efficacy.     

Infrastructural requirements for local implementation of safety policies: the discordance between top-down and bottom-up systems of action

Background  

Safety promotion is planned and practised not only by public health organizations, but also by other welfare state agencies, private companies and non-governmental organizations. The term 'infrastructure' originally denoted the underlying resources needed for warfare, e.g. roads, industries, and an industrial workforce. Today, 'infrastructure' refers to the physical elements, organizations and people needed to run projects in different societal arenas.     

Occupational allergy due to seafood delivery: Case report

Background  

Sensitization to fish or crustaceans requires intensive skin contact and/or airway exposition and therefore especially workers in the seafood processing industry may develop an occupational seafood allergy. However, even in jobs with limited direct exposure, individuals with atopic disposition not using appropriate skin protection are at risk for developing occupational seafood allergy which requires termination of employment.     

Drugs and herbs given to prevent hepatotoxicity of tuberculosis therapy: systematic review of ingredients and evaluation studies

Background  

Drugs to protect the liver are frequently prescribed in some countries as part of treatment for tuberculosis. The biological rationale is not clear, they are expensive and may do harm. We conducted a systematic review to a) describe the ingredients of "liver protection drugs"; and b) compare the evidence base for the policy against international standards.     

Skin protection creams in medical settings: successful or evil?

Background  

Chronic exposure to mild irritants including cleansing and antiseptic products used for hand hygiene generates insults to the skin. To avoid unpleasant reactions, skin protection creams are commonly employed, but some fail to afford protection against a variety of xenobiotics. In this study, two skin protection creams were assayed comparatively looking for a protective effect if any against a liquid soap and an alcohol-based gel designed for hand hygiene in medical settings.     

Cadmium,chromium, lead,manganese and nickel concentrations in blood of women in non-polluted areas in Japan,as determined by inductively coupled plasma-sector field-mass spectrometry

Background  

Background levels of metals of toxicological or industrial importance have been reported for several populations in the world. The information on the levels of metals of industrial, occupational or clinical importance in blood of general Japanese populations is however still scarce.     

Lung cancer risk and pollution in an industrial region of Northern Spain: a hospital-based case-control study

Background  

Asturias, an Autonomous Region in Northern Spain with a large industrial area, registers high lung cancer incidence and mortality. While this excess risk of lung cancer might be partially attributable to smoking habit and occupational exposure, the role of industrial and urban pollution also needs to be assessed. The objective was to ascertain the possible effect of air pollution, both urban and industrial, on lung cancer risk in Asturias.     

Major congenital malformations and residential proximity to a regional industrial park including a national toxic waste site: An ecological study

Background  

Public concern about exposure to emissions from the regional industrial park (IP), including 17 chemical plants and the national industrial toxic waste site, initiated this study of the possible association between major congenital malformations (MCM) and residence near the IP in Israel's Southern District.     

Living environment and self assessed morbidity: a questionnaire-based survey

Background  

Health complaints have been reported to be higher among the industrial area residents when compared with reference community.     

Ethics review as a component of institutional approval for a multicentre continuous quality improvement project: the investigator's perspective

Background  

For ethical approval of a multicentre study in Canada, investigators must apply separately to individual Research Ethics Boards (REBs). In principle, the protection of human research subjects is of utmost importance. However, in practice, the process of multicentre ethics review can be time consuming and costly, requiring duplication of effort for researchers and REBs. We used our experience with ethical review of The Canadian Perinatal Network (CPN), to gain insight into the Canadian system.     

Border malaria in China: knowledge and use of personal protection by minority populations and implications for malaria control: a questionnaire-based survey

Background  

Malaria control in remote, forested areas of the Mekong region relies on personal protection from mosquito bites. Uptake of these methods may be limited by knowledge of the link between mosquitoes and malaria as well as social and economic aspects. Understanding barriers to uptake will inform malaria control programmes on targets for improvement of delivery.     

Assessing the repeatability of verbal autopsy for determining cause of death: two case studies among women of reproductive age in Burkina Faso and Indonesia

Background  

Verbal autopsy (VA) is an established tool for assessing cause-specific mortality patterns in communities where deaths are not routinely medically certified, and is an important source of data on deaths among the poorer half of the world's population. However, the repeatability of the VA process has never been investigated, even though it is an important factor in its overall validity. This study analyses repeatability in terms of the overall VA process (from interview to cause-specific mortality fractions (CSMF)), as well as specifically for interview material and individual causes of death, using data from Burkina Faso and Indonesia.     

The New Zealand Asthma and Allergy Cohort Study (NZA<Superscript>2</Superscript>CS): Assembly,Demographics and Investigations

Background  

Asthma and allergy are highly prevalent in industrialised countries. Longitudinal and cross-sectional studies have identified a number of potential risk factors for these conditions, including genetic and environmental factors, with significant gene-environment relationships. Birth cohort studies have been proposed as an important tool to explore these risk factors, particularly exposures in early life that are associated with later disease or protection from disease. This paper describes the establishment of a birth cohort in New Zealand.     

Development and evaluation of a hand held computer based on-call pack for health protection out of hours duty: A pilot study

Background  

The on call service for health protection in most parts of the UK is provided by general public health consultants, registrars and nurses as the first tier of response backed up by medical consultants in health protection. The first tier responder usually carries a large bag of papers containing both local and national guidance on the management of common cases/incidents. An electronic on call pack may provide a suitable practical alternative to large paper based systems and help professionals deliver out of hours health protection advice and response to incidents.     

A cohort study of <Emphasis Type="Italic">in utero</Emphasis> polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposures in relation to secondary sex ratio

Background  

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are ubiquitous industrial chemicals that persist in the environment and in human fatty tissue. PCBs are related to a class of compounds known as dioxins, specifically 2,3,7,8-TCDD (tetrachloro-dibenzodioxin), which has been implicated as a cause of altered sex ratio, especially in relation to paternal exposures.     

Biological effect markers in exhaled breath condensate and biomonitoring in welders: impact of smoking and protection equipment

Purpose  

The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of welding as well as the impact of smoking and protection measures on biological effect markers in exhaled breath condensate. Additionally, biomonitoring of chromium, aluminium and nickel in urine was performed to quantify internal exposure.     

An action research on promotion of healthy ageing and risk reduction of chronic disease: A need assessment study among rural elderly Malays, care givers and health professionals

Objective  

Prior to the development of a healthy ageing and risk reduction of chronic diseases intervention package for older people in Malaysia, a need assessment study was conducted to identify nutritional knowledge status and information needs, as part of an action research process.     

Design of a study on suboptimal cognitive acts in the diagnostic process, the effect on patient outcomes and the influence of workload, fatigue and experience of physician

Background  

Diagnostic error is an important error type since diagnostic adverse events are regularly judged as being preventable and the consequences are considered to be severe. Existing research often focuses on either diagnostic adverse events or on the errors in diagnostic reasoning. Whether and when an incorrect diagnostic process results in adverse outcomes has not been studied extensively. The present paper describes the design of a study that aims to study the relationship between a suboptimal diagnostic process and patient outcomes. In addition, the role of personal and circumstantial factors on the quality of the diagnostic process will be examined.     

Health financing reform in Uganda: How equitable is the proposed National Health Insurance scheme?

Background  

Uganda is proposing introduction of the National Health Insurance scheme (NHIS) in a phased manner with the view to obtaining additional funding for the health sector and promoting financial risk protection. In this paper, we have assessed the proposed NHIS from an equity perspective, exploring the extent to which NHIS would improve existing disparities in the health sector.     

Protection from annual flooding is correlated with increased cholera prevalence in Bangladesh: a zero-inflated regression analysis

Background  

Alteration of natural or historical aquatic flows can have unintended consequences for regions where waterborne diseases are endemic and where the epidemiologic implications of such change are poorly understood. The implementation of flood protection measures for a portion of an intensely monitored population in Matlab, Bangladesh, allows us to examine whether cholera outcomes respond positively or negatively to measures designed to control river flooding.