Editorial: "COP27 climate change conference: urgent action needed for Africa and the world" c/o HIFA

Dear HIFA colleagues,

Chris Zielinski and colleagues achieved a remarkable feat by publishing a climate emergency editorial simultaneously in more than 250 journals. What does this tell us about communicating health research to policymakers?

https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2022/10/18/bjsports-2022-106442

The point was 'to demonstrate the united will of the medical profession, including all areas (nursing, mental health, veterinary medicine, etc.), to combat the health effects of climate change'.

The key message of the authors is to urge 'wealthy nations to finally step up', particularly to realise 'the promised target of providing US$100 billion of climate finance a year... ensuring these resources focus on increasing resilience to the existing and inevitable future impacts of the climate crisis, as well as on supporting vulnerable nations to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions'.

The message is supported by a well-worded case, and by a string of references to published research.

The piece is jointly authored by the editors of medical journals, which was presumably a deliberate decision to emphasise solidarity rather than including climate scientists and others.

In relation to 'communicating health research to policymakers' the exercise suggests more can be achieved when scientists work in solidarity and cooperatively than individually and in competition.

It will be interesting to see what happens at COP27. Will there be major steps forward along the lines that this editorial calls for? If so, what were the key contributing factors to the decisions made? One suspects the shared voices of 250-plus journals will play an important role. Moreover, their solidarity and cooperation is in place and ready to take on the next major advocacy challenge.

Best wishes, Neil

Joint Coordinator, HIFA Communicating health research https://www.hifa.org/projects/new-effective-communication-health-research-policymakers

Neil Pakenham-Walsh, Global Coordinator HIFA, www.hifa.org neil AT hifa.org Global Healthcare Information Network: Working in official relations with WHO

Africa Re-Imagined

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Dipo Faloyin Africa Is Not A Country Breaking Stereotypes of Modern Africa	Astrid Madimba, Chinny Ukata IT’S A CONTINENT
Socio-Economic and Cultural progress ...	Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò Against Decolonisation Taking African Agency Seriously

Owolade, T. (2022) Africa reimagined, FT Weekend, Books Life&Arts, 23-24 July, p.8.

Image 'IT'S A CONTINENT'

https://www.waterstones.com/book/its-a-continent/astrid-madimba/chinny-ukata/9781529376784

Online resources - Operational Research (OR) for Developing Countries

- responsibility, creativity, optimization (by IFORS)

The aim of the IFORS (International Federation of Operational Research Societies) Developing Countries Online Resources page is to offer the OR worker all publicly-available materials on the topic of OR for Development. It also aims to provide a venue for people who are working in the area to share their completed or in-process work, learn from others, and stimulate comments and discussions on the work. Regarding IFORS Developing Countries OR resources website, its regular updates - and your possible submission of "free" (not copyright protected) material, you might occasionally visit

http://ifors.org/developing_countries/index.php?title=Main_Page

With this open resources page we aim to make research and application results better accessible to the many friends in the Developing Countries (DCs). We would be glad about interest.

Contributions from art and science, communication and education sectors are warmly welcome by our community which has very little access to emerging documents on arts and sciences, research, design and development. Particularly, the disciplines and areas MRI and Physics could serve the DCs very well.

The International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS; http://ifors.org/) is an almost 60-year old organization which is currently composed of 51 national societies. Regional Groups of IFORS are: ALIO (The Latin American Ibero Association on Operations Research), APORS (The Association of Asian-Pacific Operational Research Societies), EURO (The Association of European Operational Research Societies), NORAM (The Association of North American Operations Research Societies). IFORS conferences are taking place every three years. On successfully celebrated IFORS 2021, Seoul, South Korea, August 22-27, 2021, please refer to http://www.ifors2020.kr/.

Thank you very much for your attention.

With kind regards,
best wishes,
Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber

PS: Feedback is welcome via    

gerhard.weber AT put.poznan.pl

My source: AI-SGES list

Undocumented

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	Essential Worker by Carlos Barberena. Linocut on Shopping Bag. 2020

My source:

Pig, C. WARNING: Art Is Dangerous, Profile, Carlos Barberena De La Rocha, PrintMaking Today, Summer 2021, 30: 118. pp.14-16.

https://www.cellopress.co.uk/page/printmaking-today

Image:

https://www.bandoleropress.com/propaganda/category/printmaking

Universal Health Coverage: Every Day - All Year - All Weathers [ #COP26 ]

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Related posts on W2tQ:

Global Health

Universal Health Coverage

My source:

COVID-19 has been exacerbated by issues that have defined weak health systems around the world for decades. On this #UniversalHealthCoverageDay, there has never been a more important time to make sure #UniversalHealthCoverage is moved higher up the @FCDOGovUK agenda. #UHCDay pic.twitter.com/gnbognAQvc

— APPG Global Health (@APPGGlobHealth) December 12, 2020

IFORS Developing Countries Online Resources

New documents joined - further ones are welcome

IFORS Developing Countries Online Resources 

The aim of the IFORS Developing Countries Online Resources page is to offer the OR worker all publicly-available materials on the topic of OR for Development. It also aims to provide a venue for people who are working in the area to share their completed or in-process work, learn from others, and stimulate comments and discussions on the work. Regarding IFORS Developing Countries OR resources website, its regular updates - and your possible submission of "free" (not copyright protected) material, you might occasionally visit

http://ifors.org/developing_countries/index.php?title=Main_Page

With this open resources page we aim to make research and application results better accessible to the many friends in the Developing Countries. We would be glad about interest. Contributions from the science, communication and education sectors are warmly welcome by our community which has very little access to emerging documents on arts and science, research and technology. "Operational Research" (OR) is the discipline of applying advanced analytical methods to help make better decisions. By using techniques such as problem structuring methods and mathematical modelling to analyze complex situations, Operational Research gives executives the power to make more effective decisions and build more productive systems. 

The International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS; http://ifors.org/) is an almost 60-year old organization which is currently composed of 51 national societies. 

Regional Groups of IFORS are: ALIO (The Latin American Ibero Association on Operations Research), APORS (The Association of Asian-Pacific Operational Research Societies), EURO (The Association of European Operational Research Societies), NORAM (The Association of North American Operations Research Societies). 

IFORS conferences are taking place every three years. On IFORS 2021, Seoul, South Korea, August 22-27, 2021, please refer to http://www.ifors2020.kr/

Thank you very much for your attention. 

With kind regards, best wishes,

Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber 

PS: Feedback is welcome via gerhard.weber AT put.poznan.pl

My source:

www.jiscmail.ac.uk/AI-SGES 

 

'Dumping': Waste and Ethics?

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Individual: general literacy health literacy economic literacy ... ... Individual: morality, values, integrity ...	"South Africa's Northern Cape is one of the most ethnographically unique locations on Earth. It is home to the San people, a nomadic hunter-gatherer group that carries some of the oldest human DNA." p.90.
The SAN people "Our knowledge has been taken by clever people who come and tempt us -	TRUST Project 'National' ethics standards -  with 10 rand or five rand." p.90.

The Centre for Professional Ethics, UCLAN.

Perryer, S. Foreign Bodies, The New Economy, Spring/Summer 2019, pp.90-93.

Knowles, T. Ancestry firm uses DNA of customers to develop drug. The Times, January 14th, 2020. p.4.

Book: "Good Economics for Hard Times"

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	Good Economics for Hard Times Better Answers to Our Biggest Problems Abhijit V. Banerjee Esther Duflo

Hodges' model provides interdisciplinary and even transdisciplinary bridges across often disparate fields of knowledge and specialties (epistemologies). In this instance consider SOCIO-economics, the consumerism of supply and demand. The influence of this in the economics of health care and the environment. The impact of relentless growth when values are knotted with value and commodified.

Even the book's cover points to the preoccupation of economics with mechanics (process!?). The view of economies as machines, which this book and the work of the authors and others now seeks to challenge and change.


Abhijit V. Banerjee, Esther Duflo (2019) Good Economics for Hard Times, Better Answers to Our Biggest Problems, Allen Lane, ISBN: 9780241306895

My source:
Ed Conway. Fighting the fake news with hard evidence, The Times, Saturday Review. December 14, 2019, p.16.

Pandemic Bonds: Beware perverse incentives and instruments?

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Geography Number of Countries Number of fatalities Instruments: Legal, Science, Social, Policy, Financial ... ?

"On Wednesday [24 July], the World bank said it  would give $300m in grants and loans to DRC to step up its aid response. But funding connected to the World Bank's pandemic bonds, issued in 2017 have been less forthcoming. One relatively small slice - the so-called "cash" element - has delivered $31.4m to help with the crisis." Ebola's latest resurgence in central Africa has led to more than 1,700 fatalities. But for the insurance element of the bonds to pay out, the disease must cross an international border and there must be at least 20 fatalities in the second country. The total possible insurance payout for Ebola is $150m and comes in three tranches: when 250, 750 and 2,500 people have died across at least two countries, $45m, $45m and $60m, respectively, will be disbursed."

Pandemic Bonds World Bank: Pandemic Emergency Financing Facility DRC - Rwanda border

My source: Asgari, N. (2019) World Bank pandemic bonds spark Ebola anger, FT Weekend, 27-28 July, p.17.

Photograph - adapted from original by The Independent.

The number of pages count (in a medical MOT)

Received in the post: an invitation.

For a medical MOT that would cost me £129 - which is a saving of £141.

I am informed that a competitor charges £564 for a "360" Health Assessment and £424 for an "Essential" Health Assessment.

Recently I spoke to someone who had major surgery and they remarked on the lack of assessment not on the medical side, but the social, especially in relation to discharge and the circumstances they would be returning to.

This example of apparent disinterest in a social assessment contrasts with practice in the past - several decades ago.

Apart from an awareness of  'silver clouds' and rose-tinted glasses what struck me was securing a sale by a manifest of paper:

The various blood tests that would be completed are detailed using medical terminology across four A4 pages. Depending on age there is a free respiratory screening too.

The following quotations (Alber, et al., 2017) state clearly the risks:

"There is a growing awareness among clinicians and health care scientists, that medical overuse comprises unnecessary health care lacking benefit for patients [3] or putting them at risk of harm outweighing a potential benefit [4]. Moreover, unnecessary medicine adds to rising health care expenditures [5] and a misallocation of scarce resources [6]. Asymptomatic individuals are at risk of being labelled as patients, causing anxiety and affecting their quality of life [7]." ...

"Moreover, in secondary prevention, risk factors are increasingly treated as diseases [8]. There is a tendency to screen asymptomatic populations at low risk and to label pre-diseases as manifest diseases [1]. Serum cholesterol levels are a good example of threshold lowering by shifting the boundary between health and disease [9]."

Over-treatment is also a problem in two critical and concurrent senses, as follows:

Developed health systems Need to transform to health promoting, educational, preventive, self-caring systems.

Developing health systems Need to prevent the inheritance of commodified health care and over-treatment.*

Alber et al. also provide a useful diagram preceded with more background:

"In primary care, the “quaternary prevention concept” [11] was introduced (see Fig. 1 ) in order to protect individuals from unnecessary investigations and treatment. Quaternary prevention is a “new term for an old concept: first, do not harm” [12]. It refers to actions “taken to identify [a] patient at risk of overmedicalisation [= in the sense of medical overuse, author’s note], to protect him from new medical invasion, and to suggest to him interventions, which are ethically acceptable” [13]."

Fig 1

The concept of quaternary prevention. Source: [11] Kuehlein T, Sghedoni D, Visentin G, Gérvas J, Jamoulle M. Quaternary prevention: a task of the general practitioner. PrimaryCare. 2010;10:350–4, and [12] Jamoulle M. Quaternary prevention, an answer of family doctors to overmedicalization. Int J Health Policy Manag. 2015;4:61–4

Without being dismissive of screening and its relation to health and well-being, I have removed myself from this particular mailing list.

At some point I must really apply Hodges' model to this discussion. The model is ideally suited to navigating and arguing this debate; from self-care, primary care, prevention, population and global health. I have posted previously about the damaging ideal of the comprehensive health record and the way that records seem oriented to assessment and risk reduction with outcomes and relapse prevention an after-thought. This defensiveness is critical for public safety, professionalism and accountability, but as a thread on twitter shows it can have a negative impact too.


*There is an additional confounding factor at work in developing nations, the incursion of digital technologies from outside.


Alber, K., Kuehlein, T., Schedlbauer, A., & Schaffer, S. (2017). Medical overuse and quaternary prevention in primary care - A qualitative study with general practitioners. BMC family practice, 18(1), 99. doi:10.1186/s12875-017-0667-4

Tsoi, G.W.W. (2014). Update On Prevention - An Introduction to Quaternary Prevention, Medical Bulletin 19, 11, NOVEMBER 2014.

Ack.
I am subscribed to a mail list that is an invaluable resource on the status of medicine and health care, with contributors including, Mohammad Zakaria Pezeshki, Juan Gérvas, Karenleigh A. Overmann, Gene Tsoi and others.

MOT: Ministry of Transport test

Books: [ Gold Fever ]

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The Drugs That Changed Our Minds	Natural Causes
Too Many Pills	GOLD FEVER

...
Cured of what we suffered from

And sufferin' from the cure ...

Gold Fever, lyric

My sources:

The Drugs that Changed Our Minds and Natural Causes, Sunday Times, 25 March & 1 April 2018
Too Many Pills, FT Weekend, 26-27 May 2018

Out of the Shadows - Mental Illness

"How a pioneering approach to treating mental illness is helping to fight one of the world’s most neglected diseases."

Out of the Shadows


My source: Email re. an INTAR 2016 conference call.

(Reprise) Noah - Thanks Frank and Happy Birthday!

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"High Hopes"	COP 21
COP 21

Trying to stay 'Young at Heart' here too.

Let's hope we can reach maturity - ecologically speaking - this weekend.

Community Informatics and Improving Health: New Special Issue

Colleagues:

The Journal of Community Informatics has just published its latest issue at

 http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej. We invite you to review the Table of Contents here and then visit our web site to review articles and items of interest.

Thanks for the continuing interest in our work,

Michael Gurstein, Ph.D.

Editor in Chief: Journal of Community Informatics, Vancouver CANADA Phone 604-602-0624 gurstein at gmail.com

The Journal of Community Informatics

Special Issue: Community Informatics for Improving Health Table of Contents

...

Editorial

--------

Overview of ICTs and Health

                Lareen Ann Newman

Editorial: Community Informatics for Improving Health

                Michael Gurstein

Articles

--------

Developing decentralised health information systems in developing countries –cases from Sierra Leone and Kenya

                Edem Kwame Kossi,       Johan Ivar Sæbø,             Jørn Braa,            Mohamed Mumeneeh

Jalloh,   Ayub Manya

Improving community health equity: the potential role for mHealth in Papua New Guinea

                Belinda Jane Loring

Capturing Qualitative Spatial Data to Understand Social Epidemiology in Public Health

                William R Buckingham

Narrating Aboriginality On-Line: Digital Storytelling, Identity and Healing

                Naomi Adelson,                Michelle Olding

Decreasing Health Disparities through Technology: Building a Community Health Website

                Olga Idriss Davis,              Kristen Bean,     Dominica McBride

Bridging the Digital Divide: A Bilingual Interactive Health Kiosk for Communities Affected by Health Disparities

                Kristen Bean,     Olga Davis,          Hector Valdez

‘MYBus’: Young People's Mobile Health, Wellbeing and Digital Inclusion

                Bjorn Nansen,   Kabita Chakraborty,        Lisa Gibbs,           Colin MacDougall,           Frank Vetere

Concussion Information on the Move: The Role of Mobile Technology in Concussion Management

                Osman Hassan Ahmed, Andy J Pulman

With a little help from my friends: experiences of building a virtual community for children with cancer

                Paula Hicks,        Jane B. Grimson,              Owen P. Smith

Impact of Internet on delivery of critical cardiac health care  :

                Sudeepa - Banerjee

A review on mHealth research in developing countries

                Wallace Chigona,              Mphatso Nyemba,          Andile Metfula

Reports

--------

Socio-technical approach to community health: designing and developing a mobile care data application for home-based healthcare, in South Africa

                Retha de la Harpe,           Hugo Lotriet,      Dalenca Pottas, Mikko Korpela

Perceived Benefits Of Remote Data Capturing In Community Home-Based Care:

The Caregivers’ Perspective

                Nobubele Angel Shozi,  Dalenca Pottas, Nicky Mostert-Phipps

Health Impact Assessment of a UK Digital Health Service

                Sue Heather Wright,       Irfan Ghani,        John Kemm,       Jayne Parry

Points of View

--------

W(h)ither Community: Locating participatory approaches to ICT-enabled health and development

                Ian Pringle

________________________________________________________________________

The Journal of Community Informatics http://www.ci-journal.net

 

ERCIM News No. 92 Special theme: "Smart Energy Systems"

Dear ERCIM News Reader,

ERCIM News No. 92 has just been published at
http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en92

Special Theme: "Smart Energy Systems"
Guest editors: Carl Binding, IBM Research Lab, Switzerland and Han La Poutré, CWI and Utrecht University, the Netherlands

Modern, industrialized, society is heavily dependent on ubiquitous, cheap energy, which we expect to be readily available, not to be polluting, and to be convenient to use.
Since the invention of the steam engine by James Watt, this paradigm has lead towards tremendous improvement of life quality in the developed world, and developing countries eagerly aspire to similar energy standards.
However, the price of this hunger for energy is increasing. Fossil fuel resources such as oil or gas are becoming harder to explore, even leading to environmental disasters as with the Gulf of Mexico oil-platform, recently. Exploration of shale gas (“fracking”) causes negative environmental impact, beyond the well-known CO2 problematics. Besides the sheer availability of fossil energy, associated CO2 emissions have caused wide-spread concerns about impacts on climate and on human health (fine particle emissions).
http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en92/special

Keynote:  "Smart Energy Systems – A European Perspective" by Ariane Sutor
http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/en92/keynote

This issue for download in pdf:
http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/images/stories/EN92/EN92-web.pdf

Includes: Research and Innovation
A Projector as Mobile Visualization device on an Assistive Robot (p.48)
by Paul Panek, Christian Beck, Georg Edelmayer, Peter Mayer and Wolfgang L. Zagler 

Next issue: No. 93, January 2012 - Special Theme: "Mobile Computing"
(see call at http://ercim-news.ercim.eu/call)

Thank you for your interest in ERCIM News.
Feel free to forward this message to others who might be interested.

Peter Kunz
ERCIM News central editor
--------------------------------------------------------------------


Additional links [by PJ]:
The Communication Initiative Network - Natural Resource Management
UNESCO: Renewable and Alternative Energies

Bill Nighy Visits Malawi To See the Difference a Robin Hood Tax Could Make

Watch the video of Bill Nighy visiting Malawi to see how the decisions made by bankers are affecting the lives of ordinary people.

Additional link:
Health Protection Agency: HIV in the United Kingdom: 2012 Report

[HIFA2015] International Nurses Day, May 12 "Closing the gap: From evidence to action"

Dear Colleagues / collaborators,

Nurses worldwide under the umbrella of the International Council of Nurses celebrates the International Nurses Day yearly on May 12. This is to pay tribute to the millions of men and women who put their lives to the service of humanity, in accordance with convention 149 of the ILO (Nursing Personnel Convention) passed in 1997. This celebration however has not yet gained the recognition it should, for how can one explain the fact that this day may even go by unnoticed in some countries, or are we therefore saying it is not worth it and why is this day not even a public holiday like for other professional groups.

I find it hard to believe that until now on this forum no one could think of it, when the celebration is due in barely 36 hours. I understand the delicate nature of health jobs, but this should not be an excuse for not paying tribute where is it due. I know this day should be meant for reflection among nurses and seeking for ways to improve nursing services. This will not happen in isolation, for nurses need the political will and inter sectoral collaboration to do their job effectively, shape a better future for the next generation of nurses consonant with current stakes.

This year, nurses are deliberating on the theme 'closing the gap: From evidence to action'. This topic is quite elaborate and needs lots of considerations both within and without the influence of nurses. Understanding evidence-based practice, seeking for sources of evidence, making the appropriate case for change and moving from evidence to action is the cycle in which nurses hope to reflect as they celebrate this year. Nurses will need new skills and expertise to deal with their clients in today's changing and challenging health environment. This is why this forum is of vital importance and I will continue to thank the team behind it. Nursing training programs may be subject to revision, expanding the legal and professional limits of practice while maintaining strict regulatory sanctions. This increased autonomy will enable nurses take up new functions within the confines of their practice and help in meeting the health needs of our population and not acting as physician substitutes or mini-doctors.

Therefore, I wish all nurses a happy celebration, calling on them to use the very rich celebration kit from the ICN, easily downloadable from their website, www.icn.ch, and share among themselves in all settings where nurses live and work. It is our day and we should be happy and honoured for the services we offer to the six billion people on earth, since nurses form the bulk of health care providers and work in remote areas in all countries.

In Cameroon, thousands of nurses from all the ten regions, shall be meeting in the economic capital Douala between June 14 to 16, to brainstorm on the activities. This event is usually opened by the Minister of Public health or his representative, various scientific presentations, round table conferences and other important activities grace the event and concluded by a closing ceremony during which important decisions taken are communicated to participants.

Tita Pale Isa Ndognjem, BSc, RN
Public Relation officer, Cameroon Nurses Association
2012 Fellow, Commonwealth Nurses Federation
paleisa AT yahoo.com 

Additional link:

C149 Nursing Personnel Convention, 1977
Convention concerning Employment and Conditions of Work and Life of Nursing Personnel (Note: Date of coming into force: 11:07:1979.) 
 
My source: HIFA2015

International Women’s Day

Some links for today:

Africa’s Girl Power

Helping Adolescent Girls is Key to Women's Empowerment

On International Women’s Day,
Protect Women Human Rights Defenders ...

Sources - as above and ...
HIPnet
Educate Girls in Africa

What's the difference between 6 and 7? About 11 years ...

Gradually over the past few months I've checked the care domain links. Deleting those where the domain is now "For Sale", broken, or the content is plain out of date. The final domain was the SCIENCES. It's the largest still and while the links are monsters, it is interesting working through them occasionally.

One change caught my eye last month in the 'Environment, Sustainability, Ecology & EcoSystem Health' listing (now former h2cm website). I clicked on Six Billion and Beyond and duly found that it has been retired from pbs.org. A few weeks ago I'd shared with students and have included on the CARDI conference poster the fact that today it is believed that the Earth's human population reaches 7 billion.

Looking back Six Billion and Beyond aired in 1999. So in 11-12 years there are an extra billion souls. You have to ask:

• What will we all drink and eat?
• Will we all have a (dry) home?
• Will we all read? (Have access to information and info technology)
• What will this latest generation believe in?
• Whose beliefs will they be?
  
• Can the 7 Billionth human being of Earth be a true citizen?
• Before that - for how long will they be allowed to be a child?
• Will they pray? Who to and why - choice?
• Will they have to fight (in a uniform)?
• What will their sense of quality of life be?
•  Will that 7 Billionth person and their family have access to:
• health information?
• basic health care?
• education?
• What space is there for their human rights?
• Can technology finally deliver Socially?

Checking the links this time around proved quite a lesson in global demographics - how long till the next...?

Additional links:

https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/

The world is home to 7 billion people but how far has it come?
The population milestone is a reminder that there is much work to do on sexual and reproductive health and HIV if we are to meet the millennium development goals by 2015, The Guardian, Monday 31 October.

WHO Mental Health Atlas 2011

Forwarded to the GANM from Ana Lucia Ruggiero at PAHO

WHO Mental Health Atlas 2011

Available online PDF [82.p] at: http://bit.ly/rocbFH

10 October 2011 – “…..New figures from the WHO Mental Health Atlas 2011 indicate that while the need for mental health care is large, with up to 25% of the population requiring it at some point in their lives, there is underinvestment in the sector.

The Atlas shows average global spending on mental health is still less than US$ 3 per capita per year and as little as US$ 0.25 per person per year in low-income countries.

It presents data from 184 WHO Member States, covering 98% of the world’s population. Facts and figures presented in Atlas indicate that resources for mental health remain inadequate.

The distribution of resources across regions and income groups is substantially uneven and in many countries resources are extremely scarce. Results from Atlas reinforce the urgent need to scale up resources and care for mental health within countries….”

Brochure: http://bit.ly/qvV9jN

My source: GANM (Global Alliance for Nursing and Midwifery)