Invitation to Register: AI for Health BCS London - 6 Nov 2026

Invitation to Register

AI for Health 2026
Friday 6 November 2026

British Computer Society London Office (near Moorgate Underground)

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) prioritising AI for health is crucial. The WHO also highlights that a healthy diet protects you against many chronic noncommunicable diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Quantum computing is gathering an enormous interest as a new paradigm of computing  (see Quantum for Good at https://quantumforgood.eu/), which is already making an impact across industries like health and life sciences (agriculture, food and health). Classical (or current) AI relies in classical computers based on binary bits (zeros and ones), while quantum AI relies in quantum computers based on quantum bits (qubits). Quantum AI could dramatically accelerate research that requires processing vast amounts of data, contributing to human health by accelerating drug discovery or enabling earlier diagnostics. Quantum AI could be also instrumental in identifying early signs of crop diseases or optimising water use.

AI for Health 2026 will have a morning session about AI for health, and an afternoon session about quantum technologies for health and food, including an introduction to quantum computing. Before lunch break, there will be a hands-on tutorial on low-code AI agents for health, farming, and food. Come along to AI for Health 2026 if you are interested in cutting-edge AI for Health, using latest technologies with a promise of high impact.

A full-day face-to-face event organised by the BCS SGAI with the following agenda:

09.30-10.00 Tea/coffee Welcome
10.00-10.45 Medical diagnosis after LLMs (keynote talk) by Prof Brendan Delaney (Imperial College London)
10.45-11.30 AI in Mental Healthcare by Mr Anirban Lahiri (Arndit Ltd. and Kainos Ltd., UK)
11.30-11.45 Tea/coffee Break
11.45-12.30 Demystifying AI regulation by Dr Marinos Ioannides (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, UK)
12.30-13.15 Hand-on tutorial: Low-Code AI Agents for Health, Farming, and Food
13.15-14.15 Lunch Break
14.15-15.00 Introduction to Quantum Computing and its Relevance for Biomedical Science by Dr Oliver Thomson Brown (University of Edinburgh)
15.00-15.45 Translating Quantum Food Futures by Dr Saihong Li (University of Stirling)
15.45-16.30 Emerging Opportunities for Quantum Technologies in Food and Health by Dr Aleksey Kozikov (Newcastle University)
16.30-16.45 Close

Further details at https://www.bcs-sgai.org/health2026/

There will be Certificates of Attendance for those who register and attend the event.

Registration on Eventbrite (includes refreshment and lunch!)
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ai-for-health-2026-tickets-1990787464898

My source: Dr. Mercedes Arguello Casteleiro (BCS SGAI)

Short Placement Award for Research Collaboration (SPARC) (Cohort 12)

Dear CHAIN member,

We would like to draw your attention to the following funding opportunity offered by NIHR. Please pass on the information as appropriate. Thank you.

‘Short Placement Award for Research Collaboration (SPARC) (Cohort 12)

This award offers a unique opportunity to design and undertake a short, bespoke placement within a part of the NIHR. Tailored to your individual research training needs and background, the award aims to enhance your research career, skills, and professional network.

What are the priority themes for an NIHR SPARC?

• Multiple Long Term Conditions - Morbidity (MLTC-M)

The NIHR SPARC welcomes applications centred around making connections important to your research and work, that may spark innovative new ways of working across MLTC research.

• Links to industry and the commercial sectors

One of the aims of the NIHR is to increase the number of researchers equipped with the skills to work at the interfaces between:

• academia
• the NHS
• wider health, public health and social care
• industry

We work with a diverse range of industry sectors. The NIHR SPARC welcomes applications that undertake placements in other parts of the organisation that have developed partnerships and collaborations with industry partners. This opportunity should develop your skills and experience to have a successful working relationship with industry (including the life-sciences, med-tech, SMEs and the food industry) and encourage entrepreneurship.

Please note applicants wishing to plan and undertake placements that meet their own research training and career development needs will continue to be encouraged and welcomed; however for Cohort 12 of the NIHR SPARC we are particularly encouraging applicants to consider placements in the two areas outlined above.

Closing date: 20 November 2025 at 1:00 pm'

Find out more at: https://www.nihr.ac.uk/funding/short-placement-award-research-collaboration-sparc-cohort-12/2025334?source=chainmail

Kind regards,

Wendy Zhou
CHAIN Manager

 

If you wish to publicise information on the CHAIN Network please email your request to: enquiries AT chain-network.org.uk

 

CHAIN - Contact, Help, Advice and Information Network – is an online international network for people working in health and social care. For more information on CHAIN and joining the network please visit website: www.chain-network.org.uk

 

Follow CHAIN on X: @CHAIN_Network ; Connect with CHAIN on LinkedIn

See also: 'long term' : 'academia' : 'interfaces' : 'industry' : 'social care'

New cit.? "Toward a Roadmap for Addressing Today's Health Dilemma - The 101-Statement Consensus Report"

News - this morning brought provisional acceptance of a paper, and hence a potential new citation. I greatly appreciate being involved with this project. So, fingers-crossed even at this late stage ...

Title: Toward a Roadmap for Addressing Today's Health Dilemma -The 101-Statement Consensus Report 

Submitted By: Katharina C. Wirnitzer

Authors: Katharina C. Wirnitzer, Mohamad Motevalli, Derrick Tanous, Clemens Drenowatz, Maximilian Moser, Holger Cramer, Thomas Rosemann, Karl-Heinz Wagner, Andreas Michalsen, Beat Knechtle, Zlatko Fras, Merel Ritskes-Hoitinga, Adilson Marques, Nataša Fidler Mis, Fatima Cody Stanford, Christian Schubert, Nandu Goswami, Claus - Leitzmann, Per Morten Fredriksen, Gerhard Ruedl, Doris Wilflingseder, Rodrigo Antunes Lima, Christian S. Kessler, Michael Jeitler, Naim Akhtar Khan, Hassan Joulaei, Maryam Fatemi, Andrew Knight, Karl W. Kratky, Kara K Palmer, Bernd Haditsch, Bostjan Jakse, Walter Kofler, Tomas Pfeiffer, Kathya Lorena Cordova-Pozo, Patrizia Tortella, Simon Straub, Heidi Lynch, Manuel Schätzer, Anupama Krishnan, Shahnaz Fathima, Lukas Gatterer, Fabian Kriwan, Mittal Abhishek, Hemant Nandgaonkar, Shalaka Nandgaonkar, Abiola O. Adedara, Josep Maria Haro, Corina Gericke, Gaby Neumann, Aysha Akhtar, Amir Rashidlamir, Madan Thangavelu, Ngoumou Gonza, Éva Perpék, Michael Klaper, Bhaswati Bhattacharya, Werner Kirschner, Kathelijne Bessems, Peter Jones, Gregory E Peoples, Raul Bescos, Christina Duftner and Georg Johannes Seifert

Journal: Frontiers in Nutrition, section Food Policy and Economics

Research Topic: Sustainable Approaches to Public Health Via Food Policy Actions

Accepted on: 10 Sept 2025

I will (hopefully) be able to add more details (abstract - - formatted ...) as they become available. 

UK Evening Symposium: Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining - May 14th 2025

 UK Symposium on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining 2025

Wednesday May 14th 2025 from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.

Location

This will be a virtual event using the Zoom video-conferencing platform. 

Outline Programme

6.00 p.m. (UK time): 'Arrival' and Introduction

Chair: Prof. Max Bramer (SGAI)

6.10 p.m. to 6.40 p.m.

Prof. Dr. Anna Fensel (Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, Wageningen University, The Netherlands) BIO

Knowledge graphs, FAIR principles and generative AI for scientific discoveries in agri-food

6.40 p.m. to 6.50 p.m. Discussion and Questions

6.50 p.m. to 7.20 p.m.

Dr. Anelia Kurteva (Assistant Professor of Computer Science, University of Birmingham, UK) BIO

Responsible AI through responsible data management and governance enabled by knowledge graphs

7.20 p.m. to 7.30 p.m. Discussion and Questions

7.30 p.m. Close

Please see links, e.g. 'programme' at: http://ukkdd.org.uk/2025/

My source: BCS-SGAI list

Register for Free! AI for One Health and Planetary Health: Where Are We?

Friday 8 November, 9:30am GMT – onwards

BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, Ground Floor, 25 Copthall Avenue, London EC2R 7BP

Join BCS SGAI in London for an engaging full-day event featuring a line up of exciting talks. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a hands-on tutorial on low-code/no-code AI and Certificates of Attendance will be provided.

* Speakers & Agenda
https://www.bcs.org/events-calendar/2024/november/ai-for-one-health-and-planetary-health-where-are-we-artificial-intelligence-sg/

* Invitation for Free Registration
https://ArtificialIntelligence081124.eventbrite.co.uk

100% Discount Code: AIHealth24Committee

--------------------------------

Hope to see you there - in London 6th-9th November.

British Computer Society: AI for One Health and Planetary Health

 BCS SPECIALIST GROUP ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (BCS SGAI)! 

AI for One Health and Planetary Health: Where Are We?

Friday November 8th 2024 - British Computer Society London Office (near Moorgate Underground)

Invitation to Register

http://www.bcs-sgai.org/health2024/

A full-day event with invited talks on the following topics:

• One Health and Planetary Health: the case for considering a unified health perspective
• Translational Diagnostics in Companion Animals
• Mixed AI approaches to surfacing information hidden in veterinary electronic health records
• Hands-on Tutorial: Low-Code/No-Code AI: Democratise AI for Text, Images, and Audio
• AI for One Health and Planetary Health: is there a generic framework?
• Low-Code/No-Code AI for Biomedical Image Classification: Visual Impairment as a case stud
• Low-Code/No-Code AI for Planetary Health: World Fisheries and Aquaculture as a case study

The  21st  century  brings  major  global  challenges,  including  climate  change  and  rapid  population  ageing, calling  for  transdisciplinary  involvement  of  diverse  sectors  and  stakeholders,  including  academics  and students, companies and societal organisations. One Health considers human health, animal health, and our shared  environment  as  parts  of  a  deeply  interconnected  system.  Our  environment  is  changing  and  it  is affecting  our  health.  Planetary  Health  emphasises  that  everything  is  connected:  "the  quality  of  the  air  we breathe and of the water we drink, the quality and quantity of food we produce, our exposure to infectious diseases, and even the habitability of the places where we live". Digitalisation is happening in both human and veterinary medicine. Human-AI collaboration can bring humans and AI together to gain more valuable insights  than  either  could  achieve  alone. The  event  comprises  a  number  of  talks  with  speakers  from  the Animal  and  Plant  Health  Agency  (APHA.gov.uk),  Veterinary  Health  Innovation  Engine  (vHive),  Small Animal  Veterinary  Surveillance  Network  (SAVSNET),  National  Health  Service  (NHS)  England,  and  UK universities.  

Low-code/no-code AI is on the rise with Large Language Models (LLMs) at its core, including multimodal LLMs that can produce content (text, image, video, or audio/speech) as output (generative AI). Come along to the hands-on tutorial if you are interested in content generation and content analysis of text, images and  audio  with  open-source  LLMs from  Google,  Facebook,  Microsoft  and  OpenAI  in  just  3  lines  of python  code  (low-code  AI)  and  LLM  prompting  (no  code  AI).  The  exercises  can  be  executed  in  1  to  5 minutes using Google Colab (free of charge for basic use and without setup to use).  

There will be Certificates of Attendance for those who register and attend the event.

We hope that you will come and join us, and that you enjoy this new offering from the BCS SGAI.

Full details are available at http://www.bcs-sgai.org/health2024/

Reduced delegate fees!!
The  delegate  fee  is  just  £50  plus  VAT  for  BCS  and  SGAI  members  and  £90  plus  VAT  for  others. This includes  attendance  at  the  event,  lunch  and  refreshments.  A  special  rate  of  £35  plus  VAT  is  available  for students. A Group Discount Rate is available for group bookings of three or more.

--------------------------------------------------------
To register for future mailings about SGAI events go to http://www.bcs-sgai.org/register/

Max Bramer
Chair BCS Specialist Group on Artificial Intelligence (bcs-sgai.org)

Honouring 'Wheatfield: a Confrontation' by Agnes Denes

"In the summer of 1982, two acres of wheat were planted and harvested by artist Agnes Denes, two blocks from Wall Street and the World Trade Center and facing the Statue of Liberty.

Planting and harvesting a field of wheat on land worth $4.5 billion created a powerful paradox. Wheatfield was a symbol, a universal concept; it represented food, energy, commerce, world trade, and economics. It referred to mismanagement, waste, world hunger and ecological concerns. It called attention to our misplaced priorities.

The harvested grain traveled to twenty-eight cities around the world in an exhibition called “The International Art Show for the End of World Hunger”, organized by the Minnesota Museum of Art (1987-90). The seeds were carried away by people who planted them in many parts of the globe." twistedsifter

Individual

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         INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES                   

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

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	'Wheatfield: a Confrontation' (1982) by Agnes Denes

http://agnesdenesstudio.com/

'Honouring Wheatfield: a Confrontation' - ArtBasel from June 10:

https://www.artbasel.com/stories/ecology-pioneer-american-artist-agnes-denes-basel-messeplatz-wheat-field-climate-change-awareness

Images: 

In 1982, An Artist Harvested Two Acres of Wheat on Land Worth $4.5 Billion by TwistedSifter

https://twistedsifter.com/2018/03/new-york-city-wheat-field-by-agnes-denes/

Roux, C. Reaping what you sow, Collecting, FTWeekend, 8-9 June 2024, p.4.

https://www.ft.com/content/346ad7e8-9ddf-4802-9658-053d1c5758a8

Chocolate for breakfast? What choice in Gaza?

Individual
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      INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

HUMANISTIC  --------------------------------------  MECHANISTIC      

 SOCIOLOGY  :    POLITICAL 

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Group

What am I doing?	Define: 'nutrition', 'evidence-based policy', and  'food security' ...
What are we doing?	Sainsbury's

The first time - ages ago - I noticed chocolate in cereals, I was shocked, incredulous and yet did nothing. The other day I asked to speak to the manager in Sainsbury's and complained (non-personally) and will in other stores.

The irony now is the choice the people can exercise in Gaza - is food being used as a weapon of war?

https://www.thegrocer.co.uk/hfss/nestle-withdraws-nutritious-claim-in-row-with-henry-dimbleby-over-kit-kat-cereal/678914.article (subscription required)

Jones P, Wirnitzer K. Hodges’ model: the Sustainable Development Goals and public health – universal health coverage demands a universal framework. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health 2022;0:e000254. doi:10.1136/bmjnph-2021-000254

For Dr Wirnitzer's work please see:

The NURMI-Study (NURMI – Nutrition and Running high Mileage)
https://www.facebook.com/nurmistudy

From Science 2 School: Nachhaltig gesund – bewegt & veggie
https://www.science2.school/

PHT-2 Obesity paper - Chance is still up. Please help us WIN the @Nutrients_MDPI "Nutrients 2023 Best Paper Award"

Dear Professors and Colleagues,

https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13041200

the chance is still up to win the @Nutrients_MDPI "Nutrients 2023 Best Paper Award" for our Childhood Obesity paper from the School Study.

Nutrients Editorial Office prepared for us this banner (above) to use for social media etc.

Motevalli, Mohamad, Clemens Drenowatz, Derrick R. Tanous, Naim Akhtar Khan, and Katharina Wirnitzer. 2021. "Management of Childhood Obesity—Time to Shift from Generalized to Personalized Intervention Strategies" Nutrients 13, no. 4: 1200.
https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13041200

Pls help us with your continuous support to WIN, kindly asking 2^nd time now to POST & SHARE widely the prepared text-blocs below with the attached grafic, thx so much!

Best Katharina

Like, Post, share and recommend at/via:

• Researchgate – pls. recommend these 4 papers, thx
• https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/4/1200 = Grafic No. 1
• https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/8/2741
• https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/10/3521
• https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/13/8/2776
• Twitter – attention: extra text blocs due to word limit!
• https://twitter.com/NurmiStudy/status/1639980527674351618
• Facebook
• https://www.facebook.com/nurmistudy/posts/pfbid0vCxsxbFGBH8eDeWtP2qNqRe5qT7G3RyqSfMBHvzWwp2zuMuoexiftKFvwqMfzmBPl
• https://www.facebook.com/nurmistudy/posts/pfbid031TssHDZrkcUDiZpNDxAqYS6NTq3q8LcibmJdcJMuzgYmnuNMGf58kv64VYiqe9obl
• Instagram
• TikTok, LinkedIn, Mendeley, etc.

CfP: '(Responsible) Standardisation for (the Digital) Society'

Session at STS Conference Graz

Folks,

The deadline for this CfP is approaching (30 January). 

We only ask for an abstract of about 500 words. 

 

You will find the Call at https://stsconf.tugraz.at/calls/sessions-in-digitalisation

The abstract should be submitted via

<https://www.conftool.com/sts-conference-graz-2023/index.php?page=submissions&cthaspasswd=yes×tamp=1668063380>

(you will first need to log-in or register).

Thematic Fields

The conference will be held on 8 - 10 May, in Graz (Austria). 

 

For further information about the event please visit https://stsconf.tugraz.at/

Hope to see many of you there.

Cheers,

Kai.

_________

Kai Jakobs

RWTH Aachen University

Computer Science Department

Informatik 4 (Communication and Distributed Systems)

Ahornstr. 55, D-52074 Aachen, Germany

Kai.Jakobs AT comsys.rwth-aachen.de

http://www.comsys.rwth-aachen.de/team/kai-jakobs/

EURAS - The European Academy for Standardisation.

http://www.euras.org

My source:
This message was issued to members of www.jiscmail.ac.uk/SOCIOTECH, a mailing list hosted by www.jiscmail.ac.uk

ERCIM News No. 132 Special theme: "Cognitive AI and Cobots"

Dear ERCIM News reader,

ERCIM News No. 132 has just been published. This issue features a special theme "Cognitive AI and Cobots" showcasing remarkable achievements from research teams in Europe.  

This special theme was coordinated by our guest editors Theodore Patkos (ICS-FORTH) and Zsolt Viharos (SZTAKI).

Thank you for your interest in ERCIM News. Please forward this message to anyone who might be interested. We also appreciate you following and talking about us on Twitter @ercim_news and other social media.

[ Includes:

Cognitive Mimetics and Human Digital Twins – Towards Holistic AI Design
by Antero Karvonen (VTT) and Pertti Saariluoma (Jyväskylä University). p.17.

"Industry is just one example. AI will gradually change the way
people live and work and how society operates. Therefore, it
makes sense to develop AI design as a holistic process in
which social and technical aspects of intelligent technologies
can be simultaneously considered. Such new design practice
can be called holistic AI design. Cognitive mimetics and HDTs
provide key elements in such AI design." p.18.*

Cognitive Machine Argumentation
by Antonis Kakas (University of Cyprus). p.21.

Personalisation of Humanoid Robots: Serious Games for Older Adults Based on Biographical
Memories
by Benedetta Catricalà, Marco Manca, Fabio Paternò, Carmen Santoro and Eleonora Zedda (ISTI-CNR). p.28.

Food Waste Reduction in Healthcare – Challenges in Integrating Usage Data with Scorings
by Johann Steszgal (Steszgal Informationstechnologie GmbH), Peter Kieseberg (St. Pölten UAS) and, Andreas Holzinger (University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna). p.37.
Additional note PJ ]

Next issue:
No. 133,  April 2023
Special Theme: "Data infrastructures and management". Submissions are welcome!

---

About ERCIM

ERCIM - the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics - aims to foster collaborative work within the European research community and to increase co-operation with European industry. Leading European research institutes are members of ERCIM. ERCIM is the European host of W3C.

Subscribe to the ERCIM News quarterly alert

Peter Kunz                      	
ERCIM Office
2004, Route des Lucioles
BP93
F-06902 Sophia Antipolis Cedex

https://www.ercim.eu
https://ercim-news.ercim.eu 
--------------------------------
@ercim_news
http://twitter.com/ercim_news

join the ERCIM Linkedin Group
https://www.linkedin.com/groups/81390/

*Hodges' model is ideal for initial scoping, planning, and holistic assurance throughout research, study processes and (case) formulation. The model provides ready-to-mind access to conceptual inter- multi- transdisciplinary bridges (even as we struggle to define the latter), e.g. socio-technical. 

Immediately preceding the above quotation, Karvonen and Saariluoma write:

"Arriving at this point via the cognitive mimetic route yields a deep and rich picture of human-technology co-agency in industrial processes." p.17.

A 'rich picture' (Checkland) is a feasible output of Hodges' model (extending Karvonen and Saariluoma's context). Clinically, this might comprise a 'comprehensive' assessment, or case formulation. It is bounded, guided by being situated, while the clinician's experience and patient's is built up across several encounters (appointments/home visits...). Unpopulated, initially (please see the template in the sidebar) the model serves as an aide-mémoire, an inner critical friend, helping to sustain values, and person-centredness. At a one-to-one(-group) level  integrated care, that is, parity of esteem across physical and mental health, a professional attitude and disposition to practise through unconditional positive regard remain key competencies. Each contact can act as its own 'reset', another blank sheet/slate: what can we learn together on this occasion? In some contexts this 'pause' can assist in risk management and safety - ensuring that the rich picture, and the knowledge gained thus far, does not mean things are taken for granted.

SDG paper published: "Hodges’ model: the Sustainable Development Goals and public health – universal health coverage demands a universal framework"

It has taken an age ... 2017, an invitation to write about Hodges' model, then COVID, transfer from one journal to another, a new invaluable co-author in Dr Katharina Wirnitzer without whom this paper would not have been completed. Many, many thanks are in order!

Dr Wirnitzer also provided the theme of nutrition helping to unify the discussion on the SDGs mapped to Hodges' model.

Dr Wirnitzer's work, projects and colleagues include:

From Science 2 School: Sustainably healthy – active & veggy

https://www.science2.school/

The reference has been added to the blog's bibliography in the sidebar.

I am hoping for news soon on another paper concerned with psychosis, early intervention, psychosocial intervention, research methods and h2cm.

Thanks also to the referees,

Jones P, Wirnitzer K. Hodges’ model: the Sustainable Development Goals and public health – universal health coverage demands a universal framework. BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health 2022;0:e000254. doi:10.1136/bmjnph-2021-000254

August 2022 - Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved

To JHCPU readers,

 

The August 2022 issue of the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved (JHCPU) has been released:

https://muse.jhu.edu/issue/48370

The Note from the Editor appears below. Following the link will bring you to the full table of contents.

With best wishes for the new academic year,

Ginny Brennan

 

Note from the Editor

Public Health and Politics

Positioned at the nexus of social science and health, the Journal's work is necessarily political. One of the many concerns in the U.S. as we approach the Fall of 2022 is the U.S. Supreme Court's June decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization to overturn Roe v. Wade and with it the Constitutional guarantee of the right to abortion, abrogating women's moral autonomy over their reproductive health. In this issue, Frohwirth and colleagues consider another contested site in the reproductive health care landscape—contraception affected by abortion policy—as they assess the impact on women in Iowa of a 2017 reduction in Medicaid coverage of contraceptive care. Due to the new law, patients enrolled in the state family planning program could no longer access subsidized care at publicly funded clinics affiliated with abortion provision, and over 15,000 patients had to find to find a new family planning provider. The researchers learned in their qualitative study that high fees for visits and contraceptive methods, restrictive or inadequate insurance coverage, and access barriers such as long appointment wait times were the most common barriers to preferred contraceptive care, and these barriers compounded one another. Furthermore, barriers grew once the more restrictive Iowa Medicaid policy was in place. The authors conclude that policy changes supportive of contraceptive care would decrease vulnerability and increase reproductive autonomy.

Several papers in this issue bear on the construction of datasets or use datasets in new and sophisticated ways. We publish them aware of the fact that database construction is central to many highly political debates. Qato and colleagues introduce an intermediate-level variable—the nursing home—into an analysis of the distribution of COVID19 vaccination among nursing home residents. Looking at over 12,000 nursing homes in terms of the racial heterogeneity of the residents, the authors find that residents of the quantile of homes that were more predominantly non-Hispanic White were significantly more likely to be vaccinated (mean vaccinated 85.65%) than residents of the quantile that was least predominantly non-Hispanic White (mean vaccinated 72.74%). The authors of this short article conclude, "A higher proportion of White residents per facility was associated with higher resident COVID-19 vaccination rates reflecting continued disparities in quality of care during the pandemic."

While it is not construed formally as a variable, the construct of neighborhood in the paper by DiFiore and colleagues reveals significant patterns in the distribution of food insecurity. They assess food insecurity in relationship to perceived neighborhood safety, social cohesion, informal social control, and crime, adjusted for demographics, socioeconomic status, and neighborhood characteristics. The participants in the study were 300 mothers and female caregivers of Medicaid-enrolled two- to four-year old children in Philadelphia. Greater food security was associated with higher perceived neighborhood safety and social cohesion, and lower police-recorded violent crime rates. The evidence of this research suggests that the structural condition of living in a supportive neighborhood social environment may protect against food insecurity.

Kong and colleagues conducted COVID19/food security research, using longitudinal data to assess the interrelationships among food insecurity, mental health, and the COVID19 pandemic. They found that food insecurity was associated with stress, depression, and anxiety. They also found that these conditions improved over time during the pandemic among food-secure participants but worsened among food-insecure participants. The pandemic appears to worsen the already vicious cycle connecting food insecurity and mental health.

Two papers based on the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) argue for enriched variables for coding race and ethnicity. Jones and Satter analyze mental health outcomes based on race and ethnicity and, in doing so, they observe that over 80% of respondents to the YRBS who self-identified as American Indian/Alaska Native also self-identified as Hispanic. American Indians/Alaska Natives are often multi-racial and of Hispanic/Latino ethnicity, and therefore outcomes differ widely depending on whether one examines American Indian/Alaska Native alone or in combination with other racial/ethnic variables. Also using the YRBSS, Braun and colleagues assessed tobacco and alcohol use and adolescent sexual practices among Black, bi/multi-racial, and White adolescents. They find that results differed across all three groups, leading them to conclude that nuanced racial categories are called for.

It is our hope that these and the many other papers in this quarter's issue—through their attention to social, scientific, and political decisions affecting health and health care—will serve to advance health justice, either through or in spite of the political process.

Virginia M. Brennan, PhD, MA

Editor, JHCPU

Associate Professor, Meharry Medical College

My source:
Spiritof1848 Listserv WWW.SPIRITOF1848.ORG #Spiritof1848

Book: "A Blue New Deal"

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	A BLUE ... "A Blue New Deal"
	... NEW DEAL

Source: Book in the news. Money Week, 29 April 2022. Issue 1101, p.39.

"Address Pollution" - not just a P.O. Box ...

... and not just in the proper U-L quadrant ...

INDIVIDUAL

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Homeless? No address? Identity? mental health* self-report*	Address Pollution
Global issue of street names, having an address. "LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND"	'POLITICAL FOG?' TRANSPARENCY OPACITY reporting ACTION

*Hautekiet, P., Saenen, N.D., Demarest, S. et al. Air pollution in association with mental and self-rated health and the mediating effect of physical activity. Environ Health 21, 29 (2022).
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12940-022-00839-x

See also:

https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/search?q=address

My source: @AddresPollutionhttps://twitter.com/imathematicians/status/1530724466073952261?s=20&t=eF1XRD9HbkSJ2XWWbIk2qQ

The view from Wigan Pier* ...

or, Greetings from WN4.

Camilla Cavendish's focus in the weekend FT is health, social care and related policy. In a recent opinion piece on junk food she writes:

"Which is more Orwellian, I wonder: adding 1p to a bag of crisps, or letting companies go on turning us all into junk food addicts, while the cost of treating diet-related diseases soars? Long before we were engulfed in a torrent of junk, George Orwell wrote in The Road to Wigan Pier: 'The peculiar evil is this, that the less money you have, the less inclined you feel to spend it on wholesome food.' Now, processing techniques have made unhealthy food cheaper than many healthy alternatives."

Several months ago, reading a book review: Doom looped, by Douglas Alexander on Niall Ferguson's Doom: The Politics of Catastrophe, (Life&Arts, 1-2 May, 2021, p.9) the conclusion closes:

"The inherent unpredictability of what lies in wait for us all around the next corner means that, notwithstanding Ferguson's brilliance and breadth of scholarship, this immensely readable book is a better lens than it is a compass."

From the local and national to the international and beyond - we must encompass  planetary health.  Even on a rainy day, the view from Wigan Pier is clear: Hodges' model can provide a compass and a lens.

Cavendish, C. (2021) It is time to stem the tide of junk that reaches British plates, A tax on sugar and salt in food would be a global first and is more necessary than ever. Opinion, FTWeekend, 17-18 July, p.12.

'lens' on W2tQ 

'compass' 

'corner(s)' [ How many corners are there in Hodges' model? How many when you add 'the spiritual'? ]

'line-of-sight'

*You can have your pie and eat it! ;-)

Africa :: New Africa ii Nutrition

individual
| 

 INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

"... the construction of the Armando Emilio Guebuza Bridge across the Zambezi resulted in a big fall in maize prices over a wide swath of Mozambique as it enabled farmers in the north of the country to move maize to the main centres of demand in the south."   single N-S road   Evidence that high levels of CO2 in the atmosphere actually depress the nutrient content of key crops. p.22 CLIMATE , COVID   food

Smallholders

security CONFLICT African Continental Free Trade Area southern markets "Past food security initiatives have even contributed to the problem by focusing too much on the production and distribution of staple foods, ... and too little on fruit, vegetables and pulses. As a result, vitamin A, iron and iodine deficiencies have all become more common." p.22.

 

Menace of the three 'Cs', NEW AFRICAN, April/May 2021,607, p.20-21.

Small gains in malnutrition battle, NEW AFRICAN, April/May 2021,607, p.22.

Africa :: New Africa[n]

individual
| INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group


 

To be completed.

Africa, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

TEDxNHS #1 – Why teaching a man how to fish won’t solve food poverty

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

humanistic ----------------------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

Friedrich	1845
Engels  “social murder ...	... meeting too early a death."

My source:

Friedrich Engels described “social murder” in 1845 as meeting too early a death. We have reached the widened inequality tipping point & life expectancy in the UK is falling. Are we ok with food banks? complicit to social murder? Join us tonight @TEDxNHS to examine solutions. pic.twitter.com/a4ivC0LKoy

— Jemma Gilbert 🏳️‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ (she/her) (@Jemima_G) March 23, 2021

https://www.tedxnhs.com/tedxnhs-unlocked/

Review: v "Climate Change and the People's Health"

Climate Change and the People's Health

At just over 30 pages chapter 3 the last is also the shortest, we all hope this does not reflect the length of the future?

Chapter 3. Challenges and Future Prospects

Before beginning to review Chapter 3 I need to revisit the closing sentences of the preceding chapter's conclusion - if you 'get' Hodges' model you will understand why:

"I [Friel] pick up on these ideas of complexity in chapter 3, arguing that how we understand and characterize these phenomena depends on our standpoint and also evolves as knowledge develops and available evidence accumulates. Given those complexities, responding to climate change and health inequity requires the development of policies that transcend doctrinal boundaries and draw on insights from a range of disciplines, including those in the sciences, social sciences, and humanities". p.112.

I hope you can see and will please excuse my reference to Hodges' model, but I've another.

Friel refers to how research is primarily based upon reductive pathologizing and needs to shift [ ;-) ] "towards research that is attentive to, and actively engaged with, policymaking processes". (p.114).

In Hodges' model, the Sciences and Politics are mechanistic, the sciences invariably (with some exceptions) reductive and the 4Ps I have attributed to the model as follows:

1. SCIENCES -PROCESS
2. POLITICAL - POLICY
3. SOCIOLOGY - Practice
4. INTRA- INTERPERSONAL - Purpose

(As in a previous part of this review I have been wondering how policy can (best) permeate the other care (knowledge) domains?)

Being where this review is posted I would be remiss not to state this, picking up on Friel's thought.

OK, let us get back on track. Taking the lead from chapter 2, in Chapter 3 Friel argues the need to take research, advocacy, and policy forward to address environmental degradation, social justice and health equity by breaking down the disciplinary, sectoral and various silos that exist in the many systems that are encountered. Systems research can increase our understanding and the evidence base. Interesting to note also then solutions can be crafted. (p.113). The evidence base on more equal societies is discussed. With the stress on systems research, systems and systems thinking are explained briefly and referenced. As will already be obvious I am all for the plurality of disciplinary approaches that is needed, but as Friel will conclude this, with systems science, and improved understanding of policy processes (hybridised: is this the Green Marshall Plan that is referred to?) to counter the resistance to change that is already being experienced now (p.115).

Perhaps above, I have fallen into Friel's trap. I have been caught out as a model monger (p.115)?

Scale is a concurrent consideration in Hodges' model, as with Friel's account of systems thinking. To macro- meso- and micro-levels let us add nano, there is much still unclear from the presence of plastics and other pollutants in the environment. The arrival of eco-epidemiology is to be applauded (p.116).

Any mention of 'systems' takes me to the Health System Redesign book I reviewed over a year ago on W2tQ. This is a very useful companion to "Climate Change ..." but is not referenced here. Box 3.1 'Systems Approach to Childhood Obesity Prevention' brought home the connection and the visual representation referred to (p.120). I could readily go off again with Friel's section on Politics, Policies, and Processes (p.122). Thank goodness for this - I feel better now - as Friel "shamelessly plugs" personal involvement with a research program at the CRE (p.124). The Centre for Research Excellence in the Social Determinants of Health Equity needs to be, not just on the 'map' (Sciences - located geographically) but affecting policies, practices and purposes (individual and organisational). Friel provides several references - very useful and timely. I will reference this, as I'll explain next time. Again the much needed call for a move from reductionist pathologizing.

Box 3.3 Policy Principles for the World We Want is simplistic (like Hodges' model), but if delivered would be very impactful in terms of the positive change (p.128) that would ensue. Against p.134 my note is "It's a small world!" I'm not sure if this a reference to the Disney song as a perverse consumptagenic global eco-anthem, or to Schumacher? What could be noted (p.134) is the potential role of blockchain in assuring land tenure and ownership. This technology is much vaunted in health, education and the obvious application of economics. In terms of developing nations protection of land rights is critical (even as I write and you read). The chapter closes on policy from "The first 1000 days of Life" to "Health in All Policies" which I reflected upon as "Policies in All the (#h2cm) Domains"? How do we do this? There are avenues as Friel writes of macroeconomics and progressive policy development. There is much on the Social Development Goals and how cities (despite the critique on urbanization) are working together internationally to mitigate climate change effects, even as some governments fail to meet set objectives and global agreements.

The print and layout is excellent, a content listing of sections complements the index (invaluable). The next book I've to review has no index.

Small book, big ideas - correct on both counts and a very informative if rightly troubling read.
One last plea. Do buy this book, but don't leave it on your shelf; read it. There is no excuse, it's small, but your ideas on climate change and the people's health will grow!

I would like to thank OUP

CHAD ZIMMERMAN │ Senior Editor, Medicine and Public Health

Oxford University Press │ 198 Madison Avenue │ New York, NY

and Prof. Nancy Krieger for the review copy and Prof. Sharon Friel for engagement on twitter and RTs.

While I appreciate I make the request to review and this places absolutely no obligation on others, it helps a lot when a publisher / author / conference organiser ... acknowledges the effort - even just a thank you. As ever, the thanks is in the learning gained, not the thanks lost. Many do - lift a hand, nod their head ... of course, making this even more worthwhile here. TY


Chapter 1. Climate Change, Global Justice, and Health Inequities

Chapter 2. It's a Consumptagenic World: Producing Climate Change, Exacerbating Health Inequities


Friel, S. (2019) Climate Change and the People's Health, Oxford University Press, New York