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)

Book: "The Elements of Power"

individual

|
INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES             

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

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   

|

group

logicical OR	the periodic table | mining | elements COBALT
the 'table' ... family communities	CHILD LABOUR   power

“A tale of rapacious colonialism, Cold War spy games, dazzling technical innovation, big business rivalry, big power geopolitics . . . Niarchos has produced an unflinching, landmark work on the nature of extractive capitalism.” —Patrick Radden Keefe, New York Times best-selling author of Empire of Pain and Say Nothing

Epic, shocking, and deeply reported, The Elements of Power tells the story of the war for the global supply of battery metals—essential for the decarbonization of our economies—and the terrible, bloody human cost of this badly misunderstood industry

'Congo is rich. Swaths of the war-torn African country lack basic infrastructure, and, after many decades of colonial occupation, its people are officially among the poorest in the world. But hidden beneath the soil are vast quantities of cobalt, lithium, copper, tin, tantalum, tungsten, and other treasures. Recently, this veritable periodic table of resources has become extremely valuable because these metals are essential for the global “energy transition”—the plan for wealthy nations to wean themselves off fossil fuels by shifting to sustainable forms of energy, such as solar and wind. The race to electrify the world’s economy has begun, and China has a considerable head start. From Indonesia to South America to Central Africa, Beijing has invested in mines and infrastructure for decades. But the U.S. has begun fighting back with massive investments of its own, as well as sanctions and disruptive tariffs. ...'

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/709025/the-elements-of-power-by-nicolas-niarchos/

My source: James McConnachie, The dirty truth behind our 'clean energy' cars, saturday review, The Times, 17 January 2026, p.13.

Previously: 'mining' : 'corruption' : 'Africa' 

BMA: Beyond parity of esteem – Achieving parity of resource, access and outcome for mental health in England 2020

 In order to get to the 'truth' of parity of esteem may require more than one 'box':

Source: BMA

British Medical Association . Beyond parity of esteem – Achieving parity of resource, access and outcome for mental health in England. London: BMA; 2020. 

https://www.bma.org.uk/what-we-do/population-health/supporting-peoples-mental-health/beyond-parity-of-esteem-report

c/o HIFA - Publications re. primary health care & community health

Dear [HIFA] friends and colleagues with an interest in primary health care and community health:

Since my last communication with you more than 6 months ago, the entire field of global health has continued to be upended by our US government, with unconscionable effects on millions of people around the world, on advancements in global health research and its ethical foundations, and on the careers of thousands and thousands of people working around the world in the field of global health. As I said before, and I repeat now the obvious, it will take decades to build back what has been destroyed and to regain respect from the rest of the world for the United States and the values that most of us hold dear.

William Foege, eminent global health leader and former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention wrote this biting editorial <https://www.statnews.com/2025/08/18/rfk-jr-public-health-threats-william-foege-smallpox/> in which he said, among other things, 

"We will live through this drought of values, principles and facts and again apply our talents to improving global health and happiness. Do not back down.”

Atul Gwande, now one of the foremost champions of primary health care and community health of our time (even though he is, like me, an erstwhile surgeon!) and former Director of the USAID Bureau of Global Health during the Biden administration, gave an eloquent presentation of his perspective on the aftermath of the destruction of USAID on 28 April 2025 at the Harvard School of Public Health.

You can watch this here:
<https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/relatedvideo?q=Atul+Gwande+presentation+at+Harvard+School+of+Public+Health+April+28%2c+2025&mid=26DA144398CF1F613D0A26DA144398CF1F613D0A&FORM=VIRE>.

Here are a few items of possible interest:

The Fourth International Symposium on CHWs will be held virtually next week.

I was most fortunate to be able to attend the second International Conference on Primary Health Care was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from October 6-10. It was a glorious event, with 750 attendees, mostly from Africa but with strong representation from UNICEF, WHO, Africa CDC, and other international organizations. 

The conference was sponsored by the International Institute for Primary Health Care – Ethiopia. <https://iphce.org/> Directors of PHC from 45 different African countries were present along with at least 50 community health workers from across Africa. There was palpable enthusiasm for the growing momentum for PHC across Africa.

Abhay and Rani Bang are world-renowned champions of community-based primary health care through their work with SEARCH <https://www.searchforhealth.ngo/> (Society for Education, Action, and Research) in Gadchiroli, India, with tribal people. Their seminal publications on the effectiveness of community-based primary health care and community health workers as well as their contributions to India’s national program for reducing neonatal mortality through home-based neonatal care, among others, have gained for them global recognition. Attached is an English translation of an article about their life’s work that was published in April Der Spiegel in the leading German magazine, Der Spiegel.

Nicholas Kristof has continued to share with the world some of the heart wrenching effects of the collapse of the United States Agency for International Development. The New York Times opinion columnist wrote <https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/opinion/trump-usaid-cuts.html> on 20 September 2025 on the human dimension of the shutdown of USAID, citing estimates that 690,000 will die in 2025 and 829,00 will die in 2026 as a result of cutbacks in USAID funding, and 3.1 million children will die during Trump’s second term from these cuts (a PDF is attached if the link doesn’t work for you [mod: HIFA does not carry attachments]).

Two recent publications on novel approaches to reducing child mortality have gained widespread attention.

One study <https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w34152/w34152.pdf> in Kenya provided a one-time transfer of $1,000 to poor families and observed a decline of nearly half in under-5 mortality as well as in infant mortality. Another study reported that wrapping

A recently reported study <https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12462887/> from Uganda found that giving mothers fabric treated with permethrin, a long-acting insecticide to protect against mosquito-born illnesses, as a baby wrap dramatically reduced malaria infections in the infants carried in them. There were 66 percent fewer cases among those children compared with babies in the untreated wraps. By the end of the six-month study, only 16 percent of children in the treated wrap group had been sick with malaria, compared with 34 percent in the untreated wrap group, many of whom had multiple malaria episodes.

Now available for purchase on Amazon.com are several important publications related to community-based primary health care and community workers.

Feel free to share this email and these resources with anyone else or with any relevant listserve you may have access to.

You are receiving this email because of your interest in primary health care and community health.

If you know of anyone that you think would like to be included in the listserv, just send me the person’s name and email address.

Warm regards, Henry

Henry B. Perry, MD, PhD, MPH Senior Associate, Health Systems Program Department of International Health Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Baltimore, MD, USA 21205 Hperry2 AT jhu.edu

HIFA profile: Henry Perry is a Senior Scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA. Professional interests: Community health and primary health care. hperry2 AT jhu.edu

RCN Congress iii 2025 - Accountability for patients in ambulances

The resolution (with a reading list) on Accountability for patients in ambulances

- drew attention to language once again (yes, well there's a truism: what do you expect!). This time highlighting how corridor care is now variegated. In addition, politically you can circumvent addressing an issue, by referring to 'never events', and 'zero tolerance' as we read:

'This agenda item addresses the urgent issue of accountability, for both registered nurses and the organisations they work for, when patients are cared for in ambulances waiting to access emergency departments.

The resolution comes at a time when, across all four countries, there are unprecedented ambulance handover delays with patients left in vehicles which are neither appropriately staffed nor resourced outside overwhelmed emergency departments. Despite the prolific nature of this practice, there is no clear guidance on accountability. Who is responsible for the care and safety of those patients - the ambulance service, the hospital, the emergency department, or the individual registered nurse providing care?

These delays accessing care and the lack of guidance on who is accountable for the waiting patients, compromises the ability of health care staff to provide good quality care and risks patient safety. It also exposes registered nurses and other health care professionals to professionally, ethically and legally ambiguous situations. It could also contribute to the crisis in nursing wellbeing, raising issues such as moral distress and professional, emotional and physical burnout. It may, therefore, also impact the already perilous recruitment and retention.'

Student nurses, paramedics ... please take note: There is a paper to be written on Hodges' model and the gaps we encounter in health and social care. For Brian Hodges this started with the theory-practice gap; one of four original stimuli for the creation of the model. 

As the idealised standards, quality and safety of care being delivered are surrendered; this gap stands out as the virtual keystone.

individual

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES

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

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL

|

group

individual - PURPOSES patient safety - distress nurse wellbeing emotional burnout moral distress personal ethics individual responsibilities	procedure delivered care - observation mattress, trolley .. ambulance design instrumentation, noise time - duration logistics - PROCESSES - handover physical resources - beds
communities of PRACTICE team working - coherence team experience - students THE DAMAGE - that is 'BOOK-PASSING' The public's - carer's experience (wither friends and family)	law - guidance - ambiguity POLICY professional accountability risk management organisational responsibility workforce recruitment & retention

Previously: 'RCN' : 'gap' : 'accountability' : 4Ps

Time to revisit Wikipedia?

Yesterday morning an email from a mail list -

https://groups.google.com/g/bytesforall_readers/about

- regards a Wikipedia entry, prompted me to look back at some personal - 'local' history. In 2006 having started this blog, I'd noticed 'models of care', and nursing theories' on Wikipedia.

I posted an entry on Wikipedia about Hodges' model.

This included the now defunct url/domain - p-jones.demon.co.uk (See below).

A request followed to remove it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Hodges_Health_Career_Model

I must admit there is a repetitive 'spam' quality to emails, contributions, activity on twitter and posts here. I do try to keep things relevant, in context and seek what is salient. 

Given the digital divide and ethos behind the web the 'complaints' now seem exclusive.

From scribbled notes to a global revolution - the personal journey behind the World Wide Web’s invention and the unexpected turns along the way. It is both a history and my vision for what comes next.

This is for Everyone isn’t just a story about technology; it’s about… pic.twitter.com/gdUBmFCViG

— Tim Berners-Lee (@timberners_lee) April 23, 2025

After a brief problem with Blogger I also wrote a blog post:

'Thanks Google ... Wiki ... oh for more time ....':

https://hodges-model.blogspot.com/2006/05/thanks-google-wiki-oh-for-more-time.html

At the time I wrote: 'I agreed the submission should be deleted - another time.' 

In writing - 'Another time...', perhaps, I should try again - or leave it to someone else?

Following up, I found that the now archived POLITICAL care/knowledge links page -

original static website 1998-2015

https://web.archive.org/web/20140821191217/http://www.p-jones.demon.co.uk/index.htm

- is, ironically listed on Wikipedia. You'll find it under 'External links':

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_political_science 

[ Which is itself a useful 'collection' of resources. ]

Since 2006 the bibliography for Hodges' model has grown, please see sidebar:

http://hodges-model.blogspot.com/

Created in NW England higher education in the mid 1980s Hodges' model was intended for use within post-registered nursing courses - psychiatric and learning disability nursing, health visiting and district nursing. Hodges' model, is however, universal in scope and potential application.

As no doubt occurs in other professions/disciplines, advocates for tools, resources, theories, model that may also be simple, free - open access, 'neutral', pragmatic, supportive of lifelong learning, curiosity, literacy and informatics forms can be met with internal resistance - never mind external responses:

Raskin, Jef. "Humbug: Nursing Theory". Archived from the original on July 10, 2001. Retrieved December 14, 2015. (Wikipedia).

More recently the phrase 'Nursing eats its own' has resonated. A phenomena not limited to nursing no doubt?

c/o A.Word.A.Day: Hodges' model - Walk the (dual!) chalk line

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

'Having a tool is like having a superpower in your pocket. With the right gadget, you can do much more than what arms and legs alone allow -- build a magnificent pyramid, lift water from deep below, or even predict whether you’ll need an umbrella tomorrow.

And not all tools need wires, batteries, or instruction manuals. Sometimes, a simple device can save labor -- a lever, a pulley, a piece of string dusted with chalk -- can save hours of sweat and toil.'

chalk line

THE PERIODICAL: Your Menstrual Hygiene Day Secretariat

Dear readers,

It was a rough first three months for many of us with US Aid ending abruptly in January.
Additionally, the global pushback against gender equality and menstruation-related topics continues.
Yet, in the face of this, we continue to stand strong.
Progress in menstrual health and hygiene (MHH) is happening—
from landmark funding commitments to critical research shaping
policies and understanding worldwide.

In this edition, we bring you:

Funding Updates / Events / Publications / Lots of new research

🩸🩸🩸

My source: Email - Newsletter: The Periodical.

Caring for babies and young children - what can older children do?

Dear All

I'm delighted to tell you that we have successfully raised funding for the completion of the Children for Health ten poster series.

On completion we will have many more posters than ten as we have other posters linked to projects on Diabetes and Eye Health, Oral Health and Life Skills.

All our posters feature 10 messages for young adolescents to learn and share (on the front) and lots of ideas on how to use the posters and additional activities to get children mobilised on the back. If you haven't seen our posters PLEASE take a look here. They are being used in so many ways!

www.childrenforhealth.org/resources

...and any feedback is always welcome.
Please also share with your networks.

I am looking for specialists in early years to help us revise our existing set of 10 messages on the topic of 'Caring for Babies and Young Children' for the new poster. It is a voluntary role. The process lasts about 3 months as we involve practitioners too and work with schools to get children reviewing the messages. It's usually about 3 rounds of review and then an art work review. I'd be very pleased to hear from those who feel they have the time and expertise to help.

Meanwhile take a look at our posters. We have three new ones!

WASH: https://www.childrenforhealth.org/WASHposter

Coughs and Pneumonia: https://www.childrenforhealth.org/CoughsPoster

Intestinal Worms: https://www.childrenforhealth.org/WormsPoster

HIFA profile: Clare Hanbury is director of Children for Health. She qualified as a teacher in the UK and then worked in schools in Kenya and Hong Kong. After an MA in Education in Developing Countries and for many years, Clare worked for The Child-to-Child Trust based at the University of London's Institute of Education where, alongside Hugh Hawes and Professor David Morley she worked to help embed the Child-to-Child ideas of children's participation in health – into government and non-government cchild health and education programmes in numerous countries. Clare has worked with these ideas alongside vulnerable groups of children such as refugees and street children. Since her MSc in International Maternal and Child Health, Clare focused on helping government and non-government programmes to design and deliver child-centered health and education programmes where children are active participants. Clare has worked in many countries in East and Southern Africa and in Pakistan, Cambodia and the Yemen. In July 2013, Clare founded the NGO, Children for Health and develops health education materials and and works on health education programmes alongside partners all over the world.

https://www.hifa.org/support/members/clare clare AT childrenforhealth.org

Source link: 

https://hifaforums.org/_/XsqxTWgj

Understanding Mathematics + Domains towards Corridors

It is for others to judge - whether it is helpful or distracting; but I find concepts defined by other disciplines, or professions illuminating and insightful. Especially so, when it comes to 'domain'. In Hodges' model - all four of them. Five! When (not if), we include the spiritual:

'Greeno (1991) argued that students develop understanding when

"a domain is thought of as an environment, with resources at various places in the domain. In this metaphor, knowing is knowing your way around ir the environment and knowing how to use its resources. This includes knowing what resources are available in the environment as well as being able to find and use those resources for understanding and reasoning. Knowing includes interactions with the environment in its own terms - exploring the territory appreciating its scenery and understanding how its various components interact. Knowing the domain also includes knowing what resources are in the environment that can be used to support your individual and social activities and the ability to recognize, find, and use those resources productively. Learning the domain, in this view, is analogous learning to to live in an environment: learning your way around, learning what resources are available, and learning how to use those resources in conducting your activities productively and enjoyably. (p. 175)"

In particular, in chapter 8, Nemirovsky et al. use the metaphor of becoming familiar with a new place (e.g., a town, a train station) and the process of learning a new mathematical concept.' p.7.

Greeno, J. (1991), Number sense as situated knowing a conceptual domain.,Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 22(3), 170-2 18. 

Understanding Mathematics and Science Matters. Edited by Thomas A. Romberg Thomas P. Carpenter Fae Dremock University of Wisconsin-Madison. EA LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS 2005 Mahwah, New Jersey London. (I hope there is a 2nd edition?)

(I will try to add the Nemirovsky et al. reference when I can.)

Previously: 'territory' : 'map' : 'vocabulary'

Just one library ... A world of difference

Born in Walton.

 'good prose is like a windowpane'

George Orwell, WHY I WRITE

<>

Walton, Liverpool, UK 12th December 2024

'Spellow Library, in Walton, Liverpool, was forced to close when it was set alight on 3 August amid unrest which swept across the country after the stabbings in Southport.

The city was determined to not let hatred win, with £250,000 raised and books being donated from the Queen and a host of celebrities.

An official ceremony marked the re-opening, including readings from Liverpool poet Levi Tafari while a letter from Queen Camilla was also read aloud.' ..

BBC News: Riot-hit library reopens after community campaign

Claire Hamilton/BBC: An official ceremony marked the re-opening on Thursday morning

Break the Windows on Learning and
New Ones Will be Found to Look Out on the World.

INDIVIDUAL

|

INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES              

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

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   

|

GROUP

My Learning My Literacies	'The World(s) of Learning'
Society - Community Social Justice	Justice Social/Public Services

Previously:

Related post: 'forms of Hygiene'

literature : window

Policy Dialogue - Water, Conflict and Peace in the Middle East: online

Dear colleagues,

I am delighted to invite you to the next Policy Dialogues from the JHU-UPF Public Policy Center:

Water, Conflict and Peace in the Middle East

Thursday 25th April, 6pm CEST

Online via Zoom (registration required)

Language: English

The Middle East is a region of both severe water problems, and acute political instability. But what is the relationship between these two things? This Policy Dialogue will provide an opportunity to reflect on this question and its implications. It will overview the region’s water problems, and consider how these problems are – or are not – contributing to conflict. It will also examine, conversely, how war and violence are affecting patterns of water resource degradation and water insecurities, and will reflect on opportunities for water-related peace-building, including on how water for peace initiatives might best be pursued.

We are delighted to invite Natasha Carmi (Water Peace Programme Manager at the Geneva Water Hub) and Jan Selby (Professor of International Politics and Climate Change at the University of Leeds, UK) to share their expertise during this session.

We invite you to join us and explore the complexities of this extremely important issue. You can register here. Please also share this invitation within your networks.

Best regards,
Aeve

Aeve Ribbons
she/her

Educational Projects Manager of JHU-UPF Public Policy Center (UPF-BSM)
Managing Editor of the International Journal of Social Determinants of Health and Health Services (IJSDOHS)

My working days are Monday-Thursday / Mis días laborables son de lunes a jueves.

Website: http://www.upf.edu/jhu-ppc/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/pubpolcenter

My source:

Politics of Health Group Mail List Messages

Visit the PoHG website for lots of interesting links and publications: http://www.pohg.org.uk/

Visit PoHG on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/282761111845400

Follow us on Twitter: @pohguk

South Sudan Medical Journal - November 2023 Gender-Based Violence

Dear reader,

Our November issue on gender-based violence (GBV) is online here. See details below; we thank the many people who contributed to this important topic.
 
Please share this issue with your colleagues and promote it through your social platforms.

For example: “The South Sudan Medical Journal’s November issue tackles gender-based violence @SSMedJournal #SouthSudan #SSOT” or retweet from @SSMedJournal
 

EDITORIAL

• Ending GBV in South Sudan Anne Pita Lomole

RESEARCH ARTICLES

• Maternal socio-economic and neonatal medical characteristics associated with survival of preterm neonates in Torit State Hospital, South Sudan: a descriptive cross-sectional study Beatrice Doki, Pontius Bayo and Ronald Jada
• Factors associated with maternal deaths in Bongor Provincial Hospital, Chad Gabkika Bray Madoué, Allarehene Noudjalbaye, Saleh Abdelsalam, Kainba Passoret, and Diguisna Kadam

FOCUS ON GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

• Gender-Based Violence: How South Sudan is fighting back Nyakomi Adwok
• Clinical management of rape survivors Koma Akim
• One Stop Centre for the survivors of sexual and gender-based violence at Juba Teaching Hospital Busiri Julius Korsuk
• SSMJ talks to Data Gordon about Men4Women Ann Burgess and Data Gordon
• Ask the GBV experts Koma Akim and Nyakomi Adwok
• The reality of GBV: The story of a South Sudanese girl child in Kenya Nyajuok Tongyik
• 16 Days of Activism Against GBV Rita Martin Lopidia  
• Resources on gender-based violence/violence against women and girls related to South Sudan
• GBV Educational/Training Resources

SHORT COMMUNICATIONS

• Applications for postgraduate Training Gordon Memorial College Trust Fund (GMCTF)
• Letter to the Editor
• Obituary: Dr Bashir Aggrey Abbas Meseka 
• Obituary: Dr Peter Lado Aggrey Jaden

FRONT AND BACK COVERS IMAGES: From Tales of Lala, No to GBV (Credit: Crown the Woman, South Sudan)
 
Our articles are listed by African Journals Online (AJOL) and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ) as well as being on our website. SSMJ is included in the EBSCO scientific research collection.

The SSMJ team
Email: southsudanmedicaljournal AT gmail.com
Website: http://www.southsudanmedicaljournal.com
Follow us on Twitter/X @SSMedJournal and our Facebook Group

Your story about the use of the Resilient Health Systems evidence collection

Championing evidence-based humanitarian action

Evidence Aid aims to save lives and livelihoods in disasters by providing decision-makers with the best available evidence and by championing its use.

On Wednesday, 22 November 2023 at 10:12:26 GMT, Claire Allen, UK <callen AT evidenceaid.org> wrote:

Kind request - Do you have 5-10 minutes to complete our survey about the Resilient Health Systems evidence collection

https://evidenceaid.org/evidence/resilient-health-systems
Your insights and opinions are incredibly valuable to us.

The form will be available until Monday 27 November 2023, but in the meantime, if you have any issues, please do not hesitate to contact - 

Epa La Bella at elabella AT evidenceaid.org.

As always, we value your insight and opinions, all of which are essential to the functioning of Evidence Aid.

Claire Allen, Operations Manager Evidence Aid: Championing evidence-based humanitarian action. Please note that my regular working days are Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. Please do not expect a response outside of those days.

Support our activities by donating here.

Email: callen AT evidenceaid.org | Skype: claireallencochrane | Website: www.evidenceaid.org | Twitter: @EvidenceAid

Our evidence collections can be found here: https://www.evidenceaid.org/evidence/

HIFA profile (and my source): Claire Allen is Operations Manager at Evidence Aid, UK. Professional interests: Evidence Aid (www.evidenceaid.org) provides evidence for people in disaster preparedness and response to make better decisions. Areas of interest = humanitarian crises, natural disasters and major healthcare emergencies (disaster = when a country is unable to cope with the disaster/crisis or emergency). She is a member of the HIFA Working Group on Access to Health Research. http://www.hifa.org/working-groups/access-health-research Email: callen AT evidenceaid.org

Paper: "How can we mainstream mental health in research engaging SDGs? -

A theory of change." i

This paper caught my eye on twitter, quite a while ago - the combination of mental health and SDGs:

Madill A, Bhola P, Colucci E, Croucher K, Evans A, et al. (2022) How can we mainstream mental health in research engaging the range of Sustainable Development Goals? A theory of change. PLOS Global Public Health 2(8): e0000837. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000837

"The recently updated WHO Comprehensive Mental Health Action Plan 2013–2030 [1] concurs with this vision in that two of its six cross-cutting principles are: (i) a multi-sectoral approach, and (ii) action on social determinants. This acknowledges that “integrating mental health across wider sectors such as education, employment and social welfare helps address social determinants of mental health and ensures a comprehensive and holistic approach” [7 p12]. Shen, Eaton and Snowden [8] investigated mental health mainstreaming in 42 countries in terms of a shift towards providing mental health care from institutional to community settings. They concluded that “different countries have adapted deinstitutionalization in ways to meet idiosyncratic situations and population needs” [7 p313] and that more needs to be done with regard to management and implementation strategies. While the keyword for Shen, Eaton and Snowden [8] is ‘deinstitutionalisation’, for Gómez-Dantés and Frenk [9] it is ‘integration,’ and they provide a dimensional approach with regard to what is involved in mainstreaming mental health: “(i) incorporating mental disorders to the global and local agendas related to NCDs [non-communicable diseases]; ii) moving away both from the biological and sociological reductionisms around mental health prevalent in the past century; iii) addressing the whole range of conditions related to mental health; iv) migrating from the idea that mental diseases have to be treated in secluded clinical spaces; and v) expanding the use of a comprehensive approach in the treatment of these disorders, which includes medication, psychotherapy and other types of therapies” [9 p214]." p.2/23

Selected concepts are related to Hodges' model below. In addition to the 2x2 table below, it may be useful for visitors to consider the paper's figures against the model? There is no doubt an overlap across the care / knowledge domains of Hodges' model, but hopefully the 'holistic bandwidth' of the model and its potential as a generic conceptual framework will also be highlighted. 

Note for example the way mention of 'clinical' tends to attract care (understandably) to clinics, hospitals, institutions, controlled (mechanistic) spaces where resources can be controlled and concentrated. Additionally, to find appropriate concepts, we must appreciate how 'local' is applied not only geographically, regionally, but culturally also - within and across a community, or several.

Hodges' model provides several disciplinary bridges of relevance here:

• psycho-political
• psycho-social
• socio-economic
• socio-political
• bio-social

I will revisit the paper again soon ii.

INDIVIDUAL

|

INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

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

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

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GROUP

intra-personal - mental health  (contribution to individual's overall health status) self advocacy qualitative evidence mental health practitioners psychotherapy, counselling individual health literacy/education "Implications for researchers include: recognising the potential of their projects to have psycho-	quantitative evidence time, environment, geography - locale treatment resources (time and physical - space) digital technologies 'clinical' seclusion spaces multiple locally-appropriate concepts 'clinical spaces' seclusion/isolation
-social wellbeing impact"* "collaborating with local communities, researchers, and service providers to effect change." "developing a more inclusive and flexible language around mental health that bridges cultures and disciplines ..." multiple locally-appropriate concepts resources  - social, family, community	LMICs - 'workforce gap' shift from institutionalised to community settings security - conflict advocacy resources $$$ income/welfare/micro-finances/ banking/digital access legislation, policies, strategies and services

*The paper also refers to "psychosocial disabilities".

My source (twitter):

https://twitter.com/PLOSGPH/status/1565066449798205440?s=20

Madill A, Bhola P, Colucci E, Croucher K, Evans A, et al. (2022) How can we mainstream mental health in research engaging the range of Sustainable Development Goals? A theory of change. PLOS Global Public Health 2(8): e0000837. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0000837

Invitation to participate in research: Supporting midwives to provide emergency maternal & neonatal care in rural communities with limited resources

The challenges of providing quality midwifery care in rural and remote communities are significant, particularly in low and lower-middle-income countries. I am excited to invite midwives, midwifery educators, health service managers and Ministry of Health personnel from the focus countries listed below to participate in a PhD research study. Our research team aims to identify ways to better support midwives providing emergency maternal & neonatal care in rural communities with limited resources. Insights gained from these different perspectives will help us provide evidence for policy, education and practice.

Please consider participating in the study and/or sharing the link with your colleagues.

To participate in our online surveys, please use the following links:

Midwife/nurse-midwife survey: https://lnkd.in/eD4YSQnn

Educator/Manager/Ministry of Health survey: https://lnkd.in/gphj-i4D

If you would like more information, or if you are interested in participating in an online in-depth interview to discuss these issues, please email: Kristen.Graham AT anu.edu.au

Further information is also available at https://nceph.anu.edu.au/research/projects/strengthening-primary-care-midwives-preparedness-readiness-emergency-maternal

Focus countries: Sub-Sahara Africa: Burundi, Eswatini, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South & SE Asia: India, Pakistan, Philippines, Pacific: Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu

This study has ANU ethics approval (Protocol 2022/492)

Thank you Kristen

Kristen Graham PhD candidate

National Centre for Epidemiology & Population Health ANU College of Health and Medicine The Australian National University Canberra ACT 2600

HIFA profile (and my source): Kristen Graham is a PhD Candidate at the Australian National University, Australia. Professional interests: Sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health; Midwifery; Workforce capacity building in rural and remote low resource settings. kristen.graham AT anu.edu.au

#iwd2023 #internationalwomensday
Ack. All midwives. PJ

Paper: "Control, Extract, Legitimate: COVID-19 and Digital Techno-opportunism across Africa" + Noma

Earlier this month in draft papers iii I mentioned a lengthy draft 12k words ... "Society, Technology and COVID19 in Hodges' model" which needs revision (COVID-19 waits for no person):

"COVID's source, global spread, national responses, and management are politicised; a memetic and geopolitical viral response (Kavanagh, Singh and Pillinger, 2021). The hope remains that globally we will get a grip of COVID and learn collectively; even as politics is in play (The Lancet. 2021). COVID revealed itself as signs and symptoms were reported and aggregated, patterns identified, and advice modified accordingly. Routine news was interrupted by a daily round of COVID briefings by governments, their representatives and
experts. Charts and statistics were presented, numbers crunched (mechanistically, of course). Some governments, in denial, face a legal charge. Comparisons of national cases and deaths are ongoing, hard truths (proverbial ‘cock-ups’) explained away — rationalised. The global distribution of COVID vaccinations, influenza and booster jabs, lays bare colonial traces of inequity and inequality. A further twist of the south and north seasonal oscillation.

COVID-19 is striking, simultaneously creating opacity and transparency. Accentuated and aggravated by populist governments, COVID is now marked as a pandemic and infodemic (Cinelli, et al, 2020). Post hoc governments and academia must understand the societal and cultural ramifications of news generation, dissemination, and outcomes."

Socio-technical approaches feature on this blog, in a published paper (bibliography) and in Hodges' model. Socio-Technical can help assure success but they must be tempered - shaped - by taking into consideration the individual (user's) psychology, benefit; and the political aspects - what are the costs, collective benefits and governance?

The following paper stood out on twitter (COVID-19 is not a laggard in keeping pace with robots it seems) and will inform my update of the above:

Platzky Miller, J., Sander, A. and Srinivasan, S. (2022), Control, Extract, Legitimate: COVID-19 and Digital Techno-opportunism across Africa. Dev Change. https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12734

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 INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

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

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

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GROUP

logic(s)? . Fear - COVID-19 attitudes - receptivity (Expectations: now - future? Such actions spoil/taint technology.) individual psychology the 'user' (active/passive..)	socio-TECHNICAL robots digital solutions track and trace apps and vaccine passports (rate of failure) Life - Bio-Sciences TECHNO-
SOCIO-technical Societies Sustainable Development (Goals?) Social development, history Logics of control, extraction and legitimation Social Determinants of Health	OPPORTUNISM Political role of public health emergencies in Africa Rwandan government ZoraBots, a Belgian company Commercial Determinants of Health Colonialism: control, power Governance Neglected Neglected diseases - Noma?

My source:

How many lives did a robot save fighting #COVID19 in Rwanda? Short answer: ~none. Long answer: that's not the point. A collab bw @RwandaGov, @Undp and a Belgian robot firm, it's one example of rampant techno-opportunism across #Africa during the pandemic, with worrying effects... pic.twitter.com/6FWtlLR8b8

— Sharath Srinivasan (@sharath_sri) October 22, 2022

Plus: Re. Noma ...

Ioana Cismas (York) - What's in a Frame? A Human Rights Approach to Neglected Tropical Diseases - https://www.york.ac.uk/cahr/events/2022/justice-in-global-health-workshop/

https://philevents.org/event/show/101162

Concept Note in Support of the Inclusion of Noma (Cancrum Oris) on the World Health Organization List of Neglected Tropical Diseases (Commissioned by the Government of Namibia, 2016), 6 pp. (with Marie-Solène Adamou Moussa-Pham).

Srour, M. L., & Baratti-Mayer, D. (2020). Why is noma a neglected-neglected tropical disease?. PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 14(8), e0008435. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0008435

"healthcare finance" - September 2022

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 INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

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

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

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	NHS Supply Chains - (Procurement, Logistics, Sustainability...) Virtual Reality - Virtual Wards Patient-level cost data Standardised finance systems
	Healthcare Finance - September 2022

Whole Theory - The Bigger Picture - Holistic Approach?

Together health and social care professionals orchestrate* person-centred, integrated care with constant regard to patient and public safety and quality. We cannot do this without effective administrative, management and financial support and resources.	"The Bigger Picture"
	Contents: Patient-level cost data Standardised finance systems PFI liability revaluation Reclaiming VAT on welfare services Population Health Previously on W2tQ: Value, Values-Based Commissioning

*Khine, Myint & Saleh, Issa & Dillenbourg, Pierre & Jermann, Patrick. (2010). Technology for Classroom Orchestration. New Science of Learning: Cognition, Computers and Collaboration in Education. 10.1007/978-1-4419-5716-0_26. 

Source: @HFMA_UK

New WHO Quality Toolkit - 'Take ii"

Further to last months post, I've worried at times about the axes of Hodges' model and their status and function. Can I let the axis stand for itself?

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GROUP

Do I expand (explode) the conceptual labels?

self - INDIVIDUAL - person

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relationship - family - GROUP - community - population

There seems to be an asymmetry, when you traverse the axis - and its horizontal counterpart; from wherever you start. Perhaps, I worry too much as if the axis was regular then the generic property of the model overall would be diminished. Is this an axis at all?

The website for the Quality Toolkit at: https://qualityhealthservices.who.int/quality-toolkit

- explains the toolkit's scope that includes:

"This new online resource is a user-friendly toolkit to support action on improving the quality of health services at every level of the health system, from national and district to facility and community levels."

I have only scratched the surface here and hope to revisit again - in more detail. Please see below for reflections on the levels by which the toolkit can support action to improve the quality of health services. I have tried to suggest proximity and distance between the SOCIOLOGICAL and POLITICAL (policy). Perhaps, what is a 'clinic' has a name, that it is known by - a key part of the community. The community is closer to the people - to the would-be users of the facility. You can appreciate(?) here the challenge of getting the local community involved in their services. What is 'NATIONAL' should not be remote. Can people compare and contrast with what they are offered? 

 

On the website I note there are video presentations also. The prospect of regular updates for the toolkit is also welcome.

INDIVIDUAL

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 INTERPERSONAL    :     SCIENCES               

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

SOCIOLOGY  :   POLITICAL 

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GROUP

psychological access 'My' clinic Trust, I feel safe) (feeling safe) Tell others - my experience..	physical access clinic (appearance, facilities, safety) controlled environment (cleanliness, sterile.., or more social)
'the centre' COMMUNITY DISTRICT national	facility (policy translation / coherence?) community district NATIONAL

Original source: Jules Storr, Independent Consultant, S3 Global & working with WHO as part of the Quality Toolkit development team - via HIFA

Previously: New WHO Quality Toolkit

'Take II'? Quality means getting it right first time (even as you persist in what you are doing - your aspirations and quality improvement). Vitally, this means you, the team make a positive impression for the person, the individual, client .. carer, group. 

If they need to - they will recognise their own ability, knowledge, follow advice, they will come back, they leave not to return soon as they can now self-care and care for others in their home, community ...

 Please note: This post and that previous is not intended to denote endorsement of Hodges' model.