Health Emergency Situation Research Articles

Genetic Algorithm-based Optimization Model for Emergency Shelters Location Allocation in Public Health Emergency Situations

Deploying emergency resources after a disaster is crucial for reducing the event’s impact. A multi-objective (MO) resource allocation (RA) method is developed to achieve efficient distribution of relief items and the best choice of transportation routes, taking into account the variable and persistent nature of rescue operations. The MO Cellular Genetical Approach (MOC-GA) addresses the concept by incorporating auxiliary populations and neighborhood architecture into the cellular automaton. The comparative experiment conclusively demonstrates that MOC-GA performs favorably compared to Particle Swarm Optimisation (PSO), Ant Colony Optimisation (ACO), and Dragon Fly Optimisation (DFO) in several metrics such as the Pareto Front (PF), hypervolume, mean objective function value, and PF ratios. The findings demonstrate that MOC-GA effectively addresses the MO dynamical emergency RA approach, offering decision-makers a more comprehensive range of superior and diversified candidate rescue strategies than alternative methods. This research analyzes the existing rescue methods and proposes a theoretical rescue strategy to aid decision-makers in making scientifically informed decisions.

Assessment of coping capacity of public health facilities with health emergency situations during an event of flood in Mumbai.

Floods had been a repeated phenomenon in India, causing considerable losses to properties, life and infrastructure, and public utilities. Floods are found to be a common natural disaster occurring not only in developing countries but also in developed nations. Hospital preparedness against disaster could help in the management of the surge of patients in an effective manner. This study aims to assess the capacity of public health facilities for coping up with health emergency situations during an event of flood in Mumbai. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 38 public health facilities in Mumbai. A purposive sampling technique was used for the selection of the health facilities. Administrative staff, medical officers, and pharmacy in charges were included in the study. The study revealed that surge capacities in hospitals were adequate as they had additional beds for monsoon-related diseases for the preceding flood situation. There was a triage policy, and the staff were trained on the same. Procurement of drugs was easy because of a good networking system between hospitals. Due to this networking system, patients were also transferred to the nearest healthcare facility in a short span of time. The response during an event of a flood in the health facilities of Mumbai city was good as they have regular training sessions to be prepared for the emergency situations during monsoon as they have repeated exposure to floods.

"Who Takes Care of Carers?": Experiences of Intensive Care Unit Nurses in the Acute Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic caused an international health emergency situation where nursing took on a fundamental role. The high number of patients in hospital ICUs led to a shift in nurses' working conditions and workload. Objective: The objective of this study was to describe the experiences of nurses who worked in ICUs during the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methodology: A qualitative, descriptive study was carried out, with the participation of 21 nurses who worked in the ICU during the pandemic. Data collection took place between May and July 2021 through 21 in-depth interviews. Results: Three main themes emerged: (1) COVID-19 in ICUs: nurses on the frontline. (2) United against adversity: teamwork. (3) New optics of critical care and the nursing profession. COVID-19 was perceived with harshness, and the lack of knowledge about the virus generated confusion, anxiety and fear due to the risk of transmission to family members and relatives. The pandemic marked a shift in the management of human, material and economic resources. Novice nurses learned critical care at an accelerated pace, with significant physical and psychological strain. Expert nurses carried the burden of training new nurses. Although there were tense situations, experiencing these adverse situations as a team led to feelings of increased belonging, togetherness and professional bonding for nurses. While the participants noted an increase in motivation to continue in their profession, they also had a feeling of not having been cared for as they deserve by healthcare institutions.

Anxiety and depression in pregnancy: associated variables during the covid-19 pandemic period

ObjectiveTo assess the association between age, parity, nationality, educational level, employment and partner support with depression and anxiety during pregnancy. To determine the impact of the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic on the anxiety and depression levels of the participants. MethodCross-sectional descriptive correlational study carried out in the Osakidetza/Basque Health Service, Primary Care, Bizkaia (Spain). A total of 295 pregnant women between 8 and 41 weeks participated. The association between age, parity, nationality, educational level, employment, partner support and COVID-19 incidence rates during the study period and depression (measured with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale) and anxiety (measured with the State-Anxiety Inventory/STAI-S subscale) scores during pregnancy was measured. A logistic regression model was constructed and odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals were estimated. ResultsThe mean score was 18.75 points for anxiety (SD = 8.69) and 6.45 points for depression (SD = 4.32). Women expecting their second or later child had higher scores for depression (OR 2.51[95%IC: 1.26-5.01)) and anxiety (OR 1.98 [95%IC: 1.01-3.89]). Having completed university studies was associated with lower scores in depression (OR 0.28 [95%IC: 0.11-0.77]) and in anxiety (OR 0,2 [95%IC: 0.08-0.54]). A good relationship with the partner was associated with lower levels of anxiety (OR 0.45 [95%IC: 0.24-0.81]). The mean anxiety and depression scores are related to the incidence of COVID-19 cases; the anxiety score was significantly higher in periods of higher incidence. ConclusionsGreater emotional care for pregnant women with low educational level, multiparous and with weak support from their partner, would reduce anxiety and depression in pregnancy. Health emergency situations affect mental health during gestation.

Ansiedad y depresión en el embarazo. Variables asociadas durante el periodo de pandemia COVID-19

ObjectiveTo assess the association between age, parity, nationality, educational level, employment and partner support with depression and anxiety during pregnancy. To determine the impact of the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic on the anxiety and depression levels of the participants. MethodCross-sectional descriptive correlational study carried out in the Osakidetza/Basque Health Service, Primary Care, Bizkaia (Spain). A total of 295 pregnant women between 8 and 41 weeks participated. The association between age, parity, nationality, educational level, employment, partner support and COVID-19 incidence rates during the study period and depression (measured with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale) and anxiety (measured with the State-Anxiety Inventory/STAI-S subscale) scores during pregnancy was measured. A logistic regression model was constructed and odds ratios and their 95% confidence intervals were estimated. ResultsThe mean score was 18.75 points for anxiety (SD 8.69) and 6.45 points for depression (SD 4.32). Women expecting their second or later child had higher scores for depression (OR 2.51 [95%IC: 1.26-5.01]) and anxiety (OR 1.98 [95%IC: 1.01-3.89]). Having completed university studies was associated with lower scores in depression (OR 0.28 [95%IC: 0.11-0.77]) and in anxiety (OR 0,2 [95%IC: 0.08-0.54]). A good relationship with the partner was associated with lower levels of anxiety (OR 0.45 [95%IC: 0.24-0.81]). The mean anxiety and depression scores are related to the incidence of COVID-19 cases; the anxiety score was significantly higher in periods of higher incidence. ConclusionsGreater emotional care for pregnant women with low educational level, multiparous and with weak support from their partner, would reduce anxiety and depression in pregnancy. Health emergency situations affect mental health during gestation.

Empowerment Kader dan Perangkat Desa dalam Peningkatan Kapasitas Pertolongan Gawat Darurat Menggunakan Smartphone Android di Desa Pinggiran Sungai Kabupaten Banjar

The background of this activity is that the community in Pinggiran Sungai Village generally does not have adequate knowledge and skills in providing emergency assistance in emergency situations. The purpose of this activity is to provide training to cadres and village officials on the use of Android smartphone applications for emergency aid. The method used was training and simulation of the use of Android smartphone applications containing information and guidelines for providing cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The result of this activity is the provision of the community with knowledge and skills to provide emergency assistance for cardiac and pulmonary arrest using smartphone applications. It is expected that the community of Pinggiran Sungai Village will have better preparedness in dealing with health emergency situations.

Ifema hospital model. Implementation and start-up of the Pharmacy Department

On the 20th of March 2020, triggered by the public health emergency declared, the Health Authorities in Madrid reported a legal instruction (Orden 371/2020) indicating the organization of a provisional hospital to admit patients with COVID-19 at the Trade Fair Institution (IFEMA).Several pharmacists working in the Pharmacy and Medical Devices Department of the Madrid Regional Health Service were called to manage the Pharmacy Department of the abovementioned hospital. Required permissions to set up a PD were here authorized urgently.Tackling human and material resources, and computer systems for drug purchase and electronic prescription, were some of the initial issues that hindered the pharmaceutical provision required for patients from the very day one.Once the purchase was assured, mainly by direct purchase from suppliers, drug dispensing up to 1,250 hospitalized patients (25 nursing units) and 8 ICU patients was taken on. Dispensing was carried out through either drug stocks in the nursing units or individual patient dispensing for certain drugs.Moreover, safety issues related to prescription were considered, and as the electronic prescription was implemented we attained 100% prescriptions review and validation. The constitution of a multidisciplinary Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee let agree to a pharmacotherapy guide, prescription protocols, therapeutic equivalences, interactions, and drug dispensing circuits.The Pharmacy Department strategy was to ensure a very quick response to basic tasks keeping the aim to offer a pharmaceutical care of the highest quality whenever possible.Working under a health emergency situation, with many uncertainties and continuous pressure was a plight. However, the spirit of collaboration in and out of the Pharmacy Department was aligned with the whole hospital motivation to offer the highest quality of healthcare. These were possibly the keys to allow caring for almost 4,000 patients during the 42 days that the hospital lasted.

Documentary Assessment of the Abilities of Kyrgyzstan's Research Ethics Committees During Public Health Emergency and Non-Emergency Situations.

Institutional Research Ethics Committees (RECs) play crucial roles in the impartial and competent review of scientific research, particularly during public health emergencies. In this report, we examined their ability and capacity to provide this basic service during public health emergencies and non-emergency situations. Our qualitative documentary analysis revealed that there are currently no legal regulations guiding the activities of Kyrgyz RECs during public health emergencies. In addition, major policy gaps exist in how RECs should operate in non-emergency circumstances. This lack of guidance highlights the urgent need to develop and implement ethical guidelines to meet the evolving needs of such emergencies. Our findings underscore the growing urgency of supporting capacity building of RECs to respond effectively to future pandemics and other public health crises.

COVID-19 Prognosis from Chest X-ray Images by using Deep Learning Approaches: A Next Generation Diagnostic Tool

Global public health is overwhelmed due to the ongoing Corona Virus Disease (COVID-19). As of October 2022, the causative virus SARS-CoV-2 and its multiple variants have infected more than 600 million confirmed cases and nearly 6.5 million fatalities globally. The main objective of this reported study is to understand the COVID-19 infection better from the chest X-ray (CXR) image database of COVID-19 cases from the dataset of CXR of normal, pneumonia and COVID-19 patients. Deep learning approaches like VGG-16 and LSTM models were used to classify images as normal, pneumonia and COVID-19 impacted by extracting the features. It has been observed during the COVID-19 pandemic peaks that large number of patients could not avail medical beds and were seen stranded outdoors. To address such health emergency situations with limited available bed and scarcity of expert physicians, computer-aided analysis could save precious lives through early screening and appropriate care. Such computer-based deep-learning strategy could help during future pandemics, especially when the available health resources and the need for preventive measures to take do not match the burden of a disease.

Are Camper Travel Lovers the New Wave of Tourism? A Growing Trend for Destinations

ABSTRACT This research analyses the challenges of an emerging tourism segment, which we shall call ‘Camper Travel Lovers’ (CTLs) and is linked to the users of motorized vehicles such as motorhomes and camper vans for tourism purposes. The study focuses on Girona Province (Catalonia, Spain) and uses primary sources of information to conduct quantitative research through a structured survey. A total of 406 such surveys were carried out with camper van users to determine their current profile. Although the goals of this new segment are to seek out greater contact with nature, relaxation and discovery of new territories, while sharing the experience with family or friends and guaranteeing safety in the face of the new health emergency situation caused by COVID-19, CTLs differ from travelers who adopt a lifestyle focused on the concept of #vanlife and also retirees or Grey nomad caravanners, because they use their vehicles for short holidays. Since the CTL segment has undergone exponential growth in recent years and been further boosted by COVID-19, given that as a means of travel it reduces contact with others and minimizes the risk of contagion, we see it as representing a trend in tourist mobility in the coming years, therefore posing both challenges and clear opportunities for managers of DMOs.

Vocational High School Students’ Emotional Experiences of English Online Learning during Pandemic

The sudden shifting learning mode from conventional learning to prolonged online learning resulted in many challenges for educational institutions. The emotional state of the students became the root to overcome the hurdles. However, the high school students’ emotions had not gained too much attention specifically during online English learning under the health emergency situation. This Narrative Study aimed to explore the features of students’ emotional experiences and their strategies to overcome the challenges during online English learning. A semi-structural interview was conducted to obtain the data from three vocational high school students. The data analysis revealed that the students experienced positive emotions (e.g. enjoyment) which were provoked by learning style, the teacher’s attitude, the value of materials and pleasant learning environment. The negative feelings such as confusion were caused by the absence of personal contact with the teacher, connectivity problems and insufficient knowledge dealing with technology for academic purposes. This study also revealed that social support from parents, peers, teacher and school played a significant role to maintain the students’ English learning engagement during the ‘forced’ online learning.

An overview on Monkeypox, Current Paradigms and Advances in its Vaccination, Treatment and Clinical Management: Trends, Scope, Promise and Challenges

Monkeypox virus is an orthopoxvirus sharing the common genus with variola and vaccinia virus. Most of the monkeypox (MPX) cases had been reported from the central and west African region (the main endemic areas) prior to 2022 but there was a sudden outbreak in May, 2022 disseminating the infections to thousands of people even in non-endemic countries, posing a global public health emergency. MPX was considered a rae and neglected disease, however the 2022 MPX outbreaks in multiple countries attracted attention of worldwide researchers to pace up for carrying out researches on various aspects of MPXV including attempts to design and develop diagnostics, vaccines, drugs and therapeutics counteract MPX. Apart from being a zoonotic disease, the current outbreaks highlighted rapid human-to-human transmission of MPXV, besides the reverse zoonosis has also been documented with recent first report of human-to-dog transmission, urging a call for the importance of one health approach. Atypical and unusual disease manifestations as well asymptomatic MPXV infections have also been observed during 2022 MPX outbreak. The affected patients typically develop a rash resulting in a mild disease followed by recovery with some supportive care and use of antivirals such as tecovirimat, cidofovir and brincidofovir in severe disease cases. Modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) vaccine with an excellent safety profile has been recommended to patients with higher risk exposure and immunocompromised individuals. Moreover, another vaccine the replication-competent vaccine (ACAM2000) could be a suitable alternative to MVA’s non-availability to some selective immunocompetent individuals. Current review highlights the salient aspects of management and treatment of monkeypox along with underlying promises in terms of therapeutics and a variety of challenges posed due to current global public health emergency situation to counteract MPX.

Psychological well-being among Saudi adults during the context of COVID-19 lockdown: a psychometric analysis of the 12-item General Health Questionnaire

BackgroundMost communities' mental health and perceptions of psychological well-being are known to be profoundly disrupted by large-scale pandemics. Despite the wide range of available screening measures, few reliable and valid screening measures exist for assessing overall psychological well-being in nonclinical populations during a health emergency situation such as the COVID-19 outbreak.ObjectiveThis study aims to conduct a psychometric analysis of Goldberg’s 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) to validate its use among a sample of Saudi adults during the COVID-19 lockdown using reliability and factor analyses.MethodsA total of 473 individuals (aged 18 years and over) were recruited from the general Saudi population living in the Makkah (Western) Province of Saudi Arabia to complete the virtual format of the Arabic GHQ-12 (Ar-GHQ-12). In addition to a descriptive statistics measurement and reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were performed to examine the unidimensionality and validity of the Ar-GHQ-12.ResultsIn line with previous works from several cultures, the Ar-GHQ-12 with two-factor solution considered to be the best-fitting model because it fits the data better than the one-factor (unidimensional) model did, and adequate reliability indices were achieved for each factor (.83 for factor 1 and .65 for factor 2).DiscussionThe Ar-GHQ-12 was determined to be suitable for assessing the overall psychological well-being of the general population in Saudi Arabia in emergency contexts and may be applied among Saudis and other Arabic-speaking populations in research and primary care settings.

Integrating public health in European climate change adaptation policy and planning

ABSTRACT The study assesses the extent to which public health is integrated into European national and urban climate change adaptation policy and planning. We analyse national adaptation documents from the 27 European Union member states and interview city-level experts (n = 17) on the integration of three categories of adaptation efforts: general efforts to minimize health impacts related to climate change, targeted efforts to enhance resilience in health systems, and supportive efforts to foster the potential of the first two categories. At a national level, general efforts to address vector-borne diseases and heat-related illness are covered comprehensively, whereas efforts addressing several climate-related health risks are neglected (e.g. water-borne diseases, injuries from extreme weather and cardiopulmonary health) or overlooked (e.g. malnutrition and mental health). Targeted efforts to inform policy decisions, such as carrying out research, risk monitoring and assessments, are often described in detail, but efforts to manage day-to-day health care delivery and emergency situations receive little attention. At the urban level, health issues receive less attention in climate adaptation policy and planning. If health topics are included, they are often described as indirect benefits of adaptation efforts in other sectors and not perceived as the priority of the involved authorities. This effectively means that general and targeted efforts are the responsibility of other sectoral departments, while supportive efforts are the responsibility of the national government or external organizations. As a result, at an urban level, climate-related health system adaptation is not a policy aim in its own right, and many potentially high health risks are being ignored. In order for health risks to be better integrated into adaptation policy and planning, it is critical to interconnect national and urban levels, reduce sectoral thinking and welcome external expertize and facilitate large-scale data collection and sharing of health and climate indicators. Key policy insights We recommend focussing on cooperatively drafting strategies for integrating health issues into climate policy and planning with stakeholders at the national and urban levels, in different policy sectors and in society. Policy planners can build on the strengths of adaptation documents from other countries or cities and take note of any weaknesses. We advocate to foster co-benefits for health and climate action of various adaptation measures (e.g. by promoting active mobility and urban greenery, health impacts related to heat, (mental and physical) stress and air pollution are reduced). Large-scale data collection and sharing of health and climate indicators should be facilitated to support learning and pro-active decision-making.

Assessment of Perceived Health Status and Access to Health Service during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-Sectional Survey in Italy.

(1) Background: The aims of this survey were to assess the perceived health status and to evaluate the use of healthcare services during the pandemic period. (2) Methods: This cross-sectional survey was conducted from May to October 2021 in the Campania and Calabria regions, Southern Italy. The sample was selected among 655 subjects attending vaccination or primary care physician clinics. (3) Results: More than half (57.2%) of the respondents were female, the mean age was 49 years (range 19-97), and 61.3% had at least one chronic disease. Among the respondents, 56.3% declared that they had accessed healthcare at least once during the pandemic and, among all respondents who did not access healthcare, 23.2% gave reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The two scores obtained from the Short-Form-12 Health Survey (SF-12), physical health summary (PCS) and mental health summary (MCS), had a means of 48.4 and 45.9, respectively. Among the respondents, 2.3% of respondents considered their health poor, 43.1% good and 6.4% excellent. (4) Conclusions: Our results suggest the need to ensure, in similar health emergency situations, a quick response from the National Health System so that ordinary medical assistance activities can be guaranteed in full safety, avoiding the risk of missed access or lack of assistance.

Purchasing behavior in rural areas for food products during the COVID-19 pandemic

IntroductionMost previous studies have investigated consumer purchasing behavior for food products in urban areas during the COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast, the present study is one of the very few to investigate consumer purchasing behavior for food products within rural areas.MethodsTo this end, research was conducted in Sicily taking as a case study a rural municipality whose population was subjected to a lockdown regime to contain the spread of the virus. The choice of carrying out the research in a rural rather than an urban area contributed to the emergence of new aspects concerning consumer behavior in rural areas during the COVID-19 emergency.Results and discussionThe research reveals that the amount of money spent on food purchases, as well as the amount of food purchased, increased during the lockdown. In general, the research shows that COVID-19 impacted the purchasing behavior of consumers in rural areas even though they showed a high resilience and adaptation to the health emergency situation caused by the pandemic.

Criteria for Ethical Allocation of Scarce Healthcare Resources: Rationing vs. Rationalizing in the Treatment for the Elderly

This paper stems from the current global worsening of the scarcity of resources for healthcare, which will deepen even more in future public emergencies. This justifies strengthening the reflection on the allocation of resources which, in addition to considering technical issues, should also involve ethical concerns. The two plans in which the allocation of resources develops—macro and micro—are then systematized, both requiring the identification of ethical criteria for the respective complex decision-making. Then, we describe how the complexity at the macro level focuses on the joint consideration of the rectitude of the principles, the goodness of the ends, and the integrity—respectively the deontological, teleological, and procedural perspectives; and at the micro level, it focuses in prioritizing people, which can result in the exclusion of some, as happened with the elderly during peaks of COVID-19. The main objective of this article is to show that, in public health emergency situations, in which the daily criteria for prioritizing access to health care are not efficient, it is possible not only to ration the available means but also to rationalize them. We argue that rationing and rationalization are different concepts, entail different consequences, have different ethical foundations, and draw different guidelines for patient care. We apply them to the distribution of intensive care and vaccines to the elderly thus demonstrating the ethically legitimate domain of implementation of each of these two prioritization criteria. We conclude that rationalization respects more strictly the core ethical principles of our common morality.

Boosting ethics review capacity in public health emergency situations: Co-creation of a training model for French-speaking research ethics committees.

Ethics review preparedness is a major foundation for national effective response to public health emergencies, because it promotes pertinent research and enhances the protection of research participants and communities. In low-income countries, it can also promote equitable research partnership. However, most relevant literature is in English and not easily accessible for the members of research ethics committees in French-speaking African countries. A training module in French, addressing the issue of research ethics review during outbreaks and other public health emergencies, was designed based on a non-systematic literature review, and in order to be complementary to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) national guidelines for ethics review. The module was administered to 42 members of the five ethics committees in DRC that expressed their interest for the training. This training, co-designed with local stakeholders, in the local working language and taking into account local circumstances and regulation, provided participants with up-to-date insights of research ethics (and research ethics preparedness) in public health emergencies. It resulted in rich reflection and knowledge-sharing on good practices across the ethics committees. As most participating ethics committees do not have yet explicit standard operating procedures for expedited review of protocols submitted in emergency situations, this would be a next important step to facilitate emergency reviews in the most efficient way.

CHLA/ABSC 2022 Conference Abstracts

This workshop will provide health science librarians and information professionals at any level/context with an overview of the best practices in finding and identifying the best scientific evidence during novel public health emergencies. Attendees will be presented with an overview of a best practices statement developed by the Librarian Reserve Corps. Attendees will then apply the recommendations from the best practices statement in designing a plan to respond to real-life case study/information request during a public health emergency. A discussion period will follow on how to apply the best practices in other contexts, environments, and cultures. Attendees will also be invited to share their own experiences and best practices during the discussion session. Through hands-on learning and discussion, librarians and information professionals at any level/context will develop strategies to find and critically appraise the best evidence in any novel public health emergency situation.

Infodemics: A Challenge to Public Health

Infodemics, the information whether true or untrue have been seen to spread swiftly during the epidemic or pandemic or any other public health emergency situations. Among this information, the wrong and falsified ones create hindrances in the control measures amidst such situation leading to confusion and chaos among the public. Social media platforms play a crucial role in the spread of these false information and many people intentionally or unintentionally utilized the COVID-19 pandemic as a source for the spread of inaccurate and non-scientific things through social media platform. Therefore, management of infodemics is of utmost importance these days. Keeping this thing in our mind, we reviewed the scenario of spread of infodemics during the pandemic and how it affects the public health.