Public Health Organizations Research Articles

MassARRAY: a high-throughput solution for rapid detection of foodborne pathogens in real-world settings.

Bacterial foodborne pathogens pose a substantial global public health concern, prompting government agencies and public health organizations to establish food safety guidelines and regulations aimed at mitigating the risk of foodborne illness. The advent of DNA-based amplification coupled with mass spectrometry, known as MassARRAY analysis, has proven to be a highly precise, sensitive, high-throughput, and cost-effective method for bacterial detection. This study aimed to develop, validate, and evaluate a MassARRAY-based assay for the detection and identification of significant enteropathogenic bacteria. The MassARRAY-based assay was developed for the detection of 10 crucial bacterial foodborne pathogens, including Campylobacter coli, Campylobacter jejuni, Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Enterococcus faecium, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., and Staphylococcus aureus. The assay was optimized using the reference gDNA (n = 19), followed by validation using gDNA (n = 85) of reference and laboratory isolates. Additionally, the evaluation of the assay's reaction using a mixture of gDNA from all nine targeted species was performed. The limit of detection of the developed MassARRAY-based assay was determined using bacterial cells. Moreover, the validation method for field samples was evaluated by comparing it with standard microbiological testing methods routinely analyzed. The developed MassARRAY-based assay demonstrated 100% concordance with known bacterial pure cultures. The assay's reaction using a mixture of gDNA from all nine targeted species revealed the MassARRAY's capability to detect all targeted species in a single assay with the lowest concentration of 1 ng/μL of gDNA. The limits of detection of the assay range from 357 ± 101 to 282,000 ± 79,196 cells. Moreover, the validation of the assay in field samples revealed a 100% correlation between the data obtained from the standard microbiological method and the MassARRAY-based assay. These findings suggested that the developed MassARRAY-based assay exhibited the excellence in high-throughput detection of foodborne bacterial pathogens with high accuracy, reliability, and potential applicability within real-world field samples.

Exploring the needs of healthcare workers receiving psychological first aid during the COVID19 pandemic

BACKGROUND: Healthcare workers (HCW; e.g., nurses, social workers) work in stressful conditions, a situation that has been further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. A review of the supportive role of Psychological first aid (PFA) suggested that it can protect HCW from psychological distress. Despite the growing interest of PFA among public health organizations, there is a dearth of literature on its potential impact for the psychological well-being of HCW and its implementation within organizations. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate whether PFA met the psychological needs of HCW in Montreal, Quebec. METHODS: A sample of 15 HCW who received PFA by a peer within their organization were recruited to participate in semi-structured interviews. Qualitative research using thematic analysis was conducted. RESULTS: Five themes were identified: 1) PFA satisfied participants’ psychosocial needs; 2) PFA provided by peers allowed participants to feel understood and supported; 3) High availability and multiple modalities facilitated PFA access; 4) Occupational and organizational cultures hindered PFA access; and 5) Recommendations to promote the use of the PFA service. CONCLUSION: Results describe four psychosocial needs met by the PFA intervention: to have resources/strategies, to be validated, to obtain a better understanding of the psychological reactions they were experiencing, and to be guided and supported in their difficulties at work. Overall, these findings illustrate how PFA goes beyond the reduction of distress symptoms in the aftermath of a potentially traumatic event. The relevance to further the assessment of PFA’s positive effects on psychological adaptation and/or recovery is also highlighted.

Tracing the path of cycling initiatives: Revisiting Lancaster's CDT program and unravelling current policies

IntroductionActive modes of transportation have gained significant prominence in many cities, with governments and public health organizations increasingly advocating for cycling. While policy and planning decisions are actively aimed at boosting cycling rates, their long-term impact remains somewhat uncertain. This study seeks to shed light on the enduring effects of policy and planning decisions on cycling and outlines potential steps for sustainable progress. MethodsTo achieve this, we have chosen Lancaster, UK, as our case study, with a specific focus on the UK Government-funded Cycling Demonstration Towns (CDTs) program that operated from 2005 to 2011. Our approach involves revisiting this program and the changes in the city through a multi-pronged methodology: conducting surveys with cyclists (n = 65), engaging in interviews with personnel from Lancaster City and Lancashire County Council (n = 3), and analyzing cyclist numbers at specific locations (n = 5). ResultsThe findings of our study reveal the positive influence of the CDTs program on cycling rates and the perspectives of cyclists in Lancaster. However, after the program's completion, progress has been somewhat gradual, drawing attention to specific areas in need of improvement, particularly infrastructure and safety measures. ConclusionsIn conclusion, we delve into potential strategies for implementation, not only within Lancaster but also for other CDTs and cities aspiring to promote cycling initiatives. This underscores the effectiveness of such programs and decisions in the short-term while emphasizing the critical importance of sustained investments in infrastructure and maintenance for long-term impact.

Acute response to the October 7th hostage release: rapid development and evaluation of the novel ReSPOND protocol implementation within a children’s hospital

BackgroundThe decision to allocate hospitals for the initial reception of hostages abducted on the October 7th Hamas attack introduced an array of unprecedented challenges. These challenges stemmed from a paucity of existing literature and protocols, lack of information regarding captivity conditions, and variability in hostage characteristics and circumstances.ObjectiveTo describe the rapid development, implementation and evaluation of the Hostage-ReSPOND protocol, a comprehensive trauma-informed procedure for the care of hostages, including young children, their caregivers and families, immediately following their release from prolonged captivity.MethodsA multidisciplinary expert focus group conducted a comprehensive literature review to develop the ReSPOND protocol, consisting of: Readiness of teams via multifaceted trainings, utilizing live simulations and video debriefings; Specialized professional teams experienced in providing holistic trauma-informed care; Personalized care tailored to individualized and developmentally-informed needs; Optimal safety rooted in creating a secure environment and trauma-informed response to young children, adolescents, caregivers and families; and Navigating Discharge, through coordination with community-based care systems.ResultsA designated facility at the Children’s hospital was carefully prepared for receiving 29 hostages, aged 3.9–80 years, 28% under the age of 18. Implementation of the ReSPOND protocol, which prioritized holistic psychosocial interventions above urgent medical care, proved feasible and effective in managing the diverse and complex needs of returnees as per provider report. Finally, systemic assessment of returnee’s immediate and long-term mental health needs proved highly challenging.ConclusionsThere is currently no literature addressing the response to released hostages, especially those involving infants, young children and families within a children’s hospital facility. This study has the potential to fill a crucial gap in knowledge by introducing a novel protocol which could offer valuable insights for public health organizations tasked with providing acute care to diverse individuals and families experiencing extreme, multi-layered mass traumatization.

Household- and community-level factors of zero vegetable or fruit consumption among children aged 6-23 months in East Africa.

The World Health Organization recommends that children aged 6-23 months should consume a diversified diet, including fruits and vegetables, during each meal. However, low consumption of fruits and vegetables contributes to 2.8% of child deaths globally. The literature review indicates limited research on factors that affect zero vegetable or fruit consumption among children aged 6-23 months in East Africa. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the household- and community-level factors determining zero vegetable or fruit consumption among children aged 6-23 months in East Africa. The study analyzed cross-sectional secondary data from the recent rounds of demographic and health surveys conducted in East Africa from 2015 to 2023. The weighted sample comprised 113,279 children aged 6-23 months. A multilevel mixed-effect analysis was used, measuring the random variation between the clusters based on the intra-cluster correction coefficient, median odds ratio, and proportional change variance. Adjusted odds ratio with a 95% confidence interval was reported while considering variables having a p < 0.05 as statistically significant. The overall prevalence of zero vegetable or fruit consumption among children aged 6-23 months in East Africa was 52.3%, with Ethiopia showing the highest prevalence (85.9%). The factors associated with zero vegetable or fruit consumption were maternal educational level, number of household members, short birth interval, multiple births, sex of the household head, household wealth index, community-level maternal literacy, community-level wealth index, and countries. Considering the high overall prevalence of zero vegetable or fruit consumption among children aged 6-23 months in East Africa, overlooking this nutritional gap among children is a serious oversight. Therefore, efforts should be geared toward improving individual- and community-level maternal literacy. In particular, nutrition and public health organizations should support low-income communities to achieve vegetable or fruit consumption for infants and young children.

Prospects for the development of scientific research in nursing in Russia

Theoretical analysis of scientific research in nursing carried out by nursing staff and doctors showed that research was mainly carried out within the framework of the scientific specialty “Public health and healthcare organization, sociology and history of medicine.” Priority direction of research at the end of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century. – improvement of nursing activities. This coincided with the opinion of survey participants (n=530), who identified this area as one of the most promising today. To develop clinical nursing research, it is necessary to open a new scientific specialty specifically in nursing.

When Infant Mortality Was Born: Dutch Preventive Child Health Care without the State, 1890–1930

Abstract This article investigates the emergence of Dutch preventive child health care in the first decades of the twentieth century. It shows that the rise of collective action on this terrain followed from the recognition of “infant mortality” as a public problem – a late–nineteenth century configuration that went hand in hand with the professionalisation of paediatrics. It also shows that the organisational forms that this collective action took depended on whose health was perceived to be at stake in specific articulations of the public problem of infant mortality. Finally, this article explores the motives of the Dutch state in the organisation of public health in the interbellum and queries the relationship between the state and public health more broadly. Drawing on pragmatist philosophy, we argue that states are best understood as the result of historically contingent processes that take on different forms in different times and places. Such histories enable a better view of the elements at play in the organisation of collective action and of the pivotal role played therein by the perception of public problems.

Bringing the Public Health Informatics and Technology Workforce Together: The PHIAT Conference.

The field of public health informatics has undergone significant evolution in recent years, and advancements in technology and its applications are imperative to address emerging public health challenges. Interdisciplinary approaches and training can assist with these challenges. In 2023, the inaugural Public Health Informatics and Technology (PHIAT) Conference was established as a hybrid 3-day conference at the University of California, San Diego, and online. The conference's goal was to establish a forum for academics and public health organizations to discuss and tackle new opportunities and challenges in public health informatics and technology. This paper provides an overview of the quest for interest, speakers and topics, evaluations from the attendees, and lessons learned to be implemented in future conferences.

The dynamics of hybrid-immune and immunodeficient susceptible individuals and the three stages of COVID-19 vaccination

The World Health Organization has disclosed that the hybrid-immune and immunodeficient individuals are two distinct classes of individuals susceptible to the COVID-19 virus. To model this unique characteristics of two distinct categories of susceptible individuals and the dynamics of the three phases of a vaccination program implemented by the World Health Organization in Malaysia, which have not been accounted for in previous studies, a twelve compartmental SSVEIHQR-D epidemiological model was developed. This model aimed to accurately capture the spread of the COVID-19 virus by fitting real-life data to the model and obtaining updated estimates of the reproduction number. The study also focused on assessing current control measures and exploring strategies to eradicate the virus and mitigate future outbreaks. Mathematical analyses of the model included investigations into stability, equilibrium points, the basic reproduction number R0, optimal control strategies, and sensitivity analyses. Estimation and fitting of the model parameters were conducted using daily situation reports from the Ministry of Health of Malaysia. The obtained value of the basic reproduction number, based on fitted parameter values, indicated stability and reflected the current pandemic situation more realistically. Additionally, the herd immunity threshold was calculated and interpreted in the context of the study findings. Finally, practical insights and recommendations derived from the model’s results were provided to inform government agencies, public health organizations, and intervention bodies, aimed at controlling the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

LIFE AS A DISSIPATIVE STRUCTURE. A METABLETIC EXPLORATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH RESEARCH

This paper elaborates on the attempts in medical science to tackle complex or non-linear phenomena at the microscopic scale by a process of linearization. Questions of predictability and computability of stochastic phenomena are at the basis of the extrapolation of molecular interactions from the microscale to the macroscale of the cellular machinery and of the multicellular organism. The effects of this linearization procedure not only are observed in the handling of cellular processes in medicine, but also generate consequences at the population level in the organization of public health. The notion of dissipative structure thus is inferred at several levels of organization. This paper is centered around the discovery of the (messenger) RNA concept by the Brussels Rouge-Cloître Group, a discovery that played a key-role in the postwar developments of molecular biology and genomics, and consequently also in epidemiology and vaccine development. In the footsteps of the philosophy of Peter Sloterdijk, the conceptual framework of immunology not only is found to constitute a medical discipline, but it is also identified as a group-forming (neuro-) semantic mechanism. As such it forms a target in AI-generated networks. A final note is added to the need and urgency of limitations set to the exploitation of these semantic mechanisms, for the sake of human social cohesion.

Community Power-Building Groups And Public Health NGOs: Reimagining Public Health Advocacy.

Public health frameworks have grappled with the inequitable distribution of power as a driver of the social conditions that determine health. However, these frameworks have not adequately considered building community power as a strategy to shift the distribution of power. Community power-building organizations build and organize a base of affected people to take collective action to transform their material conditions, using advocacy and other tactics. We conducted qualitative interviews with representatives of twenty-two national nongovernmental public health organizations (public health NGOs) and thirteen community power-building organizations to explore the nature and potential of partnerships between public health and community power-building organizations. Our findings suggest ways to close advocacy gaps within the public health ecosystem and ways in which public health can strategically leverage its power, resources, and expertise to support social justice campaigns and movements.

Misinformation surrounding sodium reduction for blood pressure: content analysis of Japanese posts on X.

This content analysis aimed to assess misinformation themes regarding sodium reduction and blood pressure on X with the goal of providing strategies to address and debunk such misinformation. A total of 531 posts were manually coded into sodium-related misinformation themes, with inclusion criteria for posts asserting no association between sodium reduction and hypertension or claiming consuming sodium is beneficial for health. Numbers and post frequencies per misinformation theme were calculated. Post characteristics, including information sources, advertisements and narratives, were coded, and a correlation analysis was conducted to assess their association with each misinformation theme. Fourteen sodium-related misinformation themes were identified and consistently disseminated on X. The predominant theme, 'Natural Salt', accounted for 37.7% (n = 200), reaching 1.6 million followers, followed by 'Reducing salt could be bad for my health' theme, comprising 28.6% (n = 152) and reaching 1.5 million followers. There was a statistical correlation between the natural salt misinformation theme and advertisements. Many of the most frequent misinformation themes identified in this study have not been systematically debunked by organizations such as the World Health Organization and the American Heart Association. This study underscores the importance of continuous monitoring and analysis of sodium-related misinformation on social media platforms and their underlying commercial interests. Such monitoring has the potential to identify prevalent misinformation themes that may pose harm to the public and to inform public health organizations, enabling them to proactively address potential issues through debunking.

Advancing livestock and poultry disease diagnosis with high-resolution melt curve analysis

High-Resolution Melting (HRM) is a sensitive polymerase chain reaction-based molecular assay used to detect, single nuclear polymorphisms, mutations, and variations in genotypes of pathogens. HRM analysis is more convenient than other detection and discrimination approaches since it is a closed-tube method, that is the polymerase chain reaction amplification and subsequent analysis are carried out sequentially in the well. It finds application in various veterinary diagnoses and discrimination of genotypes of the microorganisms. Numerous public health organizations have recommended increased monitoring activities to support current surveillance programs in response to the threat of bioterrorism and emerging infectious diseases. HRM assay will be an efficient, cost-effective disease diagnostic and genotype of circulating pathogen identification method thereby aiding in disease surveillance which is important for monitoring the spread of infectious diseases. This review emphasizes the application of HRM in livestock, poultry, and companion animals in recent times carried out all over the world for determining the genotype, strain, and breed differentiation including pathogens classification.

A scoping review of ethics review processes during public health emergencies in Africa.

The COVID-19 pandemic forced governments, multilateral public health organisations and research institutions to undertake research quickly to inform their responses to the pandemic. Most COVID-19-related studies required swift approval, creating ethical and practical challenges for regulatory authorities and researchers. In this paper, we examine the landscape of ethics review processes in Africa during public health emergencies (PHEs). We searched four electronic databases (Web of Science, PUBMED, MEDLINE Complete, and CINAHL) to identify articles describing ethics review processes during public health emergencies and/or pandemics. We selected and reviewed those articles that were focused on Africa. We charted the data from the retrieved articles including the authors and year of publication, title, country and disease(s) reference, broad areas of (ethical) consideration, paper type, and approach. Of an initial 4536 records retrieved, we screened the titles and abstracts of 1491 articles, and identified 72 articles for full review. Nine articles were selected for inclusion. Of these nine articles, five referenced West African countries including Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone, and experiences linked to the Ebola virus disease. Two articles focused on South Africa and Kenya, while the other two articles discussed more general experiences and pitfalls of ethics review during PHEs in Africa more broadly. We found no articles published on ethics review processes in Africa before the 2014 Ebola outbreak, and only a few before the COVID-19 outbreak. Although guidelines on protocol review and approval processes for PHEs were more frequently discussed after the 2014 Ebola outbreak, these did not focus on Africa specifically. There is a gap in the literature about ethics review processes and preparedness within Africa during PHEs. This paper underscores the importance of these processes to inform practices that facilitate timely, context-relevant research that adequately recognises and reinforces human dignity within the quest to advance scientific knowledge about diseases. This is important to improve fast responses to PHEs, reduce mortality and morbidity, and enhance the quality of care before, during, and after pandemics.

Health and social care managers' self-assessed competence in knowledge management: A descriptive cross-sectional study.

To describe health and social care managers' self-assessed competence in knowledge management and the factors associated with management competence. It has been shown that the performance of an organization is as good as the competence of its managers, so health and social care managers' competence in knowledge management should be assessed to improve organizational performance. A descriptive cross-sectional design. A total of 116 managers participated from six Finnish public health and social care organizations. The data were collected in February and August 2022 using the managers' competence in knowledge management (MCKM) instrument and analysed using descriptive statistical methods. Health and social care managers rated their self-reported total competence in knowledge management as good. Among the dimensions of knowledge management competence, managing a culture of competence received the highest rating, while planning competence development and cooperation was perceived as the weakest dimension. The results indicate that background factors such as the healthcare setting, the number of units managed and the number of direct staff had a statistically significant association with the health and social care managers' self-assessed competence in planning competence development and cooperation. Even though the health and social care managers' total self-assessed competence level in knowledge management was rated as good, the results underscore the significance of continuous competence development among these managers in all dimensions of knowledge management. By enhancing and clarifying managers' tasks and competence in knowledge management, managers can increase staff retention, attractiveness and work well-being. The results can be utilized to identify managers' strengths and weaknesses in knowledge management and, thus, effectively target their limited competence development resources. The STrengthening the Reporting of OBservational studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) checklist. There is no patient or public contribution.

Geospatial mapping of public sentiment and infodemic on human papillomavirus vaccination in India: An indication to formulation of strategies for effective implementation

ABSTRACT The implementation of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination is crucial for eliminating cervical cancer in India. The infodemic, characterised by misleading information, could hinder the successful implementation of the initiative. Misinformation related to the HPV vaccine, such as rumours, has been reported and circulated, contributing to an alarming pattern of vaccine hesitancy observed on social media. This study aimed to identify the public sentiment towards HPV vaccination based on the ‘Behavioral and Social Drivers (BeSD)’ framework through geospatial, content and sentiment analysis. A total of 1,487 tweets were extracted. After preprocessing, 1010 tweets were identified for sentiment and content analysis. The sentiments expressed towards the HPV vaccine are mixed, with a generally positive outlook on the vaccines. Within the population, there is a pervasive proliferation of misinformation, primarily focusing on vaccine safety and efficacy, contentious subjects, ethical considerations, and a prevalent sense of uncertainty in selecting the appropriate vaccine. These observations are crucial for developing targeted strategies to address public concerns and enhance vaccination rates. The insights gained from these results will guide policymakers, healthcare practitioners, and public health organisations to implement evidence-based interventions, thereby countering vaccine hesitancy and improving public health outcomes.

Germany's national public health gets reorganized: A new institute shall take center stage

In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, the German federal government recently orchestrated a fundamental change to its public health infrastructure. This reconstruction centers around the founding of a National Institute for Prevention and Education in Medicine (Bundesinstitut für Prävention und Aufklärung in der Medizin, BIPAM) at the cost of two federal institutions, the Robert Koch-Institute (RKI) and the Federal Center for Health Education (Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung, BzGA). Thus, the Federal Ministry of Health (Bundesministerium für Gesundheit, BMG) plans to dissolve the BzGA and integrate its personnel into the future BIPAM. Further, all RKI research and surveillance activities related to non-communicable diseases, including AI methods development will be transferred into the BIPAM. The RKI responsibilities will solely focus on infectious diseases. According to announced plans of the BMG the primary objective for establishing the BIPAM is to address non-communicable diseases and enhance overall population health. However, the medical specialist training for public health remains non-academic at a state institution. Simultaneously the BMG already replaced two thirds of experts of the permanent commission on vaccination (Ständige Impfkommission, STIKO) and determined new procedures for appointing future expert commissioners. With these changes, Germany embarks on an extraordinary reshuffling of its national public health organizations and responsibilities, by fundamentally separating all issues around non-communicable diseases from those of infectious diseases. Germany's unraveled research tasks of public health authorities however remains unmet. Thus, 2024 marks a pivotal caesura for public health in the modern history of Germany.

Treatment organization of disabled veterans with mental illnesses in the post-war years (1945–1950) (based on the materials of the Tambov Psychiatric Hospital)

Importance. Studying the treatment features of participants and disabled veterans of the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, who were in regional psychiatric hospitals, allows not only to clarify the levels of medical care for such military veterans, but also to evaluate the results of public health organization in the postwar years through the prism of Soviet psychiatry development in the 20th century, as well as the results of medical care for war veterans. A detailed study of the situation of disabled veterans in psychiatric clinics in the post-war period is very useful, which will clarify many little-studied aspects not only of the history of medicine, but also of the development of interpersonal, group, and regional relations in socialist society.Research Methods. The methodological features of the study of the stated problems are based on the author’s concept of involving the works of contemporaries, primarily specialists in the field of psychiatry, practitioners of the Tambov region, as well as the actual case histories and anamnesis of mental illness. Materials from state and party archives of the Tambov region and memoirs of contemporaries were used, many of which were introduced into scientific circulation for the first time.Results and Discussion. In fact, patients of psychiatric hospitals in the post-war period received almost the entire necessary complex of therapeutic and preventive procedures and rehabilitation measures. At the same time, it must be borne in mind that the post-war devastation, lack of food, clothing, and a number of medicines seriously complicated the capabilities of medical organizations, which often did not have the necessary resources to fully organize the treatment of war veterans suffering from mental illness. In addition, there are often problems with heating, the supply of necessary equipment and supplies for the psychiatric hospital, which left an imprint on practical health care at the regional level. Nevertheless, Tambov psychiatrists used the full range of medical procedures and medicines available to them, both traditional and new, which gave a tangible therapeutic effect. It is important to note that in the post-war years there is a complete rejection of the elements of “punitive” psychiatry due to the cessation of placing patients in isolation, as well as wet wraps. In addition, the use of intensive treatment methods required coordination with the chief physician.Conclusion. The results of the study of the problem made it possible to assess these processes, viewed through the prism of the development of regional health care, to identify trends in the development of Soviet psychiatry in the first post-war decade. The development of an outpatient network for the provision of medical care to war invalids suffering from mental disorders and diseases is clarified. The assessment of the placement of military veterans in labor unions, enterprises and homes for the disabled is given. It is concluded that, in general, regional psychiatry has shown its capacity and effectiveness in terms of treatment and rehabilitation of military invalids who had mental illnesses.

Covid Classification System for Covid Detection

The ongoing global pandemic, which has now become an endemic has had a significant impact on the educational sector. Despite advancements in technology, there is no real- time prevention of COVID-19 transmission especially UiTM Tapah students that must go through crowd to reach health unit and have high possibility of spreading the disease. This research aims to develop a mobile application by utilizing machine learning for UiTM Tapah students to classify their COVID-19 status. To ensure a systematic and efficient development process, the research adopted the Mobile Application Development Life Cycle (MADLC) methodology. Within the application, the core of the machine learning functionality lies in the implementation of an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). By using 5,434 samples of data that had previously been classified by previous studies that analyzed student data such as symptoms to identify potential cases of the virus. The ANN approach performed greatly with the accuracy of 98%. Feedback from 32 respondents helped identify students' difficulties during the pandemic, which results in majority of the respondents agreeing that MCO affecting them adapting to online learning, and access to healthcare facilities. Furthermore, the usability testing conducted using the System Usability Scale (SUS) provided valuable insights into the system's user-friendliness and effectiveness. The results indicated a high level of usability, with a SUS score of 88.3 from 30 UiTM Tapah students while 76.25 from UiTM Tapah lecturers. This system was usable to classify the risk of infection among students who had not yet been diagnosed, while having some room for improvements. The system's ability to identify infected individuals promptly and accurately aided in controlling the spread of the virus, thereby protecting both students and staff. Thus, the classification system by using ANN was a valuable tool for public health organizations in their efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Exploring the gaps between training and expected job skills of public health graduates to identify: A way forward.

To explore the non-alignment between what is taught in academic programmes for public health and what is actually needed or expected in the field. The qualitative phenomenological study was conducted from October 2020 to April 2021 in Karachi after approval from the institutional ethics review board of Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Karachi. The sample comprised major stakeholders including representatives of public health institutions and organisations involved in the implementation of public health programmes. Data was collected through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions using a guide after content validation by an expert. Data was analysed using both inductive and deductive approaches. A total of 13 in-depth interviews and 5 focus group discussions were conducted. Regarding gaps in the process of curriculum development, 2 major concerns emerged; lack of comprehensive involvement of experts in different fields of public health in designing the curriculum, and the lack of incorporation of the feedback provided by students in revising the curriculum. Regarding the content of curriculum, three main themes emerged; theoretical nature of courses, lack of uniformity in all programmes, and poor local contextualisation. The casual approach of students and barriers faced by them in joining public health programmes also affected the quality of such programmes. Three broad areas of improvement were identified, which included improvement in curriculum, methods of learning, and improving students' approach.