Public Health Events Research Articles

Developing Cultural Humility Through an Interprofessional Clinical Education Experience.

An interprofessional clinical education model operating student-led, faculty-guided clinics partnered with rural Midwest American communities lacking health care access. To evaluate how an internship, guided by the Theory of Cultural Humility, during the COVID-19 pandemic supported development of cultural humility in interprofessional health profession students. Nursing, exercise science, public health, and social work participants completed an internship during early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, despite many experiences being suspended. Quantitative evaluation using pre-/postadministration of Foronda's Cultural Humility Scale was completed across 3 periods measuring change in cultural humility. Total scores of Foronda's Cultural Humility Scale increased for all 3 periods (n = 11, n = 74, and n = 44), demonstrated by aggregate data and statistical analysis. The largest change occurred in the first period. Engaging interprofessional students in experiential learning during real-life, real-time public health events creates reflection of complex practice issues while developing cultural humility.

Exploring the Quantitative Assessment of Spatial Risk in Response to Major Epidemic Disasters in Megacities: A Case Study of Qingdao.

With the global spread of various human-to-human epidemics, public health issues have become a focus of attention. Therefore, it is of great importance to improve the quantitative risk assessment of the construction of resilient cities in terms of epidemic disasters. Starting with the dimensions of social activities and material space, this paper took Qingdao, China, with a population of 5 million, as an example, and took its seven municipal districts as the research scope. In this paper, five risk factors, including the Population density index, Night light index, Closeness index of roads, Betweenness index of roads and Functional mixed nuclear density index were selected for weighted superposition analysis. We conducted a quantitative assessment of the spatial risk of epidemic disaster so as to obtain the classification and spatial structure of the epidemic disaster risk intensity. The results show that: ① The roads with a large traffic flow are most likely to lead to the risk of urban spatial agglomeration, and the areas with a large population density and large mixture of infrastructure functions are also important factors causing the risk of epidemic agglomeration. ② The analysis results regarding the population, commerce, public services, transportation, residence, industry, green space and other functional places can reflect the high-risk areas for epidemic diseases with different natures of transmission. ③ The risk intensity of epidemic disasters is divided into five risk grade areas. Among them, the spatial structure of epidemic disasters, composed of the first-level risk areas, is characterized by "one main area, four secondary areas, one belt and multiple points" and has the characteristics of spatial diffusion. ④ Catering, shopping, life services, hospitals, schools and transportation functional places are more likely to cause crowd gathering. The management of these places should be focused on prevention and control. At the same time, medical facilities should be established at fixed points in all high-risk areas to ensure the full coverage of services. In general, the quantitative assessment of the spatial risk of major epidemic disasters improves the disaster risk assessment system in the construction of resilient cities. It also focuses on risk assessment for public health events. It is helpful to accurately locate the agglomeration risk areas and epidemic transmission paths that are prone to outbreak or cause epidemic transmission in cities so as to assist the relevant practitioners in containing the epidemic from the initial stage of transmission in a timely manner and prevent the further spread of the epidemic.

Study of the Challenges and Ways of Improvement of International Health Regulations -based on regulations related to cooperation between Contracting States

The International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) gives health guidance to prevent global outbreaks of infectious diseases and help contracting parties to become open and cooperate. The lack of horizontal information shared among States parties, the need for pre-epidemic prevention, and the wide variation of State parties' action capacity are the problems that IHR (2005) has to face in COVID-19. The revision of the IHR is necessary. Improving the information-sharing mechanism between States Parties, strengthening the capacity of States Parties to prevent public health incidents, improving the implementation of State parties' response in public health events and refining the health construction regulations of States Parties, and urging States Parties to improve the level of medical and health emergency response are important four aspects which should be implemented now.

Public opinion changing patterns under the double-hazard scenario of natural disaster and public health event

In the context of the COVID-19 epidemic, a “double-hazard scenario” consisting of a natural disaster and a public health event occurring simultaneously is likely to arise. Focusing on this double-hazard scenario, this study developed a new opinion dynamics model that verifies the effect of opinion dynamic in practical applications and extends the realistic meaning of the logic matrix. The new model can be used to quickly identify changing trends in public opinion about two co-occurring public safety events in China, helping the government to better anticipate and respond to these real double-hazard scenarios. The new model was tested with three real double-hazard scenarios involving natural disasters and public health events in China and the simulation results were analyzed. Using visualization and Pearson correlation coefficients to analyze more than a million items of network-wide public opinion data, the new model was found to show a good fit with reality. The study finally found that in China, public attention to both natural hazards and public health events was greater when these public safety events co-occurred (double-hazard scenario) than when they occurred separately (single-hazard scenarios). These results verify the coupling phenomenon of different disasters in a multi-hazard scenario at the information level for the first time, which is greatly meaningful for multi-hazard research.

Research and Practice of Vehicle-mounted Mobile CT Based on Emergency Medical Rescue

In order to solve the problem of inadequate CT screening ability in emergency medical rescue in remote mountainous areas, high-altitude areas, other public health events and sudden natural disasters, a vehicle-mounted mobile CT suitable for emergency medical rescue is studied. A vehicle chassis system suitable for long-distance transportation and a cabin system suitable for epidemic prevention and control was designed. A domestic 32-slice CT with small volume, light weight and high stability was selected to design a vehicle-mounted mobile CT suitable for emergency medical rescue. The high-performance vehicle-mounted mobile CT can provide rapid support, and provide large-scale screening, emergency medical rescue, a supplement to daily CT scanning in peacetime and wartime. The vehicle CT has high stability, fast scanning speed and high social and economic value.

Can Internet penetration curb the spread of infectious diseases among regions?-Analysis based on spatial spillover perspective.

Based on the outbreak of COVID-19, this paper empirically studied the impact of internet penetration on the incidence of class A and B infectious diseases among regions in spatial Dubin model, by using health panel data from 31 provinces in China from 2009 to 2018. The findings showed that: (1) The regional spillover effect of incidence of class A and B infectious diseases was significantly positive, and that is most obvious in the central regions. (2) Internet penetration not only has a positive effect on curbing the spread of infectious diseases within the local region but also help to inhibits the proximity spread of infectious diseases in neighborhood, showing the synergistic effect of "neighbor as a partner" in joint prevention and control mechanism. (3) The "digital gap" between regions, urban and rural areas, and user structures had led to significant group differences in the effect of the Internet on suppressing the spread of Class A and B infectious diseases. The findings of this paper provide a reference for understanding the potential role of the Internet in the COVID-19 and also provide policy support for the construction of Internet-based inter-regional "joint prevention and control mechanism" in public health events.

Designing a resilient retail supply network for fresh products under disruption risks.

The retail sector supplies the daily fresh products and increasingly plays a key role in the stability and livability of cities. However, public health events such as COVID-19 have caused frequent product shortages in recent years. The risk of fresh product shortages not only causes retailers to lose profits, but also affects the normal life of residents. In this paper, we address the problem of designing a resilient retail supply network for fresh products under the supply disruption risks and propose a bi-objective mixed-integer programming model. This model can help retailers to select suppliers, distribution centers and transportation routes under different scenarios and implement three resilience strategies, namely, priority supply, multiple sourcing and lateral transshipment. We use the ε -constraint method to transform the multi-objective problem into a single objective model and develop a Lagrangian relaxation algorithm to solve the different scale instances. This model is solved for a real-life case of a supermarket to obtain managerial insights. In the case study, this paper shows the set of Pareto fronts with different inventory periods, maximum allowed decay and decay rate. We calculate the expected total cost under targeted disruption scenarios and evaluate the effectiveness of these resilience strategies when implemented concurrently or separately. Our results identify the most critical suppliers and distribution centers that should be fortified. We elaborate that more resilience strategies are not always better and managers need to take appropriate resilience strategies according to their own problems.

Fulfilling 6 Domains of Health Care Quality: A Qualitative Parental Caregiver Study of Pediatric Telehealth During a Pandemic.

Using qualitative methods, we examine telehealth care quality from the perspective of parents of pediatric patients during a pandemic. We fill a gap in the literature essential for measuring effectiveness of pediatric telehealth. A total of 22 participants (n = 21 female; n = 1 male) enrolled in 1 of 9 interviews and focus groups conducted in 2021. Transcribed data were thematically analyzed and organized based on the 6 domains of quality health care by the Institute of Medicine (IOM). Analyzed data revealed 7 themes and 52 codes. Pediatric telehealth visits were perceived as efficient, timely, safe, and generally effective by parents for their child's health care. Participants experienced equal or greater time with their child's care provider via telehealth than through in-person visits. Qualitative results directly align with IOM domains of quality health care and contribute to the growing literature and evidence that may lead to improved telehealth outcomes and better preparedness for emergent public health events.

Comparison of ocular trauma between normalized and the COVID-19 epidemic periods in China: a multi-center cross-sectional study.

To compare the feature of ocular trauma between normalized period and the COVID-19 epidemic period in China, and to provide a profile for eye injuries in special times in future. This is a multi-center cross-sectional study with 30 participated hospitals involving the China Ocular Trauma Society members. All hospitalized cases who visited the Ophthalmology Department in participated hospitals with eye injuries during the normalized period (2019) and the COVID-19 epidemic period (2020) were included in this study. Demographic characteristic of cases, date of injury, sites and types of injury were collected. This study involved 13 525 (61 cases with both eyes) injured cases. There were 7269 (53.74%) eye-injured cases and 6256 (46.26%) eye-injured cases in 2019 and 2020 separately. Compared with 2019, the incidence of ocular trauma in retirees, housewives and unemployed increased with year-on-year of 4.96%, 102.67%, and 11.64% among all occupations. In 2020, the incidence of eye injuries decreased in all injury sites except for an increase in home (30.29% year-on-year). The incidence of mechanical eye injuries decreased, while that of non-mechanical eye injuries (chemical/thermal/radiation) increased (47.45% year-on-year). There were 255 (3.51%, 255/7269) and 376 (6.01%, 376/6256) non-mechanical injured cases in 2019 and 2020 (Pearson Chi2=47.33, P<0.001) separately. During the COVID-19 epidemic period, the total cases of ocular trauma decrease but the proportion of non-mechanical ocular trauma increase. Penetrating is still the highest proportion among all types of mechanical ocular trauma. From a preventive point of view, protection for retired persons, housewives and unemployed persons should be improved during public health events period.

After-action reviews for emergency preparedness and response to infectious disease outbreaks.

After-action reviews (AARs) are a qualitative evaluation methodology conducted after a public health event recommended by the World Health Organization. Of 86 screened articles, we identified eight using AARs to evaluate public health responses to infectious disease outbreaks. Our findings suggested the toolkit is suitable to evaluate responses to infectious disease outbreaks but needs to be adapted for use in particular settings.

Construction of the Meaning of Chinese Government Press Conferences under Public Health Emergencies Based on the Theory of Political Communication

In the process of responding to public health emergencies, the government should promote effective communication with the public and further unblock the channels of communication between the government and the public. Government press conferences are an important channel for the government to communicate with the outside world and an important tool for the government to respond to public health emergencies. The government should make reasonable use of press conferences to actively respond to social concerns, promote the positive function of public opinion, and improve the ability to respond to sudden public health forgetfulness so as to promote the formation of a synergy of social governance. Based on the theory of political communication, this paper focuses on the practical principles and operational risks of government press conferences under public health events and puts forward governance ideas to standardize the release process, strengthen interaction and cooperation, and improve emergency response capacity, so as to achieve emergency management capabilities of government press conferences under public health emergencies.

Exploring the Dynamic Characteristics of Public Risk Perception and Emotional Expression during the COVID-19 Pandemic on Sina Weibo

(1) Background: Risk perception is a key factor in motivating people to comply with preventive behaviors during the COVID-19 pandemic. Appropriate risk perception is important to enhance beliefs and promote emergency management response to public health events. (2) Objective: This study developed a public risk perception measurement method for social media data to understand the dynamic characteristics of risk perception and emotional expression during public health emergencies. (3) Methods: Utilizing text-mining techniques and deep-learning algorithms, risk perception was calculated from two dimensions (dread and unknown) as well as the emotional expression characteristics of 185,025 posts from 10 January 2020 to 20 March 2020 on Sina Weibo. We also analyzed the characteristics of risk perception at different stages of the crisis life cycle. Furthermore, drawing on arousal theory, we constructed dynamic response relationships between emotion type (angry, fearful, sad, positive, and neutral) and risk perceptions by a vector autoregressive (VAR) model. (4) Results: The results revealed that the public expresses significantly more dread words than unknown words in shaping the risk perception process. As for the characteristics of evolution, public risk perception had been at a high level since the outbreak stage, and there was a sudden increase and a gradual decrease in the level of public risk perception. We also found that there is a significant response relationship between positive emotion, angry emotion, and risk perception. (5) Conclusion: This study provides a theoretical basis for more targeted epidemic crisis interventions. It points out the need for health communication strategy makers to consider the public’s risk perception and emotional expression characteristics during public health emergencies.

Does COVID-19 Affect the Accessibility of Outdoor Sports Venues? A Case Study in Nanchang, China

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a great challenge to society, the economy, and population health. It has become a significant public health event and social problem. Exploring the impact of COVID-19 on the accessibility of outdoor sports venues is crucial for people’s health. Based on spatial theory, the quantitative and qualitative analyses of outdoor sports venues’ spatial distribution and accessibility were conducted, and the epidemic’s impact on them was analyzed. The results show that: (1) The existing outdoor sports venues in Nanchang show a distribution pattern of “sparse in the north and south, and strong aggregation in the middle”. (2) As a result of the epidemic, the center of the standard deviation ellipse in outdoor sports sites shifted to the southeast, while the number of open venues decreased by 68%. (3) Before COVID-19, the entire study area could achieve full coverage by driving for 17 min, riding for 70 min, or walking for 119 min. After COVID-19, the time increased to 29, 109, and 193 min, respectively. (4) Under the high-risk scenario of COVID-19, the average walking time for people to reach outdoor sports venues increased from 6.2 min to 14.0 min in the study area, with an increase of 126%. Finally, according to the findings of this study, recommendations were made on how government departments could build or re-open outdoor sports venues during and after this epidemic.

Analysis on the development and impact of public health emergencies and public health events on the hotel tourism industry

Analysis on the development and impact of public health emergencies and public health events on the hotel tourism industry

Kako učimo iz vanrednih situacija u javnom zdravlju? - obučavanje stručnjaka iz oblasti javnog zdravlja o proverama prilikom i nakon sprovođenja mera tokom pandemije COVID-19

Public health crises require continuous learning to improve preparedness and response to future public health threats. Intra- and after-action reviews (IAR/AAR), as part of the Monitoring and Evaluation Framework under the International Health Regulations (IHR, 2005), constitute important elements for initiating and implementing learning processes during and after public health events. However, in the early COVID-19 pandemic, experience with these formats was limited and there were few opportunities for exchange. As part of the Joint Action SHARP, we conducted two virtual trainings and a peer-to-peer review workshop in 2021 and 2022 to address this need. The trainings and workshop entailed an overview of the IAR/AAR methodology as well as practical exercises and interactive elements. Participants, generally, increased their understanding of IAR/ AARs and welcomed the opportunity for networking and exchange. We conclude that such trainings should be offered more broadly and possibly be expanded to build and maintain workforce capacities for learning from crises.

Maternal morbidity and mortality in Brazil and the urgency of a national surveillance system for maternal near miss

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the analysis of severe maternal morbidity/maternal near miss cases as complementary to the analysis of maternal deaths since the incidence is higher and the predictive factors of the two outcomes are similar. Considering that the reasons for maternal mortality in Brazil have remained constant despite the commitment made during the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2015, this article aims to propose a nationwide maternal near miss surveillance system. We propose the inclusion of maternal near miss events in the National List of Compulsory Notification of Diseases, Injuries, and Public Health Events, via the compatibility of the diagnostic criteria of maternal near miss, informed by the WHO, with the codes of the International Classification of Diseases for the identification of cases. Considering that health surveillance is based on several sources of information, notification could be made by health service professionals as soon as a confirmed or suspected case is identified. With the study of the factors associated with the outcomes, we expect a qualified evaluation of the services focused on obstetric care and consequent implementation of more efficient policies to prevent not only maternal death but also events that can both cause irreversible sequelae to women's health and increase the risk of fetal and neonatal death.

Examining the Effect of Social Media Use on COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy in China

Public willingness to vaccinate has become an important public health issue given the vaccine hesitancy observed worldwide in recent decades. And social media is the main way of information dissemination, and will bring a great impact on people in public health events. The present paper analyzes the relationship between vaccinated Chinese people’s vaccine attitudes and social media information networks. This study aims to explore the impact of social media use on vaccine hesitancy by generating a descriptive statistical and structural model analysis of vaccine hesitancy-relevant content. In this study, the influence model between social media use behavior and vaccination willingness was constructed from three perspectives, including contact intensity, social media trust, and social media information satisfaction. Questionnaires were distributed online, and relevant data analysis software was used. In China, public enthusiasm for the covid-19 vaccine is generally high, and news on social media may have an impact on the willingness to receive the vaccine. Additionally, the Chinese government’s COVID-19 control policies make people who are not willing to actively vaccinate will be vaccinated for their daily life and work reasons. All these reflect the low correlation between vaccination and media publicity. Therefore, social media has a certain impact on COVID-19 vaccination behavior, but it is not the main factor affecting public vaccination.

Heritage and Innovation of Art Creation in the Context of Big Data and Public Health Events

In the context of big data of public health events, the inheritance and innovation of fine art creation becomes a new opportunity and challenge. In this paper, based on the art image data collection, we establish a convolutional neural network model with migration learning and inverse algorithm for the recognition of art creation under the big data of public health events. The experimental results show that the visual image analysis algorithm can classify paintings with an accuracy of more than 99%, which has good painting recognition effect and classification ability. The migration learning model achieves a training accuracy of over 97% at 50 training rounds and also performs well on the test set with an accuracy of 96. 97%. Using the neural network model of art creation established in this paper for intelligent innovation of art images, with the increase of model settings, it can guarantee the recognition of art creation images between 60% and 80%, and with the increase of iterations, the effective linearity keeps stabilizing and the innovation rate keeps increasing, up to 79.0%. In this paper, the established methods are introduced into Lenet-s model, GoogleNet model and ResNet model for experiments, and it can be seen that the training sets1 of the three models have greater than or equal to 99.8%, 99.6% and 99.4%, respectively, and the training sets2 of the three models have 99.4%, 99.2% and 99.4%, respectively, which proves the neural network model of this paper validity.

Public Health Events and Economic Growth in a Neoclassical Framework

Public Health Events and Economic Growth in a Neoclassical Framework

Cross-Sectional Online Survey on Depression and Anxiety Among the Population Infected or Non-Infected with COVID-19 - China, December 2022.

The psychological impact of the large-scale infection of the population resulting from the end of lockdown measures in China during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is unknown. Among all participants, 55.7% had depression symptoms, with a significant difference between the infected and non-infected groups, and 30.1% had anxiety. Those who were young, unvaccinated, had lower incomes, and experienced chronic diseases were more likely to experience negative emotions. Government officials should take into account the effect of policies on public sentiment during similar public health events and implement tailored community interventions to address any negative sentiment.