Union Health Research Articles

The Dynamic Potential of European Union Health Law

Some understandings of European Union health law are based on a presumption of law as a static and closed system. This approach to the Union as a legal entity has important ramifications. The Union is a political system created by and subject to the rule of law. Its successes (and failures) are attributable to the legalisation of solving externalities and ensuring Member State solidarity to gain benefits from integration. Member States, which create and sustain the Union by repeated acts of sovereign choice, choose to subject themselves to the rule of (Union) law. This protects both the Member States and the Union institutions (imperfectly, but nonetheless) from charges of illegitimacy. While recognising the benefits of such an approach to European Union integration and law-making, we take the view that law also has an important dynamic potential. That dynamic potential is inherent in all law, for law is embodied in text, and always open to interpretation, as the external contexts that give legal text meaning in the real-world change through time. We trace the dynamic potential of Union health law by looking at its legal basis to its foundational Treaties, and we plot its trajectory going forward.

10.C. Round table: European public health week: how to unite a continent to celebrate healthy populations

The first two editions of the European Public Health Week (EUPHW) took place in May 2019 and May 2020. Both exceeded all expectations, registering more than 140 events in more than 30 countries each year - despite the pandemic context and a fully online format in 2020. In this session we will share insights from both editions, with the round table format allowing for a wider discussion of experiences with other countries from around the world.Under the motto “celebrating healthy populations” in 2019 and “joining forces for healthier populations” in 2020, EUPHW aims to raise awareness about public health, maximise existing messages around the five themes that are set each year, and encourage collaboration among all professionals contributing to public health at local, national, regional and European level. Amid the COVID-19 public health emergency, the importance of ensuring that populations remain healthy and that the public health community joins forces gained momentum.The five days of the 2020 edition were dedicated to the Sustainable Development Goals, primary care in the digital age, staying together for mental health, equal health for all, and healthy ageing - under the exceptional overarching theme of 'COVID-19 Collaboration, Coordination, Communication'. Last year's edition covered physical activity, healthy environments, the healthcare workforce, healthy and sustainable diets, and youth mental health.The EUPHW Coordinator will explain what the initiative consists of and reveal key figures from both editions. The different types of involvement in the EUPHW will also be described: Event host, Disseminator and Participant. Three panelists will represent the EUPHW Steering Committee, providing important insights into the backstage preparation of this large-scale initiative. One is the communications coordinator of the EUPHAnxt network, representing contributions from the young generation of public health professionals in Europe. A second panelist will not only share the experience of hosting EUPHW events but also represent EUPHA Sections, which play an important role in fact-checking resources and messages about each of the annual themes. The fourth panelist will share their experiences at country level through the Austrian Public Health Association and its own National Public Health Week. The final panelist will share examples of activities hosted by the community of public health schools across Europe.Although the focus of the EUPHW is the European region, its online reach enables the participation from anywhere in the world. In fact, both editions saw registered activities in Brazil, USA, South Africa, Kenya, Australia and Colombia.The EUPHW is an initiative by the European Public Health Association (EUPHA), receives co-funding under an operating grant from the European Union's Health Programme (2014-2020) and is supported by the WHO Regional Office for Europe.Key messages The European Public Health Week brings together a continent to raise awareness about important public health issues.The workshop unveils how public health themes are explored on different contexts, across different cultures and in different formats. Panelists: Debora Miranda EUPHA, PortugalContact: debbiemiranda@gmail.com Thomas Dorner Austrian Public Health Association, AustriaContact: thomas.dorner@meduniwien.ac.atNicole RosenkötterNRW Centre for Health - Health Information, GermanyContact: Nicole.Rosenkoetter@lzg.nrw.de Pasquale Cacciatore EUPHAnxt, ItalyContact: pasqualecacciatore@gmail.com Robert Otok AASPHER, BelgiumContact: robert.otok@aspher.org

Road Noise Levels in Urban Environment Compared to Specification Limits. The Case of the City of Larissa, Greece

Greece, as well as other developed countries, is facing the growing problem of road traffic noise. It stands for a severe problem in the urban areas of the country, including the city of Larissa. The root cause is the huge increase in traffic volume and the lack of adequate urban infrastructure planning. Estimation of the level of road traffic noise is usually conducted using acoustic meters. It is widely accepted that most of the cities’ population is exposed to high noise levels due to controversial traffic capacity. Moreover, high noise levels are strongly related to phycological and neurological diseases. Thus, it is of utmost importance, the road noise levels to be lower than dictated by relevant specification limits. To develop better noise-environment policies, relative research should focus on the measurement of in-situ noise levels, so as appropriate for each case corrective measures to be taken. The present paper examines the noise levels of a center road of the 5th Greek city, in terms of population, compared to worldwide adopted noise specification limits. The clear aim stands for finding the percentage of road noise that exceeds commonly accepted threshold values, namely limit values of European Union and World Health Organization. The results of this research strongly indicate that measured noise values override upper limit values in a certain extent.

Health Insurance and Hospital Supply: Evidence from 1950s Coal Country

The United States government spends billions on public health insurance and has funded a number of programs to build health care facilities. However, the government runs these two types of programs separately: in different places, at different times, and for different populations. We explore whether access to both health insurance and hospitals can improve health outcomes and access to health care. We analyze a coal mining union health insurance program in 1950s Appalachia with and without a complementary hospital construction program. Our results show that the union insurance alone increased hospital births and reduced infant mortality. Once the union hospitals opened, however, the insurance and the hospitals together substantially increased the net amount of hospital beds and health care employees, with limited crowd-out of existing private hospitals. Our results suggest that hospitals can complement health insurance in underserved areas.

Influence of health warnings present on cigarette packets, on motivation to quit smoking, among smokers in a slum of Kolkata

Background: The Government of India by National Health Policy 2017 has set the target of relative reduction in prevalence of current tobacco use by 15% and 30% by 2020 and 2025 respectively. The Union health ministry had notified to mandatory display new health warnings to be covering 85% of the principal display area on all tobacco products (1 April 2016).Methods: This was an observational descriptive study with cross sectional in design carried out at Baghbazar slum in Kolkata with objective to study the smoking pattern, knowledge about health warning symbols (HWS) on tobacco products among the study population and to assess their motivation to quit and influence of HWS on their motivation. A total 66 smokers were interviewed using predesigned and pre tested questionnaire and analysis done using SPSS version 1.Results: About 83.3% study subjects were presently smoking and they were smoking daily, about 10 cigarette and bidi was smoked daily (median) and median duration without smoking was 1 month. About 63.6% study subjects were highly motivated to quit smoking. Health warning was definitely motivating them to quit smoking (p=0.01) but it was not resulting in actual quitting smoking (p=1.000). The main reason for motivation for quitting smoking was self-health related factor (84.6%).Conclusions: Health warning on cigarette packets increased the awareness about ill effects of smoking and motivated the smokers to quit smoking but not compelling them to quit smoking. Mostly those who were motivated to quit smoking were actually thinking about quitting due to other reasons.

Feasibility evaluation of a return-to-work program for workers with common mental disorders: Stakeholders' perspectives.

This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of a newly developed return-to-work program for workers with common mental disorders from the perspective of stakeholders (insurers, employers, unions, and workers). We used a sequential mixed design. First, we conducted a survey to evaluate the levels of stakeholder agreement with the program's feasibility. Second, we conducted a number of independent, homogeneous-group discussions or individual interviews to deepen stakeholders' reflections and allow co-construction of a shared perspective of the program's feasibility. Overall, the stakeholders (insurers (n = 6), employers (n = 7), unions (n = 8), and workers (n = 3)), agreed partly to totally with the feasibility of the specific/intermediate objectives, components/tasks, and duration of the components. They identified obstacles that could hinder program implementation. These obstacles pertained mainly to employers' contexts, e.g., difficulty/impossibility of offering job accommodations. They also proposed facilitators to counteract most of these obstacles. Diverging views were found regarding both the role of union representatives and health professionals in the program, and for the duration of the components. Overall, the program was perceived as feasible to implement, provided that the potential factors discussed are taken into account. The next step will be to evaluate its implementation in real practice settings.

The Dynamic Potential of European Union Health Law

Some understandings of European Union health law are based on a presumption of law as a static and closed system. This approach to the Union as a legal entity has important ramifications. The Union is a political system created by and subject to the rule of law. Its successes (and failures) are attributable to the legalisation of solving externalities and ensuring Member State solidarity, to gain benefits from integration. Member States, which create and sustain the Union by repeated acts of sovereign choice, choose to subject themselves to the rule of (Union) law. That protects both the Member States and the Union institutions (imperfectly, but nonetheless) from charges of illegitimacy. While recognising the benefits of such an approach to EU integration and lawmaking, we take the view that law also has an important dynamic potential. That dynamic potential is inherent in all law, for law is embodied in text, and always open to interpretation, as the external contexts that give legal text meaning in the real-world change through time. We trace the dynamic potential of Union health law, by looking at its legal basis, to its foundational Treaties and plot its trajectory going forward.

Assessment of metal concentrations in oysters and shrimp from Atlantic Coast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Oysters and shrimp are abundant and commonly consumed seafood by the indigenous population of the Kongo central region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Literature reviews suggest that no data were available for the metal concentrations in these species. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to determine the metal concentrations in tissues of oysters (Egeria congica) and shrimp (Macrobrachium spp., Parapenaeus spp., Penaeus spp.) collected in November 2017 from the Atlantic Ocean Coast of DRC in the territory of Muanda. Metal levels in the seafood species studied here were put into context using international regulation for human consumption set by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), European Union (EU), and World Health Organization (WHO). Our results demonstrated that the concentration of heavy metals varied considerably between sampling sites and analyzed species (P < 0.05), with the values (in mg kg1) ranged between 0.05-0.41, 0.03–2.25, <LOD (limit of detection)-1.39, 4.19–60.46, 46.36–319.27, 0.18–3.74, 0.030.35, <LOD-0.01, 0.08–0.64, 1.12–25.76, 0.04–3.40 and 9.73–924.33 for Hg, Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Se, Cd, Sb, Pb, Mn, Co, and Fe, respectively. High concentrations of Cr, Mn, Co and Fe were found in Egeria congica; Cu in Macrobrachium spp., and Hg and Sb in Parapenaeus spp. Cu levels in 33.3% of Macrobrachium spp. and 16.7% of Egeria congica samples exceeded the FAO permissible limit of 30 mg kg−1 (wet weight (ww)). The concentration of Pb in one of six analyzed Egeria congica exceeded the EU permissible limit of 0.5 mg kg−1 (ww). The average values of Zn in all species exceeded the CFIA permissible limit of 50 mg kg−1 (ww). Metal pollution can be explained by several activities which include but not limited to oil exploitation, fuel traffic and tanker navigation, and erosion. High metal concentrations in investigated organisms present potential consumer human health risks.

Chicago Unions Building a Left-Labor-Community Coalition, United Working Families, to Restore Working-Class Democracy

Neoliberal political institutions are beholden to the interests of capital and professional classes, leaving working people and communities of color without a voice to shape priorities that benefit their interests. To counteract this elite-dominated political system, the Service Employees International Union Health Care Indiana and Illinois (SEIU-HCII) and the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), worked with community organizations to form the United Working Families (UWF) Party of Illinois in 2014. UWF is a model of labor-led working class organizing in the electoral system. UWF brings together a left-labor-community alliance under an independent political party formation to champion a left-wing social democratic platform to empower working class people in their workplaces and communities, and to fight against Black and Brown oppression. UWF has provided leadership trainings for a cadre of working class, people of color and women and has been successful electing their leaders to municipal, county and state level government offices.

Systematic Literature Review of the Clinical Evidence in Relapsed/Refractory (R/R) Large B-Cell Lymphoma

Introduction: Large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL) is the most common subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Frontline treatment is curative in ~60% of patients (pts); however, ~30% of pts relapse and ~10% are refractory to frontline treatment. Treatment options for pts with relapsed/refractory (R/R) disease, especially in the third-line or greater (3L+) setting, have been primarily salvage chemotherapies (CTs). Recently, 2 CAR T cell products, axicabtagene ciloleucel (Yescarta®) and tisagenlecleucel (Kymriah®), and the antibody-drug conjugate, polatuzumab vedotin (Polivy®), were approved in the 3L setting. A systematic literature review (SLR) of R/R LBCL was conducted to identify relevant evidence on clinical outcomes in LBCL pts, including these new therapies, within the second-line and greater (2L+) or 3L+ setting, and to define the unmet medical need. Methods: This SLR was conducted in accordance with the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions and European Union Health Technology Assessment requirements. The review identified randomized and nonrandomized/observational studies within R/R LBCL, including diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), follicular lymphoma grade 3B (FL3B), primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma (PMBCL), DLBCL transformed from indolent lymphomas, and R/R DLBCL with secondary central nervous system (SCNS) involvement. Sources were EMBASE, MEDLINE, The Cochrane Library, and clinical conferences (ASCO, ESMO, EHA, ASH, ICML, AACR, and EORTC) from Jan 2000 to Apr 2019. Results : Following screening of 8683 database records and additional sources, 103 publications covering 78 unique studies were identified. Studies identified were characterized by line of treatment and R/R LBCL subtype (Figure). OS, PFS, DOR, OR, and safety observed from the identified studies were described. Disease subtypes, pt eligibility criteria, and length of follow-up varied notably across studies. In the 3L+ population, 11 salvage CT and 2 CAR T cell therapy studies reported survival outcomes. With salvage CT, the reported ORR across studies ranged from 0% to 54%, while CR ranged from 5.6%-31%. Median OS (mOS) ranged between 3-9 months, with one outlying study reporting mOS at 20 months. Median PFS (mPFS) reported within the salvage CT studies ranged from 2-6 months. Among CAR T cell therapies, pts treated with axicabtagene ciloleucel (n=101) reported a CR rate of 58% and median DOR (mDOR) was 11.1 months after a median follow-up of 27.1 months. mPFS was 5.9 months and mOS was not reached. At a median follow-up of 19.3 months, pts treated with tisagenlecleucel (n=115) had a CR of 40% but the mDOR was not reached. mOS was 11.1 months for all infused patients. In the 2L+ transplant-eligible population (36 studies), pts who received high-dose CT + HSCT achieved mOS between 9 months to 5 years. In the transplant noneligible population, 16 studies reported mOS between 3-20 months. Studies involving mixed transplant-eligible and noneligible populations (30 studies) reported mOS of 1-17 months. A few studies with limited sample sizes were found to report outcomes in LBCL subtypes (eg, PMBCL, SCNS lymphoma, DLBCL transformed from non-FL indolent lymphoma, FL3B). In the 3L+ setting, 1 study reported that mOS was not reached after a median of 6.6 months. In the 2L+ setting, 4 studies reported mPFS and mOS outcomes ranging between 2-9 months and 10-16 months, respectively. Among studies assessing safety of salvage CTs in R/R LBCL, neutropenia, leukocytopenia, thrombocytopenia, and infections were the most commonly reported adverse events (AEs), with neutropenia being the most reported. Among the 3 studies reporting safety outcomes of CAR T cell therapy, data suggest that hematologic AEs (possibly related to lymphodepleting CT), cytokine release syndrome, and neurotoxicity are the most reported. Conclusions : Despite the availability of new therapies for 2L+ and 3L + LBCL, examination of the current evidence has shown that there exists a high unmet need for additional therapeutic options that provide favorable benefit/risk and durable response for these patients. Furthermore, limited data are available for the rarer subtypes of LBCL. Both findings represent important treatment gaps for R/R LBCL that must be addressed in future research geared toward improvement of the current treatment landscape. Disclosures Maloney: Juno Therapeutics: Honoraria, Patents &amp; Royalties: patients pending , Research Funding; Celgene,Kite Pharma: Honoraria, Research Funding; BioLine RX, Gilead,Genentech,Novartis: Honoraria; A2 Biotherapeutics: Honoraria, Other: Stock options . Liu:Celgene Corporation: Employment. Nientker:Celgene Corporation: Consultancy; Pharmerit Cöoperatief U.A.: Employment. Alleman:Pharmerit Cöoperatief U.A.: Employment; Celgene Corporation: Consultancy. Garcia:Celgene: Employment, Equity Ownership.

Bridging towards the future of public health in Europe (II). Can we and how do we ensure Health in All EU Policies?

Abstract The plenary will continue the debate on The future of Public Health in Europe introduced in the previous plenary, tackling the role of the EU and its institutions in ensuring that health is addressed in all EU policies. The EU is firmly committed to implementing the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals through its range of institutional mechanisms. Incoming Commission President von der Leyen has pledged to refocus the European Semester ‘to make sure we stay on track with our SDGs’. These developments, together with the broad recognition of the central role of health in the SDGs and the momentum given by the new EU policy cycle presents a unique window of opportunity to critically reappraise the role of health in the EC, which, at least, on paper makes for an ideal Health in All Policies institution. The first keynote by Director General Anne Bucher, DG SANTE, will draw on the ‘hot of the press’ results of the November 2019 State of Health in the EU exercise, including the EU Country Health Profiles and the Commission Staff Companion Report. She will highlight the main health and health system challenges faced by EU Member States—ranging from the burden posed by preventable mortality to the vaccination crisis and the resilience of the health workforce. Prof. Scott Greer’s keynote will contend that to tackle these challenges we need to go beyond Public Health Article 168 and its subsidiarity corset. He will speak to the need to proactively employ the much stronger (health) policy tools within the large body of EU law underlying the internal market and to draw on the EU’s newfound role in fiscal governance such as through the European semester. Prof. Greer will draw on the innovative results of the new edition of the seminal study ‘Everything you always wanted to know about European Union health policies but were afraid to ask’ which will be distributed to participants. The following panel will debate on the practical implementation and political economy questions arising from the plenary’s postulates. Prof. John Middleton, ASPHER’s president, will address the implications for the Public Health profession such as training in public health leadership, overhauling public health competencies or indeed the understanding of the public health profession itself. The second panellist will address the political economy implications of bringing health across EU policies and how to bypass the complexities of working across policy sectors in the EU institutions. The panel will actively interact with the participating audience through a range of innovative ways. Panellists Anne Bucher DG SANTE, European Commission Scott L. Greer Health Management and Policy, University of Michigan John Middleton The Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPHER)

Workshop: Everything you always wanted to know about EU health policy but were afraid to ask

Abstract Objective The EU is often criticized for being ‘market-driven’ and practicing a form of ‘cold integration’. Any attempt, however, to strengthen solidarity and social integration in the EU is met by stakeholders in the member states with reservation and often outright refusal, arguing that health systems are national competence subject to the subsidiary principle. This conundrum of asking for more but allowing for less has blocked a scientifically informed public debate about the EU and health policy. The overall objective of this workshop is to discuss how health research can contribute to resolve this conundrum making the EU more conducive to the needs of health systems, public health (PH) and Health in All Policies (HiAP). To this end we will review the following 4 specific topics What are is EU-health policy and what other policies are affecting health and health systems?What tells us the projected Brexit-impact on the UK health system and PH about the value of EU health policy?Are EU-trade policies shaping healthier commercial determinants of health?What is the added value of cross-border care at and beyond border regions? This workshop is based on the update of the seminal volume “Everything you always wanted to know about European Union health policies but were afraid to ask” (2019, 2nd edition). Key note Scott Greer: In health and health systems the European Union is ubiquitous. Health systems in Europe are hard to figure without the cross border mobility of health professions. Patients going cross-borders. We have a European Medicines Agency that is regulating key aspects of the pharmaceutical market. Health systems have become part of the economic governance of the EU. In PH we have the ECDC, a PH programme and policies on health related consumer protection and may mechanism that should protect European citizens from scourges that know no borders. With health in all policies, the EU legislates literally on all known agents and, when in doubt, is using the pre-cautionary principle to protect citizens from health hazards. All this is supported by a large EU research programme. Panellist 1 N Fahy, the projected impact of Brexit on health system functions of the United Kingdom demonstrates how deep the integration goes and how beneficial it is for both health systems and public health. Panellist 2 H Jarman: The discussion around the Transatlantic Trade an Investment Partnership (TTIP) have risen worries about privatization of health services and lowering of food standards. But TTIP is only the tip of the Iceberg given that the EU has several types of trade agreements with many countries and groups of countries, shaping the commercial determinants of health. Panellist 3 W Palm: Cross-border collaboration is already taking place in many border regions. The European reference networks demonstrate the value of the cross-border collaboration beyond border regions, as does collaboration for joint purchasing and health workforce development. Key messages Health is important at the EU level and the EU level is important for health. Not shaping health and health systems at EU level will limit the perspectives of EU integration, health system development public health and HiAP. Panelists Scott Greer Holly Jarman Contact: hjarman@umich.edu Nick Fahy Contact: nicholas.fahy@phc.ox.ac.uk Willy Palm Contact: wismarm@obs.who.int Contact: palmw@obs.who.int

Family’s Story and Connections Move Major Hearing Health Legislation

You have accessThe ASHA LeaderFirst Person on the Last Page1 Oct 2019Family’s Story and Connections Move Major Hearing Health LegislationThe father of an educational audiologist’s client propels passage of a bill requiring hearing-device coverage. Tena McNamaraAuD, CCC-A/SLP Tena McNamara Google Scholar More articles by this author , AuD, CCC-A/SLP https://doi.org/10.1044/leader.FPLP.24102019.72 SectionsAboutPDF ToolsAdd to favorites ShareFacebookTwitterLinked In A new law in Illinois requires health insurers to cover hearing instruments for children. And the family of one of my clients played a major role in getting that legislation passed. Signed into law on Aug. 22, 2018, House Bill 4516 amends the Illinois Insurance Code, the Health Maintenance Organization Act, and the Voluntary Health Services Plans Act to mandate hearing device coverage for children through age 18 years. When we learned the bill had been introduced in February 2018, my first instinct was to contact Clint and Sarah Drury, the parents of one of my students. Their daughter Sawyer, 11, has Mondini dysplasia, resulting in a bilateral moderate-to-profound sensorineural hearing loss. During the five or so years I have worked with Sawyer as an educational audiologist, I forged a close working relationship with the family. The Drurys remember the time Sawyer was initially diagnosed with hearing loss as life-changing. They were stunned at the price of hearing technology and totally unprepared for the cost. They had family insurance coverage, but amplification devices and related services were not covered. They knew firsthand how beneficial the bill would be to families of children with hearing loss. The Drurys had been staunch advocates for hearing loss-related causes—for example, along with some help from Sawyer’s school speech-language pathologist, Sarah Moon, they raised approximately $7,000 for the Hearing Loss Association of America’s Walk4Hearing—so I knew they would work hard and be dedicated to promoting this legislation. In addition, Clint’s professional position as executive director of the West Central Illinois Building and Construction Trades Council had prepared him for work with the state legislature; he has developed relationships with many legislators throughout the state. Clint promptly began promoting the bill in the General Assembly. He shared his family’s story, illustrating the hardships that parents encounter when they must pay out-of-pocket for hearing instruments for their children. By contacting dozens of senators and representatives, he boosted the number of sponsors for the bill. Clint’s efforts were not, however, self-serving. His family’s insurance is through a union health and welfare fund not required to comply with legislative mandates. But he continued to work on behalf of the children with hearing loss who would benefit from the legislation. The efforts of the Drurys, other families, and the Illinois Speech-Language-Hearing Association paid off. The bipartisan legislation passed both the House and Senate with little opposition. Now, insurers included under the mandate must provide coverage for one hearing instrument every 36 months, along with repairs, selection, fitting, adjustments, and earmolds when medically necessary. I learned two important lessons from this experience. The first is to know your clients and their families beyond their educational or medical needs. They may have skills and knowledge that can help you professionally and aid with specialized practice needs. This is especially true with legislation. Second, I have learned the power of personal and human-interest stories in influencing government officials. Legislators want to know how prospective laws may affect their constituents, and these testimonials are effective in illustrating that. Author Notes Tena McNamara, AuD, CCC-A/SLP, professor emeritus at Eastern Illinois University, is a pediatric audiologist at Mueller Pediatric Therapy in East Peoria, Illinois. [email protected] Advertising Disclaimer | Advertise With Us Advertising Disclaimer | Advertise With Us Additional Resources FiguresSourcesRelatedDetails Volume 24Issue 10October 2019 Get Permissions Add to your Mendeley library History Published in print: Oct 1, 2019 Metrics Downloaded 523 times Topicsleader_do_tagleader-topicsasha-article-typesCopyright & Permissions© 2019 American Speech-Language-Hearing AssociationLoading ...

Risk assessment of radon in some bottled water on the Ghanaian market

The demand for bottled drinking water on the Ghanaian market has increased despite being expensive. This can be attributed to the public perception that is of higher quality relative to other water sources. Radon (222Rn) is a noble gas formed from radium (226Ra) which is the decay product of Uranium (238U). Radon concentration and annual effective doses were measured in fifteen popular bottled water samples on the Ghanaian market at the Greater Accra, Region. Measurements were made using RAD -H20. The range and mean radon concentration of 222Rn in all sampled water were 0.03–0.09 Bql−1 and 0.06 ± 0.01 Bql−1 respectively. The annual effective dose due to ingestion in the various age groups had a range and mean of 6.79E-01-1.90E-01 μSvy−1 and 4.66E-01 ± 3.77E-02 μSvy−1 for adults, 3.80E-01-1.36 E-01 μSvy−1 and 9.33E-01 ± 7.55E-02 μSvy−1 for children and 1.33–4.75 μSvy−1 and 3.26 μSvy−1 ± 2.64E-01 for infants. The measured values of radon concentration as well as the annual effective dose were found within the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA), European Union (EU) and World Health Organization (WHO) recommended limits. It can be concluded that the radiation dose from radon in the bottled water analysed is low and pose no risk to the public.

GyanPrakashEmergency Chronicles: Indira Gandhi and India's Turning PointPrinceton: Princeton University Press, 2019. 439 pp. Index.

GyanPrakashEmergency Chronicles: Indira Gandhi and India's Turning PointPrinceton: Princeton University Press, 2019. 439 pp. Index.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease exacerbations and progression in relation to ambient air pollutants exposure.

The information for the impact of air pollutants on the severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and hospital admissions in Bulgaria is scarce. The aim of the study is to assess the relationship between some ambient air pollution and exacerbations levels as well as hospital admissions of patients with COPD in Bulgaria. A multi-center, prospective, one-year observational study was conducted among 426 COPD patients. Data from pollution monitoring are collected from the Executive Environment Agency (EEA). The results showed that the pollution with sulfur dioxide (SO2) is less than limit concentrations recommended by the European Union and World Health Organization (WHO), while the pollution with PM exceeds limits values of WHO two times. The mean rate of exacerbations in selected towns are between 0.5-3, the number of exacerbations with hospitalization are between 0.2-1.8 and length of hospital stay is between 1-14 days. The study confirms that air pollution leads to increased number of exacerbations and hospital stay. The patients with mild level of COPD have 0.86 exacerbations and 2.61 days in hospital per year, while in case of very severe COPD these values increase 4 times. Outside pollutions lead to worsening of the disease severity and hospitalizations due to a higher rate of COPD exacerbations.

Health Systems that Meet the Health Needs of Refugees and Migrants

This article discusses strategies designed to assist European Union (EU) health systems respond to the urgent health needs of refugees and migrants, assessing the situation from both an EU and global perspective. The article provides an overview of the legal framework, political policies, actions taken and the funding issues facing European institutions and international organizations as they seek to strengthen their response to healthcare needs of refugees and migrants. This article argues that EU member states need to be committed to improving the health status of refugees and migrants and reinforce their capabilities to advocate for respect for their basic right to health.

Smart Healthy Age-Friendly Environments - Policy Recommendations of the Thematic Network SHAFE.

The European Commission (DG SANTE) launched a call for proposals in November 2017 on strategic initiatives for a Joint Statement in 2018. Ten proposals were voted until December 7th in the European Union Health Policy Platform[1]; the proposal under the theme Smart Healthy Age-Friendly Environments (SHAFE)[2] was the most voted and was confirmed by the European Commission in March 2018. In this context, since March 2018, Cáritas Coimbra and AFEdemy Ltd are thus coordinating one of the three Thematic Networks for 2018, SHAFE, in close cooperation with main partners, such as the European Innovation Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP-AHA), the European Innovation Partnership on Smart Cities and Communities (EIP-SCC), the Reference Sites Collaborative Network, the European Covenant on Demographic Change, Eurocities, the European Health Telematics Association (EHTEL), the European Connected Health Alliance (ECHAlliance), the European Construction, Built Environment and Energy Efficient Building Technology Platform (ECTP) and the European Centre for Social Welfare Policy and Research. SHAFE aims to facilitate the creation of healthy and friendly environments for all ages through the use of new technologies, towards the production of a comprehensive and participatory Joint Statement. This document was presented to the European Commission on 12 November 2018, with five main areas of recommendations to the EC, Member States and other local, regional and national organisations and is open for endorsement and implementation from this date onwards.

Healthy Mother & Child: Foundation of a Strong Nation.

Healthy Mother & Child: Foundation of a Strong Nation.

Awareness of Breast Cancer among Medical and Non-Medical Students at Bangalore, India

Background:According to the Union Health Ministry, breast cancer ranks as the Number 1 cancer among Indian females with rate as high as 25.8 per 100,000 women and mortality of 12.7 per 100,000 women. According to estimates, at least 1,797,900 women in India may have breast cancer by 2020. India continues to have a low survival rate for breast cancer, with only 66.1% of women diagnosed with the disease between 2010 and 2014 surviving, a Lancet study found. However, there is no established national screening program for breast cancer; in India, it is pertinent to assess the knowledge about various modalities of early detection too. The breast cancer awareness at community level is largely unrepresented. Hence, the present exploratory study was designed to gather information pertaining to breast cancer and related variables, so as to plan future interventions in this field. Results:The study results showed that there is a significant difference between medical and non-medical college students at the level ofp>0.05 and both students showed that lack adequate knowledge about breast cancer and it is evident that majority of the students in both the groups lacked awareness of risk factors breast cancer.