Global public health
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Global public health · Jan 2012
The securitisation of pandemic influenza: framing, security and public policy.
This article examines how pandemic influenza has been framed as a security issue, threatening the functioning of both state and society, and the policy responses to this framing. Pandemic influenza has long been recognised as a threat to human health. ⋯ This article addresses the construction of pandemic influenza as a threat. Drawing on the work of the Copenhagen School, it examines how it was successfully securitised at the turn of the millennium and with what consequences for public policy.
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Global public health · Jan 2012
Quality indicators for implementation of safety promotion: towards valid and reliable global certification of local programmes.
The theoretical underpinnings of safety promotion have not yet been integrated with implementation practice to ascertain between-community programme quality. This study sets out to develop a framework for verifying of the quality of community-based safety-promotion programmes in the global context. We analysed the certification indicators deployed in the international Safe Community movement in light of systems theory. ⋯ Consequently, that information about programme effects in high-risk groups and in risk environments could be neglected. We conclude that programme processes and outcomes at both organisational and population levels must be assessed when the quality of safety-promotion programmes is being certified. A revised set of indicators for certification of safety-promotion programmes fulfilling these criteria is presented.
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For decades, concerns regarding health systems have been prominent in the global health discourse, leading to numerous publications and laudable declarations, as well as compacts and consensus statements intended to guide policy and practice. This discussion paper is intended to neither summarise nor systematically review this vast field of interest. Instead, the paper reflects on some challenges for attaining health systems equity and raises questions related to the contributions of both national and the global health systems to this mission.
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Global public health · Jan 2012
Health care workers in Africa access a broad range of topics using evidence-based online medical information.
Health care workers (HCW) rely on Internet-based medical resources to obtain current evidence-based clinical guidelines. While such resources are being used with increasing frequency in developed countries, they have not been broadly employed in resource-limited settings (RLS). To investigate the feasibility and the types of medical content used by HCW in RLS, we studied one Internet-based medical resource used in the United States, (UpToDate©) in four hospitals in Africa. ⋯ This descriptive study suggests that Internet-based medical information resources are feasible in RLS and are accessed for a broad variety of medical topics. Supplemental content providing guidance when minimal diagnostic and therapeutic options exist could increase its relevance in RLS. With increased availability, Internet-based medical information could enhance current global health care initiatives to improve providers' knowledge, clinical practice and potentially patient outcomes.