Bmc Public Health
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High quality acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) surveillance is required to maintain polio-free status of a country. Papua New Guinea (PNG) is considered as one of the highest risk countries for polio re-importation and circulation in the Western Pacific Region (WPRO) of the World Health Organization due to poor healthcare infrastructure and inadequate performance in AFP surveillance. The Government of PNG, in collaboration with WHO, piloted the introduction of short-message-service (SMS) to sensitize pediatricians and provincial disease control officers on AFP and to receive notification of possible AFP cases to improve surveillance quality in PNG. ⋯ Combined with improved sensitization of health care professionals on AFP reporting criteria and sample collection, SMS messaging provides an effective means to increase timely reporting and improve the availability of epidemiologic information on polio surveillance in PNG.
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Evidence reports that schools influence children and young people's health behaviours across a range of outcomes. However there remains limited understanding of the mechanisms through which institutional features may structure self-harm and suicide. This paper reports on a systematic review and meta-ethnography of qualitative research exploring how schools influence self-harm and suicide in students. ⋯ Schools may influence children and young people's self-harm, although evidence of their impact on suicide remains limited. Prevention and intervention needs to acknowledge and accommodate these institutional-level factors. Studies included in this review are limited by their lack of conceptual richness, restricting the process of interpretative synthesis. Further qualitative research should focus on the continued development of theoretical and empirical insight into the relationship between institutional features and students' self-harm and suicide.
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As part of the 2014 European Antibiotic Awareness Day plans, a new campaign called Antibiotic Guardian (AG) was launched in the United Kingdom, including an online pledge system to increase commitment from healthcare professionals and members of the public to reduce antimicrobial resistance (AMR). The aim of this evaluation was to determine the impact of the campaign on self-reported knowledge and behaviour around AMR. ⋯ This study demonstrated that the campaign increased commitment to tackling AMR in both healthcare professional and member of the public, increased self-reported knowledge and changed self-reported behaviour particularly among people with prior AMR awareness. Online pledge schemes can be an effective and inexpensive way to engage people with the problem of AMR especially among those with prior awareness of the topic.
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Very few studies have investigated the determinants of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) in young adults (18-25 years old) using a set of variables that include lifestyle, sociodemographic, and anthropometric data. Our aim was to investigate the association between these variables and vitamin D status in a sample of untreated young adults. ⋯ In this study of young adults, vitamin D deficiency was highly prevalent. Modifiable factors such as smoking, maintenance of normal BMI, and physical activity are all potential targets for interventional trials to determine the causal order; such knowledge would be useful in improving S-25[OH]D in young adults. The small group with severe vitamin D deficiency warrants increased attention.
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It is important to screen for alcohol consumption and drinking customs in a standardized manner. The aim of this study was 1) to investigate whether the AUDIT score is useful for predicting hazardous drinking using optimal cutoff scores and 2) to use multivariate analysis to evaluate whether the AUDIT score was more useful than pre-existing laboratory tests for predicting hazardous drinking. ⋯ This study showed that the AUDIT score and particularly the AUDIT-C score were more useful than the AST/ALT ratio and MCV for predicting hazardous drinking.