Bmc Public Health
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Homelessness is a growing concern as it affects a large number of people worldwide. Individuals and families experiencing homelessness are vulnerable in terms of health and underutilise health services. Despite being a global problem, not much is known about the range and breath of literature exploring health problems and health care service utilisation among homeless adults in Africa. ⋯ Evidence shows that homeless adults suffered from a range of physical and mental health problems, and underutilisation of health care services. However, there is lack of information on the complex interrelationship between homelessness and health, as well as differences in prevalence of health problems among the various sub-groups of homeless. There is also lack of information regarding utilisation other important healthcare services such as mental health services, alcohol and drugs services, and accident and emergency service, and future researches should address that. Also, attention should be given to intervention models for complex and effective physical and psychiatric care as well as social support to address the homeless people's health vulnerabilities.
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Transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) people face high rates of poverty, joblessness, and homelessness, rendering this population vulnerable to experiencing food insecurity. Yet, there is almost no empirical evidence concerning food insecurity and the use of local and federal food assistance resources in the TGNC community. Food insecurity, the use of local and Federal food assistance resources, and associations with gender-related minority stressors and resilience using the Gender Minority Stress and Resilience (GMSR) scale among TGNC individuals living in the Southeast United States (U.S.) were documented in this study. ⋯ TGNC people living in the Southeast U.S. experienced food insecurity, unstable housing, low wages, and social stigma that were a barrier to using emergency food resources. Multi-level public health solutions that address discriminatory legislative policies and create linkages between TGNC people and local and federal food assistance are required to address issues of food insecurity in the TGNC population.
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Health literacy concerns the ability of citizens to meet the complex demands of health in modern society. Data on the distribution of health literacy in general populations and how health literacy impacts health behavior and general health remains scarce. The present study aims to investigate the prevalence of health literacy levels and associations of health literacy with socioeconomic position, health risk behavior, and health status at a population level. ⋯ Despite a relatively highly educated population, the prevalence of inadequate health literacy is high. Inadequate health literacy is strongly associated with a low socioeconomic position, poor health status, inactivity, and overweight, but to a lesser extent with health behavior factors such as smoking and high alcohol consumption.
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Inequalities in access to health care result in systematic health differences between social groups. Interventions to improve health do not always consider these inequalities. To examine access to reproductive health care services in Ghana and Nigeria, the patterns of use of family planning and maternal care by women in these countries are explored. ⋯ These differences confirm the importance of a focused context-specific approach towards reproductive health services, particularly to reduce inequality in access resulting from socio-economic status. Interventions should be focused on the categorization of services and population groups into priority classes based on needs assessment. In this way, they can help expand coverage of quality services bottom up to improve access among these vulnerable groups.
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Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major and growing cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world. However, there remains a limited understanding of the association between individual socioeconomic status (SES) and COPD diagnosis and treatment worldwide, including in China. This study investigates socioeconomic variations in prevalence, diagnosis, and treatment of COPD in rural China. ⋯ Future interventions to further control COPD and improve diagnosis and treatment should focus on ethnic minority communities, and those with low education levels, low annual household incomes, and poor access to medical services.