An outbreak of syphilis in Alabama prisons: correctional health policy and communicable disease control.
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OBJECTIVES: After syphilis outbreaks were reported at 3 Alabama State men's prisons in early 1999, we conducted an investigation to evaluate risk factors for syphilis infection and describe patterns of syphilis transmission. METHODS: We reviewed medical, patient interview, and prison transfer records and documented sexual networks. Presumptive source cases were identified. Odds of exposure to unscreened jail populations and transfer from other prisons were calculated for case patients at 1 prison. RESULTS: Thirty-nine case patients with early syphilis were identified from 3 prisons. Recent jail exposure (odds ratio [OR] = 8.0, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.3, 158.7, P = .14) and prison transfer (OR = 32.0, 95% CI = 1.6, 1668.1, P < .01) were associated with being a source case patient. CONCLUSIONS: Probable sources of syphilis introduction into and transmission within prisons included mixing of prisoners with unscreened jail populations, transfer of infected inmates between prisons, and multiple concurrent sexual partnerships. Reducing sexual transmission of disease in correctional settings is a public health priority and will require innovative prevention strategies. (+info)
Strengthening the legal foundation for public health practice: a framework for action.
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Growing concern that public health laws may be inadequate to the challenges that confront public health practitioners has led to adoption of a Healthy People 2010 objective for improved laws and policies. It has also led to concerted efforts to strengthen the legal foundation for public health practice. In this editorial, the authors present a framework for collaborative research, analysis, and development to strengthen public health laws, skill in applying laws, and law-related information resources. (+info)
Minority women and advocacy for women's health.
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US minority health issues involve racial/ethnic disparities that affect both women and men. However, women's health advocacy in the United States does not consistently address problems specific to minority women. The underlying evolution and political strength of the women's health and minority health movements differ profoundly. Women of color comprise only one quarter of women's health movement constituents and are, on average, socioeconomically disadvantaged. Potential alliances may be inhibited by vestiges of historical racial and social divisions that detract from feelings of commonality and mutual support. Nevertheless, insufficient attention to minority women's issues undermines the legitimacy of the women's health movement and may prevent important advances that can be achieved only when diversity is fully considered. (+info)
Research in action: the training approach of the Joint Health Systems Research Project for the Southern African Region.
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Over the last two decades, capacity-building in health research has been recognized as a priority by the international research community. Since 1987 the Joint Health Systems Research (HSR) Project for the Southern African Region has been making efforts to increase the national expertise for operational health research, starting in ten Southern African countries, in order to strengthen decision-making in health care at all levels. Initially, its targets were health managers and public health staff. Step-by-step, staff of different levels and disciplines have, in small groups, developed and implemented research protocols on problems experienced in their own working environment. The recommendations resulting from over 200 studies could, to a large extent, be implemented by the teams themselves. The Project was characterized by a flexible approach, allowing countries to participate at their own speed and to determine their own activities and the support they needed. As Ministries of Health as well as research institutions, in an increasing number of Southern and Eastern African countries, choose to actively participate in HSR, this has contributed to bridge the gap between the academic world and the health field. Still, sustainability of HSR activities remains a challenge. This paper describes the approach of the Joint HSR Project over the first 10 years of its operation, and its major strengths and limitations. (+info)
Inherited haemoglobin disorders: an increasing global health problem.
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Despite major advances in our understanding of the molecular pathology, pathophysiology, and control and management of the inherited disorders of haemoglobin, thousands of infants and children with these diseases are dying through lack of appropriate medical care. This problem will undoubtedly increase over the next 20 years because, as the result of a reduction in childhood mortality due to infection and malnutrition, more babies with haemoglobin disorders will survive to present for treatment. Although WHO and various voluntary agencies have tried to disseminate information about these diseases, they are rarely mentioned as being sufficiently important to be included in setting health care priorities for the future. It takes considerable time to establish expertise in developing programmes for the control and management of these conditions, and the lessons learned in developed countries will need to be transmitted to those countries in which they occur at a high frequency. (+info)
NMA Presidential Installation Speech: enormous progress, many more battles to fight.
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During NMA's Annual Convention in Nashville, on August 7, 2001, Dr. Lucille Norville Perez was installed as the 102nd president of the National Medical Association. Her acceptance speech is printed below. (+info)
Noncommunicable diseases in sub-Saharan Africa: where do they feature in the health research agenda?
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There is no doubt that communicable diseases will remain the predominant health problem for the populations in sub-Saharan Africa, including adults, for the next 10-20 years. Concern has been expressed that the available resources to deal with this problem would be reduced by increasing the emphasis on noncommunicable diseases. The latter, however, already present a substantial burden because their overall age-specific rates are currently higher in adults in sub-Saharan Africa than in populations in Established Market Economies. There is also evidence that the prevalence of certain noncommunicable diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension, is increasing rapidly, particularly in the urban areas, and that significant demands are being made on the health services by patients with these diseases. To ignore the noncommunicable diseases would inevitably lead to an increase in their burden; the provision of health services for them would be largely undirected by issues of clinical and cost effectiveness, and their treatment and prevention would be left to the mercy of local and global commercial interests. Improved surveillance of all diseases within sub-Saharan Africa is needed in order to place noncommunicable diseases properly within the context of the overall burden of disease. Research is needed to guide improvements in the clinical and cost effectiveness of resources currently committed to the care of patients with noncommunicable diseases, and to direct and evaluate preventive measures. (+info)
Chronic respiratory diseases in developing countries: the burden and strategies for prevention and management.
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In developing countries, chronic respiratory diseases represent a challenge to public health because of their frequency, severity, projected trends, and economic impact. Health care planners, for example, are faced with a dramatic increase in tobacco use and must establish priorities for the allocation of limited resources. Nevertheless, smoking prevention and standardized management programmes for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease should be implemented in developing countries whenever possible. International measures will be required to reverse tobacco smoking trends, and international agencies could define essential drugs and equipment and encourage the use of generic drugs, particularly for corticosteroids inhaled at high dosages. For such programmes to be effective, producers of high-quality generics will need to be identified, and the medications added to national lists of essential drugs and included in procurement procedures. Other recommendations for alleviating the burden of chronic respiratory diseases in developing countries are: adapting guidelines to local contexts and ensuring their distribution; upgrading equipment at district level; purchasing high-quality drugs at low prices; routine training and supervision of health services personnel; and regular monitoring of performance. Social mobilization by professional societies, nongovernmental organizations, and the mass media will also increase government commitment to tobacco control and standardized case management. (+info)