Proceedings of the National Summit on Legal Preparedness for Obesity Prevention and Control

Editors' preface / Donald E. Benken, Meredith A. Reynolds, and Alicia S. Hunter -- Foreword: Legal preparedness for obesity prevention and control / George A. Mensah -- -- I. Introduction -- Legal preparedness for obesity prevention and control: the public health framework for action / William Dietz and Alicia S. Hunter -- Legal preparedness for obesity prevention and control: a framework for action / Judith A. Monroe, Janet L. Collins, Pamela S. Maier, Thomas Merrill, Georges C. Benjamin, and Anthony D. Moulton -- -- II. Public Health Legal Preparedness for Obesity Prevention and Control: Status of Core Elements -- Legal preparedness for obesity prevention and control: the structural framework and the role of government / Demetrios L. Kouzoukas -- Assessing laws and legal authorities for obesity prevention and control / Lawrence O. Gostin, Jennifer L. Pomeranz, Peter D. Jacobson, and Richard Gottfried -- Assessing competencies for obesity prevention and control / Wendy Collins Perdue, Alice Ammerman, and Sheila Fleischhacker -- Assessing coordination of legal-based efforts across jurisdictions and sectors for obesity prevention and control / Marice Ashe, Gary Bennett, Christina Economos, Elizabeth Goodman, Joseph Schilling, Lisa Quintiliani, Sara Rosenbaum, Jeffrey Vincent, and Aviva Must -- Assessing information on public health law best practices for obesity prevention and control / Peter D. Jacobson, Susan C. Kim, and Susan R. Tortolero -- -- III. Options for Improving Public Health Legal Preparedness for Obesity Prevention and Control -- Improving laws and legal authorities for obesity prevention and control / Jennifer L. Pomeranz and Lawrence O. Gostin -- Improving legal competencies for obesity prevention and control / Sheila Fleishhacker, Alice Ammerman, Wendy Collins Perdue, Joan Miles, Sarah Roller, Lynn Silver, Lisa Soronen, and the Honorable Leticia Van de Putte -- Improving coordination of legal-based efforts across jurisdictions and sectors for obesity prevention and control / Aviva Must, Gary Bennett, Christina Economos, Elizabeth Goodman, Joseph Schilling, Lisa Quintiliani, Sara Rosenbaum, Jeffrey Vincent, and Marice Ashe -- Improving information on public health law best practices for obesity prevention and control / Susan R. Tortolero, Karyn Popham, and Peter D. Jacobson -- Legal actions options table -- Obesity prevention and control legal bibliography -- Appendixguest edited by Donald E. Benken, Meredith A. Reynolds, and Alicia S. Hunter."Summer 2009."Papers from the National Summit on Legal Preparedness for Obesity Prevention and Control held June 18-20, 200 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Title from "cover" (viewed on March 4, 2009).Mode of access: Internet (Acrobat .pdf file: 5.02 MB, 152 p.).System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader

Key dimensions for the prevention and control of communicable diseases in institutional settings. a scoping review to guide the development of a tool to strengthen preparedness at migrant holding centres in the EU/EEA

Migrant centres, as other institutions hosting closed or semi-open communities, may face specific challenges in preventing and controlling communicable disease transmission, particularly during times of large sudden influx. However, there is dearth of evidence on how to prioritise investments in aspects such as human resources, medicines and vaccines, sanitation and disinfection, and physical infrastructures to prevent/control communicable disease outbreaks. We analysed frequent drivers of communicable disease transmission/issues for outbreak management in institutions hosting closed or semi-open communities, including migrant centres, and reviewed existing assessment tools to guide the development of a European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) checklist tool to strengthen preparedness against communicable disease outbreaks in migrant centres. Among articles/reports focusing specifically on migrant centres, outbreaks through multiple types of disease transmission were described as possible/occurred. Human resources and physical infrastructure were the dimensions most frequently identified as crucial for preventing and mitigating outbreaks. This review also recognised a lack of common agreed standards to guide and assess preparedness activities in migrant centres, thereby underscoring the need for a capacity-oriented ECDC preparedness checklist tool

Assessing Unmet Needs of Caregivers after Stroke: Occupational Therapist Practices and Perspectives

Background: Family caregivers of stroke survivors often feel unprepared and overwhelmed post discharge with numerous unmet needs. Occupational therapists can play an integral role in addressing family caregivers’ needs. Limited research exists on assessment practices of occupational therapists in identifying caregivers’ needs poststroke. This study explores the practices and perspectives of occupational therapists in assessing unmet caregivers’ needs. Method: A cross-sectional, mixed methods research design was used to electronically survey 15 occupational therapists. Part 1 of the survey explored participant methods for identifying caregivers’ needs and their views on using formal caregiver assessment tools. Part 2 gathered participant perspectives on three selected caregiver assessments. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used to interpret the data. Results: The participants perceive formal assessments as beneficial. However, they use informal strategies to assess the unmet needs of caregivers rather than formal assessment. Reimbursement challenges, productivity pressure, and questionable necessity are barriers to conducting formal assessments. Advantages and disadvantages of each assessment are discussed. Conclusion: Occupational therapists face barriers to conducting formal assessment across settings. Implementation of recent policies is needed to further support occupational therapy’s role in addressing caregivers’ needs. This study can inform future development of assessment tools tailored to occupational therapy

Assessment of the Maltese environmental matrix to define the future monitoring strategy

Chapter 16As a member of the EU and of the international community, Malta has important obligations to report on the state of the environment and the effectiveness of policy measures addressing particular concerns, such as pollution (Regional Environmental Center, 2008). Failure to collect reliable and up-to-date environmental data would make Malta exposed to various environmental pressures due to poorly informed policy decisions, which could eventually also lead to economic implications (European Commission, 2014a). Under this context Malta is in the process of implementing the EU legislative framework regarding the environmental themes of air, water, radiation and soil. Prior to the implementation of the project “Development of environmental monitoring strategy and environmental monitoring baseline surveys”, air and water data from the Maltese environmental network were already available, though data coverage presented some lacunas, whereas radiation and soil network system was not in place, hence minimum baseline data was available. Therefore, the long term monitoring strategic proposal discussed in this article has been designed as a primary tool to improve the state of the environment as well as to be in compliance with the EU Directives related with nature conservation.peer-reviewe

Measuring the Efficacy of Leaders to Assess Information and Make Decisions in a Crisis: The C-LEAD Scale

Based on literature and expert interviews, we developed the Crisis Leader Efficacy in Assessing and Deciding scale (C-LEAD) to capture the efficacy of leaders to assess information and make decisions in a public health and safety crisis. In Studies 1 and 2, we find that C-LEAD predicts decision-making difficulty and confidence in a crisis better than a measure of general leadership efficacy. In Study 3, C-LEAD predicts greater motivation to lead in a crisis, more crisis leader role-taking, and more accurate performance while in a crisis leader role. These findings support the scale's construct validity and broaden our theoretical understanding of the nature of crisis leader efficacy.

Challenges to the Implementation of International Health Regulations (2005) on Preventing Infectious Diseases: Experience from Julius Nyerere International Airport, Tanzania.

The International Health Regulations (IHR) (2005) is a legal instrument binding all World Health Organization (WHO) member States. It aims to prevent and control public health emergencies of international concern. Country points of entry (POEs) have been identified as potential areas for effective interventions to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases across borders. The agreement postulates that member states will strengthen core capacities detailed in the IHR (2005), including those specified for the POE. This study intended to assess the challenges faced in implementing the IHR (2005) requirements at Julius Nyerere International Airport (JNIA), Dar es Salaam. A cross-sectional, descriptive study, employing qualitative methods, was conducted at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MoHSW), WHO, and JNIA. In-depth interviews, focus group discussions (FGDs) and documentary reviews were used to obtain relevant information. Respondents were purposively enrolled into the study. Thematic analysis was used to generate study findings. Several challenges that hamper implementation of the IHR (2005) were identified: (1) none of the 42 Tanzanian POEs have been specifically designated to implement IHR (2005). (2) Implementation of the IHR (2005) at the POE was complicated as it falls under various uncoordinated government departments. Although there were clear communication channels at JNIA that enhanced reliable risk communication, the airport lacked isolated rooms specific for emergence preparedness and response to public health events. JNIA is yet to develop adequate core capacities required for implementation of the IHR (2005). There is a need for policy managers to designate JNIA to implement IHR (2005) and ensure that public health policies, legislations, guidelines, and practice at POE are harmonized to improve international travel and trade. Policy makers and implementers should also ensure that implementation of the IHR (2005) follow the policy implementation framework, particularly the contextual interaction theory which calls for the availability of adequate resources (inputs) and well-organized process for the successful implementation of the policy

Assessing safety net readiness in response to food price volatility

In 2008, when food prices rose precipitously to record highs, international attention and local policy in many countries focused on safety nets as part of the response. Now that food prices are high again, the issue of appropriate responses is again on the policy agenda. This note sets out a framework for making quick, qualitative assessments of how well countries'safety nets prepare them for a rapid policy response to rising food prices should the situation warrant. The framework is applied using data from spring 2011, presenting a snap?shot analysis of what is a dynamically changing situation. Based on this data safety net readiness is assessed in 13 vulnerable countries based on the following criteria: the presence of safety net programs, program coverage, administrative capacity, and to a lesser degree, targeting effectiveness. It is argued that these criteria will remain the same throughout time, even if the sample countries affected will be expected to vary. Based on thisanalysis the note highlights that though a number of countries are more prepared than they were in 2008, there is still a significant medium term agenda on safety net preparedness in the face of crisis. In this context, strategic lessons from the 2008 food crisis response are presented to better understand the response options and challenges facing governments and policy makers. The note concludes by calling for continued investment and scale up of safety nets to mitigate poverty impacts and help prevent long term setbacks in nutrition and poverty.Food&Beverage Industry,Safety Nets and Transfers,Emerging Markets,Rural Poverty Reduction,Regional Economic Development

Developing an approach to assess the influence of integrating disaster risk reduction practices into infrastructure reconstruction on socio‐economic development

Purpose – Disasters provide physical, social, economic, political and environmental development windows of opportunity particularly through housing and infrastructure reconstruction. The reconstruction process should not be neglected due to the opportunistic nature of facilitating innovation in development. In this respect, post‐disaster “infrastructure” reconstruction plays a critical role in development discourse and is often essential to sustain recovery after major disasters. However, reconstruction following a natural disaster is a complicated problem involving social, economic, cultural, environmental, psychological, and technological aspects. There are significant development benefits of well‐developed “Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Strategies” and, for many reasons, the concept of DRR can be more easily promoted following a disaster. In this respect, a research study was conducted to investigate the effects of integrating DRR strategies into infrastructure reconstruction on enhancing the socio‐economic development process from a qualitative stance. The purpose of this paper is to document part of this research study; it proposes an approach that can be used to assess the influence of the application of the DRR concept into infrastructure reconstruction on socio‐economic development. Design/methodology/approach – The research methodology included a critical literature review. Findings – This paper suggests that the best way to assess the influence of integrating DRR strategies practices into infrastructure reconstruction on socio‐economic development is to assess the level of impact that DRR strategies has on overcoming various factors that form vulnerabilities. Having assessed this, the next step is to assess the influence of overcoming the factors that form vulnerabilities on achieving performance targets of socio‐economic development. Originality/value – This paper primarily presents a framework for the concept of socio‐economic development and a modelled classification of DRR practices

Resident Physicians' Preparedness to Provide Cross-Cultural Care: Implications for Clinical Care and Medical Education Policy

Recommends integrating cross-cultural training into medical school curricula, training faculty to ensure useful instruction and mentoring, and mandatory and formal evaluation of residents' cross-cultural communication skills