Competing by Saving Lives: How Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Companies Create Shared Value in Global Health

This report looks at how pharmaceutical and medical device companies can create shared value in global health by addressing unmet health needs in low- and middle-income countries. Companies have already begun to reap business value and are securing competitive advantages in the markets of tomorrow

Evaluating social games for kids and teenagers diagnosed with cancer

Serious games for health are interactive games with a focus on health care, physical and mental fitness. As it is assumed that social support can also indirectly influence patient's health condition, multiplayer online health games present an innovative approach of improving the player's health condition. In this paper we present the health game prototype "Adventures in Sophoria" developed at the University of Duisburg-Essen with the goal of facilitating the intercommunication of teenagers during cancer treatment. Two versions of the game were implemented, one explicitly referring to cancer and an implicit version with no cancer content. In a between-subjects experimental study with a clinical sample, both versions were compared. Additionally, parents and nursing staff were interviewed in order to evaluate the demand regarding health games. Results suggest that the implicit game version yielded higher enjoyment and acceptance compared to the explicit version. © 2011 IEEE

Ethical Issues in the Drug Approval Process

The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) drug approval process carries great significance for both pharmaceutical companies and for patients. In recent decades, there has been a shift towards expedited approval so that drugs, especially those for terminally ill patients, can be brought to market faster. However, the FDA still has the responsibility of protecting patients from harm. The case studies of two drugs, Vioxx and Avastin, highlight several of the ethical and practical issues of the drug approval process, including the nature of clinical trial research, the risk-benefit analysis of new treatments, the growth of Contract Research Organizations (CROs) and the ethics of post-marketing research. In today’s rapidly advancing global society, there is grey area in terms of how to act ethically in performing research on human subjects, yet provide the drugs that patients want in a timely manner. I advocate that the FDA should take a patient centered approach to the drug approval process. First, the FDA should continue to use accelerated approval and work to streamline the approval process further, since it has been shown to benefit patients greatly. Second, the agency should continue to utilize the comprehensive informed consent process. If in the future they can eliminate the theoretical misconception about research, by better educating patients about the difference between research and treatment, only then would I advocate for streamlining or removing the informed consent process. Until then, patients need to be made fully aware of their role as a research subject

Interaction design and emotional wellbeing

The World Health Organisation has concluded that emotional wellbeing is fundamental to our quality of life. It enables us to experience life as meaningful and is an essential component of social cohesion, peace and stability in the living environment [21]. This workshop will bring together a diverse community to consolidate existing knowledge and identify new opportunities for research on technologies designed to support emotional wellbeing. The workshop will examine uses of technology in mental health settings, but will also consider the importance of emotional needs in physical healthcare and wellbeing more generally. The design of technology to provide social support and to extend traditional care networks will be key workshop themes

Prev Med

The Cancer Prevention and Control Research Network (CPCRN) is a strategic collaborative effort focused on accelerating the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based cancer prevention and control interventions to communities. In 2014, the CPCRN Coordinating Center began collecting information in alignment with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Science Impact Framework. The Science Impact Framework is a CDC-developed approach to trace and link CDC science to events and/or actions recognized as influential to public health, beyond peer-reviewed publications. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the impact of CPCRN activities using key indicators guided by the CDC's Science Impact Framework. We reviewed annual progress reports submitted by CPCRN centers from 2014 to 2019 to identify the impact indicators. The CPCRN activities were linked to four domains from the Science Impact Framework and its key indicators: Disseminating Science (presentations, training, general communication, and other communication reports), Creating Awareness (requests for expertise, and feedback), Catalyzing Action (grant applications, partnerships and collaborations, research & development, advocacy groups, office practice/point of care changes, and technology creating), and Effecting Change (building public health practice, creation of registries/surveillance, legal/policy changes, and change instilled). Overall, CPCRN activities demonstrate impact beyond peer-reviewed publications and thus should continue building scientific impact to ultimately influence health outcomes.U48 DP005006/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United StatesU48 DP005053/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United StatesU48 DP005017/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United StatesU48 DP005013/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United StatesU48 DP005000/DP/NCCDPHP CDC HHS/United StatesT32 CA092408/CA/NCI NIH HHS/United States2020-12-01T00:00:00Z31479655PMC69253218741vault:3428

Predictors Social Support and Quality of Life Among Female Breast Cancer Patients at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Ethiopia 2019:Cross-sectional Study

Background: Breast cancer is a major life-threatening public health problem worlwide. It is the most common form of cancer among women in many developing countries including Ethiopia. Social support could change the course of cancer and can influence the quality of life among breast cancer patients. Therefore,  purpose of this study was to assess social support and quality of life among female breast cancer patients attending in Tikur Anbassa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 2019. Methods:A Hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Ethiopia from March to April 2019. A total of 214 female breast cancer patients were included and a systematic sampling method was used. A structured and pre-tested questionnaire was used. Data entry was done using epi data manager version 4.2. Data analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 25. Binary and multiple logistic regression was used to show the association of social support and quality of life. Variables significantly associated were declared at P-value <0.05 and 95%CI was used. Result: A total of 214 women with breast cancer were recruited. Of the total participants, 124(58%) had good social support.  It was found that participants who were college graduated (AOR=3, 95%CI: 1.5, 5.9 COR=3.2) and who had high monthly income(AOR=2.3, 95% CI: 1.2,8.5, COR= 5.39) were more likely to have good social support. It was also  found that participants who were illiterate (AOR=3, 95%CI: 1.3,6.9, COR=4.8, p-value=0.008),  who had systematic therapy side effects(AOR=3.8, 95%CI: 1.1,13, COR=4, p-value=0.035)and participants who had problem of appetite loss(AOR=3.5, 95%CI: 1.02,12COR=4, p-value= 0.047) were more likely to have affected QoL. Conclusion:In this study finding, social support and,  quality of life in breast cancer patients was low. Healthcare providers should enhance social support which may help to improve the quality of life of women with breast cancer. Keywords: Social support; Quality of life; Breast cancer. DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/87-04 Publication date:March 31st 202

Advocacy spurs innovation: promoting synergy between physical and biomedical sciences

Despite dramatic advances in decoding the genes, proteins, and pathways that drive cancer, the disease has evaded the reductionist approaches to defeat it. Recent work has highlighted cancer’s heterogeneity, complexity, and ability to develop resistance as major barriers to progress. To better understand and control the processes that govern the initiation, behavior, and progression of cancer, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) created the Physical Sciences-Oncology Center (PS-OC) Network in 2009. As a hub for scientific innovation and as an example of the transdisciplinary research model, the twelve centers within the PS-OC strive for the systematic convergence of the physical sciences with cancer biology. Promoting collaboration between biologists, physicists, mathematicians, chemists, biomedical engineers, and oncologists, the program offers a compelling vision of how new frontiers in physical sciences and oncology will permit the emergence of new scientific principles and opportunities, and of how the benefits of the current convergence revolution would be enhanced by vigorous public/advocacy support

Older women, breast cancer, and social support

One in ten women over the age of 65 will develop breast cancer. Despite this high incidence of breast cancer among older women, social support for them is often inadequate. This paper describes a qualitative study of the impact of a breast cancer diagnosis on older women from racially/ethnically diverse populations and their subsequent need for social support. Forty-seven older African American, Asian American, Caucasian and Latina women between the ages of 65 to 83 participated in a larger study examining the impact of breast cancer on women from racially/ethnically diverse populations and the meaning and nature of social support. The women completed an in-depth qualitative interview on the psychosocial impact of breast cancer and the meaning and nature of social support. The results indicate that there are variations in reactions to a breast cancer diagnosis among older women, and that these reactions impact their experiences with seeking social support at diagnosis and during treatment. Respondents were concerned about their aging bodies, potential dependency on others, and loss of autonomy. At the same time, the severity of cancer treatment and existing co-morbidities often meant they needed to learn to receive support, and to reach out if they had no support. The implications of these findings underscore the older cancer patient’s need to strengthen her supportive networks at the time of diagnosis, during treatment, and post-treatment

“Entrenched practices and other biases”: unpacking the historical, economic, professional, and social resistance to de-implementation

Background In their article on “Evidence-based de-implementation for contradicted, unproven, and aspiring healthcare practices,” Prasad and Ioannidis (IS 9:1, 2014) referred to extra-scientific “entrenched practices and other biases” that hinder evidence-based de-implementation. Discussion Using the case example of the de-implementation of radical mastectomy, we disaggregated “entrenched practices and other biases” and analyzed the historical, economic, professional, and social forces that presented resistance to de-implementation. We found that these extra-scientific factors operated to sustain a commitment to radical mastectomy, even after the evidence slated the procedure for de-implementation, because the factors holding radical mastectomy in place were beyond the control of individual clinicians. Summary We propose to expand de-implementation theory through the inclusion of extra-scientific factors. If the outcome to which we aim is appropriate and timely de-implementation, social scientific analysis will illuminate the context within which the healthcare practitioner practices and, in doing so, facilitate de-implementation by pointing to avenues that lead to systems change. The implications of our analysis lead us to contend that intervening in the broader context in which clinicians work—the social, political, and economic realms—rather than focusing on healthcare professionals’ behavior, may indeed be a fruitful approach to effect change

Does social support at home moderate the association between social support at work and work functioning among cancer patients?

PURPOSE: The aims of this study were to examine (1) the longitudinal associations of supervisor and colleague social support with work functioning in cancer patients who have returned to work and (2) the moderating role of social support at home.METHODS: Data from the longitudinal Work Life after Cancer study were used (n = 384). Work functioning (low versus moderate to high work functioning) was measured with the validated Work Role Functioning Questionnaire 2.0. Social support at work was measured from both supervisor and colleagues with the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire. Social support at home was measured with the Social Support List-Discrepancies. Logistic generalized estimating equations were used to analyse associations between supervisor and colleague social support and work functioning, and to examine the possible moderating effect of social support at home.RESULTS: More supervisor (OR: 1.21; 95% CI: 1.10, 1.32) and colleague (1.13; 1.03, 1.24) social support were significantly associated with moderate to high work functioning. The association between colleague social support and work functioning was attenuated for those who did not experience enough social support at home but remained almost significant for supervisor social support (1.17; 1.00, 1.37).CONCLUSIONS: Supervisor social support is associated with better work functioning regardless of social support at home, while colleague social support is only associated with better work functioning when cancer patients experience enough social support at home.IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: Occupational physicians may play a key role in creating awareness that social support at work and at home are beneficial for cancer patients' work functioning.</p