Healthcare use for diarrhoea and dysentery in actual and hypothetical cases, Nha Trang, Viet Nam.

To better understand healthcare use for diarrhoea and dysentery in Nha Trang, Viet Nam, qualitative interviews with community residents and dysentery case studies were conducted. Findings were supplemented by a quantitative survey which asked respondents which healthcare provider their household members would use for diarrhoea or dysentery. A clear pattern of healthcare-seeking behaviours among 433 respondents emerged. More than half of the respondents self-treated initially. Medication for initial treatment was purchased from a pharmacy or with medication stored at home. Traditional home treatments were also widely used. If no improvement occurred or the symptoms were perceived to be severe, individuals would visit a healthcare facility. Private medical practitioners are playing a steadily increasing role in the Vietnamese healthcare system. Less than a quarter of diarrhoea patients initially used government healthcare providers at commune health centres, polyclinics, and hospitals, which are the only sources of data for routine public-health statistics. Given these healthcare-use patterns, reported rates could significantly underestimate the real disease burden of dysentery and diarrhoea

South Carolina Vital and Morbidity Statistics, 2013

This report contains vital statistics data for South Carolina events that occurred in 2013. The purpose of this report is to provide basic reference data for a variety of users. Vital Statistics certificates filed with the Office of Public Health Statistics and Information Services of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control are the primary source of data presented in this report. These records include certificates of live births, deaths, marriages, divorces and annulments, and reports of fetal deaths and abortions

Disability and Health in South Carolina

The BRFSS is a state based cross-sectional telephone survey conducted to assess health behaviors and risk factor prevalence within the US, its states and its territories. People with disability are identified as a possible health disparity group. To reduce these disparities, it is important to understand the health status of those with and without disabilities. This report describes various critical health indicators for South Carolina adults with and without disabilities

Thailand Adolescent Birth Rate: Trend and Related Indicators

Objectives:To describe trend of adolescent birth rate and related indicators in Thai population.Material and Method: Three national and international secondary databases were used. The data was described by descriptive statistics in term of number, rate and proportion.Results: According to Thailand Public Health Statistics, Thailand adolescent birth rate decreased from 42.2 per 1,000 women aged 15-19 in 1990 to meet the lowest rate of 31.1 in the year 2000. After that, the adolescent birth rate has steadily increased. The latest data in 2012 shows that Thailand adolescent birth rate is 53.8 per 1,000 women aged 15-19. There are some discrepancies between adolescent birth rate reported by Thailand Public Health Statistics and the 2012 update for MDG database because of different calculation methods.Conclusions: Thailand adolescent birth rate is still in the increasing trend

Coccidioidomycosis as a Common Cause of Community-acquired Pneumonia

The early manifestations of coccidioidomycosis (valley fever) are similar to those of other causes of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Without specific etiologic testing, the true frequency of valley fever may be underestimated by public health statistics. Therefore, we conducted a prospective observational study of adults with recent onset of a lower respiratory tract syndrome. Valley fever was serologically confirmed in 16 (29%) of 55 persons (95% confidence interval 16%–44%). Antimicrobial medications were used in 81% of persons with valley fever. Symptomatic differences at the time of enrollment had insufficient predictive value for valley fever to guide clinicians without specific laboratory tests. Thus, valley fever is a common cause of CAP after exposure in a disease-endemic region. If CAP develops in persons who travel or reside in Coccidioides-endemic regions, diagnostic evaluation should routinely include laboratory evaluation for this organism

Annual vital statistics series ; v. 3

This is Volume III in the Annual Vital Statistics Series produced by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. Teen pregnancy events in the lives of South Carolina residents over the past decade are documented in this volume. Since 2011, SC teen pregnancy data has been presented for five commonly requested age groups of adolescents: 10-19, 10-14, 15-17, 18-19 and 15-19. The Office of Public Health Statistics and Information Services collects data on pregnancy events (live births, abortions and reportable fetal deaths). Live births, fetal deaths and abortions occurring out-of-state to South Carolina residents are also included in this report. Event information is re-allocated to the state of residence through an agreement of interstate transcript exchange. Therefore the statistics presented should be representative of live births, abortions, and fetal deaths among SC residents

Effectiveness of a Federal Healthy Start Program in Reducing Infant Mortality

Objective: Infant mortality is an important indicator of the health status of a community. In this analysis, we aimed to evaluate temporal changes in infant mortality rates (IMR) in the Central Hillsborough Healthy Start (CHHS) program service area in Tampa, Florida compared to rates in the rest of Hillsborough County and the state. Method: We conducted a five-year (2010-2014) trends analysis using birth and infant death data extracted from the Florida Community Health Assessment Resource Tool Set (CHARTS). The number of infant deaths and live births were used to calculate and compare IMRs in the CHHS catchment area to those in the rest of Hillsborough County, and the state of Florida. Three-year centered moving averages were directly adjusted to account for differences in the racial/ethnic distribution of mothers across geographic areas. Results: Between 2010 and 2014, the IMR decreased 42.8% in the CHHS service area (from 14.5 to 8.3 per 1,000 live births) compared to decreases of 10.1% and 7.7% in the rest of Hillsborough County and the state of Florida, respectively. Additionally, the infant mortality gap in the CHHS catchment area narrowed from 72% in 2010 to 14% in 2014 compared to the rest of the state, and was eliminated when compared to the rest of Hillsborough County. Discussion: The absolute and relative decreases in IMR in the CHHS catchment area reflect the program’s effectiveness in decreasing disparity in infant mortality. The quality services provided by the CHHS program have had a significant positive impact on the families served

Improving and Assessing Information Literacy Skills through Faculty-Librarian Collaboration

This article addresses ways to assess the effectiveness of integrating information literacy into college courses by taking a close look at a partnership developed between Dr. Amy Dailey and the reference librarians at Gettysburg College