Health diplomacy: spotlight on refugees and migrants

Nowadays, refugees and migrants are the focus of intense political debate worldwide. From the public health perspective, population movement, including forced migration, is a complex phenomenon and is a high priority on the political and policy agenda of most WHO Member States. Health diplomacy and the health of refugees and migrants are intrinsically linked. Human mobility is relevant to all countries and creates important challenges in terms of both sustainable development and human rights, to ensure equality and achieve results through the Sustainable Development Goals. This book is part of the WHO Regional Office for Europe’s commitment to work for the health of refugees and migrants. It showcases good practices by which governments, non-state actors and international and nongovernmental organizations attempt to address the complexity of migration, by strengthening health system responsiveness to refugee and migrant health matters, and by coordinating and developing foreign policy solutions to improve health at the global, regional, country and local levels

Measuring the burden of infodemics : summary of the methods and results of the fifth WHO infodemic management conference

Background: An infodemic is excess information, including false or misleading information, that spreads in digital and physical environments during a public health emergency. The COVID-19 pandemic has been accompanied by an unprecedented global infodemic that has led to confusion about the benefits of medical and public health interventions, with substantial impact on risk-taking and health-seeking behaviors, eroding trust in health authorities and compromising the effectiveness of public health responses and policies. Standardized measures are needed to quantify the harmful impacts of the infodemic in a systematic and methodologically robust manner, as well as harmonizing highly divergent approaches currently explored for this purpose. This can serve as a foundation for a systematic, evidence-based approach to monitoring, identifying, and mitigating future infodemic harms in emergency preparedness and prevention. Objective: In this paper, we summarize the Fifth World Health Organization (WHO) Infodemic Management Conference structure, proceedings, outcomes, and proposed actions seeking to identify the interdisciplinary approaches and frameworks needed to enable the measurement of the burden of infodemics. Methods: An iterative human-centered design (HCD) approach and concept mapping were used to facilitate focused discussions and allow for the generation of actionable outcomes and recommendations. The discussions included 86 participants representing diverse scientific disciplines and health authorities from 28 countries across all WHO regions, along with observers from civil society and global public health–implementing partners. A thematic map capturing the concepts matching the key contributing factors to the public health burden of infodemics was used throughout the conference to frame and contextualize discussions. Five key areas for immediate action were identified. Results: The 5 key areas for the development of metrics to assess the burden of infodemics and associated interventions included (1) developing standardized definitions and ensuring the adoption thereof; (2) improving the map of concepts influencing the burden of infodemics; (3) conducting a review of evidence, tools, and data sources; (4) setting up a technical working group; and (5) addressing immediate priorities for postpandemic recovery and resilience building. The summary report consolidated group input toward a common vocabulary with standardized terms, concepts, study designs, measures, and tools to estimate the burden of infodemics and the effectiveness of infodemic management interventions. Conclusions: Standardizing measurement is the basis for documenting the burden of infodemics on health systems and population health during emergencies. Investment is needed into the development of practical, affordable, evidence-based, and systematic methods that are legally and ethically balanced for monitoring infodemics; generating diagnostics, infodemic insights, and recommendations; and developing interventions, action-oriented guidance, policies, support options, mechanisms, and tools for infodemic managers and emergency program managers.peer-reviewe

Viljan att komma tillbaka : En kvalitativ studie om motivation och lojalitet hos unga vuxna som återbesöker Gröna Lund

For many years, the experience and entertainment industry overall has had strong growth and become something that is important for the current tourism in big cities. Repeatable experiences mean that there is a second-hand value of the experience and that it is possible to implement again. This means that visiting attractions, such as Gröna Lund, are places that allow visitors to experience their roller coasters and other experiences several times, which leads to more frequent visits. The intention of this study is to investigate what motivates young adults to repeatedly visit the amusement park Gröna Lund repeatedly. Interviews have been conducted with seven respondents aged 20–25 who return to Gröna Lund several times a year. An interview with Gröna Lund’s project manager at the marketing department has also been conducted. The interviewers’ answers have been analyzed along with selected theories of loyalty development, push and pull factors and the communications process. The result shows that all respondents have a loyalty to Gröna Lund and are motivated to visit the park both through the promotion of Gröna Lund on social media, but also through the products that the park offers, mainly rides and concerts. It turns out that they are also motivated to return to Gröna Lund, with family and friends, as a tradition

Att växa upp med en ensamstående förälder : En kvalitativ studie om upplevelser av att växa upp i en modern typ av familj

The intention of this study is to examine experiences of growing up in single-parent families. With in-depth interviews with six young grown ups we learned about their childhood and perspective of growing up in this kind of families. We analysed their life-stories together with theories about identity and the effect of modern society on individuals from a sociological point of view. Departing from symbolic interactionism and previous research which shows that people who grow up in this type of families often have a difficult childhood and adulthood we analysed the empirical material. The result shows that most people in this type of families experience a good and safe childhood with a close-knit family. However, during some certain periods and situations some have not felt completely satisfied, due to lack of experienced attention and support from their parent. Almost all respondents have been partially responsible for the household and have also felt big emotional responsibility for their parent. Although, the vast majority of informants does not consider themselves or their upbringing much different from others and none of the respondents has expressed a wish for another type of family

The conditions and contributions of ‘Whole of Society’ governance in the Dutch ‘All about Health…’ programme

This chapter is about a programme called “All about Health…” the programme aims at improving health by engaging all members of society in a social health movement, which greatly resembles a whole-of-society approach. The country chosen for this case study is the Netherlands, as the government and numerous organizations have engaged in collaboration. There are various CSOs, commercial partners, municipalities and government agencies and services involved. While there are many concrete health related “pledges” made between the partners of the programme, the overall aim is to move from government to governance and to involve many more stakeholders in policy making and implementation at all levels. Most prominently, partners organised events and provided services to the public. Additionally, they provided evidence, contributed to policy developed, exercised advocacy, helped consensus building, acted as watch dogs, provided services and acted as self-regulators. Strong government support, a small programme office and an ongoing programme evaluation have been instrumental to the progress of the programme. The authors conclude that the first three years of “All about Health…” seems to provide an early backing of the hypotheses that CSOs contribute to health though it is too early for a final assessment

Negotiating access to health care for asylum seekers in Germany

Bozorgmehr K, Razum O. Negotiating access to health care for asylum seekers in Germany. In: Severoni S, Kosinska M, Immordini P, Kökény M, Told M, World Health Organization - Regional Office for Europe, eds. Health diplomacy: spotlight on refugees and migrants. Copenhagen: World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe; 2019: 269-80

Measuring the Burden of Infodemics: Summary of the Methods and Results of the Fifth WHO Infodemic Management Conference.

BACKGROUND: An infodemic is excess information, including false or misleading information, that spreads in digital and physical environments during a public health emergency. The COVID-19 pandemic has been accompanied by an unprecedented global infodemic that has led to confusion about the benefits of medical and public health interventions, with substantial impact on risk-taking and health-seeking behaviors, eroding trust in health authorities and compromising the effectiveness of public health responses and policies. Standardized measures are needed to quantify the harmful impacts of the infodemic in a systematic and methodologically robust manner, as well as harmonizing highly divergent approaches currently explored for this purpose. This can serve as a foundation for a systematic, evidence-based approach to monitoring, identifying, and mitigating future infodemic harms in emergency preparedness and prevention. OBJECTIVE: In this paper, we summarize the Fifth World Health Organization (WHO) Infodemic Management Conference structure, proceedings, outcomes, and proposed actions seeking to identify the interdisciplinary approaches and frameworks needed to enable the measurement of the burden of infodemics. METHODS: An iterative human-centered design (HCD) approach and concept mapping were used to facilitate focused discussions and allow for the generation of actionable outcomes and recommendations. The discussions included 86 participants representing diverse scientific disciplines and health authorities from 28 countries across all WHO regions, along with observers from civil society and global public health-implementing partners. A thematic map capturing the concepts matching the key contributing factors to the public health burden of infodemics was used throughout the conference to frame and contextualize discussions. Five key areas for immediate action were identified. RESULTS: The 5 key areas for the development of metrics to assess the burden of infodemics and associated interventions included (1) developing standardized definitions and ensuring the adoption thereof; (2) improving the map of concepts influencing the burden of infodemics; (3) conducting a review of evidence, tools, and data sources; (4) setting up a technical working group; and (5) addressing immediate priorities for postpandemic recovery and resilience building. The summary report consolidated group input toward a common vocabulary with standardized terms, concepts, study designs, measures, and tools to estimate the burden of infodemics and the effectiveness of infodemic management interventions. CONCLUSIONS: Standardizing measurement is the basis for documenting the burden of infodemics on health systems and population health during emergencies. Investment is needed into the development of practical, affordable, evidence-based, and systematic methods that are legally and ethically balanced for monitoring infodemics; generating diagnostics, infodemic insights, and recommendations; and developing interventions, action-oriented guidance, policies, support options, mechanisms, and tools for infodemic managers and emergency program managers