Health inequalities as a foundation for embodying knowledge within public health teaching: a qualitative study

Gold OAIntroduction: Recent UK health policies identified nurses as key contributors to the social justice agenda of reducing health inequalities, on the assumption that all nurses understand and wish to contribute to public health. Following this policy shift, public health content within pre-registration nursing curricula increased. However, public health nurse educators (PHNEs) had various backgrounds, and some had limited formal public health training, or involvement in or understanding of policy required to contribute effectively to it. Their knowledge of this subject, their understanding and interpretation of how it could be taught, was not fully understood. Methodology This research aimed to understand how public health nurse educators’ professional knowledge could be conceptualised and to develop a substantive theory of their knowledge of teaching public health, using a qualitative data analysis approach. Qualitative in-depth semi-structured interviews (n=26) were conducted with eleven university-based PHNEs. Results Integrating public health into all aspects of life was seen as central to the knowing and teaching of public health; this was conceptualised as ‘embodying knowledge’. Participants identified the meaning of embodying knowledge for teaching public health as: (a) possessing a wider vision of health; (b) reflecting and learning from experience; and (c) engaging in appropriate pedagogical practices. Conclusion The concept of public health can mean different things to different people. The variations of meaning ascribed to public health reflect the various backgrounds from which the public health workforce is drawn. The analysis indicates that PHNEs are embodying knowledge for teaching through critical pedagogy, which involves them engaging in transformative, interpretive and integrative processes to refashion public health concepts; this requires PHNEs who possess a vision of what to teach, know how to teach, and are able to learn from experience. Their vision of public health is influenced by social justice principles in that health inequalities, socioeconomic determinants of health, epidemiology, and policy and politics are seen as essential areas of the public health curriculum. They believe in forms of teaching that achieve social transformation at individual, behavioural and societal levels, while also enabling learners to recognise their capacity to effect change

Ethnic and minority group differences in engagement with COVID-19 vaccination programmes – at Pandemic Pace; when vaccine confidence in mass rollout meets local vaccine hesitancy?

Israel, the UK, the USA, and some other wealthier countries lead in the implementation of COVID-19 vaccine mass vaccination programmes. Evidence from these countries indicates that their ethnic minorities could be as disproportionately disadvantaged in COVID-19 vaccines roll-out as they were affected by COVID-19-related serious illnesses. Their disadvantage is linked to their lower social status and fewer social goods compared with dominant population groups. Albeit limited by methodology, early studies attribute lower uptake of COVID-19 amongst ethnic minorities to the wider determinants of vaccine uptake, hesitancy or lack of vaccine confidence, including lower levels of trust and greater concerns about vaccine safety. Early sentinel studies are needed in all early adopter countries. One emerging theme among those of reproductive age in minority communities concerns a worry regarding COVID-19 vaccine’s potential adverse effect on fertility. Respected professional groups reassure this is not a credible rationale. Drug and vaccine regulators use understandable, cautious and conditional language in emergency licencing of new gene-based vaccines. Technical assessments on whether there is any potential genotoxicity or reproductive toxicity should be more emphatic. From a public health perspective, sentinel studies should identify such community concerns and act early to produce convincing explanations and evidence. Local public health workforces need to be diverse, multiskilled, and able to engage well with minorities and vulnerable groups. The local Directors of Public Health in the UK are based in each local government area and have a remit and opportunity to stimulate speedy action to increase vaccine uptake. During the rapid Pandemic Pace of the vaccines roll-out, extra efforts to minimise uptake variations are likely to achieve improvements in the next year or two. We expect variations will not disappear however, given that underlying inequalities persist in less inclusive social systems

Being at the Bottom Rung of the Ladder in an Unequal Society: A Qualitative Analysis of Stories of People without a Home

Background: Homelessness is rising in the United Kingdom, despite investment in measures to eradicate it made by the government and charity organisations. Aim: The aim is to examine the stories of homeless people in order to document their perceptions of their social status, the reasons that led to their homelessness, and propose a conceptual explanation. Method: We conducted 26 semi-structured interviews in three centres for homeless people in Cheshire, North West of England. Results: Three categories—education, employment, and health—emerged from the data and provided a theoretical explanation for the reasons that led to their homelessness. These are vital not only for the successful negotiation of one’s way out of homelessness, but also for achieving other social goods, including social connections, social mobility, and engaging in positive social relationships. Conclusion: Participants catalogued the adverse childhood experiences, which they believe limited their capacity to meaningfully engage with the social institution for social goods, such as education, social services, and institutions of employment. Since not all people who have misfortunes of poor education, poor health, and loss of job end up being homeless, we contend that a combination of these with multiple adverse childhood experiences may have weakened their resilience to traumatic life changes, such as loss of job and poor health

The Perspective of Socioeconomic Inequalities and Infectious Disease in 21st Century

At the turn of the new century, the United Nations set a series of global health goals to be achieved by 2015. Amongst the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), goal six aimed to combat HIV, malaria and other diseases

Mind your Language: Discursive Practices Produce Unequal Power and Control Over Infectious Disease: A Critical Discourse Analysis

A review of how the language use to describe noncommunicable disease create heroes and vilians and maginalise the economic south populations.Abstract Background: Power, socioeconomic inequalities, and poverty are recognized as some of the fundamental determinants of differences in vulnerability of societies to infectious disease threats. The economic south is carrying a higher burden than those in the economic north. This raises questions about whether social preventions and biomedical preventions for infectious disease are given equal consideration, and about social institutions and structures that frame the debate about infectious disease. This article examines how institutionalized ways of talking about infectious disease reinforces, creates, and sustains health inequalities. Methodology: Critical discourse analysis was considered to be epistemologically and ontologically consistent with the aims and context of this study. Results: The study examined three types of infectious disease: • Emerging infectious diseases/pathogens • Neglected tropical diseases • Vector-borne infections. Examination revealed that poverty is the most common determinant of all three. Conclusion: A sustainable reduction in infectious disease in the southern countries is most likely to be achieved through tackling socioeconomic determinants. There is a need for a change in the discourse on infectious disease, and adopt a discourse that promotes self-determination, rather than one that reinforces the hero-victim scenario and power inequalities. Keyword: Critical discourse, inequalities, infectious disease, poverty, powe

Ethnic and minority group differences in engagement with COVID-19 vaccination programmes – at Pandemic Pace; when vaccine confidence in mass rollout meets local vaccine hesitancy

From Springer Nature via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2021-04-27, accepted 2021-04-30, registration 2021-04-30, pub-electronic 2021-05-27, online 2021-05-27, collection 2021-12Publication status: PublishedAbstract: Israel, the UK, the USA, and some other wealthier countries lead in the implementation of COVID-19 vaccine mass vaccination programmes. Evidence from these countries indicates that their ethnic minorities could be as disproportionately disadvantaged in COVID-19 vaccines roll-out as they were affected by COVID-19-related serious illnesses. Their disadvantage is linked to their lower social status and fewer social goods compared with dominant population groups. Albeit limited by methodology, early studies attribute lower uptake of COVID-19 amongst ethnic minorities to the wider determinants of vaccine uptake, hesitancy or lack of vaccine confidence, including lower levels of trust and greater concerns about vaccine safety. Early sentinel studies are needed in all early adopter countries. One emerging theme among those of reproductive age in minority communities concerns a worry regarding COVID-19 vaccine’s potential adverse effect on fertility. Respected professional groups reassure this is not a credible rationale. Drug and vaccine regulators use understandable, cautious and conditional language in emergency licencing of new gene-based vaccines. Technical assessments on whether there is any potential genotoxicity or reproductive toxicity should be more emphatic. From a public health perspective, sentinel studies should identify such community concerns and act early to produce convincing explanations and evidence. Local public health workforces need to be diverse, multiskilled, and able to engage well with minorities and vulnerable groups. The local Directors of Public Health in the UK are based in each local government area and have a remit and opportunity to stimulate speedy action to increase vaccine uptake. During the rapid Pandemic Pace of the vaccines roll-out, extra efforts to minimise uptake variations are likely to achieve improvements in the next year or two. We expect variations will not disappear however, given that underlying inequalities persist in less inclusive social systems

A meta-analysis of type 1 diabetes mellitus, all-cause and cause-specific mortality

A meta-analysis of type 1 diabetes mellitus, all-cause and cause-specific mortalit

Evaluating the Use of Vitamin D Supplementation to Improve Glycaemic Outcome in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients: A Systematic Review of Evidence

Background: The evidence indicates that vitamin D [25(OH)D] improves glycaemic outcomes in type 2 Diabetes mellitus patients. The outcome measures used to determine the accuracy of this hypothesis are: glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Methods: We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis which included all previous randomised controlled trial (RCT) studies that assessed the effects of vitamin D on glucose metabolism. We carried out an extensive electronic database search of published and unpublished RCTs, evaluating the association between vitamin D and glycaemic outcomes in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients. We searched Cochrane Library, PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL Plus with Full Text, MEDLINE, BioMed Central, Turning Research Into Practice (TRIP), Health Technology Assessment (HTA), and Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences (LILIACS) between the years 2005 and 2016. The full texts of relevant studies were retrieved and a snowballing technique was used to discover further studies missed from the initial database search. This was done by hand-searching for references within the retrieved articles. Results: A total of 17 studies were included in the review. The pooled effect of 15 studies that measured HbA1c showed an insignificant effect of vitamin D on HbA1c (Mean difference (MD) = −0.06 mmol/l; 95% CI = −0.26 to 0.14; I2 = 76%). A pooled analysis of seven studies that measured the effect of vitamin D on blood glucose also found no significant effect of vitamin D on T2DM (MD = −0.03 mmol/l; 95% CI = −0.69 to 0.63; I2 = 76%). Three studies that analysed the effect of vitamin D on insulin sensitivity also observed no significant effect (MD = −1.51 mmol/l; 95% CI = −3.61 to 0.60; I2 = 67%). Conclusion: In conclusion, although vitamin D has been extensively studied in relation to some glycaemic outcomes and some indications that increased plasma vitamin D concentrations might be linked to prevention of T2DM, firm universal conclusions about its benefits cannot be drawn. Further studies with better designed trials and larger sample sizes are needed to draw firmer conclusion

The Effectiveness of Glyburide Compared to Insulin in the Management of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review.

Background: Insulin therapy has been the mainstay in managing women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), but some disadvantages of insulin have led to the use of glyburide, which is inexpensive in some countries, to manage GDM. However, there has been debate over its effectiveness, efficacy and safety when compared to insulin for maternal glycaemic control, and some adverse neonatal outcomes in GDM. Method: A systematic review of eight randomised controlled trial (RCT) studies was undertaken to compare glyburide and insulin. Studies involving 849 participants were included in the quantitative analysis. Results: There was no significant difference between glyburide and insulin in maternal fasting (P = 0.09; SMD: 0.13; 95% CI: ﹣0.02 to 0.28) and postprandial (P = 0.45; SMD: 0.05; 95% CI: ﹣0.09 to 0.19) glycaemic control and glycosylated hae-moglobin (P = 0.35; SMD: 0.08; 95% CI: ﹣0.08 to 0.24). When compared with insulin, glyburide had an increase risk ratio (RR) for neonatal hypoglycaemia (P = 0.0002; RR: 2.27; 95% CI: 1.47 to 3.51) and large for gestational age babies (P = 0.03; RR: 1.60; 95% CI: 1.06 to 2.41). Estimation of standard mean difference shows that neonatal birth weight was significantly higher in subjects receiving glyburide than in the insulin group (P = 0.002; SMD: 0.21; 95% CI: 0.08 to 0.35). Conclusions: Glyburide was seen to be clinically effective and a safer alternative to insulin for maternal glycaemic control in GDM women. It is affordable, convenient and requires no comprehensive educative training at the time of initiation of therapy. However, its adverse outcomes—neonatal hypogly-caemia, high neonatal birth weight and large for gestational age babies—call for careful monitoring of GDM patients for any need for supplemental insulin

Filling the Gaps in Pharmacy Workforce in Post-Conflict Areas: The Case of 4 Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa

Background: While the pharmacy workforce is the third largest professional healthcare group worldwide, the pharmacy workforce landscape remains unclear in post-conflict areas in sub-Saharan Africa. Method: Key informants were selected for semi-structured interviews due to their role in providing pharmacy services in the selected country: the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, and South Sudan. Transcripts from the interviews were anonymized, coded, and analyzed. Results: Nine participants were recruited (CAR: 2; DRC: 2; Ethiopia: 2; South Sudan: 3), and all except two were pharmacists. Conflict-specific challenges in pharmacy service delivery were identified as the following: unpredictable health needs and/or mismatched pharmaceutical supply, transport difficulties due to insecure roads, and shortage of pharmacy workforce due to brain drain or interrupted schooling. Barriers to health workforce retention and growth were identified to be brain drain as a result of suboptimal living and working conditions or remuneration, the perception of an unsafe work environment, and a career pathway or commitment duration that does not fit the diaspora or expatriate staff. Conclusion: To tackle the barriers of pharmacy health workforce retention and growth, policy solutions will be required and efforts that can bring about long-term improvement should be prioritized. This is essential to achieve universal health coverage and the targets of the sustainable development goals for conflict affected areas, as well as to “leave no one behind”