Emerging Lessons From the COVID-19 Pandemic About the Decisive Competencies Needed for the Public Health Workforce: A Qualitative Study

The global COVID-19 crisis exposed the critical need for a highly qualified public health workforce. This qualitative research aimed to examine public health workforce competencies needed to face COVID-19 challenges and identify the gaps between training programs and the competency demands of real-world disasters and pandemics. Through a sample of thirty-one participant qualitative interviews, we examined the perspectives of diverse stakeholders from lead public health organizations in Israel. Grounded Theory was used to analyze the data. Six themes emerged from the content analysis: public health workforce\u27s low professional status and the uncertain future of the public health workforce; links between the community and Higher Education institutions; the centrality of communication competencies; need to improve health promotion; the role of leadership, management, and partnership, and innovation in public health coherence. Increasing the attractiveness of the profession, professional and financial support, and improving the working conditions to ensure a sustainable and resilient PH system were deemed necessary. This paper describes and cultivates new knowledge and leadership skills among public health professionals, and lays the groundwork for future public health leadership preparedness programs

Identifying the Gaps Between Public Health Training and Practice: A Workforce Competencies Comparative Analysis

Objectives: The study aimed to generate insights on how best to enhance the compatibility between Public Health training program competencies and the implementation of competencies required by employers to address current and emerging public health needs. Methods: A survey adapted from the WHO-ASPHER Competency Framework for the Public Health Workforce was conducted online among Israeli public health managers from August to November 2021. The survey was formulated to mirror Essential Public Health Operations. Forty-nine managers participated (37.6% response rate) in an assessment of 44 public health competencies and the core organizational public health operations. Results: Analysis of Essential Public Health Operations revealed a notably high deficiency reported for Advocacy Communication and Social Mobilization for health competencies. Collaborations and Partnership and, Leadership and System Thinking were the most reported insufficient competencies, particularly in health departments and research institutes. Governmental offices reported Organizational Literacy and Adaptability competencies being deficient. Deficiencies were more impactful as the level of expertise increased. Conclusion: There is a clear need for public health professionals to acquire versatile and innovative competencies in response to the ever-changing health threats

Toward a Global View of Alcohol, Tobacco, Cannabis, and Cocaine Use: Findings from the WHO World Mental Health Surveys

Louisa Degenhardt and colleagues report an international survey of 17 countries that finds clear differences in drug use across different regions of the world

What can ecological studies tell us about death?

Abstract Using an ecological study design, Gordon et al. (Isr J Health Policy Res 6:39, 2017) demonstrate variations in mortality patterns across districts and sub-districts of Israel during 2008–2013. Unlike other epidemiological study designs, the units of analysis in ecological studies are groups of people, often defined geographically, and the exposures and outcomes are aggregated, and often known only at the population-level. The ecologic study has several appealing characteristics (such as reliance on public-domain anonymous data) alongside a number of important potential limitations including the often mentioned ‘ecological fallacy’. Advantages and disadvantages of the ecological design are described briefly below

Sex patterns of lung cancer mortality in Russia over a 16-year period, 2000-2015

Objective Much has been published about tobacco smoking consumption in Russia, though tobacco-related mortality remains unexplored. This study aims to describe national and regional sex patterns of lung cancer (LC) mortality (as a marker for tobacco-related mortality) in Russia in 2000-2015. Methods Age-adjusted LC mortality (AALCM) rates by gender and for eight federal districts and 83 regions were calculated based on mortality and population data extracted from the Russian Fertility and Mortality Database. Annual percentage changes in AALCM on the national and federal district levels were estimated; average AALCM rates were mapped. Two-way ANOVA was applied to assess time-district interaction effects on LC mortality. Results At the national level, a monotonic decline in LC mortality during the 16-year period was noted among men (annual % change=1.9%), while among women, national LC mortality rates remained unchanged for most years. Sex differences in AALCM rates across federal districts and regions were noted. Among men, AALCM rates were consistently higher in northern, central and Far Eastern regions of Russia, while among women, AALCM rates increased moving from west to east over Russia. A strong time-district interaction for age-adjusted LC mortality male-to-female ratio (F=3.267,p<0.001) was found. Conclusions Given the significant increase in tobacco smoking prevalence among Russian women that began in the 1990s, female LC mortality will continue to rise in the coming decades, with a disproportionate burden on those regions located far from the federal centres with insufficient health services. Additional work is needed to identify factors underlying the regional and sex differences. Funding Invariable LC mortality among Russian women follows the observation of increasing tobacco smoking consumption in the past and predicts growing challenges to the national healthcare system in coming decades

Patterns of lung cancer mortality in Russia over a 16-year period, 2000-2015

Background Tobacco smoking has been historically high in Russian men, and steadily increased in Russian women following the Soviet Union's collapse. Much has been published about alcohol consumption and alcohol-related mortality in Russia, however, few studies have assessed regional tobacco-related mortality. This study describes regional and gender patterns of lung cancer mortality, as a marker for tobacco-related mortality, in Russia during the period 2000-2015. Methods Age-adjusted lung cancer mortality rates by gender and for eight federal districts and 83 regions were calculated based on mortality and population data extracted from the Russian Fertility and Mortality Database. Annual percentage changes in age-adjusted lung cancer mortality on the national and federal district levels were estimated, and average age-adjusted lung cancer mortality rates were mapped. Two-way ANOVA was applied to assess time-district interaction effects on lung cancer mortality. Results Age-adjusted lung cancer mortality rates were consistently higher in eastern and central regions of Russia. At the national level, a monotonic decline in lung cancer mortality during the 16-year period was noted among men (annual % change = 1.9%), while among women, national lung cancer mortality rates remained unchanged for most years. Differences in age-adjusted lung cancer mortality across federal districts and regions over time, as well as between the sexes, were noted. A strong time-district interaction for age-adjusted lung cancer mortality (F=1.810, p< 0.028), and age-adjusted lung cancer mortality male-to-female ratio (F=3.267, p< 0.001) were found. Conclusions Given the significant increase in tobacco smoking prevalence among Russian women that began the 1990s, female lung cancer mortality will continue to rise in the coming decades, with a disproportionate burden on those regions with insufficient health services and located far from the federal centers. Additional work is needed to identify factors underlying the regional and sex differences