scholarly journals Using an Open GIS Framework and Epidemiological Intelligence for Dengue Surveillance

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ta-Chien Chan ◽  
Bo-Cheng Lin ◽  
Chiao-Ling Kuo ◽  
Li-hsiang Chiang
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
High Risk ◽  
Dengue Fever ◽  
Surveillance System ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Open Data ◽  
Outbreak Investigation ◽  
First Line ◽  
Public Health Workers ◽  
Risk Areas

Objective: In this paper we designed one cross-platform surveillance system to assist dengue fever surveillance, outbreak investigation and risk management of dengue fever.Introduction:In the 2015 dengue outbreak in Taiwan, 43,784 people were infected and 228 died, making it the nation’s largest outbreak ever. Facing the increasing threat of dengue, the integration of health information for prevention and control of outbreaks becomes very important. Based on past epidemics, the areas with higher incidence of dengue fever are located in southern Taiwan. Without a smart and integrated surveillance system, the information on case distribution, high risk areas, mosquito surveillance, flooding areas and so on is fragmented. The first-line public health workers need to check all this information through different systems manually. When outbreaks occurred, paper-based outbreak investigation forms had to be prepared and filled in by public health workers. Then, they needed to enter part of this information into Taiwan CDC’s system. Duplicated work occurred and cost lots of labor time during the epidemic period. Therefore, we choose one rural county, Pingtung County, with scarce financial resources, to set up a new dengue surveillance system.Methods: We designed a web-based cross-platform system based on an open geographical information system (GIS) framework including Openlayers, Javascript, PHP, MySQL and open data from government open data in Taiwan. There were seven epidemiological intelligence functions within the system including risk management, outbreak investigation, planning controlled areas, intelligent detection of high-risk areas, useful tools for decision making, historical epidemics, and system management. The website was developed by responsive web design which can let public health workers check information and fill in the investigation form by any devices.Results: The system was promptly set up in June 2016. With first-line public health workers’ efforts and the help of the surveillance system, there were no indigenous dengue fever cases after the system was implemented. There were sporadic imported cases from south-east Asia. The dengue surveillance system achieved three major improvements: integration of all decision support information; digitalization and automation of outbreak investigation; and planning the control areas. The results on outbreak investigation and mosquito surveillance can directly transfer to Taiwan CDC’s database by Web Application Programming Interface (API). It can avoid duplicated work for disease surveillance.Conclusions: Through introducing the new dengue surveillance system into local health departments, first-line public health workers can update all epidemic information at the same time. During epidemic periods, it can provide demographic, epidemiological, environmental, and entomological information for decision making. During non-epidemic periods, it can highlight the high risk areas for enhanced surveillance to reduce the risk of outbreaks.

scholarly journals Working conditions and health status of 6,317 front line public health workers across five provinces in China during the COVID-19 epidemic: a cross-sectional study

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinghua Li ◽  
Jingdong Xu ◽  
Huan Zhou ◽  
Hua You ◽  
Xiaohui Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Status ◽  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Front Line ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Self Rated Health ◽  
Public Health Workers

ABSTRACT Background Public health workers at the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (China CDC) and primary health care institutes (PHIs) were among the main workers who implemented prevention, control, and containment measures. However, their efforts and health status have not been well documented. We aimed to investigate the working conditions and health status of front line public health workers in China during the COVID-19 epidemic. Methods Between 18 February and 1 March 2020, we conducted an online cross-sectional survey of 2,313 CDC workers and 4,004 PHI workers in five provinces across China experiencing different scales of COVID-19 epidemic. We surveyed all participants about their work conditions, roles, burdens, perceptions, mental health, and self-rated health using a self-constructed questionnaire and standardised measurements (i.e., Patient Health Questionnaire and General Anxiety Disorder scale). To examine the independent associations between working conditions and health outcomes, we used multivariate regression models controlling for potential confounders. Results The prevalence of depression, anxiety, and poor self-rated health was 21.3, 19.0, and 9.8%, respectively, among public health workers (27.1, 20.6, and 15.0% among CDC workers and 17.5, 17.9, and 6.8% among PHI workers). The majority (71.6%) made immense efforts in both field and non-field work. Nearly 20.0% have worked all night for more than 3 days, and 45.3% had worked throughout the Chinese New Year holiday. Three risk factors and two protective factors were found to be independently associated with all three health outcomes in our final multivariate models: working all night for >3 days (multivariate odds ratio [ORm]=1.67~1.75, p<0.001), concerns about infection at work (ORm=1.46~1.89, p<0.001), perceived troubles at work (ORm=1.10~1.28, p<0.001), initiating COVID-19 prevention work after January 23 (ORm=0.78~0.82, p=0.002~0.008), and ability to persist for > 1 month at the current work intensity (ORm=0.44~0.55, p<0.001). Conclusions Chinese public health workers made immense efforts and personal sacrifices to control the COVID-19 epidemic and faced the risk of mental health problems. Efforts are needed to improve the working conditions and health status of public health workers and thus maintain their morale and effectiveness during the fight against COVID-19.

E‐learning cultural competence for public health workers: A feasibility and pilot study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duckhee Chae ◽  
Yunekyong Kim ◽  
Jeeheon Ryu ◽  
Keiko Asami ◽  
Jaseon Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Pilot Study ◽  
Cultural Competence ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Public Health Workers

A Qualitative Study of the COVID-19 Response Experiences of Public Health Workers in the United States

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah E. Scales ◽  
Elizabeth Patrick ◽  
Kahler W. Stone ◽  
Kristina W. Kintziger ◽  
Meredith A. Jagger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
United States ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Public Health Workers

Apathy and Ignorance: False Prophets of Autism and the Anti-Vaccine Movement

2020 ◽  
pp. 389-398
Author(s):  
Michael B. A. Oldstone
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Vaccination Rate ◽  
Personal Beliefs ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
False Reporting ◽  
The Face ◽  
Public Health Workers ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Brain

This chapter highlights the story of autism, the widespread acceptance of its incorrect cause, and the impact on use of vaccines, all stemming directly from deliberate, false reporting. The basic conflict is twofold. First, involvement of a scientific method that must be reproducible, be reliable, and possess substantial proof is in conflict with common/personal beliefs. Second, doctors, scientists, and public health workers, despite their mandate to listen to parents and patients concerning their opinions, must base medical conclusions on evidence that validates the outcome of each patient’s health issue. It is in this milieu that autism and the anti-vaccine groups still do battle. In 1998, Lancet, a usually respectable and reputable English journal, published Dr. Andrew Wakefield’s opinion that the measles, mumps, rubella (German measles) vaccine injected into the arms of children caused inflammation, leading to harmful chemicals entering the bloodstream through the gut (intestine). These factors, he said, traveled to the brain, where the harmful chemicals/toxins caused autism. In the face of this “fake news” about the source of autism and measles, the vaccination rate for measles dropped in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

scholarly journals Balancing geo-privacy and spatial patterns in epidemiological studies

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chien-Chou Chen ◽  
Jen-Hsiang Chuang ◽  
Da-Wei Wang ◽  
Chien-Min Wang ◽  
Bo-Cheng Lin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Information System ◽  
Geographic Information System ◽  
Spatial Patterns ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Epidemiological Studies ◽  
Processing Data ◽  
Public Health Workers ◽  
Dengue Epidemic

To balance the protection of geo-privacy and the accuracy of spatial patterns, we developed a geo-spatial tool (GeoMasker) intended to mask the residential locations of patients or cases in a geographic information system (GIS). To elucidate the effects of geo-masking parameters, we applied 2010 dengue epidemic data from Taiwan testing the tool’s performance in an empirical situation. The similarity of pre- and post-spatial patterns was measured by D statistics under a 95% confidence interval. In the empirical study, different magnitudes of anonymisation (estimated Kanonymity ≥10 and 100) were achieved and different degrees of agreement on the pre- and post-patterns were evaluated. The application is beneficial for public health workers and researchers when processing data with individuals’ spatial information.

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