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Global Health Program - Global Health Weekly
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Issue Volume 7 Issue #6 - February 15, 2018
In this issue:
Global Health Rounds - February 26 
The use of mosquito nets in fisheries: A global perspective
Provision of emergency obstetric care at secondary level in a conflict setting in a rural area of Afghanistan – is the hospital fulfilling its role?
Working towards zero tolerance for female genital mutilation in Sudan
Humanitarian groups hope peace talks improve South Sudan access
Afghanistan's Lone Psychiatric Hospital Reveals Mental Health Crisis Fueled By War
Access to emergency hospital care provided by the public sector in sub-Saharan Africa in 2015: a geocoded inventory and spatial analysis
Save the Dates of Local Events!
Call for Abstracts/Submissions
Local Initiatives
Students & Residents
Newsletter & Special Journal Editions
Reports & Podcasts
Feedback/Comments from Our Readers
Comments, questions and feedback is always welcome.
Global Health Rounds - February 26 
 
 
We're always looking for new speakers and ideas for topics for Global Health Rounds for this coming up academic year.  If you have speakers or topics, please contact Cheryl Knowles at GHFoMD@ualberta.ca
The use of mosquito nets in fisheries: A global perspective
Abstract
 
Free or subsidised mosquito net (MN) distribution has been an increasingly important tool in efforts to combat malaria in recent decades throughout the developing world, making great strides towards eradicating this hugely detrimental disease. However, there has been increasing concern in the natural resource management and healthcare communities over alternative use of MNs, particularly in artisanal fisheries where it has been suggested they pose a threat to sustainability of fish stocks. So far, little evidence has been presented as to the global prevalence and characteristics of MN fishing, limiting global management initiatives and incentives for action across disciplines. We conducted a rapid global assessment of mosquito net fishing (MNF) observations from expert witnesses living and/or working in malarial zones using an internet survey. MNF was found to be a broadly pan-tropical activity, particularly prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa. MNF is conducted using a variety of deployment methods and scales including seine nets, scoop/dip nets, set nets and traps. MNF was witnessed in a broad range of marine and freshwater habitats and was seen to exploit a wide range of taxa, with capture of juvenile fish reported in more than half of responses. Perceived drivers of MNF were closely related to poverty, revealing potentially complex and arguably detrimental livelihood and food security implications which we discuss in light of current literature and management paradigms. The key policies likely to influence future impacts of MNF are in health, regarding net distribution, and natural resource management regarding restrictions on use. We outline critical directions for research and highlight the need for a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to development of both localised and broad-scale policy.
 
To read more about this abstract go to http://journals.plos.org/
Provision of emergency obstetric care at secondary level in a conflict setting in a rural area of Afghanistan – is the hospital fulfilling its role?
Abstract
Background
 
Provision of Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care (EmONC) reduces maternal mortality and should include three components: Basic Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care (BEmONC) offered at primary care level, Comprehensive EmONC (CEmONC) at secondary level and a good referral system in-between. In a conflict-affected province of Afghanistan (Khost), we assessed the performance of an Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) run CEmONC hospital without a primary care and referral system. Performance was assessed in terms of hospital utilisation for obstetric emergencies and quality of obstetric care.
 
To read more about this abstract go to https://conflictandhealth.biomedcentral.com
Working towards zero tolerance for female genital mutilation in Sudan
Nine years ago, one community in Sudan decided to follow WHO recommendations and abandon the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM).
 
Since then, Tuti Island, a community of 21 000 residents located at the juncture where the White Nile and Blue Nile rivers merge, has been held up as a trailblazer in a growing movement to end FGM.
Today, more than 1000 communities in Sudan have abandoned the practice which has no health benefits and continues to violate the human rights of 200 million women and girls in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
 
“Tuti Island is a shining example of how a community can initiate and sustain an effort to end FGM,” says Dr Wisal Ahmed, team leader in WHO Sudan’s Women’s Health Unit. “We hope the other communities who have declared abandonment in the past four years can also sustain progress.”
Sudan has one of the highest rates of FGM in the world, with most girls undergoing the practice between 5–9 years of age. Eighty-seven percent of women aged 15–49 years have been cut, and the majority have undergone the severest form – infibulation – where the genitals are stitched up after cutting, leaving only a small opening for urine to pass.
 
However, there are indications that the practice is decreasing among younger girls, explains Dr Ahmed. “Only a third of girls aged 0–14 years undergo FGM compared to 9 out of 10 girls aged 15–49 years.”
 
To read more about this article go to http://www.who.int
Humanitarian groups hope peace talks improve South Sudan access
Humanitarian groups hope peace talks improve South Sudan access
 
South Sudan’s warring factions are meeting in Addis Ababa this week, with observers hoping that common ground can be reached to pivot the country towards peace. For humanitarian actors operating in the country, there are hopes that these peace talks will now open up access to parts of South Sudan that have been unreachable because of the conflict.
 
Peace negotiations have been unsuccessful over the past few years, as feuding parties continually violate agreements. In 2015, President Salva Kiir signed a peace deal with rebel forces, but this deal has been repeatedly broken. In December, in attempts to revive the deal, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development, an East African trade bloc, brokered a cease-fire agreement. It was violated shortly after.
 
Observers are hoping that any negotiations that could result from the current talks will be backed by real consequences for those that fail to comply.
 
The Institute for Security Studies released a report on Wednesday that called for arrest warrants against violators of the peace deal, more authority for regional protection forces and United Nations peacekeepers to protect civilians, the enforcement of asset freezes and travel bans, and sanctions against the top leaders of warring factions.
 
To read more about this article go to  https://www.devex.com/
Afghanistan's Lone Psychiatric Hospital Reveals Mental Health Crisis Fueled By War
Nearly 40 years of violent conflict is driving a growing mental health crisis in Afghanistan.
 
While accurate data on mental health issues are not available in Afghanistan, the World Health Organization estimates more than a million Afghans suffer from depressive disorders and over 1.2 million suffer from anxiety disorders. The WHO says the actual numbers are likely much higher. The mental health toll signifies a hidden consequence of war that is often overshadowed by bombed-out buildings and loss of life.
 
Afghanistan has only one high-security psychiatric facility, where many of the patients are often chained and sedated. The Red Crescent Secure Psychiatric Institution houses almost 300 patients considered to be the "most dangerous," says Sahar Zand, a reporter for the BBC who reported from the facility in Herat, the third-largest city in the country.
 
Afghanistan has only one high-security psychiatric facility, where many of the patients are often chained and sedated. The Red Crescent Secure Psychiatric Institution houses almost 300 patients considered to be the "most dangerous," says Sahar Zand, a reporter for the BBC who reported from the facility in Herat, the third-largest city in the country.
 
To read more about this article go to https://www.npr.org/
Access to emergency hospital care provided by the public sector in sub-Saharan Africa in 2015: a geocoded inventory and spatial analysis
Summary
Abstract
Timely access to emergency care can substantially reduce mortality. International benchmarks for access to emergency hospital care have been established to guide ambitions for universal health care by 2030. However, no Pan-African database of where hospitals are located exists; therefore, we aimed to complete a geocoded inventory of hospital services in Africa in relation to how populations might access these services in 2015, with focus on women of child bearing age.
 
Methods
We assembled a geocoded inventory of public hospitals across 48 countries and islands of sub-Saharan Africa, including Zanzibar, using data from various sources. We only included public hospitals with emergency services that were managed by governments at national or local levels and faith-based or non-governmental organisations. For hospital listings without geographical coordinates, we geocoded each facility using Microsoft Encarta (version 2009), Google Earth (version 7.3), Geonames, Fallingrain, OpenStreetMap, and other national digital gazetteers. We obtained estimates for total population and women of child bearing age (15–49 years) at a 1 km2 spatial resolution from the WorldPop database for 2015. Additionally, we assembled road network data from Google Map Maker Project and OpenStreetMap using ArcMap (version 10.5). We then combined the road network and the population locations to form a travel impedance surface. Subsequently, we formulated a cost distance algorithm based on the location of public hospitals and the travel impedance surface in AccessMod (version 5) to compute the proportion of populations living within a combined walking and motorised travel time of 2 h to emergency hospital services.
 
To read more about this abstract go to http://www.thelancet.com
Save the Dates of Local Events!
Social Justice Rounds
Guest Speaker:

Dr. Ayelet Kuper From the University of Toronto
March 12, 2018
12:00 - 1:00
Room:  1-190 ECHA


For the light lunch please register it's free.
 
============================

Social Justice Workshop
Facilitated by:  Dr. Ayelet Kuper, University of Toronto

March 13, 2018
Time:  15:00 - 18:00 
Location:  4-036 ECHA

 
Free to all please register here
 
 
===========================
 
Annual Rich Man Poor Man Dinner Event 2018
April 7, 2018
Time:  6:00 pm to 9:30 pm
 

 
Please note if you have any resaleable items for the SIHA silent auction, please email me at GHFoMD@ualberta.ca. 
Thanks for those who donate.
Conferences, Symposiums & Lectures
Save this link to your favorites as I update it daily will all events, symposiums, etc., just click here.
  
==========================
 
2018 CUGH Conference
March 16 - 18,
2018
New York Hilton Midtown, 

New York, NY
Register here.

 
=========================
Global Health & Innovation Conference 
April 14-15, 2018
Yale University
New Haven, CT
Call for Abstracts/Submissions
 
Global Health & Innovation Conference at Yale on
April 14-15, 2018
is calling for abstracts.
 
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UAlberta Study Demonstrates the Deep Impact of Maternal Education on Childhood Malaria
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