Frontiers in public health
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Front Public Health · Jan 2020
Rapid Assessment of Price Instability and Paucity of Medicines and Protection for COVID-19 Across Asia: Findings and Public Health Implications for the Future.
Background: Countries have introduced a variety of measures to prevent and treat COVID-19 with medicines and personal protective equipment (PPE), with some countries adopting preventative strategies earlier than others. However, there has been considerable controversy surrounding some treatments. This includes hydroxychloroquine where the initial hype and misinformation lead to shortages, price rises and suicides. ⋯ Conclusion: Encouraging to see increases in utilization of vitamins/immune boosters and PPE. However, increases in the utilization and prices of antimicrobials is a concern that needs addressing alongside misinformation and any unintended consequences from the pandemic. Community pharmacists can play a key role in providing evidence-based advice, helping to moderate prices, as well as helping address some of the unintended consequences of the pandemic.
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Front Public Health · Jan 2020
General Public Preferences for Allocating Scarce Medical Resources During COVID-19.
COVID-19 has overwhelmed healthcare systems across the globe with an unprecedented surge in the demand for hospitalizations. Consequently, many hospitals are facing precarious conditions due to limited capacity, especially in the provision of ventilators. ⋯ The results show that the general public views align with the established ethical principles, which favor younger patients. JEL Classification: C91.
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The previously described overfat pandemic, estimated to be 62-76% worldwide, is comprised of individuals with excess body fat sufficient to impair health. The overfat condition is common in those who are overweight and obese, and can also occur in significant numbers of normal-weight non-obese individuals. Being overfat increases the risk for a wide spectrum of common cardiovascular and metabolic (cardiometabolic) abnormalities, chronic diseases and physical impairment. ⋯ In addition to the rates of overfat outpacing overweight and obesity, non-White populations outnumber Whites 6:1, with the recently estimated overfat prevalence being low when considering ethnicities such as Asians, Chinese, Africans and Latin Americans, including these individuals living among predominantly White populations. An awareness of the extent of the overfat pandemic is important because excess body fat can precede cardiometabolic risk factors, chronic diseases, and physical disabilities, and can reduce quality of life and increase healthcare expenditure. The purpose of this Perspective is to demonstrate that the global overfat prevalence of 62-76% may be considerably underestimated.
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Front Public Health · Jan 2020
Economic Consequences of the COVID-19 Outbreak: the Need for Epidemic Preparedness.
COVID-19 is not only a global pandemic and public health crisis; it has also severely affected the global economy and financial markets. Significant reductions in income, a rise in unemployment, and disruptions in the transportation, service, and manufacturing industries are among the consequences of the disease mitigation measures that have been implemented in many countries. It has become clear that most governments in the world underestimated the risks of rapid COVID-19 spread and were mostly reactive in their crisis response. As disease outbreaks are not likely to disappear in the near future, proactive international actions are required to not only save lives but also protect economic prosperity.
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Front Public Health · Jan 2020
Adequate Utilization of Emergency Services in Germany: Is There a Differential by Migration Background?
Background: The role of emergency services (ES) is to provide round-the-clock acute care. In recent years, inadequate use of ES has been internationally thematised because of overcrowding and the associated cost. Evidence shows that migrant populations tend to use more ES than non-migrant but it remains to show if there is a differential in inadequacy. ⋯ Discussion: First generation migrants show lower odds of adequate ES use compared to non-migrants. Only visiting a gynecological hospital-based outpatient clinic as opposed to internal medicine could partly explain the lower odds of adequate use among immigrants. This indicates a need for structural changes in the healthcare system: The threshold of access to general practices needs to be lowered, considering the needs of diverse subgroups of migrant patients.