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The tobacco control program in Pennsylvania was well established due to adequate funding, political support from previous Administrations, and dedicated tobacco control professionals across the state. The passage of Act 77 of 2001, allocating all the Master Settlement monies to health initiatives, including tobacco control, provided the foundation to establish a comprehensive program. Tobacco control advocates used the CDC's Best Practices guidelines to model their program and have developed a statewide monitoring system to track program progress. The program does face several challenges including the uncertainty of future funding due to the state's budget crisis, a change in administration, and preemption. The significant progress the program has attained should serve as an indicator of the potential successes it will be able to achieve if a supportive environment is maintained. Partners identified the following strengths and challenges of Pennsylvania's tobacco control program: • The dedication of the DOH TPC staff and their management of the program were strengths of the program. • The allocation of adequate funding for Pennsylvania's tobacco control program was a major strength. However, partners felt that the short time the program had been in place was a challenge. • The slow DOH approval process caused delays in implementation of tobacco control activities. • Preemption in the clean indoor air and youth access laws prohibited Pennsylvania from enacting strong tobacco control legislation.

Preventive behavior, such as hand hygiene, facemask wearing, and social distancing, plays a vital role in containing the spread of viruses during pandemics. However, people in many parts of the world usually encounter difficulties adhering to this behavior due to various causes. Thus, this article aims to develop a research framework and propose design strategies to prompt individuals' behavior change during pandemics. Initially, we integrated a literature review and a structured interview (n = 22) to ascertain the core factors impacting behavior change during pandemics. These factors were categorized into four aspects: perceptional factors (attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavior control, risk perceptions); social factors (knowledge and information dissemination, governmental regulations); physical factors (tools and facilities and surveillance); and sociocultural factor (cultural contexts). Then, a theoretical framework with antecedents was developed to reveal behavior intention and formation process. After that, an empirical study was carried out to test the research framework through a questionnaire survey (n = 549). The research findings indicated that all derived factors could directly or indirectly affect individuals' preventive behavior during pandemics. This article strives to provide valuable insights for different stakeholders when coping with pandemic situations.

Michigan's tobacco control program has been greatly challenged by an unsupportive political climate, a state budget deficit, and inadequate program funding. Despite these barriers, the program has benefited from strong tobacco control experience and leadership, a supportive network of tobacco control partners, and recent local clean indoor air efforts. It is hoped that the new Governor and Legislature will provide more support for tobacco control, helping Michigan's program to progress in its efforts. Program Strengths & Challenges Partners identified the following strengths and challenges of Michigan's tobacco control program: • Partners described the Tobacco Section staff as very dedicated, knowledgeable, and committed to tobacco control and a major strength of Michigan's program. • The statewide coalition, Tobacco Free Michigan Action Coalition, and its members were viewed as strengths. • A few partners identified local coalitions and their grassroots efforts as positive characteristics of Michigan's tobacco control program. • The lack of tobacco control program funding was the most significant challenge for the program. • Michigan's political climate was a challenge. In particular, many partners felt the lack of support by the previous Engler Administration impeded the program tremendously.

Michigan's tobacco control program has been greatly challenged by an unsupportive political climate, a state budget deficit, and inadequate program funding. Despite these barriers, the program has benefited from strong tobacco control experience and leadership, a supportive network of tobacco control partners, and recent local clean indoor air efforts. It is hoped that the new Governor and Legislature will provide more support for tobacco control, helping Michigan's program to progress in its efforts. Program Strengths & Challenges Partners identified the following strengths and challenges of Michigan's tobacco control program: • Partners described the Tobacco Section staff as very dedicated, knowledgeable, and committed to tobacco control and a major strength of Michigan's program. • The statewide coalition, Tobacco Free Michigan Action Coalition, and its members were viewed as strengths. • A few partners identified local coalitions and their grassroots efforts as positive characteristics of Michigan's tobacco control program. • The lack of tobacco control program funding was the most significant challenge for the program. • Michigan's political climate was a challenge. In particular, many partners felt the lack of support by the previous Engler Administration impeded the program tremendously.

ABSTRACT Objective: Reflect, in the light of the Health Belief Model, on the adoption of behavioral measures in the context of COVID-19. Methods: Theoretical-reflective essay, based on the Health Belief Model, to reflect on adherence to preventive behaviors in the pandemic of COVID-19. Results: Adherence to preventive behaviors is strongly influenced by socioeconomic, territorial, political and individual factors in the face of critical health situations. In addition, the spread of false news modulates the thinking and execution of behavioral actions in the population. Final Considerations: It is necessary to understand the importance of health communication processes and the use of tools aimed at responsible human behavior and engaged in the adoption of a preventive posture.

The purpose of the study is to analyze the role of Tshwane Metropolitan Police in prevention and control of xenophobic related crimes in Tshwane. Based on a simple random sampling approach, a structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data from the sample of forty-five respondents who have once been involved in xenophobia in South Africa. Results derived from partici-pants' responses were presented and reported based on frequencies. For both the primary dimensions and the overall sample, the Keiser-Meyer Olkin values indicate that the instrument items were structurally valid. Based on the frequencies, data analysis was conducted on the historical roots of xenophobia, methods and techniques for combating xenophobic attacks, effectiveness of Metro Police in preventing xenophobia as well as challenges and limitations of the Metropolitan Police. Results from the study indicate that the majority of respondents perceived that culture proved to be part of the historic roots xenophobic violence in South Africa and methods and techniques used to combat xenophobia were indeed not effective; hence the Tshwane Metropolitan Police face limitations in combating violence.

The rate of occupational accidents is increasing, leading to a number of organizational deficiencies. For European Union (EU), the non-fatal accident number in 2017 was 3,315,101. An increase in the number of accidents is recorded in many of the member states. In addition, the increase in accidents tends to focus on certain sectors and is due more to the increase in the incidence rate than the increase in the workforce. Companies in these industry sectors have also implemented less intensive prevention practices than firms in other sectors. Performing a statistical evaluation of non-fatal and fatal accidents is an important one. This assessment helps managers understand the importance of implementing prevention and control methods across organizations. For this research, we used series of data obtained from the Romanian National Institute of Statistics (NIS), Labor Inspection in Romania, and Eurostatof the European Commission. Data series evaluations were conducted for the EU and Romania. A qualitative assessment of the industry data series had been carried out. Furthermore, T-tests and analysis of variance analysis (ANOVA) were performed to identify the relationships between the frequency index of fatal and non-fatal accidents, and the categories chosen. The values obtained for men were significantly higher than those of female workers. Based on the results of the qualitative assessment and European and national strategies, an experimental model for the prevention and control of occupational accidents is proposed. At the end of the paper, the situation of labor accidents in Romania and Bulgaria, two EU member states, is assessed in the agriculture, forestry and fishing, manufacturing, construction and transport, and storage sectors. A series of trends are presented for the period 2018&ndash ; 2020. The results obtained from the evaluation of the data series represent an important core of the Romanian Labor Inspectorate for the development of strategic actions.

Background This paper is aimed at critically assessing the extent to which Non-Communicable Disease NCD-related policies introduced in Bangladesh align with the World Health Organization's (WHO) 2013–2020 Action Plan for the Global Strategy for the Prevention and Control of NCDs. Methods The authors reviewed all relevant policy documents introduced by the Government of Bangladesh since its independence in 1971. The literature review targeted scientific and grey literature documents involving internet-based search, and expert consultation and snowballing to identify relevant policy documents. Information was extracted from the documents using a specific matrix, mapping each document against the six objectives of the WHO 2013–2020 Action Plan for the Global Strategy for the Prevention and Control of NCDs. Results A total of 51 documents were identified. Seven (14%) were research and/or surveys, nine were on established policies (17%), while seventeen (33%) were on action programmes. Five (10%) were related to guidelines and thirteen (25%) were strategic planning documents from government and non-government agencies/institutes. The study covered documents produced by the Government of Bangladesh as well as those by quasi-government and non-government organizations irrespective of the extent to which the intended policies were implemented. Conclusions The policy analysis findings suggest that although the government has initiated many NCD-related policies or programs, they lacked proper planning, implementation and monitoring. Consequently, Bangladesh over the years had little success in effectively addressing the growing burden of non-communicable diseases. It is imperative that future research critically assess the effectiveness of national NCD policies by monitoring their implementation and level of population coverage

Introduction: The influenza pandemics of the 20 th century, the SARS epidemic in 2002 / 03 and the growing number of human cases infected with the H5N1 avian infl uenza virus clearly demonstrate that the threat of new pandemics is very real. These events have intensifi ed pandemic prevention and control activities worldwide. " SARSControl " is a three-year project funded by the European Commission with the objective to aid European member states in the public health management of new emerging infections. This article summarises the main research results and recommendations arising from this project. Method: The reports and papers published in the SARSControl project form the basis of this article. In addition, a literature search for SARS and pandemic infl uenza was conducted and information on pandemic planning and management guidelines obtained from the WHO and EU websites. The project results are discussed in this context. Results: A lack of knowledge and delayed international communication resulted in the rapid spread of SARS, highlighting the importance of a global system for rapid and transparent information transfer. Epidemiological and economic modelling studies have shown that, in comparison to travel restrictions, applying intervention measures to interrupt local transmission within a country and investing into vaccine research and anti-viral stockpiling, is a more cost-eff ective and effi cient use of resources for the containment of pandemics. A study investigating the perceived threat associated with pandemics showed that the subjective risk perception of people varies among countries. This infl uences human behaviour and should hence be considered during risk communication and implementation of pandemic control measures. Discussion: The basic prerequistes of an effi cient pandemic management are operationalisable pandemic plans, subjected to regular exercises, backed by adequate resources and a sound health-care infrastructure. At international level cross-border co-operation and information exchange on infection control is the key to pandemic mitigation and containment. Strengthening surveillance systems at the international level, to allow the timely monitoring of infectious agents and outbreaks is essen tial. Transferring such outbreak information in real time into mathematical models and the resulting essential epidemiological information to policy makers would facilitate a more effi cient use of scarce resources. Involvement of the public in decisions regarding the implementation of restrictive control measures which often curtail individual liberty is necessary for the acceptance and ultimate success of pandemic control.