Suchergebnisse

Female sex workers in Russia have been particularly vulnerable to recent social, political, and economic changes. In this article, we describe the facilitators and barriers for sex workers receiving health care services in St. Petersburg, Russia. We conducted observations at medical institutions and nongovernmental organizations and in-depth interviews with 29 female sex workers. We identified the following barriers: poverty, not having documents, lack of anonymity in testing, and the official registration system. We identified the following facilitators: intervention by family members, social connections within the health care system, and referral services from a nongovernmental organization. Our findings indicate a need for reassessing policies and designing programs that better facilitate the use of health care services for the most vulnerable populations. This should include the expansion of support systems and outreach services designed to help female sex workers navigate the health care system.

Background Harm reduction services to people who use drugs (PWUD) in Russia are insufficient in terms of quantity, government endorsement, and accessibility. The situation has recently deteriorated even further because of social distancing measures of the COVID-19 pandemic. Recently several harm reduction organizations have started to provide some harm reduction services via online platforms by web outreach. However, little is known on how online outreach services are organized and implemented. Drawing on the example of St. Petersburg-based NGO "Humanitarian Action" we explored web outreach work in Telegram instant messenger. Methods 4 semi-structured interviews with the NGO staff and 301 cases of web outreach work with PWUD comprised the dataset. The process of web outreach, service provision to PWUD, and PWUD's needs were thematically analyzed. Results Three stages of the process of web outreach work were determined: clients initiating communication, NGO workers addressing clients' needs, and NGO workers receiving clients' feedback. Communication proceeded either in group chat or in direct messages. Challenges in addressing clients' needs happened when clients turned for help in nighttime, sent recorded voice messages, sent unclear messages, and/or were unwilling to transition to telephone communication. All web outreach workers reported receiving only positive feedback on their work. PWUD's needs were categorized into two major themes, depending on whether they can be addressed fully or partially online. In cases of online only provision of services, web outreach workers helped PWUD treat minor injection drug use complications, obtain verified harm reduction information and receive general psychological support. In instances of partial online services provision, PWUD were assisted in getting treatment of severe injection drug use complications, overdoses, and in accessing offline medical, psychological, social, legal and harm reduction services. Conclusions Our research demonstrated that web outreach work is ...

BACKGROUND: Harm reduction services to people who use drugs (PWUD) in Russia are insufficient in terms of quantity, government endorsement, and accessibility. The situation has recently deteriorated even further because of social distancing measures of the COVID-19 pandemic. Several organizations have started to provide some harm reduction services via online platforms by web outreach. However, little is known on how online outreach services are organized and implemented. Drawing on the example of St. Petersburg-based NGO "Humanitarian Action," we explored web outreach work in Telegram instant messenger. METHODS: Our data were comprised of 4 semi-structured interviews with the NGO staff and 301 cases of web outreach work with PWUD. We used thematic analysis to study the process of web outreach, harm reduction service provision, and needs of PWUD. RESULTS: Three stages of the process of web outreach work were identified: clients initiating communication, NGO workers addressing clients' needs, and NGO workers receiving clients' feedback. Communication proceeded in group chat or direct messages. Challenges in addressing clients' needs happened when clients turned for help after hours, sent recorded voice messages, sent unclear messages, and/or were unwilling to transition to telephone communication. All web outreach workers reported receiving only positive feedback on their work. The needs of PWUD were categorized into two major themes, depending on whether they can be addressed fully or partially online. In cases of online only provision of services, web outreach workers helped PWUD treat minor injection drug use complications, obtain verified harm reduction information and receive general psychological support. In instances of partial online services provision, PWUD were assisted in getting treatment of severe injection drug use complications, overdoses, and in accessing offline medical, psychological, social, legal and harm reduction services. CONCLUSIONS: Our research demonstrated that web outreach work is a ...

AbstractVaccines against SARS‐CoV‐2 continue to be developed at an astonishingly quick speed and the early ones, like Pfizer and Moderna, have been shown to be more effective than many public health scientists had dared to hope. As COVID‐19 vaccine research continues to progress, the world's eyes are turning toward medicine regulators. COVID‐19 vaccines need to be authorized for use in each country in which the pharmaceutical industry intends to commercialize its product. This results in a patchwork of regulations that can influence the speed at which products are launched and the standards that govern them. In this research forum article, we discuss several key questions about COVID‐19 vaccine regulations that should shape research on the next stage of the pandemic response. We call for a research agenda that looks into the political economy of pharmaceutical regulation, particularly from a comparative perspective, including Global South countries.

Objectives: An effective vaccine to SARS-CoV-2 cannot be successfully deployed if a significant number of people worldwide are unwilling to accept it. We investigated the relationship between trust in scientists and medical professionals and perceptions of vaccine safety and effectiveness. We also build on past studies by exploring the relationship between confidence in global health organizations and vaccine hesitancy. Methods: We conducted an online survey in seventeen countries/territories across five world regions between May -June 2020. We assessed the relationship between COVID19 vaccine hesitancy, confidence in public health organizations, and trust in key experts and leaders. Results: Our findings strongly suggest that confidence in the World Health Organization combined with trust in domestic scientists and healthcare professionals is a strong driver of vaccine acceptance across multiple countries/territories. Conclusion: We find that hesitancy is widespread, and uptake would be insufficient to achieve herd immunity. There is widespread confidence in how public health organizations have responded to the current pandemic and this is related to vaccine acceptance. Our results also highlight the important role of trust in health care providers and scientists in reducing COVID19 vaccine hesitancy.

Ethical and human rights concerns have been expressed regarding the global shift in policies on HIV testing of pregnant women. The main purpose of this research was to conduct a policy analysis using a human rights-based approach of national policies for HIV testing of pregnant women. We collected HIV testing policies from 19 countries including: Cambodia, China, Guyana, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Moldova, Papua New Guinea, Russian Federation, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Ukraine, United States, Uzbekistan, Zambia and Zimbabwe. We analysed the HIV testing policies using a standardised framework that focused on government obligations to respect, protect and fulfil. Our results highlight the need for more attention to issues of pregnant women's autonomy in consenting to HIV testing, confidentiality in antenatal care settings and provision of counselling and care services. We conclude with a discussion about potential implications of the current testing policies and provide recommendations for ways that HIV testing policies can more effectively uphold the human rights of pregnant women.

Introduction : explaining pandemic response / Scott L. Greet, Elizabeth J. King, and Elize Massard da Fonseca -- Playing politics : the World Health Organization's response to COVID-19 / Matthew M. Kavanagh, Renu Singh, and Mara Pillinger -- State responses to the COVID-19 pandemic : governance, surveillance, coercion, and social policy / Holly Jarman -- China's Leninst response to COVID-19 : from information repression to total mobilization / Victor C. Shih -- Public policy and learning from SARS : explaining COVID-19 in Hong Kong / John P. Burns -- Institutions matter in fighting COVID-19 : public health, social policies, and the control tower in South Korea / June Park -- Unified, preventive, low-cost government respnse to COVID-19 in Việt Nam / Emma Willoughby -- Fighting COVID-19 in Japan : a success story? / Takashi Nagata, Akihito Hagihara, Alan Kawarai Lefor, Ryozo Matsuda, and Monika Steffen -- Singapore's response to COVID-19 : an explosion of cases despite being a "gold standard" / Rebecca Wai -- India's response to COVID-19 / Minakshi Raj -- COVID-19 response in Central Asia : a cautionary tale / Pauline Jones and Elizabeth J. King -- COVID-19 in the United Kingdom : how austerity and a loss of state capacity undermined the crisis response / Gemma A. Williams, Selina Rajan, and Jonathan D. Cylus -- The European Union confronts COVID-19 : another European rescue of the nation-state? / Eleanor Brooks, Anniek de Ruijter, and Scott L. Greer -- Denmark's response to COVID-19 : a participatory approach to policy innovation / Darius Ornston -- France's multidimensional COVID-19 response : ad hoc committees and the sidelining of public health agencies / Sara D. Rozenblum -- Political resonance in Austria's coronavirus crisis management / Margitta Mätzke -- Three approaches to handling the COVID crisis in federal countries : Germany, Austria, and Switzerland / Thomas Czypionka and Miriam Reiss -- Italy's response to COVID-19 / Michelle Falkenbach and Manuela Caiani -- Spain's reesponse to COVID-19 / Kenneth A. Dubin -- A tale of two pandemics in three countries : Portugal, Spain, and Italy -- André Peralta-Santos, Luis Saboga-Nunes, and Pedro C. Magahlães -- Greece at the time of COVID-19 : caught between Scylla and Charybdis / Elena Petelos, Dimitra Lingri, and Christos Lionis -- COVID-19 in Turkey : public health centralism / Saime Özçürümez -- COVID-19 in Central and Eastern Europe : focus on Czechia, Hungary, and Bulgaria / Olga Löblová, Julie Rone, and Endre Borbáth -- COVID-19 in the Russian Federation : government control during the epidemic / Elizabeth J. King and Victoria I. Dudina -- The politics and policy of Canada's COVID-19 response / Patrick Fafard, Adèle Cassola, Margaret MacAulay, and Michèle Palkovits -- Anatomy of a failure : COVID-19 in the United States / Phillip M. SInger, Charley E. Willison, N'dea Moore-Petinak, and Scott L. Greer -- COVID-19 in Brazil : presidential denialism and the subnational government's response / Elize Massard da Fonseca, Nicoli Nattrass, Luísa Bolaffi Arantes, and Francisco Inácio Bastos -- Colombia's response to COVID-19 : pragmatic command, social contention, and political challenges / Claudia Acosta, Mónica Uribe-Gómez, and Durfari Velandia-Naranjo -- The politics of the COVID-19 pandemic response in Chile / Claudio A. Méndez -- Pandemic amid political crisis : Malawi's experience with and response to COVID-19 / Kim Yi Dionne, Boniface Dulani, and Sara E. Fischer -- Adapting COVID-19 containment in Africa : lessons from Tanzania / Thespina (Nina) Yamanis, Ruth Carlitz, and Henry A. Mollel -- Confronting legacies and charting a new course? : the politics of coronavirus response in South Africa / Joseph Harris -- Comparative analysis of COVID-19 transmission and mortality in select African countries / Kanayo K. Ogujiuba and Uviwe Binase -- Conclusion / Scott L. Greer, Elize Massard da Fonseca, and Elizabeth J. King.