Suchergebnisse

The absurd results doctrine of statutory interpretation allows courts to depart from clear legislative text when a literal reading would be "absurd." Traditionally, courts defined an absurd result as one that offends fundamental social values. Over time, however, courts have expanded the concept of legal absurdity to include outcomes that do not violate moral principles, but instead present regulatory burdens deemed too onerous to reflect congressional intent. In June 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) invoked this expansive reading of the absurd results doctrine to support a regulation known as the "Tailoring Rule," which the agency promulgated as part of its first effort to regulate climate-changing greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act (CAA). The CAA explicitly states that facilities emitting any regulated air pollutant in excess of specific quantities must obtain a permit from the EPA or authorized state agencies. The Tailoring Rule, however, raises the statutory permitting threshold for facilities that emit greenhouse gases, on the ground that applying the existing thresholds to greenhouse gas emitters would be so burdensome for the agency and industry as to constitute an absurd result. While the Tailoring Rule illustrates the practical expediency of an expansive absurd results doctrine, it also demonstrates the doctrine's inconsistency with the constitutional separation of powers, administrative law principles, and the mandate of federal environmental statutes. Focusing on the example of environmental law and the Tailoring Rule in particular, this Comment argues that courts should restrict the absurd results doctrine to its traditional scope and reject arguments that a certain degree of congressionally mandated regulation is absurd as a matter of law.

AbstractCrises due to armed conflict, forced displacement and natural disasters result in excess morbidity and mortality due to infectious diseases. Historically, acute respiratory infections (ARIs) have received relatively little attention in the humanitarian sector. We performed a systematic review to generate evidence on the burden of ARI in crises, and inform prioritisation of relief interventions. We identified 36 studies published since 1980 reporting data on the burden (incidence, prevalence, proportional morbidity or mortality, case-fatality, attributable mortality rate) of ARI, as defined by the International Classification of Diseases, version 10 and as diagnosed by a clinician, in populations who at the time of the study were affected by natural disasters, armed conflict, forced displacement, and nutritional emergencies. We described studies and stratified data by age group, but did not do pooled analyses due to heterogeneity in case definitions. The published evidence, mainly from refugee camps and surveillance or patient record review studies, suggests very high excess morbidity and mortality (20-35% proportional mortality) and case-fatality (up to 30-35%) due to ARI. However, ARI disease burden comparisons with non-crisis settings are difficult because of non-comparability of data. Better epidemiological studies with clearer case definitions are needed to provide the evidence base for priority setting and programme impact assessments. Humanitarian agencies should include ARI prevention and control among infants, children and adults as priority activities in crises. Improved data collection, case management and vaccine strategies will help to reduce disease burden.

Background: Pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccine are now used in most countries. To monitor global and regional progress towards improving child health and to inform national policies for disease prevention and treatment, we prepared global, regional, and national disease burden estimates for these pathogens in children from 2000 to 2015. Methods: Using WHO and Maternal and Child Epidemiology Estimation collaboration country-specific estimates of pneumonia and meningitis mortality and pneumonia morbidity from 2000 to 2015, we applied pneumococcal and Hib cause-specific proportions to estimate pathogen-specific deaths and cases. Summary estimates of the proportion of pneumonia deaths and cases attributable to these pathogens were derived from four Hib vaccine and six PCV efficacy and effectiveness study values. The proportion of meningitis deaths due to each pathogen was derived from bacterial meningitis aetiology and adjusted pathogen-specific meningitis case–fatality data. Pneumococcal and Hib meningitis cases were inferred from modelled pathogen-specific meningitis deaths and literature-derived case–fatality estimates. Cases of pneumococcal and Hib syndromes other than pneumonia and meningitis were estimated using the ratio of pathogen-specific non-pneumonia, non-meningitis cases to pathogen-specific meningitis cases from the literature. We accounted for annual HIV infection prevalence, access to care, and vaccine use. Findings: We estimated that there were 294 000 pneumococcal deaths (uncertainty range [UR] 192 000–366 000) and 29 500 Hib deaths (18 400–40 700) in HIV-uninfected children aged 1–59 months in 2015. An additional 23 300 deaths (15 300–28 700) associated with pneumococcus and fewer than 1000 deaths associated Hib were estimated to have occurred in children infected with HIV. We estimate that pneumococcal deaths declined by 51% (7–74) and Hib deaths by 90% (78–96) from 2000 to 2015. Most children who died of pneumococcus (81%) and Hib (76%) presented with pneumonia. Less conservative assumptions result in pneumococcccal death estimates that could be as high as 515 000 deaths (302 000–609 000) in 2015. Approximately 50% of all pneumococcal deaths in 2015 occurred in four countries in Africa and Asia: India (68 700 deaths, UR 44 600–86 100), Nigeria (49 000 deaths, 32 400–59 000), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (14 500 deaths, 9300–18 700), and Pakistan (14 400 deaths, 9700–17 000]). India (15 600 deaths, 9800–21 500), Nigeria (3600 deaths, 2200–5100), China (3400 deaths, 2300–4600), and South Sudan (1000 deaths, 600–1400) had the greatest number of Hib deaths in 2015. We estimated 3·7 million episodes (UR 2·7 million–4·3 million) of severe pneumococcus and 340 000 episodes (196 000–669 000) of severe Hib globally in children in 2015. Interpretation: The widespread use of Hib vaccine and the recent introduction of PCV in countries with high child mortality is associated with reductions in Hib and pneumococcal cases and deaths. Uncertainties in the burden of pneumococcal disease are largely driven by the fraction of pneumonia deaths attributable to pneumococcus. Progress towards further reducing the global burden of Hib and pneumococcal disease burden will depend on the efforts of a few large countries in Africa and Asia.

Background: The absolute number of pneumonia deaths in India has declined substantially since 2000. However, pneumonia remains a major cause of morbidity in children in the country. We used a risk factor-based model to estimate pneumonia and severe pneumonia morbidity in Indian states in 2000 and 2015. Methods: In this modelling study, we estimated the burden of pneumonia and severe pneumonia in children younger than 5 years using a risk factor-based model. We did a systematic literature review to identify published data on the incidence of pneumonia from community-based longitudinal studies and calculated summary estimates. We estimated state-specific incidence rates for WHO-defined clinical pneumonia between 2000 and 2015 using Poisson regression and the prevalence of risk factors in each state was obtained from National Family Health Surveys. From clinical pneumonia studies, we identified studies reporting the proportion of clinical pneumonia cases with lower chest wall indrawing to estimate WHO-defined severe pneumonia cases. We used the estimate of the proportion of cases with lower chest wall indrawing to estimate WHO-defined severe pneumonia cases for each state. Findings: Between 2000 and 2015, the estimated number of pneumonia cases in Indian HIV-uninfected children younger than 5 years decreased from 83·8 million cases (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 14·0–300·8) to 49·8 million cases (9·1–174·2), representing a 41% reduction in pneumonia cases. The incidence of pneumonia in children younger than 5 years in India was 657 cases per 1000 children (95% UI 110–2357) in 2000 and 403 cases per 1000 children (74–1408) in 2015. The estimated national pneumonia case fatality rate in 2015 was 0·38% (95% UI 0·11–2·10). In 2015, the estimated number of severe pneumonia cases was 8·4 million (95% UI 1·2–31·7), with an incidence of 68 cases per 1000 children (9–257) and a case fatality ratio of 2·26% (0·60–16·30). In 2015, the estimated number of pneumonia cases in HIV-uninfected children was highest in Uttar Pradesh (12·4 million [95% UI 2·1–45·0]), Bihar (7·3 million [1·3–26·1]), and Madhya Pradesh (4·6 million [0·7–17·0]). Between 2000 and 2015, the greatest reduction in pneumonia cases was observed in Kerala (82% reduction). In 2015, pneumonia incidence was greater than 500 cases per 1000 children in two states: Uttar Pradesh (565 cases per 1000 children [95% UI 94–2047]) and Madhya Pradesh (563 cases per 1000 children [88–2084]). Interpretation: The estimated number of pneumonia and severe pneumonia cases among children younger than 5 years in India decreased between 2000 and 2015. Improvements in socioeconomic indicators and specific government initiatives are likely to have contributed to declines in the prevalence of pneumonia risk factors in many states. However, pneumonia incidence in many states remains high. The introduction of new vaccines that target pneumonia pathogens and reduce risk factors will help further reduce the burden of pneumonia in the country.