SfGH National Conference 2020: Response to Health Conflict and Peacebuilding in UK on Nov. 21
Today, I had the opportunity to watch part of the Students for Global Health National Conference 2020-Response to Health Conflict and Peacebuilding. Read about Global Health Security by Dan Fleckno and Tropical Medicine and Hygiene by Dr. Melvish UI-Haq
Global Health Security
Dan Fleckno: Consultant in Public Health at Buckinghamshire Council/Registered nurse with background in trauma and orthopedics, emergency nursing and humanitarian aid work.
Earlier Pandemics
Generals/Soldiers didn’t quarantine so the virus spread
Estimate 50 to 100 million people died of Spanish Flu
Really all about defense budget
No health service access in developing countries
Healthcare point of access in countries such as the UK
Death toll in 20th Century: More soldiers die of infectious diseases than battle
Negative effects of Disease: Loss of Life
HIV: Influenza 20 to 40s age group: likely to die. Chopping out of middle generation: instability, labor shortages
Positive influences of pandemic: investigations in influenza: Learn of Penicillin
Influenza vaccine was discovered
Dan Fleckno Slide Presentation
Public health of armed conflict:
-Treat most harmful symptoms
Darfur: Not great health care: Conduct preventive healthcare: vaccination, nutrition
Iraq: not only think about direct impact but also indirect impact
Social isolation: Need to get balance right
Mental Health: Local staff importance. Work with dedicated and brilliant staff. They have local knowledge, culture factors, most credible communications
Opportunity Costs:
"forfeit choose one over the other”
Vitamin deficiency: 1/4 million children, die within 6 months of going blind, could have been prevented with pennies yet people put more funding into who was to be put in charge-not prevented something small, vulnerable members. Fight over who would be in charge-resources.
NGOs- Some resources go to security and negotiations to get to unreached populations
MSF hide their deployments, hide clinics: targeted. Where in the past they were protected
Polio should have been rid of years ago. Not get rid of because cease fires zones don’t allow for clear access.
Not get rid of Polio entirely then it comes back more times
NHS hospital- been used by ISIS, written in Arabic, in military use
Repurposed to health
Develop things better than when we arrive
Use our democratic voices: right to health all over the world
Q: Moment to remember in Iraq?
Resilience of positivity-Iraq /Story: A man’s son was killed in air strike. BBC journalist: ask for his story. Saw British people as good.
Chair of public health working group. Collaborative academic students: appreciate all help we can get.
Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
Dr. Mevish Ul-Haq
RNA virus.
Corona: crown, spike proteins on the outside- come into the cell
Animal to human transmission
Spread human to human
Direct contact: talk, surfaces
Coronavirus: 3.4% fatality rate
Coronavirus higher mortality rate than MERS and SARS
HIV and Spanish flu-impact not as severe
HIV: very quickly
Spanish flu: not much medical resources, people living in tighter knit communities, poorer, spread faster
Dr. Mevish Ul-Haq Slide Presentation/As of October 30, 2020 for CO-VID-19 Figures
Impact on national level:
Respiratory tract, use more medical assessment beds-inpatient beds
Conduct co-vid 19 swabs
Surgical beds used for beds, can’t admit surgical patients then
Use some ICU beds
Try to increase beds-try to cope with the demand
Reduce face to face care: virtual
Cancer investigation and treatment
Pandemic costs: tests, PPE: masks, gloves/increase spending on local staff
Impact on: doctors in training
Nurses more exposed, more at risk get virus
Reduction in workforce if professional has to quarantine for 2 weeks
Black or minority background: more at risk of virus. So have to conduct medical risk assessments for medical staff: including asking ethnic background, age, medical background
28 weeks pregnant are told to not work: less professionals in workspace
Advice different with PPE in the beginning of the virus: uncertainty in workforce, psychological impact in how staff work with pandemic
Work longer hours: suffer fatigue and burn out. Work longer hours. Work more on call.
Ward rounds: reduce risk of virus. 5-6 people reduced only to essential staff
Local and regional training: training in different fields, changing from one specific work to another
Less consultant cover because of increase in length of training, delay caused by virus which means less consultants in labor force in the future. Taking longer to get education
Less face to face work with patients: make judgement on conversation. High risk prescribing. Not sure what person may have
Reduced home visits, elderly
Reduced minor operations
Over referral to secondary units: more delays
North West: Radiology trainee move to coronavirus wards
Cancellation of radiology academy: miss out on training
1st wave: quicker incubate/ lots of data not help long term mortality
2nd wave: Less ICU beds used in pandemic
34 Studies were studied by four professionals
Found delay: if you have 4 week delay of treatment for cancer patients: increase in mortality: cause 10 extra deaths instead of referred in time
Secondary care: studies show an increase in deaths of people with cancer during pandemic
Annual health checks: yearly review, fewer now. Normal elective work:delay in picking up potential conditions
Patients catching CO-VID: delay in diagnoses and pathology
Patients with chest pain: use to see GP right away, now coming in a little later, persisted in couple of days/could be in heart failure in heart attack
Patient not want to over burden the NHS, result in diagnoses
Humantology: don’t want to stay overnight/ fear catch co-vid, cancel in visiting in UK-more depression
Peak in April and May: Cardiovascular: die heart attacks and strokes
Psychological impact: fear spreading co-vid, increase in isolation and depression, 3 week in transplant for stem cell: increase of infection,
Communication: taught not only how you look and speak but also how you express your emotions. Dissatisfaction of services: when mask cover face of health care providers. Patients can’t see face expressions