scholarly journals An investigation of the quality of meat sold in Lesotho

2009 ◽  
Vol 80 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
T.M. Seeiso ◽  
C.M.E. McCrindle
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Geographical Information Systems ◽  
Public Health Intervention ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Plate Count ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Veterinary Public Health ◽  
Slaughter Slabs

Since the closure of the Lesotho abattoir in 2003, only imported meat can be legally sold. However, it was estimated in 2007 that 80 % of the meat sold at butcheries comes from informal slaughter. The aim of this study was to investigate the situation. The number and location of informal butcheries in Lesotho (n = 143) were recorded and mapped using Geographical Information Systems. Observations (photographs) of informal slaughter indicated a lack of hygiene, unskilled slaughtermen and illegal disposal of offal with possible environmental pollution. In addition, a cross-sectional study was undertaken to determine the microbiological quality of meat from randomly selected carcasses (n = 237) of cattle, sheep and pigs from a sample of 44 butcheries, 4 of which were associated with registered supermarkets. As a control, samples for microbiological assay were taken from imported meat originating from carcasses (n = 20) slaughtered at a registered abattoir in South Africa. Of the 44 butcheries investigated only the 4 commercial butcheries associated with supermarkets sold imported meat only; 3 butcheries sold meat inspected at government slaughter slabs (n = 3), while the rest (n = 37) sold both imported and informally slaughtered meat. In terms of Lesotho legislation, informally slaughtered meat is only for home consumption. The bacteriological counts from all samples showed a total bacterial plate count exceeding 30 organisms per mℓ in contrast with the controls which all showed a count less than 5 colonies per mℓ. This was found for both imported and informally slaughtered meat sold in Lesotho. In addition, meat samples from butcheries showed the presence of the potential pathogens Salmonella (n = 2), Staphylococcus aureus (n = 12) and Escherichia coli (n=15). During the study, anthrax was confirmed in 9 human patients, 5 of whom died, after consumption of informally slaughtered livestock. Although no cases of animal abuse were detected, it was considered that informal slaughter can prejudice livestock welfare. It was concluded that the current situation is not acceptable in terms of meat safety. Thus, the Veterinary Public Health Directorate of the National Veterinary Services has prioritised the monitoring of butchers, registration of slaughter slabs and a general extension campaign to improve hygiene and animal welfare standards for slaughter in Lesotho. This paper highlights the major risks associated with meat consumption without Veterinary Public Health intervention in accordance with international standards.

scholarly journals HUBUNGAN PERILAKU MASYARAKAT DALAM PEMBERANTASAN SARANG NYAMUK DAN FAKTOR LINGKUNGAN DENGAN KEJADIAN DEMAM BERDARAH DENGUE DI WILAYAH PUSKESMAS I DENPASAR SELATAN DAN PUSKESMAS I DENPASAR TIMUR

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Dwi Jata ◽  
Nyoman Adi Putra ◽  
I.B.G. Pujaastawa
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Center ◽  
Sampling Method ◽  
Hemorrhagic Fever ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Public Health Center ◽  
Community Behavior ◽  
Service Need

Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) is one of diseases that causes health problems in Indonesia and oftenly creates extraordinary events with great death. The purpose of this research is to discover relationship community behavior in mosquito nesting eradication and environmental factors with DHF incidence in 1st Public Health Center Denpasar Selatan and 1st Public Health Center Denpasar Timur. The research design used is observational, cross-sectional. Total sample of 82 households. Sampling was done in proportion sampling method. Results of the analysis of environmental variables associated with DHF incidence in 1st Public Health Center Denpasar Selatan: occupant density (p = 0.02), mobility (p = 0.01), the habit of hanging clothes (p = 0.04). 1st Public Health Center Denpasar Timur: mobility (p = 0.00), clogged water ditches (p = 0.00), containers water existance (p = 0.03), the habit of hanging clothes (p = 0.00). Knowledge, attitude and actions in 1st Public Health Center Denpasar Selatan and 1st Public Health Center Denpasar Timur statistically correlated with DHF incidence. As conclusion of the research results, in 1st Public Health Center Denpasar Selatan and 1st Public Health Center Denpasar Timur, that is mobility, the habit of hanging clothes, knowledge, attitude and actions strongly related with DHF incidence, while that is clogged water ditches, containers water existance and occupant density has no relation with DHF incidence. Public Health Center need to intensify health promotion, improves the quality of MNE (PSN), and the Provincial Health Service need to support Public Health Center on setting policies which necessary.

scholarly journals Understanding needs and barriers to using geospatial tools for public health policymaking in China

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dohyeong Kim ◽  
Yingyuan Zhang ◽  
Chang Kil Lee
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Policy ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Geographical Information Systems ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Adoption And Implementation ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Geospatial Tools

Despite growing popularity of using geographical information systems and geospatial tools in public health fields, these tools are only rarely implemented in health policy management in China. This study examines the barriers that could prevent policy-makers from applying such tools to actual managerial processes related to public health problems that could be assisted by such approaches, e.g. evidence-based policy-making. A questionnaire-based survey of 127 health-related experts and other stakeholders in China revealed that there is a consensus on the needs and demands for the use of geospatial tools, which shows that there is a more unified opinion on the matter than so far reported. Respondents pointed to lack of communication and collaboration among stakeholders as the most significant barrier to the implementation of geospatial tools. Comparison of survey results to those emanating from a similar study in Bangladesh revealed different priorities concerning the use of geospatial tools between the two countries. In addition, the follow-up in-depth interviews highlighted the political culture specific to China as a critical barrier to adopting new tools in policy development. Other barriers included concerns over the limited awareness of the availability of advanced geospatial tools. Taken together, these findings can facilitate a better understanding among policy-makers and practitioners of the challenges and opportunities for widespread adoption and implementation of a geospatial approach to public health policy-making in China.

scholarly journals YouTube as a source of public health information regarding COVID-19 vaccination: an assessment of reliability and quality of video content (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Calvin Chan ◽  
Viknesh Sounderajah ◽  
Elisabeth Daniels ◽  
Amish Acharya ◽  
Jonathan Clarke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Information ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Public Health Intervention ◽  
Medical Professionals ◽  
Video Content ◽  
Public Health Information ◽  
Health Related ◽  
Quality And Reliability

BACKGROUND Recent emergency authorisation and rollout of COVID-19 vaccines by regulatory bodies has generated global attention. As the most popular video-sharing platform globally, YouTube is a potent medium for dissemination of key public health information. Understanding the nature of available content regarding COVID-19 vaccination on this widely used platform is of substantial public health interest. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the reliability and quality of information of YouTube videos regarding COVID-19 vaccination. METHODS For this cross-sectional study, the phrases ‘coronavirus vaccine’ and ‘COVID-19 vaccine’ were searched on the UK version of YouTube on December 10, 2020. The 200 most-viewed videos of each search were extracted and screened for relevance and English language. Video content and characteristics were extracted and independently rated against Health on the Net Foundation Code of Conduct (HONCode) and DISCERN quality criteria for consumer health information by two authors. RESULTS Forty-eight videos, with a combined total view count of 30,100,561, were included in the analysis. Topics addressed comprised: vaccine science (58%), vaccine trials (58%), side effects (48%), efficacy (35%) and manufacturing (17%). Twenty-one percent of videos encouraged continued public health measures. Only 4.2% of videos made non-factual claims. Ninety-eight percent of video content was scored to have low (60%) or medium (38%) adherence to HONCode principles. Educational channels produced by both medical and non-medical professionals achieved significantly higher DISCERN scores than other categories. The highest DISCERN scores were achieved by educational videos produced by medical professionals (64.3 (58.5-66.3)) and the lowest scores by independent users (18 (18-20)). CONCLUSIONS Overall quality and reliability of information on YouTube regarding COVID-19 vaccines remains poor. Videos produced by educational channels, especially by medical professionals, were higher in quality and reliability than those produced by other sources, including health-related organisations. Collaboration between health-related organisations and established medical and educational YouTube content producers provide an opportunity for dissemination of high-quality information regarding COVID-19 vaccination. Such collaboration holds potential as a rapidly implementable public health intervention aiming to engage a wide audience and increase public awareness and knowledge.

Methodology of parking analysis

2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 281-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdoulaye Diallo ◽  
Jean-Simon Bourdeau ◽  
Catherine Morency ◽  
Nicolas Saunier
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Geographical Information Systems ◽  
Travel Behaviour ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Field Surveys ◽  
Parking Management ◽  
Account Regulation ◽  
Parking Demand ◽  
Area Data

Cities are facing many challenges, in particular in relation to the mobility of people and the structure of land use. Parking management, which makes the link between land use and transportation, is one of the crucial ways to meet these challenges. In the Greater Montreal Area, data from origin–destination (OD) surveys is helpful in understanding typical travel behaviour. This study processes car driver trips from travel surveys to develop vehicle accumulation profiles and derive theoretical parking supplies from the observed parking demand, defined as the maximal number of cars parked in an area at a given time. This research also provides an assessment of the quality of the estimation by comparing the parking supplies derived from an OD survey to parking supplies estimated from public geographical information systems and field surveys. The paper shows that parking supply is subject to high variability and highlights that its assessment must take into account regulation data (obtained from on-street regulation parking signs data) that modulates the availability of the raw parking supply according to different days and hours of the day.

scholarly journals The Provision and Accessibility to Parks in Ho Chi Minh City: Disparities along the Urban Core—Periphery Axis

Urban Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anh Hoang ◽  
Philippe Apparicio ◽  
Thi-Thanh-Hien Pham
Keyword(s):  
Geographical Information Systems ◽  
Hierarchical Classification ◽  
Spatial Accessibility ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Ho Chi Minh City ◽  
Urban Core ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Ascending Hierarchical Classification ◽  
The City

In Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC, Vietnam), there is now an urgent need for evaluating access to parks in an effort to ensure better planning within the context of rapid and increasingly privatized urbanization. In this article, we analyze the provision and accessibility to parks in HCMC. To achieve this, the information gathered was then integrated into the geographical information systems (GISs). Based on an Ascending Hierarchical Classification, we were able to identify five different types ranging in their intrinsic characteristics. The accessibility measurements calculated in the GISs show that communities are located an average of at least 879 meters away from parks, which is a relatively short distance. Children have a level of accessibility comparable to that of the overall population. Accessibility also seems to vary greatly throughout the City—populations residing in central districts (planned before 1996) enjoy better accessibility compared to those in peripheral neighborhoods (planned after 1996). Parks located in areas planned between 1996 and 2002 are the least accessible, followed by parks in areas planned after 2003. Our findings suggest possible approaches that could be used to help ensure the quality of parks and their spatial accessibility.

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