Individuals’ COVID-19 protection and awareness could be related to their health literacy levels. This study aims to determine individuals’ COVID-19 awareness and health literacy levels in eastern Turkey and the relationship between them.

This study utilized a descriptive and correlational design. The target population was individuals aged 18-65 years who sought treatment in the emergency department of a state hospital in Turkey. The sample consisted of 762 individuals who visited the health institution where data were collected between July 15, 2021-December 15, 2021 and agreed to participate in the study. Data were collected through the Personal Information Form, the COVID-19 Awareness Scale, and the Health Literacy Scale. Ethics committee approval and institutional permissions were obtained to conduct the study. Data analysis used arithmetic means, standard deviations, skewness and kurtosis coefficients, t test, ANOVA, Welch ANOVA, Bonferroni tests, and correlation analysis.

The participants’ COVID-19 Awareness Scale total mean score was 50.71 ± 14.93, and the Health Literacy Scale total mean score was 45.03 ± 10.57. A moderate positive correlation was detected between the participants’ health literacy levels and the COVID-19 awareness scale sub-scales and total scores (r = 0.350).

The participants’ health literacy level increased with their COVID-19 awareness level. It is recommended that health literacy levels be increased to help individuals increase their awareness of COVID-19 and to protect and improve their health.

Little is known about the dose and pattern of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) to prevent depression. We aimed to assess the prospective association of dose and pattern of accelerometer-derived MVPA with the risk of diagnosed depression.

We included 74,715 adults aged 40–69 years from the UK Biobank cohort who were free of severe disease at baseline and participated in accelerometer measurements (mean age 55.2 years [SD 7.8]; 58% women). MVPA at baseline was derived through 1-week wrist-worn accelerometry. Diagnosed depression was defined by hospitalization with ICD-10 codes F32.0-F32.A. Restricted cubic splines and Cox regression determined the prospective association of dose and pattern of MVPA with the risk of incident depression.

Over a median 7.9-year follow-up, there were 3,089 (4.1%) incident cases of depression. Higher doses of MVPA were curvilinearly associated with lower depression risk, with the largest minute-per-minute added benefits occurring between 5 (HR 0.99 [95% CI 0.96–0.99]) and 280 (HR 0.67 [95% CI 0.60–0.74]) minutes per week (reference: 0 MVPA minutes).

Regardless of pattern, higher doses of MVPA were associated with lower depression risk in a curvilinear manner, with the greatest incremental benefit per minute occurring during the first 4–5 h per week. Optimal benefits occurred around 15 h/week.

The Peruvian public healthcare system is characterized by various shortcomings that adversely affect healthcare quality as perceived by the general and minority populations, including the Afro-Peruvian community. This population has demonstrated reduced healthcare access due to discrimination and differential treatment, reflecting broader societal inequities.

This study explores the experiences and perceptions of Afro-Peruvian individuals regarding the treatment they receive from public primary healthcare providers in metropolitan Lima.

In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with Afro-Peruvian individuals recruited from Lima. They were selected based on their responses to a survey conducted in a previous study, which indicated a high or low perception of intercultural adaptation in healthcare. The interviews explored their experiences with healthcare services and their perceptions about their interactions with health providers. The qualitative analysis involved topic coding to interpret the data.

We interviewed 19 Afro-Peruvians, including 15 women and 4 men, ages 26 to 70. The findings reveal that Afro-Peruvians generally experience mistreatment in the healthcare system. In their opinion, this is associated with systemic issues such as poor infrastructure, low salaries, and insufficient time allocated for patient care. Furthermore, participants perceive receiving poor quality and inefficient service not only from providers but also from the system presents difficulties in other processes, such as getting the appointment.

This study highlights significant areas for improvement in the public healthcare system, specifically enhancing the quality of patient care, improving communication, and upgrading healthcare infrastructure to serve the Afro-Peruvian community better. These insights could guide the development of targeted policy recommendations and practical interventions to address healthcare disparities and improve access to quality healthcare services for minority populations.

Plastics in the environment have moved from an “eye-sore” to a public health threat. Hospitals are one of the biggest users of single-use plastics, and there is growing literature looking at not only plastics in the environment but health care’s overall contribution to its growth.

This study was a retrospective review at a 411-bed level II trauma hospital over 47 months pre and post the last wave of COVID-19 affecting this hospital. Deidentified data were gathered: daily census in the emergency department, hospital census, and corresponding number of admitted COVID-19 patients. Additionally, for the same time frame, personal protective equipment (PPE) supply purchases and gross tonnage of nonhazardous refuse were obtained.

There was a large increase in PPE purchased without a significant change in gross tonnage of weight of trash.

PPE is incredibly important to protect health care workers. However, single-use plastic is not sustainable for the environment or public health. Understanding the full effect of the pandemic on hospital waste production is critically important as health care institutions focus on strategies to decrease their carbon footprint and increase positive impacts on public health and the environment.

In the course of the EU funded Pandemic Preparedness and Response (PANDEM-2) project, a functional exercise (FX) was conducted to train the coordinated response to a large-scale pandemic event in Europe by using new IT solutions developed by the project. This report provides an overview of the steps involved in planning, conducting, and evaluating the FX.

The FX design was based on the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) simulation exercise cycle for public health settings and was carried out over 2 days in the German and Dutch national public health institutes (PHI), with support from other consortium PHIs. The planning team devised an inject list based on a scenario script describing the emergence of an influenza pandemic from a novel H5N1 pathogen.

The multi-disciplinary participant teams included 11 Dutch and 6 German participants. The FX was supported by 9 international project partners from 8 countries. Overall, participants and observers agreed that the FX goals were achieved.

The FX was a suitable format to test the PANDEM-2 solutions in 2 different country set-ups. It demonstrated the benefit of regular simulation exercises at member state level to test and practice public health emergency responses to be better prepared for real-life events.

In the context of the Omicron-induced lockdown in Shanghai, this paper investigated the appeals for assistance by citizens on Weibo, aiming to understand their principal challenges and immediate needs.

This paper collected Weibo posts (N = 1040) containing the keyword “Shanghai Anti-epidemic Help” during the citywide lockdown. The online help requests from Shanghai citizens were analyzed across 7 dimensions, including the help sought, level of urgency, help recipient, the intended beneficiary of the help, expression, position, and emotion.

The study found that the most common requests for assistance were related to social isolation, specifically in the areas of home and community (34.81%), isolation (10.86%), and personal freedom (7.31%). Of all help requests, 11.83% were deemed very urgent. Most of the Weibo posts sent out a plea for help to Internet users (56.06%), primarily requesting help for themselves (26.25%) or their families (27.60%).

The study found that personal freedom, food, and medical care were the most frequently sought help from the public, and most of the public’s positions and emotions were pessimistic. The relevant findings revealed the public’s needs and status during the city closure, providing a reference for emergency preparedness in public health events or emergencies.

This systematic literature review explores the applications of social network platforms for disaster health care management and resiliency and investigates their potential to enhance decision-making and policy formulation for public health authorities during such events.

A comprehensive search across academic databases yielded 90 relevant studies. Utilizing qualitative and thematic analysis, the study identified the primary applications of social network data analytics during disasters, organizing them into 5 key themes: communication, information extraction, disaster Management, Situational Awareness, and Location Identification.

The findings highlight the potential of social networks as an additional tool to enhance decision-making and policymaking for public health authorities in disaster settings, providing a foundation for further research and innovative approaches in this field.

However, analyzing social network data has significant challenges due to the massive volume of information generated and the prevalence of misinformation. Moreover, it is important to point out that social network users do not represent individuals without access to technology, such as some elderly populations. Therefore, relying solely on social network data analytics is insufficient for effective disaster health care management. To ensure efficient disaster management and control, it is necessary to explore alternative sources of information and consider a comprehensive approach.