Journal of Health Education Research & Development

The community health, a mean to fight against social inequalities of health? Considering the definitions and the basic principles which support the primary health care and the community health, namely the equity, the community participation, the use of technologies suited for the resolution of the problems, the multisectoriality and to have as focus of interest a prevention policy, we can assert that the community health can contribute in a relevant way to fight against the social inequalities of health. This try is a set of elements which contribute to make plausible this hypothesis by taking into account health policies implemented in Senegal.

The transition from 20th to 21st century involved increasing global perspective to health and disease. Africa has reportedly accounted for 13% of the world’s population, 24% of the world’s disease and yet 3% of the world’s healthcare workforce; an imbalance creating vulnerability ranging from health disparities to terrorism. The public health system in Sub-Saharan Africa has been a significant focus of global health intervention, especially in tackling HIV/ AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The United States’ role has also increased for both humanitarian and security-related strategic interests. The purpose was primarily to explore and identify examples of key pharmaceutical-related public health problems in Africa, United States (U.S.) pharmacist and pharmacy school involvement in Africa; and secondly, to introduce and evaluate student interest in global health pharmaceutical issues, activities and potential careers. Access, affordability and safety of pharmaceuticals are among those important global health areas of interest; others are healthcare worker shortages, financial resource and allocation problems and challenges with indigenous health system leadership. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates indicate marked imbalances or insufficiency in global workforce distribution, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa to tackle such problems. An overview of the literature and collaborative partnerships between U.S. and African Colleges of Pharmacy, and the incorporation of global health policy into pharmacy curricula illustrate examples of higher education contributing to shaping future health professional roles and career interests for new and expanding service opportunities in the global health workforce.

Although most studies show that breastfeeding delays the resumption of ovarian cyclicity and menses, Lactational Amenorrhea (LA) is its highly variable among different populations. Research has shown differences hormonal levels between fully nursing amenorrheic women and who those who recovered menses during the first six postpartum months: E2 levels or PRL/E2 ratio could be predictive of this condition. However, research about this phenomenon is not conclusive. Thus, this review article, through an analysis of secondary, summarizes the main factors involved in LA, considering its importance as a effective and natural contraception method.

Objective: Saudi Arabia has expanded dramatically in the number of medical schools during the last 10 years. The objective of this study was to explore the knowledge structure, clinical problem solving approach, and diagnostic performance at three levels of expertise in the medical field.

Methods: This study involved twenty three participants. Fifth year medical students, internal medicine residents, and practicing internists were the participating medical staff representing novice, intermediate, and expert levels, consecutively. The data source was a written think aloud protocol on diagnosing a case of hyponatremia.

Result: Diagnostic performance for novices, intermediates, and experts was 0%, 80%, 83%, respectively. At the students’ level, 30% (2/6) had reduced knowledge in this clinical presentation. Seven out of ten residents demonstrated an abridged knowledge structure. From the seven internists, two expressed an abridged knowledge structure, three had a compiled/scheme knowledge structure, and two had scripted knowledge structures. Knowledge structure was statistically predictive of diagnostic success (β=0.70, p<0.001).

Conclusions: This study provides some insight into the knowledge structure and problem solving strategies at various levels of expertise. Medical education planning in Saudi Arabia should focus on enhancing expertise development and recognize the importance of a broad medical knowledge domain while for making the learning objectives explicit for learners.

The health of school-age children and adolescents has been the focus of much attention, since at this stage of life students experience biological, social, emotional and cognitive changes. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence rates of obesity, overweight and symptoms of eating disorders (ED) among the sixth-grade students of the municipal schools in Caxias do Sul in 2011. A school-based, cross-sectional study evaluated 1230 students (86.80% of the total). A self-report questionnaire and anthropometric measures of weight and height were used in the assessment. The prevalence rates of obesity, overweight and ED symptoms were 7.30%, 22.80% and 33.10%, respectively. The students dissatisfied with their body image were four times more likely (PR=4.01; CI 95%= 2.71–5.93) to have excess weight and nine times more likely (PR=9.30; CI 95%=6.29–13.78) to have symptoms for ED. The prevalence rates of ED symptoms, obesity and overweight of the evaluated students are high and warrant the attention of the community as a whole.

Nursing has been given to nurse students as a professional education. But in today’s aging society, not only nurses but also general public need to have the basic knowledge and skills of nursing. People with basic knowledge and technique of nursing will be willing to help people with disability. Then Takayamahas come to realize that the knowledge and skills of nursing will help engineers develop aiding instruments for physically and mentally challenged people. This made the author start a new subject of Human Health Caring for Engineers in the regular curriculum at a college of technology, which is the first regular course not only in Japan but in the world. For the last thirteen years 1,112 students finished the course ‘Human Health Caring’. The introduction and evaluation of this nursing education for engineers are reported in this paper.