Effectiveness of contact tracing in the control of infectious diseases: a systematic review.

Background: Contact tracing is used for multiple infectious diseases, most recently for COVID-19, but data regarding its effectiveness in disease control are scarce. To address this knowledge gap and inform public health decision making for COVID-19, we systematically reviewed the existing literature to determine the effectiveness of contact tracing in the control of communicable illness.

Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library from database inception up to Nov 22, 2021, for published studies evaluating associations between provider-initiated contact tracing for transmissible infectious diseases and one of three outcomes of interest: case detection rates among contacts or at the community level, overall forward transmission, or overall disease incidence.

Equity in medical education: Addressing microaggressions and discrimination on the wards.

Purpose: Existing frameworks to address instances of microaggressions and discrimination in the clinical environment have largely been developed for faculty and resident physicians, creating a lack of resources for medical students.

Methods: We implemented a workshop to prepare pre-clinical medical/dental students to recognize and respond to microaggressions. Participants in three cohorts from 2018 to 2020 completed pre- and post-workshop surveys assessing the prevalence of exposure to clinical microaggressions and the workshop's effect on mitigating commonly perceived barriers to addressing microaggressions.

Cardiovascular Disease and Mental Distress Among Ethnic Groups in Kyrgyzstan.

The purpose of this study was to characterize different ethnic groups in Kyrgyzstan regarding cardiovascular disease (CVD) and mental distress, and to investigate the association between CVD and mental distress. The mental distress was measured in terms of sleep disturbance, burnout, and stress. A cross-sectional study was carried out among six ethnic groups in Kyrgyzstan, aged 18 years and above.

Food insecurity as a risk factor for preterm birth: a prospective facility-based cohort study in rural Haiti.

Introduction: Haiti has an estimated neonatal mortality rate of 32/1000 live births, the highest in the Western Hemisphere. Preterm birth and being born small for gestational age (SGA) are major causes of adverse neonatal outcomes worldwide. To reduce preterm birth and infants born SGA, it is important to understand which women are most at risk and how risk varies within countries.

Expenditures on vaccine-preventable disease surveillance: Analysis and evaluation of comprehensive multi-year plans (cMYPs) for immunization.

Despite the importance of vaccine-preventable disease (VPD) surveillance, little is known about the costs of monitoring disease. We used Comprehensive Multi-Year Plans for Immunization (cMYPs) - developed by countries following guidelines from the World Health Organization and United Nations Children's Fund - to estimate expenditures on VPD surveillance at the country level in 2015 US Dollars (USD) in 63 low- and middle-income countries. To evaluate the reliability of cMYP estimates, we also compared cMYP data with findings from previous research studies and assessed whether countries explicitly budgeted for major categories of surveillance activities in their plans for immunization.