Strengthening public health education and humanitarian response through academic volunteerism.

Introduction: Volunteers are an integral part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent (RCRC) Movement, with over 16 million people actively contributing to humanitarian action worldwide. Academic volunteerism within the Movement includes contributions from students, volunteers and professionals from academic institutions who offer their time and expertise. In this study we aimed to understand the process of embedding academic volunteers in humanitarian organizations such as the Canadian Red Cross (CRC) and assess the impact of their activities within the realm of public health education.

Engaging Community Health Workers (CHWs) in Africa: Lessons from the Canadian Red Cross supported programs.

Universal Health Coverage (UHC) will not be achieved if health care worker shortages, estimated to increase to 18 million by 2030, are not addressed rapidly. Community-based health systems, which pivot to effective engagement of community health workers (CHW), may have an essential role in linking communities with health care facilities and reducing unmet health services needs caused by these shortages. The Canadian Red Cross (CRC) has partnered with different National Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies and Ministries of Health in Africa in the implementation of programs where CHWs contributed to the provision of various health services.

Implementing community-based health program in conflict settings: documenting experiences from the Central African Republic and South Sudan.

Background: The delivery of quality healthcare for women and children in conflict-affected settings remains a challenge that cannot be mitigated unless global health policymakers and implementers find an effective modality in these contexts. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Canadian Red Cross (CRC) used an integrated public health approach to pilot a program for delivering community-based health services in the Central African Republic (CAR) and South Sudan in partnership with National Red Cross Societies in both countries. This study explored the feasibility, barriers, and strategies for context-specific agile programming in armed conflict affected settings.

Making sense of competency-based medical education (CBME) literary conversations: A BEME scoping review: BEME Guide No. 78.

Background: Competency-based medical education (CBME) received increased attention in the early 2000s by educators, clinicians, and policy makers as a way to address concerns about physician preparedness and patient safety in a rapidly changing healthcare environment. Opinions and perspectives around this shift in medical education vary and, to date, a systematic search and synthesis of the literature has yet to be undertaken. The aim of this scoping review is to present a comprehensive map of the literary conversations surrounding CBME.

Health information exchange between clinicians and people living with HIV/AIDS on anti retroviral therapy at public health hospitals in Addis Ababa.

Background: Good quality of clinician-patient health information exchange promotes diagnostic accuracy, patient's knowledge and understanding, health outcomes, clinician and patient satisfaction, adherence to treatment plan, patient's trust in clinicians and reduces medical error.

Objective: The main objective of this study is to assess health information exchange between clinicians and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) attending ARTclinics at public hospitals in Addis Ababa.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinics of seven public hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; during one month period between April and May, 2009.