Characteristics and challenges of companion animal rescue organisations in New Zealand.

Aims: To describe the characteristics of companion animal rescue organisations (CARO) in New Zealand; to describe current capacity, resource limitations and challenges of CARO with a particular focus on cats and dogs; and to explore support for creating a national database of CARO in New Zealand.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was administered to CARO in New Zealand in May 2022. The survey asked about organisational characteristics, types and numbers of animals cared for, services provided, policies, staffing, funding sources, challenges, and attitudes towards a national database for rescue organisations.

Companion Animal Fostering as Health Promotion: A Literature Review.

There is growing interest in the health-promoting potential of human-companion animal relationships from a broad public health perspective while acknowledging barriers to ownership, particularly for older adults. Companion animal fostering is an alternative to pet ownership that aligns with the Ottawa Charter health promotion principle that caring for others in everyday settings promotes health. This narrative review of the literature on companion animal fostering draws on Te Whare Tapa Whā (the four-sided house), an indigenous model of health that is influential in Aotearoa/New Zealand, and the Ottawa Charter.

Toitū te Tiriti: A Tiriti o Waitangi-led Approach to Public Health Curriculum Development.

At Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa (Massey University), Aotearoa New Zealand, we have declared our stance as a Te Tiriti o Waitangi-led institution. This necessitates the embodiment and enactment of the principles and provisions of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the embedding of Indigenous Māori knowledge, values and belief systems in curriculum design and implementation. This article outlines the beginning of our journey toward indigenizing our postgraduate public health curriculum at Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa.

Antibiotic Review Kit for Hospitals (ARK-Hospital): study protocol for a stepped-wedge cluster-randomised controlled trial.

Background: To ensure patients continue to get early access to antibiotics at admission, while also safely reducing antibiotic use in hospitals, one needs to target the continued need for antibiotics as more diagnostic information becomes available. UK Department of Health guidance promotes an initiative called 'Start Smart then Focus': early effective antibiotics followed by active 'review and revision' 24-72 h later. However in 2017, < 10% of antibiotic prescriptions were discontinued at review, despite studies suggesting that 20-30% of prescriptions could be stopped safely.

Two-epoch cross-sectional case record review protocol comparing quality of care of hospital emergency admissions at weekends versus weekdays.

Introduction: The mortality associated with weekend admission to hospital (the 'weekend effect') has for many years been attributed to deficiencies in quality of hospital care, often assumed to be due to suboptimal senior medical staffing at weekends. This protocol describes a case note review to determine whether there are differences in care quality for emergency admissions (EAs) to hospital at weekends compared with weekdays, and whether the difference has reduced over time as health policies have changed to promote 7-day services.

Methods And Analysis: Cross-sectional two-epoch case record review of 20 acute hospital Trusts in England.

Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening in Palau: Have We Improved Early Detection and Survival?

The Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (BCCEDP) was first introduced in Palau in 1997. The program's aim is to recruit and screen women for early detection of breast and cervical cancers. An assessment of this screening program was conducted to evaluate its effectiveness, including impact on stage of diagnosis and survival time of patients diagnosed with breast and cervical cancers through both screening and clinical diagnosis.

Research ethics committees in the Pacific Islands: gaps and opportunities for health sector strengthening.

There has been a range of developments in recent years to stimulate increasing public health research activity throughout the Pacific. Development of local capacity for ethics committee review and oversight is, however, frequently underdeveloped. This is reflected in the number of Pacific Island nations where ethics committees have not been established or where only informal processes exist for ethics review and oversight.

Assessment of Gestational Diabetes and Associated Risk Factors and Outcomes in the Pacific Island Nation of Palau.

Objective Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in Palau and across the Pacific Islands is a serious public health issue that is currently understudied. Methods This study was a retrospective cohort study that included 1730 women with a single live birth in Palau between January 2007 and December 2014. Results The overall prevalence of GDM among women in Palau was 5.

Weekend specialist intensity and admission mortality in acute hospital trusts in England: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Increased mortality rates associated with weekend hospital admission (the so-called weekend effect) have been attributed to suboptimum staffing levels of specialist consultants. However, evidence for a causal association is elusive, and the magnitude of the weekend specialist deficit remains unquantified. This uncertainty could hamper efforts by national health systems to introduce 7 day health services.

Stroke rehabilitation in Fiji: are patients receiving services?

Setting: The national hospital and stroke rehabilitation services of the Fiji Ministry of Health.

Objectives: To describe patients admitted with stroke to the Fiji Colonial War Memorial Hospital (CWMH) from January 2010 to December 2012, and to report on rehabilitation services accessed during and after admission.

Design: Retrospective descriptive study using patient records.

Absolute lymphocyte count is not a suitable alternative to CD4 count for determining initiation of antiretroviral therapy in fiji.

Introduction. An absolute lymphocyte count is commonly used as an alternative to a CD4 count to determine initiation of antiretroviral therapy for HIV-infected individuals in Fiji when a CD4 count is unavailable. Methods.

Mentorship for operational research capacity building: hands-on or hands-off?

Mentorship is a key feature of operational research training courses run by the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease and Médecins Sans Frontières. During the recent South Pacific paper writing module, the faculty discussed 'hands-on' mentorship (direct technical assistance) vs. 'hands-off' mentorship (technical advice).

Burden and spectrum of disease in people with diabetes in Tonga.

Setting: National Diabetes Centre, Tonga.

Objective: To describe the diabetes patient profile and disease spectrum, assess the impact of diabetic care and evaluate diabetes-attributable adverse outcomes.

Design: Retrospective descriptive study of patients registered in the National Diabetes Registry from its inception in May 2004 to 2012, and review of the National Deaths Registry (2011-2012).

Describing the burden of non-communicable disease risk factors among adults with diabetes in Wallis and Futuna.

Background: The South Pacific Territory of Wallis and Futuna has a high burden of non-communicable diseases (NCD): 18% of adults have diabetes mellitus (DM) and 87% are classified as overweight or obese.

Objective: To characterise the burden of additional World Health Organization (WHO) recognised NCD risk factors, such as smoking, obesity, high blood pressure, eating less than five fruit or vegetable servings per day and a sedentary lifestyle, among adults with DM.

Design: Re-analysis of cross-sectional data from a 2009 national survey.

Building operational research capacity in the Pacific.

Operational research (OR) in public health aims to investigate strategies, interventions, tools or knowledge that can enhance the quality, coverage, effectiveness or performance of health systems. Attention has recently been drawn to the lack of OR capacity in public health programmes throughout the Pacific Islands, despite considerable investment in implementation. This lack of ongoing and critical reflection may prevent health programme staff from understanding why programme objectives are not being fully achieved, and hinder long-term gains in public health.

Profile of tuberculosis patients with delayed sputum smear conversion in the Pacific island of Vanuatu.

Setting: National tuberculosis control programme, Vanuatu.

Objective: To assess tuberculosis (TB) trends, characterise sputum smear-positive patients with non-conversion at 2 months and assess their treatment outcomes.

Design: Evaluation of programme data over a 9-year period (2004-2012), comparing 2-month sputum non-converters (delayed converters) with sputum smear converters diagnosed in 2011 and 2012.