From Fax to Secure File Transfer Protocol: The 25-Year Evolution of Real-Time Syndromic Surveillance in England.

The purpose of syndromic surveillance is to provide early warning of public health incidents, real-time situational awareness during incidents and emergencies, and reassurance of the lack of impact on the population, particularly during mass gatherings. The United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) currently coordinates a real-time syndromic surveillance service that encompasses 6 national syndromic surveillance systems reporting on daily health care usage across England. Each working day, UKHSA analyzes syndromic data from over 200,000 daily patient encounters with the National Health Service, monitoring over 140 unique syndromic indicators, risk assessing over 50 daily statistical exceedances, and taking and recommending public health action on these daily.

Taxation and Incentives in Private Health Services Delivery in Nigeria: Opinion of Private Health Practitioners.

Background: Tax relief and incentives are utilized to encourage the private health sector to provide services that are advantageous to community health. The aim of this study was to explore the issues related to taxes paid, incentives provided, returns on investment, satisfaction with practice, and plans of private health practitioners who were conference attendees in Port Harcourt in 2021.

Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out at two national events in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria in October, and December 2021, among conference attendees using self-administered questionnaires.

Prevalence of Low Back Pain Among Specialist Medical Consultants at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Background: Low back pain (LBP) is the 5th leading cause of physician consultation and is a significant cause of lost workforce hours with tremendous economic implications in every society. These findings suggest that medical practice in Nigeria is a potential risk factor for developing low back pain. Few studies have attempted to evaluate the medical specialties as risk factors for LBP.

Estimating the Impact of Air Pollution on Healthcare-Seeking Behaviour by Applying a Difference-in-Differences Method to Syndromic Surveillance Data.

Syndromic surveillance data were used to estimate the direct impact of air pollution on healthcare-seeking behaviour, between 1 April 2012 and 31 December 2017. A difference-in-differences approach was used to control for spatial and temporal variations that were not due to air pollution and a meta-analysis was conducted to combine estimates from different pollution periods. Significant increases were found in general practitioner (GP) out-of-hours consultations, including a 98% increase (2-386, 95% confidence interval) in acute bronchitis and a 16% (3-30) increase in National Health Service (NHS) 111 calls for eye problems.