Scoping Review of Cultural Responsivity in Interventions to Prevent Gender-Based Violence in Latin America.

In this article, we review existing interventions to prevent gender-based violence (GBV) in Latin American contexts to evaluate the extent to which this work incorporates cultural responsivity-meaning whether the interventions consider the unique norms, identities, and attributes of specific cultures. We follow Arksey and O'Malley's steps for conducting systematic scoping reviews. We reviewed articles from 2003 to 2023 across 12 databases.

Somatic Symptoms Are Associated With Elevated Blood Pressure and Epstein-Barr Virus Antibodies Among Shuar of the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Introduction: This study tests the hypothesis that self-reported somatic symptoms are associated with biomarkers of stress, including elevated blood pressure and suppressed immune function, among Shuar adults living in the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Methods: Research was conducted in three Shuar communities in the Upano Valley of the Ecuadorian Amazon and included the collection of biomarkers and a structured morbidity interview. Participants self-reported somatic symptoms such as headaches, body pain, fatigue, and other bodily symptoms.

Helicobacter pylori exposure among the Awajún of the Peruvian Amazon: Prevalence and environmental, social, and biological associations.

Objectives: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori)-a gastric bacteria affecting almost 50% of the global population and leading to ulcers and cancer in severe cases-is a growing health concern among Indigenous populations who report a high burden of reported poor general health and gastrointestinal distress. We test hypothesized associations between H.

Water insecurity is associated with gender-based violence: A mixed-methods study in Indonesia.

Gender Based Violence (GBV) is a global pandemic and water insecurity is increasing in intensity and extent. This study explores the association between these two global health threats. Cross-sectional, quantitative data were collected via surveys (n = 365 adult women) to measure household water insecurity (HWI) and women's experiences of GBV in the last year.

"Gender-Based Water Violence": Cross-Cultural Evidence for Severe Harm Associated With Water Insecurity for Women and Girls.

We examined how study participants in Indonesia and Peru viewed the relationship between water insecurity and women's health via thematic analysis of interviews and focus groups. Participants reported that water insecurity led to vaginal infections, miscarriage, premature births, uterine prolapse, poor nutrition, restricted economic opportunities, and intergenerational cycles of poverty. Participants in both countries stated that extreme burdens associated with water insecurity should be categorized as violence.

Teenage pregnancy in Tambogrande, Peru: causes, consequences and cycles of violence and disadvantage.

Teenage pregnancy carries adverse consequences for health and well-being. In this article, we investigate the perceived causes, consequences and cycles of violence and disadvantage associated with teenage pregnancy in Tambogrande, Peru using an applied anthropological approach. Data were drawn from a larger project investigating the relationship between water insecurity and gender-based violence in Indonesia and Peru.

Water insecurity, self-reported physical health, and objective measures of biological health in the Peruvian Amazon.

Objectives: This study examines the associations between water insecurity, self-reported physical health, and objective measures of biological health among 225 Awajún adults (107 women; 118 men) living in the Peruvian Amazon, a "water-abundant" region.

Methods: A survey, which included multiple measures of self-reported physical health, and objective measures of biological health such as blood pressure and nutritional and immune biomarkers.

Results: Greater water insecurity was associated with multiple measures of self-reported physical health, including higher incidence of reported diarrhea, nausea, back pain, headaches, chest pain, fatigue, dizziness, overall poor perceived health, and "being sick.

Learning From the Past: The Role of Social and Behavior Change Programming in Public Health Emergencies.

The contributions of social and behavior change research/programming in 6 recent epidemics highlight the importance of further integrating such expertise into outbreak response.

Cardiovascular Disease in the Peruvian Andes: Local Perceptions, Barriers, and Paths to Preventing Chronic Diseases in the Cajamarca Region.

Public health interventions can be improved by understanding peoples' explanatory models of disease. We explore awareness and perceptions of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and options for preventative actions in young adults living in rural Andean communities. We used convenience sampling to select 46 men and women from communities in Cajamarca (Peru).

The "Double Burden of Malnutrition" in the Amazon: dietary change and drastic increases in obesity and anemia over 40 years among the Awajún.

Undernutrition and overnutrition are interconnected. Yet few studies have examined the "double burden of malnutrition" (DBM) over time in indigenous communities. We investigated changes in the food systems and nutritional health of Awajún communities in the Peruvian Amazon in the 1970s and in 2013.

Metabolic syndrome risk unexpectedly predicted by traditional food consumption: shifting food systems and health among the Awajún of the Peruvian Amazon.

Background: Dietary changes, especially declines in traditional food diversity and increases in the consumption of processed foods, have previously been shown to increase the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.

Aim: We evaluated the prevalence and risk factors for metabolic syndrome in four Awajún communities in the Peruvian Amazon.

Subjects And Methods: A total of 222 participants answered a socioeconomic questionnaire, a 24-h food recall, and completed a physical examination for metabolic syndrome diagnosis.

Ecosyndemics: The potential synergistic health impacts of highways and dams in the Amazon.

Ecosyndemics refer to disease interactions that result from environmental changes commonly caused by humans. In this paper, we push scholarship on ecosyndemics into new territory by using the ecosyndemic framework to compare two case studies-the Southern Interoceanic highway in Peru and the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in Brazil-to assess the likelihood of socio-environmental factors interacting and leading to ill health in a syndemic fashion. Assessing these two case studies using an ecosyndemic perspective, we find that the construction of dams and highways in tropical forests create the conditions for increases in vector-borne illnesses, surges in sex work and sexually-transmitted infections, and increased psychological stress resulting from violence, delinquency, and the erosion of social cohesion.

A "Cookbook" for Vulnerability Research.

There is a growing need to facilitate the interdisciplinary study of the relationship between the environment and human health and well-being. It is increasingly recognized that vulnerability is a key construct allowing discipline-specific research questions on these topics to be meaningfully contextualized. However, there is little consensus regarding the meaning of the concept of vulnerability or how it can best be utilized in research studies.

The Index of Vulnerability: An anthropological method linking social-ecological systems to mental and physical health outcomes.

Researchers need measures of vulnerability that are grounded in explicit theoretical and conceptual frameworks, that are sensitive to local contexts, and that are easy to collect. This paper presents the Index of Vulnerability (IoV), a quantitative yet anthropologically-informed method connecting social-ecological systems to mental and physical health outcomes. The IoV combines measures of five life domains; food insecurity, water insecurity, access to healthcare, social support, and social status.

Inflammatory profiles in the non-pregnant state predict offspring birth weight at Cebu: evidence for inter-generational effects of low grade inflammation.

Background: Although maternal infection and inflammation during pregnancy can adversely affect offspring birth weight (BW), whether low grade inflammation in the non-pregnant state predicts BW is unknown.

Aim: To evaluate relationships between offspring BW and pro- and anti-inflammatory factors measured in parous but non-pregnant women.

Subjects And Methods: Data come from 234 parous Filipino females (21.

Analysis of variability of high sensitivity C-reactive protein in lowland Ecuador reveals no evidence of chronic low-grade inflammation.

Objectives: C-reactive protein (CRP) is a central component of innate immune defenses, and high sensitivity CRP has emerged as an important biomarker of chronic inflammation and cardiovascular disease risk. Prior analyses of CRP variability have reported stable between-individual differences in CRP over time, but a limitation of current knowledge is that it is based on research conducted in post-epidemiologic transition populations.

Methods: This study evaluated CRP variability among adults in the southeastern region of the Ecuadorian Amazon where rates of infectious diseases remain high.

Microbial exposures in infancy predict levels of the immunoregulatory cytokine interleukin-4 in Filipino young adults.

Objectives: Infancy represents a window of development during which long-term immunological functioning can be influenced. In this study, we evaluate proxies of microbial exposures in infancy as predictors of interleukin-4 (IL-4) in young adulthood. IL-4 is an immunoregulatory cytokine that plays a role in the pathogenesis of atopic and allergic diseases.

Comparative insights into the regulation of inflammation: levels and predictors of interleukin 6 and interleukin 10 in young adults in the Philippines.

Inflammation is a central part of innate immunity, but its role in anti-pathogen defenses has been overshadowed by recent interest in the contribution of inflammation to a wide range of chronic degenerative diseases. Current research on chronic inflammation is conducted primarily in affluent populations with low levels of infectious disease; comparative research in different ecological settings is needed to advance understandings of the causes and consequences of variation in the regulation of inflammation. This article investigates the levels and predictors of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-10 (IL-10)-two cytokines important to the regulation of inflammation-in a large, population-based study in the Philippines.

Frequency of antimicrobial resistance among invasive and colonizing Group B streptococcal isolates.

Background: Group B Streptococcus (GBS) remains susceptible to penicillin, however, resistance to second-line antimicrobials, clindamycin and erythromycin, has increased since 1996. We describe the age-specific antibiotic susceptibility profile and capsular type distribution among invasive and colonizing GBS strains.

Methods: We tested 486 invasive GBS isolates from individuals of all ages collected by a Wisconsin surveillance system between 1998 and 2002 and 167 colonizing strains collected from nonpregnant college students during 2001 in Michigan.

Incidence and duration of group B Streptococcus by serotype among male and female college students living in a single dormitory.

Group B Streptococcus causes a variety of morbid and sometimes fatal conditions affecting individuals of all age groups. There are nine known serotypes of this Gram-positive coccus but few estimates of the incidence and duration of its colonization and none by serotype in the literature. In 2001, the authors conducted a prospective cohort study among 257 men and women living in a single dormitory in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Prevalence of group B streptococcus colonization and potential for transmission by casual contact in healthy young men and women.

Group B Streptococcus (GBS) causes disease in newborns, pregnant women, and adults with underlying medical conditions, but it is also a commensal organism that commonly colonizes the bowel. In this study, the prevalence of colonization was high among 241 women (34%) and 211 men (20%) living in a college dormitory; sexually experienced subjects had twice the colonization rates of sexually inexperienced participants. Other predictors of colonization varied by colonization site.

Comparison of DNA dot blot hybridization and lancefield capillary precipitin methods for group B streptococcal capsular typing.

Group B streptococci (GBS) (Streptococcus agalactiae) are a major cause of sepsis and meningitis in neonates and infants and of invasive disease in pregnant women, nonpregnant, presumably immunocompromised adults, and the elderly. Nine GBS serotypes based on capsular polysaccharide antigens have been described. The serotype distributions among invasive and colonizing isolates differ between pediatric and adult populations and have changed over time.

Correlates of antibiotic-resistant group B streptococcus isolated from pregnant women.

Despite antibiotic prophylaxis for at-risk mothers during labor and delivery, group B streptococcus still causes substantial morbidity and mortality among newborns. Resistance to antibiotics recommended for penicillin-allergic pregnant women, such as erythromycin and clindamycin, has increased. A better understanding of factors associated with group B streptococcus resistance is essential to effectively prevent group B streptococcus disease.

Uropathogenic Escherichia coli are more likely than commensal E. coli to be shared between heterosexual sex partners.

Because uropathogenic Escherichia coli are better adapted than other E. coli to the urethra, periurethra, and vagina, the authors reasoned that uropathogenic E. coli would be more likely than commensal E.

Determinants of co-colonization with group B streptococcus among heterosexual college couples.

Background: Group B causes morbidity and mortality among newborns, pregnant women, and nonpregnant adults. Among adults, sexual and fecal-oral routes of transmission are hypothesized; this study addresses whether sexual transmission occurs.

Methods: Our outcome of interest was group B.