Tackling the primary healthcare workforce crisis: time to talk about health systems and governance-a comparative assessment of nine countries in the WHO European region.

Background: Primary healthcare has emerged as a powerful global concept, but little attention has been directed towards the pivotal role of the healthcare workforce and the diverse institutional setting in which they work. This study aims to bridge the gap between the primary healthcare policy and the ongoing healthcare workforce crisis debate by introducing a health system and governance approach to identify capacities that may help respond effectively to the HCWF crisis in health system contexts.

Methods: A qualitative comparative methodology was employed, and a rapid assessment of the primary healthcare workforce was conducted across nine countries: Denmark, Germany, Kazakhstan, Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom/ England.

Applications of blockchain technology in long-term care: use cases, potentials, and barriers.

Background: Digitalization in long-term care (LTC) is being discussed as a means of easing pressures on care service delivery, optimizing care coordination and planning processes, and improving service quality. With its advanced data protection and process automation features, blockchain technology could help solve data security and privacy issues, especially for the implementation of assistive technologies. Blockchain (BC) is thus a new technology being tapped in LTC.

Joint HIV and hepatitis C virus phylogenetic analyses signal network overlap among women engaged in sex work and men who purchase sex.

Background: Transmission of HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV) are heavily influenced by complex interactions within sexual or injecting networks where risk behaviors occur. In Ukraine, women engaged in sex work (WSW) and men who purchase sex (MWPS) are disproportionately affected by both viruses. The aim of our study was to the investigate the influence of underlying networks on transmission of HIV and HCV.

The role of facial cues in signalling cooperativeness is limited and nuanced.

Humans display a remarkable tendency to cooperate with strangers; however, identifying prospective cooperation partners accurately before entering any new relationship is essential to mitigate the risk of being exploited. Visual appearance, as inferrable, for example, from facial images on job portals and dating sites, may serve as a potential signal of cooperativeness. This experimental study examines whether static images enable the correct detection of an individual's propensity to cooperate.

Quality of life outcomes for informal carers of long-term care service users in Austria, England and Finland.

Purpose: The provision and funding of long-term care (LTC) for older people varies between European countries. Despite differences, there is limited information about the comparative performance of LTC systems in Europe. In this study, we compared quality of life (QoL) of informal carers of home care service users in Austria, England and Finland.

Case series of retinal vein occlusions showing early recovery using oral l-methylfolate.

This case series describes the aggregate rate of recovery in five consecutive subjects (six eyes) with retinal vein occlusion (RVO) who received l-methylfolate and other vitamins Ocufolin, a medical food. Subjects were followed for 10-33 months by a single ophthalmologist. Ocufolin was prescribed at the time of diagnosis and subjects remained on the regimen throughout the time of observation.

Quality Appraisal in Systematic Literature Reviews of Studies Eliciting Health State Utility Values: Conceptual Considerations.

Background: The increasing number of studies that generate health state utility values (HSUVs) and the impact of HSUVs on cost-utility analyses make a robust tailored quality appraisal (QA) tool for systematic reviews of these studies necessary.

Objective: This study aimed to address conceptual issues regarding QA in systematic reviews of studies eliciting HSUVs by establishing a consensus on the definitions, dimensions and scope of a QA tool specific to this context.

Methods: A modified Delphi method was used in this study.

The workforce crisis in healthcare: Moving the debate to bridge evidence and policy.

This Special Issue aims to advance the healthcare workforce (HCWF) debate by directing its attention to the implementation of policy recommendations and identifying weaknesses. The selection of articles highlights a wide range of HCWF policies and interventions across various countries. The challenges faced often stem from policy failures and governance gaps at the macro-, meso- and micro-levels of health systems.

Building capacity for equitable healthcare workforce policy, learning from migrant healthcare workers: A qualitative study with Romanian physicians working in Germany during COVID-19.

Background: Attention to the healthcare workforce has increased, yet comprehensive information on migrant healthcare workers is missing. This study focuses on migrant healthcare workers' experiences and mobility patterns in the middle of a global health crisis, aiming to explore the capacity for circular migration and support effective and equitable healthcare workforce policy.

Methods: Romanian physicians working in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic served as an empirical case study.

Nonkin Carers' Roles and Contributions to the Support of Older People Living Alone: An Analysis of Qualitative Data.

Objectives: In the Global North, the number of older people living alone who have little or no support from family members is increasing. However, little is known about older people living alone who have basic needs for support but do not have kin living nearby or a sustainable relationship to a relative they can rely on. Thus, this paper focuses on the role of nonkin carers and their contribution to the support arrangements of older people living alone.

The mental health needs of healthcare workers: When evidence does not guide policy. A comparative assessment of selected European countries.

Background: The healthcare workforce (HCWF) globally is facing high stress levels and deteriorating mental health due to workplace, labour market and policy deficiencies that further exacerbate the existing crisis. However, comprehensive and effective action is missing.

Aims: We adopt a health system and governance perspective to address the mental health needs of healthcare workers (HCWs), considering the nature of interventions and the levels and actors involved in governance.

Post-COVID health policy responses to healthcare workforce capacities: A comparative analysis of health system resilience in six European countries.

A cross countries in Europe, health policy is seeking to adapt to the post-pandemic 'permacrisis', where high demands on the healthcare workforce and shortages continue and combine with climate change, and war. The success of these efforts depends on the capacities of the healthcare workforce. This study aims to compare health policy responses to strengthen the capacities of the healthcare workforce and to explore the underpinning dynamics between health systems, policy actors and health policies.

Measurement invariance and adapted preferences: evidence for the ICECAP-A and WeRFree instruments.

Background: Self-report instruments are used to evaluate the effect of interventions. However, individuals adapt to adversity. This could result in individuals reporting higher levels of well-being than one would expect.

A cross-sectional survey exploring HIV and HCV prevalence among men who purchase sex in Dnipro, Ukraine.

Background: HIV programming in Ukraine largely targets "key population" groups. Men who purchase sex are not directly reached. The aim of our study was to explore the prevalence of sexually transmitted and blood-borne infections (STBBIs) among men who purchase sex from female sex workers.

High-status individuals are held to higher ethical standards.

Although there is evidence for the generosity of high-status individuals, there seems to be a strong perception that the elites are selfish and contribute little to others' welfare, and even less so than poorer people. We argue that this perception may derive from a gap between normative and empirical expectations regarding the behavior of the elites. Using large-scale survey experiments, we show that high-status individuals are held to higher ethical standards in both the US and China, and that there is a strong income gradient in normatively expected generosity.

A simple planning problem for COVID-19 lockdown: a dynamic programming approach.

A large number of recent studies consider a compartmental SIR model to study optimal control policies aimed at containing the diffusion of COVID-19 while minimizing the economic costs of preventive measures. Such problems are non-convex and standard results need not to hold. We use a Dynamic Programming approach and prove some continuity properties of the value function of the associated optimization problem.

Information avoidance: Self-image concerns, inattention, and ideology.

We report the results of an experiment on willful information avoidance regarding measures to address Covid-19. In the experiment, participants choose between two options, each associated with a contribution to the Corona Fund of the Red Cross USA and a payment to the participant. Depending on the treatment, either the participants' payoff, the donation, both or none of these pieces of information were hidden, but revealable.

Natural selection of immune and metabolic genes associated with health in two lowland Bolivian populations.

A growing body of work has addressed human adaptations to diverse environments using genomic data, but few studies have connected putatively selected alleles to phenotypes, much less among underrepresented populations such as Amerindians. Studies of natural selection and genotype-phenotype relationships in underrepresented populations hold potential to uncover previously undescribed loci underlying evolutionarily and biomedically relevant traits. Here, we worked with the Tsimane and the Moseten, two Amerindian populations inhabiting the Bolivian lowlands.

How Social Capital is Related to Migration Between Communities?

In addition to economic and infrastructural factors, social connections of people also influence migration patterns. This influence can be attributed to the resources that are made available by social contacts: social capital, which can also be utilized in the process of migration. Based on previous literature, we identify three different aspects of social capital and test their relationship with domestic migration simultaneously.

Quality appraisal for systematic literature reviews of health state utility values: a descriptive analysis.

Background: Health state utility values (HSUVs) are an essential input parameter to cost-utility analysis (CUA). Systematic literature reviews (SLRs) provide summarized information for selecting utility values from an increasing number of primary studies eliciting HSUVs. Quality appraisal (QA) of such SLRs is an important process towards the credibility of HSUVs estimates; yet, authors often overlook this crucial process.

Awareness and Utilization of HIV Testing and Prevention Services Among Female Sex Workers in Dnipro, Ukraine: Implications for Prevention Program Strengthening From the Dynamics Study.

Introduction: Approximately 240,000 people live with HIV in Ukraine, concentrated among key populations, including sex workers. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) play an important role in the funding and delivery of HIV testing and prevention services in Ukraine. These services are set within the context of national healthcare reforms as well as ongoing armed conflict.