Planning guidance to limit hot food takeaways: Understanding the possible economic impacts.

Local and national policymakers are seeking innovative solutions to create healthier food environments around the world. Between 2009 and 2017, 35 local authorities across England (UK) adopted planning guidance designed to limit the proliferation of hot food takeaways near schools. Whilst these policies are intended to improve population health, they are also likely to have economic impacts.

Public acceptability of proposals to manage new takeaway food outlets near schools: cross-sectional analysis of the 2021 International Food Policy Study.

Global trends indicate that takeaway food is commonly accessible in neighbourhood food environments. Local governments in England can use spatial planning to manage the opening of new takeaway outlets in 'takeaway management zones around schools' (known sometimes as 'exclusion zones'). We analysed data from the 2021 International Food Policy Study to investigate public acceptability of takeaway management zones around schools.

Evaluation of Drug and Herbal Medicinal Promotions on Social Media During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Relation to World Health Organization Ethical Criteria and South African Health Products Regulatory Authority Guidelines in South Africa: Cross-Sectional Content Analysis.

Background: Consideration of ethics in the promotion of medications is essential to safeguard the health of consumers, particularly during health crises. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) have established stringent standards to ensure the integrity of pharmaceutical promotions and safeguard public health, including advertisements on the internet and social media platforms. However, the dynamic nature of online advertising poses challenges for monitoring and enforcing ethical standards.

Purging to Cleanse: A Qualitative Study of Ayahuasca Healing at a Drug Treatment Center in Peru.

Objective: Ayahuasca, an entheogen from the Amazon rainforest, has garnered growing interest for treating substance dependence. To date, there is little research concerning the act of ayahuasca-related purging (mainly vomiting), which is considered to be central to healing during ayahuasca rituals. This study explored practitioner perspectives on purging during ayahuasca rituals at the Takiwasi Center in Peru.

Changes in the number of new takeaway food outlets associated with adoption of management zones around schools: A natural experimental evaluation in England.

By the end of 2017, 35 local authorities (LAs) across England had adopted takeaway management zones (or "exclusion zones") around schools as a means to curb proliferation of new takeaways. In this nationwide, natural experimental study, we evaluated the impact of management zones on takeaway retail, including unintended displacement of takeaways to areas immediately beyond management zones, and impacts on chain fast-food outlets. We used uncontrolled interrupted time series analyses to estimate changes from up to six years pre- and post-adoption of takeaway management zones around schools.

Changes in the number and outcome of takeaway food outlet planning applications in response to adoption of management zones around schools in England: A time series analysis.

Physical exposure to takeaway food outlets ("takeaways") is associated with poor diet and excess weight, which are leading causes of excess morbidity and mortality. At the end of 2017, 35 local authorities (LAs) in England had adopted takeaway management zones (or "exclusion zones"), which is an urban planning intervention designed to reduce physical exposure to takeaways around schools. In this nationwide, natural experimental study, we used interrupted time series analyses to estimate the impact of this intervention on changes in the total number of takeaway planning applications received by LAs and the percentage rejected, at both first decision and after any appeal, within management zones, per quarter of calendar year.

Scoping review on lessons learnt on the promotion and use of drugs and traditional medicine in Africa during COVID-19.

Scientific evidence on the safety and efficacy of pharmaceutical drugs, substances and herbal medicines is important in medical advertising and promotion. Following guidelines for conducting a scoping review, we systematically searched PubMed, SCOPUS and Web of Science to identify in peer reviewed articles medications that were promoted and used widely in Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also searched for information about how safety concerns about untested/or not properly tested drugs were communicated to the public during the pandemic.

Policy and Guideline Review of Vaccine Safety for COVID-19 in Pregnant Women in Southern Africa, with a Particular Focus on South Africa.

Pregnant and lactating mothers have historically been excluded from clinical trials. To understand the shift from excluding to including this population in COVID-19 vaccine trials, we conducted a review of guidance issued by countries in southern Africa over the last three years. We conducted a review of documents and official statements recorded on Ministries of Health websites, and social media platforms, the World Health Organisation website, the COVID-19 Maternal Immunisation tracker and the African Union official webpage.

Assessing Community Acceptance of Maternal Immunisation in Rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: A Qualitative Investigation.

Despite the significant benefits of maternal immunisation, uptake remains low in many parts of the world. In this qualitative study, we aimed to assess the factors that influence pregnant women's decision to engage with maternal immunisation in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. We conducted in-depth interviews with a total of 28 purposively sampled pregnant women and key informants using semi-structured topic guides.

A Scoping Review to Assess Sexual and Reproductive Health Outcomes, Challenges and Recommendations in the Context of Climate Migration.

As growing numbers of people may be forced to migrate due to climate change and variability, it is important to consider the disparate impacts on health for vulnerable populations, including sexual and reproductive health (SRH). This scoping review aims to explore the relationship between climate migration and SRH. We searched PubMed/MEDLINE, CINAHL Plus, EMBASE, Web of Science, Scopus, Global Health and Google for peer-reviewed and gray literature published before 2nd July 2021 in English that reported on SRH in the context of climate migration.

Thinking with attachments: Appreciating a generative analytic.

Much current work in Science and Technology Studies inflects knowing with care. Analyses of the ethos of objectivity, and of the practices by which objectivity is crafted, have shown that knowing and caring cannot be thought apart from each other. Using case studies from our own work we analyse how, in the sociotechnical relationships that we study, knowing and caring are entangled through 'attachments'.

Are rhetorical commitments to adolescents reflected in planning documents? An exploratory content analysis of adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Global Financing Facility country plans.

Background: The Global Financing Facility (GFF) offers an opportunity to close the financing gap that holds back gains in women, children's and adolescent health. However, very little work exists examining GFF practice, particularly for adolescent health. As momentum builds for the GFF, we examine initial GFF planning documents to inform future national and multi-lateral efforts to advance adolescent sexual and reproductive health.

Estimated effectiveness of traveller screening to prevent international spread of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

Traveller screening is being used to limit further global spread of 2019 novel coronavirus (nCoV) following its recent emergence. Here, we project the impact of different travel screening programs given remaining uncertainty around the values of key nCoV life history and epidemiological parameters. Even under best-case assumptions, we estimate that screening will miss more than half of infected travellers.

Estimated effectiveness of symptom and risk screening to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Traveller screening is being used to limit further spread of COVID-19 following its recent emergence, and symptom screening has become a ubiquitous tool in the global response. Previously, we developed a mathematical model to understand factors governing the effectiveness of traveller screening to prevent spread of emerging pathogens (Gostic et al., 2015).

The role of costing in the introduction and scale-up of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis: evidence from integrating PrEP into routine maternal and child health and family planning clinics in western Kenya.

Introduction: Understanding the cost of strategies to reach and deliver pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to priority populations is essential to assess the cost-effectiveness and budget impact of HIV prevention programmes. Providing PrEP through maternal and child health and family planning clinics offers a promising strategy to reach women in high HIV burden settings. We estimated incremental costs and explored the cost drivers of integrating PrEP delivery into routine maternal and child health and family planning services in Kenya.

Effect Modification by Baseline Mortality in the MORDOR Azithromycin Trial.

We examined whether baseline mortality risk, as a function of child age and site, modified the azithromycin mortality-reduction effect in the (MORDOR) clinical trial. We used the Cox proportional hazards model with an interaction term. Three models were examined representing three sources for the baseline-risk covariate: two using sources external to MORDOR and the third leveraging data within MORDOR.

Mass Azithromycin Distribution to Prevent Childhood Mortality: A Pooled Analysis of Cluster-Randomized Trials.

Mass drug administration (MDA) with azithromycin may reduce under-5 child mortality (U5M) in sub-Saharan Africa. Here, we conducted a pooled analysis of all published cluster-randomized trials evaluating the effect of azithromycin MDA on child mortality. We pooled data from cluster-randomized trials randomizing communities to azithromycin MDA versus control.

Clinical development strategy for a candidate group A streptococcal vaccine.

GroupA streptococci (GAS) cause a wide spectrum of diseases ranging from benign pharyngitis and skin infections to severe invasive disease and the immune sequelae rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. Pharyngitis, one of the most frequent diseases caused by GAS, is highly prevalent in school-age children in temperate climates and a major cause of antibiotic use. An efficacious vaccine would reduce disease burden associated with pharyngitis and the need of care for sick children.

Effectiveness of traveller screening for emerging pathogens is shaped by epidemiology and natural history of infection.

During outbreaks of high-consequence pathogens, airport screening programs have been deployed to curtail geographic spread of infection. The effectiveness of screening depends on several factors, including pathogen natural history and epidemiology, human behavior, and characteristics of the source epidemic. We developed a mathematical model to understand how these factors combine to influence screening outcomes.

Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of Hospitalization and Home-Based Care Strategies for People Living with HIV/AIDS: The Case of Zimbabwe.

The model of care of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) has shifted from hospital care to community home-based care (CHBC) because of shortage of space in hospitals and lack of resources. We evaluate the costs and benefits of home-based care and other HIV/AIDS intervention strategies in Zimbabwe, using an interdisciplinary approach which weaves together the techniques of an epidemic transmission model and economic evaluation concepts. The intervention strategies considered are voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), VCT combined with hospitalization (H), VCT combined with CHBC, and all the interventions implemented concurrently.

The response to Schistosoma bovis in normal and T-cell deprived mice.

Normal and T-cell deprived mice have been compared in their response to infection with Schistosoma bovis. The deprived mice survived longer than comparably infected, immunologically intact controls, despite an increased longevity of the adult S. bovis worms in the former animals giving rise to higher tissue egg densities.