GLOBALHealthPR

Today’s blog entry comes to us from Jorge Azevedo, Managing Director of Guess What, our GLOBALHealthPR partner in Portugal.

In today’s world we are under scrutiny every minute. The “Berlin Wall” of privacy that once defended organizations has fallen to the hands of a generation hungry for information. The good and bad practices of companies and the individuals who represent them are publicly discussed, and ethical oversights can lead to serious consequences both in terms of reputation and financial impact.

With this in mind, I believe the key to long-term organizational success is greater transparency—transparency about processes, products and procedures, both internal and external. [Read more…] about The Little Big Role of Public Relations

Paradigma, our GLOBALHealthPR partner in Argentina, presents insights from a new study on sexual and reproductive health.

A recent study in Argentina carried out by Fundación Huésped and UNICEF proved television’s great potential to influence the public’s opinion on sexual and reproductive health.  Fundación Huésped and UNICEF teamed up with the script authors, producers and actors of popular primetime comedy show “Solamente Vos” to co-create an episode in which one of the characters, an adolescent girl, has sexual intercourse for the first time. The idea was to emphasize the use of the condom and the role of women in the suggestion of its use and provision. What was most interesting in this study is that they obtained specific information about the impact of the show, as they evaluated sexual and reproductive health attitudes of the viewers before and after the episode’s broadcast through a survey of 700 TV viewers. [Read more…] about Sexual Initiation and Women’s Empowerment: How TV Impacts Social Perception and Behavior

Zambia efficiently tracks medical histories and public health. “Why not bring it to the US?” asks Brittany Allgood of Spectrum, GlobalHealthPR partner in the United States.

In a land where health care illiteracy is prevalent and disease outbreaks can spread quickly due to poor environmental and sanitation conditions, how do you efficiently document individual medical histories and monitor public health?

In Zambia, health care institutions are using innovative technology to track and cater to health care needs. SmartCare – conceived in 2003 and developed by Zambia’s Ministry of Health and the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention – is an electronic health record (EHR) system designed with local challenges in mind.

How does it work?

Similar to loading money onto a D.C. Metro SmartTrip card, medical personnel can load a patient’s health care records onto a SmartCare card to be taken home for safe keeping. Records include personal information about illness, prescriptions, lab results and more, and data analysis of records can reveal trends in the spread of disease.

The SmartCare system is designed to function in areas with minimal telecommunication capabilities and frequent power outages. Lending credibility to the system and expanding its reach, the World Health Organization, USAID and UNICEF are among SmartCare partners.

The result?

In addition to aiding doctor efficiency with user-friendly, rapid data-entry capabilities, SmartCare is intended to improve data accuracy and enable cost-effective, confidential, life-long quality health care.

With the benefits to Zambian patients in mind, I wonder how this system can be applied to improve health care in other parts of the world. For example, considering the system’s reliability and ease of use, how could it be used to improve health care in disaster relief situations?

What’s up with electronic medical records in the U.S.?

Even in a community where the average person can complete a medical form unaided, there are benefits to implementing an EHR system. Think about it – how much time have you wasted filling and re-filling out forms at the doctor or dentist office? Are you sure you remembered every detail each time?

We’ve all heard about the Affordable Care Act, which goes into effect on January 1, 2014. We won’t go into the details here, but one program initiative is to advance the transition from paper records to EHRs. According to Medical News Today, many question the ease of use and integration process of this new IT system, and there’s no doubt that others are concerned about privacy issues.

Can we take a lesson from our friends in Africa?

A SmartCare system in the U.S. could address concerns about ease of use and confidentiality of EHRs. Personally, I’d appreciate having a password-protected card or flash drive containing all my medical records and insurance information. If doctors and dentists accepted this form of information transference, it would save a lot of time during visits.

What’s your take on adopting EHRs in the U.S. – an important initiative or expensive waste of time?

 

 

Special to GLOBALHealthPR from our Australian partner, VIVA! Communications:

When I first heard the rumblings that yet another mobile social media platform had launched into the market, I was somewhat sceptical.

But I have learnt a lot more about Instagram since. I now know that it boasts around 100 million users and after some research, have found that the free, instant photo-sharing app (now owned by Facebook) might just be of use to healthcare associations, organisations and even healthcare professionals. [Read more…] about Telling your Health Story with Instagram

What can culture teach us about nutrition?

Last weekend, while walking down 14th Street Northwest in Washington, DC, I was fascinated by the international flavors that surrounded me. On the left: French, Japanese, Thai and Ghanan restaurants. On the right: American fried chicken, Salvadoran, Mexican, Italian and Ethiopian restaurants. The options are as diverse as DC’s population itself. They are also a reflection of migration flow in an increasingly globalized world. [Read more…] about We Are What We Eat