1
|
Friedman SR, Smyrnov P, Vasylyeva TI. Will the Russian war in Ukraine unleash larger epidemics of HIV, TB and associated conditions and diseases in Ukraine? Harm Reduct J 2023; 20:119. [PMID: 37658448 PMCID: PMC10472698 DOI: 10.1186/s12954-023-00855-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2023] [Accepted: 08/22/2023] [Indexed: 09/03/2023] Open
Abstract
The Russian war in Ukraine poses many risks for the spread of HIV, TB and associated conditions, including possible increases in the numbers of people who inject drugs or engage in sex work in the years ahead. Ukrainian civil society and volunteer efforts have been able to maintain and at times expand services for HIV Key Populations. The extent of mutual-aid and volunteer efforts as well as the continued strength and vitality of harm reduction organizations such as the Alliance for Public Health and the rest of civil society will be crucial resources for postwar efforts to assist Key Populations and prevent the spread of HIV, TB and other diseases. The postwar period will pose great economic and political difficulties for Ukrainians, including large populations of people physically and/or psychically damaged and in pain who might become people who inject drugs. Local and international support for public health and for harm reduction will be needed to prevent potentially large-scale increases in infectious disease and related mortality.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Tetyana I Vasylyeva
- Division of Infectious Diseases and Global Public Health, UC San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Friedman SR, Perlman DC, Paraskevis D, Feldman J. Sociopolitical Diagnostic Tools to Understand National and Local Response Capabilities and Vulnerabilities to Epidemics and Guide Research into How to Improve the Global Response to Pathogens. Pathogens 2023; 12:1023. [PMID: 37623983 PMCID: PMC10457759 DOI: 10.3390/pathogens12081023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2023] [Revised: 08/04/2023] [Accepted: 08/05/2023] [Indexed: 08/26/2023] Open
Abstract
The AIDS and COVID-19 pandemics demonstrated that nations at similar economic development levels varied widely in their capacity to protect the health of their residents. For AIDS, Britain and Australia brought gay representatives into official counsels and adopted harm reduction far more rapidly than the United States or Spain, and East African countries responded more effectively than South Africa or the Democratic Republic of the Congo. National responses to COVID-19 varied widely, with New Zealand, China, and Vietnam more effective than Italy, Brazil, or the United States. Further, as phylogenetic research has demonstrated, these pandemics spread from one country to another, with those that responded poorly acting as sources for mutations and potentially sources of transmission to countries with more effective responses. Many observers expressed surprise at the poor responses of the United States to COVID-19, but in retrospect the cutbacks in public health funding at state and national levels made it clear that this was a predictable weakness even in addition to the political vacillations that crippled the US and Brazilian responses. In a time of global sociopolitical and climate instability, it is important to measure and conduct research into spatial and time variations in 1. public health and medical funding, 2. social influence networks, social cohesion and trust, and stigmatization, 3. income inequality, 4. social conflict, and 5. other factors that affect responsiveness to pandemics.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - David C. Perlman
- Infectious Diseases, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA;
| | - Dimitrios Paraskevis
- Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece;
| | - Justin Feldman
- Visiting Scientist, Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA;
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Ransome Y, Luan H, Dean LT, Quick H, Nassau T, Kawachi I, Brady KA. Is race-specific neighborhood social cohesion key to reducing racial disparities in late HIV diagnosis: A multiyear ecological study. Spat Spatiotemporal Epidemiol 2022; 42:100508. [PMID: 35934322 PMCID: PMC9912753 DOI: 10.1016/j.sste.2022.100508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2021] [Revised: 03/01/2022] [Accepted: 04/18/2022] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
We examined whether race/ethnic-specific social cohesion is associated with race/ethnic-specific HIV diagnosis rates using Bayesian space-time zero-inflated Poisson multivariable models, across 376 Census tracts. Social cohesion data were from the Southeastern Pennsylvania Household Health Survey, 2008-2015 and late HIV diagnosis data from eHARS system, 2009-2016. Areas where trust in neighbors reported by Black/African Americans was medium (compared to low) had lower rates of late HIV diagnosis among Black/African Americans (Relative Risk (RR)=0.52, 95% credible interval (CrI)= 0.34, 0.80). In contrast, areas where trust in neighbors reported by Black/African Americans were highest had lower late HIV diagnosis rates among Whites (RR=0.35, 95% CrI= 0.16, 0.76). Race/ethnic-specific differences in social cohesion may have implications for designing interventions aimed at modifying area-level social factors to reduce racial disparities in late HIV diagnosis.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yusuf Ransome
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Yale School of Public Health, 60 College Street, LEPH 4th Floor, New Haven, CT 06520.
| | - Hui Luan
- Department of Geography, Spatial Cognition, Computation, and Complexity (S3C) Lab, University of Oregon, 107D Condon Hall, 1251 University of Oregon, Eugene OR, 97403; School of Geodesy and Geomatics, Wuhan University, 129 Luoyu Road, Wuchang District, Wuhan, Hubei, China, 430079
| | - Lorraine T Dean
- Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615N Wolfe St, E6650, Baltimore, MD, 21205
| | - Harrison Quick
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostats, Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health, 3215 Market St, Philadelphia, PA, 19104
| | - Tanner Nassau
- AIDS Activities Coordinating Office, Philadelphia Department of Public Health, 1101 Market St., 8th Floor, Philadelphia, PA, 19107
| | - Ichiro Kawachi
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Kresge Building 7th Floor, Boston MA, 02115
| | - Kathleen A Brady
- AIDS Activities Coordinating Office, Philadelphia Department of Public Health, 1101 Market St., 8th Floor, Philadelphia, PA, 19107
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Friedman SR, Jordan AE, Perlman DC, Nikolopoulos GK, Mateu-Gelabert P. Emerging Zoonotic Infections, Social Processes and Their Measurement and Enhanced Surveillance to Improve Zoonotic Epidemic Responses: A "Big Events" Perspective. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2022; 19:ijerph19020995. [PMID: 35055817 PMCID: PMC8776232 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph19020995] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2021] [Revised: 12/23/2021] [Accepted: 01/10/2022] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Zoonotic epidemics and pandemics have become frequent. From HIV/AIDS through COVID-19, they demonstrate that pandemics are social processes as well as health occurrences. The roots of these pandemics lie in changes in the socioeconomic interface between humanity and non-human host species that facilitate interspecies transmission. The degree to which zoonoses spread has been increased by the greater speed and extent of modern transportation and trade. Pre-existing sociopolitical and economic structures and conflicts in societies also affect pathogen propagation. As an epidemic develops, it can itself become a social and political factor, and change and interact with pre-existing sociobehavioral norms and institutional structures. This paper uses a "Big Events" approach to frame these processes. Based on this framework, we discuss how social readiness surveys implemented both before and during an outbreak might help public health predict how overall systems might react to an epidemic and/or to disease control measures, and thus might inform interventions to mitigate potential adverse outcomes or possibly preventing outbreaks from developing into epidemics. We conclude by considering what "pathways measures", in addition to those we and others have already developed, might usefully be developed and validated to assist outbreak and epidemic disease responses.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Samuel R. Friedman
- Department of Population Health, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY 10016, USA
- Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research, New York, NY 10003, USA; (A.E.J.); (D.C.P.); (P.M.-G.)
- Correspondence:
| | - Ashly E. Jordan
- Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research, New York, NY 10003, USA; (A.E.J.); (D.C.P.); (P.M.-G.)
| | - David C. Perlman
- Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research, New York, NY 10003, USA; (A.E.J.); (D.C.P.); (P.M.-G.)
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, New York, NY 10003, USA
| | | | - Pedro Mateu-Gelabert
- Center for Drug Use and HIV/HCV Research, New York, NY 10003, USA; (A.E.J.); (D.C.P.); (P.M.-G.)
- Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, City University of New York, New York, NY 10027, USA
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Friedman SR, Williams LD, Guarino H, Mateu-Gelabert P, Krawczyk N, Hamilton L, Walters SM, Ezell JM, Khan M, Di Iorio J, Yang LH, Earnshaw VA. The stigma system: How sociopolitical domination, scapegoating, and stigma shape public health. JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY 2022; 50:385-408. [PMID: 34115390 PMCID: PMC8664901 DOI: 10.1002/jcop.22581] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2020] [Revised: 03/07/2021] [Accepted: 03/14/2021] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
Stigma is a fundamental driver of adverse health outcomes. Although stigma is often studied at the individual level to focus on how stigma influences the mental and physical health of the stigmatized, considerable research has shown that stigma is multilevel and structural. This paper proposes a theoretical approach that synthesizes the literature on stigma with the literature on scapegoating and divide-and-rule as strategies that the wealthy and powerful use to maintain their power and wealth; the literatures on racial, gender, and other subordination; the literature on ideology and organization in sociopolitical systems; and the literature on resistance and rebellion against stigma, oppression and other forms of subordination. we develop a model of the "stigma system" as a dialectic of interacting and conflicting structures and processes. Understanding this system can help public health reorient stigma interventions to address the sources of stigma as well as the individual problems that stigma creates. On a broader level, this model can help those opposing stigma and its effects to develop alliances and strategies with which to oppose stigma and the processes that create it.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Samuel R Friedman
- Department of Population Health, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA
| | - Leslie D Williams
- Division of Community Health Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Honoria Guarino
- Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health, CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy, New York, New York, USA
| | - Pedro Mateu-Gelabert
- Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health, CUNY Graduate School of Public Health & Health Policy, New York, New York, USA
| | - Noa Krawczyk
- Department of Population Health, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA
| | - Leah Hamilton
- Department of Population Health, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA
| | - Suzan M Walters
- NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing, Interdisciplinary Research Training Institute on Hispanic Drug Abuse, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA
| | - Jerel M Ezell
- Department of Sociology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- Department of Medicine, Section on Global Health and Infectious Diseases, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - Maria Khan
- Department of Population Health, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA
| | - Jorgelina Di Iorio
- Faculty of Psychology and Intercambios Civil Association, CONICET/Buenos Aires University, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Lawrence H Yang
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Global Public Health, New York University, New York, New York, USA
- Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA
| | - Valerie A Earnshaw
- Department of Human Development and Family Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Friedman SR, Mateu-Gelabert P, Nikolopoulos GK, Cerdá M, Rossi D, Jordan AE, Townsend T, Khan MR, Perlman DC. Big Events theory and measures may help explain emerging long-term effects of current crises. Glob Public Health 2021; 16:1167-1186. [PMID: 33843462 PMCID: PMC8338763 DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2021.1903528] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2020] [Accepted: 02/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Big Events are periods during which abnormal large-scale events like war, economic collapse, revolts, or pandemics disrupt daily life and expectations about the future. They can lead to rapid change in health-related norms, beliefs, social networks and behavioural practices. The world is undergoing such Big Events through the interaction of COVID-19, a large economic downturn, massive social unrest in many countries, and ever-worsening effects of global climate change. Previous research, mainly on HIV/AIDS, suggests that the health effects of Big Events can be profound, but are contingent: Sometimes Big Events led to enormous outbreaks of HIV and associated diseases and conditions such as injection drug use, sex trading, and tuberculosis, but in other circumstances, Big Events did not do so. This paper discusses and presents hypotheses about pathways through which the current Big Events might lead to better or worse short and long term outcomes for various health conditions and diseases; considers how pre-existing societal conditions and changing 'pathway' variables can influence the impact of Big Events; discusses how to measure these pathways; and suggests ways in which research and surveillance might be conducted to improve human capacity to prevent or mitigate the effects of Big Events on human health.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Pedro Mateu-Gelabert
- Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA
| | | | | | - Diana Rossi
- Intercambios Civil Association and University of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Ashly E Jordan
- Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, City University of New York, New York, NY, USA
| | | | - Maria R Khan
- NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA
| | - David C Perlman
- Mount Sinai Beth Israel and Center for Drug Use and HIV Research, New York, NY, USA
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Socially-supportive norms and mutual aid of people who use opioids: An analysis of Reddit during the initial COVID-19 pandemic. Drug Alcohol Depend 2021; 222:108672. [PMID: 33757708 PMCID: PMC8057693 DOI: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2021.108672] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2020] [Revised: 12/28/2020] [Accepted: 01/03/2021] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Big events (i.e., unique historical disruptions) like the COVID-19 epidemic and its associated period of social distancing can transform social structures, social interactions, and social norms. Social distancing rules and the fear of infection have greatly reduced face-to-face interactions, increased loneliness, reduced ties to helping institutions, and may also have disrupted the opioid use behaviors of people who use drugs. This research used Reddit to examine the impact of COVID-19 on the social networks and social processes of people who use opioids. METHODS Data were collected from the social media forum, Reddit.com. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. (March 5, 2020, to May 13, 2020), 2,000 Reddit posts were collected from the two most popular opioid subreddits (r/OpiatesRecovery, r/Opiates). Posts were reviewed for relevance to COVID-19 and opioid use resulting in a final sample of 300. Thematic analysis was guided by the Big Events framework. RESULTS The COVID-19 pandemic was found to create changes in the social networks and daily lives among persons who use opioids. Adaptions to these changes shifted social networks leading to robust social support and mutual aid on Reddit, including sharing and seeking advice on facing withdrawal, dealing with isolation, managing cravings, and accessing recovery resources. CONCLUSIONS Reddit provided an important source of social support and mutual aid for persons who use opioids. Findings indicate online social support networks are beneficial to persons who use opioids, particularly during big events where isolation from other social support resources may occur.
Collapse
|
8
|
Jenkins WD, Bolinski R, Bresett J, Van Ham B, Fletcher S, Walters S, Friedman SR, Ezell JM, Pho M, Schneider J, Ouellet L. COVID-19 During the Opioid Epidemic - Exacerbation of Stigma and Vulnerabilities. J Rural Health 2020; 37:172-174. [PMID: 32277731 PMCID: PMC7262104 DOI: 10.1111/jrh.12442] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Wiley D Jenkins
- Department of Population Science and Policy, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois
| | - Rebecca Bolinski
- Department of Sociology, Southern Illinois University, Springfield, Illinois
| | - John Bresett
- Department of Public Health and Recreation, Southern Illinois University, Springfield, Illinois
| | - Brent Van Ham
- Department of Population Science and Policy, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Carbondale, Illinois
| | | | - Suzan Walters
- Rory Meyers College of Nursing, New York University, New York, New York
| | - Samuel R Friedman
- Center for Opioid Epidemiology and Policy, Department of Population Health, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York
| | - Jerel M Ezell
- Section of Infectious Diseases and Global Health, Department of Sociology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
| | - Mai Pho
- Department of Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases and Global Health, University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois
| | - John Schneider
- Departments of Medicine and Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago Medical Sciences, Chicago, Illinois
| | - Larry Ouellet
- School of Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
| |
Collapse
|