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Stingone JA, Geller AM, Hood DB, Makris KC, Mouton CP, States JC, Sumner SJ, Wu KL, Rajasekar AK. Community-level exposomics: a population-centered approach to address public health concerns. EXPOSOME 2023; 3:osad009. [PMID: 38550543 PMCID: PMC10976977 DOI: 10.1093/exposome/osad009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/10/2024]
Abstract
Environmental factors affecting health and vulnerability far outweigh genetics in accounting for disparities in health status and longevity in US communities. The concept of the exposome, the totality of exposure from conception onwards, provides a paradigm for researchers to investigate the complex role of the environment on the health of individuals. We propose a complementary framework, community-level exposomics, for population-level exposome assessment. The goal is to bring the exposome paradigm to research and practice on the health of populations, defined by various axes including geographic, social, and occupational. This framework includes the integration of community-level measures of the built, natural and social environments, environmental pollution-derived from conventional and community science approaches, internal markers of exposure that can be measured at the population-level and early responses associated with health status that can be tracked using population-based monitoring. Primary challenges to the implementation of the proposed framework include needed advancements in population-level measurement, lack of existing models with the capability to produce interpretable and actionable evidence and the ethical considerations of labeling geographically-bound populations by exposomic profiles. To address these challenges, we propose a set of recommendations that begin with greater engagement with and empowerment of affected communities and targeted investment in community-based solutions. Applications to urban settings and disaster epidemiology are discussed as examples for implementation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeanette A. Stingone
- Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY, USA
| | - Andrew M. Geller
- Office of Research and Development, Environmental Protection Agency, RTP, NC, USA
| | - Darryl B. Hood
- Division of Environmental Health Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
| | - Konstantinos C. Makris
- Cyprus International Institute for Environmental and Public Health, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol, Cyprus
| | - Charles P. Mouton
- Department of Family Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston, TX, USA
| | - J. Christopher States
- Center for Integrative Environmental Health Sciences, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology University of Louisville School of Medicine, Louisville, KY, USA
| | - Susan J. Sumner
- Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - K. Lily Wu
- California Environmental Protection Agency—Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, Sacramento, CA, USA
| | - Arcot K Rajasekar
- School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
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Krugman DW, Manoj M, Nassereddine G, Cipriano G, Battelli F, Pillay K, Othman R, Kim K, Srivastava S, Lopez-Carmen VA, Jensen A, Schor M. Transforming global health education during the COVID-19 era: perspectives from a transnational collective of global health students and recent graduates. BMJ Glob Health 2022; 7:e010698. [PMID: 36524410 PMCID: PMC9748510 DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2022-010698] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2022] [Accepted: 11/24/2022] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Inspired by the 2021 BMJ Global Health Editorial by Atkins et al on global health (GH) teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of GH students and recent graduates from around the world convened to discuss our experiences in GH education during multiple global crises. Through weekly meetings over the course of several months, we reflected on the impact the COVID-19 pandemic and broader systemic inequities and injustices in GH education and practice have had on us over the past 2 years. Despite our geographical and disciplinary diversity, our collective experience suggests that while the pandemic provided an opportunity for changing GH education, that opportunity was not seized by most of our institutions. In light of the mounting health crises that loom over our generation, emerging GH professionals have a unique role in critiquing, deconstructing and reconstructing GH education to better address the needs of our time. By using our experiences learning GH during the pandemic as an entry point, and by using this collective as an incubator for dialogue and re-imagination, we offer our insights outlining successes and barriers we have faced with GH and its education and training. Furthermore, we identify autonomous collectives as a potential viable alternative to encourage pluriversality of knowledge and action systems and to move beyond Western universalism that frames most of traditional academia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel W Krugman
- International Health, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - Malvikha Manoj
- International Working Group (IWG) for Health Systems Strengthening, Dubai, UAE
| | - Ghiwa Nassereddine
- International Working Group (IWG) for Health Systems Strengthening, Beirut, Lebanon
| | | | - Francesca Battelli
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Kimara Pillay
- Sydney School of Public Health, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Razan Othman
- Faculty of Medicine, The National Ribat University, Khartoum, Sudan
| | - Kristina Kim
- Global Health Policy Unit, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | | | - Victor A Lopez-Carmen
- Hunkpati Dakota Nation, Oceti Sakowin Land, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Anpotowin Jensen
- Oglala Lakota Nation, Oceti Sakowin Land, Palo Alto, California, USA
- School of Engineering, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California, USA
| | - Marina Schor
- International Health, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
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3
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Di Ciaula A, Moshammer H, Lauriola P, Portincasa P. Environmental health, COVID-19, and the syndemic: internal medicine facing the challenge. Intern Emerg Med 2022; 17:2187-2198. [PMID: 36181580 PMCID: PMC9525944 DOI: 10.1007/s11739-022-03107-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2022] [Accepted: 09/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Internists are experts in complexity, and the COVID-19 pandemic is disclosing complex and unexpected interactions between communicable and non-communicable diseases, environmental factors, and socio-economic disparities. The medicine of complexity cannot be limited to facing comorbidities and to the clinical management of multifaceted diseases. Evidence indicates how climate change, pollution, demographic unbalance, and inequalities can affect the spreading and outcomes of COVID-19 in vulnerable communities. These elements cannot be neglected, and a wide view of public health aspects by a "one-health" approach is strongly and urgently recommended. According to World Health Organization, 35% of infectious diseases involving the lower respiratory tract depend on environmental factors, and infections from SARS-Cov-2 is not an exception. Furthermore, environmental pollution generates a large burden of non-communicable diseases and disabilities, increasing the individual vulnerability to COVID-19 and the chance for the resilience of large communities worldwide. In this field, the awareness of internists must increase, as privileged healthcare providers. They need to gain a comprehensive knowledge of elements characterizing COVID-19 as part of a syndemic. This is the case when pandemic events hit vulnerable populations suffering from the increasing burden of chronic diseases, disabilities, and social and economic inequalities. Mastering the interplay of such events requires a change in overall strategy, to adequately manage not only the SARS-CoV-2 infection but also the growing burden of non-communicable diseases by a "one health" approach. In this context, experts in internal medicine have the knowledge and skills to drive this change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Agostino Di Ciaula
- Clinica Medica “A. Murri”, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Bari Medical School, Bari, Italy
- International Society of Doctors for Environment (ISDE), Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Hanns Moshammer
- International Society of Doctors for Environment (ISDE), Geneva, Switzerland
- Department of Environmental Health, Center for Public Health, Medical University Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
- Department of Hygiene, Medical University of Karakalpakstan, Nukus, Uzbekistan 230100
| | - Paolo Lauriola
- International Society of Doctors for Environment (ISDE), Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Piero Portincasa
- Clinica Medica “A. Murri”, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Human Oncology, University of Bari Medical School, Bari, Italy
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Khojasteh D, Davani E, Shamsipour A, Haghani M, Glamore W. Climate change and COVID-19: Interdisciplinary perspectives from two global crises. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2022; 844:157142. [PMID: 35798107 PMCID: PMC9252874 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.157142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2022] [Revised: 06/29/2022] [Accepted: 06/29/2022] [Indexed: 05/12/2023]
Abstract
The repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change - two major current global crises - are far-reaching, the parallels between the two are striking, and their influence on one another are significant. Based on the wealth of evidence that has emerged from the scientific literature during the first two years of the pandemic, this study argues that these two global crises require holistic multisectoral mitigation strategies. Despite being different in nature, neither crisis can be effectively mitigated without considering their interdependencies. Herein, significant interactions between these two crises are highlighted and discussed. Major implications related to the economy, energy, technology, environment, food systems and agriculture sector, health systems, policy, management, and communities are detailed via a review of existing joint literature. Based on these outcomes, practical recommendations for future research and management are provided. While the joint timing of these crises has created a global conundrum, the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated opportunities and lessons for devising sustainable recovery plans in relation to the climate crisis. The findings indicated that governments should work collaboratively to develop durable and adjustable strategies in line with long-term, global decarbonisation targets, promote renewable energy resources, integrate climate change into environmental policies, prioritise climate-smart agriculture and local food systems, and ensure public and ecosystem health. Further, differences in geographic distributions of climate change and COVID-19 related death cases revealed that these crises pose different threats to different parts of the world. These learnings provide insights to address the climate emergency - and potential future global problems with similar characteristics - if international countries act urgently and collectively.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danial Khojasteh
- Water Research Laboratory, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNSW, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
| | - Ehsan Davani
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Abbas Shamsipour
- School of Mechanical Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
| | - Milad Haghani
- Research Centre for Integrated Transport Innovation (rCITI), School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of New South Wales, UNSW, Sydney, Australia.
| | - William Glamore
- Water Research Laboratory, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, UNSW, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
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Hurley EA, Dalglish SL, Sacks E. Supporting young people with climate anxiety: mitigation, adaptation, and resilience. Lancet Planet Health 2022; 6:e190. [PMID: 35278385 DOI: 10.1016/s2542-5196(22)00015-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2022] [Accepted: 01/18/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Emily A Hurley
- Division of Health Services and Outcomes Research, Children's Mercy Research Institute, Children's Mercy Kansas City, Kansas City, MO 64108, USA; Department of Pediatrics, University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Medicine, Kansas City, MO, USA; Department of Population Health, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, KS, USA.
| | - Sarah L Dalglish
- Institute for Global Health, University College London, London, UK; Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Emma Sacks
- Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
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