Investing in the Next Generation of Maternal and Child Health Leaders: The APHA Maternal and Child Health Section Student Fellows Program

PURPOSE

Practical experience in maternal and child health (MCH) settings is critical for professional development and learning. In 2002, the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Section of the American Public Health Association (APHA) formalized its inclusion of students in section activities through the establishment of the Student Fellows Program. The Program provides graduate-level students opportunities to learn about MCH and APHA, build professional networks, and develop leadership skills.

DESCRIPTION

Since its inception, 18 cohorts of Fellows have benefited. This paper presents findings describing the Program from both written records about Fellow projects and activities recorded in past MCH Section communications as well as an online survey that was distributed to former and current Fellows to assess their perceptions and the benefits of the Student Fellows Program.

ASSESSMENT

Eighteen cohorts of Fellows have engaged with Section committees and working groups in diverse ways, including MCH-related research, policy, advocacy, and education. An online survey distributed to 151 participants was answered by 79 to document their perceptions of the Student Fellows Program. Of them, 56 (71%) indicated that the Program was important for their career development, 44 (55%) reported being current members of the APHA MCH Section, and 21 (27%) reported serving in a leadership position in the Section. The Fellows highlighted that networking, mentorship and leadership development were key benefits of the Student Fellows Program.

CONCLUSION

After several years of involving students in its programs, the APHA MCH Section established the Student Fellows Program in 2002. The Fellows Program has been important for developing the next generation of MCH leaders. The findings suggest that this Program supports long-term interest and commitment to the field of MCH and contributed to the formation of leadership skills and behaviors of Fellows.

Holding Them Accountable: Organizational Commitments to Ending Systemic Anti-Black Racism in Medicine and Public Health

In this essay, I detail commitments that some of the major health organizations-the American Medical Association, the American Public Health Association, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-have made to addressing anti-Black racism and discuss their policies meant to curtail racism's effects on health equity. Although these organizations' historical lack of action has contributed to a culture of anti-Black racism in health care and public health and many Black people have suffered because of it, progress has to begin somewhere, and outlining their future actions is a good start. Now, bioethicists, with our expertise in how historic policies connect to contemporary disparate health outcomes and access to health care, are in a position to hold these organizations accountable for fulfilling their commitments.

Modified APHA closed-tube reflux colorimetric method for TOC determination in water and wastewater

The analysis of total organic carbon (TOC) by the American Public Health Association (APHA) closed-tube reflux colorimetric method requires potassium dichromate (K₂Cr₂O₇), silver sulfate (AgSO₄), and mercury (HgSO₄) sulfate in addition to large volumes of both reagents and samples. The method relies on the release of oxygen from dichromate on heating which is consumed by carbon associated with organic compounds. The method risks environmental pollution by discharging large amounts of chromium (VI) and silver and mercury sulfates. The present method used potassium monochromate (K₂CrO₄) to generate the K₂Cr₂O₇ on demand in the first phase. In addition, miniaturizing the procedure to semi microanalysis decreased the consumption of reagents and samples. In the second phase, mercury sulfate was eliminated as part of the digestion mixture through the introduction of sodium bismuthate (NaBiO₃) for the removal of chlorides from the sample. The modified method, the potassium monochromate closed-tube colorimetry with sodium bismuthate chloride removal (KMCC-Bi), generates the potassium dichromate on demand and eliminates mercury sulfate. The semi microanalysis procedure leads to a 60% reduction in sample volume and ≈ 33.33 and 60% reduction in monochromate and silver sulfate consumption respectively. The LOD and LOQ were 10.17 and 33.90 mg L^-1 for APHA, and 4.95 and 16.95 mg L^-1 for KMCC-Bi. Recovery was between 83 to 98% APHA and 92 to 104% KMCC-Bi, while the RSD (%) ranged between 0.8 to 5.0% APHA and 0.00 to 0.62% KMCC-Bi. The method was applied for the UV-Vis spectrometry determination of COD in water and wastewater. Statistics was done by MINITAB 17 or MS Excel 2016. ᅟ Graphical abstract.

Quality evaluation of commercially sold table water samples in Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Nigeria and surrounding environments

In Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, Nigeria (MOUAU) and surrounding environments, table water of different brands is commercially hawked by vendors. To the best of our knowledge, there is no scientific documentation on the quality of these water samples. Hence this study which evaluated the quality of different brands of water samples commercially sold in MOUAU and surrounding environments. The physicochemical properties (pH, total dissolved solids (TDS), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total hardness, dissolved oxygen, Cl, NO₃, ammonium nitrogen (NH₃N), turbidity, total suspended solids (TSS), Ca, Mg, Na and K) of the water samples as indices of their quality were carried out using standard techniques. Results obtained from this study indicated that most of the chemical constituents of these table water samples commercially sold in Umudike environment conformed to the standards given by the Nigerian Industrial Standard (NIS), World Health Organization (WHO) and American Public Health Association (APHA), respectively, while values obtained for ammonium nitrogen in these water samples calls for serious checks on methods of their production and delivery to the end users.

Electrochemical treatment of evaporated residue of soak liquor generated from leather industry

The organic and suspended solids present in soak liquor, generated from leather industry, demands treatment. The soak liquor is being segregated and evaporated in solar evaporation pans/multiple effect evaporator due to non availability of viable technology for its treatment. The residue left behind in the pans/evaporator does not carry any reuse value and also faces disposal threat due to the presence of high concentration of sodium chloride, organic and bacterial impurities. In the present investigation, the aqueous evaporated residue of soak liquor (ERSL) was treated by electrochemical oxidation. Graphite/graphite and SS304/graphite systems were used in electrochemical oxidation of organics in ERSL. Among these, graphite/graphite system was found to be effective over SS304/graphite system. Hence, the optimised conditions for the electrochemical oxidation of organics in ERSL using graphite/graphite system was evaluated by response surface methodology (RSM). The mass transport coefficient (km) was calculated based on pseudo-first order rate kinetics for both the electrode systems (graphite/graphite and SS304/graphite). The thermodynamic properties illustrated the electrochemical oxidation was exothermic and non-spontaneous in nature. The calculated specific energy consumption at the optimum current density of 50 mA cm(-2) was 0.41 kWh m(-3) for the removal of COD and 2.57 kWh m(-3) for the removal of TKN.