https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lanpsy/PIIS2215-0366(16)30142-0.pdf

Mental health of prisoners: prevalence, adverse outcomes, and interventions

Survey Errors and Survey Costs

Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC), a WHO collaborative cross-national study, has provided information about the health, well-being, social environment and health behaviour of 11-, 13and 15-year-old boys and girls for over 30 years. This latest international report from the study presents findings from the 2013/2014 survey, which collected data from almost 220 000 young people in 42 countries in Europe and North America. The data focus on social context (relations with family, peers and school), health outcomes (subjective health, injuries, obesity and mental health), health behaviours (patterns of eating, toothbrushing and physical activity) and risk behaviours (use of tobacco, alcohol and cannabis, sexual behaviour, fighting and bullying) relevant to young people’s health and well-being. New items on family and peer support, migration, cyberbullying and serious injuries are also reflected in the report.

Growing up unequal: gender and socioeconomic differences in young people's health and well-being.

Chronic diseases are responsible for 7 in 10 deaths each year, and treating people with chronic diseases accounts for most of our nation’s health care costs. We know that many chronic diseases can be prevented by eating well, being physically active, avoiding tobacco and excessive drinking, and getting regular health screenings. CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP) helps people and communities prevent chronic disease and promotes health and wellness for all. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion

National Center For Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion regions

If equal employment opportunities were a reality, one would expect all salaries to be more or less randomly distributed between the genders. The data does not show random distribution. Of the awards studied in depth, 11 of the 18 showed a statistically significant different salary between women and men. Two awards had a marginal probability of significance, and five had a probability of significance of less than five per cent. The data shows clearly the need for EEO initiatives for women within the health service and identifies the areas of greatest concern. The many questions raised through this general analysis of the data will guide further research and the development of an EEO management plan that is specific to the needs of the Palmerston North Area Health Board. Also highlighted is the need for similar statistics showing the composition of the workforce by ethnicity and disability. Only when this has been obtained and analysed can specifically targeted EEO programmes be developed to meet the workforce needs of the Board. Other Boards interested in receiving a statistical analysis of their workforce by gender should contact Patrick Mulcahy at the National Health Statistics Centre, Private Bag 2, Upper Willis Street, Wellington, phone (04) 844-167.

Women and men.

Alcohol is one of the world’s top three priority areas in public health. Even though only half the global population drinks alcohol, it is the world’s third leading cause of ill health and premature death, after low birth weight and unsafe sex, and greater than tobacco. In Europe, alcohol is also the third leading risk factor for disease and mortality after tobacco and high blood pressure. This report presents the latest literature overview of effective alcohol policies, and includes data from the European Union, Norway and Switzerland in the areas of alcohol consumption, harm and policy approaches. The data presented were collected from a survey in 2011.

Alcohol in the European Union: Consumption, Harm and Policy Approaches

This book outlines important suggestions by international experts to improve the health of people in prison and to reduce the risks posed by imprisonment to both health and society. 
In particular, it aims to facilitate better prison health practices in the fields of:
•human rights and medical ethics;
•communicable diseases;
•noncommunicable diseases;
•oral health;
•risk factors;
•vulnerable groups; and
•prison health management.

It is aimed at professional staff at all levels of responsibility for the health and well-being of detainees and at people with political responsibility. The term “prison” covers all institutions in which a state holds people deprived of their liberty.

Prisons and health.

Hazardous and harmful alcohol use and high blood pressure are central risk factors related to premature non-communicable disease (NCD) mortality worldwide. A reduction in the prevalence of both risk factors has been suggested as a route to reach the global NCD targets. This study aims to highlight that screening and interventions for hypertension and hazardous and harmful alcohol use in primary healthcare can contribute substantially to achieving the NCD targets. A consensus conference based on systematic reviews, meta-analyses, clinical guidelines, experimental studies, and statistical modelling which had been presented and discussed in five preparatory meetings, was undertaken. Specifically, we modelled changes in blood pressure distributions and potential lives saved for the five largest European countries if screening and appropriate intervention rates in primary healthcare settings were increased. Recommendations to handle alcohol-induced hypertension in primary healthcare settings were derived at the conference, and their degree of evidence was graded. Screening and appropriate interventions for hazardous alcohol use and use disorders could lower blood pressure levels, but there is a lack in implementing these measures in European primary healthcare. Recommendations included (1) an increase in screening for hypertension (evidence grade: high), (2) an increase in screening and brief advice on hazardous and harmful drinking for people with newly detected hypertension by physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals (evidence grade: high), (3) the conduct of clinical management of less severe alcohol use disorders for incident people with hypertension in primary healthcare (evidence grade: moderate), and (4) screening for alcohol use in hypertension that is not well controlled (evidence grade: moderate). The first three measures were estimated to result in a decreased hypertension prevalence and hundreds of saved lives annually in the examined countries. The implementation of the outlined recommendations could contribute to reducing the burden associated with hypertension and hazardous and harmful alcohol use and thus to achievement of the NCD targets. Implementation should be conducted in controlled settings with evaluation, including, but not limited to, economic evaluation.

/pdf/towards-new-recommendations-to-reduce-the-burden-of-alcohol-easqqcnbaz.pdf

Lars Møller

Papers

Alcohol in the European Union: Consumption, Harm and Policy Approaches

Prisons and health.

Towards new recommendations to reduce the burden of alcohol-induced hypertension in the European Union