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Author

Rebecca Firestone

Other affiliations: Harvard University
Bio: Rebecca Firestone is an academic researcher from China Medical Board. The author has contributed to research in topics: Southeast asian & Chronic care. The author has an hindex of 5, co-authored 7 publications receiving 403 citations. Previous affiliations of Rebecca Firestone include Harvard University.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is in a unique position to make a united stand against chronic non-communicable diseases in the region, and all branches of government and all sectors of society have to get involved in establishing environments that are conducive to healthy living.

248 citations

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TL;DR: Increasing coverage and consideration of the health-system context is needed, and regional support from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations can provide increased policy support to achieve maternal, neonatal, and child health goals.

89 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Bivariate associations showed urban residence associated with lower risk of undernutrition and a greater risk of obesity, while household affluence and characteristics of the urban environment were associated with odds of obesity.

44 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Hosting complex animal–human interactions, the region has borne the brunt of several emerging and re-emerging infections, testing the responsiveness of local health authorities and the ability of the regional and global communities to cooperate to control diseases that cross national boundaries.

30 citations

01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: In this paper, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is in a unique position to make a united stand against chronic non-communicable diseases in the region, which is the most common cause of deaths in Southeast Asia.
Abstract: Southeast Asia faces an epidemic of chronic non-communicable diseases, now responsible for 60% of deaths in the region. The problem stems from environmental factors that promote tobacco use, unhealthy diet, and inadequate physical activity. Disadvantaged populations are the hardest hit, with death rates inversely proportional to a country’s gross national income. Families shoulder the fi nancial burden, but entire economies suff er as well. Although attempts to control non-communicable diseases are increasing, more needs to be done. Health-care systems need to be redesigned to deliver chronic care that is founded on existing primary health-care facilities, but supported by good referral systems. Surveillance of key modifi able risk factors is needed to monitor the magnitude of the problem and to study the eff ects of interventions. All branches of government and all sectors of society have to get involved in establishing environments that are conducive to healthy living. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations is in a unique position to make a united stand against chronic non-communicable diseases in the region. Inaction will aff ect millions of lives—often, the lives of those who have the least.

20 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a broad view of health behaviour causation, with the social and physical environment included as contributors to physical inactivity, particularly those outside the health sector, such as urban planning, transportation systems, and parks and trails, is presented.

3,063 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is suggested that high level of leisure time PA and moderate level of occupational PA have a beneficial effect on cardiovascular health by reducing the overall risk of incident coronary heart disease and stroke among men and women by 20 to 30 percent and 10 to 20 percent, respectively.
Abstract: In order to update and improve available evidence on associations of physical activity (PA) with cardiovascular disease (CVD) by applying meta-analytic random effects modeling to data from prospective cohort studies, using high quality criteria of study selection, we searched the PubMed database from January 1980 to December 2010 for prospective cohort studies of PA and incident CVD, distinguishing occupational PA and leisure time PA, coronary heart disease (CHD) and stroke, respectively. Inclusion criteria were peer-reviewed English papers with original data, studies with large sample size (n ≥ 1,000) and substantial follow-up (≥5 years), available data on major confounders and on estimates of relative risk (RR) or hazard ratio (HR), with 95% confidence intervals (CI). We included 21 prospective studies in the overall analysis, with a sample size of more than 650,000 adults who were initially free from CVD, and with some 20,000 incident cases documented during follow-up. Among men, RR of overall CVD in the group with the high level of leisure time PA was 0.76 (95% CI 0.70–0.82, p < 0.001), compared to the reference group with low leisure time PA, with obvious dose-response relationship. A similar effect was observed among women (RR = 0.73, 95% CI 0.68–0.78, p < 0.001). A strong protective effect of occupational PA was observed for moderate level in both men (RR = 0.89, 95% CI 0.82–0.97, p = 0.008) and women (RR = 0.83, 95% CI 0.67–1.03, p = 0.089). No publication bias was observed. Our findings suggest that high level of leisure time PA and moderate level of occupational PA have a beneficial effect on cardiovascular health by reducing the overall risk of incident coronary heart disease and stroke among men and women by 20 to 30 percent and 10 to 20 percent, respectively. This evidence from high quality studies supports efforts of primary and secondary prevention of CVD in economically advanced as well as in rapidly developing countries.

533 citations

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TL;DR: This paper aims to provide a history of infectious disease in Singapore over a 50-year period and some of the main causes and treatments were identified in the period up to and including the year in question.
Abstract: Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Department of Paediatrics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science and Technology Research (A*STAR), Brenner Centre for Molecular Medicine, Singapore, Liggins Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Unit, Southampton, UK, NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre, University of Southampton and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Southampton, UK, Biostatistics Unit, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore and KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore

362 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Maternal anemia remains a significant health problem in low- and middle-income countries and in the South Asian region, South Asian, African, and low- Income countries had a higher pooled anemia prevalence than did other Asian and upper-middle- income countries.

360 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Associations between built, socioeconomic, and social characteristics of a child's residential environment on body mass index, diet, and physical activity and distinct domains of neighborhood environment characteristics were independently related to children's BMI and health behaviors are examined.

352 citations