Assessing self-reported public health emergency competencies for civil aviation personnel in China: a pilot study.

INTRODUCTION: COVID-19 has demonstrated the importance of competent staff with expertise in public health emergency preparedness and response in the civil aviation system. The civil aviation system is a critical sentinel and checkpoint to prevent imported cases and slow the spread of communicable diseases. Understanding the current competencies of staff to deal with public health emergencies will help government agencies develop targeted training and evidence-based policies to improve their public health preparedness and response capabilities. METHODS: This cross-sectional pilot study was conducted from November 2022 to October 2023, involving 118 staff members from various positions within China's civil aviation system. A 59-item questionnaire was translated and developed according to a competency profile. Data were collected using the self-report questionnaire to measure the workforce's self-perceptions of knowledge and skills associated with public health emergency proficiency, categorized into (1) general competency, (2) preparedness competency, (3) response competency, and (4) recovery competency. KMO & Bartlett test and Cronbach's α reliability analysis were used to test the reliability and validity of the questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, independent sample T-test, ANOVA, and linear regression models were performed to analyze the competencies. RESULTS: A total of 107 staff members from the aviation system were surveyed in this study. The KMO & Bartlett test, (KMO = 0.919, P < 0.001) and Cronbach's α coefficients (α = 0.985) for this questionnaire were acceptable. The results suggested that respondents scored a mean of 6.48 out of 9 for the single question. However, the staff needed to acquire more knowledge in investigating epidemic information (5.92) and case managing (5.91) in the response stage. Overall, males scored higher (409.05 ± 81.39) than females (367.99 ± 84.97), with scores in the medical department (445.67 ± 72.01) higher than management (387.00 ± 70.87) and general department (362.32 ± 86.93). Additionally, those with completely subjective evaluation (425.79 ± 88.10) scored higher than the general group (374.39 ± 79.91). To predict the total score, female medical workers were more likely to have lower scores (ß = -34.5, P = 0.041). Compared with those in the medical department, the management workers (ß = -65.54, P = 0.008) and general workers (ß = -78.06, P < 0.001) were associated with a lower total score. CONCLUSIONS: There was still a gap between the public health emergency competencies of the civil aviation system and the demand. Staff in China's civil aviation systems demonstrated overall competence in public health emergency preparedness and response. However, there was a need to enhance the accumulation of practical experience. Implementing effective training programs for public health emergencies was recommended to mitigate knowledge gaps. Meanwhile, regular training evaluations were also recommended to give comprehensive feedback on the value of the training programs.

Major depressive disease research in BRICS: A bibliometric analysis of publications from 2003 to 2022.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) seriously threatens human health. BRICS, known as an acronym for "Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa," were also actively carrying out researches on MDD. This study aimed to conduct a bibliometric study of research on MDD conducted by the BRICS. By searching in the Web of Science and using the software Vosviewer and Citespace as analysis tools, this study analyzed the cooperation network at the country, institution, author-specific levels, the research hotspots and trends from BRICS between 2003-2022. A total of 10,911 articles were finally included. Our findings showed that researches on MDD from BRICS rapidly increased during the past two decades. China and India have shown explosive growth, while South Africa has the largest average "Usage Count" and "Time Cited". The current cooperation partners of the BRICS were mainly high-income countries and other developing countries with similar cultures, languages, and geographical locations. Institutions in high-income countries served as the main bridges for BRICS cooperation, while at the author level, some core authors in the BRICS countries serve as centers. China showed a flexible model in domestic partnership, but institutions and authors in the other four countries have gathered to cooperate within the group. BRICS research on MDD mainly focused on cognitive science, brain science, epidemiology, and disease mechanisms. The keywords"gut microbiota", "network analysis," "machine learning" and "sleep quality" showed explosive growth and might become research hotspots in the near future. This bibliometric analysis provided a science knowledge graph and references for other researchers.

Building quality primary health care development in the new era towards universal health coverage: a Beijing initiative.

Primary health care (PHC) is the most effective way to improve people's health and well-being, and primary care services should act as the cornerstone of a resilient health system and the foundation of universal health coverage. To promote high quality development of PHC, an International Symposium on Quality Primary Health Care Development was held on December 4-5, 2023 in Beijing, China, and the participants have proposed and advocated the Beijing Initiative on Quality Primary Health Care Development. The Beijing Initiative calls on all countries to carry out and strengthen 11 actions: fulfill political commitment and accountability; achieve "health in all policies" through multisectoral coordination; establish sustainable financing; empower communities and individuals; provide community-based integrated care; promote the connection and integration of health services and social services through good governance; enhance training, allocation and motivation of health workforce, and medical education; expand application of traditional and alternative medicine for disease prevention and illness healing; empower PHC with digital technology; ensure access to medicinal products and appropriate technologies; and last, strengthen global partnership and international health cooperation. The Initiative will enrich the content of quality development of PHC, build consensus, and put forward policies for quality development of PHC in China in the new era, which are expected to make contributions in accelerating global actions.

The priority areas and possible pathways for health cooperation in BRICS countries.

As one of the largest alliances of middle-income countries, the BRICS, known as an acronym for five countries including "Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa", represents half of the global population. The health cooperation among BRICS countries will benefit their populations and other middle- and low-income countries. This study aims to summarize the current status of health cooperation in BRICS countries and identify opportunities to strengthen BRICS participation in global health governance. A literature review was conducted to analyze the status, progress, and challenges of BRICS' health cooperation. Content analysis was used to review the 2011-2021 annual joint declarations of the BRICS Health Ministers Meetings. The priority health areas were identified through segmental frequency analysis. Our research suggested that communicable diseases, access to medicine, and universal health coverage appeared most frequently in the content of declarations, indicating the possible top health priorities among BRICS' health collaboration. These priority areas align with the primary health challenges of each country, including the threats of double burden of diseases, as well as the need for improving health systems and access to medicines. Respective external cooperation, inter-BRICS health cooperation, and unified external cooperation are the main forms of health cooperation among BRICS countries. However, challenges such as the lack of a unified image and precise position, lack of practical impact, and weak discourse power have impeded the impact of BRICS on health governance. This study suggests that the BRICS countries should recognize their positioning, improve their unified image, and establish cooperative entities; at the same time, they should increase their practical strength, promote non-governmental cooperation, and expand the cooperation space through the "BRICS Plus" mechanism with countries with similar interests to join.

Improving Innovation and Access to Combination Vaccines for Childhood Immunization in China.

BACKGROUND: combination vaccines can improve timely vaccination coverage and mitigate the social and economic burdens of both caregivers and health systems. Compared to other countries with high immunization performance, China remains behind the curve in promoting the inclusion of new combination vaccines into national vaccination schedules. The domestic research and development pipeline faces many technical obstacles, regulatory pressures, and competitive opposition. In addition to this, health disparities regarding combination vaccines exist in each dimension of access and their determinants, including availability, accessibility, acceptability, and quality. Our study aims to provide a cross-disciplinary analysis of China's combination vaccines (from innovation to access) and identify the main factors that affect the attitudes and behavior choices for combination vaccines. METHOD: systematic reviews and secondary data analysis will be conducted to map the landscape of combination vaccines in China and the determinants influencing their innovation and access. A cross-sectional survey will be performed in seven provinces of China based on geo-economic representativeness among caregivers with children that are between 2 and 24 months old and are registered in the national immunization system. Questionnaires will be used to examine the relationship between each dimension of access and their determinants. These questionnaires will cover the caregivers' knowledge, attitude, and willingness to pay for combination vaccines, as well as their perceptions about vaccination services. Semi-structured interviews with the suppliers (public and private) and healthcare providers will help identify research gaps and the key challenges they face when developing and introducing combination vaccines in China. DISCUSSION: using a combined approach, with cross-country and multi-disciplinary support from experts, our research is designed to fill the information gaps in China's combination vaccine industry across the innovation-access spectrum. It will lead to evidence-based recommendations which will foster greater access to innovation-enhancing combination vaccines for childhood immunization in China. Moreover, the multi-dimensional approach could also be adapted beyond combination vaccines to assess innovation and other public goods for health among disadvantaged groups in the future.