Healthcare professionals and commercial milk formula recommendations in the urban Mexican context.

Introduction: Breastfeeding (BF) is considered an essential component of optimal care for child health and development. In the past two decades, global data have shown improvements in some, but not all, BF indicators. Despite these positive changes sales and per capita intake of commercial milk formula (CMF) have increased globally. The CMF industry invests millions of dollars in marketing, which targets families and healthcare professionals (HCP). In Mexico, more than half of the mothers (53%) who feed their infants with CMF chose their Brand on the recommendation of HCP. Understanding the reasons behind the current recommendations for the use of CMF by HCP is important for the design of BF interventions. The primary objective of this study was to explore Mexican HCP' beliefs, attitudes, perceptions, and practices about early infant feeding practices, and reasons for recommending CMF. The secondary objective was to explore pregnant women and mother's perceptions of the infant feeding recommendations they received from HCP, and of the factors that influenced their infant feeding decisions. Methods: The study was based on a secondary qualitative data analysis of a WHO/UNICEF multi-country study. We analyzed focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews (IDIs) from Mexico. Data were collected through convenience sampling in Mexico City and Guadalajara. HCP (n = 34) analysis was based on IDIs, and pregnant women or mothers of children 0-18 months (n = 74) on FGDs and IDIs. Results: Through a thematic analysis, we identified the socioecology of BF and triangulated HCP and women's accounts. HCP, pregnant women, and mothers recognized that several factors might have influenced their infant feeding decisions including healthcare facilities' policies and maternal work conditions. Although HCP believed that BF is the best way to feed newborns and young children, they routinely recommended CMF. On the other hand, pregnant women and mothers had a strong belief that BF is the best way to feed their babies. However, when women sought support from HCP, the latter often recommended switching to CMF. Discussion: This study highlights the discordance between HCP perceptions and mothers' experiences of HCP recommendations about infant feeding. Our findings support a national call for policy actions.

Implementation of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative in Mexico: a systematic literature review using the RE-AIM framework.

The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) is a global strategy to encourage health facilities to promote, support, and protect breastfeeding by implementing a package of policies and practices known as the Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding. Prior studies have found that implementing the Ten Steps has a positive impact on breastfeeding outcomes. Yet, little is known about the implementation of the Ten Steps in Mexico. The objective of this study was to conduct a systematic review to evaluate the reach, efficacy/effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance of the Ten Steps in Mexico, using the RE-AIM framework. The systematic literature review included studies published in English or Spanish without date restrictions. Two of the authors coded each of the articles through a harmonized data extraction tool, and group meetings were used to discuss any discrepancies. The reviewed data were managed in the Rayyan platform. The risk of study bias was assessed through the Johanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal checklists. Of the 1,123 articles initially identified, 6 met the review inclusion criteria. None of the articles evaluated the reach and maintenance of the Ten Steps. The articles identified major gaps in the implementation of the Ten Steps. Most of the articles had important limitations in terms of their quality. In Mexico, it is necessary to rethink the BFHI and employ multiple strategies to improve implementation of the Ten Steps, including developing transparent BFHI monitoring mechanisms that produce data on implementation and that are publicly available, as well as investing in implementation research and evaluation to generate strong evidence to support the adoption and efficient maintenance of the Ten Steps in health facilities in Mexico. When properly implemented, BFHI becomes central to promote, protect, and support breastfeeding. Therefore, it is essential for Mexico to position BFHI as a top priority of the country's public policy agenda. Systematic Review Registration: identifier: CRD42021248118.

An analysis of actors participating in the design and implementation of workplace breastfeeding interventions in Mexico using the NetMap analysis approach.

Introduction: While breastfeeding is recognized as providing optimal nutrition for infants and toddlers, maternal employment is a commonly mentioned barrier to breastfeeding. The goal was to (a) identify key actors participating in the design and implementation of workplace breastfeeding interventions in Mexico, (b) understand the complexity of interactions between the actors, and (c) map the connections and influence between the actors when looking into networks of Advice, Command, Funding, and Information. Method: Following the NetMap methodology, a total of 11 semi-structured interviews with 12 interview partners from 10 organizations were conducted. Interview data were analyzed, and networks were analyzed and visualized, using a social network mapping software. Results: A total of 83 actors from five different actor groups were identified. Four networks were constructed along the four types of connections: Advice, Command, Funding, and Information. The actors were connected by 580 connections with 446 unique links. Based on various network statistics, the Mexican Institute of Social Security, the Mexican Secretary of Labor and Social Welfare, UNICEF, and the Mexican Secretary of Health were identified to be key actors. Conclusion: To increase the likelihood of success of workplace breastfeeding interventions, the role of the actors "Employers" and "Women" needs to expand. They should be actively involved in the decision-making process, together with the identified key actors. It is further recommended to re-introduce a national breastfeeding strategy for Mexico that includes policies for workplace breastfeeding interventions.

Adaptation of a community health outreach model during the COVID-19 pandemic: the case of the Mexican consulates in the United States of America.

The Ventanillas de Salud (VDS - "Health Windows") are a culturally sensitive outreach program within the 49 Mexican Consulates in the United States that provides information and health care navigation support to underserved and uninsured Mexican immigrants. During the COVID-19 pandemic the VDS rapidly transitioned to remote operations adding new services. Based on the EquIR implementation framework, this qualitative study investigates how adaptations to improve emergency preparedness were performed. We conducted motivational interviews with three actors - six VDS coordinators, eight partner organizations, and ten VDS users- in two VDS, Los Angeles and New York, to document specific needs of the target population and identify implementation processes to adapt and continue operating. The VDS adapted their model by adding new services for emerging needs, by switching service provision modalities, and by expanding the network of partner organizations. According to the VDS staff, these adaptations increased their topics, depth, reach, and diversified their users. Users had mostly positive opinions about the VDS adaptation, although they highlighted some heterogeneity across service provision. The VDS is a public health intervention able to serve a marginalized population and its implementation offers valuable lessons to complement health systems and to improve preparedness and resiliency for future crises.

Association between Feelings of Trust and Security with Subjective Health among Mexican Migrants in the New York City Area.

The size of the foreign-born population living in the United States makes migrants' health a substantive policy issue. The health status of Mexican immigrants might be affected by the level of social capital and the social context, including the rhetoric around immigration. We hypothesize that a diminished perception of trust and safety in the community has a negative impact on self-reported health. In a cross-sectional study, we conducted a survey among 266 Mexican Immigrants in the New York City Area who used the Mexican Consulate between May and June 2019 for regular services provided to documented and undocumented immigrants. A univariate and bivariate descriptive analysis by trust and security items first shows the diversity of the Mexican population living in the US and the conditions of vulnerability. Then, logistic regression models estimate the association between trust and security items with self-reported health status. Results show that safety is consistently associated with good self-rated health, especially when rating the neighborhood, and trust showed mixed results, more reliant to the way it is operationalized. The study illustrates a pathway by which perceptions of the social context are associated with migrants' health.

Development and validation of a new set of indicators to assess the quality of maternal and child nutritional care at the primary care.

Introduction: Maternal and child malnutrition is a worldwide public health problem with short, medium, and long-term adverse consequences for both mother and child. In Mexico, maternal and child malnutrition represents a serious public health problem that must be urgently addressed. In this context, Primary Health Care (PHC) plays an important role in the prevention, detection, monitoring, and treatment of the different forms of maternal and child malnutrition. Assessing the quality of nutritional care offered at this level of care is necessary in order to improve it; however, there are no indicators for the evaluation of this quality. Therefore, this study aimed at developing a set of indicators to assess the quality of maternal and child nutritional care at PHC. Methods: We developed indicators for different stages of life: preconception, pregnancy, infancy, and preschool age. A systematic review of the literature on clinical guidelines for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of the different forms of malnutrition was carried out; the recommendations of the guidelines evaluated with good quality were extracted. Results: Based on these recommendations, 22 indicators were constructed. A pilot study was carried out to validate the indicators and 16 indicators were selected to assess the maternal and child nutritional care at PHC.

How much does it cost to implement the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative training step in the United States and Mexico?

The Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) has been shown to increase breastfeeding rates, improving maternal and child health and driving down healthcare costs via the benefits of breastfeeding. Despite its clear public health and economic benefits, one key challenge of implementing the BFHI is procuring funding to sustain the program. To address this need and help healthcare stakeholders advocate for funds, we developed a structured method to estimate the first-year cost of implementing BFHI staff training, using the United States (US) and Mexico as case studies. The method used a hospital system-wide costing approach, rather than costing an individual hospital, to estimate the average per birth BFHI staff training costs in US and Mexican hospitals with greater than 500 annual births. It was designed to utilize publicly available data. Therefore, we used the 2014 American Hospital Association dataset (n = 1401 hospitals) and the 2018 Mexican Social Security Institute dataset (n = 154 hospitals). Based on our review of the literature, we identified three key training costs and modelled scenarios via an econometric approach to assess the sensitivity of the estimates based on hospital size, level of obstetric care, and training duration and intensity. Our results indicated that BFHI staff training costs ranged from USD 7.27-125.39 per birth in the US and from PPP 2.68-6.14 per birth in Mexico, depending on hospital size and technological capacity. Estimates differed between countries because the US had more hospital staff per birth and higher staff salaries than Mexico. Future studies should examine whether similar, publicly available data exists in other countries to test if our method can be replicated or adapted for use in additional settings. Healthcare stakeholders can better advocate for the funding to implement the entire BFHI program if they are able to generate informed cost estimates for training as we did here.

A Qualitative Assessment of the Essential Health and Nutrition Service Delivery in the Context of COVID-19 in Bangladesh: The Perspective of Divisional Directors.

Bangladesh suffered disruptions in the utilization of essential health and nutrition services (EHNS) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The magnitude of the pandemic has been documented, but little is known from the perspectives of health administrators. A rapid qualitative assessment of division-level capacity identified successes and bottlenecks in providing EHNS- and COVID-19-related services during the first months of the pandemic in Bangladesh. Semi-structured interviews were held with the Health and Family Planning Divisional Directors of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The Primary Health Care System Framework guided the content analysis, focusing on (i) service delivery, (ii) communication and community outreach, and (iii) surveillance and service monitoring. Our findings identified low care seeking due to fears of getting infected and unawareness that EHNS were still available. Adaptations to telemedicine were highly heterogeneous between divisions, but collaboration with NGOs were fruitful in reinstating outreach activities. Guidelines were centered on COVID-19 information and less so on EHNS. The inflexibility of spending capacities at divisional and clinic levels hindered service provision. Misinformation and information voids were difficult to handle all around the country. Community health workers were useful for outreach communication. EHNS must be guaranteed during sanitary emergencies, and Bangladesh presented with both significant efforts and areas of opportunity for improvement.

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Aproximación al consumo de alimentos recomendables y no recomendables en la primera ola de la pandemia por Covid-19 en México.

OBJETIVO: Estimar la frecuencia con la que se consumen algunos alimentos recomendables y no recomendables du-rante la pandemia por Covid-19 en México, y su asociación con características sociodemográficas y seguridad alimentaria. Material y métodos. Se analizó la Encuesta de Seguimien-to de los Efectos del Covid en el Bienestar de los Hogares Mexicanos (Encovid-19). Se identificaron cuatro grupos con información de la frecuencia de su consumo y se estimaron modelos de regresión logística ajustando por características sociodemográficas y seguridad alimentaria. RESULTADOS: Los niveles socioeconómicos más altos A/B y C se asociaron con una mayor frecuencia de consumo de alimentos recomenda-bles y no recomendables. La inseguridad leve se asoció con un menor consumo de alimentos recomendables, y la inseguridad moderada y severa se asociaron con un menor consumo de todos los grupos estudiados. CONCLUSIONES: Comprender la experiencia de la inseguridad alimentaria durante una cri-sis como la pandemia puede indicar la necesidad de incluir grupos de población tradicionalmente no considerados en los programas de apoyo.

Barriers to COVID-19 vaccination among older adults in Mexico City.

Vaccines are effective to reduce COVID-19 related outcomes, but universal vaccination campaigns can reveal within-country access inequities. Mexico City has had high rates of COVID-19 related morbidity and mortality and a population survey warned that vaccine acceptance was lowest in older adults. Since February 2021, Mexico started a universal and free vaccination campaign prioritizing older adults. By April 17, every older adult in Mexico City had been eligible to receive the first dose. A week later, we conducted a telephone survey representative of older adults residing in Mexico City (n = 503). We asked if they received their first dose and, if they haven't, we followed-up with an open question to register their reasons. In addition to sociodemographic characteristics and food insecurity, we also inquired about vaccine hesitancy, health concerns related to COVID-19, self-rated health, comorbidities, frailty, and depression. The objective of the study was to identify the main barriers to receive the first dose of the vaccine. We estimated descriptive statistics and logistic regression models. Results show that 7.6% of older adults in Mexico City did not receive their first dose. Barriers for not receiving it were vaccine hesitancy (60.4%), not having COVID-19 health concerns (46.4%), poor self-rated health (46.7%), a previous diagnosis of depression (35.7%), low socioeconomic status (65.4%), and household food insecurity (59.8%). Responses to the open question clustered in four themes: misinformation about the process (30%), distrust of the vaccine (24%), personal health problems (24%), and difficulties to get an appointment (22%). Logistic regression models adjusted for vaccine hesitancy and revealed two distinct reasons for not having their first dose: 1) vaccine hesitancy and misinformation on COVID-19, and 2) household food insecurity. Reaching these two groups requires active and differentiated public-health measures; the first with additional information from trusted sources, and the second by facilitating vaccination in neighborhoods with high levels of food insecurity and informal labor, where missing a day's work is a strong disincentive. Vaccination campaigns need an equity lens to reach universal coverage; ensuring full access demands thorough and carefully tailored new interventions.

Impact of prelacteal feeds and neonatal introduction of breast milk substitutes on breastfeeding outcomes: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

The introduction of fluids other than breast milk during the first few days of life or later neonatal period has been identified as a risk factor for suboptimal breastfeeding (BF) outcomes in numerous studies using varying study designs. However, the relationship between early introduction of fluids other than breast milk and BF outcomes has not been systematically assessed using only prospective studies that can establish temporality, which is critical for determining whether observed associations are causal. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies to assess if there is a difference in BF outcomes as a result of the introduction of: (a) milk-based prelacteals, (b) water-based prelacteals and (c) breast milk substitutes (BMS) between 4 days and 4 weeks postpartum. We searched PubMed, Lilacs, Web of Science and other repositories for original research investigating the relationship between early introduction of prelacteals and/or BMS and BF outcomes. Forty-eight studies met the inclusion criteria for the systematic review. Of the 39 prelacteal feeding studies, 27 had the prerequisite statistical information for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Findings from the meta-analysis showed a relationship between prelacteals and exclusive BF cessation (RR 1.44; 1.29-1.60) and any BF cessation (2.23; 1.63-3.06) among infants under 6 months old. Nine studies focusing on the introduction of BMS during the neonatal period identified this practice as a statistically significant risk factor for a shorter BF duration. Effective interventions are needed to prevent the introduction of unnecessary milk-based prelacteals and BMS during the perinatal and neonatal periods to improve BF outcomes.

Impact of baby behaviour on caregiver's infant feeding decisions during the first 6 months of life: A systematic review.

Caregivers are often concerned about baby behaviours. Without adequate counselling, parental response can lead to altering infant feeding and jeopardizing breastfeeding. We conducted a systematic review to assess the evidence about the influence of baby behaviours perceived as problematic (crying, sleep waking and posseting) on infant feeding decisions during the first 6 months of life (self-reported milk insufficiency, breastfeeding duration and introduction of formula). The review focused on quantitative studies published in English, Portuguese or Spanish without date restriction. The search was designed with the support of a medical librarian and conducted in seven databases. Data were managed in Covidence and risk of bias was assessed through the Johanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal checklists. Synthesis of the literature was guided by a conceptual model of the impact of baby behaviours on caregivers feeding practices. We retrieved and reviewed 4312 titles/abstracts and selected 22 for review; 10 were purely descriptive and 12 were cross-sectional, prospective and quasi-experimental studies. Although studies from diverse regions were included in the review, more than half were from high-income countries. All studies reported that baby behaviours affect feeding decisions, the most common baby behaviours studied were crying and fussiness, and the studies suggested relationships with lactation problems and reports of milk insufficiency, maternal breastfeeding confidence, breastfeeding duration and discontinuation, and introduction of formula. There are many factors that lead to perceiving baby behaviours as problematic and there is a need to provide anticipatory guidance to parents and caregivers, starting in pregnancy and counselling through well-trained health providers.

Exposure to marketing of breastmilk substitutes in Mexican women: Sources and scope.

BACKGROUND: Aggressive and unregulated marketing of breastmilk substitutes (BMS) results in increased child morbidity and mortality. Unregulated BMS marketing is a major public health concern because it encourages formula consumption at the expense of breastfeeding. This study aimed to identify the sources and characterize the nature of exposure to marketing of BMS among Mexican mothers of children under 18 months of age. As a secondary objective we explored potential association between exposure to BMS marketing and infant feeding practices. METHODS: Cross-sectional study, comprising a pre-piloted survey, was conducted between February 2020 to February 2021 with Mexican mothers of children under 18 months of age (n = 754), in two major cities in Mexico. Mothers were selected according to their current infant feeding practices (Breastfeeding only vs. Mixed feeding). We characterized the different BMS marketing sources and scope, and related them with infant feeding practices. In addition, we used logistic regression models to estimate the odds ratio for infant feeding practices by BMS marketing exposure or recommendation. RESULTS: Mothers reported different sources of exposure to BMS promotion, including BMS advertisements in diverse media channels (41.6%), recommendation by a healthcare professional and/or relative (76.2%), and receiving a BMS sample at a hospital (18.6%). By contrast, only 36.5% recalled hearing or seeing breastfeeding information the previous year. The odds of mixed feeding were substantially higher, compared to breastfeeding, when mothers were recommended to use a BMS by doctors/pediatricians (OR: 3.96, 95% CI: 2.00, 7.83). Having seen or heard breastfeeding information in the previous year was associated with a lower risk of mixed feeding compared to breastfeeding only (OR: 0.59, 95% CI: 0.35, 0.99). CONCLUSIONS: Mexican mothers of young children in the metropolitan areas studied were highly exposed to BMS marketing and through different mass media channels and inter-personal sources. Health care professionals, particularly doctors/pediatricians, are a source of BMS promotion that are likely to have a strong influence on maternal decisions about infant feeding practices. There is an urgent need to protect mothers and their families against unregulated BMS promotion through mass media channels and directly by influential individuals, including health care providers.

Risk factors for self-reported insufficient milk during the first 6 months of life: A systematic review.

The objective of this systematic review was to identify multifactorial risk factors for self-reported insufficient milk (SRIM) and delayed onset of lactation (DOL). The review protocol was registered a priori in PROSPERO (ID# CDR42021240413). Of the 120 studies included (98 on SRIM, 18 on DOL, and 4 both), 37 (31%) studies were conducted in North America, followed by 26 (21.6%) in Europe, 25 (21%) in East Asia, and Pacific, 15 (12.5%) in Latin America and the Caribbean, 7 (6%) in the Middle East and North Africa, 5 (4%) in South Asia, 3 (2.5%) in Sub-Saharan Africa, and 2 (1.7%) included multiple countries. A total of 79 studies were from high-income countries, 30 from upper-middle-income, 10 from low-middle-income countries, and one study was conducted in a high-income and an upper-middle-income country. Findings indicated that DOL increased the risk of SRIM. Protective factors identified for DOL and SRIM were hospital practices, such as timely breastfeeding (BF) initiation, avoiding in-hospital commercial milk formula supplementation, and BF counselling/support. By contrast, maternal overweight/obesity, caesarean section, and poor maternal physical and mental health were risk factors for DOL and SRIM. SRIM was associated with primiparity, the mother's interpretation of the baby's fussiness or crying, and low maternal BF self-efficacy. Biomedical factors including epidural anaesthesia and prolonged stage II labour were associated with DOL. Thus, to protect against SRIM and DOL it is key to prevent unnecessary caesarean sections, implement the Baby-Friendly Ten Steps at maternity facilities, and provide BF counselling that includes baby behaviours.

Follow-up and growing-up formula promotion among Mexican pregnant women and mothers of children under 18 months old.

Milk formula sales have grown globally, particularly through follow-up formulas (FUF) and growing-up milks (GUM). Marketing strategies and weak regulatory and institutional arrangements are important contributors to caregivers' decisions about child feeding choices. This study describes maternal awareness, beliefs, and normative referents of FUFs and GUMs among Mexican pregnant women and mothers of children 0-18 months (n = 1044) through the lens of the theory of reasoned action (TRA). A cross-sectional survey was undertaken in two large metropolitan areas of Mexico. Descriptive analyses were conducted following the constructs of the TRA. One-third of the participants had heard about FUFs, mainly through health professionals (51.1%) and family (22.2%). Once they had heard about FUFs, the majority (80%) believed older infants needed this product due to its benefits (hunger satisfaction, brain development, and allergy management). One quarter of the participants were already using or intended to use FUFs; the majority had received this recommendation from doctors (74.6%) and mothers/mothers-in-law (25%). Similarly, 19% of the women had heard about GUMs. The pattern for the rest of TRA constructs for GUMs was similar to FUFs. Mexican women are exposed to FUFs and GUMs, once women know about them, the majority believe older infant and young children need these products, stating perceived benefits that match the poorly substantiated marketing claims of breast-milk substitutes. Health professionals, particularly doctors, act as marketing channels for FUFs and GUMs. Marketing of FUFs and GUMs represents a threat to breastfeeding in Mexico and a more protective regulatory and institutional environment is needed.

Implementation of Breastfeeding Policies at Workplace in Mexico: Analysis of Context Using a Realist Approach.

Return to work is one of the most significant barriers to breastfeeding (BF). Family-friendly policies are critical to ensure that BF and maternal work are not mutually exclusive. This study aims to determine contextual factors and underlying mechanisms influencing the implementation of workplace policies in Mexico. Following a qualitative approach, the study was conducted in the following four cities in Mexico: Mérida, Chihuahua, Guadalajara, and Monterrey. Interviews were conducted in 14 workplaces, and included 49 (potential) beneficiaries, 41 male employees, and 21 managers and human resources personnel. The information collected was analyzed through a deductive thematic analysis and mapped against the Context-Mechanism-Outcome framework of Breastfeeding Interventions at the Workplace. Contextual factors influencing a BF-friendly environment in the workplace were as follows: work-schedule flexibility, provision of lactation services (i.e., BF counseling) other than a lactation room, women's previous experience with BF and family-friendly environments in the workplace. The underlying mechanisms enabling/impeding a BF-friendly environment at the workplace were as follows: awareness of Mexican maternity protection legislation, usage of BF interventions in the workplace, culture, supervisor/co-worker support and BF-friendly physical space. To achieve a BF-friendly environment in the workplace, actions at the level of public policy and workplaces must accompany adherence to Mexican legislation.

Estimating the costs for implementing a maternity leave cash transfer program for women employed in the informal sector in Brazil and Ghana.

BACKGROUND: Maternity leave policies are designed to protect gender equality and the health of mothers in the workforce and their children. However, maternity leave schemes are often linked to jobs in the formal sector economy. In low- and middle-income countries a large share of women work in the informal sector, and are not eligible to such benefit. This is worrisome from a social justice and a policy perspective and suggests the need for intervening. Costing the implementation of potential interventions is needed for facilitating informed decisions by policy makers. METHODS: We developed and applied a costing methodology to assess the cost of a maternity leave cash transfer to be operated in the informal sector of the economy in Brazil and Ghana, two countries with very different employment structures and socioeconomic contexts. We conducted sensitivity analysis by modeling different numbers of weeks covered. RESULTS: In Brazil, the cost of the maternity cash transfer would be between 0.004% and 0.02% of the GDP, while in Ghana it would range between 0.076% and 0.28% of the GDP. The relative cost of rolling out a maternity intervention in Brazil is between 2.2 to 3.2 times the cost in Ghana depending on the benchmark used to assess the welfare measure. The differences in costs between countries was related to differences in labor market structure as well as demographic characteristics. CONCLUSIONS: Findings show how a standard methodology that relies on routinely available information is feasible and could assist policymakers in estimating the costs of supporting a maternity cash transfer for women employed in the informal sector, such intervention is expected to contribute to social justice, gender equity, and health trajectories.

Pre-COVID-19 Social Determinants of Health Among Mexican Migrants in Los Angeles and New York City and Their Increased Vulnerability to Unfavorable Health Outcomes During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

COVID-19 has disproportionally affected underrepresented minorities (URM) and low-income immigrants in the United States. The aim of the study is to examine the underlying vulnerabilities of Mexican immigrants in New York City (NYC) and Los Angeles (LA), its correspondence with area-level COVID-19 morbidity and mortality, and to document the role of trusted and culturally sensitive services offered during the pandemic through the Ventanillas de Salud (i.e. VDS, Health Windows) program. The study uses a mixed-methods approach including a cross-sectional survey of Mexican immigrants in LA and NYC collected in the Mexican Consulates at the onset of the pandemic, complemented with a georeferencing analysis and key informant interviews. Data suggested an increased vulnerability to COVID-19 given participants reported health status, health care profile and place of residence, which coincided with the georeferencing analysis. The key informant interviews confirmed the vulnerability of this population and the supporting role of VDS in helping immigrants navigate health systems and disseminate health information. Mexican immigrants had an increased vulnerability to COVID-19 at the individual, geographic and systemic levels. Trusted and culturally sensitive services are needed to overcome some of the barriers and risk factors that increase the vulnerability of URM and immigrant populations to COVID-19.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Loneliness and Social Isolation: A Multi-Country Study.

The COVID-19 global pandemic and subsequent public health social measures have challenged our social and economic life, with increasing concerns around potentially rising levels of social isolation and loneliness. This paper is based on cross-sectional online survey data (available in 10 languages, from 2 June to 16 November 2020) with 20,398 respondents from 101 different countries. It aims to help increase our understanding of the global risk factors that are associated with social isolation and loneliness, irrespective of culture or country, to support evidence-based policy, services and public health interventions. We found the prevalence of severe loneliness was 21% during COVID-19 with 6% retrospectively reporting severe loneliness prior to the pandemic. A fifth were defined as isolated based on their usual connections, with 13% reporting a substantial increase in isolation during COVID-19. Personal finances and mental health were overarching and consistently cross-cutting predictors of loneliness and social isolation, both before and during the pandemic. With the likelihood of future waves of COVID-19 and related restrictions, it must be a public health priority to address the root causes of loneliness and social isolation and, in particular, address the needs of specific groups such as carers or those living alone.