Unfavorable social determinants of health and mortality risk by cardiovascular disease status: Findings from a National Study of United States Adults.

BACKGROUND: The association between cumulative burden of unfavorable social determinants of health (SDoH) and all-cause mortality has not been assessed by atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) status on a population level in the United States. METHODS: We assessed the association between cumulative social disadvantage and all-cause mortality by ASCVD status in the National Health Interview Survey, linked to the National Death Index. RESULTS: In models adjusted for established clinical risk factors, individuals experiencing the highest level of social disadvantage (SDoH-Q4) had over 1.5 (aHR = 1.55; 95%CI = 1.22, 1.96) and 2-fold (aHR = 2.21; 95% CI = 1.91, 2.56) fold increased risk of mortality relative to those with the most favorable social profile (SDoH-Q1), respectively for adults with and without ASCVD; those experiencing co-occurring ASCVD and high social disadvantage had up to four-fold higher risk of mortality (aHR = 3.81; 95%CI = 3.36, 4.32). CONCLUSIONS: These findings emphasize the importance of a healthcare model that prioritizes efforts to identify and address key social and environmental barriers to health and wellbeing, particularly in individuals experiencing the double jeopardy of clinical and social risk.

Role and promise of health policy and systems research in integrating rehabilitation into the health systems.

Despite recognized need and reasonable demand, health systems and rehabilitation communities keep working in silos, independently with minimal recognition to the issues of those who require rehabilitation services. Consolidated effort by health systems and rehabilitation parties, recognizing the value, power and promise of each other, is a need of the hour to address this growing issue of public health importance. In this paper, the importance and the need for integration of rehabilitation into health system is emphasized. The efforts being made to integrate rehabilitation into health systems and the potential challenges in integration of these efforts were discussed. Finally, the strategies and benefits of integrating rehabilitation in health systems worldwide is proposed. Health policy and systems research (HPSR) brings a number of assets that may assist in addressing the obstacles discussed above to universal coverage of rehabilitation. It seeks to understand and improve how societies organize themselves to achieve collective health goals; considers links between health systems and social determinants of health; and how different actors interact in policy and implementation processes. This multidisciplinary lens is essential for evidence and learning that might overcome the obstacles to the provision of rehabilitation services, including integration into health systems. Health systems around the world can no longer afford to ignore rehabilitation needs of their populations and the World Health Assembly (WHA) resolution marked a global call to this effect. Therefore, national governments and global health community must invest in setting a priority research agenda and promote the integration of rehabilitation into health systems. The context-specific, need-based and policy-relevant knowledge about this must be made available globally, especially in low- and middle-income countries. This could help integrate and implement rehabilitation in health systems of countries worldwide and also help achieve the targets of Rehabilitation 2030, universal health coverage and Sustainable Development Goals.

The political and social contexts of global road safety: challenges for the next decade.

The goal of this Series paper is to show how road safety has evolved as a global public health issue over the past two decades and to discuss the political and economic dynamics that led to this change. Specifically, the key stakeholders, influences, networks, issue framing, actor power, and synergistic interactions that have contributed to how road safety has evolved as a global public health issue will be discussed. In doing so, we capture the important chronology of events and discuss a set of challenges that highlight the complexity of road safety. We posit that the global road safety community needs to re-evaluate its role and strategy for the next decade and focus more on implementation and country action to achieve reductions in road traffic injuries. We call for an open and inclusive process to ensure that such a reflection occurs before the end of the current decade.

Improvement in trauma care for road traffic injuries: an assessment of the effect on mortality in low-income and middle-income countries.

Over 90% of the annual 1·35 million worldwide deaths due to road traffic injuries (RTIs) occur in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). For this Series paper, our aim was two-fold. Firstly, to review evidence on effective interventions for victims of RTIs; and secondly, to estimate the potential number of lives saved by effective trauma care systems and clinical interventions in LMICs. We reviewed all the literature on trauma-related health systems and clinical interventions published during the past 20 years using MEDLINE, Embase, and Web of Science. We included studies in which mortality was the primary outcome and excluded studies in which trauma other than RTIs was the predominant injury. We used data from the Global Status Report on Road Safety 2018 and a Monte Carlo simulation technique to estimate the potential annual attributable number of lives saved in LMICs. Of the 1921 studies identified for our review of the literature, 62 (3·2%) met the inclusion criteria. Only 28 (1·5%) had data to calculate relative risk. We found that more than 200 000 lives per year can be saved globally with the implementation of a complete trauma system with 100% coverage in LMICs. Partial system improvements such as establishing trauma centres (>145 000 lives saved) and instituting and improving trauma teams (>115 000) were also effective. Emergency medical services had a wide range of effects on mortality, from increasing mortality to saving lives (>200 000 excess deaths to >200 000 lives saved per year). For clinical interventions, damage control resuscitation (>60 000 lives saved per year) and institution of interventional radiology (>50 000 lives saved per year) were the most effective interventions. On the basis of the scarce evidence available, a few key interventions have been identified to provide guidance to policy makers and clinicians on evidence-based interventions that can reduce deaths due to RTIs in LMICs. We also highlight important gaps in knowledge on the effects of other interventions.

Saving lives through road safety risk factor interventions: global and national estimates.

Global road mortality is a leading cause of death in many low-income and middle-income countries. Data to support priority setting under current resource constraints are urgently needed to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.6. This Series paper estimates the potential number of lives saved if each country implemented interventions to address risk factors for road injuries. We did a systematic review of all available evidence-based, preventive interventions for mortality reduction that targeted the four main risk factors for road injuries (ie, speeding, drink driving, helmet use, and use of seatbelt or child restraint). We used literature review variables and considered three key country-level variables (gross domestic product per capita, population density, and government effectiveness) to generate country-specific estimates on the potential annual attributable number of lives that would be saved by interventions focusing on these four risk factors in 185 countries. Our results suggest that the implementation of evidence-based road safety interventions that target the four main road safety risk factors could prevent between 25% and 40% of all fatal road injuries worldwide. Interventions addressing speed could save about 347 258 lives globally per year, and at least 16 304 lives would be saved through drink driving interventions. The implementation of seatbelt interventions could save about 121 083 lives, and 51 698 lives could be saved by helmet interventions. We identify country-specific estimates of the potential number of lives saved that would be attributable to these interventions. Our results show the potential effectiveness of the implementation and scaling of these interventions. This paper presents key evidence for priority setting on road safety interventions and shows a path for reaching SDG 3.6.

Cumulative social disadvantage and health-related quality of life: national health interview survey 2013-2017.

BACKGROUND: Evidence for the association between social determinants of health (SDoH) and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is largely based on single SDoH measures, with limited evaluation of cumulative social disadvantage. We examined the association between cumulative social disadvantage and the Health and Activity Limitation Index (HALex). METHODS: Using adult data from the National Health Interview Survey (2013-2017), we created a cumulative disadvantage index by aggregating 47 deprivations across 6 SDoH domains. Respondents were ranked using cumulative SDoH index quartiles (SDoH-Q1 to Q4), with higher quartile groups being more disadvantaged. We used two-part models for continuous HALex scores and logistic regression for poor HALex (< 20th percentile score) to examine HALex differences associated with cumulative disadvantage. Lower HALex scores implied poorer HRQoL performance. RESULTS: The study sample included 156,182 respondents, representing 232.8 million adults in the United States (mean age 46 years; 51.7% women). The mean HALex score was 0.85 and 17.7% had poor HALex. Higher SDoH quartile groups had poorer HALex performance (lower scores and increased prevalence of poor HALex). A unit increase in SDoH index was associated with - 0.010 (95% CI [-0.011, -0.010]) difference in HALex score and 20% higher odds of poor HALex (odds ratio, OR = 1.20; 95% CI [1.19, 1.21]). Relative to SDoH-Q1, SDoH-Q4 was associated with HALex score difference of -0.086 (95% CI [-0.089, -0.083]) and OR = 5.32 (95% CI [4.97, 5.70]) for poor HALex. Despite a higher burden of cumulative social disadvantage, Hispanics had a weaker SDoH-HALex association than their non-Hispanic White counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: Cumulative social disadvantage was associated with poorer HALex performance in an incremental fashion. Innovations to incorporate SDoH-screening tools into clinical decision systems must continue in order to accurately identify socially vulnerable groups in need of both clinical risk mitigation and social support. To maximize health returns, policies can be tailored through community partnerships to address systemic barriers that exist within distinct sociodemographic groups, as well as demographic differences in health perception and healthcare experience.

Low educational attainment is associated with higher all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in the United States adult population.

INTRODUCTION: Educational attainment is an important social determinant of health (SDOH) for cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the association between educational attainment and all-cause and CVD mortality has not been longitudinally evaluated on a population-level in the US, especially in individuals with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD). In this nationally representative study, we assessed the association between educational attainment and the risk of all-cause and cardiovascular (CVD) mortality in the general adult population and in adults with ASCVD in the US. METHODS: We used data from the 2006-2014 National Death Index-linked National Health Interview Survey for adults ≥ 18 years. We generated age-adjusted mortality rates (AAMR) by levels of educational attainment (< high school (HS), HS/General Education Development (GED), some college, and ≥ College) in the overall population and in adults with ASCVD. Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine the multivariable-adjusted associations between educational attainment and all-cause and CVD mortality. RESULTS: The sample comprised 210,853 participants (mean age 46.3), representing ~ 189 million adults annually, of which 8% had ASCVD. Overall, 14.7%, 27%, 20.3%, and 38% of the population had educational attainment < HS, HS/GED, Some College, and ≥ College, respectively. During a median follow-up of 4.5 years, all-cause age-adjusted mortality rates were 400.6 vs. 208.6 and 1446.7 vs. 984.0 for the total and ASCVD populations for < HS vs ≥ College education, respectively. CVD age adjusted mortality rates were 82.1 vs. 38.7 and 456.4 vs 279.5 for the total and ASCVD populations for < HS vs ≥ College education, respectively. In models adjusting for demographics and SDOH, < HS (reference = ≥ College) was associated with 40-50% increased risk of mortality in the total population and 20-40% increased risk of mortality in the ASCVD population, for both all-cause and CVD mortality. Further adjustment for traditional risk factors attenuated the associations but remained statistically significant for < HS in the overall population. Similar trends were seen across sociodemographic subgroups including age, sex, race/ethnicity, income, and insurance status. CONCLUSIONS: Lower educational attainment is independently associated with increased risk of all-cause and CVD mortality in both the total and ASCVD populations, with the highest risk observed for individuals with < HS education. Future efforts to understand persistent disparities in CVD and all-cause mortality should pay close attention to the role of education, and include educational attainment as an independent predictor in mortality risk prediction algorithms.

Delayed medical care due to transportation barriers among adults with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

BACKGROUND: In patients with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), barriers related to transportation may impair access to care, with potential implications for prognosis. Although few studies have explored transportation barriers among patients with ASCVD, the correlates of delayed care due to transportation barriers have not been examined in this population. We aimed to examine this in U.S. patients with ASCVD using nationally representative data. METHODS: Using data from the 2009-2018 National Health Interview Survey, we estimated the self-reported prevalence of delayed medical care due to transportation barriers among adults with ASCVD, overall and by sociodemographic characteristics. Logistic regression was used to examine the association between various sociodemographic characteristics and delayed care due to transportation barriers. RESULTS: Among adults with ASCVD, 4.5% (95% CI; 4.2, 4.8) or ∼876,000 annually reported delayed care due to transportation barriers. Income (low-income: odds ratio [OR] 4.43, 95% CI [3.04, 6.46]; lowest-income: OR 6.35, 95% CI [4.36, 9.23]) and Medicaid insurance (OR 4.53; 95% CI [3.27, 6.29]) were strongly associated with delayed care due to transportation barriers. Additionally, younger individuals, women, non-Hispanic Black adults, and those from the U.S. South or Midwest, had higher odds of reporting delayed care due to transportation barriers. CONCLUSIONS: Approximately 5% of adults with ASCVD experience delayed care due to transportation barriers. Vulnerable groups include young adults, women, low-income people, and those with public/no insurance. Future studies should analyze the feasibility and potential benefits of interventions such as use of telehealth, mobile clinics, and provision of transportation among patients with ASCVD in the U.S.

Promised and Lottery Airtime Incentives to Improve Interactive Voice Response Survey Participation Among Adults in Bangladesh and Uganda: Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: Increased mobile phone penetration allows the interviewing of respondents using interactive voice response surveys in low- and middle-income countries. However, there has been little investigation of the best type of incentive to obtain data from a representative sample in these countries. OBJECTIVE: We assessed the effect of different airtime incentives options on cooperation and response rates of an interactive voice response survey in Bangladesh and Uganda. METHODS: The open-label randomized controlled trial had three arms: (1) no incentive (control), (2) promised airtime incentive of 50 Bangladeshi Taka (US $0.60; 1 BDT is approximately equivalent to US $0.012) or 5000 Ugandan Shilling (US $1.35; 1 UGX is approximately equivalent to US $0.00028), and (3) lottery incentive (500 BDT and 100,000 UGX), in which the odds of winning were 1:20. Fully automated random-digit dialing was used to sample eligible participants aged ≥18 years. The risk ratios (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals for primary outcomes of response and cooperation rates were obtained using log-binomial regression. RESULTS: Between June 14 and July 14, 2017, a total of 546,746 phone calls were made in Bangladesh, with 1165 complete interviews being conducted. Between March 26 and April 22, 2017, a total of 178,572 phone calls were made in Uganda, with 1248 complete interviews being conducted. Cooperation rates were significantly higher for the promised incentive (Bangladesh: 39.3%; RR 1.38, 95% CI 1.24-1.55, P<.001; Uganda: 59.9%; RR 1.47, 95% CI 1.33-1.62, P<.001) and the lottery incentive arms (Bangladesh: 36.6%; RR 1.28, 95% CI 1.15-1.45, P<.001; Uganda: 54.6%; RR 1.34, 95% CI 1.21-1.48, P<.001) than those for the control arm (Bangladesh: 28.4%; Uganda: 40.9%). Similarly, response rates were significantly higher for the promised incentive (Bangladesh: 26.5%%; RR 1.26, 95% CI 1.14-1.39, P<.001; Uganda: 41.2%; RR 1.27, 95% CI 1.16-1.39, P<.001) and lottery incentive arms (Bangladesh: 24.5%%; RR 1.17, 95% CI 1.06-1.29, P=.002; Uganda: 37.9%%; RR 1.17, 95% CI 1.06-1.29, P=.001) than those for the control arm (Bangladesh: 21.0%; Uganda: 32.4%). CONCLUSIONS: Promised or lottery airtime incentives improved survey participation and facilitated a large sample within a short period in 2 countries. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03773146; http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03773146.

Social Determinants of Health and Cardiovascular Disease: Current State and Future Directions Towards Healthcare Equity.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: We sought to examine the role of social and environmental conditions that determine an individual's behaviors and risk of disease-collectively known as social determinants of health (SDOH)-in shaping cardiovascular (CV) health of the population and giving rise to disparities in risk factors, outcomes, and clinical care for cardiovascular disease (CVD), the leading cause of death in the United States (US). RECENT FINDINGS: Traditional CV risk factors have been extensively targeted in existing CVD prevention and management paradigms, often with little attention to SDOH. Limited evidence suggests an association between individual SDOH (e.g., income, education) and CVD. However, inequities in CVD care, risk factors, and outcomes have not been studied using a broad SDOH framework. We examined existing evidence of the association between SDOH-organized into 6 domains, including economic stability, education, food, neighborhood and physical environment, healthcare system, and community and social context-and CVD. Greater social adversity, defined by adverse SDOH, was linked to higher burden of CVD risk factors and poor outcomes, such as stroke, myocardial infarction (MI), coronary heart disease, heart failure, and mortality. Conversely, favorable social conditions had protective effects on CVD. Upstream SDOH interact across domains to produce cumulative downstream effects on CV health, via multiple physiologic and behavioral pathways. SDOH are major drivers of sociodemographic disparities in CVD, with a disproportionate impact on socially disadvantaged populations. Efforts to achieve health equity should take into account the structural, institutional, and environmental barriers to optimum CV health in marginalized populations. In this review, we highlight major knowledge gaps for each SDOH domain and propose a set of actionable recommendations to inform CVD care, ensure equitable distribution of healthcare resources, and reduce observed disparities.

Addressing cancer prevention and control in Armenia: tobacco control and mHealth as key strategies.

This paper focuses on the particular challenges in cancer prevention and control (CPC) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In particular, this paper extrapolates challenges and opportunities in Armenia, which has the 2nd highest rate of cancer-related deaths in the world, the 11th highest smoking prevalence among men globally, and an evolving health system infrastructure for non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention and control, including CPC. Despite significant progress in enhancing research capacity in Armenia over the past decade, additional efforts are needed, particularly in CPC-related research. Key opportunities are to advance tobacco control and utilization of mHealth. Public health training programs remain insufficient in the area of CPC, and in-country research expertise regarding CPC and related areas (e.g., tobacco control, mHealth, policy) is limited, particularly given the need to address the diverse and complex determinants of onset, prevention, and management of cancer. Moreover, critical gaps in research dissemination and knowledge translation from evidence to policy and practice continue to exist. Thus, public health infrastructure must be enhanced, in-country CPC leaders across various relevant disciplines must be further developed and supported, and medical and public health training must more fully integrate CPC and research dissemination and translation to inform policy and practice.

Firearm violence: a neglected "Global Health" issue.

Populations around the world are facing an increasing burden of firearm violence on mortality and disability. While firearm violence affects every country globally, the burden is significantly higher in many low- and middle-income countries. However, despite overwhelming statistics, there is a lack of research, reporting, and prioritization of firearm violence as a global public health issue, and when attention is given it is focused on high-income countries. This paper discusses the impact of firearm violence, the factors which shape such violence, and how it fits into global public health frameworks in order to illustrate how firearm violence is a global health issue which warrants evidence-based advocacy around the world.

Out of the silos: embedding injury prevention into the Sustainable Development Goals.

Globally, unintentional injuries contribute significantly to disability and death. Prevention efforts have traditionally focused on individual injury mechanisms and their specific risk factors, which has resulted in slow progress in reducing the burden. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represent a global agenda for promoting human prosperity while respecting planetary boundaries. While injury prevention is currently only recognised in the SDG agenda via two road safety targets, the relevance of the SDGs for injury prevention is much broader. In this State of the Art Review, we illustrate how unintentional injury prevention efforts can be advanced substantially within a broad range of SDG goals and advocate for the integration of safety considerations across all sectors and stakeholders. This review uncovers injury prevention opportunities within broader global priorities such as urbanisation, population shifts, water safeguarding and corporate social responsibility. We demonstrate the relevance of injury prevention efforts to the SDG agenda beyond the health goal (SDG 3) and the two specific road safety targets (SDG 3.6 and SDG 11.2), highlighting 13 additional SDGs of relevance. We argue that all involved in injury prevention are at a critical juncture where we can continue with the status quo and expect to see more of the same, or mobilise the global community in an 'Injury Prevention in All Policies' approach.

Forecasting global road traffic injury mortality for 2030.

OBJECTIVE: To forecast the number and rate of deaths from road traffic injuries (RTI) in the world in 2030. METHODS: This study was a secondary analysis of annual country-level data of RTI mortality rates for 1990-2017 in the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 Study, population projection for 2030, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita for 1990-2030 and average years of schooling among people aged 15 years+ for 1990-2030. We developed up to 6884 combinations of forecasting models for each subgroup stratified by country, sex and mode of transport using linear and squared year, GDP per capita and average years of schooling as potential predictors. We conducted a fixed-size, rolling window out-of-sample forecast to choose the best combination for each subgroup. In the validation, we used the data for 1990-2002, 1991-2003 and 1992-2004 (fit periods) to forecast mortality rates in 2015, 2016 and 2017 (test periods), respectively. We applied the selected combination of models to the data for 1990-2017 to forecast the mortality rate in 2030 for each subgroup. To forecast the number of deaths, we multiplied the forecasted mortality rates by the corresponding population projection. RESULTS: During the test periods, the selected combination of models produced the number of deaths that is higher than that estimated in the GBD Study by 5.1% collectively. Our model resulted in 1.225 million deaths and 14.3 deaths per 100 000 population in 2030, which were 1% and 12% less than those for 2017 in the GBD Study, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The world needs to accelerate its efforts towards achieving the Decade of Action for Road Safety goal and the Sustainable Development Goals target.

Road safety risk factors for non-motorised vehicle users in a Chinese city: an observational study.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to describe and analyse the prevalence of speeding, helmet use and red-light running among riders of non-motorised vehicles (NMVs) in Shanghai, China, with a focus on electric bikes (ebikes). METHODS: Observational studies were conducted in eight randomly selected locations in Shanghai. Descriptive statistics and a Cox proportional hazard (PH) model were used in the analyses. FINDINGS: A total of 14 828 NMVs were observed in November 2017. At the free flow sites, the average speed was 22.5 km/hour for ebikes and 13.4 km/hour for bicycles. 95.5% of ebikes run above 15 km/hour, the legal speed limit for NMVs in China and 83.8% above 20 km/hour, the maximum design speed for ebikes. Helmet wearing rate was 13.5% for ebike drivers and 9.4% for passengers. Riders of commercial ebikes were nearly three times more likely to wear a helmet than personal ebikes. 22.4% of ebikes were observed to run a red light. The Cox PH model showed that ebikes (vs bicycles), males (vs females), clear weather (vs cloudy, rainy and snowy), helmet users (vs nonusers) are associated with a higher hazard for running a red light. CONCLUSION: To our knowledge, this study is among the first comprehensive evaluation of road user behaviours for NMVs in China. An effective intervention package including regulating ebike production to national standards, strengthening speed enforcement and passing legislation on mandatory helmet use for ebike users may be able to help.

Adaptation and validation of UNICEF/Washington group child functioning module at the Iganga-Mayuge health and demographic surveillance site in Uganda.

BACKGROUND: The UNICEF/Washington Group Child Functioning Module (CFM) assesses child functioning among children between 5 and 17 years of age. This study adapted and validated the CFM at the Iganga-Mayuge Health and Demographic Surveillance Site (IM-HDSS) in Uganda. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted between September 2018-January 2019 at the IM-HDSS. Respondents were caregivers of children between 5 and 17 years of age who were administered modified Washington Group short set (mWG-SS) and CFM. The responses were recorded on a 4-point Likert scale. Descriptive analysis was conducted on child and caregiver demographic characteristics. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) assessed underlying factor structure, dimensionality and factor loadings. Cronbach's alpha was reported as an assessment of internal consistency. Face validity was assessed during the translation process, and concurrent validity of CFM was assessed through comparison with disability short form. RESULTS: Out of 1842 caregivers approached, 1439 (78.1%) participated in the study. Mean age of children was 11.06 ± 3.59 years, 51.4% were males, and 86.1% had a primary caregiver. Based on EFA, vision, hearing, walking, self-care, communication, learning, remembering, concentrating, accepting change, behavior control, and making friends loaded on factor 1 - "Motor and Cognition," while anxiety and depression loaded on factor 2 - "Mood". Cronbach's alpha for the overall CFM was 0.899 (good internal consistency). Cronbach's alpha for each extracted factor was excellent, motor and cognition (0.904), and mood (0.902). CFM had acceptable face validity. Spearman's rank correlation between scores of CFM and modified WG short set was 0.51 (p-value < 0.001). The overall mean CFM score was 2.47 ± 3.82 out of 39. The mean score for Mood (1.35 ± 1.42 out of 6) was higher compared to Motor and Cognition (1.12 ± 3.06 out of 33). Comparing modified WG short set and CFM Likert responses, the percent agreement was greatest for "cannot do at all." CONCLUSION: CFM is a two-factor, valid and reliable scale for assessing disability in Uganda and can be applied to other similar settings to contribute towards disability data from the region. It is an easy-to-administer tool that can help in deeper understanding of context-specific burden and extent of disability in children between 5 and 17 years of age.

A systematic approach to injury policy assessment: introducing the assessment of child injury prevention policies (A-CHIPP).

INTRODUCTION: This study presents a systematic approach-assessment of child injury prevention policies (A-CHIPP)-to assess and track policies on effective child injury interventions at the national level. Results from an initial pilot test of the approach in selected countries are presented. METHOD: A literature review was conducted to identify conceptual models for injury policy assessment, and domains and indicators were proposed for assessing national injury policies for children aged 1-9 years. The indicators focused on current evidence-supported interventions targeting the leading external causes of child injury mortality globally, and were organised into a self-administered A-CHIPP questionnaire comprising 22 questions. The questionnaire was modified based on reviews by experts in child injury prevention. For an initial test of the approach, 13 countries from all six WHO regions were selected to examine the accuracy, usefulness and ease of understanding of the A-CHIPP questionnaire. RESULTS: Data on the A-CHIPP questionnaire were received from nine countries. Drowning and road traffic injuries were reported as the leading causes of child injury deaths in seven of these countries. Most of the countries lacked national policies on interventions that address child injuries; supportive factors such as finance and leadership for injury prevention were also lacking. All countries rated the questionnaire highly on its relevance for assessment of injury prevention policies. CONCLUSION: The A-CHIPP questionnaire is useful for national assessment of child injury policies, and such an assessment could draw attention of stakeholders to policy gaps and progress in child injury prevention in all countries.

Paper Versus Digital Data Collection for Road Safety Risk Factors: Reliability Comparative Analysis From Three Cities in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

BACKGROUND: Rapid advances in mobile technologies and applications and the continued growth in digital network coverage have the potential to transform data collection in low- and middle-income countries. A common perception is that digital data collection (DDC) is faster and quickly adaptable. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to test whether DDC is faster and more adaptable in a roadside environment. We conducted a reliability study comparing digital versus paper data collection in 3 cities in Ghana, Vietnam, and Indonesia observing road safety risk factors in real time. METHODS: Roadside observation of helmet use among motorcycle passengers, seat belt use among 4-wheeler passengers, and speeding was conducted in Accra, Ghana; Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Vietnam; and Bandung, Indonesia. Two independent data collection teams were deployed to the same sites on the same dates and times, one using a paper-based data collection tool and the other using a digital tool. All research assistants were trained on paper-based data collection and DDC. A head-to-head analysis was conducted to compare the volume of observations, as well as the prevalence of each risk factor. Correlations (r) for continuous variables and kappa for categorical variables are reported with their level of statistical significance. RESULTS: In Accra, there were 119 observation periods (90-min each) identical by date, time, and location during the helmet and seat belt use risk factor data collection and 118 identical periods observing speeding prevalence. In Bandung, there were 150 observation periods common to digital and paper data collection methods, whereas in HCMC, there were 77 matching observation periods for helmet use, 82 for seat belt use, and 84 for speeding. Data collectors using paper tools were more productive than their DDC counterparts during the study. The highest mean volume per session was recorded for speeding, with Bandung recording over 1000 vehicles on paper (paper: mean 1092 [SD 435]; digital: mean 807 [SD 261]); whereas the lowest volume per session was from HCMC for seat belts (paper: mean 52 [SD 28]; digital: mean 62 [SD 30]). Accra and Bandung showed good-to-high correlation for all 3 risk factors (r=0.52 to 0.96), with higher reliability in speeding and helmet use over seat belt use; HCMC showed high reliability for speeding (r=0.99) but lower reliability for helmet and seat belt use (r=0.08 to 0.32). The reported prevalence of risk factors was comparable in all cities regardless of the data collection method. CONCLUSIONS: DDC was convenient and reliable during roadside observational data collection. There was some site-related variability in implementing DDC methods, and generally the productivity was higher using the more familiar paper-based method. Even with low correlations between digital and paper data collection methods, the overall reported population prevalence was similar for all risk factors.