Integrated urban services: Experience from four cities on different continents.

Rapid urbanization combined with climate change necessitates new types of urban services that make best use of science and technology. The Integrated Urban Hydro-Meteorological, Climate and Environmental Services and systems are a new initiative from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) that seeks to provide science-based integrated urban services supporting safe, healthy and resilient cities. Various cities have already started development and implementation of such Integrated Urban Services and successfully test and use them following specific requirements of local stakeholders. This paper demonstrates the novel concept and approach of Integrated Urban Hydro-Meteorological, Climate and Environmental Services (IUS) from a set of four case study cities: Hong Kong, Toronto, Mexico City and Paris, that use different IUS configurations with good existing practice. These cities represent a range of countries, climates and geophysical settings. The aggregate main joint similarities of the IUS in these cities and synergy of the cities' experience, achievements and research findings are presented, as well as identification of existing gaps in knowledge and further research needs. A list of potential criteria for identifying and classifying IUS demonstration cities is proposed. It will aid future, more detailed analysis of the IUS experience, and selection of additional demonstration cities.

Australian women's cervical cancer screening attendance as a function of screening barriers and facilitators.

RATIONALE: Cervical cancer screening registry data indicate that 43% of eligible Australian women did not screen in the latest reporting period (2014-2015). However, few prior empirical studies have examined whether the screening barriers and facilitators experienced by women can affect their screening attendance. Such information is required to inform the development of future tailored health promotion strategies. OBJECTIVE: This study examined whether the cervical cancer screening barriers and facilitators identified by women were related to their screening history, from November 2015 and January 2016. At this time, Australian women typically undertook a Pap test every two years. They were deemed overdue for screening if they have not screened in the past 27 months (i.e., overdue by more than three months). METHOD: In this study, a large sample (N = 338) of women were asked about their screening history including screening status (i.e., up-to-date vs. overdue) and prior screening (i.e., never screened vs. screened), and the psychological and practical screening barriers or facilitators they had experienced. RESULTS: Logistic regression analysis indicated that screening status was related to a greater number of psychological barriers, but not practical barriers or facilitators. In contrast, prior screening was related to more practical and psychological screening barriers and fewer practical facilitators, but not psychological facilitators. Some individual psychological screening barriers (e.g., anxiety, embarrassment), practical barriers (e.g., lack of time) and practical facilitators (e.g., low cost of test) were related to women's screening status and prior screening. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that addressing practical cervical cancer screening facilitators (e.g., reminder prompts) and psychological screening barriers may help to optimize screening attendance in women who have never screened or are overdue for cervical cancer screening.