Israel's COVID-19 Diplomacy in Sub-Saharan Africa and Central Europe

Israel's aid initiatives have historically been facilitated through the Agency for International Development Cooperation (MASHAV). However, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted MASHAVs ability to provide assistance due to budget cuts and government instability. As such, Israel's COVID-19 diplomacy initiative took on greater importance in maintaining its presence and reputation internationally. This article analyzes Israel's approach to COVID-19 diplomacy, which involved providing medical teams, PPE, and surplus vaccines to approximately 20 countries, and examines the political and strategic calculations behind Israel's decision to extend assistance to specific countries. The article argues that Israel's COVID-19 diplomacy initiative was more limited in scope and geography compared to other countries with similar economic development levels, and aid efforts were concentrated in regions where Israel has sought to increase its involvement in recent years, particularly sub-Saharan Africa and Central Europe. Finally, the article assesses the impact of Israel's COVID-19 diplomacy initiative on its diplomatic relations with recipient countries and the broader international community.

Genealogías discursivas sobre la pandemia de covid-19. Reflexiones sobre un mundo postpandemia

El objetivo de este trabajo es realizar una reflexión crítica sobre la idea de un mundo postpandemia, a partir de la deconstrucción de genealogías discursivas sobre la pandemia de la covid-19. Se utilizó como punto de partida la idea de Michel Foucault de historia del presente, en términos de la deconstrucción de los relatos que dan cuenta tanto lo novedoso, en esta caso de la pandemia de la covid-19, como de las inercias discursivas del pasado que perviven en el presente. Se deconstruyeron cinco genealogía discursivas sobre pandemia. En primer lugar, se abordó el problema de la propia definición de pandemia, a partir de la crisis de la gripe A, gripe porcina o H1N1. En segundo lugar, se reflexionó sobre el impacto que tuvo la gestión de la crisis del H1N1 en las representaciones y prácticas discursivas de la pandemia de covid-19. En tercer lugar, se discutieron los marcos interpretativos y epistemológicos del gobierno de las crisis pandémicas en las sociedades del Norte Global. Por su interés discursivo se analizaron, por una parte, la construcción discursiva del gobierno de las epidemias, considerando las ideas de confinamiento y vacunación y, por otra parte, el gobierno de las infraestructuras vitales, como origen de la utilización metáfora de la guerra para el gobierno de riesgos y amenazas. En cuarto lugar, se reflexionará sobre el discurso de la (in)seguridad y sus dificultades pragmáticas en el gobierno de este tipo de crisis. Se utilizará la idea de la disonancia pragmática para dar cuenta de los problemas del discurso de la seguridad. En quito lugar, se criticó el discurso de la salud global y sus implicaciones en esta crisis, tomando como referencia tres relatos o narrativas: el relato sobre la seguridad en salud global, el relato sobre el mercado de productos sensibles, como los equipos de protección personal (mascarillas) y el relato sobre la producción de vacunas. A partir de la deconstrucción de estas genealogías discursivas plantearemos, a manera de conclusión, la idea de la crónica de un fracaso global, en relación con el gobierno de la crisis de la covid-19, agravada por la irrupción de una nueva crisis, la guerra de Ucrania. Proponemos finalmente una reconstrucción del discurso virus-céntrico, a partir de la idea de una espacialidad territorial y simbólicamente constituida organizada, configurada y materializada por múltiples tecnologías de significación, vinculadas bajo la figura de una red de actores propuesta por Bruno Latour.Alternate abstract:The objective of this paper is to carry out a critical reflection on the idea of a post-pandemic world, based on the deconstruction of discursive genealogies on the Covid-19 pandemic. First of all, attention is drawn to the fact that the countries of the Global North, apparently better prepared to face this crisis, have experienced a severe impact, particularly in the so-called first wave. This fact becomes even more relevant if we consider that the different indices that predicted a better capacity of these countries to face this type of crisis were initially distorted by the cases of Italy and Spain and, later;by other Global North countries such as the United States.To carry out these discursive genealogies, Michel Foucault's idea of the history of the present was used as a starting point, in terms of the deconstruction of the stories that account for both the novelty, in this case of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the discursive inertias of the past that survive in the discourses on the representations and the government of this type of phenomena. Five discursive genealogies on the pandemic were deconstructed. In the first place, the problem of the definition of a pandemic was addressed, based on the crisis of influenza A, swine flu or H1N1 and the criticism made by the Council of Europe in 2010 of the declaration of a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). Secondly, we reflected on the impact that the management of the H1N1 crisis had on the representations and discursive practices of the Covid-19 pandem c. The dissonance between the low impact of this crisis and the high spending by the countries of the Global North marked the initial management of the Covid-19 crisis, particularly in terms of reducing the perception of insecurity and the overvaluation of capacities. It became evident how the story of the impact of the crisis in Italy and Spain deeply marked the representations that were initially held about this crisis. Third, the interpretive and epistemological frameworks of the governance of pandemic crises in societies of the Global North were discussed. Due to its discursive interest, we analyzed, on the one hand, the discursive construction of the government of epidemics, considering the ideas of confinement and vaccination and, on the other hand, the government of vital infrastructures, such as the origin of the use of the metaphor of war to the governance of risks and threats in these societies. Fourth, we reflected on the discourse of (in)security and its pragmatic difficulties in governing this type of crisis.The idea of pragmatic dissonance is used to account for the problems of the security discourse. In fifth place, the global health discourse and its implications in this crisis were criticized.The survival of colonial and neocolonial narratives in global health, the weakening of the WHO due to the incorporation of interests of private actors such as multilateral agencies, banks linked to development discourses, multinational corporations and philanthropic companies were highlighted. The relevance of the biotechnological and biomedical discourse was also evident, based on the idea of the magic bullet. The critique of the global health discourse had three stories or narratives as its central reference: the story about global health security, the story about the market for sensitive products, such as personal protective equipment (masks), and the story about the production of vaccines. The problematization of the discursive genealogies related to the Covid-19 crisis made it possible to highlight the great difficulties we currently have in building a discourse that gives intelligibility to this type of crisis, especially from a global perspective. This difficulty allowed us to propose, by way of conclusion, the idea of the chronicle of a global failure (everything that could go wrong finally did go wrong), in relation to the government of the Covid-19 crisis, from the idea of the infelicity of the speech act proposed by Austin. This chronicle has been aggravated by the emergence of a new crisis, the war in Ukraine. We also propose the irruption of a disaster capitalism whose discursive performativity in relation to the pandemic was felicity, which is to say they achieved what they wanted: to significantly increase their profits. Finally, we propose as an alternative a reconstruction of the virus-centric discourse, which has permeated the discourse of experts, proposing the idea of a discourse based on territorial spatiality and symbolically constituted, organized, configured and materialized by multiple technologies of meaning, linked under the figure of a network of actors proposed by Bruno Latour. The virus is one more actor in this human and non-human network. What the virus does is expose the power relationships (knowledge/power) that account for the way this network is configured. More than the virus, it is these power relations that account for the vulnerabilities we experience due to the Covid-19 crisis. Everything seems to indicate that the new discursive practices in relation to this type of crisis should point in this direction.

Factors Influencing Compliance With Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Use Among Healthcare Workers.

Introduction Accurate and appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE) is an integral component in infection prevention and control policy to ensure healthcare workers' safety. Poor compliance with personal protective behaviours and inconsistent use of PPE has been identified as the main cause of transmission of nosocomial infections in healthcare settings and this reduced compliance is linked to many individual, environmental, and organizational factors. Therefore, the current study was carried out to identify various factors influencing PPE use among healthcare workers.  Materials and methods A descriptive cross-sectional survey has been carried out among healthcare workers selected from two selected tertiary care hospitals in central India. Data on compliance with PPE and factors influencing compliance were collected using a three-point rating scale and structured questionnaire. Quantile regression was performed to identify the factors associated with adherence to PPE use among healthcare workers. Results The median score for compliance with PPE use among healthcare workers was found to be 22 with an interquartile range (IQR) of 16-24. The multiple quantile regression found that variables such as occupation (p<0.001), institutional policy (p=0.003), quality of PPE (p=0.002), availability of PPE (p<0.001), and improper size (p=0.042) were significantly associated with PPE compliance by healthcare workers. Conclusion The current study highlights the importance of taking adequate measures by the government and healthcare organizations to eliminate various factors hindering PPE compliance levels among healthcare workers to ensure consistent use of PPE by healthcare workers to safeguard themselves and patients.

UNICEF Strategic Plan 2018-2021: COVID-19 Special Evidence Brief. Evidence and Gap Map Research Brief. Innocenti Research Brief 2022-09

This research brief is one of a series of six briefs, which provide an overview of available evidence shown in the Campbell-UNICEF Mega-Map of the effectiveness of interventions to improve child wellbeing in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), with this brief mapping the COVID-19-relevant studies. This brief provides an overview of the available evidence that may inform responses to the COVID-19 pandemic or that furthers the understanding of its impact on child well-being outcomes. This evidence may be directly related to policies to reduce COVID-19 transmission, such as closure of schools and colleges, personal protective equipment, movement restriction between borders and social distancing, or studies of interventions responding to the immediate socio-economic impacts, such as social protection measures, educational programmes and tele-health. The purpose of the research brief is to: (1) Make potential users aware of the map and its contents, (2) Identify areas in which there is ample evidence to guide policy and practice, and so encourage policymakers and practitioners to use the map as a way to access rigorous studies of effectiveness, and (3) Identify gaps in the evidence base, and so encourage research commissioners to commission studies to fill these evidence gaps. [This brief is an update of the 2020 version. It was written with assistance from Yashika Kanojia.]

UPDATING WORKPLACE FIRST AID KITS

To the Revised ANSI/ISEA Z308.1 Standard While the number of workplace nonfatal injuries reported by private industry employers ticked down in 2020 to 2.1 million from 2.7 million in 2019, according to the statistics released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) in November 2021, accidents can happen at any time in any type of work environment. Revised Standard ANSI/ISEA Z308.1-2021 was developed by the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) First Aid Product Group and approved by key stakeholders representing construction groups, technology corporations, testing laboratories, utility companies and others. Included in the updated standard is a more robust discussion to assist the employer in assessing risks, identifying potential hazards and selecting additional first-aid supplies relevant to a particular application or work environment, including mobile workstations or field offices.

Not in Our Name: The Disingenuous Use of "Public Health" as Justification for Title 42 Expulsions in the Era of the Migrant Protection Protocols

Sadly, Celina's experience at the US border is not uncommon, although her ultimate admission to the United States is rare indeed. Because ofthe confluence of MPP and the 2020 invocation of 42 US Code 265 (hereafter "Title 42"), an obscure public health policy last updated in 1944, more than a million expulsions of migrants and asylum seekers occurred at the US border in fiscal year 2021 alone, contrary to international law.1 POLICY BACKGROUND The policy known today as Title 42 originated in a 1944 law called the Public Health Service Act, which (among other things) granted the federal government quarantine powers and the power to prevent the introduction of disease at the border. Robert Redfield, then director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), determined that introduction into congregate settings of persons from Canada or Mexico would increase the already serious danger to the public health of the United States to the point of requiring a temporary suspension of the introduction of covered aliens into the United States.3 The same order also noted the logistical challenges of preventing the transmission ofCOVID-19 at the border: Widespread, compulsory federal quarantines or isolations of such persons pending test results are impracticable due to the numbers of persons involved, logistical challenges, and CDC resource and personnel constraints.3 Although the US government did not have access to vaccines or rapid tests in March 2020, they need not have adopted such an extreme policy to protect the public's health. Given the barriers to effective implementation of PPE [personal protective equipment] and administrative controls to prevent the spread of [COVID-19] in immigration detention centers, an evidence-based public health approach suggests . . . the release of detainees from immigration detention centers, as this strategy will reduce the likelihood of person-to-person infection and enhance the possibility of engaging in meaningful social distancing and hygienic practices as directed by the CDC.4(p112) That the US government invoked Title 42 for those coming through land borders but instituted only temporary travel bans for other international travelers and did not institute interstate travel bans underscores how unnecessary these extreme measures truly were, even in the early days of COVID-19.5 In addition to the challenges posed by the use of Title 42 to prevent the entry of asylum seekers during COVID-19, MPP-often referred to as the Remain in Mexico program- creates additional barriers for migrants seeking to enter the United States.

Work and Nonwork Contributory Factors to Health Care Workers' Mental Health

In this cross-sectional survey of 828 participants, they report that insufficient personal protective equipment (PPE);experiences of discrimination, violence, and harassment;not receiving family support;experiencing financial strain;and having to isolate because of COVID-19 were each associated with an increased prevalence ratio of probable depression cases. [...]working on COVID-1 9 or intensive care wards is a particular risk factor,1,2 whereas concerns have been raised about differential access to PPE based on one's role, sex, and ethnicity.3 One postulation from Silva et al. is that community health care workers were no longer able to visit community homes, potentially alleviating some work demands and reducing their exposure risk or vulnerability to violence and discrimination. Because ill mental health is a factor in the global challenge to retain health care workers, we need better research, policies, and support to understand, capture, and model these differences. [...]building support is an important resource for health care workers to draw on and to mitigate the detrimental impact that demanding work environments can have on their mental health.5,6 A SYSTEMS PN1 -https://media.proquest.com/media/hms/PFT/1/UhuwM?_a=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%2BgIBToIDA1dlYooDHENJRDoyMDIyMDUxODEyNDIwMTMwMDo5OTI2MzY%3D&_s=%2BTB5DoMLaFgpkVf8XhHojdnxVis%3D ERSPECTIVE ON HEALTH CARE WORKERS' MENTAL HEALTH The six potential pandemic-related contributing factors shift the narrative of health care worker well-being away from only the individual, emphasizing the responsibility of governments and health care leaders. Too often, research on health care workers' well-being has focused on individual factors (such as psychological states and traits) as antecedents to their well-being, neglecting the various other organizational and societal factors they are exposed to.7 Although the lack of PPE and job type are work-related contributing factors to probable cases of depression, the contributing role of family support and financial strain highlights how nonwork factors are also important. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, it has been evident that we can no longer clearly delineate work from our nonwork lives.

Community Health Workers in the United States: Time to Expand a Critical Workforce

ommunity health workers (CHWs) have a long, rich global history of extending essential health services and helping address social determinants of health for underserved populations.1 The 1978 Declaration of Alma-Ata, which called for the achievement of "health for all," explicitly defined a role for CHWs as an integral member of primary health care teams.2 In the United States, CHWs have historically been patient health educators and advocates, particularly for patients who have limited health knowledge or whose first language is not English. Despite these efforts, the CHW workforce in the United States has been underrecognized and underutilized, and many have called for policy change to better integrate CHWs into the US health system.3,4 CHWs have been largely neglected in health workforce planning, with existing programs often led by multiple actors without coordination, with fragmented or diseasespecific foci, unclear links to the health system, and unclear identities because of wide-rangingjob titles.2 Small programs and demonstration projects have shown the efficacy and promise of CHWs to improve population health outcomes,5,6 but monitoring and evaluation systems for large-scale CHW programs have been weak, and evidence of their real-world effectiveness and cost-effectiveness has been limited. In many communities, CHWs have been instrumental in COVID-19 public health messaging and communication, contact tracing and monitoring in medically underserved communities, navigation to vaccine and testing appointments, and even in conducting rapid antigen testing with the proper training and personal protective equipment. Leveraging this current momentum and unique window of opportunity to strengthen and expand this critical workforce will require evidence-based practices8,11,12 for effective recruitment, training and certification, retention, evaluation, supervision, reimbursement, recognition, and remuneration of CHWs to ensure success and sustainability long beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. >4JPH CORRESPONDENCE Correspondence should be sent to Natalia M. Rodriguez, PhD, MPH, Department of Public Health, College of Health and Human Sciences, Purdue University, Matthews Hall 218, 812 W State St, West Lafayette, IN 47907 (e-mail: natalia@purdue.edu).

How the Pandemic Further Isolated the Incarcerated

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) workplace complaints rose by more than 15% between February and October 2020, with the majority revolving around unacceptable COVID-19 workplace conditions that essential workers had to endure1 however, this metric did not extend to the voices of incarcerated populations, who have been vital to the functioning of our society but have not received proper protection. When the system is allowed to engage in "violent inaction," incarcerated individuals are left purposefully hidden.2 The lack of data transparency in COVID-19 case reports and the personal protective equipment supplied to jails and prisons, coupled with sluggish legislation (e.g., the half-year gap in the tabling of the COVID-19 in Corrections Data Transparency Act), permits carceral facilities to mask the barbaric conditions faced by this vulnerable population. [...]human rights violations incarcerated individuals faced during the pandemic (and continue to face) include increased solitary confinement owing to lockdowns,3 canceled in-person visitations, and loss of physical mail from family members as cards were converted to PDFs.4 Many of us have seen our communities step up by asking for individuals to be released, advocating for vaccine prioritization, and working to address vaccine hesitancy in incarcerated settings.5,6 Unfortunately, that is not enough.

Web Exclusive. Annals for Hospitalists Inpatient Notes - Preparing for Battle: How Hospitalists Can Manage the Stress of COVID-19.

[Figure: see text].

Conversion of self-contained breathing apparatus mask to open source powered air-purifying particulate respirator for fire fighter COVID-19 response.

To assist firefighters and other first responders to use their existing equipment for respiration during the COVID-19 pandemic without using single-use, low-supply, masks, this study outlines an open source kit to convert a 3M-manufactured Scott Safety self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) into a powered air-purifying particulate respirator (PAPR). The open source PAPR can be fabricated with a low-cost 3-D printer and widely available components for less than $150, replacing commercial conversion kits saving 85% or full-fledged proprietary PAPRs saving over 90%. The parametric designs allow for adaptation to other core components and can be custom fit specifically to fire-fighter equipment, including their suspenders. The open source PAPR has controllable air flow and its design enables breathing even if the fan is disconnected or if the battery dies. The open source PAPR was tested for air flow as a function of battery life and was found to meet NIOSH air flow requirements for 4 h, which is 300% over expected regular use.