[Un]Forgetting History: Preparing Public Health Professionals to Address Structural Racism.

CONTEXT: Structural racism, a fundamental cause of health inequities, must be dismantled to fulfill society's interest in ensuring conditions in which all people have opportunities conducive to health. Correspondingly, the Ten Essential Public Health Services center equity, and Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) accreditation criteria require public health students to learn about racism. However, little guidance is provided to help faculty empower future generations of public health professionals to challenge it. PROGRAM: In response to the 2020 murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, faculty at UNC Greensboro denounced racism and recommitted to anti-racist pedagogy and praxis. In this article, we discuss integrated ways a graduate-level public health assessment and planning course empowered students to name structural racism, understand how it operates, and collaborate for action. IMPLEMENTATION: Specifically, we highlight (1) our use of the book The Color of Law as means to understand racism as a structural intervention; (2) the Harvard Case Teaching Method as an organizing framework to make the classroom a critically engaged democratic setting; (3) change experts from local health and nonprofit organizations engaged in policy making to address social determinants and disparities resulting from structural racism (eg, housing, health care access, food insecurity); and (4) engagement with a minority-owned nonprofit to allow for practice applying knowledge and skills to address local inequities. DISCUSSION: Our 4-pronged pedagogical approach provides an innovative, tangible example for other public health programs as they reflect upon academic institutions' unique power and role in addressing the public health crisis of structural racism.

Challenges for Non-COVID Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease in Bangladesh: An Observation during Coronavirus Disease Pandemic.

The coronavirus disease pandemic has created a crisis for patients with chronic kidney disease, as far as getting treatment facilities are concerned. The crisis is more intense in developing countries where the health system is more vulnerable due to poor infrastructures and insufficient health professionals. Bangladesh, being a developing nation, is also facing similar challenges to provide sufficient services to patients with chronic kidney disease. In this short report, we have discussed the challenges and barriers non-COVID chronic kidney disease patients are facing in terms of healthcare access along with getting proper medical interventions and suggested probable strategies to minimize the suffering.

Pattern of antibiotic use for acute respiratory infections among out-patients in South Asian Region: Protocol for a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: South Asian region has been experiencing the increasing burden of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) primarily due to over and irrational prescribing of antibiotics. Acute respiratory infections (ARIs) are the leading cause of out-patients' visits in the region. Despite commonly known viral aetiology, ARI is the single largest reason for antibiotic prescriptions contributing the exponential growth of AMR in the region. Collated data on antibiotic consumption for ARI at outpatients and resistance pattern of respiratory pathogen are lacking in the region. METHODS: MEDLINE, Cochrane, CINAHL Plus (EBSCO), and Web of Science will be searched for eligible papers. Titles and abstracts, and full texts of the relevant studies will be screened by 2 independent reviewers against the inclusion criteria. Data extraction and quality of the studies will be assessed by 2 reviewers independently using the JBI Critical Appraisal Tools. A third reviewer will resolve any disagreement at any point between 2 reviewers. RESULTS: The review will assess proportions of ARI patients receiving antibiotic therapy and types of antibiotics prescribed among outpatients of all ages in South Asia. This review will also assess the pattern of antimicrobial resistance among respiratory pathogens causing ARI in the region. CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review will evaluate published literature, summarize the existing data on the antibiotic prescribing patterns for outpatients with ARI in South Asia. The holistic finding of the proportion of patients receiving antibiotic therapy for ARI, proportion of different types of antibiotic received, and resistance against respiratory pathogen might guide future research. This underscores a need for formulating regional and national policy for AMR mitigation strategy, and revising clinical practice guidelines for the clinician to ensure rational use of antibiotics for ARI. PROSPERO: registration no: CRD42018116658.