Structural competency in global perspective.

This special issue aims to help fill two critical gaps in the growing literature as well as in practice. First, to bring together scholars and practitioners from around the world who develop, practice, review, and question structural competency with the aim of promoting a dialogue with related approaches, such as Latin American Social Medicine, Collective Health, and others, which have been key in diverse geographical and social settings. Second, to contribute to expanding structural competency beyond clinical medicine to include other health-related areas such as social work, global health, public health practice, epidemiological research, health policy, community organisation and beyond. This conceptual expansion is currently taking place in structural competency, and we hope that this volume will help to raise awareness and reinforce what is already happening. In sum, this collection of articles puts structural competency more rigorously and actively in conversation with different geographic, political, social, and professional contexts worldwide. We hope this conversation sparks further development in scholarly, political and community movements for social and health justice.

Weight stigma and allostatic load in adults: protocol for a scoping review.

INTRODUCTION: Weight-related stigma (WS) has been associated with adverse psychosocial and physical health effects. Despite the relationship between WS and allostatic load, there are no integrative reviews of this association. This scoping review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the relationship between allostatic load biomarkers associated with WS by identifying gaps in this topic and proposing recommendations for future research. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This protocol was guided by the methodological framework of Arksey and O'Malley and the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI). The research questions were based on the population-concept-context framework. Studies in adults diagnosed as overweight or obese, exposed to WS and assessing the association between WS and biomarkers of allostatic load will be included. A search will be conducted in Medline (Ovid), PsycINFO (Ovid), Scopus (Elsevier), Cochrane Library (Wiley) and Google Scholar. The search strategy will be conducted in three stages, based on the JBI recommendation with the MESH terms "Social Stigma," "Weight Prejudice," "Biomarkers," "Allostasis," "Adults" and related terms. Data extraction will be done with a template adapted from JBI. The search strategy and selection process results will be presented in a flow chart and summarised in the text. The main results will be presented in a descriptive synthesis. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics review and approval are not required. The results will be disseminated through peer-reviewed publications, conferences, congresses or symposia.

La medicina social y las ciencias sociales en América Latina: tensiones conceptuales para la transformación de la salud pública en el siglo XX / Social medicine and the social sciences in Latin America: conceptual tensions for the transformation of public health in the 20th century / Medicina social e ciências sociais na América Latina: tensões conceituais para a transformação da saúde pública no século XX

RESUMEN El desarrollo de la salud pública en América Latina durante el siglo XX combinó, desde el principio, el marco de la medicina social sobre los orígenes sociales, políticos y ambientales de la enfermedad con los aportes del trabajo de campo de la antropología médica. A pesar de la hegemonía del modelo médico, el surgimiento del marco de la medicina preventiva legitimó aún más la participación de los científicos sociales en el estudio de la multicausalidad de la enfermedad. Sin embargo, las limitaciones que trajo consigo la falta de contextualización histórica y política del modelo de la medicina preventiva dieron paso al movimiento latinoamericano de medicina social, basado en el materialismo histórico, y al desarrollo tanto de la epidemiología crítica como de la antropología médica crítica.

ABSTRACT The development of public health in Latin America during the 20th century combined, early on, the social medicine framework on the social, political, and environmental origins of disease with the contributions of medical anthropological fieldwork. Despite the hegemony of the medical model, the surge of the preventive medicine framework further legitimized the involvement of social scientists in the study of the multicausality of disease. However, the limitations brought by the preventive medicine model's lack of historical and political contextualization gave way to the Latin American social medicine movement, which was grounded in historical materialism, and the development of both critical epidemiology and critical medical anthropology.

RESUMO Desde o início, a evolução da saúde pública na América Latina ao longo do século XX combinou o marco teórico da medicina social sobre as origens sociais, políticas e ambientais das doenças com as contribuições derivadas do trabalho de campo da antropologia médica. Apesar da hegemonia do modelo médico, o surgimento do modelo de medicina preventiva legitimou ainda mais a participação dos cientistas sociais no estudo da multicausalidade das doenças. Entretanto, as limitações causadas pela falta de contextualização histórica e política do modelo de medicina preventiva abriram espaço para o movimento latino-americano de medicina social, fundamentado no materialismo histórico, e para o desenvolvimento da epidemiologia crítica e da antropologia médica crítica.

Social determination of alcohol consumption among Indigenous peoples in Colombia: a qualitative meta-synthesis.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol consumption is a social phenomenon that involves society, groups, and individuals from different cultures around the world. Among some Indigenous groups located in Colombia, South America, alcohol consumption has been present in their lives, where contradictory processes occur and generate public health attention. We aimed to analyze qualitative research findings on alcohol consumption among Indigenous peoples in Colombia. METHODS: This article used the qualitative meta-synthesis methodology, which included: (a) comprehensive search strategy, (b) appraisal of qualitative research reports, (c) findings classification, and (d) synthesis. Databases were searched for papers published from 2004 to 2019 in SCOPUS, LILACS, PROQUEST, and JSTOR, among other sources of information. A total of 2,159 papers were reviewed and finally, 13 studies were included in this meta-synthesis. The synthesis of findings included a constant comparative analysis and also aimed for the articulation of its findings to alternative perspectives in a predefined matrix. RESULTS: Nine Indigenous ethnic groups of Colombia were represented in the 13 articles analyzed. From the analysis emerged the symbolic approach "Alcohol: a chameleon that unpredictable society colors" as the meta-theme of this research. This reflects four social processes that influence interaction with alcohol: Dynamic Systems Mergers (Indigenous system, influence of non-Indigenous system); Diverse Authority Spheres (parenting, Indigenous authority, school, university, religious and spiritual, traditional medicine); Between Transculturation and Interculturality (cultural crises effects and dynamism); and the Paradoxes of the Normalization of Alcohol (reasons, functions, and types of alcohol consumption). Likewise, these results support the social determination of health and sociocultural epidemiology perspectives, as being an adequate way of explaining a complex phenomenon. CONCLUSION: Alcohol consumption among Indigenous peoples in Colombia is a social construction. Alcohol acts as an instrument, which is present in the changing relationships and tensions of social processes. This is reflected in harmonies, or disharmonies, in the life of Indigenous Colombians, which take place in a historical, sociocultural, economic, and political context. The results provide a reference point to guide practice and research but also reiterate the need to include the social determination of health perspective in public policies, as a path to the understanding of alcohol consumption.

Comparison of social gradient in cardiometabolic health in Czechia and Venezuela: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES: This study compared the relationships of social determinants with cardiometabolic risk in different socioeconomic contexts: sociopolitically unstable Venezuela (VE) and stable Czechia (CZ). DESIGN: cross-sectional analysis involving two population-based studies. SETTING: Brno, Czechia and 23 cities of Venezuela. PARTICIPANTS: 25-64 years old subjects from CZ (2013-2014, n=1579, 56% females) and VE (2014-2017, n=1652, 70% females). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The composite cardiometabolic risk score (CMRS) (scaled 0-8) was calculated using eight biomarkers (body mass index, waist circumference, blood glucose, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, total and high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, triglycerides). Social characteristics included education in both countries, income in CZ and a composite measure of social position (SP) in VE. Sex stratified ordinal regression examined the social gradient in having less favourable CMRS. RESULTS: In CZ, men and women with low education and women with low income had higher odds of higher CMRS compared with those with high education and income with OR 1.45 (95% CI 1.01 to 2.21), 2.29 (95% CI 1.62 to 3.24) and 1.69 (95% CI 1.23 to 2.35). In VE, women with low education and low SP had higher odds to have higher CMRS OR 1.47 (95% CI 1.09 to 1.97) and 1.51 (95% CI 1.16 to 1.97), while men with low education and low SP had lower odds to have higher CMRS OR 0.64 (95% CI 0.41 to 1.00) and 0.61 (95% CI 0.40 to 0.97), compared with those with high education and high SP. Independently of age, sex and socioeconomic characteristics, Venezuelans had higher odds to have higher CMRS than Czechs (OR 2.70; 95% CI 2.37 to 3.08). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the associations of socioeconomic status indices and cardiometabolic risk differed between CZ and VE, likely reflecting differences in the social environment among countries. Further research is needed to confirm and quantify these differences.

A Saúde Coletiva e suas áreas: territórios ou aldeamentos? / Public health and its areas: territories or villagization? / La Salud Colectiva y sus áreas: ¿Territorios o asentamientos?

A progressiva conformação de áreas específicas de conhecimento e prática no interior do campo da Saúde Coletiva brasileira tem desafiado sua unidade e sua identidade enquanto tal. Como compreender o movimento centrífugo de diferenciação dessas áreas desde sua origem comum? Como resgatar uma identidade de campo e criar sinergias entre as áreas? O presente ensaio busca refletir sobre essas questões tomando por base aportes teórico-filosóficos da hermenêutica contemporânea (Gadamer, Ricoeur, Habermas). Critica-se a noção de territorialidade epistemológica e, recorrendo a uma identidade normativo-proposicional oriunda da facticidade do social na saúde, propõe-se a noção de "aldeamento" para (re)construir a unidade do campo em sua pluralidade, indicando-se alguns movimentos com potencial de estimular esse processo.(AU)

The progressive configuration of specific areas of knowledge and practice within the field of public health in Brazil poses a challenge for the maintenance of the field's identity and unity. How can we understand the centrifugal movement of the differentiation of these areas away from their common origin? How can we restore the identity of the field and create synergies between areas? This essay reflects on these issues drawing on the theoretical and philosophical contributions of contemporary hermeneutics (Gadamer, Ricoeur, Habermas). We provide a critique of the notion of epistemological territoriality and, utilizing a normative and propositional identity derived from the facticity of the social in health, we propose the notion of "villagization" to (re)construct field unity in its plurality, indicating some movements that have the potential to stimulate this process.(AU)

La progresiva conformación de áreas específicas de conocimiento y práctica en el interior del campo de la Salud Colectiva brasileña ha desafiado su unidad y su identidad como tal. ¿Cómo comprender el movimiento centrífugo de diferenciación de estas áreas desde su origen común?. ¿Cómo rescatar una identidad de campo y crear sinergias entre las áreas?. Este ensayo busca reflexionar sobre esas cuestiones, utilizando como base contribuciones teórico-filosóficas de la hermenéutica contemporánea (Gadamer, Ricoeur, Habermas). Se critica la noción de territorialidad epistemológica y, recurriendo a una identidad normativo-propositiva proveniente de la facticidad de lo social en la salud, se propone la noción de "asentamiento" para (re)construir la unidad del campo en su pluralidad, indicándose algunos movimientos con potencial para incentivar ese proceso.(AU)

La Epidemiologia en el marco de la Medicina Social / Epidemiology in the framework of social medicine

El Sector Salud necesita un sistema de vigilancia epidemiológica que genere conocimiento, identifique condiciones de vida lo más local posible en unidades territoriopoblación, tiene que proponer intervenciones para superar las iniquidades y desigualdades, equipos de intervención con alta capacidad científica, técnica y resolutiva en cada Red de Salud, que cada red de salud actúe integralmente con plena participación social y comunitaria, revalorizar desde la epidemiologia a la salud intercultural.

The Health Sector needs an epidemiological surveillance system that generates knowledge, identifies living conditions as locally as possible in territory-population units, must propose interventions to overcome iniquities and inequalities, intervention teams with high scientific, technical and resolution capacity in each health network, that each health network acts integrally with full social and community participation, revaluing intercultural health from epidemiology.

Providing culturally competent and universal health care in the Peruvian Amazon: The role of medical authority.

Peru's Ministry of Health promotes the provision of culturally competent and universal health care. To do so they have implemented policies aimed at addressing indigenous peoples' social, geographic, and financial barriers to health care as well as cultural gaps between them and (bio)medical providers. While scholars argued that these policies have fallen short, their explanations have ignored the role that medical providers' professional authority plays in implementing these policies. This study examined how medical providers aim to provide culturally competent care and facilitate patients' use of medical services while protecting their professional authority. This includes preserving control over their space of work and their capacity to legitimately diagnose, treat, and prognosticate medical problems. Ethnographic observations and 50 interviews conducted between May 2017 and February 2018 show that to facilitate the provision of culturally competent and universal health care, medical providers engaged in non-clinical tasks, trespassed bureaucratic rules, tolerated and integrated the use of traditional medicine, and expanded the time and place of their practice. To advance these strategies, medical providers sacrificed aspects of their social authority (e.g., their autonomy over their work) and their cultural authority (e.g., their ability to define treatment). However, providers also asserted aspects of their professional authority such as the ability to give patients instructions and advice and control over the use of traditional medicine. The latter had the potential of deterring some women from having institutional births, thus reproducing some of the constraints that indigenous people face in accessing health care.

Planejando ações que contribuem para a prática da prevenção quaternária na atenção primária à saúde / Planeando acciones que contribuyen para la práctica de la prevención cuaternaria en la atención primaria de la salud / Planning actions that contribute to the practice of the quaternary prevention on the primary care to health

Objetivo: refletir com a equipe e desenvolver um planejamento de ações que contribuam para a prática da Prevenção Quaternária na Atenção Primária à Saúde. Método: Pesquisa Apreciativa com a participação de nove profissionais e cinco encontros, correspondentes as fases: discovery (descoberta), dream(sonho), design(planejamento) e destiny(destino). Foram explorados os encontros correspondentes às três últimas fases. Diários de campo foram utilizados, além da gravação dos depoimentos em áudio. Realizou-se a Análise Temática de Conteúdo.Resultados:emergiram três categorias: Organização do trabalho em equipe; Qualificação dos processos de trabalho;Desenvolvimento de ações de educação em saúde. Foram planejadas ações que contribuem para práticas voltadas à Prevenção Quaternária, como ações de educação permanente, escuta qualificada, garantia do acesso, trabalho colaborativo e reconhecimento do território. Conclusão:promoveu-se o diálogo e reflexões sobre as práticas e intervenções desnecessárias/inapropriadas realizadas nos serviços, bem como seus riscos, incorporando-se um planejamento de ações nessa direção

Objective:reflect with the team and develop a planning to the Quaternary Prevention that contribute to the practice on the Primary Care to Health. Method:Appreciative Inquiry with the participation of nine professionalsandfive meetings, corresponding the three stages: discovery, dream, design and destiny, with the three lasts been approached in this study, corresponding to the three lasts stages. Field journals were used, beyondbesides the record in audio of the depositions.Thematic Content Analysis was carried out. Results:in was emerged three categories: Team organization by means of meetings and channels of internal communication; Qualification of the work process on the Primary Care Health; and the Development the actions of education in health. It was planned collectively actions to contribute of practices facing the Quaternary Prevention, like team meetings, movements of Continued Education in Health, qualifies listening, time management, access ensure, collaborative work and territory recognizing. Conclusion:it was promoted the dialog and reflections on the necessary/unnecessary practices of intervention made on the services, as well as their risks, incorporating anaction plan in this direction

Objetivo:reflexionar conel equipo ydesarrollar un plano de acciones que contribuyan para la práctica de la Prevención Cuaternaria en la atención Primaria de la Salud. Método: Investigación Apreciativa con la participación de nueve profesionales. Realizada en cinco reuniones, las cuales correspondieron a fases: discovery(descubrimiento), dream(sueño) design(planes) y destiny(destino), siendo tratadas, en este estudio, las reuniones que correspondieron a las tres últimas fases. Diarios de campo fueron usados para el registro de las informaciones, además de la grabación de las declaraciones en audios. Se realizó el Análisis Temático de Contenido. Resultados: surgieron tres categorías: Organización del trabajo en equipo; Calificación de los procesos de trabajo; Desarrollo de acciones de educación en salud. Fueron planeadas acciones que contribuyen para prácticas volcadas a la Prevención Cuaternaria, como acciones de educación permanente, escucha calificada, garantía del acceso, trabajo colaborativo y reconocimiento del territorio. Conclusión: se promovió el diálogo y reflexiones sobre las prácticas e intervenciones desnecesarias/inapropiadas, realizadas en los servicios, así como sus riesgos, incorporando unplan de acción enesta dirección

Identification of social innovation in health criteria in Latin America.

OBJECTIVES: Understanding the Latin American Social Innovation in Health (SIH) approach requires a process of typifying and identifying main criteria of the approach based on the employed practices of different health initiatives implemented throughout the region. This article presents a descriptive analysis of the main criteria of SIH. DESIGN: To identify the theoretical and methodological developments of SIH between the years 2013 and 2018, a scoping review was conducted using a mixed approach. 80 texts in English, Spanish and Portuguese were screened through a reflexive analysis process involving intratextual and intertextual reading. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: The documentary research covered journals, books and higher degree theses addressing experiences or theoretical constructs developed in the Latin American region. PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: The approaches identified in the studied initiatives were mutually complementary; moreover, based on the typification of the main criteria between approaches and implementation proposals, the convergences and divergences between SIH and other approaches found in the sample were identified. In most cases, the different approaches in the sample are committed to initiatives that include some degree of innovation, improve access to healthcare services and recognise in one way or another a public policy in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). RESULTS: Eighteen characteristic criteria were identified, of which nine particularly differentiate SIH from other approaches conceptually and methodologically. Further work is essential to eliminate the vague delimitation between social and technological aspects of innovation. CONCLUSIONS: The findings indicate that although the SIH concept is in construction, it is advancing down a path of recognition in the region, defining its role as an important field of study on social transformation in health and development.

Jules Guérin and social medicine in 1848.

The significance of Social Medicine in France in 1848 as a movement led by doctor Jules Guérin is not adequately documented. Why would an orthopedist write the call to doctors in Paris proposing a union around Social Medicine? What is the meaning of the formulation on Social Medicine made by Jules Guérin in 1848? An analysis of Jules Guérin's trajectory supported by primary and bibliographic sources was made to answer these questions. The material analyzed allows us to conclude that there was no movement around Social Medicine, unlike hygiene, and closer to the revolutionary proposals of 1848. Jules Guérin was a liberal doctor who aimed to have a place in the new revolutionary government for the medical corporation. His scientific and professional work was fundamentally related to orthopedics, and the paper on Social Medicine was a circumstantial essay with liberal content.

(Re) thinking urban mental health from the periphery of São Paulo in times of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Urban mental health studies traditionally search for causal relationships between elements of the city and the prevalence of mental disorders. This paper discusses the importance of (re)thinking the 'lived urban experience' from the perspective of city residents about how the immediate environment affects their mental health and how people cope with inequalities. A participatory-action research was implemented in a peripheral area of São Paulo - Brazil, in which volunteers from the territory made phone calls to neighbours to provide emotional support during the COVID-19 pandemic. Weekly supervision meetings were held between volunteers and researchers to discuss the experiences shared by community counterparts. Narratives have shown that the lived experience in the city is mediated by multiple layers of 'urban insecurities'. These difficulties pressured people to organise and resist in face of pervasive inequalities as well as to respond to unfolding experiences of social suffering. We highlight the potential of participatory methodologies to observe the ways in which subjects face their structural issues and the suffering that emerge in these circumstances. The understanding of how these conflicts are lived at a subjective level can support studies that are wondering about the mechanisms of how social conflicts 'get under the skin'.

Narratives of Indigenous University Students in Bogotá about the Indigenous Human Life Process, 2021 / Narrativas de estudiantes universitarios indígenas en Bogotá (Colombia) sobre el proceso vital humano indígena, 2021 / Narrativas de estudantes universitários indígenas em Bogotá sobre o processo de vida humana indígena, 2021

Introduction: In Colombia, a majority of the indigenous peoples are at risk of physical and cultural extinc-tion. In addition, the lack of studies related to analyzing their own narratives about the issues surround-ing indigenous health is telling. This absence results in difficulties of analysis and intervention culturally appropriate for indigenous problems. Thus, the objective was to unveil the narratives about the human life process in the indigenous peoples of Colombia constructed by indigenous migrant university students in Bogotá. Materials and methods: This research is qualitative, with a narrative approach, and is based on the hermeneutical­interpretive paradigm. Eight undergraduate students in Bogotá, between the ages of 18 and 40, belonging to the Kamentsá, Pastos, Pijao, Kankuamo, Nasa, and Misak peoples, were inter-viewed. Results: Life in harmony, anchored to the territory of origin, was identified as the key organizing concept for all understandings of health, illness, death, and care. Conclusions: Designing appropriate healthcare interventions aimed at indigenous people requires considering their own understandings of the human life process in an intrinsic relationship with the integral harmony between person, commu-nity, and territory

Introducción: En Colombia, la mayoría de los pueblos indígenas se encuentran en riesgo de extinción física y cultural. Además, existe una deficiencia de estudios relacionados con el análisis de narrativas propias sobre los asuntos que rodean la salud indígena. Tal ausencia deriva en las dificultades de análisis e intervención culturalmente apropiada a problemas indígenas. Así, se planteó como objetivo develar las narrativas sobre el proceso vital humano en pueblos indígenas de Colombia construidas por estudiantes universitarios indígenas migrantes en Bogotá. Materiales y métodos: esta investigación es cualitativa con enfoque narrativo y está basada en el paradigma hermenéutico-interpretativo. Se entrevistó a ocho estudiantes que cursan el pregrado en Bogotá, con edades entre 18 y 40 años, pertenecientes a los pueblos kamentsá, pastos, pijao, kankuamo, nasa y misak. Resultados: se identificó la vida en armonía, anclada al territorio de origen, como el concepto clave organizador de todas las comprensiones relativas a la salud, la enfermedad, la muerte y el cuidado. Conclusiones: el diseño de intervenciones sanitarias apropiadas dirigidas a indígenas requiere considerar sus propias comprensiones sobre el proceso vital humano, en relación intrínseca con la armonía integral entre persona, comunidad y territorio.

Introdução: na Colômbia, a maioria dos povos indígenas está em risco de extinção física e cultural. Além disso, faltam estudos relacionados à análise de narrativas sobre o processo de Vida Humana Indígena que partem de suas próprias perspectivas. Essa ausência é evidenciada nas dificuldades de analisar e implementar intervenções culturalmente adequadas aos problemas das comunidades indígenas. Desta forma, o objetivo é desvelar as narrativas sobre o processo vital humano nos povos indígenas da Colômbia construídas por estudantes universitários indígenas migrantes em Bogotá. Materiais e méto-dos: a pesquisa é qualitativa com abordagem narrativa e fundamenta-se no paradigma hermenêutico-in-terpretativo. Para isso, foram realizadas entrevistas com oito estudantes indígenas universitários, com idades entre 18 e 40 anos, pertencentes aos povos indígenas kamentsá, pastos, pijao, kankuamo, nasa e misak. Resultados: a convivência harmoniosa, ancorada nos territórios de origem, foi identificada como o conceito organizador-chave de todas as compreensões de saúde, doença, morte e cuidado. Conclusões:o desenho de intervenções de saúde adequadas dirigidas aos povos indígenas requer a consideração de seus próprios entendimentos sobre o processo da vida humana, em uma relação intrínseca com a harmonia integral entre pessoa, comunidade e território

Fractured lives in fractured cities: Towards a critical understanding of urban violence in the context of market-driven urban restructuring processes in Bogotá and Rio de Janeiro.

Based on a comparative case study on two neighborhoods in Bogota and Rio de Janeiro (2017-2019) and a comprehensive literature review, this article proposes a critical Public Health approach to urban violence and makes a case for understanding the phenomenon in the context of market-driven urban territorial restructuring processes that assume specific qualities in cities of the Global South. The case studies are based on focus groups and semi-structured interviews with residents, specialists and community leaders. It is argued that urban violence is a key public health challenge, particularly in Latin America, given its dimensions and its impact on the populations' life and health. In this regard it configures "fractured lives" in what urban scholars have termed "fractured cities" - essentially unequal and polarized cities that are not merely sites of urban violence but, as we argue in this article, fundamentally shape urban violence, its qualities, dynamics and dimensions. The study is informed by a unique theoretical articulation between Latin American Social Medicine and Collective Health, critical (Latin American) geographical theory and authoritarian neoliberalism literature and shows how urban violence is directly implied in the territorial making and un-making of the cities, driven by commodification as well as both legal and illegal capitalist market logics, that include but are not limited to drug trade. The cases reflect the violence implied in permanent threats of eviction and displacement, "necropolitical" police/military interventions and what is described as a silent imposition of a "slow death" on infrastructure, the neighborhood and ultimately also its residents, which "fracture" the lives of significant parts of the urban population, produce "ill-being" and bring about health consequences that are rarely considered in relation to urban violence.

Chile y la pandemia de covid-19: memoria de la medicina social en contexto de crisis neoliberal / Chile and the covid-19 pandemic: remembering social medicine in the context of the neoliberal crisis

Resumen Desde el Estallido Social de octubre de 2019 hasta la epidemia de covid-19 en 2020, la sociedad chilena ha vivido un intenso periodo de conflictos sociales y sociosanitarios que han puesto en crisis el modelo de desarrollo neoliberal. La pandemia llegó a evidenciar con fuerza las formas de operar de este modelo en lo que a salud se refiere: prioridad de la ganancia por sobre las vidas, desigualdad, la represión por sobre el diálogo, entre otras. En este contexto de crisis, la memoria de la medicina social, desplegada en Chile como respuesta frente a las epidemias de fines del siglo XIX, resurge como proyecto.

Abstract Ever since the "social outburst" protests of October 2019 and the covid-19 epidemic of 2020, Chilean society has experienced a period of intense social and sociomedical conflicts that have thrown the neoliberal model of development into crisis. The pandemic powerfully highlighted the ways this model operated in terms of health: it prioritized earnings over lives, inequality, and repression instead of dialogue, among other things. In this context of crisis, remembering social medicine, which was developed in Chile in response to the epidemics of the late nineteenth century, has resurfaced as a project.

Intraurban socioeconomic inequalities in life expectancy: a population-based cross-sectional analysis in the city of Córdoba, Argentina (2015-2018).

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate variability in life expectancy at birth in small areas, describe the spatial pattern of life expectancy, and examine associations between small-area socioeconomic characteristics and life expectancy in a mid-sized city of a middle-income country. DESIGN: Cross-sectional, using data from death registries (2015-2018) and socioeconomic characteristics data from the 2010 national population census. PARTICIPANTS/SETTING: 40 898 death records in 99 small areas of the city of Córdoba, Argentina. We summarised variability in life expectancy at birth by using the difference between the 90th and 10th percentile of the distribution of life expectancy across small areas (P90-P10 gap) and evaluated associations with small-area socioeconomic characteristics by calculating a Slope Index of Inequality in linear regression. PRIMARY OUTCOME: Life expectancy at birth. RESULTS: The median life expectancy at birth was 80.3 years in women (P90-P10 gap=3.2 years) and 75.1 years in men (P90-P10 gap=4.6 years). We found higher life expectancies in the core and northwest parts of the city, especially among women. We found positive associations between life expectancy and better small-area socioeconomic characteristics, especially among men. Mean differences in life expectancy between the highest versus the lowest decile of area characteristics in men (women) were 3.03 (2.58), 3.52 (2.56) and 2.97 (2.31) years for % adults with high school education or above, % persons aged 15-17 attending school, and % households with water inside the dwelling, respectively. Lower values of % overcrowded households and unemployment rate were associated with longer life expectancy: mean differences comparing the lowest versus the highest decile were 3.03 and 2.73 in men and 2.57 and 2.34 years in women, respectively. CONCLUSION: Life expectancy is substantially heterogeneous and patterned by socioeconomic characteristics in a mid-sized city of a middle-income country, suggesting that small-area inequities in life expectancy are not limited to large cities or high-income countries.

Maternal health and Indigenous traditional midwives in southern Mexico: contextualisation of a scoping review.

OBJECTIVES: Collate published evidence of factors that affect maternal health in Indigenous communities and contextualise the findings with stakeholder perspectives in the Mexican State of Guerrero. DESIGN: Scoping review and stakeholder fuzzy cognitive mapping. INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION: The scoping review included empirical studies (quantitative, qualitative or mixed methods) that addressed maternal health issues among Indigenous communities in the Americas and reported on the role or influence of traditional midwives before June 2020. The contextualisation drew on two previous studies of traditional midwife and researcher perspectives in southern Mexico. RESULTS: The initial search identified 4461 references. Of 87 selected studies, 63 came from Guatemala and Mexico. Three small randomised trials involved traditional midwives. One addressed the practice of traditional midwifery. With diverse approaches to cultural differences, the studies used contrasting definitions of traditional midwives. A fuzzy cognitive map graphically summarised the influences identified in the scoping review. When we compared the literature's map with those from 29 traditional midwives in Guerrero and eight international researchers, the three sources coincided in the importance of self-care practices, rituals and traditional midwifery. The primary concern reflected in the scoping review was access to Western healthcare, followed by maternal health outcomes. For traditional midwives, the availability of hospital or health centre in the community was less relevant and had negative effects on other protective influences, while researchers conditioned its importance to its levels of cultural safety. Traditional midwives highlighted the role of violence against women, male involvement and traditional diseases. CONCLUSIONS: The literature and stakeholder maps showed maternal health resulting from complex interacting factors in which promotion of cultural practices was compatible with a protective effect on Indigenous maternal health. Future research challenges include traditional concepts of diseases and the impact on maternal health of gender norms, self-care practices and authentic traditional midwifery.

A school without railings: rural backgrounds, social medicine, and the circulation of public health material in Colombia, 1930-1946 / Uma escola não cercada: experiência rural, medicina social e circulação de material de saúde pública na Colômbia, 1930-1946

Abstract Ambitious state hygiene education projects designed during liberal governments in Colombia (1930-1946) faced not just the poverty of rural populations, but also the reluctance of local political forces. I analyze hygiene education programs during the first two liberal governments of the Liberal Republic. I argue that public health programs did not reach their audience due to local clientelism and political corruption. The sources of this article come mainly from Colombia's Ministry of Education reports and cultural magazines. The education sector also had health-related responsibilities and developed assessments of local needs, which contributed to public health programs. Latin America's public health historiography could be enriched by exploring failures in the implementation of projects in the history of social medicine.

Resumo Projetos governamentais de educação em saúde propostos por governos liberais da Colômbia (1930-1946) enfrentaram não apenas a pobreza das populações rurais, mas também a relutância de forças políticas. Analiso os programas de educação em saúde durante os dois primeiros governos da República Liberal. Argumento que os programas de saúde pública não alcançaram o público alvo por causa de clientelismo local e corrupção política. As fontes deste artigo foram, principalmente, relatórios do Ministério da Educação da Colômbia e revistas culturais. O setor da edução teve responsabilidades relacionadas à saúde e desenvolveu avaliações das necessidades locais, que contribuíram para programas de saúde pública. A historiografia da saúde pública na América Latina poderia se beneficiar se explorasse as falhas na implementação de projetos de medicina social.

Oral health assessment of older adults living in long-term care facilities by non-dental professionals: a systematic review protocol of instruments.

INTRODUCTION: Regular oral health assessment among older adults living in long-term care facilities (LTCF) can improve their oral health. Different instruments have been developed and used to evaluate the oral health of institutionalised older people by non-dental professionals. These instruments must demonstrate adequate measurement properties. This systematic review aims to examine the studies describing the instruments employed to assess the oral health of older adults living in LTCF by non-dental professionals. The study will also evaluate the measurement properties of such instruments using the checklist proposed by the Consensus-based Standards to select health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN). METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Studies describing the development of instruments for assessing oral health of institutionalised older adults by non-dental professionals will be included. Studies assessing at least one measurement property (validity, reliability or responsiveness) will be also considered. Electronic searches will be conducted on MEDLINE (PubMed, Ovid), Embase, Web of Science, Scopus and LILACS databases. Two independent reviewers will select the studies and will extract data concerning the characteristics of the research and the instrument. The measurement properties will be evaluated using the COSMIN checklist. The Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation approach will be used to grade the quality (or certainty) of evidence and strength of recommendations. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: No ethical approval is required. The results will be submitted for publication to a peer-review journal and presented at relevant conferences. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42020191479.

Educational disparities in hypertension, diabetes, obesity and smoking in Brazil: a trend analysis of 578 977 adults from a national survey, 2007-2018.

OBJECTIVES: Our study aimed to assess social inequality trends for hypertension, diabetes mellitus, smoking and obesity from 2007 to 2018 in adults from Brazilian capitals. SETTING: Data from the Surveillance of Risk and Protection Factors for Chronic Diseases by Telephone Survey study, a cross-sectional telephone survey, conducted annually from 2007 to 2018. PARTICIPANTS: We used data from 578 977 Brazilian adults (≥18 years). DESIGN: Cross-sectional surveys conducted annually from 2007 to 2018. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Participants responded to a questionnaire about medical diagnosis of hypertension and diabetes, smoking status, weight and height. Educational inequalities (0-3, 4-8, 9-11 and 12 or more years of study) by sex and skin colour were assessed trough absolute, Slope Index of Inequality (SII) and relative measures of inequality, Concentration Index and trends were tested by Prais-Winsten. RESULTS: All outcomes were more prevalent in the least educated. The largest absolute educational inequality was observed for hypertension (SIItotal=-37.8 in 2018). During 2007-2018, the total educational disparity remained constant for hypertension, increased for diabetes and smoking, and decreased for obesity. Overall, inequality was higher among women and non-whites, compared with men and whites. We found a reduction in absolute inequality for hypertension among non-whites, an increase for diabetes in all strata, and an increase for smoking in women and non-whites. The relative inequality decreased in women and whites and increased for smoking in all strata, except among men. CONCLUSION: The educational inequality reduced for obesity, remained constant for hypertension and increased for diabetes and smoking from 2007 to 2018 in Brazilian adults.