Search

Für das Jahr 2021 wurden insgesamt 4.747 Fälle von Hepatitis C übermittelt, was einer bundesweiten Inzidenz von 5,7 übermittelten Infektionen/100.000 Einwohner entspricht und die Inzidenz des Vorjahres (5,5) nur minimal übersteigt. Der beobachtete Rückgang der Anzahl übermittelter HCV-Infektionen seit 2020 ist möglicherweise bedingt durch Unterdiagnose und -erfassung während der COVID-19-Pandemie. Ein Teil des Rückgangs kann aber auch einem tatsächlichen Rückgang der Inzidenz durch effektive Hepatitis-C-Behandlungen und dadurch seltenerem Auftreten von Transmissionsereignissen entsprechen. Gleichzeitig sinkt jedoch die Zahl der Behandelten kontinuierlich ab, wodurch das Erreichen der Hepatitis-C-Eliminationsziele bis 2030 gefährdet ist. Der Jahresbericht zur Virushepatitis C gibt einen Überblick u. a. über die epidemiologische Situation weltweit, in Europa und in Deutschland sowie den Stand der Hepatitis-C-Eliminierung.

Background School attendance during the COVID-19 pandemic is intensely debated. Aim In November 2020, we assessed SARS-CoV-2 infections and seroreactivity in 24 randomly selected school classes and connected households in Berlin, Germany. Methods We collected oro-nasopharyngeal swabs and blood samples, examining SARS-CoV-2 infection and IgG antibodies by RT-PCR and ELISA. Household members self-swabbed. We assessed individual and institutional prevention measures. Classes with SARS-CoV-2 infection and connected households were retested after 1 week. Results We examined 1,119 participants, including 177 primary and 175 secondary school students, 142 staff and 625 household members. SARS-CoV-2 infection occurred in eight classes, affecting each 1–2 individuals. Infection prevalence was 2.7% (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.2–5.0; 9/338), 1.4% (95% CI: 0.2–5.1; 2/140), and 2.3% (95% CI: 1.3–3.8; 14/611) among students, staff and household members. Six of nine infected students were asymptomatic at testing. We detected IgG antibodies in 2.0% (95%CI: 0.8–4.1; 7/347), 1.4% (95% CI: 0.2–5.0; 2/141) and 1.4% (95% CI: 0.6–2.7; 8/576). Prevalence increased with inconsistent facemask-use in school, walking to school, and case-contacts outside school. For three of nine households with infection(s), origin in school seemed possible. After 1 week, no school-related secondary infections appeared in affected classes; the attack rate in connected households was 1.1%. Conclusion School attendance under rigorously implemented preventive measures seems reasonable. Balancing risks and benefits of school closures need to consider possible spill-over infection into households. Deeper insight is required into the infection risks due to being a schoolchild vs attending school.

Objective: The WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health (SDH) has called for a health workforce trained in recognising, understanding and acting on the SDH. However, little is known about how current medical education prepares graduates for this challenge. This study analyses the extent to which the German medical education incorporates content on SDH. Design: Following a published protocol, in 2018, we conducted a qualitative and quantitative content analysis of three key document groups, defining and guiding what medical schools are expected to teach and what medical students are expected to know when graduating in Germany. We developed the coding system in a mixed inductive and deductive approach based on key WHO documents. Setting: Medical schools and the medical education system in Germany. Results: Important gaps exist in the representation of SDH in medical education in Germany. Between 3% and 27% of the analysed document-elements made reference to SDH and only 0%-3% of those document elements made explicit references to SDH. While some aspects were covered widely (eg, topics of occupational health, early childhood development and hygiene), other topics such as health inequalities or determinants outside of the healthcare system were not or hardly represented. Conclusions: A stronger and more explicit representation of SDH in German medical education is needed to prepare the new health workforce for current and future challenges in our globalised world and for medical schools to be socially accountable.

Open Heart 8(8), e020696 (2018). doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2017-020696, Published by BMJ, London

Dissertation, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, 2018; Aachen (2019). doi:10.18154/RWTH-2019-02369 = Dissertation, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, 2018, This thesis sets out discourses and activities of German aid organizations in the health sector since the 1970s against the background of changes in humanitarian aid and development cooperation (DC). The analysed aid organizations were Cap Anamur, the German Red Cross (GRC) and medico international. The self-perception, principles and motivation to provide international health care, which shaped concepts and contents of projects, both differed significantly across and changed within the assessed aid organizations over time. Medico international has undergone a significant change as organization, which was founded as humanitarian aid organization with disaster response as its key pillar and nowadays considers itself as a global development and human rights organization. Cap Anamur and the GRC showed changes on different levels, like the extension of scope of their activity, whereas their core focus remained on humanitarian aid. The relationship between humanitarian health care and politics became an increasing challenge for aid organizations, which need to position themselves within this tension field. In political conflicts, especially the GRC needed to defend neutrality as its core organizational principle. The issue of a distinction between humanitarian aid and DC in the health sector was of great importance for the analysed aid organizations. Whereas a rather clear boundary between humanitarian aid and DC existed from the 1970s to the 1990s, more integrated approaches developed with the concept of linking relief, rehabilitation and development (LRRD), which was established in the middle of the 1990s. The analysis showed internal shifts within the organizations’ priorities and also that long-term development cooperation was a binding element besides humanitarian aid. The comparison of core elements of operational work, such as important project contents, requirements for posted personnel and conflicts during a specific project, demonstrated characteristics of the analysed actors and set these in a larger developmental and historical context. Moreover, the research results illustrated how extensive changes in the global health governance system require adequate approaches for aid and cooperation at a global scale - thereby building a bridge from the historical context to current as well as future challenges in humanitarian aid and development cooperation., Published by Aachen

Zielsetzung: Sozialen Determinanten von Krankheit und Gesundheit (SDHs) beschreiben gesundheitsrelevante Bedingungen, in die Menschen hineingeboren werden, unter denen sie aufwachsen, leben, arbeiten und altern. Über ökonomische, psychosoziale, soziokulturelle und verhaltensbezogene Mechanismen[zum vollständigen Text gelangen Sie über die oben angegebene URL], Gemeinsame Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Medizinische Ausbildung (GMA) und des Arbeitskreises zur Weiterentwicklung der Lehre in der Zahnmedizin (AKWLZ)