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Considering the growing green awareness and increasingly stringent emission regulations, heavy-emitting supply chains are required to re-schedule their operations for environmental responsibility. Although coordination helps the supply chains overcome the decentralised disadvantages to achieve desirable profits, literature considering option contracts under emission constraints, especially combining warehousing contracts, remains scarce. This paper fills this research gap with the novelty in the dual-contract-coordinated decision analysis for achieving profit maximum and emission reduction targets considering customers' green awareness through option and warehousing contracts, based on the originality of using the Lagrange-Stackelberg optimisation method, which overcomes the difficulty in expressing the first-mover's decisions and simplifies the problem-solving process. Analytical and numerical results show that Pareto-efficient coordination can be fully achieved by the option contract if the warehousing contract ensures the same inventory costs before and after coordination. Otherwise, partial coordination also raises insiders' profitability only through the option contract. Purchasing extra emissions with green investment is the best in most cases. The contract-maker should deliberate its contract settings including the option and wholesale prices, as well as warehousing, to develop Pareto-efficient coordination. Sustainability comes at a cost, but coordination raises profitability and emission mitigation in a well-built ETS market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been adopted as a form of HIV treatment and prevention. This study assesses rapid ART initiation using clinical outcomes such as viral load (VL) and CD4+ T lymphocytes count. Over the course of one year, the progress of newly diagnosed people living with HIV who started ART early in a hospital in Panama City was followed. The evaluation of early initiation of ART in achieving viral suppression (VL <200 copies/ml) was analyzed using descriptive statistics. Additionally, the cost difference between early (first 7 days) and late initiation of ART was evaluated from the perspective of the service provider. In total, 209 people were followed up during the study; 85% were male, 70% started ART on same day from hospital arrival, 80% had suppressed viral load at 6 months, and the median count of CD4 increased from 285 (IQR: 166–429) to 509 (IQR: 373–696) over 12 months. Starting ART early led to a 42% increase for the provider in terms of staffing costs; however, the clients had the opportunity to decrease absenteeism in daily activities. The results reveal that early initiation of ART generates clinical and economic benefits for the person in treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building fair, equitable, and beneficial partnerships between institutions collaborating in research in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) and high-income countries (HIC) has become an integral part of research capacity building in global health in recent years. In this paper, we offer an example of an academic collaboration between the University of California Los Angeles, Center for Health Policy and Research (UCLA CHPR) and the University of Philippines, Manila, College of Public Health (UPM CPH) that sought to build an equitable partnership between research institutions. The partnership was built on a project to build capacity for research and produce data for policy action for the prevention and care of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) through primary healthcare in the Philippines. The specific objectives of the project were to: (1) locally adapt the Primary Care Assessment Tool for the Philippines and use the adapted tool to measure facility-level primary care delivery, (2) conduct focus group discussions (FGDs) to gather qualitative observations regarding primary care readiness and capacity, and (3) conduct a comprehensive population-based health survey among adults on NCDs and prior healthcare experience. We describe here the progression of the partnership between these institutions to carry out the project and the elements that helped build a stronger connection between the institutions, such as mutual goal setting, cultural bridging, collaborative teams, and capacity building. This example, which can be used as a model depicting new directionality and opportunities for LMIC-HIC academic partnerships, was written based on the review of shared project documents, including study protocols, and written and oral communications with the project team members, including the primary investigators. The innovation of this partnership includes: LMIC-initiated project need identification, LMIC-based funding allocation, a capacity-building role of the HIC institution, and the expansion of scope through jointly offered courses on global health.

Sexual violence in humanitarian contexts is a global public health issue. Yet, evidence suggests that humanitarian organisations may not always be inclusive of cisgender, heterosexual men and LGBTIQ+ survivors in their responses. This scoping review examines the extent to which global organisations focusing on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) address the needs of cisgender, heterosexual men and LGBTIQ+ survivors in service delivery and funding priorities. We examined grey literature published from 2013-2023 on SGBV service delivery and funding priorities in humanitarian contexts. Forty-seven documents were included in the final analyses, which comprised content and thematic analyses. Many of the documents acknowledged cisgender, heterosexual men or LGBTIQ+ individuals as at-risk groups; however, there was a lack of comprehensive discussion of these groups. Documents on LGBTIQ+ individuals referred to the group as a monolith, making little distinction among the LGBTIQ+ experience and the need to tailor responses to meet intersectional needs. Documents on men emphasised their role as perpetrators and allies, while overlooking that they also experience sexual violence. Findings support the critical need to address gaps in humanitarian programme and donor priorities to better ensure inclusion of cisgender, heterosexual men and LGBTIQ+ individuals without ignoring the needs of women and girls.

Science education and research have the potential to drive profound change in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) through encouraging innovation, attracting industry, and creating job opportunities. However, in LMICs, research capacity is often limited, and acquisition of funding and access to state-of-the-art technologies is challenging. The Alliance for Global Health and Science (the Alliance) was founded as a partnership between the University of California, Berkeley (USA) and Makerere University (Uganda), with the goal of strengthening Makerere University's capacity for bioscience research. The flagship program of the Alliance partnership is the MU/UCB Biosciences Training Program, an in-country, hands-on workshop model that trains a large number of students from Makerere University in infectious disease and molecular biology research. This approach nucleates training of larger and more diverse groups of students, development of mentoring and bi-directional research partnerships, and support of the local economy. Here, we describe the project, its conception, implementation, challenges, and outcomes of bioscience research workshops. We aim to provide a blueprint for workshop implementation, and create a valuable resource for bioscience research capacity strengthening in LMICs.

Alcohol use disorders (AUD) among people living with HIV (PLHIV) are associated with poor health outcomes. This cross-sectional study examined current alcohol use and AUD among 300 PLHIV on ART at four HIV care centres in Northwest Tanzania. Participants' data were collected using questionnaires. Alcohol use was assessed using Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Logistic regression was used to examine associations between each outcome (current drinking and AUD) and sociodemographic and clinical factors. Association between alcohol use and ART adherence was also studied. The median age of participants was 43 years (IQR 19-71) and 41.3% were male. Twenty-two (7.3%) participants failed to take ART at least once in the last seven days. The prevalence of current drinking was 29.3% (95% CI 24.2-34.8%) and that of AUD was 11.3% (8.2%−15.5%). Males had higher odds of alcohol use (OR 3.03, 95% CI 1.79-5.14) and AUD (3.89, 1.76-8.60). Alcohol use was associated with ART non-adherence (OR = 2.78, 1.10–7.04). There was a trend towards an association between AUD and non-adherence (OR = 2.91, 0.92–9.21). Alcohol use and AUD were common among PLHIV and showed evidence of associations with ART non-adherence. Screening patients for alcohol use and AUD in HIV clinics may increase ART adherence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive study aimed at measuring trace elements pollution in the Shazand chemical industrial district, located in northwestern Iran, was conducted. Employing principal component analysis (PCA) and positive matrix factorization (PMF), we identified sources of trace elements and assessed associated health risks for inhabitants. The results showed that the mean concentrations of Pb, Cd, Ni, Zn, and As of 190 topsoil samples exceeded the background values, except for Cu. The total noncancer risk values for adults and children were 0.72 and 7.95, respectively, and the total carcinogenic risks were 8.46 E – 05 and 2.69 E – 04, respectively. The noncarcinogenic risk for children was above the threshold level, but low for adults. The total potential carcinogenic health risks for children exceeded the threshold of 1 E – 04 indicating a high carcinogenic risk for them, whereas the risk for adults was considered acceptable. Furthermore, As was the primary hazardous metal to human health, followed by Cd and Ni. According to the results of the PMF model, four factors were extracted for trace elements, including natural source, transportation sources, industrial sources, and agricultural sources, which contributed about 27.9%, 17.51%, 29.15%, and 25.44% to pollution of the area, respectively. Anthropogenic sources contributed far more to the potential health risks posed to inhabitants of the study area. These findings can assist governmental agencies in implementing targeted control strategies to prevent the contamination of heavy metals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PurposeAt the 12th meeting of AORTIC (African Organization for Research and Training in Cancer) in Maputo, Mozambique, held between November 5 and November 8, 2019, a special workshop was organized to focus on the need for collaboration and coordination between governments and health systems in Africa with academic, industry, association, and other nongovernmental organizations to effect sustainable positive change for the care of patients with cancer.MethodsRepresentatives from seven different projects in Africa presented implementation science and demonstration projects of their to date efforts in cancer system improvement including patient access, South-South partnerships, in-country specialized training, palliative care consortium, treatment outcomes, and focused pathology and diagnostic capacity building. Key partners of the various projects served as moderators and commentators during the session.ResultsFrom across all the presentations, lessons learned and exemplary evidence of the value of partnerships were gathered and summarized.ConclusionThe concluding synthesis of the presentations determined that with the broad needs across cancer requiring in-depth expertise at each point on a patient's journey, no single organization can effect change alone. Multipartner collaborations not only should be the norm but should also be coordinated so that efforts are not duplicated and maximum patient access to cancer diagnosis and care is achieved.

Community-academic partnerships are believed to increase the effectiveness and feasibility of action research. While factors facilitating and hindering community-academic partnerships have been identified, their influence on the collaborative process is unknown, especially during community-academic partnership initiation and development. This explanatory sequential mixed methods study (quantitative→QUALITATIVE) evaluated perspectives of members in an autism community-academic partnership to determine frequently endorsed and influential factors facilitating and hindering the collaborative process during the community-academic partnership's development. Participants (n = 11; community stakeholders, implementation scientist, and researchers) endorsed and ranked the importance of factors present in the formation of the community-academic partnership then completed a semi-structured qualitative interview to elaborate on survey responses. Interviews were coded using a coding, comparison, and consensus method and analyzed using the Rapid Assessment Process for frequency and salience of themes across interviews. Integrating mixed methods yielded ranked factors that were perceived to facilitate and hinder the development of the community-academic partnership, and highlighted the relative influence of interpersonal factors on the facilitation of community-academic partnership processes and organizational factors on the hindrance of community-academic partnership processes during development. Some discrepancies emerged between community and academic partners. Results may assist to improve the development of community-academic partnerships, which is becoming increasingly important in healthcare services research, dissemination, and implementation.

Understanding what contributes to success of community-based participatory research (CBPR) partnerships is essential to ensuring their effectiveness in addressing health disparities and health inequities. Synergy, the concept of accomplishing more together than separately, is central to partnership effectiveness. However, synergy specific to long-standing, equity-focused CBPR partnerships has not been closely examined. To address this, we defined and developed measures of partnership synergy as one dimension of a participatory mixed methods study, Measurement Approaches to Partnership Success (MAPS), to develop a validated instrument to measure success in long-standing CBPR partnerships. Framed by a conceptual model and scoping literature review, we conducted in-depth interviews with a national panel of academic and community experts in CBPR and equity to develop partnership synergy measures. Items were refined through an iterative process, including a three-stage Delphi process, comparison with existing measures, cognitive interviews, and pilot testing. Seven questionnaire items were developed to measure synergy arising from equitable partnerships bringing together diverse partners across power differences to promote equity. Defining and measuring synergy in the context of long-standing partnership success is central to understanding the role of synergy in collaborative approaches to research and action and can strengthen CBPR partnerships to promote healthy communities and advance health equity.

Strong long-term international partnership in science, technology, finance and policy is critical for sustainable field experiments leading to successful commercial deployment of novel technology at community-scale. Although technologies already exist that can remediate arsenic in groundwater, most are too expensive or too complicated to operate on a sustained basis in resource-poor communities with the low technical skill common in rural South Asia. To address this specific problem, researchers at University of California-Berkeley (UCB) and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) invented a technology in 2006 called electrochemical arsenic remediation (ECAR). Since 2010, researchers at UCB and LBNL have collaborated with Global Change Program of Jadavpur University (GCP-JU) in West Bengal, India for its social embedding alongside a local private industry group, and with financial support from the Indo-US Technology Forum (IUSSTF) over 2012–2017. During the first 10 months of pilot plant operation (April 2016 to January 2017) a total of 540 m3 (540,000 L) of arsenic-safe water was produced, consistently and reliably reducing arsenic concentrations from initial 252 ± 29 to final 2.9 ± 1 parts per billion (ppb). This paper presents the critical strategies in taking a technology from a lab in the USA to the field in India for commercialization to address the technical, socio-economic, and political aspects of the arsenic public health crisis while targeting several sustainable development goals (SDGs). The lessons learned highlight the significance of designing a technology contextually, bridging the knowledge divide, supporting local livelihoods, and complying with local regulations within a defined Critical Effort Zone period with financial support from an insightful funding source focused on maturing inventions and turning them into novel technologies for commercial scale-up. Along the way, building trust with the community through repetitive direct interactions, and communication by the scientists, proved vital for bridging the technology-society gap at a critical stage of technology deployment. The information presented here fills a knowledge gap regarding successful case studies in which the arsenic remediation technology obtains social acceptance and sustains technical performance over time, while operating with financial viability.

Functional neurosurgery techniques remain integral to the neurosurgical treatment armamentarium but data on global implementation remains scarce. In comparison to high-income countries (HIC), low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) suffer from an increased prevalence of diseases like epilepsy, which may be amenable to functional techniques, and therefore, LMIC may benefit from an increased utilization of these treatment modalities. However, functional techniques tend to be expensive and thus difficult to implement in the LMIC setting. A review was performed to assess the current status of functional neurosurgical techniques in LMIC as a starting point for future initiatives. For methodology, a review of the current body of literature on functional neurosurgery in LMIC was conducted through the United States National Library of Medicine Pubmed search engine. Search terms included "functional neurosurgery," "developing countries," "low and middle income," and other related terms. It was found that though five billion people lack access to safe surgical care, the burden of disease amenable to treatment with functional neurosurgical procedures remains unknown. Increasingly, reports of successful, long-term, international neurosurgical collaborations are being reported, but reports in the sub-field of functional neurosurgery are lacking. In conclusion, awareness of global surgical disparities has increased dramatically while global guidelines for functional techniques are currently lacking. A concerted effort can harness these techniques for wider practice. Partnerships between centers in LMIC and HIC are making progress to better understand the burden of disease in LMIC and to create context-specific solutions for practice in the LMIC setting, but more collaborations are warranted.

In 2004, Brazilian soybean cooperatives in Rio Grande do Sul state and the Chinese state-owned agroindustrial commodity trading company Chinatex orchestrated the first direct soybean shipments between both countries. By that moment, China had flipped from a net soybean exporter in the previous decade to the world’s leading importer of this commodity, and Brazilian exports were mushrooming to attend this demand. However, powerful trading corporations from the US and western Europe dominated this international trade. Thus, the attempt to establish direct shipments between Brazilian producers to China was integral to efforts by agribusinesses in these emerging economies to wrest control over the profits and flows of this burgeoning and strategic sector. However, this first partnership for direct soybean trade became embroiled in a convoluted crisis involving the legalization of transgenic soybeans in Brazil, widespread contamination of shipments with pesticide-covered seeds, record volatility in soybean prices, and the ensuing collapse and foreign take-over of the Chinese soybean trade and processing industry—dubbed the “Battle of the Beans” in Chinese media. Drawing on extended interviews with the key protagonists of this decisive moment in the restructuring of international agribusiness markets, I describe how direct Brazil-China soybean trade was spectacularly stillborn, consolidating the oligopoly of agribusiness trading companies from the Global North over international soybean markets for another decade. I argue this particular moment was one of the most important events in the construction of the new geography of Brazil-China relations, and we can only understand how its specific convergences and divergences emerged through grounded, transnational, and ethnographically-nuanced analysis. Thus, my investigation provides unprecedented insight into the political and economic conjuncture in which South-South cooperation is pursued between China and its largest commercial partner in Latin America, even while it reproduces agroindustrial production and trade relations that benefit transnational elites at the expense of the majority of peasants, workers, and the environment in both China and Latin America.

ObjectiveTo assess the feasibility of a novel, partnered technology development process to co-create mobile health applications (apps) addressing community health priorities, using psychoeducation of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles for enhancing resilience as an example.DesignStakeholder engagement, workgroups, pilot feasibility study using mixed methods during October 2013 through January 2016 over three phases: 1) defining the vision of the project and increasing technical capacity, 2) co-development and pilot testing of the app, and 3) planning for sustainability.SettingAn academic-community partnership in South Los Angeles, California.ParticipantsEight stakeholders; 30 pilot participants from the community.Main outcome measuresQualitative analysis of audio-recordings of the app development process and stakeholder interviews, surveys of stakeholders' perception of the development process, app use data, and feedback from pilot participants.ResultsThe participatory technology development process resulted in creation and pilot-testing of a resiliency-focused text messaging app. Of the 1,107 messages sent, 23 out of 30 (77%) app users responded to explore interactive content. Stakeholders reported increased perceived competency in creating mobile apps and that the process fostered a culture of co-leadership. There was also sustained engagement in mobile app development by stakeholders beyond the initial project period.ConclusionsThis is the first study, to our knowledge, to demonstrate the feasibility of participatory technology development, an approach involving direct participation in the development, tailoring and maintenance of a mobile app by a broad set of stakeholders with high representation from racial/ethnic minorities from an under-resourced community. Participatory technology development is a promising approach for creating sustainable, relevant and engaging health technologies across different technological, clinical and community settings.

Economic globalization and concomitant growth in international trade since the late 1990s have profoundly reorganized global production activities and related CO2 emissions. Here we show trade among developing nations (i.e., South-South trade) has more than doubled between 2004 and 2011, which reflects a new phase of globalization. Some production activities are relocating from China and India to other developing countries, particularly raw materials and intermediate goods production in energy-intensive sectors. In turn, the growth of CO2 emissions embodied in Chinese exports has slowed or reversed, while the emissions embodied in exports from less-developed regions such as Vietnam and Bangladesh have surged. Although China's emissions may be peaking, ever more complex supply chains are distributing energy-intensive industries and their CO2 emissions throughout the global South. This trend may seriously undermine international efforts to reduce global emissions that increasingly rely on rallying voluntary contributions of more, smaller, and less-developed nations.

This study examines how the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can be leveraged to facilitate strategic change towards sustainability involving multiple stakeholders in a pluralistic city environment. By drawing on an exemplary case study of the localisation of the SDGs in Bristol, a medium-sized UK city, we show how the goals can operate as a boundary object. In particular, we identify a pattern in which the discursive localisation of the SDGs moved from problematisation and visioning through strategising and structuring towards embedding and performing. In addition, we elaborate on the three tensions that the SDGs help participants to understand and use productively, that is, across scale, time and different ways of valuing. Our study contributes to research on strategic change in pluralistic settings, such as cities, by offering a nuanced account of the discursive use of the SDGs by organisations involved in a city’s sustainable development. Furthermore, by proposing a framework based on the specific tensions that play an important role in the discursive localisation, our study advances research on the role of city strategising and practice more generally.

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BackgroundGlobal health academic partnerships are centered around a core tension: they often mirror or reproduce the very cross-national inequities they seek to alleviate. On the one hand, they risk worsening power dynamics that perpetuate health disparities; on the other, they form an essential response to the need for healthcare resources to reach marginalized populations across the globe.ObjectivesThis study characterizes the broader landscape of global health academic partnerships, including challenges to developing ethical, equitable, and sustainable models. It then lays out guiding principles of the specific partnership approach, and considers how lessons learned might be applied in other resource-limited settings.MethodsThe experience of a partnership between the Ministry of Health in Nepal, the non-profit healthcare provider Possible, and the Health Equity Action and Leadership Initiative at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine was reviewed. The quality and effectiveness of the partnership was assessed using the Tropical Health and Education Trust Principles of Partnership framework.ResultsVarious strategies can be taken by partnerships to better align the perspectives of patients and public sector providers with those of expatriate physicians. Actions can also be taken to bring greater equity to the wealth and power gaps inherent within global health academic partnerships.ConclusionsThis study provides recommendations gleaned from the analysis, with an aim towards both future refinement of the partnership and broader applications of its lessons and principles. It specifically highlights the importance of targeted engagements with academic medical centers and the need for efficient organizational work-flow practices. It considers how to both prioritize national and host institution goals, and meet the career development needs of global health clinicians.

Enhancing health research capacity in developing countries is a global health priority. Understanding the orthopedic burden of disease in Latin America will require close partnership between more-developed and less-developed countries. To this end, the Osteosynthesis and Trauma Care Foundation assembled a research consortium of Latin-American orthopedic leaders. Prior to the meeting, we surveyed attendees on perceived barriers to conducting research at their institutions. During the event, working groups discussed these barriers, developed strategies for addressing them, and planned future steps for collaboration. The participants established the need for global relationships that allow colleagues from Latin America to access to training and established investigational infrastructure of North American centers to address research questions relevant to their communities. As a result of the discussion, the International Orthopaedic Multicenter Study (INORMUS) in Fracture Care was initiated. Since then, an expanded international working group, Associación de Cirujanos Traumatológicos en las Americas (ACTUAR), has been created with the purpose of promoting increased global partnership for research capacity development.

BackgroundDespite the recent explosion of the mobile health (mHealth) industry and consumer acquisition of mHealth tools such as wearable sensors and applications (apps), limited information is known about how this technology can sustain health behavior change and be integrated into health care.ObjectiveThe objective of the study was to understand potential users' views of mHealth technology, the role this technology may have in promoting individual activity goals aimed at improving health, and the value of integrating mHealth technology with traditional health care.MethodsFour focus groups were conducted with adults interested in sharing their views on how mHealth technology could support wellness programs and improve health. Participants (n=30) were enrolled from an employee population at an academic health institution. Qualitative thematic analysis was used to code transcripts and identify overarching themes.ResultsOur findings suggest that tracking health data alone may result in heightened awareness of daily activity, yet may not be sufficient to sustain use of mHealth technology and apps, which often have low reuse rates. Participants suggested that context, meaning, and health care partnerships need to be incorporated to engage and retain users. In addition to these findings, drivers for mHealth technology previously identified in the literature, including integration and control of health data were confirmed in this study.ConclusionsThis study explores ways that mHealth technologies may be used to not only track data, but to encourage sustained engagement to achieve individual health goals. Implications of these findings include recommendations for mHealth technology design and health care partnership models to sustain motivation and engagement, allowing individuals to achieve meaningful behavior change.

BackgroundChallenges in community-based participatory research (CBPR) partnerships often pertain to trust and power, dilemmas posed by funding sources, and equitable community participation. Although challenges in CBPR can be welcomed because they present opportunities for growth and development of partnerships, tools are needed to facilitate issue identification and resolution. Moreover, such tools need to align with CBPR principles involving equal feedback among partners to improve the partnership and its outcomes.ObjectiveTo describe how appreciative inquiry (AI) was used as an evaluation tool to contribute to the strengthening of empowerment of ongoing and future community-university relationships in CBPR collaborations.MethodsAI was applied at the end of a community-university partnership to promote breast and cervical cancer screening among Tongan women in Southern California. Through individual interviews and group discussion, tensions were identified and discussed in light of partnership and community strengths.ResultsThrough AI, program staff emphasized community and university strengths of shared key values related to the program and aspects of program management that enabled them to contribute to successful program outcomes. They also discussed the following challenges: 1) approach of partners, 2) role definition, and 3) and time span of program development and implementation. Based on these discussions, recommendations were made to overcome current challenges and improve ongoing and future CBPR collaborations.ConclusionsThe AI process helped the partners recommit to collaborate with each other, renewed their excitement about working together, and assisted with reclarification of their roles to inform future collaborations.

Developing effective Community-Academic Partnerships (CAPs) is challenging, and the steps to build and sustain them have not been well documented. This paper describes efforts to form and sustain the Healthy Community Neighborhood Initiative (HCNI), a CAP to improve health in a low-income community in South Los Angeles. Moderated, semi-structured discussions with HCNI community and academic partners were used to develop a framework for CAP formation. We identified two key features, shared values and respect, as critical to the decision to form the HCNI. Five elements were identified as necessary for building and sustaining the HCNI: trust, transparency, equity and fairness, adequate resources and developing protocols to provide structure. We also identified several challenges and barriers and the strategies used in the HCNI to mitigate these challenges. We developed a framework to incorporate and reinforce the key elements identified as crucial in building and sustaining a CAP in a low-income community.

Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.

The global disparities in both surgical disease burden and access to delivery of surgical care are gaining prominence in the medical literature and media. Concurrently, there is an unprecedented groundswell in idealism and interest in global health among North American medical students and trainees in anesthesia and surgical disciplines. Many academic medical centers (AMCs) are seeking to respond by creating partnerships with teaching hospitals overseas. In this article we describe six such partnerships, as follows: (1) University of California San Francisco (UCSF) with the Bellagio Essential Surgery Group; (2) USCF with Makerere University, Uganda; (3) Vanderbilt with Baptist Medical Center, Ogbomoso, Nigeria; (4) Vanderbilt with Kijabe Hospital, Kenya; (5) University of Toronto, Hospital for Sick Children with the Ministry of Health in Botswana; and (6) Harvard (Brigham and Women's Hospital and Children's Hospital Boston) with Partners in Health in Haiti and Rwanda. Reflection on these experiences offers valuable lessons, and we make recommendations of critical components leading to success. These include the importance of relationships, emphasis on mutual learning, the need for "champions," affirming that local training needs to supersede expatriate training needs, the value of collaboration in research, adapting the mission to locally expressed needs, the need for a multidisciplinary approach, and the need to measure outcomes. We conclude that this is an era of cautious optimism and that AMCs have a critical opportunity to both shape future leaders in global surgery and address the current global disparities.

BackgroundImplementation of evidence-based mental health assessment and intervention in community public health practice is a high priority for multiple stakeholders. Academic-community partnerships can assist in the implementation of efficacious treatments in community settings; yet, little is known about the processes by which these collaborations are developed. In this paper, we discuss our application of community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach to implementation, and we present six lessons we have learned from the establishment of an academic-community partnership.MethodsWith older adults with psychosis as a focus, we have developed a partnership between a university research center and a public mental health service system based on CBPR. The long-term goal of the partnership is to collaboratively establish an evidence-based implementation network that is sustainable within the public mental healthcare system.ResultsIn building a sustainable partnership, we found that the following lessons were instrumental: changing attitudes; sharing staff; expecting obstacles and formalizing solutions; monitoring and evaluating; adapting and adjusting; and taking advantage of emerging opportunities. Some of these lessons were previously known principles that were modified as the result of the CBPR process, while some lessons derived directly from the interactive process of forming the partnership.ConclusionThe process of forming of academic-public partnerships is challenging and time consuming, yet crucial for the development and implementation of state-of-the-art approaches to assessment and interventions to improve the functioning and quality of life for persons with serious mental illnesses. These partnerships provide necessary organizational support to facilitate the implementation of clinical research findings in community practice benefiting consumers, researchers, and providers.

This paper reviews the current status of the global pharmaceutical industry and its research and development focus in the context of the health care needs of the developing world. It will consider the attempts to improve access to critical drugs and vaccines, and increase the research effort directed at key public health priorities in the developing world. In particular, it will consider prospects for public-private collaboration. The challenges and opportunities in such public-private partnerships will be discussed briefly along with a look at factors that may be key to success. Much of the focus is on HIV/AIDS where the debate on the optimal balance between intellectual property rights (IPR) and human rights to life and health has been very public and emotive.

Background: Artificial Intelligence (AI) plays an important role in many fields, including medical education, practice, and research. Many medical educators started using ChatGPT at the end of 2022 for many purposes., Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the potential uses, benefits, and risks of using ChatGPT in education modules on integrated pharmacotherapy of infectious disease., Methods: A content analysis was conducted to investigate the applications of ChatGPT in education modules on integrated pharmacotherapy of infectious disease. Questions pertaining to curriculum development, syllabus design, lecture note preparation, and examination construction were posed during data collection. Three experienced professors rated the appropriateness and precision of the answers provided by ChatGPT. The consensus rating was considered. The professors also discussed the prospective applications, benefits, and risks of ChatGPT in this educational setting., Results: ChatGPT demonstrated the ability to contribute to various aspects of curriculum design, with ratings ranging from 50% to 92% for appropriateness and accuracy. However, there were limitations and risks associated with its use, including incomplete syllabi, the absence of essential learning objectives, and the inability to design valid questionnaires and qualitative studies. It was suggested that educators use ChatGPT as a resource rather than relying primarily on its output. There are recommendations for effectively incorporating ChatGPT into the curriculum of the education modules on integrated pharmacotherapy of infectious disease., Conclusions: Medical and health sciences educators can use ChatGPT as a guide in many aspects related to the development of the curriculum of the education modules on integrated pharmacotherapy of infectious disease, syllabus design, lecture notes preparation, and examination preparation with caution., (©Yaser Mohammed Al-Worafi, Khang Wen Goh, Andi Hermansyah, Ching Siang Tan, Long Chiau Ming. Originally published in JMIR Medical Education (https://mededu.jmir.org), 12.01.2024.)

This paper contributes to the literature on the professionalisation of NGOs in the context of the rise of 'business-minded' approaches whereby donors establish a market environment in which NGOs compete for funding by demonstrating their achievement of targets and implementing globally recognised management models. Theoretically, we use the distinction between 'economies of performance' and 'ecologies of practice' to explore how NGOs simultaneously 'perform' themselves publicly as meeting expected professional standards while simultaneously producing themselves practically through 'unprofessional' means. Limited global health and development literature addresses professionalisation as an empirical practice and experience. We report on an ethnography of a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-funded, HIV-targeted intervention NGO in western India, drawing on six months of participant observation and 17 interviews with NGO workers. The organisation meets 'business-minded' success criteria but does so through informal, personal, hierarchical arrangements at odds with the professionalisation model. Frontline workers are demotivated by their professionalisation experience, are suspicious of the performance of success, and find ways of achieving their vocation despite a system which they feel does not recognise the value of human relationships. Showing that 'business-minded' approaches do not necessarily rule out informal, potentially 'corrupt' ways of working, we argue against the 'professional-unprofessional' binary.

Sexual violence in humanitarian contexts is a global public health issue. Yet, evidence suggests that humanitarian organisations may not always be inclusive of cisgender, heterosexual men and LGBTIQ+ survivors in their responses. This scoping review examines the extent to which global organisations focusing on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) address the needs of cisgender, heterosexual men and LGBTIQ+ survivors in service delivery and funding priorities. We examined grey literature published from 2013-2023 on SGBV service delivery and funding priorities in humanitarian contexts. Forty-seven documents were included in the final analyses, which comprised content and thematic analyses. Many of the documents acknowledged cisgender, heterosexual men or LGBTIQ+ individuals as at-risk groups; however, there was a lack of comprehensive discussion of these groups. Documents on LGBTIQ+ individuals referred to the group as a monolith, making little distinction among the LGBTIQ+ experience and the need to tailor responses to meet intersectional needs. Documents on men emphasised their role as perpetrators and allies, while overlooking that they also experience sexual violence. Findings support the critical need to address gaps in humanitarian programme and donor priorities to better ensure inclusion of cisgender, heterosexual men and LGBTIQ+ individuals without ignoring the needs of women and girls.