Constitution, 3 February 1987.
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The oral health of the Indigenous community in South Australia's mid-north has been a concern for some years. There has been a history of under-utilisation of available dental services by the local community. This is in part due to the services not meeting their cultural and holistic health care needs. The Indigenous community resolved to establish a culturally sensitive dental service within the Aboriginal Health Service already operating in Port Augusta in South Australia's mid-north. To achieve this, a partnership between Pika Wiya Health Service Incorporated, the South Australian Dental Service, the University of Adelaide Dental School and the South Australian Centre for Rural and Remote Health was formed. The aim of the project partners was to establish a culturally sensitive, quality dental service that caters to the needs of the Indigenous community serviced by Pika Wiya Health Service Inc. This article describes the process of planning and implementing the first stage of this project.
Associations between a range of life history variables and neurotic pathology (measured by the Crown-Crisp Experiential Index) were examined in a rural community sample of 208 women aged 40-49. Significant childhood associations were a poor maternal relationship, parental discord, nervousness and not liking school. Significant later associations were a poor marital relationship and emotional and behavioural problems in children. There were significant intercorrelations between the significant childhood variables and between the later significant variables but not between the early and later variables. The predictor equations derived from multiple regression analysis fitted significantly a small replication patient sample.
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In 1984 the Australian Wool Research Trust Fund called for expressions of interest in projects directed at using the developing techniques of molecular biology for application to agricultural problems. With our interests in legume root nodule bacteria and their physiology, we felt that the problems for legume nodulation and N2 fixation posed by soils which were already acid, or which were rapidly acidifying, required just such attention. Further, the finding body's request coincided with the highly successful introduction into Western Australian agriculture of acid-tolerant strains of the medic-nodulating bacteria Sinorhizobium meliloti originating from acid soils on Sardinia (see below). The existence of such strains made it obvious that acid tolerance was a genetically determined trait, and provided invaluable biologically diverse material with which to work. The biological bases for that trait of acid tolerance were totally obscure, and many remain so, but the following account provides some light in the darkness. The research that we have done since in pursuit of explanations for acid tolerance have been funded first by the Wool Research Trust Fund and the Rural Credits Development Fund, and later by the Australian Research Council, and we here record our appreciation for their support.
In this paper, we describe the planning of the field trial and the methods used for collecting baseline health and ethnographic data in a rural field study site. We describe the study hypotheses, specific objectives, study design, sample size estimates, selection of study area, community consent, the organization of study teams, review mechanism, financial support and baseline data collection. Baseline population characteristics and vital statistics are presented. The qualitative information on traditional beliefs and practices prevalent in the study area revealed that parents felt powerless about newborn health and sickness. There was an enormous unmet need to reach the home-delivered neonates and their care-givers with the correct knowledge and health-care practices.
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Research data exists that highlight the discrepancy between the medical/dental status experienced by Aboriginal people compared with that of their non-Aboriginal counterparts. This, coupled with a health system that Aboriginal people often find alienating and difficult to access, further exacerbates the many health problems they face. Poor oral health and hygiene is an issue often overlooked that can significantly impact on a person's quality of life. In areas where Aboriginal people find access to health services difficult, the implementation of culturally acceptable forms of primary health care confers significant benefits. The Aboriginal community has seen that the employment and training of Aboriginal health workers (AHW), particularly in rural and remote regions, is significantly beneficial in improving general health. In the present study, an oral health training program was developed and trialled. This training program was tailored to the needs of rural and remote AHWs. The primary objective was to institute a culturally appropriate basic preventative oral health delivery program at a community level. It is envisaged that through this dental training program, AHWs will be encouraged to implement long-term preventive measures at a local level to improve community dental health. They will also be encouraged to pursue other oral health-care delivery programs. Additionally, it is considered that this project will serve to strengthen a trust-based relationship between Aboriginal people and the health-care profession.
This article reports an environmental health study on risk identification. It discusses risk factors linked to rural work and pesticide contact in a restricted geographic area and shows the necessity of improving rural workers' health in the central part of Sao Paulo State. The municipality of Bariri, which is the case studied in this research, typifies this agriculturally based region. The study focuses on environmental problems engendered by modern agriculture that may have human-health repercussions such as cancer, as indicated by hard statistical association on an extended cause-effect time scale. For specific cases, the research used a database containing records of Amaral Carvalho Hospital, located in the city of Jau and a highly respected regional reference unit for over 85 years as one of the best in the Brazilian public health system for treating cancer. Statistics for age and gender were analyzed; relative risk was calculated for a group of cases registered from 2000 to 2002, as well as for a randomly selected control group from the same hospital. A map indicating the residences of cases (68) and non-cases (60) was made by geoprocessing techniques. For the period of time and the group studied, the authors concluded that the cancers of the skin and digestive system were the most prevalent. Bariri presented 24 cases representing all cancer types for each group of 10,000 citizens. The study indicated an almost two times higher probability of cancer development among rural workers, with a calculated relative risk between those exposed (agriculture workers) and the non-exposed (other occupations) of 1.6. No patterns of geographical distribution of cancer in that time period were recorded among rural workers of Bariri. However, the higher number of positive occurrences in the southwestern outskirts of the city indicated an area that must be prioritized in distributing environmental health information and conducting preventive education campaigns.
The Wiradjuri General Practitioners and Aboriginal Health Workers Project aimed to help improve Aboriginal health in central western New South Wales (NSW) by identifying and overcoming the barriers to the Aboriginal population's access to general practitioner services. The central strategy of the project was to convene three rounds of consultative meetings in five towns: Bathurst, Orange, Cowra, Forbes and Condobolin. These meetings brought together Aboriginal community members, general practitioners and Aboriginal health workers to express and define local issues and problems, and to propose solutions. The solutions included general practitioner outreach clinics, a focus on prewinter immunisation, bulk-billing of Aboriginal patients, Aboriginal cultural awareness training for all general practice personnel, employing Aboriginal staff in general practice, and closer professional interaction between general practitioners and Aboriginal health workers. Most participants evaluated the meetings as positive and constructive. The project substantiates the perceived need for alternative models for the funding and delivery of general practitioner services to Aboriginal communities.
A "Digital Divide" in information and technological literacy exists in Utah between small hospitals and clinics in rural areas and the larger health care institutions in the major urban area of the state. The goals of the outreach program of the Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library at the University of Utah address solutions to this disparity in partnership with the National Network of Libraries of Medicine-- Midcontinental Region, the Utah Department of Health, and the Utah Area Health Education Centers. In a circuit-rider approach, an outreach librarian offers classes and demonstrations throughout the state that teach information-access skills to health professionals. Provision of traditional library services to unaffiliated health professionals is integrated into the library's daily workload as a component of the outreach program. The paper describes the history, methodology, administration, funding, impact, and results of the program.
RHOP is a nurse-managed community-based program that uses a variety of approaches to reduce infant mortality and improve maternal child health. In a rural area, representative of much of the rural South, which has a persistent record of poor maternal-child outcomes, the program is using university and community resources to make a difference. The goal is to empower the community to help it help itself using all the available resources. The initial outcome data indicate that these positive changes are happening and can be the site for future activities by those in the community as well as the university. Future plans include involving more departments at the university in the program and expanding services to three additional counties. Graduate students and faculty are becoming interested in conducting research using RHOP activities as a base, and future grants are being considered to expand into new areas such as substance abuse and cancer prevention.
This study was conducted in a rural area endemic for schistosomiasis in Minas Gerais, Brazil. The objective was to determine the relationship between an environmental and health education program for schistosomiasis, implemented for teachers and students from the state secondary school in the village of Boa União, and the subsequent actions of its participants in regards to the environment and the illness. An important difference in this program is its perspective that it is not merely the implementation of instrumental and cognitive knowledge of the environment and illness, but an approach in which subjects are asked to question and investigate their perception of reality, the environment, and the illness. The study demonstrated that a change in attitude could occur from reflection on one's experience in relation to both the environment and diseases endemic it.
Seven members of a 15-man U.S. military team that had operated in rural Malaysia developed an acute illness consisting of fever, myalgias, bronchospasm, fleeting pruritic rashes, transient lymphadenopathy, and subcutaneous nodules associated with eosinophilia, elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, and elevated levels of muscle creatinine kinase. Sarcocysts of an unidentified Sarcocystis species were found in skeletal muscle biopsies of the index case. Albendazole ameliorated symptoms in the index case; however, his symptoms persisted for more than 5 years. Symptoms in 5 other men were mild to moderate and self-limited, and 1 team member with laboratory abnormalities was asymptomatic. Of 8 team members tested for antibody to Sarcocystis, 6 were positive; of 4 with the eosinophilic myositis syndrome who were tested, all were positive. We attribute this outbreak of eosinophilic myositis to accidental tissue parasitism by Sarcocystis.
Lameness survey was conducted in a rural community development block of Haryana in 1985. Enumerators contacted school teachers, anganwadi workers and several key informants in the community to identify lame children in 1-11 years age-group. Physician verified 219 lame cases to be due to poliomyelitis. Prevalence of poliomyelitis lameness was 7.3/1000 children born in 1974-76, 7.7/1000 children born in 1977-1980 and 2.3/1000 children born in 1981-1984 (expected to increase to 3.1/1000 when all children born in 1981-84 cross 5th year of life). Immunisation coverage with 3 doses of oral polio vaccine (OPV) was less than 10% during 1974-80 when immunisation was a clinic based activity. Coverage increased from 50 to 80% during 1981-85 when OPV was given in annual immunisation campaign. The results indicate that prevalence of paralytic poliomyelitis dropped at least by 60% after giving OPV in annual immunisation campaigns.
Sanitation and wastewater management problems in small and medium towns in India (referred to as "semi-urban areas"--SUAs) are distinctly different from those of large cities or rural villages. There is an apparent lack of choices of appropriate sanitation options for these semi-urban areas, leading them to adopt on-site sanitation technologies. A field study of four such small towns in India was conducted to evaluate the suitability of available low-cost wastewater collection and treatment technologies, in light of their current practice. Based on the field study, this paper suggests a system comprising "combined surface sewers" and "reed-bed channel" for collection and treatment of wastewater for semi-urban areas, that can utilize all the existing infrastructure to effect better sanitation at lower costs. The suggested system involves converting the existing open wastewater collection drains on the road sides, as "decentralized" networks of covered drains with simple structural modifications to collect both wastewater and stormwater; and, converting the large open drains on the outskirts of SUAs that carry wastewater to agricultural fields, as gravel media filled beds planted with local reeds. Cost estimates for the towns studied indicate this system to be over 70% cheaper compared to conventional collection and treatment systems.
A 5 year observational study is reported which reviews the implementation of the Geisinger Health System Osteoporosis Disease Management Program. This program includes Osteoporosis Clinical Practice Guidelines, physician and allied health care provider education, community education, and a bone density testing program. All women over the age of 55 years enrolled in the Geisinger Health Plan (GHP) from 1996 to 2000 were included in this analysis. The guidelines led health care providers to increase the evaluation of osteoporosis via bone density measurements and to increase the prescription treatment of osteoporosis. Most importantly, the age-adjusted incidence of hip fractures fell significantly in the entire group as well as in several age strata (65-74, 75-84 and 85+ years). Compared with a predictive model of no intervention, there was an overall reduction in health care costs to GHP estimated to be US$7.8 million over a 5 year period. This report is the first to suggest that an organized Osteoporosis Disease Management Program delivered by a health care system can result in increased evaluation and treatment of osteoporosis with a resultant significant decrease in hip fractures while decreasing the total direct costs of care to a health plan.