Explore the vast range of titles available.

This publication addresses research questions related to an increase in the levels of access and utilization for four key interventions that have the potential to significantly reduce HIV infections among People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) and their sexual and injecting partners, and hence morbidity and mortality in low and middle-income countries (LMIC). These interventions are drawn from nine consensus interventions that comprise a 'comprehensive package' for PWID. The four interventions are: Needle and Syringe Programs (NSP), Medically Assisted Therapy (MAT), HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT), and Antiretroviral Therapy (ART). The book summarizes the results from several recent reviews of studies related to the effectiveness of the four key interventions in reducing risky behaviors in the context of transmitting or acquiring HIV infection. Overall, the four key interventions have strong effects on the risk of HIV infection among PWID via different pathways, and this determination is included in the documents proposing the comprehensive package of interventions. In order to attain the greatest effect from these interventions, structural issues must be addressed, especially the removal of punitive policies targeting PWID in many countries. The scientific evidence presented here, the public health rationale, and the human rights imperatives are all in accord: we can and must do better for PWID. The available tools are evidence-based, right affirming, and cost effective. What are required now are political will and a global consensus that this critical component of global HIV can no longer be ignored and under-resourced.

The rapid urban spread of Ebola virus in West Africa in 2014 and consequent breakdown of control measures led to a significant economic impact as well as the burden on public health and wellbeing. The US government appropriated $5.4 Billion for FY2015 and WHO proposed a $100 Million emergency fund largely to curtail the threat of future outbreaks. Using epidemiological analyses and economic modeling, we propose that the best use of these and similar funds would be to serve as global insurance against the continued threat of emerging infectious diseases. An effective strategy would involve the initial investment in strengthening mobile and adaptable capacity to deal with the threat and reality of disease emergence, coupled with repeated investment to maintain what is effectively a ‘national guard’ for pandemic prevention and response. This investment would create a capital stock that could also provide access to safe treatment during and between crises in developing countries, lowering risk to developed countries.

Iako poslovni subjekti zdravlje i sigurnost na radu poimaju važnom temom svoje društvene odgovornosti, kada su u pitanju financijska ulaganja u taj aspekt poslovanja, prevladava mišljenje kako takva ulaganja ne ostvaruju odgovarajuće financijske povrate. Navedeno dovodi do ignoriranja problematike zaštite zdravlja i sigurnosti na radu te do minimalnih ulaganja do mjere koja je propisana zakonom. Tek praćenjem troškova koji nastaju kao posljedica nezgoda na radu i s njima povezanih ozljeda, zastoja u poslovanju, sudskih troškova, kompenzacija, kazni i dr., poslovni subjekti uviđaju financijski interes za ulaganje u sprečavanje njihovog nastanka. Stoga treba razlikovati troškove koji nastaju kao posljedica nezgoda na radu i profesionalnih bolesti (korektivne troškove) od preventivnih troškova koji nastaju s ciljem ostvarivanja kako društvenih tako i financijskih koristi. Razmatranje navedenih skupina troškova definirano je kao predmet ovoga rada. Osnovni cilj rada je kroz analizu dosadašnjih istraživanja dati pregled problematike preventivnih i korektivnih troškova zaštite zdravlja i sigurnosti na radu te, u skladu s time, postaviti temelje za raspravu o financijskim koristima od ulaganja u taj aspekt poslovanja. U radu je također predočen poslovni model zaštite zdravlja i sigurnosti na radu koji osim različitih vrsta troškova u obzir uzima i konkretne koristi ulaganja. Osnovni zaključak istraživanja je da problematiku zaštite zdravlja i sigurnosti radnika treba promatrati kroz sve aspekte društveno odgovornog poslovanja pa tako i kroz financijski i računovodstveni kontekst. To konkretno podrazumijeva inkorporiranje troškova zaštite zdravlja i sigurnosti na radu u okvir menadžerskog računovodstva poslovnog subjekta, čime se olakšava njihovo praćenje, analiza i interpretacija te ujedno osigurava pouzdana podrška menadžerima u odlučivanju o ulaganjima u zdravlje i sigurnost radnika. Although many business entities perceive health and safety at work as an important factor of their social responsibility, when it comes to financial investments in this aspect of business the prevailing opinion is that these investments do not offer adequate financial returns. This leads to ignoring the issues of health and safety at work and to minimal investing prescribed by law. Only by monitoring the costs incurred as a result of accidents at work and related injuries, business downtime, court costs, compensations, fines, etc., do business entities recognize the financial interest in investing in the prevention of their occurrence. A distinction should be made between costs incurred as a result of accidents at work and occupational diseases (i.e. corrective costs), and preventive costs incurred in order to achieve both social and financial benefits. These two cost groups are the subject of this paper. The main goal of this paper is to provide an overview of the preventive and corrective costs of health and safety at work and, consequently, to set foundation for a discussion on the financial benefits from investment in that aspect of business. The paper also presents a business model for the protection of workers’ health and safety at work, which, in addition to listing various types of costs, also takes into account the benefits of such investments. The chief conclusion of the research is that all aspects of the protection of health and safety of workers, including the financial and accounting, should be addressed in socially responsible businesses. This specifically means incorporating occupational health and safety costs into the business entity’s financial plans, which will facilitate their monitoring, analysis and interpretation, and also provide reliable support to managers in deciding on investments in health and safety of workers.

This chapter discusses a seismic risk management method for a deteriorating lifeline network system based on the probability of system-performance failure. The chapter first reviews seismic damage to buried water pipelines and their facilities, and then discusses seismic risk assessment methods of lifeline networks in which structural and functional failures are correlated. Numerical studies are carried out for a water distribution network system by considering several seismic investment strategies to support the decision-making process in seismic disaster mitigation planning.

Tens of thousands of people die from dog-mediated rabies annually. Deaths can be prevented through post-exposure prophylaxis for people who have been bitten, and the disease eliminated through dog vaccination. Current post-exposure prophylaxis use saves many lives, but availability remains poor in many rabies-endemic countries due to high costs, poor access, and supply. We developed epidemiological and economic models to investigate the effect of an investment in post-exposure prophylaxis by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. We modelled post-exposure prophylaxis use according to the status quo, with improved access using WHO-recommended intradermal vaccination, with and without rabies immunoglobulin, and with and without dog vaccination. We took the health provider perspective, including only direct costs. We predict more than 1 million deaths will occur in the 67 rabies-endemic countries considered from 2020 to 2035, under the status quo. Current post-exposure prophylaxis use prevents approximately 56 000 deaths annually. Expanded access to, and free provision of, post-exposure prophylaxis would prevent an additional 489 000 deaths between 2020 and 2035. Under this switch to efficient intradermal post-exposure prophylaxis regimens, total projected vaccine needs remain similar (about 73 million vials) yet 17·4 million more people are vaccinated, making this an extremely cost-effective method, with costs of US$635 per death averted and $33 per disability-adjusted life-years averted. Scaling up dog vaccination programmes could eliminate dog-mediated rabies over this time period; improved post-exposure prophylaxis access remains cost-effective under this scenario, especially in combination with patient risk assessments to reduce unnecessary post-exposure prophylaxis use. Investing in post-exposure vaccines would be an extremely cost-effective intervention that could substantially reduce disease burden and catalyse dog vaccination efforts to eliminate dog-mediated rabies. World Health Organization.

We investigate whether private research investments are distorted away from long-term projects. Our theoretical model highlights two potential sources of this distortion: short-termism and the fixed patent term. Our empirical context is cancer research, where clinical trials—and hence, project durations—are shorter for late-stage cancer treatments relative to early-stage treatments or cancer prevention. Using newly constructed data, we document several sources of evidence that together show private research investments are distorted away from long-term projects. The value of life-years at stake appears large. We analyze three potential policy responses: surrogate (non-mortality) clinical-trial endpoints, targeted R&D subsidies, and patent design.

The global burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is growing, and there is an urgent need to estimate the costs and benefits of an investment strategy to prevent and control NCDs. Results from an investment-case analysis can provide important new evidence to inform decision making by governments and donors. We propose a methodology for calculating the economic benefits of investing in NCDs during the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) era, and we applied this methodology to cardiovascular disease prevention in 20 countries with the highest NCD burden. For a limited set of prevention interventions, we estimated that US$120 billion must be invested in these countries between 2015 and 2030. This investment represents an additional $1·50 per capita per year and would avert 15 million deaths, 8 million incidents of ischaemic heart disease, and 13 million incidents of stroke in the 20 countries. Benefit–cost ratios varied between interventions and country-income levels, with an average ratio of 5·6 for economic returns but a ratio of 10·9 if social returns are included. Investing in cardiovascular disease prevention is integral to achieving SDG target 3.4 (reducing premature mortality from NCDs by a third) and to progress towards SDG target 3.8 (the realisation of universal health coverage). Many countries have implemented cost-effective interventions at low levels, so the potential to achieve these targets and strengthen national income by scaling up these interventions is enormous.

The death toll due to the coronavirus virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in India was of 356 as of Apr 14, 2020. Since Mar 24, 2020, India has been under a nation-wide lockdown, now extended by the Government to at least May 3, to curb the spread of the new virus. The faith in the public health system cannot emerge immediately as a response to the pandemic” said Giridhara Babu, Head-Lifecourse Epidemiology at the Public Health Foundation of India. Kerala has always been proud of the technical quality of its government hospitals. Since 2005, the state government investment has gone up considerably.

What will happen to the HIV testers when we get to zero? Most of the testers will be unemployed with no translatable skills. Simultaneously, federal and state health departments, and subsequently AIDS service organizations, have suffered significant cuts in funding.1 From a recent survey by Southside Health Advocacy Resource Partnership (SHARP) in Chicago, we understand that most of these individuals are underemployed, queer Black people. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted that \"Getting to Zero\" will cause unemployment as AIDS service organizations (ASOs) terminate or repurpose staff for the pandemic response.2 To avoid this, Getting to Zero efforts must prioritize a workforce investment strategy that ensures HIV testers have translatable employment now.Starting as the theme for the 2011 World AIDS Campaign from the United Nations,3 \"Getting to Zero\" has become the colloquial moniker for US Ending the HIV Epidemic plans. However, these plans are not prioritizing the welfare of the HIV workforce. Aside from declining incidence of HIV transmission,4 an outcome of HIV prevention and treatment is the steady decline of funding for HIV services. Since 2012, HIV prevention services funding that enables ASOs to offer HIV tester occupations has decreased and remained stagnant over the last few years.5 Predominantly, these occupations employ the populations most vulnerable to-and sometimes living with-HIV/ AIDS. As the funding decreases, Getting to Zero will cause unemployment for people most vulnerable to, and living with, HIV. During the COVID-19 pandemic, some organizations reduced their number of HIV tester positions. The staff reduction indicates how ASOs are not investing in the long-term careers oftheir shrinking, underpaid workforce.With HIV-tester certifications that mean nothing outside of HIV prevention and treatment, jobs that do not pay a living wage, and decreasing HIV funding, frontline staff will be unemployed when we achieve an end to the HIV epidemic. HIV tester certifications do not translate to any employment opportunities outside of HIV prevention and treatment. During a 2018 community survey (n 5 20) by SHARP, we discovered that most of the HIV prevention and treatment workforce in the southside of Chicago were Black men who have sex with men, along with Black trans-identified and gender nonconforming persons. These individuals are compensated $29 000 to $36 000 per year. According to the median income chart released by the Chicago Planning & Development Department, this is 50% to 60% of the area median income, and their standard of living is very low to low income.6 This population has expressed concerns about their employment status.7Getting to Zero efforts must start prioritizing investment in translatable employment strategies for HIV testers, now. ASOs must embrace a commitment to what I call \"translatable employment\": an occupation or professional certification that is useful in one field and translates to a useful credential in another. For instance, HIV testers should be licensed by their employers in phlebotomy, so that they have prospects for other employment in public health and other fields. From my experience, issues are not prioritized in HIV prevention and treatment unless funders (e.g., the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, foundations) make them a priority. Because of the cause-and-effect relationship between funders and ASOs, workforce investment must be prioritized by funders for ASOs to make translatable employment a priority. Otherwise, the workforce that has made Getting to Zero possible will be left with zero jobs.