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Background The Zindagi Mehfooz Electronic Immunization Registry (ZM-EIR) has improved immunization coverage tracking in Sindh, Pakistan. However, to address missed vaccinations in underserved areas, the government launched the Big Catch-up campaign (BCU). Integrating ZM-EIR data with geospatial techniques allows for assessing and tracking immunization services in these areas. This study evaluates the impact of BCU campaign on immunization coverage, spatial disparities and track vaccinators’ reach by leveraging geospatial techniques. Methods We analyzed Penta-1 and Measles-1 vaccination data of children aged 0-5 years from October 21 to December 16, 2024, categorized into routine immunization (October 21-November 18) and BCU campaign (November 19-December 16) periods. Using geospatial analysis, we identified low coverage areas, compared immunization coverage, and assessed proximity to nearest immunization centers during both periods. Results Comparison showed a significant increase of 49.8% (230,967/464,140) in total coverage, with Penta-1 and Measles-1 coverage increased by 59.1% (129,531/219,033) and 41.4% (101,436/245,107), respectively. Additionally, with implementation of targeted strategies on identified hotspot results showed noticeable coverage improvement. 20 out of 30 districts had coverage below 31%, based on the BCU target, which improved by more than 50% during the BCU campaign. The mean distance from nearest immunization center to immunization event was 0.33 km higher for BCU outreach in contrast to routine outreach, reflecting slight expansion of outreach efforts during BCU campaign. Conclusions This study shows significant impact of BCU campaign's on low coverage areas. The findings reveal significant increases in Penta-1 and Measles-1 vaccinations and highlight spatial disparities in immunization access. Geospatial techniques proved useful in identifying underserved areas and tracking outreach efforts, supporting effective immunization strategies. Key messages • The big Catch-Up campaign increased immunization in Sindh, coverage increased by 59.1% for Penta-1 and 41.4% for Measles-1, showing significant increase in low performing districts. • Geospatial analysis with integrating ZM-EIR data allow to identify underserved areas and track outreach services, aiding more targeted and effective immunization strategies.

We examined the impact of COVID-19 on Black barbershops and their potential role as public health extenders. A 30-item survey was distributed to predominantly Black barbershop owners and barbers across 40 different states/territories in the US between June and October 2020. The survey addressed the impact of COVID-19 on Black barbershops, and barbers’ interest in engaging in health outreach programs. The majority reported that stay-at-home orders had significant to severe impact on their business; few were prepared for the financial impact and less than half thought they qualified for government assistance. The majority were already providing health education and outreach to the Black community and showed interest in continuing to provide such services, like information on COVID-19. Barbers in Black-serving barbershops, a well-documented effective place for public health outreach to the Black community, show promise as public health extenders in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Introduction: Research outreach activities aim to communicate specific research findings to non-specialist audiences. In recent years, commercial outreach services have emerged that offer fee-based assistance in transforming research findings into accessible reader-friendly content, including multimedia content, and promotional material aimed at broader audiences. They may also publish the content on their own platforms, such as magazines or websites, to further enhance research visibility and dissemination. The experiences associated with these services are poorly understood. This study examined the motivation for use, challenges, and perceived value of commercial services for research outreach among researchers. Methods: An online questionnaire surveyed researchers who had published with two commercial services, ResearchOutreach.org or ResearchFeatures.com, between January 2022 and February 2024, yielding 104 responses (20% response rate). Results: Most respondents used commercial services to increase their research visibility and reach a broader audience. Factors influencing researchers’ decision to use commercial services included convenience, professionalism, broad audience access, and insufficient university outreach support.Most respondents (91.5%) were satisfied with the representation of their research, and about half faced no challenges. One-third said they would recommend the service; however, issues like content quality, time consumption, and high costs were noted. Interestingly, a third of the participants paid personally, and around 67% reported no significant impact from the publication on their work. Discussion: While commercial outreach services can enhance research visibility, their cost-effectiveness and impact vary. A significant portion of researchers reported little to no tangible benefits from these services, which raises concerns about their cost-effectiveness and the accuracy of marketing claims. Conclusion: This study reveals a mix of positive and negative experiences with commercial outreach services, which highlights that their usefulness depends on individual circumstances and expectations. Concerns around cost and effectiveness persist. More transparent evaluations are needed. Collaboration between institutions and service providers might help support effective research dissemination and ensure equitable access to outreach resources.

Nutrition plays a critical role in cancer care. Malnutrition occurs in up to 80% of cancer patients (1). Negative outcomes of malnutrition include longer hospital admissions, higher infection rates, decreased tolerance to treatment, and increased mortality. Beyond cancer care, nutrition plays a vital role in reducing the risk of chronic diseases, managing illness, and weight management to improve overall quality of life. Oncology nurses play a pivotal role in identifying patients' nutritional challenges and referring to appropriate clinicians and outreach programs. This abstract will explore the impact and effectiveness of virtual clinical nutrition outreach programs. Our virtual nutrition outreach programs are currently targeting 2 different audiences. The Virtual Survivorship Wellness Series was designed for cancer survivors, not in active treatment, to address long term nutrition and reducing risk of recurrence with lifestyle and behavior change. The Virtual Wellness Series is a larger outreach effort to improve nutrition and wellness in our community. Engaging participants to improve dietary habits encourages them to take ownership of their own health. By providing virtual programs the nutrition team can cover a larger geographic area, including rural areas, work around busy schedules, and increase participation over in-person programs. The virtual survivorship wellness series is offered twice annually, an hour weekly for six weeks, and the virtual wellness series is a 30-minute session monthly, alternating between webinar-style lunch and learns or teaching kitchens. A 10-question survey was emailed to all participants for any of the events offered between August 2022 and August 2023. The survey questions assessed changes in dietary habits pre and post virtual nutrition education. 76% of respondents reported improvements in at least one category. Notably, the most improvement was seen in overall diet and frequency of physical activity. Results of the survey show an overall improvement in healthy lifestyle habits from participating in virtual nutrition outreach programs. Of note, the original sample size was relatively small with 17 of 60 surveys returned. In the future, it may be worth examining findings over a longer period, thus increasing the number of respondents.

Societal Impact Statement “Plant blindness” is the cause of several problems that have plagued botany outreach and education for over a hundred years. The general public largely does not notice plants in their environment and therefore do not appreciate how important they are to the biosphere and society. Recently, concerns have been raised that the term “plant blindness” is problematic due to the fact that it is a disability metaphor and equates a disability with a negative trait. In this Brief Report, I place the term “plant blindness” into historical context through a short literature review on the subject and follow this with why the term has been criticized for its ableism. I then propose a more appropriate term to replace plant blindness: plant awareness disparity (PAD) and explain why it both addresses the problems with “plant blindness” while keeping the original reasoning behind the term intact. “Plant blindness” is the cause of several problems that have plagued botany outreach and education for over a hundred years. The general public largely does not notice plants in their environment and therefore do not appreciate how important they are to the biosphere and society. Recently, concerns have been raised that the term “plant blindness” is problematic due to the fact that it is a disability metaphor and equates a disability with a negative trait. In this Brief Report, I place the term “plant blindness” into historical context through a short literature review on the subject and follow this with why the term has been criticized for its ableism. I then propose a more appropriate term to replace plant blindness: plant awareness disparity (PAD) and explain why it both addresses the problems with “plant blindness” while keeping the original reasoning behind the term intact.

Aims: By March 2025, 90% of referrals to the Ritson Outreach Service in the Royal Edinburgh Hospital will be appropriate and contain relevant details. Methods: Members of the Ritson Outreach team agreed the following referral criteria for inpatients on general psychiatric wards: Prescribing for alcohol withdrawal and relapse prevention. Prescribing in opioid dependence. Prescribing in benzodiazepine dependence. Advice on linking to community services. Standards for referral details were also agreed: ward, referrer, contact number, reason for admission, specific request, community addictions input, patient’s awareness and views on referral, drug screen results, estimated discharge date, appropriateness according to referral criteria. A baseline audit of referrals to the Ritson Outreach inbox from 19 March–28 August 2024 was conducted. Surveys about barriers to making appropriate referrals were gathered from the ward with the highest referral rate. A referral form including criteria and prompts for relevant details was devised. This was made available via an automatic reply from the referral email address. Referrals made following implementation of the form were re-audited for a four-week period from 8 January 2025. Results: 20 referrals were included in the baseline audit.Adherence to standards: Ward 100%; Referrer 100%; Contact number 55%; Reason for admission 60%; Specific request 55%; Community addictions input 30%; Patient aware of referral 20%; Patient’s views 40%; Drug screen results 5%; Estimated discharge date 5%; Appropriate 55%. 10 surveys from the ward with the highest referral rate revealed only 10% of staff felt confident about the referral criteria and relevant details to include prior to implementation of the referral form. In the four-week period following implementation of the referral form, 5 referrals were received via the referral mailbox. Adherence to standards: Ward 100%; Referrer 100%; Contact number 100%; Reason for admission 80%; Specific request 100%; Community addictions input 80%; Patient aware of referral 60%; Patient’s views 60%; Drug screen results 20%; Estimated discharge date 40%; Appropriate 80%. Conclusion: Implementation of a referral form has begun to improve quality and appropriateness of referrals to the Ritson Outreach Service, although not yet reaching the target of 90% appropriate referrals. Further data collection is ongoing, along with measures to increase staff awareness of the referral criteria and process, such as posters in handover rooms and inclusion in resident doctor inductions.

Over the past 30 years, the cost of wildfire suppression and homes lost to wildfire in the US have increased dramatically, driven in part by the expansion of the wildland–urban interface (WUI), where buildings and wildland vegetation meet. In response, the wildfire management community has devoted substantial effort to better understand where buildings and vegetation co-occur, and to establish outreach programs to reduce wildfire damage to homes. However, the extent to which the location of buildings affected by wildfire overlaps the WUI, and where and when outreach programs are established relative to wildfire, is unclear. We found that most threatened and destroyed buildings in the conterminous US were within the WUI (59 and 69% respectively), but this varied considerably among states. Buildings closest to existing Firewise communities sustained lower rates of destruction than further distances. Fires with the greatest building loss were close to outreach programs, but the nearest Firewise community was established after wildfires had occurred for 76% of destroyed buildings. In these locations, and areas new to the WUI or where the fire regime is predicted to change, pre-emptive outreach could improve the likelihood of building survival and reduce the human and financial costs of structure loss.

BackgroundNationally, the increase in syphilis notifications over recent years has demonstrated persistent bridging across to wider populations, particularly women of reproductive age. Populations experiencing adverse social determinants, caught in a cycle of marginalisation and social exclusion through mental ill-health, alcohol and drug misuse, and economic and housing stress, have increasingly become susceptible.MethodsThe aim of this pilot was to develop and implement a protocol for delivering syphilis point of care testing (POCT) through a street-based nursing outreach program, specifically to the homeless, with a focus on women. The evaluation utilised a multi-methods approach to assess the feasibility and acceptability of the service, i.e. qualitative through discussions with nursing staff and clients; and quantitative through the collection and analysis of simple demographic (gender, Indigenous status, housing, age status) and test data.ResultsThe 6-month pilot demonstrated the potential utility of opportunistic syphilis testing and the ease with which the POCT could be incorporated within existing service delivery by outreach nursing teams. Nurses reported the test as easy to apply. The pilot was received well by nurses who gained confidence in the delivery of sexual health education and testing. Nonetheless, despite the establishment of testing, management, and referral protocols, as well as thorough training and preparation, a number of important challenges became apparent through the course of the pilot, particularly with respect to recruitment and follow-up of test results.ConclusionsThis project effectively embedded a rapid diagnostic assay (Syphilis POCT) within a well-established, outreach health service working within the most marginalised inner-city communities. Nonetheless the challenge with referring syphilis reactive clients for follow-up has necessitated a review of referral protocols and what additional services, including treatment, can be delivered by nurses at the point of first engagement. The need for linking outreach teams with a broad range of other accessible primary health services is considered a priority to ensure efficient referral of homeless persons and minimise loss to follow-up.