Armed conflict has contributed to an unprecedented number of internally displaced persons (IDPs), individuals who are forced out of their homes but remain within their country. IDPs often urgently require shelter, food, and healthcare, yet prediction of when IDPs will migrate to an area remains a major challenge for aid delivery organizations. We sought to develop an IDP migration forecasting framework that could empower humanitarian aid groups to more effectively allocate resources during conflicts.

We modeled monthly IDP migration between provinces within Syria and within Yemen using data on food prices, fuel prices, wages, location, time, and conflict reports. We compared machine learning methods with baseline persistence methods of forecasting.

We found a machine learning approach that more accurately forecast migration trends than baseline persistence methods. A random forest model outperformed the best persistence model in terms of root mean square error of log migration by 26% and 17% for the Syria and Yemen datasets, respectively.

Integrating diverse data sources into a machine learning model appears to improve IDP migration prediction. Further work should examine whether implementation of such models can enable proactive aid allocation for IDPs in anticipation of forecast arrivals.

With the rising incidence of health care emergencies, there has been a considerable burden placed on health care systems worldwide. We aimed to determine the willingness and capacity of medical students in Ireland to volunteer during health care emergencies.

An online, cross-sectional survey of medical students at the National University of Ireland was conducted in 2015.

Respondents totaling 274 completed the survey (response rate – 30.1%). Of participants, 69.0% were willing to volunteer in the event of a natural disaster and 59.1% in an event of an infectious epidemic, with altruism being the strongest motivational factor. Only a minority of students (23.7%) felt their current skill level would be useful in an emergency setting.

Medical students express a strong interest in actively participating during health care emergencies.

The aim of this study was to (1) understand types and amounts of Ebola-related information that health organization employees wanted and obtained through formal, informal, internal, and external organizational communication channels; (2) determine potential discrepancies between information wanted and obtained; and (3) investigate how organizational structure might affect information wanted and obtained through these communication channels.

Primary data were collected from 526 health workers in 9 hospitals and 13 public health departments in Texas from June to November 2015. Survey data were collected for 7 types of Ebola-related information health organization employees wanted and obtained through various types of organizational communication channels. Descriptive statistical analyses, mixed design analysis of variance, regression analyses, and multilevel analyses were used to analyze the data.

Hospital employees (mostly nurses in our sample) received more self-care information than they wanted from every communication channel. However, they received less about all other types of information than they wanted from every communication channel separately and combined. Public health department employees wanted more information than they received from every communication channel separately and combined for all 7 types of information.

Discrepancies existed between the types of Ebola-related information wanted and obtained by employees of hospitals and public health departments.

Landmines remain a potential public health concern in the western and southern border regions of Iran. The aim of this study was to assess the health-related consequences of landmine explosions in Kurdistan Province during the past 4 decades.

This retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted in Kurdistan Province of Iran in 2016-2017. The data gathering process was questionnaire based. Survivors, or a member of the deceased’s family, were interviewed, and 410 questionnaires were completed. Data analysis was performed by using descriptive or analytical tests in SPSS software V.22.

Antipersonnel landmines caused death immediately after the explosion 32.1% of the time, and 67.9% survived with various disabilities, such as blindness, deafness, and limb amputation. Sixty-three percent of the injuries were related to limb amputation, which was the most prevalent injury among survivors. The adjusted regression test revealed a significant relationship between severity of injury and variables such as living in the villages, education, and occupation (P-value < 0.05).

Recognizing the mined areas and intensifying clearance measures are crucial for Kurdistan Province. Providing landmine awareness programs is likely to yield useful results in reducing casualties. Also, landmine survivors should have access to physical and social rehabilitation programs.

The aim of this study was to investigate the basic preparedness of rural community pharmacies to continue operations during and immediately following a disaster.

In 2014, we conducted a telephone survey (N = 990) of community pharmacies in 3 rural areas: North Dakota/South Dakota, West Virginia, Southern Oregon/Northern California regarding whether they had a formal disaster/continuity plan, offsite data backup, emergency power generation, and/or had a certified pharmacy immunizer on staff. Logistic regression and chi square were performed using Stata 11.1.

Community pharmacies in rural areas (≤50.0 persons/mile2) were less likely to have emergency power (odds ratio [OR] = 0.59; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.32-1.07) or certified pharmacy immunizer on staff (OR = 0.47; 95% CI: 0.34-0.64). Pharmacies in lower income areas were less likely to have emergency power and offsite data backup or a formal disaster plan (OR = 0.70; 95% CI: 0.49-0.99) compared with pharmacies in higher income areas. Community pharmacies in areas of higher percent elderly population were less likely to have emergency power (OR = 0.54; 95% CI: 0.39-0.73), or certified pharmacy immunizer on staff (OR = 0.65; 95% CI: 0.47-0.91) compared with chain pharmacies in areas with lower percent elderly population.

Being in a rural, low-income, or high-elderly area was associated with lower likelihood of basic preparedness of community pharmacies.

To describe social participation strategies and resilience in the people affected by the 2017 earthquakes in Mexico.

A cross-sectional study was carried out with 1504 participants from Mexico City, State of Mexico, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Puebla, and Morelos in November and December 2017. A nonprobabilistic convenience sampling method was used to recruit voluntary participants who met the inclusion criteria: age 18 or over and residents in damaged states at the time of the earthquakes. Postearthquake social participation strategies were assessed with the formats used in the postearthquake Chilean survey in 2010. The Spanish-validated version of the resilience scale RS-14 was applied for measuring resilience in the Mexican population.

The most frequent social participation strategies were related to emotional support and aid supplying water, food, and clothing. The highest resilience was observed in the state of Oaxaca and in Mexico City. Men, people age 40 or over, and people who defined themselves as indigenous were the most resilient.

Factors related to resilience were male gender, age over 40, did not participate in activities of help to the community, no household damage, and belonging to an indigenous community.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is a disaster of unprecedented proportions with global repercussions. Psychological preparedness, the primed cognitive awareness and anticipation of dealing with emotional responses in an adverse situation, has assumed a compelling relevance during a health disaster of this magnitude.

An anonymized eSurvey was conducted in India to assess psychological preparedness toward the ongoing pandemic with a focus on knowledge, management of own and others’ emotional response, and anticipatory coping mechanisms among the survey population. An adapted version of the qualitative Psychological Preparedness for Natural Disaster Scale validated by the World Health Organization was widely circulated over the Internet and various social media platforms for assessment. Results are expressed as median ± standard deviation. Descriptive statistics were used and figures downloaded from surveymonkey.com.

Of the 1120 respondents (M:F 1.7:1, age 35 years ±14.1), most expressed a high level of perceived knowledge and confidence of managing COVID-19, such as awareness of the symptoms of the illness (95.1%), actions needed (94.4%), hospital to report to (88.9%), and emergency contact number (89.1%). A majority (95%) monitored regularly the news bulletins and scientific journals regarding COVID-19. However, nearly one-third (29.2%) could not assess their likelihood of developing COVID-19, and 17.5% were unaware of the difference between a mild and severe infection. Twenty-three percent (23.3%) were unfamiliar with the materials needed in an acute illness situation.

Psychological disaster preparedness is reasonable, although lacking in specific domains. Timely but focused interventions can be a cost-efficient administrative exercise, which federal agencies may prioritize working on.

Previous research has identified a lack of clarification regarding paramedic professional obligation to work. Understanding community expectations of paramedics will provide some clarity around this issue. The objective of this research was to explore the expectations of a sample of Australian community members regarding the professional obligation of paramedics to respond during pandemics.

The authors used qualitative methods to gather Australian community member perspectives immediately before the onset of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Focus groups were used for data collection, and a thematic analysis was conducted.

The findings revealed 9 key themes: context of obligation (normal operations versus crisis situation), hierarchy of obligation (individual versus organizational obligation), risk acceptability, acceptable occupational risk (it’s part of the job), access to personal protective equipment, legal and ethical guidelines, education and training, safety, and acceptable limitations to obligation. The factors identified as being acceptable limitations to professional obligation are presented as further sub-themes: physical health, mental health, and competing personal obligations.

The issue of professional obligation must be addressed by ambulance services as a matter of urgency, especially in light of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Further research is recommended to understand how community member expectations evolve during and after the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID 19) is a new viral zoonosis of global concern that could cause psychological sequelae. We examined the levels of psychological distress, anxiety, depression, and stress during the COVID-19 outbreak in a Mexican sample.

An online survey was applied that collected information on demographic and financial status data, physical status, contact history, knowledge, concerns, and precautionary measures concerning COVID-19. Impact of Event Scale-Revised and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale were included.

A total of 50.3% of respondents rated psychological distress as moderate-severe; 15.7% reported moderate-severe depressive symptoms; 22.6% reported moderate-severe anxiety symptoms; and 19.8% reported moderate-severe stress levels. Female gender, older age, divorced status, lack of confidence related to security of the test, lower satisfaction of health information concerning COVID-19, history of direct or indirect contact with a COVID-19 confirmed case, live with just 1 other person, and spent >9 h/d at home were associated with greater psychological distress and/or higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. By contrast, precautionary measures, such as hand hygiene and wearing masks, were associated with lower levels of psychological distress, depression, anxiety, and stress.

COVID-19 outbreak results in considerable psychological effects among the Mexican sample.