This article describes an innovative program to provide safe, evidence-based psychiatric care at the Baltimore Convention Center Field Hospital (BCCFH), set up for COVID-19 patients, to alleviate overextended hospitals.

Mental health is deteriorating quickly and significantly globally post-COVID. Though there were already over 1 billion people living with mental disorders pre-pandemic, in the first year of COVID-19 alone, the prevalence of anxiety and depression soared by 25% worldwide. In light of the chronic shortages of mental health provider and resources, along with disruptions of available health services caused by the pandemic and COVID-related restrictions, technology is widely believed to hold the key to addressing rising mental health crises. However, hurdles such as fragmented and often suboptimal patient protection measures substantially undermine technology's potential to address the global mental health crises effectively, reliably, and at scale. To shed light on these issues, this paper aims to discuss the post-pandemic challenges and opportunities the global community could leverage to improve society's mental health

Increasing transboundary crises necessitate the development of crisis management capabilities that transcend boundaries. In such situations, inter-governmental and cross-functional collaboration has become a common practice to address the complexities of governance challenges. This study employs Social Network Analysis to examine the structure, function, and evolution of policy collaboration networks in China in response to COVID-19 and SARS. Since the SARS outbreak, China has embraced a collaborative governance approach, considering the transboundary nature of COVID-19. This approach has led to the involvement of numerous specialized organizations engaged in economic and social development, contributing to the establishment of a larger and more loosely connected collaboration network. While the health department bears the primary responsibility for coordinating public health emergency management, diverse organizations with social governance and economic management functions have also emerged as key actors, providing crucial anti-epidemic information, knowledge, and resources to address this significant cross-border crisis.

The impact of disasters on the health and wellbeing of children is well documented, with children identified as bellwethers of community recovery. It has also been demonstrated that building community-wide resilience benefits from being approached through a child-centric model of community participation. While much of this work has been focused on the USA, there is a need to develop models to adapt these approaches in international environments. Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are particularly at risk for disaster events. SIDS tend to have less diverse economies and a high dependence on climate-sensitive sectors that are vulnerable to disasters. The National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University along with Save the Children created The Resilient Children, Resilient Communities Initiative to build child-focused resilience within communities. The Initiative, which has already been applied to sites in the USA, is being adapted for the context of Dominica. The Initiative focuses on child-serving institutions and uses a Community Preparedness Index to quantify the current inventory of policies and practices related to children. The Initiative aims to implement strategies to improve the ability of the community to meet the needs of children in a disaster. This paper explores the application of these concepts surrounding the Initiative.

The emergency response capacity of nurses is quite important during the COVID-19 epidemic. This study aimed to determine the relationship of resilience with emergency response capacity and occupational stresses during COVID-19 re-outbreak.

Diphtheria, a highly contagious disease that can be prevented through vaccination, is emerging in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, an area known for its instability, which presents a severe risk of becoming an epidemic. This is particularly concerning, as the Government of Pakistan intends to send (push back, actually) Afghan refugees back to Afghanistan. This research aims to study the outbreak from an epidemiological perspective and suggest ways to manage it.

The objective of this study was to explore the burden of disasters and adverse health outcomes during and following disasters in Bangladesh.

This study aims to assess the prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in mothers affected by the February 2023 earthquakes in Turkey and to explore the influence of spiritual well-being and other factors on their Post-Traumatic Growth (PTG) levels.

Health Security is a major concern for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It is the second largest country in Africa, borders nine other countries, has more than 80 million inhabitants, and has suffered from decades of neglect and conflicts together with multiple recurrent disease outbreaks, including Ebola.

The injuries that occurred in earthquakes caused an accumulation in hospitals and the need for health services increased. The most needed human resource in the provision of health services in disasters is nurses. The aim of this study is to determine the scope of nursing services in earthquakes and to identify the service needs in hospitals during the February 6 earthquakes in Turkey. In this study, Delphi technique was used for needs analysis. The managers of health institutions in 11 provinces that experienced the earthquake were interviewed to determine how nursing services are carried out during earthquakes. As a result of this study, it was determined that there were inadequacies in triage, identification of earthquake victims, medical intervention and keeping records, identification of deceased earthquake victims, storage of personal belongings, communication with relatives of earthquake victims, and psychosocial support services in disasters such as earthquakes where many people were seriously injured. It has been observed that there is a need for disaster nurses and forensic nurses to work in these areas and it is thought that these 2 nursing fields should be taken into consideration in the planning of health professional resources in disasters.

In responding to a Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear explosive (CBRNe) disaster, clinical leaders have important decision-making responsibilities which include implementing hospital disaster protocols or incident command systems, managing staffing, and allocating resources. Despite emergency care clinical leaders' integral role, there is minimal literature regarding the strategies they may use during CBRNe disasters. The aim of this study was to explore emergency care clinical leaders' strategies related to managing patients following a CBRNe disaster.

Disasters, armed conflicts, and disease outbreaks often overwhelm normal corpse-handling capacities, highlighting the importance of mass fatality management in emergency preparedness and response. This paper examines principles, practices, and challenges of ensuring dignified corpse management after catastrophic events leading to sudden mass fatalities. It draws insights from Nepal's experience with the 2015 earthquakes, as well as other recent disasters worldwide. The discussion reveals planning and policy gaps that undermine the dignity of the deceased and prolong trauma for survivors. Recommendations are provided for improving global preparedness to accord proper respect to the dead amid immense tragedy. As climate change escalates disasters, all vulnerable nations must enhance their capacities for systematic and empathetic mass fatality management. Even when protocols exist, overwhelmed systems lead to a breakdown in practical implementations, violating cultural norms. By building robust preparedness through strategic plans, training, infrastructure, and international cooperation, we can preserve humanity even amidst utter inhumanity.

Vaccination is the most important method to control the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and vaccination is key to this goal. This paper highlights considerations for policy development around vaccination attestation and proof requirements, specifically in rural Appalachia. Migrant and immigrant farmworkers are integral to the food and goods supply chain globally; they have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, therefore these policies need to take extensive precautions for farmworkers to systematically and easily comply with vaccination status submission procedures. In this paper, we present steps to equitably manage and implement vaccine mandates: (1) Develop and establish policies to support safe workplace standards for everyone, including vaccination policies; (2) Utilize equitable methods to collect vaccine verification; (3) Use effective and inclusive methods to implement the policies by using these techniques; (4) Integrate key populations to develop and strengthen policies to improve health equity.

While prior studies have barely explored social interaction for COVID-19 across Asia, this study highlights how people interact with each other for the COVID-19 pandemic among India, Japan, and South Korea based on social network analysis by employing NodeXL for Twitter between July 27 and July 28, 2020. This study finds that the Ministry of Health and Prime Minister of India, news media of Japan, and the president of South Korea play the most essential role in social networks in their country, respectively. Second, governmental key players play the most crucial role in South Korea, whereas they play the least role in India. Third, the Indian are interested in COVID-19 deaths, the Japanese care about the information of COVID-19 patients, and the South Korean focus on COVID-19 vaccines. Therefore, governments and disease experts should explore their social interaction based on the characteristics of social networks to release important news and information in a timely manner.

This study aimed to assess the relationship between COVID-19 infection-related conditions and depressive symptoms among medical staff after easing the zero-COVID policy in China, and to further examine the mediating role of professional burnout.

Mass Casualty Incidents (MCIs) pose significant challenges to health care systems, especially regarding emergency preparedness and response. This study aims to analyze the epidemiological characteristics and burden of MCIs in Spain from 2014 to 2022, focusing on the type, frequency, and impact of these incidents on public health and emergency services.

The SDMPH 10-year anniversary conference created an opportunity for a researcher to present at a professional association conference to advance their research by seeking consensus of statements using Delphi methodology.

This prospective observational study examined changing trends of excess self-protective behavior (EPB), and their association with perceived risk, perceived severity, and irrational beliefs about prevention during the Chinese COVID-19 epidemic. Participants were recruited for an online panel survey. There are 150 participants for the baseline and 102 for the final survey. There were 5 waves of interviews. Perceptions of risk and disease severity were measured by single items. Irrational beliefs about prevention and EPB comprised 5 common prevention misconceptions. Descriptive statistics and the CATMOD program were used for data analysis. The prevalence of participants perceiving personal risk of contracting COVID-19 and severe consequences of the disease was 18.6% and 25.5%, respectively, at baseline, and declining to 4.9% and 17.6% at final observation. The 5 selected EPB also showed a diminishing trend. Belief in COVID-19 prevention myths trended upwards. Perceived risk was positively associated with each EPB, and perceived severity with disinfection of clothes and hoarding of products. Myth adherence was positively associated with disinfection of clothes and both hand washing and sanitization. This study yields new information about EPB among the Chinese public. Policy modifications and public education interventions are essential for minimizing the adverse health effects of subscribing to irrational beliefs.

This paper delves into the influence of network media on the efficacy of emergency response during natural disasters. Given the frequent occurrence of disasters that pose significant risks to urban areas, effective emergency response mechanisms are paramount. Leveraging the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model, this study assesses disaster response efficiency by analyzing network information. It explores the distinct characteristics of disaster response across different types of natural disasters and their various occurrence stages. To this end, three emblematic disasters are chosen for empirical analysis: the 2021 Zhengzhou heavy rainstorm, the 2022 Super Typhoon Chaba, and the 2022 Luding earthquake. Our findings reveal disparities in response efficiency among these disaster types, with Zhengzhou's rainstorm response demonstrating the highest efficiency, followed by the Super Typhoon Chaba, and the Luding earthquake yielding the lowest efficiency. Furthermore, this study meticulously discusses the pivotal factors that shape response efficiency, encompassing government decision-making, emergency rescue operations, and social assistance. By pinpointing optimal response strategies tailored to distinct disaster stages, this paper underscores its contribution toward augmenting disaster response efficiency and fostering urban safety and disaster preparedness.