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'Public servants should get off social media': warning after Islamic State hack

Terrorists and criminals are looking for people to blackmail or seduce into stealing data.




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Public servants warned off internet sex and cheating sites after Ashley Madison hack

Marriage vows are one thing, but the public service Code of Conduct, that's serious.




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Digital Transformation Office chief executive Paul Shetler announces public service work schedule

Paul Shetler reveals the digital projects about to hit the federal bureaucracy. Starting with Canberra.




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How Australian public service's digital reforms will happen, according to the Digital Transformation Office

The millions of customers, the short deadline: how the public service's digital revolution will start.




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Public service to ban paper in boxes: New digital policy to make sweeping reforms across APS

One powerful agency head warns against "tyranny of small person" as sweeping reforms released for public service.




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Australian public service's 'gap in capability' to deal with digital revolution

State of the Service report outlines the major hurdle to digital reform.




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Open government data to public use, and Australia may start to catch up with the world

Public servants need to ditch the control and encourage entrepreneurship.




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Australian public service failing to share information: Public Sector Data Management report

A report has revealed stunning examples of public service inefficiency when it comes to releasing and managing data.




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Digital public service means ditching control and embracing 'we'

Collaborating with the public is the key for a more engaging government experience.




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Can the government really protect your privacy when it 'de-identifies' public data?

We don't really know to how to use big data and protect personal information at the same time.




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$212,000 per public service IT contractor, and we're hiring more of them

Contractors cost 80 grand more than public servants, Finance Departments says, and the public service hires more of them.




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Public service bosses to be schooled in digital following IT problems

Public service bosses will take lessons aiming to improve their leadership in all things digital.




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Brexit identities and British public opinion on China

6 November 2019 , Volume 95, Number 6

Wilfred M. Chow, Enze Han and Xiaojun Li

Many studies have explored the importance of public opinion in British foreign policy decision-making, especially when it comes to the UK's relations with the United States and the European Union. Despite its importance, there is a dearth of research on public opinion about British foreign policy towards other major players in the international system, such as emerging powers like China. We have addressed this knowledge gap by conducting a public opinion survey in the UK after the Brexit referendum. Our research findings indicate that the British public at large finds China's rise disconcerting, but is also pragmatic in its understanding of how the ensuing bilateral relations should be managed. More importantly, our results show that views on China are clearly split between the two opposing Brexit identities. Those who subscribe strongly to the Leave identity, measured by their aversion to the EU and antipathy towards immigration, are also more likely to hold negative perceptions of Chinese global leadership and be more suspicious of China as a military threat. In contrast, those who espouse a Remain identity—that is, believe that Britain would be better served within the EU and with more immigrants—are more likely to prefer closer engagement with China and to have a more positive outlook overall on China's place within the global community.




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Coronavirus: Public Health Emergency or Pandemic – Does Timing Matter?

1 May 2020

Dr Charles Clift

Senior Consulting Fellow, Global Health Programme
The World Health Organization (WHO) has been criticized for delaying its announcements of a public health emergency and a pandemic for COVID-19. But could earlier action have influenced the course of events?

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WHO director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at the COVID-19 press briefing on March 11, 2020, the day the coronavirus outbreak was classed as a pandemic. Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the spread of COVID-19 to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on January 30 this year and then characterized it as a pandemic on March 11.

Declaring a PHEIC is the highest level of alert that WHO is obliged to declare, and is meant to send a powerful signal to countries of the need for urgent action to combat the spread of the disease, mobilize resources to help low- and middle-income countries in this effort and fund research and development on needed treatments, vaccines and diagnostics. It also obligates countries to share information with WHO.

Once the PHEIC was declared, the virus continued to spread globally, and WHO began to be asked why it had not yet declared the disease a pandemic. But there is no widely accepted definition of a pandemic, generally it is just considered an epidemic which affects many countries globally.

Potentially more deadly

The term has hitherto been applied almost exclusively to new forms of flu, such as H1N1 in 2009 or Spanish flu in 1918, where the lack of population immunity and absence of a vaccine or effective treatments makes the outbreak potentially much more deadly than seasonal flu (which, although global, is not considered a pandemic).

For COVID-19, WHO seemed reluctant to declare a pandemic despite the evidence of global spread. Partly this was because of its influenza origins — WHO’s emergency programme executive director said on March 9 that ‘if this was influenza, we would have called a pandemic ages ago’.

He also expressed concern that the word traditionally meant moving — once there was widespread transmission — from trying to contain the disease by testing, isolating the sick and tracing and quarantining their contacts, to a mitigation approach, implying ‘the disease will spread uncontrolled’.

WHO’s worry was that the world’s reaction to the word pandemic might be there was now nothing to be done to stop its spread, and so countries would effectively give up trying. WHO wanted to send the message that, unlike flu, it could still be pushed back and the spread slowed down.

In announcing the pandemic two days later, WHO’s director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reemphasised this point: ‘We cannot say this loudly enough, or clearly enough, or often enough: all countries can still change the course of this pandemic’ and that WHO was deeply concerned ‘by the alarming levels of inaction’.

The evidence suggests that the correct message did in fact get through. On March 13, US president Donald Trump declared a national emergency, referring in passing to WHO’s announcement. On March 12, the UK launched its own strategy to combat the disease. And in the week following WHO’s announcements, at least 16 other countries announced lockdowns of varying rigour including Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Spain and Switzerland. Italy and Greece had both already instituted lockdowns prior to the WHO pandemic announcement.

It is not possible to say for sure that WHO’s announcement precipitated these measures because, by then, the evidence of the rapid spread was all around for governments to see. It may be that Italy’s dramatic nationwide lockdown on March 9 reverberated around European capitals and elsewhere.

But it is difficult to believe the announcement did not have an effect in stimulating government actions, as was intended by Dr Tedros. Considering the speed with which the virus was spreading from late February, might an earlier pandemic announcement by WHO have stimulated earlier aggressive actions by governments?

Declaring a global health emergency — when appropriate — is a key part of WHO’s role in administering the International Health Regulations (IHR). Significantly, negotiations on revisions to the IHR, which had been ongoing in a desultory fashion in WHO since 1995, were accelerated by the experience of the first serious coronavirus outbreak — SARS — in 2002-2003, leading to their final agreement in 2005.

Under the IHR, WHO’s director-general decides whether to declare an emergency based on a set of criteria and on the advice of an emergency committee. IHR defines an emergency as an ‘extraordinary event that constitutes a public health risk through the international spread of disease and potentially requires a coordinated international response’.

In the case of COVID-19, the committee first met on January 22-23 but were unable to reach consensus on a declaration. Following the director-general’s trip to meet President Xi Jinping in Beijing, the committee reconvened on January 30 and this time advised declaring a PHEIC.

But admittedly, public recognition of what a PHEIC means is extremely low. Only six have ever been declared, with the first being the H1N1 flu outbreak which fizzled out quickly, despite possibly causing 280,000 deaths globally. During the H1N1 outbreak, WHO declared a PHEIC in April 2009 and then a pandemic in June, only to rescind both in August as the outbreak was judged to have transitioned to behave like a seasonal flu.

WHO was criticized afterwards for prematurely declaring a PHEIC and overreacting. This then may have impacted the delay in declaring the Ebola outbreak in West Africa as a PHEIC in 2014, long after it became a major crisis. WHO’s former legal counsel has suggested the PHEIC — and other aspects of the IHR framework — may not be effective in stimulating appropriate actions by governments and needs to be reconsidered.

When the time is right to evaluate lessons about the response, it might be appropriate to consider the relative effectiveness of the PHEIC and pandemic announcements and their optimal timing in stimulating appropriate action by governments. The effectiveness of lockdowns in reducing the overall death toll also needs investigation.




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"The interest of diesel drivers over the interest of the public" - tackling air pollution

Air pollution is a truly damaging environmental insult to the human body. The numbers of premature deaths, in the UK alone, that can be attributed to it are calculated to be 40,000 a year. Yet despite this, action to tackle the problem - as with the other huge environmental issue of our time, climate change - is distinctly lacking. Robin...




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What does the public think of the NHS?

It’s been quite a year for the NHS - it just turned 70, had a winter crisis like never before, got over junior doctor strikes, but then was hit by a series of scandals about breast screening, and now opiate prescriptions. At the same time, we’ve seen demonstrations in favour of the service and even widespread public backing for more money. So...




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UK children are drinking less and the importance of a publicly provided NHS

Brits have a reputation as Europe’s boozers - and for good reason, with alcohol consumption higher than much of the rest of the continent. That reputation is extended to our young people too - but is it still deserved? Joanna Inchley, senior research fellow at the University of St Andrews, explains new research on decreasing drinking -...




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Vaping deaths - does this change what we think about public health messages

This week the Trump administration has banned the sale of flavoured vapes in the USA. The reason for that is the sudden rash of cases of pulmonary disease, including deaths, linked to vaping. The mechanism by which vaping may be causing damage to the lungs is as yet unclear, and our understanding is hampered by the heterogeneous nature of the...




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The public health response to covid - 19

As part of our response to the covid-19 pandemic, we’re going to be running a series of discussions with experts about some of the big issues arising from the virus. In this one, we’re asking about the public health response to an outbreak - what’s necessary, and is it possible to go to far. Joining us are Martin Mckee - professor of european...




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Public Health Vs The Economy

Around the world, as the covid pandemic plays out, and some countries are starting to ease their restrictions, this narrative of the economy and public health being opposing weights on a set of scales keeps returning - they need to be balanced. But before this, a healthy population is very much seen as being supportive of the economy. So is a...




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CARPHA urges public to guard against mosquito-borne diseases

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) is urging people in the region to remember that despite the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, they must be mindful that other public health threats still...




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Public health leaders slam Boris Johnson over “sin tax” review plan




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The roots to peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo: conservation as a platform for green development

2 July 2014 , Volume 90, Number 4

Richard Milburn




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Promoting Legal and Sustainable Timber: Using Public Procurement Policy

8 September 2014

This paper examines governments’ efforts to use public procurement policy to promote the use of legal and sustainable timber. Timber procurement can provide valuable lessons to governments when developing sustainable procurement policies for other products associated with deforestation.

Duncan Brack

Associate Fellow, Energy, Environment and Resources Programme

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Logging and timber production and transportation on the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Photo by Getty Images.

Governments are increasingly using public procurement policy to promote the use of legal and sustainable timber, thereby helping to reduce deforestation and illegal logging and encouraging sustainable forestry. 

At least 26 countries, mostly in the EU, currently possess some form of timber procurement policy at central government level. Although some have been implemented more recently than others and all tend to vary in their design, the evidence suggests that they are having a positive effect on increasing market share for verified legal and sustainable timber. Although government purchasing accounts for only a limited share of the market, the evidence also suggests that these timber procurement policies are having a broader impact on consumer markets, partly through their impact on suppliers and partly through the signals they send to the market. 

These policies are also relatively straightforward to introduce: many countries already possess some form of green procurement policy, and criteria for legal and sustainable timber can easily be tailored to fit. In general no new legislation is needed, though the more comprehensive policies benefit from training and advice to government purchasers. 

The gradual spread of the EU Green Procurement Policy programme, and commitments by an increasing number of private companies to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains are likely to encourage further uptake of procurement policies for sustainable timber. Timber procurement can also provide valuable lessons to governments when developing sustainable procurement policies for other products associated with deforestation, such as palm oil. 




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Reducing Deforestation in Agricultural Commodity Supply Chains: Using Public Procurement Policy

2 September 2015

This paper explores the potential of using public procurement policy to promote the uptake of sustainable food products in order to reduce imports of agricultural products associated with deforestation.

 

Duncan Brack

Associate Fellow, Energy, Environment and Resources Programme

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Workers sort cocoa fruits near the Mendoa Chocolates plant in the state of Bahia near Ilheus, Brazil. Photo: Getty Images.

Summary

  • Procurement policy has been used effectively to exclude illegal and unsustainable timber from consumer-country markets.
  • As the public sector is a major purchaser of food and catering services for schools, nurseries, hospitals, care homes, canteens, prisons and the military, public procurement policies in this area clearly have the potential to promote the uptake of sustainable products not associated with deforestation.
  • Many public authorities, particularly at local and regional level, already have a procurement policy for food; in principle, criteria for sustainable production could be incorporated relatively easily.
  • Some products – particularly palm oil, cocoa, coffee and tea – are better suited than others to this approach; for all these products, voluntary certification initiatives currently under way could provide identification mechanisms on which procurement policies could rest.
  • Other commodities may not be as suited to procurement policy, and it may be more effective to use other regulations; this applies particularly to soy, for which biofuel regulations are likely to have a bigger impact.
  • In cases in which private-sector initiatives are under way to achieve 100 per cent sustainable imports (such a target has been set for palm oil in several countries), procurement policy may be unnecessary. In other cases, the adoption of a new procurement policy could serve as the spur to a private-sector initiative. 




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Opioid agonist treatment and risk of mortality during opioid overdose public health emergency: population based retrospective cohort study




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“Us” or “Them”? How Policies, Public Opinion, and Political Rhetoric Affect Immigrants’ Sense of Belonging

Citizenship and integration policies are often thought of as markers for whether a country is welcoming to immigrants. Yet research suggests that public opinion and political rhetoric play a bigger role in immigrants' sense of belonging. This article explores how boundaries between "us" and "them" are drawn through popular conceptions of nationhood and political rhetoric, and their impact on immigrants' belonging.




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Democratic Republic of the Congo: A Migration History Marked by Crises and Restrictions

One of the least developed countries in sub-Saharan Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has experienced significant migration outflows and inflows tied to political and economic crises in recent decades. While most Congolese migrants head to neighboring countries, destinations have diversified, with an uptick in those leaving for opportunities in Europe and beyond. This country profile explores historical and contemporary patterns of migration to and from DR Congo.




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Police, public works employees rescue deer from soccer net

Police and public works employees in Wisconsin came to the rescue of a deer that found itself struggling to escape a soccer net.




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Undiagnosed NIDDM: Clinical and Public Health Issues

Maureen I Harris
Apr 1, 1993; 16:642-652
Kelly West Lecture 1992




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Journal of Public Health Dentistry study finds association between man-made chemical, childhood caries

Circulating levels of perfluorodecanoic acid, a type of perfluoroalkyl acid, may be associated with dental caries in children, according to a study published in the fall 2019 issue of the Journal of Public Health Dentistry.




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American Institute of Dental Public Health mentors next generation of service-oriented dentists

Dr. David P. Cappelli, Ph.D., acknowledges that as providers, we don’t often understand difficulties that some patients face to receive needed dental care.




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North Carolina interactive map launches to help public find emergency dental treatment during pandemic

A North Carolina oral health coalition, in collaboration with multiple state partners, has developed an interactive map to help guide the public to sites where emergency dental services are available throughout the Tar Heel State both during and after the COVID-19 outbreak.




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Study: Opioid overdose 14 times more likely in general public than cancer survivors

Cancer survivors have a lower risk for a fatal opioid overdose -- from prescription pain medications or illegal drugs -- than those without the disease, an analysis published Thursday by JAMA Oncology shows.




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Clinical and Public Health Implications of 2019 Endocrine Society Guidelines for Diagnosis of Diabetes in Older Adults

OBJECTIVE

Screening for diabetes is typically done using hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) or fasting plasma glucose (FPG). The 2019 Endocrine Society guidelines recommend further testing using an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in older adults with prediabetic HbA1c or FPG. We evaluated the impact of this recommendation on diabetes prevalence, eligibility for glucose-lowering treatment, and estimated cost of implementation in a nationally representative sample.

RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS

We included 2,236 adults aged ≥65 years without known diabetes from the 2005–2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Diabetes was defined using: 1) the Endocrine Society approach (HbA1c ≥6.5%, FPG ≥126 mg/dL, or 2-h plasma glucose ≥200 mg/dL among those with HbA1c 5.7–6.4% or FPG 100–125 mg/dL); and 2) a standard approach (HbA1c ≥6.5% or FPG ≥126 mg/dL). Treatment eligibility was defined using HbA1c cut points (≥7 to ≥9%). OGTT screening costs were estimated using Medicare fee schedules.

RESULTS

Diabetes prevalence was 15.7% (~5.0 million) using the Endocrine Society’s approach and 7.3% (~2.3 million) using the standard approach. Treatment eligibility ranged from 5.4 to 0.06% and 11.8–1.3% for diabetes cases identified through the Endocrine Society or standard approach, respectively. By definition, diabetes identified exclusively through the Endocrine Society approach had HbA11c <6.5% and would not be recommended for glucose-lowering treatment. Screening all older adults with prediabetic HbA1c/FPG (~18.3 million) with OGTT could cost between $737 million and $1.7 billion.

CONCLUSIONS

Adopting the 2019 Endocrine Society guidelines would substantially increase the number of older adults classified as having diabetes, require significant financial resources, but likely offer limited benefits.




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Migration &amp; Coronavirus: A Complicated Nexus Between Migration Management and Public Health

This webinar, organized by MPI and the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility at The New School, discussed the state of play around the globe surrounding COVID-19 and examined where migration management and enforcement tools may be useful and where they may be ill-suited to advancing public health goals. 




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Understanding the Creation of Public Consensus: Migration and Integration in Germany, 2005 to 2015

As immigrant-skeptic movements gained salience, and even political representation, in several European countries in recent years, Germany remained a relative outlier until mid-2015. This report explains how a pro-immigrant consensus evolved and persisted in Germany during the period from 2005—as the country emerged from recession and embarked on a reform of its immigration laws—through to the events of mid-2015.




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High-Status Criminals Face Greatest Public Wrath

Let's say the FBI hears a senior elected official on a tapped telephone line demanding kickbacks in exchange for favors and shaking down donors for campaign contributions in exchange for plum contracts.




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The Impact of Immigration Enforcement Policies On Teaching and Learning in America’s Public Schools

In an era of stepped-up immigration enforcement, speakers at this event present their research on the impact of enforcement policies on children from immigrant families and U.S. public schools. 




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Open Door for Venezuelan and Nicaraguan Migrants in Latin America &amp; Caribbean Closes a Bit amid Scale of Flows, Strains on Public Services

WASHINGTON – Even as governments in Latin America and the Caribbean have taken generous and innovative steps to address forced displacement from Venezuela and more recently Nicaragua, the warm welcome has cooled in places amid the vast scale of the inflows, strains on public services and growing public concern.




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MPI Estimates No More than 167,000 Non-Citizens Could Be Ineligible for Green Cards Based on Current Public Benefits Use

WASHINGTON – While the new Trump administration public charge rule is likely to vastly reshape future legal immigration based on its test to assess if a person might ever use public benefits in the future, the universe of non-citizens who could be denied a green card based on current benefits use is quite small.




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As Millions Are Pushed from Jobs amid Pandemic, the Loss of Employer Health Coverage &amp; Limited Access to Public Coverage for Many Immigrants Hold Major Implications for Them – and U.S. Overall

WASHINGTON – As more than 33 million U.S. workers have lost their jobs since March amid the pandemic-induced economic crisis, immigrants are among the most vulnerable: They are more likely than the U.S. born to be laid off and to live in communities with high COVID-19 infection rates, and less likely to have health insurance coverage and access to a doctor or other usual source of health care.




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Migration &amp; Coronavirus: A Complicated Nexus Between Migration Management and Public Health

This webinar, organized by MPI and the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility at The New School, discussed migration policy responses around the globe in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and examined where migration management and enforcement tools may be useful and where they may be ill-suited to advancing public health goals. 




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Chilling Effects: The Expected Public Charge Rule and Its Impact on Legal Immigrant Families’ Public Benefits Use

According to leaked drafts, the Trump administration is considering a rule that could have sweeping effects on both legal immigration to the United States and the use of public benefits by legal immigrants and their families. This report examines the potential scale of the expected rule’s impact, including at national and state levels and among children, as well as Hispanic and Asian American/Pacific Islander immigrants.




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Chilling Effects: The Expected Public-Charge Rule and Its Impact on Immigrant Families

This webinar highlights findings from an MPI report examining the potential impacts of expected changes to the public charge rule by the Trump administration. Leaked draft versions suggest the rule could sharply expand the number of legally present noncitizens facing difficulty getting a green card or extending a visa as a result of their family's use of public benefits. The rule likely would discourage millions from accessing health, nutrition, and social services for which they or their U.S.-citizen dependents are eligible.




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Through the Back Door: Remaking the Immigration System via the Expected “Public-Charge” Rule

A Trump administration “public-charge” rule expected to be unveiled soon could create the potential to significantly reshape family-based legal immigration to the United States—and reduce arrivals from Asia, Latin America, and Africa—by imposing a de facto financial test that 40 percent of the U.S. born themselves would fail, as this commentary explains.




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Millions Will Feel Chilling Effects of U.S. Public-Charge Rule That Is Also Likely to Reshape Legal Immigration

The public-charge rule issued by the Trump administration in August 2019 will have profound effects on future immigration and on use of public benefits by millions of legal noncitizens and their U.S.-citizen family members. Complex standards for determining when an immigrant is likely to become a public charge could cause a significant share of the nearly 23 million noncitizens and U.S. citizens in benefits-using immigrant families to disenroll, as this commentary explains.




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Green Cards and Public Charge: Who Could Be Denied Based on Benefits Use?

On this webinar MPI experts discuss their estimates of the populations that could be deemed ineligible for a green card based on existing benefits use. They also discuss the broader consequences of the public-charge rule implemented in February 2020, through its "chilling effects" and imposition of a wealth test aimed at assessing whether green-card applicants ever would be likely to use a public benefit in the future. 




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The Public-Charge Rule: Broad Impacts, But Few Will Be Denied Green Cards Based on Actual Benefits Use

While the Trump administration public-charge rule is likely to vastly reshape legal immigration based on its test to assess if a person might ever use public benefits in the future, the universe of noncitizens who could be denied a green card based on current benefits use is quite small. That's because very few benefit programs are open to noncitizens who do not hold a green card. This commentary offers estimates of who might be affected.




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Green Cards and Public Charge: Who Could Be Denied Based on Benefits Use?

On this webinar, MPI experts discussed the public-charge rule and released estimates of the populations that could be deemed ineligible for a green card based on existing benefits use. They examined the far larger consequences of the rule, through its "chilling effects" and imposition of a test aimed at assessing whether green-card applicants are likely to ever use a public benefit in the future. And they discussed how the latter holds the potential to reshape legal immigration to the United States.