The world has experienced multiple disasters in recent years that have highlighted the importance of effective disaster preparedness and response initiatives. One prominent example is the January 12, 2010, 7.0 magnitude earthquake that shook Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The massive disaster made it difficult for local Haitian community officials to respond immediately, leaving the country reliant on foreign aid and international and non-governmental relief organizations. Within days, hundreds of organizations and volunteers mobilized to send physicians and medical specialists, nurses, physiotherapists, psychologists and social workers to the affected area. However, the political and financial instability of Haiti, in conjunction with limited resources and severe destruction from the earthquake, made it difficult to coordinate response efforts between hundreds of responding organizations. The literature indicates that when health professionals are disorganized and unprepared, they are at risk physically, emotionally and mentally which could hinder their effectiveness as first responders. While these risks have been made known, there is little literature that explores the effectiveness of the supports, as perceived by Canadian health and social service providers in Haiti. In order to address this gap, this qualitative study explores various supports that were available to health and social service providers in Haiti by focusing on their lived experiences pre-deployment, on-site and post-deployment. These findings provide evidence to inform policy development regarding future disaster relief and the supports available to health and social service workers assisting with international disaster response.

Returning citizens face a host of barriers when attempting to reintegrate into society; thus, services for these concerns are imperative for successful reintegration. Unfortunately, services are often lacking, particularly in rural communities which tend to be overlooked in reentry research. In order to better determine service need for justice-involved populations in rural communities, the current study completed a gap analysis, both inspired and supplemented, by qualitative information collected from mental health providers (MHPs) in a rural Appalachian region of Tennessee. To complete the gap analysis, an estimation of need was collected via local crime statistics. Using this data, a two-sample t-test revealed that increased rurality was related to a significantly higher percentage of substance use related crimes, but not to crimes against persons or sexual crimes. Service availability data was then collected for local providers in the domains of general mental health, substance abuse, anger management (or anger management aligned), and sex offender treatment. It was found that nine of the ten counties in the identified region are considered mental health professional shortage areas (MHPSAs) for general mental health care. Using average caseload data from local MHPs, a calculation of provider shortfall was completed for specialty services for returning citizens. For the identified 10-county region, provider shortfalls were existent in all treatment domains. The largest gap identified was for anger management aligned services, while the smallest gap identified was for sex offender treatment services. An increase in rurality did not ensure an increased provider shortfall across domains. Overall, MPHs in the area identified similar needs in treatment services via two major qualitative themes and five subthemes. The findings from the current study provide a specific example of what services are missing for rural returning citizens. It is hoped that the results of this study help inform policy and programming efforts in rural communities as they attempt to close the service gap and successfully reintegrate rural returning citizens.

M. Tech. (Department of Process Control and Computer System, Faculty of Engineering and Technology), Vaal University of Technology. / Personal health record system (PHRS) is a tool that is used in maintaining the health and wellness of an individual as well as helping with illness of an individual. PHRS gives the individual access to a wide range of credible health information, data, and knowledge. Individuals can use that access to improve their health and manage their diseases. Patients with chronic illness can track and manage their health in conjunction with their health provider, this will promote early intervention when they encounter an abnormality or complications. Continuous monitoring and storing of health information has been a challenge for patients and health providers. Personal health data monitoring and retrieval system for health providers was designed and implemented. The main aim of this study was to develop an accurate, secure and flexible personal health data monitoring and retrieval system for health providers (PHRS). This was achieved. The research showed that when a patient health information (Electrocardiogram (ECG) and temperature) was monitored, the heartbeat (ECG) sensor output the value as an analog value to the signal processing (NodeMCU) which was then converted to a digital value. The temperature sensor used in this research is a digital sensor which lowers the amount of ADC conversion that was done. The digital values are displayed on LCD, its send to a personal health data storage system which was designed for health information storage purposes. It also sends the value to a retrieval system which is an android application that is connected to the data storage system to display health information to the health providers from a remote location. Personal health data storage and the retrieval system are secure due to the Message queuing telemetry transport (MQTT) protocol used in the application layer. The MQTT protocol is secure due to the secure socket layer (SSL) which is an encryption based on presentation layer embedded inside the MQTT protocol. After the comparison of the software simulation and the prototype test, the differences in the value for the heartbeat and temperature sensor indicate 0.04 BPM and 0.04 oC which shows the accuracy of the sensing circuit. Personal health data monitoring and retrieval system developed is applicable and useful to multiple entities in and around South Africa such as; Ministry of health, hospitals, sport and recreations.

Aim: This study aimed to explore and understand Tanzanian health professionals’ perceptions of barriers for adolescents accessing sexual and reproductive health services.  Methods: A qualitative study was carried out using semi-structured interviews with 16 health professionals. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings: The study revealed that sexual and reproductive health services are not sufficiently youth-friendly due to the perceived lack of youth-targeted information on existing services toadolescents, and the clinical and pathology focus in service delivery. Social stigma toward adolescent sexuality, lack of knowledge of sexual and reproductive health and rights in the community, and lack of responsible actors in educating adolescents were mentioned as socio-cultural barriers to accessing services. Political statements and policies were perceived to be a socio-political barrier for adolescents accessing sexual and reproductive health services. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that it is important to give attention to health professionals’ perspectives of barriers for adolescents accessing sexual and reproductive health services. Future research and policymakers need to investigate stigmatizing and judgemental attitudes toward adolescent sexuality, in communities and among health professionals, to realize youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services. The results in this thesis further suggest that policies in adolescent sexual and reproductive health and rights should be clear and consistent for improving the quality of service delivery for adolescents.