Infant mortality is an important indicator of a nation's overall health and well-being because of its association with education, availability and accessibility of health services, and income inequality. In this paper, we examine the effect of job-protected paid parental leave on infant and post-neonatal mortality rates in 19 OECD countries from 1960 to 2012. We utilize a generalized least squares model controlling for a host of variables traditionally examined in studies of infant mortality rates, as well as year fixed effects, country fixed effects, and country time trends. We find a statistically significant association between job-protected paid parental leave and a reduction in both infant mortality rates and post-neonatal mortality rates. The findings are particularly relevant for policymakers in the United States, the only industrialized democracy in the world that does not provide job-protected paid parental leave to working women and men.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Global conflicts and crises significantly affect all forms of healthcare delivery, evidenced by the COVID-19 pandemic and wars. Mass migration results in the displacement of millions of people without any access to their personal health records (PHRs). To improve access to health records for everyone, anywhere in the world, cloud-based healthcare infrastructures for PHRs need to be evaluated. This to manage significant chronic conditions such as ischaemic heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, missing out on quality routine and planned care. Cloud based PHRs would also enable both patients’ co-ownership and a research platform in the era of artificial intelligence in medicine. This has not previously been the subject of scientific focus. Here we present the results of the first Global Patient co-Owned Cloud (GPOC) structured survey and a consensus summit. The survey was answered by key opinion leaders from all 193 United Nations’ (UN) member states, 2 UN observer states (Holy See & Palestine) and 1 de facto UN non-member state (Taiwan) with additional input from 18 top-ranked, international organisations. The survey identified twelve major facets that require research attention. Based on the feedback and results, we also assessed the necessity and feasibility of developing a GPOC paradigm. This consists of evidenced-based scientific principles in accordance with ethical, economic, technical, legal, and international regulatory considerations. Through this we investigate a globally inclusive foundation structure using personal health records as the fulcrum for effective cross-border collaborative healthcare.

Current geopolitical tensions together with the global pandemic have provided important lessons for the need to independently re-evaluate our healthcare needs, guide and promote patient self-awareness and patient-centred care and to consider how cross-border medical information needs have become connected. The pandemic and war have also led to various humanitarian and healthcare crises for which there’s a need to re-evaluate and develop technologies to better manage Personal Health Records (PHRs) for displaced refugees with chronic diseases crossing borders. The recent trend of mobile platform-based, and electronic health record for e-health technologies enabled cloud-based PHR management as a paradigm for patient centred care. However, these platforms are yet to gain use-ubiquity globally. Here we performed a Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) registered and Preferred Reporting Items Systematic and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA)-guided systematic review and meta-analysis of the Personal Health Record looking at outcomes such as data security, efficiency, privacy, cost-based measures to generate a benchmark for future studies in this area. A meta-analysis of twelve axes for a future Global Patient co-Owned Cloud (GPOC) highlight the potential in health economics, performance, cryptography and speed of the basic techniques that are currently available, that would facilitate the construction of a GPOC. Whilst the field is early in its development, we highlight barriers, limitations and solutions through a proposed global consensus to ensure appropriate value delivery, safety and ethical governance for global digital personal health record adoption that can fundamentally beneficially transform the future of healthcare.