The International Maritime Health Association focuses on maritime health and safety with the objective to improve the quality of health of seafarers, fishermen, and port workers. The IMHA was founded on June 17, 1997, during the 4th ISMH in Oslo, Norway chaired by Mohammed Saeme, who was also its first president. [1] [2] IMHA develops standards aim to improve the maritime health practices internationally, coordinating with national maritime authorities, the maritime industry, unions, and other international organizations.
IMHA holds the International Symposium on Maritime Health for members to present their studies on international maritime health biannually. The inaugurate symposium was in Turku Finland, 1991. The 10th ISMH was held in Goa, India. [3] The 11th and 12th ISMH was held at Odessa in 2011 and France in 2013, respectively.
IMHA Research was founded as a subgroup to IMHA in 2014 after some years of discussions [4] and further developed especially related to the mental health and well-being promotion strategy by the European Commission [5] The objectives were to provide a foundation safe and healthy preventive strategies within the UN Global Sustainable Goals, especially Goal 3: Good health and well-being for all workers and Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth. Further, to encourage health research collaboration within and across disciplinary boundaries to establish evidence that will benefit the health of seafarers and help to improve safety and operational efficiency in the maritime sector. The activities in IMHA-Research declined over the years especially also caused by the Covid-19 Pandemic that hinders international meetings.
Based on friendships and discussions over thirty years during the International Maritime Symposia the MAHRE-Net was founded in Zoom meeting 3 Sep 2020 5pm CET by members of IMHA-Research as an independent, non-profit Network. The aim is to improve and further develop the maritime health research and education based on the ideas and the work in IMHA-research, and recognized by the IMHA Board of Directors. [6] [7] [8] [9] The research programs and the methodological education Diplomas are not only for the maritime areas but for all industries. The background for MAHRE-Net origines from some similar research and educative initiatives like the International Maritime Health Surveillance Project 1997–2005. [10]
On the 12 Jan 2022, The International Diabetes and Hypertension Research Group [11] [12] for fishers, seafarers and other transport workers was created in a Zoom conference by specialists in diabetes epidemiology, diabetology, occupational and maritime medicine and public health with participation from Greenland, Russia, Denmark, Spain, France, Panamá and The Filippines. The aim is to provide a foundation for safe and healthy preventive strategies within the UN Global Sustainable Goals, especially Goal 3: Good health and well-being for all, Goal 4: Quality education; Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth and Goal 17: Partnerships to achieve the Goals - with the primary tasks:
Nephrology is a specialty for both adult internal medicine and pediatric medicine that concerns the study of the kidneys, specifically normal kidney function and kidney disease, the preservation of kidney health, and the treatment of kidney disease, from diet and medication to renal replacement therapy. The word "renal" is an adjective meaning "relating to the kidneys", and its roots are French or late Latin. Whereas according to some opinions, "renal" and "nephro" should be replaced with "kidney" in scientific writings such as "kidney medicine" or "kidney replacement therapy", other experts have advocated preserving the use of renal and nephro as appropriate including in "nephrology" and "renal replacement therapy", respectively.
The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability and deaths caused by cardiovascular disease and stroke. They are known for publishing guidelines on cardiovascular disease and prevention, standards on basic life support, advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), pediatric advanced life support (PALS), and in 2014 issued the first guidelines for preventing strokes in women. The American Heart Association is also known for operating a number of highly visible public service campaigns starting in the 1970s, and also operates several fundraising events.
Essential hypertension is a form of hypertension without an identifiable physiologic cause. It is the most common type affecting 85% of those with high blood pressure. The remaining 15% is accounted for by various causes of secondary hypertension. Essential hypertension tends to be familial and is likely to be the consequence of an interaction between environmental and genetic factors. Hypertension can increase the risk of cerebral, cardiac, and renal events.
Community health refers to non-treatment based health services that are delivered outside hospitals and clinics. Community health is a subset of public health that is taught to and practiced by clinicians as part of their normal duties. Community health volunteers and community health workers work with primary care providers to facilitate entry into, exit from and utilization of the formal health system by community members as well as providing supplementary services such as support groups or wellness events that are not offered by medical institutions.
A third mate (3/M) or third officer is a licensed member of the deck department of a merchant ship. The third mate is a watchstander and customarily the ship's safety officer and fourth-in-command. The position is junior to a second mate. Other duties vary depending on the type of ship, its crewing, and other factors.
Wake Forest University School of Medicine is the medical school of Wake Forest University, with two campuses located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. It is affiliated with Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, the academic medical center whose clinical arm is Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist. In 2021, U.S. News & World Report ranked Wake Forest School of Medicine 48th best for research in the nation and 80th best for primary care. The School of Medicine also ranks in the top third of U.S. medical schools in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
A wiper is a position responsible for both cleaning the engine spaces and machinery of a ship and assisting the ship's engineers as directed. Railroad workers who performed similar jobs were also known as wipers, or in the UK as "cleaners".
Bariatric surgery is a medical term for surgical procedures used to manage obesity and obesity-related conditions. Long term weight loss with bariatric surgery may be achieved through alteration of gut hormones, physical reduction of stomach size, reduction of nutrient absorption, or a combination of these. Standard of care procedures include Roux en-Y bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, and biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch, from which weight loss is largely achieved by altering gut hormone levels responsible for hunger and satiety, leading to a new hormonal weight set point.
The Seamen's Church Institute is an American maritime nonprofit organization that serves mariners and seafarers through chaplaincy, crisis response, training, feasibility studies, legal advocacy, and maritime policy. Founded in Lower Manhattan in 1834, it is affiliated with the Episcopal Church. With a budget of over $7 million, SCI is the largest, most comprehensive mariners’ agency in North America. The institute is headquartered in New York City and operates the International Seafarers’ Center in Port Newark, Centers for Maritime Education in Paducah, Kentucky, and Houston, Texas, and the Center for Mariner Advocacy in New Orleans, Louisiana.
The Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions (HCHDS), a research center within the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, strives to eradicate disparities in health and health care among racial and ethnic groups, socioeconomic groups, and geopolitical categories such as urban, rural, and suburban populations.
The Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, commonly known as the Baker Institute, is an Australian independent medical research institute headquartered in Melbourne, Victoria. Established in 1926, the institute is one of Australia's oldest medical research organisations with a historical focus on cardiovascular disease. In 2008, it became the country's first medical research institute to target diabetes, heart disease, obesity and their complications at the basic, clinical and population health levels.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to obstetrics:
The Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) is an International Labour Organization (ILO) convention, number 186, established in 2006 as the fourth pillar of international maritime law and embodies "all up-to-date standards of existing international maritime labour Conventions and Recommendations, as well as the fundamental principles to be found in other international labour Conventions". The other pillars are the SOLAS, STCW and MARPOL. The treaties applies to all ships entering the harbours of parties to the treaty (port states), as well as to all ships flying the flag of state party (flag states, as of 2021: over 91 per cent).
The ITF Seafarers' Trust is a charitable maritime trust located in London, United Kingdom. It was established in 1981 by the Executive Board of the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF), a global federation of transport workers' unions with over 4.6 million worker members. The stated mission of the Trust is to assist with "the moral, spiritual and physical welfare of seafarers regardless of nationality, race or creed."
Renal sympathetic denervation (RSDN) is a minimally invasive, endovascular catheter based procedure using radiofrequency ablation or ultrasound ablation aimed at treating resistant hypertension. Nerves in the wall of the renal artery are ablated by applying radiofrequency pulses or ultrasound to the renal arteries. This causes reduction of sympathetic afferent and efferent activity to the kidney and blood pressure can be decreased. Early data from international clinical trials without sham controls was promising - demonstrating large blood pressure reductions in patients with treatment-resistant hypertension. However, in 2014 a prospective, single-blind, randomized, sham-controlled clinical trial failed to confirm a beneficial effect on blood pressure. A 2014 consensus statement from The Joint UK Societies did not recommend the use of renal denervation for treatment of resistant hypertension on current evidence. More recent sham-controlled trials suggest renal denervation can lead to lower systolic blood pressure.
Stephen William MacMahon AO DSc FAA FMediSci FAHMS FACC is a British-Australian academic medical researcher, healthcare entrepreneur and founder of The George Institute for Global Health. He holds professorial academic appointments in medicine at UNSW Sydney and Imperial College London.
Mohammed Saeme is founder of the International Maritime Health Association. He has founded various maritime health and wellness companies and is a medical adviser for major cruise lines.
Shashank R. Joshi is an Indian endocrinologist, diabetologist and medical researcher, considered by many as one of the prominent practitioners of the trade in India. He was honoured by the Government of India, in 2014, by bestowing on him the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, for his services to the field of medicine. He is a part of the COVID-19 Task Force for the state of Maharashtra, India.
Pavel Hamet is a doctor, researcher, editor, academic administrator and teacher in Quebec, Canada.
Hearing loss in diabetes is a form of hearing impairment resulting from type 2 diabetes mellitus. Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is associated with various microvascular and macrovascular complications. Microvascular complications include diabetic retinopathy, neuropathy, and nephropathy, while macrovascular complications involve cerebrovascular disease, peripheral vascular disease, and coronary heart disease. T2DM also affects other systems such as the hepatic and digestive systems, musculoskeletal system, and can impact mental health and cognitive functioning. These complications significantly contribute to the disease's overall burden. The rising prevalence of T2DM is expected to increase the number of individuals experiencing these complications. Additionally, similar pathophysiological mechanisms may lead to damage in the neural system or vasculature of the inner ear, resulting in hearing impairment. Numerous population-based studies have demonstrated a significant association between T2DM and hearing loss, particularly sensorineural hearing loss, which tends to worsen as T2DM progresses.