Early Childhood Caries (ECC) is prevalent around the world, but in particular the disease is growing rapidly in low- and middle-income countries in parallel with changing diet and lifestyles. In many countries, ECC is often left untreated, a condition which leads to pain and adversely affects general health, growth and development, and quality of life of children, their families and their communities. Importantly, ECC is also a global public health burden, medically, socially and economically. In many countries, a substantial number of children require general anaesthesia for the treatment of caries in their primary teeth (usually extractions), and this has considerable cost and social implications. A WHO Global Consultation with oral health experts on "Public Health Intervention against Early Childhood Caries" was held on 26-28 January 2016 in Bangkok (Thailand) to identify public health solutions and to highlight their applicability to low- and middle-income countries. After a 3-day consultation, participants agreed on specific recommendations for further action. National health authorities should develop strategies and implement interventions aimed at preventing and controlling ECC. These should align with existing international initiatives such as the Sixtieth World Health Assembly Resolution WHA 60.17 Oral health: action plan for promotion and integrated disease prevention, WHO Guideline on Sugars and WHO breastfeeding recommendation. ECC prevention and control interventions should be integrated into existing primary healthcare systems. WHO public health principles must be considered when tackling the effect of social determinants in ECC. Initiatives aimed at modifying behaviour should focus on families and communities. The involvement of communities in health promotion, and population-directed and individual fluoride administration for the prevention and control of ECC is essential. Surveillance and research, including cost-effectiveness studies, should be conducted to evaluate interventions aimed at preventing ECC in different population groups.
Background While the influence of implementation of mass media and community-based campaigns has been evident elsewhere, this information has been notably absent in Thailand. This study aimed to investigate the association between implementation of mass media campaigns (MMC) and community-based campaigns (CBC) for increased fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption to meet the global recommended level in the Thai population. Methods The sample was obtained from a nationally-representative, longitudinal household survey of the Thai population, Wave1 (2018) and Wave2 (2019). The study applied a multi-stage sampling design to obtain a sample of persons age 15 years or older. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 3,010 respondents who successfully participated in both Wave1 and Wave2 surveys. Information on FV consumption, exposure to Government MMC, ThaiHealth MMC including social marketing (MMSMC) and CBC, and sociodemographic characteristics were collected. Binary logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the association between implementation of those campaigns and increased FV consumption compared to the recommended level. Results Of the total respondents, only 11.3% had higher FV consumption and also met the minimum requirement. Respondents who lived in rural areas, were farmers, and grew FV at home had the highest probability of increased FV consumption. Exposure to the MMC and CBC was also associated with an increase in FV consumption. Above all, those who had exposure to the MMSMC, who reported either having high level of perception (OR=1.832, 95% CI 1.259-2.666) or ever heard or seen (OR=1.770, 95% CI 1.264-2.479) or heard and seen (OR=1.698, 95% CI 1.131-2.550) campaign information were more likely to have a substantial increase in FV consumption and meeting/exceeding the recommended level than those who were not exposed to these campaigns. Other associated factors include education, occupation and physical activity. Conclusions Implementation of MMSMC can help the population meet the global recommended level of FV consumption. MMC and CBC should also be promoted together with support systems to increase their intensity to a level that can increase population FV consumption to meet the recommended level. Sociodemographic characteristics should be taken into account, and targeted media is needed to effectively reach specific sub-groups of the population.
Objective: To investigate prevalence of life satisfaction in the Thai population before and during the COVID-19 epidemic, and factors associated with life satisfaction during the epidemic.Methods: Multistage sampling was used to draw a sample from the Thai population. A total of 3,115 Thai participants age 15 years or older from a nationally-representative longitudinal survey in 2019 and in 2021 were included in this study. The study applied the Scale with Life Satisfaction (SWLS) instrument to measure life satisfaction among the Thai population before and during the COVID-19 epidemic. Multiple regression analysis was used to investigate the association between life satisfaction and other variables. The follow-up survey response rate for individuals was 44.8%.Results: An average life satisfaction score during the COVID-19 epidemic (in 2021) was 22.4 which decreased from 25.5 before the COVID-19 epidemic (in 2019). More than one-third of the participants (36.5%) reported having less life satisfaction during the epidemic, which was nearly 20 percentage points higher than before the epidemic (17.7%). Controlling for life satisfaction in 2019, the analysis found statistical associations between demographic and economic characteristics and health-related behaviours, and life satisfaction during 2021. People in the older age cohorts (p ≤ 0.001), in a rural area (p ≤ 0.05), having higher education (p ≤ 0.001), still being employed (p ≤ 0.01) and becoming unemployed (p ≤ 0.01) had higher life satisfaction. The possibility of higher life satisfaction was also found in people who maintained good health (p ≤ 0.01), sufficient physical activity (p ≤ 0.001), and fruit and vegetable intake (p ≤ 0.01). People with income loss during the epidemic had lower life satisfaction (p ≤ 0.05).Conclusion: The findings suggest that policies and systems for resilience and social protection are needed for empowering individuals—especially the poor and vulnerable—to cope with crises, and improve health and wellbeing outcomes.
After publication of the original article [1], the authors identified an error in the Results section: the below text is missing and it should be placed before the Discussion.
Background: Early childhood caries (ECC) is prevalent in Thailand, but no appropriate tool has been available to measure its impact on children’s quality of life. This study translated the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS), a widely used proxy-reported questionnaire developed in the United States for measuring the oral health-related quality of life of preschool children and their families, into Thai (Th-ECOHIS). The scale’s psychometric properties were investigated in Thai caregivers and their children. Methods: Cultural adaptation for the scale development within the Thai context was processed using forward–backward translation by experts. A face and content validation was conducted among 20 Thai caregivers to attain the final Th-ECOHIS. Psychometric testing was done on 3-year-old child-caregiver pairs in Bangkok using the interviewer-administered mode. Children’s oral health was determined by caries experience (decayed, missing and filled primary teeth, dmft) and treatment need. The caregivers answered the Th-ECOHIS and global questions regarding their perception of the children’s oral health. Across-items reliability was assessed by internal consistency using the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Test-retest reliability was managed at a 2-week interval in 10% of the sample using the intraclass correlation coefficient calculated by two-way analysis of variance. The discriminant validity was tested by the relationship between the severity of dental caries, treatment need and Th-ECOHIS scores, using the Kruskal-Wallis test.Results: A total of 214 child-caregiver pairs participated. Twenty-two percent had ECC (dmft 1-3) and 17.3% had severe ECC (dmft 4 or higher) with mean (SD) dmft 1.63 (2.92). All items in the original ECOHIS were retained in the Thai version. The test-retest reliability of Th-ECOHIS was 0.87; internal consistency was 0.85; the total Th-ECOHIS scores were significantly correlated with the global rating of oral health question (r = 0.604). Th-ECOHIS scores in both child and family impact sections and the total were significantly associated with the severity of caries (p < 0.001) and treatment need (p < 0.001).Conclusions: Th-ECOHIS demonstrated good reliability and validity. It could be used on caregivers to assess the impacts of ECC on quality of life of Thai pre-school children and compared to other countries.
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