Stroke is a major cause of death and disability, especially among African Americans. Yet research on stroke knowledge and barriers to stroke prevention among African Americans is limited. This study used a 50-item questionnaire to conduct structured telephone interviews with 379 African American adults, 50 years or older. The questionnaire included questions on stroke knowledge, stroke risk behaviors, and barriers to stroke prevention. A stroke knowledge score was computed by assigning points for correct responses on knowledge items. The average stroke knowledge score of participants was 10.9, out of a maximum possible score of 27. Stroke knowledge was significantly related to the presence of hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and family history of stroke. College education was significantly associated with older respondents' stroke knowledge. Younger college-educated respondents had more knowledge about the risky behaviors that lead to stroke than those with less education. Respondents preferred hospitals to churches or senior centers for receiving stroke information and for learning about stroke from their physicians. Stress and poor financial status were most frequently reported as barriers to stroke prevention. These findings have implications for developing more effective strategies for educating African Americans about stroke prevention.
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a cornucopia of international projects that offer mammoth opportunities for more economic cooperation and deeper regional integration primarily among emerging economies. BRI is providing new drivers of sustainable economic growth in China and of cross-border trade, along with the reimagined land and “Maritime Silk Road”. The initiative focuses on restoring global balance and on expanding universally beneficial and inclusive relationships. This article argues that the forces of globalization are so pivotal to Eurasia, where development opportunities can propel the region toward a more comprehensive socioeconomic integration, that governments in that region need to provide more support that ensures the continuing success of BRI. In essence, BRI is a critical tool for peaceful development that is resulting in massive investments in infrastructure, that is facilitating economic development, and that is promoting shared governance. This article provides theoretical perspectives on BRI as a beachhead for sustainable regional development. It also highlights BRI programs and projects that have emerged as an internal and external policy framework for an openly inclusive “win–win” cooperation model based on shared development and on communities of shared interests.
This study investigates changes in the amount of media coverage and in the framing of 5 major infectious diseases in Africa in 4 sub‐Saharan African magazines and medical journals. During a 17‐year period (1981–1997), HIV/AIDS, a stigmal disease, dominated the coverage from the early to the mid‐1990s; however, there was a paucity of such news items in the early 1980s. Nonstigmal diseases, such as malaria and tuberculosis, received much less coverage in proportion to their occurrences. In popular magazines, AIDS was framed as a homosexual, deadly, and lethal disease—but not as such in medical journals. This article presents implications and strategic lessons of those findings for the agenda‐setting role of sub‐Saharan African media organizations and public health agencies. It also recommends norms for African media's reporting of health issues.
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