Search results for: condom campaign
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 344

Search results for: condom campaign

224 'Enjoying the Czech Traditions with All Sences!': Tourism Product Promotion

Authors: Tomas Seidl

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'Enjoy the Czech traditions with all sences!' is the main communication headline of one of the major current marketing project representing the intangible cultural heritage of the Czech Republic to its visitors. The project CZ.1.06/4.1.00/12.08915 and CZ.1.06/4.1.00/12.08916 which is solved in the period 2013-2015 is co-financed form the EU financial sources from the Integrated Operational Programme. The primary goal of the project was to analyze the dislocation and potential of the intangible cultural heritage in the Czech Republic. Further goal was to prepare a useful regionalization. An as solution based on the outcomes the creative and media strategy was created and prepared. The processor – CzechTourism expect the following web and mobile application development and successful marketing campaign in 2015.

Keywords: traditions, intangible cultural heritage, Czech Republic, CzechTourism, digital performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 339
223 Between Efficacy and Danger: Narratives of Female University Students about Emergency Contraception Methods

Authors: Anthony Idowu Ajayi, Ezebunwa Ethelbert Nwokocha, Wilson Akpan, Oladele Vincent Adeniyi

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Studies on emergency contraception (EC) mostly utilise quantitative methods and focus on medically approved drugs for the prevention of unwanted pregnancies. This methodological bias necessarily obscures insider perspectives on sexual behaviour, particularly on why specific methods are utilized by women who seek to prevent unplanned pregnancies. In order to privilege this perspective, with a view to further enriching the discourse and policy on the prevention and management of unplanned pregnancies, this paper brings together the findings from several focus groups and in-depth interviews conducted amongst unmarried female undergraduate students in two Nigerian universities. The study found that while the research participants had good knowledge of the consequences of unprotected sexual intercourses - with abstinence and condom widely used - participants’ willingness to rely only on medically sound measures to prevent unwanted pregnancies was not always mediated by such knowledge. Some of the methods favored by participants appeared to be those commonly associated with people of low socio-economic status in the society where the study was conducted. Medically unsafe concoctions, some outright dangerous, were widely believed to be efficacious in preventing unwanted pregnancy. Furthermore, respondents’ narratives about their sexual behaviour revealed that inadequate sex education, socio-economic pressures, and misconceptions about the efficacy of “crude” emergency contraception methods were all interrelated. The paper therefore suggests that these different facets of the unplanned pregnancy problem should be the focus of intervention.

Keywords: unplanned pregnancy, unsafe abortion, emergency contraception, concoctions

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222 The Morocco's Return to the African Union: A New Era in the Kingdom's Foreign Policy

Authors: L. Ponomarenko, Rachid Kaouar

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Morocco has rejoined the African Union and more than 30 years after it left the continental body due to the recognition of the Arabic Republic of Western Sahara. Morocco was readmitted after a one year campaign led by the King himself, who was visiting the Eastern African country with the aim to expend the kingdom presence in new region in Africa after that it managed to build a large influence net in the West Africa region. The return of Morocco can be a beginning of a new era in the foreign policy of Morocco, specially, in the policy towards the state-quo of the Western Sahara conflict, which is considerate as one the biggest obstacle for the cooperation and integration process in the region of North Africa. As a member-state of the African Union Morocco has lot more to lose, according to that the Moroccan position must be more flexible.

Keywords: African Union, Algeria, Morocco, North African Region, Western Sahara

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221 Transmedia and Platformized Political Discourse in a Growing Democracy: A Study of Nigeria’s 2023 General Elections

Authors: Tunde Ope-Davies

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Transmediality and platformization as online content-sharing protocols have continued to accentuate the growing impact of the unprecedented digital revolution across the world. The rapid transformation across all sectors as a result of this revolution has continued to spotlight the increasing importance of new media technologies in redefining and reshaping the rhythm and dynamics of our private and public discursive practices. Equally, social and political activities are being impacted daily through the creation and transmission of political discourse content through multi-channel platforms such as mobile telephone communication, social media networks and the internet. It has been observed that digital platforms have become central to the production, processing, and distribution of multimodal social data and cultural content. The platformization paradigm thus underpins our understanding of how digital platforms enhance the production and heterogenous distribution of media and cultural content through these platforms and how this process facilitates socioeconomic and political activities. The use of multiple digital platforms to share and transmit political discourse material synchronously and asynchronously has gained some exciting momentum in the last few years. Nigeria’s 2023 general elections amplified the usage of social media and other online platforms as tools for electioneering campaigns, socio-political mobilizations and civic engagement. The study, therefore, focuses on transmedia and platformed political discourse as a new strategy to promote political candidates and their manifesto in order to mobilize support and woo voters. This innovative transmedia digital discourse model involves a constellation of online texts and images transmitted through different online platforms almost simultaneously. The data for the study was extracted from the 2023 general elections campaigns in Nigeria between January- March 2023 through media monitoring, manual download and the use of software to harvest the online electioneering campaign material. I adopted a discursive-analytic qualitative technique with toolkits drawn from a computer-mediated multimodal discourse paradigm. The study maps the progressive development of digital political discourse in this young democracy. The findings also demonstrate the inevitable transformation of modern democratic practice through platform-dependent and transmedia political discourse. Political actors and media practitioners now deploy layers of social media network platforms to convey messages and mobilize supporters in order to aggregate and maximize the impact of their media campaign projects and audience reach.

Keywords: social media, digital humanities, political discourse, platformized discourse, multimodal discourse

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220 The Influence of Employer Branding Campaign on Organization Commitment and Employee Satisfaction towards Voluntary Intention

Authors: Prabukusumo Prakoso

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The topic research aims to analyze the influence of employer branding towards the voluntary turnover intention on employee by projecting the variable of organization commitment and employee satisfaction. To measure each components of employer branding, the author conducted an exploratory study to confirm the items in the questionnaire. There are 80 respondents that are mostly permanent employees at an IT company in Indonesia, including partner and clients to get external viewpoints of employer branding. The result of this research indicates that employer branding has an influence on the voluntary turnover. Furthermore, to maintain the organization commitment in the company, the management can develop employer branding strategy in order to increase employee’s organization commitment.

Keywords: employer branding, organization commitment, employee satisfaction, voluntary intention turnover

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219 Demographics Are Not Enough! Targeting and Segmentation of Anti-Obesity Campaigns in Mexico

Authors: Dagmara Wrzecionkowska

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Mass media campaigns against obesity are often designed to impact large audiences. This usually means that their audience is defined based on general demographic characteristics like age, gender, occupation etc., not taking into account psychographics like behavior, motivations, wants, etc. Using psychographics, as the base for the audience segmentation, is a common practice in case of successful campaigns, as it allows developing more relevant messages. It also serves a purpose of identifying key segments, those that generate the best return on investment. For a health campaign, that would be segments that have the best chance of being converted into healthy lifestyle at the lowest cost. This paper presents the limitations of the demographic targeting, based on the findings from the reception study of IMSS anti-obesity TV commercials and proposes mothers as the first level of segmentation, in the process of identifying the key segment for these campaigns.

Keywords: anti-obesity campaigns, mothers, segmentation, targeting

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218 Youth Friendly Health Services for Rural Thai Teenagers

Authors: C. Sridawruang

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Young people today has sexual activities differing from those of earlier generations, in that teenagers are likely to have multiple partners, and are frequently in short-term relationships or with partners that are not well known to them. The proportion of teenage mothers in Thailand has increased. Young people were not specifically addressed during the overall very successful HIV-prevention campaigns. Because of this missed opportunity, they are still unaware of the risk of unsafe sexual behavior. Aims: To describe the reproductive health care services in perspectives of rural Thai teenagers Methods: This survey was one part of a mixed method approach taken using survey and focus groups with 439 teenagers aged 12-18 years in 5 villages, Udon Thani, Thailand. The standard questionnaire survey had been used for collecting data. The numeric data was checked and analyzed by using descriptive statistics. Results: Most teenager respondents stated that they do not know where sexual reproductive health services provided for them. Most teenagers felt difficult to access and talk with health staff about sexual related issues. They stated that discussing, or consulting with health providers might not be safe. Teenagers might lose opportunities to access and get advice from health care services. The mean knowledge score of contraception and condom reproductive was 6.34 from a total score 11. Most teenagers especially girls expressed a need for counseling services and reported a need for telephone services. Conclusions: The need of appropriate information focusing on sexual relationships and contraception should be designed to help young people make wise decisions and there should be set health care services for Thai teenagers to make sure that teenagers could access easily. Health care providers need to be trained to improve their knowledge, attitudes and skills in reproductive health care practices for Thai teenagers.

Keywords: youth friendly health services, rural, Thai, teenagers

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217 Fostering Students’ Cultural Intelligence: A Social Media Experiential Project

Authors: Lorena Blasco-Arcas, Francesca Pucciarelli

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Business contexts have become globalised and digitalised, which requires that managers develop a strong sense of cross-cultural intelligence while working in geographically distant teams by means of digital technologies. How to better equip future managers on these kinds of skills has been put forward as a critical issue in Business Schools. In pursuing these goals, higher education is shifting from a passive lecture approach, to more active and experiential learning approaches that are more suitable to learn skills. For example, through the use of case studies, proposing plausible business problem to be solved by students (or teams of students), these institutions have focused for long in fostering learning by doing. Though, case studies are no longer enough as a tool to promote active teamwork and experiential learning. Moreover, digital advancements applied to educational settings have enabled augmented classrooms, expanding the learning experience beyond the class, which increase students’ engagement and experiential learning. Different authors have highlighted the benefits of digital engagement in order to achieve a deeper and longer-lasting learning and comprehension of core marketing concepts. Clickers, computer-based simulations and business games have become fairly popular between instructors, but still are limited by the fact that are fictional experiences. Further exploration of real digital platforms to implement real, live projects in the classroom seem relevant for marketing and business education. Building on this, this paper describes the development of an experiential learning activity in class, in which students developed a communication campaign in teams using the BuzzFeed platform, and subsequently implementing the campaign by using other social media platforms (e.g. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter…). The article details the procedure of using the project for a marketing module in a Bachelor program with students located in France, Italy and Spain campuses working on multi-campus groups. Further, this paper describes the project outcomes in terms of students’ engagement and analytics (i.e. visits achieved). the project included a survey in order to analyze and identify main aspects related to how the learning experience is influenced by the cultural competence developed through working in geographically distant and culturally diverse teamwork. Finally, some recommendations to use project-based social media tools while working with virtual teamwork in the classroom are provided.

Keywords: cultural competences, experiential learning, social media, teamwork, virtual group work

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216 Exploring Challenges Faced by People Living with HIV/AIDS After Disclosure in Sub-Saharan Countries

Authors: Veliswa Nonfundo Hoho, Jabulani Gilford Kheswa

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HIV/AIDS has been a long-term condition worldwide, which does not only affect physical health but also causes psychological and social challenges in people living with this condition. In Sub-Saharan countries, namely; Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe and South Africa, people living with HIV/AIDS come across different challenges especially after one has disclosed his/her status. They experience stigma and discrimination, isolation, lack of accessing and receiving treatment, lack of support and experience psychological distress. By using the evidence-based systematic review as a form of methodology, journal articles, dissertations, internet, and books were explored. This paper seeks to describe the challenges faced by people living with HIV/AIDS after disclosure, which forms a critical component of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment interventions. The disclosure process model is used to underpin the study. This theory allows one to understand when and why interpersonal and verbal self-disclosure is beneficial for individuals who live with concealable stigmatized identities such as HIV/AIDS. Literature findings advocate that both negative and positive results were noted after disclosing one’s HIV status and psychosocial well-being of the majority of people living with HIV/AIDS also get affected especially in societies which subscribe HIV/AIDS pandemic to witchcraft. As for the infected homosexuals, research indicates that they suffer in silence and to cover their emotional emptiness due to ostracism, they often report low- self-efficacy with regard to condom use and become susceptible to reinfections which further place their lives at heightened risk for low immune system. In this regard, this paper challenges the policies which protect the dignity of people living with HIV/AIDS and calls for unity and financial support in favour of psychoeducational programmes and support groups aimed at curbing discrimination.

Keywords: disclosure, discrimination, homosexuality, self-efficacy

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215 Assessing the Impact of Social Media on Tourism Industry: Setting Proposition for State Government of India

Authors: Utkrash Sarkar, Vineet Tiwari, Shailendra Singh

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The development of social media has brought about a tremendous change in the marketing scenario for every industry. It has become a new hybrid element of the promotional mix in the marketing segment. This paper tries to show some light on the fact that in today’s scenario social media is a platform that everyone should take in consideration for any type of marketing campaign. In this paper, we have formulated a questionnaire, and through it, we have tried to gather information from the respondents that how social media is influencing their decision when they choose their travel destinations for tourism purpose, does it help in creating any awareness about places which they don’t have an idea? As a result, guiding the state government and providing them with a marketing strategy that how they can use social media in a better manner so that they could help increase their revenue and can make people aware about the places of the state which the target audience can plan to go for their next vacation.

Keywords: social media, marketing, information, decision making

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214 Investigating the Use of Advanced Manufacturing Technologies in the Assembly Type Manufacturing Companies in Trinidad and Tobago

Authors: Nadine Sangster, Akil James, Rondell Duke, Aaron Ameerali, Terrence Lalla

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The market place of the 21st century is evolving into one of merging national markets, fragmented consumer markets, and rapidly changing product technologies. The use of new technologies has become vital to the manufacturing industry for their survival and sustainability. This work focused on the assembly type industry in a small developing country and aimed at identifying the use of advanced manufacturing technologies and their impact on this sector of the manufacturing industry. It was found that some technologies were being used and that they had improved the effectiveness of those companies but there was still quite a bit of room for improvements. Some of the recommendations included benchmarking against international standards, the adoption of a “made in TT” campaign and the effective utilisation of the technologies to improve manufacturing effectiveness and thus improve competitive advantages and strategies.

Keywords: advanced manufacturing technology, Trinidad and Tobago, manufacturing, industrial engineering

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213 Mobile Network Users Amidst Ultra-Dense Networks in 5G Using an Improved Coordinated Multipoint (CoMP) Technology

Authors: Johnson O. Adeogo, Ayodele S. Oluwole, O. Akinsanmi, Olawale J. Olaluyi

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In this 5G network, very high traffic density in densely populated areas, most especially in densely populated areas, is one of the key requirements. Radiation reduction becomes one of the major concerns to secure the future life of mobile network users in ultra-dense network areas using an improved coordinated multipoint technology. Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) is based on transmission and/or reception at multiple separated points with improved coordination among them to actively manage the interference for the users. Small cells have two major objectives: one, they provide good coverage and/or performance. Network users can maintain a good quality signal network by directly connecting to the cell. Two is using CoMP, which involves the use of multiple base stations (MBS) to cooperate by transmitting and/or receiving at the same time in order to reduce the possibility of electromagnetic radiation increase. Therefore, the influence of the screen guard with rubber condom on the mobile transceivers as one major piece of equipment radiating electromagnetic radiation was investigated by mobile network users amidst ultra-dense networks in 5g. The results were compared with the same mobile transceivers without screen guards and rubber condoms under the same network conditions. The 5 cm distance from the mobile transceivers was measured with the help of a ruler, and the intensity of Radio Frequency (RF) radiation was measured using an RF meter. The results show that the intensity of radiation from various mobile transceivers without screen guides and condoms was higher than the mobile transceivers with screen guides and condoms when call conversation was on at both ends.

Keywords: ultra-dense networks, mobile network users, 5g, coordinated multi-point.

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212 Knowledge and Practice of Family Planning among Rural Women in Ogun State, South West Nigeria

Authors: Tope Olubodun

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Background: Family planning practices help individuals and couples avoid unwanted pregnancies, regulate intervals between pregnancies, and determine the number of children in the family. Family planning is an effective intervention for promoting maternal health, but its acceptability and utilization are impeded by many factors in Southwest Nigeria. Aim: This study was conducted to assess women’s knowledge and practice of family planning in two rural communities in Ogun State, Southwest Nigeria, and to determine factors associated with the utilization of family planning among these women. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among 561 women of reproductive age selected by multistage sampling. The data collection was done using interviewer-administered questionnaires. Data obtained were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 20. Frequencies were generated, and chi-square test was used to explore associations. The level of significance was set at 0.05. Result: The majority of the respondents were aware of family planning 410 (73.1%). The method most commonly known was male condom 348 (62.0%), then pills 276 (49.2%) and injectables 231(41.3%). The commonest sources of information on family planning were health workers 158 (26.8%), outreaches 162 (27.5%) and TV/radio 136 (23.1%). Respondents that had used family planning, however, only constituted forty–five percent. The methods commonly used were injectables 104 (39.2%) and pills 85 (32.1%). Reasons for choosing not to use family planning include the desire for more children 78 (26.3%), because spouse does not support family planning 56 (18.9%), fear of unbearable side effects 44 (14.9%), and poor knowledge of the methods of family planning as well as where the services can be obtained 39 (13.2%). There is a statistically significant association between age, ethnicity, education, occupation, average monthly income, and use of family planning. Conclusion: Campaigns that promote male involvement in family planning, use of family planning for child spacing, and dispelling of fears is recommended to improve the practice of family planning among such a group of women.

Keywords: family planning, rural, knowledge, practice

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211 Slope Effect in Emission Evaluation to Assess Real Pollutant Factors

Authors: G. Meccariello, L. Della Ragione

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The exposure to outdoor air pollution causes lung cancer and increases the risk of bladder cancer. Because air pollution in urban areas is mainly caused by transportation, it is necessary to evaluate pollutant exhaust emissions from vehicles during their real-world use. Nevertheless their evaluation and reduction is a key problem, especially in the cities, that account for more than 50% of world population. A particular attention was given to the slope variability along the streets during each journey performed by the instrumented vehicle. In this paper we dealt with the problem of describing a quantitatively approach for the reconstruction of GPS coordinates and altitude, in the context of correlation study between driving cycles / emission / geographical location, during an experimental campaign realized with some instrumented cars. Finally the slope analysis can be correlated to the emission and consumption values in a specific road position, and it could be evaluated its influence on their behaviour.

Keywords: air pollution, driving cycles, GPS signal, slope, emission factor, fuel consumption

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210 Taiwan’s Democratic Institutions: The Electoral Rise and Recall of Kuomintang’s Han Kuo-YU Mayor

Authors: Ryan Brading

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The results of Taiwan’s presidential election, which took place on 11 January 2020, were alarming for the Kuomintang (KMT). A party that was once the pillar of Taiwan’s institutional apparatus is now losing its direction. Since 2016, the inability of KMT to construct a winning presidential election campaign strategy has made its Chinese ancestry an obstacle in Taiwan’s vibrant and transparent democracy. The appearance of the little-known legislator Han Kuo-yu as the leadership alternative opened the possibility of reigniting the party. Han’s victory in the Kaohsiung mayoral election in November 2018 provided hope that Han could also win the presidency. Wrongly described as a populist, Han, however, was defeated in the January 2020 presidential race. This article analyses why Han is not a populist, his triumph in Kaohsiung, humiliation in running for the presidency and suffering a complete ‘loss of face’ when Kaohsiungers democratically ousted him from the mayoral post on 6 June 2020.

Keywords: populism, 1992 consensus, youth vote, Taiwan, recall

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209 Experimental Investigation of On-Body Channel Modelling at 2.45 GHz

Authors: Hasliza A. Rahim, Fareq Malek, Nur A. M. Affendi, Azuwa Ali, Norshafinash Saudin, Latifah Mohamed

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This paper presents the experimental investigation of on-body channel fading at 2.45 GHz considering two effects of the user body movement; stationary and mobile. A pair of body-worn antennas was utilized in this measurement campaign. A statistical analysis was performed by comparing the measured on-body path loss to five well-known distributions; lognormal, normal, Nakagami, Weibull and Rayleigh. The results showed that the average path loss of moving arm varied higher than the path loss in sitting position for upper-arm-to-left-chest link, up to 3.5 dB. The analysis also concluded that the Nakagami distribution provided the best fit for most of on-body static link path loss in standing still and sitting position, while the arm movement can be best described by log-normal distribution.

Keywords: on-body channel communications, fading characteristics, statistical model, body movement

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208 Mechanical Behaviour of High Strength Steel Thin-Walled Profiles for Automated Rack Supported Warehouses

Authors: Agnese Natali, Francesco Morelli, Walter Salvatore, José Humberto Matias de Paula Filho, Patrick Pol

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In the framework of the evaluation of the applicability of high strength steel to produce thin-walled elements to be used in Automated Rack Supported Warehouses, an experimental campaign is carried outto evaluate the structural performance of typical profile shapes adopted for such purposes and made of high strength steel. Numerical models are developed to fit the observed failure modes, stresses, and deformation patterns, and proper directions are proposed to simplify the numerical simulations to be used in further applications and to evaluate the mechanical behavior and performance of profiles.

Keywords: Steel racks, Automated Rack Supported Warehouse, thin walled cold-formed elements, high strength steel.

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207 Should the U.S. Rely on Drone Strikes to Combat the Islamic State? Why Deploying a Drone Campaign against ISIS Will Do Nothing to Address the Causes of the Insurgency or Prevent Its Resurgence?

Authors: Danielle Jablanski

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This article addresses the use of drone strikes under international law and the intersection between Islamic law and current terrorist trends worldwide. It breaks down the legality of drone strikes under international law and dissects certain aspects of their usage in modern warfare; i.e. concepts of directly participating in hostilities and the role of CIA operators. The article then looks at international paradigms of law enforcement versus the use of military force in relation to terrorism. Lastly, it describes traditional aspects of Islamic law and several interpretations of the law today as applied to widespread campaigns of terrorism, namely that of the recent group ISIS or ISIL operating between the battlegrounds of Iraq and Syria. The piece concludes with appraisals for moving forward on the basis of honing in on reasons for terrorism and negative opinions of solely military campaigns to dismantle or disrupt terror organizations and breeding grounds.

Keywords: international law, terrorism, ISIS, islamic law

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206 Tackling Corruption in Nigeria Using Social Studies and Other Agents of Socialization

Authors: Joshua Garba Dodo

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Corruption has become endemic in Nigeria, affecting almost all facets of the society, thereby thwarting the effort of national development. The thrust of this paper, therefore, is to see how corruption can be brought to its barest minimum if not totally eradicated using social studies and other agents of socialization. In doing that, the paper defines the concepts of corruption, social studies, and socialization. Discourse on the causes of corruption and the effect on national development is made. The paper examines the role of social studies, family, and the mass media in tackling corruption. The paper also asserts that if an aggressive campaign is mounted by the mass media as a way of supporting the present government in her effort to solve the corruption problem in the country, it will help in changing the psyche of the citizenry about corruption. Finally, the paper recommends, among others, that families and communities should sanction their sons and daughters involved in corrupt practices if proven by a competent court of law.

Keywords: corruption, social studies, family, mass media, socialization

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205 Challenges in the Last Mile of the Global Guinea Worm Eradication Program: A Systematic Review

Authors: Getahun Lemma

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Introduction Guinea Worm Disease (GWD), also known as dracunculiasisis, is one of the oldest diseases in the history of mankind. Dracunculiasis is caused by a parasitic nematode, Dracunculus medinensis. Infection is acquired by drinking contaminated water with copepods containing infective Guinea Worm (GW) larvae). Almost one year after the infection, the worm usually emerges out through the skin on a lower, causing severe pain and disabilities. Although there is no effective drug or vaccine against the disease, the chain of transmission can be effectively prevented with simple and cost effective public health measures. Death due to dracunculiasis is very rare. However, it results in a wide range of physical, social and economic sequels. The disease is usually common in the rural, remote places of Sub-Saharan African countries among the marginalized societies. Currently, GWD is one of the neglected tropical diseases, which is on the verge of eradication. The global Guinea Worm Eradication Program (GWEP) was started in 1980. Since then, the program has achieved a tremendous success in reducing the global burden and number of GW case from 3.5 million to only 28 human cases at the end of 2018. However, it has recently been shown that not only humans can become infected, with a total of 1,105 animal infections have been reported at the end of 2018. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify the existing challenges in the last mile of the GWEP in order To inform Policy makers and stakeholders on potential measures to finally achieve eradication. Method Systematic literature review on articles published from January 1, 2000 until May 30, 2019. Papers listed in Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, ProQuest PubMed and Web of Science databases were searched and reviewed. Results Twenty-five articles met inclusion criteria of the study and were selected for analysis. Hence, relevant data were extracted, grouped and descriptively analyzed. Results showed the main challenges complicating the last mile of global GWEP: 1. Unusual mode of transmission; 2. Rising animal Guinea Worm infection; 3. Suboptimal surveillance; 4. Insecurity; 5. Inaccessibility; 6. Inadequate safe water points; 7. Migration; 8. Poor case containment measures, 9. Ecological changes; and 10. New geographic foci of the disease. Conclusion This systematic review identified that most of the current challenges in the GWEP have been present since the start of the campaign. However, the recent change in epidemiological patterns and nature of GWD in the last remaining endemic countries illustrates a new twist in the global GWEP. Considering the complex nature of the current challenges, there seems to be a need for a more coordinated and multidisciplinary approach of GWD prevention and control measures in the last mile of the campaign. These new strategies would help to make history by eradicating dracunculiasis as the first ever parasitic disease.

Keywords: dracunculiasis, eradication program, guinea worm, last mile

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204 Photography as a Medium Of Communication within the Campaign for Raising Awarenes of Controlled Consumption of Television Contents

Authors: Jelena Kovačević Vorgučin, Sibila Petenji Arbutina

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The postmodern age brings a rapid development of technology which inevitably leads to man's need to adapt to modern lifestyle. On the one hand, technological achievements have made human life easier, but there are numerous risks involved. Moreover, man's awareness and perception is changing and adapting unconsciously to the world we live in, while communication in the 21st century is predominantly based on the consumption of images. This paper presents sociological aspects of a community which is confined due to turbulent political-economic circumstances and its impact on the development of media literacy in Serbia. Previous researches led to the conclusion that the media culture is on an extremely low level, and that it can have a strong influence on the general development of the society, starting from the youngest segment of the population. Our aim is to use the conceptual authorial photographs inspired by the obtained research results to emphasize the importance that the impact of visual art has in delivering the message, its role in education and in raising awareness of universal social problems. The paper presents a number of stages involved in the conceptual project which is designed to last over a longer period of time in order to facilitate dissemination of information. First, a survey was carried out in several preschool institutions. This resulted in obtaining the necessary information on the habitual use of the medium of television in children and their carers-parents. The second stage focused on the relationship between the parent and the child in TV consumption. Further, an overview of the visual part of the project was made, which consisted of photographs in various dimensions, ranging from miniature to large dimensions, and following various exhibition principles in both gallery and alternative spaces. This stage of the project placed particular emphasis on the non-standard exhibiting formats and alternative exhibition principles which are increasingly present in all kinds of visual art aimed at achieving a higher level of information noticing and memorizing. The motif on the authorial photographs is children's portraits taken while they are watching different television contents, with emphasis on their emotional response. The importance of the medium of TV is particularly emphasized due to the fact that its consumption is the highest, even though there are newer and more advanced information-technological achievements. The already realized part of the project was used for an analysis of the results in the last stage of the project, which led to the conclusion that the response to the entire visual expression campaign was extremely positive, and action as such very useful indeed. The results obtained speak in favour of widening and continuation of the project, both on a greater number of sites locally as well as in other communities in Serbia with the aim of guiding people towards meaningful consumption of the television medium.

Keywords: alternative space exhibiting, children and TV, conceptual portrait photography, media literacy

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203 Men’s Engagement in Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) Prevention Programs

Authors: Zeynep Turhan

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This review emphasized the effectiveness of men’s participation, and whether non-violent (NV) boys’ and men’s perceptions of IPV prevention programs affect their involvement. Additionally, the review aimed to identify the barriers of non-engagement as well as the most effective approaches to end and prevent violence-against-women (VAW). The main goals of this assessment were to investigate 1) how NV men engage in anti-violence prevention programs that empower women, 2) what are the possible perceptions of NV men involved in prevention programs 3) how to identify effective approaches and strategies that encourage NV men to become involved in prevention programs. This critical review also included the overview of prevention programs such as The Mentors in Violence Prevention Programs (MVP), The White Ribbon Campaign (WRC), and Domestic Violence Prevention Enhancement and Leadership through Alliances (DELTA). The review recommended expanding these programs to reach more macro settings such as workplace, faith-based and other community-based organizations. Additionally, secondary and territory prevention programs need to expand through addressing the long-term effects of violence.

Keywords: engagement, non-violent men, prevention programs

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202 Monitoring Air Pollution Effects on Children for Supporting Public Health Policy: Preliminary Results of MAPEC_LIFE Project

Authors: Elisabetta Ceretti, Silvia Bonizzoni, Alberto Bonetti, Milena Villarini, Marco Verani, Maria Antonella De Donno, Sara Bonetta, Umberto Gelatti

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Introduction: Air pollution is a global problem. In 2013, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified air pollution and particulate matter as carcinogenic to human. The study of the health effects of air pollution in children is very important because they are a high-risk group in terms of the health effects of air pollution and early exposure during childhood can increase the risk of developing chronic diseases in adulthood. The MAPEC_LIFE (Monitoring Air Pollution Effects on Children for supporting public health policy) is a project founded by EU Life+ Programme which intends to evaluate the associations between air pollution and early biological effects in children and to propose a model for estimating the global risk of early biological effects due to air pollutants and other factors in children. Methods: The study was carried out on 6-8-year-old children living in five Italian towns in two different seasons. Two biomarkers of early biological effects, primary DNA damage detected with the comet assay and frequency of micronuclei, were investigated in buccal cells of children. Details of children diseases, socio-economic status, exposures to other pollutants and life-style were collected using a questionnaire administered to children’s parents. Child exposure to urban air pollution was assessed by analysing PM0.5 samples collected in the school areas for PAHs and nitro-PAHs concentration, lung toxicity and in vitro genotoxicity on bacterial and human cells. Data on the chemical features of the urban air during the study period were obtained from the Regional Agency for Environmental Protection. The project created also the opportunity to approach the issue of air pollution with the children, trying to raise their awareness on air quality, its health effects and some healthy behaviors by means of an educational intervention in the schools. Results: 1315 children were recruited for the study and participate in the first sampling campaign in the five towns. The second campaign, on the same children, is still ongoing. The preliminary results of the tests on buccal mucosa cells of children will be presented during the conference as well as the preliminary data about the chemical composition and the toxicity and genotoxicity features of PM0.5 samples. The educational package was tested on 250 children of the primary school and showed to be very useful, improving children knowledge about air pollution and its effects and stimulating their interest. Conclusions: The associations between levels of air pollutants, air mutagenicity and biomarkers of early effects will be investigated. A tentative model to calculate the global absolute risk of having early biological effects for air pollution and other variables together will be proposed and may be useful to support policy-making and community interventions to protect children from possible health effects of air pollutants.

Keywords: air pollution exposure, biomarkers of early effects, children, public health policy

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201 Correlates of Multiplicity of Risk Behavior among Injecting Drug Users in Three High HIV Prevalence States of India

Authors: Santosh Sharma

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Background: Drug abuse, needle sharing, and risky sexual behaviour are often compounded to increase the risk of HIV transmission. Injecting Drug Users are at the duel risk of needle sharing and risky sexual Behaviour, becoming more vulnerable to STI and HIV. Thus, studying the interface of injecting drug use and risky sexual behaviour is important to curb the pace of HIV epidemic among IDUs. The aim of this study is to determine the factor associated with HIV among injecting drug users in three states of India. Materials and methods: This paper analyzes covariates of multiplicity of risk behavior among injecting drug users. Findings are based on data from Integrated Behavioral and Biological Assessment (IBBA) round 2, 2010. IBBA collects the information of IDUs from the six districts. IDUs were selected on the criteria of those who were 18 years or older, who injected addictive substances/drugs for non-medical purposes at least once in past six month. A total of 1,979 in round 2 were interviewed in the IBBA. The study employs quantitative techniques using standard statistical tools to achieve the above objectives. All results presented in this paper are unweighted univariate measures. Results: Among IDUs, average duration of injecting drugs is 5.2 years. Mean duration between first drug use to first injecting drugs among younger IDUs, belongs to 18-24 years is 2.6 years Needle cleaning practices is common with above two-fifths reporting its every time cleaning. Needle sharing is quite prevalent especially among younger IDUs. Further, IDUs practicing needle sharing exhibit pervasive multi-partner behavior. Condom use with commercial partners is almost 81 %, whereas with intimate partner it is 39 %. Coexistence of needle sharing and unprotected sex enhances STI prevalence (6.8 %), which is further pronounced among divorced/separated/widowed (9.4 %). Conclusion: Working towards risk reduction for IDUs must deal with multiplicity of risk. Interventions should deal with covariates of risk, addressing youth, and risky sexual behavior.

Keywords: IDUs, HIV, STI, behaviour

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200 Stigmatisation of People Living with HIV/AIDS as an Obstacle to Prevention of HIV

Authors: Vicent Lwanga

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Background: Despite sensitization workshops that have been going on in rural areas in Kapchorwa District in Uganda to prevent stigmatization of People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), interview with PLWHA sows that they are still being stigmatized. This behavior of some people within the community possesses a serious danger to the successful prevention and control of HIV in our society. Evidence exists that some people still believe that eating, living together, and even discussing with PLWHA might make them infected, too, despite all persuasions against such attitude. Description: A face to face interview with some selected PLWHA in Kapchorwa, testified that stigmatization against those who have disclosed their status still lingers on. The interviews with the PLWHA reveals that people still believe that they are being bewitched and cursed by God for their sins, and as such, people keep away from them to avoid the wrath of God. Findings: The more the stigmatization against the PLWHA persists, the more difficult it will be to successfully prevent, control, and eradicate HIV in the society. This is because many PLWHA would prefer not to be identified if they are not shown love and care. Conclusion: A more continuous campaign to stop the stigmatization of PLWHA needs to be on-going. This could be done more effectively by Community-Based Organisations (CBOs) with workshops, print media, and seminars.

Keywords: aids, community, HIV, stigma

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199 Opinion Mining and Sentiment Analysis on DEFT

Authors: Najiba Ouled Omar, Azza Harbaoui, Henda Ben Ghezala

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Current research practices sentiment analysis with a focus on social networks, DEfi Fouille de Texte (DEFT) (Text Mining Challenge) evaluation campaign focuses on opinion mining and sentiment analysis on social networks, especially social network Twitter. It aims to confront the systems produced by several teams from public and private research laboratories. DEFT offers participants the opportunity to work on regularly renewed themes and proposes to work on opinion mining in several editions. The purpose of this article is to scrutinize and analyze the works relating to opinions mining and sentiment analysis in the Twitter social network realized by DEFT. It examines the tasks proposed by the organizers of the challenge and the methods used by the participants.

Keywords: opinion mining, sentiment analysis, emotion, polarity, annotation, OSEE, figurative language, DEFT, Twitter, Tweet

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198 Magnitude and Factors of Risky Sexual Practice among Day Laborers in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, 2023

Authors: Kalkidan Worku, Eniyew Tegegne, Menichil Amsalu, Samuel Derbie Habtegiorgis

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Introduction: Because of the seasonal nature of the work, day laborers are exposed to risky sexual practices. Since the majority of them are living far away from their birthplace and family, they engage in unplanned and multiple sexual practices. These unplanned and unprotected sexual experiences are a risk for different types of sexual-related health crises. This study aimed to assess the pooled prevalence of risky sexual practices and its determinants among day laborers in Ethiopia. Methods: Online databases, including PubMed, Google Scholar, Science Direct, African Journal of Online, Academia Edu, Semantic Scholar, and university repository sites, were searched from database inception until March 2023. PRISMA 2020 guideline was used to conduct the review. Among 851 extracted studies, ten articles were retained for the final quantitative analysis. To identify the source of heterogeneity, a sub-group analysis and I² test were performed. Publication bias was assessed by using a funnel plot and the Egger and Beg test. The pooled prevalence of risky sexual practices was calculated. Besides, the association between determinant factors and risky sexual practice was determined using a pooled odds ratio (OR) with a 95% confidence interval. Result: The pooled prevalence of risky sexual practices among day laborers was 46.00% (95% CI: 32.96, 59.03). Being single (OR: 2.49; 95% CI: 1.29 to 4.83), substance use (OR: 1.79; 95% CI: 1.40 to 2.29), alcohol intake (OR: 4.19; 95% CI: 2.19 to 8.04), watching pornographic (OR: 5.49; 95% CI: 2.99 to 10.09), discussion about SRH (OR: 4.21; 95% CI: 1.34 to 13.21), visiting night clubs (OR: 2.86 95% CI: 1.79 to 4.57) and risk perception (OR: 0.37 95% CI: 0.20 to 0.70) were the possible factors for risky sexual practice of day laborers in Ethiopia. Conclusions: A large proportion of day laborers engaged in risky sexual practices. Interventions targeting creating awareness of sexual and reproductive health for day laborers should be implemented. Continuous peer education on sexual health should be given to day laborers. Sexual and reproductive health services should be accessible in their workplaces to maximize condom utilization and to facilitate sexual health education for all day laborers.

Keywords: day laborers, sexual health, risky sexual practice, unsafe sex, multiple sexual partners

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197 i-Plastic: Surface and Water Column Microplastics From the Coastal North Eastern Atlantic (Portugal)

Authors: Beatriz Rebocho, Elisabete Valente, Carla Palma, Andreia Guilherme, Filipa Bessa, Paula Sobral

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The global accumulation of plastic in the oceans is a growing problem. Plastic is transported from its source to the oceans via rivers, which are considered the main route for plastic particles from land-based sources to the ocean. These plastics undergo physical and chemical degradation resulting in microplastics. The i-Plastic project aims to understand and predict the dispersion, accumulation and impacts of microplastics (5 mm to 1 µm) and nano plastics (below 1 µm) in marine environments from the tropical and temperate land-ocean interface to the open ocean under distinct flow and climate regimes. Seasonal monitoring of the fluxes of microplastics was carried out in (three) coastal areas in Brazil, Portugal and Spain. The present work shows the first results of in-situ seasonal monitoring and mapping of microplastics in ocean waters between Ovar and Vieira de Leiria (Portugal), in which 43 surface water samples and 43 water column samples were collected in contrasting seasons (spring and autumn). The spring and autumn surface water samples were collected with a 300 µm and 150 µm pore neuston net, respectively. In both campaigns, water column samples were collected using a conical mesh with a 150 µm pore. The experimental procedure comprises the following steps: i) sieving by a metal sieve; ii) digestion with potassium hydroxide to remove the organic matter original from the sample matrix. After a filtration step, the content is retained on a membrane and observed under a stereomicroscope, and physical and chemical characterization (type, color, size, and polymer composition) of the microparticles is performed. Results showed that 84% and 88% of the surface water and water column samples were contaminated with microplastics, respectively. Surface water samples collected during the spring campaign averaged 0.35 MP.m-3, while surface water samples collected during autumn recorded 0.39 MP.m-3. Water column samples from the spring campaign had an average of 1.46 MP.m-3, while those from the autumn recorded 2.54 MP.m-3. In the spring, all microplastics found were fibers, predominantly black and blue. In autumn, the dominant particles found in the surface waters were fibers, while in the water column, fragments were dominant. In spring, the average size of surface water particles was 888 μm, while in the water column was 1063 μm. In autumn, the average size of surface and water column microplastics was 1333 μm and 1393 μm, respectively. The main polymers identified by Attenuated Total Reflectance (ATR) and micro-ATR Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy from all samples were low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and polyvinyl chloride (PVC). The significant difference between the microplastic concentration in the water column between the two campaigns could be due to the remixing of the water masses that occurred that week due to the occurrence of a storm. This work presents preliminary results since the i-Plastic project is still in progress. These results will contribute to the understanding of the spatial and temporal dispersion and accumulation of microplastics in this marine environment.

Keywords: microplastics, Portugal, Atlantic Ocean, water column, surface water

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196 Assessing Musculoskeletal Disorder Prevalence and Heat-Related Symptoms: A Cross-sectional Comparison in Indian Farmers

Authors: Makkhan Lal Meena, R. C. Bairwa, G. S. Dangayach, Rahul Jain

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The current study looked at the frequency of chronic illness conditions, accidents, health complaints, and ergonomic issues among 100 conventional and 100 greenhouse farmers. Data related to the health symptoms and ergonomic problems were collected through questionnaires by conducting direct interviews of farmers. According to the findings, symptoms of heat exposure (skin rashes, headache, dizziness, and lack of appetite) were substantially higher among conventional farmers than greenhouse farmers. The greenhouse farmers reported much more pain, numbness, or weakness in wrists/hands, fingers, upper back, hips, and ankles/feet than conventional farmers. The findings of the study suggest that suitable ergonomic knowledge and awareness campaign programs concentrating on safety at work, particularly low back pain, should be implemented in workplaces to allow for earlier detection of symptoms among the greenhouse farmers.

Keywords: accident, conventional farmer, ergonomics, health symptoms, greenhouse farmers, pesticide

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195 ‘Call Before, Save Lives’: Reducing Emergency Department Visits through Effective Communication

Authors: Sandra Cardoso, Gaspar Pais, Judite Neves, Sandra Cavaca, Fernando Araújo

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In 2021, Portugal has 63 emergency department (ED) visits per 100 people annually, the highest numbers in Europe. While EDs provide a critical service, high use is indicative of inappropriate and inefficient healthcare. In Portugal, all ED have the Manchester Triage System (MTS), a clinical risk management tool to enable that patients are seen in order of clinical priority. In 2023, more than 40% of the ED visits were of non-urgent conditions (blue and green), that could be better managed in primary health care (PHC), meaning wrong use of resources and lack of health literacy. From 2017, the country has a phone line, SNS24 (Contact Centre of the National Health Service), for triage, counseling, and referral service, 24 hours/7 days a week. The pilot project ‘Call before, save lives’ was implemented in the municipalities of Póvoa de Varzim and Vila do Conde (around 150.000 residents), in May 2023, by the executive board of the Portuguese Health Service, with the support of the Shared Services of the Ministry of Health, and local authorities. This geographical area has short travel times, 99% of the population a family doctor and the region is organized in a health local unit (HLU), integrating PHC and the local hospital. The purposes of this project included to increase awareness to contact SNS 24, before going to an ED, and non-urgent conditions oriented to a family doctor, reducing ED visits. The implementation of the project involved two phases, beginning with: i) development of campaigns using local influencers (fishmonger, model, fireman) through local institutions and media; ii) provision of telephone installed on site to contact SNS24; iii) establishment of open consultation in PHC; iv) promotion of the use of SNS24; v) creation of acute consultations at the hospital for complex chronic patients; and vi) direct referral for home hospitalization by PHC. The results of this project showed an excellent level of access to SNS24, an increase in the number of users referred to ED, with great satisfaction of users and professionals. The second phase, initiated in January 2024, for access to the ED, the need for prior referral was established as an admission rule, except for certain situations, as trauma patients. If the patient refuses, their registration in the ED and subsequent screening in accordance with the MTS must be ensured. When the patient is non-urgent, shall not be observed in the ED, provided that, according to his clinical condition, is guaranteed to be referred to PHC or to consultation/day hospital, through effective scheduling of an appointment for the same or the following day. In terms of results, 8 weeks after beginning of phase 2, we assist of a decrease in self-reported patients to ED from 59% to 15%, and a reduction of around 7% of ED visits. The key for this success was an effective public campaign that increases the knowledge of the right use of the health system, and capable of changing behaviors.

Keywords: contact centre of the national health service, emergency department visits, public campaign, health literacy, SNS24

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