Graduated with Distinction

Awarded Professorship

Academic Achievement

Dr. Ana Elisa Villalaz: A Beacon of Light in the World of Autism and Neurodiversity

5TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON Aging & Social Change

Student Testimonials

STUDY to pursue entrepreneurship

By Dr. Rosa Hilda Lora M. Advisor at AIU | rosa@aiu.edu

We often wonder what is happening with our world, which seems less familiar to us every day. Today we do things this way and tomorrow we are told to do them differently. How can we find the middle ground to live a happy life? It was said that one studied and with that one had a guaranteed future; now one studies, and it seems that the results are not the same. First, one must know what studying is, second, why and where. Before, to study, applicants to enter a university thought about what they would like to know. They took tests of general competencies and of the knowledge of that area itself.

Today there is greater clarity about what studying is: Pedagogy and Psychology, like all sciences, have their advances; it is not about having brilliant reasoning, it is about being able to explain: the what, the how, the why, the where, the when, being able to represent, being able to quantify in the case of the sciences of quantity and also to distinguish when a science only reaches quality. Even today there is talk of a methodology that can unite quantity and quality. In the why we must know that a society doesn’t remain static; societies, as humans discover step by step what nature is, make changes in their ways of life. Nowadays we have a society that changes at a very fast pace. We have Artificial Intelligence and with it the media: we have information and often misinformation almost instantly about what happens anywhere in the world. Trade nowadays is global. With globalization, you can work anywhere in the world. Now, what you must learn to be in this world is to distinguish the media that stay away from misinformation and hate speech from those that don't. few years ago, people listened to information and didn't doubt its veracity; today, that's not possible. We must find our protective layer to live in peace and not be a victim and fall into nervous tension. As for why we study, we already know: to know and have a source of income for subsistence needs. That subsistence is what has become problematic. Before, people studied and looked for a job and the matter were resolved: people stayed there even when they were going to retire. Nowadays, you go to a Bank and there are few staff. You go to a store and there are few staff. You go to a restaurant and there are few staff. Well, if you studied, what happens now is that it's difficult to find a job because the world seems to be going backwards.

They make you study more and there are fewer jobs. What can I do if everything seems to be going backwards? What world are we living in? How can I resolve this situation? If I don’t study, I will understand less what is happening, and if I study, what am I going to do? Where is this world headed? It happens that when you go to a Bank, a computer appears: if you are going to do this; here; if you are going to do that; here. Oh! There is also mobile banking, and you can do it from your phone. If you go to a grocery store, you can order them and they bring them to you, or there are computer terminals, and you pay here by yourself. If it is a clothing store, a lone employee who walks around there tells you: go to that corner and put the merchandise in the box together. There is a computer terminal that tells you how much to pay and if you want packaging in what to take it, how much more it will be.

If you go to a restaurant, before you enter, the menu is already visible on an electronic board and everything they serve appears from there you mark what you want, and it also tells you where you are going to sit; it also tells you how much to pay. It also tells you about the time in which they will bring your order. Only one employee comes and brings you everything. In this world, it seems that studying is complicated because what am I going to do later. What do I have to do now to enter a university? Ah! But now in this new world there is freedom of creation, and the world is open for creativity. Today, the doors are open to being an entrepreneur; to create your niche market.

The thing is that creating my own company is difficult because I have seen that many fail. Do you know why they fail? Because they don’t study well the elements that enter for the undertaking. That is where the study is applied. According to Arturo Elias Ayub, to undertake means to pursue and execute a dream. Therefore, the first step is to find a business idea. You have to start by asking yourself what you want to do, what need, or problem or necessity have I identified in my day to day, in my environment, in the community, and ask yourself how you could solve them. First, I have to know important: what are my interests? What am I passionate about? What am I good at? Where do I see myself in 10 or 20 years? Ayub. The entrepreneur. Grijalbo. 2023.

Continuing with the concept of what it means to be an entrepreneur: “According to María Formichella (2004), “being an entrepreneur means being able to create something new or give a different use to something already existing, and in this way generate an impact on your own life and that of the community in which you live”. 20 Simple steps to start a business . Orga nization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI ) RD . 2021-2022 What am I going to be an entrepreneur about? To carry out a project that means entrepreneurship, innovation or creativity you must do the following when you are finishing your studies:

1. Analysis of the needs of the good or service to be offered.
2. New vision of it. That is what the studies were for.
3. Permits requested by the government.
4. Necessary supplies.
5. Start-up cost. Investigate whether the Bank offers credit for Entrepreneurs
6. Be patient with bureaucracy.
7. Be strong in what you do.
8. Be aware that a company doesn’t produce profitable results at the beginning.
9. Review what doesn’t work if you see that everything is going very slowly.
10. Want and want what you do.

That’s the new world we live in. If you go to university and think that’s it, you’re not looking at the new world we live in. Other situations that you must think about is that it doesn’t have to be the company that occupies an extraordinary space. It doesn’t have to be the product for the kings to ask me for it; if so, that’s great. The product or service can be the smallest thing that one can consider. There are many people that you see who know how to make a typical dish and that gives them results. We even see that even the repair service covers needs: how many clothes are bought, and this decoration has already come off and is thrown away because there is no way to repair it at home. Nowadays there are many ways to upload information about the service offered: People search for the services on their cell phone, and they even see what ratings the clients give them. There are all the ways to advertise to the clientele that you want to have; you can do it through: Google, Social Networks, WhatsApp Business and Facebook. It is no longer necessary to go to a clothing store to buy and spend hours; we have abundant commerce through the information media. Also, if you don’t want to go out and want an extraordinary dinner, you just open your phone and look for what you want and stay at home. What we are experiencing is that this world changes faster every day and we must train for the present we have, not for the past.

You are a student at Atlantic International University (AIU) and your studies are making you see that you can no longer learn just to look for a job because companies are applying more technology every day, which is why we need to create our own sources of income for a satisfactory and happy life. It is no longer impossible for us to create a world that is comfortable for us; we have the abilities as human beings to grow and grow. With your studies, find the way to be in the fore: Undertake Innovate Create Yes, you can.

BIBLIOGRAPHY. Mayub, E. 2023. El Emprendedor: 10 pasos para empezar o potenciar tu negocio. México. Grijalbo. | 20 Sencillos pasos para emprender. Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos para la Educación la Ciencia y la Cultura (OEI) RD. 2021-2022 https://oei.int/downloads/disk/eyJfcmFpbHMiOnsibWVzc2FnZSI6IkJBaDdDRG9JYTJWNVNTSWhjakF6Ym5aNmNqZGpaakkwTkhvNGFYWnVObW8wWTNKd2RqSndZUVk2QmtWVU9oQmth- WE53YjNOcGRHbHZia2tpQVpScGJteHBibVU3SUdacGJHVnV | Blank. S. y Bob Dorf. Image: www.freepik.es 2021. El Manual del Emprendedor. Barcelona. Booket, Paidos.

Hepatitis B serology testing and vaccination for health workers in The Gambia: A Pilot Study

Abdoulie B Badjie | Doctorate in Public Health

ABSTRACT Background: Hepatitis B infection is a significant global health threat that contributes to the loss of healthcare workers (HCWs) and puts the health workforce at considerable risk. Aim: This study aimed to create and integrate Hepatitis B virus serology testing and vaccination into an occupational health and safety program for health workers in The Gambia. Objective: To determine the prevalence of Hepatitis B among a subset of high-risk healthcare workers in Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH). Methods: This pilot study was a cross-sectional study conducted at the EFSTH from the 12th-16th of June 2023. Participants were interviewed, demographic and basic knowledge on Hepatitis B data was collected and laboratory investigations on hepatitis B surface antigen and hepatitis B antibody testing were conducted before vaccination. Findings: The pilot study enrolled 70 health workers. They were mostly female 44 (62.9%) and Gambians 67(95.7%). The majority of the participants 42 (60%) reported to have taken at least 1 dose of the hepatitis B vaccine in the past. The overall prevalence of hepatitis B in this study was 3(4.3%). The prevalence in the likely unvaccinated cohort was 3(7.1%). There were no positive antigen results amongst the likely vaccinated cohort. Hepatitis B antibody testing was negative in 42 (60%) of participants. Conclusions: This pilot study confirms the high prevalence of Hepatitis B among the likely unvaccinated healthcare workers at the EFSTH. The majority of the healthcare workers also tested negative for Hepatitis B antibody. This justifies the need for a well-planned and clear HBV screening and vaccination policy among healthcare workers throughout The Gambia, especially those at the highest risk of exposure to blood or other potentially infectious material.

INTRODUCTION The Gambia has worked to bolster its health workforce to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets. The Gambian Ministry of Health (MoH), with support from the University of Maryland, Baltimore’s (UMB) WHO Collaborating Center for Occupational Health has developed a National Policy on Occupational Health and Safety for HCWs. Beginning in 2014, the UMB team has worked to explore collaborative opportunities to establish and cultivate vital relationships in the Ministry of Health (MoH) and at the University of The Gambia School of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences. In 2016, UMB provided basic occupational health and safety training for the health sector in a three-day event with the MoH through the Directorate of Public Health Services and Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital for more than 30 attendees. As a follow-up in 2018, MoH identified the prevention of blood-borne hazards, airborne exposures, and the management of medical waste handling as their priorities and worked collaboratively to develop the National Policy with these three focus areas. This policy, which was validated in 2020, drew on the collective input of multiple stakeholders including Ministry of Health staff from the Occupational Health and Safety, Environmental Health, Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) Unit, the National Public Health Laboratory, and other National Health Program representatives as well as Regional Health Directors, Hospital CEOs, the Department of Labor, the Public Health representative of the Armed Forces and the University of The Gambia representatives. In June 2022, the Ministry of Health team and University of Maryland team conducted a multi-day consultation health staff and stakeholders where they reviewed the WHO’s new draft implementation guide for HCW vaccination. Using this document as a guide, the team developed standard operating procedures (SOPs) which included planning and preparation steps such as obtaining an Ethics Board review for the protocol, and development of needed additional documents for participant information and communication, questionnaires, consent and clear pathways for participant clinical follow-up. In addition, the team drafted a flow diagram for the operational methodology for the HCW serology testing and Hepatitis B Vaccination pilot.

BACKGROUND Hepatitis B infection is a significant global health threat that contributes to the loss of healthcare workers (HCWs) and puts the health workforce at considerable risk (Akibu, et. al. 2018). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), viral hepatitis is responsible for approximately 1.34 million deaths annually (World Health Orga nization. 2017). HCWs have a four-fold increased risk relative to the general population for exposure to HBV from infected patients (Wijayadi, et. al. 2018) and as such, represent an important group in the population that needs protection from HBV. The number of HBV-positive individuals globally is the highest in the African region, accounting for 68% of the global burden (Madihi, et. al. 2020). As a result of this significant public health challenge, the WHO Assembly adopted the first Global health sector strategy on viral hepatitis in 2016 to protect the global health workforce (Bhadoria, et. al. 2022). In Africa, HBV is estimated to affect 15-20% of the population (Mendy, et. al. 2010). In a low-middle income country (LMIC) like The Gambia, HBV prevalence varies ranging from 13% among blood donors (Armitag e, et. al. 2019), 9% among pregnant women (Mellins, et. al. 2008), and between 8 and 17% among HIV-infected individuals (Suy, et. al. 2006). Although the prevalence of HBV varies in The Gambian population and is relatively high, HCWs are not systematically vaccinated against HBV due to a history of infant vaccine campaigns in the last thirty years and several cultural, political, and socioeconomic factors. The loss of HCWs during both the Ebola crisis in West Africa and the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how indispensable HCWs are to a functioning and resilient health system (Gebremeskel, et. al. 2021). HCW protection must therefore become more strongly prioritized in countries where health systems are already fragile (Kuhlmann, et. al. 2021).

HISTORY OF CHILDHOOD VACCINES IN THE GAMBIA Maintaining high immunization coverage is a key component in reducing morbidity and mortality from vaccinepreventable diseases. In 1974, the WHO launched the Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) to make vaccines available to all children (Uwizihiwe, et. al. 2015). Five years later, the EPI was established in The Gambia to target childhood diseases, including hepatitis B. From 1986-1990, The Gambia launched the nationwide Gambia Hepatitis Intervention Study (GHIS) which targeted infant HBV vaccination as part of the EPI (Shimakawa , et. al. 2014). The objective of the GHIS study was to evaluate the protective effectiveness of infant HBV vaccination on the incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in adulthood (Kao, J. H. 2015). While infant vaccination was included in the GHIS, coverage may have been variable. In addition, the 3-dose series means that a sizable number of eligible children may not be fully immunized (Hill, et. al. 2015). Final results from the study were estimated to take 30 to 35 years and complete elimination of infection was expected to take 20-30 years (Tekle, et. al. 2016). When the trial finished in 1990, the national infant Hepatitis B vaccination program replaced GHIS. Given initial positive results in LMICs globally, the WHO recommended that all member states include the Hepatitis B vaccine in their national childhood immunization services by 1997 (Akbar, et. al. 2021).

WANING IMMUNITY While The Gambia has worked to expand childhood vaccination coverage, and studies have shown that the full three-dose primary hepatitis B vaccination series provides long-term immunity, it may not provide lifelong protection as immunity has been shown to wane over time (Osiowy, C. 2018). A previous study analyzing HBV immunity fifteen years post-immunization concluded that one or more boosters are needed to protect individuals from breakthrough infections (Leuridan, et. al. 2011). Another study looked at serologic hepatitis B immunity in HCWs and found that 29% of workers who were vaccinated against hepatitis B showed no serologic evidence of hepatitis B immunity (Mahamat, et. al. 2021). The lack of response in a percentage of HCWs means that many are still at risk for infection.

BARRIERS TO THE HEPATITIS B VACCINE In addition to waning immunity, the three-dose vaccine schedule puts a strain on families that experience travel-related barriers during infant vaccine campaigns meaning that some children may not be fully covered. Barriers to vaccination in adult HCWs include financial costs of vaccine distribution, lack of hospital policy, low-risk perception, fear of side effects, lack of time, insufficient cold-chain storage, and lack of trained community health workers (Mohanty, et. al. 2020). Furthermore, a lack of awareness of the vaccine’s effectiveness contributes to inadequate vaccine uptake (Thomson, et. al. 2016). The combination of each of these barriers causes vaccination coverage to plateau.

INTEREST IN HIGH-RISK ADULTS Although historically the WHO has supported vaccine campaigns for many vaccine-preventable diseases (VPDs), their focus has been almost exclusively on the pediatric population (Yu, et. al. 2018). Recently, however, the WHO has begun to expand its focus on the immunization of vulnerable adult populations. Because HCWs are frequently exposed to infectious patients, they are considered an especially vulnerable adult population. In 2022, the WHO released an implementation guide for the vaccination of HCWs that outlined the latest recommendations and programmatic considerations for the vaccination of HCWs (World Health Orga - nization. 2022). Specific vaccination recommendations include Hepatitis B, as well as, influenza, measles, mumps, rubella, pertussis, and varicella. The guide highlights the need to integrate HCW vaccination into existing occupational health and safety policies and suggests that as part of a national comprehensive viral hepatitis response, countries may consider establishing a hepatitis B testing and vaccination approach for health workers. This report describes such an effort to include Hepatitis B serology testing and vaccination in the occupational health program for the health workforce in Gambia, West Africa (Lemoine, et. al. 2016).

AIM This study aimed to create and integrate hepatitis B serology testing and vaccination into an occupational health and safety program for health workers in The Gambia.

OBJECTIVES 1. To determine the prevalence of Hepatitis B antigen among a subset of high-risk healthcare workers in Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH) 2. To determine the presence of antibody protection of health care workers (EFSTH) against Hepatitis B 3. To determine the Hepatitis B vaccination status or history among healthcare workers in Edward Francis Small Teaching Hospital (EFSTH) TO BE CONTINUED

‘Phenomenal’ tool

Sequences DNA and tracks proteins without cracking cells open.

Reverse diabetes

How stem cells do it for the first time in history.

AIU makes a huge contribution to the world by giving new scient ifics the space for original investigations and research. Visit MyAIU Evolution

Surveillance excl

Jip van Leeuwenstein

Get a better knowledge about our rights and the way we can use them on a daily basis to prevent any abuse or limitations of them. Visit MyAIU Human Rights.

UV rays

May boost health in low-sunlight countries

Brain in pregnancy

Scans capture sweeping reorganisation of it.

Harmful micr

...lurking in the world’s 7 billion tonnes of plastic waste.

Deforestation

World missed its goal in 2023, report says.

Live a better life learning how to keep your body, mind and soul balanced. Visit regularly MyAIU Body / MyAIU Mind / MyAIU Spirit and MyAIU Energy.

The Pelicot trial

Could it help to finally change attitudes to sexual violence?

Unlearning ableism

Visit: https://unlearningableism.com

Live a better life learning how to keep your body, mind and soul balanced. Visit regularly MyAIU Body / MyAIU Mind / MyAIU Spirit and MyAIU Energy.

Wild birds

...living close to humans harbor antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Monarch butterflies

Monarch butterflies

Live a better life learning how to keep your body, mind and soul balanced. Visit regularly MyAIU Body / MyAIU Mind / MyAIU Spirit and MyAIU Energy.