Centro Nacional de Salud en la Vivienda de Buffalo en Estados Unidos
Fecha de creación: El centro fue creado en 1982 Nombre de la institución coordinadora: Universidad Estatal de New York en Buffalo. Coordinador general: Maurizio Trevisan
Instituciones que lo conforman
Problemática de la vivienda en Estados Unidos Objetivos, lineamientos y estructura.
The Health in Housing Center at the State University of New York at Buffalo was recognized as a World Health Organization Collaborating Center in October 1988. It has worked closely and provided technical support to the Pan American Health Organization’s office in Washington, DC. In 1996, Professor Cohen retired as Director of HIH and Dr. Maurizio Trevisan became Director. HIH has a number of elected fellows and adjunct fellows from the State University of New York at Buffalo and other research and academic institutions from the USA and abroad. Together the fellows of the HIH Center provide a composite and multidisciplinary focus of activities and expertise including: architecture, medicine, epidemiology, public health, biology, microbiology, dentistry, nursing, and anthropology. Principales perfiles de actividad. Outreach Seminars Health in Housing Fellows from HIH/Buffalo, Mary D. and Harold L. Cohen, have delivered three two-week HIH training seminars at the University of Los Andes in Merida, Venezuela. The first seminar (Spring 1994) was sponsored by the School of Architecture and was designed predominantly for architects, engineers, and planners. The second seminar (Spring 1996) was sponsored by the Department of Family Medicine in the Faculty of Social and Preventive Medicine and was primarily for people in the health professions (doctors, nurses, social workers, and community workers). The third seminar (Spring 1997) was co-sponsored by the Venezuelan Division of Malariologia, Schools of Medicine and Architecture. The third seminar was designed to integrate the various professionals who were interested in health in housing issues. The seminar was attended by architects, doctors, engineers, nurses, agronomists, anthropologists, environmentalists, and philosophers. Visiting Fellowships Dr. Fadlalla Bahsas Bahsas, Coordinator of the Postgraduate Program in Family Medicine at the University of Los Andes, Merida, Venezuela spent over two months at Buffalo’s HIH Center working with Professors Cohen and Trevisan. Persons from various universities in Central and South America and the Caribbean have come to the HIH in Buffalo to familiarize themselves with the objectives and the operations of an auxiliary center. The Golden Box: Controlling the Chagas Vectors fter fifteen years of laboratory and field research—in Buffalo, Venezuela, Argentina, Honduras, and Bolivia—Professor Cohen has just completed a six-month field test in and around Cochabamba, Bolivia (December 1996 through June 1997). The six-month field test was carried out in Bolivia by Professor Harold L. Cohen, Dr. Fanor Balderrama, and Engineer Victor Balderrama using a new product, the Golden Box, which was designed by Professor Cohen. The field test was carried out with the cooperation of seven subsistence farming communities and one semi-urban community in the State of Cochabamba, Bolivia, South America. Golden Boxes (GB) were installed in each of 213 infested dormitories and 124 infested dormitories were used as control. The interiors of all the Golden Boxes that were used in the six month field test were printed with a compound that contains a small amount of a synthetic pyrethroid (cyfluthrin) along with other inactive materials. The objectives of the 6 month field test were to determine (a) the percentage of effective control (knockout rate) of the vector, using the GB and its printed compound, and (b) to determine the effectiveness of two newly developed attractants. Therefore, a proportion of infested dormitories had Golden Boxes installed that contained an attractant derived from human breath (GB with blue dot) and other dormitories contained attractants derived from both human breath and selected chemical compounds found in the nests of the vectors (GB with orange dot). The Golden Boxes with a blue dot were produced in December 1994. The GB with an orange dot were produced in Fall 1995. After production each GB was individually sealed in a plastic zip-locked bag. All GB were packaged and sealed in corrugated boxes. All GB were produced in Buffalo, NY, USA, and were either shipped or carried to Bolivia by the Principal Investigator. After six months in the field, 68.2% of all rural dormitories with blue dot Golden Boxes had no infestation. They were negative. No live vinchucas were found. Also, 79.6% of all rural dormitories with orange dot GB had no infestation. No live vinchucas were found. All of the rural control houses were 93.6% positive; that is, they were still infested with vinchucas. After six months in the field, 60.6% of all semi-urban dormitories with blue dot GB had no infestation (negative) and 80.0% of all orange dot GB had no infestation, that is, they were negative. All of the semi-urban control houses were 100% still infested with vinchucas; that is, they were positive. The broad and specific findings of this study will be presented as part of the technical symposium at the forthcoming meeting in Havana, Cuba. Community Development The HIH Fellows meet periodically to present and discuss their research projects and findings. During the more than fifteen years of activity, the HIH Center in Buffalo has organized, coordinated and sponsored a number of research, training and intervention activities in the USA and in China, Kenya, Cameroon, India, Ladakh, Thailand, Kashmir, Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia, Venezuela, Costa Rica, and Honduras. Quality of Neighborhood and Health The study is being conducted in Buffalo, NY, USA, as part of the ongoing studies of the Center for Preventive Medicine, headed by Dr. Maurizio Trevisan. For a number of years, we have known that indicators of poverty and low socioeconomic status are powerful predictors of mortality. However, limited information exists on the nature of the association and the possible physiological links between socioeconomic status and health. In general, the studies presented to date have used individual indicators of socioeconomic status (e.g., education, income, etc.). Recently, a small number of reports have suggested that ecological indicators of neighborhood quality may be important in determining the health status of individuals. In an ongoing population-based study which began in 1994, we are exploring the relationship between a number of indicators of neighborhood quality (e.g., crime rate, social stress, availability of support structure and service, etc.) and health status (that is, myocardial infarction, psychological well-being, quality of life). In addition, we are attempting to investigate the relationship between individual and ecological indicators of socioeconomic status and a series of biological markers of potential pathways that could represent the pathophysiological link between socioeconomic status and health (that is, oxidative stress, inflammation infection). Air Quality and Long-Term Health As part of the Buffalo Health Study, the relationship will be analyzed between a series of measurements of air quality and mortality in a cohort of approximately 2,200 residents of the City of Buffalo originally screened in 1961. In addition to detailed information on lifestyle habits and socioeconomic factors, the study includes a detailed analysis of the lung function of the study participants. The study is currently determining the vital status and the causes of death of the participants. |
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