Background: Promoting the coverage and ownership of health insurance constitutes a key strategy to achieving universal healthcare, thereby meeting the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 3.8) of safeguarding the vulnerable population from financial risk resulting from catastrophic health expenditures. In sub-Saharan Africa, accessing medical services is particularly challenging among women due to inadequate opportunities for socio-economic empowerment and meeting their unique healthcare needs. The present study aimed to explore the sociodemographic factors associated with health insurance ownership among women in selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa.Methods: We extracted cross-sectional data on health insurance ownership and conceptually relevant sociodemographic variables on women aged 15–49 years from Demographic and Health Surveys on five selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa (n = 55,438), including Burkina Faso, DR Congo, Cameroon, Gabon and Kenya. Data were analyzed using descriptive and multivariate regression analysis, and the associations were reported in terms of average marginal effects.Results: Data revealed considerable cross-country variation in health insurance ownership: Gabon (57.9%), Kenya (6.1%), DR Congo (2.8%), Cameroon (1.1%), Burkina Faso (0.4%). In the multivariate regression analysis, women’s age, marital status, place of residency, educational level, household wealth status, employment, and media access were significant predictors of insurance ownership. The associations were generally similar across the five countries, with higher age, better educational level and wealth status showing a consistently positive relationship with insurance ownership.Conclusion: Our findings revealed striking inequality in health insurance ownership among the studied countries, which should be given due attention to achieving universal healthcare-related goals. There also exist considerable sociodemographic disparities in health insurance ownership among women that should be addressed using context-specific programmatic interventions. Our findings revealed striking inequality in health insurance ownership among the studied countries, which should be given due attention to achieving universal healthcare-related goals. There also exist considerable sociodemographic disparities in health insurance ownership among women that should be addressed using context-specific programmatic interventions.

Introduction: Cervix, breast and oral cancers account for about one-third of all cancers in India which as a group is a major contributor to all non-communicable disease-related morbidity and mortality among women. Existing evidence suggests that early diagnosis plays a pivotal role in the prevention and intervention of these cancers, and many community-based early screening and awareness programs have been in place in developed countries. Currently, there is not enough research evidence regarding the sociodemographic correlates of cervix, breast and oral cancer screening among Indian women. In the present study, we aimed to assess the self-reported percentage and sociodemographic factors associated with the use of these three types of cancer screening services among Indian women aged 15–49 years. Methods: Data were collected from National Family Health Survey conducted during 2015–16. Sample population was 699,686 women aged 15–49 years. Associations between self-reported cervical, breast and oral cancer screening status and the associated sociodemographic factors were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression methods. Results: The percentage of screening for cervical (21%), breast (8.95%), and oral cancers (13.45%) varied significantly across the population sub-groups. Higher age, urban residence, higher education, having employment, health insurance, use of electronic media, higher household wealth quintile, having healthcare autonomy, showed a positive effect on taking screening services. Further analyses revealed that the strength of the associations varied considerably between urban and rural residents, denoting the need for region-specific intervention strategies. Sex of household head, age, watching TV, using radio, and having health insurance were the most significant contributors to the outcome effects. Conclusions: The present study provides important insights regarding the current scenario of seeking cancer screening services among women in India. These findings could inform policy analysis and make an avenue for further in-depth analysis for future studies. Our findings conclude that cancer prevention policies should focus on leveraging the positive effects of better socioeconomic status, employment, health insurance ownership, exposure to electronic media, and better healthcare autonomy to improve the cancer screening service uptake among Indian women.

Background: The World Health Organization has set a global strategy to eliminate cervical cancer, emphasizing the need for cervical cancer screening coverage to reach 70%. In response, China has developed an action plan to accelerate the elimination of cervical cancer, with Hubei province implementing China’s first provincial full-coverage screening program using an artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud-based diagnostic system. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the performance of AI technology in this full-coverage screening program. The evaluation indicators included accessibility, screening efficiency, diagnostic quality, and program cost. Methods: Characteristics of 1,704,461 individuals screened from July 2022 to January 2023 were used to analyze accessibility and AI screening efficiency. A random sample of 220 individuals was used for external diagnostic quality control. The costs of different participating screening institutions were assessed. Results: Cervical cancer screening services were extended to all administrative districts, especially in rural areas. Rural women had the highest participation rate at 67.54% (1,147,839/1,699,591). Approximately 1.7 million individuals were screened, achieving a cumulative coverage of 13.45% in about 6 months. Full-coverage programs could be achieved by AI technology in approximately 1 year, which was 87.5 times more efficient than the manual reading of slides. The sample compliance rate was as high as 99.1%, and compliance rates for positive, negative, and pathology biopsy reviews exceeded 96%. The cost of this program was CN ¥49 (the average exchange rate in 2022 is as follows: US $1=CN ¥6.7261) per person, with the primary screening institution and the third-party testing institute receiving CN ¥19 and ¥27, respectively. Conclusions: AI-assisted diagnosis has proven to be accessible, efficient, reliable, and low cost, which could support the implementation of full-coverage screening programs, especially in areas with insufficient health resources. AI technology served as a crucial tool for rapidly and effectively increasing screening coverage, which would accelerate the achievement of the World Health Organization’s goals of eliminating cervical cancer.

The objective of the study was to identify the association between social support and psychosocial well-being among men and women aged over 65 years in Europe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Cross-sectional data on 36 621 men (n=15 719) and women (n=20,902) aged 65 years or higher were obtained from the ninth round of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe. The outcomes were measured by psychosocial well-being reflected with self-reported depression, nervousness, loneliness and sleep disturbances. Social support was measured in terms of receiving help from own children, relatives and neighbours/friends/colleagues since the pandemic outbreak. Result About one-third of the participants reported depression (31.03%), nervousness (32.85%), loneliness (32.23%) and sleep trouble (33.01%). The results of multivariable regression analysis revealed that social support was a protective factor to psychological well-being. For instance, receiving help from own children (RD=−0.13, 95% CI=−0.14 to –0.12), relatives (RD=−0.08, 95% CI=−0.11 to –0.06), neighbours/friends/colleagues (RD=−0.11, 95% CI=−0.13 to –0.09) and receiving home care (RD=−0.20, 95% CI=−0.22 to –0.18) showed significantly lower risk difference for depression. Similar findings were noted for loneliness, nervousness, and sleep trouble as well, with the risk difference being slightly different for men and women in the gender-stratified analysis. For instance, the risk difference in depression for receiving help from own children was −0.10 (95% CI=−0.12 to –0.08) among men compared with −0.12 (95% CI=−0.14 to –0.11) among women. The risk differences in the outcome measures were calculated using generalised linear model for binomial family. Conclusion Findings of the present study highlight a protective role of social support on psychological well-being among both men and women. Developing strategies to promote social support, especially among older adults, may mitigate the rising burden of psychological illness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In sub‐Saharan Africa, improving equitable access to healthcare remains a major challenge for public health systems. Health policymakers encourage the adoption of health insurance schemes to promote universal healthcare. Nonetheless, progress towards this goal remains suboptimal due to inequalities health insurance ownership especially among women. In this study, we aimed to explore the sociodemographic factors contributing to health insurance ownership among women in selected francophone countries in sub‐Saharan Africa. Methods. This study is based on cross‐sectional data obtained from Demographic and Health Surveys on five countries including Benin (n = 13,407), Madagascar (n = 12,448), Mali (n = 10,326), Niger (n = 12,558), and Togo (n = 6,979). The explanatory factors included participant age, marital status, type of residency, education, household wealth quantile, employment stats, and access to electronic media. Associations between health insurance ownership and the explanatory factors were analyzed using multivariate regression analysis, and effect sizes were reported in terms in average marginal effects (AMEs). Results. The highest percentage of insurance ownership was observed for Togo (3.31%), followed by Madagascar (2.23%) and Mali (2.2%). After stratifying by place of residency, the percentages were found to be significantly lower in the rural areas for all countries, with the most noticeable difference observed for Niger (7.73% in urban vs. 0.54% in rural women). Higher levels of education and wealth quantile were positively associated with insurance ownership in all five countries. In the pooled sample, women in the higher education category had higher likelihood of having an insurance: Benin (AME = 1.18; 95% CI = 1.10, 1.27), Madagascar (AME = 1.10; 95% CI = 1.05, 1.15), Mali (AME = 1.14; 95% CI = 1.04, 1.24), Niger (AME = 1.13; 95% CI = 1.07, 1.21), and Togo (AME = 1.17; 95% CI = 1.09, 1.26). Regarding wealth status, women from the households in the highest wealth quantile had 4% higher likelihood of having insurance in Benin and Mali and 6% higher likelihood in Madagascar and Togo. Conclusions. Percentage of women who reported having health insurance was noticeably low in all five countries. As indicated by the multivariate analyses, the actual situation is likely to be even worse due to significant socioeconomic inequalities in the distribution of women having an insurance plan. Increasing women’s access to healthcare is an urgent priority for population health promotion in these countries, and therefore, addressing the entrenched sociodemographic disparities should be given urgent policy attention in an effort to strengthen universal healthcare‐related goals.

Background: The new media provides a convenient platform to access, use and exchange health information. And as a special group of health care, maternal health care is still of international concern due to their high mortality rate. Scientific research is a good way to provide advice on how to improve maternal health through stringent reasoning and accurate data. However, the dramatic increase of publications, the diversity of themes, and the dispersion of researchers may reduce the quality of information and increase the difficulty of selection. Thus, this study aims to analyze the research progress on maternal health under the global new media environment, exploring the current research hotspots and frontiers. Methods: A scientometric analysis was carried out by CiteSpace5.7.R1. In total, 2270 articles have been further analyzed to explore top countries and institutions, potential articles, research frontiers, and hotspots. Results: The publications ascended markedly, from 29 in 2008 to 472 publications by 2020. But there is still a lot of room to grow, and the growth rate does not conform to the Price’s Law. Research centers concentrated in Latin America, such as the University of Toronto and the University of California. The work of Larsson M, Lagan BM and Tiedje L had high potential influence. Most of the research subjects were maternal and newborn babies, and the research frontiers were distributed in health education and psychological problems. Maternal mental health, nutrition, weight, production technology, and equipment were seemingly hotspots. Conclusion: The new media has almost brought a new era for maternal health, mainly characterized by psychological qualities, healthy and reasonable physical conditions and advanced technology.