Decolonising global health in Africa: research agendas in public health, law, and human rights

Abstract Background In recent years the Groningen Centre for Health Law (‘GCHL’ - formerly the Global Health Law Groningen Research Centre), Netherlands, has held annual summer schools on global health, law, and human rights. Responding to calls to decolonise global health (Fofana, 2021), in February 2022 GCHL convened an online academic colloquium to explore the issues in Africa. Panellists and discussants comprised leading African academics and advocates for public health, law, and human rights. Objectives 1. Identify priority current and emerging issues in global health, law, and human rights in the African region with, where possible, reference to the climate crisis. 2. Explore opportunities for identifying academic institutions, networks, and researchers working these issues across Africa. 3. Identify opportunities to support collaboration between institutions, networks and researchers and other actors to address the issues identified across the region Results Top public health issues identified for further research included: public health law frameworks in Africa; One Health and climate change; inequality in the distribution of the determinants of health and disease; international trade and public health; the right to benefit from scientific progress (e.g. in accessing vaccines for COVID-19); gender-based violence; public health and agri-food systems; noncommunicable diseases; healthy diets; poverty; mental health; social protection; and plastic pollution. The first meeting of the network on health, law and human rights in Africa was held in May 2022. The second academic colloquium was held in July 2022, co-hosted with Moi University and the University of Nairobi, Kenya. Conclusions Public health and legal academics in Africa are ready to engage systematically with European partners to address key health-related law and human rights issues of global interest. Research agendas should reflect African priorities, and collaboration should be led by African institutions. Key messages • Capacity must be built to understand the links between public health, law and human rights in Africa. • Collaboration with European institutions to build capacity in public health, law and human rights is welcome, however priorities should be identified by - and responses led by - African academics.


Introduction:
The use of Vape has increased during the pandemic due to the changes generated by it. Currently we have finished the conditions of confinement, so it is important to identify Objective: To determine the factors associated with post-COVID-19 confinement vape consumption in young adults Methods: A cross-sectional, prospective study was carried out between January and April 2022, including men and women residents of Veracruz aged between 18 and 35 years, excluding participants with addiction treatment or with a diagnosis of a lung disease. A survey was applied through Google Forms to identify the factors associated with Vape consumption after confinement by COVID-19, including depression, anxiety and stress evaluated with the DASS-21 instrument (Cronbach's alpha between 0.79 and 0.87). For data analysis, SPSS v22 software was used, X2 test with Odds Ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI95%) and MannWhitney U test, assigning statistical significance with p < 0.05. Results: 514 participants were included, with a prevalence of vape use of 28.5%. Physical activity, cigarette consumption by a family member, levels of anxiety, depression and stress showed a value of p > 0.05 for Vape consumption, while other factors (OR/ 95%CI) such as being female (0.6/0.4-0.9), identifying vape advertising on Facebook (0.35/0.19-0.65), having a family member who vapes (2.4/1.5-3.6), consuming cigarettes (4.2/ 2.7-6.4) and identifying vape advertising on Instagram (1.5/ 1.0-2.3) had values of p < 0.05 Conclusions: Post-pandemic vape use is not affected by anxiety, stress or depression, identifying other factors that favor its use such as the environment in which it develops, such as being someone with a history of tobacco use, in addition to the family smoker and advertising on Instagram, which is a social network that often works as an aspirational image for users, a situation contrary to what is shown on Facebook.

Key messages:
Vape consumption continues to be a post-pandemic public health problem, so it is necessary to reinforce educational measures on the subject and the post-Covid complications of its use. It is necessary to regulate vape advertising on social networks, as has been done with tobacco in different countries, since it can become a risk factor by showing aspirational images for users.

Background:
In recent years the Groningen Centre for Health Law ('GCHL' -formerly the Global Health Law Groningen Research Centre), Netherlands, has held annual summer schools on global health, law, and human rights. Responding to calls to decolonise global health (Fofana, 2021), in February 2022 GCHL convened an online academic colloquium to explore the issues in Africa. Panellists and discussants comprised leading African academics and advocates for public health, law, and human rights. Objectives: 1. Identify priority current and emerging issues in global health, law, and human rights in the African region with, where possible, reference to the climate crisis. 2. Explore opportunities for identifying academic institutions, networks, and researchers working these issues across Africa.
3. Identify opportunities to support collaboration between institutions, networks and researchers and other actors to address the issues identified across the region Results: Top public health issues identified for further research included: public health law frameworks in Africa; One Health and climate change; inequality in the distribution of the determinants of health and disease; international trade and public health; the right to benefit from scientific progress (e.g. in accessing vaccines for COVID-19); gender-based violence; public health and agri-food systems; noncommunicable diseases; healthy diets; poverty; mental health; social protection; and plastic pollution. The first meeting of the network on health, law and human rights in Africa was held in May 2022. The second academic colloquium was held in July 2022, co-hosted with Moi University and the University of Nairobi, Kenya.

Conclusions:
Public health and legal academics in Africa are ready to engage systematically with European partners to address key healthrelated law and human rights issues of global interest. Research agendas should reflect African priorities, and collaboration should be led by African institutions.
There is great urgency for action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, especially in fragile settings, which face acute and complex challenges. Yet, the public sector may be limited in its capacity to address these appropriately, with devastating effects on the health of people and environment now and in the future.

Background:
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the main causes of mortality and morbidity worldwide. To date, the relationship between regional deprivation and CRC incidence or mortality has not been studied in the population of Cyprus. The aim of this study was to analyse the geographical variation of CRC incidence and mortality and its possible association with socio-economic inequalities in Cyprus for the periods between 2000 and 2015. Methods: A small area ecological study in Cyprus, with census tracts as units of spatial analysis, for the period between 2000 and 2015.

Results:
There are geographical areas having 15% higher SIR and SMR, with most of those areas located at the east coast of the island. Higher M/I ratio values were found in the rural, remote, and less dense areas of the island while lower rates were observed in the metropolitan areas. An inverted U-shape pattern in CRC incidence and mortality was observed with higher rates in the areas classified in the second quartile of the socio-economic deprivation index and lower rates in rural, remote, and less dense areas. A different pattern emerged in the M/I ratio 15th European Public Health Conference 2022