School Notes: School of Public Health
March/April 2009

Partnership offers management education to Chinese women

The Yale School of Public Health is partnering with Tsinghua University in Beijing to provide management and leadership education for 500 underserved women in China working in the health care field. The partnership, beginning in 2009, is part of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women initiative. Together, Yale and Tsinghua will create a curriculum to build the business and management skills of mid- and senior-level managers in the health sector, particularly in the areas of quality improvement, human resources development, financial management, and leadership. "This is a transformational time for China's health sector with an expanding economy and commitment to high-quality health services for all," said Elizabeth H. Bradley, professor and director of Global Health Initiatives at Yale. "But policy reforms are less effective unless there is skilled management and strong leadership in health institutions."

Fears of promiscuity pose barriers to cervical cancer vaccinations

The public's concerns about costs and increased promiscuity among teenagers appear to be hindering use of a vaccine against the human papilloma virus (HPV) to prevent life-threatening diseases. (See "Why the HPV Vaccine has Stalled" for a Yale Alumni Magazine report.) There is an ongoing public health campaign promoting the vaccination of girls against HPV to prevent genital warts and cervical cancer, but a Yale study shows that the public believes that the benefits are outweighed by potential disadvantages. The Yale researchers -- Sanjay Basu, a PhD candidate, and Alison Galvani, assistant professor in the Division of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases -- studied how concerns about adolescent promiscuity and everyday economics persuaded many parents and guardians to not have their children treated. The vast majority of those surveyed thought adolescent sexual activity would nearly double among those receiving the vaccine. Concern about increased promiscuity was the single biggest factor in the decision not to vaccinate, the study found.

Racial disparities in prostate cancer

Black males are far more likely than their white peers to die from prostate cancer, an outcome that is tied to the stage at which the disease is diagnosed. This racial disparity in stage at diagnosis is largely due to socioeconomic factors and access to health care -- not necessarily biological differences -- and is therefore potentially reversible, said Beth Jones, an associate professor and the study's lead author. Prostate cancer is a major health threat to adult men, with some 186,320 new cases expected to be diagnosed in the United States this year. The Yale researchers examined data from 251 Connecticut men with the disease and found African American males were more than twice as likely to be diagnosed at a more advanced stage and had a far greater chance of dying from the disease. Prostate cancer fatalities are closely linked to the stage at which the disease is diagnosed. When the cancer is detected early, there is a nearly 100 percent survival rate.