plueme/wizJson huggingface dataset:
This study focuses on four parts of health promotion and disease prevention budget under the Universal
Health Coverage, including budget for solving specific health problems in the area or provinces,
benefit packages, community health promotion and budget for promoting, monitoring and evaluating the program. Therefore, the objectives of the study are to evaluate the allocation in terms of sufficiency
and budget implementation, as well as monitoring and evaluating process in healthcare facilities during
2014-2015. Two provincial case studies were selected and retrospective method was employed by reviewing
related primary and secondary data. In-depth interviews of healthcare executives and focus group
discussions with healthcare practitioners were conducted. The results showed a number of challenges
due to the dynamic budget allocation that could lead to difficulties in budget management. Also, it was
unable to explain whether budget in each area was sufficient due to no separated budget for P&P. Furthermore,
lay people might not be aware that they were entitled to receive personal benefits from the Health
Promotion and Disease Prevention Fund. Most healthcare facilities did not portray evidence-based manner
to carry out and create activities regarding monitoring and evaluation program effectiveness. Therefore,
the National Health Security Office should estimate the budget to meet the requirement and strengthen
public relations to increase service utilization, and also set up mechanisms to verify accuracy of data in
order to plan the service provision. For health facilities, the P&P budget should be explicitly separated
and evidence-based academic should be used to support the implementation.
Thailand has a large number of the migrant laborers working both legally and illegally. In 2014 the
government set a strong policy to officially register migrant workers for providing health insurance. This
research aims to analyze the costs of medical care and health services of the registered migrant workers at
Khao Chakan District, Sa Kaeo Province. This was a descriptive study using secondary data from the
accounting and finance on HOSxP database of the hospital and JHCIS database of Subdistrict Health
Promoting Hospitals in fiscal 2014 and 2015.
The results showed that there were 54 registered migrant workers receiving 90 health care services visits in the fiscal year 2014. In 2015, the number of registered migrant workers increased to 983 people
receiving 596 health care services. The total cost of outpatient in fiscal 2014 and 2015 was 22,588 baht and
145,482.92 baht. The average cost per visit was 250.98 ± 352.18 and 244.10 ± 301.82 baht. The average cost
per registered person was 418.30 baht and 148.00 baht respectively. The percentages of people who turned up for services to the total registered workers were 38.9% and 25.5% respectively. The total revenue of the outpatient from health insurance card for migrant workers in fiscal 2015 was 642.40 baht per person per year.
Projection of pharmacist workforce is essential information for planning and allocating pharmacist
workforce. Hospital pharmacists accounted for the highest proportion of the pharmacist workforce in
Thailand. This study was aimed to project hospital pharmacist workforce for the next 20 years (2015-2035)
by using needs assessment models. The projection of hospital pharmacist based on two techniques: time
series and regression analysis by using 3 factors: male and female ratio, elderly age greater than 60 year
old ratio and gross provincial product (GPP). According to time series forecasting and regression analysis,
the maximum extent of FTE requirement for hospital pharmacist in 2035 based on sensitivity analysis was
123,405 (87,227-159,584) and 111,454 (79,543-143,365), respectively. While the minimum number of FTE
requirement was 69,723 and 50,502, respectively. This study showed that the shortage of hospital pharmacist
is an issue of concern that requires an effective planning to secure the future of hospital pharmacist
workforce. However, other factors might affect the results of this study such as continuing pharmaceutical
education (CPE), new technology etc.
Roles of community pharmacy are changing to extend cooperating services with the National Health
Security Office (NHSO). Its change could be a strategic policy to support patient service continuity. Objectives
of this study were to evaluate the readiness and decision of community pharmacy preceptors to coservice
with the NHSO, and to investigate factors affecting the co-service decision. Samples were 408
community pharmacies that provided experiential education to pharmacy students of 17 pharmacy faculties
across the country. This was a cross-sectional survey study design. A self-developed questionnaire
was administered during May-August, 2014. The survey questionnaire was validated by six experts, and
the reliability was tested with Cronbach’s alpha > 0.7. The survey response rate was 46.1% (n = 188).
Almost half (49.4%) of respondents were owners and practitioners as community pharmacists. Three highest
services provided in community pharmacy preceptors were 1) medication therapy management (MTM)
for individual patients (64.5%), 2) diseases screening and monitoring (60.1%), and 3) smoking cessation
counseling (58.0%). The two criteria that community pharmacy preceptors gave scores lower than 50% of
minimum requirements were: 1) accessing to data of health service units in the area, and 2) capacity of
prescription evaluation and patient referral system. Regarding the readiness of NHSO co-services participation,
the community pharmacy preceptors gave high scores on both quality and willingness to participate.
Significantly positive relationships with a decision to participate were found in service system (B =
0.248, p<0.05) and management towards customer’s need (B=0.214, p<0.05). All community pharmacy
preceptors for Year-6 Pharm.D. students should be supported to be in the accreditation program. This will
strengthen the readiness to co-service with the NSHO and be one quality assurance for pharmacy education
in experiential practices.
This study was an exploratory survey, divided in two phases. The first phase explored the
multidisciplinary team’s expectation on pharmacists’ role and characteristic during palliative care, by
purposively selecting two palliative care teams for interviews and content analysis. The second phase
surveyed pharmacist’s perspective on palliative care to pharmacists who worked in tertiary hospitals, as
against the roles and characteristics obtained from the first phase. Self-administered questionnaires were
distributed to 858 pharmacists using stratified random sampling technique. The data was analyzed with
software by using descriptive statistics. From the interview data, it was found that the main role of pharmacist
to the team was general pharmaceutical care and pain management and the important characteristics
the team needed from the pharmacist were good working attitude and the team work. The data from
questionnaires showed that the ability of pharmacist in palliative care, according to the team’s expectation
was assessed at high level. When considering the individual care, the pharmacists thought they had
very high level of caring ability in physical, and then in the field of social care. For the mental and spiritual
fields they thought they had the ability at moderate level. By the role in team, the pharmacists thought
that they had pharmaceutical care ability at the highest level. Next lower levels were the using of specific
medicine and palliative care and the lowest level was the mental and spiritual care.
Measuring of blood sugar and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels is a standard protocol for screening and monitoring of diabetes mellitus progression. However, blood sugar level is depending on food uptake before taking the measurement and HbA1c life cycle is somehow too tong to be monitored in severe cases. In addition, in condition effecting red blood cell structure or hemoglobin production (hemolytic anemia, thalassemia and thalassemia carrier (40-50%)), HbA1c level is not unrealizable. Therefore, measurementof glycated albumin, which is intermediated indicator outside red blood cell, could improve the way to control diabetes progression and treatment in all populations. The research program “Albumin glycation for diabetes mellitus monitoring” is focusing on development of aptasensor platform for detection of glycated albumin. Three platforms have been developed, which are graphene oxide-aptamer, electrochemical and nanopore sensors. In summary, we successfully developed graphene oxide aptamer and electrochemical platform to detect albumin, glycated albumin and percentage of glycated albumin in clinical samples. Both sensitivity and specificity of our graphene oxide-aptamer platform are higher than those of the commercial available (ELISA). Therefore, our platform has a potential for technology transfer and commercialization.
Introduction The incidence of dementia in elderly population, aged 60 year or older, has been rapidly increasing. Dementia causes significant negative impacts on quality of lives, both in patients and families, constituting a huge socioeconomic burden and drawback in country’s development. Current diagnostic approach based on clinical symptoms and signs may not sufficient. Thus, early detection of amyloid deposition in the brain may play important role in accurate diagnosis, identifying patients at risk, planning for patient management and also leading to development the drug or procedure aimed for therapy or prevention of dementia. 
Objectives To evaluate the use of F-18 amyloid PET scan in assessing brain amyloid deposition in Alzheimer’s disease, mild cognitive impairment and normal aging and the correlation between brain amyloid deposition in PET scan and results from neuropsychological test, MRI brain and F-18 FDG PET scan. We also aimed to evaluate the correlation between amyloid PET scan results and changes in neuropsychological test, MRI brain and F-18 FDG PET scan results.  
Methods 1) Synthesis of F-18 flobetapir PET tracer 2) Initial clinical study in 43 eligible subjects including 22 normal elderly controls (HC), 12 MCI patients and 9 AD patients according to clinical diagnosis. All subjects were assessed by 1) clinical signs and symptoms and neuropsychological test, brain MRI, F-18 FDG PET and F-18 flobetapir PET scan of the brain within 6-week period. The images were then analyzed using visual and quantitative analyses.
Results The semi-automated synthesized F-18 flobetapir demonstrated equivalent characteristics to those of reported original compound; radiochemical  yield of approximately 20%, pH of 6, half-life of 115.66 minutes, radiochemical purity  > 95%, sterility and pyrogenicity were equivalent to drug for injection standard. Each synthesis could serve approximately 3 patients. Preliminary results of the clinical study in 17 of 43 eligible volunteers who had completed study protocol and test analysis found that F-18 flobetapir results in most of volunteers (n = 16 (94.12%) corresponded to the clinical diagnosis and neuropsychological test results, while MRI (Schelten’s rating scale) and F-18 FDG PET scan results corresponded with clinical diagnosis and neuropsychological test in 13 (76.47%) and 15 (88.24%) volunteers, respectively. The correlation of results between F-18 flobetapir and other tests showed that F-18 flobetapir tended to correlate with neuropsychological test in 16 (94.12%), MRI in 12 (70.59%) and F-18 FDG in 16 (94.12%) volunteers. So far, there was no detectable adverse effect in any subject. 
Conclusion Our preliminary results found a very high correlation between amyloid PET scan using F-18 flobetapir and clinical diagnosis and neuropsychological test results, which was higher than in F-18 FDG PET and anatomical abnormality detected by MRI, respectively. However, correlation between amyloid PET scan results and changes in neuropsychological test, MRI brain and F-18 FDG PET scan results are still needed to be followed.
Objectives: To 1) examine the prevalence of common and high-burden mental illnesses in the community, including depressive disorders, psychotic symptoms and alcohol and substance use disorders; 2) investigate social factors associated with mental disorders; and 3) describe what proportions of mentally ill individuals had limited or no access to services and associated barriers. Methods: Mixed method, including cross-sectional community survey and qualitative designs, was employed. The cross-sectional survey sampled without replacement residents aged 18 or over living in households within the Municipalities of Kukot and Lumsamkaew of Prathumthni Province. Face-to-face interviews were conducted by trained interviewers using the World Mental Health – Composite International Diagnostic Interview version 3.0 (WMH-CIDI 3.0) – Thai version, divided into 2 parts. The first part elicited diagnoses based on DSM-IV criteria. The second consisted of questions on sociodemographic background, history of service use, health coverage and earnings. The qualitative component consisted of in-depth interviews with mental health professionals about barriers to care and proposed solutions. Results: A total of 5,698 households in the selected municipalities were approached. The response rate was 69.1% (N=3,940). There were 3,877 interviews completed for analysis. Psychological distress had a one-year prevalence of 6.5%, psychotic symptoms 0.8%, alcohol use disorders 0.9% and substance use disorders 0.3%. Socio-economic status (measured by the Household Asset Index) was not associated with mental illness. Only 4.1% of those who reported having had mental illness in the past year had sought advice or treatment in the same period. Having mental problems in the past year was significantly associated with reduced or no earnings. A history of mental illness, with no current or recent active symptoms, was not significantly associated with reduced or no earnings.  Conclusions: The prevalence rates of mental illnesses in Prathumthani Province were similar to those reported in the recent mental health survey in Bangkok. The figures were also comparable to those reported in many East Asian countries, but relatively low compared with those found in Western countries. Reducing treatment gap in mental health care is likely to substantially ease economic burden because, if well-treated, mentally ill people can get back to work and earn incomes. Certain measures such as improving mental health literacy and developing alternative care models may help narrow the gap in accessing mental health care.
Alcohol consumption is an important problem of Thailand which law and social measures for
reducing alcohol consumption have been provided. The purpose of this research was to develop
community participation model to reduce alcohol consumption behavior and study the effects of this
model. It was a research and development study, included 3 phases: the first phase was reviewing
documents and studying community context, the second phase was developing community participation
model and the final phase was studying the effects of the community participation model in reducing
alcohol consumption behavior. The sample size of 30 persons consisted of community leaders and
relevant persons. They were one village headman, one subdistrict headman, seven health volunteers,
one teacher, two health officers, five members of elderly club, one social development volunteer,
four members of Stopdrink network and eight young leaders, divided into two groups by simple random
sampling. Data were collected from in-depth interview and focus group discussion and analyzed
by content analysis.
The results showed that more than 80% of the sample had extensively participated in the process
of model development, that is, they participated in every step of health promotion activity. The
results of the model included social measures by the community, such as surveying drinking people in
community, the community leaders acted as role models to reduce alcohol consumption, asking for
alcohol free zone in the religious ceremony and the festival. The social measures highly empowered
the community and the network. The relevant agencies participated in the health promotion activities.
The people’s alcohol consumption behavior reduced, evaluated from sales in the community.
Temples, schools, and public offices were alcohol free zones. The people knew more about toxicity
of alcohol and they created innovation of reducing alcohol consumption behavior in the community
such as “Love friends, suggest friends” and “New people with strong heart” projects.
It could be concluded that the development of community participation model could reduce
alcohol consumption behavior.
Health benefit under the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) in Thailand is a comprehensive
health package, with a few services on the negative list; for example, organ transplantation including
liver transplantation in children with biliary atresia.
Since 2011, liver transplantation in children with biliary atresia has been approved for UCS’s
health benefit package. All key actors involved in the health policy process of this new approval
including beneficiaries, health care providers, professional, and academics. This decision making is
an example of evidence-informed health policy explicitly including health need analysis, cost-utility
analysis, long term budget projection, and readiness of service delivery system.
As providing access to effective health care services when needed and protecting household
from catastrophic illness expenditure are key functions of public health insurance and UCS. This article
illustrated the health policy process of including the rare disease with high cost care (a case of
liver transplantation in children) into the health benefit package under UCS considering the threshold
for affordable and worth investment. Besides, critical success factors for the process of evidence-informed
health policy and enabling factors for moving health policy into implementation were discussed
in this paper.
Background: Prisoners are socially vulnerable population and have high risk for tuberculosis
(TB) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This study was conducted to explore whether the TB
notification rate, patient characteristics, access to HIV care and TB treatment outcome of prisoners
differ from general TB patients in Chiang Rai province. Design/Methods: A retrospective analysis of two existing TB related electronic databases included TB registry (N=2,472, 11% were prisoners)
and drug-resistance surveillance TB database (smear positive=2,193, 6.6% were prisoners). The study
populations were patients aged over 18 years, living in Mueang District, Chiang Rai, and registered in
TB registry during 2007 to 2014. We analyzed data by classifying into prisoner and general TB patient
groups. Percentage proportions of each variable were compared using chi-Square test and p-value
for the difference between two proportions. Results: The TB notification rate of prisoners was 3.2
times higher than general population. Prisoner group was significantly younger (mean age = 36.5 vs
45 yrs), had higher proportion of male, smear positive, and higher rate of HIV co-infection (TB/HIV)
than general TB patients (p<0.05). The treatment outcomes of smear-positive in two groups were not
different. However, treatment outcomes of all types of TB in prisoners were better than general TB
population, i.e. higher success rate with lower rate for loss to follow-up (p=0.030). Prisoners with TB/
HIV significantly had less access to antiretroviral drugs (ARV) (p<0.001) but access to cotrimoxazole
was not different. Both groups had high proportions of regular alcohol drinking. Prisoners significantly
had higher proportions of smoking and drug use than general TB patients but lower proportions of
diabetes mellitus or hypertension. Almost 11% of general TB patients were previously incarcerated.
Conclusions: Although prisoners had higher notification rate for TB and higher HIV co-infection than
general TB patients, treatment outcomes were better. To enhance health equality, access to ARV
among prisoners with TB/HIV should be ensured.
Health personnel (HP) have higher risk of tuberculosis (TB) infection during working than people in
the community. This research aims to determine TB situation among HP working in hospitals under the
Ministry of Public Health, Tak Province, fiscal year 2008 - 2016. During the study period, of an average
of 2,956 HP per year, 46 were registered for TB treatment, giving a rate of 15.6/1,000 HP. About 69.6%
of them were female and the mean age was 33.6 years old. About 71.7% were personnel responsible
mainly for patients’ management. Of all 46 TB cases, 69.5% had pulmonary TB. Overall, physicians
had the highest TB rate (38.5/1,000), followed by pharmacists/pharmacy technicians (35.1/1,000) and
nurses (17.6/1,000). Hospital personnel working in 5 districts (along Thailand-Myanmar border) of the western region of the province had a higher TB rate of all types (17.7/1,000), hospital personnel
working in the western region had a higher TB rate of pulmonary TB (13.0/1,000) than those working
in the eastern region (6.7/1,000). It is crucial to carry out early TB detection and treatment with high
successful rates among people in the communities to reduce TB spread, particularly in the western
region of Tak Province. In addition, good TB infection control should be continuously maintained in
the hospitals.
The ultimate aim of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) is 1) to ensure that all Thai citizens have
access to essential health services when needed without financial barriers, 2) to improve equity in
utilization of health services and 3) to protect households from financial catastrophe and impoverishment
due to medical bills. Thailand has achieved UHC since 2001. However, some are still uninsured
and may face difficulties when they need health services. Objective: This study aims to estimate the
number of Thai population who were at risk of potentially falling into a vicious cycle of “low education,
poverty and illness”, and identify who they are, where they live and whether they suffer from
medical bill? Method: Data from the Health and Welfare Survey 2015 conducted by the National
Statistical Office were utilized. The studied variables included socioeconomic, healthcare utilization
of both inpatient and outpatient services, and the out of pocket payments. Result: There were about
2.4 million Thai populations identified as having lowest economic household status, educated up
to primary school and had no jobs or being economically inactive. Among these vulnerable people,
59,779 had no health insurance. For this subset of population, 86 percent were female, their average
age was 38 years and most of them lived in municipal or urban area, Bangkok or in the central
region. When they were ill, the majority (62 percent) chose self-medication or sought traditional care
or herbal medicines. For hospitalized illness, all (100 percent) admitted to public hospitals, and paid
for medical bills by themselves (i.e., out of pocket) with a higher amount than those insured (Median:
9,999 Baht vs 700 Baht, respectively). Summary: Proactive and passive policies with collaboration
among ministries, especially the Ministry of Public Health, the Ministry of Labour and the National
Health Security Office would mitigate vulnerability of these risk groups and gradually reduce, then
eliminate the vicious cycle.