Jennifer Leaning | Harvard University (original) (raw)
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Papers by Jennifer Leaning
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 2021
Transcultural Psychiatry, 2019
Adolescents are disproportionately represented in nations vulnerable to humanitarian crises. The ... more Adolescents are disproportionately represented in nations vulnerable to humanitarian crises. The mental health effects of exposure to trauma are significant, but evidence concerning the experience of disaster-affected adolescents in Asia is limited. The current study aimed to investigate expressions of psychological distress and behavioral effects of exposure to natural disasters among adolescents in China and Nepal. Key informant interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with adolescents, caregivers, teachers and experts in disaster-affected districts of Yunnan Province, China (n = 79), and Kathmandu Valley, Nepal (n = 62). Open coding and thematic content analysis were employed to examine themes within the data. Indicators of distress were categorized in four domains that reflected expressions of anxiety and stress, mood difficulties, somatic complaints, and behavioral changes for adolescent disaster survivors. Differential reports of psychological concerns by gender w...
The Lancet, 2017
The Rohingya people of Myanmar (known as Burma before 1989) were stripped of citizenship in 1982,... more The Rohingya people of Myanmar (known as Burma before 1989) were stripped of citizenship in 1982, because they could not meet the requirement of proving their forefathers settled in Burma before 1823, and now account for one in seven of the global population of stateless people. Of the total 1•5 million Rohingya people living in Myanmar and across southeast Asia, only 82 000 have any legal protection obtained through UN-designated refugee status. Since 2012, more than 159 000 people, most of whom are Rohingya, have fl ed Myanmar in poorly constructed boats for journeys lasting several weeks to neighbouring nations, causing hundreds of deaths. We outline historical events preceding this complex emergency in health and human rights. The Rohingya people face a cycle of poor infant and child health, malnutrition, waterborne illness, and lack of obstetric care. In December, 2014, a UN resolution called for an end to the crisis. We discuss the Myanmar Government's ongoing treatment of Rohingya through the lens of international law, and the steps that the newly elected parliament must pursue for a durable solution.
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, 1985
Disaster plans in response to a nuclear crisis involve extended forays into uncertainty. Controve... more Disaster plans in response to a nuclear crisis involve extended forays into uncertainty. Controversy arises over whether or not a nuclear disaster or war might ever occur. Estimates of destructive parameters vary widely. Planning must take into account a wide range of issues, from the nature of radiation injury to the survival capacity of social systems. From the standpoint of analyzing possibilities for emergency response, we will discuss: l) medical effects of radiation; 2) severe core meltdown at a nuclear power plant; and 3) a scenario for a nuclear bomb explosion over one city in the USA, in the setting of a strategic nuclear exchange.
Reconstructing Atrocity Prevention
The Environmental Consequences of War
NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security, 2011
The field of public health aims to protect and promote the health and wellbeing of human populati... more The field of public health aims to protect and promote the health and wellbeing of human populations. Warfare poses threats to human beings in many ways that the public health approach can help define and track through time. The impact of war on civilians is a particular feature of concern to public health experts, who have in recent years contributed to our general understanding of civilian morbidity and mortality in war by documenting numbers of people affected, describing patterns of morbidity and mortality, and identifying vulnerable risk groups. Among the particular technologies of warfare that are pervasively harmful to civilian populations, public health investigators have been especially concerned with the short and longer-term consequences of antipersonnel landmines and other explosive remnants of war. Yet despite the evidence, which public health methods have helped to accumulate, that warfare constitutes a devastating assault on human life, the field of public health has also been influenced in positive ways by military activity and experience. Advances in science (including technology), law, and social mobilization have been incorporated into public health practice and analytic frameworks. Public health strategies of prevention and mitigation are influenced by these advances and in turn offer options for policy engagement with all phases of warfare that might help to reduce the most severe impacts of war on civilian populations.
Emergency and Disaster Medicine, 1985
Civil defense for natural and technological disasters has a long and respected history in the Uni... more Civil defense for natural and technological disasters has a long and respected history in the United States. Yet, aside from a brief flare of interest in the 1950s and early 1960s, civil defense for nuclear war has not, until recently, attracted much attention. During the late 1970s, the federal disaster management bureaucracies were consolidated into the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which was charged with disaster planning for all peacetime and “attack-related” emergencies. Since that time, in addition to other planning activities, FEMA has actively promoted civil defense for nuclear war. As the major public advocate of the notion that with adequate evacuation and shelther a full-scale nuclear war is “survivable, ” FEMA is now finding itself embroiled in controversy around the country, as local communities contest the feasibility of crisis relocation planning (CRP) and challenge the concept of survival in the context of nuclear war.
Health and human rights, Jan 15, 2010
JEMS : a journal of emergency medical services, 1991
HMO practice / HMO Group
Harvard Community Health Plan's nighttime telephone triage program, currently known as Teleco... more Harvard Community Health Plan's nighttime telephone triage program, currently known as Telecommunications, has evolved through several stages, corresponding to HCHP membership growth, technological enhancements, and changes in the medicolegal environment. Recruiting, training, and retaining staff for nighttime telephone triage are discussed.
HMO practice / HMO Group
Triage is the sorting of patients according to clinical urgency. The night-time triage program at... more Triage is the sorting of patients according to clinical urgency. The night-time triage program at the Health Centers Division of the Harvard Community Health Plan (HCHP) directs and coordinates all patient care. A thorough knowledge of the clinical and administrative program of HCHP as well as informed understanding of the external environment is necessary to accomplish this responsibility. As part of the orientation and training program for the night triage staff, a set of written clinical protocols for serious medical emergencies has been developed. Examples of clinical situations are provided in this article.
Nursing times, Jan 17, 1977
The Lancet, 2014
to established tenets of respect for international humanitarian law. As a renowned journal editor... more to established tenets of respect for international humanitarian law. As a renowned journal editor, Richard Horton must take risks and break new ground in order to stay abreast of complex intersecting fi elds. By giving voice to those who have strong opinions, he has advanced dialogue and upheld the value of tolerance, which is in such short supply. We support him for doing so and respect him for allowing diverse points of view to be discussed in an independent academic space. We declare no competing interests.
Prepared for US Agency for …, 2002
Page 1. LINKING COMPLEX EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND TRANSITION INITIATIVE Human Security in Angola: A ... more Page 1. LINKING COMPLEX EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND TRANSITION INITIATIVE Human Security in Angola: A Retrospective Study Elizabeth Stites, MA, MALD Jennifer Leaning, MD, SMH December 2002 Prepared for USAID (Africa Bureau)/Tulane CERTI ...
Contemporary Psychology: A Journal of Reviews, 1979
Preventive Medicine, 1987
International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 2021
Transcultural Psychiatry, 2019
Adolescents are disproportionately represented in nations vulnerable to humanitarian crises. The ... more Adolescents are disproportionately represented in nations vulnerable to humanitarian crises. The mental health effects of exposure to trauma are significant, but evidence concerning the experience of disaster-affected adolescents in Asia is limited. The current study aimed to investigate expressions of psychological distress and behavioral effects of exposure to natural disasters among adolescents in China and Nepal. Key informant interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with adolescents, caregivers, teachers and experts in disaster-affected districts of Yunnan Province, China (n = 79), and Kathmandu Valley, Nepal (n = 62). Open coding and thematic content analysis were employed to examine themes within the data. Indicators of distress were categorized in four domains that reflected expressions of anxiety and stress, mood difficulties, somatic complaints, and behavioral changes for adolescent disaster survivors. Differential reports of psychological concerns by gender w...
The Lancet, 2017
The Rohingya people of Myanmar (known as Burma before 1989) were stripped of citizenship in 1982,... more The Rohingya people of Myanmar (known as Burma before 1989) were stripped of citizenship in 1982, because they could not meet the requirement of proving their forefathers settled in Burma before 1823, and now account for one in seven of the global population of stateless people. Of the total 1•5 million Rohingya people living in Myanmar and across southeast Asia, only 82 000 have any legal protection obtained through UN-designated refugee status. Since 2012, more than 159 000 people, most of whom are Rohingya, have fl ed Myanmar in poorly constructed boats for journeys lasting several weeks to neighbouring nations, causing hundreds of deaths. We outline historical events preceding this complex emergency in health and human rights. The Rohingya people face a cycle of poor infant and child health, malnutrition, waterborne illness, and lack of obstetric care. In December, 2014, a UN resolution called for an end to the crisis. We discuss the Myanmar Government's ongoing treatment of Rohingya through the lens of international law, and the steps that the newly elected parliament must pursue for a durable solution.
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, 1985
Disaster plans in response to a nuclear crisis involve extended forays into uncertainty. Controve... more Disaster plans in response to a nuclear crisis involve extended forays into uncertainty. Controversy arises over whether or not a nuclear disaster or war might ever occur. Estimates of destructive parameters vary widely. Planning must take into account a wide range of issues, from the nature of radiation injury to the survival capacity of social systems. From the standpoint of analyzing possibilities for emergency response, we will discuss: l) medical effects of radiation; 2) severe core meltdown at a nuclear power plant; and 3) a scenario for a nuclear bomb explosion over one city in the USA, in the setting of a strategic nuclear exchange.
Reconstructing Atrocity Prevention
The Environmental Consequences of War
NATO Science for Peace and Security Series C: Environmental Security, 2011
The field of public health aims to protect and promote the health and wellbeing of human populati... more The field of public health aims to protect and promote the health and wellbeing of human populations. Warfare poses threats to human beings in many ways that the public health approach can help define and track through time. The impact of war on civilians is a particular feature of concern to public health experts, who have in recent years contributed to our general understanding of civilian morbidity and mortality in war by documenting numbers of people affected, describing patterns of morbidity and mortality, and identifying vulnerable risk groups. Among the particular technologies of warfare that are pervasively harmful to civilian populations, public health investigators have been especially concerned with the short and longer-term consequences of antipersonnel landmines and other explosive remnants of war. Yet despite the evidence, which public health methods have helped to accumulate, that warfare constitutes a devastating assault on human life, the field of public health has also been influenced in positive ways by military activity and experience. Advances in science (including technology), law, and social mobilization have been incorporated into public health practice and analytic frameworks. Public health strategies of prevention and mitigation are influenced by these advances and in turn offer options for policy engagement with all phases of warfare that might help to reduce the most severe impacts of war on civilian populations.
Emergency and Disaster Medicine, 1985
Civil defense for natural and technological disasters has a long and respected history in the Uni... more Civil defense for natural and technological disasters has a long and respected history in the United States. Yet, aside from a brief flare of interest in the 1950s and early 1960s, civil defense for nuclear war has not, until recently, attracted much attention. During the late 1970s, the federal disaster management bureaucracies were consolidated into the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which was charged with disaster planning for all peacetime and “attack-related” emergencies. Since that time, in addition to other planning activities, FEMA has actively promoted civil defense for nuclear war. As the major public advocate of the notion that with adequate evacuation and shelther a full-scale nuclear war is “survivable, ” FEMA is now finding itself embroiled in controversy around the country, as local communities contest the feasibility of crisis relocation planning (CRP) and challenge the concept of survival in the context of nuclear war.
Health and human rights, Jan 15, 2010
JEMS : a journal of emergency medical services, 1991
HMO practice / HMO Group
Harvard Community Health Plan's nighttime telephone triage program, currently known as Teleco... more Harvard Community Health Plan's nighttime telephone triage program, currently known as Telecommunications, has evolved through several stages, corresponding to HCHP membership growth, technological enhancements, and changes in the medicolegal environment. Recruiting, training, and retaining staff for nighttime telephone triage are discussed.
HMO practice / HMO Group
Triage is the sorting of patients according to clinical urgency. The night-time triage program at... more Triage is the sorting of patients according to clinical urgency. The night-time triage program at the Health Centers Division of the Harvard Community Health Plan (HCHP) directs and coordinates all patient care. A thorough knowledge of the clinical and administrative program of HCHP as well as informed understanding of the external environment is necessary to accomplish this responsibility. As part of the orientation and training program for the night triage staff, a set of written clinical protocols for serious medical emergencies has been developed. Examples of clinical situations are provided in this article.
Nursing times, Jan 17, 1977
The Lancet, 2014
to established tenets of respect for international humanitarian law. As a renowned journal editor... more to established tenets of respect for international humanitarian law. As a renowned journal editor, Richard Horton must take risks and break new ground in order to stay abreast of complex intersecting fi elds. By giving voice to those who have strong opinions, he has advanced dialogue and upheld the value of tolerance, which is in such short supply. We support him for doing so and respect him for allowing diverse points of view to be discussed in an independent academic space. We declare no competing interests.
Prepared for US Agency for …, 2002
Page 1. LINKING COMPLEX EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND TRANSITION INITIATIVE Human Security in Angola: A ... more Page 1. LINKING COMPLEX EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND TRANSITION INITIATIVE Human Security in Angola: A Retrospective Study Elizabeth Stites, MA, MALD Jennifer Leaning, MD, SMH December 2002 Prepared for USAID (Africa Bureau)/Tulane CERTI ...
Contemporary Psychology: A Journal of Reviews, 1979
Preventive Medicine, 1987