Martina Valente

University of Piemonte Orientale Amedeo Avogadro | UNIPMN · CRIMEDIM, Center for Research and Training in Disaster Medicine, Humanitarian Aid and Global Health

Background Afghan refugees in Pakistan, particularly in Quetta, Balochistan, encounter formidable barriers in accessing maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) services. These challenges have been intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic and entrenched systemic health inequities. Methods This qualitative study, conducted from February to April 2023...

Migrants and women were among the groups most severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic disaster. By adopting an intersectional lens, it can be inferred that migrant women (MW) were particularly vulnerable to its impacts. This study aims to explore the multifaceted impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on MW living in Milan, Italy, investigating a broad...

Introduction: The Sexual Violence Relief center Soccorso Violenza Sessuale (SVS) is a specialist service, situated in Sant’Anna Hospital, an Obstetrics and Gynecology facility in Turin, North-West Italy. The study aimed to qualitatively analyze the transcripts of interviews routinely conducted by gynecologist and midwife in the first part of the...

Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) is a form of gender-based violence and a violation of human rights. Forensic medical examination of victims of CRSV can be performed for the clinical and forensic management of patients or as part of the medical affidavit in judicial protection procedures. The aim of this scoping review was to summarize the k...

Migrants and women were among the groups most adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic global disaster. Through an intersectional lens that considers both migrant and female identities, it can be inferred that migrant women were particularly vulnerable to the pandemic. This study aims to investigate the impact of the pandemic on migrant women li...

Heatwaves have long been recognized as a serious public health threat. Effective adaptation measures can reduce the risks to people and ecosystems. The purpose of this study was to explore the determinants of heatwave adaptive behaviors using the Health Belief Model (HBM) as a framework. A cross-sectional study was conducted among a sample of 686 p...

Background Following the change of government in August 2021, the social and economic landscape of Afghanistan deteriorated into an economic and humanitarian crisis. Afghans continue to struggle to access basic healthcare services, making Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in the country a major challenge. The aim of this study was to perform a qualit...

Background The Taliban takeover in August 2021 ended a decades-long conflict in Afghanistan. Yet, along with improved security, there have been collateral changes, such as the exacerbation of the economic crisis and brain drain. Although these changes have altered the lives of Afghans in many ways, it is unclear whether they have affected access to...

Aim The aim of this paper is to outline the steps taken to develop an operational checklist to assess primary healthcare (PHC) all-hazards disaster preparedness. It then describes a study testing the applicability of the checklist. Background A PHC approach is an essential foundation for health emergency and disaster risk management (H-EDRM) becau...

Background Migrants face several barriers when accessing care and tend to rely on emergency services to a greater extent than primary care. Comparing emergency department (ED) utilization by migrants and non-migrants can unveil inequalities affecting the migrant population and pave the way for public health strategies aimed at improving health outc...

Trabalhar Juntos pela Saúde: da multiprofissionalidade à transdisciplinaridade Foi atualmente publicada em italiano a primeira edição da coletânea Trabalhar Juntos pela Saúde: da multiprofissionalidade à transdisciplinaridade, cuja organização editorial foi de Leopoldo Sarli, ex-professor associado do Departamento de Medicina e Cirurgia, da Univer...

As heatwaves increase and intensify worldwide, so has the research aimed at outlining strategies to protect individuals from their impact. Interventions that promote adaptive measures to heatwaves are encouraged, but evidence on how to develop such interventions is still scarce. Although the Health Belief Model is one of the leading frameworks guid...

Introduction Armed conflicts have a severe impact on the health of women and children. Global health emergencies such as pandemics and disease outbreaks further exacerbate the challenges faced by vulnerable populations in accessing maternal, neonatal, and child healthcare (MNCH). There is a lack of evidence that summarizes the challenges faced by c...

Background Health systems resilience (HSR) research is a rapidly expanding field, in which key concepts are discussed and theoretical frameworks are emerging with vibrant debate. Fragile and conflict-affected settings (FCAS) are contexts exposed to compounding stressors, for which resilience is an important characteristic. However, only limited evi...

Disasters or mass-casualty incidents are uncommon events. The use of simulation is an ideal training modality in full-scale exercises as it immerses the participants in a replication of the actual environment where they can respond to simulated casualties in accordance with existing protocols. The objective of this scoping review is to answer the r...

Background Migrants face several barriers when accessing care and tend to rely on emergency services to a greater extent than primary care. Comparing emergency department (ED) utilization by migrants and non-migrants can unveil inequalities affecting the migrant population and pave the way for public health strategies aimed at improving health outc...

Background Conflicts exacerbate dynamics of power and inequalities through violence normalization, which acts as a facilitator for conflict-related sexual violence. Literature addressing its negative outcomes on survivors is scant. The aim of this systematic review was to analyze the qualitative evidence reported in scientific literature and focusi...

In May 2023, the Italian region Emilia-Romagna was hit by intense rainfall, which caused extensive floods in densely populated areas. On May 4, 2023, a 12-month state of emergency was declared in the region with the activation of response and recovery plans. This field report provides an overview of the health response to the floods, paying particu...

Objective: Team dynamics and nontechnical skills in general are crucial for emergency medical teams (EMT). No study has ever examined these important issues during a real mission in the field. This study aimed to better investigate team dynamics and nontechnical skills for EMTs; it tried to understand if a real mission, when the people are obliged...

Background Disasters have an unequal impact on the population because of differences in conditions of vulnerability, exposure, and capacity. Migrants and women are among the groups that are at greater risk for and disproportionately affected by disasters. However, despite the large body of evidence that analyzes their vulnerability separately, disa...

Introduction: Disaster Medicine (DM) is currently underrepresented in medical schools’ curricula worldwide, and existing DM courses for medical students are extremely heterogeneous due to the lack of pragmatic and standardized guidelines. Moreover, there is a gap in knowledge regarding the curriculum development methodology used for DM courses. Thi...

Introduction: With the publication of the Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management (H-EDRM) Framework in 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) emphasized the need for disaster preparedness in all sectors of the health system, including primary health care (PHC). PHC disaster preparedness plays a crucial role in guaranteeing continuity of c...

Introduction: Hospitals around the world need to be safe and prepared to face disasters, being these man-made or caused by natural hazards. The Hospital Safety Index (HSI) is a tool developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) that allows access to the level of preparedness of hospitals; it is the most widely used instrument of its kind. Althou...

Introduction: Ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs) are health conditions for which appropriate primary care intervention could prevent hospital admission. ACSC hospitalization rates are a well established parameter for assessing the performance of primary health care (PHC). Although this indicator has been extensively used to monitor the pe...

Introduction: Heatwaves are the leading weather-related causes of deaths globally. Since the mid 20th century, the frequency and intensity of heatwaves has increased with recent reports projecting a substantial warming in temperature extremes by the end of the 21st century. Method: In this cross-sectional study, we attempted to assess public perce...

The Hospital Safety Index is a tool developed by the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization in 2008 and updated in 2015. Although it is the most widely used instrument of its kind to assess the level of hospital preparedness, scientific literature on its application in real life is scarce. This study aimed to investigate...

The COVID-19 pandemic exerted an extraordinary pressure on the Italian healthcare system (Sistema Sanitario Nazionale, SSN), determining an unprecedented health crisis. In this context, a multidisciplinary non-governmental initiative called Italian Response to COVID-19 (IRC-19) was implemented from June 2020 to August 2021 to support the Italian he...

Purpose Since the term orthorexia nervosa (ON) was coined from the Greek (ὀρθός, right and ὄρεξις, appetite) in 1997 to describe an obsession with “correct” eating, it has been used worldwide without a consistent definition. Although multiple authors have proposed diagnostic criteria, and many theoretical papers have been published, no consensus de...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted societies, influencing countries' Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management (H-EDRM) systems. By taking Italy as a case study, this research aimed to investigate the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the changes made to the existing H-EDRM system, with an emphasis on human re...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly impacted societies, influencing countries’ Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management (H-EDRM) systems. By taking Italy as a case study, this research aimed to investigate the response to the pandemic focusing on challenges, response strategies, lessons learned and implications for H-EDRM, with an...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has positioned fragile healthcare systems in low income countries under pressure, leading to critical gaps in service delivery. The pandemic response demands the healthcare system to be resilient and continue provision of healthcare services. This review is aimed at describing the healthcare response challenges du...

With the publication of the Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management (H-EDRM) Framework in 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) emphasized the need for disaster preparedness in all sectors of the health system, including primary health care (PHC). PHC disaster preparedness plays a crucial role in guaranteeing continuity of care and respon...

Pour améliorer la préparation des établissements de santé à faire face aux défis des afflux massifs de victimes, les hôpitaux doivent être prêts à engager des actions prioritaires fondamentales. Ce document fournit une liste - tous risques - d'actions clés à prendre en compte par les hôpitaux Tunisiens pour répondre à tout événement, selon un inven...

Ambulatory care sensitive conditions (ACSCs) are health conditions for which appropriate primary care intervention could prevent hospital admission. ACSC hospitalization rates are a well-established parameter for assessing the performance of primary health care (PHC). Although this indicator has been extensively used to monitor the performance of P...

Although extreme weather events have played a constant role in human history, heatwaves (HWs) have become more frequent and intense in the past decades, causing concern especially in light of the increasing evidence on climate change. Despite the increasing number of reviews suggesting a relationship between heat and health, these reviews focus pri...

Disaster Medicine (DM) is currently underrepresented in medical schools’ curricula worldwide, and existing DM courses for medical students are extremely heterogeneous due to the lack of pragmatic and standardized guidelines. Moreover, there is a gap in knowledge regarding the curriculum development methodology used for DM courses. This study aims t...

This mixed-methods study explored the conversation around orthorexia nervosa (ON) on Instagram from a Russian-speaking perspective. Two quantitative data sources were implemented; a comparative content analysis of posts tagged with #opтopeкcия ( n = 234) and #orthorexia ( n = 243), and an online questionnaire completed by Russian-speakers ( n = 96)...

Purpose This mixed-methods study delved into the relationship between orthorexia nervosa (ON) and Instagram. Methods Two quantitative data sources were used: content analysis of pictures using #orthorexia ( n = 3027), and an online questionnaire investigating the experience of ON and the use of Instagram of people sharing ON-related content on Ins...

Orthorexia nervosa (ON) is an emerging eating disorder characterized by an obsession with healthy food that may lead to malnourishment, medical complications, loss of social and personal relationships and poor quality of life.

Orthorexia nervosa (ON) has in recent years attracted attention, but the scarcity of empirical research on the matter generates uncertainty about its progression. This study aims to gain insight into the developmental pathway of ON and factors contributing to it, to establish its etiology. In order to gain insights into health professionals' experi...

This study contributes to understanding medicalization on social media, by using Conrad’s concept of medicalization as a theoretical framework to explore the conversation about Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) on Twitter. The aim of this mixed-methods study was twofold: the quantitative component aimed to provide descriptive information on the type of tweet...

This study aims to include the perspectives of those who share content about Orthorexia Nervosa (ON) on Instagram and self-diagnose with ON (SD-ON) to trace their development of ON, gain insights into risk factors, symptoms and recovery, and explore differences with those who do not SD-ON. This research used mixed methods, with a sequential explana...

This study aimed to understand the factors influencing people’s choice to follow a diet considered healthy, and if and how these factors may contribute progress toward a higher (unhealthy) degree of preoccupation with healthy eating: orthorexia nervosa. This was achieved through mixed methods (interviews, n = 12; questionnaire, n = 82). The target...

Aim The aim of this literature review was to identify the tools developed and used to assess orthorexia nervosa (ON). Methods A systematic search was executed in PubMed, Biomed Central, and PsycINFO. The final list included 70 articles that were critically analyzed. Results A total of six tools were reported to assess ON: the BOT, the ORTO-15, th...