Problems of providing services to people affected by HIV/AIDS: service providers and recipients perspectives

This qualitative study aimed to identify the health-care problems of people living with HIV [PLHIV] in 2 large cities: Tehran and Kermanshah. Two main groups of stakeholders - service providers [policy-makers, managers, physicians and counsellors] and service recipients [PLHIV and their relatives] - participated in focus group discussions and in-depth interviews. We identified 24 themes covering the major health problems of PLHIV, including: incomplete and inadequate coverage of health-care services; patients' substance abuse; patients' fear of stigma; occupational burnout of certain service providers; patients' dissatisfaction with some of the services provided by counselling centres/clinics; medical staff's failure to observe confidentiality; and patients' lack of access to required specialized services. The problems and needs identified can inform the design and implementation of health programmes in our country and elsewhere in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Malaria status in economic cooperation countries; achievement and gaps toward United Nations Millennium Development Goals

Evaluating the malaria status of the Economic Cooperation Organization [ECO] member countries relation to goal 6 of 3rd Millennium Development Goals [MDGs] which includes have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria. By 2009, we reviewed the MDGs reports, extracted the data from surveillance system, published, and unpublished data. The main stakeholders, from both governmental and international organizations in the country have been visited and interviewed by the research team as part of the data validation process. The malaria incidence is very heterogeneous among ECO countries, which differ less than 200 cases in total country in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Azerbaijan to 82,564 cases [2,428/100,000] in Afghanistan and 59,284 cases [881/100,000] in Pakistan and about 18/100,000 in Iran in 2008. Malaria has been a major public health problem in Pakistan and Afghanistan and will continue to pose serious threat to millions of people due to poor environmental and socioeconomic conditions conducive to the spread of disease. The main malaria endemic areas of Iran are in southeastern part of the country; consist of less developed provinces that are bordered in the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan. There are little valid information about proportion of population in malaria-risk areas using effective malaria prevention and treatment measures indicators. All ECO countries could achieve MDGs malaria indicators by 2015 except Pakistan and Afghanistan, unless preparing urgent intervention programs to fulfill the goals

Risk factors of non-communicable diseases and metabolic syndrome

Metabolic syndrome is a common metabolic disorder, which leads to early Cardio Vascular Disease and diabetes type II. The goal of this study was to determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its risk factors in Kurdistan, Iran. The data was extracted from provincial section of Iranian national non-communicable surveillance survey conducted in 2005. The study was a population-based survey with multi-stage cluster sampling method. Adult Treatment Panel-III measures were used for assessing the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among residents of Kurdistan Province aged 25 to 64 yr. EPI-Info 6 was used to enter the data and the data was analyzed using SPSS 11.5. Totally, 1194 participants were recruited in our survey. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 29.1%. The prevalence was 41.3% among women and 17.1% among men [P= 0.001]. As we go higher among age groups, the prevalence increases. This is the first study to investigate the metabolic syndrome in Kurdistan and Kurd ethnicity. The high level of metabolic syndromes prevalence especially among women shows the need and importance of suitable and effective preventive programs. These preventive programs must promote changes in lifestyle, especially with respect to nutrition, physical activities, and control of blood pressure

[ cholera outbreak investigation in Karaj district in 2008]

However outbreaks of cholera are not very common in central area of Iran, in 2008 district health authority reported a cluster of diarrhea cases. We investigated this cluster to identify the etiological agent, source of transmission and propose control measures. We defined a case of diarrhea as occurrence of > or =3 loose/watery stools a day among the residents of Karaj. Fifty four [54] cases were identified in health care centers and 106 healthy individuals as control. We conducted a gender- and age-matched case-control study to identify risk factors. Vibrio cholerae El Tor O1 Inaba was isolated from all cases rectal swabs. during cholera epidemic outbreak in 2007, 54 cases of stool-culture were vibrio cholera, serotype Inaba positive. Using industrial-ice and fruits and vegetables were significantly associated with the illness [OR 4.4 and 3.3 respectively]. This outbreak was due to a contaminated industrial-ice and contaminated vegetables and fruits and V. cholera 01 Inaba was possibly the causative organism. Therefore more prevention program and observation methods should be considered

[ relationship between social capital and immigrants mental health]

The immigrants' mental health is one of the basic discussions in social sciences which have attracted the attention of many international institutions such as World Health Organization [WHO]. Nowadays, many factors such as injustice, frustration, disrespect affecting immigrants' life is arising of social factors, which threaten their mental health. On these lines, social capital plays a central role in providing the immigrants with emotional and mental support in order to enhance their mental health. The purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between social capital and mental health among immigrants in Kermanshah city. The research method was a survey. The required data was collect through a questionnaire. The population under study includes immigrants living in Kermanshah whose number amounted to 45000 in 1384. For practical purposes, a sample including 600 immigrants was selected by simple random sampling using Lin sampling table. A28-item WHO questionnaire and a 90-item SCL questionnaire were used in order to measure participants' mental health. Three indices of social confidence, social support and social participation were used in order to measure social capital. Face and criterion validity were used for reliability and Coronbach alpha was used for research reliability. The statistical methods of Pearson Correlation and analysis of variance were use to test the hypothesis and regression analysis was used to measure the research method. The results of correlation show that the relationship between mental health and other variables: Education [r=14%], Age [r=26%], residency duration [r=41%], Social confidence [r= 66%], social support [r= 51%], and social participation [r= 48%] are significant. The results gained from this coefficient tells us that the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variables is significant at least the 5% level. The results of multiple regressions also show that independent variables have explained 57% of dependent variable and the contribution of each independent variables to dependent variable are respectively as follows: Social confidence [Beta= 30%], social participation [Beta= 25%], kinds of migration [Beta= 21%], marital status [Beta= 16%], social support [Beta= 14%] and residency duration [Beta= 6%]. The findings of this article show that the relationship between two construct e.g. social capital and immigrants' mental health indicate a high level of significance. If individuals enjoy a high level of social, capital it means that they access valuable resources such as mutual trust, social mental and financial support, the existence of kinship networks, attachment, and participation in different aspects of social life, so they will have a higher level of mental health. A high level of mental health among the immigrants is a result of an increase in the amount of social capital among them and social capital cause higher levels of mental health and quality of life among migrants. Results also addressed the role of social capital and the existence of supportive networks in facilitating acculturation