ABSTRACT
Background: Since 1990, the maternal mortality significantly decreased at global scale as well as the North Africa and Middle East. However, estimates for mortality and morbidity by cause and age at national scale in this region are not available. Method(s): This study is part of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors study (GBD) 2019. Here we report maternal mortality and morbidity by age and cause across 21 countries in the region from 1990 to 2019. Result(s): Between 1990 and 2019, maternal mortality ratio (MMR) dropped from 148.8 (129.6-171.2) to 94.3 (73.4-121.1) per 100 000 live births in North Africa and Middle East. In 1990, MMR ranged from 6.0 (5.3-6.8) in Kuwait to 502.9 (375.2-655.3) per 100 000 live births in Afghanistan. Respective figures for 2019 were 5.1 (4.0-6.4) in Kuwait to 269.9 (195.8-368.6) in Afghanistan. Percentages of deaths under 25 years was 26.0% in 1990 and 23.8% in 2019. Maternal hemorrhage, indirect maternal deaths, and other maternal disorders rank 1st to 3rd in the entire region. Ultimately, there was an evident decrease in MMR along with increase in socio-demographic index from 1990 to 2019 in all countries in the region and an evident convergence across nations. Conclusion(s): MMR has significantly declined in the region since 1990 and only five countries (Afghanistan, Sudan, Yemen, Morocco, and Algeria) out of 21 nations didn't achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target of 70 deaths per 100 000 live births in 2019. Despite the convergence in trends, there are still disparities across countries.Copyright © 2022 Academy of Medical Sciences of I.R. Iran. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The increasing cases of Covid-19 (Corona virus) resulted towards lockdown not only in India but all over the world. The movement of traffic internationally was closed. The nationwide lockdown which was imposed by Government of India brought a lot of changes in the lifestyle of people. Earlier, many studies have reported about the financial impact of COVID-19 on tourism industry & the correlation between COVID-19 and trends in tourism industry. The idea is to relate those variables with onslaught of Covid-19 and to understand, more long-term impact that COVID-19 will have on travellers' perception towards tourism. An online survey was conducted to collect primary data in which a questionnaire was circulated to travellers all over India. The results of this study can be used by the companies and government institutions to develop marketing strategies to increase travellers' consumption experience.
ABSTRACT
COVID-19 is a global pandemic spread across more than 200 countries and several measures are being taken to control it. Researchers in pharmaceutical academia/industry are incessantly targeting this disease through vaccine and drug development protocols. Artificial intelligence is being extensively explored for surveillance, diagnostics, contact tracing, and for clinical management of COVID-19. The most common application has been for repurposing of existing drugs through various AI tools. Successful training of artificial neural networks based on identification of specific patterns in binding of known antiviral drugs with protein sequences from diverse virus species have generated models giving good predictions for molecules against SARS-CoV-2 virus, in sync with clinical studies. ML tools have also been used to investigate immunogenic components of the virus to be exploited as vaccine candidates. In this chapter, the utilization of artificial intelligence to accelerate drug-design and vaccine design research for COVID-19 has been reviewed. © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 outbreak has caused an impervious financial and psychological burden. Health care professionals, including oral health care workers, have been risking fighting the pandemic. The chief objective of the current study was to estimate the rates of prevalence of depression, stress, and anxiety among the oral health care professionals in Jammu and Udaipur city. The study was delineated as an online cross-sectional questionnaire-based research. It was mailed to different practitioners between May and July 2020, particularly those offered their services in COVID centers. The participants were to fill the self report questionnaires. Then, the parameters were measured using depression, anxiety, and stress scale 21(DASS 21) and Hamilton anxiety rating scale (HARS) to measure the degrees of depression, stress, and fear among the volunteers. The target population was divided into age groups between 23 to 28 years and over 28 years. Four hundred ninety responses were received and were considered for the study. The acquired data were analysed using IBM SPSSsoftware (windows version 23). The mean and standard deviations were calculated for stress, anxiety, depression using mentioned scale. The results were compared based on gender and age group. A statistically significant variance in stress level was found between male and female groups (p=0.002) and for the two age groups (p=0.001). Using the Hamilton anxiety rating scale, no statistically significant divergence could be seen among male and female participants. The current study showed stress, anxiety, and depressions were prevalent among health care workers working in COVID pandemic situations. Therefore, mental health status must be addressed, and issues must be resolved. © 2022, DESIDOC.
ABSTRACT
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has tested the mettle of governments across the globe and has thrown entrenched fault lines within health systems into sharper relief. In response to the outbreak of the pandemic, governments introduced a range of measures to meet the growth in demand and bridge gaps in health systems. The objective of this paper is to understand the nature and extent of the changes in health systems triggered by the COVID-19 crisis. The paper examines changes in the role of governments in (1) sector coordination, (2) service provision, (3) financing, (4) payment, and (5) regulations. It outlines broad trends and reforms underway prior to the pandemic and highlights likely trajectories in these aspects in the future. The paper argues that while the pandemic has accelerated changes already underway before the crisis, it has made little headway in clearing the path for other or deeper health policy reforms. The reform window that COVID-19 opened has not been wide enough to overcome the entrenched path dependency and structural interests that characterize the sector.
ABSTRACT
Background: Coronavirus has posed a greater risk of occupational transmission to dental professionals as it can spread through the aerosols. Aim: This syudy aimed to assess knowledge and awareness of private dental health-care professionals regarding coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) disease in India. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 320 private dentists practicing in north India. A self-administered, anonymous, multiple-choice type questionnaire was administered to gather information. The questionnaire contained 12 questions on knowledge and awareness regarding coronavirus keeping in view the time constraints. Statistical analyses were done using analysis of variance and Student t-test. Results: Awareness regarding the mode of transmission of COVID-19 was reported positively by 93.3% of subjects. Only 3.3% of subjects reported about having encountered a corona patient at their clinic. Preventive measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 were known to 77.7% of subjects. A statistically significant association of mean knowledge scores was noted with education level (P = 0.013) and working profile (P = 0.016) of the subjects. Conclusion: The results of the present study showed that some knowledge gaps existed among dentists regarding some important aspects of COVID-19. Therefore, there is an urgent need for training and continuous education programs regarding infectious diseases.
ABSTRACT
Social media applications have become a vital tool for human daily communication and are widely used in the education process worldwide. Regardless of the use of social media by some instructors as a personal initiative, in Iraq, social media's use for educational purposes has been neglected. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic pushed the world to implement online teaching using varying technology applications including social media as an essential tool in the learning process. This shifted the Iraqi government’s understanding of social media's role in education to the extent that they formally recommended that the educational departments, schools, universities use social media as a formal platform to keep the education going. However, there were concerns about using social media for several factors such as internet services, information and communication technology skills of instructors and students, integrity, and quality insurance of education. This study investigated the teachers' and students’perceptions regarding these concerns by adopting a survey method through an online questionnaire using 'google forms' (N= 2010) with responses from teachers and students of universities and high schools and parents of students of basic schools. This study revealed that less than half of the respondents were in favor of using social media in the learning process. The findings suggested that the educational level, age, and geographical hierarchies and jobs of respondents are also correlated with using social media and e-learning. © 2021 Alaa Makki and Ahmed Omar Bali. This is an open access article licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License