ABSTRACT
The purpose of the current study is to investigate the role of the Islamic financial system in recovery post-COVID-19 and the way Fintech can be utilized to combat the economic reverberations created by COVID-19. The global financial crisis of 2008 has established the credentials of the Islamic financial system as a sustainable financial system which can save the long run interests of the average citizens around the world while adding value to the real economy. The basic ethical tenets available in the Islamic financial system make it more suited and readymade to fight the economic aftershocks of a pandemic like COVID-19. The basic principles of ethical Islamic finance have solid connections to financial stability and corporate social responsibility within the wide-reaching business context. With the emergence of Financial technology (Fintech) it has provided a missing impetus to the Islamic financial system to compete on equal ground with its conventional counterpart and prove its mettle. The study uses discourse analysis along with the content analysis to extract content and draw a conclusion. The findings of the study indicate that COVID-19 pandemic has provided the opportunity for the social and open innovation to grow and finance world have turned to open innovation to provide a speedy, timely, reliable, and sustainable solution to the world. The findings of the study provide significant implications for governments and policy makers in efficient application of Fintech and innovative Islamic financial services to fight the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
ABSTRACT
Background: Several vaccines have been developed and tested against COVID-19 around the globe. Vaccine hesitancy and misinformation poses major challenges to the achievement of coverage and population immunity. Understanding key determinants that influence the preferences and demands of a COVID-19 vaccine by the community may help to develop strategies for improving coverage. Objectives: To assess willingness to receive coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine and identify the factors associated with it among the general population of Uttar Pradesh, North India. Material and methods: A web-based cross sectional study was conducted in the month of May 2021 among the unvaccinated general adult population of Uttar Pradesh, Northern India adopting an exponential, non-discriminative snowball sampling technique. A bilingual, self-administered anonymous semi-structured questionnaire in google form was designed and sent to the study participants through social media platform, WhatsApp. Data collected were extracted into excel sheets and was analyzed using SPSS software, version 21.0. Bivariate analysis was performed to identify the key determinants for vaccine acceptance among the participants. Result: Out of 254 participants completing the questionnaire, 219 (86.2%) showed willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, whereas 10 (4.0%) admitted hesitancy and 25 (9.8%) were not sure. Younger age-group (18-44 years), female gender, absence of any co-morbidity, lower education level, current employment status, positive history of confirmed COVID-19 infection in the person and positive history of confirmed COVID-19 infection in any family member/friend were the factors found to be significantly associated with the willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Conclusion: During the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in India, high acceptance for COVID-19 vaccination was found among the general population of Uttar Pradesh, whereas concerns about vaccine safety may hinder the actual vaccine uptake.
ABSTRACT
Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has shown a significant impact on the psychological well-being of health care workers. The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the psychological health of health care workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. During the months of November and December, 283 health care workers completed a survey containing measures of depression, anxiety and stress (using Depression Anxiety and Stress-21 scale [DASS-21]) and questions regarding potential predictors such as the role of COVID-19 perception, availability of mental health support and work-related factors. Pearson X2 test revealed factors associated with the presence of significant psychiatric symptoms. Result: Among the participants, 17.3% screened positive for depression, 26.2% for anxiety and 17.3% for stress. Nurses reported significantly more depression, anxiety and stress than doctors. Those who received mental health support reported significantly lesser depression, anxiety and stress. Those who felt that quality of life was heavily impacted due to COVID-19 reported significantly high depression, anxiety and stress. Conclusions: Poor psychological well-being was prevalent in health care workers;however, mental health measures have been shown to significantly reduce the mental health burden in health care workers. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Middle East Current Psychiatry is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)
ABSTRACT
The purpose of the current study is to investigate the role of the Islamic financial system in recovery post-COVID-19 and the way Fintech can be utilized to combat the economic reverberations created by COVID-19. The global financial crisis of 2008 has established the credentials of the Islamic financial system as a sustainable financial system which can save the long run interests of the average citizens around the world while adding value to the real economy. The basic ethical tenets available in the Islamic financial system make it more suited and readymade to fight the economic aftershocks of a pandemic like COVID-19. The basic principles of ethical Islamic finance have solid connections to financial stability and corporate social responsibility within the wide-reaching business context. With the emergence of Financial technology (Fintech) it has provided a missing impetus to the Islamic financial system to compete on equal ground with its conventional counterpart and prove its mettle. The study uses discourse analysis along with the content analysis to extract content and draw a conclusion. The findings of the study indicate that COVID-19 pandemic has provided the opportunity for the social and open innovation to grow and finance world have turned to open innovation to provide a speedy, timely, reliable, and sustainable solution to the world. The findings of the study provide significant implications for governments and policy makers in efficient application of Fintech and innovative Islamic financial services to fight the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.