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Contexte: Le COVID-19 represente une maladie emergente mettant les systemes de sante publiques en etat d'alerte. Afin de prevenir sa propagation et sa morbi-mortalite, des strategies appropriees etaient necessaires, comme la vaccination. Cependant, cette vaccination fait l'objet de controverses. L'objectif de notre etude etait de determiner l'acceptabilite de ce vaccin et ses facteurs associes chez les tunisiens. Methodes: Nous avons mene une etude transversale aupres de la population tunisienne entre decembre 2020 et janvier 2021 en utilisant un questionnaire en ligne developpe avec Google Forms et partage via les medias sociaux. Les professionnels de la sante n'ont pas ete inclus. Les facteurs associes a l'acceptabilite du vaccin ont ete effectues par une analyse logistique multinomiale. Resultats: Un total de 169 tunisiens a participe a l'etude. La majorite d'entre eux etaient des femmes (85,2 %) avec un age moyen de 48,3 +/- 11,8 ans. Parmi eux 11,8 % etaient infectes par le SARS-CoV-2. Seulement 33,1 % avaient l'intention d'accepter de se faire vacciner lorsque le vaccin COVID-19 serait disponible en Tunisie et 22,5 % etaient hesitants. Les raisons de l'hesitation etaient liees a la suspicion par rapport a sa securite (84 %), son efficacite (53 %), et son utilite (26,5 %). La regression logistique multinomiale a montre que les personnes ayant une perception personnelle elevee ou tres elevee du risque d'etre infectees par le SARS-CoV2 et celles se faisant vacciner contre la grippe saisonniere etaient moins susceptibles de refuser le vaccin que celles qui n'avaient pas encore pris de decision a ce sujet, avec des OR respectifs, 95 % [CI] : 0,420 [0,178-0,992] et 0,076 [0,015-0,382]. Discussion/Conclusion: Le taux d'acceptation de vaccination contre la COVID-19 dans notre population etudiee etait modere. Par consequent, une bonne communication et education sanitaire au niveau de la communaute sont necessaires pour augmenter la couverture vaccinale. Declaration de liens d'interets: Les auteurs declarent ne pas avoir de liens d'interets.Copyright © 2022
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Déclaration de liens d'intérêts: Les auteurs n'ont pas précisé leurs éventuels liens d'intérêts.
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Déclaration de liens d'intérêts: Les auteurs n'ont pas précisé leurs éventuels liens d'intérêts.
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Introduction: During COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination is a required strategy to overcome this disease especially for healthcare workers (HCWs) given their increased risk of exposure to COVID-19. However, vaccination hesitancy is one of the significant obstacles to make this strategy successful. Objectives: We aimed in this study to determine perception and attitude toward COVID-19 vaccine among HCWs in Tunisia, and factors associated with their acceptability of this vaccine. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among Tunisian HCWs from December 2021 to January 2021 using an online questionnaire submitted electronically using the most popular online groups of HCWs on Facebook. Data analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0. Results: A total of 257 HCWs participated in the study with median age of 40 [34;50] years. Among them, 21% were tested positive to SARS-CoV-2. Almost 44% of the respondents were caring for COVID-19 patients. Almost a third of the respondents (27.6%) had no intention to be vaccinated, and 21.8% were hesitant. COVID-19 vaccine avoidance or hesitancy was justified by the suspicion on safety (92.1%), on efficacy or quality (66.1%), and on utility (15.7%). Most of the HCWs who had no intention to accept COVID-19 vaccine, did not receive seasonal influenza vaccination (84.5%) compared to 59.2% of those accepting the vaccine and 73.2% of hesitant HCWs (p = 0.001). Most of the HCWs who had the intention to accept COVID-19 vaccine were female (80%) (p = 0.16) and had a high or very high perceived risk of being infected by the SARS-CoV-2 in 60% of cases. Most HCWs who had the intention to refuse COVID-19 vaccine did not have serious cases of COVID-19 among their patients (73.2%) (p = 0.89). Conclusion: Almost half of HCWs were either hesitant or not accepting COVID-19 vaccine in our study. This high percentage may be explained by the lack of communication and information about the vaccine and can represent an obstacle to the achievement of COVID-19.
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OBJECTIVE: To objectively assess the quality of "crisis communication" media, during the COVID-19 pandemic, in the three Greater Maghreb countries (Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco). METHODS: A compliance audit for press releases and epidemiological bulletins was analyzed against a quality benchmark, which had been specifically designed by the authors. This framework, made up of five dimensions and 50 items, graded (0/1), was applied by two researchers in preventive medicine. Multiplying the scores by a coefficient of two resulted in a partial score of 20 points for each dimension and a total score of 100 points for the checklist taken as a whole. The quality of the communication media was considered to be good when exceeding the thresholds of 15/20 for the different dimensions and 75/100 for the entire grid. RESULTS: A total of 141 information media were included in this audit (Tunisia: 60; Algeria: 60; Morocco: 21). The overall median quality score for these media was only 56/100 (IIQ: [46-58]), without major variability between countries. The most appreciated dimension was "maintaining the confidence of the population", with an overall median score of 14/20 (12/20 for epidemiological bulletins and 16/20 for press releases). The most poorly rated dimension was "strengthening community participation", with a median score of only 4/20 (6/20 for epidemiological bulletins and 4/20 for press releases). CONCLUSION: The quality of the Maghreb crisis communication media during COVID-19 was insufficient in most of its dimensions and items, particularly from a psychosocial standpoint. Reinforcement of the capacities of communication officers to develop information material and supports during health crises is indispensable and should be considered as an urgent matter.
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COVID-19/epidemiology , Communications Media/standards , Algeria/epidemiology , Humans , Morocco/epidemiology , Tunisia/epidemiologyABSTRACT
Objective: To assess the effectiveness of Hand Hygiene (HH) in preventing infections and the transmission of pathogens, in an epidemic context, in community and hospital settings. Method: It is a systematic review of the literature based on a document request, conducted on PubMed, using the following search equation: «(« Hand Hygiene «[All Fields] OR» Hand Disinfection «[All Fields]) AND («Epidemics» [All Fields] OR «Pandemics» [All Fields]) «. All publications related to the effectiveness of the preventive intervention for HH in an epidemic setting were Included. Results: A total of 16 publications were included, of which the majority proved the effectiveness of HH and its promotion in reducing infections during an epidemic. In a clinical trial, promoting HH in an intervention group significantly reduced the prevalence of infections (24.4% vs. 11.1%). Two systematic reviews have shown the effectiveness of HH in preventing the transmission of germs with ORs between 0.52 and 0.62. Four case-control studies and three cross-sectional studies concluded with the protective effect of HH with ORs varying between 0.06 and 0.71. A cohort study showed that low adherence to HH recommendations was associated with a higher infection rate (77.5% vs 95%;p = 0.02). A single systematic review did not conclude that HH was effective in the epidemic setting. Conclusion: The effectiveness of HH in the fight against epidemics has been demonstrated. It is dependent on the engagement and the active participation of the different intervenient. Hence the need to increase accessibility to different methods of HH and to promote the importance of this prevention strategy could be assured through education and awareness.