Vaccine hesitancy in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries

Background: Vaccination has a tremendous impact on health at the regional and global levels, however, the tendency for people to hesitate on vaccination has been increasing in the past few decades. Aims: We assessed vaccine hesitancy and its determinants in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Methods: We conducted a literature review to assess peer-reviewed articles published up to March 2021 on vaccine hesitancy in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses approach. A search was conducted via PubMed and 29 articles were identified. After the removal of duplicates and irrelevant articles, 14 studies remained relevant and were used for the review. Results: Vaccine hesitancy in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries ranged from 11% to 71%. Differences in rates were noted for vaccine type, with COVID-19 vaccine having the highest reported hesitancy (70.6%). The likelihood of accepting vaccination was associated with previous individual acceptance of vaccine, specifically the seasonal influenza vaccine. The most common determinants of vaccine hesitancy were distrust in vaccine safety and concerns about side-effects. Healthcare workers were among the main sources of information and recommendations about vaccination, but 17–68% of them were vaccine-hesitant. The majority of the healthcare workers had never received any training on addressing vaccine hesitancy among patients. Conclusions: Vaccine hesitancy is prevalent among the publics and healthcare workers in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. There is a need to continually monitor perceptions and knowledge about vaccines and vaccination in these countries to better inform interventions to improve vaccine uptake in the sub-region.

IoT-Based Remote Health Monitoring System Employing Smart Sensors for Asthma Patients during COVID-19 Pandemic (preprint)

COVID19 and asthma are respiratory diseases that can be life threatening in uncontrolled circumstances and require continuous monitoring. A poverty stricken South Asian country like Bangladesh has been bearing the brunt of the COVID19 pandemic since its beginning. The majority of the country's population resides in rural areas, where proper healthcare is difficult to access. This emphasizes the necessity of telemedicine, implementing the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT), which is still under development in Bangladesh. This paper demonstrates how the current challenges in the healthcare system are resolvable through the design of a remote health and environment monitoring system, specifically for asthma patients who are at an increased risk of COVID19. Since on-time treatment is essential, this system will allow doctors and medical staff to receive patient information in real time and deliver their services immediately to the patient regardless of their location. The proposed system consists of various sensors collecting heart rate, body temperature, ambient temperature, humidity, and air quality data and processing them through the Arduino Microcontroller. It is integrated with a mobile application. All this data is sent to the mobile application via a Bluetooth module and updated every few seconds so that the medical staff can instantly track patients' conditions and emergencies. The developed prototype is portable and easily usable by anyone. The system has been applied to five people of different ages and medical histories over a particular period. Upon analyzing all their data, it became clear which participants were particularly vulnerable to health deterioration and needed constant observation. Through this research, awareness about asthmatic symptoms will improve and help prevent their severity through effective treatment anytime, anywhere.

IoT-Based Remote Health Monitoring System Employing Smart Sensors for Asthma Patients during COVID-19 Pandemic

COVID-19 and asthma are respiratory diseases that can be life-threatening in uncontrolled circumstances and require continuous monitoring. A poverty-stricken South Asian country like Bangladesh has been bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic since its beginning. The majority of the country’s population resides in rural areas, where proper healthcare is difficult to access. This emphasizes the necessity of telemedicine, implementing the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT), which is still under development in Bangladesh. This paper demonstrates how the current challenges in the healthcare system are resolvable through the design of a remote health and environment monitoring system, specifically for asthma patients who are at an increased risk of COVID-19. Since on-time treatment is essential, this system will allow doctors and medical staff to receive patient information in real time and deliver their services immediately to the patient regardless of their location. The proposed system consists of various sensors collecting heart rate, body temperature, ambient temperature, humidity, and air quality data and processing them through the Arduino Microcontroller. It is integrated with a mobile application. All this data is sent to the mobile application via a Bluetooth module and updated every few seconds so that the medical staff can instantly track patients’ conditions and emergencies. The developed prototype is portable and easily usable by anyone. The system has been applied to five people of different ages and medical histories over a particular period. Upon analyzing all their data, it became clear which participants were particularly vulnerable to health deterioration and needed constant observation. Through this research, awareness about asthmatic symptoms will improve and help prevent their severity through effective treatment anytime, anywhere.