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Objectives: To provide an update overview on the current status of healthcare systems in the Maghreb region (Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia) and to emphasize the progress made in the midst of the challenges facing these countries. Method(s): A descriptive comparative approach of healthcare systems in the three countries, based on data from sources with an established methodology, including descriptive healthcare data from the WHO database. Result(s): The population of the Maghreb will increase from 102 million to 132 million by 2050. The current population is mostly centered in Algeria and Morocco, accounting for 77%. Annual healthcare expenditure per capita is 447.9$, 776.8$ and 854.6$ in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, respectively. The average infant mortality rate per 1000 live improved to 10.9 in Tunisia, 16.8 in Morocco and 18.9 in Algeria. Maternal mortality rates have dropped to 43 and 48.5/100 000 births in Tunisia and Algeria, respectively while remaining relatively high in Morocco: 72.6. Number of hospital beds/1000 inhabitants is only 1.1 in Morocco, 1.9 and 2.9 in Algeria and Tunisia, respectively. The number of physicians/1000 people was 0.73 in Morocco, 1.3 in Tunisia and 1.72 in Algeria. This remains considerably low compared to the 3.9/1000 in Europe. The Maghreb countries are currently facing an exodus of physicians, mainly to France, which represents 7.1% and 10.7% of Tunisians and Moroccans, respectively, and more than 24% for Algerians. The Maghreb countries were very early mobilized (governments, ministries of health, civil society) to fight against COVID-19 and have successfully controlled the pandemic, according to pre-established control strategies and the strongly commitment of health professional. Conclusion(s): Despite the considerable progress made, the Maghreb countries still face major challenges. Physicians migration, rising cost of care and endemic infectious disease outbreaks constitute a huge hurdle on the already overburdened and resilient healthcare systems.Copyright © 2023
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The aim of this work is to study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic new cases on the Moroccan financial market using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach. The analysis focuses on the relationship between the natural logarithm of the Moroccan All Shares Index (MASI) price and the natural logarithm of new daily cases of COVID-19 in the short term as well as in the long term. A cointegration test is performed on the daily time series for the period from March 3, 2020 to February 11, 2022. A causality test of Toda-Yamamoto is also applied on the variables. The implementation of the forecast with the ARDL method improves the forecast accuracy by 8% to achieve 26.7%. The implementation of the forecast with the ARDL method shows that the addition of the lag of COVID19, the trend and the seasonality makes it possible to achieve a MAPE of 26.7% by improving it by 8% compared to the forecast with the lag of the price only. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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Students' opinions are among the critical indicators to evaluate the university teaching process. However, due to the absence of an official online system in most universities that provides a mechanism for obtaining students' opinions on several university announcements, most students use various social networks to express their feelings and provide their opinions toward these announcements. We present, through this paper, sentiment analysis of Facebook comments written in the Moroccan Arabic dialect. These comments reflect the opinions of students about university announcements during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially those related to teaching mode and ex-am planning. Then, the comments collected were cleaned, preprocessed, and manually classified into four categories, namely positive, neutral, negative, and bipolar. Further, data dimensionality reduction is applied using TF-IDF and Chi-square test. Finally, we evaluated the performance of three standard classifiers, i.e., Naïve Bayesian (NB), Support Vector Machines (SVM), and Random Forests (RF) using k-fold cross-validation. The results showed that the SVM-based classifier performs as well as the RF-based classifier regarding the classification's accuracy and F1-score, while the NB-based classifier lags behind them. © 2022 IEEE.
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The development of digital technology has transformed our lifestyle and habits in all areas especially since the Covid-19 pandemic. Higher education is a field where digital pedagogy has impacted the practices of teachers and students on mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.). Mobile learning has become one of the information and communication technologies in education (ICTE) used to search, communicate, study and disseminate information through several learning modalities. According to several studies, the latter is widely used among students. The aim of the present paper is to identify the use of mobile learning in the learning process of teacher training. More precisely, we question the contribution of smartphones in the learning process of students from the High School of Education and Training of Agadir. The data we have presented comes from a quantitative survey along with an interview-based research to analyze the effects of mobile technology. The research shows that students use their cell phones to search for educational resources, and also to interact with the instructors and exchange files with their peers, and they are highly motivated to have opted for this type of learning. Ideally, this article is intended to stimulate reflections on the subject of mobile learning and its integration in education in Morocco. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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Introduction: The widespread lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic was insured by Moroccan authorities in early 2020 to preserve the health of citizens. The lockdown and the pandemic imposed psychological effects on the population including anxiety. Celiac disease (CeD), a chronic disease among the most common inflammatory intestinal disorders, has been linked to adult emotional disturbances. Hence, CeD patients may suffer from anxiety or increase this condition due to the concomitant situation. The objective of this study was to assess COVID-19-related anxiety in a sample of adults with CeD in comparison with a matched healthy group. Method(s): CeD patients (103) and matched healthy group (101) were investigated using a web-based COVID-19 and related lockdown anxiety survey. Anxiety was assessed with the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI test: Y1 for state anxiety and Y2 for trait anxiety). Result(s): State anxiety was present among 65.3% of CeD and 41.6% of the comparison group, and the difference was statistically significant. CeD women suffered more from state anxiety than their compeers in the comparison group (t = 3.23;p = 0.002), and a significant correlation between good compliance to GFD and less state anxiety was found among CeD patients (r = 0.31;p = 0.002). 61.8% of CeD participants thought they were at higher risk of contamination by COVID-19, and they were mostly women (chi2 = 7.66, p < 0.006) and had significantly higher state anxiety mean scores than their compatriots who did not express these thoughts (t = 2.93;p = 0.004). Additionally, 41.5% of CeD participants had anxiety as a trait against 26.7% in the comparison group and the difference between the two groups was statistically significant. Conclusion(s): Results of this survey allow a better understanding of the health-related pandemic effects on Moroccan CeD patients. It demonstrates that COVID-19 and related lockdowns had a serious impact on the psychological balance of these patients by increasing their anxiety. The survey results underlined the need to improve the psychological care of CeD patients notably by considering remote medical visits during this ongoing pandemic to provide mental health support. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by S. Karger AG, Basel on behalf of NOVA National School of Public Health.
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In this research we present the main results of an investigation whose objective was to analyse five key questions as a clear reference point for the social and labour integration of Moroccan women in Andalusia: (i) why do Moroccan women emigrate?, (ii) do their families support their migration project?, (iii) how do Moroccan women arrive in Andalusia?, (iv) what do they do?, (v) what are the effects of covid on their labour integration?, (vi) what are the effects of covid on their labour market insertion? To do this, we have used qualitative methodology. Through the in-depth interview technique, we have given voice to the reflections and approaches of our key informants. The results show the need to implement strategies that favour their socio-occupational inclusion where situations of social vulnerability and labour exploitation are eradicated. At present, it is essential to be aware of this reality in order to make them visible and to advance in terms of rights in order to achieve their empowerment in Andalusia. © 2022,Migraciones.All Rights Reserved.
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Background: People with schizophrenia are more stigmatized than those with other mental illnesses. Stigmatization can be measured using the English version of Stigma Measurement Scale contained in the explanatory model interview catalogue (EMIC). Objectives: This study aimed to translate the English version of Stigma Measurement Scale into Berber language and validate the translated version. Methods: This study was conducted in public hospitals in southern Morocco, which are predominantly Berber-speaking. The psychometric properties of the stigma scale contained in the EMIC were validated on a sample including 128 individuals. Results: According to the Cronbach’s alpha (α = 0.826) and the internal convergence calculated by Pearson’s statistic, that the interitem correlation was significant. Also, the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was significant. The added item, concerning the COVID-19 situation has a similar psychometric value to the other items. Conclusions: According to our results, the Berber version of the Stigma Measurement Scale is culturally acceptable and can be used in Moroccan society.
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This paper describes the current situation of the use of E-learning in Moroccan higher education at the time of COVID-19. We present a comparative study of the most well‐known E-learning platforms widely used in universities and higher education for E-learning while focusing on analyzing the solutions adopted by Moroccan establishments during the current crisis. The objective is to highlight the limitations and describe the challenges facing the development of an appropriate E-learning system in Morocco. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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Background: Due to the Covid-19 pandemic Morocco had to introduce very drastic measures such as quarantine, social distancing or mas-sive restriction of public life in order to prevent the collapse of the health system due to the rapid spread of the disease. This descriptive and analytical study was conducted during strict quarantine among Moroccan adults aged 18 to 63 years (n=990)to examine the psychological impact of Covid-19 pandemic in Moroccan population. They responded to online survey including three items;socio-demographic status, health status and a modified version of Hospital Anxiety and Depression scale (HADs). Material/ Methods: We found a high prevalence of anxiety 40.5% and depression 28,9%. Young participants aged below 30 were more likely to have anxiety (59,1%) and depression symptoms (50%). Results: The prevalence of this symptoms was higher in women (66,8%) compared to men. Individuals with higher education degree tend to be more anxious (65,1%) and depressed (63,3%) compared by those with secondary (26,7% anxious, 28% depressed) and elementary education level (8,2% anx-ious, 8,7% depressed). Conclusions: Covid-19 pandemic caused a new economical, medical and social conditions, altered the quality of life of Moroccan population and caused a higher prevalence mental health like fear, anxiety and depression.
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This paper aims to assess how did Moroccan higher education students behave during the transition from face-to-face education to a complete remote education triggered by Covid-19 pandemic. Hence, we could accordingly deduce even a first conclusion if they are ready and accept education 4.0. For that purpose, a survey is carried out for 1030 students from different Moroccan universities. Results show that students are not satisfactory of remote learning mainly because of the lack of connection means and the interaction with teachers and classmates. However, students and teachers surveyed are convinced of the utility of digital educational tools and are ready to use them. Thus, we can conclude of their readiness for education 4.0 revolution that will accompany the Bachelor reform. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
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BackgroundThe implementation of coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown has affected the daily practices of subjects with chronic diseases such as diabetes and caused negative impact on their lifestyle and habits such as physical activity, dietary habits and accessibility to medications. Diabetic people are considered the most vulnerable groups to COVID-19, and the lockdown measure has disturbed the diabetes self-management. In our study, we aimed to assess, for the first time at the regional level (Souss Massa Region), the COVID-19 lockdown impact on HbA1c levels in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and type 2 diabetes (T2D). We carried out a cross-sectional quantitative analysis at the health center of the industrial district in Agadir City.ResultsWe found a significant improvement in post-lockdown mean ± SD HbA1c in 150 subjects suffering from T1D and T2D;p = 0.005). Our analysis revealed a significant association of HbA1c deviation with educational level and medical coverage (p = 0.01). No significant association was detected between HbA1c deviation and age, gender, weight, height, current BMI status, fasting blood sugar, family history, urban or rural areas, marital status, professional activity, socioeconomic income, type of diabetes, dietary, comorbidities, diabetic complications, housing, adherence to the dietary recommendations, physical activity, medical appointments, stopping medication, self-monitoring, fasting and anxiety about getting COVID-19.ConclusionsCOVID-19 lockdown had no deleterious effect on HbA1c levels in Moroccan patients with T1D and T2D.
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In Morocco, as for all countries worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a huge disruption in the daily life of modern society. The transportation services have been one of the most severely affected of the various urban systems, specifically the national roads and highways. In collaboration with the National Center for Road Studies and Research, this study deals with the challenges of maintenance and monitoring to ensure a good level of comfort on the one hand, and the variability of traffic levels and its impact on the variability of surface indicators and the proper functioning of a Moroccan National road number 6, linking the city of Meknes and Khemissat over a length of 50 km composed of a flexible pavement from 2018 to 2020, which represents the national road most solicited by traffic in Morocco in recent years. The road managers were hardly prepared for such an event, and were concerned to give priority to the safety of their employees and customers to avoid any service interruption. In this regard, the analysis of past deterioration and variation of structural and surface indicators becomes a necessity in these pandemic circumstances. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
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The impact of COVID-19 on socio-economic fronts, public health related aspects and human interactions is undeniable. Amidst the social distancing protocols and the stay-at-home regulations imposed in several countries, citizens took to social media to cope with the emotional turmoil of the pandemic and respond to government issued regulations. In order to uncover the collective emotional response of Moroccan citizens to this pandemic and its effects, we use topic modeling to identify the most dominant COVID-19 related topics of interest amongst Moroccan social media users and sentiment/emotion analysis to gain insights into their reactions to various impactful events. The collected data consists of COVID-19 related comments posted on Twitter, Facebook and Youtube and on the websites of two popular online news outlets in Morocco (Hespress and Hibapress) throughout the year 2020. The comments are expressed in Moroccan Dialect (MD) or Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). To perform topic modeling and sentiment classification, we built a first Universal Language Model for the Moroccan Dialect (MD-ULM) using available corpora, which we have fine-tuned using our COVID-19 dataset. We show that our method significantly outperforms classical machine learning classification methods in Topic Modeling, Emotion Recognition and Polar Sentiment Analysis. To provide real-time infoveillance of these sentiments, we developed an online platform to automate the execution of the different processes, and in particular regular data collection. This platform is meant to be a decision-making assistance tool for COVID-19 mitigation and management in Morocco.
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COVID-19 , Social Media , Attitude , Humans , Pandemics , SARS-CoV-2ABSTRACT
The outbreak of COVID-19 has redefined how we carry out our daily activities with emphasis on safety measures like social distancing, the use of face masks and proper hygiene. With nursing personnel at the forefront of combating the menace created by this pandemic, the use of ICT has remained a vital technology that must be embraced by all in order to carry out a safe nursing practice. Therefore, becoming ICT compliant is no more an option to stay relevant and alive during this COVID era. This data article presents the outcome of a survey carried out among Moroccan nursing students. This was done with a view to assess their readiness and willingness to accept and use ICT as well as social media for learning and discharging their duties during and after this COVID era. Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model was adopted to structure the questionnaire items used in this survey. This was then administered to Moroccan nursing students via online Google forms. Seven hundred and two (702) respondents completed the questionnaire. After data screening and cleaning, normality assessment of the data was carried out in terms of skewness and kurtosis. Afterwards, Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to establish the statistical significance of the data in terms of the reflective indicator loadings, internal consistency reliability and convergence. This dataset includes the questionnaire used (in English and French), the responses obtained in spreadsheet format, the charts generated from the responses received, the SPSS file and the statistical analysis file. This dataset will help policy makers understand how nursing students use ICT and social media platforms and how these could be adopted as a more secure means of learning and discharging their during the COVID-19 era and beyond.
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BACKGROUND: The epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), presents a significant and urgent threat to global health. This alarming viral infection, declared as pandemic by the WHO in February 2020, has resulted millions of infected patients and thousands of deaths around the world. In Morocco, despite the efforts made by the authorities, the SARS-CoV-2 continues to spread and constitutes a burden of morbidity and mortality. The objective of this study is to describe clinical characteristics of COVID-19 Moroccan patients and to establish the relationship between specific clinical symptoms, namely ageusia and/or anosmia, with these characteristics. METHODS: We performed a descriptive, non-interventional cross-sectional study analyzing data from 108 patients admitted to the VINCI clinic, Casablanca (Morocco). The database includes 39 parameters including epidemiological characteristics, anthropometric measurements and biological analyzes. RESULTS: The average of age of the patients was 43.80 ± 15.75 years with a sex ratio of 1:1. The mean body mass index of the patients was 25.54 ± 4.63 Kg/m2. The majority of patients had, at least, one comorbidity and among 75% symptomatic patients, about 50% had, at least, three symptoms namely, fever (40.7%), cough (39.8%), myalgia (28.7%), and anosmia and/or ageusia (20.4%). From biological analyzes, we noticed lymphopenia and an elevated protein C reactive and lactate dehydrogenases levels in 24.1, 36.1, and 35.2% of patients, respectively. A disturbance in liver function markers was observed in 15.7% of cases. For the other hemostasis parameters, high levels of prothrombin and platelets were reported in 14.6 and 14.8% of patients, respectively. Comparisons related to the presence of anosmia and/or ageusia did not show any difference for demographic and anthropometric characteristics, while a possibility of a significant difference was revealed for certain biological parameters, particularly the levels of lymphocytes, D-dimer and troponin. CONCLUSION: This study provides significant findings that will be used not only to supplement previous studies carried out in Morocco in order to resume the epidemiological situation in comparison with other countries, but also to improve the quality of the diagnosis of COVID-19 patients by identifying all the symptoms of the disease and better understanding its clinical outcomes.