The Slums in the Mirror of Health: A Systematic Review Analysis from Iran.

Background: One billion worldwide population is living in slum areas that mostly accompanied with high rates of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, unhealthy situation, and inappropriate health-care services. The prediction of enormous growth of slums by 2030 led to a raise to address the "plight of slums" in Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Methods: To address evidence-based health-related priorities, we conducted a systematic review to summarizing evidences on health situations of slums population in Iran. Six electronic databases were systematically searched for published studies without any restriction on age, sex, and language to assess health situations of slums in Iran reported by following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) protocol. All identified articles were screened, quality assessed, and data extracted by two authors independently. Results: The finding of this systematic review in addition to overall view categorized in five categories: health system, reproductive health, infectious diseases, noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors, social issues besides overall situation of Slums. Conclusions: Community-based participatory interventions with socioeconomic approach on modifiable risk factors; active response of health system; establishment new health care centers in slum areas; augmenting the quality of care; active case finding; and elevating health knowledge, attitude, and practice is crucial to achieve SDG's in Slum area.

Iran COVID-19 Epidemiology Committee: A Review of Missions, Structures, Achievements, and Challenges.

BACKGROUND: Since the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic in Iran, the control and management of the epidemic were headed by the National Headquarter for the Control of COVID-19 Epidemic through setting up different scientific committees, including the COVID-19 National Epidemiology Committee. The present study reviews the missions, structures, achievements, and challenges of the Epidemiology Committee. STUDY DESIGN: A rapid review . METHODS: All relevant reports, documents, guidelines, published literature, and surveillance data related to the establishment, visions, missions, roles, activities, and outputs of the COVID-19 Epidemiology Committee were critically reviewed in this study. RESULTS: The efforts of the committee's working groups may have impacted improvements in data registration/usage, provincial data quality at provincial levels, and perception of the epidemic situation in the provinces. The committees have also played role in informing the policies in different stages of the epidemic through routine or problem-based data/evidence analyses, epidemic investigations, and mathematical modeling. CONCLUSION: The structure and experience gained by the committee can be used in similar situations within and outside the country. To further improve the impacts of our activities, it is essential to have effective interaction, collaboration, and data flow between the committee and a broad range of organizations within and outside the Ministry of Health and Medical Education.

Comparison of Behavioral Concerns Priorities among Iranian Adolescent Boys, Parents and Teachers: Reporting the Results of a Modified Delphi.

BACKGROUND: Adolescence is a time of risks and opportunities. This study aimed to investigate and prioritize the behavioral concerns of male adolescents. METHODS: A modified Delphi study (2018-2019) was conducted in two stages. In the first stage, adolescents' behavioral concerns were extracted based on seven qualitative interviews and a focus group. Then, a questionnaire was designed using the obtained data; also, two-round consensus-building approach (rating and ranking) through surveys were conducted among 90students, teachers and parents covered by the Health Departments of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, who had been selected using a stratified cluster random sampling method. Qualitative content analysis was used in the first stage and descriptive statistics in the second stage to analyze the data. RESULTS: In the first stage, eight categories emerged, including relational challenges with parents and other adults; poor interaction with peers; lack of adaptation to conditions; emotional dysregulation; self-esteem and sense of purposefulness issues; materialistic tendencies; cyberspace issues; and non-adherence to religious beliefs. Then 63 behavioral concerns were identified. In each round (rating/ranking), 29/27, 28/29, and 30/30, responses were received for students, parents and teachers, respectively. According to the specified scores given to different issues, ten top problems according to the viewpoint of different groups were extracted. CONCLUSION: "lack of planning and prioritization skill", "insufficient skill for controlling crisis", and "lack of resilience" are the most important priority for male adolescents, teachers and parents, respectively. These findings can be used for planning programs based on the adolescents' behavioral concerns.

"Playing with Little Behaviors"; Physical Activity Promotion by Gamified Education in Young Boys.

BACKGROUND: Physical activity is affecting every aspect of our life. A sedentary lifestyle can be the risk factor for noncommunicable diseases (NCD) or premature death all over the world. Several studies demonstrate that school-based physical activity promotion is an important solution to make healthy behaviors, especially in children and adolescents. In this vein, the current research evaluates a model for physical activity, which is promoted through a game among high school students. METHODS: In this study, 47 high school's 10th-grade boys from Tehran were requited. The game scenario included the suggestion of some behaviors which can increase daily physical activity by each student, like or dislike each behavior by other students, counting likes, selecting the most-liked behaviors, and rewarding their proposers. After a week, the behavioral recall was assessed and compared with a control group who had been heard these behaviors in the class without gamification. RESULTS: The participants in the game could recall physical activity behaviors significantly more than peers in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: The findings show gamification could significantly improve the effectiveness of education for normal behaviors in physical activity.