Knowledge and Use of Electronic Cigarettes in Young Adults in the United Arab Emirates, Particularly during the COVID-19 Pandemic.

(1) Background: The popularity of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) has recently increased. Although they are less harmful than regular cigarettes, they still cause health consequences and their use for smoking cessation is inconclusive. The objective of this study was to evaluate patterns of use, knowledge about, and attitude towards e-cigarettes among youth in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) while also researching the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on smoking behavior. (2) Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was distributed across three major universities in the UAE (n = 240) between March and November 2021. Descriptive analysis, comparison across gender and nationality groups, and correlates between 30-day e-cigarette use and self-reported increases in nicotine consumption during the pandemic were studied. (3) Results: About 37% of students had used an e-cigarette in their lifetime, and 23% had smoked e-cigarettes in the past month. During the pandemic, 52% of university students self-reported no change in nicotine consumption, while only 17.5% had reported an increase. The current smoking of regular cigarettes, waterpipe, and medwakh increased the odds of having an increase in smoking during the pandemic by 5.3 times. (4) Conclusions: The findings inform about youth behavior and knowledge about vaping in the UAE and could also support the development of awareness interventions.

Integrating Care for Diabetes and Hypertension with HIV Care in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Scoping Review.

INTRODUCTION: Although HIV continues to have a high prevalence among adults in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the burden of noncommunicable diseases (NCD) such as diabetes and hypertension is increasing rapidly. There is an urgent need to expand the capacity of healthcare systems in SSA to provide NCD services and scale up existing chronic care management pathways. A scoping review mapped extant policy and evidence based literature on the feasibility of integrating NCD care with HIV in the region. METHODS: A scoping review methodology was utilised to conduct a systematic search of peer-reviewed and grey literature published in English language and with no date limitation. A systematic search was conducted on PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and the Cochrane library. The initial search identified 231 records considered for inclusion in this review. Twelve duplicate records were removed. The remaining 219 records were screened by title and abstract of which 165 records were excluded and 54 records were selected for full-text review. A further 16 records were excluded due to a lack of relevance or the unavailability of the full text article. Finally, 38 were charted and analysed thematically. RESULTS: Thirty-eight studies were included. These comprised a range of different models to integrate NCD and HIV care in the region, reflecting differences in health system environments, and disease epidemiology. The studies provide a variety of evidence that integration of HIV and NCD care can be feasible and can improve clinical effectiveness and identify barriers and facilitators to integration and task shifting. The review confirms that integrated HIV and NCD care services is by-and-large feasible, being both clinically effective and cost-effective. CONCLUSION: The review may inform the understanding of how best to develop an integrated model of care service by reducing barriers to uptake, linkage and retention in HIV, diabetes and hypertension treatment in SSA countries.

Erratum to "Scoping the impact of COVID-19 on the nexus of statelessness and health in Council of Europe member states" [Journal of Migration and Health (2021) 100053].

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.jmh.2021.100053.].