(1) Background: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) began spreading across the globe in December and, as of 9 July 2020, had inflicted more than 550,000 deaths. Public health measures implemented to control the outbreak caused socio-economic havoc in many countries. The pandemic highlighted the quality of health care systems, responses of policymakers in harmony with the population, and socio-economic resilience factors. We suggest that different national strategies had an impact on mortality and case count. (2) Methods: We collected fatality data for 17 countries until 2 June 2020 from public data and associated these with implemented containment measures. (3) Results: The outcomes present the effectiveness of control mechanisms in mitigating the virus for selected countries and the UAE as a special case. Pre-existing conditions defined the needed public health strategies and fatality numbers. Other pre-existing conditions, such as temperature, humidity, median age, and low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations played minor roles and may have had no direct impact on fatality rates. (4) Conclusions: Prevention, fast containment, adequate public health strategies, and importance of indoor environments were determining factors in mitigating the pandemic. Development of public health strategies adapted to pre-existing conditions for each country and community compliance with implemented policies ensure the successful control of pandemics.

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/15/5616/pdf

A Look Behind the Scenes at COVID-19: National Strategies of Infection Control and Their Impact on Mortality.

Background: Social media can effectively mediate digital health interventions and thus, overcome barriers associated with face-to-face interaction.
Objective: To assess the impact of patient-centered diabetes education program administered through WhatsApp on glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) values, assess the correlation, if any, between health literacy and numeracy on intervention outcomes
Methods: During an ‘intervention phase’ spread over six months, target diabetic patients (N=109) received structured education through WhatsApp as per the American Association of Diabetes Educators Self-Care Behaviors recommendations. The control group with an equal number of participants received ‘usual care’ provided by health professionals void of the social media intervention. Changes in HbA1c levels were recorded thrice (at baseline, 3 and 6 months) for the test group and twice (baseline and 6 months) for the control group. Change in HbA1c values were compared and statistical significance was defined at p<0.05. Baseline health literacy and diabetes numeracy were assessed for both groups (N=218) using the Literacy Assessment for Diabetes (LAD), and the Diabetes Numeracy Test (DNT), respectively, and values were correlated with HbA1c change p<0.05. Participants’ satisfaction with the intervention was also assessed.
Results: The average age of respondents was 41.98 (SD 15.05) years, with a diabetes history of 10.2 (SD 8.5) years. At baseline, the average HbA1c in the control and test groups were 8.4 (SD 1.06) and 8.5 (SD 1.29), respectively. After six months, a significant drop in HbA1c value was noticed in intervention group (7.7; SD 1.35; p= 0.001); with no significance in the control group (8.4; SD 1.32; p=0.032, paired t-test). Moreover, the reduction in HbA1c was more in the test group (0.7%) than the control group (0.1%) with a difference of 0.6% which is considered clinically significant. There was no significant correlation between LAD score and HbA1c at baseline (r=-0.203, p=0.064), 3 months (r=-0.123, p=0.266) and 6 months (r=-0.106, p= 0.337) Pearson correlation. A similar result was observed with DNT, where DNT score and HbA1c at baseline, 3 months and 6 months showed no correlation (r=0.112, 0.959 and 0.886; respectively) with HbA1c levels. Eighty percent of the respondents found the social media intervention ‘beneficial’ and suggested it be used long term.
Conclusions: Diabetes education via WhatsApp showed promising outcomes regardless of the level of patients’ health literacy or numeracy.

/pdf/the-impact-of-a-self-management-educational-program-3ybuqj27rl.pdf

The impact of a self-management educational program coordinated through WhatsApp on diabetes control.

Mankind faces a coronavirus pandemic originating from a seafood market in Wuhan, China since December 2019. The pathogen was named novel coronavirus (n-CoV) and bats are the identified key reservoir. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) quickly spread over China across the globe, turned into a pandemic with exponentially increasing numbers of cases and significant mortality rate. China reacted with lockdowns and strict control measurements to prevent spreading the virus. The treatment of severe cases was hampered by lack of specific vaccines. Vaccine-development and production is a painstaking process and can only be enforced by international cooperation. Different supportive treatment options surfaced due to combinations of antiviral agents with antibiotic drugs. Elderly, male, immune-suppressed patients with co-morbidities showed a high mortality rate. Health literacy, strong immune system, adequate serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations and healthy life style choices can support fast recovery. Antibiotic resistance needs to be addressed by development of new generation antimicrobials against nosocomial infections in preparation for future outbreaks. Plant-biosynthesis of nanomaterials and antiseptics may help in prevention and recovery rate. Prevalence of COVID-19 maybe inversely related to BCG vaccination, endemicity of malaria, humidy and temperature but directly with latitude. Recommendations to prevent the spread of COVID-19 should be followed strictly.

/pdf/prevalence-of-covid-19-a-look-behind-the-scenes-2uvk2dtnsi.pdf

Prevalence of COVID-19: A Look behind the Scenes

Cross-cultural comparison of mental illness stigma and help-seeking attitudes: a multinational population-based study from 16 Arab countries and 10,036 individuals

Introduction the simplified diabetes knowledge scale is used to obtain a general assessment of diabetic´s knowledge about diabetes and its care. For clinical and methodological purposes, it was relevant and necessary to develop an Arabic version of this instrument. Thus, the aim of this study was to translate and validate the simplified diabetes knowledge scale (SDKS) into Arabic to measure the knowledge of Arabic-speaking diabetics. Methods a methodological validation study of the simplified diabetes knowledge scale, following the guidelines of Vallerand was carried out. A convenience sample of diabetics followed in eight basic health centers in Sousse region and in Farhat Hached and Sahloul University Hospitals was recruited. An Arabic questionnaire including the demographic and clinical data of the diabetic and the final experimental version of the simplified diabetes knowledge scale was used. Results a sample of 333 diabetics was recruited. Content validity of the final experimental version was 0.94. Reliability assessed by Cronbach´s alpha coefficient (0.812), by test-retest correlation coefficient (> 0.60) and by internal consistency after deletion of each item (from 0.788 to 0.816) were acceptable except items 19 and 20 which had to be reformulated. Construct validity analysis identified that three items among the 20 ones (12, 17 and 20) required reformulation. Inter-item correlation matrix showed that the majority of items were not correlated with each other. Validation process was ended by establishing standards table. Conclusion this study showed the Arabic version of the simplified diabetes knowledge scale had good validity and reliability.

https://doi.org/10.11604/pamj.2022.41.346.33522

Arabic version of the simplified diabetes knowledge scale: psychometric and linguistic validation

Objective: The purpose of the current study to assess current attitude and knowledge of UAE population toward mental disorders, and to determine the stigma status of people with schizophrenia and depression. Methods: A represented sample of 430 participants was enrolled in the study. A descriptive qualitative survey was the study tool. The developed questionnaire was designed to be interview-administrated SPSS 24 used in data analysis. A correlation analysis was performed to test association. One-way ANOVA and independent t-test were applied to determine which factors might affect the knowledge and attitude score. p<0.05 was considered significant. Results: The study findings revealed a high level of stigma among UAE population toward people with schizophrenia and depression. 62% (266) had negative attitude score while 38.1% (164) had positive attitude score. 67% of the participants believe that people with schizophrenia and depression are dangerous. 80% (343) had a good knowledge score while 20.2% (87) had poor knowledge score. Conclusion: The negative attitude confirms the importance of increasing mental health literacy. These findings highlight the need to implement national mental health policy to educate the public and reduce the stigma of mental disorders.

/pdf/public-knowledge-and-attitude-toward-depression-and-5edb7cdt4z.pdf

Public knowledge and attitude toward depression and schizophrenia: findings from quantitative study in uae

Background The ability to understand instructions on drug bottles, appointment slips and medical education brochures could be affected by patients' health literacy. Healthcare providers need to be aware of, hence, assess patients’ literacy before they develop effective educational strategies for these patients. Many validated instruments have been used to evaluate literacy of diabetic patients in the English language, only a limited number is available in Arabic. Objective To translate and culturally-adapt the Simplified Diabetes Knowledge Test (DKT), the Literacy Assessment for Diabetes (LAD), and the Diabetes Numeracy Test (DNT) for potential use in Arabic-speaking countries. Methods A formal process based on the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) guidelines was adopted in translating and culturally adapting the three tools. An expert panel reviewed forward and backward translations of the tools. Ten diabetic patients participated in the cognitive debriefing process to evaluate the tools for clarity, simplicity, and comprehensiveness, and to assess their cultural equivalence. Results Only minor changes were introduced in tools’ design, appearance, and instructions. However, issues identified during the expert panel review and cognitive debriefing led to modifying the tools resulting in item re-wording, addition, deletion or re-arrangement. Terms such as glycosylated hemoglobin, carbohydrates, and infection were adapted to cumulative sugar, starch and microbial inflammation respectively. Issues related to cultural and conceptual equivalence were resolved by replacing words such as kilo instead of pound, and supper instead of dinner, or adding diacritics to the Arabic word for “kidney”. The original 43 items of the DNT were reduced to 26, eliminating questions with the same mathematical calculations within each tool domain. Conclusions A Culturally equivalent version of the Simplified DKT, LAD and DNT have been developed in the Arabic language available to be used in research and clinical practice in the Arabic speaking countries.

Yassin AlHariri

Papers

Public knowledge and attitude toward depression and schizophrenia: findings from quantitative study in uae

Translation and culture adaptation of the Simplified Diabetes Knowledge Test, the Literacy Assessment for Diabetes and the Diabetes Numeracy Test.

Vitamin d deficiency practice among female medical students in ajman, uae