METHODOLOGY: A rapid evidence review was conducted to identify how community engagement is used for infectious disease prevention and control during epidemics. Three databases were searched in addition to extensive snowballing for grey literature. Previous epidemics were limited to Ebola, Zika, SARS, Middle East respiratory syndromeand H1N1 since 2000. No restrictions were applied to study design or language.
RESULTS: From 1112 references identified, 32 articles met our inclusion criteria, which detail 37 initiatives. Six main community engagement actors were identified: local leaders, community and faith-based organisations, community groups, health facility committees, individuals and key stakeholders. These worked on different functions: designing and planning, community entry and trust building, social and behaviour change communication, risk communication, surveillance and tracing, and logistics and administration.
CONCLUSION: COVID-19's global presence and social transmission pathways require social and community responses. This may be particularly important to reach marginalised populations and to support equity-informed responses. Aligning previous community engagement experience with current COVID-19 community-based strategy recommendations highlights how communities can play important and active roles in prevention and control. Countries worldwide are encouraged to assess existing community engagement structures and use community engagement approaches to support contextually specific, acceptable and appropriate COVID-19 prevention and control measures.
METHODS: A global survey using a standardized questionnaire with research groups from 36 countries was designed. The questionnaire was developed and pretested during April 2020 and contained three domains: 1) Personal data; 2) COVID-19 positive rate and symptoms/signs presumably related to the coronavirus; 3) Working conditions and PPE adopted after the outbreak. Countries' data were grouped by the Country Positive Rate (CPR) during the survey period and by Gross-National-Income per capita. An ordinal multinomial logistic regression model was carried out with COVID-19 self-reported rate referred by dental professionals as dependent variable to assess the association with questionnaire items.
RESULTS: A total of 52,491 questionnaires were returned with a male/female ratio of 0.63. Out of the total respondents, 7,859 dental professionals (15%) reported symptoms/signs compatible with COVID-19. More than half of the sample (n = 27,818; 53%) stated to use FFP2/N95 masks, while 21,558 (41.07%) used eye protection. In the bivariate analysis, CPR and N95/FFP2 were significantly associated (OR = 1.80 95%CI = 1.60/2.82 and OR = 5.20 95%CI = 1.44/18.80, respectively), while Gross-National-Income was not statistically associated with CPR (OR = 1.09 95%CI = 0.97/1.60). The same significant associations were observed in the multivariate analysis.
CONCLUSIONS: Oral health service provision has not been significantly affected by COVID-19, although access to routine dental care was reduced due to country-specific temporary lockdown periods. While the dental profession has been identified at high-risk, the reported rates of COVID-19 for dental professionals were not significantly different to those reported for the general population in each country. These findings may help to better plan oral health care for future pandemic events.
METHODS: Based on data from a published systematic review on chronic HBV, we applied a linear model on the logit scale to assess time trends in country-specific prevalence. Estimated HBsAg prevalence in 2000 and relative changes in prevalence over time were evaluated by country and region.
RESULTS: Sufficient data were available for 50 countries, mostly showing reductions in prevalence over time. Various degrees of heterogeneity were observed within regions, with a relatively homogenous pattern in the Eastern Mediterranean region with strong decreases in HBsAg prevalence. Europe showed a mixed pattern: higher and stable chronic HBsAg prevalence in Eastern, and constantly low prevalence in Western Europe. In Africa, some countries demonstrated no change in prevalence; increases were seen in Uganda (odds ratio 1.05 per year; 95% confidence interval 1.04-1.06), Nigeria (1.02; 1.02-1.02), Senegal (1.01; 1.01-1.02), and South Africa (1.02; 1.01-1.02). With some exceptions, country-patterns overlapped among countries of South East Asian and Western Pacific regions, characterized by low-medium HBsAg decreases, most prominent in China and Malaysia.
CONCLUSIONS: Most countries experienced decreases in HBsAg prevalence. Dynamics varied, even within regions; decreases occurred mostly before the direct effects of childhood vaccination may have manifested. These findings together with stable and increasing HBsAg prevalence in some countries of Africa and Eastern Europe indicate the need for further tailored country-specific prevention.
LAY SUMMARY: This study investigated time trends in prevalence of chronic HBV infection in 50 countries worldwide over the last decade, by estimating relative changes in prevalence. Results show decreases in chronic HBV infection in most countries; no changes or increases in prevalence are noted in some African countries. Reasons for time changes need to be investigated further; based on the results, various prevention measures have contributed to reductions, and further tailored HBV prevention is required to combat the disease on a global level.
METHODOLOGY: A mutlinational study was conducted from April-June 2020 involving researchers from 12 countries (Japan, Austria, U.S., Taiwan, India, Sudan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand). Steps in this research consisted of carrying out open-ended questionnaires, qualitative analyses in NVivo, and a multinational meeting to reflect, exchange, and validate results. Lastly, a commuinty response model was synthesized from multinational experiences.
RESULTS: Effective communication is key in promoting collective action for preventing virus transmission. Health literacy, habits and social norms in different populations are core components of public health interventions. To enable people to stay home while sustaining livelihoods, economic and social support are essential. Countries could benefit from previous pandemic experience in their community response. Whilst contact tracing and isolation are crucial intervention components, issues of privacy and human rights need to be considered.
CONCLUSIONS: Understanding community responses to containment policies will help in ending current and future pandemics in the world.
METHODS: This narrative systematic review addressed MSAs targeted to MMPs in Myanmar for malaria prevention. We searched relevant studies in electronic databases and present the narrative findings in 4 domains: stakeholder groups, net coverage and utilization, social determinates, and facilitators/barriers.
RESULTS: Nine studies were included. The review identified stakeholders involved in intersectoral collaboration. Net ownership was higher than utilization rates in the MARC zones and rates remained below the WHO recommended target of 100%. There was inadequate description of roles and responsibilities for implementation and on channels of communication within the partnerships and with the Government.
CONCLUSIONS: Findings show that interventions to distribute treated bed nets were supported by the multiple stakeholders. Due to the design of the primary studies, analysis of the added value of intersectoral collaboration was limited. More attention must be paid to designing studies to document and evaluate the contributions and outcomes of intersectoral collaboration.
METHODS: A multi-centric cross-sectional web-based study was conducted from 29th May to 27th July 2020 among HCWs in Perlis, Malaysia using a 19-item validated questionnaire [Cronbach's alpha: 0.61 (knowledge domain), 0.74 (attitude domain), and 0.72 (practice domain)]. Challenges when working during MCO were identified from a self-rated five-point Likert scale of 14-item.
RESULTS: There were a total of 373 respondents (response rate more than 40%); 48.0% were nurses, 14.7% were medical doctors, and 12.9% were administrative and technical support staffs. Majority of HCWs (90.1%, n = 336) had good knowledge, optimistic attitude (54.7%, n = 204) and good COVID-19 preventive measure practices (90.9%, n = 339). Multiple logistic regression demonstrated that profession was the single significant factor for good COVID-19 KAP. Though having lesser odds of good knowledge (aOR 0.07, 95% CI:0.01-0.36, p = .009), nurses showed greater odds of good attitude (aOR 3.14, 95% CI: 1.71-5.76, p = .011) and practice (aOR 10.69, 95% CI:2.25-50.86, p = .022) as compared to doctors and dentists. Main challenges identified when working during MCO were increased workload (44.5%, n = 166), difficulty going out shopping (48.3%, n = 180), to exercise (40.2%, n = 150) and meet with family members (64.3%, n = 240).
CONCLUSION: Generally, HCWs in Perlis had good KAP with regards to COVID-19 infection and its preventive measures. Challenges underlined by HCWs while working during the MCO were increased workload, difficulty to shop for daily essentials, exercise and meet with family members. Should good COVID-19 KAP be sustained, they might contribute to success in combating this disease.
SUBJECTS AND METHODS: An online questionnaire in a Google form link was circulated among the target population via various online platforms. It consisted of 14 close-ended questions assessing these students' knowledge and source of COVID-19-related information. SPSS software version 21.0 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) was used to compute descriptive statistics, Chi-square test, independent t-test, and ANOVA tests for comparing various variables, and a p-value<0.05 was considered statistically significant.
RESULTS: The study yielded 809 responses from dental undergraduate students from India, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and Turkey. Dental students from Turkey reported a higher mean knowledge score of 7.91±1.34 and 7.88±0.58 for Malaysian dental students. In contrast, the lower scores were achieved by Saudi Arabia (7.36±1.22) and India (7.37±1.21) dental students, and the findings were statistically significant (p<0.05). The study population used various sources to attain information regarding COVID-19. Most respondents (63.1%) utilized information regarding COVID-19 from multiple sources rather than single sources (36.9%).
CONCLUSIONS: Reliable and validated information sources resulted in higher knowledge scores. Turkey and Malaysia dental students reported a higher mean knowledge score and the lowest for Saudi Arabia and India dental students. There is increased popularity of social media platforms as information sources.
METHODS: A self-administrated online Google form survey was carried out between February 2021 and April 2021. Five thousand eight hundred forty-five participants who regularly exercise and aged ≥18 years responded to the questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed through social media platforms and included five sections: demographic, training characters, knowledge, practice, and attitude.
RESULTS: The participants mean age was 27.4 ± 8.6 years. Males represented 58.2 % of participants. 75.3% of the study participants had not used either hormones or supplements, and about 19% used supplements only. The mean percent score for knowledge, practice, and attitude were 39.3 ± 30.5, 1.1 ± 9.5, and 21.3 ± 23.8, respectively. Level of knowledge was higher among participants who worked in the medical field or as sports coaches. The practice was higher among male participants. The most commonly used anabolic hormones and nutritional supplements were steroids and proteins with bodybuilding being the most common purpose. Internet was the main source of information and pharmacy was the main source for procuring these substances. There was a significant decrease in proteins, carbohydrates, and sports drinks used during the COVID-19 lockdown compared to before the COVID-19 lockdown, while a statistically significant increase in vitamins used during the COVID-19 lockdown compared to before COVID-19 lockdown.
DISCUSSION: In the MENA region, there has been an increase in the use of anabolic hormones and nutritional supplements. Most of the population has low knowledge of the harmful effect of uncontrolled, uninformed and unmonitored use of these substances Therefore, increasing the awareness level of participants and sports coaches should be a priority to limit the unsupervised use of hormones and supplements.