METHODOLOGY: A cross-sectional study was conducted among ten pharmacy colleges in Yemen, offering undergraduate pharmacy programs. A stratified sample of 518 students from the included universities were surveyed using a well-structured, validated and self-administered questionnaire. Chi-square, Mann-Whitney U, and Kruskal-Wallis tests were conducted at an alpha level of 0.05.
RESULTS: Four hundred and seventy-five (475) participants were included (92.9% response rate). More than 17% (n=84) of participants were involved in Pharm.D program, and nearly 29.9% (n=142) preferred pharmaceutical marketing as a career after graduation. About 65% of participants recognized the purpose of PC, and pharmacists' role within PC. However, only 43.8% (n=208) knew the difference between clinical pharmacy and PC. About 82% of respondents showed very good attitudes toward PC. Pharm.D students showed higher attitudes' total scores, median (IQR): 4.3 (4.1-4.4), 4.2 (4-4.2) and 4 (3.9-4.2) for Pharm.D, bachelor of pharmacy and bachelor of clinical pharmacy respectively, (p-value = 0.032). Moreover, students who currently employed in pharmacy-related job during their study were also associated with high attitudes scores compared to unemployed students, median (IQR): 4.2 (4-4.4) and 4(3.9-4.1) respectively (p-value = 0.023). "Lack of access to the patient medical record in the pharmacy" and "inadequate (hospital and community pharmacy) internship period" were the top reported barriers with 81.5% (n=387) agreement.
CONCLUSION: Although PC is in its infancy in Yemen, pharmacy students showed positive attitudes toward practicing PC. Educational institutions should exert efforts for curricular revision to improve understanding, and overcome the reported barriers in the future.
METHODS: Healthcare workers (HCWs) from major healthcare facilities participated in this cross-sectional study. A self-administered questionnaire comprising of five main domains (demographics, knowledge, self-preparedness, counselling practice, perceived barriers) was distributed among HCWs after obtaining informed consent. A convenient sampling technique was used. Descriptive and inferential analyses were applied using SPSS software.
RESULTS: A total of 1000 participants were initially targeted to participate in the study with 514 (51.4%) responding, of which 55.3% were female. Physicians and nurses constituted the largest proportion of participants, with 39.5% and 33.3%, respectively. The median scores for knowledge, self-preparedness, and counselling practice were 8 (out of 9), 9 (out of 15), and 25 (out of 30), respectively. The physician group showed a statistically significant association with better knowledge compared to the nurse group only, P<0.001. Males had higher preparedness scores than females, p<0.001. Also, the intensive care unit (ICU) and emergency departments presented a statistically significant difference by which the participants from these departments were more prepared compared to the others (e.g. outpatients, paediatrics and surgery) with P < 0.0001. The lack of awareness among the general population about COVID-19 preventive measures was perceived as the most common barrier for the adequate prevention and control of COVID-19 in Yemen (89.1%).
CONCLUSION: The major highlight of this study is that HCWs have, overall, good knowledge, suboptimal preparedness, and adequate counselling practices prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 in Yemen, despite the high number of perceived barriers. However, urgent action and interventions are needed to improve the preparedness of HCWs to manage COVID-19. The perceived barriers also need to be fully addressed by the local healthcare authorities and international organisations working in Yemen for adequate prevention and control measures to be in place in managing COVID-19.
METHODS: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted in four major cities in Yemen. The constructed questionnaire consisted of four main sections (sociodemographic data, misinformation, perceptions (perceived susceptibility, severity, and worry), and vaccination acceptance evaluation). Subject recruitment and data collection were conducted online utilizing social websites and using the snowball sampling technique. Descriptive and inferential analyses were performed using SPSS version 27.
RESULTS: The total number of respondents was 484. Over 60% of them were males and had a university education. More than half had less than 100$ monthly income and were khat chewers, while only 18% were smokers. Misinformation prevalence ranged from 8.9% to 38.9%, depending on the statement being asked. Men, university education, higher income, employment, and living in urban areas were associated with a lower misinformation level (p <0.05). Statistically significant association (p <0.05) between university education, living in urban areas, and being employed with perceived susceptibility were observed. The acceptance rate was 61.2% for free vaccines, but it decreased to 43% if they had to purchase it. Females, respondents with lower monthly income, and those who believed that pharmaceutical companies made the virus for financial gains were more likely to reject the vaccination (p <0.05).
CONCLUSION: The study revealed that the acceptance rate to take a vaccine was suboptimal and significantly affected by gender, misinformation, cost, and income. Furthermore, being female, non-university educated, low-income, and living in rural areas were associated with higher susceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19. These findings show a clear link between misinformation susceptibility and willingness to vaccinate. Focused awareness campaigns to decrease misinformation and emphasize the vaccination's safety and efficacy might be fundamental before initiating any mass vaccination in Yemen.