Aurelio Tobías, Massimo Stafoggia, Sophie Gumy, Mazen Malkawi, Heba Safi
{"title":"Using time series studies to unravel the short-term health effects of particulate matter air pollution in Eastern Mediterranean Region.","authors":"Aurelio Tobías, Massimo Stafoggia, Sophie Gumy, Mazen Malkawi, Heba Safi","doi":"10.26719/2025.31.3.160","DOIUrl":"10.26719/2025.31.3.160","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":93985,"journal":{"name":"Eastern Mediterranean health journal = La revue de sante de la Mediterranee orientale = al-Majallah al-sihhiyah li-sharq al-mutawassit","volume":"31 3","pages":"160-162"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144048177","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"An initiative to leverage health diplomacy and leadership to urgently address threats to healthcare in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.","authors":"Hanan Balkhy","doi":"10.26719/2025.31.3.157","DOIUrl":"10.26719/2025.31.3.157","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":93985,"journal":{"name":"Eastern Mediterranean health journal = La revue de sante de la Mediterranee orientale = al-Majallah al-sihhiyah li-sharq al-mutawassit","volume":"31 3","pages":"157-159"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144061015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Response to a 2022 EMHJ paper on palliative care models in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.","authors":"Noor Safar, Tala Al-Dabbous","doi":"10.26719/2025.31.3.200","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26719/2025.31.3.200","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":93985,"journal":{"name":"Eastern Mediterranean health journal = La revue de sante de la Mediterranee orientale = al-Majallah al-sihhiyah li-sharq al-mutawassit","volume":"31 3","pages":"200-201"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144056015","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Aeshah Alsagheir, Muna H Hassanein, Rawan A Alshahri
{"title":"A national intervention to reduce harm by combating overuse of medical services in Saudi Arabia.","authors":"Aeshah Alsagheir, Muna H Hassanein, Rawan A Alshahri","doi":"10.26719/2025.31.3.182","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26719/2025.31.3.182","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Choosing Wisely Saudi Arabia, a programme led by the Ministry of Health and Saudi Patient Safety Center, aims to reduce overuse of health care services, emphasizing patient safety, efficiency and patient-centred care.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>To highlight the achievements of Choosing Wisely Saudi Arabia and make recommendations for more effective implementation.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Saudi Arabia began implementing Choosing Wisely as a pilot project in one hospital in January 2019 and later scaled up to other hospitals. To oversee the programme, we established a multistakeholder governance structure at the national and regional levels, which included a steering committee, a programme management office with a programme lead, a scientific committee, and regional and hospital champions. The steering committee developed the implementation guidelines, the Saudi Patient Safety Center developed the educational materials for patients, and the medical societies proposed the recommendations. The regional and hospital champions implemented the programme in the regions and at hospitals, respectively. The Saudi Ministry of Health funded the programme.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>During the first 4 years of implementation, 16 of the 20 health regions in Saudi Arabia implemented at least one Choosing Wisely initiative, leading to a reduction in the overuse of targeted medications and pharmacological agents, as well as laboratory and radiological services.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Choosing Wisely has been very helpful in reducing overuse of low-value health care services in Saudi Arabia. To make the programme sustainable and more effective, there is a need to adopt a comprehensive approach to implementation and involve more stakeholders from within and outside the Ministry of Health.</p>","PeriodicalId":93985,"journal":{"name":"Eastern Mediterranean health journal = La revue de sante de la Mediterranee orientale = al-Majallah al-sihhiyah li-sharq al-mutawassit","volume":"31 3","pages":"182-190"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144045573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Raja Sajjad Asghar, Javeria Saleem, Usman Javaid, Muddassir Zahoor, Farooq Aziz
{"title":"Ten-year review of renal transplants in Punjab Province, Pakistan.","authors":"Raja Sajjad Asghar, Javeria Saleem, Usman Javaid, Muddassir Zahoor, Farooq Aziz","doi":"10.26719/2025.31.3.191","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26719/2025.31.3.191","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The Punjab Human Organ Transplantation Authority was established in 2012 as a provincial regulatory entity responsible for providing oversight for human organ transplants. However, little is known about the capacity of the province to deliver kidney transplant services.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>To review kidney transplant services in Punjab, Pakistan, from January 2014 to December 2023.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This retrospective, cross-sectional study analysed secondary data on kidney transplants from 41 hospitals in Punjab Province, Pakistan. It examined the availability and accessibility of transplant services, the distribution of centres, and number and types of transplants.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Only 8 of the 28 districts in the province had kidney transplant centres. Most (75%) of these centres were located in Lahore and Rawalpindi and belonged mostly to the private sector. The average number of transplant centres per million population varied widely, from 0.13 in Sahiwal to 1.13 in Lahore. The average coverage was 0.37 per million population. During the 10-year period, the centres performed 3627 kidney transplants, with an average of 362 transplants per year. Kidney transplant was not included in insurance coverage.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The variations in availability and use of kidney transplant services in Punjab Province may be due to the lack of essential infrastructure and equipment, lack of trained transplant health workforce and inadequate funding. There is a dire need to improve renal transplant facilities and services and encourage organ donation in the province, including in the public sector.</p>","PeriodicalId":93985,"journal":{"name":"Eastern Mediterranean health journal = La revue de sante de la Mediterranee orientale = al-Majallah al-sihhiyah li-sharq al-mutawassit","volume":"31 3","pages":"191-197"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144045578","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The role of advanced practice nursing in the integration of mental health into primary care.","authors":"Abbas Alameddine, Marianne Chamoun, Jamal Almasri","doi":"10.26719/2025.31.3.198","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26719/2025.31.3.198","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":93985,"journal":{"name":"Eastern Mediterranean health journal = La revue de sante de la Mediterranee orientale = al-Majallah al-sihhiyah li-sharq al-mutawassit","volume":"31 3","pages":"198-199"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144000776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Challenges and risk factors for infectious diseases in Gaza due to the current conflict.","authors":"Samia Boussaa, Zuhair Dardona, Mounia Amane","doi":"10.26719/2025.31.2.127","DOIUrl":"10.26719/2025.31.2.127","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The current conflict in Gaza has been particularly catastrophic, resulting in over 40 000 deaths, 90 000 injuries and extensive damage to infrastructure. Displaced residents now live in crowded shelters.</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>To highlight how the current conditions contribute to the spread of infectious diseases among the displaced.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This is a narrative review of the situation in Gaza during the October 2023 war. It was based on observations in the Gaza Strip and published reports.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Due to the war, Gaza is faced with contaminated water sources, damaged sewage systems, severe overcrowding, waste accumulation, high insect populations, damaged health facilities, and insufficient vaccination coverage. As a result, diseases such as scabies, chickenpox, hepatitis A, respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, and polio have emerged, with the first polio case reported in Deir al-Balah in an unvaccinated child.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>There is a need for coordinated local and international interventions to ensure the provision of potable water, resume immunization campaigns, provide food and other material aid, ensure proper waste management, increase awareness of disease risks, and strengthen health systems to support the control of diseases.</p>","PeriodicalId":93985,"journal":{"name":"Eastern Mediterranean health journal = La revue de sante de la Mediterranee orientale = al-Majallah al-sihhiyah li-sharq al-mutawassit","volume":"31 2","pages":"127-133"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143675135","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Diana Al-Roomi, Mohammed Srour, Fatima Al-Amouri, Manal Badrasawi
{"title":"Exploratory study of the impact of war on management of type 1 diabetes mellitus among children in Gaza.","authors":"Diana Al-Roomi, Mohammed Srour, Fatima Al-Amouri, Manal Badrasawi","doi":"10.26719/2025.31.2.109","DOIUrl":"10.26719/2025.31.2.109","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The war in Gaza has led to the destruction of health centres and medication shortages, impacting the most vulnerable groups, including children with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D).</p><p><strong>Aim: </strong>To determine how the conflict in Gaza has affected the care of children with T1D.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We collected data from 29 patients with T1D, aged ≤18 years, between June and July 2024 using an online questionnaire, and analysed the data using SPSS version 21. The data included their sociodemographic characteristics, medical history, diabetes-related data, the impact of war on T1D, and lifestyle changes.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Of the 29 patients, 86.2% of their parents reported a decline in their children's activity levels, 17.2% due to fear, and 58.6% reported that their child's average weight loss was 2.6±2.7 (range 0-10) kg. Most patients (79.3%) were unable to receive adequate diabetes care during the war. As a result, 10.3% were hospitalized due to a diabetic emergency. At the family level, 79.3% of the patients' families experienced food insecurity and 96.6% had limited food choices. And 41.4% said their foods may not have been compliant with a diabetes diet requirement.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Children with T1D in Gaza could not receive adequate diabetic care due to the war and experienced food insecurity with limited food choices, medication shortages and poor glycaemic controls. There is a critical need to prioritize chronic disease management in conflict-affected areas and among populations with restricted access to healthcare, to prevent the consequent detrimental health effects.</p>","PeriodicalId":93985,"journal":{"name":"Eastern Mediterranean health journal = La revue de sante de la Mediterranee orientale = al-Majallah al-sihhiyah li-sharq al-mutawassit","volume":"31 2","pages":"109-115"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143675152","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Polio, conflict and health implications in Gaza.","authors":"Shayan Hamdollahzadeh, Chiman Karami","doi":"10.26719/2025.31.2.138","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26719/2025.31.2.138","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":93985,"journal":{"name":"Eastern Mediterranean health journal = La revue de sante de la Mediterranee orientale = al-Majallah al-sihhiyah li-sharq al-mutawassit","volume":"31 2","pages":"138-140"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143675163","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Giancarlo Ceccarelli, Francesco Branda, Marta Giovanetti, Fabio Scarpa, Massimo Ciccozzi
{"title":"Polio resurgence in Gaza: Unveiling immunization barriers in a fragile healthcare system.","authors":"Giancarlo Ceccarelli, Francesco Branda, Marta Giovanetti, Fabio Scarpa, Massimo Ciccozzi","doi":"10.26719/2025.31.2.134","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.26719/2025.31.2.134","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":93985,"journal":{"name":"Eastern Mediterranean health journal = La revue de sante de la Mediterranee orientale = al-Majallah al-sihhiyah li-sharq al-mutawassit","volume":"31 2","pages":"134-135"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2025-03-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143675162","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}