Health Promotion Perspectives
Volume:11 Issue: 4, Dec 2021

The rapid circulation of arboviruses in the human population has been linked with changes in climatic, environmental, and socio-economic conditions. These changes are known to alter the transmission cycles of arboviruses involving the anthropophilic vectors and thus facilitate an extensive geographical distribution of medically important arboviral diseases, thereby posing a significant health threat. Using our current understanding and assessment of relevant literature, this review aimed to understand the underlying factors promoting the spread of arboviruses and how the three most renowned interdisciplinary and holistic approaches to health such as One Health, Eco-Health, and Planetary Health can be a panacea for control of arboviruses.

A comprehensive structured search of relevant databases such as Medline, PubMed, WHO, Scopus, Science Direct, DOAJ, AJOL, and Google Scholar was conducted to identify recent articles on arboviruses and holistic approaches to health using the keywords including “arboviral diseases”, “arbovirus vectors”, “arboviral infections”, “epidemiology of arboviruses”, “holistic approaches”, “One Health”, “Eco-Health”, and “Planetary Health”.

Changes in climatic factors like temperature, humidity, and precipitation support the growth, breeding, and fecundity of arthropod vectors transmitting the arboviral diseases. Increased human migration and urbanization due to socio-economic factors play an important role in population increase leading to the rapid geographical distribution of arthropod vectors and transmission of arboviral diseases. Medical factors like misdiagnosis and misclassification also contribute to the spread of arboviruses.

This review highlights two important

First, climatic, environmental, socio-economic, and medical factors influence the constant distributions of arthropod vectors. Second, either of the three holistic approaches or a combination of any two can be adopted on arboviral disease control. Our findings underline the need for holistic approaches as the best strategy to mitigating and controlling the emerging and reemerging arboviruses.

Surveillance forms the basis for response to disease outbreaks, including COVID-19. Herein, we identified the COVID-19 surveillance systems and the associated challenges in 13 African countries.

We conducted a comprehensive narrative review of peer-reviewed literature published between January 2020 and April 2021 in PubMed, Medline, PubMed Central, and Google Scholar using predetermined search terms. Relevant studies from the search and other data sources on COVID-19 surveillance strategies and associated challenges in 13 African countries (Mauritius, Algeria, Nigeria, Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Ethiopia, South Africa, Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania, and Uganda) were identified and reviewed.

Our findings revealed that the selected African countries have ramped up COVID-19 surveillance ranging from immediate case notification, virological surveillance, hospital-based surveillance to mortality surveillance among others. Despite this, there exist variations in the level of implementation of the surveillance systems across countries. Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) strategy is also being leveraged in some African countries, but the implementation across countries remains uneven. Our study also revealed various challenges facing surveillance which included shortage of skilled human resources resulting in poor data management, weak health systems, complexities of ethical considerations, diagnostic insufficiency, the burden of co-epidemic surveillance, and geographical barriers, among others.

With the variations in the level of implementation of COVID-19 surveillance strategies seen across countries, it is pertinent to ensure proper coordination of the surveillance activities in the African countries and address all the challenges facing COVID-19 surveillance using tailored strategies

Sedentariness is a substantial risk for many chronic diseases. We aimed to investigate the correlation of sedentary behavior and its indicators with low back pain (LBP) among adults and children.

Original articles published up to April 28, 2020, using PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Scopus were evaluated. Odds ratio (OR, 95% CI) was considered the overall effect size for desired associations.

We reviewed 49 English articles with analytical observational study design, of which, 27 studies with cross sectional/survey design were retained in the meta-analysis. Among adults, sedentary lifestyle was a considerable risk factor for LBP (OR= 1.24, 1.02-1.5); prolonged sitting time (OR = 1.42, 1.09-1.85) and driving time (OR = 2.03, 1.22-3.36) were the significant risk factors. Sedentary behavior was associated with LBP in office workers (OR = 1.23). Moreover, excess weight (OR= 1.35, 1.14-1.59) and smoking (OR= 1.28, 1.03-1.60) were associated with LBP. Among children, sedentary lifestyle was a remarkable risk factor for LBP (OR= 1.41, 1.24- 1.60); prolonged TV watching (OR = 1.23, 1.08-1.41) and computer/mobile using and console playing time (OR= 1.63, 1.36-1.95) were significant risk factors for LBP. Consumption of coffee, however, has yield conflicting results to be considered as a risk factor. Moreover, the researches on the correlation between sedentariness and high-intensity LBP are scarce and inconclusive.

Sedentary behavior, whether in work or leisure time, associates with a moderate increase in the risk of LBP in adults, children and adolescents.

Considering limitations of the established osteoarthritis (OA) medications, attention to adjuvant and complementary treatments has increased in OA individuals. Recent investigations have reported advantages of pomegranate in OA and indicate that pomegranate can be a therapeutic option; nevertheless, no systematic review exists regarding OA and pomegranate. Therefore, we systematically studied accessible researches regarding pomegranate and OA in human, animal, and in vitro models and likely mechanistic pathways.

Present systematic review study was recorded on the international prospective register of systematic reviews database. Electronic databases (Scopus, PubMed, Embase, WOS, ProQuest) and search engine Google Scholar were searched until February 2021. Search alerts were turned on to recognize papers published following the primary search. Two investigators independently searched using MESH and non-MESH words in title, abstract, and keywords. Inclusion criteria were related clinical, animal, and in vitro studies published in any language as a full text. Exclusion criteria were reviews, book chapters, conference abstracts, and articles regarding pomegranate in health problems other than OA. Hand searching was used to check the references or citations of eligible papers and grey literature (theses etc.) to find potential researches.

Twenty-three articles were included in our systematic review. Human, animal, and in vitro researches demonstrated favorable properties of pomegranate in improving clinical features and reducing inflammatory, oxidative stress, and apoptosis markers in OA.

Present paper provides convincing evidence about the efficacy of pomegranate in OA and gives a justification for the importance of additional clinical studies.

The United Kingdom has one of the highest teenage birth rates among countries in western Europe. Government initiatives such as the Teenage Pregnancy Strategy introduced by the labor government in 1999 to reduce the teenage pregnancy rate by half in ten years could be responsible for the steady decline in teenage conception and childbirth for the past two decades. However, to sustain this decrease it is crucial to consider the broader socioeconomic and environmental determinants of teenage pregnancy at the population level. A selected literature search was conducted in this respect to highlight the factors that could be neglected by recent interventions on teenage pregnancy and childbirth in the United Kingdom.

Health care services and programs directed towards combating the neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) have been disrupted because of the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The African continent because of its staggering health care system and poor economy disproportionately bears the burden of these diseases. While successes have been recorded in controlling and eliminating the NTDs, policymakers in Africa should consider the potential of the COVID-19 to dwindle these successes an issue of high priority. This commentary seeks to discuss the current status of NTDs in Africa and proffer recommendations to help combat these diseases at this period. It is worthy to say that similar dedication directed towards fighting the COVID-19 should also be deployed into eliminating other diseases like the NTDs which often, are neglected.

The acceptance of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine has been described as a gateway to attaining herd immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The critical role of community participation (CP) has been successfully demonstrated in previous vaccination programs globally. This perspective therefore aimed to describe how CP could be used to promote COVID-19 vaccination acceptance. To promote COVID-19 vaccine acceptance, it is required that a mapping of community assets, resources, civil-based organizations, and stakeholders is done to gain insight into the community culture and value in relation to COVID-19 vaccine. This will help to address the misconceptions while prompting COVID-19 vaccination sensitization activities that are relevant to each community. It is required that policy makers understand that the adoption of a comprehensive grassroots approach lends a voice to the community and helps to utilize community-initiated and community-driven ideas on promoting COVID-19 vaccine acceptance.

More than 4.2 million cases of diabetes mellitus (DM) were reported in Thailand during 2019. Medication adherence is necessary to delay disease progression and prevent complications among uncontrolled type 2 DM patients. The objective of this research was to study how education via the Line application and telephone-based counseling impacted medication adherence knowledge by analyzing the behavior of uncontrolled type 2 diabetic patients.

Uncontrolled type 2 DM patients in Doi Saket Hospital, Doi Saket district, Chiang Mai province, Thailand. were included in the study. The sample was divided into an experimental (n = 30) and control group (n= 30). Patients who met the inclusion criteria of having uncontrolled type 2 diabetes diagnosed by a physician for at least one year, capable of communicating in Thai, possessing a mobile phone with the Line application and able to partake in activities for eight weeks were recruited in the parallel-group randomized trial. The experimental group participated in the developed education program, while the control group received standard routine health education activities provided by their health care providers. The intervention was based on the 5Rs principle as right medicine, right dose, right route, right patient and right time and included activities via the Line application and telephone-based counseling. Participants were evaluated for their medication adherence knowledge and behavior.

After eight weeks of education through the Line application and telephone-based counseling, posttest mean scores of medication adherence knowledge of the experimental and control groups were 18.03 (SD = 0.28) and 12.37 (SD = 0.62), while posttest mean scores of medication adherence behavior of the experimental and control groups were 49.28 (SD= 3.77) and 33.84 (SD= 3.81), respectively. Results revealed that the experimental group had statistically significant (P < 0.01) higher medication adherence knowledge and behavior mean scores.

Education using the Line application and telephone-based counseling program improved medication adherence knowledge and behavior among uncontrolled type 2 DM patients. Other outcomes of social media interactions such as patient engagement, patient behavior and attitudes, and the efficacy of patient-health care provider communication levels are possible areas for future study.

The prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases is an important public health problem, especially in people who are sexually active, such as the army conscript group. However, their knowledge, attitudes, and practices may be influenced by certain cultures and beliefs. This study explored the factors associated with the risk of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among the Muslim army conscript in three deep southern provinces of Thailand.

The cross-sectional study design was conducted among 360 Muslim army conscripts. A researcher made questionnaire on knowledge of HIV/STI transmission, attitude toward condom use, and sexual behavior was distributed to the participants in a camp base. The association between the potential predictor variables and the risk of HIV/STI was analyzed using the multiple logistic regression. Statistically significant of the association considered a P value ≤ 0.05.

The results suggest that most Muslim army conscripts had a poor knowledge level of HIV/STI transmission (78.7%) and that their attitude toward condom use was at a moderate level (60.0%). The predicted factors were marital status [aOR = 0.078, 95% CI = 0.035-0.172], substance use before having sex [aOR = 8.044, 95% CI = 1.288-50.230], stimulant use before having sex [aOR = 3.632, 95% CI = 1.080-12.211], vaginal sexual intercourse [aOR = 26.228, 95% CI = 8.370-82.189], and oral sexual intercourse [aOR = 2.256, 95% CI = 1.106-4.601].

A proper sexual health education program should be developed and delivered to enhance knowledge on HIV/STI transmission among Muslim army conscripts.

In this study, we aimed to assess the cognitive determinants of weight control behaviors by dietary patterns among postmenopausal women with osteoporosis.

This cross-sectional study, based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) was conducted from July to December 2017 among 240 postmenopausal women with osteoporosis in Tabriz, Iran. A validated and reliable TPB-based instrument, namely Weight-CuRB, and the food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) were used.

The results of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) indicated three dietary patterns (total variance explained= 24.44%); healthy (n= 71), mixed (n= 78), and western (n= 91). In addition, food items consumed by participants were classified into twenty-two food groups for dietary pattern analysis. In the healthy and western dietary patterns, attitude ( β: 0.140, P < 0.001) and subjective norms (SNs) (β: 0.498, P < 0.01) were the only predictors of weight control behavior, respectively. In the women with healthy and western patterns, the TPB-based variables altogether explained 11% and 16% of variations in the behavior, respectively. Among all patients, the TPB- based variables explained 12.2% of variations in weight control behavior, within which SNs were the only significant predictor of the behavior (β = -0.199, P < 0.01).

Our findings highlighted the remarkable role of dietary patterns in the associations between weight control and its cognitive determinants. Dietary patterns should be considered while designing weight control educational interventions among women with osteoporosis. In such interventions, promoting SNs and perceived behavioral control (PBC) should be considered as the core strategies to promote the behaviors among the patients who follow an unhealthy diet.

Researchers use multiple approaches to engage and maintain underrepresented populations in research. They often overlook integrated marketing communication (IMC), a useful approach for commercial marketing, for more established health promotion and social marketing techniques. There is limited information on the application of the IMC approach for recruiting and retaining African American study participants. This article explores the IMC approach used to recruit and retain volunteers for a community-based intervention.

This is a cross-sectional study relying on extracted data from the Multi-Theory Model (MTM) of Health Behavior Physical Activity intervention. A brief multiple-choice survey was administered to a sample of African American women (n = 74) to assess the effectiveness of applying an IMC approach for recruiting and retaining volunteers for the multi-week program during January - June 2018. The measures were (1) source for study information, (2) preferred method of contact, (3) primary source for health information.

Sixty-nine women listed their doctor as the primary source of health information and five women in the age group 18-34 identified social media (n = 3) and websites (n = 2). Age is significantly related to the preference of communication tools used to recruit and retain the African American participants. A statistical significance ( P = 0.025) suggests for women ages 51-69, a combination of radio, church, and word of mouth was more effective for recruitment. The older women preferred telephone calls compared to the women ages 18-50 who relied on texting.

IMC can synergize individual communication elements in a coordinated manner to address niche audiences and develop cost-effective health communications programs that can improve recruitment and retention efforts in minority populations.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused patients with chronic diseases to face various challenges. The present qualitative study aimed to explore adherence to treatment in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This qualitative content analysis was conducted from September 2020 to February 2021. Online in-depth interviews were conducted with 15 patients with CAD after discharge from Nemazi and Al-Zahra heart hospitals, Shiraz, Iran. Data management was done via MAXQDA 12 software using conventional content analysis based on the method proposed by Graneheim and Lundman.

The results revealed three main categories, nine subcategories, and 431 primary codes. The first category was ‘improved self-care in the shadow of COVID-19‘ (Improving self-care due to fear of COVID-19, ‘utilization of alternative strategies, and reinforcement of self-care beliefs). The second category was ‘redefinition of support systems’ (need for a support system, seeking for alternative support systems, and changes in social interactions). The last category was ‘barriers to treatment adherence’ (shortage of financial resources, need to adjust with working conditions, and mental conflicts).

The results indicated that the COVID-19 threats encouraged the patients with CAD to adhere to their care principles. Nonetheless, the restrictions resulting from the pandemic caused problems in adherence to treatment. Thus, redefinition of the support systems in accordance with the present conditions are recommended.

Despite the intention to perform physical activity (PA), a number of individuals cannot manage to have PA program on a regular basis. In this study we explored the barriers of regular PA behavior among healthy adults in Tabriz, Iran.

This qualitative study with a conventional content analysis approach, was carried out from June to September 2020. Nineteen 30-59 years old individuals, were purposefully (purposive sampling) selected to participate in the study. The participants were formerly registered as “physically inactive” in the health records of Tabriz Health System. Individual semi-structured interviews were conducted until data saturation. Data were managed using MAXQDA-10 software.

The barriers of regular PA that emerged from our data were being listless and lethargic, non-supportive environment, disintegration in PA education chain, and restrictive social norms.

Our findings uncover several PA barriers that are less discussed in the literature. Poor level of regular PA among adults in Iran, as a developing context, is rooted in perceptions with social and economic origins, which should be taken into account by public health policy makers while planning PA promotion programs in such communities. To promote regular PA among healthy adults in developing countries, regular PA programs should be tailored to bridge the gap between their recognition of PA barriers and subsequent behavior change through creating group dynamics highlighting the measures to diminish the behavior.

Though some studies show the association between intimate partner violence and pregnancy complications in developed countries, the association remains understudied in less developed and low-income settings. This study examines the association of physical and sexual violence with pregnancy complications among women in Afghanistan.

This study used the data from the 2015 Afghanistan Demographic and Health Survey (AfDHS). The analysis included 7229 women aged between 15 and 49 and used logistic regression to show the association of physical and sexual violence with pregnancy compilations. The analysis controlled for some potential variables and followed complex survey design factors such as strata, clusters, and survey weights.

Fully adjusted regression model shows that the women who experienced physical violence were 21% (adjusted odds ratio [OR] = 1.21; confidence interval [CI] = 0.98, 1.50; P < 0.1) more likely to endure pregnancy complications compared to those who did not face the violence. Likewise, the women experiencing sexual violence were 89% (adjusted OR = 1.89; CI = 1.37, 2.62; P < 0.01) higher to face pregnancy complications than those who did not face any of sexual violence. More specifically, physically and sexually violated women were highly prey to the complications that increased with the increment of the violence.

This study adds that policymakers may formulate policies for ensuring 3C (caring couple counselling) by readdressing couple relationships, raising gender rights and awareness, providing reproductive health literacy, and increasing mental health awareness during pregnancy.

There is evidence for a bidirectional association between obesity and depression, and obesity is the main risk factor for metabolic syndrome (MetS). This study aimed to compare oxidative stress and MetS features between depressed and non-depressed obese women and study the association of depressive symptoms, oxidative stress, and components of MetS.

In this case-control study conducted in Tabriz (East Azarbaijan, Iran), obese women (body mass index [BMI]: 30-40 kg/m 2) with a primary diagnosis of major depressive disorder (MDD; based on diagnostic interview with a psychiatrist; n = 75) and their age-matched non- depressed controls (n = 150) were enrolled. Beck Depression Inventory-version II (BDI-II) was used to assess depressive symptoms in both groups. Anthropometric parameters, blood pressure, fasting blood sugar (FBS), lipid profile and malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured.

No significant differences in anthropometric parameters and blood pressure were observed between the two groups. However, FBS of the MDD group was significantly higher than the control ( P < 0.05). FBS was significantly correlated with BDI-II scores (r = 0.158, P = 0.017). No significant difference in lipid profile was observed between the groups. Serum MDA level was significantly lower in the MDD group and was inversely associated with BDI-II scores (r = -0.328, P < 0.001). Overall, MDD was not significantly associated with MetS in our study (OR = 0.848, 95% CI: 0.484, 1.487; P = 0.566).

Although we found a correlation between higher depressive symptoms and some adverse metabolic outcomes, our findings do not support a significant association between MDD and MetS