Psychosocial health among immigrants in central and southern Europe.

Migration exposes people to a number of risks that threaten their health, including those related to psychosocial health. Self-perceived health is usually the main indicator used to assess psychosocial health. Electronic databases were used to examine the literature on the psychosocial health of immigrants in Europe and of North Africans living in their own countries. Immigrants of various ethnic groups show a similar risk of psychosocial disorders but generally present a higher risk than the local population. This risk is related to gender (being higher in women), poor socio-economic status and acculturation, discrimination, time elapsed since migration and age on arrival in the new country. Although the stressors and situations the different ethnic groups experience in the host country may be shared, the way they deal with them may differ according to cultural factors. There is a need to collect detailed data on psychosocial health among the various immigrant groups in Europe, as well as to monitor this aspect in North African residents who lack access to specific services

Emigration flows from North Africa to Europe.

The region of North Africa (NA) represents a striking locality regarding migration with several migration patterns, namely emigration in the form of labour export to Europe and North America and, to a lesser extent, to the Arab Gulf area. The latter has increased enormously in the last decade because of the political instability in most of the NA countries. The aim of the present chapter was to explore the patterns of migration stocks and flows in NA countries, based on several websites, systematic review of journals, comparable data available by the United Nations and by the International Organization of Migration. The NA region has become an area of transit migration and labour migration. Emigrant flows from NA countries towards Europe and North America are increasing this decade more than towards the Arab Gulf countries after being replaced by Asian labour. The recent increase in the proportion of women among the migrant population is remarkable. Remittances sent by African migrants have become an important source of external finance for countries of origin. Transient and irregular migration to Egypt originates at the borders with Sudan, Palestine and Libya with destination to the Euro Mediterranean countries. In Tunisia and Morocco, irregular migrants originate from Sub-Saharan Africa to the northern borders. The NA countries serve as departure rather than destination countries, and migration flows to the Euro-Mediterranean countries through legal or illegal routes

Health, growth and psychosocial adaptation of immigrant children.

The increasing population diversity in Europe demands clarification of possible ethnic influences on the growth and health of immigrant children and their psychosocial adaptation to the host countries. This article assesses recent data on immigrant children in Europe in comparison to European natives by means of a systematic review of the literature on growth patterns and data on children's health and adaptation. There were wide variations across countries in growth patterns and development of immigrant children and natives, with different trends in Central and Northern Europe with respect to Southern Europe. In general, age at menarche was lower in immigrant girls, while male pubertal progression seemed faster in immigrants than in European natives, even when puberty began after. Owing to the significant differences in anthropometric traits (mainly stature and weight), new reference growth curves for immigrant children were constructed for the largest minority groups in Central Europe. Possible negative effects on growth, health and psychosocial adaptation were pointed out for immigrant children living in low income, disadvantaged communities with a high prevalence of poor lifestyle habits. In conclusion, this review provides a framework for the health and growth of immigrant children in Europe in comparison to native-born children: the differences among European countries in growth and development of migrants and non-migrants are closely related to the clear anthropological differences among the ethnic groups due to genetic influences. Higher morbidity and mortality was frequently associated with the minority status of these children and their low socio-economic status. The observed ethnic differences in health reveal the need for adequate health care in all groups. Therefore, we provide suggestions for the development of health care strategies in Europe

Prevalence and predictive factors for exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months among mothers attending Primary Health Care Centers in Cairo, Egypt

Introduction. Although most organizations recommend breastfeeding for at least one year due to its well-known beneficial effects, the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding in many developing countries was quite low. Aim. To identify prevalence and predictive factors affecting exclusive breastfeeding in Primary Healthcare (PHC) Centers in Cairo, Egypt. Material and methods. A cross-sectional study, among mothers attended first six months immunization sessions in three PHC Centers were selected via a convenient sample, A total sample of 180 mothers, 60 from each PHC Center, were subjected to an interview questionnaire. The questionnaire used was previously validated and pre-tested. Data collection took the period from April to August 2019. Comparison between exclusive and nonexclusive breastfeeding according to possible risk factors was done. Results. The frequency of breastfeeding among the participants was 90.6%; however the total exclusive breastfeeding frequency was only 39.4%. Our logistic regression model showed that exclusive breastfeeding decreased with progressive increase in infant’s age (OR 0.74), and mothers with good knowledge about proper practice of breastfeeding adhered more to exclusive breastfeeding (OR 2.51). Also, it showed that, during working hours, mothers who fed their infants other than breast milk adhered less to exclusive breastfeeding (OR 0.19). Conclusion. The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding is quite low. The predictive factors for exclusive breastfeeding are, younger infant’s age, good knowledge of the mothers about proper practice of breastfeeding, and mothers insisting on breastfeeding during working hours

Effectiveness of integrated education and relaxation program on migraine-related disability: a randomized controlled trial

Abstract Background Migraine is one of the most disabling disorders worldwide. Globally, in 2019, headache disorders were the cause of 46.6 million years of disability, with migraine accounting for 88.2% of these. The value of integrative strategies in migraine management has been raised due to the recurrent and provoked nature of migraine. So, the current study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of implementing a therapeutic patient education and relaxation training program versus usual pharmacological treatment alone on the frequency, severity, and duration of migraine attacks as the primary outcome and migraine-related disability and quality of life as the secondary outcome. A randomized controlled trial was conducted at the specialized headache clinic of a tertiary referral center. Sixty patients were randomly assigned to intervention or control groups. Participants in the intervention arm received the education and relaxation training program and were instructed to perform daily relaxation exercises in addition to their routine pharmacological treatment, whereas the control group only received their routine treatments. Follow-up was done after 1 and 3 months using a headache diary and a migraine-specific quality of life questionnaire (MSQ). Result After implementation of the program, there was a significant reduction in migraine attack severity in the intervention group compared to the control group, and they also had significantly fewer migraine headache days/month and duration of migraine attacks compared to patients in the control group. Statistically significant improvement in the role-function restrictive, role-function preventive, and emotional function domains of MSQ. Conclusion An integrated migraine management program has a significant effect on reducing the burden of migraine attacks and improving the daily activities of migraine sufferers

Overview on health research ethics in Egypt and North Africa.

Developing countries, including Egypt and North African countries, need to improve their quality of research by enhancing international cooperation and exchanges of scientific information, as well as competing for obtaining international funds to support research activities. Research must comply with laws and other requirements for research that involves human subjects. The purpose of this article is to overview the status of health research ethics in Egypt and North African countries, with reference to other Middle Eastern countries. The EU and North African Migrants: Health and Health Systems project (EUNAM) has supported the revision of the status of health research ethics in Egypt and North African countries, by holding meetings and discussions to collect information about research ethics committees in Egypt, and revising the structure and guidelines of the committees, as well as reviewing the literature concerning ethics activities in the concerned countries. This overview has revealed that noticeable efforts have been made to regulate research ethics in certain countries in the Middle East. This can be seen in the new regulations, which contain the majority of protections mentioned in the international guidelines related to research ethics. For most of the internationally registered research ethics committees in North African countries, the composition and functionality reflect the international guidelines. There is growing awareness of research ethics in these countries, which extends to teaching efforts to undergraduate and postgraduate medical students

Frequent transient hepatitis C viremia without seroconversion among healthcare workers in Cairo, Egypt.

BACKGROUNDS: With 10% of the general population aged 15-59 years chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), Egypt is the country with the highest HCV prevalence worldwide. Healthcare workers (HCWs) are therefore at particularly high risk of HCV infection. Our aim was to study HCV infection risk after occupational blood exposure among HCWs in Cairo. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The study was conducted in 2008-2010 at Ain Shams University Hospital, Cairo. HCWs reporting an occupational blood exposure at screening, having neither anti-HCV antibodies (anti-HCV) nor HCV RNA, and exposed to a HCV RNA positive patient, were enrolled in a 6-month prospective cohort with follow-up visits at weeks 2, 4, 8, 12 and 24. During follow-up, anti-HCV, HCV RNA and ALT were tested. Among 597 HCWs who reported a blood exposure, anti-HCV prevalence at screening was 7.2%, not different from that of the general population of Cairo after age-standardization (11.6% and 10.4% respectively, p = 0.62). The proportion of HCV viremia among index patients was 37%. Of 73 HCWs exposed to HCV RNA from index patients, nine (12.3%; 95%CI, 5.8-22.1%) presented transient viremia, the majority of which occurred within the first two weeks after exposure. None of the workers presented seroconversion or elevation of ALT. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: HCWs of a general University hospital in Cairo were exposed to a highly viremic patient population. They experienced frequent occupational blood exposures, particularly in early stages of training. These exposures resulted in transient viremic episodes without established infection. These findings call for further investigation of potential immune protection against HCV persistence in this high risk group

Reported OBEs according to month and occupation, 2008–2010, Ain shams University Hospital, Cairo.

<p>OBE: occupational blood exposure; HCW: healthcare worker.</p