Being hopeful and continuing to move ahead : religious coping in Iranian chemical warfare poisoned veterans, a qualitative study

There is a substantial number of Iranian war veterans, exposed to sulfur mustard, who suffer from serious long term progressive health problems involving their respiratory organs, eyes, and skin. Little is known, however, about these casualties’ experiences of living with the consequences of sulfur mustard poisoning. This qualitative study aims to provide greater insight into how war veterans live with the consequences of the poisoning and involved 17 Iranian war veterans who had been poisoned by sulfur mustard during the Iran–Iraq conflict. Each participant was interviewed using a semistructured interview schedule and the data generated through this process was analyzed using constant comparative data analysis technique. Data analysis resulted in ‘‘religious beliefs and practices’’ as a main category, which included two sub-categories: religious value centered life and religious support. Findings suggest that religious belief assists veterans to accept the impact of poisoning on their lives and adapt their lifestyles accordingly, to participate in religious social activities and feel socially supported, and to be hopeful about the future and live their lives as fully as possible

The challenges experienced by Iranian war veterans living with chemical warfare poisoning : a descriptive, exploratory study

This exploratory, descriptive study investigates the experiences of Iranian war veterans living with chronic disease acquired as a result of chemical warfare. Sulphur mustard (SM) is considered one of the most important agents of chemical warfare and was widely used during the Iran–Iraq conflict in 1980–1988. There are approximately 100 000 Iranian SM casualties who suffer from serious long-term progressive health problems involving their respiratory organs, eyes and skin. Seventeen male Iranian war veterans aged between 30 and 59 years and four victims’ family members participated in the study. Data was generated during individual in-depth interviews that used open-ended questions. Grounded theory techniques, including the constant comparative method of concurrent data generation and analysis, were employed in the analysis of data. Preliminary results indicate two main thematic categories: social isolation and physical disability. It is argued that a lack of knowledge about the outcomes of SM poisoning, physical restrictions and difficulty in adjusting socially decreases war veterans’ functional capacity and levels of independence

Being hopeful and continuing to move ahead: religious coping in Iranian chemical warfare poisoned veterans, a qualitative study

There is a substantial number of Iranian war veterans, exposed to sulfur mustard, who suffer from serious long term progressive health problems involving their respiratory organs, eyes, and skin. Little is known, however, about these casualties' experiences of living with the consequences of sulfur mustard poisoning. This qualitative study aims to provide greater insight into how war veterans live with the consequences of the poisoning and involved 17 Iranian war veterans who had been poisoned by sulfur mustard during the Iran–Iraq conflict. Each participant was interviewed using a semistructured interview schedule and the data generated through this process was analyzed using constant comparative data analysis technique. Data analysis resulted in "religious beliefs and practices" as a main category, which included two sub-categories: religious value centered life and religious support. Findings suggest that religious belief assists veterans to accept the impact of poisoning on their lives and adapt their lifestyles accordingly, to participate in religious social activities and feel socially supported, and to be hopeful about the future and live their lives as fully as possible

The prevalence of onchocerciasis in Africa and Yemen, 2000–2018: a geospatial analysis

Background: Onchocerciasis is a disease caused by infection with Onchocerca volvulus, which is transmitted to humans via the bite of several species of black fly, and is responsible for permanent blindness or vision loss, as well as severe skin disease. Predominantly endemic in parts of Africa and Yemen, preventive chemotherapy with mass drug administration of ivermectin is the primary intervention recommended for the elimination of its transmission. Methods: A dataset of 18,116 geo-referenced prevalence survey datapoints was used to model annual 2000–2018 infection prevalence in Africa and Yemen. Using Bayesian model-based geostatistics, we generated spatially continuous estimates of all-age 2000–2018 onchocerciasis infection prevalence at the 5 × 5-km resolution as well as aggregations to the national level, along with corresponding estimates of the uncertainty in these predictions. Results: As of 2018, the prevalence of onchocerciasis infection continues to be concentrated across central and western Africa, with the highest mean estimates at the national level in Ghana (12.2%, 95% uncertainty interval [UI] 5.0–22.7). Mean estimates exceed 5% infection prevalence at the national level for Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and South Sudan. Conclusions: Our analysis suggests that onchocerciasis infection has declined over the last two decades throughout western and central Africa. Focal areas of Angola, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, South Sudan, and Uganda continue to have mean microfiladermia prevalence estimates exceeding 25%. At and above this level, the continuation or initiation of mass drug administration with ivermectin is supported. If national programs aim to eliminate onchocerciasis infection, additional surveillance or supervision of areas of predicted high prevalence would be warranted to ensure sufficiently high coverage of program interventions