Healthy healthcare systems in India:A prognosis

India has been an emerging economy which has retained its second position in the global healthcare market that has been tackling its economic gaps, shifting demographics, thereby, facing a wide gap between the demand and supply of healthcare products and services due to technology and increasing cost. Affordable treatment facilities for the economically low strata is still a dream. The government scheme of "Swachh Bharat Abhiyan" and "Ayushman Bharat Yojna" are the steps to uplift the backward community and make all the facilities available to them at the lowest possible cost directly and indirectly. Hence, the objective of this research was to unfold the three pillars of Healthy Healthcare which revolves around healthcare systems in India, Healthcare Employees' wellbeing and resultant patient outcomes. This research also tried studying various interventions that can be taken to improve the present scenario of affordable and quality service to the needy people.</p

Identifying the barriers of smoking cessation and predictors of nicotine dependence among adult Malaysian smokers: A cross-sectional study

Introduction Proper understanding of the prevalence and determinants of nicotine dependence is crucial for developing and implementing effective tobacco control interventions. The aim of the study was to identify the intrinsic and extrinsic barriers to smoking cessation, and to assess the association between nicotine dependence with demographic variables in Malaysia. Methods A cross-sectional survey based on the Challenges to Stopping Smoking Scale (CSS-21) and Fagerström test for nicotine dependence (FTND) was performed on smoking Malaysian citizens aged ≥18 years, from February to June 2021. Results A total of 1026 parents responded to the survey. As for the smoking dependence based on FTND, 39.1% suffered low-moderate dependence, while about 33.6% suffered moderate dependence. Only 1.8% suffered high dependence. Considering the barriers of quitting smoking based on CSS-21, the mean score of the intrinsic barriers domain was 5.7 ± 2.9, and for the extrinsic domain was 7.4 ± 4.0. The most common barrier reported in the intrinsic domain was the easy availability of cigarettes (69.8%), followed by experiencing withdrawal symptoms (68.5%). On the other hand, the most common barrier reported in the extrinsic domain was the belief in the capability of stopping smoking in the future (72.8%), followed by the fear of having side effects after stopping smoking (63.2%). Gender, race, education level, occupation, marital status, place of residence, and monthly income were also significantly associated with the FTND nicotine dependence category (all p<0.05). Pearson correlation analysis reported a positive association between intrinsic score (r=0.38), extrinsic score (r=0.43) and FTND score (all p<0.001). Conclusions Barriers to stopping smoking should be taken into consideration in initiatives to decrease smoking-related mortality. Vulnerable populations that are susceptible to high nicotine dependence should be given particular attention