Health‑seeking behavior of female sex workers: a systematic review

Aim Female sex workers (FSWs) are particularly susceptible to sexual and reproductive health (SRH) problems due to their occupation. Given that their health needs are often ignored, a review was undertaken to identify the nature, factors, and experiences associated with health-seeking behavior of FSWs worldwide. Subject and methods We searched four electronic databases (EBSCOhost, ProQuest, Pubmed, and Scopus), along with a manual search in Google Scholar and the citations from retrieved articles on health-seeking behavior of female sex workers. Articles that were peer-reviewed, presented in full-text, written in English language, and published between August 2012 and July 2022, were considered for this study. The review was carried out following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. Results The database and manual search yielded 334 studies. Seventeen papers that met our inclusion criteria were included in our review. Our qualitative synthesis resulted in fve themes: sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues, lack of access and awareness, social stigma, non-SRH matters, and drugs, violence, and abuse. Conclusion Findings of this review demonstrated that the FSWs faced challenges seeking both SRH and general health needs. They were often victims of social stigma and violence. A number of socioeconomic and cultural factors shaped their experience with regard to healthcare access. Special attention is needed to promote awareness and access to safe healthcare services for FSWs in the future to improve their situation

Association between symptoms and severity of disease in hospitalised novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) patients : a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Symptoms of the novel coronavirus disease (COVD-19) are well known, although asymptomatic cases were also reported due to this rapidly evolving viral disease. However, there has been limited research with inconsistent findings on symptoms of COVID-19 and disease severity. We aimed to evaluate the association between symptoms and severity of disease in adult patients with confirmed COVID-19 by performing a meta-analysis. Methods: We conducted this study by searching four online databases (Medline, Web of Science, EMBASE and Cochrane library) of published studies that included symptoms of COVID-19 cases and severity of the disease between January 1, 2020, and October 31, 2021. PRISMA and MOOSE guidelines were followed, and only articles published in English were selected. We performed meta-analysis using Mantel-Haenszel random-effects model. Note that we included peer-reviewed studies conducted in Wuhan and published in the English language that reported the clinical characteristics of COVID-19, particularly the symptoms of novel coronavirus patients with their prevalence and distribution of patients based on the severity of the disease. Results: Out of 255 articles identified, a total of twenty articles, including 5390 participants, met the inclusion criteria and were included. Among the participants, 2997 (55.60%) were males, and 974 (18.07%) reported severe conditions. Fever was the most commonly reported symptom in the reported COVID-19 confirmed cases (88.47%, 95% CI: 80.74–93.35%), which was followed by cough, fatigue, and less proportionally dyspnea and myalgia. Dyspnea was the only symptom, which was associated with severity of COVID-19 (OR 2.43, 95% CI: 1.52–3.89). Conclusion: Dyspnoea was found to be associated with severity of COVID-19. People with existing respiratory illnesses, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases need to be careful about the onset of such symptom and should seek medical attention. © 2022 Talukder et al

‘We’re Losing Our Bread and Butter Like Never Before’: Journalism in Bangladesh in the Face of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an increased challenge for journalists and media professionals worldwide. However, there is a lack of information on these adversities in many developing countries, including Bangladesh. Our study aims to explore these challenges and risks associated with journalism, including those who cover the health beat of news agencies in Bangladesh during the pandemic. The study follows a qualitative research approach as we interviewed national and local level journalists of leading newspapers, television channels, news agencies, and online news portals of Bangladesh. Twenty-eight in-depth interviews (IDI) were conducted following purposive sampling technique and a semi-structured interview schedule was used for data collection. The collected data were audio-taped, transcribed, and later on analyzed thematically. Five themes emerged from our findings as the participants reported of challenges in adopting to the new communication technologies and methods, job insecurity and financial crises, loss of freedom of expression, problems accessing credible information, and health and safety issues. We conclude that specific protocols on job/salary protection, training on new information and communication technologies (ICTs), precise laws and policies on circulation and access to information, and a support system for sound physical and mental health of the journalists need to be prioritised during the pandemic