Association of Coronavirus Disease-19 Infected Mothers with Newborn Infants Health – A Review

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus (CoV) is an emerging disease and the World Health Organization declared pandemic in February 2020. Infants were born from CoV disease (COVID)-19-positive mothers who were risk of different diseases. AIM: The aim of this review is to determine the association of infants health with COVID-19-infected mothers. METHODS: A review of the literature was done for identifying the association of newborn health risk with COVID-19-infected mothers. Google Scholar, PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus were used as search engines. RESULTS: The common finding among newborn infants from COVID-19-infected mothers were rashes, ulceration on the body, tachypnea, fever, and cough and assisted ventilation was needed to support the ventilation of newborn. Most of the COVID-19-infected women were delivered the preterm baby. The most effective way to reducing the health risk is to screening of mothers and appropriate effective surveillance system should be established. CONCLUSION: The review has found that infants born with COVID-19-infected mothers had various respiratory disorders. There is a need to coordinated efforts for the management of infants

Prevalence of smoking and associated risk factors among medical professionals in hospitals of karachi, pakistan

Background: Cigarette smoking is the largest preventable risk factor for morbidity and mortality in developed countries where at least one in four adults smoke cigarettes. Healthcare providers who smoke are less likely to advise patients to quit smoking. The aim of this study is to find out the frequency of tobacco smoking among medical professionals in tertiary care hospitals of Karachi, and to identify the common factors responsible for the continuation of smoking among healthcare providers.Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out at public and private tertiary Care Hospitals/Institutes at Karachi. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 180 subjects. An informed consent was obtained from all the subjects. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 16.0.Results: Prevalence of smoking was 29%. High prevalence of smoking was among male doctors as compared to female doctors. Sixty-eight per cent of smokers started smoking between 20 to 30 years of age. Age less than 35 years, male and public sectors hospitals were more likely OR 1.23, CI (0.98-2.41), 6.40 CI (4.48-10.52) and 2.61 CI (2.20-3.78) respectively.CONCLUSIONS: The Result of the study suggests that while healthcare smoking habits appear to be high, they are not uniformly low when compared from an international perspective. Health promotion programs focused on self-efficacy may be an effective tool for reducing the initiation, frequency, and amount of cigarette smoking among healthcare providers

Labour Market Participation of the Elderly

Generally ageing of population is defined as the relative increase in the number of elderly. This process is the result of declining fertility and increasing life expectancy of elderly population. In today’s Pakistan, fertility has started declining and life expectancy of elderlies has been increasing and it is expected that in future both these processes will gain momentum, resulting into many fold increase in the population of elderly people [Afzal (1999); Sathar and Casterline (1998)]. These developments are expected to have adverse effects on Pakistan’s economy as support and welfare of elderly people will require additional allocation of resources. That is more so because traditionally welfare and socio-economic needs of elderly people remained the responsibility of their children especially the sons. However, the traditional extended/joint family system is fast breaking down and nuclear type of family set up is becoming more common rendering the elderly people helpless [Ali (2000)]. Moreover, in view of an increase in the incidence of poverty in Pakistan, intra-house resource distribution is also becoming scarce leading to a scenario where only productive members are the chief beneficiaries [Qureshi and Arif, (2001)]. On the other hand in Pakistan, the social sector also remained neglected and little progress has been made in the development of health, education, nutrition, housing and physical infrastructure. Moreover, social security and pension scheme for general public is also almost non-existent. Such a situation warrants development of policies especially for elderly people in general and for all those elderlies who can participate and contribute in the economic activities in particular so that economic well-being of these people is ensured.

Emerging challenges and health system capacity: the case of non- communicable diseases in Pakistan; a review

Background: Pakistan is facing double burden of disease and the contribution of mortality by non-communicable diseases has over numbered the communicable diseases. The focus of health system of Pakistan is inclined more towards communicable disease and maternal & child health. Therefore, there is a need to review health policy, health sector budgeting and health setup in order to meet the needs of healthcare in context of non-communicable disease. Objective: To review the health system capacity to manage the emerging challenge of non-communicable diseases in Pakistan. Methodology: A thorough literature search on PubMed and Google Scholar was done. Reports from W.H.O, other national and international organizations and government & non-government policy papers were also reviewed. We used following search terms; Non Communicable Disease, Health system capacity, Pakistan. Results: Several health system issues emerged through the review of the health system capacity for NCDs. These included lack of political commitment, services more focused on communicable disease and MNCH, inadequate human resources, lack of inter-sectoral approach, insufficient funding opportunities and fragmented health system. These issues can be addressed through government support for combating burden of NCDs, provision of services for NCD at PHC level, human resource training regarding NCDs and integrated care system. Finance should be allocated for NCDs and existing HMIS should also be used for utilizing information regarding NCDs. Conclusion: Health systems framework to NCD means in summary re-examining the planning and organization of the entire health system, from service provision to financing, from information generation to ensuring adequate supply of pharmaceuticals/technologies or human resources, from improving facility management to performance monitoring

Labour Market Participation of the Elderly

Generally ageing of population is defined as the relative increase in the number of elderly. This process is the result of declining fertility and increasing life expectancy of elderly population. In today’s Pakistan, fertility has started declining and life expectancy of elderlies has been increasing and it is expected that in future both these processes will gain momentum, resulting into many fold increase in the population of elderly people [Afzal (1999); Sathar and Casterline (1998)]. These developments are expected to have adverse effects on Pakistan’s economy as support and welfare of elderly people will require additional allocation of resources. That is more so because traditionally welfare and socio-economic needs of elderly people remained the responsibility of their children especially the sons. However, the traditional extended/joint family system is fast breaking down and nuclear type of family set up is becoming more common rendering the elderly people helpless [Ali (2000)]. Moreover, in view of an increase in the incidence of poverty in Pakistan, intra-house resource distribution is also becoming scarce leading to a scenario where only productive members are the chief beneficiaries [Qureshi and Arif, (2001)]

Gains in Life Expectancy by Elimination of Specified Causes of Death in Pakistan

Death is inevitable. However, efforts have always been made to delay it. Due to the advancement in medical science, the developed countries have succeeded in achieving a considerable increase in the life expectancy of the people. On the other hand, the developing countries are striving hard to follow the same trend. but with lesser success. Constrained by limited resources, health planners have been compelled to set priorities towards the elimination of widespread fatal diseases. The cause specific death rates can provide a measure of the most widely prevalent diseases in the region. An age and cause specific death rate, would give a more refined measure of the same. However, in order to measure the gain in life expectancy by elimination of specific causes of death, the use of the life table technique would be an appropriate one. For example, if 'Malaria' is the largest killer in a region. the application of this technique could provide us with added years of life resulting from the elimination of Malaria. The present study is an attempt to examine the gains in life expectancy at birth as well as for other broad age groups by eliminating specified causes of death

Knowledge, attitude and practices regarding HIV/AIDS among adult fishermen in coastal areas of Karachi.

BACKGROUND: Migrant populations are at high risk of Human Immuno Deficiency Virus infection (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Studies of HIV/AIDS knowledge, attitudes and practices among fishermen in developing countries have shown gaps in knowledge and fear of contagion with ambivalent attitudes towards HIV/AIDS and inconsistent universal precautions adherence. The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge, attitude and practices regarding HIV/AIDS among adult fishermen in a coastal area of Karachi, Pakistan. METHODS: Community based cross sectional study was conducted among fishermen in coastal area of Karachi from June to September 2012. A total of 297 adult fishermen were selected by using simple random sampling technique from different sectors of coastal village. Data were collected using a structured validated questionnaire. The frequency distribution of both dependent and independent variables were worked out. Comparisons of knowledge, attitude and practices regarding HIV/AIDS by socio-demographic characteristics were made using logistic regression. RESULTS: Out of 297 fishermen, majority had in-appropriate knowledge (93.6%), negative attitude (75.8%) and less adherent sexual practices (91.6%). In univariate analysis, lower education and higher income were significantly associated (OR 2.25, 95% CI, 1.11, 4.55), (OR = 3.04 CI 1.03-9.02, p value 0.04) with negative attitude and un-safe practices towards HIV/AIDS respectively, whereas no significant association of socio-economic characteristics with knowledge, attitude and practices were observed in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that fishermen had very poor knowledge, negative attitudes towards HIV and AIDS and had unsafe sexual practices which suggest that they lack the basic understanding of HIV/AIDS infection. Extensive health education campaign should be provided to the vulnerable sections of the society for the control of HIV/AIDS

Sleep disorders among undergraduate health students in Bristol, United Kingdom

Daytime Sleepiness and poor sleep quality are common among medical students. The objective of study is to determine the prevalence of daytime sleepiness and sleep quality and associated risk factors among medical students in medical college, in Bristol, United Kingdom. It was a cross-sectional study and 153 medical students were selected through stratified random sampling techniques. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was used to assess the sleep pattern and Epworth Sleepiness Scale was used to measure daytime sleepiness. Association of sleep quality and daytime sleepiness and its risk factors were determined through regression analysis. Students suffering from severe disorder of sleep quality was 21.6% and severe daytime sleepiness 3.9%. In multivariate analysis after adjustment of covariates, in daytime sleepiness, male gender (OR.1.33, CI 1.06-3.04) [p-value 0.040] and those students who smoke cigarettes [OR 4.65, (CI 1.48-5.14) [p-value 0.018] were more likely associated with severe daytime sleepiness disorder. In Sleep quality disorder, those students who had low academic score [OR 3.13(CI 1.28-4.87) [p-value 0.035] and those students who smoke cigarettes [OR 3.04 (CI 2.34-4.29) [p-value 0.010] were more than likely associated with severe sleep quality disorder. Majority of students suffered from poor sleep quality and day time sleepiness. Male gender, smoking, academic score and academic years was the major predictor for poor sleep quality and day time sleepiness. There is need for awareness and counselling among student for reduced the sleep disorder burden

Interventions for improving research productivity in clinical radiology

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of research promotion activities on overall quality and quantity of research output in a clinical department of a teaching tertiary care hospital. Simple research enhancing strategies including regular journal club, research hour, basic research skills training, hiring of research faculty, research awards, and annual research retreat and research board to increase research production were implemented in the Department of Radiology of a teaching hospital in Pakistan. A total of 77 papers were produced by the Department of Radiology before the intervention, which increased to 92 after the introduction of research initiatives. There was a significant increase in the overall proportion of publications in the international journals after the intervention (p \u3c 0.001) with an increasing trend towards indexed journals (p \u3c 0.001). The research enhancing interventions had a positive effect on increasing clinical research output by the Department of Radiology. Such interventions can also be replicated in other clinical departments to increase their research productivity

Engaging general practitioners in public–private mix tuberculosis DOTS program in an urban area in Pakistan need for context-specific approach

A public–private mix tuberculosis (TB) DOTS project was implemented to enhance coverage and collaboration between the public and private sectors, with an objective to increase case detection and to improve TB case management in a large urban area. General practitioners (GPs) were trained to provide DOTS services. Patients were diagnosed and treated as per national guidelines and outcomes were reported to national TB control program. Treatment and sputum microscopy were provided free of cost. A total of 94 GPs were trained. In all, 57.4% of trained GPs remained actively involved in the project. Overall treatment success rate of the patients enrolled with the project was 86.3% with 8.7% default patients. Experience suggests that a more stringent selection criteria need to be followed for inclusion of GPs in the program to improve the success of the program. A multifaceted context specific approach is needed while working with private health care providers