Risk factors and prevalence of vitamin D deficiency among Yemeni women attending Al-Zahrawi Medical Center in Sana'a City

Vitamin D deficiency is taken into account a serious public unhealthiness that affects people across all life stages. Vitamin D deficiency is thought to affect over one billion people worldwide and currently considered a pandemic. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and assess risk factors of vitamin D deficiency in Yemeni women aged 15-75 in Sana'a City. The present cross-sectional study used a convenience sample of ninety-four women aged 15-75 years and conducted in Al-Zahrawi Medical Center in Sana'a City between August and November 2018. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations were measured in all participants after recruiting their sociodemographics, health, lifestyle, multivitamin and dietary intakes, and anthropometric data. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations were defined as normal (>30 ng/mL), insufficiency (20-30 ng/mL), deficiency (10-20 ng/mL), and severe deficiency (<10 ng/mL). IBM SPSS Statistics version 20 was used for data analysis. The results showed that the overall prevalence of hypovitaminosis D (25(OH)D <30 ng/mL) was 87.2%; 23.4% of them had severe deficiency (˂10 ng/mL), 31.9% had deficiency (≥10-<20 ng/mL), and 31.9% had vitamin D insufficiency (≥20-<30 ng/mL). Symptoms of vitamin D deficiency and smoking were statistically associated with vitamin D status (P= 0.001 and 0.031), respectively. Therefore, it can be concluded that there are alarming levels of vitamin D deficiency in a sample of Yemeni women. There is an urgent need for intervention programs to increase vitamin D concentrations of these women. Also, many efforts must begin to prevent health effects related to vitamin D deficiency. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.374422

Identification of bacteria and fungi in the solid waste generated in hospitals of Sana'a city, Yemen

A medical establishment such as hospitals and medical centers generate a sizable amount of hazardous waste. In Yemen, the hospitals' wastes are still largely mismanaged, mainly because the sector did not know what to do with the waste. The present study was undertaken to determine the bacterial and fungal agents present in different various of the hospitals' solid waste. The samples were collected from the different wards/departments and from the central storage rooms/dustbins of the hospitals in Sana'a city, Yemen. The presence of bacterial and fungal agents in the hospitals' waste was determined using the conventional bacteria, and fungi identification methods. The bacteria and fungi were detected in the hospitals' solid waste were Klebsiella spp. (9.3%), E. coli (12.7%), Citrobacter spp. (8.5), Candida spp. (18.6%), Proteus spp. (9.3%), Cladosporium werneckii spp. (19.5%), Bacillus spp. (9.3%), Aspergillus spp. (7.6%), Trichothecium spp. (0.8%), Mucor spp. (3.4%), and Acinetobacter spp. (0.8%). This study results confirmed that the prevalence types of microorganism vary based on seasonal and spatial variables

Knowledge and practice of needlestick injury preventive measures among nurses of Sana'a city hospitals in Yemen

BACKGROUND: A needlestick injury is an accidental skin-penetrating stab wound from a hollow-bore needle containing another person's blood or body fluid, leading to infection of diseases transmitted by blood such as hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, and human immunodeficiency virus. The purpose of this study is to assess the level of knowledge and practice of needlesticks injury prevention measures and to estimate the incidence of exposure to needlestick injury among nurses working in the governmental hospitals in Sana'a city, Yemen. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study among a random sample of nurses (n = 259) were conducted. A pretested structured self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 20.0. (Armonk, NY: IBM Corp). RESULTS: One hundred and fourteen (44%) respondents had poor knowledge of needlestick injury preventive measures, 75 (29%) had a fair knowledge, and 70 (27%) had good knowledge. The knowledge was significantly associated with hospital's name (P < 0.017). One hundred and ninety-eight (76.5%) respondents had a poor practice of needlestick injury preventive measures, (8.9%) had fair practice, and (14.7%) good practice. There was a statistically significant association (P < 0.001) between the knowledge and practice. Among all the respondents, 48.6% were vaccinated against hepatitis B. CONCLUSION: The practices and knowledge of needlestick injury preventive measures were low and occupational exposure to needlestick injury was a common occurrence in the study sample. This needs intensive programs to educate nurses on various aspects of needlestick injury preventive measures

RISK ASSESSMENT OF THE CURRENT HANDLING OF MEDICAL WASTE IN HOSPITALS OF SANA'A CITY, YEMEN

Waste that is generated from healthcare establishments is potentially harmful to human beings and the environment. The objective of this study is to assess the environmental and health risk associated with processes of the current handling of medical waste in hospitals of Sana'a city, Yemen. The observations and follow up with the current handling of medical waste were done through frequent visits to the studied hospitals. A preliminary risks analysis (PRA) technique was applied as an analysis tool to identify and to evaluate the potential hazards of the activities and processes of the current handling of medical waste in the studied hospitals. Eighteen events related to containment, segregation, collection, transportation, waste storage, and waste treatment were analyzed. The results obtained in this study showed that 89% of the events of waste handling processes, which have been analyzed, were in high-risk levels. All events were in high-risk levels, suggesting a need to prioritize all these processes' events. For minimizing or interrupting the potential risks of the current handling of hospitals waste, the hospitals' management and the relevant ministries in the Yemeni government should cooperate to develop a comprehensive plan for management of medical waste, taking into account the results of this study