Darvishi, Mohammad

Farzadfar, Farshad

Lotfizadeh, Masoud

Moazen, Babak

Rezaei, Farimah

Simorgh Research Repository

Letter to Editorhttp://ijhpm.comInt J Health Policy Manag 2014, 3(5), 295-296 doi 10.15171/ijhpm.2014.97Dear Editor, Close cooperation between researchers and policy-makers to find the specific health needs of communities, would lead to taking evidence-based decisions in addressing communities’ health problems. Publication errors, like reporting outdated statistics are among  the key factors that influence effectiveness of such decisions.During the data collection process for a global systematic review on HIV/AIDS in prisons, we came across a paper entitled “Implementing Methadone Maintenance Treatment in Prisons in Malaysia” (1) written by Wickersham et al. as a lesson from the field which had been published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization in 2013. This paper is written in a perfect scientific style, and discusses an interesting less-researched area: substance use in prison. However, in this paper the authors have used outdated statistics and attributed these data to the today’s Malaysia. Here, we comment on the debating statistics report in the setting and approach section of the above-mentioned manuscript. First, number of the prisoners and the rate of incarceration per 100,000 were reported as 43,000 and 174, respectively. Although the authors have cited no reference for their report, it seems that these numbers are derived from the World Prison Population list of the International Center for Prison Studies (ICPS), published in 2005 (2). It should be noted that ICPS has updated the list of worldwide prison population four times in 2007 (3), 2009 (4), 2011 (5), and 2013 (6). Based on the ICPS reports, at the time of the publication of Wickersham’s paper, there were 39,144 prisoners in Malaysia and the imprisonment rate was estimated to be 132 per 100,000 in this country. However, even if we suppose that the Wickersham’s manuscript is written in 2012, the authors could use the ninth edition report published in 2011 and mention 38,387 prisoners and an imprisonment rate of 138 per 100,000 as the most updated statistics. Second, the prevalence of HIV among Malaysian prisoners was reported as 6% in this paper. Wickersham et al. has obtained this prevalence from a study, which has got it from a systematic review (7). It seems that this rate has originally been calculated by Ng et al. published in 1999 in International Journal of STDs and AIDS (8). This indicates that the authors *Correspondence to: Babak Moazen, Email: babak.moazen@gmail.comCopyright: © 2014 by Kerman University of Medical SciencesCitation: Moazen B, Rezaei F, Lotfizadeh M, Darvishi M, Farzadfar F. “Mind the Gap” in reporting the outdated statistics. Int J Health Policy Manag 2014; 3: 295-296. doi: 10.15171/ijhpm.2014.97Received: 24 September 2014, Accepted: 1 October 2014, ePublished: 2 October 2014have reported prevalence from 14 years prior to publication of their paper, and attributed this to the today’s Malaysia using the simple present tense in their writing. A more thorough search would reveal a more recent prevalence of HIV among prisoners in Malaysia (9). As the researchers, we are responsible for whatever we report and it should be considered that our reports might influence the reliability of the global estimations, and consequently lead to improper decisions taken by the policy-makers. Besides, this is the audience/readers right to be aware of the latest/updated reports. Even if the authors do not have access to the updated statistics, we strongly suggest them to mention the year of the statistics to keep away the reader from misinforming, as well as to avoid using simple present tense in their writing. Ethical issuesNot applicable.Competing interestsAuthors declare that they have no competing interests.Authors’ contributionsBM drafted the manuscript and all authors reviewed and approved the final version.Authors’ affiliations1Non-Communicable Diseases Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Population Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 2Endocrinology and Metabolism Research Center, Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinical Sciences Institute, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 3Obstetrics and Gynecologist, Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Esfahan University of Medical Sciences, Esfahan, Iran. 4Department of Community Health, Sharekord University of Medical Sciences, Shahrekord, Iran. 5Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center (IDTMRC), AJA University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.References1. Wickersham JA, Marcus R, Kamarulzaman A, Zahari MM, Altice FL. Implementing methadone maintenance treatment in prisons in Malaysia. Bull World Health Organ 2013; 91: 124-9. doi: 10.2471/BLT.12.1091322. Walmsley R. World Prison Population list [internet]. Sixth edition. Available from: http://www.prisonstudies.org/sites/prisonstudies.org/fi les/resources/downloads/world-prison-population-list-2005.pdf3. Walmsley R. World Prison Population list [internet]. Seventh edition. Available from: http://www.prisonstudies.org/sites/prisonstudies.org/files/resources/downloads/world-prison-pop-seventh.pdf4. Walmsley R. World Prison Population list [internet]. Eighth edition. Available from: http://www.prisonstudies.org/sites/prisonstudies.org/files/resources/downloads/wppl-8th_41.pdfFull list of authors’ affiliations is available at the end of the article.“Mind the Gap” in reporting the outdated statistics Babak Moazen1,2,*, Farimah Rezaei3, Masoud Lotfizadeh4, Mohammad Darvishi5, Farshad Farzadfar1,2Moazen et al.International Journal of Health Policy and Management, 2014, 3(5), 295–2962965. Walmsley R. World Prison Population list [internet]. Ninth edition. Available from: http://www.prisonstudies.org/sites/prisonstudies.org/files/resources/downloads/wppl_9.pdf6. Walmsley R. World Prison Population list [internet]. Tenth edition. Available from: http://www.prisonstudies.org/sites/prisonstudies.org/files/resources/downloads/wppl_10.pdf7. Choi P, Kavasery R, Desai MM, Govindasamy S, Kamarulzaman A, Altice FL. Prevalence and correlates of community re-entry challenges faced by HIV-infected male prisoners in Malaysia. Int J STD AIDS 2010; 21: 416–23. doi: 10.1258/ijsa.2009.0091808. Ng KP, Saw TL, Baki A, He J, Singh N, Lyles CM. Evaluation of a rapid test for the detection of antibodies to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 and 2. Int J STD AIDS 1999; 10: 401-4. 9. Kamarulzaman A. Malaysia: Rolling Out the National Harm Reduction Programme. 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific; 2009. Bali, Indonesia. 

“Mind the Gap” in reporting the outdated statistics

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“Mind the Gap” in reporting the outdated statistics

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