Cancer mortality in the West Bank, Occupied Palestinian Territory.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Abu-Rmeileh NM
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4727410 | biostudies-other | 2016
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
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Project description:BackgroundChild maltreatment is a global epidemic. It affects morbidity, mortality, social behavior, wellbeing, and quality of life of children. This study aims to assess prevalence of child abuse in the West Bank (WB) of the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) and to determine some of its social and political associated factors.MethodsWe analyzed secondary data obtained from a cross sectional study conducted on a sample representing Palestinian children on the West Bank and using the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) tool. The ISPCAN Child Abuse Screening Tool for parents (ICAST-P) questionnaire was completed by 1107 Palestinian mothers to estimate physical and emotional child abusive practices at home for children aged 0-12 years. Univariate, bivariate, and multivariate binary logistic regression analyses were performed using the SPSS® version 20 to assess prevalence and predictors of child abuse.ResultsOverall, around 34% of the West Bank-children were abused by their mothers. Results of the logistic regression analysis indicated that male children, children of younger mothers, children whose fathers were with low levels of education, children whose mothers reported low levels of parental warmth, and children whose parents were exposed to political violence were at greater risk of being abused.ConclusionsChild abuse is highly prevalent among children of the Palestinian society in the West Bank. Policy makers need to pay more attention to this epidemic. The association between child abuse and political violence found in this study makes a just solution for Palestinians essential for improving the welfare of children and families.
| S-EPMC7368693 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectivesThe purpose of the study was to estimate health expectancy for the Palestinian population and to evaluate changes that have taken place over the past 5 years.DesignMortality data and population-based health surveys.SettingThe Israeli-occupied Palestinian territory of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.Participants17 034 and 38 071 adults aged 20 or over participating the Palestinian Family Health Surveys of 2006 and 2010. Death rates for 2007 and 2010 covered the entire population.Outcome measuresLife expectancy and expected lifetime with and without chronic disease were estimated using the Sullivan method on the basis of mortality data and data on the prevalence of chronic disease.ResultsLife expectancy at the age of 20 increased from 52.8 years in 2006 to 53.3 years in 2010 for men and from 55.1 years to 55.7 years for women. In 2006, expected lifetime without a chronic disease was 37.7 (95% CI 37.0 to 38.3) years and 32.5 (95% CI 31.9 to 33.2) years for 20-year-old men and women, respectively. By 2010, this had decreased by 1.6 years for men and increased by 1.3 years for women. The health status of men has worsened. In particular, lifetime with hypertension and diabetes has increased. For women, the gain in life expectancy consisted partly of years with and partly of years without the most prevalent diseases.ConclusionsHealth expectancy for men and women diverged, which could to some extent be due to gender-specific exposures related to lifestyle factors and the impact of military occupation.
| S-EPMC3532998 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO) declared human tuberculosis (TB) a global health emergency and launched the "Global Plan to Stop Tuberculosis" which aims to save a million lives by 2015. Global control of TB is increasingly dependent on rapid and accurate genetic typing of species of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) complex including M. tuberculosis. The aim of this study was to identify and genetically characterize the MTB isolates circulating in the West Bank, Palestinian Territories. Genotyping of the MTB isolates from patients with pulmonary TB was carried out using two molecular genetic techniques, spoligotyping and mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units-variable number of tandem repeat (MIRU-VNTR) supported by analysis of the MTB specific deletion 1 (TbD1). FINDINGS: A total of 17 MTB patterns were obtained from the 31 clinical isolates analyzed by spoligotyping; corresponding to 2 orphans and 15 shared-types (SITs). Fourteen SITs matched a preexisting shared-type in the SITVIT2 database, whereas a single shared-type SIT3348 was newly created. The most common spoligotyping profile was SIT53 (T1 variant), identified in 35.5?% of the TB cases studied. Genetic characterization of 22 clinical isolates via the 15 loci MIRU-VNTR typing distinguished 19 patterns. The 15-loci MIT144 and MIT145 were newly created within this study. Both methods determined the present of M. bovis strains among the isolates. CONCLUSIONS: Significant diversity among the MTB isolates circulating in the West Bank was identified with SIT53-T1 genotype being the most frequent strain. Our results are used as reference database of the strains circulating in our region and may facilitate the implementation of an efficient TB control program.
| S-EPMC3441885 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Adolescents are a critical demographic facing unique health challenges who are further impacted in humanitarian settings. This article focuses on the urgent need for a structured health information system (HIS) to address the gaps in data availability and evidence-based interventions for adolescent health. The study aims to identify opportunities and challenges in utilizing the HIS to enhance adolescent health in the West Bank by gathering insights from healthcare providers. Semi-structured key informant interviews were conducted with participants involved in the HIS regarding adolescent health in the West Bank. They were selected by purposive sampling. Nineteen interviews were conducted between July and October 2022, and thematic analysis was carried out using MAXQDA software. The opportunities identified were the small-scale victories the participants described in building the HIS for adolescent health. These included institutional and individual capacity building, digitalizing parts of the HIS, connection fragmentation of adolescent health activities, multi-sectoral collaboration, reorienting services based on health information, working with limited resources, enhancing community engagement to encourage ownership and active participation, and taking strategic actions for adolescents for information. The challenges were the high workload of staff, lack of health information specialists, limited resources, lack of a unified system in data collection, lack of data on essential indicators, data quality, data sharing, and data sources and use. This study showed the potential of the HIS with capacity building, digitization, and collaborative initiatives; it also suffers from issues like staff shortages, non-standardized data collection, and insufficient data for essential indicators. To maximize the impact of the HIS, urgent attention to staff shortages through comprehensive training programs, standardization of data collection systems, and development of a unified core indicator list for adolescent health is recommended. Embracing these measures will allow the HIS to provide evidence-based adolescent health programs, even in resource-constrained and complex humanitarian settings.
| S-EPMC11340989 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Previous research indicates that social support is beneficial to cancer patients in adjusting to the stress of the disease. Drawing on a qualitative content analysis of 36 semi-structured interviews, this article explores sources and types of social support in Arab-Palestinian women with breast cancer. Results show that members of the immediate family, husbands in particular, are reported to be the most supportive social sources. Given the limitations that characterize access to cancer care in the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT) and the collectivistic values of the society, women with breast cancer seem to rely mainly on their husbands to handle emotional, functional and informational needs. Emotional support includes the provision of care, trust, reassurance, and companionship. Functional support includes the practical assistance that the cancer patients receive in terms of financial support, attendance during treatment or help with domestic chores and childcare. Accessing appropriate informational support can be quite challenging in the OPT since available information is not always reliable. The family plays a key role in mediating communication with doctors. Contact with breast cancer patients and survivors is also a source of supporting information, with however a possible negative impact in terms of emotional coping. In this context, the immediate family becomes a fundamental resource for coping and a relational space that mediates connections with others, including doctors, acting as a "proxy" between the patient and the social environment. Findings are discussed in light of the historical and sociocultural context of the OPT.
| S-EPMC8213135 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundBovine tuberculosis, bTB, is classified by the WHO as one of the seven neglected zoonontic diseases that cause animal health problems and has high potential to infect humans. In the West Bank, bTB was not studied among animals and the prevalence of human tuberculosis caused by M. bovis is unknown. Therefore, the aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of bTB among cattle and goats and identify the molecular characteristics of bTB in our area.Methodology/principal findingsA total of 208 tissue samples, representing 104 animals, and 150 raw milk samples, obtained from cows and goats were examined for the presence of mycobacteria. The tissue samples were collected during routine meat inspection from the Jericho abattoir. DNA was extracted from all samples, milk and tissue biopsies (n = 358), and screened for presence of TB DNA by amplifying a 123-bp segment of the insertion sequence IS6110. Eight out of 254 animals (3.1%) were found to be TB positive based on the IS6110-PCR. Identification of M. bovis among the positive TB samples was carried out via real time PCR followed by high resolution melt curve analysis, targeting the A/G transition along the oxyR gene. Spoligotyping analysis revealed a new genotype of M. bovis that was revealed from one tissue sample.SignificanceDetection of M. bovis in tissue and milk of livestock suggests that apparently healthy cattle and goats are a potential source of infection of bTB and may pose a risk to public health. Hence, appropriate measures including meat inspection at abattoirs in the region are required together with promotion of a health campaign emphasizing the importance of drinking pasteurized milk. In addition, further studies are essential at the farm level to determine the exact prevalence of bTB in goats and cattle herds in the West Bank and Israel.
| S-EPMC3772036 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Adequate patient knowledge about medications is essential for appropriate drug taking behavior and patient adherence. This study aims to assess and quantify the level of knowledge and adherence to medications among Palestinian geriatrics living with chronic diseases and to investigate possible associated socio-demographic characteristics.We conducted a cross-sectional study during June 2013 and January 2014 among Palestinian geriatrics ≥ 60 years old living with chronic disease in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. A stratified random sample was selected and a questionnaire-assisted interview was applied for data collection. T-test was applied for bivariate analyzing and one-way ANOVA test was applied for multivariate analyses.A total of 1192 Palestinian geriatrics were studied. The average age was 70.3 (SD = 8.58) years and ranged from 60-110 years. The sample comprised 659 (55.3%) females and 533 (44.7%) males. The global knowledge and global adherence scores were (67.57%) and (89.29%), respectively. Adequate levels of knowledge were 71.4%, and of adherence 75%, which were recorded for 705 (59.1%) and 1088 (91.3%) participants, respectively. Significant higher levels of global knowledge and global adherence were recorded for males, and for participants who hold a Bachelor's degree, those who live on their own, and did physical activity for more than 40 hours/week (p-value < 0.05). Furthermore, workers, participants with a higher monthly income, and non-smokers have a higher knowledge level with (p-value < 0.05). We found positive correlation between participants' global adherence and global knowledge (r = 0.487 and p-value < 0.001). Negative correlation was found between participants' global knowledge and adherence with age (r = -0.236, p-value < 0.001 and r = -0.211 and p-value < 0.001, respectively. Negative correlation between global knowledge and the number of drugs taken (r = -0.130, p-value < 0.001) was predicted.We concluded that patients with a higher level of knowledge are more adherent to their medications and that better understanding of socio-demographic factors has a clear influence on the level of knowledge and adherence to medications and thus contributes to the development of guidelines for treatment and may consequently lead to favourable clinical outcomes and savings of health care costs.
| S-EPMC4457851 | biostudies-other
Project description:Tick-borne rickettsioses are caused by obligate intracellular bacteria belonging to the spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsiae. Although Spotted Fever is prevalent in the Middle East, no reports for the presence of tick-borne pathogens are available or any studies on the epidemiology of this disease in the West Bank. We aimed to identify the circulating hard tick vectors and genetically characterize SFG Rickettsia species in ixodid ticks from the West Bank-Palestinian territories.A total of 1,123 ixodid ticks belonging to eight species (Haemaphysalis parva, Haemaphysalis adleri, Rhipicephalus turanicus, Rhipicephalus sanguineus, Rhipicephalus bursa, Hyalomma dromedarii, Hyalomma aegyptium and Hyalomma impeltatum) were collected from goats, sheep, camels, dogs, a wolf, a horse and a tortoise in different localities throughout the West Bank during the period of January-April, 2014. A total of 867 ticks were screened for the presence of rickettsiae by PCR targeting a partial sequence of the ompA gene followed by sequence analysis. Two additional genes, 17 kDa and 16SrRNA were also targeted for further characterization of the detected Rickettsia species. Rickettsial DNA was detected in 148 out of the 867 (17%) tested ticks. The infection rates in Rh. turanicus, Rh. sanguineus, H. adleri, H. parva, H. dromedarii, and H. impeltatum ticks were 41.7, 11.6, 16.7, 16.2, 11.8 and 20%, respectively. None of the ticks, belonging to the species Rh. bursa and H. aegyptium, were infected. Four SFG rickettsiae were identified: Rickettsia massiliae, Rickettsia africae, Candidatus Rickettsia barbariae and Candidatus Rickettsia goldwasserii.The results of this study demonstrate the geographic distribution of SFG rickettsiae and clearly indicate the presence of at least four of them in collected ticks. Palestinian clinicians should be aware of emerging tick-borne diseases in the West Bank, particularly infections due to R. massiliae and R. africae.
| S-EPMC4714870 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveWe investigated some aspects of menstrual health and hygiene among young female students at Birzeit University in the West Bank of the occupied Palestinian territory.DesignCross-sectional study in a large central university.ParticipantsOut of a total of 8473 eligible female students, a calculated sample size of 400 students aged between 16 and 27 years was obtained.SettingLarge central university, West Bank, occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).MeasuresAn anonymous structured international research instrument consisting of 39 questions based on the Menstrual Health Questionnaire, in addition to few questions relevant to the context, was administered.Results30.5% of participants were not informed about menstruation before menarche, and 65.3% reported that they were not ready when they got their first period. The highest reported source of information regarding menstruation was family (74.1%), followed by school (69.3%). About 66% of respondents reported that they need more information on various topics of menstruation. The most common type of menstrual hygiene products used were single-use pads (86%), followed by toilet paper (13%), nappies (10%) and reusable cloths (6%). Of the total 400 students, 14.5% reported that menstrual hygiene products are expensive, and 15.3% reported that they always/sometimes had to use menstrual products that they do not like because they are cheaper. Most (71.9%) of the respondents reported that they used menstrual products for longer time than recommended due to inadequate washing facilities at the university campus.ConclusionsThe findings provide useful evidence on the lack and the need for menstrual-related information for female university students, inadequate infrastructure to help them manage their menstruation with dignity and pointed to some menstrual poverty in accessing menstrual products. A national intervention programme is needed to increase awareness regarding menstrual health and hygiene among women in local communities and female teachers in schools and universities to enable them to disseminate information to and meet the practical needs of girls at home, at school and at the university.
| S-EPMC10069603 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundThe Covid-19 pandemic created major global health crises, with serious effects on all aspects of life. The pandemic reached the Israeli occupied West Bank of Palestine in early March 2020, and lockdown immediately ensued.ObjectivesTo assess the prevalence and predictors of distress and insecurity among Birzeit University's community during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown.MethodsAn online survey completed in March-April 2020 using standardized and previously validated distress and insecurity scales. The survey was placed on the University portal accessed by students, faculty and employees, and was sent by email to faculty and employees. Data were weighted to reflect the University community's distribution.FindingsThere were 1,851 participants in the study: 84% were undergraduate students, 10% graduate students, and 6% faculty and employees. Sixty two percent were women. Ages ranged from 17 to 70 years (mean 24 ± 9.7). Prevalence of moderate/high distress and insecurity were 40% and 48% respectively. Multiple logistic regression revealed that women, those under 35 years old and those with worse reported income, had significantly higher odds of distress and insecurity compared to their counterparts. Undergraduate students or living with a person at home with high risk of illness with COVID-19 were associated with higher odds of distress compared to their counterparts (OR = 1.56, 95%CI[1.13-2.15]) and (OR = 1.34, 95%CI[1.11-1.62]) respectively. A COVID-19 worry score was significantly associated with higher odds of distress and insecurity (OR = 1.77, 95%CI[1.46-2.14]) and (OR = 4.3, 95%CI[3.53-5.23]) respectively.ConclusionThis study emphasizes the need to pay attention not only to physical health but also to mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among young people, women, those with lower economic status, and those living with high risk persons during the pandemic. We hope that this study will inform the policies and interventions of the Palestinian Authority, local non-governmental organization, international groups working in the occupied Palestinian territory, and beyond.
| S-EPMC7546105 | biostudies-literature