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PubMed2006

Health indicators and human development in the Arab region.

BACKGROUND: The present paper deals with the relationship between health indicators and human development in the Arab region. Beyond descriptive analysis showing geographic similarities and disparities inter countries, the main purpose is to point out health deficiencies and to propose pragmatic strategies susceptible to improve health conditions and consequently enhance human development in the Arab world. METHODS: Data analysis using Principal Components Analysis is used to compare the achievements of the Arab countries in terms of direct and indirect health indicators. The variables (indicators) are seen to be well represented on the circle of correlation, allowing for interesting interpretation and analysis. The 19 countries are projected on the first and second plane respectively. RESULTS: The results given by the present analysis give a good panorama of the Arab countries with their geographic similarities and disparities. The high correlation between health indicators and human development is well illustrated and consequently, countries are classified by groups having similar human development. The analysis shows clearly how health deficits are impeding human development in the majority of Arab countries and allows us to formulate suggestions to improve health conditions and enhance human development in the Arab World. DISCUSSION: The discussion is based on the link between different direct and indirect health indicators and the relationship between these indicators and human development index. Without including the GDP indicator, our analysis has shown that the 19 Arab countries may be classified, independently of their geographic proximity, in three different groups according to their global human development level (Low, Medium and High). Consequently, while identifying health deficiencies in each group, the focus was made on the countries presenting a high potential of improvement in health indicators. In particular, maternal mortality and infant mortality which are really challenging health authorities of the first and third group were critically discussed. CONCLUSION: The Arab countries have made substantial economic and social progress during the last decades by improving life expectancy and reducing maternal and infant mortality. However, considering its natural wealth and human resources, the Arab region has accomplished less than expected in terms of human development. Huge social inequalities and health inequities exist inter and intra Arab countries. In most Arab countries, a large percentage of populations, especially in rural areas, are deprived of access to health facilities. Consequently, many women still die during pregnancy and labour, yielding unacceptable levels of maternal and infant mortality. However, the problem is seen to be more complex, going beyond geography and technical accessibility to health care, it compasses, among others, levels of literacy, low social and economic status of women, qualification of health staff, general behaviour and interactions between patients and medical personnel (including corruption).

Arab World↗
PubMed2003

A quantitative analysis of medical publications from Arab countries.

OBJECTIVE: To perform geographical analysis of the number of biomedical publications produced in 20 Arab countries over a 15-year period from 1987 to 2001 and to compare publication rates normalized by country population, school enrollment, adult illiteracy, and gross domestic product (GDP). METHODS: This study was carried out at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University, Al-Ain, United Arab Emirates. A search of the Medline database for publications in which the first author of original articles is affiliated with an institution located in the Arab World was performed. Data collection, extraction, and validation was performed. RESULTS: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Egypt had the highest number of publications together accounting for 58.4% of the Arab World's publications. Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had the highest number when normalizing by population with 6.57/100,000 for Kuwait and 2.62/100,000 for UAE. Normalizing by the GDP indicator, Jordan had the highest number of publications with 11.2 per one billion average yearly GDP followed by Lebanon with 10.3 per one billion average yearly GDP. CONCLUSION: Normalizing publications by different indicators is important as results may vary when using different normalizing indicators or no normalization at all.

Bibliometrics↗
PubMed2004

Cross-national study of attitudes towards seeking professional help: Jordan, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Arabs in Israel.

BACKGROUND: Help-seeking processes provide critical links between the onset of mental health problems and the provision of professional care. But little is known about these processes in the Arab world, and still less in transnational, comparative terms. This is the first study to compare help-seeking processes among Muslim Arab female students in Jordan, the United Arab Emirates and Israel. AIMS: The present study compares the attitudes of Arab Muslim female students from Israel, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) towards mental health treatment. METHOD: A convenience sample of 262 female Muslim-Arab undergraduate university students from Jordan, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Arab students in Israel completed a modified Orientation for Seeking Professional Help (OSPH) Questionnaire. RESULTS: Data revealed that nationality was not statistically significant as a variable in a positive attitude towards seeking professional help; year of study, marital status and age were found to be significant predictors of a positive attitude towards seeking help. High proportions of respondents among the nationalities referred to God through prayer during times of psychological distress. CONCLUSIONS: The discussion considers implications for professional service delivery and programme development. Future research could extrapolate findings to other Arab countries and to Arab peoples living in the non-Arab world.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed2005

Mental health practice in Arab countries.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review deals with the current situation of mental health practice in Arab countries. Despite the complexity and importance of the topic, the Arab world still shows a lack of awareness regarding mental health problems and a dearth of mental health services and professionals. The main purpose of this paper is to examine changes in the area of mental health, and what still needs to be developed or investigated. RECENT FINDINGS: Mental health patients in Arab countries tend to express their psychological problems in terms of physical symptoms, thereby avoiding the stigma attached to mental illness. They also tend to underutilize mental health services and to hold negative attitudes toward formal mental health services. Reliance upon a deity and religious leaders as a means of coping with mental health issues is another prevalent theme in the Arab world. Another issue is that of mental health practices in politically volatile and violent regions, where higher rates of mental health problems and psychiatric diagnoses have been found. In addition, women in Arab/Muslim countries are at paramount risk from mental health problems. SUMMARY: The findings have implications for professional service delivery. Further research, intervention and activism are needed in the field of mental health systems in Arab countries to improve awareness of mental health problems. Further research is also needed regarding issues such as cultural competence and the suitability of mental health treatment and services for the non-Western communities in many Arab/Muslim countries.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1994

[The maristans in the Arab-Islamic world].

Teaching of sciences history remains marginal in mussulmanic universities. Todays informations are belonging to: -Bimaristane rising inside arabian world, chiefly Djundaysabur Medical School power upon arabian Bimaristanes. -Arabian-islamitic civilisation main Bimaristanes. -Bimaristane's organization and management in classical period. Reference to classical islamitic history gives some light upon contests and stops beating about the bush.

History, Medieval↗
PubMed1994

[The role of Hunayn, physician and translator].

Hunayn ibn Ishāq is one of the most important translators of scientific and medical texts in the 'abbāsid era. He played a fundamental role in the transmission of Greek medical science to the Arab world, because of his deep knowledge of the Syriac, Arabic and Persian languages. He translated about 300 texts, especially medical ones, and he founded a school in which many disciples were instructed in the art of translation, like his son Ishāq and his nephew Hubays. Hunayn composed a lexicon of scientific terminology, using a new method of translation which represents his great innovation.

Arab World↗
PubMed1997

Postpartum psychiatric illness in Arab culture: prevalence and psychosocial correlates.

BACKGROUND: There have been numerous studies of the prevalence of postpartum depression and its putative risk factors in Western Europe and North America, but very few studies in developing countries including the Arab world. METHOD: Ninety-five women admitted to the New Dubai Hospital in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for childbirth were studied. All subjects were assessed in the postpartum period using clinical and socio-cultural instruments: the Self Report Questionnaire (SRQ) at day 2, the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) at day 7, and the Present State Examination (PSE) at week 8 +/- 2 and week 30 +/- 2 after delivery. RESULTS: The prevalence rate of psychiatric morbidity was 24.5% by the SRQ, 17.8% by the EPDS, and 15.8% by the PSE. A number of psychosocial factors emerged as putative risk factors for postpartum depression. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence rates of postpartum psychiatric morbidity and its risk factors in this Arab culture are similar to the results obtained in numerous previous studies in industrialised countries. These findings have implications for the early detection and care of women at risk for postpartum depression.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

Influence of known psychosocial smoking risk factors on Egyptian adolescents' cigarette smoking behavior.

The morbidity and mortality associated with cigarette smoking is shifting from the developed world to developing countries, especially developing Arab countries. One such country is Egypt, which has the highest rate of tobacco consumption in the Arab world. To curb the rising smoking epidemic in Egypt, appropriate adolescent smoking prevention programs need to be developed. Most of the effective adolescent smoking prevention programs are based on the social influence approach, which targets the proximal psychosocial variables believed to promote adolescent smoking. However, most of our understanding of adolescents' psychosocial smoking risk factors is based mainly on Western studies. Whether these factors have the same influence on Egyptian adolescents' smoking behavior has not been investigated to date. An understanding of the psychosocial correlates of smoking behavior among Egyptian adolescents may help in designing the appropriate smoking prevention program aimed at this population. This study reports the results of a cross-sectional survey administered to a random sample of 1930 students in grades 7, 9 and 12 in the city of Alexandria, Egypt, in May 2003. Adolescent smoking behavior was positively associated with positive beliefs about smoking, sibling, parent and peer smoking, and social smoking norms, with sibling smoking and perceived adult smoking norms having a stronger influence on adolescents' smoking behavior than peer smoking and perceived peer smoking norms. Refusal self-efficacy was protective against smoking behavior, while knowledge of the short-term negative consequences of smoking was protective against susceptibility to future smoking among females only. The results suggest that adolescents from collective cultures, like Egypt, are more influenced by their family's smoking behavior and perceived adult smoking norms than their peers' smoking behavior and perceived peer smoking norms. Smoking prevention programs aimed at Egyptian adolescents should be accompanied by smoking cessation programs for the family and adult community members.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

[Survey of surgical and radiological semiology modules and their adaptation to the Arabic cultural environment].

Many professors of medicine oppose the Arabization of the teaching of medical science in the Maghreb countries, under pretext of the inability of Arabic to convey scientific concepts objectively compared with French. We made a qualitative survey of surgical and radiological semiology used in the Faculty of Medecine, Ibn El Jazzar. Terms, expressions and synonyms were identified and classified according to their cultural load into two categories: "culturally adapted terms" and "culturally strange terms" in relation to the national culture. It was evident that the majority of the recorded expression were based on Western culture. Thus the hypothesis of the neutrality of the French language in the medical teaching is invalid. Furthermore the use of French poses difficulties for students in understanding the scientific matter taught, and indirectly promotes Western culture within the medical academic establishments of the Arabic world. The use of the mother tongue in teaching medicine is today an educational necessity.

Arab World↗
PubMed2005

Arabic sign language: a perspective.

Sign language in the Arab World has been recently recognized and documented. Many efforts have been made to establish the sign language used in individual countries, including Jordan, Egypt, Libya, and the Gulf States, by trying to standardize the language and spread it among members of the Deaf community and those concerned. Such efforts produced many sign languages, almost as many as Arabic-speaking countries, yet with the same sign alphabets. This article gives a tentative account of some sign languages in Arabic through reference to their possible evolution, which is believed to be affected by the diglossic situation in Arabic, and by comparing some aspects of certain sign languages (Jordanian, Palestinian, Egyptian, Kuwaiti, and Libyan) for which issues such as primes, configuration, and movement in addition to other linguistic features are discussed. A contrastive account that depicts the principal differences among Arabic sign languages in general and the spoken language is given.

Arab World↗