Untapped aspects of mass media campaigns for changing health behaviour towards non-communicable diseases in Bangladesh

Can social media encourage diabetes self-screenings? A randomized controlled trial with Indonesian Facebook users

Nudging individuals without obvious symptoms of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) to undergo a health screening remains a challenge, especially in middle-income countries, where NCD awareness is low but the incidence is high. We assess whether an awareness campaign implemented on Facebook can encourage individuals in Indonesia to undergo an online diabetes self-screening. We use Facebook's advertisement function to randomly distribute graphical ads related to the risk and consequences of diabetes. Depending on their risk score, participants receive a recommendation to undergo a professional screening. We were able to reach almost 300,000 individuals in only three weeks. More than 1400 individuals completed the screening, inducing costs of about US$0.75 per person. The two ads labeled "diabetes consequences" and "shock" outperform all other ads. A follow-up survey shows that many high-risk respondents have scheduled a professional screening. A cost-effectiveness analysis suggests that our campaign can diagnose an additional person with diabetes for about US$9.

How to make services adolescent friendly? A cross-sectional study on awareness of adolescent friendly health clinics in Central India

Background

India's flagship program on adolescent health - Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK) emphasises the importance of strengthening Adolescent Friendly Health Clinics (AFHCs) under its facility-based approach for improving the health of adolescents. AFHCs are intended to provide targeted intervention in six domains - nutrition, injuries & violence (including gender-based violence), mental health, sexual & reproductive health, substance abuse and noncommunicable diseases.

Objective

The current study was conducted to assess the determinants of awareness and utilisation of AFHC services in districts with RKSK services in Madhya Pradesh.

Subjects

In total, 1605 adolescents (both males and females) within the age group of 10-19 years were included in the study.

Methods

Multistage stratified random sampling was employed to enrol participants from three districts of Madhya Pradesh, where AFHC services have been launched.

Results

The mean age of the participants was 15.07 ± 2.32 years. Only 153 (9.5%) adolescents were aware of AFHC services. On multivariate logistic regression, awareness of AFHC was seen to be associated with being aware of RKSK, being a part of the peer educator-led peer group, having had adolescent health days organised in the village and belonging from one of the financially better off districts. Utilisation rate of AFHC services was lower still - at 2.74%.

Conclusion

Both awareness and utilisation of AFHC services remain very low among adolescents. There is a pressing need to focus on awareness generation campaigns - via mass media, but more importantly, through community health workers and peer educators - in order to sensitise target beneficiaries about the available services.

Level of Adequate Knowledge of Non-communicable Diseases and Associated Factors Among Adult Residents of North Shewa Zone, Oromia Region, Ethiopia: A Mixed-Method Approach

Background

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are currently the leading cause of morbidity and mortality, posing significant challenges to global healthcare systems. Particularly, the prevalence of NCDs is rising in Ethiopia, resulting in a triple burden of diseases on the health system that disproportionately affects all age groups. Hence, this study aims to determine the level of adequate knowledge of NCDs and associated factors among adult residents of the North Shewa zone, Oromia region, Ethiopia.

Methods

A community-based cross-sectional study with a concurrent mixed-method approach was conducted from April 1, 2021 to May 30, 2021 among 846 residents using the multistage sampling technique. Interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data and a guiding checklist was used to collect qualitative data. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regressions were fitted to compute the association between explanatory variables and knowledge of NCDs. Adjusted odds ratios at 95% confidence interval with a p-value < 0.05 were used to decree statistical significance in multivariable analysis. Also, a thematic framework analysis was used for qualitative data analysis.

Results

A total of 823 subjects have participated in this study making a response rate of 97.3%. The level of adequate knowledge was 33.9% (95%CI: 30.67, 37.13). Higher-income, receiving information from health professionals, owning a TV, having a family member with NCD(s), and marital status were factors significantly associated with adequate knowledge of NCDs.

Conclusion

This study reveals a high level of inadequate knowledge of NCDs despite its foundational ability in tackling the burden of NCDs. As a result, broadening a wider and more comprehensive health promotion strategy for the prevention of triple burden of NCDs would benefit the population. Additionally, special efforts are needed both at the practice and policy levels targeting the disadvantaged groups, such as low-income people, those who do not receive information from health professionals, those who do not own a television, and those who are widowed/divorced, who were found to have less knowledge of NCDs.

Prevalence of high blood pressure and cardiovascular risk factors from a community screening programme in the Middle-East; a 3-year analysis of data from the May Measurement Month programme (2017-2019) in Oman

The May Measurement Month (MMM) programme is a global cross-sectional blood pressure (BP) screening programme. Here we present the combined data for the years 2017-2019 from Oman. BP was measured at various screening sites, according to standard protocol and hypertension was diagnosed if the BP was ≥140/90 mmHg or if the individual was already on antihypertensive medication. A total of 15,679 individuals (mean age 41.1 ± 12.6 years range 18-89 years; 71% male) were screened over the 3-year period. 7702 individuals (mean age 41.8 ± 13.9 years; 71.5% male) had three BP readings. The mean of the last two BP readings was 127.3 ± 17.1 mmHg. 1573 readings were in the hypertensive range (1004 newly diagnosed hypertension). A further 749 individuals were on antihypertensive medications with normal BP readings giving a proportion of 30.1% of the entire cohort being hypertensive. BP was high in 43% of patients on antihypertensive medications, 28.1% of those with previous myocardial infarction, 33.9% of those with previous stroke and 37.6% of the diabetic patients. BP strongly correlated with body mass index (BMI) and age (both p < 0.001), with a large proportion (68.5%) of individuals having high BMI(>25 kg/m²). Arab and South Asian ethnicity was associated with higher BMI and BP (both p < 0.001).Community screening programmes help identify previously undiagnosed hypertension and hypertensives with high BP. They also help to identify those at high cardiovascular risk. More emphasis should be given to monitoring those in high cardiovascular risk categories and high-risk ethnic groups.

Double and triple burden of non-communicable diseases and its determinants among adults in Bangladesh: Evidence from a recent demographic and health survey

BACKGROUND

Globally, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a significant public health problem. NCDs are the leading cause of death in Bangladesh. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of double burden of NCDs (DBNCDs) and triple burden of NCDs (TBNCDs) such as hypertension, diabetes and overweight or obesity and to explore the risk factors of DBNCDs and TBNCDs in Bangladesh.

MATERAILS AND METHODS

This study included 12 685 participants (5465 male and 7220 female) from 2017 - 2018 nationally representative Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. Descriptive statistics were calculated for the distribution and prevalence of DBNCDs and TBNCDs. Bivariate and multilevel logistic regression analyses were used to assess the individual- and community-level determinants of DBNCDs and TBNCDs.

RESULTS

The prevalence of DBNCDs and TBNCDs was 21.4% and 6.1%, respectively. At individual-level, higher age, female, currently and formerly/ever married, richest, higher education were more likely to suffer from the DBNCDs and TBNCDs. Furthermore, at the community level, the division had a significant association with DBNCDs and TBNCDs. In addition, family size had a significant effect on DBNCDs, and caffeinate drinks and poverty significantly affected TBNCDs.

CONCLUSION

Overall, there is a low prevalence of TBNCDs compared with DBNCDs in Bangladesh. Age, gender, marital status, wealth index, education level and division are significantly associated with DBNCDs and TBNCDs. The government and non-government health organisations should pay proper attention to handle the burden of NCDs in Bangladesh.

Evaluating the cascade of care for hypertension in Sierra Leone

OBJECTIVE

To assess the care for hypertension in Sierra Leone, by the use of a cascade-of-care approach, to identify where the need for healthcare system interventions is greatest.

METHODS

Using data from a nationwide household survey on surgical conditions undertaken in 1956 participants ≥18 years from October 2019 to March 2020, a cascade of care for hypertension consisting of four categories - hypertensive population, those diagnosed, those treated and those controlled - was constructed. Hypertension was defined as having a blood pressure ≥140/90 mmHg, or self-reported use of antihypertensive medication. Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate factors associated with undiagnosed hypertension.

RESULTS

The prevalence of hypertension was 22%. Among those with hypertension, 23% were diagnosed, 11% were treated and 5% had controlled blood pressure. The largest loss to care (77%) was between being hypertensive and receiving a diagnosis. Male sex, age and living in a rural location, were significantly associated with the odds of undiagnosed hypertension. There was no significant difference between men and women in the number of patients with controlled blood pressure. Adults aged 40 or older were observed to be better retained in care compared with those younger than 40 years of age.

CONCLUSION

There is a significant loss to care in the care cascade for hypertension in Sierra Leone. Our results suggest that increasing awareness of cardiovascular risk and risk factor screening for early diagnosis might have a large impact on hypertension care.

Proactive prevention: Act now to disrupt the impending non-communicable disease crisis in low-burden populations

Non-communicable disease (NCD) prevention efforts have traditionally targeted high-risk and high-burden populations. We propose an alteration in prevention efforts to also include emphasis and focus on low-risk populations, predominantly younger individuals and low-prevalence populations. We refer to this approach as "proactive prevention." This emphasis is based on the priority to put in place policies, programs, and infrastructure that can disrupt the epidemiological transition to develop NCDs among these groups, thereby averting future NCD crises. Proactive prevention strategies can be classified, and their implementation prioritized, based on a 2-dimensional assessment: impact and feasibility. Thus, potential interventions can be categorized into a 2-by-2 matrix: high impact/high feasibility, high impact/low feasibility, low impact/high feasibility, and low impact/low feasibility. We propose that high impact/high feasibility interventions are ready to be implemented (act), while high impact/low feasibility interventions require efforts to foster buy-in first. Low impact/high feasibility interventions need to be changed to improve their impact while low impact/low feasibility might be best re-designed in the context of limited resources. Using this framework, policy makers, public health experts, and other stakeholders can more effectively prioritize and leverage limited resources in an effort to slow or prevent the evolving global NCD crisis.

Information on nosocomial infections in the mainstream media: an opinion document

This paper seeks to explore the reasons for the low impact of nosocomial infection in the mainstream media and the responsibilities of physicians and journalists in terms of this situation. To this end, a small group of 13 experts met for round-table discussions, including physicians with expertise in nosocomial infection, medical lawsuits and ethics, as well as journalists from major mainstream Spanish media outlets. The various participants were asked a series of questions prior to the meeting, which were answered in writing by one of the speakers and discussed during the meeting by the whole group, the aim being to obtain consensual conclusions for each of them. The document was subsequently reviewed, edited and forwarded to all co-authors for their agreement. The opinions expressed are the personal opinions of the participants and not necessarily those of the institutions in which they work or with which they collaborate.