From the Editor
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Chief Editor:
A. Abyad
MD, MPH, AGSF, AFCHSE
Email: aabyad@cyberia.net.lb

In this issue a number of papers deal with topics varying from nutrition to migrant health.
The Effect of nutritional educational intervention to mothers on improving the hemoglobin level of their nine months old children attending Ahmed Ali Kanoo Health Center in the Kingdom of Bahrain

A paper from Bahrain looked at the effect of maternal nutritional educational intervention on correcting iron deficiency anemia of their children presented at the health center for the nine month screening program. Diverse methods of interventions exist that are designed to prevent and correct iron deficiency anemia including, education, dietary improvement, fortification of foods with iron, and Iron supplementation. Mothers and their children at 9 months of age from August 2010 until July 2011 who attended Ahmed Ali Kanoo health center MCH department for regular screening during that period were included in the study. The total number of children included in the study was 448. The Total number of females was 211 (47.1%) and the males were 237 (52.9%). The majority of the babies were delivered full term 426 (95.1%), while 22 (4.9%) were premature. The percentage of anemia in infant at the age of nine months was 198 (45.7%) while at the age of 18 month it decreased to 136 (31.9%).Seventy-five (19.3%) who had a low Hb level at 9 months of age improved to a normal Hb level at 18 month of age. The study showed that nutritional educational intervention that include educating the mother (by doctors, nurses and/or educational material) was statistically significant (p= 0.025) in improving anemia from 9 to 18 month of age. The author concluded that a statistically significant relationship between providing nutritional educational intervention and improving the iron deficiency anemia outcome in nine months old children.

A cross-sectional study included a representative sample of inpatients in Prince Salman Armed Forces hospital, Tabuk, KSA from all main departments. Arabic version of Newcastle Satisfaction with Nursing scale (NSNS) was used for data collection. The aim is to assess nursing care from patients` perspective as well as to study the difference in the level of patients` satisfaction and their perspectives in relation to demographic background of patients and hospital characteristics. Out of 420 patients invited to participate in the study, 414 filled in the questionnaires giving a response rate of 98.6%. None of the participants reported above good (>80%) experience of nursing care score. None of the participants reported high (>80%) satisfaction with nursing care score. Male, higher educated patients, those admitted to obstetrics and gynecology and stayed for 2-3 weeks in hospitals more likely to express higher experience of nursing care and satisfaction with nursing care scores. The authors concluded that patient satisfaction with nursing care is generally low in the recent study. The findings provide nurses with information about aspects that enhance or hinder patient satisfaction

A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried on , adult patients ?18 years old that were selected from Primary Care Clinics in Riyadh City. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaire with 21 items of patient satisfaction scale. Data were analyzed using descriptive and analytic statistics. The study included 400 patients. The average consultation time among females was (16.28±8.006) minutes and among males was (17.68±9.049) with no significant difference (p-value=0.102,CI -0.280,3.080). The mean satisfaction score among females was (94.18,SD=±1.54), while among males was (104.68,SD=±11.99) . the authors concluded that Females' satisfaction is positively correlated with consultation time, with consideration to give more time to them, focusing on psychological problems, which needs better doctor-patient communication skills. On the other hand, males' satisfaction didn't show significant correlation with consultation time and other aspects of satisfaction other than consultation itself should be analyzed as health care system

A paper from Egypt looked at methods to improve practices of hand hygiene among medical students in health care settings and to evaluate the effectiveness of educational training on hand hygiene among the medical students. The study is a prospective before-and-after trial of an educational intervention with longitudinal follow up. Educational training program was designed and conducted by the researchers on hand hygiene measures, technique, time and compliance.
The educational intervention had a significant improvement in KAP, one and six months after the intervention (P <0.001). Non significant decrease in median scores of knowledge with no change in median scores of attitude but significant improvement of median scores of practice and overall KAP scores of hand hygiene in the follow up (P <0.001). The authors concluded that the educational intervention was effective in improvement in KAP of hand hygiene in pre-post intervention with one month interval and in the follow up after six months after the intervention

A paper from Bahrain looked at the Health of Migrant Workers. The authors stressed that over the past few decades, mobility of people around the world has been incrementing, from about 82 million in 1970 to 200 million in 2005. The Middle East, and in particular the Gulf countries (GCC) had a tremendous influx of migrant workers (around 16 million, majority over 80% were from Asia) due to its rapid development as reflected by marked increase in oil revenue. It is reported that almost seven out of every ten workforce In the GCC were foreigners.

Health issues impacting migrant workers are intricate and numerous, especially, when some host countries perceive these workers as exploitable, frugal and flexible labor. Despite that most of them work in 3D jobs; Dirty, Dangerous and Degrading, they usually have poor living and safty conditions and the prominent consequential factor leading to their health disparities is the cultural differences affecting their health care seeking patterns, perception of health and compliance with treatment.

A cross sectional study from Bahrain looked at Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Primary Health Care Physician in Bahrain towards Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). It included all the 323 primary health care doctors who are working in the governmental health centers in Bahrain. A self-filled questionnaire was used for data collection. Two hundred twenty two (68.7%) questioners out of 323 questionnaires were completed . Around half (50.5%) of the respondents stated that they have a poor level of knowledge about CAM, while only 6 (2.7%) of them stated that they have excellent level of knowledge. In general, the attitude of primary care doctors toward CAM was positive with 72.5% of them were interested in CAM, 81.1% believe that training in CAM would affect their practice as a doctors, and 73.9% agreed that CAM is beneficial. Regarding the practice of PHC doctors toward CAM, more than half (59.5%) had used CAM with their patients, while only 23% of them had referred patients to a CAM practitioners. The authors concluded that Primary Health Care doctors in Bahrain has a poor knowledge about CAM and would like to know more about it. On the other hand, they have a good attitude towards using CAM with their patients.