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From
the Editor
..........................................................................................................................
Abdul Abyad,
MD, MPH, MBA, AGSF, AFCHSE (Chief Editor)
Address correspondence
to:
Abdul Abyad, MD, MPH, MBA, AGSF, AFCHSE (Editor)
Abyad Medical Center & Middle East Longevity
Institute
Azmi Street, Abdo Center, 2nd Floor
PO BOX 618, Tripoli LEBANON
Tel & Fax: 961 6 443684/5/6
Email: aabyad@cyberia.net.lb
Web: www.amc-lb.com
.........................................................................................................................
This is the fifth issue this year. The issue
is rich with public health issues in various
countries from Malaysia, to Canada, Bangladesh
and Nepal.
A paper from Turkey looked at the effects of
physical training in motor skills in mentally
retarded children. Throughout this process various
types of motor skills are used. Statistically
significant differences were found in walking,
running, jumping, balance, trampoline, rope-ribbon
tests and obstacle set skills in pre and post-test
results. The authors concluded that training
of the fundamental movement skills support motor
development of mentally retarded children.
A cross sectional paper from Malaysia attempted
to roughly determine the incidences of the various
psychiatric disorders presenting to a private
psychiatric outpatient clinics at any given
time. Anxiety and depression were the most common
diagnoses presenting to psychiatrists in private
practice. The authors stressed the need for
awareness of these incidences as effective treatment
depends on early detection of these disorders.
A paper from Bangladesh looked at the MCH Project
Intervention Effects on Infant and Maternal
Mortality in Bangladesh. Like other developing
countries of the world IMR and MMR are reducing
in Bangladesh. The authors investigated the
impact of the maternal and child healthcare
MCH project on infant and maternal mortality
using the data collected by MCH. Their analyses
and findings indicated that both IMR and MMR
are reduced significantly due to the project's
intervention.
Barbaro J B, and Matear DW looked at public
health dental programs. They stressed that these
programs often had great budgets and included
services. The objectives of this study were,
to determine the proportions of different types
of restoration treatments for primary molars
in a Public Health Dental Program for children
in need of urgent care; to explore the incidence
of re-treatments on primary molars by type of
treatment and to investigate costs associated
with the different treatment options, accounting
for re-treatments and to make recommendations.
Program data from a Public Health Dental Program
in the Simcoe County District Health Unit was
extracted and analyzed for this retrospective
study. The authors concluded that more specific
criteria be followed for the use of metal crowns
in public health programs.
A paper from Turkey investigated if there is
any difference in sex in the role of learning
between mentally handicapped children, normally
developing children and children under protection.
There were significant differences between three
groups, and between girls and boys for some
sub-scales.
A paper from Saudi Arabia estimated the level
of documentation of vaccination history and
its predictors for hospitalized children of
= 2 years at the time of clerking. The authors
concluded that vaccination history is poorly
documented in admission notes, which might reflect
a poor recognition and reporting of AEFI by
the practicing physicians. Improving the documentation
may result in better reporting of AEFI.
A paper from Bangladesh looked at Reproductive
Health Problems of Married Adolescents in Bangladesh.
The authors based their study on data collected
under the project of UNFPA entitled "Strengthening
the Department of Population Science and Human
Resource Development". The study indicates
that the mean age at first birth for adolescent
mothers is 16.34 year and on average, each married
women aged 10-19 has 0.65 births. It is also
observed from the result of MCA that respondent's
education, husband's education, husband's occupation
and place of residence appears as the most important
factor determining the mean number of children
ever born. The outputs of the study demonstrate
various policy implications that can improve
the reproductive behavior of married adolescents.
A paper from Jordan looked at efficacy and
side effects of tinidazole compared with metronidazole
in the treatment of amoebiasis in Jordanian
patients. Entamoeba histolytica is one of the
common intestinal protozoans in the Middle East.
27 of 32 patients (87.5%) treated with tinidazole
and 23 of 34 patients (67.5%) treated with metronidazole
had parasitological cure. The authors concluded
that Tinidazole was more effective than metronidazole,
produced fewer and milder side effects, and
is recommended with high efficacy in treating
intestinal amoebiasis.
Finally, World CME (Australia) and the Nick
Simons Institute in Nepal announce the launch
of a CD based CME program for Nepalese doctors.
As well as common health conditions, the program
also seeks to cover specific health problems
in the country, such as TB, leprosy, dengue
fever and a variety of infectious diseases.
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