RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Monkeypox outbreaks in non-endemic countries emphasize the importance of being prepared to prevent its progression to a pandemic. To effectively control monkeypox, healthcare providers must have sufficient knowledge and good attitudes and practices to limit its spread. We initiated this project to assess the factors associated with health workers' knowledge and attitude toward monkeypox in southwestern Saudi Arabia. METHODS: We included 398 eligible health workers working at various health facilities. Data was collected using an online survey, and participants had an opportunity to consent. We conducted descriptive statistics for all variables and used chi-square statistics, t-test, and multivariate analysis to establish the association between health workers' demographic characteristics and knowledge of monkeypox disease. RESULTS: The mean age was 30.93 ± 8.25 years for the included participants, and most of them were between 22 and 29 years, male, single, nurses, working in government hospitals, and had worked for at least five years. The chi-square and t-test showed that the participants' knowledge level was significantly related to age, marital status, job title, and medical practice. Most of the participants had low knowledge and good attitudes toward monkeypox prevention measures. Multivariate analysis showed that higher knowledge was associated with younger age after controlling all other significant bivariate relationships between knowledge and demographics. CONCLUSIONS: This study found low knowledge levels and high good attitude levels of monkeypox among the participants. As such, there is a need to support health workers in understanding monkeypox epidemiology, prevention, and treatment. Therefore, Saudi Arabia will be making significant strides to being well prepared and ready to handle future monkeypox outbreaks.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Hypertension (HTN) is a major global public health problem. Knowledge of the risk factors and repercussions of HTN is crucial to preventing the disease. Rural populations have lower levels of knowledge of the disease than urban populations. However, no studies have assessed the levels of awareness of HTN and their determinants in rural regions of Saudi Arabia. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to assess the awareness of HTN and its determinants among a rural population of Jazan region, Saudi Arabia. METHODOLOGY: We conducted a cross-sectional analytical study among six primary healthcare centers selected randomly from the rural areas of Jazan region. We targeted all Saudi adults visiting these centers. Information was gathered using interview questionnaires completed by 607 people. SPSS was utilized to analyze the collected data. RESULTS: In all population groups, the prevalence of diagnosed HTN increased with age, particularly gradually increasing in those aged younger than 40 years and then rapidly and sharply increasing in those aged 40 years and over. The women (43.3%) had a higher prevalence of HTN than the men (34.6%), which is comparable with findings in other areas in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East. Approximately 65.6% of the participants without HTN and 34.4% of the participants with HTN did not know their normal blood pressure. Approximately 61.7% of the participants without HTN and 59.0% of the participants with HTN felt that pharmaceuticals are insufficient in curing HTN, while 60.7% and 64.7% believed that HTN can be cured. CONCLUSIONS: The global prevalence of HTN is increasing annually owing to rapid changes in lifestyle and dietary habits. Furthermore, because adherence to antihypertensives is poor in rural Jazan, the Ministry of Health and researchers advocate implementing a program to increase awareness and assess patient adherence to prescribed medication for the control of HTN.
