Survey on the indexes of health equity in the physical environment and infrastructures of Kermanshah province, Iran.

BACKGROUND: Health equity is directly associated with the proper distribution of resources, the existence of infrastructures, and the balanced physical environment. The present study aimed to survey the indexes of health equity in the physical environment and infrastructures of Kermanshah province based on the national indexes. RESULTS: The results revealed that access to transportation, health centers, solid waste management, and green and sports per capita had the least distance from the negative ideal whereas the noise pollution index had the greatest distance. However, house hygiene and air pollution indexes were within the negative and positive ideal ranges. CONCLUSIONS: The health equity indexes were not distributed equitably across counties and geographical regions of Kermanshah province.

Quality of life of HIV-infected individuals: insights from a study of patients in Kermanshah, Iran.

BACKGROUND: Quality of life (QOL) is one of the major factors to assessing the health and wellbeing of People living with HIV (PLWH). Likewise, improved QOL is among the prominent goals of patient treatment. This study was conducted to investigate the QOL of PLWH in Kermanshah, Iran. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 364 PLWH of Kermanshah between 2016 and 2017. Outpatients were selected as the sample through the convenience sampling method from HIV Positive Clients of Kermanshah Behavioral Diseases Counseling Center. The reasons for the selection of outpatients include: (a) some patients were substance users, homeless or did not have a fixed address to follow-up; (b) addresses and personal details that were registered on the first admission were incorrect or incomplete; (c) due to financial issues, some were forced to relocate frequently and were difficult to track; (d) some patients were convicts or prisoners, making it hard to find them after their release; (e) some of them were from other provinces, where managing access was not easy/possible. Data was collected using WHOQOL-HIV BREF questionnaire (Persian Version). Data also analyzed with STATA 14, and SPSS 23 using T-test and multiple regression. RESULTS: This study showed that mean (SD) age of PLWH was 40.21 (10.45) years. Females had better QOL than males except for spirituality, religion and personal beliefs. The gender differences disappeared in multivariate results. A significant association was observed between education and the independence, environment, and spirituality domains of QOL. In addition, being married was correlated with overall QOL, psychological and social relationships domains of QOL of PLWH. Drug use was a behavioral factor with negative influence on the QOL. CONCLUSION: This study found that marital status and drug use were the main predictors of various domains of QOL. Drug use was a behavioral factor with a negative influence on the QOL. Hence, it is recommended that health professionals, planners, and policymakers take effective measures to improve the status quo.