Journal of Health Education Research & Development

In Brazil, the National High School Examination (ENEM) serves as the primary assessment tool for students in their final year of high school. It is used for admission to higher education institutions, both public and private, as well as federally funded Brazilian government institutions. The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2022 caused significant disruptions to basic education, prompting reforms in the educational model, transitioning from in-person to remote (online) learning environments. This study aims to identify the main impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the state of Pará, located in the Amazon region of Brazil. To achieve this, we analyzed microdata from the ENEM editions between 2019 and 2022 to understand pre-pandemic trends and assess the impact of COVID-19 on student performance. The research findings reveal a correlation between family per capita income and participation in the ENEM among public school students, with a higher proportion of students from lower-income families not participating in the exam. Additionally, the absenteeism rate surpassed 100% compared to the previous year. Another noteworthy observation pertains to the education level of the responsible family member, indicating that higher levels of education correlate with better student performance.

Background: In this report the Directorate of anti-quackery of the Sindh Healthcare Commission (DAQ-SHCC), Pakistan aims to resonate with the community the impact of inadequate knowledge of illegitimate medical practitioners and the palliative measures taken by them to cure probable dengue patients in the beginning at the onset of fever and the large dosage of analgesics (nonsteroidal antiinflammatory agents) being prescribed and running no diagnostic test may lead to potentially dangerous hemorrhagic fever and shock syndrome which can cause an increase in the fatality rate. Dengue fever has recently swept the entire Pakistan and put the state on high alert. From July 2019 to November 2019 (as of 12th November) a record has set that seems to cross 47,120 dengue fever cases together with 75 casualties. While 12,053 (25.57%) cases have only been reported from Sindh, which is the highest number reported among all the provinces of Pakistan. We have therefore been dynamically involved in exploring the role of quacks in the prevalence of dengue infection across Sindh.

Materials and Methods: A quasi experimental study regarding dengue fever and its prevalence prompted by quackery's burgeoning, have been carried out by the DAQ-SHCC head office located in Karachi, Pakistan. For this purpose, the DAQ-SHCC inspection teams were deliberated to conduct dengue knowledge and management-based interviews in all the divisions of Sindh; Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Shaheed Benazirabad, Mirpurkhas and Larkana, with two hundred and twenty identified quacks about their malpractices and especially the analgesics those were being prescribed to the probable dengue infected people.

Results: Two hundred and twenty identified quacks were probed for their malpractices to the probable dengue patients in the different divisions of Sindh. Of the total, 33.33% (40) were only interviewed from Karachi division, while 13.33% (16) from Sukkur division, 9.99% (12) from Larkana, 9.99% (12) from Mirpur Khas, 16.65% (20) from Shaheed Benazirabad and 16.65% (20) from Hyderabad division. It was observed that quacks were not even aware of the warning signs of dengue hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome and that leucopenia is a diagnostic criterion for dengue fever while thrombocytopenia is a criterion for diagnosing Dengue hemorrhagic fever.

Conclusion: The results presented in this study showed that the quack’s knowledge about preventive measures of dengue and desired screening tests is significantly lower.

The global economic burden of Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is large and hindered global economic development. Thus, this study aimed to assess economic burden and its associated factors among DM patients attending public regional hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia using Institutional Institutional based cross sectional study.

Among the 385 respondents (94.4% response rate) enrolled in the study, 197 (51.12%) of them were females. More than three-quarter (77.1%) of the study participants were diagnosed with type 2 DM. Majority of the participants (291; 75.6%) self-finance their expenses towards the management of DM. Average total monthly cost of DM was found to be 1035.82 Birr per patient per month. Moreover, the mean cost of study participant for laboratory test, single purchasing insulin, insulin syringe and oral anti hyperglycemic agent were found to be 56.34 (± 90.68), 325.26 (± 229.06), 86.90 (± 81.24) and 437.69 (± 278.69) Birr per patient per month, respectively. Regression analysis study indicated that there is a significant (p<0.05) association between cost of DM and education, income, admission, distance from the health facility, emergency visit as well as number of drug prescribed. This study showed that DM imposes a high out of pocket cost expenditure on patients and their families.