Early childhood development and its associated factors among children aged 36-59 months in Afghanistan: evidence from the national survey 2022-2023.

Background: Understanding the status of early childhood development (ECD) and its associated factors could serve as the basis for future policy efforts and interventions. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the status of ECD and its associated factors among children aged 36-59 months in Afghanistan.

Methods: We used data from the Afghanistan Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2022-2023 (MICS) to assess ECD status.

Prevalence and Predictors of Depression Symptoms Among Afghan Hypertensive Patients: Secondary Analysis of a Multi-Center Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Although depression is a frequently occurring mental disorder in patients with hypertension, little is known about the symptoms of depression among Afghan hypertensive patients.

Objective: This study aimed to analyze the prevalence and predictors of depression symptoms among Afghan hypertensive patients.

Methods: This was a secondary analysis of a multi-center cross-sectional study conducted between August and December 2022 across three major provinces in Afghanistan.

Diabetes self-care intervention strategies and their effectiveness in Sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review.

Background: Diabetes poses a significant public health challenge, predominantly affecting low-and middle-income countries (LMICs), including in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The evolving landscape characterized by resource constraints, gaps in availability and functionality of healthcare system, and socio-demographic impediments has compounded these challenges. As an example, self-care interventions have played a crucial role in diabetes care.

Depression symptoms among Afghan TB patients: A multi-center study.

Background: Depression in TB patients carries a heightened risk of treatment failure and a lower quality of life. However, no study to date has documented depression prevalence among TB patients in Afghanistan.

Objectives: We aimed to assess depression prevalence in TB patients in Southern Afghanistan.

High stigma prevalence and associated factors among TB patients in Southern Afghanistan: A multi-center cross-sectional study.

Background: TB stigma represents a growing threat to TB care. Understanding TB stigma distribution and associating factors is crucial for effective TB control in Afghanistan.

Objectives: To profile the prevalence of TB-related stigma and its associating factors among TB patients in Southern Afghanistan.

Predictors of antenatal care services utilization by pregnant women in Afghanistan: Evidence from the Afghanistan Health Survey 2018.

Background: Poor utilization of maternal healthcare services remains a public health concern in most low and middle-income countries (LMICs), including Afghanistan. Late, inadequate, or no utilization of antenatal care (ANC) services pose a great concern.

Objectives: This study assessed the predictors of ANC service utilization among Afghan pregnant women, using secondary data from the Afghanistan Health Survey 2018 (AHS2018).

Group Antenatal Care (G-ANC): A way forward to improve Afghanistan's utilisation of maternity care.

In Afghanistan, maternal mortality and infant mortality - two key indicators of population health - are among the highest in the developing world, partly because of nearly a half-century of conflict and persistent socioeconomic instability [1]. The latest data in 2017 show that Afghanistan's maternal mortality ratio (638 per 100,000 live births) and infant mortality rate (36 per 1,000 live births) are much higher than other countries with comparable economic development [1]. Poor health infrastructure, political upheaval, reductions in donor funding and corresponding disruptions in health services, insecurity, climate change, and escalating humanitarian crises further intensify these issues [1].

Risk factors for non-communicable diseases in Afghanistan: insights of the nationwide population-based survey in 2018.

Background: Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) account for a substantial number of deaths in Afghanistan. Understanding the prevalence and correlates of major NCD risk factors could provide a benchmark for future public health policies and programs to prevent and control NCDs. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the prevalence and correlates of NCD risk factors among adults aged 18-69 years in Afghanistan.

Depression, Anxiety and Stress Symptoms among Afghan Healthcare Workers: A Cross-Sectional Analytical Study.

Background: Decades of conflict and cycles of disasters in Afghanistan have caused enormous impacts on health, the economy, and even national security.

Objectives: We aimed to assess the levels of depression, anxiety, and stress symptoms and their determinants among Afghan healthcare workers.

Methods: A cross-sectional study of 830 Afghan healthcare workers working in public and private hospitals was conducted between May and July 2021.

Prevalence of stunting and its correlates among children under 5 in Afghanistan: the potential impact of basic and full vaccination.

Background: Child stunting is prevalent in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), but an information gap remains regarding its current prevalence, correlates, and the impact of vaccination against this condition in Afghanistan. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and correlates of moderate and severe stunting and the potential impact of basic and full vaccination among children under five in Afghanistan.

Methods: This is a secondary analysis of the 2022-23 Afghanistan Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS) including 32,989 children under 5.

Uptake of COVID-19 vaccine among high-risk urban populations in Southern Thailand using the COM-B model.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed unprecedented suffering on social and individual levels worldwide. Vaccines against COVID-19 have been prioritized as a crucial strategy for ending the pandemic as well as minimizing its consequences.

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the uptake of COVID-19 vaccine among high-risk urban populations in Southern Thailand using the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, and Behavior (COM-B) model.

Predictors of non-adherence to antihypertensive medications: A cross-sectional study from a regional hospital in Afghanistan.

Background: Non-adherence to antihypertensive medications (AHMs) is a widespread problem. Cardiovascular morbidity and mortality reduction is possible via better adherence rates among hypertensive patients.

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the prevalence of non-adherence to AHMs and its predictors among hypertensive patients who attended Mirwais Regional Hospital in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Contents of antenatal care services in Afghanistan: findings from the national health survey 2018.

Background: Maternal and newborn mortality is a public health concern in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including Afghanistan, where the evolving socio-political circumstances have added new complexities to healthcare service delivery. Birth outcomes for both pregnant women and their newborns are improved if women receive benefits of quality antenatal care (ANC).

Objectives: This study aimed to assess the contents of ANC services and identify predictors of utilization of services by pregnant women during ANC visits to health facilities in Afghanistan.

Conducting Health Research in the Current Afghan Society: Challenges, Opportunities, and Recommendations.

Research makes a significant contribution to academic excellence and holds the potential to facilitate societal development. Despite the increasing importance of health research in developing new therapies and galvanizing notable progress in public health, the landscape of health research in Afghanistan remains profoundly deficient. This article reveals that health research in Afghanistan requires significant growth to meet the standards set on regional and global grounds.

Prevalence of soil-transmitted helminths and associated risk factors among primary school children in Kandahar, Afghanistan: A cross-sectional analytical study.

Background: Soil-transmitted helminth (STH) infections are global health problem, especially in low-income countries. Main objectives of this study were to estimate the prevalence and intensity of STH and its risk factors among school children in Kandahar city of Afghanistan.

Methodology/principal Findings: This was a school-based cross-sectional analytical study, with data collected during eight-month-period (May-December, 2022) from 6- and 12-years old school children in Kandahar city, Afghanistan.

Bio-Psycho-Social Profile of People with Substance Use Disorders Treated in Locally Assigned Treatment Facilities in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Background: Substance use and its associated bio-psycho-social problems are public health concerns with harmful individual and social consequences.

Objective: This study assessed the bio-psycho-social profile of people with substance use disorders (SUD) treated at locally assigned treatment facilities in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Methods: We conducted this facility-based cross-sectional study among 621 substance users receiving care at three locally assigned treatment facilities in November-December 2022.

Afghan medical students' perceptions, and experiences of their medical education and their professional intentions: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Numerous challenges have crippled the Afghan healthcare system on individual, organizational, and societal levels. The Afghans have acknowledged that an evidence-based perspective is paramount to enhancing medical training capacities across the country, which may, in turn, best ensure appointing highly competent authorities to address health system problems on such multiple levels.

Objectives: This study assessed current Afghan senior medical students' perceptions, and experiences of their medical education and their future professional intentions.

High Prevalence of Uncontrolled Hypertension Among Afghan Hypertensive Patients: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study.

Background: Despite striking advances in the management of hypertension, blood pressure (BP) control remains suboptimal worldwide. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for 80% control rates by 2030, highlighting the urgency for improvements in hypertension control.

Objective: We aimed to determine the prevalence of uncontrolled hypertension (≥140/90 mmHg) and assess its associated factors in Afghan hypertensive patients.

Need for rapid scaling-up of medical education in Afghanistan: Challenges and recommendations.

Numerous challenges have crippled the Afghan healthcare system. The nearly half-a-century-long war - that continues to this day - has had profound effects on all aspects of Afghans' lives, medical education being no exception. However, Afghans have partially revived their healthcare and medical education systems recently, and updated medical curricula and teaching methods, with international support [1].

Sociodemographic Predictors of Initiating Antenatal Care Visits by Pregnant Women During First Trimester of Pregnancy: Findings from the Afghanistan Health Survey 2018.

Purpose: Initiating antenatal care (ANC) visits by pregnant women during first trimester, known as timely initiation of ANC visits, is crucial for wellbeing of mothers and their unborn babies. We examined whether sociodemographic characteristics of pregnant women predict timely initiation of ANC visits.

Patients And Methods: Data collected for the Afghanistan Health Survey 2018 (AHS 2018) were analyzed.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) probability among parents who live in Kandahar, Afghanistan and lost at least a child to armed conflict.

The last 4 decades of conflict in Afghanistan resulted in incalculable deaths, injuries, and millions of displacements. Although there are routine reports on casualties of the warfare, the information on its long-term psycho-social sequelae is somehow discounted. This study aimed to assess post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) probability and its associated factors among parents who live in Kandahar, the southern province of Afghanistan, and lost at least one child to armed conflict.

Tuberculosis (TB) care challenges in post-conflict settings: The case of Afghanistan.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a huge global health concern, especially for low and middle-income countries. In Afghanistan, TB is highly prevalent that is attributed in part to, notable poverty, resource constraints, and a mismanaged health care system that engulf the country. This article describes unique challenges for TB care in Afghanistan.