Conducting a health technology assessment in the West Bank, occupied Palestinian territory: lessons from a feasibility project.

Objectives: To achieve universal health coverage (UHC), countries must make difficult choices to optimize the use of scarce resources. There is a growing interest in using evidence-based priority setting processes, such as Health Technology Assessment (HTA), to inform these decisions. In 2020, the Palestinian Institute of Public Health (PNIPH) and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) initiated a pilot to test the feasibility of coproducing an HTA on breast cancer screening in the West Bank, occupied Palestinian Territory.

eRegCom-Quality Improvement Dashboard for healthcare providers and Targeted Client Communication to pregnant women using data from an electronic health registry to improve attendance and quality of antenatal care: study protocol for a multi-arm cluster randomized trial.

Background: This trial evaluates interventions that utilize data entered at point-of-care in the Palestinian maternal and child eRegistry to generate Quality Improvement Dashboards (QID) for healthcare providers and Targeted Client Communication (TCC) via short message service (SMS) to clients. The aim is to assess the effectiveness of the automated communication strategies from the eRegistry on improving attendance and quality of care for pregnant women.

Methods: This four-arm cluster randomized controlled trial will be conducted in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Palestine, and includes 138 clusters (primary healthcare clinics) enrolling from 45 to 3000 pregnancies per year.

Epidemiological and clinical features of cutaneous leishmaniases in Jenin District, Palestine, including characterisation of the causative agents in clinical samples.

During 2002-2009, 466 cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) were reported from Jenin District, Palestine, affecting both genders. The average annual incidence was 23 cases per 100000 inhabitants, increasing with age in children. Most cases presented a single lesion, generally on the face.

Pulmonary tuberculosis in the West Bank, Palestinian Authority: molecular diagnostic approach.

Objective: To compare the effectiveness and feasibility of an insertion sequence (IS6110)-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay with conventional methods of detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis and to analyse mutations present in the hot spot region of the RNA polymerase B subunit (rpoB) gene associated with rifampin resistance by DNA sequencing.

Methods: Ninety-five sputum samples from 84 clinically suspected cases of tuberculosis were tested for mycobacterial infections by Ziehl Neelsen smear examination, Lowenstein-Jensen culture and IS6110-based PCR assay.

Results: Sensitivity and specificity of the PCR were 94%; the sensitivity of culture was 65%, and of smear tests, 59%.

Rapid differentiation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and M. bovis by high-resolution melt curve analysis.

Identification and characterization of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains are important for clinical and therapeutic management of tuberculosis. Real-time PCR with a high-resolution melt assay was found to improve the diagnostic process. The assay includes differentiation between M.