Knowing the prevalence of multimorbidity among adults across continents is a crucial piece of information for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3.4, which calls for reducing premature death due to non-communicable diseases. A high prevalence of multimorbidity indicates high mortality and increased healthcare utilization. We aimed to understand the prevalence of multimorbidity across WHO geographic regions among adults. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of surveys designed to estimate the prevalence of multimorbidity among adults in community settings. We searched PubMed, ScienceDirect, Embase and Google Scholar databases for studies published between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2021. The random-effects model estimated the pooled proportion of multimorbidity in adults. Heterogeneity was quantified using I² statistics. We performed subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses based on continents, age, gender, multimorbidity definition, study periods and sample size. The study protocol was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020150945). We analyzed data from 126 peer-reviewed studies that included nearly 15.4 million people (32.1% were male) with a weighted mean age of 56.94 years (standard deviation of 10.84 years) from 54 countries around the world. The overall global prevalence of multimorbidity was 37.2% (95% CI = 34.9-39.4%). South America (45.7%, 95% CI = 39.0-52.5) had the highest prevalence of multimorbidity, followed by North America (43.1%, 95% CI = 32.3-53.8%), Europe (39.2%, 95% CI = 33.2-45.2%), and Asia (35%, 95% CI = 31.4-38.5%). The subgroup study highlights that multimorbidity is more prevalent in females (39.4%, 95% CI = 36.4-42.4%) than males (32.8%, 95% CI = 30.0-35.6%). More than half of the adult population worldwide above 60 years of age had multimorbid conditions (51.0%, 95% CI = 44.1-58.0%). Multimorbidity has become increasingly prevalent in the last two decades, while the prevalence appears to have stayed stable in the recent decade among adults globally. The multimorbidity patterns by geographic regions, time, age, and gender suggest noticeable demographic and regional differences in the burden of multimorbidity. According to insights about prevalence among adults, priority is required for effective and integrative interventions for older adults from South America, Europe, and North America. A high prevalence of multimorbidity among adults from South America suggests immediate interventions are needed to reduce the burden of morbidity. Furthermore, the high prevalence trend in the last two decades indicates that the global burden of multimorbidity continues at the same pace. The low prevalence in Africa suggests that there may be many undiagnosed chronic illness patients in Africa. None.

Background: Although the approved COVID-19 vaccine has been shown to be safe and effective, mass vaccination in Bangladeshi people remains a challenge. As a vaccination effort, the study provided an empirical evidence on willingness to vaccinate by sociodemographic, clinical and regional differences in Bangladeshi adults.Methods: This cross-sectional analysis from a household survey of 3646 adults aged 18 years or older was conducted in 8 districts of Bangladesh, from December 12, 2020, to January 7, 2021. Multinomial regression examined the impact of socio-demographic, clinical and healthcare-releated factors on hesitancy and reluctance of vaccination for COVID-19.Results: Of the 3646 respondents (2212 men [60.7%]; mean [sd] age, 37.4 [13.9] years), 74.6% reported their willingness to vaccinate against COVID-19 when a safe and effective vaccine is available without a fee, while 8.5% were reluctant to vaccinate. With a minimum fee, 46.5% of the respondents showed intent to vaccinate. Among the respondents, 16.8% reported adequate adherence to health safety regulations, and 35.5% reported high confidence in the country’s healthcare system. The COVID-19 vaccine refusal was significantly high in elderly, rural, semi-urban, and slum communities, farmers, day-laborers, homemakers, low-educated group, and those who had low confidence in the country’s healthcare system. Also, the prevalence of vaccine hesitancy was high in the elderly population, low-educated group, day-laborers, people with chronic diseases, and people with low confidence in the country’s healthcare system.Conclusion: A high prevalence of vaccine refusal and hesitancy was observed in rural people and slum dwellers in Bangladesh. The rural community and slum dwellers had a low literacy level, low adherence to health safety regulations and low confidence in healthcare system. The ongoing app-based registration for vaccination increased hesitancy and reluctancy in low-educated group. For rural, semi-urban, and slum people, outreach centers for vaccination can be established to ensure the vaccine’s nearby availability and limit associated travel costs. In rural areas, community health workers, valued community-leaders, and non-governmental organizations can be utilized to motivate and educate people for vaccination against COVID-19. Further, emphasis should be given to the elderly and diseased people with tailored health messages and assurance from healthcare professionals. The media may play a responsible role with the vaccine education program and eliminate the social stigma about the vaccination. Finally, vaccination should be continued without a fee and thus Bangladesh’s COVID vaccination program can become a model for other low and middle-income countries.

Background: Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in HIV infected individuals is a serious threat to global efforts to combat tuberculosis. Inconsistent findings on the association between HIV infection and MDR-TB were present in many studies. We aimed to review existing data on the relationship between HIV infection and MDR-TB systematically to assess the contribution of HIV on MDR-TB worldwide. We also investigated the patterns of MDR-TB by age, country-wise income, study designs, and global regions. Methods: We utilized PubMed, Google Scholar, and ScienceDirect databases to select eligible studies for meta-analysis that were published between January 1, 2010, and July 30, 2020. The random-effects model was used to obtain the pooled odds ratio of the crude association between HIV and MDR-TB with a 95% confidence interval. We investigated the potential publication-bias by checking funnel plot asymmetry and using the Egger’s test. Moreover, we assessed the heterogeneity using the I² statistic. Sensitivity analysis was performed based on sample size and adjustment factors. The protocol was registered with PROSPERO-CRD42019132752. Results: We identified 1603 studies through a database search, and after subsequent eliminations we selected 54 studies including 430,534 TB patients. The pooled odds of MDR-TB was 1.42 times higher in HIV-positive patients than HIV-negative patients (OR=1.42,CI=1.17–1.71, I²=75.8%). Subgroup analysis revealed that the estimated pooled odds for South-East Asian countries was 1.86, which is the highest in WHO regions (OR=1.86,CI=1.30–2.67, I²=0.00%), followed by Europe and Africa. The effect estimate was found to be higher for primary MDR-TB (OR=2.76,CI=1.70–4.46, I²=0.00%). There was also a trend towards increased odds of MDR-TB for HIV patients older than 40 years (OR=1.56,CI=1.17–2.06). The association was found to be significant in high-burden TB countries (OR=1.75, CI=1.39–2.19) and in high-income countries (OR=1.55, CI=1.06–2.27). Conclusion: Such findings indicate that HIV infection raises the risk of MDR-TB, and after contrasting it with the results of the earlier pooled study, it appeared to be an upward risk trend. Moreover, we found that the risk is the highest in the South-East Asian region. A balanced allocation of resources is needed to halt both primary and secondary MDR-TB, particularly in HIV infected people with 40 years of age and older.

Objectives To assess COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in Bangladesh and identify population subgroups with higher odds of vaccine hesitancy. Design A nationally representative cross-sectional survey was used for this study. Descriptive analyses helped to compute vaccine hesitancy proportions and compare them across groups. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed to compute the adjusted OR. Setting Bangladesh. Participants A total of 1134 participants from the general population, aged 18 years and above participated in this study. Outcome measures Prevalence and predictors of vaccine hesitancy. Results Of the total participants, 32.5% showed COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. Hesitancy was high among respondents who were men, over 60, unemployed, from low-income families, from central Bangladesh, including Dhaka, living in rented houses, tobacco users, politically affiliated, doubtful of the vaccine’s efficacy for Bangladeshis and those who did not have any physical illnesses in the past year. In the multiple logistic regression models, transgender respondents (adjusted OR, AOR=3.62), married individuals (AOR=1.49), tobacco users (AOR=1.33), those who had not experienced any physical illnesses in the past year (AOR=1.49), those with political affiliations with opposition parties (AOR=1.48), those who believed COVID-19 vaccines would not be effective for Bangladeshis (AOR=3.20), and those who were slightly concerned (AOR=2.87) or not concerned at all (AOR=7.45) about themselves or a family member getting infected with COVID-19 in the next year were significantly associated with vaccine hesitancy (p<0.05). Conclusions Given the high prevalence of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, in order to guarantee that COVID-19 vaccinations are widely distributed, the government and public health experts must be prepared to handle vaccine hesitancy and increase vaccine awareness among potential recipients. To address these issues and support COVID-19 immunisation programs, evidence-based educational and policy-level initiatives must be undertaken especially for the poor, older and chronically diseased individuals.

The Rohingya population of Myanmar is one of the world’s most oppressed minority groups.¹ The Citizenship Act of 1982 removed the Rohingya from the list of officially recognized ethnic minority groups. It denied them many fundamental rights, including citizenship, freedom of movement, access to health care and education, marital registration, and the ability to vote, making them the world’s largest stateless group.² In August 2017, in continuation of past persecution events, the Myanmar army began a massive clearance operation in Rakhine, which was then home to approxmately 1.2 million Rohingya individuals.³ The operation saw an estimated 7800 Rohingya killed.⁴ The movement drove the Rohingya out of Myanmar, leading to a massive exodus of about 750 000 Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district.⁵