Vitamin D deficiency during pregnancy carries potential threat to fetal well being. Natural conversion of vitamin D in the skin can be facilitated by direct ultra violet B (UVB) radiation, but the effect is reduced by wearing umbrellas, clothes, or sunblock cream. Muslim women wear hijab that allows only face and hands to be seen. With increasing proportion of muslim women wearing hijab and the lack of vitamin D fortification and fish consumption in Indonesia, it poses a problem for vitamin D deficiency among pregnant women. This study aimed at finding the best timing of UVB exposure and the duration of exposure which can be suggested to prevent vitamin D deficiency among pregnant women, for those wearing hijab or not. This study recruited 304 pregnant women in the first trimester, 75–76 women from 4 cities of the most populated province, West Java, Indonesia which represented 70–80% percent of pregnancy per year. A 3-day notes on duration, time and type of outdoor activity and the clothing wore by the women were collected. UVB intensity radiation were obtained. Calculation on body surface area exposed to direct UVB radiation and UVB radiation intensity were done. Measurement of vitamin D level in sera were done on the same week. The median of maternal sera vitamin D level was 13.6 ng/mL and the mean exposed area was around 0.48 m2 or 18.59% of total body surface area. Radiation intensity reached its peak around 10.00 and 13.00, but the mean duration of exposure to UVB during this window was lower than expected. Significant correlation was found between maternal sera vitamin D level and exposed body surface area (r = 0.36, p < 0.002) or percentage of exposed body surface (r = 0.39, p < 0.001) and radiation intensity (r = 0.15, p = 0.029). Further analysis showed that duration of exposure to UVB should be longer for pregnant women wearing hijab as compared to women without hijab. This study suggested that the best timing to get UVB exposure was between 10.00–13.00, with longer duration for women wearing hijab (64.5 vs 37.5 min) of continuous exposure per day.

The role of vitamin D in placental functions and fetal growth had been addressed in many reports with conflicting results. However, such report is limited for Indonesian population. The aim of this study was to explore the association between maternal vitamin D level in the first trimester and fetal biometry in the later stage of pregnancy with adjusted OR for other determinants like hemoglobin and ferritin level. From July 2016 a prospective cohort study of pregnant women had begun in four cities in West Java, Indonesia. Data on maternal vitamin D, ferritin, hemoglobin level, maternal demography and fetal biometry were analyzed with linear regression. Among 203 recruited women, 195 (96.06%) had hypovitaminosis D. One hundred fifty two (75%) were in deficient state and 43 women (21%) were in insufficient state. Women with insufficient vitamin D had the highest proportion of anemia, while women with normal vitamin D level had the highest proportion of low ferritin level. Maternal serum vitamin D showed significant associations with biparietal diameter (β = 0.141, p = 0.042) and abdominal circumference (β = 0.819, p = 0.001) after adjustment with maternal age, pre-pregnancy body mass index, parity, serum ferritin level, and hemoglobin level. Our study suggested that sufficient maternal vitamin D level was an important factor to improve fetal growth and development.

Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever (DHF) in Indonesia has increased steadily with Bandung as a hyper-endemic area holding a high number of cases for years. This study aimed to identify cluster areas and their correlation with land use changes which was indicated by changes of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). Hospital surveillance of 28,327 cases during 2008–2013 was geo-coded into sub-district levels and analyzed to find cluster areas over time and space using SaTScan and ArcGIS. Spearman correlation was used to analyze NDVI with Incidence Rate (IR) in each area. IR of DHF cases tended to increase over 6 years during high precipitation period. Cases were concentrated in several cluster areas in 2009 then moved to eastern part of the city in 2013. NDVI had negative correlation with IR in 2008 (r = −0.258; p = 0.001) and positive correlation in 2012 (r = 0.193; p = 0.017). Clear geographical pattern by cluster identification overtime is beneficial for targeting appropriate vector-control program.

Purpose: Policymakers have struggled to maintain SARS-CoV-2 transmission at levels that are manageable to contain the COVID-19 disease burden while enabling a maximum of societal and economic activities. One of the tools that have been used to facilitate this is the so-called “COVID-19 pass”. We aimed to document current evidence on the effectiveness of COVID-19 passes, distinguishing their indirect effects by improving vaccination intention and uptake from their direct effects on COVID-19 transmission measured by the incidence of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Methods: We performed a scoping review on the scientific literature of the proposed topic covering the period January 2021 to September 2022, in accordance with the PRISMA-ScR guidelines for scoping reviews. Results: Out of a yield of 4,693 publications, 45 studies from multiple countries were retained for full-text review. The results suggest that implementing COVID-19 passes tends to reduce the incidence of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths due to COVID-19. The use of COVID-19 passes was also shown to improve overall vaccination uptake and intention, but not in people who hold strong anti-COVID-19 vaccine beliefs. Conclusion: The evidence from the literature we reviewed tends to indicate positive direct and indirect effects from the use of COVID-19 passes. A major limitation to establishing this firmly is the entanglement of individual effects of multiple measures being implemented simultaneously.

INTRODUCTION: Vitamin D deficiency and anemia are examples of nutritional problems of global health significance. When these health issues effect pregnant women, they may become a threat to the fetus’ potention for intrauterine growth. It has been known that the first trimester is the golden period of fetal programming which influences the fetuses and their life after birth. This study was aiming to analyze the association between first trimester maternal vitamin D, serum ferritin, hemoglobin level and neonatal birth weight. METHODS: From July 2016 a prospective cohort of pregnant women had been observed in four cities in West Java, Indonesia. Two hundred ninety four pregnant women were recuited in the first trimester and 203 of them had complete follow up until delivery. Collected data included maternal demography, blood analysis for ferritin, 25(OH) vitamin D in the first trimester of pregnancy and the birth weight of neonates. Associations were analyzed with multiple regression models. RESULTS: Vitamin D deficiency was highly prevalent among pregnant women in this study (approximately 75%) while anemia was found in 7.5 %, a little above the target of 5 %. However, no significant association was found between maternal serum vitamin D, serum ferritin, hemoglobin level in the first trimester and birth weight of the neonates, before and after adjustment for maternal age, pre-pregnancy body mass index, and parity. CONCLUSION: There were no associations found between vitamin D, ferritin, and hemoglobin level in the first trimester and neonatal birth weight. The negative results in this study should not diminish the benefit of nutritional supplementation during pregnancy. The possibility of other explanatory variables that influence these associations warrants further studies.

Soon after SARS-CoV-2 emerged in late 2019, Belgium was confronted with a first COVID-19 wave in March-April 2020. SARS-CoV-2 circulation declined in the summer months (late May to early July 2020). Following a successfully trumped late July-August peak, COVID-19 incidence fell slightly, to then enter two successive phases of rapid incline: in the first half of September, and then again in October 2020. The first of these coincided with the peak period of returning summer travelers; the second one coincided with the start of higher education’s academic year. The largest observed COVID-19 incidence occurred in the period 16–31 October, particularly in the Walloon Region, the southern, French-speaking part of Belgium. We examine the potential association of the higher education population with spatio-temporal spread of COVID-19, using Bayesian spatial Poisson models for confirmed test cases, accounting for socio-demographic heterogeneity in the population. We find a significant association between the number of COVID-19 cases in the age groups 18–29 years and 30–39 years and the size of the higher education student population at the municipality level. These results can be useful towards COVID-19 mitigation strategies, particularly in areas where virus transmission from higher education students into the broader community could exacerbate morbidity and mortality of COVID-19 among populations with prevalent underlying conditions associated with more severe outcomes following infection.