With COVID-19 vaccination underway, this study aimed to understand belief, attitude and intention of the people in the South Asia region towards the vaccine. We conducted a cross-sectional study using semi-structured questionnaires among 18201 individuals in four South Asian countries; Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Nepal between January 17 and February 2, 2021. We used the Health Belief Model (HBM) to identify the predictors related to vaccine acceptance. STATA (v16.1) was used for all analyses. The percentage of respondents willing to be vaccinated against COVID-19 was 65%, 66%, 72% and 74% for Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal, respectively. Perceived destructive impact of COVID-19, positive perception of vaccines and concern about possible side effects were significant in modifying respondents’ intentions.. In multivariable logistic regression, age, sex, marital status, education, comorbidities, worry about getting infected, perceived COVID-19 impact, belief regarding vaccine efficacy, positive attitude towards mandatory measures, and vaccine availability were found to be associated with vaccine acceptance across countries. Nearabout two-third of the respondants were willing to take COVID-19 vaccine in the four South Asia countries.

The recent increasing incidence of human monkeypox cases highlights the necessity of early detection, prompt response and preventive management to stop it in its tracks, and healthcare workers play the most crucial role here. This study aims at assessing the preparedness of Bangladeshi medical doctors by assessing their knowledge and attitude regarding monkeypox. This cross-sectional study was conducted among the practicing medical doctors all over Bangladesh. The data was collected from 26th May to 4th June of 2022 using a semi-structured and self-administered questionnaire which was distributed through the internet, and a total of 389 data was collected. The cut-off points for defining good knowledge and positive attitude towards human monkeypox were considered as 70% and 80% of total values, respectively. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were carried out to identify the factors associated with good knowledge and a positive attitude. Statistical software R version 4.2.0 was used for data analysis. Of all, 330 (84.83%) doctors displayed a positive attitude towards preventive practices, but only 119 (30.59%) participants had good knowledge regarding monkeypox. In multivariable logistic regression analysis, getting any information about monkeypox in the medical curriculum and learning about monkeypox within the last one month had a significant association with good knowledge. Apart from the participant's age, no other variables revealed any significant association with a positive attitude toward preventive practices. Good knowledge showed a significant association with positive attitude (p < 0.05). Knowledge regarding human monkeypox among medical doctors in Bangladesh was comparatively lower than the attitude towards its preventive measures. Developing and implementing practical sessions regarding the virus to enhance the knowledge and capacity of the medical doctors could be an effective strategy to get prepared for the monkeypox outbreak in Bangladesh.

Background: Compliance with 24-hour movement behaviours (24-h MB) guidelines, which encompass moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), recreational screen time (ST), and sleep, is associated with various health and developmental outcomes in children and adolescents. Despite growing research interest, a comprehensive synthesis of global research focusing on school-aged youth (5–17 years) is lacking. This systematic review mapped global research on 24-h MB guidelines in youth aged 5–17 years, charted publication trends, geographical spread, and summarised reported outcomes to inform research priorities. Methods: A systematic search (June 2016-July 2024) across six databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, SPORTDiscus, APA PsycInfo, Embase) identified 32,832 articles. Overall, 148 articles from 32 countries met inclusion criteria. Extracted data covered publication details, movement behaviours measures, article focus, and headline conclusion. ‘Compliance’ was defined as simultaneous adherence to all 24-h MB guidelines. Guided by the Behavioural Epidemiology Framework, articles were classified as prevalence, health and well-being, correlates, academic performance, intervention focused. Article quality was assessed with National Institute of Health tools. Results: Global research on 24-h MB guidelines has grown rapidly since 2016 but remains methodologically modest, with 68% articles (n = 132) originated on six high- or upper-middle-income countries. Most articles were cross-sectional (n = 128, 87%) and investigated prevalence (n = 141, 95%) or health and well-being (n = 79, 53%), followed by correlates (n = 40, 27%), academic performance (n = 8, 5%), and interventions (n = 3, 2%). Only 3% of observational and no intervention articles were rated high quality. Globally, compliance rates with 24-h MB guidelines were low (0–53.6%), with 87% (n = 122) articles reporting below 10%. Compliance with 24-h MB guidelines was associated with lower likelihood of obesity, mental health and cardiometabolic problems, and higher physical fitness, academic performance, and cognitive function. Correlates of 24-h MB guidelines compliance included age, gender, weight status, socioeconomic status, environmental pollution, parental support, and in-person schooling. Interventions promoting 24-h MB guidelines showed promising outcomes. Conclusions: Current research on 24-h MB guidelines is geographically skewed, with only 7% of articles on low- and middle-income countries data. Most evidence was cross-sectional, and no article achieved high methodological quality Future research should focus on under-represented regions, use longitudinal and experimental designs, and assess key outcomes such as academic performance to inform policy and practice for improving youth health and well-being globally.

Our study aimed to understand the acceptance level of the COVID-19 vaccine and its determinants among the adult Bangladeshi population. This cross-sectional study was conducted in all eight divisions of Bangladesh. Data from 7,357 adult respondents were collected between January 17 and February 2, 2021, using a self-administered semi-structured questionnaire. Statistical software STATA (Version 16.1) was used for all analyses. The majority of study participants were from the Dhaka division (34.24%). The most common age group was ≤30 years (46.18%). Almost two-thirds of respondents were male (65.50%) and married (67.76%). A large portion (79.85%) of people who had positive vaccine intentions believed that vaccination should be made mandatory for everyone. The majority of the respondents thought that the vaccine would work against COVID-19 infection (67%). In the binary logistic regression analysis, participants who had the education level of graduation or above (AOR = 1.80), age ≥50 years (AOR = 1.97), students (AOR = 2.98), monthly income ≥41,000 BDT (AOR = 2.22), being resident of rural area (AOR = 2.24), respondents from Khulna division (AOR = 6.43) were more likely to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. Those who had family members diagnosed with COVID-19 (AOR = 1.24), presence of chronic disease (AOR = 0.72), and those who were vaccinated in the last few years (AOR = 1.32) were also more likely to accept the COVID-19 vaccine. Most of the respondents were willing to be vaccinated based on the belief that the vaccine will work against COVID-19. As rumors are generating daily, there is a need for policy-level initiative and evidence-based mass media promotion to keep inspired the general Bangladeshi people to accept the COVID-19 vaccine whenever it will be available at the individual level.

Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) quickly surged the whole world and affected people’s physical, mental, and social health thereby upsetting their quality of life. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the quality of life (QoL) of COVID-19 positive patients after recovery in Bangladesh. This was a study of adult (aged ≥18 years) COVID-19 individuals from eight divisions of Bangladesh diagnosed and confirmed by Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) from June 2020 to November 2020. Given a response rate of 60% in a pilot study, a random list of 6400 COVID-19 patients was generated to recruit approximately 3200 patients from eight divisions of Bangladesh and finally a total of 3244 participants could be recruited for the current study. The validated Bangla version of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Brief (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire was used to assess the QoL. Data were analyzed by STATA (Version 16.1) and R (Version 4.0.0). All the procedures were conducted following ethical approval and in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The mean scores of QoL were highest for the physical domain (68.25±14.45) followed by social (65.10±15.78), psychological (63.28±15.48), and environmental domain (62.77±13.07). Psychological and physical domain scores among females were significantly lower than the males (p<0.001). The overall quality of life was lower in persons having a chronic disease. Participants over 45 years of age were 52% less likely to enjoy good physical health than the participants aged below 26 years (AOR: 0.48, CI: 0.28–0.82). The quality of life of employed participants was found 1.8 times higher than the unemployed (AOR: 1.80, CI: 1.11–2.91). Those who were admitted to hospitals during infection had a low QoL score in physical, psychological, and socials domains. However, QoL improved in all aspect except the psychological domain for each day passed after the diagnosis. These findings call for a focus on the quality of life of the COVID-19 affected population, with special emphasis given to females, older adults, unemployed, and people with comorbidities.

Widespread vaccination coverage is essential for reducing the COVID-19 havoc and regarded as a crucial tool in restoring normal life on university campuses. Therefore, our research aimed to understand the intention to be vaccinated for COVID-19 among Pakistani university students. This cross-sectional study was conducted in five administrative units of Pakistan, i.e., Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. We obtained data from 2,865 university students between 17^th January and 2^nd February, 2021, using a semi-structured and self-administered questionnaire. We used Stata (version 16.1, StataCorp LLC) for data management and analysis. The majority (72.5%) of our respondents were willing to take COVID-19 vaccine. The current level of education had a statistically significant relationship with the intention to be vaccinated (p < 0.05). Respondents answered 11 questions encompassing five different domains of the Health Belief Model (HBM). All the items of HBM were significantly associated with the positive intention towards receiving the vaccine (p < 0.05). We conducted a multivariable logistic regression analysis to assess the relative contribution of different factors towards the intention to receive COVID-19 vaccine. Multiple factors such as belief that vaccination should be mandatory for everyone (AOR: 3.99, 95% CI: 3.20–4.98) and willingness to take vaccine even if it is not free (AOR: 3.91, 95% CI: 3.18–4.81) were observed to be associated with high odds of showing willingness to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Most of our study participants intended to take vaccines based on their belief regarding the high effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccine. But as rumor-mongers are generating and spreading conspiracy theories daily, the health department and policymakers need to undertake evidence-based campaigns through electronic and social media to ensure expected countrywide vaccination coverage. In this case, our study findings can serve as a foundation for them to ensure mass vaccination coverage among university students, which is crucial now to reopen the dormitories and restore everyday life on campuses.