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Field Epidemiology and Public Health Research Priorities in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: Delphi Technique

Research is essential for evidence-based decision making. This study aimed to identify research priorities in the areas of field epidemiology and public health in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) from the perspectives of public health professionals. A Delphi technique, using online survey, was...

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Autores principales: Al Nsour, Mohannad, Chahien, Tala, Khader, Yousef, Amiri, Mirwais, Taha, Hana
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8678107/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34926363
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.690570
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author Al Nsour, Mohannad
Chahien, Tala
Khader, Yousef
Amiri, Mirwais
Taha, Hana
author_facet Al Nsour, Mohannad
Chahien, Tala
Khader, Yousef
Amiri, Mirwais
Taha, Hana
author_sort Al Nsour, Mohannad
collection PubMed
description Research is essential for evidence-based decision making. This study aimed to identify research priorities in the areas of field epidemiology and public health in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) from the perspectives of public health professionals. A Delphi technique, using online survey, was employed to reach 168 public health professionals who have experience in the EMR countries. The study took place between November 2019 and January 2020. Consensus on the research priorities was reached after two-round online questionnaires. A list of top 10 field epidemiology and public health research priorities in the EMR was developed. Of those priorities, four fell under health in emergency, war and armed conflict, two under communicable diseases, two under immunization, one under digital health, and one under sexual, reproductive, and adolescent health. Availability, adequacy, and quality of health services in crisis settings were scored as a top priority (mean = 4.4, rank 1), followed by use of technology to improve the collection, documentation, and analysis of health data (mean = 4.28, rank 2), and capacity of countries in the region to respond to emergencies (mean = 4.25, rank 3). This study was conducted prior to COVID-19 pandemic and, thus, it did not capture COVID-19 research as a priority area. Nevertheless, identified priorities under communicable diseases including outbreak investigation of infectious diseases, epidemics and challenges related to communicable diseases in the EMR were still notable. In conclusion, the field epidemiology and public health research priorities identified in this study through a systematic inclusive process could be useful to make informed decisions and gear the research efforts to improve the health of people in the EMR.
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spelling pubmed-86781072021-12-18 Field Epidemiology and Public Health Research Priorities in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: Delphi Technique Al Nsour, Mohannad Chahien, Tala Khader, Yousef Amiri, Mirwais Taha, Hana Front Public Health Public Health Research is essential for evidence-based decision making. This study aimed to identify research priorities in the areas of field epidemiology and public health in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) from the perspectives of public health professionals. A Delphi technique, using online survey, was employed to reach 168 public health professionals who have experience in the EMR countries. The study took place between November 2019 and January 2020. Consensus on the research priorities was reached after two-round online questionnaires. A list of top 10 field epidemiology and public health research priorities in the EMR was developed. Of those priorities, four fell under health in emergency, war and armed conflict, two under communicable diseases, two under immunization, one under digital health, and one under sexual, reproductive, and adolescent health. Availability, adequacy, and quality of health services in crisis settings were scored as a top priority (mean = 4.4, rank 1), followed by use of technology to improve the collection, documentation, and analysis of health data (mean = 4.28, rank 2), and capacity of countries in the region to respond to emergencies (mean = 4.25, rank 3). This study was conducted prior to COVID-19 pandemic and, thus, it did not capture COVID-19 research as a priority area. Nevertheless, identified priorities under communicable diseases including outbreak investigation of infectious diseases, epidemics and challenges related to communicable diseases in the EMR were still notable. In conclusion, the field epidemiology and public health research priorities identified in this study through a systematic inclusive process could be useful to make informed decisions and gear the research efforts to improve the health of people in the EMR. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-12-03 /pmc/articles/PMC8678107/ /pubmed/34926363 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.690570 Text en Copyright © 2021 Al Nsour, Chahien, Khader, Amiri and Taha. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Al Nsour, Mohannad
Chahien, Tala
Khader, Yousef
Amiri, Mirwais
Taha, Hana
Field Epidemiology and Public Health Research Priorities in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: Delphi Technique
title Field Epidemiology and Public Health Research Priorities in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: Delphi Technique
title_full Field Epidemiology and Public Health Research Priorities in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: Delphi Technique
title_fullStr Field Epidemiology and Public Health Research Priorities in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: Delphi Technique
title_full_unstemmed Field Epidemiology and Public Health Research Priorities in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: Delphi Technique
title_short Field Epidemiology and Public Health Research Priorities in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: Delphi Technique
title_sort field epidemiology and public health research priorities in the eastern mediterranean region: delphi technique
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8678107/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34926363
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2021.690570
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