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Background: Patients in all settings fully expect that they will be resuscitated if they have a cardiac arrest. It is therefore necessary to increase the number of qualified people, including school teachers and students who can play a vital role in performing basic and advanced cardiac life support at the scene of a medical emergency. Since life threatening events, such as cardiac arrest, must be responded to within six minutes, the retention of skills becomes a key concern in all urgent cases. The purpose of this study was to assess the existing knowledge of BLS among primary and secondary school teachers in Hebron, Palestine.Methods: After approval from Institute Ethical Committee and informed consent from the participant, the present study was conducted among primary and secondary school teachers. A self-administered questionnaire based on knowledge and attitude of BLS was used to collect data.Results: In general, only 42.5%of school teachers knew about CPR, but 57.5% had no previous information about CPR. Sources of information about CPR included television (26.5%), nurses and Drs (25.8), and the Internet (18.7%). Approximately 53% agreed that CPR training courses should be mandatory. Only 18.1% of teachers didn’t know the contact numbers for emergency services.Conclusions: This study has highlighted a critical issue that a majority of school teachers have limited knowledge about CPR. We recommend the mandatory implementation of CPR and basic life-support training for all school teachers across Palestine, and the need for incorporation of the BLS teaching into the Palestinian schools’ curricula without delay.

Background: Cancer is a major public health problem globally. The incidence of cancer is escalating rapidly in many low- and middle-income countries like Palestine due to the epidemiological transition. This could be due to lack of awareness, knowledge and beliefs about breast cancer and its management among females. Aims and objectives was to determine knowledge of breast cancer risk factors, symptoms and early detection methods among Al-Quds University female students.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study conducted over a period of 6 months in Al-Quds University. Study population was 332 female university students. Data was collected by using self-administered questionnaire.Results: The most widely known risk factors by the students were old age 62.7%, followed by obesity 44% and never being pregnant 30.7%. Approximately half of the students (48.8%) identified breast lump as a symptom for breast cancer. However, non lump symptoms were less known and less than half were aware of other warning signs. Only 48.5 % of students identified correctly the appropriate time to perform breast self examination.Conclusions: The findings of this study showed a low level of knowledge on breast cancer risk factors, early warning signs and BSE among female university students. Therefore, effective educational programs are required to improve the knowledge level of university students regarding breast cancer and related practices.

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Healthcare workers have been working on the frontlines since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019. In Palestine Healthcare workers have been experiencing compounded stress given their preexisting limited access and resources as imposed by the Israeli colonial system and their management of the novel coronavirus. This study aimed to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on Palestinian healthcare workers’ mental health in relationship to various demographic variables that have been found to correlate to expressed distress in previous literature. Using brief online questionnaires, 596 healthcare workers from various professions rated their experiences of depression, anxiety and risk perception. Descriptive analysis was carried out to analyze the data. Our findings indicate that the overwhelming majority of our participants were experiencing depressive and anxious symptoms, with females, physicians, and less experienced Healthcare workers showing elevated levels of symptomology. It is recommended that psychological services be offered to healthcare workers in Palestine with specific emphasis on the identified risk factors.

Mistreatment of women during childbirth is a clear breach of women’s rights during childbirth. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and associated factors of mistreatment of women during childbirth in the north of West Bank, Palestine. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 269 women within the first 16 weeks of their last vaginal childbirth to understand the childbirth events by using proportionate stratified random sampling. An Arabic valid questionnaire was used as a study instrument. Simple and multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to determine the factors associated with each type of mistreatment. The mean age of the women was 26.5 (SD 4.77) years. The overall prevalence of mistreatment was 97.8%. There were six types of mistreatment. Nine factors were significantly associated with the occurrence of one or more types of mistreatment. Delivery at a public childbirth facility was associated with all of the six types (aAdjOR: 2.17–16.77; p-values < 0.001–0.013). Women who lived in villages (aAdjOR 2.33; p-value = 0.047), had low education (aAdjOR 5.09; p-value = 0.004), underwent induction of labour (aAdjOR 3.03; p-value = 0.001), had a long duration of labour (aAdjOR 1.10; p-value = 0.011), did not receive pain killers (aAdjOR: 2.18–3.63; p-values = 0.010–0.020), or had an episiotomy or tear (aAdjOR 5.98; p-value < 0.001) were more likely to experience one or more types of mistreatment. With every one-hour increase in the duration of labor, women were 1.099 times more likely to experience a failure to meet the professional standard of care. Women were less likely to experience mistreatment with increasing age. Women with increasing age (aAdjOR: 0.91–0.92; p-values = 0.003–0.014) and parity (aAdjOR 0.72; p-value = 0.010) were less likely to experience mistreatment. Awareness of women’s fundamental rights during childbirth, making the childbirth process as normal as possible, and improving the childbirth facilities’ conditions, policies, practices and working environment may decrease mistreatment occurrence.