BACKGROUND: Since first confirmed case of coronavirus disease (COVID)-19 in December 2019 by Chinese health authorities and subsequent World Health Organization (WHO) declaration that COVID-19 is a global public health crisis, radical changes have occurred all over the world associating massive lockdown with increased numbers of infected cases and related mortalities. As health care workers (HCWs) are at a great risk to get COVID-19 infection and hence can be a dangerous source of spreading it to the community, it was important to assess HCWs knowledge, attitude, and practice toward COVID-19 infection prevention and control (IPC) to help limit the outcomes of COVID-19. AIM: The objectives of the study were to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of physicians regarding COVID-19 IPC. METHODS: Research setting is “Kasr Al-Ainy” Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University Hospital. Design: A cross-sectional analytical observational hospital-based research in June 2020. Population: A convenient sample of 50 physicians working at Cairo University Hospital was included. Data collection: Self-administered questionnaires derived from the WHO IPC guide during health care when COVID-19 is suspected were used. RESULTS: Mean age of studied group was 30.5 ± 3.97, while their mean years of practice were 4.7 ± 3.55. Mean knowledge score among physicians was 5.6 (± 0.56), two-thirds of them had sufficient knowledge regarding COVID-19 IPC as their mean attitude score among 24.9 (± 2.8). While mean practice scores 5.6 (± 1.05), yet only 68% of the participating physicians use a new set of personal protective equipment when care is given to a different patient. CONCLUSION: Physician’s moderate knowledge, poor attitude, and modest practice toward COVID-19 IPC were found to be not sufficient, not favorable nor safe enough to expected standards.

Background: In Egypt, primary healthcare workers (PHCWs) often work in challenging situations and in relative isolation from the health system and specialists' experiences. Supervision is currently applied by PHCWs to present practice, control and upgrade knowledge and skills. Objectives: To assess the current supervision system in the Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) at the central, governorate, district, and primary healthcare (PHC) facility levels. Methods: The research setting is the MOHP-PHC head quarter (HQ) and five governorates. Design: Cross-sectional analytical observational health system research qualitative and quantitative study of Egyptian health service and operations. Sampling: The multistage sampling technique was used to select districts (n ¼ 25) units (n ¼ 250), physicians (n ¼ 250), and nurses (n ¼ 250) from five randomly selected governorates that represent four Egypt regions. Data collection: Focus group discussions (FGDs) and selfadministered questionnaires. Results: Response rate to questionnaires were in total 73% (67% for physicians and 80% for nurses). FGDs demonstrated that PHC has an effective supervision system at central, governorate, and district levels. The effective supervision allowed overcoming barriers related to the shortage in PHCWs needed to cover 5364 PHC units in addition to mobile clinics. Supervisors use a standardized

Background: Non Communicable Diseases is intensely linked with overweight and obesity.The shifting disease pattern has been attributed to nutrition transition and poor exercise. This study was conducted to identify the dietary consumption patterns, assessing obesity among medical students and its predictors. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 350 fourth year medical students in a university setting. Dietary patterns were assessed using self administered questionnaire based on United States Department of Health and Human Services and United States Department of Agriculture dietary guidelines for Americans 2015-2020. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated by the researchers. Results: The prevalence of overweight and obesity was 32% and 9% respectively, among the participants. Unfortunately, 29.1% of the studied group were found to have low level of exercise. Intakes of fruits, and vegetables were low, while intakes of sweets and carbonated drinks were high. There was a significant higher percent of obesity among students who practice low level of physical activity (P < 0.05). Also the study revealed by logistic regression analysis that male students were more than 2 times more likely to be obese than female students (Odd's Ratio = 2.16).ConclusionThe prevalence of obesity was 9% among the studied group. Students were found to practice unhealthy dietary and lifestyle habits which had significant effects on their Body Mass Index levels.

Background: Egypt's Ministry of Health and Population (MOHP) has 5364 Family Medicine Facilities (FMF) encompassing family folders (FF) with detailed medical information about family members. However, there is no health information system at the facility level to provide community morbidity statistics, especially about chronic communicable and noncommunicable diseases (NCD). Objectives: Develop statistical module centering on the risk factors associated with chronic diseases among families encompassed in family center folders. Methods: The study was done in a Family Medicine Center (FMC) in Giza. A sample of 2169 FFs forming 54% of the total available FFs in this center was selected by systematic random sampling technique. A software excel program was designed to include 8 sheets to integrate the data registered in 16 forms distributed in 32 pages with subsequent analysis of these data on chronic diseases. Results: The collected data were about 10477 individuals in 2169 FFs. The proportions of individuals diagnosed with chronic diseases were as follows: 51.9% diagnosed with diabetes mellitus, 26.2% with hypertension, 6% with cardiac diseases, 3.7% with renal diseases, 3.4% with psychological disorders, 2.1% with epilepsy, 1.3% with neurological disorders, 1.2% with liver diseases, 1.1% with blood diseases, 0.9% with asthma, 0.3% with bone diseases, 0.2% with skin diseases, and 1.8% with tuberculosis. There were statistically significant differences (p< 0.01) between the proportion of cases in terms of crowding index, age, sex, education, work status, and habits. Conclusion: The study provided a module of 8 forms including data from 32 pages of the family folders. This module allows the statistical analysis of the risk factors associated with chronic diseases among families registered in the FMF. Scaling up of this module across FMFs could guide service providers to support the at-risk families.