: In United Arab Emirates (UAE), the pharmacovigilance (PV) program is in the stage

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Objective: The purpose of the current study to assess current attitude and knowledge of UAE population toward mental disorders, and to determine the stigma status of people with schizophrenia and depression.Methods: A represented sample of 430 participants was enrolled in the study. A descriptive qualitative survey was the study tool. The developed questionnaire was designed to be interview-administrated SPSS 24 used in data analysis. A correlation analysis was performed to test association. Oneway ANOVA and independent t-test were applied to determine which factors might affect the knowledge and attitude score. p<0.05 was considered significant. Results:The study findings revealed a high level of stigma among UAE population toward people with schizophrenia and depression. 62% (266) had negative attitude score while 38.1% (164) had positive attitude score. 67% of the participants believe that people with schizophrenia and depression are dangerous. 80% (343) had a good knowledge score while 20.2% (87) had poor knowledge score. Conclusion:The negative attitude confirms the importance of increasing mental health literacy. These findings highlight the need to implement national mental health policy to educate the public and reduce the stigma of mental disorders.

Objectives: This study was carried out to evaluate the level of knowledge of vitamin D deficiency (VDD) and to assess the factors affecting the knowledge score among female pharmacy and dentistry students in Ajman, UAE. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was conducted at Ajman University (AU) with a total of 390 pharmacy and dentistry students surveyed from October 2015 to February 2016. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 24. Correlation tests were used to determine the association between the knowledge scores and the sociodemographic data. In addition, the Chi-square test was included in the data analysis. p-value < 0.05 was considered as significant. Results: The majority of the participants were first year students in Ajman University and have a high level of knowledge about vitamin D deficiency. About forty-three percent (42.5%) were already diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency. 97.9% think that sunshine is an important source of vitamin D, while 92.6% are aware that healthy sun exposure depends on factors like time of the day, exposure duration, direct exposure and the necessity of exposing specific body parts to produce optimally vitamin D in the body. Still, the majority of the students (89.5%) spent most of their time indoors. Conclusion: Although AU pharmacy and dental students have sufficient knowledge about VDD, many are diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency or complain about its symptoms. Students have to implement strategies for the prevention or treatment of VDD. Students need to be encouraged to transfer classroom knowledge more efficiently to practice.

Objectives: This study investigated the practice towards vitamin D deficiency among female pharmacy and dentistry students in Ajman, UAE. Materials and Methods: The cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey was used in Ajman University with a total of 390 pharmacy and dentistry students surveyed from October 2015 to February 2016. The data analysis was conducted using SPSS version 24. Correlation tests were used to determine the association between the socio-demographic data and the practice towards VDD. Results: The majority of the participating students (63.3%) were studying in their first year at Ajman University. Forty-two percent of the participants were diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency. Sixty percent of the students feel often tired and 40.8% complain from having pain or weakness in muscles and bones. Although the majority of the participants (97.9%) were aware of the fact that sunlight is one of the main sources of vitamin D, 65.9% avoided sun exposure by covering themselves with cloths or sunscreen on daily basis. Only thirty-five percent of the participants exposed themselves more to the sun in summer and fall. Conclusions: Ajman University pharmacy and dental students have sufficient knowledge about vitamin D deficiency, but they lack the practice by exhibiting sun-avoidance behavior. Therefore, many are diagnosed with vitamin D deficiency or complain from related symptoms. Students need to be equipped with school and university level health education to promote safe sun exposure practice and sufficient intake of vitamin D from different sources.