Does published research on non-communicable disease (NCD) in Arab countries reflect NCD disease burden?

Sibai, Abla Mehio; Singh, Neil; Jabbour, Samer; Saleh, Shadi; Abdulrahim, Sawsan; Naja, Farah; Yazbek, Soha

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0178401

Cited by 19 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The status of the health-research system in the Arab world has been described previously in numerous areas of health such as dengue research [21], pharmaceutical wastewater research [57], integrative and complementary medicine research [58], toxicology research [59], tobacco smoking research [60], breast cancer research [61], and infectious disease research [62]. Health-research systems in the Arab world are perceived as being non-productive system due to low priority in national research funding levels and development planning [63][64][65]. Despite the health services have improved in some Arab countries especially those with oil-based economies, the performance and development of their health-research system are lower than expected [66].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arab world’s growing contribution to global leishmaniasis research (1998–2017): a bibliometric study

Al-Jabi

2019

BMC Public Health

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Background Leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease caused by a protozoan of the Leishmania genus, and is considered a neglected tropical disease. It still remains a main public health concern at global level and in Arab world mainly in low-income countries. Therefore, this study was designed to evaluate the Arab world’s growing contribution to global leishmaniasis research. Methods This study describes a bibliometric review of all leishmaniasis research publications published between January 1998 and December 2017 indexed on the Scopus database. Results The total number of publications published at global level was 17,570 papers, which achieves an average annual productivity of 878.50 papers publications. Brazil was responsible for the greatest output with the total number of publications of 3865 followed by the Unites States ( n = 2729), India ( n = 2119), the United Kingdom ( n = 1363), and Spain ( n = 1274). By limiting the analysis to the publications that have been published by Arab world, the research productivity was 993 papers, which represents 5.65% of total research output at global level in research regarding leishmaniasis. Tunisia was responsible for the greatest output from Arab world with the total number of publications of 297 followed by Sudan ( n = 192), Saudi Arabia ( n = 131), Morocco ( n = 119) and Egypt ( n = 67). Since 1998, the growth of publications on leishmaniasis fluctuates, overall showing a rising trend in both global and Arab world. There is a highly significant correlation between publication productivity related to leishmaniasis at global level and the Arab world (r = 0.936; p -value< 0.001). Leishmaniasis treatment, intracellular mechanism of infection, and lifecycle of leishmania are the major current hot topics for the research in this subject at global level and the Arab world. Conclusions The current study presents a novel review of the current Arab leishmaniasis-related research, and how these results are related to worldwide output. In comparison to the global research output, the Arab world produced less leishmaniasis research. The data presented in the current study by this innovative approach may serve relevant researchers to direct the global leishmaniasis research to Arab counties in which leishmaniasis is endemic.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arab world’s growing contribution to global leishmaniasis research (1998–2017): a bibliometric study

Al-Jabi

2019

BMC Public Health

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“…A study on health research outputs in Palestine indicates the presence of a mismatch between the health burden of certain disease conditions and the number of published research reports on those diseases (82). Such discordance between research output and disease burden was also demonstrated in a study that covered research on noncommunicable diseases in seven Arab countries (68). These pioneering observations are enough reason to further explore the qualitative, organizational, and social characteristics of biomedical and health research in the EMR and how it is aligned with the major health priorities in the Region.…”

Section: Géographie De La Recherche En Biomédecine Et En Santé Dans Lmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…While the increase of biomedical and health research productivity in Egypt, Islamic Republic of Iran, and Saudi Arabia could be attributed to the considerable support for scientific and health research in these countries (68), the stagnant development of biomedical and health research in other parts of the EMR is attributed to the weak support to national health research systems in the Region (7), as well as to major socio-political instabilities that downplayed scientific endeavours in some of the most research-active countries.…”

Section: The Fragility Of Biomedical and Health Research In The Emrmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biomedical and health research geography in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Tadmouri¹,

Mandil²,

Rashidian³

2019

East Mediterr Health J

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Background: Measuring scientific outputs allows for objective evaluation of established health research systems and ranking countries according to scientific achievements. To our knowledge, attempts for systematic mapping health research output in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) are limited. Aims: We aimed to conduct a detailed bibliometric analysis of EMR biomedical and health research productivity during the period 2004-2013, considering country of first author. Methods: We applied an improved PubMed search strategy to obtain precise data on EMR research productivity, limiting articles to reviews, original research and case reports. Data were normalized to global research output, represented by total articles indexed in PubMed per year from 2004-2013, according to population size of each country. Second order polynomial trend lines were calculated and comparing 5-year periods: Results: Inspecting overall raw data, a clear increasing trend is observed. Regional share of global health related research ranged from 0.85-2.36% of total PubMed indexed publications during the study period. Five countries contributed to 80% of all published articles during study period; i.e., Islamic Republic of Iran (39%), Egypt (14%), Saudi Arabia (11%), Tunisia, and Pakistan (8% each). Overall, 2.35 articles are published per 100 000 population per year. While Kuwait maintained the highest per capita publication (followed by Tunisia, Lebanon, Qatar and Islamic Republic of Iran), Qatar, Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia demonstrated the highest "per capita" population growth in publications. Three academic institutions accounted for over 10% of all publications that were led by an investigator from the Region. Collectively, most prolific 25 EMR institutions published 44% of all published biomedical and health research in the EMR. Conclusions: The overall global share of EMR health research publication is smaller than its global share of population or wealth. Biomedical and health research needs greater encouragement and supporting many EMR countries and/or institutions, especially those found to be least prolific in our analysis. The increase in academic publication on health has been more prominent in a few countries only. It is anticipated that the concentration of biomedical and health research in EMR academic institutions would help in translating knowledge into public health outcomes, if more suitable conditions are provided.

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“…There is a growing epidemiological literature on NCDs in the Middle East, North Africa, and Turkey [5,29,30] which highlights regional characteristics of this global problem, as well as the related challenge for national health systems [31,32]. Some of this evidence stems from our own research in MedCHAMPS: in particular from comparative country-level analyses of epidemiological data, which depict more heterogeneous trends [6,27] than is apparent from recent Global Burden of Disease (GBD) studies of cardiovascular risk factor trends across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region [33].…”

Section: Context and Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Context-led capacity building in time of crisis: fostering non-communicable diseases (NCD) research skills in the Mediterranean Middle East and North Africa

Phillimore

Sibai

Rizk

et al. 2019

Global Health Action

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Background: This paper examines one EC-funded multinational project (RESCAP-MED), with a focus on research capacity building (RCB) concerning non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the Mediterranean Middle East and North Africa. By the project’s end (2015), the entire region was engulfed in crisis.Objective: Designed before this crisis developed in 2011, the primary purpose of RESCAP-MED was to foster methodological skills needed to conduct multi-disciplinary research on NCDs and their social determinants. RESCAP-MED also sought to consolidate regional networks for future collaboration, and to boost existing regional policy engagement in the region on the NCD challenge. This analysis examines the scope and sustainability of RCB conducted in a context of intensifying political turmoil.Methods: RESCAP-MED linked two sets of activities. The first was a framework for training early- and mid-career researchers through discipline-based and writing workshops, plus short fellowships for sustained mentoring. The second integrated public-facing activities designed to raise the profile of the NCD burden in the region, and its implications for policymakers at national level. Key to this were two conferences to showcase regional research on NCDs, and the development of an e-learning resource (NETPH).Results: Seven discipline-based workshops (with 113 participants) and 6 workshops to develop writing skills (84 participants) were held, with 18 fellowship visits. The 2 symposia in Istanbul and Beirut attracted 280 participants. Yet the developing political crisis tagged each activity with a series of logistical challenges, none of which was initially envisaged. The immediacy of the crisis inevitably deflected from policy attention to the challenges of NCDs.Conclusions: This programme to strengthen research capacity for one priority area of global public health took place as a narrow window of political opportunity was closing. The key lessons concern issues of sustainability and the paramount importance of responsively shaping a context-driven RCB.

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Does published research on non-communicable disease (NCD) in Arab countries reflect NCD disease burden?

Cited by 19 publications

References 22 publications

Arab world’s growing contribution to global leishmaniasis research (1998–2017): a bibliometric study

Arab world’s growing contribution to global leishmaniasis research (1998–2017): a bibliometric study

Biomedical and health research geography in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Context-led capacity building in time of crisis: fostering non-communicable diseases (NCD) research skills in the Mediterranean Middle East and North Africa

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