Karampourian Arezou, Ghomian Zohreh, Khorasani-Zavareh Davoud
Department of Health in Disasters and Emergencies, School of Public Health and Safety, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 198353-5511, Iran.
Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 198353-5511, Iran.
F1000Res. 2018 Sep 11;7:1448. doi: 10.12688/f1000research.15290.1. eCollection 2018.
Infectious diseases are common problems in mass gatherings, especially when there is a lack of health system preparedness. Since Iran is one of the most important countries on the walking path of Arbaeen and has a vital role in providing health services to pilgrims, the experiences of health challenges by participants is of key importance. The aim of this study is to explore stakeholders' experiences on the health system's preparedness and challenges, and to provide suggestions for preventing infectious diseases during the Arbaeen mass gathering. A qualitative research method was used with a conventional content analysis approach. The number of participants was 17, including 13 executive managers and 4 health policymakers who entered the study among participants. Semi-structured interviews were used to generate the data. Interviews were analyzed by means of content analysis after face-to-face interviews. Data analysis resulted in the extraction of four main themes and 11 sub-themes. Health infrastructure defects in Iraq has three sub-themes (health abandonment in Iraq, the weaknesses in health culture and problems related to the health system); poor control of the causative factors of infectious diseases has three sub-themes (the underlying factors of the prevalence of contagious diseases, health system response to communicable diseases and ignoring the risks of the Arbaeen ceremony); the low perception of risk in pilgrims has three sub-themes (lack of awareness in pilgrims, fatalism in pilgrims and unhygienic belief in pilgrims); and the ineffectiveness of health education has two sub-themes (training shortage in the targeted group and educational content problems) that shows participant's experiences of the health system's challenges for coping with infectious diseases during the Arbaeen ceremony. Pilgrim-based training, planning and controlling other challenges may change these threats to opportunities and improve the health of participants of the mass gathering of Arbaeen in the region.
传染病是大规模集会中的常见问题，尤其是在卫生系统准备不足的情况下。由于伊朗是阿巴因朝圣路线上最重要的国家之一，在为朝圣者提供卫生服务方面发挥着至关重要的作用，因此了解参与者面临的健康挑战经验至关重要。本研究的目的是探讨利益相关者对卫生系统准备情况和挑战的经验，并为在阿巴因大规模集会期间预防传染病提供建议。采用定性研究方法和传统内容分析法。参与者有17人，包括13名执行经理和4名卫生政策制定者，他们是从参与者中入选本研究的。使用半结构化访谈来收集数据。面对面访谈后，通过内容分析法对访谈进行分析。数据分析得出了四个主要主题和11个子主题。伊拉克的卫生基础设施缺陷有三个子主题（伊拉克的卫生遗弃、卫生文化的弱点以及与卫生系统相关的问题）；对传染病致病因素控制不力有三个子主题（传染病流行的潜在因素、卫生系统对传染病的应对以及对阿巴因仪式风险的忽视）；朝圣者对风险的认知较低有三个子主题（朝圣者缺乏意识、朝圣者的宿命论以及朝圣者的不卫生观念）；健康教育无效有两个子主题（目标群体培训不足和教育内容问题），这些都表明了参与者对卫生系统在阿巴因仪式期间应对传染病挑战的经验。以朝圣者为基础的培训、规划和应对其他挑战可能会将这些威胁转化为机遇，并改善该地区阿巴因大规模集会参与者的健康状况。
