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Background From the 2011 Palestinian Center Bureau of Statistics, disability is defined as long-term physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairment that can hinder full and effective participation in society; disability among elderly people has become a major public health concern in recent years. More than 1 billion people live with disability worldwide. In the occupied Palestinian territory, disability in elderly people is still not well understood. This study aims to assess the prevalence of disability among Palestinians aged 50 years or older and associated factors. Methods Data were obtained from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics Disability-Survey of 2011, representing the Palestinian population. People aged 50 years or older were selected. We gathered descriptive statistics and used multivariate binary logistic regression to check for confounders. Data were analysed with SPSS17 software. Findings The total sample size was 8747 people aged 50 years or older. 71% of those had no disability and the remaining 29% reportedly had at least one disability, of which 53% represented problems with mobility, 26% vision, 11% hearing, 7% memory, 1% mental health, 1% communication, and 1% intellectual. Men were less likely to be disabled than women (odds ratio [OR] 0•75, 95% CI 0•64-0•89, p=0•001). The level of disability increased at age 70 and older (OR 1•96, 95% CI 1•67-2•31). The percentage of disabled elderly people increased among those who could not read compared with those educated (OR 2•93, 95% CI 2•36-3•63); decreased in those with large families compared with families of fewer than three people (for families of three to six people, OR 0•73, 95% CI 0•63-0•84; for families of seven to 27 people, 0•59, 0•50-0•70); increased in refugees compared with non-refugees (OR 1•26, 95% CI 1•07-1•47, p=0•005); increased in non-workers compared with workers (OR 2•96, 95% CI 2•50-3•49); and increased in those widowed and divorced compared with people who were married (OR 1•25, 95% CI 1•07-1•47, p=0•005). Compared with the centre of the West Bank, the number of people with disability was highest in the Gaza Strip (OR 2•23, 95% CI 1•89-2•63), followed by north West Bank (OR 2•60, 95% CI 2•22-3•05), and south West Bank (OR 1•95, 95% CI 1•63-2•33). Interpretation Disability is more prevalent in women, those not educated, refugees, non-workers, widowed and divorced individuals, and people in Gaza. Further investigations are needed to establish the main causes of disability in the occupied Palestinian territory, and associated factors. Funding None. Contributors JJBJ participated in the method, data analysis, interpretation, conclusion, writing, and overall work integration. NAYH participated in the introduction, data analysis, and in writing. LSAZ participated in data analysis. AA-MS participated in Abstract conclusion. RGh participated in data analysis, conclusion, and interpretation. RGi supervised all the work. All authors approved the final version of the Abstract for publication. Declaration of interests We d...

Background Adolescents’ consumption of fruits and vegetables is inadequate in most Arab countries, leading to a higher risk of poor health outcomes. This systematic review evaluates fruits and vegetables intake among adolescents in Arab countries, the proportion of adolescents meeting the dietary guidelines in these countries, and the dietary assessment tools used to assess fruits and vegetables intake. Methods Four databases were searched, MEDLINE, PUBMED, EMBASE, and Web of Science. Studies were eligible if they reported fruit or vegetable consumption among adolescents aged 10 to 19 in 22 Arab countries. The risk of bias in the included studies was assessed by two reviewers independently using the risk of bias tool developed by Hoy et al. Data were extracted and synthesized into three categories; frequency of fruits and vegetables consumption, mean fruits and vegetables consumption, and percentage of adolescents meeting fruits and vegetables consumption recommendations. Results The review included 44 articles utilizing 41 cross-sectional studies. Most studies were school-based, and data was collected from both males and females using self-administered questionnaires. Of those, validated questionnaires were used in 28 studies. According to the World Health Organization recommendation, most studies defined five fruits and vegetables servings as the adequacy cutoff point; other definitions were used in some studies. The reported mean consumption ranged between 6.1 times per week and 4.5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. The proportion of those who met the recommendations of eating five servings per day ranged between 10 and 29%. Fruits were shown to have a lower daily intake than vegetables (4.2 to 53.7% for fruits and 7.8 to 66.3% for vegetables). Discussion This review indicated inadequate fruits and vegetables consumption among adolescents in Arab countries and highlighted an increased risk of non-communicable diseases and malnutrition prevalence. A limitation was the incomparability of available data between countries. Further in-depth research on the core reasons behind adolescents’ inadequacy in fruits and vegetables consumption is recommended.

Background Mistreatment of women during facility-based childbirth has become a significant public health issue globally and is gaining worldwide attention. This systematic review of quantitative studies aimed to estimate the prevalence of mistreatment women may experience throughout the birthing process in health facilities in Arab countries. The review also aimed to identify the types of mistreatment, terminology, tools, and methods used to address this topic. Methodology The search was conducted using three electronic databases: “PubMed,” “Embase,” and “CINAHL” in May 2020. Studies meeting the inclusion criteria were included and assessed for risk of bias. The analysis was conducted based on the evidence-based typology developed by Bohren et al. as a guide to try to estimate the prevalence of mistreatment. Results Eleven studies out of 174 were included. The included studies belonged to only seven Arab countries out of 22 Arab countries. The mistreatment of women during childbirth is still new in the region. Searching within the included studies yielded diverse and indirect terms that were a proxy for the word mistreatment. These terms were not comprehensive to cover different aspects of the topic. The tools that were used to measure the terms widely varied.. Moreover, it was not possible to estimate the prevalence of mistreatment of women due to high heterogeneity among the 11 studies. Conclusion The topic of mistreatment of women in Arab countries was not adequately addressed in the studies included in this review. More research on this topic is recommended due to its importance in improving maternal health in the region. However, a standardized and comprehensive terminology for mistreatment of women, a standardized tool, and a standardized methodology are recommended to enable comparability between results and allow pooling to estimate the prevalence.