Background: Health professionals play a key role in increasing the rate of biobanking participation. Here, we assessed the knowledge and attitude of health professionals in Eastern Morocco towards biobanks and their willingness to recruit patients into biobanks. Methods: A cross-sectional study carried out among health professionals working in various public and private health centers in Eastern Morocco. The data were obtained using a self-administered anonymous questionnaire. Results: 600 health professionals were included in the study. Only 37.5% of them had knowledge of biobanks. Associations analysis showed that among health professionals, physicians had more knowledge of biobanks (OR = 2.50, p = 0.000), and health professionals working at the University Hospital had more knowledge of biobanks compared to those working in the other participating health centers (p < 0.001). 82.9% of the participants were willing to donate their biological samples to biobanks, and 82.8% supported the recruitment of patients into biobanks. Conclusions: This study indicates that health professionals in Eastern Morocco showed a notable lack of knowledge about biobanks. However, the majority were willing to donate their own biospecimens and supported the recruitment of patients into biobanks. This study was a good opportunity to raise awareness among health professionals about the interest of biobanks in the development of biomedical research in Eastern Morocco.
Background: Health professionals have a major role in tobacco control efforts, as they are generally considered to be role models in communities. Nurses in particular, being usually the largest group of health care workers, are ideally placed to promote smoking cessation. The aim of this study was to assess tobacco use of nurses and their knowledge, attitudes and practice on tobacco control in the region of Fez in Morocco. Methods: A cross-sectional study focused on public practicing nurses, over a period of 2 months in 2009, in the university hospital and in the primary health care centres of the region of Fez in Morocco. Results: In total, 120 nurses participated in the study. Mean age was 42.2 years (11.8 years SD; from 22 to 64 years). There were 13.4% smokers, among whom 9.2% daily smokers. Men considered themselves better trained in tobacco cessation activities than women (84.8% vs. 60.0%, p = 0.02). Women considered the role of nurses in tobacco prevention as important, and were more convinced of the anti-tobacco effectiveness actions (90.0% vs. 52.1%, p < 0.001). No-smokers were significantly more convinced in general in the effectiveness of anti-tobacco measures, with a significant difference on interdicts to smoke in public places (20.0% vs. 3.1%, p = 0.03). Conclusion: Nurses in the region of Fez in Morocco would be motivated to contribute to tobacco control programs if they had appropriate resources. Their interest offers an important opportunity to strengthen their knowledge, attitudes and practices as smoking cessation supporters.
Background
This study, the first of its kind in Morocco, was conducted to compare the prevalence of growth disorders among children enrolled in public, private, urban, and rural schools in Oujda-Angad Province.
Methods
A cross-sectional observational study was conducted among primary schools in Oujda-Angad Province from November 2017 to April 2018, with a stratified random cluster sampling of public, private, urban, and rural primary schools.
Results
A representative sample of 1582 students aged from five to 15 years old was selected. The sample included 779 females (49.2%) and 803 males (50.8%), with an average age of 9.3 ± 1.96 years. The average weight of the students was 29.3 ± 9.6 kg (range: 12-130 kg), the average height was 133.7 ± 12.16 cm (range: 104.5-175.5 cm), and the mean body mass index (BMI) was 16.05 ± 3.31 kg/m
2
(range: 8.33-76.9 kg/m
2
). Overall, short stature (SS) and underweight were significantly more prevalent in the public and rural schools, while obesity was highest in the urban private schools that ranked as the schools with the highest socioeconomic status (SES) students (p < 0.01). Female students were more likely to be overweight and obese, while male students were more likely to be underweight.
Conclusion
Our study provides an estimate of the prevalence of excess weight, underweight, and short stature in a primary school population. Our results reflect the importance of the problem, the need to monitor the nutritional status at both the individual and the community level, and the need to put in place preventive, diagnostic, and early management strategies before the problem worsens.
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