A Survey of the Healthcare Workers in Afghanistan during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Nemat, Arash; Asady, Abdullah; Raufi, Nahid; Zaki, Naqeebullah; Ehsan, Ehsanullah; Noor, Noor Ahmad Shah; Zeng, Qingchun

doi:10.4269/ajtmh.20-1367

Cited by 23 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…7 Very likely the actual figures may exceed those reported. 6 The best way to control the spread, and socioeconomic consequences at any level of any infectious disease for which there is not effective treatment to mitigate its burden, is to have an effective vaccine to deactivate it. 8 Having a safe vaccine at hand will alleviate the sufferings associated with communicable diseases and enable people to regain normalcy in their lives.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Willingness and Hesitancy to Take the COVID-19 Vaccine in Afghanistan

Nemat

Bahez

Salih

et al. 2021

The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

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COVID-19 has been causing a global threat to almost all countries for more than one year. Vaccination of the majority of any country’s population is considered to be an effective way of controlling the spread and mortality of this infection. Therefore, it is important to assess the public’s willingness to be vaccinated against COVID-19. In this study, we evaluated the public willingness and hesitancy to take the vaccine in Afghanistan, during December 2020 and January 2021. Sociodemographic data, awareness on vaccine production, vaccine availability, willingness and hesitancy to take the COVID-19 vaccine were collected. The Statistical Package for Social Studies (SPSS) version 25 was used for data analysis. A total of 806 complete responses were received. Majority of the respondents were ≤ 40 years old (89.8%) and male (72.7%). Less than two-thirds (509; 63%) of the participants reported willingness to take the vaccine when it becomes available, whereas almost one-third (297; 37%) of them were hesitant to take the COVID-19 vaccine. More female than male respondents were willing to take the vaccine (χ2 = 13.176, P value = 0.001). A significant portion of the public were not willing to take the COVID-19 vaccine. In a country like Afghanistan, which already has a low coverage of vaccination, this could pose a challenge for the vaccination program against COVID-19 to be effective. The Ministry of Public Health should work on public trust and change people’s mindset about vaccine reality and efficacy to prevent the rejection of this health intervention.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Willingness and Hesitancy to Take the COVID-19 Vaccine in Afghanistan

Nemat

Bahez

Salih

et al. 2021

The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene

Self Cite

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“…The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) Afghanistan conducted a survey during the first wave of COVID-19 to investigate the spread of the infection and estimated that around 10 million people might have been infected by the COVID-19 in the country. 5 This indicates that the official reports are lower than the actual infection rates. On May 3, 2021, MoPH announced the beginning of the third wave of COVID-19 in the country, 6 and it was predicted that the infection will reach its peak during 10 subsequent days.…”

Section: Commentarymentioning

confidence: 97%

The Third Wave of the COVID-19 in Afghanistan: An Update on Challenges and Recommendations

Nemat¹,

Asady²

2021

JMDH

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The COVID-19 has spread to almost all countries since its emergence from Wuhan, China. Afghanistan has entered the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in May 2021. The county is bracing the third wave at a time when challenges like continuous conflict, illiteracy, poverty, inadequate healthcare personnel and service coverage, inadequate testing capacity, shortage of laboratory kits and reagents, lower public awareness and lower public trust on the government have brought it to its knees. All stakeholders including government, healthcare workers, civil societies, the public and the international community should combine their efforts to combat such a devastating situation. Although the inception of vaccination program against COVID-19 seems relieving, but it may take several months until a significant proportion of the people get vaccinated to reach the herd immunity. Thus, non-pharmaceutical intervention should be followed strictly. Moreover, awareness campaigns should also be continued to educate people and keep them supportive of the government plans and policies. Otherwise, the current wave may cause deadly consequences in such a complex situation.

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“…The healthcare workers are on the first line of the battle against the COVID-19 (Nemat et al, 2020). Thus, protecting them should be one of the top priorities in the fight.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Their contacts with patients can facilitate the spread of the virus (Jin et al, 2020). Moreso, healthcare workers are at highest risk of COVID-19 exposure and mortality due to work environment conditions, including personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages, insufficient staffing, and inadequate safety training and preparation amid the COVID-19 pandemic (Nemat et al, 2020). As of July 2020, the United Nations announced that over 1.4 million infections of COVID-19 are accounted for in healthcare workers, at least 10% of all cases.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In low-income countries, healthcare workers are more vulnerable to the devastating impact of COVID-19. Being away from home and facing the hardship of fighting COVID-19 place healthcare workers in dire situations (Nemat et al, 2020). The economic hardship is another major problem facing healthcare workers amid the pandemic (Kelley et al, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Willingness to Vaccinate against COVID-19 among Healthcare Workers: An Online Survey in 10 Countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Elhadi¹,

Mehanna²,

Adebisi³

et al. 2021

GJHS

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BACKGROUND: Willingness of healthcare workers to be vaccinated is an important factor to be considered for a successful COVID-19 vaccination programme. This study aims to understand the willingness of health workers to receive a COVID-19 vaccine and its associated concerns across 10 countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR). METHOD: A cross-sectional study was conducted in January 2021 among healthcare workers in EMR using an online survey. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS software package version 20.0. RESULTS: A total of 2806 health workers (physicians, nurses and pharmacists) completed and returned the informed consent along with the questionnaire electronically. More than half of the respondents (58.0%) were willing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, even if the vaccination is not mandatory for them. On the other hand, 25.7% of respondents were not willing to take COVID-19 vaccine while 16.3 % were undecided. The top three reasons for not willing to be vaccinated were unreliability of COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials (62.0%), fear of the side effects of the vaccine (45.3%), and that COVID-19 vaccine will not give immunity for a long period of time (23.1%). CONCLUSION: Overall, the study revealed suboptimal acceptance of COVID-19 vaccine among the respondents in the EMR. Significant refusal of COVID-19 vaccine among healthcare professionals can reverse hard-won progress in building public trust in vaccination program. The findings suggest the need to develop tailored strategies to address concerns identified in the study in order to ensure optimal vaccine acceptance among healthcare workers in the EMR.

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A Survey of the Healthcare Workers in Afghanistan during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Cited by 23 publications

References 3 publications

Public Willingness and Hesitancy to Take the COVID-19 Vaccine in Afghanistan

Public Willingness and Hesitancy to Take the COVID-19 Vaccine in Afghanistan

The Third Wave of the COVID-19 in Afghanistan: An Update on Challenges and Recommendations

Willingness to Vaccinate against COVID-19 among Healthcare Workers: An Online Survey in 10 Countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

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