Lancet
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In the mainstream literature, children exposed to political violence and armed conflicts are conventionally viewed as a vulnerable group, but we believe their coping abilities, survival skills, and agency are overlooked and underestimated. In this study, we challenged this traditional view by conceptualising agency as children's capacity to act and contribute to their own security, wellbeing, and development, and assessed its contribution in helping them adapt to and cope with challenging and traumatic living conditions. ⋯ None.
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The Palestinian Ministry of Health (MOH) developed the infection prevention and control (IPC) protocol in 2004 to control infection among dental health care providers in their interactions with clients, the community, and the environment. Adherence to the protocol has not previously been reported. We compared compliance of dental health-care providers with the IPC protocol and in MOH and United Nations Relief and Work Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) clinics and assessed factors affecting adherence. ⋯ None.
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Oral health is an essential component of general health. Oral diseases have a negative social impact and adverse consequences on quality of life, while their treatment places considerable economic burden on individuals, communities, and countries. As diabetes can have oral implications, this study aimed to assess oral health problems among patients with type 2 diabetes attending UNRWA health centres in Gaza governorates. ⋯ None.
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In low-income and middle-income countries, road traffic injuries (RTIs) are commonly under-reported. In this study I estimated the incidence of RTIs and RTI deaths in Gaza Strip using the capture-recapture method. ⋯ None.
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Achieving universal health coverage (UHC) has recently received attention in response to calls from international organisations to expand health coverage to hard-to-reach segments of the population (eg, informal workers, and unemployed and poor people). Despite the strong commitment to achieving UHC, its implementation continues to spark vigorous debate among policy makers, scholars, and the international health community. Much of the recent debate has focused on the macro-fiscal challenges that many developing countries face in implementing and sustaining UHC-oriented reforms, and there has also been debate in relation to challenges of the micro-behavioural sphere (at the level of the individual). Some of these challenges pertain to the structure of the labour market in developing countries, which is characterised by the large size of non-contributory segments of the population, mainly informal workers and unemployed individuals. This raises the important policy questions of the feasibility of expanding health coverage to the informal sector and the unemployed on a contributory basis. ⋯ The A*MIDEX project (number ANR-11-IDEX-0001-02).