The Challenges of the Malaria Elimination Program in the South East of Iran, a Qualitative Study
Background: Despite all the efforts made to control and eliminate malaria in Iran, this disease is still considered as a priority health problem in the South East of Iran. We aimed to determine the cultural obstacles which have prevented the elimination of malaria in this region. Method: This st...
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
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Tehran University of Medical Sciences
2018-10-01
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Series: | Journal of Arthropod-Borne Diseases |
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Online Access: | https://jad.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jad/article/view/1098 |
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author | Khodamorad Soofi Narges Khanjani Fatemeh Kamiabi |
author_facet | Khodamorad Soofi Narges Khanjani Fatemeh Kamiabi |
author_sort | Khodamorad Soofi |
collection | DOAJ |
description | Background: Despite all the efforts made to control and eliminate malaria in Iran, this disease is still considered as a priority health problem in the South East of Iran. We aimed to determine the cultural obstacles which have prevented the elimination of malaria in this region.
Method: This study was carried out through qualitative content analysis.
Purposeful sampling was done from people who had malaria or were involved with malaria patients in 2015, in Sarbaz City, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Eastern Iran. Data were collected through interviews using open questions and continued until data saturation.
Results: The most important barriers in malaria prevention was delay in visiting health centers, delay in diagnosis and treatment due to superstitious beliefs, lack of information about the disease, misdiagnosis and fake doctors. Other obstacles were lack of trust and cooperation with interventions offered by the health system, lack of proper use of the available facilities to prevent malaria and commuting in the high-risk neighbor countries.
Conclusion: Raising awareness in people, officials and health workers about malaria and preventive health interventions as well as health risks associated with fake doctors, following up and re-examination of peripheral blood smear in suspected cases, establishing malaria control stations in border areas and specific measures to refer immigrants and people crossing the border toward malaria diagnosis stations is suggested. |
first_indexed | 2024-12-21T05:46:20Z |
format | Article |
id | doaj.art-00ee6f9d59e64359a81bbccfa07206c0 |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 1735-7179 2322-2271 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-12-21T05:46:20Z |
publishDate | 2018-10-01 |
publisher | Tehran University of Medical Sciences |
record_format | Article |
series | Journal of Arthropod-Borne Diseases |
spelling | doaj.art-00ee6f9d59e64359a81bbccfa07206c02022-12-21T19:14:06ZengTehran University of Medical SciencesJournal of Arthropod-Borne Diseases1735-71792322-22712018-10-0113110.18502/jad.v13i1.9361098The Challenges of the Malaria Elimination Program in the South East of Iran, a Qualitative StudyKhodamorad Soofi0Narges Khanjani1Fatemeh Kamiabi2Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Faculty of Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, IranResearch Center for Environmental Health Engineering, School of Public Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, IranDepartment of Environmental Health and Medical Entomology, Faculty of Health, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, IranBackground: Despite all the efforts made to control and eliminate malaria in Iran, this disease is still considered as a priority health problem in the South East of Iran. We aimed to determine the cultural obstacles which have prevented the elimination of malaria in this region. Method: This study was carried out through qualitative content analysis. Purposeful sampling was done from people who had malaria or were involved with malaria patients in 2015, in Sarbaz City, Sistan and Baluchestan Province, Eastern Iran. Data were collected through interviews using open questions and continued until data saturation. Results: The most important barriers in malaria prevention was delay in visiting health centers, delay in diagnosis and treatment due to superstitious beliefs, lack of information about the disease, misdiagnosis and fake doctors. Other obstacles were lack of trust and cooperation with interventions offered by the health system, lack of proper use of the available facilities to prevent malaria and commuting in the high-risk neighbor countries. Conclusion: Raising awareness in people, officials and health workers about malaria and preventive health interventions as well as health risks associated with fake doctors, following up and re-examination of peripheral blood smear in suspected cases, establishing malaria control stations in border areas and specific measures to refer immigrants and people crossing the border toward malaria diagnosis stations is suggested.https://jad.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jad/article/view/1098MalariaEliminationChallengeIran |
spellingShingle | Khodamorad Soofi Narges Khanjani Fatemeh Kamiabi The Challenges of the Malaria Elimination Program in the South East of Iran, a Qualitative Study Journal of Arthropod-Borne Diseases Malaria Elimination Challenge Iran |
title | The Challenges of the Malaria Elimination Program in the South East of Iran, a Qualitative Study |
title_full | The Challenges of the Malaria Elimination Program in the South East of Iran, a Qualitative Study |
title_fullStr | The Challenges of the Malaria Elimination Program in the South East of Iran, a Qualitative Study |
title_full_unstemmed | The Challenges of the Malaria Elimination Program in the South East of Iran, a Qualitative Study |
title_short | The Challenges of the Malaria Elimination Program in the South East of Iran, a Qualitative Study |
title_sort | challenges of the malaria elimination program in the south east of iran a qualitative study |
topic | Malaria Elimination Challenge Iran |
url | https://jad.tums.ac.ir/index.php/jad/article/view/1098 |
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