EVALUATING PERCEPTIONS OF HEALTH RISK DURING THE HAJJ: SIGNIFICANCE OF PRE-TRAVEL COUNSELLING AND COMPLIANCE WITH PREVENTIVE HEALTH INTERVENTIONS
Main Article Content
Keywords
Abstract
At Mecca, more than two million individuals congregate annually to perform the Hajj pilgrimage. This poses a threat to the public health of both Saudi Arabia and the country of origin of the pilgrims. The objective of this research was to assess the pilgrims' risk perception and the origin of health counselling services. A cross-sectional survey of internal and external pilgrims performing the Hajj was employed as the research methodology. The survey assesses the efficacy of preventative health measures, the sources of pre-travel health counselling, the recommended preventative health measures, and the factors that influence public health safety at Hajj. The survey was filled out by 233 pilgrims representing 28 distinct countries in total. A preponderance of respondents (94%) held the belief that the Hajj was secure to partake in, whereas 88% sought pretravel health counselling. Pre-travel health advice was predominantly obtained from medical personnel (25.6%) and fellow pilgrims (18.9%), according to the survey results. 79% of the respondents identified negligence and diversity as the primary factors compromising public health and safety during the Hajj, respectively. The most and least adopted recommended public health measures, respectively, were yellow fever (50 percent) and face mask use (24 percent), whereas the majority of pilgrims (59 percent) believed that handwashing and face mask use are the most effective preventative health measures (51%). Conclusion: Our research demonstrates that prospective pilgrims have a diminished perception of the health hazards associated with the Hajj. This underscores the necessity for enhancing the dissemination of information regarding preventive health measures to pilgrims. The discrepancy between the adherence of pilgrims to recommended preventative health measures and those actually implemented underscores the necessity for a comprehensive enforcement programme supported by the Saudi Ministry of Health (MoH).
Downloads
References
1. Alexander DE. How to write an emergency plan. Dunedin Academic Press Ltd 2016; 1(4):215-24. 2. Shujaa A, Alhamid S. Health response to Hajj mass gathering from emergency perspective, narrative review. Turk J Emerg Med 2015; 15(4): 172-76. 3. Salamati P, Rahimi-Movaghar V. Hajj stampede in Mina, 2015: Need for intervention. Arch Trauma Res 2016; 5(2): e36308. 4. Yasin R, Jauhar J, Abdul Rahim NF. COVID-19 and Religious Tourism: An overview of impacts and implications, Int J Religious Tourism and Pilgrimages 2019; 8(7):155-62. 5. Wynberg E, Toner S, Wendt JK, et al. Business travelers’ risk perception of infectious diseases: Where are the knowledge gaps, and how serious are they?. Journal of Travel Medicine 2013; 20(1):11-6. 6. Badahdah AM, Alfelali M, Alqahtani AS, et al. Mandatory meningococcal vaccine, and other recommended immunizations: Uptake, barriers, and facilitators among health care workers and trainees at Hajj. World journal of clinical cases 2018; 6(16):1128. 7. Setia MS. Methodology series module 3: Cross-sectional studies. Indian journal of dermatology 2016; 61(3):261-264. 8. Ahmed QA, Arabi YM, Memish ZA. Health risks at the Hajj. The Lancet 2006; 367(9515):1008-1015. 9. Memis ZA. The emergence of medicine for mass gatherings: lessons from the Hajj. Lancet Infect Dis 2012; 12(1):56-65. 10. Khan K, Ziad A, Aneesh C, et al. Global public health implications of a mass gathering in Mecca, Saudi Arabia during the midst of an influenza pandemic. J Travel Med 2010; 17(2): 75-81. 11. Shujaa AS. Alhamid, Health response to Hajj mass gathering from emergency perspective, narrative review. Turkish j emergency medi 2016; 15(4):172-176. 12. Abdo-Salem S, Annelise Tran, Vladimir Grosbois, et al. Can environmental and socioeconomic factors explain the recent emergence of Rift Valley fever in Yemen, 2000-2001? Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis 2011; 11(6):773-779. 13. Ghaznawi HI, Ibrahim MA. Heat stroke and heat exhaustion in pilgrims performing the Haj (annual pilgrimage) in Saudi Arabia. Annals of Saudi Medicine 1987; 7(4):323-326. 14. Al-Ghamdi SM. The pattern of admission to hospitals during Muslim pilgrimage (Hajj). Saudi Med J, 2003. 24(10):1073-1076. 15. Alqahtani AS, Kerrie E Wiley, Mohamed Tashani, et al. Exploring barriers to and facilitators of preventive measures against infectious diseases among Australian Hajj pilgrims: Cross-sectional studies before and after Hajj. Int J Infect Dis 2016; 47:53-59. 16. Alqahtani AS, Althimiri NA, BinDhim. Saudi Hajj pilgrims’ preparation and uptake of health preventive measures during Hajj 2017. J Infect Public Health 2019; 12(6):772-776. 17. Turkestani A, M Balahmar, Adel Ibrahim, et al. Using health educators to improve knowledge of healthy behavior among Hajj 1432 (2011) pilgrims. East Medi- terr Health J 2013; 19(2):09-12. 18. Memish ZA, Abdullah MA, Raheela H, et al. Detection of respiratory viruses among pilgrims in Saudi Arabia during the time of a declared influenza A(H1N1) Pan- demic. J Travel Med, 2011; 19(1):15-21. 19. Page SA. Distribution of influenza virus during Hajj season 1426 Hijra (2005 G). Saudi Epidemiology Bul- letin 2006; 13(2). 20. Aldossari M, Aljoudi A, Celentano D. Health issues in the Hajj pilgrimage: A literature review. East Mediterr Health J. 2019; 25(10):744-53. 21. Hussain M, Galvin HD, Haw TY, et al. Drug resistance in influenza A virus: The epidemiology and management. Infection and drug resistance 2017; 10:121-134. 22. Al-Asmary S, Abdul-Salam Al-Shehri, Alaa Abou- Zeid, et al. Acute respiratory tract infections among Hajj medical mission personnel, Saudi Arabia. Int J In- fect Dis 2007; 11(3): 268-72. 23. Alqahtani JS, Mendes RG, Aldhahir A, et al. Global current practices of ventilatory support management in COVID-19 Patients: An International Survey. J Multidiscip Healthc 2020; 13:1635-48. 24. Alqahtani JS, Oyelade T, Aldhahir AM, et al. Re- duction in hospitalized COPD exacerbations during COVID-19: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One 2021; 16(8): e0255659. 25. Alqahtani JS, Tope Oyelade, Abdulelah M. Aldhahir, et al. Prevalence, severity and mortality associated with COPD and Smoking in patients with COVID-19: A rapid systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS One 2020; 15(5): e0233147. 26. Oyelade T, J Alqahtani, G Canciani. Prognosis of COVID-19 in patients with liver and kidney diseases: an early systematic review and meta-analysis. Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease 2020; 5(2):80.
Article Sidebar
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Transfer of Copyright and Permission to Reproduce Parts of Published Papers.
Authors retain the copyright for their published work. No formal permission will be required to reproduce parts (tables or illustrations) of published papers, provided the source is quoted appropriately and reproduction has no commercial intent. Reproductions with commercial intent will require written permission and payment of royalties.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.