Medical Missions in 1419 H. Pilgrimage Season - Resources and Services

Ziady, Hany H.; Al-Hudaithy, Abdul-Aziz M.; Al-Zahrani, Mohammed A.

doi:10.21608/jhiph.2001.236138

Medical Missions in 1419 H. Pilgrimage Season - Resources and Services

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Community Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Egypt

² Formerly: Health Education Specialist, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia

³ Director of Health Education, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia

⁴ General Director of Preventive Health, Ministry of Health, Saudi Arabia

10.21608/jhiph.2001.236138

Abstract

The aims of this study were to study the human and non-human resources of the countries' medical missions in Makkah, in 1419 H. pilgrimage season, and to reveal the preventive health services provided to the pilgrims before leaving their native countries. Forty medical missions were visited, and their chiefs were interviewed to collect the required data using a specially prepared questionnaire. The results revealed that there was a very large variation in the human and non-human resources of the missions. There were significant positive correlations between the numbers of the pilgrims and the different components of human and non-human resources. It was found that nearly all countries vaccinated their pilgrims according to the requirements of the Saudi Ministry of Health. Most countries had some sort of physical examination and health education activities for the pilgrims before leaving their countries. It was recommended that the Saudi Ministry of Health should support the missions which have limited resources, that health education activities should be in the form of comprehensive programs, and that there should be an agreement on a standardized physical examination for the pilgrims.

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