OBJECTIVE To determine the acceptability of porcine and bovine surgical implants among persons of Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu faiths whose beliefs prohibit them from consuming porcine and bovine products. DATA SOURCES An evaluation of current literature concerning religious beliefs among persons of Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu faiths was undertaken to determine if animal-derived surgical implants ...

OBJECTIVE District policies were recently put into place in Indonesia prohibiting smoking in public spaces. This study sought to (1) assess participants' general knowledge of secondhand smoke (SHS) dangers; (2) assess participants' awareness of and specific knowledge of smoke-free (SF) policies; and (3) assess the extent to which such policies are socially enforced and gather examples of succes...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to determine the role of community participation in prevention of dengue fever in The Swat district located in the Northern area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan, which experienced a dengue fever outbreak in August, 2013. A total number of 8,963 dengue cases with 0.4% case fatality ratio were registered during the outbreak. METHODS A sample size of 354 resp...

Use of elemental mercury in certain cultural and religious practices can cause high exposures to mercury vapor. Uses include sprinkling mercury on the floor of a home or car, burning it in a candle, and mixing it with perfume. Some uses can produce indoor air mercury concentrations one or two orders of magnitude above occupational exposure limits. Exposures resulting from other uses, such as in...

Bioethics and health researchers often turn to Islamic jurisconsults (fuqahā’ ) and their verdicts (fatāwā) to understand how Islam and health intersect. Yet when using fatwā to promote health behavior change, researchers have often found less than ideal results. In this article we examine several health behavior change interventions that partnered with Muslim religious leaders aiming at promot...

The Swiss Council of Religions decisively rejects the Minaret Initiative. The Council, which consists of leaders from the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities, is dedicated to protecting religious peace in Switzerland and to strengthening trust among the churches and religious communities. The Minaret Initiative would bring about just the opposite. It instrumentalizes religion for politica...

Considering the need of training for community and religious leaders to deal with alcohol and other drugassociated problems, a distance learning course named Faith in Prevention was developed and offered to 10,000 Brazilian religious and community leaders. We used the following indicators to assess the course’s effectiveness: participant interest in the course, performance of the proposed activ...

BACKGROUND Male circumcision is being widely deployed as an HIV prevention strategy in countries with high HIV incidence, but its uptake in sub-Saharan Africa has been below targets. We did a study to establish whether educating religious leaders about male circumcision would increase uptake in their village. METHODS In this cluster randomised trial in northwest Tanzania, eligible villages we...