OBJECTIVES The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is perceived to have limited HIV data. The objective of this study was to quantitatively characterise the progress in HIV research in this region since the discovery of the epidemic. METHODS Four indices were defined and implemented to measure the progress of HIV research using the PubMed, Embase, MENA HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Synthesis P...

Purpose Breast cancer is the most common cancer among females worldwide in general and in the Middle East and the North African region (MENA region) in particular. Management of breast cancer in the MENA region faces a lot of challenges, which include younger age at presentation, aggressive behaviour, lack of national breast screening programmes and lack of reliable data registries as well as s...

The Gram-negative encapsulated bacterium Neisseria meningitidis type A (MenA) is a major cause of meningitis in developing countries, especially in the sub-Saharan region of Africa. The development and manufacture of an efficient glycoconjugate vaccine against MenA is greatly hampered by the poor hydrolytic stability of its capsular polysaccharide, consisting of (1→6)-linked 2-acetamido-2-deoxy...

Although the HIV pandemic is witnessing a decline in the number of new infections in most regions of the world, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) has a rapidly growing HIV problem. While generating HIV data has been consistently increasing since 2005, MENA's contribution to the global HIV literature is just over 1% and the existing evidence often falls behind the academic standards. Sever...

The importance of restructuring and privatizing the financial sector has received renewed attention in the ongoing effort of revitalizing developing economies A growing research literature has underscored the importance of banking and the financial sector to economic growth. Several studies found positive relationship between financial sector development and levels of income and growth [Levine,...

There is an urgent need to build Research and Development (R&D) capacity for leishmaniasis and other neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in the Middle East and North Africa. The neglected tropical diseases are a group of 17 viral, bacterial, protozoan, and helminthic infections that often have high morbidity but low mortality, causing disabilities through their impact on child development and ed...

BACKGROUND Data describing the potential relationship between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and body mass index (BMI) are limited within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the distribution of BMI among subjects with COPD in the general population of the MENA region. METHODS This study was a subanalysis of the BREATHE study, a cross-sectional...

F rom the viewpoint of economic theories, total factor productivity (TFP) is the most important component that leads to economic growth and development. The main purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of knowledge-based economy on total factor productivity in the member countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. For this purpose, the panel data regression analysis ha...

AIMS Even though the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region had the highest comparative prevalence of diabetes in 2012, little is known about the nuances of diabetes risk and capacity to address the burdens. To provide a comprehensive overview, we reviewed the literature on diabetes in the MENA region. METHODS We conducted a systematic search in PubMed between January 1990 and January 201...