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Set in the early days of the Syrian Civil War, cousins Kareem and Samira living in Massachusetts navigate the growing conflict in Syria, new friendships, and the use of art to express themselves.
Book
The Relationship Between Food Insecurity and Mental Health Among Syrians and Syrian Refugees Working in Agriculture During COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted vulnerable populations, such as internally displaced Syrians and Syrian refugees (SSRs) in Middle Eastern host countries, through a syndemic interplay of health, social, and economic challenges. Movement restrictions disrupted their livelihoods resulting in increased food insecurity. A mixed-methods approach was used to address the research question: “What is the relationship between Food Insecurity (FI), Mental Health (MH), and COVID-19 among displaced SSRs working in agriculture”? One hundred SSR participants working in agriculture were recruited from northern Syria and neighbouring countries to participate in a Household Survey. The survey data were analysed using correlation and regression analysis. Additionally, interviews with Household Survey researchers were conducted and thematically analysed. Increasing food insecurity was significantly correlated with worse mental health outcomes among SSR participants (rs = −0.24, p = 0.018). No moderation effects were found with COVID-19 measures or household responses to the pandemic. However, smaller food portions and storing food were positively correlated with poor mental health and food insecurity. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated food insecurity and mental health challenges among displaced Syrians and refugees, particularly during Ramadan in 2020, highlighting the compounded effects of overlapping crises and the need for further research into resilience strategies.
Journal Article
The ecology of plant ingredients, food heritage, and adaptation among Syrian, Afghan, and Egyptian Coptic diasporas in Northwestern Italy
Background
This study investigates how migration affects the culinary practices of Syrian, Afghan, and Egyptian Coptic communities living in Northwest Italy, specifically focusing on how these groups preserve, adapt, or abandon traditional foodways in a new socio-cultural environment. The objective is to understand the role of food in maintaining cultural identity and navigating integration in the host country.
Methods
Using a multidisciplinary approach, the research combines semi-structured interviews with 64 participants. Data were analyzed using SAS 9.4 and R 4.4.2. Descriptive and frequency analyses summarized demographic and food-related patterns, while Fisher’s exact tests and logistic regression assessed differences and predictors of traditional food maintenance. Qualitative data from interviews were thematically analyzed using an inductive approach, highlighting key themes such as adaptation, resilience, and cultural continuity.
Results
The findings reveal distinct culinary patterns shaped by each group’s cultural and ecological heritage, Syrian horticultural traditions, Afghan pastoral legacies, and the Coptic plant-based diet. While culinary resilience, adaptation, and loss occur across all groups, the extent varies. Influencing factors include ingredient availability, economic constraints, and levels of social integration. Age, gender, religion, and migration history further shape food behavior.
Conclusions
This research underscores the dynamic relationship between migration and food, highlighting how culinary practices serve as a site of both cultural preservation and adaptation in diaspora contexts.
Journal Article
Design and development of a speech recognition test: a study of typically-developing Persian-speaking children
Background
We designed and validated a speech recognition test for Persian-speaking children aged 36–71 months.
Methods
This project was a cross-sectional and methodological study. Different steps of test development, encompassing item generation, content validity, construct validity, and reliability, were used to develop the scale.
Results
The percentages of agreement among the experts’ answers concerning test characteristics were all greater than 88%. After this phase, 20 items were removed. In the second phase of content validity, 18 additional pictures were suggested to be removed by the experts. Finally, a test with 162 pictures was developed among which 120 corresponding words were presented orally (the remaining pictures were distractors). The Persian speech recognition test revealed an age difference in speech recognition for both ears (
p-value < 0.001
,
df = 5
). There was no significant association between sex and total score on the Persian speech recognition test for right ear (U = 3063,
p-
value = 0.092) and left ear (U = 3009,
p-value = 0.063
). Test-retest values were excellent for both ears (right ear:
r
= 0.97, left ear:
r
= 0.98),
p-value < 0.001
).
Conclusions
Given the findings in typically developing (TD) children, the Persian speech recognition test is valid and reliable. However, future studies are highly recommended to apply this test in hearing-impaired children.
Journal Article
Mental illness and help-seeking behaviours among Middle Eastern cultures: A systematic review and meta-synthesis of qualitative data
Western literature has long explored help-seeking behaviours related to mental health issues. However, this has been relatively neglected in the Middle East despite an increase in mental health needs in the region. The purpose of this review was to conduct a systematic review and qualitative meta-synthesis exploring help-seeking behaviours related to mental health issues in the Middle East.
We conducted a systematic review and meta-synthesis to gain a comprehensive overview of what is known about mental health and help-seeking behaviours in the Middle East from published qualitative research in the Middle Eastern region. A search of electronic databases (MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO and QScience) was carried out from inception to July 2022. The quality of the included studies was assessed using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme tool, and the review protocol was pre-registered with PROSPERO (Ref: CRD42022311494).
We identified 16 qualitative studies exploring mental health-seeking behaviours in Middle East countries. Facilitators and barriers to help-seeking were captured under six overarching themes. Across all studies, we identified negative attitudes towards seeking help for mental health issues, economic and structural barriers to accessing mental healthcare, and misconceptions surrounding religious beliefs, all of which had a critical role in impacting decisions to seek mental healthcare services. Many sought help from alternative sources, such as traditional healers or family members before consulting a healthcare professional. The role of the family and cultural norms was also identified as key contributors to people's help-seeking behaviours.
This meta-synthesis indicates the existence of many challenges surrounding mental health-seeking in the Middle East, including public and internalizing stigmas. This suggests an urgent need for an increase in psychoeducation and mental health awareness in the region.
Journal Article
Risk of long COVID and associated symptoms after acute SARS-COV-2 infection in ethnic minorities: A nationwide register-linked cohort study in Denmark
Ethnic minorities living in high-income countries have been disproportionately affected by Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in terms of infection rates, hospitalisations, and deaths; however, less is known about long COVID in these populations. Our aim was to examine the risk of long COVID and associated symptoms among ethnic minorities.
We used nationwide register-based cohort data on individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 aged ≥18 years (n = 2,287,175) between January 2020 and August 2022 in Denmark. We calculated the risk of long COVID diagnosis and long COVID symptoms among ethnic minorities compared with native Danes using multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression and logistic regression, respectively. Among individuals who were first time diagnosed with COVID-19 during the study period, 39,876 (1.7%) were hospitalised and 2,247,299 (98.3%) were nonhospitalised individuals. Of the diagnosed COVID-19 cases, 1,952,021 (85.3%) were native Danes and 335,154 (14.7%) were ethnic minorities. After adjustment for age, sex, civil status, education, family income, and Charlson comorbidity index, ethnic minorities from North Africa (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.41, 95% confidence interval [CI] [1.12,1.79], p = 0.003), Middle East (aHR 1.38, 95% CI [1.24,1.55], p < 0.001), Eastern Europe (aHR 1.35, 95% CI [1.22,1.49], p < 0.001), and Asia (aHR 1.23, 95% CI [1.09,1.40], p = 0.001) had significantly greater risk of long COVID diagnosis than native Danes. In the analysis by largest countries of origin, the greater risks of long COVID diagnosis were found in people of Iraqi origin (aHR 1.56, 95% CI [1.30,1.88], p < 0.001), people of Turkish origin (aHR 1.42, 95% CI [1.24,1.63], p < 0.001), and people of Somali origin (aHR 1.42, 95% CI [1.07,1.91], p = 0.016). A significant factor associated with an increased risk of long COVID diagnosis was COVID-19 hospitalisation. The risk of long COVID diagnosis among ethnic minorities was more pronounced between January 2020 and June 2021. Furthermore, the odds of reporting cardiopulmonary symptoms (including dyspnoea, cough, and chest pain) and any long COVID symptoms were higher among people of North African, Middle Eastern, Eastern European, and Asian origins than among native Danes in both unadjusted and adjusted models. Despite including the nationwide sample of individuals diagnosed with COVID-19, the precision of our estimates on long COVID was limited to the sample of patients with symptoms who had contacted the hospital.
Belonging to an ethnic minority group was significantly associated with an increased risk of long COVID, indicating the need to better understand long COVID drivers and address care and treatment strategies in these populations.
Journal Article
Entwined African and Asian genetic roots of medieval peoples of the Swahili coast
The urban peoples of the Swahili coast traded across eastern Africa and the Indian Ocean and were among the first practitioners of Islam among sub-Saharan people
1
,
2
. The extent to which these early interactions between Africans and non-Africans were accompanied by genetic exchange remains unknown. Here we report ancient DNA data for 80 individuals from 6 medieval and early modern (
ad
1250–1800) coastal towns and an inland town after
ad
1650. More than half of the DNA of many of the individuals from coastal towns originates from primarily female ancestors from Africa, with a large proportion—and occasionally more than half—of the DNA coming from Asian ancestors. The Asian ancestry includes components associated with Persia and India, with 80–90% of the Asian DNA originating from Persian men. Peoples of African and Asian origins began to mix by about
ad
1000, coinciding with the large-scale adoption of Islam. Before about
ad
1500, the Southwest Asian ancestry was mainly Persian-related, consistent with the narrative of the Kilwa Chronicle, the oldest history told by people of the Swahili coast
3
. After this time, the sources of DNA became increasingly Arabian, consistent with evidence of growing interactions with southern Arabia
4
. Subsequent interactions with Asian and African people further changed the ancestry of present-day people of the Swahili coast in relation to the medieval individuals whose DNA we sequenced.
Analysis of ancient human DNA from the Swahili coast reveals that predominantly African female ancestors and Asian male ancestors formed families after around
ad
1000 and lived in elite communities in coastal stone towns.
Journal Article
Yazidis in Iraq facing an uncertain future
Aside from the Yazidi Survivors Law and some other one-off grants, few services are aimed directly at Yazidis other than those provided by civil society groups. Donors are trying to help, such as the Japanese who are building an extension to increase the hospital's capacity, but a lot needs to be done”, she said. 80% of public infrastructure in Sinjar was destroyed and there are large gaps in staffing in the health facilities. Human rights groups are concerned about Iraq's decision to close UNITAD, the UN Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Daesh (ISIL) and are doubtful that Iraq will hold leaders of ISIL accountable.
Journal Article
Cognitive Difficulty in Middle Eastern and North African Adults Living in the United States Compared With Other Racial and Ethnic Categories, 2017–2021
Objectives. To estimate the odds of having cognitive difficulties among Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) American adults and compare these odds with those of White, Black, Hispanic/Latino, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN), and Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander adults nationally and in the 4 states with the largest MENA populations (California, New York, Michigan, and Texas) after adjusting for sociodemographic factors. Methods. We analyzed 2017–2021 American Community Survey data (aged ≥ 45 years; n = 7 284 988), comparing presence of cognitive difficulties by race/ethnicity. Results. MENA adults had greater odds of reporting cognitive difficulties than did White (odds ratio [OR] = 1.49; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.42, 1.56), Black (OR = 1.20; 95% CI = 1.14, 1.26), Hispanic (OR = 1.46; 95% CI = 1.39, 1.53), Asian (OR = 1.31; 95% CI = 1.25, 1.38), and AI/AN (OR = 1.07; 95% CI = 1.01, 1.14) adults. In all 4 states, odds of having cognitive difficulties were higher among MENA than Asian adults. Other racial/ethnic comparisons differed by state. Conclusions. A separate checkbox for MENA Americans approved by the Office of Management and Budget is important so health outcomes can be studied in more detail and funds can be allocated for research and resources at state and national levels. ( Am J Public Health. 2024;114(11):1265–1274. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2024.307803 )
Journal Article
Analysis of 14,392 whole genomes reveals 3.5% of Qataris carry medically actionable variants
Arabic populations are underrepresented in large genome projects; therefore, the frequency of clinically actionable variants among Arabs is largely unknown. Here, we investigated genetic variation in 14,392 whole genomes from the Qatar Genome Program (QGP) across the list of 78 actionable genes (v3.1) determined by the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG). Variants were categorized into one of the following groups: (1) Pathogenic (P), (2) Likely pathogenic (LP), and (3) Rare variants of uncertain significance with evidence of pathogenicity. For the classification, we used variant databases, effect predictors, and the disease-relevant phenotypes available for the cohort. Data on cardiovascular disease, cancer, and hypercholesterolemia allowed us to assess the disease-relevant phenotype association of rare missense variants. We identified 248 distinct variants in 50 ACMG genes that fulfilled our criteria to be included in one of the three groups affecting 1036 genotype-positive participants of the QGP cohort. The most frequent variants were in TTN, followed by RYR1 and ATP7B. The prevalence of reportable secondary findings was 3.5%. A further 46 heterozygous variants in six genes with an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance were detected in 200 individuals, accounting for an additional 1.4%. Altogether, they affect 5% of the population. Due to the high consanguinity rate in the QGP cohort (28% in spouses and 60% in parents), P and LP variants both in genes with dominant and recessive inheritance are important for developing better treatment options and preventive strategies in Qatar and the Arabic population of the Middle East.
Journal Article