COVID-19 Vaccine Acceptance and Hesitancy among Pregnant Women: A Knowledge, Attitude, and Perceived Risks Survey in Lusaka, Zambia

Introduction: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease of the respiratory tract caused by SARS-CoV-2. Since its emergence, there have been increased rates of transmission and spread, morbidity and mortality which led to the development of COVID-19 vaccines to address the pandemic. This study assessed acceptance, knowledge, attitude, and perceived risks regarding COVID-19 vaccines among pregnant women attending antenatal care at two First-Level Hospitals in Lusaka, Zambia. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that was conducted among 241 pregnant women using a questionnaire from August 2023 to October 2023 in two First-Level Hospitals in Lusaka district, Zambia. The collected data were analyzed using IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0. Statistical analysis was performed using a Chi-square test. The statistical significance was set at a 95% confidence level. Results: Of the 241 participants, 107 (42.7%) were aged between 24 and 34 years. Overall, 64.3% accepted the COVID-19 vaccines, of which 122 (50.6%) were already vaccinated. Further, 203 (84.6%) of the pregnant women had good knowledge, and 199 (82.6%) had positive attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines. However, 58.5% thought COVID-19 vaccines were not safe and could cause infertility. Alongside this, 70.1% thought that COVID-19 vaccines were harmful during pregnancy. Having good knowledge of COVID-19 vaccines was associated with age (p = 0.049), education status (p = 0.001), and employment status (p = 0.001). Having a positive attitude towards COVID-19 vaccines was associated with education status (p = 0.001) and employment status (p = 0.001). Conclusion: This study found that most pregnant women had good knowledge, and positive attitudes, and the majority accepted the COVID-19 vaccine. Encouragingly, most of the pregnant women who accepted the COVID-19 vaccines were already vaccinated. Most pregnant women thought that COVID-19 vaccines had side effects, were not safe, and could be harmful during pregnancy. Consequently, this could have contributed to the hesitancy to receive a vaccine among some participants. The findings of this study demonstrate the need to provide pregnant women with continuous educational programs on the benefits of vaccinations for themselves and their children.

BARRIERS AND IMPEDIMENTS TO A HOLISTIC APPROACH TO PROMOTING SUPER-ENERGY-EFFICIENT (SEE) HOMES

Reducing energy consumption and environmental impacts of homes remains a critical task for researchers and practitioners.Although numerous energy efficient(EE)home strategies have been developed,their adoption across the entire industry has still been limited.Nationwide,only a small number of EE homes have been built under several well-known EE home programs.Therefore,the research question of,“what prevents EE homes from being widely accepted and built?”needs to be addressed and investigated thoroughly.This paper presents the findings-a comprehensive set of barriers and impediments to the wide spread adoption of EE homes-from an on-going effort made by an alliance of researchers,educators,builders,suppliers,appraisers,real estate agents,and other parties associated with the home construction industry.These findings are being used to develop and implement a holistic action plan to advance the cause of EE homes through research,education,and outreach.The provided insights will also help other researchers,educators,practitioners and government agencies re-evaluate the strategies used in promoting EE homes and improve the effectiveness of on-going and future programs.

Gut microbiota dysbiosis involves in host non-alcoholic fatty liver disease upon pyrethroid pesticide exposure

A growing body of evidence has demonstrated the significance of the gut microbiota in host health,while the association between gut microbiota dysbiosis and multiple diseases is yet elusive in the scenario of exposure to widely used pesticides.Here,we show that gut microbiota dysbiosis involves in host's abnormal lipid metabolism and consequently the non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in Xenopus laevis upon exposure to cis-bifenthrin,one of the most prevalent pyrethroid insecticides in the world.With the guidance of gut microbiota analysis,we found that cis-bifenthrin exposure significantly perturbed the gut microbial community,and the specific taxa that served as biomarkers were identified.Metabolomics profiling and association analysis further showed that a significant change of intestinal metabolites involved in lipid metabolic pathways were induced along with the microbiota dysbiosis upon exposure to cis-bifenthrin.Detailed investigation showed an altered functional regulation of lipids in the liver after cis-bifenthrin exposure and the accumulation of lipid droplets in hepatocytes.Specifically,a change in deoxycholic acid alters bile acid hepatoenteral circulation,which affects lipid metabolism in the liver and ultimately causes the development of fatty liver disease.Collectively,these findings provide novel insight into the gut microbiota dysbiosis upon pesticide exposure and their potential implication in the development of chronic host diseases related to liver metabolic syndrome.