Investigating the current environmental situation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region during the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic: urban vs. rural context

Mohamed Abouzid¹, Dina M El-Sherif², Yahya Al Naggar^{3

4}, Mohammed M Alshehri⁵, Shaima Alothman⁶, Hesham R El-Seedi^{7

8

9}, Rayhana Trabelsi¹⁰, Osama Mohamed Ibrahim^{11

12}, Esraa Hamouda Temraz¹³, Ahmad Buimsaedah¹⁴, Ibrahim Adel Aziz¹⁵, Muhammad Alwan¹⁶, Nuha Hadi Jasim Al Hasan¹⁷, Heba Nasser Ragab¹⁸, Abdullah Muhammed Koraiem¹⁹, Mareb H Ahmed²⁰, Heba Hamouda Temraz¹³, Alyaa Khaled Madeeh¹⁸, Mohanned Osama Alshareif²¹, Fatimah Saad Elkhafeefi²², Imed-Eddine Badis²³, Asmaa E Abdelslam²⁴, Almajdoub Ali Mohammed Ali²⁵, Nour El Imene Kotni²⁶, Thuraya Amer²⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physical Pharmacy and Pharmacokinetics, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 6 Święcickiego Street, 60-781, Poznan, Poland. mmahmoud@ump.edu.pl.
² National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, NIOF, Cairo, Egypt. dina.moh55@yahoo.com.
³ Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta, 31527, Egypt.
⁴ General Zoology, Institute for Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Hoher weg 8, 06120, Halle (Saale), Germany.
⁵ Physical Therapy Department, Jazan University, Jazan, Southern Region, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Lifestyle and Health Research Center, Health Science Research Center, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ International Research Center for Food Nutrition and Safety, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, China.
⁸ Pharmacognosy Group, Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, BMC, Uppsala University, Box 591, 751 24, Uppsala, SE, Sweden.
⁹ International Joint Research Laboratory of Intelligent Agriculture and Agri-products Processing, Jiangsu Education Department, Jiangsu University, Jiangsu, China.
¹⁰ EHS Maternity and Pediatrics, Touggourt, Algeria.
¹¹ Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
¹² College of Pharmacy, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE.
¹³ Faculty of Medicine, Menofia University, Menofia, Egypt.
¹⁴ Aljala Hospital, Benghazi, Libya.
¹⁵ Faculty of Medicine, Al Neelian University, Khartoum, Sudan.
¹⁶ Faculty of Medicine, Aleppo University, Aleppo, Syria.
¹⁷ Department of Engineering materials, College of Engineering, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq.
¹⁸ Faculty of Medicine, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt.
¹⁹ Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University, Naser City, Cairo, 11884, Egypt.
²⁰ Mosul Medical College, University of Mosul, Mosul, Iraq.
²¹ Faculty of Medicine, Islamic University of Gaza, Gaza, Palestine.
²² SHO General Surgery Department, Aljala Hospital, Benghazi, Libya.
²³ Tlemcen Faculty of Medicine, Tlemcen, Algeria.
²⁴ Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
²⁵ Brega General Hospital (BGH), Brega, Libya.
²⁶ School of Medicine and Health Care, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oran, Oran City, Algeria.
²⁷ Radiography Techniques Department, Al-Turath University College, Baghdad, Iraq.

PMID: 35081927
PMCID: PMC8790551
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-021-12313-3

Investigating the current environmental situation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region during the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic: urban vs. rural context

Mohamed Abouzid et al. BMC Public Health. 2022.

. 2022 Jan 26;22(1):177.

doi: 10.1186/s12889-021-12313-3.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physical Pharmacy and Pharmacokinetics, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, 6 Święcickiego Street, 60-781, Poznan, Poland. mmahmoud@ump.edu.pl.
² National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, NIOF, Cairo, Egypt. dina.moh55@yahoo.com.
³ Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta, 31527, Egypt.
⁴ General Zoology, Institute for Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Hoher weg 8, 06120, Halle (Saale), Germany.
⁵ Physical Therapy Department, Jazan University, Jazan, Southern Region, Saudi Arabia.
⁶ Lifestyle and Health Research Center, Health Science Research Center, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ International Research Center for Food Nutrition and Safety, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, 212013, China.
⁸ Pharmacognosy Group, Department of Pharmaceutical Biosciences, BMC, Uppsala University, Box 591, 751 24, Uppsala, SE, Sweden.
⁹ International Joint Research Laboratory of Intelligent Agriculture and Agri-products Processing, Jiangsu Education Department, Jiangsu University, Jiangsu, China.
¹⁰ EHS Maternity and Pediatrics, Touggourt, Algeria.
¹¹ Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
¹² College of Pharmacy, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, UAE.
¹³ Faculty of Medicine, Menofia University, Menofia, Egypt.
¹⁴ Aljala Hospital, Benghazi, Libya.
¹⁵ Faculty of Medicine, Al Neelian University, Khartoum, Sudan.
¹⁶ Faculty of Medicine, Aleppo University, Aleppo, Syria.
¹⁷ Department of Engineering materials, College of Engineering, University of Basrah, Basrah, Iraq.
¹⁸ Faculty of Medicine, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt.
¹⁹ Faculty of Pharmacy, Al-Azhar University, Naser City, Cairo, 11884, Egypt.
²⁰ Mosul Medical College, University of Mosul, Mosul, Iraq.
²¹ Faculty of Medicine, Islamic University of Gaza, Gaza, Palestine.
²² SHO General Surgery Department, Aljala Hospital, Benghazi, Libya.
²³ Tlemcen Faculty of Medicine, Tlemcen, Algeria.
²⁴ Faculty of Medicine for Girls, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
²⁵ Brega General Hospital (BGH), Brega, Libya.
²⁶ School of Medicine and Health Care, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oran, Oran City, Algeria.
²⁷ Radiography Techniques Department, Al-Turath University College, Baghdad, Iraq.

PMID: 35081927
PMCID: PMC8790551
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-021-12313-3

Abstract

Background: Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to a massive global socio-economic tragedy that has impacted the ecosystem. This paper aims to contextualize urban and rural environmental situations during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region.

Results: An online survey was conducted, 6770 participants were included in the final analysis, and 64% were females. The majority of the participants were urban citizens (74%). Over 50% of the urban residents significantly (p < 0.001) reported a reduction in noise, gathering in tourist areas, and gathering in malls and restaurants. Concerning the pollutants, most urban and rural areas have reported an increase in masks thrown in streets (69.49% vs. 73.22%, resp.; p = 0.003). Plastic bags and hospital waste also increased significantly with the same p-value of < 0.001 in urban areas compared with rural ones. The multifactorial logistic model for urban resident predictors achieved acceptable discrimination (AUROC = 0.633) according to age, crowdedness, noise and few pollutants.

Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic had a beneficial impact on the environment and at the same time, various challenges regarding plastic and medical wastes are rising which requires environmental interventions.

Keywords: COVID-19; Coronavirus; Environment; Middle East; North Africa; Pollution.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

**Fig. 1**
Inclusion/exclusion process of the responses

**Fig. 2**
A The area under the receiver operating characteristics (AUROC = 0.633); B cook’s D statics and influential outliers ≥ 0.0006

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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Investigating the current environmental situation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region during the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic: urban vs. rural context

Affiliations

Investigating the current environmental situation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region during the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic: urban vs. rural context

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Medical

Research Materials