Health-related research publications on religious mass gatherings of Muslims: a bibliometric analysis (1980–2020)

Objective Mass gatherings medicine is an emerging and important field at the national and international health security levels. The objective of the current study was to analyze research publications on religious mass gatherings of Muslims using bibliometric tools. Methods Keywords related to religious mass gatherings of Muslims were used in Scopus database. The duration of the study was from January 01, 1980 to December 31, 2020. Examples of keywords used include hajj, Umrah, mass gatherings/Mecca or Makkah, mass gatherings/Karbala, pilgrim/Makkah or Mecca, and others. Bibliometric indicators and mapping were presented. Results In total, 509 documents were retrieved. The average number of citations per article was 16.7 per document. Analysis of the retrieved documents indicated that (1) more than 90% of the retrieved documents were about the mass gatherings in Mecca/Makkah; (2) two-thirds of the retrieved documents were research articles; (3) a take-off phase in the number of publications was observed after 2008; (4) the retrieved documents were disseminated in a wide range of journals but specifically the ones in the fields of infectious diseases, public health, and travel medicine; (5) the retrieved documents were mainly published by scholars from Saudi Arabia with collaborative research ties with scholars in the US, France, the UK, and Australia; (6) Saudi Arabia contributed to more than half of the retrieved documents; and (7) four research themes were found: knowledge, attitude, and practices of pilgrims to Mecca/Makkah, vaccination, etiology of hospital admission among pilgrims, and epidemiology of various types of infectious diseases. Conclusions Research on mass gatherings, specifically the Hajj, is emerging. Researchers from the Saudi Arabia dominated the field. Research collaboration between scholars in Saudi Arabia and scholars in low- and middle-income countries is needed and must be encouraged since these countries have weaker health systems to screen, monitor, and control the spread of infectious diseases because of the Hajj season.

Assessment of Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Concerning Travel Health among Hajj Pilgrims (1439 H- 2018 G) at Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport in AL-Madina, Saudi Arabia

AIM: The Hajj pilgrimage, the world's largest annual mass gathering, is held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The Saudi Arabian Ministry of Health (MoH) issues entry visa requirements and recommendations for Hajj pilgrims visiting the country. Vaccinations, health checks, and specific immunizations are all recommended either at or before entering KSA. We assessed Hajj pilgrims’ knowledge, attitude and practices regarding preventive, curative, hygienic and health promoting measures. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We administered a questionnaire to a cross-section of Hajj pilgrims(2018 G)traveling through Prince Mohammad bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Al-Madina, KSA. Variables collected included demographics, Hajj health preparations, and knowledge and attitudes towards travel-related health behaviors. RESULTS: Of 101 respondents, 20% were Saudi and 64%were male. Regarding travel profile, 75% were attending hajj for the first time. About half (52%) stayed in KSA for more than 2 weeks.  Knowledge regarding travel heath of respondents was high: 82% scored as excellent and 11% scored as good. Positive attitude toward travel medicine was reported by 60% of participants; 56% of them sought pre-travel advice.  Regarding health protection behaviors, 79%reported using protective measures against respiratory infections, 70%for insects, 95%for food and waterborne Diseases, 99%against heat-related conditions and 100%for injuries. CONCLUSION: Despite the health criteria for obtaining Hajj visas and the documented health risks associated with attending Hajj, we discovered that less than half of participants received pre-travel advice. To ensure that Hajj pilgrims have a secure and healthy experience in the Kingdom, we recognized the need for continued education and promotion of health preventive measures. This research could be used to help countries establish Hajj health systems, which would be immensely helpful and would go a long way toward reducing Hajj mortality and morbidity, as well as associated burdens.

Medical, Health and Wellness Tourism Research—A Review of the Literature (1970–2020) and Research Agenda

Medical, health and wellness tourism and travel represent a dynamic and rapidly growing multi-disciplinary economic activity and field of knowledge. This research responds to earlier calls to integrate research on travel medicine and tourism. It critically reviews the literature published on these topics over a 50-year period (1970 to 2020) using CiteSpace software. Some 802 articles were gathered and analyzed from major databases including the Web of Science and Scopus. Markets (demand and behavior), destinations (development and promotion), and development environments (policies and impacts) emerged as the main three research themes in medical-health-wellness tourism. Medical-health-wellness tourism will integrate with other care sectors and become more embedded in policy-making related to sustainable development, especially with regards to quality of life initiatives. A future research agenda for medical-health-tourism is discussed.

24th Annual Meeting of the German Society for Travel Medicine (DFR) Bremerhaven, Germany, 16–18 September 2021

This year the Annual Meeting off the German Society of Travel Medicine took place in Bremerhaven, September 16th to 18th. This traditional harbour town where thousands of Germans were embarking hundred years ago facing an uncertain future, the so-called “climate house” (an exihibtion about several aspects of the world’s climate) and the Alfred-Wegener Institute for Arctic Research were a fantastic setting for the meeting’s motto “traveling under extreme conditions”. After a brillant introduction by Stefan Kröpelin about research in the Sahara two weeks away from the next pharmacy and a fascinating lecture by Eberhard Kohlberg how to organize expeditions to Antarctica and how to work and to live there several lecturers illuminated a wide field of travel medicine in more or less extreme conditions.

The advent of social media influencer tourism: Travel health risks and opportunities

The authors assert that social media influencer tourism should be recognised as a novel entity in travel medicine, in order to protect this vulnerable group of travellers from harm to themselves and their host destinations, and to harness their potential as communicators of positive public health messages.

Travel vaccination examined through the tourism lens

Travel vaccination hesitancy—a shared concern of travel medicine and tourism.

Death as attraction: the role of travel medicine and psychological travel health care in ‘dark tourism’

Still an evolving field in travel medicine, psychological travel health has not yet been linked to tourist products that may affect travellers’ mental wellbeing. Dark tourism, the travel to sites linked to death, atrocities and suffering, is a product that, on the one hand, attracts people with a keen interest in death-related attractions and, on the other hand, may inflict psychological scars. Of particular concern are travellers with undiagnosed or diagnosed mental illness.This is the first article bringing travel medicine and dark tourism together. Understanding dark tourism is crucial to appreciate the wide variety of potential stimuli leading to anything from amusement to travel-related psychoses. Travellers’ motivations for and emotional responses to visits of ‘dark’ sites provide an important input into individually tailored psychological pre and post-travel health care. Relevant recommendations include suggestions for education, clinical practice and much needed further multidisciplinary research.