Middle East North African Countries Research Articles

Prevention and Control of Foodborne Diseases in Middle-East North African Countries: Review of National Control Systems.

Foodborne diseases continue to be a global public health problem with an estimated 600 million people falling ill annually. In return, international standards are becoming stricter which poses challenges to food trade. In light of the increasing burden of foodborne diseases, many countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region have upgraded their food laws and undertaken changes to the organizational structure of their regulatory institutions to maintain or expand international export activities, tighten control on local and imported products, and protect consumers’ health. However, until this date, the published information on the regional health burdens of foodborne diseases is very limited and it is not clear whether the recent changes will serve towards science-based and effective preventive functions and the adoption of the risk management approach. In this review, we summarize the recent food safety issues and the national food control systems of selected countries in the region although we were challenged with the scarcity of information. To this end, we examined the national food safety systems in the context of the five essential elements of the FAO/WHO Guidelines for Strengthening National Food Control Systems. These five elements—food law and regulations; food control management; inspection services; laboratory services; food monitoring; and epidemiological data, information, education, communication, and training—constitute the building blocks of a national food control system, but could also serve as tools to assess the effectiveness of the systems.

Fixed-Mobile Substitution in MENA Countries: The Future of Fixed-Line Markets

Abstract The aim of this paper is to study the occurrence of Fixed-Mobile Substitution (FMS) in the Middle East North African (MENA) region. While there have been many studies on developed countries, empirical evidence for developing countries is somehow limited. In the last few years, mobile cellular subscriptions achieved a tremendous growth across the MENA region making it the second fastest growing region in the world in terms of mobile subscriptions in 2012, and the fastest growing region in terms of mobile traffic in 2014. Fixed subscriptions have also grown but at a slower rate than mobile subscriptions. Using unbalanced data on 17 MENA countries over the period 1990–2009, we explore the relationship between fixed and mobile telephone services by using dynamic panel data models. We find empirical evidence for asymmetric one-way substitution between fixed-lines and mobile phones and we estimate own- and cross-price elasticities for fixed and mobile telephone services in MENA region. The results are then used to derive policy implications in terms of market redefinition, taxation policies, extension of universal services and broadband markets.

Opiate agonist treatment to improve health of individuals with opioid use disorder in Lebanon

BackgroundOpioid agonist therapy has been widely used to reduce harms among individuals with opioid use disorder but its effectiveness has not been evaluated in the Middle East North African (MENA) region. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of a program using opioid agonist therapy in combination with psychosocial support on improving psychological and social well-being, reducing arrest, and reducing risky behavior in individuals with opioid use disorder in Lebanon.MethodsA one-group pre-test post-test design study was performed at SKOUN Lebanese Addiction Centre between January 2013 and December 2014. Eighty-six out of 181 patients agreed to participate and completed the 3-month assessment and 38 concluded the 12-month assessment. Psychological (depression and anxiety, quality of life), substance dependence/abuse, behavioral (injecting behavior, sharing needles and paraphernalia), and social outcomes were evaluated at baseline, 3, and 12 months post-treatment.ResultsRemarkable statistical significance improvements were observed 3 months after treatment in most outcome variables including quality of life, anxiety, substance dependence, overdose, employment, and injecting behavior. Improvements were sustained 12 months after treatment.ConclusionResults support expanding the access to opioid agonist therapy in other MENA countries to treat substance dependence and reduce harms among individuals with opioid use disorder.

The Transmission of Oil and Food Prices to Consumer Prices: Evidence for the MENA Countries

This paper investigates the effects of global oil and food price shocks to consumer prices in Middle East-North African (MENA) countries using threshold cointegration methods. Oil and food price shocks increase domestic prices in the long run, whereby the impact of food prices dominates. While global prices are weakly exogenous, consumer prices respond to deviations from the equilibrium relationship. The short run adjustment pattern exhibits asymmetries and is particularly strong after positive shocks. Downward rigidities on wages may play a crucial role in this regard, as the relatively weak reactions of consumer prices after negative shocks are related to labour market institutions and public subsidies. The more rigid the regulations the more pronounced are the asymmetries. Robustness checks show that international price shocks do not affect GDP growth.

The Transmission of Oil and Food Prices to Consumer Prices Evidence for the MENA Countries

This paper investigates the effects of global oil and food price shocks to consumer prices in Middle East-North African (MENA) countries using threshold cointegration methods. Oil and food price shocks increase domestic prices in the long run, whereby the impact of food prices dominates. While global prices are weakly exogenous, consumer prices respond to deviations from the equilibrium relationship. The short run adjustment pattern exhibits asymmetries and is particularly strong after positive shocks. Downward rigidities on wages may play a crucial role in this regard, as the relatively weak reactions of consumer prices after negative shocks are related to labour market institutions and public subsidies. The more rigid the regulations the more pronounced are the asymmetries. Robustness checks show that international price shocks do not affect GDP growth.