Amber Mehmood

University of South Florida | USF · College of Public Health

While telemedicine applications in low- and middle-income countries are growing rapidly, few studies address the social and organizational factors of implementation essential to sustaining clinician engagement. This study aims to explore clinician experiences and perspectives of a pediatric emergency teleconsultation support program in Sindh, Pakis...

The purpose of this study was to understand the predictors of masking—especially age, race/ethnicity and gender—in Hillsborough County Florida, a region without mask mandates. Masking and social distancing behaviors of individuals were observed in Hillsborough County during one-week intervals in July 2021, August 2021 and Late September—early Octob...

Objective: Emergency medical (EM) response systems require extensive coordination, particularly during mass casualty incidents (MCIs). The recognition of preparedness gaps and contextual priorities to MCI response capacity in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) can be better understood through the components of EM reponse systems. This study...

Health care workers (HCWs) are increasingly faced with the continuous threat of confronting acute disasters, extreme weather-related events, and protracted public health emergencies. One of the major factors that determines Emergency Department-based HCWs' willingness to respond during public health emergencies and disasters is self-efficacy. Despi...

Abstract Background Childhood injury is a neglected public health problem with a sizeable burden on children’s well-being and their families. This study aims to describe the pattern and types of childhood injuries and to determine the level of mothers’ Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) towards childhood injury prevention in Lebanon. The stud...

Introduction: The relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) in pregnancy and stillbirths is poorly understood. We aimed to determine if there was any association between stillbirths and IPV during pregnancy. Methods: A community-based, matched, case-control study was conducted in 2014, nested within the Maternal and Newborn Health Reg...

Objective: Optimizing healthcare workers' (HCWs) willingness to respond (WTR) is critical in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs) for proper health system functioning during extreme weather events. Pakistan frequently experiences weather-related disasters, but limited evidence is available to examine HCW willingness. Our study examined the asso...

Objectives: To investigate the impact of volunteering at community medical camps on medical students’ and graduates’ clinical and soft skills, knowledge of community health, and future career goals. Method: The cross-sectional pilot study was conducted at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi from July to October 2020, and comprised medical st...

This paper summarizes the changes in the epidemiology of worker injuries in Qatar, from 2008-2016. There were great reductions in the rate of worker injuries from 53.9 worker injuries per 100,000 workers in 2008 to 34.0 in 2016. This is a 37% reduction in rates despite a 78% increase in the national worker population.

Introduction: Fat embolism syndrome (FES) is a rare life-threatening condition that can develop after traumatic orthopedic injuries. Controversy remains concerning the epidemiology in the elderly population. Therefore, this study aims to report FES related to in-hospital mortality stratified by age. Methods: A retrospective trauma cohort study w...

Background : Quantification of the impact of local masking policies may help guide future policy interventions to reduce SARS-COV-2 disease transmission. This study's objective was to identify factors associated with adherence to masking and social distancing guidelines. Methods : Faculty from 16 U.S. colleges and universities trained 231 students...

Statement of Purpose The causes of suicide attempts or ideation are complex and multifaceted. This study analyzes physical traumatic injury as a risk factor for suicide ideation and intentional self-harm. Methods/Approach A retrospective analysis of an all-inclusive inpatient dataset, comparing the one-year hospital readmission rate, involving int...

Statement of Purpose Children suffering physical abuse may initially present with minor injuries that are underappreciated, only to suffer more severe injuries in the future. This study evaluated young children presenting to hospitals in the state of Florida, to calculate the incidence of injuries deemed high risk for child physical abuse (HRCPA),...

Abstract Background Limited data from low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) on the severity of road traffic injuries (RTIs) and their relation to different variables of interest are routinely obtained. Knowledge on this subject relies on evidence from high-income countries, which might not be the same as in LMICs. This information is greatly nee...

Work-related injuries (WRIs) are recognized as a leading cause of admission to the national trauma center of Qatar. A retrospective analysis of trauma registry data and electronic medical records was conducted on a cohort of all WRI patients who were admitted to the Hamad Trauma Center (HTC), in Doha, Qatar, between 2011 and 2017. A total of 3757 W...

The purpose of this article is to discuss the important role for physicians in advocating for the prevention of road traffic and firearm injuries. Physicians have shown to be effective advocates for a variety of injuries, and this needs to continue and be enhanced for these injury categories. Road traffic and firearm injuries are among the leading...

Background: In Sub-Saharan African countries, the incidence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) is estimated to be many folds higher than the global average and outcome is hugely impacted by access to healthcare services and quality of care. We conducted an analysis of the TBI registry data to determine the disparities and delays in treatment for pati...

Background Previous US-based studies have shown that a trauma center designation of level 1 is associated with improved patient outcomes. However, most studies are cross-sectional, focus on volume-related issues and are direct comparisons between levels. This study investigates the change in patient characteristics when individual trauma centers tr...

Background Injury is a great contributor to the Vietnamese disease burden. Road traffic injuries were the leading cause of injury mortality from 2005 to 2013. Our objective was to understand the intricacies of the trauma care system in Hanoi, Vietnam. Methods We aimed to elucidate the trauma care continuum (pre-hospital, hospital and post hospital...

Background: Childhood injury is a neglected public health problem. This study aims to describe the patterns of childhood injury and to determine mothers' Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices (KAP) towards childhood injury prevention in Lebanon. Methods This cross-sectional study recruited working and non-working mothers of children aged 0-10 years fr...

Work-related injury (WRI) control is an integral part of occupational safety. In rapidly developing Gulf countries such as Qatar with a predominantly expatriate workforce, WRI control is a complex issue often seen in conjunction with the implementation of labour laws and labour rights. We aimed to implement a public health approach to facilitate ef...

Background: Roadside observational studies play a fundamental role in designing evidence-informed strategies to address the pressing global health problem of road traffic injuries. Paper-based data collection has been the standard method for such studies, although digital methods are gaining popularity in all types of primary data collection. Obj...

BACKGROUND Roadside observational studies play a fundamental role in designing evidence-informed strategies to address the pressing global health problem of road traffic injuries. Paper-based data collection has been the standard method for such studies, although digital methods are gaining popularity in all types of primary data collection. OBJEC...

Background Emergency care services in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) have traditionally received less attention in the dominant culture favouring vertical health programs. The unmet needs of pre-hospital and hospital-based emergency services are high but the barriers to accessing safe and quality emergency medical services (EMS) remain lar...

Introduction: Despite the high income level in Arabian Gulf countries, people in the region need to improve their use of child restraint systems (CRSs) to reduce the incidence of preventable injuries to child automobile passengers. Anecdotal reports have attributed the resistance to using CRSs to the expense and unavailability of the systems, promp...

Background: Rapid advances in mobile technologies and applications and the continued growth in digital network coverage have the potential to transform data collection in low- and middle-income countries. A common perception is that digital data collection (DDC) is faster and quickly adaptable. Objective: The objective of this study was to test whe...

Surgery and anaesthesia care is progressively making its way into the Global Public Health arena, which was d omi na ted by ma ter nal an d c hild h e al th an d communicable diseases in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Global Surgery (GS) could potentially make an impact on survival and quality of life in all age groups for a variety of di...

Background Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in low/middle-income countries. The objective was to assess causes and outcomes of unintentional and intentional TBI among patients presenting to a tertiary care hospital in Uganda. Methods This study was conducted at Mulago National Referral Hospital, Kampala...

Introduction Characterisation of injury severity is an important pillar of scientific research to measure and compare the outcomes. Although majority of injury severity measures were developed in high-income countries, many have been studied in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We conducted this study to identify and characterise all...

BACKGROUND Rapid advances in mobile technologies and applications and the continued growth in coverage of digital networks have the potential to transform data collection in low- and middle-income countries. A common perception is that digital data collection (DDC) is faster and quickly adaptable. OBJECTIVE To test whether DDC is faster and more a...

Background: Rapid advances in mobile technologies and applications and the continued growth in digital network coverage have the potential to transform data collection in low- and middle-income countries. A common perception is that digital data collection (DDC) is faster and quickly adaptable. Objective: The objective of this study was to test...

Objective: Lack of data on traumatic brain injuries (TBI) hinders the appreciation of the true magnitude of the TBI burden. This paper describes a scientific approach for hospital based systematic data collection in a low-income country. The registry is based on the evaluation framework for injury surveillance systems which comprises a four-step ap...

Background Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are a common cause of emergency department (ED) visits and hospital admissions in Kampala, Uganda. The objective of this study was to assess determinants of ED discharge disposition based on patient demographic and injury characteristics. Four ED outcomes were considered: discharge home, hospital admission...

Emergency medical services (EMS) is defined as the system that organizes all aspects of care provided to patients in the pre-hospital or out-of-hospital environment. Hence, EMS is a critical component of the health systems and is necessary to improve outcomes of injuries and other time-sensitive illnesses. The unmet needs of prehospital emergency s...

Emergency medical services (EMS) is defined as the system that organizes all aspects of care provided to patients in the pre-hospital or out-of-hospital environment. Hence, EMS is a critical component of the health systems and is necessary to improve outcomes of injuries and other time-sensitive illnesses. Still there exists a substantial need for...

Introduction Qatar is a rapidly developing high-income country in the Middle East with a rapidly growing expatriate worker population working on road and FIFA World Cup 2022 infrastructure projects. Heavy Vehicles (HVs) are a very common sight in Qatar but their effect/s on work-related road traffic injuries (WRTIs) in Qatar has not been reported p...

Background The burden of injuries is substantial and growing in Uganda. Although Emergency Medical Services (EMS) has been proven to prevent morbidity and mortality for time-sensitive illnesses and injuries, Uganda lacks a formal EMS system. We assessed existing EMS system in Kampala using a rapid assessment tool. Methods The development of the ra...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality especially in low-and-middle income countries. The objective was to assess causes and outcomes in TBI patients presenting to a tertiary-care hospital in Uganda. This prospective observational study was conducted at Mulago National Referral Hospital, Kampala, Uganda for 15...

The diversity of mobile-health (mHealth) applications has generated immense interest among researchers to test innovative ideas. To facilitate real time data collection in a roadside environment, mHealth tools were developed for population-level observational studies on three road safety risk factors: speed, helmet and seatbelt use. The digitizatio...

Injuries are among the top causes of hospital-based mortality in individuals 1 to 44 years of age in Oman. However, little is known about the distribution and risk of injuries among children under 15 years of age. This paper uses data collected from a trauma registry established in two hospitals in Oman to describe the epidemiology and risk factors...

Injury remains a major public health problem globally, but 90% of all trauma deaths occur in Low-and-Middle-Income-Countries (LMICs), where resources to deal with this crisis are inadequate. Characterization of injury severity is an important pillar of scientific research to measure and compare the outcomes, in order to improve the quality of care....

Measuring performance of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is vital to improving the quality of prehospital emergency care yet is challenging due to lack of consensus over valid evidence-based performance indicators in EMS research. We aimed to determine the state of the field by conducting a review of literature to identify, describe, and map exist...

The rapid proliferation of mobile technologies in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has generated considerable eagerness among researchers, donors, and implementers to employ these advances for improving the effectiveness and efficiency of public health programs. While mHealth innovations present promise for the field of injury prevention an...

Clinical characteristics of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) depend on severity of injury. The objective was to assesses clinical characteristics of TBI patients presenting to a tertiary-care hospital in Uganda. This prospective study was conducted at Mulago National Referral Hospital, Kampala, Uganda from May 2016-July 2017. Patients of all age gro...

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality especially in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs). The study objective was to assess causes and outcomes of intentional TBI among patients presenting to a tertiary-care hospital in Uganda. The study site was Mulago National Referral Hospital, Kampala, Uganda. Data was...

Lack of data on traumatic brain injuries (TBI) hinders the appreciation of the true magnitude of the burden, and poses a barrier to defining risks, vulnerable groups, and the impact of potential interventions. This work describes a scientific approach for hospital based systematic data collection in a low-income country (LIC), and details the steps...

Introduction Work related injuries (WRIs) are a leading cause of trauma admission in Qatar; their epidemiologic trends and high-risk populations have been reported. This study aims to explore the work circumstances and environments leading to severe WRIs, to inform the creation of targeted interventions to improve worker safety. It was conducted as...

Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are now facing a triple burden of injuries, communicable, and non-communicable diseases. LMICs generally, and poor people in individual countries are particularly at the risk of higher burden of injury and adverse outcomes from a variety of acute and life-threatening conditions. The odds of dying due to inju...

Objectives Injuries are among the top causes of hospital-based mortality for adults in Oman. However, little is known about the distribution and risk of injuries among children. This paper describes the epidemiology and risk factors for childhood injuries (0–15 years of age), in two hospitals of Oman. Methods Data were collected between November 2...

Abstract Work related injuries (WRIs) are a growing public health concern that remains under-recognized, inadequately addressed and largely unmeasured in low and middle-income countries (LMIC’s). However, even in high-income countries, such as those in Gulf Cooperating Council (GCC) like Qatar, there are challenges in assuring the health and safety...

Introduction Work related injuries (WRIs) are a leading cause of trauma admission in Qatar and their epidemiologic trends and high-risk populations have been reported previously. This study aims to explore the work circumstances and environments leading to severe WRIs, to inform the creation of targeted interventions to improve worker safety in Qat...

Introduction Qatar is a rapidly developing high-income country in the Middle East. It has very diverse expatriate worker population that is increasing as the road infrastructure and FIFA World Cup projects ramp up for 2022. As a result, Heavy Vehicles (HVs) are a very common sight in Qatar. However, the effect of the increased volume of HVs, on roa...

Introduction Injuries are the leading cause of death in Qatar, primarily those that occur at work or on the road. However, there is a paucity of data on work-related road traffic injuries [WRTIs] in Qatar. This study will describe the epidemiology of WRTIs in Qatar and make recommendations for targeted prevention programs. It was conducted as part...

Background Adolescence is a distinct period of rapid and dramatic biological, cognitive, psychological, and social development. The burden of injuries among young people (10-24) is both substantial and maldistributed across regions and levels of economic development. Objectives To compare sociodemographic correlates of injury cause, intentionality...

Background: Trauma registries (TRs) play a vital role in the assessment of trauma care, but are often underutilized in countries with a high burden of injuries. Objectives: We investigated whether information and communications technology (ICT) such as mobile health (mHealth) could enable the design of a tablet-based application for healthcare prof...

This study aims to describe the epidemiology of moderate to severe work-related injuries [WRIs] in Qatar, a rapidly developing high-income country. Consecutive data for all adult victims of moderate to severe WRIs was obtained, from January 1, 2008, through December 31, 2016, from the trauma registry of the national trauma referral center of Qatar....

Introduction: Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have a disproportionately high burden of injuries. Most injury severity measures were developed in high-income settings and there have been limited studies on their application and validity in low-resource settings. In this study, we compared the performance of seven injury severity measures:...

Background: Injury is a leading cause of disability and death worldwide, accounting for over 5 million deaths each year. The injury burden is higher in low- and middle-income countries where more than 90% of injury-related deaths occur. Despite this burden, the use of prospective trauma registries to describe injury epidemiology and outcomes is li...

Study/Objective To describe the burden of Matatu Crashes in Kenya using multi-site injury surveillance data. Background Road Traffic Crashes (RTCs) are estimated to cause 1.3 million deaths worldwide each year. In Kenya, this problem is particularly significant and matatus are thought to be frequently involved. Matatus are 14-seater mini-buses res...

Study/Objective To use the mHealth injury surveillance tool to improve data quality, reduce feedback time, enable data sharing and improve the efficiency of the existing process. Background Trauma registries play an integral role in injury surveillance, and in the monitoring and evaluation of trauma care. Success in establishing and maintaining tr...

Many Arab countries have undergone the epidemiologic transition of diseases with increasing economic development and a proportionately decreasing prevalence of communicable diseases. With this transition, injuries have emerged as a major cause of mortality and morbidity in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries in addition to diseases of affluence....

Background The WHO estimates that every day 2,000 children and adolescents are killed by preventable injuries. In the high-income Arab Gulf States, the under-5 injury mortality rate is 22.2 per 100,000, which is higher than any other high-income region in the world. Limited research is available on the burden and risk factors associated with child...

Background Globally, injuries cause death and disability for millions of children every year. Literature from high-income rapidly developing countries, such as the Arab Gulf states, on this burden is sparse. Realising this gap, a surveillance system was established in two hospitals of Oman. Data on childhood injuries was collected and analysed to b...

Background Trauma registries (TRs) play a vital role in the assessment of trauma care, but are often underutilised in countries with a high burden of injuries. We postulated that emerging technologies in trauma and injury surveillance could enable the design of a tablet-based application for health care professionals. This would be used to inform t...

Background Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a public health challenge and knowledge about relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV) during pregnancy and stillbirths is limited. We assessed the relationship of IPV during pregnancy and stillbirths, at a community level, in Pakistan. Methods Using 1:2 case-control ratio, 256 cases (women...

Background Road Traffic Injuries (RTIs) are the leading cause of death in Qatar,¹ but the epidemiology of these injuries in the infant (0–1 years) and toddler (2–4 years) [IAT] population has not been reported. This study aimed to document and analyse the epidemiology of RTIs in IATs of Qatar and make recommendations for targeted and age-specific r...

Background Injuries kill more than 5 million people around the world each year. More than 90% of these deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and road traffic injury (RTI) is the most common mechanism of fatal injury, with an estimated 1.24 million deaths per yea. RTI fatality rates are two to three times higher in LMICs than in...

Background Work-related injuries (WRIs) are a leading cause of hospital visits in Qatar. Little is known about the burden of hospital admissions due to work related injuries. This study analysed hospital based trauma registry data for past seven years to understand the burden and outcome of these patients. Methods A retrospective analysis of data...

Background Properly used child restraints have been shown to reduce serious death and road traffic injuries to children under 5 years by 80 to 90%. Yet such use remains low around the world. In Qatar, a high-income developing country, child restraint use is not mandated by law even though road traffic injuries are a leading cause of death for 0–5 y...

Background Many injury victims die before reaching a hospital due to inadequate pre-hospital care and transport. Prompt emergency care can save lives and prevent disabilities but the inconsistent availability of formal Emergency Medical Services (EMS) makes it challenging. This is the case even in some high-income developing countries like Oman. Fo...

Background Oman is a high-income country located in the Arab Gulf Region. The coastal regions of this country consist of highly developed urban centres, with the interior regions being rural and less developed. To-date little data has been generated on the regional differences in injury scale and case mix. Understanding these differences will allow...

Background Work-related injuries (WRIs) have been identified as a public health priority in Qatar. At present data on WRIs is collected by diverse governmental and non-governmental agencies. This study evaluates the utility of various data sources for occupational injury surveillance based on international reporting standards of the International L...

Background Injury burden is disproportionately high in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) but the healthcare systems are least prepared to meet the challenge. Significant gaps exist in emergency care, with most preventable deaths occurring in the pre-hospital phase due to lack of emergency medical services (EMS). There are no tools to define...

Background: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is one of the leading causes of death and disability worldwide. Overall survival after an OHCA has been reported to be poor and limited studies have been conducted in developing countries. We aimed to investigate the rates of survival from OHCA and explore components of the chain of survival in a d...