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Biomedical waste management (BMWM) is vital in facilitating safe providing of healthcare. Developing countries suffer from the impact of mishandled biomedical waste (BMW) on the general public in addition to healthcare practitioners. Thus, this study aims to investigate the awareness and compliance of dental facilities to BMW regulations. Through a questionnaire designed as per the WHO guidelines on BMWM, we randomly recruited a total of 421 dental facilities representative of Jordan's capital. Mean BMWM practice scores were relatively high for the studied sample (0.748 ± 0.12). Nonetheless, while collection, transportation and storage standards were acceptable, those pertaining to segregation and disposal demonstrated lack of compliance to BMWM safety measures. An alarming number of participants dispose of infectious waste (40%), extracted teeth (48.5%), expired pharmaceuticals (44.4%), liquid chemicals (53.2%), X-ray films (35.0%) and solutions (48.7%) in the general trash or draining system. Such is attributed to either lack of resources, lack of proper equipment or poor awareness with BMWM guidelines. Moreover, it appears that location of the clinic (p < 0.001), occupation (p = 0.026) and presence of regulatory instructions (p = 0.048) were associated with higher BMWM scores. Overall, dental practitioners require proper training in terms of handling hazardous dental, chemical and radioactive wastes. Moreover, regulatory bodies should actively enforce regulations and monitoring, update current compliance legislations and subsidize eco-friendly practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To examine the utility of the health belief model (HBM) and other socioeconomic factors in shaping cervical screening behaviors. Also, to provide recommendations on improving screening uptake. Methodology: A systematic literature search was conducted using the PubMed/MEDLINE, Cochrane/CENTRAL, and Web of Science databases for articles reporting on the factors associated with cervical screening using the HBM within the period from January of 2002 to January of 2023. Effect sizes for the various HBM constructs were pre‐determined using the log odds ratio (logOR) and expressed with their confidence intervals. All reporting was in line with the PRISMA guidelines. Results: A total of 21 studies were included in the final analysis comprised of 15,365 participants. Our pooled analysis demonstrated that perceived susceptibility (OR: 1.40, 95% CI, 1.03–1.89), perceived benefits (OR: 1.30; 95% CI, 1.13–1.50), and self‐efficacy (OR: 1.11; 95% CI, 1.05–1.17) were significantly associated with both the uptake of and intention to adopt preventive measures against cervical cancer. Conversely, women with higher perceptions of barriers were less likely to adopt any measure for cervical cancer screening or prevention (OR: 0.72; 95% CI, 0.57–0.91). In terms of sociodemographic effectors, older age (OR: 1.09; 95% CI, 1.01–1.19), graduate/post‐graduate education (OR: 2.80; 95% CI, 1.46–5.37), higher knowledge of cervical cancer (OR: 2.21; 95% CI, 1.27–3.84), and being married (OR: 3.89; 95% CI, 1.38–10.92) were all associated with altering preventive behaviors and intentions toward cervical cancer. Conclusion: This review delineates the most important and effective cognitive components that should be targeted within interventions aiming to promote cervical cancer prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]