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COVID-19 has become a major global public health threat. It started from Wuhan a province of China in December 2019 and has spread in every country of the globe with over 100 million people currently infected and over three million deaths as of May 2021. Nearly a year on, with many town and cities are in lockdown and with all public health measures to minimize transmission of the virus SARS-COV-2 and the scientific achievements with many vaccines developed in record time, the transmission in the second wave is still strong with new variants of the virus emerging. The pandemic has caused a serious impact on the economic, social, political, and cultural dynamics of people, globally. The majority of people with mild and moderate symptoms of COVID-19 seek primary care (PC) service as the entry point for getting medical intervention, reducing flow to hospital care. Currently, primary care settings are facing major challenges including lack of funds, poor infrastructure in some countries, and shortage of health care workers and equipment. Most, if not all primary care centers are not designed to separate people with the virus. The pandemic so far shows that strengthening primary care as the first point of contact with the health system is vital. The health systems of the future cannot be resilient without strong primary care for all, capable of meeting population health needs and aspiration for good health and well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Middle East Journal of Family Medicine is the property of Medi+WORLD International Pty. Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The annual Hajj pilgrimage of more than 2.5 million pilgrims from more than 160 countries is held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) ( 1 ) (see the figure). Hajj is a deeply spiritual journey undertaken by Muslims at least once in their lifetimes. Hajj-related infectious disease outbreaks in recent decades have focused attention on Hajj as a global public health security challenge of extraordinary dimensions ( 1 – 5 ). This past summer, a KSA–World Health Organization (WHO) consultation process developed the Jeddah recommendations on mitigation for the effects of the current pandemic influenza A (H1N1) virus during the 2009 Hajj, which is the last week of November ( 6 ). Here, we outline some of the realities associated with meeting those recommendations and the most recent plans to help mitigate the transmission burden.

Objective. To determine the prevalence and risk factors for anemia in child bearing age women in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Design. Cross-sectional survey was conducted using two-stage cluster sampling. 25 clusters (primary health care centers (PHCC)) were identified from all over Riyadh, and 45–50 households were randomly selected from each cluster. Eligible women were invited to PHCC for questionnaire filling, anthropometric measurements, and complete blood count. Blood hemoglobin was measured with Coulter Cellular Analysis System using light scatter method. Setting. PHCC. Subjects. 969 (68%) women out of 1429 women were included in the analysis. Results. Mean hemoglobin was 12.35 ( ) g/dL, 95% CI 12.24–12.46 with interquartile range of 1.9. Anemia (Hb Conclusion. Women should be educated about proper diet and reproductive issues in order to reduce the prevalence of anemia in Saudi Arabia.