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India has over half a million diabetics, with many others at risk. The Indian Diabetes Risk Score (IDRS) is a simple and validated tool used for mass screening of diabetes mellitus type 2 at the community level. This study assessed the vulnerability of developing diabetes in adults of a rural community of West Bengal using the IDRS and finds out the relationship of the risk of developing diabetes with socioclinical variables.

Multi-stage sampling was employed to select one eligible nondiabetic adult from selected families residing in the rural field practice area of a medical college in West Bengal. They were interviewed with a predesigned and pretested data collection schedule and examined.

Among 197 participants, 83.8% were female, 51.8% were illiterate and 57.4% came from Class IV of Prasad's socioeconomic scale. Of participants, 22.8% had existing known morbidities, and 23.9% had some form of substance addiction. In total, 46.8% of the participants on whom the IDRS could be applied (n = 175) were at high risk of developing diabetes (Score = 60). Gender and existing comorbidities significantly predicted a high risk of diabetes.

A large proportion of the Indian population yet to be diagnosed with diabetes are at a high risk of having the disease. Early detection of the disease can help curtail its complications and reduce its clinical, social and economic burden. Mass screening tools like the IDRS thus become a very important tool in India's attempts to fight diabetes.

The aim of this study was to compare the defined indicators of tuberculosis (TB) control program in the intervention and control prisons, after implementation of the national clinical protocol for TB and HIV management in Iranian prisons, suggesting active health service provision in all steps of service provision.

This was quasi-experimental study conducted among inmates of two prisons in Iran. Great Tehran prison was purposively chosen as the intervention prison and Karaj prison was purposively chosen as control prison as well. Intervention and control prisons were compared in terms of the TB indicators within three periods (before intervention, during implementation and follow-up period) from October 2013 to June 2014.

Number of inmates with TB symptoms who underwent TB workup was four times more in intervention prison compared to control prison (9.3 vs 2.5 cases out of 1,000 inmates per month in the case prison compared to the control prison). Such difference was also significant in the intervention prison, comparing before and during the intervention period. The patient finding in case prison increased significantly after the intervention (223.6 vs 81.8 cases out of 100,000 inmates per year). The number of TB cases who received HIV testing increased from 50 to 100%.

Active health service provision has significantly improved indicators in the intervention prison. The authors recommend implementation of this guideline in all prisons of Iran. Integration of other diseases with high burden among prisoners is also recommended in the active health services provision.

This paper aims to identify the interaction of different intervention strategies implemented in Malaysia towards flattening the curve of COVID-19 cases. Since the outbreak of COVID-19, many approaches were adopted and implemented by the Malaysian government. Some strategies gained quick wins but with negative unintended consequences after execution, whereas other strategies were slow to take effect. Learning from the previous strategies is pivotal to avoid repeating mistakes.

This paper presents the cause, effect of and connection among the implemented COVID-19 intervention strategies using systems thinking through the development of a causal loop diagram. It enables the visualisation of how each implemented strategy interacted with each other and collectively decreased or increased the spread of COVID-19.

The results of this study suggested that it is not only essential to control the spread of COVID-19, but also to prevent the transmission of the virus. The Malaysian experience has demonstrated that both control and preventive strategies need to be in a state of equilibrium. Focusing only on one spectrum will throw off the balance, leaving COVID-19 infection to escalate rapidly.

The developed feedback loops provided policy makers with the understanding of the merits, pitfalls and dynamics of prior implemented intervention strategies before devising other effective intervention strategies to defuse the spread of COVID-19 and prepare the nation for recovery.

The latest novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to have a significant social and financial impact globally. It is very essential to study, categorize and systematize published research on mitigation strategies adopted during previous pandemic scenario that could provide an insight into improving the current crisis. The goal of this paper is to systematize and identify gaps in previous research and suggest potential recommendations as a conceptual framework from a strategic point of view.

A systematic review of Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) core collection databases was performed based on strict keyword search selections followed by a bibliometric meta-analysis of the final dataset.

This study indicated that the traditional mitigation techniques adopted during past pandemics are in place but are not capable of managing the transmission capability and virulence of COVID-19. There is a greater need for rethinking and re-engineering short and long-term approaches to prevent, control and contain the current pandemic situation.

Integrating various mitigation approaches shall assist in flattening the pandemic curve and help in the long run.

Articles, conference proceedings, books, book chapters and other references from two extensive databases (Scopus and WoS) were purposively considered for this study. The search was confined to the selected keywords outlined in the methodology section of this paper.