Saudi Hajj pilgrims' preparation and uptake of health preventive measures during Hajj 2017

Background: Few studies have reported the uptake of health preventive measures among Hajj pilgrims from Saudi Arabia. Yet, none of these studies have explored their perceptions of health risks at Hajj or pretravel health-advice-seeking behavior. Methods: A cross-sectional survey conducted among Hajj pilgrims from Saudi Arabia. Results: Of 344 pilgrims who completed the survey, 44% sought some form of pretravel health information; among them, 38% from non-medical sources. About 67% of participants received an influenza vaccine, and 8.7% received a pneumococcal vaccine. Lack of aware of vaccine availability was the main reason for nonreceipt (26%). Being employed and having a high level of education were significant factors in vaccine uptake. Two thirds of pilgrims carried some medications to use during Hajj; analgesics, antipyretics and antibiotics were the most reported drugs. Various methods of hand hygiene were the most used preventive measures (approximate to 65%) followed by facemask use (53%). Those who concerned about food poisoning at Hajj were more likely to cleaned their hands with hand sanitizers (aOR= 2.5, 95% CI = 1.1-5.4, p = 0.01) and avoid eating food from street vendors (aOR= 2.9, 95% CI= 1.1-7.5, p = 0.02). Conclusion: Pretravel health-advice -seeking behavior and the use of preventive measures during Hajj were suboptimal among Saudi Hajj pilgrims. (C) 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Limited on behalf of King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (hap:// cleativecommons.orgilicenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).