scholarly journals How do interventions impact malaria dynamics between neighboring countries? A case study with Botswana and Zimbabwe

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Folashade Agusto ◽  
Amy Goldberg ◽  
Omayra Ortega ◽  
Joan Ponce ◽  
Sofya Zaytseva ◽  
...  

AbstractMalaria is a vector-borne disease that is responsible for over 400,000 deaths per year. Although countries around the world have taken measures to decrease the incidence of malaria, many regions remain endemic. Indeed, progress towards elimination has stalled in multiple countries. While control efforts are largely focused at the national level, the movement of individuals between countries may complicate the efficacy of elimination efforts. Here, we consider the case of neighboring countries Botswana and Zimbabwe, connected by human mobility. Both have improved malaria rates in recent years with differing success. We use a two-patch Ross-MacDonald Model with Lagrangian human mobility to examine the coupled disease dynamics between these two countries. In particular, we are interested in the impact that interventions for controlling malaria applied in one country can have on the incidence of malaria in the other country. We find that dynamics and interventions in Zimbabwe can dramatically influence pathways to elimination in Botswana, largely driven by Zimbabwe’s population size and larger basic reproduction number.

Epidemics ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 153-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.A. Hartemink ◽  
B.V. Purse ◽  
R. Meiswinkel ◽  
H.E. Brown ◽  
A. de Koeijer ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ganga Ram Phaijoo ◽  
Dil Bahadur Gurung

Dengue is a vector-borne infectious disease endemic in many parts of the world. The disease is spreading in new places due to human movement into the dengue disease supporting areas. Temperature is the major climatic factor which affects the biological processes of the mosquitoes and their interaction with the viruses. In the present work, we propose a multipatch model to assess the impact of temperature and human movement in the transmission dynamics of dengue disease. The work consists of system of ordinary differential equations that describe the transmission dynamics of dengue disease between humans and mosquitoes. Human population is divided into four classes: susceptible, exposed, infectious, and recovered. Mosquito population is divided into three classes: susceptible, exposed, and infectious. Basic reproduction numberR0of the model is obtained using Next-Generation Matrix method. The qualitative analysis of the model is made in terms of the basic reproduction number. Parameters used in the model are considered temperature dependent. Dynamics of vector and host populations are investigated with different human movement rates and different temperature levels. Numerical results show that proper management of human movement between patches helps reducing the burden of dengue disease. It is also seen that the temperature affects the transmission dynamics of the disease significantly.


2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 431-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan S. Bell

Abstract:Heritage preservation is distinctly political, often presenting a privileged elitist interpretation of historic sites, while denigrating or even destroying later significant built environments. Structures that are the emanation of subsequent cultures, but similarly tied to the place, are often undervalued, underinterpreted, and even purposely obliterated from the landscape. This article considers the politics of heritage related to privileging one type of historic structure to the complete detriment of the other. The example of Gurna, in Egypt, serves as a powerful case study for the loss of a living historic built environment solely for the simplified or “flattened” interpretation of a place. In highlighting the preferential protection and presentation of the World Heritage Site of the Theban Necropolis and ultimate demise of the historic hamlets of Gurna, the article builds on previous work in the field on interpretation, the impact of tourism, and the conflicting identities of historic sites.


2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-47
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Squires

Modernism is usually defined historically as the composite movement at the beginning of the twentieth century which led to a radical break with what had gone before in literature and the other arts. Given the problems of the continuing use of the concept to cover subsequent writing, this essay proposes an alternative, philosophical perspective which explores the impact of rationalism (what we bring to the world) on the prevailing empiricism (what we take from the world) of modern poetry, which leads to a concern with consciousness rather than experience. This in turn involves a re-conceptualisation of the lyric or narrative I, of language itself as a phenomenon, and of other poetic themes such as nature, culture, history, and art. Against the background of the dominant empiricism of modern Irish poetry as presented in Crotty's anthology, the essay explores these ideas in terms of a small number of poets who may be considered modernist in various ways. This does not rule out modernist elements in some other poets and the initial distinction between a poetics of experience and one of consciousness is better seen as a multi-dimensional spectrum that requires further, more detailed analysis than is possible here.


2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 1183-1189
Author(s):  
Dr. Tridibesh Tripathy ◽  
Dr. Umakant Prusty ◽  
Dr. Chintamani Nayak ◽  
Dr. Rakesh Dwivedi ◽  
Dr. Mohini Gautam

The current article of Uttar Pradesh (UP) is about the ASHAs who are the daughters-in-law of a family that resides in the same community that they serve as the grassroots health worker since 2005 when the NRHM was introduced in the Empowered Action Group (EAG) states. UP is one such Empowered Action Group (EAG) state. The current study explores the actual responses of Recently Delivered Women (RDW) on their visits during the first month of their recent delivery. From the catchment area of each of the 250 ASHAs, two RDWs were selected who had a child in the age group of 3 to 6 months during the survey. The response profiles of the RDWs on the post- delivery first month visits are dwelled upon to evolve a picture representing the entire state of UP. The relevance of the study assumes significance as detailed data on the modalities of postnatal visits are available but not exclusively for the first month period of their recent delivery. The details of the post-delivery first month period related visits are not available even in large scale surveys like National Family Health Survey 4 done in 2015-16. The current study gives an insight in to these visits with a five-point approach i.e. type of personnel doing the visit, frequency of the visits, visits done in a particular week from among those four weeks separately for the three visits separately. The current study is basically regarding the summary of this Penta approach for the post- delivery one-month period.     The first month period after each delivery deals with 70% of the time of the postnatal period & the entire neonatal period. Therefore, it does impact the Maternal Mortality Rate & Ratio (MMR) & the Neonatal Mortality Rates (NMR) in India and especially in UP through the unsafe Maternal & Neonatal practices in the first month period after delivery. The current MM Rate of UP is 20.1 & MM Ratio is 216 whereas the MM ratio is 122 in India (SRS, 2019). The Sample Registration System (SRS) report also mentions that the Life Time Risk (LTR) of a woman in pregnancy is 0.7% which is the highest in the nation (SRS, 2019). This means it is very risky to give birth in UP in comparison to other regions in the country (SRS, 2019). This risk is at the peak in the first month period after each delivery. Similarly, the current NMR in India is 23 per 1000 livebirths (UNIGME,2018). As NMR data is not available separately for states, the national level data also hold good for the states and that’s how for the state of UP as well. These mortalities are the impact indicators and such indicators can be reduced through long drawn processes that includes effective and timely visits to RDWs especially in the first month period after delivery. This would help in making their post-natal & neonatal stage safe. This is the area of post-delivery first month visit profile detailing that the current article helps in popping out in relation to the recent delivery of the respondents.   A total of four districts of Uttar Pradesh were selected purposively for the study and the data collection was conducted in the villages of the respective districts with the help of a pre-tested structured interview schedule with both close-ended and open-ended questions.  The current article deals with five close ended questions with options, two for the type of personnel & frequency while the other three are for each of the three visits in the first month after the recent delivery of respondents. In addition, in-depth interviews were also conducted amongst the RDWs and a total 500 respondents had participated in the study.   Among the districts related to this article, the results showed that ASHA was the type of personnel who did the majority of visits in all the four districts. On the other hand, 25-40% of RDWs in all the 4 districts replied that they did not receive any visit within the first month of their recent delivery. Regarding frequency, most of the RDWs in all the 4 districts received 1-2 times visits by ASHAs.   Regarding the first visit, it was found that the ASHAs of Barabanki and Gonda visited less percentage of RDWs in the first week after delivery. Similarly, the second visit revealed that about 1.2% RDWs in Banda district could not recall about the visit. Further on the second visit, the RDWs responded that most of them in 3 districts except Gonda district did receive the second postnatal visit in 7-15 days after their recent delivery. Less than half of RDWs in Barabanki district & just more than half of RDWs in Gonda district received the third visit in 15-21 days period after delivery. For the same period, the majority of RDWs in the rest two districts responded that they had been entertained through a home visit.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 3-17
Author(s):  
Elena Blagoeva

The impact of the last global economic crisis (2008) on the European economy put a strain on higher education (HE), yet it also pushed the sector towards intensive reforms and improvements. This paper focuses on the “Strategy for the Development of Higher Education in the Republic of Bulgaria 2014-2020”. With a case study methodology, we explore the strategic endeavours of the Bulgarian government to comply with the European directions and to secure sustainable growth for the HE sector. Our research question is ‘How capable is the Bulgarian HE Strategy to overcome the economic and systemic restraints of Bulgarian higher education?’. Because the development of strategies for HE within the EU is highly contextual, a single qualitative case study was chosen as the research approach. HE institutions are not ivory towers, but subjects to a variety of external and internal forces. Within the EU, this is obviated by the fact that Universities obtain their funds from institutions such as governments, students and their families, donors, as well as EU-level programmes. Therefore, to explore how these pressures interact to affect strategic action on national level, the case method is well suited as it enabled us to study the phenomena thoroughly and deeply. The paper suggests the actions proposed within the Strategy have the potential to overcome the delay, the regional isolation and the negative impact of the economic crisis on the country. Nevertheless, the key elements on which the success or failure of this Strategy hinges are the control mechanisms and the approach to implementation. Shortcomings in these two aspects of strategic actions in HE seem to mark the difference between gaining long-term benefits and merely saving face in front of international institutions.


2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (No. 8) ◽  
pp. 365-372
Author(s):  
Tunahan Erdem

The study aimed to reveal the competitiveness of the world dried sector for some selected products such as dried apples, prunes, apricots, figs, and grapes. In the study, the data was subjected to the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA), Relative Export Advantage (RXA), Relative Import Advantage (RMA), Relative Trade Advantage (RTA) and Relative Competitiveness (RC) indices. RCA is an index developed by Balassa to determine the competitiveness of a specific country for selected products or goods. To demonstrate the economic outlook for the world dried sector, the 2007 to 2017 data of China, USA, Chile, Germany, Iran, the Netherlands, South Africa, France, Uzbekistan, Argentina, Spain, Turkey, and India were compared, these countries dominating the sector of selected dried agricultural products. The results demonstrated that the world dried sector is very responsive to economic crises and to local currency rate. The RCA index was found to be 4.66 in 2007 for Turkey and it decreased to 4.45 by 2009 during the world economic crisis. The other breaking point was 2013 when Turkey experienced both economic and political crises.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 73
Author(s):  
Raquel Pérez-Arnal ◽  
David Conesa ◽  
Sergio Alvarez-Napagao ◽  
Toyotaro Suzumura ◽  
Martí Català ◽  
...  

The COVID-19 pandemic is changing the world in unprecedented and unpredictable ways. Human mobility, being the greatest facilitator for the spread of the virus, is at the epicenter of this change. In order to study mobility under COVID-19, to evaluate the efficiency of mobility restriction policies, and to facilitate a better response to future crisis, we need to understand all possible mobility data sources at our disposal. Our work studies private mobility sources, gathered from mobile-phones and released by large technological companies. These data are of special interest because, unlike most public sources, it is focused on individuals rather than on transportation means. Furthermore, the sample of society they cover is large and representative. On the other hand, these data are not directly accessible for anonymity reasons. Thus, properly interpreting its patterns demands caution. Aware of that, we explore the behavior and inter-relations of private sources of mobility data in the context of Spain. This country represents a good experimental setting due to both its large and fast pandemic peak and its implementation of a sustained, generalized lockdown. Our work illustrates how a direct and naive comparison between sources can be misleading, as certain days (e.g., Sundays) exhibit a directly adverse behavior. After understanding their particularities, we find them to be partially correlated and, what is more important, complementary under a proper interpretation. Finally, we confirm that mobile-data can be used to evaluate the efficiency of implemented policies, detect changes in mobility trends, and provide insights into what new normality means in Spain.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed A. Aba Oud ◽  
Aatif Ali ◽  
Hussam Alrabaiah ◽  
Saif Ullah ◽  
Muhammad Altaf Khan ◽  
...  

AbstractCOVID-19 or coronavirus is a newly emerged infectious disease that started in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 and spread worldwide very quickly. Although the recovery rate is greater than the death rate, the COVID-19 infection is becoming very harmful for the human community and causing financial loses to their economy. No proper vaccine for this infection has been introduced in the market in order to treat the infected people. Various approaches have been implemented recently to study the dynamics of this novel infection. Mathematical models are one of the effective tools in this regard to understand the transmission patterns of COVID-19. In the present paper, we formulate a fractional epidemic model in the Caputo sense with the consideration of quarantine, isolation, and environmental impacts to examine the dynamics of the COVID-19 outbreak. The fractional models are quite useful for understanding better the disease epidemics as well as capture the memory and nonlocality effects. First, we construct the model in ordinary differential equations and further consider the Caputo operator to formulate its fractional derivative. We present some of the necessary mathematical analysis for the fractional model. Furthermore, the model is fitted to the reported cases in Pakistan, one of the epicenters of COVID-19 in Asia. The estimated value of the important threshold parameter of the model, known as the basic reproduction number, is evaluated theoretically and numerically. Based on the real fitted parameters, we obtained $\mathcal{R}_{0} \approx 1.50$ R 0 ≈ 1.50 . Finally, an efficient numerical scheme of Adams–Moulton type is used in order to simulate the fractional model. The impact of some of the key model parameters on the disease dynamics and its elimination are shown graphically for various values of noninteger order of the Caputo derivative. We conclude that the use of fractional epidemic model provides a better understanding and biologically more insights about the disease dynamics.


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