scholarly journals Maternal, adolescent and child health issues in low and middle income countries: towards achieving the sustainable development goals

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Grace Ndeezi
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Chew ◽  
Kasey Jones ◽  
Jennifer Unangst ◽  
James Cajka ◽  
Justine Allpress ◽  
...  

While governments, researchers, and NGOs are exploring ways to leverage big data sources for sustainable development, household surveys are still a critical source of information for dozens of the 232 indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Though some countries’ statistical agencies maintain databases of persons or households for sampling, conducting household surveys in LMICs is complicated due to incomplete, outdated, or inaccurate sampling frames. As a means to develop or update household listings in LMICs, this paper explores the use of machine learning models to detect and enumerate building structures directly from satellite imagery in the Kaduna state of Nigeria. Specifically, an object detection model was used to identify and locate buildings in satellite images. In the test set, the model attained a mean average precision (mAP) of 0.48 for detecting structures, with relatively higher values in areas with lower building density (mAP = 0.65). Furthermore, when model predictions were compared against recent household listings from fieldwork in Nigeria, the predictions showed high correlation with household coverage (Pearson = 0.70; Spearman = 0.81). With the need to produce comparable, scalable SDG indicators, this case study explores the feasibility and challenges of using object detection models to help develop timely enumerated household lists in LMICs.


Author(s):  
Joy Belinda Nabukalu ◽  
James Avoka Asamani ◽  
Juliet Nabyonga-Orem

Background: The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) availed opportunities for scaling up service coverage but called for stringent monitoring and evaluation (M&E) focusing mainly on MDG related programs. The Sustainable Development Goals 3 (SDGs) and the universal health coverage (UHC) agenda present a broader scope and require more sophisticated M&E systems. We assessed the readiness of low- and middle-income countries to monitor SDG 3. Methods: Employing mixed methods, we reviewed health sector M&E plans of 6 countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) Africa Region to assess the challenges to M&E, the indicator selection pattern and the extent of multisectoral collaboration. Qualitative data were analysed using content thematic analysis while quantitative data were analysed using Excel. Results: Challenges to monitoring SDG 3 include weak institutional capacity; fragmentation of M&E functions; inadequate domestic financing; inadequate data availability, dissemination and utilization of M&E products. The total number of indictors in the reviewed plans varied from 38 for Zimbabwe to 235 for Zanzibar. Sixty-nine percent of indicators for the Gambia and 89% for Zanzibar were not classified in any domain in the M&E results chain. Countries lay greater M&E emphasis on service delivery, health systems, maternal and child health as well as communicable diseases with a seeming neglect of the non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Inclusion of SDG 3 indicators only ranged from 48% for Zanzibar to 67% for Kenya. Although monitoring SDG 3 calls for multisectoral collaboration, consideration of the role of other sectors in the M&E plans was either absent or limited to the statistical departments. Conclusion: There are common challenges confronting M&E at county-level. Countries have omitted key indicators for monitoring components of the SDG 3 targets especially those on NCDs and injuries. The role of other sectors in monitoring SDG 3 targets is not adequately reflected. These could be bottlenecks to tracking progress towards SDG 3 if not addressed. Beyond providing compendium of indicators to guide countries, we advocate for a more binding minimum set of indicators for all countries to which they may add depending on their context. Ministries of Health (MoHs) should prioritise M&E as an important pillar for health service planning and implementation and not as an add-on activity.


2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 298-304 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Newaz Khan

Based on secondary analysis, this paper places a critical discussion looking back in history of maternal health achievements by Bangladesh, future adaptability and potentials forwarding to the sustainable development goals (SDGs) set by United Nations. Since the transition from MDGs to SDGs, Bangladesh achieved a many progress in maternal health development but still grappling with many structural and cultural barriers. Implementation of policy documents in community level, lack of better infrastructure, health bureaucracy induced delays, culture of absenteeism among practitioners and lack good health governance are some major challenges still hindering a fostered progress in achieving the expected improvement in maternal and child health condition in community and broader level. Evidences discussed in this paper suggests that, the clauses related to implementation and maintenance need to be stronger in the maternal health policy for future direction and sustainable progress in maternal health. The policy should act in practice, not as a document, to improve maternal health and reducing mortality that would finally speed up the progress in achieving SDGs target in more pragmatic sense.Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. September 2017, 3(3): 298-304


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement 2) ◽  
pp. 153s-153s
Author(s):  
F. Humura

Background: Cancer is also referred to as malignant tumor or neoplasm. It is one of the leading causes of death on the global scale. The knowledge and tools to manage and even cure cancer patients exist in developed countries but are unavailable to many who live in the developing world, resulting in unnecessary loss of life. Strategies are needed to close the gap between developed and developing countries in cancer survival and the effects of the disease on human suffering. It is also pertinent to bridge the gap to ensure universal health coverage which is very important to achieve the sustainable development goals. Aim: The aim of this abstract is to review the barrier to cancer control in developing world especially the low-and middle-income countries. Method: Selected papers amounting to 79 papers in PubMed from 2007 to 2017 were used from peer-reviewed literature and relevant publicly available documents with the appropriate keywords searched. Results: In spite of significant limitations in the available data, it is clear there are substantial barriers to access to cancer control in developing countries and also substantial limitations in the quality of cancer control and a great need to improve economic efficiency. Cancer is low or absent on the health agendas of low- and middle-income countries (LMCs) despite the fact that more people die of cancer in these countries than from AIDS and malaria combined. International health organizations, bilateral aid agencies, and major foundations which are instrumental in setting health priorities also have largely ignored cancer in these countries. Conclusion: and recommendations: There is an urgent need to improve health services for cancer control in developing countries to ensure health equity which is one of the key areas to be addressed in other to achieve sustainable development goals. Current resources and much-needed investments must be optimally managed. To achieve this, recommended investment should be focused in the following key priorities: capacity building in oncology health services research, policy and planning relevant to developing countries, development of high-quality health data sources, more oncology-related economic evaluations in developing countries, exploration of high-quality models of cancer control in developing countries. Meeting these needs will require national, regional and international collaboration as well as political leadership. Horizontal integration with programs for other diseases will be important.


2019 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. e2019045 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elham Khatooni ◽  
Isa Akbarzadeh ◽  
Elham Abdalmaleki ◽  
Zhaleh Abdi ◽  
Elham Ahmadnezhad

OBJECTIVES: Since many Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were not achieved, countries including Iran—despite achieving some of the MDGs—need regular planning to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. This article examines maternal and child health indicators in the early years of the SDGs in Iran relative to several other countries.METHODS: This study was carried out through a secondary analysis of maternal and child health indicators in Iran. The results were compared with data from other countries divided into three groups: countries with upper-middle income levels, countries in the Eastern Mediterranean region, and the countries covered by the Outlook Document 1,404 (a regional classification). Then, the relationship between these indicators and the Human Development Index was investigated.RESULTS: Iran has attained better results than other countries with respect to maternal mortality, family planning, skilled birth attendance, under-5 deaths, incidence of hepatitis B, diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis vaccination coverage, and antenatal care. In contrast, Iran performed worse than other countries with respect to under-5 wasting, under-5 stunting, and care-seeking behavior for children.CONCLUSIONS: Overall, among the 11 indicators surveyed, Iran has attained better-than-average results and seems to be improving. We recommend that Iran continue interventions in the field of maternal and child health.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Håvard Futsæter

<p>MET Norway has had an open data policy for many years. A permissive open data license, and a freely accessible service through which to gain access to the dataset is the first step. However, the data is not useful before it is understood and used in decision-making.</p><p>MET Norway serves many user groups, many of which have very different needs for open meteorological data. To cater for the different user needs, MET Norway provides multiple distribution services. One of our most important open data data services is MET Norway Weather API, a global location based time series forecast service. (https://developer.yr.no/featured-products/forecast/)</p><p>MET Norway has recently joined the Digital Public Goods Alliance, to help reach the Sustainable Development Goals(SDG) (https://sdgs.un.org/goals)  by leveraging our MET Norway Weather API service as a digital public good.</p><p>“The Digital Public Goods Alliance is a multi-stakeholder initiative with a mission to accelerate the attainment of the sustainable development goals in low- and middle-income countries by facilitating the discovery, development, use of, and investment in digital public goods.” (https://digitalpublicgoods.net/about/)</p><p>Moving from open data to a digital public good has meant taking a more active part in identifying, exploring and understanding the needs that low -and middle-income countries have. The needs considered are both end-user needs and gaps/tools/competency needs across the value chain. And we are trying to find ways our data and services can help fill those needs in an operational sustainable way by co-creating applications built on top of our services.</p><p>In this presentation we will first describe our experience with serving open and free weather forecast data. Then describe the challenges in moving from open data to working with our data as an SDG.</p><p>The presentation will be focused both on user needs and on technical challenges connected to running a global freely available open data service.</p>


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