Smallholders Beef Cattle Commercialization in Southwest Ethiopia

In this study, the beef cattle markets in Southwest Ethiopia are analyzed based on a survey of 172 producers. The first part emphasized the characterization and commercialization of the beef cattle market in the study area. The second part is dedicated to identifying the factors affecting households’ participation in the beef cattle market using the Heckman two-step selection model. In the findings, the beef cattle market is characterized by the dominance of few traders, asymmetric information, lack of contract enforcement, lack of transparency among market actors, and poorly developed market infrastructure. There is very low net commercial off-take rate of cattle for smallholder farmers in the study area. The result from the Heckman two-step selection model revealed that having positive stock of cattle, better access to extension service & feed, and a better level of literacy enhanced market participation and sales volume. On the contrary, market participation and sales volume were negatively affected by cattle keeper’s age, non-livestock income, and poor road and health infrastructure. The study suggested that improving the market and health infrastructure, providing capacity building for producers, and improving access to feed could enhance the intensity of smallholder beef cattle market participation.

The Mediating Role of Age Productivity on Human Resources Development, Health Infrastructure, and Proverty Level

Poverty is a classic problem in many regions in Indonesia, including the Bengkulu Province. There are several causes of poverty case in Bengkulu, three of which are low human resources, inadequate rural health infrastructure, and less productive population with productive working age. The purpose of the study is to examine 1) the influence of human resources management, health infrastructure, and productive age partially on poverty in Bengkulu Province, and 2) the influence of human resources, health infrastructure respectively through mediation of productive age on poverty in Bengkulu Province. This study uses a quantitative descriptive approach using secondary data. The research population is all districts/cities in Bengkulu Province totalling 9 districts and 1 city in 2010 – 2019. This study uses saturated sampling. The data was then processed and analyzed using SEM-PLS. The results of the study show that human resources proxied by the Human Development Index (HDI) had a positive effect on the poverty level, health infrastructure had no effect on the poverty level, productive age had no effect on the poverty level, productive age was not a mediating variable between resources and the poverty level, so that cannot be used as a mediating variable, and productive age does not mediate the effect of health infrastructure on poverty levels in Bengkulu Province.

Strengthening the Health System as a Strategy to Achieving a Universal Health Coverage in Underprivileged Communities in Africa: A Scoping Review

Universal health coverage (UHC) is defined as people having access to quality healthcare services (e.g., treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care) they need, irrespective of their financial status. Access to quality healthcare services continues to be a challenge for many people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The aim of this study was to conduct a scoping review to map out the health system strengthening strategies that can be used to attain universal health coverage in Africa. We conducted a scoping review and qualitatively synthesized existing evidence from studies carried out in Africa. We included studies that reported interventions to strengthen the health system, e.g., financial support, increasing work force, improving leadership capacity in health facilities, and developing and upgrading infrastructure of primary healthcare facilities. Outcome measures included health facility infrastructures, access to medicines, and sources of financial support. A total of 34 studies conducted met our inclusion criteria. Health financing and developing health infrastructure were the most reported interventions toward achieving UHC. Our results suggest that strengthening the health system, namely, through health financing, developing, and improving the health infrastructure, can play an important role in reaching UHC in the African context.

School Health Infrastructure and Students’ Elevated Body Mass Index

School-age children with overweight or obesity continue to be problematic in the United States, and are associated with many health, social, and financial problems. Schools provide an excellent venue in which to promote healthy weight in students, and school nurses are well-positioned to play an essential role in controlling obesity. The number of studies reporting relationships among school health infrastructure and prevalence of elevated Body Mass Index (BMI) is limited. The present study explored associations between three components of school health infrastructure (staff, services, budget) and the proportion overweight or obese 1st, 3rd, and 6th grade students, after controlling for selected factors (race, county education level, county poverty level, rurality). Study results supported an independent association between elevated BMI and school health staff. Additionally, independent associations between elevated BMI and the following covariates were supported: household income, race, and parents’ educational level. There is an ultimate need for well-designed studies addressing these associations.

Impact of Human Mobility Trends on the Outbreak of COVID-19 Across Different States of India

The explosion of coronavirus has posed challenges to public health infrastructure in India. This pandemic can be contained with social distancing and isolation. The analysis of human mobility trends plays a decisive role in the spread of the pandemic. These movement patterns are extracted from Google COVID-19 Community Mobile Reports. These reports help to analyze the human mobility trends to various frequently visited places across different states of India. This work focuses on analyzing mobility trends in India and their effect on the spread of pandemic in terms of number of active cases and death rate. The mobility patterns, number of tests conducted, population density across different states in India are explored to understand their effect on the severity of epidemic. These features are correlated using statistical methods. This study lays the foundation in building a framework to contain the contributors for the spread of pandemics and provide insights to the regulatory bodies to strategize enforcing or revoking lockdown restrictions across regions in the country.

Hospitales sustentables: partidas críticas para su construcción y el rol de la inspección técnica

Currently, the public health infrastructure in Chile, at its different scales, has made important advances in determining sustainability design criteria. However, it is possible to see that, during its construction, there are no standardized verification processes on sustainability aspects, and that the work of technical inspection focuses on the administrative compliance of construction contracts, rather than on checking technical aspects. This research proposes a list of critical items and activities to supervise hospital construction, to guarantee sustainable criteria in their operation. A survey was also made to professionals involved in the design, construction, and supervision of hospital construction, ranking the results with a multi-criteria methodology (AHP), which showed a preference in the thermal envelope (20%) and thermal and ventilation installations (17%). Finally, based on the weaknesses stated by the professionals, a control and monitoring process of these items and activities is proposed, redesigning the work of the Worksite’ Technical Inspector.

Antenatal Care (ANC) Coverage, Health Infrastructure, and Postnatal Care (PNC) Services Utilization: A District Level Analysis of Punjab-Pakistan

Awareness of receiving postnatal care is uncommon in Punjab (Pakistan) and supply-side is also unfortunate. Sufficient uptake of PNC may helpful in reducing maternal mortality. Thus, this study explored the demand and supply-side determinants of maternal health (utilization of PNC) care for 35 districts of Punjab, Pakistan. Percentage of women of reproductive ages using PNC services in the 35 districts of Punjab was the outcome variable. While, ANC utilization, adult literacy rate, household wealth, physical infrastructure had been considered as the explanatory variables. Secondary data were obtained from Punjab Development Statistics reports from the years 2010 to 2016. Pooled ordinary least square (OLS) and Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) were applied as estimation techniques. It was found that the percentage of women of reproductive ages using ANC services (0.662, p < 0.01), the percentage of households receiving remittances from abroad (0.570, p < 0.01), the percentage of households having access to improved sanitation facilities (0.569, p < 0.01), the percentage of households having their own houses (0.530, p < 0.05), and district-based health infrastructure index (0.237, p < 0.05) had strong positive and significant impact on PNC utilization. The study concluded that district-based targets relating to PNC coverage could be achieved by intervening through ANC utilization behavior, household wealth (remittances receipts), and through the provision of infrastructure (healthcare, sanitation) to the residents of the district. Need to ensure the availability and accessibility of PNC in order to reduce the health disparities among the districts of Punjab.

Early signals of Omicron severity in sentinel UK hospitals

On 26th November 2021, a novel SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.529 (Omicron variant) was designated as a variant of concern by the World Health Organisation. Using data from the Virology laboratory at the Manchester Medical Microbiology Partnership (MMMP, a partnership between UKHSA and the Manchester Foundation Trust), we have extracted a real-time feed of Omicron samples from hospitals across Greater Manchester, an area of the United Kingdom with a population size of approximately three million individuals. Omicron hospital samples are growing exponentially across Greater Manchester (doubling time 2.7 days (95% CI: 2.1, 3.7)). The proportion of Omicron in hospital samples follows a similar trajectory to the SGTF proportion in cases, but with a two-day offset. This is consistent with the delay from testing positive to hospital admission, implying a similar proportion of Omicron cases are converting to hospital admissions as for Delta cases. Comparing the Greater Manchester data to national hospitalisation data, similar tends are observed. Therefore, there is no signal of a substantial reduction in hospital admission risk with Omicron, and Omicron epidemics are likely to place a substantial burden on public health infrastructure.