A Synthesis of Findings from ‘Rapid Assessments’ of Disability and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Response and Disability-Inclusive Data Collection

Introduction: People with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by disasters, including health emergencies, and responses are not always inclusive or accessible. Disability-inclusive response and recovery efforts require rapid, contextually relevant data, but little was known about either the experience of people with disabilities in the first phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, or how rapid needs assessments were conducted. Methods: We reviewed the available results from rapid assessments of impacts of COVID-19 on people with disabilities in low- and middle-income countries in Asia and the Pacific. Rapid assessment methods and questions were examined to describe the current approaches and synthesise results. Results: Seventeen surveys met the inclusion criteria. The findings suggest that people with disabilities experienced less access to health, education, and social services and increased violence. The most rapid assessments were conducted by or with disabled person’s organisations (DPOs). The rapid assessment methods were varied, resulting in heterogeneous data between contexts. Efforts to standardise data collection in disability surveys are not reflected in practice. Conclusions: Persons with disabilities were disproportionately impacted by the ‘first wave’ of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite complex implementation challenges and methodological limitations, persons with disabilities have led efforts to provide evidence to inform disability-inclusive pandemic responses.

Estimation of the Magnitude of People Who Inject Drugs in Hawassa, Ethiopia: A Descriptive Study

Background: - Injecting drug use contributes substantially to developing the HIV pandemic in many developing countries. Due to the hidden nature and stigma of the issue, it didn’t prove easy to investigate using regular surveys. Therefore, this research pursues to determine the magnitude of individuals who inject drugs in Hawassa and explain the epidemiological and social condition of HIV among people who inject drugs.Methods: - The study used rapid assessment methods and the combined method of estimating population, by nomination and multiplier methods, using two datasets. The first was the proportion of people who use service within a year as a multiplier. The second was a list of individuals with a condition who utilized a particular health service within a year as a benchmark. The rapid assessment included qualitative methods to extract information relevant to enumeration cites, selection of first seeds as data sources. The study made a simple description of the study subjects to yield socio-demographics and behaviours related to HIV and other health-related problems.Results: - The study estimated a total of estimated 688 (95% CI; 502, 991) people who inject drugs, with a prevalence of 266 per 100,000 people. The study found that people who inject drugs were more young age, male gender. They also lived in lower educational status, were unmarried, and living in small clerk businesses. People who inject drugs and have taken part in the study were more likely to use additional substances like alcohol, khat, and other hard substances like cannabis. The most common form of drug used was Cocaine (83.3%). Most of the PWIDs were sexually active with regular (50.3%) and casual partners (884.6%). They claimed to involve in risky sexual behavior. Conclusion and recommendation:- A significant number of people who inject drugs are available in Hawassa. Lack of assistance in harm reduction in the city has rendered PWIDs vulnerable and at greater risk for HIV/ AIDS. Therefore, the Ministry of Health and other relevant authorities have to start implementing the WHO’s nine key harm reduction measures provided by the World Health Organization.

Rapid Environmental Planning Methodology: Developing Strategies for the Planners’ Education

Rapid assessments are useful methods for engaging stakeholders, standardizing monitoring activities and supporting later planning stages. This article proposes to extend rapid assessment methods into ‘rapid environmental planning’ and to use it for the education of planning professionals. For the assessment stage, the pressure–state–response model is used, with a participatory valuation of the ecosystem services through supply and demand profile and future trends. The stage of scenario building includes the XLRM methodology (externalities, actions, metrics and relationships), the trends and evaluation of proposals and uncertainties, as well as the formulation of timelines and narratives. The propositional stage included intervention projects, zoning of land use and occupation guidelines. The methodology was evaluated as a didactic resource for undergraduate teaching in a watershed in São Bernardo do Campo, São Paulo (Brazil). The results indicated a high educational potential for the students as well as the potential effectiveness of this planning method.

Community management of burn injuries

Burn injuries are extremely common injuries for both adults and children, and yet knowledge of their management is often lacking in society and the subject is not routinely taught to clinicians. In this article, we aim to provide an overview of the pertinent points of the history, classification of burns, and rapid assessment methods for determining body surface area within primary care. This is followed by key aspects of management, referral criteria for transfer to a burns service, and important safeguarding issues surrounding burns.

Space Using of Sumatra Slow Loris (Nycticebus coucang) Release by International Animal Rescue Indonesia (IARI) in Protected Forest Batutegi Kalijernih Tanggamus Lampung

Nycticebus coucang had the closely related to their habitat. The observation research to determine using of (1) forest stratum, (2) substrate space (3) canopy space (4) vegetation types and (4) daily behavior of N.coucang in Protected Forest KPHL Batutegi Block Kalijernih, Tanggamus Lampung, February-May 2014, used the explore, one zero sampling and rapid assessment methods. The results of the 60 days observation was found 50 hours N.coucang behavior observed for a total of 3652 data, N.coucang used (1) forest floor (57%), understory layer (42,7%), canopy layer (0,2%), (2) A substrate (4,3%), B substrate (13%), C substrate (43,7%), D substrate (38,3%), E substrate (0,4%) and F substrate (0,08%), (3) middle (24,6%), top middle (16,7%), middle down (14,7%), middle edge (20,8%), top edge (13,4%), bottom edge (0,9%), (4) vegetation type are stake (46,2%), pole (33,6%) and tree (20%), (5) to did daily behavior are travelling (56,7%), feeding (7,5%), forage (25,9%), grooming (5,7%), active (3,6%), inactive (0,2%), and defecating (0,02%. Keywords: Selection and space using of forest, Nycticebus coucang, KPHL Batutegi

DAMAGE ASSESSMENT AND MONITORING OF CULTURAL HERITAGE PLACES IN A DISASTER AND POST-DISASTER EVENT – A CASE STUDY OF SYRIA

In recent decades, and in response to an increased focus on disastrous events ranging from armed conflict to natural events that impact cultural heritage, there is a need for methodologies and approaches to better manage the effects of disaster on cultural heritage. This paper presents the approaches used in the development of a Historic Environment Record (HER) for Syria. It describes the requirements and methodologies used for systematic emergency recording and assessment of cultural heritage. It also presents the type of information needed to record in the aftermath of disaster to assess the scale of damage and destruction. Started as a project at Durham University, the database is now being developed as part of the EAMENA (Endangered Archaeology in the Middle East and North Africa) project. The core dataset incorporates information and data from archaeological surveys undertaken in Syria by research projects in recent decades and began life as a development of the Shirīn initiative¹.<br><br> The focus of this project is to provide a tool not only for the recording and inventory of sites and monuments, but also to record damage and threats, their causes, and assess their magnitude. It will also record and measure the significance in order to be able to prioritize emergency and preservation responses. The database aims to set procedures for carrying out systematic rapid condition assessment (to record damage) and risk assessment (to record threat and level of risk) of heritage places, on the basis of both on the ground and remote assessment. Given the large number of heritage properties damaged by conflict, the implementation of rapid assessment methods to quickly identify and record level of damage and condition is essential, as it will provide the evidence to support effective prioritization of efforts and resources, and decisions on the appropriate levels of intervention and methods of treatment. The predefined data entry categories, use of a data standard, and systematic methods of assessment will ensure that different users choose from the same prefixed data entry and measurement inputs in order to allow for consistent and comparable assessments across different sites and regions. Given the general lack of appropriate emergency response and assessment databases, this system could also be applied in other locations facing similar threats and damage from conflict or natural disasters.