Resilience and the role of equids in humanitarian crises.

In times of crisis, working equids can play a pivotal role in supporting vulnerable people in lower middle income countries. However, their contributions are rarely acknowledged in academic research, media reporting, international policy, and development initiatives. This paper explores the involvement of working equids in humanitarian emergencies, notably those pertaining to conflict, drought, climate change, and natural hazards. It presents 'critical cases', informed by document analysis of policy papers, historical texts, and academic publications. In addition, it includes the findings of semi-structured interviews with key informants, primarily field staff working for frontline services in crisis zones, conducted in mid 2020. The paper develops evidence on the role of working equids in crisis situations-expanding the concept of 'resilience' to include working animals and contributing to recent academic discussions in the fields of disaster and development studies-highlighting their importance for global policy, resilience programming, and disaster risk reduction, including efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Viability of power distribution in India - Challenges and Way Forward.

Energy is a key component for economic growth as well as for human development. India is the third-ranking electricity generator in the world but ranks 106th in terms of per capita consumption. Specifically, the distribution of power is the most important link in the value chain of the power sector since it is the cash register for the entire sector. In India, electricity is a concurrent subject shared between the Central and State Governments. While the generation of power has been deregulated since 2003, the supply of power to the consumers is generally carried out by Government-owned power Distribution Companies (DISCOMs). In this paper, the authors analyze the financial distress of DISCOMs in India, and explain how the supply-demand mismatch due to over-ambitious demand projections, the fixed and energy charges of thermal power plants, and the excess procurement of "must-run" renewable sources together contribute to the high cost of power procurement that drives the financial stress faced by DISCOMs. The authors support their assertion with a study of nine DISCOMs supplying electricity to 155 million people in three States and propose policy recommendations for a turnaround of such DISCOMs which can be rolled out with suitable modifications across India.

SHARE IT: Co-designing a sustainability impact assessment framework for urban food sharing initiatives.

Urban food systems must undergo a significant transformation if they are to avoid impeding the achievement of UN Sustainable Development Goals. One reconfiguration with claimed sustainability benefits is ICT-mediated food sharing - an umbrella term used to refer to technologically-augmented collective or collaborative practices around growing, cooking, eating and redistributing food - which some argue improves environmental efficiencies by reducing waste, providing opportunities to make or save money, building social networks and generally enhancing well-being. However, most sustainability claims for food sharing have not been evidenced by systematically collected and presented data. In this paper we document our response to this mismatch between claims and evidence through the development of the SHARECITY sustainability Impact assessment Toolkit (SHARE IT); a novel Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) framework which has been co-designed with food sharing initiatives to better indicate the impact of food-sharing initiatives in urban food systems. We demonstrate that while several SIA frameworks have been developed to evaluate food systems at the urban scale, they contain few measures that specifically account for impacts of the sharing that initiatives undertake. The main body of the paper focuses on the co-design process undertaken with food sharing initiatives based in Dublin and London. Attention is paid to how two core goals were achieved: 1) the identification of a coherent SIA framework containing appropriate indicators for the activities of food sharing initiatives; and 2) the development of an open access online toolkit for in order to make SIA reporting accessible for food sharing initiatives. In conclusion, the co-design process revealed a number of technical and conceptual challenges, but it also stimulated creative responses to these challenges.

Solar roads - a new potential renewable energy for Great Britain.

Global warming has become a much more realised issue and an immediate threat, accelerating due to the anthropogenic carbon release associated with escalating energy demand. Consequently, pressures are building up to reduce anthropogenic carbon footprint by employing renewable energy resources, among which solar energy is the main. Solar roads are a new and innovative concept as they do not require land to be specifically allocated. This is because the road infrastructure already exists. Therefore, this emerging technique of embedding solar panels into pavements and roadways is becoming a more attractive proposition. However, a hurdle to its successful application is the lack of knowledge regarding its feasibility and viability. This study aims to evaluate the potential of solar roads to inform future feasibility and viability studies in varying contexts and implications. Within the scope of this study, the case of Great Britain is considered to evaluate the potential of how much energy can be generated via the solar roads technology that can be embedded in the country's road infrastructure. A mathematical exercise is performed in which calculations are executed to develop a basic numerical model of the potential. Therefore, the study is quantitative, and the factors considered include seasonal changes, average daily traffic covering roads, tree and building shades, road types and sizes, solar irradiance, solar panel types, and alike. It is estimated that solar roads may supply up to 96.42% of the UK's total electricity, which is a substantially promising potential.

Perceptions and practices of urban slum-dwelling women concerning soil-transmitted helminths infections in Bangladesh: A cross-sectional study.

Introduction: Soil-transmitted helminths (STH) infections are still attributed to a significant part of mortality and disabilities in developing nations. This study aimed at exploring the perceptions and practices concerning STH and to assess the associated risk of infections among slum-dwelling women of Dhaka South City Corporations (DSCC), Bangladesh. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in two selected slums (Malibagh and Lalbagh) of DSCC, Bangladesh, from September 2020 to February 2021. A total of 206 women participants were requested to provide stool samples, followed by a semi-structured questionnaire survey. Parasitological assessment was done by the formol-ether concentration (FEC) technique. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, and p-value < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant. An adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with a 95% confidence interval (95% CI) was estimated using logistic regression analysis to examine the association between explanatory and outcome factors. Results: In total, 36 (17.5%) STH infections were observed out of 206 examined participants. Among the STH, Trichuris trichiura showed the highest prevalence (10.7%), followed by Ascaris lumbricoides (5.3%). Lack of formal education, overcrowded living, large family sizes, and using shared toilets were significantly associated with STH infections. Irregular nail cutting (AOR = 3.12), irregular soap usage after toilet (AOR = 2.98), wearing no shoes (AOR = 4.64), and failing to teach kids to wash their hands (AOR = 3.87) were revealed as practice concerns linked to high STH prevalence. Women, who had never heard about STH (AOR = 2.42) and had no misconceptions regarding STH (AOR = 1.94) were positively related to STH infection in this study. Conclusion: Slum-dwelling women in Bangladesh still had a substantial infection of STH. Most of the communities under study were unaware of parasite infection and its negative effects on health. Revision of the policy of ongoing anthelmintic distribution programs and widespread health education programs are recommended aimed at controlling STH.

Microscopy and biomimetics: the NanoSuit® method and image retrieval platform.

This review aims to clarify a suitable method towards achieving next-generation sustainability. As represented by the term 'Anthropocene', the Earth, including humans, is entering a critical era; therefore, science has a great responsibility to solve it. Biomimetics, the emulation of the models, systems and elements of nature, especially biological science, is a powerful tool to approach sustainability problems. Microscopy has made great progress with the technology of observing biological and artificial materials and its techniques have been continuously improved, most recently through the NanoSuit® method. As one of the most important tools across many facets of research and development, microscopy has produced a large amount of accumulated digital data. However, it is difficult to extract useful data for making things as biomimetic ideas despite a large amount of biological data. Here, we would like to find a way to organically connect the indispensable microscopic data with the new biomimetics to solve complex human problems.

Dataset: Japan household panel survey on Sustainable Development Goals 2019-2020.

The dataset concerning the Japan Household Panel Survey on Sustainable Development Goals (JHPSDGs) was collected through online surveys conducted in March 2019 and March 2020. The dataset consists of 12,098 observations, including two-period panel datasets of 3,227 individuals. The JHPSDGs include a wide range of individual survey responses, which allows researchers and policymakers to investigate a variety of social science research topics, including but not limited to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) awareness, pro-sustainable behavior, and labor market decision-making. The variables include detailed demographic information, labor market information, SDG awareness, sustainable and financial decision-making, and personality traits. The dataset can be used to conduct quantitative analyses, especially in the areas of business, economics, and psychology. The dataset is available to the public via the Harvard Dataverse and provides access to questionnaires, codebooks, data, and descriptive statistics.

Falsified and substandard medicines trafficking: A wakeup call for the African continent.

While great effort is being placed on reducing disease burdens in Africa, the circulation of falsified and substandard medicines in the continent are reversing the hard-won gains. This commentary provides insights on the high (and increasing) burden, impact and threat that falsified and substandard medicines pose to the region's development. The proposed recommendations, such as a coherent multi-sectorial and government-led strategy, call for a fundamental rethink of approaches towards strong regulations, policies, legislations, community-based approaches, collaborations and investments, which all must be scaled up before this the situation gets out of control. These recommendations are of paramount importance and have the potential to ensure access to genuine medicines and also to avert therapeutic failure and intoxication from dangerous substances. In addition, there will be added benefits to the economic, social, health and well-being of the region. Concerted efforts towards medicine regulations have enormous potential to contribute towards averting many preventable deaths and reducing disease burden in the region. A paradigm shift is necessary to ensure quality medicines reach patients at community and healthcare facilities to prevent this silent epidemic in Africa.

Magnitude of tuberculosis and its associated factors among under-five children admitted with severe acute malnutrition to public hospitals in the city of Dire Dawa, Eastern Ethiopia, 2021: multi-center cross-sectional study.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of tuberculosis (TB) and its associated factors among children under 5 years of age with severe acute malnutrition. Methods: A multi-center, institution-based, retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted at public hospitals in Dire Dawa City Administration, Eastern Ethiopia from January 1, 2018 to December 30, 2020. A binary logistic regression model was fitted to identify factors associated with the prevalence of TB. Results: The overall prevalence of TB among children under 5 years of age admitted with severe acute malnutrition to public hospitals in the city of Dire Dawa, Eastern Ethiopia was 10.39% (95% confidence interval (CI) 7.61-13.73%). Repeated admission (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) 2.5, 95% CI 1.08-6.07), a TB contact history (AOR 3.58, 95% CI 1.21-10.6), pneumonia (AOR 2.8, 95% CI 1.29-6.23), stage IV HIV/AIDS (AOR 4.41, 95% CI 1.29-15.13), and being immunized (AOR 0.19, 95% CI 0.08-0.43) were variables significantly associated with the prevalence of TB. Conclusions: The results of this study showed that the prevalence of TB among under-five children with severe acute malnutrition was high. The prevalence of TB was associated with having HIV/AIDS, having pneumonia, having a TB contact history, admission status, and immunization status. Integrated TB prevention and screening strategies with nutritional rehabilitation care should be implemented.

Survey implementation process and interviewer effects on skipping sequence of maternal and child health indicators from National Family Health Survey: An application of cross-classified multilevel model.

Implementing a large-scale survey involves a string of intricate procedures exposed to numerous types of survey errors. Uniform and systematic training protocols, comprehensive survey manuals, and multilayer supervision during survey implementation help reduce survey errors, providing a consistent fieldwork environment that should not result in any variation in the quality of data collected across interviewers and teams. With this background, the present study attempts to delineate the effect of field investigator (FI) teams and survey implementation design on the selected outcomes. Data on four of the bigger Empowered Action Group (EAG) states of India, namely Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, and Rajasthan, were obtained from the fourth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4) for analysis. A fixed-effect binary logistic regression model was used to assess the effect of FI teams and survey implementation design on the selected outcomes. To study the variation in the outcome variables at the interviewer level, a cross-classified multilevel model was used. Since one interviewer had worked in more than one primary sampling unit (PSU) & district and did not follow a perfect hierarchical structure, the cross-classified multilevel model was deemed suitable. In addition, since NFHS-4 used a two-stage stratified sampling design, two-level weights were adjusted for the models to compute unbiased estimates. This study demonstrated the presence of interviewer-level variation in the selected outcomes at both inter- and intra-field agencies across the selected states. The interviewer-level intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) for women who had not availed antenatal care (ANC) was the highest for eastern Madhya Pradesh (0.23) and central Uttar Pradesh (0.20). For 'immunisation card not seen', Rajasthan (0.16) and western Uttar Pradesh (0.13) had higher interviewer-level ICC. Interviewer-level variations were insignificant for women who gave birth at home across all regions of Uttar Pradesh. Eastern Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Bihar showed higher interviewer-level variation across the selected outcomes, underlining the critical role of agencies and skilled interviewers in different survey implementation designs. The analysis highlights non-uniform adherence to survey protocols, which implies that not all interviewers and agencies performed in a similar manner in the field. This study recommends a refined mechanism for field implementation and supervision, including focused training on the challenges faced by FIs, random vigilance, and morale building. In addition, examining interviewer-level characteristics, field challenges, and field agency effects may also highlight the roots of interviewer-level variation in the data. However, based on the interviewer's performance in the field, the present study offers an intriguing insight into interviewer-level variations in the quality of data.

Quality of anthropometric data in India's National Family Health Survey: Disentangling interviewer and area effect using a cross-classified multilevel model.

India has adopted a target-based approach to reduce the scourge of child malnourishment. Because the monitoring and evaluation required by this approach relies primarily on large-scale data, a data quality assessment is essential. As field teams are the primary mode of data collection in large-scale surveys, this study attempts to understand their contribution to variations in child anthropometric measures. This research can help disentangle the confounding effects of regions/districts and field teams on the quality of child anthropometric data. The anthropometric z-scores of 2,25,002 children below five years were obtained from the fourth round of India's National Family and Health Survey (NFHS-4), 2015-16. Unadjusted and adjusted standard deviations (SD) of the anthropometric measures were estimated to assess the variations in measurements. In addition, a cross-classified multilevel model (CCMM) approach was adopted to estimate the contribution of geographical regions/districts and teams to variations in anthropometric measures. The unadjusted SDs of the measures of stunting, wasting, and underweight were 1.7, 1.4, and 1.2, respectively. The SD of stunting was above the World Health Organisation threshold (0.8-1.2), as well as the Demographic and Health Survey mark. After adjusting for team-level characteristics, the SDs of all three measures reduced marginally, indicating that team-level workload had a marginal but significant role in explaining the variations in anthropometric z-scores. The CCMM showed that the maximum contribution to variations in anthropometric z-scores came from community-level (Primary Sampling Unit (PSU)) characteristics. Team-level characteristics had a higher contribution to variations in anthropometric z-scores than district-level attributes. Variations in measurement were higher for child height than weight. The present study decomposes the effects of district- and team-level factors and highlights the nuances of introducing teams as a level of analysis in multilevel modelling. Population size, density, and terrain variations between PSUs should be considered when allocating field teams in large-scale surveys.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on waste-to-energy and waste-to-material industry in China.

The COVID-19 pandemic created enormous uncertainty for achieving the sustainable development goals in waste management. China implemented a number of new policies recently to encourage waste-to-energy (WTE) and waste-to-material (WTM) industry, which was also impacted by the spread of COVID-19, while the impact on the solid waste industry was merely discussed. In this work, the quarter-level financial statement data of thirty listed companies in Chinese Stock Market were analyzed by applying ARIMA intervention analysis, moreover, a system dynamic model was established for examining the impacting pathway of the pandemic. Main results are: (1) the total annual turnover of total solid waste industry increased by 28.2 times in recent 14 years, however, the estimated turnover of solid waste industry in 2020 dropped around 55.8 billion CNY; (2) the WTE industry kept growing (+21%), the WTM industry dropped significantly (-28%), while the waste disposal industry and other solid waste industry varied slightly (-10% and +9%), comparing their turnovers in 2019 and 2020; (3) the average trade-prices of the secondary materials during the COVID-19 pandemic were only 43.4%-85.8% of the maximum price from 2017 to 2019, resulting in the decline of the WTM industry. Considering a possible sluggish growth of the solid waste industry, the waste separation and zero waste programs in China may meet non-trivial challenges in the future. Policy implications are put forward, such as quantitative simulating the long-term impact, increasing investment and incentive on waste recycling, and building an internal circulation system for waste management.

Drinking water and sanitation conditions are associated with the risk of malaria among children under five years old in sub-Saharan Africa: A logistic regression model analysis of national survey data.

Current efforts for the prevention of malaria have resulted in notable reductions in the global malaria burden; however, they are not enough. Good hygiene is universally considered one of the most efficacious and straightforward measures to prevent disease transmission. This work analyzed whether improved drinking water and sanitation (WS) conditions were associated with a decreased risk of malaria infection. Data were acquired through surveys published between 2006 and 2018 from the Demographic and Health Program in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Multiple logistic regression was used for each national survey to identify the associations between WS conditions and malaria infection diagnosed by microscopy or a malaria rapid diagnostic test (RDT) among children (0-59 months), with adjustments for age, gender, indoor residual spraying (IRS), insecticide-treated net (ITN) use, house quality, and the mother's highest educational level. Individual nationally representative survey odds ratios (ORs) were combined to obtain a summary OR using a random-effects meta-analysis. Among the 247,440 included children, 18.8% and 24.2% were positive for malaria infection based on microscopy and RDT results, respectively. Across all surveys, both unprotected water and no facility users were associated with increased malaria risks (unprotected water: aOR 1.17, 95% CI 1.07-1.27, P = 0.001; no facilities: aOR 1.35, 95% CI 1.24-1.47, P < 0.001; respectively), according to microscopy, whereas the odds of malaria infection were 48% and 49% less among piped water and flush-toilet users, respectively (piped water: aOR 0.52, 95% CI 0.45-0.59, P < 0.001; flush toilets: aOR 0.51, 95% CI 0.43-0.61, P < 0.001). The trends of individuals diagnosed by RDT were consistent with those of individuals diagnosed by microscopy. Risk associations were more pronounced among children with a "nonpoor" socioeconomic status who were unprotected water or no facility users. WS conditions are a vital risk factor for malarial infection among children (0-59 months) across SSA. Improved WS conditions should be considered a potential intervention for the prevention of malaria in the long term.

Measuring functional disability in children with developmental disorders in low-resource settings: validation of Developmental Disorders-Children Disability Assessment Schedule (DD-CDAS) in rural Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: Developmental disorders (DDs) in children are a priority condition and guidelines have been developed for their management within low-resource community settings. However, a key obstacle is lack of open access, reliable and valid tools that lay health workers can use to evaluate the impact of such programmes on child outcomes. We adapted and validated the World Health Organization's Disability Assessment Schedule for children (WHODAS-Child), a lay health worker-administered functioning-related tool, for children with DDs in Pakistan. METHODS: Lay health workers administered a version of the WHODAS-Child to parents of children with DDs (N = 400) and without DDs (N = 400), aged 2-12 years, after it was adapted using qualitative study. Factor analysis, validity, reliability and sensitivity to change analyses were conducted to evaluate the psychometric properties of the adapted outcome measure. RESULTS: Among 800 children, 58% of children were male [mean (s.d.) age 6.68 (s.d. = 2.89)]. Confirmatory Factor Analysis showed a robust factor structure [χ2/df 2.86, RMSEA 0.068 (90% CI 0.064-0.073); Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) 0.92; Comparative Fit Index (CFI) 0.93; Incremental Fit Index (IFI) 0.93]. The tool demonstrated high internal consistency (α 0.82-0.94), test-retest [Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC) 0.71-0.98] and inter-data collector (ICC 0.97-0.99) reliabilities; good criterion (r -0.71), convergent (r -0.35 to 0.71) and discriminative [M (s.d.) 52.00 (s.d. = 21.97) v. 2.14 (s.d. = 4.00); 95% CI -52.05 to -47.67] validities; and adequate sensitivity to change over time (ES 0.19-0.23). CONCLUSIONS: The lay health worker administrated version of adapted WHODAS-Child is a reliable, valid and sensitive-to-change measure of functional disability in children aged 2-12 years with DDs in rural community settings of Pakistan.

Towards a large-scale integration of renewable energies in Morocco.

Renewable energies are a sustainable, unlimited and decarbonised solution to address future energy challenges. In this context, Morocco has a considerable advantage to position itself on this promising market. Furthermore, renewable energies have been highlighted as a key strategic source for the country's green growth. Morocco has adopted the renewable energy path through a strategy targeted on the development of solar, wind and hydroelectric power to boost its energy policy by adapting it to the challenges posed by today's world. Nowadays, Morocco is facing a challenge to reach 52% by 2030 of its total renewable energy capacity, which will exceed 42% by the end of 2020. The main objective of this paper is to study a scenario for 2030 for the Moroccan electricity system and to identify the challenges that need to be addressed in order to accelerate the integration of renewable energies in the Moroccan energy mix and to achieve a possible export of such green energy towards Europe.

The demographic impact and development benefits of meeting demand for family planning with modern contraceptive methods.

BACKGROUND: Meeting demand for family planning can facilitate progress towards all major themes of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): people, planet, prosperity, peace, and partnership. Many policymakers have embraced a benchmark goal that at least 75% of the demand for family planning in all countries be satisfied with modern contraceptive methods by the year 2030. OBJECTIVE: This study examines the demographic impact (and development implications) of achieving the 75% benchmark in 13 developing countries that are expected to be the furthest from achieving that benchmark. METHODS: Estimation of the demographic impact of achieving the 75% benchmark requires three steps in each country: 1) translate contraceptive prevalence assumptions (with and without intervention) into future fertility levels based on biometric models, 2) incorporate each pair of fertility assumptions into separate population projections, and 3) compare the demographic differences between the two population projections. Data are drawn from the United Nations, the US Census Bureau, and Demographic and Health Surveys. RESULTS: The demographic impact of meeting the 75% benchmark is examined via projected differences in fertility rates (average expected births per woman's reproductive lifetime), total population, growth rates, age structure, and youth dependency. On average, meeting the benchmark would imply a 16 percentage point increase in modern contraceptive prevalence by 2030 and a 20% decline in youth dependency, which portends a potential demographic dividend to spur economic growth. CONCLUSIONS: Improvements in meeting the demand for family planning with modern contraceptive methods can bring substantial benefits to developing countries. To our knowledge, this is the first study to show formally how such improvements can alter population size and age structure. Declines in youth dependency portend a demographic dividend, an added bonus to the already well-known benefits of meeting existing demands for family planning.