Energy poverty, government expenditure, and institution factors in Sub-Saharan Africa countries: evidence based on a panel threshold model.

This article investigates the relationship between energy poverty and public expenditure for a sample of 20 Sub-Saharan countries over the period 2006-2020. This paper focuses on three research objectives. First is using a panel data threshold model with fixed effects proposed by Hansen (J Econom 93(2):345-368, 1999) to detect the presence of the nonlinear effect of public expenditure on energy poverty. Second, we try to explain the effect of public expenditure transmission channels on energy poverty. Third, we explore the impact of public expenditure on energy poverty considering the role of institution factors. Thus, our analysis approves the existence of a link between energy poverty and public expenditure with a threshold of about 17.65% of GDP. In addition, CO2 emissions can accelerate the growth of energy poverty in SSA countries. Indeed, the results show that in countries with high energy poverty, there is a bidirectional causal link between CO2 emissions and energy poverty. This would provide a better understanding of the relationship between public expenditure and energy poverty suggesting useful implications for policymakers in targeting sustainable energy.

Governing a pandemic: biopower and the COVID-19 response in Zimbabwe.

INTRODUCTION: The extraordinary explosion of state power towards the COVID-19 response has attracted scholarly and policy attention in relation to pandemic politics. This paper relies on Foucault's theoretical differentiation of the political management of epidemics to understand how governmental framing of COVID-19 reflects biopolitical powers and how power was mobilised to control the pandemic in Zimbabwe. METHODS: We conducted a scoping review of published literature, cabinet resolutions and statutory instruments related to COVID-19 in Zimbabwe. RESULTS: The COVID-19 response in Zimbabwe was shaped by four discursive frames: ignorance, denialism, securitisation and state sovereignty. A slew of COVID-19-related regulations and decrees were promulgated, including use of special presidential powers, typical of the leprosy model (sovereign power), a protracted and heavily policed lockdown was effected, typical of the plague model (disciplinary power) and throughout the pandemic, there was reference to statistical data to justify the response measures whilst vaccination emerged as a flagship strategy to control the pandemic, typical of the smallpox model (biopower). The securitisation frame had a large influence on the overall pandemic response, leading to an overly punitive application of disciplinary power and cases of infidelity to scientific evidence. On the other hand, a securitised, geopolitically oriented sovereignty model positively shaped a strong, generally well execucted, domestically financed vaccination (biopower) programme. CONCLUSIONS: The COVID-19 response in Zimbabwe was not just an exercise in biomedical science, rather it invoked wider governmentality aspects shaped by the country's own history, (geo) politics and various mechanisms of power. The study concludes that whilst epidemic securitisation by norm-setting institutions such as WHO is critical to stimulate international political action, the transnational diffusion of such charged frames needs to be viewed in relation to how policy makers filter the policy and political consequences of securitisation through the lenses of their ideological stances and its potential to hamper rather than bolster political action.

Profile of dermatology inpatients and admissions over a four year period in a tertiary level government teaching hospital in North India.

BACKGROUND: Although dermatology is mostly an outpatient specialty, some patients with severe skin disease need hospital admission for management. There is a paucity of data regarding the profile of these dermatology in-patient admissions. AIMS: We studied the profile of patients admitted to the dermatology ward of our tertiary care government hospital in North India. METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis of discharge sheets of patients admitted in the dermatology ward from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2017. RESULTS: Discharge sheets of 2032 admissions for 1664 patients were analyzed. The most common diagnoses in the admitted patients were immunobullous disorders (576, 28%), connective tissue diseases (409, 20%), infections, including leprosy and sexually transmitted infections (179, 8.8%), psoriasis (153, 7.5%) and reactive arthritis (92, 4.5%). The mean duration of admission was 13.95±11.67 days (range 1-118 days). Two hundred and fifty-six patients (15.38%) were re-admitted, accounting for 368 (18.11%) re-admissions. Patients with immunobullous disorders (OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.29-2.28) and psoriasis (OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.02-2.55) were more likely to be re-admitted. Adult patients, those who were admitted for more than four weeks, those who had comorbidities, and those who developed a complication during the hospital stay also had a greater likelihood of being re-admitted. LIMITATIONS: The retrospective design of the study, and the non-availability of data regarding transfers to other specialties or intensive care units and deaths were the main limitations of this study. CONCLUSION: This study describes the profile of patients admitted in a dermatology ward of a tertiary care centre center in North India. The patient profile and admission characteristics associated with a higher probability of re-admission were identified.

Appraising the oil-stock nexus during the COVID-19 pandemic shock: a panel threshold analysis.

We examine the oil-stock nexus in 24 countries amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and test for threshold effects on oil prices using Hansen (1999) panel dynamic threshold model and recent extensions of Kremer et al. (2013) and Seo and Shin (2016). We find evidence of nonlinearities and threshold effects in oil prices. As an addition to literature, our estimated model shows that stock market prices react in a regime-style manner, when the joint effects of oil prices, exchange rate changes, number of reported cases, and the number of death due to COVID-19 pandemic are analyzed. This is in support of the theoretical model of investor sentiment by Barberis et al. (1998). Therefore, we are of the opinion that policymakers, governments, and investors in their business decision-making process should put into consideration and also observe changes in the global reported cases alongside the number of deaths and how oil prices are evolving, as the global economy is further affected by the COVID-19 pandemic shock.

Wanda Blenska and the program of leprosy treatment in Uganda.

Wanda Blenska (1911-2014), a Polish physician, established a leprosy treatment center in the village of Buluba in Uganda in 1951, which lasted until 1993. Through her efforts, the village for lepers in Buluba, established in 1934, which had previously been a place of isolation conducted by the Little Sisters of St. Francis in Uganda, became such an important leprosy treatment and research center that eventually the facility was able to cooperate with similar centers in India and South Africa. It then became affiliated with research institutes in London and Amsterdam; the Borstel Research Institute near Hamburg, Germany; and the World Health Organization. Blenska developed a working relationship with the government of Uganda and contributed to changes in the government provision of health care for lepers by creating a network of leprosy treatment stations throughout the country. Through her efforts, public health education and leprosy prophylaxis became available for thousands of people, effectively changing the national attitude toward this disease. In 1994, one of the buildings of the St. Francis hospital complex in Buluba was named in her honor (The Wanda Blenska Training Centre).

Stigma and socio-economic reintegration of leprosy sufferers in Nigeria.

Leprosy is the commonest cause of peripheral neuropathy in the world. This feature causes gross deformities of the face and limbs of infected individuals as well as crippling disabilities involving sight, touch and manual dexterity. Such stigmata intensified the social and economic isolation of patients. Although concerted efforts by national governments and international organisations have made leprosy cease to be a medical problem in most parts of the world, leprosy still remains a "human problem": about 30% of past or present leprosy sufferers in Nigeria are disabled and/or handicapped as a result of the disease. This paper reviews the various factors contributing to leprosy stigma in Nigeria and proposes ways of minimising it.