Coronavirus COVID-19 outbreak and control: Effect of temperature, relative humidity, and lockdown implementation.

Meteorological parameters are important factors that have an influence on infectious diseases. The present study aimed to explore the correlation between the spread of COVID-19, temperature, and relative humidity. The effect of human-imposed control parameters in the form of lockdown on the dissipation of COVID-19 was also analysed. Data were collected on the three study variables - temperature, relative humidity, and lockdown period - from nine of the most infected cities worldwide as well as information on changes in the number of COVID-19 patients from the beginning to a specific point in the lockdown period. A generalised regression model was applied to explore the effect of temperature and relative humidity on the change in daily new cases of COVID-19. The regression analysis did not find any significant correlation between temperature, humidity, and change in number of COVID-19 cases. Analysis of the cities with wide-ranging temperature variations showed a negative correlation of COVID-19 transmission (P=0.079) with temperature, but a relatively non-significant correlation with relative humidity (P=0.198). The number of total deaths was also higher in low-temperature countries compared with high-temperature countries. The specific growth rate in COVID-19 cases was decreased by more than 66% after implementation of a lockdown. This growth rate was exponentially decreased over time through the proper implementation of lockdown. Analysis of the real-case scenario and application of predictive models showed that for New York, Lombardy, and Madrid more than 120 days of strict lockdown was required for complete control of the transmission of COVID-19.

Resultados de Perú en la Encuesta en Línea: Jóvenes ante la COVID-19 en América Latina y el Caribe / Perú Results in Online Survey: Young People at COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean

Conocer cómo están viviendo la pandemia de COVID-19 los y las adolescentes y jóvenes peruanos, entre 15 y 29 años, cuál es el impacto de ésta en el ejercicio de sus derechos humanos, así como identificar recomendaciones de política para la toma de decisiones gubernamentales relacionadas a estrategias y programas orientados a mitigar el impacto de la pandemia COVID-19.

Foreign ideology vs. national priority: impacts of the US Global Gag Rule on Nepal's sexual and reproductive healthcare system.

In recent decades, bold steps taken by the government of Nepal to liberalise its abortion law and increase the affordability and accessibility of safe abortion and family planning have contributed to significant improvements in maternal mortality and other sexual and reproductive health (SRH) outcomes. The Trump administration's Global Gag Rule (GGR) - which prohibits foreign non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from receiving US global health assistance unless they certify that they will not use funding from any source to engage in service delivery, counselling, referral, or advocacy related to abortion - threatens this progress. This paper examines the impact of the GGR on civil society, NGOs, and SRH service delivery in Nepal. We conducted 205 semi-structured in-depth interviews in 2 phases (August-September 2018, and June-September 2019), and across 22 districts. Interview participants included NGO programme managers, government employees, facility managers and service providers in the NGO and private sectors, and service providers in public sector facilities. This large, two-phased study complements existing anecdotal research by capturing impacts of the GGR as they evolved over the course of a year, and by surfacing pathways through which this policy affects SRH outcomes. We found that low policy awareness and a considerable chilling effect cut across levels of the Nepali health system and exacerbated impacts caused by routine implementation of the GGR, undermining the ecology of SRH service delivery in Nepal as well as national sovereignty.

Compliance with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in Slovakia and in Finland: Two Different Worlds.

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) developed by the State Parties to the World Health Organization was ratified in Slovakia in 2004 and in Finland in 2005. The aim of this study was to explore and compare compliance with the FCTC in Finland and Slovakia. This is a two-country comparative study of tobacco control policy based on implementation of the FCTC in Slovakia and Finland. Compliance with the FCTC was measured similarly in Slovakia and Finland in terms of their institutional structure supporting a smoking free environment and implementation of selected articles of the FCTC. In Finland the responsibilities for anti-tobacco policy are clearly assigned. Slovakia does not have specifically responsible institutions. Finland has a clear plan for achieving the goal of a smoking-free country based on empirical evidence. Slovakia meets only the minimum standard resulting from its commitment as ratified in the FCTC and data are out of date or missing completely.

Quantifying the drivers of urban expansion in Nepal.

The Tarai region of Nepal is regarded as the food bowl of Nepal, and yet urban areas have increased in size at an average annual rate of 12% for the 30 years since 1988/1989, largely at the expense of prime agricultural land. Nepal is recognized internationally as highly sensitive to food security with 40% of its population undernourished. To aid future planning and reduce potential further loss of agricultural land and consequent increased food insecurity, we here investigated the previously unknown factors underlying this rapid urban expansion. We achieved this through analyses of land use and land cover (LULC) data, population, and climatic data, in association with focus group discussions and questionnaire surveys. We found that socioeconomic factors were perceived to have made the highest (62%) contribution to urbanization, particularly migration-led population growth and the economic opportunities offered by urban areas, followed by political factors (14.5%), physical factors (12%), and planning and policy factors (11.5%). In addition, climate and physiographic features make the area attractive for urban development along with favorable government plans and policies. Accelerated urban expansion during this period was particularly driven by mass migration due to political upheaval in the country resulting in rapid population and urban center growth. Of the total 293 urban centers in the country, the Tarai region includes 150 (51.2%) of which 77 (26.3%) are located in province 2 alone and accommodate 17.2% of Nepal's households. This increasing urbanization trend is expected to continue in the future due to current socioeconomic and demographic factors. We hope our results which show what has driven past urbanization will aid future urban planning and management of the Tarai as well as other similar regions elsewhere in the world. We also identified that such rapid urban growth is largely at the cost of populations in rural areas with rural depopulation resulting in agriculture being abandoned in some areas. Given Nepal's sensitivity to food security and lower food production, this will be an increasing problem for the future.

Foreign assistance or attack? Impact of the expanded Global Gag Rule on sexual and reproductive health and rights in Kenya.

In 2017, the Trump Administration reinstated and expanded the Global Gag Rule (GGR). This policy requires non-governmental organisations (NGOs) not based in the US to certify that they will not provide, counsel, refer, or advocate for abortion as a method of family planning in order to receive most categories of US global health assistance. Robust empirical evidence demonstrating the policy's impacts is acutely lacking. This paper describes the effects of the expanded GGR policy in Kenya eighteen months after its reinstatement. We conducted semi-structured interviews with purposively selected representatives of US- and non-US-based NGOs, as well as managers and health providers at public and private health facilities, between September 2018 and March 2019. Organisations reported critical funding loss as they were forced to choose between US government-funded projects and projects supporting safe abortion. This resulted in the fragmentation of sexual and reproductive health and HIV services, and closure of some service delivery programmes. At public and private health facilities, participants reported staffing shortages and increased stock-outs of family planning and safe abortion commodities. The expanded GGR's effects transcended abortion care by also disrupting collaboration and health promotion activities, strengthening opposition to sexual and reproductive health and rights in some segments of Kenyan civil society and government. Our findings indicate that the GGR exposes and exacerbates the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the Kenyan health system, and illuminates the need for action to mitigate these harms.

From bad to worse: global governance of abortion and the Global Gag Rule.

The Trump Administration's Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance (PLGHA) significantly expands the "Global Gag Rule" - and, in so doing, weakens the global governance of abortion. By chilling debate, reducing transparency, ghettoising sexual and reproductive health and rights work, and interfering with research, PLGHA makes an already bad context demonstrably worse. Individual women suffer the most, as PLGHA inhibits ongoing efforts to reduce abortion-related morbidity and mortality.