Rural to urban migration is an unforeseen impact of development intervention in Ethiopia.

PubMed

Gibson, Mhairi A; Gurmu, Eshetu

2012-01-01

Rural development initiatives across the developing world are designed to improve community well-being and livelihoods. However they may also have unforeseen consequences, in some cases placing further demands on stretched public services. In this paper we use data from a longitudinal study of five Ethiopian villages to investigate the impact of a recent rural development initiative, installing village-level water taps, on rural to urban migration of young adults. Our previous research has identified that tap stands dramatically reduced child mortality, but were also associated with increased fertility. We demonstrate that the installation of taps is associated with increased rural-urban migration of young adults (15-30 years) over a 15 year period (15.5% migrate out, n = 1912 from 1280 rural households). Young adults with access to this rural development intervention had three times the relative risk of migrating to urban centres compared to those without the development. We also identify that family dynamics, specifically sibling competition for limited household resources (e.g. food, heritable land and marriage opportunities), are key to understanding the timing of out-migration. Birth of a younger sibling doubled the odds of out-migration and starting married life reduced it. Rural out-migration appears to be a response to increasing rural resource scarcity, principally competition for agricultural land. Strategies for livelihood diversification include education and off-farm casual wage-labour. However, jobs and services are limited in urban centres, few migrants send large cash remittances back to their families, and most return to their villages within one year without advanced qualifications. One benefit for returning migrants may be through enhanced social prestige and mate-acquisition on return to rural areas. These findings have wide implications for current understanding of the processes which initiate rural-to-urban migration and transitions to low fertility, as well as for the design and implementation of development intervention across the rural and urban developing world.

Rural to Urban Migration Is an Unforeseen Impact of Development Intervention in Ethiopia

PubMed Central

Gibson, Mhairi A.; Gurmu, Eshetu

2012-01-01

Rural development initiatives across the developing world are designed to improve community well-being and livelihoods. However they may also have unforeseen consequences, in some cases placing further demands on stretched public services. In this paper we use data from a longitudinal study of five Ethiopian villages to investigate the impact of a recent rural development initiative, installing village-level water taps, on rural to urban migration of young adults. Our previous research has identified that tap stands dramatically reduced child mortality, but were also associated with increased fertility. We demonstrate that the installation of taps is associated with increased rural-urban migration of young adults (15–30 years) over a 15 year period (15.5% migrate out, n = 1912 from 1280 rural households). Young adults with access to this rural development intervention had three times the relative risk of migrating to urban centres compared to those without the development. We also identify that family dynamics, specifically sibling competition for limited household resources (e.g. food, heritable land and marriage opportunities), are key to understanding the timing of out-migration. Birth of a younger sibling doubled the odds of out-migration and starting married life reduced it. Rural out-migration appears to be a response to increasing rural resource scarcity, principally competition for agricultural land. Strategies for livelihood diversification include education and off-farm casual wage-labour. However, jobs and services are limited in urban centres, few migrants send large cash remittances back to their families, and most return to their villages within one year without advanced qualifications. One benefit for returning migrants may be through enhanced social prestige and mate-acquisition on return to rural areas. These findings have wide implications for current understanding of the processes which initiate rural-to-urban migration and transitions to low fertility, as well as for the design and implementation of development intervention across the rural and urban developing world. PMID:23155400

Teaching Global Perspectives in a Rural Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lind, Mary Ann

1980-01-01

Rural students can understand global perspectives by developing pride as food providers who share "kinship of the soil" with the developing world. Important lessons include man's dependence on the land; philosophy of environmental protection; agricultural technology; political influence over soil use; and five factors controlling crop production.…

Renewable Energy for Rural Sustainability in Developing Countries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alazraque-Cherni, Judith

2008-01-01

This article establishes the benefits of applying renewable energy and analyzes the main difficulties that have stood in the way of more widely successful renewable energy for rural areas in the developing world and discusses why outcomes from these technologies fall short. Although there is substantial recognition of technological, economic,…

Some reflections on education for rural development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muyeed, 1Abdul

1982-06-01

The article stresses the significance of anti-poverty oriented rural development for developing countries and the need to identify the educational implications of such a strategy. Some of the assumptions derived from contemporary experience in development, and in particular rural development, which are vital for understanding and formulating the role of education, are presented and analysed. The indicators used in the measurement of anti-poverty rural development bring clarity to the concept of interlinking development and education in concrete terms. Some features of education for rural development are discussed and the significance of four areas of educational activities underscored, namely, primary education, functional literacy, human resources development and education related to the world of work. The article is concluded by stressing the need for establishing firm linkages between educational and developmental infrastructures with special emphasis on nonformal education and its flexibility of approach.

Recruitment and Retention in Rural Nursing: It's Still an Issue!

PubMed

Kulig, Judith C; Kilpatrick, Kelley; Moffitt, Pertice; Zimmer, Lela

2015-06-01

A perennial issue for rural and remote communities in Canada and in other parts of the world is access to a healthcare delivery system including healthcare personnel to provide care to their residents. In total, 18% of Canadians live in rural locations but by proportion have fewer healthcare providers compared with urban settings. Relying on a recently completed documentary analysis of published reports and grey literature on rural and remote nursing practice from Canada and around the world, we recognize that recruitment and retention will be a recurring issue. However, a variety of programs and initiatives have been developed to address this age-old problem. A discussion is provided about educational opportunities, financial incentives and enhanced infrastructure that have been developed to address recruitment and retention challenges. Ongoing evaluations of each of these areas are necessary but require cooperation across provincial and national settings. Copyright © 2015 Longwoods Publishing.

Developing Student Sensitivity about Interlocking Dependency in Natural/Social Global Environments: Eco/Social Studies in Rural Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peters, Richard

The purpose of global education is to develop in youth the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to live effectively in a world possessing limited natural resources and characterized by ethnic diversity, cultural pluralism, and increasing interdependence. Although it is difficult for rural students to develop a global perspective because of…

Faces of Change. Five Rural Societies in Transition: Bolivia, Kenya, Afghanistan, Taiwan, China Coast.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Norman N., Ed.; Spitzer, Manon L., Ed.

The multidisciplinary film project focuses attention on what is happening to rural populations of the world, particularly among developing countries. The roles of women, education, social and economic systems, and the effects of modernization on values are themes explored in each of five rural settings--Bolivian highlands, northern Kenya, northern…

Jobs for Women in Rural Industry and Services. Women in Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dixon, Ruth B.

Women's vulnerability to increased landlessness and other economic factors has created a need in most developing nations for year-round, rural, non-agricultural employment opportunities for women. Census data from 56 Third World countries reveal that women are generally underrepresented in the paid labor force and overrepresented in the…

On Constructing Ageing Rural Populations: "Capturing" the Grey Nomad

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davies, Amanda

2011-01-01

The world's population is ageing, with forecasts predicting this ageing is likely to be particularly severe in the rural areas of more developed countries. These forecasts are developed from nationally aggregated census and survey data and assume spatial homogeneity in ageing. They also draw on narrow understandings of older people and construct…

The Development of Conceptions of the Right to Literacy in Traditional Rural Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Day, Kathryn Louise

2010-01-01

This study examined conceptions of the right to literacy in children, adolescents, and young adults living in rural Zulu villages in the mountains of KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, as one instantiation of the development of conceptions of human rights in a developing world setting. Of human rights, literacy was chosen because of its familiarity to…

Rural Panel Surveys in Developing Countries: A Selective Review

PubMed Central

Hao, Lingxin; Wang, Weidong; Xie, Guihua

2017-01-01

Rural panel surveys are the most appropriate means to provide data for studying the unprecedented rapid migration and urbanization currently taking place in China and other developing countries. To maximize heterogeneity in urbanization and development over the last three decades, we selected rural panel surveys from five Asian countries, including India, Indonesia, Nepal, Thailand, and China. This paper provides a selective review, focusing on their panel survey methodology, which is organized based on our proposed four basics of panel surveys – representativeness, retrospect-prospect, multilevel tracking, and temporality. We analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of the selected panel surveys to provide directions for designing future rural panel studies in China and elsewhere in the developing world. PMID:29201494

Managing rapid urbanization in the third world: some aspects of policy.

PubMed

Hope, K R

1989-01-01

A priority task for developing countries is the formulation of national urbanization policies that: 1) foster the full development of national resources; 2) promote cohesion among regions, especially where there are striking inequities in per capita output; 3) prevent or correct the overconcentration of economic activity in a few urban centers; and 4) create a more efficient, equitable management of growth within cities. Although urban households tend to be served better by the health and educational sectors than their rural counterparts, the urban poor are denied these benefits in the absence of special programs to ensure universal access. The urban poor are further denied access to the benefits of urban centers through a transportation policy that is oriented more toward roads and cars than public transit systems. Of major concern are the overcrowded squatter settlements that have developed in response to massive rural-urban migration. Since the landlessness, joblessness, and demoralization in rural areas and the consequent urban influx are at the root of the urban crisis in the Third World, integrated rural development is essential to retain substantial new additions to the urban labor force in rural areas. Land reform is the single strategy with the greatest potential to improve the quality of life of the landless poor and small holders. Other needs include programs of labor-intensive rural public works to provide supplementary income-earning opportunities and improve the rural infrastructure and more widespread participation of the rural poor in the development process. Increasingly sophisticated administrative and financing systems will be required to carry out a national urbanization policy, and current politicized bureaucracies must be replaced by a reliance on technically skilled professional administrators.

People on the move.

PubMed

Hancock, G

1979-09-01

Internal migration of the rural poor to urban areas in all Third World countries is the so-called "largest migratory movement in human history." This trend is true for many reasons. Conditions make village life, based on small-scale or subsistence agriculture, less and less bearable. Governmental programs for development seem to concentrate and overinvest in urban areas, to the disadvantage of the countryside. Urban areas have always held a romantic attraction. Modern-day urban areas also offer employment and educational opportunities unequalled in rural areas. The rural poor in many parts of the Third World seem to be getting poorer while the urban poor can at least keep pace with the cost of living.

Mass Communications in the Third World: Some Ethical Considerations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lent, John A.

In the past five years, unprecedented discussion and analysis have been focused on mass media in the third world. Common topics include development journalism, the New Information Order, cultural invasion and exchange, and ruralization of media. Ethical considerations for first world involvement in third world media have arisen in several areas.…

Child Growth, Shocks, and Food Aid in Rural Ethiopia. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yamano, Takashi; Alderman, Harold; Christiaensen, Luc

Children that grow slowly experience poorer psychomotor development and tend to have delayed school enrollment and lower scores on cognitive tests. Rural households in developing countries often are unable to protect their consumption against temporary income shocks, such as droughts. Such income shocks have been shown to have negative effects on…

Productivity Indicators for the Rural Poor in Developing Countries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

James, Jeffrey

2007-01-01

Meeting the Millennium Development Goals will necessarily require a heavy focus on rural areas, where most of the world's poor are to be found. More specifically, policy will need to raise the productivity of this group, which includes farmers, wage labourers and those suffering from disease and malnutrition. Yet, at present, no index exists which…

Are urban children really healthier? Evidence from 47 developing countries.

PubMed

Van de Poel, Ellen; O'Donnell, Owen; Van Doorslaer, Eddy

2007-11-01

On average, child health outcomes are better in urban than in rural areas of developing countries. Understanding the nature and the causes of this rural-urban disparity is essential in contemplating the health consequences of the rapid urbanization taking place throughout the developing world and in targeting resources appropriately to raise population health. Using micro-data on child health taken from the most recent Demographic and Health Surveys for 47 developing countries, the purpose of this paper is threefold. First, we document the magnitude of rural-urban disparities in child nutritional status and under-5 mortality across all 47 developing countries. Second, we adjust these disparities for differences in population characteristics across urban and rural settings. Third, we examine rural-urban differences in the degree of socioeconomic inequality in these health outcomes. The results demonstrate that there are considerable rural-urban differences in mean child health outcomes in the entire developing world. The rural-urban gap in stunting does not entirely mirror the gap in under-5 mortality. The most striking difference between the two is in the Latin American and Caribbean region, where the gap in growth stunting is more than 1.5 times higher than that in mortality. On average, the rural-urban risk ratios of stunting and under-5 mortality fall by, respectively, 53% and 59% after controlling for household wealth. Controlling thereafter for socio-demographic factors reduces the risk ratios by another 22% and 25%. We confirm earlier findings of higher socioeconomic inequality in stunting in urban areas and demonstrate that this also holds for under-5 mortality. In a considerable number of countries, the urban poor actually have higher rates of stunting and mortality than their rural counterparts. The findings imply that there is a need for programs that target the urban poor, and that this is becoming more necessary as the size of the urban population grows.

SUSTAINABLE WATER DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM FOR RURAL NIGERIA

EPA Science Inventory

Rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa face the most acute water supply challenges in the world. Nigeria, the most populous African country, has considerable populations without basic access to safe drinking water, with over 50% of the country lacking coverage. The village of Adu A...

The Right to Development: Construction of a Non-Agriculturalist Discourse of Rurality in Denmark

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Svendsen, Gunnar Lind Haase

2004-01-01

The paper argues for the existence of two powerful discourses of rurality in Denmark after World War II. The first one is termed the modernist-agriculturalist discourse. Although still influential in the current public debate, in Denmark as well as in other Western European countries, this discourse of rurality had its heyday in the 1960s. It is…

Addressing the Achievement Gap: Exploring Principal Leadership and Teacher Professional Learning in Urban and Rural Primary Schools in Thailand

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piyaman, Patnaree; Hallinger, Philip; Viseshsiri, Pongsin

2017-01-01

Purpose: Developing countries in many parts of the world have experienced a disturbing trend in the differential pace of economic development among urban and rural communities. These inequities have been observed in education systems in Asia, Africa, and Latin America where researchers have documented differences not only in resource allocation…

"Your Mum and Dad Can't Teach You!": Constraints on Agency among Rural Learners of English in the Developing World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lamb, Martin

2013-01-01

Learning outcomes are always the product of the interaction between individual learner agency and social structures. Recently concern has been expressed about unequal access to English, recognised as an important resource for social advancement, for rural populations in developing countries. This paper explores this issue by focusing on one…

Researchers and the Rural Poor: Asking Questions in the Third World.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, William M.; Megaw, Charles C.

1997-01-01

Discusses the theory and practice of rural socioeconomic surveys in developing nations. Highlights the close links between choice of research topic, field area and research methods, and the ethics of field research. Offers a personal commentary on some practical problems concerning field research. (MJP)

Climate change impacts on rural poverty in low-elevation coastal zones

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barbier, Edward B.

2015-11-01

This paper identifies the low-elevation coastal zone (LECZ) populations and developing regions most vulnerable to sea-level rise and other coastal hazards, such as storm surges, coastal erosion and salt-water intrusion. The focus is on the rural poor in the LECZ, as their economic livelihoods are especially endangered both directly by coastal hazards and indirectly through the impacts of climate change on key coastal and near-shore ecosystems. Using geo-spatially referenced malnutrition and infant mortality data for 2000 as a proxy for poverty, this study finds that just 15 developing countries contain over 90% of the world's LECZ rural poor. Low-income countries as a group have the highest incidence of poverty, which declines somewhat for lower middle-income countries, and then is much lower for upper middle-income economies. South Asia, East Asia and the Pacific and Sub-Saharan Africa account for most of the world's LECZ rural poor, and have a high incidence of poverty among their rural LECZ populations. Although fostering growth, especially in coastal areas, may reduce rural poverty in the LECZ, additional policy actions will be required to protect vulnerable communities from disasters, to conserve and restore key coastal and near-shore ecosystems, and to promote key infrastructure investments and coastal community response capability.

The status of rural garbage disposal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, Ruqiong; Chen, Hong

2018-01-01

With the development of rural construction and the improvement of the living standard of residents, the production of rural living waste is increasing day by day. These wastes not only pollute the environment, destroy the rural landscape, but also spread disease, threaten the life safety of human beings, and become one of the public hazards. The problem of rural living waste is a major environmental problem facing China and the world. This paper make a summary analysis about the present situation of municipal waste in China, this paper expounds the problems in rural garbage treatment, and in view of status quo of municipal waste in China put forward comprehensive countermeasures.

Gecekondu Settlements in Turkey: Rural-Urban Migration in the Developing European Periphery

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tas, Halil I.; Lightfoot, Dale R.

2005-01-01

Squatter settlements or "shanty towns" are often viewed as a problem confined to poorer countries of the developing world. Turkey is centered neither in the impoverished Third World nor the industrialized West, but has experienced rapid urban growth and related modernizing social tensions attendant with its headlong pitch into the…

The Effectiveness of Videotape Programs as a Communication Tool in the Small-Scale Livestock for Rural Farming Women Project, Honduras.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson-Dean, Lynn

This study examines economic development in Third World countries and the use of portable video systems in development projects. The study, conducted in 1985, attempts to measure the level of effectiveness of videotape programs as a communication tool for training rural subsistence women in Honduras in technical aspects of pig-keeping. Classical…

Attacking Rural Poverty: How Nonformal Education Can Help. A Research Report for the World Bank Prepared by the International Council for Educational Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coombs, Philip H.; Ahmed, Manzoor

Designed to assist rural planners and policy makers of developing countries in the use of nonformal education programs, this book analyzes the findings of a two-year irternational research study. Emphasizing a functional view of education and equating education with learning, the focus is on: (1) preplanning diagnosis, (2) educational delivery…

Systems Thinking and Participatory Research and Extension Skills: Can These Be Taught in the Classroom? Occasional Papers in Rural Extension, No. 10.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jiggins, Janice; Roling, Niels

Over the last decade, there have been rapid developments in field methodologies within participatory approaches to rural and agricultural development. At the same time, the use of "soft systems" methodologies for bringing potentially conflictual or disparate actors together for action has spread from the business world to other applications. These…

Strategies for the nurse executive to keep the rural hospitals open.

PubMed

Shride, S E

1997-01-01

Rural hospitals are confronted with multiple challenges to survive in the competitive health care environment of today's world. Declining population, corporate mergers and downsizing, transportation, cost of technology, and health manpower shortages are only a few of the issues rural hospitals must be prepared to address in order to survive. Federal- and state-administered programs are available that can contribute to the survival of the rural hospital. The nurse executive has a key role in contributing to the planning, development, and implementation of survival strategies.

The Structure of the Household Economy in Rural North Norway.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nicholson, Beryl

In Norway, one of the world's most developed nations, a considerable proportion of households still obtain income from more than one source. From the time rural North Norway was settled, households have combined production for sale with production for their own consumption and have exploited various resources to do so. The household's requirements…

Adversity and Internalizing Problems among Rural Chinese Adolescents: The Roles of Parents and Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Davidson, Shannon; Adams, Jennifer

2013-01-01

Throughout the developing world, adolescents living in rural poverty face multiple and inter-related adaptive challenges. Using longitudinal data from the Gansu Survey of Children and Families, we adopt an approach grounded in resilience theory to investigate the relationship between cumulative adversity and internalizing problems among 1,659…

Situated Leadership: A New Community Leadership Model. CRLRA Discussion Paper Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Falk, Ian

Rural areas around the world face problems stemming from the globalization of agricultural and other markets, the resulting competitiveness for existing and shifting markets, loss of population, and consequent decline of economic and social infrastructure. Rural communities need to develop the ability to manage change, and this requires engaging…

Using the Internet in Rural Special Education: Accessing Resources.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bull, Kay S.; Kimball, Sarah L.

This paper provides basic information on searching the Internet and describes sites of interest in the area of rural special education. The first section traces the evolution of the Internet through various phases--ARPANET, NSFNET, CERNET, and the beginnings of the World Wide Web--and describes various protocols (methods and tools) developed to…

Urbanisation and child health in resource poor settings with special reference to under-five mortality in Africa.

PubMed

Garenne, Michel

2010-06-01

The health of children improved dramatically worldwide during the 20th century, although with major contrasts between developed and developing countries, and urban and rural areas. The quantitative evidence on urban child health from a broad historical and comparative perspective is briefly reviewed here. Before the sanitary revolution, urban mortality tended to be higher than rural mortality. However, after World War I, improvements in water, sanitation, hygiene, nutrition and child care resulted in lower urban child mortality in Europe. Despite a similar mortality decline, urban mortality in developing countries since World War II has been generally lower than rural mortality, probably because of better medical care, higher socio-economic status and better nutrition in urban areas. However, higher urban mortality has recently been seen in the slums of large cities in developing countries as a result of extreme poverty, family disintegration, lack of hygiene, sanitation and medical care, low nutritional status, emerging diseases (HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis) and other health hazards (environmental hazards, accidents, violence). These emerging threats need to be addressed by appropriate policies and programmes.

[World deliberations in Rio].

PubMed

Annis, B

1991-01-01

The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) was held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 and dealt with world trade, environmental education, environmental emergencies, the transfer of technology and financial resources, and the restructuring of international systems for tackling environmental problems. Other issues on the agenda were the protection of the atmosphere, the ozone shield, deforestation, the conservation of biological diversity, sustainable urban and rural development, and the safeguarding of human health and quality of life. The preparation for the conference took place through a series of meetings, which also featured the problems of rural areas in the Americas. Some environmental organizations based in Washington, D.C. had become impassive over the years and promoted bipartisan and apolitical issues in order to obtain funds. Nonetheless, some groups criticized the projects of the World Bank. In 1990 the World Bank established the World Environmental Program for developing countries, which envisioned the execution of 15 projects and 11 technical assistance proposals. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) were also active in this effort. The Interamerican Development Bank also launched a forest policy for preserving forest resources. This was the consequence of the 1982 scheme that aimed at protecting forest populations and promoting sustainable forest industries. At another conference of development specialists the discrimination against women was cited as a major factor in the deleterious use of natural resources. A new development concept was urged that would incorporate the rights and participation of women as a central strategy in solving the global environmental crisis. The global population is growing at a rate of 95 million people per year, which underlines the need for better representation of women, poor people, and rural areas in state agencies and multilateral and environmental organizations for promoting sustainable local development. The increasing use of energy, the North-South dichotomy, and the issue of global warming were also explored.

The Development of Compulsory Education Finance in Rural China

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Xuedong, Ding

2008-01-01

Compulsory education in China's rural areas has come a long way since China adopted the policy of reform and opening up to the outside world toward the end of 1978. By 2004, compulsory education had become available and illiteracy had been eliminated among 93.6 percent of the nation's total population; the enrollment rate of school-age children…

Youth Exodus and Rural Communities: Valorising Learning for Choice--(SPERA Keynote 2009 Conference Address)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halsey, R. John

2009-01-01

One of the common characteristics of rural communities globally, and especially those in the developed countries of the world, is the exodus of youth in search of "greener pastures." While this exodus of youth has been happening for centuries and has often been spurred along by fundamental changes in the way societies organise…

Using Indicators in Planning Education for Rural People: A Practical Guide

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sauvageot, Claude; Da Graca, Patricia Dias

2007-01-01

Despite all the efforts deployed by the countries of the world and the vigorous mobilization of the international community, rural people are lagging far behind in education and are particularly hard hit by poverty and hunger. In developing countries, the slow progress towards universal education is largely due to the sluggish growth of school…

Africa Knowledge, Data Source, and Analytic Effort (KDAE) Exploration

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-08-20

The World Bank’s web site contains a substantial amount of data, organized by 18 broad topic areas like Agriculture and Rural Development, Education...wb.indicators) <- c(" Agriculture & Rural Development", "Aid Effectiveness", "Climate Change", "Economic Policy & External Debt", "Education", "Energy...Services,Equality))) IV. Model Building #### Function to iterate regression models IOT pick the best ones 75 library(MASS) data.best

The World Bank and poverty.

PubMed

Lipton, M; Shakow, A

1982-06-01

During the 1970s it was World Bank policy to use its funds to raise the productivity and living standards of the poor. It has increased its lending for sector and subsectors considered to offer the most direct benefits to the poor such as rural development, population, health, and nutrition. Projects with particular emphasis on poverty have benefitted large numbers of poor people and have had good economic rates of return. Lending for rural projects increased in the 1970s from US$2.6 billion in 1969-73 to over US$13 billion in 1978-81; rural development projects audited in 1979 benfitted 660 small farmers for every US$1 million loaned compared with 47 farmers/US$1 million in other agricultural projects. Some problems are: 1) low-risk technical packages appropriate for poor farmers in semi-arid rainfed areas are not readily available; 2) the Bank's rural development strategy seeks mainly to raise the production of small farms, but other aspects need to be emphasized; 3) domestic pricing and postharvest policies often undermine the success of projects aimed at the rural poor; and 4) success in rural development often rests on sociological and cultural factors, difficult areas that deserve more attention. For urban areas the Bank has strongly endorsed providing "sites and sources" instead of structures; since 1972, 52 Bank projects centered on urban shelter involving US$1.6 billion have been undertaken. Cost recovery is established at 66-95%. About 5% of Bank lending is for education and despite the importance of population, health, and nutrition, these areas absorb less than 1% of the Bank's total lending program. Only US$400 million in population loans were made to 13 countries in the 1970s and only recently have separate health projects been started. Emphasis for the 1980s must be on rural development, urban shelter, primary education, health, education, and population.

Have agricultural economists neglected poverty issues?

PubMed

Thiesenhusen, W C

1991-01-01

Agricultural economists concerned with development issues devote effort to researching agriculture's inputs to produce a surplus and transfer it to nonagriculture, to provide markets for urban-based industry, to maintain a labor reservoir, to assist in capital formation, and to accumulate foreign exchange. Little attention is focused on broader and more sweeping economic problems. Discussion is directed toward answering some questions about why agricultural economists neglect rural poverty. Also, attention is given to why the extent of rural poverty imperils development, in what location should poverty be addressed, what are the issues in the agricultural growth and inequality debate as it affects rural poverty, and whether there are any new or promising ways to combat rural poverty. The extent of poverty is measured by the World Bank as 20% of world population, or 1 billion people, Rural poverty accounts for 60% of the hungry poor in Latin America, 80% in Asia, and 90% in Africa. 11 items are used to define the rural poor, such as a heterogeneous population of primarily small-scale farmers, the landless, nomads, pastoralists, and fisherfolk. 5 reasons are given why economists avoid rural poverty, including the difficulty in modeling the complex problems of rural poverty and the political considerations of free market vs. socialist economies. Other reasons involve land reform which reduces labor needs and a commitment to commercial farming rather than small-scale, labor-intensive farming; the rural agricultural poor's contributions to development are underrated. East Asian countries have been successful in linking growth, distribution, and amelioration of poverty among the peasantry. Environmental degradation may be encouraged by inequalities and unequal access to resources. The example is given of Brazil which has promoted migration to cities due to commercialization of rural agriculture and created urban poverty instead of dealing directly with rural poverty by bringing employment to rural areas. 5 ways are suggested for treating rural poverty in situ: increasing productivity of those with land, group peasants with land in settlements or agrarian reforms, increase health and skill levels, increase employment options, and direct government spending to the rural poor. Egalitarianism with rapid economic growth is assured to reduce poverty. A new way is the introduction of grass roots efforts of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) which can mobilize and maximize economic activity. Examples are given of NGO Programs of merit.

Life events, social support and depression in childbirth: perspectives from a rural community in the developing world.

PubMed

Rahman, A; Iqbal, Z; Harrington, R

2003-10-01

High rates of depression associated with childbirth have been reported in many parts of the developing world. However, the prevalence and associations of antenatal and post-natal depression in the rural population remain unknown. Disability associated with depression and its impact on infant health and development could have important public health implications for many developing countries where large proportions of the population are rural. All women living in southern Kahuta, Pakistan, in their third trimester of pregnancy were interviewed at 6 weeks before delivery (N = 632) and again at 10-12 weeks after delivery (N = 541), using WHO Schedule for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN), Personal Information Questionnaire (PIQ) and Brief Disability Questionnaire (BDQ). The point prevalence of ICD-10 depressive disorder was 25% in the antenatal period and 28 % in the post-natal period. Depressed mothers were significantly more disabled, had more threatening life events, and poorer social and family support than non-depressed mothers. Vulnerable mothers were more likely to be depressed during pregnancy, rather than have an onset in the post-natal period. Over one-quarter of mothers in a rural sub-district of Pakistan suffer from depression shortly before and after childbirth. Rapidly changing traditional family structures and practices may be increasing the risk of depression in many women. Recognizing and treating depression should be initiated during the antenatal, rather than post-natal period.

Successful Rural Water Supply Projects and the Concerns of Women. Women in Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roark, Paula

As the traditional water carriers and water managers, third world women are crucial to the success of rural water supply projects whose short term goal is increased water quality and quantity and whose long term goal is improved family health. Change depends on the utilization of local learning systems of the society and women are most often the…

A combined intervention of zinc, multiple micronutrients, and albendazole does not ameliorate environmental enteric dysfunction or stunting in rural Malawian children in a double-blind randomized controlled trial

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) and linear growth stunting affect many rural agrarian children in the developing world and contribute to the persistently high rates of stunting that are observed worldwide. Effective interventions to consistently ameliorate EED are lacking. We tested whether ...

Designing Training Materials for Developing Countries.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosenweig, Fred

1984-01-01

Describes four training guides developed by the Water and Sanitation for Health Project for use in rural water supply and sanitation projects in developing countries, explains the development process, offers insights gained from the process, and presents five considerations for designing training in third world countries. (MBR)

Women Creating a New World. Facts for Action #3.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tuttle, Leslie; Wunder, Haleh

An assessment of the role of women in third world countries and strategies to improve their status are provided for high school global education classes. The document emphasizes that women in rural areas of developing nations are subject to triple oppression: as citizens of underdeveloped countries; as peasants living in the most impoverished and…

Urbanization and health in developing countries: a systematic review.

PubMed

Eckert, Sophie; Kohler, Stefan

2014-01-01

Future population growth will take place predominantly in cities of the developing world. The impact of urbanization on health is discussed controversially. We review recent research on urban-rural and intra-urban health differences in developing countries and investigate whether a health advantage was found for urban areas. We systematically searched the databases JSTOR, PubMed, ScienceDirect and SSRN for studies that compare health status in urban and rural areas. The studies had to examine selected World Health Organization health indicators. Eleven studies of the association between urbanization and the selected health indicators in developing countries met our selection criteria. Urbanization was associated with a lower risk of undernutrition but a higher risk of overweight in children. A lower total fertility rate and lower odds of giving birth were found for urban areas. The association between urbanization and life expectancy was positive but insignificant. Common risk factors for chronic diseases were more prevalent in urban areas. Urban-rural differences in mortality from communicable diseases depended on the disease studied. Several health outcomes were correlated with urbanization in developing countries. Urbanization may improve some health problems developing countries face and worsen others. Therefore, urbanization itself should not be embraced as a solution to health problems but should be accompanied by an informed and reactive health policy. Copyright © 2013 Longwoods Publishing.

Access of Rural Girls to Primary Education in the Third World: State of Art, Obstacles, and Policy Recommendations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Safilios-Rothschild, Constantina

In the Third World, women's literacy and access to primary education lags behind that of men, and the situation is more accentuated for rural than for urban women. In general, rural women have lower literacy than rural men and than urban women. Because a considerable percentage of girls enrolled in primary school are over 14 years old, marriage,…

Food systems: New-Ruralism versus New-Urbanism.

PubMed

Azadi, Hossein; Van Acker, Veronique; Zarafshani, Kiumars; Witlox, Frank

2012-08-30

There is a growing debate on whether agricultural land in urban fringes should be maintained or converted to other uses. While 'pro-ruralists' believe agricultural land conversion can threaten food security and cause rural-urban migration, 'pro-urbanists' find it a necessary change for transition from a primitive agricultural-based community to an advanced industrial-based society which has the capacity to create mass productions. New-Ruralists follow an agricultural-based development approach that promotes small-medium farming and acknowledges rural lifestyle while New-Urbanists give a priority to large industrial-based sectors and encourage urban lifestyle. Given the unlike concerns of different societies, the paper concludes that the approaches might have different priorities in the less developed, developing, and developed world. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry.

Integration of Women in Development Proposals for Action

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boserup, Ester; Liljencrantz, Christina

1975-01-01

A broad review of women's integration into development proposals throughout the world discusses: legislative and administrative measures; research, data collection, and analysis; co-ordinated long term, rural, and small-scale business programs; and communication and mass media. (LH)

"Farming Miners" or "Mining Farmers"?: Diamond Mining and Rural Development in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maconachie, Roy; Binns, Tony

2007-01-01

Sierra Leone is currently emerging from a brutal civil war that lasted most of the 1990s, and now has the dubious distinction of being ranked among the world's poorest countries. As thousands of displaced people move back to their villages, a large proportion of the predominantly farm-based rural population are growing food crops for the first…

Differences in patterns of high-risk human papillomavirus infection between urban and rural low-resource settings: cross-sectional findings from Mali.

PubMed

Schluterman, Nicholas H; Sow, Samba O; Traore, Cheick B; Bakarou, Kamate; Dembelé, Rokiatou; Sacko, Founé; Gravitt, Patti E; Tracy, J Kathleen

2013-02-06

The burden of cervical cancer is disproportionately high in low-resource settings. With limited implementation of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines on the horizon in the developing world, reliable data on the epidemiology of high-risk HPV (HR-HPV) infection in distinct geographic populations is essential to planners of vaccination programs. The purpose of this study was to determine whether urban patterns of HR-HPV occurrence can be generalized to rural areas of the same developing country, using data from Mali, West Africa, as an example. Urban and rural women in Mali participated in a structured interview and clinician exam, with collection of cervical samples for HPV DNA testing, to determine HR-HPV prevalence and correlates of infection. Correlates were assessed using bivariate analysis and logistic regression. A total of 414 women (n=202 urban women; n=212 rural women) were recruited across both settings. The prevalence of HR-HPV infection in rural women was nearly twice that observed in urban women (23% v. 12%). Earlier age of sexual debut and fewer pregnancies were associated with HR-HPV infection among urban women, but not rural women. Twenty-six percent of urban women who had sexual intercourse by age 14 had an HR-HPV infection, compared to only 9% of those who had later sexual debut (p<0.01). Overall, age, income, and polygamy did not appear to have a relationship with HR-HPV infection. Compared to urban women, rural women were significantly more likely to be infected with high-risk HPV. The patterns and risk factors of HR-HPV infection may be different between geographic areas, even within the same developing country. The high prevalence in both groups suggests that nearly all rural women and most urban women in Mali will be infected with HR-HPV during their lifetime, so the effects of risk factors may not be statistically apparent. To control HPV and cervical cancer in West Africa and the rest of the developing world, planners should prioritize vaccination in high-burden areas.

Urban ecology in a developing world: why advanced socioecological theory needs Africa.

PubMed

McHale, Melissa R; Bunn, David N; Pickett, Steward Ta; Twine, Wayne

2013-12-01

Socioecological theory, developed through the study of urban environments, has recently led to a proliferation of research focusing on comparative analyses of cities. This research emphasis has been concentrated in the more developed countries of the Northern Hemisphere (often referred to as the "Global North"), yet urbanization is now occurring mostly in the developing world, with the fastest rates of growth in sub-Saharan Africa. Countries like South Africa are experiencing a variety of land-cover changes that may challenge current assumptions about the differences between urban and rural environments and about the connectivity of these dynamic socioecological systems. Furthermore, questions concerning ecosystem services, landscape preferences, and conservation - when analyzed through rural livelihood frameworks - may provide insights into the social and ecological resilience of human settlements. Increasing research on urban development processes occurring in Africa, and on patterns of kinship and migration in the less developed countries of the "Global South", will advance a more comprehensive worldview of how future urbanization will influence the progress of sustainable societies.

Environmental Perceptions of Rural South African Residents: The Complex Nature of Environmental Concern

PubMed Central

Hunter, Lori M.; Strife, Susie; Twine, Wayne

2009-01-01

The state of the local environment shapes the well-being of millions of rural residents in developing nations. Still, we know little of these individuals’ environmental perceptions. This study analyzes survey data collected in an impoverished, rural region in northeast South Africa, to understand the factors that shape concern with local environmental issues. We use the “post-materialist thesis” to explore the different explanations for environmental concern in less developed regions of the world, with results revealing the importance of both cultural and physical context. In particular, gendered interaction with natural resources shapes perceptions, as does the local setting. Both theoretical and policy implications are discussed. PMID:20514147

Tourism-Induced Livelihood Changes at Mount Sanqingshan World Heritage Site, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Ming Ming; Wall, Geoffrey; Xu, Kejian

2016-05-01

Although tourism has the potential to improve the wellbeing of residents, it may also disrupt livelihood systems, social processes, and cultural traditions. The livelihood changes at three rural villages at Mount Sanqingshan World Heritage Site, China, are assessed to determine the extent to which tourism strategies are contributing to local livelihoods. A sustainable livelihood framework is adopted to guide the analysis. The three villages exhibit different development patterns due to institutional, organizational, and location factors. New strategies involving tourism were constructed and incorporated into the traditional livelihood systems and they resulted in different outcomes for residents of different villages. Village location, including the relationship to the site tourism plan, affected the implications for rural livelihoods. High dependence on tourism as the single livelihood option can reduce sustainability. Practical implications are suggested to enhance livelihood sustainability at such rural heritage tourism sites.

Tourism-Induced Livelihood Changes at Mount Sanqingshan World Heritage Site, China.

PubMed

Su, Ming Ming; Wall, Geoffrey; Xu, Kejian

2016-05-01

Although tourism has the potential to improve the wellbeing of residents, it may also disrupt livelihood systems, social processes, and cultural traditions. The livelihood changes at three rural villages at Mount Sanqingshan World Heritage Site, China, are assessed to determine the extent to which tourism strategies are contributing to local livelihoods. A sustainable livelihood framework is adopted to guide the analysis. The three villages exhibit different development patterns due to institutional, organizational, and location factors. New strategies involving tourism were constructed and incorporated into the traditional livelihood systems and they resulted in different outcomes for residents of different villages. Village location, including the relationship to the site tourism plan, affected the implications for rural livelihoods. High dependence on tourism as the single livelihood option can reduce sustainability. Practical implications are suggested to enhance livelihood sustainability at such rural heritage tourism sites.

Providing Better Education Services to the Poor: Accountability and Context in the Case of Guatemalan Decentralization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gershberg, Alec Ian; Meade, Ben; Andersson, Sven

2009-01-01

We explore how two community-based reform models align with the World Bank's "World Development Report 2004" accountability framework. Using a qualitative case study of rural Guatemalan primary schools, we examine local governance through interviews with a range of stakeholders. While both reforms appear appropriate according to the…

Food First Resource Guide: Documentation on the Roots of World Hunger and Rural Poverty.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Institute for Food and Development Policy, San Francisco, CA.

This guide reviews resources used to develop the analysis of world hunger in "Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity," Houghton Mifflin, 1977. The objectives are to help people understand the economic and political factors that contribute to food deprivation, document this analysis with credible sources, and inform high school, college, and…

Rural-urban migration and socioeconomic development in Ghana: some discussions.

PubMed

Twumasi-ankrah, K

1995-01-01

This article presents a discussion of rural-urban migration as a source of social and behavioral change in Ghana. It explores the extent to which the urban social environment in Ghana generates conflicts for migrants with a different value orientation and the degree of influence of the urban social environment on migrants' behavior. The first part of the discussion focuses on the nature of Ghana's urbanization process, the motivation and characteristics of rural-urban migrants, and the nature of the social interaction between migrants and the social urban environment. Migrants contribute directly and indirectly to rural development in many ways. Some urban migrants achieve economic and material wealth and, through their attachment to voluntary tribal associations, assist local community development. Government can augment this process of migrant investment in rural life by identifying these actions as patriotic efforts and awarding citizenship medals or challenge grants. Governments need to review their citizenship laws carefully in light of the "brain drain" issues in the new world order and maximize the flow of resources, technical skills, and ideas from international migrants. A high-quality rural labor force can be enticed to live in rural areas by offering higher salaries and benefits, low income tax rates, better housing, and rural electrification and sanitation. Private firms should be offered incentives to locate in rural areas and increase employment opportunities for rural labor. Career advancement of development planners should be tied to program success or some form of public accountability for careful allocation of resources in rural areas. Fertility policies should be sensitive to urban subgroups. Urban and rural social differences are minor and do not impede urban assimilation, but unemployment and underemployment are problems for many.

Why Do Primary School Students Drop out in Poor, Rural China? A Portrait Sketched in a Remote Mountain Village

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chung, Carol; Mason, Mark

2012-01-01

In this paper we consider why students in poor and rural regions of China are dropping out of school in numbers that may be greater than official statistics admit. With questions about education quality among the most intractable in Education for All initiatives across the developing world, we sketch a portrait of education in a remote mountain…

Common aspirations of world women.

PubMed

Huang, B

1996-02-01

The comments of the Director of Foreign Affairs for the China State Family Planning Commission reflect satisfaction with the achievements at the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing. It is posited that the historic documents from the conference reflect the common aspirations of all women in the world for equality, development, and peace. The conference's focus on social development for women has been translated in China into a "vigorous" IEC campaign. China is developing integrated approaches to family planning in rural areas. The approach aims to help rural women to become economically independent before achieving equality within the family and society. A National Conference on Integrated Programs was held in Sichuan province. Examples of integrated programs in Sichuan, Jilin, and Jiangsu were described for conference participants. The example is given of how poor rural women in Deyang Prefecture, Sichuan province, have received credit for income generation and access to skill development and literacy classes. Continuous economic and social development are important for achieving "poverty eradication and the liberation of women." Sustainable development involves use of resources, environmental protection, the reasonable change in consumption patterns, and transitional changes in modes of production. The concept of reproductive health means Chinese family planning workers must meet higher standards. Future plans include intensifying the IEC program in meeting the comprehensive biological, psychological, and social reproductive health needs of women. Respect must be given to the fertility intentions and reproductive rights of wives and husbands. "In China, voluntary choice of childbearing should be guided by the fertility policy formulated by the government." Training of family planning workers should be intensified to include training in public health, reproductive theory, contraception, and the techniques of interpersonal communication. Some provinces have already begun to establish reproductive health centers as community demonstration projects.

Global Competency Education Catches Fire at a Rural University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Talbot, Patricia A.; Gustafson, Glenna; Mistele, Jean

2017-01-01

World-ready learners require world-ready educators. One group of inspiring teacher educators share how they ignited a fire of awareness around the importance of global competency education at a small, rural teacher college.

Point of care investigations in pediatric care to improve health care in rural areas.

PubMed

Walia, Kamini

2013-07-01

The good quality laboratory services in developing countries are often limited to major urban centers. As a result, many commercially available high-quality diagnostic tests for infectious diseases are neither accessible nor affordable to patients in the rural areas. Health facilities in rural areas are compromised and this limits the usability and performance of the best medical diagnostic technologies in rural areas as they are designed for air-conditioned laboratories, refrigerated storage of chemicals, a constant supply of calibrators and reagents, stable electrical power, highly trained personnel and rapid transportation of samples. The advent of new technologies have allowed miniaturization and integration of complex functions, which has made it possible for sophisticated diagnostic tools to move out of the developed-world laboratory in the form of a "point of care"(POC) tests. Many diagnostic tests are being developed using these platforms. However, the challenge is to develop diagnostics which are inexpensive, rugged and well suited to the medical and social contexts of the developing world and do not compromise on accuracy and reliability. The already available POC tests which are reliable and affordable, like for HIV infection, malaria, syphilis, and some neglected tropical diseases, and POC tests being developed for other diseases if correctly used and effectively regulated after rigorous evaluation, have the potential to make a difference in clinical management and improve surveillance. In order to use these tests effectively they would need to be supported by technically competent manpower, availability of good-quality reagents, and healthcare providers who value and are able to interpret laboratory results to guide treatment; and a system for timely communication between the laboratory and the healthcare provider. Strengthening the laboratories at the rural level can enable utilization of these diagnostics for improving the diagnosis and management of infectious diseases among children which require prompt treatment and thus, considerably reduce morbidity and mortality among the pediatric age group.

Education Via Satellite: A Trinational Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shaw, Willard D.

The Rural Satellite Program of the U.S. Agency for International Development was a 6-year effort (1981-87) to explore the potential uses of two way telecommunications facilities, particularly satellite-mediated, telephone-based technologies--to support Third World Development educational endeavors. This program created three audioconferencing…

Farming Systems Research: A Critical Appraisal. MSU Rural Development Paper No. 6.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilbert, Elon H.; And Others

The objectives of the state-of-the-art paper, second in a series on farming systems research (FSR) in the Third World, are to: (1) review the literature on farming systems; (2) evaluate farming systems research in international institutes and in national agricultural research systems in the Third World; and (3) recommend what can be done to…

Improving the Status of Women in the Third World: A Challenge to Adult Educators.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Elmer J.

Adult educators face a challenge if they are to aid in the improvement of the status of women in the Third World. Women in developing countries, especially those in rural and poverty areas, are often restricted to second class educational and work opportunities. Adult educators could contribute to the reduction of such discrimination in the…

Science for Agriculture and Rural Development in Low-Income Countries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barros, Vicente

2008-09-01

During recent months, another sign of the global fragility to sustain the increasing human demand for resources has appeared with merciless cruelty. Increasing food prices, paradoxically driven to a large extent by the rapid economic growth of vast regions of the emerging world, are affecting hundreds of millions of the poorest people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. As described in Science for Agriculture and Rural Development in Low-Income Countries, most of the poorest people in these low-income countries live in rural areas and are engaged in agriculture or related activities. Because many people in these areas are engaged in subsistence agriculture, they do not share in the added income derived from higher market prices for food.

Guidebook for Supporting Economic Development in Stability Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-01

purpose. Gravel roads with single-lane bridges are ade- quate to connect rural villages to major roads where traffic is light. Asphalt or concrete is suit...It is updated annually and can be purchased directly from the World Bank through the inter- net site at http://publications.worldbank.org/ ecommerce ...providing grants to help ex-combatants and rural workers to start their own businesses. Most ex-combatants and unskilled civilian laborers do not have the

Promoting Pluralism.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zijp, W.

1998-01-01

Rural agricultural development is facing challenges of poverty, hunger, and environmental quality, necessitating sustainable, profitable, and productive practices. Extension education is challenged to increase diversity, relevance, and financial support. Examples of World Bank innovations illustrate some pathways for agricultural extension. (SK)

A content analysis of nature photographs taken by Lebanese rural youth.

PubMed

Mattouk, Miriam; Talhouk, Salma N

2017-01-01

'Living in Harmony with Nature' is a 2050 vision put forth by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which takes into consideration culture and locality of perceptions of nature and aspirations for its use. Considering that 54% of the world population lives in cities, where nature has been decimated, the role of rural communities, living within or in proximity of natural and semi natural areas, will effectively influence the fate of the 'remaining' nature while they engage in local development. Reconciling between growth and development on the one hand, and nature conservation on the other, necessitates an understanding of how rural communities, especially the youth, imprint their own ideas on landscapes and develop ownership over natural spaces. In order to extend the understanding of how harmony with nature is perceived in different parts of the world, this paper presents the findings of primary research involving a group of young people who live in rural areas in Lebanon, a country in the Arab Middle East. Participatory research based on photovoice methodology was conducted with 77 young people aged 7-16 and residing in five rural villages located in different parts of Lebanon. Photographs taken by participants indicated that for many, nature was not perceived literally i.e. woodlands, forests, plants, animals, etc…. Instead, the participants saw nature as part of agriculture and local culture. Nature was also seen as symbolic expression of the participants' inner state of mind. Narratives written to explain the photographs shed light on the perception of harmony with nature which focused on positive family experiences and relayed personal emotions, abstract, and holistic yet functional view of nature. Another recurring theme that emerged from photographs and narratives was the role of family members, in particular grandparents, as having a strong influence on the positive perceptions of nature.

Plundering the poor: the role of the World Bank in the Third World.

PubMed

Feder, E

1983-01-01

The World Bank, the most important so-called development assistance agency, annually dispenses billions of dollars to Third World governments, ostensibly to "develop" their economics through a variety of loan projects. But even a superficial analysis reveals that the Bank is the perfect mechanism to help (i.e., subsidize) the large transnational corporations from the industrial countries to expand their industrial, commercial, and financial activities in the Third World, at the expense of the latter and particularly at the expense of the rural and urban proletariat. This article discusses Cheryl Payer's recent book, The World Bank: A Critical Analysis, in which she analyzes the Bank's role in the Third World and sets forth the major reasons why poverty, hunger, and malnutrition, as well as unemployment, and all the adverse social phenomena associated with them, are on the increase.

Urban ecology in a developing world: why advanced socioecological theory needs Africa

PubMed Central

Bunn, David N; Pickett, Steward TA; Twine, Wayne

2014-01-01

Socioecological theory, developed through the study of urban environments, has recently led to a proliferation of research focusing on comparative analyses of cities. This research emphasis has been concentrated in the more developed countries of the Northern Hemisphere (often referred to as the “Global North”), yet urbanization is now occurring mostly in the developing world, with the fastest rates of growth in sub-Saharan Africa. Countries like South Africa are experiencing a variety of land-cover changes that may challenge current assumptions about the differences between urban and rural environments and about the connectivity of these dynamic socioecological systems. Furthermore, questions concerning ecosystem services, landscape preferences, and conservation – when analyzed through rural livelihood frameworks – may provide insights into the social and ecological resilience of human settlements. Increasing research on urban development processes occurring in Africa, and on patterns of kinship and migration in the less developed countries of the “Global South”, will advance a more comprehensive worldview of how future urbanization will influence the progress of sustainable societies. PMID:24891843

Building Your Own Regression Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Horton, Robert, M.; Phillips, Vicki; Kenelly, John

2004-01-01

Spreadsheets to explore regression with an algebra 2 class in a medium-sized rural high school are presented. The use of spreadsheets can help students develop sophisticated understanding of mathematical models and use them to describe real-world phenomena.

Schooling for Self-Esteem: An Alternative Look at Parental and Pupil Views in Disadvantaged Third World Areas.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baker, Victoria J.

This paper, based on field research and a literature review, examines the beliefs about education as held by people in developing countries. Parents and students in disadvantaged third world areas value education for the sake of learning, not just to improve chances of modern-sector employment. A study in four Mexican rural schools found that when…

Rural migration: The driving force behind tropical deforestation on the settlement frontier

PubMed Central

Carr, David

2009-01-01

This paper reviews the state of knowledge and develops a conceptual model for researching frontier migration in the developing world with a focus on Latin America. Since only a small fraction of migrants move to forest frontiers, identifying people and place characteristics associated with this phenomenon could usefully inform policies aimed at forest conservation and rural development. Yet population scholars train their efforts on urban and international migration while land use/cover change researchers pay scant attention to these migration flows which directly antecede the most salient footprint of human occupation on the earth's surface: the conversion of forest to agricultural land. PMID:20485541

SELF-CONTAINED HUMAN AND SOLAR POWERED LED LIGHTING SYSTEM FOR USE IN THE DEVELOPING WORLD

EPA Science Inventory

Approximately 49% of rural households and 14% of urban households in developing nations live without electricity, most of who rely by fuel-based lamps which are inefficient, costly to operate, and produce large amounts of potentially harmful byproducts and green house gas emis...

Haiti's Economic Growth Initiative and CTE

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dimattina, Cara

2009-01-01

In a study by the World Bank in 1993, "Skills for Productivity: Vocational Education and Training in Developing Countries," researchers found that skill training in the rural and urban informal sectors in developing countries may contribute more to the alleviation of poverty than training for modern sector wage employment. They also…

Along the Yellow-Brick Road: Things Are Fine Down Kansas Way.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Killacky, Jim; And Others

University for Man (UFM) has developed into a major national organization, impacting the worlds of lifelong learning, alternative education, and rural and community resource development. It was founded in 1968 when Manhattan, Kansas, residents secured several hundred dollars from the Kansas State University student government to organize seven…

An assessment of the costs and benefits of interventions aimed at improving rural community water supplies in developed countries.

PubMed

Hunter, Paul R; Pond, Kathy; Jagals, Paul; Cameron, John

2009-06-01

We report a cost benefit analyses (CBA) for water interventions in rural populations of developed country sub-regions. A Bayesian belief network was used to estimate the cost benefit ratio using Monte Carlo simulation. Where possible we used input data from recently published primary research or systematic reviews. Otherwise variables were derived from previous work in the peer-reviewed or grey literature. For these analyses we considered the situation of people with small and very small community supplies that may not be adequately managed. For the three developed country sub-regions Amr-A (America region A), Eur-A (European region A) and Wpr-A (Western Pacific region A), we estimate the costs of acute diarrhoeal illness associated with small community supplies to be U$4671 million (95% CI 1721-9592), the capital costs of intervention to be USD 13703 million (95% CI 6670-20735), additional annual maintenance to be USD 804 million (95%CI 359-1247) and the CB ratio to be 2.78 (95%CI 0.86-6.5). However, we also estimated the cost of post infectious irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) following drinking water-associated acute gastroenteritis to be USD 11896 million (95%CI 3118-22657). When the benefits of reduced IBS are added to the analysis the CB ratio increases to 9.87 (95%CI 3.34-20.49). The most important driver of uncertainty was the estimate of the cost of illness. However, there are very few good estimates of costs in improving management of small rural supplies in the literature. Investments in drinking-water provision in rural settings are highly cost beneficial in the developed world. In the developed world, the CB ratio is substantially positive especially once the impact of IBS is included.

Balancing housing growth and land conservation: Conservation development preserves private lands near protected areas

Treesearch

Miranda H. Mockrin; Sarah E. Reed; Liba Pejchar; Jessica Salo

2017-01-01

Housing development has emerged as a primary driver of land-use change around the world. In the United States, there is particular concern about low-density residential development on rural lands, which often occurs in places with abundant natural amenities. Conservation development (CD), housing development that incorporates protected open space, has emerged as a tool...

How Rural America Sees Its Future. The Main Street Economist: Commentary on the Rural Economy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barkema, Alan D.; Drabenstott, Mark

To gain a perspective on rural America's future, seven roundtables consisting of seven rural stakeholder groups were convened. Four groups of challenges facing rural areas emerged. The rural business environment was considered the source of greatest challenge. Agriculture concerns included low profits and access to world markets. The effects of…

[State of the world population, 1986].

PubMed

1987-01-01

The majority of the world population will soon reside in urban areas. At present, over 40% of the world's people are urban, and 50% will be urban soon after the year 2000. The proportion urban in developed countries has exceeded 50% since the mid-20th century, and in developing countries this level will be reached in the 1st quarter of the next century. Developing countries in Asia and Africa have less than 30% of their population urban. While over 70% of Latin America's population is urban. Within the next 50 years, the predominantly rural character of the developing countries will disappear forever. Currently the majority of the world's urban population lives in developing countries. In 1970, 695 million urban dwellers were in developed countries vs. 666 million in developing countries, but by 1985, there were only 849 million urban dwellers in developed countries vs. 1164 million in developing countries. By the year 2025, there will be nearly 4 times as many urban dwellers in developing countries. An increasing proportion of the urban population will reside in the largest cities. Around 2025, almost 30% of the urban population in developing countries will live in cities of over 4 million. Around 2000 there will be 5 cities of 15 million or more, 3 of them in developing countries. The proportion of the 20 largest cities in developing countries will increase from 9 in 1970 to 16 in 2000. The close relationship between city size and economic development that existed until the recent past is disappearing. It is possible that the very largest cities will no longer be at the center of international political and economic networks. Many developing countries will have to develop plans for cities of sizes never imagined in the developed countries of today. High rates of population increase in the developing countries are an inseparable aspect of their urbanization. Growth of the urban population in developing countries will continue to be rapid until well into the 21st century. The world rate of urban growth will continue to be about 2.5%/year during the 1st quarter of sthe 21st century. The annual rate of urban growth is 3.5% in developing countries and is highest in Africa, especially West Africa where it reaches 6.5%/year. Despite migration to cities, the rural population in developing countries will continue to grow at a rate of about 1%/year through the end of the century. In many rural areas, population density is already very high, and continued growth will hamper efforts to reduce urban migration. In developing countries, the increase in the urban population is due more to natural increase than to migration.

Education: Designed for the Rural Poor.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higgs, John; Moore, David

1980-01-01

This is a discussion of the educational opportunities for the economically disadvantaged rural populations of Third World Nations. Emphasized is the need for broadening the educational base for the small farm in order to involve members of rural communities in rural progress. (Author/SA)

Water resources management. World Bank policy study; Ordenacion de los recursos hidricos

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1994-12-31

This study examines new World Bank policies that deal with scarce water resources in developing countries. The study describes key policy goals that each country program should adopt. Practical ways to modernize irrigation techniques and hydropower systems, to protect ecosystems, minimize resettlement, and maintain biodiversity are outlined. Low-cost methods of providing drinking water for the rural poor and water for industry and agriculture are recommended.

Public opinion and communicative action around renewable energy projects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fast, Stewart

This thesis investigates how rural communities negotiate the development of renewable energy projects. Public and local community acceptance of these new technologies in rural areas around the world is uncertain and spatially uneven and represents an area of emerging public policy interest and one where scholarly theory is rapidly developing. This thesis uses Habermasian concepts of public sphere, communicative action and deliberative democracy, as well as the concept of "wicked problems" from the planning studies literature combined with geographical concepts of place and scale to advance theoretical and empirical understanding of how public opinion on renewable energy technologies is formed in place. It documents energy use patterns, attitudes and socio-political relations at a time when considerable state and business efforts are directed at the construction of solar, wind, biomass and small-hydro technologies in rural regions. These concepts and theories are applied in a case study of rural communities in the Eastern Ontario Highlands, an impoverished area undergoing rapid restructuring driven by centralization of services and amenity migration but with abundant natural resources in form of forests, numerous waterways and open space which have attracted a broad range of new energy developments. Overall high levels of support for alternative energy development particularly for solar power were found, albeit for reasons of local energy security and not for reasons of preventing climate change. There was some evidence that seasonal residents are less supportive of hydro and biomass projects than permanent residents possibly reflecting broader trends in rural economies away from productive uses of land to consumptive appreciation of rural landscapes. The thesis suggests that collective action to advance energy projects in the case study area require agreement along three world-claims (truth, rightness and truthfulness) and that communication leading to discourse which uncovers hitherto hidden reasons for action is possible. These findings offer rare empirical evidence of the predictions of deliberative democratic theory in environmental planning settings. However, multiple barriers to communicative action were also identified and there is evidence that the state's reliance on market incentives may have long term costs in terms of diminished public reasoning around renewable energy.

Health and self-reliance: the experience of Tanzania.

PubMed

Tarimo, E

1978-01-01

Since its independence, Tanzania has consistently followed a socialist policy with a strong emphasis on the development of the rural areas and on an equal distribution of goods and services. In the health field, this policy has taken the form of establishing a network of rural health centers, training auxiliaries, and involving the communities through mass mobilization campaigns. Community participation in health care services is hindered by 3 sets of problems related to lack of cohesion, lack of structure, and the autonomous and sometimes paternalist attitude of the health profession. In Tanzania much emphasis is placed on self-reliance. It is in the field of education that policies of self-reliance have been most successfully implemented. Traditional practitioners represent 1 of the health resources that can be tapped. The medical profession cannot claim credit for the major improvements in health, for at times it has even blocked health development. Health standards and quality are important in the 3rd world. Staff must be properly trained to function at a particular level, supplies must be provided regularly, and there must be constant supervision. A health care system that is appropriate to the 3rd world must also emphasize disease prevention. To increase health coverage there must be a program of health service that is within reach of the people, including the rural population. Health cannot be furthered by the health services as tradtionally conceived; an intersectoral approach is essential. It is important that a commitment to an integrated development of the rural areas, with health as a component, be made.

Global Energy-saving Map of Strong Ocean Currents

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-01-01

Biotechnology and Resources, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung 80424, Taiwan) 2(Department of Oceanography, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung...World Bank and FAO. (2009). The sunken billions. The economic justification for fisheries reform. Washington, DC, Agriculture and Rural Development

The Building Blocks of Community Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MDC, Inc., Chapel Hill, NC.

The traditional economic development strategy of the South--concentrating on low-skill, low-wage labor--no longer works; the region cannot compete with other areas of the world that offer low-cost, high-skill labor. The challenges facing rural and central-city communities in the South are immense, and only a comprehensive approach to economic…

Nutritional Awareness of Mothers in Relation to Nutritional Status of the Preschool Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Halder, Santoshi; Kejriwal, Sunita

2016-01-01

Background: In the developing world, nearly one-third (35%) of under-five children are stunted and rural children are twice likely to be underweight as those in urban areas (United Nations, Children education Fund, UNICEF Global Database (2006-2010). United Nations Development Assistance Framework of Uganda. Retrieved from…

Purpose and Perceptions of Family Social Location among Rural Youth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shamah, Devora; MacTavish, Katherine A.

2018-01-01

Purpose is a concept receiving increasing attention in the developmental sciences. Making sense of your place in the world and finding meaning--a process fundamental to purpose--support positive development in adolescence and beyond. Using traditional ethnographic strategies, this article examines the development of purpose among a small group of…

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF A LOW COST, MULTIFUNCTION, REGIONALLY APPROPRIATE SOLAR OVEN FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES IN LATIN AMERICA

EPA Science Inventory

In the average Latin American country, 45% of the population is below the poverty line and 36% live in rural settings (CIA World Factbook). For these sectors, solar ovens might represent their only affordable means of cooking and sterilization. Significant research efforts i...

Internal and International Migration Across the Urban Hierarchy in Albania.

PubMed

Lerch, Mathias

2016-01-01

The interactions between the processes of urbanization and international migration in less developed and transition countries have important repercussions for socioeconomic development, but are not well understood. Based on the retrospective data from the Albanian Living Standards Measurement Survey 2008, we first assess the geography of migration in terms of the rural-urban continuum, the urban hierarchy and the outside world since 1990. We then investigate the spatio-temporal diffusion of rural-to-urban and international movements using survival models. Results reveal an immediate onset of large-scale rural exodus, despite the post-communist crisis. Internal migrants mainly moved to the capital, bypassing secondary cities, and were predominantly female. Initially, international migrants were primarily men who tended to originate from the main urban agglomerations. The diffusion of opportunities to emigrate down the urban hierarchy and across the sexes then redirected the rural exodus abroad, despite domestic economic development. This evolution in population mobility is related to the gendered patterns and interlinkages of the two flows, as well as to rising inequalities within the urban hierarchy.

Metrics help rural hospitals achieve world-class performance.

PubMed

Goodspeed, Scott W

2006-01-01

This article describes the emerging trend of using metrics in rural hospitals to achieve world-class performance. This trend is a response to the fact that rural hospitals have small patient volumes yet must maintain a profit margin in order to fulfill their mission to the community. The conceptual idea for this article is based largely on Robert Kaplan and David Norton's Balanced Scorecard articles in the Harvard Business Review. The ideas also come from the experiences of the 60-plus rural hospitals that are using the Balanced Scorecard and their implementation of metrics to influence performance and behavior. It is indeed possible for rural hospitals to meet and exceed the unique needs of patients and physicians (customers), to achieve healthy profit margins, and to be the rural hospital of choice that employees are proud to work for.

Development and Displacement in India: Reforming the Economy towards Sustainability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siddiqui, Kalim

2012-05-01

Displacement of human populations from the natural habitats results in a host of socio-economic impacts. This study will focus on mainly farmers and tribal communities in India and how the modernisation process has affected these communities especially since the adoption of neoliberal economic reforms. For the rural people the displacement is a traumatic both in terms livelihoods and cultural point of view. The paper will analyse the issues of displacement of the villages that have been relatively isolated from the outside world. The development induced displacement becomes important due to its impact on the rural communities through land alienation in the form of protests by the affected communities. I find that not even a single study shows the socio-economic and environmental effects of these policies on the rural poor. Analysis of the reasons for these changes point in many directions. Displacement, the loss of traditional livelihoods of the rural communities and environmental destruction are the most prominent among them.

From Hometown to Nontown: Rural Community Effects of Suburbanization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salamon, Sonya

2003-01-01

Regional suburbanization processes are transforming rural America socially and physically, threatening the uniqueness of small towns whose diversity is a national resource. This article reviews existing holistic descriptions of American rural communities since post-World War II by rural sociologists and anthropologists. Three new community case…

Developing a successful robotic surgery program in a rural hospital.

PubMed

Zender, John; Thell, Christina

2010-07-01

Robotic surgery has become a standard in many large hospitals across the United States and the world. The surgical robot offers the surgeon a three-dimensional view and increased dexterity in addition to providing the benefits of laparoscopic surgery to the patient (eg, shorter hospital stays, decreased pain, fewer postoperative complications). The next progression for robotic surgery is a move to rural venues. For many small, rural hospitals, however, obtaining a robot may be cost prohibitive, and these facilities may need to explore sources of funding for the program. Developing a robotics program requires intense training by surgeons and all surgical team members. Effective marketing of the program and the dedication and hard work of surgical team members and administrators are vital to ensure the success of the program. Copyright (c) 2010 AORN, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

China's Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme: a type of health insurance or a type of health cooperative?

PubMed

Wang, Fang; Liang, Yuan

2017-03-01

The Cooperative Medical Scheme (CMS) was popular in rural China in the 1960s and 1970s, having garnered praise from the World Bank and World Health Organization as an unprecedented example of a successful health care model in a low-income developing country. However, the CMS almost collapsed in the 1980s. Based on its historical origins and main activities, we think the CMS functioned as a health cooperative rather than a health insurance scheme. Perhaps, however, the importance to the CMS of cooperation between institutions has been overestimated. Overlooked, yet equally important, has been the cooperation between health workers and farmers to target health-related risk factors associated with agricultural work and ways of life. The 'cooperative' character of the CMS includes two aspects: cooperative institutions and cooperative behaviour. Although the CMS collapsed in China, similar schemes are flourishing elsewhere in the world. In the future, in-depth analysis of these schemes is required.

Parenteral organophosphorus poisoning in a rural emergency department: a case report

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Poisoning is a common presentation in the emergency department. Oral exposures to organophosphorus compounds are especially frequent in rural and agricultural regions of South Asia and throughout the developing world. Case presentation Here we report a case of deliberate self-harm with an organophosphorus pesticide via the relatively uncommon parenteral route. A young woman injected herself with chlorpyriphos. Although the cholinergic effects were mild, cellulitis and abscess development were noted as a result. Conclusion Resource limited agricultural countries like Nepal present health care workers with numerous challenges in poisoning management. This case represents a rare but potentially morbid method of agrochemical poison exposure. PMID:24321121

Rural Schools for Tomorrow. Yearbook.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Butterworth, Julian E., Ed.

This 1945 National Education Association yearbook focuses attention on the post-World War II problems of rural schools and encourages national, state, and local leaders to lay plans for strengthening rural education programs. The articles examine social and economic problems faced by rural Americans, the implications of these problems for rural…

Obstetric ultrasound education for the developing world: A learning partnership with the World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology

PubMed Central

Dubbins, P; Evans, JA

2015-01-01

The ultrasound techniques in pregnancy e-learning project is an online resource commissioned and supported by the Education Committee of the World Federation for Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology (WFUMB). This currently consists of 10 e-learning sessions aimed at midwives and other health workers in developing countries where WFUMB has Educational Centres of Excellence, and in particular at those based mainly in rural communities at considerable distance from urban training centres. The project covers all of the basics of obstetric ultrasound such as fetal and maternal anatomy, ultrasound techniques, assessment in both early and late pregnancy, prediction of pregnancy complications and identification of common abnormalities that might interfere with delivery. The e-learning project complements a wider training programme which covers operator skills and machine controls, in order to minimise the time that the professional has to leave their rural, often poorly staffed, workplace to attend classroom-based courses in the city. Each session outlines often complex concepts using simple diagrams, interactive exercises and cine clips. Tips, tricks and best practice guidelines are provided in simple terms. PMID:27433236

The Strategic Development of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-06-12

and ecommerce . In combination, these driving forces of change led to an explosion in world trade, an exponential increase in business...the troops into rural communities and assisted villagers in community structural improvements and socialized with them. This was designed to win

Papago Indians Light the Way.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

D'Alessandro, Bill

1979-01-01

Describes the world's only solar electric village power system, a photovoltaic conversion installation in a remote Papago Indian Reservation village. Notes comparative costs, electric output, and potential applications of the system, a prototype for remote rural communities and developing nations. Notes outstanding questions and key issues in…

Addictive Economies: Extractive Industries and Vulnerable Localities in a Changing World Economy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freudenburg, William R.

1992-01-01

Examines development of rural communities and regions that depend on extractive industries (involving removal of raw materials from nature). Discusses "addictive activities" in such communities characterized by rising operation costs and declining commodities' prices. Discusses community and regional characteristics contributing to…

A content analysis of nature photographs taken by Lebanese rural youth

PubMed Central

Mattouk, Miriam; Talhouk, Salma N.

2017-01-01

‘Living in Harmony with Nature’ is a 2050 vision put forth by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which takes into consideration culture and locality of perceptions of nature and aspirations for its use. Considering that 54% of the world population lives in cities, where nature has been decimated, the role of rural communities, living within or in proximity of natural and semi natural areas, will effectively influence the fate of the ‘remaining’ nature while they engage in local development. Reconciling between growth and development on the one hand, and nature conservation on the other, necessitates an understanding of how rural communities, especially the youth, imprint their own ideas on landscapes and develop ownership over natural spaces. In order to extend the understanding of how harmony with nature is perceived in different parts of the world, this paper presents the findings of primary research involving a group of young people who live in rural areas in Lebanon, a country in the Arab Middle East. Participatory research based on photovoice methodology was conducted with 77 young people aged 7–16 and residing in five rural villages located in different parts of Lebanon. Photographs taken by participants indicated that for many, nature was not perceived literally i.e. woodlands, forests, plants, animals, etc…. Instead, the participants saw nature as part of agriculture and local culture. Nature was also seen as symbolic expression of the participants’ inner state of mind. Narratives written to explain the photographs shed light on the perception of harmony with nature which focused on positive family experiences and relayed personal emotions, abstract, and holistic yet functional view of nature. Another recurring theme that emerged from photographs and narratives was the role of family members, in particular grandparents, as having a strong influence on the positive perceptions of nature. PMID:28489929

Suburban wildlife: Lessons, challenges, and opportunities

USGS Publications Warehouse

DeStefano, S.; Deblinger, R.D.; Miller, C.

2005-01-01

The United States, as well as most developed and many developing nations worldwide, is becoming increasingly urban and suburban.Although urban, suburban, and commercial development account for less than one percent to just over 20% of land use among states, 50-90% of the residents of those states can be classified as urban or suburban dwellers. The population of the U.S. as a whole has risen from being > 95% rural in the 1790s to about 80% urban-suburban today. With these changes in land use and demographic patterns come changes in values and attitudes; many urbanites and suburbanites view wildlife and nature differently than rural residents. These are among the challenges faced by wildlife biologists and natural resource managers in a rapidly urbanizing world. In 2003, we convened a symposium to discuss issues related to suburban wildlife. The papers presented in this special issue of Urban Ecosystems address the lessons learned from the early and recently rapidly expanding literature, the challenges we face today, and the opportunities that can help deal with what is one of the biggest challenges to conservation in a modernizing world. ?? 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc.

E-Strategies to Support Rural Education in India

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Misra, Pradeep Kumar

2006-01-01

The World Declaration on Education for All in 1990 and the World Education Forum in Dakar in 2000 reaffirmed the right to learn and a commitment to meet the basic learning needs of all people by expanding learning opportunities and working for a fully literate society. In the Indian context, especially in rural India, it is still a cherished…

Education Achievements and School Efficiency in Rural Bangladesh. World Bank Discussion Papers, 319.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Khandker, Shahidur R.

Two of the largest World Bank investment projects in Bangladesh are the general education project and the female secondary scholarship and assistance project. This paper evaluates the expected results of these educational projects using the household and school survey data recently collected in rural Bangladesh. Bangladesh spends only 2 percent of…

Literacy for Rural Women in the Third World.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chlebowska, Krystyna

More than 500 million women live in the rural regions of Third World countries and all are illiterate. This book is intended to give these women a face and a voice. The book contains eight chapters and a list of further readings. Chapter 1, "How is illiteracy defined?", views a literate woman as one "who possesses sufficient…

A University for the Rural Poor in the Third World.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gow, Kathryn M.

One possible way of educating residents of developing countries is through a "university for the poor" based on shared village Internet posts and village technology learning centers. Western colleges and universities could donate their courses, and multinational organizations could subsidize the program's administration. Academics could…

The climate-water-health nexus in emerging megacities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Akanda, Ali Shafqat; Hossain, Faisal

2012-09-01

Today a handful of developing nations (India, China, Nigeria, Brazil, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Pakistan) account for more than half of the world's population. A majority of these nations are rapidly urbanizing, as people from remote regions migrate in search of economic prosperity [Cohen, 2003]. Such a rural-to-urban migratory trend has been the leading cause of cities expanding to megacities, which are defined by the United Nations as cities with a population greater than 10 million. By 2025 a greater proportion of the world's megacities, most of them situated in low-lying coastal areas, will be in developing nations in Asia and Africa (Figure 1a) [Asian Development Bank, 2012].

Driving rural energy access: a second-life application for electric-vehicle batteries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ambrose, Hanjiro; Gershenson, Dimitry; Gershenson, Alexander; Kammen, Daniel

2014-09-01

Building rural energy infrastructure in developing countries remains a significant financial, policy and technological challenge. The growth of the electric vehicle (EV) industry will rapidly expand the resource of partially degraded, ‘retired’, but still usable batteries in 2016 and beyond. These batteries can become the storage hubs for community-scale grids in the developing world. We model the resource and performance potential and the technological and economic aspects of the utilization of retired EV batteries in rural and decentralized mini- and micro-grids. We develop and explore four economic scenarios across three battery chemistries to examine the impacts on transport and recycling logistics. We find that EVs sold through 2020 will produce 120-549 GWh in retired storage potential by 2028. Outlining two use scenarios for decentralized systems, we discuss the possible impacts on global electrification rates. We find that used EV batteries can provide a cost-effective and lower environmental impact alternative to existing lead-acid storage systems in these applications.

Involving women.

PubMed

Agbo, J

1994-01-01

I am a primary health care (PHC) coordinator working with the May Day Rural project, a local NGO involved in integrated approaches and programs with rural communities in the Ga District of the Greater-Accra region in Ghana. When we talk about the community development approach we must first and foremost recognize that we are talking about women, because in the developing world frequent childbirths mean that her burden of mortality is higher than a man's; her workload is extremely heavy--whether in gardening, farming, other household duties, caring for the sick, or the rearing of children; she has a key role in PHC and community development, because men are always looking for greener pastures elsewhere, leaving the women behind. Women's concerns are critical in most health care projects and women and children are their main beneficiaries. Why not include women in the management team, project design, implementation and evaluation processes? That is what the May Day Rural project is practicing, encouraging women's participation and creating a relationship of trust. full text

Rural Poverty Alleviation in Brazil: Toward an Integrated Strategy. World Bank Country Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valdes, Alberto; Mistiaen, Johan A.

This report constitutes a step toward designing an integrated strategy for rural poverty reduction in Brazil. The report contains an updated and detailed profile of the rural poor in the northeast and southeast regions of Brazil; identifies key components of rural poverty in those regions; and proposes a five-pronged strategic framework in which…

Making Room for Place-Based Knowledge in Rural Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shamah, Devora; MacTavish, Katherine A.

2009-01-01

For many rural schools the view outside the classroom window is one of scenic fields, pasture lands, or forests nestled at the base of mountains. Despite the proximity of rural schools to both agricultural land and the natural world, what little connection to place that may have existed in rural schools' curricula has been disappearing as schools…

When global conservation meets local livelihoods: People and parks in Central America

Treesearch

John Schelhas; Max J. Pfeffer

2010-01-01

National park and related forest conservation efforts tend to emanate from core areas of the world and are often imposed on rural people living on forest fringes in the least developed regions of lesser developed countries. We address the social and cultural processes that ensue when center-originating conservation meets local people with their resource-dependent...

The Dispossessed of the Earth: Land Reform and Sustainable Development. Worldwatch Paper 30.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eckholm, Erik

Major arguments and background of the worldwide land reform debate are reviewed. In developing nations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the control of farmland remains a principal key to wealth, status, and power. Rural landless peasants at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder, estimated by the World Bank at more than 600 million people, are…

Mapping impervious surface expansion using medium resolution satellite image time series: A case study in Yangtze river delta, China

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Due to the rapid growth of population and economic development in the developing countries, more people are now living in the cities than in the rural areas in the world for the first time in human history. As a result, cities are sprawling rapidly into their surroundings. A characteristic change as...

Call to action for Scottish health care.

PubMed

2001-03-07

SCOTLAND'S NEWLY published strategy for nursing and midwifery, Caring for Scotland, is a reminder of how different professional life can be for nurses across the UK. For example, while developments in telehealth and telemedicine facilities are certainly not unique to the remote rural areas of Scotland, there can be few nurses who can claim to be the sole health professional on a non-doctor island. One such district nurse looks forward with optimism to seeing the effect of the World Health Organization pilot family health nursing programme on her professional credibility. Perhaps not surprisingly, there is a fair bit of emphasis on helping nurses who work in remote and rural areas to develop their practice.

Intelsat's small earth stations - Impact on the developing world

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McDougal, Patrick

1986-12-01

This article offers a brief historical look at the progress in the use of small earth stations in the developing world, and a present status report on Intelsat's new service offerings, especially in the use of smaller earth station technology. Three experiments or series of experiments are discussed: those conducted on NASA's ATS (Applications Technology Satellite) series of satellites, India's SITE (Satellite Instructional Television Experiment), and the Rural Satellite Project sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development. Intelsat's contributions to the growth of telecommunications in the developing world include: domestic leases, VISTA and INTELNET services, Project SHARE, and some new strategies for the financing of telecommunications projects. The article concludes that it is only recently that some of the true benefits of satellite communications have been realized in the developing countries because of improvements in technology, reduction in costs, and diversity of service offerings.

Children's Worlds: An Exploration of Latino Students' Play in Rural New Mexico

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ulibarri, Reyna M.

2016-01-01

I present an ethnographic study of thirteen nine-year-old, U.S.-born Latino children in rural New Mexico. I employ in-depth individual and group interviews, participant observation, and sand play (a method borrowed from clinical psychology in which children "make a world" in a box of sand) to explore how play interactions represent,…

Harnessing the sun: Developing capacity to sustain local solar energy systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olarewaju, Olufemi

2011-12-01

Use of solar photovoltaic (PV) and other renewable sources to meet rising electricity demand by a growing world population has gained traction in many countries in recent years. In rural Sub-Saharan Africa, where 86 percent of the populace has no access to electricity, solar energy systems represent partial solutions to demand, especially in support of rural development initiatives to supply potable water, health care services and education. Unfortunately, development of human and organizational capacity to maintain solar technology has not kept pace with the rate of installation, causing many to fall into disrepair and disuse. This has stimulated interest in capacity development processes required to make solar systems sustainable. To cast light on the practical meanings and challenges of capacity development for solar energy, this study compares the experiences of two rural projects, one in Lagos State (Nigeria) that disregarded the importance of capacity development, and the other in Texas (United States) that, in contrast, made such development the centerpiece of its operations. Based largely on interviews with 60 key actors, findings underscore the crucial importance of sustained investment in capacity development to assurance of durable power supply from renewable sources.

Environmentally Sound Small-Scale Water Projects. Guidelines for Planning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tillman, Gus

This manual is the second volume in a series of publications on community development programs. Guidelines are suggested for small-scale water projects that would benefit segments of the world's urban or rural poor. Strategies in project planning, implementation and evaluation are presented that emphasize environmental conservation and promote…

Toward a Quality-of-Life Paradigm for Sustainable Communities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hyman, Drew

This paper suggests that current paradigms and world views guiding research for social action are inadequate for directing rural community change in a high-tech, global community. For several generations, the agrarian and industrial paradigms have been accepted as appropriate for guiding social change and development. However, there are problems…

Reconsidering Print.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Development Communication Report, 1978

1978-01-01

The role of print in serving the poor majority populations in the developing world is explored through discussions of (1) a rural Ghanian newspaper, the "Densu Times," (2) a popular French language magazine entitled "Famille et Developpement," published in Senegal, West Africa for change agents, (3) a series of cloth posters for classroom use in…

Universal(ly Bad) Service: Providing Infrastructure Services to Rural and Poor Urban Consumers. Policy Research Working Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clarke, George R. G.; Wallsten, Scott J.

Utility services (telecommunications, power, water, and gas) throughout the world were traditionally provided by large, usually state-owned, monopolies. However, encouraged by technological change, regulatory innovation, and pressure from international organizations, many developing countries are privatizing state-owned companies and introducing…

Mapping Our World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barta, Jim; Kyriopoulos, Joan

2014-01-01

In the rural community of Santa Avelina in the Highlands of Guatemala, it indeed takes a village to develop children's mathematical understanding through a partnership among school, home, and community. Connections to real-life applications, such as the planting and growing of corn, shape the learning experiences of these children so that they…

Assessing Student Work.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA. Graduate School of Education.

Rural Trust schools and communities embrace an education that values what is unique to a particular place in an effort to promote mutual school and community well-being. This local focus engages students academically, pairing real world relevance with intellectual rigor. It also develops skills that promote citizenship, such as decision making,…

Developing woody crops for the enhancement of ecosystem services under changing climates in the north central United States

Treesearch

Ronald S. Zalesny; William L. Headlee

2015-01-01

Short rotation woody crops belonging to the genera Populus L., Salix L., Pinus L., and Eucalyptus LHer. have provided broad economic and ecological benefits throughout the world, including afforestation and reforestation along urban to rural gradients. Within the genus Populus...

Basic Education: Reflections on Participatory Curriculum Development and Planning.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sachsenmeier, Peter, Ed.; And Others

Basic education as the first stage of lifelong education is emerging as a significant alternative to traditional education, especially for rural populations in Third World countries. Basic education is a set of interrelated ideas: community orientation of education, integration of formal, nonformal, and informal learning into lifelong learning,…

Urbanization in 21st century.

PubMed

Altarejos, R G

1990-01-01

Due to a combination of rapid population growth and high levels of rural-urban migration, overcrowding will be common in many cities around the world in the 21st century. Currently at 5.3 billion, the global population is expected to increase to 6 billion by the year 2000, and to 9 billion by 2025. Experts predict that urban centers will bear the brunt of the population growth. Rural areas have seen declines in the standard of living, partly due to natural disasters, civil war, and economic policies favoring urban centers. In search of jobs, better access to education, and health services, rural populations will flock to cities. But the rapid growth of cities will inevitably lead to the creation of slums, which will hamper urban development. Urban demographers predict that by the end of the century, 1/2 of the world's population will be urban, and 1/5 of these people will be concentrated in "mega cities," populations of 4 million or more. International migration will play a significant role, as people cross borders in search of opportunity. But contrary to the traditional model of urban growth, much of it will take place in developing countries. According to a 1985 study, developed nations had an urbanization level of 71%, compared to 31% in developing countries. However, experts calculate that by 2025, these levels will practically even out, with an urbanization level of 74% for developing countries and 77% for developed countries. By 2025, 25 cities will have populations of over 9 million, including Mexico City (25.8), Sao Paulo (24.0), Tokyo (20.2), Calcutta (16.5), Greater Bombay (16.0), and New York (15.8).

Can Better Accounting and Finance Methods Chart a Path ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The Problem:Concerns about urbanization, climate change and the recognition that global fossil fuel resources are finite, provide important motivations for major environmental, economic and societal adjustments in the 21st century to achieve a more sustainable world. The developed countries of the world have made progress toward becoming more sustainable by increasing the efficiency of energy use, decreasing reliance on fossil fuel energy and increasing the use of renewable energy inflows for generating electricity. However, people living in the world’s underdeveloped countries still suffer from a lack of the basic amenities (e.g., clean water, clean air, adequate infrastructure, sufficient wealth, etc); things that those in the developed world take for granted. The truth is that no matter how successful the current strategies to make urban systems in the developed world more sustainable, the world as a whole will not become more sustainable without a successful effort to bring the state of development of the underdeveloped countries up to the standards experienced by those in the developed world. Thus, in the long run creating a more sustainable world system will be predicated on the judicious use of some of the world’s remaining fossil fuel resources to strategically develop the urban and rural systems of the world’s underdeveloped countries. The Opportunity: The world is emerging from the Great Recession (2008-2013), which was the greatest perturbation

Rural Renaissance--A Perspective and a Process.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Axinn, George H.

If the path to a better rural life is to be a change preferred by the rural people involved, recent world experience would suggest that it must be a change born from within the given rural social system, be controlled by its beneficiaries, and be integrated into the larger system of which it is a part. Such a perspective and such a process might…

Potential roles of high salt intake and maternal malnutrition in the development of hypertension in disadvantaged populations.

PubMed

Thrift, Amanda G; Srikanth, Velandai; Fitzgerald, Sharyn M; Kalyanram, Kartik; Kartik, Kamakshi; Hoppe, Chantal C; Walker, Karen Z; Evans, Roger G

2010-02-01

1. It has been argued that all major risk factors for cardiovascular disease have been identified. Yet, epidemiological studies undertaken to identify risk factors have largely focused on populations in developed nations or on the urban or relatively affluent rural populations of developing countries. Poor rural populations are seldom studied. 2. Somewhat different risk factors may operate in poor rural populations. Evidence for this is provided by the finding that, in disadvantaged rural India, the prevalence of hypertension is greater than would be expected based on established risk factors in these populations. One risk factor to be considered is a poor intrauterine environment. 3. In animals, maternal macro- and micronutrient malnutrition can lead to reduced nephron endowment. Nephron deficiency, in turn, can render blood pressure salt sensitive. The combination of nephron deficiency and excessive salt intake will predispose to hypertension. 4. Human malnutrition may have similar effects, particularly in regions of the world where malnutrition is endemic and where women are disadvantaged by existing social practices. 5. Moreover, high salt intake is endemic in many parts of Asia, including India. Therefore, we propose that maternal malnutrition (leading to reduced nephron endowment), when combined with excessive salt intake postnatally, will account, at least in part, for the unexpectedly high prevalence of hypertension in disadvantaged rural communities in India and elsewhere.

Quality circles and their potential application to rural health care in Papua New Guinea.

PubMed

Cibulskis, R E; Edwards, K N

1993-06-01

A quality circle is a group of service providers who meet regularly to solve problems relating to the quality of their work. This is an example of bottom-up rather than top-down management which has found considerable success in the industries of the developed world. This article describes the principles which govern the operation of quality circles, the expected benefits and how best to introduce them. The problems relating to the provision of quality health care in rural areas and the potential application of the quality circle methodology are discussed.

Teaching Disaster Preparedness to Rural Communities in El Salvador.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barton, T.

2014-12-01

Natural disasters are becoming more common around the world, and it is widely accepted that developing nations show the highest rates of vulnerability. It makes sense to focus preparedness and mitigation efforts in these countries. However, it is important to realize that different teaching styles are required for different cultures with varying education systems and classroom atmospheres. The pedagogical models we use in the US can't be directly exported. A realistic assessment of the situation seen during two years living and working in rural El Salvador is presented, along with methods used and lessons learned.

Snakebite in bedroom kills a physician in Cameroon: a case report.

PubMed

Nkwescheu, Armand; Mbasso, Leopold Cyriaque Donfack; Pouth, Franky Baonga Ba; Dzudie, Anastase; Billong, Serge Clotaire; Ngouakam, Hermann; Diffo, Joseph Le Doux; Eyongorock, Hanny; Mbacham, Wilfred

2016-01-01

The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies snake bites as neglected public health problem affecting mostly tropical and subtropical countries. In Africa there are an estimated 1 million snake bites annually with about half needing a specific treatment. Women, children and farmers in poor rural communities in developing countries are the most affected. Case management of snake bites are not adequate in many health facilities in developing countries where personnel are not always abreast with the new developments in snake bite management and in addition, quite often the anti-venom serum is lacking. We report the case of a medical doctor bitten by a cobra in the rural area of Poli, Cameroon while asleep in his bedroom. Lack of facilities coupled with poor case management resulted in a fatal outcome.

Midwifery: "at the edge of history".

PubMed

Dahlen, H

2006-03-01

The paper focuses on possible future pathways in maternity care for midwives and nations to consider. The paper blends personal and professional experiences to outline priority areas facing midwives in the future. It begins by examining maternal mortality and morbidity in the developing world and considering the potential of the ten high priority action messages (1997) in helping to improve the plight of women and children in the future. The paper then examines major issues facing midwives in the developed world including: the way birth is viewed; the medical-midwifery divide; marketing midwifery; and finally the challenge of dealing with fear around birth. The third part of the paper examines a part of society where the two worlds meet and there are issues from both the developed and developing world to consider. The paper focuses on women from culturally and linguistically diverse communities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and women birthing in remote and rural areas. By looking at these three worlds separately the paper examines different concerns facing midwives in the future but also draws on common issues that face us all as citizens of this planet and particularly as predominantly women. The paper challenges midwives to be politically active and dare to change the world.

Reaching the Unreached: How Can We Use ICTs to Empower the Rural Poor in the Developing World through Enhanced Access to Relevant Information?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arunachalam, Subbiah

Often funding agencies and donor governments face the question of whether should they support information and communication (ICT) technologies activities in their development projects. Should the money be invested in computers and communication devices or will it be better spent on food, shelter, health, and education? The choice need not be…

The social aspects of landscape change: protecting open space under the pressure of development

Treesearch

Paul H. Gobster; Susan I. Stewart; David N. Bengston

2004-01-01

The extent of developed land in many parts of the world has increased rapidly in recent decades, posing significant challenges to the protection of forests, agricultural lands, and other natural and culturally modified green areas in urban and rural settings. Sustaining these open spaces has long been seen as a critical issue economically, and it is now increasingly...

"Everybody Treated Him Like He Was from Another World": Bilingual Fourth Graders Develop Social Awareness through Interactive Read-Alouds Focused on Critical Literacies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Katie E.; Chamberlain, Katharine

2015-01-01

This study explores read-aloud discussions of students in a fourth grade, bilingual classroom located in a rural district in the Southwestern United States. This article argues that teachers can develop students' critical literacy skills through the use of interactive read-alouds with specific texts that problematize specific social issues for…

Tapping the Power of Place

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lockette, Tim

2010-01-01

In American popular culture, the word "rural" invokes images of sunny farms and little red schoolhouses--while "urban" means drugs, poverty, and crime. But those who know the reality of both worlds will say that rural schools face many of the same challenges as their urban counterparts. The problems of rural schools are often…

A Synthesis of International Rural Education Issues and Responses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stelmach, Bonnie L.

2011-01-01

This article synthesizes problems impacting rural primary and secondary schools and describes how schools and relevant organizations have responded to the challenges. Given the context of a globally-compressed world, the focus of the literature review is on international rural education research and strategies. The exploration took the path of…

Teaching Rural Sociology to Students with Non-Rural Backgrounds.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Spaulding, Irving A.

A course designed to teach rural sociology to urban and suburban university students is described in this paper. Introductory material sets forth the objectives and the conceptual approach of the course, which systematically examines social changes associated with food and fiber production throughout the world. Five concepts--group, imperative…

Factors influencing medical students' motivation to practise in rural areas in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review

PubMed Central

Zwanikken, Prisca A C; Pokharel, Paras K; Scherpbier, Albert J

2017-01-01

Objectives There is a shortage of doctors working in rural areas all over the world, especially in low-income and middle-income countries. The choice to practise medicine in a rural area is influenced by many factors. Motivation developed as a medical student is one key determinant of this choice. This study explores influences on medical students' motivation to practise in rural areas of low-income and middle-income countries following graduation. Design A systematic review was conducted to identify influences on medical students' motivation to work in rural areas in low-income and middle-income countries. Papers reporting influences on motivation were included, and content analysis was conducted to select the articles. Articles not published in English were excluded from this review. Results A rural background (ie, being brought up in a rural area), training in rural areas with a community-based curriculum, early exposure to the community during medical training and rural location of medical school motivate medical students to work in rural areas. Perceived lack of infrastructure, high workload, poor hospital management and isolation are among the health facility factors that demotivate medical students for medical practice in rural areas. Conclusions Medical school selection criteria focusing on a rural background factor and medical education curriculum focusing on rural area are more relevant factors in low-income and middle-income countries. The factors identified in this review may assist the planners, medical educators and policymakers in low-income and middle-income countries in designing relevant interventions to positively influence rural choices where the shortage of rural physicians is an ongoing and increasing concern. PMID:28232465

Booming Markets for Moroccan Argan Oil Appear to Benefit Some Rural Households While Threatening the Endemic Argan Forest

EPA Science Inventory

Morocco’s argan oil is now the most expensive edible oil in the world. High value argan markets have sparked a bonanza of argan activity. NGOs, international and domestic development agencies, and argan oil cooperatives have promoted the win‐win aim of simultaneously benefiting ...

T and D Publications: International Labour Office: Volume 13, Number 4.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

International Labour Office, Geneva (Switzerland).

Abstracts of material covering a variety of topics regarding vocational and labor development throughout the world are presented in the fourth dispatch. Noted, in particular, are publications regarding education and training in rural areas, research, vocational guidance, and international instruments. The first section, News in Brief, contains 21…

On Campus with Women, Number 33, Winter 1982.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

On Campus with Women, 1982

1982-01-01

News concerning developments affecting women at colleges and universities is presented. Among the issues are the following: the Graduate Women's Network at the University of Michigan; a portable campus that provides career help to rural women in Minnesota; reentry programs into the corporate world for women 35 to 45 years old; an increase in…

Preserving with Prisms: Producing Nets

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Prummer, Kathy E.; Amador, Julie M.; Wallin, Abraham J.

2016-01-01

Two mathematics teachers in a small rural school decided to create a task that would engage seventh graders. The goal of the real-world activity was to help students develop geometric and spatial reasoning and to support their understanding of volume of rectangular prisms. The impetus for the task came from the teachers' desire to engage students…

English and Socio-Economic Disadvantage: Learner Voices from Rural Bangladesh

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamid, M. Obaidul; Baldauf, Richard B., Jr.

2011-01-01

L2 education research has shown immense interest in learners and their views of L2 learning. Nevertheless, the different directions of learner-focused research have been inadequate in highlighting learners' learning experiences in relation to their social backgrounds, particularly in the developing world. Drawing on the first author's PhD…

Providing Education to Girls from Remote and Rural Areas. Advocacy Brief

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bista, Min B.; Cosstick, Frances Elizabeth

2005-01-01

Background: The Dakar Framework for Action calls on the world community to develop strategies for educating underserved groups and those children who live under difficult circumstances. To achieve this Education For All (EFA) goal, one approach is the use of boarding schools. Purpose: To document the advantages and disadvantages of how boarding…

Exploring the ecology of suburban wildlife

Treesearch

Stephen DeStefano; Richard M. DeGraaf

2003-01-01

The fringes of cities, and rural properties within commuting distance of cities, experience some of the est rates of development in the world. This can cause dramatic changes to the landscape, the alteration logical functions, and a reduction in biodiversity. With the spread of suburbia, however, come opportunities for some species to exploit new resources. While many...

Taking It with You: Teacher Education and the Baggage of Cultural Dialogue

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Frkovich, Ann

2015-01-01

This case study contributes to counterpoints made to world culture theory and underscores that at the micro, classroom-level, rural Chinese teachers in a reform-oriented professional development course, and reform-oriented U.S. teacher trainers, understand educational reform, and the realities of education in these two cultures, very differently.…

The food multimix concept: new innovative approach to meeting nutritional challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Zotor, F B; Amuna, P

2008-02-01

Food insecurity, chronic hunger, starvation and malnutrition continue to affect millions of individuals throughout the developing world, especially Sub-Saharan Africa. Various initiatives by African governments and International Agencies such as the UN, the industrial nations, the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation to boost economic development, have failed to provide the much-needed solution to these challenges. The impact of these economic shifts and the failures of structural adjustment programmes on the nutritional well-being and health of the most vulnerable members of poor communities cannot be over-emphasised. The use of ad hoc measures as an adjunct to community-based rural integrated projects have provided little success and will be unsustainable unless they are linked to harnessing available local resources. The present paper therefore focuses on exploring alternative ways of harnessing the scant agricultural resources by employing a scientific approach to food-related problem-solving. The food multimix (FMM) concept offers a scientific contribution alongside other attempts currently in use by the World Food Programme, WHO and FAO to meet the food insecurity challenges that confront most of the developing world in the twenty-first century. It is an innovative approach that makes better use of traditional food sources as a tool for meeting community nutritional needs. The FMM concept employs a food-based approach using traditional methods of food preparation and locally-available, cheap and affordable staples (fruits, pulses, vegetables and legumes) in the formulation of nutrient-enriched multimixes. Developed recipes can provide > or =40% of the daily nutritional requirements of vulnerable groups, including patients with HIV/AIDS and children undergoing nutrition rehabilitation. The FMM approach can also be used as a medium- to long-term adjunct to community-based rural integration projects aimed at health improvement and economic empowerment in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Publication of the Korea-WHO Cooperation History - 70 Years of Working Together for Heath: World Health Organization and the Republic of Korea.

PubMed

Cho, Heeyeon; Lee, Dong Woo; Choe, Young June; Choe, Seung Ah; Park, No Yai

2017-03-01

The World Health Organization (WHO) have been in collaborative efforts with the Republic of Korea in keeping of and for better health for all for the past decades. From the control of parasites to building of community health system in rural places, the works has now resulted in healthier Korea than ever, and has transformed the role of engaging as the world leader in contribution of health and development. Seventy years of independence, war, and poverty, transforming from a recipient country of official development assistance to a significant donor to the global society, we have emphasized the importance of international cooperation and the role of WHO in the past years in Korea and neighboring countries. Looking back of the past is meaningful to diagnose the present problems, and to foresee the future of our world.

Adaptation of Education to the Needs of the Modern World in Rural Areas. International Education Year 1970. IEY Special Unit 9.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Paris (France).

One in a series of 12 documents devoted to the priority themes of International Education Year, this document provides basic information and suggests directions for study, discussion, and action in adapting education to the needs of the modern world in rural areas. The main emphasis in this essay revolves around the hypothesis that no effective…

The preparation of soy-bean foods for use in rural communities of the developing world.

PubMed

Kay, T

1998-08-01

Since the beginning of 1970, there has been a great breakthrough in the popularization of soy-bean-based food in Nigeria and in many parts of the developing world, especially for use in the prevention of kwashiorkor. Since 1975, soy bean has become a main source of daily dietary protein in many parts of Nigeria as a result of the successful incorporation of soy-bean products into almost all traditional Nigerian foods. This is a review of previous work in Nigeria on eliminating the beany flavour, bitter taste, and flatus factors in soy-bean milk and cooked soy-bean paste preparations.

Creating an Educational Partnership Environment between Rural Retailers and Graduate Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jackson, Vanessa P.; Wesley, Scarlett C.

2013-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to describe an educational partnership experience between rural retailers and graduate students in a Merchandising, Apparel and Textiles program. Students were afforded an opportunity to work with small business owners in rural communities, giving them real world exposure to the actual challenges being faced by…

Report on the International Workshop on Drug Prevention and Treatment in Rural Settings Organized by United Nation Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and World Health Organization (WHO).

PubMed

Milano, Giulia; Saenz, Elizabeth; Clark, Nicolas; Busse, Anja; Gale, John; Campello, Giovanna; Mattfeld, Elizabeth; Maalouf, Wadih; Heikkila, Hanna; Martelli, Antonietta; Morales, Brian; Gerra, Gilberto

2017-11-10

Very little evidence has been reported in literature regarding the misuse of substances in rural areas. Despite the common perception of rural communities as a protective and risk-mitigating environment, the scientific literature demonstrated the existence of many risk factors in rural communities. The Drug Prevention and Health Branch (DHB) of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), and the World Health Organization (WHO), in June 2016, organized a meeting of experts in treatment and prevention of SUDs in rural settings. The content presented during the meeting and the related discussion have provided materials for the preparation of an outline document, which is the basis to create a technical tool on SUDs prevention and treatment in rural settings. The UNODC framework for interventions in rural settings is a technical tool aimed to assist policy makers and managers at the national level. This paper is a report on UNODC/WHO efforts to improve the clinical conditions of people affected by SUDs and living in rural areas. The purpose of this article is to draw attention on a severe clinical and social problem in a reality forgotten by everyone.

Implementation and evaluation of a web based system for pharmacy stock management in rural Haiti.

PubMed

Berger, Elisabeth J; Jazayeri, Darius; Sauveur, Marcel; Manasse, Jean Joel; Plancher, Inel; Fiefe, Marquise; Laurat, Guerline; Joseph, Samahel; Kempton, Kathryn; Fraser, Hamish S F

2007-10-11

Managing the stock and supply of medication is essential for the provision of health care, especially in resource poor areas of the world. We have developed an innovative, web-based stock management system to support nine clinics in rural Haiti. Building on our experience with a web-based EMR system for our HIV patients, we developed a comprehensive stock tracking system that is modeled on the appearance of standardized WHO stock cards. The system allows pharmacy staff at all clinics to enter stock levels and also to request drugs and track shipments. Use of the system over the last 2 years has increased rapidly and we now track 450 products supporting care for 1.78 million patient visits annually. Over the last year drug stockouts have fallen from 2.6% to 1.1% and 97% of stock requests delivered were shipped within 1 day. We are now setting up this system in our clinics in rural Rwanda.

General ecological models for human subsistence, health and poverty.

PubMed

Ngonghala, Calistus N; De Leo, Giulio A; Pascual, Mercedes M; Keenan, Donald C; Dobson, Andrew P; Bonds, Matthew H

2017-08-01

The world's rural poor rely heavily on their immediate natural environment for subsistence and suffer high rates of morbidity and mortality from infectious diseases. We present a general framework for modelling subsistence and health of the rural poor by coupling simple dynamic models of population ecology with those for economic growth. The models show that feedbacks between the biological and economic systems can lead to a state of persistent poverty. Analyses of a wide range of specific systems under alternative assumptions show the existence of three possible regimes corresponding to a globally stable development equilibrium, a globally stable poverty equilibrium and bistability. Bistability consistently emerges as a property of generalized disease-economic systems for about a fifth of the feasible parameter space. The overall proportion of parameters leading to poverty is larger than that resulting in healthy/wealthy development. All the systems are found to be most sensitive to human disease parameters. The framework highlights feedbacks, processes and parameters that are important to measure in studies of rural poverty to identify effective pathways towards sustainable development.

Innovation in Primary School Construction: Community Participation in Seti Zone, Nepal. Educational Building Report 20. A Case Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tamang, H. D.; Dharam, K. C.

Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world. In 1981 the Education for Rural Development in Seti Zone Project--more commonly known as the "Seti Project"--was part of the Nepalese government's effort to develop a system of basic education in that far western region of Nepal. The early success of the project provided the impetus for…

Expanding contraceptive choice in the developing world: lessons from the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the Republic of Zambia.

PubMed

d'Arcangues, Catherine M; Ba-Thike, Katherine; Say, Lale

2013-12-01

Women need different forms of contraception over their lifetime. In the developed world, they have access to some 20 different methods. In developing countries, only a few options are available. This paper focuses on four under-used methods: intrauterine devices, implants, emergency contraception and female condoms. It examines reasons for their low uptake, strategies used for their adoption, and challenges in sustaining these efforts, in two countries: Laos and Zambia. In-country documentation and reports from international partners were reviewed; questionnaires were sent and interviews carried out with ministry officials, senior providers, and local representatives of international organisations and international non-governmental organisations. In Laos, the family planning programme is relatively young; its challenges include ensuring the sustainability of services and supplies, improving the quality of IEC to dispel misconceptions surrounding contraception, and developing novel distribution systems to reach rural populations. Zambia has a much older programme, which lost ground in the face of competing health priorities. Its challenges include strengthening the supply chain management, coordinating the multiple groups of providers and ensuring the sustainability of services in rural areas. The contrast offered by Laos and Zambia illustrates the importance of regular evaluation to identify priority areas for improving contraceptive delivery.

Developing effective policy strategies to retain health workers in rural Bangladesh: a policy analysis.

PubMed

Rawal, Lal B; Joarder, Taufique; Islam, Sheikh Md Shariful; Uddin, Aftab; Ahmed, Syed Masud

2015-05-20

Retention of human resources for health (HRH), particularly physicians and nurses in rural and remote areas, is a major problem in Bangladesh. We reviewed relevant policies and provisions in relation to HRH aiming to develop appropriate rural retention strategies in Bangladesh. We conducted a document review, thorough search and review of relevant literature published from 1971 through May 2013, key informant interviews with policy elites (health policy makers, managers, researchers, etc.), and a roundtable discussion with key stakeholders and policy makers. We used the World Health Organization's (WHO's) guidelines as an analytical matrix to examine the rural retention policies under 4 domains, i) educational, ii) regulatory, iii) financial, and iv) professional and personal development, and 16 sub-domains. Over the past four decades, Bangladesh has developed and implemented a number of health-related policies and provisions concerning retention of HRH. The district quota system in admissions is in practice to improve geographical representation of the students. Students of special background including children of freedom fighters and tribal population have allocated quotas. In private medical and nursing schools, at least 5% of seats are allocated for scholarships. Medical education has a provision for clinical rotation in rural health facilities. Further, in the public sector, every newly recruited medical doctor must serve at least 2 years at the upazila level. To encourage serving in hard-to-reach areas, particularly in three Hill Tract districts of Chittagong division, the government provides an additional 33% of the basic salary, but not exceeding US$ 38 per month. This amount is not attractive enough, and such provision is absent for those working in other rural areas. Although the government has career development and promotion plans for doctors and nurses, these plans are often not clearly specified and not implemented effectively. The government is committed to address the rural retention problem as shown through the formulation and implementation of related policies and strategies. However, Bangladesh needs more effective policies and provisions designed specifically for attraction, deployment, and retention of HRH in rural areas, and the execution of these policies and provisions must be monitored and evaluated effectively.

Relationships between population and environment in rural areas of developing countries.

PubMed

Rudel, T I

1991-01-01

Studies that have assessed the impact of population change on the environment in rural areas of selected developing countries are reviewed. The implications are that both developed and developing countries might focus on single aspects of a much larger global problem. Rural areas were selected because the bulk of the world's population lives in rural areas. Population environment interactions are 1st discussed at the global level. Studies on changing import patterns of developing countries are usless in accounting for agricultural policy shifts or other factors that may be unrelated to population growth but may be related to food imports. When the magnitude of food production and population growth is examined, there is a balance established between the two. However, analysis of the spatial distribution of desertification and soil degradation shows greater local level effects. Population/environment relationships are examined in critical ecological zones: tropical deforestation, desertification, land degradation in resource poor zones, and responses to population pressures and resource degradation. The conclusions reached are that better statistics on degradation are needed and that the trends in the human ecology of rural populations have clear implications for government policies on the environment. Agricultural development has been uneven and inequitable such that many peasant populations have suffered a decline in standards of living, particularly in Africa. There has also been an accelerated increase in rates of land degradation in resource poor areas, which are densely populated. The population response has been migration shifts out of resource poor areas to ecologically marginal areas, which has resulted in extensive desertification and deforestation. Expansion of the areas under cultivation has not just increased agricultural production but agriculture and population have invaded ecologically marginal zones in deserts and rain forests. Measurement of the magnitude and geographic distribution of deforestation is enhanced with the use of remote sensing techniques, such as those used in the 1982 UN Food and Agriculture baseline study. Soil degradation is not so easily measured. The implications are that regional development funds need to directed away from critical zones or areas adjacent to critical zones. Research is needed to understand rural to rural migration.

A Multilateral Strategy for Rural Somalia: Providing a Foundation for the Social and Economic Reconstruction of Somalia Using a Bottom up Approach

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-06-12

international and legal conditions in the host nation. Examples are: Pepsi , Starbucks, Nike, and Toyota just to mention a few (rateitall.com 2008...to mean free market and, for the poor world, it was defined as doing whatever the IMF and the World Bank tells you to do‖ (Easterly 2008, 1-3...describes a model on the re-establishment of a market economy that can develop if there is a liberal government that is able to instil reform within a

Effects of China's New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme on reducing medical impoverishment in rural Yanbian: An alternative approach.

PubMed

Sun, Mei; Shen, Jay J; Li, Chengyue; Cochran, Christopher; Wang, Ying; Chen, Fei; Li, Pingping; Lu, Jun; Chang, Fengshui; Li, Xiaohong; Hao, Mo

2016-08-22

This study aimed to measure the poverty head count ratio and poverty gap of rural Yanbian in order to examine whether China's New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme has alleviated its medical impoverishment and to compare the results of this alternative approach with those of a World Bank approach. This cross-sectional study was based on a stratified random sample survey of 1,987 households and 6,135 individuals conducted in 2008 across eight counties in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Jilin province, China. A new approach was developed to define and identify medical impoverishment. The poverty head count ratio, relative poverty gap, and average poverty gap were used to measure medical impoverishment. Changes in medical impoverishment after the reimbursement under the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme were also examined. The government-run New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme reduced the number of medically impoverished households by 24.6 %, as well as the relative and average gaps by 37.3 % and 38.9 %, respectively. China's New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme has certain positive but limited effects on alleviating medical impoverishment in rural Yanbian regardless of how medical impoverishment is defined and measured. More governmental and private-sector efforts should therefore be encouraged to further improve the system in terms of financing, operation, and reimbursement policy.

Water Security, Climate Forcings and Public Health Impacts in Emerging Regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Serman, E. A.; Akanda, A. S.; Craver, V.; Boving, T. B.

2014-12-01

Our world is rapidly urbanizing, with more than 80% of world's population is expected to be living in a city by the end of the century. A majority of these nations are rapidly urbanizing due to massive rural-to-urban migratory trends, with rapid development of unplanned urban settlements, or slums, with lack of adequate water or sanitation facilities and other municipal amenities. With global environmental change, natural disasters will expose millions more to drought, floods, and disease epidemics, and existing vulnerabilities will worsen. At the same time, rapid urbanization and fast changing land-use leads to widespread damage of infrastructure by stormwater, especially in lowlands and economically poor areas. The factor that consistently stands out among different cities from both the developed and the developing worlds is that the slums are typically the most vulnerable to water related natural hazards and climatic threats, such as water scarcity and quality issues in drought conditions, or water and sanitation breakdown and stormwater contamination problems. Onsite or decentralized water, wastewater and stormwater treatment as well as point-of-use water treatment options can be an economic, safe, and reliable alternative to conventional large-scale treatment especially, in urban fringes as well as rural areas. These systems can be designed to fit communities in terms of their economic, cultural, environmental, and demographic resources. As part of this study, we develop a database of urban water quality and quantity indices such as with urban land-use, water usage, climate, and socio-economic characteristics in various emerging regions in the world. We analyze past and current data to identify and quantify long-term trends and the impacts of large-scale climatic and anthropogenic changes on urban hydrology and health impacts. We specifically focus on five major cities from distinct groups of countries and geographies: Providence, RI, USA from the developed world, Lagos, Nigeria, Lima, Peru and Jakarta, Indonesia from the Middle-Income Countries, and Dhaka, Bangladesh from the Least Developed Countries, to compare and contrast leading drivers and sensitivities of water, climate, and health indicators.

Development Policy in Thailand: From Top-down to Grass Roots.

PubMed

Kelly, Matthew; Yutthaphonphinit, Phattaraphon; Seubsman, Sam-Ang; Sleigh, Adrian

2012-11-01

Top-down industrial development strategies initially dominated the developing world after the second World War but were eventually found to produce inequitable economic growth. For a decade or more, governments and international development agencies have embraced the idea of participatory grass roots development as a potential solution. Here we review Thailand's experience with development strategies and we examine the current focus on participatory approaches. Thai government planning agencies have adopted "people centred development" and a "sufficiency economy", particularly emphasised since the disruptions caused by the 1997 Asian financial crisis. They aim to address the inequitable sharing of the benefits of decades of rapid growth that was particularly unfair for the rural poor. Thai policies aim to decentralise power to the local level, allowing civil society and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) more of a voice in national decision making and promoting sustainable farming practices aimed at enriching rural communities. An example of this change in Thai government policy is the Community Worker Accreditation Scheme which is aiming to develop human resources at the local level by training community based leaders and supporting networks of community organisations. This enables autonomous local development projects led by trained and accredited individuals and groups. The political tensions notable in Thailand at present are part of this modern transition driven by conflicting models of top-down (industrial) development and the bottom-up (participatory) development ideals described above. Once resolved, Thailand will have few obstacles to moving to a new economic level.

Evaluation of the Prevalence of Urinary Tract Infection in Rural Panamanian Women

PubMed Central

August, Suzanne L.; De Rosa, Michael J.

2012-01-01

Objective Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the most common non-intestinal infection worldwide. In the developed world, incidence and prevalence of UTI would be similar owing to the relatively short duration of illness experienced by women with ready access to healthcare services. We hypothesize that, in the developing world, factors limiting access to care and those which may increase the likelihood of developing UTI, result in increased morbidity. This difference is reflected in an increased prevalence of UTI in regions where women suffer the effects of UTI for extended periods of time. Methods This study represents a cross sectional analysis of UTI prevalence in rural western Panama conducted over the course of a 3-day medical mission. All women 18–45 years of age reporting to the medical brigade clinic were tested for UTI by dipstick urinalysis and a brief history regardless of whether they themselves were presenting with a complaint. Results UTI was diagnosed clinically by providers in 29.8% of the women tested although only 21.15% of these same women met the evidence-based study criteria. This prevalence of 21.15% is seven times greater than reported by the Panamanian Ministry of Health. When comparing the effectiveness of clinical diagnosis relative to urinalysis by dipstick, a Kappa coefficient revealed only low moderate agreement (0.42; SE 0.0955). Conclusions The prevalence of UTI in rural western Panama is greater than would be expected based on prevalence data from either the US or Panamanian Ministry of Health and may represent an opportunity for targeted interventions, including educational programming about UTI prevention. PMID:23094080

Making basic health care accessible to rural communities: a case study of Kiang West district in rural Gambia.

PubMed

Sanneh, Edward Saja; Hu, Allen H; Njai, Modou; Ceesay, Omar Malleh; Manjang, Buba

2014-01-01

This study focuses on lack of access to basic health care, which is one of the hindrances to the development of the poor, and subjects them to the poverty penalty. It also focuses on contributing to the Bottom of the Pyramid in a general sense, in addition to meeting the health needs of communities where people live on less than $1 a day. Strengthened multistakeholder responses and better-targeted, low-cost prevention, and care strategies within health systems are suggested to address the health burdens of poverty-stricken communities. In this study, a multistakeholder model which includes the government, World Health Organization, United Nations Children Emergency Fund, and the Medical Research Council was created to highlight the collaborative approach in rural Gambia. The result shows infant immunization and antenatal care coverage were greatly improved which contributes to the reduction in mortality. This case study also finds that strategies addressing health problems in rural communities are required to achieve 'Millennium Development Goals'. In particular, actual community visits to satellite villages within a district (area of study) are extremely vital to making health care accessible. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Optimized solar-wind-powered drip irrigation for farming in developing countries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barreto, Carolina M.

The two billion people produce 80% of all food consumed in the developing world and 1.3 billion lack access to electricity. Agricultural production will have to increase by about 70% worldwide by 2050 and to achieve this about 50% more primary energy has to be made available by 2035. Energy-smart agri-food systems can improve productivity in the food sector, reduce energy poverty in rural areas and contribute to achieving food security and sustainable development. Agriculture can help reduce poverty for 75% of the world's poor, who live in rural areas and work mainly in farming. The costs associated with irrigation pumping are directly affected by energy prices and have a strong impact on farmer income. Solar-wind (SW) drip irrigation (DI) is a sustainable method to meet these challenges. This dissertation shows with onsite data the low cost of SW pumping technologies correlating the water consumption (evapotranspiration) and the water production (SW pumping). The author designed, installed, and collected operating data from the six SWDI systems in Peru and in the Tohono O'odham Nation in AZ. The author developed, tested, and a simplified model for solar engineers to size SWDI systems. The author developed a business concept to scale up the SWDI technology. The outcome was a simplified design approach for a DI system powered by low cost SW pumping systems optimized based on the logged on site data. The optimization showed that the SWDI system is an income generating technology and that by increasing the crop production per unit area, it allowed small farmers to pay for the system. The efficient system resulted in increased yields, sometimes three to four fold. The system is a model for smallholder agriculture in developing countries and can increase nutrition and greater incomes for the world's poor.

Implication of World Health Organization growth standards on estimation of malnutrition in young Chinese children: Two examples from rural western China and the Tibet region.

PubMed

Dang, Shaonong; Yan, Hong; Wang, Duolao

2014-12-01

The aim of this study was to determine how malnutrition rates change in young Chinese children when 2006 World Health Organization (WHO) growth standards are used instead of 1978 WHO/National Center for Health Statistics reference. Cross-sectional survey data were used from rural western China and the Tibet region. The heights and weights of children of <36 months of age were measured. The nutritional status of the children was assessed by two references. Using 2006 reference instead of 1978 reference, the prevalence of stunting increased significantly (17.9% vs. 12.3% in rural western China and 37.5% vs. 28.1% in rural Tibet). The prevalence of underweight was lower in rural western China (7.7% vs. 11.7%) than rural Tibet (13.1% vs. 15.3%). For all ages, the prevalence of stunting increased and the greatest relative increase appeared in the first six months (102.9% in rural western China vs. 134.9% in rural Tibet). With respect to underweight, the relative increase occurred only during the first six months (314.3% in rural western China vs. 48.1% in rural Tibet); however, the reduction was observed in other age groups. For young Chinese Han and Tibetan children, the difference in estimation of malnutrition between two references differed in magnitude. The scale of change in the prevalence rates of stunting and underweight is much greater when 2006 reference was introduced. © The Author(s) 2013.

Lung Cancer in a Rural Area of China: Rapid Rise in Incidence and Poor Improvement in Survival.

PubMed

Yang, Juan; Zhu, Jian; Zhang, Yong-Hui; Chen, Yong-Sheng; Ding, Lu-Lu; Kensler, Thomas W; Chen, Jian-Guo

2015-01-01

Lung cancer has been a major health problem in developed countries for several decades, and has emerged recently as the leading cause of cancer death in many developing countries. The incidence of lung cancer appears to be increasing more rapidly in rural than in urban areas of China. This paper presents the trends of lung cancer incidence and survival derived from a 40-year population-based cancer monitoring program in a rural area, Qidong, China. The Qidong cancer registration data of 1972- 2011 were used to calculate the crude rate, age-standardized rate by Chinese population (CASR) and by world population (WASR), birth cohort rates, and other descriptive features. Active and passive methods were used to construct the data set, with a deadline of the latest follow-up of April 30, 2012. The total number of lung cancer cases was 15,340, accounting for 16.5% of all sites combined. The crude incidence rate, CASR and WASR of this cancer were 34.1, 15.7 and 25.4 per 100,000, respectively. Males had higher crude rates than females (49.7 vs 19.0). Rapidly increasing trends were found in annual percent change resulting in lung cancer being a number one cancer site after year 2010 in Qidong. Birth cohort analysis showed incidence rates have increased for all age groups over 24 years old. The 5 year observed survival rates were 3.55% in 1973-1977, 3.92 in 1983-1987, 3.69% in 1993-1997, and 6.32% in 2003-2007. Males experienced poorer survival than did females. Lung cancer has become a major cancer-related health problem in this rural area. The rapid increases in incidence likely result from an increased cigarette smoking rate and evolving environmental risk factors. Lung cancer survival, while showing some improvement in prognosis, still remains well below that observed in the developed areas of the world.

Birth and death in cities in the developing world.

PubMed

1995-06-01

City dwellers in Sub-Saharan Africa have increased roughly 600% in the last 35 years. Throughout the developing world, cities have expanded at a rate that has far outpaced rural population growth. Extensive data document lower fertility and mortality rates in cities than in rural regions. But slums, shantytowns, and squatters' settlements proliferate in many large cities. Martin Brockerhoff studies the reproductive and health consequences of urban growth, with an emphasis on maternal and child health. Brockerhoff reports that child mortality rates in large cities are highest among children born to mothers who recently migrated from rural areas or who live in low-quality housing. Children born in large cities have about a 30% higher risk of dying before they reach the age of 5 than those born in smaller cities. Despite this, children born to migrant mothers who have lived in a city for about a year have much better survival chances than children born in rural areas to nonmigrant mothers and children born to migrant mothers before or shortly after migration. Migration in developing countries as a whole has saved millions of children's lives. The apparent benefits experienced in the 1980s may not occur in the future, as cities continue to grow and municipal governments confront an overwhelming need for housing, jobs, and services. Another benefit is that fertility rates in African cities fell by about 1 birth per woman as a result of female migration from villages to towns in the 1980s and early 1990s. There will be an increasing need for donors and governments to concentrate family planning, reproductive health, child survival, and social services in cities, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, because there child mortality decline has been unexpectedly slow, overall fertility decline is not yet apparent in most countries, and levels of migration to cities are anticipated to remain high.

Literacies and Quechua Oral Language: Connecting Sociocultural Worlds and Linguistic Resources for Biliteracy Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

De La Piedra, Maria Teresa

2006-01-01

This article presents partial findings of an ethnographic study in a Quechua rural community in the Peruvian Andes. It discusses the uses of hegemonic Spanish literacy practices in the school. These were characterized by emphasis on formal issues over meaning; students lives, cultural, and linguistic resources were ignored. However, there were…

Combining Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in the Measurement of Rural Poverty: The Case of Iran

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hayati, Dariush; Karami, Ezatollah; Slee, Bill

2006-01-01

Poverty reduction is one of the major challenges confronting mankind and a principal obstacle to well-being for a large proportion of the world's population. New paradigms of development as advocated by Chambers and others focus strongly on poverty reduction. Poverty is increasingly recognised as a multifaceted concept that can be elucidated…

Understanding Peri-Urban Maize Production through an Examination of Household Livelihoods in the Toluca Metropolitan Area, Mexico

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lerner, Amy M.; Eakin, Hallie; Sweeney, Stuart

2013-01-01

The rates of urban growth globally continue to rise, especially in small and intermediary cities and peri-urban areas of the developing world. Communities in these settings share characteristics with rural areas, in terms of continued connections with agriculture, yet with an increasing reliance of non-agricultural employment which poses…

Literacy Education and Social Change Efforts in Pre-Communist China: The Mass Education Movement 1922-1949.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paulston, Rolland G.

Socioeconomic development in China between the two world wars included an extensive mass education effort by reform-minded young Chinese. Focusing on adult literacy and rural reconstruction, Chinese educators employed various strategies to stimulate and assist self-help efforts in Chinese villages. Paramount among these educational techniques were…

Intellectual Disability in the Context of a South African Population

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kromberg, Jennifer; Zwane, Esther; Manga, Prashiela; Venter, Andre; Rosen, Eric; Christianson, Arnold

2008-01-01

Childhood disabilities, including intellectual disabilities (ID), are thought to occur in 5-17% of children in developing countries around the world. In order to identify and describe the childhood disabilities occurring in a rural South African population, as well as the context in which they occur, a study was carried out in the Bushbuckridge…

Treatment of Diarrhoea in Rural African Communities: An Overview of Measures to Maximise the Medicinal Potentials of Indigenous Plants

PubMed Central

Njume, Collise; Goduka, Nomalungelo I.

2012-01-01

Diarrhoea is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in rural communities in Africa, particularly in children under the age of five. This calls for the development of cost effective alternative strategies such as the use of herbal drugs in the treatment of diarrhoea in these communities. Expenses associated with the use of orthodox medicines have generated renewed interest and reliance on indigenous medicinal plants in the treatment and management of diarrhoeal infections in rural communities. The properties of many phenolic constituents of medicinal plants such as their ability to inhibit enteropooling and delay gastrointestinal transit are very useful in the control of diarrhoea, but problems such as scarcity of valuable medicinal plants, lack of standardization of methods of preparation, poor storage conditions and incertitude in some traditional health practitioners are issues that affect the efficacy and the practice of traditional medicine in rural African communities. This review appraises the current strategies used in the treatment of diarrhoea according to the Western orthodox and indigenous African health-care systems and points out major areas that could be targeted by health-promotion efforts as a means to improve management and alleviate suffering associated with diarrhoea in rural areas of the developing world. Community education and research with indigenous knowledge holders on ways to maximise the medicinal potentials in indigenous plants could improve diarrhoea management in African rural communities. PMID:23202823

DROUGHT AND POPULATION MOBILITY IN RURAL ETHIOPIA

PubMed Central

Mueller, Valerie

2011-01-01

Significant attention has focused on the possibility that climate change will displace large populations in the developing world, but few multivariate studies have investigated climate-induced migration. We use event history methods and a unique longitudinal dataset from the rural Ethiopian highlands to investigate the effects of drought on population mobility over a ten-year period. The results indicate that men’s labor migration increases with drought and that land-poor households are most vulnerable. However, marriage-related moves by women also decrease with drought. These findings suggest a hybrid narrative of environmentally-induced migration that recognizes multiple dimensions of adaptation to environmental change. PMID:22523447

Astronomy Outreach Adventures in Rural Guatemala

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Strubbe, L.

2015-03-01

Astronomy can be an inspirational gateway to learning science and analytical reasoning, and to careers in STEM fields-particularly important in developing countries where educational opportunities can be scarce. Following this idea and my interest in learning about other cultures, I decided to spend 6 weeks in late 2011 (between Ph.D. and postdoc) doing astronomy public outreach in Guatemala. I volunteered through a Spanish language school embedded in a poor rural community (typical earning ~ $3/day), working mostly with children. My teaching goals were primarily attitudinal: to encourage people to observe and ask questions about the world around them, and to show them that phenomena have explanations that we can understand.

Revisiting Rurality and Schooling: A Teacher's Story

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pillay, Daisy; Saloojee, Sheeren

2012-01-01

This paper presents an understanding of what it means to be a teacher in a school defined as "rural". From a sociological perspective, we consider the mechanisms and ways of knowing that are adopted by a teacher for understanding not only the external world but for being a certain kind of teacher for a school in a rural setting.…

Rural School Children Picturing Family Life

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Lange, Naydene; Olivier, Tilla; Geldenhuys, Johanna; Mitchell, Claudia

2012-01-01

Rurality is an active agent and central to the lived experiences of children growing up on a farm and attending a farm school. It is a key to their everyday experiences, and influences family life, schooling and their future. Previous studies elsewhere in the world have explored the notion of childhood in rural contexts, but there is a dearth of…

Making Education Equitable in Rural China through Distance Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McQuaide, Shiling

2009-01-01

The Distance Education Project for Rural Schools (DEPRS) was implemented by the Chinese government between 2003 and 2007 to improve the quality of basic education in rural areas of China, especially in the poorer western provinces. It has been referred to as "the largest ICT project in the world up to now" because "it serves a…

Small Schools in a Big World: Thinking about a Wicked Problem

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Corbett, Michael; Tinkham, Jennifer

2014-01-01

The position of small rural schools is precarious in much of rural Canada today. What is to be done about small schools in rural communities which are often experiencing population decline and aging, economic restructuring, and the loss of employment and services? We argue this issue is a classic "wicked" policy problem. Small schools…

Partnership Working in Small Rural Primary Schools: The Best of Both Worlds. Research Report

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hill, Robert

2014-01-01

The aim of the research was to investigate the most effective ways for small rural primary schools to work together in order to improve provision and raise standards. The project sought to examine the circumstances and context of small rural schools in Lincolnshire and evaluate their different leadership models (such as collaborations,…

Financial security for women -- Fem Consult congress.

PubMed

1996-01-01

The nongovernmental organization "Fem Consult," which seeks to strengthen the socioeconomic position of women by applying a gender perspective to programs and projects in developing countries, celebrated its 10th anniversary in 1996 by holding a conference in the Netherlands on financial security for women in the developing world. During the conference, the President of the WWF (Working Women's Forum) described her agency's 17 years of experience in lending to impoverished rural and urban women in India. By extending microcredit assistance through a network of cooperatives, the WWF has been the catalyst for lasting improvements in the economic and social status of impoverished women. Representatives of the Grameen Bank, Women's World Banking, the Ecumenical Development Cooperative Society, and other organizations also addressed the conference.

IMF, World Bank programs hinder AIDS prevention.

PubMed

Denoon, D J

1995-07-10

International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank structural adjustment programs (SAPs) imposed on developing nations in the 1980s inadvertently helped set the stage for the AIDS epidemic. These programs continue to hinder efforts to prevent HIV transmission. SAPs resulted in the following phenomena which place populations at risk of HIV infection: increased rural-urban migration of cheap labor sparked by a shift to an export-oriented economy, the development of transportation infrastructures in the 1980s to support the changed economy, increased migration and urbanization, and reduced government spending upon health and social services necessitated by the SAPs. For HIV transmission in developing countries to be substantially reduced, the SAP economic policies which may have promoted disease must be modified. An alternative development strategy must satisfy basic human needs such as food, housing, and transport; shift emphasis from the production of a small number of primary commodities for export to diversified agricultural production; support marginal producers and subsistence farmers; emphasize human resource development; end the top-down approach favored by the IMF and World Bank in favor of a truly cooperative development policy; alter the charters of the IMF and World Bank to permit the cancellation or restructuring of debt; and require AIDS Impact Reports of the IMF and World Bank.

Migration, settlement change and health in post-apartheid South Africa: triangulating health and demographic surveillance with national census data.

PubMed

Collinson, Mark A; Tollman, Stephen M; Kahn, Kathleen

2007-08-01

World population growth will be increasingly concentrated in the urban areas of the developing world; however, some scholars caution against the oversimplification of African urbanization noting that there may be "counter-urbanization" and a prevailing pattern of circular rural-urban migration. The aim of the paper is to examine the ongoing urban transition in South Africa in the post-apartheid period, and to consider the health and social policy implications of prevailing migration patterns. Two data sets were analysed, namely the South African national census of 2001 and the Agincourt health and demographic surveillance system. A settlement-type transition matrix was constructed on the national data to show how patterns of settlement have changed in a five-year period. Using the sub-district data, permanent and temporary migration was characterized, providing migration rates by age and sex, and showing the distribution of origins and destinations. The comparison of national and sub-district data highlight the following features: urban population growth, particularly in metropolitan areas, resulting from permanent and temporary migration; prevailing patterns of temporary, circular migration, and a changing gender balance in this form of migration; stepwise urbanization; and return migration from urban to rural areas. Policy concerns include: rural poverty exacerbated by labour migration; explosive conditions for the transmission of HIV; labour migrants returning to die in rural areas; and the challenges for health information created by chronically ill migrants returning to rural areas to convalesce. Lastly, suggestions are made on how to address the dearth of relevant population information for policy-making in the fields of migration, settlement change and health.

Annual incidence of snake bite in rural bangladesh.

PubMed

Rahman, Ridwanur; Faiz, M Abul; Selim, Shahjada; Rahman, Bayzidur; Basher, Ariful; Jones, Alison; d'Este, Catherine; Hossain, Moazzem; Islam, Ziaul; Ahmed, Habib; Milton, Abul Hasnat

2010-10-26

Snake bite is a neglected public health problem in the world and one of the major causes of mortality and morbidity in many areas, particularly in the rural tropics. It also poses substantial economic burdens on the snake bite victims due to treatment related expenditure and loss of productivity. An accurate estimate of the risk of snake bite is largely unknown for most countries in the developing world, especially South-East Asia. We undertook a national epidemiological survey to determine the annual incidence density of snake bite among the rural Bangladeshi population. Information on frequency of snake bite and individuals' length of stay in selected households over the preceding twelve months was rigorously collected from the respondents through an interviewer administered questionnaire. Point estimates and confidence intervals of the incidence density of snake bite, weighted and adjusted for the multi-stage cluster sampling design, were obtained. Out of 18,857 study participants, over one year a total of 98 snake bites, including one death were reported in rural Bangladesh. The estimated incidence density of snake bite is 623.4/100,000 person years (95% C I 513.4-789.2/100,000 person years). Biting occurs mostly when individuals are at work. The majority of the victims (71%) receive snake bites to their lower extremities. Eighty-six percent of the victims received some form of management within two hours of snake bite, although only three percent of the victims went directly to either a medical doctor or a hospital. Incidence density of snake bite in rural Bangladesh is substantially higher than previously estimated. This is likely due to better ascertainment of the incidence through a population based survey. Poor access to health services increases snake bite related morbidity and mortality; therefore, effective public health actions are warranted.

Integrating developed and developing world knowledge into global discussions and strategies for sustainability. 1. Science and technology.

PubMed

Mihelcic, James R; Zimmerman, Julie B; Ramaswami, Anu

2007-05-15

Sustainable development in both the developed and developing world has the common fundamental themes of advancing economic and social prosperity while protecting and restoring natural systems. While many recent efforts have been undertaken to transfer knowledge from the developed to the developing world to achieve a more sustainable future, indigenous knowledge that often originates in developing nations also can contribute significantly to this global dialogue. Selected case studies are presented to describe important knowledge, methodologies, techniques, principles, and practices for sustainable development emerging from developing countries in two critical challenge areas to sustainability: water and energy. These, with additional analysis and quantification, can be adapted and expanded for transfer throughout the developed and developing world in advancing sustainability. A common theme in all of the case studies presented is the integration of natural processes and material flows into the anthropogenic system. Some of these techniques, originating in rural settings, have recently been adapted for use in cities, which is especially important as the global trend of urban population growth accelerates. Innovations in science and technology, specifically applied to two critical issues of today, water and energy, are expected to fundamentally shift the type and efficiency of energy and materials utilized to advance prosperity while protecting and restoring natural systems.

Physical growth of children and adolescents in China over the past 35 years

PubMed Central

Zong, Xin-Nan

2014-01-01

Abstract Objective To examine if economic development in China correlates with physical growth among Chinese children and adolescents. Methods The height, body weight and physical activity level of children and adolescents aged 18 years and under, as well as dietary data, were obtained from seven large surveys conducted in China between 1975 and 2010. Chinese economic development indicators were obtained from the World Bank. Trends in body weight, height, economic data and diet were examined. Tests were conducted to check for correlations between height at 17 years of age and three indicators of economic development: gross domestic product, urbanization and infant mortality rate. Regional differences in physical growth were assessed. Findings Between 1975 and 2010, the growth of children and adolescents improved in tandem with economic development. The largest increment in height was observed during the period of puberty. Regional inequalities in nutritional status were correlated with disparities in economic development among regions. Over the past two decades, undernutrition declined among children less than 5 years of age, but in 2010 underweight and stunting were still common in poor rural areas. A large increase in obesity was observed in both urban and rural areas, but especially in large cities and, more recently, in small and medium-sized cities and affluent rural areas. Conclusion The average weight of children and adolescents has been increasing progressively since the 1970s. Current strategies to combat both child undernutrition and obesity need to be improved, especially in poor rural areas. PMID:25177070

Income generation for women with renewable energy technologies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stone, L.

1996-10-01

70% of the world`s poor are women. The poverty that is especially hard hitting for rural women throughout the world has many causes. The lack of access to education, credit and new technologies make it almost impossible for women to earn an income. Yet, when women earn an income, it not only improves their lives, but also improves the lives of their children and their communities. Solar energy technologies, along with access to credit, can help rural women improve the quality of their lives through income generating enterprises. The technologies discussed are solar cooking, solar food drying, solar blenders, andmore » photovoltaics.« less

A survey of anthropometry of rural agricultural workers in Enugu State, south-eastern Nigeria.

PubMed

Obi, Okey Francis; Ugwuishiwu, Boniface O; Adeboye, Busayo S

2015-01-01

In developed countries, large amount of anthropometric data are available for reference purposes; however, anthropometric data of Nigerian populace are lacking. As a result, most agricultural machines and equipment used are designed using anthropometric data from other populations of the world. A total of 377 rural agricultural workers within the age limit of 18-45 years, who are involved in different agricultural activities, were selected from six rural agriculture-based communities in Enugu state. Thirty-six anthropometric body dimensions were measured including age and body weight. A comparison between the male and female data indicated that data obtained from male agricultural workers were higher than that obtained from their female counterparts in all body dimensions except chest (bust) depth, abdominal breadth and hip breadth (sitting). In terms of design parameters, it was observed that the data from Nigerian agricultural workers were different from that obtained from agricultural workers in north-eastern India. Practitioner Summary. Anthropometric data of Nigeria populace are lacking. As a result, most agricultural machines and equipment used are designed using anthropometric data from other populations of the world. It was observed that the data from Nigerian agricultural workers were different from that obtained from agricultural workers in north-eastern India.

SELCO: A model for solar rural electrification in India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hande, H. Harish

1999-11-01

The following thesis presents the concept of a Rural Energy Service Company in India, known as SELCO. The model is being set up as a sustainable proposition for the implementation of solar photovoltaics as a viable alternative to provide reliable home lighting in the rural areas of India. The SELCO approach has already achieved noteworthy social and commercial results. Institutional, policy and operational problems have long plagued the rural electrification programs in India, resulting in thousands of villages without access to electricity. SELCO is a solar energy service company operating in Southern India since 1995, focusing on the enormous untapped market for home lighting where thousands of households have no access to electricity and severe power shortages face those already connected to the electric grid. The Company has installed nearly 2,000 solar home lighting systems. From a modest two employees company in 1995, it has grown to 35 in 1997 and from one office to eight. The hypothesis to be tested in this study is that in rural India, in a market not subsidized by the government, a solar service company with available loans from local banks and cooperatives and with sales, installation, and maintenance personnel in the villages can be successful in introducing photovoltaic systems to provide basic amenities such as lighting and water pumping for the improvement of the quality of life, public health, and the environment. The initial success of SELCO lends considerable evidence to the acceptance of the hypothesis. To accomplish its mission, SELCO works with commercial, retail, and rural development banks with large rural branch networks to stimulate loans to SELCO's customers based on a standard set of attractive financing terms. SELCO through its successful model has convinced the policy makers that a way to increase rural families' access to consumer financing for solar home lighting systems is through the existing financial network available in the country. Private investments, loans, and conditional grants totaling approximately US$ 650,000 have provided the working capital to date. A successful SELCO project would serve as a model for the world. The project would serve as a model not only for the Indian Government, the State Electricity Boards, and other Indian companies, but for the bulk of the world's utilities that are finding it difficult to electrify the vast majority of their rural service territories.

Joint Congressional Hearing on the Changing Information Needs of Rural America: The Role of Libraries and Information Technology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, Washington, DC.

Topics of importance to rural America in three general areas--rural community and individual information needs, available answers to these needs, and policies and strategies to meet these needs--were addressed in a joint congressional hearing held at the Fourth General Assembly of the World Future Society in July 1982. This transcript presents…

Social vulnerability and environmental change along urban-rural interfaces

Treesearch

John Schelhas; Sarah Hitchner; Cassandra Johnson

2012-01-01

As the world becomes increasingly urbanized and interconnected, the distinction between urban and rural areas is diminishing. Creation of new urban–rural interface areas causes immediate changes in local natural and social environments, and theseareas are also susceptible to both short-term and long-term environmental changes. Different groups of people...

Science and Math Assessment in K-6 Rural and Small Schools. Rural, Small Schools Network Information Exchange: Number 14, Spring 1993.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Regional Laboratory for Educational Improvement of the Northeast & Islands, Andover, MA.

This packet includes reprints of journal articles and other resources concerning the assessment of science and math in small, rural elementary schools. Articles include: (1) "Standards, Assessment, and Educational Quality" (Lauren B. Resnick); (2) "A True Test: Toward More Authentic and Equitable Assessment" (Grant Wiggins); (3) "How World-Class…

Partnership Working in Small Rural Primary Schools: The Best of Both Worlds. Supporting Report and Evidence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hill, Robert

2014-01-01

The aim of the research presented in this report was to investigate the most effective ways for small rural primary schools to work together in order to improve provision and raise standards. The project sought to examine the circumstances and context of small rural schools in Lincolnshire and evaluate their different leadership models (such as…

Factors influencing medical students' motivation to practise in rural areas in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review.

PubMed

Budhathoki, Shyam Sundar; Zwanikken, Prisca A C; Pokharel, Paras K; Scherpbier, Albert J

2017-02-22

There is a shortage of doctors working in rural areas all over the world, especially in low-income and middle-income countries. The choice to practise medicine in a rural area is influenced by many factors. Motivation developed as a medical student is one key determinant of this choice. This study explores influences on medical students' motivation to practise in rural areas of low-income and middle-income countries following graduation. A systematic review was conducted to identify influences on medical students' motivation to work in rural areas in low-income and middle-income countries. Papers reporting influences on motivation were included, and content analysis was conducted to select the articles. Articles not published in English were excluded from this review. A rural background (ie, being brought up in a rural area), training in rural areas with a community-based curriculum, early exposure to the community during medical training and rural location of medical school motivate medical students to work in rural areas. Perceived lack of infrastructure, high workload, poor hospital management and isolation are among the health facility factors that demotivate medical students for medical practice in rural areas. Medical school selection criteria focusing on a rural background factor and medical education curriculum focusing on rural area are more relevant factors in low-income and middle-income countries. The factors identified in this review may assist the planners, medical educators and policymakers in low-income and middle-income countries in designing relevant interventions to positively influence rural choices where the shortage of rural physicians is an ongoing and increasing concern. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

School and Community Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing within Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale Region, and the Dilemmas of Educational Leadership in Gasfield Boomtowns

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schafft, Kai A.; Biddle, Catharine

2014-01-01

Innovations associated with gas and oil drilling technology, including new hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling techniques, have recently led to dramatic boomtown development in many rural areas that have endured extended periods of economic decline. The Marcellus Shale play, one of the world's largest gas-bearing shale formations, lies…

Teacher Absence as a Factor in Gender Inequalities in Access to Primary Schooling in Rural Pakistan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ghuman, Sharon; Lloyd, Cynthia

2010-01-01

The presence of a teacher in the classroom is central to the provision of schooling, with accumulating evidence showing that teacher absence compromises student learning. Teacher absence is common in schools in low- and middle-income countries. With much of the developing world making rapid progress in achieving universal primary school enrollment…

The progress of family health nursing in remote and rural Scotland.

PubMed

Macduff, Colin

2005-12-01

Since 2001 the World Health Organization Europe's family health nurse (FHN) role has been developing in remote and rural areas of Scotland. In 2003, an independent evaluation identified a need for facilitation of the FHN role and family-health orientated approaches with local primary health care teams. The Scottish Executive Health Department appointed three part-time, regionally-based family health practice development facilitators (FHPDFs) in December 2003 to work over an 18-month period. This article presents findings from a small study which sought these FHPDFs' judgements on individual FHN autonomy and supportive colleague action at 24 sites where FHNs were practising. These judgements reveal a picture of mixed progress that is consistent with findings from other related research. This collective overview is presented in the form of a new typology and the resultant implications for future development of family health nursing are discussed.

Health Care for Older Adults in Uganda: Lessons for the Developing World.

PubMed

Tam, Wai Jia; Yap, Philip

2017-06-01

Approximately two-thirds of the world's older adults live in developing nations. By 2050, as many as 80% of such older people will live in low- and middle-income countries. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, the number of individuals aged 60 and older is projected to reach 163 million. Despite this demographic wave, the majority of Africa has limited access to qualified geriatric health care. 3 Although foreign aid and capacity-building efforts can help to close this gap over time, it is likely that failure to understand the unique context of Africa's older adults, many of whom are marginalized, will lead to inadequacies in service delivery and poor health outcomes. 4 As the need for culturally competent care of older adults gains recognition in the developed world, research in geriatric care in developing countries should progress in tandem. 4 By examining the multidimensional challenges that an older woman with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in rural Uganda faces, this article makes contextualized policy recommendations for older adults in Africa and provides lessons for the developing world. © 2016, Copyright the Authors Journal compilation © 2016, The American Geriatrics Society.

Comparative and sociological perspectives on Third World development and education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simkin, Keith

1981-12-01

Insofar as there has been any coherent theoretical basis for orthodox comparative education during the 1970's, it has derived from American modernisation theories of the 1960's. The weak explanatory power of these theories and the inability of most Third World countries to solve their educational problems have led to a growing pessimism about educational planning and increasing attention to nonformal, lifelong and distance education programs concerned with literacy and rural development. New intellectual currents during the 1970's created several alternatives to orthodox comparative education. The most important of these, based on dependency theory, has partly reduced the ethnocentrism of comparative research, but national traditions are still strongly entrenched. Comparative education based on either modernisation or dependency theories is still ill-equipped to provide Third World countries with either an understanding of the international context of their educational problems or an appropriate set of guidelines for educational planning. Both orthodox and radical varieties of comparative education are forms of cultural imperialism, against which Third World countries need to develop their own, more appropriate, traditions of comparative research.

Responding to Terrorist Incidents in Your Community: Flammable-Liquid Fire Fighting Techniques for Municipal and Rural Firefighters

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Denise Baclawski

2010-03-08

The University of Nevada, Reno Fire Science Academy (FSA) applied for grant funding to develop and deliver programs for municipal, rural, and volunteer firefighters. The FSA specializes in preparing responders for a variety of emergency events, including flammable liquid fires resulting from accidents, intentional acts, or natural disasters. Live fire training on full scale burnable props is the hallmark of FSA training, allowing responders to practice critical skills in a realistic, yet safe environment. Unfortunately, flammable liquid live fire training is often not accessible to municipal, rural, or volunteer firefighters due to limited department training budgets, even though most departmentmore » personnel will be exposed to flammable liquid fire incidents during the course of their careers. In response to this training need, the FSA developed a course during the first year of the grant (Year One), Responding to Terrorist Incidents in Your Community: Flammable-Liquid Fire Fighting Techniques for Municipal and Rural Firefighters. During the three years of the grant, a total of 2,029 emergency responders received this training. In Year Three, two new courses, a train-the-trainer for Responding to Terrorist Incidents in Your Community and Management of Large-Scale Disasters for Public Officials were developed and pilot tested during the Real-World Disaster Management Conference held at the FSA in June of 2007. Two research projects were conducted during Years Two and Three. The first, conducted over a two year period, evaluated student surveys regarding the value of the flammable liquids training received. The second was a needs assessment conducted for rural Nevada. Both projects provided important feedback and a basis for curricula development and improvements.« less

The Rural Woman in Latin America: A Social Actor in the Past Decade (1975-1984).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

United Nations Economic and Social Council, New York, NY.

The status of women viewed against the background of the United Nations Decade for Women is examined with emphasis on the world context, the Latin American context, and the context of rural women in the region. It describes attempts at categorization of rural women in Latin America based on the main types of agricultural economy in the region and…

Advanced Telecommunications in Rural America: The Challenge of Bringing Broadband Service to All Americans.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Telecommunications and Information Administration (DOC), Washington, DC.

This report, in response to a request by 10 U.S. Senators examines the status of broadband deployment in the United States. The rate of deployment of broadband services will be key to future economic growth, particularly in rural areas far from urban and world markets. This report finds that rural areas, especially remote areas outside of towns,…

Child Development in the Face of Rural-to-Urban Migration in China: A Meta-Analytic Review.

PubMed

Wang, Lamei; Mesman, Judi

2015-11-01

In the last 30 years, China has undergone one of the largest rural-to-urban migrations in human history, with many children left behind because of parental migration. We present a meta-analytic review of empirical studies on Chinese children's rural-to-urban migration and on rural children left behind because of parental migration. We examine how these events relate to children's emotional, social, and academic developmental outcomes. We include publications in English and in Chinese to uncover and quantify a part of the research literature that has been inaccessible to most Western scholars in the field of child and family studies. Overall, both migrant children and children left behind by migrant parents in China show significantly less favorable functioning across domains than other Chinese children. It appears that, similar to processes found in other parts of the world, the experience of economic and acculturation stress as well as disrupted parent-child relations constitute a risk for nonoptimal child functioning in the Chinese context. Further, we found evidence for publication bias against studies showing less favorable development for migrant children and children left behind. We discuss the results in terms of challenges to Chinese society and to future empirical research on Chinese family life. © The Author(s) 2015.

Concentration and drug prices in the retail market for malaria treatment in rural Tanzania.

PubMed

Goodman, Catherine; Kachur, S Patrick; Abdulla, Salim; Bloland, Peter; Mills, Anne

2009-06-01

The impact of market concentration has been little studied in markets for ambulatory care in the developing world, where the retail sector often accounts for a high proportion of treatments. This study begins to address this gap through an analysis of the consumer market for malaria treatment in rural areas of three districts in Tanzania. We developed methods for investigating market definition, sales volumes and concentration, and used these to explore the relationship between antimalarial retail prices and competition.The market was strongly geographically segmented and highly concentrated in terms of antimalarial sales. Antimalarial prices were positively associated with market concentration. High antimalarial prices were likely to be an important factor in the low proportion of care-seekers obtaining appropriate treatment.Retail sector distribution of subsidised antimalarials has been proposed to increase the coverage of effective treatment, but this analysis indicates that local market power may prevent such subsidies from being passed on to rural customers. Policymakers should consider the potential to maintain lower retail prices by decreasing concentration among antimalarial providers and recommending retail price levels. Copyright (c) 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

CONCENTRATION AND DRUG PRICES IN THE RETAIL MARKET FOR MALARIA TREATMENT IN RURAL TANZANIA

PubMed Central

GOODMAN, CATHERINE; KACHUR, S. PATRICK; ABDULLA, SALIM; BLOLAND, PETER; MILLS, ANNE

2009-01-01

SUMMARY The impact of market concentration has been little studied in markets for ambulatory care in the developing world, where the retail sector often accounts for a high proportion of treatments. This study begins to address this gap through an analysis of the consumer market for malaria treatment in rural areas of three districts in Tanzania. We developed methods for investigating market definition, sales volumes and concentration, and used these to explore the relationship between antimalarial retail prices and competition. The market was strongly geographically segmented and highly concentrated in terms of antimalarial sales. Antimalarial prices were positively associated with market concentration. High antimalarial prices were likely to be an important factor in the low proportion of care seekers obtaining appropriate treatment. Retail sector distribution of subsidised antimalarials has been proposed to increase the coverage of effective treatment, but this analysis indicates that local market power may prevent such subsidies from being passed on to rural customers. Policymakers should consider the potential to maintain lower retail prices by decreasing concentration among antimalarial providers and recommending retail price levels. PMID:19301420

A Desktop Publishing Course: An Alternative to Internships for Rural Universities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flammia, Madelyn

1992-01-01

Suggests that a course in desktop publishing can provide students at rural schools with experience equivalent to internships. Notes that the course provided students with real-world experience and benefited the university in terms of services and public relations. (RS)

Environmental Change, Risky Sexual Behavior, and the HIV/AIDS Pandemic: Linkages Through Livelihoods in Rural Haiti

PubMed Central

Hunter, Lori M.; Reid-Hresko, John; Dickinson, Tom

2012-01-01

Local natural resources are central to rural livelihoods across much of the developing world. Such “natural capital” represents one of several types of assets available to households as they craft livelihood strategies. In order to explore the potential for environmental scarcity and change to contribute to perpetuation of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, we examine the association between declining natural capital and engaging in risky sexual behaviors, as potentially another livelihood strategy. Such association has been demonstrated in Kenya and Tanzania, through the fish-for-sex trade. To explore the possibility of this connection within rural Haitian livelihoods we use Demographic and Health Survey data, with a focus on rural women, combined with vegetation measures generated from satellite imagery. We find that lack of condom use in recent sexual encounters is associated with local environmental scarcity – controlling for respondent age, education, religion and knowledge of AIDS preventive measures. The results suggest that explicit consideration of the environmental dimensions of HIV/AIDS may be of relevance in scholarship examining factors shaping the pandemic. PMID:22416143

Urban/rural interface: Governing the chaos

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferreira, António

2016-04-01

Cities have become recently the home for more than half of the world's population. Cities are often seen as ecological systems just a short step away from collapse [Newman 2006]. Being a human construction, cities disrupt the natural cycles and the patterns of temporal and spatial distribution of environmental and ecological processes. Urbanization produces ruptures in biota, water, energy and nutrients connectivity that can lead to an enhanced exposure to disruptive events that hamper the wellbeing and the resilience of urban communities in a global change context. An important issue in what concerns urban sprawl is the interface between the urban and the rural territories. Being an extremely dynamic landscape, and assuring some quality of life and buffering some of the pervasive negative impacts of urban areas in terms of disrupting the function of the natural ecosystems, in limit situations this interface can act as a conveyor belt of catastrophic events originated in the rural world, into the urban space. The Coimbra 2005 wildfire is a fine example of how a poorly managed urban/rural interface can put populations in danger, by allowing the fire to spread towards the urban green infrastructure, burning houses in the process. Major river flows that flood urban areas are also good examples of the lack of management and planning can result in the loss of assets and even put in danger human lives. This presentation reviews the impact of extreme events and the transmission from the urban to the rural worlds, but also from the rural to the urban territories, and establishes the need to govern risk at various levels and using the full range of governance tools.

Urban Intensification and Expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa: Impacts on Urban Agriculture and Food Security

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uzokwe, V. N. E. N.; Muchelo, R. O.; Odeh, I. A.

2015-12-01

In Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), urban intensification and expansion are increasing at alarming rates due to rapid population growth and rural-to-urban migration. This has led to the premise that the proportion of SSA urban residents most vulnerable to food insecurity is the highest in the world. Using a focused survey and multi-temporal (decadal) land use/cover classification of Landsat images, we explored the effect of urban intensification and expansion on urban agriculture and food security, focusing on a megacity and a regional center in Uganda: Kampala and Mbarara, respectively. We found that food insecurity arose due to a number of reasons, among which are: i) expansion and intensification of of urban settlements into previously productive agricultural lands in urban and peri-urban areas; ii) loss of predominantly young (rural agricultural) adult labor force to urban centers, leading to decline in rural food production; iii) lack of proper urban planning incorporating green and agricultural development leading to low productive market garden systems. We discussed these outcomes in light of existing studies which estimated that urban agriculture alone supports over 800 million people globally and accounts for 15-20% of world food supply. In spite of this relatively low contribution by urban/peri-urban agriculture, it probably accounts for higher proportion of food supply to urban poor in SSA and thus are most vulnerable to the loss of urban and peri-urban agricultural land. Further recommendations require policy makers and urban planners to team up to design a suitable framework for sustainable urban planning and development.

An energy-dense complementary food is associated with a modest increase in weight gain when compared with a fortified porridge in Malawian children aged 6-18 months

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Poor complementary feeding practices are associated with stunting and growth faltering throughout the developing world. The objective was to compare the effect of using peanut-/soy-based fortified spread (FS) and corn porridge fortified with fish powder (FP) as complementary foods on growth in rural...

Education and Training in Madagascar: Toward a Policy Agenda for Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction. A World Bank Country Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

World Bank, Washington, DC.

Madagascar is a poor, primarily rural country in which three-quarters of the population has subsisted below the poverty line for at least two decades. In view of the important role of education in the government's poverty reduction agenda, this report documents the current status of educational development in Madagascar and the key constraints on…

The impact of socially-accountable, community-engaged medical education on graduates in the Central Philippines: Implications for the global rural medical workforce.

PubMed

Siega-Sur, J L; Woolley, T; Ross, S J; Reeve, C; Neusy, A-J

2017-10-01

Developing and retaining a high quality medical workforce, especially within low-resource countries has been a world-wide challenge exacerbated by a lack of medical schools, the maldistribution of doctors towards urban practice, health system inequities, and training doctors in tertiary centers rather than in rural communities. To describe the impact of socially-accountable health professional education on graduates; specifically: their motivation towards community-based service, preparation for addressing local priority health issues, career choices, and practice location. Cross-sectional survey of graduates from two medical schools in the Philippines: the University of Manila-School of Health Sciences (SHS-Palo) and a medical school with a more conventional curriculum. SHS-Palo graduates had significantly (p < 0.05) more positive attitudes to community service. SHS-Palo graduates were also more likely to work in rural and remote areas (p < 0.001) either at district or provincial hospitals (p = 0.032) or in rural government health services (p < 0.001) as Municipal or Public Health Officers (p < 0.001). Graduates also stayed longer in both their first medical position (p = 0.028) and their current position (p < 0.001). SHS-Palo medical graduates fulfilled a key aim of their socially-accountable institution to develop a health professional workforce willing and able, and have a commitment to work in underserved rural communties.

The right to water in rural Punjab: assessing equitable access to water in the context of the ongoing Punjab Rural Water Supply Proejct.

PubMed

Samra, Shamsher; Crowley, Julia; Smith Fawzi, Mary C

2011-12-15

Although India is poised to meet its Millennium Development Goal for providing access to safe drinking water, there remains a worrying discrepancy in access between urban and rural areas. In 2006, 96% of the urban population versus 86% of the rural population obtained their drinking water from an improved water source. To increase access to potable water in rural areas, the World Bank and the state of Punjab have implemented the Punjab Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project (PRWSS) to improve or construct water supply systems in 3,000 villages deemed to have inadequate access to clean drinking water. This study aimed to examine whether the right to water was fulfilled in six towns in rural Punjab during implementation of the PRWSS. The normative content of the right to water requires that water be of adequate quantity, safety, accessibility, affordability, and acceptability in terms of quality. While our findings suggest that the PRWSS improved water quality, they also indicate that access to water was limited due to affordability and the low socioeconomic status of some people living in the target communities. Copyright © 2011 Samra, Crowley, and Smith Fawzi. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Bangkok as a magnet for rural labour: changing conditions, 1900-1970.

PubMed

Ouyyanont, P

1998-06-01

This article describes labor force shifts, in Thailand, from rural areas to Bangkok during 1900-1970 and is a revision of a chapter from a doctoral thesis. Urban growth of Bangkok occurred primarily after World War II. Pre-war wages in rural areas were higher than coolie wages in Bangkok. Opportunity costs of changing occupations were high. Chinese immigration was the key to development of non-farm occupations. The Chinese from Siam were drawn to higher wages in Bangkok than were possible in South China ports. After the war, the Lewis-Fei and Ranis migration model fits a pattern of migration that adjusts the disequilibrium between urban and rural markets. There are shifts from low productivity rural sectors to urban high productivity sectors. Capital investment in commerce and industry raised urban labor productivity. The wage data suggest a growing gap between urban and rural sectors postwar. Rail travel during the 1950s brought higher wages for the unskilled in railroad construction. There was high agricultural productivity relative to labor input due to availability of land. Underpopulation meant little unemployment. After 1950, conditions changed. The population growth rate increased. More in rural areas lived below the poverty line. Low rice productivity constrained rural wages and incomes during the 1950s and 1960s. The more favored commercial crops needed less labor. Chinese immigration declined, and demand for labor increased in urban areas. Low urban wages due to cheap labor stimulated profits and growth. Major roads connected Bangkok to the south and the north. Bangkok was viewed as a magical and desirable place.

Local scale water-food nexus: Use of borehole-garden permaculture to realise the full potential of rural water supplies in Malawi.

PubMed

Rivett, Michael O; Halcrow, Alistair W; Schmalfuss, Janine; Stark, John A; Truslove, Jonathan P; Kumwenda, Steve; Harawa, Kettie A; Nhlema, Muthi; Songola, Chrispine; Wanangwa, Gift J; Miller, Alexandra V M; Kalin, Robert M

2018-03-01

Local-scale opportunities to address challenges of the water-food nexus in the developing world need to be embraced. Borehole-garden permaculture is advocated as one such opportunity that involves the sustainable use of groundwater spilt at hand-pump operated borehole supplies that is otherwise wasted. Spilt water may also pose health risks when accumulating as a stagnant pond. Rural village community use of this grey-water in permaculture projects to irrigate borehole gardens is proposed to primarily provide economic benefit whereby garden-produce revenue helps fund borehole water-point maintenance. Water-supply sustainability, increased food/nutrition security, health protection from malaria, and business opportunity benefits may also arise. Our goal has been to develop an, experience-based, framework for delivery of sustainable borehole-garden permaculture and associated benefits. This is based upon data collection and permaculture implementation across the rural Chikwawa District of Malawi during 2009-17. We use, stakeholder interviews to identify issues influencing uptake, gathering of stagnant pond occurrence data to estimate amelioration opportunity, quantification of permaculture profitability to validate economic potential, and critical assessment of recent permaculture uptake to identify continuing problems. Permaculture was implemented at 123 sites representing 6% of District water points, rising to 26% local area coverage. Most implementations were at, or near, newly drilled community-supply boreholes; hence, amelioration of prevalent stagnant ponds elsewhere remains a concern. The envisaged benefits of permaculture were manifest and early data affirm projected garden profitability and spin-off benefits of water-point banking and community micro-loan access. However, a diversity of technical, economic, social and governance issues were found to influence uptake and performance. Example issues include greater need for improved bespoke garden design input, on-going project performance assessment, and coordinated involvement of multi-sector governmental-development bodies to underpin the integrated natural-resource management required. The developed framework aims to manage the identified issues and requires the concerted action of all stakeholders. Based on the probable ubiquity of underlying issues, the framework is expected to be generalizable to the wider developing world. However, this particular application of permaculture represents a fraction of its greater potential opportunity for rural communities that should be explored. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mini Nutritional Assessment of rural elderly people in Bangladesh: the impact of demographic, socio-economic and health factors.

PubMed

Kabir, Zarina Nahar; Ferdous, Tamanna; Cederholm, Tommy; Khanam, Masuma Akter; Streatfied, Kim; Wahlin, Ake

2006-12-01

In stating the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations aims to halve malnutrition around the world by 2015. Nutritional status of the elderly population in low-income countries is seldom focused upon. The present study aimed to evaluate the magnitude of malnutrition among an elderly population in rural Bangladesh. Data collection for a multidimensional cross-sectional study of community-based elderly people aged 60 years and over was conducted in a rural area in Bangladesh. Of 850 randomly selected elderly individuals, 625 participated in home interviews. Complete nutritional information was available for 457 individuals (mean age 69+/-8 years, 55% female). Nutritional status was assessed using an adapted form of the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) including body mass index (BMI). Age, sex, education, household expenditure on food and self-reported health problems were investigated as potential predictors of nutritional status. BMI<18.5 kg m(-2), indicating chronic energy deficiency, was found in 50% of the population. MNA revealed a prevalence of 26% for protein-energy malnutrition and 62% for risk of malnutrition. Health problems rather than age had a negative impact on nutritional status. Level of education and food expenditure were directly associated with nutritional status. In order to reduce world hunger by half in the coming decade, it is important to recognise that a substantial proportion of the elderly population, particularly in low-income countries, is undernourished.

Bridging the Gap: Use of Spaceflight Technologies for Earth-Based Problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brinley, Alaina; Vidlak, Carissa; Davis, Jeffrey R.

2012-01-01

Spaceflight is colloquially deemed, the final frontier, or the last area which humans have not yet explored in great depth. While this is true, there are still many regions on Earth that remain isolated from the urban, socially and electronically connected world. Because travelling to space requires a great deal of foresight, engineers are required to think creatively in order to invent technologies that are durable enough to withstand the rigors of the unique and often treacherous environment of outer space. The innovations that are a result of spaceflight designs can often be applied to life on Earth, particularly in the rural, isolated communities found throughout the world. The NASA Human Health and Performance Center (NHHPC) is a collaborative, virtual forum that connects businesses, non-profit organizations, academia, and government agencies to allow for better distribution of ideas and technology between these entities (http://www.nasa.gov/offices/NHHPC). There are many technologies that have been developed for spaceflight that can be readily applied to rural communities on Earth. For example, water filtration systems designed for spaceflight must be robust and easily repaired; therefore, a system with these qualifications may be used in rural areas on Earth. This particular initiative seeks to connect established, non-profit organizations working in isolated communities throughout the world with NASA technologies devised for spaceflight. These technologies could include water purification systems, solar power generators, or telemedicine techniques. Applying innovative, spaceflight technologies to isolated communities on Earth provides greater benefits from the same research dollars, thus fulfilling the Space Life Science motto at Johnson Space Center: Exploring Space and Enhancing Life. This paper will discuss this NHHPC global outreach initiative and give examples based on the recent work of the organization.

Urban Detection, Delimitation and Morphology: Comparative Analysis of Selective "MEGACITIES"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alhaddad, B.; Arellano, B. E.; Roca, J.

2012-08-01

Over the last 50 years, the world has faced an impressive growth of urban population. The walled city, close to the outside, an "island"for economic activities and population density within the rural land, has led to the spread of urban life and urban networks in almost all the territory. There was, as said Margalef (1999), "a topological inversion of the landscape". The "urban" has gone from being an island in the ocean of rural land vastness, to represent the totally of the space in which are inserted natural and rural "systems". New phenomena such as the fall of the fordist model of production, the spread of urbanization known as urban sprawl, and the change of scale of the metropolis, covering increasingly large regions, called "megalopolis" (Gottmann, 1961), have characterized the century. However there are no rigorous databases capable of measuring and evaluating the phenomenon of megacities and in general the process of urbanization in the contemporary world. The aim of this paper is to detect, identify and analyze the morphology of the megacities through remote sensing instruments as well as various indicators of landscape. To understand the structure of these heterogeneous landscapes called megacities, land consumption and spatial complexity needs to be quantified accurately. Remote sensing might be helpful in evaluating how the different land covers shape urban megaregions. The morphological landscape analysis allows establishing the analogies and the differences between patterns of cities and studying the symmetry, growth direction, linearity, complexity and compactness of the urban form. The main objective of this paper is to develop a new methodology to detect urbanized land of some megacities around the world (Tokyo, Mexico, Chicago, New York, London, Moscow, Sao Paulo and Shanghai) using Landsat 7 images.

Growth and development in school-age children from Rostov region, Russia: Comparison between urban and rural settings.

PubMed

Voynov, V B; Kulba, S N; Arapova, Yu Yu

2017-12-01

The purposes of the current study were: (1) to describe growth and physical development and establish norms for schoolchildren from Rostov region in Russia; (2) to compare major characteristics of development between urban and rural children by sex and age. Nearly 200,000 children (198,712) aged between 7 and 17 years from 232 urban and rural schools of Rostov region (Southern Federal District of Russia) participated in the study. School age is a period of intensive growth and physiological and psychological development. Irregularities of personal development are caused by a multitude of factors, such as sex differences, heredity, socio-economic status of a family, standard of living, particular environmental conditions, and lifestyle. It has been established that children from the Southern Federal District of Russia had body mass index values higher than age-appropriate norms for all Russians (Total Russian, Rudnev et al., 2014) and World Health Organization charts. Children from urban settings were taller and heavier than children from rural settings. Sex is one of the most influential factors which play key role in determining specific characteristics of growth and personal development. According to our results, boys and girls both had similar age-related changes in weight and height, but their respective dynamics differed. Girls' height and weight values accelerated at the age 10 to 12 years and plateaued after the age fourteen, whereas in boys height and weight steadily increased with age, showing slight acceleration at the age 12 to 13 years, and reached a plateau by the age of seventeen. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Are rural health professionals also social entrepreneurs?

PubMed

Farmer, Jane; Kilpatrick, Sue

2009-12-01

Social entrepreneurs formally or informally generate community associations and networking that produces social outcomes. Social entrepreneurship is a relatively new and poorly understood concept. Policy promotes generating community activity, particularly in rural areas, for health and social benefits and 'community resilience'. Rural health professionals might be well placed to generate community activity due to their status and networks. This exploratory study, conducted in rural Tasmania and the Highlands and Islands of Scotland considered whether rural health professionals act as social entrepreneurs. We investigated activities generated and processes of production. Thirty-eight interviews were conducted with general practitioners, community nurses, primary healthcare managers and allied health professionals living and working rurally. Interviewees were self-selecting responders to an invitation for rural health professionals who were 'formally or informally generating community associations or networking that produced social outcomes'. We found that rural health professionals initiated many community activities with social outcomes, most related to health. Their identification of opportunities related to knowledge of health needs and examples of initiatives seen elsewhere. Health professionals described ready access to useful people and financial resources. In building activities, health professionals could simultaneously utilise skills and knowledge from professional, community member and personal dimensions. Outcomes included social and health benefits, personal 'buzz' and community capacity. Health professionals' actions could be described as social entrepreneurship: identifying opportunities, utilising resources and making 'deals'. They also align with community development. Health professionals use contextual knowledge to envisage and grow activities, indicating that, as social entrepreneurs, they do not explicitly choose a social mission, rather they act within their known world-view. Policymakers could consider ways to engage rural health professionals as social entrepreneurs, in helping to produce resilient communities.

Head circumference growth reference charts of children younger than 7 years in Chinese rural areas.

PubMed

Xie, Shengnan; Shi, Junxin; Wang, Jianmin; Li, Neng; Yang, Senbei; Zhang, Jing

2014-12-01

The head circumference growth reference charts for children in China are presently based on urban children. However, the references may not apply to rural children because of the differences between urban and rural areas, such as economy, culture, and dietary habits. Our objective was to provide a reliable continuous set of head circumference growth reference charts for male and female children less than 7 years of age in Chinese rural areas. Children in our study were identified by multistage stratified cluster sampling from rural areas of 10 provinces in China. Questionnaire survey and anthropometric measurements were conducted in data collection. Head circumference was measured with a nonelastic tape on a line passing over the glabella and posterior occipital protrusion in children. We compared the fiftieth percentile of our cross-sectional data with the data of Chinese cities, World Health Organization, and the United States. A total of 95,904 children (48,722 boys and 47,182 girls) were included in the study. We present age- and sex-appropriate head circumference growth charts younger than 7 years for Chinese rural areas. The head circumference percentiles of the children in rural China are much smaller than the children in Chinese urban areas, World Health Organization, and the US percentiles after 2 years old. Head circumference percentiles can be applied in growth monitoring, but current head circumference growth references promulgated in urban China may not be suitable for rural areas in China. Providing head circumference growth reference charts for rural Chinese children who are younger than 7 years old is very important. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Growth curves and the international standard: How children's growth reflects challenging conditions in rural Timor-Leste.

PubMed

Spencer, Phoebe R; Sanders, Katherine A; Judge, Debra S

2018-02-01

Population-specific growth references are important in understanding local growth variation, especially in developing countries where child growth is poor and the need for effective health interventions is high. In this article, we use mixed longitudinal data to calculate the first growth curves for rural East Timorese children to identify where, during development, deviation from the international standards occurs. Over an eight-year period, 1,245 children from two ecologically distinct rural areas of Timor-Leste were measured a total of 4,904 times. We compared growth to the World Health Organization (WHO) standards using z-scores, and modeled height and weight velocity using the SuperImposition by Translation And Rotation (SITAR) method. Using the Generalized Additive Model for Location, Scale and Shape (GAMLSS) method, we created the first growth curves for rural Timorese children for height, weight and body mass index (BMI). Relative to the WHO standards, children show early-life growth faltering, and stunting throughout childhood and adolescence. The median height and weight for this population tracks below the WHO fifth centile. Males have poorer growth than females in both z-BMI (p = .001) and z-height-for-age (p = .018) and, unlike females, continue to grow into adulthood. This is the most comprehensive investigation to date of rural Timorese children's growth, and the growth curves created may potentially be used to identify future secular trends in growth as the country develops. We show significant deviation from the international standard that becomes most pronounced at adolescence, similar to the growth of other Asian populations. Males and females show different growth responses to challenging conditions in this population. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Residential Fuel Cell Demonstration Handbook

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Torrero, E.; McClelland, R.

2002-07-01

This report is a guide for rural electric cooperatives engaged in field testing of equipment and in assessing related application and market issues. Dispersed generation and its companion fuel cell technology have attracted increased interest by rural electric cooperatives and their customers. In addition, fuel cells are a particularly interesting source because their power quality, efficiency, and environmental benefits have now been coupled with major manufacturer development efforts. The overall effort is structured to measure the performance, durability, reliability, and maintainability of these systems, to identify promising types of applications and modes of operation, and to assess the related prospect for future use. In addition, technical successes and shortcomings will be identified by demonstration participants and manufacturers using real-world experience garnered under typical operating environments.

Annual Incidence of Snake Bite in Rural Bangladesh

PubMed Central

Rahman, Ridwanur; Faiz, M. Abul; Selim, Shahjada; Rahman, Bayzidur; Basher, Ariful; Jones, Alison; d'Este, Catherine; Hossain, Moazzem; Islam, Ziaul; Ahmed, Habib; Milton, Abul Hasnat

2010-01-01

Background Snake bite is a neglected public health problem in the world and one of the major causes of mortality and morbidity in many areas, particularly in the rural tropics. It also poses substantial economic burdens on the snake bite victims due to treatment related expenditure and loss of productivity. An accurate estimate of the risk of snake bite is largely unknown for most countries in the developing world, especially South-East Asia. Methodology/Principal Findings We undertook a national epidemiological survey to determine the annual incidence density of snake bite among the rural Bangladeshi population. Information on frequency of snake bite and individuals' length of stay in selected households over the preceding twelve months was rigorously collected from the respondents through an interviewer administered questionnaire. Point estimates and confidence intervals of the incidence density of snake bite, weighted and adjusted for the multi-stage cluster sampling design, were obtained. Out of 18,857 study participants, over one year a total of 98 snake bites, including one death were reported in rural Bangladesh. The estimated incidence density of snake bite is 623.4 / 100,000 person years (95% C I 513.4–789.2 /100,000 person years). Biting occurs mostly when individuals are at work. The majority of the victims (71%) receive snake bites to their lower extremities. Eighty-six percent of the victims received some form of management within two hours of snake bite, although only three percent of the victims went directly to either a medical doctor or a hospital. Conclusions/Significance Incidence density of snake bite in rural Bangladesh is substantially higher than previously estimated. This is likely due to better ascertainment of the incidence through a population based survey. Poor access to health services increases snake bite related morbidity and mortality; therefore, effective public health actions are warranted. PMID:21049056

Project Helping Hands. Grade 10 Lesson. Schools of California Online Resources for Education (SCORE): Connecting California's Classrooms to the World.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Westphal, Leanne

In this lesson, students work in teams, role-playing a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life in rural Africa. Teams focus on four goals: (1) grow more food; (2) develop water resources; (3) improve health services; and (4) protect the environment. Each student team is assigned to one of five regions in Africa. Teams…

From Agricultural Education to Education for Rural Development and Food Security: All for Education and Food for All. SD Dimensions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gasperini, Lavinia

Reducing the number of undernourished people in all countries to half its present level no later than 2015 is the commitment undertaken by the international community during the World Food Summit of 1996. In order to accomplish this goal, a common vision to work for sustainable growth that favors the poor and provides more resources for health,…

Family planning and contraception in Islamic countries: a critical review of the literature.

PubMed

Shaikh, Babar Tasneem; Azmat, Syed Khurram; Mazhar, Arslan

2013-04-01

The population of the world reached seven billion in 2012. Pakistan's population stands at more than 180 million, is growing rapidly, and has the highest unmet need for family planning (FP) in isolated rural areas. The low usage of contraception in the rural areas of Pakistan correlates with the level of isolation, poverty, illiteracy, and to a large extent, religious misinterpretations/misconceptions. Almost 25% of couples who desired FP services were not receiving them for a variety of reasons of which religion could be one, especially in the rural remote areas where the media is still not reaching and influencing mind-sets. In this scenario, the role of social marketing in bringing about attitudinal and behavioural change among users in underserved areas and gatekeepers and opinion makers in society must not be neglected. The work in promoting FP, contraception and birth spacing requires authentic evidence from similar sociocultural contexts and this endeavour of compiling case studies from various Islamic countries on their FP initiatives is a good step. Governments around the world, including many in the Islamic world, support FP programmes to enable individuals and couples to choose the number and timing of their children. This paper is a review of secondary data accessed through PubMed and Google Scholar. It provides an overview of Islamic countries' policies on, and support for FP and modern contraception. For this purpose, literature from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Turkey was included. There are significant internal social and economic reasons to focus on FP in the Muslim world. Thus, arguments by religious scholars who see FP as an external western conspiracy aimed at curtailing the growth and strength of the Islamic world appear to be uninformed of both the socio-political and demographic realities in many Muslim countries, as well as the historical permissibility of contraception within the Islamic legacy. In fact, it can be argued that given the profound socio-economic and political difficulties in various parts of the Muslim world, a lack of FP and increasing populations would weaken and curtail the pace of overall development. Private institutions and the government must collaborate in leveraging initiatives and bridging gaps for more robust advocacy with clergymen and religious scholars to support the larger cause of FP and birth spacing i.e. improving infant and maternal health in Pakistan.

Migration, settlement change and health in post-apartheid South Africa: Triangulating health and demographic surveillance with national census data1

PubMed Central

COLLINSON, MARK A.; TOLLMAN, STEPHEN M.; KAHN, KATHLEEN

2010-01-01

Background World population growth will be increasingly concentrated in the urban areas of the developing world; however, some scholars caution against the oversimplification of African urbanization noting that there may be “counter-urbanization” and a prevailing pattern of circular rural–urban migration. The aim of the paper is to examine the ongoing urban transition in South Africa in the post-apartheid period, and to consider the health and social policy implications of prevailing migration patterns. Methods Two data sets were analysed, namely the South African national census of 2001 and the Agincourt health and demographic surveillance system. A settlement-type transition matrix was constructed on the national data to show how patterns of settlement have changed in a five-year period. Using the sub-district data, permanent and temporary migration was characterized, providing migration rates by age and sex, and showing the distribution of origins and destinations. Findings The comparison of national and sub-district data highlight the following features: urban population growth, particularly in metropolitan areas, resulting from permanent and temporary migration; prevailing patterns of temporary, circular migration, and a changing gender balance in this form of migration; stepwise urbanization; and return migration from urban to rural areas. Conclusions Policy concerns include: rural poverty exacerbated by labour migration; explosive conditions for the transmission of HIV; labour migrants returning to die in rural areas; and the challenges for health information created by chronically ill migrants returning to rural areas to convalesce. Lastly, suggestions are made on how to address the dearth of relevant population information for policy-making in the fields of migration, settlement change and health. PMID:17676507

Indo-Fijian Children's BMI : In the Context of Urbanization, Embodied Capital, and Food Choice Trade-offs.

PubMed

Neill, Dawn B

2007-09-01

Health research has shown that overweight and obesity in children and adults are becoming significant public health problems in the developing world. Evidence suggests that this phenomenon is more marked in urban than rural areas and may be associated with modernization. However, the underlying reasons for this nutrition transition remain unclear. Dietary shifts, often in conjunction with income and time constraints in urban environments, may entail a greater reliance on more convenient sugar and fat-dense food. Also, the necessity of labor-intensive agricultural work to meet rural subsistence needs is supplanted in urban environments by sedentary work. This paper extends the application of human behavioral ecology theory into the realm of international development and policy by applying Kaplan's embodied capital theory to explore differences in food habits and nutritional status of Indo-Fijian children within the context of urbanization. Urban high-embodied-capital women demonstrate higher rates of wage-earning employment than urban low-embodied-capital or rural women. Findings indicate that urban high-embodied-capital households spend significantly more on food purchases, purchase a greater proportion of processed foods, and have children with higher body mass indexes (BMI) than do urban low-embodied-capital or rural households. This suggests that urban high-embodied-capital mothers, who tend to be employed, may be making trade-offs between income and food choices.

Rural families' interpretations of experiencing unexpected transition in the wake of a natural disaster.

PubMed

Fernandes, Gisele Cristina Manfrini; Boehs, Astrid Eggert; Denham, Sharon A; Nitschke, Rosane Gonçalves; Martini, Jussara Gue

2017-02-13

Natural disasters affect populations in various parts of the world. The impacts of disasters can cause many problems to the health of people and disruption to family life, potentially leading to an unexpected transition. The objective of this paper is to present the unexpected transitional experiences of rural families following a natural disaster. A multiple case study of six families was conducted with children and adolescents in a rural area affected by a 2008 disaster in southern Brazil. For data collection, we used participant observation, narrative interviews, genograms, ecomaps and an instrument called calendar routine. The analysis of the data resulted in different family interpretations about the changes resulting from the storm and compared life before and after the disaster. The loss of homes and loved ones, migration, unemployment, and losses from the farm were the main changes associated with new development tasks. The experiences of family transition after the disaster revealed that losses influenced social lives, daily routines and the preservation of cultural values.

Risk factors of bicycle traffic injury among middle school students in chaoshan rural areas of china.

PubMed

Lin, Zhen-Bin; Ji, Yan-Hu; Xiao, Qing-Yu; Luo, Li-Bo; Li, Li-Ping; Choi, Bernard

2017-01-26

Bicycle injuries are a leading cause of accidental death among children in the world, and bicycle-related injuries are also very common in China, thus to find out bicycle injury risk factors is imperative. This study aims to identify the cyclist-, bicycle- and road-related risk factors of bicycle injury, to develop health education programs as an intervention and to provide a scientific basis for establishing policies against bicycle injury. We selected two middle schools randomly among seven schools in Chaoshan rural areas,where the main means of transportation for students from home to school was bicycle. The subjects were middle school students from 7th to 9th grades from Gucuo Middle School and Hefeng Middle School. Cyclists were surveyed through questionnaires about bicycle injury in the past 12 months. Multivariable logistic analysis showed that compared with a combination-type road、 motor lane and a non-intact road were both risk factors of bicycle injuries. This was followed by riding with fatigue, non-motor lane and inattentive riding. Bicycle injuries are frequent in China. Three risk factors on bicycle traffic injury among middle school students in Chaoshan rural areas of China were identified. This study provides important data to develop intervention strategies for China and other developing countries.

Globalisation, rural restructuring and health service delivery in Australia: policy failure and the role of social work?

PubMed

Alston, Margaret

2007-05-01

The impacts of globalisation and rural restructuring on health service delivery in rural Australia have been significant. In the present paper, it is argued that declining health service access represents a failure of policy. Rural communities across the world are in a state of flux, and Australia is no different: rural communities are ageing at faster rates than urban communities and young people are out-migrating in large numbers. During the past 5 years, rural Australia has also experienced a severe and widespread drought that has exacerbated rural poverty, and impacted on the health and well-being of rural Australians. Australian governments have responded to globalising forces by introducing neoliberal policy initiatives favouring market solutions and championing the need for self-reliance among citizens. The result for rural Australia has been a withdrawal of services at a time of increased need. This paper addresses the social work response to these changes.

Challenges faced in rural hospitals: the experiences of nurse managers in Uganda.

PubMed

Kakyo, T A; Xiao, L D

2018-04-19

The aim of this study was to understand nurse ward managers perceived challenges in the rural healthcare setting in Uganda. The health workforce, essential medicines and equipment and political unrest are the main factors affecting the international community in addressing the hefty disease burden in World Health Organization African regions. Nurse ward managers have an important role to play to mitigate these factors in health facilities in these regions through leadership, supervision and support for staff. This study utilized interpretive phenomenology based on Gadamer's hermeneutical principles. Eleven nurse managers from two rural public hospitals in Uganda were interviewed. Those with more than a 2-year experience in their management role were invited to participate in the study. Nurse managers pointed out four major challenges with staffing, while they worked in the rural healthcare settings. These are summarized into themes: 'Numbers do matter'; 'I cannot access them when I need them at work'; 'Challenges in dealing with negative attitudes'; and 'Questioning own ability to manage health services'. Health facilities in rural areas face extremely low staff-to-patient ratio, a high level of workload, lack of essential medicines and equipment, low salaries and delayed payment for staff. Nurse managers demonstrated situation-based performance to minimize the impact of these challenges on the quality and safety of patient care, but they had less influence on policy and resource development. It is imperative to mobilize education for nurse ward managers to enable them to improve leadership, management skills and to have a greater impact on policy and resource development. © 2018 International Council of Nurses.

Changing patterns in electrical burn injuries in a developing country: should prevention programs focus on the rural population?

PubMed

Patil, Surendra B; Khare, Nishant Anil; Jaiswal, Sumeet; Jain, Arvind; Chitranshi, Anurag; Math, Mahantesh

2010-01-01

In the developing world, the incidence of electrical injuries has increased in the past few years. This study attempts to identify the causative and demographic risk factors that can help in formulating a targeted prevention program. The study was conducted prospectively and retrospectively from 2004 to 2009. Eighty-four consecutive patients with electrical burn injuries were analyzed for their demographic profile, age, sex, occupation, rural-urban distribution, mode of injury, and place of injury. The patients were asked to fill out a questionnaire regarding their awareness about electrical burn injuries, and the results were tabulated. The age of presentation ranged from 3 to 61 years. The most frequently affected age group was the second decade of life (33.3%). Of 84 patients studied, 71 were male and 13 female. Fifty-nine patients were from the urban area, while 25 were from the surrounding rural area. Students including children and adolescents were the most common affected single group (22.5%). Contact with live wire or contact with an object that was in contact with a live wire (secondary contact) accounted for 43 of 84 cases (51%). Home was the most common location where injury occurred (51.2%). Twenty-one of 59 cases (35.6%) reported from the urban area and 3 of 25 cases (12%) from the rural area had specific knowledge about prevention of electrical burn injury. Forty-one patients (69.4%) from the urban area and 22 (88%) from the rural area believed that adequate information regarding electrical burn injury was not available. Thirty-six patients (61%) from the urban area and 24 (96%) from the rural area believed that they would have behaved differently if the information had been available. The authors recommend that prevention programs should be modified to cater to the specific needs of the younger age groups and the rural population.

Rural food security, subsistence agriculture, and seasonality.

PubMed

Sibhatu, Kibrom T; Qaim, Matin

2017-01-01

Many of the world's food-insecure and undernourished people are smallholder farmers in developing countries. This is especially true in Africa. There is an urgent need to make smallholder agriculture and food systems more nutrition-sensitive. African farm households are known to consume a sizeable part of what they produce at home. Less is known about how much subsistence agriculture actually contributes to household diets, and how this contribution changes seasonally. We use representative data from rural Ethiopia covering every month of one full year to address this knowledge gap. On average, subsistence production accounts for 58% of rural households' calorie consumption, that is, 42% of the calories consumed are from purchased foods. Some seasonal variation occurs. During the lean season, purchased foods account for more than half of all calories consumed. But even during the main harvest and post-harvest season, purchased foods contribute more than one-third to total calorie consumption. Markets are even more important for dietary quality. During all seasons, purchased foods play a much larger role for dietary diversity than subsistence production. These findings suggest that strengthening rural markets needs to be a key element in strategies to improve food security and dietary quality in the African small-farm sector.

The Training of Semiliterate Rural Pastors in the Northwest Region Ethiopian Kale Heywet Church

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fellows, Timothy Steven

2014-01-01

A common plea in missions is the need to train pastors and church leaders for the rapidly multiplying churches in the Majority World, resulting in numerous formal and nonformal theological education training programs. In spite of these efforts, many rural churches remain without pastors. Using appreciative inquiry and participatory…

The Educational Infrastructure in Rural Areas.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Safra, Martine

The rural areas in the world are experiencing an identity crisis: for example, in France some areas are losing population, while those that are growing find that the population is changing from agricultural workers to retired persons and blue-collar and white-collar employees. This report, which summarizes discussion at a recent Organisation for…

The Impact of Rosenwald Schools on Black Achievement. WP 2009-26

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aaronson, Daniel; Mazumder, Bhashkar

2009-01-01

The Black-White gap in completed schooling among Southern born men narrowed sharply between the World Wars after being stagnant from 1880 to 1910. We examine a large scale school construction project, the Rosenwald Rural Schools Initiative, which was designed to dramatically improve the educational opportunities for Southern rural Blacks. From…

Impact of WOWW's Fine Arts Enriched Education Programming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sharp, Laurie A.; Tiegs, Ali

2018-01-01

Learning through the fine arts possesses many benefits, yet efforts to address the arts within public schools, particularly rural schools, are insufficient. In an effort to support rural public schools in Texas, Window On a Wider World (WOWW) began providing fine arts enriched education programming in 2006 to area partner schools that serve…

Providing Books to Rural Schools through Mobile Libraries

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jacobs, Lynette; Stals, Ernst L. P.; Leroy, Lieve

2016-01-01

International literacy tests, such as PIRLS show that South African primary school learners compare negatively with their peers in other parts of the world. Added to this, learners in rural schools in the country perform significantly worse than their peers who attend schools in urban areas, with the former learners also having other challenges,…

School-Community Partnerships in Rural Settings: Facilitating Positive Outcomes for Young Children Who Experience Maltreatment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hartman, Sara L.; Stotts, Jenny; Ottley, Jennifer R.; Miller, Rebecca

2017-01-01

Challenging conditions put young children at risk for maltreatment around the world, including in rural, southeastern Ohio. To combat these situations, several strategies are helpful in facilitating positive outcomes for young children. Specifically, when community entities and local school professionals work together, there is a greater…

Migration from Rural Areas: Employment and Education. IIEP Seminar Paper: 26.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hallak, Jacques

Discussing migration and migration patterns in the third world, this paper asserts that the failure of plans for controlling rural to urban migration is due to: lack of knowledge about the phenomenon; the favor given to one-dimensional interpretations stressing certain aspects of urban economies; and the implicit assumptions underlying most…

[Human resources planning: the use of demographic-economic models].

PubMed

Daubon, R E

1980-01-01

This article provides an overview of the evolution of employment at different stages of economic development and describes the employment situation in developing countries, suggesting future trends and means of improvement. The lack of authentic development is reflected in the problem of employment of both natural and human resources in Third World countries. Their occupational structures may be examined in 2 periods, 1 in which a certain pretransitional equilibrium was still observed, and the other following the beginning of industrialization. With increased population growth and the application of development strategies favoring urban areas and manufacturing, a series of imbalances were introduced which had as 1 consequence an ever widening income gap between rural areas, cities, and developed countries. Rural stagnation and population pressure ultimately led to massive urban migration in many areas, swelling the cities and creating an "informal sector" of underemployed persons in marginal activities of low productivity. By 2050, the world labor force will have increased from its present 1.7 billion workers to 3.8 billion, of which only 660 million will be in presently developed countries. Each country must plan the best use of its human resources, and must include employment planning in overall development planning. The development of economic-demographic models, adapted to the context of each country, can be a valuable tool in planning. Various types of economic-demographic models and their uses are described and differentiated. Economic-demographic models of employment have 3 main parts, demography, economy, and training. Their use in the analysis of the impact of specific variables on employment, of policies, and of general strategies is described. Finally, the characteristics and uses of MODEMP, an economic-demographic model created for analysis of labor force and employment problems in Peru, are described.

Nutrient resources for crop production in the tropics

PubMed Central

Vlek, P. L. G.; Kühne, R. F.; Denich, M.

1997-01-01

For the foreseeable future a majority of the population, and almost all the mal- and under-nourished, will continue to be found in the tropics and subtropics. Food security in these parts of the world will have to be met largely from local resources. The productivity of the land is to a large extent determined by the fertlity of the soil, which in turn is mostly determined by its organic matter content and stored nutrients. Soil organic matter is readily lost when organic matter inputs are reduced upon cultivation and more so upon intensification. The concomitant loss of topsoil and possible exposure of subsoil acidity may cause further soil degradation.
Plant nutrients to replenish what is yearly taken from the soil to meet the demands for food and fibre amount to 230 million tonnes (Mt). Current fertilizer consumption stands at about 130 Mt of N, P2O5,and K2O, supplemented by an estimated 90 Mt of N from biological nitrogen fixation worldwide. Although 80 per cent of the population lives in the developing world, only half the world's fertilizer is consumed there. Yet, as much as 50% of the increase in agricultural productivity in the developing world is due to the adoption of fertilizers. World population growth will cause a doubling in these nutrients requirements for the developing world by 2020, which, in the likely case of inadequate production, will need to be met from soil reserves. Because expansion of the cultivable land area is reaching its limits, the reliance on nutrient inputs and their efficient use is bound to grow.
With current urban expansion, nutrients in harvested products are increasingly lost from the rural environment as a whole. Estimates of soil nutrient depletion rates for sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are alarmingly high. The situation may be more favourable in Latin America and Asia where fertilizer inputs are tenfold those of SSA. Closing the nutrient cycle at a community level in rural areas may be tedious; on an inter-regional level it is associated with considerable costs of collection, detoxification and transportation to the farms. Yet, at the rate at which some of the non-renewable resources such as phosphorus and potassium are being exploited, recycling of these nutrients will soon be required.

[Cardiovascular disease: a view from global health perspective].

PubMed

Salinas Botrán, Alejandro; Ramos Rincón, José Manuel; de Górgolas Hernández-Mora, Miguel

2013-09-07

Globalization has facilitated the movement of large number of people around the world, leading modern clinicians to attend patients with rare or forgotten diseases. In the last few years many doctors are working in developing countries as volunteers or expatriates. The aim of this article is to summarize the basic epidemiological, clinical and therapeutic knowledge of the main cardiovascular diseases that a medical doctor from a developed country may attend in a tropical rural hospital, or with challenging diseases in patients coming from developing countries. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

The Country School as an Historic Site and the Movement to Improve Rural Schools in North Dakota. Country School Legacy: Humanities on the Frontier.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rylance, Dan

Country schools were important in the growth and development of North Dakota. While most of the early schools were constructed of wood, some were constructed of stone, sod, or logs. Standardization was established by 1915, and the white framed one-room school was duplicated in every township of the state until the end of World War II. A former…

Ancient water and sanitation systems - applicability for the contemporary urban developing world.

PubMed

Bond, T; Roma, E; Foxon, K M; Templeton, M R; Buckley, C A

2013-01-01

The idea of implementing ancient water and wastewater technologies in the developing world is a persuasive one, since ancient systems had many features which would constitute sustainable and decentralised water and sanitation (WATSAN) provision in contemporary terminology. Latest figures indicate 2.6 billion people do not use improved sanitation and 1.1 billion practise open defecation, thus there is a huge need for sustainable and cost-effective WATSAN facilities, particularly in cities of the developing world. The objective of this study was to discuss and evaluate the applicability of selected ancient WATSAN systems for the contemporary developing world. Selected WATSAN systems in ancient Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley, Egypt, Greece, Rome and the Yucatan peninsula are briefly introduced and then discussed in the context of the developing world. One relevant aspect is that public latrines and baths were not only a part of daily life in ancient Rome but also a focal point for socialising. As such they would appear to represent a model of how to promote use and acceptance of modern community toilets and ablution blocks. Although public or community toilets are not classified as improved sanitation by WHO/UNICEF, this is a debatable premise since examples such as Durban, South Africa, illustrate how community toilets continue to represent a WATSAN solution for urban areas with high population density. Meanwhile, given the need for dry sanitation technologies, toilets based on the production of enriched Terra Preta soil have potential applications in urban and rural agriculture and warrant further investigation.

Training doctors for primary care in China: Transformation of general practice education.

PubMed

Li, Donald

2016-01-01

China is known for developing a cadre of "Barefoot Doctors" to address her rural healthcare needs in past. The tradition of barefoot doctors has inspired similar developments in several other countries across world. Recently China has embarked upon an ambitious new mission to create a primary care workforce consisting of trained general practitioners having international standard skillsets. This editorial provides an insight into the current status of policy deliberations with regards to training of primary care doctors and a new surge in general practice education in China.

World Health Assembly Resolution 60.22. [corrected].

PubMed

Hammerstedt, Heather; Maling, Samuel; Kasyaba, Ronald; Dreifuss, Bradley; Chamberlain, Stacey; Nelson, Sara; Bisanzo, Mark; Ezati, Isaac

2014-11-01

The World Health Assembly 2007 Resolution 60.22 tasked the global health community to address the lack of emergency care in low- and middle-income countries. Little progress has yet been made in integrating emergency care into most low- and middle-income-country health systems. At a rural Ugandan district hospital, however, a collaborative between a nongovernmental organization and local and national stakeholders has implemented an innovative emergency care training program. To our knowledge, this is the first description of using task shifting in general hospital-based emergency care through creation of a new nonphysician clinician cadre, the emergency care practitioner. The program provides an example of how emergency care can be practically implemented in low-resource settings in which physician numbers are limited. The Ministry of Health is directing its integration into the national health care system as a component of a larger ongoing effort to develop a tiered emergency care system (out-of-hospital, clinic- and hospital-based provider and physician trainings) in Uganda. This tiered emergency care system is an example of a horizontal health system advancement that offers a potentially attractive solution to meet the mandate of World Health Assembly 60.22 by providing inexpensive educational interventions that can make emergency care truly accessible to the rural and urban communities of low- and middle-income countries. Copyright © 2014 American College of Emergency Physicians. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Rotational rural surgery for the poor in developing countries.

PubMed

Aderounmu, A O A; Afolayan, S A; Nasiru, T A; Olaore, J A; Adeoti, M L; Adelasoye, M

2008-07-01

Radio and television announcements advised patients with surgical problems in the rural areas of Osun State, Nigeria, to report at any of the nine zonal headquarters of the state which were closest to their homes in order to receive free treatment. Over 1000 patients reported and 801 received operations on a rotational basis within nine weeks. We studied 719 of these patients, ages between 4 months and 87 years, who had detailed follow-up records. There were 14 different procedures ranging from a hernia repair to the separation of syndactyly. Complications included postoperative pain, haematoma and late superficial wound infection. We concluded that rotational free surgery can help the poor in the third-world countries to receive treatment that they would otherwise not be able to afford.

The study on achievement of motor milestones and associated factors among children in rural North India

PubMed Central

Gupta, Arti; Kalaivani, Mani; Gupta, Sanjeev Kumar; Rai, Sanjay K.; Nongkynrih, Baridalyne

2016-01-01

Background: Nearly 14% of children worldwide do not reach their developmental potential in early childhood. The early identification of delays in achieving milestones is critical. The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed normal age ranges for the achievement of motor milestones by healthy children. This study aimed to assess the gross motor developmental achievements and associated factors among children in rural India. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with rural children in North India. A pretested questionnaire was used to collect the data. The median age at the time of the highest observed milestone was calculated and compared with the WHO windows of achievement. Results: Overall, 221 children aged 4–18 months were included in the study. The median age of motor development exhibited a 0.1–2.1-month delay compared to the WHO median age of motor milestone achievement. The prevalence of the gross motor milestone achievements for each of the six milestones ranged from 91.6% to 98.4%. Developmental delay was observed in 6.3% of the children. After adjusting for different variables, children with birth order of second or more were found to be significantly associated with the timely achievement of gross motor milestones. Conclusion: The apparently healthy children of the rural area of Haryana achieved gross motor milestones with some delay with respect to the WHO windows of achievement. Although the median value of this delay was low, awareness campaigns should be implemented to promote timely identification of children with development delays. PMID:27843845

A Vulnerability Index and Analysis for the Road Network of Rural Chile

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Braun, Andreas; Stötzer, Johanna; Kubisch, Susanne; Dittrich, Andre; Keller, Sina

2017-04-01

Natural hazards impose considerable threats to the physical and socio-economic wellbeing of people, a fact, which is well understood and investigated for many regions. However, not only people are vulnerable. During the last decades, a considerable amount of literature has focussed the particular vulnerability of the critical infrastructure: for example road networks. Considering critical infrastructure, far less reliable information exists for many regions worldwide - particularly, regions outside of the so called developed world. Critical infrastructure is destroyed in many disasters, causing cascade and follow up effects, for instance, impediments during evacuation, rescue and during the resilience phase. These circumstances, which are general enough to be applied to most regions, aggravate in regions characterized by high disparities between the urban and the rural sphere. Peripheral rural areas are especially prone to get isolated due to defects of the few roads which connect them to larger urban centres (where, frequently, disaster and emergency actors are situated). The rural area of Central Chile is a appropriate example for these circumstances. It is prone to destruction by several geo-hazards and furthermore, characterized by the aforementioned disparities. Past disasters, e.g. the 1991 Cerro Hudson eruption and the 2010 Maule earthquake have led to follow up effects (e.g. farmers, being unable to evacuate their animals due to road failures in the first case, and difficultires to evacuate people from places such as Caleta Tumbes or Dichato, which are connected by just a single road only in the second). The contribution develops a methodology to investigate into the critical infrastructure of such places. It develops a remoteness index for Chile, which identifies remote, peripheral rural areas, prone to get isolated due to road network failures during disasters. The approach is graph based. It offers particular advantages for regions like rural Chile since 1. it does not require traffic flow data which do not exist, 2. identifies peripheral areas particularly well, 3. identifies both nodes (places) prone to isolation and edges (roads) critical for the connectivity of rural areas, 4. based on a mathematical structure, it implies several possible planning solutions to reduce vulnerability of the critical infrastructure and people dependent on it. The methodology is presented and elaborated theoretically. Afterwards, it is demonstrated on an actual dataset from central Chile. It is demonstrated, how the methodology can be applied to derive planning solutions for peripheral rural areas.

Cultural Connections: Open Your School to the World by Partnering with a Library Abroad

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mann, Carolyn

2005-01-01

What school library media coordinator could resist the opportunity to engage students in a cultural exchange with a library elsewhere in the world? Not this one. When the author saw she could use her library to inspire students in rural North Carolina to broaden their understanding of the world, she leaped at the opportunity. She linked the…

Worlds Apart: Why Poverty Persists in Rural America.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duncan, Cynthia M.

This book examines the nature of persistent poverty in two impoverished towns in the coalfields of Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta and a contrasting social milieu in a prosperous but remote rural mill town in northern New England. Drawing on 350 in-depth interviews and census data, the book analyzes the dynamics of poverty, politics, and…

Sharing Our Pathways: A Newsletter of the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative, 2000.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dayo, Dixie, Ed.

2000-01-01

Funded by the National Science Foundation, the Alaska Rural Systemic Initiative (AKRSI) promotes systemic educational reform based in the culture and philosophy of the Alaska Native world view. AKRSI's first 5-year funding cycle ended in August 2000, and AKRSI was funded for a second 5 years beginning in November 2000. AKRSI activities are…

Effectiveness of Interactive Satellite-Transmitted Instruction: Experimental Evidence from Ghanaian Primary Schools. CEPA Working Paper No. 17-08

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnston, Jamie; Ksoll, Christopher

2017-01-01

In lower- and middle-income countries, including Ghana, students in rural areas dramatically underperform their urban peers. Rural schools struggle to attract and retain professionally trained teachers (GES 2012; World Bank 2012). We explore one potential solution to the problem of teacher recruitment: distance instruction. Through a cluster…

Comparison of Urban and Rural Dropout Rates of Distance Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Hart, K. L.; Venter J. M. P.

2013-01-01

South Africa has one of the highest university dropout rates in the world. As a country, it also has a history of forced location and the withholding of resources, including quality education, from certain rural areas. This study investigates, the effect of urbanization (of the area in which a student resides) on the dropout rate of distance…

New light on old problem: population.

PubMed

Padilla, T

1982-01-01

A central issue of the Third Asian and Pacific Population Conference, to be held in Sri Lanka in September 1982, is the need for full recognition on the part of developing countries that an integrated approach to population and development is essential. Such an approach requires the following: management of internal migration and urbanization; women's participation in development; and increased involvement in promoting family planning, family welfare, and family health programs. Of much concern is the fact that the ESCAP region's urban population is projected to grow from 660 million in 1980 to 1347 million by the year 2000. Much of this increase will occur in the largest cities. Unplanned urbanization and a growing population reservoir in rural areas will continue to spur movements to the cities, aggravating the urban malaise, yet migration is young people's only option if rural populations are to survive. These problems plague most governments. A recent conference held in Rome urged governments to formulate comprehensive population policies and programs, to specify goals on the rate of population growth and on the distribution of population between urban and rural areas, and to plan for the redistribution of population. The conference also recommended that cities pay attention to problems of the shantytown and slum dwellers who are principally rural migrants and the urban poor. In addition the region's corps of development planners and experts worry about the staggering increase in migration by 3rd world guest workers to the high income OPEC members in the Middle East and the industrialized market economy nations. The proper management of international migration should increase the reabsorptive capacity of sending countries to ensure the reintegration of returning off-loaded guest workers and should try to prevent the rural stagnation due to large scale migration by the young and the better educated from the countryside. Internal and international migration give women an opportunity to discover their great development potential. Yet, more generally, women breaking out of social structures that foster dependency and exploitation are in need of more than simple, single factor solutions. Emerging relationships between declining mortality levels and women's participation in development and economic activities will be explored at the Third Asian and Pacific Population Conference.

Achieving Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 in India.

PubMed

Chatterjee, A; Paily, V P

2011-09-01

This review relates to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), especially MDGs 4 and 5, by India by the year 2015. India contributes the maximum number of maternal deaths (68,000) to the global estimate of 358,000 maternal deaths annually. Infant mortality rate (IMR) is also high at 50 per 1000 (2009). Low budgetary spending on health, poverty, lower literacy, poor nutritional status, rural-urban divide and lack of trained workers in the health sector are cited as reasons for a high maternal mortality ratio and IMR. Increased spending by the Government of India on the health sector has started to show encouraging results. Recent assessments by world bodies like the World Health Organisation have given hope that MDGs 4 and 5 are achievable. © 2011 The Authors BJOG An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology © 2011 RCOG.

Make them equal partners in development.

PubMed

Mishra, T K

The general status of women in India and the world, their potential as entrepreneurs in India, and the Indian government's initiatives for women are described. Women are actually good household managers and essential for success of the family and the nation, but economic development alone will not benefit women by a "trickle down" effect because male superiority is a vested interest. Women around the world perform 2/3 of the work, but receive 1/10 of the income and own less than 1/100 of the property. Although female literacy in India has grown from 18.7% in 1971 to 24.8% in 1981, the absolute number of illiterate women has grown from 215 to 241 million, and the ratio of illiterate women to men has risen. Higher education for women is largely limited to home economics, art, literature and dressmaking. Women are taking up spinning, weaving, crafts, matchmaking, cereal processing and other cottage industries. Elite urban women are also starting businesses doing marketing, advertising, electronics, designing, textiles and beauty clinics. Entrepreneurial women face problems with credit, bureaucratic hurdles, harassment by inspectors, huge consultancy and legal fees. Women's welfare organizations should foster their economic development. The Indian government has proposed anti-poverty programs, job programs, legal safeguards, and promotion of women in the media. It has suggested that a Ministry of Women and Child Development be created to enforce the law for women. A Ministry of Rural Development has initiated a Scheme for the Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA). There is a National Committee on Women, headed by the Prime Minister, to advise the Central and State Governments on policy, legislative and administrative measures needed to remove economic and social inequalities for women.

Rural water supply in Kerala, India: How to emerge from a low-level equilibrium trap

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Bhanwar; Ramasubban, Radhika; Bhatia, Ramesh; Briscoe, John; Griffin, Charles C.; Kim, Chongchun

1993-07-01

Large quantities of financial and human resources have been devoted to improving rural water supplies in developing countries over the past two decades. Many projects have been successful, but many have failed to meet the needs of the intended beneficiaries. Evidence of the failures lies in the unused and poorly maintained systems that are scattered throughout rural areas of the developing world. The current situation in water supply in rural Kerala, India, reflects this general observation and can be described as a "low-level equilibrium trap." Water systems provide a low level of service with few yard taps. The monthly tariff for water from household connections is low. With few connectors and low tariffs, little revenue is generated beyond subsidies provided by the government. The water authority can afford to maintain the system up to a level at which the reliability of service is low, forcing consumers to supplement piped water from traditional sources. This study analyzes contingent valuation data collected in three areas of Kerala to evaluate the possibility of lifting the system out of this trap. The analysis shows that by making a few critical policy changes, encouraging private connections and financing those connections through higher tariffs, the system can ratchet up to a "high-level equilibrium" in which there are many connectors, monthly revenues are greatly increased, and consumer welfare improves. Such a system would be better financed, making it possible to improve the reliability and quality of the service.

[A diachronic study on resettlers' perceptions toward ecological relocation in world heritage site: A case study of Wulingyuan Scenic Area, China].

PubMed

Wang, Kai; Chen, Qin Chang; Li, Zhi Miao

2018-03-01

Perceptions of residents in ecological resettlement area are important for evaluating the implementation effect of ecological relocation and sustainable development of world heritage site. With the residents from three different resettlement communities in Wulingyuan Scenic Area as the research object, we carried out a diachronic study on changes of the resettlers' perceptions of ecological relocation at different times and the main driving factors based on systematic survey data in 2010 and 2016. The results showed that in the year 2010 and 2016, resettlers reacted negatively to the indicators such as "enhancement of employment opportunity", "improvement of education and training opportunity", "enhanced environment in scenic area", "recognizing the identity change 'from rural to non-rural' after relocation". They favored the indicators such as "undermining traditional value", "lack of supervision during the implementation of policies". In 2016, resettlers of different gender, age and average monthly income had substantial different opinions on the economic and psychological impacts of ecological relocation. Education and income level had great impacts on their opinions of ecological relocation policies. Resettlers relocated by the way of investment for developing perceived were more sensitive to the economic impacts. Economic and policy impacts became the dominant driving factors for their general perception of ecological relocation. They pay more attention to employment, children's education opportunity as well as social security system for relocation.

Domestic violence against women: a qualitative study in a rural community.

PubMed

Kaur, Ravneet; Garg, Suneela

2010-04-01

Domestic violence is a major contributor to physical and mental ill health of women and is evident, to some degree, in every society in the world. The World Health Organization reports that globally 29% to 62% of women have experienced physical or sexual violence by an intimate partner. Ending gender discrimination and all forms of violence against women requires an understanding of the prevailing culture of bias and violence. The present study was conducted in a rural area in India. Focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted among married women in the age group of 18 to 35 years. Physical violence was a major cause of concern among these women. Some women had to suffer even during pregnancy. An alcoholic husband emerged as the main cause for domestic violence. Husbands' relatives instigating wife beating was also common. Majority of the women preferred to remain silent despite being victimized. The women feared to resort to law because of implications such as social isolation. To address this, all sectors including education, health, legal, and judicial must work in liaison. Gender inequality must be eliminated and equal participation of women in the decision-making and development processes must be ensured.

The age profile of the location decision of Australian general practitioners.

PubMed

Mu, Chunzhou

2015-10-01

The unbalanced distribution of general practitioners (GPs) across geographic areas has been acknowledged as a problem in many countries around the world. Quantitative information regarding GPs' location decision over their lifecycle is essential in developing effective initiatives to address the unbalanced distribution and retention of GPs. This paper describes the age profile of GPs' location decision and relates it to individual characteristics. I use the Medicine in Australia: Balancing Employment and Life (MABEL) survey of doctors (2008-2012) with a sample size of 5810 male and 5797 female GPs. I employ a mixed logit model to estimate GPs' location decision. The results suggest that younger GPs are more prepared to go to rural and remote areas but they tend to migrate back to urban areas as they age. Coming from a rural background increases the likelihood of choosing rural areas, but with heterogeneity: While male GPs from a rural background tend to stay in rural and remote areas regardless of age, female GPs from a rural background are willing to migrate to urban areas as they age. GPs who obtain basic medical degrees overseas are likely to move back to urban areas in the later stage of their careers. Completing a basic medical degree at an older age increases the likelihood of working outside major cities. I also examine factors influencing GPs' location transition patterns and the results further confirm the association of individual characteristics and GPs' location-age profile. The findings can help target GPs who are most likely to practise and remain in rural and remote areas, and tailor policy initiatives to address the undesirable distribution and movement of GPs according to the identified heterogeneous age profile of their location decisions. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The management and design of economic development projects: A case study of World Bank electricity projects in Egypt

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

El Sabaa, S.M.

1992-01-01

This study is concerned with the efficiency of World Bank projects in Egypt. The study seeks improvements in the methods of evaluating public sector projects in Egypt. To approaches are employed: (1) project identification to optimally allocate Egypt's and World Bank's resources; (2) project appraisal to assess the economic viability and efficiency of investments. The electricity sector is compared with the agriculture sector as a means of employing project identification for priority ordering of investment for development in Egypt. The key criteria for evaluation are the impacts of developments of each sector upon Egypt's national objectives and needs. These includemore » employment opportunities, growth, alleviation of poverty, cross comparison of per capita consumption in each sector, economic rate of return, national security, balance of payments and foreign debt. The allocation of scarce investments would have been more efficient in agriculture than in electricity in meeting Egypt's national objectives and needs. World Bank lending programs in Egypt reveal a priority ordering of electricity over agriculture and rural development. World Bank development projects in Egypt have not been optimally identified, and its programs have not followed an efficient allocation of World Bank's and Egypt's resources. The key parameters in evaluating economic viability and efficiency of development projects are: (1) the discount rate (the opportunity cost of public funds); (2) the exchange rate; and (3) the cost of major inputs, as approximated by shadow prices of labor, water, electricity, and transportation for development projects. Alternative approaches to estimating the opportunity cost of public funds are made. The parameters in evaluating the efficiency of projects have not been accurately estimated in the appraisal stage of the World Bank projects in Egypt, resulting in false or misleading information concerning the economic viability and efficiency of the projects.« less

[Third World cities: points of accumulation, centers of distribution].

PubMed

Armstrong, W R; Mcgee, T G

1985-01-01

Attention was called over 3 decades ago to the very rapid growth of Third World cities and the significance of the differences between their patterns of urbanization and those of industrialized countries. Their demographic growth occurred much faster and depended much more heavily on high fertility, their economies were geared more to export of raw materials than to manufacturing and were unable to create massive numbers of jobs to absorb the growing labor force except in the unproductive tertiary sector, and it appeared unlikely that they would be able to produce entrepreneurial classes of their own. Several economic developments during the 1970s affected the world economy and the patterns of urbanization of the Third World: the decline of the principal capitalist economies and the multiple increases in the price of oil, the floating exchange rate, the considerable increase in consumer goods, and the increasing costs of labor in industrialized countries, among others, created new conditions. World economic interdependence, international control of investment and exchange, and volume and mobility of capital increased at a time of rapid economic growth in some Third World countries, especially those whose governments took an aggressive role in promoting growth and investment. Some Third World cities now seem to be developing according to a more western model, but the same cannot be said of all Third World countries, and international economic evolution appears to have led to increasing polarization between countries as well as within them. The 1 domain where a certain convergence has occurred is consumption, beginning with the privileged classes and filtering to the lower income groups. Consumption of collective and individual consumer goods, which is concentrated in the largest cities, increases dependence on imports, technology, knowledge, and usually debt. The modern productive sector and its distribution activities become implanted in the cities to such a degree that it becomes more and more difficult for the consumption needs of regional cities and rural areas to be satisfied except through manufactured products from the capitalist sector of the principal city or through imports from industrial countries. Despite the fact that some Third World cities will be enormous by the year 2000 and that their social structures and labor forces will not closely resemble those of European cities, the thesis of "pseudourbanization" appears invalid for several reasons: the model of sectorial changes in the European labor force was not followed by the industrializing countries of North America; some Third World countries (excluding India and China) appear able to absorb most of their surplus rural population into the modern sector, and Third World cities appear less and less to be merely centers of culture. New research during the 1970s on Third World urbanization contributed several crucial elements to the analysis: recognition that insertion of developing countries into the international economic order has been a major influence on their urbanization patterns, appreciation of the role of migration in urbanization, realization of the potential role of the state in mitigating spatial and structural inequalities created by the urbanization process, and recognition of the need for more detailed microeconomic studies and construction of more elaborate models of Third World economies.

Building a global schistosomiasis alliance: an opportunity to join forces to fight inequality and rural poverty.

PubMed

Savioli, Lorenzo; Albonico, Marco; Colley, Daniel G; Correa-Oliveira, Rodrigo; Fenwick, Alan; Green, Will; Kabatereine, Narcis; Kabore, Achille; Katz, Naftale; Klohe, Katharina; LoVerde, Philip T; Rollinson, David; Stothard, J Russell; Tchuem Tchuenté, Louis-Albert; Waltz, Johannes; Zhou, Xiao-Nong

2017-03-23

Schistosomiasis, one of the 17 neglected tropical diseases listed by the World Health Organization, presents a substantial public health and economic burden. Of the 261 million people requiring preventive chemotherapy for schistosomiasis in 2013, 92% of them lived in sub-Saharan Africa and only 12.7% received preventive chemotherapy. Moreover, in 2010, the WHO reported that schistosomiasis mortality could be as high as 280 000 per year in Africa alone.In May 2012 delegates to the sixty-fifth World Health Assembly adopted resolution WHA65.21 that called for the elimination of schistosomiasis, and foresees the regular treatment of at least 75% of school age children in at-risk areas. The resolution urged member states to intensify schistosomiasis control programmes and to initiate elimination campaigns where possible.Despite this, in June 2015, schistosomiasis was indicated to have the lowest level of preventive chemotherapy implementation in the spectrum of neglected tropical diseases. It was also highlighted as the disease most lacking in progress. This is perhaps unsurprising, given that it was also the only NTD with access to drug donations but without a coalition of stakeholders that collaborates to boost commitment and implementation.As a consequence, and to ensure that the WHO NTDs Roadmap Targets of 2012 and World Health Assembly Resolution WHA65.21 are met, the Global Schistosomiasis Alliance (GSA) has been set up. Diverse and representative, the GSA aims to be a partnership of endemic countries, academic and research institutions, international development agencies and foundations, international organizations, non-governmental development organizations, private sector companies and advocacy and resource mobilisation partners. Ultimately, the GSA calls for a partnership to work for the benefit of endemic countries by addressing health inequity and rural poverty.

Why Do They Stay: Factors Influencing Teacher Retention in Rural Zimbabwe

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gomba, Clifford

2015-01-01

The attraction and retention of teachers in Zimbabwe is a problem not only unique to Zimbabwean schools, but all over the world. The problem is more pronounced in rural areas where resources are scarce, hence the tendency to repel teachers. Although the problem of teacher turnover is real, there are teachers who have remained in the profession for…

The Impact of Primary Education on School-to-Work Transitions for Young People in Rural Bolivia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Punch, Samantha

2004-01-01

As in many parts of the majority world, primary education in rural Bolivia is constrained by a range of factors: poor teaching quality, lack of resources, limited infrastructure, inadequate teaching materials, and low wages for teachers. Furthermore, high rates of absenteeism, drop-out, repetition, and failure can be exacerbated by children's work…

Expansion of Vocational Education in Neoliberal China: Hope and Despair among Rural Youth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koo, Anita

2016-01-01

The rise of China as the world factory in the last few decades has been accompanied by a rapid expansion in vocational education. A growing number of youth from rural backgrounds now have the chance to receive post-compulsory education in vocational training schools. Using human capital theory as an analytical focus, this study examines their…

Ageing-Related Experiences of Adults with Learning Disability Resident in Rural Areas: One Australian Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wark, Stuart; Canon-Vanry, Miranda; Ryan, Peta; Hussain, Rafat; Knox, Marie; Edwards, Meaghan; Parmenter, Marie; Parmenter, Trevor; Janicki, Matthew; Leggatt-Cook, Chez

2015-01-01

Background: Access to support services in rural areas is known to be problematic both in Australia, and in other countries around the world, but the majority of research on the population of people ageing with learning disability has so far focussed on metropolitan residents. The authors report about select aspects of the lived experience of older…

Empowering Parents to Improve Education: Evidence from Rural Mexico. Impact Evaluation Series Number 4. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 3935

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gertler, Paul; Patrinos, Harry; Rubio-Codina, Marta

2006-01-01

Mexico's compensatory education program provides extra resources to primary schools that enroll disadvantaged students in highly disadvantaged rural communities. One of the most important components of the program is the school-based management intervention known as Apoyo a la Gestion Escolar, (AGEs). The impact of the AGEs is assessed on…

From Farm to Farmville: Circulation, Adoption, and Use of ICT between Urban and Rural China

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oreglia, Elisa

2013-01-01

In the mid-2000s, China began a set of policies to "informatize" the countryside, i.e. to bring Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) to rural residents in order to improve their economic conditions. These policies posit the countryside as a world of "less," compared to urban areas, and they are framed in terms of…

Perceptions of Multigrade Teaching: A Narrative Inquiry into the Voices of Stakeholders in Multigrade Contexts in Rural Zambia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kivunja, Charles; Sims, Margaret

2015-01-01

Multigrade teaching is used widely in primary schools throughout the Majority World. This study reports the findings of a narrative inquiry undertaken to answer the question: what are the perceptions of stakeholders in rural Zambian multigrade contexts about multigrade teaching as an education strategy? We were interested in exploring the reality…

Contact-Induced Language Alternation in Tanzanian Ngoni--An Empirical Study of Frequency and Patterns

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rosendal, Tove; Mapunda, Gastor

2017-01-01

The codeswitching pattern is different in rural Tanzania compared to urban agglomerations around the world. Even in very rural areas people in Tanzania are bilingual in Swahili, the national and local lingua franca, and their own first language. The result of this language contact is understudied and has only recently been focused on. This paper…

Teaching Hinduism through a Rural Homestay in South India

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ulrich, Edward T.

2018-01-01

For the first time, in 2008, I offered a world religions study abroad course in South India. The special emphasis was meeting and befriending locals, and the centerpiece of the course was a six-night stay in rural homes. I considered this immersion in a Hindu context to be the best setting for learning Hindu thought. However, the environment was…

Exploring the Educational Aspirations of Rural Youth: An Image-Based Study Using Participant Produced Photographs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lambert, Dana Ann

2010-01-01

Education is an important variable in forming student aspirations in that it serves to help students become more knowledgeable about the world, more sensitive and understanding of their relationship to it, and more eager to contribute to the community. The purpose of this visual ethnography study was to explore how students in one rural ninth…

Change in the Perceptions of Rural Adolescents after Exposure to the Outside World.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vollmer, Maria A.; Hedlund, Dalva E.

Seventeen adolescents from four rural high schools in upstate New York were interviewed while in the 12th grade and again a year later. Interviews focused on student perceptions of their community, school, and social life; values; and future plans. All participants graduated from high school, and most went on to college or moved to another…

The Human Behavioral Ecology of Contemporary World Issues : Applications to Public Policy and International Development.

PubMed

Tucker, Bram; Rende Taylor, Lisa

2007-09-01

Human behavioral ecology (HBE) began as an attempt to explain human economic, reproductive, and social behavior using neodarwinian theory in concert with theory from ecology and economics, and ethnographic methods. HBE has addressed subsistence decision-making, cooperation, life history trade-offs, parental investment, mate choice, and marriage strategies among hunter-gatherers, herders, peasants, and wage earners in rural and urban settings throughout the world. Despite our rich insights into human behavior, HBE has very rarely been used as a tool to help the people with whom we work. This article introduces a special issue of Human Nature which explores the application of HBE to significant world issues through the design and critique of public policy and international development projects. The articles by Tucker, Shenk, Leonetti et al., and Neil were presented at the 104th annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) in Washington, D.C., in December 2005, in the first organized session of the nascent Evolutionary Anthropology Section (EAS). We conclude this introduction by summarizing some theoretical challenges to applying HBE, and ways in which evolutionary anthropologists can contribute to solving tough world issues.

Isolated Ficus trees deliver dual conservation and development benefits in a rural landscape.

PubMed

Cottee-Jones, H Eden W; Bajpai, Omesh; Chaudhary, Lal B; Whittaker, Robert J

2015-11-01

Many of the world's rural populations are dependent on the local provision of economically and medicinally important plant resources. However, increasing land-use intensity is depleting these resources, reducing human welfare, and thereby constraining development. Here we investigate a low cost strategy to manage the availability of valuable plant resources, facilitated by the use of isolated Ficus trees as restoration nuclei. We surveyed the plants growing under 207 isolated trees in Assam, India, and categorized them according to their local human-uses. We found that Ficus trees were associated with double the density of important high-grade timber, firewood, human food, livestock fodder, and medicinal plants compared to non-Ficus trees. Management practices were also important in determining the density of valuable plants, with grazing pressure and land-use intensity significantly affecting densities in most categories. Community management practices that conserve isolated Ficus trees, and restrict livestock grazing and high-intensity land-use in their vicinity, can promote plant growth and the provision of important local resources.

Poor relief, taxes and the first Universal Pension Reform: the origin of the Swedish welfare state reconsidered.

PubMed

Edebalk, Per Gunnar; Olsson, Mats

2010-01-01

In the year 1900, Sweden probably had the oldest population in the contemporary world. It was also the first nation to implement a universal pension system in 1913. The universal character in early social legislation has certainly been decisive for the development of the Swedish welfare state. This alternative has not been self-evident. Why did the reforms turn universal, when the continental model, the Bismarck social security system, was exclusively directed at industrial workers? Research has concentrated on demographic factors and growing demands for social security, or on the fact that Sweden was still a predominantly rural society with about 2,400 local authorities. This article examines the development of social legislation in the light of local government expenditures and incomes, and suggests an overlooked possibility: the formulation of the first universal national social security reform was a redistributional response to uneven distribution of incomes and general expenditures among the rural districts in Sweden.

A systematic review of essential obstetric and newborn care capacity building in rural sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Ni Bhuinneain, G M; McCarthy, F P

2015-01-01

Progress in maternal survival in sub-Saharan Africa has been poor since the Millennium Declaration. This systematic review aims to investigate the presence and rigour of evidence for effective capacity building for Essential Obstetric and Newborn Care (EONC) to reduce maternal mortality in rural, sub-Saharan Africa, where maternal mortality ratios are highest globally. MEDLINE (1990-January 2014), EMBASE (1990-January 2014), and the Cochrane Library were included in our search. Key developing world issues of The Lancet and the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, African Ministry of Health websites, and the WHO reproductive health library were searched by hand. Studies investigating essential obstetric and newborn care packages in basic and comprehensive care facilities, at community and institutional level, in rural sub-Saharan Africa were included. Studies were included if they reported on healthcare worker performance, access to care, community behavioural change, and emergency obstetric and newborn care. Data were extracted and all relevant studies independently appraised using structured abstraction and appraisal tools. There is moderate evidence to support the training of healthcare workers of differing cadres in the provision of emergency obstetric and newborn services to reduce institutional maternal mortality and case-fatality rates in rural sub-Saharan Africa. Community schemes that sensitise and enable access to maternal health services result in a modest rise in facility birth and skilled birth attendance in this rural setting. Essential Obstetric and Newborn Care has merit as an intervention package to reduce maternal mortality in rural sub-Saharan Africa. © 2014 Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

Perspective on Eco-Hydrology Developing Strategy in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xia, J.

2017-12-01

China is one of developing countries with higher eco-environmental press in the world due to large population and its socio-economic development. In China, water is not only the sources for life, but also the key for production, and the foundation for eco-system. Thus, Eco-hydrology becomes a fundamental also an applied sciences related to describe the hydrologic mechanisms that underlie ecologic patterns and processes. This paper addresses the issue of Eco-hydrology Developing Strategy in China, supported by Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Major contents include four aspects, namely: (1) Demands and frontier of eco-hydrology in the world; (2) Major theories and approaches of Eco-hydrology; (3) Perspective of future development on Eco-hydrology; (4) Enacting and proposal for China development strategy on Eco-hydrology. Application fields involves urban, rural area, wetland, river & lake, forest and special regions in China, such as the arid and semi-arid region and so on. The goal is to promote the disciplinary development of eco-hydrology, and serve for national demands on ecological civilization construction in China.

Biomass fuel combustion and health*

PubMed Central

de Koning, H. W.; Smith, K. R.; Last, J. M.

1985-01-01

Biomass fuels (wood, agricultural waste, and dung) are used by about half the world's population as a major, often the only, source of domestic energy for cooking and heating. The smoke emissions from these fuels are an important source of indoor air pollution, especially in rural communities in developing countries. These emissions contain important pollutants that adversely affect health—such as suspended particulate matter and polycyclic organic matter which includes a number of known carcinogens, such as benzo[a]pyrene, as well as gaseous pollutants like carbon monoxide and formaldehyde. Exposure to large amounts of smoke may present a health risk that is of a similar order of magnitude to the risk from tobacco smoke. The effects on health arising from exposure to air pollution are reviewed, based on what has been reported in the literature so far. Further and more detailed information on exposures and on the epidemiological aspects is urgently required. The persons most frequently affected are women who do the cooking for households in rural villages; they suffer from impaired health due to prolonged and repeated contact with these harmful pollutants. When they are pregnant, the developing fetus may also be exposed and this leads to the risk of excess deaths. In the developing countries, exposure to biomass fuel emissions is probably one of the most important occupational health hazards for women. A conservatively estimated 300-400 million people worldwide, mostly in the rural areas of developing countries, are affected by these problems. PMID:3872729

The shape of things to come.

PubMed

Gallagher, C F

1979-01-01

Basic projections for the future made by various international and national planning organizations form the basis for a report on the demographic, economic, and social implications of population growth for the year 2000, both as to the statistics involved and what they mean. The most signficiant factor is that by the end of the century, global population will be greater than 6 billion. Statistics on population patterns are presented for Asia; India; China; Africa; Latin America; North America; Europe, Oceania, and the USSR, including population growth; birthrate; mortality; population projections; population distribution; age of populations; and urbanization. The realities that stand behind these abstract and impersonal statistics of population change will pose significant problems in several major respects: how these increasing populations will support themselves; where they will live; and how they will be fed. These question are closely related, but the need to create jobs might come 1st since decisions about the kind of employment opportunities to be offered and where will directly affect the rural-urban population equation. It is clear that an enormous number of jobs must be found in developing countries by the end of the century, estimated at 500 million more. The economic implications of increasing urbanization in the developing world are explored, and it is noted that Asia, Latin America, and Africa now face the prospect of having to feed as many as 800 million more urbanites by the year 2000. Also, rural population will also continue to grow, and whether agricultural resources can be increased to what extent and how is a critical question. It is concluded that no matter how agriculture is improved or jobs found in developing countries, many will be poorly nourished, badly housed, and inadequately educated. It is finally suggested that by 2000 the Third World as such will no longer exist; instead the world will consist of older developed countries; rapidly developing countries; middle-income countries; oil-surplus countries; and still poor countries, with a movement toward a constantly more diversified echelon of socioeconomic levels of development, both among and within countries.

Household food security status in the Northeast of Iran: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Gholami, Ali; Foroozanfar, Zohre

2015-01-01

An important issue the world faces today is ensuring that households living in different countries have access to enough food to maintain a healthy life. Food insecurity is prevalent in both developed and developing countries. The objective of this study was to assess the household food security status and related factors among different rural districts of Neyshabur (A city in northeast of Iran). Of 5000 selected rural households 4647 were studied in this cross-sectional study. A validated short questionnaire (with six questions) was used to measure food security. Chi-square test and logistic regression were used for data analysis through SPSS software. In total, 2747 households (59.1%) were identified as food secure. The highest prevalence of food security was observed in Central district (62.3%) and the lowest was in Miyanjolgeh district (52.9%). Backward multiple logistic regression revealed that car ownership, presence of chronic disease in household and household income (per month) were significantly associated with food security in all of surveyed districts (p< 0.05). According to results of this study, lower than 60% of Neyshabur rural households were food secure and economic variables were the most important factors. Therefore, a special attention should be paid to this health problem in these regions.

Migration of the population.

PubMed

Krasinets, E

1998-03-01

Two factors influence foreign migration balance of the Russian Federation. The first factor involves the migration process between Russia and former union republics. The influx of population to the Russian Federation from other republics of the former Soviet Union is considered as one of the largest in the world. The average annual migratory growth of Russia during the years 1991-94 as a result of this migration exchange has tripled as compared with 1986-90, with a total of 2.7 million Russians who migrated into Russia. However, from 1996 up to the present time, the number of persons arriving in Russia declined dramatically. Meanwhile, the second factor that determines the country's migration balance is emigration to the far abroad. The most significant trend in determining the development of internal migration in Russia is the outflow of population from northern and eastern regions. The directions of internal and external migratory flows have a large influence on the migration balance in Russia's rural areas. The reduction of migratory flows in rural areas is the direct result of processes in the economic sphere. It confirms the reconstruction of rural-urban migratory exchange.

Well water quality in rural Nicaragua using a low-cost bacterial test and microbial source tracking.

PubMed

Weiss, Patricia; Aw, Tiong Gim; Urquhart, Gerald R; Galeano, Miguel Ruiz; Rose, Joan B

2016-04-01

Water-related diseases, particularly diarrhea, are major contributors to morbidity and mortality in developing countries. Monitoring water quality on a global scale is crucial to making progress in terms of population health. Traditional analytical methods are difficult to use in many regions of the world in low-resource settings that face severe water quality issues due to the inaccessibility of laboratories. This study aimed to evaluate a new low-cost method (the compartment bag test (CBT)) in rural Nicaragua. The CBT was used to quantify the presence of Escherichia coli in drinking water wells and aimed to determine the source(s) of any microbial contamination. Results indicate that the CBT is a viable method for use in remote rural regions. The overall quality of well water in Pueblo Nuevo, Nicaragua was deemed unsafe, and results led to the conclusion that animal fecal wastes may be one of the leading causes of well contamination. Elevation and depth of wells were not found to impact overall water quality. However rope-pump wells had a 64.1% reduction in contamination when compared with simple wells.

A CROSS-PROVINCE ANALYSIS OF URBAN AND RURAL INDOOR PM2.5 EXPOSURE IN CHINA USING TIME USE SURVEY

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shimada, Yoko; Guo, Minna; Kurata, Gakuji; Matsuoka, Yuzuru

In developing countries in Asia and other parts of the world, most energy sources used in the home are solid fuels such as coal and biomass (firewood, crop residue and animal dung). Particulate matter 2.5, consisting of particles with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 um or less, produced through combustion of these fuels inside the residence for cooking and heating has an adverse impact on people's health. We estimated PM2.5 exposure concentration in indoor microenvironment for each cohort of urban and rural area in ten provinces of China, using statistical data on time use survey and domestic energy consumption. The study found that, in each province, the exposure concentration in rural area was higher than in urban area, unemployed women between the ages of 60 and 64 had the highest estimate for exposure concentration at 3027 μg/m3. The study also found that the exposure concentration for individual cohorts in each province was greatly affected by people's use of time indoors, fuel consumption such as coal or biomass and floor space.

Global Warming and Food Insecurity in Rural Latin America

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Byrne, T. R.; Byrne, J. M.; McDaniel, S.

2012-12-01

Food insecurity is one of the most important challenges facing humanity in the 21st century - a challenge that will be further exacerbated by the changing climate. The effects of human induced climate change will be most disproportionate and severe in the developing world, where a stable food supply, decreased purchasing power, and adequate nutrition are often already a daily struggle. This study will build on work done by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations (UN), and will assess how vulnerability to household food insecurity will be affected by global warming in various rural parts of Latin America. Temperature data from downscaled Global Circulation Models (GCM) will be used in conjunction with the results of national household surveys to generate information on each rural farming household's probability of falling below a food poverty threshold in the near future. The results of the study will allow us to distinguish between households that are likely to experience chronic food insecurity and those that are likely to experience transitory food insecurity, permitting for improved targeting of policy responses.

Renewable energy opportunities in China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wallace, William L.; Simon Tsuo, Y.

1996-01-01

Rapid growth in economic development coupled with the absence of an electric grid in large areas of rural China have created a need for new energy sources both in urban centers and the rural countryside. Electric capacity expansion plans call for increased use of coal-fired steam turbines for electricity production that will contribute to increased concerns over environmental pollution. China is rich in renewable energy resources, strategically located in areas of greatest need and economic viability. China is also already one of the world's largest users of renewables, especially hydro, wind, biomass, and solar thermal, and has significant experience with photovoltaics, geothermal and other technologies. The use of renewable energy is being encouraged in expanded programs at the central and provincial government levels, with growing private sector involvement. These conditions create opportunities for U.S. business participation in renewable energy markets in China.

Development Strategy for Mobilecommunications Market in Chinese Rural Area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Liwei; Zhang, Yanjun; Xu, Liying; Li, Daoliang

Based on full analysis of rural mobile communication market, in order to explore mobile operators in rural areas of information services for sustainable development model, this paper presents three different aspects, including rural mobile communications market demand, the rural market for mobile communications business model and development strategies for rural mobile communications market research business. It supplies some valuable references for operators to develop rural users rapidly, develop the rural market effectively and to get access to develop a broad space.

Modelling multiple threats to water security in the Peruvian Amazon using the WaterWorld policy support system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van Soesbergen, A. J. J.; Mulligan, M.

2014-01-01

This paper describes the application of WaterWorld (www.policysupport.org/waterworld) to the Peruvian Amazon, an area that is increasingly under pressure from deforestation and water pollution as a result of population growth, rural-to-urban migration and oil and gas extraction, potentially impacting both water quantity and water quality. By applying single and combined plausible scenarios of climate change, deforestation around existing and planned roads, population growth and rural-urban migration, mining and oil and gas exploitation, we explore the potential combined impacts of these multiple changes on water resources in the Peruvian Amazon.

Assessing the feasibility of integrating ecosystem-based with engineered water resource governance and management for water security in semi-arid landscapes: A case study in the Banas catchment, Rajasthan, India.

PubMed

Everard, Mark; Sharma, Om Prakash; Vishwakarma, Vinod Kumar; Khandal, Dharmendra; Sahu, Yogesh K; Bhatnagar, Rahul; Singh, Jitendra K; Kumar, Ritesh; Nawab, Asghar; Kumar, Amit; Kumar, Vivek; Kashyap, Anil; Pandey, Deep Narayan; Pinder, Adrian C

2018-01-15

Much of the developing world and areas of the developed world suffer water vulnerability. Engineering solutions enable technically efficient extraction and diversion of water towards areas of demand but, without rebalancing resource regeneration, can generate multiple adverse ecological and human consequences. The Banas River, Rajasthan (India), has been extensively developed for water diversion, particularly from the Bisalpur Dam from which water is appropriated by powerful urban constituencies dispossessing local people. Coincidentally, abandonment of traditional management, including groundwater recharge practices, is leading to increasingly receding and contaminated groundwater. This creates linked vulnerabilities for rural communities, irrigation schemes, urban users, dependent ecosystems and the multiple ecosystem services that they provide, compounded by climate change and population growth. This paper addresses vulnerabilities created by fragmented policy measures between rural development, urban and irrigation water supply and downstream consequences for people and wildlife. Perpetuating narrowly technocentric approaches to resource exploitation is likely only to compound emerging problems. Alternatively, restoration or innovation of groundwater recharge practices, particularly in the upper catchment, can represent a proven, ecosystem-based approach to resource regeneration with linked beneficial socio-ecological benefits. Hybridising an ecosystem-based approach with engineered methods can simultaneously increase the security of rural livelihoods, piped urban and irrigation supplies, and the vitality of river ecosystems and their services to beneficiaries. A renewed policy focus on local-scale water recharge practices balancing water extraction technologies is consistent with emerging Rajasthani policies, particularly Jal Swavlamban Abhiyan ('water self-reliance mission'). Policy reform emphasising recharge can contribute to water security and yield socio-economic outcomes through a systemic understanding of how the water system functions, and by connecting goals and budgets across multiple, currently fragmented policy areas. The underpinning principles of this necessary paradigm shift are proven and have wider geographic relevance, though context-specific research is required to underpin robust policy and practical implementation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Organization of Educational Programs in Sparsely Settled Areas of the World.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Edington, Everett D.

Only one-third of the world's population presently lives in countries where as much as a complete primary education is provided for children in rural areas. While the number of one-teacher schools in the United States has decreased from 148,711 in 1930 to 15,018 in 1961, a similar trend is not taking place as rapidly in other areas of the world,…

a Geographic Weighted Regression for Rural Highways Crashes Modelling Using the Gaussian and Tricube Kernels: a Case Study of USA Rural Highways

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aghayari, M.; Pahlavani, P.; Bigdeli, B.

2017-09-01

Based on world health organization (WHO) report, driving incidents are counted as one of the eight initial reasons for death in the world. The purpose of this paper is to develop a method for regression on effective parameters of highway crashes. In the traditional methods, it was assumed that the data are completely independent and environment is homogenous while the crashes are spatial events which are occurring in geographic space and crashes have spatial data. Spatial data have spatial features such as spatial autocorrelation and spatial non-stationarity in a way working with them is going to be a bit difficult. The proposed method has implemented on a set of records of fatal crashes that have been occurred in highways connecting eight east states of US. This data have been recorded between the years 2007 and 2009. In this study, we have used GWR method with two Gaussian and Tricube kernels. The Number of casualties has been considered as dependent variable and number of persons in crash, road alignment, number of lanes, pavement type, surface condition, road fence, light condition, vehicle type, weather, drunk driver, speed limitation, harmful event, road profile, and junction type have been considered as explanatory variables according to previous studies in using GWR method. We have compered the results of implementation with OLS method. Results showed that R2 for OLS method is 0.0654 and for the proposed method is 0.9196 that implies the proposed GWR is better method for regression in rural highway crashes.

Rural Land Use: Patterns and Proposals for Reform.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erickson, Ronald P.

In a world where the population is increasing at an annual rate of 76 million, where food is in short supply, and where agricultural production is one of our largest capital generating sources, U.S. agriculture and the land base supporting it are vital. Rural America has been losing land at a rate of one and a half million acres a year due to soil…

The Effect of Early Childhood Developmental Program Attendance on Future School Enrollment in Rural North India

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hazarika, Gautam; Viren, Vejoya

2013-01-01

This paper examines the effect of prior participation in early childhood developmental programs, considered endogenous, upon 7-18 years olds' school enrollment in rural North India. Analyses by age group of data from the World Bank's 1997-98 Survey of Living Conditions in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar reveal that 7-10 year olds, 11-14 year olds, and…

Smart street lighting solution for remote rural areas of India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hajra, Debdyut

2017-09-01

Though many smart street lighting solutions is available for urban areas, comparatively fewer solutions exist for rural areas. In the recent times, village streets have been illuminated with artificial lights as a part of rural development drive undertaken by the governments of respective countries. But, vehicle and pedestrian traffic is quite low through village roads. Hence, if light remains on all night long on such roads, then there is a huge wastage of energy. This calls for solutions to reduce this energy loss in an efficient manner. There are a lot of factors which must be kept in mind while designing solutions. Many villages lack the proper infrastructure to support new technologies. Communication facilities are limited, lack of local technically skilled labor, lack of security, etc. After evaluating these opportunities and challenges, an attempt has been made to devise a smart street lighting solution tailored for remote rural areas in India. One part of the solution discusses how intensity of the LED street lights can be varied according to the ambient lighting conditions using sensors and LED switching in LED matrix. An artificial intelligence (AI) has also been modelled to identify traffic conditions using PIR sensors and object identification through image processing and independently control the lights. It also tracks the performance and status of each light. It would send this data and necessary notifications to a distant control center for human evaluation. This solution is also applicable for other rural areas throughout the world.

Implementation of Point-of-Care Diagnostics in Rural Primary Healthcare Clinics in South Africa: Perspectives of Key Stakeholders.

PubMed

Mashamba-Thompson, Tivani P; Jama, Ngcwalisa A; Sartorius, Benn; Drain, Paul K; Thompson, Rowan M

2017-01-08

Key stakeholders' involvement is crucial to the sustainability of quality point-of-care (POC) diagnostics services in low-and-middle income countries. The aim of this study was to explore key stakeholder perceptions on the implementation of POC diagnostics in rural primary healthcare (PHC) clinics in South Africa. We conducted a qualitative study encompassing in-depth interviews with multiple key stakeholders of POC diagnostic services for rural and resource-limited PHC clinics. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim prior to thematic content analysis. Thematic content analysis was conducted using themes guided by the World Health Organisation (WHO) quality-ASSURED (Affordable, Sensitive, Specific, User friendly, Rapid and to enable treatment at first visit and Robust, Equipment free and Delivered to those who need it) criteria for POC diagnostic services in resource-limited settings. 11 key stakeholders participated in the study. All stakeholders perceived the main advantage of POC diagnostics as enabling access to healthcare for rural patients. Stakeholders perceived the current POC diagnostic services to have an ability to meet patients' needs, but recommended further improvement of the following areas: research on cost-effectiveness; improved quality management systems; development of affordable POC diagnostic and clinic-based monitoring and evaluation. Key stakeholders of POC diagnostics in rural PHC clinics in South Africa highlighted the need to assess affordability and ensure quality assurance of current services before adopting new POC diagnostics and scaling up current POC diagnostics.

Implementation of Point-of-Care Diagnostics in Rural Primary Healthcare Clinics in South Africa: Perspectives of Key Stakeholders

PubMed Central

Mashamba-Thompson, Tivani P.; Jama, Ngcwalisa A.; Sartorius, Benn; Drain, Paul K.; Thompson, Rowan M.

2017-01-01

Introduction: Key stakeholders’ involvement is crucial to the sustainability of quality point-of-care (POC) diagnostics services in low-and-middle income countries. The aim of this study was to explore key stakeholder perceptions on the implementation of POC diagnostics in rural primary healthcare (PHC) clinics in South Africa. Method: We conducted a qualitative study encompassing in-depth interviews with multiple key stakeholders of POC diagnostic services for rural and resource-limited PHC clinics. Interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim prior to thematic content analysis. Thematic content analysis was conducted using themes guided by the World Health Organisation (WHO) quality-ASSURED (Affordable, Sensitive, Specific, User friendly, Rapid and to enable treatment at first visit and Robust, Equipment free and Delivered to those who need it) criteria for POC diagnostic services in resource-limited settings. Results: 11 key stakeholders participated in the study. All stakeholders perceived the main advantage of POC diagnostics as enabling access to healthcare for rural patients. Stakeholders perceived the current POC diagnostic services to have an ability to meet patients’ needs, but recommended further improvement of the following areas: research on cost-effectiveness; improved quality management systems; development of affordable POC diagnostic and clinic-based monitoring and evaluation. Conclusions: Key stakeholders of POC diagnostics in rural PHC clinics in South Africa highlighted the need to assess affordability and ensure quality assurance of current services before adopting new POC diagnostics and scaling up current POC diagnostics. PMID:28075337

Diagnosing water security in the rural North with an environmental security framework.

PubMed

Penn, Henry J F; Loring, Philip A; Schnabel, William E

2017-09-01

This study explores the nature of water security challenges in rural Alaska, using a framework for environmental security that entails four interrelated concepts: availability, access, utility, and stability of water resources. Many researchers and professionals agree that water insecurity is a problem in rural Alaska, although the scale and nature of the problem is contested. Some academics have argued that the problem is systemic, and rooted in an approach to water security by the state that prioritizes economic concerns over public health concerns. Health practitioners and state agencies, on the other hand, contend that much progress has been made, and that nearly all rural households have access to safe drinking water, though many are still lacking 'modern' in-home water service. Here, we draw on a synthesis of ethnographic research alongside data from state agencies to show that the persistent water insecurity problems in rural Alaska are not a problem of access to or availability of clean water, or a lack of 'modern' infrastructure, but instead are rooted in complex human dimensions of water resources management, including the political legacies of state and federal community development schemes that did not fully account for local needs and challenges. The diagnostic approach we implement here helps to identify solutions to these challenges, which accordingly focus on place-based needs and empowering local actors. The framework likewise proves to be broadly applicable to exploring water security concerns elsewhere in the world. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Canada's new medical school: The Northern Ontario School of Medicine: social accountability through distributed community engaged learning.

PubMed

Strasser, Roger P; Lanphear, Joel H; McCready, William G; Topps, Maureen H; Hunt, D Dan; Matte, Marie C

2009-10-01

Like many rural regions around the world, Northern Ontario has a chronic shortage of doctors. Recognizing that medical graduates who have grown up in a rural area are more likely to practice in the rural setting, the Government of Ontario, Canada, decided in 2001 to establish a new medical school in the region with a social accountability mandate to contribute to improving the health of the people and communities of Northern Ontario. The Northern Ontario School of Medicine (NOSM) is a joint initiative of Laurentian University and Lakehead University, which are located 700 miles apart. This paper outlines the development and implementation of NOSM, Canada's first new medical school in more than 30 years. NOSM is a rural distributed community-based medical school which actively seeks to recruit students into its MD program who come from Northern Ontario or from similar northern, rural, remote, Aboriginal, Francophone backgrounds. The holistic, cohesive curriculum for the MD program relies heavily on electronic communications to support distributed community engaged learning. In the classroom and in clinical settings, students explore cases from the perspective of physicians in Northern Ontario. Clinical education takes place in a wide range of community and health service settings, so that the students experience the diversity of communities and cultures in Northern Ontario. NOSM graduates will be skilled physicians ready and able to undertake postgraduate training anywhere, but with a special affinity for and comfort with pursuing postgraduate training and clinical practice in Northern Ontario.

Prevalence of Psychiatric Disorders among the Rural Geriatric Population: A Pilot Study in Karnataka, India

PubMed Central

Nair, Sreejith S.; Raghunath, Pooja; Nair, Sreekanth S.

2015-01-01

Background: Increasing life expectancy around the world, an outstanding achievement of our century, has brought with it new public health challenges. India is the second most populous country in the world, with over 72 million inhabitants above 60 years of age as of 2001. The life expectancy in India increased from 32 years in 1947 to over 66 years in 2010, with 8.0% of the population now reaching over 60 years of age. Few studies in India target the health, especially mental health, of this geriatric population. This study aims to estimate the current prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the geriatric population of the rural area of Singanodi,Karnataka, India. Methods: This cross sectional, epidemiological, community-based study was conducted in a rural health training area of Singanodi, Raichur District, Karnataka, India.The General Health Questionnaire-12, Mini Mental State Examination, and Geriatric Depression Scale were administered to 366 participants. Chi square tests with Yates correction were utilized for statistical analysis using SPSS 19.0 software. Results: We found that 33.9% of the geriatric population in the selected province were above the threshold for mental illness based on the GHQ-12 questionnaire. Females had a higher prevalence of mental disorder at 77.6% (152 out of 196) as compared to males who had a prevalence of 42.4% (72 out of 170). The most common psychiatric disorder was depression (21.9%), and generalized anxiety was present in 10.7% of the study population. Prevalence of cognitive impairment was 16.3%, with a significantly higher percentage of affected individuals in 80+ age group. Conclusion: Mental disorders are common among elderly people, but they are not well documented in rural India. The assessment of psychiatric disorder prevalence will help strengthen psycho-geriatric services and thus improve the quality of life of the elderly. A system that ensures comprehensive health care will have to be developed for this purpose as part of our future efforts. PMID:29138712

Prevalence of Psychiatric Disorders among the Rural Geriatric Population: A Pilot Study in Karnataka, India.

PubMed

Nair, Sreejith S; Raghunath, Pooja; Nair, Sreekanth S

2015-01-01

Increasing life expectancy around the world, an outstanding achievement of our century, has brought with it new public health challenges. India is the second most populous country in the world, with over 72 million inhabitants above 60 years of age as of 2001. The life expectancy in India increased from 32 years in 1947 to over 66 years in 2010, with 8.0% of the population now reaching over 60 years of age. Few studies in India target the health, especially mental health, of this geriatric population. This study aims to estimate the current prevalence of psychiatric disorders in the geriatric population of the rural area of Singanodi,Karnataka, India. This cross sectional, epidemiological, community-based study was conducted in a rural health training area of Singanodi, Raichur District, Karnataka, India.The General Health Questionnaire-12, Mini Mental State Examination, and Geriatric Depression Scale were administered to 366 participants. Chi square tests with Yates correction were utilized for statistical analysis using SPSS 19.0 software. We found that 33.9% of the geriatric population in the selected province were above the threshold for mental illness based on the GHQ-12 questionnaire. Females had a higher prevalence of mental disorder at 77.6% (152 out of 196) as compared to males who had a prevalence of 42.4% (72 out of 170). The most common psychiatric disorder was depression (21.9%), and generalized anxiety was present in 10.7% of the study population. Prevalence of cognitive impairment was 16.3%, with a significantly higher percentage of affected individuals in 80+ age group. Mental disorders are common among elderly people, but they are not well documented in rural India. The assessment of psychiatric disorder prevalence will help strengthen psycho-geriatric services and thus improve the quality of life of the elderly. A system that ensures comprehensive health care will have to be developed for this purpose as part of our future efforts.

What makes children with cerebral palsy vulnerable to malnutrition? Findings from the Bangladesh cerebral palsy register (BCPR).

PubMed

Jahan, Israt; Muhit, Mohammad; Karim, Tasneem; Smithers-Sheedy, Hayley; Novak, Iona; Jones, Cheryl; Badawi, Nadia; Khandaker, Gulam

2018-04-16

To assess the nutritional status and underlying risk factors for malnutrition among children with cerebral palsy in rural Bangladesh. We used data from the Bangladesh Cerebral Palsy Register; a prospective population based surveillance of children with cerebral palsy aged 0-18 years in a rural subdistrict of Bangladesh (i.e., Shahjadpur). Socio-demographic, clinical and anthropometric measurements were collected using Bangladesh Cerebral Palsy Register record form. Z scores were calculated using World Health Organization Anthro and World Health Organization AnthroPlus software. A total of 726 children with cerebral palsy were registered into the Bangladesh Cerebral Palsy Register (mean age 7.6 years, standard deviation 4.5, 38.1% female) between January 2015 and December 2016. More than two-third of children were underweight (70.0%) and stunted (73.1%). Mean z score for weight for age, height for age and weight for height were -2.8 (standard deviation 1.8), -3.1 (standard deviation 2.2) and -1.2 (standard deviation 2.3) respectively. Moderate to severe undernutrition (i.e., both underweight and stunting) were significantly associated with age, monthly family income, gross motor functional classification system and neurological type of cerebral palsy. The burden of undernutrition is high among children with cerebral palsy in rural Bangladesh which is augmented by both poverty and clinical severity. Enhancing clinical nutritional services for children with cerebral palsy should be a public health priority in Bangladesh. Implications for Rehabilitation Population-based surveillance data on nutritional status of children with cerebral palsy in Bangladesh indicates substantially high burden of malnutrition among children with CP in rural Bangladesh. Children with severe form of cerebral palsy, for example, higher Gross Motor Function Classification System (GMFCS) level, tri/quadriplegic cerebral palsy presents the highest proportion of severe malnutrition; hence, these vulnerable groups should be focused in designing nutrition intervention and rehabilitation programs. Disability inclusive and focused nutrition intervention programme need to be kept as priority in national nutrition policies and nutrition action plans specially in low- and middle-income countries. Community-based management of malnutrition has the potential to overcome this poor nutritional scenario of children with disability (i.e., cerebral palsy). The global leaders such as World Health Organization, national and international organizations should take this in account and conduct further research to develop nutritional guidelines for this vulnerable group of population.

The influence of rural-urban migration on migrant's fertility behavior in Cameroon.

PubMed

Lee, B S

1992-01-01

Preliminary analysis of Cameroon fertility data suggests that rural stayers do not have a significantly higher fertility than rural-urban migrants in contrast to hypotheses suggested in the literature. Bongaarts and Caldwell both suggest that modernization plays a role in African fertility and migration patterns by increasing exposure to childbearing. Supply constraints are changed by higher levels of education, short duration of postpartum abstinence, less prevalence of polygamy, and more stable marriages. The influence of relatives may be weaker and the fear of losing a husband greater, which influence earlier returns to sexual relations. Because the levels of fertility of stayers and movers may be equal does not suggest that movers do not adapt fertility to urban norms. Analysis was conducted with d ata from the 1978 Cameroon World Fertility Survey on 8219 women aged 15-54 years for rural nonmigrants, rural-rural migrants, and rural-urban migrants. Rural-urban migrants were found to be better educated, have fewer cases of infertility, and have more stable first marriages. Descriptive statistics are provided for migrants and nonmigrants. Cross classification analysis shows that fertility is not lower for women with higher education, even when migration status is controlled for. Multivariate regression results in an autoregressive model in a first difference form indicated that the fertility rate of rural-urban migrant women was significantly higher than that of rural staryers during the period of 5-9 years after migration. The urban effect acts to reduce migrants' fertility by about .13 births. Comparisons are made with Mexican and Korean migration behavior, which reflect decreased fertility after migration of 1.5 births and 2.6 births, respectively. The suggestion is that the fertility-increasing effect of supply conditions in Cameroon is significantly offset by the fertility-depressing adaptation effect of migration to urban areas. It is expected that eventually fertility will decline as economic development continues and women's educational levels increase. Stability in marriages will increase women's confidence needed to control fertility and contribute to the increased use of contraceptives.

Women in Migration: A Third World Focus. Summary.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

International Center for Research on Women, Washington, DC.

A study of women in migration in Third World countries since 1960 reveals that, contrary to assumptions, more women are migrating autonomously from rural to urban areas in an often unsuccessful effort to improve their economic status. The results of the study of migration patterns in Africa, Asia, Central America, South America, and the Middle…

New optical, acoustic, and electrical diagnostics for the developing world

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neale, S. L.; Witte, C.; Bourquin, Y.; Kremer, C.; Menachery, A.; Zhang, Y.; Wilson, R.; Reboud, J.; Cooper, J. M.

2012-03-01

Infectious diseases cause 10 million deaths each year worldwide, accounting for ~60% of all deaths of children aged 5- 14. Although these deaths arise primarily through pneumonia, TB, malaria and HIV, there are also the so called "neglected diseases" such as sleeping sickness and bilharzia, which have a devastating impact on rural communities, in sub-Sahara Africa. There, the demands for a successful Developing World diagnostic are particularly rigorous, requiring low cost instrumentation with low power consumption (there is often no fixed power infrastructure). In many cases, the levels of infection within individuals are also sufficiently low that instruments must show extraordinary sensitivity, with measurements being made in blood or saliva. In this talk, a description of these demands will be given, together with a review of some of the solutions that have been developed, which include using acoustics, optics and electrotechnologies, and their combinations to manipulate the fluid samples. In one example, we show how to find a single trypanosome, as the causative agent of sleeping sickness.

7 CFR 22.204 - Rural development committees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Rural development committees. 22.204 Section 22.204 Agriculture Office of the Secretary of Agriculture RURAL DEVELOPMENT COORDINATION Roles and Responsibilities of Federal Government § 22.204 Rural development committees. State rural development committees...

7 CFR 22.204 - Rural development committees.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Rural development committees. 22.204 Section 22.204 Agriculture Office of the Secretary of Agriculture RURAL DEVELOPMENT COORDINATION Roles and Responsibilities of Federal Government § 22.204 Rural development committees. State rural development committees...

The convergence of Chinese county government health expenditures: capitation and contribution.

PubMed

Zhang, Guoying; Zhang, Luwen; Wu, Shaolong; Xia, Xiaoqiong; Lu, Liming

2016-08-19

The disparity between government health expenditures across regions is more severe in developing countries than it is in developed countries. The capitation subsidy method has been proven effective in developed countries in reducing this disparity, but it has not been tested in China, the world's largest developing country. The convergence method of neoclassical economics was adopted to test the convergence of China's regional government health expenditure. Data were obtained from Provinces, Prefectures and Counties Fiscal Statistical Yearbook (2003-2007) edited by the Chinese Ministry of Finance, and published by the Chinese Finance & Economics Publishing House. The existence of σ-convergence and long-term and short-term β-convergence indicated the effectiveness of the capitation subsidy method in the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme on narrowing county government health expenditure disparities. The supply-side variables contributed the most to the county government health expenditure convergence, and factors contributing to convergence of county government health expenditures per capita were different in three regions. The narrowing disparity between county government health expenditures across regions supports the effectiveness of the capitation subsidy method adopted by China's New Rural Cooperative Scheme. However, subsidy policy still requires further improvement.

Profiles in Rural Economic Development: A Guidebook of Selected Successful Rural Area Initiatives.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Margaret G.

This guidebook presents 64 profiles of successful economic development initiatives in the small towns and rural areas of 37 states. Intended for use by rural and small town leaders and rural economic development specialists, the guide provides ideas, encouragement, and an "insider perspective" on alternative rural development strategies.…

Nutrition and physical activity related school environment/policy factors and child obesity in China: a nationally representative study of 8573 students in 110 middle schools.

PubMed

Li, M; Xue, H; Wen, M; Wang, W; Wang, Y

2017-12-01

Obesity is a serious threat to global health. School is a key setting for obesity intervention. Research on school risk factors for child obesity is limited in developing countries. To examine regional variations in obesity and school environments/policies and their associations among students in China. Analyses were based on the first nationally representative sample of 8573 9 th graders in 110 middle schools from 28 regions across China. Multilevel models tested associations between school factors and child self-reported weight outcomes and by school urbanicity setting (urban, rural). Overweight/obesity rate is higher among boys and in urban areas. Schools in rural areas, or less developed regions, promote longer on-campus life, as is indicated by the presence of school cafeterias, night study sessions and longer class hours. Multilevel models show that (i) school cafeterias (OR = 2.53, 95% CI = 1.35-4.75) and internet bars close to school (OR = 1.63, 95% CI = 1.15-2.30) are associated with increased overweight/obesity risk in rural areas, especially for boys; (ii) school night study sessions are associated with lower overweight/obesity risk (OR = 0.69, 95% CI = 0.50-0.96) in rural areas. China has large regional disparities in school environment/policies related to nutrition and physical activity. Some school factors are associated with students' weight status, which vary across gender and areas. Future school-based interventions should attend to diverse regional contexts. © 2016 World Obesity Federation.

Patterns of hospital transfer for self-poisoned patients in rural Sri Lanka: implications for estimating the incidence of self-poisoning in the developing world.

PubMed Central

Eddleston, Michael; Sudarshan, K.; Senthilkumaran, M.; Reginald, K.; Karalliedde, Lakshman; Senarathna, Lalith; de Silva, Dhammika; Rezvi Sheriff, M. H.; Buckley, Nick A.; Gunnell, David

2006-01-01

OBJECTIVES: Most data on self-poisoning in rural Asia have come from secondary hospitals. We aimed to: assess how transfers from primary to secondary hospitals affected estimates of case-fatality ratio (CFR); determine whether there was referral bias according to gender or poison; and estimate the annual incidence of all self-poisoning, and of fatal self-poisoning, in a rural developing-world setting. METHODS: Self-poisoning patients admitted to Anuradhapura General Hospital, Sri Lanka, were reviewed on admission from 1 July to 31 December 2002. We audited medical notes of self-poisoning patients admitted to 17 of the 34 surrounding peripheral hospitals for the same period. FINDINGS: A total of 742 patients were admitted with self-poisoning to the secondary hospital; 81 died (CFR 10.9%). 483 patients were admitted to 17 surrounding peripheral hospitals. Six patients (1.2%) died in peripheral hospitals, 249 were discharged home, and 228 were transferred to the secondary hospital. There was no effect of gender or age on likelihood of transfer; however, patients who had ingested oleander or paraquat were more likely to be transferred than were patients who had taken organophosphorus pesticides or other poisons. Estimated annual incidences of self-poisoning and fatal self-poisoning were 363 and 27 per 100,000 population, respectively, with an overall CFR of 7.4% (95% confidence interval 6.0-9.0). CONCLUSION: Fifty per cent of patients admitted to peripheral hospitals were discharged home, showing that CFRs based on secondary hospital data are inflated. However, while incidence of self-poisoning is similar to that in England, fatal self-poisoning is three times more common in Sri Lanka than fatal self-harm by all methods in England. Population based data are essential for making international comparisons of case fatality and incidence, and for assessing public health interventions. PMID:16628300

Neuroimaging Field Methods Using Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) Neuroimaging to Study Global Child Development: Rural Sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Jasińska, Kaja K; Guei, Sosthène

2018-02-02

Portable neuroimaging approaches provide new advances to the study of brain function and brain development with previously inaccessible populations and in remote locations. This paper shows the development of field functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) imaging to the study of child language, reading, and cognitive development in a rural village setting of Côte d'Ivoire. Innovation in methods and the development of culturally appropriate neuroimaging protocols allow a first-time look into the brain's development and children's learning outcomes in understudied environments. This paper demonstrates protocols for transporting and setting up a mobile laboratory, discusses considerations for field versus laboratory neuroimaging, and presents a guide for developing neuroimaging consent procedures and building meaningful long-term collaborations with local government and science partners. Portable neuroimaging methods can be used to study complex child development contexts, including the impact of significant poverty and adversity on brain development. The protocol presented here has been developed for use in Côte d'Ivoire, the world's primary source of cocoa, and where reports of child labor in the cocoa sector are common. Yet, little is known about the impact of child labor on brain development and learning. Field neuroimaging methods have the potential to yield new insights into such urgent issues, and the development of children globally.

Socio-Economic Inequality of Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases in Bangladesh.

PubMed

Biswas, Tuhin; Islam, Md Saimul; Linton, Natalie; Rawal, Lal B

2016-01-01

Chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a major public health challenge, and undermine social and economic development in much of the developing world, including Bangladesh. Epidemiologic evidence on the socioeconomic status (SES)-related pattern of NCDs remains limited in Bangladesh. This study assessed the relationship between three chronic NCDs and SES among the Bangladeshi population, paying particular attention to the differences between urban and rural areas. Data from the 2011 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey were used for this study. Using a concentration index (CI), we measured relative inequality across pre-diabetes, diabetes, pre-hypertension, hypertension, and BMI (underweight, normal weight, and overweight/obese) in urban and rural areas in Bangladesh. A CI and its associated curve can be used to identify whether socioeconomic inequality exists for a given health variable. In addition, we estimated the health achievement index, integrating mean coverage and the distribution of coverage by rural and urban populations. Socioeconomic inequalities were observed across diseases and risk factors. Using CI, significant inequalities observed for pre-hypertension (CI = 0.09, p = 0.001), hypertension (CI = 0.10, p = 0.001), pre-diabetes (CI = -0.01, p = 0.005), diabetes (CI = 0.19, p<0.001), and overweight/obesity (CI = 0.45, p<0.001). In contrast to the high prevalence of the chronic health conditions among the urban richest, a significant difference in CI was observed for pre-hypertension (CI = -0.20, p = 0.001), hypertension (CI = -0.20, p = 0.005), pre-diabetes (CI = -0.15, p = 0.005), diabetes (CI = -0.26, p = 0.004) and overweight/obesity (CI = 0.25, p = 0.004) were observed more among the low wealth quintiles of rural population. In the same vein, the poorest rural households had more co-morbidities compared to the richest rural households (p = 0.003), and prevalence of co-morbidities was much higher for the richest urban households compared to the poorest urban households. On the other hand in rural the "disachievement" of health indicators is more noticeable than the urban ones. The findings indicate the high burden of selected NCDs among the low wealth quintile populations in rural areas and wealthy populations in urban areas. Particular attentions may be necessary to address the problem of NCDs among these groups.

Socio-Economic Inequality of Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases in Bangladesh

PubMed Central

Biswas, Tuhin; Islam, Md. Saimul; Linton, Natalie; Rawal, Lal B.

2016-01-01

Introduction Chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are a major public health challenge, and undermine social and economic development in much of the developing world, including Bangladesh. Epidemiologic evidence on the socioeconomic status (SES)-related pattern of NCDs remains limited in Bangladesh. This study assessed the relationship between three chronic NCDs and SES among the Bangladeshi population, paying particular attention to the differences between urban and rural areas. Materials and Method Data from the 2011 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey were used for this study. Using a concentration index (CI), we measured relative inequality across pre-diabetes, diabetes, pre-hypertension, hypertension, and BMI (underweight, normal weight, and overweight/obese) in urban and rural areas in Bangladesh. A CI and its associated curve can be used to identify whether socioeconomic inequality exists for a given health variable. In addition, we estimated the health achievement index, integrating mean coverage and the distribution of coverage by rural and urban populations. Results Socioeconomic inequalities were observed across diseases and risk factors. Using CI, significant inequalities observed for pre-hypertension (CI = 0.09, p = 0.001), hypertension (CI = 0.10, p = 0.001), pre-diabetes (CI = -0.01, p = 0.005), diabetes (CI = 0.19, p<0.001), and overweight/obesity (CI = 0.45, p<0.001). In contrast to the high prevalence of the chronic health conditions among the urban richest, a significant difference in CI was observed for pre-hypertension (CI = -0.20, p = 0.001), hypertension (CI = -0.20, p = 0.005), pre-diabetes (CI = -0.15, p = 0.005), diabetes (CI = -0.26, p = 0.004) and overweight/obesity (CI = 0.25, p = 0.004) were observed more among the low wealth quintiles of rural population. In the same vein, the poorest rural households had more co-morbidities compared to the richest rural households (p = 0.003), and prevalence of co-morbidities was much higher for the richest urban households compared to the poorest urban households. On the other hand in rural the “disachievement” of health indicators is more noticeable than the urban ones. Conclusion The findings indicate the high burden of selected NCDs among the low wealth quintile populations in rural areas and wealthy populations in urban areas. Particular attentions may be necessary to address the problem of NCDs among these groups. PMID:27902760

‘I should have thought that Wales was a wet part of the world’: Drought, Rural Communities and Public Health, 1870–1914

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Summary From 1884 onwards, Britain experienced a series of major droughts, which reached their peak in the ‘Long Drought’ (1890–1909). Despite being imagined as a wet part of the world, rural Wales was hard hit as many communities did not have access to reliable water supplies. As medical officers of health and newspapers talked about water famines, alarm focused on questions of purity and disease as drought was presented as a serious health risk. Using rural Wales as a case study, this essay explores vulnerabilities to water scarcity during periods of drought to examine the material and socio-political impact of water scarcity and the resulting public health problems faced in rural areas. In addressing how droughts in rural communities were physical and social phenomena that generated considerable alarm about infectious disease, this essay also reveals how periods of water scarcity were an important determinant in improvements to rural water provision. PMID:29203968

Reconsidering the Evidence Base, Considering the Rural: Aiming for a Better Understanding of the Education and Training Needs of Sub-Saharan African teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Buckler, Alison

2011-01-01

Providing basic education for all children by 2015 is one of the world's major educational objectives and teachers are crucial to achieving this. This article argues that not enough attention has been paid to the specific training needs of teachers in rural areas. Focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa it argues (i) that large-scale statistical data…

The Testimony of Neoliberal Contradiction in Education Choice and Privatisation in a Poor Country: The Case of a Private, Undocumented Rural Primary School in Uganda

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mayengo, Nathaniel; Namusoke, Jane; Dennis, Barbara

2015-01-01

With international momentum to achieve "Education for All" by 2015, global attention is being paid to those parts of the world where mass formal primary schooling is relatively new. Uganda is such a place. In the context of ethnographic fieldwork at a poor, undocumented, private primary school in rural Uganda, parents were interviewed in…

The association of estimated salt intake with blood pressure in a Viet Nam national survey.

PubMed

Jensen, Paul N; Bao, Tran Quoc; Huong, Tran Thi Thanh; Heckbert, Susan R; Fitzpatrick, Annette L; LoGerfo, James P; Ngoc, Truong Le Van; Mokdad, Ali H

2018-01-01

To evaluate the association of salt consumption with blood pressure in Viet Nam, a developing country with a high level of salt consumption. Analysis of a nationally representative sample of Vietnamese adults 25-65 years of age who were surveyed using the World Health Organization STEPwise approach to Surveillance protocol. Participants who reported acute illness, pregnancy, or current use of antihypertensive medications were excluded. Daily salt consumption was estimated from fasting mid-morning spot urine samples. Associations of salt consumption with systolic blood pressure and prevalent hypertension were assessed using adjusted linear and generalized linear models. Interaction terms were tested to assess differences by age, smoking, alcohol consumption, and rural/urban status. The analysis included 2,333 participants (mean age: 37 years, 46% male, 33% urban). The average estimated salt consumption was 10g/day. No associations of salt consumption with blood pressure or prevalent hypertension were observed at a national scale in men or women. The associations did not differ in subgroups defined by age, smoking, or alcohol consumption; however, associations differed between urban and rural participants (p-value for interaction of urban/rural status with salt consumption, p = 0.02), suggesting that higher salt consumption may be associated with higher systolic blood pressure in urban residents but lower systolic blood pressure in rural residents. Although there was no evidence of an association at a national level, associations of salt consumption with blood pressure differed between urban and rural residents in Viet Nam. The reasons for this differential association are not clear, and given the large rate of rural to urban migration experienced in Viet Nam, this topic warrants further investigation.

The association of estimated salt intake with blood pressure in a Viet Nam national survey

PubMed Central

Bao, Tran Quoc; Huong, Tran Thi Thanh; Heckbert, Susan R.; Fitzpatrick, Annette L.; LoGerfo, James P.; Ngoc, Truong Le Van; Mokdad, Ali H.

2018-01-01

Objective To evaluate the association of salt consumption with blood pressure in Viet Nam, a developing country with a high level of salt consumption. Design and setting Analysis of a nationally representative sample of Vietnamese adults 25–65 years of age who were surveyed using the World Health Organization STEPwise approach to Surveillance protocol. Participants who reported acute illness, pregnancy, or current use of antihypertensive medications were excluded. Daily salt consumption was estimated from fasting mid-morning spot urine samples. Associations of salt consumption with systolic blood pressure and prevalent hypertension were assessed using adjusted linear and generalized linear models. Interaction terms were tested to assess differences by age, smoking, alcohol consumption, and rural/urban status. Results The analysis included 2,333 participants (mean age: 37 years, 46% male, 33% urban). The average estimated salt consumption was 10g/day. No associations of salt consumption with blood pressure or prevalent hypertension were observed at a national scale in men or women. The associations did not differ in subgroups defined by age, smoking, or alcohol consumption; however, associations differed between urban and rural participants (p-value for interaction of urban/rural status with salt consumption, p = 0.02), suggesting that higher salt consumption may be associated with higher systolic blood pressure in urban residents but lower systolic blood pressure in rural residents. Conclusions Although there was no evidence of an association at a national level, associations of salt consumption with blood pressure differed between urban and rural residents in Viet Nam. The reasons for this differential association are not clear, and given the large rate of rural to urban migration experienced in Viet Nam, this topic warrants further investigation. PMID:29346423

Residential Mobility and Cognitive Function Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults in China.

PubMed

Xu, Hanzhang; Dupre, Matthew E; Østbye, Truls; Vorderstrasse, Allison A; Wu, Bei

2018-01-01

To assess the association between rural and urban residential mobility and cognitive function among middle-aged and older adults in China. We used data from the World Health Organization Study on global AGEing and adult health that included adults age 50+ from China ( N = 12,410). We used multivariate linear regressions to examine how residential mobility and age at migration were associated with cognitive function. Urban and urban-to-urban residents had the highest level of cognitive function, whereas rural and rural-to-rural residents had the poorest cognitive function. Persons who migrated to/within rural areas before age 20 had poorer cognitive function than those who migrated during later adulthood. Socioeconomic factors played a major role in accounting for the disparities in cognition; however, the association remained significant after inclusion of all covariates. Residential mobility and age at migration have significant implications for cognitive function among middle-aged and older adults in China.

Culture, risk factors and suicide in rural China: a psychological autopsy case control study.

PubMed

Zhang, J; Conwell, Y; Zhou, L; Jiang, C

2004-12-01

Previous research on sociocultural factors for Chinese suicide have been basically limited to single case studies or qualitative research with ethnographic methodology. The current study examines the major risk factors and some cultural uniqueness related to Chinese rural suicide using a quantitative design. This is a case control study with 66 completed suicides and 66 living controls obtained from psychological autopsy interviews in rural China. Both bivariate analyses and the multiple regression model have found that the Chinese rural suicide patterns are basically similar to those in most other cultures in the world: strong predictors of rural Chinese suicide are the psychopathological, psychological, and physical health variables, followed by social support and negative and stressful life events. Other significant correlates include lower education, poverty, religion, and family disputes. Culture has an important impact on suicide patterns in a society.

The survey project: researching women’s everyday experience and envisioning modernity in rural Bohemia at the end of the Second World War.

PubMed

Feinberg, Melissa

2011-01-01

This article examines a survey of rural Czech women conducted in 1944–1945. It argues that the survey tells two very different stories. First, the survey provides an unvarnished look into the everyday material circumstances of a few rural Czech women. But for all they tell us about the material conditions of these rural women’s lives, the surveys tell us very little about their ideals, hopes, and dreams. The surveys do, however, reveal quite a bit about the inner motivations of the very different group of women who commissioned this research, a group known as the Women’s Center. Reading in between the lines of these texts shows how the activists of the Women’s Center imagined modernity in the countryside. Theirs was a vision of rational households, technological advances, and good taste, even in rural villages.

Culture, risk factors and suicide in rural China: a psychological autopsy case control study

PubMed Central

Zhang, J.; Conwell, Y.; Zhou, L.; Jiang, C.

2009-01-01

Objective Previous research on sociocultural factors for Chinese suicide have been basically limited to single case studies or qualitative research with ethnographic methodology. The current study examines the major risk factors and some cultural uniqueness related to Chinese rural suicide using a quantitative design. Method This is a case control study with 66 completed suicides and 66 living controls obtained from psychological autopsy interviews in rural China. Results Both bivariate analyses and the multiple regression model have found that the Chinese rural suicide patterns are basically similar to those in most other cultures in the world: strong predictors of rural Chinese suicide are the psychopathological, psychological, and physical health variables, followed by social support and negative and stressful life events. Other significant correlates include lower education, poverty, religion, and family disputes. Conclusion Culture has an important impact on suicide patterns in a society. PMID:15521827

Economic performance of irrigation capacity development to adapt to climate in the American Southwest

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ward, Frank A.; Crawford, Terry L.

2016-09-01

Growing demands for food security to feed increasing populations worldwide have intensified the search for improved performance of irrigation, the world's largest water user. These challenges are raised in the face of climate variability and from growing environmental demands. Adaptation measures in irrigated agriculture include fallowing land, shifting cropping patterns, increased groundwater pumping, reservoir storage capacity expansion, and increased production of risk-averse crops. Water users in the Gila Basin headwaters of the U.S. Lower Colorado Basin have faced a long history of high water supply fluctuations producing low-valued defensive cropping patterns. To date, little research grade analysis has investigated economically viable measures for irrigation development to adjust to variable climate. This gap has made it hard to inform water resource policy decisions on workable measures to adapt to climate in the world's dry rural areas. This paper's contribution is to illustrate, formulate, develop, and apply a new methodology to examine the economic performance from irrigation capacity improvements in the Gila Basin of the American Southwest. An integrated empirical optimization model using mathematical programming is developed to forecast cropping patterns and farm income under two scenarios (1) status quo without added storage capacity and (2) with added storage capacity in which existing barriers to development of higher valued crops are dissolved. We find that storage capacity development can lead to a higher valued portfolio of irrigation production systems as well as more sustained and higher valued farm livelihoods. Results show that compared to scenario (1), scenario (2) increases regional farm income by 30%, in which some sub regions secure income gains exceeding 900% compared to base levels. Additional storage is most economically productive when institutional and technical constraints facing irrigated agriculture are dissolved. Along with additional storage, removal of constraints on weak transportation capacity, limited production scale, poor information access, weak risk-bearing capacity, limited management skills, scarce labor supply, low food processing capacity, and absolute scale constraints, all can raise the economic value of additional irrigation capacity development. Our results light a path forward to policy makers, water administrators, and farm managers, who bear the burden of protecting farm income, food and water security, and rural economic development in the world's dry regions faced by the need to adapt to climate variability.

Introduction: population migration and urbanization in developing countries.

PubMed

Kojima, R

1996-12-01

This introductory article discusses the correlation between migration and rapid urbanization and growth in the largest cities of the developing world. The topics include the characteristics of urbanization, government policies toward population migration, the change in absolute size of the rural population, and the problems of maintaining megacities. Other articles in this special issue are devoted to urbanization patterns in China, South Africa, Iran, Korea and Taiwan as newly industrialized economies (NIEs), informal sectors in the Philippines and Thailand, and low-income settlements in Bogota, Colombia, and India. It is argued that increased urbanization is produced by natural population growth, the expansion of the urban administrative area, and the in-migration from rural areas. A comparison of urbanization rates of countries by per capita gross national product (GNP) reveals that countries with per capita GNP of under US$2000 have urbanization rates of 10-60%. Rates are under 30% in Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, China, and Indonesia. Rapid urbanization appears to follow the economic growth curve. The rate of urbanization in Latin America is high enough to be comparable to urbanization in Europe and the US. Taiwan and Korea have high rates of urbanization that surpass the rate of industrialization. Thailand and Malaysia have low rates of urbanization compared to the size of their per capita GNP. Urbanization rates under 20% occur in countries without economic development. Rates between 20% and 50% occur in countries with or without industrialization. East Asian urbanization is progressing along with industrialization. Africa and the Middle East have urbanization without industrialization. In 1990 there were 20 developing countries and 5 developed countries with populations over 5 million. In 10 of 87 developing countries rural population declined in absolute size. The author identifies and discusses four patterns of urban growth.

Strategies of Rural Development in Asia--A Discussion. Summary of Discussion, Research Studies and Country Statements Presented to the Seminar on Approaches to Rural Development in Asia (Malaysia, May-June, 1975).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Inayatullah, C., Ed.

A 10-day seminar for senior government officials concerned with making rural development policies in selected Asian countries focused on programs adopted by various Asian governments to tackle rural development problems. To compare various approaches, seven indicators of rural development were used: agricultural productivity; rural employment;…

Social aspects of urbanization.

PubMed

Weaver, R C

1976-01-01

In slightly less than a century the world has gone from a predominantly rural to a largely urban society. Unlike Western Europe which industrialized slowly with labor-intensive industries, the developing world is industrializing rapidly with capital intensive industries which provide insufficient employment for the millions coming into the cities from the countryside. 2 factors responsible for growth of cities are rural push combined with urban pull, a lack of opportunity in the country combined with hopes and aspirations represented by the city. In addition, large population growth is a factor in both the increase in numbers of city-born dwellers and in the increase of young people leaving the countryside. Problems of health, sanitation, and public welfare are compounded by this rapid population growth. The social implications of these migrations are awesome. Already people are crowding together into cities without sufficient industrial base to provide employment; 1/5 to 1/4 of adult males are unemployed; as many as 4 out of 5 families live in a single room; as many as a 1/3 or more are without water. The tensions and social unrest caused by such conditions are the seedbed for serious political unrest. Resources and knowledge must quickly be brought to bear on the urban problem so that the now-disadvantaged will be able to realize their dream of a better life.

Lighting the World: the first application of an open source, spatial electrification tool (OnSSET) on Sub-Saharan Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mentis, Dimitrios; Howells, Mark; Rogner, Holger; Korkovelos, Alexandros; Arderne, Christopher; Zepeda, Eduardo; Siyal, Shahid; Taliotis, Costantinos; Bazilian, Morgan; de Roo, Ad; Tanvez, Yann; Oudalov, Alexandre; Scholtz, Ernst

2017-08-01

In September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Agenda 2030, which comprises a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) defined by 169 targets. ‘Ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030’ is the seventh goal (SDG7). While access to energy refers to more than electricity, the latter is the central focus of this work. According to the World Bank’s 2015 Global Tracking Framework, roughly 15% of the world’s population (or 1.1 billion people) lack access to electricity, and many more rely on poor quality electricity services. The majority of those without access (87%) reside in rural areas. This paper presents results of a geographic information systems approach coupled with open access data. We present least-cost electrification strategies on a country-by-country basis for Sub-Saharan Africa. The electrification options include grid extension, mini-grid and stand-alone systems for rural, peri-urban, and urban contexts across the economy. At low levels of electricity demand there is a strong penetration of standalone technologies. However, higher electricity demand levels move the favourable electrification option from stand-alone systems to mini grid and to grid extensions.

[Dental loss in a rural population and the goals established for the World Health Organization].

PubMed

Saliba, Nemre Adas; Moimaz, Suzely Adas Saliba; Saliba, Orlando; Tiano, Ana Valéria Pagliari

2010-06-01

This study aimed to report the dental loss in a rural population, evaluating the contribution of socioeconomic and behavioral variables and comparing the results with the goals of the World Health Organization (WHO) for 2000 and 2010. A total of 473 residents had been examined using the methodology, codes and criteria according to WHO guidelines. The results were processed using the Epibuco program and the chi-square test (p<0.05) were used to compare the number of teeth lost with the variables studied. From the total of people examined, 17.8% were total edentulous as well as 8% and 50.9% of the examined of the age groups of 35 to 44 and 65 to 74 years-old, respectively. Initiating precociously in his population, the dental loss advanced considerably with the age, being the situation much distant of the goals established by WHO for 2010. Chi-square test revealed statistically significant differences among the number of teeth lost by the interviewed with 35 years-old or more in relation to education level, housing and self-perception of the speak quality. The development of oral health attention programs becomes necessary, in order to reduce the actual damages and to prevent the continuity of this trend of mutilation.

Application of the Rural Development Index to Analysis of Rural Regions in Poland and Slovakia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Michalek, Jerzy; Zarnekow, Nana

2012-01-01

The main purpose of this research was to construct a multi-dimensional (composite) index measuring the overall level of rural development and quality of life in individual rural regions of a given EU country. In the Rural Development Index (RDI) the rural development domains are represented by hundreds of partial socio-economic, environmental,…

Migration within Mexico: A Data-Based Exercise for Secondary Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunn, James

2004-01-01

People have been leaving rural environments and moving into urban environments. By 2007, the most people in the world will live in cities (United Nations 2002). Mexico illustrates this world trend closely. Mexico now publishes data on the Internet that can be used to study the movement of people within the country. A lesson is presented with…

The History of Future Farmer Organizations around the World

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Connors, James J.

2013-01-01

The establishment of the Future Farmers of America in 1928 and its subsequent growth in size and scope was noticed around the world. Agricultural education professionals from dozens of other countries wanted to know about the organization and how it helped motivate young rural boys to study vocational agriculture and choose agriculture as a career…

A Learner's Voyage: My Moon Exploration in 2009

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yang, Yan

2018-01-01

My childhood experience in school was fragmented from my out of school experience where I lived in rural China. School subject matters were reduced to bits and pieces. I excelled in this artificial symbolic world. Progressing from preschool to graduate school, I trained to teach in that world, and gained the opportunity to study at Harvard. My…

The Environment: Our Children's World.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Black, Maggie, Ed.

1982-01-01

Articles collected in this issue of UNICEF News deal with different aspects of the theme of the child and its environment. Specifically, topics covered include (1) awareness of the kind of world our children will inherit; (2) the survival of an urban child; (3) the survival of a Sahelian rural child as a working member of his farming community;…

7 CFR 1940.968 - Rural Economic Development Review Panel Grant (Panel Grant).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 13 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Rural Economic Development Review Panel Grant (Panel... of Certain Rural Development Programs § 1940.968 Rural Economic Development Review Panel Grant (Panel... associated with a State rural economic development review panel. (b) Objective. The objective of the Panel...

Warming of the Indian Ocean Threatens Eastern and Southern Africa, but could be Mitigated by Agricultural Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Funk, Chris; Dettinger, Michael D.; Brown, Molly E.; Michaelsen, Joel C.; Verdin, James P.; Barlow, Mathew; Howell, Andrew

2008-01-01

Since 1980, the number of undernourished people in eastern and southern Africa has more than doubled. Rural development stalled and rural poverty expanded during the 1990s. Population growth remains very high and declining per capita agricultural capacity retards progress towards Millennium Development goals. Analyses of in situ station data and satellite observations of precipitation identify another problematic trend. Main growing season rainfall receipts have diminished by approximately 15% in food insecure countries clustered along the western rim of the Indian Ocean. Occurring during the main growing seasons in poor countries dependent on rain fed agriculture, these declines are societally dangerous. Will they persist or intensify? Tracing moisture deficits upstream to an anthropogenically warming Indian Ocean leads us to conclude that further rainfall declines are likely. We present analyses suggesting that warming in the central Indian Ocean disrupts onshore moisture transports, reducing continental rainfall. Thus late 20th century anthropogenic Indian Ocean warming has probably already produced societally dangerous climate change by creating drought and social disruption in some of the world's most fragile food economies. We quantify the potential impacts of the observed precipitation and agricultural capacity trends by modeling millions of undernourished people as a function of rainfall, population, cultivated area, seed and fertilizer use. Persistence of current tendencies may result in a 50% increase in undernourished people. On the other hand, modest increases in per capita agricultural productivity could more than offset the observed precipitation declines. Investing in agricultural development can help mitigate climate change while decreasing rural poverty and vulnerability.

Warming of the Indian Ocean threatens eastern and southern African food security but could be mitigated by agricultural development.

PubMed

Funk, Chris; Dettinger, Michael D; Michaelsen, Joel C; Verdin, James P; Brown, Molly E; Barlow, Mathew; Hoell, Andrew

2008-08-12

Since 1980, the number of undernourished people in eastern and southern Africa has more than doubled. Rural development stalled and rural poverty expanded during the 1990s. Population growth remains very high, and declining per-capita agricultural capacity retards progress toward Millennium Development goals. Analyses of in situ station data and satellite observations of precipitation have identified another problematic trend: main growing-season rainfall receipts have diminished by approximately 15% in food-insecure countries clustered along the western rim of the Indian Ocean. Occurring during the main growing seasons in poor countries dependent on rain-fed agriculture, these declines are societally dangerous. Will they persist or intensify? Tracing moisture deficits upstream to an anthropogenically warming Indian Ocean leads us to conclude that further rainfall declines are likely. We present analyses suggesting that warming in the central Indian Ocean disrupts onshore moisture transports, reducing continental rainfall. Thus, late 20th-century anthropogenic Indian Ocean warming has probably already produced societally dangerous climate change by creating drought and social disruption in some of the world's most fragile food economies. We quantify the potential impacts of the observed precipitation and agricultural capacity trends by modeling "millions of undernourished people" as a function of rainfall, population, cultivated area, seed, and fertilizer use. Persistence of current tendencies may result in a 50% increase in undernourished people by 2030. On the other hand, modest increases in per-capita agricultural productivity could more than offset the observed precipitation declines. Investing in agricultural development can help mitigate climate change while decreasing rural poverty and vulnerability.

Warming of the Indian Ocean threatens eastern and southern African food security but could be mitigated by agricultural development

PubMed Central

Funk, Chris; Dettinger, Michael D.; Michaelsen, Joel C.; Verdin, James P.; Brown, Molly E.; Barlow, Mathew; Hoell, Andrew

2008-01-01

Since 1980, the number of undernourished people in eastern and southern Africa has more than doubled. Rural development stalled and rural poverty expanded during the 1990s. Population growth remains very high, and declining per-capita agricultural capacity retards progress toward Millennium Development goals. Analyses of in situ station data and satellite observations of precipitation have identified another problematic trend: main growing-season rainfall receipts have diminished by ≈15% in food-insecure countries clustered along the western rim of the Indian Ocean. Occurring during the main growing seasons in poor countries dependent on rain-fed agriculture, these declines are societally dangerous. Will they persist or intensify? Tracing moisture deficits upstream to an anthropogenically warming Indian Ocean leads us to conclude that further rainfall declines are likely. We present analyses suggesting that warming in the central Indian Ocean disrupts onshore moisture transports, reducing continental rainfall. Thus, late 20th-century anthropogenic Indian Ocean warming has probably already produced societally dangerous climate change by creating drought and social disruption in some of the world's most fragile food economies. We quantify the potential impacts of the observed precipitation and agricultural capacity trends by modeling “millions of undernourished people” as a function of rainfall, population, cultivated area, seed, and fertilizer use. Persistence of current tendencies may result in a 50% increase in undernourished people by 2030. On the other hand, modest increases in per-capita agricultural productivity could more than offset the observed precipitation declines. Investing in agricultural development can help mitigate climate change while decreasing rural poverty and vulnerability. PMID:18685101

Investigating Rural Teachers' Professional Development, Instructional Knowledge, and Classroom Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Glover, Todd A.; Nugent, Gwen C.; Chumney, Frances L.; Ihlo, Tanya; Shapiro, Edward S.; Guard, Kirra; Koziol, Natalie; Bovaird, Jim

2016-01-01

Teachers Speak was a national survey study designed to investigate the characteristics of rural elementary school teachers' existing professional development; differences in professional development practices between rural and non-rural settings; and the potential influence of professional development characteristics on rural teachers' knowledge,…

A Cross-Sectional Study of Nutrient Intake and Health Status among Older Adults in Yogyakarta Indonesia

PubMed Central

Arjuna, Tony; Soenen, Stijn; Hasnawati, Rasita Amelia; Lange, Kylie; Chapman, Ian; Luscombe-Marsh, Natalie D.

2017-01-01

Many communities around the world, particularly developing countries including Indonesia, are experiencing population ageing. There is little knowledge regarding the impact of malnutrition, or its prevalence within rural compared to urban areas, on the nutritional, functional and mental status of community-living older residents in these countries. Hence, a cross-sectional study was conducted to determine socio-demographic and anthropometric characteristics, nutritional, mental and functional status, and energy and nutrient intake of community-dwelling Indonesians from both rural and urban areas of Yogyakarta. Older individuals were included in the study if they had been living in Yogyakarta for the last year and were aged ≥65 years (n = 527; mean ± SD age of 74 ± 7 years). Rural compared with urban participants had a lower level of education and income, more hospital admissions, less dietary protein intake, lower cognitive function, poorer nutritional status and grip strength, but faster gait speed while being more dependent on assistance to perform daily activities (all p < 0.05). Cognitive function was more strongly associated than nutritional status with physical function. Rural older Indonesians living in Yogyakarta were more likely than urban older people to be malnourished and cognitively impaired, and to have associated reductions in functional capacity and independence. Strategies to improve cognitive function and nutritional status are therefore important for the wellbeing of Indonesian citizens. PMID:29137185

Early implementation of WHO recommendations for the retention of health workers in remote and rural areas.

PubMed

Buchan, James; Couper, Ian D; Tangcharoensathien, Viroj; Thepannya, Khampasong; Jaskiewicz, Wanda; Perfilieva, Galina; Dolea, Carmen

2013-11-01

The maldistribution of health workers between urban and rural areas is a policy concern in virtually all countries. It prevents equitable access to health services, can contribute to increased health-care costs and underutilization of health professional skills in urban areas, and is a barrier to universal health coverage. To address this long-standing concern, the World Health Organization (WHO) has issued global recommendations to improve the rural recruitment and retention of the health workforce. This paper presents experiences with local and regional adaptation and adoption of WHO recommendations. It highlights challenges and lessons learnt in implementation in two countries - the Lao People's Democratic Republic and South Africa - and provides a broader perspective in two regions - Asia and Europe. At country level, the use of the recommendations facilitated a more structured and focused policy dialogue, which resulted in the development and adoption of more relevant and evidence-based policies. At regional level, the recommendations sparked a more sustained effort for cross-country policy assessment and joint learning. There is a need for impact assessment and evaluation that focus on the links between the rural availability of health workers and universal health coverage. The effects of any health-financing reforms on incentive structures for health workers will also have to be assessed if the central role of more equitably distributed health workers in achieving universal health coverage is to be supported.

Rural Development Reorganization Act of 1984; and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Policy Report. Hearing before the Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, and Rural Development of the Committee on Agriculture, House of Representatives, Ninety-Eighth Congress, Second Session on H.R. 5024.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. House Committee on Agriculture.

Testimonies were heard in reference to the administration's annual rural development policy report and H.R. 5024, the Rural Development Reorganization Act of 1984. The bill provides that the Department of Agriculture shall be known as the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, transfers the administration of certain conservation programs…

[The HIV-pandemic in the third world--worse than anticipated?].

PubMed

Steen, Tore W; Drage, Mona; Klouman, Elise

2006-11-30

The first AIDS cases were discovered 25 years ago in the United States. We describe how the epidemic evolved in the Third World, with emphasis on the current situation and on the African continent, which is most affected. The present review article is based on a literature review and own working experience. In 2005, more than 90 % of HIV-infected persons lived in Third World countries, mainly Africa and Asia. Transmission in Africa is mainly heterosexual and approximately 60 % of the infected are women. Asia has epidemics among intravenous drug users and men who have sex with men, and among sex workers and their customers. Several Asian countries now have generalized epidemics. Urban populations are more affected than rural ones in all geographical areas of the world, with only a few exceptions. Modern HIV treatment saves many lives, but only an increase of preventive measures can reverse the current trends. To obtain a reversal, it is adamant with broad mobilization of affected populations, clear political leadership and prioritisation and a considerable increase in help from developed countries.

7 CFR 2.45 - Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Economic and Community Development.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... the Under Secretary for Rural Development § 2.45 Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Economic and... Under Secretary for Rural Economic and Community Development, to be exercised only during the absence or... may hereafter be delegated to the Under Secretary for Rural Economic and Community Development. ...

Nature, Types and Scale of Rural Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hill, Frances

The issue of rural development has been surrounded by a number of debates regarding its nature, types, and scale. Included among the sources of controversy relating to rural development are the following areas: (1) the relation between rural development and rural industrialization, (2) the distribution of benefits and costs associated with…

Pocket-size point-of-care ultrasound in rural Uganda - A unique opportunity "to see", where no imaging facilities are available.

PubMed

Epstein, Danny; Petersiel, Neta; Klein, Erez; Marcusohn, Erez; Aviran, Eyal; Harel, Reut; Azzam, Zaher S; Neuberger, Ami; Fuchs, Lior

In the developing world, only a small minority of patients have access to radiological services. Over the past decade, technological developments of ultrasound equipment have led to the emergence of point-of-care ultrasonography (POCUS), which is widely used by healthcare professionals of nearly all specialties. We hypothesized that physicians with only basic POCUS training, but with telemedicine support, can use POCUS successfully in rural hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa. During a 14-day voluntary clinical work session in a rural hospital in central Uganda, bedside ultrasound scans were performed by use of a pocket-size portable machine by a physician who underwent a five-day training period. All the POCUS studies were reviewed by radiologists and cardiologists abroad with the use of telemedicine. During the study period, 30% of patients received a POCUS-augmented physical examination. 16 out of 23 patients (70%) had positive findings; in 20 of them (87%), the management was changed. The technique was successfully used on trauma casualties, patients suffering from shock, patients with cardiorespiratory symptoms, and patients undergoing invasive procedures. In a very resource-limited environment, POCUS conducted by basically trained primary care physicians with telemedicine support is a powerful diagnostic tool in a variety of medical conditions. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

An NGO at work: CARE-Ethiopia.

PubMed

1999-01-01

Cooperation for American Relief to Everywhere (CARE) was established in response to the needs of the people after World War II through the distribution of food and clothes. CARE/Ethiopia, which signed its first Basic Agreement with the Relief and Rehabilitation Commission, was provided with assistance during the 1994 drought that affected Ethiopia. The primary objective of CARE was to alleviate the suffering brought about by severe food shortages and to expand the program to mitigation and development. This approach was based on the premise of a community-based development philosophy and as an implementation strategy for reaching the rural poor. The five programmatic areas highlighted by the CARE projects were the rural and urban infrastructure; water and sanitation; small-scale irrigation; reproductive health and HIV/AIDS; and microcredit. On the other hand, the family planning and HIV/AIDS project aimed to improve the knowledge, attitude and practice of rural communities towards family planning and reproductive health through community-based family planning services. Results of the project evaluation emphasize the significance of community-based programs in the improvement of health status. Two critical program constraints identified in this paper are lack of access to referral-level services and lack of systemic provision of contraceptive commodities. Several suggestions for future programs include the assurance that the volunteers would be provided with aid in work, childcare and free health services for their families.

Subjective wellbeing and income: Empirical patterns in the rural developing world.

PubMed

Reyes-García, Victoria; Babigumira, Ronnie; Pyhälä, Aili; Wunder, Sven; Zorondo-Rodríguez, Francisco; Angelsen, Arild

2016-04-01

A commonality in the economics of happiness literature is that absolute income matters more for the subjective wellbeing of people at low income levels. In this article, we use a large sample of people in rural areas of developing countries with relatively low income levels to test whether subjective wellbeing an increasing function of absolute income in our sample, and to analyze the existence of adaptation and social comparison effects on subjective wellbeing. Our sample includes 6973 rural households in 23 countries throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The average total income per adult equivalent in our sample was US$1555, whereas levels of subjective wellbeing resembled levels found in previous research using cross-country data. We find that, despite low levels of absolute income, levels of subjective wellbeing of our respondents resemble levels found in previous research using cross-country data. We also find remarkable similarities in many of the determinants of subjective wellbeing previously tested. Our data show that absolute income covariates with subjective wellbeing, but -as for richer samples- the magnitude of the association is lower once we control for adaptation and social comparison. Finally, our results suggest that social comparison has a stronger effect than adaptation in explaining the subjective wellbeing of our sample. Our findings highlight the importance of adaptation and social comparison even at low levels of absolute income.

Subjective wellbeing and income: Empirical patterns in the rural developing world

PubMed Central

Reyes-García, Victoria; Babigumira, Ronnie; Pyhälä, Aili; Wunder, Sven; Zorondo-Rodríguez, Francisco; Angelsen, Arild

2016-01-01

A commonality in the economics of happiness literature is that absolute income matters more for the subjective wellbeing of people at low income levels. In this article, we use a large sample of people in rural areas of developing countries with relatively low income levels to test whether subjective wellbeing an increasing function of absolute income in our sample, and to analyze the existence of adaptation and social comparison effects on subjective wellbeing. Our sample includes 6973 rural households in 23 countries throughout Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The average total income per adult equivalent in our sample was US$1555, whereas levels of subjective wellbeing resembled levels found in previous research using cross-country data. We find that, despite low levels of absolute income, levels of subjective wellbeing of our respondents resemble levels found in previous research using cross-country data. We also find remarkable similarities in many of the determinants of subjective wellbeing previously tested. Our data show that absolute income covariates with subjective wellbeing, but -as for richer samples- the magnitude of the association is lower once we control for adaptation and social comparison. Finally, our results suggest that social comparison has a stronger effect than adaptation in explaining the subjective wellbeing of our sample. Our findings highlight the importance of adaptation and social comparison even at low levels of absolute income. PMID:27642259

Outdoor cooking prevalence in developing countries and its implication for clean cooking policies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Langbein, Jörg; Peters, Jörg; Vance, Colin

2017-11-01

More than 3 billion people use wood fuels for their daily cooking needs, with detrimental health implications related to smoke emissions. Best practice global initiatives emphasize the dissemination of clean cooking stoves, but these are often expensive and suffer from interrupted supply chains that do not reach rural areas. This emphasis neglects that many households in the developing world cook outdoors. Our calculations suggest that for such households, the use of less expensive biomass cooking stoves can substantially reduce smoke exposure. The cost-effectiveness of clean cooking policies can thus be improved by taking cooking location and ventilation into account.

Education for Rural Development: Embedding Rural Dimensions in Initial Teacher Preparation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Masinire, Alfred; Maringe, Felix; Nkambule, Thabisile

2014-01-01

In South Africa, rural education and development are issues of social justice, especially in places that were previously established as homelands. This article presents some of the tensions that are inherent in the conceptions of rurality, rural education and the possibility of sustainable rural education and development. We propose the notion of…

A Bibliography of Rural Development: Listings by Topic.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parker, Carrie G.; And Others

Over 776 journal articles pertaining to rural development are cited. Entries are arranged by topic: agriculture, area development, community, economic development, environmental improvement, facilities and services, human resource development, leadership, organization, rural development, rural-urban relationships, and social action. Some articles…

Connected care in a fragmented world: lessons from rural health care

PubMed Central

Farmer, Jane

2007-01-01

This paper uses the phenomenon of very high satisfaction with remote rural health services in Scotland as a trigger for exploring what consumers want and like in health service utilisation — and why. It draws on the business literature in customer services marketing and economic sociology to illuminate why long-term associations between consumers and providers in health care are important and beneficial. In doing so, it highlights wider lessons about the experience of good health care to be learned from the satisfaction expressed by rural residents and suggests, as health services become increasingly fragmented, the relevance of maintaining a connected experience for patients. PMID:17359611

Community Life as a Motive for Migration from the Urban Center to the Rural Periphery in Israel

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arnon, Sara; Shamai, Shmuel

2010-01-01

A white house topped by a red roof, set in a garden, surrounded by a lawn dotted with trees and shrubs--this is not just a child's naive drawing. It is the aspiration of many in the modern world, Israelis among them. This case study deals with the inner migration of families, mainly from the urban center of Israel, to rural communities in its…

Agriculture and Rural Life Day: Material for Its Observance. Bulletin, 1913, No. 43. Whole Number 553

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brooks, Eugene C.

1913-01-01

In several States one day in the fall of the year is set apart as "Agriculture and Rural-Life Day," to be observed in the schools in such ways as to emphasize the importance of agriculture to the nation and to the world of mankind, to call attention to the worth and worthiness of the tillage of the soil, the cultivation of plants, and the breeding…

[Monkeypox: second human case observed in Ivory Coast (rural health sector of Daloa].

PubMed

Merouze, F; Lesoin, J J

1983-01-01

A second case of human monkeypox (world fifty-forth case) has been observed in Ivory Coast (rural health sector of Daloa). A three years old girl presented a major pox-like eruption which evolved to recovery. The authors describe the eruption, the evolution of the sickness, and the scars observed at the fourth month after recovery. It has not been possible to prove neither animal-human nor interhuman contagion.

Trans fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acids in the milk of urban women and nomadic Fulani of northern Nigeria.

PubMed

Glew, Robert H; Herbein, Joseph H; Moya, Monica H; Valdez, Jessica M; Obadofin, Michael; Wark, Wendy A; Vanderjagt, Dorothy J

2006-05-01

Trans fatty acids (TFAs) and conjugated linoleic acids (CLAs) are present in dairy products and human milk and can have detrimental and beneficial effects in humans. The content of TFAs and CLAs in milk is determined largely by the diet of the mother. We compared the proportions of TFAs and CLAs in the milk of rural Fulani in northern Nigeria who consume dairy products to that of women living in an urban center who consume little in the way of dairy products. Lactating Fulani women (n=41) and women residing in the city of Jos, Nigeria (n=41) were recruited into the study. We predicted that the milk of the Fulani pastoralists would contain higher amounts of TFAs and CLAs compared to their urban counterparts. The mean total TFA proportions for the Fulani and urban women were 0.22% and 0.34%, respectively, and were not significantly different. The percentages of CLAs in milk fat were not different between rural and urban women (0.16% vs 0.14%). These TFA and CLA values were 4- to 10-fold lower than for milk of women elsewhere in the world. The percentages of TFAs and CLAs in milk were not different between rural and urban dwellers in northern Nigeria whose diets differ greatly in the amounts of dairy products they contain. However, the fact that the percentages of TFAs and CLAs in the milk of Nigerian women were much lower than the percentages reported from other parts of the world may have implications for the long-term growth and development of infants in the northern Nigeria and elsewhere in the Western Sahel.

Resilience among older caregivers in rural Namibia: The role of financial status, social support and health.

PubMed

Kalomo, Eveline Ndii; Lee, Kyoung Hag; Lightfoot, Elizabeth; Freeman, Rachel

2018-04-23

Namibia has one of the highest human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevalence rates and one of the highest rates of orphanhood in the world, and older caregivers provide much of the care to Namibians living with HIV and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) (UNAIDS, 2014). In this study, the authors explore how financial status, social support, and health were related to the resilience of caregivers caring for people affected by HIV and AIDS in rural northern Namibia, Africa. Data were collected through a structured interview from (N = 147) caregivers from the Zambezi region. Findings from this study show that employment and physical health were significantly associated with increased resilience in older caregivers. Our findings point to the need for employment assistance and health services to improve the resilience of caregivers caring for people living with HIV and AIDS. We conclude that there is a need for more vigorous concerted efforts from public and private sector practitioners and policy makers to create more sustained formal employment opportunities and intervention programs aimed at improving the overall health of older HIV caregivers, especially those residing in rural HIV endemic communities in developing countries.

Household food security is associated with growth of infants and young children in rural Bangladesh.

PubMed

Saha, Kuntal K; Frongillo, Edward A; Alam, Dewan S; Arifeen, Shams E; Persson, Lars A; Rasmussen, Kathleen M

2009-09-01

Despite a strong relationship between household food security and the health and nutritional status of adults and older children, the association of household food security with the growth of infants and young children has not been adequately studied, particularly in developing countries. We examined the association between household food security and subsequent growth of infants and young children in rural Bangladesh. We followed 1343 children from birth to 24 months of age who were born in the Maternal and Infant Nutrition Intervention in Matlab (MINIMat) study in rural Bangladesh. A food security scale was created from data collected on household food security from the mothers during pregnancy. Data on weight and length were collected monthly in the first year and quarterly in the second year of life. Anthropometric indices were calculated relative to the 2006 WHO child growth standards. Growth trajectories were modelled using multilevel models for change controlling for possible confounders. Household food security was associated (P < 0.05) with greater subsequent weight and length gain in this cohort. Attained weight, length and anthropometric indices from birth to 24 months were higher (P < 0.001) among those who were in food-secure households. Proportions of underweight and stunting were significantly (P < 0.05) lower in food-secure households. These results suggest that household food security is a determinant of child growth in rural Bangladesh, and that it may be necessary to ensure food security of these poor rural households to prevent highly prevalent undernutrition in this population and in similar settings elsewhere in the world.

[Hodgkin's disease: an epidemiological study on 140 children--urban/rural relation, profession of parents, domestic animal contact].

PubMed

Dörken, H

1975-01-01

In Northern Germany (Schleswig-Holstein, Niedersachsen, Hamburg and Bremen) 140 children aged 2-14 years who had developed Hodgkin's disease after World War II were identified with the help of all 54 children's hospitals, the 101 local public health offices, and the Hamburg Cancer registry etc. Only histologically confirmed cases were included. For boys, comparison by urban and rural residence showed a preponderance of cases in rural areas (places with less than 2000 inhabitants). This urban-rural difference became statistically significant (P less than 0.05) when the cases reported from Hamburg (with its greater registration intensity) were excluded. For girls, there was no difference in the urban/rural distribution. Personal interviews were conducted with 133 case families. One third of the parents had been engaged in agricultural occupations. In the retrospective studies contacts with domestic animals was most impressive, especially those with rabbits (84.2%). But there was also contact with large animals, most frequently with pigs (45.9%). The difficulties of getting suitable controls--because of the widespread and changing keeping of animals--are discussed. A matched pair analysis of the 21 children from Hamburg confirmed significance (P less than 0.05) for contact with domestic rabbits.-- Furthermore, multiple cases (in family or in neighbourhood, "cluster") could mostly be linked together by contacts with the same herd. The epidemiological results from the basis of a hypothesis that Hodgkin's disease is a zoonosis. The possibility of a synergistic action of two factors--transmitted by two different species--is discussed.

The burden of hypertension and diabetes mellitus in rural communities in southern Nigeria.

PubMed

Isara, Alphonsus Rukevwe; Okundia, Patrick Otamere

2015-01-01

The African region of the world is experiencing a double epidemic of both communicable and non-communicable diseases. The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes mellitus among adult residents of rural communities in southern Nigeria. A community based descriptive cross-sectional study. Adults aged 18 years and above residing in the rural communities who attended a free medical outreach programme were screened for hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Data were collected using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. Of the 845 participants, 349 (41.3%) were aged 50-69 years, 263 (31.1%) were males, and 305 (36.1%) were farmers. Overweight and obesity were found in 184 (21.8%) and 90 (10.6%) of them respectively. The overall prevalence of hypertension was 37.6% (males 43.7%, females 35.1%, p = 0.018) while that of diabetes mellitus was 4.6% (males 1.9%, females 5.8%, p = 0.012). Predictors of hypertension were age ≥ 40 years (OR = 5.04, CI: 2.99 - 8.48), overweight/obesity (OR = 1.56, CI: 1.15 - 2.13) while females are less likely to develop hypertension (OR = 0.72, CI: 0.53 - 0.98). The significant predictor of diabetes mellitus was overweight/obesity (OR = 3.53, CI: 1.78 - 6.98). The rising prevalence of hypertension and diabetes mellitus is assuming an epidemic level in rural communities in southern Nigeria. There is an urgent need for intensive health education and community surveillance programmes targeted at rural communities in order to achieve prevention and control of these non-communicable diseases in Nigeria.

The role of multilateral institutions.

PubMed

Kiss, Agi; Castro, Gonzalo; Newcombe, Kenneth

2002-08-15

In line with its mission of alleviating poverty through support for environmentally and socially sustainable economic development, The World Bank (along with some other multilateral development banks) is working to help developing countries capture a share of the emerging global market in greenhouse-gas-emissions reductions ('carbon trading'). Under the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Joint Implementation instrument and the Clean Development Mechanism now provide an opening for substantial international resource transfers and potential for supporting sustainable development through the transfer of cleaner technologies or sustainable forestry and agro-forestry practices. For example, carbon sequestration represents a non-extractive non-consumptive sustainable use of living natural resources that can be incorporated within a multiple-use 'integrated ecosystem management' approach. The World Bank initiated the Prototype Carbon Fund (PCF) in April 2000, to help spur the development of a global carbon market and to 'learn by doing' how to use carbon-purchase transactions across a range of energy-sector technologies (and some forestry applications) to achieve environmentally credible and cost-effective emissions reductions that benefit developing countries and economies in transition. Building on the success of the PCF ($145 million raised from public and private-sector investors), The World Bank expects to launch two new funds in 2002: the Biocarbon Fund and the Community Development Carbon Fund. These funds will target synergies between carbon markets and objectives such as biodiversity conservation, combating desertification and small-scale community-driven development. Experience from the PCF shows that developing countries can have a comparative advantage in supplying this global market, as emissions reductions can be achieved in developing countries in the range of $3-$5 per ton of CO(2) equivalent, compared with a marginal abatement cost of $10-$15 per ton of CO(2) equivalent in most countries within the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. However, realizing this economic potential over the next decade, and targeting the market to the rural poor, will require substantial assistance with project development and government legal and institutional capacity building. Specific needs include raising awareness of the potential of carbon markets at all levels (particularly in energy and land-use sectors), clarifying property rights, particularly in the case of communally held land and resources, ensuring the existence of an attractive investment climate, eliminating policies that create perverse incentives and constraints, and mitigating logistical, political and 'reputational' risks that could deter private-sector investors. It will also be necessary to find ways to reconcile the short-term needs of the rural poor and the typically long-term revenue stream associated with carbon sequestration.

Rural health network development: public policy issues and state initiatives.

PubMed

Casey, M M; Wellever, A; Moscovice, I

1997-02-01

Rural health networks are a potential way for rural health care systems to improve access to care, reduce costs, and enhance quality of care. Networks provide a means for rural providers to contract with managed care organizations, develop their own managed care entities, share resources, and structure practice opportunities to support recruitment and retention of rural physicians and other health care professionals. The results of early network development initiatives indicate a need for state officials and others interested in encouraging network development to agree on common rural health network definitions, to identify clearly the goals of network development programs, and to document and analyze program outcomes. Future network development efforts need to be much more comprehensive if they are to have a significant impact on rural health care. This article analyzes public policy issues related to integrated rural health network development, discusses current efforts to encourage network development in rural areas, and suggests actions that states may take if they desire to support rural health network development. These actions include adopting a formal rural health network definition, providing networks with alternatives to certain regulatory requirements, and providing incentives such as matching grants, loans, or technical assistance. Without public sector support for networks, managed care options may continue to be unavailable in many less densely populated rural areas of the country, and locally controlled rural health networks are unlikely to develop as an alternative to the dominant pattern of managed care expansion by large urban entities. Implementation of Medicare reform legislation could provide significant incentives for the development of rural health networks, depending on the reimbursement provisions, financial solvency standards, and antitrust exemptions for provider-sponsored networks in the final legislation and federal regulations.

Integrated rural development programs: a skeptical perspective.

PubMed

Ruttan, V W

1975-11-01

In examining integrated rural development programs the question that arises is why is it possible to identify several relatively successful small-scale or pilot rural development projects yet so difficult to find examples of successful rural development programs. 3 bodies of literature offer some insight into the morphology of rural development projects, programs, and processes: the urban-industrial impact hypothesis; the theory of induced technical change; and the new models of institutional change that deal with institution building and the economics of bureaucratic behavior. The urban-industrial impact hypothesis helps in the clarification of the relationships between the development of rural areas and the development of the total society of which rural areas are a part. It is useful in understanding the spatial dimensions of rural development where rural development efforts are likely to be most successful. Formulation of the hypothesis generated a series of empirical studies designed to test its validity. The effect of these studies has been the development of a rural development model in which the rural community is linked to the urban-industrial economy through a series of market relationships. Both the urban economy's rate of growth and the efficiency of the intersector product and factor markets place significant constraints on the possibilities of rural area development. It is not possible to isolate development processes in the contemporary rural community in a developing society from development processes in the larger society. The induced technical change theory provides a guide as to what must be done to gain access to efficient sources of economic growth, the new resources and incomes that are necessary to sustain rural development. Design of a successful rural development strategy involves a combination of technical and institutional change. The ability of rural areas to respond to the opportunities for economic growth generated by local urban-industrial development, or by the expansion of national and international markets, depends on the capacity for adaptive responses on the part of cultural, political, and economic institutions as well as on technical innovations which can generate substantial new income flows in response to the new economic opportunities. Improvements in the welfare of the rural population in poor regions will call for institutional innovations which effectively link urban and rural areas through a series of nonmarket and market relationships. A major implication of the models is that given the "markets" in which they operate, bureaucracies will be successful in capturing a relatively large share of the economic gains generated by their activities.

7 CFR 1940.956 - State rural economic development review panel.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 13 2010-01-01 2009-01-01 true State rural economic development review panel. 1940... Rural Development Programs § 1940.956 State rural economic development review panel. (a) General. In order for a State to become or remain an eligible State, the State must have a rural economic...

7 CFR 1940.956 - State rural economic development review panel.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 13 2014-01-01 2013-01-01 true State rural economic development review panel. 1940... Rural Development Programs § 1940.956 State rural economic development review panel. (a) General. In order for a State to become or remain an eligible State, the State must have a rural economic...

7 CFR 1940.956 - State rural economic development review panel.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 13 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false State rural economic development review panel. 1940... Rural Development Programs § 1940.956 State rural economic development review panel. (a) General. In order for a State to become or remain an eligible State, the State must have a rural economic...

7 CFR 1940.956 - State rural economic development review panel.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 13 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false State rural economic development review panel. 1940... Rural Development Programs § 1940.956 State rural economic development review panel. (a) General. In order for a State to become or remain an eligible State, the State must have a rural economic...

7 CFR 1940.956 - State rural economic development review panel.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 13 2011-01-01 2009-01-01 true State rural economic development review panel. 1940... Rural Development Programs § 1940.956 State rural economic development review panel. (a) General. In order for a State to become or remain an eligible State, the State must have a rural economic...

Toward a More Holistic Evaluation Approach for Rural Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miyoshi, Koichi

2013-01-01

The discussion on and development of a holistic evaluation approach for rural development will be indispensable to improving and enriching the lives of rural people. This approach can be developed by considering the conceptualization of community policy structure in rural areas, the localization of policy structure in the rural community, and the…

Beyond the Conventional Wisdom: Rural Development As If Australia's Rural People Really Mattered. Background Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sher, Jonathan; Sher, Katrina Rowe

This paper proposes a framework for developing a national rural development policy in Australia. Some common relevant misconceptions are that rural Australia and rural Australians are peripheral to the national economy and the nation's future, that farmers and farming communities are the alpha and omega of rural Australia, and that whatever is…

7 CFR 22.101 - The Rural Development Act of 1972 (Pub. L. 92-419).

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false The Rural Development Act of 1972 (Pub. L. 92-419). 22.101 Section 22.101 Agriculture Office of the Secretary of Agriculture RURAL DEVELOPMENT COORDINATION General § 22.101 The Rural Development Act of 1972 (Pub. L. 92-419). The Rural Development Act of 1972...

Cluster-randomized trial on complementary and responsive feeding education to caregivers found improved dietary intake, growth, and development among rural Indian toddlers

PubMed Central

Vazir, Shahnaz; Engle, Patrice; Balakrishna, Nagalla; Griffiths, Paula L.; Johnson, Susan L.; Creed-Kanashiro, Hilary; Rao, Sylvia Fernandez; Shroff, Monal R.; Bentley, Margaret E.

2012-01-01

Inadequate feeding and care may contribute to high rates of stunting and underweight among children in rural families in India. This cluster-randomized trial tested the hypothesis that teaching caregivers appropriate complementary feeding, and strategies for how to feed and play responsively through home-visits would increase children’s dietary intake, growth, and development compared to home-visit-complementary feeding education alone or routine care. Sixty villages in Andhra Pradesh were randomized into 3 groups1 of 20 villages with 200 mother-infant dyads in each group. The Control Group (CG), received routine Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS); the Complementary Feeding Group (CFG), received the ICDS plus the World Health Organization recommendations on breastfeeding and complementary foods; and the Responsive Complementary Feeding & Play Group (RCF&PG) received the same intervention as the CFG plus skills for responsive feeding and psychosocial stimulation. Both intervention groups received bi-weekly visits by trained village women. The groups did not differ at 3 months on socioeconomic status, maternal and child nutritional indices and maternal depression. After controlling for potential confounding factors using the mixed models approach, the twelve-month intervention to the CFG and RCF&PG significantly (p<0.05) increased median intakes of energy, protein, Vitamin-A, calcium (CFG), iron and zinc, reduced stunting (0.19, CI: 0.0–0.4) in the CFG (but not RCF&PG) and increased (p<0.01) Bayley Mental Development scores(Mean=3.1, CI: 0.8–5.3) in the RCF&PG (but not CFG) compared to CG. Community-based educational interventions can improve dietary intake, length (CFG), and mental development (RCF&PG) for children under two years in food-secure rural Indian families. PMID:22625182

Cluster-randomized trial on complementary and responsive feeding education to caregivers found improved dietary intake, growth and development among rural Indian toddlers.

PubMed

Vazir, Shahnaz; Engle, Patrice; Balakrishna, Nagalla; Griffiths, Paula L; Johnson, Susan L; Creed-Kanashiro, Hilary; Fernandez Rao, Sylvia; Shroff, Monal R; Bentley, Margaret E

2013-01-01

Inadequate feeding and care may contribute to high rates of stunting and underweight among children in rural families in India. This cluster-randomized trial tested the hypothesis that teaching caregivers appropriate complementary feeding and strategies for how to feed and play responsively through home-visits would increase children's dietary intake, growth and development compared with home-visit-complementary feeding education alone or routine care. Sixty villages in Andhra Pradesh were randomized into three groups of 20 villages with 200 mother-infant dyads in each group. The control group (CG) received routine Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS); the complementary feeding group (CFG) received the ICDS plus the World Health Organization recommendations on breastfeeding and complementary foods; and the responsive complementary feeding and play group (RCF&PG) received the same intervention as the CFG plus skills for responsive feeding and psychosocial stimulation. Both intervention groups received bi-weekly visits by trained village women. The groups did not differ at 3 months on socioeconomic status, maternal and child nutritional indices, and maternal depression. After controlling for potential confounding factors using the mixed models approach, the 12-month intervention to the CFG and RCF&PG significantly (P < 0.05) increased median intakes of energy, protein, Vitamin A, calcium (CFG), iron and zinc, reduced stunting [0.19, confidence interval (CI): 0.0-0.4] in the CFG (but not RCF&PG) and increased (P < 0.01) Bayley Mental Development scores (mean = 3.1, CI: 0.8-5.3) in the RCF&PG (but not CFG) compared with CG. Community-based educational interventions can improve dietary intake, length (CFG) and mental development (RCF&PG) for children under 2 years in food-secure rural Indian families. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Coproducing Aboriginal patient journey mapping tools for improved quality and coordination of care.

PubMed

Kelly, Janet; Dwyer, Judith; Mackean, Tamara; O'Donnell, Kim; Willis, Eileen

2016-12-08

This paper describes the rationale and process for developing a set of Aboriginal patient journey mapping tools with Aboriginal patients, health professionals, support workers, educators and researchers in the Managing Two Worlds Together project between 2008 and 2015. Aboriginal patients and their families from rural and remote areas, and healthcare providers in urban, rural and remote settings, shared their perceptions of the barriers and enablers to quality care in interviews and focus groups, and individual patient journey case studies were documented. Data were thematically analysed. In the absence of suitable existing tools, a new analytical framework and mapping approach was developed. The utility of the tools in other settings was then tested with health professionals, and the tools were further modified for use in quality improvement in health and education settings in South Australia and the Northern Territory. A central set of patient journey mapping tools with flexible adaptations, a workbook, and five sets of case studies describing how staff adapted and used the tools at different sites are available for wider use.

[How to assess the economic cost of tropical diseases in a rural community].

PubMed

Guiguemde, T R

1986-01-01

Many tropical diseases cause disability and hinder the socio-economic development of the Third World countries where they rage. A method of assessment of the economic cost of these diseases during epidemiological studies has been suggested here. It calls on the following factors: the type of activity of the community, the gross income of the community, the cost of treatment and the types of the disability (degree of disability, length of disability in relation to the period of production, and the degree of men's activity).

75 FR 36349 - Announcement of Rural Cooperative Development Grant Application Deadlines

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-25

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Rural Business-Cooperative Service Announcement of Rural Cooperative Development Grant Application Deadlines AGENCY: Rural Business-Cooperative Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice of...: Overview Federal Agency: Rural Business-Cooperative Service (RBS). Funding Opportunity Title: Rural...

7 CFR 1951.218 - Use of Rural Development loans and grants for other purposes.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

...) RURAL HOUSING SERVICE, RURAL BUSINESS-COOPERATIVE SERVICE, RURAL UTILITIES SERVICE, AND FARM SERVICE... Servicing of Community and Direct Business Programs Loans and Grants § 1951.218 Use of Rural Development... the Administrator of the Rural Housing Service or Rural Business-Cooperative Service that has the...

Epidemiology of tornado destruction in rural northern Bangladesh: risk factors for death and injury.

PubMed

Sugimoto, Jonathan D; Labrique, Alain B; Ahmad, Salahuddin; Rashid, Mahbubur; Shamim, Abu Ahmed; Ullah, Barkat; Klemm, Rolf D W; Christian, Parul; West, Keith P

2011-04-01

The epidemiology of tornado-related disasters in the developing world is poorly understood. An August 2005 post-tornado cohort study in rural Bangladesh identified elevated levels of death and injury among the elderly (≥ 60 years of age) (adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 8.9 (95 per cent confidence interval (CI): 3.9-20.2) and AOR = 1.6 (95 per cent CI: 1.4-1.8), respectively), as compared to 15-24 year-olds, and among those outdoors versus indoors during the tornado (AOR = 10.4 (95 per cent CI: 5.5-19.9) and AOR = 6.6 (95 per cent CI: 5.8-7.5), respectively). Females were 1.24 times (95 per cent CI: 1.15-1.33) more likely to be injured than males. Elevated risk of injury was significantly associated with structural damage to the house and tin construction materials. Seeking treatment was protective against death among the injured, odds ratio = 0.08 (95 per cent CI: 0.03-0.21). Further research is needed to develop injury prevention strategies and to address disparities in risk between age groups and between men and women. © 2011 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2011.

[Analysis of Incidence and Mortality of Thyroid Cancer in China, 2013].

PubMed

Yang, L; Zheng, R S; Wang, N; Zeng, H M; Yuan, Y N; Zhang, S W; Li, H C; Liu, S; Chen, W Q; He, J

2017-11-23

Objective: To evaluate the incidence and mortality status of thyroid cancer in China, 2013. Methods: Incidence and mortality data of thyroid cancer were derived from 255 population-based cancer registries in China. Age-specific and age standardized incidence and mortality rates of thyroid cancer in different areas (urban and rural) with different gender were calculated based on the stratification of area (urban and rural), gender, age and tumor position. Chinese census in 2000 and the world Segi's population were used for age-standardized incidence/mortality rates. The incident cases and deaths were estimated using age-specific rates and national population data in 2013. Results: The estimates of new cancer incident cases and deaths were 143.9 thousand and 6 500, respectively. The crude incidence rate was 10.58/100 000 (Male 5.12/100 000, Female 16.32/100 000). Age-standardized incidence rates by Chinese standard population (ASIRC, 2000) and by world standard population (ASIRW) were 8.82/100 000 and 7.67/100 000, respectively. Male to female ratio was 1∶3.2. The crude incidence rate in urban and rural areas were 15.03/100 000 and 5.41/100 000, respectively. After adjustment by China standard population, the rate in urban areas was 2.57 times higher than that of rural areas. The crude mortality rate of thyroid cancer was 0.48/100 000 (Male 0.33/100 000, Female 0.63/100 000). Age-standardized mortality rates by Chinese standard population (ASIRC, 2000) and by world standard population (ASIRW) were 0.33/100 000 and 0.32/100 000, respectively. The crude mortality rate in urban and rural areas were 0.57/100 000 and 0.38/100 000, respectively. After adjustment by China standard population, the rate in urban areas was 1.41 times higher than that of rural areas. The cumulative incidence and mortality rates (0-74 years old) were 0.74% and 0.03%, respectively. According to the data from 255 cancer registries, papillary carcinoma is the main pathology type, which accounted for 89.9% of all malignant tumors. Conclusions: The disease burden of thyroid cancer in urban areas is higher than that in rural areas. Females have the higher incidence rate than that of males. The reasons related to the higher incidence rate of thyroid cancer should be further investigated to provide evidence for appropriate cancer control strategies and policies to be made in China.

Rural Healthy People 2020: New Decade, Same Challenges.

PubMed

Bolin, Jane N; Bellamy, Gail R; Ferdinand, Alva O; Vuong, Ann M; Kash, Bita A; Schulze, Avery; Helduser, Janet W

2015-01-01

The health of rural America is more important than ever to the health of the United States and the world. Rural Healthy People 2020's goal is to serve as a counterpart to Healthy People 2020, providing evidence of rural stakeholders' assessment of rural health priorities and allowing national and state rural stakeholders to reflect on and measure progress in meeting those goals. The specific aim of the Rural Healthy People 2020 national survey was to identify rural health priorities from among the Healthy People 2020's (HP2020) national priorities. Rural health stakeholders (n = 1,214) responded to a nationally disseminated web survey soliciting identification of the top 10 rural health priorities from among the HP2020 priorities. Stakeholders were also asked to identify objectives within each national HP2020 priority and express concerns or additional responses. Rural health priorities have changed little in the last decade. Access to health care continues to be the most frequently identified rural health priority. Within this priority, emergency services, primary care, and insurance generate the most concern. A total of 926 respondents identified access as the no. 1 rural health priority, followed by, no. 2 nutrition and weight status (n = 661), no. 3 diabetes (n = 660), no. 4 mental health and mental disorders (n = 651), no. 5 substance abuse (n = 551), no. 6 heart disease and stroke (n = 550), no. 7 physical activity and health (n = 542), no. 8 older adults (n = 482), no. 9 maternal infant and child health (n = 449), and no. 10 tobacco use (n = 429). © 2015 The Authors The Journal of Rural Health published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of National Rural Health Association.

Socio-Economic and Health Access Determinants of Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening in Low-Income Countries: Analysis of the World Health Survey

PubMed Central

Akinyemiju, Tomi F.

2012-01-01

Background Breast and Cervical cancer are the two most common cancers among women in developing countries. Regular screening is the most effective way of ensuring that these cancers are detected at early stages; however few studies have assessed factors that predict cancer screening in developing countries. Purpose To assess the influence of household socio-economic status (SES), healthcare access and country level characteristics on breast and cervical cancer screening among women in developing countries. Methods Women ages 18–69 years (cervical cancer screening) and 40–69 years (breast cancer screening) from 15 developing countries who participated in the 2003 World Health Survey provided data for this study. Household SES and healthcare access was assessed based on self-reported survey responses. SAS survey procedures (SAS, Version 9.2) were used to assess determinants of breast and cervical cancer screening in separate models. Results 4.1% of women ages 18–69 years had received cervical cancer screening in the past three years, while only 2.2% of women ages 40–69 years had received breast cancer screening in the past 5 years in developing countries. Cancer screening rates varied by country; cervical cancer screening ranged from 1.1% in Bangladesh to 57.6% in Congo and breast cancer screening ranged from 0% in Mali to 26% in Congo. Significant determinants of cancer screening were household SES, rural residence, country health expenditure (as a percent of GDP) as well as healthcare access. Discussion A lot more needs to be done to improve screening rates for breast and cervical cancer in developing countries, such as increasing health expenditure (especially in rural areas), applying the increased funds towards the provision of more, better educated health providers as well as improved infrastructure. PMID:23155413

The Road to Rural Primary Care: A Narrative Review of Factors That Help Develop, Recruit, and Retain Rural Primary Care Physicians.

PubMed

Parlier, Anna Beth; Galvin, Shelley L; Thach, Sarah; Kruidenier, David; Fagan, Ernest Blake

2018-01-01

To examine the literature documenting successes in recruiting and retaining rural primary care physicians. The authors conducted a narrative review of literature on individual, educational, and professional characteristics and experiences that lead to recruitment and retention of rural primary care physicians. In May 2016, they searched MEDLINE, PubMed, CINAHL, ERIC, Web of Science, Google Scholar, the Grey Literature Report, and reference lists of included studies for literature published in or after 1990 in the United States, Canada, or Australia. The authors identified 83 articles meeting inclusion criteria. They synthesized results and developed a theoretical model that proposes how the findings interact and influence rural recruitment and retention. The authors' proposed theoretical model suggests factors interact across multiple dimensions to facilitate the development of a rural physician identity. Rural upbringing, personal attributes, positive rural exposure, preparation for rural life and medicine, partner receptivity to rural living, financial incentives, integration into rural communities, and good work-life balance influence recruitment and retention. However, attending medical schools and/or residencies with a rural emphasis and participating in rural training may reflect, rather than produce, intention for rural practice. Many factors enhance rural physician identity development and influence whether physicians enter, remain in, and thrive in rural practice. To help trainees and young physicians develop the professional identity of a rural physician, multifactorial medical training approaches aimed at encouraging long-term rural practice should focus on rural-specific clinical and nonclinical competencies while providing trainees with positive rural experiences.

An Analysis of North Carolina's Rural Health Problems as Perceived by County Rural Development Panels.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamilton, Vance E., Comp.

A State Task Force on Rural Health was formed (January 1973) by the State Rural Development Committee to identify and analyze major rural health problems in North Carolina and to recommend alleviation strategies. The Task Force submitted open-ended questionnaires to members of the County Rural Development Panels to secure their perceptions of…

A Hard Look at USDA's Rural Development Programs. The Report of the Rural Revitalization Task Force to the Secretary of Agriculture.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Department of Agriculture Graduate School, Washington, DC.

This report addresses current economic conditions in rural America and offers recommendations about the role the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) can play in providing rural development. The Task Force identifies issues for rural policy in the 1990's focusing on economic development. Current rural programs are described and…

Surgical referral coordination from a first-level hospital: a prospective case study from rural Nepal.

PubMed

Fleming, Matthew; King, Caroline; Rajeev, Sindhya; Baruwal, Ashma; Schwarz, Dan; Schwarz, Ryan; Khadka, Nirajan; Pande, Sami; Khanal, Sumesh; Acharya, Bibhav; Benton, Adia; Rogers, Selwyn O; Panizales, Maria; Gyorki, David; McGee, Heather; Shaye, David; Maru, Duncan

2017-09-25

Patients in isolated rural communities typically lack access to surgical care. It is not feasible for most rural first-level hospitals to provide a full suite of surgical specialty services. Comprehensive surgical care thus depends on referral systems. There is minimal literature, however, on the functioning of such systems. We undertook a prospective case study of the referral and care coordination process for cardiac, orthopedic, plastic, gynecologic, and general surgical conditions at a district hospital in rural Nepal from 2012 to 2014. We assessed the referral process using the World Health Organization's Health Systems Framework. We followed the initial 292 patients referred for surgical services in the program. 152 patients (52%) received surgery and four (1%) suffered a complication (three deaths and one patient reported complication). The three most common types of surgery performed were: orthopedics (43%), general (32%), and plastics (10%). The average direct and indirect cost per patient referred, including food, transportation, lodging, medications, diagnostic examinations, treatments, and human resources was US$840, which was over 1.5 times the local district's per capita income. We identified and mapped challenges according to the World Health Organization's Health Systems Framework. Given the requirement of intensive human capital, poor quality control of surgical services, and the overall costs of the program, hospital leadership decided to terminate the referral coordination program and continue to build local surgical capacity. The results of our case study provide some context into the challenges of rural surgical referral systems. The high relative costs to the system and challenges in accountability rendered the program untenable for the implementing organization.

Joining Rural Development Theory and Rural Education Practice.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hammer, Patricia Cahape

Karl N. Stauber proposes three goals for rural development policy: helping the rural middle class survive, reducing concentrated rural poverty, and sustaining and improving the quality of the natural environment. In contrast to other visions, he advises policy that focuses on rural places rather than rural economic sectors such as agriculture,…

Rural Area Revitalization Act of 1987; and the Rural Development Reorganization Act of 1987. Hearing on H.R. 1800 and H.R. 2026 before the Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, and Rural Development of the Committee on Agriculture. House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, First Session.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. House Committee on Agriculture.

Testimony of H.R. 1800, the Rural Area Revitalization Act, and H.R. 2026, the Rural Development Reorganization Act focuses on the need for federal attention to rural problems other than agriculture. The Rural Area Revitalization Act authorizes expansion of capital available for lending in rural areas, a grant program of $25 million per year for…

Hepatic steatosis is associated with cardiometabolic risk in a rural Indian population: A prospective cohort study.

PubMed

Barik, Anamitra; Shah, Ravi V; Spahillari, Aferdita; Murthy, Venkatesh L; Ambale-Venkatesh, Bharath; Rai, Rajesh Kumar; Das, Kaushik; Santra, Amal; Hembram, Jaba Ranjan; Bhattacharya, Dilip; Freedman, Jane E; Lima, Joao; Das, Ranendra; Bhattacharyya, Pinakpani; Das, Saumya; Chowdhury, Abhijit

2016-12-15

While adiposity and hepatic steatosis are linked to cardiovascular risk in developed countries, their prevalence and impact in low-income countries are poorly understood. We investigated the association of anthropomorphic variables and hepatic steatosis with cardiometabolic risk profiles and subclinical cardiovascular disease (CVD) in a large rural Indian cohort. In 4691 individuals in the Birbhum Population Project in West Bengal, India, we performed liver ultrasonography, carotid ultrasound and biochemical and clinical profiling. We assessed the association of hepatic steatosis and anthropomorphic indices (BMI, waist circumference) with CVD risk factors (dysglycemia, dyslipidemia, hypertension) and subclinical CVD (by carotid intimal-medial thickness). Rural Indians exhibited a higher visceral adiposity index and pro-atherogenic dyslipidemia at a lower BMI than Americans. Individuals with any degree of hepatic steatosis by ultrasound had a greater probability of dysglycemia (adjusted odds ratio, OR=1.67, 95% CI 1.31-2.12, P<0.0001) and pro-atherogenic dyslipidemia (OR=1.33, 95% CI 1.07-1.63, P=0.009). We observed a positive association between liver fat, adiposity and carotid intimal-medial thickness (CIMT) in an unadjusted model (β=0.02, P=0.0001); the former was extinguished after adjustment for cardiometabolic risk factors. In a large population of rural Indians, hepatic steatosis and waist circumference were associated with prevalent cardiometabolic risk and subclinical CVD at lower BMI relative to multi-ethnic Americans, though the association of the former with subclinical CVD was extinguished after adjustment. These results underscore the emerging relevance of hepatic steatosis and adiposity in the developing world, and suggest efforts to target these accessible phenotypes for cardiometabolic risk prevention. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multifaceted support for a new medical school in Nepal devoted to rural health by a Canadian Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry.

PubMed

Solez, Kim; Karki, Arjun; Rana, Sabita; Bjerland, Holli; Cujec, Bibiana; Aaron, Stephen; Morrish, Don; Walker, Maryann; Gowrishankar, Manjula; Bamforth, Fiona; Satkunam, Lalith; Glick, Naomi; Stevenson, Thomas; Ross, Shelly; Dhakal, Sanjaya; Allain, Dominic; Konkin, Jill; Zakus, David; Nichols, Darren

2012-09-10

Nepal and Alberta are literally a world apart. Yet they share a common problem of restricted access to health services in remote and rural areas. In Nepal, urban-rural disparities were one of the main issues in the recent civil war, which ended in 2006. In response to the need for improved health equity in Nepal a dedicated group of Nepali physicians began planning the Patan Academy of Health Sciences (PAHS), a new health sciences university dedicated to the education of rural health providers in the early 2000s. Beginning with a medical school the Patan Academy of Health Sciences uses international help to plan, deliver and assess its curriculum. PAHS developed an International Advisory Board (IAB) attracting international help using a model of broad, intentional recruitment and then on individuals' natural attraction to a clear mission of peace-making through health equity. Such a model provides for flexible recruitment of globally diverse experts, though it risks a lack of coordination. Until recently, the PAHS IAB has not enjoyed significant or formal support from any single international institution. However, an increasing number of the international consultants recruited by PAHS to its International Advisory Board are from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (UAlberta). The number of UAlberta Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry members involved in the project has risen to fifteen, providing a critical mass for a coordinated effort to leverage institutional support for this partnership. This paper describes the organic growth of the UAlberta group supporting PAHS, and the ways in which it supports a sister institution in a developing nation.

A wireless sensor network deployment for rural and forest fire detection and verification.

PubMed

Lloret, Jaime; Garcia, Miguel; Bri, Diana; Sendra, Sandra

2009-01-01

Forest and rural fires are one of the main causes of environmental degradation in Mediterranean countries. Existing fire detection systems only focus on detection, but not on the verification of the fire. However, almost all of them are just simulations, and very few implementations can be found. Besides, the systems in the literature lack scalability. In this paper we show all the steps followed to perform the design, research and development of a wireless multisensor network which mixes sensors with IP cameras in a wireless network in order to detect and verify fire in rural and forest areas of Spain. We have studied how many cameras, sensors and access points are needed to cover a rural or forest area, and the scalability of the system. We have developed a multisensor and when it detects a fire, it sends a sensor alarm through the wireless network to a central server. The central server selects the closest wireless cameras to the multisensor, based on a software application, which are rotated to the sensor that raised the alarm, and sends them a message in order to receive real-time images from the zone. The camera lets the fire fighters corroborate the existence of a fire and avoid false alarms. In this paper, we show the test performance given by a test bench formed by four wireless IP cameras in several situations and the energy consumed when they are transmitting. Moreover, we study the energy consumed by each device when the system is set up. The wireless sensor network could be connected to Internet through a gateway and the images of the cameras could be seen from any part of the world.

Analysis of the phenomenon of attempted suicides in 1978-2010 in Poland, with particular emphasis on rural areas of Lublin Province.

PubMed

Makara-Studzińska, Marta; Sygit, Katarzyna; Sygit, Marian; Goździewska, Małgorzata; Zubilewicz, Jadwiga; Kryś-Noszczyk, Karolina

2012-01-01

The increasing quality of life of modern man should go hand-in-hand with reducing the scale of the problem of attempted suicides. During the last 55 years, the World Health Organization has recorded an increase in the number of suicides by about 60% in the developed and developing countries. In Poland, the highest rate of suicides have been committed by males, and the circumstances depended on gender, age and socio-economic factors. The aim of the presented study is to present the scale of the problem and present results of the analysis of the phenomenon of attempted suicides in 1978-2010, with particular emphasis on a Polish agricultural region - the Lublin Province in eastern Poland. 167,557 attempted suicides were analyzed across the country, included suicide attempts that resulted in death. Brief description of the state of knowledge and summary: Between 1978-2010 in Poland, the number of attempted suicides was higher in urban than in rural areas, especially among men aged between 31-50 years, while the tendency to commit suicide increased in rural areas in comparison to urban areas. Women usually represented a quarter of the people who attempted or committed suicide, with the majority cases reported in 2002. Most attempted suicides were carried out in the cities, but since 1990, the number of attempted suicides in the country is growing by an average of 8 per annum. In the Lublin Province, far more people are attempting to commit suicide in the rural areas. Despite the trend of increasing numbers of attempted suicides (about 4.36 suicides per year), the number of fatal suicides is decreasing, and the number of suicides committed by teenagers under 14 years of age is decreasing more dynamically.

A Wireless Sensor Network Deployment for Rural and Forest Fire Detection and Verification

PubMed Central

Lloret, Jaime; Garcia, Miguel; Bri, Diana; Sendra, Sandra

2009-01-01

Forest and rural fires are one of the main causes of environmental degradation in Mediterranean countries. Existing fire detection systems only focus on detection, but not on the verification of the fire. However, almost all of them are just simulations, and very few implementations can be found. Besides, the systems in the literature lack scalability. In this paper we show all the steps followed to perform the design, research and development of a wireless multisensor network which mixes sensors with IP cameras in a wireless network in order to detect and verify fire in rural and forest areas of Spain. We have studied how many cameras, sensors and access points are needed to cover a rural or forest area, and the scalability of the system. We have developed a multisensor and when it detects a fire, it sends a sensor alarm through the wireless network to a central server. The central server selects the closest wireless cameras to the multisensor, based on a software application, which are rotated to the sensor that raised the alarm, and sends them a message in order to receive real-time images from the zone. The camera lets the fire fighters corroborate the existence of a fire and avoid false alarms. In this paper, we show the test performance given by a test bench formed by four wireless IP cameras in several situations and the energy consumed when they are transmitting. Moreover, we study the energy consumed by each device when the system is set up. The wireless sensor network could be connected to Internet through a gateway and the images of the cameras could be seen from any part of the world. PMID:22291533

Toward a Comprehensive Rural Development Policy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knutson, Ronald D.; And Others

Rural development is broader than just agriculture. Farm policy cannot solve rural community problems. Rural problems are sufficiently unique to require special emphasis and special programs. Since rural development has a broader focus than the local community, its problems need to be addressed by all levels of government as well as the private…

Rural hospital focus: accommodation.

PubMed

Couper, I D

2003-01-01

Rural and Remote Health is committed to the task of providing a freely accessible, international, peer-reviewed evidence base for rural and remote health practice. Inherent in this aim is a recognition of the universal nature of rural health issues that transcends both regional interests and local culture. While RRH is already publishing peer-reviewed material, the Editorial Board believes many articles of potential worth are largely inaccessible due to their primary publication in small-circulation, paper-based journals whose readership is geographically limited. In order to augment our already comprehensive, international evidence base, the RRH Editorial Board has decided to republish, with permission, selected articles from such journals. This will also give worthwhile small-circulation articles the wide audience only a web-based journal can offer. The RRH editorial team encourages journal users to nominate similar, suitable articles from their own world region. This article 'Rural hospital focus: accommodation', is third in our series. It first appeared in South African Family Practice 2000; 22 (7), and is reproduced here in its original form, with kind permission of both publisher and author, prominent South African rural doctor, Professor Ian Couper. 'Rural hospital focus' was the title of the SAFP column which presented this article.

Guidebook for Providing Economic Assistance at the Tactical Level During Stability Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-01-01

roads with single-lane bridges are ade- quate to connect rural villages to major roads where traffic is light. Asphalt or concrete is suit- able for...updated annually and can be purchased directly from the World Bank through the inter- net site at http://publications.worldbank.org/ ecommerce /catalog...help ex-combatants and rural workers to start their own businesses. Most ex-combatants and unskilled civilian laborers do not have the business

[Inequality in the prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections among schoolchildren from urban and rural schools].

PubMed

Barra, Marco; Bustos, Luis; Ossa, Ximena

2016-07-01

Parasitic infections in children reflect social inequalities throughout the world, especially in urban and rural territories. To assess inequalities in the prevalence of infections by protozoa and intestinal helminths and associated factors in children of different geographical areas from the commune of Puerto Montt. Cross-sectional study carried out in 103 students from one urban and two rural schools in the commune of Puerto Montt. A socio-demographic survey was applied and the presence parasitic infections was evaluated in serial stool samples. The prevalence of Protozoan and intestinal helminthic infections were 37.5 and 68.1% in urban and rural areas respectively. A regression analysis showed that the differences between rural and urban children, disappear when the results are adjusted by family income and the quality of sewage disposal. In urban children, the prevalence of parasitic infections increases along with the decrease in family income. Income and sanitary conditions rather than being or urban or rural origin explain the variations in rates of childhood parasitic infections. Infections with protozoa and intestinal helminths are an indicator of social inequality in health.

Making connections: Exploring student agency in a science classroom in India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharma, Ajay

India has been a free country for more than half a century now. In this time, the state has succeeded to a large extent in providing universal access to at least elementary education to all the citizens. However, the quality of education provided in state-run schools remains far removed from the ideals endorsed in policy documents. The vast majority of Indian poor, especially in rural areas, depend upon state-run schools for access to education. However, the low quality of education provided in these schools militates against their hopes and efforts for securing a better future through education. Undergirded by concerns over the raw deal students of government run schools get in rural India, this study is an ethnographic exploration of science learning in a rural middle school classroom in India. The study was conducted in the government middle school at the village Rajkheda, in the Hoshangabad district of the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. The study focused on the nature and scope of student participation in a middle school science classroom of rural school in India. Taking a socio-cultural perspective, it explored student participation in science classroom as engagement in a socioculturally mediated dialogue with the natural and the social world. Thus, two parallel yet intersecting themes run through the narrative this study presents. On one hand, it focuses on students' efforts to both learn and survive science as taught in that school. While on the other, it details the nature of their engagement with and knowledge of their immediate material world. The study shows that through active engagement with their local material and social world, students of the 8th grade had acquired an extensive, useful and situated funds of experiential knowledge that enabled them to enact their agency in the material world around them. This knowledge revealed itself differently in different contexts. Their knowledge representations about school science and the material world were situated improvised responses to ongoing dialogues that enabled them to survive, negotiate and maneuver their way through their immediate social world. Inside the science classroom, students negotiated their roles as students in a varied, improvised, and contingent manner. Further, whenever the constraints and affordances of the local situation and the resources at their disposal made it feasible, students exercised their social agency to selectively appropriate school science discourse for their own out-of-school purposes. The science teacher did much to encourage this contingent and situated emergence of students' social agency. However, the extant teacher professional and school science discourses allowed him to achieve only limited success in making science more meaningful and relevant to the students. The study reveals that though much has been accomplished to provide universal access to elementary education in India, the science instruction still persists along traditional lines. Thus, the state is still far from providing access to the type of science education it advocates in its national policy documents. The study urges the state to fulfill its constitutional obligations by providing a science education that enables students to not only build a better future for themselves, but also work for peaceful and progressive social change. The study recommends informed bricolage as a goal for teacher education and professional development.

Rural Development: Part 4, S. 2223--The Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act and Amendment No. 153 (To S. 1483), to Establish the Rural Community Development Bank. Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Rural Development of the Committee on Agriculture and Forestry, United States Senate, 92d Congress, 1st Session, July 23; September 21-24, 1971.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

Transcripts of Senate hearings on S. 2223 (the Consolidated Farm and Rural Development Act) and on Amendment No. 153 (to S. 1483) to establish the rural community development bank are presented in this document. In addition to some 25 miscellaneous documents, statements of representatives from municipal, state, and national organizations are…

[Food and population: study of three countries].

PubMed

1988-12-01

In 1985, despite a nearly 25% worldwide surplus of cereals, more than 700 million poor people had insufficient food and some 17 million children died of malnutrition or related causes. 16% of the developing world's population is undernourished. Rapid population growth is a major reason for the world's hunger. Large families exhaust the resources of many urban couples and rural couples with little land. Closely spaced pregnancies deplete the nutritional resources of the mother and lead to low birth weight babies and inadequate lactation. Population growth in already densely populated countries reduces the land available for each family, inevitably contributing to poverty and rural malnutrition. Unemployment and underemployment reach alarming proportions in the city, where the combination of high fertility rates and migration from the countryside have produced growth twice that of the world population as a whole. Few developing countries have been able to generate sufficient investment to create new jobs for all seeking them. Unstable governments attempt to pacify urban unrest by subsidizing food prices and concentrating social and economic investments in the cities, causing further deterioration in rural conditions. Today more than 60 countries have food deficits, although not all are suffering. India, Kenya, and Mexico are 3 countries that have had some success in balancing population growth and food production, but each still has undernourished population sectors because of economic policies that fail to provide sufficient help to their poor and because of implacable population growth. Ending malnutrition in the 3 countries will require reducing the cost of food for households and increasing their incomes, but both objectives are made more difficult by rapid population growth. As a result of the green revolution and other factors, food production in India has tripled since 1950, but population has almost doubled in the same years. With rapid population growth, per capita agricultural productivity increased much more slowly than production. Kenya has enjoyed impressive economic growth since independence, but its rate of population growth of 4.2%/year, the highest in the world, has meant that per capita income increases have been modest. Average nutritional status has declined in Kenya since 1968. The rate of population growth in Mexico has declined to 2.3-2.6%/year in 1986 from the 3.5% of 1974, but population growth will be rapid for decades to come because of the young age structure. Agricultural production has increased but has not kept pace with population growth. Kenya, India, and Mexico have the human and natural resources to make further economic gains in the coming decades. The difficulty of feeding their populations adequately will increase to the extent that they fail to curb their rapid population increase.

China marks World Population Day. Address by Zhang Weiqing: (Excerpts).

PubMed

Zhang, W

1998-08-01

This is a summary of remarks by Minister Zhang Weiqing of China's State Family Planning Commission (SFPC) given on World Population Day in China. The world's population size has increased by 1 billion since 1987, and will reach 6 billion by 1999. As the most populous developing country in the world, China has a greater population pressure and bears a large responsibility regarding stabilization of the world's population and realization of sustainable development. China has a less developed economy and a high percentage of rural and illiterate persons, many of whom are below the poverty line. The interests of both present and future generations must be taken into account with regard to development. In addition, the modernization drive must include strategies for sustainable development and basic national policies of FP and environmental protection in order to achieve a balance among population growth, the economy, resources, and the environment. After 30 years of effort, China has succeeded in solving its population problem by integrating governmental guidance with voluntary public participation in FP. In 1997, the birthrate decreased to 16.57/1000, and the total fertility rate was below replacement level. Changes in attitude toward marriage and childbearing have occurred, as has awareness of voluntary participation in FP. However, some problems have emerged in the implementation of population and FP programs. China will carry out its programs strictly and effectively while developing the national economy. Goals include: 1) stressing the IEC program regarding contraception and regular FP management and services; 2) integrating the FP program with economic development; 3) helping the public to become well off; 4) protecting maternal and child health; 5) improving the status of women; 6) delivering reproductive services; and 7) improving social security measures. Efforts will be made to enable the public to have a more active part in implementing the FP program.

New indices for home nursing care resource disparities in rural and urban areas, based on geocoding and geographic distance barriers: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Lin, Shyang-Woei; Yen, Chia-Feng; Chiu, Tzu-Ying; Chi, Wen-Chou; Liou, Tsan-Hon

2015-10-08

Aging in place is the crucial object of long-term care policy worldwide. Approximately 15.6-19.4% of people aged 15 or above live with a disability, and 15.3% of them have moderate or severe disabilities. The allocation of home nursing care services is therefore an important issue. Service providers in Taiwan vary substantially across regions, and between rural and urban areas. There are no appropriate indices for describing the capacity of providers that it is due to the distances from care recipients. This study therefore aimed to describe and compare distance barriers for home nursing care providers using indices of the "profit willing distance" and the "tolerance limited distance". This cross-sectional study was conducted during 2012 and 2013 using geocoding and a geographic information system to identify the distance from the providers' locations to participants' homes in urban (Taipei City) and rural (Hualien County) areas in Taiwan. Data were collected in-person by professionals in Taiwanese hospitals using the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0. The indices were calculated using regression curves, and the first inflection points were determined as the points on the curves where the first and second derivatives equaled 0. There were 5627 participants from urban areas and 956 from rural areas. In urban areas, the profit willing distance was 550-600 m, and we were unable to identify them in rural areas. This demonstrates that providers may need to supply services even when there is little profit. The tolerance limited distance were 1600-1650 m in urban areas and 1950-2000 m in rural areas. In rural areas, 33.3% of those living inside the tolerance limited distance and there was no provider within this distance, but this figure fell to just 13.9% in urban areas. There were strong disparities between urban and rural areas in home nursing care resource allocation. Our new "profit willing distance" and the "tolerance limited distance" are considered to be clearer and more equitable than other evaluation indices. They have practical application in considering resource distribution issues around the world, and in particular the rural-urban disparities for public resource.

Indoor Air Quality in Central Appalachia Homes Impacted by Wood and Coal Use

PubMed Central

Paulin, Laura M.; Williams, D’Ann; Oberweiser, Charles; Diette, Gregory B.; Breysse, Patrick N.; McCormack, Meredith M.; Matsui, Elizabeth C.; Peng, Roger; Metts, Tricia A.; Hansel, Nadia N.

2016-01-01

Though the high prevalence of biomass fuel use in the developing world is widely known, the use of burning biomass for cooking and heating in the developed world is under-recognized. Combustion materials including coal and wood are also used for heating in some areas of the United States. We conducted a pilot study to assess the feasibility of conducting indoor environmental monitoring in rural Appalachia. We sought to explore the type of biomass being used for home heating and its impact upon indoor air quality in non-heating and heating seasons. Residential indoor air monitoring for particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) was conducted in Lee County, Virginia. Homes had evidence of poor indoor air quality with high concentrations of indoor PM and a large burden of cigarette smoking. Further characterization of indoor combustion material use in this region to determine the health impacts associated with such exposures is warranted. PMID:27738549

Health anthropology and urban health research.

PubMed

Obrist, Brigit; VAN Eeuwijk, Peter; Weiss, Mitchell G

2003-12-01

We live in a rapidly urbanising world. According to the 2001 statistics of the United Nations,a the proportion of urban dwellers rose from 30% in 1950 to 47% in 2000 and will probably attain 60% in 2030. Almost 70% of these urban dwellers live in cities of developing regions. At the current rates of urbanisation, the number of city dwellers in the world will equal that of their rural counterparts by 2007. In the late 1980s, researchers became increasingly concerned about the combined impact of rapid urban growth and economic recession on the health of a majority of people in African and Asian cities. Several books established urban health research with a focus on developing countries as a multidisciplinary field of inquiry (Harpham et al., 1988; Salem &Jeannée, 1989). It is now widely recognised that urbanisation per se is not necessarily bad for health, but it becomes so if urban governments fail to establish and support necessary infrastructure and services to protect citizens from environmental hazards and from social, economic and political insecurity.

'Although we're isolated, we're not really isolated': The value of information and communication technology for older people in rural Australia.

PubMed

Berg, Turi; Winterton, Rachel; Petersen, Maree; Warburton, Jeni

2017-12-01

Drawing from a larger study that identified the supports and services that facilitate wellness among older people from rural communities, this study examined the specific contribution made by information and communication technology (ICT). Qualitative interviews were undertaken with 60 older adults from six Australian rural areas. A preliminary thematic analysis was conducted, followed by a higher-order inductive analysis. Information and communication technology use was discussed in terms of individual enrichment, and in terms of enabling connections between the individual and their social networks, community and wider service environments. Information and communication technologies may facilitate wellness for rural older people by compensating for geographical and social isolation. In the changing world of health and aged care service delivery, ICTs will be more important than ever for rural older people in building their capacity to access the services, socialisation and support that they need, regardless of location. © 2017 AJA Inc.

Reframing the HIV/AIDS debate in developing countries I: setting the scene.

PubMed

Couper, I D

2004-01-01

In 2001, it was estimated that 4.7 million South Africans were living with HIV/AIDS. Prevalence figures have risen steadily over the past 10 years in most African countries, and in only a few, like Uganda, does the epidemic show signs of waning. In Africa, the status of the obese has risen enormously. If you're fat, you don't have AIDS. The epidemic is fuelled by many factors. These include: a lack of basic education about HIV risk; migrant labour disrupting family stability; polygamous marriages; patriarchal practices; and a lack of basic human rights, including being able to refuse intercourse, for women. Health care systems struggle and fail to cope with overwhelming demands, and the scale of the human loss risks dehumanising carers and health workers. Doctors evolve coping strategies, as do health systems and governments. Aid from the Western world has, until recently, been tokenistic in scale. HIV/AIDS in Africa is substantially a result of the socioeconomic and political realities of the past and present, and is related to the continued exploitation of developing countries by developed nations. This article was the introductory paper in the 'HIV/AIDS in the Developing World workshop' of the 2003 WONCA World Rural Health Congress, Santiago de Compostela, Spain. The concluding 'Santiago de Compostela Statement on HIV/AIDS' was adopted at the congress, and is offered here as a suggested way forward.

Total Health Organization.

PubMed

1993-01-01

Total Health Organization is a holistic care an humanitarian relief agency with special emphasis on Africa and Third World countries. It was founded in 1987 with a focus on hunger relief, health assistance, handicap, habitat and human rights of destitutes, socially disadvantaged persons and communities which it has adopted as the socially forgotten people (SFP). Total Health Organization is a non-political, non-profit, and international non-governmental organization, having official relations with several national, regional and world bodies. Some of the project activities include: free mobile clinics to rural destitutes, AIDS and related health education, an information and research library, and an NGO Development Center. For more information, please contact: Dr. Obi Osisiogu, Founder and President, Total Health International Center, 147 Ikot-Ekpene Road, P.O. Box 1726, Aba, Abia State Nigeria, Tel: 082-222279, Telex: 63311 ANYA NG, Fax: 234-82-227512. full text

Rural development and urban migration: can we keep them down on the farm?

PubMed

Rhoda, R

1983-01-01

This study tests the hypothesis that rural development projects and programs reduce rural-urban migration. The author presents various factors in the social theories of migration, including those relating to origin and destination, intervening obstacles such as distance, and personal factors. 3 economic models of migration are the human capital or cost-benefit approach, the expected income model, and the intersectoral linkage model. Empirical studies of migration indicate that: 1) rural areas with high rates of out-migration tend to have high population densities or high ratios of labor to arable land, 2) distance inhibits migration, 3) rural-urban migration is positively correlated with family income level, and 4) selectivity differences in socioeconomic status between migrants and nonmigrants often are grouped into development packages which might include irrigation, new varieties of seed, subsidized credit, increased extension, and improved marketing arrangements. The migration impacts of some of these efforts are described: 1) land reform usually is expected to slow rural out-migration because it normally increases labor utilization in rural areas, but this is a limited effect, 2) migration effects of the Green Revolution technology are mainly in rural-rural migration, and 3) agricultural mechanization may stimulate rural-urban migration in the long run. Development of rural social services migh have various effects on rural-urban migration. Better rural education, which improves the chances of urban employment, will stimulate rural-urban migration, while successful rural family planning programs will have a negative effect in the long run as there will be reduced population pressure on arable land. Better rural health services might reduce the incentive for rural-urban migration as well. It is suggested that governments reconsider policies which rely on rural development to curb rural-urban migration and alleviate problems of urban poverty and underemployment.

Factors associated to infant mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa

PubMed Central

Ester, Pablo Viguera; Torres, Alberto; Freire, José M.; Hernández, Valentín; Gil, Ángel

2011-01-01

Half of the 10 million children who die annually in the world are from Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The reasons are known, but lack of will and resources avoid the development of sustainable policies. Associated factors to the high infant mortality rate (IMR) in SSA have been investigated in this research. An ecological multi-group study was designed comparing rates within SSA. The dependent variable is the IMR and health services, economic and development indicators are the independent variables. Information and data sources were WHO, World Bank, UNICEF and UNDP (1997–2007). IMR mean value is 92.2 (per 1000 live births) and a relationship with several of the factors could be observed. In the bi-variate analysis direct relationship was observed with maternal mortality rate and an inverse relationship was observed with prenatal care coverage, births assisted by skilled health personnel, gross national income per capita, per capita government expenditure on health, social security expenditure, adult literacy rate, net primary school enrolment rate, population with access to safe drinking water (in urban and rural areas) and with population with access to basic sanitation in rural areas. In the multi-variate analysis IMR had an inverse relationship with children under 5 years with diarrhoea who receive oral re-hydration, with social security expenditure as percentage of general government expenditure on health and with per capita government expenditure on health. The situation in SSA would change if their inhabitants received education and information to demand more equitable polices and better investments from their governments. PMID:28299068

Investigation of the impacts of rural development on Iowa's secondary road systems.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-09-01

"Today, many of Iowas counties are experiencing an increase in rural development. Two specific types of development were focused on : for this research: rural residential subdivisions and livestock production operations. Rural residential developm...

Investigation of the impacts of rural development on Iowa's secondary road systems.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-09-01

Today, many of Iowas counties are experiencing an increase in rural development. Two specific types of development were focused on : for this research: rural residential subdivisions and livestock production operations. Rural residential developme...

Women in the workplace in developing countries.

PubMed

1992-06-01

The increased participation of women in economic activities of developing countries has been neglected, although they often work longer hours than men. In Africa, Asia, and the Pacific women average 12-13 hours more a week than men. They are often heads of households as male partners become ill, migrate, or die. The work is mostly in the household with other subsistence activities that statistics do not count. The UN Statistical Office estimated that the percentage of economically active women increased between 1970 and 1990 in the whole world except for sub-Saharan Africa. Yet the gap between female and male employment in the developing world stays wide because of fewer educational opportunities and social restrictions affecting women. 1/2 of the 70% of 830 million economically active women living in developing countries are in Asia. 3 of 4 women aged over 25 in Asia and Africa are illiterate. In Latin America and the Caribbean less than 25% of women are illiterate. Female illiteracy reaches over 75% in northern Africa and western Asia, almost 75% in sub-Saharan Africa, under 50% in eastern and southeastern Asia, and 75% in southern Asia. There is a wide gap between urban and rural illiteracy of women aged 15-24. In Africa over 40% of urban women were illiterate vs. nearly 80% of rural women in 1980. Enrollment in secondary schools in 1985 indicated that while in developed countries about equal number of girls were enrolled per 100 boys, in northern Africa only 70 girls, in sub-Saharan Africa only 60 girls, in eastern Asia 90 girls, and in southern Asia only about 40 girls were enrolled. In Africa under 20% of women vs. 80% of men in northern Africa, were active in the official economy, while in sub-Saharan Africa 40% of women vs. 90% of men, in Latin America nearly 40% of women vs. 80% of men, and in southern Asia in a little over 20% of women vs. over 80% of men.

Widening economic & social disparities: implications for India.

PubMed

Kurian, N J

2007-10-01

India is often characterized as an emerging economic super power. The huge demographic dividend, the high quality engineering and management talent, the powerful Indian diaspora and the emerging Indian transnational--kneeling the optimism. In contrast, there is another profile of India which is rather gloomy. This is the country with the largest number of the poor, illiterates and unemployed in the world. High infant mortality, morbidity and widespread anaemia among women and children continue. India suffers from acute economic and social disparities. This article addresses four dimensions of such disparities, viz. regional, rural-urban, social, and gender. There is empirical evidence to indicate that during the last two decades all these disparities have been increasing. As a result of economic reforms, the southern and western States experienced accelerated economic and social development as compared to northern and eastern States. This has led to widening gap in income, poverty and other indicators of development between the two regions. Rural-urban divide also widened in the wake of reforms. While large and medium cities experience unprecedented economic prosperity, the rural areas experience economic stagnation. As a result, there is widespread agrarian distress which results in farmers' suicide and rural unrest. Socially backward sections, especially scheduled castes and tribes (SCs and STs) have gained little from the new prosperity which rewards disproportionately those with assets, skills and higher education. STs have often been victims of development as a result of displacement. The gender gap in social and economic status, traditionally more in India as compared to other societies; has further widened by the economic reforms and globalization. The approach paper to the Eleventh Plan stresses the importance of more inclusive economic growth. It emphasizes the need for bridging the divides discussed in this article. Unless these are achieved in a time-bound manner, there could be serious adverse implications for the Indian economy, society and politics.

Cities: Managing densely settled social-ecological systems

Treesearch

J. Morgan Grove

2009-01-01

The transition from a rural to urban population represents a demographic, economic, cultural, and environmental tipping point. In 1800, about 3% of the world’s human population lived in urban areas. By 1900, this proportion rose to approximately 14% and now exceeds 50% in 2008. Nearly every week 1.3 million additional people arrive in the world’s cities (about 70...

Warming of the Indian Ocean threatens eastern and southern African food security but could be mitigated by agricultural development

USGS Publications Warehouse

Funk, Chris C.; Dettinger, Michael D.; Michaelsen, Joel C.; Verdin, James P.; Brown, Molly E.; Barlow, Mathew; Hoell, Andrew

2008-01-01

Since 1980, the number of undernourished people in eastern and southern Africa has more than doubled. Rural development stalled and rural poverty expanded during the 1990s. Population growth remains very high, and declining per-capita agricultural capacity retards progress toward Millennium Development goals. Analyses of in situ station data and satellite observations of precipitation have identified another problematic trend: main growing-season rainfall receipts have diminished by ???15% in food-insecure countries clustered along the western rim of the Indian Ocean. Occurring during the main growing seasons in poor countries dependent on rain-fed agriculture, these declines are societally dangerous. Will they persist or intensify? Tracing moisture deficits upstream to an anthropogenically warming Indian Ocean leads us to conclude that further rainfall declines are likely. We present analyses suggesting that warming in the central Indian Ocean disrupts onshore moisture transports, reducing continental rainfall. Thus, late 20th-century anthropogenic Indian Ocean warming has probably already produced societally dangerous climate change by creating drought and social disruption in some of the world's most fragile food economies. We quantify the potential impacts of the observed precipitation and agricultural capacity trends by modeling 'millions of undernourished people' as a function of rainfall, population, cultivated area, seed, and fertilizer use. Persistence of current tendencies may result in a 50% increase in undernourished people by 2030. On the other hand, modest increases in per-capita agricultural productivity could more than offset the observed precipitation declines. Investing in agricultural development can help mitigate climate change while decreasing rural poverty and vulnerability. ?? 2008 by The National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

Annual Progress Report, January 1, 1974-December 31, 1974. [Southern Rural Development Center, Mississippi State University.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Southern Rural Development Center, State College, MS.

The Southern Rural Development Center's (SRDC) first annual report documents its organizational structure and provides a point by point summary of accomplishments relative to the following goals: (1) Develop, plan, and inventory existing rural development research knowledge; (2) Inventory rural development research needs and priorities; (3)…

Physical activity and cardiovascular risk factors among rural and urban groups and rural-to-urban migrants in Peru: a cross-sectional study

PubMed Central

Creber, Ruth M. Masterson; Smeeth, Liam; Gilman, Robert H.; Miranda, J. Jaime

2010-01-01

Objectives To compare physical activity and sedentary behavior patterns of rural-to-urban migrants in Peru versus lifetime rural and urban residents and to determine any associations between low physical activity and four cardiovascular risk factors: obesity (body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m2), systolic and diastolic blood pressure, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome. Methods The PERU MIGRANT (PEru’s Rural to Urban MIGRANTs) cross-sectional study was designed to measure physical activity among rural, urban, and rural-to-urban migrants with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Results The World Health Organization (WHO) age-standardized prevalence of low physical activity was 2.2% in lifetime rural residents, 32.2% in rural-to-urban migrants, and 39.2% in lifetime urban residents. The adjusted odds ratios for low physical activity were 21.43 and 32.98 for migrant and urban groups respectively compared to the rural group. The adjusted odds ratio for being obese was 1.94 for those with low physical activity. There was no evidence of an association between low physical activity and blood pressure levels, hypertension, or metabolic syndrome. Conclusions People living in a rural area had much higher levels of physical activity and lower risk of being overweight and obese compared to those living in an urban area of Lima. Study participants from the same rural area who had migrated to Lima had levels of physical inactivity and obesity similar to those who had always lived in Lima. Interventions aimed at maintaining higher levels of physical activity among rural-to-urban migrants may help reduce the epidemic of obesity in urban areas. PMID:20857014

Physical activity and cardiovascular risk factors among rural and urban groups and rural-to-urban migrants in Peru: a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Masterson Creber, Ruth M; Smeeth, Liam; Gilman, Robert H; Miranda, J Jaime

2010-07-01

To compare physical activity and sedentary behavior patterns of rural-to-urban migrants in Peru versus lifetime rural and urban residents and to determine any associations between low physical activity and four cardiovascular risk factors: obesity (body mass index > 30 kg/m²), systolic and diastolic blood pressure, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome. The PERU MIGRANT (PEru's Rural to Urban MIGRANTs) cross-sectional study was designed to measure physical activity among rural, urban, and rural-to-urban migrants with the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). The World Health Organization (WHO) age-standardized prevalence of low physical activity was 2.2% in lifetime rural residents, 32.2% in rural-to-urban migrants, and 39.2% in lifetime urban residents. The adjusted odds ratios for low physical activity were 21.43 and 32.98 for migrant and urban groups respectively compared to the rural group. The adjusted odds ratio for being obese was 1.94 for those with low physical activity. There was no evidence of an association between low physical activity and blood pressure levels, hypertension, or metabolic syndrome. People living in a rural area had much higher levels of physical activity and lower risk of being overweight and obese compared to those living in an urban area of Lima. Study participants from the same rural area who had migrated to Lima had levels of physical inactivity and obesity similar to those who had always lived in Lima. Interventions aimed at maintaining higher levels of physical activity among rural-to-urban migrants may help reduce the epidemic of obesity in urban cities.

7 CFR 22.306 - Financing rural development planning.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 1 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Financing rural development planning. 22.306 Section 22.306 Agriculture Office of the Secretary of Agriculture RURAL DEVELOPMENT COORDINATION Roles and Responsibilities of State Governments § 22.306 Financing rural development planning. States will be required to...

77 FR 35657 - Information Collection Activity; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-14

... Information Collection Activity; Comment Request AGENCY: Rural Utilities Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice and... 35, as amended), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development administers rural utilities programs through the Rural Utilities Service. The USDA Rural Development invites...

Better Country: A Strategy for Rural Development in the 1980's.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC.

The report of the 25-member National Advisory Council on Rural Development, appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture, defines rural needs and sets forth strategies for rural development in the 1980's. A review of the decade between 1970 and 1980 discusses rapid economic growth of rural areas, social progress, and changes in public service, and…

A Bibliography on Rural Development in Tanzania. MSU Rural Development Paper No. 3.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kocher, James E.; Fleisher, Beverly

Rural development is understood to mean both the increased productivity of agriculture and other rural economic activities and the enhancement of the material well-being of the rural people (who comprise about 90% of Tanzania's 16 million population) through education, improved health, and better nutrition. Seven hundred and sixty-one books,…

Socioeconomic obstacles to HIV prevention and treatment in developing countries: the roles of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

PubMed

Lurie, P; Hintzen, P; Lowe, R A

1995-06-01

This paper explores the socioeconomic obstacles to HIV prevention and treatment in developing countries. The opening sections explain the historical origins of structural adjustment programs and their characteristics. Structural adjustment programs undermine the social fabric of many developing countries, and potentially promote behaviors which place people at increased risk of HIV infection. The authors discuss the declining sustainability of the rural subsistence economy, development of a transportation infrastructure, migration and urbanization, and reductions in spending on health and social services. Social and economic interventions are needed to stem the spread of HIV and care for those who are already infected. While a substantial amount of biomedical research has been conducted, socioeconomic aspects of the AIDS epidemic have often been ignored. For HIV transmission in developing countries to be substantially reduced, economic policies which may have promoted the spread of disease must be modified. An alternative development strategy consists of satisfying people's basic human needs, shifting from an export-driven economy to diversified agricultural production in the interest of securing regional self-sufficiency, supporting marginal producers and subsistence farmers, and placing greater emphasis upon human resource development in developing countries. Moreover, the IMF and World Bank need to change their policy to one which is truly about cooperative development, while the charters of the IMF and World Bank need to be altered to permit the cancellation or rescheduling of debt. These institutions should also play a leading role in the restructuring of debt owed to private lenders.

Bradford's Law and the Literature of Agriculture

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lawani, S. M.

1973-01-01

This paper presents analyses of separate data on the literature of tropical and subtropical agriculture, and the world literature of agricultural economics and rural socilogy, in relation to Bradford's law. (8 references) (Author/SJ)

Rural America at a Glance. Rural Development Research Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Economic Research Service (USDA), Washington, DC.

This report highlights the most recent indicators of social and economic conditions in rural areas for use in developing rural policies and programs. The economic expansion of the 1990s greatly benefited rural economies. Rural areas attracted both urban residents and immigrants. Hispanics accounted for over 25 percent of nonmetropolitan population…

Space-based societal applications—Relevance in developing countries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bhaskaranarayana, A.; Varadarajan, C.; Hegde, V. S.

2009-11-01

Space technology has the vast potential for addressing a variety of societal problems of the developing countries, particularly in the areas of communication, education and health sectors, land and water resources management, disaster management and weather forecasting. Both remote sensing and communication technologies can be used to achieve this goal. With its primary emphasis on application of space technology, on an end-to-end basis, towards national development, the Indian Space Programme has distinguished itself as one of the most cost-effective and development-oriented space programmes in the world. Developing nations are faced with the enormous task of carrying development-oriented education to the masses at the lower strata of their societies. One important feature of these populations is their large number and the spread over vast and remote areas of these nations, making the reaching out to them a difficult task. Satellite communication (Satcom) technology offers the unique capability of simultaneously reaching out to very large numbers, spread over vast areas, including the remote corners of the country. It is a strong tool to support development education. India has been amongst the first few nations to explore and put to use the Satcom technology for education and development-oriented services to the rural masses. Most of the developing countries have inadequate infrastructure to provide proper medical care to the rural population. Availability of specialist doctors in rural areas is a major bottleneck. Use of Satcom and information technology to connect rural clinics to urban hospitals through telemedicine systems is one of the solutions; and India has embarked upon an effective satellite-based telemedicine programme. Space technology is also useful in disaster warning and management related applications. Use of satellite systems and beacons for locating the distressed units on land, sea or air is well known to us. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is already a part of the International initiative called Satellite Aided Search and Rescue System. The programme to set up satellite-based Village Resource Centres (VRCs) across India, for providing a variety of services relevant to the rural communities, is also a unique societal application of space technology. The VRCs are envisaged as single window delivery mechanism for a variety of space-based products and services, such as tele-education; telemedicine; information on natural resources for planning and development at local level; interactive advisories on agriculture, fisheries, land and water resources management, livestock management, etc.; interactive vocational training towards alternative livelihood; e-governance; weather information; etc. This paper describes the various possibilities and potentials of Satcom and Remote Sensing technologies for societal applications. The initiatives taken by Indian Space Research Organisation in this direction are highlighted.

Urban population growth and urbanization in the Caribbean.

PubMed

Hope, K R

1985-01-01

The structure, sources, consequences, and policy implications of urbanization and of the rapid growth of the urban population in the Caribbean are examined. In particular, a comparative analysis of the situation in Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago is presented. Data are from a variety of secondary sources, including those published by the United Nations and the World Bank. The need to reorient policies to favor rural rather than urban areas in order to reduce rural-urban migration is noted.

Implications of Land Policy and Rural Development in Botswana.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Milazi, Dominic

1988-01-01

Examines land tenure alteration in relation to rural development programs in Botswana. Development efforts have had a class differentiated effect, aiding the relatively well-off cattle owners, but ignoring the small crop producers. A rural development strategy that benefits all rural groups must contain measures specifically tailored to each. (DHP)

7 CFR 1735.9 - USDA Rural Development State Director notification.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 11 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false USDA Rural Development State Director notification....9 USDA Rural Development State Director notification. Applicants shall complete a notification form which will be a public document that the RUS provides to USDA Rural Development State Directors and...

77 FR 26735 - Information Collection Activity; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-07

... AGENCY: Rural Utilities Service, USDA. ACTION: Notice and request for comments. SUMMARY: In accordance... Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development administers rural utilities programs through the Rural Utilities Service (RUS). The USDA Rural Development invites comments on the following information...

New categories for traditional medicine in the Economic Botany Data Collection Standard.

PubMed

Gruca, Marta; Cámara-Leret, Rodrigo; Macía, Manuel J; Balslev, Henrik

2014-09-11

The Economic Botany Data Collection Standard (EBDCS) has been successfully followed by ethnobotanists investigating plant uses in many parts of the world. However, we have encountered some cases in our study of traditional medicine where the standard seems incomplete and inaccurate when it is applied to plant uses of rural or indigenous societies in developing countries. We propose two categories to be added to the EBDCS: Cultural Diseases and Disorders, and Ritual/Magical Uses. Adding these categories, we believe will give a more accurate insight into traditional medicine and will contribute to developing an integrative ethnomedicinal data collection protocol, which will make ethnomedicinal studies more comparable. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Changes in fuelwood use and selection following electrification in the Bushbuckridge lowveld, South Africa.

PubMed

Madubansi, M; Shackleton, C M

2007-06-01

Fuelwood is the primary energy source for domestic purposes throughout the developing world, in both urban and rural environments. Due to the detrimental impacts of biomass use on human and environmental health, many governments have sought to reduce its use through provision of potentially cleaner energies, of which electricity is the dominant form. Yet there are surprisingly few studies of changes in fuelwood use following the introduction of electricity, especially in rural areas of Africa. This paper reports on a longitudinal study of fuelwood use, using identical approaches, in five rural villages in the Bushbuckridge region of South Africa, spanning the period over which electricity became widely available. Almost a decade after the introduction of electricity, over 90% of households still used fuelwood for thermal purposes, especially cooking, and the mean household consumption rates over the 11-year period had not changed, even with a policy of 6 kWh per month of free electricity. The proportion of households purchasing fuelwood had increased, probably in response to a number of factors, including (i) increased fuelwood scarcity in the local environment as reflected by increased fuelwood collection times, changes in fuelwood species preferences, and ranking of scarcity by local collectors, and (ii) increases in the price of fuelwood well below that of other fuels and the prevailing inflation rate. Overall, there was an increase in the number of species harvested over the 11-year period. The implications of these findings for rural energy provision are discussed.

Vibrio Pathogens: A Public Health Concern in Rural Water Resources in Sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Osunla, Charles A; Okoh, Anthony I

2017-10-07

Members of the Vibrio genus are autochthonous inhabitants of aquatic environments and play vital roles in sustaining the aquatic milieu. The genus comprises about 100 species, which are mostly of marine or freshwater origin, and their classification is frequently updated due to the continuous discovery of novel species. The main route of transmission of Vibrio pathogens to man is through drinking of contaminated water and consumption inadequately cooked aquatic food products. In sub-Saharan Africa and much of the developing world, some rural dwellers use freshwater resources such as rivers for domestic activities, bathing, and cultural and religious purposes. This review describes the impact of inadequately treated sewage effluents on the receiving freshwater resources and the associated risk to the rural dwellers that depends on the water. Vibrio infections remain a threat to public health. In the last decade, Vibrio disease outbreaks have created alertness on the personal, economic, and public health uncertainties associated with the impact of contaminated water in the aquatic environment of sub-Saharan Africa. In this review, we carried out an overview of Vibrio pathogens in rural water resources in Sub-Saharan Africa and the implication of Vibrio pathogens on public health. Continuous monitoring of Vibrio pathogens among environmental freshwater and treated effluents is expected to help reduce the risk associated with the early detection of sources of infection, and also aid our understanding of the natural ecology and evolution of Vibrio pathogens.

Vibrio Pathogens: A Public Health Concern in Rural Water Resources in Sub-Saharan Africa

PubMed Central

Osunla, Charles A.

2017-01-01

Members of the Vibrio genus are autochthonous inhabitants of aquatic environments and play vital roles in sustaining the aquatic milieu. The genus comprises about 100 species, which are mostly of marine or freshwater origin, and their classification is frequently updated due to the continuous discovery of novel species. The main route of transmission of Vibrio pathogens to man is through drinking of contaminated water and consumption inadequately cooked aquatic food products. In sub-Saharan Africa and much of the developing world, some rural dwellers use freshwater resources such as rivers for domestic activities, bathing, and cultural and religious purposes. This review describes the impact of inadequately treated sewage effluents on the receiving freshwater resources and the associated risk to the rural dwellers that depends on the water. Vibrio infections remain a threat to public health. In the last decade, Vibrio disease outbreaks have created alertness on the personal, economic, and public health uncertainties associated with the impact of contaminated water in the aquatic environment of sub-Saharan Africa. In this review, we carried out an overview of Vibrio pathogens in rural water resources in Sub-Saharan Africa and the implication of Vibrio pathogens on public health. Continuous monitoring of Vibrio pathogens among environmental freshwater and treated effluents is expected to help reduce the risk associated with the early detection of sources of infection, and also aid our understanding of the natural ecology and evolution of Vibrio pathogens. PMID:28991153

Linking the open source, spatial electrification tool (ONSSET) and the open source energy modelling system (OSeMOSYS), with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mentis, Dimitrios; Howells, Mark; Rogner, Holger; Korkovelos, Alexandros; Arderne, Christopher; Siyal, Shahid; Zepeda, Eduardo; Taliotis, Constantinos; Bazilian, Morgan; de Roo, Ad; Tanvez, Yann; Oudalov, Alexandre; Scholtz, Ernst

2017-04-01

In September 2015, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Agenda 2030, which comprises a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) defined by 169 targets. "Ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030" is the seventh goal (SDG7). While access to energy refers to more than electricity, the latter is the central focus of this work. According to the World Bank's 2015 Global Tracking Framework, roughly 15% of world population (or 1.1 billion people) lack access to electricity, and many more rely on poor quality electricity services. The majority of those without access (87%) reside in rural areas. This paper presents results of a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) approach coupled with open access data and linked to the Electricity Model Base for Africa (TEMBA), a model that represents each continental African country's electricity supply system. We present least-cost electrification strategies on a country-by-country basis for Sub-Saharan Africa. The electrification options include grid extension, mini-grid and stand-alone systems for rural, peri-urban, and urban contexts across the economy. At low levels of electricity demand there is a strong penetration of standalone technologies. However, higher electricity demand levels move the favourable electrification option from stand-alone systems to mini grid and to grid extensions.

Economics and health: beyond financing.

PubMed

Horwitz, A

1988-01-01

World Bank publications have a large influence on the decisions of governments. This article analyzes the publication "Financing Health Services in Developing Countries: An Agenda for Reform" part of the World Bank Policy Studies series. This study assesses only peripheral reasons for the lack of public and private financial investments in health services. It does not include the result of economic recession, budget cutbacks, and poverty on financing systems. There has been excessive expenditure on luxury in health institutions which takes considerable finances from disease prevention and health promotion services. There is low demand for private services because of the high cost, but public health services sometimes lack tools and money necessary for adequate care. The study does not address the relationship between needs and demand and the supply of health services. It outlines "4 Policy Reforms" in which the aims are to increase to cost of curative services and to use the additional money for prevention. The World Bank favors using private sector services but does not seem to view decentralization of health care as important. Social security systems have been in place in Latin America for 63 years. These systems are funded by wage earners and do not cover lower income rural citizens. Chile was the 1st country to adopt compulsory insurance in 1924 for catastrophes and diseases. The Chilean National Health Service combines institutional and community resources to provide quality health care. Social insurance and other prepayment systems are the rational approaches for financing health care in the Americas. These systems should be based on contributions by the State, employers, and urban and rural workers. There is a need for fund redistribution from institutional curative care to community preventative care. Health care costs should reflect income proportionally. The World Bank contributes vital analysis to the problem of health service financing. Hopefully American governments will recognize the need for health care reform.

Severe edentulism is a major risk factor influencing stroke incidence in rural Ecuador (The Atahualpa Project).

PubMed

Del Brutto, Oscar H; Mera, Robertino M; Zambrano, Mauricio; Del Brutto, Victor J

2017-02-01

Background There is no information on stroke incidence in rural areas of Latin America, where living conditions and cardiovascular risk factors are different from urban centers. Aim Using a population-based prospective cohort study design, we aimed to assess risk factors influencing stroke incidence in community-dwelling adults living in rural Ecuador. Methods First-ever strokes occurring from 1 June 2012 to 31 May 2016, in Atahualpa residents aged ≥40 years, were identified from yearly door-to-door surveys and other overlapping sources. Poisson regression models adjusted for demographics, cardiovascular risk factors, edentulism and the length of observation time per subject were used to estimate stroke incidence rate ratio as well as factors influencing such incidence. Results Of 807 stroke-free individuals prospectively enrolled in the Atahualpa Project, follow-up was achieved in 718 (89%), contributing 2,499 years of follow-up (average 3.48 ± 0.95 years). Overall stroke incidence rate was 2.97 per 100 person-years of follow-up (95% CI: 1.73-4.2), which increased to 4.77 (95% CI: 1.61-14.1) when only persons aged ≥57 years were considered. Poisson regression models, adjusted for relevant confounders, showed that high blood pressure (IRR: 5.24; 95% CI: 2.55-7.93) and severe edentulism (IRR: 5.06; 95% CI: 2.28-7.85) were the factors independently increasing stroke incidence. Conclusions Stroke incidence in this rural setting is comparable to that reported from the developed world. Besides age and high blood pressure, severe edentulism is a major factor independently predicting incident strokes. Public awareness of the consequences of poor dental care might reduce stroke incidence in rural settings.

Primary health care and immunisation in Iran.

PubMed

Nasseri, K; Sadrizadeh, B; Malek-Afzali, H; Mohammad, K; Chamsa, M; Cheraghchi-Bashi, M T; Haghgoo, M; Azmoodeh, M

1991-05-01

The Primary Health Care (PHC) network of Iran consists of a rural and an urban branch. While the rural branch presently covers a sizeable portion of the rural population, the urban PHC project is in its early stages of implementation. The Expanded Programme on Immunisation (EPI) in Iran, which started as an independent and vertical project in early 1983, is being gradually integrated into the PHC network as the latter expands. Results of the second PHC programme review of Iran shows that immunisation coverage of children has improved appreciably since the first PHC review, especially for BCG which stands at 56.3%. Complete immunisation at first birthday in the rural areas with the PHC services is 44.1%, whereas for urban areas other than Teheran it is 28.1%. While the high coverage in the rural areas is attributed to the 'active' approach and vigilance of the providers of immunisation (i.e. the community health workers and the vaccinators of the mobile teams), the higher coverage in the capital city of Teheran is attributed to the involvement of private paediatricians and the generally higher social, economic, and educational status as well as higher interest of mothers. It is noticed that the results of cluster sampling for determination of immunisation coverage in large metropolitan areas of the developing world must be interpreted with much care. The reason is that in these areas extreme fluctuations in the crude birth rate are common and therefore results tend to over-represent the attributes of the segment of population with lower birth rate. It is also argued that complete immunisation might not be the best indicator for assessing the progress of the immunisation efforts. These and other findings are discussed in detail. are discussed in detail.

7 CFR 4284.502 - Policy.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

.... Rural cooperative development grants will be used to facilitate the creation or retention of jobs in rural areas through the development of new rural cooperatives, Value-Added processing and rural...

Planning Frontiers in Rural America: Papers and Proceedings of the Boone Conference, Volume II (Boone, North Carolina, March 16-18, 1975).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gade, Ole, Ed.

Representing a broad segment of people interested in rural America, this document presents 16 speeches. Speeches on rural development implementation at Federal, state, and regional levels include: "The Rural Development Concept" (calls for a national rural development policy which provides for a multicommunity, regional framework strengthened by…

Ethical considerations of mobile phone use by patients in KwaZulu-Natal: Obstacles for mHealth?

PubMed

Jack, Caron L; Mars, Maurice

2014-08-13

mHealth has the potential to facilitate telemedicine services, particularly in the developing world. Concern has been expressed about the confidentiality of health information that is relayed by mobile phone. We examined the habits and practices of mobile phone use by patients in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. We conducted a descriptive survey of two patient populations: 137 urban patients attending private practitioners and 139 patients in remote rural areas attending outpatient departments in Government-funded hospitals. The questionnaire covered several domains: demographics, mobile phone use, privacy and confidentiality and future use for health-related matters. Two hundred and seventy-six patients completed the questionnaire. We found that a third of our participants shared their mobile phone with others, 24% lent their phone to others and more than half received health-related messages for other people. Mobile phone theft was common, as was number changing. Thirty-eight percent of the people were not able to afford airtime for more than a week in the past year and 22% of rural patients were unable to keep their phone charged. Mobile phone signal coverage was significantly worse in the rural areas than in urban areas. This study highlights the legal and ethical ramifications that these practices and findings will have on mHealth programmes in our setting. Healthcare providers and regulators will need to consider how patients use and manage their mobile phones when developing services and regulations.

Ethical considerations of mobile phone use by patients in KwaZulu-Natal: Obstacles for mHealth?

PubMed Central

Mars, Maurice

2014-01-01

Abstract Background mHealth has the potential to facilitate telemedicine services, particularly in the developing world. Concern has been expressed about the confidentiality of health information that is relayed by mobile phone. Aim We examined the habits and practices of mobile phone use by patients in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Methods We conducted a descriptive survey of two patient populations: 137 urban patients attending private practitioners and 139 patients in remote rural areas attending outpatient departments in Government-funded hospitals. The questionnaire covered several domains: demographics, mobile phone use, privacy and confidentiality and future use for health-related matters. Results Two hundred and seventy-six patients completed the questionnaire. We found that a third of our participants shared their mobile phone with others, 24% lent their phone to others and more than half received health-related messages for other people. Mobile phone theft was common, as was number changing. Thirty-eight percent of the people were not able to afford airtime for more than a week in the past year and 22% of rural patients were unable to keep their phone charged. Mobile phone signal coverage was significantly worse in the rural areas than in urban areas. Conclusion This study highlights the legal and ethical ramifications that these practices and findings will have on mHealth programmes in our setting. Healthcare providers and regulators will need to consider how patients use and manage their mobile phones when developing services and regulations. PMID:26245406

Education in Rural America: Object or Instrumentality of Rural Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hobbs, Daryl

Rural schools have had a traditional role as major vehicles of rural economic development. During the rapid economic changes of the 20th century rural schools supplied the literate migrants who flocked to the cities to become the human capital for urban based expansion. Rural schools also provided the literate farmers who stayed at home and…

Megacities and Large Urban Complexes - WMO Role in Addressing Challenges and Opportunities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Terblanche, Deon; Jalkanen, Liisa

2013-04-01

Megacities and Large Urban Complexes - WMO Role in Addressing Challenges and Opportunities Deon E. Terblanche and Liisa Jalkanen dterblanche@wmo.int ljalkanen@wmo.int World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland The 21st Century could amongst others, become known as the century in which our species has evolved from Homo sapiens to Homo urbanus. By now the urban population has surpassed the rural population and the rate of urbanization will continue at such a pace that by 2050 urban dwellers could outnumber their rural counterpart by more than two to one. Most of this growth in urban population will occur in developing countries and along coastal areas. Urbanization is to a large extent the outcome of humans seeking a better life through improved opportunities presented by high-density communities. Megacities and large urban complexes provide more job opportunities and social structures, better transport and communication links and a relative abundance of physical goods and services when compared to most rural areas. Unfortunately these urban complexes also present numerous social and environmental challenges. Urban areas differ from their surroundings by morphology, population density, and with high concentration of industrial activities, energy consumption and transport. They also pose unique challenges to atmospheric modelling and monitoring and create a multi-disciplinary spectrum of potential threats, including air pollution, which need to be addressed in an integrated way. These areas are also vulnerable to the changing climate and its implications to sea-level and extreme events, air quality and related health impacts. Many urban activities are significantly impacted by weather events that would not be considered to be of high impact in less densely populated areas. For instance, moderate precipitation events can cause flooding and landslides as modified urban catchments generally have higher run-off to rainfall ratios than their more pristine rural counterparts. The urban environment also provides numerous opportunities. One example being the better use of weather and environmental predictions to proactively optimize the functioning of the urban environment in terms of the use of energy, goods and services. Another is the providing of air quality forecasting services to benefit the health of the population. To address the challenges and opportunities facing megacities and large urban complexes, WMO has established the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) Urban Research Meteorology and Environment (GURME). Air pollution questions in urban areas, in particular megacities, is the main focus, building observational and modelling capabilities in developing countries through pilot projects and transfer of scientific expertise. GURME contributes to improving capabilities to handle meteorological and related features of air pollution by addressing end-to-end aspects of air quality, linking observational capabilities with the needs of chemical weather prediction, with the goal of providing high quality air quality services. Using examples from around the world but with specific reference to Africa, the unique challenges and opportunities related to megacities and large urban complexes, as perceived by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) are highlighted.

Appalachian residents’ experiences with and management of multiple morbidity

PubMed Central

Schoenberg, Nancy E.; Bardach, Shoshana H.; Manchikanti, Kavita N.; Goodenow, Anne C.

2011-01-01

Approximately three quarters of middle aged and older adults have at least two simultaneously occurring chronic conditions (“multiple morbidity” or MM), a trend expected to increase dramatically throughout the world. Rural residents, who tend to have fewer personal and health resources, are more likely to experience MM. To improve our understanding of the ways in which vulnerable, rural residents in the U.S. experience and manage MM, we interviewed twenty rural Appalachian residents with MM. We identified the following themes; (a) MM has multifaceted challenges and is viewed as more than the sum of its parts; (b) numerous challenges exist to optimal MM self-management, particularly in a rural, under-resourced context; however, (c) participants described strategic methods of managing multiple chronic conditions, including prioritizing certain conditions and management strategies and drawing heavily on assistance from informal and formal sources. PMID:21263063

Rural America in Passage: Statistics for Policy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gilford, Dorothy M., Ed.; And Others

The Panel on Statistics for Rural Development Policy was established to assess the current quality and availability of data for rural development policy--a more difficult task than might first appear. Until recent decades, rural development was commonly understood to be the development of agriculture. As science and technology transformed U. S.…

Charting New Paths: Rural Development in the South. 2001-2002 Annual Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Southern Rural Development Center, Mississippi State.

The Southern Rural Development Center (SRDC) seeks to strengthen the capacity of the region's 29 land-grant institutions to address critical, contemporary rural development issues impacting the well-being of people and communities in the rural South. Work force development, education, leadership training, food security, civic engagement, urban…

Progress Report on Rural Development for Fiscal Year 1970.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC.

Rural development progress relative to State-U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) committees is presented via exemplary citation in this 1970 report. Summaries are given for: (1) Status of State-USDA Organization for Rural Development, (2) Functional Relationships of USDA Committees on Rural Development, (3) Activities and Projects Underway, (4)…

Plan of Work for Rural Development in North Carolina, July 1, 1975 - June 30, 1976.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hyatt, George, Jr.; And Others

Serving primarily as a policy group for local Rural Development Panels, the North Carolina Rural Development Committee's major objective for 1976 is to work with local leaders, private businesses and governmental agencies at all levels in planning and implementing comprehensive rural development programs. Specifically, the Committee's objectives…

Cost-Effectiveness of Rural Incentive Packages for Graduating Medical Students in Lao PDR

PubMed Central

Keuffel, Eric; Jaskiewicz, Wanda; Theppanya, Khampasong; Tulenko, Kate

2017-01-01

Background: The dearth of health workers in rural settings in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR) and other developing countries limits healthcare access and outcomes. In evaluating non-wage financial incentive packages as a potential policy option to attract health workers to rural settings, understanding the expected costs and effects of the various programs ex ante can assist policy-makers in selecting the optimal incentive package. Methods: We use discrete choice experiments (DCEs), costing analyses and recent empirical results linking health worker density and health outcomes to estimate the future location decisions of physicians and determine the cost-effectiveness of 15 voluntary incentives packages for new physicians in Lao PDR. Our data sources include a DCE survey completed by medical students (n = 329) in May 2011 and secondary cost, economic and health data. Mixed logit regressions provide the basis for estimating how each incentive package influences rural versus urban location choice over time. We estimate the expected rural density of physicians and the cost-effectiveness of 15 separate incentive packages from a societal perspective. In order to generate the cost-effectiveness ratios we relied on the rural uptake probabilities inferred from the DCEs, the costing data and prior World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that relate health outcomes to health worker density. Results: Relative to no program, the optimal voluntary incentive package would increase rural physician density by 15% by 2016 and 65% by 2041. After incorporating anticipated health effects, seven (three) of the 15 incentive packages have anticipated average cost-effectiveness ratio less than the WHO threshold (three times gross domestic product [GDP] per capita) over a 5-year (30 year) period. The optimal package’s incremental cost-effectiveness ratio is $1454/QALY (quality-adjusted life year) over 5 years and $2380/QALY over 30 years. Capital intensive components, such as housing or facility improvement, are not efficient. Conclusion: Conditional on using voluntary incentives, Lao PDR should emphasize non-capital intensive options such as advanced career promotion, transport subsidies and housing allowances to improve physician distribution and rural health outcomes in a cost-effective manner. Other countries considering voluntary incentive programs can implement health worker/trainee DCEs and costing surveys to determine which incentive bundles improve rural uptake most efficiently but should be aware of methodological caveats. PMID:28812834

Astronomy Education & Outreach in South Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Throop, Henry B.

2015-11-01

Although South Africa has evolved greatly in the 20 years since the end of apartheid, it remains a very divided country. The highest-performing students are comparable in ability to those in the US and Europe, but nearly all of these students are from priveleged Afrikaaner (European) backgrounds. The vast majority of students in the country are native African, and school standards remain very low across the country. It is common that students have no textbooks, teachers have only a high school education, and schools have no telephones and no toilets. By high school graduation, the majority of students have never used a web browser -- even students in the capital of Johannesburg. And while a few students are inspired by home-grown world-class projects such as the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) and Southern African Large Telescope (SALT), most remain unaware of their existence.Despite the poor state of education in the country, students work hard, are curious, and desire information from the outside world. Astronomy is one subject in which students in rural Africa often show exceptional interest. Perhaps astronomy serves as a 'gateway science,' linking the physically observable world with the exotic and unknown.Here I report on many visits I have made to both rural and urban schools in South Africa during the 2013-2015 period. I have interacted with thousands of grade 7-12 students at dozens of schools, as well as taught students who graduated from this system and enrolled in local universities. I will present an assessment of the state of science education in South Africa, as well as a few broader suggestions for how scientists and educators in developed countries can best make an impact in Southern Africa.

Building capacity in the rural physiotherapy workforce: a paediatric training partnership.

PubMed

Williams, E N; McMeeken, J M

2014-01-01

Building capacity in the rural physiotherapy workforce: a paediatric training partnership' provided 6 months postgraduate paediatric clinical and academic training for two physiotherapists in rural Australia. It is described as a model for improving services and workforce retention. The need for 'an appropriate, skilled and well-supported health workforce' is the third goal in Australia's National Strategic Framework for Rural and Remote Health 2011. The World Health Organization recently published its first global policy for improving the retention of rural and remote health workers. Education is its first recommendation and aims to 'design continuing education and professional development programmes that meet the needs of rural health workers and that are accessible from where they live and work, so as to support their retention …'. Additionally, '… to be successful, continuing education needs to be linked to career paths, as well as with other education interventions'. The problem is a lack of paediatric physiotherapy expertise in rural areas due to an absence of postgraduate clinical training opportunities in the rural workforce. The result is fragmented local services for families who are forced to travel to metropolitan services, costly in terms of both time and money. The aims were to improve local paediatric physiotherapy clinical services, provide physiotherapists additional access to professional development and subsequently provide a career path to retain these health professionals. Evaluation of the project used purpose-built questionnaires as there are no specific indicators to monitor the performance of systems and services that are available to children and families in Australia. The paediatric physiotherapy training program was enabled through initial funding for a 12-month pilot project. Further government funding built on that success for this reported 6-month project. Funding to employ the postgraduate physiotherapists was essential to the success of the clinical training program, and lack of future funding is a barrier to its sustainability. The program included the consolidation of the initial management and education committees and the expert reference group. Weekly tutorials, case studies and presentations formed an important part of clinical rotation between hospital outpatients, specialist school and the disability sector. This increased the provision of skilled paediatric physiotherapy services close to home in a timely fashion not previously available. Concurrently, the training increased the clinicians' paediatric knowledge and confidence, promoting workforce retention by providing a career pathway. The senior clinicians who provided clinical supervision reported that it enabled succession planning through introduction of appropriately skilled younger peers to their clinical practice. Project recommendations are that funding and stakeholder partnerships are necessary to enable health professionals to undertake postgraduate clinical training in paediatrics in rural areas. The partnership should include education providers (university), rural health service providers (hospital) and community or disability services (government and non-government) with financial recognition of expertise in the rural workforce for clinical supervision. The training experience was reported as a very positive experience from trainees, families, clinical supervisors, managers, academics and paediatricians. Lack of continued funding to educate skilled postgraduate paediatric physiotherapy clinicians means that rural children with physical disabilities will continue to be disadvantaged.

NEW Planetarium Programs for Polar Informal Science Education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sumners, C.; Schloss, A. L.; Reiff, P.

2007-12-01

The modern planetarium is an immersive full-dome theater that can take audiences to Polar Regions in the past, present, or future and can simulate dynamic polar events. With the goal of public engagement and education, we are producing two programs: Night of the Titanic and Ice Worlds. Night of the Titanic uses a famous tragedy to uncover the science that could have saved the ship and the changing conditions in the North Atlantic over the last century. This program also fosters discussion about how humans evaluate data and make critical decisions related to the changing condition of polar ice. Ice Worlds uses comparative planetology themes to present Earth in the context of all ice worlds in the solar system, thus providing a broader perspective for analysis of changes in Earth's Polar Regions. Both programs rely on themes of high public interest to drive attendance and engagement. Both programs are being developed for the large dome theater or planetarium market and for portable Discovery Domes, which can reach urban and rural audiences throughout the world. This paper focuses on techniques for presentation of rigorous science content in a context that will engage the general public as well as school groups over a wide age range.

Urbanization and its implications for food and farming.

PubMed

Satterthwaite, David; McGranahan, Gordon; Tacoli, Cecilia

2010-09-27

This paper discusses the influences on food and farming of an increasingly urbanized world and a declining ratio of food producers to food consumers. Urbanization has been underpinned by the rapid growth in the world economy and in the proportion of gross world product and of workers in industrial and service enterprises. Globally, agriculture has met the demands from this rapidly growing urban population, including food that is more energy-, land-, water- and greenhouse gas emission-intensive. But hundreds of millions of urban dwellers suffer under-nutrition. So the key issues with regard to agriculture and urbanization are whether the growing and changing demands for agricultural products from growing urban populations can be sustained while at the same time underpinning agricultural prosperity and reducing rural and urban poverty. To this are added the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to build resilience in agriculture and urban development to climate change impacts. The paper gives particular attention to low- and middle-income nations since these have more than three-quarters of the world's urban population and most of its largest cities and these include nations where issues of food security are most pressing.

75 FR 19353 - Notice of Funding Availability: Rural Development Voucher Program

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-04-14

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Rural Housing Service Notice of Funding Availability: Rural Development... Availability SUMMARY: This notice informs the public that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Fiscal... the requirements in the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related...

Water Consumption as Source of Arsenic, Chromium, and Mercury in Children Living in Rural Yucatan, Mexico: Blood and Urine Levels.

PubMed

Arcega-Cabrera, F; Fargher, L F; Oceguera-Vargas, I; Noreña-Barroso, E; Yánez-Estrada, L; Alvarado, J; González, L; Moo-Puc, R; Pérez-Herrera, N; Quesadas-Rojas, M; Pérez-Medina, S

2017-10-01

Studies investigating the correlation between metal content in water and metal levels in children are scarce worldwide, but especially in developing nations. Therefore, this study investigates the correlation between arsenic, chromium, and mercury concentrations in drinking and cooking water and in blood and urine samples collected from healthy and supposedly non-exposed children from a rural area in Yucatan, Mexico. Mercury in water shows concentrations above the recommended World Health Organization (WHO) value for drinking and cooking water. Also, 25% of the children show mercury in urine above the WHO recommended value. Multivariate analyses show a significant role for drinking and cooking water as a vector of exposure in children. Also, the factor analysis shows chronic exposure in the case of arsenic, as well as an ongoing detoxification process through urine in the case of mercury. Further studies should be done in order to determine other potential metal exposure pathways among children.

Improving Human Resources for Health means Retaining Health-Workers: Application of the WHO-Recommendations for the Retention of Health-Workers in Rural Northern-Nigeria.

PubMed

Afenyadu, Godwin Y; Adegoke, Adetoro A; Findley, Sally

2017-01-01

Nigeria is one of 57 countries with critical shortage of health workers (HWs). Strategies to increase and equitably distribute HWs are critical to the achievement of Health Millennium/Sustainable Development Goals. We describe how three Northern Nigeria states adapted World Health Organisation (WHO)-recommended incentives to attract, recruit, and retain midwives. Secondary analysis of data from two surveys assessing midwife motivation, retention, and attrition in Northern Nigeria; and expert consultations. Midwives highlighted financial and non-financial incentives as key factors in their decisions to renew their contracts. Their perspectives informed the consensus positions of health managers, policymakers and heads of institutions, and led to the adaptation of the WHO recommendations into appropriate state-specific incentive packages. The feedback from midwives combined with an expert consultation approach allowed stakeholders to consider and use available evidence to select appropriate incentive packages that offer the greatest potential for helping to address inadequate numbers of rural midwives.

Farmers' Risk Preferences in Rural China: Measurements and Determinants.

PubMed

Jin, Jianjun; He, Rui; Gong, Haozhou; Xu, Xia; He, Chunyang

2017-06-30

This study measures farmers' risk attitudes in rural China using a survey instrument and a complementary experiment conducted in the field with the same sample of subjects. Using a question asking people about their willingness to take risks "in general", we found that the average response of our sample is slightly risk averse. Farmers' exogenous factors (age, gender, and height) and self-reported happiness have a significant impact on farmers' willingness to take risks. The experiment results show that approximately 44% of farmers in the study area are risk averse. We compare farmers' self-reported measures of risk preferences derived from the survey instrument to preferences elicited through the experimental task. Results show that answers to the general risk attitude question in the survey can predict farmers' behaviors in the experiment to a statistically significant degree. This paper can contribute to the empirical literature on comparing local farmers' risk attitudes across different risk preference measurement methods in the developing world.

HIV after 40 in rural South Africa: A life course approach to HIV vulnerability among middle aged and older adults.

PubMed

Mojola, Sanyu A; Williams, Jill; Angotti, Nicole; Gómez-Olivé, F Xavier

2015-10-01

South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV in the world (over 6 million) as well as a rapidly aging population, with 15% of the population aged 50 and over. High HIV prevalence in rural former apartheid homeland areas suggests substantial aging with HIV and acquisition of HIV at older ages. We develop a life course approach to HIV vulnerability, highlighting the rise and fall of risk and protection as people age, as well as the role of contextual density in shaping HIV vulnerability. Using this approach, we draw on an innovative multi-method data set collected within the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System in South Africa, combining survey data with 60 nested life history interviews and 9 community focus group interviews. We examine HIV risk and protective factors among adults aged 40-80, as well as how and why these factors vary among people at older ages. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

HIV after 40 in Rural South Africa1: A Life Course Approach to HIV Vulnerability among Middle Aged and Older Adults

PubMed Central

Williams, Jill; Angotti, Nicole; Gómez-Olivé, Xavier

2015-01-01

South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV in the world (over 6 million) as well as a rapidly aging population, with 15% of the population aged 50 and over. High HIV prevalence in rural former apartheid homeland areas suggests substantial aging with HIV and acquisition of HIV at older ages. We develop a life course approach to HIV vulnerability, highlighting the rise and fall of risk and protection as people age, as well as the role of contextual density in shaping HIV vulnerability. Using this approach, we draw on an innovative multi-method data set collected within the Agincourt Health and Demographic Surveillance System in South Africa, combining survey data with 60 nested life history interviews and 9 community focus group interviews. We examine HIV risk and protective factors among adults aged 40–80, as well as how and why these vary among people at older ages. PMID:26364007

Schooling and Factors Affecting Decisions on Schooling by Household Members in the Rural Areas of Turkey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olgun, Akin; Gumus, Sevtap Guler; Adanacioglu, Hakan

2010-01-01

Despite the fact that rural education has always been one of the most important means of rural development, it has been ignored in many developing countries, with the result that rural development has not achieved great success. The problems of education in rural areas are not only related to the amount the country spends on education or to the…

Media Impact on Girls in the US, China and India through a Gendered Filter

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holmes, Kristie

2012-01-01

While infanticide or sex selective abortion in rural areas of the world may seem to have little to do with a famous musician who is a domestic abuser from the first world who avoids criminal punishment while being applauded and glamourized, the message going out to girls is consistent: they are not valued in the same way that boys are. In order to…

English Language Teaching in Rural Areas: A Scenario and Problems and Prospects in Context of Bangladesh

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hossain, Md. Mahroof

2016-01-01

Language is one of the medium of expressing our ideas, feelings and emotions. And if we think about language in present world then English is one of the most used languages in the world and English is used as a second language in Bangladesh. English is introduced here at the primary level and its inclusion continues till the tertiary level of…

Agribusiness Industry, 2006

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-01-01

countries. An economic boost of this magnitude would also go a long ways toward eliminating rural poverty around the globe, as trade is universally...World Bank estimates that 140 million people could be lifted out of poverty by 2015 if members of the World Trade Organization ended subsidies and...contaminated beef with a nicotine -based insecticide, poisoning 111 people. This type of post-kill step introduction of a poison or pathogen presents perhaps

A study on the stakeholder of holistic rural tourism: A case of Yangzhou

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Yuanheng; Wang, Yan

2017-10-01

Holistic rural tourism is an important model to rural economy; however, there are a number of issues in the developing of the holistic rural tourism, one of the most prominent problems is the interests of community residents cannot be guaranteed. From the perspective of the stakeholders, the article describes the main stakeholders in the development of holistic rural tourism and analyzes the demands of different stakeholders' interests. The paper summarizes the principles of distribution mechanism of holistic rural tourism interests. Finally, it proposes the primary distribution mechanism and re-distribution mechanism of holistic rural tourism interests to provide some inspiration for the interest distribution in the sustainable development of holistic rural tourism.

Systematic Review of Palliative Care in the Rural Setting.

PubMed

Bakitas, Marie A; Elk, Ronit; Astin, Meka; Ceronsky, Lyn; Clifford, Kathleen N; Dionne-Odom, J Nicholas; Emanuel, Linda L; Fink, Regina M; Kvale, Elizabeth; Levkoff, Sue; Ritchie, Christine; Smith, Thomas

2015-10-01

Many of the world's population live in rural areas. However, access and dissemination of the advances taking place in the field of palliative care to patients living in rural areas have been limited. We searched 2 large databases of the medical literature and found 248 relevant articles; we also identified another 59 articles through networking and a hand search of reference lists. Of those 307 articles, 39 met the inclusion criteria and were grouped into the following subcategories: intervention (n = 4), needs assessment (n = 2), program planning (n = 3), program evaluation (n = 4), education (n = 7), financial (n = 8), and comprehensive/systematic literature reviews (n = 11). We synthesized the current state of rural palliative care research and practice to identify important gaps for future research. Studies were conducted in the United States, Australia, Canada, Africa, Sweden, and India. Two randomized control trials were identified, both of which used telehealth approaches and had positive survival outcomes. One study demonstrated positive patient quality of life and depression outcomes. Research to guide rural palliative care practice is sparse. Approaches to telehealth, community- academic partnerships, and training rural health care professionals show promise, but more research is needed to determine best practices for providing palliative care to patients living in rural settings.

Ebola crisis of 2014: are current strategies enough to meet the long-run challenges ahead?

PubMed

Gimm, Gilbert; Nichols, Len M

2015-05-01

The outbreak of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) in 2014 mobilized international efforts to contain a global health crisis. The emergence of the deadly virus in the United States and Europe among health care workers intensified fears of a worldwide epidemic. Market incentives for pharmaceutical firms to allocate their research and development resources toward Ebola treatments were weak because the limited number of EVD cases were previously confined to rural areas of West Africa. We discuss 3 policy recommendations to address the long-term challenges of EVD in an interconnected world.

Partnership for Self-Reliant Change: Institute for Integrated Rural Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dancey, John

1994-01-01

The Institute for Integrated Rural Development in the Maharashtra State of India seeks to break the cycle of poverty through sustainable rural development. It works closely with rural women on health and nutrition education and in other community partnerships based on horizontal structures. (SK)