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AbstractThis paper examines the influence of climate change vulnerability on the likelihood and severity of communal violence, with a particular emphasis on delineating large-scale regional patterns. Specifically, the analysis centres on Sub-Saharan Africa and South/South-East Asia – both regions being predominantly characterised by rain-fed agriculture and climate-sensitive economic activities – spanning the years 1995 to 2021. Relying on the ND-GAIN Vulnerability Index as a multidimensional measure for propensity of societies to be negatively impacted by climate change, we found robust evidence that greater vulnerability is conducive to a higher likelihood and severity of communal violence in Sub-Saharan Africa. On the other hand, in South/South-East Asia, results suggest that current climate variability, measured as rainfall deviations within the period, exerts a greater effect on communal violence outbreak than overall vulnerability to climate change. In both regions, greater access to productive means is significantly associated to the reduction of communal violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on the reflections and discussions from a special session at the 2021 Global Health Bioethics Network summer school, this paper has summarised the key challenges faced by Frontline Workers (FWs) across research sites in Africa and Asia in performing the everyday 'body work' entailed in operationalising global health research. Using a 'body work' lens, we specifically explore and map key challenges that FWs face in Africa and Asia and the physical, social, ethical, emotional, and political labour involved in operationalising global health in these settings. The research encounter links with wider social and economic structures, and spatial dimensions and impacts on the FWs' performance and well-being. Yet, FWs' 'body-work' and the embedded emotions during the research encounter remain hidden and undervalued. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Aim: Two endemic capripox infectious diseases, sheeppox (SP) and goatpox (GP) are common in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. Sheep and goats, in general, are considered current assets of small and marginal farmers and have significant economic value in terms of meat, wool, and skin/hide production. Sheep and goat populations in India total 148.88 million and 74.26 million, respectively. Capripox caused US$ 2.3 million (Indian Rupee [INR] 105 million) in economic damages in Maharashtra (India) alone, and it took over 6 years for a flock to recover from the outbreak. The projected yearly loss at the national level is US$ 27.47 million (INR 1250 million). As a result, Capripox diseases put small and marginal farmers under much financial strain. The present study estimates the seroprevalence of SP and GP diseases in the Asian and African continents using systematic review and meta-analysis. The results of the study will help researchers and policymakers to understand the spatial and temporal distribution of the disease and its burden. In addition, the results are also helpful to design and implement location-specific prevention and eradication measures against these diseases. Materials and Methods: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines of Cochran collaborations were used for systematic review and subsequently meta-analysis were used. The literature was collected from various databases. Initial search string resulted in more than nine thousand articles for the period 2000 to 2020 using the different combinations of keywords and Boolean operators (or not) asterisk* and quotation marks. Out of 9398 papers, 80 studies were chosen for complete test reviews and quality bias evaluation using the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Finally, 21 articles were used for the meta-analysis. The statistical study employed fixed effects and random effects models using R. Results: Seroprevalence of SP and GP was calculated using studies with a cumulative sample size of 4352, out of which sheep and goats' samples together contribute 48%, followed by sheep (32%) and goat (21%). The result of the metaregression revealed that detection techniques had a significant impact on the overall effect size at 5% level (Qm=14.12). Subgroup analysis of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test with samples was further grouped into two categories based on the median, and it revealed that 62% of samples used PCR as a detecting test followed by group-II. Conclusion: From the study, it is concluded that SP and GP diseases are highly prevalent; hence, effective vaccines, proper education to farmers through extension activity, and transboundary disease movement restriction are necessary for the control and eradication of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]