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Background: Lincang City in Yunnan Province on the China-Myanmar border, has reached the World Health Organization recommended coverage (95%) for measles-containing vaccine (MCV), but measles outbreaks still occur. We conducted a survey in Lincang City to determine the measles vaccination status of children on the China–Myanmar border. Methods: We used multistage sampling among children aged 8–83 months. Information on measles vaccination status was obtained from the child’s vaccination certificate, and serum samples were tested using commercially available ELISA kits. Results: A total of 938 children were surveyed. The vaccination coverage rate was 98.9% (95% CI: 98.2–99.6%) for measles–containing vaccine dose 1 (MCV1), and 95.8% (95% CI:94.9–96.7%) for measles–containing vaccine dose 2 (MCV2). The timely vaccination coverage rate was 52.0% (95% CI:48.8–55.2%) for MCV1, and 74.1% (95% CI: 82.9–89.0%) for MCV2. The timely-and–complete vaccination coverage rate was 41.0% (95% CI: 36.7–45.3%). The median delay period was 33 (95% CI: 27–39) days for MCV1, and 196 (95% CI: 146–246) days for MCV2. The seropositivity rate in children aged less than 7 years was 94.0% (95% CI: 92.5–95.5%) with a geometric mean titer of 1210.1 mIU/mL. Conclusions: The MCV coverage was high, but timely and timely-and-complete vaccination coverage were low and insufficient to prevent measles outbreaks. It is necessary to add the timely and timely-and-complete vaccination coverage as indicators of vaccination to provide a more complete picture of measles immunization status.

The Australian federal government white paper ‘Our north, our future’ projects that northern Australia’s population could reach 5,000,000 by 2060. This represents an almost four-fold increase in po...

This paper based on a primary survey of slum dwellers in four Indian cities examines the caste dimension of migrants and the nexus, if any, between caste and the job market participation. Based on ...

Introduction: With China's accelerating urbanization, migrant workers comprise up to 40% of the urban population of China's largest cities. More mobile than non-migrant urban dwellers, migrants are more likely to contract and spread hepatitis B (HB) than non-migrants. Due to the mandatory system of household registration (hukou), migrants are less likely to be covered by national HB immunization programs and also to have more limited access to public health services where they work than non-migrants. Migrants form a significant sub-group in all Chinese cities posing unique public policy vaccination challenges. Objective: Using protection motivation theory (PMT), we developed and measured HB cognitive variables and analyze the factors affecting HB vaccination behavior and willingness to vaccinate by migrant workers. We propose public policy interventions to increase HB vaccination rates of migrant workers. Methods: We developed a questionnaire to collect information on the HB vaccination characteristics of 1684 respondents from 6 provinces and Beijing. Exploratory factor analysis was used to create PMT variables and a binary logistic regression model was used to analyze the factors affecting migrant workers' HB vaccination behavior and willingness to vaccinate. Results: Vulnerability and response-efficacy were significant PMT cognition factors determining HB vaccination behavior. The HB vaccination rate for migrants decreased with increasing age and was smaller for the primary education than the high education group. The vaccination rate of the medical insurance group was significantly greater than the non-insured group, and the vaccination probability was significantly higher for the self-rated good health compared to the self-rated poor health group. Geographical birth location mattered: the vaccination rate for Beijing city and Ningxia province migrants were higher than for Hebei province and the vaccination rate was lower for migrants born far from health facilities compared to those located middle-near distances from health facilities. We also studied vaccination willingness for the unvaccinated group. For this group, vulnerability and self-efficacy cognition factors were significant factors determining HB vaccination willingness. The probability of willingness to vaccinate for the 46+ age group was significantly smaller than the 16–25 age group and the willingness to vaccinate was lower in Jiangsu and Hainan province than in Hebei province. Conclusion: Increased knowledge of HB cognition is an effective way for improving HB vaccination behavior and HB vaccination willingness of migrant workers. We also found that health intervention policies should focus on older migrants (age 46+), without medical insurance, with poorer self-reported health status and poor health services accessibility.

Dengue is an endemic disease in the southeast Asian country Sri Lanka. Two seasonal peaks of dengue incidence were observed every year since 2002 onwards. In this study, we formulate a 2-strain dengue model for analyzing the monthly seasonal dengue incidence data from 2 provinces of Sri Lanka during the period April 2013 to September 2014. The seasonality is incorporated in the model in terms of mosquito biting rate, which we assume to be time periodic. We estimated 2 primary reproduction numbers and the basic reproduction number in a periodic environment using dengue incidence data from the western and the central provinces of Sri Lanka. We also estimated different time-average type reproduction numbers from the model using the data from these 2 provinces. Using univariate sensitivity analysis, we measured the sensitivity of the time average reproduction number ([Formula: see text]) When we vary different parameters of the proposed dengue model, we find the transmission probability of human susceptibility to strain-I infection and the mosquito mortality rate parameters are the most sensitive parameters in dengue transmission in these 2 provinces.

Georgia has prostate cancer incidence rates consistently above the national average. A notable portion of Georgia's economy is rooted in agricultural production, and agricultural practices have been associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer.Statistical analyses considered county age-adjusted prostate cancer incidence rates as the outcome of interest and three agricultural variables (farmland as percent of county land, dollars spent per county acre on agriculture chemicals, and dollars spent per county acre on commercial fertilizers) as exposures of interest. Multivariate linear regression models analyzed for each separately. Data were obtained from National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) 2000-2010, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) 1987 Agriculture Survey, and 2010 US Census.In counties with equal to or greater than Georgia counties' median percent African-American population (27%), dollars per acre spent on agriculture chemicals was significantly associated (P = 0.04) and dollars spent of commercial fertilizers was moderately associated (P = 0.07) with elevated prostate cancer incidence rates. There was no association between percent of county farmland and prostate cancer rates.This study identified associations between prostate cancer incidence rates, agriculture chemical expenditure, and commercial fertilizer expenditure in Georgia counties with a population comprised of more than 27% of African Americans.

Nomads and pastoralists represent around 30% of the population of North East zone of Somalia (Puntland) and have very limited access to basic health including immunization. During the 2013-2014 polio outbreak in Somalia, an increase number of polio cases notified health services among these underserved communities highlighted the urgent need to devise innovative strategies to reach them. Harnessing the high demand for veterinary services among pastoralist communities, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Livestock, with support from UNICEF, WHO and FAO launched an integrated human and animal vaccination campaign on 19 October 2014. Over 30 days, 20 social mobilizers conducted shelter to shelter social mobilization and interpersonal communication for nomadic/pastoralist hamlets, 20 human vaccination teams, accompanied by local community elders, traveled with animal vaccination teams to administer polio and measles vaccination to pastoralist communities in the 5 regions of Puntland. 26,393 children (0 to 10 years) received Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) out of which 34% for the first time ever; 23,099 were vaccinated against measles. and 12,556 Vitamin A. Despite various operational challenges and a significantly higher operational cost of $6.2 per child reached with OPV, the integrated human and animal vaccination campaign was effective in reaching the unvaccinated children from nomadic and pastoralist communities of Somalia.

In resource poor environments, identifying those most in need of limited available resources is challenging. Kenya's older persons cash transfer programme (OPCT) targeted at the most poor used a 2-stage targeting process to identify beneficiaries, combining community-based selection with a proxy means-test. This paper investigates whether the process "correctly" identified targeted vulnerable older people in Nairobi's informal settlements and whether receipt of the OPCT resulted in an improvement in perceived financial wellbeing. Regression results show that individuals with greater need were covered under the OPCT. Using propensity score matching, the paper evidences that the OPCT improved subjective financial wellbeing among beneficiaries.

The agricultural industry has been identified as one of the most hazardous industries in developed countries. The main purpose of this paper was to conduct a comprehensive analysis of agricultural accidents (or injuries) in Taiwan during the period of 2009 to 2018. The occupational accident rates (per 1,000 farmers employed) in Taiwan's agricultural industry showed a decreasing trend over the past decade from 1,486 in 2009 to 1,053 in 2018. This trend could be attributed to the joint-cooperation efforts of the industrial, official, academic, and non-profit parties under the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) revised in 2013. Although the occupational accident, disability, and other injury rates in all non-agriculture industries were higher than those in the agricultural industry during this period, the fatality rates in the agricultural industry were higher than those in all industries. Finally, some inter-ministerial measures on occupational safety and health issues in the agricultural industry for preventing agricultural accidents or injuries were recommended in the paper.

Potato is a major food staple in the tropical highlands of Africa. However, its production is constrained by seed-borne diseases, with bacteria wilt (BW) being the most devastating and difficult to manage. Currently, there is no single e remedy for the disease. This paper uses Means-End Chain analysis to assess the psychosocial factors associated with the management of BW in potato production. It focuses on smallholder farmers in Central and Rift Valley regions of Kenya. The paper finds BW management is characterized by use of several practices, majority of which are ineffective in controlling the disease. They are, however, used mainly to increase yield, hence income and profits, and to achieve the personal values or life goals farmers aspire for. The paper concludes that BW management in smallholder potato farms is driven by both economic incentives (i.e., higher incomes and profits) and psychosocial factors. It discusses the implications of these findings for policy and practice.

Ireland’s fee-paying schools consistently rank highly in Ireland’s secondary school league tables. Evidence also notes that the alumni of fee-paying schools represent a large proportion of those in leadership positions in business, politics and the legal professions. This paper examines the factors that affect the decision of Irish households to enrol their children in fee-paying secondary schools in Ireland. The paper uses Irish Household Budget Survey data that cover three waves from the period 2004–2016. We examine the head of household’s education, occupation, income, marital status, the location of the household and temporal factors on the school choice decision. The main results indicate that fee-paying students are more likely to come from higher income, better educated and Dublin located households. This research highlights the significant driver that affluence may have in determining secondary school enrolment in Ireland. This self-selected affluent group effect may explain the performance disparities between fee-paying and non-fee-paying schools. The results enlighten any discussion around whether or not the Government should consider a transition to a fee-paying market or eliminate fee-paying schools altogether.

The Covid-19 Level 4 lockdown represented an unprecedented and sudden shock to the New Zealand labour market. Using unique data collected during lockdown (n = 2002), this study examined the work circumstances of individuals and the economic shock in terms of income and job loss to both individuals and households. We found that the unemployment effectively doubled rising from 5.2% just prior to lockdown to 10.5% by week 3 of lockdown. Close to 44% of individuals lived in a household where members experienced job and/or income loss. While economic loss was widespread, some groups were harder hit, particularly those with lower incomes.

This paper seeks to measure farmers’ perceptions on climate variations, and examine the effects of such variations on cassava production in Ghana. Using a three-stage sampling technique involving cluster, stratified, and simple random sampling techniques, structured questionnaires were administered to 252 smallholder cassava farmers in the Awutu Senya District of the Central Region, Ghana. This was supplemented with focus group discussion sessions with male and female cassava farmers for the purpose of triangulating the quantitative and qualitative data. The study showed an overwhelming 98% of respondents, comprising 57% males, and 43% females, acknowledging to have noticed changes in the weather patterns over the last 30 years. While 85% of respondents said rainfall was decreasing, 75% said the rains did not come at the expected time, with 58% of them saying reduced rainy periods were the noticeable changes. Respondents attributed the changes in weather patterns to environmental degradation (72%), natural phenomenon (15%), and punishment by God (1%). Majority of them (97%) said they had suffered from decreasing yields in cassava as a result of seasonal variations in temperature and rainfall. The paper makes a strong case for activities that will bridge the knowledge-and-skill gap between male and female farmers.

The Indigenous Sami population have inhabited rural northern areas of Norway, Sweden, Finland and the Kola Peninsula in Russia for thousands of years. Today, many Sami live in cities. No large quantitative studies have investigated the health and life of urban Sami in Norway. As a basis for further research, this paper describes the background, methods, participation and sample characteristics of the survey From Rural to Urban Living, conducted in 2014. The unique sampling design is based on internal migration records. Those invited were everyone born 1950–1975 who had relocated from preselected rural Sami core areas to cities in Norway. Their children above the age of 18 were also invited. The paper is descriptive with some basic statistical tests. In total, 2058 (response rate 34%) first-generation and 1168 (response rate 19%) second-generation migrants responded. The response rate was lowest in the younger age groups and among men. One out of three reported Sami background. The education level was in general high. From Rural to Urban Living enables numerous research possibilities within health and social sciences, and may contribute to new insight into the health, culture and identity of the growing Sami population in urban areas of Norway.

In this paper I issue a call for a primary focus on expanding and strengthening alternative, community-based justice systems, as a strategy for securing the full benefits of legal agency to indigen...

This paper addresses the tensions arising from the intersection of norms and practices of support in situations in which intergenerational support is the main household strategy for coping with precariousness in Romania. This paper describes competing meanings of solidarity and reveals gendered experiences of ambiguity with respect to the sustainability of help exchanges within the context of economic vulnerability. Romania displays high public acceptance of intergenerational support, while the country’s deficient social welfare system prompts families to intensify their help exchanges. Findings based on in-depth interviews suggest that private arrangements are compounded by unbalanced help exchanges among generations. With the state and the community support directed towards lower social strata, these arrangements give rise to many tensions. Parents become excessively burdened by the constant obligation to help their adult children, while the children’s dependence upon their parents limits the op...

This paper uses panel survey data from 2002 to 2008 – covering a period of economic prosperity and intense economic difficulties – to analyse the impact of changing levels of economic and financial security from the 2008 economic crisis on individuals’ environmental protection preferences. Declining economic conditions in the aftermath of the crisis have been thought to produce lower levels of support for environmental protection and previous literature has predominantly supported this claim. Due to the availability of data, most analyses undertaken to date have focused on aggregate changes using repeated cross-sectional data and various economic indicators. Research looking at individual-level change and how individuals’ perceptions of changing economic conditions may affect their prioritization of environmental protection has however been lacking. This paper finds that neither changing economic perceptions nor changing household financial circumstances can account for the decline in environmental protection prioritization witnessed in the aftermath of the great recession.

Human rights and the laws that protect them provide the framework for a civilised society. The present paper will examine the experience of older people in a rapidly changing modern world, a world in which opportunity to grow old is afforded to more people but one in which doing so positively and in accordance with their human rights is not assured. Taking Scotland as its focus, but mindful of wider experiences, the paper will look firstly at the notion of human rights, global demographic change and the challenges facing the realisation of human rights amongst older people in the UK. Next, using Scotland as a case study, the paper will explore the philosophy, policy and practice that shape the experience of growing old in an advanced western society. Finally, the paper will reflect upon ways of overcoming injustice and social exclusion amongst older people, pointing the way towards a more civilised society where older people are assured of their human rights. The latter will involve a human rights...

In 2011, the government of Afghanistan and a Chinese mining company relocated an entire village near the Aynak copper mine, where they developed a mining site. This paper investigates the impact of this displacement on affected households’ income and consumption patterns using a difference-in-differences approach and primary household-level data from the villages around the mine in two periods: one just before relocation in 2011 and another in 2015. In 2011, all households of the Wali Kali village, one of the seven project-affected villages, were involuntarily relocated. Project-affected families (PAFs) claim that their traditional earning sources have been inadequately replaced by mine-related earnings and that, being separated geographically, they now face difficulty maintaining social networks that are necessary for their survival. Once lost, rebuilding social networks is not easy in war-trampled Afghanistan. This paper clarifies these shadowy effects of forced relocation and demonstrates that ...

Background: Knowledge of the aggregate effects of multiple socioeconomic vulnerabilities is important for shedding light on the determinants of growing health inequalities and inequities in maternal healthcare.Objective: This paper describes patterns of inequity in maternal healthcare utilization and analyzes associations between inequity and multiple socioeconomic vulnerabilities among women in Vietnam.Design: This is a repeated cross-sectional study using data from the Vietnam Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys 2000, 2006, and 2011. Two maternal healthcare indicators were selected: (1) skilled antenatal care and (2) skilled delivery care. Four types of socioeconomic vulnerabilities – low education, ethnic minority, poverty, and rural location – were assessed both as separate explanatory variables and as composite indicators (combinations of three and four vulnerabilities). Pairwise comparisons and adjusted odds ratios were used to assess socioeconomic inequities in maternal healthcare.Results: In all three surveys, there were increases across the survey years in both the proportions of women who received antenatal care by skilled staff (68.6% in 2000, 90.8% in 2006, and 93.7% in 2011) and the proportions of women who gave birth with assistance from skilled staff (69.9% in 2000, 87.7% in 2006, and 92.9% in 2011). The receipt of antenatal care by skilled staff and birth assistance from skilled health personnel were less common among vulnerable women, especially those with multiple vulnerabilities.Conclusions: Even though Vietnam has improved its coverage of maternal healthcare on average, policies should target maternal healthcare utilization among women with multiple socioeconomic vulnerabilities. Both multisectoral social policies and health policies are needed to tackle multiple vulnerabilities more effectively by identifying those who are poor, less educated, live in rural areas, and belong to ethnic minority groups.Keywords: healthcare; skilled antenatal care; skilled delivery; multiple socioeconomic vulnerabilities; inequity; inequality(Published: 29 February 2016)Citation: Glob Health Action 2016, 9: 29386 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/gha.v9.29386This paper is part of the Special Issue: Millennium Development Goals in Vietnam: the Progress and Social Determinants. More papers from this issue can be found at www.globalhealthaction.net

Given the rapidly increasing presence of poor and low-income migrant children in Chinese metropolises, some non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have shifted their intervention strategies from material assistance (‘spreading kindness’) to value and capacity building (‘building new citizens’). Drawing on ethnographic data from an ongoing, longitudinal study (2007–2016) of migrant children in Shanghai, this paper critically examines the citizenship education initiated by a domestic NGO, Changban Volunteer Center (a pseudonym), which seeks to instil such children a set of civic virtues to foster their educational advancement and upward social mobility. The theoretical framework of multidimensional citizenship is employed to tackle the identity challenges faced by migrant children in dealing with multifaceted identities attached to urban, rural and global settings. This paper contributes to the theoretical debate on interventions by educational NGOs, in particular how they perceive and implement citi...

The paper uses survey data from 1458 households in 60 communities from 24 districts in 5 regions of Ghana and logistic regression to examine conflicts as a contest for mineral wealth in mining communities, estimates the determinants of conflicts in these mining communities and examines how these contests could erode and/or enhance Ghana’s gains from mining. The paper finds that the likelihood of a conflict occurring in a mining area is about 56.7%. Village effect was found to be a significant positive predictor of mining conflict. Also, improvement in primary education, employment opportunities to community members of ages 25–50, the strength of institutions and the absence of small-scale miners in a mining community reduces the probability of conflicts occurring by 12.8, 35.8, 6.57 and 17.7%, respectively. While an increase in pollution levels increases the likelihood of conflicts occurring by 7.1%, primary occupation in manufacturing and services, and increase in household monthly expenditure si...

This paper sheds critical light on the motivations and practices of community gardeners in relatively affluent neighbourhoods. The paper engages with community garden, alternative food and domestic garden literatures, to understand how people fit food production into their everyday lives, how they develop relationships to plants and how these in turn shape relations between people in a community group. The paper draws on participant observation and semi-structured walking interviews conducted at three community gardens in Sydney, Australia. The paper concludes that to fit community gardening into busy lives, people strategically choose plants with biophysical qualities that suit personal as well as communal circumstances and objectives. The paper shows how community is relationally constituted through the practices of growing and sharing food. Tensions might arise through the practices of growing food on communal and private plots and the taking and giving of food, but it can also encourage people...

This paper examines the effects of the safari hunting ban of 2014 on rural livelihoods and wildlife conservation in Northern Botswana using the social exchange theory. The paper used both primary and secondary data sources. Data were analysed qualitatively. Results indicate that the ban led to a reduction of tourism benefits to local communities such as: income, employment opportunities, social services such as funeral insurance, scholarships and income required to make provision of housing for the needy and elderly. After the hunting ban, communities were forced to shifts from hunting to photographic tourism. Reduced tourism benefits have led to the development of negative attitudes by rural residents towards wildlife conservation and the increase in incidents of poaching in Northern Botswana. The implications of hunting ban suggest that policy shifts that affect wildlife conservation and rural livelihoods need to be informed by socio-economic and ecological research. This participatory and scien...

Thinking about the governance of Indigenous poverty as an economic, social and racial project, the paper offers a way of understanding the dynamics of Indigenous policy formation in Australia in the neo-liberal age as what Howard Winant first coined a racial formation. In providing this analysis, this paper sits alongside a small, but growing body of work that reveals the racialized effects of governing through poverty in the neo-liberal age.

This paper asks whether education is a viable route to better livelihoods and social inclusion for children living in poor urban areas in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It uses qualitative interviews with 36 students aged 11–16, living in slum and middle-class areas, and also draws on data from a larger, mixed-methods study to provide context. Many children from slums are excluded altogether from education, while others are incorporated into the system but on unfavourable terms. The paper identifies three principal ways in which this adverse incorporation can happen: through differential access to different types and quality of school; through obstacles that prevent children from poorer households from progressing through the system and reaching higher levels; and through subordinate power relations in the school, embodied in systems of assessment, labelling of students and discipline. These are likely to limit the potential for education to be a socially transformative institution.

Community gardens are growing in popularity as a strategy to effectively deal with population health at a local level. There is a need to gather information about the health-related benefits of community gardens for people living in a rural locale. This paper discusses the health-related benefits of rural community gardens. We adopted a qualitative approach to examine these issues. Ten participants, eight females and two males, aged between 50 and 82, who have participated in a community garden located in South Gippsland, Victoria, for a minimum of 12 months, took part in this study. Semi-structured interviews that lasted between 30 and 60 min were conducted to explore the perspectives and lived experiences of the participants. Thematic analysis was utilised to analyse the data. We situate our discussion in this paper within the therapeutic landscape theory. Findings indicate that there is a range of health-related benefits associated with participation in rural community gardens, including physic...

The contribution of older family members in the sending countries to the well-being of transnational families has only recently come more into the focus of research. Cross-border mobility and long-distance communication are two central modes through which the members of this ‘zero generation’ engage in transnational family life. By applying the framework of care circulation, this paper seeks to discuss the influence of cross-border mobility and long-distance communication on older Peruvian non-migrants’ engagement in transnational family care arrangements. The paper shows, first, that political and economic factors, as well as communication infrastructures, shape the patterns of the older Peruvian non-migrants’ involvement in transnational caregiving over time. Second, it shows that cross-border mobility and long-distance communication are key means of living up to expectations of parents and grandparents being present, but are often beyond the older people’s control. Finally, it shows that these ...

This paper examines how plans for urban densification, particularly those supported by international organisations, intersect with local residents’ perceptions of housing and land use in the developing world. The study focuses on ger districts in Ulaanbaatar, the site of numerous plans for large-scale urban transformation. Ger districts are rapidly growing areas named for the felt tents that are considered their typical housing mode. This study interviewed 120 ger district residents across central, middle and outer areas of the city. The results reveal migration patterns different from those typically reported, with the highest proportions of migrants and renters living in the central district. Interviewees generally held positive views of apartment living, while preferring low-density land use. Residents’ views of density were strongly influenced by Mongolian attitudes to land and open space. The paper concludes by discussing the reasons for, and consequences of, residents’ and international poli...

Obesity is a growing health problem in South Africa. This health problem could have various implications for the South African economy. The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of obesity on employment status in South Africa with the use of household survey data. The paper follows a quantitative research design that involves household survey data analysis through the use of a bivariate probit model to validate the relationship between obesity and employment. Data from the National Income Dynamic Study (NIDS), administered by the Southern African Labour and Development Research Unit (SALDRU), is used. The findings suggest that obesity has a negative impact on employment status in South Africa.

Global risks of zoonotic disease are high on policy agendas. Increasingly, Africa is seen as a ‘hotspot’, with likely disease spillovers from animals to humans. This paper explores the social dynamics of disease exposure, demonstrating how risks are not generalised, but are related to occupation, gender, class and other dimensions of social difference. Through case studies of Lassa Fever in Sierra Leone, Henipah virus in Ghana, Rift Valley Fever in Kenya and Trypanosomiasis in Zimbabwe, the paper proposes a social difference space–time framework to assist the understanding of and response to zoonotic diseases within a ‘One Health’ approach.

This paper examines vulnerability in two Melanesian small island developing states: Solomon Islands and Vanuatu. With large proportions of the population living semi-subsistence lifestyles in rural areas, consumption poverty is notoriously difficult to measure. The paper therefore departs from the standard approach and assesses household vulnerability to multidimensional poverty. The paper employs cross-sectional data from a household survey. Results indicate that vulnerability is more widespread than poverty and that vulnerability stems more from excess volatility in expected wellbeing than a particularly low expected level of wellbeing, per se. Results point to a pressing need for formal social protection policies to be implemented.

This paper primarily aimed at examining the influence households' demographic characteristics on the level of their financial literacy in Tanzania. The paper employs secondary data from the FinScope survey conducted by Financial Sector Deepening Trust (FSDT). To do so, the study employed both bivariate and multivariate analytical techniques. The study, reveals that the adult population exhibits large financial literacy gap- and, therefore, adults should not be considered as a homogenous group- rather gender, age, education and income levels of the households, which are showcased in this study, to also be taken into consideration while designing financial literacy improvement public initiatives. In particular, the study concludes that men are more inclined to have higher levels of financial literacy than women something which limits their financial decisions making ability. It is also concluded that younger households and those with higher income levels are equipped with higher financial literacy levels. Likewise, more educated and employed households tend to have higher levels of financial literacy. It, therefore, follows that programs to foster financial knowledge among households should be targeted at marginalized groups like women, the elderly and those with low incomes and educational attainment. As the main contribution of the research, it is highlighted that this is a pioneer study in the Tanzanian context, by proposing a model that identifies which socioeconomic and demographic factors influence the propensity for a low or high financial literacy level.

Ethnicity used to be a political taboo in Indonesia, a country with more than 600 ethnic groups, but this has changed since the advent of the Reform era (1998). The government of Indonesia (through Statistics-Indonesia) included a question on ethnicity in its 2000 population census, and continued in the 2010 census. This paper produces the first estimates of ethnic diversity at the national, provincial, and district levels using tabulations provided by Statistics-Indonesia based on the full enumeration data set of the 2010 Indonesia Population Census. It analyzes three measurements of ethnic diversity: the percentage of the largest ethnic group, Ethnic Fractionalization Index (EFI), and Ethnic Polarization Index (EPOI). This paper provides a quantitative start for further studies to link ethnic diversity with many social, economic, and political variables, including studies on the dynamics of ethnic diversity. We conclude that Indonesia is relatively ethnically fractionalized, though not as polarized. Amo...

Recent waves of migrants are establishing an increasingly visible presence in the urban landscape of Sao Paulo, both in its centre and its peripheries. Though a city with a rich history of immigration and diversity, the arrival of migrants in recent decades has not been accompanied by specific municipal policies for the migrant population, an absence which affects in particular, low-income migrants. Urban social movements for migration take on the role of attempting to govern migration in the city by providing everyday support to migrants as well as mobilising them as a political group to demand changes on both national and municipal scales; yet these movements have limitations. The paper thus also highlights the agency of migrants in accessing their rights through empowering micro-level social networks and through individual negotiations with legal possibilities. Drawing on examples of institutional, activist and migrant practices in addressing questions of inclusion and exclusion in the city, the paper ...

This paper deals with the role of sociology in climate change research and policies. Climate change can be regarded as one of the greatest challenges facing the world today. It has attracted attention from several disciplines, with the physical sciences regarded as dominating climate change research. Apparently, despite that climate change is inherently a social problem, sociologists have been slow in tackling it, at both theoretical and policy levels. Even so, available literature contains assorted and interesting sociological contributions and insights. As such, this paper posits that sociologists are interested in climate change issues, have a lot to offer and they can draw from a number of sub-fields. For instance, using sociology of sustainable consumption sociologists can tackle how societies can re-organise consumption patterns and habits, sociology of education provokes more intriguing research into the construction of climate change science, knowledge and solutions and feminist sociology can exte...

This paper is motivated by the observation that (1) socio-economic analysis uses significantly less formalisms than mainstream economics and (2) that there exist numerous situations in which socio-economics could benefit from a more formal analysis. This is particularly the case when institutions play an important role in the system to be investigated. Starting with a broad conception of formalism, this paper introduces and discusses five different formal approaches regarding their adequateness for socio-economic analysis: The Social Fabric Matrix Approach, the Institutional Analysis and Development Framework, System Dynamics, (Evolutionary) Game Theory and Agent Based Computational Modelling. Every formalism entails implicit ontological and epistemological tendencies that have to be reflected on if the formalism should contribute to a better understanding of the system under investigation. The above-mentioned formalisms are no exception. Therefore, this paper pays particular attention to these tendencies...

This paper discusses residents’ willingness to pay (WTP) for improved liquid waste treatment in Addis Ababa based on data collected in 2011 using random parameter logit model. Findings indicate that respondents are willing to contribute for improved liquid waste treatment with higher quantity and quality. Their mean WTP for the medium improvement scenario is found to be 15.53 ETB (0.93 USD) per month. The compensation surplus tends to increase from the status quo to the alternative scenarios with aggressive improvement. Finally, the paper concludes by indicating the socioeconomic difference across households, and sub-cities need to be considered in designing environmental protection plans for the city.

This paper analyses the mechanisms through which experts in the field of global health work to manage the future well-being of populations. It develops a contrast between two ways of approaching disease threats: actuarial and sentinel devices. If actuarial devices seek to map disease over time and across populations in order to gauge and mitigate risk, sentinel devices treat unprecedented diseases that cannot be mapped over time, but can only be anticipated and prepared for. The paper shows that a recent controversy over vaccination in Europe in response to the H1N1 pandemic can be understood in terms of the tension between these two kinds of security mechanisms.

This paper looks at the informal settlement known as Westfort, in the western outskirts of Pretoria, South Africa. Daspoort Hospital was built on the southern side of Daspoortrand ridge in the 1880s for treatment of smallpox. In 1902 West Fort hospital was added and the complex gradually developed into a leprosarium and a psychiatric institution. Since the hospital’s closure, some 5000 individuals have occupied the buildings informally while the municipality has identified Westfort as a site for the development of mixed income housing. This paper investigates our engagement with the site of Westfort and its residents in the face of the encroaching development. We also attempt to problematize the pervasive sentiment that the residents should be removed from the site. We relate actions of residents that have saved crucial heritage aspects of the site, and suggest that city and heritage officials could better protect this site with the help of the current community.

Internal migration is one of the major components of rapid and unplanned growth of towns and cities especially in the developing countries. This paper describes the transition pattern of internal out migration in Bangladesh and some sociodemographic factors influencing such migration in the country using a covariate-dependent Markov model. Four types of migration behavior namely, rural to rural, rural to urban, urban to rural and urban to urban are under consideration of this paper. Defining two discrete states, urban and rural, each of such transition can be characterized by a stochastic process; hence we use a two-state Markov chain for this purpose. We find that age, sex, division and reason of migration are significantly associated with internal migration in Bangladesh. The major findings include that any type of migration, rural to rural, rural to urban, urban to rural and urban to urban, mostly take place at the ages of 15–30 as well as at the ages of 0–15; females have higher odds than males to mak...

This paper investigates the effects of climate change on agricultural activities in Igbe Farming Community, Lagos, Nigeria. The paper adopts a case study methodology in which structured questionnaires were administered on 161 farmers in the community. Information on the socio-economic characteristics of the farmers, their agricultural practices, knowledge of, vulnerability to and adaptation to climate change were obtained. The study revealed that most of the migrants lease their farm plots from the indigenous land owners on annual or biennial basis and made marginal profits of $200 to $350 per farming cycle. Erratic weather patterns and aggressive urban growth of the Lagos Megacity were the major challenges they faced. Forty-eight percent of respondents thus engaged in informal enterprises to cushion the effects. The paper concludes by advancing strategies for addressing identified challenges and these include the establishment of farming cooperatives in order to access agricultural land and support from ...

This paper examines the impact of internal displacement on agricultural livelihoods. Household data used in the paper were collected from welfare camps in Batticaloa, eastern Sri Lanka, where the internally displaced persons from the village of Sampur were encamped. The field work was done in 2007 and 2008. As expected, displacement has had a statistically significant negative impact on their livelihoods. Agriculture-based livelihoods were special because these were the most affected and also because their subcategories – farming, livestock farming and fishing – had been affected differently. We were able to link these differences with the degree of dependence of livelihoods on immovable assets owned either as private property (paddy land) or as common property (sea). The abruptness and the life-threatening nature of conflict displacement had also affected assets like livestock, and agricultural equipment, which are normally mobile. The analysis is based on the Department for International Development – s...

This paper investigates household dissolution and changes in asset wealth (socio-economic position) in a rural South African community containing settled refugees. Survival analysis applied to a longitudinal dataset indicated that the covariates increasing the risk of forced household dissolution were a reduction in socio-economic position (asset wealth), adult deaths and the permanent outmigration of more than 40% of the household. Conversely, the risk of dissolution was reduced by bigger households, state grants and older household heads. Significant spatial clusters of former refugee villages also showed a higher risk of dissolution after 20 years of permanent residence. A discussion of the dynamics of dissolution showed how an outflow/inflow of household assets (socio-economic position) was precipitated by each of the selected covariates. The paper shows how an understanding of the dynamics of forced household dissolution, combined with the use of geo-spatial mapping, can inform inter-disciplinary policy in a rural community.

Among the Makonde of Southeastern coastal Tanzania, cassava (Manihot esculenta L.) is a staple and traditional food. Focusing on perspectives regarding cassava from Sinde village in Tanzania, this paper explores how the history and social relations involved in the movement of cassava—also known as manioc, mandioca and yuca—become embodied in the eating experience. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Sinde, this paper examines how cassava was the most commonly named traditional food by exploring what being “traditional” means in local contexts. Local people in Sinde negotiate their position in discourses of development and modernity through their food preferences and local preferences for rice over cassava embody histories of European colonization and Swahili civilization. Understanding local perspectives of cassava is important because it is a focus of international development to alleviate hunger in Africa and local perspectives contribute to the acceptability of cassava-related programs.

Household dietary diversity (HDD) is an important nutrition outcome measuring the economic ability of a household to access a variety of foods during a determined period. For this, it has been increasingly used as indicator of food security. This paper examines the determinants of HDD. Data for this paper comes from the cross-sectional survey collected from two districts of Illu Ababora Zone, Oromia region of Ethiopia. Overall, 334 farm households of which 71 female headed households and 263 male headed households were surveyed. Twelve different food groups were used to calculate the HDD score, which is a continuous score ranging from 0 to 12. This score was then recoded to a three-level ordered categorical variable. Ordered probit, OLS regression and Poisson regression were used to check for robustness and consistency of the results. The result shows that human capital, natural capitals and physical capitals are the main explanatory factors for HDD variations in the study context. Mediating the utilization of livelihood assets, social relations, institutions, organizations, shocks and seasonality are also explaining variations in HDD. Livelihood strategies such as farm production diversity and non-farm income are significantly and positively influencing HDD. Similarly, livelihood outcomes such as meal frequency and household wealth status are also positively influencing HDD. The current promotion of export crops at the expense of crops diversity will hurt HDD given the apparent poor market-integration, rugged terrain, poor infrastructure development and fragmented institutional arrangements at the study areas.

Community participation is a necessary ingredient for infrastructure projects to enhance the level of residential satisfaction and to improve its success rate. Nevertheless, there are socioeconomic and demographic factors, which determine the level of participation in such projects. This paper examines these factors in the residential neighbourhoods of Akure, Nigeria. Data were collected through structured questionnaires and observations. They were subjected to Single-Factor Descriptive Analysis and Categorical Regression Analysis. It showed that stages of participation in housing development, level of education, tenure status, marital status, gender, monthly income, household size, sources of finance, and employment status were significant predictors of levels of community participation in this context, with the exception of age. A p-value of 0.034 was observed indicating that the model of the regression was significant at 0.05. The paper concludes by providing implications, considering the factors for developing strategies for community participation in infrastructure provision in Nigeria.

Taking a remote village in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as a case study, this paper discusses how coordinated mobilization constructed a temporary grassroots-level emergency order in response t...

Outbreaks of avian influenza spread across political boundaries, and migratory birds are often scapegoated as vectors for the disease. This paper develops the vice of biosecurity to explain the ten...

India ranks over 100 in HDI . However, Kerala, a small coastal state of south India, has a high HDI and is commonly referred to as the master of social development. This paper analyses the nature o...