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In Papua New Guinea (PNG), mining has been surrounded by controversy related to its environmental and social impacts for several decades. In this context, the research reported herein is an investigation of the way in which mining has impacted on poverty in two large mining regions at Ok Tedi and Porgera. We surveyed 609 households, of which 309 were in indigenous mining communities and 300 were in non-mining indigenous communities, across the two regions. To compare these households, logistic regression and propensity score matching methods were used. Based on the sustainable livelihood framework, the analysis focused on four important metrics: the rich–poor ladder to understand the communities’ views of their own affluence, level of education, food eaten in the last 30 days and income satisfaction (or satisfaction derived from a given level of income). The results overall suggest that mining does reduce poverty and improve welfare, but the differences between mining and non-mining villages, such as average level of education, are small. This research work is first of its kind to examine the economic impacts of mining in PNG using the propensity score matching method.

Introduction Tobacco control laws that raise the minimum age of tobacco sales to 21 years (T21) play a pivotal role in youth tobacco prevention, yet empirical data are sorely needed to inform enforcement, compliance efforts, and future legislation. Methods Spatial analysis was conducted at the zip code level by geocoding the states and localities that adopted T21 ordinances from 2015 to 2019. A multi-level logistic regression model was conducted to examine disparities in neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES), FDA retail inspection, and state-level tobacco control policies associated with T21 adoption. Results T21 adoption at the state and local level increased considerably from 1.4% of zip codes in 2015 to 40.2% in 2019. However, the T21 ordinances were disproportionally adopted in New England (82.6%) and Pacific (73.6%) regions with scarce coverage in East South Central (

International and domestic tourism is a growing industry in Costa Rica, with the most attractive places located along the coast. Despite their beauty, Costa Rican beaches can pose a high risk for foreign visitors: Drowning is the primary cause of unintentional death among international visitors. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of demographics, spatial and temporal trends of national and foreigner fatal drowning occurring at Costa Rican beaches during 2001–2019. For national beachgoers, teens and young male adults, ages 15–30 years are at greatest risk of drowning, while for foreigners, older adults ages 45–60 years exhibit higher risk. Temporal trends in drowning appear to be correlated with the number of beach visitors, which seem to be driven mainly by a combination of socioeconomical and climatic/weather factors. For instance, strong economic indicators for the Costa Rican population combined with good weather fostered during warm phases of El Nino Southern Oscillation attract more national beachgoers, which may increase the number of drowning deaths. These results will help authorities better understand the complex and dynamic drowning situation to develop better prevention strategies and policies that improve beach safety and raise awareness about coastal hazards and risk. Such actions will bolster the reputation of Costa Rica as a safe touristic destination.

A prominent characteristic of the COVID-19 pandemic is the marked geographic variation in COVID-19 prevalence. The objective of the current study is to assess the influence of population density and socio-economic measures (socio-economic ranking and the Gini Index) across cities on coronavirus infection rates. Israel provides an interesting case study based on the highly non-uniform distribution of urban populations, the existence of one of the most densely populated cities in the world and diversified populations. Moreover, COVID19 challenges the consensus regarding compact planning design. Consequently, it is important to analyze the relationship between COVID19 spread and population density. The outcomes of our study show that ceteris paribus projected probabilities to be infected from coronavirus rise with population density from 1.6 to 2.72% up to a maximum of 5.17-5.238% for a population density of 20,282-20,542 persons per square kilometer (sq. km.). Above this benchmark, the anticipated infection rate drops up to 4.06-4.50%. Projected infection rates of 4.06-4.50% are equal in cities, towns and regional councils (Local Authorities) with the maximal population density of 26,510 and 11,979-13,343 persons per sq. km. A possible interpretation is that while denser cities facilitate human interactions, they also enable and promote improved health infrastructure. This, in turn, contributes to medical literacy, namely, elevated awareness to the benefits associated with compliance with hygienic practices (washing hands), social distancing rules and wearing masks. Findings may support compact planning design principles, namely, development of dense, mixed use, walkable and transit accessible community design in compact and polycentric regions. Indeed, city planners should weigh the costs and benefits of many risk factors, including the COVID19 pandemic.

A systematic assessment of the effect of COVID-19 on the food retail environment—an important determinant of health—has not been conducted. Our objective was to assess the impact of COVID-19 on closures of restaurants, food retail stores, and fresh produce vendors in New York City (NYC). We conducted a cross-sectional study following the peak of COVID-19 in six neighborhoods in NYC. Two Chinese ethnic neighborhoods and four higher/lower resourced comparison neighborhoods were selected a priori based on 14 sociodemographic indicators. The primary outcome was indefinite/temporary closures or absence of food businesses. Of 2720 food businesses identified, produce vendors and restaurants were more likely to close than food retail stores. A higher proportion of food businesses closed in Chinese ethnic neighborhoods vs. comparison neighborhoods. COVID-19 impacted food businesses in six NYC neighborhoods examined in this period, with the greatest effect observed for Chinese ethnic neighborhoods. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10903-021-01230-7.

Introduction Globally, there has been a rapid rise in non-communicable diseases driven by changing lifestyle choices and health behaviors. Different lifestyle choices threaten to exacerbate existing health inequalities, yet evidence monitoring the extent of this impact in emerging economies is lacking. The article sets out to measure the level of wealth-related inequality and its drivers in one of these lifestyle choices, tobacco consumption, among populations aged ≥50 years in six Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Methods The study provides empirical evidence of the inequality in tobacco consumption across wealth groups in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, the Russian Federation and South Africa using the Erreygers’ corrected concentration indices. These inequalities are then decomposed to gain a deeper understanding of the factors and broader social forces driving inequality. The WHO SAGE data set, collected between 2008 and 2010, is used for the analysis. Results Current tobacco consumption is concentrated among the poor in China, Ghana, India, and South Africa, and among the wealthy in the Russian Federation and Mexico. The inequalities widen when we focus solely on the male population. Although the results differ by country, the major drivers of inequality include wealth, locality, and gender. Conclusions The focus on tobacco consumption in this age group is key to curbing rising healthcare costs and ensuring longevity. Policies aimed at reducing wealthrelated inequalities should especially target high tobacco consumption rates among males, while simultaneously pre-empting and curbing rising rates among women.

Ending hunger and alleviating poverty are key goals for a sustainable future. Food security is a constant challenge for agrarian communities in low-income countries, especially in Madagascar. We investigated agricultural practices, household characteristics, and food security in northeast Madagascar. We tested whether agricultural practices, demographics, and socioeconomics in rural populations were related to food security. Over 70% of respondents reported times during the last three years during which food for the household was insufficient, and the most frequently reported cause was small land size (57%). The probability of food insecurity decreased with increasing vanilla yield, rice yield, and land size. There was an interaction effect between land size and household size; larger families with smaller land holdings had higher food insecurity, while larger families with larger land had lower food insecurity. Other socioeconomic and agricultural variables were not significantly related to food insecurity, including material wealth, education, crop diversity, and livestock ownership. Our results highlight the high levels of food insecurity in these communities and point to interventions that would alleviate food stress. In particular, because current crop and livestock diversity were low, agricultural diversification could improve outputs and mitigate food insecurity. Development of sustainable agricultural intensification, including improving rice and vanilla cultivation to raise yields on small land areas, would likely have positive impacts on food security and alleviating poverty. Increasing market access and off-farm income, as well as improving policies related to land tenure could also play valuable roles in mitigating challenges in food security. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12571-021-01179-3.

There is ample evidence that exposure to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities could widen Latinas’ health disparities. Whether or not residing near an ICE detention center (IDC) further impacts their health is unknown. During nationwide increased ICE activities Latinas (N=45) attended an intervention at two separate sites: one near and another one far from an IDC. A focus group discussion and an interview were conducted using a grounded theory approach. Quantitative data were collected and analyzed. Participants residing near an IDC benefited less from the intervention and reported changes in anxiety levels and in mobility, and a sense of powerlessness. They also requested resources to respond to ICE overreach and broadcasting of their reality. Our results suggest that proximity to IDCs impacts immigrant communities and public health programming, which is inevitably embedded in political realities. These need to be addressed when providing much needed interventions. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10903-021-01219-2.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on agricultural production, livelihoods, food security, and dietary diversity in India. Phone interview surveys were conducted by trained enumerators across 12 states and 200 districts in India from 3 to 15 May 2020. A total of 1437 farmers completed the survey (94% male; 28% 30–39 years old; 38% with secondary schooling). About one in ten farmers (11%) did not harvest in the past month with primary reasons cited being unfavorable weather (37%) and lockdown-related reasons (24%). A total of 63% of farmers harvested in the past month (primarily wheat and vegetables), but only 44% had sold their crop; 12% were still trying to sell their crop, and 39% had stored their crop, with more than half (55%) reporting lockdown-related issues as the reason for storing. Seventy-nine percent of households with wage-workers witnessed a decline in wages in the past month and 49% of households with incomes from livestock witnessed a decline. Landless farmers were about 10 times more likely to skip a meal as compared to large farmers (18% versus 2%), but a majority reported receiving extra food rations from the government. Nearly all farmers reported consuming staple grains daily in the past week (97%), 63% consumed dairy daily, 40% vegetables daily, 26% pulses daily, and 7% fruit daily. These values are much lower than reported previously for farmers in India around this time of year before COVID-19: 94–95% dairy daily, 57–58% pulses daily, 64–65% vegetables daily, and 42–43% fruit daily. In conclusion, we found that the COVID-19 lockdown in India has primarily impacted farmers’ ability to sell their crops and livestock products and decreased daily wages and dietary diversity. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12571-021-01164-w.

In this paper, using survey data from 1251 respondents from peri-urban parts in the Bhopal district of India, we estimated the willingness-to-pay (WTP) for hypothetical Covid-19 vaccines. We use open-ended questions along with the discrete choice contingent valuation method for two vaccines, one with full efficacy and the other with 70% efficacy. While no major evidence of vaccine hesitancy was observed, we found a WTP of about Rs. 141 ($1.9) for the former type vaccine and about Rs. 116 ($1.6) for the latter. From the contingent valuation method, we found about 71.9% were not willing to spend Rs. 200 ($2.7) or more for the fully effective vaccine, while this figure goes up to 77.8% for the one with 70% efficacy. Estimations from linear and probit regressions suggest that economic indicators were the most important predictors of WTP. Usage of public transport, the number of days that the respondent stepped out for work, and the presence of comorbid individuals in the household were positively associated with the WTP, while pandemic-induced income reduction was negatively correlated. The findings lend support toward the requirement of highly subsidized vaccines, and hence back the recent policy announcement toward the supply of free vaccines to all states.

COVID-19, within a short period of time, grew into a pandemic. The timely identification of places and populations at great risk of COVID-19 infection would aid disease control. In Nigeria, where a variety of recommended and adopted non-pharmaceutical interventions seem to have limited effectiveness, the number of cases is still increasing. To this end, this paper computed a social vulnerability to COVID-19 index (SoVI) in Nigeria within the local government area (LGA) framework with a view to revealing vulnerable places and populations. The study relied on several data sources and factor analysis for the development of the index. SoVI values ranged from 2.3 (least vulnerable) to 6.8 (most vulnerable). Three percent of the 774 LGAs were extremely vulnerable while 2% of these LGAs were least vulnerable to COVID-19. The predictive power of the index was confirmed to be strong (r = 0.812). Hopefully, the visual representation of place-based vulnerability to COVID-19 index should guide and direct the relevant authorities in the containment of further spread and vaccination coverage.

Covid-19 is a Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), which has exposed the issue of public risk perception among people in Pakistan. Previous research about public risk perception among people in Pakistan has been a neglected area till the writing of the current paper. The study aims to determine the level of public risk perception among people in Pakistan about the Covid-19 pandemic. Why and how public risk perception among health professionals and literate is more than the illiterate people in Pakistan? Data were collected through questionnaires and interviews of populations sampling from five districts through visits in KPK and other provinces via phone calls and online through internet. Theory of Health Belief Model (HBM) was utilized to explain public health risk perception in Pakistan. The lack of public health risk perception has more in illiterate people than literate among people in Pakistan, which has caused the Coronavirus to multiply rapidly in Pakistan. The findings have indicated that both health professionals and other literate people have different health behaviors than those who are illiterate in Pakistan about the Covid-19 pandemic.

Cholera is one of the major public health problems in the state of Odisha, India since centuries. The current paper is a comprehensive report on epidemiology of cholera in Odisha, which was documented from 1993. PubMed and Web of Knowledge were searched for publications reporting cholera in Odisha during the period 1993–2015. The search was performed using the keywords ‘Odisha’ and/or ‘Orissa’ and ‘Cholera’. In addition, manual search was undertaken to find out relevant papers. During the study period, a total of 37 cholera outbreaks were reported with an average of >1.5 cholera outbreaks per year and case fatality ratio was 0.3%. Vibrio cholerae O1 Ogawa serotype was the major causative agent in most of the cholera cases. The recent studies demonstrated the prevalence of V. cholerae O1, El Tor variants carrying ctxB1, ctxB7 and Haitian variant tcpA allele associated with polymyxin B sensitivity and these variants are replacing the proto type El Tor. The first report of variant ctxB7 in Odisha during super-cyclone 1999 predicted its emergence and subsequent spread causing cholera outbreaks. The prevalence of multidrug-resistant V. cholerae at different time periods created alarming situation. The efficacy trial of oral cholera vaccine (OCV, Shanchol) in a public health set-up in Odisha has shown encouraging results which should be deployed for community level vaccination among the vulnerable population. This paper has taken an effort to disseminate the valuable information of epidemiology of cholera that will influence the policy-makers and epidemiologists for constant surveillance in other parts of Odisha, India and around the globe.

Objective:To evaluate regional differences in factors associated with food insufficiency during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic among three major metropolitan regions in California, a state with historically low participation rates in the Supplementation Nutrition Assistance Program, the nation’s largest food assistance programme.Design:Analysis of cross-sectional data from phase 1 (23 April–21 July 2020) of the US Census Household Pulse Survey, a weekly national online survey.Setting:California, and three Californian metropolitan statistical areas (MSA), including San Francisco–Oakland–Berkeley, Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim and Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario MSA.Participants:Adults aged 18 years and older living in households.Results:Among the three metropolitan areas, food insufficiency rates were lowest in the San Francisco–Oakland–Berkeley MSA. Measures of disadvantage (e.g., having low-income, being unemployed, recent loss of employment income and pre-pandemic food insufficiency) were widely associated with household food insufficiency. However, disadvantaged households in the San Francisco Bay Area, the area with the lowest poverty and unemployment rates, were more likely to be food insufficient compared with those in the Los Angeles–Long Beach–Anaheim and Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario MSA.Conclusions:Food insufficiency risk among disadvantaged households differed by region. To be effective, governmental response to food insufficiency must address the varied local circumstances that contribute to these disparities.

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 adoption of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets (ABTs) was supposed to increase conservation awareness in different countries and regions of the world. However, there seems to be a limited understanding of the importance of ecosystem services, offered by biological diversity. Thus, the continued decline in biodiversity, especially in developing countries. This study appraised the level of success of the first target of Nigeria's National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), which is hinged on the first ABT. In a national survey, data were obtained from a total of 1,124 respondents (839 professionals and 285 non-professionals), using a structured questionnaire. Information on the respondents' knowledge of biodiversity conservation and the associated ecosystem services, were elicited. Most of the non-professionals had a low level of understanding of biodiversity concepts (4.9 ± 1.7 to 20.5 ± 3.4%), while there was a moderate level of understanding among the professionals (48.0 ± 8.6 to 88.8 ± 3.4%). Awareness of the NBSAP was low for both groups (43.8 ± 7.2% professionals and 12.1 ± 3.7% non-professionals). The study concludes that there is a need to step up campaigns on biodiversity conservation in Nigeria and promote visits to natural sites. Youth engagement through the employment of graduates of biology-related disciplines, to educate the public on biodiversity conservation and the action plan, could also be a strong determinant to the success of the NBSAP targets.

Since the first level response to public health emergencies was launched on January 25, 2020, in Heilongjiang province, China, the outbreak of COVID-19 seems to be under control. However, an outbreak of COVID-19 caused by imported cases developed in Harbin during April 2020. A mathematical model is established to investigate the transmission of COVID-19 in Harbin. Based on the dynamical analysis and data fitting, the research investigates the outbreak of COVID-19 in Harbin and estimates the outbreak size of COVID-19 in Harbin. The outbreak size estimated of COVID-19 in Harbin reaches 174, where 54% of infected cases were identified while 46% of infected cases were not found out. We should maintain vigilance against unfound infected people. Our findings suggest that the effective reproduction number decreased drastically in contrast with the value of 3.6 on April 9; after that the effective interventions were implemented by the Heilongjiang province government. Finally, the effective reproduction number arrived at the value of 0.04 which is immensely below the threshold value 1, which means that the Heilongjiang province government got the outbreak of COVID-19 in Harbin under control.

With the expansion of the global novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, unprecedented interventions have been widely implemented in many countries, including China. In view of this scenario, this research aims to explore the effectiveness of population mobility restriction in alleviating epidemic transmission during different stages of the outbreak. Taking Shenzhen, a city with a large immigrant population in China, as a case study, the real-time reproduction number of COVID-19 is estimated by statistical methods to represent the dynamic spatiotemporal transmission pattern of COVID-19. Furthermore, migration data between Shenzhen and other provinces are collected to investigate the impact of nationwide population flow on near-real-time dynamic reproductive numbers. The results show that traffic flow control between populated cities has an inhibitory effect on urban transmission, but this effect is not significant in the late stage of the epidemic spread in China. This finding implies that the government should limit international and domestic population movement starting from the very early stage of the outbreak. This work confirms the effectiveness of travel restriction measures in the face of COVID-19 in China and provides new insight for densely populated cities in imposing intervention measures at various stages of the transmission cycle.

Recurrent outbreaks of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have occurred in many countries around the world. We developed a twofold framework in this study, which is composed by one novel descriptive model to depict the recurrent global outbreaks of COVID-19 and one dynamic model to understand the intrinsic mechanisms of recurrent outbreaks. We used publicly available data of cumulative infected cases from 1 January 2020 to 2 January 2021 in 30 provinces in China and 43 other countries around the world for model validation and further analyses. These time series data could be well fitted by the new descriptive model. Through this quantitative approach, we discovered two main mechanisms that strongly correlate with the extent of the recurrent outbreak: the sudden increase in cases imported from overseas and the relaxation of local government epidemic prevention policies. The compartmental dynamical model (Susceptible, Exposed, Infectious, Dead and Recovered (SEIDR) Model) could reproduce the obvious recurrent outbreak of the epidemics and showed that both imported infected cases and the relaxation of government policies have a causal effect on the emergence of a new wave of outbreak, along with variations in the temperature index. Meanwhile, recurrent outbreaks affect consumer confidence and have a significant influence on GDP. These results support the necessity of policies such as travel bans, testing of people upon entry, and consistency of government prevention and control policies in avoiding future waves of epidemics and protecting economy.

We tested if peer-reviewed conservation research output has increased in sub-Saharan African countries over the last 30 years in response to increased development. We carried out a bibliometric analysis to identify the number of conservation research papers published by national authors of 41 sub-Saharan African countries during 1987–2017, to provide an index of national conservation research output. We identified country-specific development factors influencing these totals, using general linear modelling. There were positive relationships between conservation research output and population size, GDP, literacy rate, international tourism receipts and population growth rate, and negative relationships with urban population and agricultural land cover, in total explaining 77% of variation. Thirty-eight per cent of countries contributed < 30 conservation research papers (of 12,701) in 30 years. Analysis of trends in primary authorship in a random subsample of 2,374 of these papers showed that primary authorship by sub-Saharan African authors has increased significantly over time but is now at a lower rate than primary authorship for authors from countries outside the country associated with the search term, usually a European or North American country. Overall, 46% of papers had national primary authors, but 67% of these were South African. The results show that conservation research output in sub-Saharan Africa overall is increasing but only significantly in a few countries, and is still dominated by non-national scientists, probably as a result of a lack of socio-economic development.

Summary In the early months of 2020, Europe was confronted by a pandemic that originated in China, which initially affected its territories in different ways. Parts of northern Italy were among the regions most affected. At the same time, Ticino, a small canton of Switzerland geographically wedged into Italian territory, had an incidence rate comparable to that of hard-hit Lombardy. Home to 350,000 inhabitants and separated from the rest of Switzerland by the Alps, Ticino had to face the first part of the pandemic with little available knowledge. The cantonal authorities decided to transform two active hospitals into COVID centres, concentrating all coronavirus patients there. Since the virus was new and there were no clear guidelines for managing it, the nutritional team on site had to reorganise to provide patient care, adapting their strategy to accommodate the evolution of the pandemic and growing medical knowledge. This paper explains how one of these teams developed a model to deal with the first wave of COVID, maintaining it during the second and current third wave of the pandemic.

Objective:Game bird consumption is an important part of the diet of Indigenous populations in Canada and, as part of country food consumption, is associated with improved nutritional status. The objective of this project was to document the consumption of game birds for Dene First Nations in the Northwest Territories (NWT), Canada.Design:Participants were invited to complete a FFQ using an iPad to document the types of country foods consumed, as well as consumption frequency and preparation methods, including thirteen types of game birds.Setting:The project was implemented in nine communities in the Dehcho and Sahtú regions of the NWT, Canada.Participants:A total of 237 children and adult participants from Dene First Nations in the Mackenzie Valley region of the NWT took part in the current study.Results:FFQ findings indicated that game birds were frequently consumed in both Dehcho and Sahtú communities. Canada goose and mallard were found to be consumed by the largest number of participants. Five different species (including Canada goose and mallard) were found to be consumed by at least 25 % of participants over the last year. When consuming game birds, most participants reported consuming the meat as well as most, if not all, other parts of the bird.Conclusions:Differences were observed since the last country food assessment in the 1990s in the same regions. These findings increase knowledge of the current Dene diet patterns and support the understanding of diet transition.

Objective:This study aimed to identify and rank the different aspects of households’ vulnerability to food insecurity.Design:The data were collected by a standard online questionnaire. The Household Food Insecurity Access Scale was used to assess food insecurity levels, and first-order structural equation modelling was applied to determine factors that affect food insecurity. Seven dimensions of vulnerability were measured: economic, social, cultural, human, physical, psychology and information, using thirty-seven items extracted from the related literature review.Setting:This study was implemented in Tehran province in Iran.Participants:The sample included 392 families residing in Tehran province which was determined using random sampling.Results:About 61 % of the total sample faced food insecurity, at marginal, moderate and severe levels. Economic, psychological and human aspects of vulnerability had the highest effect on food insecurity during the initial COVID-19 lockdown.Conclusions:Authorities and policymakers must provide economic and financial support to vulnerable households. Abolition of US economic and financial sanctions imposed on Iran must be implemented to battle with COVID-19 in this country.

The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of food and nutrition insecurity and assess the socio-demographic factors associated with food and nutrition insecurity among 146 free-living elderly persons attending a care centre in Sharpeville, South Africa. Measurement instruments included socio-demographic-, 24-hour-recall and dietary diversity questionnaires and the validated household food insecurity access scale/score (HFIAS). Data were analysed with IBM SPSS Software, version 25.0. The prevalence of food insecurity from HFIAS was 60% (n = 87), with a variety of balanced responses being employed. Significant relationships were observed between HFIAS and age (r = 0.301; p = 0.000) and with household income (r = −0.258; p = 0.007). An association was observed between HFIAS and marital status (p = 0.005). Regression analysis showed that age and being single were predictors of food and nutrition insecurity. This study indicated a problem of household food insecurity with poor dietary intakes among these elderly people, mostly due to poverty and being single. More research on associations between food security and socio-economic variables is needed to plan and implement appropriate strategies to address food and nutrition insecurity in South Africa.

Up until recently incidences of tuberculosis (TB) had been declining for many years in Germany. The rise in TB cases coincided with a large increase in the number of people applying for asylum. We combine data from various sources to estimate the at-entry prevalence of TB for asylum seekers from 18 countries of origin and rely on survey data to explain the varying risk of suffering from TB. Our results reveal that asylum seekers from Eastern Africa show a much higher risk of suffering from TB than asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Syria, or Iraq. The survey data suggests that asylum seekers from Africa were by far more underprivileged in their respective countries of origin and experienced a higher risk of contracting TB on their way to Germany. Information about the socio-economic situation and the circumstances of the journey to Germany may help to improve TB surveillance.