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South Africa shared with the world the warning of a new strain of SARS-CoV2, Omicron, in November 2021. As a result, many high-income countries (HICs) instituted complete travel bans on persons leaving South Africa and other neighbouring countries. These bans were unnecessary from a scientific standpoint, and they ran counter to the International Health Regulations. In short, South Africa was penalized for sharing data. Data sharing during pandemics is commonly justified by appeals to solidarity. In this paper, we argue that solidarity is, at best, an aspirational ideal to work toward but that it cannot ground an obligation to share data. Instead, low-and-middle income countries (LIMCs) should be guided by the principle of reciprocity, which states that we ought to return good for good received. Reciprocity is necessarily a conditional principle. LMICs, we argue, should only share data during future pandemics on the condition that HICs provide enforceable assurances that the benefits of data sharing will be equitably distributed and that LMICs won't be penalized for sharing information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been found that people with disabilities remain at the margin as far as the different aspects of their lives are concerned. This paper tests the hypothesis that disability leads to lower quality of life among older adults in low and middle-income countries. The data from the Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE) was used in this study which was conducted in Ghana, China, India, Russia, South Africa and Mexico. The disability scores have been made utilising Item Response Theory, Partial Credit Model and are centered on eight functioning and health areas. Bivariate analysis, binary logistic regression and pooled regression analysis have been used to fulfil the objectives of the paper. The findings reveal that disability acts as a hindrance in attaining a high quality of life (HQOL) amongst the older adults in the above mentioned low and middle-income countries. The older adults with disability are as much as 60% less likely to enjoy an HQOL with respect to the older adults without disability. Better socio-economic development like improved health care for disabled older adults with disability enhanced living standards for both abled and disabled, efficient pension schemes for older adults with disability and effective social service schemes would be very much essential to improve overall QOL among older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates a simple methodological sequence for the statistical calculation of a context-sensitive quality of life index especially suitable for use in the Global South, i.e. lower and middle income countries. We draw on the large (n = 24,889), area-sampled, survey dataset of the fifth Quality of Life Survey (QoL V, 2017/18) of South Africa's Gauteng province, conducted by the Gauteng City-Region Observatory. Using overtly exploratory analysis, and a fully reflective conception of indicators, we apply exploratory factor analysis (EFA) in two stages to generate our model, while defending our approach methodologically and empirically and indicating its philosophical foundations. We contrast this approach to previous analyses using the QoL I (2010) data, which defined their dimensions and assign their indicators in advance, drawing on literature and indexes largely from the Global North. We ran series of EFAs on 60 longitudinally available variables from the QoL V data set. This allowed us to determine the optimal number of factors/dimensions, guided by established criteria and the interpretability of the grouped indicators. Each dimension score is calculated arithmetically, using the indicators' factor loadings as weights. Then the dimensions, weighted by their eigenvalues, are aggregated into the composite index, scaled to run from 0 to 100. The resulting seven-dimension, 33-indicator model was validated through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on the QoL V data; and its configural invariance, i.e. whether the pattern of indicators amongst the factors holds over time, was checked against the two previous QoL datasets and confirmed. This validates the ability of the approach outlined to generate a stable index. Analysis of the resulting quality of life index by race and municipality reveals trends consistent with the South African context. Overall, the White population group has the highest measured quality of life index, followed in turn by the Indian/Asian, Coloured and Black African population groups. Changes in the quality-of-life ranking of the nine municipalities comprising Gauteng province may be observed over time, using the validated previous models. The value of the exploratory approach in enabling context to influence the index construction is highlighted by the emergence of a distinct dimension of bottom-up political voice, which is relevant for democratic governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Though a continued increase in life expectancy is a significant public health achievement, keeping older adults active and maintaining their well-being is challenging. Active aging requires physical health, mental health, functional independence, economic stability, social participation, and spiritual identification. Among all these factors, social cohesion has significant importance, but there is a dearth of studies focusing on older adults' social cohesion. Thus, the present study focuses on the level of social cohesion among older adults and its variation among the different economic classes. This article uses data from the Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health (SAGE) conducted in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia, and South Africa during 2007–10. Social cohesion scores have been constructed using Item Response Theory Partial Credit Model. Also, bivariate analysis, concentration curves, concentration indices, and multivariate regressions have been used for the analysis presented in this paper. This study confirms the strong predictive power of age, wealth, education, and working status of older adults on their social cohesion across the countries. Higher social non-cohesion is found among the economically poor older adults in Mexico, Russia, India, and China. In contrast, it is just opposite in the case of older adults in South Africa. Governments should develop policies to foster a society with a high level of social inclusion, social capital, and social diversity, to achieve further advancement in social cohesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Previous studies of parenting programs suggest that facilitator fidelity, participant attendance and engagement often influence treatment outcomes. While the number of parenting program evaluations has been growing in low- and middle-income countries, little is known about the implementation processes and their impact on participant outcomes in these settings.Methods: This study was nested within a cluster-randomised trial of a parenting program in South Africa. The paper aims to, first, describe the implementation of the intervention over 14 weeks. Second, using longitudinal multilevel analyses, the paper examines the impact of variation in observer-rated fidelity, attendance, and engagement on participant outcomes - parenting and maltreatment reported by caregivers and adolescents aged 10-18 (N = 270 pairs), 14 outcome constructs.Results: Fidelity, attendance and participant engagement rates were similar to those reported in high-income country studies. However, the participation and implementation characteristics did not predict participant outcomes. This may be due to limited variation in dosage as home visits were comprehensively provided when participants could not attend group sessions, and fidelity was monitored by the implementers and researchers. One statistically significant predictor after the multiple testing correction was higher fidelity predicting an increase in adolescent-reported maltreatment at follow-up, possibly due to an increase in reporting (incidence rate ratio 1.33, 95% CI [1.19, 1.49], p < 0.01).Conclusions: Our study confirms that a high quality of implementation can be achieved in a low-resource context. Suggestions for future research on parenting programs include examining therapeutic alliance alongside program fidelity and facilitator skill as well as systematically recording program adaptations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]