Suchergebnisse

This study analyses the determinants of households" willingness to pay for irrigation water supply by using contingent valuation and choice experiment methods. A sample of 300 farm households living in the command area was interviewed to obtain households" willingness to pay for irrigation water supply. A single bounded value elicitation format with an open ended follow up question were used for the CVM and four attributes were identified with three environmental attributes (irrigation water availability, fish stock abundance and productivity) and a monetary attribute (annual payment). Probit, multinomial logit and random parameter logit models were used to analyze the factors influencing households" willingness to pay and estimate measures of welfare change for farm households. Results of the study showed households were willing to pay for the provision of irrigation water. The important variables identified in this study to determine households" WTP for irrigation water include practical irrigation experience of households, average annual income, participation in off-farm activities, and market access,. The mean willingness to pay from the single bounded and follow up open ended questions were birr 614 and birr 417.49 per 0.25 ha of irrigable land respectively. The expected aggregate willingness to pay for irrigation water supply for the closed and open ended questions is estimated to be birr 35,513,760 and 24,147,622 respectively. Based on the willingness to pay of households for improvement of attributes irrigation water availability is the most preferred one followed by fish stock abundance. The mean iv willingness to pay for fish stock abundance, irrigation water availability and productivity were 748, 822 and 1.2 birr respectively from the implicit price estimates. Compensating surplus estimates which reflect overall willingness to pay for a change from the status quo (current situation) to alternative improvement scenarios were also calculated. The estimate for the high impact scenario was estimated to be 5610 birr, for medium impact scenario 4090 birr and for low impact scenario it was 2514 birr per annum. An important policy implication drawn from the study is that farm households are willing to pay for irrigation water supply. If government designs and implements a proper charge of irrigation water in the area based on such studies it will avoid or at least reduce inefficient water use practices and there would be a more sustainable utilization of environmental resources.

This study examined coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) prevention knowledge among community residents in Eastern Ethiopia to support public health interventions and vaccination coverage. A cross-sectional survey in August-September 2021 recruited 880 participants from households in a Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) in Harari and Oromia, Ethiopia. Participants were randomly selected and interviewed in person using tablets and a standardized questionnaire. Principal components analysis was used to create a score representing COVID-19 prevention knowledge. Quasi-Poisson regression was used to examine associations between demographic characteristics and COVID-19 prevention knowledge. The survey also assessed awareness of community/government COVID-19 prevention measures and healthcare services for under-5 children and pregnant women. The most cited COVID-19 prevention measures were handwashing with soap (91.5%) and wearing facemasks (89.2%); least mentioned were avoiding travel (22.2%) and wearing medical gloves (20.3%). Commonly recognized community/government measures included school closures (77.0%), avoiding gatherings (75.2%), and staying home (62.3%). Adjusted analyses demonstrated higher COVID-19 prevention knowledge among rural participants, those aged ≥65 years (reference: <25), with secondary education (reference: no education), with monthly income of ≥2,001 Birr (reference: 0–1,200), and were farmers, domestic/subsistence workers, or government employees (reference: unemployed). Knowledge was lower among households with ≥5 household members. Of households with under-5 children and pregnant women, 9.4% and 12.3% missed medical care visits since mid-March 2020 consequent to the pandemic. Public health interventions to reduce COVID-19 transmission rely on risk perception and knowledge. Understanding these factors can help Ethiopian authorities design effective health education programs to control community and household SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

Background: Mortality rates for children under five years of age, and stillbirth risks, remain high in parts of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The Child Health and Mortality Prevention Surveillance (CHAMPS) network aims to ascertain causes of child death in high child mortality settings (>50 deaths/1000 live-births). We aimed to develop a "greenfield" site for CHAMPS, based in Harar and Kersa, in Eastern Ethiopia. This very high mortality setting (>100 deaths/1000 live-births in Kersa) had limited previous surveillance capacity, weak infrastructure and political instability. Here we describe site development, from conception in 2015 to the end of the first year of recruitment. Methods: We formed a collaboration between Haramaya University and the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and engaged community, national and international partners to support a new CHAMPS programme. We developed laboratory infrastructure and recruited and trained staff. We established project specific procedures to implement CHAMPS network protocols including; death notifications, clinical and demographic data collection, post-mortem minimally invasive tissue sampling, microbiology and pathology testing, and verbal autopsy. We convened an expert local panel to determine cause-of-death. In partnership with the Ethiopian Public Health Institute we developed strategies to improve child and maternal health. Results: Despite considerable challenge, with financial support, personal commitment and effective partnership, we successfully initiated CHAMPS. One year into recruitment (February 2020), we had received 1173 unique death notifications, investigated 59/99 MITS-eligible cases within the demographic surveillance site, and assigned an underlying and immediate cause of death to 53 children. Conclusions: The most valuable data for global health policy are from high mortality settings, but initiating CHAMPS has required considerable resource. To further leverage this investment, we need strong local research capacity and to broaden the scientific remit. To support this, we have set up a new collaboration, the "Hararghe Health Research Partnership".