Suchergebnisse

Intro -- Contents -- Transboundary Waters, Infrastructure Development and Public Private Partnership Through the Prism of the Nam Thuen 2 and Xayaburi Hydropower Projects -- Abstract -- Keywords -- Introduction -- A Public-Private Partnerships -- I What is a Public-Private Partnership? -- II Types of Public-Private Partnerships -- III Why do PPPs Matter? -- B International Watercourses Law and PPPs -- I PPPs on International Watercourses and the Law of International Watercourses -- (a) State Actors -- II International Treaties -- (a) The UN Convention on the Law of the Non-navigational Uses of International Watercourses -- III Customary International Law -- IV Application to the Nam Theun 2 Project -- C The Governance of PPPs through 'Policies' of Multilateral Development Banks -- I Streams of International Governance of PPPs through the World Bank Group -- (a) The World Bank's 'Safeguard' Polices -- (b) Other Safeguard Policies -- (c) Substantive Obligations -- (i) Notification -- (ii) No Harm -- II Other Multilateral Development Banks -- III The International Finance Corporation's Performance Standards -- IV China and Chinese Development -- (a) The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank -- D The Mekong River Basin, the 1995 Mekong Agreement and the Nam Theun 2 Hydropower Project -- I NT2 is Located in Lao PDR in the Mekong River Basin -- II 1995 Agreement on the Cooperation for the Sustainable Development of the Mekong River Basin -- (a) Structure of the MRC -- (b) Financing -- (c) Data and Information Exchange -- (d) Flexibility -- (e) Dispute Resolution -- (f) Key Initiatives Launched Since the 1995 Mekong Agreement -- III The Nam Theun 2 Project -- (a) Context -- (b) NT2 Specifications -- (c) History -- (d) Financing and Equity -- (e) Impacts -- (f) Significance -- E Contractual Structure -- I PPP Contractual Structure -- II Key Elements.

Background Current knowledge of the epidemiology of Clostridium difficile infection in Asia, and in particular the Greater Mekong Subregion, is very limited. Only a few studies from Thailand and Vietnam have been reported from the region with variable testing methods and results, and no studies from Lao People's Democratic Republic (PDR). Therefore we investigated the presence of C. difficile in a single centre in the Lao PDR and determined the ribotypes present. Method Seventy unformed stool samples from hospital inpatients at Mahosot Hospital, Vientiane, were tested for the presence of C. difficile using selective differential agar and confirmed by latex agglutination. C. difficile isolates were further characterised by ribotyping and toxin gene detection. Results C. difficile was isolated from five of the 70 patients, and five different ribotypes were identified (014, 017, 020, QX 107 and QX 574). Conclusion This is the first isolation of C. difficile from human stool samples in the Lao PDR. These results will add to the limited amount of data on C. difficile in the region. In addition, we hope this information will alert clinicians to the presence of C. difficile in the country and will help inform future investigations into the epidemiology and diagnosis of C. difficile in Lao PDR.

Background: Limited resources make prevention of complex population-level issues such as obesity increasingly challenging. Collaboration and partnerships between organisations operating in the same system can assist, however, there is a paucity of research into how relationships function at a local level. The aim of this study was to audit initiatives, explore networks, and identify potential opportunities for improving the obesity prevention system in a Health Service area of Western Australia (WA). Methods: A mixed-methods study was undertaken in a metropolitan Health Service in Perth, WA in 2019–20. Structured face-to-face interviews (n = 51) were conducted with organisations engaged in obesity prevention, to identify prevention initiatives and their characteristics using a Systems Inventory tool. The Research Team identified the 30 most active organisations during the Systems Inventory, and an online Organisational Network Survey was administered to explore: relationships across six domains; partnership duration; frequency of interaction with other organisations; barriers to implementation; and key contributions to obesity prevention. Descriptive statistics were used to summarise barriers, contributions and Systems Inventory data. Organisational Network Survey data were analysed using social network analysis through UCINET 6 for Windows and Netdraw software. Whole network and cohesion scores were calculated: average degree; density; diameter; and degree centralization. Core-periphery analysis was conducted to identify densely connected core and sparsely connected periphery organisations. Results: The Systems Inventory identified 189 unique prevention initiatives, mostly focusing on individual-level behaviour change. Fifty four percent (n = 15) of the Organisational Network Survey respondent organisations and most core organisations (67%, n = 8) were government. The information and knowledge sharing network had a density of 45% indicating a high level of information and knowledge exchange between organisations. The lowest densities were found within the receiving (3.3%), providing (5.5%) and sharing (5.6%) funding networks, suggesting that these formal relationships were the least established. Conclusion: Applying a systems thinking lens to local obesity prevention revealed that initiatives conducted focused on individual-level behaviour change and that collaboration and communication between organisations focused on information sharing. Capturing the extent and nature of initiatives and the way partnerships operate to improve obesity prevention can help to identify opportunities to strengthen the networks.