Suchergebnisse

Climate change poses a huge threat. Social networking sites (SNSs) have become sources of human–environment interactions and shaped the societal perception of climate change and its effect on society. This study, based on the extended parallel process model, aims to examine the effect of exposure to climate change-related information on SNSs on the pro-environmental behaviors of individuals. The study examines the mediation effect of fear of victimization from climate change between the exposure to climate change-related information on SNSs and pro-environmental behaviors, including the moderation effect of attention deficit and decision-making self-efficacy with the help of appropriate instruments. A total sample of 406 reliable questionnaires were collected from students using SNSs in China, and data were analyzed through SPSS and AMOS. Results indicate that the exposure to climate change-related information on SNSs has a direct positive effect on users' pro-environmental behaviors (β = 0.299, p < 0.01). Fear of victimization from climate change also mediates the relationship between exposure to climate change-related information on SNSs and pro-environmental behaviors (β = 0.149, SE = 0.029, p < 0.01). In addition, attention deficit moderates the relationship of exposure to climate change-related information on SNSs with fear of victimization from climate change (β = −0.090, p ≤ 0.01) and pro-environmental behaviors (β = −0.090, p ≤ 0.05). Similarly, the relationship between fear of victimization from climate change and pro-environmental behaviors is moderated by decision-making self-efficacy (β = 0.267, p ≤ 0.01). The findings offer implications for media organizations and government policy makers, who should post or spread environmental information through the most trustworthy media, with trustworthy sources, in an effective manner, and without exaggerated adverse impacts.

The effects of intrapersonal emotion on consumers' behavior have long been studied, but the effects of interpersonal emotions on public's intentions remain poorly understood. People often get angry when they observe injustice with others but not themselves. Drawing on emotions as social information theory, we investigated how perceived public condemnation (knowledge that other also condemn a particular norm violation by an organization) affects the moral outrage of public and their future intentions toward the organization. A quantitative study was empirically examined through a sample of 107 users of a leading riding service in Pakistan. Data were analyzed through statistical tools (IBM SPSS & AMOS 21). Finding shows that perceived public condemnation was positively correlated with moral outrage and avoidance intentions of individuals. However, moral outrage mediates the association between perceived public condemnation and avoidance intentions of the public. The implications highlight the importance of a community's social norms and values to gauge the organization's reputation in people's eyes.

During the past decade, unmet need for family planning has remained high in Pakistan and gains in contraceptive prevalence have been small. Drawing upon data from a 2012 national study on postabortion‐care complications and a methodology developed by the Guttmacher Institute for estimating abortion incidence, we estimate that there were 2.2 million abortions in Pakistan in 2012, an annual abortion rate of 50 per 1,000 women. A previous study estimated an abortion rate of 27 per 1,000 women in 2002. After taking into consideration the earlier study's underestimation of abortion incidence, we conclude that the abortion rate has likely increased substantially between 2002 and 2012. Varying contraceptive‐use patterns and abortion rates are found among the provinces, with higher abortion rates in Baluchistan and Sindh than in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. This suggests that strategies for coping with the other wise uniformly high unintended pregnancy rates will differ among provinces. The need for an accelerated and fortified family planning program is greater than ever, as is the need to implement strategies to improve the quality and coverage of postabortion services.

SummaryThis paper illustrates the importance of monitoring health facility-level information to monitor changes in maternal mortality risks. The annual facility-level maternal mortality ratios (MMRs), complications to live births ratios and case fatality ratios (CFRs) were computed from data recorded during 2007 and 2009 in 31 upgraded public sector health facilities across Pakistan. The facility-level MMR declined by about 18%; both the number of Caesarean sections and the episodes of complications as a percentage of live births increased; and CFR based on Caesarean sections and episodes of complications declined by 29% and 37%, respectively. The observed increases in the proportion of women with complications among those who come to these facilities point to a reduction in the delay in reaching facilities (first and second delays; Thaddeus & Maine, 1994); the decrease in CFRs points to improvements in treating obstetric complications and a reduction in the delay in receiving treatment once at facilities (the third delay). These findings point to a decline in maternal mortality risks among communities served by these facilities. A system of woman-level data collection instituted at health facilities with comprehensive emergency obstetric care is essential to monitor changes in the effects of any reduction in the three delays and any improvement in quality of care or the effectiveness of treating pregnancy-related complications among women reaching these facilities. Such a system of information gathering at these health facilities would also help policymakers and programme mangers to measure and improve the effectiveness of safe-motherhood initiatives and to monitor progress being made toward achieving the fifth Millennium Development Goal.

The Safe Motherhood Applied Research and Training (SMART) project, an operations research project designed to develop and test interventions to reduce maternal, perinatal, and neonatal mortality and morbidity in predominantly rural districts of Pakistan, was a three-year project (2003 to 2006) funded by the European Union. The study area was in the district of Dera Ghazi Khan; the control area was in the district of Layyah. The project focused on three areas to accomplish its goals: empowering women to seek appropriate and timely general, maternal, and newborn care; supporting methods that encourage men to play a positive and active role in decision-making and seeking care for their families in matters relating to maternal and newborn care; and improving and strengthening health services. The project had two intervention sites and one control site to look at the impact of two different interventions (within communities and within health facilities). It was expected that project results would be useful to others working toward reducing maternal, perinatal, and neonatal mortality and morbidity, nationally and internationally. The interventions and findings from this study are published in six reports, of which this is Report 2: The Interventions.