Suchergebnisse

Background: A polarized approach to drug use endures in Nepal. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) enforces criminal drug law to create a drug free society, while the Ministry of Health and Population (MoHP) advocates and endorses harm reduction policies to reduce drug-related harms, HIV and other BBI epidemics.Methods: This study employed qualitative methods to explore the implications of drug law enforcement as possible barriers to accessing harm reduction services, human rights violations and risky behavior among PWID. In June 2016, 28 in-depth interviews were conducted with four distinct population categories [Policy level (1), national HIV program level (7), harm reduction service delivery level (5) and community level (15)]. A maximum variance sampling technique - strategy for purposeful sampling aimed at capturing and describing the central themes that cut across a great deal of variation was applied.Results: Drug laws provided ultimate power to law enforcement authorities and concomitant fear to PWID. Abuse of such power resulted in range of human rights violations, including sexual harassment, brutal torture and financial hassle, in part due to a nexus between some field authorities and drug rehabilitation providers, and increased barriers to accessing harm reduction services as well as increasing risky behavior practices among PWID. Law enforcement was associated with high drug price, which often were associated with delinquent activities and risky behaviors. Findings suggested that most of the law enforcement related impediments were occurring due to lack of awareness, and failure in flow of information within government agencies and law enforcement authorities, and good monitoring and governance. Knowledge of harm reduction services resulted in changes in law enforcement activities, such as referrals and service intake while in custody.Conclusion: Consistent coordination, monitoring mechanisms and education for law enforcement authorities should be initiated as an immediate response to improve the dire situation of PWID. However, the long-term health development of PWID cannot be envisaged without favorable policy and law reform around age of consent, appropriate police academy curricula and drug control law that recognizes public health implications, human rights and evidence-based harm reduction approaches, and a participatory process.

Background: Diarrhea is the passage of three or more loose or liquid stools per day (or feces are discharged frequently from the bowl than the normal for the person). It is a leading cause of mortality and morbidity in children under the age of five in developing countries especially in the Sub-Sahara Africa including Sudan. The aim of the study was to explore the factors associated with diarrhea among children aged under 5 years in Sudan using the 2014 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS). Methods: A total of 14081 children under 5 years who had completed the survey questionnaire were considered for this study. Data was entered and cleaned using SPSS version 17. Bivariate analysis was done using Pearson's Chi square test while multivariate analysis was done using binary logistic regression with 95% CI to examine the association between the dependent and independent variables. All variables with p-value <0.2 using the bivariate analysis was included in multivariate analysis. Results: The prevalence of diarrhea among children was 26.9% (3785 children with diarrhea out of 14081). Factors associated with diarrhea were weight for height z-score, weight for age z-score, wealth index quintile and child age in months. In multivariate analysis, children from the fourth wealth index quintile were 1.21 times more likely to develop diarrhea, (OR: 1.21, p=0.016) than those children from the richest wealth index quintile. Children who were severely underweighted were 1.59 times more likely to develop diarrhea (OR: 1.59, p<0.001) than children who were normal. The risk of diarrhea was 32% lower in severely wasted children (OR: 0.68, p=0.047) than those children who were obese. Children aged 6-11 and 12-23 months were about 2.5 times more at risk of getting diarrhea (OR: 2.49, p<0.001; OR: 2.45, p<0.001 respectively) in comparison to children aged 48-59 months. Conclusions: Nutritional factors were found to be associated with diarrhea. Continuous governmental efforts to eradicate malnutrition and hunger are recommended. The MICS 2014 of Sudan has produced much of great value; but there are some questions about certain kinds of information. Unexpected results were found regarding main source, treatment of drinking water and toilet facilities. Further studies in the form of longitudinal studies are needed as one cannot infer causality using this kind of study.

Using data from the national censuses of five Southeast Asian countries, this article examines entropy-based measures of the heterogeneity in a set of five markers of the transition to adulthood. Our results suggest that the transition to adulthood is becoming increasingly complex over time in all five countries; complexity is greatest for females, and important cross-national differences in heterogeneity levels and timing persist when underlying patterns of economic transformation are considered. In light of these persistent cross-national differences, we suggest that our census-based analysis should be complemented with case studies of these countries that focus on cultural or institutional influences. Results related to the importance of schooling suggest that cross-national comparisons of educational institutions would be fruitful.

Pt. 1: Demographic history of an archipelago. Doeppers, D. F. ; Xenos, P.: A demographic frame for Philippine history. - S. 1-16. Newson, L. A.: Old world diseases in the early colonial Philippines and Spanish America. - S. 17-36. Pt. 2: Dynamic regions. Xenos, P.: The Ilocos coast since 1800. Population pressure, the Ilocano diaspora, and multiphasic response. - S. 39-70. Cullinane, M. ; Xenos, P.: The growth of population in Cebu during the Spanish era. Constructing a regional demography from local sources. - S. 71-138. Doeppers, D. F.: Migration to Manila. Changing gender representation, migration field, and urban structure. - S. 139-179. Pt. 3: Changing localities. Xenos, P. ; Ng Shui Meng: Nagcarlan, Laguna. A nineteenth-century parish demography. - S. 183-224. Owen, N. G.: Life, death, and the sacraments in a nineteenth-century Bikol parish. - S. 225-252. Doeppers, D. F.: Migrants in urban labor markets. The social stratification of Tondo and Sampaloc in the 1890s. - S. 253-264. Doeppers, D. F.: Evidence from the grave. The changing social composition of the populations of metropolitan Manila and Molo, Iloilo, during the later nineteenth century. - S. 265-277. Pt. 4: Critical sources, contexts, and methods. Cullinane, M.: Accounting for souls. Ecclesiastical sources for the study of Philippine demographic history. - S. 281-346. Doeppers, D. F.: Civil records as sources for Philippine historical demography. - S. 347-363. Bibliographical section. Gealogo, F. A.: Demography and an autonomous Filipino history. A bibliographic essay. - S. 367-374

This study investigates the effects of three aspects of women's status on the fertility of Thai women, viz. marriage arrangements, patterns of intrafamilial decision making, and women's capital skills and economic activities. The analysis is based on data collected in the 1979 "Asian marriage survey" in Thailand. A multiple classification analysis is used to investigate fertility beyond the second birth. Survival tables and multivariate porportional hazards models are used to study differentials in the rate at which women with two children have a third birth. The authors test the hypotheses that the effects of these women's status variables on fertility are greater in an urban than in a rural setting and that they increased after the Thai reproductive revolution. Cultural differences in fertility decisions between ethnic Thais and Thai-Chinese are identified. (Publisher)