Suchergebnisse

This paper aims to analyze Australian Prime Minister John Howard's foreign policy in responding to illegal immigrants who attempt to enter Australian territory by sea. This study employed library research as well as a qualitative approach. In particular, this study used the theory of foreign policy offered by Walter Calsnaes called 'a logically tripartite approach' to analyze Howard's policy in responding to illegal immigrants. This paper found that Howard's foreign policy in responding to illegal immigrants was not only state-centric in nature focusing on protecting Australian sovereignty, but the policy also had a purpose to maintain power control. Firstly, Howard was willing to show the world that his leadership was different compared to his predecessors, asserting that Australia should not be regarded as a country of easy destination. Secondly, Howard showed that limiting the number of illegal immigrants was in the best interest of the country to protect Australians. Thirdly, Howard proved that his foreign policy towards illegal immigrants could influence the politics of Australia including federal elections. Lastly, Howard demonstrated his ability in the context of institutional settings by issuing new laws to strengthen his foreign policy. Keywords: Australia, John Howard, Illegal Immigrants, Policy Abstrak Tulisan ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis kebijakan luar negeri Perdana Menteri John Howard dalam merespon para imigran ilegal yang datang ke Australia secara khusus melalui jalur laut. Studi ini menggunakan metode studi pustaka dan pendekatan kualitatif. Secara khusus, penulis menggunakan teori kebijakan luar negeri yang ditawarkan oleh Walter Carlsnaes yang disebut "a logically tripartite approach" untuk menganalisis kebijakan Howard dalam merespon imigran ilegal. Studi ini menemukan bahwa kebijakan luar negeri Howard dalam merespon imigran ilegal tidak hanya bersifat state-centric yang berfokus pada perlindungan kedaulatan negara, tetapi kebijakan itu juga memiliki motivasi untuk mempertahankan kekuasaan. Pertama, Howard ingin menunjukkan pada dunia bahwa ia adalah pemimpin yang berbeda dari pendahulunya dengan menegaskan bahwa Australia seharusnya tidak dipertimbangkan sebagai negara yang dapat dicapai dengan mudah. Kedua, Howard ingin menunjukkan bahwa pembatasan jumlah imigran ilegal adalah capaian kepentingan nasional untuk melindungi komunitas Australia. Ketiga, Howard menunjukkan bahwa kebijakannya terkait imigran ilegal dapat memengaruhi nuansa perpolitikan di Australia khususnya pada pemilihan umum federal. Keempat, Howard menunjukkan kemampuannya dalam konteks pengelolaan kelembagaan dengan mengeluarkan Undang-Undang baru hasil amandemen untuk memperkuat kebijakan luar negerinya. Kata kunci: Australia, John Howard, Imigran Ilegal, Kebijakan

In China, many of the top- and second-tier hospitals are overcrowded, this is partly due to the fact they are providing services which can provided by other medical facilities such as long-term care. The implementation of the Qingdao Long-term Care Medical Insurance (LTCMI) which began as a pilot in Qingdao in 2012 may alleviate the burden of overcrowding in these hospitals. In this pilot, the Qingdao government shifted patients who did not require hospital inpatient care from top- and second-tier hospitals to lower tier facilities, care homes and home care to i) reduce the expenditure of patients, ii) reduce the burden on the top- and second-tier hospitals and iii) improve delivery (from a time and geographic perspective) of long term care to those that need such attention. The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of this policy from a burden and cost perspective. Our finding suggests that there is a reduction in costs to all stakeholders. The total cost to the government-subsidized medical insurance decreases by around $7918 RMB per recipient. The cost to the individual decreases by around $2324 RMB per recipient. Thus, netting a decrease of $10,242 RMB in total expenditure. Furthermore, we find that there is a 12% reduction in inpatient service after a recipient participates in the pilot. Given the reduction in costs and admissions, this does indicate some level of success with the program. This paper concludes by examining the policy implications of these results.

Background: The massive scale-up of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS) has led to a substantial increase in malaria vector insecticide resistance as well as in increased outdoor transmission, both of which hamper the effectiveness and efficiency of ITN and IRS. Long-lasting microbial larvicide can be a cost-effective new supplemental intervention tool for malaria control. Methods/design: We will implement the long-lasting microbial larvicide intervention in 28 clusters in two counties in western Kenya. We will test FourStar controlled release larvicide (6% by weight Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis and 1% Bacillus sphaerius) by applying FourStar controlled release granule formulation, 90-day briquettes, and 180-day briquettes in different habitat types. The primary endpoint is clinical malaria incidence rate and the secondary endpoint is malaria vector abundance and transmission intensity. The intervention will be conducted as a two-step approach. First, we will conduct a four-cluster trial (two clusters per county, with one of the two clusters randomly assigned to the intervention arm) to optimize the larvicide application scheme. Second, we will conduct an open-label, cluster-randomized trial to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the larvicide. Fourteen clusters in each county will be assigned to intervention (treatment) or no intervention (control) by a block randomization on the basis of clinical malaria incidence, vector density, and human population size per site. We will treat each treatment cluster with larvicide for three rounds at 4-month intervals, followed by no treatment for the following 8months. Next, we will switch the control and treatment sites. The former control sites will receive three rounds of larvicide treatment at appropriate time intervals, and former treatment sites will receive no larvicide. We will monitor indoor and outdoor vector abundance using CO2-baited CDC light traps equipped with collection bottle rotators. Clinical malaria data will be aggregated from government-run malaria treatment centers. Discussion: Since current first-line vector intervention methods do not target outdoor transmission and will select for higher insecticide resistance, new methods beyond bed nets and IRS should be considered. Long-lasting microbial larviciding represents a promising new tool that can target both indoor and outdoor transmission and alleviate the problem of pyrethroid resistance. It also has the potential to diminish costs by reducing larvicide reapplications. If successful, it could revolutionize malaria vector control in Africa, just as long-lasting bed nets have done. Trial registration: U.S. National Institute of Health, study ID NCT02392832. Registered on 3 February 2015.

Abstract. The relationship between variations in surface latent heat flux (SLHF) and marine earthquakes has been a popular subject of recent seismological studies. So far, there are two key problems: how to identify the abnormal SLHF variations from complicated background signals, and how to ensure that the anomaly results from an earthquake. In this paper, we proposed four adjustable parameters for identification, classified the relationship and analyzed SLHF changes several months before six marine earthquakes by employing daily SLHF data. Additionally, we also quantitatively evaluate the long-term relationship between earthquakes and SLHF anomalies for the six study areas over a 20 yr period preceding each earthquake. The results suggest the following: (1) before the South Sandwich Islands, Papua, Samoa and Haiti earthquakes, the SLHF variations above their individual background levels have relatively low amplitudes and are difficult to be considered as precursory anomalies; (2) after removing the clustering effect, most of the anomalies prior to these six earthquakes are not temporally related to any earthquake in each study area in time sequence; (3) for each case, apart from Haiti, more than half of the studied earthquakes, which were moderate and even devastating earthquakes (larger than Mw = 5.3), had no precursory variations in SLHF; and (4) the correlation between SLHF and seismic activity depends largely on data accuracy and parameter settings. Before any application of SLHF data on earthquake prediction, we suggest that anomaly-identifying standards should be established based on long-term regional analysis to eliminate subjectivity. Furthermore, other factors that may result in SLHF variations should also be carefully considered.

The massive scale-up of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS) has led to a substantial increase in malaria vector insecticide resistance as well as in increased outdoor transmission, both of which hamper the effectiveness and efficiency of ITN and IRS. Long-lasting microbial larvicide can be a cost-effective new supplemental intervention tool for malaria control.We will implement the long-lasting microbial larvicide intervention in 28 clusters in two counties in western Kenya. We will test FourStar controlled release larvicide (6 % by weight Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis and 1 % Bacillus sphaerius) by applying FourStar controlled release granule formulation, 90-day briquettes, and 180-day briquettes in different habitat types. The primary endpoint is clinical malaria incidence rate and the secondary endpoint is malaria vector abundance and transmission intensity. The intervention will be conducted as a two-step approach. First, we will conduct a four-cluster trial (two clusters per county, with one of the two clusters randomly assigned to the intervention arm) to optimize the larvicide application scheme. Second, we will conduct an open-label, cluster-randomized trial to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the larvicide. Fourteen clusters in each county will be assigned to intervention (treatment) or no intervention (control) by a block randomization on the basis of clinical malaria incidence, vector density, and human population size per site. We will treat each treatment cluster with larvicide for three rounds at 4-month intervals, followed by no treatment for the following 8 months. Next, we will switch the control and treatment sites. The former control sites will receive three rounds of larvicide treatment at appropriate time intervals, and former treatment sites will receive no larvicide. We will monitor indoor and outdoor vector abundance using CO2-baited CDC light traps equipped with collection bottle rotators. Clinical malaria data will be aggregated from government-run malaria treatment centers.Since current first-line vector intervention methods do not target outdoor transmission and will select for higher insecticide resistance, new methods beyond bed nets and IRS should be considered. Long-lasting microbial larviciding represents a promising new tool that can target both indoor and outdoor transmission and alleviate the problem of pyrethroid resistance. It also has the potential to diminish costs by reducing larvicide reapplications. If successful, it could revolutionize malaria vector control in Africa, just as long-lasting bed nets have done.U.S. National Institute of Health, study ID NCT02392832 . Registered on 3 February 2015.

Malaria intervention in Ethiopia has been strengthened significantly in the past decade. The Ethiopian government recently stratified the country based upon annual parasite incidence into malaria free, low, moderate and high transmission strata. Districts with low transmission were targeted for indigenous transmission elimination. Surveillance on malaria disease incidence is needed for planning control and elimination efforts.Clinical malaria was monitored prospectively in health facilities in Jimma town, Oromia Region, southwestern Ethiopia from July 2014 to June 2015. Seasonal cross-sectional parasite prevalence surveys in local communities were conducted in 2014 and 2015 in eight kebeles. Case report forms were administered to obtain sociodemographic and epidemiological information from patients.A total of 1434 suspected malaria cases were examined from the health facilities and 428 confirmed malaria cases were found. Among them, 327 (76.4 %) cases were Plasmodium vivax, 97 (22.7 %) were Plasmodium falciparum, and 4 (0.9 %) were mixed infection of P. vivax and P. falciparum. The annual malaria incidence rate was 1.7 cases per 1000 people at risk. Parasite prevalence in the community was less than 3 %. Household ownership of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) was 47.3 % (1173/2479) and ITN usage was 37.9 %. All ITNs were long-lasting insecticidal nets, and repellent use was not found in the study area. Being male and traveling were the significant risk factors for P. falciparum malaria. For P. vivax malaria, risk factors included occupation and history of malaria illness during the preceding 30 days.Epidemiological evidence suggested low clinical malaria incidence and prevalence in Jimma town. More aggressive measures may be needed to further suppress vivax transmission. Strategies should be planned targeting sustained control and elimination.

Background: Malaria within the Greater Mekong sub-region is extremely heterogeneous. While China and Thailand have been relatively successful in controlling malaria, Myanmar continues to see high prevalence. Coupled with the recent emergence of artemisinin-resistant malaria along the Thai-Myanmar border, this makes Myanmar an important focus of malaria within the overall region. However, accurate epidemiological data from Myanmar have been lacking, in part because of ongoing and emerging conflicts between the government and various ethnic groups. Here the results are reported from a risk analysis of malaria slide positivity in a conflict zone along the China-Myanmar border. Methods. Surveys were conducted in 13 clinics and hospitals around Laiza City, Myanmar between April 2011 and October 2012. Demographic, occupational and educational information, as well as malaria infection history, were collected. Logistic models were used to assess risk factors for slide positivity. Results: Age patterns in Plasmodium vivax infections were younger than those with Plasmodium falciparum. Furthermore, males were more likely than females to have falciparum infections. Patients who reported having been infected with malaria during the previous year were much more likely to have a current vivax infection. During the second year of the study, falciparum infections among soldiers increased signficiantly. Conclusions: These results fill some knowledge gaps with regard to risk factors associated with malaria slide positivity in this conflict region of north-eastern Myanmar. Since epidemiological studies in this region have been rare or non-existent, studies such as the current are crucial for understanding the dynamic nature of malaria in this extremely heterogeneous epidemiological landscape. © 2013 Li et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.