137 Enhancing road policing in low and middle income countries through the identification of good practice principles

Implementation science and breast cancer control: A Breast Health Global Initiative (BHGI) perspective from the 2010 Global Summit

BackgroundStrong road safety policies that are strategically and effectively enforced optimise the safety of road users. In road safety, those responsible for enforcing the law are usually road police. In...

Objectives: To analyze the effect or impact of Digital Services Trade on economic growth (GDP) of a panel of Low, Middle and High Income Countries.
 Study Design: Panel Quantitative Study.
 Methodology: Dynamic Difference GMM (Diff-GMM) and System GMM (Sys-GMM), Panel pooled OLS (POLS) and Fixed Effects (FE) models were employed in the analyses.
 Results: The System GMM estimator seems to predict that, ceteris paribus, a 1 unit increase in digital services exports significantly impacts GDP growth in Low and High Income countries panels in the short run by 5.7% and 52.4% respectively. The panel POLS models estimate that digital services exports cause a significant long run increase in GDP in High income countries by 39.67% relative to 6.68% in the panel of Middle Income countries and negative growth in Low income countries of 7.74%. The FE models predict that for every 1 unit increase in the number of people using the internet, GDP significantly increases by 42.7%, 27.8% and 0.03% in the Middle, High, and Low Income countries panels respectively.
 Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that generally, digital services trade seems to have a significant positive effect on GDP of all country panels. However, Low and Middle Income countries are lagging behind. Therefore, this study recommends that, to promote digital trade driven economic growth, the panel of Low and Middle Income countries’ policy makers should increase investments in both institutional and physical digital infrastructure that enable more people, Small and Medium enterprises(SMEs) and rural populations have access to stable, high speed and affordable digital services.

Global priorities of civil society for mental health services: findings from a 53 country survey.

The current study investigates the relationship among trade openness, poverty and income inequality in the developing economies classified as lower and middle income countries. Kao and Fisher cointegration tests are employed to see the long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables. Panel cointegration regression is employed to calculate the magnitude of variables through FMOLS and DOLS techniques. The results demonstrate that interaction of these three variables differ for income groups of countries, however, trade openness and poverty increase income inequality in both groups. Similarly, income inequality decreases trade openness in both lower income and middle income groups of the economies. Trade openness increases poverty in lower income countries only. Poverty increases income inequality in lower income countries but in middle income countries it decreases trade openness. In the control variables the financial development has shown encouraging effect on trade openness in lower and middle income countries. GDP growth has shown positive impact on income inequality in lower income countries but negative impact in middle income countries. As trade openness has discoursing effect so the economies should carefully deal with the implications through proper policy framework.

Beyond Neglect: Long-term Care Research in Low and Middle Income Countries

Please mind the gap—about equity and access to care in oncology

HIV is a major global public health threat and is the 5th leading causes of death in low income countries. Minh Pham’s research focused on HIV related testing in low and middle income countries. The findings showed that testing service at the point-of-care is highly acceptable and feasible but there is a potential gap in the coverage and quality of services across study settings. His research identified an important individual psycho-social factor, self-efficacy, which might influence HIV testing behaviour. These findings help to inform the development of effective public health programs to end the HIV epidemics in 2030.

Global Disparities in Skin Cancer Services at HIV Treatment Centers across 29 Countries

Stillbirths: what difference can we make and at what cost?

Introduction By the time the World Bank started to classify countries by per capita incomes into low, middle and high income countries in the 1980s, Malaysia was already a middle income country. The World Bank used Gross National Income (GNI) per capita of US$1,006–3,975 and US$3,976–12,275 in 2010 to classify countries into lower and upper middle incomes, respectively (World Bank 2011 a ). Based on the 1985 World Bank classification, Malaysia was already a middle income country with a per capita income of US$2,161 (US$2,027 in current prices) (World Bank 2011 b ). With a per capita income of US$5,264 in 1985 prices (US$8,519 in current prices), Malaysia managed to remain an upper middle income country. This chapter attempts to explain how Malaysia became an upper middle income country. Natural resources (minerals, forest products, and agriculture) and industrialization have been the prime routes taken by developing countries to reach middle income status. Major oil exporters such as the North African, Middle Eastern, and Venezuelan economies have relied almost exclusively on oil exports to record middle incomes. Oil has only been one of the exports that drove income growth in Brazil, Malaysia, and Mexico. The only developing countries to graduate into developed high income economies, i.e., Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan, used manufacturing as the prime path to rapid Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth. Malaysia was no different from most developing countries as its economy was driven by plantation agriculture and tin mining during the British administration until the New Economic Policy (NEP) was launched. The Malaysian government recognized that the supply of natural resources would not be infinite and that dependence on agriculture alone could be catastrophic if the terms of trade are affected by the fallacy of composition problem.Hence, the approach the government took was to diversify primary exports and to stimulate manufacturing growth by attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) (Malaysia 1971). At the time the NEP was introduced, ethnic identification of the economy in Malaysia was sharp as the Bumiputeras populated mainly in the rural areas, the Chinese concentrated in urban business and mining, and the Indians confined to plantation agriculture and urban occupations as labourers. Coming after the bloodshed on 13 May 1969 that had threatened to erupt into an ethnic crisis, the NEP was crafted with the twin goals of alleviating poverty and restructuring the economy to remove ethnic identification.

Title: Feasibility of a National Health Insurance Scheme in the Gambia: Health Care Providers and Consumers Perspectives on the Design Author: Hassan Njie Thesis advisor: Professor Herng Ching Lin Background: Developing countries have been and still are grappling with high catastrophic financial payments, which have created financial barriers to health service utilization. Studies have also shown that developing countries including low and middle- income countries (LMICs) are considering reforms in their health care systems to provide universal health coverage (Mills et al. 2012). The aim of this study is to explore the feasibility of a national health insurance scheme in the Gambia by sounding the perspectives of health care providers and consumers Methods and Materials: The study adopted a descriptive cross sectional survey using a questionnaire that has four dimensions. Study participants comprised health care providers (125) and consumers (125) totaling 250 participants. Data was collected in all the six public hospitals in the Gambia from 1st August to 20th August. IBM SPSS (Version 22) was used to analyze data. Data analysis were exclusively descriptive statistics Results: Overwhelming majorities of study population are strongly in favor of a national health insurance scheme in the Gambia (97.2%) and 88% think it is feasible. Half of the study population thinks tax should be the main source of funding for the health insurance scheme in the Gambia (48.4%) with out-of- pocket payment less preferred (6.0%). Majority of the study population preferred Capitation (40%) as payment method for health care providers. Fee For Performance was ranked second (30.8%) while Per Diem was least preferred (9.2%). About two- third of participants prefer a gatekeeper in the national health insurance scheme (75.2%) while 14.4% disagreed with the remaining 10.4% undecided. 83.2% of study participants thinks health care providers should be accredited before they are reimbursed by the national health insurance scheme Conclusion: the government of the Gambia must ensure that all stakeholders are consulted during the planning, design and implementation of national health insurance scheme. This will enhance inclusiveness, acceptance and provide support to the scheme. The government should also look into external sources of funding for the health insurance scheme such as donor agencies and bilateral partners who fund the largest share of total health spending in the country. Discussions should center on providing subsidy for the poor, women and children who are the most vulnerable in society. More research specifically large-scale longitudinal studies surveying key stakeholders is recommended.

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a5cc/1c06b8bb3a462000dad2d8a686a1d9764c82.pdf?_ga=2.85139033.1513760295.1581543548-98165302.1570039247

Objective: To compare availability, urban price, and affordability of child/family safety devices between 18 economically diverse countries. Design: Descriptive: urban price surveys by local safety organisations or shoppers. Setting: Retail...

PurposeUsing a world-wide, population-based dataset of adults, we sought to determine the frequency of far visual difficulty and its associated risk factors.MethodsThe World Health Survey (WHS) was conducted in 70 countries throughout the world in 2003 using a random, multi-stage, stratified, cluster sampling design of adults ages 18 years and older. Far vision was assessed by asking “In the last 30 days, how much difficulty did you have in seeing and recognizing a person you know across the road (i.e. from a distance of about 20 meters)?”. Responses included none, mild, moderate, severe, or extreme/unable. The income status of countries was estimated using gross national income per capita data from 2003 from the World Bank. Prevalence and regression estimates were adjusted to account for the complex sample design.Results21% of adults reported any visual difficulty. The rate varied by the income status of the country with the percentage who had any visual difficulty being 24%, 23%, and 13% in low, middle, and high income countries, respectively. Five percent of people reported severe or extreme visual difficulty with rates in low, middle, and high income countries of 6%, 5%, and 2% respectively. Risk factors for visual difficulty included older age, female sex, poorer socioeconomic status, little to no formal education, and diabetes (P<0.05).ConclusionsOne out of five adults in the WHS reported some degree of far visual difficulty. Given the importance of vision to living an independent life, better access to quality eye care services and life course factors affecting vision health (e.g. repeated eye infections, diet lacking vitamin A) must receive adequate attention and resources, especially in low and middle income countries.