Livability assessment and socioeconomic impact indicators in Lagos Metropolis, Nigeria

Background: As of 7 January 2022, it is estimated that 5.5 million people worldwide have died from COVID-19. Although the full impact of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) on healthcare systems worldwide is still unknown, we must consider the socio-economic impact. For instance, it has resulted in an 11% decrease in the GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in the European Union. We aim to provide valuable information for policymakers by analysing widely available epidemiological and socioeconomic indicators using Spanish data. Methods: Secondary analysis of routinely available data from various official data sources covering the period from 1 March 2020 to 31 March 2021. To measure the impact of COVID-19 in the population, a set of epidemiological and socioeconomic indicators were used. The interrelationships between these socioeconomic and epidemiological indicators were analysed using Pearson's correlation. Their behaviour was grouped according to their greater capacity to measure the impact of the pandemic and was compared to identify those that are more appropriate to monitor future health crises (primary outcome) using multivariate analysis of canonical correlation for estimating the correlation between indicators using different units of analysis. Results: Data from different time points were analysed. The excess of mortality was negatively correlated with the number of new companies created during the pandemic. The increase in COVID-19 cases was associated with the rise of unemployed workers. Neither GDP nor per capita debt was related to any epidemiological indicators considered in the annual analysis. The canonical models of socioeconomic and epidemiological indicators of each of the time periods analysed were statistically significant (0.80-0.91 p < 0.05). Conclusions: In conclusion, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain, excess mortality, incidence, lethality, and unemployment constituted the best group of indicators to measure the impact of the pandemic. These indicators, widely available, could provide valuable information to policymakers and higher management in future outbreaks.

Geomorphological phenomena have significant repercussions on environmental evolution, triggering changes in natural processes that might have a severe socio-economic impact. To date, vulnerability estimations have been primarily based on natural processes, and secondarily by combining the exposure resulting from socio- economic variables, which can assist in identifying areas under risk. The present investigation proposes a methodology to examine the risk from natural hazards by introducing social indicators as exposure factors. The methodology is based on a combination of socio-economic and natural indicators. In this work the different indicators form indices that are used to make holistic risk estimation for both inland areas and coastal areas. This approach includes four sub-indices that contribute to the overall risk estimation. The sub-indices refer to the geomorphological characteristics, together with natural forcing, coastal erosion for the estimation of the vulnerability and socio-economic indicators for the estimation of exposure. All variables are ranked on a 1-5 scale, with rank 5 indicating the highest, and are estimated in a GIS model. The main difficulty in making these estimations lies in assessing and ranking the socio-economic indicators, and especially cultural heritage sites since their importance cannot be measured. The risk is estimated by using the vulnerability of the area and the socio-economic sub-index that function as the exposure variable in the estimations. This work is an initial approach as part of the Brains2Islands project funded by Fondazione con il Sud and aims to develop a best practice guide for cultural heritage resilience to natural hazards, that will be tested and validated through field studies, using as a case study the island of Ustica, an area of high cultural and economic value, with ancient monuments.

The failures of interdependent critical infrastructure systems (CISs) caused by disasters could result in significant impacts on the economy and society of cities. Although existing studies have proposed several socioeconomic impact indicators of CIS failures, using these indicators as optimization objectives of restoration sequences, most of them only selected one indicator and failed to reveal their differences. This study aims to analyze the differences between various socioeconomic impact indicators in evaluating post-disaster CIS performance and to identify their effects on the optimized restoration sequences. To achieve this objective, this study simulates the failure propagation and recovery process of CISs, based on network modeling, and constructs six socioeconomic impact indicators for evaluating CIS performance and optimizing the restoration sequence. Then, this study analyzes the effects of different socioeconomic impact indicators by comparing the differences between post-disaster CIS performance, as well as the corresponding restoration sequence and recovery efficiency, among five groups. The results indicate that ignoring social impacts would significantly underestimate the consequences of CIS failures, and the restoration sequence aimed at minimizing social impact differs from other methods, with the recovery efficiency in regards to the social impact notably lower than that of the economic impact. This implies that evaluating the multidimensional social impacts is essential for accurately understanding the worst-case consequences of CIS failures with a bottom-line perspective.

Rural population ageing and decline is a serious problem throughout Europe resulting in a deterioration of the socioeconomic situation in rural areas. This leads to land abandonment, and consequently the loss of valuable cultural landscapes. Protected areas are no exception and inhabitants also face restrictions arising from the protection status. The aim of this study is to identify the existence, extent and nature of the socioeconomic impacts derived from the protection status on the local population. Population and socioeconomic indicators were compared with the results of in-depth interviews with local stakeholders within 2 Estonian national parks and contextualised with recent social change. It was concluded that protected areas have a considerable socioeconomic impact and in order to preserve cultural landscapes, achieve conservation objectives and contribute to balanced regional development, measures must be taken.

The burden of migraine in terms of cost and impact on socioeconomic indicators is still controversial. In a recent comparative study between migraineurs and controls from the French general population, we show that only general practitioner (GP) consultations and complementary examinations are more frequent in migraineurs. In this paper, we compare the socioeconomic impact of migraine versus another common neurological disease, low back pain, which has similar consequences in term of deficiencies, disabilities, and handicaps. Our study is a subproject of the Gazel cohort study, conducted on 20,000 volunteers working in the "Electricité et Gaz de France" company. The socioeconomic impact was evaluated prospectively by the number of workdays missed between 1989 and 1992 in 436 subjects with migraine but without low back pain (M group), 590 subjects with low back pain but without migraine (L group), 555 subjects with migraine and low back pain (ML group), and in 1005 subjects without headache or low back pain (C group). Moreover, in 1993 all subjects completed a mailed questionnaire on their 6-months' history of use of medical services. The number of workdays missed during this 4-year period was statistically greater in the ML group (58.1 days), followed by the L group (38.4 days), the C group (35.1 days), and the M group (31.8 days) (p = 0.0001). For the use of medical services, the results were different according to the different indicators: GP consultations were more frequent in the ML and M groups, specialist consultations and complementary examinations in the L and C groups. In conclusion, migraine and low back pain seem to have a similar socioeconomic impact. Absenteeism is particularly high when both neurological disorders are present.

ResumoFundamento No Brasil, em 2019, as doenças crônicas não transmissíveis (DCNT) acarretaram mais de 734 mil óbitos, 55% de todas as mortes, com importante impacto socioeconômico.Objetivos Analisar as taxas de mortalidade das DCNT, no Brasil, de 1980 a 2019, e sua associação com indicadores socioeconômicos.Métodos Trata-se de um estudo descritivo, de séries temporais dos óbitos por DCNT, no Brasil, de 1980 a 2019. Os dados relativos às frequências anuais de mortes e da população foram obtidos do DATASUS. Foram estimadas as taxas de mortalidade brutas e padronizadas por 100.000 habitantes, pelo método direto (população do Brasil de 2000). Foram calculados os quartis de cada DCNT, onde a mudança de quartil, por aumento das taxas de mortalidade, foi representada por gradiente cromático. O Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano Municipal (IDHM) de cada unidade da federação (UF) foi extraído do site Atlas Brasil e correlacionado com as taxas de mortalidade por DCNT.Resultados Ocorreu redução nas taxas de mortalidade por doenças do aparelho circulatório no período, exceto na região Nordeste. Houve também aumento da mortalidade por neoplasia e diabetes, enquanto as taxas das doenças respiratórias apresentaram poucas variações. Houve correlação inversa entre as UF com maior redução nas taxas de mortalidade por DCNT e o IDHM.Conclusões A redução observada na mortalidade por doenças do aparelho circulatório pode refletir melhoria dos indicadores socioeconômicos, no Brasil, nesse período. O aumento da taxa de mortalidade por neoplasias provavelmente se relaciona com o envelhecimento da população. As maiores taxas de mortalidade por diabetes parecem ser associadas com o aumento da prevalência da obesidade nas mulheres brasileiras.

The EU funded Global-Bio-Pact project developed a set of socio-economic impact indicators. The purpose was not to create a new standard or scheme for bioenergy production, but to compile a set of socio-economic sustainability criteria and indicators for biomass production and conversion which could be used by developers, governments, nongovernmental organizations or as an aid to existing standards. The set of indicators was tested in two locations in South America, which comprise the two case studies reported in the chapter. The selected indicators are introduced and discussed here, along with an assessment of the results from their application in the field.

The aims of this study are to identify possible socioeconomic impacts of MIGAL (Galilee Research Institute) and TH (Tel Hai Academic College) on the peripheral northeast’s development. We discuss the effects of academic research and institutions of higher education on mitigating differences between the center and the periphery of the country. MIGAL is a regional R&amp;D center in the northeast peripheral region of Israel. An internationally recognized applied research institute, MIGAL specializes in biotechnology, computational sciences, plant sciences, precision agriculture, and environmental sciences, as well as food, nutrition, and health. Most of MIGAL’s researchers serve as the core faculty at TH. Despite the country’s small surface area, socioeconomic inequality in Israel is high by OECD standards, with wage differences between rich and poor regions reaching up to 400%. In this article, a new type of dataset for the study of the socioeconomic impact of academic research and higher education on peripheral development is proposed—the regional socioeconomic indices (SEIs). Data for MIGAL, TH, and the northeastern peripheral region were collected from the yearly reports of the two institutions and the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. MIGAL was found to serve as a link between research, academic teaching, and socioeconomic development in the northeast periphery. Several variables related to this link and describing MIGAL–TH and northeastern periphery development were analyzed over time: MIGAL’s budget, total number of employees and number of employees with PhDs; number of TH graduate students; and the socioeconomic index (SEI) of the northeastern periphery and its position on the Israeli list of regional SEIs. The signs and significance levels of most of the trends indicate a potential socioeconomic impact of academic research and higher education on peripheral development in the northeast of the country. Research budgets and the creation of jobs for academics living in the region are just a few examples of this impact. The results of the study are useful for academics and policymakers in improvement of the contribution of academic research and higher education to the country’s economic and innovation development.

This research was undertaken to inform future telehealth policy directions regarding the socioeconomic impact of telehealth. Fifty-seven sources were identified and analyzed through a comprehensive literature search of electronic databases, the Internet, journals, conference proceedings, as well as personal communication with consultants in the field. The review revealed a focus on certain socioeconomic indicators such as cost, access, and satisfaction. It also identified areas of opportunity for further research and policy analysis and development (e.g., social isolation, life stress, poverty), along with various barriers and challenges to the advancement of telehealth. These included confidentiality, reimbursement, and legal and ethical considerations. To become fully integrated into the health care system, telehealth must be viewed as more than an add-on service. This paper offers 19 general and 20 subject-specific telehealth recommendations, as well as seven policy strategies.

Several European studies have shown health-related social inequalities in pelvic gynecological cancers, with a social gradient in incidence and mortality, partly explained by more advanced stages at diagnosis in low socioeconomic populations. Disparities in treatment and quality of care in these patients could be another cause of inequality in care. This study evaluates the impact of socioeconomic factors on quality of care for pelvic gynecological cancers (adnexal, uterine corpus, and cervix). This retrospective multicentric cohort study included women diagnosed with pelvic gynecological invasive cancer, between January 1 and December 31, 2022, in six university hospitals in North Paris. Two socioeconomic indicators, the FDep index and the Evaluation of Deprivation and Inequalities in Health Examination Centers (EPICES) score, were collected. The quality of care was assessed using a binary quality indicator based on selected European Society of Gynecological Oncology (ESGO) quality indicators for each cancer. We compared the "Non-adherence to Quality Indicator" (NAQI) group, where one or more of the ESGO quality indicators were not met, to the "Adherence to Quality Indicator" (AQI) group using univariate analysis. An analysis of the time to first treatment, according to FDep and EPICES groups, using a Kaplan-Meier, estimation was completed. A total of 189 patients were included: 50 with ovarian cancer, 76 with endometrial cancer, and 63 with cervical cancer. Ninety-nine patients (52.4%) belonged to the NAQI group and 90 patients (46.7%) to the AQI group. Patients were significantly in poorer general condition and presented more advanced Federation International of Gynecology Obstetrics (FIGO) stages in the NAQI than in the AQI group (ASA score 3-4: 20/84 [23.8%] vs. 5/76 (6.6%), P < 0.01 and FIGO III-IV stage: 55/99 [55.6%] vs. 35/90 [38.9%], P = 0.03). There was no significant difference for socioeconomic indicators between the NAQI and the AQI groups (FDep quintiles 3-4-5 = 41/99 (41.4%) vs. FDep quintiles 1-2 = 39/90 (43.3%), P = 0.91; EPICES score ≤ 30 = 31/63 (49.2%) vs. EPICES score > 30 = 21/51 (41.2%), P = 0.50). According to FDep and EPICES groups, we found no difference in the time to first treatment. We found no socioeconomic impact on hospital quality of care in pelvic gynecological cancers.

The study attempted to determine the effects of soil and water conservation measures on the socio-economic status of the people in rain-fed agriculture. The findings showed that the socio-economic development index of the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the Khuntapingu watershed were 0.623 and 0.426, respectively. The socio-economic development index of the beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries of the Haripur watershed were 0.404 and 0.263 respectively. The results showed the difference in the impact of the adoption of soil water conservation measures; in two different agro-climatic regions within a district, such that the impact of the Khuntapingu watershed was comparatively better than Haripur watershed. The impact of the treatment of the watersheds differs in two agro-climatic zones. It was mainly due to the difference in land topography and the difference in baseline socio-economic conditions of the people across the watersheds. So, in order to achieve good results from the treatment of the watersheds in two agro-climatic conditions, the effort and approach of the implementing agency on two different agro-climatic zones will be different as per the location. Better convergence of government schemes with empowerment for the demand-driven approach of the community institutions through the adoption and adaptation of technology of soil and conservation will have a better impact on the community. Keywords: Rain-fed agriculture, socio-economic development index, water management. JEL Codes: O13, Q15, Q25.

BackgroundDespite the increasing interest in China’s development assistance for health (DAH) in African countries, little is known regarding the distribution and determinants of China’s DAH project allocation among the principle subdivisions (provinces & states) within African countries.MethodsWe mapped the distribution of China’s DAH projects in 670 principle subdivisions of 50 African countries during 2006–2015 using web-based information. The political, demographic, health and socioeconomic indicators of DAH allocation were analyzed using conditional logistic regression models. The national capital city and political leader’s birth place were selected as the main political indicators, and health indicators were selected according to different fields of the DAH projects.ResultsChina’s DAH projects (mainly China medical teams [CMTs], hospitals and anti-malaria centers) were mostly allocated to the western and eastern coasts of Africa, although CMTs were also dispatched to northern Africa. National capital cities were significantly associated with the allocation of China’s DAH projects (P < 0.001). Anti-malaria centers were more likely to be allocated to principle subdivisions with larger populations (OR = 1.35), and CMTs were allocated to subdivisions with high population densities (OR = 79.01). No health-related indicators were identified to affect project allocation except for the facility delivery rate and under-five mortality rate, which were associated with hospital allocation. We also found an association between CMT allocation and the use of artemisinin-based combination therapy in children.ConclusionsAllocation of China’s DAH projects is strongly affected by political and demographic factors. Implementation of China’s new DAH projects should target health and socio-economic indicators and impact metrics in scaling up tailored and cost-effective programs in Africa.

The management of contaminated sites requires the investigation of different involved aspects (from socioeconomic to risk and technological issues) and the presentation of useful and condensed information to decision makers. For this purpose, indices are more and more recognized as effective and valuable tools. This paper presents specific indices created within the DEcision Support sYstem for REhabilitation of contaminated sites (DESYRE). DESYRE is a software which aids decision making for the rehabilitation of a large contaminated site (i.e., megasite) by the creation and comparison of different rehabilitation alternatives. The software is composed of six modules, each dealing with a specific aspect of the remediation process, ending with the decision module. In this module, scenarios (i.e., suitable solutions for the rehabilitation of the contaminated site including selected land use, socioeconomic benefits, remediation costs, time span, environmental impacts, technology set/s, and residual risk) are created and evaluated by means of suitable indices. Nine indices cover the socioeconomic, risk, technological, cost, time, and environmental impact aspects. Mathematical algorithms are used to calculate these indices by taking into account data collected during the analytical steps of the DESYRE system and elaborated through the support of the spatial analysis, which is embedded in the system. The case study of Porto Marghera, Venice, Italy is presented in order to document the effectiveness of developed indices in evaluating management solutions and presenting options to decision makers. For the purpose of this study, three different scenarios for the remediation of a part of the site of Porto Marghera (approximately 530 ha) are developed and compared. The three scenarios consider the industrial land use and deal with the contamination in soil caused by inorganic and organic compounds. The scenarios mainly differ for the number of the included remediation technologies and for the spatial distribution of the technologies on the considered area. Indices results allow the user to more easily evaluate the advantages and limits of each scenario in order to select the most appropriate one. For instance, the risk indices allow the user to identify scenarios with good performance in reducing the extension of risk areas and the risk magnitude. Equally, the technological indices support the achievement of efficient remedial solutions characterized by a limited number of technologies, applied to extended areas and with high performance. The environmental impact index allows users to estimate the wider effects on the environment of the selected solutions, while the socioeconomic index is the result of social and economic investigations of the regional and local conditions, which ends with the identification of the best land use (e.g., the industrial one for the Porto Marghera area). The proposed nine DESYRE indices provide more complete information to investigate suitable management solutions. DESYRE indices facilitate the definition of a consensus among stakeholders and the achievement of a widely shared solution for contaminated site management, even at larger sites, such as Porto Marghera. Further improvements to the system may be adopted, e.g., the possibility to aggregate results of the different assessments into one synthetic index per scenario or the inclusion of a Group Decision Making procedure.

Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana- Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sector Rejuvenation (RKVY-RAFTAAR) is aimed at augmenting agri and allied sector income. A study was conducted to analyse the socio-economic changes generated by Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana rechristened as Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana- Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied Sector Rejuvenation (RKVY-RAFTAAR) in the states of Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka in 2022. 160 beneficiary farmers and 80 non-beneficiary farmers from both the states were personally interviewed to elicit the socio-economic changes generated by the programme. The socio-economic transformation was higher for beneficiary farmers in terms of annual income, entrepreneurial opportunity, occupational status, crop diversification, material possession and access to the programme than non-beneficiary farmers of both the states. Comparative analysis of socio-economic transformation of beneficiary farmers of Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh revealed significant changes in the socio economic indicators except entrepreneurial opportunity, education and access to RKVY RAFTAAR. The changes brought about by the programme, before and after its launch revealed significantly higher socio-economic impact on beneficiary farmers.

The relevance of the study is due to the need to improve the efficiency of budget investments in the Republic of Kazakhstan. Performance audits of the use of these investments will reveal opportunities to optimize expenditures and increase the overall socio-economic impact, which is significant for the sustainable development of the country. In order to improve the efficiency and socio-economic return of budget expenditures, this study is focused on evaluating the efficiency of budget investments during the performance audit. This study is aimed at reviewing the role and capabilities of the performance audit, as a mechanism of public financial control of budget investments. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is used as a method for evaluating efficiency. Taking into account the reference management, the DEA algorithm is proposed to address the issue of limited input and output data to evaluate the national socio-economic development indicators. The special study of the budget investments’ technical performance in the regions of Kazakhstan shows that this method can be used since it improves the flexibility and performance of evaluation in the performance audit. The stability of the concept of performance audit is therefore confirmed, showing the need for a periodic revision of the legislative and methodological base. The study highlighted the main challenges of performance audit of budget investments in the Republic of Kazakhstan and provided recommendations for improvement.