Context Of Health Risks Research Articles

Is Pollution Income Relationship Non-monotonic?: Evidence Based on Indoor Air Pollution in India

In the context of health risk caused by the use of bio-fuels for cooking in developing countries, existence of Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) for indoor air pollution is a policy relevant empirical issue that deserves attention. The results based on Indian household level data for the period 1983-2000, show non-monotonic relationship between pollution and income in rural areas and during 1980s in urban India, validating EKC hypothesis. The spatial and temporal representation of EKC presented highlight stark difference between rural and urban households providing insights on policy responses to enable faster transition of rural households towards 'cleaner' fuels.

A post-colonial analysis of healthcare discourses addressing aboriginal women

Annette Browne and Vicki Smye use post-colonial theoretical perspectives to inform a critical analysis of healthcare discourses related to cervical cancer among Canadian aboriginal women. They also examine how decontextualised discourses addressing aboriginal women's risks for cervical cancer can perpetuate negative stereotypical images of aboriginal women while downplaying or ignoring the historical, social and economic context of women's health risks.

General performance on a numeracy scale among highly educated samples.

Numeracy, how facile people are with basic probability and mathematical concepts, is associated with how people perceive health risks. Performance on simple numeracy problems has been poor among populations with little as well as more formal education. Here, we examine how highly educated participants performed on a general and an expanded numeracy scale. The latter was designed within the context of health risks. A total of 463 men and women aged 40 and older completed a 3-item general and an expanded 7-item numeracy scale. The expanded scale assessed how well people 1) differentiate and perform simple mathematical operations on risk magnitudes using percentages and proportions, 2) convert percentages to proportions, 3) convert proportions to percentages, and 4) convert probabilities to proportions. On average, 18% and 32% of participants correctly answered all of the general and expanded numeracy scale items, respectively. Approximately 16% to 20% incorrectly answered the most straightforward questions pertaining to risk magnitudes (e.g., Which represents the larger risk: 1%, 5%, or 10%?). A factor analysis revealed that the general and expanded risk numeracy items tapped the construct of global numeracy. These results suggest that even highly educated participants have difficulty with relatively simple numeracy questions, thus replicating in part earlier studies. The implication is that usual strategies for communicating numerical risk may be flawed. Methods and consequences of communicating health risk information tailored to a person's level of numeracy should be explored further.