Emergency Fund Research Articles

Social and structural vulnerabilities: Associations with disaster readiness

The ability to plan for a disaster is associated with a range of contextual factors and often traverses several sites of inequities, including sociodemographic and institutional disparities. While multiple studies have investigated the relationship of housing insecurity with adverse outcomes after a disaster, fewer studies have examined how housing insecurity is associated with disaster preparedness. This paper hypothesizes social and structural vulnerabilities to be directly associated with preparedness. Housing insecurity is posited to have both direct and multiplicative effects with social vulnerability on the dependent variable. We use nationally representative data from the 2017 American Housing Survey. The final weighted study sample consisted of 29,070 housing units, with 52% male and 48% female householders. Fifty-seven percent of the population was not prepared with food, water, emergency funds, and transportation. Housing security and quality emerged as important conditions for households to be better prepared. Further, housing insecurity moderated the relationship between some social vulnerability factors and preparedness. The study helps identify where resources and research funds should be targeted to reduce multidimensional vulnerabilities before a disaster. Safe and affordable housing is central to climate and environmental justice; centering disaster readiness, response, and climate action across policy agendas is vital.

Transferring Deceased Bodies, Building Transnational Communities. The Case of Kyrgyz and Tajik Migrants in Russia

Based on ethnographic fieldwork with Central Asian hometown organisations in Russia, this paper focuses on the interplay of funerary practices and the construction of transnational communities among Kyrgyz and Tajik immigrants. In particular, the authors examine how good death and the moral economy of death are enacted in a transnational setting and contribute to reinforcing forms of “transnational moral territoriality” (Lacroix, 2019). Through experiential learning on the ground, community leaders have learnt to take care of and send home a deceased fellow citizen, organising routine procedures and emergency funds. In doing so, they actively contribute to the stabilisation of transnational community practices. Inspired by the growing anthropological literature on transnational community building elsewhere, the authors contribute to this body of scholarship by focusing on post-Soviet hometown associations (whose members sometimes refer to themselves as “activists”), their impact on migrants’ daily lives, as well as community-building and death-related practices abroad that are socially, culturally, or economically significant.

Government policy, law, and regulation: A perspective on early childhood development in Asia

Early childhood is essential for cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund [UNICEF], 2022). This study aims to explain government policy, law, and regulation, as well as social community participation, for early childhood development in Asia. The qualitative approach was adopted. In-depth interviews were conducted with 10 key informants, employing purposive sampling. Content analysis was performed on the data. The findings revealed that governments have put policies in place to help families with children and to increase access to childcare services. Childcare policies differ by country and are influenced by cultural, economic, and political factors. The government policies law and rules in China, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand aid families with children and provide access to childcare services. However, the level of government support, the availability of childcare facilities, and the extent to which employers are encouraged to provide support for working parents vary. Furthermore, social community participation in childcare services is important and can take various forms, including volunteer work, advocacy, financial support, use of services, and community engagement. By participating in these ways, communities can help to ensure that all children have access to the high-quality care that they need to thrive.

How Leadership Impacts FEMA’s Whole Community Approach during Emergency Management’s Preparedness

Disasters stipulate unfortunate remembrances of susceptibilities within society. Disasters often suddenly affect communities and result in the untimely loss of functions and social systems. Therefore, formulating preparedness policies and awareness of uncertainty is essential when addressing emergency management. The success of the emergency management approach within the community often relies on the leadership structure imposed. Leadership also helps to promote emergency management practices and provide new reserves to support emergency preparedness and funds for sustainability and resilience. This study concentrates on the whole community principle in handling disasters and emergencies. The whole community management strategy further maps preparedness-related capacities and community engagement in disaster control. Partnership with participants across the entire society program and efficient community management can result in significant disaster preparedness and response. The research will constitute a quantitative methodology, specifically, a survey on members of the Safeguard Iowa Partnership (SIP), an emergency management firm, on the organization’s whole community emergency leadership strategy. The Whole Community leadership model in emergency management proved its effectiveness through the survey conducted in SIP. Data will also be collected using the Organizational Leadership Evaluation Survey (OLA) from all the SIP members from various economic sectors. The OLA has six features that help gauge the organization’s leadership strength. The quantitative methodology suggested an association between the perceived essence of Whole Community management and the perceived efficiency of FEMA’s role in the emergency management preparedness process.

Financial Literacy Rate of Orthopaedic Resident Doctors: A Cross-sectional Study

Background: Healthy financial practices directly affect the financial well-being of an individual, and subsequently the quality of life. Paucity of financial literature in young Indian professionals has been established before by studies that evaluated this topic subjectively. This study emphasizes on assessing the financial literacy of orthopedic resident doctors in a developing country and ascertaining the factors affecting it to improve the same. Methods: Total 286 resident doctors were analyzed cross-sectionally in terms of their financial knowledge, factors affecting it, financial attitude, subjective satisfaction, and thought process regarding improving this scenario. An objective, 46-question survey-based model was used from February 2023 to April 2023. All the findings were collated and analyzed. Results: The mean financial literacy was recorded to be 53.56±17.59%. Age, marital status, children, population of the city, education, and occupation of parent 2 had no bearing on the financial literacy of the residents (P > 0.05). The socioeconomic status, retirement savings, loan/debt, and the presence of an emergency fund significantly influenced the financial literacy (P < 0.05). Only 22.38% were satisfied with the current financial situation and 61.89% wanted an in-person meeting with a financial advisor. Conclusion: Orthopedic resident doctors show low financial literacy and financial satisfaction. Significant steps need to be taken to improve financial knowledge and understanding of the investment options of these professionals to ensure the economic growth of the community. Keywords: Financial literacy, financial knowledge, resident doctors, orthopedics, financial well-being, financial attitude.

Public Perceptions Regarding the Preparedness of Government to Combat the Third Wave of COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) Infection Across Various States of India.

India has already passed through 2 waves of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic losing many lives. The reason for losing lives may be due to the unpreparedness of the health care system of India for this unprecedented pandemic. To assess the government's preparedness, an institutional-based cross-sectional prospective survey was conducted among the adult population of selected states in India. A self-administered 30-item questionnaire divided into 5 sections (demography of the participants, steps to create awareness, prevent spread of infection, handle the emergency, and prognosis) was distributed online through Google Forms. The responses were collected in an Excel file. SPSS software was used to perform the descriptive statistics and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Nearly a quarter of the participants "strongly disagree"/"disagree" about the government's preparedness for the third wave. Considering their perception, it cannot be assured that the government is well prepared to handle the emergency. So, the government must maintain emergency funding and develop a health infrastructure. The government should take steps to reduce social stigma, prevent spreading of unscientific propagation, and make people aware of the World Health Organization (WHO) as the reliable source of information for health emergencies to avoid a human crisis in the future.

Operationalizing a community-based One Health surveillance and response in Adadle district of Ethiopia

Abstract Surveillance of human and animal health is often carried out separately worldwide, which leads to the under-reporting of zoonotic and emerging diseases. Early cross-information between wildlife, domestic animal and public health sectors may reduce both exposure and cost of outbreaks. We have assessed the feasibility of a One Health Surveillance and Response System (OHSRS) in the Adadle district of Ethiopia in the Somali Region (SRS), with regard to integration into the existing regional surveillance-response system in the Somali Region of Ethiopia (SRS). To meet the objectives of a surveillance-response system, we established a One Health Surveillance and Response Unit (OHSRU) at the district level. Community Animal Health Workers, Community Health Workers (CHWs), and both human and animal health district staff and regional experts were trained together on the OHSRS. An inception workshop was held with all relevant stakeholders. To ensure the active engagement of communities in the surveillance response system, a Community-Based Emergency Fund (CBEF) and CAHW cost recovery mechanisms were established. All public and animal health staff of different administration levels were linked together. Human and animal health information was collected and shared effectively among sectors. This approach helped bridging the physical separation between the public and animal health sectors in disease surveillance in the Adadle district. Joint interventions, such as disease outbreak investigations and community awareness were initiated by the OHSRU. We demonstrated that the OHSR was successfully operationalized in Adadle districts and contributed to improving the early detection and response of zoonotic diseases. However, technical barriers, cost-effectiveness, legality of data and ethical safeguarding, along with political commitment should be addressed to effectively operationalize the OHSR in the whole region. Designing the OHSR through the existing surveillance system, engaging communities and other relevant sectors using a participatory process is an important contribution to a sustainable OHSR. One Health Impact Statement In this research work, the public and animal health sectors collaborated in data collection and initiated joint interventions. By integrating the surveillance operational costs for disease outbreak investigation and cost of public health associated with zoonotic diseases can be reduced as One Health surveillance and response lead to early detection and response to zoonotic diseases. As one health is collaborative efforts multispectral, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary, i.e. involvement of all relevant sectors including community members and different disciplines in the launching workshop of surveillance system helped to define and agree the role of each sectors or partner’s in the One Health approach. This played a curtail role in the success of the approach. Lessons learned from this work can be used for further improvement in One Health approach in different settings.

Impact of COVID 19 on the Participation of Rural Women in Savings Groups: Case of Umzingwane District in Zimbabwe

The aim of the study was to evaluate the impact of COVID 19 on women in savings groups in rural Zimbabwe using Umzingwane district as a case study. The study adopted a sequential explanatory research design with the view of using mixed research approach. Data was gathered using questionnaires and interviews. The questionnaires were administered to 300 female savings group members and interviews administered to 40 committee members of savings groups in ward 3, 4, 5 and 14 of Umzingwane district in Zimbabwe. The study revealed that the COVID 19 pandemic reduced the ability of the savings groups members to generate income leading to low contributions, poor loan repayments and low levels of emergency funds. The study through Chi Square test found that there was a relationship between the marital status of female savings groups members and their ability to make regular contributions, with mainly married female members being able to make regular contributions. Chi Square test also revealed that ownership of a smartphone was not related to the ability of female savings groups members to regularly attend group meetings. The study also revealed that the measures that were adopted by savings group to ensure that female savings groups members continued to participate in savings groups were loan rescheduling, use of Whatsapp platform as a means of conducting meetings, acceptance of mobile money payments to collect contributions and loan repayments and assigning committee members to visit group members so as to collect contributions and repayments and to check on the members who were always absent. The study recommends that savings groups members should be taught to have diversified sources of income so as to be resilient to the effects of disasters such as COVID 19. The government and development agencies should link savings groups to formal banking so as to have access to diverse financial services which will make them resilient to the effects of disasters.

Emergency Financing Tokens

Emergency Financing Tokens

Trends of the prevalence of malnutrition in India and Himachal Pradesh, a comparative assessment

Introduction: Malnutrition poses a significant threat to child health, with approximately 45% of under-five child deaths attributed to malnutrition, predominantly affecting low- and middle-income countries. This study delves into the trends of malnutrition in India and Himachal Pradesh, examining the interplay between infection and malnutrition and the escalating concern of overweight in developing countries. Objective:To compare malnutrition rates among under-5 children in Himachal Pradesh and India, utilizing data from the National Family Health Survey rounds (NFHS-3, NFHS-4, and NFHS-5). Additionally, the research seeks to identify districts in Himachal Pradesh with the poorest malnutrition indicators. Materials and Methods: A narrative description methodology is employed, utilizing NFHS fact sheets for India and Himachal Pradesh. The comparative analysis focuses on under-5 malnutrition indicators, including stunting, wasting, severe wasting,underweight, and overweight, with percentage distribution graphs for visual representation. Results: Wasting prevalence in Himachal Pradesh decreased from 19% in 2005 to 13.7% in 2015 but rose to 17.4% in 2019, with Kangra district showing a significant increase. Severe wasting increased in both India and Himachal Pradesh. Stunting decreased in India but increased in Himachal Pradesh, notably in Bilaspur district. Underweight declined in India but increased in Himachal Pradesh, primarily in Bilaspur district. Overweight showed an increasing trend in both India and Himachal Pradesh. Conclusion: Malnutrition,encompassing undernutrition and overnutrition, is escalating in India and Himachal Pradesh. While India exhibits declining trends in undernutrition, severe wasting is on the rise. Himachal Pradesh initially showed improvement but experienced a recent upturn in malnutrition indicators. Both regions face alarming rates of stunting and wasting, categorizing them as "very high" by United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) standards. Despite various programs, efforts to alleviate child malnutrition have faltered.

Years of life lost: A call to achieve equitable end-of-life care among children.

Significant disparities continue to exist in access to inpatient pediatric hospice care among children at the end-of-life. Increasingly more children at this stage are dying in the hospital or at home on hospice which is not always an acceptable option to the children and their families. Two clinical case examples illustrate implementation of these options in practice. A missing link exists in healthcare systems across developed and developing countries in pediatric end-of-life care. Currently, the primary options involve selecting between hospital and home-based hospice care. Proposing to increase access to inpatient pediatric hospice services could potentially increase acceptability of this option to honor the child in line with the family's preferences, goals, wishes, and values. In addition, inpatient pediatric hospice could offset costs from preventable hospitalizations and overall high-cost healthcare utilization. Oftentimes, readmissions impact decision-making among caregivers that include changes in code status from Do Not Resuscitate/Do Not Intubate (DNR/DNI) to full curative care, thereby resulting in medicalization or overmedicalization of the child. It follows that reduced healthcare expenditures will increase cost efficiency across the healthcare system. Achieving health equity in palliative care among adult and pediatric patients at the end-of-life is a longstanding goal of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF). Proposing to mitigate disparities in palliative care among children through inpatient hospice as another viable option for their families could contribute to the larger overarching goal of achieving health equity in end-of-life care across the world.

THE INFLUENCE OF FINANCIAL LITERACY AND SPENDING BEHAVIOR ON YOUNG ADULT EMERGENCY FUND OWNERSHIP IN SURABAYA

The Covid-19 incident reminds us that having an emergency fund is a crucial allocation outcome for someone in the face of unexpected conditions. The fact is that from various surveys conducted, most Indonesians admit that they do not have adequate emergency funds. This research was conducted to see how financial literacy and spending behavior influence the ownership of emergency funds in young adults in Surabaya. Young adults were chosen in this study because, based on previous studies, in this age range, a person begins to move into a condition of being economically independent and should already be doing financial planning. Data were obtained through questionnaires and processed using logistic regression. The results of the study show that both financial literacy and spending behavior have a significant effect on emergency fund ownership among young adults in Surabaya. This research contributes to the personal finance literature by providing an overview of emergency fund ownership. For young adults, this research can provide insight into the meaning of financial literacy and spending behavior and how these variables can affect one's emergency fund.

Importance of Climate Change Adaptation in Drought Mitigation: A Review

Climate change is an ongoing challenge that creates a range of environmental challenges that countries will have to grapple with in the coming decades. Droughts will definitely occur, but climate change has largely exacerbated hydrological trends, making droughts start more rapidly and more intensely. This study looked at the measures and tactics used in South Africa, Australia, Mexico, Spain, and the United States to lessen the effects of drought. Adapting to climate change offers an opportunity to rethink some of the outstanding issues of tragedy reduction and ecosystem growth. This helps mitigate future climate change impacts and embrace options for such adaptation to climate change. The main impacts of climate change on drought vulnerability are public-based awareness-raising, revised timeframes and drought forecasting approaches, improved preparedness with a focus on drought monitoring and the creation of early warning systems, and all similar preparations are combined at the input level. Moreover, reactive approaches to drought remain prevalent in many countries, despite emergency funding being expensive, ineffective and failing to address long-term sources of vulnerability and lack of support. There is therefore an urgent need for a paradigm shift from crisis management to risk management, adopting a proactive approach based on standard risk mitigation and prevention. Additional efforts to embed local adaptation strategies into policies may increase local resilience to environmental change while contributing to broader development goals.

SELF-DIRECTED CARE IN HOME-BASED LONG-TERM CARE DURING THE PANDEMIC: POLICY AND PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted strengths and challenges of the self-directed care model for home-based long-term care. We discuss policy and practice implications drawing on interviews with over 50 home-and-community-based-services consumers, caregivers, workers, and providers in Kansas. Low-pay, lack of benefits, rising wages in competing sectors, enhanced unemployment and COVID-19 concerns exacerbated workforce shortages that compromised consumer safety and well-being. The lack of budget authority for self-directed consumers in Kansas limited their ability to address these issues. Furthermore, the self-directed model was excluded from emergency funding sources that would have enhanced pay and benefits for workers, including sick pay for quarantine, pointing to the need for targeted funding. Emergency flexibility allowing paid family caregivers addressed care needs for some but is temporary and should be expanded. In the managed care model, MCOs still kept their capitated payment despite significant unfilled care hours, and thus pay-for-performance incentives need to be revisited.

Efficacy of Peer-to-Peer Education for Emergency Medicine Resident Financial Literacy: Curriculum Development Study.

Early career physicians are under enormous stress from rigorous academic demands and financial insecurity due to increasingly large loan burdens and stagnant income. There are no institutionally required training programs to educate professionals on financial pitfalls or strategies for overcoming these burdens. Fiscal ignorance leaves them in a vulnerable position to be taken advantage of often, at great personal cost. Using a cross-sectional, convenience sample of emergency medicine residents at a single center, we evaluated the benefit of a six-month curriculum on financial education. Focusing on topics that were most pertinent early in medical careers, we assessed the utility of a six-lecture series totaling three hours of educationon fundamental financial literacy. Lectures were given by a single educatorwith no formal financial background in the following areas: general principles, student loans, retirement accounts, basic taxes, real estate, and insurance. Using pre-test and post-test information on 55 residents, financial literacy, as assessed by a 24-question multiple-choice survey, increased from 50% to 62% (p=<.001). Subgroup analysis was also performed within each financial category as well as by postgraduate year (PGY) of training. Raw data of individual percentages achieving specific financial milestones demonstrated an objective increase in the number of residents contributing to retirement accounts, creating an emergency fund,and establishing student loan repayment plans after the curriculum. Programs can institute sufficient financial literacy education for trainees that covers financial foundations. These programs can be taught without financial professional expertise or long hours of didactics.

The Proximity of Disaster Experiences and Financial Preparedness for Emergencies in the US.

This study investigated how the proximity of disaster experience was associated with financial preparedness for emergencies. The data used were from the 2018 National Household Survey, which was administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The working sample included 4779 respondents. Logistic Regression showed that the likelihood of setting aside emergency funds tended to be the highest between 2-5 years after experiencing a disaster, which declined slightly but persisted even after 16 years. Recent disaster experience within 1 year did not show a significant impact, indicating a period of substantial needs. However, the proximity of disaster experience did not significantly affect the amount of money set aside. It is suspected that increased risk perception related to previous experiences of disasters is more relevant to the likelihood of preparing financially; whereas other capacity-related factors such as income and having a disability have more effect on the amount of money set aside.

Implementasi Penggunaan Arkas 3.3 pada Pelaporan Penggunaan Dana Bos Sekolah Dasar Negeri 18 Bungo Pasang di Kota Padang

This study aims to look at the implementation of the use of Arkas 3.3 on the use of reporting funds for elementary school bosses at 18 Bungo Pasang in the Koto Tangah District in Padang City. This research is a quasi-qualitative method using the Simple Research Design (SRD) model. Selection of informants using purposive sampling technique. which is a data sampling technique with certain considerations. Thus the data collection is done by observation, interviews and documentation. Data analysis technique is done by data reduction, data presentation, verification and conclusion. The results showed that the user implementation of Arkas 3.3 was not in accordance with what was expected. But it didn't just stop there, of course, with obstacles that hindered the implementation of Arkas in the report, the implementation team tried to find a good solution. However, in some indicators the implementation has not been fulfilled in its entirety due to the lack of trained implementers in using the Rkas Application (ARKAS) during reporting. As well as in the activity there are obstacles that hinder the implementation of the use of Arkas to run optimally. Among them are the limited number of personnel in the implementation team for the use of Arkas in schools and the limited emergency funds at 18 Bungo Pasang Elementary School in Koto Tangah District.

Transforming Collection Development through Three Rounds of Emergency Funding

This case study reports on critical aspects of utilizing over one million dollars in emergency funding during a two-year library closure. It also discusses the impact of federal emergency funding on the operations of an academic library during the COVID-19 pandemic and the implications for including financial priorities in disaster preparedness plans. Little research exists regarding libraries’ response to emergency funding. One of the advantages of examining the impact of the pandemic on library responses is the ability to create a plan for future disasters and emergency funding for collection development.

Analysis of Precious Metal Price Movements Using Long Memory Model and Fuzzy Time Series Markov Chain

Precious metals occur naturally and have a high resistance to corrosion or oxidation. These natural resources are used as investment instruments to protect wealth values, such as gold, silver, and palladium. Price movements need to be understood when investing, and it is achieved through a time series model that predicts future prices. Also, autoregressive fractional integrated moving average (ARFIMA) is used to model price movements with long memory effects, while fuzzy time series Markov chain (FTSMC) is employed for performing numerical approach. It was observed that gold price movement has a long memory effect; therefore, it is eligible to be formed into the ARFIMA model. However, the silver and palladium prices do not contain a long memory effect, which means their movements are only formed through the FTSMC numerical model. The ARFIMA modeling results show that the gold price long memory model has the best accuracy with the smallest error value and also demonstrates excellent goodness of fit. Furthermore, the gold price long memory model movement has long-term stability compared to other precious metals. This provides an investment advantage because it is a stable asset, easy to liquidate in cash, free of interest, has an emergency fund role, and protects wealth’s value.

A Comparative Study on Percentage of Women (Age 15–49) Attending at Least One Antenatal Care by Skilled Health Personnel in SAARC Countries (2015-2030)

Background: Antenatal care (ANC) plays an important role in reducing maternal morbidity and mortality. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is an economic and political organization of eight countries in South Asia. There is an unacceptably high burden of neonatal mortality and stillbirths in the SAARC region. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to estimate the percentage of at least one ANC visit from 2015 to 2030 from previously available data and to compare the progress among SAARC nations. Methodology: This is a secondary analysis study. Data indicating percentages of women attending at least one ANC by skilled health personnel in SAARC countries Maternal and newborn health coverage dataset-May 2021 by United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) was used. Regression Coefficient was used first to check the strength of the relationship for prediction at a 5 % significance level. Then, the percentages of ANC visits were predicted. To compare the percentages among countries, non-Parametric correlation Kendall’s tau was used. Findings: Results indicate that SAARC countries are struggling to reach at least one ANC visit. Comparison among these countries has shown no significant trend and it is concluded that there is no significant difference among SAARC countries' women ANC visits from 2015 to 2030 at a 5% significance level for all years. Practical Implications: The estimations of this research would help to develop innovative strategies for uplifting maternal health among SAARC countries to reach Sustainable development goals (SDGs).