Limited Government Research Articles

The World Health Organization Legal Regimes and the Shaping of Nigeria’s Health Law and Policy

Global health governance concerns the collective responses needed within the public health community to effectively tackle the shared challenges arising in an increasingly connected world. It is a truism that promoting a robust health infrastructure is critical to the attainment of good health and wellbeing. Yet the legal infrastructure – the laws and policies that empower and obligate as well as limit government and private action concerning health, has been neglected in the mainstream literature. This is because health infrastructure has focused more on physical structures of public health agencies such as clinics, hospitals and the human resources that operate them. The purpose of the study was to explore the extent to which the World Health Organization legal regimes such as the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (2003) and the Revised International Health Regulations, have impacted on health law and policy in Nigeria. It posits that the various conventions and regulations adopted, which were subsequently ratified and declared applicable to Nigeria, had been domesticated. However, the lack of respect for the rule of law has stymied the maximisation of the expected benefits from such legal regimes. It concludes that the World Health Organization should develop a programme for public health law capacity-building and policy surveillance to ensure continuous and organised efforts to assist member states including Nigeria to strengthen their legal infrastructure.

Introducing Bayesian belief updating as a method to counter improvised explosive devices: a qualitative case study on identifying human behaviours associated with explosive chemical precursor diversion

Countering improvised explosive devices (C-IED) is a significant theme of the twenty-first century, particularly in regions with limited governance and a fragile rule of law. Many strands of activity are involved, with human interaction proving difficult to predict. However, Bayesian belief updating (used across several academic fields to provide insight into human behaviours) has never been considered. Given the breadth of C-IED, this research focusses on a state affected by conflict, and where illicit diversion of explosive chemical precursors (ECP) for IED manufacture is supported by the population. It aims to represent (both visually and probabilistically) a methodology by which human relationships could be better understood, thereby promoting belief updating as new evidence becomes available. Such belief updating would refine focus and improve resource mobilisation.

The Impact of Government Interventions on COVID-19 Spread and Consumer Spending

We examine the impact of government interventions on the spread of COVID-19 and consumer spending. We do this by first estimating models of COVID-19 spread, consumer spending, and social distancing in the United States during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. Social distancing has a large effect on reducing COVID-19 spread and is responsive to national and local case numbers. Nonmask government interventions reduce COVID-19 spread, whereas the effectiveness of mask mandates is much smaller and statistically insignificant. Mask mandates tend to increase social distancing, as do nonmask governmental restrictions as a whole. Social distancing hurts spending in the absence of a mask mandate but has a negligible effect on spending if there is a mask mandate. Mask mandates have a direct effect of increasing spending in counties with high levels of social distancing while reducing spending in counties with low levels of social distancing. We use these three estimated models to calculate the effect of mask mandates and other governmental interventions on COVID-19 cases, deaths, and consumer spending. Implemented mask mandates decreased COVID-19 cases by a statistically insignificant 774,000 cases, saving 28,000 lives, over a four-month period, but led to $76B–$155B of additional consumer spending. Other nonmask governmental interventions that were implemented reduced the number of COVID-19 cases by 34M, saving 1,230,000 lives, while reducing consumer spending by approximately $470B–$703B over our 4-month period of the study. Thus, these restrictions were cost effective as long as one values each saved life at $387,000–$608,000 or more. This paper was accepted by Matt Shum, marketing. Supplemental Material: The data is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4853 .

Community Involvement in the Rehabilitation and Treatment of Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDL): A Case Study of the Iriga District Jail, Philippine

This study focuses on evaluating community involvement in rehabilitating and caring for Persons Deprived of Liberty (PDL) at the Iriga District Jail in Camarines Sur's Fifth District, Philippines. The research employed a quantitative-methods of survey questionnaire, utilizing purposive and random sampling techniques to select participants of total 100 however 89 respondents replied considered and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that community involvement activities were partially implemented, encompassing work and livelihood programs, moral and spiritual programs, education and training programs, sports and recreation programs, behavior modification programs, and health and welfare programs. Challenges identified included limited funds, inadequate physical facilities, limited government and community support, insufficient staff training, and organizational issues. To strengthen community involvement in prisoner rehabilitation, this study recommends psychological evaluations, job placement or referral, community service programs, client self-help organizations, environmental awareness programs, volunteer probation aides, and involving the client's family in the rehabilitation process. These findings offer insights into the current state of community involvement in prisoner rehabilitation and propose measures for improvement in Camarines Sur's Fifth District.

The Study on the Challenges and Prospect on Marketing Nigeria Made Computer Software: A Case Study of Gombe Metropolis

This study examines the challenges and prospects of marketing Made-in-Nigeria software, with a focus on the Gombe State region. It investigates attitudes towards locally produced software, identifies societal problems affecting software marketing, analyzes challenges faced by software development students, explores factors influencing the preference for foreign software, and proposes strategies for promoting Made-in-Gombe software. The research questions address various aspects of software marketing and the behavior of Gombe consumers. The study finds that there are significant challenges in marketing Made-in-Gombe software, including perceived inadequate skills among developers, limited government support, and socioeconomic factors impacting students' software development, poor classroom environments, frequent lecturer transfers, and insufficient learning materials. Locally made software is also perceived as inefficient, and the high cost of hosting websites and deploying software hinders its development. The study's significance lies in aiding multinational and indigenous companies in Nigeria with effective marketing planning, providing insights for academics and marketing consultants, and encouraging further research in promoting Gombe-made products. While the study focuses on Gombe-made software, its findings can be applicable to other locally manufactured products. Recommendations are provided to address the identified challenges and improve the marketing of Made-in-Gombe software.

Governing therapeutic pluralism: An environmental scan of the statutory regulation and government reimbursement of traditional and complementary medicine practitioners in the United States.

The World Health Organization has called on nation-states to statutorily govern, and integrate into state-funded healthcare systems, practitioners of traditional and complementary medicine (T&CM) (whose therapeutic approaches that fall outside the boundaries of conventional biomedicine). To date, however, there exist few rigorous reports of the degree to which individual nations have responded to this call. This study, an environmental scan, comprehensively documents the statutory governance and government reimbursement of T&CM practitioners in the United States (US). Across the US, where health practitioner governance falls within state and territorial (rather than federal) jurisdiction, over 300 laws have been enacted to statutorily regulate a wide range of T&CM practitioners. Nurse-midwives and chiropractors are universally licensed across all 56 US regulatory jurisdictions (50 states, 5 territories and the District of Columbia); other major T&CM practitioner groups are regulated in fewer jurisdictions (acupuncturists, n = 52; massage therapists, n = 50; direct-entry [non-nurse] midwives, n = 36; naturopaths, n = 24). Additional statutory stipulations exist to govern chiropractic assistants (n = 30), auricular (ear) acupuncture practitioners (n = 24), homeopathic practitioners (n = 3), and psychedelic facilitators (n = 1), as well as biomedical professionals who practice acupuncture and related techniques, e.g., 'dry needling' (n = 44). While professional entry requirements for licensed T&CM practitioners are substantially harmonized across jurisdictions, restricted titles and statutory scopes of practice vary. Ten states have furthermore implemented 'safe harbor' ('negative licensing') exemption laws enabling otherwise-unregulated T&CM practitioners to legally practice. Limited government reimbursement for T&CM care is available across several federal and state programs, including Medicare, Tricare, Veterans Health Authority, and Medicaid. Nurse-midwifery and chiropractic care is most frequently reimbursed; acupuncturists, naturopaths and massage therapists are eligible for much more limited coverage. Medicaid programs for low-income people in ten states furthermore cover the services of (unlicensed but statutorily-recognized) birth doulas. Additional research is needed to assess the impact of these regulations on US health care.

Analytical Study of Small Scale Beekeeping Farming in Eswatini: A Case Study in Manzini Region, Eswatini

Aims: Smallholder beekeepers play an important role especially livelihood of the rural and semi-urban communities of Eswatini yet the enterprise attracts less beekeeping farmers. This study aims at contributing to the existing literature related to socio-economics analysis of beekeeping farmers and their impact on production, and highlights the opinion on challenges and opportunities of small scale beekeeping farmers.
 Study Design & Methodology: A descriptive cross-sectional research design was employed in the study across the region with the main objective of determining the socio-demographic factors and output of beekeeping farmers. The study engaged 47 randomly selected beekeepers and random sampling technique was used. The study employed the multiple regression models to analyse the factors affecting honey production among small-scale beekeeping farmers.
 Results: The results indicate that majority (70.2%) of respondents were male apiculture farmers, averagely aged 32 years old, attained secondary education (51.0%), majority of interviewed farmers had less than 5 years of experience in apiculture, and about 31% of the small scale beekeeping farmers used traditional and Swazi top bar hives. The results also revealed that a large percentage of farmers obtained only between E1,001 and E2,500 in income from the beekeeping farming. The regression model results indicated that experiences in beekeeping and number of hives were significantly related to honey produced by the beekeeping farmers. The results also revealed that apiculture farmers interviewed indicated that they had poor access to technical support, limited access government support, poor access to financial credit, use of ICT in marketing their produce and limited access to extension services related to beekeeping.
 Recommendations: This study recommends that in addition to improved access to beekeeping financial support and number of bee hives, the government, private sector and other organisations promoting improved livelihoods of smallholder beekeeping farmers should formulated and implement strategies aimed at increased access to extension services mostly related to technical support and use of digital technology to enable increased production and marketing of farmers’ output.

Differential Mental Health Impact of COVID-19 Lockdowns on Persons with Non-Communicable Diseases in Trinidad and Tobago.

Persons with chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) were identified as particularly at risk of severe morbidity and mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic. Little is written about the impact of COVID-19 on this sub-population in the Caribbean, where the prevalence of NCDs is disproportionately high. This study aimed to ascertain COVID-related concerns, and the mental health impact of the pandemic among persons with and without NCDs in Trinidad and Tobago, during the acute period of COVID-19 lockdowns early in the pandemic. An anonymous online survey collected cross-sectional data from a convenience sample nationwide. Of 1287 respondents, 219 self-identified as having an NCD. Findings suggest that the pandemic was experienced unequally by persons with NCDs, who were more likely to be concerned about health and wellbeing and to report health inequalities-unemployment, social isolation and negative effects of government restrictions. Compared to those without NCDs, they were more likely to increase use of marijuana during the lockdown period, and to report severe anxiety/depression that can result in exacerbation of NCDs. Interventions for persons with NCDs must address the mental health consequences of any pandemic, including increased drug use, and also address social inequalities to reduce sustained post-pandemic mental health impact and negative health outcomes.

Sustainable energy transition in Southeast Asia: Energy status analysis, comprehensive evaluation and influential factor identification

Southeast Asia, one of the world's most vibrant economies, faces significant challenges in enhancing energy security and mitigating carbon emissions. This study provides a holistic view of the energy security status in Southeast Asia by presenting energy facts from six aspects and identify the critical factors affecting sustainable energy transition in this region with the techniques of political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal (PESTEL) Analysis and fuzzy Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) methods. It indicates that: (1) Southeast Asia performs well in enhancing energy supply but awkwardly in sustainable energy transition, and great divergence exists among different countries; (2) The economic aspect is the most important in sustainable energy transition, followed by the technological, environmental and political aspects; (3) Important factors influencing sustainable energy transition in Southeast Asia include political instability, backward economy, uncertain social acceptance, insufficient energy infrastructure, restrictions of geographical conditions, and limited government efforts.

The prevalence of pediatric asthma hospitalizations at different stages of the COVID-19 pandemic: A systematic review and meta-analysis study protocol.

Asthma is a highly prevalent chronic inflammatory lung disease and is a frequent cause of hospitalization in children. The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced several challenges that have impacted the delivery of care for vulnerable patients, including asthmatic children. Asthmatic children without immediate access to healthcare services can face severe and fatal consequences. Furthermore, various governmental restrictions and viral mutants have been introduced throughout the pandemic, affecting COVID-19 cases and hospitalization rates. To investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the prevalence of asthma hospitalizations during various stages of the pandemic. We also aim to compare asthma hospital admissions during the pandemic to pre-pandemic periods. The databases PubMed (MEDLINE), EMBASE, CINAHL, and the Cochrane library will be used to identify relevant articles between the start of the pandemic and the date of the search strategy. Studies will be included if they examine hospital admissions for pediatric (0 to 18 years) asthma patients, regardless of asthma severity, sex, ethnicity or race. Observational retrospective cohort, prospective cohort, and cross-sectional studies will be included. A meta-analysis will be conducted if there are ≥2 articles. Else, a narrative review will be used to report our results. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42022337606.

Quality aspects vs consumption values: What affects intention to book hotels in the post-Covid era?

The Covid-19 pandemic had affected the hospitality sector the most due to lockdowns and other government restrictions. As hotels are trying to recover from the losses suffered during the pandemic, hotels can prepare better strategies if they are able to understand the factors affecting customers’ intention to book hotels in the post-Covid era from the Service Quality (SERVQUAL) and Consumption Value Theory lens. Based on a multi-method study containing 33 qualitative interviews, 18274 online reviews and 311 survey responses, it was found that customers prefer ‘less-crowded clean hotels’ which follow Covid-related guidelines properly. The customer reviews about hotels revealed consumption values like, epistemic (“view”, “spacious”), functional (“food”, “location”), conditional (offers/discounts), and service qualities like, customer service (food quality, staff behavior, room cleanliness), and empathy (comfort, peacefulness). The quantitative analysis found that reliability, brand credibility, and brand loyalty affect customer’s hotel booking intentions. This multi-method study contributes to the existing literature on the values and quality aspects that affect customer behavior in the hospitality and tourism segment. Findings of this study will thus help managers to make better strategies by providing a better view of the consumption values and service quality aspects that affect customer’s hotel booking intention in post-pandemic era.

STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODEL ON DETERMINANTS OF INTENTION TO USE E-COMMERCE

Although e-commerce is being utilised, its application expanded exponentially during the pandemic due to government restrictions on mobility. Most of the existing literature points to the effect of perceived usefulness and ease of use toward attitudes that affect the intention to use technology. Issues surface relative to the effect of customers' trust in the system and the risks involved. Using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), the study aimed to investigate the effect of these factors on users' intention to use online shopping. Specifically, it looks into the effect of trust and risk on attitude and intention. Results established that trust affects attitude but not intention, while risk did not significantly affect both. With the online experience over time, consumers generally view e-commerce as easy and useful, especially in acquiring significant information about the product and services and navigating through e-commerce tools. The respondents are aware that there is risk in online transactions such that they prefer to pay cash or GCash upon delivery. However, the effect of risk was not supported partly due to the mobility restrictions during the pandemic. This highlights the need to improve e-commerce designs for consumer protection and more pronounced government policies on online transactions.

Government Restriction Efficiency on Curbing COVID-19 Pandemic Transmission in Western Europe

The World Health Organization (WHO)-confirmed pandemic (March 2020) of the new Coronavirus 2 severe acute respiratory syndrome infection (SARS-CoV-2) reported in Wuhan, China, in December 2019 (first reported cases), then spread to Italy and successively around the world. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the restrictions implemented by different governments from a statistical point of view. We quantitatively evaluated how restrictions influenced the temporal evolution of the distribution of the weekly number of hospitalized patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) for different countries that applied different levels of restrictions, which can be summarized with the average stringency index, a synthetic index that represents a metric for quantifying the severity of the restrictions applied. We found that the stringency index is strongly correlated with the distribution skewness, while standard deviation and kurtosis are poorly and moderately influenced. Furthermore, we compared the values of the skewness of the distribution of hospitalized patients during several pre-pandemic influenza outbreaks in Italy (data not available for other countries). Analysis shows that for normal flu, there is a substantial difference in skewness (as much as 70%) in the distribution with respect to the first COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, where social restrictions were applied. This large difference highlights that the restrictions implemented modify the symmetry of the peak of the distribution of the hospitalized patient in the ICU. Therefore, skewness can be used as a valid indicator to assess whether restriction has any effect on pandemic transmission and can be used as a support for decision makers.

Subjective burden of government-imposed Covid-19 restrictions in Switzerland: Evidence from the 2022 LINK Covid-19 survey.

While a large literature has quantified the health and economic impact of COVID-19, estimates on the subjective losses in quality of life due to government imposed restrictions remain scarce. We conducted a nationally representative online survey in Switzerland in February 2022 to measure average self-reported quality of life with government restrictions. We used a discrete choice experiment to compute average willingness to pay for avoiding specific restrictions and time-trade-off questions to quantify the relative quality of life under restrictions. A total of 1299 Swiss residents completed the online survey between February 9th and 15th, 2022. On average, respondents valued life under severe restrictions at 39% of their usual life (estimated relative utility 0.39 [0.37, 0.42]). Willingness to pay for avoiding restrictions was lowest for masks (CHF 663 [319, 1007]), and highest for schools and daycares (CHF 4123 [3443, 4803]) as well as private parties (CHF 4520 [3811, 5229]). We estimate that between March 2020 and February 2022 a total of 5.7 Million QALYs were lost due to light, moderate and severe restrictions imposed by the governments. The quality of life losses due to government restrictions are substantial, particularly when it comes to the closure of schools and daycares, as well as the prohibition of private gatherings. Future policies should weigh these costs against the health benefits achievable with specific measures.

How does digital technology facilitate the green innovation of enterprises? Evidence from China

ABSTRACT Employing annual reports (2007–2019) of Chinese A-share listed firms, we develop a firm-level digital technology application index using text analysis to investigate the impact of digital technology on an enterprise’s green innovation. The results indicate that, first, the application of digital technology significantly increases the level of green innovation of enterprises and will continue to have a positive impact over the next three years. Second, we demonstrate three mechanisms by which digital technology influences green innovation: namely, alleviating financial constraints, empowering the upgrading of human capital structure, and promoting R&D (research and development) cooperation. Third, we find that enterprises can only promote green innovation by integrating digital technology into their production, operation, and management processes. Furthermore, the positive impact of digital technology on green innovation was predominantly observed in businesses located in regions with a high level of environmental protection awareness and with limited environmental governance capacity.

Local fiscal autonomy in Toronto

Local fiscal autonomy depends on the extent to which local governments rely on their own source revenues rather than intergovernmental transfers and also on their ability to set their own tax rates. Compared to other major cities around the world, Toronto appears to have a lot of local autonomy because it is less dependent on intergovernmental transfers and more reliant on property taxes and user fees. Nevertheless, its autonomy is limited by provincial government restrictions on how these taxes and fees are levied and also by the conditions imposed on federal and provincial transfers. Toronto also has fewer revenue-raising options than many other cities. This paper describes the extent to which Toronto enjoys fiscal autonomy and evaluates the degree to which it takes advantage of the autonomy it has in setting tax rates and making other financial decisions. The paper considers some of the fiscal challenges the city now faces and some future challenges on the road ahead. It evaluates the extent to which the city can respond to these various external shocks with the resources at its disposal. It concludes that, although Toronto enjoys some local fiscal autonomy, it would benefit from having more diversified revenue sources. This paper describes the extent to which Toronto enjoys fiscal autonomy and evaluates the degree to which it takes advantage of the autonomy it has in setting tax rates and making other financial decisions. The paper considers some of the fiscal challenges the city now faces and some future challenges on the road ahead. It evaluates the extent to which the city can respond to these various external shocks with the resources at its disposal. It concludes that, although Toronto enjoys some local fiscal autonomy, it would benefit from having more diversified revenue sources.

Compliance and the social space of cities: Variations in compliance with Covid-19 regulations and capital forms in urban communities

Cities' planned and built environments are key to healthier communities. The Covid-19 pandemic challenged this relationship, when the issue of communities' compliance with government restrictions to mitigate the spread of the pandemic became apparent. Despite the growing literature on the relationship between communities' characteristics and Covid-19 throughout the pandemic, little attention has been paid to the drivers of compliance at the city and community levels. Our paper addresses this lack through the Bourdieusian concept of communities' capital resources. Using Israel as a test case, we explore how the economic, social and cultural capital of urban communities affected compliance with Covid-19 related restrictions. The analysis reveals how the spatial dispersion of the components of these forms of capital explains the likelihood of communities' level of compliance. In particular, it shows how the accumulation of various forms of capital increased compliance with health regulations. The study highlights the explanatory power of local resources in collective spatial behavior patterns, as well as the possibility of exacerbating existing injustices.

Improving urban water management and building water supply resilience in the city of Harare, Zimbabwe – a systems view

ABSTRACT Starting from a resilience assessment of Harare's water supply, the system interactions of the city’s water management arrangements are explored through a series of causal loop diagrams. These are based on economic, physical, commercial, environmental, and social subsystems and the reinforcing and balancing loops that influence key variables of interest in each are identified. The analysis identifies a series of shortcomings including a weak provider-customer relationship, limited governance capacity, inadequate coordination and integration between key players, shortfalls in physical supply and critical infrastructure, environmental degradation, and a lack of disaster response and recovery measures. A series of strategies are proposed as intervention actions that target the areas of potential leverage identified in the causal loop analysis, including improving customer-provider relationships; increasing coordination, collaboration, and integration; developing physical and informational infrastructure and enhancing environmental protection and rehabilitation. The impacts of these strategies are highlighted as strengthening key elements of the causal loop diagrams and addressing the resilience gaps identified. The systems mapping approach reveals that key issues are large-scale, cross-sectoral, and compounding. Remediation strategies must therefore also be multi-faceted and holistic in scope.

A spatiotemporal analysis of the impact of lockdown and coronavirus on London’s bicycle hire scheme: from response to recovery to a new normal

ABSTRACT The coronavirus pandemic that started in 2019 has had wide-ranging impacts on many aspects of people’s daily lives. At the peak of the outbreak, lockdown measures and social distancing changed the ways in which cities function. In particular, they had profound impacts on urban transportation systems, with public transport being shut down in many cities. Bike share systems (BSS) were widely reported as having experienced an increase in demand during the early stages of the pandemic before returning to pre-pandemic levels. However, the studies published to date focus mainly on the first year of the pandemic, when various waves saw continual relaxing and reintroductions of restrictions. Therefore, they fall short of exploring the role of BSS as we move to the post-pandemic period. To address this gap, this study uses origin-destination (O-D) flow data from London’s Santander Cycle Hire Scheme from 2019–2021 to analyze the changing use of BSS throughout the first two years of the pandemic, from lockdown to recovery. A Gaussian mixture model (GMM) is used to cluster 2019 BSS trips into three distinct clusters based on their duration and distance. The clusters are used as a reference from which to measure spatial and temporal change in 2020 and 2021. In agreement with previous research, BSS usage was found to have declined by nearly 30% during the first lockdown. Usage then saw a sharp increase as restrictions were lifted, characterized by longer, less direct trips throughout the afternoon rather than typical peak commuting trips. Although the aggregate number of BSS trips appeared to return to normal by October 2020, this was against the backdrop of continuing restrictions on international travel and work from home orders. The period between July and December 2021 was the first period that all government restrictions were lifted. During this time, BSS trips reached higher levels than in 2019. Spatio-temporal analysis indicates a shift away from the traditional morning and evening peak to a more diffuse pattern of working hours. The results indicate that the pandemic may have had sustained impacts on travel behavior, leading to a “new normal” that reflects different ways of working.

Impacts on Human Movement in Australian Cities Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

No studies have yet examined high-resolution shifts in the spatial patterns of human movement in Australia throughout 2020 and 2021, a period coincident with the repeated enactment and removal of varied governmental restrictions aimed at reducing community transmission of SARS-CoV-2. We compared overlapping timeseries of COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions, epidemiological data on cases and vaccination rates, and high-resolution human movement data to characterize population-level responses to the pandemic in Australian cities. We found that restrictions on human movement and/or mandatory business closures reduced the average population-level weekly movement volumes in cities, as measured by aggregated travel time, by almost half. Of the movements that continued to occur, long movements reduced more dramatically than short movements, likely indicating that people stayed closer to home. We also found that the repeated lockdowns did not reduce their impact on human movement, but the effect of the restrictions on human movement waned as the duration of restrictions increased. Lastly, we found that after restrictions ceased, the subsequent surge in SARS-CoV-2 transmission coincided with a substantial, non-mandated drop in human movement volume. These findings have implications for public health policy makers when faced with anticipating responses to restrictions during future emergency situations.