Capacity Of Households Research Articles

Impact of Social Protection Programmes on Reducing Inequality in Education in Sri Lanka: A Matching Estimator Approach

This empirical study examined the impact of social protection programs in reducing inequality in education in Sri Lanka. In the present study, information was collected from 378 randomly selected households with a total of 536 children of school age. Data collection was done through a structured questionnaire, while the selection of the sample was carried out using a combination of purposive and random sampling techniques. Selection was done on purpose, based on two criteria: the poverty ratio and the percentage of informal sector workers. Districts such as Colombo, Nuwara-Eliya, Batticaloa, Puttalam, Anuradhapura, and Rathnapura were selected along with all their Divisional Secretariat divisions and Grama Niladhari divisions. Households from within these areas were selected randomly. It includes social protection programs supporting education with free school uniforms, textbooks, stationery, scholarships, mid-day meals, and milk. The present study identified the use of the Propensity Score Matching technique to identify the impact of social protection programs on reducing educational inequality. The key findings revealed that students who received at least one form of social protection had over a 13 per cent higher probability of attending school frequently when compared with a student who received no social protection. It can be concluded from this that social protection programs ensure regular attendance in school among students who experience a multitude of disadvantages and, therefore, reduce educational inequality. Based on these findings, the research recommends introducing a school-funded scholarship program that would increase the capacity of poor households and promote current social protection programs more efficiently to suit the differing needs of disadvantaged students.

Do We Contribute to Women's Empowerment? Insights From a Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture Project Implemented in Nong, Laos.

The gender-gap in power is still persistent around the globe. Nutrition-Sensitive Agriculture (NSA) interventions have been implemented to increase women's empowerment as a goal in itself, and as a pathway to food and nutrition security (FNS). However, contradicting evidence exists on whether the interventions, besides food security, realize women's empowerment. Furthermore, the concept of women's empowerment has different meanings across different cultures, regions, and countries. To assess the understanding of, and perspectives on, women's empowerment among different stakeholders in the context of an NSA project in Laos, and to assess whether this project contributes to women's empowerment and FNS. Semistructured interviews were conducted with local implementers of NSA interventions (n = 13) and senior program managers and advisors (n = 5). Six focus group discussions were conducted with community members (n = 46). Our findings reveal that community members had a materialistic understanding and local implementers an instrumental understanding, in contrast to senior program managers and advisors, who had an egalitarian understanding of women's empowerment. The level of women's empowerment in Nong was considered low by all respondents. Furthermore, respondents reported that the NSA interventions had a positive impact on FNS, but not on women's empowerment. In a community in which both women's empowerment and FNS are low, working with women may contribute to FNS, but not necessarily contribute to women's empowerment. Nevertheless, from an emic perspective, women do feel more empowered as the interventions contributed to increased household capacity to address FNS.

New evidence on household financial protection against out-of-pocket payments for health in Poland

Abstract Background Protecting households against financial hardship when using health care is an integral element of universal health coverage. Previous analysis showed that in Poland, catastrophic spending on health is more common than in many European countries. Over the last decade, several measures were undertaken to reduce the burden of out-of-pocket payments for households in Poland. Methods The study aimed to assess financial protection in Poland using the indicators of catastrophic and impoverishing health spending. It relies on the methodology developed by the WHO Region Office for Europe. Catastrophic expenditure is defined as out-of-pocket payments that are greater than 40% of household capacity to pay. The study uses data from the Polish household budget surveys in 2013-2021. Results The incidence of catastrophic health spending remained relatively constant over the years analyzed, with 9% of households affected. Only in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020) it reached nearly 10%, although overall household out-of-pocket expenditure declined that year. The share of households impoverished or further impoverished due to out-of-pocket payments decreased from 4% in 2013 to 3% in 2021. Payments on medicines are the main driver of catastrophic spending, particularly among poorer households, although their role has diminished over time. Household’s available resources, gender, age, education, disability status, residence place, number of children, and household’s main source of income are significantly associated with catastrophic health payments. Conclusions Despite the implemented policies, household financial protection against out-of-pocket payments in Poland did not improve significantly between 2013 and 2021. Available evidence should be used to design well-tailored measures to reduce the burden of out-of-pocket payments, targeting the most vulnerable population groups and specific healthcare areas. Key messages • Household financial protection against out-of-pocket payments in Poland did not improve significantly between 2013 and 2021. • Out-of-pocket payments for medicines are the main cause of financial hardship for Polish households.

Household financial burden associated with out-of-pocket payments for healthcare in Iran: insights from a cross-sectional survey

BackgroundOne of the key functions and ultimate goals of health systems is to provide financial protection for individuals when using health services. This study sought to evaluate the level of financial protection and its inequality among individuals covered by the Social Security Organization (SSO) health insurance between September and December 2023 in Iran.MethodsWe collected data on 1691 households in five provinces using multistage sampling to examine the prevalence of catastrophic healthcare expenditure (CHE) at four different thresholds (10%, 20%, 30%, and 40%) of the household’s capacity to pay (CTP). Additionally, we explored the prevalence of impoverishment due to health costs and assessed socioeconomic-related inequality in OOP payments for healthcare using the concentration index and concentration curve. To measure equity in out-of-pocket (OOP) payments for healthcare, we utilized the Kakwani progressivity index (KPI). Furthermore, we employed multiple logistic regression to identify the main factors contributing to households experiencing CHE.Findings: The study revealed that households in our sample allocated approximately 11% of their budgets to healthcare services. The prevalence of CHE at the thresholds of 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% was found to be 47.1%, 30.1%, 20.1%, and 15.7%, respectively. Additionally, we observed that about 7.9% of the households experienced impoverishment due to health costs. Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that the age of the head of the household, place of residence, socioeconomic status, utilization of dental services, utilization of medicine, and province of residence were the main factors influencing CHE. Furthermore, the study demonstrated that while wealthy households spend more money on healthcare, poorer households spend a larger proportion of their total income to healthcare costs. The KPI showed that households with lower total expenditures had higher OOP payments relative to their CTP.ConclusionThe study findings underscore the need for targeted interventions to improve financial protection in healthcare and mitigate inequalities among individuals covered by SSO. It is recommended that these interventions prioritize the expansion of coverage for dental services and medication expenses, particularly for lower socioeconomic status household.

Beyond grassland degradation: Pathways to resilience for pastoralist households in alpine grassland ecosystems

Sustaining the development of rural and pastoral communities' hinges on livelihood resilience. Pastoralist household resilience relies on resource availability and decision-making abilities. Despite extensive studies on pastoralist livelihoods, a significant knowledge gap remains in understanding the nuanced adaptive capacities of diverse households, particularly amid grassland degradation. Thus, this study investigates the household-based livelihood resilience of pastoralists in China's Three-River Headwater Region, offering policy recommendations for resilient livelihoods. Using stratified random sampling, 758 pastoralist household heads underwent semi-structured interviews to collect data. Five household characteristics, encompassing age, gender, energy use, well-being perception, and multi-household grazing participation, were evaluated. Looking ot the nature of data, descriptive statistics and non-parametric tests were performed in this study to draw the valid inferences. The results revealed a positive correlation (p < 0.05) between household head age and livelihood resilience, with divergent resilience across age groups. Varied energy usage yielded distinct impacts; households employing solar or mixed energy sources exhibited heightened resilience (p < 0.05). Household well-being emerged as an invariant variable concerning resilience. Furthermore, engagement in multi-household grazing (an informal institution) significantly (p < 0.05) influenced pastoralist livelihood resilience. These insights advocate targeted support for young household heads and the adoption of clean energy. Exploring the deeper strategies and mechanisms of multi-household grazing can enhance understanding and policy integration, guiding eco-friendly progress within rustic landscapes for pastoral communities.

Persistency of catastrophic out-of-pocket health expenditures: Measurement with evidence from three African countries - Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda

Catastrophic out-of-pocket health expenditure (CHE) remain high in Sub-Saharan Africa and may not conform to the sporadic random pattern of acute illnesses that shapes insurance arrangements intended to avoid the risk of financial loss. The persistency of CHE remains a largely unexplored issue due to the lack of relevant methods and scarcity of panel data. This paper addresses the first shortcoming by presenting three different approaches to incorporating the timeframes into the analysis, considering dynamics between two periods, average over time and the recurrence of CHE incidence. Through the application of the complementary approaches, we identify (i) those at risk of persistent CHE in the short-term; (ii) those facing transient versus persistent CHE in the long-term; and (iii) those facing multiple CHE spells. The methods are applied to different definitions of CHE using panel data from three sub-Saharan countries: Malawi (3 waves: 2010, 2013, and 2016) with 4983 observations; Tanzania (3 waves: 2008, 2010, and 2012) with 8715 observations; and Uganda (5 waves: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2015) with 6475 observations. All datasets are balanced panels. Additionally, we employ empirical strategies to identify the underlying factors contributing to these persistent and relatively high OOP. Across the three countries, we find that at least 27% of the people facing CHE in one period, because they spent more than 5% of their household budget on health out-of-pocket, will face it again in the next period. The lower-bound risk for those spending more than 10% of their household budget is 9% and for those spending more than 25% of their household capacity to pay is 13%. Between 11% and 45% of the population incurred CHE at least twice during the observation period when using the 5% budget definition of CHE. The double recurrence rate ranges between 7% and 13% when using the 25% capacity-to-pay definition and between 3% and 20% when using the 10% budgetshare definition. Between 22% and 32% of the population experienced chronic CHE at the 5% of the budgetshare definition (6%–10% at the 10% of the budgetshare definition of CHE; 2%–11% at 25% of capacity-to-pay). Our panel regression analysis consistently highlights the susceptibility of certain groups to face persistence CHE, notably those residing in rural areas, individuals with lower levels of education, the elderly, and those who have undergone hospitalizations.

Food Insecurity and Coping Mechanism During COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Indonesia

This study provides empirical evidence with respect to identifying whether the coping mechanism adopted by households in Indonesia significantly influences food security during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data used was from the fourth round of high-frequency monitoring data of COVID-19 impact on households from the World Bank (www.microdata.worldbank.org), which was collected between November 3rd – 15th, 2020 through the phone-based survey. By employing the logit regression model and controlling for demography characteristics such as gender, age, and education level, this study confirms that reducing non-food consumption has been effectively lowering the probability of food insecurity in all forms of indicators, including “were hungry” (3.3 percentage points), “went without eating” (2.0 percentage points), “unable to eat nutritious food” (6.6 percentage points), “food shortage” (9.6 percentage points), and “eat less” (5.6 percentage points). Additionally, households who relied on saving had a lower probability of 13.7 percentage points of being unable to eat nutritious food, while households who received assistance from the government had a lower chance of 2.4 percentage points of experiencing hunger during the pandemic. This study emphasizes that temporary strategies or short-term coping mechanisms such as relying on support from relatives, taking loans, and engaging in additional income-generating activities, as well as reducing food consumption may not contribute effectively to food security, instead, these types of coping mechanisms may exacerbate food insecurity. The findings of this study offer several implications in regard to enhancing the capacity of households to cope with the difficulties during crises as well as policy implications to design effective interventions in dealing with future shocks.

Household earthquake readiness: Conceptualization and measurement

Decades of research have been dedicated to understanding and measuring the capacity of households to face and deal with earthquakes. A reflective-measure model equating household earthquake readiness to preparedness has been adopted assuming the presence of a common factor. However, using instruments with unknown psychometric properties is prevalent, instruments with known psychometric properties are unaligned with the construct, and information on the source of items is missing. This study proposes an alternative theoretical framework based on a causal indicator model equating household earthquake readiness to hazard adjustments applied to earthquakes; investigates the presence of a common factor; and, suggests a new measure constructed following the literature guidelines and based on prior research on household earthquake readiness: Earthquake Adjustments Checklist (EAC). Factor Analysis was used to analyze the data from 921 residents in the Azores, a Portuguese archipelago vulnerable to seismic risk. The final version of the EAC contains 13 items derived from the literature that are congruent with Portuguese household earthquake recommendations and with the supporting construct. These items were formulated to be applicable elsewhere. A four-factor solution was obtained differing from the three postulated dimensions of hazard adjustments. The results showed weak correlations, low commonalities and internal consistency pointing to a common factor that is nonexistent or at least insufficient to explain the variability in the adoption of household earthquake adjustments. Moreover, a weak correlation was found between two factors. These findings have implications for the understanding and measuring of household earthquake readiness and practice.

Study on the mechanism of livelihood behavior decision of rural residents in ethnic tourism villages in Western Sichuan

In recent years, tourism has flourished in ethnic areas of China as an important tool for rural revitalization and has become an important stimulus to promote the transformation of rural residents’ livelihood. However, rural residents in tourist villages in ethnic areas still face various livelihood risks, and academic literature has paid little attention to the mechanism’s substrate these household livelihood decision-making behaviors, and the differences in adaptive capacity and decision-making behaviors between mountainous minority villages and non-tourist villages are not sufficiently clear. Based on survey data of 284 rural residents in tourist and non-tourist villages in ethnic areas of western Sichuan, this study analyzed the adaptive capacity and differences of rural households using the comprehensive index method and Kruskal-Wallis test, and constructed a disordered multi-classification logistic regression model to explore the mechanism of rural residents’ livelihood behavior decisions. The results indicate that: (1) The adaptive capacity of rural residents in tourist villages in western Sichuan ethnic areas is slightly higher than that of non-tourist villages. (2) Tibetan households have the strongest adaptive capacity, and there is a significant difference between the adaptive capacity of Tibetan households and the rest of the minority households except Han Chinese. (3) The households with tourism-oriented livelihood strategy have the highest adaptive capacity, followed by households with tourism expansion livelihood strategy, while households with other types of livelihood strategies had the lowest livelihood adaptive capacity.(4) Compared to other types of livelihood strategies, when the policies are favorable and the ethnic culture is more primitive, rural residents are more inclined to choose tourism-oriented livelihood strategies, followed by tourism expansion livelihood strategies. When rural residents have higher adaptive capacity and more advantages in the market economy, they prefer tourism expansion strategies, followed by tourism-oriented strategies.

Determining factors and barriers to the uptake of climate change adaptation strategies of agriculture and aquaculture farm households in Myanmar

PurposeClimate change is an undeniable reality that threatens people’s livelihoods. Flooding and saltwater intrusion, along with the rising sea levels, are affecting agricultural and aquaculture livelihoods in Myanmar’s coastal areas. Although climate change adaptation is gaining popularity as a resilience strategy to cope with the negative effects of climate change, both agriculture- and aquaculture-farmers are more often deterred from implementing climate change adaptation strategies due to practical availability and socioeconomic barriers to adaptation. This study aims to evaluate the barriers and factors that influence farm household’ choice of climate change adaptation measures.Design/methodology/approachThis study was conducted with 599 farm households (484 rice-farmers and 115 fish farmers) based in the coastal areas of Myanmar during 2021–2022 to explore the farmer’s choice of climate change adaptation measures and the determining factors. The multinomial logit regression (MLR) model was used to examine the factors influencing the farmers’ choice of climate change adaptation strategies.FindingsThe study found out that farm households use a variety of adaptation methods at the farm level, with building embankment strategy (23.4%) in agriculture and net-fencing measure (33.9%) in fish farming being the most popular adaptation strategies. Farmers’ decisions to adopt climate change adaptation strategies are influenced by factors such as distance to market, education level of the household head, remittance income and the availability of early warning information, among others. The study also discovered that COVID-19 has had an impact on the employment opportunities of household members and the income from farming as well had a consequential effect on the adoption of climate change adaptation measures. Furthermore, lack of credit (42.4%), labor shortage (52.8%), pest and disease infestation (58.9%), high input costs (81%) and lower agricultural product prices (73%) were identified as major barriers to the adoption of climate change adaptation measures by both agriculture and aquaculture farm households.Originality/valueThis study demonstrates that the COVID-19 pandemic and farm-level barriers are the major factors influencing farm households’ choice of climate change adaptation measures, and that removing practical farm-level barriers and encouraging the adoption of adaptation techniques as potential COVID-19 recovery actions are required. This study also highlighted that the adaptive capacity of agriculture and aquaculture farm households should be strengthened through formal and informal training programs, awareness raising, the exchange of early warning information and the development of proper credit scheme programs.

Rural households’ resilience to the adverse impacts of climate variability and food insecurity in the North-eastern highlands of Ethiopia

Climate variability and food insecurity shocks frequently affect the livelihood of rural households. Therefore, understanding the fundamentals of resilience is essential for enhancing the capabilities of vulnerable households. The objective of this study was to analyze rural households' resilience to the adverse impacts of climate variability and food insecurity in the North-eastern highlands of Ethiopia. Based on a cross-sectional survey, both probability and non-probability sampling procedures were employed to select sample respondents, key informants and focus group discussants. Principal Component Analysis (PCA), one-way ANOVA and linear regression modeling were used to analyze the data. The results indicated that perceptions of climatic variability, agricultural assets, adaptive capacity and income and food access are the four resilience dimensions with the largest contribution to households’ resilience. Likewise, social capital and access to basic services were the next positive contributors. However, agricultural technology adoption and social safety nets were insignificant contributors. Moreover, households living in the Meher livelihood zone/LHZ/were highly resilient followed by ABB and Meher-belg. On the other hand, respondents in the SWS, CHV and Belg LHZs were less resilient. Male-headed households, household heads with formal education and married households were found to be more resilient than their counterparts. The study found that 50.4 % of the respondents were non-resilient and 45.5 % were highly resilient. In conclusion, the adverse impacts of climate-related hazards associated with the existing food insecurity have deteriorated the resilience capacity of rural households by which they became highly vulnerable and could be easily exposed to shocks. The study suggested that unless well-planned intervention is implemented many households might quickly lose their resilience status to worse even by a very little shock. Moreover, enhancing capability aspects should be the primary goal of any interventions aimed at increasing households' resilience in drought-prone areas in general and the study area in particular.

Investigating how Road Development Enhances Agricultural Production in Bubandi Sub County of Bundibugyo District, Uganda

This study investigated the intertwine between road development and agricultural production in Bubandi Sub County of Bundibugyo District, Uganda. Findings revealed that the poor road network in the district is caused by steep slopes, difficulties in compensating project affected residents, government delays in providing cash, and weather variations. This poor road network equally threatens food security. This is because road development increases the agricultural productive capacity of poor households, lowers input and transportation costs, creates a market for agricultural produce, improved regional interaction, opens up new economic areas, and facilitates the flow of goods, especially agricultural produce, from rural to urban areas. Based on this finding, the study calls for the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA) to build all-weather loose surface roads to connect economically beneficial areas and provinces. The government should directly incentivize and oversee farmers to grow the sub county's agriculture. This is because most farmers lack agricultural incentives to inspire and boost their output. The government should build standardised highways and extend rural electrification, to encourage post-harvest handling technologies. Finally, the government should increase infrastructure and agricultural extension budgets in rural areas. Keywords: Agricultural output, Agricultural production, Feeder roads, Road development, Standard of living.

Disaster Risk Reduction Literacy Through Participatory Mapping of Tsunami Disaster in Bobanehena

Halmahera Island in North Maluku consists of active faults that cause frequent tectonic earthquakes. In addition to earthquakes, tsunamis can also occur. Bobanehena village is one of the villages located on the coast of Jailolo sub-district and could be at great risk of a tsunami if an earthquake strikes Halmahera Island. The problems addressed are first, the limited capacity of individuals, households and communities in facing and dealing with tsunami disasters. Second, there is no tsunami evacuation route in Bobanehena Village based on participatory mapping. The method in this service is the Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction (CBDRR) approach which involves the community to be actively involved in disaster management. Participatory mapping of evacuation routes was carried out by Forum Group Discussion (FGD) and assessment of disaster capacity was carried out by submitting pre-test and post-test questionnaires conducted during the activity. The results of the service were a participatory map of the tsunami evacuation route plan and increased community capacity regarding tsunami disasters in Bobanehena Village.

How resilience capacity and multiple shocks affect rural households’ subjective well-being: A comparative study of the Yangtze and Yellow River Basins in China

Enhancing resilience capacity and well-being of rural households are of great significance for achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 1.5, which seeks to establish resilience by mitigating exposure and vulnerability to climate-related extreme events, as well as other economic, social, and environmental shocks. Despite the growing literature on resilience capacity and subjective well-being, there is a lack of studies that examine how the resilience capacity and multiple shocks affect subjective well-being of rural households in river basins from a comparative perspective. This study developed a conceptual framework linking multiple shocks and resilience capacity to household subjective well-being and quantified their relationship empirically in two of the largest river basins in China and worldwide, i.e., the Yangtze and Yellow River Basins. Specifically, the adverse impact of external (natural disasters, and agroforestry pests and diseases) and internal (family illness) shocks and the positive role of three resilience pillars (absorption, adaptation, and transformation) and the overall resilience are examined. The results show that (1) There is a higher subjective well-being among rural households in the Yangtze River Basin than in the Yellow River Basin (69.46 vs. 67.93). (2) Rural households in the Yellow River Basin exhibit greater exposure to all three shock types, but the adverse effect of agroforestry pests and diseases on subjective well-being is more pronounced in the Yangtze River Basin (β=−1.592, P<0.05) than the Yellow River Basin (β=−1.196, P>0.10). (3) Households in the Yellow River Basin have a marginally higher resilience capacity than those in the Yangtze River Basin, with scores of 21.67 and 21.34, respectively. Both absorptive and transformative capacities positively influence subjective well-being. In the Yellow River Basin, absorptive capacity plays a more crucial role (β=0.504, P<0.05), while in the Yangtze River Basin, transformative capacity is more influential (β=0.742, P<0.01). (4) Participation in Payment for Ecosystem Services programs has a significant positive impact on subjective well-being of rural households in the Yangtze River Basin (β=1.478, P<0.10). The findings have crucial practical values for enhancing resilience and subjective well-being of rural households in river basins and other vulnerable areas worldwide.

Migration Along Bengaluru’s Rural–Urban Continuum: Implications for Household Well-being and Climate Change Adaptation

The academic literature on internal migration in India has been limited to studies which either capture the well-being of migrants at home or destination. With rural–urban (R–U) boundaries blurring and peri-urban areas gaining economic importance, it is imperative to move away from such binaries towards a continuum approach. Using mixed methods, this paper examines the differentiated nature of migration—its drivers and outcomes—across a R–U continuum in Karnataka. Combining household surveys with focus group discussions and life history interviews, across Bengaluru, its periphery and two predominantly rural districts, which are a source of in-migration, we document the variegated nature of migration. We show that while migrants into Bengaluru enter mostly unskilled livelihoods, peri-urban migrants tend to work in the formal sector. We also show how migration decisions are shaped by climate variability, environmental change, and social and class identity; and these factors mediate differentiated outcomes of moving on household well-being. Our findings have implications for interventions aimed at strengthening household capacities to deal with climatic and non-climatic risks and regional climate-resilient development. We also highlight that enabling inclusive, climate-resilient migration requires comprehensive interventions targeting material and subjective well-being of migrating households and individuals.

Has the Household Old-Age Burden Affected Farm Household Incomes? Evidence from a Survey of Chinese Farm Households

Income increase is an important way to achieve comprehensive human development and to escape from poverty, and the growing aging problem in rural China poses a challenge to farm household income increase. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of China’s rural old-age burden on farm household income, this paper empirically examines the impact and mechanism of household old-age burden on farm household income based on the data from the 2023 micro-farm field survey of China’s Henan Province, utilizing linear regression modeling and mediation effect modeling, filling the research gaps in the related fields. The results of the study found that, firstly, family old-age burden has a significant impact on the income of farm households, and that the heavier the family old-age burden, the lower the total income of farm households. Secondly, from the results of the heterogeneity of the impact, the poorer the health condition, the greater the negative impact of family old-age burden on farm household income. Old-age burden has a greater impact on high-income farm households than on low-income farm households, and old-age burden has a significant impact on the income of part-time farm households, while the impact is not significant on purely farm and non-farm households. Thirdly, the heavier the household old-age burden, the more unfavorable it is to the non-farm employment of farm households, thus affecting the income capacity of farm households. Finally, corresponding countermeasures and recommendations are put forward in three areas, namely, the continuous improvement of the social old-age security system, the realization of the function of the social old-age mechanism as an old-age pocket for key special groups, and the improvement of the social flexible employment mechanism.

Catastrophic Health Expenditure among Iranian Households: Evidence from the COVID-19 Era.

Monitoring households' exposure to catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) based on out-of-pocket (OOP) health payments is a critical tool for evaluating the equitable financial protection status within the health system. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented global change and potentially affected the mentioned protection indicators. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of CHE among households in Iran during the COVID-19 period. The present study employed a retrospective-descriptive design utilizing data derived from two consecutive cross-sectional Annual Household Income and Expenditure Surveys (HIES) undertaken by the Statistical Centre of Iran (SCI) in 2020 and 2021. The average annual OOP health payments and the prevalence of households facing CHE were estimated separately for rural and urban areas, as well as at the national level. Based on the standard method recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), CHE was identified as situations in which OOP health payments surpass 40% of a household's capacity to pay (CTP). The intensity of CHE was also calculated using the overshoot measure. All statistical analyses were carried out using Excel-2016 and Stata-14 software. The average OOP health payments increased in 2021, compared to 2020, across rural and urban areas as well as at the national level. Urban residents consistently experienced higher OOP health payments than rural residents and the national level in both years. At the national level, the prevalence of CHE was 2.92% in 2020 and increased to 3.18% in 2021. In addition, rural residents faced a higher prevalence of CHE based on total health services OOP, outpatient services OOP, and inpatient services OOP compared to urban residents and the national level. Regarding the intensity of CHE using overshoot, the results for 2020 and 2021 revealed that the overshoot ranged between 0.60% and 0.65% in rural areas, between 0.30% and 0.33% in urban areas, and between 0.38% and 0.41% at the national level. A considerable percentage of households in Iran still incur CHE. This trend has increased in the second year of COVID-19 compared to the first year, as households received more healthcare services. The situation is even more severe for rural residents. There is an urgent need for targeted interventions in the health system, such as strengthening prepayment mechanisms, to reduce OOP and ensure equitable protection for healthcare recipients.

The effect of carbon farming training on food security and development resilience in Northern Ghana

ABSTRACT Carbon farming has recently been advocated for as climate change and variability mitigation and/or adaptation strategy in global agriculture. In this study, we address an important research question of whether carbon farming training can improve household resilience capacity as well as food security by employing internationally standardized indicators. Household resilience capacity and its components are measured using the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)’s resilience capacity index while the food security measures used include household and child food insecurity experience scale (FIES and CFIES), food consumption score (FCS) and household dietary diversity score (HDDS). We relied on doubly robust treatment effect estimators to account for potential selection bias and heterogeneity. We find that carbon farming training has no statistically significant effect on overall household resilience capacity. However, we find a large and statistically significant effect on key components of resilience (specifically, access to basic services, assets and social safety nets) and a marginal improvement in adaptive capacity. We also find statistically significant effect on FCS and HDDS but not for the other food security indicators (FIES and CFIES). Overall, the results suggest that agricultural training programs, particularly climate change adaptation capacity building initiatives, could improve important welfare measures in developing countries.

Analysis of factors influencing market participation among orange‐fleshed sweet potato smallholder farmers in southern region of Malawi: A case of RTC project

AbstractAgricultural markets remain major issue downgrading root and tuber crop farmers who form the mainstream of the agricultural producers in Malawi. Recent evidence however reveals that orange‐fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) (Ipomea batatas) is currently being sold in produce markets along with the non‐orange varieties, sometimes in differentiated form in Malawi. The main objective of this study was to examine factors affecting market participation of sweet potato farmers in southern region of Malawi. Using a double‐hurdle model, this paper analyzed both the factors affecting farmer decision to participate and the extent/intensity of participation in market. The first tier of the double hurdle focused on decision to participate in the market using probit model and the second tier addressed factors affecting intensity of participation using truncated normal regression model. The paper used data collected from 360 farmers in southern districts of Malawi. Out of 360, 146 farmers had grown OFSP in the season preceding the survey. Double hurdle results indicate that farm size, output, age of a farmer (household head), and early maturing trait significantly determined decision to participate in the market. Further, results on intensity of participation indicate that access to market training, farm size, asset value, and output positively determined the intensity and negatively determined by distance to main market and gender of a farmer (household head). Based on the research findings, higher output levels and early maturing trait were found to increase smallholder farmer market participation. It is therefore recommended that strategies aimed at increasing household capacity to produce surplus produce through market tailored extension messages and productivity enhancement technologies could be highly effective in fostering smallholders' participation in commercial markets. Again, enhanced capacity building of research institutions to breed sweet potato varieties based on market demand is pivotal for increased market participation. Furthermore, research suggests that improving smallholder farmers' access to market price information, asset value, and farm size can help increase their intensity in the market. Therefore, it is critical for policymakers to holistically comprehend these socioeconomic factors in order to address the issue of smallholder farm households' decisions about market participation and the degree to which they participate.

Vulnerability and resilience in the face of climate changes in Senegal's drylands: measurement at the household level and determinant assessment

The resilience capacity of smallholder households is one of the main drivers of their ability to continue to farm and make investments in the fragile dryland regions. This paper aims to assess the resilience profile of smallholder farmers in the face of climate change and the factors influencing it in three dryland sub-regions of Senegal, namely, Louga, Kaffrine, and Thies. We developed a composite index of climate resilience (CICR) using data on farmers' perceptions of climate variability and their perceived ability to withstand, adapt, and bounce back in the event of climatic shocks. Drought, strong winds, and soil fertility decline because of climate change emerged as the main climate hazards impacting smallholder farming systems. The CICR value ranged from −2 for the most vulnerable households to +2 for the most resilient households. On average, all the households were found to be vulnerable, with an average CICR value of −0.2. The LOUGA region was the most vulnerable, with an average CICR value of −0.36, followed by THIES (-0.2). The KAFFRINE region was relatively less vulnerable, with a CICR value of −0.1. Ordered logit model estimates show that the chances of improving CICR decrease with the increase of the household head's age until 59 years. Access to training on climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices and climate information appeared to have the potential to increase by 171% the chance of the household improving its resilience status. Analysis also shows that one more woman working off-farm or in-home gardening has the potential to multiply by four times the chances of households being more resilient. This highlights the importance of empowering women to enhance household resilience to climate change. The off-farm revenue increased the chance to improve the resilience status of the farm household by 62% and the receipt of transfer revenue by 50%. This study provides a robust method for quantifying resilience or wellbeing and its drivers and enriches our understanding of the resilience ability of farmers to climate change in a West African context. It can be useful in designing effective adaptation interventions and improving the overall wellbeing of smallholder farmers.