Low Human Development Countries Research Articles

The role of intellectual and social capital in funding businesses: a cross-country analysis

ObjetivoEl estudio tiene como objetivo examinar el impacto del capital intelectual y social en la financiación de las empresas.Diseño/metodología/enfoqueUtilizamos modelos de datos de panel de efectos fijos con una muestra de 142 países de los cinco continentes durante el periodo 1998-2018.ResultadosEncontramos que el capital humano (CH), el capital relacional, el capital estructural y el capital social juegan un papel en las decisiones de los inversionistas para financiar un negocio. Encontramos que las decisiones de financiamiento de los inversionistas en los países con bajo índice de desarrollo humano se basan principalmente en la educación, mientras que las de los países con alto índice de desarrollo humano se basan principalmente en el componente de creatividad del CH y en el capital relacional, estructural y social.Limitaciones/implicaciones de la investigaciónSugerimos replicar el estudio utilizando datos a nivel de empresa dentro de cada país. Por otra parte, la búsqueda de nuevos indicadores de capital intelectual y social (aunque nuestra lista de variables es exhaustiva) tanto a nivel de país como de empresa, constituye una vía interesante para futuras investigaciones.Implicaciones prácticasLos países deben prestar atención al capital intelectual y social para fomentar la actividad empresarial. En particular, los países con bajo desarrollo humano deberían fortalecer el CH, como la tasa de matriculación escolar, con una formación empresarial temprana y aumentar las inversiones en investigación y desarrollo, mientras que los países con un alto nivel de desarrollo humano deberían seguir fomentando las alianzas estratégicas, proteger la propiedad intelectual y mantener o aumentar el nivel de confianza en el país.Originalidad/valorEl estudio contribuye a la literatura al ser el primero en explorar tal variedad de variables de capital intelectual y social desde una perspectiva a nivel de país.

Natural resource effect on child health outcomes in a multifactor health production model in developing countries

PurposeThis study investigates if wealth from natural resources impacts child health in developing countries.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology includes testing the effect of rents from natural resources on under-five mortality rates using a multifactor health production model for 57 developing nations. The panel estimation procedure was applied to data covering 2002 to 2017, disaggregated by non-renewable and renewable resources and low and medium human development countries.FindingsThe results provide strong evidence that wealth from total natural resources has not been associated with reductions in under-five mortality rates. However, disaggregation of the sample countries by natural resource constituents revealed that only the wealth of non-renewable is strongly inversely associated with under-five mortality rates. Further disaggregation of countries by the low and medium human development constituents revealed a statistically insignificant negative correlation of non-renewable resources wealth and under-five mortality in the low human development countries. In contrast, the results of the medium human development countries revealed that wealth from natural resources (both non-renewable and renewable) had not been associated with any reductions in under-five mortality rates. The results also confirm that immunization levels, nutrition, private spending on health care, air quality, urban living and countries closer to the equator are other strong correlates of under-five mortality rates in low human development countries.Social implicationsThe findings here have implications for the timely achievement of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3 (to reduce under-five deaths to around 25 per 1,000 live births by 2030). Governments ought to ensure that incomes from the extractive sector are aligned in forms that promote and feed into improving child health wellbeing.Originality/valueThis research creates a shift from aggregate health wellbeing research agenda to investigate how specific aspects of human development can be linked to wealth from non-renewable and renewable natural resources in developing nations. It adds new knowledge and provides health and natural resources policymakers opportunities to combine their policies and synergize efforts to improve child health outcomes.

An Analysis of Inter-relationship between Maternal Mortality and Development in Low Human Development Countries

This paper is an attempt to examine the inter-relationship between Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) with human and economic development in 15 Low Human Development (LHD) countries. The study is purely based on secondary sources of data. The correlation, regression, normality test and factor analysis have been used to interpret the data. It has found from the bi-variate correlation that in LHD countries, only Life Expectancy at Birth (LEB) has significant relationship with Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), and none of other parameters have significant association with MMR. It has found from the factor and regression analysis that GDP per capita and gender inequality have significantly determined the level of MMR. Accordingly, in LHD countries still income has major role in determination of MMR and gender issues also play considerable role in determination of MMR. As it has been identified, income is a necessary condition for reduction of MMR. Therefore, in LHD countries, there is a need to increase income at foster rate in order to fight against high level of MMR. And there is also need to reduce the gender inequality to reduce the MMR.

Incidência e Mortalidade por Câncer entre Crianças e Adolescentes: uma Revisão Narrativa

Introdução: O câncer em crianças e adolescentes com idade entre 0-19 anos configura-se como um problema de saúde pública tanto nos países desenvolvidos como nos países em desenvolvimento. É considerado raro e distinto quando comparado com o câncer em adultos. Apresenta padrões de incidência e mortalidade que variam em todo mundo, sendo que aproximadamente 80% dos cânceres infantis ocorrem nos países com baixo índice de desenvolvimento humano, com acesso aos serviços de cuidado à saúde de baixa qualidade. Objetivo: Apresentar um panorama geral do câncer em crianças e adolescentes com idade entre 0-19 anos com ênfase na descrição dos resultados de estudos de base populacional para incidência e mortalidade nas diferentes regiões geográficas no Mundo e no Brasil. Resultados: As taxas de incidência gerais para o câncer em crianças e adolescentes com idade entre 0-19 variaram entre 50 e 200 casos por milhão por ano em diferentes países e continentes. No Brasil, a mediana das taxas a incidência foi de 154,3 por milhão. A mortalidade apresentou declínio em várias partes do mundo, sendo considerada a segunda causa de morte em países desenvolvidos. Conclusão: As informações dos registros de câncer são indispensáveis no enfrentamento do câncer na população pediátrica, principalmente nos países em desenvolvimento, onde o impacto do câncer é pouco conhecido, ao passo que seu efeito sobre a população está aumentando. Melhorias na adoção de estratégias de tratamento integrado devem ser consideradas para melhorar as taxas de mortalidade por câncer em crianças e adolescentes no Brasil e no Mundo.

Mitigating Fatalities and Damages Due to Natural Disasters: Do Human Development and Corruption Matters?

Studies have shown that natural disasters could pose a spectrum of challenges to human development, especially in developing countries. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP, 2004)) estimates that low human development countries accounted for more than half of reported casualties due to natural disasters for the last two decades. The study also estimates that nearly 85 percent of the people exposed to natural disasters live in either medium or low human development countries. Other related studies have shown that corrupted officials in poor countries would increase the vulnerability of these countries to natural disasters. Thus, the purpose of the present study is to investigate the impact of human development indicators, such as income per capita and human capital development (education level), as well as corruption (a measure of governance) on fatalities and damages due to natural disasters in selected 77 developing countries. By employing the two-step system GMM estimators, we identified several economic variables that are significantly related to fatalities and property damages due to natural disasters, such as flood, storm, earthquake, landslides, drought, extreme temperature, wildfire, and volcanic eruption. By exploring the impact of economic development, population density, unemployment rate, investment, government consumption expenditure, education, openness, and corruption, on disaster preparedness, it would be useful for both government and international disaster risk reduction and mitigation agencies to re-evaluate their approach towards target recipients in the future.

Dietary Patterns of Children and Adolescents from High, Medium and Low Human Development Countries and Associated Socioeconomic Factors: A Systematic Review.

The purpose of this systematic review is to assess the associations among education, income and dietary pattern (DP) in children and adolescents from high, medium and low human development countries (HHDC, MHDC and LHDC, respectively). Observational studies that evaluated the association between family income or education with the DP are obtained through electronic database searches. Forty articles are selected for review. In HHDC, education is inversely associated with “unhealthy” DP and positively associated with “healthy” DP. In cross-sectional studies from HHDC, higher income is negatively associated with “unhealthy” DP. In MHDC, there is no association between the socioeconomic variables (SE) and the DPs, although, in some studies, the unhealthy diet is positively associated with SE. Only one study conducted in LHDC showed an inverse association between income/education with “unhealthy” DP and there is no association between the SE and “healthy” DP. In conclusion, children and adolescents living in HHDC with high parental education tend to have a healthier diet. In MHDC, although an unhealthy diet is found among the high-income and educated population, the associations are not clear. Additional research is needed to clarify the associations between income and education with “unhealthy” and “healthy” DPs in MHDC and LHDC.

Factors of Gender Inequality and Development among Selected Low Human Development Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa

Gender inequality and poor women empowerment retard improvement in living standards of women and act as a clog in their contributions to governance and economic development. Gender inequality lower quality of life and culminates in limited productivity, hinder economic efficiency and growth. For over three decades, gender issues have been at the front burner of international summits. In spite of much progress in recent times, gender inequalities remain pervasive in many dimensions of life in various regions around the world particularly in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Treatment of women is yet to be fairer and related policies can be more effective to improve the status of women. No-doubt studies have been carried out on gender inequality, but less emphasis has been raveled with respect to hindrances and implications of gender inequality. Hence, understanding the nature of gender inequality will not only promote sound awareness among African countries, but also ignite government efforts as well as NGOs toward effective interventions for reduction of gender inequality especially in the economic and political realms where women are made worse off by the socio-cultural milieu. The methodological approach to this paper was based on reviews of published multiple documents to draw up statistical profile of the situation of women in selected countries of low human Development index in SSA to show the existence of gender inequality. The paper found among all the 12 low human development countries and SSA region examined that gender indicators such as human development index, expected years of schooling, mean years of schooling, estimated gross national per capita, share of seats in parliament, population with at least secondary education and labor-force participation rate are all in favor of men. The paper concludes with recommendations to narrow the gender gaps.

THE AVAILABLE ECONOMIC RESOURCES AND POTENTIALS OF ENHANCING JOINT COOPERATION BETWEEN EGYPT AND NILE BASIN COUNTRIES

This study aims at identifying the available economic resources in Nile Basincountries and potentials of enhancing joint cooperation between Egypt and thesecountries through studying social and economic development indicators in Nile Basincountries, studying the available water resources and energy production, the availableinvestment opportunities, and the joint projects between Egypt and these countries . Thetotal area of Nile Basin countries is about million km , most of Nile Basin countrieshave large areas of agricultural land and abundant water resources, including Nile waters,rainfall and lakes. Given the overall economic activity of Nile Basin countries, the totalGDP of Nile Basin countries was estimated at $ billion in , representing aboutof the GDP of the African continent. As for the indicators of human developmentin Nile basin countries, all are among the low human development countries exceptEgypt, which are classified among medium human development countries. One of themost important opportunities for Egyptian investment in Sudan is investment inagricultural production. Investment opportunities in Tanzania include agriculturalinvestment, especially animal and fish production and investment in manufacturing.Investment opportunities in Ethiopia are to invest in agricultural, plant and animalproduction, fish, forest and honey production, and investment in leather manufacturing.As for the investment opportunities in Kenya, the most important investment in plant,animal and fish production as well as investment in the field of agricultural processing,and the investment opportunities in Uganda, including animal and fish production. Thestudy recommends the establishment of a legal and institutional framework to achieveeconomic integration between Egypt and Nile Basin countries, investment ininfrastructure projects, and reviving of joint economic projects with Nile Basin countries

Hard-to-reach populations of men who have sex with men and sex workers: a systematic review on sampling methods.

BackgroundIn public health, hard-to-reach populations are often recruited by non-probabilistic sampling methods that produce biased results. In order to overcome this, several sampling methods have been improved and developed in the last years. The aim of this systematic review was to identify all current methods used to survey most-at-risk populations of men who have sex with men and sex workers. The review also aimed to assess if there were any relations between the study populations and the sampling methods used to recruit them. Lastly, we wanted to assess if the number of publications originated in middle and low human development (MLHD) countries had been increasing in the last years.MethodsA systematic review was conducted using electronic databases and a total of 268 published studies were included in the analysis.ResultsIn this review, 11 recruitment methods were identified. Semi-probabilistic methods were used most commonly to survey men who have sex with men, and the use of the Internet was the method that gathered more respondents. We found that female sex workers were more frequently recruited through non-probabilistic methods than men who have sex with men (odds = 2.2; p < 0.05; confidence interval (CI) [1.1–4.2]). In the last 6 years, the number of studies based in middle and low human development countries increased more than the number of studies based in very high and high human development countries (odds = 2.5; p < 0.05; CI [1.3–4.9]).ConclusionsThis systematic literature review identified 11 methods used to sample men who have sex with men and female sex workers. There is an association between the type of sampling method and the population being studied. The number of studies based in middle and low human development countries has increased in the last 6 years of this study.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13643-015-0129-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The Asymmetric Impact of Growth Fluctuation on Human Development

In this paper, we re-examine the impact of economic growth fluctuation on human development indicators. Using the per capita growth rate and human development indicators for 131 countries between 1974 and 2007, we find that growth acceleration and deceleration have significant impact on the human development indicators. We also find that the effects are asymmetric. This asymmetric effect is valid both in terms of acceleration and deceleration periods and countries which are classified according to human development. Namely, the negative impact of economic deceleration on human development outcomes is greater than the positive impact of economic acceleration for all countries. The same is true for medium and low human development countries. The positive impact of economic acceleration and negative impact of economic deceleration are greater than the impacts on very high and high development countries. Therefore, economic growth must be provided, which will reach everyone and ensure everyone's utilization of economic opportunities in order to achieve the 2023 Millennium Goals.

A new RICEs model with the global emission reduction schemes

Taking into account the fact of global economic integration, this paper improves the RICE model and the MRICES model, and establishes a new integrated assessment model MRICES-2012, which takes Ramsey utility as the standard of fairness. Based on the model, schemes which meet the global emission mitigation targets as well as the interests of developing countries are simulated to assess the international fairness of emission reduction. Therefore, a new feasible scheme is proposed, which can not only reach the Copenhagen Consensus but also ensure interests of every country. Specifically speaking, the US and Japan cut emissions 80% and 70% respectively by 2050 relative to the 1990 level; the EU and other developed countries cut 80% by 2050 relative to 1990 level; high human development countries cut 50% by 2050 relative to 1990 level; all above-mentioned countries start emission reduction from 2020 and keep emission on 2050 level by 2100; China begins emission reduction from 2030 and cuts emission 15% by 2050 and 25% by 2100 relative to 2005 level; medium human development countries keep emission on 2020 level by 2100; low human development countries do not take part in reduction on emission intensity and global emission.

Success and Failure in Human Development, 1970–2007

The paper reviews experience in advancing Human Development (HD) since 1970 by investigating behaviour among countries that made the largest improvement in HD and those that made the least improvement. The paper provides evidence on a range of indicators for the three best (and worst) performers among high, medium and low HD countries. It identifies alternative combinations of variables associated with success and failure. It then reviews performance on a range of other dimensions of Human Development, including political rights, gender empowerment, societal stability and environmental sustainability and shows these are only weakly associated with performance on the Human Development Index (HDI). To illuminate historical, political and institutional factors associated with success and failure, the performance of six countries (four successful and two weak performers) are briefly reviewed—Bangladesh, Chile, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Laos and Zambia.

New panel data evidence of human development convergence from 1975 to 2005

This paper studies the possibility of human development convergence in the world from 1975 through 2005. Human development is measured by the Human Development Index (HDI) trend, and convergence across countries is tested for by the panel data approach of Ben-David (1993) and bootstrap critical values. Similar analysis is performed on the members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and on the European Union (EU) countries too. Moreover, it is also tested whether low human development countries had been converging to high human development countries, less rich OECD countries to rich OECD countries, and whether those countries that joined the EU in 2004 and 2007 had been converging to those member states that joined the EU earlier. The results suggest that in each case, the general rise of HDI was accompanied by convergence.

Relationship between GDP and Human Development Indices in India

Human Development Index is a composite index to measure the development of human resources in each country and four indicators of life expectancy, income per capita, the average number of years studying and hope to the number of years of education will be formed. Countries, according to the Department of Human Development Index rates countries with high human development, countries with high human development, and human development countries with medium and low human development countries are divided. Development Goal is creating conditions where people can live long and healthy life and knowledge benefit. Human Resource Development Index as one of the important indicators of economic development for each country and is considered an effective role in economic development. Importance of human development index led put review Indian economy. Trend changes every three human resource development index during the 30-year period from 1980 to 2010 of the goals of this research. In this article we will consider relationship between GDP and three indicators of human resources in India. In addition, we will evaluate relationship and mutual effects of each of the three indicators of human resource development in the Indian economy using the latest (2010) formula provided by the United Nations. GDP or income as the dependent variable and three indicators long life, health and education as independent variables in the research model have been told.

Part II. Analysis of data gaps pertaining toShigellainfections in low and medium human development index countries, 1984–2005

The global incidence of Shigella infection has been estimated at 80-165 million episodes annually, with 99% of episodes occurring in the developing world. To identify contemporary gaps in the understanding of the global epidemiology of shigellosis, we conducted a review of the English-language scientific literature from 1984 to 2005, restricting the search to low and medium human development countries. Our review yielded 11 population-based studies of Shigella burden from seven countries. No population-based studies have been conducted in sub-Saharan Africa or in low human development countries. In studies done in all age groups, Shigella incidence varied from 0.6 to 107 episodes/1000 person-years. S. flexneri was the most commonly detected subgroup in the majority of studies. Case-fatality rates ranged from 0% to 2.6% in population-based studies and from 0% to 21% in facility-based studies. This review highlights the large gaps in data on the burden of Shigella infections for low human development index countries and, more specifically, for sub-Saharan Africa.

Malavika Karlekar (ed.). Paradigms of Learning: The Total Literacy Campaign in India. New Delhi: Sage Publications. 2004. 356 pages. Paperback. Indian Rupees 375.00.

Raising the standards of literacy in the developing world has been a major goal of the less developed countries since most of them became independent in the process of decolonisation that followed World War II. The Human Development Report 2004, brought out by the United Nations Development Programme lists some major improvements in increasing literacy levels of a number of countries between the year 1990 and 2002. For example, low human development countries like Togo increased their adult literacy rates from 44.2 percent in 1990 to 59.6 percent in 2002. Congo saw an increase in its literacy rate for the same period from 67.1 percent to 82.8 percent. The rates for Uganda, Kenya, Yemen, and Nigeria are 56.1 percent and 68.9 percent, 70.8 percent and 84.3 percent, 32.7 percent and 49.0 percent, and 48.7 percent and 68.8 percent respectively. If one examines the breakdown by region, the least developed countries as a group saw an increase in their adult literacy rates from 43.0 percent to 52.5 percent, the Arab states from 50.8 percent to 63.3 percent, South Asia from 47.0 percent to 57.6 percent, Sub-Saharan Africa from 50.8 percent to 63.2 percent and East Asia and the Pacific from 79.8 percent to 90.3 percent. If we look at the increase in the levels of literacy from the perspective of medium human development and low human development, the figures are 71.8 percent and 80.4 percent, and 42.5 percent and 54.3 percent, respectively.

The human development index and per capita GDP

Using cross-section data in regression analysis, this paper examines the relationship between per capita real GDP and the human development index in high, medium and low human development countries. The sensitivity of the human development index to changes in per capita GDP is found to be highest in low human development countries. An ‘inverted U’ type relationship between per capita GDP and the human development index appears to be valid for medium human development countries.