Low-income Nations Research Articles

Poverty and surgery: Is the deck still stacked against low-income and middle-income nations?

Poverty and surgery: Is the deck still stacked against low-income and middle-income nations?

CELL CROSS TALK IN DISEASES: THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN STEM CELLS AND SOME INFECTIOUS DISEASES, THERAPEUTIC PROSPECTS IN LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES

Particularly in low-income nations, infectious illnesses continue to be a significant global health burden. The interaction of stem cells with infectious diseases has become a fascinating field of study with bright therapeutic potential. This review article seeks to give readers an overview of how cells interact with one another in disease, with a particular focus on how stem cells interact with a few specific infectious diseases and their therapeutic potential in low-income nations. The definition and several types of stem cells are introduced at the outset of the review, with a focus on their capacity for regeneration and immunomodulation. The significance of stem cells in tissue repair and regeneration is next discussed, emphasizing their potential to lessen the damaging effects of infectious illnesses on host tissues.The article also examines the behaviour and function of stem cells as well as the direct and indirect effects of pathogens on stem cells. Examining the immune systems function in controlling the interaction between infections and stem cells helps to understand the intricate cellular cross-talk involved. The review examines the therapeutic potential of stem cell-based therapies for infectious diseases in the context of low-income nations. It addresses the potential of stem cell treatments for conditions like HIV, malaria, tuberculosis, and neglected tropical diseases while highlighting the developments and difficulties associated with applying these treatments in settings with limited resources.Overall, this review demonstrates the complex relationship between stem cells and infectious diseases and offers insights into the potential therapeutic applications of stem cell-based therapies in low-income nations. It emphasizes the requirement for additional study, teamwork, and the creation of affordable and widely available stem cell therapies to effectively combat infectious diseases and enhance healthcare outcomes in settings with limited resources.

The Nexus between Fintech and Financial Stability; Moderated Mediated by Financial Inclusion and Economic Vulnerability: Evidence from Cross-country Analysis

Financial innovations are essential for fostering economic expansion. The outcomes of studies looking into this connection have been conflicting. No research to yet made an attempt to investigate the potential mediating function of financial inclusion in articulating the link between innovations and growth. In order to provide a comprehensive understanding of how income inequality might be addressed in developing, least developed, and low-income nations, this study makes a unique addition by looking at the joint dynamics among the four constructs. In order to promote financial inclusion and economic progress, the findings suggested that governments should make investments in the technology infrastructure that the financial sector may use to deliver financial services.

Digital financial innovation and renewable electrification: A step toward zero carbon nexus

This study proposes a new measure of energy diversity. The impact of digital finance innovation effects of green financing (GF), economic growth (EG), renewable energy (RE), inflationary pressures, and geopolitical risks for enhancing sustainability in China were obtained using micro- and macro-level data from 2011 to 2020. A regression prediction method was applied, considering both the direct and indirect relationships between the factor predictions. Our results confirm that major economies experience significant economic growth as long-term energy diversification increases. However, energy diversification has a negative impact as short-term economic development in some nations is negatively affected by. The findings also show that in the medium- and long-term, energy variation does not support financial development in low-income nations. Therefore, additional safety precautions must be taken when diversifying energy sources.

Accessibility And Affordability Of Health Services In India: A Critical Study

Considering India's outstanding economic success following the adoption of new economic strategy in the 1990s, the country has made only gradual and unequal progress in enhancing its citizens' health. Large disparities in health infrastructure and access to healthcare remain and have even gotten worse within and among groups, among rural and urban areas, and throughout states. Despite the fact that member nations of the World Health Organization began to support the idea of health care for all as early as 2005, India has yet to accomplish these goals, unlike numerous other low-income nations. The continual issue of meeting the needs of the most marginalised Indian society is one that the country's health care system must continue to grapple with. Recent progress in access to healthcare caused by various initiatives, the states continue to face serious problems with regard to the affordability and accessibility of health-related services for the poor. Inequalities in the cost and accessibility of health treatments by socio - economic level, location, and gender are still present. This is mostly caused by the numerous obstacles that make it difficult to get essential medical care. The present crisis of public health infrastructure in rural regions and other aspects of health services in India are critically examined and evaluated in this perspective.

Reflection of Health Insurance among Bangladeshi Primary School Teachers

Over 1.3 billion people in the world are challenged to access good and cheap healthcare when become ill. Health insurance policies are a fantastic strategy to assist people who can't afford medical care. For middle- and low-income nations, there hasn't been much research on the ability to pay for health insurance for public employees like school teachers. Therefore, this cross-sectional questionnaire based research has been undertaken to explore the reflection of health insurance among 383 Bangladeshi school teachers of 5 divisional city center primary school and were being surveyed online between 1st August to 30th August 2022. According to survey, monthly average (mean) health expenditure of respondents were 7668.93 BDT (Bangladeshi Taka equivalent to $80.72) with 95% confidence interval. Of 35% responders suffered from high blood pressure, approximately 8% people were suffering from arthritis and asthma, 7.8% people have heart disease and 8.1 % people suffer from cholesterol problem. Maximum respondents (80%) agreed that health insurance is burden for them. About 51% teachers had no idea about health insurance. However, there was no significant relation in between educational status and health insurance perception for male and female teacher respondents. Moreover, the comparative data highlighted that more awareness and more exploration might be needed in health insurance perception for primary school teachers. This result can contribute to form people’s choice-oriented health insurance policy.

A machine learning approach for time series forecasting with application to debt risk of the Montenegrin electricity industry

Level of customer electricity debts is a relevant information for the electricity production company, as it represents uncollected revenue for the provided service. Higher level of debts may affect the provider’s financial stability and the ability to invest and maintain their network. On the other hand, high levels of debt may indicate larger macroeconomic problems, such as the lower standard of the citizens or high unemployment. In this paper, a Machine Learning approach for electricity debt prediction was applied, using Support Vector Regression method and data from the Montenegrin electricity provider. The obtained results indicate an excellent model performance, proving that the chosen method is an outstanding choice for this task, compared to other machine learning methods. The forecast of electricity user debts using machine learning techniques adds a new research area to the existing research, as the previous literature mostly concentrated on the prediction of electric load, consumption, and demand. The risk of default may be larger in lower income nations, as is the case in this research, therefore risk prediction and mitigation are crucial for the power supplier in these countries. The results obtained in this research on the test set are 1.63% and 0.854, for Relative Error and R2, respectively, showing excellent predictive performance. Additionally, correlation coefficient is close to 1 in cross-validation and on unknown data. Thus, it can be confirmed that the debt prediction was efficient.

Diverse e-cigarette regulations in the Asia Pacific: A health economic perspective.

Diverse e-cigarette regulations in the Asia Pacific: A health economic perspective.

Socioeconomic Difference and Adequate Antenatal Care in Indonesia: Evidence from a Nationwide Household Survey

BACKGROUND: Inadequate antenatal care (ANC) has been identified as a risk factor for poor pregnancy outcomes in low-income nations. The World Health Organization recommends adequate ANC for a minimum of eight visits. While universal health coverage has been implemented since 2014, Indonesia as fourth largest populous country encounters challenge on socioeconomic disparities. AIM: This study aims to explore the socioeconomic difference of adequate ANC in Indonesia. METHODS: Data from the Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey 2017 was used for the analysis and includes 15,313 mothers age 15–49 who had a last live birth in the 5 years preceding the survey. Multivariate logistic regression was employed to assess correlation between socioeconomic status and adequate ANC. RESULTS: About 20.8% of mothers had adequate ANC and the proportion ranging between 11.4% in the poorest group and 34.5% in the richest group. Poorest (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 0.68; 95% CI: 0.54–0.86) and poorer (AOR 0.79; 95% CI: 0.64–0.97) mothers are less likely to have adequate ANC compared to the richest mothers. In addition, mothers who lived in Java-Bali region, had better knowledge on danger sign of pregnancy, exposed to internet every day, health insurance ownerships, and having ANC at health facilities were more likely to have adequate ANC. CONCLUSION: Socioeconomic status was significantly associated with adequate ANC, where inequality was profound among poor mothers. Therefore, specific intervention to expand universal health coverage for poor mothers is essential to reduce socioeconomic disparities.

UPGRADING HERITAGE URBAN PUBLIC SPACES BY USING RECYCLING WASTE PLASTIC MATERIALS

In low-income countries, population expansion and urbanization bring challenges of inadequate living standards to the fore. Some of the issues could be solved if well-functioning plastic recycling systems were built. To reduce the environmental burden and improve the overall situation in dense cities, the already existing local informal waste treatment system, which is widespread in many low-income nations, needs to be developed with efficient sorting and composting solutions. A case study is carried out in the city of Mina, Lebanon, with the goal of establishing a viable decentralized recycling plastic pavilion material. The effort aims to lessen the climate harm caused by non-recycled waste, improve the quality of life for residents, and enhance the affected locations' aesthetical, educational, and recreational attributes. The concepts were generated according to the resident's needs and to find solutions to the existing problem of the area under study. The goals are based on data and observations about the city, the current waste management system, the stakeholders, the project organization, and any roadblocks. The project's overall work method is known as the Logical Framework Approach. It's a goal-oriented project planning method that relies on disciplined thinking and logical analysis. Literature review, observations, study visits, site analyses, photography, drawing, 3D modeling, and other sub-methods are included in the study. Proposals for plastic pavilions and plastic features for open public spaces in Al Mina are the result of the process. Because the areas have both comparable and dissimilar characteristics, site-specific solutions are required.

A Review of Theoretical Knowledge and Practical Applications of Iron-Based Adsorbents for Removing Arsenic from Water

Groundwater contamination by arsenic (As) is a serious issue in many countries, particularly in middle- and low-income nations. High concentrations of As in drinking water and groundwater cause serious health problems. Numerous technologies, such as ion exchange, oxidation, coagulation–flocculation, phytoremediation, membrane filtration, and adsorption, have been applied to remove As from the water environment. Among these technologies, adsorption is the preferred method in low- and middle-income countries due to its affordability, high efficiency, and ease of design, operation, and maintenance. Along with this technology, a variety of materials have been developed and investigated for their ability to remove As from water environments, though iron-based adsorbents have been reported to be the most effective. Thus, the aim of this paper is to briefly review the sources of As and the prevalence of As species in water bodies, as well as the currently available technologies for As removal. A detailed analysis of recent studies on iron-based adsorbents used to remove As from aqueous solutions in both laboratory conditions and field conditions is presented.

Assessing the Impact of Universal Healthcare Coverage on Maternal and Child Health Outcomes in Nigeria

The purpose of this research was to determine how universal healthcare coverage in Nigeria would affect maternal and infant health. 500 households across four states in Nigeria provided information for this cross-sectional research. Data analysis using descriptive statistics revealed that the NHIS has helped increase access to and use of maternal and child healthcare services, leading to a decrease in maternal and child death rates. Inadequate funding, infrastructure, and health workforce were also cited as obstacles to implementing the NHIS in the study. Maximizing the NHIS's effect and achieving further gains in maternal and child health outcomes will require addressing these challenges and social determinants of health, such as poverty, education, and access to clean water and sanitation. These results have substantial implications for healthcare policymakers and providers in Nigeria and other low-income nations. Improving maternal and child health outcomes and decreasing household healthcare expenses are two major goals of universal healthcare coverage initiatives like the NHIS.

Screening for the prevalence of rheumatic heart disease among school children in Egypt.

In low-income nations, Rheumatic valvular heart disease remains a major cause of morbidity and premature deaths. Accurate prevalence data in Egypt are still lacking yet highly desirable to facilitate health care planning. An cluster sample of school children in eastern Egyptian Governorates was examined clinically and echocardiographically (using abbreviated protocol) for detection of rheumatic valvular heart disease based on 2012 World Heart Federation criteria (the Doppler and the morphological criteria) for diagnosis. According to echocardiography interpretation, participants were categorized as having definite rheumatic heart disease (RHD), borderline RHD or no RHD. A total of 1680 students aged between 6 and 18 years were screened, 119 echocardiographic studies were non-interpretable; so, a total of 1560 studies were evaluated. From the total screened students, 1560 studies were adequate and interpretable according to the criteria specified in the methods section. This revealed a prevalence of 2.3% of the sample with RHD without adding the equivocal cases. The most prevalent lesion as detected by echocardiography was mitral regurgitation (29% of definite RHD cases). Rheumatic valvular heart disease remains prevalent in Egypt and the findings of this study should influence early detection, primary and secondary prevention, and adequate future national health plans.

Navigating the challenges of neuro-oncology in Africa: addressing diagnostic and treatment barriers in the region: a correspondence

Navigating the challenges of neuro-oncology in Africa: addressing diagnostic and treatment barriers in the region: a correspondence

Risk Factors Associated with Early Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes in Women with and without Early Preterm Premature Rupture of Membranes in Cameroon

Background: Preterm premature rupture of the membrane is an important cause of preterm birth. It often results in high perinatal morbidity and mortality in low-income nations. This study evaluated the risk factors associated with early PPROM among participants in Cameroon. Methods: This multi-centric case-control study was conducted in Douala and Yaoundé. We enrolled 125 participants with (cases) and 125 others without (controls) Preterm premature rupture of membrane. Consented participants were asked to fill in a structured questionnaire and data on their socio-demographic, physical, and clinical variables were collected. Descriptive statistic was carried out on SPSS version 23 to provide frequencies and percentages of respective parameters; also the Logistic regression was computerized to identify independent associations between participant’s characteristics, risk factors, and PPROM (Odds ratio at 95% CI, p< 0.05). Results: There were similarities in the characteristics of participants except for their profession whereby, the unemployed were more likely to be cases than controls [OR= 1.99; 95%CI: 1.20- 3.31; p= 0.007]. Among participants with PPROM, cases were more likely to have had a previous PPROM than controls [OR= 4.74 CI 95%: 1.08-20.79; p= 0.001]. Regarding their infection status, cases were more likely to have had Chlamydia Trachomatis infection [OR= 16.58; CI 95%: 3.08- 89.32; p= 0.001), or Bacterial vaginosis infection [OR= 16.58; CI 95%: 1.18-232.31; p= 0.001] than controls. Conclusion: Participants with the history of PPROM, Chlamydia Trachomatis infections and Bacterial vaginosis were more likely to have PPROM. As part of the preventive measure for a healthy pregnancy, pregnant women are advised to attend the antenatal clinic.

From Pre-Pandemic to Post-Pandemic Struggles to Meet Sustainable Development Goals

The need to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is universal for all high-, middle-, and low-income nations, but the momentum was disrupted by COVID-19. Tourism is an important sector to address SDGs where the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) emphasizes the positive role tourism could play toward meeting those goals. This paper is conceptually grounded within the scope of the SDGs and uses a case study approach. It uses the case of Nepal, a developing country, to demonstrate the struggles of developing nations to meet SDGs within the context of the pandemic. Based on the literature and available secondary data, similar cases are discussed to establish relevance for global contexts by reflecting how other developing nations with troubled tourism ecosystems due to the pandemic will negatively impact the movement on meeting SDGs. Further, future directions are proposed to gain momentum toward responding to the SDGs. Indeed, developing nations will struggle more than others, as the priority has been to deal with the COVID-19 impacts with limited available resources.

Estimation of the aboveground biomass and carbon sequestration in an urban forest remnant using aerial photogrammetry from a low-cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Abstract. Penboon C, Supavetch S, Sirirueang K, Rinnamang S, Ladpala P, Kaewgrajang T, Meunpong P. 2023. Estimation of the aboveground biomass and carbon sequestration in an urban forest remnant using aerial photogrammetry from a low-cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Biodiversitas 24: 1908-1915. For low-income nations, a low-cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) offers an alternative to the traditional time-intensive forest survey that requires many resources. This study was conducted in the remnant forest with the dominant tree species, Dipterocarpus alatus Roxb., forming the upper canopy. Photogrammetry techniques with UAV images were used to obtain the Canopy Height Model (CHM). The results of tree height, individual tree detection, biomass, and carbon sequestration were compared between ground truthing and photogrammetry estimation. The large percentages of trees were automatically recognized. However, due to a closed forest canopy, some trees might have been left out from the actual count, leading to an undercounting of trees and an underestimation of the aboveground biomass (AGB). The photogrammetric dataset demonstrated a good tree height extraction accuracy and did not differ significantly from that determined by ground truthing (RMSE=2.59 m and 8.24%). The mean predicted height AGB from direct measurement was 24.76 tons ha-1, higher than those obtained from single- and multi-set photogrammetry, 5.41 and 17.99 tons ha-1, respectively. AGB and carbon sequestration estimated from photogrammetry were 72.66% of the ground truthing value. The accuracy of the photogrammetry results was acceptable and feasible for detecting individual tree heights, biomass, and carbon sequestration in the remnant forest. Overall, low-cost UAV could create a cost, time-efficient, and reasonably accurate local-scale forest inventory.

AI-based radiodiagnosis using chest X-rays: A review.

Chest Radiograph or Chest X-ray (CXR) is a common, fast, non-invasive, relatively cheap radiological examination method in medical sciences. CXRs can aid in diagnosing many lung ailments such as Pneumonia, Tuberculosis, Pneumoconiosis, COVID-19, and lung cancer. Apart from other radiological examinations, every year, 2 billion CXRs are performed worldwide. However, the availability of the workforce to handle this amount of workload in hospitals is cumbersome, particularly in developing and low-income nations. Recent advances in AI, particularly in computer vision, have drawn attention to solving challenging medical image analysis problems. Healthcare is one of the areas where AI/ML-based assistive screening/diagnostic aid can play a crucial part in social welfare. However, it faces multiple challenges, such as small sample space, data privacy, poor quality samples, adversarial attacks and most importantly, the model interpretability for reliability on machine intelligence. This paper provides a structured review of the CXR-based analysis for different tasks, lung diseases and, in particular, the challenges faced by AI/ML-based systems for diagnosis. Further, we provide an overview of existing datasets, evaluation metrics for different[][15mm][0mm]Q5 tasks and patents issued. We also present key challenges and open problems in this research domain.

Advancing Weather and Climate Forecasting for Our Changing World

Abstract Our world is rapidly changing. Societies are facing an increase in the frequency and intensity of high-impact and extreme weather and climate events. These extremes together with exponential population growth and demographic shifts (e.g., urbanization, increase in coastal populations) are increasing the detrimental societal and economic impact of hazardous weather and climate events. Urbanization and our changing global economy have also increased the need for accurate projections of climate change and improved predictions of disruptive and potentially beneficial weather events on kilometer scales. Technological innovations are also leading to an evolving and growing role of the private sector in the weather and climate enterprise. This article discusses the challenges faced in accelerating advances in weather and climate forecasting and proposes a vision for key actions needed across the private, public, and academic sectors. Actions span (i) utilizing the new observational and computing ecosystems; (ii) strategies to advance Earth system models; (iii) ways to benefit from the growing role of artificial intelligence; (iv) practices to improve the communication of forecast information and decision support in our age of internet and social media; and (v) addressing the need to reduce the relatively large, detrimental impacts of weather and climate on all nations and especially on low-income nations. These actions will be based on a model of improved cooperation between the public, private, and academic sectors. This article represents a concise summary of the white paper on the Future of Weather and Climate Forecasting (2021) put together by the World Meteorological Organizations’ Open Consultative Platform.

Study on practical model for Indian 2 W automobile manufacturing

The country's economic prosperity is mostly fueled by the automobile sector. Two-wheeled (2 W) vehicles are essential for urban transportation in India and further low-income Asian nations because they offer millions of people access to economical mobility. Aside from having high emissions and road fatalities per passenger kilometre, these cars also have a substantial influence on urban transportation impacts and energy usage. In light of the popularity of these cars and their effects on transportation, technology plays a significant role. This essay examines the viability of 2 W car technology in India, as well as contributing elements including market dynamics and environmental regulations. Today, the nation is home to practically all of the major auto manufacturers in the world. The rise of the automotive industry is seen in the trend of vehicle manufacturing. While the Indian 2 W car sector has transformed in terms of product development, innovation, and quality in response to consumer expectations and conservation concerns, the study demonstrates several technologies. The automotive industry’s manufacturing trend is rising at the moment.