City Administration Research Articles

The Spatial Context of the Removal of Sustainable Rice Fields in Surakarta City

The area designated for agriculture is diminishing due to urban expansion. Control measures play a crucial role in preventing the conversion of agricultural land. The limited availability of land in Surakarta City serves as justification for the city government, as a regulatory body, not to designate agricultural areas in the Surakarta City spatial planning (RTRW) for the years 2021-2041. When the central government enacted a policy regarding the protection of rice fields, the Surakarta City administration requested its exclusion from the decree. This study adopts a case study approach to provide an overview of agricultural lands in Surakarta City that have been omitted from this policy. Data were gathered through interviews, observations, and document analysis. It has been observed that Surakarta City still possesses rice fields that local farmers cultivate, and these farmers are residents holding Surakarta ID cards. This situation leads to a realization that the city’s planning fails to support sustainable development despite agriculture not being the predominant occupation in the area. In addition to the ineffective control efforts at the city level, this phenomenon highlights the need for agricultural empowerment to ensure the continued development of socio-cultural practices.

Geographical equity in Ethiopian infant feeding practices: a secondary analysis of a birth cohort study

ObjectivesTo assess the geographical equity in Ethiopian infants’ exclusive breastfeeding at 5 months and dietary diversity at 12 months and whether social factors explained the spatial inequities.DesignSecondary analysis of a...

Policing harm reduction: A case study of who counts as human

The debate over whether or not to have police officers carry naloxone was waged long enough in Windsor, Ontario that it became referred to in the local media as “the naloxone issue.” Compared to other cities and towns in the Canadian province, Windsor was slow to equip police officers with the life-saving drug that reverses the effects of opioid overdose. In this paper, we document the unhurried development of this particular harm reduction measure as it unfolded over the course of several years. We draw on theories of human disposability in our analysis of the debates and discussions conveyed through media coverage of the naloxone issue. In doing so, we develop an account for the resistance to a rapid implementation of harm reduction in Windsor, especially given the compounded crises of escalating opioid-related deaths and the COVID-19 pandemic. Examining the logics underpinning major, minor, and left unsaid positions taken in discussions and debates on the naloxone issue as conveyed through press media, we show how, ideologically, the lives of people who use drugs (PWUD) are not only less valued, but made into wasted life. Underlying police and city administrations’ delay in equipping police officers with naloxone is an understanding of PWUD as disposable. The naloxone issue was turned into a controversy, demonstrating that the humanity of PWUD is up for debate. In contrast, the humanity of police officers is regarded as self-evident. We conclude by arguing that the eventual decision to equip all Windsor police officers with naloxone was made in the name of police safety, in particular as a way of protecting police from homeless bodies, constructed as both dangerous and drug-using, thereby revealing that the crux of the controversy was actually about whose life is worth protecting.

RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS OF THE TOWN OF TOLYATTI IN SAMARA REGION IN 2002–2010

The years 2002–2010 are of interest for the study of church life, since during these years there was an increase in registered religious organizations both in Russia and in the town of Tolyatti, which began in the late 80s of the XX century. The article examines the religious situation in Tolyatti and interaction of religious organizations with Tolyatti city administration in 2002–2010 on the basis of internal documents of Tolyatti city administration and Samara diocesan administration. The purpose of the study is to analyze the situation, activities and number of religious organizations in 2002–2010, to evaluate the results of their interaction with municipal authorities. Materials and methods. Implementation of research tasks was achieved on the basis of using documents extracted from the funds of the current archive of Samara Diocesan Administration. The research methodology includes a document analysis method and a statistical method, which is necessary to analyze data related to the increase in the number of religious organizations. In working with periodical materials, the method of synchronous comparison with documentary material was applied. Research results. The relationship of religious organizations of Tolyatti with Tolyatti city administration in 2002–2010 was studied, the situation, activities and number of religious organizations, the number of their adherents were analyzed. Tolyatti municipal authorities preferred Orthodox religious organizations in religious policy, which is confirmed by their financing, allocation of land plots to construct temples, and media coverage of intra-church events. In 2002–2010, a special, trusting relationship between the heads of Togliatti city administration and the heads of Orthodox religious organizations (the Russian Orthodox Church) developed. Conclusions. In 2002–2010, representatives of four confessions (Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism) from more than 80 religious organizations and groups with numerical superiority of the Russian Orthodox Church parishes (20 parishes in 2010) carried out their activities in Tolyatti. The government of Samara Region and Tolyatti city administration found opportunities to help in the construction of Orthodox churches, a Muslim mosque and the construction of the Volga Orthodox Institute. Allocation of funds to Orthodox parishes from Tolyatti city budget took place without any competitive procedures. Protectionism of local authorities towards the Russian Orthodox Church manifested in allocation of the best land plots to construct Orthodox parishes and institutions. The clergy of Tolyatti sought to strengthen their influence through various events that were supported by local authorities informatively, organizationally and in some cases financially.

Marine protected areas as a tool for environmental justice

Overfishing, destructive industrial practices, and climate change are the biggest drivers of biodiversity loss in the ocean. Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), including through nature conservation initiatives like “30x30” and “America the Beautiful,” can be an effective solution to protect marine life and habitats, while making them more resilient to the pressures of extractive and destructive practices, as well as climate change impacts. There is general scientific consensus on the components that make MPAs ecologically effective, however, social context is often presented as burdensome—where protected spaces exclude communities from accessing nature. While this is a valid concern in top-down approaches to implementing protections around the world, under economic-driven systems of ocean management in countries like the United States, this narrative overlooks the potential opportunity of MPAs as a means to equity and environmental justice. In the U.S., the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) established a system that prioritizes the economic value of fisheries and centers power among Fishery Management Councils which are dominated by industry actors. Given this type of governance landscape, this perspective article presents MPAs as a step towards environmental justice in ocean management, whereby an MPA under the appropriate enabling conditions can be a tool to mitigate damage, distribute power, support other cultural value systems, and to advance our understanding of the ocean, climate change and diverse community impacts moving forward.

The ‘researcher’ versus the ‘political worker’: overlapping identities and their tensions in the field

ABSTRACT As a Pakistan-based Left political worker who has persistently struggled to reconcile with my identity as an academic, I use this article to explore the tension between the ‘researcher’ and the ‘political worker’ within me; a tension that came to a head during my PhD fieldwork in 2021, specifically from the moment when one of my field sites, the extremely poor G-11/4 basti (an Urdu term for ‘informal settlement’) was forcibly bulldozed by the Islamabad city administration. I use the tensions between the ‘political worker’ and the ‘researcher’ as an opportunity to explore questions of accountability, reciprocity, solidarity, and contribution in the realms of both political organizing and research/scholarship in structurally violent contexts. Employing autoethnographic methods, this article engages with and across my own writings from three different points in time and space over the course of the PhD and shares the learnings that emerge from an integration of these previously antagonistic identities. Calling attention to individual self-harm and compartmentalization of identities as forms of violence embedded in oppressive structural contexts, it argues that these forms of violence must be seen as connected to, interdependent with, and constitutive of collective struggles for social transformation.

Charter of Freiburg of 1293: Burgomaster and Heads of Corporations

Introduction. The Charter of Freiburg, drawn up in 1293, marked the end of the reform of the city administration. The document also reflects the process of forming management structures for local workshops. Methods and materials. The main research method is comparative historical analysis. The provisions of the Charter of 1293 and early compilations of law are compared. Analysis. The position of the governing bodies of the trading corporations in the city and the powers of the Burgomaster and the SchultheiЯ are examined. Special attention is paid to the election of shop masters, heads of the workshops, and the burgomaster, who was the head of all the craftsmen’s associations in the city. The formation of management structures in the artisan environment led to the emergence of a new body of municipal government – the Public Council. It was made up of the local lord and members of the Junior and Senior Councils (the regular bodies of Freiburg’s self-government). Among other things, the Public Council held elections for shop masters, supervised their activities, and dismissed them if necessary. Unlike the heads of the craftsmen’s associations, the burgomaster was appointed directly by the lord. At the same time, the powers of the burgomaster went beyond the mere management of the town shops. Among other things, the burgomaster was the spokesman for the interests of the Junior Council and participated in its management activities. With the advent of the office of burgomaster, the former head of the town and supreme judge – the SchultheiЯ – lost a number of their administrative functions and part of their income. Results. The Charter of 1293 recorded the establishment of a municipal government in the city, which included the Senior (supreme legislative power) and Junior Councils (supreme supervisory, legislative power), the SchultheiЯ (supreme judicial power), and the burgomaster (management of the city’s crafts). The Freiburg workshops became self-governing craft corporations.

Vaccination card loss and associated factors in Ethiopia: A multilevel analysis using Ethiopia Mini Demographic and Health Survey 2019 data.

The loss of vaccination cards is a momentous public health challenge in the prevention of vaccine-preventable diseases in most developing countries. There is a paucity of studies on the magnitude of vaccination card losses and associated factors in Ethiopia. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to assess the level of vaccination card loss and associated factors in Ethiopia. Data were extracted from the 2019 Ethiopia Mini Demographic and Health Survey, a nationally representative household survey of women aged 15-49 years with children aged 0-35 months. Data from a total of 3208 mother-child pairs was extracted for the study. A multilevel logistic regression model with random effect analysis techniques was used to identify individual and regional-level determinants of vaccination card loss. We checked the model's fitness by using Akaike Information Criteria and Bayesian Information Criteria. Odds ratios with a 95% Confidence intervals were used to declare statistical significance. A total of 3208 mother-child pairs from nine regions and two city administrations were included in the analysis. The result revealed that 1933 (60.26%) mother-child pairs did not have vaccination cards during home visits. illiterate mother 2.239 (95% CI: 1.297, 3.864), lowest wealth index category 2.089 (95% CI: 1.432, 3.048), ANC non-user 2.047 (95% CI: 1.605, 2.609), children living with their caretaker 6.749 (95% CI: 1.425, 13.654), having no access to television 1.384 (95% CI: 1.150, 1.664), longer birth interval 1.325 (95% CI: 1.027,1.710), giving birth at home and private health facilities 1.985 (95% CI: 1.579, 2.497), 1.696 (1.086, 2.648), contraceptive non-users 1.295 (95% CI: (1.042,1.609) and children aged 12-23 months and 24-35 months 1.577 (95% CI: 1.252, 1.985) and 2.282 (1.803, 2.889) were associated with vaccination card loss. Overall vaccination card loss among mothers of 0-35-month-old children is considerably high. To enhance maternal awareness regarding the significance of vaccination cards, promote antenatal care and public health facility delivery, and future researchers have to explore how to enhance vaccination card retention in Ethiopia.

Estimating the differences in police and hospital records of people injured in traffic crashes in Dire Dawa City administration, Ethiopia

The management of road safety relies on data from road traffic crashes to identify priorities, monitor trends and evaluate interventions. Both police and hospital records are important sources of information on crashes that result in injury; however, both are known to be incomplete, with the quality and completeness of data being lower in low- and middle-income countries. The aim of this study is to estimate the magnitude of the underreporting of crashes in Dire Dawa City, Ethiopia, as a case study that may be applicable elsewhere. In addition, it gives an opportunity to understand the discrepancies between police and hospital records in Dire Dawa City and how the data systems work in the city. This research compared data on traffic collisions resulting in injury from July 2014 to February 2019 across police and hospital databases and used the capture–recapture technique to estimate the actual numbers of crashes and the degree of under-recording in both sources. It was found that there was substantial under-recording in both sources, with the degree of under-recording varying by urban/rural area, gender, age, road user category and injury severity, as well as by source within these variables. The police figures were lower than the hospital figures, and in all cases but three (rural areas, passengers and serious injury crashes), both sources had more unmatched than matched cases. In addition, the analysis discovered undocumented deaths and injuries in both databases. To summarize, police capture more death instances, but hospitals capture more serious injury cases. The capture–recapture strategy predicted a greater number of instances than currently recorded by police and hospitals. This demonstrates a major under-reporting of crash data from both sources. This level of under-recording can lead to less effective road safety management and evaluation. Replication of this research in other parts of Ethiopia could provide information on local practices that are more or less successful in reducing the level of under-recording, and such results may have implications for other countries with similar problems.

Upcity: Addressing Urban Problems Through an Integrated System.

Current technologies could potentially solve many of the urban problems in today's cities. Many cities already possess cameras, drones, thermometers, pollution air gauges, and other sensors. However, most of these have been designated for use in individual domains within City Hall, creating a maze of individual data domains that cannot connect to each other. This jumble of domains and stakeholders prevents collaboration and transparency. Cities need an integrated system in which data and dashboards can be shared by city administrators to better deal with urban problems that involve several sectors and to improve oversight. This paper presents a model of an integrative system to manage classes of problems within one administrative municipal domain. Our model contains the cyber-physical system's elements: the physical object, the sensors and electronic devices attached to it, a database of collected problems, code running on the devices or remotely, and the human. We tested the model by using it on the recurring problem of potholes in city streets. An AI model for identifying potholes was integrated into applications available to citizens and operators so that they can feed the municipal system with images and the locations of potholes using their cell phone camera. Preliminary results indicate that these sensors can detect potholes with an accuracy of 91% and 99%, depending on the detection equipment used. In addition, the dashboards provide the manager and the citizen with a transparent view of the problems' progress and support for their correct address.

Community Insights on Violence against Children: Awareness, Engagement, and Predictive Variables in the Context of Hawassa City Administration

This study seeks to investigate community insights on violence against children, focusing on awareness, involvement, and predicting factors within the Hawassa City Administration in Ethiopia. The study employed a cross-sectional explanatory research design, incorporating a mixed-methods approach. Three hundred ninety-one respondents participated in this study, along with seven individuals for in-depth interviews and sixteen participants in focus groups. A single population proportion formula was employed to determine sample size, and a systematic sampling procedure was utilized to select participants from the chosen kebeles. Descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized to analyze the quantitative data. The qualitative data were analyzed via the thematic analysis method. The study results revealed that all respondents are aware of violence against children; for 57.3% of the respondents, sexual abuse comes to their mind first when they think of violence against children. While 71.4% of the respondents are well informed on measures they can take to address violence against children, only 47.3% of the respondents have the experience of taking measures to address violence against children. The average mean score of 2.19 indicates that the community's level of engagement in addressing violence against children is low. The analysis identified key predictors of community engagement: attitude toward violence against children (β = -.244, t(-4.286), p < 0.05), age (β = -.223, t(-3.997), p < 0.05), habit of working with community policing (β = -.220, t(-3.931), p < 0.05), and role in the existing community structure (β =.178, t(3.135), p < 0.05). The study identified various community-based protection structures, including family systems, religious institutions, educational institutions, community policing services, community-based organizations, non-governmental organizations, governmental organizations, and legal frameworks. These findings suggest the need for strengthening community-based protection mechanisms while addressing the identified gaps between awareness and active engagement in child violence protection

How Radical Exactly?

The international competition for the new regulation plan of Novi Sad was held in 1937, in which Juraj Neidhardt’s design was awarded compensation instead of a prize. However, upon further consideration, the city administration decided to adopt a new version of Neidhardt’s plan in the following years. In addition to this plan, he won the administration’s trust to design a series of lower-level plans for the city in 1938-1941. Therefore, Neidhardt became the most prominent figure in the urban planning process triggered by the 1937 competition. However, his final regulation plan for the city from 1941 was rejected in the first post-war revision in 1945, failing to lead to any fruition. Nevertheless, the researchers later characterized the radical modernist approach of this plan as the inspiration for the subsequent general plans of Novi Sad, namely due to introducing the idea of cutting new axes through the urban tissue. There is room today, however, to re-evaluate these claims about the radicalness of Neidhardt’s plan since its solutions were deemed insufficient in bringing radical quality to the urban space of Novi Sad. Furthermore, in the 1938-1941 period, he designed a series of perspective drawings for the new regulation of the streets in the oldest urban core of the city, which brought a decisively modernist approach to treating the urban heritage: keeping only a selection of the most iconic monuments while replacing the rest of it with new modernist structures. These designs can contribute to reinstate the knowledge about Neidhardt’s approach to treating historical heritage, considering his later intricate studies of Bosnian and Macedonian architectural landscapes.

Larval source management in Ethiopia: modelling to assess its effectiveness in curbing malaria surge in dire Dawa and Batu Towns

BackgroundEthiopia faces several severe challenges in terms of malaria elimination, including drug resistance and diagnostic evasion in the Plasmodium falciparum parasite, insecticide resistance in the primary Anopheles malaria vector, and, most recently, the invasion of the Asian malaria vector Anopheles stephensi. Novel malaria control methods are therefore needed, and in this paper, we describe the evaluation of a larval source management (LSM) strategy implemented in response to An. stephensi. The primary outcome was the malaria incidence rate compared between intervention and non-intervention sites in the presence of An. stephensi.MethodsIntervention (Batu and Dire Dawa) and control (Metehara) towns were selected, and weekly malaria passive case detection data collected between 2014 and 2023 were obtained from the Oromia regional state and Dire Dawa City Administration Health Bureau. In addition, data regarding intervention were obtained from the President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) reports. Weekly malaria passive case data were used to evaluate the change in the estimated malaria incidence rate and trends of temporal patterns of the estimated malaria incidence rate before and after interventions. An interrupted time series model with a cyclic second-order random walk structure periodic seasonal term was used to assess the impact of LSM on malaria incidence rate in the intervention and control settings.ResultsAn upsurge in malaria cases occurred after 2020 at both the intervention and control sites. The temporal patterns of malaria incidence rate showed an increasing trend after the intervention. The ITS model depicted that the LSM has no impact in reducing the malaria incidence rate at both intervention site Dire Dawa [immediate impact = 1.462 (0.891, 2.035)], [Lasting impact = 0.003 (− 0.012, 0.018)], and Batu [Immediate impact 0.007 (− 0.235, 0.249), [Lasting impact = 0.008 (− 0.003, 0.013)].ConclusionsAn overall increasing trend in the malaria incidence rate was observed irrespective of the implementation of LSM in the urban settings of Ethiopia, where An. stephensi has been found. Further investigations and validations of the incorporation of LSM into control activities are warranted.

Towards a Smarter Waste Management

The study 1) explores how to develop an IoT-based smart waste management (SWM) system that improves the waste management processes of a city and 2) researches how to develop SWM system improvement and evaluation decision support framework (DSF), that guides how to achieve all major WM-related goals, applies to different types of cities with different contexts and is not restrained to a single country or region. This study combines in one framework theoretical research, surveys with key WM stakeholders, practical research from international projects and hackathons, and practical knowledge from interviews with city authorities and companies responsible for waste management in the world's greenest cities. The SWM DSF has been tested and evaluated in three stages: 1) by researchers, 2) by a panel of experts, and 3) by representatives of the city administration of two Finnish cities.

Official pages of Russian city administrations on social networks: analysis of audience activity and engagement (2022-2023)

The development of digital technologies creates the basis for interaction between government authorities and citizens. The involvement of citizens in state and municipal management is considered as the most important state task. Communication methods and formats are expanding to ensure accessibility, efficiency and ease of interaction. Social networks are a popular tool for informing, advising and educating the population. Since December 1, 2022, public authorities are required to use social networks to interact with citizens, expanding opportunities for citizens to participate in the development of proposals, discussion and management decision-making. The article compares the activity on the official pages of the administrations of large Russian cities before and after the adoption of the law on the mandatory creation of official pages of public authorities in social networks (state-owned websites). The paper considered the official pages (state-owned publications) of the executive and administrative bodies of municipalities – administrations of 30 large cities that are the administrative centers of regions (subjects) of the Russian Federation. Data was collected on VKontakte pages, data collection and analysis was carried out manually and automatically using a specialized service for 2022-2023. The article compared and interpreted information about subscribers, publications on official pages, characterized the indicators of engagement and activity in the social network in absolute and relative terms. It was established that all the reviewed state-owned websites were created before 2022, but after the decision was made to create official pages, they became more active. The results show that the number of subscribers, publications, reactions (likes, comments, reposts) has increased, but overall engagement has decreased. The proposed study focuses on comparing the activity of official pages for 2022-2023, which distinguishes it from other studies that focus on monthly data analysis, the work is limited to the use of quantitative data. The conducted research contributes to the work on evaluating the effectiveness of state-owned websites, its results can be used by specialists responsible for maintaining social networks in public authorities to search for best practices in this area, improve feedback from authorities and society using social networks and assess the involvement of citizens in communication.

Generative artificial intelligence, present and perspectives in public administration

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is playing an increasingly important role in public administration, offering innovative solutions for efficiency and better public services. The application of AI in public administration aims to modernise and streamline the services offered to citizens. AI contains advanced algorithms, neural networks, and machine learning techniques to improve performance and efficiency over time. Smart algorithms, responsibly implemented, could help governments enhance service delivery and strengthen citizen engagement in local, city, regional, and national administrations around the world. Governments in some states have discreetly launched pilot programs to test developing AI applications, demonstrating an enthusiasm for technology at least as great as that in the private sector. By utilising AI, public administrations can automate repetitive processes, optimize resource usage, and improve interaction with the public. The purpose of the research is to show the extent and scope that AI tools integrated into organisations have in almost all areas of the public and private sectors in general, and state administrations in particular. The research objectives were: to analyse the dynamics of investments in AI tools; to discover the main services in state administrations that can be better performed using AI; to analyse the risks; and to highlight the perspective of development and integration of AI in public administrations of a few European states. The research is based on a comparative analysis of the implementation of AI tools across fields, components, and regions at the European level mainly, but also for Romania. The analysis period is 2021-2030. The results show a continuously increasing trend and an ever-faster rate of assimilation of AI tools in the field of public administration in an increasing number of states from most developed regions worldwide.

Behavioral and Health Outcomes of mRNA COVID-19 Vaccination: A Case-Control Study in Japanese Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises.

Background Despite ongoing waves of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections, including significant surges such as the 10th wave, understanding the impact of messenger RNA (mRNA) COVID-19 vaccination on infection risk and associated behavioral changes remains crucial. This study aims to urgently evaluate the effects of mRNA COVID-19 vaccination on COVID-19 infection rates and related behaviors among participants of the Yamato Project, which includes employees of Japanese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Methods A case-control study was conducted using data collected from a survey administered by the Japan Small and Medium Enterprise Management Council in December 2023. Participants included individuals who were part of the Yamato Project, not necessarily limited to SME employees. The survey gathered information on demographic characteristics, COVID-19 infection status, vaccination history, health status before January 2020, and various preventive behaviors. The primary outcome was the presence or absence of COVID-19 infection. Data were analyzed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression models to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between vaccination status and COVID-19 infection. Results A total of 913 participants were included in the final analysis. The adjusted ORs for COVID-19 infection among vaccinated individuals compared to unvaccinated individuals were 1.85 (95% CI: 1.33-2.57, p < 0.001). The odds of contracting COVID-19 increased with the number of vaccine doses: one to two doses (OR: 1.63, 95% CI: 1.08-2.46, p = 0.020), three to four doses (OR: 2.04, 95% CI: 1.35-3.08, p = 0.001), and five to seven doses (OR: 2.21, 95% CI: 1.07-4.56, p = 0.033). Behavioral analysis indicated that a reduced frequency of bathing and exercising was significantly associated with higher COVID-19 infection rates (p < 0.05). Conclusions The study observed a higher reported incidence of COVID-19 infection among vaccinated individuals during the pandemic period, which increased with the number of vaccine doses received. This paradoxical finding may be influenced by various factors, including immune response mechanisms, such as antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE) or original antigenic sin, behavioral changes, and exposure risk. Understanding these factors is crucial for urgently enhancing public health strategies and vaccination programs.

HIV Support Group Care Utilization and its Effect on Treatment Outcome Among HIV Patients on Antiretroviral Therapy: Evidence from Ethiopia Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment.

In the realm of HIV care, support groups play a pivotal role by bringing together individuals living with HIV to share experiences and receive guidance from healthcare professionals. These groups are renowned for their substantial benefits, including improving emotional well-being, enhancing treatment adherence, and fostering a strong sense of community. However, despite these advantages, there is a notable gap in Ethiopia regarding concrete evidence of their impact on key treatment outcomes. This study aims to bridge this gap by exploring how support group care influences viral suppression rates among HIV patients. The study was conducted among 259 HIV-positive individuals on ART using the EPHIA survey, employing a two-stage, stratified sampling design across urban areas in nine regions and two city administrations. Data analysis was performed using STATA version 17, and multicollinearity was assessed (VIF = 1.07). A multivariate logistic regression model was fitted, with a p-value of ≤ 0.05 considered statistically significant. Results showed that 25.12% of participants utilized HIV support groups. Those who participated in support groups were 3.14 times more likely to achieve viral load suppression compared to non-participants (AOR = 3.14, 95% CI: 1.35-6.30). This study highlights that HIV support groups significantly boost viral suppression rates, underscoring the importance of integrating these groups into standard treatment protocols. These findings underline the need for continued research to assess long-term outcomes and further optimize the effectiveness of support group care in enhancing HIV treatment outcomes.

Spatial Analysis of Drinking Water Quality and Environmental Sanitation on the Incidence of Diarrhea in Toddlers

Diarrhea is a common symptom of gastrointestinal infection caused by various bacterial, viral, and parasitic organisms and is characterized by loose stools and increased frequency when infected. Sanitation factors are closely related to environmental health and can affect the level of public health. The absence of a spatial picture of areas that are vulnerable to an increase in cases of children under five years old diarrhea complicates important case finding efforts to prevent outbreaks. The purpose of the study was to spatially analyze the effect of drinking water quality and sanitation on the incidence of diarrhea in children under five years old in the Administrative City of West Jakarta in 2023. This study used a quantitative method with a Cross Sectional research design and an ecological study with a spatial approach to determine the correlation of risk factors with cases of diarrhea in children under five years old geographically. The results of the study showed that the quality of environmental sanitation between the diarrhea group in the last 3 months and the no diarrhea group in the last 3 months had a value (p value = 0.373), water quality (p value = 0.036) with PR 1.840, CTPS habits (p value = 0.100) with PR 1.509, and type of drinking water source (p value = 1.151) with PR 1.442. And the water quality variable is the most dominant factor related to the incidence of diarrhea in children under five years old in the West Jakarta Administrative City in 2024. The results of the multivariate analysis of logistic regression with the ward conditional backward method p value = 0.32 with PR = 4.110 CI = Low 1.129 and upper 14.96 which shows that children under five years old with drinking water quality that does not meet the requirements have a 4.110 greater chance than toddlers whose drinking water quality meets the requirements in the ODF sub-district in the West Jakarta Administrative City

Integration of family planning into the primary health care in Ethiopia: results from national assessment

BackgroundFamily planning (FP) is part of Ethiopia’s essential health service package. However, integrating FP into other health care services is a relatively new concept. Integrated service can minimize missed opportunities and allow health workers to provide FP services and Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child, Adolescent, and Nutrition (RMNCAH-N) services simultaneously. Thus, the objective of this study was to assess the levels of FP integration into maternal and child health (MCH) services at primary health care service delivery units in Ethiopia.MethodsThis was a facility-based cross-sectional study conducted from July to October 2022. We conducted a nationally representative survey of primary health care (PHC) facilities selected from seven regions and two-city administrations in Ethiopia to assess the current level of FP integration across four service delivery units (antenatal care unit, postnatal care unit, post-abortion care unit, and immunization unit) of the facilities. We collected data from selected health facilities through interview with health facility managers, healthcare providers in the selected service units, clients seeking health services, and extraction of data from facility records. We employed descriptive analysis, and categorized the degree of FP integration according to the FP information and services provided in the selected service delivery units.ResultsThis national FP integration survey included 122 health facilities (39 primary hospitals, 42 health centers, and 41 health posts) from seven regions and two city administrations. The study found a huge discrepancy regarding FP counselling given at ANC, PNC, PAC, and immunization service delivery units as reported by health care providers and clients. The proportion of PNC and immunization clients who received FP counselling was higher at health post compared to hospitals and health centers. Moreover, the proportion of PAC clients who received FP information was higher in primary hospitals compared to health centers.ConclusionData from facility records and provider interviews showed significant FP integration within ANC, PNC, and immunization units of PHC facilities. However, client exit interviews indicated low FP counselling integration. Facility records revealed few PNC and PAC clients received contraceptives in the past year. The study found high FP counselling and provision of at least one short- or long-acting contraceptive at PNC and PAC units. No facility offered contraceptives at immunization units, indicating missed FP integration opportunities.