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Background: In Germany, the nutritional situation of adults and children living in households at risk of poverty has been insufficiently studied so far. Aim: The aim of the mixed-methods study MEGA_kids is to gain a deeper understanding of the nutritional situation including socioeconomic, behavioral, and attitudinal factors and health characteristics among persons living in families at risk of poverty. Method: MEGA_kids is a mixed-methods cross-sectional study consisting of four modules combining quantitative and qualitative methods. The first module (A) applies self-administered questionnaires to assess the individual's diet, household food insecurity, and several other factors among adults and children of 500 households. Cash receipts are used to assess household's food expenses. For the second module (B), a semistructured interview guide is used to identify factors influencing food security and nutritional quality from the perspective of a subsample of module A (n = 20). The third module (C) applies the participatory World Café technique to explore experiences and generate ideas for tailored support measures for a healthy diet from the perspective of 40 parents participating in module A. Finally, the fourth module (D) investigates the knowledge and usage of existing nutrition-related preventive measures among 200 parents at risk of poverty by using an online questionnaire. Conclusion: By providing a comprehensive picture of nutritional aspects of families living at risk of poverty, MEGA_kids will guide officials to target and prioritize public health nutrition measures, inform policy makers to implement and improve healthy policies and, finally, identify research gaps to be prioritized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Significant poverty levels raise critical questions about the impact of poverty eradication programs. Literature reviews play a critical role in highlighting impactful and ineffective socio-economic approaches. This article presents a review of nine qualitative studies that were reported between 2006 and 2013 in poor urban, semi-rural, and rural communities in South Africa. The main goal of this paper is to describe how low-income communities were impacted by programs to reduce poverty. Themes on strength-based interventions, participation, and holistic-multidimensional approaches, emerge from the content analysis as the best account of the impact of community-based poverty eradication programs. Due to the qualitative nature of the small sample of studies under review, a thematic synthesis of the qualitative data provides baseline evidence for further research to assess progress in the provision of development programs, and to generate more insight to strengthen evidence-informed approaches to address persistently high rates of poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social workers are tasked with the responsibility of pursuing environmental justice to diminish environmental risks for impoverished, minority, and disadvantaged communities that have been disproportionately impacted. While social work literature addresses the topic of environmental justice, few articles discuss its root issues of poverty and racism in the environment. Through a systematic review of peer-reviewed journals from 2015 through 2021, this study identified 27 articles that focus on the intersection of social work, environmental justice, poverty, and racism. Findings reveal three common categories of articles, their themes, and publication trends. Social work education was the most common category (40.7 percent), followed by review articles and case studies (37.0 percent), and community-based research (22.2 percent). The results of this study indicate that more research is needed in all areas related to poverty and racism in environmental justice social work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is estimated that 17% of the UK population experiences food insecurity, with increasing evidence to suggest a direct link with oral health. As such, dental professionals should be prepared to tailor their advice accordingly to support. At time of writing, there is a paucity of information available about food insecurity and oral health, and methods of support for the dental profession. Therefore, this article provides an overview of the concepts of poverty and food insecurity, and their impact on oral health, as well as presenting actionable suggestions for ways in which the dental team can identify and signpost those needing support. CPD/Clinical Relevance: Awareness of the relationship between dental caries and food insecurity is important to be able to provide tailored advice to patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the covariates of out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) on health care, with a special focus on the Empowered Action Group (EAG) states of India. These states are economically weaker and vulnerable. For analysis, the study uses a nationally representative database—the India Human Development Survey (IHDS I, 2004–2005 and IHDS II, 2011–2012)—by applying the log-linear regression method. Four regression models have been specified in the article. The pooled regression method is applied to check the robustness of the models. Results identify that factors such as the location of the respondent, education, waiting time in hospitals, household expenditure per capita and the location of the hospital play a significant role in determining the OOPE on health care in India. Among other factors, waiting time in the hospital and the distant treatment location result in higher opportunity costs for better treatment facilities, hence increasing the burden on OOPE. The study concludes with suggestions based on these covariates, especially for the EAG states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Historia Agraria is the property of Historia Agraria and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of African Journal of Reproductive Health is the property of Women's Health & Action Research Centre and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In 1899, one of Charles Booth's investigators, George Arkell, visited Deptford to revise the classifications provided on Booth's Descriptive Map of London Poverty 1889. Arkell was more shocked and offended by Baildon Street than any other street he visited in Deptford. He was scathing in his comments and assessment of the street, and decided that it should remain coloured black, meaning 'Lowest class. Vicious, semi-criminal'—an assessment that Booth agreed with. This article takes issue with Booth's assessment of Baildon Street and, in particular, with George Arkell's comments and the picture he painted of the lives and living conditions of those who resided there. The article shows that Baildon Street was not a chaotic place of social transience, nor was it a place systemically rife with prostitution, crime, violence, and child neglect. It also reveals the surprising ideas and factors that influenced Arkell in his investigative work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing studies of poor relief have focused on parishes either metropolitan or wholly rural, whereas the focus of this article is on the distinctive experience of Battersea, a village in the London hinterland. Although the village suffered from the rising cost of poor relief experienced nationwide at the end of the eighteenth century, this article argues that the response of its vestry was shaped by Battersea's liminal location. Consideration is given to the central role that the workhouse played in the provision of poor relief, and demonstrating that the social networks of parochial leaders were key to the development of policy. Many of the vestry members had commercial and professional interests in the metropolis and elsewhere, and these, together with their patronage of London charitable institutions, helped both to shape their response to the problems of poverty that they encountered, and influenced their administration of the Battersea workhouse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural-urban migration has been such a phenomenon that the migrants expect higher wage rates and more promising job opportunities in urban areas. However, it does not necessarily solve poverty problems since many people in urban areas still live in poverty. For example, some of the Pekanbaru City population - known for its abundant natural resources - are less fortunate and live as parkara-kara (scavengers). As a manifestation of God's presence in the world, the church gives attention to poverty alleviation. Diakonia, as one of the three vocations of the church, provides educational funding assistance to the poor and training to increase their knowledge. Social entrepreneurship is an alternative to solving social problems by improving the economy in demand by social and religious organizations. This study uses a qualitative method with a case study approach. In-depth interviews with informants became a source of research data, and documents became data to support interview data. This study aims to reveal the church's ministry as an effort to alleviate poverty in the congregation. The study results show that the church has become a social entrepreneur, helping the poor through educational funding. In addition, the church also provides training to increase the congregation's knowledge so they can have their own business. The church becomes a social entrepreneur and forms a congregation to become a social entrepreneur, which is an important finding in this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study describes the vulnerability of poor women when confronted with the shock of a social disaster in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite increasing vulnerabilities, poor women managed the uncertain situation by utilizing their survival skills. This study was conducted in the middle of 2020 in 22 districts of East Java Province with 457 married women from low-income families serving as respondents. Data were descriptively analyzed and presented in the form of diagrams and narratives. According to the findings of this study, women's vulnerability in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic is caused by a decrease in family income and an imbalance in the domestic roles of men and women at home. Using resilience theory, this study explores how women's adaptability can help them survive in an uncertain situation. However, it was inappropriate for the government to leave these women in a subsistence economic situation; the government did not adequately support poor women through targeted and equitable social assistance programs. Following this social disaster, the role of well-targeted social assistance needs to be addressed to promote gender equality and contribute to the 2030 goals of the MDGs, which include poverty alleviation and the eradication of inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explored the association between the use of a hospital-based food pantry and subsequent emergency department (ED) utilization among Medicaid patients with diabetes in a large safety-net health system. Leveraging 2015-2019 electronic health record data, we used a staggered difference-in-differences approach to measure changes in ED use before vs after food pantry use. Food pantry use was associated with a 7.3 percentage point decrease per patient per quarter (95% confidence interval, -13.8 to -0.8) in the probability of subsequent ED utilization (P = .03). Addressing food insecurity through hospital-based food pantries may be one mechanism for reducing ED use among low-income patients with diabetes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the health care utilization pattern, associated financial catastrophes, and inequality across Indian states to understand the subnational variations and aid the policy makers in this regard. Data from recent National Sample Survey (2017–2018), titled, "Household Social Consumption: Health," covering 113,823 households, was employed in the study. Descriptive statistics, Erreygers concentration index (CI), and recentered influence function decomposition were applied in the study. We found that, in India, 7 percent of households experienced catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) and 1.9 percent of households were pushed below poverty line due to out-of-pocket expenditure on hospitalization. Notably, outpatient care was more burdensome (CHE: 12.1%; impoverishment: 4%). Substantial interstate variations were observed, with high financial burden in poorer states. Utilization of health care services from private health care providers was pro-rich (hospitalization CI 0.31; outpatient CI 0.10), while the occurrence of CHE incidence was pro-poor (hospitalization CI −0.10; outpatient CI −0.14). Education level, economic status, health insurance, and area of residence contributed significantly to inequalities in utilization of health care services from private providers and financial burden. The high financial burden of seeking health care necessitates the need to increase public health spending and strengthen public health infrastructure. Also, concerted efforts directed towards increasing awareness about health insurance and introducing comprehensive health insurance products (covering both inpatient and outpatient services) are imperative to augment financial risk protection in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rising health care costs and consequent increases inMedicare reimbursements have led tomany payment reforms over the years. Implementation of the prospective payment system (PPS) for hospitals in 1983 incentivized hospitals to either purchase skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) or utilize their excess capacity to establish one within the hospital. With PPS reimbursement being applied to SNFs in 1998, prior monetary incentives for hospitals to own an SNF disappeared. However, despite the reduction in numbers, many hospitals continued to operate their hospitalbased skilled nursing facilities (HBSNFs). Purpose: This study examines the organizational andmarket-level factors associated with the survival of HBSNFs using the population ecology of organizations framework. Methodology: Using American Hospital Association survey data, event histories of all U.S. acute care hospitals with an open HBSNF in 1998 were plotted to examine if a hospital closed its HBSNF during a 22-year period (1998-2020). The primary independent variables included hospital size, ownership, totalmargin, market competition, andMedicare Advantage penetration. The independent and control variableswere lagged by 1 year. Cox regressionswere conducted to estimate the hazard ratios capturing the risk of HBSNF closure. Results: The results showed that HBSNFs located in large, not-for-profit hospitals and those operating in less competitive markets had greater odds of surviving. Practice Implications: The HBSNF administrators of small, for-profit hospitals and those operating in highly competitive markets could utilize the findings of this study to judiciously allocate slack resources to theirHBSNFs to keep those open given the current emphasis on continuity of care by regulatory bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA) Health Center Program provides health care to vulnerable persons across theUS, regardless of their ability to pay for health care.We examined characteristics of populations living within and outside a 30-minute drive-time to HRSA-supported health centers to establish a baseline to better understand the differences in these populations. Using a descriptive, cross-sectional study design and geographic information systems, we found that 94% of persons in the US live within a 30-minute drive-time of a health center. Of those outside a 30-minute drive-time to a health center, 11.7 million (60.11%) are rural and over 1.5 million households (20.32%) lack broadband internet access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism studies pay relatively little attention to the importance of reflexivity and metacognition. This article highlights the integral importance of explicitly considering reflexivity and metacognition issues as part of the research process when studying pro-poor tourism (PPT). Hence, the paper presents a reflexive and metacognitive account of the challenges and obstacles encountered while undertaking ethnographic fieldwork in PPT. Drawing on the first author's research experiences in Vietnam with informal tourism workers, it reflects the positional, ethical, and methodological challenges faced during and after the fieldwork. This article is the first to provide a critical reflection on fieldwork in PPT, thereby adding to the conceptual recognition of the importance of reflexivity and metacognition in tourism studies overall. It also shares deeper insights into the difficulties associated with research that involves poor people, whose voices remain largely absent from tourism studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have demonstrated that socioeconomic status, insurance, race, and distance impact clinical outcomes in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms. The purpose of this study was to assess if these factors also impact clinical outcomes in patients with thoracoabdominal aortic aneurysms (TAAAs). We conducted a retrospective review of patients with TAAAs confirmed by computed tomography imaging between 2009 and 2019 at a single institution. Patients' zip codes were mapped to American Community Survey Data to obtain geographic poverty rates. We used the standard U.S. Census definition of high-poverty concentration as >20% of the population living at 100% of the poverty rate. Our primary outcome was overall survival, stratified by whether the patient underwent repair. Of 578 patients, 575 had zip code data and were analyzed. In both the nonoperative (N = 268) and operative (N = 307) groups, there were no significant differences in age, race, comorbidities, clinical urgency, surgery utilization, or surgery modality between patients living in high-poverty areas (N = 95, 16.4%) vs not. In the nonoperative group, patients from high-poverty areas were more likely to have aneurysm due to dissection (37.5% vs 17.6%, P =.03). In multivariate analyses, patients from high-poverty zip codes had significantly worse nonoperative survival (hazard ratio [HR]: 1.9, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.1-3.3, P =.03). In the repair group, high poverty was also a significant predictor of reduced postoperative survival (HR: 1.65, 95% CI: 1-2.63, P =.04). Adding the Gagne Index, these differences persisted in both groups (nonoperative: HR: 1.93, 95% CI: 1.01-3.70, P =.05; operative: HR: 1.62, 95% CI: 1.03-2.56, P =.04). In Kaplan-Meier analysis, the difference in postoperative survival began approximately 1.5 years after repair. Private insurance was predictive of improved postoperative survival (HR: 0.42, 95% CI: 0.18-0.95, P =.04) but reduced nonoperative survival (HR: 2.05, 95% 1.01-4.14, P =.04). Data were insufficient to determine if race impacted survival discretely from poverty status. These results were found after adjusting for age, race, sex, maximum aortic diameter, coronary artery disease, distance from the hospital, insurance, and active smoking. Interestingly, in multivariate regression, traveling greater than 100 miles was correlated with increased surgery utilization (odds ratio: 1.58, 95% CI: 1.08-2.33, P =.02) and long-term survival (HR: 0.61, 95% CI: 0.41-0.92, P =.02). Patients with TAAAs living in high-poverty areas had significantly more dissections and suffered a nearly doubled risk of mortality compared with patients living outside such areas. These data suggest that these disparities are attributed to the overall impacts of poverty and highlight the pressing need for research into TAAA disparities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long before the term "decent work" became widely recognised, V.V. Giri, B.R. Ambedkar and others emphasised its importance. Work that traps people in bondage or poverty or exposes them to hazards, discrimination or insecurity, prevents individuals and the economies they contribute to from advancing and reaching their full potential. Today, as newer forms of work such as gig work and platform work emerge, it is essential for the law to continuously evolve to protect the interests of all workers. Law without justice is incomplete. Various agencies, including the legal system, the state, enforcement authorities, the civil society, among others, must work together to deliver justice to the broader population, principally the weak and disempowered. In a world where inequality is rising dramatically, justice must not elude the people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In South Africa, a connection exists between ignorance, poverty, greed, and corruption. A key aspect to understand this connection is by defining corruption and looking into its types, reasons, and trends; and the instances of fraud and corruption scandals tied to 'politically linked' people compared to the legal and procedural systems for fighting corruption in South Africa. Corruption and corruption scandals in South Africa not only erode the progress made since the 1990s democratic dispensation, but also hinder the country's efforts to address its key issues of poverty, unemployment, and inequality. Corruption and unethical behaviour by individuals with political connections pose an added risk to the well-being of the citizens. This is because dishonest behaviour hinders the provision of services, weakens economic development, and undermines the validity and operation of government entities. As long as the connection between ignorance, poverty, greed, and corruption is not tackled, addressing fraud and corruption will remain difficult. This study examines how ignorance, poverty, greed, and corruption are interconnected in South Africa. It adopted a qualitative research approach to examine that interconnectedness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the environmental and social aspects of poverty contributing to malaria incidence in Indonesia from 2016 to 2020. Methods: Random forest regression was used to analyse the independent variables contributing to malaria incidence. Environmental conditions were extracted from remotely sensed data, including vegetation, land temperature, soil moisture, precipitation, and elevation. In contrast, the social aspects of poverty were obtained from government statistical reports. Results: From 2016 to 2020, the contribution of each environmental and social aspect of poverty to malaria incidence fluctuated annually. Generally, the top three essential variables were people aged 15 years and above, experiencing poverty (variable importance/VI=32.0%), people experiencing poverty who work in the agricultural sector (VI=14.4%), and precipitation (VI=9.8%). It was followed by people experiencing poverty who are unemployed (VI=9.2%), land temperature (VI=5.2%), people experiencing poverty who have low education (VI=8.0%), soil moisture (VI=7.4%), elevation (VI=6.0%), and vegetation (VI=3.8%). Conclusions: Poverty and variables related to climate have become the crucial determinants of malaria in Indonesia. The government must strengthen malaria surveillance through climate change mitigation and adaptation programs and accelerate poverty alleviation programs to support malaria elimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nutrition deficiency is commonly observed in lactating mothers and is a rising trend in India due to improper dietary patterns, physiological factors, socio-economic and demographic factors. The aim was to study the nutritional status and its related factors among lactating mothers in the urban areas of Delhi region, India. A structured, pre-tested and validated questionnaire was used to capture the socio-demographic information, including economical and medical conditions, of 150 lactating women in Delhi, India. Pearson correlation coefficient and association of various factors were determined. 72.5 per cent of women were in the age bracket of 20–25 years and in low-income group (70 per cent). The prevalence of underweight was 21.33 per cent, and the mean and SD of body mass index (BMI) of mothers were 19.17 ± 2.1 and 20.70 ± 2.3 for sedentary and moderate workers, respectively. There were significant correlations found between BMI, energy, carbohydrates, fat and protein intake (p <.05). Multivariate regression model was used to associate the nutrition of participants' income group, education, type of work, age of mothers and frequency of meals. Based on the results, intervention programmes for dietary correction and the effect of nutrition on the body have to be emphasised to lactating mothers for better health and nutritional outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Treball Social is the property of Col·legi Oficial de TreballSocial de Catalunya and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Sound financial management will affect regional progress. Local governments must explore the potential to increase regional financial resources so that financial performance increases and encourages economic growth, improves the human development index, and reduces poverty. This study examines the effect of financial performance on capital expenditure, economic growth, human development index, and poverty. The study used a quantitative approach with path analysis, using secondary data on city/district government finances in Banten Province in 2018-2022. The study's financial performance results significantly affect economic growth as measured by the independence, effectiveness, fiscal decentralization, and dependency ratios. Financial performance, as measured by the independence ratio, effectiveness ratio, fiscal decentralization ratio, and dependency ratio, has an influence and is not significant on poverty. Financial performance, as measured by the independence ratio, effectiveness ratio, fiscal decentralization ratio, and dependency ratio, has an impact and is not significant on the human development index. Capital expenditure significantly influences financial performance measured by the independence ratio, effectiveness ratio, fiscal decentralization ratio, and dependency ratio on economic growth. It has a significant impact on mediating the human development index. Capital expenditure does not significantly judge financial performance as measured by the independence ratio, effectiveness ratio, fiscal decentralization ratio, and dependency ratio to poverty. Economic growth has no significant effect on mediating finance as measured by the independence, effectiveness, fiscal decentralization, and poverty dependency ratios. The human development index does not significantly mediate finance measured by autonomy, energy, fiscal decentralization, and dependency on poverty ratios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Mean cardiovascular health has improved over the past several decades in the United States, but it is unclear whether the benefit is shared equitably. This study examined 30-year trends in cardiovascular health using a suite of income equity metrics to provide a comprehensive picture of cardiovascular income equity. METHODS: The study evaluated data from the 1988--2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Survey groupings were stratified by poverty-to-income ratio (PIR) category, and the mean predicted 10-year risk of a major cardiovascular event or death based on the pooled cohort equations (PCE) was calculated (10-year PCE risk). Equity metrics including the relative and absolute concentration indices and the achievement index--metrics that assess both the prevalence and the distribution of a health measure across different socioeconomic categories--were calculated. RESULTS: A total of 26 633 participants aged 40 to 75 years were included (mean age, 53.0--55.5 years; women, 51.9%-- 53.0%). From 1988--1994 to 2015--2018, the mean 10-year PCE risk improved from 7.8% to 6.4% (P<0.05). The improvement was limited to the 2 highest income categories (10-year PCE risk for PIR 5: 7.7%--5.1%, P<0.05; PIR 3--4.99: 7.6%--6.1%, P<0.05). The 10-year PCE risk for the lowest income category (PIR <1) did not significantly change (8.1%-- 8.7%). In 1988--1994, the 10-year PCE risk for PIR <1 was 6% higher than PIR 5; by 2015--2018, this relative inequity increased to 70% (P<0.05). When using metrics that account for all income categories, the achievement index improved (8.0%--7.1%, P<0.05); however, the achievement index was consistently higher than the mean 10-year PCE risk, indicating the poor persistently had a greater share of adverse health. CONCLUSIONS: In this serial cross-sectional survey of US adults spanning 30 years, the population's mean 10-year PCE risk improved, but the improvement was not felt equally across the income spectrum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigates the financial consequences in the overall population spouses of persons with stroke in Sweden as well as for subgroups based on spouses age, sex and modified Rankin Scale (mRS) of the person with stroke. The study population consists of spouses aged ≤ 60 during the year of their partner's stroke event. Each spouse was matched to four reference individuals. This longitudinal registry data covers spouses and a reference population between 2005 and 2016. We use difference-in-differences to estimate the impact on individual income from paid work, disposable individual income, and disposable family income. The primary analysis shows a small and statistically insignificant decrease on spouses' individual income from paid work and disposable individual income. In the subgroup analysis based on mRS, the largest effect is seen in mRS 4–5, where spouses' individual income from paid work and disposable individual income increases after their partner's stroke. Further, younger female spouses' individual income from paid work decreases by 1 614 EUR (p = 0.008) on average. The financial consequences are small in the overall population of spouses. However, for some subgroups, younger women, and spouses of persons with stroke and mRS 4–5, the financial consequences are more prominent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Republic , Plato's Socrates argues that the wealthy feel contempt for the poor, and the poor feel hatred for the rich. But why is Socrates, leading a life of scandalous poverty, without taking wages for philosophical work, an exception to this rule? Instead of hatred, envy, or no emotion at all, Socrates consistently treats wealth and the wealthy with ridicule and kataphronēsis – active looking-down or contempt – while meditating on the temptation of the poor to appropriate the excess flesh of the wealthy (Resp. 556d). It is contempt that allows Socrates to remain free and wageless, away from the tempting distortion wealth has on the soul (Resp. 330c, 554a–b). Socrates therefore insists his philosopher-kings should be paid only in food, the same reward he proposes for himself in the Apology. Instead of securing freedom from murderous epithumia through moderate property, Socrates implies only contemptuous poverty can safeguard a philosophic life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines how people who have been constrained by extreme or chronic poverty, rural location, and adversity in interpersonal relationships make decisions and engage in agency through their narratives and everyday experiences. As a social scientific concept, the agency indicates the intentional behavior of individuals in the context of their environments, relations, and situations. In-depth, semi-structured interviews were collected with sixteen participants in rural south-central New York state who were living in extreme and/or chronic poverty. While exercising agency is viewed as important to the upward mobility of families and individuals in poverty, our participants encountered not only complex contexts for doing so but, at times, engaged in rebellious or counterproductive forms of agency. Furthermore, family ideology, such as traditional family values, shaped the perceived possibilities for forming one's life course. We find the structure-agency dichotomy less useful than a framework that incorporates additional sources of constraints on agency, such as embodiment and culture. We also encounter difficulty in applying the concept of agency to the experiences of our research participants in ways that point to the necessary reworking of the concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Venezolana de Gerencia (RVG) is the property of Revista de Filosofia-Universidad del Zulia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Papers: Revista de Sociologia is the property of Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In response to the growing number of people requiring access to higher education, the student numbers at distance education institutions grew significantly over the last decade (Unisa 2013; 2020). Unfortunately, many students who enrol at open distance learning institutions are not ready for the demands of distance e-learning. More than half of students enrolled at the open distance learning institution where this study was done drop out and the reasons have been well researched (Joubert and Snyman 2018; Mashile, Fynn, and Matoane 2020). It seems that universities' responses to Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4.3 - equal access to technical, vocational and higher education) (Unesco 2021) may unintentionally have created new vulnerabilities for the very group of people they have targeted for progress to end poverty, hunger and discrimination. As nearly a third of all students in South Africa are enrolled at Africa's largest open distance learning institution (Unisa 2018), it becomes crucial not only to increase access, but simultaneously to prioritise student retention and academic performance. This raises the question: How can and should lecturers teaching at distance-education institutions optimise the online teaching and learning environment in order to bridge the gap between access targets and academic performance targets? Following an autoethnographic research design, I share my own experiences of teaching two year-modules of the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) Foundation Phase programme offered via a continuous assessment (CA) approach. Two theoretical frameworks, namely the socio-critical model of Subotzky and Prinsloo (2011, 184), and Luna's (2018) theory of layers of vulnerability guided my understanding of the challenges associated with distance learning as well as my research design. My study reveals that the promise of CA does not always convert to optimal performance, and that contextual factors in distance education have a powerful impact on academic achievement despite the effort made by lecturers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our article aims to present an in-depth analysis of the correlation between health status and poverty in European countries. Our research is grounded on two types of data: a survey of the perceptions of the European citizens related to their own physical and mental health conducted in 2017 in European Union countries and the United Kingdom on a sample of 28,000 respondents and macroeconomic data retrieved from Eurostat Database, showing the incidence of poverty and working poor in Europe during the 2017-2019 time span. Multiple logistic regression has revealed that self-rated health status is influenced by the sociodemographic characteristics of the respondents, whereas TwoStep Cluster analysis and Mann-Whitney U test proved that health is an important driver of the differences between countries in terms of poverty and working poor. The originality of our research stems from both the integrated approach, the analysis being made at individual, group, and country levels, and by the results that bring new evidence about population health status as a determinant of quality of life and national competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper, using unit level data available in the 69th and the 76th NSSO rounds, examines access to bare necessities of life and the incidence of poverty among slum households in selected states of India. The results show that while around three-fifths of the slum households in India and in selected states with the exception of Karnataka are monetarily non poor, they are poor in terms of their deprivation score in access to bare necessities of life. The results also show that among five different dimensions of bare necessities of life, access of these households to water, sanitation and housing is particularly low. The insights from the experiences of poverty and deprivation among the slum dwellers call for targeted interventions to ensure inclusive development and hence enhance their overall well-being and quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At a time when urbanization has become a topic of public concern, it is highly important to consider the impact of governance approaches on our understanding of the urban and urban policies. Urban areas are vibrant, multifaced, and interrelated systems that require nuanced governance and thoughtful policy-making to thrive. Effective urban governance and policy are essential for tackling issues like infrastructure development, affordable housing, environmental sustainability, and social equity. This special issue delves into the complexities of urban governance and policy, exploring the strategies, frameworks, and innovations that can help cities manage growth and improve the quality of life for their inhabitants. We organized this special issue around the theme of urban governance to highlight the critical importance of these topics for ongoing progress in urban studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nigeria witnessed immense national development cum prosperity immediately after independence from 1960-1966. However, the narratives changed from prosperity to poverty and, from nationalism to corrupt selfish leadership, leading to the country being ranked among the top fragile states in the world. This study traced the inherent politico-administrative elite foundations that created and are currently sustaining Nigeria's poverty, despite millions of dollars earned from oil revenue and abundant human resources. A documentary research approach was adopted. We descriptively content analyzed data sourced from the UN, Fund for Peace, UNDP, and the National Bureau of Statistics 'NBS' survey reports on poverty and underdevelopment indices in Nigeria. The findings revealed among other things that the foundations of Nigeria's poverty are tied to long military misrules, shoddy federalism, and ethno-religious divides driving the imbalances in the politicoadministrative elite misgovernance system, upon which various dimensions of poverty are perpetrated against the populace. Poverty in Nigeria, therefore, is manmade and is driven by the politico-administrative elites through the instruments of public bureaucracies and other institutions of governance. Poverty in Nigeria is rooted in the 1999 Constitution, thus structurally designed and infused into the social system. We recommend restructuring; and true federalism, to pave the way for the auto-centric response of the polity to the socioeconomic realities that will cure Nigeria's poverty and underdevelopment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South African government has been focused on repealing unconstitutional laws, passing transformative policies, and building democratic and transparent policies responsive to the demands of the current generation and the public. This erected a need to have policy systems that largely resonate and address the problems upstretched in societies, intending to improve the quality of lives and advance communities. The National Framework for Municipal Indigent Policies issued a guiding document as a source of reference for the formulation and implementation of municipal indigent policies, with the intent of reducing poverty and eliminating service delivery backlogs in municipalities. The study seeks to examine and explore how indigent policies are implemented in rural municipalities to propose strategies to enhance the framework for sustainable service delivery. The objective of the study is to determine whether municipal indigent policies fulfil their dual purpose, which is to improve the lives of indigents and improve access to basic services. The study has established that indigent policies are deemed not sufficient to address the needs of indigents living in poverty and are reinforcing poverty rather than alleviating it. This has resulted in the dysfunction of municipal administration in terms of their indigent policies' implementation, failing the policies to yield their intended objectives, and as a result, most rural municipalities ended up being characterised as poor in their service delivery. The study argues that indigent policies can be consistent and serve as appropriate tools to fulfil the needs of indigent households, given that they are effectively formulated and their implementation yields desired outcomes. The study employed a qualitative research methodology supplemented by scholarly review of existing literature and document analysis. The study significantly contributes to theory and practice, concludes by proposing possible ways in which the challenges confronting municipal indigent policies can be effectively dealt with, and recommends that further empirical research be conducted to draw conclusions from both primary and secondary data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the need for a fresh perspective on poverty coverage in business and economics education, emphasizing the benefits to student development and the methods of sensitive engagement. Topics include reasons for reevaluating poverty coverage, relevant studies demonstrating its impact on student understanding, and various approaches to incorporating poverty narratives into teaching to foster empathy and social responsibility among students.

Our study aims to investigate the effect of government expenditure on the poverty rate and detect the moderating role of the unemployment rate in the functional relationship between the two variables. Using a panel data set of 24 provinces in Indonesia during 2005-2018, we use the dynamic model of the Generalized Methods of Moment to estimate the functional relationships. Our findings discovered that government expenditure on goods, services, and capital significantly reduces poverty. Conversely, grant and social aid expenditures have a positive and significant effect. The unemployment rate substantially increases the poverty rate and moderates the impact of the three types of public spending on the poverty rate. The higher the unemployment rate, the smaller the poverty reduction effect of government expenditure. These findings imply that the government budgetary allocation for a particular spending component should consider the unemployment rate as the primary consideration. It is due to the effectiveness of each expenditure group in reducing poverty differing at the various levels of the unemployment rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the place of brickmaking as an activity supported or promoted by parish poor relief. Parochial work schemes were typically founded on agricultural work, textile manufacturing, or unskilled tasks like oakum picking, yet the manual exertion was necessarily required for making bricks prior to mechanization attracted some parishes to experiment with this form of hard and deterrent labour. Brick production did not take place in a vacuum, however, ensuring that the consequences of a parish commissioning or making bricks could be felt across the community which supplied raw materials or services, ensuring that the process was not solely a check on indolent poverty. Close reading of overseers' vouchers, the receipts which sometimes survive attesting to the detail of parish payments, show the significance of brick in parish economies for the paupers, parish officers, parish suppliers, and wider communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social determinants of health are increasingly well understood by paediatricians. Policy and individual practitioner actions are emerging and have been described in previous Social Paediatrics symposia in this journal. This article describes a Poverty Truth Commission; an innovative approach to addressing the impact of poverty of children's health. This brings people who may not otherwise spend much time together, takes away job titles and uses the power of storytelling to effect change in the members of the commission and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Predicting household per capita expenditure accurately is necessary to measure social welfare of such region, for example its poverty level. In Indonesia, as well as Poso Regency, that variable tends to be highly skewed and heteroscedastic. Log-transformation is usually considered to handle those issue in the standard linear regression. However, that method only works well on minor-skewed data and can't measure the absolute effect of each correspondence factor. In this study, we propose log-normal regression in tackling this issue. The results show that compared to the traditional method, log-normal regression performs much better and predicts more accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lagos State's transformation into a critical urban hub highlights its economic promise and challenges, including rising unemployment, police brutality, and poverty amidst rapid growth. This study delves into how population increase, government spending, and financial policies affect the economy, revealing the critical role of education and job creation in tackling unemployment and enhancing living conditions. It underscores the impact of capital expenditure and monetary policies on economic stability, advocating for balanced development and targeted interventions to foster prosperity. The experience of Lagos offers valuable lessons for nationwide policy formulation and informed efforts for sustainable urban development and progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) is the Philippine version of the conditional cash transfer (CCT) program that measures human development through the provision of conditional cash grants to the poorest of the poor. This research determines the health expenditure and utilisation of the poor families in a low-income community under the CCT program. A cross-sectional research design was adopted using mixed methods of data collection from 177 households between May and June 2017. Results reveal that most families under CCT devote the largest portion of household health expenditure for inpatient health seeking. About 40% of the total expenditure is covered by the National Health Insurance Program and the cost for hospitalisation mostly comes from the out-of-pocket source. Moreover, the common problems encountered during health utilisation and spending are poor customer service of healthcare facilities and uncompensated hospital bill by health insurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aimed to investigate the challenges that Ethiopia faces during COVID-19. The article looks highly at COVID-19, political instability, desert locust and the ideal conflict between Ethiopia and Egypt on the great Ethiopian renaissance dam. Economic rescission, food insecurity and internal war are also the main topics clearly discussed. The results revealed that unemployment, inflation and income inequality are aggravated as pandemics arise. Thousands were killed and others were displaced due to internal political instability. Output reduction and famine resulted due to desert locust infestation. Bad political spirit is also one fact in Ethiopia due to ideal conflict with Egypt. Consequently, thousands have been arrested; killing innocent people, food insecurity, economic depression and displacement were highly aggravated. While other countries have been moving to prosperity, the Ethiopian economy has been challenged with stagnation. Therefore, the authors suggest that there should be strong intervention from both non-governmental organisation and the government of Ethiopia. Let Ethiopia's recovery come to tell new development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: HIV is hyperendemic among fisherfolk in Sub-Saharan Africa, especially around Lake Victoria, Uganda. Purpose/Research Design: We conducted cross-sectional semi-structured interviews about oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) implementation with 35 Ugandan fisherfolk (15 women, 20 men) and 10 key stakeholders (healthcare providers, policymakers, community leaders). We used a directed content analysis approach based on implementation science and social marketing frameworks. Results: Participants showed high acceptability for PrEP. Anticipated barriers among fisherfolk included stigma (due to similar medications/packaging as HIV treatment); misconceptions; mobility, competing needs, poverty, and partner conflict. Anticipated provider barriers included insufficient staffing and travel support. Recommendations included: change PrEP packaging; integrate PrEP with other services; decrease PrEP refill frequency; give transportation resources to providers; train more healthcare workers to provide PrEP to fisherfolk; and use positively framed messages to promote PrEP. Conclusions: Results can inform policymakers and healthcare organizations on how to overcome barriers to PrEP scale-up in most at-risk populations with poor healthcare access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]