Search

It is commonly hypothesized that scientists are more likely to engage in data falsification and fabrication when they are subject to pressures to publish, when they are not restrained by forms of social control, when they work in countries lacking policies to tackle scientific misconduct, and when they are male. Evidence to test these hypotheses, however, is inconclusive due to the difficulties of obtaining unbiased data. Here we report a pre-registered test of these four hypotheses, conducted on papers that were identified in a previous study as containing problematic image duplications through a systematic screening of the journal PLoS ONE. Image duplications were classified into three categories based on their complexity, with category 1 being most likely to reflect unintentional error and category 3 being most likely to reflect intentional fabrication. We tested multiple parameters connected to the hypotheses above with a matched-control paradigm, by collecting two controls for each paper containing duplications. Category 1 duplications were mostly not associated with any of the parameters tested, as was predicted based on the assumption that these duplications were mostly not due to misconduct. Categories 2 and 3, however, exhibited numerous statistically significant associations. Results of univariable and multivariable analyses support the hypotheses that academic culture, peer control, cash-based publication incentives and national misconduct policies might affect scientific integrity. No clear support was found for the “pressures to publish” hypothesis. Female authors were found to be equally likely to publish duplicated images compared to males. Country-level parameters generally exhibited stronger effects than individual-level parameters, because developing countries were significantly more likely to produce problematic image duplications. This suggests that promoting good research practices in all countries should be a priority for the international research integrity agenda. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s11948-018-0023-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Significant contributions have been made since the World Health Organization published Brian Abel-Smith's pioneering comparative study of national health expenditures more than 50 years ago. There have been major advances in theories, model specifications, methodological approaches, and data structures. This introductory essay provides a historical context for this line of work, highlights four newly published studies that move health economics research forward, and indicates several important areas of challenging but potentially fruitful research to strengthen future contributions to the literature and make empirical findings more useful for evaluating health policy decisions. Copyright © 2016 John WileySons, Ltd.

Background: Telemedicine, once defined merely as the treatment of certain conditions remotely, has now often been supplanted in use by broader terms such as ‘virtual care’, in recognition of its increasing capability to deliver a diverse range of healthcare services from afar. With the unexpected onset of COVID-19, virtual care (e.g., telephone, video, online) has become essential to facilitating the continuation of primary care globally. Over several short weeks, existing healthcare policies have adapted quickly and empowered clinicians to use digital means to fulfil a wide range of clinical responsibilities which until then, have required face-to-face consultations. Objective: This paper aims to explore the virtual care policies and guidance material published during the initial months of the pandemic and examine their potential limitations and impact on transforming the delivery of primary care in high-income countries. Methods: A rapid review of publicly available national policies guiding the use of virtual care in General Practice was conducted. Documents were included if issued in the first six months of the pandemic (March to August of 2020) and focused primarily on high-income countries. Documents must have been issued by a national health authority, accreditation body, or professional organisation, and directly refer to the delivery of primary care. Results: We extracted six areas of relevance: primary care transformation during COVID-19, the continued delivery of preventative care, the delivery of acute care, remote triaging, funding & reimbursement, and security standards. Conclusion: Virtual care use in primary care saw a transformative change during the pandemic. However, despite the advances in the various governmental guidance offered, much work remains in addressing the shortcomings exposed during COVID-19 and strengthening viable policies so as to better incorporate novel technologies into the modern primary care clinical environment.

This study exploits a natural experiment to investigate the impact of land reform on the fertility outcomes of households in rural Ethiopia. Public policies and customs created a situation where Ethiopian households could influence their usufruct rights to land via a demographic expansion of the family. The study evaluates the impact of the abolishment of these pronatal property rights on fertility outcomes. By matching aggregated census data before and after the reform with administrative data on the reform, a difference-in-differences approach between reform and non-reform districts is used to assess the impact of the reform on fertility outcomes. The impact appears to be large. The study estimates that women in rural areas reduced their life-time fertility by 1.2 children due to the reform. Robustness checks show that the impact estimates are not biased by spillovers or policy endogeneity.

Introduction Participatory postnatal women's groups have been shown to have a significant impact on maternal and neonatal mortality in low-income countries. However, it is not clear whether this approach can be translated to high-income countries (HICs). We conducted a systematic review to answer the question: "Can postnatal women's groups improve health outcomes for mothers and children in high-income countries?" Methods MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane databases were searched for randomised controlled trials testing any group-based intervention during the postnatal period, in HICs. No limitations were applied to stated outcomes. Results Nine trials, including 3029 women, fulfilled the criteria. Group-based interventions, facilitated by health professionals, ranged from didactic to participant-led. Three trials addressed postnatal depression, one addressed physical activity, whilst the remainder looked at multiple health or social outcomes. Three trials reported a significant association between their intervention and at least one outcome measure. Study limitations included poor and inequitable intervention uptake, low participant retention, small sample size and incomplete intervention description. Discussion This review found limited and incompletely described evidence testing the use of postnatal group-based interventions to improve health outcomes in HICs. Promising results were reported when the obstacles of sample size and group attendance were overcome. Studies reporting positive impacts on primary outcomes reported higher attendance rates and involved a psychoeducational or cognitive behavioural component in their group approaches. Further research should design and evaluate implementation strategies, assess the use of lay support workers in community settings to improve attendance and retention, and examine the effect of the group environment on outcomes.

Many factors contribute to the inappropriate use of medicines, including not only a lack of information but also inaccurate and misleading promotional information. This review examines how the promotion of pharmaceuticals directly affects the prescribing and use of medicines. We define promotion broadly as all actions taken directly by pharmaceutical companies with the aim of enhancing product sales. We look in greater detail at promotion techniques aimed at prescribers, such as sales representatives, pharmaceutical advertisements in medical journals and use of key opinion leaders, along with the quality of information provided and the effects thereof. We also discuss promotion to the public, through direct-to-consumer advertising, and its effects. Finally, we consider initiatives to regulate promotion that come from industry, government and nongovernmental organizations.

The global area of biotech crops in 2016 increased from 179.7 million hectares to 185.1 million hectares, a 3% increase equivalent to 5.4 million hectares. Some 26 countries planted biotech crops, 19 of which were developing countries and seven were industrial. Information and data collected from various credible sources showed variations from the previous year. Fluctuations in biotech crop area (both increases and decreases) are influenced by factors including, among others, acceptance and commercialization of new products, demand for meat and livestock feeds, weather conditions, global market price, disease/pest pressure, and government's enabling policies. Countries which have increased biotech crop area in decreasing order in 2016 were Brazil, United States of America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, Bolivia, Philippines, Spain, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Colombia, Honduras, Chile, Sudan, Slovakia, and Costa Rica. Countries with decreased biotech area in decreasing order were China, India, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Mexico, Portugal, and Czech Republic, in decreasing incremental decrease in biotech area. Pakistan and Myanmar were the only countries with no change in biotech crop (cotton) planted. Information detailed in the paper including future crops and traits in each country could guide stakeholders in informed crafting of strategies and policies for increased adoption of biotech crops in the country.

ObjectiveThe high energy intake from energy-dense foods among children in developed countries is undesirable. Improving food parenting practices has the potential to lower snack intakes among children. To inform the development of interventions, we aimed to predict food parenting practice patterns around snacking (i.e. ‘high covert control and rewarding’, ‘low covert control and non-rewarding’, ‘high involvement and supportive’ and ‘low involvement and indulgent’).DesignA cross-sectional survey was conducted. To predict the patterns of food parenting practices, multinomial logistic regression analyses were run with 888 parents. Predictors included predisposing factors (i.e. parents’ and children’s demographics and BMI, parents’ personality, general parenting, and parenting practices used by their own parents) and parents’ cognitions (i.e. perceived behaviour of other parents, subjective norms, attitudes, self-efficacy and outcome expectations).SettingThe Netherlands (October–November 2014).SubjectsDutch parents of children aged 4–12 years old.ResultsAfter backward elimination, nineteen factors had a statistically significant contribution to the model (Nagelkerke R2=0·63). Overall, self-efficacy and outcome expectations were among the strongest explanatory factors. Considering the predisposing factors only, the general parenting factor nurturance most strongly predicted the food parenting clusters. Nurturance particularly distinguished highly involved parents from parents employing a pattern of low involvement.ConclusionsParental cognitions and nurturance are important factors to explain the use of food parenting practices around snacking. The results suggest that intervention developers should attempt to increase self-efficacy and educate parents about what constitute effective and ineffective parenting practices. Promoting nurturance might be a prerequisite to achieve prolonged change.

// Zhiye Xu 1 , Dan Yu 2 , Xueyao Yin 1 , Fenping Zheng 1 and Hong Li 1 1 Department of Endocrinology, The Affiliated Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, 310016, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China 2 Department of Endocrinology, Zhejiang Hospital, 310013, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China Correspondence to: Hong Li, email: lihongheyi@126.com Keywords: diabetes, prevalence, socioeconomic status, human development index (HDI) Received: February 22, 2017 Accepted: April 27, 2017 Published: May 16, 2017 ABSTRACT The incidence of diabetes is increasing globally. We investigated the relationship between diabetes prevalence and patient socioeconomic status across multiple countries. We searched PubMed to identify population-based surveys reporting diabetes prevalence between 1990 and May 2016. Search results were filtered, and Human Development Index (HDI) values from the United Nations Development Programme were used to assess socioeconomic status for a given nation. Our analysis included 45 national surveys from 32 countries. Diabetes prevalence was positively correlated with national HDI ( r = 0.421 P = 0.041) in developing countries, and negatively correlated with HDI ( r = −0.442 P = 0.045) in developed countries. Diabetes prevalence trends were the same in women and men, although men were associated with increased diabetes risk in developed countries ( r = 0.459 P = 0.048). Thus, diabetes prevalence rises with increasing HDI in developing countries, and this is reversed in developed countries. Ours is the first study to investigate the relationship between diabetes and socioeconomic status at global level using HDI values. These results will aid in evaluating global diabetes prevalence and risk with respect to patient socioeconomic status, and will be useful in the development of policies that help reduce disease incidence.

Increases in patient needs can strain hospital resources, which may worsen care quality and outcomes. This systematic literature review sought to understand whether hospital capacity strain is associated with worse health outcomes for hospitalized patients and to evaluate benefits and harms of health system interventions to improve care quality during times of hospital capacity strain.Parallel searches were conducted in MEDLINE, CINAHL, the Cochrane Library, and reference lists from 1999-2015. Two reviewers assessed study eligibility. We included English-language studies describing the association between capacity strain (high census, acuity, turnover, or an indirect measure of strain such as delayed admission) and health outcomes or intermediate outcomes for children and adults hospitalized in highly developed countries. We also included studies of health system interventions to improve care during times of capacity strain. Two reviewers extracted data and assessed risk of bias using the Newcastle-Ottawa Score for observational studies and the Cochrane Collaboration Risk of Bias Assessment Tool for experimental studies.Of 5,702 potentially relevant studies, we included 44 observational and 8 experimental studies. There was marked heterogeneity in the metrics used to define capacity strain, hospital settings, and overall study quality. Mortality increased during times of capacity strain in 18 of 30 studies and in 9 of 12 studies in intensive care unit settings. No experimental studies were randomized, and none demonstrated an improvement in health outcomes after implementing the intervention. The pediatric literature is very limited; only six observational studies included children. There was insufficient study homogeneity to perform meta-analyses.In highly developed countries, hospital capacity strain is associated with increased mortality and worsened health outcomes. Evidence-based solutions to improve outcomes during times of capacity strain are needed.

ObjectiveThe present study aimed to examine the association between household income and the intake of foods and nutrients by Japanese schoolchildren, and any differences between days with and without school lunch.DesignThis was a cross-sectional study. Children, with the support of their parents, kept dietary records with photographs for 4 d (2 d with school lunch and 2 d without). The socio-economic status of each family was obtained from a questionnaire completed by the parents.SettingJapan.SubjectsAll students in 5th grade (10–11 years old) at nineteen schools in four prefectures and their parents (1447 pairs of students and parents) were invited to take part in the study; 836 pairs of complete data sets were analysed.ResultsThe average results of four days of dietary records showed that lower income level was associated with a lower intake of fish/shellfish, green vegetables and sugar at the food group level, a lower intake of protein and several micronutrients, and a higher energy intake from carbohydrates at the nutrient level among the children. These associations between income and food/nutrient intake were not significant on days with school lunches, but were significant on days without school lunch.ConclusionsOur study confirmed an association between household income and the amount of foods and nutrients consumed by Japanese schoolchildren, and suggested that school lunches play a role in reducing disparities in the diets of children from households with various incomes.

ObjectiveTo assess and develop consensus among experienced public health nutrition practitioners from high-income countries regarding conceptualisation of capacity building in practice, and to test the content validity of a previously published conceptual framework for capacity building in public health nutrition practice.DesignA Delphi study involving three iterations of email-delivered questionnaires testing a range of capacity determinants derived from the literature. Consensus was set at >50 % of panellists ranking items as ‘very important’ on a five-point Likert scale across three survey rounds.SettingPublic health nutrition practice in Australia, the UK, Canada and the USA.SubjectsPublic health nutrition practitioners and academics.ResultA total of thirty expert panellists (68 % of an initial panel of forty-four participants) completed all three rounds of Delphi questionnaires. Consensus identified determinants of capacity building in practice including partnerships, resourcing, community development, leadership, workforce development, intelligence and quality of project management.ConclusionsThe findings from the study suggest there is broad agreement among public health nutritionists from high-income countries about how they conceptualise capacity building in public health nutrition practice. This agreement suggests considerable content validity for a capacity building conceptual framework proposed by Baillieet al. (Public Health Nutr12, 1031–1038). More research is needed to apply the conceptual framework to the implementation and evaluation of strategies that enhance the practice of capacity building approaches by public health nutrition professionals.

With the introduction of national carbon neutrality targets, carbon emission reduction actions in developed countries have become a hot topic as part of the international community's drive to take action to mitigate climate change. Carbon emission efficiency is an important indicator that can be used to measure progress toward carbon emission reduction targets. The relationship between green technology innovation and carbon emission efficiency has not been adequately studied, and the transmission mechanism is not yet clear. Based on the above research gaps, taking 32 developed countries that have proposed carbon neutral targets as research samples, this paper used spatial econometric models to explore the impact of green technology innovation on carbon emission efficiency and adopted spatial mediation model and spatial moderation model to analyze the transmission effects of economic development, urbanization, and financial development on environment-related green technology and carbon emission efficiency. This paper aimed to provide a policy basis for developed countries to mitigate carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality goals as soon as possible. The following results were obtained: (1) Luxembourg, Norway, and Switzerland were found to be efficient in terms of carbon emissions, while most developed countries were in an inefficient state. (2) Environment-related green technology innovation significantly improved carbon emission efficiency. (3) Economic development and urbanization had a mediating role on green technology innovation and carbon emission efficiency. In other words, green technology innovation could have an indirect impact on carbon emission efficiency by influencing economic development and urbanization. (4) Financial development could positively moderate the sensitivity of carbon emission efficiency to green technology innovation. Improving the level of green technology innovation is one way to improve carbon emission efficiency, and the mediating effect of economic development and urbanization can be used as a focus point to improve carbon emission efficiency. The pressure of carbon emission reduction can be moderated by finance development. The results of this study provide theoretical support that will assist developed countries in achieving their carbon neutrality targets.

The paper contributes to the understanding of entrepreneurial activity by assessing the relative importance of eight entrepreneurial readiness factors across countries in different regions and stages of economic development. Drawing on the literature, this paper identifies eight principle national entrepreneurial readiness factors (NERFs) as (1) business freedom; (2) investment freedom; (3) investor protection; (4) property rights protection; (5) technological readiness; (6) innovation; (7) freedom from corruption; and (8) access to risk capital. NERF country data is subjected to a linear regression analysis for each factor’s influence on the sum of all eight factors which is called a country’s National Entrepreneurial Readiness Value (NERV). Six South East European countries, eight South American countries, ten South East Asian countries, and six West African countries are compared against one another and the benchmark of the four largest G7 economies. Results of this analysis are presented and show that investor protection, property rights protection, and freedom from corruption are the most impactful entrepreneurial readiness factors. These findings present future research implications of how these results link to endowments and relate to improving entrepreneurial readiness.

Introduction HIV transmission continues among gay and bisexual men who have sex with men (GBMSM), with those who are younger, or recent migrants, or of minority ethnicity or who are gender diverse remaining at increased risk. We aimed to identify and describe recent studies evaluating the effectiveness of HIV prevention interventions for GBMSM in high income countries. Methods We searched ten electronic databases for randomized controlled trials (RCTs), conducted in high income settings, and published since 2013 to update a previous systematic review (Stromdahl et al, 2015). We predefined four outcome measures of interest: 1) HIV incidence 2) STI incidence 3) condomless anal intercourse (CLAI) (or measure of CLAI) and 4) number of sexual partners. We used the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (UK) Quality Appraisal of Intervention Studies tool to assess the quality of papers included in the review. As the trials contained a range of effect measures (e.g. odds ratio, risk difference) comparing the arms in the RCTs, we converted them into standardized effect sizes (SES) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results We identified 39 original papers reporting 37 studies. Five intervention types were identified: one-to-one counselling (15 papers), group interventions (7 papers), online interventions (9 papers), Contingency Management for substance use (2 papers) and Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) (6 papers). The quality of the studies was mixed with over a third of studies rated as high quality and 11% rated as poor quality. There was some evidence that one-to-one counselling, group interventions (4–10 participants per group) and online (individual) interventions could be effective for reducing HIV transmission risk behaviours such as condomless anal intercourse. PrEP was the only intervention that was consistently effective at reducing HIV incidence. Conclusions Our systematic review of the recent evidence that we were able to analyse indicates that PrEP is the most effective intervention for reducing HIV acquisition among GBMSM. Targeted and culturally tailored behavioural interventions for sub-populations of GBMSM vulnerable to HIV infection and other STIs should also be considered, particularly for GBMSM who cannot access or decline to use PrEP.

A comprehensive evidence-based framework is needed to guide policies and programmes that enable children and adolescents to accrue the human capital required to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This paper proposes a comprehensive, multisectoral, multilevel life-course conceptualisation of human capital development by building on the Nurturing Care Framework (NCF), originally developed for the foundational period of growth and development through the age 3 years. Nurturing care (NC) comprises stable environments that promote children’s health and nutrition, protect from threats, and provide opportunities for learning and responsive, emotionally supportive and developmentally enriching relationships. NC is fostered by families, communities, services, national policies and beyond. The principles apply across the life course, endorse equity and human rights, and promote long-term human capital. This paper presents an evidence-based argument for the extension of the NCF from preconception through adolescence (0–20 years), organised into six developmental periods: preconception/prenatal, newborn/birth, infancy/toddlerhood, preschool, middle childhood and adolescence. The proposed framework advances human capital within each developmental period by promoting resilience and adaptive developmental trajectories while mitigating negative consequences of adversities. Attaining the SDGs depends on strengthening human capital formation, extending throughout childhood and adolescence and supported by NC. Embedded in enabling laws, policies and services, the dynamic NCF components can mitigate adversities, enhance resilience and promote the well-being of marginalised groups. The life-course extension of the NCF is strategically positioned to enhance human capital, to attain the SDGs and to ensure that children or adolescents are not left behind in reaching their developmental potential.

Over the last decade, outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases have been reported in developed countries around the world. In particular, measles outbreaks have been ongoing in the European Union since 2017, with the majority of cases concentrated in Romania and Italy. Measles has been identified as a powerful indicator of the status of vaccination programs in a region, as outbreaks have been reported to quickly emerge as a result of underlying problems in the immunisation routine. This paper aims to report and critically comment on the factors underpinning the recent measles outbreaks in Italy, considering the psychological, cultural, social and political causes of vaccine hesitancy and refusal amongst the population. Data from government agencies including the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) and the Italian National Institute of Health (ISS) are analysed to describe incidence and mortality trends from 1887 to the present day, including regional variations and the impact of measles vaccination coverage. The topic of compulsory vaccination is currently the object of heated debate in the Italian social and political panorama; this paper discusses the current state of the vaccination controversy in the Italian political discourse and its potential impact on immunisation policies and measles vaccine coverage amongst the population. A burgeoning body of evidence indicates that every effort should be made to bolster the existing legislation on mandatory vaccination through widespread health education campaigns aimed at improving scientific literacy amongst the Italian population with regards to the topic of immunisation.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the spillover of returns, information and volatility of returns, and conditional variance-covariance between the stock markets of developed countries namely the United States of America, the United Kingdom and China (US, UK and CH) and the stock markets of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Bahrain) using daily returns spanned from 2 March 2003 to 9 December 2010. We consider shocks and volatility spillover model by applying a multivariate generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (MGARCH) model using; MGARCH-BEKK to identify the source and magnitude of volatility and shock spillover. We get the correlation between GCC markets is positive, indicating that there is a common factor which is driving the markets towards the same direction. Evidence shows that the own-shocks and volatility in GCC markets are highly significant. Cross-information spillover effects, as another observable trend, are found between Qatar and Oman. Furthermore, the results show that UA is significantly affected by spillover (return, shocks and volatility) from developed markets, while there have been no significant effects seen from Kuwait markets. This study takes a new empirical look in the sense that the models incorporating all the countries under investigation are estimated jointly utilizing multivariate GARCH-BEKK formulation. In addition, this paper should be interesting for academicians as well as practitioners. Including those interested in modelling multivariate volatility for financial market risk management.

Objective Although medication abortion has become more common in high-income countries, the procedure has not yet met early expectations for widening access to abortion. High-quality evidence can serve as a catalyst for changes in policy and practice. To direct research priorities, it is important to understand where quality evidence is concentrated and where gaps remain. High-income countries have developed a body of evidence that may have implications for the future of medication abortion. This literature review assesses the characteristics and quality of published studies on medication abortion conducted in the last 10 years in high-income countries and indicates future areas for research to advance policy and practice, and broaden access. Study design A structured search for literature resulted in 207 included studies. A framework based upon the World Health Organization definition of sub-tasks for medication abortion was developed to categorize research by recognized stages of the medication abortion process. Using an iterative and inductive approach, additional sub-themes were created under each of these categories. Established quality assessment frameworks were drawn upon to gauge the internal and external validity of the included research. Results Studies in the US and the UK have dominated research on MA in high-income countries. The political and social contexts of these countries will have shaped of this body of research. The past decade of research has focused largely on clinical aspects of medication abortion. Conclusion Researchers should consider refocusing energies toward testing service delivery approaches demonstrating promise and prioritizing research that has broader generalizability and relevance outside of narrow clinical contexts. Plain English summary Although medication abortion is more commonly available worldwide, it is not being used as often as people thought it would be, particularly in high income countries. In order to encourage changes in policy and practice that would allow greater use, we need good quality evidence. If we can understand where we do not have enough research and where we have good amounts of research, we can determine where to invest energies in further studies. Many high-income countries have produced research on medication abortion that could influence policy and practice in similarly resourced contexts. I conducted a literature review to be able to understand the type and quality of research on medication abortion conducted in high-income countries in the past 10 years. I conducted the review in an organized way to make sure that the papers reviewed discussed studies that I thought would be important for answering this question. The literature review found 207 papers. Each of these papers were reviewed and organized them by theme. I also used existing methods to determinine the quality of each study. Most of the research came from the US and the UK. Furthermore, most of the research conducted in the past 10 years was focused on clinical studies of medication abortion. In future studies, researchers should focus more on new ways of providing medication abortion to women that offers greater access. Also, the studies should be designed so that the results have meaning for a broader group of people or situations beyond where the study was done.

Objective: To establish a methodological approach to compare two high-need, high-cost (HNHC) patient personas internationally. Data sources: Linked individual-level administrative data from the inpatient and outpatient sectors compiled by the International Collaborative on Costs, Outcomes, and Needs in Care (ICCONIC) across 11 countries: Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. Study design: We outline a methodological approach to identify HNHC patient types for international comparisons that reflect complex, priority populations defined by the National Academy of Medicine. We define two patient profiles using accessible patient-level datasets linked across different domains of care—hospital care, primary care, outpatient specialty care, post-acute rehabilitative care, long-term care, home-health care, and outpatient drugs. The personas include a frail older adult with a hip fracture with subsequent hip replacement and an older person with complex multimorbidity, including heart failure and diabetes. We demonstrate their comparability by examining the characteristics and clinical diagnoses captured across countries. Data collection/extraction methods: Data collected by ICCONIC partners. Principal findings: Across 11 countries, the identification of HNHC patient personas was feasible to examine variations in healthcare utilization, spending, and patient outcomes. The ability of countries to examine linked, individual-level data varied, with the Netherlands, Canada, and Germany able to comprehensively examine care across all seven domains, whereas other countries such as England, Switzerland, and New Zealand were more limited. All countries were able to identify a hip fracture persona and a heart failure persona. Patient characteristics were reassuringly similar across countries. Conclusion: Although there are cross-country differences in the availability and structure of data sources, countries had the ability to effectively identify comparable HNHC personas for international study. This work serves as the methodological paper for six accompanying papers examining differences in spending, utilization, and outcomes for these personas across countries. © 2021 The Authors. Health Services Research published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Health Research and Educational Trust.

Objective To identify and assess the drivers and barriers to recruiting and retaining doctors in rural communities of high-income countries. Design A systematic review and thematic analysis. Setting Publications were sourced from medical and scientific databases online. Participants Qualitative, mixed-methods and review studies from peer-reviewed journals published since 2000 that discussed recruitment or retention of doctors to rural areas in high-income countries. Main outcome measures Identification and assessment of themes in the literature pertaining to recruitment and retention of rural doctors. Recurrent themes were assessed for relevance and applicability to current rural shortages. Results A thematic analysis was completed on 41 papers assessed as in scope of the review. Papers were scrutinised for relevance to established rural recruitment and retention strategies. Key themes were rural background, education and training, personal and professional circumstances, and integration with the community. Conclusion While rural origin has long been promoted as the key factor for recruiting rural doctors, initiatives targeting only these individuals ignore a potentially larger cohort of future rural doctors. Rurally focused medical education and training need to encompass students and doctors from all backgrounds. The major barriers to rural recruitment are family-unit considerations for partners and children, concerns over isolation and a poor perception of rural practice. Attracting doctors to practise rurally is only half the challenge however, and strategies to retain rural doctors need a greater focus on personal and professional support networks and community integration. Additional strategies are needed to retain international and bonded doctors restricted to rural areas.

Current evidence of the impact of childhood obesity on human capital development does not point in a consistent direction, and its interpretation is challenging. We carried out a systematic review of studies from high-income countries that used robust causal inference approaches to assess the impact of childhood overweight and obesity on outcomes typically linked to human capital development in economics. Global Health, Medline and EconLit were used to search for peer-reviewed papers. Three reviewers independently assessed study quality using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Nineteen papers representing 22 studies met the inclusion criteria. Included studies were categorized based on three components of human capital: cognitive performance (n = 18), measured through test scores; educational attainment (n = 3), through grade progression and college completion; and labour market outcomes (n = 1), through wages. We find that childhood overweight and obesity hinder education outcomes, with effects mostly observed at older ages of exposure measurement (12+ years). Girls with overweight and obesity experienced larger negative effects and more often than boys. Future research should elucidate the pathways through which childhood obesity impacts human capital development, to support policies that may mitigate those impacts, thus averting social costs that are currently widespread, increasing and unaccounted for.

There is no doubt that strategic management tools and techniques are important parts of the strategic management process. Their use in organizations should be observed in a practice-based context. This paper analyzes the empirical studies on the usage of strategic management tools and techniques. Hence, the main aim of this study is to investigate and analyze which enterprises, according to their country development level, use more strategic management tools and techniques and which of these are used the most. Also, this paper investigates which strategic management tools and techniques are used globally according to the results of empirical studies. The study presents a summary of empirical studies for the period 1990–2015. The research results indicate that more strategic tools and techniques are used in developed countries, followed by developing countries and fewest in countries in transition. This study is likely to contribute to the field of strategic management because it summarizes the most used strategic tools and techniques at the global level according to varying stages of countries’ economic development. Also, the findings from this study may be utilized to maximize the full potential of enterprises and reduce the cases of entrepreneurship failures, through creating awareness of the importance of using strategic management tools and techniques.

The decarbonization of the global economy is an urgent concern. As a potential solution, it can be important to understand the efficiency of nuclear energy policies. For this purpose, the paper analyzes whether there is a unit root in nuclear energy consumption in 26 countries and it uses the unit root tests with two endogenous (unknown) structural breaks. The paper finds that nuclear energy consumption is stationary around a level and the time trend in 25 of 26 countries and nuclear energy consumption contains a unit root only in France. The paper also discusses the potential implications of the findings.

© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Background: Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a cultural practice defined as the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia for nontherapeutic indications. Due to changing patterns of migration, clinicians in high-income countries are seeing more women from countries where the practice is prevalent. This review aims to understand the sociocultural and health needs of these women and identify opportunities to improve the quality of maternity care for women with FGM. Methods: We undertook a systematic review and meta-synthesis of peer-reviewed primary qualitative research to explore the experience and needs of migrant women with FGM receiving maternity care. A structured search of nine databases was undertaken, screened papers appraised, and a thematic analysis undertaken on data extracted from the findings and discussion sections of included papers. Results: Sixteen peer-reviewed studies were included in the systematic review. Four major themes were revealed: Living with fear, stigma, and anxiety; Feelings of vulnerability, distrust, and discrimination; Dealing with past and present ways of life after resettlement; and Seeking support and involvement in health care. Conclusions: The findings suggest that future actions for improving maternity care quality should be focused on woman-centered practice, demonstrating cultural safety and developing mutual trust between a woman and her care providers. Meaningful consultation with women affected by FGM in high-income settings requires cultural sensitivity and acknowledgment of their specific circumstances. This can be achieved by engaging women affected by FGM in service design to provide quality care and ensure woman-focused policy is developed and implemented.

This paper provides an international overview of the most recent estimates of the social costs of road crashes: total costs, value per casualty and breakdown in cost components. The analysis is based on publications about the national costs of road crashes of 17 countries, of which ten high income countries (HICs) and seven low and middle income countries (LMICs). Costs are expressed as a proportion of the gross domestic product (GDP). Differences between countries are described and explained. These are partly a consequence of differences in the road safety level, but there are also methodological explanations. Countries may or may not correct for underreporting of road crashes, they may or may not use the internationally recommended willingness to pay (WTP)-method for estimating human costs, and there are methodological differences regarding the calculation of some other cost components. The analysis shows that the social costs of road crashes in HICs range from 0.5% to 6.0% of the GDP with an average of 2.7%. Excluding countries that do not use a WTP- method for estimating human costs and countries that do not correct for underreporting, results in average costs of 3.3% of GDP. For LMICs that do correct for underreporting the share in GDP ranges from 1.1% to 2.9%. However, none of the LMICs included has performed a WTP study of the human costs. A major part of the costs is related to injuries: an average share of 50% for both HICs and LMICs. The average share of fatalities in the costs is 23% and 30% respectively. Prevention of injuries is thus important to bring down the socio-economic burden of road crashes. The paper shows that there are methodological differences between countries regarding cost components that are taken into account and regarding the methods used to estimate specific cost components. In order to be able to make sound comparisons of the costs of road crashes across countries, (further) harmonization of cost studies is recommended. This can be achieved by updating and improving international guidelines and applying them in future cost studies. The information regarding some cost components, particularly human costs and property damage, is poor and more research into these cost components is recommended.

The majority of studies discussed the existence of a trade-off between financial performance and outreach, pointing out those MFIs that look for higher profits lead to lower outreach. Another stream of research discussed the phenomena of mission drift, which see MFIs leave from their social mission, which is to provide micro financial services to break the cycle of poverty by reducing financial exclusion and move away from the traditional microcredit business model by three different ways. The paper contribute to the debate focussing the impact of mission drift phenomena on both financial performance and outreach of MFIs. This paper uses a dataset of 194 microfinance institutions (MFIs), 788 annual ratings from 2001 to 2010, collected by MicroFinanza Rating, an international MFIs’ rating agency, to study and test three hypotheses on the relationship between mission drift, financial performance and outreach of MFIs. Data analysed with mixed effect regressions shows that a trade-off exist between financial performance and outreach. Results show that mission drift positively impacts on financial performance but it reduces outreach. MFIs should be encouraged to clearly define if their main aim is to assure remuneration of shareholders or if they want to contribute to the outreach of poor.

The aim of this paper is to conduct an exploratory analysis of the wider economic and social conditions associated with larger informal economies. To do this, three competing perspectives are evaluated critically which variously assert that cross-national variations in the size of the informal economy are associated with: under-development (modernization perspective); high taxes, corruption and state interference (neo-liberal perspective), or inadequate state intervention to protect workers (political economy perspective). Analyzing the variable size of the informal economy across 33 developed and transition economies, namely 28 European countries and five other OECD nations (Australia, Canada, Japan, New zealand and the USA), the finding is that larger informal economies are associated with under-development as measured by lower levels of GNI per capita, employment participation rates, average wages and the institutional strength and quality of the bureaucracy, higher levels of perceived public sector corruption, lower levels of expenditure on social protection and labour market intervention to protect vulnerable groups, but also restrictions on the use of temporary employment contracts and TWAs. The outcome is a tentative call to combine a range of tenets from all three perspectives in a new more nuanced and finer-grained understanding of how the cross-national variations in the size of the informal economy are associated with broader economic and social conditions. The paper concludes by discussing the implications for theory and policy, including the need for further analysis of the different impacts on the size of the informal economy of a wider range of indicators of modernization, corruption, taxation and types of state intervention., Le but de cet article est de procéder à une analyse exploratoire des conjonctures économiques et sociales générales associées aux grandes économies informelles. À cette fin, trois perspectives concurrentielles font l’objet d’une évaluation critique qui confirme, à maints égards, que les variations observées d’un pays à l’autre quant à la taille de l’économie informelle sont associées aux facteurs suivants : 1-le sous-développement (perspective de modernisation); 2-une taxation élevée, corruption et ingérence de l’État (perspective néolibérale); ou 3- une intervention étatique inadéquate pour protéger les travailleurs (perspective d’économie politique). En analysant la taille variable de l’économie informelle dans 33 économies développées et en transition, soit 28 pays européens et cinq autres pays membres de l’OCDE (Australie, Canada, Japon, Nouvelle-zélande et États-Unis), l’auteur arrive à la conclusion que les grandes économies informelles sont associées au sous-développement, lequel est mesuré en fonction de plusieurs facteurs : niveaux inférieurs de rNB par habitant; taux de participation à l’emploi; salaires moyens; force et qualité institutionnelle de la bureaucratie; taux élevés de corruption perçue au sein de la fonction publique; faibles niveaux de dépenses au chapitre de la protection sociale; et intervention du marché du travail pour protéger les groupes vulnérables, mais, également, recours restreint à des contrats de travail temporaires et des affectations temporaires. Au final, cette analyse est un encouragement à combiner les facteurs associés à ces trois perspectives pour en arriver à une compréhension plus nuancée et plus fine de la mesure dans laquelle les variations transnationales de la taille de l’économie informelle sont associées à des conjonctures socioéconomiques plus générales. En conclusion, l’auteur s’interroge sur les implications de cet exercice sur la théorie et la politique, et il souligne la nécessité de pousser plus loin l’analyse des différents impacts qu’aurait, sur la taille de l’économie informelle, une gamme plus large d’indicateurs de modernisation, de corruption, de taxation et de types d’intervention étatique., El objetivo de este artículo es de conducir un análisis exploratorio de las condiciones económicas y sociales más amplias asociadas a las economías informales. Para esto, se evalúan críticamente tres perspectivas concurrentes que de manera diversa afirman que las variaciones entre naciones en cuanto al tamaño de la economía informal son asociadas: al sub-desarrollo (perspectiva de modernización); a niveles altos de imposición, corrupción e interferencia estatal (perspectiva neo-liberal), o a una intervención estatal inadecuada de protección de los trabajadores (perspectiva de la economía política). Al analizar el tamaño variable de la economía informal en 33 economías desarrolladas y en transición, precisamente 28 países europeos y 5 otras naciones de la OECD (Australia, Canadá, Japón, Nueva zelandia y Estados Unidos), los resultados muestran que las más grandes economías informales son asociadas al sub-desarrollo medido por los niveles bajos de GNI per capita, tasa de empleo, salarios promedio y fuerza y calidad de la burocracia, altos niveles de percepción de corrupción del sector público, bajos niveles gastos en protección social y de intervención en el mercado laboral para proteger los grupos vulnerables, pero también restricciones en uso de contratos de empleo temporario y TWAs. El resultado es una propuesta tentativa de combinar una serie de principios de las tres perspectivas para proponer una nueva comprensión más sutil y refinada de las variaciones de tamaño de la economía informal entre las naciones, haciendo resaltar la asociación con las condiciones económicas y sociales más amplias. El artículo concluye con una discusión sobre las implicaciones para la teoría y las políticas, incluyendo la necesidad de análisis más profundos de los diferentes impactos de una vasta serie de indicadores de modernización, corrupción, imposición y tipos de intervención estatal sobre el tamaño de la economía informal.

Health care policy seeks to ensure that citizens are protected from the financial risk associated with needing health care. Yet rising health care costs in many countries are leading to a greater reliance on out-of-pocket (OOP) measures. This paper uses 2010 household survey data from seven countries to measure and compare the burden OOP expenses place on individuals. It compares countries based on the extent to which citizens with health problems devote a large share of their income to OOP expenses. The paper finds that in all countries but France, and to a lesser extent Slovenia, citizens with health problems face considerably higher medical costs than do those without. As many as one-quarter of less healthy citizens in the US, Poland, Russia and Israel devote a large share of their income to OOP expenses. The paper also finds a strong cross-national correlation between the degree to which citizens face high OOP expenses, and the disparities in OOP expenses between those with and without health problems. The levels of high OOP spending uncovered, and their inequitable impact on those with health problems in the seven countries, underscore the potential for OOP measures to undermine core objectives of health care systems, including those of equitable financing, equal access, and improved health among the population.

This paper attempts to verify the "inverted U" effect of the income gap on the total factor productivity (TFP) of the country or region by constructing a theoretical model that includes income effects and substitution effects. Based on this, this paper uses the multinational panel data of 53 countries in the world from 1995 to 2014 for empirical research. The research shows that: (1) the income gap has an "inverted U-shaped" effect on the national TFP, and the inflection point is located at about 0.269; (2) The income gap is also verified by the "inverted U" influence mechanism of the national TFP by affecting the income effect and the substitution effect; (3) The difference in the development stage determines that countries should adopt an income distribution policy that is compatible with their own country. The conclusions of this paper strengthen the confidence and determination to improve the supply system and promote regional innovation, and confirm the necessity of promoting global economic restructuring and achieving global inclusive development to a certain extent.

Introduction Vaccination in pregnancy is an effective method to protect against disease for the pregnant woman, foetus and new born infant. In England, it is recommended that pregnant women are vaccinated against pertussis and influenza. Improvement in the uptake of both pertussis and influenza vaccination among pregnant women is needed to prevent morbidity and mortality for both the pregnant women and unborn child. Aim To identify effective strategies in increasing the uptake of vaccination in pregnancy in high-income countries and to make recommendations for England. Methods A systematic review of peer reviewed literature was conducted using a keyword search strategy applied across six databases (Medline, Embase, PsychInfo, PubMed, CINAHL and Web of Science). Articles were screened against an inclusion and exclusion criteria and papers included within the review were quality assessed. Results and conclusions Twenty-two articles were included in the review. The majority of the papers included were conducted in the USA and looked at strategies to increase influenza vaccination in pregnancy. There is limited high quality evidence for strategies in high-income countries to increase coverage of pertussis and influenza vaccination in pregnancy. A number of strategies have been found to be effective; reminders about vaccination on antenatal healthcare records, midwives providing vaccination, and education and information provision for healthcare staff and patients. Future interventions to increase vaccination in pregnancy should be evaluated to ensure efficacy and to contribute to the evidence base.

Purpose Various dimensions of healthcare service quality were used and discussed in literature across the globe. This study presents an updated meaningful review of the extensive research that has been conducted on measuring dimensions of healthcare service quality. Data sources Systematic review method in current study is based on PRISMA guidelines. We searched for literature using databases such as Google, Google Scholar, PubMed and Social Science, Citation Index. Study selection In this study, we screened 1921 identified papers using search terms/phrases. Snowball strategies were adopted to extract published articles from January 1997 till December 2016. Data extraction Two-hundred and fourteen papers were identified as relevant for data extraction; completed by two researchers, double checked by the other two to develop agreement in discrepancies. In total, 74 studies fulfilled our pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria for data analysis. Data synthesis Service quality is mainly measured as technical and functional, incorporating many sub-dimensions. We synthesized the information about dimensions of healthcare service quality with reference to developed and developing countries. 'Tangibility' is found to be the most common contributing factor whereas 'SERVQUAL' as the most commonly used model to measure healthcare service quality. Conclusion There are core dimensions of healthcare service quality that are commonly found in all models used in current reviewed studies. We found a little difference in these core dimensions while focusing dimensions in both developed and developing countries, as mostly SERVQUAL is being used as the basic model to either generate a new one or to add further contextual dimensions. The current study ranked the contributing factors based on their frequency in literature. Based on these priorities, if factors are addressed irrespective of any context, may lead to contribute to improve healthcare quality and may provide an important information for evidence-informed decision-making.

The renewable energy sources are considered as the important factor to decrease the level of carbon emissions and to promote the global green economy. Understanding the dynamics of renewable energy consumption, this paper analyzes whether there is a unit root in renewable energy consumption in 54 countries over the period 1971–2016. To this end, the unit root test of Narayan–Popp with two endogenous (unknown) breaks is implemented. The paper finds that renewable energy consumption series are stationary around a level and the time trend in 45 of 54 countries. In other words, renewable energy consumption follows a unit root process only in nine countries: Brazil, China, Colombia, India, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, and Turkey. The evidence implies that renewable energy demand policies, which aimed to decrease the carbon emissions, will only have permanent effects in those nine countries.

Although the differences between developed and developing countries have been extensively studied in the context of globalization strategies, few studies have so far been conducted on the relationship between country development status and the possession by countries of a favorable (or unfavorable) product country image (PCI). Moreover, the results of such studies to date have been inconclusive. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating role of country developmental status on PCI coupled with two antecedents of PCI, namely consumer ethnocentrism and cosmopolitanism. The paper also distinguishes between the PCI of the home and foreign country images of respondents. We test a new model that incorporates these constructs with a sample of 2655 younger generation consumers. The results show that country development status moderates some relationships but does not moderate others. These findings have significant implications for international companies from both developed and developing countries when developing global strategy.

Traffic is an extremely important organized social and human activity. Life in modern society is unimaginable without traffic. Traffic is the result of the level of development of a country, and vice versa, itself wields pressure on the development of a country’s economy. There is a strong association between traffic and economic development. The development of technology has a profound impact on traffic and the dependency of transport systems on their surroundings in an economic, social, and geographical sense. Traffic is among the central topics in all concepts of sustainable development. Traffic safety in the world and in our country is viewed as a fundamental issue that requires a permanent solution. Each day we pay a very high price for the advantages of the modern and dynamic motorized and non-motorized road transport. In support of the increasing traffic safety, in this paper, we shall analyze the problem of setting up traffic calming measures in the country. In the comparative analysis through this paper, we recognize that each country has a different approach to the assessment of costs and benefits of traffic calming measures and access to the methods of their installation in urban areas. In most developed countries, such as the United States or the UK, the calculations are based on a designed project comprising different variables. Whereas in Macedonia there is not even one project upon which such installation could be performed, thus proved by the surveys conducted in 54 municipalities and their budgets from which funds are allocated. From the results received from the survey on the installation of traffic calming measures in developed countries and in the Republic of Macedonia, measures will be proposed and taken from the experiences on how to improve or increase traffic safety through traffic calming measures.

A company’s competitiveness depends on the linkages between its resources and capabilities and location-specific factors where the company runs its activities. Companies combine the advantages of particular geographic locations with their resources and capabilities to enhance existing and develop new competitive advantages. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the impact of international operations in the form of foreign direct investments on the competitiveness of the investing companies as well as to identify areas of greatest benefits derived from international involvement based on the location of their foreign affiliates. The paper presents results of a field survey carried out in 2012 through direct interviews among Polish companies – foreign direct investors. The research results revealed that the foreign activities of Polish enterprises have a positive influence on their competitiveness; however, the FDI impact is not so clear as it was expected. The empirical findings also proved that the location of their foreign affiliates did not influence significantly the scale and nature of benefits from international activities in terms of the Chi-square analysis applied. However, we observe some tendencies, based on the impact index, indicating some dependencies between the location of foreign affiliates and the fields of the FDI impact identified in the competitive potential of investing companies.

Global mental health is a comparatively new area of study and research that is concerned with addressing inequities and inequalities in mental health provision across the globe. In recent years concerted efforts have been made to scale up mental health services in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). As such, there has been tendency to view LMIC as recipients of mental health-related knowledge, rather than providers of knowledge. Critics have referred to the prevailing flow of information from high-income countries (HIC) to LMIC as a form of medical imperialism. To redress the apparent imbalance in knowledge exchange, this paper reflects on valuable lessons that HIC can potentially learn from LMIC in terms of supporting mental well-being. Specifically, the paper reflects on how a greater willingness to embrace pluralism in HIC may facilitate people to engage with forms of support that they believe to be appropriate for them. The paper also explores examples of what are termed 'counterflows' of knowledge; ideas that have originated from LMIC that are influencing mental health-related practice in HIC. Barriers to potential counterflows are discussed.

In this issue of Circulation Research , Shimokawa et al1 report that the number of scientific publications submitted from Japan to the American Heart Association journals recently has dropped impressively compared with just 17 years ago (from 164 papers in 2000 down to only 45 in 2016), when Japan published more papers than any other country except for the United States and Germany. Although the recent decline in the number of Japanese papers published in many, if not all, areas of science has been reported repeatedly,2 the report by Shimokawa et al struck us as particularly noteworthy because the decline in the field of basic cardiovascular sciences seems more prominent than that in some other areas of basic science in Japan. The authors of this Editorial think that probing the causes of this dramatic decline and discussing what can be done to halt the slump are useful for the cardiovascular basic science community worldwide, because many developed countries share at least some of the causes of the decline we have witnessed recently in Japan. Article, see p 331 The focus of research and its methodology have changed dramatically during the past 2 decades. Compared with the more descriptive papers published in the 1990s, recent publications published in the American Heart Association journals include more mechanistic investigations, often with more complex studies using multidisciplinary approaches requiring collaborations with investigators across the field. One can argue that the recent slump in Japan may be caused simply by the fact that the area of research and its methodology has shifted away from those on which Japanese scientists are focused. Another contributing factor may be the status of the Japanese economy. The long-lasting economic slump since the early 1990s and increased spending on social security, because of the rapidly growing population aged …

Background Mental health policy can be an essential and powerful tool to improve a population’s mental health. However, around one third of countries do not possess a mental health policy, and there are large disparities in population coverage rates between high- and low-income countries. The goal of this study is to identify the transition and implementation challenges of mental health policies in both high-income countries (HICs) as well as middle- and low-income countries (MLICs). Methods PubMed, Cochrane Library and Campbell Library were searched from inception to 31 December 2017, for studies on implemented mental health policies at the national level. Abstracts and the main texts of papers were double screened, and extracted data were analysed through thematic synthesis. Results A total of 93 papers were included in this study, covering 24 HICs, 28 MLICs and 5 regions. Studies on mental health policies, especially those of MLICs, kept increasing, but MLICs were still underrepresented in terms of publication quantity and study frequency. Based on the included studies, nine policy domains were summarized: service organizing, service provision, service quality, human resources, legislation and human rights, advocacy, administration, surveillance and research, and financing and budgeting. HICs incrementally enriched their policy content in all domains over centuries of development; following HICs’ experience, mental health policies in MLICs have boomed since the 1990s and quickly extended to all domains. Implementation problems in HICs were mainly related to service organizing and service provision; for MLICs, more severe implementation problems converged on financing and budgeting, administration and human resources. Conclusions Mental health policy developments in both HICs and MLICs present a process of diversification and enrichment. In terms of implementation, MLICs are faced with more and greater challenges than HICs, especially in funding, human resources and administration. Therefore, future efforts should not only be made on helping MLICs developing mental health policies, but also on promoting policy implementation under MLICs’ local context. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12888-018-1711-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Background Indigenous children living in high income countries have a consistently high prevalence of mental health problems. We aimed to identify psychosocial risk and protective factors for mental health in this setting. Methods A systematic review of studies published between 1996 and 2016 that quantitatively evaluated the association between psychosocial variables and mental health among Indigenous children living in high income countries was conducted. Psychosocial variables were grouped into commonly occurring domains. Individual studies were judged to provide evidence for an association between a domain and either good mental health, poor mental health, or a negligible or inconsistent association. The overall quality of evidence across all studies for each domain was assessed using the Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) guidelines. Results Forty-seven papers were eligible (mainland US 30 [64%], Canada 8 [17%], Australia 7 [15%], Hawaii 4 [9%]), including 58,218 participants aged 4–20 years. Most papers were cross-sectional (39, 83%) and measured negative mental health outcomes (41, 87%). Children’s negative cohesion with their families and the presence of adverse events appeared the most reliable predictors of increased negative mental health outcomes. Children’s substance use, experiences of discrimination, comorbid internalising symptoms, and negative parental behaviour also provided evidence of associations with negative mental health outcomes. Positive family and peer relationships, high self-esteem and optimism were associated with increased positive mental health outcomes. Conclusions Quantitative research investigating Indigenous children’s mental health is largely cross-sectional and focused upon negative outcomes. Indigenous children living in high income countries share many of the same risk and protective factors associated with mental health. The evidence linking children’s familial environment, psychological traits, substance use and experiences of discrimination with mental health outcomes highlights key targets for more concerted efforts to develop initiatives to improve the mental health of Indigenous children. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12939-017-0652-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Nutrition process and practices are one of the basic elements of the human routine life. This process has a significant cultural and historical imprint and subject to social changes. The paper is devoted to food studies. Food studies is the new interdisciplinary field that includes critical analysis of food and its contexts in science, art, history and society. Food studies cover wide range of sociocultural issues related to food and nutrition. All these issues reflect the approach to nutrition not as to satisfaction of basic human need in food but as to significant and historically variable sociocultural practice and part of the lifestyle. The paper examines how the attitude to various types of food and drinks has changed over the course of two centuries, as well as to nutrition in general in developed countries. The data source is a collection of books created by Google as the only source of long-term data. The time frame for the various changes has been established. Some of our results confirm the established opinions, others are unexpected.

Background As part of efforts to inform the development of a global human resources for health (HRH) strategy, a comprehensive methodology for estimating HRH supply and requirements was described in a companion paper. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the application of that methodology, using data publicly available online, to simulate the supply of and requirements for midwives, nurses, and physicians in the 32 high-income member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) up to 2030. Methods A model combining a stock-and-flow approach to simulate the future supply of each profession in each country—adjusted according to levels of HRH participation and activity—and a needs-based approach to simulate future HRH requirements was used. Most of the data to populate the model were obtained from the OECD’s online indicator database. Other data were obtained from targeted internet searches and documents gathered as part of the companion paper. Results Relevant recent measures for each model parameter were found for at least one of the included countries. In total, 35% of the desired current data elements were found; assumed values were used for the other current data elements. Multiple scenarios were used to demonstrate the sensitivity of the simulations to different assumed future values of model parameters. Depending on the assumed future values of each model parameter, the simulated HRH gaps across the included countries could range from shortfalls of 74 000 midwives, 3.2 million nurses, and 1.2 million physicians to surpluses of 67 000 midwives, 2.9 million nurses, and 1.0 million physicians by 2030. Conclusions Despite important gaps in the data publicly available online and the short time available to implement it, this paper demonstrates the basic feasibility of a more comprehensive, population needs-based approach to estimating HRH supply and requirements than most of those currently being used. HRH planners in individual countries, working with their respective stakeholder groups, would have more direct access to data on the relevant planning parameters and would thus be in an even better position to implement such an approach. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12960-016-0168-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is responsible for acute hepatitis in humans, through foodborne, zoonotic, and waterborne transmission routes. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of HEV in water matrices. Six categories were defined: untreated and treated wastewater, surface water (river, lake, and seawater), drinking water, groundwater, and other water environments (irrigation water, grey water, reservoir water, flood water, and effluent of pig slaughterhouse). We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Global Index Medicus, and Excerpta Medica Database. Study selection and data extraction were performed by at least two independent investigators. Heterogeneity (I2) was assessed using the χ2 test on the Cochran Q statistic and H parameter. Sources of heterogeneity were explored by subgroup analysis. This study is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42021289116. We included 87 prevalence studies from 58 papers, 66.4% of which performed in Europe. The overall prevalence of HEV in water was 9.8% (95% CI 6.4–13.7). The prevalence was higher in untreated wastewater (15.1%) and lower in treated wastewater (3.8%) and in drinking water (4.7%). In surface water, prevalence was 7.4%, and in groundwater, the percentage of positive samples, from only one study available, was 8.3%. Overall, only 36.8% of the studies reported the genotype of HEV, with genotype 3 (HEV-3) prevalent (168 samples), followed by HEV-1 (148 sample), and HEV-4 (2 samples). High-income countries were the most represented with 59/87 studies (67.8%), while only 3/87 (3.5%) of the studies were performed in low-income countries. The overall prevalence obtained of this study was generally higher in industrialized countries. Risk of bias was low in 14.9% of the studies and moderate in 85.1%. The results of this review showed the occurrence of HEV in different waters environments also in industrialized countries with sanitation and safe water supplies. While HEV transmission to humans through water has been widely demonstrated in developing countries, it is an issue still pending in industrialized countries. Better knowledge on the source of pollution, occurrence, survival in water, and removal by water treatment is needed to unravel this transmission path. Graphical Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to examine the effect of eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) adoption on financial reporting quality at the country-level (developing and developed countries). Design/methodology/approach This study uses data from 98 developed and developing countries between 2005 and 2018. This study collected data from various sources such as the World Economic Forum, World Development Indicators, World Governance Indicators and XBRL website. Findings The results show that XBRL is associated with an increased financial reporting quality. However, the relationship is stronger in developing countries than in developed countries. This study also finds that the results remain the same after accounting for years of XBRL experience and the effect of accounting globalisation. The results are consistent with the assumption that XBRL-formatted financial statements improve information efficiency through increased searching efficiency, quality of display and comparability. The results are robust to alternative econometric modifications such as controlling for country, year effects and endogeneity. Practical implications The results can potentially assist the XBRL promoters and regulators in expeditiously assessing the benefits of XBRL and advocating its adoption by many countries. The findings offer more motivations for regulators around the world to mandate this new filing standard format. Originality/value This study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence on the consequences of XBRL at the country level. This study provides evidence on an important question of whether the XBRL, new information technology in the accounting field, can play a useful role in improving financial reporting.

Many developed countries have seen significant reforms of their health systems for the last few decades. Despite extensive investment in these changes, health systems still face a range of challenges which reform efforts do not seem to have overcome. The purpose of this paper is to argue that there are two particular reasons, which go beyond the standard explanations of changing demographics and disease profiles.The paper is a commentary based on the literature.The first explanation relates to the relationship between substantive health care reform and governance reform. These are intertwined processes and the pattern of interaction has distorted both types of reform. Second, reform has multiple meanings and may sometimes be more of an intra-organizational ritual and routine than a coherent plan aiming to bring about particular changes. As such, part of the reason why reform so frequently fails to bring about change is that it was not actually intended to bring about specific changes in the first place. The limited success of reform in recent years, the authors argue, has been a result of the fact that reform has focused too much on the substantive aspects of healthcare, while ignoring the governance aspect of the sector.As a result, governance has often been obstructed by interest groups inside the system, resulting in paralysis. The authors conclude by arguing that substantive reform of public organizations without an accompanying reassessment of the governance of these organizations are more likely to fail, compared to more comprehensive reform efforts.

Objective The design of health insurance, and the role out-of-pocket (OOP) payments play in it, is a key policy issue as rising health costs have encouraged greater cost-sharing measures. This paper compares the percentage of Americans spending large amounts OOP to meet their health needs with percentages in eight other developed countries. By disaggregating by age and income, the paper focuses on the poor and elderly populations within each. Data Source The study uses nationally representative household survey data made available through the Luxembourg Income Study. It includes nations with high, medium, and low levels of OOP spending. Study Design Households have high medical spending when their OOP expenditures exceed a threshold share of income. I calculate the share of each nation's population, as well as subpopulations within it, with high OOP expenditures. Principal Findings The United States is not alone in exposing large numbers of citizens to high OOP expenses. In six of the other eight countries, one-quarter or more of low-income citizens devoted at least 5 percent of their income to OOP expenses, and in all but two countries, more than 1 in 10 elderly citizens had high medical expenses. Conclusions For some populations in the sample nations, health insurance does not provide adequate financial protection and likely contributes to inequities in health care delivery and outcomes.

The global scientific consensus, made possible by scientific studies since the 1980’s, has demonstrated the reality of climate change and its dramatic socioeconomic consequences. The fight against climate change began as a scientific problem and escalated to a political problem on a global scale. The paper analyses the importance of the global climate governance to fight against climate change trying to reconcile the developed countries and developing countries in shaping common interests in order to reduce greenhouse gases emissions. The success of this governance depends not only on the ambitious participation of all the countries of the world, but also on the increased participation of all non-governmental actors that help to create a global awareness towards concrete and local actions. The object of analysis is also to expose the scientific basis of climate change that legitimizes the beginning of a process of international negotiations on climate change framed within a complex international climate regime. Along the climate summits called Conferences of the Parties, different objectives are decided to engage the commitments of all countries to reduce their emissions and provide funding to developing countries to adapt themselves to the negative impacts of the climate change. The paper points out the negotiation process of the twenty-first Conference of the Parties held in Paris in December 2015 and its subsequent international agreement, seen as a turning point in the international climate regime. El consenso científico mundial, gracias a los numerosos estudios científicos, ha evidenciado la realidad del cambio climático y sus consecuencias socioeconómicas dramáticas. La lucha contra el cambio climático empezó siendo un problema de la ciencia para convertirse en un problema político de escala global. Para que sea efectiva la lucha contra el cambio climático se necesita una gobernanza climática global que trate de conciliar los países desarrollados y los países en desarrollo en torno a un interés común. Su éxito radica en la participación no sólo de los gobiernos de todo el mundo sino también de todos los actores no gubernamentales que ayudan a la toma de conciencia generalizada para emprender acciones locales. Se analiza la base científica que confirma que el cambio climático es una realidad y que legitima el inicio de un proceso de negociación internacional sobre cambio climático enmarcado en un régimen internacional climático complejo. Desde 1992 con la adopción de la Convención Marco de Naciones Unidas sobre el Cambio Climático se conforma este régimen vinculante para reducir las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero. Será a través de la celebración de las llamadas Conferencias de las Partes que se adopten objetivos y en ciertos casos, Acuerdos internacionales que comprometan los países a mitigar el cambio climático y dotarse de financiación que les permita adaptarse a los impactos negativos del cambio climático. Nos detendremos más detenidamente en el proceso de negociación de la vigésimo primera Conferencia de las Partes celebrada en París el pasado diciembre de 2015 en la que se da un nuevo impulso para luchar contra el cambio climático por parte de los Estados y los actores no gubernamentales y es visto como un punto de inflexión en el régimen climático internacional. Su resultado, como punto de inflexión y momento histórico, hace del Acuerdo internacional de París una de las únicas oportunidades para mitigar y adaptarse al cambio climático a nivel global. De esta manera será posible evitar que acontezcan los peores escenarios previstos para el futuro. ¿Seremos capaces de salvarnos? Le consensus scientifique mondial, grâce à de nombreuses études scientifiques, a démontré laréalité du changement climatique et de ses conséquences économiques dramatiques. La lutte contre lechangement climatique a commencé comme un problème de la science pour devenir un problèmepolitique de l'échelle mondiale. Pour être efficace, la lutte contre le changement climatique unegouvernance climatique mondiale tentent de concilier les pays développés et en développement autourd'un intérêt commun est nécessaire. Son succès réside dans la participation non seulement desgouvernements du monde entier, mais aussi de tous les acteurs non gouvernementaux qui aident la prisede conscience générale à entreprendre des actions locales. la base scientifique confirmant que lechangement climatique est une réalité et qui légitimise le début d'un processus de négociationsinternationales sur le changement climatique encadrée dans un régime complexe de climat internationalest analysé. Depuis 1992, avec l'adoption de la Convention-cadre des Nations Unies sur les changementsclimatiques de ce régime contraignant est formé pour réduire les émissions de gaz à effet de serre. Il serapar la tenue de conférences appelle les Parties objectifs sont adoptés et, dans certains cas, des accordsinternationaux qui engagent les pays à atténuer les changements climatiques et a fourni des fonds pourleur permettre d'adapter aux impacts négatifs du changement climatique. Nous nous arrêterons plus endétail dans le processus de négociation de la vingt et unième Conférence des Parties, tenue à Parisdernière Décembre 2015 où un nouvel élan est donné pour lutter contre le changement climatique par lesÉtats et les acteurs non étatiques et il est considéré comme un point dans le régime climatiqueinternational tournant. Son résultat, comme un point tournant et moment historique, fait l'accordinternational à Paris l'une des seules possibilités d'atténuation et d'adaptation au changement climatiqueau niveau mondial. Cela permet d'éviter les pires scénarios transpirent prévu pour l'avenir. Serons-nouscapables de nous sauver?

Since 2011, the focus of international negotiations under the UNFCCC has been on producing a new climate agreement to be adopted in 2015. This phase of negotiations is known as the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action. The goal has been to update the global effort on climate for long-term cooperation. In this period, various changes have been contemplated on the design of the architecture of the global climate effort. Whereas previously, the negotiation process consisted of setting mandated targets exclusively for developed countries, the current setting requests of each country to pledge its contribution to the climate effort in the form of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs). The shift away from establishing negotiated targets for rich countries alone towards a universal system of participation through intended contributions raised persistent questions on how exactly the new agreement can ensure equitable terms. How to conceptualize equity within the 2015 climate agreement, and beyond, is the focus of this paper. The paper advances a framework on equity, which moves away from substantive moral conceptions of burden allocation toward refining principles of public reason specially designed for the negotiation process under the UNFCCC. The paper outlines the framework’s main features and discusses how it can serve a facilitating role for multilateral discussion on equity on a long-term basis capable of adapting to changing circumstances.

Migrants, particularly from low- and middle-income countries, are at a heightened risk of adverse HIV outcomes. HIV testing may improve these outcomes. We reviewed and synthesised studies into migrants and HIV testing (outcome variable), published between January 1997 and April 2014. Papers using quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods designs, and samples with adult (≥18 years) migrants from low- and middle-income countries in high-income countries were included in the paper. Of 3155 papers retrieved, 31 met the inclusion criteria and are included in the review. A large number of barriers and facilitators to HIV testing were identified across the individual, social and structural levels. A number of study design and methodological issues, however, inhibited a comprehensive synthesis. There is no doubt that addressing HIV testing in migrants in high-income countries is complex; however, it has important implications for individual, community and population health, and a strong, empirically based response is warranted.

People who have limited access to dental care may present to non-dental health practitioners for dental treatment and advice. This review synthesised the available evidence regarding the use of non-dental health practitioners for oral health problems and the services provided by non-dental health practitioners to manage such presentations.PubMed and CINAHL databases were searched using key search terms to identify all relevant quantitative and qualitative English-language studies published between 1990 and March 2014. Snowballing techniques were then applied whereby the reference lists of retrieved articles were searched for other relevant citations. Grey literature was searched via Google using the same search terms to identify unpublished work and government reports.Of the 43 papers which met the review criteria, 25 papers reported on the use of non-dental health practitioners for oral health problems and 18 on dental care education and training for non-dental health practitioners. Four reports were located from the grey literature on the involvement of non-dental health practitioners in the management of oral health care.The review of literature showed that both children and adults utilise non-dental health practitioners for oral health problems. Despite this, Emergency Department medical staff, medical practitioners and pharmacists generally lacked training and knowledge in the maragement of oral health. Services from non-dental health practitioners mainly focussed on children. The literature on education and training for non-dental health practitioners was limited.