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Job quality can impact workers' productivity and contribute to societal well-being. To analyze the evolution of job quality in Bolivia, this paper employs Bolivian household survey data spanning 2007 to 2021 to construct a synthetic job quality index. The index incorporates a broad definition of a good job, encompassing six dimensions: adherence to regulations, working conditions, establishment of an appropriate wage-job linkage, productive usage and adaptability of skills, availability of career opportunities, and employment resilience. The findings indicate that job quality in Bolivia has mostly remained incessant, exhibiting limited change even during periods of high growth in economic output. However, this result masks heterogeneities, with significant variation in job quality associated with workers' demographic and job-specific characteristics and across regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to explain macrolevel drivers of adolescent fertility rate using a panel data set derived from 17 Latin American countries over a period of 16 years (1997-2012). While many studies of adolescent fertility have focused on individual-level explanations, this study explores whether adolescent fertility rate is correlated to country-level determinants, specifically legislation adoption that guarantees access to school-based sexuality education, emergency contraception, and abortion. After controlling for other country-level factors, we find that countries that have adopted legislation on school-based sexuality education and those with legal access to abortion (under one or more restrictions) have lower adolescent fertility rates.

This paper contributes to the minimum wage (MW) literature by providing new evidence on the gender effects of the MW in the context of weak compliance with labour regulations. We study Bolivia's case, the country with the highest informal employment share in Latin America according to the International Labour Organization, during a favourable macroeconomic context characterized by a commodities boom that should have eased compliance with an active MW legislation. From a pooled cross-section of household surveys from 2005 to 2013 and a generalized difference-in-difference specification, we find evidence that the MW widened the hourly wage gender gap, and had negative effects on the formalization likelihood. Our findings stress the importance of enforcing compliance with the minimum wage legislation to reduce the gender wage gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assess the sustainability of electricity provision for rural families through off-grid Photovoltaic Systems (PVS) in Bolivia during the last 10 years, is the essential core of this research. The sustainability analysis is considered under a multidimensional approach: documental analysis complemented by a field research and semi-structured interviews with local experts. In the Bolivian case more than 36 thousand PVS have been installed in the last 10 years under different schemes, but more than 90% of these, are out of operation, shown the absence of sustainability approach in these interventions. For this and considering the international experience, is sketched a proposal under an integrality approach. The proposal contemplates substantial modifications in the way of granting the SFV to the families, their faculties as well as the institutional roles; a tariffed service has been suggested as it happens throughout an off-network system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Since 2000 universal routine immunization against the hepatitis B virus (HBV) was implemented in Bolivia. This study aimed to assess the seroprevalence of markers against HBV in two different birth cohorts (pre-universal vaccine cohort and post-universal vaccine cohort) from Cochabamba, Bolivia. Methods We performed a school-based seroepidemiological survey (n = 424) of HBV in 2010 in the Cochabamba region. An ELISA test was used to measure antibodies to the hepatitis B surface antigen (anti-HBs IgG) and to the hepatitis B core antigen (anti-HBc IgG). Results The prevalence of anti-HBs IgG in the pre-universal vaccine cohort was 5.8% (95% CI: 3.3–8.3%); it was higher in boys (9.1%), and those living in suburbs (9.7%). The anti-HBs IgG prevalence among post-universal vaccine cohort was 37.9% (95% CI: 28.5–48.1%), and was higher in children who spoke Quechua at home (51.0%), those living in suburbs (53.9%), and those born in 2005 (72.7%). Neither cohort showed differences relating to parental education. The prevalence of anti-HBc IgG was 1.1% among post-universal vaccine cohort and 1.2% among pre-universal vaccine cohort (p > 0.05). Conclusions This study identified a persistent low seroprevalence of hepatitis B infection in spite of a decade of universal immunization, and low long-term humoral immunity against HBV infection in vaccinated children in Cochabamba. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Cooperatives have been used by the inhabitants in rural areas to gain access to telecommunications. In Bolivia and Finland, for example, consumer cooperatives have been for many years the only mechanism to provide local telecommunication services to the whole country. This paper studies the effects of the Bolivian market's structure on the development of competition as well as on universal access and service policies. It argues that some cooperatives after the liberalisation of the market are not helping to develop competition. Cooperatives may have incentives to increase the interconnection charges that they receive from long distance firms to cross-subsidise the prices of local calls. Moreover, as some cooperatives have entered the long distance market, they may try to restrict competition through collusive agreements. Finally, the paper suggests that the excessive price of the cooperatives' shares may have damaged the possibility of reaching a higher penetration level and greater coverage in rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The serum level of EPO in COVID-19 patients at 4150 masl was significantly lower than standard values for this altitude. • The serum EPO levels in COVID-19 deceased patients were about 2.5 times lower than in survivors. • lung involvement was significantly higher in deceased patients than in survivors. Previous studies suggested that erythropoietin (EPO) may protect against severe COVID-19-induced injuries, ultimately preventing mortality. This hypothesis is based on the fact that, in addition to promoting the increase in red blood cells, EPO is an anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic and protective factor in several non-erythropoietic tissues. Furthermore, EPO promotes nitric oxide production in the hypoxic lung and stimulates ventilation by interacting with the respiratory centers of the brainstem. Given that EPO in the blood is increased at high-altitude, we evaluated the serum levels of EPO in critical patients with COVID-19 at "Hospital Agramont" in the city of El Alto (4150 masl) in Bolivia. A total of 16 patients, 15 men, one woman, with a mean age of 55.8 ± 8.49 years, admitted to the Intensive Care Unit were studied. All patients were permanent residents of El Alto, with no travel history below 3000 masl for at least one year. Blood samples were collected upon admission to the ICU. Serum EPO concentration was assessed using an ELISA kit, and a standard technique determined hemoglobin concentration. Only half of the observed patients survived the disease. Remarkably, fatal cases showed 2.5 times lower serum EPO than survivors (2.78 ± 0.8643 mU/mL vs 7.06 ± 2.713 mU/mL; p = 0.0096), and 1.24 times lower hemoglobin levels (13.96 ± 2.56 g/dL vs 17.41 ± 1.61 g/dL; p = 0.0159). While the number of cases evaluated in this work is low, our findings strongly warrant further investigation of EPO levels in COVID-19 patients at high and low altitudes. Our results also support the hypothesis that exogenous EPO administration could help critically ill COVID-19 patients overcome the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Background: Although measles is a highly infectious disease, the live measles vaccine provides protection for over 20 years, and immunity may be lifelong. This study assessed measles seroprevalence in schoolchildren in the Cochabamba region of Bolivia. Methods: A seroepidemiological survey of measles immunity in 5–16-year-old schoolchildren (n =441) living in the Cochabamba region of Bolivia was performed in March and April of 2010. Representative regional samples of school children from 14 schools were obtained. A parent-administered questionnaire collected sociodemographic and socio-economic status, and serum samples were tested for measles antibodies using an enzyme-linked fluorescent antibody test. The measles prevalence and corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated. A descriptive and bivariate analysis was performed using the ANOVA or the Kruskal–Wallis test according to whether the data were distributed normally (Kolmogorov–Smirnov test p-value<0.05) plus the chi-square test or Fisher''s exact test as needed. Results: The global seroprevalence of measles was 69.61% (95% CI 65.32–73.90) and was higher in adolescents (84.16%, 95% CI 77.04–91.28) and Spanish speakers (74.74%, 95% CI 68.56–80.92). The seroprevalence did not differ according to socio-economic status, living area, or number of family members in the household. Conclusions: This study found a high prevalence of measles susceptibility in Bolivian children. Thus, herd immunity may not have been established, and some outbreak could occur. Authorities should redress this situation before endemic measles transmission occurs nationally and regionally, and there is an urgent need to conduct more seroprevalence studies in the region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]