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This article asks how the concept of resilience has been used in development studies. Set amidst the rise of resilience in sustainable development, it offers insights for scholars and policymakers, alike. Sampling 419 journal articles from 2017 to 2022, it uses Kuhnian paradigms to analyse development knowledge production on resilience. This produces three key findings. First is the absence of a coherent resilience paradigm (with shared definitions, problems and methods) in development studies. Second is its use, instead, by incumbent development paradigms in piecemeal fashion to extend and/or repackage pre‐existing arguments. Third are ensuing possibilities for resilience as both a rallying call and siren song in sustainable development. Ultimately, resilience‐based research and policy discourses open vital space for collective action across interdisciplinary and international divides. However, a lack of critical awareness of its non‐uniform use can produce more harm than help. If the language of resilience is to advance collective prospects for development cooperation and climate action, then it will help to know precisely what we each are talking about. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brazil’s economic, environmental, and infrastructural landscape is characterised by local and regional inequalities, particularly evident in Minas Gerais state and the municipalities surrounding its capital, Belo Horizonte (BH) microregion. This research examines three primary domains: (a) economic metrics such as GDP per capita, wages, and formal employment; (b) the availability of clean water and sewage systems; and (c) the frequency of emergency decrees. It aims to ascertain whether these factors can delineate economic, health, and socio-environmental divides within the BH microregion and between its urban and rural areas. Economically, a pronounced gap exists between GDP growth and wage stability, underscoring disparities between the BH microregion and the broader state. While the BH microregion boasts higher salaries and GDP, it also grapples with a heightened cost of living. Disparities in water and sewage infrastructure are stark between urban and non-urban locales, with the latter often lacking access. Emergency decrees are correlated with municipal GDP, with lower-GDP areas experiencing more crises, albeit to a lesser extent in the BH microregion. Cluster analysis reveals a nexus between frequent emergencies, lower GDP, and improved access to water and sewage services. Addressing these challenges requires comprehensive public policies to foster local well-being and alleviate economic, infrastructural, and environmental disparities within both the state and the BH microregion.

Existing scholarship documents large worldwide increases in women’s participation in the public sphere over recent decades, for example, in education, politics, and the labor force. Some scholars have argued that these changes follow broader trends in world society, especially its growing liberalism, which increasingly has reconfigured social life around the choices of empowered and rights-bearing individuals, regardless of gender. Very recently, however, a variety of populisms and nationalisms have emerged to present alternatives to liberalism, including in the international arena. We explore here their implications for women’s participation in public life. We use cross-national data to analyze changes in women’s participation in higher education, the polity, and the economy 1970–2017. We find that women’s participation on average continues to expand over this period, but there is evidence of a growing cross-national divergence. In most domains, women’s participation tends to be lower in countries linked to illiberal international organizations, especially in the recent-most period.

We provide descriptive evidence on the challenges in efficiently, effectively, and fairly distributing in-kind electricity transfers to households. We collect panel data from 1200 households eligible for Ghana's COVID-19 electricity relief program. Distributing relief through electricity transfers enabled an immediate response to the crisis. Theoretical efficiency concerns are mitigated because transfers were inframarginal and storable for most households. Transfer receipt may have increased support for the governing party, possibly due to obfuscation of the program's financial burden. However, the program was regressive in design, and implementation challenges – delays, technological hurdles, information constraints, and the targeting of meters rather than households – add to inefficiency and regressivity. Households receiving the least average relief are those who use less electricity, pay a landlord or other intermediary for electricity, or share an electricity meter—characteristics of low-income households. Program implementation challenges were just as important as design features in determining program costs and benefits.

The COVID-19 pandemic brought the dual crises of disease and the containment policies designed to mitigate it. Yet, there is little evidence on the impacts of these policies on women in lower-income countries, where there may be limited social safety nets to absorb these shocks. We conduct a large phone survey and leverage India's geographically varied containment policies to estimate the association between the pandemic and containment policies and measures of women's well-being, including mental health and food security. On aggregate, the pandemic resulted in dramatic income losses, increases in food insecurity, and declines in female mental health. While potentially crucial to stem the spread of COVID-19, the greater prevalence of containment policies is associated with increased food insecurity, particularly for women, and reduced female mental health. For surveyed women, moving from zero to average containment levels is associated with a 38% increase in the likelihood of reporting more depression, a 73% increase in reporting more exhaustion, and a 44% increase in reporting more anxiety. Women whose social position may make them more vulnerable - those with daughters and those living in female-headed households - experience even larger declines in mental health.

The literature on microcredit programs has largely focused on positive socioeconomic outcomes and low accessibility issues in farming areas and has provided less insight into the effects of easily acquired microcredit in pastoral areas. Using a case study approach, and econometric models, this paper addresses this gap by examining why and how easily acquired microcredit loans in Inner Mongolian pastoral areas increase the risk to the financial security of households or livelihood risk. Results show that existing microcredit programs increase livelihood risk because loan and repayment requirements do not align with the husbandry production cycle of contemporary Inner Mongolian pastoralists. This misalignment forces pastoralists to borrow from usurers to repay bank loans. Furthermore, households that need to borrow from usurers typically own smaller numbers of livestock and are less likely to be able to repay the usurers by selling animals. Instead, they tend to increase their bank loans in the coming year to repay the previous year's debt, trapping them in a vicious and ultimately impoverishing circle of annual loans they cannot fully pay back, and feeding increasing debt. We suggest that microcredit programs in semiarid areas should be in sync with the local production cycle and recognize environmental constraints that cause high variation in production seasonally and year to year. Our results supplement previous findings on microcredit applications and are particularly pertinent for other semiarid areas of the world.

A growing body of evidence suggests that criminal organizations across the Global South actively exploit natural resources in the communities where they operate with important sociopolitical consequences. In this article, we investigate the case of Mexico where the incursion of criminal groups into the mining and export-agricultural sectors impacts violence at the local level. We propose two mechanisms that explain why criminal groups diversify. First, the war-profit motive suggests that competition and state repression prompt criminal organizations to look for non-traditional sources of incomes and to build up their violence-making capacities. Second, the governance motive suggests that extracting rents from key industries represents a strategy for these organizations to establish territorial control in local communities. Using homicide data from 2007 to 2011, we demonstrate that access to primary sector revenues is associated with higher levels of violence among Mexican municipalities. Using qualitative evidence from Michoacán, we show how the introduction of criminal governance systems to rural areas was a key factor in explaining why criminal groups diversified toward mining and export-agriculture.

Timely, high-quality mortality data have allowed for assessments of the impact of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on life expectancies in upper-middle- and high-income countries. Extant data, though imperfect, suggest that the bulk of the pandemic-induced mortality might have occurred elsewhere. This article reports on changes in life expectancies around the world as far as they can be estimated from the evidence available at the end of 2021. The global life expectancy appears to have declined by 0.92 years between 2019 and 2020 and by another 0.72 years between 2020 and 2021, but the decline seems to have ended during the last quarter of 2021. Uncertainty about its exact size aside, this represents the first decline in global life expectancy since 1950, the first year for which a global estimate is available from the United Nations. Annual declines in life expectancy (from a 12-month period to the next) appear to have exceeded two years at some point before the end of 2021 in at least 50 countries. Since 1950, annual declines of that magnitude had only been observed on rare occasions, such as Cambodia in the 1970s, Rwanda in the 1990s, and possibly some sub-Saharan African nations at the peak of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) pandemic.

We critically examine the ongoing development of a collaborative, responsive, activist research process between academics and farmworkers. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with community-based researchers and scholar-activists, we assess our team's understanding of community capacity building and research sustainability as the conceptual and operational definitions of these concepts lack academic consensus. The definitions we present reflect a 12-year effort to respond to community needs through interdisciplinary research, planning, and action. Our community-university team's evolving understanding of community capacity building and research sustainability is contextualized by our community-driven, community-responsive, and collaborative process. We discuss strengths and limitations encountered when conducting community-responsive, scholar-activist research and conclude by offering the lessons learned.

PurposeFatal suicides involving opioids are increasingly common, particularly in rural areas. As co-use of opioids with other substances contributes significantly to mortality risk, we examined whether positive screens for opioids with other substances is more prevalent among rural versus urban suicide deaths, as this could have implications for public health strategies to reduce overdose suicides.MethodsData from all states reporting opioid-related overdose suicides in the National Violent Death Reporting System from 2012 to 2015 were used. Relative risk ratios were obtained using multinomial logistic regression, comparing opioid-only to (1) opioid and alcohol, (2) opioid and benzodiazepines, and (3) opioid, alcohol, and benzodiazepines suicides across rurality. Models were fit using robust standard errors and fixed effects for year of death, adjusting for individual, county, and state-level covariates.FindingsThere were 3,781 opioid-overdose suicide decedents (42% female) tested for all 3 substances during the study period. Unadjusted prevalence of positive screens in decedents varied across rurality (P = .022). Urban decedents were more likely to test positive for opioids alone, while rural decedents were more to likely test positive for opioids and benzodiazepines.ConclusionsRural suicides are associated with increased opioid and benzodiazepine positive screens. These findings suggest the need for rural-focused interventions to support appropriate co-prescribing, better health education for providers about risks associated with drug mixing, and more linkages with mental health services.

Non-technical summary We summarize what we assess as the past year's most important findings within climate change research: limits to adaptation, vulnerability hotspots, new threats coming from the climate-health nexus, climate (im)mobility and security, sustainable practices for land use and finance, losses and damages, inclusive societal climate decisions and ways to overcome structural barriers to accelerate mitigation and limit global warming to below 2°C. Technical summary We synthesize 10 topics within climate research where there have been significant advances or emerging scientific consensus since January 2021. The selection of these insights was based on input from an international open call with broad disciplinary scope. Findings concern: (1) new aspects of soft and hard limits to adaptation; (2) the emergence of regional vulnerability hotspots from climate impacts and human vulnerability; (3) new threats on the climate-health horizon - some involving plants and animals; (4) climate (im)mobility and the need for anticipatory action; (5) security and climate; (6) sustainable land management as a prerequisite to land-based solutions; (7) sustainable finance practices in the private sector and the need for political guidance; (8) the urgent planetary imperative for addressing losses and damages; (9) inclusive societal choices for climate-resilient development and (10) how to overcome barriers to accelerate mitigation and limit global warming to below 2°C. Social media summary Science has evidence on barriers to mitigation and how to overcome them to avoid limits to adaptation across multiple fields.

Women's empowerment is a fundamental human right but attempts to measure progress in this area have been limited. We used 142 nationally representative surveys to quantify empowerment in six domains (Intimate Partner Violence, Family Planning, Reproductive Healthcare, Employment, Education, and Decision-Making) for first-level subdivisions of all countries in Sub-Saharan Africa for three years (1995, 2005, and 2015). The possible value for each domain ranged between zero (worst) and one (best). The median value for employment decreased by 0.02, but it increased between 0.09 and 0.16 for the other domains. The average empowerment score increased from 0.44 to 0.53, but it remained low for Education (0.34). While progress was clear and consistent, it was uneven within and between countries, and Sahelian West Africa fell further behind. The expanded understanding of geographic variation and trends in women's empowerment that we provide should be instrumental in efforts to improve women's lives.

The 2013-2016 Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic caused food insecurity during and immediately following local outbreaks in Sierra Leone, but longer-term effects are less well described, particularly among households with no EVD survivors. We conducted a qualitative sub-study in July 2018 in Kono District, Sierra Leone to understand the impact of food insecurity on EVD-affected households. Using data from a community-based cohort, we compiled a list of all households, within the sampled communities in Kono District, that had at least one EVD case during the epidemic. We used purposive sampling to recruit 30 households, inclusive of 10 households with no EVD survivors, to participate in the study. The research team conducted open-ended, semi-structured interviews with the head of each household. All 30 interviews were transcribed, translated, and analyzed using comparative content analysis consistent with a grounded theory approach. Most household members were facing persistent food insecurity as direct or indirect consequences of the EVD epidemic, regardless of whether they did or did not live with EVD survivors. Three major themes emerged as drivers and/or mitigators of EVD-related food insecurity. Financial instability and physical health complications were drivers of food insecurity in the population, whereas support provided by NGOs or governmental agencies was observed as a mitigator and driver of food insecurity after its removal. Among the EVD-households reporting long-term support through jobs and educational opportunities, there was sustained mitigation of food insecurity. EVD-affected households with and without survivors continue to face food insecurity three years after the EVD epidemic. Provision of support was a mitigator of food insecurity in the short term, but its removal was a driver of food insecurity in the longer term, suggesting the need for longer-term transitional support in affected households.

IntroductionAgriculture is the primary source of income and household food for >75% of rural Kenyans, including people living with HIV (PLHIV), making agricultural yields an important factor in food security and nutrition. Previous studies have shown the interconnectedness of food insecurity, malnutrition, and poor HIV health by elucidating that having one of these conditions increases the likelihood and severity of having another. However, few studies have explored the linkages between agricultural practices, food security and nutrition for PLHIV, or how agricultural livelihood interventions may affect these domains. This study aimed to examine the mechanisms through which an agricultural livelihood intervention can positively or negatively affect agricultural practices, food security, and nutrition for PLHIV.MethodsFrom July 2012-August 2013, we interviewed participants with HIV on antiretroviral therapy (ART) enrolled in a pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) of an agricultural livelihood and finance intervention to understand the mechanisms through which the intervention may have affected HIV health outcomes. The intervention included agricultural and finance training and a microfinance loan to purchase the MoneyMaker hip pump, a human-powered water pump, seeds, and other farming implements. A purposive sample of 45 intervention and a random subset of 9 control participants were interviewed at 12-month endline visit with a subset of 31 intervention participants interviewed longitudinally at both the 3- and 12-month visits. Transcripts were double coded using an inductive-deductive approach and analyzed for impacts of the intervention on agricultural practices, food security, and nutrition using analytic reports for each key theme.ResultsAll intervention participants described improvements in agricultural practices and yields attributed to the intervention while many also described improvements in income; these changes in turn contributed to improved HIV health, including suppressed viral loads, and a few people noted improved immunologic parameters. Key mechanisms included the knowledge gained from agricultural training which led to improved yields and access to new markets. The use of the irrigation pump was also identified as an additional, lesser important mechanism. All intervention participants reported sustained improvements in food security and nutrition through increased yields and income from the sale of excess crops used to purchase food, and diversification of fresh fruits and vegetables consumed through agricultural production. This led to self-reported weight gain which was a nutritional mechanism towards improved health.ConclusionsAgricultural and finance interventions that improve farming practices could lead to improved health outcomes through the pathways of improved food security, income, and diversified diet. The results from this study helped the team to enhance the intervention prior to implementation of the larger cluster RCT (cRCT). By understanding how agricultural livelihood interventions act upon pathways towards improved health, policy options can be developed and implemented to include components that are needed to achieve sustainable outcomes.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT01548599.

PurposePediatric readiness scores may be a useful measure of a hospital's preparedness to care for children. However, there is limited evidence linking these scores with patient outcomes or other metrics, including the need for interfacility transfer. This study aims to determine the association of pediatric readiness scores with the odds of interfacility transfer among a cohort of noninjured children (< 18 years old) presenting to emergency departments (EDs) in small rural hospitals in the state of California.MethodsData from the National Pediatric Readiness Project assessment were linked with the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development's ED and inpatient databases to conduct a cross-sectional study of pediatric interfacility transfers. Hospitals were manually matched between these data sets. Logistic regression was performed with random intercepts for hospital and adjustment for patient-level confounders.FindingsA total of 54 hospitals and 135,388 encounters met the inclusion criteria. EDs with a high pediatric readiness score (>70) had lower adjusted odds of transfer (aOR: 0.55, 95% CI: 0.33-0.93) than EDs with a low pediatric readiness score (≤ 70). The pediatric readiness section with strongest association with transfer was the "policies, procedures, and protocols" section; EDs in the highest quartile had lower odds of transfer than EDs in the lowest quartile (aOR: 0.54, 95% CI: 0.31-0.91).ConclusionsPediatric patients presenting to EDs at small rural hospitals with high pediatric readiness scores may be less likely to be transferred. Additional studies are recommended to investigate other pediatric outcomes in relation to hospital ED pediatric readiness.

Community-initiated health interventions fill important gaps in access to health services. This study examines the effectiveness of a community-initiated health intervention to improve diabetes management in an underserved community of color using a retrospective observational study, comparing a study intervention, the Latino Health Access Diabetes Self-Management Program (LHA-DSMP), with usual care. The LHA-DSMP is a 12-session community health worker (promotor/a) intervention developed and implemented by a community-based organization in a medically underserved area. Usual care was delivered at a federally qualified health center in the same geographic area. Participants were 688 predominantly Spanish-speaking Latinx adults with type 2 diabetes. The main outcome was change in glycemic control (glycosylated hemoglobin [HbA1c]) from baseline to follow-up. At 14-week follow-up, mean (95% CI) HbA1c decrease was -1.1 (-1.3 to -0.9; P < .001) in the LHA-DSMP cohort compared with -0.3 (-0.4 to -0.2; P < .001) in the comparison cohort. Controlling for baseline differences between cohorts, the adjusted difference-in-differences value in HbA1c was -0.6 (-0.8 to -0.3; P < .001) favoring the LHA-DSMP. A community-initiated promotor/a-led educational program for diabetes self-management is associated with clinically significant improvement in blood sugar control, superior to what was observed with usual medical care.

Considerable cross-national research has examined the impact of international labor migration on livelihoods in sending households and communities. Although findings vary across contexts, the general underlying assumption of this research is that migration represents a novel income-generating alternative to local employment. While engaging with this assumption, we also argue that in many sending communities where labor migration has been going on for generations, it is the decision not to migrate and instead to pursue local livelihood opportunities that might constitute a true departure from the expected behavior. Importantly, both the decisions to migrate and not to migrate are part of a household strategy shaped by gendered negotiation and bargaining. Building on these propositions, we use rich survey data from rural Mozambique, a typical setting of long-established large-scale international male labor out-migration, to examine married women's gainful employment outside subsistence agriculture as it relates to their husbands' migration or local work. We find a somewhat lower likelihood of employment among migrants' wives, compared with nonmigrants' wives, and this pattern strengthens with increased duration of migration. However, we also find substantial differences among nonmigrants' wives: women married to locally employed men have themselves by far the highest probability of employment, while wives of nonemployed men are no different from migrants' wives, net of other factors. These findings are discussed in light of interconnected gendered complexities of both migration-related and local labor market constraints and choices.

African American men living with HIV are at high risk of colorectal cancer (CRC). Screening to detect CRC is associated with a reduced risk of CRC mortality. However, little is known about CRC screening predictors in this population. This study examined the relation of self-efficacy, a potential mediator of screening that interventions could target, to CRC screening. It also investigated several variables that might identify subpopulations of African American men non-adherent to CRC screening recommendations. We report a secondary analysis on baseline data from a randomized controlled trial of a health promotion intervention for African American men living with HIV. Before their intervention, they completed measures of CRC screening, self-efficacy, marital status, age, education, and adherence to physical activity guidelines and were assessed for obesity. A total of 270 African American men aged 45 to 88 (Mean = 55.07; SD = 6.46) living with HIV participated. About 30% reported CRC screening in the past six months. Multiple logistic regression revealed greater CRC screening self-efficacy and meeting physical activity guidelines were associated with receiving CRC screening. Obese men and men reporting higher education were less likely to report screening. Age and marital status were unrelated to screening. The results of this study suggest CRC screening rates may be low among African American men living with HIV, and interventions targeting self-efficacy may improve their screening uptake. Moreover, public-health efforts to increase screening should prioritize interventions with subpopulations of African American men living with HIV who are physically inactive and obese.

Local food systems are growing, and little is known about how the constellation of farms and markets change over time. We trace the evolution of two local food systems (Baltimore County, Maryland and Chester County, Pennsylvania) over six years, including a dataset of over 2690 market connections (edges) between 1520 locations (nodes). Longitudinal social network analysis reveals how the architecture, actor network centrality, magnitude, and spatiality of these supply chains shifted during the 2012-2018 time period. Our findings demonstrate that, despite growth in the number of farmers' markets, grocery stores, farms and restaurants in both counties, each local food system also experienced high turnover rates. Over 80% of the market connections changed during the study period. Farms, farmers' markets, and grocery stores showed a 40-50% 'survival' rate, indicating their role in sustaining local food systems over longer time periods. Other actors, such as restaurants, had a much higher turnover rate within the network. Both food systems became more close-knit and consolidated as the center of gravity for both local food systems pulled away from urban areas toward rural farmland. Evidence of both growth and decay within local food systems provides a new understanding of the social networks behind local food markets.

The introduction of emtricitabine/tenofovir diphosphate (FTC/TDF) as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention has raised questions regarding which clinicians will serve as prescribers and how providers will be educated about this HIV prevention strategy. We piloted an HIV Prevention Education Program called PrEP University (PrEP U) to address knowledge gaps in HIV prevention among medical trainees. We examined PrEP awareness and assessed learning as a result of the program, measuring knowledge before and after the lectures with an anonymous 5-question multiple choice test. A total of 198 learners participated in PrEP University, which included 127 first year medical students, and post-graduate trainees in internal medicine (n = 23), family medicine (n = 16), OBGYN (n = 13) and pharmacy (n = 19). Prior to PrEP U, 27% of all participants were not aware of PrEP and an additional 8% were unsure if they had heard of it. Knowledge increased significantly after the education program among trainees in OBGYN (2.3 vs 3.8, p

We examine data from young women and men in South Africa and young female sex workers in Uganda to explore the inequalities and hardships experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic and investigate the opportunities and ability presented to navigate in a virtual world to build an inclusive supportive future for young people on the move. We argue that against the backdrop of a fragile past, young people who see their today disturbed, tomorrow reshaped and their futures interrupted, need support to interact with their social environment and adjust their lives and expectations amidst the changing influences of social forces.

Social vulnerability indices (SVI) can predict communities' vulnerability and resilience to public health threats such as drought, food insecurity or infectious diseases. Parity has yet to be investigated as an indicator of social vulnerability in young women. We adapted an SVI score, previously used by the US Centre for Disease Control (CDC), and calculated SVI for young urban South African women (n = 1584; median age 21.6, IQR 3.6 years). Social vulnerability was more frequently observed in women with children and increased as parity increased. Furthermore, young women classified as socially vulnerable were 2.84 times (95% CI 2.10-3.70; p

This article summarises learning from Southern-led research designed to infuence the response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The case studies are drawn primarily from the Covid-19 Responses for Equity (CORE) programme, funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). The article examines: (1) the characteristics of local research institutions' organisational readiness in times of crisis; (2) the form and function of knowledge that is ft for purpose in emergencies; and (3) knowledge processes and engagement strategies for rapid mobilisation. Organisational readiness hinged on the strength of research institutions' networks, access to key decision makers or afected communities, and resources and capabilities that allowed them to mobilise quickly. Hyper-local knowledge, combined with inclusive research methodologies, facilitates the positioning of research for use in emergencies. The pandemic has demonstrated that local and national research organisations are well placed to deliver impactful research, as both critical friends of government or outsiders advocating for change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses findings from a dissertation research project in the Palestinian village of Ni'lin in relation to the synthesis of an actor-oriented methodological approach with Indigenous theory. Through this synthesis, the article proposes a theoretical and methodological approach for studying settler colonialism and social transformations in Palestinian contexts. It also adapts the methodology, allowing enriching development theory to account for settler colonial settings and the case of Palestine. It shows the value of critical events, as sites to study historicity, violence, and resistance, highlighting the important interaction of individual and collective actors with culture and larger frames of meaning in relation to Indigenous resurgence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The “resource curse” is often understood to imply poor growth in the non-resource sectors of the economy, but research into the diversification performance of resource-rich countries is limited. This paper surveys recent evidence and identifies empirical patterns in the economic diversification of resource-rich countries. Diversification is measured using the growth of per capita non-resource (manufacturing and services) sectors in domestic and export markets, which has a cleaner interpretation than competing measures. This measure is used to evaluate the long-term diversification of countries that started off as resource-dependent, and to rank countries according to their performance. We then identify policy-relevant correlates of diversification at the national level, including the acquisition of human capital, public and intellectual capital, and firm dynamism. More resource-dependent countries appear to perform worse on measures of human capital and intellectual capital, but more resource-abundant countries perform better on public capital and human capital accumulation. We examine the mechanisms behind diversification performance through in-depth case studies of Oman, Laos, and Indonesia, and conclude by identifying policy lessons and future research directions.

Vietnamese American males have high smoking rates. This study explored social support mechanisms provided by lay health workers (LHWs) and family members through a smoking cessation intervention. Eight focus groups (N = 54) were conducted in Vietnamese stratified by intervention arms (Tobacco [experimental] and healthy living [control]) with 18 smokers, 18 family members, and 18 LHWs. Smokers reported feeling more accountable for their health behaviors, and smoking changes were reinforced by family members, peers, and LHWs through conversations facilitated during and outside the program. Culturally appropriate interventions with multiple social support mechanisms may reduce smoking in minority populations.

Seeking ways to encourage broad compliance with health guidelines during the pandemic, especially among youth, we test two hypotheses pertaining to the optimal design of instructional interventions for improving COVID-19-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors. We randomly assigned 8376 lower-middle income youth in urban India to three treatments: a concentrated and targeted fact-based, instructional intervention; a longer instructional intervention that provided the same facts along with underlying scientific concepts; and a control. Relative to existing efforts, we find that both instructional interventions increased COVID-19-related knowledge immediately after intervention. Relative to the shorter fact-based intervention, the longer intervention resulted in sustained improvements in knowledge, attitudes, and self-reported behavior. Instead of reducing attention and comprehension by youth, the longer scientific based treatment appears to have increased understanding and retention of the material. The findings are instrumental to understanding the design of instruction and communication in affecting compliance during this and future pandemics.

Questions surrounding the timing, extent, and evolutionary consequences of archaic admixture into human populations have a long history in evolutionary anthropology. More recently, advances in human genetics, particularly in the field of ancient DNA, have shed new light on the question of whether or not Homo sapiens interbred with other hominin groups. By the late 1990s, published genetic work had largely concluded that archaic groups made no lasting genetic contribution to modern humans; less than a decade later, this conclusion was reversed following the successful DNA sequencing of an ancient Neanderthal. This reversal of consensus is noteworthy, but the reasoning behind it is not widely understood across all academic communities. There remains a communication gap between population geneticists and paleoanthropologists. In this review, we endeavor to bridge this gap by outlining how technological advancements, new statistical methods, and notable controversies ultimately led to the current consensus.