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The original research presented in this Special Section analyzes different aspects of the potential offered to mining firms in developing countries by new demands for solutions to face environmental, social and technological challenges. The evidence is drawn from extensive fieldworks and comparative econometric research on Latin America, and suggests that the existing opportunities will need to be pursued with firm-level efforts and active regulatory and innovation policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Patients with cleft lip -palate (CLP) experience morbidity and social stigma, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) such as those of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Delays in treatment secondary either to lack of awareness, skills, equipment and consumables; poor health infrastructure, limited resources or a combination of them, has led to SSA having the highest rates of death and second highest rates of disability-adjusted life years in patients with CLP globally. Here we review current perspectives on the state of comprehensive cleft lip and palate repair in Africa. RECENT FINDINGS: To bridge gaps in government health services, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have emerged to provide care through short-term surgical interventions (STSIs). These groups can effect change through direct provision of care, whereas others strengthen internal system. However, sustainability is lacking as there continue to be barriers to achieving comprehensive and longitudinal cleft care in SSA, including a lack of awareness of CLP as a treatable condition, prohibitive costs, poor follow-up, and insufficient surgical infrastructure. With dedicated local champions, a comprehensive approach, and reliable partners, establishing sustainable CLP services is possible in countries with limited resources. SUMMARY: The replacement of CLP missions with locally initiated, internationally supported capacity building initiatives, integrated into local healthcare systems will prove sustainable in the long-term.

Exposure to high and low ambient temperatures increases the risk of neonatal mortality, but the contribution of climate change to temperature-related neonatal deaths is unknown. We use Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data (n = 40,073) from 29 low- and middle-income countries to estimate the temperature-related burden of neonatal deaths between 2001 and 2019 that is attributable to climate change. We find that across all countries, 4.3% of neonatal deaths were associated with non-optimal temperatures. Climate change was responsible for 32% (range: 19-79%) of heat-related neonatal deaths, while reducing the respective cold-related burden by 30% (range: 10-63%). Climate change has impacted temperature-related neonatal deaths in all study countries, with most pronounced climate-induced losses from increased heat and gains from decreased cold observed in countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Future increases in global mean temperatures are expected to exacerbate the heat-related burden, which calls for ambitious mitigation and adaptation measures to safeguard the health of newborns.

Two of every three persons living with dementia reside in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The projected increase in global dementia rates is expected to affect LMICs disproportionately. However, the majority of global dementia care costs occur in high-income countries (HICs), with dementia research predominantly focusing on HICs. This imbalance necessitates LMIC-focused research to ensure that characterization of dementia accurately reflects the involvement and specificities of diverse populations. Development of effective preventive, diagnostic, and therapeutic approaches for dementia in LMICs requires targeted, personalized, and harmonized efforts. Our article represents timely discussions at the 2022 Symposium on Dementia and Brain Aging in LMICs that identified the foremost opportunities to advance dementia research, differential diagnosis, use of neuropsychometric tools, awareness, and treatment options. We highlight key topics discussed at the meeting and provide future recommendations to foster a more equitable landscape for dementia prevention, diagnosis, care, policy, and management in LMICs. HIGHLIGHTS: Two-thirds of persons with dementia live in LMICs, yet research and costs are skewed toward HICs. LMICs expect dementia prevalence to more than double, accompanied by socioeconomic disparities. The 2022 Symposium on Dementia in LMICs addressed advances in research, diagnosis, prevention, and policy. The Nairobi Declaration urges global action to enhance dementia outcomes in LMICs.

Is it possible to decolonize the field of physical activity and health? Decoloniality presupposes a body-geopolitical location, such as in the Brazilian and Latin American context, where it is crucial to use social identity lenses related to race, gender, sexuality, and other social markers that affect the body. Understanding health and physical activity from a decolonial perspective would bring the oppressions that connect capitalism, patriarchy, and racism to the center of the discussion. For a "physical activity other," we challenged the general recommendation of physical activity in the 4 domains. Physical activity should be understood as an end in itself, as a right, and as human development. Approaches that advocate physical activity at work, at home, and while commuting use other human activities to relate these domains to health without considering the inequalities and oppressions that constitute them in most parts of the world. Is it fair to apply "global recommendations" for physical activity to scenarios such as Brazil and Latin America, using models that are inappropriate to the context and history of these places, people, and cultures? Perhaps it is time to socially reorient and reposition physical activity from a decolonial perspective. We need Black, Indigenous, Latino, African, and other people from the Global South to move the research agenda, recommendations, and policies on physical activity from "any" health to a fair health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a case of Taenia solium taeniasis in a 10-year-old child in Timor-Leste, confirmed by molecular analysis, suggesting T. solium transmission to humans is occurring in Timor-Leste. Proactive measures [...]

The article presents the methodology used by the Colombia Consortium to negotiate the first transformative agreements (TAs) in Latin America. These TAs are a strategy to manage costs associated with Article Processing Charges (APCs), facilitate the transition to Open Access (OA) and increase the visibility of Colombian publications. The road map for the design of TAs in Colombia is based on a methodology that considers both qualitative and quantitative aspects, with a key element being the analyses the scientific publication trends in Colombian institutions. This methodological route allowed the Colombia Consortium to sign with three commercial publishers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper investigated the usage of mobile technology in marketing academic libraries in developing countries. The main purpose, apart from awareness, is to look at how researchers are studying mobile technology in marketing academic libraries, what are the current issues investigated and what has to be the direction of the topic globally. The paper employed 23 research papers for systematic review. The findings reveal that academic libraries are aware of mobile technology and use it at various levels for academic library promotion, visibility, and teaching and learning. Factors influencing the use of mobile technology in marketing academic libraries were identified and further noted that little has been studied regarding mobile technology in marketing academic libraries and its performance in developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to explaining the rise of labor unrest in Egypt in the early 2000s, led initially by public-sector workers. Using two case studies in textile and transport, the author shows that perceptions of sector potential affected workers' ability to protest and compensated for the decline in their sectors' roles in the economy. The perceptions of underutilization due to corruption and to sector viability based on squandered profits help explain workers' militancy and capacities to mount an extended protest campaign. These perceptions build on discourses that critique the state's adoption of neoliberal policies associated with privatization. Workers could develop these perceptions because their sectors still played a role in the economy despite their decline. The analysis contributes to the Power Resource Approach by showing how perceptions of sector potential enhance capacities among Global South workers in declining sectors. To explain labor unrest, the author engages labor scholarship on Egypt that focuses on grievances rather than on workers' economic position and sources of power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sociology of sport has developed within and been intricately involved in the critique of neoliberalism. While important, there are certain limitations to this scholarship that are related to the nature of Western liberalism and academia. This paper attempts to argue a role for Marxist–Leninist thought in the sociology of sport. Historically excluded from academia after World War II, this bias is part of what Gabriel Rockhill has described as the "Global Theory Industry," that decries socialism while remaining favorable to Western liberal capitalism. The anti-communism of the theory industry means that much of the work on neoliberalism and Marxism in the sociology of sport has ignored the experiences and efforts of socialist countries, as well as theorists from the Global South. This article broadly critiques existing neoliberal and Marxist studies of sport while arguing that a Marxist–Leninist approach may give those in the field a better account of sport and its relationship to domestic and global politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Role theory generally predicts that when the demands and norms of two roles are highly contrasted, individuals will construct a strong boundary to separate the roles. However, such predictions are grounded primarily in the Global North, emphasizing role pairings including "work–family" and hybrid "work–work." Comparatively, the Global South is characterized by a lack of public services that creates a highly contrasted, highly salient, and yet understudied role pairing—"work–community." Additionally, the socioeconomic features of the Global South (e.g., dense and overlapping community networks, financial poverty) call into question whether existing predictions surrounding boundary strength are likely to hold. We conducted a qualitative study of 73 Tanzanian participants who had both a self-employed work role and a family planning counselor community role. We found that highly contrasted roles can be simultaneously perceived as both incompatible and compatible. Specifically, the boundaries we observed were neither uniformly strong nor weak, but rather of asymmetric strength: strong when a social interaction was anchored in the community role, but weak when anchored in the work role. The specific role contrasts we identify, and the importance of role anchoring we observe, have important implications for role theory and boundary-setting more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundEach year an estimated 2.3 million newborns die in the first 28 days of life. Most of these deaths are preventable, and high-quality neonatal care is fundamental for surviving and thriving. Service readiness is used to assess the capacity of hospitals to provide care, but current health facility assessment (HFA) tools do not fully evaluate inpatient small and sick newborn care (SSNC).MethodsHealth systems ingredients for SSNC were identified from international guidelines, notably World Health Organization (WHO), and other standards for SSNC. Existing global and national service readiness tools were identified and mapped against this ingredients list. A novel HFA tool was co-designed according to a priori considerations determined by policymakers from four African governments, including that the HFA be completed in one day and assess readiness across the health system. The tool was reviewed by > 150 global experts, and refined and operationalised in 64 hospitals in Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, and Tanzania between September 2019 and March 2021.ResultsEight hundred and sixty-six key health systems ingredients for service readiness for inpatient SSNC were identified and mapped against four global and eight national tools measuring SSNC service readiness. Tools revealed major content gaps particularly for devices and consumables, care guidelines, and facility infrastructure, with a mean of 13.2% (n = 866, range 2.2-34.4%) of ingredients included. Two tools covered 32.7% and 34.4% (n = 866) of ingredients and were used as inputs for the new HFA tool, which included ten modules organised by adapted WHO health system building blocks, including: infrastructure, pharmacy and laboratory, medical devices and supplies, biomedical technician workshop, human resources, information systems, leadership and governance, family-centred care, and infection prevention and control. This HFA tool can be conducted at a hospital by seven assessors in one day and has been used in 64 hospitals in Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, and Tanzania.ConclusionThis HFA tool is available open-access to adapt for use to comprehensively measure service readiness for level-2 SSNC, including respiratory support. The resulting facility-level data enable comparable tracking for Every Newborn Action Plan coverage target four within and between countries, identifying facility and national-level health systems gaps for action.

BackgroundHundreds of millions of people become infected globally every year while seeking care in health facilities that lack basic needs like infection control measures and personal protective equipment (PPE). We aimed to evaluate the availability of infection control items and PPE in eight low- and middle-income countries and identify disparities in the availability of those items.MethodsIn this study, we combined publicly available nationally representative cross-sectional health system surveys (Service Provision Assessments by the Demographic and Health Survey Programme) conducted in eight countries between 2013 and 2018: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Haiti, Malawi, Nepal, Senegal, and Tanzania. The availability of infection control items was evaluated using a list of six items (a waste receptacle, a sharps container, disinfectant, single-use disposable or auto-disposable syringes, soap and running water, or an alcohol-based hand rub, and guidelines for standard precautions). PPE includes four items: gloves, medical masks, gowns, and eye protection. We considered these items available in a facility if they were observed in general outpatient areas or any service-specific area (i.e. delivery room).ResultsWe analysed data from 7948 health facilities (694 hospitals and 7254 health centres/clinics). Overall, among the infection control items and PPE, most surveyed facilities had high availability of single-use disposable or auto-disposable syringes (91.40%) and latex gloves (92.56%). Of infection control measures, guidelines for infection control were the least available during the survey, with the lowest (6.15%) in Nepal and the highest (68.18%) in Malawi. Of the PPE items, eye protection was the least available during the survey, with the lowest (5.4% in Senegal) and the highest (28.17%) in Haiti. Only 1567 (19.71%) facilities looked to have all the basic infection control materials, and 1023 (12.87%) of the analysed facilities possessed all of the PPE. Within the same country, the availability of items varied more between hospitals and health centres/clinics than between them.ConclusionsAll eight of our study countries experience shortages of the most fundamental standard precaution items to avert infection. Steps must be taken in each of these countries to reduce inadequacies and disparities and enhance efficiency in the conversion of health-system inputs into the facility's availability of standard precaution items for infection control - to curb the risk of infectious disease transmission.

Ms. Lannette Nickens contributed suggestions in the final sections of this article. She is a former Assistant Attorney General of the State of Alaska (USA) and is an experienced attorney [...]

To identify differences in physical activity (PA) between intercollegiate students in Pakistan and the United States (US). Three hundred (167 US; 133 Pakistani) intercollegiate students completed the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) to assess PA. Perceived Barriers to Physical Activity Questionnaire (BPAQ) was used to assess barriers to PA. Participants were also asked about the recommended level of PA. Chi-squared analysis (χ2 = 99.50, p-value <.001) revealed that American students, specifically females (χ2 = 97.27, p-value <.001), were more active compared to Pakistani students. T-test showed significantly more major barriers to PA in Pakistani students (6.860 ± 5.56) than American students (3.78 ± 3.94). 59.6% of all students correctly recounted the standard PA recommendations, only 1.2% of those students were Pakistani. Pakistani students had lower PA with more major barriers to PA than Americans. Majority of the Pakistani students did not know the recommended level of PA unlike Americans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mainstream area of marketing maintains that consumerism is a social movement that seeks to support consumers against corporate wrongdoings. Led by the area's canons, particularly Philip Kotler, marketing has associated consumerist values with neoliberal-capitalist principles; however, it has failed to address the issues, realities, and contexts of consumerism and consumerists in the Global South, in their multiple and non-homogenous forms, which are onto-epistemically aligned to such realities. The present paper aims to analyse, through a decolonial perspective from Latin America, how the consumerism led in marketing by Kotler fails to promote consumer protection in multiple realities and for multiple groups, especially (if not only) in the Global South. Latin American decolonial theorisations related to hierarchies of power, locus of enunciation and universalisation of knowledge are adopted, in order to critically analyse these failures, based on a perspective that originates in a non-hegemonic context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Worldwide, approximately one in six inpatient antibiotic prescriptions are for surgical-infection prophylaxis, including postoperative prophylaxis. The WHO recommends against prolonged postoperative antibiotics to prevent surgical-site infection. However, in many low- and middle-income countries, postoperative antibiotic prophylaxis is common due to perceptions that it protects against surgical-site infection and data informing recommendations against antibiotic administration are largely derived from high-income countries. The aim of this study was to describe postoperative antibiotic-prescribing patterns and related surgical-site infection rates in hospitals in low- and middle-income countries. METHODS: Patients from 19 hospitals in Ethiopia, Madagascar, India, and Bolivia with wound class I and II operations were included. Data on antibiotic administration, indication, surgical-site infection, length of hospital stay, and adherence to perioperative infection-prevention standards were collected by trained personnel. The association between postoperative antibiotic prophylaxis for greater than or equal to 24 h and surgical-site infection was analysed via modified robust Poisson regression, controlling for patient and procedural factors and degree of adherence to perioperative infection-prevention practices. RESULTS: Of 8714 patients, 92.9% received antibiotics for prophylaxis after surgery and 27.7% received antibiotics for greater than or equal to 24 h. Patients receiving postoperative prophylaxis for greater than or equal to 24 h did not have lower surgical-site infection rates (Relative risk 1.09 (95% c.i. 0.89 to 1.33); P = 0.399), but the length of hospital stay was 1.4 days longer (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Prolonged postoperative antibiotics did not reduce surgical-site infection, but pervasive use was associated with a longer length of hospital stay, in resource-limited healthcare systems. With the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance, surgical initiatives to implement antimicrobial stewardship programmes in low- and middle-income countries are critical.

Ecosystems generate a wide range of benefits for humans, including some market goods as well as other benefits that are not directly reflected in market activity1. Climate change will alter the distribution of ecosystems around the world and change the flow of these benefits2,3. However, the specific implications of ecosystem changes for human welfare remain unclear, as they depend on the nature of these changes, the value of the affected benefits and the extent to which communities rely on natural systems for their well-being4. Here we estimate country-level changes in economic production and the value of non-market ecosystem benefits resulting from climate-change-induced shifts in terrestrial vegetation cover, as projected by dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) driven by general circulation climate models. Our results show that the annual population-weighted mean global flow of non-market ecosystem benefits valued in the wealth accounts of the World Bank will be reduced by 9.2% in 2100 under the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway SSP2-6.0 with respect to the baseline no climate change scenario and that the global population-weighted average change in gross domestic product (GDP) by 2100 is -1.3% of the baseline GDP. Because lower-income countries are more reliant on natural capital, these GDP effects are regressive. Approximately 90% of these damages are borne by the poorest 50% of countries and regions, whereas the wealthiest 10% experience only 2% of these losses.

This article is written within a conceptual space that considers engineering as a heteronomous discipline. In this context, we analyse how the state has intervened in the development of the body of knowledge of engineering discipline in a developing country in a process known as decolonisation and the political dynamism this has created. We take the case study of Kenya where the state has intervened in the development of engineering education by creating new universities with new schools to teach engineering. The expansionist education policy on the other hand raised questions of quality assurance. Particularly, who has the right to accredit engineering education became politically controversial question that was debated in courtrooms through litigations, on the floor of Parliament through legislations, and in the print media. These three form the multiple case study research based on document analysis in a situation where the regulator of engineering practice claims accreditation rights against universities themselves and the regulator of university education. The study reveals a fragile situation in a developing country where accreditation is construed as a matter of mandatory state regulation and recommends that developing countries should voluntarily rely on regional or, where possible, technical accreditors, instead of state regulators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food loss and waste (FLW) continues to have economic, environmental, and reputational risks for retailers. However, standardised baseline data to engage this challenge is often absent in developing economies. We quantify FLW for all the retail outlets from a major retailer operating in southern Africa by using the World Resources Institute’s FLW Accounting and Reporting Standard and its reporting template for three-month trial period. The data enabled us to reflect on the appropriateness of the Standard for retailers in these economies, which proved adequate subject to recommended changes to the template before implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Birth registration is an important channel that allows children to be documented, providing them with legal identity and nationality early in life and protecting them against violence, abuse and exploitation. However, this privilege has been denied to millions of children, particularly in developing countries. Registration is limited in Nigeria with about three in every five births unregistered. Using data from three waves of the Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey, we adopt a geostatistical model to assess the space-time variations in registration coverage across Nigeria and compute the exceedance maps at different probabilities. The findings indicate a North-South divide in coverage but with improved coverage over time across the country. The probability of attaining about 60% coverage is low in the northern part of the country. The generated maps provide guiding tools to the Nigerian government to set priorities in order to scale up birth registration coverage in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines whether there is a difference in the hidden economy's set of determinants across developed and developing countries. Applying extreme bounds analysis (EBA) to a cross-sectional dataset of 33 developed and 97 developing countries, we find a considerable variation in the determinants of the hidden economy across developed and developing countries. The results show that internet usage, inflation, financial development, poverty, and monetary freedom are robust determinants of the hidden economy exclusively in developing countries. Whereas the time required to start a business and GDP per capita growth play a crucial role exclusively in developed countries. Remarkably, the property rights index is the only determinant that is robust in both types of countries. These findings offer important insights for policymakers seeking to address the challenges posed by the hidden economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary science fiction and speculative fiction with utopian/dystopian aspects from South Asia and the Caribbean have rarely been studied in tandem. Furthermore, no scholarly work has analyzed such texts produced under conditions of contemporary capitalism in the light of social reproduction theory which considers social reproductive labor that rejuvenates labor power. I study Leila (2017) by the Indian writer Prayaag Akbar, Midnight Robber (2000) by the Jamaican-born Nalo Hopkinson, and Woman World (2018) by the diasporic Indian writer Aminder Dhaliwal to connect social reproductive labor and utopianism and argue that social reproductive labor rejuvenates the labor power of utopian agents in social reproductive spaces such as homes, schools, hospitals, gardens etc. resisting dystopian conditions, nurturing hope, and rejuvenating utopian thinking. I question how utopianism is related to social reproductive labor in postcolonial contexts of the Global South, and propose that 1) dystopian scenarios are brought about by control of social reproductive spaces and 2) progress/betterment is actualized with renewal and rejuvenation via social reproductive labor. I contend that relating twenty-first-century utopianism to social reproduction is a valuable and novel approach, especially in postcolonial contexts where conditions of labor have been determined by complex histories of colonialism, enslavement, and indentured labor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Holistic development of school-going students has gained momentum. Developing countries need to equip students with skills to thrive in the contemporary world, yet research on this topic in Pakistan is limited. This study, therefore, examines students’ non-cognitive skills (i.e., social capabilities and life skills) using a sequential mixed-methods approach. The sample was selected through multi-stage cluster sampling technique. The quantitative sample comprised students (n=263) from eight schools. The qualitative sample of students (n=16), teachers (n=8), and school leaders (n=4) was purposively selected. The results revealed that students are socially capable and possess basic life skills. However, schools do not explicitly prioritise the development of social capabilities and life skills. As a result, the holistic development of students is generally a neglected aspect in Pakistan. Moreover, educational structures and the school system strongly predict students’ non-cognitive skills. This study has implications for policy, practice, and further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are growing calls for travellers to apply the principles of ethical visitor behaviour (EVB) however, only a few studies have been conducted to date to measure the extent to which visitors perceive such calls and heed them at World Heritage Sites located in developing countries. This study was conducted at the iSimangaliso Wetland Park in South Africa with the aim was to measure visitors’ perceptions of the importance and application of EVB at the IWP. A total of 323 respondents were conveniently surveyed to rate EVB items related to perceptions of importance and behaviour. Results revealed that, although respondents perceived EVB as being important few actively applied the principles in a heterogeneous manner. The study revealed that different socio-demographic groups perceived ethical behaviour patterns differently. Such findings have practical implications, as an awareness of visitors’ perceptions of EVB patterns might assist authorities in formulating effective strategies to encourage EVB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Past research suggests that the expansion of women's education reduces their exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) due to attitudinal changes and women's greater access to resources. The IPV literature also suggests that educational hypogamy (women marrying men with less education) increases IPV as women face backlash associated with gender‐status inconsistencies. However, existing research has not effectively tested the link between educational hypogamy and IPV. In this study, I provide a direct and explicit test of this backlash hypothesis using nationally representative National Family Health Survey data from India, a country characterized by high levels of IPV and gender inequality but rising levels of educational hypogamy. Using an interactive specification between wife's and husband's education, I do not find evidence for a positive association between educational hypogamy and IPV. Women's education is associated with reduced IPV, even in some instances when it exceeds the husband's education. Further analyses suggest that educational hypogamy by itself does not raise IPV risk in India because increased education does not necessarily grant Indian women greater access to other resources such as employment and income. Rather, education likely shapes IPV by precipitating attitudinal changes that lead to IPV rejection. This study contributes to theories of the family, gender, and violence and presents findings that contradict much of the literature on educational hypogamy and IPV in the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The history of organized monument conservation in India dates back to the colonial rule. The colonial conservation programme sought to exclude local communities from conservation. Monument conservation became a centralized and technocratic enterprise. Post-independence, the trend of exclusion of local communities continued, deeply reflected in the laws governing ancient monuments. This has, on the one hand, contributed to the weakening of cultural ties between the communities and the monuments. On the other hand, issues such as staff shortage and inadequate monitoring by government agencies have plagued the physical governance of monuments. Globally though, there has been a substantial rethinking around the “value” of cultural heritage and the role that local communities may play both in the enhancement of their value and in their conservation. In light of the aforesaid, the authors in this article have argued for the need to rethink the ancient monuments of India as cultural commons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]