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A commitment by policymakers and practitioners to the best interests of the child is uncontroversial. The child's right to be with their birth family is enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, unless 'separation is necessary for the best interests of the child' (Article 9). But how do we understand 'best interests of the child'? Does this encompass only childhood or extend across life? Can 'best interest' be determined by ideology or principles alone? How does the permanency principle interact with best interest? For children exposed to serious abuse or neglect and removed, will 'locking‐in' long‐term care arrangements yield best outcomes in childhood, adolescence, adulthood, parenthood? Should reunification be prioritised? In this opinion piece, I argue that evidence must inform understandings of whether specific child and family support strategies are likely to do more good than harm and that this must consider the child's full life trajectory, including parenting capacity—the driver of intergenerational outcomes—and pay attention to the entire family. In the context of child removal, support and healing for the parent—with the possibility for reunification—will enhance the wellbeing of the entire family, including the removed child and any siblings (including those yet to be born). To achieve the desired response, budget allocations must be aligned with aims. In Australia, budget allocations massively favour child removal over intensive support for birth family, and also favour spending to address the harmful consequences of child abuse and neglect rather than disrupt the harm cascade. A refocus on birth family is critical. Treating birth parents with compassion is a good idea for the child, for the family, for society and the budget bottom line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Background: Iran’s healthcare system is grappling with multifaceted challenges, including financial constraints, staffing shortages, infrastructural deficiencies, legal hurdles, and cross-sectoral coordination issues. The integration of health service management graduates into the healthcare workforce is vital to tackle these obstacles effectively. However, the lack of skilled managers can exacerbate problems, leading to inflated costs, and wasted resources. This study aims to propose policy options to improve the effectiveness of healthcare management graduates in exposure to the challenges of Iran’s health system. Methods: The study used a mixed-methods design that combined a scoping review and interviews with academics specializing in healthcare management and hospital management, as well as key informants of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MoHME), the vice chancellor and deans of faculties of management and paramedicine (December 1, 2022 to February 30, 2023), and a policy Delphi technique (April 1, 2023 to Jun 30, 2023). In the scoping review, we searched PubMed, Web of Science Platform, MEDLINE, Scopus, Google Scholar/Academia, and ERIC for articles published from the inception of each database until August 10, 2022, with an update on October 6, 2022. The search terms included “health services,” “healthcare organizations,” “healthcare management,” “health management education,” “Iran,” “challenges,” “issues,” “policy,” “interventions,” “policy options,” “solutions,” “policy-making,” “effectiveness,” “efficacy,” and similar terms. We incorporated scholarly articles that presented instances or resolutions demonstrating the impact of health service management graduates in addressing the issues encountered by Iran’s healthcare system. Non-English research papers, except Persian, were excluded due to translation resource limitations. Articles from peer-reviewed journals were included based on their publication type, while conference abstracts, book reviews, commentaries, and editorial pieces were considered for review. In the present study, the first step of the modified Delphi methodology involved conducting interviews and qualitative content analysis. Then, through two rounds of online surveys, the policy Delphi technique engaged experts and stakeholders in reviewing and prioritising policy options. Findings: In the scoping review, our initial search of the main databases retrieved 553 articles, with an additional 14 articles from gray literature and 5 studies from local databases, totaling 572 references. 426 studies remained after removing duplicates and reviewing them. We excluded 339 studies that did not align with our study’s objectives, leaving us with 87 articles. We had access to the full text of 63 of these studies and ultimately selected 31 for review and thematic analysis. The study involved 21 participants, with a 100% response rate in the interview phase. In the Delphi phase, 64 experts were invited, with 41 participating in Round 1 (64% response rate) and 32 in Round 2 (78% response rate). The scoping review identified eleven policy options, followed by designing an interview guide and presenting nine more options based on expert insights from the interviews. We evaluated twenty policy options using a 5-point Likert scale and modified Delphi methodology to assess their effectiveness, feasibility, relevance, and acceptance cost. The study produced four policy options that were culturally and ethically appropriate, as well as compatible with the context and target population. These options were: 1) training and capacity building based on Iran’s health system model; 2) development of the framework of Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) for healthcare management graduates; 3) determining the career pathways of healthcare management graduates and reviewing the job categories approved by the Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MoHME); and 4) providing effective collaboration between healthcare management graduates and professionals, policymakers, and stakeholders for integrated health system improvement. Interpretation: The study provides evidence-based recommendations for improving the education, training, and professional deployment of healthcare management graduates in Iran. Funding: This work was supported by the National Agency for Strategic Research in Medical Education (NASR) (Grant Number 4020159).

This paper maps policy instrument use for the social drivers of health (SDoH) data governance in clinical and research settings. In the United States, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) advocate for standardized data capture. Yet, challenges persist, including limited adoption of CMS-issued SDoH risk codes and gaps in reporting SDoH in clinical trial literature. The mapping across clinical and research SDoH reporting emerges as a comprehensive solution that requires policy support. Specifically, the findings presented in this paper support future policy development through regulatory instruments, fiscal incentives, and knowledge exchange. Actionable recommendations for the United States and international contexts include convening interdisciplinary taskforces, developing agency guidelines for process evaluation, and establishing ethical principles for SDoH data use.

Abstract Deeply rooted in its developmental philosophy of gross national happiness (GNH), Bhutan's healthcare system strives towards achieving a shared goal of universal health coverage (UHC). Despite being primarily financed by the government, the health system faces a plethora of challenges. To overcome these hurdles and achieve UHC goals, expanding the fiscal space for health and improving operational efficiency are crucial. This article aims to address Bhutan's evolving healthcare landscape and advance the achievement of UHC through two policy options. The first policy option focuses on the dual objective of improving health outcomes and promoting financial sustainability by leveraging health taxes, whereas the second option emphasizes reinforcing a systematic health technology assessment (HTA) in the Bhutanese health system. First, drawing lessons from global experiences, the policy brief recommends leveraging health taxes to reduce societal and healthcare costs and enhance financial sustainability in the health sector. Considering Bhutan's high prevalence of tobacco and alcohol consumption, and taking opportunity from the ongoing Goods and Services Tax (GST) reform, continued advocacy on health taxes is essential, and soft earmarking the health taxes may be considered to finance a broader array of public health programmes, particularly focusing on the promotion of healthy lifestyle, health screening and outreach public health activities. Second, the integration of HTA into policymaking and decision‐making processes is essential for effective resource allocation in UHC. Nurturing and strengthening the existing HTA governance structure under the Ministry of Health (MoH) and establishing a dedicated multidisciplinary HTA Committee will ensure informed decision‐making and resource optimization. HTA evidence should inform the revision of health service standards, clinical guidelines development, procurement decisions and healthcare priorities. These policy options can assist the country in improving financial sustainability, enhancing effective resource allocation and utilization and improving healthcare delivery, aligning with its vision of GNH and ultimately accelerating progress towards achieving UHC.

ObjectiveTo understand the extent to which people who smoke, people who vape and nonsmokers would switch between smoking cigarettes and vaping in response to policies (price increases, restrictions on nicotine, places, and information on addictiveness and/or health risks) aimed at decreasing tobacco use by people who smoke and vaping by nonsmokers.DesignA total of 525 adults aged 18 to 88 years completed a discrete choice survey of 16 choices between two smoking/vaping alternatives. Analysis was conducted using conditional logistic regression for the entire sample and stratified by nonsmokers, people who smoke, and people who vape.ResultsThe results suggest that most people who vape also smoke. Nonsmokers were more favorable to vaping and were concerned about long-term health risks and cost associated with vaping. Marginal analysis suggests that price increases will have only modest success in moving people who smoke to start vaping or encouraging people who vape to vape rather than use cigarettes. Nonsmokers are not very sensitive to price changes but are sensitive to information about health impacts.ConclusionsFindings indicate that increasing the price of cigarettes would lead to a limited increase in the probability of people who smoke switch to vaping. The study advances our understanding of the views of current nonsmokers toward cigarettes and vaping, suggesting that price increases and increased knowledge of addiction would likely deter nonsmokers from vaping. Changing the amount of nicotine associated with smoking would increase the probability of vaping slightly and have little impact on nonsmokers or vaping preferences, but the most significant change would come from increasing the perceptions of the risk of smoking.

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Purpose – For many global firms and corporate oligopolies, transfer pricing is essential. The transfer pricing literature as it is currently written is succinctly summarized in this study. The authors offer a thorough analysis of transfer pricing research in this study. This review sheds light on the top researchers, approaches, conclusions, theoretical and empirical gaps, and upcoming issues of transfer pricing research over the previous nine years through a methodical analysis of 29 research publications from the Scopus database (2014–2022). To help graduate students pursue further degrees in this area, such as a master's, thesis or PhD, this study will highlight five research issues. Design/methodology/approach – This essay looks at five significant areas of tax avoidance and transfer pricing research. Some of these issues include determining the impact of transfer pricing regulations on various types of multinational corporations, assessing the effectiveness of transfer pricing regulations in preventing tax evasion, examining various policy options and determining the impact of transfer pricing on other economic outcomes using a systematic literature review. Findings – The findings of this review demonstrate the need for transfer pricing research to look more closely at transfer pricing as a tool for business in addition to compliance and tax management. Originality/value – This analysis concludes with future directions for transfer pricing research.

Background Informal payments for healthcare are typically regressive and limit access to quality healthcare while increasing risk of catastrophic health expenditure, especially in developing countries. Different responses have been proposed, but little is known about how they influence the incentives driving this behaviour. We therefore identified providers’ preferences for policy interventions to overcome informal payments in Tanzania.Methods We undertook a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to elicit preferences over various policy options with 432 health providers in 42 public health facilities in Pwani and Dar es Salaam region. DCE attributes were derived from a multi-stage process including a literature review, qualitative interviews with key informants, a workshop with health stakeholders, expert opinions, and a pilot test. Each respondent received 12 unlabelled choice sets describing two hypothetical job-settings that varied across 6-attributes: mode of payment, supervision at facility, opportunity for private practice, awareness and monitoring, measures against informal payments, and incentive payments to encourage noninfraction. Mixed multinomial logit (MMNL) models were used for estimation.Results All attributes, apart from supervision at facility, significantly influenced providers’ choices (P < .001). Health providers strongly and significantly preferred incentive payments for non-infraction and opportunities for private practice, but significantly disliked disciplinary measures at district level. Preferences varied across the sample, although all groups significantly preferred the opportunity to practice privately and cashless payment. Disciplinary measures at district level were significantly disliked by unit in-charges, those who never engaged in informal payments, and who were not absent from work for official trip. 10% salary top-up were preferred incentive by all, except those who engaged in informal payments and absent from work for official trip.Conclusion Better working conditions, with improved earnings and career paths, were strongly preferred by all, different respondents groups had distinct preferences according to their characteristics, suggesting the need for adoption of tailored packages of interventions.

Abstract Objective To understand the extent to which people who smoke, people who vape and nonsmokers would switch between smoking cigarettes and vaping in response to policies (price increases, restrictions on nicotine, places, and information on addictiveness and/or health risks) aimed at decreasing tobacco use by people who smoke and vaping by nonsmokers. Design A total of 525 adults aged 18 to 88 years completed a discrete choice survey of 16 choices between two smoking/vaping alternatives. Analysis was conducted using conditional logistic regression for the entire sample and stratified by nonsmokers, people who smoke, and people who vape. Results The results suggest that most people who vape also smoke. Nonsmokers were more favorable to vaping and were concerned about long-term health risks and cost associated with vaping. Marginal analysis suggests that price increases will have only modest success in moving people who smoke to start vaping or encouraging people who vape to vape rather than use cigarettes. Nonsmokers are not very sensitive to price changes but are sensitive to information about health impacts. Conclusions Findings indicate that increasing the price of cigarettes would lead to a limited increase in the probability of people who smoke switch to vaping. The study advances our understanding of the views of current nonsmokers toward cigarettes and vaping, suggesting that price increases and increased knowledge of addiction would likely deter nonsmokers from vaping. Changing the amount of nicotine associated with smoking would increase the probability of vaping slightly and have little impact on nonsmokers or vaping preferences, but the most significant change would come from increasing the perceptions of the risk of smoking.

In 2023 global renewable energy investments increased by 8% to USD 623 billion, with solar investments accounting for 63% or USD 393 billion (+12%). The total installed solar photovoltaic capacity exceeded 1.6 TWp at the end of 2023, with an annual newly installed capacity of more than 420 GWp. The number of countries installing 1 GWp/year or more has increased to 35. After the increases in hardware costs for solar photovoltaic systems and battery storage in 2022, prices in both markets mostly decreased in 2023. Levelised costs of electricity for non-tracking solar photovoltaic systems as well as levelised cost of battery storage decreased. However, the global benchmark of levelised cost for electricity for tracking systems increased mainly due to higher costs for labour, balance of systems and debt in the USA. The market outlook for 2024 is optimistic as electrification of heating, transport and industry creates additional demand for renewable electricity, including solar. However, a more rapid deployment of renewable energy is needed to stay on track for not more than 1.5 °C global temperature increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Actions that are taken to preserve effective antibacterial agents and eliminate transmission of resistant organisms are crucial to prevent a catastrophic postantibiotic era. In this systematic review, we searched and appraised relevant texts and expert opinions to determine effective strategies to tackle bacterial resistance worldwide. We considered expert opinions, consensus, current discourses, comments, assumptions or assertions and discussion papers published in English. We searched following databases for expert opinion‐based literature: MEDLINE, CINAHL, ISI Web of Knowledge, SCOPUS, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and World Health Organization (WHO). We extracted the textual data from texts using a standardised data extraction tool. Textual pooling was not possible, so the conclusions were presented in a narrative form. Eighteen texts were included in this review. The findings show that, the most repeated policies and strategies include implementing and strengthening bacterial resistance surveillance, developing national guidelines, improving public awareness; enhancing home and everyday life hygiene; improving prescribing patterns, improving laboratories capacity, promoting innovation and research in new drugs and technology and strengthening coordination. This review systematically gathered strategies that were recommended by textual publications. To our knowledge, this was the first systematic review of text and opinion in the field of bacterial resistance. These results can be used by policymakers, hospital managers, and governments, alongside the results of quantitative and qualitative systematic reviews.

Actions that are taken to preserve effective antibacterial agents and eliminate transmission of resistant organisms are crucial to prevent a catastrophic postantibiotic era. In this systematic review, we searched and appraised relevant texts and expert opinions to determine effective strategies to tackle bacterial resistance worldwide. We considered expert opinions, consensus, current discourses, comments, assumptions or assertions and discussion papers published in English. We searched following databases for expert opinion‐based literature: MEDLINE, CINAHL, ISI Web of Knowledge, SCOPUS, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and World Health Organization (WHO). We extracted the textual data from texts using a standardised data extraction tool. Textual pooling was not possible, so the conclusions were presented in a narrative form. Eighteen texts were included in this review. The findings show that, the most repeated policies and strategies include implementing and strengthening bacterial resistance surveillance, developing national guidelines, improving public awareness; enhancing home and everyday life hygiene; improving prescribing patterns, improving laboratories capacity, promoting innovation and research in new drugs and technology and strengthening coordination. This review systematically gathered strategies that were recommended by textual publications. To our knowledge, this was the first systematic review of text and opinion in the field of bacterial resistance. These results can be used by policymakers, hospital managers, and governments, alongside the results of quantitative and qualitative systematic reviews. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic congestion and unsustainable mobility patterns represent a severe issue for most Brazilian cities, with traditional approaches often proving to be scarcely effective in tackling the problem. We argue that a crucial hindrance is represented by the limited attention devoted to "the commuter perspective": only a deeper understanding of the motives behind mobility-related behaviors of citizens would enable policy makers to implement sound mobility plans. We performed an empirical investigation on residents of the city of Florianópolis (n = 436), analyzing the determinants of modal choice. Results confirm the pivotal role exerted by habits, and the willingness of respondents to opt for sustainable transport modes; a peculiar finding is represented by the marginality of social and environmental aspects in shaping commuters' behaviors, and the perceived lack of convenient alternatives that is yet hindering a broad shift which is seen as necessary. Based on the evidence emerging from the study, we provide a contribution to the debate by discussing possible lines of action and policy options that could be implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to maintain the momentum of sustained economic growth has always been an important issue of concern to all countries in the world. Using a three-level progressive analysis framework, the article provides an in-depth analysis of the evolution of supply-side economic growth drivers in China from 2003 to 2021 and the magnitude of their roles. The results show that in terms of the composition of growth drivers, total factor productivity makes the largest contribution to economic growth, while the contributions of capital scale and labor scale rank second and third, respectively; in terms of the industrial dimension, the changes in the contributions of each factor to GDP growth mainly originate from the influence of secondary and tertiary industries. From the decomposition of total factor productivity growth, industrial capital productivity and capital allocation structure both play a positive pulling effect on overall capital productivity, but have a weak downward trend. Industrial labor productivity and labor allocation structure both play a slight negative pulling effect on overall labor productivity; from the deep decomposition of growth momentum, industrial factor productivity and industrial factor allocation structure play a major positive pushing effect and a weak negative pushing effect on economic growth, respectively. The conclusion of this paper provides a valuable reference for developing countries on how to maintain the momentum of economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successive governments have made efforts to reduce poverty amongst some specific population groups, such as children, families and the elderly. However, their focus on poverty alleviation has not been evenly applied across the New Zealand population. Certain groups, notably single and partnered adults without dependants, are yet to receive the same level of attention. This article considers poverty amongst 18-64-year-old beneficiaries, including jobseeker support-work ready (JS-WR) and jobseeker support-health condition or disability (JS-HCD) recipients without dependants. Rather than focusing on big ticket reforms commonly put forward, this article highlights some often overlooked aspects contributing to poverty and other unnecessary hardship amongst this group, and seeks to identify some policy improvements that could be made within existing frameworks. These are discussed with examples primarily from my own experience as a JS-HCD recipient, and informed by others on JS who provided first-hand experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2022 the cumulative installed photovoltaic electricity generation capacity increased to over 1 TW, 10 years after it reached the 100 GW level in 2012. In 2022, overall investment in renewable energy has increased by 16% to USD 499 billion compared to USD 953 billion for fossil fuels, which saw an increase of 6%. Investments in solar photovoltaics accounted for USD 301.5 billion or 60% of the renewable energy investments. The annual installations of solar photovoltaic electricity generation systems increased by about 40% to over 230 GWp in 2022. Compared to 2021, the number of countries which installed 1 GWp/year or more has increased by almost 80% to 32. Despite the increase in hardware costs for solar photovoltaic systems and battery storage, both markets had a strong growth, driven by the soaring energy prices in 2022. The increase of the levelised costs for solar photovoltaic electricity was well below the increase of electricity generated with fossil fuels. The electrification of heating, transport and industry will create additional demand for renewable electricity, including solar, if we want to stay on track for not more than 1.5 °C global temperature increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Informal payments for healthcare are typically regressive and limit access to quality healthcare while increasing risk of catastrophic health expenditure, especially in developing countries. Different responses have been proposed, but little is known about how they influence the incentives driving this behaviour. We therefore identified providers' preferences for policy interventions to overcome informal payments in Tanzania. Methods: We undertook a discrete choice experiment (DCE) to elicit preferences over various policy options with 432 health providers in 42 public health facilities in Pwani and Dar es Salaam region. DCE attributes were derived from a multi-stage process including a literature review, qualitative interviews with key informants, a workshop with health stakeholders, expert opinions, and a pilot test. Each respondent received 12 unlabelled choice sets describing two hypothetical job-settings that varied across 6-attributes: mode of payment, supervision at facility, opportunity for private practice, awareness and monitoring, measures against informal payments, and incentive payments to encourage noninfraction. Mixed multinomial logit (MMNL) models were used for estimation. Results: All attributes, apart from supervision at facility, significantly influenced providers' choices (P < .001). Health providers strongly and significantly preferred incentive payments for non-infraction and opportunities for private practice, but significantly disliked disciplinary measures at district level. Preferences varied across the sample, although all groups significantly preferred the opportunity to practice privately and cashless payment. Disciplinary measures at district level were significantly disliked by unit in-charges, those who never engaged in informal payments, and who were not absent from work for official trip. 10% salary top-up were preferred incentive by all, except those who engaged in informal payments and absent from work for official trip. Conclusion: Better working conditions, with improved earnings and career paths, were strongly preferred by all, different respondents groups had distinct preferences according to their characteristics, suggesting the need for adoption of tailored packages of interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Japanese health care system provides universal coverage with relatively low cost sharing and patients have a free choice of providers. Although Japan's government price controls have helped to restrain the growth in health care spending, the country's rapidly growing elderly population and adoption of new drugs and technologies have placed increased fiscal pressures on its health care system. Additionally, the Japanese health care system does not have the infrastructure in place to restrain utilization, which may be a key driver of increases in health care spending. Although the US health care system has many shortcomings, such as the highest health care prices among developed countries and a significant uninsured population, it has been able to manage utilization by using various tools, such as prior authorization and gatekeeping. The US health care system might be able to offer Japan some lessons on ways to reduce unnecessary utilization and supply to create greater value in its health care system., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Concerning the upcoming issues in attaining urban mobility improvement, this research investigates the impact of changes in strategic policies to improve urban mobility. Accordingly, a novel policy approach and its evaluation methodology are proposed, and Tehran's urban mobility and outcomes are appraised in a real-large scale case study. Founded on the outlined approach, strategic policies and policy options are suggested through stakeholders' participation. This paper presents a methodology for assessing the amelioration of urban mobility through the change of policy approach as a conceptual framework in five steps. In line with this, a model-based tool is applied to quantify policy options according to the proposed criteria. To accumulate the required data on the mobility behavior of city inhabitants, a household travel survey is conducted. Based on the presented assessing framework and the process of identifying alternatives and utilizing the macroscopic transportation models, the best alternative is chosen using a Multi-Attribute Decision Making (MADM) method. This research shows that making changes in the policy approach can take the lead overriding role in improving urban mobility. As such, the study finds that development-nature alternatives alone cannot significantly boost urban mobility in developing cities if they do not combine improvements in public transport and soft modes of mobility with restrictions on the use of private cars. The proposed approach and opted alternative are shown to mitigate total travel time in Tehran Central Business District (CBD) by 6.8 per cent.

Indonesia's natural puerulus resources position the country as a potential leader in lobster aquaculture. Over the last decade, frequent policy changes aimed at restricting exports have been enacted to encourage domestic aquaculture production; however, illegal trade has increased. This study explores Indonesia's puerulus governance, analysing the impact of export bans on illegal trade and resources management from 2015 to 2022. We examined the strategies employed by fishermen and other business groups in puerulus trading and smuggling, and their implications on the state revenue by combining court rulings and semi-structured interviews with fishermen and puerulus dealers. We found that the export ban policy has spurred (1) illegal trade, further straining the struggling fishers, (2) potential loss of government revenue from puerulus export, and (3) the stalled domestic aquaculture industry due to the absence of capacity building and enabling environments for domestic production to complement the export ban. Our results indicate that the weak legal enforcement may be the reason the export ban did not work and local aquaculture development has not progressed as expected. Future puerulus management policy underscores the needs for a balanced approach that combines liberal trade policies with strict law enforcement and monitoring, along with capacity building and institutional support for fishermen and the private sectors to develop local aquaculture and curb illegal trading. • Indonesian puerulus policies underwent five iterations between 2015 and 2022. • These policies aimed at preventing exports to develop domestic aquaculture. • The 2020 pro-export policies on puerulus effectively reduced smuggling incidents. • The export bans spurred illegal trading without increasing domestic production. • Weak enforcement hindered the export ban and the progress of domestic aquaculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zinc (Zn) is increasingly recognized as an essential trace element in the human diet that mediates a plethora of health conditions, including immune responses to infectious diseases. Interestingly, the geographical distribution of human dietary Zn deficiency overlaps with soil Zn deficiency. In South Asia, Zn malnutrition is high due to excessive consumption of rice with low Zn content. Interventions such as dietary diversification, food fortification, supplementation, and biofortification are followed to address Zn malnutrition. Among these, Zn biofortification of rice is the most encouraging, cost-effective, and sustainable for South Asia. Biofortification through conventional breeding and transgenic approaches has been achieved in cereals; however, if the soil is deficient in Zn, then these approaches are not advantageous. Therefore, in this article, we review strategies for enhancing the Zn concentration of rice through agronomic biofortification such as timing, dose, and method of Zn fertilizer application, and how nitrogen and phosphorus application as well as crop establishment methods influence Zn concentration in rice. We also propose data-driven Zn recommendations to anticipate crop responses to Zn fertilization and targeted policies that support agronomic biofortification in regions where crop responses to Zn fertilizer are high. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strong, vibrant and credible formal and informal institutions are critical for the harmonious existence anddevelopment of any society. Theirmultifaceted nature, as well as themultiplicity and variety of thefunctions they fulfill for societymakes institutions the indispensablecornerstones of social structure. This is mainly because they serve as a building-block through which countries developmental goals and aspirations can be realized. Thus, the paper was intended at identifying the challenges affecting the development of transparent, accountable, effective and well-functioning institutions in Ethiopia through the review of relevant scanty literature on the subject matter and data gained from CPIA. The review indicates organizational fragmentation, weak leadership, absence of continuity, lack of adequate resources, donor dependence and conflicting mandates, problem of governance, failure to integrate traditional values and norms, strong politicization during reforms as well as political instability are the major challenges affecting the development of capable institutions in Ethiopia. Hence, redirecting attention towards domestic norms and societal values, generating capacity for leadership through continuous and progressive training and education, and promoting institutional coherence through prioritizing, coordinating and integrating goals are suggested as appropriate policy options among others to ensure the development of adequate and capable institutions in Ethiopia.

For the past 10 years photovoltaic electricity generation has been the fastest-growing power generation source worldwide. It took almost six decades to achieve 100 GW of solar energy capacity in 2012, but the 1 TW level is likely to be broken during 2022. Overall investments in solar energy has increased by 19% to USD 205 billion (EUR 171 billion). In 2021 more than 180 GW of new solar photovoltaic electricity generation capacity was installed. After the decline in 2020, the Chinese solar market recovered to 53 GW in 2021. This development and the continuous growth in Europe and the USA as well as in new emerging markets were the main drivers. The number of countries installing more than 1 GW annually has increased to 18 in 2021. The continuation of price reductions in the battery storage sector has again resulted in a growing market for local battery storage systems in solar farms as well as for decentralised photovoltaic electricity generation systems. It is also increasingly clear that apart from classic electricity use, renewable electricity for electric vehicles and for generation of green hydrogen will become more and more important in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 4th PPRI Conference, held in Vienna in October 2019, addressed issues related to equitable and affordable access to medicines. A multi-stakeholder audience from around the globe discussed solutions and best practice models for current challenges such as high-priced medicines, limitations of current pricing and reimbursement policies and tight budgets for health technologies. A multi-faceted approach (so-called balance, evidence, collaboration and transparency/BECT strategy) was also discussed. This includes an improved balance of different interests and policy areas, generation of relevant evidence, collaboration between countries and stakeholders, and transparency, and was considered as the most promising pathway for the future.

Technical assistance is provided to country governments as part of international development programmes to support policymaking or strengthen state capability. This article presents the conceptual evolution of ‘technical assistance’ linked to capacity development, starting with programmes aiming exclusively to enhance individual capacity in the 1950s to 1970s and progressing to complex systems approaches in the past ten years. It also presents some of the frequent challenges in designing and implementing technical assistance, drawing from the existing literature and the authors’ experience in international development. The article summarises the latest thinking about delivering more effective development, including the adaptive management practices and the initiatives to strengthen evidence about what works. Finally, we complement this article with a follow-up open letter reflecting on the current policy options and opportunities for change.

Technical assistance has been at the heart of development assistance provided to country governments by donor agencies over the past several decades. The current debates on reimagining technical assistance focus on the existing challenges of the different types of technical assistance and the (re)construction of an ideal model for delivering this type of support, with little discussion about the dilemmas involved in making day-to-day decisions and trade-offs in implementation. This article presents technical assistance as a policy option for governments and details the existing models of delivering technical assistance, their limitations, and the required enabling conditions. The models presented focus on the type of role for the technical advisers- as doers (performing government functions), partners (working with the government to perform a specific role) and facilitators (enabling and facilitating change programmes to address wicked problems). Finally, the paper provides a practical account of the implications of the programme design and suggests potential opportunities for change particularly in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. It complements an open letter on the practical account of the current challenges in the design and implementation of technical assistance programmes.

Summary: Background: Policy makers benefit from insight into consumer perceptions of potential sugary drink policy measures. Adolescents are among the highest consumers in Australia, yet their perceptions are unknown. Objectives: To determine adolescents' perceptions of potential policies aimed at reducing sugary drink consumption and explore variation in perceptions. Methods: Data were collected via a nationally representative survey of Australian secondary school students (aged 12‐17) using a stratified two‐stage probability design (n = 9102). Survey questions assessed receptiveness to five policy options, sugary drink consumption, perceptions of health effects and demographics. Results: Low proportions (13%‐29%) were somewhat/strongly against policy options, 35% to 45% were neutral, and 27% to 52% were somewhat/strongly in favour. Highest support was observed for text warning labels on sugary drinks (52%), followed by tax with investment in healthy weight programmes (43%), standalone tax (36%), restricting school sales (30%) and restricting advertising to children (27%). Sex, sugary drink consumption and perceptions were significantly associated with most assessed policy options in bivariate analyses (P <.01). Significant associations between sex and consumption with selected policy options persisted in adjusted multilevel models. Conclusions: Opposition towards policy options was low overall and neutrality was common. This creates opportunity for early intervention to increase public support for addressing specific health issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the past 10 years, photovoltaic electricity generation has been the fastest-growing power generation source worldwide. It took almost six decades to achieve 100 GW of solar energy capacity in 2012, but the 1 TW barrier is likely to be broken during 2022. Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the overall investments in solar energy have increased by 12% to USD 148.6 billion (EUR 125 billion). In 2020, more than 135 GW of new solar photovoltaic electricity generation capacity was installed. The recovery of China, the continuous growths in Europe and the USA as well as new emerging markets were the main drivers. The number of countries installing more than 1 GW annually has increased to 18 in 2020. The continuation of price reductions in the battery storage sector has again resulted in a growing market for local battery storage systems in solar farms as well as decentralised photovoltaic electricity generation systems. Apart from classic electricity use, renewable electricity for the generation of green hydrogen will become more and more important in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerning the upcoming issues in attaining urban mobility improvement, this research investigates the impact of changes in strategic policies to improve urban mobility. Accordingly, a novel policy approach and its evaluation methodology are proposed, and Tehran's urban mobility and outcomes are appraised in a real-large scale case study. Founded on the outlined approach, strategic policies and policy options are suggested through stakeholders' participation. This paper presents a methodology for assessing the amelioration of urban mobility through the change of policy approach as a conceptual framework in five steps. In line with this, a modelbased tool is applied to quantify policy options according to the proposed criteria. To accumulate the required data on the mobility behavior of city inhabitants, a household travel survey is conducted. Based on the presented assessing framework and the process of identifying alternatives and utilizing the macroscopic transportation models, the best alternative is chosen using a Multi-Attribute Decision Making (MADM) method. This research shows that making changes in the policy approach can take the lead overriding role in improving urban mobility. As such, the study finds that development-nature alternatives alone cannot significantly boost urban mobility in developing cities if they do not combine improvements in public transport and soft modes of mobility with restrictions on the use of private cars. The proposed approach and opted alternative are shown to mitigate total travel time in Tehran Central Business District (CBD) by 6.8 per cent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Action to improve preconception nutrition is a collective, societal responsibility. We believe that the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD) society is ideally placed to facilitate the development of a global agenda for preconception nutrition which recognises the societal importance of nutrition for young women and men, and supports them in optimising their nutritional status for the benefit of the next generation. In this paper, we outline four key actions that can be taken by the members of DOHaDʼs international society located across 67 countries, and nine regional societies, to demonstrate this leadership role. The recommended actions to place preconception nutrition at the top of national and regional agendas include (i) continuing to build the scientific evidence, (ii) monitoring of progress made by governments and commercial companies, (iii) developing advocacy coalitions that unite individuals and organisations around common policy options and (iv) working with partners to develop an emotive and empowering preconception nutrition awareness campaign. Collectively, these actions hold the potential to develop into a preconception nutrition social movement to invoke high-level government support and across-sector policy action, while raising public demand for action and engaging corporate actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 4th PPRI Conference, held in Vienna in October 2019, addressed issues related to equitable and affordable access to medicines. A multi-stakeholder audience from around the globe discussed solutions and best practice models for current challenges such as high-priced medicines, limitations of current pricing and reimbursement policies and tight budgets for health technologies. A multi-faceted approach (so-called balance, evidence, collaboration and transparency/BECT strategy) was also discussed. This includes an improved balance of different interests and policy areas, generation of relevant evidence, collaboration between countries and stakeholders, and transparency, and was considered as the most promising pathway for the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cambodia aims to expand social health protection to move toward Universal Health Coverage. We developed a modeling tool to facilitate the simple, interactive estimation of cost and coverage for three policy alternatives, enabling decision-makers to simultaneously adjust for scenario options currently under consideration. Assuming the adoption of all scenario options, the projected cost of expanding social health protection to all is US$42 million, to vulnerable individuals is US$32.1 million, and to uncovered 1st–3rd wealth quintile people is US$30.4 million. These policy alternatives are projected to increase population coverage to 100%, 89.1%, and 92.5% by 2025, respectively. The results have multiple policy implications. First, given the similar costs and coverage estimates for the targeted approaches, and other considerations, expansion to the 1st–3rd wealth quintiles is recommended. Second, the model quantifies the potential impacts for policy changes relating to each scenario option. The inclusion of dependents under the contributory schemes significantly shifts costs; reversing the policy of non-payment for priority public health services increases public health facility revenue; and, alignment of reimbursement rates leverages demand-side financing which can increase value for money. Finally, the cost estimates provide a basis for economic planning. Revenue raising options include increasing the contribution ceiling for the private employees' scheme and the progressive adoption of strategic purchasing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]