scholarly journals Costs of hand hygiene for all in household settings: estimating the price tag for the 46 least developed countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (12) ◽  
pp. e007361
Author(s):  
Ian Ross ◽  
Joanna Esteves Mills ◽  
Tom Slaymaker ◽  
Richard Johnston ◽  
Guy Hutton ◽  
...  

IntroductionDomestic hand hygiene could prevent over 500 000 attributable deaths per year, but 6 in 10 people in least developed countries (LDCs) do not have a handwashing facility (HWF) with soap and water available at home. We estimated the economic costs of universal access to basic hand hygiene services in household settings in 46 LDCs.MethodsOur model combines quantities of households with no HWF and prices of promotion campaigns, HWFs, soap and water. For quantities, we used estimates from the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme. For prices, we collated data from recent impact evaluations and electronic searches. Accounting for inflation and purchasing power, we calculated costs over 2021–2030, and estimated total cost probabilistically using Monte Carlo simulation.ResultsAn estimated US$12.2–US$15.3 billion over 10 years is needed for universal hand hygiene in household settings in 46 LDCs. The average annual cost of hand hygiene promotion is US$334 million (24% of annual total), with a further US$233 million for ‘top-up’ promotion (17%). Together, these promotion costs represent US$0.47 annually per head of LDC population. The annual cost of HWFs, a purpose-built drum with tap and stand, is US$174 million (13%). The annual cost of soap is US$497 million (36%) and water US$127 million (9%).ConclusionThe annual cost of behavioural change promotion to those with no HWF represents 4.7% of median government health expenditure in LDCs, and 1% of their annual aid receipts. These costs could be covered by mobilising resources from across government and partners, and could be reduced by harnessing economies of scale and integrating hand hygiene with other behavioural change campaigns where appropriate. Innovation is required to make soap more affordable and available for the poorest households.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Ross ◽  
Joanna Esteves Mills ◽  
Tom Slaymaker ◽  
Richard Johnston ◽  
Guy Hutton ◽  
...  

Introduction: Domestic hand hygiene could prevent over 500,000 attributable deaths per year, but 6 in 10 people in least developed countries (LDCs) do not have a handwashing facility with soap and water available at home. We estimated the economic costs of universal access to basic hand hygiene services in household settings in 46 LDCs. Methods: Our model combines quantities of households with no handwashing facility (HWF) and prices of promotion campaigns, HWFs, soap, and water. For quantities, we used estimates from the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme. For prices, we collated data from recent impact evaluations and electronic searches. Accounting for inflation and purchasing power, we calculated costs over 2021-2030, and estimated total cost probabilistically using Monte Carlo simulation. Results: An estimated US$ 12.2 - 15.3 billion over 10 years is needed for universal hand hygiene in household settings in 46 LDCs. The average annual cost of hand hygiene promotion is $334 million (24% of annual total), with a further $233 million for "top-up" promotion (17%). Together, these promotion costs represent $0.47 annually per head of LDC population. The annual cost of HWFs, a purpose-built drum with tap and stand, is $174 million (13%). The annual cost of soap is $497 million (36%), and water $127 million (9%). Conclusion: The annual cost of behaviour change promotion to those with no handwashing facility represents 4.7% of median government health expenditure in LDCs, and 1% of their annual aid receipts. These costs could be covered by mobilising resources from across government and partners, and could be reduced by harnessing economies of scale and integrating hand hygiene with other behaviour change campaigns where appropriate. Innovation is required to make soap more affordable and available for the poorest households.


Economies ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Candice Branchoux ◽  
Lin Fang ◽  
Yusuke Tateno

To assist with the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, this paper develops a framework to estimate infrastructure financing needs of the Asia-Pacific least developed countries (LDCs), landlocked developing countries (LLDCs), and small island developing States (SIDS) by 2030. The framework takes into account the financing required to close existing infrastructure gaps, keep up with growing demands for new infrastructure, maintain existing infrastructure, and mitigate the vulnerability of infrastructure to climate-related risks. Based on a panel of 71 developing economies from 1990 to 2015 and the application of unit costs to the level of physical infrastructure stock projected to 2030, the required resources are estimated to amount to 8.1% of GDP per annum on weighted average, which exceeds current levels of infrastructure funding of 5–7% of GDP. The paper finds that a large proportion of financing needs in LDCs and SIDS arises from the current infrastructure shortages, particularly in the transport and energy sector, implying that provision of universal access to basic infrastructure services would require large outlays of resources. The results also suggest that LLDCs and some SIDS require over one-third of their spending to be allocated to maintenance and replacement of existing assets, while those in low-lying coastal areas face substantial long-run costs in improving infrastructure to mitigate climate change and protect them against loss and damages caused by extreme weather events. Meeting future infrastructure financing needs will require greater engagement of the private sector and other global and regional initiatives to ensure that sufficient resources can be raised for investment in infrastructure.


2013 ◽  
Vol 83 (2) ◽  
pp. 122-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cécile Renaud ◽  
Jacques Berger ◽  
Arnaud Laillou ◽  
Sylvie Avallone

Vitamin A deficiency is still one of the major public health problems in least developed countries. Fortification of vegetable oils is a strategy implemented worldwide to prevent this deficiency. For a fortification program to be effective, regular monitoring is necessary to control food quality in the producing units. The reference methods for vitamin A quantification are expensive and time-consuming. A rapid method should be useful for regular assessment of vitamin A in the oil industry. A portable device was compared to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for three plant oils (rapeseed, groundnut, and soya). The device presented a good linearity from 3 to 30 mg retinol equivalents per kg (mg RE.kg- 1). Its limits of detection and quantification were 3 mg RE.kg- 1 for groundnut and rapeseed oils and 4 mg RE.kg- 1 for soya oil. The intra-assay precision ranged from 1.48 % to 3.98 %, considered satisfactory. Accuracy estimated by the root mean squares error ranged from 3.99 to 5.49 and revealed a lower precision than HPLC (0.4 to 2.25). Although it offers less precision than HPLC, the device estimates quickly the vitamin A content of the tested oils from 3 or 4 to 15 mg RE.kg- 1.


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (01) ◽  
Author(s):  
JAVED ALAM SHEIKH

Almost 50 per cent of the world population is constituted by the women and they have been making substantial contribution to socio-economic development. But, unfortunately their tremendous contribution remains unrecognized and unnoticed in most of the developing and least developed countries causing the problem of poverty among them. Empowering women has become the key element in the development of an economy. With women moving forward, the family moves, the village moves and the nation moves. Hence, improving the status of women by way of their economic empowerment is highly called for. Entrepreneurship is a key tool for the economic empowerment of women around the world for alleviating poverty. Entrepreneurship is now widely recognized as a tool of economic development in India also. In this paper I have tried to discuss the reasons and role of Women Entrepreneurship with the help of Push and Pull factors. In the last I have also discussed the problems and the road map of Women Entrepreneurs development in India.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
James Atampiiga Avoka ◽  
Elvis J. Dun-Dery ◽  
Issah Seidu ◽  
Armel N. E. Abou ◽  
Paul Twene ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Rotavirus is considered the main causal factor of severe gastroenteritis among infants and children globally. The association with severe rotavirus infection is mostly worse among the least developed countries, mainly due to inadequate access to medical care and poverty. This study was conducted to determine the seasonal effects in respect of diarrhea cases in children, the association between diarrhea cases and Rota2 vaccine in the Fanteakwa District of the Eastern Region of Ghana. Methods The study compares monthly diarrhea cases against children vaccinated with Rota2 extracted from DHIMS2 spanning May 2012 to December 2017 in Fanteakwa District. A univariate association between diarrhea cases and children vaccinated with Rota 2 was conducted using the R-software version 3.4.4 with the use of forecast, tseries and TSAPred. Pearson Correlation coefficient was also computed between monthly diarrhea cases and Rota 2 as well as lagged values of Rota 2 and Diarrhea cases. Results The study shows that February recorded the highest average number of diarrhea cases (172) over the period 2012 to 2017 with a standard deviation of 59. However, a one-way analysis of variance shows a significant difference amongst the monthly averages with an F-statistic of 0.042 and P-value of 0.064. It is observed that the correlations between each of the Rota2 doses and the lagged cases are positive, showing higher Rota2 doses a month ago ((Xt − 1),0.346 to0.735), two months ago ((Xt − 2),0.383 to 0.746), three months ago ((Xt − 3), 0.330 to 0.737) and four months ago ((Xt − 4), 0.236 to 0.723) are associated with lower diarrhea cases. The results also show that an increase in the previous two month’s Rota2 figures by 100 is associated with a significant decrease in the currently expected diarrhea cases by approximately 36. Conclusion Seasonal variations exist in the occurrence of diarrhea in children, with January recording the highest number of diarrhea cases (172). There is a relationship between episodes of diarrhea in children and Rota2 (p-value = 0.064); thus, the more children are vaccinated with Rota2, the less diarrhea cases are recorded. Diarrhea cases in Fanteakwa district are generally low, except 2013 and 2016 where the cases are higher than the rest of the other years.


Author(s):  
Alicia Girón ◽  
Amirreza Kazemikhasragh ◽  
Antonella Francesca Cicchiello ◽  
Eva Panetti

AbstractThe purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of financial inclusion in the least developed countries in Asia and Africa. We used World Bank data to estimate the probit econometric technique in the studied countries. The results show that young people and women are groups excluded from financial inclusion and that education and income are two of the key pillars for increasing financial inclusion. Furthermore, the results reveal that a higher level of financial inclusion increases the level of official savings in countries, which in turn promotes their development. The findings of this study are beneficial for policymakers in the least developed countries to promote innovative approaches to enhance the involvement of excluded people in formal finance.


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