scholarly journals The impact of the cost of oral hygiene products on the domestic budget in the urban region of a midsize Brazilian capital city

2015 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-18
Author(s):  
Thaís Torres Barros DUTRA ◽  
André Luis Rodrigues da SILVA ◽  
Alaíse Magalhães CABRAL ◽  
José Machado MOITA NETO ◽  
Raimundo Rosendo PRADO JUNIOR

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of the cost of oral hygiene products in Teresina, Piauí, on the Brazilian minimum salary (MS) over the period of two years. METHODS: The writer of this study visited 12 businesses from five geographical areas of the city during four consecutive months in 2011 and 2013 to collect the prices of toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss and mouth rinse solutions of different brands. The prices were used to calculate the monthly expense that one individual would have if they consumed the ideal quantity of the products, as recommended by the dental literature. Brazil's MS at the time of the study was used as a parameter to calculate the impact of the cost of the items on the family budget. RESULTS: The mean monthly cost per individual was R$ 17.93 in 2011 (2.88% of the MS) and R$ 24.92 in 2013 (3.67% of the MS). There was an increase of 38.9 % in the mean price of products and the impact on the MS increased by 27.43 % during the study period. CONCLUSION: The impact of the cost of the oral care items was high on the Brazilian MS for the studied region. Dentists should be aware that the cost of these products can be an obstacle for their patients.

2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tinevimbo Shiri ◽  
Angela Loyse ◽  
Lawrence Mwenge ◽  
Tao Chen ◽  
Shabir Lakhi ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Mortality from cryptococcal meningitis remains very high in Africa. In the Advancing Cryptococcal Meningitis Treatment for Africa (ACTA) trial, 2 weeks of fluconazole (FLU) plus flucytosine (5FC) was as effective and less costly than 2 weeks of amphotericin-based regimens. However, many African settings treat with FLU monotherapy, and the cost-effectiveness of adding 5FC to FLU is uncertain. Methods The effectiveness and costs of FLU+5FC were taken from ACTA, which included a costing analysis at the Zambian site. The effectiveness of FLU was derived from cohorts of consecutively enrolled patients, managed in respects other than drug therapy, as were participants in ACTA. FLU costs were derived from costs of FLU+5FC in ACTA, by subtracting 5FC drug and monitoring costs. The cost-effectiveness of FLU+5FC vs FLU alone was measured as the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). A probabilistic sensitivity analysis assessed uncertainties and a bivariate deterministic sensitivity analysis examined the impact of varying mortality and 5FC drug costs on the ICER. Results The mean costs per patient were US $847 (95% confidence interval [CI] $776–927) for FLU+5FC, and US $628 (95% CI $557–709) for FLU. The 10-week mortality rate was 35.1% (95% CI 28.9–41.7%) with FLU+5FC and 53.8% (95% CI 43.1–64.1%) with FLU. At the current 5FC price of US $1.30 per 500 mg tablet, the ICER of 5FC+FLU versus FLU alone was US $65 (95% CI $28–208) per life-year saved. Reducing the 5FC cost to between US $0.80 and US $0.40 per 500 mg resulted in an ICER between US $44 and US $28 per life-year saved. Conclusions The addition of 5FC to FLU is cost-effective for cryptococcal meningitis treatment in Africa and, if made available widely, could substantially reduce mortality rates among human immunodeficiency virus–infected persons in Africa.


1970 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 192-196
Author(s):  
Devindra Sood ◽  
Alka Pandey ◽  
Rajeev Sood ◽  
Nagesh Gupta ◽  
Ravinder Kumar Bajaj ◽  
...  

Aim: To study the medication costs of various topical glaucoma medications using data collected from real world use by patients.Methods: Patients with primary open angle glaucoma treated at glaucoma clinics in 5 hospitals (1 rural and 4 urban) in northern India from 1 January to 30 June 2008 were enrolled. The number of days each bottle of medication lasted was recorded, and the mean cost per day was computed from the maximum retail price and mean number of days each medication lasted.Results: 790 of 801 eligible patients completed the study. The mean number of days that a bottle of medication lasted was found to be highest for Xalatan® and Xalacom® at 35.23 days and 35.00 days, respectively. The brand name prostaglandin analogues all lasted for a mean of more than 30 days: Xalatan, 35.23 days (SD, 4.14 days); Lumigan®, 31.37 days (SD, 5.31 days); and Travatan®, 34.84 days (SD, 6.51 days), while the generic eye drops lasted for about 21 days: latanoprost, 20.69 days (SD, 3.69 days) and bimatoprost, 21.39 days (SD, 4.34 days). The cost of the generic medication was less than the brand name medication in all groups (for example, bimatoprost, Indian rupees 9.76 versus Indian rupees 12.33) except for brimonidine/timolol (Indian rupees 8.73 versus Indian rupees 8.66). Further analysis in 2009 showed that, for latanoprost, brimonidine and brimonidine/timolol, the difference between the brand name and generic medications decreased in 2009 over 2008 (in the latanoprost group, the cost difference over the year reduced from Indian rupees 592 in 2008 to Indian rupees 523 in 2009); the cost difference for bimatoprost increased from 2008 to 2009.Conclusion: When both cost and number of days a bottle lasts were considered over the long term, use of generic medications might not minimise the cost of glaucoma medical management by much when compared with the brand name medication.


2016 ◽  
pp. 303-324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Cvetkovic

The consequences of the floods that had affected the area of Serbia in 2014 indicated a very low level of preparedness of population to respond to natural disasters. Therefore, the aim of quantitative research is to examine the impact of fear on the willingness of citizens to respond to a natural disaster caused by the flood in the Republic of Serbia. Bearing in mind all local communities in Serbia where floods occurred or there is a high risk of flooding, there was selected a random sample consisting of 19 out of 150 municipalities and 23 towns and the city of Belgrade. In the selected communities, a research was undertaken in those areas that had been most affected in relation to the amount of water or potential risk of flooding. The survey used strategy of testing in households with the use of a multi- stage random sample. The research results indicate that the citizens who have a fear of floods are familiar with safety procedures to a greater extent in relation to citizens who do not have the fear; they have taken the preventive measures; they point out that they still are not ready to respond, but plan to do so in the next 6 months; they would evacuate to the upper floor of the house; they point out that someone in the family has educated them about the flood. In contrast to that, citizens who do not have the fear are not doing anything to prepare themselves to react in such situations, they are confident in their own abilities to cope with the consequences of floods, etc. The originality of the research lies in the fact that in Serbia there has never been conducted a research to examine the state of preparedness of citizens to respond. Bearing in mind that the research is based on the territory of Serbia, conclusions can be generalized to the entire population. The research results can be used when creating a strategy for improving the level of preparedness of citizens to respond.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (9) ◽  
pp. e005519
Author(s):  
Jing Yuan ◽  
Z Kevin Lu ◽  
Xiaomo Xiong ◽  
Bin Jiang

To cope with the increasing healthcare costs brought about by the universal health insurance programme, national volume-based procurement (NVBP) was implemented in China to reduce drug prices. However, the impact of NVBP remains unknown. We reported the effects of the NVBP pilot programme on medication affordability and discussed the challenges and recommendations for further reforms. A total of 25 molecules won the bidding in the NVBP pilot programme, and price cuts ranged from 25% to 96%. Medication affordability was measured as the number of days’ wages needed to pay for a course of treatment, and the medication was identified as affordable if the cost of a treatment course was less than the average daily wage. After the NVBP, the proportion of affordable drugs increased from 33% to 67%, and the mean affordability improved from 8.2 days’ wages to 2.8 days’ wages. Specifically, for rural residents, the proportion of affordable drugs increased from 13% to 58%, and the mean affordability improved from 15.7 days’ wages to 5.3 days’ wages. For urban residents, the proportion of affordable drugs increased from 54% to 71%, and the mean affordability improved from 5.9 days’ wages to 2.0 days’ wages. Implementing the NVBP substantially improved medication affordability. In future reforms, a multifaceted approach addressing all issues in the health system is needed to enhance medicine access.


2018 ◽  
Vol 74 ◽  
pp. 12001
Author(s):  
Anis Masyruroh ◽  
Djoko M. Hartono ◽  
Herman Haeruman ◽  
Emirhadi Suganda

Serang city is the capital city of Banten province surrounded by cities and counties nearby. At this time serang city has become center of activities and migration of the counties nearits that cause the past population growth. This of course will affect to the building both physical and non physical ones. At the same time environment problem increases too, such as the height of temperature , the increase of air pollution, trafkic jam, the decrease of water quality. One of the ways of handling the problems is bye keeping and developing green open space, that will become city forest. This research is to find out the potency of the impact of city forest management to envirounment in Serang city, like air quality. CO2 decrease, noise, moisture, and potency of carbon as well as potency of water absorbance. Research methodoly used is using primary data of environmental quality test in fivelocation in Serang city which is placed near the city forest area to colculate the potency of carbon absorbance using formula of biomassa tree calcution which is calculated based on the ability of plantation water absorbance. The research show that the value of physical environment in city forest area is better than the condition of physical environment which is forer from the city forest.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Ezquerro ◽  
Juan P. Romero ◽  
Jose L. Moura ◽  
Juan Benavente ◽  
Ángel Ibeas

The impact of freight transport in cities is significant, and as such correct planning and management thereof help reduce their enormous negative impact. Above all, the special large vehicles have a greater impact than the remainder of freight vehicles, so a special attention should be paid to them. The vehicles which supply or pick up large amounts of goods at specific points throughout the city are an example of this type of vehicles. The aim of this paper is to minimize the cost of this freight transport type from a social, economic, and environmental viewpoint. To this effect, an optimization model has been proposed based on bilevel mathematical programming which minimizes the total system costs. City network model data are obtained on the lower level such as vehicle flow and travelling times, which are then used on the upper level to calculate total system costs. The model has been applied to a real case in Santander (Spain), whose final result shows the size and typology of the fleet of vehicles necessary to have the least impact on the city. The greater the vehicles size is (i.e., using fewer trucks), the less the cost of the freight transport is.


2000 ◽  
Vol 19 (s-1) ◽  
pp. 37-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Carey ◽  
Roger Simnett ◽  
George Tanewski

This study investigates voluntary demand for auditing by family businesses, a significant but relatively unexplored segment of the economy. The paper considers demand for both internal and external auditing by using survey data to investigate the impact of firm characteristics linked to the cost vs. benefit of engaging an auditor. Variables examined are firm size, debt, and two agency proxies that measure separation of ownership and control, namely, the proportion of nonfamily management in the firm, and the proportion of nonfamily representation on the board of directors. The paper also considers the association between internal and external auditing. Descriptive results on voluntary demand for auditing by 186 family businesses revealed that internal audit was more prevalent than external audit, and outsourcing was a common method for providing internal audit. Results from logistic regression analyses provide support for the hypothesized impact of the two agency proxies and firm debt on demand for external audit, but do not explain the demand for internal audit. For firms that voluntarily engaged an auditor (internal and/or external audit), the negative and significant correlation between internal and external audit suggest that in the family business environment they are more commonly viewed as substitute rather than complementary responses.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (163) ◽  
pp. 165-172
Author(s):  
I. Chumachenko ◽  
N. Davidich ◽  
A. Galkin ◽  
Yu. Davidich ◽  
Y. Kush ◽  
...  

The article is devoted to the establishment of information support to determine the patterns of changing the function of gravitation of employees of the urban-service enterprises. It has been established that the development of urban transport systems is impossible without the use of information technology to predict the parameters of the formation and absorption of passenger traffic. The design of urban transport systems cannot be achieved without assessing the impact of traffic improvement measures on changes in traffic and passenger flows. The main parameter by which it is possible to predict the choice of places of gravity by the inhabitants of cities is the function of gravitation between different areas of the city. The formalized functions of the gravitation of urban dwellers are not differentiated by the social composition of the population of cities. In addition, they use only travel time between areas of the city as an independent variable. The article proposes the formalization of the gravitation function of employees of the urban service enterprises using the parameters of the urban transport system, areas of departure and arrival, as well as the cost of movement. A special questionnaire has been developed to obtain the original information. A natural survey was carried out using it. As a result of the processing of survey data using correlation and regression analysis methods, the degree of influence of the studied factors on the value of the gravitation function of employees of urban service enterprises was revealed. Analysis of the correlation values obtained showed that the most significant impact on the value of the gravitation function of employees of urban services is the ratio of the cost of movement between districts and average wages in the city. The least impact is the distance from the area of residence to the place of application of work, the ratio of the cost of one square meter of housing in the area of residence and the average salary in the city, the ratio of the cost of one square meter of housing in the area of employment application and the average salary in the city. However, the compatible influence of all factors can change the level of influence of each factor and its combinations. In addition, it is advisable to take into account the technical and operational performance of urban passenger transport routes and individual transport routes.


Author(s):  
Despoina G Alamanou ◽  
Konstantinos Giakoumidakis ◽  
Dimosthenis G Theodosiadis ◽  
Nikolaos V Fotos ◽  
Elissavet Patiraki ◽  
...  

Objective: In Greece, the old phenomenon of hiding cancer diagnosis and depriving cancer patients of their right to participate in decisionmaking remains a reality. The aim of this study was to assess the decision-making preferences of Greek cancer patients and their awareness of diagnosis. Methods: It was a cross-sectional study. The sample consisted of 229 adult Greek patients diagnosed with cancer, attending the oncology outpatient department (outpatients) or being hospitalized (inpatients), in one general hospital in Athens. Patients who were aware of cancer diagnosis (n=209) were administered at the Control Preference Scale (CPS), a tool, designed to elicit decision-making preferences. The IBM SPSS program, version 21.0 was used for statistical analysis. Results: One hundred and one patients (52.8%) were males. The mean [±standard deviation (SD)] age was 64.8 (±11.2) years. The vast majority of patients knew they suffered from cancer (n=209, 91.3%). Older patients (p=0.003), those who lived in suburbs of the city (p=0.01), those who had lower educational level (p=0.001), those with lower personal income (p=0.001) and shorter disease duration (p=0.001) stated that were unaware of cancer diagnosis. Seventy five (36.2%) patients chose the shared-decision role in decision-making procedures. Lower age (OR 1.04, 95%, CI: 1.00-1.08, p= 0.05) and higher education level (OR 2, 63, 95%, CI: 1.11-6.29, p=0.03) were significantly associated with the preference of patients to actively participate in decision-making regarding treatment. Conclusions: Although Greek cancer patients are aware of cancer diagnosis and treatment, nowadays, they still seem to hesitate in playing a more active role in the decision-making procedures, which portrays the impact of the dominating paternalistic model of doctor-patient relationship in the Greek medical encounter


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Alraouf ◽  
◽  

In rentier countries around the Gulf, a paradigm shift is certainly happening. Gulf States resorted to branding strategies which would secure a global recognition for their cities. The paper analyzes the effectiveness of tools used in Doha, the capital city of Qatar to create its own identity within the Gulf States and the rest of the Middle East. The analyzed tools will include City Uniqueness, Quality of Public Spaces, Signature Architecture, Events, Festivals, Cultural Tourism and Facilities. One of the main strategies used in Doha to articulate its brand is enhancing the ability of the city to host global Events, Festivals, and international sports. Competitions and cultural Carnivals. The research illustrates the use of Interesting Architecture, Cultural Facilities, Unique streets, Public parks, City natural and man-made Uniqueness as a City Marketing and Positive Branding Tools. The paper investigates crucial questions including the impact of the digital paradigm on the competitiveness of cities? How to regionally and globally market a city? What are the sustainable and resilient strategies for branding contemporary city? The paper also articulates a model for the case of Doha city banding and marketing which is based on a balanced approach. Such an approach would consider traditional assets including history and heritage. Also, it will include contemporary and innovative assets resulted from the last decade unprecedented investments in the sectors of education, research, culture and knowledge. Hence, the paper suggests a more holistic approach to city branding which would balance between social equity, economic prospertiy and ecological intergrity.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document