Gender-Based Vulnerability: Combining Pareto ranking and geostatistics to model gender-based vulnerability in Rohingya refugee settlements in Bangladesh

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Nelson ◽  
Daniela Reyes Saade ◽  
P.Gregg Greenough

Abstract Background: The Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh continues to outstrip humanitarian resources and undermine the health and security of over 900,000 people. Spatial, sector-specific information is required to better understand the needs of vulnerable populations, such as women and girls, and to target interventions with improved efficiency and effectiveness. This study aimed to create a gender-based vulnerability index and explore the geospatial and thematic variations in gender-based vulnerability of Rohingya refugees residing in Bangladesh by utilizing pre-existing, open source data. Methods: Data sources included remotely-sensed REACH data on humanitarian infrastructure, United Nations Population Fund resource availability data, and the Needs and Population Monitoring Survey conducted by the International Organization for Migration in October 2017. Data gaps were addressed through probabilistic interpolation. A vulnerability index was designed through a process of literature review, variable selection and thematic grouping, normalization, and scorecard creation, and Pareto ranking was employed to rank sites based on vulnerability scoring. Spatial autocorrelation of vulnerability was analyzed with the Global and Anselin Local Moran’s I applied to both combined vulnerability index rank and disaggregated thematic ranking. Results: Twenty-four point one percent of settlements were ranked as ‘most vulnerable,’ with 30 highly vulnerable clusters identified predominantly in the upazila of Sadar. Five settlements in Dhokkin, Somitapara, and Pahartoli were categorized as less vulnerable outliers amongst highly vulnerable neighboring sites. Security- and health-related variables appear to be the most significant drivers of gender-specific vulnerability in Cox’s Bazar. Clusters of low security and education vulnerability measures are shown near Kutupalong. Conclusion: The humanitarian sector produces tremendous amounts of data that can be analyzed with spatial statistics to improve research targeting and programmatic intervention. The critical utilization of these data and the validation of vulnerability indexes are required to improve the international response to the global refugee crisis. This study presents a novel methodology that can be utilized to not only spatially characterize gender-based vulnerability in refugee populations, but can also be calibrated to identify and serve other vulnerable populations during crises.

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (s1) ◽  
pp. s33-s33
Author(s):  
Erica Nelson ◽  
Daniela Reyes Saade ◽  
P. Gregg Greenough

Introduction:The Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh continues to overburden humanitarian resources and undermine the health and security of over 900,000 people. Spatial, sector-specific information is required to better understand the needs of vulnerable populations, such as women and girls, and to target interventions with improved efficiency and effectiveness.Aim:The aim of this study was to create a gender-based vulnerability index and explore the geospatial and thematic variations in the gender-based vulnerability of Rohingya refugees residing in Bangladesh by utilizing pre-existing, open-source data.Methods:Data sources included remotely-sensed REACH data on humanitarian infrastructure, UN Population Fund resource availability data, and the Needs and Population Monitoring Survey conducted by the International Organization for Migration in October 2017. Gaps in data were addressed through probabilistic interpolation. A vulnerability index was designed through a process of literature review, variable selection and thematic grouping, normalization, and scorecard creation. Pareto ranking was employed to rank sites based on vulnerability scoring. Spatial autocorrelation of vulnerability was analyzed with the Global and Anselin Local Moran’s I applied to both combined vulnerability index rank and disaggregated thematic ranking.Results:Twenty-four percent of settlements were ranked as most vulnerable, with 30 highly vulnerable clusters identified predominantly in the Upazila of Sadar. Five settlements in Dhokkin, Somitipara, and Pahartoli were categorized as less vulnerable outliers amongst highly vulnerable neighboring sites. Security- and health-related variables appear to be the largest drivers of gender-specific vulnerability in Cox’s Bazar. Clusters of low security and education vulnerability measures are shown near the refugee ingress point near Gundum.Discussion:The humanitarian space produces tremendous amounts of data that can be analyzed with spatial statistics to better target research and programmatic intervention. The critical utilization of these data and validation of vulnerability indexes is required to improve the international response to the global refugee crisis.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 294-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosanne Anholt

Little is known about how the idea of ‘resilience’ translates into practice. It has nonetheless emerged as a dominant theme in the governance of crises, such as political instability, armed conflict, terrorism, and large-scale refugee movements. This study draws on interviews with humanitarian and development practitioners in Turkey, Jordan, and Lebanon working under the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan to explore how resilience is interpreted and translated on the ground. Results suggest that resilience is translated as the economic self-reliance of refugees, and the capacity for crisis management of refugee-hosting states, enacted through ‘localization’ and strengthening the ‘humanitarian-development nexus.’ The prominence of the political and economic context and the power relations between crisis response actors that it generates reveals the limits of what a buzzword like resilience can achieve on the ground. The findings highlight the need for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to engage in continuous critical reflection on whether the ways in which resilience policies and programmes are implemented actually improve the ability of systems and vulnerable populations to recover from crisis, as well as on the validity of the assumptions and interpretations on which such policies and programmes are built.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamed Fattahi ◽  
Hasan Abolghasem Gorji ◽  
Mahboubeh Bayat ◽  
Arash Fattahi ◽  
Faezeh Ghasemi Seproo

Abstract Background An effective health headquarters has behaviors, knowledge, skills, and motivations that are behavioral, technical, and motivational prerequisites for successful performance in a job. This study aims to identify the general competencies of health headquarters to meet the needs of the health system.Methods To facilitate a consensus-building process on the development of public competencies, a multi-step approach was used. First, to identify the dimensions and components of general competencies in attracting health headquarters, the systematic review and meta-synthesis were used. Then, using a purposive critical case sampling, twenty-six participants were interviewed and the information was analyzed. In the third stage, the health headquarters were classified into three levels. To present the initial model of competencies, the Mini Delphi method was used. Finally, in the fourth step, to validate and finalize the pattern, the three-step Delphi method was used.Results The six dimensions of competency have been developed, which are (1) leadership and management (12 components), (2) analysis, interpretation, and reporting (6 components), (3) interpersonal relationships (4 components), (4) individual competencies (7 components), (5) cultural and community competencies (5 components), (6), and Administrative competencies (4 components). The leadership and management dimension, in both the first and second stages of this research, had the highest number of codes (42 and 25% of the total codes). Conclusion Since health headquarters play a major role in supervising and directing human resources and promoting the efficiency and effectiveness of the activities of health-related organizations, they should have a high level of management and leadership skills. It is important to pay attention to the competency level of the health headquarters, their classification, and the use of different competencies to attract each group of these headquarters. Also, due to the effective nature of the duties of third-level headquarters who are recruited to work at the highest headquarter level, these headquarters must have a high level of all competencies. Finally, using the competency model of health headquarters can help health organizations in achieving high visions, goals, and self-help strategies.


Author(s):  
Shaden Khallaf

This chapter examines the response of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to the Syrian refugee crisis in the Middle East. The Syrian displacement crisis that began in 2011 has been a humanitarian catastrophe unfolding during one of the most tumultuous and complex times in contemporary Middle Eastern history. The Syria crisis has been a transformational development, a “game-changer,” on a number of levels, including the impact on local and regional dynamics, the scope and nature of the international response, and the challenges to the global refugee protection regime it has triggered. This chapter first provides an overview of the complex displacement patterns involving Syrian refugees before discussing the international community's response to the crisis. It also considers the policy challenges arising from the Syrian displacement crisis and suggests that a qualitative and quantitative shift in approach to dealing with displacement in the region seems to herald the way forward, with a pressing need for innovative outlooks and meaningful partnerships that give primacy to refugees' own perspectives.


Author(s):  
Thomas Grochtdreis ◽  
Hans-Helmut König ◽  
Steffi G. Riedel-Heller ◽  
Judith Dams

Abstract The purpose of this study was to estimate the health-related quality of life (HrQoL) of asylum seekers and refugees that arrived during the European migrant and refugee crisis in Germany between 2014 and 2017. The analysis was based on the 2016 and 2017 refugee samples of the German Socio-Economic Panel (n = 6821). HrQoL was measured using a modified version of the SF-12v2 questionnaire and presented as physical (PCS) and mental (MCS) component summary scores. PCS and MCS scores for the total sample, males and females were calculated by sociodemographic characteristics. Associations between PCS and MCS scores and sociodemographic variables were examined by a linear regression with bootstrapped standard errors. The mean PCS and MCS scores of the sample were 53.4 and 47.9, respectively. Female sex was statistically significantly associated with lower PCS and MCS scores. The SF-12 subscale general health was valued highest with a score of 55.4, whereas the subscale role emotional was valued lowest with a score of 46.9. Employment was statistically significantly associated with higher PCS and MCS scores. Persons from Afghanistan had statistically significantly lower MCS scores than persons from Syria, whereas MCS scores were statistically significantly higher for persons from Eritrea. Physical and mental HrQoL of asylum seekers and refugees that arrived during the European migrant and refugee crisis in Germany between 2014 and 2017 was higher and lower than the German norm, respectively. Female sex, older age, unemployment and being separated, divorced or widowed were negatively associated with HrQoL. The three largest ethnical groups of asylum seekers and refugees, Syrians, Afghans and Eritreans, differ inherently in their HrQoL.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2977 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nani Maiya Sujakhu ◽  
Sailesh Ranjitkar ◽  
Jun He ◽  
Dietrich Schmidt-Vogt ◽  
Yufang Su ◽  
...  

Climate change and related hazards affect the livelihoods of people and their vulnerability to shocks and stresses. Though research on the linkages between a changing climate and vulnerability has been increasing, only a few studies have examined the caste/ethnicity and gender dimensions of livelihood vulnerability. In this study, we attempt to explore how cultural and gender-related aspects influence livelihood vulnerability in indigenous farming mountain communities of the Nepal Himalaya in the context of climate change. We applied the Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) to estimate household (social group and gender-based) vulnerability in farming communities in the Melamchi River Valley, Nepal. The results identified female-headed families, and those belonging to disadvantaged social groups as more vulnerable and in need of being preferentially targeted by policy measures. Higher exposure to climatic extremes and related hazards, dependency on natural resources, lack of financial assets, and weak social networking were identified as components that determine overall vulnerability. The study also visualizes complex adaptation pathways and analyzes the influence of gender and ethnicity on the capacities of households and communities to adapt to climate change.


2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Z Buchman ◽  
Aaron M Orkin ◽  
Carol Strike ◽  
Ross E G Upshur

Abstract North America is in the grips of an epidemic of opioid-related poisonings. Overdose education and naloxone distribution (OEND) programmes emerged as an option for structurally vulnerable populations who could not or would not access mainstream emergency medical services in the event of an overdose. These task shifting programmes utilize lay persons to deliver opioid resuscitation in the context of longstanding stigmatization and marginalization from mainstream healthcare services. OEND programmes exist at the intersection of harm reduction and emergency services. One goal of OEND programmes is to help redress the health-related inequities common among people who use drugs, which include minimizing the gap between people who use drugs and the formal healthcare system. However, if this goal is not achieved these inequities may be entrenched. In this article, we consider the ethical promises and perils associated with OEND as task shifting. We argue that public health practitioners must consider the ethical aspects of task shifting programmes that may inadvertently harm already structurally vulnerable populations. We believe that even if OEND programmes reduce opioid-related deaths, we nevertheless question if, by virtue of its existence, OEND programmes might also unintentionally disenfranchise structurally vulnerable populations from comprehensive healthcare services, including mainstream emergency care.


2016 ◽  
Vol 03 (02) ◽  
pp. 075-079
Author(s):  
Akriti Gupta ◽  
Jasneet Chawla ◽  
Karan Saggar ◽  
Praneet Wander ◽  
Hitant Vohra ◽  
...  

Abstract Introduction Marriage is a socially challenging barrier in the personal lives of people with epilepsy worldwide. However, it is during arranges marriages, which are common in South Asian communities, that epilepsy is most profoundly stigmatizing. We hypothesized that the felt stigma associated with epilepsy during arranged marriages affects women more frequently and intensely. Materials and methods A pilot study in married (n = 38) and unmarried PWE (n = 58) and general public (n = 150) to explore gender-based differences in the stigma associated with epilepsy during arranged marriages. Results Majority unmarried PWE (87%) considered arranged marriage as the best way to realize their matrimonial plans. More unmarried women (72%) apprehended problems in adhering to their epilepsy medications regime after marriage (p 0.009) and 50% apprehended victimization in marriage on account of epilepsy (p 0.001). Moreover, 41% of the married women with epilepsy felt that the disclosure had a negative impact on their married life (p 0.047). Conclusions South Asian WWE experienced more felt stigma than men before and after arranged marriages and this might impact a number of health related psychosocial outcomes. The lack of past experience with epilepsy was associated with a number of misplaced beliefs about and attitudes towards epilepsy.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilija Moric ◽  
Sanja Pekovic ◽  
Jelena Jovanovic

Abstract Background : The present study extends understanding of digital health literacy by exploring issues that clarify how and when sport-physical activities enhance digital health literacy measured by four types of health-related information searched on the Internet i.e., general health information, information on a specific injury or condition, specific information on a medical treatment or procedure and information regarding second opinion after visiting a doctor. Methods: We employ Tobit model on the large European data (N=5,318). Results: We find support for direct relation between sport-physical activities and digital health literacy. In addition, we find that the effect of sport-physical activities on digital health literacy is reversed when interacted with age. Conclusion: This evidence is consistent with the view that sport-physical activities can be considered as an important tool for digital health literacy improvement but only under certain socio-demographic characteristics.


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