scholarly journals Do Weak Institutions Prolong Crises? [#ENDSARs] in the Light of the Challenges and opportunities beyond COVID-19 Pandemic and the Next Normal in Nigeria

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. p1
Author(s):  
Morufu Olalekan Raimi ◽  
Ebikapaye Okoyen ◽  
Tuebi Moses ◽  
Aziba-anyam Gift Raimi ◽  
Adedoyin Oluwatoyin Omidiji ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Scale Up ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Effective Vaccine ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Conservation Areas ◽  
Building Trust ◽  
Weak Institutions ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Deaths Of Despair ◽  
Game Changer

With the close of 2020 unprecedented year, a year like no other, Nigerians is still reeling from the impacts of an emerging, rapidly and evolving COVID-19 pandemic, while the spring continue to unfolded. COVID-19 was considered a “deaths of despair” with an opioid crisis and realizing that humanity is in for a long haul with COVID-19, itself may be a game changer. If we expected COVID-19 to be short lived, we have been remarkably, if not catastrophically, disappointed. As many people were already feeling significantly stressed, and where depression was increasing risks of overdoses and suicide. From time immemorial, humankind have suffered the psychological effects of various catastrophes, such as wars, floods, famines, wildfires, earthquakes, windstorms and last but certainly not least, the possibility of outbreaks of potentially deadly infectious diseases. Hence, these zoonosis diseases, result from pathogens being transmitted from animals to humans. To protect ourselves from zoonoses, there is need for new measures and precautions, for instance ending and preventing deforestation as well as protecting conservation areas and endangered species against such danger. Of course, we are certainly no exception today as people try to figure out how to cope and help others cope with the grief, stress, and anxiety caused by the greatest health challenge of our time: the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. With more than 1,129 Nigerian having lost their lives as of October 24, 2020 and more than 61,882 thousand infected since COVID-19 first gripped our nation, although reports suggest that the incidence of COVID-19 has begun to drop, the pandemic has taken a profound psychological and emotional toll on us all. However, social and behavioral scientists have identified some strategies to help us face our fears, as well as even rise to the challenge of supporting others during this fraught time. While awaiting the unprecedented investment in the development of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and the simultaneous scale up of vaccine manufacturing which has been taking place, including unprecedented collaboration and resources to develop safe and effective vaccines for COVID-19 that can be manufactured and delivered in the scale of billions of doses to people around the globe. Continuing in this unprecedented commitment towards collaboration as well as transparency is essential towards ensuring that effective and reliable access to information will continue to inform policy decisions at all levels to support the development of national roadmaps to accelerate as well as sustain progress towards public health interventions and building trust in communities that will benefit from a safe and effective vaccine as well as making sure we get it to them as quick as possible.

scholarly journals Public health nutrition in Afghanistan: policies, strategies and capacity-building: current scenario and initiatives

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jyoti Sharma ◽  
Homayoun Ludin ◽  
Monika Chauhan ◽  
Sanjay Zodpey
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Nutrition Education ◽  
Child Nutrition ◽  
Institutional Environment ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Noncommunicable Diseases ◽  
Public Health Nutrition ◽  
Weak Institutions ◽  
Training Programmes

Background: Afghanistan is grappling with high burden of malnutrition in women and children and a rising burden of noncommunicable diseases. Aims: A narrative review was conducted with the aim of mapping current nutrition policies and capacity development initiatives to assess policy and the institutional environment and identify gaps and opportunities. Methods: A comprehensive, broad based search was conducted, including databases and websites and policy and programme documents. Results: The policy focuses on multisectoral efforts to address nutrition challenges; however; implementation of nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions is not delivered uniformly at the community level due to continued conflict situations and geographic inaccessibility, lack of availability of trained human resources and weak institutions. There is limited evidence on the effectiveness of nutrition programmes in Afghanistan. Limited policy provisions are available to address nutrition issues due to the rising burden of noncommunicable diseases, urbanization and changing dietary patterns. The shortage of skilled nutritional professionals is a critical issue. Lack of institutional capacity, educational standards and accreditation mechanism poses major challenges. Ongoing training programmes are fragmented and fail to meet the requirements of a professional nutrition workforce. Conclusion: The findings highlight that well-structured policies and strategies focusing on maternal and child nutrition provide an enabling policy environment to scale up nutrition interventions.Evidence on the implementation of programmes is needed to aid policy recommendations. The lack of an institutional mechanism for professional nutrition education highlights the great need for action in Afghanistan for public health nutrition and education.

scholarly journals Climate change: challenges and opportunities to scale up surgical, obstetric, and anaesthesia care globally

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (11) ◽  
pp. e538-e543
Author(s):  
Lina Roa ◽  
Lotta Velin ◽  
Jemesa Tudravu ◽  
Craig D McClain ◽  
Aaron Bernstein ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Anaesthesia Care

scholarly journals Scaling up population health interventions from decision to sustainability – a window of opportunity? A qualitative view from policy-makers

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Lee ◽  
Femke van Nassau ◽  
Anne Grunseit ◽  
Kathleen Conte ◽  
Andrew Milat ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Good Governance ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Scaling Up ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Framework Analysis ◽  
Policy Makers

Abstract Background While known efficacious preventive health interventions exist, the current capacity to scale up these interventions is limited. In recent years, much attention has focussed on developing frameworks and methods for scale-up yet, in practice, the pathway for scale-up is seldom linear and may be highly dependent on contextual circumstances. Few studies have examined the process of scaling up from decision to implementation nor examined the sustainability of scaled-up interventions. This study explores decision-makers’ perceptions from real-world scaled-up case studies to examine how scale-up decisions were made and describe enablers of successful scale-up and sustainability. Methods This qualitative study included 29 interviews conducted with purposively sampled key Australian policy-makers, practitioners and researchers experienced in scale-up. Semi-structured interview questions obtained information regarding case studies of scaled-up interventions. The Framework Analysis method was used as the primary method of analysis of the interview data to inductively generate common and divergent themes within qualitative data across cases. Results A total of 31 case studies of public health interventions were described by interview respondents based on their experiences. According to the interviewees’ perceptions, decisions to scale up commonly occurred either opportunistically, when funding became available, or when a deliberate decision was made and funding allocated. The latter scenario was more common when the intervention aligned with specific political or strategic goals. Decisions to scale up were driven by a variety of key actors such as politicians, senior policy-makers and practitioners in the health system. Drivers of a successful scale-up process included good governance, clear leadership, and adequate resourcing and expertise. Establishing accountability structures and appropriate engagement mechanisms to encourage the uptake of interventions were also key enablers. Sustainability was influenced by evidence of impact as well as good acceptability among the general or target population. Conclusions Much like Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Theory of ‘policy windows’, there is a conceptually similar ‘window for scale-up’, driven by a complex interplay of factors such as political need, strategic context, funding and key actors. Researchers and policy-makers need to consider scalability from the outset and prepare for when the window for scale-up opens. Decision-makers need to provide longer term funding for scale-up to facilitate longer term sustainability and build on the resources already invested for the scale-up process.

Building Trust in the Information Infrastructure

2008 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Joseph Kizza ◽  
Florence Migga Kizza
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Data Access ◽  
Information Infrastructure ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Speed Of Light ◽  
Book Note ◽  
Global Networks ◽  
Building Trust ◽  
And Storage

The rapid advances in computer technology, the plummeting prices of information processing and indexing devices, and the development of sprawling global networks have all made the generation, collection, processing, indexing, and storage of and access to information easy and have made the information infrastructure an enjoyable environment. The information. infrastructure consists of computer or computer-related hardware, software to run on the hardware, and humanware to run both. The human component in the information infrastructure is essential because humans create the life and dynamism in the infrastructure that has made it what it is. However, humans also create all the problems facing the infrastructure as we will see throughout the book. Note that the infrastructure we have just defined is actually cyberspace. So throughout the book, we will use cyberspace and information infrastructure interchangeably. Cyberspace technology has brought more excitement to humanity than ever before. Communication has become almost instantaneous. The speed of data access is chasing the speed of light. Humanity could not have gotten a better technology. However, with the excitement and “bewilderness,” there has come a realization, after rough experiences, that the new technology has a serious downside. Based on individual experiences, the fear of the new technology on which we have come to depend is on the rise. But because there are more benefits of the new technology to humanity, trust of the technology must be cultivated among the users of the technology. Webster’s Dictionary (1989) defines trust, as a noun as confidence or faith in a person or a thing and as a verb as having confidence or faith in someone or something. For us, we want users of the information infrastructure to have confidence in it.

Scope for alternative avenues to promote financial access to MSMEs in developing nation evidence from India

2018 ◽  
Vol 60 (5) ◽  
pp. 1210-1222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moinak Maiti
Keyword(s):  
High Performance ◽  
Operating Cost ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Low Literacy ◽  
Literacy Rate ◽  
Financial Access ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Domestic Banks ◽  
Game Changer

Purpose The purpose of this study is to highlight the key challenges and opportunities that lie with some of the alternative avenues/tools to promote financial access to MSME in India. Design/methodology/approach Initially, the study discusses the scope of various alternative avenues/tools for MSME financing along with traditional bank SME credits, highlighting some of the factors that will boost the high performance and growth of MSME in future. Findings There is a dominance of domestic banks in the MSME financing over cross-border banks in India. The study finds several opportunities lie in the MSME financing for the banks and other alternative avenues/tools: friendly government policies and improving the legal system make the business environment suitable for MSME financing business. There are several obstacles like discrete presence of clients, high operating cost and low profitability, lack of proper risk management and low literacy rate that make MSME financing difficult for the SME finance business. Active government initiatives and other supporting factors will act as the game changer and promoter for the banks and other alternative avenues/tools for MSME financing. Originality/value The paper is original and brings out some valuable findings that will help the SME business clients to choose alternative access to finance.

scholarly journals Barriers and Drivers to Stakeholder Engagement in Global Mental Health Projects

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Murphy ◽  
Onaiza Qureshi ◽  
Tarik Endale ◽  
Georgina Miguel Esponda ◽  
Soumitra Pathare ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Stakeholder Engagement ◽  
Global Mental Health ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
Mental Health Funding ◽  
Health Funding ◽  
Mental Health Interventions

Abstract Background: Engagement with diverse stakeholders, including policy makers, care providers and end users, is essential for successful implementation of global mental health interventions. Despite being a fundamental factor in the implementation process, evidence about challenges and drivers to stakeholder engagement is limited in the global mental health literature. Methods: We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with n=29 recipients of global Grand Challenges Canada Global Mental Health funding to assess barriers and drivers to global mental health implementation across a portfolio of Grand Challenges Canada-funded projects. We used framework analysis to identify key themes related to implementation barriers and facilitators. This paper reports on barriers and facilitators to stakeholder engagement, with results related to capacity development and service delivery reported elsewhere in this volume. Results: Barriers and drivers to stakeholder engagement were identified across four themes: 1) Contextual Considerations, 2) Resources, 3) Participation, Uptake and Empowerment, and 3) Stigma. While complex contextual challenges create barriers, mechanisms such as formative research can facilitate a deeper contextual understanding that supports effective implementation planning. Limited financial and human resources and competing priorities can lead to substantial challenges. Investing in and leveraging existing local resources and expertise can help to mitigate these barriers. The challenge of achieving active participation from stakeholders and diverging expectations about the nature of participation were identified as barriers, while providing opportunities for meaningful participation and empowerment acted as facilitators. Stigma at the institutional and individual level was also identified as a substantial barrier to engagement. Conclusion: Stakeholder engagement is critical to successful implementation of global mental health interventions, particularly for promoting scale-up and sustainability. The findings of this study are relevant to implementors in global mental health. They also have implications for global mental health funding agencies and policy organizations, who can support improved stakeholder engagement in several ways. Investing in high-quality formative research, supporting capacity building in methods such as integrated knowledge translation and participatory priority-setting, investing in longer-term funding schemes to support sustainable partnerships and scale-up and supporting researchers to build skills in policy engagement would help to foster successful engagement and thus support effective implementation of global mental health innovations.

scholarly journals The Service of Research Analytics to Optimize Digital Health Evidence Generation: Multilevel Case Study (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quynh Pham ◽  
James Shaw ◽  
Plinio P Morita ◽  
Emily Seto ◽  
Jennifer N Stinson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Single Case ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Evidence Base ◽  
Health Interventions ◽  
Data Infrastructure ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Log Data Analysis ◽  
Evidence Generation

BACKGROUND The widespread adoption of digital health interventions for chronic disease self-management has catalyzed a paradigm shift in the selection of methodologies used to evidence them. Recently, the application of digital health research analytics has emerged as an efficient approach to evaluate these data-rich interventions. However, there is a growing mismatch between the promising evidence base emerging from analytics mediated trials and the complexity of introducing these novel research methods into evaluative practice. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to generate transferable insights into the process of implementing research analytics to evaluate digital health interventions. We sought to answer the following two research questions: (1) how should the service of research analytics be designed to optimize digital health evidence generation? and (2) what are the challenges and opportunities to scale, spread, and sustain this service in evaluative practice? METHODS We conducted a qualitative multilevel embedded single case study of implementing research analytics in evaluative practice that comprised a review of the policy and regulatory climate in Ontario (macro level), a field study of introducing a digital health analytics platform into evaluative practice (meso level), and interviews with digital health innovators on their perceptions of analytics and evaluation (microlevel). RESULTS The practice of research analytics is an efficient and effective means of supporting digital health evidence generation. The introduction of a research analytics platform to evaluate effective engagement with digital health interventions into a busy research lab was ultimately accepted by research staff, became routinized in their evaluative practice, and optimized their existing mechanisms of log data analysis and interpretation. The capacity for research analytics to optimize digital health evaluations is highest when there is (1) a collaborative working relationship between research client and analytics service provider, (2) a data-driven research agenda, (3) a robust data infrastructure with clear documentation of analytic tags, (4) in-house software development expertise, and (5) a collective tolerance for methodological change. CONCLUSIONS Scientific methods and practices that can facilitate the agile trials needed to iterate and improve digital health interventions warrant continued implementation. The service of research analytics may help to accelerate the pace of digital health evidence generation and build a data-rich research infrastructure that enables continuous learning and evaluation.

scholarly journals Online Teaching During Covid-19: How to Maintain Students Motivated in an EFL Class

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-171
Author(s):  
Sol Smith Fuentes Hernández ◽  
Anderson Naren Silva Flórez
Keyword(s):  
Learning Process ◽  
Online Teaching ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
E Learning ◽  
Geographical Position

This study aims to know the e-learning modality that stimulates students' learning process according to twenty-two English teachers in Santander, Colombia, and the correlation between learners' motivation and the challenges and opportunities in an online EFL class. To carry out this study, a mixed research approach was applied. To gather such information, a questionnaire was sent to the participants via email. Once data was scrutinized, it was found that this group of English teachers view synchronous encounters and access to information regardless of the geographical position as elements that can positively impact the students' motivation levels. Furthermore, this sample stated their role is significant, especially when mediating online lessons.

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