scholarly journals Telehealth in Latin America: Progress, Challenges, and Opportunities in the Face of COVID-19

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Pierce ◽  
Dirk Schroeder ◽  
Robb Suchecki
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Fold Increase ◽  
Limiting Factors ◽  
Current Phase ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Political Commitment ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
The Face

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the use and importance of telehealth and telemedicine globally. In industrialized countries, stay-at-home measures and changes to government regulations regarding telehealth resulted in an over 100-fold increase in demand within weeks. The COVID-19 has raged across Latin America for most of 2020, with associated high rates of illness and death. The objective of this article is to review some of the successes and challenges of telehealth in Latin America and highlight opportunities for action within the context of COVID-19. We identify several positive trends in telehealth adoption across the region as well as some promising case studies on the use of telehealth platforms for delivering care when needed. We also identify barriers that have limited the scale of telehealth in Latin America during the current phase of the pandemic. Limiting factors include inadequacies in long-term evolution telecommunication availability and access to digital trainings for healthcare workers. In addition, political commitment, legislation, and regulation have yet to catch up with demand. Finally, we present opportunities to more effectively scale these technologies, across Latin America for the current emergency, as well as reducing or controlling healthcare costs, addressing health disparities, and providing improved health care, especially in rural areas.

Landscaping the Agritech Ecosystem for Smallholder Farmers in Latin America and the Caribbean

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Panos Loukos ◽  
Leslie Arathoon
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Agriculture Sector ◽  
Digital Interventions ◽  
The Caribbean ◽  
Digital Agriculture ◽  
Digital Disruption

Agriculture is an important source of employment in Latin America and the Caribbean. In rural areas, some 54.6 per cent of the labour force is engaged in agricultural production. Although much of the region shares the same language and cultural heritage, the structure and scale of the agriculture sector varies significantly from country to country. Based on the review of 131 digital agriculture tools, this report, prepared by GSMA and IDB Lab, provides a market mapping and landscape analysis of the most prominent cases of digital disruption. It highlights some of the major trends observed in five digital agriculture use cases, identifies opportunities for digital interventions and concludes with recommendations for future engagement that could deliver long-term, sustainable economic and social benefits for smallholder farmers.

scholarly journals Latin America: Reduced S&T Investment Puts Sustainable Development at Risk

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Bolaños-Villegas ◽  
Pablo Bolaños-Villegas ◽  
Pablo Bolaños-Villegas ◽  
Pablo Bolaños-Villegas ◽  
Pablo Bolaños-Villegas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Extreme Case ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
The Face ◽  
Social Turmoil

Latin America is home to more than 600 million people and has considerable natural and human resources. However, investment in science and technology (S&T) lags far behind that in developed countries. This gap represents a barrier to the development of economies based on knowledge and hampers the region's ability to tackle environmental and social problems. This lack of investment is evident in the extreme case of Venezuela, where much of the science workforce has fled economic chaos, but also in every Latin American country, including science powers such as Brazil and Argentina, where federal budgets in science, technology and education have been drastically reduced in recent years. Investments in S&T foster cooperation, commerce and good will and enhance resilience in the face of environmental and social turmoil. Therefore, scientists must start to actively engage governments and encourage long-term spending in S&T to support the development of Latin American societies.

Mexican Immigrant Students in Southern Wisconsin: Creating Dialogue Between Parents and Schools

2002 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 9-13
Author(s):  
Margy McClain
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Immigrant Students ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mexican Immigrant ◽  
Cultural And Linguistic Diversity ◽  
The Face

Current immigration to the U. S. consists mostly of individuals from Latin America, Asia, and Africa, and brings new kinds of cultural and linguistic diversity to the U. S. The demographic transformation of the United States is already visible in such states as California, which has become a "majority minority" state. This "new immigration" is changing the face of the U. S. in new ways as well, not only in established urban "first ports of entry," but also in smaller towns and semi-rural areas throughout the country.

scholarly journals Long-Term Vision For Rural Areas

2021 ◽  
pp. 51-77
Author(s):  
Viktória Vásáry ◽  
Szabolcs Biró ◽  
Máté Kis ◽  
Eszter Varga
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Innovation System ◽  
Public Consultation ◽  
Horizon 2020 ◽  
Agricultural Knowledge ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Focus Group Meeting ◽  
Future Vision

The European Commission initiated the preparation of a new long-term vision for rural areas. First step of this process was the launch of a public consultation to which also the Horizon 2020 SHERPA (Sustainable Hub to Engage into Rural Policies with Actors) project is making a contribution on behalf of 20 different Multi-Actor Platforms (MAPs). The Hungarian MAP - a group of science-society-policy actors - focuses on the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS), more precisely digitalization. The topic of Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System - is a horizontal issue and it is embedded even into the Common Agricultural Policy’s (CAP) strategic planning process. Being part of it, the development of AKIS requires close and intensive cooperation of policy makers, researchers and farmers or in broader context the society with various stakeholders. The aim of the Hungarian research was to identify the current and likely trends for the Hungarian rural areas and to point out key challenges, opportunities, enablers and hinderers in rural development in terms of the Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System (AKIS) up until 2040. The methodology used was the Delphi technique. In the first phase, a review of key trends, main challenges and opportunities and a summary of existing foresight regarding digital agriculture was written. Then AKIS experts were asked to talk about their experiences and opinions in the framework of interviews, a focus group meeting and a survey. In the end, results of the survey were discussed in a consensus meeting. Among the results, it is worth mentioning that digitization and digitalization will fundamentally change the way rural areas operate including economic, environmental and social dimensions. The main enablers of a promising future vision are capacity building for knowledge transfer, adaptation for job creation and offering better quality of life, stronger community building for collaborations, deeper government involvement, and last but not least, strengthening the local identity in rural areas.

scholarly journals Trends in Prevalence, Awareness, Treatment, and Control of Hypertension in Rural Northeast China: 2008 to 2018

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Liying Xing ◽  
Shuang Liu ◽  
Li Jing ◽  
Shuang Li ◽  
Yuanmeng Tian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Northeast China ◽  
Fold Increase ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The Past ◽  
Blood Pressures ◽  
The Mean ◽  
And Control ◽  
Further Development

Objective. This study is aimed at exploring the trends in the prevalence, awareness, treatment, and control of hypertension in rural northeast China from 2008 to 2018. Methods. Two successive cross-sectional surveys were conducted in Liaoning rural areas in 2008 and 2018, which included 131520 and 10926 representative participants aged≥40 years, respectively. Results. Overall, the age-standardized prevalence of hypertension increased from 44.7% to 53.6%, and male residents showed a faster pace of increase and a 2.1-fold increase than female residents (25.5% vs. 10.6%) from 2008 to 2018. Moreover, the mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures increased by 9.0% and 4.1%, respectively, and the increase rates were greater in men than in women (9.2% vs. 8.9% and 5.3% vs. 3.5%, P<0.05). Additionally, the prevalence of stage 2 and above hypertension was significantly higher in men than in women. However, the awareness, treatment, and control rates showed no improvement and remained unacceptably low. Control rates were 3.7% in 2008 and 3.6% in 2018. Even among individuals who received medical treatment, only 8.7% and 10.1% had controlled hypertension in 2008 and 2018, respectively. Conclusions. The prevalence of hypertension and mean blood pressure increased steadily in the past 10 years in rural northeast China, especially in men. However, the awareness, treatment, and control rates of hypertension remained extremely low. Therefore, long-term comprehensive strategies are urgently needed to prevent further development of cardiovascular diseases in these areas.

scholarly journals Social Conflict in Rural Regions and Firm Ownership: Evidence from the Mining Sector in Latin America

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Alberto Chong ◽  
Paul Alexander Haslam
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Social Conflict ◽  
Rural Regions ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Level Data ◽  
Sensitivity Tests ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Face ◽  
Mining Projects

Using firm-level data for five countries in Latin America we find a negative and statistically significant link between social conflict in rural areas and ownership of mines. This result suggests that the social conflict around mining projects can affect strategic firm behavior intended to diversify risk in the face of social, political and financial pressures. It constitutes evidence that the costs of social conflict can be considered a serious challenge for firms and diverges from the literature which has generally viewed these costs as relatively unimportant to investment decisions. We apply broad sensitivity tests and find that this is robust. Our results also hold to a formal test of changes in specification.

scholarly journals Building Capacity and Training for Digital Health: Challenges and Opportunities in Latin America

10.2196/16513 ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (12) ◽  
pp. e16513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Walter H Curioso
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Unmet Need ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Resource Constrained ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
And Training

Tackling global health challenges demands the appropriate use of available technologies. Although digital health could significantly improve health care access, use, quality, and outcomes, realizing this possibility requires personnel trained in digital health. There is growing evidence of the benefits of digital health for improving the performance of health systems and outcomes in developed countries. However, significant gaps remain in resource-constrained settings. Technological and socio-cultural disparities between different regions or between provinces within the same country are prevalent. Rural areas, where the promise and need are highest, are particularly deprived. In Latin America, there is an unmet need for training and building the capacity of professionals in digital health. This viewpoint paper aims to present a selection of experiences in building digital health capacity in Latin America to illustrate a series of challenges and opportunities for strengthening digital health training programs in resource-constrained environments. These describe how a successful digital health ecosystem for Latin America requires culturally relevant and collaborative research and training programs in digital health. These programs should be responsive to the needs of all relevant regional stakeholders, including government agencies, non–governmental organizations, industry, academic or research entities, professional societies, and communities. This paper highlights the role that collaborative partnerships can play in sharing resources, experiences, and lessons learned between countries to optimize training and research opportunities in Latin America.

scholarly journals Latin America: Reduced S&T Investment Puts Sustainable Development at Risk

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Bolaños-Villegas ◽  
Pablo Bolaños-Villegas ◽  
Pablo Bolaños-Villegas ◽  
Pablo Bolaños-Villegas ◽  
Pablo Bolaños-Villegas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Human Resources ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Extreme Case ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
The Face ◽  
Social Turmoil

Latin America is home to more than 600 million people and has considerable natural and human resources. However, investment in science and technology (S&T) lags far behind that in developed countries. This gap represents a barrier to the development of economies based on knowledge and hampers the region's ability to tackle environmental and social problems. This lack of investment is evident in the extreme case of Venezuela, where much of the science workforce has fled economic chaos, but also in every Latin American country, including science powers such as Brazil and Argentina, where federal budgets in science, technology and education have been drastically reduced in recent years. Investments in S&T foster cooperation, commerce and good will and enhance resilience in the face of environmental and social turmoil. Therefore, scientists must start to actively engage governments and encourage long-term spending in S&T to support the development of Latin American societies.

Two “Waves” of Guerrilla-Movement Organizing in Latin America, 1956–1990

2013 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 215-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Wickham-Crowley
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Latin American ◽  
National Level ◽  
Direct Training ◽  
Guerrilla Movements ◽  
The Face ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Latin American Left ◽  
Che Guevara

AbstractThe organization of revolutionary guerrilla movements by the Latin American left came in two largely discrete waves. The first was occasioned by the success of the Cuban 26th of July movement against the late 1950s regime of Fulgencio Batista. Within less than a year it was triggering imitative efforts across Latin America via the cultural diffusion of its “focomodel” both indirectly and directly, as indicated by the timing, internal movement evidence, direct training, and other sources concerning the 1960s guerrilla movements. A clear dampening of such efforts followed upon the multiple failures of the imitators, the late 1967 death of Che Guevara in Bolivia, the withdrawal of Soviet-line communists in Latin America from their previous support for insurgency, and finally Cuba's own rapprochement with the USSR. At this juncture, “surviving” movements from the earlier period were few—notably in Colombia, less true in Guatemala and Nicaragua—but a second, narrower cluster of far larger, more intensive and active movements developed by the later 1970s. Such strong survivors or newcomers can be best understood, not as imitations of Cuba 1959, but via their new strategies of long-term patient organizing and by the types of “closed regimes” they were confronting in the 1970s–1980s. They, too, then mostly faded away in the face of national-level experiences of massive military repression or ever-more-competitive electoral democracies.

scholarly journals Getting some reality into debates about NBN FTTP

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Eckermann
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Lower Cost ◽  
Next Generation ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Hybrid Fibre ◽  
The Face ◽  
Practical Factors ◽  
The Right ◽  
Hfc Networks

Sentiment about fibre-to-the-premises (FTTP) runs hot in Australia, fuelled by the NBN initiative for Australia's next generation of broadband.  Unfortunately most of the debate is ill-informed, focusing on plumbing rather than the uses to which the network may be put. The base of users subscribing to the higher speeds made possible by FTTP is limited right now, and much of their communication will be speed-limited by constraints outside of the NBN FTTP segment.  In addition, a growing proportion of Australians choose to operate entirely on mobile connections.  For all these reasons, the number of users who would benefit from FTTP in the short term is modest. The Coalition has proposed greater use of existing infrastructure – in particular, using fibre-to-the-node (FTTN)/DSL technology and potentially hybrid-fibre-coax (HFC) technology – to deliver an upgrade earlier and at lower cost.  In the face of cost pressures, it is likely that the original 93% FTTP target would be adjusted with greater use of wireless and satellite technologies in rural areas and the use of copper for the final link in multi-dwelling complexes.  More generally, there is no question that FTTN/DSL solutions can deliver good quality broadband, but further work will be needed to determine where this can be done cost-effectively.  Similarly, with appropriate upgrades, HFC networks can deliver next-generation broadband speeds.  When practical factors are taken into consideration, the gap between Labor and Coalition plans closes somewhat. Developing the best strategy for Australia needs to take cost into consideration, and there is scope for NBN Co to improve its performance in this area.  Any major cost blowout would have significant ramifications for broadband users and use in Australia.  If the rollout of FTTP is scaled back, users with a need may still get access on a user-pays principle – though the practicality of this has yet to be demonstrated.  Widespread FTTP remains the right long-term goal for Australia, but the approach for getting there needs to be finessed.

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