scholarly journals Toward Model-Generated Household Listing in Low- and Middle-Income Countries Using Deep Learning

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 448 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Chew ◽  
Kasey Jones ◽  
Jennifer Unangst ◽  
James Cajka ◽  
Justine Allpress ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Object Detection ◽  
Household Surveys ◽  
Building Structures ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Detection Model ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Low And Middle Income

While governments, researchers, and NGOs are exploring ways to leverage big data sources for sustainable development, household surveys are still a critical source of information for dozens of the 232 indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Though some countries’ statistical agencies maintain databases of persons or households for sampling, conducting household surveys in LMICs is complicated due to incomplete, outdated, or inaccurate sampling frames. As a means to develop or update household listings in LMICs, this paper explores the use of machine learning models to detect and enumerate building structures directly from satellite imagery in the Kaduna state of Nigeria. Specifically, an object detection model was used to identify and locate buildings in satellite images. In the test set, the model attained a mean average precision (mAP) of 0.48 for detecting structures, with relatively higher values in areas with lower building density (mAP = 0.65). Furthermore, when model predictions were compared against recent household listings from fieldwork in Nigeria, the predictions showed high correlation with household coverage (Pearson = 0.70; Spearman = 0.81). With the need to produce comparable, scalable SDG indicators, this case study explores the feasibility and challenges of using object detection models to help develop timely enumerated household lists in LMICs.

Maternal morbidity

2018 ◽  
pp. 112-116
Author(s):  
Mary McCauley ◽  
Nynke van den Broek
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Maternal Health ◽  
Maternal Mortality ◽  
Maternal Morbidity ◽  
Reproductive Age ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Low And Middle Income

Maternal morbidity describes complications that have a significant effect on women during and after pregnancy, and are a leading cause of ill-health among women of reproductive age, especially in low- and middle-income countries. With the introduction of the new Sustainable Development Goals, the scope of global maternal health targets has been expanded, moving from a focus on preventing maternal mortality to formulating targets and emphasising the importance of maternal health and wellbeing. This chapter introduces the new concept of maternal morbidity, suggests how this relates to maternal mortality, and summarises what is known about the burden of maternal morbidity globally and what interventions and research are needed to improve maternal health during and after pregnancy, with an emphasis on the context of low- and middle-income countries.

scholarly journals Monitoring Sustainable Development Goals 3: Assessing the Readiness of Low- and Middle-Income Countries

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joy Belinda Nabukalu ◽  
James Avoka Asamani ◽  
Juliet Nabyonga-Orem
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Communicable Diseases ◽  
Service Planning ◽  
Data Availability ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Low And Middle Income

Background: The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) availed opportunities for scaling up service coverage but called for stringent monitoring and evaluation (M&E) focusing mainly on MDG related programs. The Sustainable Development Goals 3 (SDGs) and the universal health coverage (UHC) agenda present a broader scope and require more sophisticated M&E systems. We assessed the readiness of low- and middle-income countries to monitor SDG 3. Methods: Employing mixed methods, we reviewed health sector M&E plans of 6 countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) Africa Region to assess the challenges to M&E, the indicator selection pattern and the extent of multisectoral collaboration. Qualitative data were analysed using content thematic analysis while quantitative data were analysed using Excel. Results: Challenges to monitoring SDG 3 include weak institutional capacity; fragmentation of M&E functions; inadequate domestic financing; inadequate data availability, dissemination and utilization of M&E products. The total number of indictors in the reviewed plans varied from 38 for Zimbabwe to 235 for Zanzibar. Sixty-nine percent of indicators for the Gambia and 89% for Zanzibar were not classified in any domain in the M&E results chain. Countries lay greater M&E emphasis on service delivery, health systems, maternal and child health as well as communicable diseases with a seeming neglect of the non-communicable diseases (NCDs). Inclusion of SDG 3 indicators only ranged from 48% for Zanzibar to 67% for Kenya. Although monitoring SDG 3 calls for multisectoral collaboration, consideration of the role of other sectors in the M&E plans was either absent or limited to the statistical departments. Conclusion: There are common challenges confronting M&E at county-level. Countries have omitted key indicators for monitoring components of the SDG 3 targets especially those on NCDs and injuries. The role of other sectors in monitoring SDG 3 targets is not adequately reflected. These could be bottlenecks to tracking progress towards SDG 3 if not addressed. Beyond providing compendium of indicators to guide countries, we advocate for a more binding minimum set of indicators for all countries to which they may add depending on their context. Ministries of Health (MoHs) should prioritise M&E as an important pillar for health service planning and implementation and not as an add-on activity.

Factors influencing the adoption of SDG reporting by large African and Asian companies

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amirreza Kazemikhasragh ◽  
Antonella Francesca Cicchiello ◽  
Maria Cristina Pietronudo
Keyword(s):  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Reporting Practices ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Factors Influencing ◽  
Sustainability Disclosure ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Low And Middle Income

This article aims to investigate the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by large companies in low- and middle-income countries in Asia and Africa, and the company characteristics that influence them to undertake such new sustainability reporting practices. Logistic regression analyses were applied to combine the data extracted from the Global Reporting Initiative’s Sustainability Disclosure Database and the Orbis database from Bureau van Dijk. The empirical results indicate that characteristics like the type of company, its economic performance and its engagement in voluntary sustainability programmes and external assurance are positively related to the adoption of SDG reporting. The results also show that some corporate, organizational and performance characteristics increase companies’ likelihood to adopt SDG reporting. Drawing on agency theory and legitimacy theory perspectives, this article contributes to the academic and practical understanding of factors influencing the adoption of SDG reporting by large companies in Asia and Africa’s low- and middle-income countries.

scholarly journals Cancer Control in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement 2) ◽  
pp. 153s-153s
Author(s):  
F. Humura
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Health Services ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Cancer Control ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Low And Middle Income

Background: Cancer is also referred to as malignant tumor or neoplasm. It is one of the leading causes of death on the global scale. The knowledge and tools to manage and even cure cancer patients exist in developed countries but are unavailable to many who live in the developing world, resulting in unnecessary loss of life. Strategies are needed to close the gap between developed and developing countries in cancer survival and the effects of the disease on human suffering. It is also pertinent to bridge the gap to ensure universal health coverage which is very important to achieve the sustainable development goals. Aim: The aim of this abstract is to review the barrier to cancer control in developing world especially the low-and middle-income countries. Method: Selected papers amounting to 79 papers in PubMed from 2007 to 2017 were used from peer-reviewed literature and relevant publicly available documents with the appropriate keywords searched. Results: In spite of significant limitations in the available data, it is clear there are substantial barriers to access to cancer control in developing countries and also substantial limitations in the quality of cancer control and a great need to improve economic efficiency. Cancer is low or absent on the health agendas of low- and middle-income countries (LMCs) despite the fact that more people die of cancer in these countries than from AIDS and malaria combined. International health organizations, bilateral aid agencies, and major foundations which are instrumental in setting health priorities also have largely ignored cancer in these countries. Conclusion: and recommendations: There is an urgent need to improve health services for cancer control in developing countries to ensure health equity which is one of the key areas to be addressed in other to achieve sustainable development goals. Current resources and much-needed investments must be optimally managed. To achieve this, recommended investment should be focused in the following key priorities: capacity building in oncology health services research, policy and planning relevant to developing countries, development of high-quality health data sources, more oncology-related economic evaluations in developing countries, exploration of high-quality models of cancer control in developing countries. Meeting these needs will require national, regional and international collaboration as well as political leadership. Horizontal integration with programs for other diseases will be important.

scholarly journals From open data to global digital public good

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Håvard Futsæter
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Public Good ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Open Data ◽  
User Needs ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Development Goals

<p>MET Norway has had an open data policy for many years. A permissive open data license, and a freely accessible service through which to gain access to the dataset is the first step. However, the data is not useful before it is understood and used in decision-making.</p><p>MET Norway serves many user groups, many of which have very different needs for open meteorological data. To cater for the different user needs, MET Norway provides multiple distribution services. One of our most important open data data services is MET Norway Weather API, a global location based time series forecast service. (https://developer.yr.no/featured-products/forecast/)</p><p>MET Norway has recently joined the Digital Public Goods Alliance, to help reach the Sustainable Development Goals(SDG) (https://sdgs.un.org/goals)  by leveraging our MET Norway Weather API service as a digital public good.</p><p>“The Digital Public Goods Alliance is a multi-stakeholder initiative with a mission to accelerate the attainment of the sustainable development goals in low- and middle-income countries by facilitating the discovery, development, use of, and investment in digital public goods.” (https://digitalpublicgoods.net/about/)</p><p>Moving from open data to a digital public good has meant taking a more active part in identifying, exploring and understanding the needs that low -and middle-income countries have. The needs considered are both end-user needs and gaps/tools/competency needs across the value chain. And we are trying to find ways our data and services can help fill those needs in an operational sustainable way by co-creating applications built on top of our services.</p><p>In this presentation we will first describe our experience with serving open and free weather forecast data. Then describe the challenges in moving from open data to working with our data as an SDG.</p><p>The presentation will be focused both on user needs and on technical challenges connected to running a global freely available open data service.</p>

scholarly journals Advancing sustainable development goals through immunization: a literature review

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Decouttere ◽  
Kim De Boeck ◽  
Nico Vandaele
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Low And Middle Income

Abstract Background Immunization directly impacts health (SDG3) and brings a contribution to 14 out of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as ending poverty, reducing hunger, and reducing inequalities. Therefore, immunization is recognized to play a central role in reaching the SDGs, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Despite continuous interventions to strengthen immunization systems and to adequately respond to emergency immunization during epidemics, the immunization-related indicators for SDG3 lag behind in sub-Saharan Africa. Especially taking into account the current Covid19 pandemic, the current performance on the connected SDGs is both a cause and a result of this. Methods We conduct a literature review through a keyword search strategy complemented with handpicking and snowballing from earlier reviews. After title and abstract screening, we conducted a qualitative analysis of key insights and categorized them according to showing the impact of immunization on SDGs, sustainability challenges, and model-based solutions to these challenges. Results We reveal the leveraging mechanisms triggered by immunization and position them vis-à-vis the SDGs, within the framework of Public Health and Planetary Health. Several challenges for sustainable control of vaccine-preventable diseases are identified: access to immunization services, global vaccine availability to LMICs, context-dependent vaccine effectiveness, safe and affordable vaccines, local/regional vaccine production, public-private partnerships, and immunization capacity/capability building. Model-based approaches that support SDG-promoting interventions concerning immunization systems are analyzed in light of the strategic priorities of the Immunization Agenda 2030. Conclusions In general terms, it can be concluded that relevant future research requires (i) design for system resilience, (ii) transdisciplinary modeling, (iii) connecting interventions in immunization with SDG outcomes, (iv) designing interventions and their implementation simultaneously, (v) offering tailored solutions, and (vi) model coordination and integration of services and partnerships. The research and health community is called upon to join forces to activate existing knowledge, generate new insights and develop decision-supporting tools for Low-and Middle-Income Countries’ health authorities and communities to leverage immunization in its transformational role toward successfully meeting the SDGs in 2030.

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