scholarly journals Counting the Cost: The Effect of COVID-19 Lockdown on Households in South East Nigeria

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 12417
Author(s):  
Johnny Ogunji ◽  
Stanley Iheanacho ◽  
Chinwe Victoria Ogunji ◽  
Michael Olaolu ◽  
Vivian Oleforuh-Okoleh ◽  
...  

The present study measured household hunger in South-East Nigeria amidst the COVID-19 lockdown. A total of 1209 households (urban and rural locations) were sampled. Household hunger was determined using the Radimer–Cornel hunger scale. Results show that before the COVID-19 lockdown, hunger prevalence in the urban areas was 85.5%, whereas prevalence in the rural areas was significantly lower, at a prevalence of 79.9% (7.3% level of association—X2 = 6.499, p = 0.012). During the COVID-19 lockdown, the prevalence of hunger in the urban areas rose to 98.0% and 99.2% in the rural areas (4.9% level of association was X2 = 2.888, p = 0.089). It was also observed that the COVID-19 lockdown significantly affected food prices. The major coping strategy employed by households was relying on less expensive foods (81.14%). High household hunger was identified as a short-term cost of the COVID-19 lockdown in South-East Nigeria. Only a few households (16.3%) benefited from the food aid programs and 16.9% from the government palliative cash transfer. It is recommended that the government setup a formidable unit that will develop physical and digital plans for effective implementation during a COVID-19 lockdown situation or other emergencies.

Author(s):  
Johnny Ogunji ◽  
Stanley Iheanacho ◽  
Chinwe Victoria Ogunji ◽  
Michael Olaolu ◽  
Vivian Oleforuh-Okoleh ◽  
...  

The present study measured household hunger in South-East Nigeria amidst COVID-19 lockdown. A total of 1209 households (urban and rural locations) were sampled. Household hunger was determined using Radimer/Cornel hunger scale, while Chi-square test was done with significance of P<0.05. Results of this study revealed 82.7% prevalence of hunger among households before Covid-19 pandemic, while during Covid-19 lockdown, hunger prevalence rose to 98.6%. It was also observed that covid-19 lockdown significantly affected food prices.The major coping strategy employed by households was relying on less expensive foods (81.14%). High household hunger was identified as a short term cost of Covid-19 lockdown in Southeast Nigeria. Only few households benefited from the food aid programs and other forms of palliatives by Government. It is recommended that the Government should setup a formidable unit which will develop physical and digital plans for effective implemention during Covid-19 lockdown situation or other emergencies.


Author(s):  
Kalaichelvi Sivaraman ◽  
Rengasamy Stalin

This research paper is the part of Research Project entitled “Impact of Elected Women Representatives in the Life and Livelihood of the Women in Rural Areas: With Special Reference to Tiruvannamalai District, Tamil Nadu” funded by University of Madras under UGC-UPE Scheme.The 73rd and 74th amendments of the Constitution of India were made by the government to strengthen the position of women and to create a local-level legal foundation for direct democracy for women in both rural and urban areas. The representation for women in local bodies through reservation policies amendment in Constitution of India has stimulated the political participation of women in rural areas. However, when it’s comes to the argument of whether the women reservation in Panchayati Raj helps or benefits to the life and livelihood development of women as a group? The answer is hypothetical because the studies related to the impact of women representatives of Panchayati Raj in the life and livelihood development of women was very less. Therefore, to fill the gap in existing literature, the present study was conducted among the rural women of Tiruvannamalai district to assess the impact of elected women representatives in the physical and financial and business development of the women in rural areas. The findings revealed that during the last five years because of the women representation in their village Panjayati Raj, the Physical Asset of the rural women were increased or developed moderately (55.8%) and Highly (23.4%) and the Financial and Business Asset of the rural women were increased or developed moderately (60.4%) and Highly (18.7%).


SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 215824402110278
Author(s):  
Gentian Qejvanaj

Social assistance is a cash transfer program targeting the poorest households. China has created the Dibao (DB), meaning minimum livelihood guarantee, the most extensive unconditional cash transfer program globally with over 70 million people covered, whereas in Albania, the Ndhime Ekonomike (NE) meaning financial help covers around 15% of the total working-age population. Both programs are means-tested, have strict requirements for eligibility, and have been enlarged and modified in time to improve targeting and tackling leakage. In this article, we will look at similarities and common issues first, and then calculate the cost of enlarging both programs to all working-age population with no means-testing. We argue that a UBI (universal basic income) can increase private expenditure in health and education while costing less than 1% of gross domestic product (GDP) in both countries’ rural areas. We will conclude by looking at how the COVID-19 outbreak is pushing developing countries toward a UBI by first adopting a temporary basic income (TBI).


SAGE Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 215824402110299
Author(s):  
Sri Irianti ◽  
Puguh Prasetyoputra

One of the targets in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is Target 6.2, aims to achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation. The Government of Indonesia targets universal access to improved sanitation in 2019. However, almost two out of five households in Indonesia are without access to improved sanitation. Moreover, access to improved sanitation is lower in rural areas than that in urban areas. Studies examining the drivers of the disparity in Indonesia are also limited. Therefore, this study was aimed at assessing the characteristics associated with the rural–urban disparity in access to improved sanitation facilities among households in Indonesia. We employed data from the 2016 Indonesian National Socio-Economic Survey (SUSENAS) comprising 290,848 households. The analysis was twofold. First, we fitted multivariate probit regression models using average marginal effects as the measure of association. We then conducted a detailed non-linear decomposition of the rural–urban disparity attributable to all the explanatory variables. The multivariate regression analysis suggested that households living in rural areas were 11.35% (95% confidence interval = [10.97, 11.72]) less likely to have access to improved sanitation facilities than those residing in urban areas. The decomposition analysis suggested that 48.78% are attributable to spatial, demographic, housing, and socio-economic factors, which meant that almost half of the inequalities could be reduced by equalizing these factors. The results provide a decomposition of factors amenable to curtail urban–rural inequalities. Hence, equity-oriented approaches to increasing access to improved sanitation should be prioritized to achieve universal access in 2030 in line with SDG Target 6.2.


2007 ◽  
Vol 35 (69_suppl) ◽  
pp. 35-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel J. Clark ◽  
Mark A. Collinson ◽  
Kathleen Kahn ◽  
Kyle Drullinger ◽  
Stephen M. Tollman

Aim: To examine the hypothesis that circular labour migrants who become seriously ill while living away from home return to their rural homes to convalesce and possibly to die. Methods: Drawing on longitudinal data collected by the Agincourt health and demographic surveillance system in rural northeastern South Africa between 1995 and 2004, discrete time event history analysis is used to estimate the likelihood of dying for residents, short-term returning migrants, and long-term returning migrants controlling for sex, age, and historical period. Results: The annual odds of dying for short-term returning migrants are generally 1.1 to 1.9 times (depending on period, sex, and age) higher than those of residents and long-term returning migrants, and these differences are generally highly statistically significant. Further supporting the hypothesis is the fact that the proportion of HIV/TB deaths among short-term returning migrants increases dramatically as time progresses, and short-term returning migrants account for an increasing proportion of all HIV/TB deaths. Conclusions: This evidence strongly suggests that increasing numbers of circular labour migrants of prime working age are becoming ill in the urban areas where they work and coming home to be cared for and eventually to die in the rural areas where their families live. This shifts the burden of caring for them in their terminal illness to their families and the rural healthcare system with significant consequences for the distribution and allocation of health care resources.


2019 ◽  
Vol IV (III) ◽  
pp. 71-79
Author(s):  
Adnan Ahmad ◽  
Muhammad Ilyas ◽  
Muhammad Nisar Khan

This study reviews the growth strategies and their effect on the efficiency and productivity of the microfinance sector of Pakistan. The sector needs to have adopted intensive growth strategy instead of extensive strategies of wide expansion in term of physical infrastructure and human resources, which had increased the financial sustainability risks for the credit constrain institutions. The sixdimension model of outreach used in this study also shows that the sector does not achieve the targets set forth for these micro finance institutes with respect to its active borrowers’ outreach. The sector has mainly focused the big cities and urban areas whereas the poverty levels are higher in rural areas. The government has also shown its interest by launching two different types of loan schemes. Among the three different types of institution, the microfinance banks dominate the sector.


2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 329-334
Author(s):  
Noora Saad Faraj Al-Dulaimi ◽  
Samara Saad Faraj Al-Dulaimi

Providing a clean and high quality drinking water to both rural as well as urban areas is a great challenge by itself, adding to it the large volume requirements of such water at high population areas means a very high cost for such industry because mainly of the cost of expensive commercially available adsorbent used in this process. This led inhabitants of the remote and/or rural areas to use less quality water with all its risks and health challenges. In this study, a locally collected rice husk is tested to be used as an alternative adsorbent to the expensive common commercial ones. Parameters like adsorbent dosage, initial concentration of turbidity, and pH level were tested to investigate their effects on the process. Treatment of synthetic turbid water was done after changing these parameters to measure the effect of each parameter alone and the results showed a set of parameters that can be used to achieve high efficiency of turbidity removal. The study concluded that rice husk can be used as a well cheap alternative adsorbent to reduce the river water turbidity due to its availability and low cost with a decent removal efficiency approaching 95%.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-87
Author(s):  
Asep Hidayat

AbstractEducation obtained at an early age greatly affects the development of children both psychomotordevelopment of the brain, and child behavior and achievement when entering adulthood, especially thereach the future of the nation as the next generation must be equipped with education and cultivation ofhumanity values and personality and karaktek. Equity of early childhood education in various regions isnot evenly distributed there are only a few places for rural areas this is caused by the level of knowledgeand insight parents who do not understand and the environment that affect. While for urban areas,especially people, the importance of early education because the level of understanding and intellectual isso high, it is a motivation for the government to commit to early childhood education so important tomeet the needs of the community for education, policies that support this education has been issued basiclaw for the organizer, among others, the Decree of the Minister of Education, the Law on Education andthe regional level by the Decree of the Head of Region. Government dalah this course can facilitate bothbuilding facilities and play facilities for children's games in the room and outdoor games.AbstrakPendidikan yang diperoleh pada usia dini sangat mempengaruhi perkembangan anak baik psikomotorikperkembangan otak, dan perilaku anak serta prestasi anak ketika memasuki usia dewasa terutamajangkauan ke depan bangsa sebagai generasi penerus. Hal ini tentunya harus dibekali dengan pendidikandan penanaman nilai-nilai kemanusian serta kepribadian dan karaktek. Pemerataan pendidikan anak usiadini di berbagai daerah memang belum merata hanya ada beberapa tempat saja untuk daerah pedesaan halini diakibatkan oleh tingkat pengetahuan dan wawasan orangtua yang kurang paham dan lingkungan yangmempengaruhi. Sementara untuk daerah perkotaan khususnya masyarakat merasakan pentingnyapendidikan usia dini karena tingkat pemahaman dan intelektual sudah begitu tinggi. Hal ini merupakanmotivasi bagi pemerintah untuk berkomitmen terhadap pendidikan usia dini begitu penting untukmemenuhi kebutuhan masyarakat akan pendidikan, kebijakan yang mendukung terhadap pendidikan initelah dikeluarkan dasar hukum bagi penyelenggaraanya antara lain keputusan Menteri pendidikan,Undang-undang tentang pendidikan dan tingkat daerah dengan Surat Keputusan Kepala Daerah.Pemerintah dalam hal ini tentunya dapat memfasilitasi baik sarana bangunan maupun sarana bermain bagiana, alat permainan dalam ruangan maupun alat permainan diluar ruangan.Kata kunci: Kebijakan, pendidikan, anak usia dini


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Toluwalope Ogunro ◽  
Luqman Afolabi

PurposeRecently, multidimensional aspects of poverty has been increasingly focused on which includes education, economy and health, while access to modern energy such as stable electricity is also one of the possible solution; thus, this article aims to divulge the relation between access to electricity and progression in socioeconomic status in urban and rural areas of Nigeria in an attempt to propose a sustainable framework for access to electricity.Design/methodology/approachDemographic and health survey data are collected using four categories of model of questionnaires. A standard questionnaire was designed to gather information on features of the household's dwelling element and attributes of visitors and usual residents between the 2018 period. Biomarker questionnaire was used to gather biomarker data on men, women and children. Logistic model estimation technique was employed to estimate the socioeconomic factors affecting access to electricity in Nigeria.FindingsThese studies discovered that there are diverse set of factors affecting access to electricity in Nigeria especially in the rural areas. However, respondent residing in rural areas are still largely deprived access to electricity; most importantly, households with no access to electricity are more likely to use self-generating sets as revealed. Additionally, empirical findings indicated that the higher the level of your education and wealth, the higher the likelihood of having access to electricity in Nigeria. These factors included political will to connect the rural areas to the national grid, development of other infrastructures in those deprived areas and others.Practical implicationsThe problem confronting access to electricity in Nigeria has three components. The first is the significance of those deprived access to electricity in the rural areas and the physical resources needed to connect them to the national grid. The second is the political willingness of the government to have equitable distribution of public goods evenly between rural and urban areas especially on electricity access which will go a long way in reducing poverty in Nigeria. The third is lack of robust national development plans and strategy to tackle the problems facing electricity access in Nigeria.Social implicationsAs the rate of socioeconomic status/development increases, access to electricity is anticipated to rise up in Nigeria.Originality/valueThe findings can be used by the policy makers to address problems facing access to electricity in Nigeria.


2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 93-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirgha Raj Shrestha ◽  
Shibesh Chandra Regmi ◽  
Ganesh Dangal

Unsafe abortion is affecting a lot, in health, socio-economic and health care cost of many countries. Despite invention of simple technology and scientifically approved safe abortion methods, women and girls are still using unsafe abortion practices. Since 2002, Nepal has achieved remarkable progress in developing policies, guidelines, task shifting, training human resources and increasing access to services. However, more than half of abortion in Nepal are performed clandestinely by untrained or unapproved providers or induced by pregnant woman herself. Knowledge on legalization and availability of safe abortion service among women is still very poor. Stigma on abortion still persists among community people, service providers, managers, and policy makers. Access to safe abortion, especially in remote and rural areas, is still far behind as compared to their peers from urban areas. The existing law is not revised in the spirit of current Constitution of Nepal and rights-based approach. The existence of abortion stigma and the shifting of the government structure from unitary system to federalism in absence of a complete clarity on how the safe abortion service gets integrated into the local government structure might create challenge to sustain existing developments. There is, therefore, a need for all stakeholders to make a lot of efforts and allocate adequate resources to sustain current achievements and ensure improvements in creating a supportive social environment for women and girls so that they will be able to make informed decisions and access to safe abortion service in any circumstances.


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