scholarly journals ASSESSMENT OF NUTRITION ADVOCACY IN SOMALIA REPORT: GAPS, OPPORTUNITIES AND KEY MESSAGES

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
George Ouma ◽  
Farah Mohamed ◽  
Gilbert Rithaa ◽  
Mohamed Hassan

Purpose: This inception report on the comprehensive assessment through desk reviews and analysis nutrition gaps in policy, political commitment, resource allocation and multi-sectoral coordination to inform the development of guideline and messages. This is as a follow-up of preliminary discussion held and concept agreed with the office of the national coordination for Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN), Somalia housed in the Office of Prime Minister (OPM), Federal Government of Somalia. This summary report presents findings from the assessment and a discussion of methodology, challenges and opportunities. By identifying and contextualizing new findings, nutrition advocacy assessment builds consensus in Somalia with a vision and path ahead for improved nutrition messaging and guidelines that various actors will use of advocacy work. Methodology: 30 documents were gathered and reviewed, including - national legislation, policies, guidelines, strategies and action plans to assess the inclusion of adolescents and current gaps. Interviews were conducted with 20 stakeholders from government, donors, UN, communities and non-governmental institutions in Somalia. The review, analysis and stakeholder interviews assessed the extent to which nutritional aspects were being addressed, any gaps in the policy landscape, commitments, multi-sectoral coordination, advocacy initiatives and recommendations for strengthening the enabling environment. Findings: It was established that awareness of SUN as a movement in Somalia was rated highly at however participation in SUN activities was very low and was left to nutritionist in the various sector/Institutions. Government has also shown a great political will and commitment to nutrition by ensuring policies and legislative frameworks are sufficient even though multi-sectoral nutrition integration is not optimal to impact desired impact. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: It was recommended that there is need to advocate political and administrative authorities, to further convince them to add nutrition among the top priorities of the governments, translate policies into actions and ensure allocation of funds for nutrition interventions. Also, Government must strongly provide leadership in nutrition policy development, programing and coordination.

Author(s):  
Erdem Yilmaz ◽  
Osman Kostek ◽  
Savas Hereklioglu ◽  
Muhammet Goktas ◽  
Nermin Tuncbilek

Aims: To demonstrate the prevalence, accompanying pathologies, imaging and follow up findings of Duodenal Diverticula (DD) with Multidetector Computed Tomography (MDCT). Materials and Methods: Consecutive 2910 abdominal MDCTs were retrospectively reviewed on axial, coronal and sagittal planes. DD were evaluated for prevalence, location, number, size, contents, diverticular neck, accompanying pancreaticobiliary pathologies, jejunal and colonic diverticula, respectively. Results: DD were diagnosed in 157 cases (5.4%) and found mostly in the second part of the duodenum. Juxta-ampullary DD was the most common type (78.3%) and mostly located ventral (n:86, 69.9%) to the ampulla of Vater. DD was solitary in 123 patients (78.3%) and more than one in 34 patients (21.7%). The median diameter of DD was 2.5 cm (range 1.5-3.6 cm) in the long-axis. The lumen of DD contains air and contrast agent (n:96, 61.1%); air, contrast agent and debris (n:42, 26.7%) in most cases. Colonic diverticula (n:36, 22.9%), cholelithiasis (n:32, 20.4%), choledocholithiasis (n:7, 4.4%), and biliary dilatation (n:8, 5.1%) were the most common additional findings. Median follow-up time was 23 months (range 11 to 41 months). In three cases, new findings (cholelithiasis, n:3, choledocholithiasis, n:1) were detected. Conclusion: Accompanying pathologies with DD diagnosis are valuable for physicians in order to manage the patients. Following clinical and radiological features of well-diagnosed DD might reduce the possible complications.


Author(s):  
Tatsiana Shaban

The European Union’s neighbourhood is complex and still far from being stable. In Ukraine, significant progress has occurred in many areas of transition; however, much work remains to be done, especially in the field of regional development and governance where many legacies of the Soviet model remain. At the crossroads between East and West, Ukraine presents an interesting case of policy development as an expression of European Union (EU) external governance. This paper asks the question: why was the relationship between the EU and Ukraine fairly unsuccessful at promoting stability in the region and in Ukraine? What was missing in the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) in Ukraine that rendered the EU unable to prevent a conflict on the ground? By identifying security, territorial, and institutional challenges and opportunities the EU has faced in Ukraine, this paper underlines the most important factors accounting for the performance of its external governance and crisis management in Ukraine.   Full text available at: https://doi.org/10.22215/rera.v12i2.1310


BMJ Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. e043010
Author(s):  
Jane Lyons ◽  
Ashley Akbari ◽  
Fatemeh Torabi ◽  
Gareth I Davies ◽  
Laura North ◽  
...  

IntroductionThe emergence of the novel respiratory SARS-CoV-2 and subsequent COVID-19 pandemic have required rapid assimilation of population-level data to understand and control the spread of infection in the general and vulnerable populations. Rapid analyses are needed to inform policy development and target interventions to at-risk groups to prevent serious health outcomes. We aim to provide an accessible research platform to determine demographic, socioeconomic and clinical risk factors for infection, morbidity and mortality of COVID-19, to measure the impact of COVID-19 on healthcare utilisation and long-term health, and to enable the evaluation of natural experiments of policy interventions.Methods and analysisTwo privacy-protecting population-level cohorts have been created and derived from multisourced demographic and healthcare data. The C20 cohort consists of 3.2 million people in Wales on the 1 January 2020 with follow-up until 31 May 2020. The complete cohort dataset will be updated monthly with some individual datasets available daily. The C16 cohort consists of 3 million people in Wales on the 1 January 2016 with follow-up to 31 December 2019. C16 is designed as a counterfactual cohort to provide contextual comparative population data on disease, health service utilisation and mortality. Study outcomes will: (a) characterise the epidemiology of COVID-19, (b) assess socioeconomic and demographic influences on infection and outcomes, (c) measure the impact of COVID-19 on short -term and longer-term population outcomes and (d) undertake studies on the transmission and spatial spread of infection.Ethics and disseminationThe Secure Anonymised Information Linkage-independent Information Governance Review Panel has approved this study. The study findings will be presented to policy groups, public meetings, national and international conferences, and published in peer-reviewed journals.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3747
Author(s):  
Robert Gibson ◽  
Karine Péloffy ◽  
Meinhard Doelle

Canada is preparing to initiate a challenging, but potentially ground-breaking, strategic assessment on the implications of its climate change mitigation commitments for project assessments. The strategic assessment is immediately needed to provide project-level guidance for decision makers who will be required under new federal legislation to consider the extent to which each assessed project “contributes to sustainability” and “hinders or contributes to” meeting Canada’s climate commitments. However, Canada, like many other countries, has not yet translated its Paris Agreement climate commitments into an adequate suite of specific policies, pathways, budgets, and other directives for compliance. Consequently, the climate commitments’ strategic assessment will need to play a fully strategic role—in policy development as well as policy interpretation and elaboration for assessment purposes. This paper outlines the key considerations and required steps for a strategic assessment that fills the policy gap between Paris and projects, and develops guidance centred on a suite of tests for evaluating proposed major projects that may have important effects on Canada’s prospects for meeting its climate commitments.


2018 ◽  
Vol 143 (22) ◽  
pp. 1636-1647
Author(s):  
Sophie Meyer ◽  
Vanadin Seifert-Klauss

AbstractThe recently published 18-year-follow-up of the WHI-study might resolve the long-standing dispute about hormone therapy, possibly reconciling the opposing parties attributing life-threatening risks to either the administration or the withholding of hormone therapy. 16 608 women without hysterectomy had taken either combined hormone therapy with estrogen and progestin or placebo for an average of 5.2 years, while 10 739 women after hysterectomy (and bilateral ovarectomy in 40 %) had taken either estrogen therapy alone or placebo for an average of 7 years. 7489 deaths were recorded until 2014. Over both studies, mortality was 27.1 % after hormone therapy and 27.6 % after placebo. New findings on perimenopause can help towards phase-adapted and complaint-targeted hormone therapy in the future.


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dohyeong Kim ◽  
Yingyuan Zhang ◽  
Chang Kil Lee

Despite growing popularity of using geographical information systems and geospatial tools in public health fields, these tools are only rarely implemented in health policy management in China. This study examines the barriers that could prevent policy-makers from applying such tools to actual managerial processes related to public health problems that could be assisted by such approaches, e.g. evidence-based policy-making. A questionnaire-based survey of 127 health-related experts and other stakeholders in China revealed that there is a consensus on the needs and demands for the use of geospatial tools, which shows that there is a more unified opinion on the matter than so far reported. Respondents pointed to lack of communication and collaboration among stakeholders as the most significant barrier to the implementation of geospatial tools. Comparison of survey results to those emanating from a similar study in Bangladesh revealed different priorities concerning the use of geospatial tools between the two countries. In addition, the follow-up in-depth interviews highlighted the political culture specific to China as a critical barrier to adopting new tools in policy development. Other barriers included concerns over the limited awareness of the availability of advanced geospatial tools. Taken together, these findings can facilitate a better understanding among policy-makers and practitioners of the challenges and opportunities for widespread adoption and implementation of a geospatial approach to public health policy-making in China.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 126-146
Author(s):  
Umme Sayeda

The post-COVID-19 new normal will arise as a game-changer in the policy-making of the world states. Accordingly, this article highlights the post-pandemic Bangladesh that should integrate biology affirmatively in the policy development procedures to reshape the new normal challenges as opportunities. The grounded theory method is adopted as a quantitative analysis tool relying on the secondary sources of data to portray the significance of biopolitics as political rationality in new norm Bangladesh. The researcher has used the neo-realism approach to develop the ‘Biopolitical Rationale Theory’, which uncovers how evolving neo-realist security demands the prioritization of biopolitics in every sphere of decision making for governing the post-pandemic new standard of existence. The 2020 corona outbreak proved that human life and the environment are the ultimate means of survival rather than the traditional security arrangements and extreme economic growth which are inhumane (rationality of death and militarization), unhygienic, and destructive to the environment (exploitation of nature is profitable). The article recommends some alternative new normal policies such as non-discriminative health policy, bordering in line with International Health Regulations (IHR), digitalization with better cybersecurity, virtualization of the tourist industry (application of Extended Reality), application of Career Resilience (CR), and Strategic Flexibility Analysis tools in the re-employment and career development, greening the economy, special arrangements for emergency health crisis and undertaking actions considering the environment as a remedy rather than a crisis. The review research concludes that the inclusion of biopolitics in the Bangladesh governance system can redesign the challenges of new normal as new opportunities. But the reshaping of such a new reality will itself prevail as a considerable challenge for Bangladesh.


Urban Studies ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 004209801986366
Author(s):  
Zachary Spicer ◽  
Nicole Goodman ◽  
Nathan Olmstead

Studies of ‘smart cities’ in Canada primarily focus on large cities but not small, rural and remote communities. As a result, we have a limited understanding of the incentive structures for smaller, remote and rural communities to pursue smart city development. This knowledge deficit is concerning, since the introduction of technology can hold a number of unique benefits for these communities, including easier connections to the rest of Canada and large urban centres, reputation building, improved service delivery and enhanced opportunities for residents. Drawing upon localised forms of knowledge creation, policy development theories, adoption and local competition literature and primary interviews with private and public officials, we examine the challenges and opportunities of ‘smart city’ implementation through case studies of small and rural municipalities in Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia and a remote community, Iqaluit, Nunavut. We find that collaboration is essential for rural and remote pursuit of smart city development and is necessary to counteract the limitations of capacity, scale and digital divides. Challenges aside, however, the primary rationale for adoption of smart city technology remains the same regardless of size: enhanced quality of life for residents and sustained community health.


2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 363-387
Author(s):  
Laith K. Nasrawin

Abstract This article addresses the issue of protection against domestic violence in both Jordanian law and international conventions. It does so by defining domestic violence and its various causes and by exploring the relevant global standards and best international practices for combating it. The article also deals with the reality of protection against domestic violence in Jordan by referring to the special protection of the family and to the related follow-up by national and governmental institutions, and the relevant national standards. The Law Regarding Protection from Domestic Violence (Law No. 6/2008) contains protective provisions and other treatments to reduce this phenomenon, but it fails to provide optimal protection against domestic violence. The article proposes a set of recommendations to improve national standards for protection against domestic violence so that Jordan’s laws concerning protection against domestic violence conform to international standards.


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