Economics of healthcare access in low-income and middle-income countries: a protocol for a scoping review of the economic impacts of seeking healthcare on slum-dwellers compared with other city residents

IntroductionPeople living in slums face several challenges to access healthcare. Scarce and low-quality public health facilities are common problems in these communities. Costs and prevalence of catastrophic health expenditures (CHE) have also been reported as high in studies conducted in slums in developing countries and those suffering from chronic conditions and the poorest households seem to be more vulnerable to financial hardship. The COVID-19 pandemic may be aggravating the economic impact on the extremely vulnerable population living in slums due to the long-term consequences of the disease. The objective of this review is to report the economic impact of seeking healthcare on slum-dwellers in terms of costs and CHE. We will compare the economic impact on slum-dwellers with other city residents.Methods and analysisThis scoping review adopts the framework suggested by Arksey and O’Malley. The review is part of the accountability and responsiveness of slum-dwellers (ARISE) research consortium, which aims to enhance accountability to improve the health and well-being of marginalised populations living in slums in India, Bangladesh, Sierra Leone and Kenya. Costs of accessing healthcare will be updated to 2020 prices using the inflation rates reported by the International Monetary Fund. Costs will be presented in International Dollars by using purchase power parity. The prevalence of CHE will also be reported.Ethics and disseminationEthical approval is not required for scoping reviews. We will disseminate our results alongside the events organised by the ARISE consortium and international conferences. The final manuscript will be submitted to an open-access international journal. Registration number at the Research Registry: reviewregistry947.

Contribution of Maize-based Products to the Livelihood of Smallholder Processors in Rural Northern Nigeria

In the smallholder value chains of maize, diversification of utilisation is an essential strategy towards enhancing the benefits drivable from the increase in maize production. This article identifies the contribution of maize-based products on poverty level among smallholder processors. The study, which was conducted in 30 rural communities in northern Nigeria, involved Focus Group Discussions and survey of 300 smallholder processors of maize-based products. Descriptive and inferential analyses were used. The results show that average annual profit among the interviewed smallholder processors of maize-based products was approximately N425,506 (about US$1,400). These processors faced several constraints which tend to keep them under poverty trap (vicious cycle of poverty). The result of the estimated two-step Tobit model shows that, with necessary interventions, profit from maize-based products has the capacity of keeping these processors out of poverty trap. The result indicates that as profit from maize-based products increases, the poverty probability index that household is not below poverty line of $1.90/day at 2011 purchase–power parity increases ( p < 0.05). Thus, household poverty among rural smallholder processors of maize-based product could be reduced drastically through interventions targeted at mitigating the identified constraints.

The risk of multidrug- or rifampicin-resistance in males versus females with tuberculosis

Males are at an increased risk of tuberculosis (TB) disease compared to females. Additionally, several risk factors for multidrug-resistant (MDR) or rifampicin-resistant (RR) TB disease are more common in males, hence male TB patients may have a higher relative risk of MDR/RR-TB than female TB patients.We used sex-disaggregated data of TB patients reported to the World Health Organization for 106 countries to calculate male-to-female (M:F) risk ratios of having MDR/RR-TB.There was no evidence of either sex being more at risk of MDR/RR-TB in 81% (86 out of 106) of countries, with an overall random-effects weighted M:F risk ratio of 1.04 (95% CI 0.97–1.11). In 12% (13 out of 106) of countries there was evidence that males were more at risk, while in 7% (seven out of 106), females were more at risk. The risk of having TB that was MDR/RR increased for males compared to females as MDR/RR-TB incidence increased, and was higher for males than females in the former Soviet Union, where the risk ratio was 1.16 (1.06–1.28). Conversely, the risk increased for females compared to males as gross domestic product purchase power parity increased, and was higher for females than males in countries where the majority of TB burden was found in the foreign-born population, where the risk ratio was 0.84 (0.75–0.94).In general, the risk of MDR/RR-TB, among those with TB, is the same for males as for females. However, males in higher MDR/RR-TB burden countries, particularly the former Soviet Union, face an increased risk that their infection is MDR/RR-TB, highlighting the need for a sex-differentiated approach to TB case-finding and care.

The Tourism Competitiveness of Districts and Cities Possesing a National Park in Indonesia

Indonesia has comparative advantages of tropical ecosystem, wealth tourist attraction nature, the diversity of culture, living culture peculiar and demographic dividend to participate in tourism. The comparative advantages in accordance with this tourist’s behavior in the experience economy era where the tourists are seeking a tourist destination that has an authentic, such as a diversity of culture and the natural environment that is distinctive. However, this comparative advantage does not correlate with the trend of the increasing number of tourist arrivals in Indonesia. It shows that there were problems in a tourism competitive advantages and knowledge related to competitiveness of tourism inadequacy. This motivates to the need for a study in measuring the effectiveness of competitiveness tourism-based ecotourism in the tourist destinations in Indonesia. This study evaluates the competitiveness of tourism in the areas which have a national park in Indonesia on providing guidelines for tourism policy makers in Indonesia. We use travel and tourism competitiveness index by using data which has been available in the government and non-government institutions. We further employ clusters and dimensional scale to analyze the data. The results found that the average score of competitiveness of tourism indicates the index of 3 – 4. In summary, the tourism competitiveness in the area which have a varies national park can be classified into 5 clusters of tourist attractions based on characteristics of tourism competitiveness. They are health and hygiene, environment indicator, price competitiveness and purchase power parity.

Relationship Between Transport Infrastructure Development and Price Formation

The paper suggests a bidirectional nexus between transport infrastructure and price formation. It is argued that the link between these two factors is not only through microeconomic effect that transport infrastructure development has on pricing, but also that it can be analyzed from the macroeconomic perspective. Hence, the article is aimed at investigating the bidirectional nexus between transport infrastructure and price formation. The main hypotheses of the research are the following: (1) Macro- and macroeconomic effects are different with respect to the sign of their influence; (2) Microeconomic effect is described by the negative effect of transport infrastructure development on price level; (3) Macroeconomic effect is perceived as a positive influence of price level increase on transport infrastructure development. Therefore, it is assumed the link between transport infrastructure and price formation is bidirectional: transport infrastructure has a negative effect on price formation, whereas price formation positively impacts transport infrastructure development. To test the hypothesis, analysis was conducted of 118 countries of different economic, social and political systems with the use of panel regression. The panel data for 2009-2018 years was used. The results indicate the presence of the said bidirectional link and prove the hypotheses set. Transport infrastructure development, represented by transport infrastructure score through the global competitiveness index, leads to reduction in price level, measured by the conversion factor of purchase power parity to exchange rates. In contrast, an increase in price level positively impacts transport infrastructure development. The nexus of transport infrastructure and price formation is explained through two directions: 1) from specific to general (including price fall by transport capacity increase – microeconomic effect); 2) from general to specific (as a social development level that determines the efficiency of management processes, in transport and logistics – macroeconomic effect).

Investigating the Correlation of Purchase Power Parity (PPP) with the Adopted Waste Management Method in EU28

The amount of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generated mostly in large urban centers is a major problem. For a modern society, the proper management and treatment of MSW is imperative and necessary. However, each community has organized and installed different waste treatment methods based on environmental, social and economic criteria. In this paper, a comparative analysis of waste treatment methods that countries in EU28 have adopted based on economic factors for a time period of 2008–2017, is presented. Power Purchase Parity (PPP), production of MSW and population growth have been considered as to identify how these factors may influence or determine the selected waste management methods. From the results obtained, what should be highlighted is the decrease of MSW in the majority of countries in EU28, regardless of population growth. PPP seems to have no correlation with more ecofriendly waste treatment methods such as recycling and composting, while countries that started to invest in waste-to-energy in the initial years of the examined period (2008–2017), increased their confidence in this technology up until the present day, regardless of PPP formulation.

A Study of the Awareness of Wearable Medical Devices in India: A Potential Market Perspective

<p><em>A Medical Wearable Device provides vital sign monitoring.</em><em> </em><em>Therefore, it involves monitoring of one or more of the following or any other physiological vital that has application in fitness monitoring and medical diagnostic such as; blood glucose level; blood pressure; pulse rate; electrocardiograph (ECG) patterns; respiration rate; respiration effectiveness (e.g., blood oxygen saturation). Hence the Medical Wearable Devices are extremely useful precautionary gadgets. A number of such devices are available in market these days. Despite of their usefulness they are not very popular in India. This may be due to low level of awareness. As Metropolitan cities is primary market for such gadgets.</em><em></em></p><p><em>This paper focuses on the awareness level of the medical wearable devices in Delhi-NCR and studies awareness with respect to suitable demographics.</em><em> </em><em>Further, this paper identifies the key parameters</em><em> </em><em>in</em><em> </em><em>role of the education, qualification and purchase power parity for adoption of this device. The insights drawn from the vast health literature helps to develop the behavioral conceptual framework which becomes the basis to gather the primary data.</em><em></em></p>

Purchasing Power Parity Theory and Applications for Solomon Islands

<p><em>We have tested the purchase power parity hypothesis using the consumer price index of USA and UK against Solomon Islands for the sample monthly period from January 1993 to December 2013. This paper uses cointegration and the error correction as methodologies as the data are found to be non-stationary. The result shows that the changes in Solomon Dollars (SBD) per USD are influenced by the long term trends in the price differential of Solomon Islands and the USA. We further investigate the changes in the price differential between Solomon Islands and the UK and establish that they both have a similar trend. The paper asserts that the inflation differential is in the direction of the appreciation of the SBD/USD and SBD/UK pound which supports the PPP theory in the long run. The symmetry and proportionality of the strong version of PPP were found to be very significant for Solomon Islands against UK pound sterling only and not against USA Dollars.</em></p>

Brexit’s Protectionist Policy and Implications for the British Pound

In this paper, we examine the association among the macroeconomic variables - interest rate, inflation rate, unemployment, and the expected spot rate of the British pound with respect to the Euro around the announcement of “Brexit”, June 2016, using the two international parity relationships, Purchase Power Parity (PPP) and International Fisher effect (IFE). We use the two international parity relationships to examine the significance of change in daily interest rates and monthly inflation rates on the change in actual daily spot rates. In addition, we postulate that the protectionist nature of Brexit policy has contributed to lowering U.K. unemployment and prompted wage growth, resulting in higher inflation rates. Our analysis, examining both the magnitude and directional deviation of the actual spot rate compared to the spot rate using the two parity relations, indicate that spot rates predicted based on the PPP and the IFE relations suggest the weakening of the British pound after the Brexit announcement. Furthermore, we find that U.K. unemployment has reduced due to the expanded monetary policy, consistent with the prediction of the Phillip’s curve.