Training on adequate use of opioid analgesics in West and Central Africa: a neglected step on the way to access to essential medicines?

Alleviating acute and chronic pain is a moral imperative for health professionals and health systems, and it requires adequate access to and use of essential opioid analgesics. However, this is still a neglected issue in global health, with striking inequalities in opioids availability between high and low- and middle-income countries. Countries most affected by lack of access are those with a fragile political situation and weak regulatory and healthcare systems. The main threats to accessibility, availability and affordability are situated at different levels: legislation and policy, financing, knowledge and cultural behavior, erroneous beliefs, and training and education. Among these threats, the lack of (adequate) training and education seems to be a cross-cutting issue. Exploring the current body of knowledge about training and educational activities related to use of opioid analgesics and palliative care, is helpful to understand gaps and to delineate priorities for setting up adequate interventions. When applied to West and Central Africa, this exercise reveals that there is little information (easily) available in the public domain. The African Palliative Care Association (APCA) appears to be the leading provider of capacity building activities in this region for key stakeholders, including national authorities, healthcare professionals and the general population; it is also very active in publishing and communicating about these issues. However, apart from APCA, there is little information on training programs’ contents and long-term outcomes. Furthermore, trainings rarely target important stakeholders such as lawmakers, regulators, supply officers and the lay public (i.e., patients, caregivers, community leaders and members of the society as a whole). Hence, it is urgent to fill the existing gaps in training and educational activities to improve access to essential opioid analgesics in West and Central Africa, involving different stakeholders at the national and regional level. Furthermore, such experiences should be published and made publicly available to allow for mutual learning and further upscale.

Digitale Musikedition und die Wissenschaft der Populären Musik

The term pop-music already claims to be artificial, just like "classical" western music. In this context, the article deals with the potentials of digital music edition, focusing on the necessity of a pop-music philology. In paying attention particularly to non-textual aspects of music, this seems one of the most important potentials of digital music edition in this area. Therefore, the need of a pop-music philology is emphasized here. This may include the edition of audiovisual objects, objects of cultural behavior and historical objects. We examine this using the example of the cover-version phenomenon, and recommend at least addressing copyright aspects.

Determinants of saving in selected Woredas of Kaffa Zone

Saving is one of the most important variables in the macro-economic theory. Different studies revealed that there is a significant relationship between income, saving, and investment, though they can determine the economic level of nations. This study was designed to capture the constituents of saving under different categories in Southern nations, nationalities, and peoples region with special reference to South west Ethiopia, Kaffa Zone. Three different models were adopted from a number of econometric and regression models adopted by different scholars depending on the country’s and regional economic and socio-cultural behavior. The panel approach (panel data) and cross-sectional data was adopted to measure the determinants of saving. The data utilized for this study was collected from both primary and secondary sources. The average monthly net deposit (AMND) was ‘the dependent variable and the independent variables can be taken in two forms. The first category includes the macro-economic variables as (per capita income, employment, rate of inflation, interest rate …etc) and the second category addresses the demographic variables as (age, gender, education, occupation…etc) which can be entertained at micro level. The reason behind using both panel approach and cross- sectional data is to make the study focus more on individual level variables those are not addressed by most of the studies conducted at macro-level. In addition to this cross-sectional data can support the panel data and helps for comparison of individual level variables with the variables at macro- level. According to the results obtained from the analysis income of the individuals is the most significant variable with cv (). Gender and age are another significant variables affecting saving behavior of individuals with cv (). Consumption pattern and preferences of the individuals are the most significant variable determining the level of saving with significant level of 0.672.

Depicting National Cultures: Comprehensiveness of 21st Century Travel Guidebooks

Travel guidebooks play an important role in tourism as an information source. They not only give practical information but also cultural information. However, this latter aspect of guidebooks has barely been researched. Guidebook authors can choose to write about any aspects of a country's national culture, but we do not seem to know which aspects they chose to write about—that is, how comprehensive the guidebooks' depictions of culture are. In order to establish the comprehensiveness of contemporary guidebooks, a framework of cultural categories is developed based on theories about culture and intercultural communication. The method is content analysis of document data. In the empirical part of the study, three guidebooks about Denmark are examined quantitatively in order to establish how comprehensive their representation of the cultural values and cultural behavior categories of Denmark is. Based on the criteria set, travel guidebooks cannot be considered comprehensive. Readers should be aware that guidebooks only give a partial view of a destination's culture. With the increased availability of online hotel and restaurant resources for tourists, the publishers of travel guidebooks could expand the sections on national culture. This will increase readers' experiential value of the guidebooks and give guidebooks a competitive edge, whether the guidebooks are printed or digital.

Increased vulnerability to SARS-CoV-2 infection among indigenous people living in the urban area of Manaus

The COVID-19 pandemic threatens indigenous peoples living in suburban areas of large Brazilian cities and has thus far intensified their pre-existing socio-economic inequalities. We evaluated the epidemiological situation of SARS-CoV-2 infection among residents of the biggest urban multiethnic indigenous community of the Amazonas state, Brazil. Blood samples of 280 indigenous people living in the surrounding area of Manaus were tested for the presence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgA or IgG antibodies. The risk factors and sociodemographic information were assessed through an epidemiological questionnaire. We found a total positivity rate of 64.64% (95% CI 59.01–70.28) for SARS-CoV-2 infection. IgA and IgG were detected in 55.71% (95% CI 49.89–61.54) and 60.71% (95% CI 54.98–66.45) of the individuals, respectively. Over 80% of positive individuals were positive for both IgA and IgG.No significant difference in positivity rates between genders or age groups was observed. Moreover, the age group ≥ 60 years old showed the highest antibody ratios (IgA mean ratio = 3.080 ± 1.623; IgG mean ratio = 4.221 ± 1.832), while the age groups 13–19 and 20–29 showed the lowest IgA (mean ratio = 2.268 ± 0.919) and IgG ratios (mean ratio = 2.207 ± 1.246), respectively. Individuals leaving the home more frequently were at higher risk of infection (Odds ratio (OD) 2.61; 95% CI 1.00–1.49; p = 0.048). Five or more individuals per household increased fivefold the risk of virus transmission (OR 2.56; 95% CI 1.09–6.01; p = 0.019). The disproportionate dissemination of SARS-CoV-2 infection observed among the study population might be driven by typical cultural behavior and socioeconomic inequalities. Despite the pandemic threat, this population is not being targeted by public policies and appears to be chronically invisible to the Brazilian authorities.

Budaya Berkumpul Pada Upacara Ngaben Masa Pandemi Covid-19 Di Buleleng Bali

The implementation of Ngaben is one of the Balinese Hindu traditions for the ceremony of a death. The implementation of Ngaben is a ceremony with a series of many activities and invites a crowd of people. The COVID-19 pandemic period requires people not to carry out gathering activities so that they do not become the cause of the spread of the virus and how to keep ceremonial activities running without reducing meaning. The purpose of this study is to qualitatively identify the culture of gathering during cremation and the solutions offered so that gathering activities do not occur and become the spread of covid-19. This study used a qualitative method through a phenomenological approach, using 4 participants (people who are directly related to religious activities, including the community, community leaders namely head of the ward, 1 participant is a religious leader from the Indonesian Hindu Dharma Association in the Buleleng area). Sampling with nonprobability sampling and using purposive sampling. The results of the study found that there were 3 major themes that were found (1) Ngaben is local wisdom or as a very rigid culture, (2) Ngaben as a form of spreading covid and forming a covid cluster, (3) Changes in Ngaben cultural behavior from conventional to Crematorium. The conclusion is that the community cannot stop cremation activities because it is local wisdom, so to prevent new clusters of covid at the cremation ceremony, the community is required to change their behavior and slowly change the cremation that can be done in the crematorium.

THE ROLE OF SOCIAL CAPITAL IN FOSTERING CHARACTER EDUCATION IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS: KI HADJAR DEWANTARA’S PERSPECTIVES

To foster character education in Indonesia, research on the role of social capital has become an urgent issue because character crisis is one of the growing concerns and recent stunning news stakes. National identity crises have shown anti-cultural behavior, anti-character, and less use of domestic social capital blatantly. This research aims to describe the role of social capital that determines the implementation of character education through Ki Hadjar Dewantara’s perspectives. This qualitative research was designed as a case study using purposive sampling with individual resources such as headmaster, teacher, student representatives, school committee, parents, foundation management, and school supervisor. This research was conducted at Tamansiswa Primary School, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, from November 2017 to January 2018. The research result shows that the social capital role determines the implementation of character education, and in Ki Hadjar Dewantara’s perspective, character education has been applied in all learning processes. Both intra-curricular and extracurricular activities support the school culture, and the family system is an integral part of habituation and exemplary character inculcation at school, family, and societal levels through mutual love, respect, assistance, and help. The obliged elements of social capital in embodying character education are trust, norm, and network.

Research on Evaluation of Intercultural Competence of Civil Aviation College Students Based on Language Operator

The latest “Guide to College English Teaching” lists cross-cultural education as an important part of college English courses. At the same time, ICAO ’s requirements for civil aviation pilots and controllers ’cross-cultural abilities increase year by year, which raises new requirements for the cultivation of cultural abilities. This article explores this subject from two aspects of cross-cultural psychology and cross-cultural behavior, using SPSS22.0 data analysis method and Delphi method to establish an evaluation model, which includes four first-level indicators: attitude, awareness, knowledge and skill. Attitude and consciousness evaluate cross-cultural psychology, and knowledge and skills evaluate cross-cultural behavior. Under the 4 first-level indicators, there are 6 second-level indicators and 17 third-level indicators. This paper uses the accuracy and convenience of language operators in the process of information conversion to transform fuzzy subjective qualitative analysis into quantitative analysis, and proposes a set of evaluation methods for cross-cultural competence based on language operators. At the same time, an empirical study was conducted with C University as an example. The statistical results show that the method has good applicability and scientificity for the evaluation of the cross-cultural competence of civil aviation college students.

The culture of gifting with the emergence of online tourism experiential gift-giving

Purpose This study aims to explore the evolution of the culture agapic (personal) gift-giving with the advent of new online gifting platforms that provide the opportunity to gift tourism experiences. This study investigates this well-established cultural behavior in view of this new form of social exchange. Design/methodology/approach Focus group interviews with two key target markets – mothers and couples/singles – were conducted (N = 39). Interview questions focused on understanding gifting using online platforms, sharing the experience and the role of various parties in the exchange. Findings This study reveals that experiential tourism gifts differ from physical gifts because they offer novelty and symbolic value, heighten positive emotions and have the potential to create lifelong memories for recipients. However, giving an experiential gift can also be a risky option because of the uncertainty of getting the gift–recipient identity match correct, particularly for adventure tourism gifts. The identity of the gift-giver is also considered in gift selection as the experience selected is a reflection of self. Practical implications It is recommended that online experiential gifting platforms pay attention to both the identity of the gift-giver and gift-recipient. Sharing the experience through social media posts can reinforce both parties’ social identity, create a positive social exchange and may motivate repeat purchase. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to uncover the motivational factors of online tourism experiential gifting as part of the culture of gift-giving and the parties in this exchange. The findings advance theoretical understanding of this new form of social exchange.