Despite numerous studies of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), the evidence is still inconclusive and little has been done to capture the issue of environmental sustainability and welfare aspects ...of growth in the EKC relationship. Accordingly, this paper aims to investigate the environment-development linkage under a sustainability-oriented EKC framework in 20 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries for the period from 1990 to 2015. The Common Correlated Effects version of Pooled Mean Group Estimator (CCE-PMG) in the context of error-correction based panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model augmented with cross-sectional averages was employed as a preferred estimation technique. The study also used an appropriate U test to check the presence of genuine inverted U-shaped EKC relationship. The results confirm the existence of a modified EKC hypothesis in SSA, but the linkage depends on the extent of endowment of natural resources. Among the growth-related factors, energy consumption and trade openness are found to have a long run detrimental effect on the environment. The study suggests that country's effort for economic development needs to be accompanied by appropriate policy options to ensure environmental sustainability.
•Modified EKC = baseline EKC + Sustainability.•An appropriate U-test was employed to check the presence of genuinely inverted U-shaped EKC hypothesis.•The findings support a modified EKC hypothesis for resource-intensive SSA countries.•A monotonically increasing relationship is found in non-resource intensive SSA countries.•Economic development can be seen as a solution to environmental degradation.•Country's growth efforts need to be supplemented with pro-environmental measures.
We use three rounds of a rich panel data set to investigate the determinants of household cooking fuel choice and energy transition in urban Ethiopia. We observe that the expected energy transition ...did not occur following economic growth in Ethiopia during the decade 2000–2009. Regression results from a random effects multinomial logit model, which controls for unobserved household heterogeneity, show that households' economic status, price of alternative energy sources, and education are important determinants of fuel choice in urban Ethiopia. The results also suggest the use of multiple fuels, or ‘fuel stacking behavior’. We argue that policy makers could target these policy levers to encourage transition to cleaner energy sources.
•There was no major shift from traditional to cleaner fuels following economic growth during 2000 – 2009 in urban Ethiopia.•Households use multiple fuels as they get richer.•Households' economic status and education, as well as the price of alternative energy sources, are important determinants of fuel choice in urban Ethiopia.
•We analyze the most heavily promoted improved biomass cookstove in Ethiopia.•The improved stove is found to significantly reduce fuelwood consumption.•The stove requires no more cooking time than ...the traditional three-stone tripod.•Users express broad satisfaction with the improved biomass stove.
Continued high reliance on traditional biomass fuels and stoves in developing countries gives rise to several human health, environmental, and livelihood issues. However solid data on the performance of improved biomass cooking stoves remains scarce. This paper provides controlled cooking test (CCT) evidence on fuel savings from a promising improved biomass cooking stove in Ethiopia. The stove is called Mirt (meaning “best” in Amharic), and is used to bake injera, the staple food in much of Ethiopia. Injera preparation accounts for about half the primary energy consumed in the country. We find that the Mirt stove offers fuel savings of 22% to 31% compared with a traditional three-stone tripod, with little or no increase in cooking time. Fuel savings in the CCTs are significant, but are substantially smaller than in laboratory testing. Users also generally report high levels of satisfaction with the stove, which is crucial for successful large-scale adoption. The fuelwood savings increase and cooking times decline over time, suggesting the importance of user experience and learning. Though our results are robust to different ways that the stoves were rolled out, conclusions regarding acceptability of the stove are still indicative, because of the CCT methodology we employ. Despite the limitations of our study, the findings suggest that the Mirt stove could have positive welfare effects for households who adopt it.
This paper provides field experiment-based evidence that user experience and learning can increase the attractiveness of an important new cooking technology promoted in Ethiopia. Slow cooking is a ...potentially significant stumbling block in promoting new lower-emission, fuelwood-conserving cookstoves. We ran a randomized experiment that made these improved stoves available to potential users and conducted three rounds of controlled cooking tests over a one year period, with each respondent cooking on both traditional and improved stoves on the same day. We combined our CCT results with electronic stove use monitoring data to derive inferences related to learning. Although times to cook standardized batches of
injera
, the Ethiopian staple, are initially on average 25% longer using the new stove, we document that with experience households reduced cook times by 18% over the first 5 to 6 months of adoption, with a further 7% reduction in the next 6 months, leading to negligible differences in cook times within a year of adoption. Those who regularly used the stoves saw greater cooking time savings, suggesting learning-by-doing was important. Fuelwood savings associated with the stove do not appear to be driven by experience or learning.
•This study aims to provide empirical evidence on the impact of a climate smart agricultural practice (row planting)•Propensity score matching (PSM)and semi-parametric Local Instrumental Variable ...(LIV) model are used for the analysis•The result shows that row planting increases both crop income and consumption expenditure•Scaling up row planting practice will enhance farmers’ income and food security
The purpose of this study is to provide empirical evidence on the impact of a climate-smart agricultural practice (row planting) on the welfare of rural households. Data collected from 260 households in Gubalafto woreda of Amhara region in Ethiopia were analyzed using Propensity Score Matching (PSM) and a Semi-parametric Local Instrumental Variable (LIV) version of the generalized Roy model. The results from the PSM model revealed that adoption of row planting technology has a positive and significant impact on per capita consumption and on crop income per hectare. Covariates are well balanced and the impact estimate is insensitive to unobserved selection bias indicating that the estimates are a pure effect of the row planting technology. Marginal benefit of row planting is increasing with higher propensity of the farmer to adopt the climate smart planting technology. Therefore, scaling up the technology will significantly contribute to farmers’ resilience against the adverse effects of climate change through enhancing household’s income and food security.
Une étude a été menée, d’octobre 2007 à avril 2008, à l’aide d’un questionnaire semi-structuré et d’échantillons sanguins dans la vallée du Ghibe, au sud-ouest de l’Ethiopie, pour évaluer la gestion ...des bovins exposés à la trypanosomose dans deux communautés, la population autochtone et les nouveaux colons. Des échantillons sanguins prélevés à l’oreille de 429 vaches (210 chez les autochtones et 219 chez les colons) ont révélé une prévalence globale de 5,4 p. 100, avec respectivement 6,2 et 4,6 p. 100 chez les autochtones et les colons. Cette différence entre les deux communautés n’a pas été significative (p > 0,45). Les informations qualitatives et quantitatives ont été obtenues à l’aide du questionnaire auprès de 50 autochtones et 51 colons sélectionnés de manière aléatoire. La plupart des pratiques de gestion du bétail chez les autochtones et chez les colons se sont avérées significativement différentes. Bien que la prévalence d’infection trypanosomienne n’ait pas été significativement différente entre les deux communautés, l’anémie a été rencontrée plus fréquemment chez les animaux des autochtones que chez ceux des colons. D’autres recherches devraient être menées afin de déterminer la raison principale qui a contribué à la différence observée entre les valeurs de l’hématocrite des deux communautés. Par ailleurs, l’attention vers une gestion efficace de la trypanosomose dans les deux communautés de la vallée du Ghibe est nécessaire pour améliorer les stratégies de prévention et de contrôle.
Background
Exercise electrocardiography is a widely used diagnostic modality for diagnosing coronary artery disease. This method has been used for both sexes; however, its diagnostic accuracy in ...women is limited.
Methods
The study analyzed 332 women participating in the Finnish Cardiovascular Study. Among 332 women, 125 with angiographically proven coronary artery disease (mean age 62.1 ± 9.5 years), 91 with a low likelihood of coronary artery disease (mean age 47.3 ± 13.5 years), and 116 without angiographically proven coronary artery disease (mean age 56.3 ± 9.9 years) were analyzed. The Q, R, S, and ST‐segment changes and QRS score were determined by subtracting the Q, R, S, and ST‐segment amplitudes immediately after the maximal exercise changes from their rest values (Δ). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to evaluate the overall diagnostic performance of the parameters for predicting coronary artery disease.
Results
The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve between coronary artery disease and low likelihood of coronary artery disease groups for the QRS score and ΔSTV5, ΔQaVF, and ΔRaVF were 0.75, 0.73, 0.71, and 0.71, respectively. These areas were lower (0.62, 0.57, 0.60, and 0.60, respectively) between the groups with and without angiographically proven coronary artery disease. QRS score demonstrated the highest sensitivity at 80% specificity (61.5%) and the highest specificity at 80% sensitivity (57.6%).
Conclusions
This study suggests that the QRS and ST‐segment depression have a moderate diagnostic ability to predict coronary artery disease in women. Q and R waves in lead aVF showed good diagnostic ability.
Researchers evaluated the ability of exercise induced QRS score, its composition (Q, R, and S) wave changes and ST‐segment depression in diagnosing coronary artery disease (CAD) in women. They noted that QRS score and ST‐segment depression have a moderate ability to help diagnose CAD, followed by Q and R waves in lead aVF.
Maize is a strategic commodity for improving food security and alleviating poverty in Tanzania, but its productivity remains low. The importance of improved maize varieties (IMVs) in increasing ...productivity is documented in existing literature. Previous adoption studies in Tanzania did not examine the factors that influence the speed/timing of adoption. This study examines the determinants of the speed of adoption of IMVs using a duration model and recently collected plot- and household-level data in rural Tanzania. The results highlight the importance of social capital and networks in speeding up the adoption of IMVs. Similarly, government extension workers as a main source of information have a positive effect on the speed of adoption. The regression results also suggest that rainfall and farmers' confidence in government support during crop failure speed up the adoption of IMVs. The findings imply that interventions that strengthen the role of extension services, rural institutions and networks can accelerate the adoption of IMVs by smallholder farmers in Tanzania.
•Speed of adoption modeled using duration analysis model•Source of information matters to speed up adoption of maize varieties.•Social capital influence speed of adoption.•Rainfall and farmers' confidence in government support during crop failure influenced speed of adoption.
A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2007 to April 2008 to estimate the prevalence of hydatidosis in ruminants slaughtered at Adama municipal abattoir. An attempt was also made to ...estimate the annual economic loss due to condemnation of organs during meat inspection. A retrospective analysis of data spanning a 10-year period (1997–2007) was also undertaken to determine the presence of the parasite during this period. A total of 1152 ruminants (852 cattle, 92 sheep and 208 goats) were inspected following slaughter. Hydatidosis was prevalent in 46.8% cattle, 29.3% sheep, and 6.7% goats. In cattle, 326 (55.2%) of the lung, 219 (37.1%) of the liver, 21 (3.6%) of the spleen, 15 (2.5%) of the heart and 10 (1.7%) of the kidney were found to be infected with hydatid cysts. In sheep, hydatid cysts were recovered from 22 (55.0%) of the lung, 16 (40.0%) of the liver and 2 (5.0%) of the spleen while none of the heart and kidney were recorded positive. In goats, the degree of infection was 6 (33.3%) of lung, 10 (55.6%) of liver, 1 (5.6%) of spleen and kidney each. According to the retrospective data, a total of 107,333 cattle were slaughtered and during this period 13,519 of the liver, 18,304 of the lung, 1142 of the kidneys, 537 of the hearts and 150 of the spleens were found to be infected with hydatidosis. The total annual economic loss incurred due to hydatidosis in ruminants slaughtered at Adama municipal abattoir was estimated to be to 52,828 ETB (5869.8 USD). The current results suggest that a thorough investigation that leads to a disease control strategy is required to reduce the economic and public health consequences of hydatidosis.
Abstract
Background
Pediatric surgical patients in low and middle-income countries suffer from malnutrition on top of the surgical pathology and post-operative stress which increases post-operative ...morbidity and mortality. Malnutrition is highly prevalent in Africa and is expected to impact the outcome of surgical patients. The study was aimed at determining the impact of malnutrition on the outcome and length of hospital stay in elective pediatric surgical patients.
Methods
A prospective study was done on children, aged one month to fourteen years, who had undergone elective general surgery. Upon admission, nutritional assessment using an anthropometric indicator was undertaken and used to derive the WHO Anthro Z scores. Malnutrition was defined as a binary outcome: severely/moderately malnourished (Z < -2) versus well nourished (Z ≥ -2). After surgery, postoperative complications were documented. Chi-squared tests and t-tests were used to assess associations.
Results
Of the 109 enrolled children, 49 (45%) had malnutrition preoperatively. Infants had a higher prevalence of malnutrition (65% versus 35%, p-value = 0·028) compared to older children. Postoperative infection was relatively more common in malnourished children (27·1% versus 20%). The mean post-operative stays were 5·69 days (SD 0.46) for well-nourished children and 6.89 days (SD 0·9) for malnourished patients but the difference was not statistically significant.
Conclusion
We observed neither significant long hospital stays nor a higher incidence of postoperative infection among children with malnutrition. Further investigations with a larger sample size are warranted.
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