China's hidden role in malaria control and elimination in Africa.

Background: Insufficient funding is hindering the achievement of malaria elimination targets in Africa, despite the pressing need for increased investment in malaria control. While Western donors attribute their inaction to financial constraints, the global health community has limited knowledge of China's expanding role in malaria prevention. This knowledge gap arises from the fact that China does not consistently report its foreign development assistance activities to established aid transparency initiatives.

Chinese health funding in Africa: The untold story.

The motivations behind China's allocation of health aid to Africa remain complex due to limited information on the details of health aid project activities. Insufficient knowledge about the purpose of China's health aid hinders our understanding of China's comprehensive role in supporting Africa's healthcare system. To address this gap, our study aimed to gain better insights into China's health aid priorities and the factors driving these priorities across Africa.

Spatial and spatio-temporal epidemiological approaches to inform COVID-19 surveillance and control: a systematic review of statistical and modelling methods in Africa.

Objective: Various studies have been published to better understand the underlying spatial and temporal dynamics of COVID-19. This review sought to identify different spatial and spatio-temporal modelling methods that have been applied to COVID-19 and examine influential covariates that have been reportedly associated with its risk in Africa.

Design: Systematic review using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.

The economic efficiency of aid targeting.

How efficient is the targeting of foreign aid to populations in need? A long literature has focused on the impacts of foreign aid, but much rarer are studies that examine how such aid is allocated within countries. We examine the extent to which donors efficiently respond to exogenous budget shocks by shifting resources toward needier districts within a given country, as predicted by theory. We use recently geocoded data on the World Bank's aid in 23 countries that crossed the lower-middle income threshold between 1995 and 2010 and thus experienced sharp aid reductions.

Spatial and spatio-temporal epidemiological approaches to inform COVID-19 surveillance and control: a review protocol.

Introduction: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection that cause coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have afflicted millions worldwide. Understanding the underlying spatial and temporal dynamics can help orient timely public health policies and optimize the targeting of non-pharmaceutical interventions and vaccines to the most vulnerable populations, particularly in resource-constrained settings. The review systematically summarises important methodological aspects and specificities of spatial approaches applied to COVID-19 in Africa.

The effectiveness of national-level containment and closure policies across income levels during the COVID-19 pandemic: an analysis of 113 countries.

Despite heterogeneity in income levels, countries implemented similarly strict containment and closure policies to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic. This research assesses the effectiveness of these containment and closure policies, which we defined as larger decreases in mobility and smaller COVID-19 case and death growth rates. Using daily data for 113 countries on mobility and cumulative COVID-19 case and death counts over the 130 days between February 15, 2020 and June 23, 2020, we examined changes in mobility, morbidity, and mortality growth rates across the World Bank's income group classifications.

The Influence of Marginalization on Cultural Attitudes and Trash Disposal Practices in Esfuerzo de Paraíso of the Dominican Republic: A Qualitative Interview Study.

The inadequate management of municipal solid waste (MSW) in fast-developing nations is a major public health problem. Trash collection is often inconsistent, leaving residents to use unsafe disposal methods such as incineration or unregulated dumping. The issue is especially pronounced in marginalized communities, where public service provision is scarce.

Methods for estimating economic benefits of surgical interventions in low-income and middle-income countries: a scoping review.

Objectives: Studies indicate that many types of surgical care are cost-effective compared with other health interventions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, global health investments to support these interventions remain limited. This study undertakes a scoping review of research on the economic impact of surgical interventions in LMICs to determine the methodologies used in measuring economic benefits.

Childhood health and the changing distribution of foreign aid: Evidence from Nigeria's transition to lower-middle-income status.

With sustained economic growth in many parts of the developing world, an increasing number of countries are transitioning away from the most subsidized development finance as they exceed income and other qualification requirements. Cross-country evidence suggests that Development Assistance Committee (DAC) donors view the crossing over of the World Bank's International Development Association (IDA) eligibility threshold to signal that a country needs less aid, with subsequent reductions in both IDA and other donors' concessional funding. Within the health sector, it is particularly important to understand the implications of these status changes for children under five years of age since improving early childhood health is critical to fostering health and social and economic development.

Pulling the purse strings: Are there sectoral differences in political preferencing of Chinese aid to Africa?

Objective: China is emerging as an increasingly important player in the global development space, but may be less bound to compacts that aim to curb political preferencing and therefore may produce less yield in terms of impact toward Sustainable Development Goals. This research tests the hypothesis that the disproportionate aid allocation to the birth regions of the current African political leaders that applies to some sectors more than others.

Design: We applied a two-part model to first estimate the probability that a region receives an aid project.

Health aid projects have both expanded and constrained the capacity of health facilities to deliver malaria services to under-five children in Malawi.

Objective: This article examines the potential pathways health aid may use to influence the availability of malaria services at a facility level and the utilisation of malaria services for children under five in Malawi.

Methods: This work is grounded in a health services research theoretical model and combines a subnational census of health services available at Malawi health facilities with individual-level data on health service utilisation and the Government of Malawi's official source of data about health aid allocation at a child-level (n=2171). Logistic and multinomial logistic models were used to assess the relationship between health aid, malaria service readiness and malaria service utilisation.

Taking the health aid debate to the subnational level: the impact and allocation of foreign health aid in Malawi.

Objective: Cross-national studies provide inconclusive results as to the effectiveness of foreign health aid. We highlight a novel application of using subnational data to evaluate aid impacts, using Malawi as a case study.

Design: We employ two rounds of nationally representative household surveys (2004/2005 and 2010/2011) and geo-referenced foreign aid data.

Parental Involvement in a School-Based Child Physical Activity and Nutrition Program in Southeastern United States: A Qualitative Analysis of Parenting Capacities.

Background: Parent involvement varies widely in school-based programs designed to promote physical activity and healthy nutrition, yet the underlying factors that may limit parent's participation and support of learned behaviors at home are not well understood.

Method: We conducted a qualitative study that consisted of one focus group (n = 5) and 52 in-depth interviews among parents whose children participated in a school-based physical activity and nutrition (PAN) promotion program in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. We sought to identify factors that enabled or constrained parent's support of and involvement in children's programs and to understand the underlying factors that contribute to family success in making dietary and physical activity changes at home.

Child body mass index, obesity, and proximity to fast food restaurants.

Objectives. Using a sample of elementary and middle school students, we examined the associations between body mass index (BMI), obesity, and measures of the proximity of fast food and full service restaurants to students' residences. We controlled for socioeconomic status using a novel proxy measure based on housing values.

Providing Mailing Cost Reimbursements: The Effect on Reporting Timeliness of Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Virginia.

Objectives: We investigated the effect of providing mailing cost reimbursements to local health departments on the timeliness of the reporting of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in Virginia.

Methods: The Division of Disease Prevention, Virginia Department of Health, provided mailing cost reimbursements to 31 Virginia health districts from October 2002 to December 2004. The difference (in days) between the diagnosis date (or date the STD paperwork was initiated) and the date the case/STD report was entered into the STD surveillance database was used in a negative binomial regression model against time (as divided into three periods-before, during, and after reimbursement) to estimate the effect of providing mailing cost reimbursements on reporting timeliness.

Improving Surveillance of Sexually Transmitted Diseases through Geocoded Morbidity Assignment.

Objectives: We assessed the added value of using a geocoder to improve sexually transmitted disease (STD) surveillance data and decision support through redistribution of inaccurately assigned morbidity in Richmond, Virginia.

Methods: Virginia initiated geocoding of STD data as a data quality tool in 2002. Geocoded output files were assessed and discordant proportions of reported gonorrhea and chlamydia morbidity were reassigned appropriately for the city of Richmond, Chesterfield County, and Henrico County (2002 to 2006).

An assessment of sites where persons go to meet sexual partners in St. James, Jamaica, using the PLACE method.

Objective: The objective of this study was to assess sexual behavior of persons at risk of HIV infection.

Goal: The goal of this study was to identify sites where HIV prevention is needed.

Study Design: Customers at sites where persons meet new sex partners in St.