A bibliometric and systematic review of the Methods for the Improvement of Vulnerability Assessment in Europe framework: A guide for the development of further multi-hazard holistic framework.

Unlabelled: Conceptual frameworks are vital for identifying relevant components, dimensions and indicators to assess vulnerability to natural hazards and climatic change. Given the fact that vulnerability is applied and used in various disciplines and by multiple schools of thought, several conceptual frameworks to assess and conceptualise vulnerability have been developed. Even though these frameworks have been widely cited in research, the range and context of application and contextual use of such frameworks have rarely been explored.

spp. in Austria-The Tick, the Climate, the Diseases and the Risk for Humans and Animals.

Recently, ticks of spp. have been found more often in areas previously lacking this tick species. Due to their important role as a vector of different diseases, such as Crimean-Congo-hemorrhagic fever (CCHF), the occurrence and potential spread of this tick species is of major concern.

Explaining Accessibility and Satisfaction Related to Healthcare: A Mixed-Methods Approach.

Accessibility and satisfaction related to healthcare services are conceived as multidimensional concepts. These concepts can be studied using objective and subjective measures. In this study, we created two indices: a composite healthcare accessibility index (CHCA) and a composite healthcare satisfaction index (CHCS).

A spatial model of socioeconomic and environmental determinants of dengue fever in Cali, Colombia.

Dengue fever has gradually re-emerged across the global South, particularly affecting urban areas of the tropics and sub-tropics. The dynamics of dengue fever transmission are sensitive to changes in environmental conditions, as well as local demographic and socioeconomic factors. In 2010, the municipality of Cali, Colombia, experienced one of its worst outbreaks, however the outbreak was not spatially homogeneous across the city.

Modelling homogeneous regions of social vulnerability to malaria in Rwanda.

Despite the decline in malaria incidence due to intense interventions, potentials for malaria transmission persist in Rwanda. To eradicate malaria in Rwanda, strategies need to expand beyond approaches that focus solely on malaria epidemiology and also consider the socioeconomic, demographic and biological/disease-related factors that determine the vulnerability of potentially exposed populations. This paper analyses current levels of social vulnerability to malaria in Rwanda by integrating a set of weighted vulnerability indicators.

Environmental change and Rift Valley fever in eastern Africa: projecting beyond HEALTHY FUTURES.

Outbreaks of Rift Valley fever (RVF), a relatively recently emerged zoonosis endemic to large parts of sub-Saharan Africa that has the potential to spread beyond the continent, have profound health and socio-economic impacts, particularly in communities where resilience is already low. Here output from a new, dynamic disease model [the Liverpool RVF (LRVF) model], driven by downscaled, bias-corrected climate change data from an ensemble of global circulation models from the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project run according to two radiative forcing scenarios [representative concentration pathway (RCP)4.5 and RCP8.

A multi-criteria spatial deprivation index to support health inequality analyses.

Background: Deprivation indices are useful measures to analyze health inequalities. There are several methods to construct these indices, however, few studies have used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Multi-Criteria methods to construct a deprivation index. Therefore, this study applies Multi-Criteria Evaluation to calculate weights for the indicators that make up the deprivation index and a GIS-based fuzzy approach to create different scenarios of this index is also implemented.

Assessing the social vulnerability to malaria in Rwanda.

Background: Since 2004, malaria interventions in Rwanda have resulted in substantial decline of malaria incidence. However, this achievement is fragile as potentials for local malaria transmissions remain. The risk of getting malaria infection is partially explained by social conditions of vulnerable populations.

Spatial-explicit modeling of social vulnerability to malaria in East Africa.

Background: Despite efforts in eradication and control, malaria remains a global challenge, particularly affecting vulnerable groups. Despite the recession in malaria cases, previously malaria free areas are increasingly confronted with epidemics as a result of changing environmental and socioeconomic conditions. Next to modeling transmission intensities and probabilities, integrated spatial methods targeting the complex interplay of factors that contribute to social vulnerability are required to effectively reduce malaria burden.

Myths and realities about the recovery of L׳Aquila after the earthquake.

There is a set of myths which are linked to the recovery of L׳Aquila, such as: the L׳Aquila recovery has come to a halt, it is still in an early recovery phase, and there is economic stagnation. The objective of this paper is threefold: (a) to identify and develop a set of spatial indicators for the case of L׳Aquila, (b) to test the feasibility of a numerical assessment of these spatial indicators as a method to monitor the progress of a recovery process after an earthquake and (c) to answer the question whether the recovery process in L׳Aquila stagnates or not. We hypothesize that after an earthquake the spatial distribution of expert defined variables can constitute an index to assess the recovery process more objectively.

A WebGIS tool for visualizing and exploring socioeconomic vulnerability to dengue fever in Cali, Colombia.

WebGIS tools have the potential to disseminate the outputs of spatial vulnerability assessments to a wide range of communities, including public health decision-makers. Based on a previous assessment of socioeconomic vulnerability to dengue fever in Cali, Colombia, we developed and used a WebGIS tool to facilitate the visualization, exploration and dissemination of prevailing vulnerabilities to dengue fever in an interactive online environment. Results show that the tool presented here has distinct implications for policy and decision-making as it facilitates spatial prioritisation, both with respect to the intervention areas and the intervention measures needed to reduce human susceptibility and strengthen resilience to the disease.

Assessing socioeconomic vulnerability to dengue fever in Cali, Colombia: statistical vs expert-based modeling.

Background: As a result of changes in climatic conditions and greater resistance to insecticides, many regions across the globe, including Colombia, have been facing a resurgence of vector-borne diseases, and dengue fever in particular. Timely information on both (1) the spatial distribution of the disease, and (2) prevailing vulnerabilities of the population are needed to adequately plan targeted preventive intervention. We propose a methodology for the spatial assessment of current socioeconomic vulnerabilities to dengue fever in Cali, a tropical urban environment of Colombia.