Nutrition impacts of non-solid cooking fuel adoption on under-five children in developing countries

This paper examines the nutrition impacts of using non-solid cooking fuel on under-five children in developing countries.We draw on data from more than 1.12 million children in 62 developing countries from the Demographic and Health Surveys(DHS).Results from both fixed effects(FE)and instrumental variable(IV)estimates show that using non-solid cooking fuel significantly improves the nutrition outcomes of under-five children.Compared with their peers from households mainly using solid fuel,children from households mainly using non-solid fuel exhibit a lower probability of experiencing stunting(by 5.9 percentage points)and being underweight(by 1.2 percentage points).Our further investigation provides evidence for several underlying mechanisms,such as improved indoor air quality,induced reduction in children’s respiratory symptoms,benefits on maternal health,and reduction in maternal time spent on fuel collection or cooking.Heterogenous analyses suggest that the nutrition benefits of using non-solid cooking fuel are more prominent among boys,children above three years old,and those from households of lower socioeconomic status,rural areas,and Southeast Asia.

Challenges to establishing and maintaining kidney transplantation programs in developing countries:What are the coping strategies?

Kidney transplantation(KT)is the optimal form of renal replacement therapy for patients with end-stage renal diseases.However,this health service is not available to all patients,especially in developing countries.The deceased donor KT programs are mostly absent,and the living donor KT centers are scarce.Single-center studies presenting experiences from developing countries usually report a variety of challenges.This review addresses these challenges and the opposing strategies by reviewing the single-center experiences of developing countries.The financial challenges hamper the infrastructural and material availability,coverage of transplant costs,and qualification of medical personnel.The sociocultural challenges influence organ donation,equity of beneficence,and regular follow-up work.Low interests and motives for transplantation may result from high medicolegal responsibilities in KT practice,intense potential psychosocial burdens,complex qualification protocols,and low productivity or compensation for KT practice.Low medical literacy about KT advantages is prevalent among clinicians,patients,and the public.The inefficient organizational and regulatory oversight is translated into inefficient healthcare systems,absent national KT programs and registries,uncoordinated job descriptions and qualification protocols,uncoordinated on-site investigations with regulatory constraints,and the prevalence of commercial KT practices.These challenges resulted in noticeable differences between KT services in developed and developing countries.The coping strategies can be summarized in two main mechanisms:The first mechanism is maximizing the available resources by increasing the rates of living kidney donation,promoting the expertise of medical personnel,reducing material consumption,and supporting the establishment and maintenance of KT programs.The latter warrants the expansion of the public sector and the elimination of non-ethical KT practices.The second mechanism is recruiting external resources,including financial,experience,and training agreements.

Food Security in Developing Countries: Factors and Mitigation

Since 1976, eradicating hunger has become one of the priority objectives of the United Nations, which is included in the Charter of Human Rights;the right to get adequate food. The qualification of food security in time and space must analyze not only the three components it covers but also the relationships that these three components maintain. Climate change contributes to food insecurity, but it is not the only factor. To address food insecurity in various forms, greater food security must be combined with improved sustainable agricultural practices with minimal strain on the environment. This review of literature insists on the principles of food security, which in particular allows a better understanding of food insecurity in developing countries and favors a greater contribution of agriculture and food systems in general to nutritional progress.

The barriers of joining in vitro fertilization programs among infertile couples in developing countries:A scoping review

Objective:To determine the barriers of joining in-vitro fertilization(IVF)programs among infertile couples in developing countries.Methods:This study assessed infertile couples and the barriers or associated factors resulting in delayed decision-making of joining IVF program by searching databases PubMed,ScienceDirect,EBSCO,ClinicalKey,and Cochrane Library from inception until December 31,2021.Additional search strategies were snowballing literature search and citation tracking.Results:Eleven articles were included in the scoping review.The cost was the greatest barrier of joining IVF program.Limited access and lack of assisted reproductive technology centers,few qualified infertility trained staff,insufficient government support,low priority in government policy,along with sociocultural factors,such as religion and false beliefs or myths were also majorly considered to be associated obstacles.Conclusions:The main barrier associated with IVF program among infertile couples in developing countries is the high cost of the IVF services.

Environmental Impact Assessment System and Process in Developing Countries

Environmental impact assessment (EIA), a decision-making process for project appraisal and sustainability adopted globally as an administrative process to identify, predict, evaluate, and monitor projects from their feasibility, preconstruction, construction, and operation stages to mitigate the adverse impacts and enhance the beneficial impacts for the protection of the affected environment, The study objective is to explore global EIA systems and processes and find shortcomings and implications for making the best instrument or tool to protect the natural environment from man-made activities over the project cycle. For this, the relevant literature on the EIA system and process was reviewed and evaluated through the application of quantitative and qualitative approaches, including the assessment of legal instruments and the adoption of EIA methodologies in developing countries. EIA, initiated in the 1970s in the US and Australia, expanded to developing countries and was amended in East and Southeast Asia from the 1970s to the 2000s. The evaluation assessed that the South Asian countries follow UNEP and IAIA guidelines, utilizing national laws and expert consultations, with screening criteria and administrative processes based on established environmental legislation. Ad hoc, checklist, matrix, network, overlay, cost-benefit analysis, and predictive or simulation in EIA practice are used to assess the environmental impacts of development activities. Failure to recommend major projects undermines public trust and prevents mitigation measures from being implemented. Most developing countries have followed EIA to fulfill the legal requirement with shadow-off monitoring and follow-up rather than to upset, reduce, or compensate for the project impacts as per size, location, and severity of the project area. The research and guidelines outlined in the IAIA principles and process have synthesized the best EIA practices worldwide. Public participation, impact coverage, scientific mitigation, transparent evidence-based approaches, monitoring, follow-up, legitimate approaches, and future appraisal opportunities are major concerns to be included in best EIA practice.

Digital Development Rights in Developing Countries:Where the Governance Rules for Cross-Border Data Flows

The digital development rights in developing countries are based on establishing a new international economic order and ensuring equal participation in the digital globalization process to achieve people's well-rounded development in the digital society.The relationship between cross-border data flows and the realization of digital development rights in developing countries is quite complex.Currently,developing countries seek to safeguard their existing digital interests through unilateral regulation to protect data sovereignty and multilateral regulation for cross-border data cooperation.However,developing countries still have to face internal conflicts between national digital development rights and individual and corporate digital development rights during the process of realizing digital development rights.They also encounter external contradictions such as developed countries interfering with developing countries'data sovereignty,developed countries squeezing the policy space of developing countries through dominant rules,and developing countries having conflicts between domestic and international rules.This article argues that balancing openness and security on digital trade platforms is the optimal solution for developing countries to realize their digital development rights.The establishment of WTO digital trade rules should inherently reflect the fundamental demands of developing countries in cross-border data flows.At the same time,given China's dual role as a digital powerhouse and a developing country,it should actively promote the realization of digital development rights in developing countries.

Epidemiological transition of colorectal cancer in developing countries: Environmental factors, molecular pathways, and opportunities for prevention

Colorectal cancer(CRC)is one of the leading causes of cancer and cancer-related mortality worldwide.The disease has been traditionally a major health problem in industrial countries,however the CRC rates are increasing in the developing countries that are undergoing economic growth.Several environmental risk factors,mainly changes in diet and life style,have been suggested to underlie the rise of CRC in these populations.Diet and lifestyle impinge on nuclear receptors,on the intestinal microbiota and on crucial molecular pathways that are implicated in intestinal carcinogenesis.In this respect,the epidemiological transition in several regions of the world offers a unique opportunity to better understand CRC carcinogenesis by studying the disease phenotypes and their environmental and molecular associations in different populations.The data from these studies may have important implications for the global prevention and treatment of CRC.

Gastroenterology in developing countries:Issues and advances

Developing countries shoulder a considerable burden of gastroenterological disease. Infectious diseases in particular cause enormous morbidity and mortality. Diseases which afflict both western and developing countries are often seen in more florid forms in poorer countries. Innovative techniques continuously improve and update gastroenterological practice. However, advances in diagnosis and treatment which are commonplace in the West, have yet to reach many developing countries. Clinical guidelines, based on these advances and collated in resource-rich environments, lose their relevance outside these settings. In this two-part review, we first highlight the global burden of gastroenterological disease in three major areas： diarrhoeal diseases, hepatitis B, and Helicobacter pylori. Recent progress in their management is explored, with consideration of future solutions. The second part of the review focuses on the delivery of clinical services in developing countries. Inadequate numbers of healthcare workers hamper efforts to combat gastroenterological disease. Reasons for this shortage are examined, along with possibilities for increased specialist training. Endoscopy services, the mainstay of gastroenterology in the West, are in their infancy in many developing countries. The challenges faced by those se^ing up a service are illustrated by the example of a Nigerian endoscopy unit. Finally, we highlight the limited scope of many clinical guidelines produced in western countries. Guidelines which take account of resource limitations in the form of ＂cascades＂ are advocated in order to make these guidelines truly global. Recognition of the different working conditions facing practitioners worldwide is an important step towards narrowing the gap between gastroenterology in rich and poor countries.

Celiac disease in the developing countries: A new and challenging public health problem

In the past, celiac disease was believed to be a chronic enteropathy, almost exclusively affecting people of European origin. The availability of new, simple, very sensitive and specific serological tests （anti-gliadin, anti- endomysium and anti-transglutaminase antibody assays） have shown that celiac disease is common not only in Europe and in people of European ancestry but also in the developing countries where the major staple diet is wheat （Southern Asia, the Middle East, North West and East Africa, South America）, both in the general population and in the groups at risk. Gluten intolerance thus appears to be a widespread public health problem and an increased level of awareness and clinical suspicion are needed in the New World where physicians must learn to recognize the variable clinical presentations （classical, atypical and silent forms） of celiac disease. In the developing countries, both serological screening in the general population and serological testing in groups at risk are necessary for an early identification of celiac patients. The gluten-free diet poses a challenging public health problem in the developing countries, especially since commercial gluten-free products are not available.

Management of hepatitis B in developing countries

Hepatitis B is one of the leading causes of chronic hepatitis in developing countries, with 5% to 15% of the population carrying virus. The high prevalence is due to failure to adopt appropriate measure to confine the spread of infection. Most hepatitis B patients present with advanced diseases. Although perinatal transmission is believed to be an important mode, most infections in the developing world occur in childhood and early adulthood. Factors in developing countries associated with the progression of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) include co-infections with human immunodeficiency virus, delta hepatitis virus, hepatitis C virus, alcohol intake and aflatoxin. Treatment protocols extrapolated from developed countries may need modifications according to the resources available. There is some controversy as to when to start treatment, with what medication and for how long? There is now enough evidence to support that hepatitis B patients should be considered for treatment if they show persistently elevated abnormal aminotransferase levels in the last 6 mo, checked on at least three separate occasions, and a serum hepatitis B virus DNA level of > 2000 IU/mL. Therapeutic agents that were approved by Pure Food and Drug Administration are now available in many developing countries. These include standard interferon (INF)-α, pegylated INF-α, lamivudine, adefovir, entecavir and telbivudine. Drug resistance has emerged as a major challenge in the management of patients with CHB. The role of the universal vaccination program for effective control of hepatitis B cannot be emphasized enough.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in developing countries

TO THE EDITORNonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an increasingly known medical entity with high prevalence, about 1 0 to 24 percent in general population and up to 74% in obese population[1]. The prevalence of the disease is expected to increase worldwide, as we are encountering the global obesity epidemic and the trend in developing countries toward the Western lifestyles. However, it looks that there are some differences between the demographic and epidemiologic features of NAFLD in developing and developed countries.

Chemical Safety as a Major Challenge for Developing Countries: Role of the International Program on Chemical Safety^1

Developing countries face a number of unique problems related to the hazards of chemicals. The WHO International Program on Chemical Safety may play a useful role by working jointly with Member Nations and such international organizations as FAO, UNEP. and ILO. (c)1990 Academic Press. Inc.

Typhoid intestinal perforation in developing countries: Still unavoidable deaths?

Typhoid fever is a public health challenge mostly concentrated in impoverished, overcrowded areas of the developing world, with lack of safe drinking and sanitation. The most serious complication is typhoid intestinal perforation(TIP), observed in 0.8% to 39%, with a striking rate difference between high-income and low-middle-income countries. Although the mortality rate consequent to TIP in resource-poor countries is improved in the last decades, it is still fluctuating from 5% to 80%, due to surgical-and not surgical-related constraints. Huge economic costs and long timelines are required to provide a short-to middle-term solution to the lack of safe water and sanitation. Inherent limitations of the currently available diagnostic tools may lead to under-evaluation as well as over-evaluation of the disease, with consequent delayed treatment or inappropriate, excessive antibiotic use, hence increasing the likelihood of bacterial resistance. There is a need for immunization programs in populations at greatest risk, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Uniform surgical strategies and guidelines, on the basis of sound or prospective surgical studies and adapted to the local realities, are still lacking. Major drawbacks of the surgical treatment are the frequent delays to surgery, either for late diagnosis or for difficult transports, and the unavailable appropriate intensive care units in most peripheral facilities. As a consequence, poor patient's conditions at presentation, severe peritoneal contamination and unsuitable postoperative care are the foremost determinant of surgical morbidity and mortality.

Quality Assurance in Toxicology Studies in Developing Countries

As developing countries become more involved in the international chemical trade, they must adhere to certain requirements for importation of their chemicals into foreign countries. These developing countries will be required to provide basic safety information on their chemical products, including data developed from chemical and toxicologic testing. These data must be developed in accordance with the national requirements of the importing country. Many importing countries have adopted the OECD Test Guidelines and the OECD Principles of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) as primary guidance to assure the quality of laboratory data. These procedures provide a basis for internationally acceptable data. Several countries have incorporated many of these provisions into their national laws or administrative procedures. These procedures describe the process of documenting the conduct of laboratory studies, including recording of data, reporting of study results, and storage of data gathered. This process is intended to assure the quality and integrity of the data so that, if required, the study can be reconstructed by an auditor or an inspector. Details of these procedures and their applicability to the international chemical trade are discussed. 1989 Academic Press, Inc.

Radiation oncology practice during COVID-19 pandemic in developing countries

Radiation therapy(RT)is considered one of the cornerstone modalities of treatment for different cancer types.The preparation and delivery of RT requires a number of staff members from different disciplines within the radiation oncology department.Since the emergence of the corona virus disease 2019(COVID-19)pandemic,RT,similar to other cancer care modalities,has been adapted to minimize patient and staff exposure without compromising the oncological outcomes.This was reflected in the dramatic practice changes that occurred in the past year to address the lockdown restrictions and fulfill the infection control requirements.RT practices differ across regions based on financial and training levels,and developing countries with limited resources have struggled to maintain radiation treatment services at a level equivalent to that in developed countries while following pandemic control guidelines.The response during the COVID-19 pandemic varied between developing countries according to the infection rate and RT technological capabilities.In this editorial,we review recently published articles addressing radiotherapy practice reports during the COVID-19 pandemic in developing countries.

HPV Vaccination in Young Girls from Developing Countries: What Are the Barriers for Its Implementation? A Systematic Review

Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer in women living in developing countries that account high HPV incidence and mortality rates. Vaccinating girls between 9 and 14 years old is supposed to be the most cost-effective public health approach against cervical cancer. This systematic review aims to assess the application and coverage of the HPV vaccine in developing countries and identify the main challenges for the introduction of the vaccine in these settings. Eligible studies were selected according to the defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. To determine the quality of the studies was employed the STROBE checklist. This review included seven studies, encompassing the analysis of 19 countries and 112,116 girls aged from 9 to 18 years old. The coverage of HPV vaccination ranged from 13.8% to 107.4%, with most of the programs having more than 60% of coverage, which reflects a high percentage of vaccinated girls. The main challenges were lack of knowledge and worries about the vaccine, insufficient financial resources and staff workers, lack of community involvement and dissemination of important information about HPV. In developing countries that implemented the HPV vaccine, high coverage rates were achieved, despite sociocultural, economic and political challenges. In the future, studies that analyze the coverage rates after the elimination of the barriers and the repercussions on the mortality rates should be conducted, so that more developing countries have the opportunity to efficiently implement the vaccine.

Sustainability Impact on Construction Management in Developing Countries： Iraq as a Case Study

Sustainable development contributes to the economic and social advancement of construction projects. Ignoring sustainability during the cost estimating process associated with evaluation phase develops many problems of conventional decision methodology used in construction industry in the most of developing countries. This research focuses on sustainability which is the key factor in all decision making in design and construction processes. Therefore, Iraqi construction industry should respond to sustainability as a leading indicator of its infrastructure rebuilding. The construction management and sustainability could help to manage the rebuilding of the destroyed public infrastructure during the disaster wars periods passed thru thirty years ago and also to modernize of private buildings and plants. Field study has been carried out by adopting personal interviews and questionnaires conducted with experts, experienced consultants and designers working in many design organizations. The data collected has been analyzed and the results obtained show a clear weakness in the field of sustainability understanding, practicing and implementation. Moreover, the design work in Iraq is suffering from a lack of scientific techniques and a lack in experience in the domain of sustainability field. This will take an integrated approach to study the impact of sustainability on construction management which encompasses both public and private sector perspectives for building and engineering construction, and the roles played by all the participants in the construction team （owners, contractors, design professionals, and other supporting professionals）.

Land Distribution and Economic Development： Small Scale Agriculture in Developing Countries

Small scale farmers constitute about half of world＇s hungry people and include three quarters of Africa＇s malnourished children. The appropriate identification and characterization of this population and the constraints it faces are essential for the design and the successful implementation of safety nets and to properly target their needs and effectively include them in agricultural development strategies. This paper aims at exploring the characteristics, limitations, and potential for agricultural development of small scale farmers in developing countries. It calculates four land cultivated thresholds which are then used as a measure to classify households that were surveyed in four developing countries. It empirically estimates the magnitudes of the smallholders, their characteristics, as well as their poverty status using the four thresholds. This analysis provides empirical evidence that small scale farmers still prevail in terms of population distribution in rural area settings in developing countries. Small scale farmers heavily rely on farm income as their form of livelihood and heavily contribute to the rural income. It also finds that land is unequally distributed among small and large scale farmers in the rural households. Small scale farmers also have the highest poverty rates in these rural settings.

Do Bilateral Investment Treaties Attract Foreign Direct Investment to Developing Countries？ A Review of the Empirical Literature

States have signed over 3,000 bilateral investment treaties （BITs）. BITs stipulate the terms and conditions by which foreign investors from one country must be treated in another. A series of empirical studies have asked the question, do BITs increase foreign direct investment to less developed countries？ This paper reviews the literature. While the studies come to conflicting results, most studies suffer from the same methodological misstep--they fail to account for variation in treaties. The paper concludes that the most productive path forward for future research efforts includes using dyadic research designs that account for variation in BITs.

The Importance of the Generation of Emission Factors for Developing Countries： Case of Mexico

Developing countries as Mexico lack their own emission factors for thermoelectric power plants, so they have the need to develop them, considering specific operation conditions for each plant. This study develops specific emission factors in Mexico for： sulfur dioxide （SO2）, nitrogen oxides （NOx） and particles, for thermoelectric power plants that use fuel oil. This work was necessary due to the differences found between the measured and the calculated emissions, using emission factors of different agencies, such as, US-EPA （Environmental Protection Agency of the United States）, IPCC （Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change）, and UK-NAEI （National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory of the United Kingdom）. The new emission factors were used to calculate the emissions of a thermoelectric power plant in Mexico. The comparisons between the measured and the calculated emissions （with the new emission factors） for 502, particles and NO2 were not significantly different （p 〉 0.05）.