Enhancing Private Healthcare Effectiveness in Lagos State, Nigeria: An Overview of the Effect of Quality Improvement Initiatives and Implications for Sustainable Healthcare Delivery

Background: Nigeria, a nation grappling with rapid population growth, economic intricacies, and complex healthcare challenges, particularly in Lagos State, the economic hub and most populous state, faces the challenge of ensuring quality healthcare access. The overview of the effect of quality improvement initiatives in this paper focuses on private healthcare providers in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study assesses the impact of donor-funded quality improvement projects on these private healthcare facilities. It explores the level of participation, perceived support, and tangible effects of the initiatives on healthcare delivery within private healthcare facilities. It also examines how these initiatives influence patient inflow and facility ratings, and bring about additional benefits and improvements, provides insights into the challenges faced by private healthcare providers in implementing quality improvement projects and elicits recommendations for improving the effectiveness of such initiatives. Methods: Qualitative research design was employed for in-depth exploration, utilizing semi-structured interviews. Private healthcare providers in Lagos involved in the SP4FP Quality Improvement Project were purposively sampled for diversity. Face-to-face interviews elicited insights into participation, perceived support, and project effects. Questions covered participation levels, support perception, changes observed, challenges faced, and recommendations. Thematic analysis identified recurring themes from interview transcripts. Adherence to ethical guidelines ensured participant confidentiality and informed consent. Results: Respondents affirmed active involvement in the SP4FP Quality Improvement Project, echoing literature emphasizing private-sector collaboration with the public sector. While acknowledging positive influences on facility ratings, respondents highlighted challenges within the broader Nigerian healthcare landscape affecting patient numbers. Respondents cited tangible improvements, particularly in staff management and patient care processes, validating the positive influence of quality improvement projects. Financial constraints emerged as a significant challenge, aligning with existing literature emphasizing the pragmatic difficulties faced by private healthcare providers. Conclusions: This study illuminates the complex landscape of private healthcare provision in Lagos State, emphasizing the positive impact of donor-funded quality improvement projects. The findings provide nuanced insights, guiding policymakers, healthcare managers, and practitioners toward collaborative, sustainable improvements. As Nigeria progresses, these lessons will be crucial in shaping healthcare policies prioritizing population well-being.

Environments favorable to healthy lifestyles:A systematic review of initiatives in Canada

Background: In recent years, a number of initiatives aimed at promoting healthy lifestyles in health-friendly environments have been implemented.The purpose of this review is to synthesize initiatives conducted in Canada and documented in publications for the period 1995–2015 in order to gain a better understanding of their objectives and impacts.Methods: A systematic review of Canadian initiatives published over the past 20 years was conducted from multiple databases(i.e., Scopus,SPORTDiscus, Pub Med, Academic search complete, Reseausante.com, Cairn, and Erudit). In total, 264 publications were identified and retained for the final analysis based on 5 criteria:(1) publication between 1995 and 2015,(2) online availability,(3) research conducted in Canada,(4) main topic related to environments favorable to healthy lifestyles(EFHL), and(5) publication in French or English.Results: A sharp increase in the number of studies on EFHL was observed between 2010 and 2015(57%). Two major lifestyle components—physical activity and nutrition—and 2 environmental aspects—neighborhood and built environment—were the elements most frequently examined regarding adults(48%), young people(34%), and seniors(9%), using quantitative(60%) and qualitative(18%) methods. Furthermore, the analysis reveals a greater focus on the municipal(53%) than the national or provincial levels(31%).Conclusion: This work is a first map of Canadian studies related to EFHL. It clarifies the definition of EFHL and classifies its components. As well,it documents the issues raised, the research methods employed, and the role of stakeholders, while outlining a new research agenda that includes dimensions of EFHL formerly neglected by researchers, namely, political and sociocultural spheres of action.? 2018 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Shanghai University of Sport. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Open Source Initiatives for Big Data Governance and Security:A Survey

With the rapid development of lnternet technology, the volume of data has increased exponentially. As the large amounts of data are no longer easy to be managed and secured by the owners, big data security and privacy has become a hot issue. One of the most popular research fields for solving the data security and data privacy is within the scope of big data governance and security, In this paper, we introduce the basic concepts of data governance and security. Then, all the state-of-the-art open source frameworks for data governance and security, including Apache Falcon, Apache Atlas, Apache Ranger, Apache Sentry and Kerberos, are detailed and discussed with descriptions of their implementation principles and possible applications.

Indian Solar Panel Initiatives in Reducing Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Environmental degradation and the emission of greenhouse gases particularly carbon dioxide have expanded problems to human wellness and to the atmosphere. The second-most populated country in the globe, India, is among the primary users of conventional resources, which leads to global warming. The growth rate is anticipated to raise more before 2050, which will cause the brisk industrial expansion and rising energy demand to both increases. In order to reduce carbon emissions and meet energy requirements, many countries use alternate usage of renewable energy particularly solar energy. In this review we aim to study solar panel schemes initiated by India, mainly focusing on National Solar Mission. This study also reviews the present solar installed capacity, solar panel scheme 2022, and initiatives and outcomes of solar panels in residences and offices. This study reviewed that by using solar panel resources, the (MNRE) Ministry of New and Renewable Energy hopes to help the Indian Government reach its purpose of 100 GW solar installed capacity by end of 2022. Despite having an amazing 40 GW of solar power installed capacity till December 2021, India is still far from reaching its own goal of 100 GW by March 2023 as per NSM. In essence, this means that India will need to change a few of its ongoing plans further.

Mobilization Initiatives for Enhancing Secondary School Students’ Enrolment into Vocational and Technical Education Program of Universities for Self Reliance in South East, Nigeria

This study focused on identification of mobilization initiatives for enhancing student’s enrolment into Vocational and Technical Education (VTE) programs in Nigerian Universities. Three research questions guided the study while three hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study was carried out in South East, Nigeria. Population for the study was 1340. Sample for the study was 753 obtained through proportionate (30%) stratified random sampling technique. A 38 item questionnaire was developed and used to collect data. Data obtained were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer research questions while t-test statistic was used to test hypotheses at probability of 0.05 level. It was found out by the study that 38 mobilization initiatives could be used to enhance students’ enrolment into Vocational and Technical Education Programs in Nigerian Universities. It was therefore recommended that the identified mobilization initiatives be implemented by relevant stakeholders to enhance secondary school students’ enrollment into VTE programs in Nigerian Universities.

Students＇ Perception and Experiences of A Programme with Cultural and Adventure Initiatives Towards Group Cohesion

The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine the influence of selected cultural and adventure initiatives on the perception and experiences of group cohesion in a multicultural higher education institution. After a 3-day camp, rich qualitative data f^om students （n = 120） were gathered through focus group discussions and PowerPoint presentations. Using ATLAS.ti, four themes emerged： positive attitude and behaviour, maintaining group level, self-maintaining, and membership attraction and attachment. The findings revealed positive experiences among the participants. It is recommended that follow-up interventions should follow to ensure sustainability.

The Belt and Road Initiatives and China＇s International Energy Cooperation： Progress, Mechanisms, and Recommendations

China＇s international energy cooperation and energy security are important parts of The Belt and Road initiatives. China and the countries along the Belt and Road continue to promote cooperation, actively use the existing bilateral and multilateral cooperation mechanisms to promote the regional and inter-regional energy cooperation. Countries along the Belt and Road are rich in oil and gas resources; their demand on the diversification of export meet with the diversification demand on imports of consumption countries; and their oil refining and chemical technology as well as construction capacity is weak, which provides a lot of new opportunities in cooperation for Chinese enterprises. However, the energy cooperation of Chinese enterprises are also facing some challenges in the complex environment of energy cooperation, the interference of big powers, non-traditional security threats, and energy policy factors. Finally, the paper puts forward the strategic thinking of China＇s international energy cooperation under the new situation.

Banks, Digital Banking Initiatives and the Financial Safety Net: Theory and Analytical Framework

This report presents an analytical framework for exploring the implications of Fintech innovations for incumbent banks and for provision of the financial safety net.The focus is on“digital banking initiatives”,that is,on Fintech initiatives that provide retail financial services akin to those traditionally provided by banks.Banks perform a wide range of functions for individual and institutional customers that help facilitate large-scale economic activity.In fact,in most economies the system of financial intermediation centres on banks and relies on their core products and services for financing of the economy and the maintenance of liquidity.On account of the central role banks play in the financial system,along with concerns about potential systemic instability linked to the riskiness of their activities,these institutions have long been regarded as“special”,as reflected in their prudential regulation and coverage under the various provisions of the financial safety net.Recent developments raise questions about the special status of banks.Two sets of questions are addressed herein:To what extent do new digital banking initiatives change the role that incumbent banks play in the financial system and the way that they perform their functions?To what extent are some of the new digital banking initiatives securing the benefits of the financial safety net without paying the commensurate price?To help address these questions the report first revisits the literature on core functions of the financial system to provide a framework for analysing recent developments.Particular attention is paid in this context to banks and their products and services.The“special”role of banks is discussed,which links to the provisions of the traditional safety net.These overview sections are followed by evidence on Fintech innovations that overlap the core banking products.Based on an examination of the characteristics of these new initiatives,the study then touches on the issue of whether banks are still special and whether some of these initiatives are or should be covered by financial safety net provisions.

Policies and Initiatives for Carbon Neutrality in Nordic Heating and Transport Systems

Policies and initiatives promoting carbon neutrality in the Nordic heating and transport systems are presented. The focus within heating systems is the promotion of HPs （heat pumps） while the focus within transport systems is initiatives regarding EVs （electric vehicles）. It is found that the conversion to HPs in the Nordic region relies on both private economic and national economic incentives. Initiatives toward carbon neutrality in the transport system are mostly concentrated on research, development and demonstration for deployment of a large number of EVs. All Nordic countries have plans for the future heating and transport systems with the ambition of realizing carbon neutrality.

How to Improve Students' Initiatives in Cooperative Teaching

With the development of the society, cooperative teaching is no longer a new topic, but a new teaching ideology with great zeitgeist. Nowadays, each part of the society pays more and more attention to cooperative spirit, cooperative consciousness and cooperative skills. As a kind of competence which is more important than knowledge, cooperation is becoming a rather important accomplishment of people, which is quite popular among them. For a long time, the traditional teaching mode in our country is neither helpful to the development of the main role of students', nor to the students' cooperative consciousness or competence. Therefore, during the new round of curriculum reform, changing the students' learning methods has been a focus of people. Under this background, we bring"cooperative learning in groups"into our class, and try to explore it from multiple angles.In this thesis, I will give advice to the cooperative teaching mode through analyzing the theoretical basis, teaching mode and teaching characteristics of the cooperative teaching in order that students' initiatives can be improved in cooperative teaching.

Population and Environment:Necessary Transition Initiatives for Developing Countries

Now environment is an important topic in academic field.Many researches focus on the negative outcomes of nature which are being continually created by human and much attention has been paid to how the environment is protected through integrated research,movement and policy.But few studies are concentrated on population and environment and are to find out the interconnectivity and underlying mechanism that have an effect on people's preferring additional children and perception to environment.Many researchers claim that population growth is a great problem for environment but they do not provide the indepth integrated knowledge and mechanism that influence fertility trend and environmental problems.It is very crucial to develop practical and concrete initiatives to confirm a transition to reduce population growth and redirect the perception on population and environment.

The value of China-Africa health development initiatives in strengthening 'One Health' strategy

Implementing national to community-based 'One Health' strategy for human,animal and environmental challenges and migrating-led consequences offer great opportunities,and its value of sustained development and wellbeing is an imperative.'One Health' strategy in policy commitment,partnership and financial investment are much needed in advocacy,contextual health human-animal and environmental development.Therefore,appropriate and evidence-based handling and management strategies in moving forward universal health coverage and sustainable development goals (SDGs) are essential components to the China-Africa health development initiatives.It is necessary to understand how to strengthen robust and sustainable 'One Health' approach implementation in national and regional public health and disaster risk reduction programs.Understanding the foundation of'One Health' strategy in China-Africa public health cooperation is crucial in fostering health systems preparedness and smart response against emerging and re-emerging threats and epidemics.Building the value of China-Africa 'One Health' strategy partnerships,frameworks and capacity development and implementation through leveraging on current and innovative China-Africa health initiatives,but also,mobilizing efforts on climatic changes and disasters mitigation and lifestyle adaptations strategies against emerging and current infectious diseases threats are essential to establish epidemic surveillance-response system under the concept of global collaborative coordination and lasting financing mechanisms.Further strengthen local infrastructure and workforce capacity,participatory accountability and transparency on 'One Health' approach will benefit to set up infectious diseases of poverty projects,and effective monitoring and evaluation systems in achieving African Union 2063 Agenda and SDGs targets both in Africa and China.

Local Initiatives of Land Rehabilitation in the Sudano-Sahelian Region: Case of <i>Hardé</i>Soils in the Far North Region of Cameroon

Local initiatives of hardé soils rehabilitation in Maroua region have been analyzed. Fieldwork consisted of conducting observations and surveys beside farmers in two study sites, Mizileng and Zokok. Investigations on perception of land degradation signs by farmers show that appearance of encrusted surfaces and loss of vegetation cover are signs more expressed in both study sites. Causes expressed include acceleration of water and wind erosion processes, excessive falling of trees, inappropriate farming techniques and climatic hazards. The main consequences are declining of crop yields, lack of farming land and loss natural pastures. Rehabilitation actions undertaken by local communities surveyed include earth dikes, tillage including cart or hoe ploughing, application of organic matter, integrating farming techniques such as fallowing, association and rotation of crop, and lastly, parking of animals on plots to be rehabilitated. Populations assert in their majority perceive in six months to three years signs of real change on planning plots. Constraints to those rehabilitation actions include material requirements that are mostly not available or accessible to farmers in the study area and access to land. Globally, there is no integration of local knowledge in the implementation of projects and consequences are localized and ephemeral efficiency, but also not conclusive results. Implementation of an innovation in rural areas must take into account the factors of ownership and inscribe in a well-defined trajectory. This trajectory must be dynamic and reflexive where local knowledge will cope with expert knowledge to ensure impact and sustainability of innovation.

Implications from Park Public-Private Partnership(PPP)Initiatives in China and Japan

In this study,the statistical information of 166 park Public-Private Partnership(PPP)projects in China,such as investment,area,project stage,and locality area,was collected to analyze types of clusters and defined five types.For each type of cluster,it was possible to analyze the merits of park PPP projects in China.The case study also revealed the construction process of the entities that build,manage and operate the projects.With the findings from the analysis,it can present a perspective on Japan and China and compare park Private Finance Initiative(PFI)and PPP projects between Japan and China.

The Belt and Road Initiatives and China＇s Middle East Energy Policy

The paper analyses the roots of the Belt and Road Initiative as well as China＇s Middle East Energy Policy in an age of great transformation. China＇s rapidly progressed economic growth leading to a dramatic increase in China＇s energy demand in recent years. The Middle East countries play a critical role in the international energy markets. Stable relations with the Middle East countries become increasingly important for Chinese energy security, and the continued development. The protection of these relations lies at the core of the Belt and Road Initiative. Within The Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese Middle East energy policy proceeds according to the energy cooperation framework known as ＂1＋2＋3＂, which seeks to build a reliable China-Arab strategic cooperative relationship based on long-term friendship. To avoid over dependence on the energy resources of the Middle East, China will also continue to search for other overseas energy sources and protect transportation channels. Despite risks and challenges associated with energy imports from the Middle East, China has cultivated strong relations with states in the region and will develop these economic ties further in the coming years.

Organizing resilient infrastructure initiatives:A study on conceptualization,motivation,and operation of ten initiatives in the Netherlands

Resilient infrastructure is critical to a sustainable and functioning society.Infrastructure management and(re)development are highly complex processes encompassing various stakeholders’interests while they are pres-sured by the uncertainty of climate change and social transition.In response to these challenges,various resilience initiatives emerged with different motivations and approaches.The purpose of this research is to understand the interplay between motivations and organizational approaches as well as resilience conceptualization.This can provide insights into which domains of resilience have been focused on and what needs to be improved in their or-ganizational approaches to realize motivations.This research specifically investigates ten resilient infrastructure initiatives in the Netherlands.By using scoping review and content analysis,our results highlight that resilience initiatives conceptualize resilience in different ways,mainly focusing on built and organizational resilience with a focus on long-term and wider geographic scope.Each initiative had several motivations,including 1)creat-ing innovative solutions,2)sharing knowledge,3)promoting commitment and cooperation,and 4)promoting resilience.These motivations are reflected in the organizational approach.For example,there was a strong link between the motivation‘creating shared knowledge’and the organizational approach‘research collaboration.’Generic motivation such as‘promoting resilience’does not have one mainstreaming approach,which shows promoting resilience in practice is still in the exploration stage.This research provides major motivations and organizational approaches and their link within the resilient infrastructure initiatives which can contribute to better organizing similar initiatives aiming for resilient infrastructure.

Quality initiatives in the cardiac catheterization and interventionallaboratories

Challenges Change in the healthcare landscape:life on the fast laneThe working environment in American cardiaccatheterization laboratories(CCL)has changedsignificantly over the last two decades(http://www.scai.org/QIT/Default.aspx).It has moved from performingmostly cardiac diagnostic catheterization to more complex

Crowdsourcing to identify social innovation initiatives in health in low- and middleincome countries

Background:Crowdsourcing is a distributed problem-solving and production mechanism that leverages the collective intelligence of non-expert individuals and networked communities for specific goals.Social innovation(SI)initiatives aim to address health challenges in a sustainable manner,with a potential to strengthen health systems.They are developed by actors from different backgrounds and disciplines.This paper describes the application of crowdsourcing as a research method to explore SI initiatives in health.Methods:The study explored crowdsourcing as a method to identify SI initiatives implemented in Africa,Asia and Latin America.While crowdsourcing has been used in high-income country settings,there is limited knowledge on its use,benefits and challenges in low-and middle-income country(LMIC)settings.From 2014 to 2018,six crowdsourcing contests were conducted at global,regional and national levels.Results:A total of 305 eligible projects were identified;of these 38 SI initiatives in health were identified.We describe the process used to perform a crowdsourcing contest for SI,the outcome of the contests,and the challenges and opportunities when using this mechanism in LMICs.Conclusions:We demonstrate that crowdsourcing is a participatory method,that is able to identify bottom-up or grassroots SI initiatives developed by non-traditional actors.

China’s International Education Initiatives and View of Its Role in Global Governance

China is becoming an increasingly important actor in global governance.This paper contends that China participates by promoting its own global governance concepts on the one hand and by complying with the established global norms on the other.The paper introduces several key global governance concepts of the Chinese government and argues that they are likely to persist due to their roots in traditional Chinese Daoist and Confucian philosophies.It then focuses on China’s initiatives in education-the creation of Confucius Institutes and China’s involvement in United Nations(UN)educational initiatives-as examples of the Chinese approach.Finally,the paper discusses China’s educational profile in relation to its broader role in global governance.

Russia’s Peace Initiatives in the MENA Region: Evaluation and Prospects

Russia’s recent thundering‘return’to the Middle East is first and foremost an obvious result of the effective use of hard power,rather than the tools of soft power such as economics or diplomacy,which played important but secondary roles.The most visible symbol of this return is the establishment of two permanent sovereign Russian military bases in Syria.Indeed,Moscow has extensive experience in employing hard power to protect its interests,but political,financial and security costs and risks of its application are aplenty,which will dictate Russia’s more cautious policy on this matter in the future.Having gained a military foothold in the region,Russia now seeks to augment its influence in the MENA region further,and increasingly through the use of soft power,particularly diplomatic initiatives.The Astana-Sochi process is the format that Russia has moulded for this purpose.The study seeks to provide,first,an analysis of the Astana-Sochi process for Syria,its theoretical foundations and practical implementations,evaluation of its strengths and weaknesses,and then explore its applicability in the MENA region considering both objective features of the format and more subjective implications of the wider Russian involvement in the region against the backdrop of rising tensions between Moscow and the West.