Search results for: mobile government

Authors: Tamale Vincent

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Groundwater investigation is the investigation of underground formations to understand the hydrologic cycle, known groundwater occurrences, and identify the nature and types of aquifers. There are different groundwater investigation methods and surface geophysical method is one of the groundwater investigation more especially the Geoelectrical resistivity Schlumberger configuration method which provides valuable information regarding the lateral and vertical successions of subsurface geomaterials in terms of their individual thickness and corresponding resistivity values besides using surface geophysical method, hydrogeological and geological investigation methods are also incorporated to aid in preliminary groundwater investigation. Investigation for groundwater in lwantonde district has been implemented. The area project is located cattle corridor and the dry seasonal troubles the communities in lwantonde district of which 99% of people living there are farmers, thus making agriculture difficult and local government to provide social services to its people. The investigation was done using the Geoelectrical resistivity Schlumberger configuration method. The measurement point is located in the three sub-counties, with a total of 17 measurement points. The study location is at 0025S, 3110E, and covers an area of 160 square kilometers. Based on the results of the Geoelectrical information data, it was found two types of aquifers, which are open aquifers in depth ranging from six meters to twenty-two meters and a confined aquifer in depth ranging from forty-five meters to eighty meters. In addition to the Geoelectrical information data, drilling was done at an accessible point by heavy equipment in the Lwakagura village, Kabura sub-county. At the drilling point, artesian wells were obtained at a depth of eighty meters and can rise to two meters above the soil surface. The discovery of artesian well is then used by residents to meet the needs of clean water and for irrigation considering that in this area most wells contain iron content.

Keywords: artesian well, geoelectrical, lwantonde, Schlumberger

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Authors: Diego de Almeida Pereira

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The roughness index of a road is considered the most important parameter about the quality of the pavement, as it has a close relation with the comfort and safety of the road users. Such condition can be established by means of functional evaluation of pavement surface deviations, measured by the International Roughness Index (IRI), an index that came out of the international evaluation of pavements, coordinated by the World Bank, and currently owns, as an index of limit measure, for purposes of receiving roads in Brazil, the value of 2.7 m/km. This work make use of the e.IRI parameter, obtained by the Roadroid app. for smartphones which use Android operating system. The choice of such application is due to the practicality for the user interaction, as it possesses a data storage on a cloud of its own, and the support given to universities all around the world. Data has been collected for six months, once in each month. The studies begun in March 2018, season of precipitations that worsen the conditions of the roads, besides the opportunity to accompany the damage and the quality of the interventions performed. About 350 kilometers of sections of four federal highways were analyzed, BR-020, BR-040, BR-060 and BR-070 that connect the Federal District (area where Brasilia is located) and surroundings, chosen for their economic and tourist importance, been two of them of federal and two others of private exploitation. As well as much of the road network, the analyzed stretches are coated of Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA). Thus, this present research performs a contrastive discussion between comfort conditions and safety of the roads under private exploitation in which users pay a fee to the concessionaires so they could travel on a road that meet the minimum requirements for usage, and regarding the quality of offered service on the roads under Federal Government jurisdiction. And finally, the contrast of data collected by National Department of Transport Infrastructure – DNIT, by means of a laser perfilometer, with data achieved by Roadroid, checking the applicability, the practicality and cost-effective, considering the app limitations.

Keywords: roadroid, international roughness index, Brazilian roads, pavement

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Authors: Nataliya Apanovich, Mark Wright

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Uganda is among the poorest but fastest growing populations in the world. Its annual population growth of 3% puts additional stress through land fragmentation, agricultural intensification, and deforestation on already highly weathered tropical (Ferralsol) soils. All of these factors lead to decreased agricultural yields and consequently diminished food security. The central region of Uganda, Buganda Kingdom, is especially vulnerable in terms of food security as its high population density coupled with mismanagement of natural resources led to gradual loss of its soil and even changes in microclimate. These changes are negatively affecting livelihoods of smallholder farmers who comprise 80% of all population in Uganda. This research focuses on biochar for soil remediation in Masaka District, Uganda. If produced on a small scale from locally sourced materials, biochar can increase the quality of soil in a cost and time effective manner. To assess biochar potential, 151 smallholder farmers were interviewed on the types of crops grown, agricultural residues produced and their use, as well as on attitudes towards biochar use and its production on a small scale. The interviews were conducted in 7 sub-counties, 32 parishes, and 92 villages. The total farmland covered by the study was 606.2 kilometers. Additional information on the state of agricultural development and environmental degradation in the district was solicited from four local government officials via informal interviews. This project has been conducted in collaboration with the international agricultural research institution, Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. The results of this research can have implications on the way farmers perceive the value of their agricultural residues and what they decide to do with them. The underlying objective is to help smallholders in degraded soils increase their agricultural yields through the use of biochar without diverting the already established uses of agricultural residues to a new soil management practice.

Keywords: agricultural residues, biochar, central Uganda, food security, soil erosion, soil remediation

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Authors: Abdul-Razak Saeed

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Addressing the climate change crisis that this generation faces has evolved to include the consideration of a policy mechanism referred to as reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation with plus components of conservation, sustainable forest management and enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD+). REDD+ emerged from the International level of UNFCCC but its implementation is by developing countries. It challenges the development paradigm of nations that depend on the unsustainable clearing of forests and land use change for economic development whilst posing as an opportunity or risk for forest community livelihoods, institutions and their interaction with the forest resources. As a novel policy mechanism, it is imperative to gain global insight into local contexts of its implementation and to understand local level mobilization of their agency for institutional sustainability as reconfigured by new carbon economy initiatives like REDD+. Using a systematic review process, as the initial stages of this study, secondary data of REDD+ projects across the globe were evaluated to pick up gaps in research and that of on ground REDD+ implementation. Primary data was gathered from 30 actors in the government, NGO, private sector and traditional authorities using face-to-face semi structured interviews in Ghana; participation in meetings and workshops and policy and strategy document reviews. Preliminary findings of the study include REDD+ knowledge being a key determinant of power distribution and affects who shapes the process; in Ghana, informal relationships are playing key roles in advancing REDD+ unlike in traditional forestry and a subjectivity shift of local communities from an 'emotive-link' of environmental care to one of 'economic self-seeking and enriching' domain of thought.

Keywords: climate change, communities, forests, REDD+

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Authors: Adeleye Johnson Adelagunayeja

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The concept of making cities, communities, and neighborhoods smart, intelligent, and responsive is relatively new to Africa and its urban renewal agencies. Efforts must be made by relevant agencies to begin a holistic review of the implementation of infrastructural facilities and urban renewal methodologies that will revolve around the appreciation and application of artificial intelligence. The propagation of the ideals and benefits of the smart city concept are key factors that can encourage governments of African nations, the African Union, and other regional organizations in Africa to embrace the ideology. The ability of this smart city concept to curb insecurities – armed robbery, assassination, terrorism, and civil disorder – is one major reason, amongst others, why African governments must speedily embrace this contemporary developmental concept whose time has come! The seamlessness to access information and virtually cross-pollinate ideas with people living in already established smart cities, when combined with the great efficiency that the emergence of smart cities brings with it, are other reasons why Africa must come up with action plans that can enable the existing cities to metamorphose into smart cities. Innovations will be required to enable Africa to develop a smart city concept that will be compatible with the basic patterns of livelihood because the essence of the smart city evolution is to make life better for people to co-exist, to be productive and to enjoy standard infrastructural facilities. This research paper enumerates the multifaceted adaptive factors that have the potentials of making the adoption of smartcity concept in Africa seamless. It also proffers solutions to potential bottlenecks capable of undermining the execution of the smart city concept in Africa.

Keywords: smartcity compactibility innovation Africa government evolution, Africa as global village member, evolution in Africa, ways to make Africa adopt smartcity, localizing smartcity concept in Africa, bottleneck to smartcity developmet in Africa

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Authors: Tsega Asresa, Getahun Tigistu, Melaku Bayih

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Computer vision is a subfield of artificial intelligence that allows computers and systems to extract meaning from digital images and video. It is used in a wide range of fields of study, including self-driving cars, video surveillance, medical diagnosis, manufacturing, law, agriculture, quality control, health care, facial recognition, and military applications. Aromatic medicinal plants are botanical raw materials used in cosmetics, medicines, health foods, essential oils, decoration, cleaning, and other natural health products for therapeutic and Aromatic culinary purposes. These plants and their products not only serve as a valuable source of income for farmers and entrepreneurs but also going to export for valuable foreign currency exchange. In Ethiopia, there is a lack of technologies for the classification and identification of Aromatic medicinal plant parts and disease type cured by aromatic medicinal plants. Farmers, industry personnel, academicians, and pharmacists find it difficult to identify plant parts and disease types cured by plants before ingredient extraction in the laboratory. Manual plant identification is a time-consuming, labor-intensive, and lengthy process. To alleviate these challenges, few studies have been conducted in the area to address these issues. One way to overcome these problems is to develop a deep learning model for efficient identification of Aromatic medicinal plant parts with their corresponding disease type. The objective of the proposed study is to identify the aromatic medicinal plant parts and their disease type classification using computer vision technology. Therefore, this research initiated a model for the classification of aromatic medicinal plant parts and their disease type by exploring computer vision technology. Morphological characteristics are still the most important tools for the identification of plants. Leaves are the most widely used parts of plants besides roots, flowers, fruits, and latex. For this study, the researcher used RGB leaf images with a size of 128x128 x3. In this study, the researchers trained five cutting-edge models: convolutional neural network, Inception V3, Residual Neural Network, Mobile Network, and Visual Geometry Group. Those models were chosen after a comprehensive review of the best-performing models. The 80/20 percentage split is used to evaluate the model, and classification metrics are used to compare models. The pre-trained Inception V3 model outperforms well, with training and validation accuracy of 99.8% and 98.7%, respectively.

Keywords: aromatic medicinal plant, computer vision, convolutional neural network, deep learning, plant classification, residual neural network

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Authors: Aimite Jorge, Leenekela Usebiu

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In recent years the International Community has seen a rise of what can be termed as ‘actio popularis”;that is to say lawsuits brought by third parties in the interest of the public or the world community as a whole, such as in cases of genocide and terrorism prosecutions under international law. It is equally clear that under current globalized world the effect of multinational activities on the environment is often felt beyond the borders of the territories where they operate. Equally true is the fact that the correspondence of citizens self-determination with national government is increasingly upset by the increasing willingness of states to share some ‘sovereign powers’ in order to address new economic, environmental and security interdependencies. The ‘unbundling’ of functional governance from fixed territories sees continuously citizens give up their formal approval of key decisions in exchange for a more remote, indirect say in supra-national or international decision-making bodies. The efforts to address a growing transnational flow of ecological harm are at the forefront of such indirect transformations, as evidenced by a proliferation of multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) over the past three decades. However, unlike the defence of the global commons in cases of terrorism and genocide, there is still to be a clear application of action popularis in the case of environment, despite acknowledgement that the effect of the activities of several multinationals on the environment is as destructive to the global commons as genocide or terrorism are. Thus, this paper looking at specific cases of harmful degradation of the environment by certain multinationals transcending national boundaries, argues that it is high-time for a serious consideration of the application of the actio-popularis to environmental concerns. Although it is acknowledged that in international environmental law the challenge to reach a “critical mass” of recognition and support for an ‘actio-popularis’ for environment damage is particularly demanding, it is worth the try.

Keywords: actio popularis in environment law, global commons, transnational environmental damage, law and environment

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Authors: Ayedun Hassan, Ayadi Odunayo Peter

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The ancient city of Abeokuta has been supplied with pipe borne water since 1911, yet, a continuous increase in population and unplanned city expansion makes water a very precious and scarce commodity. The government reserved areas (GRA’s) are well planned, and public water supply is available; however, the sub-urban areas consist of scattered structures with individuals trying to source water by digging wells and boreholes. The geology of the city consists of basement rock which makes digging wells and boreholes very difficult. The present study was conducted to assess the risk arising from the consumption of toxic elements in the groundwater of Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. Forty-five groundwater samples were collected from nine different areas of Abeokuta and analyzed for physicochemical parameters and toxic elements. The physicochemical parameters were determined using standard methods, while the toxic elements were determined using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometer (ICP/MS). Ninety-six percent (96%) of the water sample has pH < 6.5, and 11% has conductivity > 250 µSCm⁻¹ limits in drinking water as recommended by WHO. Seven percent (7%) of the samples have Pb concentration >10 µgL⁻¹ while 75% have Al concentration >200 µgL⁻¹ recommended by WHO. The order for risk of cancer from different area of Abeokuta are Cd²⁺ > As³⁺ > Pb²⁺ > Cr⁶⁺ for Funaab, Camp and Obantoko; As³⁺ > Cd²⁺ > Pb²⁺ > Cr⁶⁺ for Ita Osin, Isale Igbein, Ake and Itoku; Cd²⁺ >As > Cr⁶⁺ > Pb²⁺ for Totoro; Pb²⁺ > Cd²⁺ > As³⁺ > Cr⁶⁺ for Idiaba. The order of non-cancer hazard index (HI) calculated for groundwater of Abeokuta City are Cd²⁺ > As³⁺ > Mn²⁺ > Pb²⁺ > Ni²⁺ and were all greater than one, which implies susceptibility to other illnesses. The sources of these elements are the rock and inappropriate waste disposal method, which leached the elements into the groundwater. A combination of sources from food will accumulate these elements in the human body system. Treatment to remove Al and Pb is necessary, while the method of water distribution should be reviewed to ensure access to potable water by the residents.

Keywords: Abeokuta, groundwater, Nigeria, risk

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Authors: Anna Ghosh, Dominic Shields, Ceri McIntosh, Stephen Crank

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A 29-year-old male was a referral to the maxillofacial unit following a referral from his general dental practitioner via a routine pathway regarding a large periapical lesion on the LR4 with root resorption. The patient was asymptomatic, the LR4 vital and unrestored, and this was an incidental finding at a routine check-up. The patient's past medical history was unremarkable. Examination revealed no extra or intra-oral pathology and non-mobile teeth. No focal neurology was detected. An orthopantogram demonstrated a well-defined unilocular corticated radiolucency associated with the LR4. The root appeared shortened with the radiolucency between the root and a radio-opacity, possibly representing the displacement of the apical tip of the tooth. It was recommended that the referring general practitioner should proceed with orthograde root canal therapy, after which time exploration, enucleation, and retrograde root filling of the LR4 would be carried out by a maxillofacial unit. The patient was reviewed six months later where, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the patient had been unable to access general dental services for the root canal treatment. He was still entirely asymptomatic. A one-year review was planned in the hope this would allow time for the orthograde root canal therapy to be completed. At this review, the orthograde root canal therapy had still not been completed. Interestingly, a repeat orthopantogram revealed a significant reduction in size with good bony infill and a significant reduction in the size of the lesion. Due to the ongoing delays with primary care dental therapy, the patient was subsequently internally referred to the restorative dentistry department for care. The patient was seen again by oral and maxillo-facial surgery in mid-2022 where he still reports this tooth as asymptomatic with no focal neurology. The patient's history was fully reviewed, and noted that 15 years previously, the patient underwent open reduction and internal fixation of a left angle of mandible fracture. Temporary IMF involving IMF screws and fixation wires were employed to maintain occlusion during plating and subsequently removed post-operatively. It is proposed that the radiolucency was, as a result of the IMF screw placement, penetrating the LR4 root resulting in resorption of the tooth root and development of a radiolucency. This case highlights the importance of careful screw size and physical site location, and placement of IMF screws, as there can be permeant damage to a patient’s dentition.

Keywords: facial trauma, inter-maxillary fixation, mandibular radiolucency, oral and maxillo-facial surgery

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Authors: Sun-Young Jang, Sung-Ah Kim, Dongyoun Shin

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The Intelligent transportation system is essential to build smarter cities. Machine learning based transportation prediction could be highly promising approach by delivering invisible aspect visible. In this context, this research aims to make a prototype model that predicts transportation network by using big data and machine learning technology. In detail, among urban transportation systems this research chooses bus system.  The research problem that existing headway model cannot response dynamic transportation conditions. Thus, bus delay problem is often occurred. To overcome this problem, a prediction model is presented to fine patterns of bus delay by using a machine learning implementing the following data sets; traffics, weathers, and bus statues. This research presents a flexible headway model to predict bus delay and analyze the result. The prototyping model is composed by real-time data of buses. The data are gathered through public data portals and real time Application Program Interface (API) by the government. These data are fundamental resources to organize interval pattern models of bus operations as traffic environment factors (road speeds, station conditions, weathers, and bus information of operating in real-time). The prototyping model is designed by the machine learning tool (RapidMiner Studio) and conducted tests for bus delays prediction. This research presents experiments to increase prediction accuracy for bus headway by analyzing the urban big data. The big data analysis is important to predict the future and to find correlations by processing huge amount of data. Therefore, based on the analysis method, this research represents an effective use of the machine learning and urban big data to understand urban dynamics.

Keywords: big data, machine learning, smart city, social cost, transportation network

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Authors: Tatenda Manomano, Moreblessing Memory Ndonga

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In South Africa and the world over, despite an array of commendable policies to protect the rights of children, the situation on the ground indicates that HIV/AIDS continues to pose increasing challenges on the children’s’ right to education due to the death of their parents. This study sought to validate the home experiences of children that negatively impact on their right to education in South Africa with a case of HIV/AIDS orphans and vulnerable children (OVCs) in Amatole District. The study utilized a qualitative research method in collecting the feelings, views and attitudes of these children to establish the children’s home experiences. An interview guide with semi-structured questions was used to steer the one-on-one in-depth interviews with children from Parkside Primary School, Langa-Liphumile High School and one anonymous school in East London, Eastern Cape Province. 5 learners were purposively selected from each school and subjected to a one-on-one interview with the researcher. The researcher purposively selected one teacher per school, 2 members each from 3 community based organizations (CBOs) who were also subjected to a one-on-one in-depth interview. The findings indicated these negative experiences of the OVCs in their homes such as; attendance to a school was poor; academic performance was low; enrollment in schools was very low and abuse of these children was high. These researchers recommend for psychosocial support for these children to be placed in the schools; integration of HIV/AIDS programmes to target especially the OVCs; social workers should ensure that they regularly do home visits to these OVCs to establish whether the home circumstances these children are still conducive for them. It is hoped that the findings from this paper will be an asset that other researchers, policy makers, the government and NGOs/CBOs will take into consideration for the benefit of OVCs.

Keywords: orphaned and vulnerable children (OVCs), HIV, AIDS, home experiences

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Authors: Maulita Sari Hani, Abraham B. Sianipar, Jamaluddin Jompa, Natsir Nessa, Alan T. White

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Manta ray is an icon for tourism in Raja Ampat. The tourist volume has been increased for the past ten years which up to approximately 23,000 tourists in 2017. Since 2013, Conservation International Indonesia deployed satellite and acoustic tags on manta ray in Dampier strait to track the species and identify the aggregation areas. These findings encourage the government and the local community to boost conservation through the management of marine protected areas for tourism purposes. Community in Dampier strait including the village of Arborek, Kurkapa, Kapisawar, and Sawingray involved in variety of small scale tourism business including homestay, dive shop, tour operator, and crafts. Working groups of related local businesses were established to support the local community and to ensure the sustainability of the economic viability and environmental sustainability. In order to analyze the economic benefits of manta ray tourism, this study was conducted to identify the number of local business in Dampier Strait and the economic impacts in terms of local finance security, social, humanity, individual, and physical assets. The results of this study identify 30 homestays, 2 dive shops, 10 tour operators, 30 women involved in crafts, and about 50 villagers worked for dive resorts. In addition to community assets, we confirmed the welfare of community has been improved in terms of food security, households, education for children, savings, and health insurance.

Keywords: marine wildlife tourism, elasmobranch, conservation, ecotourism, co-management, economic viability, environmental sustainability

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Authors: Fulufhelo Oscar Makananise

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Digital technologies have played a significant role in bridging the information gap between the haves and the have nots in society. In developing countries such as South Africa, historically marginalised groups such as women in rural communities have an opportunity to use digital technologies to network among themselves as well as interact with their government, thereby enhancing prospects for poverty eradication, political participation, community development and democracy. However, the extent to which these goals can be achieved in a developing context through harnessing digital technologies is not quite clear, particularly given the fact that access to these technologies is not evenly distributed and the fact that women’s access to digital technologies is hampered by factors that go beyond the question of infrastructure. Informed by the technological dependency theory, this paper is about how female youth in rural South Africa are deploying digital media tools for socio-economic empowerment. In particular, the study investigated the extent to which female youth in Limpopo province, South Africa access and use digital media platforms and gadgets and the extent to which those technologies are breaking down barriers that stand in the way of female youth empowerment. Data were gathered using a self-administered questionnaire disseminated to selected 100 female youth in Limpopo Province, South Africa. The data were analysed using SPSS version 9, and the results were analysed using descriptive statistics. The paper argues that wider and constant access to digital media by female youth in rural areas is indicative of the great potential for empowering female youth in rural areas through harnessing digital media. The study established that the majority of female youth had access to digital media technologies and used them to share valuable information among themselves. The study further established that female youth are active users of digital media in South Africa, which is the significant driver for socio-economic empowerment.

Keywords: digital technologies, empowerment, female youth, South Africa, survey, technological dependency

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Authors: Rita Lopa, Yukihiro Shimatani

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The focus of this research is 880m extension development along the Kamisaigo River. The river is flowing tributary of grade 2 rivers Fukutsu City, Fukuoka Prefecture. This river is a small-scale urban river and the river was formerly a straight concrete sea wall construction. The river runs through National Highway No. 3 from the confluence of Saigo River. The study covers the river basin about 326 ha with a catchment area of 20.63 ha and 4,700 m3 capacity regulating pond. The river is not wide, shallow, and has a straight alignment with active (un-vegetated) river channel sinuosity (ratio of river length to valley length) ranging between 1 and 1.3. However, the alignment of the low-flow river channel does have meandering or sinuous characteristics. Flooding is likely to occur. It has become difficult to live in the environment for organisms of the river. Hydrophilic is very low (children cannot play). There is little connection with the local community. Overall, the Kamisaigo River watershed is heavily urbanized and from a morphological, biological and habitat perspective, Kamisaigo River functions marginally not well. For river improvement and maintenance of the Kamisaigo River, the workshop was conducted in the form of planning for the proposed model is presented by the Watershed Management Laboratory. This workshop showed the relationship between citizens, City Government, and University of mutual trust has been established, that have been made landscape, environment, usage, etc.: retaining wall maintenance, hydrophilic zone, landscape zone, nature walks zone: adjacent medical facilities and adjacent to large commercial facilities. Propose of Nature walks zone with point of the design: provide slope that the wheelchair can access and walking paths to enjoy the scenery, and summary of the Kamisaigo River workshop: creating a multi-model study and creation of natural rivers.

Keywords: river restoration, river improvement, natural rivers, Saigo River

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Authors: Fatemeh Abbasi, Sahand Daneshvar

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Productivity is one of the essential goals of companies to improve performance, which as a strategy-oriented method, determines the basis of the company's economic growth. The history of productivity goes back centuries, but most researchers defined productivity as the relationship between a product and the factors used in production in the early twentieth century. Productivity as the optimal use of available resources means that "more output using less input" can increase companies' economic growth and prosperity capacity. Also, having a quality life based on economic progress depends on productivity growth in that society. Therefore, productivity is a national priority for any developed country. There are several methods for calculating productivity growth measurements that can be divided into parametric and non-parametric methods. Parametric methods rely on the existence of a function in their hypotheses, while non-parametric methods do not require a function based on empirical evidence. One of the most popular non-parametric methods is Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), which measures changes in productivity over time. The DEA evaluates the productivity of decision-making units (DMUs) based on mathematical models. This method uses multiple inputs and outputs to compare the productivity of similar DMUs such as banks, government agencies, companies, airports, Etc. Non-parametric methods are themselves divided into the frontier and non frontier approaches. The Malmquist productivity index (MPI) proposed by Caves, Christensen, and Diewert (1982), the Hicks–Moorsteen productivity index (HMPI) proposed by Bjurek (1996), or the Luenberger productivity indicator (LPI) proposed by Chambers (2002) are powerful tools for measuring productivity changes over time. This study will compare the Malmquist, Hicks–Moorsteen, and Luenberger indices theoretically and empirically based on DEA models and review their strengths and weaknesses.

Keywords: data envelopment analysis, Hicks–Moorsteen productivity index, Leuenberger productivity indicator, malmquist productivity index

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Authors: Tzu-Jung Tseng, Pei-Hsuen Han, Tsung-Hsueh Lu

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Background: Ensuring patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) access to hospitals that could perform percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in time is an important concern of healthcare managers. One commonly used the method to assess the coverage of population access to PCI hospital is the use GIS-estimated linear distance (crow's fly distance) between the district centroid and the nearest PCI hospital. If the distance is within a given distance (such as 20 km), the entire population of that district is considered to have appropriate access to PCI. The premise of using district centroid to estimate the coverage of population resident in that district is that the people live in the district are evenly distributed. In reality, the population density is not evenly distributed within the administrative district, especially in rural districts. Fortunately, the Taiwan government released basic statistical area (on average 450 population within the area) recently, which provide us an opportunity to estimate the coverage of population access to PCI services more accurate. Objectives: We aimed in this study to compare the population covered by a give PCI hospital according to traditional administrative district versus basic statistical area. We further examined if the differences between two geographic units used would be larger in a rural area than in urban area. Method: We selected two hospitals in Tainan City for this analysis. Hospital A is in urban area, hospital B is in rural area. The population in each traditional administrative district and basic statistical area are obtained from Taiwan National Geographic Information System, Ministry of Internal Affairs. Results: Estimated population live within 20 km of hospital A and B was 1,515,846 and 323,472 according to traditional administrative district and was 1,506,325 and 428,556 according to basic statistical area. Conclusion: In urban area, the estimated access population to PCI services was similar between two geographic units. However, in rural areas, the access population would be overestimated.

Keywords: accessibility, basic statistical area, modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP), percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)

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Authors: Ahmad Almaududy Amri

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Southeast Asia is considered as an area which is important in terms of piratical studies. There are several reasons to this argument: firstly, it has the second highest figure of piracy attacks in the world from 2008 to 2012. Only the African Region transcends the number of piracies that were committed in Southeast Asia. Secondly, the geographical location of the region is very important to world trade. There are several sea lanes and straits which are normally used for international navigation mainly for trade purposes. In fact, there are six out of 25 busiest ports all over the world located in Southeast Asia. In ancient times, the main drivers of piracy were raiding for plunder and capture of slaves; however, in modern times, developments in politics, economics and even military technology have drastically altered the universal crime of piracy. There are a variety of motives behind modern day piracy including economic gains from receiving ransoms from government or ship companies, political and even terrorist reasons. However, it cannot be denied that piratical attacks persist and continue. States have taken measures both at the international and regional level in order to eradicate piratical attacks. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Act against the Safety of Navigation served as the two main international legal frameworks in combating piracy. At the regional level, Regional Cooperation Agreement against Piracy and Armed Robbery and ASEAN measures are regard as prominent in addressing the piracy problem. This paper will elaborate the problems of piracy in Southeast Asia and examine the adequacy of legal frameworks at both the international and regional levels in order address the current legal measures in combating piracy. Furthermore, it will discuss current challenges in the implementation of anti-piracy measures at the international and regional levels as well as the way forward in addressing the issue.

Keywords: piracy, Southeast Asia, maritime security, legal frameworks

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Authors: Jerome E. Abiemo, Takeshi Mizunoya

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The Aveyime community in the Volta region of Ghana is one of the major hubs for rice production. In the past, rice farmers applied organic pesticides to control pests, and compost as a soil amendment to improve fertility and productivity. However, the introduction of chemical pesticides and fertilizers have led many farmers to convert to inorganic system of rice production, without considering the social costs (e.g. groundwater contamination and health costs) related to the use of pesticides. The study estimates and compares the private and social BCRs of organic and inorganic systems of rice production. Both stratified and simple random sampling techniques were employed to select 300 organic and inorganic rice farmers and 50 pesticide applicators. The respondents were interviewed with pre-tested questionnaires. The Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) which elucidates organic farmers` Willingness-to-Pay (WTP) was employed to estimate the cost of groundwater contamination. The Cost of Illness (COI) analysis was used to estimate the health cost of pesticide-induced poisoning of applicators. The data collated, was analyzed with the aid of Microsoft excel. The study found that high private benefit (e.g. increase in farm yield and income) was the most influential factor for the rapid adoption of pesticides among rice farmers. The study also shows that the social costs of inorganic rice production were high. As such the social BCR of inorganic farming (0.2) was low as compared to organic farming (0.7). Based on the results, it was recommended that government should impose pesticide environmental tax, review current agricultural policies to favour organic farming and promote extension education to farmers on pesticide risk, to ensure agricultural and environmental sustainability.

Keywords: benefit-cost-ratio (BCR), inorganic farming, pesticides, social cost

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Authors: Maquiling Jhuvie Jane R., Ojastro Regine B., Peroja Loreille Marie B., Pinili Joy Angela., Salve Genial Gail M., Villavicencio Marielle Irene B., Yap Alther Francis Garth B.

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Introduction: This study investigated the impact of prolonged device usage on wrist pain and perceived academic performance among college students in Computer Studies. The research aims to explore the correlation between the frequency of technological device use and the incidence of wrist pain, as well as how this pain affects students' academic performance. The study seeks to provide insights that could inform interventions to promote better musculoskeletal health among students engaged in intensive technology use to further improve their academic performance. Method: The study utilized descriptive-correlational and comparative design, focusing on bona fide students from Silliman University’s College of Computer Studies during the second semester of 2023-2024. Participants were recruited through a survey sent via school email, with responses collected until March 30, 2024. Data was gathered using a password-protected device and Google Forms, ensuring restricted access to raw data. The demographic profile was summarized, and the prevalence of wrist pain and device usage were analyzed using percentages and weighted means. Statistical analyses included Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient to assess the relationship between wrist pain and device usage and an Independent T-test to evaluate differences in academic performance based on wrist pain presence. Alpha was set at 0.05. Results: The study revealed that 40% of College of Computer Studies students experience wrist pain, with 2 out of every 5 students affected. Laptops and desktops were the most frequently used devices for academic work, achieving a weighted mean of 4.511, while mobile phones and tablets received lower means of 4.183 and 1.911, respectively. The average academic performance score among students was 29.7, classified as ‘Good Performance.’ Notably, there was no significant relationship between the frequency of device usage and wrist pain, as indicated by p-values exceeding 0.05. However, a significant difference in perceived academic performance was observed, with students without wrist pain scoring an average of 30.39 compared to 28.72 for those with wrist pain and a p-value of 0.0134 confirming this distinction. Conclusion: The study revealed that about 40% of students in the College of Computer Studies experience wrist pain, but there is no significant link between device usage and pain occurrence. However, students without wrist pain demonstrated better academic performance than those with pain, suggesting that wrist health may impact academic success. These findings imply that physical therapy practices in the Philippines should focus on preventive strategies and ergonomic education to improve student health and performance.

Keywords: wrist pain, frequency of use of technological devices, perceived academic performance, physical therapy

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Authors: Arun Dhakal, Geoff Cockfield, Tek Narayan Maraseni

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This paper attempts to fulfil the gap in measuring adoption in agroforestry studies. It explains the derivation of an index of adoption rate in a Nepalese context and examines the factors affecting adoption of agroforestry-based land management practice (AFLMP) in the Dhanusha District of Nepal. Data about the different farm practices and the factors (bio-physical, socio-economic) influencing adoption were collected during focus group discussion and from the randomly selected households using a household survey questionnaire, respectively. A multivariate regression model was used to determine the factors. The factors (variables) found to significantly affect adoption of AFLMP were: farm size, availability of irrigation water, education of household heads, agricultural labour force, frequency of visits by extension workers, expenditure on farm inputs purchase, household’s experience in agroforestry, and distance from home to government forest. The regression model explained about 75% of variation in adoption decision. The model rejected ‘erosion hazard’, ‘flood hazard’ and ‘gender’ as determinants of adoption, which in case of single agroforestry practice were major variables and played positive role. Out of eight variables, farm size played the most powerful role in explaining the variation in adoption, followed by availability of irrigation water and education of household heads. The results of this study suggest that policies to promote the provision of irrigation water, extension services and motivation to obtaining higher education would probably provide the incentive to adopt agroforestry elsewhere in the terai of Nepal.

Keywords: agroforestry, adoption index, determinants of adoption, step-wise linear regression, Nepal

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Authors: Gary Young, David Zepeda, Gilbert Nyaga

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This study investigated whether vertical integration of hospitals and physicians is associated with better care for patients with cardiac conditions. A dramatic change in the U.S. hospital industry is the integration of hospital and physicians through hospital acquisition of physician practices. Yet, there is little evidence regarding whether this form of vertical integration leads to better operational performance of hospitals. The study was conducted as an observational investigation based on a pooled, cross-sectional database. The study sample comprised over hospitals in the State of California. The time frame for the study was 2010 to 2012. The key performance measure was hospitals’ degree of compliance with performance criteria set out by the federal government for managing patients with cardiac conditions. These criteria relate to the types of clinical tests and medications that hospitals should follow for cardiac patients but hospital compliance requires the cooperation of a hospital’s physicians. Data for this measure was obtained from a federal website that presents performance scores for U.S. hospitals. The key independent variable was the percentage of cardiologists that a hospital employs (versus cardiologists who are affiliated but not employed by the hospital). Data for this measure was obtained from the State of California which requires hospitals to report financial and operation data each year including numbers of employed physicians. Other characteristics of hospitals (e.g., information technology for cardiac care, volume of cardiac patients) were also evaluated as possible complements or substitutes for physician employment by hospitals. Additional sources of data included the American Hospital Association and the U.S. Census. Empirical models were estimated with generalized estimating equations (GEE). Findings suggest that physician employment is positively associated with better hospital performance for cardiac care. However, findings also suggest that information technology is a substitute for physician employment.

Keywords: physician employment, hospitals, verical integration, cardiac care

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Authors: Doaa Alhaboby

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Behavior change is a complex process that often requires ongoing support and guidance. Telecoaching programs have emerged as effective tools in facilitating behavior change by providing personalized support remotely. This abstract explores the lessons learned from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) evaluation of a telecoaching program focused on behavior change for Diabetics and discusses strategies for implementing these lessons to overcome the challenge of making physical activity a habit. The telecoaching program involved participants engaging in regular coaching sessions delivered via phone calls. These sessions aimed to address various aspects of behavior change, including goal setting, self-monitoring, problem-solving, and social support. Over the course of the program, participants received personalized guidance tailored to their unique needs and preferences. One of the key lessons learned from the RCT was the importance of engagement, readiness to change and the use of technology. Participants who set specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals were more likely to make sustained progress toward behavior change. Additionally, regular self-monitoring of behavior and progress was found to be instrumental in promoting accountability and motivation. Moving forward, implementing the lessons learned from the RCT can help individuals overcome the hardest part of behavior change: making physical activity a habit. One strategy is to prioritize consistency and establish a regular routine for physical activity. This may involve scheduling workouts at the same time each day or week and treating them as non-negotiable appointments. Additionally, integrating physical activity into daily life routines and taking into consideration the main challenges that can stop the process of integrating physical activity routines into the daily schedule can help make it more habitual. Furthermore, leveraging technology and digital tools can enhance adherence to physical activity goals. Mobile apps, wearable activity trackers, and online fitness communities can provide ongoing support, motivation, and accountability. These tools can also facilitate self-monitoring of behavior and progress, allowing individuals to track their activity levels and adjust their goals as needed. In conclusion, telecoaching programs offer valuable insights into behavior change and provide strategies for overcoming challenges, such as making physical activity a habit. By applying the lessons learned from these programs and incorporating them into daily life, individuals can cultivate sustainable habits that support their long-term health and well-being.

Keywords: lifestyle, behavior change, physical activity, chronic conditions

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Authors: Shree Kumar Maharjan

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Climate change has varied impacts on diverse livelihood sectors, which is more prominent at the community level. The stakeholders and local institutions have been supporting the communities either by building adaptive capacities and resilience or minimizing the impacts of different adaptation interventions. Some of these interventions are effective, whereas others need further dynamisms and exertions considering the complexity of the risks and vulnerabilities. Hence, consolidated efforts of concerned stakeholders are required to minimize and adapt the present and future impacts. This study digs out and analyses the perceptions of local stakeholders in climate change adaptation in Madi and Deukhuri valleys of Nepal through a questionnaire survey. The study has categorized the local stakeholders into 5 groups in the study sites – Farmers groups and cooperatives, Government, I/NGOs, Development banks and education and other organizations. The local stakeholders revealed flood, drought, cold wave and riverbank erosion as the major climatic risks and hazards found in the sites eventually impacting on the loss of agricultural production, loss of agricultural land and properties, loss of livestock, the emergence of diseases and pest. The stakeholders believed that most of the farmers dealing with these impacts based on their traditional knowledge and practices, followed by with the support of NGOs and with the help of neighbors and community. The major supports of the stakeholders to deal with these impacts were on training and awareness, risk analysis and minimization, livelihood improvement, financial support, coordination and networking and facilitation in policy formulation. The stakeholders emphasized primarily on capacity building, appropriate technologies, community-based planning and monitoring, prioritization to the poor and the marginalized and establishment of community fund respectively for building adaptive capacities.

Keywords: climate change adaptation, local stakeholders, Madi, Deukhuri, Nepal

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Authors: Neha Pranav Kolhe, Harithapriya Vijaye, Arushi Kamle

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The economic growth engines are urban regions. As the economy expands, so does the need for peace and quiet, and noise pollution is one of the important social and environmental issue. Health and wellbeing are at risk from environmental noise pollution. Because of urbanisation, population growth, and the consequent rise in the usage of increasingly potent, diverse, and highly mobile sources of noise, it is now more severe and pervasive than ever before, and it will only become worse. Additionally, it will expand as long as there is an increase in air, train, and highway traffic, which continue to be the main contributors of noise pollution. The current study will be conducted in two zones of class I city of central India (population range: 1 million–4 million). Total 56 measuring points were chosen to assess noise pollution. The first objective evaluates the noise pollution in various urban habitats determined as formal and informal settlement. It identifies the comparison of noise pollution within the settlements using T- Test analysis. The second objective assess the noise pollution in silent zones (as stated in Central Pollution Control Board) in a hierarchical way. It also assesses the noise pollution in the settlements and compares with prescribed permissible limits using class I sound level equipment. As appropriate indices, equivalent noise level on the (A) frequency weighting network, minimum sound pressure level and maximum sound pressure level were computed. The survey is conducted for a period of 1 week. Arc GIS is used to plot and map the temporal and spatial variability in urban settings. It is discovered that noise levels at most stations, particularly at heavily trafficked crossroads and subway stations, were significantly different and higher than acceptable limits and squares. The study highlights the vulnerable areas that should be considered while city planning. The study demands area level planning while preparing a development plan. It also demands attention to noise pollution from the perspective of residential and silent zones. The city planning in urban areas neglects the noise pollution assessment at city level. This contributes to that, irrespective of noise pollution guidelines, the ground reality is far away from its applicability. The result produces incompatible land use on a neighbourhood scale with respect to noise pollution. The study's final results will be useful to policymakers, architects and administrators in developing countries. This will be useful for noise pollution in urban habitat governance by efficient decision making and policy formulation to increase the profitability of these systems.

Keywords: noise pollution, formal settlements, informal settlements, built environment, silent zone, residential area

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Authors: Deginet Aklilu, Tianqi Wang, Endwoke Amsalu, Wei Feng, Zhiwei Li, Xia Li, Lixin Tao, Yanxia Luo, Moning Guo, Xiangtong Liu, Xiuhua Guo

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Extreme temperature-related cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) have become a growing public health concern. However, the impact of temperature on the cause of specific CVDs has not been well studied in the study area. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of temperature on cause-specific cardiovascular hospital admissions in Beijing, China. We obtained data from 172 large general hospitals from the Beijing Public Health Information Center Cardiovascular Case Database and China. Meteorological Administration covering 16 districts in Beijing from 2013 to 2017. We used a time-stratified case crossover design with a distributed lag nonlinear model (DLNM) to derive the impact of temperature on CVD in hospitals back to 27 days on CVD admissions. The temperature data were stratified as cold (extreme and moderate ) and hot (moderate and extreme ). Within five years (January 2013-December 2017), a total of 460,938 (male 54.9% and female 45.1%) CVD admission cases were reported. The exposure-response relationship for hospitalization was described by a "J" shape for the total and cause-specific. An increase in the six-day moving average temperature from moderate hot (30.2 °C) to extreme hot (36.9 °C) resulted in a significant increase in CVD admissions of 16.1%(95% CI = 12.8%-28.9%). However, the effect of cold temperature exposure on CVD admissions over a lag time of 0-27 days was found to be non significant, with a relative risk of 0.45 (95% CI = 0.378-0.55) for extreme cold (-8.5 °C)and 0.53 (95% CI = 0.47-0.60) for moderate cold (-5.6 °C). The results of this study indicate that exposure to extremely high temperatures is highly associated with an increase in cause-specific CVD admissions. These finding may guide to create and raise awareness of the general population, government and private sectors regarding on the effects of current weather conditions on CVD.

Keywords: admission, Beijing, cardiovascular diseases, distributed lag non linear model, temperature

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Authors: Muhammad Hardyan Prastyanto, Aisah Azhari Marwangi, Yulinda Rizky Pratiwi

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Globalization has become a driving force for the current technological developments. The presence of the Virtual Space provides opportunities for people to self-actualization through access to a wider world, quickly and easily. Cities that are part of the existence of life, witness the history of civilization over time, also has been the major object to upgrading on technological sector. A smart city is one where the government and citizenry are using the best available means, including ICT, to achieve their shared goals. This often includes economic development, environmental sustainability, and improved quality of life for citizens. Thus theory is the basis for research of this study. This study aimed to know the implementation of the Urban Retrofitting at Malioboro area based on Information and Communication Technologies. The method of this study is by reviewing the effectiveness of the E-commerce uses as a major system to identification the Malioboro Smart Central Business District. By using a significance level of 5 %, it can be concluded that addresses have a significant influence on the ratings obtained, namely regarding the location of the hotel establishment. But despite the use of the website does not have a significant influence on the rating of the hotel, using the website still has influence significantly on the rating, because the p -value (Sig.) of the variable website is not so much different from the significance level determined by the researcher. In the interpretation, if a hotel is located on the Pasar Kembang streets and not to use the website, so the hotel is likely to have a rating of the constant value which is 3.183. However, if a hotel located on the Sosrowijayan streets, so the hotel rating will be increased by 0,302. Then if a hotel has been using a website, so the hotel rating will increase by 0,264. It is possible to conclude the effectiveness of ICT’s (Website) uses and location to identification the urban retrofitting through increasing of building rating in Malioboro Central Business District.

Keywords: urban retrofitting, e-commerce, information and communication technology, statistic regression, SCBD, Malioboro

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Authors: J. K. Pis-An

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Objective: The purpose of the study was to examine the vulnerability of farmers to the effects of climate change, specifically the El Niño phenomenon was felt in the Philippines in 2009-2010. Methods: KAP Survey determines behavioral response to vulnerability to the effects of El Niño. Body Mass Index: Dietary Assessment using 24-hour food recall. Results: 75% of the respondents claimed that crop significantly decreased during drought. Indications that households of farmers are large where 51.6% are composed of 6-10 family members with 68% annual incomes below Php 100,00. Anthropometric assessment showed that the prevalence of Chronic Energy Deficiency Grade 1 among females 17% and 28.57% for low normal. While male body mass index result for chronic energy deficiency grade 1 10%, low normal 18.33% and and obese grade 1, 31.67%. Dietary assessment of macronutrient intake of carbohydrates, protein, and fat 31.6 % among respondents are below recommended amounts. Micronutrient deficiency of calcium, iron, vit. A, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and Vit. C. Conclusion: Majority of the rural populations are engaged into farming livelihood that makes up the backbone of their economic growth. Placing the current nutritional status of the farmers in the context of food security, there are reasons to believe that the status will go for worse if the extreme climatic conditions will once again prevail in the region. Farmers rely primarily on home grown crops for their food supply, a reduction in farm production during drought is expected to adversely affect dietary intake. The local government therefore institute programs to increase food resiliency and to prioritize health of the population as the moving force for productivity and development.

Keywords: world health organization, united nation framework convention on climate change, anthropometric, macronutrient, micronutrient

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Authors: Aneal Khan, Elleine Allapitan, Desmond Koo, Katherine-Ann Piedalue, Shaneel Pathak, Utkarsh Subnis

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Background: Disease management of metabolic, genetic disorders is long-term and can be cumbersome to patients and caregivers. Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) have been a useful tool in capturing patient perspectives to help enhance treatment compliance and engagement with health care providers, reduce utilization of emergency services, and increase satisfaction with their treatment choices. Currently, however, PROMs are collected during infrequent and decontextualized clinic visits, which makes translation of patient experiences challenging over time. The GRIT study aims to evaluate a digital health journal application called Zamplo that provides a personalized health diary to record self-reported health outcomes accurately and efficiently in patients with metabolic, genetic disorders. Methods: This is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) (1:1) that assesses the efficacy of Zamplo to increase patient activation (primary outcome), improve healthcare satisfaction and confidence to manage medications (secondary outcomes), and reduce costs to the healthcare system (exploratory). Using standardized online surveys, assessments will be collected at baseline, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months. Outcomes will be compared between patients who were given access to the application versus those with no access. Results: Seventy-seven patients were recruited as of November 30, 2021. Recruitment for the study commenced in November 2020 with a target of n=150 patients. The accrual rate was 50% from those eligible and invited for the study, with the majority of patients having Fabry disease (n=48) and the remaining having Pompe disease and mitochondrial disease. Real-time clinical responses, such as pain, are being measured and correlated to disease-modifying therapies, supportive treatments like pain medications, and lifestyle interventions. Engagement with the application, along with compliance metrics of surveys and journal entries, are being analyzed. An interim analysis of the engagement data along with preliminary findings from this pilot RCT, and qualitative patient feedback will be presented. Conclusions: The digital self-care journal provides a unique approach to disease management, allowing patients direct access to their progress and actively participating in their care. Findings from the study can help serve the virtual care needs of patients with metabolic, genetic disorders in North America and the world over.

Keywords: eHealth, mobile health, rare disease, patient outcomes, quality of life (QoL), pain, Fabry disease, Pompe disease

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Authors: Oluwasaanmi Lawrence Adesuyi, Igbekoyi Kayode Emmanuel

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This study examined vote - commercialization during elections among the voters in Nigeria, a series of elections in Ekiti State, Southwestern Nigeria. Democracy in Nigeria that came to replace the unwanted ruling and dictating mission of the military government has been facing a societal terror “crime of votes commercialization” that stands in jeopardy against its sustainability in Nigeria. Social exchange and action-bound theories were employed as the theoretical framework. Forty-Eight in-depth interviews, key informant interviews, and case studies were conducted with purposively selected respondents in the three senatorial districts that captured the sixteen local governments of the state. The results show that really commercialization of votes has become the order of the day in all series of electioneering among Ekiti people. Also, it was recorded that true democracy is no longer allowed to triumph as a result of vote buying that allows the highest bidder to be the winner. The result also shows that this attitude is not limited to only one political party or one candidate but involved all the political parties that participated in Election. It has become a frequent idea among the electorates during every festive period of election in Ekiti State. The tyrannical attitude has been given a nickname to suit the conditional situation of votes commercialization - (Diboki o se obe), which means vote and have a pot of soup, this implies that you will get money to take care of yourself and the family when you vote and collect money on the vote you cast, notwithstanding the money is being collected from all candidates that participated in the election, but the highest bidder has the day. The main challenge this has on democracy is that the contestants challenge the result of the election results based on the act of vote commercialization. Also, those that bought people’s votes with a huge amount of money relent on their democratic promises. The study showed that the crime of vote commercialization that threatens democracy must be addressed for sustainability.

Keywords: crime, democracy, jeopardy, military, sustainability, votes-commercialization

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Authors: Hauwau Mohammed

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Research purpose: the integration of Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) has long been initiated into healthcare systems. This has been to help improve maternal mortality, particularly in developing countries. Nigeria is seen as one of the countries with a high maternal death rate due to common pregnancy complications and low resources. Communities with challenges of universal coverage of skilled workers rely on TBAs for pregnancy-related services, including delivery. The Sokoto State government has conducted several training programs on a significant number of TBAs to enable a formal integration of relationships with skilled healthcare for women in rural regions. This study aims to explore a standard method and develop an assessment framework for improving TBAs training programs in Sokoto State. Research Design, Methodology & Methods : Using a qualitative design, an interpretive phenomenology approach will be applied to explore the lived-experiences of 28 TBAs, who have undergone a form of training while also examining the strategies used to develop those programs through 8 policymakers and/or program trainers. For the collection stage, a focus group discussion and a face-to-face interview will be conducted, where the latter is for TBAs and the former for policymakers and training officials. Analysis: Data will be analyse through IPA format while using Nvivo to code and catalog personal experiential generated patterns. Secondary review: a scoping review of secondary data from Nigeria was used to map the knowledge gap and the extent of available data. The thematic analytic findings suggested that there are various approaches used to incorporate TBAs into the healthcare system, which include interventional programs targeted at specific health issues. In addition, incentives were used to encourage TBAs to facilitate the frequent use of skilled care for women.

Keywords: traditional birth attendants, Nigeria, training, program

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