Developing an approach to assess the influence of integrating disaster risk reduction practices into infrastructure reconstruction on socio-economic development

Purpose: Disasters provide physical, social, economic, political and environmental development windows of opportunity particularly through housing and infrastructure reconstruction. The reconstruction process should not be neglected due to the opportunistic nature of facilitating innovation in development. In this respect, post-disaster "infrastructure" reconstruction plays a critical role in development discourse and is often essential to sustain recovery after major disasters. However, reconstruction following a natural disaster is a complicated problem involving social, economic, cultural, environmental, psychological, and technological aspects. There are significant development benefits of well-developed "Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Strategies" and, for many reasons, the concept of DRR can be more easily promoted following a disaster. In this respect, a research study was conducted to investigate the effects of integrating DRR strategies into infrastructure reconstruction on enhancing the socio-economic development process from a qualitative stance. The purpose of this paper is to document part of this research study; it proposes an approach that can be used to assess the influence of the application of the DRR concept into infrastructure reconstruction on socio-economic development. Design/methodology/approach: The research methodology included a critical literature review. Findings: This paper suggests that the best way to assess the influence of integrating DRR strategies practices into infrastructure reconstruction on socio-economic development is to assess the level of impact that DRR strategies has on overcoming various factors that form vulnerabilities. Having assessed this, the next step is to assess the influence of overcoming the factors that form vulnerabilities on achieving performance targets of socio-economic development. Originality/value: This paper primarily presents a framework for the concept of socio-economic development and a modelled classification of DRR practices.

Socioeconomic status and risk factors for obesity and metabolic disorders in a population-based sample of adult females

Objectives : The association between lower socioeconomic status (SES), obesity, lifestyle choices and adverse health consequences are well documented, however to date the relationship between these variables and area-based SES (equivalised for advantage and disadvantage) has not been examined simultaneously in one population or with more than tertiary divisions of SES. We set out to examine the risk factors for obesity and metabolic disorders in the same population across quintiles of area-based SES.

Methods : We performed a descriptive cross-sectional study using existing data from a population-based random selection of women aged 20–92 years (n = 1110) recruited from the Barwon Statistical Division, South Eastern Australia.

Results : All measures of adiposity were inversely associated with SES, and remained significant after adjusting for age. Lifestyle choices associated with adiposity and poorer health, including smoking, larger serving sizes of foods, and reduced physical activity, were significantly associated with individuals from lower SES groups.

Conclusions : Greater measures of adiposity and less healthy lifestyle choices were observed in individuals from lower SES. Significant differences in body composition were identified between quintiles 1 and 5, whereas subjects in the mid quintiles had relatively similar measures. The inverse relationship between SES, obesity and less healthy lifestyle underscores the possibility that these associations may be causal and should be investigated further.

Is the objective food environment associated with perceptions of the food environment?

Objective The present study examined whether objective measures of the food environment are associated with perceptions of the food environment and whether this relationship varies by socio-economic disadvantage.

Design The study is a cross-sectional analysis of self-report surveys and objective environment data. Women reported their perceptions on the nutrition environment. Participants’ homes and food stores were geocoded to measure the objective community nutrition environment. Data on the average price and variety of fruit and vegetables were used to measure the objective consumer nutrition environment.

Setting The study was conducted in Melbourne, Australia, in 2003–2004.

Subjects Data presented are from a sample of 1393 women aged 18–65 years.

Results Overall the match between the perceived and objective environment was poor, underscoring the limitations in using perceptions of the environment as a proxy for the objective environment. Socio-economic disadvantage had limited impact on the relationship between perceived and objective nutrition environment.

Conclusions Further research is needed to understand the determinants of perceptions of the nutrition environment to enhance our understanding of the role of perceptions in nutrition choices and drivers of socio-economic inequalities in nutrition.

Associations between mothers’ perceptions of the cost of fruit and vegetables and children’s diets : Will children pay the price?

Background/Objectives:
Perceptions that fruit and vegetables are expensive are more common among the socio-economically disadvantaged groups and are linked to poor dietary outcomes. Such perceptions may be exacerbated in countries recently affected by natural disasters, where devastation of fruit and vegetable crops has resulted in increase in prices of fruit and vegetables. Examining the associations of perceptions of fruit and vegetable affordability and children's diets can offer insights into how the high prices of fruit and vegetables might have an impact on the diets of children.
Subjects/Methods:
We analysed the data from 546 socio-economically disadvantaged mother–child pairs to assess the relationship between maternal perceptions of fruit and vegetable affordability and the diets of their children.
Results:
Fruit consumption was lower among children whose mothers felt the cost of fruit was too high. Maternal perceptions of fruit and vegetable affordability were not associated with any other aspect of child's diet.
Conclusions:
Our results suggest a possible role for maternal perceptions of fruit affordability in children's diet, though further research is warranted.

An ethnography of bitcoin: towards a future research agenda

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin are a recent socio-technical innovation that seeks to disrupt the existing monetary system. Through mundane uses of this new digital cash, they provide a social critique of the centralised infrastructures of the banking industry. This paper outlines an ethnographic research agenda that considers how the social uptake and use of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin represents alternative views towards value exchange and critiques existing financial structures. We begin by arguing that the use of Bitcoin can be seen as an act of social resistance that is intended to bridge socio-economic inequalities within the context of a digital community. We then outline the disruptive nature of borderless, affordable and instantaneous international transfers in the form of remittances within social practice. Finally, we identify the possible permutations of trust that may be found in the technical affordances of Bitcoin technology and how these relate to user (pseudo)anonymity, cybertheft, cyberfraud, and consumer protection. Bringing together these three key areas, we highlight the importance of understanding the ordinary (rather than extra-ordinary) uses of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. We contend that focusing upon users’ interactions with Bitcoin as a payments system and community culture will shed light upon mundane acts of socio-technical disruption, acts that critique and provide alternative financial exchange practices to the payments and regulatory financial infrastructures of the banking industry.

People, places and policies – trying to account for health inequalities in impoverished neighbourhoods

Objective : We consider associations between individual, household and area-level characteristics and self-reported health.
Method : Data is taken from baseline surveys undertaken in 13 socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Victoria (n=3,944). The neighbourhoods are sites undergoing Neighbourhood Renewal (NR), a State government initiative redressing place-based disadvantage.
Analysis :This focused on the relationship between area and compositional factors and self-reported health. Area was coded into three categories; LGA, NR residents living in public housing (NRPU) and NR residents who lived in private housing (NRPR). Compositional factors included age, gender, marital status, identifying as a person with a disability, level of education, unemployment and receipt of pensions/benefits.
Results : There was a gradient in socio-economic disadvantage on all measures. People living in NR public housing were more disadvantaged than people living in NR private housing who, in turn, were more disadvantaged than people in the same LGA. NR public housing residents reported the worst health status and LGA residents reported the best.
Conclusions : Associations between compositional characteristics of disability, educational achievement and unemployment income and poorer self-reported health were shown. They suggested that area characteristics, with housing policies, may be contributing to differences in self-reported health at the neighbourhood level.
Implications : The clustering of socio-economic disadvantage and health outcomes requires the integration of health and social support interventions that address the circumstances of people and places.

Inequalities in cardiovascular disease mortality : the role of behavioural, physiological and social risk factors

Background While the relationship between socio-economic disadvantage and cardiovascular disease (CVD) is well established, the role that traditional cardiovascular risk factors play in this association remains unclear. The authors examined the association between education attainment and CVD mortality and the extent to which behavioural, social and physiological factors explained this relationship.

Methods Adults (n=38 355) aged 40–69 years living in Melbourne, Australia were recruited in 1990–1994. Subjects with baseline CVD risk factor data ascertained through questionnaire and physical measurement were followed for an average of 9.4 years with CVD deaths verified by review of medical records and autopsy reports.

Results CVD mortality was higher for those with primary education only, compared with those who had completed tertiary education, with an HR of 1.66 (95% CI 1.10 to 2.49) after adjustment for age, country of birth and gender. Those from the lowest educated group had a more adverse cardiovascular risk factor profile compared with the highest educated group, and adjustment for these risk factors reduced the HR to 1.18 (95% CI 0.78 to 1.77). In analysis of individual risk factors, smoking and waist circumference explained most of the difference in CVD mortality between the highest and lowest education groups.

Conclusions Most of the excess CVD mortality in lower socio-economic groups can be explained by known risk factors, particularly smoking and overweight. While targeting cardiovascular risk factors should not divert efforts from addressing the underlying determinants of health inequalities, it is essential that known risk factors are addressed effectively among lower socio-economic groups.

The role of socio-cultural factors in the obesity epidemic

Obesity is socio-culturally distributed; that is the prevalence of obesity is known to vary according to socio-cultural factors, including socio-economic position, social roles and circumstance, and cultural factors. Further, these socio-cultural patterns are complex and specific to sex, age, and sometimes racial groups, as well as type of society, with patterns of relationships observed in developed countries sometimes reversed in developing countries. As described in Chapter 4, there is little doubt of the importance of the changing physical environment to the increases in obesity observed over the past several decades. However, far less attention has been paid to investigating the potential contribution of socio-cultural factors and to changes in the socio-cultural environment over time to the current obesity pandemic. The mechanisms through which socio-cultural factors may influence body weight and risk for obesity are also not well understood. In discussing socio-cultural influences we refer to systems of social relations (roles and relationships that define class, gender, ethnicity, and other social factors) and the meanings attached to these (1). For the purposes of this chapter, we focus on the impact of social, economic, and value systems on individuals' obesity-related behaviors (particularly, certain eating patterns and physical inactivity). In particular, we examine socio-cultural categories (socio-economic status, ethnicity, marital/family roles) for which evidence exists that rates of obesity are differentially distributed. We have not focused on the role of physical environmental factors, which is covered in Chapter 4, and we have largely restricted our focus to developed countries, from where the majority of the evidence for socio-cultural influences on obesity is derived. Issues relating to influences on obesity in developing countries are covered in detail in Chapter 5. This chapter provides an overview of the impact of socio-cultural influences on obesity in developed countries, and considers the potential pathways through which these influences may operate. The chapter concludes by speculating about the potential impact of societal trends on future rates and patterns of obesity in developed countries.

Fat, rich and beautiful: changing socio-cultural paradigms associated with obesity risk, nutritional status and refugee children from sub-Saharan Africa

There has been an increase in Australia's intake of refugees and migrants from sub-Saharan Africa over the last two decades. These refugees have been exposed to nutritional risks prior to migration, which, together with changes associated with acculturation, impact on their health and nutritional status post-migration. However, there is a paucity of data in Australia that has examined the health and nutritional status of this ethnic minority in Australia. Despite basic research assessing the nutritional status of children, none have specifically concentrated on the health and nutritional situation of sub-Saharan refugee children. In the absence of such studies, this paper explores issues relating to obesity in sub-Saharan African refugee children within a cultural and public health framework. We begin by outlining the history of obesity and its cultural meaning. We then move to a consideration of predisposing factors for obesity and how these factors translate into obesity risk contexts of sub-Saharan refugees post-migration. We argue there are a number of key challenges related to culture and the relationship between socio-economic factors post-migration that require addressing by health professionals, dieticians and health educators to ensure the delivery of successful health outcomes.

Economic growth and sustainability - an empirical study of the Thai development experience

Increasing economic growth has long been the dominant position within the public policies of all South East Asian countries. More recently, a new issue, sustainability, has emerged within development economic literature, which has significant implications for the continual pursuit of economic growth. Sustainability is concerned with ensuring the current generation meets their present needs without threatening future generations' ability to do likewise. This ability is dependent on a healthy and functioning socio-economic environmental (SEE) system. Economic growth can damage the SEE-system, though, through resource degradation, over-harvesting and pollution. Therefore, achieving economic growth and sustainability simultaneously may not be possible. This paper discusses these tensions between economic growth and sustainability by undertaking a number of SEE-based adjustments to GDP in order to measure sustainability. Thailand is used as a case study for a 25 year period, 1975-1999. The adjustments include the environmental costs caused by economic growth such as noise pollution, water pollution, the depletion of non-renewable resources, and deforestation. The results show a stark difference in terms of GDP per capita and the SEE-adjusted GDP per capita figure. The paper concludes that with increasing environmental costs of economic growth, pursuing high growth objectives without considerations to the environment threatens sustainability

Technological disadvantage of the digital age

Debates continue about the relative benefits, costs and risks of the diffusion of computer-based technologies throughout society and schooling. One area that has received considerable attention is gender equity. Early work on gender and computers focused on differences between male and female access and use (e.g. Huff, Fleming & Cooper, 1992; Kirkman, 1993; Morritt, 1997; Nelson & Cooper, 1997; Sofia, 1993), with concerns focused on the potential for girls to be disadvantaged. In some respects, it is arguable that problems of gender equity in schools with respect to computers have been overcome. For example, in a small study I conducted in two New Zealand senior primary classrooms in 2003, I found that both boys and girls were motivated to use computers and appeared to have equal opportunities to access computers in the classroom. The students in my study expressed a belief in the importance of using computers, and this belief can also be discerned from educational policy and media coverage.
In this paper I argue that, although gender by itself no longer appears to be a source of disadvantage in terms of access to and use of computers in schools, many questions about technology, schooling and power relations still remain unanswered. I present two alternative viewpoints on the new digital age. First, I explore Melanie Stewart Millar’s (1998) analysis of digital discourse as one which reproduces the power of white, middle-class, educated, well-paid males, and excludes anything else it considers ‘Other’. Second, I review arguments that the digital age has provided sites for the transcendence of traditional hierarchies and inequalities (e.g. Spender, 1995). I conclude that, despite the discrepancies between these two viewpoints, both concur that technological disadvantage will exacerbate any existing inequality that might result from intersections of identity categories, such as, gender, ethnicity, age, and socio-economic status.

The DALY, context and the determinants of the severity of disease: an exploratory comparison of paraplegia in Australia and Cameroon

This paper summarises the findings of an empirical investigation of some of the technical and social assumptions on which the disability adjusted life year (DALY) is based. The objectives of the study were to examine the notion that the burden of disease is broadly similar without regard to country, environment, gender or socio-economic status and to develop detailed descriptions of the experiences of the burden of disease as they related to these contextual factors. The study was a multi-factorial exploratory study employing qualitative and quantitative techniques to obtain data on the effects of country (development), environment (urban versus rural), gender and socio-economic status on people with paraplegia. The data provided an extensive and detailed compilation of context rich descriptions of living with paraplegia. Striking features of the data were the differences between countries with respect to the impact of the health conditions on functioning and highlight a context in which paraplegia of like clinical severity can be fatal in one environment and not in another. While there has been some focus on the control of social determinants of disease, there has been little work on the social determinants of the severity of disease. The underlying assumptions of the DALY, which ignore context in the assessment of the burden of disease, risk exacerbating inequalities by undervaluing the burden of disease in less-developed countries. There is a need to continue to subject the development of indicators to rigorous debate to determine a balance between the assumption of a global “average social milieu” and the treatment of each individual as belonging to their own context in the assessment of population health in order for indicators to be meaningful cross-culturally.

Interventions implemented through sporting organisations for increasing participation in sport (Review)

The sport and recreation sector is viewed as a priority area for increasing rates of physical activity. Participation rates have been shown to be lower in females, decline with age, and are reduced in lower socio-economic and minority groups. It is important to determine the most effective interventions rhat sporting organisations can use to increase participation and reduce inequalities. This systematic review of the literature did not find any controlled studies assessing the effects of interventions to increase participation in spar!.

Technological efficacy: a new identity category

Debates continue about the relative benefits, costs and risks of the diffusion of computer-based technologies throughout society and schooling. One area that has received considerable attention is gender equity. Early work on gender and computers focused on differences between male and female access and use (e.g. Huff, Fleming & Cooper, 1992; Kirkman, 1993; Morritt, 1997; Nelson & Cooper, 1997; Sofia, 1993), with concerns focused on the potential for girls to be disadvantaged. In some respects, it is arguable that problems of gender equity in schools with respect to computers have been overcome. For example, in a small study I conducted in two New Zealand senior primary classrooms in 2003, I found that both boys and girls were motivated to use computers and appeared to have equal opportunities to access computers in the classroom. The students in my study expressed a belief in the importance of using computers, and this belief can also be discerned from educational policy and media coverage. In this paper I argue that, although gender by itself no longer appears to be a source of disadvantage in terms of access to and use of computers in schools, many questions about technology, schooling and power relations still remain unanswered. I present two alternative viewpoints on the new digital age. First, I explore Melanie Stewart Millar’s (1998) analysis of digital discourse as one which reproduces the power of white, middle-class, educated, well-paid males, and excludes anything else it considers ‘Other’. Second, I review arguments that the digital age has provided sites for the transcendence of traditional hierarchies and inequalities (e.g. Spender, 1995). I conclude that, despite the discrepancies between these two viewpoints, both concur that technological disadvantage will exacerbate any existing inequality that might result from intersections of identity categories, such as, gender, ethnicity, age, and socio-economic status, and that in this digital age, technological efficacy is arguably a new identity category.

Adolescence and abuse : trauma and the socio-sexual abject in John Duigans lawn dogs

The article analyzes the presentation of youth in the film "Lawn Dogs," directed by John Duigan. In the film, the child as victim is defined by socio-economic contexts. The author explores the discursive moves by which means the film witnesses or occludes the traumatic experiences suffered by the child and adolescent characters, and how far it articulates a satiric revision of social hierarchies that construct generational identities of gender and class.