The Impact of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene on Key Health and Social Outcomes: Review of Evidence

This evidence paper looks at 10 areas identified collaboratively with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on which WASH can plausibly have a strong impact: diarrhea, nutrition, complementary food hygiene, female psychosocial stress, violence, maternal and newborn health, menstrual hygiene management, school attendance, oral vaccine performance, and neglected tropical diseases. Together, these areas cover the most significant sector outcomes associated with the distinct life course phases that UNICEF seeks to help to address through its WASH activities

The Mechanism of Crowd Stampede Based on Case Statistics through SNA Method

Stampede is a concern of urban pubic security management. The current academic research focus is the identification of risk factors of trampling accidents and determination of correlation patterns and accident-causing mechanisms among stampede elements in order to effectively obtain the influencing factors of stampede and clarify the transmission routes of stampede risk factors. Previous index cases were scrutinized and analyzed in 78 typical stampedes from 2010 - 2019 based on "pedestrian-equipment-environment-management" framework, and 17 influencing factors of stampede by adopting a conceptual coding method were obscured. Then, the degree centrality, intermediate centrality and respective weights of the influencing factors were calculated based on the social network analysis (SNA) method. The influencing level of the factors was signified, and the transmission mechanism of risk in the system network was determined. The results reveal that the degree centrality and weight with conspicuous features of over-density of crowds, pedestrian swarming and falling, and insufficient on-site transactions contribute the most. This finding indicates that these factors play a relatively major role in the stampede system. Furthermore, the intermediate centrality of insufficient on-site transactions is the top factor, meaning that this factor has a strong controlling force in the incident system and considerably influences other factors. This study shows that the SNA method is feasible in analyzing the mechanism of stampede incidents, simultaneously addressing the shortcomings of the linear statistical model of factors and providing theoretical support for comprehensive control of crowd risk

Children's Well-being in Contexts of Poverty: Approaches to Research, Monitoring and Participation

Monitoring, protecting and promoting 'well-being' are central to realisation of children's rights. Yet definitions of the concept are both variable and can appear conceptually confused. Competing research paradigms engage with the concept and its measurement, while applications of well-being in policy are equally contested. This paper outlines some of the major debates, as a starting point for reviewing three contrasting approaches to well-being: indicator-based, participatory and longitudinal research. In particular, it focuses on applications of the concept in contexts of child poverty worldwide. We suggest there are some promising signs of integration amongst these approaches, and argue that well-being does have potential as a bridging concept, at the same time highlighting inequalities, acknowledging diversities, and respecting children's agency

Social Distance and Information Avoidance in Public Security Events: A Dual Involvement Perspective

With the large spread of information thanks to ICT, public security events are increasingly focused on by the public. But meanwhile, the phenomenon of people’s information avoidance in these events still exists and even becomes more prominent. However, existing studies on information avoidance have ignored such an important context (i.e., public security event) and the influence of people’s perceptions of social relationship. To fill the gaps, we develop a model to explore the influence of social distance on information avoidance through two opposite mechanisms from a dual involvement perspective, perceived relevance and negative affect, in the context of public security events. We also consider self-efficacy’s moderating role to identify the boundary conditions. A scenario-based survey with college students was conducted to test the proposed research model. Finally, theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed

Teaching and teachers in conflict-affected settings during COVID-19

During the COVID-19 pandemic, challenges around the delivery of education in conflict and crisis-affected settings have intensified due to school closures. Communities in these resource-scarce educational environments struggled to adapt alternative modes of educational delivery that would help prevent the spread of the disease. These educational settings require the most qualified, trained, well supported and motivated teachers who can work with learners who may have been traumatised by the experience of violence, forced displacement and ongoing adversities. Yet, so often there is a shortage of teachers in conflict affected contexts. Where teachers are available, they often lack the relevant and required qualifications or professional capacities and their employment may not be stable due to ongoing conflict, restrictions on or loss of their right to work and the harsh conditions under which their families live. On top of these difficulties, COVID-19 has created an ‘unprecedented global education emergency’ exacerbating the funding gap in education, disproportionately affecting the world’s poorest and vulnerable children such as refugees, internally displaced persons and compounding gender-based violence for millions of women and girls. This special issue of ECR, co-edited by Prof Tejendra Pherali (IOE) and Dr Mary Mendenhall (Teachers College, Columbia University) brings together a broad range of empirical research, rigorous reviews and theoretical/conceptual analyses that focus on teachers and teaching in conflict settings during the COVID-19 pandemic

Families and Economic Mobility

Surveys the literature on the effect of family structure, socioeconomic status, childrearing practices, and transmission of parental traits on academic success and mobility. Points out the difficulty of sorting familial influences from genetic factors

Invisible Wounds: The Impact of Six Years of War on the Mental Health of Syria's Children

The TDR Results Report illustrates progress made against the 23 key performance indicators that are part of the monitoring and evaluation matrix, in line with the current Performance Assessment Framework.The report shows progress made on various performance indicators related to three overarching categories related to not only on what is done (technical expected results), but also on how it is done (application of organizational core values and managerial performance).The report notes a high implementation rate, numerous new health tools that are being used in critical areas, and an expanded education and training programme, particularly focused on researchers in disease endemic countries. It provides summaries of activities to increase equity, such as increasing opportunities for women. The report includes a series of lessons learnt that have further improved the Programme's managerial effectiveness

Covid-19 and movement control order: stress and coping strategies of students observing self-quarantine

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) led students feel anxious with a constant internal dialogue of ‘Am I safe?’ that may take a serious toll on their psyche. The self-quarantine and physical distancing, economic hardship and fears of contracting the disease are likely sources of stress. Quite apart, students may also experience both physical sufferings and mental stress due to the news of increasing number of infected cases and reported deaths across the globe. A range of expert guidelines have been developed by governments and health authorities to curtail the spread of the virus. This study models a position paper which persuades the reader to realize that the opinions expressed are valid and could be defended. In gathering supporting evidence, an online qualitative survey was conducted to examine the stress of students observing selfquarantine and physical distancing in and around Desa Ilmu and Unigardern in Kota Saramarahan as well as in apartments at Jalan Kingfisher Sabah. These students were invited as respondents in this online investigation using interview protocol to take their responses. This study is among the first to examine the stress and coping strategies of students observing self-quarantine and physical distancing. The paper may provide useful information about how students cope in stressful situations and also identify effective ways to manage people during distress times in future

Greentree II: Violence against Women and Girls, and HIV

Compiled and edited by Lori Heise and Elizabeth McGrory, this publication synthesizes the discussions and conclusions of a three-day expert consultation on the links between HIV and violence against women and girls (VAWG). STRIVE convened the consultation with support from WHO, UNICEF, UNAIDS and the Greentree Foundation in order to: - examine the existing evidence base on the links between VAWG and HIV and identify critical knowledge gaps - develop a conceptual model that captures the potential pathways through which violence influences HIV-related outcomes - propose a research agenda to resolve outstanding questions -suggest priority actions for policy, programmes and researc