Voices of rural people: Community-level assessment of effects and resilience to natural disasters in Odisha, India

Globally, natural disasters have caused a large scale of damage and destruction every year, affecting millions of people, the economy, and development – and developing countries are the most severely affected. Odisha is one of India’s most disaster-prone states. This study explores the effects of, and resilience to, cyclones, floods, droughts, and heatwaves in Odisha, and identifies government strategies that help mitigate these natural disasters. We mainly used primary data collected through a qualitative study undertaken from April 2017 to June 2017 in three districts of Odisha. We conducted in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with community members and key stakeholders at different levels. In addition, our study analyzed secondary data on natural disasters using DesInventar, a disaster information management system data source. The findings show that floods, cyclones, and drought in recent years, along with heatwaves and lightning, have severely affected the people of Odisha. The impacts of these natural disasters are calamitous – particularly on livelihoods, food security, health, water, and sanitation. These natural disasters, which have affected agriculture, fisheries, prawn cultivation, roadside vendors, and daily wage laborers, have both short- and long-term effects on the livelihoods of people in Odisha, leaving them with scarce employment opportunities. The vulnerable and marginalized sections of the population have been the most severely affected, and common coping mechanisms have included selling off livestock, borrowing food, taking loans and mortgages, and migration. The government’s measures/programs, such as an Early Warning System, Public Distribution System, Multipurpose Cyclone Rehabilitation Centers, Seasonal Residential Care Centers, and Indira Awas Yojana, play a major role in mitigating the effect of disasters among rural communities. Our study indicates that natural disasters have impacted the population of the state socioeconomically, physically, and psychologically. The effect on livelihoods, directly and indirectly, exacerbates income, food security, and health. There is an urgent need to focus on reducing people’s underlying vulnerabilities by taking proactive measures, engaging the community in decision-making, and generating alternative and sustainable livelihoods

Human protein reference database—2006 update

Human Protein Reference Database (HPRD) () was developed to serve as a comprehensive collection of protein features, post-translational modifications (PTMs) and protein–protein interactions. Since the original report, this database has increased to >20 000 proteins entries and has become the largest database for literature-derived protein–protein interactions (>30 000) and PTMs (>8000) for human proteins. We have also introduced several new features in HPRD including: (i) protein isoforms, (ii) enhanced search options, (iii) linking of pathway annotations and (iv) integration of a novel browser, GenProt Viewer (), developed by us that allows integration of genomic and proteomic information. With the continued support and active participation by the biomedical community, we expect HPRD to become a unique source of curated information for the human proteome and spur biomedical discoveries based on integration of genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic data

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Charting Professional Waters: Diary of a Young Psycho-Oncologist

A young psycho-oncologist faces a moral dilemma, testing professional ethics against personal morals

Modified Single Stage AC-AC Converter

The paper describes the single stage AC-AC converter. This converter is a good alternative to quasi direct back to back converter. This single stage converter is called Matrix Converter. Matrix converter is an array of controlled semiconductor switches that connects three phase source to the three phase load. This converter provides bidirectional power flow, sinusoidal input and output waveforms and they have no dc link storage elements. Simulation model and results presented showing Venturini control method of matrix converter

Understanding the resilience and mental health impacts of natural disasters in India: A narrative review

The purpose of this study is to understand the linkages between natural disasters and their impact on the mental health of people as well as associated resilience mechanisms in India. Natural disasters affect not only the physical environment but also the economy, social life, and well-being of the population. In addition to the loss of precious lives and economic losses, disasters affect the natural growth and mental health of the affected populations to a great extent. It is extremely challenging to quantify the true scale of damage caused by a disaster because physical damage is visible, but hidden impacts could be much more severe and have catastrophic effects on the socioeconomic growth of the affected families and areas. Against this background and with the limited available evidence, this study has tried to understand how disasters lead to poor mental health among the affected populations around the globe and tried to conceptualize this in the Indian context. Our review documents the different pathways for disasters to adversely affect mental health, particularly among vulnerable populations. The review also highlights how an increased frequency of disasters with climate change can lead to a post-traumatic stress disorder, adjustment disorder, and depression. Changes in climate and global warming may require populations to migrate, which can lead to acculturation stress. It can also lead to increased rates of physical illnesses, which secondarily would be associated with psychological distress. This research is an initial step in bringing this important issue forward in the context of Sustainable Development Goals and outlining that better policies need to be designed for prevention, services, and psychological counseling of mental health problems due to disasters. This study also suggests for more longitudinal research to understand the development of disaster-related mental health problems and to develop adequate mitigation strategies

A review on extreme weather events and livelihood in Odisha, India

Over the years extreme weather events have been catastrophic and continue to have overwhelming impacts globally, mainly due to climate change. However, the impacts of extreme weather events have been uneven and devastating in developing countries largely because of lack of resources, weak adaptive capacity and large dependency on climate sensitive livelihoods. Odisha on the eastern coast of India is one of the most disaster-prone states in India with a regular prevalence of extreme events like cyclones, droughts, floods and heat waves. The state’s livelihood is mainly based on weather patterns directly (farming, fisheries) or indirectly (non-farm wage labour, dairy farming) are at stake due to the frequent occurrence of extreme weather events. However, there are very limited studies available which describe the situation, impacts and resilience of extreme weather events in the context of livelihood in the state. The present study is an attempt in this direction to review and examine the impact of extreme weather events (e.g., cyclone, flood, drought and heat wave) on the livelihood of the population in Odisha. In addition, the study examines the resilience shown by the people and the program and policy adopted by the government on the extreme weather events in the state. The study findings highlight that extreme weather events have affected populations at large, caused substantial economic losses and exerted a disproportionate effect on the vulnerable social groups such as sharecroppers, small and marginal farmers, backward communities, landless labourers, wage labourers, rickshaw pullers and vendors as the nature of work in which they are engaged is susceptible to the effects of extreme weather events. Heat waves, droughts, floods and cyclones are the important extreme weather events that hamper the livelihoods in Odisha. Frequent occurrence of events has caused a blow to the livelihood resilience of the poor and marginalized people. While immediate coping mechanisms at the local level do provide some relief to the people, but the ability of people to adapt to these disasters is severely affected by the increased frequency of these disasters and there is a dire need to focus towards more sustainable and long-term livelihood solutions

Climate change and women in South Asia: A review and future policy implications

Purpose: South Asian region is a focal point owing to its vulnerabilities to climate-sensitive diseases, dependence on climate-sensitive livelihoods, projected levels of crop decline in the region, and high rates of poverty and malnutrition. Women are particularly vulnerable to climate change and this affects women disproportionately during different extreme events. The purpose of this paper is to understand the issue of climate change and its impact, and climate resilience among women in South Asia. Further, it also identifies the gaps and suggests future policy implications. Design/methodology/approach: Climate change is increasingly being recognised as an alarming issue and the present review is important when South Asian countries are facing the brunt of climate change impacts. This paper tries to understand the issue by review of the literature and conceptual framework methodology. To understand women’s vulnerability due to climate change and its aftermath, the authors conducted both offline and online desk reviews for this study. Findings: The findings of this study show a clear linkage between climate change and women’s vulnerabilities in South Asia. Climate change has significant socio-economic impacts on women, and it affects them disproportionately in various domains of agriculture, livelihood, food security, both physical and mental health, water and sanitation in the South Asia region. Practical implications: The paper also highlights that the programmes that aim at combating the effects of climate change require a gender-sensitive approach so that climate change does not obstruct the development and reduction of poverty in the region. Social implications: The findings of this paper will add value in helping families to come out of poverty by undertaking adaptive measures with proactive assistance from the government and grassroots level organisations. Originality/value: The present study also advocates for more gender- and climate-sensitive measures from governments, and implementation of intervention- and evidence-based research in the South Asian countries