La pobreza urbana en México

El propósito del capítulo es entender la naturaleza de la pobreza urbana en México. Un mejor entendimiento de la pobreza urbana permitirá analizar y discutir las implicaciones metodológicas de las diferencias entre los indicadores de la pobreza urbana y la rural.pobreza, urbana, México

Availability and acceptability of IUDs in Guatemala

The purpose of this study was to identify the reasons for the low use of the IUD in Guatemala and to explore the reasons why other reversible methods are selected more frequently than IUDs. The study aimed to determine the availability and acceptability of IUDs as a contraceptive option within the Ministry of Health, the Guatemalan Social Security Institute, and APROFAM. Results indicated that service providers do not take into consideration women’s reproductive needs or intentions when they provide family planning counseling. There are several demand-side factors that affect the use of the IUD, including lack of knowledge about the method, lack of accessibility, fears, perceived disadvantages, and low quality of services—often perpetuated by service providers themselves. Programmatic recommendations are drawn accordingly

Determinantes de la pobreza estatal

Este trabajo documenta que la situación de pobreza a nivel estatal en México está parcialmente determinada por variables macroeconómicas: el crecimiento económico, la desigualdad del ingreso (al menos en el sector urbano), los salarios mínimos reales y las remesas recibidas por los hogares desde el exterior. También juega un papel la tasa de dependencia (el número de dependientes por individuos en edad de trabajar) y el programa Progresa-Oportunidades, especialmente en el caso de la pobreza alimentaria. Otros programas federales tales como el FAIS y la Alianza para el Campo no parecen ser determinantes de la dinámica de la pobreza, como tampoco parecen serlo las Participaciones Federales a los estados y los municipios. Una de las conclusiones del estudio es, pues, que las acciones de gobierno deben enfocarse hacia políticas macroeconómicas más eficaces, si es que se pretende aliviar de manera significativa la situación de pobreza que prevalece en México.Pobreza, poverty, México, social programs, programas sociales, Oportunidades, remittances, remesas, migration, migración

Fuentes del ingreso de los hogares y factores relacionados con la pobreza en México

Entre los resultados obtenidos por el análisis descriptivo presentado aquí destacan los siguientes hechos: 1) la participación de los ingresos por trabajo de los hogares oscila de manera similar a los ciclos de la economía; 2) las transferencias representaron más de un quinto de los ingresos de la población rural en 2006; 3) la participación de los ingresos por negocios propios ha ido reduciéndose a lo largo de los años, especialmente en el sector rural; 4) las remesas juegan un papel importante en los ingresos totales de los hogares (alrededor de 12.1% en 2006), pero su importancia ha decrecido en el sector rural debido al programa Oportunidades, el cual ya representa más del 40% de todas las transferencias; y 5) la composición familiar, la educación y la posición en el empleo del jefe de la familia son características determinantes en la situación de pobreza de los hogares.Pobreza, poverty, México, social programs, programas sociales, Oportunidades, remittances, remesas, family composition

Reproductive health care in the postnatal period in Guatemala

This operations research study aimed to develop and test a job aid to provide comprehensive care to mothers and children during the first year postpartum; to train physicians, nurses, auxiliary nurses, and social workers in its use; and to develop and test strategies and materials for training community health agents to promote services for new mothers during the first year postpartum. It also collected data to establish if these strategies were effective in improving the quality and comprehensiveness of the care received by mothers and children less than one year of age. Drawing from exit interviews, the intervention appeared to be successful, increasing the likelihood that women receive preventive services when they attend health facilities. However, there were no significant changes in the amount of actual information provided to women, the quality of the services received by each mother at health facilities, service providers’ knowledge about danger signs, or preventive behaviors recommended by service providers. The report lists several factors that may account for these results

Formation and Three-dimensional Microstructure of Ceria-Related Nanomaterials

Notwithstanding the promising catalytic properties of novel porous ceria nanomaterials, their nanostructure has remained incompletely explored. Ceria and its related materials have remained at the centre of extensive catalytic applications. More recently, the capabilities of these materials have been combined with novel porous morphologies to overcome new challenges in environmental and industrial catalysis. This study aims to determine the nanoscale mechanisms that drive the formation of porous ceria nanomaterials. Such an understanding is instrumental in advancing the design and applications of these novel materials. By implementing different techniques across electron microscopy, this work complements the findings of catalysis groups who have evidenced the higher catalytic performance of porous vs non-porous ceria nanomaterials. Based on a review of the literature, two fabrication methods of porous ceria were selected. In one case, pores were induced by annealing ceria nanomaterials at 800 and 950 *C. In the other, porous ceria was synthesised from a precursor via a nanocasting method. The intermediate and final products of these two approaches were characterised in detail using electron microscopy for imaging, analysis and tomographic reconstructions. For pre-synthesised nanoparticles, the studies here were able to resolve, for the first time, the full 3D shape and location of the pores, as well as their crystallographic alignment. Furthermore, the present work has shown transformations at previously unpublished near-sintering temperatures. This experiment rendered the first reported occurrence of porous defects in annealed nanocubes. The present work shows a novel image-processing algorithm, which expands the capabilities of reduced- information tomography techniques to reconstruct porous materials. Further research could use this new method to reconstruct currently unresolved porous and multi-phase structures. As for nanocasting products, the advanced characterisations determined the correlation between characteristics of the template and the product. To establish this relation here is reported the first infiltration of MSU-F to form a silica/ceria composite

Developing a supervision instrument for postabortion care in Guatemala, Bolivia and Mexico

The main objective of this project was to develop and test a supervision instrument and corresponding guidelines to collect information about postabortion care (PAC) services and to provide constructive feedback to service providers and program managers. The instrument and guidelines were designed to be used by technical supervisors to monitor performance and engage providers in continuous quality improvement of PAC services. As part of the project activities, existing postabortion care supervision practices were reviewed and analyzed, and, during a one-week workshop in December 2002, an international technical committee produced a first version of the instrument and guidelines. These materials were tested during a four-month period, and several limitations were identified at that time. A group of technical advisors met in Mexico City in May 2003 to develop a second version that focused on the essential information needed to monitor quality of PAC services and use instructions for a supportive supervision process