Nutrition in Central Uganda - An Estimation of a Minimum Cost Healthy Diet

This study makes use of linear programming methodology to design a minimum cost diet for the Central Ugandan region. We used a set of constraints on recommended levels of daily nutrient intake, recommended proportions of groups of foods, as well as preferences and food availability in Central Uganda, to design a minimum cost healthy daily diet. Several models were considered, each forcing at least one of the following frequently consumed staple foods: matooke, cassava, and rice. We found that the minimum costs of the optimal diets were lowest in the planting season of March and highest in the harvesting season of December.Central Uganda, minimum cost diet, malnutrition, linear programming, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Health Economics and Policy,

Explaining the Saving Behavior of Households’ in Ethiopia, Africa

Savings have been shown to have a positive impact on economic growth at the macroeconomic level. But, the micro-level analysis of households’ savings behavior is limited, especially in Sub-Saharan African economies. This study contributes to the understanding of the savings behavior of households in Africa, by modeling the savings behavior of households’ in Ethiopia with the two-part model. The results of the study reveal that number of extension contacts and access to market information have significant positive effects on the likelihood that a household would save. Moreover, land holdings (bad production season last year) have significant positive (adverse) impact on the expected amount of money a household would save. Based on the results of this study, policies are recommended to increase savings in Ethiopia

An Almost Ideal Demand Estimation for Seafood in Texas

Despite the human nutritional benefits of seafood such as shrimp, per capita consumption has been declining since 2004. A few studies have been conducted, but the literature is still limited. Indeed, studies that have analyzed the market demand for seafood and shrimp in the United States don’t furnish empirical estimates of the consumer behavior of this market. This void in literature is evident, as recent works have either used aggregated data on seafood or disaggregated shrimp data but focusing on shrimp imports. This paper uses the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) to estimate the demand for shrimp in Texas, using AC Nielsen Scanner consumption panel data collected from four metropolitan areas: Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and West Texas. The data ranges from 2006 to 2010. The demand for shrimp is estimated in a system of demand equations for ten fish species. The availability of data on these various kinds of fish enables the assumption of separability of seafood from other food products. The results suggest that all the fish species considered are normal goods and that shrimp demand is price sensitive with an uncompensated own price elasticity of -1.53 and an income elasticity of 0.98. This is partly attributed to the fact that consumers view other fish types as substitutes for shrimp

Determinants of the choice of a savings option: "The case of African Households"

Recent research shows that about 2.5 million people have no access to financial services worldwide. The research also shows that Africa, the home to 70 percent of the world’s least developed countries, has 80 percent of its population unbanked. These statistics are particularly disturbing as they have direct implications for economic growth. This is because, financial inclusion, including savings, has been shown to have a positive impact on economic growth and development. However, recent empirical research is limited in explaining the determinants of the choice of the savings option in Africa. By using survey data obtained from the World-Global Financial Inclusion (Global Findex) Database, 2014, we investigate how household’s characteristics affect their choice of a saving option. We use the multinomial probit model due to its ability to account for issues of independence of irrelevant alternatives (IIA). Our results indicate that there is a strong disconnect between female entrepreneurs and the formal banking sector

The impact of Highway Noise Barriers on the Housing prices of Neighborhoods

Recent empirical studies have investigated the impact of noise barriers on housing prices of adjacent homes. Their results have conflicting evidence. One important observation is that the existing literature examines the impact of berm barriers. Missing in this literature is the impact of barriers made out of other materials. This paper investigates the impact of Noise Barrier Walls (made out of other materials) on the market value of adjacent residential homes. We use a data set containing 141 noise barriers built in 12 counties of Washington State, U.S.A. The data on the location of noise barrier walls is obtained from Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), Environmental Service Office (ESO) -Environmental Information Program. Two models are employed, the hedonic price model and a mofied hedonic model in a quasi-random experiment. The modified Hedonic price method results are very impressive: On average, Noise Barrier walls increase prices of residential homes within 300m by 15.24% . This impact decreases as the distance from the noise barriers increases. We estimate an increase in housing prices of 6.96 % more for houses between 300m and 600m away from the noise barrier

Nutrition in Central Uganda - An Estimation of a Minimum Cost Healthy Diet

This study makes use of linear programming methodology to design a minimum cost diet for the Central Ugandan region. We used a set of constraints on recommended levels of daily nutrient intake, recommended proportions of groups of foods, as well as preferences and food availability in Central Uganda, to design a minimum cost healthy daily diet. Several models were considered, each forcing at least one of the following frequently consumed staple foods: matooke, cassava, and rice. We found that the minimum costs of the optimal diets were lowest in the planting season of March and highest in the harvesting season of December

The Uganda Newborn Study (UNEST) : an effectiveness study on improving newborn health and survival in rural Uganda through a community-based intervention linked to health facilities - study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial

Background: Reducing neonatal-related deaths is one of the major bottlenecks to achieving Millennium Development Goal 4. Studies in Asia and South America have shown that neonatal mortality can be reduced through community-based interventions, but these have not been adapted to scalable intervention packages for sub-Saharan Africa where the culture, health system and policy environment is different. In Uganda, health outcomes are poor for both mothers and newborn babies. Policy opportunities for neonatal health include the new national Health Sector Strategic Plan, which now prioritizes newborn health including use of a community model through Village Health Teams (VHT). The aim of the present study is to adapt, develop and cost an integrated maternal-newborn care package that links community and facility care, and to evaluate its effect on maternal and neonatal practices in order to inform policy and scale-up in Uganda. Methods/Design: Through formative research around evidence-based practices, and dialogue with policy and technical advisers, we constructed a home-based neonatal care package implemented by the responsible VHT member, effectively a Community Health Worker (CHW). This CHW was trained to identify pregnant women and make five home visits - two before and three just after birth - so that linkages will be made to facility care and targeted messages for home-care and care-seeking delivered. The project is improving care in health units to provide standardized care for the mother and the newborn in both intervention and comparison areas. The study is taking place in a new Demographic Surveillance Site in two rural districts, Iganga and Mayuge, in Uganda. It is a two-arm cluster randomized controlled design with 31 intervention and 32 control areas (villages). The comparison parishes receive the standard care already being provided by the district, but to the intervention villages are added a system for CHWs to visit the mother five times in her home during pregnancy and the neonatal period. Both areas benefit from a standardized strengthening of facility care for mothers and neonates. (Continued on next page) Discussion: UNEST is designed to directly feed into the operationalization of maternal and newborn care in the national VHT strategy, thereby helping to inform scale-up in rural Uganda. The study is registered as a randomized controlled trial, number ISRCTN50321130