Understanding Afghan healthcare providers: a qualitative study of the culture of care in a Kabul maternity hospital.

To analyse the culture of a Kabul maternity hospital to understand the perspectives of healthcare providers on their roles, experiences, values and motivations and the impact of these determinants on the care of perinatal women and their babies

Under-five mortality and child-abuse-related-deaths in the former USSR. Is there an under-reporting of abuse-related deaths?

The study explores the former USSR countries `Under-fives’ Child Mortality Rates (CMR) and Child-Abuse-Related-Deaths (CARD), since the end of the Soviet Union and asks whether there has been an `under-reporting’ of CARD? W.H.O. under-five mortality rates per million (pm) were extracted for 1988-90 compared with 2008-10 for CMR and confirmed and possible CARD. Possible CARD are Undetermined Deaths(UnD) and Ill-Defined Signs & Symptoms (IDSS) and as these categories have been linked to under-reporting of CARD. CMR and CARD odds ratio calculated and correlated to determine possible underreporting of CARD. Seven countries met the UNICEF objective of reducing CMR; five halving their previous USSR rate. Russian CARD at 29pm is highest but six countries rates were less than 10pm. Undetermined Deaths (UnD) increased in Kazakhstan 13-fold, Belarus 8 times, Ukraine seven and in Russia more than four. Ill-defined deaths trebled in Belarus, and rose more than 25% in Kazakhstan, Georgia and Ukraine. CARD significantly correlated with UnD but not with CMR. Odds ratios of CMR to CARD categories were substantial, more than 4.1:1 in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine, indicating possible under-reporting of CARD. Despite CMR improvements, this first-ever study of former USSR countries should alert the authorities of Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Russian Federation and the Ukraine to the extent of possible child abuse

The post-2015 debate and the place of education in development thinking

As the end date for the Millennium Development Goals approaches so the focus on goals, visions and policies for development after 2015 becomes ever heightened. However, there has been relatively little engagement by educational research community in these debates. What then is being written about education in the key post-2015 documents? How is education's role in development conceptualised by those most central to shaping new accounts? I explore these issues through an analysis of a key text on post-2015, the High Level Panel Report of May 2013 (UN-HLP 2013), and an exploration of a year's worth of posts on 30 prominent blogs and websites discussing post-2015 matters. This leads me to two further, interlinked questions: what are the implications of potential marginalisation and irrelevance from these debates for the field of international education and development research? What are the potential dangers for the field of closer engagement in these debates and their growing use of social media? The academic international education and development community may be more comfortable in keeping these policy debates at a distance, but this may play against the strong educational research drive to engage in social science that makes a difference. If there is to be engagement with post-2015 then alternative ways of developing practices of research, action and dialogue need further strengthened. This may include interdisciplinary dialogues around such issues as early childhood development, the role of professions in development or environmental sustainability. Engagement with the post-2015 debate would also require a careful analysis of how best to engage with the instrumentalised accounts of education that are dominant in the policy-advocacy arena. This would entail more strategic positions on the uses and dangers of social media. At the same time, engagement with development studies as well as the development policy community requires a reappraisal of epistemological and methodological stances

Intent to migrate among nursing students in Uganda: Measures of the brain drain in the next generation of health professionals

Background: There is significant concern about the worldwide migration of nursing professionals from low-income countries to rich ones, as nurses are lured to fill the large number of vacancies in upper-income countries. This study explores the views of nursing students in Uganda to assess their views on practice options and their intentions to migrate. Methods: Anonymous questionnaires were distributed to nursing students at the Makerere Nursing School and Aga Khan University Nursing School in Kampala, Uganda, during July 2006, using convenience sampling methods, with 139 participants. Two focus groups were also conducted at one university. Results: Most (70%) of the participants would like to work outside Uganda, and said it was likely that within five years they would be working in the U.S. (59%) or the U.K. (49%). About a fourth (27%) said they could be working in another African country. Only eight percent of all students reported an unlikelihood to migrate within five years of training completion. Survey respondents were more dissatisfied with financial remuneration than with any other factor pushing them towards emigration. Those wanting to work in the settings of urban, private, or U.K./U.S. practices were less likely to express a sense of professional obligation and/or loyalty to country. Those who have lived in rural areas were less likely to report wanting to emigrate. Students with a desire to work in urban areas or private practice were more likely to report an intent to emigrate for financial reasons or in pursuit of country stability, while students wanting to work in rural areas or public practice were less likely to want to emigrate overall. Conclusion: Improving remuneration for nurses is the top priority policy change sought by nursing students in our study. Nursing schools may want to recruit students desiring work in rural areas or public practice to lead to a more stable workforce in Uganda.University of Washington Department of Global Healt

The use of insecticide treated nets by age: implications for universal coverage in Africa

BACKGROUND: The scaling of malaria control to achieve universal coverage requires a better understanding of the population sub-groups that are least protected and provide barriers to interrupted transmission. Here we examine the age pattern of use of insecticide treated nets (ITNs) in Africa in relation to biological vulnerabilities and the implications for future prospects for universal coverage. METHODS: Recent national household survey data for 18 malaria endemic countries in Africa were assembled to identify information on use of ITNs by age and sex. Age-structured medium variant projected population estimates for the mid-point year of the earliest and most recent national surveys were derived to compute the population by age protected by ITNs. RESULTS: All surveys were undertaken between 2005 and 2009, either as demographic health surveys (n = 12) or malaria indicator surveys (n = 6). Countries were categorized into three ITN use groups: or =20% and projected population estimates for the mid-point year of 2007 were computed. In general, the pattern of overall ITNs use with age was similar by country and across the three country groups with ITNs use initially high among children <5 years of age, sharply declining among the population aged 5-19 years, before rising again across the ages 20-44 years and finally decreasing gradually in older ages. For all groups of countries, the highest proportion of the population not protected by ITNs (38% - 42%) was among those aged 5-19 years. CONCLUSION: In malaria-endemic Africa, school-aged children are the least protected with ITNs but represent the greatest reservoir of infections. With increasing school enrollment rates, school-delivery of ITNs should be considered as an approach to reach universal ITNs coverage and improve the likelihood of impacting upon parasite transmission

大学の教職課程における教科教育法の指導目標と内容に関する研究─商業科教育法と情報科教育法について─

本研究は，高等学校の教員免許のうち「商業科」と「情報科」の二つの免許状を同時に取得することを前提として，教職必修科目の「商業科教育法（commercial education method）」と「情報科教育法（information science education method）」の指導者の立場から，その指導上の課題を踏まえて，指導内容と指導方法の改善について考察するものである。まず，二つの教科教育法（teaching methods）における指導上の共通の課題を明らかにする。そして，二つの教科教育法のシラバスを検討して，改善案を作成した。教科教育法は，学習指導案の作成と模擬授業（trial lesson）の実施が中核となるが，学生が授業を展開する科目は，基礎的なものに限定する必要がある。そのため，ダブル教員免許の取得を前提とした場合も商業科の「情報処理」と情報科の「社会と情報」の2科目を模擬授業の科目として指定することで対応可能と考えられる。1．はじめに 1．1研究の背景 1．2研究の目的 1．3問題意識 1．4研究方法 2．教科教育法における共通課題と教員免許状の取得者数（餅川） 2．1教科教育法における共通課題 2．1．1共通課題に対する指導方法 2．1．2教育実践技術の特徴と内容 2．2教員免許状の取得者数 3．商業科教育法の指導に関する考察（餅川） 3．1教科「商業」の指導目標について 3．2商業科教育法における授業の一例 3．3商業科「ビジネス情報分野」の5科目と情報科の諸科目の関係 3．4全国の商業科で学ぶ生徒の商業科目履修状況 3．5商業科教育法Ⅰ・Ⅱの指導計画 3．6商業科教育法Ⅰのシラバス改善案 3．7商業科教育法Ⅱのシラバス改善案 4．情報科教育法の指導に関する考察（梶川） 4．1教科「情報」の指導目標について 4．2情報科教育法における授業の一例 4．3情報科育法Ⅰ・Ⅱの指導内容について 4．3．1共通教科「情報」について 4．3．2専門教科「情報」について 4．4情報科教育法Ⅰのシラバス改善案 4．5情報科教育法Ⅱのシラバス改善案 5．おわり