Social Security Programs Throughout the World: Africa, 2011

[Excerpt] This third issue in the current four-volume series of Social Security Programs Throughout the World reports on the countries of Africa. The combined findings of this series, which also includes volumes on Europe, Asia and the Pacific, and the Americas, are published at six-month intervals over a two-year period. Each volume highlights features of social security programs in the particular region. This guide serves as an overview of programs in all regions. A few political jurisdictions have been excluded because they have no social security system or have issued no information regarding their social security legislation. In the absence of recent information, national programs reported in previous volumes may also be excluded. In this volume on Africa, the data reported are based on laws and regulations in force in January 2011 or on the last date for which information has been received

Social Security Programs Throughout the World: The Americas, 2011

[Excerpt] This fourth issue in the current four-volume series of Social Security Programs Throughout the World reports on the countries of the Americas. The combined findings of this series, which also includes volumes on Europe, Asia and the Pacific, and Africa, are published at six-month intervals over a two-year period. Each volume highlights features of social security programs in the particular region. The information contained in these volumes is crucial to our efforts, and those of researchers in other countries, to review different ways of approaching social security challenges that will enable us to adapt our social security systems to the evolving needs of individuals, households, and families. These efforts are particularly important as each nation faces major demographic changes, especially the increasing number of aged persons, as well as economic and fiscal issues

Working mothers, injury and embodied care work

In this article, we examine how mothers respond when injury interrupts maternal care, using the lens of embodied care, which we conceptualize as a form of ‘body work’. We draw on findings from a qualitative research project with two organizations in Australia that help people with injuries to return to work, examining the experiences of workers who are also mothers of dependent children. Mothers' inability to care for children during periods of injury was a significant concern for our interviewees; constraints on physical labour and physical affection were particularly troubling, indicating the importance of embodied maternal caregiving to maternal roles. Yet, while these mothers inhabited the spheres of paid work and unpaid care work simultaneously, service providers did not consider embodied care work or its relevance to injured women's ongoing needs for support. While our findings reflect the experiences of injured women, they also suggest the need for a materialist analysis of the ways that both paid work and care activities are deeply enmeshed in and through the bodies of those doing the work. Employers and service organizations still fail to recognize maternal ‘body work’, and this may be typical of social attitudes more widely

Latin American immigrants have limited access to health insurance in Japan: a cross sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Japan provides universal health insurance to all legal residents. Prior research has suggested that immigrants to Japan disproportionately lack health insurance coverage, but no prior study has used rigorous methodology to examine this issue among Latin American immigrants in Japan. The aim of our study, therefore, was to assess the pattern of health insurance coverage and predictors of uninsurance among documented Latin American immigrants in Japan.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We used a cross sectional, mixed method approach using a probability proportional to estimated size sampling procedure. Of 1052 eligible Latin American residents mapped through extensive fieldwork in selected clusters, 400 immigrant residents living in Nagahama City, Japan were randomly selected for our study. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire developed from qualitative interviews.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Our response rate was 70.5% (n = 282). Respondents were mainly from Brazil (69.9%), under 40 years of age (64.5%) and had lived in Japan for 9.45 years (SE 0.44; median, 8.00). We found a high prevalence of uninsurance (19.8%) among our sample compared with the estimated national average of 1.3% in the general population. Among the insured full time workers (n = 209), 55.5% were not covered by the Employee's Health Insurance. Many immigrants cited financial trade-offs as the main reasons for uninsurance. Lacking of knowledge that health insurance is mandatory in Japan, not having a chronic disease, and having one or no children were strong predictors of uninsurance.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Lack of health insurance for immigrants in Japan is a serious concern for this population as well as for the Japanese health care system. Appropriate measures should be taken to facilitate access to health insurance for this vulnerable population.</p

Seasonal changes of commercial traits, proximate and fatty acid compositions of the scallop Flexopecten glaber from the Mediterranean Sea (Southern Italy)

This study provides information on biological (gonadosomatic index), commercial quality (condition index and meat yield) and biochemical aspects (proximate composition, fatty acids) of the soft tissues of Flexopecten glaber reared in suspended cages in the Ionian Sea. The results showed that condition index (CI) and meat yield (MY) peaked in December (60 and 30%, respectively) and in April, May and June (from 53 to 60% for CI and from 34 to 36% for MY). Gonadosomatic index showed three main peaks in winter, spring and summer months. Contents of protein 8.18–11.9 g/100 g), lipid (0,.78–1.18 g/100 g) and carbohydrate (1.19–3.30 g/100 g) varied significantly during the study period. Saturated fatty acids was the dominant group, except in December when polyunsaturated fatty acids showed the highest proportion (43% of total FAs). Fatty acids of the n3 group were dominant with docosahexaenoic and eicosapentaenoic acids. Highest n3/n6 ratios were recorded in spring-summer specimens, with values > of 5. The results showed a better nutritional quality of scallops in May, July and December

Arbeitssicherheit bei Automatisierung und neuen Techniken. Kriterien und Methoden fuer die Sicherheitsanalyse. Kurzfassung der Vortraege. L'automatisation, les techniques nouvelles et la securite du travail. Criteres et methodes pour l'analyse de la securite

SIGLEAvailable from Berufsgenossenschaftliches Inst. fuer Arbeitssicherheit, St. Augustin (DE) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekDEGerman