Evaluation of the environmental impacts of rice paddy production using life cycle assessment: case study in Bangladesh

The world is heading towards sustainability. Environmental dimension of sustainability is getting momentum and therefore it is imperative to know the peril through environmental load of a product, process, or activity throughout its life cycle. This study focuses on life cycle assessment (LCA) of rice production in Bangladesh, the fourth highest producer of rice in the world. The objective of this study was to estimate the different environmental impacts from production of paddy rice, in a typical scenario, and identify the environmental hotspots. A life cycle impact assessment has been carried out using ReCiPe methodology, which consists of 18 midpoint impact indicators. The resulting LCA has pointed out the magnitude of impact per kg of paddy produced from the harvested field; a CO2eq emission of 3.15 kg as global warming potential, a P-eq emission of 0.00122 kg as freshwater eutrophication, fossil depletion of 0.68 kg oil(eq), a 1,4-DCB-kg oil(eq) emission of 1.15 kg as human toxicity, a NMVOC emission of 0.016 kg as particulate matter formation, a N-eq emission of 0.0154 kg as marine eutrophication and use of 2.97 m(3) of water for irrigation purpose. Contribution analysis shows that irrigation and emissions from paddy field are the most environmentally burdening stages across all major impact categories. Manufacture of fertilizer and pesticide also play a significant role in putting environmental load. The application of this study helped to identify improvement opportunities to reduce environmental impacts within this and related production systems, and demonstrated its usefulness in setting priorities to realize these opportunities

Strengthening quality in sexual, reproductive, maternal, and newborn health systems in low- and middle-income countries through midwives and facility mentoring: an integrative review

Background: There is an urgent global call for health systems to strengthen access to quality sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health, particularly for the most vulnerable. Professional midwives with enabling environments are identified as an important solution. However, a multitude of barriers prevent midwives from fully realizing their potential. Effective interventions to address known barriers and enable midwives and quality sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health are less well known. This review intends to evaluate the literature on (1) introducing midwives in low- and middle-income countries, and (2) on mentoring as a facilitator to enable midwives and those in midwifery roles to improve sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health service quality within health systems. Methods: An integrative systematic literature review was conducted, guided by the Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome framework. Articles were reviewed for quality and relevance using the Gough weight-of-evidence framework and themes were identified. A master table categorized articles by Gough score, methodology, country of focus, topic areas, themes, classification of midwives, and mentorship model. The World Health Organization health systems building block framework was applied for data extraction and analysis. Results: Fifty-three articles were included: 13 were rated as high, 36 as medium, and four as low according to the Gough criteria. Studies that focused on midwives primarily highlighted human resources, governance, and service delivery while those focused on mentoring were more likely to highlight quality services, lifesaving commodities, and health information systems. Midwives whose pre-service education met global standards were found to have more efficacy. The most effective mentoring packages were comprehensive, integrated into existing systems, and involved managers. Conclusions: Effectively changing sexual, reproductive, maternal, newborn and adolescent health systems is complex. Globally standard midwives and a comprehensive mentoring package show effectiveness in improving service quality and utilization. Trial registration: The protocol is registered in PROSPERO (CRD42022367657)