13 research outputs found
Financial feasibility of end-user designed rainwater harvesting and greywater reuse systems for high water use households
© 2017, The Author(s). Water availability pressures, competing end-uses and sewers at capacity are all drivers for change in urban water management. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) and greywater reuse (GWR) systems constitute alternatives to reduce drinking water usage and in the case of RWH, reduce roof runoff entering sewers. Despite the increasing popularity of installations in commercial buildings, RWH and GWR technologies at a household scale have proved less popular, across a range of global contexts. For systems designed from the top-down, this is often due to the lack of a favourable cost-benefit (where subsidies are unavailable), though few studies have focused on performing full capital and operational financial assessments, particularly in high water consumption households. Using a bottom-up design approach, based on a questionnaire survey with 35 households in a residential complex in Bucaramanga, Colombia, this article considers the initial financial feasibility of three RWH and GWR system configurations proposed for high water using households (equivalent to >203L per capita per day). A full capital and operational financial assessment was performed at a more detailed level for the most viable design using historic rainfall data. For the selected configuration (‘Alt 2’), the estimated potable water saving was 44% (equivalent to 131m3/year) with a rate of return on investment of 6.5% and an estimated payback period of 23years. As an initial end-user-driven design exercise, these results are promising and constitute a starting point for facilitating such approaches to urban water management at the household scale
Intra-abdominal fat is related to metabolic syndrome and non-alcoholic fat liver disease in obese youth
Time trends in physical activity of adult users of the Brazilian National Health System: 2010-2014. Longitudinal study
Planning and systematic management of water resources by the WEAP model, case of the Mabtouh watershed (northwestern Algeria)
Modelling the impacts of wildfires on runoff at the river basin ecological scale in a changing Mediterranean environment
Agregação de fatores de risco cardiovascular e ocorrência de hipertensão arterial em adultos sedentários
Inter-annual variability of rainfall under an arid climate: case of the Gafsa region, South west of Tunisia
Determinants of outpatient expenditure within primary care in the Brazilian National Health System
ABSTRACT
CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: One of the big challenges facing governments worldwide is the financing of
healthcare systems. Thus, it is necessary to understand the factors and key components associated with
healthcare expenditure. The aim here was to identify demographic, socioeconomic, lifestyle and clinical
factors associated with direct healthcare expenditure within primary care, among adults attended through
the Brazilian National Health System in the city of Bauru.
DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional study conducted in five primary care units in Bauru (SP), Brazil.
METHODS: Healthcare expenditure over the last 12 months was assessed through medical records of
adults aged 50 years or more. Annual healthcare expenditure was assessed in terms of medication, laboratory
tests, medical consultations and the total. Body mass index, waist circumference, hypertension, age,
sex, physical activity and smoking were assessed through face-to-face interviews.
RESULTS: The total healthcare expenditure for 963 participants of this survey was US$ 112,849.74
(46.9% consultations, 35.2% medication and 17.9% laboratory tests). Expenditure on medication was
associated with overweight (odds ratio, OR = 1.80; 95% confidence interval, CI: 1.07-3.01), hypertension
(OR = 3.04; 95% CI: 1.91-4.82) and moderate physical activity (OR = 0.56; 95% CI: 0.38-0.81). Expenditure on
consultations was associated with hypertension (OR = 1.67; 95% CI: 1.12-2.47) and female sex (OR = 1.70;
95% CI: 1.14-2.55).
CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that overweight, lower levels of physical activity and hypertension
were independent risk factors associated with higher healthcare expenditure within primary care