Socializing One Health: an innovative strategy to investigate social and behavioral risks of emerging viral threats

In an effort to strengthen global capacity to prevent, detect, and control infectious diseases in animals and people, the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) PREDICT project funded development of regional, national, and local One Health capacities for early disease detection, rapid response, disease control, and risk reduction. From the outset, the EPT approach was inclusive of social science research methods designed to understand the contexts and behaviors of communities living and working at human-animal-environment interfaces considered high-risk for virus emergence. Using qualitative and quantitative approaches, PREDICT behavioral research aimed to identify and assess a range of socio-cultural behaviors that could be influential in zoonotic disease emergence, amplification, and transmission. This broad approach to behavioral risk characterization enabled us to identify and characterize human activities that could be linked to the transmission dynamics of new and emerging viruses. This paper provides a discussion of implementation of a social science approach within a zoonotic surveillance framework. We conducted in-depth ethnographic interviews and focus groups to better understand the individual- and community-level knowledge, attitudes, and practices that potentially put participants at risk for zoonotic disease transmission from the animals they live and work with, across 6 interface domains. When we asked highly-exposed individuals (ie. bushmeat hunters, wildlife or guano farmers) about the risk they perceived in their occupational activities, most did not perceive it to be risky, whether because it was normalized by years (or generations) of doing such an activity, or due to lack of information about potential risks. Integrating the social sciences allows investigations of the specific human activities that are hypothesized to drive disease emergence, amplification, and transmission, in order to better substantiate behavioral disease drivers, along with the social dimensions of infection and transmission dynamics. Understanding these dynamics is critical to achieving health security--the protection from threats to health-- which requires investments in both collective and individual health security. Involving behavioral sciences into zoonotic disease surveillance allowed us to push toward fuller community integration and engagement and toward dialogue and implementation of recommendations for disease prevention and improved health security

Analysis of Speeding Behaviour During Approaching the U-Turn Facility Road Segment Based On Driving Simulation Test

The main purose of this study is to analysis the speeding behavior during approaching the U-turn facility road segment based on driving simulation test. In previous studies, it has been shown that speeding behavior is a complex problem that requires a full understanding of drivers’ attitudes and beliefs. Such understanding is needed to improve the speeding behavior of drivers that comes from the effective design and interventions. Therefore, this study will analyse the speeding behavior in approaching the U-turn facility as a key variable in this study which may affect the collision result. Totally 50 participants were recruited in this experiments based on driving simulator. The scenarios and road environment in the driving simulator were based on site location at FT050 Jalan Batu Pahat – Kluang, Johor. Results shows significant increase in speed of up to 40.01% more than the speed limit at the approaching the Uturn facility road segment. The paper concluded that speeding behavior during approaching the U-turn facility road segment based on driving simulation test will trigger significant increasing of speed

Analysis of Speeding Behaviour During Approaching the U-Turn Facility Road Segment Based On Driving Simulation Test

The main purose of this study is to analysis the speeding behavior during approaching the U-turn facility road segment based on driving simulation test. In previous studies, it has been shown that speeding behavior is a complex problem that requires a full understanding of drivers’ attitudes and beliefs. Such understanding is needed to improve the speeding behavior of drivers that comes from the effective design and interventions. Therefore, this study will analyse the speeding behavior in approaching the U-turn facility as a key variable in this study which may affect the collision result. Totally 50 participants were recruited in this experiments based on driving simulator. The scenarios and road environment in the driving simulator were based on site location at FT050 Jalan Batu Pahat – Kluang, Johor. Results shows significant increase in speed of up to 40.01% more than the speed limit at the approaching the Uturn facility road segment. The paper concluded that speeding behavior during approaching the U-turn facility road segment based on driving simulation test will trigger significant increasing of speed

An overview of the practice of traffic impact assessment in Malaysia

Malaysia is a developing country with rapid urbanisation, unceasing development and growing expansion of road network, connecting all the major cities in the country. However, in the downfall, traffic congestions, road accidents and fatalities are still at an alarming level, so to control the traffic impacts generated, the government uses Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA) as planning tool to assess the feasibility and rationality of a development. In Malaysia, TIA has been applied since early 90', with the first draft TIA guidelines proposed in 2005 and was revised in 2011 by Road Engineering Association of Malaysia (REAM) to the guidelines for TIA used today. TIA is about assessing the adverse impacts generated by a proposed development and mitigating the impacts with the appropriate measurements. Since TIA is adopted, developing countries are still facing various issues which happens also in Malaysia. This study will discuss about those issues and provide a method to assess the performance of TIA in Malaysia by determining what constitute to the best practice from an international standard and where Malaysia stand in the standard. The findings from the study will provide the necessary information for the future amendments in the practice of TIA