Entomological Surveillance as a Cornerstone of Malaria Elimination: A Critical Appraisal

Global capacity for developing new insecticides and vector control products, as well as mathematical models to evaluate their likely impact upon malaria transmission has greatly improved in recent years. Given that a range of new vector control products are now emerging that target a greater diversity of adult mosquito behaviours, it should soon be feasible to effectively tackle a broader range of mosquito species and settings. However, the primary obstacles to further progress towards more effective malaria vector control are now paucities of routine programmatic entomological surveillance, and capacity for data processing, analysis and interpretation in endemic countries. Well-established entomological methods need to be more widely utilized for routine programmatic surveillance of vector behaviours and insecticide susceptibility, the effectiveness of vector control products and processes, and their impacts on mosquito populations. Such programmatic data may also be useful for simulation analyses of mosquito life histories, to identify opportunities for pre-emptively intervening early in the life cycle of mosquitoes, rather than targeting transmission events occurring when they are older. Current obstacles to more effective utilization, archiving and sharing of entomological data largely centre around global inequities of analytical capacity. These prohibitive and unfair imbalances can be addressed by reorienting funding schemes to emphasize south-centred collaborations focused on malaria-endemic countries

Household decisions and equivalence scales

Equivalence scales, Household decision rule, Economies of size, D31, D63,

Climate change and Aotearoa New Zealand

With a population of 4.5 million, New Zealand's contribution to total global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is relatively low. On a per capita basis, however, New Zealand's GHG emissions are the fifth highest among Annex 1 countries, due in part to the relative size of the pastoral agricultural sector. Biophysical impacts of climate change will largely extend current climate trends, with high regional variability. A review of climate change literature identifies three key risks for New Zealand relating to economic connectedness, perceptions of 'clean, green' New Zealand, and social equity. Since 2008, New Zealand's main mitigation response has been the emissions trading scheme (NZ ETS), yet the ETS is currently providing little by way of meaningful incentives for behavior change and low-carbon investment. Moreover, since declining to enter the second commitment period of the Kyoto protocol, engagement with global climate governance has been modest, and recently released emissions reduction targets have raised questions over New Zealand's responsibilities as a global citizen. In this paper, adaptive responses are considered in connection to key industries (agriculture, tourism) and communities (coastal, Māori), and examine the devolved structure of adaptation. Mainstream media reporting of climate change in New Zealand appears to be aligned with the scientific consensus position, yet it continues to frame climate change as a political issue, prioritizing political over scientific voices. Public perceptions of climate change provide evidence of continued uncertainty relating to human attribution, and depict climate change as a spatially distanced risk which could affect support for government action on climate change