Need for a gender-sensitive human security framework: results of a quantitative study of human security and sexual violence in Djohong District, Cameroon

Background: Human security shifts traditional concepts of security from interstate conflict and the absence of war to the security of the individual. Broad definitions of human security include livelihoods and food security, health, psychosocial well-being, enjoyment of civil and political rights and freedom from oppression, and personal safety, in addition to absence of conflict. Methods: In March 2010, we undertook a population-based health and livelihood study of female refugees from conflict-affected Central African Republic living in Djohong District, Cameroon and their female counterparts within the Cameroonian host community. Embedded within the survey instrument were indicators of human security derived from the Leaning-Arie model that defined three domains of psychosocial stability suggesting individuals and communities are most stable when their core attachments to home, community and the future are intact. Results: While the female refugee human security outcomes describe a population successfully assimilated and thriving in their new environments based on these three domains, the ability of human security indicators to predict the presence or absence of lifetime and six-month sexual violence was inadequate. Using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, the study demonstrates that common human security indicators do not uncover either lifetime or recent prevalence of sexual violence. Conclusions: These data suggest that current gender-blind approaches of describing human security are missing serious threats to the safety of one half of the population and that efforts to develop robust human security indicators should include those that specifically measure violence against women

Dehiscence of detached internal limiting membrane in eyes with myopic traction maculopathy with spontaneous resolution

Background: Idjwi, an island of approximately 220,000 people, is located in eastern DRC and functions semi-autonomously under the governance of two kings (mwamis). At more than 8 live births per woman, Idjwi has one of the highest total fertility rates (TFRs) in the world. Rapid population growth has led to widespread environmental degradation and food insecurity. Meanwhile family planning services are largely unavailable.Methods: At the invitation of local leaders, we conducted a representative survey of 2,078 households in accordance with MEASURE DHS protocols, and performed ethnographic interviews and focus groups with key informants and vulnerable subpopulations. Modelling proximate determinates of fertility, we evaluated how the introduction of contraceptives and/or extended periods of breastfeeding could reduce the TFR.Results: Over half of all women reported an unmet need for spacing or limiting births, and nearly 70% named a specific modern method of contraception they would prefer to use; pills (25.4%) and injectables (26.5%) were most desired. We predicted that an increased length of breastfeeding (from 10 to 21 months) or an increase in contraceptive prevalence (from 1% to 30%), or a combination of both could reduce TFR on Idjwi to 6, the average desired number of children. Increasing contraceptive prevalence to 15% could reduce unmet need for contraception by 8%.Conclusions: To meet women’s need and desire for fertility control, we recommend adding family planning services at health centers with NGO support, pursuing a community health worker program, promoting extended breastfeeding, and implementing programs to end sexual- and gender-based violence toward women

Optimizing the Use of a Precious Resource: The Role of Emergency Physicians in a Humanitarian Crisis

Emergency physicians (EP) are uniquely suited to provide care in crises as a result of their broad training, ability to work quickly and effectively in high-pressure, austere settings, and their inherent flexibility. While emergency medicine training is helpful to support the needs of crisis-affected and displaced populations, it is not in itself sufficient. In this article we review what an EP should carefully consider prior to deployment

Excited-state dynamics of a two-photon-activatable ruthenium prodrug

We present a new approach to investigate how the photodynamics of an octahedral ruthenium(II) complex activated through two-photon absorption (TPA) differ from the equivalent complex activated through one-photon absorption (OPA). We photoactivated a RuII polypyridyl complex containing bioactive monodentate ligands in the photodynamic therapy window (620–1000 nm) by using TPA and used transient UV/Vis absorption spectroscopy to elucidate its reaction pathways. Density functional calculations allowed us to identify the nature of the initially populated states and kinetic analysis recovers a photoactivation lifetime of approximately 100 ps. The dynamics displayed following TPA or OPA are identical, showing that TPA prodrug design may use knowledge gathered from the more numerous and easily conducted OPA studies

Second-order method for interface reconstruction in orthogonal coordinate systems

We present a method in two-dimensions for reconstructing an interface from a distribution of volume fractions in a general orthogonal coordinate system. The method, in a cell by cell fashion, approximates the interface curve by a linear pro le. The approach requires only local volume fraction information for the reconstruction. An integral formulation is used that accounts for the orthogonal coordinate system in a natural way. We use nit different to approximate the slop of the required interface while retaining at worst second order accuracy for general interface orientations and an exact representation for coordinate system aligned

High-Order Discontinuous Galerkin Method for Boltzmann Model Equations

High-order Runge-Kutta discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method is applied to the kinetic model equations describing rarefied gas flows. A conservative DG discretization of nonlinear collision relaxation term is formulated for Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook and ellipsoidal statistical models. The numerical solutions using RKDG method of order up to four are obtained for two flow problems: the heat transfer between parallel plates and the normal shock wave. The convergence of RKDG method is compared with the conventional secondorder finite volume method for the heat transfer problem. The normal shock wave solutions obtained using RKDG are compared with the experimental measurements of density and velocity distribution function inside the shock

Multifaceted contributions : health workers and smallpox eradication in India

Smallpox eradication in South Asia was a result of the efforts of many grades of health-workers. Working from within the confines of international organisations and government structures, the role of the field officials, who were of various nationalities and also drawn from the cities and rural enclaves of the countries in these regions, was crucial to the development and deployment of policies. However, the role of these personnel is often downplayed in official histories and academic histories, which highlight instead the roles played by a handful of senior officials within the World Health Organization and the federal governments in the sub-continent. This article attempts to provide a more rounded assessment of the complex situation in the field. In this regard, an effort is made to underline the great usefulness of the operational flexibility displayed by field officers, wherein lessons learnt in the field were made an integral part of deploying local campaigns; careful engagement with the communities being targeted, as well as the employment of short term workers from amongst them, was an important feature of this work