Fatores ambientais associados à diarréia infantil em áreas de assentamento subnormal em Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais Childhood diarrhea-related to environmental factors in subnormal settlements in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais

OBJETIVOS: caracterizar a prevalência de diarréia e identificar os fatores associados à essa doença em crianças residentes em áreas de assentamento subnormal. MÉTODOS: utilizou-se um delineamento transversal de base populacional. A amostra estudada totalizou 655 crianças. A coleta de dados foi feita mediante entrevistas domiciliares com a mãe ou com o responsável pela criança. Foram usados modelos de regressão logística para identificar fatores associados à diarréia. RESULTADOS: a prevalência da diarréia foi 17,5%. Os fatores associados à doença incluíram internação da criança no primeiro mês de vida; ser cuidado por terceiros, que não a mãe; maior nível de escolaridade do responsável; e maior tempo de residência, como fatores de proteção. Como fatores de risco individuais, a existência de outra doença; e baixa idade. Como fatores de risco coletivos, o consumo de água de mina; a disposição dos esgotos na rua ou no terreno; o acondicionamento inadequado do lixo; e presença de moscas. CONCLUSÕES: para o combate à diarréia sugere-se atenção especial à saúde e à alimentação de crianças com idade abaixo de cinco anos, incluindo adequadas cobertura e qualidade nos serviços de saneamento ambiental.<br>OBJECTIVES: to determine diarrhea prevalence and to identify factors associated to the condition in children living in subnormal settlement areas. METHODS: a cross-sectional population-based study was used. The sample studied totaled 655 children. Data collection was performed through home interviews with the mother or caretaker. Logistic regression models were used to identify diarrhea associated factors. RESULTS: diarrhea prevalence was of 17.5%. Condition associated factors included child hospitalization during the first month of life; children looked after by others and not the mother; higher education level of the caretaker and longer residency period, as protection factors and as individual risk factors associated diseases and young age and as factors for collective risk, mine water consumption; sewage disposal on the streets or in the yard; inadequate garbage disposal and flies. CONCLUSIONS: to fight diarrhea special care should be given to health and nutrition of children under five years old, including adequate and quality environmental sanitation services

Post-industrial Trajectories of Mediterranean European Cities: The Case of Post-Olympics Athens

This paper deals with clusters of post-industrial urban economies and their impacts on the spatial restructuring and the relandscaping of the contemporary inner city. It investigates such impacts by studying recent economic, spatial and landscape transformations of Athens, a large Mediterranean city in the geographical and economic periphery of Europe. The first part of the paper reviews earlier research on clusters of post-industrial urban economies and their spatial impacts, while attempting to present the topic in an international context. The second part focuses on a case study of Athens, Greece. It examines the planned clusters of athletics, culture and leisure that were developed for the 2004 Olympics; and, the spontaneous clusters of both culture, leisure and creative activities, and technology-intensive and knowledge-rich activities and advanced financial intermediary services that have gradually developed in Athens' inner-city areas during the past decade. The paper documents land use shifts and landscape transformations while highlighting the processes of formation of these spontaneous clusters and the urban policies involved; it also discusses urban governance issues in relation to the management of Athens' clusters, both planned and spontaneous. Finally, it draws conclusions about differences in post-industrial trajectories among large cities in the core of Europe and large Mediterranean cities in the developing periphery of Europe

Corporate accountability and the politics of visibility in 'late modernity'

It is generally held that because of developments associated with late modernity large corporations are now much more visible and therefore more accountable. In this article, we challenge this idea and propose contrary and position: that precisely because of late modernity global corporations have become less accountable to their stakeholders. In particular, we argue that because of globalization, the explosion of scientific knowledge and the nature of risk in late modernity, it has in some respects become easier for corporations to conceal their unethical practices (making them less accountable). Drawing on sociological theory concerning late modernity, we seek is to demonstrate how the fashionable ‘ideology of visibility’ habors an insidious anti-democratic tendency apropos wider accountability. In light of this position, the article concludes by discussing the political implications and possibilities for rendering business corporations more democratically accountable

Housing and Economic Development Debate Revisited: Economic Significance of Housing in Developing Countries

Should housing improvement be part of economic development strategies? Must housing improvement wait until high-economic growth is attained? How much priority should be given to housing in view of the limited resources in less-developed countries? What are housing benefits in economic development vis-à-vis other economic investments? These questions have generated heated debates, both in the literature on development problems and in planning and practice in the 1950s and 1960s. This paper draws on the accumulated body of knowledge resulting from past experiences in research and policy to revisit the earlier debates, survey the main lines of argument and reassess the economic potential of housing. It then attempts to generate broad policy considerations. The main contention of this paper is that in light of past and present evidence, the housing sector needs to be given serious consideration in economic growth strategies