Their Children and My Life Impact of Childcare on Young Mother-Substitutes of Migrant Women‟s Children

Labour migration is Sri Lanka‟s primary source of foreign exchange. Two thirdsof around 2 million Sri Lankans working overseas are females. Children of marriedmigrant women are left behind with substitute-carers, who are, in many occasions,unmarried young aunts or elder siblings of these children. The objective of this studywas to describe socio-economic and psychological impact of child-care on young-adultmother-substitutes of left-behind children and their methods of coping.This cross-sectional study was conducted in Colombo, Gampaha, andKurunegala districts. Young-adult carers (aged 18-24 years) were identified using datafrom a field survey. Thirty five of them were randomly selected, and interviewed usingan interviewer-administered semi-structured questionnaire. Ten semi-structuredinterviews were also conducted with key informants in their respective communities.Data were analysed using qualitative content analysis.Many young-adult carers of left-behind children were their aunts, while otherswere elder siblings. Most have never had any experience in such extensive childcare,and had been least prepared to undertake it. Many have been reluctant to undertakechildcare but forced to accept due to social obligations and unavoidable circumstances.Transition of childcare responsibility from mother to mother-substitutes has been rapid.Most claim the childcare responsibility to be stressful and also to have adverselyaffected their ambitions by (1) disrupting educational and employment opportunitiesand (2) negatively impacting on their social networking. All young-adult mothersubstitutesperceive themselves to have moderate to severe psychological stressresulting from unfamiliar task of childcare and show symptoms of stress reactions, failto uptake positive coping methods, and demonstrate maladaptive behaviours.Unexpected childcare responsibility adversely impact on social, economic, and healthdomains of unskilled young-adult carers of left-behind children. This, in turn, wouldhave negative repercussions on children themselves and warrants policy levelinterventions.Key words: Migrant, Children, Carer, Psychological, Copin

Research in development: learning from the CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems

This working paper aims to synthesize and share learning from the experience of adapting and operationalizing the Research in Development (RinD) approach to agricultural research in the five hubs under the The CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems. It seeks to share learning about how the approach is working in context and to explore the outcomes it is achieving through initial implementation over 3 ½ years. This learning can inform continuation of agricultural research in the second phase of the CGIAR research programs and will be useful to others aiming to implement research programs that seek to equitably build capacity to innovate in complex social-ecological systems. Each of the chapters in this working paper have shown that RinD has produced a range of outcomes that were often unexpected and broader in scope than might result from other approaches to agricultural research. RinD also produces innovations, and there is evidence that it builds capacity to innovate. - See more at: http://www.aas.cgiar.org/publications/research-development-learning-cgiar-research-program-aquatic-agricultural-systems#sthash.xfjhbHpl.dpu

Guidelines to engage with marginalized ethnic minorities in agricultural research for development in the Greater Mekong

This document is an output of Humidtropics, a CGIAR Research Program on Integrated Systems for the Humid Tropics. This document is designed to help researchers who want to engage with ethnic groups to ensure agricultural research for development (R4D) stops contributing to their further marginalization. It can be used by those wanting to design new projects that engage with ethnic minorities from the start or those already implementing projects and wanting to improve their current practice. Based on an analysis of internal and external factors that lead to marginalization of ethnic minority groups through agricultural R4D, the Guidelines are organized around three sets of challenges: (a) the agricultural R4D system as a whole; (b) for research teams; and (c) for agricultural R4D projects. The document identifies for each challenge strategies that can help prevent further marginalization according to different stages in the project cycle. The overall approach that these Guidelines recommend is transdisciplinary action research. The strategies are thus those that can help agricultural R4D researchers to carry out transdisciplinary action research that engages more effectively with marginalized ethnic minority groups in order to achieve more inclusive and equitable rural development from agriculture

Prediction models for the development of COPD: A systematic review

Early identification of people at risk of developing COPD is crucial for implementing preventive strategies. We aimed to systematically review and assess the performance of all published models that predicted development of COPD. A search was conducted to identify studies that developed a prediction model for COPD development. The Checklist for Critical Appraisal and Data Extraction for Systematic Reviews of Prediction Modelling Studies was followed when extracting data and appraising the selected studies. Of the 4,481 records identified, 30 articles were selected for full-text review, and only four of these were eligible to be included in the review. The only consistent predictor across all four models was a measure of smoking. Sex and age were used in most models; however, other factors varied widely. Two of the models had good ability to discriminate between people who were correctly or incorrectly classified as at risk of developing COPD. Overall none of the models were particularly useful in accurately predicting future risk of COPD, nor were they good at ruling out future risk of COPD. Further studies are needed to develop new prediction models and robustly validate them in external cohorts

Behaviour of cattle in an agro-forestry system

Objective of the present study was to understand the behaviour of dairy cattle tethered underagro-forcstry systems. Three genetically uncharacterized, indigenous, non-lactating cows and twobulls (mean live weight 199±29) were tethered close to a water stream in an agro-forestry system.The vegetation of the agro-forestry system comprised of teak, coconut, mahogany and shrubs. Animalshad enough foraging materials around the place they were tethered. One observer was assigned toeach animal. The behaviour of the animals was observed for five hours from 1000 1500 hrs. Themean temperature and the relative humidity of day of the study were 28°C and 79% respectively.Frequency and the duration of the time spent on nine behaviours were recorded. The behaviouralactivities studied were drinking, feeding (ground level and upper level), lying, standing, walking,urination, defecation, vocal ization and interactions (cattle-cattle and cattle-other an irnals ). Feedingwas the most prominent behaviour of the animals. The time spent on feeding and the frequency offeeding during the 300 minutes study period were 252 min and 23, respectively and thus the feedingbehaviour accounted for 84% of the total time budget. The frequency (15) and the time spent onground level grazing (234 min) were significantly higher (p<O.OOI) than the frequencies and the timespent on upper level feeding. Though not statistically significant, animals spent more time on standing(18.9min or 6.3% of the total time) than on Laying (14.6 min or 5% of the total time). The frequencyof standing (5) was also significantly (p<O.OO I) higher than that oflying (I). May be due to tethering,cattle spent less time (8.3 minutes or 2.7% of the total time) on walking. The frequency of drinking(2) and the time spent on drinking were (3 min or 1% of the total time) unexpectedly low. Cattledefecated and urinated twice during the five- hour study period. Vocalization was the least prominentbehavioural activity. It is concluded that cattle highly engage with feeding particularly, on groundlevel when they are tethered under agro-forestry systems. Further researches are needed to determineas to why the drinking behaviour is suppressed when tethered in agro-forestry systems

Behaviour of cattle in an agro-forestry system

Objective of the present study was to understand the behaviour of dairy cattle tethered underagro-forcstry systems. Three genetically uncharacterized, indigenous, non-lactating cows and twobulls (mean live weight 199±29) were tethered close to a water stream in an agro-forestry system.The vegetation of the agro-forestry system comprised of teak, coconut, mahogany and shrubs. Animalshad enough foraging materials around the place they were tethered. One observer was assigned toeach animal. The behaviour of the animals was observed for five hours from 1000 1500 hrs. Themean temperature and the relative humidity of day of the study were 28°C and 79% respectively.Frequency and the duration of the time spent on nine behaviours were recorded. The behaviouralactivities studied were drinking, feeding (ground level and upper level), lying, standing, walking,urination, defecation, vocal ization and interactions (cattle-cattle and cattle-other an irnals ). Feedingwas the most prominent behaviour of the animals. The time spent on feeding and the frequency offeeding during the 300 minutes study period were 252 min and 23, respectively and thus the feedingbehaviour accounted for 84% of the total time budget. The frequency (15) and the time spent onground level grazing (234 min) were significantly higher (p<O.OOI) than the frequencies and the timespent on upper level feeding. Though not statistically significant, animals spent more time on standing(18.9min or 6.3% of the total time) than on Laying (14.6 min or 5% of the total time). The frequencyof standing (5) was also significantly (p<O.OO I) higher than that oflying (I). May be due to tethering,cattle spent less time (8.3 minutes or 2.7% of the total time) on walking. The frequency of drinking(2) and the time spent on drinking were (3 min or 1% of the total time) unexpectedly low. Cattledefecated and urinated twice during the five- hour study period. Vocalization was the least prominentbehavioural activity. It is concluded that cattle highly engage with feeding particularly, on groundlevel when they are tethered under agro-forestry systems. Further researches are needed to determineas to why the drinking behaviour is suppressed when tethered in agro-forestry systems

Preliminary survey of knowledge, attitudes and practices among nurses regarding seasonal influenza and influenza vaccination

Health care workers are  at risk of influenza through occupational exposure. Uptake of influenza vaccine is poor even in countries where it is provided free. We sought to determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding seasonal influenza and barriers for vaccination among nurses in Colombo. A cross sectional survey was carried out from February to March 2020 on 97 randomly selected nurses. Level of knowledge was measured using a scoring system. Only a few (n=7; 7.2%) nurses had been immunized against influenza. Overall knowledge regarding influenza and vaccines was average in most nurses (n=53; 55%). The majority (n=62; 63.9%) believed the vaccine was safe and 79.4% (n=77) were willing to be vaccinated if vaccine is provided free. However, 15 of these 77 (19.5%) were reluctant to be vaccinated annually. Identified barriers for vaccination were the perception that the vaccine was not essential, doubt about its efficacy, fear of vaccines and side effects. Knowledge should be improved, and misconceptions and fears need to be addressed through health education and promotion.</p