Legal and institutional arrangements for urban sanitation and hygiene in Bhutan

This review explores the legal and institutional frameworks guiding urban sanitation and hygiene in Bhutan. It was commissioned in April 2012 to inform the Sustainable Sanitation and Hygiene for All in Small Towns (SSH4A in Small Towns) programme being undertaken by SNV Bhutan and the Ministry of Works and Human Settlements (MoWHS). This review is the product of a desktop review and consultations with key informants to assess the policy, legal and institutional arrangements for urban sanitation and hygiene in Bhutan, with a particular focus on situation in smaller urban centres

Research Ethics in the European Influenzanet Consortium: Scoping Review.

Influenzanet was launched in several European countries to monitor influenza-like illness during flu seasons with the help of volunteering participants and Web-based technologies. As in the case of developing fields, ethical approaches are not well developed in the collection, processing, and analysis of participants' information. Existing controversies and varying national ethical regulations can, thus, hamper efficient cross-border research collaboration to the detriment of quality disease surveillance. This scoping review characterizes current practices on how ethical, legal, and social issues (ELSIs) pertinent to research ethics are handled by different Influenzanet country groups to analyze similarities and identify the need for further harmonization of ethical approaches. A literature search was carried out on PubMed, Web of Science, Global Digital Library on Ethics, and Bioethics Literature Database to identify ELSIs for Influenzanet country platforms. Only English-language papers were included with publication dates from 2003 to 2017. Publications were screened for the application of bioethics principles in the implementation of country platforms. Additional publications gathered from the Influenzanet Consortium website, reference screening, and conference proceeding were screened for ELSIs. We gathered 96 papers from our search methodology. In total, 28 papers that mentioned ELSIs were identified and included in this study. The Research Ethics Committee (REC) approvals were sought for recruiting participants and collecting their data in 8 of 11 country platforms and informed e-consent was sought from participants in 9 of 11 country platforms. Furthermore, personal data protection was ensured throughout the Consortium using data anonymization before processing and analysis and using aggregated data. Epidemics forecasting activities, such as Influenzanet, are beneficial; however, its benefits could be further increased through the harmonization of data gathering and ethical requirements. This objective is achievable by the Consortium. More transparency should be promoted concerning REC-approved research for Influenzanet-like systems. The validity of informed e-consent could also be increased through the provision of a user friendly and standard information sheet across the Consortium where participants agree to its terms, conditions, and privacy policies before being able to fill in the questionnaire. This will help to build trust in the general public while preventing any decline in participation

Identification of novel mutations causing pediatric cataract in Bhutan, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka

Background: Pediatric cataract is an important cause of blindness and visual impairment in children. A large proportion of pediatric cataracts are inherited, and many genes have been described for this heterogeneous Mendelian disease. Surveys of schools for the blind in Bhutan, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka have identified many children with this condition and we aimed to identify the genetic causes of inherited cataract in these populations.Methods: We screened, in parallel, 51 causative genes for inherited cataracts in 33 probands by Ampliseq enrichment and sequencing on an Ion Torrent PGM. Rare novel protein coding variants were assessed for segregation in family members, where possible, by Sanger sequencing.Results: We identified 24 rare (frequency Conclusion: This study found that 20%-30% of patients in these countries have a mutation in a known cataract causing gene, which is considerably lower than the 60%-70% reported in Caucasian cohorts. This suggests that additional cataract genes remain to be discovered in this cohort of Asian pediatric cataract patients

Bhutan: educational challenges in the land of the Thunder Dragon

The Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan, where images of magical splendor obscure its challenges, provides a viewpoint from which to understand the contradictions that emerging economies face as they move towards mass education. Isolated from the outside world in every sense except for the mythologies that surround it, Bhutan is attempting to move from a basic agrarian societal framework as found in the feudal 1800s into the whirl of a technologically savvy twenty-first century. The demands for such a transition require educators and politicians at all levels to rethink the role of schooling and what it means to be educated in this country at this point in time. To provide guidance, the government set up a special task force, the Royal Education Council, to devise a curriculum and pedagogy that would equip young people with the skills to move into the future without forsaking their past. This ethnographic piece of research explores the challenges faced by teachers and principals in nine designated Beacon schools as they grapple within a historical context which views teachers as labourers, working under difficult conditions with minimal support. The work ends with the question of whether mass education might in fact move this country away from the traditional values that are perceived as making Bhutan special, if not unique. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Improving the Health of Older Prisoners: Nutrition and Exercise in Correctional Institutions

This qualitative article presents and compares the views of older prisoners and expert stakeholders on the topic of nutrition and exercise. The study highlights measures for improving the health of older prisoners. Older prisoners report the need to improve quality of meals provided in prison. They note that prison food is of poor quality and not adapted to their needs. With regard to exercise, they point out the lack of proper opportunities to engage in exercise and sports, and describe several factors that make physical activities either unsuitable or unfeasible. Expert stakeholders see prison as an opportunity to improve the health of those convicted of crimes. In light of the increasing number of older prisoners, age-appropriate nutritional and exercise interventions should take priority in prisons

Participatory Disease Surveillance Systems: Ethical Framework.

Advances in information technology are changing public health at an unprecedented rate. Participatory surveillance systems are contributing to public health by actively engaging digital (eg, Web-based) communities of volunteer citizens to report symptoms and other pertinent information on public health threats and also by empowering individuals to promptly respond to them. However, this digital model raises ethical issues on top of those inherent in traditional forms of public health surveillance. Research ethics are undergoing significant changes in the digital era where not only participants' physical and psychological well-being but also the protection of their sensitive data have to be considered. In this paper, the digital platform of Influenzanet is used as a case study to illustrate those ethical challenges posed to participatory surveillance systems using digital platforms and mobile apps. These ethical challenges include the implementation of electronic consent, the protection of participants' privacy, the promotion of justice, and the need for interdisciplinary capacity building of research ethics committees. On the basis of our analysis, we propose a framework to regulate and strengthen ethical approaches in the field of digital public health surveillance

Deformation analysis of a metropolis from C- to X-band PSI: proof-of-concept with Cosmo-Skymed over Rome, Italy

Stability of monuments and subsidence of residential quarters in Rome (Italy) are depicted based on geospatial analysis of more than 310,000 Persistent Scatterers (PS) obtained from Stanford Method for Persistent Scatterers (StaMPS) processing of 32 COSMO-SkyMed 3m-resolution HH StripMap ascending mode scenes acquired between 21 March 2011 and 10 June 2013. COSMO-SkyMed PS densities and associated displacement velocities are compared with almost 20 years of historical C-band ERS- 1/2, ENVISAT and RADARSAT-1/2 imagery. Accounting for differences in image processing algorithms and satellite acquisition geometries, we assess the feasibility of ground motion monitoring in big cities and metropolitan areas by coupling newly acquired and legacy SAR in full time series. Limitations and operational benefits of the transition from medium resolution C-band to high resolution X-band PS data are discussed, alongside the potential impact on the management of expanding urban environments

Media convergence in Bhutan: case studies in 2008 link local voices to central infrastructure

Evidence is produced that Bhutanese citizens are adopting many of the media and communication technologies and practices common in more developed countries, and that the government has the political will to encourage this with infrastructure spending. This article links the two and reports that infrastructure spending and legislative encouragement, especially through unique social and cultural structures, appears to enhance the growth and emergence of media enterprises, a key driver of diversity and democracy. Key limitations on further expansion are identified as the remote location of the country and the low teledensity evident in this village-based society