Researchers have found a positive association between income inequality and poor individual health. To explain the link, researchers have hypothesized that income inequality erodes community social capital, which unleashes negative emotions, stress, and stress behaviors that hurt health. Few studies have tested the hypothesized path. Here we estimate the association between (a) village income i...

This project has established a hub-and-spoke model of data-cum-voice communication in a group of six villages in Pondicherry in South India. The village centers can communicate with each other as well as to the Internet. A hybrid of technologies is used -wired with wireless for communication and solar with mains for power supply. The hub provides connectivity to the Internet through dial-up tel...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of an EPI smartphone application (EPI app) on improving vaccination coverage in rural Sichuan Province, China. METHODS This matched-pair cluster randomized controlled study included 32 village doctors, matched in 16 pairs, and took place from 2013 to 2015. Village doctors in the intervention group used the EPI app and reminder t...

This paper examines the development of ten villages along the Mekong River in Laos during the period 1994 to 2001. These villages have been sampled two times, the first in the period 1994-1997 and the second in 2001. I look at changes in production, economic conditions, and the general well-being of the households. General trends points to a strengthening of the Laotian economy. The governments...

BACKGROUND Chagas disease is a major neglected tropical disease with deep socio-economical effects throughout Central and South America. Vector control programs have consistently reduced domestic populations of triatomine vectors, but non-domiciliated vectors still have to be controlled efficiently. Designing control strategies targeting these vectors is challenging, as it requires a quantitati...

Instant messaging and presence-systems have long been popular in the “fixed” Internet world with tens of millions of PC users. The success has come despite the heterogeneous environment of multiple incompatible IM systems. In the mobile domain, however, instant messaging and presence is a relatively young thing. Hoping to avoid fragmentation in mobile IM and presence, Wireless Village was forme...

Blood examination was conducted for the four Gidra-speaking village groups in Papua New Guinea, who were characterized by high Fe intake and high malaria prevalence with marked inter-village differences. The northern riverine villagers, whose Fe intake was higher than the other three village groups, did not suffer from Fe-deficiency anaemia in their malaria-endemic environment; nor did the inla...

Concentrations of copper (Cu), lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), mercury (Hg), and arsenic (As) were measured in arid agricultural and irrigated agricultural soils collected in Daba Village, Shajiawuan Village, Gangou Village and Sifangwu Village, located in central Gansu Province, China. Concentrations except Hg and Pb were lower than the background values in grey calcareous soil in the selected arid ...

The epidemic of lung cancer in Xuanwei City, China, remains serious despite the reduction of the risk of indoor air pollution through citywide stove improvement. The main objective of this study was to characterize the influences of topography on the spatiotemporal variations of lung cancer mortality in Xuanwei during 1990-2013. Using the spatially empirical Bayes method, the smoothed mortality...