Payments for ecosystem services (PES) typically reward landowners for managing their land to provide ecosystem services that would not otherwise be provided. REDD+—Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation—is a form of PES aimed at decreasing carbon emissions from forest conversion and extraction in lower-income countries. A key challenge for REDD+ occurs when it is implemente...

1. The nutritional status of children showing no clinical signs of malnutrition, from the University School of Khon Kaen, Khon Kaen province, north-east Thailand and from two villages nearby, was tested. The children were grouped according to their body-weight expressed as a percentage of expected weight-for-height (Harvard standards (Stuart & Stevenson, 1959), as given by Jelliffe (1966)). 2. ...

An outbreak of tsetse-transmitted trypanosomiasis resulted in more than 50% losses of domestic pigs in the Eastern Region of Ghana (source: Veterinary Services, Accra; April 2007). In a control trial from May 4(th)-October 10(th) 2007, the efficacy of insecticide-treated mosquito fences to control tsetse was assessed. Two villages were selected--one serving as control with 14 pigsties and one e...

A 3-year entomological study was carried out on the transmission of malaria in a village of 900 inhabitants in a rice-growing area of Burkina Faso. In the study area inhabitants use bed nets to protect themselves from mosquito bites. In the first year of the study, baseline data were collected; in the second year, the village was divided in two parts and all the bed nets in the southern part we...

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...