BACKGROUND We sought to demonstrate that the relationship between urban or rural residence and overweight status among women in Sub-Saharan Africa is complex and confounded by wealth status. METHODS We applied multilevel logistic regression to data from 30 sub-Saharan African countries which were collected between 2006 and 2012 to examine the association between women's overweight status (bod...

This paper investigates household dissolution and changes in asset wealth (socio-economic position) in a rural South African community containing settled refugees. Survival analysis applied to a longitudinal dataset indicated that the covariates increasing the risk of forced household dissolution were a reduction in socio-economic position (asset wealth), adult deaths and the permanent outmigra...

BACKGROUND In Kenya, >1,200 laboratory-confirmed 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) (pH1N1) cases occurred since June 2009. We used population-based infectious disease surveillance (PBIDS) data to assess household transmission of pH1N1 in urban Nairobi (Kibera) and rural Lwak. METHODS We defined a pH1N1 patient as laboratory-confirmed pH1N1 infection among PBIDS participants during August 1, 20...

BACKGROUND To assess the prevalence of food insecurity and associated factors among rural households in north-east of Iran. METHODS In this cross-sectional study, a total of 4647 rural households (18,061 persons) were studied in Neyshabur, a city in north-east of Iran. The Iranian version of the Six-Item Short questionnaire of Household Food Security Scale was used to measure food insecurity....

BACKGROUND Evidence from the Early 2000s quantified limited coverage of household water supplies in countries of the former Soviet Union. The study objectives were to measure changes in access to piped household water in seven of these countries between 2001 and 2010 and examine how these varied by household economic status. METHODS Cross-sectional household sample surveys were conducted in 2...

Due to poverty, serious soil erosion and shortage of rural household energy in Loess Hilly Region, Gansu Province, China, excessive consumption of biofuel has become a critical factor underlying eco-environment degeneration. Data on rural household energy use was obtained by questionnaires, and based on substitutable analysis, environmental and economic costs under different energy consumption ...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of the present study was to test the construct validity, internal consistency and convergent validity of the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) in measuring household food insecurity in rural Tanzania, and to determine socio-economic characteristics associated with household food insecurity. DESIGN Key informant interviews and a cross-sectional survey were co...

This study evaluates the potential impact of improved agricultural technologies on smallholders’ crop productivity and welfare. We use household-level data from Ethiopian Rural Household Survey collected by IFPRI in 1989-2009. The survey covers around 1500 rural households drawn from four regions and 15 rural villages. Endogenous treatment effect model is employed to account for the selection b...

BACKGROUND Many developing countries now face the double burden of malnutrition, defined as the coexistence of a stunted child and overweight mother within the same household. OBJECTIVE This study sought to estimate the prevalence of the double burden of malnutrition and to identify associated maternal, child, and household characteristics in rural Indonesia and Bangladesh. DESIGN A total o...

Porcelain and plastic materials constitute bulk of household wastes. Owing to resistibility and slow degradability that accounts for higher residence time, these materials qualify as potential hazardous wastes. Retention of water permits these wastes to form a congenial biotope for the breeding of different vector mosquitoes. Thus porcelain and plastic wastes pose a risk from public health view...