Background: The use of pesticides in agriculture has been associated with the destruction of biodiversity and damage to human health. A marked reduction in pesticide use is urgently required globally, but whether this can be achieved rapidly and at scale is unclear. We aimed to assess whether government-legislated and funded organic farming training in Andhra Pradesh, India, reduced pesticide use by farmers and sales of pesticides by pesticide retailers.
Background: India has a high COVID-19 burden. The Indian government responded to the pandemic by mandating its population to adhere to certain Protective Measures (PMs). Compliance to these PMs depends on their acceptability and adaptability among the general public. Aims: To explore the perceptions and practices of COVID-19 related PMs among the general public of North India. Methods: Qualitative study in four administrative districts (Lucknow, Etawah, Patna and Darbhanga) of North India. Two urban and two rural districts were purposefully selected.
An Article in support of SDGs 3 and 13, highlighting widespread climate anxiety and dissatisfaction with government responses to climate change among chidren globally, with government inaction on climate change described as a human rights failure that could have considerable, long-lasting, and incremental negative implications for the mental health of children and young people.
Gender differences in the assessment of thermal comfort and indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in the Gulf Cooperation Countries (GCC) have not previously been investigated, despite the prevalence of the overcooling of indoor spaces. This study investigated the effect of sex, age and body mass index on subjective thermal comfort perceptions, comfort temperature and IEQ satisfaction in offices using our thermal comfort surveys in Qatar, India, and Japan. Data from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) databases were used for comparison.
This Article supports SDGs 3 and 6 by assessing global human water stress for low to high environmental flow protection. The findings suggest that ensuring high ecological protection would put nearly half the world's population under water stress for at least 1 month per year, meaning important trade-offs are made when allocating limited water resources between direct human needs and the environment.
Background: The prevalence of landscape fires has increased, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We aimed to assess the impact of exposure to landscape fire smoke (LFS) on the health of children. Methods: We conducted a sibling-matched case-control study and selected 552 155 children (aged
Background: Half of the world's missing female births occur in India, due to sex-selective abortion. It is unknown whether selective abortion of female fetuses has changed in recent years across different birth orders. We sought to document the trends in missing female births, particularly among second and third children, at national and state levels.
Background: Understanding subnational variation in age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) and total fertility rates (TFRs), and geographical clustering of high fertility and its determinants in low-income and middle-income countries, is increasingly needed for geographical targeting and prioritising of policy. We aimed to identify variation in fertility rates, to describe patterns of key selected fertility determinants in areas of high fertility.
Background: Almost a quarter of the world's undernourished people live in India. We tested the effects of three nutrition-sensitive agriculture (NSA) interventions on maternal and child nutrition in India. Methods: We did a parallel, four-arm, observer-blind, cluster-randomised trial in Keonjhar district, Odisha, India. A cluster was one or more villages with a combined minimum population of 800 residents.
Purpose: Cancer is a key influence on psychosocial and emotional distress among patients. Problems that advanced cancer patients in the western world face have been widely explored, but these findings may not be applicable in the non-western world due to the cultural differences. Exploring the problems of advanced cancer patients will help professionals plan appropriate therapeutic interventions to take care of the patients' physical, emotional, social and practical needs. Hence, this study aims to explore the psychosocial and emotional problems of advanced cancer patients in India.
