African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
33 p., Warns that without an inclusive national pact on critical priorities, President Michel Martelly faces the spectre of a failed presidency, and Haiti risks international abandonment. To finally start the long-promised transformation, Martelly should build on the tenuous Christmas Eve 2012 agreement for a credible electoral body to hold much delayed Senate, municipal and local polls quickly. He also should bring key actors into a national dialogue on selecting the Constitutional Council and resolving credibility questions about the appointment of the president of the Supreme Court and the Superior Judicial Council, as well as on pursuing other critical short- and longer-term public policies. Figures, Appendixes, References.
To strengthen Haiti's primary health care (PHC) system, the country first piloted performance-based financing (PBF) in 1999 and subsequently expanded the approach to most internationally funded non-government organizations. PBF complements support (training and technical assistance). This study evaluates (a) the separate impact of PBF and international support on PHC's service delivery; (b) the combined impact of PBF and technical assistance on PHC's service delivery; and (c) the costs of PBF implementation in Haiti.
Landslides pose a serious physical and environmental threat to vulnerable communities living in areas of unplanned housing on steep slopes in the Caribbean. Some of these communities have, in the past, had to be relocated, at costs of millions of dollars, because of major slides triggered by tropical storm rainfall. Even so, evidence shows that: (1) risk reduction is a marginal activity; (2) there has been minimal uptake of hazard maps and vulnerability assessments and (3) there is little on-the-ground delivery of construction for risk reduction. This article directly addresses these issues by developing a low-cost approach to the identification of the potential pore pressure changes that trigger such slides.
There is evidence that ethnic/racial minorities are conferred differential risk for substance use problems based on where they live. Data were drawn from the Collaborative Psychiatric Epidemiology Studies (CPES-Geocode file) with 836 census tracts. Analyses included African Americans, Asians, Caribbean Blacks, Latinos, and non-Latino whites. Results:
In an era of increasing worldwide violence against tourists, safety, security, and risk abatement are becoming principal components in travelers' decision-making processes. This work examines the issue of perceived risk and safety and what impact these perceptions have on shopping behavior. The research takes place in Jamaica, a country with a reputation for aggressive vendors. Findings indicate that those visitors who traveled with others spent more time shopping and purchased more. Additionally, it was found that first time visitors express higher levels of discomfort with their surroundings than did repeat visitors, thus inhibiting purchase behavior. Finally, it was found that levels of perceived risk and security did have an impact on a traveler's intention to return to Jamaica.
Examines the use of road network data as a proxy for interpreting population density, which is of use in regional-scale qualitative risk assessment for natural hazards. Compares the Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia to Ontario and Quebec. Analysis of available high-resolution topographic data for Saint Lucia suggests similar trends, with expected population density in Saint Lucia roughly half that of Canada for the same road density.
African American Research Center, Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Notes:
11 p., This study by a team from the Center for Emerging Market Enterprises (CEME) at the Fletcher School at Tufts University explores the ubiquity of gambling practices in Haiti and their implication for financial services. As findings indicate, the Haitian lottery, known as the borlette, appears as a historical and cultural response to economic and social marginalization, as well as a manifestation of undeterred hope for a transformational lump sum. Tables.
Investigates the extent of generational differences in adult health-related lifestyles and socio-economic circumstances, and explores whether these differences might explain changing patterns of obesity in ethnic minorities in England. Seven ethnic minority groups were selected from the ethnically boosted 1999 and 2004 Health Survey for England (Indian n = 1580; Pakistani n = 1858; Bangladeshi n = 1549; Black Caribbean n = 1472; Black African n = 587; Chinese n = 1559; and Irish n = 889).
This paper provides a cross-cultural analysis of the experiences of Oxfam GB in supporting urban community-based disaster risk reduction in Haiti, Guyana and the Dominican Republic. The paper focuses on the efforts of Oxfam GB and its local partners to overcome the determining influence of local governance on who benefits from interventions, and the longevity of positive outcomes.
