Wealth Stratification and the Insurance Function of Wealth

This thematic issue examines the insurance function as a mechanism to underlie wealth effects on various outcomes. The articles in this issue shed an innovative light on the insurance function of wealth concerning a range of topics rele-vant to social stratification and social policy researchers. This editorial provides an overview of the contributions of this thematic issue and highlights some gaps and remaining open questions. Altogether, the contributions suggest that wealth can provide insurance against adverse life events in various contexts. However, this insurance effect depends on welfare state characteristics, wealth portfolios, and the way families handle their wealth. © 2023 by the author(s).

Facilitators and barriers to TB care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Knowledge about factors influencing access and adherence to TB care, and on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on TB care in resource-restricted settings is scarce. We conducted this study in Atsimo-Andrefana, a rural region in southern Madagascar where TB prevalence, poverty and food insecurity rates are high. We aimed to determine facilitators and barriers to access to and provision of TB care in rural Madagascar during the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We conducted qualitative focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews (IDIs) with patients with TB, community health workers, facility-based health workers, public health officials and non-governmental organisation staff. We analysed interviews using thematic analysis. RESULTS: We conducted 11 FGDs and 23 IDIs. We identified three main barriers to access and adherence to TB care: 1) stigma, 2) indirect treatment costs, and 3) food insecurity. The facilitator perceived as most influential was high health worker motivation. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on TB care varied between stake-holders; some health workers described delays in TB diagnosis and increased workload. CONCLUSIONS: To improve access and adherence to TB care, both indirect treatment costs and stigma need to be reduced; undernourished patients with TB should receive food support.

CONTEXTE: Les connaissances sur les facteurs influençant l'accès et l'adhésion aux soins antituberculeux, ainsi que sur l'impact de la pandémie de COVID-19 sur les soins antituberculeux dans les milieux à ressources limitées sont rares. Nous avons mené cette étude à Atsimo-Andrefana, une région rurale du sud de Madagascar où la prévalence de la TB et les taux de pauvreté et d'insécurité alimentaire sont élevés. Nous avons cherché à déterminer les facilitateurs et les obstacles à l'accès et à la fourniture de soins antituberculeux dans les zones rurales de Madagascar pendant la pandémie de COVID-19. MÉTHODES: Nous avons mené des discussions qualitatives en groupe (FGD) et des entretiens approfondis (IDI) avec des patients atteints de tuberculose, des agents de santé communautaires, des agents de santé en établissement, des responsables de la santé publique et des membres d'organisations non gouvernementales. Nous avons analysé les entretiens en utilisant l'analyse thématique. RÉSULTATS: Nous avons mené 11 FGD et 23 IDI. Nous avons identifié trois principaux obstacles à l'accès et à l'observance des soins antituberculeux : 1) la stigmatisation, 2) les coûts indirects du traitement et 3) l'insécurité alimentaire. Le facilitateur perçu comme le plus influent était la forte motivation des agents de santé. Les effets de la pandémie de COVID-19 sur les soins antituberculeux varient selon les parties prenantes ; certains agents de santé ont décrit des retards dans le diagnostic de la TB et une augmentation de la charge de travail. CONCLUSIONS: Pour améliorer l'accès et l'adhésion aux soins antituberculeux, il faut réduire à la fois les coûts indirects du traitement et la stigmatisation ; les patients tuberculeux sousalimentés devraient recevoir une aide alimentaire.

Effect of Height in Telepresence Robots on the Users’ Spatial Awareness

Since reduction of personal contact is key in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, remote communication solutions saw a rise in importance. Next to the more common forms like video and audio conference calls, telepresence solutions are also becoming more popular. Telepresence robots can be remotely driven and allow, with the help of cameras and displays on the robot and the users’ side, face-to-face communication with onsite personal, establishing a remote telepresence. Depending on the model, the height of the robot can be adjusted by the remote user. Even though the effect of the height in relation to onsite people is being researched, the effect on the users’ side has not been examined immensely. Therefore, this work examines the effect of the difference in height between a telepresence robot and its user on the users’ spatial awareness. Subjects have experienced the usage of a telepresence robot driving at a fixed height through a video. Afterwards, they filled out a questionnaire, which asks the user to answer questions about the experience. These questions were regarding the spatial awareness of the user in the remote location, asking them to estimate different parts of the tour. Their estimations were mapped to the users’ height, allowing to correlate the difference in height and the users’ spatial awareness. The work has shown, that only the perceived height of the telepresence robot was affected by the difference in size. However, more tests have to be conducted, to factor in multiple robot heights. © 2021, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Expected health effects of reduced air pollution from COVID-19 social distancing

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in stay-at-home policies and other social distancing behaviors in the United States in spring of 2020. This paper examines the impact that these actions had on emissions and expected health effects through reduced personal vehicle travel and electricity consumption. Using daily cell phone mobility data for each U.S. county, we find that vehicle travel dropped about 40% by mid-April across the nation. States that imposed stay-at-home policies before March 28 decreased travel slightly more than other states, but travel in all states decreased significantly. Using data on hourly electricity consumption by electricity region (e.g., balancing authority), we find that electricity consumption fell about 6% on average by mid-April with substantial heterogeneity. Given these decreases in travel and electricity use, we estimate the county-level expected improvements in air quality, and, therefore, expected declines in mortality. Overall, we estimate that, for a month of social distancing, the expected premature deaths due to air pollution from personal vehicle travel and electricity consumption declined by approximately 360 deaths, or about 25% of the baseline 1500 deaths. In addition, we estimate that CO2 emissions from these sources fell by 46 million metric tons (a reduction of approximately 19%) over the same time frame. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.