ABSTRACT
We report results from the first randomization of a regulatory reform in the health sector. The reform established minimum quality standards for patient safety, an issue that has become increasingly salient following the Ebola and COVID-19 epidemics. In our experiment, all 1348 health facilities in three Kenyan counties were classified into 273 markets, and the markets were then randomly allocated to treatment and control groups. Government inspectors visited health facilities and, depending on the results of their inspection, recommended closure or a timeline for improvements. The intervention increased compliance with patient safety measures in both public and private facilities (more so in the latter) and reallocated patients from private to public facilities without increasing out-of-pocket payments or decreasing facility use. In treated markets, improvements were equally marked throughout the quality distribution, consistent with a simple model of vertical differentiation in oligopolies. Our paper thus establishes the use of experimental techniques to study regulatory reforms and, in doing so, shows that minimum standards can improve quality across the board without adversely affecting utilization.
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 Pandemic have caused severe impact on lives in various ways, but our environment has experienced a positive outcome due to the lockdown which was imposed all over world including Himalayan region of India. The worldwide spread of COVID 19 has reduced movement of vehicles, industries and all tourism activities. Due to shutdown of all the commercial activities and traffic has helped the environment to reclaim naturally. The Himalayas is one of the world's most fragile and sensitive hotspots to global climate change, with impacts manifesting at a particularly rapid rate. The Himalayan glaciers are the water towers of Asia, and the source of many of the world's great rivers. In this research paper, an attempt has been made to describe the improvement in physiochemical characteristics of surface water, all parameters were compared with BIS standard of drinking water quality during pre lockdown and lockdown period. The ambient air quality have also been significantly improved and noise level were also found under permissible limit of Ambient air quality Standard.
ABSTRACT
Public and private owners of critical infrastructures all over the world are taking high-quality standards to face the consequences of pandemics, particularly critical infrastructure such as dams that needs more attention to maintain and operate during coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemics. In this study, critical strategies have been identified through literature review and with the support of experts' opinions. The rough Decision-making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory and interpretive structural modelling methods were integrated to determine the most important strategies that were identified by literature review and experts' opinions. Moreover, the methodology was used to find the relationships, cause and effect between the critical strategies. Interviews were completed with professional managers and experts in the field of dam operation and maintenance to help in finding the influence degree between these critical strategies. Among 11 initial strategies, six critical strategies were selected for this study from the experts' points of view. By applying Matriced Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée á un Classement analysis, driving and dependence powers were also determined and classified for these strategies. The outcomes indicate that the strategy of reviewing emergency action plans and planning for how routine and unplanned work will be implemented during pandemic staffing restrictions is the most driving among these strategies in dam asset management in Canada during pandemics. © 2021 ICE Publishing: All rights reserved.