Introduction Informal patient payments for healthcare are common in the Western Balkans, negatively affecting public health and healthcare.   Aim To identify literature from the Western Balkans on what is known about informal patient payments and bought and brought goods, to examine their effects on healthcare and to determine what actions can be taken to tackle these payments.   Methods After ...

BACKGROUND As a result of poor economic opportunities and an increasing shortage of affordable housing, much of the spatial growth in many of the world's fastest-growing cities is a result of the expansion of informal settlements where residents live without security of tenure and with limited access to basic infrastructure. Although inadequate water and sanitation facilities, crowding and othe...

The ability of marine diazotrophs to fix dinitrogen gas (N 2 ) is one the most influential yet enigmatic processes in ocean. With their activity support biological production by fixing about 100–200 Tg N/year and turning otherwise unavailable into bioavailable nitrogen (N), an essential limiting nutrient. Despite important role, factors that control distribution N are not fully elucidated. We d...

background informal payments for health care, which are common in many countries, can have negative effects on health care access, equity and health status as they lead people to forgo or delay seeking care, or to sell assets to pay for care. many countries are putting reforms in place with the aim of reducing informal payments. in order to be successful, such policies should be informed by the...

Informal settlement upgrading is widely recognized for enhancing shelter and promoting economic development, yet its potential to improve health equity is usually overlooked. Almost one in seven people on the planet are expected to reside in urban informal settlements, or slums, by 2030. Slum upgrading is the process of delivering place-based environmental and social improvements to the urban p...

Throughout Africa, the population in urban areas is increasing rapidly beyond the capacity and the resources of the cities to accommodate the people. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the majority of urban dwellers live in informal settlements served by inadequate sanitation facilities. These areas present unique challenges to the provision of sanitation, and there is inadequate information on access to i...

this interdisciplinary paper aims at guangzhou’s development and its effects on surface andgroundwater quality taking the new city axis as an example. qualitative morphological analyses, field mappings, interviews and water sampling of standard in-situ and various hydrochemical parameters were conducted between 2007 and 2009 in order to examine the following research questions: which types of l...

BACKGROUND Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) are one of the major global health challenges in developed countries and are rapidly increasing globally. Perception of self-efficacy is important for complex activities and long-term changes in health behavior. This study aimed to determine whether self-efficacy mediates the effect of individual beliefs (perceived severity, susceptibility, benefits an...