We use two distinct methods, drawn from the theories of efficient risk sharing and optimal portfolio choice, to measure heterogeneity in risk aversion among households in Thailand. Our dataset is an unusually long monthly panel that includes information on kinship networks. We demonstrate that among households who have relatives living in the same village, the hypothesis of full insurance canno...

BACKGROUND The endemicity of malaria in Tanzania is heterogenous, mainly associated with physical factors such as topography, climate and socio-economic status. The contributions of these factors in many regions of Tanzania have not been studied in detail. OBJECTIVE This study was carried out to determine the prevalence and transmission of malaria and mosquito nets coverage among schoolchildr...

BACKGROUND Male circumcision is being widely deployed as an HIV prevention strategy in countries with high HIV incidence, but its uptake in sub-Saharan Africa has been below targets. We did a study to establish whether educating religious leaders about male circumcision would increase uptake in their village. METHODS In this cluster randomised trial in northwest Tanzania, eligible villages we...

Malaria vector Anopheles and other mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) were monitored for 12 months during 1994-95 in villages of Lower Moshi irrigation area (37 degrees 20' E, 3 degrees 21' S; approximately 700 m a.s.l.) south of Mount Kilimanjaro in northern Tanzania. Adult mosquito populations were sampled fortnightly by five methods: human bait collection indoors (18.00-06.00 hours) and outdoor...

In this paper a comparative social network analysis is provided of the villages of Ayyanapuram and Sankarapandiapuram in the district of Virudhunagar of Tamil Nadu province in India. Social network data on three different types of links (monetary help, advice and companionship) reveal that, while the villages are situated close to each other geographically, they differ considerably in the struc...

In 2012, 41 touchscreen tablets were given to children in two villages in rural Ethiopia. These villages had no schools, and the children had no access to literacy. Nicknamed the ‘literacy tablet’, this technology was intended as an educational delivery mechanism to bootstrap reading. The tablet was designed to help remotely located rural children teach themselves to read. Throughout the year-l...

Peripheral blood lymphocytes of residents of three villages and one nearby township in South Gujarat with fluoride concentrations in the drinking water of 1.56 3.46 and 0.6 0.8 ppm, respectively, were examined for their frequency of sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) and chromosome aberrations. The rates of SCEs and chromosome aberrations in persons living in one of the endemic villages were sign...