Recycling Behaviour of Urban Households in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta

This chapter is aimed at providing new insights into the perception and determinants of municipal solid waste behaviour. A quantitative data set was obtained and analyzed by directly interviewing 579 urban households in in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta stratified by urban-type level. Binary Probit model and OLS regression indicate the significant influences of urbanization level, organization membership, the concern to environmental status, and education level of households. Finally, results reveal that the municipal solid waste recycling level can be significantly increased by motivating urban households' incentives; therefore, policymakers in Vietnam as well as in developing countries should also provide more incentive to households by subsidizing the recycled materials (i.e., paper and unusable metal) and well-managed informal recycling systems including itinerant waste buyers.

Consequence of Covid-19 lockdown on household food security: Voices from Hoima City, Uganda

Purpose: To investigate the consequence covid-19 lockdown on food security among a cohort of peri-urban households in Hoima city. Research methodology: A descriptive survey was employed targeting 186 respondents. Data were collected using a researcher-designed self-administered questionnaire and analysed using quantitative statistics. Specifically, chi-square was employed to establish whether the hypothesis held sway; also, regression analysis was employed with a view of forecasting the degree of change in household food security due to covid-19 lockdown. Results: The period of lockdown announced and implemented by the government had a positive consequence on food security. Nonetheless, the economic hardships overturned the successes otherwise achieved as a number of households sold off much of the food so as acquire other household items. Recommendations: While the government is credited for instituting a lockdown as a means to reduce the spread of covid-19 virus, it is recommended that city authorities are encouraged to boost urban farming by distributing agri-inputs to households in the peri-urban seeing that their daily incomes are already constrained. Contribution: The findings of this study may be useful to city authorities in Uganda in evolving a guide on integration of food security as a cross-cutting issue in the overall strategic disaster management plan. This article makes an input to the budding field of understanding by underlining inroads that can generate more sustainable urban community livelihoods through food security.

SAVINGS MOBILIZATION ON POVERTY ALLEVIATION AMONG PERI-URBAN HOUSEHOLDS IN KWALI AND BWARI AREA COUNCILS F.C.T ABUJA, NIGERIA

Savings is increasingly being acknowledged as a powerful tool for poverty alleviation but the peri- -urban households who are mostly, low cadre workers, peasant farmers and small-scale business owners lacks savings services. This study analyzed savings mobilization on poverty alleviation among peri-urban households in Kwali and Bwari Area Councils Abuja. Cross-sectional primary data was used in this study. The data was collected with the aid of a well-structured questionnaire administered to 185 peri-urban farming households. Descriptive statistics (mean, frequency and percentage), Foster Greer Thorbecke index and ordered logit regression were used to analyze the collected data. The results that emanated from the analysis reveals that 98% of respondents are within the economic active age while 82% of them had formal education and average household size of 4 person. About 93% of households saved in one form or the other. About 51% of the respondent are non-poor while 49% are poor based on analysis of poverty status which revealed poverty incidence of 49%, poverty depth of 28% and poverty severity of 56%. The results further reveals that primary occupation and education reduces the likelihood of not being poor, but there is an increment in the likelihood of being very poor while farm size, savings, access to credit and income generated from secondary activities increases the probability of being non-poor, but reduces the probability of being very poor. Therefore, households should be encouraged by Governmental agencies to engage in secondary economic activities for multiple stream of income to improve on their poverty status. In addition, government should facilitate the establishment of Financial Institutions in the Peri- Urban areas to inculcate saving habit among the people.

Comparison of Staple Food Availability in Urban and Rural Households in Kabupaten Malaka

This study aims to investigate the differences staple food availability and household consumption patterns in urban and rural areas. This research took place in Kabupaten Malaka, with the sample of 60 urban households and 60 households chosen through random sampling. The obtianed data were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. Results show that staple food availability respondents’ household were from the production of own farming, purchasing, and assistance from relatives. However, the availability of staple food did not support household consumption needs for 365 days (1 year). Staple food availability index in urban areas was 58.4, and the rural households reached 57.2. These numbers were far below the national index of 100. Analysis of z-tests showed significant differences in staple food availability between urban and rural households.

Quantification of Resilience Considering Different Migration Biographies: A Case Study of Pune, India

Urbanization proceeds globally and is often driven by migration. Simultaneously, cities face severe exposure to environmental hazards such as floods and heatwaves posing threats to millions of urban households. Consequently, fostering urban households’ resilience is imperative, yet often impeded by the lack of its accurate assessment. We developed a structural equation model to quantify households’ resilience, considering their assets, housing, and health properties. Based on a household survey (n = 1872), we calculate the resilience of households in Pune, India with and without migration biography and compare different sub-groups. We further analyze how households are exposed to and affected by floods and heatwaves. Our results show that not migration as such but the type of migration, particularly, the residence zone at the migration destination (formal urban or slum) and migration origin (urban or rural) provide insights into households’ resilience and affectedness by extreme weather events. While on average, migrants in our study have higher resilience than non-migrants, the sub-group of rural migrants living in slums score significantly lower than the respective non-migrant cohort. Further characteristics of the migration biography such as migration distance, time since arrival at the destination, and the reasons for migration contribute to households’ resilience. Consequently, the opposing generalized notions in literature of migrants either as the least resilient group or as high performers, need to be overcome as our study shows that within one city, migrants are found both at the top and the bottom of the resilience range. Thus, we recommend that policymakers include migrants’ biographies when assessing their resilience and when designing resilience improvement interventions to help the least resilient migrant groups more effectively.

A Comparative Study on the Knowledge, Attitude, and Perception toward Hazardous Medical Waste Produced at Home in a Coastal City of Karnataka, India

Introduction Hazardous healthcare waste produced at home contributes to approximately 0.5% of biomedical waste, and although potentially infectious, is often discarded with other domestic wastes. The study aimed to quantify and compare types and patterns of biomedical waste generated in homes and to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding biomedical waste among selected urban and rural households in the coastal area of Mangalore city in Karnataka. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in households consisting of rural and urban field practice areas of a tertiary care hospital in coastal Karnataka from November 2017 to February 2018. A pretested semi-structured questionnaire on knowledge, attitude, and practice regarding healthcare waste generated at home was assessed. Qualitative variables of the waste segregation practice, types of biomedical waste, the knowledge, perception, and attitude to practices regarding biomedical waste were expressed in percentages proportions and analyzed using SPSS v.20. Results Baby diapers were the most common hazardous waste. The number of baby diapers produced daily in rural and urban areas was 32 (42.7%) and 64 (85.3%), respectively. The urban households had better knowledge of possible hazardous healthcare waste at home, 28 (37.33%) compared with 7 (9.3%) in rural households. Seventy-one (94.7%) urban and 49 (65.3%) rural households had a favorable attitude toward the disposal of hazardous domestic biomedical waste. Conclusion The knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding hazardous healthcare waste produced at the household level were better among urban households compared with rural households.