| 31. |
- Zapata Campos, María José, 1972, et al.
(författare)
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Translating development aid into city management: the barrio Acahualinca integrated development programme in Managua, Nicaragua
- 2013
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Ingår i: Public Administration and Development. - : Wiley. - 1099-162X .- 0271-2075. ; 33:2, s. 101-112
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This article seeks to understand how development aid is translated into city management practice in the global South and the implications of this for the power dynamics between municipal governments and international aid agencies. The study examines La Chureca, the rubbish dump and slum of Managua, Nicaragua, and its regeneration programme, the Barrio Acahualinca Integrated Development Programme. In the article, we explore the formulation and initial implementation of the Programme in terms of the construction of an action net in which, by a chain of translations, the Programme was transformed from an aid programme managed by international aid organisations into the management practice of the city of Managua. Despite the silent infiltration of important issues brought to the municipal political agenda by the development aid programme, small acts of defiance and resistance were also enacted by local actors who twisted the Programme to fit local needs.
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| 32. |
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| 33. |
- Pacheco-Zenteno, Felipe, et al.
(författare)
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The Prevention of Occupational Heat Stress in Sugarcane Workers in Nicaragua-An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis.
- 2021
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Ingår i: Frontiers in public health. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 2296-2565. ; 9
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Chronic kidney disease of non-traditional origin (CKDnt) is an ongoing epidemic that has taken the lives of tens of thousands of people in Mesoamerica, also affecting other tropical geographies. Occupational heat stress, which will increase worldwide as climate change persists, has been identified as a primary trigger of kidney injury and reduced renal function. At Nicaragua's largest sugarcane mill, the water, rest, and shade (WRS) intervention has proven to reduce the risk of heat stress and kidney injury effectively as assessed by the research and policy NGO La Isla Network (LIN) and their academic partners, who have worked with the sugar mill to improve the design of their intervention system. However, discrepancies between intervention design and implementation have been found. This study explores the perceptions of the WRS intervention in the company from the perspective of positions responsible for the workers' environment and heat stress prevention implementation. Methods: A qualitative design was used in the study. Twenty-one key informants of low and middle management, field assistants, and two members from LIN took part in the study. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data. Interviews' transcriptions were analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Results: Four main themes were developed in the analysis of the data: "A worthwhile struggle," "Culture of care", "Traditional production culture Vs. Culture of care," and "The importance of the formalization of care." Each theme contained sub-themes, all of which were further discussed in the light of organizational psychology. Conclusion and Implications: Discretionary differences resulting in low and middle management prioritizing production over health protection appeared to relate to a fair part of the implementation challenges and indicate that more efforts are needed to align operations' production and health goals. Education enhancement might be necessary, while further focus on health metrics for performance assessment might offer an opportunity to level perceived incentives and value of health and production.
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| 34. |
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| 35. |
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| 36. |
- Wesseling, C., et al.
(författare)
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Kidney function in sugarcane cutters in Nicaragua - A longitudinal study of workers at risk of Mesoamerican nephropathy
- 2016
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Ingår i: Environmental Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0013-9351 .- 1096-0953. ; 147, s. 125-132
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Chronic kidney disease is common among sugarcane workers in Central America. The main risk factor seems to be repeated high-intensity work in hot environments. Several cross-sectional studies have been performed but few longitudinal studies. Objectives: The aim of the study was to examine whether kidney function changes over a few months of work during the harvest period. Methods: A group of male sugarcane cutters in Nicaragua (N=29, aged 17-38 years) was examined with renal biomarkers before and after shift on the first day at the start of harvest, on the sixth day during acclimatization, and then in mid-harvest 9 weeks later. A reference group (N=25, mainly office workers) was examined with the same biomarkers at start of harvest, and then at end of harvest 5 months later. Results: The pre-shift renal function decreased significantly during 9 weeks of work in the cane cutters. Mean serum creatinine increased (20%), mean estimated glomerular filtration rate decreased (9%, 10 mL/min), serum urea N (BUN) increased (41%), and mean urinary neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) increased (four times). The cane cutters also developed cross-shift increases in these biomarkers, in particular serum creatinine and BUN, and in urinary uric acid. The longitudinal decrease in eGFR tended to be associated with the cross-shift increase in serum creatinine. Conclusions: There was a remarkable decrease of glomerular kidney function, after only 9 weeks of harvest. The cross-shift increase in serum creatinine may be caused by dehydration (pre-renal dysfunction), and when repeated on a daily basis this may cause permanently reduced GFR. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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| 37. |
- Thorell, Kaisa, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Identification of a Latin American-specific BabA adhesin variant through whole genome sequencing of Helicobacter pylori patient isolates from Nicaragua
- 2016
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Ingår i: BMC Evolutionary Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1471-2148. ; 16
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is one of the most common bacterial infections in humans and this infection can lead to gastric ulcers and gastric cancer. H. pylori is one of the most genetically variable human pathogens and the ability of the bacterium to bind to the host epithelium as well as the presence of different virulence factors and genetic variants within these genes have been associated with disease severity. Nicaragua has particularly high gastric cancer incidence and we therefore studied Nicaraguan clinical H. pylori isolates for factors that could contribute to cancer risk. Methods: The complete genomes of fifty-two Nicaraguan H. pylori isolates were sequenced and assembled de novo, and phylogenetic and virulence factor analyses were performed. Results: The Nicaraguan isolates showed phylogenetic relationship with West African isolates in whole-genome sequence comparisons and with Western and urban South-and Central American isolates using MLSA (Multi-locus sequence analysis). A majority, 77 % of the isolates carried the cancer-associated virulence gene cagA and also the s1/i1/m1 vacuolating cytotoxin, vacA allele combination, which is linked to increased severity of disease. Specifically, we also found that Nicaraguan isolates have a blood group-binding adhesin (BabA) variant highly similar to previously reported BabA sequences from Latin America, including from isolates belonging to other phylogenetic groups. These BabA sequences were found to be under positive selection at several amino acid positions that differed from the global collection of isolates. Conclusion: The discovery of a Latin American BabA variant, independent of overall phylogenetic background, suggests hitherto unknown host or environmental factors within the Latin American population giving H. pylori isolates carrying this adhesin variant a selective advantage, which could affect pathogenesis and risk for sequelae through specific adherence properties.
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| 38. |
- Zapata, Patrik, 1967, et al.
(författare)
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When visions for better urban futures development are turned into practice. The case of the Acahualinca Development Programme in Managua, Nicaragua
- 2013
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Ingår i: 14th N-AERUS Conference 2013, Enschede, The Netherlands September 12-14 URBAN FUTURES. Multiple visions, paths and constructions?.
-
Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The ‘knowing-doing’ gaps between policy goals and their outcome when implemented is of increasing concern both in practice and in research. This paper explores how the visions of a sustainable development and the corresponding planning are translated into practice; what aspects of visions and plans are translated, what is lost in and what is added in the translation. The paper is based on the case-study of La Chureca, the rubbish dump and slum of Managua, Nicaragua, and its regeneration program that ran from 2009 to 2013 and included the construction of a new landfill, a recycling station where part of the waste-pickers now are formally employed, and new housing for the informal settlement’s residents. The analysis is based on interviews, observations, workshop participations and document analysis; gathered from 2009 until 2012. It combines action net theory with the sociology of translation as theoretical framework. Despite the initial compliance to the program (funded and initially led by international aid organizations), local actors enacted a myriad of small acts of defiance and resistance that, without abruptly contesting the project, shaped it to better fit local needs; a) first by municipal politicians and officers, and b) later by beneficiaries that felt that they were not fairly benefited by the program (women, eldery). We conclude that the implementation of visions cannot be seen as scripted translations of plans into reality, but as uncontrollable and uncertain processes in which myriads of translations twist policies and plans from below. The question is therefore not whether plans work (or succeed) but how they work.
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| 39. |
- Zapata, Patrik, 1967, et al.
(författare)
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Urban policy mobilities and local translations of compliance and contestation within development-aid regeneration programs. The case of the Acahualinca Integrated Development Programme in Managua, Nicaragua.
- 2013
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Ingår i: Paper presented at the International RC21 Conference 2013 Session: Making up cities: urban policy mobilities, assemblages and urban politics in a global age. 29-31 August 2013..
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The study is based on the case of La Chureca, the rubbish dump and slum of Managua, Nicaragua, and its regeneration programme, the Barrio Acahualinca Integrated Development Programme, funded by a development aid agency and implemented by the Managua municipality. The programme includes since 2009 until 2013, the construction of new housing for the slum dwellers, the construction of a new sanitary landfill and a recycling station where most of the waste pickers will work formally employed by the municipality. In previous papers we have examined the formulation and implementation of the Programme in terms of the construction of an action net in which, by a chain of translations, the programme was transformed from an aid programme managed by international aid organisations into the urban policies carried out by the City of Managua. Despite the initial compliance with the programme; little by little, local actors (mostly community leaders, residents, trade unions and waste collectors) enacted a myriad of small acts of defiance and resistance, changes and transformations (translations) of the programme implementation. In the paper we unfold how waste collectors trade union, slum community leaders, community grass-root associations and local residents under the pressure of securing both jobs and houses (either in symbiosis with local mass media, by using physical force, political negotiations, circumvention) attempted to twist the programme to fit local needs of those groups that felt that were not fairly benefit by the Program, such as older workers, women or non-residents in La Chureca. The paper finally discusses its theoretical contribution to the notion of urban policy mobilities from the city management literature.
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| 40. |
- Isgut, Alberto, et al.
(författare)
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Microeconomic Adjustment During Structural Reforms: The Nicaraguan Manufacturing Sector 1991-1995
- 1998
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The main rationale for the implementation of structural reforms favoring free markets is that they, through increased competition, are likely to create incentives to improve the way firms operate i.e. firm efficiency. In this study we measure and analyze total factor productivity and technical efficiency in a large sample of Nicaraguan manufacturing firms. Our analysis indicates that whereas structural reforms may be necessary conditions for the development of developing economies, their expected positive effects on sources of growth such as total factor productivity and technical efficiency could be so slow that it may be necessary to develop sufficient conditions or policy instruments for spurring economic growth in the short run.
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