Contemporary epidemiological methods testing the associations between green space and psychological well-being treat all vegetation cover as equal. However, there is very good reason to expect that variations in ecological “quality” (number of species, integrity of ecological processes) may influence the link between access to green space and benefits to human health and well-being. We test the relationship between green space quality and restorative benefit in an inner city urban population in Bradford, United Kingdom. We selected 12 urban parks for study where we carried out botanical and faunal surveys to quantify biodiversity and assessed the site facilities of the green space (cleanliness, provision of amenities). We also conducted 128 surveys with park users to quantify psychological restoration based on four self-reported measure of general restoration, attention-grabbing distractions, being away from everyday life, and site preference. We present three key results. First, there is a positive association between site facilities and biodiversity. Second, restorative benefit is predicted by biodiversity, which explained 43% of the variance in restorative benefit across the parks, with minimal input from other variables. Third, the benefits accrued through access to green space were unrelated to age, gender, and ethnic background. The results add to a small but growing body of evidence that emphasize the role of nature in contributing to the well-being of urban populations and, hence, the need to consider biodiversity in the design of landscapes that enhance multiple ecosystem services.
Objectives To report the findings of a literature review of the concept of wellbeing and consider its operational and heuristic potential within a range of disciplines. Design A literature review to examine the philosophical roots of wellbeing and the contributions of the main disciplines uncovered by the review; economics, psychology, health studies, sociology, anthropology and biomedicine. Setting 'Wellbeing' is a concept of increasing interest to those working in health promotion, social and public health medicine and medical sociology. Despite its popularity, wellbeing lacks a clear conceptual base and there is little consensus about how it may be identified, measured and achieved. Method Although conducted rigorously this was more of a scoping exercise than a systematic review. The reviewer was given a fairly broad exploratory brief including qualitative and quantitative dimensions. The search was restricted to articles in the English Language between the years 1980-2001. Results Most disciplines tended to be biased towards one or two aspects of the three major aspects of physical, social and psychological Wellbeing, with the main exception of child wellbeing studies. Those working in economics made a significant contribution to understanding conceptual elements of wellbeing. The fields of psychology and biomedicine were more concerned with negative than positive affect. There was a particular lack of consensus and research around social wellbeing. Conclusion Although wellbeing may indeed be extremely useful as a unifying concept for all those involved in health improvement or health research,at present it is being used unreflectively, thus potentially masking differences.
The use of Inactivated Polio Vaccine (IPV) in routine immunization to replace Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) is crucial in eradicating polio. In June 2014, Nigeria launched an IPV campaign in the conflict-affected states of Borno and Yobe, the largest ever implemented in Africa. We present the initiatives and lessons learned. The 8-day event involved two parallel campaigns. OPV target age was 0-59 months, while IPV targeted all children aged 14 weeks to 59 months. The Borno state primary health care agency set up temporary health camps for the exercise and treated minor ailments for all. The target population for the OPV campaign was 685,674 children in Borno and 113,774 in Yobe. The IPV target population for Borno was 608,964 and for Yobe 111,570. OPV coverage was 105.1 per cent for Borno and 103.3 per cent for Yobe. IPV coverage was 102.9 per cent for Borno and 99.1 per cent for Yobe. (Where we describe coverage as greater than 100 per cent, this reflects original underestimates of the target populations.) A successful campaign and IPV immunization is viable in conflict areas.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.