Abstract. The interruption of vectorial transmission of Chagas disease by Triatoma dimidiata in central America is a public health challenge that cannot be resolved by insecticide application alone. In this study, we collected information on previously known household risk factors for infestation in 11 villages and more than 2,000 houses in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, and we constructed multivariate models and used multimodel inference to evaluate their importance as predictors of infestation in the region. The models had moderate ability to predict infested houses (sensitivity, 0.32-0.54) and excellent ability to predict noninfested houses (specificity higher than 0.90). Predictive ability was improved by including random village effects and presence of signs of infestation (insect feces, eggs, and exuviae) as fixed effects. Multimodel inference results varied depending on factors included, but house wall materials (adobe, bajareque, and palopique) and signs of infestation were among the most important predictive factors. Reduced models were not supported suggesting that all factors contributed to predictions. Previous knowledge and information from this study show that we have evidence to prioritize rural households for improvement to prevent house infestation with Triatoma dimidiata in Central America. House improvement will most likely have other health co-benefits.
The victim-centred approach to human trafficking emphasises the protection of victims and respect for their rights. For this protection to be effective, victims must be treated as such in their passage through the criminal justice system, which can be complex with forms of trafficking that are still relatively unknown, such as trafficking for criminal exploitation. Based on 37 in-depth interviews with Spanish practising criminal justice and victim assistance services professionals, this paper analyses the effects that the failure to identify these types of victims has on them as they make their way through the criminal justice system, paying particular attention to the degree to which the aforementioned professionals recognise the principle of non-punishment.
Forced marriages were criminalized in Spain in 2015, both as a specific form of coercion and as a type of human trafficking. Unfortunately, the legal operation was carried out without information on whether forced marriages were taking place in Spain and what specific individuals were at risk. This paper presents the main findings of an empirical study aimed at detecting the existence of victims of forced marriage in Spain. A total of 150 support organizations operating in Spain reported their knowledge of the extent and dynamics of forced marriages, revealing the existence of people forced to marry against their will, including some legal residents and even Spanish nationals.The results contribute to the debate on what is tolerable in today's globalized society and underscore the need to understand the reality before embarking on the road to criminalization, as Spanish lawmakers have done.
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