Assessing the Multiple Dimensions of Poverty. Data Mining Approaches to the 2004–14 Health and Demographic Surveillance System in Cuatro Santos, Nicaragua

Abstract

We identified clusters of multiple dimensions of poverty according to the capability approach theory by applying data mining approaches to the Cuatro Santos Health and Demographic Surveillance database, Nicaragua. Four municipalities in northern Nicaragua constitute the Cuatro Santos area, with 25,893 inhabitants in 5,966 households (2014). A local process analyzing poverty-related problems, prioritizing suggested actions, was initiated in 1997 and generated a community action plan 2002-2015. Interventions were school breakfasts, environmental protection, water and sanitation, preventive healthcare, home gardening, microcredit, technical training, university education stipends, and use of the Internet. In 2004, a survey of basic health and demographic information was performed in the whole population, followed by surveillance updates in 2007, 2009, and 2014 linking households and individuals. Information included the house material (floor, walls) and services (water, sanitation, electricity) as well as demographic data (birth, deaths, migration). Data on participation in interventions, food security, household assets, and women's self-rated health were collected in 2014. A K-means algorithm was used to cluster the household data (56 variables) in six clusters. The poverty ranking of household clusters using the unsatisfied basic needs index variables changed when including variables describing basic capabilities. The households in the fairly rich cluster with assets such as motorbikes and computers were described as modern. Those in the fairly poor cluster, having different degrees of food insecurity, were labeled vulnerable. Poor and poorest clusters of households were traditional, e.g., in using horses for transport. Results displayed a society transforming from traditional to modern, where the forerunners were not the Källestål et al. Assessing Multiple Dimensions of Poverty richest but educated, had more working members in household, had fewer children, and were food secure. Those lagging were the poor, traditional, and food insecure. The approach may be useful for an improved understanding of poverty and to direct local policy and interventions.

Well-Designed Food Governance as Psychological Mechanism of Consumer Perceptions in the Context of Tourism Poverty Alleviation

“…Poverty is directly connected to food insecurity, especially in a down time such as the COVID-19 pandemic period. Källestål et al ( 2020 ) analyze poverty-related problems in four municipalities in Northern Nicaragua using the Unsatisfied Basic Needs (UBN) index. The study explores multiple dimensions of poverty based on the capability approach using data mined from the Cuarto Santos Health and Demographic Surveillance database using the K-means algorithm.…”

Text Complexity Classification Data Mining Model Based on Dynamic Quantitative Relationship between Modality and English Context

“…In recent years, the research on relation extraction is gradually combined with deep learning algorithms, including adversarial learning and reinforcement learning. In addition to generic and lexical relation extraction based on unstructured texts, there are a few studies aimed at obtaining knowledge from shorter texts, such as open relation extraction based on nouns [11], relation extraction based on search engine query records [12], etc. Among these short texts, Wikipedia categories frequently receive academic attention because the language is more regular and generally describes the entity's information, e.g., [13].…”