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Issues related to economic development and growth are oft discussed to illustrate the health of a nation. However, such development is constrained by the inequality parameter of the representative society. Again, economic fluctuations arising from several crises may hinder the representative nation from getting on a smooth path to development. Now, augmentation of crises along with the presence of inequality may trigger economic vulnerabilities, leading to unsustainable economic development. Against this backdrop, we initially frame a theoretical model to capture the above-mentioned issues and try to derive plausible economic interpretations for the same. To verify the same in a more robust manner, we consider a panel of 30 developing countries from Africa, spanning the time period 1980–2020. Both the health status and the education status of our panel of countries are used to explore the sustainability issue in the presence of income inequality. All data have been collected from the World Development Indicators (WDI) and Standardized World Income Inequality Database (SWIID) (Table 21.1

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Due to land resource scarcity, sustainable urban development in high-density cities has long been challenging. As such, many cities are formulating plans to “dig deep”, resulting in more citizens working and/or staying underground for longer periods of time. However, owing to the particularities of underground space, the factors involved in the creation of a healthy environment are different from those involved in aboveground developments. This study thus aims to investigate the influences of various underground environment factors on users' health through a holistic approach.

To achieve this aim, 12 underground sites and 12 corresponding aboveground sites are selected for a large-scale questionnaire survey, resulting in 651 survey samples. The survey covers post-occupancy evaluation of health (physical and psychosocial), underground environmental quality (visual, thermal, acoustic comfort, indoor air quality and ventilation), space design and greenery. Independent-sample T-test, Pearson correlation, multiple regression modelling and structural equation modelling are used to investigate whether significant differences exist between health of underground and aboveground users, and to develop an underground environment-health model for unveiling the significant associations between underground environment factors and users' health. To cross validate the results, an objective field measurement study is further conducted on six underground sites. The objective measurement results are used to cross validate the survey results.

The questionnaire results provide the following evidence: (1) health of underground users is significantly poorer than that of their aboveground counterparts; (2) underground development users' health is significantly affected by space design, greenery and environmental quality in terms of thermal comfort, indoor air quality, ventilation and acoustic comfort but not visual comfort; and (3) amongst the various identified factors, space design has the strongest predicting effects on human health. The field study echoes the survey findings and further unveils the relationships between different environmental factors and human health.

The results shed light on the importance of distinguishing between underground developments and aboveground ones in various guidelines and standards, especially those related to space management.

The current COVID-19 pandemic is influencing our life in every aspect, including working and living environments. Millions of people were forced to isolate themselves in their homes, which has posed significant pressure on buildings and shown us that our dwellings are not designed for such purposes. This is partly due to the fact that homes are designed and built for occasional use rather than isolated and long-term occupation. The legislative system of a country plays an important role in defining and shaping the conditions of people living there. Hence, the aim of the study is to evaluate the readiness of Kazakhstani and the EU construction-related legislation for pandemics.

Previously developed pandemic-resilient indicators were used for the evaluation of construction legislation. Both legislative systems were reviewed, and the quality of responses was evaluated by assigning response scores.

The results based on response scores indicate that the environmental resource consumption sub-category was better covered by EU legislation. At the same time, the buildings’ health, safety and comfort are better taken into account in Kazakhstani legislation. Seven pandemic-resilient indicators were not responded to by any legislative system indicating a gap between current legislation and requirements for new living conditions.

No study has analyzed how COVID-19 can transform construction legislation. The study reveals the limitation of current construction legislation in Kazakhstan (KZ) and the EU, indicating the need for transformation to meet the requirements of the pandemic era.

This paper aims to concentrate on recent innovations in flexible wearable sensor technology tailored for monitoring vital signals within the contexts of wearable sensors and systems developed specifically for monitoring health and fitness metrics.

In recent decades, wearable sensors for monitoring vital signals in sports and health have advanced greatly. Vital signals include electrocardiogram, electroencephalogram, electromyography, inertial data, body motions, cardiac rate and bodily fluids like blood and sweating, making them a good choice for sensing devices.

This report reviewed reputable journal articles on wearable sensors for vital signal monitoring, focusing on multimode and integrated multi-dimensional capabilities like structure, accuracy and nature of the devices, which may offer a more versatile and comprehensive solution.

The paper provides essential information on the present obstacles and challenges in this domain and provide a glimpse into the future directions of wearable sensors for the detection of these crucial signals. Importantly, it is evident that the integration of modern fabricating techniques, stretchable electronic devices, the Internet of Things and the application of artificial intelligence algorithms has significantly improved the capacity to efficiently monitor and leverage these signals for human health monitoring, including disease prediction.

Bipolar and depression disorders are some of the most common mental health disorders affecting millions of people in low-and middle-income countries, including those in Africa. These disorders are therefore major contributors to the burden of diseases and disability. While an enhancement in income is seen as a major approach towards reducing the burden of these disorders, empirical evidence to support this view in the African context is lacking. This study therefore aims to examine the effect of per capita income growth on bipolar and depression disorders across African countries.

The study uses data from secondary sources comprising 42 African countries over the period, 2002–2019, to achieve its objective. The prevalence of bipolar and major depressive disorders (depression) are used as the dependent variables, while per capita income growth is used as the main independent variable. The system Generalised Method of Moments regression is used as the estimation technique.

In the baseline, the authors find per capita income growth to be associated with a reduction in the prevalence of bipolar (coefficient: −0.001, p < 0.01) and depression (coefficient: −0.001, p < 0.1) in the short-term. Similarly, in the long-term, per capita income growth is found to have negative association with the prevalence of bipolar (coefficient: −0.059, p < 0.01) and depression (coefficient: −0.035, p < 0.1). The results are similar after robustness checks.

This study attempts at providing the first empirical evidence of the effect of per capita income growth on bipolar and depression disorders across several African countries.

Decentralization has profound implications for many health systems. This study investigates the effect of health system decentralization in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries on public health security capacity and health service satisfaction.

Multiple linear regression analyses were employed for variables related to the level of health security capacity and satisfaction with the healthcare system while controlling for all socio-demographic variables from the European Social Survey, including over 44,000 respondents from 25 OECD countries. The Health Systems in Transition series of countries were used for assessing the decentralization level.

The result of multiple linear regression analyses showed that the level of decentralization in health systems was significantly associated with higher health security capacity (ß-coefficient 3.722, 95% confidence interval (CI) [3.536 3.908]; p=<0.001) and health service satisfaction (ß-coefficient 1.463, 95% CI [1.389 1.536]; p=<0.001) in the study. Countries with a higher level of decentralization in health policy tasks and areas were significantly likely to have higher health services satisfaction, whereas this satisfaction had a significant negative relation with the lower level of decentralization status of secondary/tertiary care services in OECD countries (ß-coefficient −5.250, 95% CI [−5.757–4.743]; p = 0.001).

This study contributes to a better understanding of the extent to which decentralization of health services affects public health safety capacity and satisfaction with health services, whereas the level of decentralization in OECD countries varies considerably. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of public health security and satisfaction with health care delivery in assessing the effects of decentralization in health services.

Research has found a strong correlation between maternal healthcare and health insurance coverage. But, despite having one of the best health coverage systems in the developing world, Rwanda still faces formidable challenges in provision certain key maternal health services, leading to higher levels of maternal morbidity and mortality. To understand this paradox, this study will examine the association between maternal health services and insurance coverage, utilizing the latest data from the Rwanda Demographic Health Survey.

Using a sample of 6,167 childbearing women aged 15–49 years, a bivariate and multivariate analysis was conducted to examine the paradoxical relationship between health insurance and maternal health services, such as antenatal care, in Rwanda.

The results reveal significant differences in ANC4+ and the timing of the first ANC, which remain low in Rwanda. Despite significant improvements in delivery factors and skilled ANC providers, ANC4+ rates in the country remain the lowest. However, this study found a positive and significant association between ANC4+ and insurance coverage (AOR = 1.64, p < 0.001).

Rwanda has implemented an effective health insurance policy, but there has been minimal progress in the utilization of maternal health services. Therefore, there is a strong need for policy interventions to reduce barriers to healthcare utilization. Additionally, supply-side factors such as transportation, socio-cultural factors and other logistic barriers should be examined in greater detail. These factors may overshadow the impact of health insurance on the utilization of healthcare services in Rwanda.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-01-2023-0059

Adopting digital technology could facilitate the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some analysts argue that countries that adopted digital technology in their health sector have managed to control the virus better (Whitelaw et al., 2020). For instance, countries with more comprehensive contact tracing have significantly lower fatality rates (Yalaman et al., 2021). Moreover, World Health Organization (WHO) believes this technology is a crucial enabler for countries to meet the current challenge (WHO. Regional Office for the Western Pacific & University of Melbourne, 2021). In this regard, this study aims to quantitatively find the relationship between the technological advancement of countries and COVID-19 health outcomes, using seven technological indices that measure technological advancement.

The authors used the multiple linear regression method to answer the research questions. The first analysis focuses on a cross section of all countries worldwide, and the second focuses on European countries for which weekly death statistics exist after the pandemic.

The findings support those countries with more technological abilities managed to control the virus’s mortality better, as evidenced by the negative link between the mortality rate of COVID-19 and the technological factors at the national level. Results also reveal that technology adoption decreases the death risk due to COVID-19 in countries with more elderly people. The authors may argue that technological advancement positively correlates with the number of deaths and diagnosed cases because the authors can better collect data or because the virus spreads due to higher economic and business activities. However, such technological advancement significantly decreases the death risk (lower mortality rate in the first analysis and lower mortality rate for elderly people in the second analysis).

Three important conclusions could be made from the results: a lower mortality rate is generally expected for countries adopting advanced technology; technological advancement significantly decreases the death risk for elderly people; and a higher technology adoption level does not necessarily result in fewer diagnosed cases of/death due to COVID-19.

Although some studies have focused on e-health applications in the public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, no studies, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, have tried to quantify its efficacy, most especially on the global level.

In this paper, we aim to provide an extensive analysis to understand how various factors influence electricity prices in competitive markets, focusing on the day-ahead electricity market in Romania.

Our study period began in January 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, and continued for several months after the onset of the war in Ukraine. During this time, we also consider other challenges like reduced market competitiveness, droughts and water scarcity. Our initial dataset comprises diverse variables: prices of essential energy sources (like gas and oil), Danube River water levels (indicating hydrological conditions), economic indicators (such as inflation and interest rates), total energy consumption and production in Romania and a breakdown of energy generation by source (coal, gas, hydro, oil, nuclear and renewable energy sources) from various data sources. Additionally, we included carbon certificate prices and data on electricity import, export and other related variables. This dataset was collected via application programming interface (API) and web scraping, and then synchronized by date and hour.

We discover that the competitiveness significantly affected electricity prices in Romania. Furthermore, our study of electricity price trends and their determinants revealed indicators of economic health in 2019 and 2020. However, from 2021 onwards, signs of a potential economic crisis began to emerge, characterized by changes in the normal relationships between prices and quantities, among other factors. Thus, our analysis suggests that electricity prices could serve as a predictive index for economic crises. Overall, the Granger causality findings from 2019 to 2022 offer valuable insights into the factors driving energy market dynamics in Romania, highlighting the importance of economic policies, fuel costs and environmental regulations in shaping these dynamics.

We combine principal component analysis (PCA) to reduce the dataset’s dimensionality. Following this, we use continuous wavelet transform (CWT) to explore frequency-domain relationships between electricity price and quantity in the day-ahead market (DAM) and the components derived from PCA. Our research also delves into the competitiveness level in the DAM from January 2019 to August 2022, analyzing the Herfindahl-Hirschman index (HHI).

This study aims to extend the literature on psychological contracts, employee mental health, self-control and equity sensitivity among employees in Ghana.

Data for this study came from a sample of 484 employees from an organisation in the telecommunication sector of Ghana. The details of the study were discussed with employees after which they were given the choice to participate in the study.

The present study found that psychological contract breach is directly associated with mental health and indirectly related to mental health through equity sensitivity and self-control.

The findings suggest that psychological contracts are important aspects of the employment relationship that could be used to enhance employee mental health. Furthermore, enhancing employees’ self-control and resolving issues of individuals high on equity sensitivity are effective ways that organisations can deploy to sustain mental health in the face of psychological contract breaches.