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This paper aims to study the inequalities faced by older people through the analysis of semistructured interviews with older residents of Saint Petersburg and the villages in the Republic of Karelia in Russia.

The authors begin the research by studying the nature of the perception of inequalities in older people’s lives, as well as examining the concept of inequality in the context of modern reality affected by the pandemic and postpandemic repercussions. Furthermore, the authors analyze empirical cases and, using thematic analysis, examine the specifics and the nature of the emerging inequalities, as well as the ways in which older people overcome them. In the modern world, individual rather than class competition is increasingly manifested, which stipulates the specific character of research associated with the necessity to study personal competition and interactions in the context of everyday life. The empirical basis of the study was 30 semistructured interviews conducted in 2022 in St. Petersburg and rural areas of the Republic of Karelia. The study of the everyday features of the manifestation of inequalities and ageism was carried out using modern sociological approaches.

It is concluded that older people find ways to adapt to social changes in pandemic and postpandemic times through strategies such as emotional reflection on the past, hobbies, reviewing old resources and searching for new ones, changing ways of communication and solving problems. The desire to take care of one’s own well-being is becoming an important focus of attention for the older in their daily routine.

These strategies create positive opportunities for adaptation and contribute to reducing the fears and anxiety of the elderly regarding the possible return to similar situations like the COVID-19 pandemic and related inequalities.

Rural regions in Canada are aging faster than urban centers, but access to health and social care is limited. Integrated health and social care (IHSC) through collaboration across different health and social care organizations can support enhanced care for older adults living in rural regions. However, IHSC is not well understood within a rural Canadian context.

A case study of a Canadian IHSC initiative, Geriatric Assessment Program Collaboratory (GAPC), in northern Alberta was undertaken to understand how successful IHSC can occur in an urban/rural region. The study used key informant interviews and a focus group of representatives from the GAPC organizations.

Nine factors were identified that support GAPC: communications, information sharing, shared vision and goals, inter-organizational culture, diffused leadership, team-based approaches, dedicated resources, role clarity, champions and pre-existing relationships. Eight external influence factors were identified as influencing partnership including geography, strong sense of community, inter-sectoral work, public policy, governance authorities and structures, funding models, aging communities and operating within a not-for-profit (NFP) setting.

The study reveals insights into how IHSC can occur within a rural Canadian context. This study demonstrates that IHSC occurs at the local level and that primary care providers can drive IHSC successfully.

The Indian pharmaceutical industry has contributed significantly to global healthcare by securing superior-quality, inexpensive and reachable medicines worldwide. However, supply chain management (SCM) has been challenging due to constantly shifting requirements for short lifecycles of products, the convergence of industry and changeable realities on the ground. This study aims to identify, assess and prioritize the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities of the pharmaceutical SCM environment in India.

The paper employs a Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat (SWOT) analysis and recognizes strategies to utilize the advantages of the strengths and opportunities, rectify weaknesses and resolve threats.

A variety of strategies that could have a positive effect on the Indian pharmaceutical business are presented. Findings and suggested strategies can significantly advance knowledge, enhance understanding and contribute to the growth of a successful SCM for the Indian pharmaceutical sector.

This paper would act as a roadmap to greater comprehension of the market leaders and market leaders' operating climate. The findings from this study will offer academic scholars and business practitioners deeper insights into the environment of SCM.

This study aims to determine the factors and dynamic systems behaviour of essential medicine stockout in public health-care supply chains. The authors examine the constraints and effects of mental models on medicine stockout to develop a dynamic theory of medicine availability towards saving patients’ lives.

This study uses a mixed-method approach. Starting with a survey method, followed by in-depth interviews with stakeholders within five health-care supply chains to determine the dynamic feedback leading to stockout and conclude by developing a network mental model for medicines availability.

The authors identified five constraints and developed five case mental models. The authors develop a dynamic theory of medicine availability across cases and identify feedback loops and variables leading to medicine availability.

The need to include mental models of stakeholders like manufacturers and distributors of medicines to understand the system completely. Group surveys are prone to power dynamics and bias from group thinking. This survey’s quantitative output could minimize the bias.

This study uniquely uses a mixed-method of survey method and in-depth interviews of experts to assess the essential medicine stockout in Nigeria. To improve medicine availability, the authors develop a dynamic network mental model to understand the system structure, feedback and behaviour driving stockouts. This research will benefit public policymakers and hospital managers in designing policies that reduce medicine stockout.

A Casebook of Indigenous Business Practices in Africa is a collection of business case studies that expand understanding of how indigenous enterprises apply entrepreneurial practices embedded in culture to achieve success. Indigenous methods are part of Africa's social and economic fabric, and these cases identify concepts and models that can accelerate growth in Africa. The value of these practices across regions of Africa cannot be overemphasised despite the dominance of Western business methods, which, though beneficial, are yet to drive the continent's developmental agenda. By exploring indigenous business practices in Africa, students, educators, practitioners, entrepreneurs and government decision-makers will be introduced to unique and sustainable practices that can foster inclusive growth and social and economic empowerment when contextualised within the business landscape. Identification of relevant orientations in indigenous practices that will benefit contemporary business frameworks and actors is a significant contribution of the authors of this book. Incorporation of these indigenous methods into management teachings and business practices is essential to the continent's economic growth and socio-cultural progress.

Reducing inequity in health between the poor and the rich is one of the challenges of the Iranian health sector. Access to health services in Iran is lower in the lowest-income quarter, and the rich use health services more. The purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive framework for enabling financial access by the poor to health services in Iran.

Policy options were validated and approved by experts and specialists in two stages using the Delphi technique. The sample was consisted of 22 well-known experts on the subject who were selected based on purposive sampling. To evaluate the reliability of the questionnaire, a pilot study was conducted with five participants. Dimensional validity of the policy model, which was agreed upon by more than 75% of the participants was acceptable.

The main aspects of the model were divided into five categories: identifying the poor, policymaking to prevent the aggravation of health poverty, providing targeted funding, highlighting the importance of coherent regulation and ensuring financial accessibility to health services for the poor. This model could align the activities of all stakeholders in the form of a network and considers its prerequisites.

Prevention of dire financial consequences in the case of referral to follow up the treatment alongside exemption and financial protection policies through the networking activities of organizations involved in this field is a crucial step in securing financial support for the poor. Although the researchers included a wide range of policymakers in the Delphi study to gather all perspectives about options for financially support the poor, there may be some potential neglected policy advices.

New Public Management-informed pay-for-performance policies are common in public sectors internationally but can be controversial with delivery agents. More attention is needed on contingent forms of bottom-up implementation of challenging policies, in emerging market economies, for professionals who face tensions between policies and their codes of practice. Street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) mediate policy implementation through discretionary practices; health professionals have enhanced space for discretion based on autonomy derived from professional status. The authors explore policy implementation, adaptation and resistance by physicians, focusing on payments for health workers in Turkey.

The researchers conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with 12 physicians in Turkish hospitals and thematic analysis of interview transcripts, using a blended (deductive and inductive) approach.

The policy fostered discretionary behaviours such as cherry-picking (high volume, low risk procedures) and pro-social rule-breaking (e.g. “upcoding”), highlighting clinical autonomy to navigate within policy restrictions. Respondents described damage to relationships with patients and colleagues, and dissonance between professional practice and perverse policy incentives, sometimes leading to disengagement from clinical work. Policymakers were perceived to be detached from the realities experienced by SLBs. Tensions between the policy and professional values risked alienating physicians.

This study utilises participant self-reported perceptions of discretionary behaviours. Further work may adopt alternative methods to explore the relationship between self-reporting and observed practice.

The authors contribute to research on differentiated, contingent roles of groups with high scope for discretion in bottom-up implementation, pointing to the potential for policy-professional role conflicts between top-down P4P policies, and the values and codes of practice of professional SLBs.

South Africa had formally introduced a policy of inflation targeting (IT) in February 2000. By December 2001, the governor of the South African Reserve Bank, after reading the latest statistics, was concerned with the disappointing economic data. Economic activity had slowed drastically, to the point that the country appeared to be heading for a recession. The gloomy statistics forced the governor to consider whether the country had pursued the right policy. Persistently high unemployment, one legacy of the apartheid era, meant that South Africa did not have the luxury of waiting for new policies to bear fruit. With the inflation forecast to exceed the mandated target, the governor would have to tighten monetary policy, which would further restrict investment. Was it is time for South Africa to change course?

Internationally, among mental health difficulties, psychosis appears most stigmatised. Yet, research on mental health education specific to psychosis, including stigma reduction strategies, is limited. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of a brief empirically informed indirect contact-based intervention (CBI) on reducing stigma associated with psychosis in the context of a Southeast Asian society.

In total, 168 young adults were randomised into three groups, two intervention conditions and one active control. Stigmatisation levels were measured at pre-intervention, post-intervention and at a 30-day follow-up. Group differences in attitudes were analysed using a 3 × 3 two-way mixed-subjects ANOVA.

Results revealed that there were no significant differences in declared stigma between the three conditions. However, a significant effect of time on the improvement of attitudes was observed at post-intervention. This effect was not sustained at follow-up.

Individual psychoeducational CBIs implemented in the context of collectivistic societies do not produce sustainable effects in the reduction of stigma. Although a transient desirable improvement in the attitudes occurs among individuals, this is subsequently counteracted by the influence of stigma existing on a systemic level. Therefore, public mental health education in collectivistic cultures should address societal mechanisms maintaining unhelpful perceptions of those with psychosis.

The study examined the effect of brief CBIs on the reduction of stigma associated with psychosis in a collectivistic society and demonstrated systemic limitations of individually delivered psychoeducational interventions.