Hygiene and Health: Who Do Mothers in Vanuatu Communicate with about Health?

Analysis of the Evolution of User Emotion and Opinion Leaders' Information Dissemination Behavior in the Knowledge Q&A Community during COVID-19

Since its emergence in 2019, COVID-19 has quickly triggered widespread public discussion on social media. From 26 February 2020 to 26 September 2020, this study collected data on COVID-19-related posts in the knowledge Q&A community, identified 220 opinion leaders of this community, and used social network analysis and sentiment analysis to analyze the information exchange behavior and emotional evolution of the opinion leaders during COVID-19. The results show that the COVID-19 topic community could be divided into seven main categories. The information dissemination of opinion leader information dissemination network had low efficiency, multiple paths, and a high degree of control. In addition, the emotional evolution of users showed obvious phased characteristics. User emotion changed from initially strong negative to strong positive over the course of the pandemic and eventually tended to be objective and neutral as time passed and the event stabilized.

Climate change and socioeconomic determinants are structural constraints to agency in diet-related non-communicable disease prevention in Vanuatu: a qualitative study

Background

Pacific Island countries, many of which are low- and middle-income countries, have some of the highest rates of diet-related non-communicable diseases (DR-NCDs) globally. These countries also face some of the earliest and most significant impacts of climate change. Several pathways between climate change and DR-NCDs have been described in the literature; however, the scope is broad and lacks context specificity. This paper uses a case study of one Pacific Island country, Vanuatu, to investigate links between climate change and DR-NCDs.

Methods

An ethnographic qualitative research approach was used to share the lived experiences of community participants and to explore and contrast these with the perspectives of key informants at the national level. Data collection comprised thirty-two semi-structured interviews and community fieldwork in two villages using a mix of methods, including group workshops, informal conversations, and observations. Reflexive thematic analysis was conducted on both data sets.

Results

This study found that DR-NCDs are a prominent health concern for ni-Vanuatu people and that structural determinants, including climate change, are the main driving forces for increased DR-NCD risk in the country. However, there was a lack of understanding of the links between climate change and DR-NCDs both at the community and national levels. Structural factors, such as social determinants and climate change, constrained individual and community agency in making optimal food and health choices and promoted the nutrition transition in Vanuatu. Despite the critical role of social determinants and climate change in driving DR-NCD risk, the responsibility for prevention and treatment was considered to rest mainly with the individual. A systems approach is advocated to grasp the complexity and interrelatedness of the causes of DR-NCD risk.

Conclusions

The interaction of structural determinants creates food and health environments that amplify the risk, burden, and consequences of DR-NCDs. It is recommended that the DR-NCD narrative in Vanuatu be re-framed with an emphasis on the range of structural determinants of DR-NCD risk. This will serve to enhance individual and collective agency to not only make healthy food and other behavioural choices but also to exercise agency to transform the structures in a culturally appropriate way.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12889-021-11245-2.

Analysis of Network Structure and Doctor Behaviors in E-Health Communities from a Social-Capital Perspective

In tandem with internet development and widespread social media use, e-health communities have begun to emerge in recent years. These communities allow doctors to access forums anywhere, anytime, seek or exchange medical information online, find literature, and so on. This is convenient and can solve some problems for doctors while also promoting doctor communication. This study collected and collated 102 doctors in the "Lilac Forum" and used social network tools to quantify the overall network density, centrality, core-periphery structure, and structural hole indicators of doctors' information exchange from a social-capital perspective. The results showed that the frequency of interaction between doctors differed because of differences in the identities and participation of doctors in the e-health community. The density of the doctors' information dissemination network (0.228) and network cohesion (0.610) were relatively high. Thus, the doctors were more closely connected, and information was easily spread. At the same time, doctors with higher professional titles had obvious location characteristics, familiarity and trust, and high levels of reciprocity. They could obtain redundant information in the network and were more likely to influence the behavior of other doctors. This study's findings provide support for improving information exchange among doctors in e-health communities and improving the service levels of the platforms.

Effects of Waste Management Customer Online Value Co-Creation on Sanitation Attitude and Advocacy: A Customer-Enterprise Dyadic Perspective

The study aims at establishing the benefits of actively utilizing the intangible resources of solid waste management customers in designing and implementing solid waste collection services, using the social media platforms. While Ghana generates high volumes of solid waste on a daily basis, less than half of it is effectively collected and disposed of. This calls for the adoption of innovative strategies to better connect and serve customers. Adopting a marketing approach to solid waste management has not been given much needed attention in Ghana and Africa, and this research sought to contribute in that direction. There is high usage of mobile telephony services in Ghana which a waste firm can explore to change negative attitude to waste disposal by the populace. Online co-creation is seen as a modern marketing approach leading to behavioral change in consumers. In this regard, the study looked at customer online co-creation in the solid waste collection sector in Ghana. The study adopted the survey strategy using structured questionnaire as the measure instrument, and data analyzed using both the structural equation model (SEM) and hierarchical multiple regression. The key findings are that customer intangible resources (online experience and skills) can be tapped by waste firms to co-create services that would generate positive attitude towards sanitation issues and the willingness to advocate the services and programs of the firm. Similarly, waste firms must invest in well-functioning and information rich digital platforms, and to devise innovative strategies to direct traffic to these platforms for effective customer participation.