COVID-19: An opportunity to transform female employment

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on Thu, 03/04/2021 - 07:00

We started 2021 with social networks alerting us that the employment crisis was affecting mainly women. For example, a news item from the United States indicated that all 140,000 jobs lost during December 2020 were for women. Furthermore, the news reported that the only ones who had recovered jobs during that month had been men.

Gender, Forests and Climate Change

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on Tue, 03/02/2021 - 17:06

As users of forest products and guardians of traditional knowledge, women have always been involved in forestry. Nevertheless, their access to forest resources and benefits and participation in forest management is limited compared to mens despite the fact that trees are more important to women, who depend on them for their families food security, income generation and cooking fuel.

Remote Delivery of Parenting Programs during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on Sun, 02/28/2021 - 12:08
The COVID-19 pandemic led to the suspension of parenting programs through home visits and group meetings in many low- and middle-income countries. The detrimental impact from the lack of these services for children’s development and parents’ well-being was highlighted early in the pandemic and several innovations were developed to find ways to continue reaching families in countries across Latin America and the Caribbean.

Education 2030: The Game Changers

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on Thu, 02/25/2021 - 15:00

Education is being challenged from many fronts: students are not learning what they need in the basics (literacy and numeracy); they are abandoning schools; they need to be prepared for jobs that don’t yet exist, and skills that were not traditionally taught (or at least not formally and effectively included as part of the curriculum and teachers training), are now in high demand. Schools are operating for a mass-production model and not necessarily for a knowledge-based digital economy.

Better Pension Institutions in Latin America and the Caribbean: The Role of Monitoring Mechanisms and Automatic Adjustment Rules

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on Thu, 02/25/2021 - 11:41

To facilitate the process of adapting to aging without putting other economic development objectives at risk, pension systems are gradually incorporating mechanisms that change depending on the demographic context or financial balance. Due to the political and social complexity of parametric adjustments, some countries are implementing self-correcting mechanisms for imbalances in the pension system. These types of mechanisms have been generically called sustainability factors or adjustment rules.

Design & Build for Hospitals: How Can We Improve the Performance of Infrastructure Projects in the Region?

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on Thu, 02/25/2021 - 10:08

When implementing hospital infrastructure projects, there are various management modalities and implementation strategies. These modalities may include the independent contracting of design, construction, and equipment (traditional), or a combination of any of these; an in-house or external management scheme; a designer and manager scheme; a design and construction or construction and equipment scheme; the "turnkey" modality; or a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) scheme, which includes infrastructure operation and maintenance for a specified period of time.

How Do Disruptive Innovators Prepare Today's Students to Be Tomorrow's Workforce?: Holberton's Scalable Education for the Digital Economy

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on Thu, 02/18/2021 - 10:04

Latin America is entering the Fourth Industrial Revolution, where its digital world is increasingly controlling the physical one. The digitalization of the economy is well underway. The COVID-19 pandemic is acting as an accelerator, forcing most businesses to transition online or die (slowly, or in fast-changing markets, quickly). While Latin Americas higher education system has not evolved for centuries, it has no choice now.

EHR Scorecard

Submitted by SPH DIGITAL on Wed, 02/17/2021 - 12:14

This tool seeks to make a functional and technical diagnosis on the state of health information systems. It addresses several components, among which the following stand out: clinical-care aspects (in the fields of emergencies, outpatient and hospitalization), information management, use of interoperability standards and information security, among others.