Japan International Cooperation Agency

About: Japan International Cooperation Agency is a government organization based out in Tokyo, Japan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Public health. The organization has 555 authors who have published 613 publications receiving 9536 citations.

JICA’s policies, experiences and lessons learned on impacts of urban floods in Asia*

Abstract: This article describes the assistance policies of the Japan International Cooperation Agency in line with the international trend in disaster risk reduction. Through domestic experience, Japan has ...

Ifugao males, learning and teaching for the improvement of maternal and child health status in the Philippines: an evaluation of a program

Abstract: Improving Maternal and Child Health (MCH) is a prioritized global agenda in achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goal 5. In this challenge, involving males has been an important agenda, and a program with such intent was conducted in Alfonso Lista, Ifugao, of the Philippines. The objectives of this study were: (1) to evaluate the effectiveness in knowledge, attitude, and practice before and after a MCH session; (2) to evaluate the session's effectiveness in relation to socio-demographic characteristics; and (3) to examine if males who have learned about MCH topics can teach another group of males. A male community representative who received a lecture from the health office staff was assigned to teach a group of community males [Group 1, N = 140] in 5 sessions, using educational materials. 10 male volunteers from Group 1 then taught a different group of males [Group 2, N = 105] in their own barangays (villages). To evaluate its effectiveness, a self-administered questionnaire survey pertaining knowledge, attitude and practice regarding MCH was conducted at three different time points: before the session (Time 1, T1), after the session (Time 2, T2), and 3 months following the session (Time 3, T3). A repeated measures analysis of variance was conducted to test for changes over time and its interaction effect between specific socio-demographic variables. In Group 1, there was a significant positive increase in knowledge score over time at T1-T2 and T1-T3 (p < 0.001). For attitude, the score increased only at T1-T2 (p = 0.027). The effectiveness in knowledge and attitude did not vary by socio-demographic characteristics. As for practice, majority of the participants reported that they had talked about MCH topics in their community and assisted a pregnant woman in some ways. A comparison between Group 1 and Group 2 revealed that Group 2 had similar effectiveness as Group 1 in knowledge improvement immediately after the session (p < 0.001), but no such improvement in the attitude score. Although the change in attitude needs further assessment, this strategy of continuous learning and teaching of MCH topics within community males is shown to improve knowledge and has a potential to uplift the MCH status, including the reduction of maternal deaths, in Alfonso Lista, Ifugao, Philippines.

Passengers’ Attitudes to the Service items of Jeepneys in Metro Manila by Different Lifestyles

Abstract: This study aims to clarify the attitudes of jeepney passengers in Metro Manila to clarify the perceptions towards the different perspectives of the levels of services, not only fare or time but also security and familiarity, to clarify the behavioral intentions under the situations that could be occurred in future, and to compare the perceptions and behavioral intentions among different lifestyles of passengers. The definition of lifestyle in this study is the one that is derived from personal conditions such as ways of thinking and sense of value. Most paratransit modes in developing countries, same as jeepneys, are operated by flexible operation with midsize vehicles, which can meet the specific needs of the passengers, however, these characteristics can be hardly identified only by common quantitative and objective indices, such as amount of fares, travel time or waiting time. This study focuses people's attitudes which are asked by perceptions and behavioral intentions based on the social-psychological approach for evaluating paratransit modes. Perceptions and behavioral intentions of passengers are measured by interview based questionnaire survey considering behavioral background and lifestyles of the respondents.