Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35701421›Full record

ArticleNature communications2022

An index of access to essential infrastructure to identify where physical distancing is impossible.

Isabel Günther, Kenneth Harttgen, Johannes Seiler, Jürg Utzinger

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature communications, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Isabel GüntherDevelopment Economics Group, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
Kenneth HarttgenDevelopment Economics Group, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland. kenneth.harttgen@nadel.ethz.ch.ORCID 0000-0002-8499-5281
Johannes SeilerNADEL - Center for Development and Cooperation, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.ORCID 0000-0001-5714-9234
Jürg UtzingerSwiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Allschwil, Switzerland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

To identify areas at highest risk of infectious disease transmission in Africa, we develop a physical distancing index (PDI) based on the share of households without access to private toilets, water, space, transportation, and communication technology and weight it with population density. Our results highlight that in addition to improving health systems, countries across Africa, especially in the western part of Africa, need to address the lack of essential domestic infrastructure. Missing infrastructure prevents societies from limiting the spread of communicable diseases by undermining the effectiveness of governmental regulations on physical distancing. We also provide high-resolution risk maps that show which regions are most limited in protecting themselves. We find considerable spatial heterogeneity of the PDI within countries and show that it is highly correlated with detected COVID-19 cases. Governments could pay specific attention to these areas to target limited resources more precisely to prevent disease transmission.

Indexed as

Communicable DiseasesCOVID-19GovernmentHumansPhysical DistancingTransportation

Identifiers

PMID35701421
PMCPMC9198068

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.