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Background Maternal and infant mortality has been a major problem globally, especially in developing countries like Nigeria. These deaths occur as a result of complications that arise during labor, delivery and after delivery, it could also be as a result of obstetric hemorrhage and preeclampsia during pregnancy and therefore, the choice of birth place is a major factor that determines birth outcomes and quality of life for the mother and child. Thus, previous researches in this area focused on the barriers to deliveries in hospital-based facilities but this study aimed to identify the factors that determine the choice of a woman’s delivery in a church/mission house, a private hospital or a tertiary health care facility, as in why a pregnant woman would choose to give birth in a church/mission house or in a hospital-based facility. Methods This study adopted a cross-sectional descriptive design and self-administered questionnaires were used to gather data from the pregnant women in the selected health facilities. The four health facilities were selected using the multistage sampling technique. The pregnant women were randomly selected from the four health facilities and a total of 310 pregnant women participated in the study. Data collected was analyzed using SPSS version 25.0 and hypotheses were tested using chi-square at 0.05 level of significance. Results A total of 310 women participated in this study. Results showed that 71.7% of the respondents had good knowledge about the choice of birth place, the result further revealed that 91.6% of the respondents had high satisfaction about the birth place they chose and the services they received. Multiple logistic regression revealed that Prayers for pregnant women had the highest odds ratio (OR = 4.125, 95% CI: 0.905, 18.807), which implied that it was four times more likely to determine the choice of birth place in a mission house. The competency of the healthcare providers was almost twice more likely to predict the choice of birthplace among the respondents (OR = 1.711, 95% CI: 0.322, 9.083). The cost of giving birth was also identified to be almost twice more likely to predict the choice of birthplace among the respondents (OR = 1.711, 95% CI: 0.322, 9.083). Also, nearness of healthcare facility to place of residence was 1.395odds more likely to predict the choice of birthplace among the participants (OR = 1.395, 95% CI: 0.399, 4.882). The reduced waiting time for pregnant women at the healthcare facility is 1.198odds more likely to predict the choice of birthplace among the participants (OR = 1.198, 95% CI: 0.274, 5.232). The results further showed that there was no significant relationship between the pregnant women’s level of education and the knowledge about choice of birth place ( p -value = 0.194) while there was a significant relationship between the number of previous deliveries and the knowledge about choice of birth place ( p -value-= 0.012). Conclusion The study concluded with discussion of findings and recommended that emphasis on delivery in health facilities with skilled birth attendants should be made during antenatal classes. Key points Maternal and infant mortality has been a major problem globally, especially in developing countries like Nigeria. These deaths occur as a result of complications that arise during labor, delivery and after delivery, it could also be as a result of obstetric hemorrhage and preeclampsia during pregnancy and therefore, the choice of birth place is a major factor that determines birth outcomes and quality of life for the mother and child. In planning for the birth of a child, the choice of birth place is an important factor to be considered. The choice of birth place has been identified as one of the risk factors for maternal and infant mortality. One major way to reduce maternal and infant mortality is to ensure that women deliver in health facilities and therefore whatever factor that influences their choices for other birth places apart from the health facilities must be addressed as soon as possible.

Despite a growing body of epidemiological evidence in recent years documenting the health impacts of racism, the cumulative evidence base has yet to be synthesized in a comprehensive meta-analysis focused specifically on racism as a determinant of health. This meta-analysis reviewed the literature focusing on the relationship between reported racism and mental and physical health outcomes. Data from 293 studies reported in 333 articles published between 1983 and 2013, and conducted predominately in the U.S., were analysed using random effects models and mean weighted effect sizes. Racism was associated with poorer mental health (negative mental health: r = -.23, 95% CI [-.24,-.21], k = 227; positive mental health: r = -.13, 95% CI [-.16,-.10], k = 113), including depression, anxiety, psychological stress and various other outcomes. Racism was also associated with poorer general health (r = -.13 (95% CI [-.18,-.09], k = 30), and poorer physical health (r = -.09, 95% CI [-.12,-.06], k = 50). Moderation effects were found for some outcomes with regard to study and exposure characteristics. Effect sizes of racism on mental health were stronger in cross-sectional compared with longitudinal data and in non-representative samples compared with representative samples. Age, sex, birthplace and education level did not moderate the effects of racism on health. Ethnicity significantly moderated the effect of racism on negative mental health and physical health: the association between racism and negative mental health was significantly stronger for Asian American and Latino(a) American participants compared with African American participants, and the association between racism and physical health was significantly stronger for Latino(a) American participants compared with African American participants. Protocol PROSPERO registration number: CRD42013005464.

We complement the literature on distributive politics by taking a systematic look at regional favoritism in a large and diverse sample of countries and by employing a broad measure that captures the aggregate distributive effect of many different policies. In particular, we use satellite data on nighttime light intensity and information about the birthplaces of the countries’ political leaders. In our panel of 38,427 subnational regions from 126 countries with yearly observations from 1992 to 2009, we find that subnational regions have more intense nighttime light when being the birth region of the current political leader. We argue that this finding provides evidence for regional favoritism. We explore the dynamics and the geographical extent of regional favoritism and show that regional favoritism is most prevalent in countries with weak political institutions and poorly educated citizens. Furthermore, foreign aid inflows and oil rents tend to fuel regional favoritism in weakly institutionalized countries, but not elsewhere.

We propose an index of population diversity based on people’s birthplaces and decompose it into a size (share of immigrants) and a variety (diversity of immigrants) component. We show that birthplace diversity is largely uncorrelated with ethnic, linguistic or genetic diversity and that the diversity of immigrants relates positively to measures of economic prosperity. This holds especially for skilled immigrants in richer countries at intermediate levels of cultural proximity. We address endogeneity by specifying a pseudo-gravity model predicting the size and diversity of immigration. The results are robust across specifications and suggestive of skill-complementarities between immigrants and native workers.

With the problems of climate warming and ecological destruction becoming more and more serious, natural risks have attracted more and more attention, and corporate natural resource disclosure has gradually become a focal topic in academia. Therefore, based on the institutional theory and the upper echelon theory, this study selects 348 Chinese natural resource-based listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets from 2014 to 2021 as samples to investigate the influence of clan culture on corporate natural resource disclosure and the moderating effect of natural resource endowment on the relationship between the two, and analyzes the heterogeneity from the two aspects of the workplace and growth experience of corporate executives. The results indicate that clan culture has a significant positive effect on corporate natural resource disclosure. Natural resource endowment can negatively moderate the effect of clan culture on corporate natural resource disclosure. The positive effect of clan culture on the quality of corporate natural resource disclosure is significant when executives work in their birthplace or are born before the Cultural Revolution, but it is not significant when executives do not work in their birthplace or are born after the Cultural Revolution. These findings help to extend the analysis of the influence of informal institutions on information disclosure, providing a reference for future research on natural resource disclosure and informal institutions in developing countries.

Around 20% of births in Somaliland take place at health facilities staffed by trained healthcare professionals; 80% take place at home assisted by Traditional Birth Attendants (TBAs) with no formal training. There has been no research into women's choice of place of birth. In this study, we explore multipara women's needs and preferences when choosing the place of birth. An explorative qualitative study using individual in-depth interviews analysed inductively using content analysis. The interviews were conducted in Somaliland with 25 multiparous women who had experience of giving birth both at home and at a health facility within the past three years. The results provide a description of how, for women in Somaliland, a lack of reproductive agency in facility-based births makes home births a first choice regardless of potential risks and medical need. The women in this study desired intentionality in their role as mothers and sought some measure of control over the environment where they planned to give birth, depending on the circumstances of that particular birth. The results describe what quality care means for multipara women in Somaliland and how women choose birthplace based on previous experiences of care. The expectation of respectful care was a vital part for women when choosing a place of birth. To meet women's needs and preferences in Somaliland, further investments are needed to strengthen the midwifery profession and to define and test a context specific midwife-led continuity of care model to be scaled up. A dialogue to create new roles and responsibilities for the TBAs who attend most home births is further needed to link them to the formal healthcare system and assure timely healthcare seeking during pregnancy and birth.

Background Cities such as Shenzhen in southern China have large immigrant populations, and the reproductive health issues of pregnant women in these populations have not received sufficient attention. Stillbirth seriously threatens their health and is becoming a social issue worthy of attention. We conducted this study to estimate the trend in stillbirths at 28 or more gestational weeks and the related sociodemographic characteristics of pregnant women among a large internal migrant population in South China. Methods A stillbirth is defined as a baby born with no signs of life after a given threshold, and are restricted to births of 28 weeks of gestation or longer, with a birth weight of at least 1000 g for international comparison. A population-based retrospective cohort of all births from January 2010 to December 2019 in Baoan, Shenzhen, was conducted using the Shenzhen Birth Registry Database. The overall stillbirth rate and year-specific stillbirth rate were calculated as the number of foetal deaths ≥28 gestational weeks or a birth weight ≥ 1000 g divided by the number of births over the last decade or in each year, respectively. The associations between the risk of stillbirth and maternal sociodemographic status were assessed using logistic regression. Spearman’s rank correlation was calculated to evaluate the correlation between the economic status of the maternal birthplace and the stillbirth. Results An overall stillbirth rate of 4.5 per 1000 births was estimated in a total of 492,184 births in our final analysis. Migrant women accounted for 87% of the total population but had a higher stillbirth rate (4.8 per 1000 births) than the permanent population (2.8 per 1000 births). The stillbirth rate varied by region of maternal birthplace, from 4.1 per 1000 births in women from East China to 5.7 per 1000 births in women from West China. The GDP per capita of the maternal birthplace was strongly correlated with the stillbirth rate. Conclusions Large disparities in the stillbirth rate exist between migrant and permanent populations and among regions of maternal birthplace in China. Strategies targeting migrant women based on their maternal birthplace are needed to further reduce the burden of stillbirth.

This study explores the historical determinants of the spread of Islam. Motivated by a plethora of historical accounts stressing the role of trade for the adoption of Islam, we construct detailed data on pre-Islamic trade routes to determine this empirical regularity. Our analysis establishes that proximity to the pre-600 CE trade network is a robust predictor of today's Muslim adherence across countries and ethnic groups in the Old World. We also show that Islam spread successfully in regions ecologically similar to the birthplace of the religion, the Arabian Peninsula, and discuss various mechanisms that may give rise to the observed pattern.

Background Subjective cognitive complaints (SCCs) play an important role in diagnosing mild cognitive impairment (MCI), but their utility in differentiating MCI and normal aging remains unclear. Moreover, the impact of cultural factors on SCCs has largely been overlooked. Therefore, the goal of the current study was to explore whether certain SCCs more strongly predict MCI or intact cognitive functioning and whether these effects differ for individuals born in Canada compared to those born abroad. Method The current retrospective study examined older adults (aged 60‐94) referred to a tertiary memory clinic in Toronto, Canada, who were given a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation. Participants either met criteria for MCI (n = 74) or had SCCs but intact cognition, meeting research criteria for subjective cognitive decline (SCD; n = 60). Participants were also classified by birthplace (Canada: n = 66; abroad: n = 68). SCCs were assessed using the Abilities subscale of the Multifactorial Memory Questionnaire (MMQ), a 20‐item self‐report measure that examines self‐perception of memory abilities in daily life. Result The overall frequency of SCCs (i.e., total MMQ score) did not differ significantly by clinical group (MCI or SCD) or birthplace (Canada or abroad). Logistic regression analyses based on individual MMQ items revealed several questions that predicted clinical group classification or birthplace. In general, SCCs regarding prospective memory were more frequent in patients born in Canada vs. those born abroad. Within groups, SCCs of memory loss for well‐learned semantic information differentiated SCD vs. MCI for individuals born in Canada. No SCCs differentiated SCD vs. MCI in those born abroad. Conclusion Summary scores of SCCs are not strongly associated with objective cognitive functioning: However, certain SCCs were more frequent in patients born in Canada vs. abroad, and specific cognitive complaints significantly differentiated clinical groups as a function of birthplace (i.e., long‐term memory complaints predicting MCI in Canada‐born individuals only). These findings demonstrate the need to refine SCC measures to optimize clinical utility, and also underscore the importance of considering cultural factors (i.e., birthplace) and how they may impact clinical presentation when assessing for cognitive decline in older adults.

Vaccine hesitancy has taken a toll on COVID-19 immunization globally. This study aims to characterize three COVID-19-related health concerns (i.e., vaccine hesitancy, anticipated stigma, and risk perception) in Canada and how they differ based on im/migration status and other social determinants. Data were obtained from a nationwide probability sample of the Canadian Perspective Survey Series 3 (June 15 to 21, 2020). Multivariable binary logistic regression analysis was performed to investigate the association between each COVID-19 concern and nativity status, while controlling for socio-demographics. Of 3522 participants aged ≥ 25 years, the estimated overall prevalence of vaccine hesitancy was 16.9%, with im/migrants being greater than non-immigrants (21.5% vs. 15.5%, p < 0.001). After controlling for all covariates, im/migrants had around two-fold greater odds of all three health concerns, including risk perception of accessing care (aOR 2.44, 95% CI 1.89–3.15), anticipated stigma of being targeted (aOR 2.24, 95% CI 1.81, 2.78) and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy (aOR 1.99, 95% CI 1.57–2.52), compared to their Canadian-born peers. Among vaccine-hesitant individuals (n = 596), im/migrants reported higher concerns, than non-immigrants, on vaccine safety (71.3% vs. 49.5%), side effects (66.4% vs 47.3%) and mistrust in vaccinations (12.5% vs 6.6%) as possible reasons of vaccine refusal. For migrant justice, health authorities should ensure equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines and other health-enhancing resources for im/migrants to mitigate their heightened fear, stigma, and mistrust of new vaccines amidst turbulent times.