IN BRIEF
CRIME STATISTICS Since 2009 police forces have published crime statistics using their own web-based crime mapping tools or via the national crime mapping facility. In addition to other objectives, one aim of this initiative was to improve community reassurance. A new study will explore the impact of this initiative as well as reviewing the crime statistics that police forces currently publish and identifying good practice. ESRC Grant Number RES-193-25-0011
HOMING DECISIONS Local authorities have a full duty to house those homeless people the authority deems ‘vulnerable’. Whether people fall within this category largely depends on evidence of the person’s physical or mental ill-health. In a new study based on case studies in three varied local authority areas, researchers will examine how local authorities make decisions on vulnerability where medical evidence is involved. ESRC Grant Number RES-000-22-4461
HEALTHY AGEING Healthy Life Expectancy (HLE) is a measure that adds a quality dimension to life expectancy and indicates how many remaining years are expected to be healthy ones. Life expectancy and HLE at birth and at age 65 vary considerably across England and Wales. Through three linked work packages, researchers aim to explore the reasons for inequalities in healthy life expectancy (InHALE). ESRC Grant Number RES-062-23-2970
African children bear the load problem
African children as young as six years old are playing a key role in filling Africa’s transport gap with potentially detrimental consequences for their own education, wellbeing and health. A groundbreaking new study involving 70 young African people aged 11-19 highlights a practice which to date has been largely invisible in studies of African economies: load-carrying by children. “Both the scale of load- carrying by children and the ubiquity of this practice – in both urban and rural areas – has received remarkably little recognition,” says researcher Dr Gina Porter.
“In urban and rural areas, wherever
transport services are deficient or households lack the economic purchasing power to acquire transport equipment or pay fares, much everyday transport work needed to sustain the family and household must be achieved through pedestrian head- loading,” Dr Porter explains. The largest proportion of domestic load- carrying work is usually delegated to women and their children with boys above 15 years generally only head- loading in emergencies. A survey of nearly 3,000 9-18
year-olds from Ghana, Malawi and South Africa finds children of ten years carrying 16 kg of maize or a full tray of cassava (perhaps 20 kg). By the age of 15 girls are expected to be able to carry a full adult load of 40-70 kg. Children are required to carry loads before school
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(particularly water) or on their journey to school (eg, maize for grinding). Children’s load-carrying work negatively affects education as it can result in late arrival at school, exhaustion causing poor concentration, absence from school and school drop-out, the study suggests. At present there is little firm
evidence regarding the health impacts of load-carrying, but 72 per cent of children in Ghana, 41 per cent in Malawi and 21 per cent in South Africa reported that they had experienced physical pain and other problems from load-carrying in the week prior to the research survey. The need for a programme of health-focused head- loading research is clearly evident, researchers argue.
“Overall this study makes sobering reading regarding constraints on the continent’s likely developmental potential if current load-carrying patterns persist,” Dr Porter concludes. “Many of today’s children will reach adulthood substantially disadvantaged in terms of their educational attainment and possibly also with long- term physical impairment associated with load carrying.” n
Contact Dr Gina Porter, University of Durham Email
r.e.porter@durham.ac.uk Telephone 0191 334 3309 ESRC Grant Number RES-167-25-0028 ESRC/DFID Programme Fellowship
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