BackgroundCommunity health workers (CHWs) can provide diagnosis and treatment of malaria in remote rural areas and are therefore key to the elimination of malaria. However, as incidence declines, uptake of their services could be compromised if they only treat malaria.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective analysis of 571,286 malaria rapid diagnostic tests conducted between 2011 and 2016 by 1335 CHWs supported by Medical Action Myanmar. We assessed rates of decline in Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax incidence and rapid diagnostic test (RDT) positivity rates using negative binomial mixed effects models. We investigated whether broadening the CHW remit to provide a basic health care (BHC) package was associated with a change in malaria blood examination rates.ResultsCommunities with CHWs providing malaria diagnosis and treatment experienced declines in P. falciparum and P. vivax malaria incidence of 70% (95% CI 66–73%) and 64% (59–68%) respectively each year of operation. RDT positivity rates declined similarly with declines of 70% (95% CI 66–73%) for P. falciparum and 65% (95% CI 61–69%) for P. vivax with each year of CHW operation. In four cohorts studied, adding a BHC package was associated with an immediate and sustained increase in blood examination rates (step-change rate ratios 2.3 (95% CI 2.0–2.6), 5.4 (95% CI 4.0–7.3), 1.7 (95% CI 1.4–2.1), and 1.1 (95% CI 1.0.1.3)).ConclusionsCHWs have overseen dramatic declines in P. falciparum and P. vivax malaria in rural Myanmar. Expanding their remit to general health care has sustained community uptake of malaria services. In similar settings, expanding health services offered by CHWs beyond malaria testing and treatment can improve rural health care while ensuring continued progress towards the elimination of malaria.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12916-018-1172-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Potential depletion of fossil fuel and climate change have globally accelerated the demand in renewable and alternative energy. Most of the Southeast Asian countries have an abundance of biomass sources for the energy sector due to their agriculture-based economy and enormous forest resources. Therefore, the study aimed at highlighting an overview of biomass energy in the Southeast Asia countries to convey the environmental and economic benefits from the available biomass sources in the region. In order to achieve the aim, the study synthesized and evaluated the biomass sources, energy potential, utilization, and management in the region, based on the published research papers, review papers, and country reports. It was found that the major biomass sources in this region were fuelwood, wood residues, rice husk, rice straw, sugarcane residues, oil palm residues, and coconut residues. The total annual quantity of the biomass potential from agriculture and forest sector in the region was estimated at more than 500 million tons per year and equal to over 8000 million gigajoules of total energy potential. In order to implement the sustainable utilization of biomass sources, the study specified the barriers and challenges of biomass utilization in these countries and proposed a sustainable approach of biomass energy, by comparing the way of traditional biomass utilization.

Myanmar has experienced considerable economic and social changes since its political transition in the early 2010s. Its agriculture sector has demonstrated rapid intensification and modernization. Agricultural best management practices (BMPs), e.g., drum seeders and laser land levelling, were introduced to rice farmers in Bago Region in 2012 to increase sustainable production and counter negative environmental impacts. The objective of this study was to determine the socioeconomic and agronomic changes due to the adoption of BMPs between adopters and non-adopters. Using a digital survey questionnaire application to collect household data, 200 farmers in eight villages were interviewed in 2012 and 2017. Data were analysed using uni- and multivariate statistics. Mediation analysis was utilized to evaluate the effect of the farmer group on rice yields. Overall, all farmers in this study experienced substantial positive changes over the course of five years in line with the national development efforts. Differences among adopters and non-adopters were not significant, but notable distinctions existed between cropping patterns. Rice-pulse farmers had higher yields ( + 0.4 t/ha), yet rice-rice farmers had larger cultivation areas, received higher agricultural credits, and had superior income levels. Nevertheless, rice yields remained low (<4 t/ha). Education was found to be an important predictor of yield. Hence, this factor is crucial for accelerating agricultural development in Myanmar. Improving extension services and knowledge transfer are necessary to expand the dissemination of sustainable BMPs and make farmers more resilient against the negative implications of climate change.

This research presents the design, fabrication and performance analysis of loopwing horizontal axis wind turbine. Among the many types of wind turbine, most of them failed in efficiency because of the higher rotating speed required in other conventional horizontal axis wind turbine. Another vertical axis wind turbine suffers unbalance torque between the right and left side which causes vibration. Loopwing horizontal axis wind turbine is operated at low rotating speed without reducing energy efficiency. There is no vortex discharge and noise because loopwing horizontal axis wind turbine has strip ribbons as its blade tip portion ends in a loop shape. Loopwing horizontal axis wind turbine blade is designed by the using of basic design formula such as angular momentum theory, blade element theory. The NASA SC(2)-0402 is chosen as the loopwing horizontal axis wind turbine blade profile by comparing it with a similar airfoil shape from the results of Profili Software. The model of loopwing horizontal axis wind turbine is drawn by using Solidworks 2018. Performance testing is carried out on the roof of Main-Building at Mandalay Technological University. The wind turbine hub is placed 14.6 m above the ground. The material of loop type blade wind turbine is stainless steel. The performance analysis of loopwing horizontal axis wind turbine is emphasized in this research. This loop type blade wind turbine can be started wind speed at 1.5m/s and cut-out wind speed at 12m/s. Electrical power output can be produced by about 100 W by the following horizontal axis wind generator at rated wind speed 6m/s. Rotor diameter is 1.5m and the no. of the blade is three and the tip speed ratio is 5.