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Background People in remote regions of developing nations have poor health outcomes with lower life expectancy and quality of life compared to higher-resourced areas. Remote communities typically lack stable access to high-quality health services. International humanitarian and development organizations including the United States Peace Corps have a longstanding history of delivering critical services. However, limited infrastructure including access to reliable electricity or internet restricts development workers’ ability to provide effective health services to rural communities. Technology that enhances health education and service delivery in remote communities may improve health outcomes by impacting health knowledge and behavior. Methods We partnered with U.S. Peace Corps to provide portable, solar-powered educational learning libraries (SolarSPELL; www.solarspell.org) to remote communities in Pacific Island nations beginning in 2015 with Peace Corps Vanuatu educational volunteers and expanded in 2017 to include health volunteers (SolarSPELL Health). We conducted ethnographic observation and interviews with Vanuatu Peace Corps volunteers, Ministry of Health officials, and local residents of rural communities. We then conducted a comprehensive evidence review to identify current best practices for assessing and treating the most common conditions. We designed simple 2-page documents with assessment and treatment guidelines, reflecting evidence-based best practices, local culture, and resource availability. Each document was accompanied by a whiteboard video featuring simple drawings and narration designed for Peace Corps volunteers and local community members. Results We report on findings from a pilot study focused on education for treating low back pain. Preliminary findings indicate significantly increased knowledge for Peace Corps volunteers (p<.01), along with non-significantly increased self-efficacy scores (p=.169). Interview data indicate high levels of satisfaction with the SolarSPELL technology, and widespread community utilization among Peace Corps volunteers and community residents. Conclusions Tailored health content on the SolarSPELL platform increases knowledge about critical health topics among Peace Corps volunteers in under-resourced rural communities. The platform and education may have a positive impact on self-efficacy. However, high baseline levels of self-efficacy noted among Peace Corps volunteers may explain the failure to reach statistically significant increases in self-efficacy scores. This finding merits further study. Future work includes measuring individual and community health outcomes, quality of life, and cost benefit resulting from reductions in lost work and transfers for advanced health services. We plan continued implementation and content expansion of SolarSPELL Health in Vanuatu and additional global sites.

La invasión de caminos cerca de las áreas protegidas altera el paisaje natural sonoro debido a la contaminación del ruido por tránsito en Costa Rica Asistente:Sharon Rodríguez-Brenes Editorial:Editorial de la Universidad Nacional de Costa Rica (EUNA)Los artículos publicados se distribuye bajo una Licencia Creative Commons Atribución 4.0 Internacional (CC BY 4.0) basada en una obra en http://www. revistas.una.ac.cr/ambientales., lo que implica la posibilidad de que los lectores puedan de forma gratuita descargar, almacenar, copiar y distribuir la versión final aprobada y publicada del artículo, siempre y cuando se mencione la fuente y autoría de la obra. 27Revista de Ciencias Ambientales (Trop J Environ Sci). (Enero-Junio, 2018 AbstractRoad networks are spatially disposed across landscapes and are differentially used by traffic, generating levels of noise that may negatively affect protected areas. The objective of this study is to quantify the length of road stretches in contact and in close proximity to protected areas, and to investigate differential effects parks may have in relation to traffic volumes and noise pollution. We measured road networks in proximity to protected areas using a geographic information system and the Atlas of Costa Rica. Noise and traffic volumes were quantified in three protected areas with direct adjacency with roads. We generated environmental sound maps to assess the influence of noise on natural sounds, such as those produced by streams (geophony) and birds (biophony). We recorded biophony close and far to the road in one of the protected areas. We found that 70 protected areas are directly or indirectly affected by road proximity. Noise was greater in roads with higher traffic usage than those with lower traffic usage, but the type of vehicles also influenced noise levels. Noise penetrated the forest with greater levels during the dry season than in the wet season. We found that the amount of biophony in seconds was lower close than far from the road, and that the stream sound was masked by traffic noise. Our results suggest that noise may contribute to habitat degradation through a decrease and loss of natural sounds, decreasing the quality of biodiversity protection. Interdisciplinary action and rigorous planning must be considered to avoid road encroachment on protected areas.Keywords: Anthrophony, biodiversity conservation, biophony, geophony, soundscape conservation, traffic volume. ResumenLas carreteras están espacialmente dispuestas en los paisajes y son utilizadas por el tránsito, generando ruido que puede afectar las áreas protegidas. El objetivo fue cuantificar los tramos de carretera, en contacto y en proximidad con áreas, e investigar los efectos que los parques pueden tener en relación con el tránsito y el ruido. Medimos tramos cercanos a las áreas utilizando el sistema de información geográfica y el Atlas de Costa Rica. El ruido y tránsito fueron cuantificados en tres áreas adyacentes a carreteras. Generamos mapas de ruido para evaluar la influencia sobre los soni...