3 research outputs found
Slices and brews: a digital voyage through Mokky’s Pizza & Coffee
No full textMokky’s Pizza is a Malaysian food and beverage (F&B) brand specializing in New York-style pizza paired with specialty coffee. Founded one and a half years ago, it combines culinary excellence with vibrant, New York-inspired aesthetics. Led by Marketing Director Muhammad Azfar bin Abdul Aziz, Mokky’s focuses on leveraging digital platforms, particularly Instagram, to engage customers and build its brand. The brand's unique pairing of pizza and coffee appeals to a diverse audience while creating a memorable dining experience. Despite its strengths, Mokky’s faces challenges such as over-reliance on Instagram, limited use of platforms like Facebook and Google Ads, and resource constraints that hinder customer communication. Negative feedback management and scalability while retaining its unique identity further complicate its growth. To address these issues, Mokky’s can diversify its digital presence, integrate AI tools for improved communication, and expand loyalty programs to enhance customer retention. Collaborations with influencers and strategic partnerships can also amplify brand visibility. By implementing these recommendations, Mokky’s Pizza can strengthen its competitive position, overcome operational challenges, and achieve sustainable growth in Malaysia’s dynamic F&B marke
FISCAL DECENTRALISATION AND POLITICAL ECONOMY OF POVERTY REDUCTION: THEORY AND EVIDENCE FROM PAKISTAN
No full textThis thesis explores the relationship between fiscal decentralisation and poverty. The thesis consists of four parts. First part reviews the related literature addressing different aspects of fiscal decentralisation and poverty and highlighting the research gap that this thesis intends to address. It also explains the possible channels through which fiscal decentralisation potentially affects poverty. Second part describes the political economy, fiscal decentralisation and poverty in Pakistan. It underlines that fiscal policy decisions in Pakistan are made to reflect many vested interest groups and institutions that may be failed to provide basic social services. Additionally, it discusses the development of federalism and fiscal decentralisation in Pakistan and shows that how the vertical and horizontal resource distribution affect the social and economic development of the provinces. This part also discusses various approaches, measurements and trends of poverty in Pakistan. Third part presents a systematic relationship between fiscal decentralisation and poverty both theoretically and empirically. The theoretical framework implies that if the federal transfer rate is larger, then the decentralisation measure will be greater. Since a larger federal transfer rate reduces poverty, poverty and expenditure decentralisation are expected to be negatively related. In addition to the model, there is an extensive empirical study on Pakistan to look at the impact of fiscal decentralisation on poverty besides investigating the potential channels through pro-poor sectoral outcomes. Ordinary Least Squared, Fixed and Radom Effect Models and Generalised Method of Moment Instrumental Variables methodology is used on simple time series as well as panel datasets covering four provinces of Pakistan over the period from 1975 to 2009. The empirical results suggest a strong relationship between expenditure decentralisation and poverty – proxy alternatively by headcount poverty, poverty gap, severity of poverty and the human development index. Both rural and urban poverty reduction have statistically significant relationship with expenditure decentralisation. The results also reveal that decentralisation improves pro-poor sectoral outcomes of education, health and agriculture that consequently affect poverty.
The last part illustrates the effectiveness of the devolution reforms by transferring fiscal, political and administrative authorities to local governments on certain social and economic sectors that are believed to be pro-poor. The evidence shows that the devolution significantly changes the size and magnitude of investment on many social and economic sectors. In all provinces, the investment increases in sectors such as education, healthcare, agriculture, water management, water supply and sanitation, rural development and the civil work. Since these services are strongly associated with local needs, it is reasonable to conclude that the devolution implicitly enhances the living standard of the local communities, especially the poor
Global burden of lower respiratory infections and aetiologies, 1990–2023: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2023
No full textBackground: Lower respiratory infections (LRIs) remain the world’s leading infectious cause of death. This analysis
from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2023 provides global, regional, and
national estimates of LRI incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), with attribution to
26 pathogens, including 11 newly modelled pathogens, across 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2023. With
new data and revised modelling techniques, these estimates serve as an update and expansion to GBD 2021. Through
these estimates, we also aimed to assess progress towards the 2025 Global Action Plan for the Prevention and
Control of Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (GAPPD) target for pneumonia mortality in children younger than 5 years.
Methods: Mortality from LRIs, defined as physician-diagnosed pneumonia or bronchiolitis, was estimated using
the Cause of Death Ensemble model with data from vital registration, verbal autopsy, surveillance, and minimally
invasive tissue sampling. The Bayesian meta-regression tool DisMod-MR 2.1 was used to model overall morbidity
due to LRIs. DALYs were calculated as the sum of years of life lost (YLLs) and years lived with disability (YLDs) for
all locations, years, age groups, and sexes. We modelled pathogen-specific case-fatality ratios (CFRs) for each age
group and location using splined binomial regression to create internally consistent estimates of incidence and
mortality proportions attributable to viral, fungal, parasitic, and bacterial pathogens. Progress was assessed
towards the GAPPD target of less than three deaths from pneumonia per 1000 livebirths, which is roughly
equivalent to a mortality rate of less than 60 deaths per 100 000 children younger than 5 years.
Findings: In 2023, LRIs were responsible for 2·50 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 2·24–2·81) deaths and
98·7 million (87·7–112) DALYs, with children younger than 5 years and adults aged 70 years and older carrying the
highest burden. LRI mortality in children younger than 5 years fell by 33·4% (10·4–47·4) since 2010, with a global
mortality rate of 94·8 (75·6–116·4) per 100000 person-years in 2023. Among adults aged 70 years and older, the burden
remained substantial with only marginal declines since 2010. A mortality rate of less than 60 deaths per 100000 for
children younger than 5 years was met by 129 of the 204 modelled countries in 2023. At a super-regional level, subSaharan Africa had an aggregate mortality rate in children younger than 5 years (hereafter referred to as under-5
mortality rate) furthest from the GAPPD target. Streptococcus pneumoniae continued to account for the largest number
of LRI deaths globally (634000 [95% UI 565000–721000] deaths or 25·3% [24·5–26·1] of all LRI deaths), followed by
Staphylococcus aureus (271000 [243000–298000] deaths or 10·9% [10·3–11·3]), and Klebsiella pneumoniae (228000
[204000–261000] deaths or 9·1% [8·8–9·5]). Among pathogens newly modelled in this study, non-tuberculous
mycobacteria (responsible for 177000 [95% UI 155000–201000] deaths) and Aspergillus spp (responsible for 67800
[59900–75900] deaths) emerged as important contributors. Altogether, the 11 newly modelled pathogens accounted for
approximately 22% of LRI deaths.
Interpretation: This comprehensive analysis underscores both the gains achieved through vaccination and the
challenges that remain in controlling the LRI burden globally. Furthermore, it demonstrates persistent disparities
in disease burden, with the highest mortality rates concentrated in countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Globally, as
well as in these high-burden locations, the under-5 LRI mortality rate remains well above the GAPPD target.
Progress towards this target requires equitable access to vaccines and preventive therapies—including newer
interventions such as respiratory syncytial virus monoclonal antibodies—and health systems capable of early
diagnosis and treatment. Expanding surveillance of emerging pathogens, strengthening adult immunisation
programmes, and combating vaccine hesitancy are also crucial. As the global population ages, the dual challenge
of sustaining gains in child survival while addressing the rising vulnerability in older adults will shape future
pneumonia control strategies
