Academic literature on the topic 'Rural population Victoria'

ObjectiveThe Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset (VEMD) is a key data resource for injury surveillance. The VEMD collects emergency department data from 39 public hospitals across Victoria; however, rural emergency care services are not well captured. The aim of this study is to determine the representativeness of the VEMD for injury surveillance.DesignA retrospective observational study of administrative healthcare data.Setting and participantsInjury admissions in 2014/2015–2018/2019 were extracted from the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset (VAED) which captures all Victorian hospital admissions; only cases that arrived through a hospital’s emergency department (ED) were included. Each admission was categorised as taking place in a VEMD-contributing versus a non-VEMD hospital.ResultsThere were 535 477 incident injury admissions in the study period, of which 517 207 (96.6%) were admitted to a VEMD contributing hospital. Male gender (OR 1.13 (95% CI 1.10 to 1.17)) and young age (age 0–14 vs 45–54 years, OR 4.68 (95% CI 3.52 to 6.21)) were associated with VEMD participating (vs non-VEMD-participating) hospitals. Residing in regional/rural areas was negatively associated with VEMD participating (vs non-VEMD participating) hospitals (OR=0.11 (95% CI 0.10 to 0.11)). Intentional injury (assault and self-harm) was also associated with VEMD participation.ConclusionsVEMD representativeness is largely consistent across the whole of Victoria, but varies vastly by region, with substantial under-representation of some areas of Victoria. By comparison, for injury surveillance, regional rates are more reliable when based on the VAED. For local ED-presentation rates, the bias analysis results can be used to create weights, as a temporary solution until rural emergency services injury data is systematically collected and included in state-wide injury surveillance databases.

The objective of this paper is to present small area analyses of diabetes complications in Victoria, Australia, and to illustrate their importance for targeting public health and health services interventions. Local government areas in Victoria were aggregated into 32 Primary Care Partnerships (PCP), which are voluntary alliances of primary care providers. The 32 PCP areas were used as the basic geographic units for small area analyses. Admission rates for diabetes complications were age and sex standardised using the direct method and the 1996 Victorian population as the reference. Admission rate ratios were calculated using the Victorian admission rates as the reference. The 95 per cent confidence intervals for the standardised admission rate ratios were based on the Poisson distribution. There was a wide variation (almost fivefold) in admission rates for diabetes complications across the PCP catchments, with the lowest standardised rate ratio of 0.37 and the highest of 1.75. There were 11 PCPs (seven metropolitan, four rural) with admission rate ratios significantly higher than the Victorian average. The seven metropolitan PCPs contributed more than 43% of all admissions and bed days for diabetes complications in Victoria. Small area analyses of diabetes complications are an exciting new development aimed at stimulating an evidence-based dialogue between local area health service providers, planners and policy-makers. The purpose is to provide opportunities to target public health and health services interventions at the local level to improve the management of diabetes complications in the community.

The paper describes factors associated with 2,605 hospital admissions for musculoskeletal malignant neoplasms (MMN) over oneyear. The rates per 10,000 population increased significantly (t=5.3, p<.01) with age, with men (4.5 per 10,000 population, 95% CI 4.1-5.0) at greater risk than women (3.3 per 10,000 population, 95% CI 2.8-3.7). The 30-day readmission rate was 19%, thethird highest of all admission categories. The average length of stay was significantly (t=4.5, p<.01) shorter in the metropolitanarea (8.2 days) than in rural communities (10.8 days). The age-standardised rates varied inversely (r=-0.28) with socioeconomicstatus. Communities with high MMN admission rates had high rates of heart failure admissions (r=0.35), alcohol consumption(r=0.34) and receiving Disability Support Pension (r=0.32). There was a significant (t=13.8, p<.001) monthly variability inMMN hospitalisation rates. As a leading cause of hospital readmission and disability, the condition requires closer analysis.

In 2002, qualitative methods in the form of in-depth interviews and focus groups were used to gather data from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) population residents, service providers and key stakeholders across rural Victoria, to identify and describe barriers to the effective delivery of home services to people from CALD populations in rural Australia. Barriers to the provision of Home and Community Care (HACC) services to CALD populations in rural areas were not specific to HACC programs. For CALD residents, barriers included lack of information about the range of available services, cultural factors, and negative past and recent experiences in dealing with both the broader community and service providers. Service providers indicated lack of information about the profile of the local CALD population and lack of experience in working with these groups to be barriers. Communication was also an issue both for CALD residents and service providers, in terms of cultural factors and specific communication strategies such as inadequate printed material and under-utilisation of existing resources such as interpreter services. As one of the world?s most ethno-culturally diverse nations, Australia has a responsibility to provide health services that are culturally responsive and acceptable. Greater attention needs to be given to the needs of rural CALD population groups in accessing home services.

Objective: The objective was to describe and evaluate a community mental health service developed during 1991–1992 in an attempt to meet the mental illness needs of an isolated rural community. The setting was the Grampians health region in Western Victoria: this region has an area of 45,000 square kilo-metres and a population of 182,000. Method: The method involved firstly describing the evolution of the service delivery model. This comprised a team of travelling psychiatrists and community psychiatric nurses which succeeded in providing a combined inpatient and outpatient service which was integrated with general practitioners. Secondly, diagnostic and case load descriptions of patients receiving service were compared for both the inpatient and outpatient settings. Results: The results were that reduced reliance on inpatient beds and increased consumer satisfaction were achieved. Conclusion: It was concluded that on initial evaluation of the service it was seen to be meeting its objective of treating the seriously mentally ill in an isolated rural community based setting.

BackgroundMajor reductions in child drowning mortality rates have been observed historically in Victoria, Australia, for the period 1863–2000. Despite this trend, drowning remains the leading cause of unintentional child death in Victoria. This study investigates the residual fatal drowning problem in the Victorian child population (0–14 years) for the period 2001–2016.AimsDescribe the epidemiology of child drowning deaths in the Victorian population in 2001–2016; investigate risk factors and direct antecedents to these deaths.MethodsPopulation-based retrospective case data were extracted from the National Coronial Information System for 16 years (January 2001–December 2016), and case-by-case analysis was conducted. Associated factors were determined using univariate and Poisson analyses.Results88 of 97 cases had information available for analysis, pools were the most frequent location (30%); 70% of all cases occurred between 08:00 and 17:00; most victims were not deliberately in the body of the water (73%), for example, the pool. Supervision lapses included carers leaving the room when the child was in the bath (16/18), siblings left to supervise the child in private pools (7/23), inadequate pool fences (8/23) or faulty/open gates (4/23), or neighbours’ pool spa (4/23). Delays in finding the child occurred when searches occurred elsewhere, before the body of water (21/88) and when carers were asleep (5/88). Fourteen of the 88 children had an intellectual disability or predisposing medical condition. The grouped Poisson analysis demonstrated that age 0–4 years, male gender and rural place of residence were significant. A downward trend in drowning rate continued in this period.Discussion and conclusionsA case-by-case analysis of a drowned population of children identified details of risk factors and antecedents not previously described. Missing data on antecedents were common, likely resulting in undercounting. Further enhancements to systematic data collection are needed. The results support a systems approach to drowning prevention.

Background: Rural-urban disparities in cancer outcomes are found in many countries, though these vary by cancer type. In Victoria, Australia, survival is poorer for rural patients with colorectal cancer, but not breast cancer. Delayed diagnosis and treatment may contribute to disparities, but previous studies have not compared the timeliness of rural and urban pathways to treatment of these common cancers. Aim: We investigated whether time to diagnosis and treatment differed for rural and urban patients with colorectal or breast cancer in Victoria, Australia. Methods: Population-based, cross-sectional surveys examining events and dates on the pathway to treatment completed by patients aged ≥ 40 and approached within six months of diagnosis, their general practitioner (GP) and specialist. Data were collected from 2013 to 2014 as part of the International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership, Module 4. Six intervals were explored: patient (symptom to presentation), primary care (presentation to referral), diagnostic (presentation/screening to diagnosis), treatment (diagnosis to treatment), health system (presentation to treatment) and total intervals (symptom/screening to treatment). Rural-urban differences were examined for each cancer using quantile regression (50th, 75th and 90th percentiles) models including age, gender, health insurance and socioeconomic status. Results: 433 colorectal (48% rural) and 489 breast (42% rural) patients, 621 GPs and 370 specialists completed surveys. Compared with urban patients, symptomatic colorectal cancer patients from rural areas had a significantly longer total interval at all percentiles: 50th (18 days longer, 95% confidence interval (CI): 9-27), 75th (53, 95% CI: 47-59) 90th (44, 95% CI: 40-48). These patients also had longer health system intervals, ranging 7-85 days longer. This appeared mostly due to longer diagnostic intervals (range: 6-54 days longer). Results were similar when including screen-detected cases. In contrast, breast cancer intervals were similar for rural and urban patients, except the patient interval, which was shorter for rural patients. Conclusion: Consistent with variation in survival, we found longer total and diagnostic intervals for rural compared with urban patients with colorectal cancer, but not breast cancer. The lack of rural-urban differences observed for breast cancer suggest that inequities in the timeliness of colorectal cancer pathways can be ameliorated, and may improve clinical outcomes. Indeed, based on previous research, delays observed in this study could result in stage progression and hence reduced survival. From our results, interventions targeting the time from presentation to colorectal cancer diagnosis in rural populations should be pursued. Countries seeking to understand cancer disparities in their local context may also consider using a pathways approach to identify possible targets for policy intervention.

Abstract Background There is limited understanding on whether and how socioeconomic status (SES), particularly educational attainment and household income, impacts on telomere length in an Australian rural context. Additionally, it is unknown whether access to health services via the Australian public or private health system influences telomere length. Aim This study investigates whether there is a relationship between telomere length and SES indicators (income, education) as well as health insurance status in a rural Australian population. Methods Samples were drawn from the Australian Rural Victoria cross-sectional Crossroads Study. Leucocyte telomere length (LTL) was measured using a multiplex quantitative polymerase chain reaction method. Results Among 1424 participants, we did not find a significant main effect association with LTL across education, income level and health insurance. An exploratory finding was sex may influence the relationship between educational attainment and LTL (P = 0.021). In males, but not females, higher education was associated with longer LTL by 0.033 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.002–0.063, P = 0.035]; in those with low education attainment, male participants had shorter LTL by 0.058 (95% CI −0.086 to −0.029) than female participants (P &lt; 0.0001). Conclusion Being male and having lower education attainment was associated with shorter telomere length in our rural population. Evidence from our study supports the importance of education on LTL in males in rural Australia. Our studies also support previous findings that LTL in later life may not be closely associated with indicators of SES.

Background: To determine the prevalence of chlamydia and understand sexual risk behaviour in 16–29 year olds in rural Victoria through a chlamydia testing program undertaken at local sporting clubs. Methods: Young people were recruited from the Loddon Mallee region of Victoria, Australia between May and September 2007. After a night of sporting practice, participants provided a first pass urine sample and completed a brief questionnaire about sexual risk behaviour. Those positive for chlamydia were managed by telephone consultation with a practitioner from Melbourne Sexual Health Centre. Results: A total of 709 young people participated (77% male, 23% female) in the study; 77% were sexually active. Overall chlamydia prevalence in sexually active participants was 5.1% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.4–7.3); 7.4% in females (95% CI: 3.5–13.6) and 4.5% in males (95% CI: 2.7–6.9). Approximately 60% of males and 20% of females consumed alcohol at high ‘Risky Single Occasion Drinking’ levels at least weekly and 60% had used an illicit drug in their lifetime. Nearly 45% reported having sex in the past year when they usually wouldn’t have because they were too drunk or high. Sexually transmissible infection (STI) knowledge was generally poor and only 25% used a condom the last time they had sex. Conclusion: Chlamydia prevalence was high in our study population. Many participants had poor knowledge about STIs and low condom use. These findings combined with high levels of risky alcohol use and having sex while intoxicated highlights the need for programs in rural and regional Victoria that combine both STI testing and prevention and education programs.

Statistics show that Australia has an ageing population which will experience radical changes over the next 50 years due to the progression into retirement of generations born in the ‘baby boom’ years (1945-1965). Statistics also show that the proportion of Australian people over 65 is increasing and, as the majority of deaths occur in this age group the demand for palliative care, or care of the dying, is also likely to increase. Many retiring baby boomers looking for a sea change, gravitate towards coastal and rural areas may well be contributing to Foskey’s (1998) notion of ‘Aged Care Ghettos’ where these areas may not have the desired infrastructure to deal with an increased demand for health services including palliative care services. An increasing focus on, and public interest in palliative care research will likely emerge in keeping with the changing needs of an ageing population. It will become particularly important that relevant research undertakings are initiated to establish a clearer understanding of the issues and problems surrounding palliative care. At the present time there exists a limited research base in relation to palliative care and related services in Australia. While there has been a concentration of palliative support services in urban settings this has not been the case in rural based settings. Palliative Care Australia (2000) reported that half of the people receiving palliative care in Victoria in 1997 died in rural and regional areas, which may be attributed to harsher living environments, poor access to health services, specialists, and health professionals, lower socio-economic status and employment levels, and exposure to occupational hazards. This thesis is concerned with examining palliative care services and related needs in a selected rural area within the Australian state of Victoria. The overall aim of this research was to investigate the availability of palliative care services, trends in ageing and to examine the relationship between the two. Methodology used in this research incorporated a sequential mixed methods approach of quantitative and then qualitative methodology to determine the relationship between the needs of an ageing population and rural palliative care service delivery in Australia. The data collection included demographic statistics from the Australian Bureau of Census and Statistics and Palliative Care Australia, and were used for descriptive purposes to inform and support this research. Other ordinal data were obtained using a questionnaire. These data were analysed in the context of the research. Qualitative data were obtained through interviews with focus groups. The Gippsland area provided an excellent area for this research and the findings of this research would appear to be consistent with the literature relating to access and equity issues faced in rural areas. Other rural areas may replicate the data gathering used in this research. A number of conclusions are able to be drawn from this research based on the review of literature and examination of the emerging issues, results and findings. Statistical projections into ageing indicate that the health of all Australians will have significant consequences for our society as we generally live longer and healthier lives. Health and ageing predictions and projections should prompt key stakeholders including baby boomers, the aged cohorts of the future, to plan and prepare, perhaps redefining ageing in the attempt. Findings further show that planning should include preparations for the expected rise of dementia related diseases and the implications of gender on health which will have ramifications for an ageing population, and in particular for women as carers in our society. As a result of this research recommendations are made for a model for the delivery of palliative care services in rural areas, which is specific to the needs of an ageing population. These recommendations are made in acknowledgement and with respect and consideration for the concerns of the rural community where feedback from focus group participants suggests that rather than another ‘model’, a hospice is what is needed to meet the current and future needs of rural communities. “Another ‘Model’ is the last thing we need, it’s not the how we are doing things, it’s the where – we desperately need a hospice down here” and, “It’s bricks and mortar we want down here, not more theories”. Evidence collected from this research also suggests that a ‘rural attitude’ to death and dying may prevail. In its simplest form, this attitude emerges in statements such as: ‘it’s the country you expect to get less’ and ‘we just look after our own when we can’. It is also apparent that while people in rural areas have the same medical and palliative care needs as those in metropolitan areas, this research shows that they are differentially disadvantaged when it comes to accessing palliative care services. This research has found that a negative relationship exists between ageing trends in a selected rural area of Australia chosen for this study and the availability of palliative care services.

Alcohol has been used for thousands of years and, indeed, in very different ways. Two thousand years ago, the occupying Romans sipped wine regularly but reasonably moderately, and marvelled at the local English serfs who celebrated bringing in their crops with brief episodes of unrivalled drunkenness. The use of alcohol was not only tolerated but sometimes encouraged by the ruling classes as a way of subjugating the population and dulling their awareness of the conditions in which they had to live and work. The adverse impact of gin consumption was famously recorded by Hogarth’s painting of ‘Gin Lane’ but, at the same time, beer was reckoned a safer alternative to water for fluid intake and was linked to happiness and prosperity in the sister painting of ‘Beer Street’. It was against the ‘pernicious use of strong liquors’ and not beer that the president of the Royal College of Physicians, John Friend, petitioned Parliament in 1726. Some desultory attempts were made by Parliament in the eighteenth century to introduce legislation in order to tax and control alcohol production but they were eventually repealed. It was really the onset of the Industrial Revolution in nineteenth-century England that brought into sharp relief the wasted productivity and lost opportunity from excess consumption. England moved from a rural, relatively disorganized workforce to an urban, more closely scrutinized and supervised one—for instance, in factories, where men needed their wits about them to work heavy machinery, workers that were absent (in body or mind) were noticed. And, in Victorian Britain, there arose a greater social conscience—an awareness, for example, of the harm, through neglect, inflicted on the children of those who spent their wages and their days in an alcoholic stupor. Nonetheless, the per capita consumption of alcohol in the UK at the end of the nineteenth century was greater than it is today. It fell progressively through the first half of the twentieth century, with two marked dips. The first coincided with the introduction of licensing hours restrictions during the First World War, and the second with the economic depression of the 1930s. Following the Second World War, there was a doubling of alcohol consumption between 1950 and the present day, to about 10 l of pure alcohol per capita. There has been a small fall of 9% in the last 5 years; this may be, in part, related to the changing ethnic mix and increasing number of non-drinkers. There has always been a mismatch between the self-reported consumption in lifestyle questionnaires, and the data from customs and excise, with the latter being 40% greater. From the latter, it can be estimated that the average consumption of non-teetotal adults in England is 25 units (0.25 l of pure alcohol) per week, which is well above the recommended limits of 14 units for women, and 21 units for men. Of course, average figures hide population differences, and it is estimated that the heaviest-consuming 10% of the population account for 40% of that drunk. While men continue to drink, on average, about twice the amount that women do, the rate of rise of consumption in women has been steeper. Average consumption is comparable across socio-economic groups but there is evidence of both more teetotallers and more drinking in a harmful way in the poorest group. In 2007, 13% of those aged 11–15 admitted that they had drunk alcohol during the previous week. This figure is falling, but those who do drink are drinking more. The average weekly consumption of pupils who drink is 13 units/week. Binge drinking estimates are unreliable, as they depend on self-reporting in questionnaires. In the UK, they are taken as drinking twice the daily recommended limits of 4 units for men, and 3 units for women, on the heaviest drinking day in the previous week. In 2010, 19% of men, and 12% of women, admitted to binge drinking, with the figures being 24% and 17%, respectively, for those aged 16–24. The preferred venue for drinking in the UK has changed markedly, mainly in response to the availability of cheap supermarket drink. Thirty years ago, the vast majority of alcohol was consumed in pubs and restaurants, whereas, in 2009, the market share of off-licence outlets was 65%. However, drinkers under 24 years of age still drink predominantly away from home. The UK per capita consumption is close to the European average, but consumption has been falling in Mediterranean countries and rising in northern and eastern Europe. Europe has the highest consumption of all continents, but there is undoubtedly massive under-reporting in many countries, particularly because of local unregulated production and consumption. It is estimated that less than 10% of consumption is captured in statistics in parts of Africa.

AbstractHong Kong has a dual land regime in the urban and rural territories. The urban areas on both sides of Victoria Harbour (8.8% of land, excluding Country Parks on Hong Kong Island) and new towns (about 15.3% of land) house over 90% of the city’s population (about 7.5 million) with an extremely high population density of about 26,000 per km2. After deducting Country Parks and Special Areas (about 40% of land), the rest of the rural New Territories (traditional settlements leased by the British Government in 1898 for 99 years) constitutes about 35% of land, but houses 5.5% of all residents with a substantially lower population density of about 1,000 per km2. China’s Open Door Policy since 1978 has led to economic restructuring in Hong Kong, changing its occupational structure, intensifying income inequality, and leading to socio-economic and spatial segregation. Whilst the affluent classes continue to concentrate in traditionally central locations in urban areas, or in luxurious residential enclaves in rural New Territories, the less well-off tend to be marginalised and live in remote new towns or rural New Territories. The latter is also a result of a skewed power relationship between the government and the property sector in directing spatial development that breeds a hegemonic (dis)course and regime of urban-biased and property-dominant development, sustaining the government’s coffer through a high land price policy.

Agriculture is the mainstay of Kenya’s economic development and accounts for about 30% of the country’s gross domestic product, 60% of export earnings, and 70% of the labor force. This sector is the largest source of employment (Government of Kenya, 1995). More than 85% of the population survives in one way or the other on agricultural activities (crops and livestock). Agriculture in Kenya is mainly rain-fed, with little irrigation. About 46% of the rural population live below the poverty line, with 70% of them below food poverty line. Like many parts of the tropics, the majority of agricultural activities in Kenya are rain dependent. Small-scale farmers, pastoralists, and wildlife are most often affected by drought, with crops withering and livestock as well as wildlife dying. Drought of more than one season overwhelms the social fabric, as crops, livestock, wild animals, and humans die. Such droughts affect pastoral communities (e.g., the Masai in Kenya and Tanzania) by killing livestock and game animals, forcing these communities to invade the nearby towns and cities to find remnants of patches of grass still left there or grass growing at the roadsides. The death of game animals affects ecotourism. Interannual climate variability that often leads to the recurrence of climate extremes such as droughts has far-reaching impacts on agricultural production. Figure 18.1 shows below-normal rainfall during different years that are often associated with droughts in Kenya. These rainfall deficits are caused by the anomalies in the circulation patterns that can extend from local or regional to very large scales. Some patterns that are responsible for spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall in Kenya include the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), subtropical anticyclones, monsoonal wind systems, tropical cyclones, easterly/westerly wave perturbations, subtropical jet streams, East African low-level jet stream, extratropical weather systems, teleconnection with El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), and quasi-biennial oscillation (Ogallo, 1988, 1991, 1994). In addition, complex physical features such as large inland lakes, mountains, and complex orographic patterns (e.g., the Great Rift Valley) influence rainfall patterns. Lake Victoria in western Kenya is also one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world and has its own strong circulation patterns in space and time.

The turmoil in the agrarian and demographic foundations of life reached across the British archipelago. They were on display most critically in Ireland where, in 1821, the population was more than half that of England and three times greater than Scotland’s, and also growing very rapidly. The emigration question was interconnected with the way in which the labour supply for the industrialisation of the British economy was achieved. The state of mobility and the transfer of labour out of rural England was becoming much clearer by mid-Victorian times. The beginnings of modern mobility were essentially rural, the origins are found in country cottages and villages, and along the very long and tortuous paths which, for a minority, led to the emigration ships. Only later did mass emigration become an overwhelmingly urban and industrial phenomenon.

This essay explores the career of John Henderson, land agent to the Earls of Carlisle at their Castle Howard estate in Yorkshire between 1827 and the late 1860s. In recent scholarship, historians have increasingly begun to appreciate the importance of land agents in nineteenth-century rural life. It is now evident that agents, as intermediaries between landowners, their tenants and the wider local population, were deeply involved in the social relationships of rural communities. Making use of the voluminous and well-preserved estate records, the essay complements such studies by emphasising the multi-faceted nature of Henderson’s role in the Castle Howard district. It will particularly focus on Henderson’s role as a facilitator of social, economic and technical change. Under the active encouragement of the 7^th Earl of Carlisle, a noted liberal politician and reformer, Henderson not only introduced a range of agricultural improvements to the estate, but also a large number of projects aimed at improving the social, economic and moral condition of its population. In doing so, the essay shows that landed estates - and land agents - may have played no less an important part than urban areas in the Victorian culture of 'progress': in participating in what the 7th Earl described as 'stirring and advancing times'.

To survey the changes in British population between 1850 and 2000 requires some large-scale generalizations. At the beginning of my period, Britain had an empire that held a quarter of the world’s population, but by the end of the period Britain had become part of the European Union and contained one-sixth of the Union’s population. For the first hundred years of the period, Britain was exporting its population to the empire; for the last fifty years, the empire had struck back. The last 150 years have seen huge transformations of the British economy. There has been a shift from agriculture to industry and from industry to services. Coal production rose from 50 million tons in the middle of the nineteenth century to 300 million tons in 1913. By 1999 it had returned to below its 1851 level. Mining scarred the landscape of all the coalfields. Oil production rose from none in 1970 to about 128 million tonnes in 1997, but left hardly a mark on settlement. The steel industry rose and fell. In 1860 there was no crude steel produced (Mitchell 1975: 399). By 1960 25 million tons were produced and now it is down to about half that level. The United Kingdom has undergone the demographic transition. The population rose from 10 million in 1801 to 38 million in 1901 to 59 million now. Six million more people have left the United Kingdom than have entered it since 1851. A tide, from the beginning of the twentieth century, has swept the rural population into the biggest cities until the post-1950 backwash has scattered it out to suburbia, exurbia, and market towns. Urbanization has been followed by suburbanization; suburbanization by counter-urbanization. The Fordist system of mass production produced the Fordist city of mass-produced housing design, the Victorian, terraced inner city. The post-Fordist era hollowed out the inner cities and produced the green belts, the new towns, and the scatter of light industry. The new international division of labour squeezed the manufacturing employment of the country out to the third world.

In January 1957 the military and colonial government accepted a master plan drawn up by the anthropologist Jean Servier to undertake Opération Pilote in the Chelif region, the biggest counterinsurgency (COIN) experiment of the Algerian War. The arrival of Salan and Indochina specialists in command accelerated the adoption of the doctrine of revolutionary warfare, that victory over the FLN could not be achieved by conventional ‘big’ force operations, but only through winning over the indigenous population. The catastrophic failure of counterinsurgency in Kabylia in late 1956 diverted attention to the Chelif where a dispersed population was seen as advantageous to COIN operations. Servier’s plan was linked to the revival of Lucien Paye’s communal reform of 1945 to 1948, seen as the key reform to retain Algérie française. By late 1956 the colonial government and military had rapidly lost control of the Dahra and Ouarsenis mountains, a collapse signalled by the evacuation of isolated colons, and the aim was to ‘reconquer’ the interior through driving the ALN and its OPA structures from each douar, and replacing it by ‘djemâa amie’ that could form the core of future rural municipalities in which peasants could take on board their own local government and auto-defense. Unable to guarantee open elections Opération Pilote aimed to secretly train future douar leaders in the psychological warfare centre at Arzew.

Poetry has long been a central pillar of Afghan Literature and the Taliban have used it extensively in their IO campaign. Poetry is important to the Taliban and Afghans in general because it is essentially a spoken, not written art, so it accessible to the illiterate, especially rural Afghan population. The chapter examines a wide variety of Taliban poetry and also poetry written by those sympathetic to the Taliban. Each poem also includes an explanation of the story associated with it. An analysis of Taliban poetry to those of moderate Afghan poets. The chapter also focuses on 8 or poetic chants that have traditionally played an important role in the communication of local afghans. Numerous chants and their associated stories are examined that often reflect the manipulation by the Taliban of Afghan traditions, narratives, collective memory of events, and culture. These chants focus on themes such as: Taliban victory is inevitable, Islam can never be defeated, the Taliban are national heroes, Afghans have a long history in defeating invading foreign “infidels”, and all Afghans have an obligation to join the jihad to defeat invaders and apostates.