Immunization crisis may develop due to economic crisis during COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 pandemic is a global health crisis with 61, 149,391 confirmed cases and 370,478 deaths till 29May, 2020 [1]. This pandemic has shattered many economies with an estimated loss of $5.8 trillion to $8.8 trillion globally. This economic loss can result in reduction in funds to World Health Organization. Unfortunately, United States of America (USA) has announced termination of any further funding to WHO which can lead to another global health crisis[2]. As WHO is a voluntary funding based organization its main donor are America, China, Japan, Germany and United Kingdom. Among these USA is the main donor with a contribution of $115.8million alone followed by China $57.4 million, Japan $41million, Germany $29.1 million and UK $21.9 million [3].  America’s termination of funding can put WHO and child health programs in serious crisis. Among many programs run by WHO one of the most important program is immunization of children. Immunization coverage programs  save 2-3 million livesper year causing decline in measles related deaths, eradication of polio, surveillance of rotavirus, BCG and DTaP vaccination in children[4]. It is estimated that during MillenniumDevelopment Goal (MDG) there is overall decline in child related mortalities due to malaria, measles, diarrhea, AIDS and meningitis [5]. Remarkable results are achieved with measles are diarrhea immunization programs causing a decline in death rate by 73% and 80% respectively. According to a study with current success rate diarrhea related deaths can be virtually eliminated by 2030. Another successful program is “End Polio” program which eradicated polio from world except from Pakistan and Afghanistan [4][6]. This termination of funds to WHO can waste all previous efforts in developing countries. On the other hand despite of all efforts still 19.4 million children did not received prescribed dose of vaccines. Data analysis revealed among these  60% of children belong to 10 developing countries namelyAngola, Brazil, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Viet Nam [4]. These countries mainly rely on foreign funding and Non-Government Organization (NGOs) for child health care programs.

Investigating the Impact of Training on Employee Performance: A Study of Non-Government Organizations at Hyderabad Division

The main aim of this study is to investigate the impact of training on employees’ performance. The case study selected for this study is NGOs that are located in Hyderabad division/region. There are five independent variables in study and one dependent variable. The independent variables analyzed for the study are training based on needs analysis (TBNA), training with organizational commitment (TOC), training contents (TC), training delivery approaches (TDA) and training evaluation (TE) while the dependent variable is employee performance (EP). The design selected for this study is mixed method where both quantitative and qualitative information is utilized to extract the results for achieving the aim of study. The data collection method employed is primary and secondary data collection where primary data has been collected from 388 respondents through survey questionnaire while semi-structured interviews were conducted from a few employees working in NGOs. The data analysis techniques applied in this study include factor analysis, multiple regression analysis, correlation analysis, descriptive statistics, tolerance analysis and independent sample t-test. Multiple Regression results from the study showed that there is a significant relationship between all the variables of study except one. Furthermore, it was shown that the mean of male and female working in NGOs in Hyderabad is insignificantly different while for single individuals and married individuals working in NGOs at Hyderabad is significantly different. Results from tolerance test showed that multicollinearity does not exist between the variables showing that there is no correlation among the independent variables. Moreover, there is a significant impact of training with organizational commitment (TOC), training contents (TC), training delivery approaches (TDA) and training evaluation (TE) on employee performance (EP) while training based on needs analysis (TBNA) has an insignificant impact on employee performance (EP). It is recommended to the managers of the NGOs at Hyderabad Division to deal with the short-term learning needs of the employees for enhancing the skills of the workers. This will enable the employees to rapidly learn according to the job description needs which is necessary for the volunteers working at the NGOs. For this purpose, the organizations are required to rethink on the development needs of the employees along with their learning needs to train them simultaneously according to their requirements. In this essence, the training can be customized according to the needs and wants of the employees working at the organization. Finally, it has been found in this study that training based on needs analysis (TBNA) is insignificantly associated with employees’ performance and keeping into view, the importance of ‘needs analysis’ in formulating effective training program and its impact on employees’ performance, the researcher cannot reject the importance of TBNA. Therefore, it is suggested for the future researchers that they should conduct research study in which the relationship of TBNA is exclusively examined through the use of different clusters of respondent employees working in NGOs at different regions of Pakistan.