Pro-poor health policies in poverty reduction strategies.
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Since 1999, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank have required low-income countries soliciting for debt relief and financial support to prepare a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). The objective of this study is to arrive at a systematic assessment of the extent to which the first batch of interim PRSPs actually addresses the health of the poor and vulnerable. A literature study was used to design and test a semi-quantitative approach to assess the pro-poor focus of health policies in national documents. The approach was applied to the existing interim proposals for 23 Highly Indebted Poor Countries. Results show that a majority of proposals lack country-specific data on the distribution and composition of the burden of disease, a clear identification of health system constraints and an assessment of the impact of health services on the population. More importantly, they make little effort to analyze these issues in relation to the poor. Furthermore, only a small group explicitly includes the interests of the poor in health policy design. Attention to policies aiming at enhancing equity in public health spending is even more limited. Few papers that include expenditure proposals also show pro-poor focused health budgets. We conclude that our systematic assessment of a new international development policy instrument, PRSP, raises strong concerns about the attributed role of health in development and the limited emphasis on the poor, the supposed primary beneficiaries of this instrument. There is a need and an opportunity for the international development community to provide assistance and inputs as poor countries shift their policy thinking from an interim stage to fully developed national policies. This paper presents a menu of analytical and policy options that can be pursued. (+info)
Towering tribute to botany.
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One of the world's greatest plant collections has won a top heritage award at a time when it is highlighting with a tree-top walkway the need to study the forest canopy which is one of the most crucial but least understood habitats. (+info)
Schistosomiasis research funding: the TDR (Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases) contribution.
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In spite of the recent decline in financial support on the part of some major donors, the overall international support for schistosomiasis research in current US dollars has been holding steady. However, when adjusted for inflation, a clear decline-during the last decade appears and only in a few countries has this decline been balanced by increased national or bilateral funding. The prevailing level of support for schistosomiasis research is barely sufficient to maintain established laboratories and researchers, and highlights the need to attract young investigators. The important goal of bringing a new generation of scientists into the field of schistosomiasis can only be achieved by a considerable long-term increase in funding, both at the national and the international levels. A break-through in current research emphasizing improved techniques for control is needed to encourage donors and governments to improve the situation. (+info)
Evidence in support of foster care during acute refugee crises.
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OBJECTIVES: The United Nations High Commissioner on Refugees (UNHCR) and United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) policy encourages foster care during refugee emergencies. We examined evidence to support this policy using data from the 1994 Rwandan refugee crisis. METHODS: The association of weight gain and acute illness with family status (foster children vs children living with their biological families) was examined using latent growth curve and repeated measures logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Weight gain for all children averaged 0.40 kg/month and was associated with child's age but not with family status, child's or caregiver's sex, caregiver's marital status, possession of blankets or plastic sheeting, severe malnutrition, month of enrollment, or acute illness. Illness was not more common among foster children than among children living with their biological families. CONCLUSIONS: This analysis supports the UNHCR/UNICEF recommendation of fostering for unaccompanied children during an acute refugee crisis. (+info)
Interventions for micronutrient deficiency control in developing countries: past, present and future.
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There has been an evolution in our understanding of the causes of undernutrition and of the nutrition intervention programs that should be prioritized. This article discusses why nutrition programs have shifted their primary emphasis from control of protein deficiency, to energy deficiency, and now to micronutrient deficiencies. It has become recognized by the nutrition community that micronutrient malnutrition is very widespread, and is probably the main nutritional problem in the world. The most commonly used strategies for micronutrient deficiency control are supplementation and fortification, because they are cost-effective and to some extent, relatively easy to deliver. They have important limitations, however. Relatively little emphasis has been placed on food-based approaches to control micronutrient malnutrition. Evidence from several past studies, including the Nutrition Collaborative Research Support Program (N-CRSP), indicated a strong positive association between animal source food (ASF) intake, micronutrient status, and many human functions. This association motivated the intervention studies supported by the Global Livestock CRSP and described in this supplement, which found benefits of increasing ASF intake. In contrast to the common assumption that increasing consumption of ASF in poor communities is infeasible, and will only cause environmental problems, the articles in this supplement show the potential economic benefits of animal ownership in poor communities, and provide examples of innovative programs that have increased local production and consumption. Much more communication is needed among the nutrition, agriculture and development communities to achieve improved dietary quality for poor populations. (+info)
Global production and consumption of animal source foods.
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This article provides interpreted statistics and information on global livestock production and the consumption of animal source foods from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations statistical data base. Country data are collected through questionnaires sent annually to member countries, magnetic tapes, diskettes, computer transfers, websites of the countries, national/international publications, country visits made by the FAO statisticians and reports of FAO representatives in member countries. These data show that livestock production is growing rapidly, which is interpreted to be the result of the increasing demand for animal products. Although there is a great rise in global livestock production, the pattern of consumption is very uneven. The countries that consume the least amount of meat are in Africa and South Asia. The main determinant of per capita meat consumption appears to be wealth. Overall, there has been a rise in the production of livestock products and this is expected to continue in the future. This is particularly the case in developing countries. The greatest increase is in the production of poultry and pigs, as well as eggs and milk. However, this overall increase obscures the fact that the increased supply is restricted to certain countries and regions, and is not occurring in the poorer African countries. Consumption of ASF is declining in these countries, from an already low level, as population increases. (+info)
Integrated management of land and water resources based on a collective approach to fragmented international conventions.
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Interlinked crises of land degradation, food security, ecosystem decline, water quality and water flow depletion stand in the way of poverty reduction and sustainable development. These crises are made worse by increased fluctuations in climatic regimes. Single-purpose international conventions address these crises in a piecemeal, sectoral fashion and may not meet their objectives without greater attention to policy, legal, and institutional reforms related to: (i) balancing competing uses of land and water resources within hydrologic units; (ii) adopting integrated approaches to management; and (iii) establishing effective governance institutions for adaptive management within transboundary basins. This paper describes this global challenge and argues that peace, stability and security are all at stake when integrated approaches are not used. The paper presents encouraging results from a decade of transboundary water projects supported by the Global Environment Facility in developing countries that test practical applications of processes for facilitating reforms related to land and water that are underpinned by science-based approaches. Case studies of using these participative processes are described that collectively assist in the transition to integrated management. A new imperative for incorporating interlinkages among food, water, and environment security at the basin level is identified. (+info)
Incidence of cancer among Swedish military and civil personnel involved in UN missions in the Balkans 1989-99.
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Leukaemia cases among European UN soldiers in the Balkans have been related hypothetically to exposure to depleted uranium. This study was performed to investigate the risk of cancer among Swedish personnel (8750 men and 438 women) involved in UN missions in the Balkans 1989-99. The overall incidence of cancer was slightly higher than expected; 34 cancers were observed and 28.1 were expected based on national cancer rates. Among military men, there were eight cases of testicular cancer versus 4.6 expected. There was one case of chronic myeloid leukaemia, and no cases of acute leukaemia. The overall risk of cancer was increased in a subgroup of 648 men taking part in convoy operations, based on only five cancers at four different sites. The study gives no support for the hypothesis that UN service in the Balkans could lead to haematolymphatic malignancies after short latency. However, no exposure assessment was performed, and future follow up is necessary for evaluation of long term risks. (+info)