http://www.bmj.com/highwire/
Friday, 2 December 2011
Why India needs a national nutrition strategy
Over the past 15 years India’s economic growth rate has been unprecedented. The International Monetary Fund reports an average growth in real gross domestic product (GDP) of nearly 6% in the 1990s and of 8% in 2000-10.1 The economic growth has not, however, been associated with corresponding reductions in the rates of childhood undernutrition. The National Family Health Survey, which provides India’s most authoritative statistics on nutrition status, showed that 43% of children under 5 years old were underweight for age in 1998-9; by 2005-6 the percentage had only dropped to 40%. At that rate of progress India will not reach its millennium development goal target (to halve the proportion of underweight children by 2015) until 2043. By contrast, China has already met its goal and Brazil is expected to do so by 2015.
http://www.bmj.com/highwire/
http://www.bmj.com/highwire/
A growing rivalry between India, Pakistan and China over the region’s great rivers
Analysts have suggested that, given the generally dire relations between South Asian countries, water will provoke clashes rather than co-operation. A 2009 report for the CIA concluded that “the likelihood of conflict between India and Pakistan over shared river resources is expected to increase”, though it added that elsewhere in the region “the risk of armed interstate conflict is minor”.
The scarcity of water in South Asia will become harder to manage as demand rises. South Asia’s population of 1.5 billion is growing by 1.7% a year, says the World Bank, which means an extra 25m or so mouths to water and feed: imagine dropping North Korea’s entire population on the region each year. The strain of bigger populations, diminishing water tables and a changing climate could all conspire to produce a storm of troubles. South Asia is especially vulnerable.
In any case, the cost of running short of water is already becoming clearer. TheLancet, a British medical journal, reported last year that up to 77m Bangladeshis had been poisoned by arsenic—the largest mass-poisoning in history. It was the result of villagers pumping up groundwater from ever deeper aquifers.
http://www.economist.com/node/
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The scarcity of water in South Asia will become harder to manage as demand rises. South Asia’s population of 1.5 billion is growing by 1.7% a year, says the World Bank, which means an extra 25m or so mouths to water and feed: imagine dropping North Korea’s entire population on the region each year. The strain of bigger populations, diminishing water tables and a changing climate could all conspire to produce a storm of troubles. South Asia is especially vulnerable.
In any case, the cost of running short of water is already becoming clearer. TheLancet, a British medical journal, reported last year that up to 77m Bangladeshis had been poisoned by arsenic—the largest mass-poisoning in history. It was the result of villagers pumping up groundwater from ever deeper aquifers.
http://www.economist.com/node/
Pentagon papers: A side-by-side comparison of the three major editions
For the first time ever, all three major editions of the Pentagon Papers are being made available simultaneously online. The posting today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University allows for a unique side-by-side comparison, showing readers exactly what the U.S. government tried to hide for 40 years by means of deletions from the original text.
To make the most of this new resource, the Archive is unveiling a special contest inviting readers to make their own nominations for the infamous "11 words" that some officials tried to keep secret even this year!
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/
To make the most of this new resource, the Archive is unveiling a special contest inviting readers to make their own nominations for the infamous "11 words" that some officials tried to keep secret even this year!
http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/
Developing a strategy for knowledge translation and brokering in public policymaking
The challenge for policymakers is to ensure that the decision‐making process effectively meshes different types of knowledge such as scientific knowledge, knowledge of the local context and wider knowledge of what has worked in the past; and to do this whilst involving different types of organisation such as line ministries, research providers, non‐governmental organisations, advocacy groups, local delivery bodies and citizens. Supporting this complex decision‐making process often requires people and organisations able to facilitate the links between these different groups; working as neutral intermediaries to translate and ‘broker’ different types of knowledge.
Because policy processes are complex, there is no single role for knowledge brokers. Instead, they perform different functions at different times and for different issues. Understanding this helps managers develop a strategy for investing in these intermediary/brokering functions; deciding how to do so cost‐effectively, what exactly it would entail, what would need to be in place, and what sort of return they might expect.
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/r4d/
Because policy processes are complex, there is no single role for knowledge brokers. Instead, they perform different functions at different times and for different issues. Understanding this helps managers develop a strategy for investing in these intermediary/brokering functions; deciding how to do so cost‐effectively, what exactly it would entail, what would need to be in place, and what sort of return they might expect.
http://www.dfid.gov.uk/r4d/
Universal Access To Malaria Diagnostic Testing
This operational manual, developed by WHO in collaboration with 14 other institutions, provides practical guidance to national malaria control programme managers and other stakeholders for rapidly increasing access to malaria diagnostic testing with RDT and microscopy in malaria endemic countries.
It includes the core elements of policy setting, strategy development, and planning as well as practical tools to deploy malaria diagnostic testing at all levels of the health care system, including the community.
http://whqlibdoc.who.int/
It includes the core elements of policy setting, strategy development, and planning as well as practical tools to deploy malaria diagnostic testing at all levels of the health care system, including the community.
http://whqlibdoc.who.int/
Using Participatory Research and Action to Address the HIV-related Vulnerabilities of Adolescent Girls in Tanzania
Girls and young women are more likely to be HIV-positive than their male peers, due in large part to an array of gender inequalities that negatively impact their mental and physical well- being. Vijana Tunaweza Newala, or Newala Youth Can, is a participatory research and action project in the Newala District of Tanzania, aimed at both understanding and responding to girls’ HIV-related vulnerabilities. The project’s overarching purpose was to design and qualitatively assess a pilot intervention model to address their most pressing needs.This report highlights the project’s four phases of action: formative research, intervention design, peer education program, and assessment.
A Literature Review of Emerging Donors and the Changing Nature of Foreign Assistance
This paper investigates the scale and scope of emerging donors, many of which are developing economies themselves. Annual aid flows from new donors (so-called non-DAC donors) vary greatly and are somewhere between $11 billion and $41.7 billion, or 8 and 31 percent of global gross ODA. The new donors are not a monolithic group but instead represent three distinct models of aid delivery, described here as the DAC Model, the Arab Model and the Southern Model.In each model, there is room for donors to improve their transparency and accountability. http://www.cgdev.org/files/
World Road traffic injuries 2011
Key facts:
- About 1.3 million people die each year as a result of road traffic crashes.
- Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among young people, aged 15–29 years.
- Over 90% of the world's fatalities on the roads occur in low-income and middle-income countries, even though these countries have less than half of the world's vehicles.
- Nearly half (46%) of those dying on the world’s roads are “vulnerable road users”: pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.
- Without action, road traffic crashes are predicted to result in the deaths of around 1.9 million people annually by 2020.
- Only 15% of countries have comprehensive laws relating to five key risk factors: speeding, drinking and driving, and the use of motorcycle helmets, seat-belts and child restraints.
Mobilising Climate Finance for Africa
While Africa has contributed the least to historic greenhouse gas emissions globally, it stands to be the hardest hit by the effects of climate change. Africa will require substantial financial resources in order to adapt to the unavoidable consequences of climate change. At this year’s Climate Change Conference in Durban, climate finance is expected to feature prominently. http://www.boell.de/downloads/
Adapting to Climate Change
The objective of the study is to (i) propose appropriate adaptation options to be incorporated into the design of future ADB-financed projects, with a view to strengthening resilience of the water sector in Khulna to climate change; and (ii) enhance ADB's understanding of climate-related risks in urban infrastructure and the cost-effectiveness of adaptation options. The study area for the water supply system covers the southwest region of Bangladesh, while that for the urban drainage system comprises the area under the Khulna City Corporation (KCC), which is about 45 square kilometers, consisting of 31 wards. http://www.ergonline.org/
Public health risk assessment and interventions
The purpose of this public health risk assessment is to provide health professionals in United Nations agencies, nongovernmental organizations, international and local organizations, donor agencies and local authorities, who are currently working with populations affected by the emergency in the Horn of Africa, with up-to-date technical guidance on the major public health threats faced by the populations affected by the drought and famine conditions in the sub-region. This assessment of disease risk on the affected HoA populations and recommended public health interventions has focused on the impact of malnutrition against the national disease profiles, mindful that specific national risks may be exported to camps in neighbouring countries and this crisis will be long term. http://www.who.int/
Uganda test-drives its first electric car
Ugandan scientists and students at Makerere University have built an electric car. The two-seater Kiira EV ('Kiira' means roaring in Lusoga, a local dialect), which is powered by a lithium-ion battery, was test-driven early this month (1 November) at the university. Kiira EV project manager Paul Musasizi said the car was tested for road-drive performance including its ability to climb steep gradients and pick up speed.
But David Mulabi, a community development programme coordinator at the Uganda Czech Development Trust, said that Makerere should redirect its energies."Farmers are struggling with drought because irrigation is too expensive … We need [irrigation] technology … not luxury [cars]," he said.
http://www.scidev.net/en/news/
But David Mulabi, a community development programme coordinator at the Uganda Czech Development Trust, said that Makerere should redirect its energies."Farmers are struggling with drought because irrigation is too expensive … We need [irrigation] technology … not luxury [cars]," he said.
http://www.scidev.net/en/news/
Broken Promises: Egypt's Military Rulers Erode Human Rights
"Broken Promises: Egypt's Military Rulers Erode Human Rights" documents a woeful performance on human rights by the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) which assumed power after the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak in February. Ahead of November elections to the People’s Assembly, the SCAF has arbitrarily restricted the very human rights, including freedom of expression, association and assembly, that are instrumental to ensuring free debate of social and political issues. Criticism of the authorities or of the pace of reform has been ruthlessly suppressed. Military courts have imprisoned thousands of civilians. Military prosecutors have summonsed, interrogated and ordered the detention of those who criticize the army. Military forces have used unnecessary or excessive force to disperse demonstrations. The euphoria of the uprising has been replaced by fears that one repressive rule has simply been replaced with another. This report reviews the events in Egypt and the response of the SCAF, and argues for change.
Will China change international development as we know it?
China has lifted a record number of people out of poverty, has had sustained levels of economic growth - at environmental and social costs - started a global economic and political rise and is developing effective responses to the global financial crisis. It is making these transformations with institutions that continue to surprise international observers. An increasing number of studies have started to articulate the lessons from China's development. This paper reviews the different interpretations of these lessons, and the process of lesson learning, and the question what China's dramatic transformations over the last 30 years imply for development studies and practice. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.
Landmine Monitor Report 2011
Peace agreements may be signed, and hostilities may cease, but landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW) are an enduring legacy of conflict. Antipersonnel mines are munitions designed to explode from the presence, proximity, or contact of a person. Antivehicle mines are munitions designed to explode from the presence, proximity, or contact of a vehicle as opposed to a person. Landmines are victim-activated and indiscriminate; whoever triggers the mine, whether a child or a soldier, becomes its victim. Mines emplaced during a conflict against enemy forces can still kill or injure civilians decades later. http://www.the-monitor.org/lm/
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