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Health, Education, Social Protection

News & Notes 15/2010


A bi-weekly newsletter supported by GTZ
(Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit)
18 July 2010

You can download back issues (2005 - 2010) of this newsletter at:
http://german-practice-collection.org/en/newsletters/hesp-news-and-notes

Table of Contents:

BOOKS ................................................................................ 4
Hanyane - A Village Struggles for Eye Health ........................................................................ 4
Gaining Health: Analysis of policy development in European countries for tackling
noncommunicable diseases .................................................................................................... 4
Mental, Neurological, and Substance Use Disorders in Sub-Saharan Africa: Reducing the
Treatment Gap, Improving Quality of Care ............................................................................. 4
Crime Prevention and Community Safety: Trends and Perspectives..................................... 5

ONLINE PUBLICATIONS .................................................... 5


HIV - AIDS - STI ........................................................................................................... 5
Young people are leading the HIV prevention revolution........................................................ 5
Scientists Find Antibodies that Prevent Most HIV Strains from Infecting Human Cells.......... 5
AVAC Report 2010: Turning the Page .................................................................................... 6
UNAIDS Annual Report 2009.................................................................................................. 6
UNAIDS OUTLOOK Report 2010 ........................................................................................... 6
What is new in HIV/AIDS research in developing countries? ................................................. 6
The Ten Consequences of AIDS Treatment Delayed, Deferred, or Denied........................... 7
Prognosis of patients with HIV-1 infection starting antiretroviral therapy in sub-Saharan
Africa: a collaborative analysis of scale-up programmes........................................................ 7
Early versus Standard Antiretroviral Therapy for HIV-Infected Adults in Haiti........................ 7
A Model of HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment in a Rural Setting................................................. 8
Sexual & Reproductive Health ..................................................................................... 8
Addressing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence - An Analytical Inventory of Peacekeeping
Practice.................................................................................................................................... 8
Men are changing: Case study evidence on work with men and boys to promote gender
equality and positive masculinities .......................................................................................... 8
Maternal & Child Health ............................................................................................... 9
Access to maternal and perinatal health services: lessons from successful and less
successful examples of improving access to safe delivery and care of the newborn............. 9
Evidence-Based Priority Setting for Health Care and Research: Tools to Support Policy in
Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health in Africa ....................................................................... 9
Financing Maternal and Child Health - What Are the Limitations in Estimating Donor Flows
and Resource Needs?............................................................................................................. 9
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Interventions to Combat Childhood Diarrhoea in Developing
Countries ............................................................................................................................... 10
An Evaluation of a Safe Motherhood Hospital Program ....................................................... 10
Trainers Manual for Community Owned Resource People................................................... 10
Malaria........................................................................................................................ 11
Estimating the Number of Paediatric Fevers Associated with Malaria Infection Presenting to
Africa’s Public Health Sector in 2007 .................................................................................... 11
Cost Savings with Rapid Diagnostic Tests for Malaria in Low-Transmission Areas: Evidence
from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania ............................................................................................. 11

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 1


Community acceptability of use of rapid diagnostic tests for malaria by community health
workers in Uganda ................................................................................................................ 11
Prices, Diagnostic Tests and the Demand for Malaria Treatment: Evidence from a
Randomized Trial .................................................................................................................. 12
Accuracy of a rapid diagnostic test on the diagnosis of malaria infection and of malaria-
attributable fever during low and high transmission season in Burkina Faso ....................... 12
Tuberculosis ............................................................................................................... 12
Tuberculosis: New Faces of an Old Disease ........................................................................ 12
Towards more compassionate care for people with drug-resistant TB................................. 13
Tuberculosis and Stigmatization: Pathways and Interventions............................................. 13
Prolonged Infectiousness of Tuberculosis Patients in a Directly Observed Therapy Short-
Course Program with Standardized Therapy ........................................................................ 13
Other Infectious Diseases .......................................................................................... 13
Healthcare Workers Handbook on Influenza ........................................................................ 13
Social determinants of infectious diseases: a public health priority ...................................... 14
Essential Medicines.................................................................................................... 14
Untangling the Web of Antiretroviral Price Reductions ......................................................... 14
A Practical Approach to Pharmaceutical Policy .................................................................... 14
Balancing medicine prices and business sustainability: analyses of pharmacy costs,
revenues and profit shed light on retail medicine mark-ups in rural Kyrgyzstan................... 15
Social Protection ........................................................................................................ 15
Learning to insure the poor ................................................................................................... 15
Beyond Cash: Assessing Externality and Behaviour Effects of Non-Experimental Cash
Transfers ............................................................................................................................... 15
Technology: A key asset to turn microinsurance into a sustainable sector? ........................ 16
56 Million Steps Towards Universal Coverage: RSBY Health Insurance for the Poor in India
............................................................................................................................................... 16
Human Resources...................................................................................................... 16
Increasing access to health workers in remote and rural areas through improved retention16
Who Wants to Work in a Rural Health Post? ........................................................................ 17
Are “Village Doctors” in Bangladesh a curse or a blessing?................................................. 17
Análise dos recursos humanos da saúde (RHS) nos países africanos de língua oficial
portuguesa (PALOP) ............................................................................................................. 17
Health Systems & Research ...................................................................................... 18
Research for health and health system strengthening in Africa............................................ 18
Scaling-up health services in low- and middle-income settings............................................ 18
Improving Implementation: Building Research Capacity in Maternal, Neonatal, and Child
Health in Africa ...................................................................................................................... 18
The changing face of EU-African Cooperation in science and technology........................... 19
Strengthening Health Systems at Facility-Level: Feasibility of Integrating Antiretroviral
Therapy into Primary Health Care Services in Lusaka, Zambia ........................................... 19
Information & Communication Technology ................................................................ 19
Global Information Society Watch 2009................................................................................ 19
Education ................................................................................................................... 20
Do HIV-AIDS Teacher Training Programs Work in Africa? Evidence from the Cameroon .. 20
Improving Learning Achievement in Early Primary in Low-Income Countries ...................... 20
Making education inclusive for all ......................................................................................... 20
Harm Reduction and Drug Use .................................................................................. 21
A strategy to halt and reverse the HIV epidemic among people who inject drugs in Asia and
the Pacific 2010-2015............................................................................................................ 21
Global Health.............................................................................................................. 21
Do we need an international collaboration for synthesizing health-system evidence?......... 21
Re-thinking global health sector efforts for HIV and tuberculosis epidemic control: promoting
integration of programme activities within a strengthened health system ............................ 21
Redressing the Unconscionable Health Gap: A Global Plan for Justice .............................. 22
The Global Health System: Institutions in a Time of Transition ............................................ 22
Millennium Development Goals.................................................................................. 22
The MDGs and Beyond: Pro-poor Policy in a Changing World ............................................ 22
Development Assistance............................................................................................ 23
South-South Cooperation: A Challenge to the Aid System?................................................. 23
Practical approaches to the aid effectiveness agenda.......................................................... 23

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 2


The Costs & Benefits of Aid Transparency ........................................................................... 23
The Food System: a prism of present and future challenges for health promotion and
sustainable development....................................................................................................... 24
Corruption, Anti-corruption Efforts and Aid: Do Donors Have the Right Approach?............. 24
Others......................................................................................................................... 24
Human Development: Definitions, Critiques, and Related Concepts ................................... 24
Pain Control in the African Context: the Ugandan introduction of affordable morphine to
relieve suffering at the end of life .......................................................................................... 25
How poor is ‘poor’? - Towards a rights-based poverty line ................................................... 25
A Self-Assessment Guide for Health Care Organizations .................................................... 25

ELECTRONIC RESOURCES ............................................ 25


The Aid Effectiveness Portal ................................................................................................. 25
Development Assistance Database ...................................................................................... 26
Water & Risk ......................................................................................................................... 26
Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter - Issue 5, June 2010............................................... 26

INTERESTING WEB SITES .............................................. 26


Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding ................................................................................ 26
Web Portal: Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) for Health......................................... 27

TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES............................................ 27
Evaluation of Health Facilities, Programmes and Projects ................................................... 27
Universalizing Socioeconomic Security for the Poor ............................................................ 27

CARTOON ......................................................................... 28

TIPS & TRICKS ................................................................. 28


Spell Check in Firefox ........................................................................................................... 28

Fair Use:
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documents and strive to attribute sources by providing reference and/or direct links to authors and websites.

Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this newsletter, do not necessarily represent those of GTZ or the editor of HESP-News & Notes.
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HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 3


BOOKS
Hanyane - A Village Struggles for Eye Health

by Erika Sutter, Allen Foster and Victoria Francis


International Centre for Eye Health, 2002

240 pp. 3.7 MB:


http://www.cehjournal.org/files/hanyane/resources/Hanyane.pdf

This book deals with primary eye care in the context of community health and develop-
ment and provides a practical guide to the diagnosis and management of common eye
problems. It is written for health workers involved in providing primary and secondary
eye care and will also be of relevance to all those striving to improve the health of peo-
ple in rural communities.
***

Gaining Health: Analysis of policy development in European countries for


tackling noncommunicable diseases

by Anna Ritsatakis and Péter Makara


WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2009

274 pp. 2.1 MB:


http://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/105318/e92828.pdf

There is no greater threat to the health of people in the WHO European Region than
that of noncommunicable diseases, yet this is an area where the greatest health gains
are available at relatively modest cost. This book gives a detailed insight into the policy
development in eight European countries over several decades to address the chal-
lenge of noncommunicable diseases, and draws out the main themes to assist policy-
makers in formulating their own response.

***

Mental, Neurological, and Substance Use Disorders in Sub-Saharan Africa:


Reducing the Treatment Gap, Improving Quality of Care
Workshop Summary

by Bruce Altevogt, Sarah Hanson, Zaam Ssali, and Patricia Cuff


National Academies Press, 2010

140 pp. 853 kB:


http://cart.nap.edu/cart/deliver.cgi?&record_id=12828

Millions of people in sub-Saharan Africa suffer from mental, neurological, and substance
use (MNS) disorders, and most do not have the resources to obtain treatment. The
Uganda National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine hosted a workshop
to discuss the state of care for MNS disorders in sub-Saharan Africa.

***

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 4


Crime Prevention and Community Safety: Trends and Perspectives

by Manar Idriss, Manon Jendly, Jacqui Karn et al.


International Centre for the Prevention of Crime, 2010

246 pp. 1.8 MB:


http://www.crime-prevention-
intl.org/uploads/media/International_Report_2010.pdf

The International Center for the Prevention of Crime publishes every two years an inter-
national overview of crime prevention. This year three important themes are covered in
the Report; organized crime, trends in migration and drug and alcohol abuse. In docu-
menting these themes, the Report shifts our thinking towards action in the mitigation of
problems that extend beyond the daily experience of crime and violence and into issues
of quality of life; the way in which individuals and communities are targeted by power
hungry and greedy others.

ONLINE PUBLICATIONS
HIV - AIDS - STI

Young people are leading the HIV prevention revolution


HIV Prevalence Drops Among Young Africans

OUTLOOK BREAKING NEWS


Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), July 2010

8 pp. 1.4 MB:


http://data.unaids.org/pub/Outlook/2010/20100713_outlook_youngpeople_en.pdf

The report shows that for the first time reductions in HIV prevalence among young peo-
ple have coincided with a change in sexual behaviour patterns among people. The re-
port also says that declines in HIV prevalence can be attributed to falling new HIV infec-
tions among young people - a breakthrough essential for breaking the trajectory of the
AIDS epidemic.
***

Scientists Find Antibodies that Prevent Most HIV Strains from Infecting
Human Cells
Discovery to Advance HIV Vaccine Design, Antibody Therapy for Other Diseases

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), July 2010


Read online at:
http://www.niaid.nih.gov/news/newsreleases/2010/Pages/HIVantibodies
.aspx

Scientists have discovered two potent human antibodies that can stop more than 90
percent of known global HIV strains from infecting human cells in the laboratory, and
have demonstrated how one of these disease-fighting proteins accomplishes this feat.
According to the scientists, these antibodies could be used to design improved HIV vac-
cines, or could be further developed to prevent or treat HIV infection. Moreover, the
method used to find these antibodies could be applied to isolate therapeutic antibodies
for other infectious diseases as well.
***

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 5


AVAC Report 2010: Turning the Page

by Emily Bass, Elizabeth McGrory, Robert Reinhard et al.


Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention (AVAC), July 2010

60 pp. 3.5 MB:


http://www.avac.org/ht/a/GetDocumentAction/i/28305

This new report surveys the state of biomedical HIV prevention research, including the
first evidence of vaccine-induced protection in humans and the emergence of ARV-
based prevention - and provides strategic recommendations for moving forward in a
time of constrained resources and faltering commitment to ending AIDS. It offers unique
context and a timely critique for issues that will be center stage at the upcoming XVIII In-
ternational AIDS Conference (IAC) in Vienna, Austria.

***
UNAIDS Annual Report 2009

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), June 2010

86 pp. 2.2 MB:


http://data.unaids.org/pub/Report/2010/2009_annual_report_en.pdf

This Annual Report provides snapshots of how the UNAIDS Secretariat


and its Cosponsors worked together to strengthen the HIV response in 2009. It focuses
on concrete results in the 10 priority areas that form UNAIDS’ new vision and strategy.
Key achievements, statistics and country results are highlighted for each priority area.
Feature stories have also been included to provide the reader with a broad overview of
UNAIDS’ work and its impact in countries.

***
UNAIDS OUTLOOK Report 2010

152 pp. 6.1 MB:


http://data.unaids.org/pub/Outlook/2010/20100713_outlook_report_web_en.pdf

The new UNAIDS Outlook report outlines a radically simplified HIV treat-
ment platform called “Treatment 2.0” that could decrease the number of
AIDS-related deaths drastically and could also greatly reduce the number
of new HIV infections. This includes the development of better combination treatment
regimens, cheaper and simplified diagnostic tools, and a low-cost community-led ap-
proach to delivery.
***

What is new in HIV/AIDS research in developing countries?

by Anatoli Kamali
Tropical Medicine & International Health, Vol. 15, Issue 8, pp. 975-980 (August 2010)

6 pp. 68 kB:
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/123506362/PDFSTART

The most recent HIV prevention research has demonstrated the effect of male circumci-
sion on HIV acquisition, and lack of impact of HSV-2 treatment on HIV transmission and
acquisition. Use of HIV antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) for HIV prevention is a new area that
has attracted interest and a number of trials are examining the effect of oral Pre-

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 6


Exposure Prophylaxis on HIV acquisition and also looking at the potential of ARVs in
reducing infectiousness. Progress has been made in HIV treatment, monitoring treat-
ment efficacy and toxicity as well as evaluation of different models of ART delivery.

***

The Ten Consequences of AIDS Treatment Delayed, Deferred, or Denied

by Sheila Shettle
Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, Médecins Sans Frontières,
July 2010

16 pp. 1.1 MB:


http://aids2010.msf.org/wp-
content/uploads/Report_10consequences_lowres.pdf

This document illustrates ten consequences of the funding retreat for people living with
HIV/AIDS in developing countries, drawing upon data from MSF field research released
at the XVIII International AIDS Conference (IAC) 2010 in Vienna, and experience pro-
viding ART over the last ten years.
***

Prognosis of patients with HIV-1 infection starting antiretroviral therapy in


sub-Saharan Africa: a collaborative analysis of scale-up programmes

by Margaret May, Andrew Boulle, Sam Phiri et al.


The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 16 July 2010

9 pp. 490 kB:


http://download.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140673610606666.pdf?i
d=40bade4753939e7f:36512588:129db68bbd6:-2cd91279288655092

Prognostic models have been developed for patients infected with HIV-1 who start com-
bination antiretroviral therapy (ART) in high-income countries, but not for patients in sub-
Saharan Africa. The authors developed two prognostic models to estimate the probabil-
ity of death in patients starting ART in sub-Saharan Africa.

***

Early versus Standard Antiretroviral Therapy for HIV-Infected Adults in


Haiti

by Patrice Severe, Marc Antoine Jean Juste,, Alex Ambroise et al.


N Engl J Med 363;3 July 15, 2010

9 pp. 455 kB:


http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/363/3/257.pdf

For adults with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection who have CD4+ T-cell
counts that are greater than 200 and less than 350 per cubic millimeter and who live in
areas with limited resources, the optimal time to initiate antiretroviral therapy remains
uncertain. The authors found that early initiation of antiretroviral therapy decreased the
rates of death and incident tuberculosis. Access to antiretroviral therapy should be ex-
panded to include all HIV-infected adults who have CD4+ T-cell counts of less than 350
per cubic millimeter, including those who live in areas with limited resources.

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 7


A Model of HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment in a Rural Setting
The experiences of MSF in the Greater Busia District, Western Kenya
2000-2010

Médecins sans Frontières, April 2010

32 pp. 1.1 MB:


http://fieldresearch.msf.org/msf/bitstream/10144/106933/1/BUSIA%20APRIL%202010.PDF

Médecins sans Frontières (MSF) intervened in the HIV/AIDS Kenyan epidemic at a time
when there were no other actors and the MoH was unable to cope with the situation.
MSF with its HIV/AIDS interventions around the world has demonstrated the feasibility
of offering HIV care and treatment services in both rural and urban, poor resource set-
tings.

Sexual & Reproductive Health

Addressing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence - An Analytical Inventory of


Peacekeeping Practice

by Letitia Anderson, Patrick Cammaert and Anne-Marie Goetz


United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM), 2010

48 pp. 1.5 MB:


http://www.unifem.org/attachments/products/Analytical_Inventory
_of_Peacekeeping_Practice_online.pdf

The publication captures best practices and emerging elements for a more effective re-
sponse by peacekeepers to women’s security concerns. The document catalogues di-
rect and indirect efforts to combat sexual violence during and in the wake of war. While
the focus of this publication is on the practical methods by which military, police and ci-
vilian peacekeepers can prevent sexual violence, it is also part of a broader agenda to
improve the capacities of peacekeepers to protect civilians effectively.

***

Men are changing: Case study evidence on work with men and boys to
promote gender equality and positive masculinities

by Lisa Howse, Tim Shand, Doortje Braeken et al.


International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), March 2010

80 pp. 659 kB:


http://www.ippf.org/NR/rdonlyres/36B8FD71-BB77-45D6-8424-
B887323D6ED7/0/MenAreChanging.pdf

“Men are Changing” seeks to strengthen and broaden the evidence base on working
with men and boys. It describes and analyzes 12 programmes from around the world
that sought to alter the attitudes and behaviours of men in relation to sexuality, sexual
and reproductive health, violence and relationships. The report discusses challenges in
this field, provides an overview of emerging good practice, and makes recommenda-
tions for improving existing policy work, programmes and services.

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 8


Maternal & Child Health

Access to maternal and perinatal health services: lessons from successful


and less successful examples of improving access to safe delivery and
care of the newborn

by Vincent De Brouwere, Fabienne Richard and Sophie Witter


Tropical Medicine & International Health, Volume 15, Issue 8, pp. 901-909
(August 2010)

9 pp. 183 kB:


http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/123506290/PDFSTART

The huge majority of the annual 6.3 million perinatal deaths and half a million maternal
deaths take place in developing countries and are avoidable. However, most of the in-
terventions aiming at reducing perinatal and maternal deaths need a health care system
offering appropriate antenatal care and quality delivery care, including basic and com-
prehensive emergency obstetric care facilities. To promote the uptake of quality care,
there are two possible approaches: influencing the demand and/or the supply of care.

***

Evidence-Based Priority Setting for Health Care and Research: Tools to


Support Policy in Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health in Africa

by Igor Rudan, Lydia Kapiriri, Mark Tomlinson et al.


PLoS Med 7(7): e1000308 (13 July 2010)

5 pp. 89 kB:
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/fetchObjectAttachment.action;jsessionid=1EF9908611EDFA7912478
F983F3FD74E.ambra01?uri=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000308&representation=PDF

The primary objective in this essay is to present the available tools for priority setting
that could be used by policy makers in low-resource settings. The authors also provide
an assessment of the applicability and strengths of different tools in the context of ma-
ternal and child health in sub-Saharan Africa.

***

Financing Maternal and Child Health - What Are the Limitations in


Estimating Donor Flows and Resource Needs?

by Marco Schäferhoff, Christina Schrade and Gavin Yamey


PLoS Med 7(7): e1000305 (6 July 2010)

6 pp. 104 kB:


http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/fetchObjectAttachment.action?uri=info%3Adoi
%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000305&representation=PDF

How much donor assistance is currently available for maternal, newborn, and child
health (MNCH) and how much additional financing will be needed? In this article, the au-
thors examine the best estimates of current donor assistance to MNCH and of future
funding that will be needed to reach MDGs 4 and 5. They lay out several limitations in
these estimates and end with their recommendations for improving the tracking of
MNCH financing flows and estimating the costs of scaling up MNCH interventions.

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 9


Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Interventions to Combat Childhood Diar-
rhoea in Developing Countries

by Hugh Waddington, Birte Snilstveit, Howard White et al.


The International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie), 2009

119 pp. 989 kB:


http://www.research4development.info/PDF/Articles/SR_Sanitation.pdf

This report is a synthetic review of impact evaluations examining effec-


tiveness of water, sanitation and hygiene (WSH) interventions in reducing childhood di-
arrhoea. Hygiene interventions, particularly provision of soap for hand-washing, are ef-
fective in reducing diarrhoea morbidity, and there does not appear to be evidence that
compliance falls over time. The analysis suggests that sanitation ‘hardware’ interven-
tions are also highly effective. However, relatively few studies have been conducted in
this area to-date and studies are particularly needed that quantify the possible environ-
mental spillovers from sanitation provision.
***

An Evaluation of a Safe Motherhood Hospital Program

by Worawan Chandoevwit and KriengsakVacharanukulkieti


Global Development Network (GDN), Working Paper No. 23, October 2009

74 pp. 3.0 MB:


http://depot.gdnet.org/newkb/submissions/Health%20Project_23.pdf

The “Safe Motherhood Hospital Program” in Thailand aims to improve maternal and
child health and reduce mortality among mother and child. The program has been in
place for 10 years, but there has been no impact evaluation of the program. In this re-
search, the authors evaluate whether the program has an impact on maternal mortality
and the cost of child delivery.
***

Trainers Manual for Community Owned Resource People


(CORPs Manual)

by Kay Wotton and Jenn Brenner


Healthy Child Uganda, University of Mbarara, Uganda, 2006

55 pp. 3.4 MB:


http://www.healthychilduganda.org/assets/NewFolder/Corps-
Manual-English-June-2006.pdf

This manual is for Community Owned Resource Persons (CORPs). It contains the in-
formation CORPs can use to help rural communities to improve the health of children
under the age of five years. The manual is organized into topics called modules. Each
module contains the key messages, the role of the CORPs and questions for community
discussion. Modules about diseases include the danger signs, home care and preven-
tion activities. The information in each module focuses on disease prevention, health
promotion and health education for rural Africa.

***

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 10


Malaria

Estimating the Number of Paediatric Fevers Associated with Malaria Infec-


tion Presenting to Africa’s Public Health Sector in 2007

by Peter W. Gething, Viola C. Kirui, Victor A. Alegana et al.


PLoS Med 7(7): e1000301 (6 July 20100

12 pp. 1.3 MB:


http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/fetchObjectAttachment.action;jsessionid=134AB6B7348EA8AF99D8E
D9E0F8C9C80.ambra01?uri=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000301&representation=PDF

The availability of rapid-diagnostic tests to support practical and reliable parasitological


diagnosis provides an opportunity to improve the rational treatment of febrile children
across Africa. However, the cost effectiveness of diagnosis-based treatment polices will
depend on the presumed numbers of fevers harbouring infection. Here the authors
compute the number of fevers likely to present to public health facilities in Africa and the
estimated number of these fevers likely to be infected with Plasmodium falciparum ma-
laria parasites.
***

Cost Savings with Rapid Diagnostic Tests for Malaria in Low-Transmission


Areas: Evidence from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

by Joshua Yukich, Valerie D’Acremont, Judith Kahama et al.


Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg., 83(1), 2010, pp. 61-68

8 pp. 501 kB:


http://www.ajtmh.org/cgi/reprint/83/1/61?maxtoshow=&hits=10&RESULTFOR-
MAT=&fulltext=malaria&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&volume=83&issue=1&resourcetype=HWCIT

Rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) for malaria may help rationalize antimalarial drug use.
However, the economic effects of these tests may vary. In this setting the RDTs reduced
drug costs but did not offset the cost of the tests, although they also resulted in non-
monetary benefits, including improved management of patients and increased compli-
ance with test results.
***

Community acceptability of use of rapid diagnostic tests for malaria by


community health workers in Uganda

by David Mukanga, James K Tibenderana, Juliet Kiguli et al.


Malaria Journal 2010, 9:203 (13 July 2010)

32 pp. 171 kB:


http://www.malariajournal.com/content/pdf/1475-2875-9-203.pdf

Use of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) by community medicine distributors (CMDs) is


likely to be acceptable by community members given that CMDs are properly trained,
and receive regular technical supervision and logistical support. A well-designed behav-
iour change communication strategy is needed to address the anticipated programmatic
challenges as well as community fears and stigma about drawing blood. Level of formal
education may have to be a criterion for CMD selection into programmes deploying
RDTs.
***

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 11


Prices, Diagnostic Tests and the Demand for Malaria Treatment: Evidence
from a Randomized Trial

by Jessica Cohen
Harvard School of Public Health & Brookings Institution, May 2010

34 pp. 634 kB:


http://www.cgdev.org/doc/events/6.29.10/Jessica_Cohen_Paper.pdf

This paper reports on a field experiment from Western Kenya in which subsidized ACTs
were made available in drug shops, along with subsidized Rapid Diagnostic Tests
(RDTs) for malaria. The authors estimate that the availability of subsidized RDTs in drug
shops can increase the fraction of ACT users who are malaria-positive by 11%. They
find that subsidizing RDTs can reduce wastage and be particularly cost-effective among
older children and adults if adherence to test results can be improved.

***

Accuracy of a rapid diagnostic test on the diagnosis of malaria infection


and of malaria-attributable fever during low and high transmission season
in Burkina Faso

by Zeno Bisoffi, Sodiomon B Sirima, Joris Menten et al.


Malaria Journal 2010, 9:192 (7 July 2010)

46 pp. 283 kB:


http://www.malariajournal.com/content/pdf/1475-2875-9-192.pdf

Malaria management policies currently recommend that the treatment should only be
administered after laboratory confirmation. Where microscopy is not available, rapid di-
agnostic tests (RDTs) are the usual alternative. The authors conclude that in the dry
season the RDT has a low positive predictive value, but a very high negative predictive
value for malaria-attributable fever. In the rainy season the negative test safely excludes
malaria in adults but not in children.

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis: New Faces of an Old Disease

Campaign for Access to Essential Medicines, Médecins Sans Frontières,


2009

28 pp. 2.1 MB:


http://aids2010.msf.org/wp-content/uploads/04-
20_TbBackgrounder_NewFaces_FINAL_LowRes.pdf

The spread of TB through populations already infected with HIV and the emergence of
drug-resistant strains of the disease are throwing up yet greater medical challenges.
Read this report as it outlines the major topical areas surrounding the treatment and di-
agnosis of tuberculosis.
***

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 12


Towards more compassionate care for people with drug-resistant TB

by Theo Smart
HIV & AIDS Treatment in Practice, Issue 162, 14 July 2010

10 pp. 205 kB:


http://groups.google.com/group/health-education-social-protection-news-
notes/web/HATIP-162.pdf

This edition of HATIP reviews what is known about multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in
people with HIV, and the health system issues which can lead to the failure of TB treat-
ment in this group of people.
***

Tuberculosis and Stigmatization: Pathways and Interventions

by Andrew Courtwright and Abigail Norris Turner


Public Health Reports - 2010, Supplement 4 - Volume 125

9 pp. 313 kB:


http://www.publichealthreports.org/archives/issueopen.cfm?articleID=2481

The institutional and community norms that lead to the stigmatization of tuberculosis
(TB) are thought to hinder TB control. The authors performed a systematic review of the
literature on TB stigma to identify the causes and evaluate the impact of stigma on TB
diagnosis and treatment. Several themes emerged: fear of infection is the most common
cause of TB stigma; TB stigma has serious socioeconomic consequences, particularly
for women; TB stigma is perceived to increase TB diagnostic delay and treatment non-
compliance.
***

Prolonged Infectiousness of Tuberculosis Patients in a Directly Observed


Therapy Short-Course Program with Standardized Therapy

by Sean P. Fitzwater, Luz Caviedes, Robert H. Gilman et al.


Clinical Infectious Diseases 2010;51:371-378 (15 August 2010)

8 pp. 407 kB:


http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/655127

Patients treated for drug-susceptible tuberculosis remain sputum culture positive for
longer than conventionally believed. Drug resistance prolongs time to culture conver-
sion, although susceptibility testing methods vary in ability to predict this. Delayed smear
conversion is a poor predictor of multidrug-resistant disease.

Other Infectious Diseases

Healthcare Workers Handbook on Influenza

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) in collaboration with the
South African National Department of Health and World Health Organization (WHO), 1
July 2010

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 13


16 pp. 255 kB:
http://www.nicd.ac.za/outbreaks/h1n1/docs/Healthcare_Workers_Handbook_on_I
nfluenza_in_SA_2010_07_01.pdf

The updated 2010 healthcare workers handbook on influenza provides detailed guide-
lines on the diagnosis and management of influenza, both seasonal and pandemic in-
fluenza, for healthcare workers in South Africa.

***

Social determinants of infectious diseases: a public health priority

by J C Semenza, J E Suk and S Tsolova


Eurosurveillance, Volume 15, Issue 27, 08 July 2010

Read online at:


http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=19608

Addressing social determinants of infectious diseases in Europe becomes a public


health priority. It is not purely an issue of solidarity and social justice. Elevated infectious
disease incidence/prevalence rates in vulnerable populations pose a health threat not
only to them, but also to society at large. “Eurosurveillance” has dedicated this special
issue to social determinants of infectious diseases. Today, in the wake of the financial
crisis, rising unemployment and public debt in many EU countries lend further weight to
the notion emphasised in all papers in this issue: socio-economic determinants of infec-
tious diseases are a public health priority, perhaps even more urgently now than in re-
cent times.

Essential Medicines

Untangling the Web of Antiretroviral Price Reductions

Médecins Sans Frontières’ guide to the prices of AIDS medicines


13th Edition, July 2010

104 pp. 2.8 MB:


http://aids2010.msf.org/wp-content/uploads/UntanglingTheWeb_13th_edition.pdf

With 95% of people with HIV/AIDS living in developing countries, it is urgent that re-
search and development take into account the particular needs of these populations.
Lifelong AIDS treatment requires constant access to newer and more potent drug regi-
mens when patients develop side effects or resistance to their medicines over time.
Demand for newer AIDS drugs is growing fast. However, the price of newer regimens
remains a major barrier to access. ‘Untangling the Web of Price Reductions’ is a pricing
guide and cannot be regarded as a company price list.

***

A Practical Approach to Pharmaceutical Policy

by Andreas Seiter
World Bank Publications, June 2010

Read the book (220 pp.) online at:


http://issuu.com/world.bank.publications/docs/9780821383865

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 14


Pharmaceuticals are an essential component of health care. But for many people in low-
and middle-income countries, access to the medicines they need to prevent or treat se-
vere illnesses is limited. Typical problems are lack of availability, costs that exceed the
individual’s purchasing power or lack of competent “agents” – health workers that are
well trained to give the correct advice on which medicines to take.

***

Balancing medicine prices and business sustainability: analyses of phar-


macy costs, revenues and profit shed light on retail medicine mark-ups in
rural Kyrgyzstan

by Brenda Waning, Jason Maddix and Lyne Soucy


BMC Health Services Research 2010, 10:205 (13 July 2010)

33 pp. 196 kB:


http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1472-6963-10-205.pdf

Pharmacy networks can be established in hard-to-reach regions with little funding using
public-private partnership, resource-sharing models. Medicine prices and mark-ups
must be interpreted with consideration for regional costs of business. Health systems
researchers must document the positive and negative financial experiences of phar-
macy initiatives to inform future projects and advance access to medicines goals.

Social Protection

Learning to insure the poor

by Christina Gradl, Martin Herrndorf, Claudia Knobloch et al.


Allianz SE, 2010

40 pp. 4.1 MB:


https://www.allianz.com/static-
resources/www.allianz.com/_assets/homepage/de/microinsurancereport_2010/em-al-
weblinked.pdf

This report is based on research, conducted in collaboration with the Emergia Institute,
to consolidate the wealth of insights Allianz has gained in the first years of developing its
microinsurance business. Key facts on the state of microinsurance today, case studies
on existing Allianz microinsurance projects and perspectives from experts on the future
of microinsurance round out the report.
***

Beyond Cash: Assessing Externality and Behaviour Effects of Non-


Experimental Cash Transfers

Rafael Perez Ribas, Fábio Veras Soares, Clarissa Teixeira et al.


International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth Working Paper Number
65; June 2010

34 pp. 347 kB:


http://www.ipc-undp.org/pub/IPCWorkingPaper65.pdf

In this paper the authors propose a method to estimate externality effects in cash trans-
fer programmes, even in cases when the benefit is not randomly assigned. Externality is

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 15


assessed through the decomposition of the average treatment effect on the treated into
participation (direct) effect and externality (indirect) effect. They apply all these decom-
positions on the effect of a conditional cash transfer (CCT) programme on household
consumption and savings in Paraguay. The results indicate that the programme has a
small impact on consumption and a considerable impact on savings.

***

Technology: A key asset to turn microinsurance into a sustainable sector?

by Abby Gray
ILO’s Microinsurance Innovation Facility, 2010

3 pp. 448 kB:


http://www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/mifacility/download/news/tech.pdf

Microinsurance represents a promising new way to protect the poor, but reaching low-
income markets sustainably requires creative new strategies. Ten years ago, it would
have been difficult to imagine that a poor woman would file a claim and receive a medi-
cal diagnosis electronically from her home in rural India. The next ten years will un-
doubtedly bring new and equally unexpected technological developments - develop-
ments with the power to bring the security of microinsurance coverage to the two billion
people who need it most.
***

56 Million Steps Towards Universal Coverage: RSBY Health Insurance for


the Poor in India

by Nishant Jain
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH,
2010

12 pp. 820 kB:


http://groups.google.com/group/health-education-social-
protection-news-notes/web/RSBY.pdf

The national health insurance scheme “Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna” (RSBY) in In-
dia specifically targets families working in the informal sector and living below the pov-
erty line (BPL): it was designed to meet the special requirements of this particular target
population. The scheme has managed to reach out to more than 60 million people in
less than 2 years since its existence. It is currently being extended to other informal sec-
tor workers living above the poverty line, and many worker groups would like to use
RSBY as an insurance platform while bearing the costs of premiums themselves.

Human Resources

Increasing access to health workers in remote and rural areas through im-
proved retention
Global Policy Recommendations

by Carmen Dolea, Laura Stormont, Joanne McManus et al.


World Health Organization, 2010

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 16


79 pp. 828 kB:
http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2010/9789241564014_eng.pdf

After a year-long consultative effort, this document proposes sixteen evidence-based


recommendations on how to improve the recruitment and retention of health workers in
underserved areas. It also offers a guide for policy makers to choose the most appropri-
ate interventions, and to implement, monitor and evaluate their impact over time.

***

Who Wants to Work in a Rural Health Post?


The Role of Intrinsic Motivation, Rural Background and Faith-Based Institutions in
Rwanda and Ethiopia

Pieter Serneels, Jose G. Montalvo, Gunilla Pettersson et al.


Institute for the Study of Labor, March 2010

22 pp. 121 kB:


http://ftp.iza.org/dp4831.pdf

Most developing countries face shortages of health workers in rural areas. This has pro-
found consequences for health service delivery, and ultimately for health outcomes. To
design policies that rectify these geographic imbalances it is vital to understand what
factors determine health workers’ choice to work in rural areas. The results of this study
suggest that in addition to economic incentives, intrinsic motivation and rural origin play
an important role in health workers’ decisions to work in a rural area, and that faith-
based institutions matter.
***

Are “Village Doctors” in Bangladesh a curse or a blessing?

by Shehrin S Mahmood, Mohammad Iqbal, S. M.A. Hanifi et al.


BMC International Health and Human Rights 2010, 10:18 (6 July 2010)

19 pp. 236 kB:


http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1472-698x-10-18.pdf

Bangladesh is one of the health workforce crisis countries in the world. In the face of an
acute shortage of trained professionals, ensuring healthcare for a population of 150 mil-
lion remains a major challenge for the nation. With the current shortage of physicians
and level of production in the country it was asserted that it is very unlikely for Bangla-
desh to have adequate number of physicians in the near future. Thus, making use of ex-
isting healthcare providers, such as Village Doctors, could be considered a realistic op-
tion in dealing with the prevailing crisis.
***

Análise dos recursos humanos da saúde (RHS) nos países africanos de


língua oficial portuguesa (PALOP)

Edited by G. Dussault et al].


Human Resources for Health Observer - Issue No. 2, May 2010
Languages: Portuguese (Summary in English)

132 pp. 861 kB:


http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2010/9789248599071_por.pdf

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 17


Human Resources are the backbone of every health system. However, information on
policies, plans, information systems and workforce education, availability, composition,
distribution, density, funding sources, labour market forces and many other aspects is
often scarce and scattered across many different sources. In the Portuguese speaking
countries of Africa, this has also been a long-standing issue, which prevented the analy-
sis of health workforce problems and the development of appropriate policy responses.

Health Systems & Research

Research for health and health system strengthening in Africa

by Barbara Matthys, Julie Murugi, Sylvia de Haan et al.


Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED), April 2009

20 pp. 133 kB:


http://www.cohred.org/sites/default/files/COHREDRP9_Research
%20_for_Health_System%20_Strengthening_in_Africa.pdf

Strong political and financial support and strong leadership are needed for evidence-
informed policy making to become a reality in many countries. This is the overall finding
of this study and a follow-up consultative meeting during the Global Ministerial Forum on
Research for Health (Mali, 2008). The study and the findings in this Record Paper reflect
the perspectives of African scientists and policy makers, senior northern scientists, and
representatives of funding organisations.
***

Scaling-up health services in low- and middle-income settings

Edited by Kara Hanson, Susan Cleary, Helen Schneider et al.


BMC Health Services Research 2010, 10(Suppl 1):I1 (2 July 2010)

4 pp. 179 kB:


http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1472-6963-10-S1-I1.pdf

This article is part of the BMC Health Services Research supplement: “Scaling-up health
services in low- and middle-income settings”:
http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmchealthservres/10?issue=S1

These papers are published at a critical time for health systems: while some countries
are on track to achieve the 2015 MDG targets, others are faltering and action is needed
now to accelerate progress. Important gaps in knowledge remain. In particular, our un-
derstanding of both policy development and service delivery strategies in fragile states
is limited, and there is scope for research on how to most effectively scale up services in
these environments.
***

Improving Implementation: Building Research Capacity in Maternal, Neo-


natal, and Child Health in Africa

by James Whitworth, Nelson K. Sewankambo and Valerie A. Snewin


PLoS Med 7(7): e1000299 (6 July 2010)

3 pp. 76 kB:
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/fetchObjectAttachment.action;jsessionid=637E348AB9AE59E34E9CE
562417068D5.ambra02?uri=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000299&representation=PDF

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 18


The high levels of maternal, newborn, and childhood mortality and morbidity in Africa
are cause for an urgent response to implementing interventions. Strong health research
systems and research programmes that address bottlenecks to upscaling effective in-
terventions should be developed without delay. This effort requires substantial and rapid
investment in the support of African scientists, institutions, and systems that will focus
on solutions to African problems.
***

The changing face of EU-African Cooperation in science and technology


Past achievements and looking ahead to the future

European Commission, Directorate-General for Research, 2010

68 pp. 4.1 MB:


http://ec.europa.eu/research/iscp/pdf/eu_africa_partnership_may2010.pdf

The EU report calls for more collaboration and coordination with research-
ers in Africa. Health research is one of the areas considered. Europe’s objective is to
support Africans in the development of their own scientific and technical skills and ca-
pacity, mastering the knowledge and technology needed for their development and the
implementation of their own research agenda. It aims to achieve this by opening up the
European Research Area (ERA) and developing equitable and effective research part-
nerships between the European Union (EU) and African institutions and their research-
ers.
***

Strengthening Health Systems at Facility-Level: Feasibility of Integrating


Antiretroviral Therapy into Primary Health Care Services in Lusaka, Zambia

by Stephanie M. Topp, Julien M. Chipukuma, Mark Giganti et al.


PLoS ONE 5(7): e11522 (13 July 2010)

11 pp. 569 kB:


http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchObjectAttachment.action;jsessionid=EE7F957BCDD54E2599D5
EF409C9FB763.ambra02?uri=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0011522&representation=PDF

HIV care and treatment services are primarily delivered in vertical antiretroviral (ART)
clinics in sub-Saharan Africa but there have been concerns over the impact on existing
primary health care services. This paper presents results from a feasibility study of a
fully integrated model of HIV and non-HIV outpatient services in two urban Lusaka clin-
ics.

Information & Communication Technology

Global Information Society Watch 2009


Focus on access to online information and knowledge – advancing human rights and
democracy

Editors Alan Finlay and Lori Nordstrom


Published by APC and Hivos, 2009

232 pp. 6.3 MB:


http://www.giswatch.org/gisw2009/pdf/GISW2009.pdf

The report shows that accessing information and knowledge online is not as simple as
switching on a computer, and that the wealth of information available on the internet to-

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 19


day is by no means guaranteed for tomorrow. In addition, 48 country reports analyse the
status of access to online information and knowledge in countries as diverse as the De-
mocratic Republic of Congo, Mexico, Switzerland and Kazakhstan, while six regional
overviews offer a bird’s eye perspective on regional trends.

Education

Do HIV-AIDS Teacher Training Programs Work in Africa? Evidence from


the Cameroon
Assessing the impact on student knowledge, attitudes and behavior of a typical HIV-
AIDS teacher training program

by J.L. Arcand and E.D. Wouabe


The Graduate Institute, Geneva, March 2010

34 pp. 397 kB:


http://depot.gdnet.org/newkb/submissions/Health%20project_Cameroon_Jean-
Louis%20Arcand%20&%20Eric%20Djimeu%20Wouabe_9.pdf

The authors assess the impact on student knowledge, attitudes and behavior of a typi-
cal HIV-AIDS teacher training program, funded by the African Development Bank and
implemented with technical assistance from UNESCO in the Cameroon. Applying an
identification strategy they find that exposure to a trained teacher increases the appre-
hension of 12 to 13 year olds concerning HIV-AIDS, by rendering them less likely to be
willing to buy from an HIV-positive shopkeeper, and more likely to wish to remain sexu-
ally abstinent during adolescence.
***

Improving Learning Achievement in Early Primary in Low-Income Coun-


tries
A Review of the Research

by Sheridan Bartlett
The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), January 2010

44 pp. 1.4 MB:


http://www.ecdgroup.com/pdfs/article-2010_ecd_learning_paper_akf.pdf

This report on early education reviews research evidence on interventions in the early
grades in low-income countries to assess their value. It finds that there seems to be
more impact derived from how development funding is spent on schoolchildren than
how much is spent.
***

Making education inclusive for all

Editor: Leah Murphy


Education Insights, Issue 81, June 2010

8 pp. 343 kB:


http://www.eldis.org/download.cfm?downloadfile=59E86FE0-B2CE-5850-
13B75472E96D369D&typename=dmFile&fieldname=filename

Educational inclusion relates to all children accessing and meaningfully participating in

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 20


quality education, in ways that are responsive to their individual needs. The terms ‘inclu-
sion’ and ‘inclusive education’ are often used in relation to children with disabilities
and/or special needs and emerged partly out of debates to reduce their segregation
from mainstream schooling.

Harm Reduction and Drug Use

A strategy to halt and reverse the HIV epidemic among people who inject
drugs in Asia and the Pacific 2010-2015

by Edna Oppenheimer, Gary Lewis, Fritz Lherisson et al.


Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), July 2010

77 pp. 902 kB:


http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/lib.nsf/db900sid/ASAZ-
873HHH/$file/UNAIDS_Jul2010.pdf?openelement

The strategy is a “call for action” designed to provide a practical tool for use by national
governments and developing agencies to guide their strategic planning process for the
next five years. It provides a framework for harmonizing existing strategies and work-
plans for harm reduction and universal access.

Global Health

Do we need an international collaboration for synthesizing health-system


evidence?

Working Group on Health Systems Research Synthesis, Alliance for Health Policy and
Systems Research, 20 May 2010

12 pp. 343 kB:


http://www.who.int/alliance-
hpsr/alliancehpsr_consultationdoc_healthsystemsresearchsynthesis

Health system policy-makers and managers routinely face difficult decisions around im-
proving health and promoting equity. They must consider complex questions about ef-
fective strategies for organizing the overall health system and about designing and im-
plementing or changing and improving specific policy and programme options. For in-
stance, does contracting out services to the private sector improve access to health
care? How could the health system best retain trained health care providers in under-
served areas? Do conditional cash transfers improve the uptake of health interventions?

***

Re-thinking global health sector efforts for HIV and tuberculosis epidemic
control: promoting integration of programme activities within a strength-
ened health system

by Dermot Maher
BMC Public Health 2010, 10:394 (5 July 2010)

20 pp. 149 kB:


http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2458-10-394.pdf

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 21


The global financial crisis threatens global health, particularly exacerbating diseases of
inequality, e.g. HIV/AIDS, and diseases of poverty, e.g. tuberculosis. The aim of this pa-
per is to reconsider established practices and policies for HIV and tuberculosis epidemic
control, aiming at delivering better results and value for money. This may be achieved
by promoting greater integration of HIV and tuberculosis control programme activities
within a strengthened health system.
***

Redressing the Unconscionable Health Gap: A Global Plan for Justice

by Lawrence O. Gostin
The Harvard Law & Policy Review, Vol. 4, Nr. 2, 2010, pp. 271-294

24 pp. 130 kB:


http://hlpronline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/gostin_justice.pdf

The world’s distribution of the “good” of human health remains fundamentally unfair,
causing enormous physical and mental suffering by those who experience the com-
pounding disadvantages of poverty and ill health. If the health gap is unfair and unac-
ceptable, then how can the international community be galvanized to make a genuine
difference? In this article, the author proposes an international call to action through the
adoption of a Global Plan for Justice (GPJ).

***

The Global Health System: Institutions in a Time of Transition

by William C. Clark, Nicole A. Szlezak, Suerie Moon et al.


Center for International Development (CID) at Harvard University, January 2010

24 pp. 651 kB:


http://www.hks.harvard.edu/var/ezp_site/storage/fckeditor/image/center-
programs/cid/publications/193.pdf

The global health system is in a period of rapid transition, with an upsurge of funds and
greater political recognition, a broader range of health challenges, many new actors,
and the rules, norms and expectations that govern them in flux. The authors present a
series of four papers on one dimension of the global health transition: its changing insti-
tutional arrangements.

Millennium Development Goals

The MDGs and Beyond: Pro-poor Policy in a Changing World

by Andy Sumner and Claire Melamed


IDS Bulletin, Volume 41, Number 1, January 2010

6 pp. 92 kB:
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-
bin/fulltext/123239299/PDFSTART

This issue of the IDS Bulletin is dedicated to discussing and reviewing the MDGs and
the global effort that grew from the UN Millennium Declaration. This article provides an
overview of this IDS Bulletin and introduces the key themes.

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 22


IDS Bulletin Special Issue: THE MDGs AND BEYOND (free access):
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/123239282/issue

Development Assistance

South-South Cooperation: A Challenge to the Aid System?

by Paul Quintos, Rosario Bella Guzman, Jose Enrique Africa et al.


The Reality of Aid (RoA) Network, 2010

142 pp. 1.2 MB:


http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/lib.nsf/db900sid/NROI-
86Y9C7/$file/ROA%20SSDC%20Special%20Report(English)[1].pdf?openelement

The report is a specialized selection of researches ranging from the emergence of new
global donors such as India, China and South Africa as well as the establishment of a
new international financial architecture in South America to the impact of these trends
on the diverse economies of Asia, Africa and the Americas. This report provides devel-
opment actors important lessons, not just for improving South-South cooperation but
also for enhancing the development effectiveness of international development coopera-
tion as a whole.
***

Practical approaches to the aid effectiveness agenda


Evidence in aligning aid information with recipient country budgets

by Samuel Moon and Zachary Mills


Overseas Development Institute and the International Budget Partnership,
July 2010

50 pp. 640 kB:


http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/download/4801.pdf

This paper explores the link between donor aid and recipient budgets, and the role that
greater transparency and clearer information about aid can play in improving budget
transparency, the quality of budgetary decisions and accountability systems in develop-
ing countries.
***

The Costs & Benefits of Aid Transparency

by Matthew Collin, Asma Zubairi, Daniel Nielson and Owen Barder


aidinfo, October 2009

19 pp. 458 kB:


http://aidinfo.org/files/aidinfo-Costs-and-Benefits-October-2009.pdf

This paper aims to assemble available information about the costs and benefits of
greater aid transparency, recognizing that further research is required on many of these
topics. The authors are explicit about the extent of uncertainty. They welcome com-
ments on their approach, and suggestions for better and less uncertain estimates of
both the costs and the benefits of aid transparency.

***

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 23


The Food System: a prism of present and future challenges for health
promotion and sustainable development

by Ilona Kickbusch
Health Promotion Switzerland, 2010

49 pp. 1.9 MB:


http://www.iuhpeconference.net/downloads/en/Programme/White-
Paper---The-Food-System.pdf

This paper deals with the food system as a prism of present and future challenges for
health promotion and sustainable development, and sets the attainment of a sustainable
food system – “a system that can supply safe, healthy food with positive social benefits
and low environmental impacts” – as the joint policy goal. It is aimed both at the health
promotion and the sustainable development community.

***

Corruption, Anti-corruption Efforts and Aid: Do Donors Have the Right Ap-
proach?

by Ivar Kolstad, Verena Fritz and Tam O’Neil


Overseas Development Institute, January 2008

98 pp. 1.2 MB:


http://www.odi.org.uk/resources/download/1525.pdf

Corruption is the abuse of public office or entrusted power for private gain. This paper
looks at the linkages between good governance, new aid modalities and poverty reduc-
tion. It provides a review of the literature relating to corruption, anti-corruption efforts and
aid.

Others

Human Development: Definitions, Critiques, and Related Concepts


Human Development Research Paper 2010/01

by Sabina Alkire
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), June 2010

100 pp. 1.1 MB:


http://hdr.undp.org/en/reports/global/hdr2010/papers/HDRP_2010_01.pdf

The purpose of this background paper is to synthesize the discussions regarding the
concept of human development and - drawing on the extensive policy and academic lit-
eratures - to propose relationships between the concept of human development and
four related concepts: the Millennium Development Goals, Human Rights, Human Secu-
rity, and Happiness. Inequality, the duration of outcomes across time, and environ-
mental sustainability are also prominent due to their fundamental importance.

***

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 24


Pain Control in the African Context: the Ugandan introduction of affordable
morphine to relieve suffering at the end of life

by Anne Merriman and Richard Harding


Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine 2010, 5:10 (8 July 2010)

14 pp. 125 kB:


http://www.peh-med.com/content/pdf/1747-5341-5-10.pdf

This paper described the authors’ experience in pioneering palliative care provision. In
particular it examines the steps to achieving wider availability of opioids for pain man-
agement for those with far advanced disease. Hospice Africa Uganda has been a model
facility in achieving high quality clinical care embedded in a strategy of advocacy and
education, using a multifaceted approach that has addressed logistical, policy and legis-
lative barriers.
***

How poor is ‘poor’? - Towards a rights-based poverty line

by David Woodward, Martina Tonizzo, Jim Sumberg et al.


The New Economics Foundation(NEF), 2010

48 pp. 598 kB:


http://www.neweconomics.org/sites/neweconomics.org/files/How_
poor_is__poor_0.pdf

Poverty is usually defined by the ‘US$-1-a-day’ line developed by the World Bank. But
does definition this tell the whole story? This report argues that we need a broader ap-
proach, based on human rights, which takes into account actual living standards.

***

A Self-Assessment Guide for Health Care Organizations


Quality, Safety, Ethics

International Finance Corporation (IFC), 2010

102 pp. 2.2 MB:


http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/che.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/2010HCSelfA
GuidelinesWhole/$FILE/IFCSelfAssessGuide.pdf

The publication provides practical advice to organizations and companies that aim for in-
ternational standards, including those who may wish to achieve some form of interna-
tional accreditation. It provides a structured approach to assessing standards and pro-
cedures and highlights areas where improvements are required. It will help reduce pre-
ventable medical mistakes and improve the quality and, ultimately, the affordability of
health care for consumers.

ELECTRONIC RESOURCES
The Aid Effectiveness Portal

http://www.aideffectiveness.org/index.html

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 25


This portal’s creators seek to provide a full range of knowledge man-
agement and professional collaboration tools designed to streamline and
enhance the work of organizations and individuals in the field of aid ef-
fectiveness.

***

Development Assistance Database

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Development_Assistance_Database

The Development Assistance Database (DAD) is a Web-based information


collection, tracking, analysis and planning tool for use by national governments and the
broader assistance community, including bilateral donors, international organizations,
and NGOs.
***

Water & Risk

WHOCC Newsletter No. 16, July 2010


WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Promoting Water Management and
Risk Communication

11 pp. 1.5 MB:


http://www.ihph.de/dokumente/whocc-news/Newsletter_WHOCC_16_web.pdf

In this issue:
 Water Safety Plans for small-scale water supply systems in Romania
 The Atlas of Water and Health
 "Elephants and Butterflies on Moon" - My Internship in a NGO in Ouagadougou,
Burkina Faso
and more…
***

Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter - Issue 5, June 2010

Published by Fahamu Trust and Fahamu Ltd.

5 pp. 374 kB:


http://www.pambazuka.org/images/articles/489/JuneRefugeeLegalAidNews.pdf

This monthly publication aims to provide a forum for providers of refugee legal aid. With
a focus on the global South, it aims to serve the needs of legal aid providers as well as
raise awareness of refugee concerns among the wider readership.

INTERESTING WEB SITES


Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding

http://tensteps.org

The web site and video series aims to raise awareness, encourage early
adoption, promote training of health care staff, and build capacity for, and
to stimulate dialogue about, breastfeeding and its impact on the public, in

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 26


a range of community and public contexts in low- and middle-income countries. The
goal is to have these ten steps in every facility providing maternal services and care for
newborn infant.
***

Web Portal: Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) for Health

http://www.foss-for-health.org/portal/

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) for Health aims to build a FOSS
for eHealth Online Community - a venue for networking and exchanging ideas and ex-
perience on FOSS use. The web portal hopes to be a dynamic/evolving repository and
venue for interaction, sharing and supporting those who are interested in using free and
open source software in health concerns.

TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Evaluation of Health Facilities, Programmes and Projects
Consultancy Skills in International Cooperation in Health

6 - 17 September, 2010
Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Germany

Course Content: The objective of this course is to enable health professionals and man-
agers to understand and apply the concepts and principles of evaluation when evaluat-
ing facilities, projects and programmes in the health sector and to improve their personal
and technical skills. Topics include: Planning and conducting an evaluation; principles,
methods, techniques and tools; effective writing techniques; the consultant: expecta-
tions and experiences; important skills and activities for consultancy.

Target Audience: Public health practitioners, medical doctors, nurses, policy makers,
programme/project planners, managers, paramedical staff, social scientists, educators.

Language: English; Fees: EUR 1,500


Entry Requirements: English proficiency, experience in public health

For more information contact:


Natascha Petersen
Tel.: +49-6221-56-5048
Fax: +49-6221-56-4918
mailto:petersen@uni-hd.de
or see: http://www.klinikum.uni-heidelberg.de/CS-Eval.107898.0.html

For more courses and conferences see also:


http://www.going-international.at/index.php?lang=EN

***

Universalizing Socioeconomic Security for the Poor

10½ weeks Postgraduate Diploma Programme


or: 5½ weeks Certificate Course

12 January - 25 March 2011

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 27


International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Hague, Netherlands

Social provisioning and social security have rapidly risen in importance on national and
global development agenda, with one of the key policy questions being the balance be-
tween targeting those most in need or providing universal support for all. It is in this con-
text that this course has been designed with the objective of imparting knowledge and
skill-enhancing training on issues related to the universalization of socioeconomic secu-
rity for the poor and the socially excluded.

For more information see:


http://www.iss.nl/Diploma-Programmes/Universalizing-Socioeconomic-Security-for-the-Poor-USS

CARTOON

TIPS & TRICKS


Spell Check in Firefox

Most word processing programmes have a spell-checker built right in, so what does one
do for the web? If you spend most of your time writing out form fields, contributing to fo-
rums and writing in blogs, shouldn’t there be a way to spell check in your browser?

There is, actually, but mysteriously enough, it is only for Mozilla Firefox. Internet Ex-
plorer 8 has yet to receive a built-in spell checker.

In the meantime, let us learn how to enable the spellchecker in Firefox! It is usually en-
abled by default, but if, for any reason, you find it is not working go to: Tools > Options >
Advanced. Make sure the ‘General’ tab is selected. Then make sure the ‘Check my
Spelling as I Type’ option has a check-mark next to it.

That should do it! Now when you have misspelled something a squiggly red line will ap-
pear underneath it to warn you.

Best regards,

Dieter Neuvians MD

HESP-News & Notes - 15/2010 - page 28

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