Health, Education, Social Protection News & Notes 26/2009

Health, Education, Social Protection
News & Notes 26/2009

A bi-weekly newsletter supported by GTZ
(Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit)
13 December 2009
You can download back issues (2005 - 2009) of this newsletter at: http://hiv-prg.org/en/newsletters
Table of Contents:
NEWS FROM THE GERMAN BACKUP INITIATIVE .......... 4

‘The Forgotten’ - HIV and Disability in Tanzania..................................................................... 4
BOOKS ................................................................................ 4
WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2009 ............................................................ 4
What Works in Development? Thinking Big and Thinking Small ............................................ 4
Casebook on International Health Research Ethics ............................................................... 5
Teenage Tata - Voices of young fathers in South Africa ........................................................ 5
Learning / Work: Turning work and lifelong learning inside out .............................................. 5
ONLINE PUBLICATIONS .................................................... 6

HIV - AIDS - STI ........................................................................................................... 6
Rapid advice: Antiretroviral therapy for HIV infection in adults and adolescents.................... 6
Rapid advice: use of antiretroviral drugs for treating pregnant women and preventing HIV
Infection in infants ................................................................................................................... 6
Rapid advice: revised WHO principles and recommendations on infant feeding in the
context of HIV.......................................................................................................................... 6
Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in HIV-1-Infected Adults and Adolescents .... 6
Routine versus clinically driven laboratory monitoring of HIV antiretroviral therapy in Africa
(DART): a randomised non-inferiority trial............................................................................... 7
Vaccination with ALVAC and AIDSVAX to Prevent HIV-1 Infection in Thailand..................... 7
Early and Late Direct Costs in a Southern African Antiretroviral Treatment Programme: A
Retrospective Cohort Analysis ................................................................................................ 7
Demographic and Socioeconomic Patterns of HIV/AIDS Prevalence in Africa ...................... 8
HIV-related Stigma and Discrimination: A Summary of Recent Literature ............................. 8
Children and Aids: The Fourth Stocktaking Report 2009........................................................ 8
Turning the Tide: An OPEN strategy for a response to AIDS in the Pacific ........................... 9
Partnership with Faith-based Organizations - UNAIDS Strategic Framework........................ 9
UNAIDS Legal and Regulatory Self-Assessment Tool for Male Circumcision in Sub-Saharan
Africa ....................................................................................................................................... 9
Sexual & Reproductive Health ................................................................................... 10
Five Good Reasons to Integrate Family Planning/Reproductive Health and HIV Services.. 10
Adding It Up: The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and
Newborn Health..................................................................................................................... 10
Evidence and Rights-Based Planning & Support Tool for SRHR/HIV-Prevention
Interventions for Young People............................................................................................. 10
Sexual and gender based violence in Africa ......................................................................... 11
A Measure of the Future: Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Risk Index for the
Pacific .................................................................................................................................... 11
Maternal & Child Health ............................................................................................. 11
Dietary Diversity as a Measure of the Micronutrient Adequacy of Women’s Diets in
Resource-Poor Areas: Results from Five Countries ............................................................. 11
HESP-News & Notes - 26/2009 - page 1

Blindness in Childhood in Developing Countries: Time for a Reassessment? ..................... 12
Malaria........................................................................................................................ 12
The long shadow of malaria interventions in tropical Africa.................................................. 12
Effectiveness of combined intermittent preventive treatment for children and timely home
treatment for malaria control ................................................................................................. 12
Rapid assessments of the private sector supply chain for antimalarial drugs in Benin,
Nigeria and Cambodia........................................................................................................... 13
Tuberculosis ............................................................................................................... 13
Global Tuberculosis Control: A short update to the 2009 report........................................... 13
Pathways to better diagnostics for tuberculosis .................................................................... 13
2009 Report on Tuberculosis Research Funding Trends, 2005-2008.................................. 14
Health care seeking among pulmonary tuberculosis suspects and patients in rural Ethiopia:
a community-based study ..................................................................................................... 14
Other Infectious Diseases .......................................................................................... 14
Chikungunya: an emerging and spreading arthropod-borne viral disease ........................... 14
Trachoma: there’s progress to report.................................................................................... 15
Essential Medicines.................................................................................................... 15
Opinion formers’ Conference on Counterfeit Medicines Perspectives and action................ 15
Brazilian GTPI/ABIA - greatest initiatives & villains for access to medicines 2009............... 15
Essential Medicines Monitor.................................................................................................. 16
Social Security............................................................................................................ 16
Cash transfers: targeting ....................................................................................................... 16
10-year effect of Oportunidades, Mexico’s conditional cash transfer programme, on child
growth, cognition, language, and behaviour: a longitudinal follow-up study......................... 16
Insurance, Credit and Safety Nets for the Poor in a World of Risk ....................................... 16
The Landscape of Microinsurance in Africa .......................................................................... 17
Micro-credit: an alternative for women’s empowerment? ..................................................... 17
Microinsurance that Works for Women ................................................................................. 17
Strengthening social security in economic crises: The need for a social protection floor..... 18
Human Resources...................................................................................................... 18
Training Health Workers in Africa: Documenting Faith-Based Organizations’ Contributions18
Strengthening Human Resources Management: Knowledge, Skills and Leadership........... 18
Health Systems & Research ...................................................................................... 19
Georgia - Health System Performance Assessment ............................................................ 19
Priority setting and health policy and systems research ....................................................... 19
Evaluation of the Health Metrics Network ............................................................................. 19
Information & Communication Technology ................................................................ 20
New Technologies in Emergencies and Conflicts: The Role of Information and Social
Networks ............................................................................................................................... 20
Web 2.0 and Social Media for Development......................................................................... 20
Global Health Delivery 2.0: Using Open-Access Technologies for Transparency and
Operations Research ............................................................................................................ 20
Education ................................................................................................................... 21
Good Practice in Information and Communication Technology for Education ..................... 21
Rising to the Challenge: Health Policy Initiative Helps HIV-positive Teachers Tackle Stigma
and Discrimination in Kenya.................................................................................................. 21
Harm Reduction and Drug Use .................................................................................. 21
Patterns and Trends of Amphetamine-Type Stimulants and Other Drugs in East and South-
East Asia (and neighbouring regions) ................................................................................... 21
Cannabis as a substitute for alcohol and other drugs........................................................... 22
Millennium Development Goals.................................................................................. 22
Assessing Progress in Africa toward the Millennium Development Goals ........................... 22
Focus on 5: Women’s Health and the MDGs........................................................................ 22
Development Assistance............................................................................................ 23
Development effectiveness: towards new understandings ................................................... 23
Ownership and the Donor-Recipient Relationship ................................................................ 23
Beyond Planning: Markets and Networks for Better Aid ....................................................... 23
2009 DAC Report on Aid Predictability: Survey on Donors’ Forward Spending Plans 2009-
2011....................................................................................................................................... 24
Where did all the aid go? An in-depth analysis of increased health aid flows over the past 10
years...................................................................................................................................... 24

Aid, growth and decentralization ........................................................................................... 24
Partnerships with the Private Sector in Health...................................................................... 24
Others......................................................................................................................... 25
Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe...................................................... 25
Protecting Health from Climate Change: Global Research Priorities ................................... 25
Guide to Youth Action Against Corruption ............................................................................ 25
ELECTRONIC RESOURCES ............................................ 26

Untangling the Web of Antiretroviral Price Reductions ......................................................... 26
Medicine Prices, Availability, Affordability & Price Components........................................... 26
HIV/AIDS Learning and Resource Service ........................................................................... 26
Exchange on HIV/AIDS, Sexuality and Gender - No. 4, 2009 .............................................. 26
Bulletin of the World Health Organization (BLT) ................................................................... 27
Google Trader - Uganda’s marketplace for products and services....................................... 27
INTERESTING WEB SITES .............................................. 27

The People Living with HIV Stigma Index ............................................................................. 27
The World Care Council ........................................................................................................ 27
FrontlineSMS:Medic .............................................................................................................. 28
TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES............................................ 28
Certificate in Tropical Community Medicine and Health 2010 .............................................. 28
International Interprofessional Wound Care Course (IIWCC)............................................... 28
CONFERENCES................................................................ 29
Conference Report: Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) Forum 2009..................... 29
CARTOON ......................................................................... 29
TIPS & TRICKS ................................................................. 30

A Quicker Scroll..................................................................................................................... 30
Autoresponders ..................................................................................................................... 30
Lost Your Product Key? ........................................................................................................ 30
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NEWS FROM THE GERMAN BACKUP INITIATIVE
http://www.gtz.de/backup
‘The Forgotten’ - HIV and Disability in Tanzania
Published by the Tanzanian Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS) and sup-

ported by the German BACKUP Initiative and the Tanzania-German
Programme to Support Health (TGPSH), December 2009
37 pp. 936 kB:

http://www.gtz.de/de/dokumente/gtz2009-en-hiv-and-disability-tanzania.pdf
Many of the four million people living with a disability in Tanzania are currently excluded
from accessing health information and critical HIV services. An assessment was carried
out in early 2009 in selected districts of Tanzania mainland in order to highlight the mul-
tiple challenges that people with disabilities face in HIV & AIDS service provision and
this document presents the findings of that assessment.
BOOKS
WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2009
Implementing smoke-free environments
World Health Organization, 2009; ISBN: 978 92 4 156391 8
568 pp. 16.3 MB (!):

http://www.who.int/entity/tobacco/mpower/2009/GTCR_2009-web.pdf
The report provides a comprehensive overview of the evidence base for protecting peo-
ple from the harms of second-hand tobacco smoke through legislation and enforcement.
There is a special focus on the status of implementation of smoke-free policies, with de-
tailed data collected for the first time ever on a global basis at both the national level
and for large sub-national jurisdictions. Additional analyses of smoke-free legislation
were performed, allowing a more detailed understanding of progress and future chal-
lenges in this area.
***
What Works in Development? Thinking Big and Thinking Small
by Jessica Cohen and William Easterly, eds.

Brookings Institution Press, 2009; 250 pp.; Price: US$ 19.40
Sample Chapter -Introduction: Thinking Big versus Thinking Small

by Jessica Cohen and William Easterly
23 pp. 588 kB:

http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/Press/Books/2009/whatworksindevelopm
ent/whatworksindevelopment_chapter.pdf
The book brings together leading experts to address one of the most basic yet vexing
issues in development: what do we really know about what works - and what doesn’t - in
fighting global poverty? The contributors focus on the ongoing debate over which paths
to development truly maximize results. Should we emphasize a big-picture approach -

focusing on the role of institutions, macroeconomic policies, growth strategies, and other
country-level factors? Or is a more grassroots approach the way to go?
***
Casebook on International Health Research Ethics
Editors: Richard Cash, Daniel Wikler, Abha Saxena, Alexander Capron

The World Health Organization, 209 pp. 2009; ISBN 978 92 4 154772 7
Download the Table of Contents & Introductory Chapters (36 pp. 1.5 MB)
http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2009/9789241547727_eng.pdf
(See the ‘Table of Contents’ for access to the entire publication).
This casebook collects 64 case studies, each of which raises an important and difficult
ethical issue connected with planning, reviewing, or conducting health-related research.
The book’s purpose is to contribute to thoughtful analysis of these issues by researchers
and members of research ethics committees known in some places as ethical review
committees or institutional review boards), particularly those involved with studies that
are conducted or sponsored internationally.
***
Teenage Tata - Voices of young fathers in South Africa
by Sharlene Swartz and Arvin Bhana

Human Sciences Research Council, 2009; ISBN 13: 978-07969-2287-8,
Price: ZAR 150.00
136 pp. 2.8 MB:

http://www.hsrcpress.ac.za/downloadpdf.php?pdffile=files%2FPD
F%2F2268%2Fe_book_Teenage_Tata.pdf&downloadfilename=Teenage
%20Tata%20%20-%20entire%20Ebook
The book provides a fresh and in-depth portrait of impoverished young South African
men who became fathers while teenagers. Based on a multi-interview qualitative study
in the informal settlements and townships around Cape Town and Durban, this mono-
graph offers methodological innovations and showcases how social network interviews
offer great potential for both research and intervention.
***
Learning / Work: Turning work and lifelong learning inside out
by Linda Cooper and Shirley Walters (eds.)

Human Sciences Research Council, 2009; ISBN 13: 978-07969-2283-0,
Price: ZAR 240.00
400 pp. 1.9 MB:

http://www.hsrcpress.ac.za/downloadpdf.php?pdffile=files%2FPD
F%2F2262%2Fe_Book_Learning_Work.pdf&downloadfilename=Learnin
g%20%2F%20Work%20-%20Entire%20ebook
We are living through a daunting yet fascinating period in which the global economy in-
creasingly challenges the accepted dichotomies between home-life and work-life, be-
tween employment and unemployment, paid work and unpaid work. This calls for seri-

ous analysis of how knowledge is generated, both formally and informally, in workplaces
as diverse as the factory, the field, or the street. It raises questions about what forms of
learning and training are involved; how they articulate with one another and what practi-
cal and theoretical implications this has for our societies.
ONLINE PUBLICATIONS
HIV - AIDS - STI
Rapid advice: Antiretroviral therapy for HIV infection in adults and adoles-
cents
World Health Organization, November 2009
Based on the latest scientific evidence, WHO now recommends earlier initiation of anti-
retroviral therapy (ART) for adults and adolescents, the delivery of more patient-friendly
antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), and prolonged use of ARVs to reduce the risk
of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. For the first time, WHO recom-
mends that HIV-positive mothers or their infants take ARVs while breast-
feeding to prevent HIV transmission.
27 pp. 299 kB:

http://www.who.int/entity/hiv/pub/arv/rapid_advice_art.pdf
Rapid advice: use of antiretroviral drugs for treating pregnant women and
preventing HIV Infection in infants
25 pp. 318 kB:

http://www.who.int/entity/hiv/pub/mtct/rapid_advice_mtct.pdf
Rapid advice: revised WHO principles and recommendations on infant

feeding in the context of HIV
28 pp. 219kB:
http://www.who.int/entity/child_adolescent_health/documents/hiv_if_principles_re
commendations_112009.pdf
***
Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in HIV-1-Infected Adults and

Adolescents
Developed by the DHHS Panel on Antiretroviral Guidelines for Adults and

Adolescents – A Working Group of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory
Council (OARAC); December 1, 2009
168 pp. 1.8 MB:

http://img.thebody.com/hivatis/pdfs/adult_guide.pdf
Antiretroviral therapy should now be administered to all patients with a CD4+ cell count
of 500 cells/mm3 or less, with even earlier treatment initiation worth considering on a
case-by-case basis. The revised U.S. HIV treatment guidelines provide an intriguing
counterpoint to the revised European AIDS Clinical Society guidelines issued in Novem-
ber, which take a less-aggressive stance on the “when to start” question. (See HESP-
News & Notes - 25/2009 - page 9)

Routine versus clinically driven laboratory monitoring of HIV antiretroviral
therapy in Africa (DART): a randomised non-inferiority trial
DART Trial Team (C F Gilks, P Mugyenyi, J Hakim, A Reid et al.)

The Lancet, Early Online Publication, 9 December 2009
9 pp. 337 kB:

http://download.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140673609620675.pdf?i
d=3d35b1b5aa0ec416:1c8a4eaf:12580e925d8:7faf1260598311049
HIV antiretroviral therapy (ART) is often managed without routine laboratory monitoring
in Africa; however, the effect of this approach is unknown. This trial investigated whether
routine toxicity and efficacy monitoring of HIV-infected patients receiving ART had an
important long-term effect on clinical outcomes in Africa. The authors conclude that ART
can be delivered safely without routine laboratory monitoring for toxic effects, but differ-
ences in disease progression suggest a role for monitoring of CD4-cell count from the
second year of ART to guide the switch to second-line treatment.
***
Vaccination with ALVAC and AIDSVAX to Prevent HIV-1 Infection in Thai-

land
by Supachai Rerks-Ngarm, Punnee Pitisuttithum, Sorachai Nitayaphan et al.

N Engl J Med 361;23 - December 3, 2009
12 pp. 442 kB:

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/361/23/2209.pdf
In a community-based, randomized, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled effi-

cacy trial, the authors evaluated four priming injections of a recombinant canarypox vec-
tor vaccine (ALVAC-HIV) plus two booster injections of a recombinant glycoprotein 120
subunit vaccine (AIDSVAX B/E). The vaccine and placebo injections were administered
to 16,402 healthy men and women between the ages of 18 and 30 years in Rayong and
Chon Buri provinces in Thailand. The authors conclude that this vaccine regimen may
reduce the risk of HIV infection in a community-based population with largely heterosex-
ual risk. Although the results show only a modest benefit, they offer insight for future re-
search.
***
Early and Late Direct Costs in a Southern African Antiretroviral Treatment

Programme: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis
by Rory Leisegang, Susan Cleary, Michael Hislop et al.

PLoS Med 6(12): e1000189 (1 December 2009)
11 pp. 717 kB:

http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/fetchObjectAttachment.action?uri=info%3Ado
i%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000189&representation=PDF
There is a paucity of data on the health care costs of antiretroviral therapy (ART) pro-
grammes in Africa. The authors describe the direct heath care costs and identify the
drivers of cost over time in an HIV managed care program in Southern Africa.
***

Demographic and Socioeconomic Patterns of HIV/AIDS Prevalence in Af-
rica
by Kathleen Beegle and Damien de Walque

The World Bank, Development Research Group Poverty and Inequality Team & Human
Development and Public Services Team, October 2009
32 pp. 598 kB:

http://www-
wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/IW3P/IB/2009/10/13/000158349
_20091013162605/Rendered/PDF/WPS5076.pdf
Understanding the demographic and socioeconomic patterns of the prevalence and in-
cidence of HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa is crucial for developing programs and poli-
cies to combat HIV/AIDS. This paper looks critically at the methods and analytical chal-
lenges to study the links between socioeconomic and demographic status and
HIV/AIDS. Some of the misconceptions about the HIV/AIDS epidemic are discussed and
unusual empirical evidence from the existing body of work is presented.
***
HIV-related Stigma and Discrimination: A Summary of Recent Literature
by Kerry MacQuarrie, Traci Eckhaus and Laura Nyblade

International Center for Research on Women, August 2009
18 pp. 218 kB:

http://data.unaids.org/pub/Report/2009/20091130_stigmasummary_en.pdf
HIV-related stigma and discrimination have been acknowledged as an

impediment to mitigating the HIV epidemic since its early days, yet pro-
gramming and activities to reduce stigma and discrimination have been given much less
attention than other aspects of the epidemic. This literature review summarizes empiri-
cal literature examining the prevalence of HIV stigma and discrimination and the rela-
tionship between stigma and HIV prevention, treatment and care, as well as evaluations
of programs to reduce HIV-related stigma and discrimination.
***
Children and Aids: The Fourth Stocktaking Report 2009
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), UN Popula-

tion Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the
World Health Organization (WHO), 2009
56 pp. 5.0 MB:

http://www.uniteforchildren.org/files/CA_FSR_LoRes_PDF_EN_
USLetter_11062009.pdf
National efforts to combat AIDS, particularly by preventing mother-to-child transmission,

are showing positive results, but many HIV and AIDS affected children still struggle to
have their basic needs met. The report shows that investments in HIV and AIDS preven-
tion and treatment are paying off, especially for women and children. If they are sus-
tained, and supported by commitment and sound policies, the dividends will be meas-
ured in lives saved.

Turning the Tide: An OPEN strategy for a response to AIDS in the Pacific
by Janine Constantine, Margaret Chung, Kamma Blair et al.

Report of the Commission on AIDS in the Pacific, December 2009
150 pp. 1.5 MB:

http://data.unaids.org/pub/Report/2009/20091202_pacificcommission_en.pdf
This report outlines the key challenges that are blocking the AIDS re-
sponse in the Pacific and presents decisive steps countries in the region should take to
protect their societies, cultures and economies from HIV. In addition, the report states
that a “one size fits all” response does not suit the diversity of Pacific nations and out-
dated legislation criminalizing homosexuality and commercial sex is a major impediment
in the region.
***
Partnership with Faith-based Organizations - UNAIDS Strategic Framework
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), December 2009
32 pp. 394 kB:

http://data.unaids.org/pub/BaseDocument/2009/jc1786partnership
withfaithbasedorganizations_en.pdf
Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) have been major providers of HIV-related services.

In some areas, faith-based hospitals or clinics are the only health-care facilities that ex-
ist. FBOs are also a major source of AIDS funding, particularly in some of the least de-
veloped countries. UNAIDS has launched a new strategic framework for partnership
with FBOs in its response to HIV. The goal of the framework is to encourage stronger
partnerships between UNAIDS and FBOs in order to achieve universal access to HIV
prevention, treatment, care and support.
***
UNAIDS Legal and Regulatory Self-Assessment Tool for Male Circumcision

in Sub-Saharan Africa
by Lawrence Gostin, Susan Deller Ross, Anna Dolinsky et al.

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), 2008
20 pp. 240 kB:

http://www.malecircumcision.org/programs/documents/unaidsregu
latory_selfassessment_en.pdf
This self-assessment tool provides practical guidance on legal, regulatory, and policy
considerations associated with implementation and scale-up of male circumcision ser-
vices for HIV transmission prevention in sub-Saharan Africa. The results of the assess-
ment process will be useful for health programme planners and others who are consid-
ering the introduction or expansion of male circumcision services in the context of com-
prehensive HIV prevention programmes.
***

Sexual & Reproductive Health
Five Good Reasons to Integrate Family Planning/Reproductive Health and

HIV Services
by Karin Ringheim
Population Reference Bureau (PRB), December 2009
Read online at: http://www.prb.org/Articles/2009/fphivintegration.aspx
PRB recently published the policy brief, “Supporting the Integration of Family Planning
and HIV Services” (see HESP-News & Notes 22/2009). This article highlights five good
reasons why integration is a sound investment that will pay multiple dividends for indi-
viduals, communities, societies, and health systems.
***
Adding It Up: The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Family Planning and
Maternal and Newborn Health
by Susheela Singh, Jacqueline E. Darroch, Lori S. Ashford, Michael

Vlassoff
The Alan Guttmacher Institute and the United Nations Population Fund
(UNFPA), 2009
44 pp. 2.1 MB:

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/AddingItUp2009.pdf
Gaps in sexual and reproductive health care could be closed, and millions of lives
saved, with highly cost-effective investments. The report makes the case for increased
funding for sexual and reproductive health care - particularly in poor countries - by illus-
trating the broad impact of investments in three key areas: (1) prevention, diagnosis and
treatment of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV; (2) maternal health; and (3)
contraceptive services and supplies.
***
Evidence and Rights-Based Planning & Support Tool for SRHR/HIV-

Prevention Interventions for Young People
by Joanne Leerlooije
World Population Foundation, July 2008
50 pp. 393 kB:

http://www.stopaidsnow.org/documents/Evidence-based-
Planning-and-Support-Tool.pdf
Worldwide, extensive experience, evidence and information is available showing what

works and what does not when implementing sexual and reproductive health and rights
(SRHR). This tool attempts to document the most importance evidence, in a way that is
useful to organisations with limited time and resources, working in the day to day prac-
tice of SHRH education for young people.
***

Sexual and gender based violence in Africa
Edited by Daniel Moshenberg

Association of Concerned African Scholars (ACAS)
Bulletin N°83 - Fall 2009
51 pp. 3.4 MB:

http://concernedafricascholars.org/docs/Bulletin83.pdf
This Bulletin began in response to news reports of “corrective” and “curative” gang
rapes of lesbians in South Africa. These were then followed by news reports of a study
in South Africa that found that one in four men in South Africa had committed rape,
many of them more than once.
***
A Measure of the Future: Women’s Sexual and Reproductive Health Risk

Index for the Pacific
by Gerald Haberkorn, Arthur Jorari, Andreas Demmke et al.

Family Planning International, The Secretariat of the Pacific Community
(SPC) and Population Action International (PAI), 2009
50 pp. 1.2 MB:

http://www.populationaction.org/Publications/Reports/A_Measure_o
f_the_Future/mof.pdf
The last two decades have seen a significant improvement in the sexual and reproduc-
tive health and rights (SRHR) of Pacific Island women. Nonetheless, women continue to
suffer death and injury from preventable reproductive health problems every year. This
fact challenges the governments of Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs), de-
velopment organisations and civil society groups to work harder, to work faster, and to
work more cooperatively, towards ensuring that all Pacific Island women can realise
their full SRHR.
Maternal & Child Health
Dietary Diversity as a Measure of the Micronutrient Adequacy of Women’s

Diets in Resource-Poor Areas: Results from Five Countries
The Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance II Project (FANTA-2)

December 2009
http://www.fantaproject.org/publications/wddp_countries2009.shtml
In resource-poor environments across the globe, low-quality monotonous diets are the
norm and the risk for micronutrient deficiencies is high. Women of reproductive age are
among those most likely to suffer from micronutrient deficiencies, yet in developing
countries there are very little data on women’s micronutrient status and the quality of
women’s diets. The Women’s Dietary Diversity Project (WDDP) has analyzed data sets
from five countries: Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique and the Philippines.
The five individual site reports can be downloaded as PDF files (between 1.7 and 3.5
MB) at the above URL.
***

Blindness in Childhood in Developing Countries: Time for a Reassess-
ment?
by Parikshit Gogate, Khumbo Kalua, Paul Courtright

4 pp. 84 kB:
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/fetchObjectAttachment.action;jsessionid=2324EDA58A7F85F15DCB
A8E9B000DFE2?uri=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000177&representation=PDF
In least developed countries congenital and developmental cataract, retinal pathology,

and congenital anomalies are gaining importance as causes of blindness in children.
The relative decline in childhood factors and the corresponding increase in intra-uterine
and genetic factors suggest a need to reassess research, training, and programmatic
requirements.
Malaria
The long shadow of malaria interventions in tropical Africa
by James LA Webb
The Lancet, Vol. 374, Issue 9705, pp. 1883-1884, 5 December 2009
2 pp. 47 kB:
http://download.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS014067360962081X.pdf?i
d=4d037fefcb72946c:-73db7416:1255a96e6c9:767b1259953340429
Malaria interventions in tropical Africa have a long history, mostly forgotten. Although
current antimalaria programmes have more robust financial support than earlier cam-
paigns, the road ahead looks to be long and bumpy. The historical epidemiology of Afri-
can malaria provides a context for understanding the contemporary campaign.
***
Effectiveness of combined intermittent preventive treatment for children

and timely home treatment for malaria control
by Collins K Ahorlu, Kwadwo A Koram, Atsu K Seakey and Mitchell G Weiss

Malaria Journal 2009, 8:292 (11 December 2009)
25 pp. 156 kB:

http://www.malariajournal.com/content/pdf/1475-2875-8-292.pdf
Intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) has recently been accepted as an important

component of the malaria control strategy. This study explored the potential of a strat-
egy of intermittent preventive treatment for children (IPTC) and timely treatment of ma-
laria-related febrile illness in the home in reducing the parasite prevalence and malaria
morbidity in young children. The evaluation result indicates that IPTC given three times
in a year combined with timely treatment of febrile malaria illness, impacts significantly
on the parasite prevalence, which points to the potential for reducing malaria-related
childhood morbidity and mortality.
***

Rapid assessments of the private sector supply chain for antimalarial
drugs in Benin, Nigeria and Cambodia
by Sarah Tougher, Edith Patouillard, Ben Palafox, Catherine Goodman, Kara Hanson
Population Services International and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medi-
cine, November 2009
All three of these countries have successfully applied for the first phase of the Afford-
able Medicines Facility - Malaria (AMFm), a new financing mechanism for antimalarial
drugs which aims to significantly reduce the price of Artemisinin-based combination
therapies (ACTs) by offering a co-payment for ACTs purchased by eligible buyers. The
reports seek to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the supply chains in each
country, and to describe how the private sector would respond to subsidised ACTs.
The private commercial sector distribution chain for antimalarial drugs in Benin
44 pp. 535 kB:
http://www.crehs.lshtm.ac.uk/downloads/publications/ACT_Benin.pdf
The private commercial sector distribution chain for malaria treatment in Cambodia
19 pp. 317 kB:
http://www.crehs.lshtm.ac.uk/downloads/publications/ACT_Cambodia.pdf
The private commercial sector distribution chain for antimalarial drugs in Nigeria
31 pp. 707 kB:
http://www.crehs.lshtm.ac.uk/downloads/publications/ACT_Nigeria.pdf
Tuberculosis
Global Tuberculosis Control: A short update to the 2009 report
by Léopold Blanc, Dennis Falzon, Christopher Fitzpatrick et al.

World Health Organization, December 2009
48 pp. 1.4 MB:

http://www.who.int/entity/tb/publications/global_report/2009/update
/tbu_9.pdf
The report includes the latest (2008) estimates of the global burden of TB (incidence,
prevalence and mortality). It also includes an assessment of progress in implementing
the Stop TB Strategy and the Global Plan to Stop TB, which in combination have set out
what needs to be done to achieve the 2015 global targets for TB control.
***
Pathways to better diagnostics for tuberculosis

A blueprint for the development of TB diagnostics
by Russell Dacombe, Tony Murdoch Martine Guillerm et al.

World Health Organization, 2009
151 pp. 5.5 MB:

http://www.stoptb.org/wg/new_diagnostics/assets/documents/Blu
ePrintTB_annex_web.pdf

The publication is designed to help identify the most promising TB tests and the bottle-
necks that delay their development. The document guides readers through the different
phases of the development process – from discovery to delivery – while also supplying
them with the information needed for independent evaluation and assessment of new
tools’ likely impacts based on scientifically sound methodology.
***
2009 Report on Tuberculosis Research Funding Trends, 2005-2008
Treatment Action Group, November 2009
40 pp. 1.1 MB:

http://www.treatmentactiongroup.org/uploadedFiles/About/Publications/TA
G_Publica-
tions/2009/TAG_STBP%202009TBRD%20Resource%20Tracking%20Report%2
0(Web%20Version%20Final).pdf
The report shows that lack of funding is the main obstacle to progress on
developing a highly sensitive quick blood or urine test for active TB disease, new drugs
and an effective vaccine. It finds that research funding for tuberculosis increased just
7% between 2007 and 2008. In 2008, for the first time since TAG began reporting on TB
research funding, philanthropic grants outstripped government funding for TB research.
***
Health care seeking among pulmonary tuberculosis suspects and patients

in rural Ethiopia: a community-based study
by Solomon Yimer, Carol Holm-Hansen, Tilahun Yimaldu et al.

BMC Public Health 2009, 9:454 (9 December 2009)
27 pp. 170 kB:

http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2458-9-454.pdf
The objective of this study was to describe and analyze health care seeking among TB
suspects and pulmonary TB (PTB) cases in a rural district of the Amhara Region in
Ethiopia. The authors found that the majority of TB suspects and PTB cases had al-
ready taken health care actions for their symptoms at the time of the survey. The avail-
ability of a simple and rapid diagnostic TB test for use at the lowest level of health care
and the involvement of all health providers in case finding activities are imperative for
early TB case detection.
Other Infectious Diseases
Chikungunya: an emerging and spreading arthropod-borne viral disease
by Francesca Cavrini, Paolo Gaibani, Anna Maria Pierro et al.

J Infect Dev Ctries 2009; 3(10):744-752 (3 November 2009)
9 pp. 247 kB:

http://www.jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/viewFile/169/311
The infection caused by the virus Chikungunya is known since the last 50 years, but
since the disease was mainly diffuse in geographical areas located in developing coun-

tries, only few research work has been made available. Nowadays, Chikungunya is
spreading in Southeast Asia countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Sin-
gapore. This paper reviews different aspects of the disease caused by Chikungunya vi-
rus, including history, epidemiology, biological and pathogenetic aspects, clinical pic-
tures, diagnosis and treatment.
***
Trachoma: there’s progress to report
by Paul Chinnock
TropIKA.net; 2 December 2009
Read online at:

http://www.tropika.net/svc/review/Chinnock-20091202-Review-trachoma-roundup
Trachoma is classed as a neglected tropical disease (NTD) and is usually considered to

be one of the “main seven” NTDs, all of them very common conditions for which effec-
tive methods of prevention and treatment already exist but fail to get through to most of
the people who need them.
Essential Medicines
Opinion formers’ Conference on Counterfeit Medicines Perspectives and

action
Conference Report and Briefing
Co-organised by the Wellcome Trust and the American Pharmaceutical Group, London,
26 October 2009
12 pp. 5.9 MB:

http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/stellent/groups/corporatesite/@policy_communication
s/documents/web_document/WTX057518.pdf
The illegal trade in counterfeit medicines is of great concern to public health authorities
and patients. The principal aims of the conference were to draw out consensus on the
key issues and, most importantly, to identify ways in which the problem could be tack-
led. This report is a summary of the meeting, capturing what was commonly agreed
upon and what next steps now need to be taken.
***
Brazilian GTPI/ABIA - greatest initiatives & villains for access to medicines

2009
10 pp. 1.1 MB:

http://www.abiaids.org.br/_img/media/SOBE%20E%20DESCE%2
0GTPI%20INGLES.pdf
On 1 December, World AIDS Day, the Brazilian Working Group on Intellectual Property
(GTPI) and the Brazilian Interdisciplinary AIDS Association (ABIA) published a list with
the greatest initiatives for increasing access to antiretroviral medicines in 2009. Also, the
GTPI / ABIA listed the major villains - that by omission or financial interests - put the
commercial profit above the right to health. In the list, there are companies, Brazilian
politicians, among other categories.

Essential Medicines Monitor
World Health Organization - Issue 2 (November 2009)
8 pp. 308 kB:

http://www.who.int/entity/medicines/publications/monitor/EMMIssue22009.pdf
 Using cell phones to improve adherence to antiretrovirals in Kenya - promising re-

sults;
 How Ghana monitors the management of medicines;
 A study in Mali looks at factors influencing the use of research findings when updat-
ing the Essential Medicines List.
Social Security
Cash transfers: targeting
by Rachel Slater and John Farrington

Overseas Development Institute (ODI), November 2009
4 pp. 178 kB:

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/lib.nsf/db900sid/JBRN-
7YBDZM/$file/ODI_nov09.pdf?openelement
There is evidence that, on average, targeting cash transfers provides more resources to
the poor than random allocations. But good targeting does not happen easily or without
costs. This project briefing summarises the main findings from the targeting component
of ODI’s three-year research project on cash transfers.
***
10-year effect of Oportunidades, Mexico’s conditional cash transfer pro-

gramme, on child growth, cognition, language, and behaviour: a longitudi-
nal follow-up study
by Lia CH Fernald, Paul J Gertler, Lynnette M Neufeld

The Lancet, Vol. 374, Issue 9706, pp, 1997-2005, 12 December 2009
9 pp. 238 kB:

http://download.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140673609616767.pdf?i
d=3d35b1b5aa0ec416:1c8a4eaf:1257ed6f51f:1ceb1260558300426
Mexico's conditional cash transfer programme, Oportunidades, was started to improve

the lives of poor families through interventions in health, nutrition, and education. The
authors investigated the effect of Oportunidades on children almost 10 years after the
programme began.
***
Insurance, Credit and Safety Nets for the Poor in a World of Risk
by Daniel Clarke and Stefan Dercon

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN/DESA), October 2009

18 pp. 252 kB:
http://www.un.org/esa/desa/papers/2009/wp81_2009.pdf
This paper asks how insurance can be more effectively delivered to the poor, and what
its role should be relative to other microfinance programmes, safety nets and informal
insurance systems. The authors argue that well-designed insurance schemes, building
on existing informal systems, and focusing on catastrophic and serious covariate risks,
could offer protection against risk and contribute to poverty reduction beyond the com-
bined impact of microcredit programmes, safety nets and existing informal mutual sup-
port systems.
***
The Landscape of Microinsurance in Africa
by Michal Matul, Michael J. McCord, Caroline Phily and Job Harms

Briefing Note #1, International Labour Organization (ILO), October 2009
8 pp. 409 kB:

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/mifacility/download/brnote1_en.pdf
Microinsurance is growing and expanding throughout Africa. This study identified over
fourteen million low-income people in Africa who were covered by microinsurance at the
end of 2008. Even with such growth, there are clearly significant gaps. Substantial parts
of the continent remain almost barren of microinsurance. This study provides a detailed
picture of microinsurance in Africa and discusses challenges in the years to come in or-
der to facilitate broader, high-quality expansion.
***
Micro-credit: an alternative for women’s empowerment?
One-day consultation organised by WIDE, May 15th, 2009 in Brus-

sels - Published in September 2009
19 pp. 95 kB:
http://62.149.193.10/wide/download/Microcredit_Report_ENG.pdf?id=1050
What are the positive and negative impacts of microcredit on women and what role they
can play in tackling poverty in the European Union (EU)? The document examines
whether microcredit be considered a sustainable alternative to stimulate employment
and the fight against poverty and discrimination both in the Global South as well as in
the EU.
***
Microinsurance that Works for Women

Making Microinsurance Programs Gender-Sensitive
by Anjali Banthia, Susan Johnson, Michael J. McCord, Brandon Mathews

Briefing Note #2, International Labour Organization (ILO), October 2009
4 pp. 641 kB:

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/employment/mifacility/download/brnote2_en.pdf
The authors explore how health and life microinsurance could be designed to more ef-
fectively respond to women’s needs, and offer practical advice to insurance companies
for delivering such schemes. They conclude with a call to action for insurance compa-

nies, delivery channels, researchers and donors to make insurance more gender-
sensitive, which will serve the dual mission of poverty alleviation and profitability.
***
Strengthening social security in economic crises: The need for a social

protection floor
by Ellen Ehmke and Mara Skaletz

Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) - Briefing Paper 14 - October 2009
9 pp. 298 kB:

http://library.fes.de/pdf-files/iez/global/06739.pdf
Investments in social security enable societies to be better prepared for future economic
crises since these tend to be cyclical. Even though the actual crisis might be the worst
since the Great Depression of the 1930s, it will probably not be the last. Working to-
wards the universal realization of a social floor and subsequently the full realization of
the right to social security will pay off by now and in the future.
Human Resources
Training Health Workers in Africa: Documenting Faith-Based Organiza-

tions’ Contributions
by Erika Pearl, Sarla Chand and Craig Hafner

Capacity Project Technical Brief # 17, November 2009
4 pp. 117 kB:

http://www.capacityproject.org/images/stories/files/techbrief_17.pdf
The World Health Organization estimates that faith-based organizations (FBOs) provide
30-70% of health care in the developing world. However, there is very little recognition
or documentation of the contributions that FBOs make in the pre-service and in-service
training of health care professionals, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. This research
highlights the importance of supporting the faith-based community to document their
contribution to the health sectors in their respective countries.
***
Strengthening Human Resources Management: Knowledge, Skills and

Leadership
by James A. McCaffery and Ummuro Adano

Capacity Project Legacy Series # 11, September 2009
4 pp. 136 kB:

http://www.capacityproject.org/images/stories/files/legacyseries_11.pdf
The ways that health workers are planned, managed and supported affects the quality
of health services they are able to deliver. At the same time, adequate Human Re-
sources (HR) Management capacity remains one of the critical missing factors in current
efforts to meet the goals of national and global health system strengthening efforts. A
professionalized cadre of HR managers can provide leadership among health sector

leaders and managers, and facilitate processes to involve employees in developing and
maintaining sound HR policies and applying them consistently and fairly.
Health Systems & Research
Georgia - Health System Performance Assessment
Regional Office for Europe of the World Health Organization, 2009
138 pp. 2.0 MB:

http://www.euro.who.int/document/E92960.pdf
This report presents an assessment of the performance of the Georgian health system
against a number of key performance dimensions: the health status of the population;
the quality of health services and health care outcomes; health promotion and disease
prevention policies; equity and financial protection; access to health care services; effi-
ciency and effectiveness of health services, etc.
***
Priority setting and health policy and systems research
by Michael K Ranson and Sara C Bennett

Health Research Policy and Systems 2009, 7:27 (4 December 2009)
24 pp. 134 kB:

http://www.health-policy-systems.com/content/pdf/1478-4505-7-27.pdf
Health policy and systems research (HPSR) has been identified as critical to scaling-up
interventions to achieve the millennium development goals, but research priority setting
exercises often do not address HPSR well. While country-level research priority setting
is key, there is likely to be a continued need for the identification of global research pri-
orities for HPSR. The paper argues that such global priorities can and should be driven
by country level priorities.
***
Evaluation of the Health Metrics Network

Final Report
by Chris Walker, Anne Thomson and Michael Rigby

Oxford Policy Management, November 2009
88 pp. 567 kB:

http://www.who.int/entity/healthmetrics/HMN_Eval_Nov09.pdf
The report of the first independent Evaluation of Health Metrics Network (HMN) provides
a valuable assessment of its achievements since 2005 and makes strategic recommen-
dations for the future course of the Network. The Evaluation examined HMN's role in the
Health Information System (HIS) field, management and operations, and strategic direc-
tions. Interviews with stakeholders, publication reviews, and visits to Cambodia, Sierra
Leone, Malawi and Paraguay were conducted to look at HMN's impact at both global
and national levels.
***

Information & Communication Technology
New Technologies in Emergencies and Conflicts: The Role of Information

and Social Networks
by Diane Coyle and Patrick Meier

United Nations Foundation and Vodafone Foundation, 2009
60 pp. 7.9 MB:

http://www.globalproblems-globalsolutions-
files.org/pdf/UNF_tech/emergency_tech_report2009
This report looks at innovation in the use of technology along the timeline of crisis re-
sponse, from emergency preparedness and alerts to recovery and rebuilding. It profiles
organizations whose work is advancing the frontlines of innovation, offers an overview of
international efforts to increase sophistication in the use of IT and social networks during
emergencies, and provides recommendations for how governments, aid groups, and in-
ternational organizations can leverage this innovation to improve community resilience.
***
Web 2.0 and Social Media for Development

(distance self-learning module)
http://www.imarkgroup.org/moduledescription_en.asp?id=109#audience
Information Management Resource Kit (IMARK) is mobilizing and building upon existing
resources to create a comprehensive suite of distance learning resources for informa-
tion management and exchange. This module describes a wide range of social media
tools that enhance the ways in which information is created and published, and which
provide the means to collaborate and share resources online. It also describes how to
take advantage of those tools for more effective networking, collaboration and exchange
of knowledge.
***
Global Health Delivery 2.0: Using Open-Access Technologies for Trans-

parency and Operations Research
by Duncan Smith-Rohrberg Maru, Aditya Sharma, Jason

Andrews et al.
5 pp. 246 kB:

http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/fetchObjectAttachment.action;jses-
sionid=7A39A3279022386CDB7905BBC14B5366?uri=info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjour
nal.pmed.1000158&representation=PDF
The authors at Nyaya Health describe several simple Web 2.0 strategies they have im-
plemented during the course of delivering medical and public health services in rural
Nepal.
***

Education
Good Practice in Information and Communication Technology for Educa-

tion
by Swetal Sindhvad, Stephen Banta, Myla Bonto et al.

Asian Development Bank (ADB), 2009
34 pp. 558 kB:

http://www.adb.org/documents/guidelines/good-practice-in-ict-for-
education/Good-Practice-in-ICT-for-Education.pdf
ICT for education is a rapidly evolving and high-priority development area. This guide
stresses the importance of a holistic good practice framework in which ICT for education
issues are pursued through three interrelated perspectives. The guide draws on a range
of sources, including the findings of ADB’s studies on ICT for education and the experi-
ence ADB has gained with stakeholders and partners in providing project assistance for
ICT for education in its developing member countries.
***
Rising to the Challenge: Health Policy Initiative Helps HIV-positive Teach-

ers Tackle Stigma and Discrimination in Kenya
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), September 2009
8 pp. 2.3 MB:

http://www.healthpolicyinitiative.com/Publications/Documents/839_1_Education_
sector_FINAL_acc.pdf
This brief highlights a project providing training and financial support to strengthen and
expand the Kenya Network of Positive Teachers (KENEPOTE) and supporting the de-
velopment of a new network to support people living with HIV, fight stigma and discrimi-
nation, and raise awareness of HIV at post-primary educational institutions - the Kenya
AIDS Network for Post-primary Institutions (KANEPPI).
Harm Reduction and Drug Use
Patterns and Trends of Amphetamine-Type Stimulants and Other Drugs in

East and South-East Asia (and neighbouring regions)
by Deepika Naruka, Johannes Lund, Nicholas Kozel et al.

United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), November 2009
152 pp. 10.7 MB:

http://www.unodc.org/documents/eastasiaandpacific//2009/11/ats-
report/2009_Patterns_and_Trends.pdf
The report aims to create better understanding of the situation with regard to ampheta-
mine-type stimulants and to promote the design of appropriate scientific, evidence-
based policies and programmes to respond to it. The report shows, among other find-
ings, that countries in East and South-East Asia have different capacities to monitor and
react to the threat posed by synthetic drugs.

Cannabis as a substitute for alcohol and other drugs
by Amanda Reiman
Harm Reduction Journal 2009, 6:35 (3 December 2009)
13 pp. 112 kB:

http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/pdf/1477-7517-6-35.pdf
Substitution can be operationalized as the conscious choice to use one drug (legal or il-
licit) instead of, or in conjunction with, another due to issues such as: perceived safety;
level of addiction potential; effectiveness in relieving symptoms; access and level of ac-
ceptance. The substitution of one psychoactive substance for another with the goal of
reducing negative outcomes can be included within the framework of harm reduction.
Medical cannabis patients have been engaging in substitution by using cannabis as an
alternative to alcohol, prescription and illicit drugs.
Millennium Development Goals
Assessing Progress in Africa toward the Millennium Development Goals
by Kasirim Nwuke, Adrian Gauci, Oumar Diallo et al.

Economic Commission of Africa, 2009
82 pp. 2.5 MB:

http://www.uneca.org/eca_programmes/acgd/Publications/MDGR2009.pdf
The objective of this report is to provide the latest Africa-specific MDGs

analysis and to contribute to the development of policies to accelerate progress toward
achievement of the MDGs in this region. The overall message of this report is that pro-
gress toward the MDGs remains on course, albeit unevenly across some goals and sub
regions.
***
Focus on 5: Women’s Health and the MDGs
Prepared by Women Deliver in consultation with Family Care International

and selected non-governmental organizations, individuals, and multilateral
and UN agencies, 2009
22 pp. 366 kB:

https://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/images/publicatio
ns/2009/focus_on_5.pdf
Of all the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), MDG 5 - Improve Maternal Health -
has made the least progress. It is the most underfunded of the health-related MDGs.
Globally, the MDGs are widely accepted as the path to ending poverty. But one central
fact is not yet widely understood: none of these goals can be achieved without more
progress in promoting women’s reproductive rights and protecting maternal and new-
born health.
***

Development Assistance
Development effectiveness: towards new understandings
By Shannon Kindornay and Bill Morton

North-South Institute, September 2009
6 pp. 151kB:
http://www.nsi-ins.ca/english/pdf/Issues%20Brief%20Sept.pdf
According to this brief, aid effectiveness refers to how effective aid is in achieving ex-
pected outputs and stated objectives of aid interventions. On the other hand, the paper
observes, aid actors are also interested in development effectiveness, a term which
lacks clarity leaving it open to considerable scope for interpretation. The term is used
differently by different actors in different contexts.
***
Ownership and the Donor-Recipient Relationship
by Lindsay Whitfield
Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), 2009
12 pp. 451 kB:

http://www.diis.dk/graphics/Publications/WP2009/WP2009-
18_Ownership_Donor-Recipient_Relationship_web.pdf
At the centre of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness is the idea of country owner-
ship. It is meant to change the situation in many aid dependent African countries where
donors dominate decision-making over which policies are adopted, how aid is spent,
and what conditions are attached to its release. This article assesses the impact of re-
cent aid reforms to put ownership into practice. It looks at the contradictory and compet-
ing usages of the term - ownership as commitment and ownership as control.
***
Beyond Planning: Markets and Networks for Better Aid
by Owen Barder
Center for Global Development, October 2009
45 pp. 1.7 MB:

http://www.cgdev.org/files/1422971_file_Beyond_Planning_FINAL.pdf
Reforming the aid system is a well-worn mantra that, in practice, has witnessed moder-
ate progress. The Paris Declaration, the Accra Agenda for Action are well-meaning di-
rectives but improvements have been very slow. Subsequently, reform of the aid para-
digm is needed to counter such chronic structural problems and so prevent aid from do-
ing damage to institutions in developing countries and, in short, to ensure that aid is ef-
fectively used for poverty reduction.
***

2009 DAC Report on Aid Predictability: Survey on Donors’ Forward Spend-
ing Plans 2009-2011
by Suzanne Steensen and Fredrik Ericsson

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), 2009
42 pp. 4.1 MB:

http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/46/19/43161677.pdf
The Survey on Donors’ Forward Spending Plans is a unique instrument as it is the only
regular process at the global level that brings together most bilateral and multilateral aid
spending plans, one to three years ahead, with the aim of improving global predictability
of future aid flows. The 2009 report identifies potential gaps, overlaps and opportunities
for future aid allocations for all 153 DAC aid recipient countries.
***
Where did all the aid go? An in-depth analysis of increased health aid
flows over the past 10 years
by Paolo Piva & Rebecca Dodd

Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2009;87:930-939, (December 2009)
10 pp. 1.0 MB:

http://www.who.int/entity/bulletin/volumes/87/12/08-058677.pdf
The authors present a study analyzing health aid from different perspectives such as
share of aid for STD versus other Health problems, aid spent for technical cooperation,
and through general budget support or projects. Although political momentum towards
aid effectiveness is increasing at global level, some very real aid management chal-
lenges remain at country level.
***
Aid, growth and decentralization
by Christian Lessmanny and Gunther Markwardt

Technische Universität Dresden, April 2009
31 pp. 336 kB:

https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-
bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=IIPF65&paper_id=198
Many developing countries rely heavily on foreign aid and over time, interest has been
growing about its efficiency. In the past three decades researchers have been investi-
gating the aid-growth nexus but there is still no consensus. This paper examines
whether the federal structure of aid-receiving countries matters in explaining aid effec-
tiveness. It investigates whether aid effectiveness depends on decentralization in devel-
oping countries.
***
Partnerships with the Private Sector in Health

What the International Community Can Do to Strengthen Health Systems in Developing
Countries
by April Harding
Center for Global Development, 2009

62 pp. 794 kB:
http://www.cgdev.org/files/1423350_file_CGD_PSAF_Report_web.pdf
The private sector plays a significant role in delivering health care to peo-
ple in developing countries. By some estimates, more than one-half of all
health care - even to the poorest people - is provided by private doctors,
other health workers, drug sellers, and other non-state actors. This reality
creates problems and potential.
Others
Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe
by Nathan Taback, Kristen Leanderson Abrams, Sara Andrews et al.

AIDS-Free World, December 2009
65 pp. 1.4 MB:

http://www.aids-
freeworld.org/images/stories/Zimbabwe/zim%20grid%20screenversionfinal.pdf
Robert Mugabe is still president of Zimbabwe because his party commanded, committed
and condoned widespread, systematic rape in 2008 to terrorize the political opposition.
It worked, and the perpetrators remain untouched. AIDS-Free World interviewed more
than 70 survivors and witnesses and collected sworn affidavits that show a pattern of
orchestrated violence. The report tells the women’s stories and makes the case for the
world to step in and end impunity for rape.
***
Protecting Health from Climate Change: Global Research Priorities
Rapporteurs: Kristie Ebi, Wilfred Kriesel, Jostacio Lapitan et al.

World Health Organization, 2009
32 pp. 605 kB:

http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2009/9789241598187_eng.pdf
Weather and climate affect the key determinants of human health: air, food and water.
In order to guide research in this field, WHO carried out a global consultation. Experts
on climate change, health and related disciplines produced background reports covering
each of the themes identified by the World Health Assembly Resolution. This report pre-
sents the conclusions and recommendations from this process, with the aim of improv-
ing the evidence base for policies to protect health from climate change.
***
Guide to Youth Action Against Corruption

The Role of Youth in the Fight Against Corruption
by Vincent Kodongo, Mark Njoroge, Con Osendo Omore et al.

Africa Youth Trust, 2009
64 pp. 3.1 MB:

http://www.africayouthtrust.org/resources/docs/library/AYT_Yout
h_Action_Against_Corruption_Guide.pdf

What impact can Kenya’s youth have on corruption? This guide aims to bring together a
unified understanding of what corruption is and takes a look at measures to fight it. In
this publication, the Youth is considered as those aged between the ages of 15-30,
which makes up about 40% of Kenya’s population. The guide provides a useful intro-
duction to corruption with advice on ways to combat it.
ELECTRONIC RESOURCES
Untangling the Web of Antiretroviral Price Reductions
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), December 2009
MSF’s guide to the prices of AIDS medicines, is now in its

12th edition. In addition to the paper publication of the new
edition (coming soon), they announce the launch of a new online version of the report at
http://utw.msfaccess.org The online version reproduces the features of “Untangling the
Web” - an analysis of the access to antiretrovirals environment, individual drug profile
pages with prices quoted by companies, charts representing the evolution in price in
previous years, and a spotlight on access issues including a look at patents and paedi-
atrics - in a clear, user-friendly and free-flowing design.
***
Medicine Prices, Availability, Affordability & Price Components
http://www.haiweb.org/medicineprices/
An updated compilation of national and multi-county sources of medicine price informa-

tion that can be accessed through the internet is now available on the above Health Ac-
tion International (HAI) Global Medicine Prices website. The results of over 50 surveys
are currently available on the database, along with survey reports and other information.
***
HIV/AIDS Learning and Resource Service
http://health.uneca.org/
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) has

launched an electronic knowledge platform on the impacts of HIV/AIDS on African coun-
tries, with emphasis on lessons learned from the Treatment Acceleration Programme
(TAP). TAP was piloted in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Mozambique and generated crucial
lessons in voluntary testing and counselling, drug resistance, prevention of mother-to-
child transmission, public-private partnerships, and socio-economic determinants of ad-
herence to HIV treatment.
***
Exchange on HIV/AIDS, Sexuality and Gender - No. 4, 2009

The role of multiple and concurrent partnerships in the spread of HIV
The Royal Tropical Institute (KIT), Amsterdam, December 2009
16 pp. 5.3 MB:

http://www.kit.nl/net/KIT_Publicaties_output/ShowFile2.aspx?e=1598

“Exchange” is a quarterly magazine on HIV/AIDS, gender and sexual
health published in English. In concurrent partnership, one may be in a
sexual network with more than one ongoing sexual relationship at the
same time. Therefore, concurrent partnerships expose everybody in an
ongoing sexual network to greater risk of HIV infection.
***
Bulletin of the World Health Organization (BLT)

Volume 87, Number 12, December 2009, 885-964
http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/87/12/en/
N THIS MONTH’S BULLETIN:
Spain: Public-private mix; Afghanistan: Is health care improving for chil-

dren?; China: Suicide: rural women reaching their limit; China: Success in maternal
health; Burkina Faso, Mali & the Niger: Estimating schistosomiasis infection; Africa:
Treating children for cerebral malaria; India: War on rabies; India: Polio vaccine for
newborns; India: Private obstetric care for the poor; Cambodia: Why do women chew
tobacco?; Where did all the aid go?; When children swallow corrosive substances
***
Google Trader - Uganda’s marketplace for products and services
http://www.google.co.ug/africa/trader/home?gl=UG
Trader is a service that allows Africans to buy and sell

goods and services on their computer using the web and on
their phones using SMS. Use it to buy and sell electronics, crops, tools, cars, properties,
or anything else that you need or have. For more information see:
http://www.google.co.ug/africa/trader/help?gl=UG
INTERESTING WEB SITES

The People Living with HIV Stigma Index
http://www.stigmaindex.org/
The People Living with HIV Stigma Index provides a tool that will measure and detect
changing trends in relation to stigma and discrimination experienced by people living
with HIV. In the initiative, the process is just as important as the product. It aims to ad-
dress stigma relating to HIV while also advocating on the key barriers and issues per-
petuating stigma - a key obstacle to HIV treatment, prevention, care and support.
***
The World Care Council
http://www.worldcarecouncil.org
The World Care Council is a NGO registered in India, France and the
Democratic Republic of Congo, that strives to raise the standards of care

for people with Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and other communicable diseases. Driven by
people living with HIV and/or TB, the World Care Council advances a Rights and Re-
sponsibilities approach to confronting these pandemics by influencing policy at the ‘top’,
and mobilizing for implementation from the ‘bottom’.
***
FrontlineSMS:Medic
http://medic.frontlinesms.com/
The mission of FrontlineSMS:Medic is to advance healthcare net-

works in under served communities using innovative, appropriate mobile technologies.
The centerpiece of the system is FrontlineSMS, a free, open-source software platform
that enables large-scale, two-way text messaging using only a laptop, a GSM modem,
and inexpensive cell phones. The FrontlineSMS platform is also being extended to en-
able better patient management, electronic medical records via the cell phone, cheap
mobile diagnostics, and mapping of health services.
TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Certificate in Tropical Community Medicine and Health 2010
Start: February 2010 and September 2010

Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, UK
Course Content: Special health care problems of developing countries in the tropics;
expand your role in the primary health care team; undertake some organisational man-
agement responsibilities (selection).
Target Audience: Health care professionals

Language: English
For more information contact:

Tel: +44-151-705-3266
Fax: +44-151-705-3370
mailto:robbinsv@liverpool.ac.uk
or see: http://www.liv.ac.uk/lstm/
For more courses and conferences see also:

http://www.going-international.at/index.php?lang=EN
***
International Interprofessional Wound Care Course (IIWCC)
Stellenbosch, South Africa
The 12 month course combines 2 residential weekends with online self-study

modules and a course selective.
The first residential weekend is February 4-7, 2010 at the Stellenbosch University / Ty-
gerberg Campus near Cape Town, South Africa.

Goal: To train persons from any professional discipline who are delivering wound care in
practice, to provide scientific grounding in the elements of wound healing science, es-
tablish interdisciplinary wound healing provision as a field of speciality and to translate
new knowledge into practice.
Health professionals working in wound care should fill out the application form on the
course website: http://www.sun.ac.za/woundcare
Registration closes on January 15, 2010.
CONFERENCES
Conference Report: Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) Forum 2009
6 - 9 July 2009 - Johannesburg, South Africa
by Liz Dartnall, Lizle Loots, Rachel Jewkes et al.

Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI), December 2009
35 pp. 409 kB:

http://svriforum2009.svri.org/conferencereport.pdf
In July 2009, 194 people from around the world came together to share and discuss re-
search on sexual violence. The Sexual Violence Research Initiative and partners,
through this event, sought to promote research on sexual violence, particularly in devel-
oping countries; highlight innovative work in the field; and, encourage sharing and net-
working in what is still a relatively young field of knowledge and knowledge building.
This report summarizes the proceedings of this unique global event.
CARTOON
***

TIPS & TRICKS
A Quicker Scroll
Have you ever accidentally pushed down on your mouse’s scroll wheel like a button?
What happened? Did you see something like this?
Voila, you have stumbled onto yet another way to scroll up and down on a web
page! Just click your scroll wheel in your favourite web browser and drag your
mouse up and down. You will be able to navigate in a more gestural manner
instead of rolling your mouse wheel around! It doesn’t work everywhere, but most web
browsers, MS Word and Adobe Acrobat support this feature, so give it a try today!
***
Autoresponders
An ‘autoresponder’ for e-mail sends a message back every time a message is received.
This is great for when you are going to be out of the office or away for awhile on vaca-
tion, but there are some risks associated with doing this, too. When you have your e-
mail programme set to automatically respond to every message you get, you send back
to everything, including spam messages. All a spammer needs to know is that your e-
mail address is valid to open the floodgates for even more spam, and your autore-
sponse tells them that! In other words, be careful when using autoresponders, or better
yet, avoid them altogether!
***
Lost Your Product Key?
It might happen that you have your Windows installation disks, but the product key is
nowhere to be found! Usually it is located on a sticker stuck somewhere on our com-
puter case, but what do you do in those other instances? Panic? Nope, just look for a
product key finder!
Your product key is actually located right within your Windows registry, and today’s keys
are encrypted, making them difficult to find/identify. That’s where a key finder comes in!
The one I recommend is called “Magic Jellybean Keyfinder”, which locates and decrypts
keys for Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, Server 2003, Server 2008, Office XP,
Office 2003, and Office 2007. Free download at: http://magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/
Then just run the programme and follow the instructions. You are looking for a number
formatted like xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx – five sets of five letters and numbers.
Write it down and keep it for the next time you need it.
Best regards,
Dieter Neuvians MD

Health, Education, Social Protection News &amp; Notes 26/2009

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Health, Education, Social Protection News &amp; Notes 26/2009

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Health, Education, Social Protection

News & Notes 26/2009

NEWS FROM THE GERMAN BACKUP INITIATIVE .......... 4

ONLINE PUBLICATIONS .................................................... 6

HESP-News & Notes - 26/2009 - page 1

HESP-News & Notes - 26/2009 - page 2

ELECTRONIC RESOURCES ............................................ 26

INTERESTING WEB SITES .............................................. 27

TIPS & TRICKS ................................................................. 30

To subscribe for free to the newsletter send an e-mail to:

HESP-News & Notes - 26/2009 - page 3

‘The Forgotten’ - HIV and Disability in Tanzania

Published by the Tanzanian Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS) and sup-

37 pp. 936 kB:

World Health Organization, 2009; ISBN: 978 92 4 156391 8

568 pp. 16.3 MB (!):

What Works in Development? Thinking Big and Thinking Small

by Jessica Cohen and William Easterly, eds.

Sample Chapter -Introduction: Thinking Big versus Thinking Small

23 pp. 588 kB:

HESP-News & Notes - 26/2009 - page 4

Casebook on International Health Research Ethics

Editors: Richard Cash, Daniel Wikler, Abha Saxena, Alexander Capron

Teenage Tata - Voices of young fathers in South Africa

by Sharlene Swartz and Arvin Bhana

136 pp. 2.8 MB:

Learning / Work: Turning work and lifelong learning inside out

by Linda Cooper and Shirley Walters (eds.)

400 pp. 1.9 MB:

HESP-News & Notes - 26/2009 - page 5

27 pp. 299 kB:

25 pp. 318 kB:

Rapid advice: revised WHO principles and recommendations on infant

Guidelines for the Use of Antiretroviral Agents in HIV-1-Infected Adults and

Developed by the DHHS Panel on Antiretroviral Guidelines for Adults and

168 pp. 1.8 MB:

HESP-News & Notes - 26/2009 - page 6

DART Trial Team (C F Gilks, P Mugyenyi, J Hakim, A Reid et al.)

9 pp. 337 kB:

Vaccination with ALVAC and AIDSVAX to Prevent HIV-1 Infection in Thai-

by Supachai Rerks-Ngarm, Punnee Pitisuttithum, Sorachai Nitayaphan et al.

12 pp. 442 kB:

In a community-based, randomized, multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled effi-

Early and Late Direct Costs in a Southern African Antiretroviral Treatment

by Rory Leisegang, Susan Cleary, Michael Hislop et al.

11 pp. 717 kB:

HESP-News & Notes - 26/2009 - page 7

by Kathleen Beegle and Damien de Walque

32 pp. 598 kB:

HIV-related Stigma and Discrimination: A Summary of Recent Literature

by Kerry MacQuarrie, Traci Eckhaus and Laura Nyblade

18 pp. 218 kB:

HIV-related stigma and discrimination have been acknowledged as an

Children and Aids: The Fourth Stocktaking Report 2009

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), UN Popula-

56 pp. 5.0 MB:

National efforts to combat AIDS, particularly by preventing mother-to-child transmission,

HESP-News & Notes - 26/2009 - page 8

by Janine Constantine, Margaret Chung, Kamma Blair et al.

150 pp. 1.5 MB:

Partnership with Faith-based Organizations - UNAIDS Strategic Framework

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), December 2009

32 pp. 394 kB:

Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) have been major providers of HIV-related services.

Health, Education, Social Protection News & Notes 26/2009

Health, Education, Social Protection News & Notes 26/2009