Publications

Around 1.5 million people die every year of malaria; every 30 seconds a child dies due to this preventable and curable disease. Over 90 % of malaria cases and the great majority of malaria deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of the affordable antimalaria drugs have become ineffective because Plasmodium falciparum – the malarial parasite responsible for the most severe malaria cases and deaths – has developed resistance to them.

Ten years after the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), it is relevant and necessary to review and reflect on progressmade in implementing a more holistic and comprehensive view of reproductive health care, as called for in the ICPD Programme of Action. In
1994, the international health community agreed on the need to integrate sexual and reproductive health care services to meet the needs of women,
men and adolescents throughout the life-cycle. Integration was seen to provide the best hope and means for quality, comprehensive and cost-effective service delivery. Since that time, however, efforts to integrate services have produced mixed results, and there is now a need to take stock of accomplishments and to suggest where further efforts are needed if countries are to provide quality, comprehensive sexual and reproductive
health care.

Agriculture and rural development are – at least partly – back on the international development agenda. Investments in agricultural and rural development are important ingredients in policies for fostering broad-based and pro-poor economic development in countries where more than half – and often close to 75 per cent – of the population still mainly depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Rural areas harbour 75 per cent of the poor, who are desperately seeking ways to improve their living conditions and income

The Operational Guide aims to be helpful to people working in the development sector, whether they find themselves in government, international development organisations, NGOs or community organisations. It specifically targets those working in the field of HIV/AIDS, but it also hopes to be of use to development programmers and practitioners in a more general sense

Agri-food systems in developing and transitional countries are restructuring rapidly. Increasingly supermarkets have emerged in developing countries as important retailers, particularly for the high-value products meeting specific consumer demands related to production process and quality (Orden et al., 2004). In Latin America, supermarkets buy 2.5 times more produce from local farmers than the region exports to the rest of the world (Reardon and Berdegue, 2002). Supermarkets have also become a strong growth retail segment in Asia (Hu et al., 2004; Zhang, 2001) and Africa (Neven and Reardon, 2004; Weatherspoon and Reardon, 2003) and Central and Eastern Europe (Dries et al., 2004). The determinants, dynamics and outcomes of retail restructuring in developing and transitional countries are being discussed in detail in the first issue of the Global Issue Paper series of the Regoverning Markets Project (Vorley and Fox, 2004).

Renewed attention exists for agricultural development in SSA as the engine for rural development. This results in part from the drive for reaching the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 and in particular MDG 1: a 50% reduction of (predominantly rural) poverty in SSA. It is realized that in order to achieve the MDGs, a more effective approach to innovation for agricultural development is needed. The opportunities presented through the World Trade Agreements have led to changing roles of the three main groups of actors (i.e. public, private and civil society), in agricultural service delivery. At the same time, urgent demands for technological innovation have led to important organizational and institutional innovations in the local Agricultural Knowledge and Information Systems (AKISs). Decentralization of public administration and deconcentration of service delivery have encouraged empowerment of FGs and farmer organizations in agricultural innovation. Slowly the local innovation system is shifting from a linear ‘Transfer of Technology’ (TOT) process (from research to extension to farmers) to a more systemic partnership-based co-innovation process. FGs and farmer organizations are to play a stronger role at different levels in the national and local innovation systems with a formalized farmer representative role at national and meso-levels.

Leprosy is feared because of the deformities and disability that it may cause. Successful leprosy treatment should prevent or heal deformities and disabilities. Most of these are secondary complications of impaired of nerve function, often caused by immunological reactions against M. leprae antigens. Unfortunately, people remain at risk of neuropathy resulting from such reactions during and even after successful anti-leprosy treatment

La décentralisation est effective au Bénin depuis les élections communales suivi par l’installation des maires en 2003. Les attentes exprimées concernant cette réforme institutionnelle sont considérables et vont bien au-delà d’une simple réorganisation administrative du territoire. La décentralisation vise la promotion de la démocratie locale, son renforcement et son approfondissement. La participation des citoyens à la gestion des affaires publiques devrait favoriser le développement à la base et son adaptation aux réalités du terrain. Enfin, la décentralisation offre la possibilité de répondre au profond besoin de la population en matière de justice sociale et d’équité et de réduire la pauvreté par le partage des fruits de la croissance.

En 1994, le gouvernement néerlandais signait les Accords de développement Durable avec les gouvernements du Bénin, du Bhoutan et du Costa Rica. Ces accords visaient deux objectifs majeurs : Promouvoir le développement durable et établir de nouveaux schémas de relation entre les pays du Nord et les pays du Sud. Le cœur essentiel des traités est constitué par l’alinéa 1 de l’article 1, qui exprime la mission même de ces accords. Le texte en est le suivant : « Les deux Gouvernements conviennent d’établir entre leurs pays respectifs une coopération de longue durée basée sur l’égalité et la réciprocité ainsi que sur la concertation et l’assistance mutuelle, en vue de promouvoir efficacement un développement durable sous tous ses aspects, avec la participation de tous les groupes sociaux concernés. »

Partnerships have always played an important role in leprosy control. The World Health Organization (WHO) and national and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) provide a significant supportive function in partnership with national governments. Among the NGOs involved, the members of the Federation of Anti-Leprosy Associations (ILEP), The Nippon Foundation, Novartis and the World Bank have played a prominent role. Partnership can be defined as: ‘Inter-organizational relationships involving activities (beyond that which contracts or authority alone would demand) aimed at achieving shared goals based upon close working relationships’. There are more definitions of partnership but they usually include these common themes: commitment to shared objectives; mutuality, equality and open dialogue; sense of trust and respect between the partners; and reciprocal obligations and accountability

Improving public sector performance in service delivery is an absolute necessity for alleviating poverty and improving welfare in Africa. Basic services and infrastructure for providing health care, education, water, sanitation etc. often fail the poor because they are either unavailable, inaccessible, unaffordable, or of poor technical quality or dysfunctional. Poor service delivery may result from inefficiencies or poor decision making by central government, for example a failure to spend budgets for essential services, or not supporting frontline health providers. Governments may have inadequate or poorly trained staff, particularly when budgets are tight or salaries are poor. Moreover, demand for services by poor people may be weak because of travelling distance and logistical constraints, levels of formal education and literacy, cost (direct costs, and transaction costs), cultural factors including restrictions placed on movement, or beliefs restricting the use of western health and maternity care. A weak demand for services like health care will not contribute towards a redesign of service delivery or more investment.

Le Sommet Mondial pour le Développement Durable de 2002 à Johannesburg a introduit « l’émergence d’un glissement entre la valse guindée de la diplomatie traditionnelle et l’improvisation créatrice de partenariats orientés solutions. »1 Au contraire de la précédente Conférence des Nations Unies pour le Développement Durable en 1992 à Rio de Janeiro, les engagements impératifs intergouvernementaux ont été moins mis en avant à Johannesburg et aucun traité majeur n’a été destiné à une (re)négociation. Ceci s’est vu partiellement compensé par les partenariats bénévoles entre ONG, entreprises, gouvernements, communautés locales et organisations internationales. Quelque 280 de ces partenariats ont été enregistrés au SMDD, impliquant une somme de plus de 200 millions de dollars en ressources nouvelles et complémentaires.

The World Health Organization International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health defines participation as involvement in a life situation. Participation restrictions may occur in any life situation across nine areas of activity and participation. These are learning and applying knowledge, general tasks and demands, communication, mobility, self-care, domestic life, inter-personal interactions and relationships, major life areas and community, social and civic life. In the context of leprosy, participation restrictions are recognised as the outworking of the stigmatizing attitudes with which the disease has been associated for generations and the felt stigma or self-stigmatization with which those affected respond.