Publications

Scaling up of nutrition programmes has gained substantial support worldwide, including in many countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. But progress in decreasing undernutrition is extremely slow. A sustained reduction in malnutrition, particularly stunting and micronutrient deficiencies, requires an integrated approach to ensuring access to an adequate diet. This policy brief argues for an increased focus on domestic value chain interventions to improve access to nutritious food by poor urban pregnant women and lactating mothers and their children in Sub-Saharan Africa. It also describes an approach for how this can be done.

The changing nature of African agriculture in the face of myriad global, regional and local challenges demands change in agricultural capacity development. Universities are well placed to spearhead this change, but to effectively do so they need to update courses’ content and change the way they are delivered. In particular, changes at an institutional level are required to transform the long-held negative image of universities as backwaters populated by egotistical academics and bureaucratic administrators. The African university must become better positioned to be a facilitator of agricultural innovation, technology, institutions and development.

Governance is important in every aspect of sustainable development, as it affects guidance, processes, consistent management, cohesive policies, accountability mechanisms and the right to decide on particular areas of responsibility. This is equally true of all types of organisation, regardless of their purpose and motivation (such as for common goods or individual benefits, profit or not-for-profit) and whether a single individual, a group of people, a community, local government, university or research centre, an enterprise, ministry or even all of humanity is involved.

Smoothly functioning food markets are vital for food security. They give smallholder farmers incentives to generate a surplus they can sell, and to invest in new production and postharvest management technologies. They also ensure that food reaches consumers in deficit areas. In doing so, they contribute to food security and higher incomes, the main goal of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA).

n 2010–2011, recent graduates (2008 or earlier) of the Masters in International Health (MIH) (as offered by over 30 universities and institutions collaborating in the tropEd network) were surveyed. We aimed to examine whether the competencies gained proved appropriate for alumni’s current positions and to develop the programme according to alumni’s needs.

The changing nature of African agriculture in the face of myriad global, regional and local challenges demands change in agricultural capacity development. Universities are well placed to spearhead this change, but to effectively do so they need to update courses’ content and change the way they are delivered. In particular, changes at an institutional level are required to transform the long-held negative image of universities as backwaters populated by egotistical academics and bureaucratic administrators. The African university must become better positioned to be a facilitator of agricultural innovation, technology, institutions and development.

Attention to tuberculosis (TB) control in the European Union (EU) and European Economic Areas (EEA) has been raised in recent years through a number of initiatives, including the launching of the Framework Action Plan to Fight Tuberculosis in the EU.

Selon l’Enquête démographique et de santé (EDS) de 2012, le taux de mortalité maternelle en Guinée est de l’ordre de 724 décès pour 100 000 naissances vivantes. S’agissant de la santé néonatale, le taux de mortalité néonatale est de 39 pour 1 000 naissances vivantes selon l’EDS de 2005. Pour faire face à cette situation, le Plan national de développement sanitaire (PNDS) de 2003-2012 en Guinée a opté de classer comme une des priorités du secteur, la réduction de la mortalité maternelle et infanto-juvénile.

Good maternal nutrition is an important factor influencing newborn and child health and survival. While many nutritional programmes in the health sector incorporate interventions for (pregnant) women and girls, improved maternal nutritional status is often not the main focus. In current programming, the long-term, positive impact of improved maternal nutrition on health and productivity in the population is not always taken into consideration. Gender and empowerment issues as underlying causes of maternal malnutrition are also insufficiently addressed. Using existing
information and evidence, we demonstrate that maternal malnutrition can best be alleviated using a multi-sectoral approach (health, agriculture, finance) and a gender lens. This policy brief argues for making women central to programming in order to ensure sustainable change and improved health outcomes for women as well as their children.