Publications

TUBERCULOSIS (TB) is an increasing public health problem, presently accounting for 3% of global mortality.1 To tackle this problem, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the directly observed treatment, short course (DOTS) TB control strategy, which entails the use of short- course regimens of effective drug combinations, direct supervision of treatment for at least the first 2 months, and evaluation of treatment for each patient.2 As a broad TB control strategy, DOTS also includes drug supply, monitoring and case detection based on microscopy. Directly observed treatment (DOT), as opposed to DOTS, refers to the treatment component alone.

This publication is based on a study carried out between February 1997 and August 2000 by researchers from Nicaragua, Israel and the Netherlands. It identifies the pros and cons of the participation of rural households in production cooperatives in Nicaragua and their motives for affiliation with various other types of rural organisations, such as secondary service cooperatives, farmers’ associations, traders’ networks, rural finance institutions, NGOs and development projects. It presents an innovative approach which makes use of the concept of social capital.

The contribution of ecoregional programmes to more effective organisation of agricultural research in sub-Saharan Africa is disappointing. They seem to compete with the National Agricultural Research Systems, rather than being complementary. They have created temporarily niches , well endowed with financially and technical support, not always respecting strategies and procedures of national and local research centres. Ecoregional programmes could make a more effective contribution to development oriented research by focussing more explicitly on the institutional support to national and local centres. The change from the current research focused approach to the facilitation and strengthening of
institutional processes is an enormous challenge, in which the experiences gained by KIT in Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Benin, Mali and Mozambique could provide assistance.

This strategy paper takes stock of “best practice” experiences in supporting communities in their response to HIV/AIDS in several countries in Africa. It draws lessons from Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Malawi, Nigeria, and Tanzania and sheds light on methods that a growing number of organizations and individuals use to foster behavior change among people living in rural areas.