While new drugs and vaccines are needed to treat diseases of poverty, not enough is being invested in developing these products because of the lack of a demand or market for them. Advance price or purchase commitments potentially offer a solution, yet a number of structure and design issues first need to be resolved.
Poverty and health
Treating diseases of poverty: Creating markets for advance drug purchasing
id21 Health, May 2006: Towse A, Kettler H
Trends in prevalence and correlates of intimate partner violence against women in Zimbabwe, 2005–2015
Mukamana J; Machakanja P; Adjei N: BMC International Health and Human Rights 20 (2),1-11, 2020
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a widespread problem affecting all cultures and socioeconomic groups. This study explored the trends in prevalence and risk factors associated with IPV among Zimbabwean women of reproductive age (15–49 years) from 2005 to 2015, analysing data from the 2005/2006, 2010/2011 and 2015 Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Surveys. The prevalence of Intimate partner violence was found to have decreased from 45% in 2005 to 41% in 2010, and then increased to 43% in 2015. Some of the risk factors associated with Intimate partner violence were younger age, low economic status, cohabitation and rural residence. Educational attainment of women was not significantly associated with Intimate partner violence. The findings indicate that women of reproductive age are at high and increasing risk of physical and emotional violence. The authors argue that there is a need for an integrated policy approach to address the rise of IPV related physical and emotional violence against women in Zimbabwe.
Tuberculosis crisis looming in Swaziland
Phakathi M: IPS News, 23 April 2009
The Swazi government's slow response to a fast-growing tuberculosis epidemic has eroded the possibility of controlling it, says the National TB Control Programme manager. There has been a nearly ten-fold increase in the last 20 years from about 1,000 TB cases per year in 1987 to over 9,600 cases in 2007, exacerbated by the world's highest HIV prevalence rate – 80% of the TB cases are also co-infected with HIV. The country is falling short of meeting the World Health Organisation's TB treatment rate of 85% with a treatment success rate of 42%. The report points to higher rates of default on treatment when patients feel the TB treatment takes long, when they are also taking antiretroviral drugs and when they take drugs on an empty stomach.
Tuberculosis, human rights and ethics considerations along the route of a highly vulnerable migrant from sub-Saharan Africa to Europe
Wild V; Jaff D; Shah NS; et al.: International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease 21(10)1075-1085, 2017
Migrant health is a critical public health issue, and in many countries attention to this topic has focused on the link between migration and communicable diseases, including tuberculosis (TB). This paper traces a commonly used migration route from sub-Saharan Africa to Europe, identifying situations at each stage in which human rights and ethical values might be affected in relation to TB care. The authors highlight three strands of discussion in the ethics and justice literature in an effort to develop more comprehensive ethics of migrant health. These strands include theories of global justice and global health ethics, the creation of ‘firewalls' to separate enforcement of immigration law from protection of human rights, and the importance of non-stigmatization to health justice.
UN launches online drive to spur action against global hunger
United Nations News Centre: 11 May 2010
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has launched a major online drive to spur action to eliminate hunger and highlight the fact that one in six people worldwide go hungry everyday. Through its '1 billionhungry project' people can voice their opinions about world hunger by adding their names to an online petition. The campaign uses a yellow whistle as an icon encouraging people to blow the whistle against this global scourge. Events in support of the petition launch are organised through FAO offices around the world. International athletes, football players and recording artists will add their voices to the campaign. Civil society organisations, including the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts, will also promote the campaign through their own networks.
Understanding the Biofuel Trade-offs between indirect land use change, hunger and poverty
Searchinger T: Friends of the Earth Europe, 2013
The author of this paper identifies two main concerns with regard to biofuel policies: one involves the likely consequences of biofuels for greenhouse gas emissions because of the ploughing up of forests and grasslands and their release of carbon, while the other involves the consequences for hunger and poverty. What is not broadly understood is that the two consequences closely and inversely relate: the less farmers plough up forest and grassland, the greater the impacts on hunger; but the lower the impacts on hunger, the more farmers emit greenhouse gases from land use change. Much of the uncertainty about the consequences of biofuels relate to how much of which undesirable response the world will get. When biofuels divert crops from food there are three basic alternative responses: (1) the crops are not replaced; (2) crops are replaced by land use change; and (3) crops are replaced by boosting production on existing agricultural land. The author argues that the evidence indicates that biofuels are fuelling hunger, land grabs and climate change.
Understanding the correlations between wealth, poverty and human immunodeficiency virus infection in African countries
Parkhurst JO: Bulletin of the World Health Organization 88: 519-526, July 2010
The objective of this paper was to investigate the relationships between the prevalence of HIV infection and underlying structural factors of poverty and wealth in several African countries. A retrospective ecological comparison and trend analysis was conducted by reviewing data from demographic and health surveys, AIDS indicator surveys and national sero-behavioural surveys in twelve sub-Saharan African countries with different estimated national incomes. The relationship between the prevalence of HIV infection and household wealth quintile did not show consistent trends in all countries. In particular, rates of HIV infection in higher-income countries did not increase with wealth. The Tanzanian data illustrated that the relationship between wealth and HIV infection can change over time in a given setting, with declining prevalence in wealthy groups occurring simultaneously with increasing prevalence in poorer women. In conclusion, both wealth and poverty can lead to potentially risky or protective behaviours. To develop better-targeted HIV prevention interventions, the paper urges the HIV community to recognise the multiple ways in which underlying structural factors can manifest themselves as risk in different settings and at different times. Context-specific risks should be the targets of HIV prevention initiatives tailored to local factors.
Understanding the linkages between HIV/AIDS and agriculture
The agricultural sector has been seriously affected by the HIV/AIDS crisis. In parts of eastern and southern Africa, HIV prevalence rates exceed 15 percent. The disease has contributed to a loss of assets, loss of land, and, in some cases, labour shortages. As a result, crop production has declined for many farm households and rural inequality appears to have increased. Agricultural policies need to take account of these changes. Agricultural growth built on policies sensitive to the impacts of HIV/AIDS is essential if poverty caused by the disease is to be reduced.
Unemployment and poverty halved by 2014?
Meth C: School of Development Studies, University of Kwazulu-Natal, Working Paper 56, 2009
This paper examines the South African government’s mandate to halve unemployment and poverty by 2014, noting the growing evidence of the unlikelihood of this happening. The paper found that disagreements among academics on the severity of poverty can be traced to the failure by Statistics South Africa to conduct adequate surveys on poverty, while unemployment rates have undermined the progress of poverty-elevation made since 2006. It estimates that, in 2014, there will still be between three and five million unemployed lacking any kind of income protection. The impact of AIDS on mortality also means that the number of poor has been significantly reducing, also impacting on unemployment rates. The paper attempts to explain the reasons behind the offhand rejection of the 'Basic Income Grant' (BIG) by government, concluding that the political bargains were behind scrapping the proposal of BIG.
Urban farming in DRC: Helping reduce malnutrition
IRIN News: 28 June 2011
Urban farming in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is providing a livelihood for thousands of city dwellers, with vegetables bringing in good money for small growers and helping to alleviate high levels of malnutrition, according to this article. The Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) has noted that the demand for vegetables and the high prices they command in DRC cities has pushed many jobless residents into becoming small-scale growers. Most of the green spaces along the roadsides of the capital, Kinshasa, have been transformed into small farms. City farmers now grow 122% more produce than they did five years ago, according to the FAO, which is supporting gardeners in five main DRC cities with a US$10.4 million urban horticulture project. Although the project has contributed to improving nutrition in urban areas, the project manager cautions that there is still a lot of work to be done and malnutrition levels remain high: 24% of children in the DRC under five are underweight, 43% are stunted, and 9% are wasted.