Safe Water, Sanitation, and Early Childhood Malnutrition in East Africa


Book Description

To understand safe water and sanitation in East Africa, it is important to consider the contributions of African feminist analysis. This perspective will unveil inequities in the distribution of resources, demonstrate how localized solutions which are driven by women’s collaborative work have had an impact by temporarily easing the burden, and paint a multilayered picture of the lives of women and girls who are the predominant providers of water to households. This book explores the effects of water and sanitation quality and availability on early childhood morbidity in East Africa from an African feminist sociological perspective. It presents a framework that considers the ways that the development industry, neoliberalism, neocolonial relations, gender, class, ethnicity, globalization, and other dimensions of oppression intersect to impact upon the experiences and agency of women and children accessing clean water and safe sanitation and reducing early childhood morbidity in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. This work offers a vital contribution to the social scientific literature by adapting the vibrant intellectual work of African feminists to a quantitative methodology and enlarging the scope of empirically and theoretically grounded studies within the field of environmental sociology.




Progress for Children


Book Description

Unsafe water and lack of sanitation and adequate hygiene contribute to the leading killers of children under five, including diarrhoeal diseases, pneumonia and undernutrition, and have implications for whether children - especially girls - attend school. Thus achieving Millennium Development Goal 7, and its 2015 targets of reducing by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation, is of vital relevance for children and for improving nutrition, education and women's status. This issue of Progress for Children reports on whether the world is on course to reach MDG 7, and where efforts are falling short.




African Women, ICT and Neoliberal Politics


Book Description

How can we promote people-centered governance in Africa? Cell phones/ information and communications technology (ICT) are shown to be linked to neoliberal understandings of more democratic governance structures, defined by the Worldwide Governance Indicators as: the rule of law, corruption-control, regulation quality, government effectiveness, political stability/no violence, and voice and accountability. However, these indicators fall short: they do note emphasize gender equity or pro-poor policies. Writing from an African feminist scholar-activist perspective, Assata Zerai emphasizes the voices of women in two ways: (1) she examines how women's access to ICT makes a difference to the success of people-centered governance structures; and (2) she demonstrates how African women's scholarship, too often marginalized, must be used to expand and redefine the goals and indicators of democratice governance in African countries. Challenging the status quo that praises the contributions of cell phones to the diffusion of knowledge and resultant better governance in Africa, this book is an important read for scholars of politics and technology, gender and politics, and African Studies.




Disease and Mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa


Book Description

Current data and trends in morbidity and mortality for the sub-Saharan Region as presented in this new edition reflect the heavy toll that HIV/AIDS has had on health indicators, leading to either a stalling or reversal of the gains made, not just for communicable disorders, but for cancers, as well as mental and neurological disorders.







African Immigrants and the American Experience


Book Description

The population of African immigrants in the United States has grown rapidly over the past few decades. African Immigrants and the American Experience: Race, Anti-Black Violence, and the Quest for the American Dream by Wanjala S. Nasong’o, Imali J. Abala, and Kefa M. Otiso explores contemporary sub-Saharan African immigrants’ experiences with issues of race, ethnicity, and systemic violence in the United States. Each contributor within this volume dissects how these issues have impacted, and in many cases snuffed out, the immigrants’ quest for the fabled American dream. Divided into three sections, each chapter focuses on these main themes: race and anti-black violence, educational attainment among African immigrants in pursuit of the American dream, and African immigrant’s socioeconomics, health, and well-being. Through research and first-hand accounts, the contributors provide perspectives of what it truly means to be a sub-Saharan African immigrant in the United States.




Post-Conflict Institutional Design


Book Description

Since gaining independence from colonial rule, most African countries have been struggling to build democratic and peaceful states. While African multiparty politics may be viewed as a democratic system of governance, in reality it is plagued by ethnic and regional political grievances that undermine meaningful democracy. By examining post-conflict institutional reforms in several African countries, this book sheds light on the common causes of violent conflicts and how institutional design can affect the conditions for peace and democracy in Africa. Focussing on conceptual and practical questions of designing ethnically and regionally inclusive state institutions and the way institutions are perceived by the citizenry Post-Conflict Institutional Design addresses political autonomy and control over resources, issues which are often key sources of ethnic and regional grievances. Crucially, it examines the meanings of institutional reforms as well ethnic and regional representation.




Cultural Sociology of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa


Book Description

In our age of globalization and multiculturalism, it has never been more important to understand and appreciate all cultures across the world. The four volumes take a step forward in this endeavour by presenting concise information on those regions least well-known to students across Europe: the Middle East, Asia and Africa. The volumes convey what daily life is like for people in these selected regions. Entries will aid readers in understanding the importance of cultural sociology, to appreciate the effects of cultural forces around the world, and to learn the history of countries and cultures within these important regions. Key Features -Topics are explored within historical context, in three broad historical periods: prehistory to 1250, 1250 to 1920 and 1920 to the present. -One volume each is devoted to the regions of the Middle East and Africa and then one volume to East and Southeast Asia and a final volume to West, Central and South Asia. The volumes include extensive use of photographs and maps to explain cultural and geographic content. -Each volume has its own volume editor with expertise in that particular region. Key Themes Arts, Culture and Science People, Society and Dynasties Religion and Law Family and Daily Life Conflicts and Wars Politics and Government Health and Education Economy, Trade and Industry National Geography and History.




Water for Life


Book Description

WHO UNICEF monitoring programme for water supply and sanitation




Improving Nutrition Outcomes with Better Water, Sanitation and Hygiene


Book Description

This publication, jointly prepared by WHO, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), summarizes the current evidence on the benefits of WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) for improving nutrition outcomes and describes how WASH interventions can be integrated into nutrition programs. It provides practical suggestions, targeted at nutrition program managers and implementers, on both "what" WASH interventions should be included in nutrition programs and "how" to include them. It also seeks to help the WASH community to better understand their role, both as providers of technical expertise in WASH interventions and in prioritizing longer-term improvements to WASH infrastructure in areas where under-nutrition is a concern.