Historical Perspectives on the State of Health and Health Systems in Africa, Volume II


Book Description

This book focuses on Africa’s challenges, achievements, and failures over the past several centuries using an interdisciplinary approach that combines theory and fact and evidence-based practices and interventions in public health, and argues that most of the health problems in Africa are not a result of scarce or lack of resources, but of the misconceived and misplaced priorities that have left the continent behind every other on the globe in terms of health, education, and equitable distribution of opportunities and access to (quality) health as agreed by the United Nations member states at Alma-Ata in 1978.




Commercialization of Health Care


Book Description

Based on original research and analysis by a group of health policy experts and economists from across the world, this book analyzes the causes and consequences of the expanding global and local commercialization of health care. It argues for the necessity and possibility of effective policy responses to develop good quality, universally inclusive health systems worldwide. The book aims to contribute to a shift in the international 'common sense' in health policy towards a more humane, inclusive, egalitarian, and ethical framework for policy formulation.




Healthy Partnerships


Book Description

Since the private health sector is an important, and often dominant, provider of health services in Sub-Saharan Africa, it is the job of governments as the stewards of the health system to engage with it. Increasing the contributions that the existing private health sector is making to public health is an important, but often neglected, element of meeting the daunting health-related challenges facing African nations. This Report presents newly collected data on how and how effectively each country in the Africa region is engaging the respective private health sectors; and how the engagement compares across the region. While the approach taken by governments varies greatly between countries, there is much room for improvement in the Africa region overall to engage more effectively and room for exchange of ideas and good practices on how to do so. Improved solutions on the policy/regulatory side should be supported by effective organization of the private sector itself and by adjustments in donor programs that take the dynamics of the private health sector better into account.




Cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa


Book Description

The Cancer in Sub-Saharan Africa volume brings together population-based cancer incidence data from 25 cancer registries in 20 sub-Saharan African countries that are part of the African Cancer Registry Network. The compiled data in this volume, presented and commented upon by covered population and by anatomical site, are of tremendous value to the assessment of the pattern and evolution of cancer in Africa, as a means of elucidating, confirming, and evaluating causes of the disease.




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.




Health Policy and Systems Responses to Forced Migration


Book Description

Forced migration has yet to be sufficiently addressed from the perspective of health policy and systems research, resulting in limited knowledge on system‐level interventions and policies to improve the health of forced migrants. The contributions within this edited volume seek to rectify this gap in the literature by compiling the existing knowledge on health systems and health policy responses to forced migration with a focus on asylum seekers, refugees, and internally displaced people. It also brings together the work of research communities from the fields of political science, epidemiology, health sciences, economics, psychology, and sociology to push the knowledge frontier of health research in the area of forced migration towards health policy and systems-level interventions, while also framing potential routes for further research in this area. Among the analyses within the chapters: The political economy of health and forced migration in Europe Innovative humanitarian health financing for refugees Understanding the resilience of health systems Health security in the context of forced migration Discrimination as a health systems response to forced migration Health Policy and Systems Responses to Forced Migration offers unique and interdisciplinary theoretical, empirical, and literature-based perspectives that apply a health policy and systems approach to health and healthcare challenges among forced migrants. It will find an engaged audience among policy makers and analysts, international organizations, scholars in academia, think tanks, and students in undergraduate programs or at the graduate level, for policy, practice, and educational purposes.




Appropriate Technologies for Environmental Protection in the Developing World


Book Description

This book is the first edited compilation of selected, refereed papers submitted to ERTEP 2007. The selected papers either dealt with technologies or scientific work and policy findings that address specific environmental problems affecting humanity in general, but more specifically, people and ecosystems in developing countries. It was not necessary for the work to have been done in a developing country, but the findings and results must be appropriate or applicable to a developing country setting. It is acknowledged that environmental research, technology applications and policy implementation have been demonstrated to improve environmental sustainability and protection in several developed economies. The main argument of the book is that similar gains can be achieved in developing economies and economies in transition. The book is organized into six chapters along some of the key themes discussed at the conference: Environmental Health Management, Sustainable Energy and Fuel, Water Treatment, Purification and Protection, Mining and Environment, Soil Stabilization, and Environmental Monitoring. It is hoped that the contents of the book will provide an insight into some of the environmental and health mana- ment challenges confronting the developing world and the steps being taken to address them.




Agricultural Commercialization, Economic Development, and Nutrition


Book Description

Subsistence production: a sign of market failure. Commercialization cannot be left to the market. Household effects of commercialization. Nutrition effects of commercialization. Policy action needed.




FinTech in Sub-Saharan African Countries


Book Description

FinTech is a major force shaping the structure of the financial industry in sub-Saharan Africa. New technologies are being developed and implemented in sub-Saharan Africa with the potential to change the competitive landscape in the financial industry. While it raises concerns on the emergence of vulnerabilities, FinTech challenges traditional structures and creates efficiency gains by opening up the financial services value chain. Today, FinTech is emerging as a technological enabler in the region, improving financial inclusion and serving as a catalyst for the emergence of innovations in other sectors, such as agriculture and infrastructure.




Challenges and Opportunities for Agricultural Intensification of the Humid Highland Systems of Sub-Saharan Africa


Book Description

The humid highlands in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are characterized by high population densities and require intensification. The Consortium for Improving Agriculture-based Livelihoods in Central Africa (CIALCA) has set up a research for development platform in various mandate areas in DR Congo, Burundi, and Rwanda, aiming to identify improved production, market, and nutrition options and facilitating the access for development partners to these options. This platform is supported by capacity building, multi-stakeholder dialogue, and monitoring and evaluation efforts. The conference, facilitated by CIALCA, aimed to (i) take stock of the state-of the art in agricultural intensification in the highlands of SSA and (ii) chart the way forward for agricultural research for development in the humid highlands of SSA, and more specifically in the recently launched Humidtropics Consortium Research Programme, through keynote, oral and poster presentations, and strategic panel discussions.