The Nigerian government has drafted a plan for a national health insurance program that would eventually provide coverage for "all Nigerians," but certain individuals with "[h]igh-cost illnesses" such as HIV/AIDS would not be eligible to join, the Lancet reports.
Resource allocation and health financing
Nigerian Government to Exclude People With HIV/AIDS from National Health Insurance Plan
Services for children with communication disorders
parents and professionals speak out
How can health services meet the needs of children with communication disorders in developing countries? What can health professionals and parents add to the debate? A study by the UK Institute of Child Health sought the opinions of specialist professionals and parents of children with communication disorders in Nigeria.
What mothers do: responses to childhood fever on the Kenyan Coast
Do rural and urban mothers differ in their choice of health providers when their children are ill? How does proximity to different health facilities affect a mother's decision? These questions are important for health planners responding to rising urban poverty and ill health, as sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rates of urbanisation in the developing world.
Miners may claim for illness
Thousands of desperately ill migrant mine workers in the Eastern Cape may be eligible for large sums of money in compensation. However, a concerted drive by health and community workers is needed to find the workers, and to assist them in claiming the money due to them. This is the recommendation of a team of scientists following a research project involving the migrant mine workers of Libode in the former Transkei.
UNION WANTS COMPREHENSIVE SANTA PROBE
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) on Tuesday urged government to launch a wide-ranging and transparent probe into the South African National Tuberculosis Association (Santa). It was reacting to the government's decision on Monday to suspend Santa's R6,6-million subsidy and to undertake a forensic audit of the organisation. "We call on government to have a comprehensive and transparent investigation into how Santa uses money, quality of patient care, adherence to clinical protocols, quality of food given to clients, and all other related matters," the union said in a statement.
Mobilizing billions to fight AIDS in Africa: the way forward
Presentation to Conference of African Ministers of Finance Algiers, Algeria, 8 to 10 May 2001
A sustained campaign on a vast scale, building on pockets of success, is needed to reverse the destructive tide of HIV/AIDS in Africa. Such a campaign would include a broad range of actions to prevent new infections, care for the infected, and mitigate the negative impacts of the pandemic – all underpinned by expressions of the highest political will and by the commitment of substantial sums of money. This short paper outlines the case for billions of dollars for AIDS in Africa, puts forward a bold but achievable financing plan for mobilizing resources on such a scale, and points to a number of the actions that need to be taken today to implement large-scale resource mobilization for the fight against AIDS.
Further details: /newsletter/id/28643
Sanctions and Civil Conflict
Gershenson, Dmitriy, International Monetary Fund, IMF Institute Working Paper WP/01/66, May 2001
Using a general equilibrium framework, this paper analyses how sanctions imposed on the contestants in civil conflict affect the welfare of these contestants and the allocation of resources to conflict. It is shown that weak sanctions can hurt the contestants they are supposed to help, while strong sanctions augment the expected welfare of their intended beneficiaries. Moreover, sanctions are more likely to be sucessful if the contestant who is subject to sanctions can expect to derive a positive income in case of compliance. The likehood of success rises as this income increases.
Antenatal care reborn? Healthcare for pregnant women in developing countries
Antenatal care is important for identifying and responding to risk factors in pregnancy. But do mothers in the developing world receive adequate and appropriate antenatal care? Researchers from the Population Council and the UK University of Southampton investigated antenatal services in Kenya.
Social, Cultural and Environmental Contexts and the Measurement of the Burden of Disease
AN EXPLORATORY COMPARISON IN THE DEVELOPED AND DEVELOPING WORLD
Daniel D. Reidpath, Pascale Allotey, Aka Kouame, Robert A. Cummins March 2001. Funding Agencies: Global Forum for Health Research, The University of Melbourne (MRCEG Scheme).
Internationally, there is growing commitment to health policies and programs that are "evidence-based": that is, that they derive from a body of research that has been proven true, effective or successful. In establishing an evidence-base, there is a continued concern with replicability of research, with the robustness of findings across time and place, and in the absence of replication, with an explanation for the lack of fit. In this endeavour, considerable attention has been paid to common tools, common protocols and consistent, shared measures – validated questionnaires, common tools to assess physical and mental health and summary indices for quality of life, health inputs and health outcomes. This concern for comparability in public health matches a concern by economists and health planners, locally, nationally and internationally, to rationalise, to set priorities and goals, to allocate funds on the objective basis of need and impact, and to direct resources where the outcome will be most effective.
Further details: /newsletter/id/28616
Beyond Our Means? The Cost of Treating HIV/AIDS in the Developing World
Millions of people in the developing world are in urgent need of the antiretroviral drugs that suppress HIV and indefinitely postpone symptoms of AIDS. But the majority live in the world's poorest countries and cannot afford the cost of these drugs, medical tests, and consultations. The price of these antiretrovirals is not the only factor preventing treatment for AIDS reaching those who need them. In many countries, health care systems are weak, with far too few doctors, nurses, and medical facilities. This report provides an overview of the issues surrounding HIV in the developing world.