The Primary Health Care Performance Initiative (PHCPI) is a new partnership that brings together country policymakers, health system managers, practitioners, advocates and other development partners to catalyse improvements in primary health care (PHC) in low- and middle-income countries through better measurement and knowledge-sharing. PHCPI aims to help countries to track key performance indicators for their PHC systems, identifying which parts of the system are working well and which ones aren’t. It aims to enhance accountability and provide decision-makers with essential information, to provide a platform for countries to share lessons and best practices an advocacy toolkit, and a compare tool which allows users to simultaneously compare multiple countries across multiple indicators.
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In this online interview with Edward Paice, Director of Africa Research Institute, Zhong Jianhua, China’s Special Representative on African Affairs, responds to common criticisms of China’s policy and conduct in Africa. He rejects any analogy between China-Africa trade patterns and those of the colonial era but agrees that Africa must regard China as a competitor pursuing its own interests. Ambassador Zhong observes many similarities between the policy choices facing African governments in the 2000s and those confronted by China during the 1980s and 1990s. He emphasises that China itself is still a developing country – and one which has a great deal to learn about Africa. He insists that it is China’s responsibility to help African nations compete in the global economy. While acknowledging the imperative shared by all developing economies to maximise agricultural potential, attract capital, create a more skilled workforce and industrialise, he concludes that “finally the chance has come” to Africa.
The world has committed to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. This ambitious yet wholly attainable objective represents an unparalleled opportunity to change the course of history for ever - something our generation must do for the generations to come. If the world is to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, rapid progress must be made by 2020. Quickening the pace for essential HIV prevention and treatment approaches will limit the epidemic to more manageable levels and enable countries to move towards the elimination phase. This graphic shows visually in a map the content and geographical areas for scale up to achieve global targets.
Artist Bunmi Oloruntoba and editor Emmanuel Iduma collaborate with reporters and creative writers to furnish “the contexts often missing when African stories are reported.” Every two weeks, 3bute [pronounced “tribute”] publishes a three-page comic from a different African country in which readers tag the images like a wiki page with links to videos, articles, slide shows, twitter posts, music tracks, and other media. The resulting comic is dotted with icons that appear as you touch or move your mouse over its surface. The interactive features blink and pop as you shift from panel to panel in the site’s effort to undermine “the single, one-dimensional story of poverty, sickness, conflict” that far too often disparages the continent. 3bute uses new technology to explore the contours of African modernity through “multifaceted stories”. This review includes excerpts of 3bute comics, worth reading while the 3bute website is temporarily being reconstructed.
AfroCyberPunk is a blog dedicated to exploring the future of Africa through various expressions of Afrofuturism in science and speculative fiction across all forms of media, relevant news and current events about ongoing socioeconomic, political, and technological developments, as well as academic discourses on issues and trends concerning the future of this incredibly diverse continent. As Africa enters a new phase of accelerated development, this blog aims to create a unique conceptual space in which to explore the various scenarios the continent is likely to encounter in the near and distant future, and to imagine how people might begin to address the enormous challenges and incredible opportunities that may soon become reality.
This video production/story is about women and female gentital mutilation (FGM). The video narrative is an amalgamation of many women's stories. The story is created under the notion that "it takes a village to tell a woman's story; it takes a village for a woman's voice to be heard." The work is part of a wider project entitled "Dear Mother" created by Daapo Reo.
The household economy approach (HEA) is a method for assessing the vulnerability of rural populations to economic shocks and changes, based on their livelihood patterns and market information. It is now widely used as a method of famine early warning by many governments and humanitarian agencies, and also has important applications for managing the impacts of climate change on poverty and food security in developing countries.
BMJ has partnered with the University of Cape Town Lung Institute's Knowledge Translation Unit (UCTLI KTU), to develop and distribute the Practical Approach to Care Kit (PACK) programme to healthcare workers in low to middle income countries. The PACK programme is a comprehensive clinical practice aid that enables healthcare practitioners to diagnose and manage common conditions. It covers 40 common symptoms and 20 conditions including cardiovascular disease, respiratory diseases, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, women’s health, and end-of-life care. PACK is updated annually to comply with local clinical policy, regulations and essential drug lists, and is translated where necessary. It incorporates regular evidence updates from BMJ and other credible sources including WHO, to ensure that it is relevant and provides the latest best practice guidance. The programme has been implemented in Botswana and in the Zomba district of Malawi. Extensive interest in PACK has been received from other middle to low income countries.
This series of infographics and a video show urbanization by region and separate countries. It identifies factors which are driving urbanization and shows through graphics how birth rates, fertility and migration are drivers of urban growth. It compares through bar charts the differences between urban and rural housing and explores whether the rural – urban gap may be shrinking. Finally, it shows some projections for the future of urbanization.
The UNAIDS 2014 Global HIV/AIDS Statistics contains key data from the recent publication "How AIDS changed everything”. Global statistics include: 15 million people accessing antiretroviral therapy as of March 2015. 36.9 million [34.3 million– 41.4 million] people globally were living with HIV and 2 million [1.9 million – 2.2 million] people became newly infected with HIV. In 2014, 1.2million [980 000 – 1.6 million] people died from AIDS-related illnesses.