In 2009, researchers in Ghana commenced a study to explored the social and relativist dimension of poverty in five communities in the South of Ghana with differing socio-economic characteristics. This research was meant to inform the development and implementation of policies and programmes to identify and target the poor for premium exemptions under Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). They employed participatory wealth ranking (PWR) as a qualitative tool for the exploration of community concepts, identification and ranking of households into socio-economic groups. Key informants within the community ranked households into wealth categories after discussing in detail concepts and indicators of poverty. Results showed that community-defined indicators of poverty covered themes related to type of employment, educational attainment of children, food availability, physical appearance, housing conditions, asset ownership, health seeking behaviour, social exclusion and marginalisation. In conclusion, the in-depth nature of the PWR process precludes it from being used in a large national-scale programme such as the NHIS. However, the authors argue that it can provide valuable qualitative input to inform policy and programmes exempting health payments for poor people.
Poverty and health
To feed the world’s growing population in a sustainable and inclusive way with good quality food is one of the main challenges facing the world in the 21st Century. The author of this article argues that the solution lies partly at the local level: the livelihoods, and the cultural, socioeconomic and environmental circumstances in which food is produced, processed and distributed. This means that the debate around food security should move to the local level and how small-scale farmers can be part of (formal) food markets, mainly regionally, in a sustainable way. Building resilient and inclusive local food markets also requires policies that take the macro-level players into account, that link the local to the global. More comprehensive knowledge and research into food security is needed, and the role of civil society and local governments should also be studied. This implies participation and a bottom-up approach. Currently, investments in food security are mainly channelled through national policies and centralised negotiations; however, these decisions should be made within a participatory local democracy.
Interventions for school age children can supplement efforts to reduce levels of stunting in the preschool years. In this study, researchers aimed to assess the nutrition status and associated risk factors of children in selected public primary schools in Dagoretti Division, Nairobi. They randomly selected 208 students aged 4-11years of both gender from four public primary schools in Dagoretti Division. Data was collected from school registers and directly questioning the students, parents /guardians. Among the children surveyed, 24.5% were stunted, 14.9% underweight and 9.7% were wasted. There were more boys than girls who were stunted. Breakfast contributed 10.2% of the daily energy intake. Few children consumed foods from more than four food groups. Incidence of diarrhoea, colds/coughs increased the risk of stunting and underweight. Overall, the most important predictors of malnutrition were consumption of food that is inadequate in required calories and from less than four varieties of food groups.
This report covers a period in which PLAAS sought to clarify and consolidate its vision, and elaborate an agenda for research, policymaking, teaching and training that emphasises the centrality of the dynamics of chronic poverty and structural inequality in South Africa. The particular emphasis is on understanding how the workings of agro-food systems can either perpetuate structural poverty and marginalisation — or alleviate it. Within this broad field of investigation, PLAAS’s work focuses on the dynamics of marginalised livelihoods in agro-food systems; particularly livelihoods that are vulnerable, structurally excluded or adversely incorporated, such as those of farm workers, small and subsistence farmers, artisanal fishers and fishing communities, and the informally self-employed, in urban and in rural contexts.
This paper aims to describe ethnic differences in alcohol and other drug (AOD) use and AOD-related sexual risks for HIV among vulnerable women from Cape Town, South Africa. Researchers collected data on 720 AOD-using women (324 Black African; 396 Coloured [mixed race]) recruited from poor communities in Cape Town and compared them for differences in AOD use and AOD-related sexual risk behaviour. They found differences in patterns of AOD use, with self-reported drug problems, heavy episodic drinking and methamphetamine use being most prevalent among Coloured women and cannabis use being most likely among Black African women. However, more than half of Black African women reported drug-related problems and more than a third tested positive for recent methamphetamine use. More than a third of the Black African women reported being AOD-impaired and having unprotected sex during their last sexual encounter. Coloured women had four-fold greater odds of reporting that their last sexual episode was AOD-impaired and unprotected. These findings support the need to develop and test tailor-made AOD risk reduction interventions for women from both ethnic groups.
In this report, ETC Group provides evidence that six companies are exercising an anticompetitive oligopoly in seeds and agrochemicals. To stave off criticism, they’re launching a series of initiatives – including the promise of cheap, post-patent genetically modified (GM) seeds – to mollify antitrust regulators and soften opposition to GM while advancing their collective market control. The “Big Six”, which own most of the market, are argued by ETC group to be constructing agreements that aim to scare off competitors, confound regulators and pass off oligopolistic practices as acts of charity. The author argues that antitrust regulators cannot allow an oligopoly to control global agricultural inputs. The world needs agricultural biodiversity to achieve the Right to Food and to respond to the uncertainties of climate change. National governments and UN agencies need to respond, including the UN Committee on World Food Security, which meets in Rome in October 2013.
In this paper, the author argues that trade agreements need to respect and promote human rights, not drive a process of globalisation that privileges commercial interests and tramples on public interests. She looks at the problem of land grabs, namely large-scale purchases or leases of agricultural or forested land on terms that violate the rights of the people who live on or near that land. She proposes four linked policy shifts to create a more stable and transparent international food system. 1. Reformed trade rules should ensure export restrictions in times of crisis are subject to transparency and predictability requirements and that allow all countries policy space for food security policies. 2. Publicly-managed grain reserves should be established to dampen the effects of supply shocks. 3. Governments should provide readily accessible funding for the poorest food importers, which would be triggered automatically when prices increase sharply in international markets. 4. Governments should develop strong national and international laws to govern investment in land, respecting the principles and guidelines set out in the Voluntary Guidelines on Land Tenure. Tanzania’s recently announced limits on how much land foreign and domestic investors can lease sets a good example for the rest of the developing world, the author argues.
Malawi has seen an agricultural revolution in the past decade with the introduction of farmer subsidies. From an importer of maize, Malawi has become an exporter of maize to the rest of the southern, central and eastern African region. In this presentation, the author argues that social protection programmes that focus on enhancing agricultural productivity within small farms can provide a short-term pathway out of poverty.
Both maternal HIV diagnosis and household food insecurity may increase maternal stress levels, and lead to unhealthy coping behaviours. In this study, researchers examined the independent associations of HIV, persistent household food insecurity and the synergistic effect of both on maternal stress. For 12 months after childbirth, they followed 232 Ghanaian women recruited prenatally from hospitals offering voluntary counselling and testing (VCT). They found that the proportion of HIV-positive women who lived in severe food insecure households increased over time. By contrast, the HIV-negative group living in severely food insecure households experienced a steady decline across time. HIV-infection and persistent household food insecurity were independently associated with high stress. Being both HIV-positive and persistently food insecure strongly and synergistically increased the risk for high maternal perceived stress. Comprehensive multidimensional intervention studies are needed to better understand how to reduce stress among HIV-positive women living in persistently food insecure households and how to reduce the likelihood of food insecurity in HIV-affected households in sub-Saharan Africa.
This report is a call to action for the world to rediscover the importance of breastfeeding and for a commitment to support mothers to breastfeed their babies, especially in the poorest communities in the poorest countries. It calls for world leaders, international institutions and multinational companies to take action to ensure that every infant is given the life-saving protection that breastfeeding can offer. All countries should put breastfeeding at the centre of efforts to improve infant and child nutrition, and should develop specific breastfeeding strategies as well as including breastfeeding in their nutrition strategies. Developing countries should ensure that they address all of the obstacles identified in this report that deter optimal breastfeeding practices. The four major barriers are community and cultural pressures, the health worker shortage, a lack of maternity legislation and the promotion of formula by big business.