Global Fund [to 27 February 2016]
http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/news/

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25 February 2016
Global Fund Supports Health Investments in Mali
BAMAKO, Mali – Mali and the Global Fund strengthened their partnership by signing three new grant agreements totalling €108 million to achieve greater impact against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria and to build sustainable systems of health.

The financial resources provided through the Global Fund come from many sources and partners, including France, which was represented at a signing ceremony this week…

…The HIV grant of €46 million aims to provide access to anti-retroviral treatment for people living with HIV and by ensuring that at least 65 percent of HIV-positive pregnant women receive treatment to prevent the transmission of the virus to her child.

The malaria grant of €55 million will permit the distribution of mosquito nets in three highly affected regions of the country and the provision of effective treatment for all adults and children diagnosed with malaria.

Mali will use the tuberculosis grant of €7.5 million to increase the treatment success rate for patients with tuberculosis and to ensure that, by 2017, 90 percent tuberculosis patients co-infected with HIV also receive anti-retroviral treatment…

Global Humanitarian Assistance (GHA) [to 27 February 2016]
http://www.globalhumanitarianassistance.org/

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Report Synopsis
Date: 2016/02/24
Displacement due to conflict, Sudan
On 23 February 2016 we responded to a funding alert in response to displacement upsurge as a result of conflict in Sudan.

An estimated 73,000 people are reported to be displaced from Jebel Marra to North and Central Darfur. Because of this escalation in displacement there are increased needs for water, sanitation and hygiene.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)’s Financial Tracking Service (FTS), donors have committed/contributed US$37.1 million of humanitarian assistance to Sudan since the start of 2016. In 2015, a total of US$650.1 was committed/contributed.

:: Read our full analysis of the current funding situation. Accompanying data is available in Excel and Open Document.

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GHA AND THE START NETWORK
The GHA Programme is partnering with the START network to help to inform its funding allocation decisions. The START network is a consortium of British-based humanitarian INGOs, which has recently launched its own fund to help fill funding gaps and enable rapid response to under-reported crises where need is great.

When the START members issue a funding alert, we produce (within 12 hours) a rapid overview of the humanitarian funding picture – recent funding, an overview of appeals and funds, and analysis of donor trends. The analysis is targeted not only at the START network but also to a wider set of stakeholders engaged in these crises – including donors, humanitarian organisations, analysts, advocates and citizens

The Sphere Project [to 27 February 2016]
http://www.sphereproject.org/news/

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24 February 2016 | Sphere Project
Sphere e-learning course now available to UN humanitarian staff
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is offering the Sphere Handbook in Action e-learning course to its over 2,000 staff across the world. The course has been incorporated into the new OCHA learning platform, being launched in February.

Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (PHAP) [to 27 February 2016]
https://phap.org/

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25 February 2016
Cautious optimism from NGOs in PHAP event on Summit report
On 18 February 2016, PHAP hosted an online event in collaboration with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) on “One Humanity: Shared Responsibility,” the Report of the U.N. Secretary-General for the World Humanitarian Summit (WHS). The event provided a platform for NGO

Center for Global Development [to 27 February 2016]
http://www.cgdev.org/page/press-center
Selected Press Releases, Blog Posts, Publications

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Global Health Donors Viewed as Regulators of Monopolistic Service Providers: Lessons from Regulatory Literature – Working Paper 424
2/26/16
Han Ye
Controlling healthcare costs while promoting maximum health impact in the recipient countries is one the biggest challenges for global health donors. This paper views global health donors as the regulators of monopolistic service providers, and explores potential optimal fund payment systems under asymmetric information. It provides a summary and assessment of optimal price regulation designs for monopolistic service providers.

Designing Contracts for the Global Fund: Lessons from the Theory of Incentives – Working Paper 425
2/26/16
Liam Wren-Lewis
This paper uses contract theory to suggest simple contract designs that could be used by the Global Fund. Using a basic model of procurement, we lay out five alternative options and consider when each is likely to be most appropriate. We ultimately provide a synthesis to guide policy makers as to when and how ‘results-based’ incentive contracts can be used in practice.

Balancing Financial Integrity with Financial Inclusion: The Risk-Based Approach to “Know Your Customer”
2/25/16
Alan Gelb
Recognizing the importance of financial inclusion as a policy objective, regulators have endorsed the use of a risk-based approach (RBA) towards know-your-customer (KYC) requirements aimed at strengthening financial integrity. This paper considers applications of the RBA in domestic banking, mobile money and international financial transactions against the features of a rigorous RBA where both the rigor and level of due diligence and the structure and balance of incentives should be proportional to the balance of risks, including that of exclusion. Recommendations include greater attention to national identification systems and to encourage the use of digital technology to shift from cash-cash wire transfers to more transparent account-account transactions between identified holders.

Urban Institute [to 27 February 2016]
http://www.urban.org/about/media

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Testimony
Understanding the Rates, Causes, and Costs of Churning in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
Gregory B. Mills February 26, 2015
Testimony before the Committee on Agriculture, Subcommittee on Nutrition, United States House of Representatives
In this testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture’s Subcommittee on Nutrition, Greg Mills presents research findings on participant churning in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) including the rates, causes and costs of participant churn in SNAP, which occurs when households receiving SNAP exit the program and then re-enter within several months. Findings include that churn rates across the six states that were studied range from 17 to 28 percent for FY 2011 and that the causes of churn are due primarily to procedural difficulties experienced by participants rather than fluctuations in the earnings of SNAP recipients.
View the testimony here.

World Economic Forum [to 27 February 2016]
https://agenda.weforum.org/news/

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News 25 Feb 2016
Social Innovation: Proving the Link between Corporate and Societal Value
:: A new World Economic Forum study shows how social innovation is increasingly entering the business mainstream
:: The report profiles best practices from major multinationals and leading regional companies; hotspot reveals social innovation highly active in healthcare, pharmaceuticals, financial services, IT, agriculture, consumer goods and retail, chemicals, energy and telecommunications

Geneva, Switzerland, 25 February 2016 – The World Economic Forum today launched a new report, “Social Innovation: A Guide to Achieving Corporate and Societal Value”, profiling companies helping underserved communities and showing why social innovation is becoming an increasingly relevant strategy for companies to pursue. The report illustrates what social innovation strategies and business models look like, what the range of opportunities are, and the business benefits companies can get from pursuing them. It also covers best practices from companies on how best to implement such models in ways that support business goals.

Social innovation is defined by the Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Social Innovation as “the application of innovative, practical, sustainable, market-based approaches to benefit society in general, and low-income or underserved populations in particular”. The report released in collaboration with Oliver Wyman draws from workshops and interviews with over 30 executives from major multinationals and leading companies and advice from the Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Social Innovation to offer recommendations for companies…

Aga Khan Foundation [to 27 February 2016]
http://www.akdn.org/pr.asp

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Press Releases
UCA Launches its Inaugural Admissions Campaign for the 2016 Academic Year
19 February 2016 – The University of Central Asia (UCA) has launched its undergraduate admissions campaign to encourage qualified students from rural and urban schools across Central Asia to apply.

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Aga Khan says: Africa’s moment has come
Please also see: Keynote Address by His Highness the Aga Khan, Video
Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, 21 February 2016 – His Highness the Aga Khan today extolled Africa’s resilience, economic progress and new willingness to accept diversity.

“What I see emerging today is a refreshingly balanced confidence in Africa – a spirit that takes encouragement from past progress, while also seeking new answers to new challenges,” he said.

The Imam (Spiritual Leader) of the Shia Ismaili Muslims made the remarks in a keynote address to the “Africa 2016: Business for Africa, Egypt and the World” conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, hosted by Egypt’s president, His Excellency Abdel Fattah el Sisi…

Annie E. Casey Foundation [to 27 February 2016]
http://www.aecf.org/contact/newsroom/

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Posted February 25, 2016
New $5 Million Grant Program Will Connect Youth Facing Obstacles to Higher Education and Employment
In partnership with the Corporation for National and Community Service’s Social Innovation Fund, the Annie E. Casey Foundation announced today that it plans to award $5.4 million in grants over the next three years to help more teens and young adults complete high school and postsecondary education and build paths to careers.

Kellogg Foundation [to 27 February 2016]
http://www.wkkf.org/news-and-media#pp=10&p=1&f1=news
Feb 23, 2016
“Managing Lead in Drinking Water at Schools and Early Childhood Education Facilities” report released
The Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) has released a timely, commissioned report on “Managing Lead in Drinking Water at Schools and Early Childhood Education Facilities.”

As parents and communities throughout the country discover high levels of lead present in their drinking water, this report provides specific criteria and guidelines for schools and early childhood education (ECE) facilities to remediate lead levels.

Lead is recognized as the single most significant environmental health threat to America’s children. Its toxicity in relatively small doses is associated with learning disabilities, poor attention spans and lowered IQ scores. Furthermore, children of color and children living in low-income communities bear a disproportionately high burden of lead exposures and lead toxicity.

Today, of course, the corrosion of lead pipes distributing water to the citizens of Flint contaminated the city’s potable water, resulting in elevated blood lead levels in the city’s nearly 9,000 children under the age of 6.

This guide, prepared by the Horsley Witten Group, is a comprehensive source of best practices for lead sampling and analysis in schools and ECE facilities across the country. It also includes reference guidance from federal, state, local government agencies and other organizations, and case studies with examples from schools and ECE facilities that have experienced lead contamination in drinking water sources.

“The presence of lead in drinking water represents a crisis of environmental justice, falling woefully short in our basic function as a democracy to educate and keep our children safe,” WKKF President and CEO La June Montgomery Tabron said. “Yet, it also presents an opportunity for all of us to proactively engage and be accountable to each other and for each other, especially in our schools and early childhood education facilities.”

MacArthur Foundation [to 27 February 2016]
http://www.macfound.org/

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Publication
The Human Toll of Jails
Published February 23, 2016
The Human Toll of Jail project by the Vera Institute of Justice, supported by MacArthur’s Safety and Justice Challenge, tells the story of real people affected by America’s excessive and inappropropriate use of jails. Through the perspectives of the incarcerated, their families and local justice system workers, the project sheds light on the experiences of the more than 12 million people admitted to U.S. jails annually.

Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation [to 27 February 2016]
https://www.moore.org/newsroom/press-releases

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Press Releases
Assurance: Generating Value from External Assurance of Sustainability Reporting
World Business Council on Sustainable Development February 22, 2016
How companies generate value from external assurance of sustainability reporting – leveraging WBCSD new Assurance Maturity Model

Geneva, 15 February 2016: Companies who report on their sustainability performance can now turn to a new paper that explains how businesses at different stages of the assurance journey can use the Assurance Maturity Model to assure and validate the information in their reports.

Assurance is becoming an increasingly important element in sustainability reporting. It provides external validation of the financial, social and environmental disclosures made within those reports. Independent assurance statements help companies enhance their credibility and reassure readers of reports that their disclosures are reliable.

Released today, the new WBCSD report is titled “Assurance: Generating value from external assurance of sustainability reporting”. It shows that reporting effectiveness can be enhanced by obtaining an independent assurance statement. The report also provides key guidance from assurance providers and standard setters to assist reporters in navigating the assurance landscape…

Pew Charitable Trusts [to 27 February 2016]
http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/about/news-room/press-releases

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Press Release
Health Impact Project Provides Funding to Promote Health in Southern and Appalachian States
7 planning grants awarded to examine how factors like housing and education affect well-being
February 24, 2016 – Health Impact Project
WASHINGTON—The Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and The Pew Charitable Trusts, announced grants today to fund projects in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and West Virginia. Each grantee will develop an evidence-based action plan for addressing social, economic, and environmental factors (such as housing, education, and community development) that lead to disparities in health outcomes—known as health inequities…

BMC Public Health
http://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles
(Accessed 27 February 2016)

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Study protocol
Health effects of smoke from planned burns: a study protocol
Large populations are exposed to smoke from bushfires and planned burns. Studies investigating the association between bushfire smoke and health have typically used hospital or ambulance data…
David O’Keeffe, Martine Dennekamp, Lahn Straney, Mahjabeen Mazhar, Tom O’Dwyer, Anjali Haikerwal, Fabienne Reisen, Michael J. Abramson and Fay Johnston
BMC Public Health 2016 16:186
Published on: 24 February 2016

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Research article
Enabling relationship formation, development, and closure in a one-year female mentoring program at a non-governmental organization: a mixed-method study
Mental health problems among young women aged 16–24 have increased significantly in recent decades, and interventions are called for. Mentoring is a well-established preventative/ promotive intervention…
Madelene Larsson, Camilla Pettersson, Therése Skoog and Charli Eriksson
BMC Public Health 2016 16:179
Published on: 24 February 2016

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Research article
Motivations to participate in a Phase I/II HIV vaccine trial: A descriptive study from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Participation in an HIV vaccine trial in a Tanzanian context is likely to be influenced by altruism and comprehensive education about the trial. Gender differences, marital status and education level need to be considered to enhance participation in future HIV vaccine trials.
E. A. M. Tarimo, M. Bakari, D. C. V. Kakoko, T. W. Kohi, F. Mhalu, E. Sandstrom and A. Kulane
BMC Public Health 2016 16:182
Published on: 24 February 2016

Development Policy Review
March 2016 Volume 34, Issue 2 Pages 177–319
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dpr.2016.34.issue-2/issuetoc

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Original Articles
Targeting Disaster Aid in Post-Tsunami Sri Lanka (pages 179–195)
Asha Gunawardena and Jean-Marie Baland
Article first published online: 2 FEB 2016 | DOI: 10.1111/dpr.12148
Abstract
In this article we examine the allocation of boats and houses, the two major types of aid made available to tsunami-affected fishery households in Sri Lanka. We investigate the effectiveness of targeting by looking at the distributional impacts and the determinants of allocation of these transfers at the household level. We find that houses were much better targeted than boats in terms of compensating for the losses due to the tsunami. We also find that the ex post distribution of boats is much more unequal than the distribution that prevailed before the tsunami. The reverse is true for the distribution of houses, for which the government took a much more active role.

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Household Enterprises and Poverty Reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa (pages 197–221)
Louise Fox and Thomas Pave Sohnesen
Article first published online: 2 FEB 2016 | DOI: 10.1111/dpr.12152
Abstract
Employment in Household Enterprises (HEs) has been an integral part of the recent economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Yet employment and development strategies tend to exclude the sector, despite the fact that households with HEs tend to be richer. A good example is Mozambique, where 34% of households rely on income from this source. Analysis of household livelihoods using panel data shows that starting HEs is associated with upward wealth mobility and poverty reduction, particularly for rural and poorly-educated households. Targeted programmes directed towards the constraints to HE creation, survival and income growth would be likely to enhance the effectiveness of employment and poverty reduction strategies in Mozambique as well as in other low income countries in SSA.

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Effects of ‘women empowerment’ on household food security in rural KwaZulu-Natal province (pages 223–252)
S. Sharaunga, M. Mudhara and A. Bogale
Article first published online: 2 FEB 2016 | DOI: 10.1111/dpr.12151
Abstract
Understanding the dimensions of ‘women’s empowerment’ that influence food security among rural households is crucial to inform policy. This study uses the Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) to identify the food security status of 300 primary female-headed households in Msinga, South Africa. Principal Component Analysis was then used to identify the various dimensions along which the rural women sampled were empowered. Finally, the Ordered Logit model was used to identify the dimensions of women’s empowerment that influence their household food security status. It was found that households headed by women with higher levels of economic agency, physical capital empowerment, psychological empowerment and farm financial management skills empowerment were more likely to be food secure.

Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness
Volume 10 – Issue 01 – February 2016
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayIssue?jid=DMP&tab=currentissue

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Brief Reports
Civil-Military Engagement: An Empirical Account of Humanitarian Perceptions of Civil-Military Coordination During the Response to Typhoon Haiyan
Vincenzo Bollettino
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2015.85 Published online: 10 July 2015
Abstract
Objective
This study sought to identify how humanitarian actors in natural disasters coordinate (or communicate) with the military to identify the needs of disaster-affected populations, identify how coordination should be undertaken for the delivery of relief goods, perceive the effectiveness of such coordination, perceive the role that training played in preparation for coordinating with the military and the effectiveness of this training, and view the overall civil-military engagement and its implications for the independence of the humanitarian sector.
Methods
A survey instrument focused on participant perceptions of the civil-military engagement in response to Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines was sent to country directors and agency leads who played a role in the response.
Results
Although the data supported anecdotal accounts that the coordination between civilian and military actors during the disaster relief efforts in Typhoon Haiyan worked well, they also revealed that fewer than half of the respondents were familiar with the Guidelines on the Use of Foreign Military and Civil Defence Assets in Disaster Relief (the “Oslo Guidelines”) and only 12% of respondents thought that the Oslo Guidelines were used to develop organizational policy on humanitarian aid agency engagement with military actors.
Conclusions
Humanitarians felt that international militaries and the Philippines Armed Forces played an important role in ensuring that aid reached people in need, particularly in the early days of the response. However, less than half of the respondents were familiar with the Oslo Guidelines. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:7-10)

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Disaster-Related Injury Management: High Prevalence of Wound Infection After Super Typhoon Haiyan
Yong Won Kim, Seong Yeop Kim, Hoon Kim, Moo Eob Ahn, Kang Hyun Lee and Eun Seok Hong
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2015.100, Published online: 02 September 201
Abstract
Background
After Super Typhoon Haiyan, a category 5 tropical cyclone, insufficient resources were available for medical management. Many patients in the Philippines were wounded as a result of the disaster. We examined the prevalence, risk factors, and consequences of disaster-related wounds and wound infection in the post-disaster period.
Methods
We performed a retrospective review of consecutive patients admitted to a Korean Disaster Relief Team clinic at St. Paul’s Hospital, Tacloban City, Republic of Philippines, between December 9 and 13, 2013. Traumatic injury patients were included; patients not exhibiting a wound were excluded.
Results
Of the 160 patients enrolled in the study, 71 (44.4%) had infected wounds. There were no significant differences in the age, sex, past medical history, wound site, wound depth, injury mechanism, or inducer of injury between the uninfected and infected groups. In the univariate analysis, a foreign-body-contaminated wound, a chronic wound, elapsed time from injury to medical contact, an inadequately cared for wound, and need for subsequent wound management were associated with wound infection (P<0.05). The multivariate analysis revealed that foreign body contamination and having an inadequately cared for wound were associated with wound infection (odds ratio [OR]: 10.12, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.59-28.56; OR: 3.51, 95% CI: 1.07-11.51, respectively).
Conclusion
In the post-disaster situation, many wound infections required definitive care. Wound infection was associated with inadequately cared for wounds and foreign-body-contaminated wounds. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:28–33)

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Youth Resilience Corps: An Innovative Model to Engage Youth in Building Disaster Resilience
Joie Acosta, Vivian Towe, Anita Chandra and Ramya Chari
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2015.132 Published online: 20 October 2015
Abstract
Objective
Despite the growing awareness that youth are not just passive victims of disaster but can contribute to a community’s disaster resilience, there have been limited efforts to formally engage youth in strengthening community resilience. The purpose of this brief report was to describe the development of a Youth Resilience Corps, or YRC (ie, a set of tools to engage young people in youth-led community resilience activities) and the findings from a small-scale pilot test.
Methods
The YRC was developed with input from a range of government and nongovernmental stakeholders. We conducted a pilot test with youth in Washington, DC, during summer 2014. Semi-structured focus groups with staff and youth surveys were used to obtain feedback on the YRC tools and to assess what participants learned.
Results
Focus groups and youth surveys suggested that the youth understood resilience concepts, and that most youth enjoyed and learned from the components.
Conclusions The YRC represent an important first step toward engaging youth in building disaster resilience, rather than just focusing on this group as a vulnerable population in need of special attention. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2016;10:47–50)

Food Security
Volume 8, Issue 1, February 2016
http://link.springer.com/journal/12571/8/1/page/1

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Plant health and food security, linking economics, policy and industry
Original Paper
Plant health and food security, linking science, economics, policy and industry
Alan MacLeod, Glyn D. Jones, Helen M. Anderson, Rick A. Mumford

Original Paper
Options for managing the infectious animal and plant disease risks of international trade
Charles Perrings

Original Paper
Biosecurity and food security—effective mechanisms for public-private partnerships
Greg Fraser

Original Paper
Is resilience a useful concept in the context of food security and nutrition programmes? Some conceptual and practical considerations
Christophe Béné, Derek Headey, Lawrence Haddad, Klaus von Grebmer

Original Paper
In search of a global model of cultivation: using remote sensing to examine the characteristics and constraints of agricultural production in the developing world
Greg Husak, Kathryn Grace

Forum for Development Studies
Volume 43, Issue 1, 2016
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/sfds20/current
Special Issue: Frontiers of Research on Development and the Environment

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The Frontiers of Poverty Reduction in Emerging Asia
Dan Banik & Arve Hansen
pages 47-68
Free access
DOI:10.1080/08039410.2015.1134646
Abstract
It is difficult, if not impossible, to satisfactorily answer the question ‘Why does poverty persist?’ Nonetheless, there appear to be two approaches that can provide a useful start. One alternative is to examine why poverty (and extreme forms of it) continue to persist in the poorest countries of the world, mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa. The other, which is the focus on this article, is to examine a set of factors or reforms that have worked in reducing poverty in middle-income countries of the ‘Emerging South’ and the challenges these countries continue to face in distributing the benefits of economic growth and addressing persistent levels of poverty within their borders. We aim to better understand successful attempts to reduce poverty in a selected few emerging economies – India, China and Vietnam – by examining the role of specific types of reforms and initiatives in shaping and determining action by national governments to reduce poverty. Do some of these emerging economies advocate and adopt different poverty-reduction policies? If so, what, how and why? And to what extent can some of these poverty-reduction models be usefully applied in other developing country contexts? We then identify and discuss two broad sets of frontiers of research and policy-making on poverty in emerging Asia – environmental challenges and growing inequality – that require considerable attention if India, China and Vietnam are to experience continued economic growth and poverty reduction.

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What Counts as Progress? The Contradictions of Global Health Initiatives
Sidsel Roalkvam & Desmond McNeill
pages 69-88
DOI:10.1080/08039410.2015.1134645
Abstract
Global initiatives to finance maternal and child health have saved millions of lives and protected millions more against the ravages of crippling and debilitating disease; for this they are to be highly commended. Such technological and vertical programmes are appealing to policy-makers at the global level; but these health interventions take place within complex social and economic structures, and pertinent questions have been raised both about some negative consequences of these programmes and the implications for governance at local, national and global levels. Based on recent and ongoing research, and especially on a case study from India, this article critically assesses these related concerns. Is it the case that these programmes may actually weaken local health systems, which are crucial both in themselves and for ensuring health improvements? Do they change the direction of accountability, with national governments becoming accountable upwards to donors (for achieving specified numerical targets) rather than downwards to their citizens? And do such programmes also serve to de-politicize the field of global public health, diverting attention from the responsibilities of powerful nations to rectify the shortcomings of the global political economy and global governance which impact negatively on people’s health?

Genocide Studies International
Volume 9, Issue 2, Fall 2015
http://www.utpjournals.press/toc/gsi/current

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Articles
Humanitarian Missions to the Nuba Mountains, Sudan: Delivery of Food to Those in Critical Need
Samuel Totten
9(2), pp. 248–268
Published online: February 23, 2016
Abstract
The following reports delineate the most recent experiences and insights gleaned by Samuel Totten, a scholar of genocide studies based in the United States, as he traveled up into the war-torn Nuba Mountains in Sudan during December 2014 and April–May 2015. During the course of both trips, accompanied by an interpreter and a driver, both from the Nuba Mountains, he served as a witness to the ongoing aerial attacks by the government of Sudan against Nuba civilians (in their villages, on their farms, in open marketplaces, in their schools, and in places of worship) and delivered food (sorghum, lentils, dried beans, salt, sugar, and cooking oil) to those Nuba in the most dire need. An untold number of Nuba have been forced out of their villages and off their farms due to the aerial bombings, and without access to their farms and stores of food, many, particularly those residing in the remotest regions, are experiencing everything from malnutrition to severe malnutrition to starvation.

Global Public Health
Volume 11, Issue 4, 2016
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rgph20/current

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Articles
Access and utilisation of healthcare services in rural Tanzania: A comparison of public and non-public facilities using quality, equity, and trust dimensions
pages 407-422
Elizabeth H. Shayo, Kesheni P. Senkoro, Romanus Momburi, Oystein E. Olsen, Jens Byskov, Emmanuel A. Makundi, Peter Kamuzora & Leonard E.G. Mboera
DOI:10.1080/17441692.2015.1132750
Published online: 17 Feb 2016
ABSTRACT
This study compared the access and utilisation of health services in public and non-public health facilities in terms of quality, equity and trust in the Mbarali district, Tanzania. Interviews, focus group discussions, and informal discussions were used to generate data. Of the 1836 respondents, 1157 and 679 respondents sought healthcare services on their last visit at public or non-public health facilities, respectively. While 45.5% rated the quality of services to be good in both types of facilities, reported medicine shortages were more pronounced among those who visited public rather than non-public health facilities (OR = 1.7, 95% CI 1.4, 2.1). Respondents who visited public facilities were 4.9 times less likely than those who visited non-public facilities to emphasise the influence of cost in accessing and utilising health care (OR = 4.9, CI 3.9–6.1). A significant difference was also found in the provider–client relationship satisfaction level between non-public (89.1%) and public facilities (74.7%) (OR = 2.8, CI: 1.5–5.0), indicating a level of lower trust in the later. Revised strategies are needed to ensure availability of medicines in public facilities, which are used by the majority of the population, while strengthening private–public partnerships to harmonise healthcare costs.

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The impact of global health initiatives on the health system in Angola
pages 475-495
Isabel Craveiro & Gilles Dussault
DOI:10.1080/17441692.2015.1128957
Published online: 13 Jan 2016
ABSTRACT
We assessed the impact of global health initiatives (GHIs) on the health care system of Angola, as a contribution to documenting how GHIs, such as the Global Fund, GAVI and PEPFAR, influence the planning and delivery of health services in low-income countries and how national systems respond. We collected the views of national and sub-national key informants through 42 semi-structured interviews between April 2009 and May 2011 (12 at the national level and 30 at the sub-national level). We used a snowball technique to identify respondents from government, donors and non-governmental organisations. GHIs stimulated the formulation of a health policy and of plans and strategies, but the country has yet to decide on its priorities for health. At the regional level, managers lack knowledge of how GHIs’ function, but they assess the effects of external funds as positive as they increased training opportunities, and augment the number of workers engaged in HIV or other specific disease programmes. However, GHIs did not address the challenge of attraction and retention of qualified personnel in provinces. Since Angola is not entirely dependent on external funding, national strategic programmes and the interventions of GHIs co-habit well, in contrast to countries such as Mozambique, which heavily depend on external aid.