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News story: DFID Research: Taxing Africa for better governance

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:38 GMT

Eliminating development aid and promoting taxation among African citizens has been identified as a source for better governance in Africa. Research being conducted by the International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD) suggests that taxation is integral to better governance and a more prosperous citizenry. According to Mick Moore, CEO of ICTD and a professional fellow at the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), there are pragmatic and ultimately beneficial reasons for taxing Africa.

In his TEDx lecture “Why Tax Africa” Moore revealed that taxation is inherently very supportive of basic democratic principles. Where and how governments get their money is important in determining the behaviour of these bodies in relation to the prosperity of their citizens. Ultimately, “governments that depend on tax need their citizens to prosper” said Moore.

According to Moore, tax is consequentially very important for Africa because taxation is directly related to how people are governed. Governments throughout the western world, depend on the taxes of their citizenry in order to be successful. Taxation is a mutually beneficial relationship that depends on the citizens feeling that their taxes are working to their advantage through improved public services such as health care and education, while ensuring that governments have resources available at their disposal for other matters of the state.

Why Tax Africa?

Africa, however, is unique. Africa not only relies on revenue generated by broad general taxation but has 2 other sources of income, namely: development aid and natural resource revenues. African governments have complete autonomy over revenue generated by the sale of natural resources such as oil, gas and various minerals. The problem that arises is that, unlike other governments that depend on general taxation for income, development aid and natural resource revenues provide African governments with alternatives. These alternatives result in governments not being compelled to ensure the prosperity of their citizens. The implications of this scenario are that governments have no incentive to provide better public services for their citizens or for their citizens to prosper as the government itself does not solely depend on the prosperity of its citizens for revenue.

As Moore said:

If the government depends on general taxation it has a common interest in the well-being of its citizens, promoting prosperity.

The solution is therefore to fund Africa through tax and not development aid. Natural resource revenues should be given to citizens through monthly payments, or other systems, and then the government can tax its citizens and generate revenue through taxation while allowing their citizens to prosper. Allen Kagina, of the Uganda Revenue Authority, was quoted as having said that there is a need for Africans to “elevate ourselves from just being tax collectors and tax commissioners to being state builders”, recognizing that modern taxation involves an element of marketing, good communication and psychology.

The ICTD was created in 2012 as a global policy research network funded by the Department for International Development and Norad. It aims to contribute to development through the mobilisation of knowledge that will help make taxation policies more conducive to pro-poor economic growth and good governance.

News story: DFID Research: Considering mental health in Africa

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:37 GMT

The Programme for Improving Mental health care (PRIME) is a research initiative, funded by the Department for International Development, established to design ways to integrate mental health care services into primary health care (PHC).

Research indicates that more than 13% of the global burden of disease is due to mental illness. Although the vast majority of people affected by mental illness live in low-and middle-income countries, most mental health care resources are located in high income countries. This lack of resources for effective treatment has contributed to a large ‘treatment gap’, i.e. up to 4 out of every 5 people with mental illness in LMIC go without mental health care.

In Africa mental illness accounts for over 5% of all reported illness, however in many countries this is not reflected in policies and political commitment. PRIME’s meeting in Ethiopia between the 15th and 20th of April included the launch of the African-led Research Programme on Improving Mental Health Care established with the aim of raising awareness and improving the management and treatment of mental health at national and regional levels. The initiative comes at a time when interest is already high with Ethiopia having developed their first national mental health strategy late last year.

The meeting saw speakers from the PRIME Ethiopian leadership, the African Union and Addis Ababa University College of Health Sciences call for urgent action towards integrating mental health care into primary health care. They highlighted how reducing stigma and improving treatment of mental illness could benefit crucial social, economic and health issues across the African continent.

In a statement made at the launch, H. E. Dr. Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko, the African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs, discussed the lack of mental health policies in more than half of the countries in Africa. He pointed to the need to address the triggers of mental health issues, such as conflict and poverty but stressed that these issues could not be dealt with in isolation.

When we address those issues we will be addressing the bigger picture of mental ill health in our societies. But while, such issues are becoming difficult to address by the day by nations and even groups of nations, we must not lose sight of the fact that the current mental ill- health situation must be addressed.

He welcomed the initiative and expressed hopes that it would ensure a greater prominence for mental health in African policies.

PRIME’s overarching goal is to generate new knowledge which informs the development of mental health programmes that improve health and socio-economic outcomes, in particular of the poor and mothers, and accelerate progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals by reducing the ‘treatment gap’ in mental health.

The research coordinated by PRIME focuses on three priority mental disorders - depression, alcohol use and schizophrenia - the three leading mental health causes of the burden of disease. It aims to generate world-class research evidence on the implementation and scaling up of treatment programmes of these priority mental disorders which can be widely adopted by policy makers and practitioners.

News story: DFID Research: Building local disaster risk management capacity

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:37 GMT

The scale, frequency and severity of humanitarian crises looks set to grow at an accelerated pace over the coming years and decades. In the 20 years to 2012, disasters killed over 1.3 million people and caused US$2 trillion worth of damage, more than the total development aid given over the same period. Disasters have also affected the livelihoods and future prospects of millions of people in the developing world, for example, through the loss of assets such as livestock and severe malnutrition during critical periods of child development.

National governments have the primary responsibility to meet the needs of their populations, and national and local institutions are critical to first line response in emergencies. It is well known that populations are at their most vulnerable when the institutional framework to manage risk is weak, and where conflict further deepens vulnerability. But what are the best ways for international organisations to support national and local institutions to build resilience to disasters and manage humanitarian response?

The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (IFRC), with support from the Department for International Development and other donors, is commissioning critical operational research to strengthen the evidence-base on the most effective approaches to building national and local capacity for better disaster risk management.

This is a two year programme, which through the development of at least six country case studies, will produce high-quality and relevant research for policy-makers and practitioners in the humanitarian sector across the world.

Full details on the call and how to apply can be found on the IFRC’s website

Applications are being sought from individual organisations or consortiums, which might include academic, civil society, public or commercial organisations, who can demonstrate relevant knowledge and expertise in this area.

The deadline for research proposals is the 1st July 2013, 10:00 CET.

This research programme contributes to DFID’s overarching Humanitarian Innovation and Evidence Strategy.

News story: DFID Research: Informed national decision making requires transparent global guidelines

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:37 GMT

Policy groups need transparent information on the evidence supporting global recommendations on paediatric medicines. This is the conclusion of authors of a recent report from the Essential Medicines Programme in Ghana, describing their work examining which new drugs recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) they might include in their national drug lists.

The report, published in PLOS Medicine, documents the experience of the Ghana National Drugs Programme working with David Sinclair and Paul Garner of the Evidence Building and Synthesis Research Consortium. The team reviewed the international evidence base for five priority paediatric medicines in order to decide whether or not to include them in Ghana’s essential drug list.

The drugs considered by the committee were:

Oral zinc sulphate for acute diarrhoea
Injectable artesunate for severe malaria
Topical chlorhexidine for preventing neonatal cord sepsis
Dispersible oral amoxicillin for community acquired pneumonia
Oral and injectable caffeine citrate for neonatal apnoea

According to the authors, applying the global recommendations to Ghana was not straightforward for any of the five medicines, despite high quality evidence of important clinical benefits, because of the unproven effect of the drugs in African settings and the scant information on cost effectiveness and the supply chain.

After the authors did their own review of the evidence on the effectiveness of these drugs in the Ghanaian context, they decided to include only four out of the five drugs in the national drug list.

This project demonstrates why global recommendations should be presented alongside transparent descriptions of the evidence base, allowing policy groups to identify where, when, and how the interventions have been evaluated, and any factors limiting wider applicability.

The authors argue for implementation guidance to help cost analyses at country level.

In addition, for interventions where feasibility and affordability are likely to vary from setting to setting, the [World Health Organization] could further assist national decision-makers by providing implementation guidance on the assessment of health system implications, training and education requirements, and country level cost analyses.

The report concludes with strong recommendations for cross country collaboration.

As many policy questions are relevant across sub-Saharan Africa, and policy makers are likely to encounter recurrent problems, we encourage regional collaboration on health technology assessment, and sharing of information and resources.

The UK Department for International Development funds the Effective Healthcare Research Consortium which aims to increase evidence-informed health sector decisions in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).

News story: DFID Research: PhD Studentship on the impact of Evidence Aid

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:37 GMT

The Evidence Aid project was established by the Cochrane Collaboration, following the 2004 Tsunami in the Indian Ocean. It was designed to provide up-to-date evidence, taken from Cochrane Reviews and other systematic reviews, on appropriate interventions in natural disasters and health care emergencies.

Evidence Aid aims to identify and highlight those interventions which work and those which may have harmful outcomes. The website is specifically designed for agencies and people planning for, or responding to, disasters.

The Evidence Aid project has three main elements:

Urgent response to evidence needs that arise during and in the short-term after the event.
Context specific resources for evidence needs that arise during the subsequent weeks and months. These collections are also useful as part of the planning for disaster risk reduction.
Gathering information about the need for evidence and providing up-to-date systematic reviews of relevant research.

This PhD studentship, funded by the UKCRC Centre of Excellence for Public Health, Northern Ireland, is a unique opportunity to work with Evidence Aid, to both influence its work and assess its impact. It will include opportunities to be at the forefront of “leapfrogging” new technological solutions that provide resource-poor settings with direct access to relevant knowledge.

The project will be based around the global focal point for Evidence Aid within Queen’s University Belfast, but will involve substantial international collaboration with those working directly in the disaster and humanitarian sectors. The research will include a process evaluation of the creation of the evidence base and its use, observational epidemiology using outcome data gathered in the aftermath of disasters and analysis of usability and understanding of different types of summary for the findings of research.

Natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies continue to place an enormous strain on public health. This studentship allows for further research into how evidence can be evaluated and delivered to the people who need it, when they need it.

Applications should be submitted before Friday 31st May 2013. To apply online visit the Queen’s on-line application portal and for further guidance please visit the University’s Prospective Student pages.

The Department for International Development works with the Cochrane Collaboration in evidence building and synthesis research in order to increase evidence-informed health sector decisions in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) and to contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

News story: DFID Research: Keeping people, economies and potatoes healthy

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:37 GMT

The American Museum of Natural History is currently holding an exhibition entitled Our Global Kitchen: Food, Nature, Culture. The exhibition aims to illustrate the complex journey of field to fork and looks at the role of humanity in shaping the food of the future.

The museum hosts AMNH.tv, which produces a series of science bulletins on a range of topics. As part of this exhibition, a new short film within this series profiles the work being done by the International Potato Centre (CIP) in Lima, Peru.

The film explains how CIP combines preservation of wild potato species with the development of new hardier varieties. It shows the work being undertaken in the gene bank as well as the monitoring of native varieties in the fields.

The potato is the third most important food crop in the world, providing more than a billion people with a staple food. High in energy, it is relatively easy and cheap to produce and does not require large areas of farmland.

However as climate change becomes an increasing reality, traditional varieties are under threat worldwide. With most of the existing 4, 000 edible varieties being found in the Andes, CIP works in Lima to catalogue and preserve diversity.

In Peru and other highland areas this means developing improved potato varieties which can be grown in warmer temperatures. Climate change has already impacted on traditional farm sites in Lima, with farmers having to move their crops higher than the average 4, 000 metres above sea level, due to rising temperatures.

Clearly farmers cannot keep moving crop sites indefinitely, so CIP is working to find varieties which perform well in these new temperatures.

However, potatoes are not only under threat in South America. CIP also works in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In Sub-Saharan areas, efforts are focused on developing and disseminating new varieties of tuber with higher nutritional value. Improved tuber varieties provide a means of combating vitamin A deficiency, for example in the recent deployment of the pro-vitamin A rich, orange-fleshed sweet potatoes.

With changing conditions come new temperatures, new levels of rainfall, drought and new forms of blight. CIP, through its research into existing varieties and by broadening crop varieties to include other tubers, aims to help communities on the ground adapt to these changes.

Potato Biodiversity—Ensuring the Future

By working with the farmers in the fields as well as working on species in the gene banks, CIP benefits from a two way dialogue which ensures that both deliberate and naturally occurring changes in existing potato types can be monitored and evaluated.

CIP is part of the CGIAR programme funded by the Department for International Development.

News story: DFID Research: Intelligent water pumps in rural Africa

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:37 GMT

The Smart Water Systems project has recently released a short video on a new electronic device which monitors usage of hand pumps throughout Kenya.

Handpumps provide a vital source of safe drinking water for many rural communities across Africa. The Smart Handpumps initiative recognises that the construction of the pump is only the first hurdle in providing fresh, clean water. Maintenance is crucial and, as the video points out, around one third of these handpumps can be out of action at any one time. With no means of contacting a skilled mechanic this can leave communities forced to find less reliable sources of water which are sometimes a long way off.

This device has been designed to tackle this problem. Installed into each hand pump, it is able to monitor the amount of water being withdrawn and then transmit this information via SMS to the Smart Hand pumps base in Nairobi. This data is then analysed and collated into a map which illustrates which handpumps are being used regularly.

When a handpump stops transmitting evidence of usage the project workers in Nairobi can assume it is out of action and thus send out an engineer.

Smart Handpumps

The Smart Water System project led by the University of Oxford, couples mobile banking with smart water metering. It aims to improve the operational and financial performance of water service utilities in Africa through driving down water payment transaction costs and identifying and reducing non-revenue water losses.

By systematizing information, providing real time monitoring of handpump functionality, the Smart Handpumps initiative is helping to drive improved performance and transparency in the water sector.

An initiative funded by the Department for International Development, Smart Handpumps incorporates mobile technology to generate low cost tools which are easily replicable. It is currently running trials in Zambia and Kenya.

News story: DFID Research: The Hunger and Nutrition Commitment Index

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:37 GMT

Earlier this month the Hunger and Nutrition Commitment Index (HANCI) was launched. Partly funded by Transform Nutrition, HANCI looks at 45 countries and measures their political commitment to tackling hunger and malnutrition by evaluating 22 policy, legal and spending indicators.

Currently 870 million people in the world do not have enough to eat. While this number has fallen by 130 million since 1990, progress has slowed in recent years. Similarly, progress in reducing the numbers suffering from undernutrition has been fairly static in the past 5 years; it still contributes to the deaths of 2.6 million children under 5 each year.

Produced by the Institute for Development Studies, this index is the first of its kind. The Global Hunger Index in 2012 demonstrated that progress in reducing hunger has been worryingly slow, the HANCI aims to measure how levels of political commitment play a part in this. It highlights the lack of progress towards meeting the targets set out in Millennium Development Goal 1, referring to the high levels of stunting in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa which remain at 40%.

Identifying that in many developing countries there has been significant economic growth over the last few years, the HANCI looks at why this does not necessarily impact on levels of undernutrition and hunger. A driving factor is seen to be lack of political will.

The report looks at 3 areas of government action:

Policies and programmes
Legal frameworks
Public expenditures

Commitment to reduce hunger and commitment to reduce undernutrition are clearly delineated as separate issues. The report highlights that hunger can be identified as a key driver in migration, conflict and gender discrimination. Undernutrition, however has different causes and consequences. It is not always related to hunger and can be caused by impaired facilities for nutrient uptake due to disease. In a vicious cycle, this lack of key nutrients results in increased susceptibility to disease and impairs the immune system and physical and mental development.

By separating the 2 issues the index is able to highlight interesting disparities. For example, as Dolf te Lintelo, an author of the report points out, Nepal is rated third in the index for political drive to reduce undernutrition, however it is ranked 34th in its commitment to reduce hunger.

Thus the HANCI provides a more comprehensive insight into the specific political interventions needed. For example, it highlights that while government support for child care and improved sanitation may improve nutrition but have little effect on hunger, similarly subsidized food in shops and emergency food aid target hunger but don’t contribute to a balanced diet.

HANCI has developed 2 tools designed to enhance the accessibility of the data used in the index.

Global View: this is an interactive map allowing users to compare HANCI rankings
Weigh your priorities for action: this tool allows users the opportunity to explore how rankings change according to different prioritization of the three areas of government action- Policies and programmes, Legal frameworks or Public expenditures

The HANCI website also provides access to individual and collective accounts, gathered during data collection, from communities affected by undernutrition in Malawi, Bangladesh and Zambia.

News story: DFID Research: Nanotechnology in the fight against Malaria

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:37 GMT

On Thursday the 25th April people around the globe marked World Malaria Day. The struggle against malaria continues to prove long and difficult. The estimated death toll in 2010 was 660, 000 and while mortality rates have fallen by 25% since 2000, there are still serious concerns about the development of drug resistance in particular strains.

On World Malaria Day however, St George’s University of London and the nanotech company, QuantuMDx Group, announced that they were ahead of schedule in producing what they predict will be an invaluable tool in diagnosing infection and potential drug resistance, before the drug has been prescribed.

The device is likened to one used on a smartphone and is designed to analyse the DNA from a finger prick of blood within 15 minutes. The analysis then concludes whether the patient is infected and which strain of malaria is contained in the blood allowing for a “personalized” prescription for the patient.

The Nanomal device is expected to cost about the same as a smartphone but Elaine Warburton, the CEO of the QuantuMDx Group, has proposed free distribution among medical professionals in target areas such as Sub-Saharan Africa.

This device could complement research currently being carried out by the Artemisinin Resistant Malaria Programme (TRAC) project. Funded by the Department for International Development, the project is a partnership between the Mahidol Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Programme (MORU); London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM); Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM); World Health Organisation Global Malaria Programme; and the WorldWide Antimalarial Resistance Network (WWARN).

The project investigates the spread of parasite resistance to artemisinin-based therapies. It has identified 15 key sites in Asia and Africa and carries out research into the clinical, pharmacokinetic, molecular and socio-economic aspects of artemisinin resistance.

Part of their research is focused on identifying the spread of this resistance. It comes as part of the WHO Containment Project which responded to the alarming surge in Malarial deaths worldwide due to the development of resistance to a key malaria drug Choloroquine. If a similar resistance to artemisinin were to develop and spread the results could be even more profound.

Thus the development of a handheld device that can potentially identify drug resistance in patients could be very welcome news. By providing quick and easy diagnosis of the particular strain of malaria, medical professionals and researchers will be able to prescribe drugs more accurately, reducing expenditure and time thus allowing for more research into specific parasite resistance.

News story: DFID Research: Resource management and food security

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 04:37 GMT

On the 11th to the 12th of April, Dublin hosted the Food Security Futures Conference as a precursor to the Ireland hosted EU Presidency Meeting, which incorporated the Hunger, Nutrition and Climate Justice event that took place this week (14th-15th April).

Leading researchers from CGIAR and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations gathered in Dublin to present papers on key topics that had long-term impacts on food security.

Looking at natural resource management (NRM), climate change and nutrition, participants considered how to meet the rising demand for food worldwide.

In a key presentation Frank Place of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and Alexander Maybeck of FAO discussed the issues surrounding sustainable resource use.

They highlighted that between 2006 and 2050 agricultural production needs to increase by 60% and that the FAO estimates that as much of 80% of this will have to be met by yield increase.

This is due to the difficulties in cultivating new land, the main problem being the unequal distribution of usable areas. Many areas in countries with less agricultural land (or a need for more) are forested or rangeland and thus difficult to convert.

As well as new land, Place and Maybeck, pointed to the issues surrounding land degradation, highlighting that globally only half of all nutrients taken from the soil are replaced.

Turning away from problems of land allocation, the presentation looked at worldwide access to water, indicating that irrigation would be crucial in addressing food insecurity in the future.

Other sources of food were identified. Aquaculture and fisheries were looked at but, as with land usage and degradation, the most recent statistics pointed to the impacts of over fishing with over 29% of fish stocks depleted worldwide.

The overriding problem facing researchers was identified as the unequal distribution of land and water.

Nine systems were referred to as being at risk:

Densely populated highlands in poor areas;
Small holder rain fed farming in semi-arid tropics;
Densely populated and intensely cultivated areas in the Mediterranean basin
Intensive rained cropping in temperate climate;
Irrigated rice-based systems;
Crops depending on irrigation by groundwater;
Rangelands on fragile soils;
Deltas and coastal areas;
Peri-urban agriculture.

However, the presentation did outline measures that could be taken to help negotiate a pathway through this seemingly bleak future.

Place and Maybeck highlighted the importance of integrated NRM practices; methods such as agroforestry which enable farmers to utilize forested areas to grow crops which benefit from the natural balance of soil nutrients. They emphasized the need to engage in knowledge sharing activities, allowing experiential knowledge to be communicated among practitioners on the ground.

These objectives were mirrored in the policy recommendations that called on actors to develop policies which support NRM, particularly at a local level. They also outlined the benefits of coordinating policies in order to share resources more effectively at regional levels.

By adopting a food chain approach incorporating all natural resources at a local as well as a national level, food demands could be met sustainably. However, to achieve this, Place and Maybeck highlighted the need for more research into resource assessment.

This presentation, and others, can be found on the website for the CGIAR programme on Policies, Institutions and Markets.

The Department for International Development provides core support to ICRAF through the CGIAR fund.

Vegetable soybean: a healthy, tasty, and profitable crop for tribal communities of northeast India

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 10:30 GMT

The world vegetable centre is working with tribal communities in India to encourage production of vegetable soybean

The open revolution at the EADI IMWG workshop in Antwerp.

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 10:30 GMT

On the 13th and 14th of September the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI) held a workshop at the University of Antwerp in Belgium on open development.

Improving the quality and scope of research coverage in Africa

Fri, 17 Aug 2012 10:30 GMT

DFID launch Development Research Uptake in Sub-Saharan Africa (DRUSSA) as the need for an African science news service increases.

The great pyramid: Ty tomatoes resist pests and diseases

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 15:30 GMT

The World Vegetable Center have developed tropical tomatoes with resistance to several whitefly-transmitted begomoviruses through “gene pyramiding”.

At this bank for vegetables, withdrawals produce interest

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 12:00 GMT

The genebank at AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center is the world’s most important public-domain source for tropical vegetable crop germplasm.

DFID's Policy Opens up a World of Global Research

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 09:30 GMT

DFID today threw its weight behind the Open Access movement by publishing its own Open and Enhanced Access Policy for the research that it funds.

Choice for women: Family planning, health and rights in a world of 7 billion

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:00 GMT

Last month the United Nations Population Fund announced that global population has passed 7 billion. This landmark brings the issue of population growth and its impact into sharp focus

R4D Gateway

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:12 GMT

OAI PMH Implementation for R4D

Getting children into school and breaking the cycle of disadvantage

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 16:00 GMT

Getting children into school and breaking the cycle of disadvantage

The impact of research on policy and practice in Indonesia’s pulp and paper sector

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:42 GMT

CIFOR-led research has contributed to policy reform, the acceleration of plantation development, and the saving of more than 100,000 hectares of tropical rainforest, with hundreds of millions of dollars in attendant benefits