By Maina Waruru
NAIROBI, Apr 29 2024 – The World Health Organization’s African regional office and partners published over 25 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals in 2023 as part of efforts to address the imbalance in global research and ensure that Africa was better represented in the production of health research academic literature, a new report shows.

The office, through its Universal Health Coverage, Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases (UCN) Cluster, published on a range of health challenges and diseases, including the risk of zoonotic disease in countries ranging from Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania, Ghana, and Nigeria, investigating infectious and non-infectious diseases, and public health approaches to ease Africa’s disease burden.

This research is critical to the continent, says Africa’s Regional Director, Dr. Matshidiso Moeti.

“The WHO African Region arguably bears one of the greatest burdens of disease globally. This has always been exacerbated by poverty, which, in the decade prior to COVID-19, was on the decline. Now, however, these gains have been reversed, not only by COVID-19 but by a series of severe shocks during the 2020–2022 period,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the Regional Director for Africa,” she told IPS.

“Major threats include climate change, global instability, slowing economic growth, and conflict. This makes it ever more important that we at the WHO Regional Office for Africa focus on the central promise of the 2030 SDG agenda, which is to ‘leave no one behind’, using a health systems strengthening approach to move towards universal health coverage.”

According to the Ending Disease in Africa: Responding to Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases 2023 report released in April, WHO scientists were able to publish their work in reputable journals, including the Social Sciences and Humanities Open, supporting Africa’s efforts to raise her scientific research production, estimated at only 2 percent of the world’s total.

The works also found homes in open access journals, including America’s Public Library of Science (PLOS), where they are accessible for free by the scientific community and the general public.

Besides Africa-based scientific publications such as the Nigerian Journal of Parasitology, highlighting the need to support the role local publications can play in elevating African science and, by extension, helping address imbalances in global research.

“A country’s ability to create, acquire, translate, and apply scientific and technological advancements is a major determinant of its socioeconomic and industrial development. Many of Africa’s current and future health challenges can only be addressed by conducting research on population-based approaches towards effective disease prevention and control, which are then translated into policy and practice,” the report noted in introducing the work.

“Despite Africa’s disproportionate burden of disease, the region produced 0.7 percent of global research in 2000, 1.3 percent in 2014 and an estimated 2 percent more recently. In response, the UCN Cluster and partners published over 25 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals in 2023 as part of efforts to address the imbalance in global research, and ensure regional representation in academic literature.”

According to the Ending Disease in Africa: Responding to Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases, WHO scientists were able to publish their work in reputable journals, supporting Africa’s efforts to raise her scientific research production, which is estimated at only 2 percent of the world’s total. Credit: WHO

In Ghana, the WHO team conducted a “community-based cross-sectional study” to investigate occurrences of skin ulcers, whose findings showed the importance of integrating multiple skin diseases on a common research platform in findings published by PLOS One, while in Tanzania, a “spatio-temporal modelling” of routine health facility data to better guide community-based malaria interventions on the mainland was done.

Some of the papers the WHO-Africa says were examples of “operational and implementation research,” conducted to identify and ensure the successful adoption and adaptation of evidence-based interventions in both clinical and public health on the continent.

They include findings from an impact assessment of a school-based preventive chemotherapy programme for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), schistosomiasis, and soil-transmitted helminth control in Angola, where used drugs were found to have little impact in controlling the diseases. These findings were published in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

“This highlighted the need for a comprehensive understanding of individual, community, and environmental factors associated with transmission and consideration for a community-wide control programme,” it concluded.

The Springer Nature’s Malaria Journal published the team’s research on treatment-seeking behavior among parents of children with malaria-related fever in Malawi. It captured  the need for targeted health interventions among communities in low socioeconomic settings and those living far from health facilities.

In Nigeria, an article based on experiences in Nigeria using a novel schistosomiasis community data analysis tool, developed by the UCN Cluster, emphasized the usefulness of the tool for strategic planning purposes, allowing the tool to be deployed around Africa for the management of the disease. Blood flukes (trematode worms) from the genus Schistosoma are the primary cause of the acute and chronic parasitic disease schistosomiasis.

Research on health policy and systems, the aim being to better understand how “collective health goals” are reached. This was done through a range of disciplines, including economics, sociology, anthropology, political science, and public health.

One such journal article was published by  Elsevier’s Social Sciences and Humanities Open, looking at five decades of infectious disease outbreaks on the continent and recommending  that concerted public health action may help reduce outbreaks, as well as drawing important conclusions for disease preparedness and prevention activities.

Quite critically, the experts undertook “knowledge translation” work, the application of knowledge by various actors to deliver the benefits of global and local innovations in strengthening health systems and improving health.

“In the African context, knowledge translation generally includes an aspect of localization, considering local perspectives and approaches and the effects of the social, cultural, political, environmental, and health system context on an intervention’s impact,” the experts explain.

In 2023, the UCN Cluster translated and localized several global knowledge products for use in Africa, including one on oral diseases, a malady suffered by about 44 percent of the population in the region.

Africa, the document observes, has experienced the “steepest rise globally in oral diseases over the last three decades,”  even as spending on treatment costs remains “extremely low,” thus the need to share the newest information on their management.

Away from scientific research, the report reveals that Mauritius became the first country in Africa to fully implement WHO’s package of tobacco control measures, while at the same time WHO-Africa launched an initiative to support better access to breast and cervical cancer detection, treatment, and care services in Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, and Zimbabwe.

Equally important, WHO Africa, in collaboration with Nigerian authorities, introduced the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine into routine immunization schedules, targeting more than 7 million girls, the largest number in a single round of HPV vaccination in Africa.

Success stories emerged in Algeria, which successfully ‘interrupted’ the transmission of schistosomiasis after reporting zero indigenous cases for the past three years, in January 2024, and in Cape Verde, which became the third country to be certified as malaria-free.

Note: This article is brought to you by IPS Noram in collaboration with INPS Japan and Soka Gakkai International in consultative status with ECOSOC.

IPS UN Bureau Report

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By External Source
Apr 29 2024 (IPS-Partners)

Amy Clarke is Co-Founder and Chief Impact Officer of the multi award-winning Tribe Impact Capital, a dedicated impact wealth manager and B Corps, based in London. She has over 29 years of experience in sustainability, both leading in-house teams (Microsoft and Bank of America) and as a management consultant specialising in climate and sustainability (PwC and EY). Amy serves as a Trustee to B Lab UK and is also an Advisor to fellow B Corps, Greenheart Consulting and Black Seed Ventures. She sits on the Global Steering Group of the Global Ethical Finance Initiative (GEFI) and the Investment Committee of The Blue Cross (having previously served as a Trustee). Amy has both BSc and MSc degrees in environmental studies. In her spare time, she serves as Head of Catering and Entertainment for her three-legged rescue Staffordshire Bull Terrier.

ECW: Education Cannot Wait and Tribe Impact Capital share a joint ambition to ensure children impacted by armed conflicts, climate change and other protracted crises can realize their potential through a quality education. How can our two organizations work together to make this goal a reality?

Amy Clarke: Education Cannot Wait (ECW) is on the ground fighting for the educational rights of children around the world who are placed in harm’s way. These vulnerable children face a reality filled with instability and uncertainty – an unacceptable condition for any child’s upbringing. As ECW works tirelessly to address the immediate educational needs of these children, it’s crucial we also forge a path toward a future that promises fairness, justice and equity.

At Tribe Impact Capital, we recognize the transformative power of responsible investment. The finance sector plays a pivotal role in shaping global economies and societies by investing in businesses and governments around the world. Through impactful investment strategies, we can seed the conditions for a sustainable, resilient and regenerative future.

Together, our organisations can explore the development of innovative financial instruments that can support the work of ECW today, while also preparing for a stable, thriving future. By leveraging our expertise in impact investing alongside ECW’s on-the-ground insights, we can work towards an integrated solution that not only educates children today, but also equips them to lead tomorrow.

ECW: Tribe Impact Capital is focused on ‘Changing Wealth Management for Good’. Can you explain how you do this, why it’s important to think sustainably when investing, and why Tribe Impact Capital puts girls and women first in everything you do?

Amy Clarke: Tribe was established to help wealth owners reconnect their values with their capital, and to deliver a more holistic risk-based approach to the management of wealth, all wrapped up in a mission-driven model – a B Corporation.

We are committed to demonstrating that wealth can simultaneously generate positive financial returns and tangible social and environmental impact. This commitment is integral not only to reduce potential risks within investment portfolios, but also to addressing broader challenges facing people and planet. Tribe was established to show what was possible when you build a mission-driven business from cradle to crave – from how it’s governed, to how it invests, to how it advocates for change. We’re not perfect, but we’re built to serve a broad group of stakeholders, and we’re committed to being a better version of ourselves every day. Our desire to succeed is firmly rooted in our mission. We passionately believe that there is more to wealth than money and that finance can be a force for good.

Our emphasis on empowering women and girls stems from an acute awareness of the persistent inequalities within the financial system. The finance sector lacks diversity across the board, and, for women, this often looks like disparities in career opportunities as well as challenges accessing investment resources that resonate with their goals and values. We know women are interested in sustainable and impact investing. As an example, a recent Lombard Odier survey of their female clients and business partners showed a clear preference for sustainable investments among women. Not supporting this preference hinders broader societal progress. We are a gender diverse business and are committed to the work we do to support female wealth holders. Half of our clients are women, and that’s a statistic we are proud of.

ECW: You are a leader within the B Corp movement, a network of businesses that use business as a force for good. Can you tell us more about the B Corp movement, how its members are driving change, and why purpose-driven B Corps should partner with an organization like ECW?

Amy Clarke: B Corporations believe that business should be a force for good – we are mission-driven businesses. We serve a broader community of stakeholders, not just shareholders, who have vested interests in our business – whether that’s our employees, our suppliers, or the communities who depend on us to do our jobs well. We believe people and the planet are as important as profit. In fact, profit can only truly be generated when people and the planet are factored into the decision-making process and given equal weight. Businesses that extract more value than they create cannot be truly sustainable. Running your business with a clear sense of purpose and mission opens up exciting opportunities for innovation and growth. And with that in mind, why wouldn’t the B Corps community stand shoulder to shoulder with ECW – we’re the same breed!

ECW: You have a strong background in environmental science, with some 30 years of experience in corporate sustainability and impact investing. How can we connect education action with climate action to deliver on the targets outlined in the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals?

Amy Clarke: Nelson Mandela famously stated that education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world. This rings especially true in the context of the climate crisis. To navigate and mitigate the complexities of climate change, we must educate people not only about the challenges but also about the practical solutions they can implement. That said, the way we educate people is profoundly important. As the saying goes, knowledge is silver but true wisdom is gold. We have to teach people how to think, not just what to think. Intellectual curiosity is what has led us to some of the most spectacular innovations in human history. But it is wisdom that has helped prevent us falling into the precipice. If we are to tackle the climate crisis, how we educate, where we educate, and what we teach will define whether we succeed or fail.

ECW: We all know that ‘leaders are readers’ and that reading skills are key to every child’s education. What are three books that have most influenced you personally and/or professionally, and why would you recommend them to others?

Amy Clarke: Gosh, there are far too many to write about here!

I’d have to choose a book from my childhood for my first book and that would be Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I first read them when I was about 11 and was completely struck by two of the messages in those books. First, you are never too small to have an impact. As Dame Anita Roddick famously said: “if you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito in the room”. The second is that hope is never lost. You may struggle to find it, but it’s always out there. You just have to believe. And look. Those are such important lessons for children to learn.

The second would be Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. It is unbelievably prescient, a little bit disturbing and really gets you thinking about the human condition. It is also just an excellent book written by a hugely talented woman.

And the final would be the one I am reading at the moment, The Master and His Emissary by Iain McGilchrist. It’s up there with Straw Dogs by John Gray as something that will challenge everything you ever thought. It’s an utterly fascinating and thought-provoking masterpiece on the brain, spirituality and the human condition. And a must read if we are to truly understand ourselves as a species and why we do what we do.

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By Gustavo Adler and Rodrigo Valdés
WASHINGTON DC, Apr 29 2024 – Latin America’s workforce grew by nearly 50 percent in the two decades before the pandemic, helping boost economic growth. Now demographic trends are turning, and likely to weigh on growth in the coming years.

We expect growth in Latin America to average about 2 percent per year in the next five years, below its already low historical average. These projections are also considerably weaker than those for other emerging market economies across Europe and Asia, which are also expected to slow but still grow by 3 percent and 6 percent annually, respectively.

This weaker outlook party reflects long-standing challenges of low investment and slow productivity growth. The additional challenge this time is that the demographics are turning, and the labor force won’t grow as fast as before.

Turning Demographics

Population growth will continue decelerating, falling from about 1 percent per year in the two decades preceding the pandemic to about 0.6 annually in the next five years. This is not necessarily bad news as a growing population does not automatically mean rising income per capita—the most relevant measure of wellbeing.

Although a larger population means a larger labor force and aggregate output, it also means a larger number of people among whom output is shared. Still, growing the economy through a larger population can help in other ways, including by increasing revenues to repay high debt levels.

More importantly, the demographic dividend is fading as the region’s population is aging and the share of the working-age population is peaking. This means that the share of the population able to generate income will stop growing. It is an important change as this share had been growing until now, enabling the labor force to grow 0.5 percent per year since 2000. In contrast, we expect no growth in the share of working-age population over the next five years, on average.

Boosting participation

Keeping the labor force engine running will require boosting labor force participation. And some of this is expected to happen, as the share of working-age jobseekers is projected to continue rising.

But for this to become a reality, it will be key to further integrate women into the labor force. Their participation remains low, at only 52 percent of working-age women compared to 75 percent of men.

Policies can help. Expanding childcare programs and providing more training for women can help raise female participation, as we have discussed in recent country reports, including for Brazil and Mexico.

Ensuring that household taxation does not discourage secondary household earners and eliminating asymmetric childcare and parental leave benefits between men and women, that ultimately discourage hiring of women or affect their pay, can also help bring more women into the labor force.

Countries can also grow their workforce by providing vocational training opportunities, raising the retirement age, eliminating disincentives for work after retirement and adopting policies that facilitate employment of older workers.

Tackling crime—an important factor behind migrant outflows in some parts of the region—should also be on the agenda.

But also, as demographics become less favorable, countries will need to put more effort into raising labor productivity growth, by tackling poor governance, stringent business regulations, and widespread informal work (which constrains firms’ growth and the associated productivity gains).

This will help raise living standards even amid demographic headwinds.

Latin America’s many years of hard work to strengthen macroeconomic frameworks has paid off. Countries successfully navigated the last two large global economic recessions and avoided a painful repeat of past crises.

Now they must take advantage of this resilience to focus on boosting potential growth, a persistent challenge that’s mounting as demographic fortunes turn.

Source: International Monetary Fund (IMF)

IPS UN Bureau

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By IPS Correspondent
VIENTIANE, Apr 29 2024 – A recent workshop of lawmakers heard that targeted interventions would be necessary to meet the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), its Programme of Action (PoA), and Lao PDR’s national commitments to ICPD25 at the Nairobi Summit 2019.

The Workshop on Harnessing Demographic Dividend through the Roadmap to 2030 for Lao PDR aimed to equip parliamentarians with the knowledge and strategies necessary to address the critical population and development challenges confronting Lao PDR.

Thoummaly Vongphachanh, MP and Chair of Social and Cultural Affairs Committees, National Assembly, told the workshop in her opening address that collective action was important for tackling population and development challenges.

Edcel Lagman, MP Philippines and acting Chair of AFPPD, addressed the ICPD’s emphasis on individual rights, gender equality, and the correlation between development and women’s empowerment. With this in mind, he urged parliamentarians to enact rights-based policies that promote gender equality and social justice, incorporating population dynamics into development planning.

UNFPA Representative to Lao PDR, Dr Bakhtiyor Kadyrov, reiterated the organization’s commitment to supporting parliamentarians and government initiatives in addressing population and development challenges, emphasizing the importance of inclusive policies and partnerships to ensure no one is left behind.

A representative of DoP/MPI, Kaluna Nanthavongduangsy, provided an overall overview of the ICPD and its POA, along with Lao PDR’s national commitments to ICPD25, at the Nairobi Summit 2019. He said its commitment was based on five pillars.

• Managing and using demographic benefits and investing in youth.
• Addressing climate change and its impact on the public sector and social protection.
• Promoting health and well-being, including rights to sexual and reproductive health.
• Enhancing the availability and use of demographic information.
• Strengthening partnerships and mobilizing resources.

Latdavanh Songvilay, Director General of the Macroeconomic Research Institute, Lao Academy of Social and Economic Sciences, outlined various challenges hindering the realization of the demographic dividend in Lao PDR. These challenges may include barriers to education and employment, inadequate healthcare infrastructure, and socio-cultural factors impacting women’s empowerment and reproductive health.

Her presentation offered valuable insights into the complex interplay between demographic changes, socio-economic development, and policy formulation in Lao PDR. By identifying opportunities and addressing challenges, her analysis was crucial for the parliamentarians to make informed decisions and identify targeted interventions that could maximize the benefits of the demographic transition.

The Lao’s Family Welfare Promotion Association’s Executive Director, Dr Souphon Sayavong, emphasized the importance of comprehensive approaches that combine legal frameworks, law enforcement, survivor support services, and community engagement to combat SGBV effectively.

He also noted that harmful practices, such as child marriage and other forms of gender-based violence, needed targeted interventions to raise awareness, provide support to survivors, and change social norms that perpetuate harmful practices.

Sayavong also said that there were socio-economic consequences of gender inequality and SGBV, emphasizing their detrimental effects on individual well-being, community development, and national progress.

Dr Mayfong Mayxay, Member of Parliament and Vice-Rector of the University of Health Sciences, Ministry of Health, Lao PDR, said it was crucial to identify and tackle the various problems encountered by young people, including drug addiction, school dropout, early marriage, adolescent pregnancy, and inadequate nutrition during pregnancy.

He said additional issues like substance abuse, smoking, and alcohol consumption needed targeted interventions, including prevention programmes and awareness campaigns. School dropout issues were often socioeconomic, so it was important to find strategies including scholarships, vocational training opportunities, and community-based support systems to ensure that young people can access education and pursue their aspirations.

During his presentation, he highlighted the risks associated with early marriage and adolescent pregnancies, which pose significant health risks for both mothers and children.

Mayxay emphasized the importance of comprehensive sexual education, access to reproductive health services, and legal reforms to address these issues and protect the rights of young girls.

He underscored the importance of promoting maternal and child health, including the need for nutritional education, prenatal care services, and support systems to address malnutrition and its adverse effects on maternal and child health outcomes.

Solutions he suggested involved holistic approaches encompassing education, healthcare, community support, and policy reforms, to empower young people and ensure their health and well-being.

Dr Usmonov Farrukh, interim Executive Director of AFPPD, reiterated AFPPD’s commitment to supporting parliamentarians’ advocacy on population and development in the Asia-Pacific in his closing speech, emphasizing collective action and partnership.

Vongphachanh’s closing remarks summed up the priorities agreed to in the meeting of the 14 National Commitments at the first National Conference on Population and Development, Demographic Change, held in 2023. She said opportunities, challenges, and policy levers to achieve demographic dividends, women’s empowerment and prevention and response to GBV and harmful practices, commitment to their programme of Family Planning 2030, and the health and future of the young population, particularly the resolutions for social issues they are facing such as drug use, school dropout, early marriage, and adolescent pregnancy, were crucial.

Note: This workshop was supported by AFPPD and APDA, the UNFPA, and the Japan Trust Fund.