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Best-of-Reports: Focus on Health

2002-04-05

Photo Caption: A baby at a health clinic in Rufiji District, Tanzania. (IDRC Photo, Peter Bennett) 

To mark World Health Day, April 7, Reports magazine is running a selection of stories that focus on health-related research.

Who Pays? Municipal Services in South Africa, by Keane J. Shore

When South Africans discarded apartheid they overcame one of the world’s great problems. Now, they’re dealing with another – equitable water, electricity and waste disposal services. If this challenge seems relatively minor, consider the fact that poorly administered services and related cost recovery programs can affect the stability of national governments. They also have direct and serious consequences for children’s health.

From hospitals to herbalists: Rx herbal medicines, by Michelle Hibler

In Uganda, the rural population is as likely to consult a herbalist as a medical practitioner for common complaints. IDRC-supported research is helping healers prepare better, safer, and cheaper remedies.

South Africa's Winning Tobacco Control Strategy, by John Eberlee

Cigarette consumption has fallen for eight consecutive years in South Africa while the percentage of adult smokers in the country has dropped from 32% to 28%, thanks to some of the strictest tobacco control measures ever adopted by the government of a developing country.

Material Gain: Bednets Treated with Insecticides Improve the Lives of Tanzanians, by Jennifer Pepall

Inside the factory of the Textile Manufacturers of Tanzania Limited in Dar-es-Salaam, the hum of 50 sewing machines is as insistent as the drone of insects. Tailors are stitching together blue, green, and white netting that has been woven on the factory's looms. The men and women are part of a 180-strong workforce that produces up to 700 mosquito nets each day, marketed under brand names such as Health Net and Sweet Dreams.

AQUAtox© 2000: The International School Network on Water Toxicity, by John Eberlee

Under the AQUAtox© 2000 project, students from more than 90 schools in Canada, Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Europe have learned how to use simple and inexpensive water quality tests to detect chemical and microbial pollution in water samples taken from their local environment. Developed and validated by WaterTox — an international network of water quality laboratories — the AQUAtox© water quality bioassays make use of readily available materials and supplies, such as onion bulbs, lettuce seeds, and fresh water organisms.

Tobacco Marketing — Where There’s Smoke, there’s Deception, by Linda Waverley Brigden

In Egypt, people can enter a contest to win a trip beyond the realm of possibility for most citizens — a trip to "Malboro Country". They just need proof of purchase of five packages of cigarettes. Linda Waverley Brigden, the Executive Director of Research for International Tobacco Control, argues that the majority of developing countries have very limited laws to control tobacco — and the marketing of tobacco products in many of these countries is reprehensible.

Malaria Control in Coastal Oaxaca, Mexico, by Peter Bennett

This presentation shows how community-based approaches to malaria control, without the use of DDT, have been successful in villages and households on the coastal plains of Oaxaca state, Mexico.

Coalition to address global health problems

The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and three other Canadian government organizations have joined forces to address the problems of global health.

First-ever study provides reliable statistics for addressing health care problems in the South

For the first time, donors and developing countries have a source of critical and accurate information for formulating better health policies, thanks to a study released today during a conference taking place this week at the Ghion Hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The study -- the first in a series produced by the international network INDEPTH -- fills a void in health care planning where statistical models are used as substitutes for real data.

IDRC Booktique: Forging Links for Health Research

As part of the lead up to the October 2000 International Conference on Health Research for Development in Bangkok, the Council on Health Research for Development (COHRED) called upon its associates around the world to reflect on achievements and setbacks in the 1990s. This book is the result of those reflections.

IDRC Booktique: Reshaping Health Care in Latin America

In many countries of the world, including Canada, arguments are made for a private–public mix in the financing and provision of health services. Proponents claim that such a mix would improve both access and quality of health care. Opponents counter that it would create a two-tiered system, narrowing the range of options available to the lower socioeconomic segments of society and ultimately harming the equitable delivery of quality health care.

IDRC Booktique: Indonesia's Fire and Haze: The Cost of Catastrophe

From September to November of 1997, raging fires in Indonesia pumped enough smoke into the air to blanket the entire region in haze, reaching as far north as southern Thailand and the Philippines, with Malaysia and Singapore being particularly affected. This book conservatively assesses the damage at US $4.5 billion, more than the Exxon Valdez oil spill and India's Bhopal chemical spill combined. It looks at the causes of the fires, the physical damages that resulted, and their effects on health, industrial production, and tourism, among others. The book also recommends measures that must be taken to prevent a recurrence of this horrific event.

IDRC Program Initiative: Ecosystem Approaches to Human Health (ECOHEALTH)

IDRC Program Initiative: Tanzania Essential Health Intervention Program (TEHIP)

IDRC Program Initiative: Research for International Tobacco Control (RITC)

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