Why are IPTp Coverage Targets so Elusive in Sub-Saharan Africa? A Systematic Review of Health System Barriers.

Use of intermittent preventive treatment (IPTp) is a proven cost-effective intervention for preventing malaria in pregnancy. However, despite the roll-out of IPTp policies across Africa more than ten years ago, utilization levels remain low. This review sought to consolidate scattered evidence as to the health system barriers for IPTp coverage in the continent.Methods and findings: Relevant literature from Africa was systematically searched, reviewed and synthesized. Only studies containing primary data were considered. Studies reveal that: (i) poor leadership and governance contribute to slow decentralization of programme management, lack of harmonized guidelines, poor accountability mechanisms, such as robust monitoring and evaluation systems; (ii) low budgetary allocation towards policy implementation slows scale-up, while out-of-pocket expenditure deters women from seeking antenatal services that include IPTp; (iii) there are rampant human resource challenges including low staff motivation levels attributed to such factors as incorrect knowledge of IPTp recommendations and inadequate staffing; (iv) implementation of IPTp policies is hampered by prevailing service delivery barriers, such as long waiting time, long distances to health facilities and poor service provider/client relations; and (v) drug stock-outs and poor management of information and supply chains impair sustained availability of drugs for IPTp. For successful IPTp policy implementation, it is imperative that malaria control programmes target health system barriers that result in low coverage and hence programme ineffectiveness

ASEAN-5 Macroeconomic Forecasting Using a GVAR Model

This paper examines and evaluates macroeconomic forecasts for the original ASEAN-5 members in the context of a global vector autoregressive (GVAR) model covering 20 countries, grouped into nine countries/regions. After estimating the GVAR model, we generate 12 one-quarter-ahead forecasts for the next quarter including real GDP, inflation, short-term interest rates, real exchange rates, and real equity prices over the period 2009Q1–2011Q4, with four out-of-sample forecasts over the period 2009Q1–2009Q4. Forecast evaluation results based on the panel Diebold-Mariano (DM) tests show the GVAR forecasts tend to outperform forecasts based on the benchmark country-specific models, especially for short-term interest rates and real equity prices, emphasizing the interdependencies in the global financial market.Macroeconomic Forecasting; Global vector autoregressive model (GVAR); Southeast Asia

Copywrong: Intellectual Property as a Weapon Against Black Musicians and The Efforts Made to Combat it Through Community Education

Western traditions, specifically in America, have adopted ownership and turned it into a major life practice.Intellectual property brings in new possibilities and challenges for how we imagine ownership. It allows us to claim ownership over more than just tangible items. For someone entering the music world as a creative musician, the challenge is to retain control over their own work, both so that they can ensure an adequate financial return and so that they can exercise agency over their creation. Yet, IP has been used against Black artists because of the white supremacist institutions that designed our legal system. I argue that through education and community building we can empower Black up and coming artists and help them not fall for predatory contracts imposed by major music conglomerates