The impact on employer operating costs of low cost health insurance including an HIV/treatment benefit: results of a study of five employers in Namibia

This repository item contains a single issue of the Health and Development Discussion Papers, an informal working paper series that began publishing in 2002 by the Boston University Center for Global Health and Development. It is intended to help the Center and individual authors to disseminate work that is being prepared for journal publication or that is not appropriate for journal publication but might still have value to readers.OBJECTIVE: The impact of low-cost health insurance on the costs incurred by Namibian employers was measured. BACKGROUND: Namibia has a relatively recent HIV epidemic and adult HIV prevalence estimated at 15.3%. AIDS-related mortality would be rising in the absence of antiretroviral treatment. (ART). Medical schemes in Namibia now offer low-cost policies that include good coverage for treatment of AIDS, including ART. In 2006-2007, a number of large Namibian employers agreed to purchase such policies for their uninsured workers. METHODOLOGY: We compared data on worker attrition and related costs for the period before and after purchase of the low cost health insurance policy. RESULTS: Worker attrition (death and medical retirement) reported by the companies declined from a range of 1.5% to 2.0% of the work force in 2005 and 2006 to 0.7% to 1.1% in 2008. When data was pooled, attrition fell from a peak of 1.7% of the combined work force in 2005 to 0.9% in 2008. Attrition-related costs at the companies were lower in 2008 than in the peak attrition years. The downward trend in attrition appears to have begun before the date when the firms purchased the new policies. The 2008 value of the savings measured was less than the annual cost of the premiums for the new policies. DISCUSSION: Antiretroviral treatment appears to reduce workforce attrition and related costs for Namibian employers. However, we cannot say if this is a result of new low-cost insurance policies or the rapid expansion of ART in the public sector

Namibia research situation analysis on orphans and other vulnerable children

This item is archived in the repository for materials published for the USAID supported Orphans and Vulnerable Children Comprehensive Action Research Project (OVC-CARE) at the Boston University Center for Global Health and Development.Addressing the needs of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and mitigating negative outcomes of the growing OVC population worldwide is a high priority for national governments and international stakeholders across the globe that recognizes this as an issue with social, economic, and human rights dimensions. Assembling the relevant available data on OVC in one place, and acknowledging the gaps that still exist in our knowledge will assist policy makers and program implementers to make evidence-based decisions about how best to direct funding and program activities and maximize positive outcomes for children and their caretakers. This Research Situation Analysis, Namibia Country Brief presents a program-focused summary of available information on: • The number of orphans and vulnerable children in Namibia. • Current policies, programs and interventions designed and implemented to assist them. • Gaps in these policies, programs and interventions. • OVC research conducted between 2004-2008. • Gaps in the Namibian OVC evidence base.The Brief analyzes the available data for critical gaps in the national response and our understanding about whether current interventions are fulfilling the needs and improving the lives of vulnerable children. The report then recommends actions required to increase the knowledge base for improving the effectiveness and impact of OVC programs.The USAID | Project SEARCH, Orphans and Vulnerable Children Comprehensive Action Research (OVC-CARE) Task Order, is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development under Contract No. GHH-I-00-07-00023-00, beginning August 1, 2008. OVC-CARE Task Order is implemented by Boston University. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agency

Geobiology of the late Paleoproterozoic Duck Creek Formation, Western Australia

The ca. 1.8 Ga Duck Creek Formation, Western Australia, preserves 1000 m of carbonates and minor iron formation that accumulated along a late Paleoproterozoic ocean margin. Two upward-deepening stratigraphic packages are preserved, each characterized by peritidal precipitates at the base and iron formation and carbonate turbidites in its upper part. Consistent with recent studies of Neoarchean basins, carbon isotope ratios of Duck Creek carbonates show no evidence for a strong isotopic depth gradient, but carbonate minerals in iron formations can be markedly depleted in C-13. In contrast, oxygen isotopes covary strongly with depth; delta O-18 values as positive as 2%. VPDB in peritidal facies systematically decline to values of 6 to 16% in basinal rocks, reflecting, we posit, the timing of diagenetic closure. The Duck Creek Formation contains microfossils similar to those of the Gunflint Formation, Canada; they are restricted to early diagenetic cherts developed in basinal facies, strengthening the hypothesis that such fossils capture communities driven by iron metabolism. Indeed, X-ray diffraction data indicate that the Duck Creek basin was ferruginous throughout its history. The persistence of ferruginous waters and iron formation deposition in Western Australia for at least several tens of millions of years after the transition to sulfidic conditions in Laurentia suggests that the late Paleoproterozoic expansion of sulfidic subsurface waters was globally asynchronous

Transformative Power of Language Policies in Higher Education:

There is a disjuncture between the intentions of the South African constitutional provisions as contained in Section 6, which prescribe that all eleven official languages be treated equitably, and what is happening on the ground at the institutions of higher learning. In these institutions, English remains the primary language of instruction. African languages are encouraged as support languages in certain instances, but no institution has an African language as a medium of instruction (see for example the Rhodes Language Policy, 2019). This chapter calls into question the use of language and argues for purposive interpretation and practical implementation of the constitutional provisions on language. A proper and linguistically sound understanding of multilingualism as a developmental resource–educational, legal and societal–needs to emerge (Wolff, 2016). The constitutional aspects are explicated in the legislative and policy frameworks discussed in this chapter