Using a community-based definition of poverty for targeting poor households for premium subsidies in the context of a community health insurance in Burkina Faso

Background: One of the biggest challenges in subsidizing premiums of poor households for community health insurance is the identification and selection of these households. Generally, poverty assessments in developing countries are based on monetary terms. The household is regarded as poor if its income or consumption is lower than a predefined poverty cut-off. These measures fail to recognize the multi-dimensional character of poverty, ignoring community members? perception and understanding of poverty, leaving them voiceless and powerless in the identification process. Realizing this, the steering committee of Nouna's health insurance devised a method to involve community members to better define `perceived? poverty, using this as a key element for the poor selection. The community-identified poor were then used to effectively target premium subsidies for the insurance scheme. Methods: The study was conducted in the Nouna's Health District located in northwest Burkina Faso. Participants in each village were selected to take part in focus-group discussions (FGD) organized in 41 villages and 7 sectors of Nouna's town to discuss criteria and perceptions of poverty. The discussions were audio recorded, transcribed and analyzed in French using the software NVivo 9. Results: From the FGD on poverty and the subjective definitions and perceptions of the community members, we found that poverty was mainly seen as scarcity of basic needs, vulnerability, deprivation of capacities, powerlessness, voicelessness, indecent living conditions, and absence of social capital and community networks for support in times of need. Criteria and poverty groups as described by community members can be used to identify poor who can then be targeted for subsidies. Conclusion: Policies targeting the poorest require the establishment of effective selection strategies. These policies are well-conditioned by proper identification of the poor people. Community perceptions and criteria of poverty are grounded in reality, to better appreciate the issue. It is crucial to take these perceptions into account in undertaking community development actions which target the poor. For most community-based health insurance schemes with limited financial resources, using a community-based definition of poverty in the targeting of the poorest might be a less costly alternative

The division and transfer of care responsibilities in paediatric type 1 diabetes: A qualitative study on parental perspectives

Contains fulltext : 231017.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access)Aim: To determine which factors other than child age play a role in the division and transfer of diabetes care responsibilities between parents and children with type 1 diabetes. Design: Qualitative focus group study. Methods: Across four sites in the Netherlands, 18 parents (13 mothers) of children (9–14 years) with type 1 diabetes participated in four focus groups in 2015–2016, as part of the research project 'Whose diabetes is it anyway?'. Qualitative content analysis and the constant comparison method were used to analyse the data. Results: According to parents, the transfer process included both direct and indirect tasks, had different levels (remembering, deciding, performing), was at times a difficult and stressful process, and showed large variation between families. A large number of child, parent and context factors were identified that affected the division and transfer of diabetes care responsibilities according to parents. Both positive and negative consequences of the transfer process were described for parental and child health, behaviour and well‐being. Parental final evaluations of the division and transfer of diabetes care responsibilities appeared to be dependent on parenting values. Conclusion: How families divide and transfer diabetes care tasks appeared to be affected by a complex interplay of child, parent and context characteristics, which had an impact on several parent and child domains. Impact Parents struggle with the right timing of transfer, which calls for more support from diabetes nurses. The identified factors can be used as input for integrating a more family‐based approach into current age‐based guidelines, to improve regular care.12 p

UNESCO's communication policies as discourse: how change, human development and knowledge relate to communication

While the 1970s and 1980s as turbulent decades for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have been well covered by international communication scholars, UNESCO's communication policies during the past decade have received less attention. Examining UNESCO's communication policies as discourse from a social constructivist and post-positivist standpoint, we found that discourses concerning change, human development and knowledge which popped up in the last decade can be regarded as giving a specific interpretation to the discourse on communication. These entwining discourses share a neglect of existing power relations and inequalities. Focusing on the individual, they offer an incomplete answer to structural inequalities and imbalances. As such, a specific interpretation of change, human development and knowledge reinforces the shift of the organization's communication policies which has been consolidated ever since its 1989 New Communication Strategy was adopted. In this process the organization has grown closer to the World Bank's neoliberal (and depoliticizing) approaches