47 research outputs found
What do national poverty lines tell us about global poverty?
The basic question about âhow many poor people are there in the world?â generally assumes
that poverty is measured according to international poverty lines (IPLs). Yet, an equally relevant
question could be âhow many poor people are there in the world, based on how poverty is
defined where those people live?â In short, rather than a comparison based on monetary
values, the latter question is germane to estimates based on a concept â âpovertyâ â as defined
by countriesâ specific circumstances and institutions.
Estimates of poverty by national poverty lines (NPLs) and international poverty lines (IPLs) may
vary in terms of technical grounds. But how similar are they? How different is poverty captured
by comparable (in PPP monetary value) cross-country measures as embodied by the IPL
compared to that viewed in NPLs?
This paper offers a new perspective on global poverty. It does so by estimating the distribution
of poverty across countries, regions and income categories based on national poverty lines
(NPLs). Even though comparing NPLs across countries means comparing poverty lines of
different monetary value, we argue that exploring âpovertyâ as a nationally defined concept by
countries at different stages of development unveils important and often unnoticed findings.
By addressing the question of poverty as defined where those poor people live, this paper
seeks to offer a new perspective on global poverty and at the same time extend thinking on the
âmiddle-income countries poverty paradoxâ â meaning that most of the worldâs poor do not live
in the worldâs poorest countries
Using data from 160 countries covering nearly 92 per cent of world population, we estimate that
globally 1.5 billion people live in poverty as defined within their own countries (by NPLs), a
billion of which are in middle-income countries (MICs) and - surprisingly perhaps - one in ten of
worldâs poor live in high-income countries (HICs).
Our analysis shows that NPL and IPL-based estimates lead to similar poverty estimates only in
a limited number of cases. In particular, we conclude that (i) there is a considerable difference
between regional and national poverty estimates based on IPLs and NPLs â that is, differences
for a same country could be as high as 55 percentage points in poverty rates, or about 45
million in the number of poor people; (ii) NPLs may be particularly important for analysis of
poverty in MICs: indeed, their NPLs donât feed into the construction of IPLs. Hence, poverty at
national level may not be adequately captured by IPLs themselves; (iii) NPLs are not
substitutes for IPLs, but instead enrich and complement international analyses. Yet, there could
be trade-offs between the two, especially in terms of different development actors tracking
different poverty estimates. Our findings also have implications for debates about global
poverty targets and international assistance.
Keywords: poverty; inequality; aid; Middle-Income; Low-Income Countrie
Maternal mortality in Kassala State - Eastern Sudan: community-based study using Reproductive age mortality survey (RAMOS)
Seed system security assessment : Southern Sudan : November-December 2010
Juba, South Suda
Prevalence of severe mental distress and its correlates in a population-based study in rural south-west Uganda
BACKGROUND: The problem of severe mental distress (SMD) in sub-Saharan Africa is difficult to investigate given that a substantial proportion of patients with SMD never access formal health care.This study set out to investigate SMD and it's associated factors in a rural population-based cohort in south-west Uganda. METHODS: 6,663 respondents aged 13 years and above in a general population cohort in southwestern Uganda were screened for probable SMD and possible associated factors. RESULTS: 0.9% screened positive for probable SMD. The factors significantly associated with SMD included older age, male sex, low socio-economic status, being a current smoker, having multiple or no sexual partners in the past year, reported epilepsy and consulting a traditional healer. CONCLUSION: SMD in this study was associated with both socio-demographic and behavioural factors. The association between SMD and high risk sexual behaviour calls for the integration of HIV prevention in mental health care programmes in high HIV prevalence settings
Mind the gap? Civil society policy engagement and the pursuit of gender justice: critical discourse analysis of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in Africa 2003â2015
This article presents critical discourse analysis of state and civil society organisationsâ efforts to implement the gender mainstreaming goals set out in the United Nationsâ Beijing Declaration. It is argued that the latter represents a generational opportunity to apply a Feminist Political Economic Framework to development in Africa. However, the research findings show how current practice falls short of the sought-after participative democratic model of mainstreaming. Instead, analysis reveals significant differences in state and civil society organisationsâ policy framing, issues over conceptual clarity and a disjuncture in state and civil society prioritisation of key gendered issues such as poverty, economic inequality and conflict resolution. This matters because it indicates that the capacity of the civil sphere to act as a political arena from which NGOs may challenge the traditionally male-dominated power structures is being undermined by a âdisconnectâ between state and civil society as they pursue contrasting agendas
Protracted crisis, food security and the fantasy of resilience in Sudan
In the past decade, food security and nutrition practices have become central in the promotion of resilience in protracted crises. Such approaches have been welcomed by the aid community because of their potential for linking relief and development. Social and political analysts, however, have criticized resilience approaches for failing to consider power relations and because they entail an acceptance of crisis or repeated risk. In this context, regimes of food security and nutrition practices have become increasingly targeted, privatized and medicalized, focussing on individual behaviour and responsibility rather than responsibility of the state or international actors. This article uses examples from Sudan to examine how and why the resilience âregime of practicesâ has functioned as a form of neoliberal governmentality, and argues that it has created a fantasy in which conflict in Darfur is invisible. This allowed food aid to be withdrawn and removed the need for protection despite ongoing conflict and threats to livelihoods; thus crisis-affected populations have been abandoned
Outcomes from elective colorectal cancer surgery during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic
This study aimed to describe the change in surgical practice and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on mortality after surgical resection of colorectal cancer during the initial phases of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic