Addressing the double burden of malnutrition in Egypt: do conditional cash transfers have a role?

Many developing countries are undergoing rapid socio-economic changes that impact on health and its social distribution. These changes can occur so rapidly that there is a resulting co-existence of diseases of affluence and diseases of poverty. Priority setting for nutritional programs has focused on the alleviation of undernutrition in low income settings. However, evidence shows that in many Low-and-Middle Income Countries the prevalence of obesity among women is increasing and can coexist with childhood stunting. This dual burden of poor nutrition contributes to worsening health inequity between the poor and the rich. Global and national policy makers are looking for novel programs to replace social protection mechanisms deemed inefficient. Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs have emerged as an increasingly popular poverty alleviation strategy with some positive results. However, there is evidence they may have a negative impact if the complexity of transition settings is not taken into account. In this paper, we review the nutritional situation in Egypt and compare two CCT programs (Mexico and Colombia) in an attempt to identify features that would address both child undernutrition and adult overnutrition. We conclude with suggestions for design of an Egyptian CCT program that would help maximise benefit to its beneficiaries

Why is Anthropology so hard in Egypt?

The political difficulties of writing anthropology and ethnography in Egypt persist despite the newly found fame of certain anthropological methods. These difficulties are about readership and about the consumption - not just the production - of texts. Missing from the 'universal' anxiety over power and representation, often referred to as post-modernism (Clifford and Marcus 1986; Rabinow 1991; Said 1991, 1989), are considerations of the anthropologist in her/his national setting when this is a non-Western one. Also missing is the problematization of audience and readership for the non-Western national working at home. The consequences of such collegiate exclusion can be explored by examining the structures and considerations marking the borders of anthropological research written by locals working locally

Women's empowerment: what works

With radical roots in the 1980s, women’s empowerment is now a mainstream development concern. Much of the narrative focuses on instrumental gains—what women can do for development rather than what development can do for women. Empowerment is treated as a destination reached through development’s equivalent of motorways: programmes rolled out over any terrain. But in the process, pathways women are travelling in their own individual or collective journeys of empowerment remain hidden. Revisiting foundational feminist work on empowerment, this article draws on findings from multi-country research programme, Pathways of Women’s Empowerment, to explore what works to support these journeys

Social Assistance in Developing Countries Database Version 5.0

The Social Assistance in Developing Countries Database is a user-friendly tool that provides summary information on social assistance interventions in developing countries. It provides a summary of the evidence available on the effectiveness of social assistance interventions in developing countries. It focuses on programmes seeking to combine the reduction and mitigation of poverty, with strengthening and facilitating household investments capable of preventing poverty and securing development in the longer term. The inclusion of programmes is on the basis of the availability of information on design features, evaluation, size, scope, or significance. Version 5 of the database updates information on existing programmes and incorporates information on pilot social assistance programmes in Latin America, Asia and Africa. It also adopts a new typology that distinguishes between social assistance programmes providing pure income transfers; programmes that provide transfers plus interventions aimed at human, financial, or physical asset accumulation; and integrated poverty reduction programmes. This new typology has, in our view, several advantages. It is a more flexible, and more accurate, template with which to identify key programme features. It provides a good entry point into the conceptual underpinnings of social assistance programmes

Why is Anthropology so hard in Egypt?

The political difficulties of writing anthropology and ethnography in Egypt persist despite the newly found fame of certain anthropological methods. These difficulties are about readership and about the consumption - not just the production - of texts. Missing from the 'universal' anxiety over power and representation, often referred to as post-modernism (Clifford and Marcus 1986; Rabinow 1991; Said 1991, 1989), are considerations of the anthropologist in her/his national setting when this is a non-Western one. Also missing is the problematization of audience and readership for the non-Western national working at home. The consequences of such collegiate exclusion can be explored by examining the structures and considerations marking the borders of anthropological research written by locals working locally

Women’s economic rights : comments on an agenda for action

Meeting: IDRC Consultation, 7 December, 2007, Cairo, EGThis brief presentation analyzes a rights-based approach to governance and women’s citizenship in Arab countries and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)

Chitosan-S-triazinyl-bis(2-aminomethylpyridine) and Chitosan-S-triazinyl-bis(8-oxyquinoline) Derivatives: New Reagents for Silver Nanoparticle Preparation and Their Effect of Antimicrobial Evaluation

Herein, we described the modification of chitosan with cyanuric chloride as a mediator for preparation of chitosan-s-triazinyl-bis(2-aminomethylpyridine) and chitosan-s-triazinyl-bis(8-oxyquinoline) derivatives to be used as reagents for preparation of silver nanoparticles under ecofriendly conditions. These two reagents are convenient and effective for reduction of silver ions to silver nanoparticles with particle size less than 10 nm that might be suitable for industrial and medicinal applications. The formation and particle size of AgNPs are characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX). The antimicrobial activity of the two modified chitosan-s-triazine-AgNPs was evaluated against activities against Gram-positive bacteria (M. luteus ATCC 10240 and MRSA ATCC 43300), Gram-negative bacteria (E. coli ATCC 25922 and P. aeruginosa ATCC 75853), and C. albicans. The results showed that chitosan-s-triazinyl-bis(2-aminomethylpyridine) AgNPs showed high antimicrobial activities against all the tested microorganisms, while their analogous chitosan-s-triazinyl-bis(8-oxyquinoline) AgNPs showed moderate activities

Synthesis, X-ray Crystal Structure and Antimicrobial Activity of Unexpected Trinuclear Cu(II) Complex from s-Triazine-Based Di-Compartmental Ligand via Self-Assembly

The synthesis and X-ray crystal structure of the trinuclear [Cu3(HL)(Cl)2(NO3)(H2O)5](NO3)2 complex of the s-triazine-based di-compartmental ligand, 2-methoxy-4,6-bis(2-(pyridin-2-ylmsethylene)hydrazinyl)-1,3,5-triazine (H2L), are presented. The Cu1 and Cu2 are penta-coordinated with CuN3ClO coordination environment, distorted square pyramidal coordination geometry while Cu3 is hexa-coordinated with CuN2O4 coordination sphere, and distorted octahedral geometry. The complex crystallized in the primitive P-1 triclinic crystal system with two molecular units per unit cell. Its packing is dominated by the O–H (35.5%) and Cl–H (8.8%) hydrogen bonding interactions as well as the π–π stacking (2.3%) and anion–π-stacking interactions (3.7%). The different coordination interactions were analyzed using atoms in molecules (AIM) theory, and the number of charge transferences from the ligand group to Cu(II) were determined using natural bond orbital calculations. The effect of the free ligand and its Cu(II) complex on the tested pathogenic microbes (Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and one fungal isolate (Candida albicans) is presented. Both have wide spectrum antimicrobial activity against the selected microorganism. It is observed that the free ligand at 180 µg/mL was more effective than its Cu(II) complex and showed close results compared to the positive control gentamicin. At higher concentrations (1 mg/mL), the Cu(II) complex was found to be more active against S. epidermidis, E. coli and C. albicans than the lower concentration. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values are also lower for the Cu(II) complex than the free ligand.peerReviewe

Synthesis, X-ray Crystal Structure and Antimicrobial Activity of Unexpected Trinuclear Cu(II) Complex from s-Triazine-Based Di-Compartmental Ligand via Self-Assembly

The synthesis and X-ray crystal structure of the trinuclear [Cu3(HL)(Cl)2(NO3)(H2O)5](NO3)2 complex of the s-triazine-based di-compartmental ligand, 2-methoxy-4,6-bis(2-(pyridin-2-ylmsethylene)hydrazinyl)-1,3,5-triazine (H2L), are presented. The Cu1 and Cu2 are penta-coordinated with CuN3ClO coordination environment, distorted square pyramidal coordination geometry while Cu3 is hexa-coordinated with CuN2O4 coordination sphere, and distorted octahedral geometry. The complex crystallized in the primitive P-1 triclinic crystal system with two molecular units per unit cell. Its packing is dominated by the O–H (35.5%) and Cl–H (8.8%) hydrogen bonding interactions as well as the π–π stacking (2.3%) and anion–π-stacking interactions (3.7%). The different coordination interactions were analyzed using atoms in molecules (AIM) theory, and the number of charge transferences from the ligand group to Cu(II) were determined using natural bond orbital calculations. The effect of the free ligand and its Cu(II) complex on the tested pathogenic microbes (Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhi and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) and one fungal isolate (Candida albicans) is presented. Both have wide spectrum antimicrobial activity against the selected microorganism. It is observed that the free ligand at 180 µg/mL was more effective than its Cu(II) complex and showed close results compared to the positive control gentamicin. At higher concentrations (1 mg/mL), the Cu(II) complex was found to be more active against S. epidermidis, E. coli and C. albicans than the lower concentration. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values are also lower for the Cu(II) complex than the free ligand