FDI can catalyse job creation and industrialisation in Africa

The IGC launches its newest Growth Brief: Harnessing Foreign Direct Investment for job creation and industrialisation in Africa

Rural-to-urban migration: improving labour market prospects

A conference co-hosted by the IGC and the Stanford Center for International Development yielded multiple insights on the potential benefits of migration to cities for generating economic growth in developing countries. Reducing transport costs through transport subsidies and better roads allows people to work urban jobs with higher wages

Rwanda’s export challenge

Rwanda must create an additional 200,000 jobs per year to absorb its expanding population. Increasing exports could play an important role in achieving this goal. A new policy brief by the IGC outlines the challenges Rwanda needs to overcome to improve its trade balances

Tourism, trust and unequal pay: recapping the IGC-SCID conference on ‘firms, trade and development’

Firm productivity and trade are well established indicators of economic growth and development. Despite this, there remain significant questions around which elements of firm organisation and market structures are the most conducive to encouraging scale and integration of firms into high-value global supply chains. Understanding the conditions that support productivity and trade will allow the forces of globalisation to be more effectively harnessed for growth in emerging markets. Today’s blog looks at three innovative studies presented at Stanford University that offer insights into the effects of tourism, managerial trust, and perceptions of pay inequality on firm productivity

Risky business: firms, trade and development

If you missed the 2016 IGC Growth Week Conference, held at the London School of Economics, get caught up through our blog recaps looking at research highlights and policy insights. This post forms part of our blog recap series, looking particularly at ideas on firm productivity and trade-led development. See here for other recaps from growth week

The new urban agenda (part 2): urban complementarities

Following on from our recap of the policy takeaways at the recent IGC Cities conference, today’s blog highlights a number of innovative and exciting academic studies that were presented

Graduation: what’s next for ultra-poor programmes?

Results are in: Research shows that BRAC’s one-shot, ‘big-push’ intervention targeting the ultra-poor with assets and skills can lift extreme households onto a more sustainable path out of poverty. In this blog we presented updated findings on the long-term impact and sustainability of the approach from studies showcased at the recent IGC-BRAC conference: Tackling extreme poverty: Evidence from the field

Nasopharyngeal cultures in children with AOM – A retrospective study on bacteriological findings and impact on management

Background: Despite a far from perfect correlation with middle ear growth, nasopharyngeal cultures are sometimes used in children with acute otitis media (AOM) in order to have some idea of the causative pathogen. How these cultures are used in clinical practice and to what extent they influence clinical management has not previously been studied. The objective with this study was to investigate in what circumstances nasopharyngeal cultures are performed in children with AOM, what the bacteriological results are and to what extent cultures influence clinical management. Methods: All nasopharyngeal cultures taken in clinical practice from children with AOM in the county of Skåne, Sweden, during 2017–2018 were retrieved together with details from the medical charts two months prior to and one month after the culture. Information about the reason for culturing, the bacteriological result, and whether this result changed the management of the child, was retrieved from the charts. Results: During the 2 years, 978 nasopharyngeal cultures were taken in children with AOM. The most common reasons for obtaining a culture was a recurrence of AOM (40%) or treatment failure (22%). Many of the children had ongoing or recent antibiotic treatment. M. catarrhalis was the most commonly identified pathogen (53%), followed by H. influenzae (30%) and S. pneumoniae (14%). Resistance rates were low, and the most commonly identified resistant pathogen was betalactamase-negative ampicillin-resistant H. influenzae. One in five cultures led to a change in management, such as a change of antibiotics or an additional check-up. This was most commonly seen in association with H. influenzae, reflecting clinical practice in Sweden, where AOM is primarily treated with penicillin V. Conclusion: Despite not having a perfect correlation with middle ear growth, nasopharyngeal cultures can provide clues about suitable alternative antibiotics in cases of treatment failure, and they can help monitoring nasopharyngeal carriage and resistance rates

Long-term quality of life and uncertainty in patients living with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator

PURPOSE: This study describes the quality of life (QOL) and uncertainty in patients who have an l implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) and predicts QOL at long-term follow-up. METHODS: Long-term follow-up was defined as 6.9 years 1 year (range 4.11-8.7 years). QOL was measured with the Quality of Life Index, and uncertainty was measured with the Mishel Uncertainty in Illness Scale. RESULTS: The overall QOL and health/functioning were unchanged over time. QOL in the socioeconomic (P = .002) and psychologic/spiritual domains (P = .012) decreased in the first year. From baseline to long-term follow-up, the QOL in the family domain (P = .011) and uncertainty (P = .002) decreased. Uncertainty was a predictor of low QOL. CONCLUSION: QOL was reasonably good 6.9 years post-ICD implantation. Patients felt less uncertain once they had passed the first year of their illness