Health as an information good: the determinants of child nutrition and mortality during political and economic recovery in Uganda

Uganda suffers from a high rate of child mortality which has improved little if at all in the last twenty years. The paper uses data from the 1992 Integrated Household Survey to model the determinants of child mortality and malnutrition. Parental beliefs about health have a strong and very highly significant influence on child mortality. Education and income also play a role, partly coming through its effect on beliefs, but early primary education seems to have little effect.

Food storage, multiple equilibria and instability: Why stable markets may become unstable during food crises

A temporary-equilibrium model replicating institutional features of low-income agricultural economies is developed. In this model, food is held as an asset; because food production is relatively volatile, those with negative temporary income are net buyers of food. When food is the only asset, asset effects are likely to reduce the price-elasticity of the demand for food and can make it tatonnement-unstable, because the distributional effects of food price rises increase savings. When money is introduced, instability remains possible because a permanent rise in the price level increases risk, inducing substitution from money into food stocks. JEL numbers D51 (exchange and production economies), D52 (incomplete markets), Q11 (aggregate agricultural supply and demand), Q12 (macroeconomic analysis of farms) Keywords: general equilibrium, temporary equilibrium, instability, precautionary saving, famine

Small and large price reforms

A simple model of an open exchange economy with two commodities is used to investigate the relative merits of small and large reforms: reforms are represented as movements in the relative price of the two commodities, achieved by tightening or relaxing quotas. Three approaches, based on majority voting, the costs of compensation, and social welfare, are used to compare the merits of small and large reforms. It is found that large reforms win more votes than small reforms, whatever the direction of change: that the ration of marginal gross burden of compensation to marginal net benefit is highest for small reforms: and that when distributional considerations are allowed to play a part, the shape of the social welfare function is wholly indeterminate. In particular, local minima in social welfare cannot be ruled out.

Can robust pro-female policies be identified when the true model of the household is unknown?

gender, policy, Africa

Lessons from Uganda on strategies to fight poverty

Countries receiving debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries initiative will be among the first to benefit from the new World Bank -- International Monetary Fund approach to strengthening the impact on poverty of concessional assistance in low-income countries. The new approach features a more inclusive and participatory process for helping recipient countries develop poverty reduction strategies. From these strategies, joint Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) will bring together the country's own priorities and Bank-Fund assistance to the country. In Uganda, such a strategy has existed for several years. Uganda was one of the first low-income countries to prepare a comprehensive national strategy for poverty reduction using a participatory approach. Indeed, its experience contributed substantially to the design of the PRSPs. Uganda's top leadership is heavily committed to poverty reduction. Formulation of Uganda's Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) in 1996-97 was the executive branch's effort to make that commitment and vision operational.The authors draw lessons from the drafting of Uganda's PEAP. First, the plan made extensive use of existing data and research about Uganda to refocus a range of public policies and interventions relevant to poverty reduction. Second, the government's approach was highly participatory, with central and local governments, the donor community, nongovernmental organizations and civil society, and academics invited to contribute. Third, the government was quick to translate the plan into its budget and medium-term spending framework. Public expenditures on basic services were significantly increased after adoption of the PEAP in 1997. The authors discuss the general characteristics of a poverty reduction action plan, drawing on Uganda's experience; discuss what is known about poverty in Uganda and identify shortcomings in the data; examine the macroeconomic and fiscal policies that were considered most important to poverty reduction during the participatory process; discuss the delivery of public services, especially those that directly affect the poor; and highlight problems associated with land issues, including problems with access to credit and financial services and with the security of productive assets.Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Public Health Promotion,Health Economics&Finance,Services&Transfers to Poor,Poverty Assessment,Environmental Economics&Policies,Achieving Shared Growth,Governance Indicators,Health Economics&Finance

Density versus quality in health care provision: Using household data to make budgetary choices in Ethiopia

Usage of health facilities in Ethiopia is among the lowest in the world; raising usage rates is probably critical for improving health outcomes. The government has diagnosed the principal problem as the lack of primary health facilities and is devoting a large share of the health budget to building more facilities. But household data suggest that usage of health facilities is sensitive not just to the distance to the nearest facility but also to the quality of health care provided. If the quality of weak facilities were raised to the quality currently provided by the majority of facilities in Ethiopia, usage would rise significantly. National data suggest that, given the current density and quality of service provision, additional expenditure on improving the quality of service delivery will be more cost effective than increasing the density of service provision. The budget allocation rule presented in the article can help local policymakers make decisions about how to allocate funds between improving the quality of care and decreasing the distance to the nearest health care facility.

Density versus Quality in Health Care Provision: Using Household Data to Make Budgetary Choices in Ethiopia

Usage of health facilities in Ethiopia is among the lowest in the world; raising usage rates is probably critical for improving health outcomes. The government has diagnosed the principal problem as the lack of primary health facilities and is devoting a large share of the health budget to building more facilities. But household data suggest that usage of health facilities is sensitive not just to the distance to the nearest facility but also to the quality of health care provided. If the quality of weak facilities were raised to the quality currently provided by the majority of facilities in Ethiopia, usage would rise significantly. National data suggest that, given the current density and quality of service provision, additional expenditure on improving the quality of service delivery will be more cost effective than increasing the density of service provision. The budget allocation rule presented in the article can help local policymakers make decisions about how to allocate funds between improving the quality of care and decreasing the distance to the nearest health care facility.

Mobility of antimony, arsenic and lead at a former mine, Glendinning, Scotland

Elevated concentrations of antimony (Sb), arsenic (As) and lead (Pb) in upland organic-rich soils have resulted from past Sb mining activities at Glendinning, southern Scotland. Transfer of these elements into soil porewaters was linked to the production and leaching of dissolved organic matter and to leaching of spoil material. Sb was predominantly present in truly dissolved (< 3 kDa) forms whilst As and Pb were more commonly associated with large Fe-rich/organic colloids. The distinctive porewater behaviour of Sb accounts for its loss from deeper sections of certain cores and its transport over greater distances down steeper sections of the catchment. Although Sb and As concentrations decreased with increasing distance down a steep gully from the main spoil heap, elevated concentrations (~ 6-8 and 13-20 μg L− 1, respectively) were detected in receiving streamwaters. Thus, only partial attenuation occurs in steeply sloping sections of mining-impacted upland organic-rich soils and so spoil-derived contamination of surface waters may continue over time periods of decades to centuries

Synthetic and Biosynthetic Studies on Nitrogen Heterocycles

The reaction of nitrosocarbonyl-compounds with a series of simple dienes to form Diels-Alder adducts has been investigated. The modification of such adducts in further synthesis has been studied and their limitations assessed. A series of adducts, designed for de-acylation under a variety of mild conditions, have been formed from the novel alkyl nitrosoformate reactive intermediates and C-nitroso-formamide adducts have also been briefly examined. The chemistry of adduct formation between ergosteryl acetate and various nitrosocarbonyl-compounds has been examined in detail and a novel rearrangement discovered in this field. The synthesis of a postulated biphenyl intermediate in the biosynthesis of the Amaryllidaceae alkaloids norpluviine and lycorine has been investigated by several different routes. Tracer experiments with 3H- and 14C-tyrosine have confirmed that D- and L-tyrosine are incorporated with equal efficiency into these alkaloids and that D-tyrosine is converted into L-tyrosine before incorporation. The later stages in the biosynthesis of norpluviine and lycorine have been re-examined. A partial retention at position 2 in lycorine of tritium from [3,5-3H2]tyrosine is noted in Clivia miniata Regel and 'Twink' daffodils. Degradation studies suggest that this partial retention results from scrambling of the 2-methylene protons of norpluviine and a mechanism for this is postulated