Reductions in abortion-related mortality following policy reform: evidence from Romania, South Africa and Bangladesh

Unsafe abortion is a significant contributor to worldwide maternal mortality; however, abortion law and policy liberalization could lead to drops in unsafe abortion and related deaths. This review provides an analysis of changes in abortion mortality in three countries where significant policy reform and related service delivery occurred. Drawing on peer-reviewed literature, population data and grey literature on programs and policies, this paper demonstrates the policy and program changes that led to declines in abortion-related mortality in Romania, South Africa and Bangladesh. In all three countries, abortion policy liberalization was followed by implementation of safe abortion services and other reproductive health interventions. South Africa and Bangladesh trained mid-level providers to offer safe abortion and menstrual regulation services, respectively, Romania improved contraceptive policies and services, and Bangladesh made advances in emergency obstetric care and family planning. The findings point to the importance of multi-faceted and complementary reproductive health reforms in successful implementation of abortion policy reform

Epidemic of hypertension in Ghana: a systematic review

Background Hypertension is a major risk factor for many cardiovascular diseases in developing countries. A comprehensive review of the prevalence of hypertension provides crucial information for the evaluation and implementation of appropriate programmes. Methods The PubMed and Google Scholar databases were searched for published articles on the population-based prevalence of adult hypertension in Ghana between 1970 and August 2009, supplemented by a manual search of retrieved references. Fifteen unique population-based articles in non-pregnant humans were obtained. In addition, two relevant unpublished graduate student theses from one university department were identified after a search of its 1996-2008 theses. Results The age and sex composition of study populations, sampling strategy, measurement of blood pressure, definition of hypertension varied between studies. The prevalence of hypertension (BP ≥ 140/90 mmHg ± antihypertensive treatment) ranged from 19% to 48% between studies. Sex differences were generally minimal whereas urban populations tended to have higher prevalence than rural population in studies with mixed population types. Factors independently associated with hypertension included older age group, over-nutrition and alcohol consumption. Whereas there was a trend towards improved awareness, treatment and control between 1972 and 2005, less than one-third of hypertensive subjects were aware they had hypertension and less than one-tenth had their blood pressures controlled in most studies. Conclusion Hypertension is clearly an important public health problem in Ghana, even in the poorest rural communities. Emerging opportunities such as the national health insurance scheme, a new health policy emphasising health promotion and healthier lifestyles and effective treatment should help prevent and control hypertension

Child-centered food systems: reorienting food systems towards healthy diets for children

Current food systems are failing to guide children towards healthy diets. This paper presents a tool to identify the actions needed to reorient food systems to become more child-centred from a nutrition perspective. To connect the dots between children's lives, their food environments and food supply systems, the tool takes a child-centred, food systems approach. Comprising six methodological steps, the tool starts by measuring and understanding children's realities and then working back up into the system to identify how food environments and supply systems could make relevant foods more or less available, affordable, appealing and aspirational in the contexts of children's lives. The paper spells out the mix of methods needed to make this assessment, gives examples of the data and studies already available and type of insights they provide, and discusses the methodological challenges and gaps. It presents a worked example that shows how following these steps in sequence enables the identification of a package of actions that can act coherently to reorient food systems in the way most likely to have impact on child malnutrition

Improved Firesafety Systems In Developing Countries: Proceedings Of The 7th International Research And Training Seminar On Regional Development Planning For Disaster Prevention 17 Oktober 1994, Tokyo, Japan

p.161; 28 c

UNCRD - EAROPH Commission meeting papers

Meeting: Joint Meeting of the United Nations Centre for Regional Development and EAROPH Commission for Planning in the Eastern Region, 2-6 Dec. 1973, Nagoya, JPCo-published by: Eastern Regional Organization for Planning and HousingEdition: Rough draf

Shibli's paper & relevant details

Joint Meeting of the United Nations Centre for Regional Development and EAROPH Commission for Planning in the Eastern Region, 2-6 Dec. 1973, Nagoya, JPCo-published by: Eastern Regional Organization for Planning and Housin