207 research outputs found
Measuring Technology Achievement of Nations and the Capacity to Participate in the Network Age
human development, democracy
Twenty-first century vaccinomics innovation systems: capacity building in the global South and the role of Product Development Partnerships (PDPs)
The availability of sequence information from publicly available complete genomes and data intensive sciences, together with next-generation sequencing technologies offer substantial promise for innovation in vaccinology and global public health in the beginning of the 21st century. This article presents an innovation analysis for the nascent field of vaccinomics by describing one of the major challenges in this endeavor: the need for capacities in âvaccinomics innovation systemsâ to support the developing countries involved in the creation and testing of new vaccines. In particular, we discuss the need for understanding how institutional frameworks can enhance capacities as intrinsic to a systems approach to health technology development. We focus our attention on the global South, meaning the technically less advanced and developing nations in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. This focus is timely and appropriate because the challenge for innovation in postgenomics medicine is markedly much greater in these regions where basic infrastructures are often underresourced and new or the anticipated institutional relationships can be fragile. Importantly, we examine the role of Product Development Partnerships (PDPs) as a 21st century organizational innovation that contributes to strengthening fragile institutions and capacity building. For vaccinomics innovation systems to stand the test of time in a context of global public health, local communities, knowledge, and cultures need to be collectively taken into account at all stages in programs for vaccinomics-guided vaccine development and delivery in the global South where the public health needs for rational vaccine development are urgent
Doing Biopolitics Differently? Radical Potential in the Post-2015 MDG and SDG Debates
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How Should MDG Implementation Be Measured: Faster Progress or Meeting Targets?
This paper questions the methodology that is widely used to assess progress in implementing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a methodology that asks whether the targets are likely to be met. This approach is inappropriate, since the MDGs were neither designed as nor intended to be planning targets. They were political commitments, made by world leaders, that define priorities in a normative framework and that can be used as benchmarks in evaluating progress. In this framework the appropriate question is whether more is being done to live up to that commitment, resulting in faster progress. We present a methodology and analysis using this new framework, and find that our assessment of progress differs considerably from that arising from the conventional methodology. For example, while access to safe water is touted as an MDG success, only a third of the countries improved at a faster rate. Overall, in most indicators and in most countries, progress has not accelerated
The capabilities approach and worker wellbeing
Recently, scholars have attempted to apply the capabilities approach, as advanced by Amartya Sen, to the realm of labour. They argue that it provides a philosophical justification for a âdevelopmentâ approach to labour regulation, supports the design of policies that promote workersâ wellbeing and validates the institution of worker participation mechanisms. For labour proponents, this is an exciting prospect. This article argues that despite its promise for expanding workersâ capabilities, certain ambiguities potentially impede the approachâs utility, particularly in developing countries. We suggest ways in which it can be refined and developed to better serve the interests of labour in these contexts, notably by promoting collective and not merely individual capabilities
Pioneering the human development revolution: Analysing the trajectory of Mahbub ul Haq
Mahbub ul Haq's work to coordinate, establish and propagate the human development approach offers an example of effective leadership in promoting more ethical socio-economic development. This article reviews Pioneering the Human Development Revolution-An Intellectual Biography of Mahbub ul Haq (edited by Haq and Ponzio), and extends themes from the United Nations Intellectual History Project to examine Haq's contributions in terms of four aspects of leadership: articulating and applying values that combine depth with broad appeal; providing a fruitful and vivid way of seeing, a 'vision', that reflects the values; embodying the values and vision in workable practical proposals; and supporting and communicating the previous aspects through wide and relevant networks. It suggests that the human development approach may need to update its values and vision, including through better integration of human security thinking, if it is to retain the leadership role it acquired thanks to Haq
The weakest link: competence and prestige as constraints to referral by isolated nurses in rural Niger
BACKGROUND: For a health district to function referral from health centres to district hospitals is critical. In many developing countries referral systems perform well below expectations. Niger is not an exception in this matter. Beyond obvious problems of cost and access this study shows to what extent the behaviour of the health worker in its interaction with the patient can be a barrier of its own. METHODS: Information was triangulated from three sources in two rural districts in Niger: first, 46 semi-structured interviews with health centre nurses; second, 42 focus group discussions with an average of 12 participants â patients, relatives of patients and others; third, 231 semi-structured interviews with referred patients. RESULTS: Passive patients without 'voice' reinforce authoritarian attitudes of health centre staff. The latter appear reluctant to refer because they see little added value in referral and fear loss of power and prestige. As a result staff communicates poorly and show little eagerness to convince reluctant patients and families to accept referral proposals. CONCLUSIONS: Diminishing referral costs and distance barriers is not enough to correct failing referral systems. There is also a need for investment in district hospitals to make referrals visibly worthwhile and for professional upgrading of the human resources at the first contact level, so as to allow for more effective referral patterns
Time and Poverty from a Developing Country Perspective
This study is concerned with the measurement of poverty in the context of developing countries. We argue that poverty rankings must take into account time use dimensions of paid and unpaid work jointly. Reviewing the current state of the literature on this topic, our methodology introduces a critical but missing analytical distinction between time poverty and time deprivation. On this basis, we proceed to provide empirical evidence by using South African time use survey data compiled in 2000. Our findings show that existing methods that work well for advanced countries require modification when adopted in the case of a developing country. The results identify a group of adults who previously were inadvertently missing, as they were considered 'time wealthy.
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