17 research outputs found

    Neglected Patients with a Neglected Disease? A Qualitative Study of Lymphatic Filariasis

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    Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is a tropical disease causing extreme swelling of the limbs and male genitals. Despite recent successes in preventing transmission of the disease, some 40 million people worldwide who already have the disease have been largely neglected. We aimed to increase understanding of how this vulnerable, neglected group can be helped, by asking people with LF in Sri Lanka to recount their own experiences

    continuing the dialogue

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    In June 1998 IFPRI and the Marga Institute organized a 2020 South Asia workshop in Colombo to continue the dialogue begun in a 2020 South Asia workshop in Kathmandu in March 1995. The meeting in Colombo revisited the 2020 Vision for South Asia in light of the major economic developments of recent years inside and outside the region. G. L. Pieris, the Sri Lankan minister of justice, constitutional affairs, ethnic affairs, and national integration, inaugurated the workshop. About 40 researchers, technical experts, and policymakers from 5 South Asian countries participated in the meeting. The objectives and strategies are those agreed upon by the workshop participants. Projections by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) indicate that even with an annual average rate of economic growth of 5.5 percent during the next two decades and substantial investment in health and education, South Asia will still have about 70 million malnourished children by 2020. Food insecurity and poverty will continue to affect about 200 million people. If economic growth drops below the projected level by about 25 percent, the region is unlikely to see any reduction in malnutrition and poverty. In such conditions, social and political tensions could reach proportions that governments might find difficult to manage in an orderly manner. With these concerns in mind, workshop participants addressed the following issues: The realistic goals that countries should set to eradicate food insecurity, poverty, and malnutrition and ensure a reasonably high quality of life by 2020; The combination of strategies that would enable countries to manage their natural resources on a sustainable basis while achieving the goals set for 2020; The improvements and changes in policy that should have high priority for the purpose of achieving these goals; and The main areas of regional cooperation for realizing the goals.Non-PRIFPRI1; 2020DG

    Urban Poverty in Sri Lanka: Critical Issues and Policy Measures

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    An unusual feature of Sri Lanka’s development during the four decades after independence has been the relatively slow growth of the urban sector. According to census data, the share of the urban population in the total population increased from 15.4 per cent in 1946 to 21.4 per cent in 1981. These data, which are based on the administrative definition of what is urban, tend to underestimate the actual extent of urbanization. But even after making corrections for this, the level of urbanization remains low. The slow expansion of the urban sector has been the result of a combination of economic, social and political factors

    Orienting Health Systems for Maternal Health – the Sri Lankan Experience

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    Dulitha N. Fernando highlights some key aspects of the experience of Sri Lanka in orienting the health system to improve maternal health status over the past few decades. She describes the development of services for maternal care, changes in the maternal mortality over the past decades and the inputs within and outside the health system that influenced these changes. In conclusion, she proposes lessons that can be learnt for other South Asian countries. Development (2005) 48, 127–136. doi:10.1057/palgrave.development.1100191

    Rural Poverty in Sri Lanka: Priority Issues and Policy Measures

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    Rural poverty in Sri Lanka has to be analyzed and evaluated in the context of development policies and the socioeconomic transformation that has taken place during the last four decades. These policies have resulted in a configuration of development that is unusual for a low-income developing country. On the human development index, Sri Lanka ranks above 82 other developing countries, including Brazil, Jordan, Thailand, Turkey and Philippines. The annual rate of population growth has dropped to 1.3 per cent and Sri Lanka is expected to reach the net rate of reproduction of 1 by 1995, well ahead of other Asian developing countries, with the possible exception of the Republic of Korea and Thailand. Infant mortality is falling below 20 per 1,000 live births, average life expectancy has reached approximately 70 years and adult literacy is 87 per cent. As about 75 per cent of the population live in rural areas, these social and demographic indicators reflect improvements affecting the rural sector. Data from socioeconomic surveys confirm no significant rural-urban disparities in these indicators

    The Four Ladders Framework for Analysis of Qualitative Interview Data on Lymphatic Filariasis, Sri Lanka.

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    <p>The Four Ladders Framework for Analysis of Qualitative Interview Data on Lymphatic Filariasis, Sri Lanka.</p

    Sample Distribution—Interviewees by Sex, Lymphoedema Grade, and Income Category.

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    a<p>Stage of lymphoedema is taken from Dreyer et al. <a href="http://www.plosntds.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000128#pntd.0000128-Dreyer1" target="_blank">[22]</a>, who identify up to 7 stages. Stages 6 and 7 are more extreme than stage 5 and were not encountered in patients in this study.</p
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