A taxonomy for community-based care programs focused on HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care in resource-poor settings

Community-based care (CBC) can increase access to key services for people affected by HIV/AIDS through the mobilization of community interests and resources and their integration with formal health structures. Yet, the lack of a systematic framework for analysis of CBC focused on HIV/AIDS impedes our ability to understand and study CBC programs. We sought to develop taxonomy of CBC programs focused on HIV/AIDS in resource-limited settings in an effort to understand their key characteristics, uncover any gaps in programming, and highlight the potential roles they play. Our review aimed to systematically identify key CBC programs focused on HIV/AIDS in resource-limited settings. We used both bibliographic database searches (Medline, CINAHL, and EMBASE) for peer-reviewed literature and internet-based searches for gray literature. Our search terms were ‘HIV’ or ‘AIDS’ and ‘community-based care’ or ‘CBC’. Two co-authors developed a descriptive taxonomy through an iterative, inductive process using the retrieved program information. We identified 21 CBC programs useful for developing taxonomy. Extensive variation was observed within each of the nine categories identified: region, vision, characteristics of target populations, program scope, program operations, funding models, human resources, sustainability, and monitoring and evaluation strategies. While additional research may still be needed to identify the conditions that lead to overall program success, our findings can help to inform our understanding of the various aspects of CBC programs and inform potential logic models for CBC programming in the context of HIV/AIDS in resource-limited settings. Importantly, the findings of the present study can be used to develop sustainable HIV/AIDS-service delivery programs in regions with health resource shortages

Revisiting and modelling the woodland farming system of the early Neolithic Linear Pottery Culture (LBK), 5600–4900 B.C

International audienceThis article presents the conception and the conceptual results of a modelling representation of the farming systems of the Linearbandkeramik Culture (LBK). Assuming that there were permanent fields (PF) then, we suggest four ways that support the sustainability of such a farming system over time: a generalized pollarding and coppicing of trees to increase the productivity of woodland areas for foddering more livestock, which itself can then provide more manure for the fields, a generalized use of pulses grown together with cereals during the same cropping season, thereby reducing the needs for manure. Along with assumptions limiting bias on village and family organizations, the conceptual model which we propose for human environment in the LBK aims to be sustainable for long periods and can thereby overcome doubts about the PFs hypothesis for the LBK farming system. Thanks to a reconstruction of the climate of western Europe and the consequent vegetation pattern and productivity arising from it, we propose a protocol of experiments and validation procedures for both testing the PFs hypothesis and defining its eco-geographical area

institutional framework of in action against land degradation

While econometric and spatial data are increasingly helpful to quantify and locate the extent and costs of land degradation, there is still little understanding of the contextual factors that determine or influence the land users' practices that aggravate or counteract land degradation. In this chapter, we take an institutional economic approach to analyse the persistence of degrading practices, the low adoption of sustainable land management (SLM), or the eventual organisational reaction to land degradation. The chapter reviews four examples of land degradation in different contexts to reveal the multiple driving forces and contextual factors. We then propose a conceptual framework to better understand the incentive structure and factors determining the land users' decision making. A layered analysis of the social phenomena is applied, following Williamson (2000). The chapter shows how actions at different layers can help improve land management. The chapter concludes with practical recommendations for the institutional economic analysis of land degradation

Property rights and soil fertility management in Niger

This research was undertaken as a Ph.D. dissertation (Stanford University) in conjunction with the ILCA programme in Niamey, Niger. The objective of the research was similar to that of the World Bank studies: to test how land tenure affects land-improving investment, agricultural productivity and resource management. The standard hypothesis is that land tenure that is non-exclusive insecure or non-transferable will lead to under-investment and depressed factor mobility. It is further hypothesized that this will lead to inefficient agricultural production and over-exploitation of natural resources. Data were collected for the 1990–91 crop year in three villages along a rainfall gradient from 350 mm per year to 600 mm per year. A total of 60 households were interviewed in a one-visit survey. Data were collected for 134 fields farmed by those 60 households. Fields were measured and their location described, conscious manuring was recorded as a binary variable (yes/no), labour input and yields were measured from farmer recall. Bundles of millet and sorghum were added together to derive a measure of crop output. Because of the differences between owned, hawjou and borrowed land, it was possible to test two different arguments about the effects of tenure. One argument is that "security of tenure" affects the expected returns from investments. The second argument is that the transferability of land affects the mobility of factors. Land that is more transferable can be transferred to activities and uses that earn the highest returns. As measured by the average number of years farmed, rights to borrowed land are less secure than rights to hawjou or owned land. Only owned land is transferable

Land tenure and agricultural productivity in Ethiopia

This research is being undertaken as an ILCA project with support from the Rockefeller Post-Doctoral Fellowship Programme. There are three objectives. One objective is very similar to that of the World Bank and Niger studies: to determine the effects of land tenure on investment, productivity and efficiency in crop-livestock systems in the Ethiopian highlands. The other objectives are: to identify the factors that influence the evolution of land tenure institutions in general and the Ethiopian land tenure systems in particular; and to quantify the prevalence of different types of land related contracts in Ethiopian agriculture and relate the terms of those contracts to household and land attributes. Ethiopia has a very dynamic land tenure situation that makes it very interesting, but also very difficult, to study

Measuring the production efficiency of alternative land tenure contracts in a mixed crop-livestock system in Ethiopia

In this paper, we test the hypothesis that land held under varying configurations of property rights will be farmed at different levels of production efficiency. Production data were collected from 477 plots in a fairly productive, mixed farming system in the Ethiopian highlands. Interspatial measures of total factor productivity, based on the Divisia index, were used to measure the relative production efficiency of three informal and less secure land contracts (rented, share-cropped and borrowed) relative to lands held under formal contract with the Ethiopian government. Although the informally-contracted lands are farmed 10-16 percent less efficiently, the analysis indicates that farmers of such lands actually apply inputs more rather than less, intensively (i.e., more inputs per unit of land). The gap in total factor productivity thus results from the inferior quality of inputs (or lack of skills in applying them) rather than a lack of incentive to allocate inputs to mixed crop-livestock farming. For this reason we find no empirical basis to support the hyothesis that land tenure is a constraint to agriucltural productivity

The determinants of livestock prices in Niger

Not only does livestock make an important contribution to rural incomes and export earnings in the Sahel, it is also kept as insurance against weather risk. Fluctuations in livestock prices can therefore trigger food entitlement failures. Using monthly price data from Niger, we show that livestock prices respond to droughts and pasture availability. They are also exposed to aggregate shifts in export revenues and meat demand that affect Niger and Its southern neighbour, Nigeria. These shifts add an important element of risk to the livelihood of Sahelian farmers and pastoralists. Famine early-wearning systems should keep an eye not only on weather shocks but also on macroeconomic conditions and other factors affecting the livestock economy. It is showed in this paper that livestock prices in Niger, a representative Sahelian country, respond not only to weather shocks but also to shifts in the rural and urban demand for meat in the country and in neighbouring Nigeria. The basis for the analysis is price data on 15 animal categories collected monthly in 38 districts of Niger over a period of 21 years. The questionable quality of the data and the high proportion of missing observations are compensated by the sheer number of data points: 87,000 in total. This data is complemented with monthly rainfall by district and published statistics on mineral exports and cereal production

The profitability of wheat production in Ethiopia: The case of Tiyo Woreda in Arsi zone

The profitability of different wheat production systems in Arsi Zone was investigated by comparing farmers' practices in the 1994 crop season with on-farm demonstrations led by both Sasakawa-Global 2000 and Kulumsa Research Center of the Institute of Agriculture Research. Overall, yields on the demonstration plots were higher than those on unsupervised farmers' plots; while farmers do plant improved wheat varieties, they tend to recycle seeds retained from their own stock rather than purchasing new seeds each year. Additionally, they use far less fertilizer and herbicide than either MOA extension agents; or researchers' recommendations. A breakdown of farmer practices by the amount of purchased inputs shows that the top 4 percent of the farmers surveyed were able to produce as much or more grain on their fields as on the demonstration plots with comparable or greater profits. On the whole, however, the demonstration plots offer yields and profits greater than those most wheat farmers in this region are achieving, even after adjusting for capital costs and possible price fluctuations. The results of the economic analyses suggest the need for broader testing of the experimental packages. At the same time, the inability of many farmers to adopt existing high-input packages indicates the need to decrease the costs and the difficulty of obtaining purchased inputs. Furthermore, the study pointed out an apparent deficiency in the research/extension package: high-cost herbicides must be targeted for wheat fields having weed densities greater than some economic threshold levels

LPA Brief no. 13. The spatial integration of livestock markets in Niger

Livestock make an important contribution to the livelihood of Sahelian farmers and herders, and are a source of insurance against income shocks brought about by weather and economic disruptions. By allocating livestock more efficiently over space, spatial market integration should favour a sustainable use of scarce pasture resources. The geographical integration of markets is also critical for the prevention of entitlement failures and the insurance value of livestock. To be effective, strategies providing protection against local weather shocks require livestock prices to be relatively stable so that risk is shared over space and idiosyncratic price variations are smoothed. Studying the spatial integration of livestock markets in the Sahel is thus important for optimal and sustainable natural resource use, early warning, market and trade policies. This study sheds some light on the integration of livestock markets in a representative Sahelian country, Niger