Preparing for Life After the MDGs
The establishment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by the United Nations in 2001 was a defining moment. It rallied a global effort in the fight against poverty, hunger, and disease, while promoting universal education, gender equality, and environmental sustainability. However, new challenges have emerged while remaining ones are complex. Meanwhile, the 2015 deadline for achieving the MDGs is almost upon us, raising the question: where do we go from here?
How Does IT Matter in Rural Health Service Delivery?
Very few young doctors and other health professionals want to work in distant geographic locations and this preference for working in urban centers won’t change in the future and might only increase.This problem calls for innovative solutions to bring health services to populations in hard-to-reach locations and Information Technology provides some viable options which need to be scaled up and integrated into public health systems to bridge the rural-urban gap.
Let’s Talk Incentives: Toilets, Girls, and Violence
Access to household toilets is often seen as just a water and sanitation issue or a public health concern. But the recent murders of two young Indian girls have highlighted another aspect – women’s safety and security.
The Golden Rice Conundrum
Is changing 9,000 years of eating habits the solution to vitamin A deficiency in poor communities in Asia?
From Farm to Fork—Combating Asia’s Hidden Hunger
Feeding the world is becoming an increasingly complex task. Providing all our daily bread—or rice—requires grappling with intense competition for natural resources, producing more from less land and dealing with changing dietary habits. But meeting food needs is not just about quantity. Quality is also important. Along with daily minimum calorie requirements, people also need vital micronutrients from their meals. High levels of micronutrient deficiencies, a phenomenon we call “hidden hunger” remains pervasive, particularly in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
Storm Clouds Ahead – Disease in the Age of Climate Change
Rapid and dynamic changes in Southeast Asia including population growth and movement, as well as booming urbanization, have contributed to the complexity of combating the spread of tropical diseases. Now the region is faced with an even greater challenge: climate change
Women’s Participation: Why Quality Counts More Than Numbers
Nana lives in a remote village. She is married with three children. Both she and her husband are farmers. Nana went to school up to grade 3. Every now and then, the households in her community are asked to attend a meeting. One day, the village leader requested her to attend a meeting the next day.
Indonesia’s Nutritional ‘Double Burden’ Weighs on Economy
Indonesia has made impressive gains in poverty reduction in recent years, but some unfavorable childhood nutrition figures bode ill for the economy and the country’s achievement of a key Millennium Development Goal (MDG).
Beating Malaria, Again
Malaria can be beaten. Proof of this can be found in the fact that across the Asia Pacific region, millions of people who would have died from the disease are living healthy, productive lives. Still, malaria remains a serious threat to lives and livelihoods. Endemic in 22 countries across Asia, it is contracted by an estimated 32 million people annually and kills 47,000 of them.
Impact Evaluations Crucial for Effective Public Policy
Asian countries are increasingly turning to investing in dedicated development programs rather than relying entirely on economic growth to deliver better social outcomes. Evaluations of their actual impact have not always accompanied such decision making, but where they have, it has made a key difference.