Impact of Poverty Reduction on Access to Water and Sanitation in Low- and Lower-Middle-Income Countries: Country-Specific Bayesian Projections to 2030

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khin Thet Swe ◽  
Md. Mizanur Rahman ◽  
Md. Shafiur Rahman ◽  
Yvonne Teng ◽  
Sarah Krull Abe ◽  
...  
Water ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 787 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Antonio Narzetti ◽  
Rui Cunha Marques

Access to water and sanitation services (WSSs) in low- or middle-income countries is constrained by the poverty and vulnerability conditions of the population. In this context, it is urgent to establish public policies for WSSs that will increase the economic access to these services so that they will be more comprehensive and comprise the entire population, ensuring a balance between social and financial objectives. This paper contributes to a better understanding of the provision of WSSs in vulnerable areas and of the difficulty in achieving universal access using Brazil as a case study. The role of regulation in the provision of WSSs in vulnerable areas and the impact of the recent institutional reform that took place last year in that country is discussed. The different experiences analyzed provide interesting lessons that contribute to the improvement of the Brazilian status quo and that, at the same time, can be good practices that can be applied in other countries. One of the main conclusions of this research is related to the contributions that regulation should provide in the universalization of WSSs, mainly when the provision of these services is ruled by a contract. Furthermore, we observed that public authorities have resigned their role in this scope and that they must be more effective and, particularly, more proactive so that universalization can be achieved.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guy Howard ◽  
Anisha Nijhawan ◽  
Adrian Flint ◽  
Manish Baidya ◽  
Maria Pregnolato ◽  
...  

AbstractClimate change presents a major threat to water and sanitation services. There is an urgent need to understand and improve resilience, particularly in rural communities and small towns in low- and middle-income countries that already struggle to provide universal access to services and face increasing threats from climate change. To date, there is a lack of a simple framework to assess the resilience of water and sanitation services which hinders the development of strategies to improve services. An interdisciplinary team of engineers and environmental and social scientists were brought together to investigate the development of a resilience measurement framework for use in low- and middle-income countries. Six domains of interest were identified based on a literature review, expert opinion, and limited field assessments in two countries. A scoring system using a Likert scale is proposed to assess the resilience of services and allow analysis at local and national levels to support improvements in individual supplies, identifying systematic faults, and support prioritisation for action. This is a simple, multi-dimensional framework for assessing the resilience of rural and small-town water and sanitation services in LMICs. The framework is being further tested in Nepal and Ethiopia and future results will be reported on its application.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth Evans ◽  
Thibaut Jombart

AbstractWe modelled historical, country-specific routine immunisation trends using publicly available vaccination coverage data for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis-containing vaccine first-dose (DTP1) and third-dose (DTP3) from 2000 to 2019. We evaluate changes in coverage in 2020 by comparing model predictions to WUENIC-reported coverage. We report a 2.9% (95%CI: [2.2%; 3.6%]) global decline in DTP3 coverage, and important increases in missed immunisations in some countries with middle-income countries, and the Americas, being most affected.


Author(s):  
Edgar Muhoyi ◽  
Josue Mbonigaba

Small-scale irrigation schemes (SSIS) in developing countries have been crucial, but the evidence about their performance has not been sufficiently analyzed. This chapter documents such evidence by reviewing and classifying the performance indicators. It also assesses literature on whether there are discernible trends in the efficiency of SSIS, identifies and classifies SSIS constraints, and characterizes various channels through which SSIS might affect poverty. Objectives are achieved via a systematic review of literature from 1990 to 2017. Results indicate a lack of standardization of irrigation performance indicators, and there is evidence that irrigation has boosted agricultural performance. Even though SSIS were associated with higher productivity than rain-fed agriculture, they performed below their full potential due to undervaluation of irrigation water by irrigation authorities, farmer characteristics, costs, institutional setups, the policy environment, and design, cultural, community, and environmental issues. SSIS are important tools for poverty reduction, and relevant policy implications are outlined.


BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. e045624
Author(s):  
Tuba Saygın Avşar ◽  
Louise Jackson ◽  
Hugh McLeod

IntroductionTobacco control during pregnancy is a policy priority in high-income countries (HICs) because of the significant health and inequality consequences. However, little evidence exists on interventions to reduce tobacco use in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), especially for pregnant women. This study aimed to assess how health economics evidence, which is mainly produced in HICs, could be adopted for tobacco cessation policies for pregnant women in LMICs.MethodsA qualitative case study was conducted in an international public health organisation. The organisation was chosen due to its capacity to influence health policies around the world. Tobacco control experts working in the organisation were identified through purposeful sampling and snowballing. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 18 informants with relevant experience of countries from all of the regions covered by the organisation. Data were analysed using the framework method.ResultsIn practice, tobacco cessation during pregnancy was not viewed as a priority in LMICs despite international recognition of the issue. In LMICs, factors including the recorded country-specific prevalence of tobacco use during pregnancy, availability of healthcare resources and the characteristics of potential interventions all affected the use of health economics evidence for policy making.ConclusionThe scale of tobacco use among pregnant women might be greater than reported in LMICs. Health economics evidence produced in HICs has the potential to inform health policies in LMICs around tobacco cessation interventions if the country-specific circumstances are addressed. Economic evaluations of cessation interventions integrated into antenatal care with a household perspective would be especially relevant in LMICs.


Taking South Africa as an important case study of the challenges of structural transformation, the book offers a new micro-meso level framework and evidence linking country-specific and global dynamics of change, with a focus on the current challenges and opportunities faced by middle-income countries. Detailed analyses of industry groupings and interests in South Africa reveal the complex set of interlocking country-specific factors which have hampered structural transformation over several decades, but also the emerging productive areas and opportunities for structural change. The structural transformation trajectory of South Africa presents a unique country case, given its industrial structure, concentration, and highly internationalized economy, as well as the objective of black economic empowerment. The book links these micro-meso dynamics to the global forces driving economic, institutional, and social change. These include digital industrialization, global value-chain consolidation, financialization, and environmental and other sustainability challenges which are reshaping structural transformation dynamics across middle-income countries like South Africa. While these new drivers of change are disrupting existing industries and interests in some areas, in others they are reinforcing existing trends and configurations of power. The book analyses the ways in which both the domestic and global drivers of structural transformation shape—and, in some cases, are shaped by—a country’s political settlement and its evolution. By focusing on the political economy of structural transformation, the book disentangles the specific dynamics underlying the South African experience of the middle-income country conundrum. In so doing, it brings to light the broader challenges faced by similar countries in achieving structural transformation via industrial policies.


2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elijah Bisung ◽  
Susan J. Elliott

The lack of access to safe water and adequate sanitation pose significant health challenges for many individuals and communities in low and middle-income countries. Aside from direct health issues, the lack of access to safe water and adequate sanitation is increasingly associated with psychosocial concerns that affect the wellbeing of individuals and communities. However, the nature of these concerns has received little attention in peer-reviewed literature. This paper draws on environmental stress and ecosocial theories to explore psychosocial concerns related to water and sanitation in Usoma, a lakeshore community in Western Kenya. The study used qualitative key informant interviews (n = 9) and focus group discussions (n = 10). Results reveal deep feelings of anxiety and frustration, embarrassment, negative identity, feelings of marginalization, and lack of self-efficacy. These stressors were a byproduct of daily lived experiences associated with lack of access to safe water and adequate sanitation, as well as the coping strategies people adopted. The paper suggests that benefits of water interventions transcend disease reduction to improved wellbeing through complex social pathways. The findings contribute to knowledge gaps within the water–health nexus and direct policy responses toward largely unexplored psychosocial concerns associated with water and sanitation.


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