Population and development

Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) are a pervasive public health challenge in many developing countries in Africa, Asia, and South America. The paper proposes to assess (i) the medium-term impact of the NTD management program on the treated children’s educational outcomes such as school attendance/primary school completion/test scores on school-leaving exams mandatory for children graduating from primary schools in the country, and (ii) the efficacy of supplementary intervention, provision of access to safe water through newly drilled wells, in controlling the risk of re-infection. Through this research we expect to be able to provide evidence for the efficacy of the NTD management program on children’s human capital investment as well as useful suggestions to more effectively address the re-infection risk challenge. The preliminary analysis of difference-in-differences estimator using the school level data finds that the NTD program in Mwanza increased the attendance rate, completion rate and passing rate of the national exam by 2.6%p, 3.2%p and 0.7%p, respectively. The results suggest that the program had a quite sizable impact on attendance and completion by school children, but that its impact on passing the national exam is limited.

This paper explores behavioural changes resulting from the presence of a background risk. Due to markets incompleteness, not all risks are insurable. The literature suggests that, according to the structure of preferences, agents bearing a background uninsurable risk are less willing to bear other insurable risks and increase their demand for insurance. The empirical evidence of this effect is limited and, despite the relevance of this question, unexplored in developing countries. This paper fills this gap. It explores the effect of a background risk on the decision to buy health insurance using household data from the Palestinian Territories. We consider the risk of food insecurity as a background uninsurable risk. Using a bivariate probit model, we find that the propensity to buy health insurance is positively affected by the presence of a background risk of food insecurity. When allowing the background risk to vary in intensity, we find that the propensity to insure is higher as the background risk becomes more intense. These results are robust to alternative indicators of background risk. The study shows that, in presence of background risks, there might be incentive changes towards the desirability of insurance that have implications for policy design.

Bangladesh has been approaching to reach the targets for Millennium Development Goals by 2015, in particular, the indicators under education and health related goals. The indicators relating to family planning and fertility show on track in the recent past. The adolescent fertility rate has been reduced significantly, which leads annual population growth down to 1.3 percent with TFR 2.3. It is expected that the country will incessantly continue to improve the status of social indicators including population dynamics and health conditions, which will create congenial environment to meet the MDG targets.

Although the country will achieve the goals as a whole but the challenges hindered at the sub-national level where some pockets are there, in particular the riverine southern and northern areas, with low family planning use, high fertility, high MMR. It needs to pay attention in order to transmit the benefit of millennium goals uniformly in the country such as reduction of child mortality, reduction of adolescent fertility, maternal mortality etc. . Embedding holistic and compatible action plans in the population and health areas in the concerned regions would foster accelerated social development that might be narrowed down the regional disparities in reaching the sub-national level MDG targets to be achieved by 2015.

The assessment of how different countries moving and converging in terms of average health and health inequalities is crucial for understanding the challenges of future health policy. As progress in average health in necessary but could not be the sufficient condition of progress in health inequality. The principal objective of this study is to assess the trend in absolute and relative inequality against the progress in reduction of average maternal mortality ratio in 179 countries. The result of study foster some important insights about progress in maternal mortality: First, the progress or decline in average maternal mortality ratio not necessarily will lead to decline in inequalities in maternal mortality ratio. Second, the decline in absolute dispersion in maternal mortality ratio will ratio not necessarily will lead to decline in relative inequalities in maternal mortality ratio. Therefore, policies aiming to reduce maternal mortality should aim at reducing both absolute and relative inequalities. Therefore, efficacy with equity should be a principle for convergence in progress in maternal health in world countries.

India’s health sector witnessed some major policy changes in 1990s that aimed at making health services more accessible to the population. In this paper, I tried to present some preliminary results of the significant changes that occurred between 1995/6 and 2004, especially in relation to the question of access to health care for the poor and rural population using data from 52nd (1995-96) and 60th round (2004) of National Sample Survey Organization on ‘morbidity and health care’. The analysis suggests that overall utilization of health care services have declined and the odds of not seeking care due to financial inability has further increased among the poor and rural population during the period of reforms. Results of the multivariate logit regression model indicate that the non-poor, middle and above educated people were having greater likelihood of using services from private health care provider. Interestingly, poor and rural residents were more likely to have used health care from public facilities in 2004 than in 1995-96, suggesting that reforms may have benefitted the intended population and the shift from private to public sector is encouraging, provided they receive good quality health care services at public facilities and do not face catastrophic health expenditures.

Over the years, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) have been heralded as the Philippines’ bagong bayani (‘new heroes) for their contribution to the national economy. Despite this celebratory narrative, much has to be said about how the OFW phenomenon has impacted communities in the Philippines. Using a spatial demographic approach, this paper re-examines the migration-development nexus involving OFWs by re-mapping the multiple ways migrants and their networks are embedded in local development narratives. First, the paper explicates the spatial dynamics of OFWs and local development outcomes of localities. Spatial clusters of local government units (LGUs) exhibiting varied levels of percentage of OFW residents and poverty incidence over time are located. These clusters serve as contextual signifiers that hint at the community articulation of migration-development dynamics where OFWs differentially interact with state institutions, kinship relations, civil society groups, and market forces. Using case studies, everyday spaces of communities are analyzed to show how transnational lives of OFWs are entrenched in actual locations and impacting local development.

Caste is an integral component of Indian society. People are divided into four caste categories. The four categories are Brahmins, Khastriyas, Vashyas (upper caste people) and Shudras ( lower caste people). Historically, Shudras were not allowed to participate in selected social, economic and political activities rather were subjected for several kinds of discrimination and exploitation by upper caste people. Despite legal provisions, discrimination and exploitation are still being practiced in some or other forms. Studies have mentioned the implications of caste system on development. The caste system is as strong that it does not allow intercaste marriages in the society. However, B R Ambedkar, has opposed this preposition and said that only intercaste marriages can break the caste system and will change development paradigms. Keeping this view, the present study analyzes whether inter caste marriages can influence development indicators of India? Study used couples data from National Family Health Survey, (2005-06). It was observed that 11% couples in India have inter caste marriages. Results clearly show that there is influence of inter caste marriages on indicators of development. Therefore study suggest that there is an urgent need of promoting inter caste marriages to weaken caste system and to improve development.

The relationship between migration and urban poverty has been extensively investigated in the literature, and yet it is difficult to speak of generally accepted conclusion on the matter. It is against this backdrop that this paper provides an explanation by examining 64th Round of National Sample Survey (2007-08) data for evidence of whether there are linkages between poverty and migration status and migration types in urban India. The households in urban India have been categorized into non-migrant, forced migrants, employment related migrants, post employment migrants and other migrants. Monthly per capita expenditure and a composite index of food insecurity as derived from PCA have been used as proxy for poverty at household level. Besides k-means analysis, MCA and multivariate regression analyses have been used in this study. Findings throw light on the much debated topic on the relationship between food insecurity and migration status. Levels of food access significantly vary across migration-types even after controlling for socio-economic factors. Findings reveal that there are three distinct groups within migration-status in terms of vulnerability. Results show that except for forced migrants and early job seekers, migrant households are better-off than non-migrant households in urban India.

KARI-Kenya
Email:dymphinaandima@yahoo.com

Districts falling within the Kisii mandate region area are inhabited by six major ethnic groups and a high population density ranging from 215 persons/sq. km in Homa Bay to 800 persons/sq. km in Kisii district which has led to farming in agriculturally marginal or semi-arid lands. This paper reviews population demography as a factor in urbanization in Kisii. Typical farm households in the rural areas are composed of crop enterprises like tea, maize, beans, pyrethrum, bananas, finger millet, wheat, sweet potato and vegetables. However, most of the urban centres in Kenya are administrative towns with small economic bases which increased by almost 53% from 91 centres in 1979 to 139 centres in 1989. In the urban population census of 1963-1989, there was no significant growth rate reported in Kisii as compared to other provinces in Central, Rift Valley and western provinces. Although the town was not urbanized compared to others in 1962-1989, it had a population size of 2,000 and above during the same period. The urban population is classified into demographic and socioeconomic characteristics that include age profile, sex structure, economic activity, educational attainment and occupational profile which have implications in attracting populations to medium and small urban centres.

Despite the acknowledgment that participatory approaches in development can help in the understanding and designing of development programmes and policies, discourses about poverty and development especially among the rural poor continue to be dominated by those who are considered to be non-rural and non-poor. Using qualitative data collected from residents of Makueni district of Eastern Kenya, this paper seeks to reverse this approach by discussing the community’s perceptions of poverty and development in their context. This data, collected through household interviews, focus group discussions with community members and key informant interviews with community leaders reveals the meanings, indicators and categorizations of poverty and development as well as the best possible approaches to adopt for poverty alleviation and development programmes in this community. This study finds that definitions of poverty and development go beyond the monetary measures and vary according to context. In Makueni, water is considered the biggest priority. Respondents also highlight the pathway to development given adequate water supply. Findings of this study emphasize the need to approach development in different contexts as separate entities, involve the beneficiaries in identifying their most felt needs and involving them in development.