Social Protection
Social ProtectionThere is more than enough food in the world to feed everyone, but the number of people who do not have enough to eat remains unacceptably high, with disproportionate impacts on women and girls. Reversing this shocking trend must be a top priority for governments and international institutions and responses must treat food insecurity as… Read more
In this paper the authors argue that a gender analysis is fundamental to health and health planning. We begin with a definition of gender and related concepts including equity and equality. There is discussion on why gender is key to understanding all dimensions of health including health care, health seeking behaviour and health status, and… Read more
Universal coverage by health services is one of the core obligations that any legitimate government should fulfil vis-à-vis its citizens. However, universal coverage may not in itself ensure universal access to health care. Among the many challenges to ensuring universal coverage as well as access to health care are structural inequalities by caste, race, ethnicity… Read more
The post-conflict or post-crisis period provides the opportunity for wide-ranging public sector reforms: donors fund rebuilding and reform efforts, social norms are in a state of flux, and the political climate may be conducive to change. This reform period presents favourable circumstances for the promotion of gender equity in multiple social arenas, including the health… Read more
In most parts of the world, health outcomes among boys and men continue to be substantially worse than among girls and women, yet this gender-based disparity in health has received little national, regional or global acknowledgement or attention from health policy-makers or health-care providers. Including both women and men in efforts to reduce gender inequalities… Read more
In this short interview Purna Kumar Shrestha, Global Education Lead, Voluntary Services Overseas International (VSO) talks about the VSO project in Ghana ‘Tackling Education Needs Inclusively (TENI)‘. TENI aims to improve the quality of education received by more than 50,000 children in northern Ghana. The programme is specifically focused on girls and disabled children. TENI… Read more
This study examines the effects of gender and early biological, social, and psychological risk factors on secondary school grade attainment in rural Guatemalan adolescents. The present sample comprised 333 adolescents (156 females and 177 males) with available data on growth, health, and cognitive indices as well as family histories measured during infancy and the preschool… Read more
Guy Le Fanu is the education advisor for Sightsavers, an international development organisation working in the fields of health, education and social inclusion. His work involves overseeing education projects for children with disabilities in sub-Saharan Africa, India, and South Asian. In this interview, Guy talks about the recently published HEART Inclusive Learning Topic Guide, for… Read more
This paper informs debates about the potential role for low-fee private schooling in achieving Education for All goals in India. It reports Young Lives’ longitudinal data for two cohorts (2906 children) in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Eight year olds uptake of private schooling increased from 24 per cent (children born in 1994–5) to 44 per… Read more
Cash transfer programs have become extremely popular in the developing world. A large literature analyzes their effects on schooling, health and nutrition, but relatively little is known about possible impacts on child development. This paper analyzes the impact of a cash transfer program on early childhood cognitive development. Children in households randomly assigned to receive… Read more
Background Mexico’s conditional cash transfer programme, Oportunidades, was started to improve the lives of poor families through interventions in health, nutrition, and education. We investigated the effect of Oportunidades on children almost 10 years after the programme began. Methods From April, 1998, to October, 1999, low-income communities were randomly assigned to be enrolled in Oportunidades… Read more