Document Library
Girls and women need effective, safe, and affordable menstrual products. Single-use products are regularly selected by agencies for resource-poor settings; the menstrual cup is a less known alternative. The authors reviewed international studies on menstrual cup leakage, acceptability, and safety and explored menstrual cup availability to inform programmes. The review indicates that menstrual cups are… Read more
Diarrhoeal diseases are very common causes of death in low and middle-income countries. The aim for this systematic review was to show which promotional approaches might change handwashing and sanitation behaviour, and which implementation factors affect the success or failure of such promotional approaches. For community-based approaches, involvement of the community, enthusiasm of community leaders,… Read more
Substantial progress has been made in improving access to education in low- and middle income countries (LMICs). However, several challenges still need to be addressed. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on education aim to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning. In this context, there is a need for evidence on the effects… Read more
Public–private mix (PPM), recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO), was introduced to cope with the tuberculosis (TB) epidemic worldwide. In many developing countries, PPM has played a powerful role in TB control, while in others it has failed to meet expectations. Thus, a systematic review was conducted to determine the mechanisms used by global… Read more
Community health workers (CHWs) are uniquely placed to link communities with the health system, playing a role in improving the reach of health systems and bringing health services closer to hard-to-reach and marginalised groups. A systematic review was conducted to determine the extent of equity of CHW programmes and to identify intervention design factors which… Read more
The perinatal mental health of women living in low- and lower-middle-income countries has only recently become the subject of research, in part because greater priority has been assigned to preventing pregnancy-related deaths. In addition, some have argued that in resource-constrained countries women are protected from experiencing perinatal mental problems through the influence of social and… Read more
There is a global rise in the number of countries undertaking national learning assessments, as well as international and regional learning assessments. Much of this growth, especially in national learning assessments, has occurred in economically developing countries. However, little is known, on how these assessments affect education policy and practice in developing countries. This review… Read more
The dramatic increase of low-income, low-skilled youth in labour markets is of concern particularly in developing countries. In some of these countries, young people are nearly three times as likely as adults to be unemployed. Youths are also more likely to work in the informal labour market than adults, in low quality jobs that offer… Read more
The promise of universal primary education in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) promoted greater access to education in lower- and middle-income countries. However, this growth required greater attention to be paid to the quality of that education, as the effect of such strategies as massive recruitment of untrained and less-educated teachers to meet vastly expanded… Read more
This review focuses on how to effectively increase access to and quality in higher education in developing countries. 175 research papers on the impact of higher education policies and methods of provision on access, quality and gender issues in developing countries, available in English language, were systematically reviewed. The majority of the studies fell into… Read more
What do we want to know? This review considered the following overarching question and sub-questions. How, why and under what conditions are Early Childhood Development (ECD) interventions in developing-country contexts effective in promoting cognitive development? What types of ECD interventions are effective in promoting cognitive development? What is the minimum amount of intervention needed to… Read more