Suchergebnisse

Forty years after independence, the African countries have still not taken off economically. The many indicators produced by national bodies describe a wholly discouraging situation, even worse than in the 1970s. Yet, for many years, quite large budgets have been invested in development and thousands of people are working on the subject. Why is it that, now that the development policies of the 1970s and 1980s have been questioned and there is awareness of the importance of communities' opinions about their own development, the success of "participatory" projects remains unproven? Is it not the case that participatory development has become another poorly understood, poorly applied ideology? In Togo, which is undergoing a political crisis deplored by the international community, projects are now emerging that have been developed and implemented by communities. This example can help us reach a better understanding of the social development worker's role and understand what "community participation" means in the minds of those working on the ground.

Forty years after independence, the African countries have still not taken off economically. The many indicators produced by national bodies describe a wholly discouraging situation, even worse than in the 1970s. Yet, for many years, quite large budgets have been invested in development & thousands of people are working on the subject. Why is it that, now that the development policies of the 1970s & 1980s have been questioned & there is awareness of the importance of communities' opinions about their own development, the success of "participatory" projects remains unproven? Is it not the case that participatory development has become another poorly understood, poorly applied ideology? In Togo, which is undergoing a political crisis deplored by the international community, projects are now emerging that have been developed & implemented by communities. This example can help us reach a better understanding of the social development worker's role & understand what "community participation" means in the minds of those working on the ground. 1 Picture. Adapted from the source document.

AbstractThe scale of attacks on healthcare has become more visible and its impact greater in recent armed conflicts in Ukraine, Sudan and Myanmar. In these conflicts, combatants systematically target health facilities and ambulances. We need to ensure that attacks on healthcare do not become the new norm amongst governmental troops and non-State armed groups. There is limited evidence about why and how attacks on healthcare have become "normal" practice amongst many combatants, despite the likely tactical and strategic costs to themselves. We are convinced that the problem now needs to be tackled like any other public health issue by assessing: the scale of the problem; who is the most at risk; identifying risk factors; developing new interventions to prevent the risks or address the issue; and evaluating the effectiveness of these interventions.

AbstractCOVAX, the global initiative on COVID-19 vaccines, has set the target of achieving a COVID-19 vaccination coverage of up to 30% of the population of 135 countries in 2 years. Here, we argue that COVAX should anticipate important and unforeseen challenges with regard to sanctioned countries. For those, COVAX needs to provide a higher percentage of the vaccines. Otherwise, the problems of vaccination will linger, risking the advent of new variants and preventing an effective global response in reigning the pandemic under control.

The growing involvement of anthropologists in medical humanitarian response efforts has laid bare the moral and ethical consequences that emerge from humanitarian action. Anthropologists are well placed to examine the social, political, cultural and economic dimensions that influence the spread of diseases, and the ways in which to respond to epidemics. Anthropologists are also, with care, able to turn a critical lens on medical humanitarian response. However, there remains some resistance to involving anthropologists in response activities in the field. Drawing on interviews with anthropologists and humanitarian workers involved in the 2014-2016 West African Ebola epidemic, this paper reveals the complex roles taken on by anthropologists in the field and reveals how anthropologists faced questions of legitimacy vis-à-vis communities and responders in their roles in response activities, which focused on acting as 'firefighters' and 'cultural brokers' as well as legitimacy as academic researchers. Whilst these anthropologists were able to conduct research alongside these activities, or draw on anthropological knowledge to inform response activities, questions also arose about the legitimacy of these roles for anthropological academia. We conclude that the process of gaining legitimacy from all these different constituencies is particular to anthropologists and reveals the role of 'giving voice' to communities alongside critiquing medical humanitarianism. Whilst these anthropologists have strengthened the argument for the involvement of anthropologists in epidemic response this anthropological engagement with medical humanitarianism has revealed theoretical considerations more broadly for the discipline, as highlighted through engagement in other fields, especially in human rights and global health.