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"As globalisation gains momentum, international migration continues to divide opinion and polarise policy makers, politicians, and advocates. This polarisation has been reflected in research and publications, with pro-globalisation being pitched against anti-globalisation on the one hand, and an explosion of research on migration on the other. This book examines the interaction between the two and their impact on health for the first time, highlighting the myths and realities from an international, multi-disciplinary perspective. The book starts with an examination of the complex and multifaceted aspects of the globalisation phenomenon and its impact on population displacement and health, and concludes with a regional level analysis supported by country-specific examples. By highlighting common issues and differences across the globe, this book shows policy makers, political leaders, and international committees on migration the specificities of global migration and good practice across the world. Particular attention is paid to practical policy responses and governance as well as legal frameworks to manage the dynamics of migration, engage international institutions, and to maximise the benefits that internal and international migration bring."--

AbstractThe 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa extracted huge health, social, and economic costs. How can lessons learnt during the 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa help to mitigate the likelihood of a long‐term devastating effect of the coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) outbreak on the African continent? Despite COVID‐19 spreading quickly across the globe after being first reported in Wuhan, China on December 31, 2019, African countries remained relatively unaffected until the second week of March 2020. The majority of Africa countries have been at low to moderate risk. However, they have experienced many sociocultural, economic, political, and structural challenges. These have included laboratory capacity and logistical challenges; ill‐equipped public health systems; land border permeability, and delayed preparedness to transnational threats; and abject economic deprivation, lack of basic infrastructure, and associated sociocultural implications. There needs to be a strong country‐level leadership to coordinate and own all aspects of the responses to the COVID‐19 pandemic in a collaborative, transparent, and accountable way. Strategic and sustained response plans to fight the pandemic should incorporate culturally competent strategies that harness different cultural practices and strengthen cultural security. They should also promote and strengthen the implementation of the International Health Regulations.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread quickly across the globe with devastating effects on the global economy as well as the regional and societies' socio-economic fabrics and the way of life for vast populations. The nonhomogeneous continent faces local contextual complexities that require locally relevant and culturally appropriate COVID-19 interventions. This paper examines demographic, economic, political, health, and socio-cultural differentials in COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. The health systems need to be strengthened through extending the health workforce by mobilizing and engaging the diaspora, and implementing the International Health Regulations (2005) core capacities. In the absence of adequate social protection and welfare programs targeting the poor during the pandemic, sub-Saharan African countries need to put in place flexible but effective policies and legislation approaches that harness and formalise the informal trade and remove supply chain barriers. This could include strengthening cross-border trade facilities such as adequate pro-poor, gender-sensitive, and streamlined cross-border customs, tax regimes, and information flow. The emphasis should be on cross-border infrastructure that not only facilitates trade through efficient border administration but can also effectively manage cross-border health threats. There is an urgent need to strengthen social protection systems to make them responsive to crises, and embed them within human rights-based approaches to better support vulnerable populations and enact health and social security benefits. The COVI-19 response needs to adhere to the well-established 'do no harm' principle to prevent further damage or suffering as a result of the pandemic and examined through local lenses to inform peace-building initiatives that may yield long-term gains in the post-COVID-19 recovery efforts.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has spread quickly across the globe with devastating effects on the global economy as well as the regional and societies' socio-economic fabrics and the way of life for vast populations. The nonhomogeneous continent faces local contextual complexities that require locally relevant and culturally appropriate COVID-19 interventions. This paper examines demographic, economic, political, health, and socio-cultural differentials in COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. The health systems need to be strengthened through extending the health workforce by mobilizing and engaging the diaspora, and implementing the International Health Regulations (2005) core capacities. In the absence of adequate social protection and welfare programs targeting the poor during the pandemic, sub-Saharan African countries need to put in place flexible but effective policies and legislation approaches that harness and formalise the informal trade and remove supply chain barriers. This could include strengthening cross-border trade facilities such as adequate pro-poor, gender-sensitive, and streamlined cross-border customs, tax regimes, and information flow. The emphasis should be on cross-border infrastructure that not only facilitates trade through efficient border administration but can also effectively manage cross-border health threats. There is an urgent need to strengthen social protection systems to make them responsive to crises, and embed them within human rights-based approaches to better support vulnerable populations and enact health and social security benefits. The COVI-19 response needs to adhere to the well-established 'do no harm' principle to prevent further damage or suffering as a result of the pandemic and examined through local lenses to inform peace-building initiatives that may yield long-term gains in the post-COVID-19 recovery efforts.

Background: Diabetes is one of the non-communicable diseases (NCDs) which is rising significantly across sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries and posing a threat to the social, economic, and cultural fabric of the SSA population. The inclusion of NCDs into the post-2015 development agenda along with the global monitoring framework provides an opportunity to monitor progress of development programmes in developing countries. This paper examines challenges associated with dealing with diabetes within the development agenda in SSA and explores some policy options. Design: This conceptual review draws from a range of works published in Medline and the grey literature to advance the understanding of the post-2015 development agenda and how it relates to NCDs. The paper begins with the burden of diabetes in sub-Sahara Africa and then moves on to examine challenges associated with diabetes prevention, treatment, and management in Africa. It finishes by exploring policy implications. Results: With regards to development programmes on NCDs in the SSA sub-continent, several challenges exist: 1) poor documentation of risk factors, 2) demographic transitions (rapid urbanisation and ageing), 3) the complementary role of traditional healers, 4) tuberculosis and the treatment of the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome as risk factors for diabetes, 5) diabetes in complex emergencies, 6) diabetes as an international development priority and not a policy agenda for many SSA countries, and 7) poorly regulated food and beverage industry. Conclusion: For the post-2015 development agenda for NCDs to have an impact, sufficient investments will be needed to address legislative, technical, human, and fiscal resource constraints through advocacy, accountability, political leadership, and effective public-private partnership. Striking the right balance between competing demands and priorities, policies, and implementation strategies hold the key to an effective response to diabetes in SSA countries.

Cash transfers are a widely adopted social policy initiative for addressing poverty and vulnerability. Cash transfers' exponential growth in low- and middle-income countries provides a unique opportunity to advance our understanding of how they work to impact the social determinants of health. This article reports on a realist qualitative approach to developing an initial program theory about the role of cash transfers in tackling the social determinants of health. A set of 12 initial hypotheses regarding how cash transfers might work to address the social determinants of health were developed from the data. Cash transfer key mechanisms of change found in the study included political will and leadership and news media framing at the macro level, collaboration and intersectoral working at the meso level, and household motivation, empowerment, choice making, awareness raising and risk-taking behaviour at the micro level. This study has developed initial hypotheses that can be tested and refined in future studies using a realist approach.

Background: While quality of life (QoL) has long been an explicit policy goal for international development programmes, no instruments have specifically been developed for measuring health-related QoL in resource-limited settings. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a QoL instrument for use in international aid and development programmes and to assess factors associated with QoL among youth participating in a civic engagement project in Kampala. Design: Using systematic random sampling, data were collected on 663 participants aged between 13 and 24 years in Kampala. The QoL questionnaire included 336 questions divided into a two-part scale: 18 questions rated for satisfaction (Part 1) and 18 other questions rated on importance (part 2). The total sample was randomly divided into two split-half samples: one for the exploratory factor analysis (EFA; N=310) and the other for the confirmatorty factor analysis (CFA; N=353). The effect of demographic, socio-economic, and lifestyle factors on QoL was assessed using linear regressions. Results: The EFA yielded three factors: living conditions and lifestyle (seven items, α = 0.84), social relationships (five items, α = 0.86), and personal independence (five items, α = 0.76). In the CFA, the initial model demonstrated a poor to marginal fit model. Its re-specification by examining modification indices resulted in a good fit: Comparitive Fit Index = 0.95, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation = 0.06, and p of Close Fit >0.05. The model incorporating perceived importance had lower Akaike Information Criteria and Bayesian Information Criteria values than the unweighted model, thereby providing very strong support to weight satisfaction scores with importance ratings when measuring QoL in Uganda. Poor QoL was associated with poor educational attainment, drug and substance misuse, and family disruption. Conclusions: The findings suggest that there is a relationship between QoL and lifestyle and structural issues among youth in Uganda. The study provides the first validated QoL measure to allow government and non-government organisations in low- and middle-income countries to track progress of international aid and development programmes.

Cash transfers (CTs) are now high on the agenda of most governments in low- and middle-income countries. Within the field of health promotion, CTs constitute a healthy public policy initiative as they have the potential to address the social determinants of health (SDoH) and health inequalities. A systematic review was conducted to synthesise the evidence on CTs' impacts on SDoH and health inequalities in sub-Saharan Africa, and to identify the barriers and facilitators of effective CTs. Twenty-one electronic databases and the websites of 14 key organizations were searched in addition to grey literature and hand searching of selected journals for quantitative and qualitative studies on CTs' impacts on SDoH and health outcomes. Out of 182 full texts screened for eligibility, 79 reports that reported findings from 53 studies were included in the final review. The studies were undertaken within 24 CTs comprising 11 unconditional CTs (UCTs), 8 conditional CTs (CCTs) and 5 combined UCTs and CCTs. The review found that CTs can be effective in tackling structural determinants of health such as financial poverty, education, household resilience, child labour, social capital and social cohesion, civic participation, and birth registration. The review further found that CTs modify intermediate determinants such as nutrition, dietary diversity, child deprivation, sexual risk behaviours, teen pregnancy and early marriage. In conjunction with their influence on SDoH, there is moderate evidence from the review that CTs impact on health and quality of life outcomes. The review also found many factors relating to intervention design features, macro-economic stability, household dynamics and community acceptance of programs that could influence the effectiveness of CTs. The external validity of the review findings is strong as the findings are largely consistent with those from Latin America. The findings thus provide useful insights to policy makers and managers and can be used to optimise CTs to reduce health inequalities.

AbstractThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of existing psychological interventions on the social adjustment of young refugees. From 51 peer-reviewed articles identified in the literature, 11 studies with 25 therapeutic effect sizes met criteria for inclusion (N = 1,736). Hedges' g was used to measure effect sizes and a random-effects model was conducted. The number of sessions and participant age were considered as potential moderator variables in moderator analyses through meta-regression. The effect sizes of the included studies were compared based on the type of intervention. The results showed that the aggregated effect size for all included interventions was significant, computed as g = 0.14, p < 0.01, 95% confidence interval [0.06, 0.21]. The effect size is considered small, based on Cohen's (1992) guidelines. The results of the meta-regression showed that the effectiveness of the included psychological interventions on social adjustment was not moderated by either the number of sessions (b = 0.006 p = 0.35) or age (b = –0.008, p = 0.59). Furthermore, there were no significant differences between different therapeutic approaches (Q = 7.37, df (Q) = 6; p = 0.28). This meta-analysis demonstrates that mental-health interventions in young refugees mildly improve their social adjustment. Due to the importance of social adjustment in refugees, we suggest that existing interventions place greater specific focus on improving social adjustment. The details of implications for future studies are discussed.

Background: There is increasing pressure to address the social determinants of health (SDoH) and health inequities through the implementation of culturally acceptable interventions particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) where health outcomes are generally poor. Available evaluation research on cash transfers (CTs) suggests that the programs may influence the wider determinants of health in SSA; yet, there has been no attempt to synthesize the evidence regarding their contribution to tackling the SDoH and health inequalities. To date, nearly all the reviews on CTs' impact on health have predominantly featured evidence from Latin America with limited transferability to the social, cultural, and political environments in SSA. Therefore, the aim of this study is to undertake a systematic review to assess the role of CTs in tackling the wider determinants of health and health inequalities in SSA. Methods/design: A systematic review of published and unpublished literature on CTs' impact on health and health determinants covering the period 2000-2016 will be undertaken. Studies will be considered for inclusion if they present quantitative or qualitative data, including all relevant study designs. The SDoH conceptual framework will be used to guide the data extraction process. EPPI Reviewer software will be used for data management and analysis. Studies included in the review will be analyzed by narrative synthesis and/or meta-analysis as appropriate for the nature of the data retrieved. Discussion: This review will provide empirical evidence on the impact of CTs on SDoH to inform CT policy, implementation, and research in SSA. The protocol follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P). Systematic review registration: This protocol has been registered with the PROSPERO international prospective register of systematic reviews, reference CRD42015025015.

This evidence review provides an overview of current evidence-based approaches to addressing child undernutrition and how they may apply to the Australian aid program. Part I provides an up-to-date overview of the evidence for the 'proximal' (direct) and 'distal' (indirect) risk factors for child undernutrition, and the effectiveness of tested 'nutrition-specific' (direct) and 'nutrition-sensitive' (indirect) interventions to reduce child undernutrition. Evidence on the cost-effectiveness of these interventions is also included. These terms are explained in the 'Explanation of technical terms' and further elaborated later in this report. Part II provides an overview of contemporary policy thinking and approaches to addressing childhood undernutrition by development partners, including multilateral organisations, global frameworks and alliances, bilateral donors, and developing country governments. Reference is also made to contemporary nutrition research and programming work by non-government organisations. Part III summarises data on child nutrition indicators in countries relevant to the Australian aid program. Indicators have been selected to capture type I and type II undernutrition, low birthweight, and the proximal and distal risk factors for child undernutrition. Data for countries most relevant to the Australian aid program are interpreted in supplementary text. Data on overweight and obesity in children are not readily available for most countries of interest to the Australian aid program; however, a global and regional overview is provided.