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Esther Duflo’s new book, co-authored with Abjihit Vinayak Banerjee, Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty, reclaims the spotlight for tackling poverty and believes that poverty can be allayed, and perhaps eradicated, with the right policies. They believe that all it takes is for politicians to “translate research into action;” encouraging the use of evidence-based case studies as a guide to implementing programs. The book aspires to make 2011 the year where the “economics of poverty” is at the forefront of international political dialogues.
Duflo is certain that this book will capture the attention of people in various fields of work because the global poverty gap impacts and fascinates us all. Duflo is a professor at MIT and “is credited with making development economics chic.” She was “one of the first doctoral students to apply economics to development […] when very few university faculties were devoted to the subject.”
Duflo acknowledges that a significant impediment to this process has been entreating policy-makers “to apply the results of research into action.” She states that “sometimes they do not know the evidence and so cannot take the right approach.” The struggle, then, lies within transplanting and refitting the results of econometric research into program planning and performance.
When conducting research, Duflo “uses randomized field experiments to identify highly specific programs that can alleviate poverty.” She is the Director of MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL). J-PAL conducts scientific studies in various countries, working with private and public organizations to implement poverty eliminating programs. » Read more: Poor Economics
Unfortunately, no one is perfect. But fortunately, we have a weekly round-up to keep you caught up on whats going on in the global NTD community! Check it out below.
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All chronic diseases are not the same.
April 1st, 2011By: Alanna Shaikh
One of the big narratives of global health over the last decade has been the changing role played by non-communicable disease. Diseases like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, were once seen as the exclusive burden of healthy countries. Poor countries, on the other hand, faced infectious diseases like tuberculosis and polio. Now, though, that picture is changing, and in some unexpected ways. A new article in eHospitalist News provides a good overview.
First of all, the old school diseases of the wealthy world are increasingly prevalent in poor countries. Asthma, obesity, and diabetes are all shaping up to be serious problems in city dwellers throughout the developing world. And they are often caused by the same lifestyle factors that drive these conditions in the wealthier world – tobacco use, physical inactivity, unhealthy diets, and the harmful use of alcohol.
However, lifestyle isn’t the only factor in con-communicable diseases. Obesity and malnutrition actually often go together. Concurrent infections, lack of access to health-care and environmental toxins also make chronic diseases worse. Subsequently, poor countries are ending up with not just the diseases of the wealthy but a bonus helping of chronic conditions caused by the problems specific to poverty. One prime example: lung disease in the wealthy world is primarily the result of cigarette smoking. In poor countries, it’s more likely to be caused by chronic pollution, especially indoor air pollution from biomass fuels, and then made worse by smoking. Those kinds of problems are ugly, and hard to solve.
» Read more: All chronic diseases are not the same.
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Posted in Commentary, NTDs, Uncategorized
Tags: infectious diseases NCDs