Fair and Poor Buys

The largest contributor to the benefits stems from the value of the DALYs that have been averted through reduced deaths and reduced morbidity due to increased case-finding and cure rate.

In Africa, more than 50% of cases of childhood cancer go undiagnosed. Africa accounts for 146,000 of the projected 397,000 new cases globally per year (including both diagnosed and undiagnosed cases)

The humanitarian system is stretched very thin, with funding struggling to keep up with needs. While humanitarian aid can save lives, it has historically arrived late, well into the peak of a crisis.

The industrial base of African countries is largely weak and fraught with a large number of micro and small enterprises with low productivity and weak growth prospects.

Africa is plentiful in renewable energy resources, especially solar. These resources are well spread across the continent and could contribute to secure and affordable supplies of energy where they are in high demand such as urban areas.

Hypertension ranks among the main causes of mortality in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). A principal contributor to cardiovascular disease, a costly and debilitating occurrence, in which many African households find themselves undertaking significant expenditures, in some cases considered catastrophic vis a vis their disposable income.

“End poverty in all its forms everywhere”, the first of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), has direct and indirect links with many of the other SDG targets. While the world has seen unprecedented decline in extreme poverty in the first decade of this millennium, the recent statistics indicate this goal will be challenging to achieve.

We analyze the economic costs and benefits of “Community-Led Total Sanitation” (CLTS), a sanitation intervention that relies on community-level behavioral change.

In 2014, the African Union approved the plan for an African Integrated High-Speed Rail Network (AIHSRN). High speed trains of over 250 km/h are expected to be constructed but there is on-going debate on whether the costs will outweigh the benefits.

“Off-grid rural electrification” reminds most of us about bringing solar lanterns to rural communities who otherwise use kerosene for lighting.