Aid and Development: Issues and Reflections

The paper has three main sections. The first is a review of two particular propositions which appear in Dambisa Moyo’s 2009 book Dead Aid which were not subjected to rigorous analysis in the reviews which appeared following its publication. The finding is that neither proposition survives serious scrutiny – that aid is responsible for most of sub-Saharan Africa’s economic woes and that the international bond market represents a viable alternative to foreign aid for the finance of development-oriented investment. The second questions some of the characteristics and uses of the World Bank’s Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA), particularly focussing on the use of an essentially ordinal measure in cardinal applications. The third subjects the UK Department for International Development’s Needs-Effectiveness Index to critical review, concluding that further consideration of its attributes is necessary.

International Aid to Tanzania – with some comparisons from Ghana and Uganda

This paper has three principal objectives. First, to review the level of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Tanzania over the last two to three decades, and to place this into an economic context. This review includes some comparisons with the experience of Ghana and Uganda. Second, to discuss three major issues for the Tanzanian aid: the position of ODA as budget support, corruption, and alignment with the principles of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness. Third, to review the literature on the Tanzanian aid experience, including a range of official evaluation reports produced by the Tanzanian government and by the donor community. The conclusions, broadly, are that ODA has been at a sustained high level for most of the period reviewed, funding a significant amount of government development expenditure, and that economic growth has been strong, with poverty reduction ‘flat-lining’ in Tanzania but being significant in Ghana and Uganda. Experience with budget support in Tanzania has been mixed, corruption continues as a major concern, and improvements to public finance management have been difficult to achieve. In this context governance adjustments come slowly, requiring patience on the part of both recipient governments and the ODA donor community.

EU cohesion aid to Spain: a data set. Part I: 2000-06 planning period

In this paper we construct a data set on EU cohesion aid to Spain during the planning period 2000-06. The data are disaggregated by region, year and function and attempt to approximate the timing of actual executed expenditure on assisted projects.

Tabagisme et rein [Smoking and the kidney]

Tobacco consumption is a major public health problem. More than 20 years ago smoking has been identified to contribute substantially to the degradation of renal function in patients suffering from diabetic nephropathy. Recently it has been shown that smoking alters renal hemodynamics and contributes to albuminuria. Smoking increases the risk of progression of renal failure in patients suffering from IgA nephropathy and polycystic kidney disease. Furthermore smoking has a deleterious effect on patients on hemodialysis and on the transplanted kidney. Nonetheless, it is important to realize that smoking not only is deleterious for the progression of vascular and pulmonary diseases, but also has a strong negative effect on kidney function.

Le rein de l'enfant face à la chimiothérapie [The kidney in children under chemotherapy].

Nowadays more and more children survive after an intensive anti-tumoral therapy. The price to pay consists of numerous and relatively frequent long-term sequelae (secondary tumors, neuropsychological deficits, endocrine or cardiac damage). After chemotherapy, we sometimes observe renal side-effects, either tubular (metabolic acidosis, hypokalemia, hypomagnesemia, proteinuria, Fanconi syndrome, rickets) or glomerular (acute or chronic decreased GFR). These renal toxic side-effects are encountered especially after cisplatinum and ifosfamide, less frequently after carboplatin and cyclophosphamide. The pediatrician has to be aware of these toxic nephrologic side-effects, to look out for them and monitor carefully the renal function of all paediatric patients receiving these potentially nephrotoxic chemotherapies.

Comrades or Culprits? Donor Engagement and Budget Transparency in Aid Dependent Countries

Budget transparency has come to be considered a key aspect of governance. Over the past decade, donors have invested increasing resources in strengthening processes through which budget transparency in developing countries can be enhanced. According to the 2008 Open Budget Index (OBI) Report, however, aid dependency and budget transparency appear to be inversely correlated. This article looks at the role of donor agencies in promoting or preventing budget transparency in aid dependent countries. It analyzes data for a sample of 16 aid-dependent countries included in the OBI, to test some preliminary hypotheses and select six countries for which more detailed findings are then presented. All of these countries have implemented reforms aimed at enhancing budget transparency, with substantial donor support. These, however, often had only limited success, partly because they were not well adapted to the local context, and partly because donors put limited emphasis on improving public access to budget information. Donor efforts were also often offset by other characteristics of donor interventions, namely their fragmentation, lack of transparency, and limited use of program aid modalities such as budget support and pooled sector funding.

Hearing Aid Assessments and Re-Assessments during quarter ending 31 March 2006 (PDF 95 KB)

Monitors information on persons fitted and assessed during the quarter, complaints received, cost of aids issued, and completed and incomplete waits for hearing aid assessments and re-assessments.

Seeds of hope: Assessing the effect of development aid on the reduction of child mortality

The Millennium Declaration (2000) set as one of its targets a substantial reduction in child mortality. This paper studies whether the massive increase in development aid can account for part of the reduction in child mortality observed in developing countries since the year 2000. To do so, we analyze a panel of more than 130 developing countries over the 2000-2008 period. We use the time trend evolution of aid to identify an exogenous source of variation. Total aid has had no statistically significant effect on child mortality. However, a disaggregate analysis identifies certain sectors of aid that have had a significant impact. The effects have been larger in high mortality countries, including Sub-Saharan Africa. Projections based on our estimates strongly support the concern that most countries in that region will miss the Millennium Goals target on child mortality.

Newry Women's Aid

Women's Aid responds to urgent need to provide vital support and accommodation to women and children experiencing domestic violence. This is their first BCPP project. It will provide a range of social and health information sessions to women, staff, volunteers and children while supporting the pharmacist to better understand the issues they are facing, developing a referral process and confidential service.

Mental Health First Aid Northern Ireland Manual

The MHFA Manual is the basis of the MHFA Northern Ireland training programme. It has been adapted from the original MHFA programme deveoped in Australia. The manual gives an overview of mental health in Northern Ireland, outlines the MHFA action plan, explores in detail the MHFA approach to major mental health problems, and provides an in-depth resource section with details of related organisations and sources of help.

Mental Health First Aid Northern Ireland wallet card

The MHFA wallet card supplements the MHFA Northern Ireland Manual and is used by MHFA trainers and instructors. It has the five actions of the MHFA action plan on the back.

Mental Health First Aid Training Programme

The Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Training Programme for Northern Ireland has been adapted from the original MHFA programme established in Australia by Betty Kitchener and Anthony Jorm. MHFA is the help provided to a person who is developing a mental health problem or who is currently in a mental health crisis. The first aid is given until professional help is available or until the crisis resolves. More than 4,500 people have attended MHFA training in Northern Ireland since it began in 2009 following a successful pilot in 2005. The aims of MHFA are to: preserve life where a person may be a danger to themselves or others; provide help to prevent the mental health problem becoming more serious; promote the recovery of good mental health; provide comfort to a person experiencing a mental health problem. MHFA teaches participants: how to recognise the symptoms of mental health problems; how to provide initial help; how to go about guiding a person towards appropriate professional help. The training programme is available to people from all backgrounds and has proved successful with different professional groups. MHFA training involves teaching participants how to recognise the symptoms of mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and psychosis. Each course is delivered by two MHFA instructors, usually over two consecutive days and four sessions to a maximum of 20 delegates. The course can also be delivered one day a week for two weeks or in four three-hour sessions. To apply for the training programme, people should contact their local Health and Social care Trust. Each Trust runs MHFA training several times a year. Topics covered include: What is meant by mental health/mental ill health? Dealing with crisis situations such as suicidal behaviour, self-harm, panic attacks and acute psychotic behaviour. Recognising the signs and symptoms of common mental health problems including depression, anxiety disorders, psychosis and substance use disorders. Where and how to get help. Self help strategies.

Mental Health First Aid Northern Ireland wallet card

The MHFA wallet card supplements the MHFA Northern Ireland Manual and is used by MHFA trainers and instructors.It has the five actions of the MHFA action plan on the back.

Don de rein altruiste: enjeux psychologiques [Altruistic kidney deviation: psychological challenges].

Altruistic kidney donation challenges ethical principles, questions the anthropological meaning of donation and is associated with important psychological aspects. Obtaining free and informed consent is essential and requires a depth evaluation by a psychologist or a psychiatrist in order to identify the motivations which stimulate the desire of donation. By means of a psychodynamic understanding of a clinical case, we illustrate the complexity of the evaluation of consent and discuss the psychological issues associated with altruistic kidney donation.