探花直播 of Cambridge - developing world

Richest nations drift further away from 10% aid goal for pre-primary education

tdk25 — Wed, 17 May 2023 09:03:28 +0000

International aid for pre-primary education has fallen further behind an agreed 10% spending target since the COVID-19 outbreak, according to new research.

探花直播report, compiled by academics at the 探花直播 of Cambridge for the global children鈥檚 charity, Theirworld, highlights 鈥渃ontinued, chronic鈥� underfunding of pre-primary education in many of the world鈥檚 poorest nations, after years of slow progress and pandemic-related cuts.

Early childhood education is widely understood to be essential to children鈥檚 successful cognitive and social development and to breaking cycles of poverty in poorer countries. In 2017, Cambridge research for Theirworld resulted in UNICEF formally recommending that 10% of education aid should be allocated to pre-primary education. Last year 147 United Nations member states signed a declaration agreeing to the target.

According to the new report鈥檚 findings, aid spending is falling far short of this goal and any progress towards the target ground to a halt following the COVID-19 outbreak. 探花直播most recent figures, from 2021, indicate that the proportion of education aid spent on pre-primary education internationally during the pandemic dropped by approximately (US)$19.7 million: from 1.2% to 1.1%.

探花直播report identifies several reasons for the decline, notably spending cuts by the World Bank鈥檚 International Development Association, EU Institutions, and by the governments of wealthy nations, such as the UK.

Professor Pauline Rose, Director of the Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre at the 探花直播 of Cambridge鈥檚 Faculty of Education said: 鈥淗undreds of millions of children around the world are missing out on high-quality pre-primary education despite clear evidence that prioritising this will improve their life chances. 探花直播overall trend is very worrying.鈥�

鈥淎lthough some progress has been made towards the 10% target, it started from a very low base. Other education levels are still being prioritised amid a general decline in aid spending. International commitments to pre-primary education are good, but we need concrete action.鈥�

探花直播United Nations鈥� 2030 Sustainable Development Goals include the ambition to provide all children with proper childcare and pre-primary education. Over the past seven years, Theirworld and the REAL Centre have systematically monitored aid spending, tracking progress towards this goal.

探花直播new report was compiled using the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development鈥檚 creditor report system, which gathers information about the aid contributions of both individual countries and international agencies such as UNICEF and the World Bank.

It shows that over the past two decades, the proportion of education aid spending that goes to pre-primary education has never exceeded 1.2%. Between 2020 and 2021, spending on the sector dropped from $209 million to $189.3 million: a decrease of 9.4%, compared with a 6.9% fall in education aid overall and a 0.9% decline in total aid spending. In 2021, aid spending on post-secondary education 鈥� the vast majority of which never leaves donor countries 鈥� was 27 times higher than that spent on pre-primary, despite widespread acknowledgement of the need to invest in the early years.

探花直播report nevertheless also shows that the 10% target is attainable. UNICEF, which has consistently prioritised pre-primary education, spent 30% of its education aid budget on the sector in 2021. Italy increased spending from $2.6 million to $38 million. 探花直播majority of this was allocated to the 鈥楴ational Strategy on Human Resource Development鈥� which focuses on supporting the Jordanian government in strengthening its education system. 聽

探花直播research shows that pre-primary aid is highly concentrated from a few donors, leaving early childhood development in poorer countries particularly vulnerable to sudden fluctuations in those donors鈥� spending.

Much of the pandemic-induced drop in spending, for instance, occurred because the World Bank cut its investment in pre-primary education from $122.8 million to $70.7 million. Other donors, such as Canada, EU Institutions, France, Norway and the UK, also reduced spending in this area. In 2021, eight of the top 35 education donors allocated no funds to pre-primary education at all.

探花直播UK鈥檚 contribution was lacklustre for the world鈥檚 sixth largest economy, due in part to the Government鈥檚 controversial decision to reduce overall aid spending from the UN-recommend target of 0.7% of Gross National Income to 0.5%. Between 2020 and 2021, its education aid spending dropped from $703.67 million to $584.95 million. Aid to pre-primary was particularly badly hit, falling from an already low $5.6 million in 2020 to just $1.8 million in 2021, equivalent to a mere 0.3% of its reduced education aid budget.

探花直播report also shows that pre-primary education spending tends to be focused on lower-middle income countries rather than the very poorest nations. In 2021, just 15% of aid in this area went to countries classified as 鈥渓ow income鈥�, while 52.7% was allocated to lower-middle income countries.

As a result, some of the world鈥檚 least-advantaged children have little prospect of receiving pre-primary support. Eritrea and Sudan, for example, received no pre-primary education aid in 2021. In many other poorer countries 鈥� such as the Central African Republic, Chad, Niger and Syria 鈥� the amount of aid per primary school-aged child was less than $5.

Rose said the finding pointed to the need for a model of 鈥減rogressive universalism鈥�, where those most in need receive a greater proportion of aid spending. 鈥� 探花直播biggest gaps are in the poorest countries, and particularly among the very poorest and least advantaged,鈥� she said. 鈥淚ncreasing spending on pre-primary alone will not be enough. We also have to make sure those in greatest need are prioritised.鈥�

探花直播full report will be available on the Theirworld website.

New research shows proportion of international education aid for early childhood learning fell to just 1.1% post-pandemic, far short of an agreed 10% target.

探花直播biggest gaps are in the poorest countries, and particularly among the very poorest and least advantaged

Pauline Rose

Ahmed Akacha

Children in Idlib Governorate, Syria: one of the countries most seriously affected by the underfunding of pre-primary education

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright 漏探花直播 of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified.聽 All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways 鈥� as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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COVID has 'ruptured' social skills of the world鈥檚 poorest children, study suggests

tdk25 — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 08:41:35 +0000

School closures during the COVID-19 pandemic have 鈥渟everely ruptured鈥� the social and emotional development of some of the world鈥檚 poorest children, as well as their academic progress, new evidence shows.

In a study of over 2,000 primary school pupils in Ethiopia, researchers found that key aspects of children鈥檚 social and emotional development, such as their ability to make friends, not only stalled during the school closures, but probably deteriorated.

Children who, prior to the pandemic, felt confident talking to others or got on well with peers were less likely to do so by 2021. Those who were already disadvantaged educationally 鈥� girls, the very poorest, and those from rural areas 鈥� seem to have been particularly badly affected.

Both this research and a second, linked study of around 6,000 grade 1 and 4 primary school children, also found evidence of slowed academic progress. Children lost the equivalent of at least one third of an academic year in learning during lockdown 鈥� an estimate researchers describe as 鈥渃onservative鈥�. This appears to have widened an already significant attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and the rest, and there is some evidence that this may be linked to the drop in social skills.

Both studies were by academics from the 探花直播 of Cambridge, UK and Addis Ababa 探花直播, Ethiopia.

Professor Pauline Rose, Director of the Research in Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre at the Faculty of Education, 探花直播 of Cambridge, said: 鈥淐OVID is having a long-term impact on children everywhere, but especially in lower-income countries. Education aid and government funding must focus on supporting both the academic and socio-emotional recovery of the most disadvantaged children first.鈥�

Professor Tassew Woldehanna, President of Addis Ababa 探花直播, said: 鈥淭hese 聽severe ruptures to children鈥檚 developmental and learning trajectories underline how much we need to think about the impact on social, and not just academic skills. Catch-up education must address the two together.鈥�

Both studies used data from the Research on Improving Systems of Education (RISE) programme in Ethiopia to compare primary education before the pandemic, in the academic year 2018/19, with the situation in 2020/21.

In the first study, researchers compared the numeracy test scores of 2,700 Grade 4 pupils in June 2019 with their scores shortly after they returned to school, in January 2021. They also measured dropout rates. In addition, pupils completed the Children鈥檚 Self Report Social Skills scale, which asked how much they agreed or disagreed with statements such as 鈥淚 feel confident talking to others鈥�, 鈥淚 make friends easily鈥�, and 鈥淚f I hurt someone, I say sorry鈥�.

探花直播second study measured relative progress during the pandemic using the numeracy scores of two separate cohorts of Grade 1 and Grade 4 pupils. 探花直播first of these cohorts was from the pre-pandemic year; the other from 2020/21.

探花直播results suggest pupils made some academic progress during the closures, but at a slower than expected rate. 探花直播average foundational numeracy score of Grade 1 pupils in 2020/21 was 15 points behind the 2018/19 cohort; by the end of the year that gap had widened to 19 points. Similarly, Grade 4 students started 2020/21 10 points behind their predecessor cohort, and were 12 points adrift by the end. That difference amounted to roughly one third of a year鈥檚 progress. Similar patterns emerged from the study of children鈥檚 numeracy scores before and after the closures.

Poorer children, and those from rural backgrounds, consistently performed worse academically. Dropout rates revealed similar issues: of the 2,700 children assessed in 2019 and 2021, more than one in 10 (11.3%) dropped out of school during the closures. These were disproportionately girls, or lower-achieving pupils, who tended to be from less wealthy or rural families.

All pupils鈥� social skills declined during the closure period, regardless of gender or location. Fewer children agreed in 2021 with statements such as 鈥淥ther people like me鈥� or 鈥淚 make friends easily鈥�. 探花直播decline in positive responses differed by demographic, and was sharpest among those from rural settings. This may be because children from remote parts of the country experienced greater isolation during lockdown.

探花直播most striking evidence of a rupture in socio-emotional development was the lack of a predictive association between the 2019 and 2021 results. Pupils who felt confident talking to others before the pandemic, for example, had often changed their minds two years later.

Researchers suggest that the negative impact on social and emotional development may be linked to the slowdown in academic attainment. Children who did better academically in 2021 tended to report stronger social skills. This association is not necessarily causal, but there is evidence that academic attainment improves children鈥檚 self-confidence and esteem, and that prosocial behaviours positively influence academic outcomes. It is therefore possible that during the school closures this potential reinforcement was reversed.

Both reports echo previous research which suggests that lower-income countries such as Ethiopia need to invest in targeted programmes for girls, those from rural backgrounds, and the very poorest, if they are to prevent these children from being left behind. Alongside in-school catch-up programmes, action may be required to support those who are out of school. Ghana鈥檚 successful Complementary Basic Education initiative provides one model.

In addition, the researchers urge education policy actors to integrate support for 聽social skills into both catch-up education and planning for future closures. 鈥淪ocial and emotional skills should be an explicit goal of the curriculum and other guidance,鈥� Rose said. 鈥淪chools may also want to think about after-school clubs, safe spaces for girls, and ensuring that primary-age children stay with the same group of friends during the day. Initiatives like these will go some way towards rebuilding the prosocial skills the pandemic has eroded.鈥�

Ruptured School Trajectories is published in the journal, Longitudinal and Life Course Studies. Learning Losses during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Ethiopia, is available on the REAL Centre website.

Two interlinked studies, involving 8,000 primary pupils altogether, indicate children lost at least a third of a year in learning during lockdown.

Education aid and government funding must focus on supporting both the academic and socio-emotional recovery of the most disadvantaged children first

Pauline Rose

Mustafacevcek via Pixabay

Young children in Ethiopia

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright 漏探花直播 of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified.聽 All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways 鈥� as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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In Ethiopia, schools still lack basic means to contain COVID-19, as pupils return after months of interrupted learning

tdk25 — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 11:24:41 +0000

探花直播two new research and policy reports, compiled by academics at the 探花直播 of Cambridge in collaboration with partners in Ethiopia, draw attention to the combined educational and practical challenges facing the country鈥檚 schools as pupils return. 探花直播authors suggest that these converging problems, while more severe than those affecting schools in wealthy countries such as the UK, are typical of those confronting millions of parents and teachers across sub-Saharan Africa as the pandemic continues to exact a far less-visible toll on their lives and communities.

探花直播findings are based on telephone interviews with more than 900 teachers and caregivers which were carried out in August. Schools in Ethiopia are currently reopening on a staggered basis for the first time since March, with priority given to schools in rural areas. Since the study was completed, many of the issues it documents will have been compounded by the crisis in Tigray.

Overall, the researchers found that, despite significant efforts by the Ethiopian government to support remote learning, many pupils are likely to have had little or no education during the closure period. Disadvantaged groups 鈥� such as poorer children, those in remote areas, and girls 鈥� are likely to need specific attention having missed out the most.

But while it is therefore vital that schools reopen, the reports also highlight the huge challenges of making schools COVID-safe at a time when access to a vaccine is still, in all likelihood, months away for many teachers and pupils. They point to cases where schools lack soap and running water, for example, and to concerns about the practicalities of social-distancing in overcrowded classrooms.

探花直播surveys were undertaken by members of the Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre at the Faculty of Education, 探花直播 of Cambridge, in partnership with colleagues at Addis Ababa 探花直播 and the Ethiopian Policy Studies Institute, as part of the RISE Ethiopia and Early Learning Partnership projects.

School closures are widely understood to have deepened a long-term 鈥榣earning crisis鈥� in low- and middle-income countries in which many of the least-advantaged children already struggle to attain basic levels of literacy and numeracy. Professor Pauline Rose, Director of the REAL Centre, said: 鈥淭hese reports describe the situation in Ethiopia, but highlight interlocking problems that apply much more widely.鈥�

鈥淚n many parts of the world, COVID-19 has not just made it harder to keep children learning: it also makes it harder to keep them in school. There are multiple constraints affecting low- and middle-income countries which mean that the very poorest and most marginalised children are even greater risk of dropping out of the system altogether than they already were.鈥�

Professor Tassew Woldehanna, President at Addis Ababa 探花直播, said: 鈥淲ith schools reopening it is essential that policy-makers have access to the sort of clear, robust evidence presented here. It is critical to targeting those pupils who need the most support, and limiting the effects of lost learning for millions of children.鈥�

探花直播team interviewed 443 primary school teachers and principals and 480 parents and caregivers. They also co-ordinated with surveys by the Oxford-based Young Lives programme, who spoke to a further 64 principals.

Their results show that while many teachers have been quick to adapt to remote teaching and learning, students鈥� access to education has clearly been uneven. In some rural regions, for example, none of the teachers interviewed had internet access and only around half of households had electricity. 探花直播researchers estimate that around two-thirds of the teachers they surveyed had reached fewer than half of their students during the closures.

探花直播uneven provision that this implies is likely to have affected disadvantaged groups, such as poorer children, those in rural areas, and girls (whose education is often considered lower-priority than that of boys), most severely. Many teachers fear that, because these groups鈥� parents often have low literacy, low regard for education, and recruit their children to support the generation of family income; such children are especially at risk of dropping out of school, or of never returning.

探花直播research also draws attention to COVID-19鈥檚 impact on pre-primary education in Ethiopia: a sector which has been neglected by many governments during the pandemic. Only 53% of parents or caregivers with young children had been able to engage in learning activities with pre-primary children during school closures. Just 10% reported any contact with pre-primary teachers.

At the same time, however, the reports highlight significant infrastructure and resource challenges within schools themselves. 38% of parents said that their children鈥檚 schools were only 鈥榮omewhat equipped鈥� with handwashing facilities; 22% said that they were 鈥榥ot equipped at all鈥�. About 15% said that they did not have facemasks for their children to wear at school, and 46% could not provide their children with hand sanitiser. A majority of teachers and principals, especially those in rural areas, expressed similar concerns about both hygiene, and a lack of adequate classroom space to maintain social distancing.

探花直播researchers stress that despite the efforts made by the government so far, ongoing interventions will therefore be needed to help all children benefit as schools reopen. Their main recommendations are:

A targeted, national campaign by government, school management committees and local authorities to keep children in school.
Extra support (and, if viable, time in school) for students who need to recover lost learning.
探花直播construction of new classrooms or sheltered areas where possible, as well as the targeted supply of extra hygiene resources such as sanitisers, facemasks and handwashing facilities to those most in need.
Additional investment in resources and strategies to support remote learning, particularly in the context of further possible outbreaks in schools before the effective delivery of a vaccine.

Both reports are available from the REAL Centre website.

Many schools in Ethiopia lack the hygiene facilities and infrastructure to control COVID-19 effectively, as they reopen for the first time after months of disrupted learning, new research indicates.

COVID-19 has not just made it harder to keep children learning: it also makes it harder to keep them in school

Pauline Rose

UNICEF Ethiopia

An empty classroom in Haro Huba school, in Oromia region, central Ethiopia.

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鈥楽pill-over鈥� effects show hidden value of prioritising education of poorest children and marginalised girls

tdk25 — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 10:11:00 +0000

探花直播newly-reported study, by academics at the 探花直播 of Cambridge, is one of the first to measure the complete value that interventions targeting poor and marginalised children also have for many of their peers, principally through 鈥榮pill-over鈥� effects which improve the wider education system.

探花直播team tested their model by analysing a programme by CAMFED (the Campaign for Female Education) in Tanzania, which supports the education of disadvantaged girls. They took into account its impact not just on those girls, but on other children at schools where their programme operates. Strikingly, for every $100 spent per girl, per year, the programme resulted in learning gains equivalent to an additional two years of education for all girls and boys at those schools.

探花直播study was carried out by members of the Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL) Centre at the Faculty of Education, 探花直播 of Cambridge.

Professor Ricardo Sabates, the co-lead researcher, said: 鈥淗elping the most marginalised children inevitably costs more, and most cost-effectiveness measures only consider that expense against the impact on those specific pupils. But programmes like CAMFED鈥檚 also have spill-over benefits and critically are keeping girls in school who would otherwise have dropped out. We can, and should, factor in those considerations when assessing cost-effectiveness.鈥�

Professor Pauline Rose, Director of the REAL Centre, added: 鈥淲hile it may cost more to reach the most marginalised pupils, the impact of those efforts is far more impressive than we tend to imagine. This research explains why system reforms should focus on those who need the most support. Education systems that function for the most marginalised children function for everyone.鈥�

CAMFED is a non-governmental organisation which improves the education of marginalised girls in Africa and was recently awarded the 2020 Yidan Prize for Education Development. In Tanzania, its bursaries enable thousands of girls to attend secondary school, in tandem with interventions aimed at improving participation and learning among all children in partner schools.

Because most cost-effectiveness analyses only measure the impact of a programme on its direct beneficiaries (in this case marginalised girls), interventions such as CAMFED鈥檚 often seem to have limited reach while at the same time appearing more expensive than those targeting a broader demographic. 探花直播Cambridge study examined how best to measure the wider impact of CAMFED鈥檚 work in Tanzania, and then used this to refine the cost-effectiveness analysis.

探花直播researchers analysed data from CAMFED鈥檚 programme over two years. To calculate per-head costs, they distinguished between the different components of the intervention and their assorted beneficiaries. For example, the cost of bursaries was divided by the number of marginalised girls who received them, but the cost of delivering extra-curricular courses in CAMFED-supported schools was divided by the number of all participating students. This provided a basis for identifying average annual unit costs for individual categories of beneficiaries.

Impact was calculated by comparing the English test scores of children from 81 randomly-selected CAMFED-supported schools with children from 60 control schools that received no support. Scores were collected at the start and end of the two years, and the team used data about the children鈥檚 socio-economic background to make direct comparisons between pupils from similar settings.

They also compared the dropout rates at both groups of schools, and used this to weight the final cost-effectiveness analysis. This reflected the fact that CAMFED鈥檚 programme not only improves learning, but also supports girls who might otherwise have dropped out of school, or never attended at all.

探花直播cost of the programme, when only the most marginalised girls targeted by the bursaries were considered, was apparently steep: at $130.41 per year for each girl receiving financial support. However, the researchers also found that the per-head cost for other boys and girls at the same schools was just $15.40, demonstrating far greater value for money overall. 探花直播additional cost of the bursaries was also found to be vital for enabling the most disadvantaged girls to stay in school.

Pupils attending CAMFED-supported schools made significant academic improvements compared with their peers. 探花直播improvement in English test scores among girls receiving financial support was about 35% better than comparable girls in the control group. But other girls also performed similarly, while the boys did about 25% better. Girls who received financial support were 25% less likely to drop out of school than those in the control group.

探花直播researchers then calculated the learning gains of pupils on the CAMFED programme per unit cost. When this measure was converted into equivalent years of learning, they found that for every $100 spent on each of the marginalised girls targeted, English learning outcomes improved by the equivalent of an extra 1.45 years of schooling for all pupils. When the increased proportion of marginalised girls remaining in school was factored in, the improvement in both access and learning for all girls and boys across the CAMFED schools was actually equivalent to an additional two years of schooling per $100.

While it is difficult to compare these results with other programmes, the study suggests that the cost-effectiveness of CAMFED鈥檚 work in Tanzania is at least commensurate with similar interventions in sub-Saharan Africa that do not target marginalised groups. But the findings may also be conservative. For example, CAMFED鈥檚 programme may also have further benefits outside the school system, for example among the siblings and communities of the young women it supports.

鈥淓ven though we probably underestimated its impact, this intervention is still extremely cost-effective,鈥� Sabates added. 鈥淚t shows real improvements in learning are best enabled when we invest in the children at greatest risk of being left behind.鈥�

探花直播research is published in the Journal of Development Effectiveness.

Development projects that target the education of the world鈥檚 very poorest聽girls also significantly improve other young people鈥檚 attainment, according to new research that suggests such initiatives should become a priority for international aid.

Real improvements in learning are best enabled when we invest in the children at greatest risk of being left behind

Ricardo Sabates

CAMFED/Eliza Powell

Sophia (right), a CAMFED Learner Guide, with secondary student Hanipha, who she supports at school in Morogoro, Tanzania

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Target 鈥榖est connected neighbours鈥� to stop spread of infection in developing countries

fpjl2 — Mon, 24 Jul 2017 19:04:04 +0000

Our lives benefit from social networks: the contact and dialogue between family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. However these networks can also cost lives by transmitting infection or misinformation, particularly in developing nations.

In fact, when there is an outbreak of disease, or of damaging rumour that hinders uptake of vaccination, the network through which it spreads needs to be broken up 鈥� and fast.

But who are the people with most connections 鈥� the 鈥榟ubs鈥� in any social network 鈥� that should be targeted with inoculating drugs or health education in order to quickly isolate a contagion?

Information about social networks in rural villages in the developing world is costly and time-consuming to collect, and usually unavailable. So current immunisation strategies target people with established community roles: healthcare workers, teachers, and local officials.

Now, Cambridge researchers have for the first time combined networking theories with 鈥榬eal world鈥� data collected from thousands of rural Ugandan households, and shown that a simple algorithm may be significantly more effective at finding the highly connected 鈥榟ubs鈥� to target for halting disease spread.聽

探花直播鈥榓cquaintance algorithm鈥� employed by researchers is remarkably simple: select village households at random and ask who in their network is most trusted for medical advice.

Researchers were surprised to find that the most influential people in social networks were very often not those with obvious positions in a community. As such, these valuable 鈥榟ubs鈥� are invisible to drug administration programmes without the algorithmic approach.

鈥淓veryone is a node in a social network. Most nodes have just a few connections. However, a small number of nodes have the majority of connections. These are the hubs we want to uncover and target in order to intentionally cause failure in social networks spreading pathogens or damaging behaviour,鈥� says lead researcher Dr Goylette Chami, from Cambridge鈥檚 Department of Pathology.

鈥淚t was striking to find that important village positions may be best left untargeted for interventions seeking to stop the spread of pathogens through a rural social network,鈥� says Chami.聽聽聽

In the study, published today in the journal PNAS, the researchers write that this simple strategy could be particularly effective for isolating households that refuse to take medicine, so that they don鈥檛 endanger the rest of a community with infection.聽

To control disease caused by parasitic worm infections, for example, at least three quarters of any given community need to be treated. 鈥� 探花直播refusal of treatment by a few people can result in the destabilisation of mass drug administration programmes that aim to treat 1.9 billion people worldwide,鈥� says Chami.

An average of just 32% of households (鈥榥odes鈥�) selected by the acquaintance algorithm need to be provided health education (and 鈥榬emoved鈥� from a network) to reach the disease control threshold for an entire community. Using traditional role-based targeting, the average needed is much larger: some 54%.聽聽聽

鈥淲e discovered that acquaintance algorithms outperformed the conventional field-based approaches of targeting well-established community roles for finding individuals with the most connections to sick people, as well as isolating the spread of misinformation,鈥� says Chami

鈥淚mportantly, this simple strategy doesn鈥檛 require any information on who holds which role and how to reach them. No database is needed. As such, it is easy to deploy in rural, low-income settings.鈥澛�

鈥淚n an ideal world, everyone would be treated,鈥� says Chami. 鈥淗owever, with limited resources, time and information, finding the best connected neighbours, the 鈥榟ubs鈥�, and removing them through treatment, looks to be the quickest way to fragment a network that spreads infections, and to render the most people safe.鈥澛犅�

Chami and colleagues from Cambridge and the Ugandan Ministry of Health collected data on social and health advice networks from over 16,000 people in 17 villages across rural Uganda. They also collected data on networks of disease using reports of diarrhoea as a proxy for infection spread 鈥� particularly relevant to recent large-scale cholera outbreaks.

To do this, Chami built a survey app from open source code and loaded it on to 76 Google nexus tablets. 探花直播team then trained a number of individuals from the local villages to help them go door to door.

Adds Chami: 鈥淭his kind of 鈥榥etwork theory鈥� approach to public health in the developing world, and the use of acquaintance algorithms, if tested in randomised controlled trials, may increase compliance to treatments and inform strategies for the distribution of vaccines.鈥� 聽聽

An innovative new study takes a network theory approach to targeted treatment in rural Africa, and finds that a simple algorithm may be more effective than current policies, as well as easier to deploy, when it comes to preventing disease spread 鈥� by finding those with 鈥渕ost connections to sick people鈥�. 聽

Finding the best connected neighbours, the 鈥榟ubs鈥�, and removing them through treatment, looks to be the quickest way to fragment a network that spreads infections

Goylette Chami

A fishing village along Lake Victoria in the Mayuge District of Uganda, close to where researchers gathered data for the latest study.

探花直播text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

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探花直播real corporate tax scandal

sc604 — Mon, 23 Mar 2015 08:00:00 +0000

In the midst of last month鈥檚 investigation by the UK Commons鈥� Public Accounts Committee into PriceWaterhouseCoopers, the committee chair Margaret Hodge concluded there was 鈥減romotion of tax avoidance on an industrial scale鈥�. While the company was not accused of breaking any laws, and while PwC maintain that they operated within the laws of individual jurisdictions, there was a general acceptance that the complexities of the tax system leave it open to confusion to say the least.

What is certain is that Western governments have come out fighting on the subject. In the recently declared war on corporate tax evasion in Europe and North America, US technology companies have taken a particular beating. First President Obama called them 鈥渄eserters鈥� for changing the country in which they are officially domiciled in order to cut their tax bill. Then the European Commission decided to investigate Apple for its tax arrangements in Ireland, suggesting that these may constitute 鈥渋llegal state aid鈥�.

In the UK, as in other rich countries, politicians have come to realise that being seen to be tough on corporate tax avoidance is a vote winner. At last year鈥檚 Conservative Party conference in Birmingham, Chancellor George Osborne sharply criticised multinational technology companies for going to 鈥渆xtraordinary lengths鈥� to avoid paying tax. Adopting an almost Churchillian tone, he went as far as to say: 鈥淚f you [corporations] abuse our tax system, you abuse the trust of the British people.鈥�

New legislation 鈥� dubbed the 鈥淕oogle Tax鈥� 鈥� was promised to ensure that revenue earned in Britain would be subject to UK corporation tax rather than transferred abroad to be taxed at lower rates.

Double standards?

These developments are not before time and surely to be welcomed. And yet there is another corporate tax scandal that is significantly more pernicious than tax evasion by US technology companies in Britain 鈥� tax evasion through the use of tax havens by multinational companies, including British ones, in the poorest countries in the world.

探花直播scale of the problem is massive. According to a report made available by the OECD, developing countries 鈥渁re losing to tax havens almost three times what they get from developed countries in aid鈥�. A recent study by ActionAid suggested that almost half of corporate investment by large companies is routed to or through a tax haven (disconcertingly, the UK was found to be 鈥渞esponsible for one in five tax havens鈥� identified in the report). Moreover, 98 of the FTSE100 were shown to use tax havens, 78 of which operate in developing countries.

探花直播net result is that the places with the lowest per capita income in the world continue to be deprived of resources they so badly need 鈥� with tens of billions of dollars worth of tax revenue siphoned elsewhere every year.

And yet the voices of social movement activists and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in poor countries do not appear to resonate with UK politicians, while the UK media appears less outraged by tax evasion in poor countries than in rich ones. A cynic might suggest that this is because the citizens of poor countries do not have a stake in British elections or influence the fate of media empires.

Addressing an injustice

It is important to acknowledge that tax evasion in poor countries is not straightforward to address, complicated in many instances by local corruption and poorly functioning institutions. But there is so much more that policy makers in the UK and other Western countries could and should be doing.

UK politicians are justifiably proud of becoming the first 鈥� and to date only 鈥� G8 country to meet the UN target of spending 0.7 per cent of Gross National Income on aid for international development. This was a decision that, interestingly, was not especially popular in political terms. These same politicians who had the courage to make this bold commitment on international aid now need to go further and bring UK multinationals to account by ensuring that they act as global citizens and pay their way in the world.

Such a move would set a powerful example for other governments to follow. It would also be an important first step towards rectifying one of the most outrageous injustices of global capitalism.

Originally published on the Cambridge Judge Business School website.

Western governments have finally begun to pay close attention to tax avoidance by multinational corporations in rich countries. But where, Cambridge Judge Business School鈥檚 Professor Paul Tracey asks, does that leave poor countries, where the effect is arguably much more devastating?

Places with the lowest per capita income in the world continue to be deprived of resources they so badly need

Paul Tracey

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Harnessing the power of research to benefit developing countries

gm349 — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:36:33 +0000

On Thursday 2 May, the CEO of the GAVI Alliance, Dr Seth Berkley, will discuss how to harness the power of research to expedite the development of vaccines appropriate for developing countries and improve access to them.

Dr Berkley鈥檚 talk will set out how the GAVI Alliance鈥檚 public-private partnership model brings together donors, developing countries, industry, civil society and academia to solve the challenges of reaching every child with vaccines no matter where they are born.

GAVI leverages expertise across a variety of sectors, including innovative financing for development, supply chain management, the development of mobile phone platforms for the collection of epidemiological data, mathematical modelling of infectious disease and health economics and policy.

Prior to joining GAVI in 2011, Dr Berkley was the founder, president and CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) for over a decade. His talk, 鈥楬arnessing the power of science research and the public and private sector: a 21st century model for international development鈥�, is the Wellcome Trust-Cambridge Centre for Global Health Research鈥檚 inaugural lecture.

Dr Berkley鈥檚 talk will be followed with a presentation by the world-leading flu expert, Professor Derek Smith, Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Modelling, Evolution and Control of Emerging Infectious Diseases at the 探花直播 of Cambridge. There will be an opportunity for questions and answers after the talks.聽

探花直播evening begins at 5.30pm at the Howard Lecture Theatre, Downing College, Cambridge (map). If you would like to attend, please RSVP: http://wt-cghr-cambridge-gavi-lecture.eventbrite.com/

Professor David Dunne, Director of the Wellcome Trust-Cambridge Centre for Global Health Research and host of the lecture, said: 鈥淏y partnering with globally important organisations such as the GAVI Alliance, Cambridge鈥檚 multi-disciplinary research and technology communities can have a more profound effect on international development, public health, and the lives of people in the developing world.鈥�

鈥淎s an innovative public-private partnership, the GAVI Alliance works to harness the expertise and experience from a range of sectors to help us to improve access to lifesaving vaccines for children in developing countries,鈥� said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI Alliance. 鈥淥ur partners range from WHO and UNICEF to donors 鈥� including the UK government 鈥� implementing countries, vaccine manufacturers, civil society organisations, and academia.聽

鈥淲e have made great progress in the past decade, but the stark reality is that 22 million children born every year around the world don鈥檛 receive the immunisation they need against potentially fatal childhood illnesses.聽 Supply chain management, improving the quality of vaccine coverage data and developing vaccines that remain highly effective outside of cold storage systems are just some of the challenges which, if they can be overcome, would have a huge positive impact on GAVI鈥檚 ability to reach more children.

鈥淐ambridge 探花直播 has an outstanding reputation for academic research, coupled with its commitment to Africa, which makes it an ideal forum to set out the challenges and opportunities in improving access to immunisation in developing countries.鈥澛犅犅�

探花直播GAVI Alliance is a public-private partnership which aims to immunise a quarter of a billion additional children in the developing world with life-saving vaccines by 2015. With GAVI support, countries are now introducing new vaccines against the primary causes of two of the biggest childhood killers in the world: pneumonia and severe diarrhoea. Together these diseases account for 30% of child deaths in low-income countries. It was established in 2000 by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the UK government and others to improve access to immunisation.

探花直播Wellcome Trust-Cambridge Centre for Global Health Research status was awarded to the 探花直播 of Cambridge in February of this year. 探花直播Centre plans to capture and capitalise on the extensive basic biomedical and health-related research capacity across many departments and research institutes in Cambridge. It will make this fully available for research capacity building and knowledge exchange partnerships with African universities and institutes, as a means of improving the health and welfare of those in low- and middle-income countries.

CEO of GAVI Alliance to give Wellcome Trust-Cambridge Centre for Global Health Research inaugural lecture

We have made great progress in the past decade, but the stark reality is that 22 million children born every year around the world don鈥檛 receive the immunisation they need.

Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI Alliance

Harnessing the power of science research and the public and private sector

gavi_2012_olivier_asselin

Vaccinations in Ghana

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New tool in the fight against tropical diseases

gm349 — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 01:01:00 +0000

A novel tool exploits baker鈥檚 yeast to expedite the development of new drugs to fight multiple tropical diseases, including malaria, schistosomiasis, and African sleeping sickness. 探花直播unique screening method uses yeasts which have been genetically engineered to express parasite and human proteins to identify chemical compounds that target disease-causing parasites but do not affect their human hosts.

Parasitic diseases affect millions of people annually, often in the most deprived parts of the world. Every year, malaria alone infects over 200 million people, killing an estimated 655,000 individuals, mostly under the age of five. Unfortunately, our ability to treat malaria, which is caused by Plasmodium parasites, has been compromised by the emergence of parasites that are resistant to the most commonly used drugs. There is also a pressing need for new treatments targeting other parasitic diseases, which have historically been neglected.

Currently, drug-screening methods for these diseases use live, whole parasites. However, this method has several limitations. First, it may be extremely difficult or impossible to grow the parasite, or at least one of its life cycle stages, outside of an animal host. (For example, the parasite Plasmodium vivax, responsible for the majority of cases of malaria in South America and South-East Asia, cannot be continuously cultivated in laboratory conditions.) Second, the current methods give no insight into how the compound interacts with the parasite or the toxicity of the compound to humans.

In an effort to develop new drugs to fight parasitic diseases, scientists from the 探花直播 of Cambridge have collaborated with computer scientists at Manchester 探花直播 to create a cheaper and more efficient anti-parasitic drug-screening method. 探花直播clever screening method identifies chemical compounds which target the enzymes from parasites but not those from their human hosts, thus enabling the early elimination of compounds with potential side effects.

Professor Steve Oliver, from the Cambridge Systems Biology Centre and Department of Biochemistry at the 探花直播 of Cambridge, said: 鈥淥ur screening method provides a faster and cheaper approach that complements the use of whole parasites for screening. This means that fewer experiments involving the parasites themselves, often in infected animals, need to be carried out.鈥�

探花直播new method uses genetically engineered baker鈥檚 yeast, which either expresses important parasite proteins or their human counterparts. 探花直播different yeast cells are labelled with fluorescent proteins to monitor the growth of the individual yeast strains while they grow in competition with one another. High-throughput is provided by growing three to four different yeast strains together in the presence of each candidate compound. This approach also provides high sensitivity (since drug-sensitive yeasts will lose out to drug-resistant strains in the competition for nutrients), reduces costs, and is highly reproducible.

探花直播scientists can then identify the chemical compounds that inhibit the growth of the yeast strains carrying parasite-drug targets, but fail to inhibit the corresponding human protein (thus excluding compounds that would cause side-effects for humans taking the drugs). 探花直播compounds can then be explored for further development into anti-parasitic drugs.

In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of their screening tool, the scientists tested it on Trypanosoma brucei, the parasite that causes African sleeping sickness. By using the engineered yeasts to screen for chemicals that would be effective against this parasite, they identified potential compounds and tested them on live parasites cultivated in the lab. Of the 36 compounds tested, 60 per cent were able to kill or severely inhibit the growth of the parasites (under standard lab conditions).

Dr Elizabeth Bilsland, the lead author of the paper from the 探花直播 of Cambridge, said: 鈥淭his study is only a beginning. It demonstrates that we can engineer a model organism, yeast, to mimic a disease organism and exploit this technology to perform low-cost, fully-automated drug screens to select and optimise drug candidates as well as identify and validate novel drug targets.鈥�

鈥淚n the future, we hope to engineer entire pathways from pathogens into yeast and also to construct yeast strains that mimic diseased states of human cells.鈥�

探花直播research, which was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), was published today, 27 February, in the journal Open Biology.

Screening method created to expedite the development of new drugs in the fight against tropical diseases such as malaria and African sleeping sickness.

Our screening method provides a faster and cheaper approach that complements the use of whole parasites for screening.

Steve Oliver

Harry J. Moss

Different yeast cells are labelled with fluorescent proteins to monitor the growth of the individual yeast strains

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Yes