Three essays form this thesis which addresses the effectiveness of interventions aimed at attaining two health Millennium Development Goals (MDG) set by the United Nations: a 2/3rds reduction by 2015 of 1990 child mortality rates (MDG4) and 3/4th reduction of 1990 maternal mortality rates by the same date (MDG5). The first chapter assesses the relative efficiency of 85 countries at using these interventions for the reduction of child and maternal mortality. It teases out the extent to which mortality reduction is a result of the interventions themselves as opposed to the context in which they are implemented. A three step procedure which includes Data Envelopment Analysis indicates that efficiency is mainly driven by context. Chapter 2 addresses the association between the 2000-2008 rates of change of interventions and the rate of change of mortality. It uses finite mixture modeling to take account of the possibility that there may be underlying heterogeneity in the mortality reduction functions of the 32 sub-Saharan African countries studied. Results support this hypothesis and show that an intervention may exhibit increasing returns to scale in some countries and decreasing returns to scale in others. Chapter 3 assesses the link between interventions and mortality rates and examines cost minimizing scenarios for attaining MDG4 and MDG5 in 27 sub-Saharan African countries. Lagged data on interventions predicts mortality rates (by OLS) to take into account the potential reverse causality between the two. Results indicate that achieving MDG mortality targets at the least possible cost invariably requires very substantive increases in medical human resources, yet training physicians has not been the main objective of public health organizations. Furthermore, improving the context in which interventions are implemented - increasing female literacy or effectiveness of political stability- allows countries to reach mortality targets with substantially lower levels of interventions (including, much lower levels of physician density).

yes / The ideology of the liberal peace has propelled the political economies of war-torn societies into a scheme of global convergence towards ¿market liberalisation¿. This orthodoxy was an uncontestable assumption underlying external economic assistance. However, the project faltered under its inherent contradictions and because it ignored the socio-economic problems confronting war-torn societies, even aggravating them by increasing the vulnerability of populations to poverty and shadow economic activity. Although revisionists have embarked on a mission to boost the UN¿s peacebuilding capacity and also rescue the Millennium Development Goals, the basic assumptions of the liberal peace are not challenged and potential alternatives are overlooked.

No / This paper examines the scope for a rights-based perspective on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by focusing on right to water. The paper adapts Hohfeldian framework of elements of a right developed by Wenar. According to this, a right should be interpreted in terms of powers, privileges, claims and immunities. This framework highlights the inter-connections between various aspects of governance and the effectiveness of a right to water. The conjecture whether the poor are more likely to have access to water when there is a right to water is examined with data (from WHO-UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme) pertaining to a small sample of countries where a right to water has been promulgated and some others where such right has not been promulgated. The impact of governance on improving access to water is examined using indicators from Governance Matters V (Kaufman et al., 2006). This analysis suggests that mechanisms of governance may be more important in improving access to water than a formal articulation of a right to water. Some challenges to operationalising a right to water are discussed.

Five years from the end of the 15-year span of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) it is already plain that progress has been patchy and that the larger goals will not be met. The scale and profile of the MDGs will make them subject to eventual success or failure judgments and 'lessons learned' analyses, but the evidence of the past decade and current trajectories are sufficient to reveal our conceptual and operational shortcomings and the kinds of reorientation needed to ensure that the last five years of the MDGs will exhibit positive momentum rather than winding-down inertia. Such reorientations would include prioritising actors over systems; disaggregated targets over global benchmarks; qualitative aspects of complex forms of human relatedness over technical 'solutions'; and the painstaking work of developing country enablement over quick outcome indicators, not least for the purpose of sustainability. Thinking and planning beyond 2015 must be made integral to the last five years of the MDGs, for normative as well as practical reasons.

Thesis (MBA)--Stellenbosch University, 2010. / The Millennium Development Goals were commissioned by the United Nations in 2002 under the auspices of the Millennium Project with the aim of addressing development challenges faced by countries around the world in the areas of health, education, infrastructure, hunger and poverty via a series of time-related targets with a deadline for full achievement by 2015. Energy has typically been shown to be significantly correlated with the Human Development Index for a given country. In a similar manner, it is postulated that the various millennium development goal indicators are significantly correlated with total energy and electricity consumption per capita for a given nation. This study commences with a literature review of the origins and objectives of the Millennium Development Goals, followed by a review of the individual goals, targets and indicators. Some current literature regarding the intent and success to date of the Millennium Development Goals was reviewed to provide context. The link between the social and economic development of man, and access to and usage of energy was also explored. To understand the potential role that energy access and usage plays in economic and social development better, a systems thinking approach was adopted and related to how energy access and usage can impact on the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. Potential problem co-factors relating to economic, social and sustainable development were identified, following which a system dynamic model is presented, illustrating the interaction between the various co-factors and access to energy and its use. Finally, a quantitative evaluation was performed to determine whether energy usage indicators do exhibit a relationship with the indicators of the Millennium Development Goals as proposed. This is illustrated for goals one through six. Where relationships were visible, empirical models were fitted to the energy and millennium development goal indicator datasets, and the coefficient of determination, which represents the strength of the relationship, was calculated. For each of the millennium development goal and targets, the models which exhibited the strongest relationships were used to assess what change in energy or electricity consumption would be required to accompany the desired change to meet the targets outlined in the Millennium Development Goals. / Sasol

INTRODUÇÃO: Promulgadas em 2000 as Metas de Desenvolvimento do Milênio destacam-se internacionalmente como importante política de cooperação para o desenvolvimento. Resultado do empenho da Organização das Nações Unidas caracteriza-se como uma tentativa de diminuir as disparidades sociais e econômicas no início do século XXI. Constituída por oito Metas, com prazo final para cumprimento em 2015. O objetivo 8.E da oitava Meta é definido como a cooperação com a indústria farmacêutica e visa, proporcionar o acesso a medicamentos essenciais com preços acessíveis nos países em desenvolvimento. OBJETIVOS: descreveu-se por meio das recomendações dos Relatórios da ONU o progresso do Objetivo 8.E e as políticas públicas de saúde no Brasil, Cuba e México. METODOLOGIA O estudo caracterizou-se por um estudo de caso descritivo e exploratório realizado por meio do estudo das recomendações governamentais estabelecidas nos relatórios da ONU relativos ao Objetivo 8.E, no período de 2000 a 2012, de documentos oficiais dos três países estudados e de revisão de literatura sobre o assunto. RESULTADOS: verificou-se que as propostas estabelecidas nos Relatórios da ONU para garantia do acesso a medicamentos apresentaram-se como políticas públicas nacionais executadas por meio dos sistemas de saúde dos três países estudados antes da promulgação das Metas do Milênio. CONSIDERAÇÕES FINAIS: em âmbito internacional As Metas do Milênio apresentam importância na cooperação para o desenvolvimento internacional observou-se, contudo, que os sistemas de saúde, existentes nos países estudados, apresentaram papel fundamental na política de acesso a medicamentos essenciais e, decorrentemente, no cumprimento das recomendações estabelecidas para os Estados-membros do Objetivo 8.E de forma independente do financiamento e estratégias de cooperação internacional / INTRODUCTION : Enacted in 2000, the Millennium Development Goals stand out internationally as an important development cooperation policy . Resulting of the commitment of the United Nations they are characterized as an attempt to reduce social and economic disparities in the XXI century . Composed of eight goals , with deadline for compliance in 2015 . The Target 8.E of the eighth Goal is defined as in cooperation with the pharmaceutical industry to provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries . OBJECTIVES : describe by means of the recommendations of the UN reports progress on the Target 8.E and public health policies in Brazil , Cuba and Mexico. METHODOLOGY The study was characterized by a descriptive case study and exploratory study conducted by the governmental recommendations set out in the UN reports relating to Target 8.E in the period from 2000 to 2012 , the official documents of the three countries studied and literature review on the subject . RESULTS : we found that the proposals set out in UN reports for ensuring access to medicines presented as national public policies were implemented by health systems of the three countries studied prior to the enactment of the Millennium Goals . CONCLUSION : internationally, the Millennium Goals have importance in development cooperation, however was noted that the health systems in the countries studied , displayed major role in access to essential medicines and so forth in compliance with the recommendations established for the Member States of the Objective 8.E independently of international financing and international cooperation strategies

INTRODUÇÃO: Promulgadas em 2000 as Metas de Desenvolvimento do Milênio destacam-se internacionalmente como importante política de cooperação para o desenvolvimento. Resultado do empenho da Organização das Nações Unidas caracteriza-se como uma tentativa de diminuir as disparidades sociais e econômicas no início do século XXI. Constituída por oito Metas, com prazo final para cumprimento em 2015. O objetivo 8.E da oitava Meta é definido como a cooperação com a indústria farmacêutica e visa, proporcionar o acesso a medicamentos essenciais com preços acessíveis nos países em desenvolvimento. OBJETIVOS: descreveu-se por meio das recomendações dos Relatórios da ONU o progresso do Objetivo 8.E e as políticas públicas de saúde no Brasil, Cuba e México. METODOLOGIA O estudo caracterizou-se por um estudo de caso descritivo e exploratório realizado por meio do estudo das recomendações governamentais estabelecidas nos relatórios da ONU relativos ao Objetivo 8.E, no período de 2000 a 2012, de documentos oficiais dos três países estudados e de revisão de literatura sobre o assunto. RESULTADOS: verificou-se que as propostas estabelecidas nos Relatórios da ONU para garantia do acesso a medicamentos apresentaram-se como políticas públicas nacionais executadas por meio dos sistemas de saúde dos três países estudados antes da promulgação das Metas do Milênio. CONSIDERAÇÕES FINAIS: em âmbito internacional As Metas do Milênio apresentam importância na cooperação para o desenvolvimento internacional observou-se, contudo, que os sistemas de saúde, existentes nos países estudados, apresentaram papel fundamental na política de acesso a medicamentos essenciais e, decorrentemente, no cumprimento das recomendações estabelecidas para os Estados-membros do Objetivo 8.E de forma independente do financiamento e estratégias de cooperação internacional / INTRODUCTION : Enacted in 2000, the Millennium Development Goals stand out internationally as an important development cooperation policy . Resulting of the commitment of the United Nations they are characterized as an attempt to reduce social and economic disparities in the XXI century . Composed of eight goals , with deadline for compliance in 2015 . The Target 8.E of the eighth Goal is defined as in cooperation with the pharmaceutical industry to provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries . OBJECTIVES : describe by means of the recommendations of the UN reports progress on the Target 8.E and public health policies in Brazil , Cuba and Mexico. METHODOLOGY The study was characterized by a descriptive case study and exploratory study conducted by the governmental recommendations set out in the UN reports relating to Target 8.E in the period from 2000 to 2012 , the official documents of the three countries studied and literature review on the subject . RESULTS : we found that the proposals set out in UN reports for ensuring access to medicines presented as national public policies were implemented by health systems of the three countries studied prior to the enactment of the Millennium Goals . CONCLUSION : internationally, the Millennium Goals have importance in development cooperation, however was noted that the health systems in the countries studied , displayed major role in access to essential medicines and so forth in compliance with the recommendations established for the Member States of the Objective 8.E independently of international financing and international cooperation strategies

The shea tree is indigenous to 21 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and provides nuts from which oil (referred to as butter) can be extracted. Shea butter production in the Northern Region of Ghana is of socioeconomic importance to female processors who practice shea production. This study quantified the environmental effects of shea processing from carbon dioxide emissions and the human energy expended through the traditional, improved, and centralized methods of shea processing. Par-boiling accounted for up to 88% of total carbon dioxide emissions throughout the entire shea butter production process. A difference of 2.5(CO2 (kg))/(Shea butter (kg)) emitted observed between the traditional and centralized processing methods. The moisture content of 16 firewood samples collected at the centralized processing center found wood moisture to range between 9-34%. The largest amounts of human energy expended during traditional and improved processes take place during the nut collection process followed by manual crushing (40% and 20% of total energy expended during the traditional method, respectively). Women in the study area were found to travel an average of 10 km to pay for a corn mill to process their shea kernels into a paste, producers also expressed interest in mechanized crushing machines during household surveys. User perceptions of the improved roasting equipment were found to be positive, as well as adoption of the new technology was observed by all shea producers surveyed in the village of Tigla. The entirety of individual producers surveyed without access to improved roasters expressed interest in obtaining and utilizing improved roasters to improve the traditional method currently practiced. The profit observed from shea kernel processing and sales was found to be higher than women practicing traditional shea butter processing and sales due to time, energy, and inputs required by completing the entire process. Butter producers at centralized processing centers have the opportunity to make up to 33% higher profits while utilizing less energy (54% reduction) by purchasing directly from kernel producers and implementing improved technologies in a centralized setting. The potential of shea production in northern Ghana has yet to be reached. Through adoption of improved technologies, women have the opportunity to save time and human energy, reduce material inputs such as firewood, and in turn are able produce an even greater amount of marketable shea products.

It has been reported that globally we have achieved Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Target 7C, to halve the proportion of the population without access to safe drinking water; however, there is a major flaw with this statement. While Target 7C calls for access to `safe' drinking water, what is actually being measured and reported is access to an `improved' water source. The World Health Organization (WHO) maintains that they must use this proxy measure because the methods for water quality testing are too expensive and logistically complicated, but by doing so, they may be over reporting safe water coverage. This was shown to be true in Tamatave, Madagascar, where thermotolerant coliforms were detected in water from a type of `improved' source, the Pitcher Pump system. This research looked at several parameters - Pitcher Pump system depth, sampling neighborhood, requirement of pump priming, frequency that the system was repaired, distance from on-site sanitation, and number of users - to see if they were influencing water quality. Of all the parameters tested, only priming was found to be significantly associated with the levels of thermotolerant coliforms detected (Fisher exact test p = 0.03). Using a Mann-Whitney U test, it was shown that the median thermotolerant coliform concentration was significantly higher in primed wells (41.3 cfu/100 ml) than unprimed wells (3.5) (p = 0.01 cfu/100 ml). A pilot study was conducted to look at only the effect of depth and to determine if a depth could be identified that could provide safe drinking water. The result of the pilot study showed that, while thermotolerant coliform concentration did decrease with increasing depth, even at the deepest well of 9.4 m, levels were still above 100 cfu/100 ml. Additional research was conducted to investigate the performance and cost of three test kits for both total coliform and Escherichia coli quantification for water quality analysis in developing countries. IDEXX Colilert Quanti-trays[reg] (Colilert), Micrology Laboratories Coliscan[reg] Membrane Filtration tests (Coliscan MF) and a modified method for 3-M PetrifilmTM Coliform/E. coli plates (modified 3-M) were compared with standard membrane filtration (standard MF) methods under a range of incubation temperature conditions (22.0, 35.0 and 44.5[deg]C). Each test method was also performed by inexperienced volunteers, with the results compared to those of an experienced technician. At non-standard temperatures, Coliscan MF proved to be the most accurate when compared to standard methods, with a significant difference with only total coliforms at 44.5[deg]C. Modified 3-M had the poorest correlation with standard MF over the range of temperatures tested, with significant differences noted for all the temperatures except for E. coli at 44.5[deg]C. Inexperienced university volunteers found Colilert easiest to use, but Coliscan MF produced E. coli results that were most similar to the experts. Coliscan MF was found to have the overall best performance and lowest cost in this study; however, it did produce high numbers of false positive results.

<p>The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of free education for all on the primary schools in Babati, Tanzania. The study is based on the fieldwork carried out in Babati district Tanzania, where information was gathered through qualitative methods. The empirical findings are analysed using a World Bank model of how educational inputs affects welfare outcomes. The study examines the millennium development goal with respect to giving every child an education. The study shows that a bigger impact can be seen in an increased enrolment in schools. That was the result of removing the primary school fees. This has resulted in overcrowding in the primary schools, lack of enough teachers, classrooms and learning material. However, over time the performances have improved. In the short term, the removal of school fees increased enrolment but resulted in poor quality of the education. In the long term, these problems are decreasing and the educational sector can now provide education to children that could not afford it before.</p>