Miscellaneous Knowledge Notes

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https://hdl.handle.net/10986/9388

Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa, home to more than 1 billion people, half of whom will be under 25 years old by 2050, is a diverse ...

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Monitoring COVID-19 Impacts on Households in Sudan: Results from a Panel Household High-Frequency Phone Survey
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-06) Osman, Eiman; Rahasimbelonirina, Ando; Etang, Alvin
This brief focuses on the household survey component of the High-Frequency Phone Survey of Households (HFS). The sampling methodology adopted for the implementation of the household survey is probabilistic, and the sampling frame is provided by a compilation of a list of phone numbers collected during the implementation of various projects/surveys during the last few years at the household level across the country. The sample is representative of the 18 states of Sudan. This brief summarizes the main results of the core questions in the completed six rounds of the Sudan HFS of the same households (i.e., a panel survey). Results of the firm survey will be reported in a separate report.
Barriers to Accessing Medical Care in Sub-Saharan Africa in Early Stages of COVID-19 Pandemic
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-03) Swindle, Rachel; Newhouse, David
Eighty-two percent of respondents in a sample of Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries were able to access medical care despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the remaining 18 percent, about one-third reported that the COVID-19 pandemic impaired their access, either due to lockdown restrictions, facility closures, or fear of contracting the virus. 'Lack of money' was by far the most frequently reported barrier to accessing care across countries, especially for food-insecure households, two-thirds of which cited 'lack of money' as the main healthcare access constraint. Continued monitoring can help shed light on who is most at risk of not being able to access healthcare during crises. This note makes use of newly harmonized data to summarize reasons why respondents in 11 SSA countries were unable to access medical care during early COVID-19 stages.
Harnessing Momentum: Priority Areas of Intervention to Further Strengthen Malawi’s Health Sector
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-11) World Bank
Malawians are healthier and live longer than they ever have. Achieving universal health coverage in a sustainable and equitable way is the main goal of Malawi’s health sector reform plan, and an essential health package (EHP) free at the point of use is the government’s primary tool to achieve this. Malnutrition also remains an ongoing challenge. Malawi’s Second Health Sector Strategic Plan (HSSP) for 2017-2022, identifies a set of interventions necessary to further improve health outcomes, and to ensure the delivery of quality, equitable, affordable and patient-centred health care services. Malawi’s 2018-2019 Harmonised Health Facility Assessment (HHFA), conducted by the government of Malawi with support from international health and development agencies, provides a comprehensive including government, faith-based, CHAM (Christian Health Association of Malawi) and private for-profit facilities between November 2018 and March 2019. This policy brief draws from this assessment, as well other research, identifying the most important policy interventions needed to achieve key health targets over the coming years.
Mapping Deprivations in Mauritania
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-09) Dahmani-Scuitti, Anais; Doyle, Jesse; Lefebvre, Matthieu; Meyer, Moritz; Rajashekar, Anirudh
Recent economic growth In Mauritania has helped reduce poverty, but spatial disparities in terms of both monetary welfare and access to services and opportunities remain. Designing policies and projects to improve living conditions requires localized and updated data not usually available from household surveys. Deprivation mapping—a new spatial deprivation analysis tool—uses administrative and geospatial settlement-level data (the lowest administrative unit in our case study Mauritania) to estimate settlement access deprivations across 4 dimensions: social services, basic infrastructure, opportunities, and exposure to weather/climate shocks. Database and visualizations (map) highlight and rank each settlement’s deprivation index, enhancing national data and showing spatial differences in the depth, complexity, and persistence of deprivations to inform policies and prioritize investments.
Conducting Rapid Response Phone Surveys to Fill Data Gaps
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-07) Delius, Antonia; Himelein, Kristen; Pape, Utz Johann
To respond effectively to crises, policy makers need reliable, timely evidence on its negative effects and transmission channels. Despite limitations compared to face-to-face surveys, rapid response phone surveys (RRPS) are a cost-effective, flexible method to quickly fill data gaps. This note gives an overview of main considerations when setting up a RRPS. It also illustrates how surveyors have used this tool to inform design of interventions during Ebola and famine crises. The World Bank is currently using RRPSs to track the impact of Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) in more than 100 countries.
The Impact of COVID-19 on Workers in Hawassa Industrial Park
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-06-03) World Bank
As part of the World Bank Group’s analytical work program on More, better, and more inclusive jobs: Preparing for successful industrialization in Ethiopia (funded by the UK Department for International Development), a team of researchers led by Morgan Hardy (New York University Abu Dhabi) and Christian Johannes Meyer (University of Oxford) is deploying high-frequency phone surveys on a representative sample of garment factory workers in Hawassa Industrial Park (HIP) to document how their lives are changing during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis. This Rapid Briefing Note reports the preliminary baseline results from 3,163 female respondents, summarizing the more detailed “Living Paper” written by the team of researchers. The data collection took place between April 28 and May 26, 2020.
Health Impact and Effectiveness of Distribution Models for Plastic Latrine Slabs in Kenya
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2017-03) World Bank Group
Lack of sanitation is a huge development challenge in Kenya, but also a potentially sizeable market opportunity. The World Bank and IFCs ‘Selling Sanitation’ project worked with large plastics manufacturing firms in Nairobi to design, test, and support market development and distribution of a range of plastic latrine slabs. The products were designed from the consumer’s perspective using the Human-Centered Design approach and priced well below the cost of the prevailing concrete slab. This research brief summarizes baseline findings and monitoring results from an impact evaluation of the plastic latrine slab, evaluating its health impact and the effectiveness of niche distribution and financing mechanisms for reaching base-of-the-pyramid households. Baseline findings show that children in the study area suffer from high rates of diarrhea and many are underweight, but worm infections are rare. The majority of households at baseline had unimproved pit latrines with either no slab (49%), or a mud slab, and overall sanitation and environmental hygiene conditions are poor. Feedback on the plastic slab from monitoring visits is overwhelmingly positive, with respondents citing ease of cleaning, safety for children, and prestige. However several barriers to adoption were noted. Most participants perceive the slab as unaffordable for the target beneficiaries, while a lack of adequate follow-up and marketing from sales agents, and limited availability of the product in remote, rural villages are major obstacles to generating demand for the slab. Additional public sector resources will be needed to further support the development of distribution channels and financing mechanisms to reduce the price for base-of-the-pyramid households and increase adoption of the slab among target beneficiaries.
Ending AIDS in Johannesburg: An Analysis of the Status and Scale-Up Towards HIV Treatment and Prevention Targets
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-10) World Bank Group
Johannesburg, one of South Africa’s metropolitan municipalities and one of the 52 health districts has more people living with HIV (PLHIV) than any other city worldwide at ~600,000. This brief provides the key results of a modeling analysis estimating what it would take in terms of programmatic targets and costs for Johannesburg to meet the Fast-Track targets and demonstrate the impact that this would have. The Optima HIV epidemic and resource allocation model was used, distinguishing 26 sub-populations and populated with the available demographic, epidemiological, behavioral, programmatic and financial data. The analysis demonstrated that Johannesburg has rapidly expanded HIV diagnosis and treatment between 2010 and 2015, reaching 267,236 PLHIV with the ART program in 2015. In 2015, an estimated 70 percent knew about their positive status, about 64 percent of diagnosed PLHIV accessed treatment, and about 54 percent of them were known to be virally suppressed. The analysis suggested that the health impact of successfully scaling-up HIV testing, treatment and ART adherence to the 2020 and 2030 Sustainable Development Goals target levels is very large in Johannesburg. The increase in PLHIV on treatment will result in reductions in new HIV infections (an estimated cumulative difference of ~327 thousand infections from 2016-30). It will also results in reductions in HIV-related deaths (a cumulative difference of ~104 thousand deaths from 2016-30).
A Case Study on How Allocative Efficiency Analysis Supported by Mathematical Modelling Changed HIV Investment in Sudan
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-11) World Bank
This brief presents a real-life example of how a group of government decision-makers, programme managers, researchers and development partners worked together to improve the allocation of HIV resources in Sudan and thereby better address the HIV objectives that the country strives to achieve. The initial modelling analysis showed that by reallocating funds towards antiretroviral treatment (ART) and prevention programmes in Sudan, 37 percent of new HIV infections could be averted with the same amount of funding. These allocations combined with additional technical efficiency gains would allow for increasing ART coverage from 6 percent in 2013 to 34 percent in 2017, and more than double programme coverage for key populations. The reallocations in the 2015 to 2017 HIV budget for the national response are projected to avert an additional 3,200 new infections and 1,100 deaths in these three years compared to initially planned allocations.The reallocations were achieved through a rigorous HIV allocative efficiency analysis and evidence-informed policy process, conducted by a multi-disciplinary team of national and international partners working for the common goal to make Sudan’s HIV response more manageable and sustainable. The case study discusses process and outcomes of this effort. It also offers some reflections on the application of mathematical modelling to strengthening decision-making of finite HIV resources, and some lessons learned about how to go ‘beyond modelling’ to application of modelled allocative efficiency improvements to improving actual budget allocations for better health outcomes.