Promoting inclusive business in Asia - Pacific : regional inclusive business models in agriculture and food systems

Inclusive businesses (IB) address development challenges and leave no one behind. In agriculture, IB addresses the needs of low-income smallholder farmers and creates value for them by underpinning global food and nutrition security, providing livelihoods for many of the poorest, and creating prosperity in rural areas.</P> <P>Governments can encourage more inclusive businesses to emerge and thrive through policies that generate greater awareness of these business models, recognise and reward them with targeted incentives, and facilitate services and investments that enable firms to develop inclusive business models.</P>Supported by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundatio

Social sciences research in neglected tropical diseases 3: Investment in social science research in neglected diseases of poverty: a case study of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.BACKGROUND: The level of funding provides a good proxy for the level of commitment or prioritisation given to a particular issue. While the need for research relevant to social, economic, cultural and behavioural aspects of neglected tropical diseases (NTD) control has been acknowledged, there is limited data on the level of funding that supports NTD social science research. METHOD: A case study was carried out in which the spending of a major independent funder, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) - was analysed. A total of 67 projects funded between October 1998 and November 2008 were identified from the BMGF database. With the help of keywords within the titles of 67 grantees, they were categorised as social science or non-social science research based on available definition of social science. A descriptive analysis was conducted. RESULTS: Of 67 projects analysed, 26 projects (39%) were social science related while 41 projects (61%) were basic science or other translational research including drug development. A total of US$697 million was spent to fund the projects, of which 35$ 241 million) went to social science research. Although the level of funding for social science research has generally been lower than that for non-social science research over 10 year period, social science research attracted more funding in 2004 and 2008. CONCLUSION: The evidence presented in this case study indicates that funding on NTD social science research compared to basic and translational research is not as low as it is perceived to be. However, as there is the acute need for improved delivery and utilisation of current NTD drugs/technologies, informed by research from social science approaches, funding priorities need to reflect the need to invest significantly more in NTD social science research

A Systematic Review of Mosquito Coils and Passive Emanators: Defining Recommendations for Spatial Repellency Testing Methodologies.

Mosquito coils, vaporizer mats and emanators confer protection against mosquito bites through the spatial action of emanated vapor or airborne pyrethroid particles. These products dominate the pest control market; therefore, it is vital to characterize mosquito responses elicited by the chemical actives and their potential for disease prevention. The aim of this review was to determine effects of mosquito coils and emanators on mosquito responses that reduce human-vector contact and to propose scientific consensus on terminologies and methodologies used for evaluation of product formats that could contain spatial chemical actives, including indoor residual spraying (IRS), long lasting insecticide treated nets (LLINs) and insecticide treated materials (ITMs). PubMed, (National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), U.S. National Library of Medicine, NIH), MEDLINE, LILAC, Cochrane library, IBECS and Armed Forces Pest Management Board Literature Retrieval System search engines were used to identify studies of pyrethroid based coils and emanators with key-words "Mosquito coils" "Mosquito emanators" and "Spatial repellents". It was concluded that there is need to improve statistical reporting of studies, and reach consensus in the methodologies and terminologies used through standardized testing guidelines. Despite differing evaluation methodologies, data showed that coils and emanators induce mortality, deterrence, repellency as well as reduce the ability of mosquitoes to feed on humans. Available data on efficacy outdoors, dose-response relationships and effective distance of coils and emanators is inadequate for developing a target product profile (TPP), which will be required for such chemicals before optimized implementation can occur for maximum benefits in disease control

Potential impact of pre-exposure prophylaxis for female sex workers and men who have sex with men in Bangalore, India: a mathematical modelling study

Introduction: In Bangalore, new HIV infections of female sex workers and men who have sex with men continue to occur, despite high condom use. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has high anti-HIV efficacy for men who have sex with men. PrEP demonstration projects are underway amongst Indian female sex workers. We estimated the impact and efficiency of prioritising PrEP to female sex workers and/or men who have sex with men in Bangalore. Methods: A mathematical model of HIV transmission and treatment for female sex workers, clients, men who have sex with men and low-risk groups was parameterised and fitted to Bangalore data. The proportion of transmission attributable (population attributable fraction) to commercial sex and sex between men was calculated. PrEP impact (infections averted, life years gained) and efficiency (life years gained/infections averted per 100 person years on PrEP) were estimated for different levels of PrEP adherence, coverage and prioritisation strategies (female sex workers, high-risk men who have sex with men, both female sex workers and high-risk men who have sex with men, or female sex workers with lower condom use), under current conditions and in a scenario with lower baseline condom use amongst key populations. Results: Population attributable fractions for commercial sex and sex between men have declined over time, and they are predicted to account for 19% of all new infections between 2016 and 2025. PrEP could prevent a substantial proportion of infections amongst female sex workers and men who have sex with men in this setting (23%/27% over 5/10 years, with 60% coverage and 50% adherence), which could avert 2.9%/4.3% of infections over 5/10 years in the whole Bangalore population. Impact and efficiency in the whole population was greater if female sex workers were prioritised. Efficiency increased, but impact decreased, if only female sex workers with lower condom use were given PrEP. Greater impact and efficiency was predicted for the scenario with lower condom use. Conclusions: PrEP could be beneficial for female sex workers and men who have sex with men in Bangalore, and give some benefits in the general population, especially in similar settings with lower condom use levels

Communitarian perspectives on social enterprise

Concepts of social enterprise have been debated repeatedly, and continue to cause confusion. In this paper, a meta-theoretical framework is developed through discussion of individualist and communitarian philosophy. Philosophers from both traditions build social theories that emphasise either consensus (a unitarist outlook) or diversity (a pluralist outlook). The various discourses in corporate governance reflect these assumptions and create four distinct approaches that impact on the relationship between capital and labour. In rejecting the traditional discourse of private enterprise, social enterprises have adopted other approaches to tackle social exclusion, each derived from different underlying beliefs about the purpose of enterprise and the nature of governance. The theoretical framework offers a way to understand the diversity found within the sector, including the newly constituted Community Interest Company (CIC).</p

Payment instruments, finance and development

This paper studies the effects of a payment technology innovation (mobile money) on entrepreneurship and economic development in a quantitative dynamic general equilibrium model. In the model mobile money dominates fiat money as a medium of exchange, since it avoids the risk of theft, but comes with electronic transaction costs. We show that entrepreneurs with higher productivity and access to trade credit are more likely to adopt mobile money as a payment instrument vis-a-vis suppliers. Calibrating the stationary equilibrium of the model to match firm-level data from Kenya, we show significant quantitative implications of mobile money for entrepreneurial growth and macroeconomic development

Gene-drive into insect populations with age and spatial structure: a theoretical assessment

The potential benefits and risks of genetically engineered gene-drive systems for replacing wild pest strains with more benign strains must be assessed prior to any field releases. We develop a computer simulation model to assess the feasibility of using engineered underdominance constructs to drive transgenes into age- and spatially structured mosquito populations. Our practical criterion for success is the achievement of a transgene frequency of at least 0.80 within 3 years of release. The impacts of a number of parameters that may affect the success of gene-drive, such as the release area, release age, density-dependent larval survival, fitness cost of the engineered genes, and migration probability of adults, are examined. Results show that patchy release generally requires the release of fewer engineered insects to achieve success than central release. When the fitness cost is very low, central release covering 25% of the total area can be more effective than a completely uniform release over the whole area. This study demonstrates that to determine the best method of spatial release, and the total number of engineered insects that must be released, it is important to take into account the age and sex of the released insects and spatial structure of the population

Towards malaria elimination - a new thematic series

The launch of a new thematic series of Malaria Journal -- "Towards malaria elimination" -- creates the forum that allows carrying scientific evidence on how to achieve malaria elimination in specific endemic settings and conditions into the circles of scientists, public health specialists, national and global programme managers, funders and decision makers

Sanitation sustainability, seasonality and stacking: improved facilities for how long, where and whom?

Despite high-profile efforts to ‘reinvent the toilet’ (Gates Foundation, 2014) and ‘end open defecation’ (UNICEF, 2016a), WHO/UNICEF, (2017) estimated that in 2015, 2.3 billion lacked access to improved sanitation and 892 million practised open defecation (OD). This has been associated with severe environmental and health impacts (Coffey, 2014; Rees, 2014; UNICEF, 2016a) which could worsen if climate change-induced flooding or extreme events facilitate the spread of water-borne disease (McMichael, et al. 2006; Papworth, et al. 2015). Although an estimated 2.1 billion gained access to improved sanitation between 1990 and 2015 (WHO/UNICEF, 2015a), the extent to which this translated into ‘an improvement in the adequacy of provision’ (Satterthwaite 2015,5) varies greatly over space, by season and between user groups. In 2015, 56% of India’s population lacked basic sanitation and 40% practised open defecation although rural-urban and socio-economic variations were significant (WHO/UNICEF, 2017). These figures almost certainly over-estimate sanitation coverage as most household-level census, Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) data used to inform sanitation tracking do ‘not include informal urban settlements or slums, which are often not considered in official data collection’ (WSSCC, 2015:3). Dry season bias in household survey data collection (Pullum, 2008; Wright et al., 2012) coupled with seasonal shifts in sanitation practices (Routray et al 2015; Sahoo et al 2015) are likely to create further distortion. Focus on the presence of particular sanitation technologies (as proxies for sanitation access), meanwhile, can conceal significant health threats in the absence of checks on whether their quality or use is sufficient to reduce health risks (Gine et al., 2011)