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Context: The contribution of copper-bearing intrauterine devices (IUDs) to overall contraceptive protection has declined in many countries, despite their well-known advantages. In response, initiatives to promote this method have been undertaken.Objective: To review and interpret the experience of interventions to promote use of IUDs in low- and middle-income countries in order to provide strategic guidance for policies and programs.Methods: We conducted a systematic search of Medline, Popline, Embase and Global Health electronic databases for relevant journal papers, reports and gray literature since 2010. Telephone interviews were held with two donors and six international family planning organizations.Results: We identified a total of 31 publications. Four reported the results of randomized control trials and three were derived from quasi-experiments. The majority were based on service statistics. Eight publications concerned interventions for HIV-positive women or couples, nine for postpartum or postabortion cases and 14 for general populations. Intervention approaches included vouchers, franchising of private practitioners, mobile outreach services, placement of dedicated staff in high-volume facilities and demand creation. Most publications adduced evidence of a positive impact and some reported impressively large numbers of IUD insertions. Results to date on the uptake of IUDs in postpartum interventions are modest. There is also almost no evidence of effects on IUD use at national levels. Implant uptake generally exceeded IUD uptake when both were offered.Conclusion: The evidence base is weak and offers few lessons on what strategies are most effective. The overall impression is that IUD use can be increased in a variety of ways but that progress is hampered by persistent adverse perceptions by both providers and potential clients. Provider enthusiasm is a key to success. The lack of a population impact stems in part from the fact that nearly all interventions are initiated by international organizations, with limited national reach except in small countries, rather than by government agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This special issue has presented some of the specific findings of the RE-Impact Project which was commissioned and funded by the EuropeAid Cooperation Office from 2007 until its conclusion in 2010. The project aimed to provide impact assessment frameworks and influence relevant policies through direct involvement in bioenergy projects and policy analysis in South Africa, Uganda, India and China. The papers summarised here have covered issues related to Jatropha curcas and forest-based bioenergy in these countries. Taking an overall look at the project findings we can identify a number of general conclusions relevant for the future of bioenergy and rural development in Africa and Asia. First, only local and context-specific sustainability assessment can identify the risk and responsibilities of the different groups and the exact impact on the environment. Second, many initiatives both in biofuels and forest-based bioenergy are marred by a lack of understanding of the life-cycle financial analysis. Third, careful consideration of local physical and social conditions and the economics of the production chain can identify real opportunities for rural development using bioenergy. The current global impasse in bioenergy policies could actually be advantageous to the development of bioenergy in developing countries. Without the pressure from America and Europe to develop bioenergy systems for climate change mitigation, countries in Africa and Asia may have the breathing room to shape bioenergy systems for their own internal energy supply in an orderly fashion. However, in order to avoid environmental and social impacts it will be necessary to articulate together elements of a number of measures including market-based certification, national policy formulation, national legislation, impact assessments, sustainability planning, land use planning, research, monitoring and evaluation taking into account country and project specific sustainability criteria. Unfortunately, many of the countries in Africa and Asia where bioenergy can play an important role still lack institutional structures able to articulate this sustainable development. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Current debates and market based interventions in international public health seek to bring about explicit improvements in the quality of care offered by informal providers. In this paper we examine how informal providers are framed as problematic and question assumptions about what constitutes appropriate knowledge and expectations of how economic actors in the medical marketplace will behave. We argue that existing portraits of informal providers tend to establish clear cut distinctions between different kinds of practitioner; ‘dis-embed’ biomedical transactions from the broader relationships within which they take place; freeze or anatomise what are dynamic economic relationships between stakeholders, and obscure or ignore the position of informal providers in a global pharmaceutical supply chain. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Economic regulation is being introduced into the water services sector in developing economies, where widespread poverty and service inadequacies affect regulatory rationales. This paper analyzes the regulatory experience in 11 metropolitan areas with respect to the challenge of reaching all urban consumers, particularly the poor. Case study evidence suggests that pro-poor regulatory outcomes have been constrained by inadequate framework conditions and a limited understanding of alternative providers. In many cases regulatory governance has been equally vulnerable, although some regulators have demonstrated a capacity and willingness to achieve a balance between the social and financial objectives of water service regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Society for International Nutrition Research sponsored a Symposium titled "Women's Voices, Women's Choices: The Challenge of Nutrition and HIV/AIDS in Asia and Africa" at Experimental Biology 2004 to highlight the challenges facing RIV-positive women living in resource-poor settings of Asia and Africa, when it comes to the everyday decisions they are forced to make about their own health and nutrition, and the health and the nutrition of their children. This introductory paper summarizes the rationale for this session, including a summary of the evidence for women's increased vulnerability to HIV, the nutritional impacts of HIV infection, and the special infant feeding and nutritional concerns facing HIV-positive pregnant and lactating mothers in Africa and Asia. The issue of nutrition and HIV/AIDS is addressed here from an intergenerational perspective, using new data from qualitative research, clinical trials, and behavioral interventions in India, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, to illustrate important concerns, using study participants' own words to convey key messages, The focus is on women, because they are shouldering much of the burden of HIV infection in terms of their numbers and in their responsibilities for providing food and care for orphans and HIV-affected family members. Infant feeding choices are also considered in this review, because of the vast implications that not breast-feeding at all and stopping breast-feeding early have on the nutritional well-being of HIV-exposed children, as well as the positive contribution of breast-feeding to child nutrition and survival worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]