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Urban agriculture and household subsistence in a post-confl ict zone in Central Africa. This study presents an analysis of the technical and socio-economic specifi cities of urban agriculture in a post confl ict region in Central Africa, based on a survey in Brazzaville (Congo) in 2002. Hereby 710 households have been randomly selected from a previous survey data base containing 2 800 urban households. About one third of the Brazzaville households are involved in urban agriculture with 29.5% households reporting crop production activities and 8.8% animal production activities. Within animal production, aviculture activities are dominant. Gardening and vegetable production play also an important role. The confl ict situation of 1997 affected negatively urban agricultural production in particular the animal production. Although, urban agriculture is present among different social and professional categories, there is a clear dominance of subsistence and poor households, especially those already active in agriculture before. In contrast to crop production, mainly practised for subsistence reasons, the motivation for animal production is driven more by the income than by the own consumption possibilities. The results also indicate that assuring a sustainable and equitable urban development is possible by a good balance between those practising urban agriculture and those not. This requires the limitation of the negative effects (odour and other nuisances) but also the removal of certain constraints limiting the productivity of urban farming, most importantly the provision of inputs, the theft of animals and soil degradation.

To satisfy the growing demand for electricity, Ethiopia plans to increase its electricity production five-fold between 2010 and 2015, mainly through the construction of dams. A literature review shows that while dams can boost power and agricultural production, promote economic development, and facilitate flood control, they can also lead to environmental, ecological, and socioeconomic changes. Several case studies show that dams may alter the composition and density of vectors and intermediate host species, increase the incidence of malaria schistosomiasis and possibly lymphatic filariasis, and lead to eutrophication of reservoirs, soil erosion, and earthquakes. There is evidence that dams and commercial irrigation schemes can increase soil and water degradation, vulnerability to drought, and food insecurity in riverine and lacustrine areas downstream of dams. It appears that dams in Ethiopia are also vulnerable to high soil erosion rates and earthquakes. Consequently, the current and proposed large-scale dam construction program in Ethiopia requires in-depth research to improve our understanding of the unintended negative effects of projects and to guide the location, design, and implementation of appropriate preventive and remedial programs. Key words: water resource developments, environment, food security, vector-borne diseases, Ethiopia. Les auteurs presentent une revue de litterature montrant qu'en depit du fait que les barrages peuvent favoriser les productions d'energetiques et agricoles, promouvoir le developpement economique et faciliter la maitrise des inondations, ils peuvent egalement provoquer des changements environnementaux, ecologiques et socio-economiques. Plusieurs etudes de cas montrent que les barrages peuvent modifier la composition et la densite d'especes hotes vectrices et intermediaires, augmenter l'incidence de la schistosomiase de la malaria et possiblement la filariose lymphatique, en plus de conduire a l'eutrophisation des reservoirs, a l'erosion du sol et aux tremblements de terre. Il y a des preuves a l'effet que les barrages et les systemes d'irrigation commerciaux peuvent augmenter la degradation de l'eau et des sols, la vulnerabilite a la secheresse et l'insecurite alimentaire dans les regions riveraines et lacustres en aval des barrages. Il semble que les barrages en Ethiopie seraient egalement vulnerables a des taux eleves d'erosion du sol et aux tremblements de terre. Consequemment, le programme actuel de construction de barrages a grande echelle en Ethiopie necessite des recherches approfondies afin d'ameliorer notre comprehension des effets negatifs collateraux des projets et de guider la localisation, la conception et la mise en place de programmes de prevention et de remediation. Mots-cles: developpement des ressources hydrauliques, environnement, securite alimentaire, maladies transmises par vecteurs, Ethiopie., Background Only 15% of the Ethiopian population has access to the national electricity network. This low percentage is due to inadequate power generation and electricity distribution. Approximately 80% of Ethiopians [...]

The burden of disease, most commonly expressed in terms of Disability-Adjusted Life Years, has become a crucial component in decision making processes within the health sector. In Nepal, however, burden of disease estimates are scarce and lack representativeness. To improve our understanding of the burden of disease in Nepal and thereby increase the efficiency of health policies, there is an urgent need to strengthen thelocal evidencebased. All relevant stakeholders should therefore collaborate to generate new data, improve existing data generation mechanisms, make generated data available, and optimize the use of available data.