The problem of inadequate access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) in less-developed nations has received much attention over the last several decades (most recently in the Millennium Development Goals), largely because diseases associated with such conditions contribute substantially to mortality in poor countries. We present country-level projections for WASH coverage and for WASH-relat...

In this paper we report on two applications of the Willingness-to-Pay (WTP) approach to valuing transport externalities in Santiago, Chile. The first involves a contingent valuation study of mortality risk due in part to pollution-related causes, and the second, a stated preference study for valuing the reduction of risk from road fatalities. It is concluded that the approaches, and particularl...

Following the notion of skill-biased FDI fl ows from developed to less developed regions, high-skilled workers are likely to benefi t from FDI to a larger extent. They earn a productivity advantage that potentially transfers into a skilled wage premium. This gives rise to distributional confl ict that might turn into heterogeneous attitudes toward FDI infl ows in line with skill. In this paper ...

Over the past two decades, hundreds of stated preference studies have been conducted in less-developed countries. This article examines what has been learned on the methodological front from stated preference research, and it summarizes the empirical evidence from stated preference studies about household preferences in lessdeveloped countries. The main conclusion is that households’ willingnes...

BACKGROUND In the conduct of epidemiological studies in less developed countries, while great emphasis is placed on study design, data collection, and analysis, often little attention is paid to data management. As a consequence, investigators working in these countries frequently face challenges in cleaning, analyzing and interpreting data. In most research settings, the data management team i...

In their efforts to set up orthopaedic technical services, less developed countries such as Colombia have often relied on so called "turn key" technology transfers depending on the know-how and the infrastructures in industrial countries. The sophisticated industrial product stands thus in sharp contrast to the "single item" product which relies on traditional crafts and local materials. Both e...

One of the biggest problems in global health is the lack of well trained and supported health workers in less developed settings. In many rural areas there are no physicians, and it is important to find ways to support and empower nurses and other health workers. The Knowledge Translation Unit of the University of Cape Town Lung Institute has spent 14 years developing a series of innovative pac...

This paper argues that there are many challenges to designing and implementing water and sanitation interventions that actually deliver economic benefits to the households in developing countries. Perhaps most critical to successful water and sanitation investments is to discover and implement forms of service and payment mechanisms that will render the improvements worthwhile for those who mus...

INTRODUCTION The improvement collaborative approach has been widely promoted in developed countries as an effective method to spread clinical practices, but little has been published on its effectiveness in developing country settings. Between 1998 and 2008, the United States Agency for International Development funded 54 collaboratives in 14 low- and middle-income countries, adapting the appro...

BACKGROUND About 80% of cervical cancers occur in less-developed countries. This disproportionate burden of cervical cancer in such countries is due mainly to the lack of well-organized screening programs. Several cervical cancer screening strategies have been proposed as more cost-effective than cytology screening. We compared the costs and benefits of different strategies and their effectiven...