Poverty-stricken Areas Research Articles

Une mémoire urbaine socialement sélective : Réflexions à partir de l'exemple d'Angers

Social selection of a heritage destined to last The protection of monuments and sites, which was long the preserve of republican elites, has gradually been extended to encompass many urban activities under the impulse of the associations. Demolition of decrepit, poverty-stricken areas and some industrial buildings gives a veiled indication of the interests invested in safeguarding the heritage. No doubt the discourse on the common good and the sustainable city that goes together with an enlarged heritage core obscures the selective conservation choices being made.

Modeling the economic benefits of an AIDS vaccine

Economic models were used to describe the potential for an AIDS vaccine to prevent medical spending and lost productivity throughout the world. In terms of avoided medical spending, preventing 75% of the AIDS risk for 10 years in one adult male is estimated to be worth US$ 343 in western Europe, US$ 4.59 in south and SE Asia, and US$ 2.67 in sub-Saharan Africa. The expected medical savings from a 75% effective vaccine would exceed US$ 25.00 per person for over 700 million people. Although an AIDS vaccine would save more lives in poverty stricken areas, it would save more money in developed countries. The mismatch between the public health needs and market forces is highlighted by this model.

Economic Conditions and Approaches to Development in Mountain Regions in South Central China

The poverty-stricken mountain areas in South Central China face many challenges on the road to sustainable development in the 21st century. Great progress has been made in alleviating poverty in the past decade: while 15 million people in these areas suffered from extreme poverty in 1989, this number decreased to about 6 million by 1996. Cereal production during the same period increased from 50 to 397 kg per capita. But to break away from poverty and raise the standard of living, the region must now enter a new stage of development. It needs to benefit from the transition taking place from a planned economy to a market economy, especially with respect to new domestic market conditions. There is also a need to raise awareness of the requirements for sustainable development strategies in mountain areas. This will involve industrialization of agriculture, increasing the quality of products in the primary and secondary sectors, developing the service sector, improving infrastructure for transport and trade, and letting the market determine resource use rather than vice versa. The following introduction to the region and its problems is complemented by recommendations for enhancement of economic strategies in the mountain areas shared by Chongqing Municipality and the provinces of Hubei, Hunan, and Guizhou and linked by the Yangtze and its tributaries.

Placement and Outreach of Group-Based Credit Organizations: The Cases of ASA, BRAC, and PROSHIKA in Bangladesh

The implicit but widespread assumption regarding nongovernmental financial institutions in Bangladesh has been that they are indeed placed in special poverty-stricken areas. Is this assumption valid? If not, what factors affect programs placement across communities? Using thana-level data to analyze the geographic placement of three credit programs in Bangladesh, this paper provides evidence that branches tend to be located in poor pockets of relatively well-developed areas than in remoter, less developed regions. Client density of established branches does not exhibit such a feature and actually tends to be better in less advantageous locations.

中國農村貧困地區衛生保健問題及對策

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.中國農村貧困地區衛生保健面臨籌資與組織等方面的問題，尤其是貧困地區經濟發展滯後，嚴重影響了衛生保健需求的購買力，因而形成了因病致貧和因貧致病的惡性循環，嚴重阻礙着生產力的發展。儘管貧困地區的政府對衛生保健的投資力度不大，但衛生資源的利用極不充分，表現為人力過剩，業務量不足，設備閑置。調查中發現，貧困地區農民在煙酒、求神拜佛、請客送禮等方面的開支甚大，故仍存在保健籌資的潛力。在保健制度方面，合作醫療比例不大，婦幼保償制和免疫保償制覆蓋面低，病人流向在不同保健制度之間差別較大。調查中發現，經濟與保健有着雙向互制作用。衛生保健應與經濟發展同步。政府應承擔發展保健事業的主要責任，加大對保健的投入，引導農民調整消費結構，改善籌資環境，普及健康教育，同時採取分步到位的辦法，逐步建立合作性質的保健制度，並建立相應的法規。Approximately sixty million Chinese people live in China's poverty-stricken rural areas (annual income per capita is lower than 400 Chinese yuan, or US $50). Most people in these areas do not have any level of health insurance. About 72.6% of the individuals who need to visit physicians are not unable to do so because of financial difficulties. The death rate of newborns is as high as 10%. Many households are caught up in a vicious circle: they contract disease because of poverty, and they become poor because of disease.It is vitally important to establish a basic level of health care insurance for these people. According to our investigation and calculation, it requires about 18 hundred million Chinese yuan per year in total (based on medical prices in 1993) to provide a minimum amount of health care for these people, including four prenatal care visits and delivery service, vaccine shots for children (thirteen times total for every child before the age of 13), and basic medical care (including three clinic visits and half a day hospitalization per capita per year). In our investigation, most people in these areas support such a plan for basic health care insurance and express their willingness to pay part of premium.Currently, the average health care spending per capita per year in these areas is 17.40 yuan, or 3.75% of the annual income per capita. Accordingly, there should be no serious difficulty for everyone to pay 2.50% of their annual income for health insurance, except for those whose annual income is lower than 200 yuan. In addition, our investigation found that about 28% of the average household expenditures in these areas are spent for tobacco and liquor. Individuals can be encouraged to save this type of spending for their medical care. Currently, from individual premiums (2.50% of annual income), particular funds from villages and towns, and special government financial subsidies, the total amount of funding can reach about 10 hundred million yuan yearly. In order to obtain 18 hundred million yuan as required, about 8 hundred million yuan a year needs to be raised.China used to attempt to provide basic medical care for people by way of providing financial support to health care providers, i.e., hospitals and clinics, so that they could offer cheap medical care for patients. This has not turned out to be a good strategy. The government should, instead, directly provide financial support to health care recipients, especially those living in poverty-stricken rural areas, so that they will financially be able to set up basic health care insurance for themselves. In contemporary times, it is vitally important to help them establish a basic amount of health care insurance.DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 14 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.

Determining the contribution of agricultural production to household nutritional status in KwaZulu‐Natal, South Africa1

Strategies for alleviating nutritional deficiencies in households have been a topic of continued debate in academic and political discussion. A common argument, in the case of rural households, is that an increase in food production could improve household nutrition, and this reasoning has been used to motivate programmes aimed at improving agricultural productivity in less-developed and poverty-stricken areas. In the former homeland areas of South Africa households are highly susceptible to malnutrition and programmes for improving agricultural productivity have been implemented. The region's poverty and low agricultural production justified the focus on agriculture. Farmers in these areas have been excluded (almost exclusively) from the mainstream agricultural sector, and agricultural development programmes have had limited success in bringing about the required increase in agricultural productivity. This has led to a change in the nature of development programmes by increasingly focusing on improved access to inputs, markets and other agricultural services for empowering farmers to improve their agricultural productivity. Several studies were commissioned to evaluate the success of these programmes in different regions (Kirsten et al, 1993; Lyne & Ortmann, 1992). Mixed results were reported but, in general, improved availability of inputs (seeds and fertilisers), access to credit, and extension and training services led to a sharp rise in yields and productivity in many regions (Kirsten, 1994; Chikanda & Kirsten, 1996; Van Rooyen & Nene, 1996; Lyne & Ortmann, 1992). The link between this increased productivity and reduced malnutrition was, however, never firmly established.

China Reaches the 1.1 Billion Mark

Vice-Premier Tian Jiyuns address on population control marks April 14th 1989 as Chinas 1.1 billion population day. The speech defends the current policy (which encourages all couples to have only 1 child allows rural couples whose 1st child is a girl to have a 2nd and prohibits 3rd births) and emphasizes the need for improved implementation of the policy. Since the early 1970s population growth on Mainland China has dropped rapidly. The birth rate dropped from 33.59/1000 in 1970 to 20.78/1000 in 1988 while the natural population growth rate declined from 25.83/1000 in 1970 to 14.20/1000 in 1988. However if the present birth rate is maintained there will be over 20 million additional people a year in China. Proposed means of restricting population growth are as follows: 1) by directly involving principal leaders of party committees and governments at all levels and incorporating population planning into the overall program on regional social and economic development; 2) by promoting the current family planning policy in an all-around manner including the encouragement of later marriages and childbirth and by strictly enforcing the policy; 3) by codifying the work step-by-step and raising mass awareness in observing family planning through extensive and in-depth propaganda and education; 4) by coordinating the efforts of all quarters. All departments and mass organizations are obligated to implement the policy. All policies must be formulated in a manner conducive to fewer and better births and to population control. In poverty stricken areas assistance should be combined with family planning. Public security industry and commerce administrative urban construction and family planning departments in all localities should work closely in studying ways for supervising family planning of floating population. Finally old age pensions should be actively promoted. (Authors modified)

Gandhi and Mao on manual labour in the school: A retrospective analysis

Mahatma Gandhi's views on relating the world of formal education to the world of work were developed first in his experimental ‘Tolstoy Farm’ in South Africa. On his return to India, Gandhi insisted that a required manual labour component in the curriculum would help regenerate India's village economy, develop in India's children a deeper understanding of India's cultural roots, motivate children to relate ‘book learning’ to life in society, and destroy invidious caste distinctions. The major proposals and suggestions in Gandhi's writing will be discussed in the context of his hopes for using schooling as an agent of progress in India. Mao Ze-Dong's views, on the other hand, were developed in the context of his Yenan experience in the 1930s, i.e. the decision to consolidate a power base in the interior of China before waging a class war against the landlords and capitalists of China. Mao's views were also, to some extent, rooted in the Chinese reality of stagnant, poverty-stricken rural areas. But, Mao's writings indicate that Marxist hopes to relate theory and practice (as understood in dialectical materialism) and to ensure that everyone participated in mental as well as manual labour in a socialist society had led him to formulate his proposals. Both Gandhi's and Mao's views and proposals have been more or less abandoned in India and China respectively. The similar and dissimilar reasons which led to such a fate are examined in this retrospective analysis.

Protein-calorie malnutrition and the significance of cell mass relative to body length

Fifty-eight boys 2 to 8 years old who came from the same poverty-stricken area of Guatemala were studied for anthropometric growth (length, weight, arm and calf circumfer- ence) and for body composition (deuterium space minus corrected bromide space equals intracel- lular water, ICW). The boys were divided into four subgroups: 1A, those who had been admitted for reasons other than protein-calorie malnutrition (PCM), representing the nutritional status of the general population; 1B, those who had been fed a hospital diet for 6 months and were considered normal; 2A, those clinically malnourished with recent edema; 2B, those who had been classed as clinically malnourished but had had approximately 1 month of rehabilitation. All boys were retarded in length and weight for age by Caucasian standards. Subgroup lB was considered to bethebestnourishedgroupand subgroup2A theworst. In subgroup 1B the weight agewas 5 months aheadofthelengthage.Insubgroup2A theweightagewas 5 months behind lengthage.Arm and calf circumference were reduced for 2A when compared with 1B. Measure- ment of ICW (or active tissue mass) was considered against body length. These measurements of ICW fell above the median for normal Caucasian boys for subgroups 1A and 1B and below the Caucasian median for subgroups 2A and 2B. It is postulated that a reduction of ICW relative to body length is indicative of a significant reduction in protein reserves. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 30: 851-860, 1977.

Model for the development of rural pharmaceutical services

The Central Pharmacy of Presbyterian Medical Services (PMS) a nonprofit corporation operating a rural comprehensive health care system in New Mexico, is discussed. PMS Central Pharmacy provides pharmaceutical services to a 34-bed acute care hospital and 24 widely scattered clinics for ambulatory patients. The financial base, administration, development of a formulatory, purchasing, prepackaging of medications, and consulting services of the PMS Central Pharmacy are described. Central Pharmacy acts as a drug wholesaler for PMS; the gross margin between acquisition cost and average wholesale price covers 90% of the cost of the pharmacy operation. In addition, the clinics pay a fee and travel expenses for pharmacist consultation. Seven clinics employ drug technicians who are trained and supervised by Central Pharmacy. It is concluded that this system may serve as a model for the development of pharmaceutical services in other rural areas or in poverty-stricken urban areas.

Anomia and Militancy Among Urban Negroes: A Study of Neighborhood and Individual Effects

HISTORIANS AND SOCIAL scientists have usually concurred that one of the results of industrialization and urbanization is an increasing alienation of the individual from the community and society. Within the discipline of sociology a great deal of recent theory and research on alienation may be traced to Merton's meansends paradigm (Merton, 1963:161-194). Merton attributes one form of alienation, anomie, to a .. . breakdown in the cultural brought about by the incapacity of certain groups to reach the culturally prescribed goals by means of the available access routes. Although the Mertonian version of anomie is fundamentally a sociological rather than a psychological concept, suggesting strains within a social system, most researchers have focused upon anomic attitudes of individuals, implying that such attitudes mirror stresses and strains within the total society (Srole, 1956:709-716; Merton, 1964:213-242). Several studies of urban areas confirm that residents of lower-class neighborhoods manifest a high degree of anomia, reflecting in turn the perceived castelike hopelessness of slum life, particularly within lower-class Negro neighborhoods (Bullough, 1967:471-478; Killian and Grigg, 1962:661-665). Recent changes within the social structure, however, have presumably loosened the severity of the social controls which once forced the lower-class Negro to walk a straight and narrow path in areas of life which formerly were open territory only to whites. Within the past twenty years the emergence of these changes has been evident through a wide range of trends: Supreme Court decisions, the growth of civil rights and black power movements, the development of massive programs such as the War on Poverty and Model Cities. Increasingly it might be expected that many Negroes will manifest a more militant stance in seeking the goals which have been legitimated by the movements of the fifties and sixties. Among Negroes not strongly affected by the events of this period, however, the anomic attitudes which have been historically evident may still prevail. But among those who have been at least marginally touched by these trends, a recognition of this new goal-directed orientation toward civil rights should be manifest. A large proportion of the Negro population of the United States resides in poverty-stricken urban areas. If the neighborhood concept is to have utility in sociology, it is essential to gain a better understanding of the function of these local areas in the generation and maintenance of norms and attitudes. When the neighborhood is considered from the classical ecological perspective, its social context is usually viewed as a product of a competition for life-space, an interplay of forces principally within the economic realm. Beyond the recognition that the ecology of the city reflects a social class distribution, it has frequently been noted that inner-city neighborhoods undergo an invasion and succession of vari-

The Inertia Effect in Measuring Threshold Populations

The Inertia Effect in Measuring Threshold Populations Stanley D. Brunn * INTRODUCTION. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of inertia on the entry values for goods and services in two contrasting socioeconomic areas. This is a phenomenon which has only been hinted at in the literature. (1) The conditions accounting for the variety and number of goods and services and for different threshold populations in a central place system will vary over time and space. The differences will be related to such determinants as economic productivity, residential and employment patterns, and shopping habits. The question posed is: in the process of growth in an area, does the population lag behind the number of services, or in an area of decreasing population, does the rate of decline for services lag behind that of the population? This paper focuses on the inertia problem and attempts to ferret out its effect on threshold population values. (2) The problem is examined in a total of 64 randomly selected central places of less than 5000 population in two areas: a poverty-stricken area of Appalachia (southeast Ohio) and a productive Middle Western agricultural area (northwest Ohio). Rural southeast Ohio, the depressed economic area lying within the Columbus-Wheeling-Ashland triangle, has social and economic characteristics similar to parts of Kentucky, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. The northwest area is similar to parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Iowa that are acquiring a more urban and rural nonfarm character than an agricultural one. This study area is included within the Toledo-Lima-Ft. Wayne industrial complex. At present, the two rural areas of Ohio are experiencing different demographic trends and have contrasting levels of economic vitality. These contrasts exist today to approximately the same extent as in 1940. At that time, the northwest was the most productive agricultural section of the state and the southeast the poorest. This is still true. On top of the substandard agricultural and industrial base for southeast Ohio, the strip mining interests have added further impetus to the economic decline. In the past 25 years, the population of northwest Ohio has increased 15 per cent, while the southeast has increased only one per cent. During this same period, the southeast lost over two-thirds of its rural farm population, a condition that clearly affected the number and variety of services rendered by agricultural trade centers. The populations of all southeastern Ohio small urban centers have declined since 1940 except for the county seats and a few industrial suburbs. This decline also occurred in the townships. In contrast to this rapid outmigration , most of the townships with urban centers in northwest Ohio increased their populations during the 1940-64 period. Almost all the selected central places in both study areas lost functional units between 1940 and 1964. In general, the larger the population, the greater the absolute decline in functional units. The largest losses in numbers were for general stores, restaurants, food stores, and auto repair •Dr. Brunn is assistant professor of geography at the University of Florida, Gainesville. The paper was accepted for publication in December 1967. Vol. VII, 19677 shops. In addition to a decline in necessity services, there was a decrease in the number and variety of such luxury establishments as bakeries, shoe stores, and meat markets. A few services were found only in 1940, viz., blacksmiths and harness shops. Several others, such as frozen food lockers and sporting goods stores, appeared only in 1964. (3) HYPOTHESES. It is hypothesized, on the basis of the economic, social, and demographic conditions of the study areas today and the changes they have undergone, that lower threshold population values will appear for most goods and services in the northwest rather than in the southeast. This condition is expected in 1940 and 1964. In the main, it is argued that a smaller population base is needed for a given good to appear in small urban centers in northwest Ohio. Here the advantages of higher incomes, a higher population density, an increasing urban population, a growing industrial base, and excellent transportation links should contribute to the ease of starting and duplicating economic activities. Opposite conditions exist in the southeastern part of the state...

Some Prerequisites for Success of the Point Four Program

I propose to make some general observations and illustrate them by reference to particular situations. My first general observation is that it is difficult to make valid general observations on this subject. Countries and areas do not fall neatly into the two categories labeled developed and underdeveloped, respectively. They range from countries like the United States on one end of the scale to the most poverty-stricken and disorganized areas on the other. Naturally, a great variety of differences exist in the economic, social, and political organizations of different areas, in their resources, in their capacity and attitudes, and so forth, and, as I shall point out later, these differences are most important to our problem. On the other hand, the necessity of dramatizing the matter in order to secure legislation and funds has, I am afraid, led to rather serious oversimplification in our basic approach to the problem. I assume that the underlying purpose of Point Four is not philanthropy but rather the achievement of a definite result-a rise in the standard of living, and a rise, moreover, that is self-sustaining. There is a vast difference between doing good or relieving suffering or help-

Agriculture in Tanganyika

THE annual report of the Department of Agriculture in Tanganyika for 1935 has now been published (Dar-es-Salaam: Government Printer, 1936). From the economic point of view, the past five years have been the most critical in the history of the Territory, and 1935 can be regarded as the culminating point of the effort to place it in a position of economic security. The volume of total exports attained has never before been approached, in spite of the fact that record figures for most crops had been reported during the four previous years. In the year under review, records for the export of the three premier industries, sisal, cotton and coffee, have been achieved, while high figures are again reported for ground-nuts, bees-wax and sesame. Copra alone has yielded disappointing results. The soundness of the policy of increasing production in a territory which has not reached the limits of development seems to have been vindicated, as the standard of living and purchasing capacity of the native peoples have been markedly improved, and also a rise in the value of exportable commodities obtained. As regards non-native agriculture, the excellent price secured for sisal-hemp stimulated the rejuvenation of estates, re-equipment of factories and a general re-organization of the industry. Much too large a proportion of planters, however, still rely on a one-crop policy, and the adoption of a more diversified farming is advocated. Native development is making sound progress, successful concentration of population now being possible in districts which quite recently were poverty-stricken tsetse areas. Questions of irrigation and natural water supplies play a vital part in African life, and important developments are already in hand following the recommendations of the special inquiries completed during the year under review.