Rachel Nugent

This year's World TB Day marks the halfway point for the Global Plan to Stop TB. We must scale up efforts and continue to seek innovative ways to stop TB if we are to achieve our targets. Join us for a discussion of TB and drug-resistant TB, including the impact on global health and the current state of surveillance, diagnosis and treatment around the world.

Abstract: Health systems are among the most important elements of the social contract that defines modern nations. This paper investigates the historical origins of universal health care (UHC) systems and analyzes the politics surrounding the national decision to implement them. Understanding how, when, and why countries have established UHC systems sheds light on current international assistance strategies to encourage the same transition in developing countries. First, Dr. Bump analyzes definitions of UHC to distill the important elements and discuss their primary assumptions, including their commitments to solidarity, redistribution, and government responsibility. He then focuses on the development of the two main financing models--social health insurance (Germany) and general taxation (United Kingdom)--and then follows global-level attempts to promote UHC over the past century. Dr. Bump finds that international aid agencies have not played a significant role in fostering the spread of UHC systems in the past. Beyond the possibility of fostering international learning and providing resources, there is no clear evidence in support of any particular role for international actors in fostering UHC systems.

As part of the "Demographics and Development in the 21st Century" series, CGD Senior Fellow David Wheeler will summarize the cross-country research he conducted with Dan Hammer on the economics of population policy for carbon emissions reduction. Wheeler includes assessments of the effects of family planning and female education on birth rates. Their global results indicate that carbon mitigation as a result of population policy has costs comparable to those of the least costly clean technology options. They also find that family planning and female education have very different carbon abatement economics across countries, so cost-effective policy may require careful targeting. UN Foundation's Timothy Wirth will offer comments.

Brain drain has long been seen in developing countries as an undesirable consequence of migration. This concern is amplified by the recent increase in skilled emigration as some developed countries orient their immigration policies to embrace higher-skilled workers. Economic theory suggests a range of possible benefits and costs to sending countries from skilled emigration, but the evidence base is very limited. David McKenzie presents unique survey work conducted with John Gibson tracking worldwide the best and brightest academic performers from three Pacific countries. McKenzie's presentation draws on the Tonga experience, describing the impact of skilled migration on the country, including fiscal and demographic implications.

Economists, demographers and other social scientists have long debated the relationship between demographic change and economic outcomes. In recent years, general agreement has emerged to the effect that improving economic conditions for individuals generally lead to lower birth rates. But there is much less agreement about the proposition that lower birth rates contribute to economic development and help individuals and families to escape from poverty. The paper examines recent evidence on this aspect of the debate, concludes that the burden of evidence now increasingly supports a positive conclusion, examines recent trends in demographic change and economic development, and argues that the countries representing the last development frontier, those of sub-Saharan Africa, would be well advised to incorporate policies and programs to reduce high fertility in their economic development strategies.

Speakers at a three-day symposium on global pharmaceuticals at Grinnell College, Feb. 3 to 5, will address issues of access, patents and development, the politics of clinical trials and public health policy affected by this international industry. Sponsored by the Rosenfield Program in Public Affairs, International Relations, and Human Rights, the symposium will include practitioners and policymakers.

Countries have tough choices to make over investing in different types of infrastructure. Do schools come first? What about irrigation and other agricultural needs so that populations can be fed? And they can't ignore the importance of roads, bridges, and other transportation in facilitating trade and markets for economic growth. Then there's energy, communication, and more. There will always be competing and urgent needs for both public and private infrastructure, and the age and growth rate of the population helps determine the priorities of those needs. This lecture examines how demographic variables affect the need for different infrastructure types, including urban, spatially connective, and regional infrastructure, and how well countries use demographic knowledge to influence their infrastructure investments. Sobering conclusions about the likelihood of meeting those needs are presented.

Special Event with TED
War photographer and TED Award winner James Nachtwey’s photo essay on XDR-TB
 
with discussion by 
Rachel Nugent 
Deputy Director for Global Health, Center for Global Development

and 
Joanne Carter 
Executive Director, RESULTS; 
Former Chair of the Advocacy, Communications and Social Mobilization Working Group, Stop TB Partnership 

Tuesday, October 14, 2008 
12:30pm--2:00pm
coffee and cookies served

at
Kenney Auditorium, SAIS
1740 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC 

RSVP required to globalhealth@jhu.edu

See XDRTB.ORG for more information

Beginning in September 2008, the Center for Global Development is sponsoring a new look at "Demographics and Development in the 21st Century." The role of demographics promises to be fundamental in shaping the coming world. In this series, leading scholars explore how demographic changes may affect prospects for global development. Dr. Joel E. Cohen, renowned demographer and a student of global demographic trends for nearly 40 years, will launch the series with an overview of global demographic trends. Cohen's talk will set the stage for the later sessions that will explore specific demographic shifts now underway and how they may affect development-related outcomes, including poverty reduction, climate change and the financial health of emerging market economies.

A healthy U.S. farm policy would reduce the negative effects of current policy on farmers in developing countries and do more to make healthy foods, such as fruits and vegetables, available to a world battling growing obesity problems. The farm bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in July did little to address these concerns, and instead maintained generous subsidies for a small number of large operators growing a handful of crops and ignored American commitments under international trade agreements. The U.S. Senate will tackle the farm bill later this fall and in order to stimulate debate on what a healthy farm policy might look like, this event features two of the key House agricultural policy reform advocates, as well as experts on trade, development, nutrition, and health to discuss the international implications of the pending legislation and food and agriculture policy.