Through multidisciplinary research and policy engagement we bring new understanding and action on critical issues around health and health systems, and how they overlap with other systems such as food, as well as nutrition, sanitation, epidemics and zoonotic diseases. Enhancing understanding of how to ensure healthy lives for all is a vital part of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda 2030) and has been an integral focus of IDS’ work since its inception.
Our research and analysis on innovations in health services and systems – including work on identifying effective strategies to address the challenges of antimicrobial resistance – is accelerating progress towards achieving universal health coverage in Asia and Africa. Our work on nutrition spans the spectrum from dietary transition and globalisation of food systems, through to responding to the ways that marginalisation and inequity drive high child malnutrition rates. We bring vital social knowledge to aid effective preparedness and response on pandemics. We show how direct impacts on the spread of diseases such as Ebola can be achieved by bringing learning from research on social issues and contexts to the right people in the right organisations at the right time. Together with our global partners, we are generating and sharing new knowledge and evidence to identify the underlying causes of poor health and social inequalities, and the progressive policies and practices that can help bring about transformative change.
The purpose of this paper is to take stock of what is known about industrial clusters in LDCs and to put forward an agenda for further research. The paper shows that clustering (sectoral and geographical concentration) is common in a wide range of countries and sectors. The way clusters are...
The discussion which follows in this paper rests heavily on an analysis of comparative data on manufacturing performance in South Africa and other countries.
To ease the process of reading, the tables and the figures which underlie the verbal discussion are produced as separate sections. The...
This Discussion Paper reports on a workshop on 'Linking Relief and Development', held at IDS, Sussex in March 1994. Development and relief often operate at cross-purposes, with different objectives, cultures and modes of operation.
Commissioned by the Strategic Planning Office of the Inter-American Development Bank, this report provides an assessment of the IDB's lending programme for the period 1979-92. It offers policy recommendations on how to improve future lending activities and addresses issues concerning the role of...
This report provides a detailed exploration of the impact of economic and institutional change on rural health services in China. It shows how the health sector's development has been influenced firstly by the command economy and, since the 1970s, by the transition to a market economy. Detailed...
The report describes a systematic household study of health care seeking behaviour and of the quality of commune health care in four rural communes in the north of Vietnam, during 1992-93.
South Africa faces a series of critical and daunting developmental challenges in the post-aparthied era. This IDS Bulletin explores the lessons of policy formation in a comparative context. Contributions cover industrial and agricultural strategy, health and education policy, regional government...
What is it like to be a woman in Bangladesh during times of socio-economic transformation? What forms of discrimination must women deal with on a daily basis? This report discusses the social, economic, political and legal status of women in Bangladesh and identifies the needs of women in...
What is the present state of gender relations in Zambia? Has economic recession and adjustment impacted differently on women and men? Like many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Zambia has adopted structural adjustment and liberalisation measures in order to pull itself out of severe economic...
This wide-ranging book sets discussion of the various approaches to local government decentralisation in the context of the changing nature of public service management and the possibilities for new kinds of public involvement in government decision-making. It draws on a wide range of...
In his most recent review of rates of return to education (RORE), George Psacharopoulos reaffirms that the conventional pattern of continent-wide aggregate social and private ROREs continues to prevail among both developed and developing countries.
1 January 1994
Why learn with us.
In an extraordinary time of challenge and change, we use more than 50 years of expertise to transform development approaches that create more equitable and sustainable futures. The work you do with us will help make progressive change towards universal development; to build and connect solidarities for collective action, locally and globally. The University of Sussex has been ranked 1st in the world for Development Studies for the past five years (QS World University Rankings by Subject).