Objective: Using a participatory action research (PAR) model, this paper reports on findings from a mixed-methods study which aimed to discover whether specifically developed health education resources (A Germ's Journey) aid children's understanding of health-hygiene principles, and how these findings can inform the future development of…

Environmental health issues are major risk factors in the global burden of disease. This paper therefore focuses on the most important link between health and environment. It discusses the most important environmental threats to health in the 21st Century especially in the low and middle income countries. It reviews the burden of disease from…

Most Tanzanian Higher Education Institutes do not have the materials and technology to give students a significant practical experience in the sciences. In 2013 Tanzania was rated 159th out of 187 countries for "human development" (United Nations Development Program 2014 Report). In order to supplement their current, limited practical…

One approach in HIV prevention programming targeting youth is to use peer leaders in what is referred to as peer education programming. This paper critically reviews and synthesizes the results and lessons learned from 24 evaluated peer-led programs with an HIV/AIDS risk reduction component that target youth in the communities where they live and…

Globally mosquito-borne lymphatic filariasis (LF) is targeted for elimination by 2020. Towards this goal, the scope of community-based vector control as a supplementary strategy to mass drug administration (MDA) was assessed through an intensive education campaign and evaluated using pre- and post-educational surveys in an intervention and…

The Nutrition and Malaria Control for Child Survival Project is a community-based growth promotion project that utilizes Community Health Workers (CHWs), referred to as Community Child Growth Promoters (CCGPs), as the principal change agents. The purpose of this study was to identify perceptions of key stakeholders about the project and the role…

This review article questions the assumptions at the core of peer education interventions adopted in young people's sexual and reproductive health programmes in developing countries. Peer education is a more complex and problematic approach than its popularity with development agencies and practitioners implies. Its rise to prominence is more…

Although it is well known that vaccines against many infectious diseases confer positive economic externalities via indirect protection, analysts have typically ignored possible herd protection effects in policy analyses of vaccination programs. Despite a growing literature on the economic theory of vaccine externalities and several innovative…

Studies at the individual level have shown a negative effect of education and intelligence on risky behavior. The same has been demonstrated for risky sexual behavior and for HIV-infection rates in sub-Saharan Africa. In path analyses at the country data level, cognitive abilities (seen as depending on education) show a strong negative effect on…

The AIDS pandemic has become an important force that is shaping the world and will certainly have an enormous impact on the lives of young people today. Forty million people around the world are suffering from HIV/AIDS and, every year, eight million people die of this disease. As both school librarian and teacher of the Challenge and Change course…

Noting that a quarter of a million children in the developing world die each week and that millions more live with ill health and poor growth, this handbook presents practical, low-cost ways of protecting children's lives and health. It is directed to those people who are in the position to communicate this information to families, such as health…

Focusing on health issues in developing countries, this journal presents information about diarrhoeal diseases and related health problems. The journal is divided into the following sections: (1) "Intestinal Absorption of Water and Electrolytes"; (2) "Diagnosis of Infectious Diarrhoea"; (3) "Hydration and…

Examines poliomyelitis in the United States by reviewing clinical manifestations and outcomes, history, recent epidemiologic characteristics, characteristics of currently available vaccines, controversies surrounding vaccination policy, current poliovirus vaccination recommendations, and prospects for worldwide eradication. Poliomyelitis remains…

Noting that each year nearly 11 million children die from preventable causes before reaching their fifth birthday, this handbook contains practical, low-cost ways of protecting children's lives and health. The handbook is directed to those in positions to communicate the information to families, such as health workers, teachers, government…

This issue of Children in the Tropics analyzes key issues relating to protecting the health of newborn infants. Many of the suggestions offered concern rudimentary health care situations in developing countries. Key issues are addressed in four sections. The first section discusses the early care and first medical examination of infants born in…