From Cairo to Dakar: Population Dynamics in Mali

Carol Bales — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 19:19:46 +0000

This post was originally published on the IntraHealth International blog.

Twenty years ago I arrived in Bamako, Mali, and discovered a capital city settling into relative calm following a military-led coup. My first images of Bamako were of cows, cars, and citizens grazing, grinding gears, and gridlocked on Bamako’s main artery through town—the Route de Koulikoro.

One did not have to travel far on this road to experience the full spectrum of Malian culture and economy. Brand-new, shiny Land Rovers shared the road with bush taxis, mopeds, bikes, an occasional chicken, and many, many pairs of shuffling feet.

Author's name:

Sara Pacqué-Margolis

Publication Date:

November 2011

The Key to Progress: Health Workforce Lessons from the Family Planning Movement

Sarah Dwyer — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 13:20:08 +0000

One of the great privileges of my life has been to know bold leaders in family planning and reproductive health. As I listen to the current debates about “task shifting” and “task sharing,” I am reminded of the pioneering work of Mechai Viravaidya and Allan Rosenfield in Thailand dating back to the 1960s. Along with Chitt Hemachudha, they introduced innovative approaches to family planning that can inform our current efforts to improve the health of women and their families.

The situation in Thailand at that time was similar to that faced today by many countries with a health workforce crisis. The number of doctors was quite low and they were very inequitably distributed; this meant that in large swaths of the country the doctor-patient ratio was on the order of one doctor per hundred thousand people. The Thai government had become committed to reducing the rate of population growth and improving maternal and child health. This led to the obvious conclusion that a diverse set of providers would be needed to make family planning widely available.

Author's name:

Maurice I. Middleberg

Publication Date:

July 2011

Reproductive Health

From Cairo to Dakar: Population Dynamics in Mali

The Key to Progress: Health Workforce Lessons from the Family Planning Movement