Making progress in global health: the need for new paradigms

This article takes the state of health in the world today as the starting point for a backward look at the trajectory that has led to our current position and speculation about prospects for improved global health in the future. Our model of social development and its dominant value system, which has promoted scientific progress but has also brought about great social, economic and health instability, is interrogated. This leads to questions such as what it means to be healthy and what the practice of medicine is about. Three potential scenarios for global health in the future are outlined. It is suggested that deep introspection about our current value system is required to achieve a paradigm shift that could reverse current trends and lead both to improvements in health globally and to less human insecurity. The authors conclude that while we have the material resources to achieve ambitious goals we may lack the moral and political will to do so. An expanded discourse on ethics and human rights—as well as on the limits of what is politically possible— may provide the impetus to drive change towards an improved global economic system and better health globally.     

The Design and Development of a Closed Chamber for the in‐situ Quantification of Dryland Soil Carbon Dioxide Fluxes

This paper describes the design features and capabilities of a portable automated in‐situ closed chamber (ISCC) for the quantification of CO₂ fluxes in dryland soils where both photosynthetic and respiratory components may be associated with a cyanobacterial crust. The processes of CO₂ flux in dryland soils are briefly described in order to clarify the conditions that make quantification of these fluxes problematic. The instrumentation currently available for in‐situ soil CO₂ flux measurements is then reviewed demonstrating their inadequacies for the dryland environment. The ISCC described here is a member of the closed or enrichment class of soil respiration chambers. The ISCC, however, features an optical window possessing high (>90%) transmission in the photosynthetic active region (PAR) of the solar irradiance spectrum, permitting observations of photosynthesis. The ISCC possesses automatic venting and purging so that gaseous concentrations inside the chamber do not change from ambient sufficiently to significantly affect diffusion. The ISCC features both active and passive cooling employing internal solid‐state Peltier coolers and external aluminised Mylar respectively. This avoids severe disturbance of the microclimate within the chamber due to admission of high fluxes of PAR and permits in‐situ operation under a wide range of ambient field temperatures (~ ?5 to 40°C). Sensors internal to the chamber monitor temperature, relative humidity, irradiance and pressure. In this implementation the ISCC is coupled to a portable gas chromatograph (Agilent GC‐3000) to sample the chamber atmosphere. Indicative data for Kalahari Sand soils of Botswana are presented as an illustration of the general performance characteristics.     

The Dynamics of Environmental Issues in Australia: Concerns,Clusters and Carriers

Recent survey (AES and ISSP) data and public opinion polls show an interesting dynamic at work in public opinion on environmental issues in Australia. Environmental concerns lose urgency, detach themselves from environmental groups, their established issue-carriers, and further bifurcate into distinct 'green' and 'brown' issue clusters. These shifts in patterns of concern accompany changes in forms of public expression and in the diffusion of concerns. However, public concerns about the environment in Australia do not simply wane, but become 'routinised', that is, increasingly differentiated, independent of green groups, and linked with conventional institutional issue carriers.     

Frequency Estimation of Natural Hazards and Extremes

Detailed studies of natural hazards such as floods, droughts, tropical cyclones and earthquakes often require estimates of the frequencies of occurrence of particular extreme events However, the techniques for making these estimates are sometimes misunderstood and misapplied, particularly with regard to the forms of frequency distribution that are assumed or implied The most appropriate distribution and estimation technique depend on several factors, including the physical nature of the event, the available data and the intended application of the estimate. The present paper attempts to review these matters, giving attention to a range of techniques from simple graphical extrapolation to reasonably rigorous analytical procedures. It is pointed out that, no matter how sophisticated the technique, there is always some inaccuracy and uncertainty in such estimates. Attention is therefore also given to relatively simple methods of assessing the degree of uncertainty.     

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT FROM CANADA: AN OVERVIEW

Foreign direct investment (fdi) research on Canada has historically been centred on incoming rather than outgoing controlling capital. Yet the activities of Canada-based multinational enterprises (mne) have fostered an impressive outflow of direct investment abroad. To appreciate the importance of Canada's mne, one must understand the spatial and functional characteristics of Canadian parent companies and their foreign direct investments. To realize this goal, a sample of more than 17 000 examples of Canadian fdi (at various points in time) has been retrieved and analyzed. Spatially, the favourite target of Canadian outward fdi has been the United States and then the United Kingdom, but significant agglomerations of Canadian controlling capital can be found in many parts of the world (particularly in Western Europe, the Caribbean region, Australia, and Brazil, and in various Asian destinations). The locations of Canadian parent companies have been heavily biased toward the largest metropolitan cities. Additionally, multinational enterprises headquartered in Toronto and Montreal control (by far) the most foreign subsidiaries. In general, manufacturing, financial, and mining activities have constituted the most important endeavours of Canadian multinationals abroad. This pattern of functional emphasis, however, does vary with each specific location. Through a stepwise regression procedure, it was determined that market, trade (with Canada), labour, and crime conditions were critical place-specific criteria that affected the spatial decisions of Canadian direct investors. Par le passé, la recherche sur les investissements directs à I‘étranger (ide) du Canada a été axée sur les entrées de capital de contrôle plutôt que sur les sorties. Pourtant, les activés d'entreprises multinationales basées au Canada ont engendré“un flot impressionnant d'investissements directs à l’étranger. Pour appécier l'importance des entreprises multinationales du Canada, on doit comprendre les caractéristiques géographiques et fonctionnelles des compagnies mères canadiennes, et leurs investissements directs à l'étranger. Pour atteindre cet objectif, un échantillon de plus de 17 000 exemples de ide canadiens (à différents moments) a été choisi et analysé. Géographiquement, la cible favorite des ide canadiens vers l'extérieur a été les États-Unis, puis le Royaume-Uni, mais on retrouve d'importantes concentrations de capital de contrôle canadien en plusieurs autres parties du monde (surtout en Europe occidentale, dans la région des Caraïbes, en Australie, au Brésil etdans diverses destinations asiatiques). Pour le choix de la localisation de leurs sièges sociaux, les compagnies mères canadiennes ont nettement favorisé les plus grandes métropoles. De plus, ce sont les entreprises multinationales dont les sièges sociaux sont à Toronto et à Montréal qui gèrent la plupart (et de loin) des filiates étrangères. En général, les activités manufacturieres, financieres et minieres ont const'itue“la plus importante part des projets des multinationales canadiennes à l‘étranger. Cette tendance varie cependant selon les endroits. Par un modèle de régression, il a étéétabli que les conditions de marché, de commerce (avec le Canada), de travail et de criminalitéétaient des critères décisifs qui affectaient les choix géographiques des investisseurs canadiens. Mots-clés: investissements directs à I'étranger, entreprises multinationales du Canada     

Capital,Labour and State Relations in the Analysis of Enterprises and Restructuring: An Australasian Debate

The paper arises out of the debate of a group of Australian and New Zealand geographers who attended a workshop in ‘Enterprises and Restructuring’ held in Canberra in September 1988. The paper outlines a framework for a political economy analysis of processes at the heart of economic restructuring and examines the units of analysis, concepts and approaches used by geographers bringing different philosophic positions to the investigation of economic restructuring. It explores how the three threads of production, accumulation and social relations are intertwined in the study of enterprise and restructuring and how an understanding of these dimensions provides a basis for reinterpreting the utility of many analytical categories. The discussion of the meaning, relevance and content of terms such as enterprise, industry, capital and the state confirms the validity and value of concepts derived from different theoretical positions and goes some way towards demonstrating that researchers from opposing positions can meaningfully communicate and cooperate.     

Towards the construction of place-specific measures of deprivation: a case study from the Vancouver metropolitan area

There have been numerous attempts to measure population health outcomes using socio-economic indicators. Few investigations have utilized a survey-based approach. This article develops a new means for identifying key socio-economic indicators of relative health outcomes within greater Vancouver, British Columbia (BC). The index, referred to as the Vancouver Area Neighbourhood Deprivation Index (VANDIX), was constructed from a survey of provincial Medical Health Officers (MHOs). The MHOs were asked to rank socio-economic indicators selected from the 2001 National Census by their relative influence on health outcomes throughout the province. Response consistency was evaluated with a weighted Kappa test statistic. The VANDIX score was assigned to Census Dissemination Areas and Census Tract administrative geographies. The scores were then compared to a subset of the 2003 Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) Cycle 2.1 database on self-assessed health. Outcome scores between the     

NRM Regions in Australia: the ‘Haves’ and the ‘Have Nots’

This paper identifies external factors affecting the capacity of Australia's now‐formalised 56 regional natural resource management (NRM) bodies and their community‐based Boards to meet planning and management responsibilities. It demonstrates that little is known about the basic capacity‐related characteristics of NRM regions, despite the lengthy and elaborate process of regionalism that Australia has embarked upon, with its associated and substantial devolution of responsibilities and resources. A suite of indicators is used to develop an ‘exploratory’ capacity typology of NRM regions. The ten regional ‘types’ identified are found to attract varying budget allocations under the Natural Heritage Trust Extension and National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality. There are indications that State and regional interests within and outside NRM can significantly influence the distribution of resources. An examination of resources allocated to capacity‐building activities shows significant differences between regions in the scale of resources allocated (0–96% of total budget). The paper argues the case for intervention to reduce the gap between ‘have’ and ‘have not’ regions, and for further exploration of disparities in the allocation of resources to capacity‐building activities. Clarification is needed of the extent to which capacity‐building activities adequately target regional NRM bodies and their Boards.