Information for action: the Clearinghouse project

This document summarizes the activities of the American Public Health Association International Clearinghouse that operated with funding from the US Agency for International Development for 16 years beginning in 1979. The Clearinghouse was established to improve access to information on infant feeding and maternal nutrition for health practitioners and decision-makers in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. By 1996, the Clearinghouse had created a substantial and accessible resource for USAID, and its activities included 1) developing an international center for information and materials on maternal and child nutrition and related issues in developing countries, 2) sharing lessons learned through a publication of a regular bulletin ("Mothers and Children"), 3) training staff from field-based organizations on information production and management, and 4) establishing a network of national and regional nutrition and health-related resource centers to increase access to locally published and unpublished information. Thus, the Clearinghouse was more than a library or distribution center; it identified key materials, repackaged information to increase accessibility, and monitored information use. Although the Clearinghouse project ended in 1996, the website on women's rights to maternity protection continues to provide access to information and to encourage dialogue and networking. The lessons learned from the project lead to the conclusions that users' needs must be the basis for increasing information access, that local capacity must be increased through new technologies and traditional methods, and that information resources must be used strategically to ensure equitable access.     

Must the show go on? The case for Theatre For Development

This article discusses the reasons for use and nonuse of folk theater for communicating development messages. Theater for Development (TFD) is a tool used by development agencies for improving the quality of life among vulnerable populations. TFD uses fiction and the "safe space" of performance to comment on reality and offer alternatives. The medium offers the opportunity to explore roles that would normally be denied in real life and to explore a community's developmental aspirations. Most TFD draws on talent from the dramatic arts that is unfamiliar with development perspectives. TFD is finally being recognized as important for cultural expression suitable for self-development. Communication is the single most important aspect in the process of development. The constraints to TFD are lack of inclusion within development policy, the lack of development artists, and most importantly, time. Groups with a history of silence, oppression, and marginalization need facilitators. The Freirean model is a consciousness raising one. Participatory theater is centuries old. The most vigorous, sustained TFD theaters are in places with deprivation, poverty, disease, and hunger. These situations are well suited to TFD as a critical intervention for change. An example from the Nigerian Popular Theater Alliance is used to illustrate consciousness raising about government provision of services. TFD allows communities to draw agendas of their own. India has a substantial tradition of Social Action Groups and street theater. TFD can reverse power relations, is not dependent on literacy, and offers an entertaining way of spreading information.     

Congress advances on health care reform: one step at a time

In adopting the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), Congress made a series of small but significant steps toward improving access to health care benefits. The Act's centerpiece is its new requirements for group health plans and for the health insurance industry for assuring portability, access, and renewability of health insurance coverage. Of nearly equal importance is the pilot program established for testing the viability of medical savings accounts. Other health-related changes include adjustments in the rules governing duplication and coordinating of Medicare-related plans, recommendations with respect to privacy of health information of employees, an increase in the deduction for health insurance costs for self-employed individuals, and permission for unemployed persons to make withdrawals from IRAs and other qualified plans for certain medical services' costs. This article summarizes these and other key provisions of HIPAA.     

Herzl on discrimination in Der Judenstaat

Theodor Herzl published his programmatic book The Jewish State in February 1896. Central to it was the discrimination (and hatred) commonly known as anti-Semitism. Herzl viewed anti-Semitism as the heart of the Jewish Question but also as the potential motivator for Jews to achieve a Jewish state. Herzl's analysis of anti-Semitic discrimination is in many aspects similar to present sociological theories of middle-class minorities. His discussion of the economic aspects is compared with Gary Becker's theory of discrimination, and similarities as well as differences are pointed out.     

An in vitro study of the accuracy and precision of Breathalyzer models 900, 900A, and 1000

Ninety Breathalyzer instruments (Model 1000) and twenty instruments (Models 900, 900A) were studied using a protocol described by the Department of Transportation's "Standard for Devices to Measure Breath Alcohol." Although the mean of each of three concentrations tested (0.05, 0.10, and 0.15 g/210 L) compared favorably in both series, the standard deviation was consistently higher for the Model 1000 instruments. The Model 1000 instruments also produced a significant number of test results which exceeded the normally expected scientific deviation.