This collection offers a timely reassessment of viable ways of addressing poverty across the globe today. The profile of global poverty has changed dramatically over the past decade, and around three-quarters of the poor now live in middle income countries, making inequality a major issue. This requires us to fundamentally rethink anti-poverty strategies and policies, as many aspects of the established framework for poverty reduction are no longer effective. Featuring contributions from Latin America, Africa and Asia, this much-needed collection answers some of the key questions arising as development policy confronts the challenges of poverty and inequality on the global, national and local scale in both urban and rural contexts. Providing poverty researchers and practitioners with valuable new tools to address new forms of poverty in the right way, Poverty and Inequality in Middle Income Countries shows how a radical switch from aid to redistribution-based social policies is needed to combat new forms of global poverty.

There are many problems regarding poverty, inequality and growth in developing countries in Asia and Africa. Policy makers at the national level and at international institutions such as the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund and others have implemented various policies in order to decrease poverty and inequality. This book provides empirical observations on Asian countries and Africa. Each chapter provides theoretical and empirical analysis on regional case studies with an emphasis on policy implications. The book will be of use to many who wish to assess and improve policies in developing countries and mitigate poverty and inequality, and stimulate growth, by drawing on relevant empirical research and economic theories. Clearly, there have been numerous policy failures and the book aims to provide a basis for improving policies and outcomes based on relevant empirical observations.

Faced with multiple priorities, including the imperative of accelerating the global green transition, development co-operation providers are at risk of losing sight of a silent, yet devastating crisis that has been unfolding even before the COVID-19 pandemic: the alarming increase of poverty and inequalities in low and middle-income countries. And yet, not only are ending poverty and reducing inequalities at the core of their mandates, both are also essential to meeting their broader ambitions in terms of sustainable development worldwide. What opportunities – and risks – is the climate priority posing for the fight against poverty and inequality? Can just, green transitions reinvigorate development agendas? How can international development co-operation policy and finance help? Bringing together the latest evidence, data and insights from governments, academia, international organisations and civil society, the OECD Development Co-operation Report 2024 provides policy makers with concrete ways of delivering on their commitments to improve the lives of billions while fostering green, just transitions around the world.

The basic premise of this book is that the conversation on the future of development needs to shift from a focus on poverty to that of inequality. The poverty emphasis is in an intellectual and political cul de sac. It does not address the fundamental question of why people are poor nor what can be done structurally and institutionally to reduce and eliminate it. The various chapters illustrate in the context of various countries and sectors around the world, the significant contributions that evaluators can make in terms of improvement of the analytical framework, analysis of the performance and results of specific programs and projects, as well as assessing and designing better public management systems in terms of poverty and inequality reduction. Beyond the specific contributions presented, three characteristics characterize those evaluations to be relevant for poverty and inequality analysis: a global-local approach: Global to move beyond disciplinary boundaries and consider cross-cutting issues, local to account for the diversity of countries, sectors, institutions and cultures considered; a problem-solving orientation: The issue evaluated is the core focus and determines the choice of evaluation methods to analyze this issue from a variety of angles; an evolutionary approach: Chapters presented are from iconoclasts who do not have any pre-established theory or school of thought to defend. This is the result of openness of mind and ability to adapt the analytical framework, the evaluation methods, and the interpretation of results in a constant interaction with the stakeholders. Such characteristics make evaluation a domain that can help understand better complex issues like poverty, inequality, vulnerability, and their interactions as well as propose a relevant and useful theory of change for public policies and projects to improve the plight of a large part of the world population in industrialized and developing countries alike.

"Public health is concerned with the process of mobilizing local, state/provincial, national, and international resources to assure the conditions in which all people can be healthy (Detels and Breslow 2002). To successfully implement this process and to make health for all achievable, public health must perform the functions listed in Box 1.1.1"--

What is poverty and how do we measure it? What is the link between inequality and poverty? What can governments do to alleviate poverty and inequality? Does economic growth reduce poverty in the long run? These are some important research questions that are addressed in this book. It brings together important researchers and university professors to offer some analytical insights into the field of poverty, inequality, and public policies. Using quantitative and qualitative research methods, the authors examine issues relating to (a) contextual, academic, and cognitive differences between rural and urban poverty; (b) the impact of inequality on poverty; (c) theoretical considerations and empirical findings about poverty and inequality with a special reference to Croatia and Pakistan; (d) the role of trade facilitation in reducing poverty in South Asia; and (e) the impact of trade liberalization on economic growth and poverty implications with a special reference to Sri Lanka. The reader of this book will find it concise, with a clearly defined research methodology and findings, and easy to understand. Benefiting of recent statistical data and practical experience from various countries around the world, the findings and conclusions might be helpful to academia and policy makers to find better answers to poverty and inequality in the future.

Focusing on pro-poor growth and income poverty, Promoting Pro-Poor Growth: Policy Guidance for Donors identifies binding constraints and offers policies and strategies to address them.

In recent years, several major drivers have put the world off track to ending world hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030. The challenges have grown with the COVID-19 pandemic and related containment measures. This report presents the first global assessment of food insecurity and malnutrition for 2020 and offers some indication of what hunger might look like by 2030 in a scenario further complicated by the enduring effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also includes new estimates of the cost and affordability of healthy diets, which provide an important link between the food security and nutrition indicators and the analysis of their trends. Altogether, the report highlights the need for a deeper reflection on how to better address the global food security and nutrition situation. To understand how hunger and malnutrition have reached these critical levels, this report draws on the analyses of the past four editions, which have produced a vast, evidence-based body of knowledge of the major drivers behind the recent changes in food security and nutrition. These drivers, which are increasing in frequency and intensity, include conflicts, climate variability and extremes, and economic slowdowns and downturns – all exacerbated by the underlying causes of poverty and very high and persistent levels of inequality. In addition, millions of people around the world suffer from food insecurity and different forms of malnutrition because they cannot afford the cost of healthy diets. From a synthesized understanding of this knowledge, updates and additional analyses are generated to create a holistic view of the combined effects of these drivers, both on each other and on food systems, and how they negatively affect food security and nutrition around the world. In turn, the evidence informs an in-depth look at how to move from silo solutions to integrated food systems solutions. In this regard, the report proposes transformative pathways that specifically address the challenges posed by the major drivers, also highlighting the types of policy and investment portfolios required to transform food systems for food security, improved nutrition, and affordable healthy diets for all. The report observes that, while the pandemic has caused major setbacks, there is much to be learned from the vulnerabilities and inequalities it has laid bare. If taken to heart, these new insights and wisdom can help get the world back on track towards the goal of ending hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition in all its forms.

The Oxford Textbook of Social Psychiatry serves as a comprehensive reference to the historical, theoretical, and practical aspects of social psychiatry, and its role in the management of psychiatric disorders. Written and edited by leading experts and rising stars in the field of social psychiatry, this textbook provides an authoritative and global look at social psychiatry, covering a wealth of topics and up-to-date research in 79 chapters. Divided into eight sections, this resource covers an overview of the history and development of social psychiatry, as well as the social world of families, culture, and identity, focusing on key issues such as globalisation, pandemics, trauma, spirituality, and gender. Clinical conditions and special vulnerable groups are also explored, with topics such as the mental health of prisoners, somatisation, and eating disorders. Case studies of specific geographical locations provide a critical overview of global mental health today and the challenges faced in different setting, such as low- and middle-income countries.

There has been a remarkable upsurge of debate about increasing inequalities and their societal implications, reinforced by the economic crisis but bubbling to the surface before it. This has been seen in popular discourse, media coverage, political debate, and research in the social sciences. The central questions addressed by this book, and the major research project GINI on which it is based, are: - Have inequalities in income, wealth and education increased over the past 30 years or so across the rich countries, and if so why? - What are the social, cultural and political impacts of increasing inequalities in income, wealth and education? - What are the implications for policy and for the future development of welfare states? In seeking to answer these questions, this book adopts an interdisciplinary approach that draws on economics, sociology, and political science, and applies a common analytical framework to the experience of 30 advanced countries, namely all the EU member states except Cyprus and Malta, together with the USA, Japan, Canada, Australia and South Korea. It presents a description and analysis of the experience of each of these countries over the past three decades, together with an introduction, an overview of inequality trends, and a concluding chapter highlighting key findings and implications. These case-studies bring out the variety of country experiences and the importance of framing inequality trends in the institutional and policy context of each country if one is to adequately capture and understand the evolution of inequality and its impacts.