Author: Alanna Shaikh

An important article, and the title pretty much says it all. Condoms work, and only junk science says otherwise.Public Health Advocates Say Campaign to Disparage Condoms Threatens STD Prevention Efforts

Improving science education in Pacific Islands. You will be seeing more about education in this blog, because I am now working on an education project as well as health. This article argues that “neither the model of adopting external curricula from western countries nor the internal development of national science teaching programmes are likely to succeed.” It believes that developing a regional curiculum and then adapting it to local circumstances in each country is the best approach. That’s something that could be done in Central Asia – educational systems and curricula are similar enough to make that work.

Interestingly, the article also states both that teachers lack the skills to develop lesson plans from outline, and that teachers tend not to take ownership of lesson plans created by outsiders. The trick, I suppose, is to work with teachers to find out what kind of lesson plans they want, and then train them on the plans once they are created. ZdravPlus has been doing that with reproductive health lessons for schoolchildren in Uzbekistan, and it does work.

Improving science education in Pacific Islands. You will be seeing more about education in this blog, because I am now working on an education project as well as health. This article argues that “neither the model of adopting external curricula from western countries nor the internal development of national science teaching programmes are likely to succeed.” It believes that developing a regional curiculum and then adapting it to local circumstances in each country is the best approach. That’s something that could be done in Central Asia – educational systems and curricula are similar enough to make that work.

Interestingly, the article also states both that teachers lack the skills to develop lesson plans from outline, and that teachers tend not to take ownership of lesson plans created by outsiders. The trick, I suppose, is to work with teachers to find out what kind of lesson plans they want, and then train them on the plans once they are created. ZdravPlus has been doing that with reproductive health lessons for schoolchildren in Uzbekistan, and it does work.

Improving science education in Pacific Islands. You will be seeing more about education in this blog, because I am now working on an education project as well as health. This article argues that “neither the model of adopting external curricula from western countries nor the internal development of national science teaching programmes are likely to succeed.” It believes that developing a regional curiculum and then adapting it to local circumstances in each country is the best approach. That’s something that could be done in Central Asia – educational systems and curricula are similar enough to make that work.

Interestingly, the article also states both that teachers lack the skills to develop lesson plans from outline, and that teachers tend not to take ownership of lesson plans created by outsiders. The trick, I suppose, is to work with teachers to find out what kind of lesson plans they want, and then train them on the plans once they are created. ZdravPlus has been doing that with reproductive health lessons for schoolchildren in Uzbekistan, and it does work.

Research that implies that economic sanctions on countries that use child labor may make the situation worse. It’s just the old sanctions dilemma, in a new form. Sanctions wreck economies, something that will always hurt the poor more than the elites who run the country. In this case, since child labor is the resource of last resort, increased rice prices that come from international trade let families end child labor. Food for thought, but nothing we didn’t already know.

This is especially unrelated to Central Asia, I admit, because the only real use of child labor here is for harvesting cotton, which is seasonal and requires everyone, not just children.

Research that implies that economic sanctions on countries that use child labor may make the situation worse. It’s just the old sanctions dilemma, in a new form. Sanctions wreck economies, something that will always hurt the poor more than the elites who run the country. In this case, since child labor is the resource of last resort, increased rice prices that come from international trade let families end child labor. Food for thought, but nothing we didn’t already know.

This is especially unrelated to Central Asia, I admit, because the only real use of child labor here is for harvesting cotton, which is seasonal and requires everyone, not just children.

Research that implies that economic sanctions on countries that use child labor may make the situation worse. It’s just the old sanctions dilemma, in a new form. Sanctions wreck economies, something that will always hurt the poor more than the elites who run the country. In this case, since child labor is the resource of last resort, increased rice prices that come from international trade let families end child labor. Food for thought, but nothing we didn’t already know.

This is especially unrelated to Central Asia, I admit, because the only real use of child labor here is for harvesting cotton, which is seasonal and requires everyone, not just children.