Through multidisciplinary research and policy engagement we bring new understanding and action on critical issues around health and health systems, and how they overlap with other systems such as food, as well as nutrition, sanitation, epidemics and zoonotic diseases. Enhancing understanding of how to ensure healthy lives for all is a vital part of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda 2030) and has been an integral focus of IDS’ work since its inception.
Our research and analysis on innovations in health services and systems – including work on identifying effective strategies to address the challenges of antimicrobial resistance – is accelerating progress towards achieving universal health coverage in Asia and Africa. Our work on nutrition spans the spectrum from dietary transition and globalisation of food systems, through to responding to the ways that marginalisation and inequity drive high child malnutrition rates. We bring vital social knowledge to aid effective preparedness and response on pandemics. We show how direct impacts on the spread of diseases such as Ebola can be achieved by bringing learning from research on social issues and contexts to the right people in the right organisations at the right time. Together with our global partners, we are generating and sharing new knowledge and evidence to identify the underlying causes of poor health and social inequalities, and the progressive policies and practices that can help bring about transformative change.
In this special episode of the IDS Between the Lines podcast produced with the European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI). Andy Sumner, President of EADI and Professor of International Development at Kings College London interviews Professor Melissa Leach who...
At the end of April I finish my ten year term as Director of the Institute of Development Studies, the wonderful, extraordinary Institute which has been my base for more than a third of a century. Here, in part one of two blogs, I reflect on my time at IDS.
I joined as a Fellow in 1990 to...
Two of ICTD’s PhD students, Adrienne Lees and Sripriya Srivatsa, recently spent three days at Gladstone’s Library in North Wales on a writing retreat. The library was built in 1902, following a bequest from William Gladstone, and has hosted a long list of distinguished writers and...
This paper gives preliminary insights into the challenges surrounding the taxation of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) in Nigeria – first in general terms, and then with a specific focus on Borno State.
This policy brief speaks to the broader challenges of translating investments in DPI into improved development outcomes – and the potential for investments in strengthening digitalisation of tax systems to be a catalyst for digitalisation of the public sector more broadly.
In common with many other African countries, the Republic of South Sudan is increasingly experiencing devastating floods linked to climate change. The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and El Niño regulate the climate of Equatorial Eastern Africa. In 2019, a dipole warming in the western Indian Ocean,...
The Institute of Development Studies (IDS), in partnership with the University of Sussex, has today (10 April) been ranked first in the world for Development Studies in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024. It is the eighth consecutive year that Sussex has taken the top spot for...
The current cholera outbreak in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia began in August 2022. As of April 2024, active outbreaks had been recorded in most regions of the country, including: Amhara; Dire Dawa; Harari; Oromia; Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR);...
Five years after the inception of our Shaping Policy with Evidence training course, Director of Evidence and Impact and Course Convenor James Georgalakis reflects on how the learning process has evolved.
Back in 2019 IDS launched this specialist short course which built on many years of support...
In the last week, Zimbabwe, following both Malawi and Zambia, has declared a drought emergency, requesting US$2 billion in support for purchasing food supplies in the face of large predicted deficits. The total cereal harvest is expected to be around one million tonnes, about half amount of the...
This year, World Health Day marks 76 years since the World Health Organisation (WHO) was founded. The theme for 2024 is “my health, my right”. The message comes in light of recent health disasters such as famine, conflict and dangers created by climate change to health.
Looking back...
At IDS we are passionate about our rich legacy of participatory methods, and we believe that PAR is more important than ever in the current context of complex and polarising challenges.
It is a methodology that brings different perspectives into dialogue, helps to identify systemic issues and...
In an extraordinary time of challenge and change, we use more than 50 years of expertise to transform development approaches that create more equitable and sustainable futures. The work you do with us will help make progressive change towards universal development; to build and connect solidarities for collective action, locally and globally. The University of Sussex has been ranked 1st in the world for Development Studies for the past five years (QS World University Rankings by Subject).