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.
A new book on land and agriculture Zimbabwe – The Future of Zimbabwe’s Agrarian Sector – is just out with Routledge and edited by Grasian Mkodzongi. It’s fiendishly expensive, but a paperback version is promised soon. Meanwhile be in touch with authors for copies of chapters or look...
The increased frequency and severity of droughts across Europe, the Arab region, and the Horn of Africa illustrate that climate and water are inextricably linked. This World Water Week, we must consider how to mainstream water into climate policy in the run-up to COP27. To reflect on this...
The wide diffusion of ideas and focus of funders around the 17 Sustainable Development Goals released by the UN, suggest that the era of predominance of economic growth as the main driver of welfare is over. The notion that we should first grow and then worry about poverty reduction, education,...
Tahira Mohamed has been working with pastoralists in Isiolo County, Northern Kenya, during her doctoral research with the PASTRES programme. In this short video, she explains her findings and why they challenge assumptions about how pastoralists live and work.
This is the 29th monthly Knowledge, Evidence and Learning for Development (K4D) Programme’s Humanitarian Evidence and Discourse Summary, signposting to the latest relevant evidence and discourse on humanitarian action to inform and support their response.
It is the result of one day of work...
This rapid review from the Knowledge, Evidence and Learning for Development (K4D) Programme looks at various constitutional courts established in transitional, fragile and conflict-affected contexts—the approaches adopted, sequencing in their establishment, and experiences with political...
The climate emergency is contributing to an unprecedented 828 million hungry people across the world, along with Covid-19, conflict and rising costs. As a result, many are reliant on urgent humanitarian food assistance to try and alleviate their hunger.
Women and girls are deeply affected, with...
Sewage has been pouring into seas and onto beaches in England and Wales. A stark reminder - we must maintain and upgrade sewage and wastewater systems to adapt to changing needs and a changing climate.
The IDS-led international research programme, Action for Empowerment and Accountability (A4EA) concluded in 2021 with a powerful final report, ‘Against the Odds’, which shares new insights on how accountability, governance and citizen empowerment play out differently in fragile and...
This Research and Evidence Paper presents the theory-based and participatory evaluation design of the Child Labour: Action-Research- Innovation in South and South-Eastern Asia (CLARISSA) programme.
The empirical evidence on the drivers of compliance is expanding quickly, but there is less evidence from low-income countries. Mass-media communication channels are a cheap option that budget-constrained revenue administrations can use to communicate with
taxpayers. However, very little is...
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).