SAGA Progress Report

SAGA
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SAGA Progress Report
April, 2004

II. RESEARCH
C. Madagascar

Activities over the past six months

We have concentrated our efforts in two areas related to our health and education research themes. In the health work, we have completed the research on the examination of the determinants of HIV/AIDS related knowledge, and sexual practices based on analysis of the Demographic Health Survey. We are awaiting comments and feedback from the Ministry of Health and other local institutions. We have also completed our health facilities and user survey, entered and cleaned the data. In addition, two visitors from Madagascar visited Cornell in the late fall to work on the preparation of the data set. We prepared the first preliminary report on the impacts of the crisis and subsequent elimination of cost recovery on the supply side as well—in particular, on the quality of services provided in public health centers. This was presented at a seminar in Madagascar in December. We have now begun work on the analysis of the data, focusing on whether demand for health services has begun to recover, and in particular, has it done so for the poorest groups? Secondly, our present work now focuses on a more general but equally important aim—to provide a clear and comprehensive picture of the functioning of the Malagasy public health sector some seven years into the policy of health sector decentralization, making use of detailed facility data.

We have also made great progress in our work on education. In a series of visits to Madagascar, we finalized our research program with INSTAT and the Ministry of Education. This was followed by a series of high level meetings in Washington and Ithaca with the Minster of Education, the Secretary General, and the Director Generals, to map out the execution of our work there. Much effort went into the design of the school, household, and community surveys, as well as the design of the cognitive tests that will be administered to the children. In addition, we arranged for funding from the Ministry of Health to collect data on hemoglobin to look at the impact of health status on school performance.

Due to uncertainty in funding from USAID-Washington, no de novo work has begun under the portion of the SAGA-Madagascar program to be directed by Chris Barrett. We have continued to work on analyses using existing data sets. This includes (i) a paper by Bart Minten and Chris Barrett on the relationship between agricultural technology adoption, crop yields, food prices, and poverty, (ii) a paper by Christine Moser, Barrett, and Minten on spatio-temporal arbitrage in rice markets across Madagascar. A previously issued SAGA working paper, by Barrett, Moser, Oloro McHugh, and Joeli Barison, was accepted for publication after peer review. "Better Technology, Better Plots or Better Farmers? Identifying Changes in Productivity and Risk among Malagasy Rice Farmers" will appear in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics later this year.

Planned Activities

The next six months of activity will focus on the analysis of the second Demographic Health Survey data with an emphasis on changes in HIV/AIDS knowledge and risk behaviors, the analysis of the health facilities and user survey data and related report preparation, and the conducting of the various community, school, and household surveys. A workshop that will focus on the results of the education work is planned for the end of 2004.

No activities for the SAGA-Madagascar program to be directed by Chris Barrett are planned without restoration of originally programmed funding.

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