AllAfrica on IPA's testing improved sanitation in Senegal
Media Coverage
March 01, 2017

For households with latrines in many low-income households, finding an affordable provider to remove the waste in a sanitary way can be difficult. AllAfrica reports on a new program tested by IPA in Senegal to improve sanitation for households there.
Finding Impact Podcast: Motivating Community Health Workers
Media Coverage
February 19, 2017

In this episode of the Finding Impact podcast, Liz Jarman talks about how to motivate a network of community health workers and cites an IPA study, whilst ensuring real-time performance management through their health mobile phone app.
Running a Randomized Control Trial in a Real Health System
Anne Karing
February 16, 2017

By Anne Karing and Arthur Baker

Editor’s note: This cross-post originally appeared on the Behavioral Economics in Reproductive Health Initiative (BERI) blog

Together with the Ministry of Health and Sanitation of Sierra Leone and CEGA’s Behavioral Economics for Reproductive health Initiative, IPA Sierra Leone has launched a new randomized control trial (RCT) to evaluate the impact of social incentives in the form of colored bracelets on demand for antenatal care (ANC) and delivery with a doctor or nurse.

In 2016, we wrote a post on our efforts in piloting the...
IPA in the Washington Post with What We've Learned About Poverty
Media Coverage
January 01, 2017

IPA Executive Director Annie Duflo and Senior Policy Communications Associate Jeff Mosenkis write about our work in The Washington Post. Arguing against prevailing views that the world is getting worse, they show that many measures of poverty have been improving, and cite four recent areas where we've learned what works. Read the full piece from the link below.
Quartz on IPA Study Showing Reduction in Infant Mortality
Media Coverage
December 30, 2016

Quartz discusses IPA's evaluation of a program in Uganda where women entrepreneurs bring healthcare to people's houses. The study found large reductions in child and infant mortality. You can read more from the link below.
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Reducing Child Mortality, Door-to-Door
November 29, 2016

One of the biggest frustrations of anybody who works in development is how many people die from diseases which are cheap and easy to prevent, and routinely are in many parts of the world. The medical know how to defeat malaria, diarrhea and malnutrition has been publicly available for many years but billions of dollars and a half-century of effort have failed to prevent almost 3 million children from dying every year from these easily preventable diseases. Mortality remains especially high in rural areas of developing countries, as they are typically underserved by official health systems...
Sophisticated Handwashing Without Piped Water: Designing the Povu Poa
Media Coverage
October 06, 2016

The theme of this year’s Global Handwashing Day on October 15, 2016, is “Make Handwashing a Habit!” In places without access to piped water, new products and technologies are needed to make handwashing with soap convenient enough to become a habit. Handwashing with soap is a powerful weapon against diarrhea and respiratory illness, the leading causes of death among children under 5. It is estimated that handwashing with soap could save 1 million lives annually. Unfortunately, only 19 percent of the global population wash their hands with soap after contact with feces.
Cost, not lack of information, is greatest barrier to basic health care
Media Coverage
September 23, 2016

Brown University news site highlights the IPA study The Role of Fees and Information in Healthcare Decisions in Mali, which tested the theory that subsidies for health care are likely to cause overuse of medical care or unnecessary clinic visits that waste precious medical resources.
Influencing Policy During Institutional Transitions
July 26, 2016

By Arthur Sagot-Duvauroux

It takes time for an organization to influence policy decisions. It requires rigorous work to be trusted as a professional and high-quality organization. Relationships need to be established and expanded to the point that decision makers listen and solicit your opinion.

How can you secure such relationships when in just over a year the country goes through a popular uprising, a transitional government, a coup d’état, and democratic elections?

On October 2014, a popular uprising broke out in Burkina Faso, forcing M. Blaise Compaore to resign...
From the Huffington Post Blog: Why We Love Science
Media Coverage
July 26, 2016

Some of the smartest people in the world are thinking about international development. But we have to make sure their good ideas don’t get stuck inside the ivory tower. USAID helps scientists bridge the gap between their research and implementation on the ground. Recently, a group of researchers funded by USAID’s Development Innovation Ventures program studied community health worker recruitment.
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CREDIT: 
Hamadoun Bocoum
Subsidies, Information, and Children’s Healthcare in Mali
Anja Sautmann, Mark Dean
July 21, 2016


In an ideal world, all children should have access to basic care, regardless of whether they grow up in a poor or rich family. During the last 20 years, mortality rates of children under five years of age worldwide have almost been cut by half. But in 2015 there were still close to 6 million who died, often from causes which we know how to avoid or cure. Free healthcare would lift financial barriers, giving access to health services to the poorest families. Margaret Chan, general director of the World Health Organization (WHO), said in a speech in 2007 that abolishing user fees makes...
L'Economiste on preventing child deaths
Media Coverage
May 05, 2016

Burkina Faso's L'Economiste has a feature article about Brown University economist and IPA researcher Anja Sautmann's research into ways to better detect and treat childhood illnesses and prevent deaths in Mali.
From The New York Times, scaling up an IPA RCT
Media Coverage
March 01, 2016

The New York Times Fixes column says "Ideas Help No One on a Shelf. Take Them to the World." It looks at what happened to IPA's RCT on HIV prevention for adolescent girls when it was scaled up by the non-profit Young1ove. Click below to read the story.
Senegal turns to sewage in bid to meet renewable goals
Media Coverage
October 23, 2015

For many residents, mechanized removal of waste, which costs more than double the price of manual emptying, is too expensive in a country where most people scrape by on less than $3 a day.

In one of the first projects of its kind in Africa, Senegal's government and charitable organizations are installing new toilets that turn waste into compost or break down matter with worms in a bid to lower health risks.
'We want to turn poo into gold': how SMS is transforming Senegal's sanitation
Media Coverage
October 17, 2015

On a stormy day in Dakar, Tina Gomis, a local woman in Sicap Mbao, laughs at the idea of selling her own excrement to the government. But this may soon become a reality in a city with a reputation for terrible waste management.

A pioneering SMS service and waste treatment system is dramatically bringing down sanitation costs in Senegal’s capital and, if successful, may even lead to customers making a small profit from their ordure instead of paying someone to take it away.

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