The South Africa Node writes:

“According to new research published in the latest issue of The Lancet, donor aid to the health sector is in many cases replacing, rather than complementing, government health spending in the world’s poorest regions including sub-Saharan Africa. Every US $1 of health sector aid to Sub-Saharan African governments means ministries reduce health funding from domestic resources by $0.43 to $1.14.”

Implications:

the Institute for the Future writes:

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is sponsoring a project in Laos to research insect farming as an alternative to meat/dairy. While many Laotians already eat insects, most catch them in the wild. Research will focus on reducing production costs, assessing nutritional content, and developing food safety standards.

The South Africa Node highlights the research behind the pilot project:

India, like many countries, is struggling in the effort to provide clean drinking water for all its citizens. In a move to gain more funding to do this, "they hope to fund an effort to improve rural water supply by adding a one Rupee tax onto bottle mineral water. Nearly 8 billion bottles of mineral water are consumed in the state in one year. The additional tax would raise INR8bn (US$170m)."

India is struggling to keep up with public health needs in the face of increased urbanization and global climate change issues. "The spread of disease and infection during the monsoon [season] is not new. But, medical workers in Indian cities are becoming increasingly wary of it as cities grow and flooding due to inadequate drainage systems increases the frequency of stagnant water. Density of urban areas, combined with poor infrastructure management and poor hygiene, create nests of infection, which could lead, in time, to a public health disaster.