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Research themes
Health, including reproductive health, is central to the development process mainly for three reasons. First, health directly affects the `quality' of `human capital', which is the principal resource for development. Poor health reduces people's energy and creativity and incapacitates human enterprise. Good health and effective health care are therefore a conditio sine qua non for development in all realms of human activity. A World Bank report observes that "no country has attained a high level of economic development with a population crippled by high infant and maternal mortality, pervasive illness of its work force, and low life expectancy." Conversely, "poor health imposes immense economic costs on individuals, households, and society at large."
Second, health is not only a condition for, it is also the outcome of successful development. Development without improvement of health conditions is a contradiction. Economic growth, which does not lead to a general improvement of quality of living, including health and reproductive well being, is self-defeating. Better health is indispensable as the basic concern of any development programme.

Finally, health is a criterion of development. Unfavorable health statistics, high maternal and infant morbidity/mortality rates and poor medical and sanitary facilities are typical indicators of a failing policy. In 1991, life expectancy was 51 years in Africa and 62 years in all low-income countries whereas people in industrialised countries had an average life expectancy of 77 years. Infant mortality in low-income countries is ten times higher than in industrialised countries. Similar observations can be made with regard to child mortality, maternal mortality and the prevalence of preventable infectious diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. The same inequality is reflected in statistics pertaining to expenditure, infrastructure and facilities of health care and to demographic issues.
The crucial importance of health for human development and empowerment underscores the need for interdisciplinary and comparative research into various aspects of health and health care in the context of development. The cultural construction, accessibility, control and management of health-related issues are studied from a cultural, social, political and economic point of view. The role of the state in the distribution and management of health care is particularly relevant since a country's good health statistics provide a powerful legitimization of political governance.
Health, medical care and human reproduction occupy a central place in the production of symbols that lend themselves eminently to the rhetoric of political power. Medical discourses contribute to the construction of others as beings that need help and `guidance'. Medical services may thus become a means by which political control is realised. Studying health, well-being and population dynamics implies 1
also the study of politics.

One of the main problems of applied social research is that its results are usually least available to those who are most entitled to know them. Ironically, research that is carried out as a service to the less privileged is presented to the most privileged, those who may have a vested interest in resisting change. This programme seeks ways to disseminate research findings to those who need them to improve their life condition. The anthropological tradition of focusing on the ‘emic’ point of view during research will be extended to the practical application of research findings and thus contribute to the empowerment of those that may be politically impaired.
Three related and overlapping themes come to the fore, viz.:
1. Health, health care and their consequences for development
2. Gender, reproductive health and population dynamics
3. Medical technology, pharmaceuticals and immunization

Theme 1. Health, health care and their consequences for development
That health and illness as well as people's response to it are social phenomena embedded in cultural conventions is a crucial insight in the study of health and development. It is a conviction that inspires research dealing with cultural variations in the conception and treatment of specific diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and Hiv/Aids. In this context special attention is paid to the position of particular categories, esp. infants and the aged, because care for these groups requires a growing amount of emotional and financial investment. Cooperating institutions are: Department of Social Sciences University of the Philippines; Makerere Institute for Social Research (Kampala, Uganda); Institute of Economics and Social Research (Lusaka, Zambia).

Theme 2. Gender, reproductive health and population dynamics
This cluster of projects aims to gain an understanding of the way in which men and women regulate their fertility and how they experience their reproductive health. Particular attention is paid to the influence of population policy on development. Although much has been written on the violation of reproduction rights of women in developing countries, until now little research has been directed towards how women and men themselves could be given a voice on this issue.
Cooperating institutions: ECOSUR-CISC (Mexico); MAIN (Philippines); MISR (Uganda); Moviemento Manuela Ramos (Peru); Jimma Institute of Health Sciences (Ethiopia); CIPA (Peru); Pro Mujer (Bolivia); Red de Mujeres (Mexico); OXFAM (UK); Population Research Centre/Institute of Economic Research (Dharwad, Karnataka, India); Society for International Development (Rome); Health Action Information Network (Philippines); Population Research Centre, University of Kerala (India); Institute of Population Research, Peking University (China), Karnatak University India; Family Planning Association India (FPAI); ICDDR,B Dhaka, Bangladesh; University of Durban, South Africa; University of Southampton; NIDI, The Hague.

Theme 3. Medical technology, pharmaceuticals and immunization
In many societies medicines are perceived as the ‘essence’ of health care. Medical services without pharmaceuticals are regarded as useless. Overconsumption of medicines occurs alongside shortages of essential drugs. The projects explore the cultural and social bases of medicine use. Another medical technology which is of great importance to health and development is immunization. A large project, which was carried out in seven countries, studied the social, cultural and historical aspects of acceptance of immunization and resistance to it.
Cooperating institutions: Ugandan Red Cross; KIT (Amsterdam); Centre for Health Policy Studies of Mahidol University (Bangkok); Centre for Social Research, University of Malawi; Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) (Bangladesh); Centre for Development Economics, Delhi (India); University of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia).
 
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