Geographical Locations - Lesotho

• (Statistical) Number of Inhabitants per Doctor: 15,728
• CIA World Factbook : Lesotho

Organisations and Networks

UN and Multinational

• WHO
  - WHO Country Profile - Lesotho
  - WHO - Tobacco control: Country Profile - Lesotho
  - WHO - Environmental Burden of Disease: Country Profile – Lesotho
• WHO - Regional Office AFRO in Brazzaville, Congo
• UNDP in Lesotho
• UNHCR in Lesotho
• UNICEF At a Glance : Lesotho

Government

• Lesotho Government Online
• Lesotho Health Services
• Kingdom of Lesotho Ministry of Health and Social Welfare
• Lesotho Embassy in Washington D.C.

Non-Government

• CARE in Lesotho
  CARE International opened its office in Lesotho in response to the government's request for international assistance to help drought victims.Its assistance includes distributions of food, medicine and schoolbooks, as well as tools and equipment for the construction of roads, bridges and dams.
• Forum for Food Security in Southern Africa
  The purpose of the Forum for Food Security in Southern Africa, which has operated since 2003, is to provide a platform for improved linkages between food security analysis, policy making and implementation in the Southern Africa region. It covers the region as a whole and five specific countries: Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe. It has brought together those in government, official donors, NGOs, civil society, the private sector, and international and regional researchers concerned with food security.
• International Health Programs
  International Health Programs conducts training, consultation and research with a USAID funded contract to assist the Ministries of Health in Benin, Lesotho and The Gambia in building health and family planning service delivery capability. The IHP also operates a regional training center in Santa Cruz, California.
• Lesotho Council of NGOs
  This is the official website of the Lesotho Council of NGOs. Lesotho Council of Non-Governmental Organisations (LCN) is organised into sectoral commissions for effective co-ordination and management of member programmes. The site provides details of NGO programmes in Lesotho, NGO profiles and publications.
• Positive Action
  The Positive Action Society is a non-governmental organisation and registered charity in Lesotho with the aim to help in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa by actively involving infected and affected people.
• Skillshare International
  Skillshare International works to reduce poverty, injustice and inequality and to further economic and social development in partnership with people and communities throughout the world. This is done by sharing and developing skills and ideas, facilitating organisational and social change and building awareness of development issues. This site outlines Skillshare's programmes in Lesotho.

Academic Institutions

• National University of Lesotho
• Faculty of Health Sciences

National Policy and Related Documents

Reports, Guidelines, and Projects

• Enhancing Health Systems through Public-Private Investment Partnerships: Lessons Learned from Lesotho
  T"On March 31-April 2, 2009, senior delegates from the Ministries of Finance and Health of Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe gathered in Maseru to learn about the Kingdom of Lesotho’s new approach to rebuilding the country’s main referral hospital through a pioneering mechanism that will also strengthen Lesotho’s overall health system. In October 2008, Lesotho’s Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MOFDP) and Ministry of Health and Social Welfare (MOHSW) formally entered into a Public-Private Investment Partnership (PPIP) with a consortium of local and international healthcare providers to construct a new referral hospital and adjacent gateway clinic, and to renovate three strategically chosen urban filter clinics. In March 2009, construction on the new hospital began. The PPIP has three principle components: Design and construct a new 425-bed public hospital and adjacent gateway clinic; Renovate three strategically chosen urban filter clinics; and Manage all clinical care and non-clinical services in these public facilities for 18 years. “Enhancing Health Systems through Public-Private Investment Partnerships: Lessons Learned from Lesotho” provided participants with detailed information on the PPIP and the process behind Lesotho’s decision to undertake this innovative approach to revitalizing public healthcare financing and delivery throughout Lesotho. The conference’s primary goal was to inform Ministries from neighboring countries of the benefits and challenges in initiating such large-scale partnerships and the steps taken to plan and execute the Lesotho project." [Conference Summary Report, Maseru, Lesotho, March 31-April 2, 2009]
• HIV/AIDS Workbook for Community Leaders in Lesotho
  The Community Leaders’ Handbook on HIV/AIDS has been designed and produced as a joint collaboration between Ministry of Local Government and UNDP, with critical inputs from the Ministry of Health and social Welfare and the UN Agencies. The handbook will be used as a resource for all community leaders in guiding their traditional leadership activities of raising awareness among communities and addressing the problems created by HIV/AIDS.
• Human Trafficking in Lesotho: Root Causes and Recommendations
  "UNESCO contributes to the global fight against human trafficking by encouraging more effective and culturally appropriate responses based on research and community participation. The basis of this policy-paper is a combination of qualitative analysis of interviews with stakeholders in 2004-2005 completed with a critical review and analysis of available literature on human trafficking, especially of women and children in Sub-Saharan Africa… It is intended to serve as a tool for advocacy and awareness-raising to fight human trafficking in Lesotho, with concrete recommendations to be implemented by a wide range of actors working to fight human trafficking in Lesotho (including the government, international and local organizations)." [UNESCO Policy Paper No 14.6 (E), Paris 2007]
• Lesotho Health Sector Reform Project Phase 2
  The World Bank's Lesotho Health Sector Reform Project Phase 2 will assist the country in achieving sustainable increase in access to quality preventive, curative and rehabilitative health services by increasing access to, and quality delivery of health services.
• Lesotho: National Inventory of Social Protection Policies, Institutions and Frameworks
  "“This document provides an inventory of key policies and strategies related to hunger and vulnerability, food security and social protection in the country; Information on specific policies and strategies are listed according to sector. Where available, the summary information for each policy, strategy or national framework covers a range of programme dimensions, namely (i) Objectives/mandate; (ii) target beneficiaries; (iii) key policy recommendations; (iv) budget for social protection activities; and (v) strengths and weaknesses." Policies and legislation examined include: Old Age Pension Act; Agricultural Sector Strategy; Agricultural Subsidy Policy; Child Protection and Welfare Bill; National Youth Policy; National Policy on Orphans and Vulnerable Children (2005); Monitoring & Evaluation Plan for the Lesotho OVC National Action Plan (Draft); National Disaster Management Act 1997; Small and Medium Enterprise Policy; Education Policy; Food Security Policy; Food Aid Policy 2000; Gender and Development Policy; Local Government Act 1977; National Health Policy; Ministry of Health and Social Welfare: Department of Social Welfare - Social Welfare Strategic Plan 2005 – 2010; National Social Welfare Policy; National Anti Aids HIV/AIDS Policy 2000; Land Reform Policy; Vision 2020; Poverty Reduction Strategy; Lesotho Private Sector Development Strategy - Draft 2 May, 2005; Trade and Industry Policy; Lesotho Highlands Water Project Compensation Policy: 1997 (2002), LHDA. [Regional Hunger and Vulnerability Programme, January 2007]
• Parents' Attitudes to Adolscent Sexual Behaviour in Lesotho
  This article by Akim J Mturi, published in the African Journal of Reproductive Health is made available through the University of Toronto's T-space. It oultines a study that investigated the knowledge, attitudes and opinions of parents on various aspects of adolescents sexual and reproductive health in Lesotho.
• Public Spending and Health Status in Lesotho
  The study was embarked upon to examine the relationship between public spending and health status in Lesotho using simple but conventional econometric techniques. Three measures of health status [life expectancy at birth (years), infant mortality rate and under five-mortality rate (per 1000 live births)] were used. The results revealed that availability of physicians and public expenditure on health are the most important determinants of health status in Lesotho. Contrary to findings from earlier studies however, the analyses found income per capita to be a rather insignificant determinant of health status. The policy implications that emanate from this paper are for the government of Lesotho to channel more resources in hiring/educating more physicians and to increase the share of public spending on health. [author abstract] [Paper presented at the Ninth Annual C0nference on Econometric Modelling for Africa, 30 June to 2 July 2004]
• Selecting Patients for Anti-Retroviral Care at a Rural Clinic in Lesotho: Results from a Case Study Analysis – Research Report
  The number of people in immediate need of anti-retroviral treatment (ART) in the southern African region continues to significantly exceed the capacity of health systems to provide it. Approaches to this complex rationing dilemma have evolved in different directions. The ethical concepts of fairness and equity have been suggested as a basis guiding rationing or patient selection processes for ART. The purpose of the study was to examine whether or not such concepts had relevance or operative value for a treatment team providing ART in rural Lesotho. Using an exploratory, single case study design the study found that while concepts of fairness and equity were relevant to the work of the treatment team, patient selection practices did not necessarily reflect what these concepts entail. The idea of fairness as a structured, formalized selection process did not figure in the approach to ART provision at St. Charles. A less formal, ‘first-come-first-served’ approach was adopted. While there was knowledge amongst some team members that social, economic or geographic conditions inhibit individuals and groups from gaining access to ART and that this was inequitable, it was felt that there was little they could do to try to mediate the impact of these conditions. The study findings pose importance questions about the approach to ART programming in resource constrained settings. The findings also question the relevance of trying to achieve fairness and equity when the gap between need for care and capacity to provide it remains so large. [author abstract] [University of the Witwatersrand, July 2008]
• South African Environment Project
  SAEP works with a variety of South African government departments, educational institutions, environmental non-governmental organisations, and community-based organisations. Its educational programmes include workshops and conferences and a rapidly growing internship programme. Its initial focus has been on South Africa, but it is expanding into Lesotho and other SADC countries as opportunities and funding permit.
• Southern Africa Regional Poverty Network - Lesotho
  This site from the Southern African Regional Poverty Network provides links to the full text of documents concerned with development in Lesotho.
• Turning a Crisis into an Opportunity: Strategies for Scaling up the National Response to the HIV/AIDS Pandemic in Lesotho
  A publication of the Partnership of the Government of Lesotho and the Expanded Theme Group on HIV/AIDS Lesotho, this document provides a comprehensive assessment of the true nature of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, the threat it poses to the people of Lesotho and a set of coherent responses which promise hope and success. It details the role each stakeholder - Government, Traditional Leaders, Civil Society, the Private Sector, People Living with HIV/AIDS and the international community - can play in a common and unified effort.
• US Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights Practice Lesotho 2004

Educational Resources

• CDC Travellers Advice- Southern Africa
• Lesotho: DHS, 2004 - Final Report (English)
  "Comprehensive survey results are published in the DHS Final Reports approximately 8-12 months after the completion of fieldwork. Standard reports are approximately 200 pages in length and include, but are not limited to, topics such as: household and respondent characteristics, fertility and family planning, maternal and child health, nutrition, and HIV/AIDS." Demographic and Health Surveys provide national and sub-national data on family planning, maternal and child health, child survival, HIV/AIDS/sexually transmitted infections (STIs), infectious diseases, reproductive health and nutrition.