Credit: Business Insider

Fortnightly links: unconditional cash transfers, democracy and health, the rise and fall of ISIS, and more

By Terence Wood and Sachini Muller

29 March 2019

As malaria cases spike in South Australia (34 cases last year, likely linked to overseas travel), the Australian government has committed to supporting clinical trials of a world-first malaria vaccine.

A new study in the Lancet examines the relationship between democracy and health. (Spoiler alert: democracy is good for your health.)

The Guardian reports on the rise and fall of ISIS.

Research in Kenya finds that giving unconditional cash transfers to women reduces physical and sexual violence within households. (Gated; ungated.)

Another study from Kenya finds that mobile phone money technologies increase the ability to afford health care. (Gated; ungated.)

ODI has produced an interesting new aid quality index. This one aims to measured how principled aid donors are.

A new CGD study finds that a birth planning policy in China predating the One Child Policy was responsible for an estimated 210,000 ‘missing girls’.