Journal ~ Social DelHllopmnu in Africa (1988), 3,1, 83-94

BOOK REVIEWS

Health and Health Services for Planning Workers: Four Case Studies,
Richard Laing, Evaluation and Planning Centre for Health Care (EPC)
Publication No 10, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine,
London, Summer, 1986 (82pp, no price given).
This publication is based on four case studies on plantation workers' health
and services in Malaysia, South India, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Its main
assumption,
that all plantations are essentially similar regardless of the
political system of the country, leads to a conclusion that the improvement of
the lives of plantation workers in all countries can be based on a few
comparative studies.

An attempt is made to compare in general the population and development
indicators as well as health indicators in the four countries. In the introduction
the author admits that the methods of study applied in each case have their
own weaknesses and strengths, from a participatory approach in Zimbabwe to
focus groups in Asia.

Agriculture is divided between smallholders, plantations, and government
and state land development schemes in Malaysia, and in this sector economic
growth rate is lower with a high incidence of poverty. A similar situation is
observed in South India where large company-managed estates of coffee, tea
and rubber mostly employ the deprived social groups. Comparisons are made
between the cases of Sri Lanka and of Zimbabwe where most workers are
descendants of migrant
labourers from Mozambique and Malawi. An
historical perspective attempts to link the development of plantations with
migrant
labour, which has no role in defining its own health care due to
poverty.

The author goes on to compare findings from a number of surveys with his
own observations on household income and expenditure, nutritional status
and food intake, housing, water and sanitation, child care facilities, and health
and health services on estates. It should be noted that, in India; the Plantation
Labour Act 1951, serves to protect the interests of the workers in a number of
these areas, although it is not fully implemented.

Although the author's conclusion from the analysis of various surveys is
very clear on the possible outcome of the healt~ indicators in plantation
workers, one feels that there may be many intervening factors which tend to
make it difficult to make a statistical comparison which wiIljustify the author's

84 Hook Rn'ifWJ

the author has gone to great

the
clarity. Nevertheless,
situation personally, and involved himself in focus groups, attempting
to find
out what the impact oflabour union acts is on plantation workers. At the same
time,
in
the four countries which all come to the same conclusion.

the author has reviewed the outcome of several surveys undertaken

length to look at

This publication will be very useful for all those who are conscious of the
for formulating
seem to be

plight of plantation workers.
future strategies in many countries as the outcomes of programmes
the same in each case.

It can be used as a document

The author has attempted to analyse the situation in an objective manner,
are well worth taking

recommendations

devoid of emotionalism. The author's
note of as they try to lay down possible ways of remedying
This publication is well worth reading and I recommend

the situation.
it highly despite

some of the weaknesses that have been alluded to.
Reviewed by Peter Kanganiso Runyowa, University of Zimbabwe, Godfrey
Huggins School of Medicine, Harare.

Africa's Refugee Crisis: What's To Be Done?:
INODEP, MINK,
Translated by Michael John, Zed Books, London, 1986 (158 pp, $6,95 pbk).

CIMADE,

this book is an attempt

'Talk about our country. Don't
former President of the International
the preface,
French in 1984, this book (hereafter, ARC)
CIMADE,
organised in the winter months of 1981-82, with the assistance of a number of
Africans living in France, many of whom had the legal status of refugees.

let people forget us'. As Daniel Mayer,
Federation of Human Rights, notes in
Initially published in
is the result of two seminars which
N'kruma Movement)

to do precisely that.

and MINK (the

International

INODEP

In some respects ARC is out of date. Since 1982 the number of refugees has
increased and generally the situation across Africa has worsened. Partly as a
result of the global economic crisis, economies are stagnating and standards of
living have fallen. Debt problems constrain most development
plans. Many
African countries require external assistance for essential
including
food for their urban populations. The World Bank and the International
Monetary
draconian in nature, as a prerequisite

are promoting

for additional

assistance.

economic

adjustment

Fund

imports,

measures,

often

The UN Special Session on Africa, called in June 1986 to address

some of

these issues, has come and gone.
community has shown little commitment
to Africa in its efforts to address the
underlying problems, which are reflected especially in the widespread famine
and growing numbers of refugees and other displaced people
in southern
Africa.

In spite of the rhetoric

the international

Yet ARC is both timely and useful.

is timely because
Africa show no signs of abating. They embody personal

It

refugee flows in
and community