Catálogo de publicaciones - libros

In our efforts to identify molecular mediators of the benefits of exercise to human health, we have uncovered a biochemical pathway in skeletal muscle that positively impacts mental health. This mechanism is activated by endurance training and controlled by the transcriptional coactivator PGC-1α1, which induces transcription of several kynurenine aminotransferase (KAT) genes in muscle. KAT enzymes catabolize the neuroinflammatory tryptophan metabolite kynurenine, which can accumulate in the brain and lead to alterations associated with stress-induced depression (among other psychiatric diseases). Here, we discuss our findings in the context of what is known about the kynurenine pathway of tryptophan degradation and how its many metabolites can directly affect the brain. These findings provide a mechanism for how physical exercise can improve mental health and offers potential therapeutic targets for future antidepressant medications.

Owning a decent house is still an unattainable goal for many African households. The lack of affordable housing finance, high costs of urban land and weak tenure security, rising construction costs, and prevalence of slums are major challenges to efforts to alleviate the continent’s housing crisis. This chapter provides the reader with a comprehensive overview of the continent’s housing market dynamics. In particular, the chapter shows the importance of the housing sector in African economies. It identifies the key constraints to the sector’s development, and the outlook for the market, as well as opportunities and bottlenecks in terms of governance.

This chapter discusses some of the problems impeding the demand and supply of housing in Africa. Governance issues such as poor land governance and administration, corruption, inadequate housing policies and infrastructure development, as well as problems of housing affordability, are examined in this chapter.

Housing finance plays a vital role in the housing delivery value chain. This is due to the fact that finance is needed for both the demand and the supply of housing. On the demand side, the availability of and access to housing finance is a significant determinant in a household’s decision to acquire, build, or rent a house. Similarly, on the supply side, developers need financing to build the mass housing projects that are needed to address the continent’s housing deficit.

This chapter focuses on the challenges and opportunities related to the provision of land and infrastructure for affordable housing. It drills down on three key challenges impeding the supply of affordable housing in Africa: poor land governance and weak management systems; the multiplicity of conflicting land tenure regimes; and the rapid growth of low-density, informal residential developments, leading to urban sprawl in peri-urban areas. The chapter also argues that the provision of basic infrastructure, especially transport infrastructure, not only shapes cities, but is also an important determinant of housing affordability, particularly for low-income families.

The chapter focuses on the underlying factors explaining high construction costs in Africa and possible solutions for lowering costs. A value chain analysis shows that the rising prices of building materials, large shares of imports, and inefficiencies in the construction process are the main factors that lead to the high costs of housing construction in Africa. The chapter emphasizes the need to consider the broader development objectives in the choice of solutions aimed at lowering construction costs, in order to increase housing affordability in Africa. Taking an industrial approach, using labor-intensive technologies including local technologies, improving efficiency and reducing waste, producing building materials locally, densifying, and increasing the availability of skills are viable avenues for reducing construction costs and increasing housing supply.

Slums and informal settlements continue to proliferate in cities and towns across Africa. The chapter summarizes the tenets of the twin-track approach to improving living conditions of existing slums and preventing the formation of new slums. Various mechanisms for housing provision to low-income households are explored with lessons learned from successful initiatives in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

The authors draw on key lessons learned from other emerging countries to explore possible and alternative solutions to housing Africa’s population. The chapter provides policy suggestions to the myriad stakeholders involved in Africa’s housing market. These include innovative ways to reduce the risk in housing finance transactions, in order to encourage the private sector to serve low-income households; the enhancement of tenure security and property rights; the use of low-cost and labor-intensive construction techniques; and the adoption of enabling strategies for slum upgrading and prevention.