SciDev.Net

The Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) manages the overseas aid programme of the Australian government. The aim of the programme is to help developing countries reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development, in line with Australia's national interest.  Australia's aid programme focuses on the Asia Pacific region, reflecting the country's leading role in the region. In 2008 it announced a new strategy intended to provide increased support for development research in order to increase the effectiveness of Australia's aid programme. The full details can be found in AusAID Development Research Strategy 2008-2010.

Bhutan's National Environment Commission is an autonomous agency mandated to oversee environment policies, issues and laws, and coordinate inter-sectoral environment programmes in the country. The commission monitors the impact of development on the environment and aims to put in place the necessary controls, regulations and incentives to private and public sectors to achieve sustainable development through judicious use of natural resources.

CIDA is an agency of the Canadian government that supports sustainable development activities in developing countries through work with private and public companies and international organisations. The agency focuses on six priorities: basic human needs (such as nutrition, sanitation and water); gender equality;  infrastructure services; human rights, democracy and good governance; private sector development; and environment.

This United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) portal publishes news, statistics and guidance related to the A(H1N1) influenza virus, more commonly known as 'swine flu'. The CDC presents facts and figures on the virus, as well as information and advice for specific groups of people, including pregnant women, travellers, clinicians, laboratory workers and people with HIV/AIDS.

It publishes daily press briefings and situation updates as well as weekly morbidity and mortality reports. The website also hosts an image gallery, with pictures of the virus, and a range of social media, including online videos, podcasts and widgets.

IMD provides weather bulletins and warnings against extreme events like cyclones. Cyclone warnings include weather outlooks for the North Indian Ocean and maps of both the observed and predicted cyclone track. The IMD website also gives background details on individual projects, including the department's cyclone monitoring and warning dissemination systems. Information on the expected impact of cyclones of varying intensities — and recommendations for mitigation — is provided. The site also links to archives of satellite and rainfall data.

The NNRMS is an inter-agency network for integrated natural resource management in India. It uses remote sensing data combined with other data to provide inventories of natural resources for applications such as infrastructure development, environmental monitoring and disaster management support.

NNRMS publishes information about the country's earth observation satellites, overviews of its work and a biannual bulletin with news and information about key projects.

NASA's Landsat satellites provide one of the most important remote sensing data archives for a host of environmental applications, including disaster monitoring. They have been collecting multispectral data at a moderate spatial resolution for over 35 years.

Last year (2008), NASA made access to all Landsat data free. The website links to the free data and provides information on how to use them as well as a selection of images, tutorials and educational resources.

NASA's 'hurricane resource page' provides the latest storm images and data available from NASA together with a tropical weather outlook for the Atlantic Basin. NASA has also published educational tools, including posters and classroom activities that are free for anyone to use. The website includes background information on hurricanes such as fact sheets, lists of satellite instruments used for hurricane monitoring and explanations of how hurricanes form and develop.

Nepal's Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology overseas functions relating to science and technology in the process of national development and aims to create a conducive environment for the proper development of science and technology. Its main goals are to promote sustainable development, preserve the quality of environment — including air, water and soil — identify new technologies through environmental research, and promote indigenous technologies.

WOTRO is the science division within the Netherlands Organizations for Scientific Research (NWO), and supports scientific research on development issues, in particular poverty alleviation and sustainable development.

The mission of WOTRO is to initiate, enhance and fund scientific research for the benefit of development and societal issues of local and global concern in developing countries. WOTRO acts at the interface of the Dutch government, the academic world and the arena of development organisations. Its scope includes all low and middle-income countries, and it receives substantial funding from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

SIDA is the Swedish agency for development assistance. The overall goal of Swedish development cooperation is "to contribute to making it possible for poor people to improve their living conditions", and Sida includes scientific and technological development as one of the key goals in its activities in the developing world.

Sida's Department for Research Cooperation (SAREC) in responsible for supporting partner country research, and research of importance for the development of these countries. Support is provided for research councils, universities and research institutions, for regional research networks, and for international research programmes. SAREC also supports Swedish research activities relevant to developing countries. Details on research grant applications can be found here.

The principal aim of TWAS is to promote scientific capacity and sustainable development in the South through research as well as South–South and North–South collaborations. It was founded in 1983 by a group of Southern scientists, under the leadership of Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam, as an autonomous international organisation. Fellows are citizens of the South; associate fellows are citizens of the North who were born in the South or have made significant contributions to science in the South.

The Commission is an intergovernmental and international organisation aimed at the uplift of developing countries through applications of science and technology. Established in 1994 at the instigation of Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam, it has 21 member countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. It runs meetings and workshops as well as a network of centres of excellence in selected areas of science and technology.

DFID is the UK government department responsible for promoting development and poverty alleviation. DFID runs a number of programmes that support scientific and technological development in developing countries, covering topics that range from vaccine development to climate change. Its website Research for Development provides both the latest information and full background details on research supported by the department.

Established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1978 and hosted by the UN Development Programme, the unit’s primary mandate is to promote, coordinate and support South–South cooperation and cooperation with the UN. It focuses on policy dialogue and development, public–private partnership and southern development exchange.

USAID is an agency of the US government that provides economic, development and humanitarian assistance around the world in support of the foreign policy goals of the United States. USAID currently has programmes in agriculture, democracy and governance, economic growth and trade, environment, education and training, global health, humanitarian assistance, in addition to cross-cutting programmes.

The website has useful information about resistance, particularly about antibiotic use in animals. It has educational material for parents on how to deal with children’s infections, including which infections need antibiotics and which don’t. It also looks at the overuse of antibacterial cleaning products (for example, hand soaps) and acne medication, which may not be used in the poorest developing countries but are likely to be used in richer ones.

The website has links to several key United States initiatives to better understand how antibiotics resistance develops, educational projects for healthcare workers and consumers, and guidelines on when to use antibiotics.

The CDC's website on climate change and public health offers the background on why the spread of infectious disease is likely to change in the future. A special section on vector-borne diseases outlines how global warming could lead to the re-emergence of diseases such as dengue fever that have nearly been eradicated in some countries. It links to both the CDC's own program on these diseases as well as further reading material.