Illness is a major risk to people's livelihoods in resource-poor settings, particularly where there are rising levels of chronic illness. Measures that improve access to treatment are increasingly seen as a vital form of social protection for vulnerable households, and central to the achievement...

The role of shops as an important first source of treatment for many illnesses is well documented. Far less attention has been directed towards the broader role that shops and shopkeepers may play in household coping behaviour, for example by offering credit to help meet the direct and indirect...

The burden of chronic illnesses is rising throughout the world but information on barriers to managing such diseases in developing countries is scarce. Qualitative data from focus group discussions and interview transcripts from a longitudinal study involving 22 households in urban, coastal...