Accra presentation

Here is the presentation I just gave on demographic and epidemiologic transitions. It was nice to get some feedback, and now I can just participate in the meetings without thinking about the presentation.


Matthews INDEPTH Transitions Pres 20100623

Notes from Accra

I haven't really left the hotel since I arrived Saturday evening, so I don't have a lot of observations to write here. I will say the dogs, pig and rooster outside my window do a good job of waking me up. The Jaria Hotel is not far from the airport, which is surprisingly small for serving such a large city. My friend said, and I agreed, that from the outside the buildings in this neighborhood look like drug dealer mansions: tall, white, and fenced in.

The hotel is pretty nice, I think. It's funny how old most of the furniture and curtains are. I think having relatively nice accommodations in a developing country just requires a little adjustment in expectations. Get used to turning on the water heater some number of hours before you want a shower. Get used to rinsing your toothbrush with bottled water. Watch out for raw vegetables (risky for us because of the fertilizers used... I'll leave it at that). But otherwise, things aren't too different. Breakfast is kind of a bummer, but lunch and dinner in the hotel restaurant are surprisingly good.

Tonight the whole group is going out to dinner somewhere in Accra, so I can provide more observations and maybe some photos.