The University of Zambia Journals
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Malaria Transmitting Anophiline Mosquito Larva in Fishponds of Mongu District, Western Province of Zambia
Full text linkMongu District, situated in the malaria-endemic Western Province of Zambia, has witnessed a significant increase in fish farming activities in recent years. These practices have brought substantial economic and nutritional benefits to the local population, offering an alternative source of income and food security. However, poorly managed fishponds have emerged as potential breeding grounds for Anopheles mosquitoes, the primary vectors responsible for malaria transmission. This poses a dual challenge of promoting sustainable aquaculture while mitigating associated public health risks.
This study aimed to investigate whether mosquito larvae found in fishponds within Mongu District belonged to malaria-transmitting Anopheline species. A total of 26 fishponds were surveyed across the district, with larvae samples collected, preserved, and subjected to detailed morphological identification at the Macha Research Trust. The findings revealed the presence of Anopheline mosquito larvae, which have the potential to mature into adult vectors of malaria. Crucially, unlined fishponds were identified as hotspots for mosquito breeding, whereas lined ponds were completely devoid of larvae. These observations underscore the role of proper fishpond design and management in reducing mosquito proliferation.
The study further highlights the effectiveness of lined ponds, which not only enhance water retention and fish productivity but also serve as a barrier against mosquito breeding. Additionally, the introduction of larvivorous fish species—fish that feed on mosquito larvae—was identified as a sustainable biological control measure to reduce malaria transmission risks associated with aquaculture.
These findings underscore the urgent need for integrated strategies that balance the economic benefits of fish farming with the imperative of malaria control. Recommendations include promoting the adoption of lined fishponds, training local farmers in best aquaculture practices, and encouraging the use of biological mosquito control methods such as larvivorous fish. Policymakers, public health officials, and aquaculture stakeholders must collaborate to ensure that fish farming contributes positively to livelihoods without exacerbating public health challenges.
This study serves as a critical reminder that the intersection of aquaculture and public health requires a coordinated approach to ensure sustainable development in malaria-endemic regions like Mongu District
Social Media as an Online Linguistic Landscape: An Appraisal of Lexical Creativity During a Global Pandemic.
No full textIn this paper, we examine the Facebook platform as an online linguistic landscape that allows for language display rarely seen in physical spaces to showcase social media users’ lexical creativity and innovation. Using the period of the Covid-19 global pandemic, we show social media users’ lexical creativity and innovation in online discourses. Predicated on two interlinked objectives, we first attempt to account for the form and structure of lexical coinages to see whether they can be placed within known word formation processes. Secondly, we point to the sociocultural orientation of social media users as the basis for producing and consuming lexical coinages, concluding with an argument that the history and knowledge that social media users come with on Facebook are key to meaning-making
Exploring Reasons Against Naming Children after Deceased Members of the Lineage in Pentecostal Churches of Lusaka
No full textThe act of naming both living and non-living things is as old as humankind. Biblically, it started in the time of Adam.. Therefore, the main objective of the study is to explore the logic behind naming Children after deceased members of the lineage in Zambian Cultures from a Pentecostal perspective. The study used a case study design that involved the use of qualitative methods. The target population for the study was 20 selected Pentecostal Churches. The eligible respondents included 20 pastors, 10 parents, 10 Church Leaders (Deacons & Elders) as well as 8 focus group participants (comprising parents, deacons & elders) bringing the total number to 48 respondents; all of them ranging from 35 years and above. The participants were selected using purposive and snowballing methods and the data were collected using in-depth interviews and a Focus Group Discussion guide. The data collected were analyzed thematically. The study revealed that in the Zambian cultures naming Children after deceased members of the lineage is fundamentally meant to keep the tradition. The findings show that the Pentecostals' perspective on naming children after deceased family members is the same as the traditionalist perspective. Yet, Pentecostals oppose the naming of their children after the deceased members of the lineage. I, therefore, recommend that the Pentecostal Churches should find a mid-way of incorporating Zambian naming culture into its theology or doctrines. In this manner, the cultural heritage of the Zambian Pentecostals would be upheld and valued
Some Novels are Novels While Others are Not: Carnivalesque and Contemporaneity in Dambudzo Marechera's House of Hunger
Full text linkThis article aims at investigating whether or not there is novelness as defined by Mikhail Bakhtin in Dambudzo Marechera’s House of Hunger. It focuses on Bakhtin’s concepts of carnivalesque and contemporaneity in examining the quality of novelness in House of Hunger. Mikhail Bakhtin’s concept of novelness says that the novel has its own quality that differentiates it from other genres. It argues that this quality is realised through heteroglossia, carnivalesque, polyphony, genre-absorption and contemporaneity or contact with the present. Carnivalesque is the use of language of debasement, parody and travesty in sharing meaning. It also refers to parodying other genres which is a key element in the novel. Contemporaneity refers to the novel’s contact with living memory in contrast with the epic which is related to glorification of the past that is largely not linked to the present circumstances of the time. After examination of the novel, it has been observed that the novel exhibits elements of carnivalesque as a criticism of both society and other literary genres. It has also been observed that issues shared in the novel are contemporary and, therefore, key to issues relating to the reading public. The article, therefore, concludes that, based on carnivalesque and contemporaneity, there are elements of novelness in Dambudzo Marechera’s House of Hunger For that reason, House of Hunger is a novel
Distribution of Microsporidia spp. in Tick Species in Cattle in Parts of Ogun State, Southwestern Nigeria
Full text linkFrequent contacts between tick-infested cattle and living hosts (ticks), enables the role cattle plays in the transmission of Microsporidia spp. among the animals. This cross-sectional study evaluated the presence of Microsporidia spp. in tick species on traded cattle in six cattle farms in some parts of Ogun State, South-western part of Nigeria. A total of five hundred and thirty-five (535) ticks were hand-picked from various parts of the body on cattle from the study area. The hand-picked ticks were identified and screened for the presence of Microsporidia spores. Chi-square and logistic regression model were analysed using R software with p < 0.05 being set as significance. Results showed that out of the 535 ticks sampled, an overall 280 (52.3%) were detected to be infected with Microsporidia spp. Among the tick species, Amblyomma variegatum 103 (55.1%) and Dermacentor nitens 24(42.1%) had the highest and lowest prevalence rates for microsporidiosis respectively. Majority of the infections (69.2%) were found in cattle in Abeokuta-North Local Government Area with p < 0.05 across the cattle farms in the study area. Lastly, Microsporidia spp. was twice as likely to infect ticks on cattle in Ikenne and Ijebu-North Local Government Areas (
Characterization of Qualitative and Quantitative Traits of Five Strains of Zambia Indigenous Chicken
Full text linkThis study assessed the phenotypic characteristics of five indigenous chicken strains from Zambia’s Luapula, Northern, Muchinga, Southern, and Lusaka provinces, providing baseline data for a selective breeding program aimed at improving performance. A total of 100 chickens (74 females and 26 males) were sampled. Qualitative traits were observed, and quantitative traits such as body weight, body length, thigh length and circumference, chest circumference, shank length and circumference, wingspan, and keel length were measured. Males had significantly higher live body weights and measurements than females (P < 0.05), with average mature male weight at 1.88 kg and females at 1.63 kg. Frizzled-feathered males had significantly higher shank lengths (10.8 ± 0.76 cm) than females. No significant strain differences among males were noted in wingspan or live weight. Naked-neck males had the highest live weight, while short-legged males had the lowest for all the strains. Normal-feathered, Naked-neck and Frizzled females had similar shank lengths and circumferences, significantly higher than dwarf females. The study found high positive correlations between body weight and other measurements (P < 0.01), except for body length and thigh length circumference in naked-neck females. Chickens were distributed as normal-feathered (44%), white-spotted (19%), naked-neck (17%), short-legged (13%), and frizzled-feathered (7%). The dominant comb type was single (96%), followed by pea (3%), and rose (1%). Grey shank colour was most common (33%), followed by white (31%), black (18%), and yellow (17%), with green at 1%. White earlobe colour was universal (100%), and eye colours were predominantly brown (42%), followed by black (31%) and grey (23%), with white and grey being the least common (1% and 3%). The phenotypic diversity within these strains suggests great potential for improving indigenous chicken performance through selective breeding
Evaluating the Effects of Garlic (Allium sativum) as a Feed Additive on the Growth Performance and Immune Response in Broiler Chickens
Full text linkIn a quest to find affordable, antibiotics free and readily available means of increasing broiler meat productivity, a number of natural feed additives have been tested and suggested. Garlic (Allium sativum) has emerged as a preferable alternative to synthetic feed additives. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of garlic as a feed additive on feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion ratio, and immune response. 300-day-old chicks were acclimatized for 2 weeks and then randomly assigned to 5 treatments (0.00%, 0.25%, 0.50%, 0.75%, and 1.00% garlic inclusion levels) with replicates. Mean weekly feed intake, weight gain, feed conversion ratio, and differential leucocyte counts (lymphocytes, heterophils, basophils, eosinophils, and monocytes) were analyzed for treatment effects. There were significant differences among the means across all treatments for all dependent variables except mean weekly body weight gain at 2 weeks. Garlic supplementation significantly influenced body weight from three to six weeks of age, with the control group (0.00%) consistently exhibiting the lowest body weight. At six weeks, body weight was highest at 0.75%, followed by 1.00%, 0.50%, and 0.25% garlic inclusion levels, demonstrating the positive impact of dietary garlic on growth performance. It was also observed that garlic supplementation led to increases in the basophil and monocyte counts, suggesting a bolstered immune system
Countering Totalitarianism: Human Rights Advocacy in Vera Chirwa’s Fearless Fighter and Jack Mapanje’s and Crocodiles are Hungry at Night
No full textThe attainment of independence in Malawi was followed by the creation of a totalitarian regime under Hastings Kamuzu Banda. For 30 years, Banda subjected Malawians to a ruthless authoritarian single-party rule where people deemed to be opposing his leadership experienced torture, incarceration, exile, and extrajudicial killings. This article explores representations of Banda’s totalitarian regime and human rights advocacy in Vera Chirwa’s autobiography, Fearless Fighter, and Jack Mapanje’s memoir, And Crocodiles are Hungry at Night. This qualitative study adopts interpretivism and utilizes in-depth textual analysis to identify emerging themes and inductively deduce meaning. Adopting Caruth’s Literary Trauma Theory and Donnelley’s Human Rights Theory, the article argues that Chirwa and Mapanje use their traumatic experiences under Banda’s regime to counter totalitarianism and advocate for human rights in their texts. Specifically, the article accomplishes this by examining the author’s portrayal of how Banda’s totalitarian regime was created, sustained, and overcome. The study concludes that totalitarianism can be overcome through protest, activism and promotion of human rights. It further reveals that a nation befuddled with traumatic memory can attain healing through open dialogue, reconciliation, and forgiveness, and prevent recurrence of similar atrocities
Technical and Allocative Efficiency of Small Holder Maize Farmers in Zambia .
No full textThis paper studies 18s the economic efficiency of small holder maize farmers in Zambia. It uses a two stage analysis approach. In the first stage, efficiency indices are generated using a non parametric technique, the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). In the second stage the indices generated are regressed onto farm and farmer characteristics to identify factors affecting small holder technical and allocative efficiency in maize production.
The DEA results indicate very low levels of technical and allocative efficiency among smallholder maize farmers. On average, farmers are 30 percent technically and 12 percent allocatively efficient. Regression results have shown that use of certified hybrid seed, livestock ownership, and education attainment of household head can improve both technical and allocative efficiency. Other factors that could enhance technical efficiency include involvement in community agricultural activities and the use of mechanized tillage methods and organic fertilizer.
These low efficiency levels signaled by the results confirm the long-held view that most Zambian maize farmers operate far below the potential of existing maize production technologies. The results also suggest that productivity (and efficiency) is as much a public issue as it is private. Human and physical capital attributes of the farm household, for example, are hugely significant. This suggests the need for more attention to broad based, productivity- and output market-enhancing investments
Willingness to Take Antiretroviral Drugs in a High HIV Prevalence Setting: The Case of Adults living in Chawama, Lusaka, Zambia
No full textBackground: The willingness to take antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) has been found to be associated with several factors. We investigated the level of willingness to take antiretroviral drugs and factors likely to be associated with willingness among adults living in Chawama
Materials and methods: This was a cross sectional study of 409 adult respondents aged 18 years and above recruited by a simple random sampling method. A structured questionnaire was used to collect socio-demographic data and other factors likely to influence willingness. Determinants of willingness and association between variables of interest were examined using multivariate analysis.
Results: 52.8% females and 46.9% males participated in the study. The mean age of participants was 31 years (SD±11.60) The response rate was 99%. A high level of willingness was observed with more than 50% of participants willing to take ARVs if they were found eligible for ART. Some of the key factors that were found significantly associated with willingness were, the aspect of being male or female with females being more likely to be willing than males, the perceived effectiveness of ARVs, the need for consent to begin ARV treatment with females being more likely to needing consent than men, and fear of discrimination.
Conclusion: There is a high willingness to take antiretroviral drugs among community members suggesting high potential to influence individual acceptability and general uptake of ARVs. Furthermore stigmatizing attitudes and socio-cultural influences towards people taking ARVs still persist and interventions to reduce these influences are needed