The University of Zambia Journals
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Assessment of serum Zinc, Copper and Selenium in non- symptomatic Sickle-Cell Anaemia patients at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia
Get PDFBackground: Zinc, copper and selenium are known important trace elements playing a vital role as cofactors of enzymes such as superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxide. They form part of the first line antioxidants enzymes in red blood cells and plasma. The study aimed at determining the serum levels of zinc, copper and selenium in asymptomatic sickle-cell anaemia patients.
Methods: This was a case control study conducted from the specialist Haematology and Oncology Clinic 4 at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia. 5mls of whole blood was collected from 46 sickle-cell anaemia patients and 46 healthy controls from Out-Patient Department after consent. Using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry, serum levels of zinc, copper and selenium was determined. Independent t-test was used to compare the means and a binary logistic regression for the likelihood of developing a sickling crisis, using SPSS version 20.
Results: The mean serum levels of zinc in patients were lower 86.92±20.46mg/L against 91.33±43.23mg/L;
THE NATURE OF STAKEHOLDERS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS FEMALE TEACHERS OF MATHEMATICS IN LUSAKA DISTRICT OF ZAMBIA
Get PDFThis study investigated the nature of attitudes of administrators, teachers, learners and parents towards female teachers of mathematics in secondary schools in Lusaka District. A descriptive survey research design was used for in the study. Data was collected from 136 respondents comprising 40 secondary school teachers, 80 learners, 8 parents and 8 administrators. Schools were selected using stratified sampling while simple random sampling techniques were used to select the teachers and learners. The parents and administrators were selected using purposive sampling technique. Data were collected using questionnaires and interview schedules. Questionnaires were administered to teachers and learners to obtain quantitative data. Interview schedules were used to gather qualitative data. Quantitative data were analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) to generate descriptive statistics. Qualitative data were analyzed using the grounded theory to generate themes.
The findings of the study were that attitudes towards female teachers of mathematics generally do exist on a lesser extent among the learners, secondary school teachers, administrators and parents in the schools under study. Inferential statistics showed that there is a significant difference in the extent of occurrence of attitudes among the levels of education among the teachers (0.029). This means that level of education of teachers has an effect on the extent of occurrence and nature of attitudes towards female teachers of mathematics. Teachers with lower levels of education (Diploma holders) exhibited the extent of occurrence and nature of attitude on a lesser extent as compared to the other participants who did not show any extent of occurrence and nature of attitudes at all. In terms of learner age, the older learners showed some nature of occurrence of attitudes towards female teachers of mathematics. There exists a moderate correlation between the extent and nature as could be seen from the correlation coefficients found which are at least 0.60
Etiology and Manifestation of Dyslexia among Grade Six Pupils in Eastern Zambia
No full textThe terms dyslexia and reading disability are often used interchangeably. There are so many children who encounter reading problems in Zambia to an extent that some of them might complete seven years of primary education without the ability to read even a three letter word (MoE, 1992).A study conducted in Zambia by MatafWali (2005) revealed that, 49.1% of the grade three pupils could not read words at all. In addition, 57.5% could not read any single sentence. According to Kelly (2000), the reading level in some grade six pupils fell within the level expected of grade four. Therefore, it means that teachers who teach reading to dyslexic pupils face a lot of challenges. It is a well documented factor that-, in the western world, reading disabilities play a major role amongst children who drop out of school and/or become delinquent (Zieman, 1999). In addition, it is important to know the factors which cause dyslexia so as to remediate the problem. The objective of the present study was to identify reading disabilities among grade six pupils and challenges that teachers face in teaching reading to these pupils. Informed consent was obtained from the respondents and then questionnaires were administered to those who agreed to participate in the study. Simple random sampling was used to come up with the required number of pupils using the class registers. Teachers were given questionnaires to answer on their own after they had understood the instructions. For the pupils, questionnaires had to be answered on a one-to-one basis with the researcher. The research design of this study was a quasi experimental design. A total of one hundred and ninety two (192) pupils and fourteen (14) teachers drawn from two districts in eastern Zambia were enrolled in the study. Results show that there was a moderate effect of lighting system at home and one's reading ability (F (10, 154) — 3.188, p < .05, partial = 9.4). As such, the nature of lighting system at home does not really affec
An Investigation into the Challenges Encountered by the University of Zambia in the Implementation of Extension Education: A Case of North Western Province
No full textThe Extra Mural Studies Department (now known as Extension Studies Section) was established in order to maintain the university links with the community as well as serve as a conduit through which university knowledge and university ways of thought can be transmitted to people in their locality. This research therefore, was an undertaking to identify challenges encountered in the implementation of University Extension Education. It was guided by the following objectives; identify the challenges encountered in the implementation of Extension Education, find out whether or not the University of Zambia Extension Education programs are in tandem with the educational needs of the local society in North Western Province, and assess whether or not the University of Zambia Extension Studies in North Western Province conducted other outreach programs apart from evening classes. In terms the research design, the study employed a case study design as it allowed the researcher to bring out a case and study it in its natural setting. Questionnaire and interview guide were the instruments used to collect data from the respondents comprising 97 students and 1 officer administering the office of the Resident Lecturer. It emerged from the findings that there were many challenges that the University of Zambia encountered in the implementation of extension education, central of all was the lack of qualified part time tutors in addressing the educational needs of the community in which it operated. The study also established that most of the courses offered by the University Extension Studies in North Western Province did not answer to the educational needs of the people in the Province. In view of the findings the study recommended that the University of Zambia should ensure that the provincial office is adequately and appropriately staffed with qualified personnel and also make a deliberate effort to create a policy to involve the local community
A comparative Study of Survival Strategies used by the Aged in Rural and Urban Areas: A case of Chongwe and Lusaka Districts
No full textFor many years, studies to do with the aged and how they survive ‘economically’, were enshrined in mystery and stereotype. As a result of that, many old people in Zambia have been subjected to abuse and destitution; which is partially attributed to lack of systematic studies that would elucidate facts about the aged. It is for this reason that this study was instituted. The study comprised of 97 senior citizens who were purposively selected from Chongwe and Lusaka Districts. 84 senior citizens were subjected to a structured interview, while 13 participated in the two focus group discussions. Therefore, structured interview guides and two focus group discussions were used to collect data in Chongwe and Lusaka Districts. The study established that several types of survival strategies were used by the aged in rural and urban areas. The findings revealed that senior citizens in Chongwe and Lusaka Districts were involved in trade men and women. Others depended on their extended family members for support and care. This was the case for majority of the respondents from Chongwe District compared to their counterparts in Lusaka. There were a number of senior citizens who were also assisted financially and materially by local churches, charitable organizations and well wishers within and outside their communities. Although majority senior citizens were business men and women, their businesses, according to the finding, were not capital intensive, hence less lucrative. Consequently, majority senior citizens in the two Districts resorted to eating once or twice a day in order to conserve food for subsequent days. The situation was exacerbated further in Lusaka, as opposed to Chongwe, because senior citizens there had a lot of dependents. As a result and except for a few most of the aged scraped a living on less than a dollar per day in the two districts
Factors Influencing Utilisation of Diagnostic Counselling and Testing for HIV among Tuberculosis Patients at Monze Mission Hospital, Zambia
Get PDFBackground
Tuberculosis (TB) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) constitute the main burden of infectious disease in resource-limited Countries6. Persons infected with HIV are particularly susceptible to tuberculosis, both from the reactivation of latent infection and from new infection with rapid progression to active disease8. An individual who is HIV-positive has 10 times increased risk of developing TB compared to an HIV-negative person the life time risk is 50% for an HIV-positive person and 5–10 percent for an HIV-negative9. Estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that there are more than 9 million new active cases of TB and close to 2 million deaths per year and that 2.6 million new cases of HIV infection and 1.8 million AIDS-related deaths occur per year6.
TB programmes have focused on TB case finding and treatment, with little attention to HIV/AIDS interventions. According toDavid, (2004) untreated HIV infection leads to increased susceptibility to infections including TB. Currently, global estimates show that about 42 million people are HIV infected and almost one third are also infected with TB (WHO, 2005). The dual epidemics of TB and HIV are particularly pervasive in Africa, where HIV has been the single most common factor contributing to the incidence of TB over the last 10 years. TB and HIV are also a growing concern in Asia, where TB accounts for 40 percent of AIDS deaths (WHO, 2005).Therefore, HIV testing is particularly important in TB because mortality among HIV-infected TB patients is reduced if ART are provided (WHO, 2007).
Main objective: To explore factors influencing utilization of Diagnostic Counselling and Testing for HIV among TB patients.
Design:.A hospital based cross-sectional study was carried out to assess the utilization of Diagnostic Testing and Counselling for Human Immune Virus/Acquired Immune Deficiency among tuberculosis patients. Zambia.
Research design: A non-experimental which is exploratory study design was used in this study.The study employed quantitative approachbecause little is known about DCT utilization.
Research setting: The study was undertaken at Monze Mission Hospital chest clinic as it was selected purposively because of the convenience and ease accessibility to the facilities.It was also chosen on the basis that it conducts TB programmes on a daily basis and records showed low utilization of DCT services for HIV among TB patients.
Study population:Men and women aged between 18 and 49 years will be included in the study as the above age group may give consent to DCT (MOH/NAC, 2006). The study will require 226 patients to participate.
Sample: The sample size was calculated using the Epi- info version 6.0 statistical. The sampling frame will comprise all TB patients visiting chest clinic at the time of the study and who meet the set criteria.The participants were selected using simple random sampling method. The sample size was calculated basing on Krejcie and Morgan's18 formula for calculating sample size of a finite population. The calculated sample size comprised 226 participants.
Inclusion criteria: TB patients within Monze Hospital aged between 18 and 49 years. This group was appropriate because it is sexually active and at risk of contracting TB and HIV infection.Patients will include those who are not critically ill to avoid withdraw before the end of the study. In addition, patients who will consent to participate in the study will be enrolled in the study.
Exclusion criteria: TB patients outside Monze catchment referred to the chest clinic will not be included in the study because they may withdraw from the study due to distance. Patients aged less than 18 or more than 49 years who are referred to the ART sites for DCT will also not participate in the study. They may not consent to participate as they may think they are young or old to be at risk of contracting TB and HIV infection. Patients who will not consent or volunteer to participate in the study will be freely left out.
Data collection tools and technique: Datawas collected using a questionnaire. A structured interview schedule was used to collect socio-demographic data, measured variables and entering results of all the participants under study.
Pretest: The tool was pre-tested on TB patients at Chikuni Mission Hospital. This hospital was selected because it has similar characteristics as the actual research site.
Validity and reliability: A semi-structured interview schedule was used to capture data on demographic characteristics and factors results. The interview schedule was developed based on the World Health Organization (WHO) stepwise survey (STEPS) instrument 22. The same instruments were used on all the patients to ensure reliability and validity. Statistical analyses were carried out using IBM® SPSS® Statistics for Windows Version 20.0 (IBM Corp. Armonk, NY, and USA). The frequencies and descriptive statistics of the variables were calculated.
Ethical considerations: Ethical approval and permission was sought from ERESConverge Ethics Committee.
Main outcome measures: Diagnostic Counselling and Testing utilization among tuberculosis was assessed to determine the level of uptake. An interview schedule was used to assess utilization and determine the relationships among the factors.
Results:The level of knowledge and confidentiality were statistically associated with DCT.Overall (n=226), majority 150(66.3%) of the patients did not utilize diagnostic counselling and testing services while 76 (33.6%) utilized diagnostic counselling and testing. The odds ratio of confidentiality was OR 0.52-1.637 and P-value 0.050 while level of knowledge; OR was 0.719-45.785 and P-value was 0.048 and the variables were statistically significantly associated with Diagnostic Counselling and Testing. The study showed that the patients who did not utilize DCT had 47% decrease in the odds of achieving high level of knowledge and confidentiality were less than 0.05 and therefore failed to reject the null hypothesis. Multivariate binary logistic regression model predicted that confidentiality and knowledge were associated with DCT at p-value 0.05..
Conclusion:Diagnostic Counselling and Testing utilization was low in the study population. Level of knowledge and confidentiality were the factors found to be associated with diagnostic testing and counselling. The findings suggest the need for information, education and communication as patients lack information on the importance of tuberculosis patients taking up the test
Assessment of the Price Elasticity of Demand for Veterinary Services: A Case Study of the University of Zambia Veterinary Hospital
Get PDFDeveloping a price policy that ensures financial viability in order to continue providing a service. The same is true for veterinary services whose economic nature has to be understood for practitioners to adjust prices for smooth income flows to the business. However, veterinary practitioners’ prices often vary across practices without a clear understanding of the economic nature of animal healthcare or elasticity of demand for the services they provide. This study, therefore, aimed to assess the price elasticity of demand for veterinary services using the University of Zambia Veterinary Clinic (UNZAVET) as a case study. To meet this objective, historical five-year data (2014-2018) was collected from the clinics’ medical and financial records. The data was then entered and analysed using both Microsoft Excel and IBM SPSS Version 20. The price elasticity of demand was calculated using an end-point method. The association between inflation rate and revenue was estimated using Simple Linear Regression Analysis.
Overall, the results showed that most of the services offered at UNZAVET were relatively inelastic
Impact of Laboratory Automation and Informatics at Mufulira Analytical Laboratories
Get PDFMopani Copper Mines has been experiencing late process of result reporting at its Analytical Laboratory. The delay in reporting results has been attributed to increased number of samples and analyses that are required within standard laboratory practices. Because Analytical Laboratories desire to enhance their performance as a way of increasing operational capacity, reduce operational costs, and improve cash flow, technological trends which elevate experimental data quality and reduce laboratory turnaround times were adapted at Mufulira Analytical Services Department. The study was undertaken to assess the impact of laboratory automation and informatics on the cost of operations, production output and quality of operations. Primary and secondary data was collected and analysed on a sample population size that included employees from the Analytical Services Department and client departments.The research study made the following conclusions:(i) Automation and Informatics has resulted in improvement on the performance of operations of analytical laboratory, with the increase of 5.03 per cent on the number of samples analysed, cumulating to 1,344 number of samples in reference to the months of July and August in the base year of 2013.(ii) There was a reduction in costs as a result of automation and informatics as evidenced on savings of 32.83 per cent on overtime hours, which cumulated to 1,331.34 hours saved, with reference to the base year 2013.(iii) Automation and informatics has resulted in reduction of errors and an improvement in the performance quality of the analytical laboratory. (iv) Post-automation and informatics was better than pre-automation and informatics. In order to reduce costs, increase cash flow and improve performance, the study recommended that Mufulira Analytical Services Department should scale up automation of its laboratory processes
Sustaining Social Licence to Operate Using Community Engagement: A Case of Konkola Copper Mines - Nchanga, Zambia
Get PDFThe mining industry has both positive and negative impacts on their host communities. Therefore, it is not enough for mines to only rely on the legal licence, but instead, they need to nurture a trust-based relationship with the community called ‘Social License to Operate’ (SLO). The main objective of the study was to examine how ‘Social License to Operate’ can be developed and sustained using community engagement between Konkola Copper Mines - Nchanga Mine (KCM) and the communities within 10 km radius from the mine operations in Chingola, Zambia. The conceptual and theoretical framework of the study was grounded in the ‘Relative Deprivation Theory’ and the ‘Social Identity Theory’. The methodology of the study was qualitative and delved into a contemporary stakeholder risk issue affecting KCM. Therefore, data in the form of voice recordings and field notes was collected through 28 semi-structured interviews out of an estimated population size of over 28,000 households from five research sites, namely, Chiwempala, Nchanga North, Kapisha, Lulamba and Shimulala in Chingola that sufficiently demonstrated data saturation in the participants’ responses. From data collected, analysis and interpretation, through ‘Thematic Content Data Analysis’, three themes emerged which were adopted as variables of ‘Trust’; ‘Social Infrastructure’ and ‘Interactional Trust’ which deals with the quality and quantity of engagement while ‘Procedural Fairness’ looks at how the mine’s stakeholder engagement and grievance mechanism procedures contributed towards building a mutual relationship with the community. Of the 28 participants, 34 per cent benefitted from the mines through access to income generation while the remainder were negatively impacted through unemployment, poor community infrastructure, high moral decay, poor social services delivery and environmental pollution. Further, 69 per cent complained of lack of engagement and only 7 per cent expressed satisfaction on how their complaints were resolved. Further 67 per cent did not share any relationship with the mine. Key findings, based on this research, were that KCM – Nchanga Mine has a mixed ‘Social License to Operate’ because four townships accepted the company while one township strongly felt that they do not share any relationship with the mine as they had not benefitted from the mineral wealth naturally entitled to them. The conclusion was that it is cardinal for mines to develop a highly active collaborative relationship with the community as a pathway to sustainable mining. The recommendation was that lessons learnt from this study can be adopted by other mines with legacy socio-environmental issues to build and maintain their ‘Social License to Operate’ through having a robust integrated community engagement system
An in SITU Real-time RBS Study of Sequence and Temperature of Formation of Nickel Germanides
Get PDFThe sequence of phase formation and the temperatures at which these phases form in the Ni/Ge
binary system have been studied in real-time at sub-eutectic temperatures using in situ realtime
Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry (RBS). Nonconventional (i.e., with marker) thin
film diffusion couples produced by depositing nanometric nickel films (47-80 nm) on Ge-
oriented substrates were thermally annealed in the scattering chamber by linear temperature
ramping to induce solid phase reactions (SPR) between nickel and germanium. Only two phases
were observed during the reaction. The first phase to nucleate was identified to be Ni5Ge3 and
its growth was observed at 145 oC. The last and final phase was found to be NiGe and its growth
started at 170 oC. Although the growth of phases in the thin film diffusion couple regime is
known to be sequential in which one phase grows before another phase starts to grow, an
unusual simultaneous growth of Ni5Ge3 and NiGe in the presence of nickel has been
demonstrated in this study