21 research outputs found
An investigation into violence against nurses in the southern region of Malawi Chimwemwe Chikoko.
No full textIncludes bibliographical references.Incidences of violence in nursing have been reported in local media in Malawi. Although violence in the health sector is not a new concept, it has become a global concern in the 21st century (Needham, Kingma, O'Brien-Pallas, McKenna, Tucker & Oud, 2008:6). The aim of the study was to investigate and describe the nature and extent of violence against nurses and the perceived effects thereof on nurses in selected health facilities in the southern region of Malawi
An examination of the adoption and implementation of human centred approaches in Malawi's conservation policies and regulatory frameworks
No full textEThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo
Who speaks Chibrazi, the urban contact vernacular of Malawi?
No full textChibrazi, the urban contact vernacular of Malawi, is a mixed or hybrid variety that
caricatures language contact and contact induced language change in the country.
With time, the variety has evolved into an instrument of wider communication and
developed in structure. Questions about the variety abound partly because the variety
has not received much scholarly attention. One such question is: Who speaks
this variety? This article provides some answers to this question as obtained from
a case study that was conducted as part of a study that the author is conducting at
the University of Pretoria, which is formulated as a descriptive analysis of the variety.
The data was obtained through a questionnaire, follow-up interviews and observation.
While the data that was obtained through the questionnaire was analysed statistically,
the data from the interviews and observation was analysed thematically following the
questions in the questionnaire.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rlms202015-07-30hb201
Meaning in "neaming" : the processing of word puns involving morphological and syntactic transposition using the "reverse principle".
No full textThesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2007.The word pun is one of the figures of speech that people employ in everyday communication and especially in literary works in order to advance intricate aspects of meaning that may not be easy to express using 'plain' language. The word pun generally provides a speaker with an opportunity to mean more while saying less instead of saying more while meaning less. Considering the facts that people primarily communicate in order to exchange meaning, and that meaning can be very elusive and controversial, there are two questions about the use of the word pun. Can people understand the meaning in word puns? And, if they can, how do they do so? These questions are especially relevant in the case of literary works because the author is far removed from the audience. As such, there is no room for the negotiation of meaning. The current study probes these two questions by considering two types of word pun, Chiasmus and Metathesis, which are composed through the transposition of the morphological and or syntactic order of expressions. At a theoretical level, the study explores and explains the common underlying processes that guide the comprehension of the word puns. Further than that, it demonstrates through a case study that people are able to understand the word puns by using what the study proposes to be the reverse principle. Ultimately, the study illustrates how people derive meaning of utterances through interplay of the different subsystems of the language system. The word puns in this study present a good context in which to explore interfaces between semantics and other language fields by linking insights drawn from different fields of linguistic enquiry to the concept of meaning and demonstrating how aspects of all these come together in explaining the processing of word puns that involve morphological and syntactic transposition. Additionally, the study demonstrates that people understand the world by relating concepts to one another because of the underlying relationships existing between concepts and by virtue of the relationships that hold between and among words or word parts
Knowledge and Practices About Cervical Cancer and Screening Among Married Men in Traditional Authority Nkhumba, Phalombe District
No full text Abstract 37 Background: Cancer of the cervix is one of the reproductive cancers that are claiming the lives of women worldwide, and Malawi has not been spared. Of the 16 countries with the highest incidence of cervical cancer in Africa, Malawi has been rated the highest, with an incidence of 75.9. Being a reproductive disease, male involvement is critical as men control approximately 95% of sexual relationships in Malawi, but their role in cervical cancer prevention is not known. This study was carried out to investigate the knowledge and practices of married men regarding cervical cancer and screening. Methods: A cross-sectional study recruited 396 married men. Collected data were analyzed by using SPSS for Windows version 16 (SPSS, Chicago, IL). Results: The majority of respondents were not knowledgeable about cervical cancer and cervical cancer screening, as 84.1% did not know the cause, nor did 88.9% know the signs or symptoms of cervical cancer. Only 4% of respondents knew the risk factors, whereas 75.5% had no knowledge. On prevention, 76.5% had no knowledge, and 68.2 % had some knowledge on cervical cancer treatment. Almost all respondents (99%) said they would encourage their spouses to undergo screening, and 71.7 % said that men, as heads of families, are responsible for deciding whether their spouse should access screening services or not. Conclusion: Men have a stake in taking part in cervical cancer prevention. This is a window of opportunity that the Ministry of Health can use to develop strategies that are tailored toward men to participate fully in cervical cancer prevention to reduce its burden. AUTHORS' DISCLOSURES OF POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST No COIs from either author. </jats:sec
A demographics data exchange for continuity of care: Is it feasible in low-resource settings?
No full textPrison facilities were not built with a woman in mind’: An exploratory multi-stakeholder study on women’s situation in Malawi prisons
No full textSub-Saharan African prisons have seen a substantial increase in women prisoners, including those incarcerated with children. There is very little strategic literature available on the health situation and needs of women prisoners and their circumstantial children in Malawi. A qualitative exploratory study using in depth key informant interviews (KII) with senior correctional stakeholders (commissioner of prison farms, senior correctional management staff, senior health officials, and senior officers in charge) (n=5); and focus group discussions (FGD) with women in prison aged between 18 and 45 years (n=23), and two FGD with correctional staff (n=21) was conducted in two prisons in Malawi, Chichiri and Zomba. Narratives were transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis. Three key themes emerged: ‘Hygiene and sanitary situation across multiple prison levels and subsequent health implications for women’; ‘Nutritional provision and diets of women and children in prison’ and ‘Women’s access to prison-based and external health services’ Divergence or agreement across perspectives around sanitation and disease prevention, adequacy of nutrition for pregnant or breast feeding women, health status and access to prison based health care are presented. Garnering a contemporary understanding of women’s situation and their healthcare needs in Malawian prisons can inform policy and correctional health practice change, the adaptation of technical guidance and improve standards for women and their children incarcerated in Malawi. There is a strong need for continued research to garner insight into the experiences of women prisoners and their children, with a particular emphasis on health situation
A point-in-time inventory of chikanda orchids within a wild harvesting wetland area in Mwinilunga, Zambia : implications for conservation
No full textDATA AVAILABILITY : The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.Despite continued wild harvesting, there is limited data that provides estimates on the availability of African edible orchids as a resource, and that identifies the ecological drivers of their dynamics. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between distance from surface water and the diversity, frequency, and population density of chikanda orchids in a harvesting wetland in Mwinilunga, Zambia. Vegetation sampling was conducted using an interrupted belt transect design. Eight 50 m transects were systematically placed and positioned perpendicular (90o) to a stream within three separate orchid communities. Individual plant count was recorded within the 0–10 m, 10–20 m, 20–30 m, 30–40 m, and 40–50 m distance zones. Results showed a statistically significant decrease in the Shannon’s Diversity Index between the distance zones in all three communities (p < 0.05). Mean ranks for orchid taxa frequency and density across the distance zones were significantly different for communities 1 and 2 but not 3 and communities 1 and 3 but not 2, respectively. However, there was a medium to large effect size for distance on frequency and a small to large effect size for distance on density in all three communities. These results suggest that distance from surface water influences the frequency and density of orchid taxa occurring in wetland ecosystems. This implies that for conservation purposes, it may be important to focus on areas close to water when establishing orchid sites for the species investigated in this study.The Postgraduate Scholarship Programme from Stellenbosch University and ZaHBRI (Zambezi Horticultural and Botanical Research Institute).http://link.springer.com/journal/10531hj2024Plant Production and Soil ScienceSDG-15:Life on lan
Efficacy and safety of the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine during 18 months after vaccination : a phase 3 randomized, controlled trial in children and young infants at 11 African sites
No full textA malaria vaccine could be an important addition to current control strategies. We report the safety and vaccine efficacy (VE) of the RTS,S/AS01 vaccine during 18 mo following vaccination at 11 African sites with varying malaria transmission.; 6,537 infants aged 6-12 wk and 8,923 children aged 5-17 mo were randomized to receive three doses of RTS,S/AS01 or comparator vaccine. VE against clinical malaria in children during the 18 mo after vaccine dose 3 (per protocol) was 46% (95% CI 42% to 50%) (range 40% to 77%; VE, p>0.01 across all sites). VE during the 20 mo after vaccine dose 1 (intention to treat [ITT]) was 45% (95% CI 41% to 49%). VE against severe malaria, malaria hospitalization, and all-cause hospitalization was 34% (95% CI 15% to 48%), 41% (95% CI 30% to 50%), and 19% (95% CI 11% to 27%), respectively (ITT). VE against clinical malaria in infants was 27% (95% CI 20% to 32%, per protocol; 27% [95% CI 21% to 33%], ITT), with no significant protection against severe malaria, malaria hospitalization, or all-cause hospitalization. Post-vaccination anti-circumsporozoite antibody geometric mean titer varied from 348 to 787 EU/ml across sites in children and from 117 to 335 EU/ml in infants (per protocol). VE waned over time in both age categories (Schoenfeld residuals p>0.001). The number of clinical and severe malaria cases averted per 1,000 children vaccinated ranged across sites from 37 to 2,365 and from -1 to 49, respectively; corresponding ranges among infants were -10 to 1,402 and -13 to 37, respectively (ITT). Meningitis was reported as a serious adverse event in 16/5,949 and 1/2,974 children and in 9/4,358 and 3/2,179 infants in the RTS,S/AS01 and control groups, respectively.; RTS,S/AS01 prevented many cases of clinical and severe malaria over the 18 mo after vaccine dose 3, with the highest impact in areas with the greatest malaria incidence. VE was higher in children than in infants, but even at modest levels of VE, the number of malaria cases averted was substantial. RTS,S/AS01 could be an important addition to current malaria control in Africa
Acute rotavirus infection is associated with the induction of circulating memory CD4+ T cell subsets
No full textAbstract Strong CD4+ T cell-mediated immune protection following rotavirus infection has been observed in animal models, but its relevance in humans remains unclear. Here, we characterized acute and convalescent CD4+ T cell responses in children who were hospitalized with rotavirus-positive and rotavirus-negative diarrhoea in Blantyre, Malawi. Children presenting with laboratory-confirmed rotavirus infection had higher proportions of effector and central memory T helper 2 cells during acute infection i.e., at disease presentation compared to convalescence, 28 days post-infection defined by a follow-up 28 days after acute infection. However, circulating cytokine-producing (IFN-γ and/or TNF-α) rotavirus-specific VP6-specific CD4+ T cells were rarely detectable in children with rotavirus infection at both acute and convalescent stages. Moreover, following whole blood mitogenic stimulation, the responding CD4+ T cells were predominantly non-cytokine producers of IFN-γ and/or TNF-α. Our findings demonstrate limited induction of anti-viral IFN-γ and/or TNF-α-producing CD4+ T cells in rotavirus-vaccinated Malawian children following the development of laboratory-confirmed rotavirus infection
