13 research outputs found
Access to information: the role of freedom of information legislation and constitutional guarantees
No full textConstitutional guarantees of access to information and their enabling legislation, Freedom of Information Acts are present challenges, prospects and opportunities for records managers. It is widely accepted that records management plays a pivotal role in Freedom of Information implementation. For instance, the preface to the Lord Chancellor's Code of Practice on the Management of Records under section 46 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 states “(a)ny freedom of information legislation is only as good as the quality of the records to which it provides access. Such rights are of little use if reliable records are not created in the first place, if they cannot be found when needed or if the arrangements for their eventual archiving or destruction are inadequate.” The same can be said about constitutional guarantees of access to information. Constitutional guarantees of access to information would be fruitless where good quality records are not created, where access to them is difficult, and where procedures are lacking on records disposal. Constitutional guarantees of access to information on their own have minimal impact. However, it is becoming common that countries with constitutional guarantees of access to information end up enacting freedom of information legislation as enablers. Constitutional guarantees on access to information therefore present the records manager with the opportunity developing records management programmes which will fit perfectly once freedom of information is legislated. To translate into anything meaningful constitutional guarantees of access to information just like freedom of information rely on sound records management. The records manager should use the enactment of freedom of information to promote and market sound management of records. Institutional placement of a national archival agency might need to be reviewed in a government setting with the move towards freedom of information across the world. Keywords: access to information, constitutional guarantees, freedom of information legislation ESARBICA Journal Vol. 24 2005: 43-5
ISO Standards and Records Management: The Case of the Botswana Meat Commission
No full textIn 1997 the Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) appointed consultants to advise on ways of improving records management activities in the company. This paper presents the results of the efforts of the BMC to set up effective ways of managing its records. It also explores the use of ISO (International Standards Organisation) 9000 standards in the management of BMC records. The paper explains the steps followed by BMC and the consultants to have their records systems streamlined to meet ISO requirements and concludes by arguing that there is no way BMC could have resisted ISO 9000 certification if it was to continue being a player in the world beef industry.
(African Journal of Library, Archives and Information Science: 2002 11 (1): 49-60
Factors affecting the infant antibody response to measles immunisation in Entebbe-Uganda.
No full textBACKGROUND: Vaccine failure is an important concern in the tropics with many contributing elements. Among them, it has been suggested that exposure to natural infections might contribute to vaccine failure and recurrent disease outbreaks. We tested this hypothesis by examining the influence of co-infections on maternal and infant measles-specific IgG levels. METHODS: We conducted an observational analysis using samples and data that had been collected during a larger randomised controlled trial, the Entebbe Mother and Baby Study (ISRCTN32849447). For the present study, 711 pregnant women and their offspring were considered. Helminth infections including hookworm, Schistosoma mansoni and Mansonella perstans, along with HIV, malaria, and other potential confounding factors were determined in mothers during pregnancy and in their infants at age one year. Infants received their measles immunisation at age nine months. Levels of total IgG against measles were measured in mothers during pregnancy and at delivery, as well as in cord blood and from infants at age one year. RESULTS: Among the 711 pregnant women studied, 66% had at least one helminth infection at enrolment, 41% had hookworm, 20% M. perstans and 19% S. mansoni. Asymptomatic malaria and HIV prevalence was 8% and 10% respectively. At enrolment, 96% of the women had measles-specific IgG levels considered protective (median 4274 mIU/ml (IQR 1784, 7767)). IgG levels in cord blood were positively correlated to maternal measles-specific IgG levels at delivery (r = 0.81, p < 0.0001). Among the infants at one year of age, median measles-specific IgG levels were markedly lower than in maternal and cord blood (median 370 mIU/ml (IQR 198, 656) p < 0.0001). In addition, only 75% of the infants had measles-specific IgG levels considered to be protective. In a multivariate regression analysis, factors associated with reduced measles-specific antibody levels in infancy were maternal malaria infection, infant malaria parasitaemia, infant HIV and infant wasting. There was no association with maternal helminth infection. CONCLUSION: Malaria and HIV infection in mothers during pregnancy, and in their infants, along with infant malnutrition, may result in reduction of the antibody response to measles immunisation in infancy. This re-emphasises the importance of malaria and HIV control, and support for infant nutrition, as these interventions may have benefits for vaccine efficacy in tropical settings
Effect of praziquantel treatment of Schistosoma mansoni during pregnancy on immune responses to schistosome antigens among the offspring: results of a randomised, placebo-controlled trial.
No full textBACKGROUND: Offspring of women with schistosomiasis may exhibit immune responsiveness to schistosomes due to in utero sensitisation or trans-placental transfer of antibodies. Praziquantel treatment during pregnancy boosts maternal immune responses to schistosome antigens and reduces worm burden. Effects of praziquantel treatment during pregnancy on responses among offspring are unknown. METHODS: In a trial of anthelminthic treatment during pregnancy in Uganda (ISRCTN32849447; http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN32849447/elliott), offspring of women with Schistosoma mansoni were examined for cytokine and antibody responses to schistosome worm (SWA) and egg (SEA) antigen, in cord blood and at age one year. Relationships to maternal responses and pre-treatment infection intensities were examined, and responses were compared between the offspring of women who did, or did not receive praziquantel treatment during pregnancy. RESULTS: Of 388 S. mansoni-infected women studied, samples were obtained at age one year from 215 of their infants. Stool examination for S. mansoni eggs was negative for all infants. Cord and infant samples were characterised by very low cytokine production in response to schistosome antigens with the exception of cord IL-10 responses, which were substantial. Cord and infant cytokine responses showed no association with maternal responses. As expected, cord blood levels of immunoglobulin (Ig) G to SWA and SEA were high and correlated with maternal antibodies. However, by age one year IgG levels had waned and were hardly detectable. Praziquantel treatment during pregnancy showed no effect on cytokine responses or antibodies levels to SWA or SEA either in cord blood or at age one year, except for IgG1 to SWA, which was elevated in infants of treated mothers, reflecting maternal levels. There was some evidence that maternal infection intensity was positively associated with cord blood IL-5 and IL-13 responses to SWA, and IL-5 responses to SEA, and that this association was modified by treatment with praziquantel. CONCLUSIONS: Despite strong effects on maternal infection intensity and maternal immune responses, praziquantel treatment of infected women during pregnancy had no effect on anti-schistosome immune responses among offspring by age one year. Whether the treatment will impact upon the offspring's responses on exposure to primary schistosome infection remains to be elucidated. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN: ISRCTN32849447
Carefully hidden away: excavating the archive of the Mapungubwe dead and their possessions
No full textEver since Jerry Van Graan first stumbled upon golden artefacts in 1933, Mapungubwe - an Iron Age civilisation that existed in the confluence of the Shashe and Limpopo rivers between 900 and 1300 AD - has been the subject of contestation. Initially knowledge production about Mapungubwe was informed by the need to make a case for the late arrival of Bantu-speaking people in Southern Africa ? a now discredited theory used to justify the subjugation of Africans. In the post-apartheid era, Mapungubwe became a focal point for a new form of myth-building: the myth of liberation and a romantic past but, in my view, with a neo-liberal bias. In this dissertation I interrogate the role played by the disciplines of archaeology and physical anthropology in the political contestation that has surrounded Mapungubwe, focusing on the production of knowledge. I do this by investigating the claim that Mapungubwe was shrouded or hidden away. In particular, I ask: What happens when disciplinary workings, in the course of knowledge production, construe an archive? What do museums, archives and other memory institutions hide and what do they reveal? What gets acknowledged as archive and what is disregarded? How is this knowledge presented in the public domain over time? Lastly, what happens when the archive is construed differently? My interrogation lays bare the continued discomfort and improvisation that prevails among those disciplines or institutions that engage with Mapungubwe. I have chosen to organise the core chapters of the thesis according to specific timeframes: before apartheid, during apartheid and after apartheid. This is done to demonstrate how archaeology, claimed as a science, was a powerful strategy deployed to exchange the messiness for the "true" knowledge of the past. The research on Mapungubwe, by way of the Greefswald Archaeological Project, was the most prolonged research project in the history of South Africa. Its four research phases, which began in 1933 and ended in 2000, mutated as the broader political landscape shifted. As a result, everything that can possibly play itself out in broader post-apartheid South Africa is present in Mapungubwe: contested claims, racial history, land dispossession, apartheid and the military, repatriation, post-apartheid claims, nationalism, pan-Africanism, ethnicity and more. This thesis demonstrates how the disciplinary practices of archaeology were instrumental in keeping Mapungubwe shrouded. An example of this "shrouding" is the deployment of highly technical language in writing about Mapungubwe. Before the end of apartheid, this epistemic hiding offered a convenient retreat for the discipline, to avoid engaging with issues facing South African society at large. This placed the discipline in a position of power, a position of "truth" and "objectivity". All inconvenient forms of knowledge were simply disregarded or silenced through choices, made by powerful institutions and individuals, about what was worthy of being archived. However, when the archive is differently construed, a different picture emerges
The Nexus Between Knowledge Management and Electronic Resources for Public Sector Reform in Botswana
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Correction: Prevalence and correlates of reproductive coercion across ten sites: commonalities and divergence
No full textPrevalence and correlates of reproductive coercion across ten sites: commonalities and divergence
No full textPlain Language Summary Reproductive coercion (RC) is a type of abuse where a partner asserts control over a woman’s reproductive health trajectories. While RC was conceptualized in the United States, recent research highlights that it may be prominent in other geographies, including sub-Saharan Africa. Existing national surveillance programs, including the Demographic and Health Surveys, have included a single item on RC beginning in 2018. Given the phased approach to Demographic and Health Survey roll-out, no studies have examined this single item across diverse contexts. Further, this single item may miss the range of abusive experiences women face when seeking to manage their fertility. Using annual national cross-sections in 10 diverse contexts (eight countries), we sought to: (1) validate a comprehensive RC measure; (2) calculate prevalence of RC and specific behaviors; (3) understand risk factors for RC across contexts. We found that the comprehensive RC measure performed well across sites. Prevalence of past-year RC was highest in the Kongo Central region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (20.3%) and lowest in Niger (3.1%). Polygynous marriage was associated with increased risk of RC across six sites, whereas increased partner education levels were protective against RC in two sites. Understanding the prevalence of RC within a given context and range of specific abusive behaviors, as well as risk profiles, can help alert local service providers to women’s needs. A thorough understanding of commonalities and divergence of RC experiences and drivers across sites can help inform prevention and response programming to address RC and its health effects
