11 research outputs found
AICCRA validation report: Piloting and validating the Climate Security Sensitivity Scoring Tool (CSST): Evidence from the field on the climate security sensitivity of the climate smart village approach in Cinzana, Mali.
No full textA one-day workshop in Ségou, Mali was organized to test the results of the Climate Security Sensitivity Tool (CSST) and reflect on the reliability of its recommendations. This document reports on the results of the CSST piloted on the Climate Smart Village (CSV) approach implemented in Cinzana and on the outcomes of the workshop that reflected upon these results and recommendations. The workshop validated most drivers of conflict and insecurity flagged by the CSST, while pointing out that the human hazards risk indicator was overestimated since most conflict experienced are resource-related rather than linked to the threats of armed groups as well as the fact that the vulnerable groups indicator does not fully capture the complexity of marginalized groups in the region. The workshop highlighted the program's achievements, including advancements in agricultural technologies, gender empowerment through market gardening, and improved community collaboration. However, shortcomings in addressing institutional natural resource management and awareness-raising initiatives were noted. Participants emphasized the repercussions, such as deforestation and resource conflicts, signaling the need to prioritize institution-building and education in CSV programs. Aligning with CSST recommendations, the findings underscore the significance of integrating peace-focused elements to bolster climate adaptation strategies and prevent resource-related conflicts in vulnerable contexts. The workshop's outcomes validated the CSST's utility and demonstrated that the tool can provide suitable recommendations, especially when coupled with localized insights, enhancing its value in crafting context-specific climate adaptation programs that effectively address the drivers of conflict and insecurity in vulnerable regions
Séroprévalence de la co-infection VIH /virus de l’hépatite B à l’Hôpital de l’Amitié sino-guinéenne (HASIGUI) Kipé/Conakry (Guinée)
No full textObjectif: L’objectif de cette étude était de déterminer la séroprévalence de la co-infection Virus de l’immunodéficience humaine et Virus de l’hépatite B (VIH/VHB) et les facteurs associés chez les patients reçus au laboratoire biomédical de l’Hôpital de l’Amitié Sino-guinéenne (HASIGUI).Méthodologie et Résultats: Il s’agit d’une étude prospective qui a été menée du 18 juillet 2016 au 18 Avril 2017 sur 525 patients reçus au laboratoire biomédical de HASIGUI pour des examens biologiques. La détection du VIH et le typage ont été faits par immuno-chromatographie à l’aide des Kits spécifiques. La recherche de l’hépatite B a été réalisée par la détection de l’AgHBs par immuno-chromatographie à l’aide de kits spécifiques et par méthode ELISA. Les résultats obtenus ont montré que la prévalence de la coinfection VIH/VHB était de 2,3%. L’âge moyen des patients était de 37 ans avec des extrêmes de 1 et 83 ans. Le sexe masculin était le plus représenté (71,2%) avec une sex-ratio (H/F) égal 2,47. La tranche d’âge la plus représentée était celle des 25 à 34 ans (37,7%). Les prévalences du VIH et de l’hépatite B étaient respectivement de 10,5 et 17,9%. La prévalence du VIH était plus élevée chez le sexe féminins (P=0,05). Tous les cas de VIH détectés étaient du type 1 (VIH1).Conclusion et application: Il ressort de cette étude que la séroprévalence du VIH et du virus de l’hépatite B sont élevées à Conakry. En revanche, celle de la co-infection VIH/VHB est relativement faible par rapport à la plupart des données rapportées dans d’autres pays d’Afrique Sub-saharienne. Cependant, la coinfection VIH/VHB pourrait être considérée comme un problème de santé publique non négligeable en Guinée, nécessitant ainsi son diagnostic précoce en organisant des campagnes de sensibilisation et de dépistage dans la population, permettant ainsi une meilleure prise en charge des patients co-infectés (VIH/VHB) par un double traitement antirétrovirales et anti-hépatites B.Mots clés: Co-infection, VIH, AgHBs (VHB), HASIGUI, Kipé/ConakryEnglish Title: Seroprevalence of Hepatitis B Virus and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Coinfection at the Chinese and Guinean Friendships Hospital (HASIGUI) of Kipé Conakry/ GuineaEnglish AbstractObjective: The aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection at the Chinese and Guinean friendships hospital of Kipé/Conakry.Methodology and Results: This prospective study was carried out on 525 patients attending to the biomedical laboratory of Kipé/Conakry (HASIGUI) from July 18th, 2016 to April 18th, 2017. HIV and HBV detection assays were done in the sera of all patients by immunochromatographic methods and ELISA. HIV detection and serotyping were processed in sera by immunochromatographic methods. Hepatitis B virus surface Antigen (HBsAg) was detected by immune-chromatographic methods and confirmed by ELISA. The seroprevalence of HIV/HBV coinfection was 2.3%. The mean age was 37 years, ranging from 1 to 83 years. Males were more represented than females and the sex-ratio (M/F) was 2.47%. HIV seroprevalence was 10,5%, while HBV seroprevalence was 17,9%. The HIV prevalence was high in females than males (P=0.05). HIV1 was the only type screened.Conclusion and application of results: This study findings showed that the seroprevalence of HIV/HBV coinfection rate was lower than that reported in other sub-Saharan Africa countries. HBV and HIV infections were similar to some reported prevalence in other sub-Saharan African countries. Then HIV/HBV coinfection must be considered as an important health problems in Guinea. Then, early diagnosis of HIV/HBV co-infected patients must be done to reduce its evolution and to improve its management practices by organizing awarenes and screening campaigns and treatment for both infections, using molecules against HBV and HIV infections.Keywords: HIV, HBV/HBsAg, Co-infection; HASIGUI; Kipé/Conakr
An Analysis of the Recent Evolution of Mali’s Maize Subsector
No full textIn most developing countries, historically, the main strategy for improving the food sector has focused on increasing farm-level production. But in recent years, with the emphasis on value chain analysis, there has been much more focus on subsector studies, demand-driven approaches, and improving vertical coordination to assure product quality to final consumption markets. Millet, sorghum, and later rice were the traditional leading three cereal crops produced and consumed in Mali. Maize has trailed them for more than two decades, but from mid 1990s on, it has been produced and consumed in much larger quantities. Given the potentials of maize, developing and better organizing its subsector has the potential to not only increase revenues for maize farmers, but also create profitable opportunities for other actors in the subsector (traders, marketers, processors, industries, and consumers). This paper seeks to provide a description of the changing supply and demand dynamics for maize in Mali, the organization of the marketing channels and players, and the characteristics of the main consumption markets. The main conceptual tools to be used are subsector analysis and the structure-conduct-performance (SCP) approach. The paper will draw on literature reviews, the author’s personal interviews with value chain participants, and tabular and graphical analysis of production and price data to address the reasons behind the changes in production and demand, how the demand is likely to evolve, how the structure of the subsector might be affected, and what will be the implications for public sector investments and policies.maize, value chain, Mali, cereals, food security, agricultural marketing, livestock feed, industrial organization, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Food Security and Poverty, International Development, Marketing, L11-Production, Pricing, and Market Structure, Size Distribution of Firms, N57-Africa, Oceania, O17-Formal and Informal Sectors, Shadow Economy, Institutional Arrangements, O33-Technological Change: Choices and Consequences, Diffusion Processes, Q12-Micro Analysis of Farm Firms, Farm Households, and Farm Input Markets, Q13-Agricultural Markets and Marketing, Cooperatives, Agribusiness, Q18-Agricultural Policy, Food Policy,
Bidirectional Introgressive Hybridization between a Cattle and Human Schistosome Species
No full textSchistosomiasis is a disease of great medical and veterinary importance in tropical and subtropical regions, caused by parasitic flatworms of the genus Schistosoma (subclass Digenea). Following major water development schemes in the 1980s, schistosomiasis has become an important parasitic disease of children living in the Senegal River Basin (SRB). During molecular parasitological surveys, nuclear and mitochondrial markers revealed unexpected natural interactions between a bovine and human Schistosoma species: S. bovis and S. haematobium, respectively. Hybrid schistosomes recovered from the urine and faeces of children and the intermediate snail hosts of both parental species, Bulinus truncatus and B. globosus, presented a nuclear ITS rRNA sequence identical to S. haematobium, while the partial mitochondrial cox1 sequence was identified as S. bovis. Molecular data suggest that the hybrids are not 1st generation and are a result of parental and/or hybrid backcrosses, indicating a stable hybrid zone. Larval stages with the reverse genetic profile were also found and are suggested to be F1 progeny. The data provide indisputable evidence for the occurrence of bidirectional introgressive hybridization between a bovine and a human Schistosoma species. Hybrid species have been found infecting B. truncatus, a snail species that is now very abundant throughout the SRB. The recent increase in urinary schistosomiasis in the villages along the SRB could therefore be a direct effect of the increased transmission through B. truncatus. Hybridization between schistosomes under laboratory conditions has been shown to result in heterosis (higher fecundity, faster maturation time, wider intermediate host spectrum), having important implications on disease prevalence, pathology and treatment. If this new hybrid exhibits the same hybrid vigour, it could develop into an emerging pathogen, necessitating further control strategies in zones where both parental species overlap.Copyright © 2009 Huyse et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The attached file is the published version of the article.NHM Repositor
AGRHYMET: A drought monitoring and capacity building center in the West Africa Region
No full textThe AGRHYMET Regional Center, a specialized institution of the Permanent Interstates Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), was created in 1974 at the aftermaths of the severe droughts that affected this region in the early 1970s. The mission assigned to the Center was to train personnel, provide adequate equipment for the meteorological and hydrological stations networks, and set up regional and national multidisciplinary working groups to monitor the meteorological, hydrological, crops and pastures conditions during the rainy season. As such, it can be considered as the West Africa drought monitoring center, similarly to its younger counterparts in Eastern and Southern Africa. After 40 years of existence, AGRHYMET’s scope of activities expend now beyond the geographical boundaries of CILSS member states, to include the whole West Africa thanks to several initiatives it has been implementing on behalf of the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS) on food security and environmental issues, including climate change. Throughout the years, AGRHYMET developed, in collaboration with international research organizations, models and methodologies based on ground and satellite observations to monitor rainfall, food crop water requirements satisfaction and prospective yields, the progress of vegetation front and its seasonal and interannual variations. It has trained about 1200 new experts in agrometeorology, hydrology, equipment maintenance, and plant protection, and more than 6000 professionals on topics related to food security, climate change, and sustainable natural resources (land and water) management. As of now, AGRHYMET staff is involved in several international initiatives on climate change, food security, and environmental monitoring that allow them keep abreast of the best available technologies and methods, and also contribute to generating knowledge on those issues
Defying the law, negotiating change The Futanke’s opposition to the national ban on FGM in Senegal
No full textThis thesis is concerned with the politics of the preservation and ‘abandonment’ of female circumcision in Fouta Toro, Senegal. The focal point of analysis is the overt opposition to the law criminalising female genital cutting in 1999, and development projects raising awareness about excision in human rights and reproductive health education programmes. As an ethnography of the politics around bodily practices in the light of governmental and non-governmental intervention, the thesis looks at how different interest groups justify their position towards excision. This is a timely enquiry, given the Senegalese government’s ‘acceleration programme of the complete abandonment of excision by 2015’ and some Futanke leaders’ non-compliance with, and opposition to this intervention.
After providing details about ‘the ban’ on ‘female genital mutilation’ in Senegal and a critical reflection on the events that are seen to have led to the call for this ban, I carefully disentangle what ‘the opposition to the law’ is and who disagrees with ‘the abandonment’ of the practice in Fouta Toro. The central part of the thesis is guided by an analysis of how excision is embedded in constructions of personhood, sociality and ethnic identity, and how the body is imagined and located in this process. I show how conceptions of ethnic purity and pride are formulated in terms of fear about a ‘loss of culture’ and ‘foreign invasion’ which nourishes discourses of opposition to the law and non-governmental intervention. Others use ‘human rights’ associated with non-governmental organisations and the state as a vehicle to express their views against excision and those who oppose its criminalisation. I examine how idioms like ‘the state’, ‘human rights’ and ‘Futanke way of life’ feature in discourses around the ban of excision in Fouta Toro, and how respectability and honour are maintained through competing representations of the female body as a site of morality. Some claim the female body – a reproducer of cultural identities – with reference to duties through kin obligations, others with reference to ‘human rights’ and ‘the state’.
Based on 15 months’ ethnographic fieldwork in Fouta Toro and nine years working in and researching the impact of development in Senegal, this dissertation contributes to scholarship on Fouta Toro and indicates how governmental and non-governmental intervention stirs up the caste-related power structures of a society led by the Tooroɓɓe since the Islamic revolution in the 18th century. It shows how the female body is located as a site of morality, key to the reproduction of cultural identities
Epidemiological interactions between urogenital and intestinal human schistosomiasis in the context of praziquantel treatment across three West African countries
No full text© 2015 Knowles et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. The attached file is the published version of the article.NHM Repositor
Climate smart agriculture: towards a concerted definition of national priorities in Mali
No full textMulticultural Validation of the Zuckerman–Kuhlman–Aluja Personality Questionnaire Shortened Form (ZKA-PQ/SF) Across 18 Countries
No full textThe aim of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Zuckerman–Kuhlman–Aluja Personality Questionnaire shortened form (ZKA-PQ/SF) in 18 cultures and 13 languages of different African, American, Asian, and European cultures and languages. The results showed that the five-factor structure with 20 facets replicated well across cultures with a total congruence coefficient of.97. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) resulted in adequate fit indices for the five factors based on the comparative fit index (CFI), Tucker–Lewis index (TLI; >.90), and RMSEA (.031-.081). A series of CFA to assess measurement invariance across cultures resulted in adequate CFIs and TLIs for configural and metric invariance. However, factors did not show scalar invariance. Alpha internal consistencies of five factors ranged between.77 (Sensation Seeking) and.86 (Neuroticism). The average alpha of the 20 facets was.64 with a range from.43 (SS4) to.75 (AG1). Nevertheless, alpha reliabilities were lower in some facets and cultures, especially for Senegal and Togo. The average percentage of the variance explained based on the adjusted R2 was 2.9%, 1.7%, and 5.1% for age, sex, and, cultures, respectively. Finally, multidimensional scaling suggested that geographically or culturally close cultures share mean profile similarities. © The Author(s) 2019.Universidad Autónoma de Chil
Single low-dose tafenoquine combined with dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine to reduce Plasmodium falciparum transmission in Ouelessebougou, Mali: a phase 2, single-blind, randomised clinical trial.
No full textBACKGROUND: Tafenoquine was recently approved as a prophylaxis and radical cure for Plasmodium vivax infection, but its Plasmodium falciparum transmission-blocking efficacy is unclear. We aimed to establish the efficacy and safety of three single low doses of tafenoquine in combination with dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine for reducing gametocyte density and transmission to mosquitoes. METHODS: In this four-arm, single-blind, phase 2, randomised controlled trial, participants were recruited at the Clinical Research Unit of the Malaria Research and Training Centre of the University of Bamako in Mali. Eligible participants were aged 12-50 years, with asymptomatic P falciparum microscopy-detected gametocyte carriage, had a bodyweight of 80 kg or less, and had no clinical signs of malaria defined by fever. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1:1:1) to standard treatment with dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine, or dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine plus a single dose of tafenoquine (in solution) at a final dosage of 0·42 mg/kg, 0·83 mg/kg, or 1·66 mg/kg. Randomisation was done with a computer-generated randomisation list and concealed with sealed, opaque envelopes. Dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine was administered as oral tablets over 3 days (day 0, 1, and 2), as per manufacturer instructions. A single dose of tafenoquine was administered as oral solution on day 0 in parallel with the first dose of dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine. Tafenoquine dosing was based on bodyweight to standardise efficacy and risk variance. The primary endpoint, assessed in the per-protocol population, was median percentage change in mosquito infection rate 7 days after treatment compared with baseline. Safety endpoints included frequency and incidence of adverse events. The final follow-up visit was on Dec 23, 2021; the trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04609098. FINDINGS: From Oct 29 to Nov 25, 2020, 1091 individuals were screened for eligibility, 80 of whom were enrolled and randomly assigned (20 per treatment group). Before treatment, 53 (66%) individuals were infectious to mosquitoes, infecting median 12·50% of mosquitoes (IQR 3·64-35·00). Within-group reduction in mosquito infection rate on day 7 was 79·95% (IQR 57·15-100; p=0·0005 for difference from baseline) following dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine only, 100% (98·36-100; p=0·0005) following dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine plus tafenoquine 0·42 mg/kg, 100% (100-100; p=0·0001) following dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine plus tafenoquine 0·83 mg/kg, and 100% (100-100; p=0·0001) following dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine plus tafenoquine 1·66 mg/kg. 55 (69%) of 80 participants had a total of 94 adverse events over the course of the trial; 86 (92%) adverse events were categorised as mild, seven (7%) as moderate, and one (1%) as severe. The most common treatment-related adverse event was mild or moderate headache, which occurred in 15 (19%) participants (dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine n=2; dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine plus tafenoquine 0·42 mg/kg n=6; dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine plus tafenoquine 0·83 mg/kg n=3; and dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine plus tafenoquine 1·66 mg/kg n=4). No serious adverse events occurred. No significant differences in the incidence of all adverse events (p=0·73) or treatment-related adverse events (p=0·62) were observed between treatment groups. INTERPRETATION: Tafenoquine was well tolerated at all doses and accelerated P falciparum gametocyte clearance. All tafenoquine doses showed improved transmission reduction at day 7 compared with dihydroartemisinin-piperaquine alone. These data support the case for further research on tafenoquine as a transmission-blocking supplement to standard antimalarials. FUNDING: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. TRANSLATIONS: For the French, Portuguese, Spanish and Swahili translations of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section
