Abstract: Beekeeping is an important activity that helps rural communities to raise additional income to improve their livelihoods. Often, among rural beekeeping households, it has been widely adopted as an income diversification strategy. In addition, it is a sustainable form of agriculture beneficial to the environment. An intervention conducted by the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE), introduced modern hives such as the Langstroth and the stingless beehive thr...
ABSTRACT Background: Deployment of Frontline health workers (FHWs) has been shown to be an effective and powerful intervention for improving community health in rural settings in Ghana. However, several challenges still persist in the performance of FHWs. Mobile health interventions such as the Mobile Technology for Community Health (MOTECH) project are implemented to enhance health worker performance and reduce maternal and child mortality in these rural areas. MOTECH delivers health message...
Abstract: The innovative use of insects to recycle low-value organic waste into value-added products such as food, feed and other products with a low ecological footprint has attracted rapid attention globally. The insect frass (a combination unconsumed substrate, faeces, and exuviae) contains substantial amounts of nutrients and beneficial microbes that could utilised as fertilizer. We analyse research trends and report on the production, nutrient quality, maturity and hygiene status of ins...
ABSTRACT Background: Malaria infection in pregnancy is an enormous public health problem in Sub-Saharan Africa. In areas of high malaria transmission, P. falciparum infection during pregnancy is usually characterized by malaria related anemia in the mother and placental malaria. This situation has been associated with poor pregnancy outcomes across many populations. The aim of this study was to determine the extent of asymptomatic P. falciparum infection and its relation with anemia in health...
ABSTRACT In this dissertation, Markov chain was used to model the rainfall pattern and sunshine duration for three regional capitals in Ghana (Tamale, Kumasi and Accra). Data on mean monthly averages and daily figures of measured parameters (sunshine duration and rainfall) for five years were used. To achieve these goals, a statistical basis was presented before adopting the three main approaches for modeling. Transition Matrix shows the short-run behavior of Markov chain; the steady-state pr...
ABSTRACT The study examined the community involvement in the control and management of HIV/AIDS in the implementation of national reproductive health plan in Plateau State. Community involvement, control and management constitute the dependent variables. While the demographic characteristics of age, gender, religion, marital status, location, ethnicity, educational qualification and income level constitutes the independent variables. As the information required to achieve this study was alrea...
ABSTRACT In sub-Saharan Africa, about 250 million people (67%) lack safe accessible water while 81% of the rural population lacks sanitation facilities (Rose and Vincent1999). People spend 40 billion hours every year just walking for water. Women and children usually bear the burden of water collection, walking miles to the nearest source. Along their long walk, they are subjected to a greater risk of harassment and sexual assault. According to National Water Polocy (2002) despite significant...
ABSTRACT Tuberculosis (TB) is a major occupational hazard in resource limited healthcare settings. Owing to this, the World Health Organization (WHO) has suggested the adoption and implementation of Tuberculosis Infection Prevention and Control (TBIPC) programs in all healthcare facilities. However, studies have reported improper implementation and practice of these TBIPC measures in healthcare facilities in developing countries. Thus, this study examined the knowledge and practice of TBIPC m...
Abstract: This study was conducted with the objective of evaluating camel milk value chain in Degahbour Woreda, Jarar Zone, Somali Regional State of Ethiopia. Two stage random sampling techniques were used to collect primary data from 167 camel milk producers and 31 traders using pre-tested structured questionnaire. Focus group discussions, key informants interview and personal observation were also employed to collect data. To analyze the collected data, descriptive statistics, SCP approach...
ABSTRACT The study was conducted to analyse value chain of tamarind fruits by characterising the actors, assessing socio-economic factors influencing income from tamarind fruits, determining the gross margins, identifying trees ownership regime and challenges encountered in the value chain. Primary data were collected through household survey, market survey, focus group discussion and key informant interviews. A random sample of 176 households, 33 traders and 59 consumers were interviewed to ...
Abstract: Watershed management practice was taken as the basic operational unit to rehabilitate the degraded land and improve agricultural productivity of land in Ethiopia. However, its impacts in rehabilitation of degraded land were rarely evaluated. This study was designed to assessed the impact of watershed management practices on woody plant composition, farmers’ perception and identify the factors that affect the adoption of soil and water conservation practices based on comparative a...
Abstract: Data on the biotransfer of heavy metals along the soil-plant-edible insect-human food chain collected along a 60km pollution gradient is presented here. These datasets consists of concentrations of eight heavy metals (Arsenic, Cadmium, Copper, Chromium, Iron, Nickel, Lead and Zinc) in the soils, in five host plants species, and in seven edible insect species determined using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS). Datasets for the daily intake of metals and target hazard quotien...
ABSTRACT Community managed rural water supply schemes (CMRWSS) are community water projects undertaken with and for the community in addressing local interest, needs and aspirations. From preliminary observations, most CMRWSS in the country collapse or perform below expectation soon after the implementation phase. Some literature reviewed in this study attest to the fact that some of these rural water projects which depend on external funding stagger to survive once the support gets with...
Manufacturing in areas of the developing world that lack electricity severely restricts the technical sophistication of what is produced. More than a billion people with no access to electricity still have access to some imported higher-technologies; however, these often lack customization and often appropriateness for their community. Open source appropriate technology (OSAT) can overcome this challenge, but one of the key impediments to the more rapid development and distribution of OSA...
ABSTRACT A cross-sectional study design was used to assess bacteriological contamination in Rastrineobola argentea along its value chain in Lake Victoria, Mwanza. Rastrineobola argentea were collected from different points along the chain. Fresh, dried on raised racks and on ground samples of R. argentea were purposively collected from landing sites, drying areas and retail markets. Bacterial counts were performed and Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp were identified using bacteriological s...