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This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores scope to refine, and sometimes considerably qualify, certain points of this interpretation. It explains that personal identity booklets began to be issued in conjunction with the census in 1930. The book argues that the bureaucratic mobilization for the ethnic registration of Rwandans began immediately after independence, with major political effects. It describes the post-war identification reforms undertaken by the Ouattara regime certainly helped to deradicalize this ideological opposition under a technicist veneer, but at the price of a general amnesty for documentary fraud that amounted to state institutionalization of identity falsification. The book focuses on the use of ethnic identity cards in the violent history of Rwanda, and the preparation and conduct of the 1994 genocide.

Recognizing the increase in cancer incidence globally and the need for effective cancer control interventions, several organizations, professional bodies, and international institutions have proposed strategies to improve treatment options and reduce mortality along with minimizing overall incidence. Despite these efforts, an estimated 9.6 million deaths in 2018 was attributed to this noncommunicable disease, making it the second leading cause of death worldwide. Left unchecked, this will further increase in scale, with an estimated 29.5 million new cases and 16.3 million deaths occurring worldwide in 2040. Although it is known and generally accepted that cancer services must include radiotherapy, such access is still very limited in many parts of the world, especially in low- and middle-income countries. After thorough review of the current status of radiotherapy including programs worldwide, as well as achievements and challenges at the global level, the International Atomic Energy Agency convened an international group of experts representing various radiation oncology societies to take a closer look into the current status of radiotherapy and provide a road map for future directions in this field. It was concluded that the plethora of global and regional initiatives would benefit further from the existence of a central framework, including an easily accessible repository through which better coordination can be done. Supporting this framework, a practical inventory of competencies needs to be made available on a global level emphasizing the knowledge, skills, and behavior required for a safe, sustainable, and professional practice for various settings. This white paper presents the current status of global radiotherapy and future directions for the community. It forms the basis for an action plan to be developed with professional societies worldwide.

Africa is expected to be a key emerging market for international trade and investment due to rising consumer incomes and a population that is projected to double in size by 2050. However, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic led to major disruptions to markets and incomes in Africa that may have altered companies’ investment decisions. This paper addresses this issue by evaluating how the COVID-19 pandemic may have shifted trends in greenfield foreign direct investment (GFDI) in the region. The authors examined changes in the magnitude and composition of GFDI in Africa coinciding with the pandemic. The authors found that the onset of the pandemic in 2020 is associated with a large drop in GFDI in Africa. This reduction has been relatively persistent—while GFDI in Africa increased moderately in 2021 relative to 2020, it remains below historical levels. The authors also found substantial sector-specific variations coinciding with the pandemic. For example, GFDI in the food and beverages sector declined 34 percent in 2020 (relative to its 2010–19 annual average), while the communications sector experienced a more than 100-percent increase in 2020 GFDI. Finally, the authors found no association between countries’ differing COVID-19 fiscal policy responses and GFDI in the short term.

Rabies is a lethal zoonotic encephalomyelitis that causes an estimated 59,000 human deaths yearly worldwide. Although developing countries of Asia and Africa bear the heaviest burden, surveillance and disease detection in these countries is often hampered by the absence of local laboratories able to diagnose rabies and/or the difficulties of sample shipment from low-access areas to national reference laboratories. Filter papers offer a convenient cost-effective alternative for the sampling, shipment, and storage of biological materials for the diagnosis of many pathogens including rabies virus, yet the properties of diagnostic tests using this support have not been evaluated thoroughly. Sensitivity and specificity of molecular diagnosis of rabies infection using a reverse transcription followed by a hemi-nested polymerase chain reaction (RT-hn-PCR) either directly on brain tissue or using brain tissue dried on filter paper were assessed on 113 suspected field animal samples in comparison to the direct fluorescent antibody test (FAT) recommended by the World Health Organization as one of the reference tests for rabies diagnosis. Impact of the duration of the storage was also evaluated. The sensitivity and the specificity of RT-hn-PCR i) on brain tissue were 96.6% (95% CI: [88.1–99.6]) and 92.7% (95% CI: [82.4–98.0]) respectively and ii) on brain tissue dried on filter paper 100% (95% CI: [93.8–100.0]) and 90.9% (95% CI: [80.0–97.0]) respectively. No loss of sensitivity of RT-hn-PCR on samples of brain tissue dried on filter paper left 7 days at ambient temperature was detected indicating that this method would enable analyzing impregnated filter papers sent to the national reference laboratory at ambient temperature within a 1-week shipment time. It could therefore be an effective alternative to facilitate storage and shipment of samples from low-access areas to enhance and expand rabies surveillance., Author summary Dogs are responsible for 99% of human rabies deaths. Facilitating diagnostic of rabid dogs can help further identify i) people who were exposed to rabies in order to encourage them to seek post exposure prophylaxis and ii) other exposed animals to break the transmission chain (i.e. prevent them from further transmitting the virus to other people and animals). Yet, the reference diagnostic method for animal rabies requires brain samples to be collected post-mortem and shipped under temperature-controlled conditions. The shipping of such samples is complex in low-access areas, especially in low income countries, which are often those that bear the heaviest rabies burden. Filter papers offer a convenient alternative for biological sample shipment and storage. Here the efficiency of a molecular diagnostic method applied to brain tissue dried on filter paper is compared to one of the reference methods, the direct fluorescent antibody test. Our results show it has an excellent sensitivity (it does not miss any positive samples), even when filter papers are left 7 days at ambient temperature. These results let us foresee a cost-effective alternative facilitating shipment, storage and testing of samples from rabies suspected animals from low-access areas. This could considerably enhance and expand rabies surveillance in low-income countries, allowing a more comprehensive evaluation of rabies burden, and thus reinforcing arguments for allocating funds to rabies control policies.

Book review The civilizing mission was predicated on the idea that "Africa has no history." This view became predominant during the Enlightenment and culminated in the nineteenth century with Victor Hugo's memorable address "Discours sur l'Afrique," delivered in Paris on May 18, 1879. In the flamboyant tone typical of the author of La legende des siecles, Hugo articulated to an audience consisting of members of "La Societe des Amis des Noirs" the prevailing belief that European countries were morally obligated to colonize Africa. Hugo's discourse, like Rudyard Kipling's poem "The White Man's Burden" two decades later, captured the essence of European assumption that superior races had the duty to contribute scientific, technical, and moral progress to inferior races steeped in ignorance, superstition, and barbarity.

This is a working paper published in Working Papers in African Studies.

Introduction \ud Data collection using paper-based questionnaires can be time consuming and return errors affect data accuracy, completeness, and information quality in health surveys. We compared smartphone and paper-based data collection systems in the Burden of Obstructive Lung Disease (BOLD) study in rural Sudan. \ud Methods \ud This exploratory pilot study was designed to run in parallel with the cross-sectional household survey. The Open Data Kit was used to programme questionnaires in Arabic into smartphones. We included 100 study participants (83% women; median age = 41.5 ± 16.4 years) from the BOLD study from 3 rural villages in East-Gezira and Kamleen localities of Gezira state, Sudan. Questionnaire data were collected using smartphone and paper-based technologies simultaneously. We used Kappa statistics and inter-rater class coefficient to test agreement between the two methods. Results Symptoms reported included cough (24%), phlegm (15%), wheezing (17%), and shortness of breath (18%). One in five were or had been cigarette smokers. The two data collection methods varied between perfect to slight agreement across the 204 variables evaluated (Kappa varied between 1.00 and 0.02 and inter-rater coefficient between 1.00 and -0.12). Errors were most commonly seen with paper questionnaires (83% of errors seen) vs smartphones (17% of errors seen) administered questionnaires with questions with complex skip-patterns being a major source of errors in paper questionnaires. Automated checks and validations in smartphone-administered questionnaires avoided skip-pattern related errors. Incomplete and inconsistent records were more likely seen on paper questionnaires. \ud Conclusion \ud Compared to paper-based data collection, smartphone technology worked well for data collection in the study, which was conducted in a challenging rural environment in Sudan. This approach provided timely, quality data with fewer errors and inconsistencies compared to paper-based data collection. We recommend this method for future BOLD studies and other population-based studies in similar settings.

Much has changed since the creation of the Joint Africa-European Union (EU) Strategy in 2007. The developing world has been changing fast. Development policy and practices are also transforming, albeit at a slower pace. The divide between emerging economies and ‘fragile states’ is increasing. This is also the case in Africa. As not only Africa, but also the EU-Africa relationship is changing and evolving into new dimensions, there is clearly a need to develop a new European strategy, constructed on the basis of an emerging continent. Africa is home to the youngest population in the world and some of the world’s most fragile states. However, it is also a continent with emerging markets and more effective governments. This brief aims to clarify how well the new Strategy must manage to mainstream a European approach to Africa that considers both the inter-continental dialogue and the diversity of development on this emerging continent within the fields of governance, security and migration. As the COVID-19 has turned into a pandemic, the brief also suggests that the new European strategy must reflect this development and the European Parliament should closely monitor the situation as it discusses the Strategy.

This position paper summarises the current knowledge on the epidemiology, diagnosis and management of women of childbearing age with rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in Africa, as well as the available data on their use of reproductive health services. The aim is to provide guidance to health professionals on aspects of sexual and reproductive health in women with RHD. It reviews the diagnosis, management and counselling of women with RHD throughout their reproductive life. Additionally, this publication discusses potential ways of integrating obstetric and cardiovascular care at peripheral levels of the health systems, as a way of improving outcomes and reducing maternal mortality rates related to cardiovascular disease in Africa. Finally, the article proposes responses to fulfil the actual needs for better reproductive health services and improvement in care for women with RHD.

This paper is motivated by the consistent portrayal, within current policy discourse, of agriculture and the broader rural economy in Africa as domains of opportunity for rural youth. It presents a new conceptualization of landscapes of rural youth opportunity, where these landscapes reflect an individual’s reading of the complex interplay between economic geography; local history, agrarian relations, institutions and politics; social and cultural norms; family influences; education and experience; aspirations and preferences; and access to resources. The argument is that it is essential to acknowledge the importance of opportunity structures, and avoid anything that suggests that individual characteristics, such as agency, aspirations, skills, entrepreneurial behaviour and “good choices” should be the primary considerations in relation to an “investing in youth” strategy. The paper also presents new empirical analysis of young people’s engagement with the rural economy using LSMS data from six African countries.

This study investigates the lack of African representation in the literature related to diseases on the continent. It argues that this is largely due to the country's low research funding. The results of this analysis indicate that African representation in the literature supporting COVID-19 is not sufficient. Most of the studies analyzed were focused on providing clinical advice and system response advice. Only a small portion of the world's population lives in Africa, yet only a few studies related to COVID-19 are being published in the top medical journals. Integranate policies are needed to accelerate the improvement of the representation of local population groups in medical literature. Although the majority of COVID-19-related articles in the world are published by international publishers, the lack of African representation in these articles undermines the continent's role in global health research. Beyond investigating the reasons for the underrepresentation of women and minorities in global health research, this review should also be looked into to establish the coloniality of the research conducted in this field. The responsibility for ensuring that cultural and contextual input is taken by the researchers and institutions falls on their shoulders.

The global organic market develops dynamically. Organic 3.0 postulates further growth, inclusiveness and rientation towards a more differentiated sustainability products market. At this session, the market information from the IFOAM – Organics International/FiBL statistics book was deepened to reflect about trends and strategic market positioning.

This is working paper published by the African Studies Center at Boston University.

The future development of Africa hinges on the development of its human capital. Higher education is one of the critical resources that will help unlock Africa's potential. China has been a significant partner in the continent's growth. African Heads of State have lauded China's development model and have developed policies to emulate what they consider the most suitable model for a developing nation. Twenty years since the birth of the Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), the value of higher education cooperation between Africa and China remains untapped by the private and public sectors. Under FOCAC, China has made provisions to support Africa in human development through various programs, including education. China has invited African scholars to Chinese universities to earn higher education degrees, as well as learn the Chinese language and study China's programs for alleviating poverty. After graduation, students are required to return to their home countries and contribute to the development of their national economies. This paper reviews the usefulness of international education cooperation for human capital development in the Africa–China context. The study examines China's experience with haigui and identifies lessons for Africa. The paper argues that a more intentional, incentive-driven, and standalone action plan for higher education could help both sides with national branding and enhance future policy and industry development. The results will have a far-reaching, sustainable, and strategic impact on regional integration, industrial development, and diplomatic relations.

This is a working paper published by the African Studies Center at Boston University.

The sustainable development goal #2 aims at ending hunger and malnutrition by 2030. Given the numbers of food insecure and malnourished people on the rise, the heterogeneity of nutritional statuses and needs, and the even worse context of COVID-19 pandemic, this has become an urgent challenge for food-related policies. This paper provides a comprehensive microsimulation approach to evaluate economic policies on food access, sufficiency (energy) and adequacy (protein, fat, carbohydrate) at household level. The improvement in market access conditions in Kenya is simulated as an application case of this method, using original insights from households’ surveys and biochemical and nutritional information by food item. Simulation’s results suggest that improving market access increases food purchasing power overall the country, with a pro-poor impact in rural areas. The daily energy consumption per capita and macronutrients intakes per capita increase at the national level, being the households with at least one stunted child under 5 years old, and poor households living areas outside Mombasa and Nairobi, those which benefit the most. The developed method and its Kenya's application contribute to the discussion on how to evaluate nutrition-sensitive policies, and how to cover most households suffering food insecurity and nutrition deficiencies in any given country. Fil: Ramos, Maria Priscila. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Instituto Interdisciplinario de Economía Política de Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Custodio, Estefanía. Instituto de Salud Carlos Iii (isciii); España Fil: Jiménez, Sofía. Universidad de Zaragoza; España Fil: Mainar Causapé, Alfredo J.. Universidad de Sevilla; España Fil: Boulanger, Pierre. No especifíca; Fil: Ferrari, Emanuele. No especifíca

Sauti ya Vijana is a mental health and life skills intervention delivered by young adult group leaders for the improvement of HIV outcomes in young people living with HIV in Tanzania. This pilot randomized controlled trial estimated exploratory intervention effectiveness compared to standard of care. YPLWH (N = 105) were randomized to receive intervention or SOC. The mean age of participants was 18.1 years and 53% were female. Mean scores on mental health measures (Patient Health Questionnaire [PHQ-9], Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire [SDQ], UCLA Trauma) were asymptomatic to mild in both study arms through 30-month follow-up with a non-significant fluctuation of 1–2 points. The mean self-reported adherence was higher in the intervention arm across all time points (but the confidence interval contained the null at all time points except 6 months). Risk ratio of virologic suppression (HIV RNA

Cosmocercid nematodes have been documented with much criticism due to the numerous inaccurate descriptions, redescriptions and synonymisation of found species. This is due to indistinguishable characters of females and the lack of male specimens found. Consequently, the species C. ornata is the most commonly found species worldwide and the only species of the genus reported in South Africa. In the present study, we found Cosmocerca in three different amphibian species, namely Cacosternum boettgeri, Kassina senegalensis and Phrynomantis bifasciatus. Based on differences in the shape of the gubernaculum and number of papillae, the found nematodes were assigned to three new species namely C. daly n. sp., C. monicae n. sp. and C. makhadoensis n. sp. Descriptions of species are followed by pairwise and phylogenetic analysis of partial ITS-28S sequences. All three species were found only in their host types from distant localities. Therefore, we hypothesise that host specificity of Cosmocerca from South African amphibians might be rather high and that the presence of C. ornata throughout South Africa is rather doubtful.

To explore the development of family medicine postgraduate training in countries with varying levels of resources at different stages of development of the discipline.Since 2012, the College of Family Physicians of Canada has hosted the Besrour Conferences to reflect on its role in advancing the discipline of family medicine globally. The Besrour Narrative Working Group was conceived in 2012 at the first Besrour Conference. Their mandate was to use narrative and appreciative inquiry to gather stories of family medicine worldwide. The working group comprised members of various academic departments of family medicine in Canada and abroad who attended the conferences.A consultation process with our partners from lower-middle-income countries was undertaken from 2012 to 2014. Stories were sought from each global partner institute with ties to Canadian family medicine departments. An appreciative inquiry approach was chosen to elicit narratives. Thematic analysis was used to search for common threads and important elements of success that could serve to inform other initiatives in other nations and, in turn, offer hope for greater effect.Sixteen narrative stories have been collected so far. These stories highlight insightful solutions, foresight, perseverance, and ultimately a steadfast belief that family medicine will improve the health system and the care provided to the citizens of each nation. Seventeen themes were elucidated by 3 independent Canadian readers. At a subsequent workshop, these themes were validated by Besrour Centre members from Canada and elsewhere. The linkage between the thematic analysis and the experiences of various schools helps to illustrate both the robustness and the usefulness of the narratives in exploring generalizable observations and the features supporting success in each institute.If we are to understand, and contribute to, the development of family medicine throughout the world (a key objective of the Besrour Centre), we must begin to hear each others' stories and search for ways in which our collective story can advance the discipline.

The collections of the Natural History Museum of Maputo have a crucial role in the safeguarding of Mozambique's biodiversity, representing an important repository of data and materials regarding the natural heritage of the country. In this paper, a dataset is described, based on the Museum’s Entomological Collection recording 409 species belonging to seven orders and 48 families. Each specimen’s available data, such as geographical coordinates and taxonomic information, have been digitised to build the dataset. The specimens included in the dataset were obtained between 1914–2018 by collectors and researchers from the Natural History Museum of Maputo (once known as “Museu Alváro de Castro”) in all the country’s provinces, with the exception of Cabo Delgado Province. This paper adds data to the Biodiversity Network of Mozambique and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, within the objectives of the SECOSUD II Project and the Biodiversity Information for Development Programme. The aforementioned insect dataset is available on the GBIF Engine data portal (https://doi.org/10.15468/j8ikhb). Data were also shared on the Mozambican national portal of biodiversity data BioNoMo (https://bionomo.openscidata.org), developed by SECOSUD II Project.

ObjectivesExisting electronic data capture options are often financially unfeasible in resource-poor settings or difficult to support technically in the field. To help facilitate large-scale multicenter studies in sub-Saharan Africa, the African Partnership for Chronic Disease Research (APCDR) has developed an open-source electronic questionnaire (EQ).Study Design and SettingTo assess its relative validity, we compared the EQ against traditional pen-and-paper methods using 200 randomized interviews conducted in an ongoing type 2 diabetes case–control study in South Africa.ResultsDuring its 3-month validation, the EQ had a lower frequency of errors (EQ, 0.17 errors per 100 questions; paper, 0.73 errors per 100 questions; P-value ≤0.001), and a lower monetary cost per correctly entered question, compared with the pen-and-paper method. We found no marked difference in the average duration of the interview between methods (EQ, 5.4 minutes; paper, 5.6 minutes).ConclusionThis validation study suggests that the EQ may offer increased accuracy, similar interview duration, and increased cost-effectiveness compared with paper-based data collection methods. The APCDR EQ software is freely available (https://github.com/apcdr/questionnaire).

OURSUS (Our Sustainable Cities) is a flagship IGU project. The OURSUS approach and findings will be discussed in two sessions during the 33rd International Geographical Congress in Beijing: one session about 'Chinese and International Experiences' and one about 'The Way Forward'. This paper contributes to the first session: exploring international experiences. It examines the evidence in Africa regarding the intentions of municipalities and their leadership to develop more sustainable cities, and to mobilise business and popular support for more sustainable futures in a continent that is likely to have the fastest urbanization trends in the decades ahead. The paper also compares the approaches of various sustainable city networks in Africa with the OURSUS approach, and it looks at the input of geographers.

Cacopsylla pruniisa psyllid that has been known since 1998 as the vector of the bacterium ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma prunorum’, responsible for the European stone fruit yellows (ESFY), a disease that affects species of Prunus. This disease is one of the major limiting factors for the production of stone fruits, most notably apricot (Prunus armeniaca) and Japanese plum (P. salicina), in all EU stone fruit-growing areas. The psyllid vector is widespread in the Western Palearctic, and evidence for the presence of the phytoplasma that it transmits to species of Prunus has been found in 15 of the 27 EU countries. Recent studies showed that C. pruni is actually composed of two cryptic species, which can be differentiated bymolecular markers. A literature review on the distribution of C. pruni was published in 2012, but it only provided presence or absence information at the country level and without distinction between the two cryptic species. Since 2012, numerous new records of the vector in several European countries have been published. We ourselves have acquired a large amountof data from sampling in France and other European countries. We have also carried out a thorough systematic literature review to find additional records, including all the original sources mentioningC. pruni (or its synonyms) since the first description by Scopoli in 1763. Our aim was to create an exhaustive georeferenced occurrence catalog, in particular in countries that are occasionnaly mentioned in the literature with little detail. Finally, for countries that seem suitable for the proliferation of C. pruni (USA, Canada, Japan, China, etc.), we digged deeper into the literature and reliablesources (e.g. checklist)to better subtanciateits current absence from those regions. Information on the distribution ranges of these vector psyllids is of crucial interest in order to best predict the vulnerability of stone fruit producing countries to the ESFY threat in the foreseeable future. We give free access to a unique file of 1975 records of all occurrence data in our possession concerning C. pruni, which we have gathered through more than twenty years of sampling efforts in Europe or through intensive text mining. We have made every effort to retrieve the source information for the records extracted from litterature (1201 records). Thus, we always give the title of the original reference, together with the page(s) citing C. pruni and, if possible, the year of sampling. To makethe results of this survey publicly available, we give a URL to access the literature sources. In most cases, this link allows to freely download a PDFfile. We also give access to information extracted from GBIF (162 exploitable data points on 245 occurrences found in the database), which we thoroughly checked and often supplemented to make the information more easily exploitable. We give access to our own unpublished georeferenced and genotyped record from 612samples taken over the last 20 years in several European countries (Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, etc.). Theseinclude two countries (Portugal and North Macedonia) for which the presence of C. pruni had notbeen reported before.Asour specimens have been genotyped (74 sites with species A solely, 202 with species B solely, and 310 with species A+B), our new data enable a better view of the geographical distribution of the two species at the Palaearctic scale.

Background The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has catalysed a widespread humanitarian crisis in many low- and middle-income countries around the world, with many African nations significantly impacted. The aim of this study was to quantify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the planning and provision of international reconstructive collaborations in Africa. Methods An anonymous, 14-question, multiple choice questionnaire was sent to 27 non-governmental organisations who regularly perform reconstructive surgery in Africa. The survey was open to responses for four weeks, closing on the 7th of March 2021. A single reminder was sent out at 2 weeks. The survey covered four key domains: (1) NGO demographics;(2) the impact of COVID-19 on patient follow-up;(3) barriers to the safe provision of international surgical collaborations during COVID-19;(4) the impact of COVID-19 on NGO funding. Results A total of ten reconstructive NGOs completed the survey (response rate, 37%). Ethiopia (n = 5) and Tanzania (n = 4) were the countries where most collaborations took place. Plastic, reconstructive and burns surgery was the most common sub-speciality (n = 7). For NGOs that did not have a year-round presence in country (n = 8), only one NGO was able to perform reconstructive surgery in Africa during the pandemic. The most common barrier identified was travel restrictions (within country, n = 8 or country entry-exit, n = 7). Pre-pandemic, 1547 to ≥ 1800 patients received reconstructive surgery on international surgical collaborations. After the outbreak, 70% of NGOs surveyed had treated no patients, with approximately 1405 to ≥ 1640 patients left untreated over the last year. Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic has placed huge pressures on health services and their delivery across the globe. This theme has extended into international surgical collaborations leading to increased unmet surgical needs in low- and middle-income countries. Level of evidence: Not gradable. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00238-021-01892-4.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the midstream (processors, wholesalers and wholesale markets, and logistics) segments of transforming value chains have proliferated rapidly over the past several decades in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Their spread has been most rapid in the long transitional stage between the traditional and modern stages, when value chains grow long and developed with urbanization but are still fragmented, before consolidation. Most of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, and parts of the other regions, are in that stage. The midstream SMEs in output and input value chains are important to overall food security (moving about 65% of food consumed in Africa and South Asia), and to employment, farmers, poor consumers, and the environment. The midstream of value chains is neglected in the national and international debates as the “missing middle.” We found that it is indeed not missing but rather hidden from the debate, hence “the hidden middle.” The midstream SMEs grow quickly and succeed where enabling conditions are present. Our main policy recommendations are to support the SMEs further growth through a focus on infrastructure investment, in particular on wholesale markets and roads, a reduction of policy-related constraints such as excessive red tape, and regulation for food safety and good commercial practices.

BACKGROUND: The current data paper aims to interlink the African plant collections of the Meise Botanic Garden Herbarium (BR) and the Royal Museum for Central Africa Xylarium (Tw). Complementing both collections strengthens the reference value of each institutional collection, as more complete metadata are made available and it enables increased quality control for the identification of wood specimens. Furthermore, the renewed connection enables the linking of available wood trait data with data on phenology, leaf morphology or even molecular information for many tree species, allowing assessments of performance of individual trees. In addition to studies at the interspecific level, comparisons at the intraspecific level become possible, which could lead to important new insights into resilience to and impact of global change, as well as biodiversity conservation or forest management of Central African forest ecosystems. NEW INFORMATION: By interlinking the Tervuren Xylarium Wood database with the recently digitised herbarium of Meise Botanic Garden, we were able to establish a link between 6,621 xylarium and 9,641 herbarium records for 6,953 plant specimens. Both institutional databases were complemented with reliable specimen metadata. The Tervuren xylarium now profits from taxonomic revisions made by botanists at Meise Botanic Garden and a list of phenotypical features for woody African species can be extended with wood anatomical descriptors. New metadata from the Tw xylarium records were used to add the country of collection to 50 linked BR herbarium specimens for which this information was missing. Furthermore, metadata available from the labels on digitised BR herbarium specimens was used to update Tw xylarium records with the date of collection (817 records), collection locality (698 records), coordinates (482 records) and altitude (817 records). In conclusion, we created a reference database with reliable botanic identities which can be used in a range of studies, such as modelling analyses, community assessments or trait analyses, all framed in a spatiotemporal context. Furthermore, the linked collections hold historical reference data and specimens that can be studied in the context of global changes. ispartof: BIODIVERSITY DATA JOURNAL vol:9 ispartof: location:Bulgaria status: published

Objectives To estimate observed and relative survival of prostate cancer patients in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and to examine the influence of age, stage at diagnosis and the Human Development Index (HDI). Patients and methods In this comparative registry study, we selected a random sample of 1752 incident cases of malign prostatic neoplasm from 12 population-based cancer registries from 10 SSA countries, registered between 2005 and 2015. We analyzed the data using Kaplan-Meier and Ederer II methods to obtain outcome estimates and flexible Poisson regression modeling to calculate the excess hazards of death Results For the 1406 patients included in the survival analyses, 763 deaths occurred during 3614 person-years of observation. Of patients with known stage, 45.2% had stage IV disease, 31.2% stage III and only 23.6% stage I and II. The 1 and 5-year relative survival for the entire cohort was 78.0% (75.4–80.7) and 60.0% (55.7–64.6), while varying between the registries. Late presentation was associated with increased excess hazards and a 0.1 increase in the HDI was associated with a 20% lower excess hazard of death, while for age at diagnosis no association was found. Conclusions We found poor survival of SSA prostatic tumor patients, as well as high proportions of late stage presentation, which are associated with inferior outcome. This calls for investment in health-care systems and action regarding projects to raise awareness among the population to achieve earlier diagnosis and improve survival.

Daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a key tool in addressing high HIV incidence among young women, and breaking the cycle of transmission. From 2017 to 2020, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) offered PrEP, in conjunction with contraception and risk-reduction counselling, to women aged 18–25, in a government-run clinic in Khayelitsha, a low income high HIV prevalence area in South Africa. Drawing on clinical, quantitative, and qualitative interview data, we describe participants’ experiences and engagement with the PrEP program, participant adherence (measured by TFV-DP levels in dried blood spots) over time, and the indirect benefits of the PrEP program. Of 224 screened and eligible participants, 164 (73.2%) initiated PrEP, with no large differences between those who initiated and those who did not. Overall, 47 (29%) completed 18 months follow-up, with 15 (9.1%) attending all visits. 76 (46.9%) participants were lost to follow-up, 15 (9.1%) exited when leaving the area, and 28.7% of exits happened in the first month of the study. We identified two different trajectories of PrEP adherence: 67% of participants had, on average, consistently low TFV-DP levels, with the remaining 33% having sustained high adherence. Few baseline characteristics predicted good adherence. The main reported barrier to taking PrEP was forgetting to take or travel with the pills. Encouragement from others declined as a reported facilitator from month 6 to 18 (family: 93.1% vs 77.6%, p = 0.016, friends: 77.6% vs 41.4%, p ≤ 0.001, partners: 62.1% vs 46.6%, p = 0.096, other PrEP users: 89.7% vs 74.1%, p = 0.020). Disclosure to friends and family in some cases opened dialogue around sex, and helped to educate others about PrEP. Self-reported sex with more than one partner, and sex without a condom, decreased significantly after enrolment (p

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease characterized primarily by progressive loss of motor neurons. Although ALS occurs worldwide and the frequency and spectrum of identifiable genetic causes of disease varies across populations, very few studies have included African subjects. In addition to a hexanucleotide repeat expansion (RE) in C9orf72, the most common genetic cause of ALS in Europeans, REs in ATXN2, NIPA1 and ATXN1 have shown variable associations with ALS in Europeans. Intermediate range expansions in some of these genes (e.g. ATXN2) have been reported as potential risk factors, or phenotypic modifiers, of ALS. Pathogenic expansions in NOP56 cause spinocerebellar ataxia-36, which can present with prominent motor neuron degeneration. Here we compare REs in these genes in a cohort of Africans with ALS and population controls using whole genome sequencing data. Targeting genotyping of short tandem repeats at known loci within ATXN2, NIPA1, ATXN1 and NOP56 was performed using ExpansionHunter software in 105 Southern African (SA) patients with ALS. African population controls were from an in-house SA population control database (n = 25), the SA Human Genome Program (n = 24), the Simons Genome Diversity Project (n = 39) and the Illumina Polaris Diversity Cohort (IPDC) dataset (n = 50). We found intermediate RE alleles in ATXN2 (27–33 repeats) and ATXN1 (33–35 repeats), and NIPA1 long alleles (≥8 repeats) were rare in Africans, and not associated with ALS (p > 0.17). NOP56 showed no expanded alleles in either ALS or controls. We also compared the differences in allele distributions between the African and n = 50 European controls (from the IPDC). There was a statistical significant difference in the distribution of the REs in the ATXN1 between African and European controls (Chi-test p 8) in Europeans vs. Africans (Fisher’s p = 0.016). The distribution of RE alleles in ATXN2 and NOP56 were similar amongst African and European controls. In conclusion, repeat expansions in ATXN2, NIPA1 and ATXN1, which showed associations with ALS in Europeans, were not replicated in Southern Africans with ALS., Highlights • No associations with ATXN2, ATXN1, NIPA1 expansion mutations, and ALS in Africans. • Repeat expansion allele distribution in ATXN1 and NIPA1 were different in Africans compared with European populations. • ALS cases with diverse genetic ancestry should included in ALS gene discovery studies.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has significant health and economic ramifications across sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Data regarding its far-reaching impacts are severely lacking, thereby hindering the development of evidence-based strategies to mitigate its direct and indirect health consequences. To address this need, the Africa Research, Implementation Science, and Education (ARISE) Network established a mobile survey platform in SSA to generate longitudinal data regarding knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) related to COVID-19 prevention and management and to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 on health and socioeconomic domains. We conducted a baseline survey of 900 healthcare workers, 1,795 adolescents 10 to 19 years of age, and 1,797 adults 20 years or older at six urban and rural sites in Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, and Nigeria. Households were selected using sampling frames of existing Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems or national surveys when possible. Healthcare providers in urban areas were sampled using lists from professional associations. Data were collected through computer-assisted telephone interviews from July to November 2020. Consenting participants responded to surveys assessing KAP and the impact of the pandemic on nutrition, food security, healthcare access and utilization, lifestyle, and mental health. We found that mobile telephone surveys can be a rapid and reliable strategy for data collection during emergencies, but challenges exist with response rates. Maintaining accurate databases of telephone numbers and conducting brief baseline in-person visits can improve response rates. The challenges and lessons learned from this effort can inform future survey efforts during COVID-19 and other emergencies, as well as remote data collection in SSA in general.

People living with HIV (PLWH) have a two‐fold higher risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) compared with HIV‐negative populations. Although 70% of the global HIV population reside in Africa, data on CVD outcomes among PLWH are scarce. We seek to evaluate factors associated with incidence of stroke and heart failure in a prospective cohort of Ghanaian PLWH. We followed up a cohort of PLWH on antiretroviral therapy for 12 months to assess rates of clinically adjudicated stroke, and heart failure. We calculated incidence rates of events/1000 person‐years and fitted Cox proportional hazards regression models to identify factors associated with incident stroke and heart failure as a combined outcome measure and as separate outcome measures. Among 255 participants, the mean age was 46 years and 211 (82.7%) were female. The participants contributed 245 years of follow‐up data with mean follow‐up duration of 11.5 months. There were three incident strokes giving an incidence rate of 12.24 per 1000 person‐years (95% CI: 3.13–33.33) and two heart failure events with an incidence rate of 8.16 (95%CI: 1.37–26.97) per 1000 py. The combined event rate was 20.41 (95% CI: 7.48–45.24) per 1000 py. Being hypertensive was associated with aHR of 8.61 (1.32–56.04) of the combined outcome while each 100 cells/mm3 rise in CD4 count was associated with aHR of 0.56 (0.35–0.88). Carotid bulb intimal media thickness was independently associated with stroke occurrence with aHR of 12.23 (1.28–117.07). People living with HIV on long‐term cART in this Ghanaian sample have high rates of clinically adjudicated cardiovascular diseases driven by uncontrolled hypertension and persisting immunosuppression. Integration of CVD care into routine HIV management may help alleviate this untoward confluence of rising CVDs among PLWH.

Preeclampsia/eclampsia significantly increases the risk of future hypertension. Several factors may be involved in this process. The purpose of this study was to identify them in Cameroonians. We conduct a cross‐sectional study including women aged 18 to 45 years, who deliver between December 2011 and 2016, and were diagnosed and followed up for preeclampsia/eclampsia in two major obstetrical and gynecologic units in Yaoundé (Cameroon). Those with persistent high‐blood pressure after 6 months were classified as persistent hypertension (PH). Associated factors were investigated using multivariate analysis with logistic regression and presented with an adjusted odds ratio (aOR) and the 95% confidence interval. 92 participants were included, with 30 (32.6%) with PH. The independent factors associated with PH were as follows: maternal age during preeclampsia above 30 years (aOR = 6.30 [1.1; 35.4], p = .03), at least five deliveries prior preeclampsia (aOR = 1.50 [2; 6.6], p = .008), and family history of diabetes (aOR = 14.8 [2.6; 85.7], p = .003). About one in three women with preeclampsia/eclampsia will have PH. The clinician needs to pay more attention to the potential risk factors identified above. More appropriate strategies need to address the burden of this condition in the context of low resources., In Cameroon, about one in three women with preeclampsia/eclampsia will have persistent hypertension. The clinician needs to pay more attention to those patients, especially in case of maternal age during preeclampsia above 30 years, at least 5 deliveries prior preeclampsia and family history of diabetes. More appropriate strategies need to address the burden of this condition in the context of low income countries.

The diagnostic accuracy of the electrocardiogram for left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is limited. Recently, Peguero and collaborators proposed a novel voltage criterion for its detection with reportedly higher accuracy than the commonly used Cornell and Sokolow‐Lyon criteria. While studies done in various populations have confirmed it, there are no available data from black African populations. We conducted a cross‐sectional study in a population from Cameroon to compare the Peguero‐Lo Presti criterion to the older Cornell, Sokolow‐Lyon, and Cornell product criteria, pertaining to their sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), with echocardiography as the reference standard. The study population consisted of 238 participants (54.2% female) with a mean age of 58 (SD 13) years. On echocardiography, the prevalence of LVH was 45.3% (n = 108). The sensitivity was 48.14%, 63.89%, 63.89%, and 67.29% for the Sokolow‐Lyon, Peguero‐Lo Presti, Cornell, and Cornell product criteria, respectively. The specificity was 73.84%, 75.97%, 79.23%, and 82.31% for the Peguero‐Lo Presti, Cornell product, Cornell, and Sokolow‐Lyon criteria, respectively. The overall accuracy of the Peguero‐Lo Presti (AUC = 0.689) was not significantly different from that of the Cornell (AUC = 0.714), the Cornell product (AUC = 0.717), and the Sokolow‐Lyon (AUC = 0.652) (all p ˃ .05). Hypertension and gender influenced the agreement between ECG criteria and echocardiography in the detection of LVH. In conclusion, in this black African population, Peguero‐Lo Presti was not significantly more or less accurate than Cornell or Sokolow‐Lyon., Our study shows that the accuracy of the Peguero‐Lo Presti criterion was not significant different from that of the Cornell, Cornell Product, and Sokolow‐Lyon criteria. In males, Peguero‐Lo Presti was better than Sokolow‐Lyon only. The agreement between ECG criteria and echocardiography in the detection of LVH was influenced by hypertension (for Peguero‐Lo Presti) and gender (for Sokolow Lyon, Cornell and the Cornell product), but not by age and obesity status.

A bibliography is given of the malacological oeuvre of Paul Pallary (1869-1942), who carried out extensive systematic research on the molluscs from northern African and the Middle East during five decades.

Several porcupine taxa are reported from the middle Miocene to the early Holocene in the Old World. Among these, five species of the subfamily Hystricinae occurred in Africa approximately in the last 6 Ma: the extinct Hystrix makapanensis, Hystrix leakeyi, and Xenohystrix crassidens and the still living Hystrix africaeaustralis and Hystrix cristata. The large-sized H. makapanensis is reported from numerous sites in East and South Africa between the early Pliocene and Early Pleistocene. In this paper, we describe a new mandible of H. makapanensis from the world-renowned Tanzanian paleontological and archeological site of Olduvai Gorge (HWK West; lowermost Bed II; ca. 1.8–1.7 Ma). The discovery of the new mandible triggered a comprehensive review of the entire African record of H. makapanensis. In particular, we describe or re-analyze the samples from South Africa (Makapansgat Limeworks, Gondolin, Kromdraai, Swartkrans, and Sterkfontein), Tanzania (Olduvai and Laetoli), Ethiopia (Omo Shungura and Hadar), and Kenya (Chemeron), enriching the quantity of specimens confidently referable to this species and above all improving the information on its craniodental anatomy. On this basis, we: (1) propose an emended diagnosis of H. makapanensis; (2) point out the morphological and biometric differences between H. makapanensis and other African Hystricinae (also in terms of body mass); and (3) broaden the knowledge on the geographical and chronological distribution of this extinct species. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10914-021-09588-z.

In tropical countries the diagnosis of viral infections of humans or animals is often hampered by the lack of suitable clinical material and the necessity to maintain a cold chain for sample preservation up to the laboratory. This study describes the use of filter papers for rapid sample collection, and the molecular detection and genotyping of viruses when stored over long periods at elevated temperatures. Infected blood was collected on filter papers, dried and stored at different temperatures (22, 32 and 37 °C) for various periods (up to 9 months). Two animal viruses, African swine fever, a large double-stranded DNA virus and Peste des Petits Ruminants, a negative single-stranded RNA virus, were used to validate the method. Filter papers with dried blood containing virus or control plasmid DNA were cut in small 5 mm2 pieces and added directly to the PCR tube for conventional PCR. Nucleic acid from both viruses could still be detected after 3 months at 32 °C. Moreover, the DNA virus could be detected at least 9 months after conservation at 37 °C. PCR products obtained from the filter papers were sequenced and phylogenetic analysis carried out. The results were consistent with published sequences, demonstrating that this method can be used for virus genotyping. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Enteric viruses are a diverse group of human pathogens which are primarily transmitted by the faecal-oral route and are a major cause of non-bacterial diarrhoeal disease in both developed and developing countries. Because they are shed in high numbers by infected individuals and can persist for a long time in the environment, they pose a serious threat to human health globally. Enteric viruses end up in the environment mainly through discharge or leakage of raw or inadequately treated sewage into water sources such as springs, rivers, dams, or marine estuaries. Human exposure then follows when contaminated water is used for drinking, cooking, or recreation and, importantly, when filter-feeding bivalve shellfish are consumed. The human health hazard posed by enteric viruses is particularly serious in Africa where rapid urbanisation in a relatively short period of time has led to the expansion of informal settlements with poor sanitation and failing or non-existent wastewater treatment infrastructure, and where rural communities with limited or no access to municipal water are dependent on nearby open water sources for their subsistence. The role of sewage-contaminated water and bivalve shellfish as vehicles for transmission of enteric viruses is well documented but, to our knowledge, has not been comprehensively reviewed in the African context. Here we provide an overview of enteric viruses and then review the growing body of research where these viruses have been detected in association with sewage-contaminated water or food in several African countries. These studies highlight the need for more research into the prevalence, molecular epidemiology and circulation of these viruses in Africa, as well as for development and application of innovative wastewater treatment approaches to reduce environmental pollution and its impact on human health on the continent.

Purpose Labour market marginalisation (LMM), i.e. long-term unemployment (LTU), long-term sickness absence (LTSA) and disability pension (DP), among young individuals with common mental disorders (CMDs) are a challenge for the welfare system, and refugees and non-refugee migrants seem particularly vulnerable. The aim was to investigate the risk of LMM in young adults with CMDs among refugees and non-refugee migrants compared to Swedish-born individuals and the role of country of birth, duration of residence and age at arrival. Methods A prospective cohort study was conducted including young adults (19–30 years) with inpatient or specialised outpatient healthcare due to CMDs and/or antidepressant prescriptions during 2009 (N = 69,515). Cox regression models were used to calculate hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals for the risk of LMM during 2010–2013. Results Both refugees and non-refugee migrants had a higher risk of LTU compared to Swedish-born individuals (HR refugees: Africa: 2.4; Asia: 2.2; Europe outside EU25: 1.6; South America: 1.4) with highest estimates in refugees from Afghanistan and Syria. Refugees from Africa and Asia had a lower risk of LTSA compared to Swedish-born individuals (HR: 0.6 and 0.7, respectively), particularly refugees from Afghanistan and Iraq. Especially among refugees, a longer duration of residence and a younger age at arrival were associated with a lower risk of LTU. Conclusions The risk of LTU among refugees and non-refugee migrants was higher and the risk of LTSA was lower, compared to Swedish-born individuals. Duration of residence and age at arrival had an influence on the risk of LTU, particularly among refugees.

Cet article propose une analyse de la ponctuation effectuée par les acteurs institutionnels dans le cadre de communication domotique des crises, dans une problématique qui articule information, confiance et résilience, à partir d’une approche comparative avec le cadrage médiatique. Il examine également la ponctuation par l’image en tant que médiatisation caractéristique du positionnement de nouveaux appareillages médiatiques numériques, notamment la plateforme YouTube. Il montre enfin la pertinence de la ponctuation en tant qu’opérateur communicationnel de confiance et de résilience domotique en temps de crise ainsi que de fiducies numériques d’usage et d’images de l’information. Este artículo propone un análisis de la puntuación que realizan los actores institucionales en la comunicación de crisis interna, en un enfoque comparativo con el encuadre mediático basado en la interconexión entre información, confianza y resiliencia. Este artículo estudia igualmente la puntuación por imágenes como mediatización característica de los nuevos dispositivos digitales de información, en particular de la plataforma YouTube. Muestra finalmente la pertinencia del concepto de puntuación como operador comunicacional de confianza y resiliencia en crisis internas, con fiduciarios digitales de imágenes de información.

Background Bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Anthophila) are the most important group of pollinators with about 20,507 known species worldwide. Despite the critical role of bees in providing pollination services, studies aiming at understanding which species are present across disturbance gradients are scarce. Limited taxononomic information for the existing and unidentified bee species in Tanzania make their conservation haphazard. Here, we present a dataset of bee species records obtained from a survey in nothern Tanzania i.e. Kilimanjaro, Arusha and Manyara regions. Our findings serve as baseline data necessary for understanding the diversity and distribution of bees in the northern parts of the country, which is a critical step in devising robust conservation and monitoring strategies for their populations. New information In this paper, we present information on 45 bee species belonging to 20 genera and four families sampled using a combination of sweep-netting and pan trap methods. Most species (27, ~ 60%) belong to the family Halictidae followed by 16 species (35.5%) from the family Apidae. Megachilidae and Andrenidae were the least represented, each with only one species (2.2%). Additional species of Apidae and Megachilidae sampled during this survey are not yet published on Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), once they will be available on GBIF, they will be published in a subsequent paper. From a total of 953 occurrences, highest numbers were recorded in Kilimanjaro Region (n = 511), followed by Arusha (n = 410) and Manyara (n = 32), but this pattern reflects the sampling efforts of the research project rather than real bias in the distributions of bee species in northern Tanzania.

Backgrounds SARS‐CoV‐2 is affecting different countries all over the world, with significant variation in infection‐rate and death‐ratio. We have previously shown a presence of a possible relationship between different variables including the Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine, average age, gender, and malaria treatment, and the rate of spread, severity and mortality of COVID‐19 disease. This paper focuses on developing machine learning models for this relationship. Methods We have used real‐datasets collected from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control to develop a model from China data as the baseline country. From this model, we predicted and forecasted different countries' daily confirmed‐cases and daily death‐cases and examined if there was any possible effect of the variables mentioned above. Results The model was trained based on China data as a baseline model for daily confirmed‐cases and daily death‐cases. This machine learning application succeeded in modelling and forecasting daily confirmed‐cases and daily death‐cases. The modelling and forecasting of viral spread resulted in four different regions; these regions were dependent on the malarial treatments, BCG vaccination, weather conditions, and average age. However, the lack of social distancing resulted in variation in the effect of these factors, for example, double‐humped spread and mortality cases curves and sudden increases in the spread and mortality cases in different countries. The process of machine learning for time‐series prediction and forecasting, especially in the pandemic COVID‐19 domain, proved usefulness in modelling and forecasting the end status of the virus spreading based on specific regional and health support variables. Conclusion From the experimental results, we confirm that COVID‐19 has a very low spread in the African countries with all the four variables (average young age, hot weather, BCG vaccine and malaria treatment); a very high spread in European countries and the USA with no variable (old people, cold weather, no BCG vaccine and no malaria). The effect of the variables could be on the spread or the severity to the extent that the infected subject might not have symptoms or the case is mild and can be missed as a confirmed‐case. Social distancing decreases the effect of these factors.

Rabies is transmitted to humans mainly by dogs but also by other animal species. Reliable data on the incidence of Rabies virus (RABV) in humans, dogs, and other animal species in Africa, could be essential in the implementation of a global strategic plan to eliminate the RABV by 2030 as adopted by the WHO, OIE, and FAO. We searched the Pubmed, Embase, Scopus, African Journal Online, and African Index Medicus databases for relevant studies that report data on the incidence of RABV in Africa up to February 17, 2020. Information on active and past RABV exposures in various categories of dogs, humans and other animal species were extracted. Incidence and seroprevalence estimates were pooled using a random-effect meta-analysis. We included 73 articles which provided 142 RABV incidence and seroprevalence records in 21 African countries. The estimated incidence of RABV in 222 humans, 15,600 dogs, and 12,865 other animal species was 83.4% (95% CI = 64.6–96.5), 44.1% (95% CI = 35.1–53.4), and 41.4% (95% CI = 29.6–53.8), respectively. The estimated seroprevalence of RABV in 420 humans, 3577 dogs, and 8,55 other animal species was 33.8% (95% CI = 21.9–46.8), 19.8% (95% CI = 13.3–27.3), and 3.6% (95% CI = 0.3–9.2), respectively. The incidence of RABV in general was higher in suspected rabid dogs, other animal species of the Orders Perissodactyla, Artiodactyla and Carnivora. The incidence of RABV was higher for humans in regions of West and East Africa, for dogs in urban areas and in regions of Central and South Africa, and for animals of the order Perissodactyla in urban areas. This meta-analysis demonstrated a high incidence of RABV in Africa. Itis necessary to improve surveillance system to provide reliable data on RABV in Africa, essential for the implementation of an effective control strategy.

In Morocco, many uncertainties surround the current diversity and distribution of the bivalve family Sphaeriidae. Such information, including taxonomy and conservation status, are vital for further studies to improve the knowledge of this family in Morocco and represents the first step towards the development of a national conservation plan for all freshwater bivalves.Between 2016 and 2019, several investigations were carried out to assess the diversity and distribution of Sphaeriidae in the different basins of Morocco, covering different types of habitat (lakes, springs, rivers and small ponds). The identification of specimens and their morpho-ecological features was based on morphological and morphometric analyses. The data on the general distribution of the collected species allowed the evaluation of their conservation status as well.The shell morphology and morphometric analyses revealed the existence of five species belonging to the genus Pisidium [P. casertanum (Poli, 1791), P. (cf.) personatum Malm, 1855, P. subtruncatum Malm, 1855, P. amnicum (O. F. Müller, 1774) and Pisidium sp.] and one species to the genus of Musculium [M. lacustre (O. F. Müller, 1774)]. Sphaeriidae were found in all Moroccan basins, except Bouregreg and Sakia El Hamra-Oued Eddahab Basins. The results showed that Sebou Basin was the species richest with the occurrence of the five species, while Loukkos and Sous-Massa Basins had the lowest-species richness with one species only. The conservation status of sphaeriids in Morocco was evaluated for the first time and resulted in P. (cf.) personatum and P. subtruncatum being proposed as Least Concern and Vulnerable, respectively, while the status of Regionally Extinct is suggested for both species P. amnicum and M. lacustre.First evaluation of the diversity and species richness of the family Sphaeriidae in Morocco with an assignment of an updated conservation status of the recorded species.

The four mosquito-borne dengue virus serotypes (DENV1-DENV4) cause a high burden of disease throughout the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. Nevertheless, their precise epidemiological history in Africa, including when and where they originated and were distributed during the 20th century, remains unclear stressing the need for One Health focused research. Accordingly, we conducted a time-scaled molecular epide-miological reconstruction using publicly available and newly sequenced dengue virus genomes of African origin representing all four serotypes to deduce the most likely temporal and spatial transmission routes of each DENV serotype from their ancestral regions to, within and from Africa. Our analyses suggest that during the 20th century, serotypes DENV1-DENV3 were introduced to Africa from South East Asia on multiple occasions. The earliest evidence recorded indicates introduction of DENV2 during the early-1940s and of DENV1 during the mid-1940s to Western Africa from South East Asia. The analysis also implies an early introduction of DENV4 during the mid-1940s to Western Africa, alongside DENV1, probably originating in South East Asia. Establishment of DENV3 in Africa appears to have occurred later in the 1960s, apparently originating from South East Asia. However, with the re-establishment of DENV in the Americas, following the cessation of the PAHO mosquito control programme during the mid-20th century, evidence of introductions of DENV1 and DENV2 from the Americas to Western Africa was also observed. The data also identify intra-regional circulation of DENV, but also inter-regional dispersal of all four serotypes within Africa, which has led to a high degree of geographical overlap among serotypes. It is also noteworthy that DENV from both Eastern and Western Africa, have been introduced into Central Africa but there is no support for the converse relationship. For serotypes DENV1-DENV3, we observed probable exports from within established African DENV clusters (>= 2 sequences) primarily to Eastern and Southern Asia. Collectively, our findings support the view that all DENV serotypes, apart from DENV4, have been introduced on multiple occasions to Africa, primarily originating from South East Asia, and subsequently to neighbouring regions within Africa.

Review of Hip Hop Africa: New African Music in a Globalizing World by Eric Charry 2012

This book is a research study that outlines briefly the different opportunities for Islamic finance in Africa for Islamic finance investors and the financial system in Africa and its economic development. This study treats also the challenges facing the development of Islamic finance in Africa.

Radiotherapy is life-saving treatment which ought to be guaranteed for all cancer patients who are indicated. While this is so, it is incumbent on the management of radiotherapy centres to ensure that patients, patient care-givers and radiotherapy personnel are at all times safe within the radiotherapy facility. Cancer patients are known to have increased risk for respiratory viruses like Covid-19 due to the compromised immune state of such persons. It is thus important to institute adequate safety measures in radiotherapy centres to prevent infection of cancer patients during the global Covid-19 pandemic. A survey conducted in 12 radiotherapy centres in 8 African countries has highlighted key measures needing implementation to ensure safety against Covid-19 infections. The safety measures were indexed on a 16-point questionnaire covering 5 main areas of staffing, radiotherapy environment, equipment and treatment protocols, patient condition and scheduling, and education/sensitization. The study shows that use of personal protective equipment, provision of hand washing and sanitizing facilities, social distance observance, restrictions for patient care-givers, provision of isolation unit meant for holding suspected Covid-19 cases, existence of working protocols, and Covid-19 safety education for staff are fully complied with by the surveyed radiotherapy centres. A greater portion of the centres, are however, without radiotherapy facilities solely dedicated for suspicious and confirmed Covid-19 cases. Strict adherence of the safety measures is highly essential to contain the spread and prevent infection of the disease to patients, care-givers and staff of the radiotherapy departments.

Although a high seroprevalence of antibodies against hepatitis A virus (HAV) has been estimated in Central Africa, the current status of both HAV infections and seroprevalence of anti‐HAV antibodies remains unclear due to a paucity of surveillance data available. We conducted a serological survey during 2015‐2017 in Gabon, Central Africa, and confirmed a high seroprevalence of anti‐HAV antibodies in all age groups. To identify the currently circulating HAV strains and to reveal the epidemiological and genetic characteristics of the virus, we conducted molecular surveillance in a total of 1007 patients presenting febrile illness. Through HAV detection and sequencing, we identified subgenotype IIA (HAV‐IIA) infections in the country throughout the year. A significant prevalence trend emerged in the young child population, presenting several infection peaks which appeared to be unrelated to dry or rainy seasons. Whole‐genome sequencing and phylogenetic analyses revealed local HAV‐IIA evolutionary events in Central Africa, indicating the circulation of HAV‐IIA strains of a region‐specific lineage. Recombination analysis of complete genome sequences revealed potential recombination events in Gabonese HAV strains. Interestingly, Gabonese HAV‐IIA possibly acquired the 5’‐untranslated region (5’‐UTR) of the rare subgenotype HAV‐IIB in recent years, suggesting the present existence of HAV‐IIB in Central Africa. These findings indicate a currently stable HAV‐IIA circulation in Gabon, with a high risk of infections in children aged under 5 years. Our findings will enhance the understanding of the current status of HAV infections in Central Africa and provide new insight into the molecular epidemiology and evolution of HAV genotype II.

Child soldiers have been heavily involved in contemporary African warfare. Since the 1990s, the ‘child soldier crisis’ has become a major humanitarian and human rights project. The figure of the child soldier has often been taken as evidence of the ‘barbarism’, dehumanization and trauma generated by modern warfare, but such images can obscure the complex reality of children’s experiences of being part of armed groups during conflict. This article uses the published memoirs of former child soldiers from Sierra Leone, Sudan, Uganda, Eritrea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to explore the instrumental and discursive nexus between child soldiers, memory, violence and humanitarianism. It assesses how (former-) children combatants remember and recount their experiences of war, and how these narratives can be shaped by humanitarian, literary and/or therapeutic framings. The article argues that these memoirs’ significance lies in their affective truths and what they reveal about children’s experience, and narrations, of war. Former child soldiers engage with, but also challenge, dominant contemporary humanitarian discourses surrounding childhood and violence to develop a ‘victim, savage, saviour, campaigner’ framework for their narratives. The article historically contextualizes the emergence of the ‘child soldier memoir’, before analysing the narratives of recruitment, indoctrination, and violence recounted by these former child soldiers, and their attempts to rework their identities in a post-conflict environment. It explores how former child soldiers narrate suffering and deploy discourses of trauma in their memoirs: some seeking to process wartime traumas, others leveraging their own suffering to position themselves as campaigners for those children still caught in conflict.

This study aimed to assess the association between suicidal ideation among mothers living with HIV in Zimbabwe and the cognitive development of their children. Participants were mother–child dyads recruited from two rural districts in Zimbabwe. Data were collected at baseline and 12 months follow-up. Suicidal ideation was assessed using item-10 from the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale. Mixed-effects linear regression was used to assess the association of child cognitive outcomes at follow-up (using the Mullen scales of early learning) with maternal suicidal ideation. Mothers with suicidal ideation at baseline (n = 171) tended to be younger, unmarried, experienced moderate to severe hunger, had elevated parental stress and depression symptoms compared with non-suicidal mothers (n = 391). At follow-up, emerging maternal suicidal ideation was associated with poorer child cognitive outcomes (adjusted mean difference − 6.1; 95% CI − 10.3 to − 1.8; p = 0.03). Suicidal ideation affects child cognitive development and should be addressed, particularly in HIV positive mothers.