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Background: Despite an increase in health research conducted in Africa, there are still inadequate human resources with research ethics training and lack of local long-term training opportunities in research ethics. A research ethics training program named United States-Mali Research Ethics Training Program (US-Mali RETP) was established through a partnership between the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health (GWSPH), USA and University of Sciences, Techniques & Technologies of Bamako (USTTB), to address the critical need for improved bioethics training, leadership, and policy in Mali. Methods: The aims of the capacity building programme are achieved by leveraging US and Africa-based expertise to strengthen research ethics education and capacity through: (1) intensive faculty development to design ethics training curricula; (2) development of a research ethics specialization within the existing Masters of Public Health program (MPH); and (3) establishing professional development courses through short-term training workshops and webinars to address research and professional needs in ethics. Results: The program will strengthen USTTB’s capacity of research ethics by training at least 15 MPH students over 5 years to prepare the next generation of ethics researchers. During the first two years of the program, a new ethics training curricula was developed, two cohorts of Master’s students were enrolled, and a series of webinars and workshops were conducted with participation of Malian and international researchers. Conclusions: US-Mali RETP will promote a sustainable bioethics enterprise at USTTB, and enable dissemination of research ethics training to increase health research capacity in Mali.

AbstractThis study assesses the incidence of the Covid-19 pandemic on poverty levels in 50 African countries by employing the PovcalNet computational tool for poverty monitoring. The empirical evidence is based on: (i) Pre Covid-19 macroeconomic projections of October 2019 and revised macroeconomic projections of April 2020 and (ii) three poverty thresholds, notably, US$1.90, US$3.20, and US$5.50 per day for the extreme, middle and higher poverty lines. The following main findings are established. First, the extreme poverty line of US$1.90 per day has increased by US$0.1 per day while the middle poverty line and the higher line have increased by US0.19$ and US0.32$, respectively. Second, the poverty headcount has increased to 35.85% for the US1.90$ poverty line, 57.55% for the US3.20$ per day poverty line and 76.42% for the higher poverty line (US5.5$ per day). Third, the corresponding additional percentage points in poverty headcount ratio are: (i) an increase of 2.09% for the poverty thresholds of US1.90$ per day and US3.2$ per day, corresponding to 28, 140, 345 and 26, 418, 200 people, respectively of the new poor in absolute terms and (ii) a boost of 1.78% for the higher poverty line of US5.5$ per day, corresponding to 19, 062, 643 of the new poor. Fourth, country-specific tendencies are also provided for more targeted policy implications.

AbstractThe study provides thresholds of income inequality that if exceeded will nullify the positive effect of governance dynamics on gender-inclusive education in 42 countries in sub-Saharan Africa for the period 2004–2014. The Generalised Method of Moments is used as an estimation strategy. The following findings are established. First, the unconditional effects of governance dynamics on inclusive education are consistently positive whereas the corresponding conditional effects from the interaction between inequality and governance dynamics are consistently negative. Second, the levels of inequality that completely crowd-out the positive incidence of governance on inclusive ‘primary and secondary education’ are: 0.587 for the rule of law and 0.565 for corruption-control. Third, the levels of inequality that completely dampen the positive incidence of governance on inclusive ‘secondary education’ are: 0.601 for ‘voice & accountability’ and 0.700 for regulation quality. Fourth, for tertiary education, inequality thresholds are respectively 0.568 for political stability and 0.562 for corruption-control. The main policy implication is that for governance dynamics to promote inclusive education in the sampled countries, income inequality levels should be kept within the established thresholds. Other implications are discussed in the light of Sustainable Development Goals.

Schistosomiasis is a neglected tropical disease of global medical and veterinary importance. As efforts to eliminate schistosomiasis as a public health problem and interrupt transmission gather momentum, the potential zoonotic risk posed by livestock Schistosomaspecies via viable hybridisation in sub-Saharan Africa have been largely overlooked. We aimed to investigate the prevalence, distribution, and multi-host, multiparasite transmission cycle of Haematobiumgroup schistosomiasis in Senegal, West Africa.

I read with interest Baffour's Beefs (NA, October) on the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy's lecture at the Cheik Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal. Many of us had believed that [...]

This article offers a comparative analysis of the role and function of West African griots and Southern African iimbongias socio-political commentators. Furthermore, this contemporary function is seen against the backdrop of the role of orators in past African Kingdoms. Similarities and differences between these performers and their respective societies are highlighted through the use of an ethnographic methodology. A distinction is drawn between the more traditional performers such as Thiam Anchou and D.L.P. Yali-Manisi, and the more modern performers such as M'Bana Diop, Bongani Sitole, Mbaye and Mkiva. The stylistic techniques used by these performers are highlighted to show the comparative structural patterns which emerge. In comparing the work of the more contemporary, urban poets such as M'bana Diop of Senegal, and Zolani Mkiva from Southern Africa, similarities are found in their performances of post-independence leaders such as Senghor and Mandela. Political pressures which have been brought to bear on the performer are also discussed. The use of the primarily improvised oral performance as political rhetoric is explored.

Several letters to the editor are presented in response to articles in previous issues including about a lecture of French President Nicolas Sarkozy in a university in Dakar, Senegal in the October 2007 issue, about election violence in Kenya, and "Zimbabwe Economy: The Real Story" in the August/September 2007 issue.