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COVID-19 has now spread to all the continents of the world with the possible exception of Antarctica. However, Africa appears different when compared with all the other continents. The absence of exponential growth and the low mortality rates contrary to that experienced in other continents, and contrary to the projections for Africa by various agencies, including the World Health Organization (WHO) has been a puzzle to many. Although Africa is the second most populous continent with an estimated 17.2% of the world's population, the continent accounts for only 5% of the total cases and 3% of the mortality. Mortality for the whole of Africa remains at a reported 19,726 as at August 01, 2020. The onset of the pandemic was later, the rate of rise has been slower and the severity of illness and case fatality rates have been lower in comparison to other continents. In addition, contrary to what had been documented in other continents, the occurrence of the renal complications in these patients also appeared to be much lower. This report documents the striking differences between the continents and within the continent of Africa itself and then attempts to explain the reasons for these differences. It is hoped that information presented in this review will help policymakers in the fight to contain the pandemic, particularly within Africa with its resource-constrained health care systems.

Food-borne infections are major causes of public health concern in developing and developed countries. During the past decade, the Institut Hospitalo-Universitaire Méditerranée Infection has conducted or been involved in multiple investigations that aimed at identifying the sources and strains responsible for food-borne diseases and therefore at improving the understanding, diagnosis, prevention and control of these infections. Investigations were conducted in the Mediterranean area and in sub-Saharan Africa on more than 15 food-borne agents, 17 food products and 14 antibiotic resistance-associated genes. Multiple sources, including unexpected ones, and pathogens, including emerging ones, were involved. Travelling in developing countries and zoonoses are major contributors to food-borne infections, while food-borne transmission of resistance-associated genes is increasingly reported. However, risk factors and pathogens associated with food-borne infections likely remain untapped and must be more extensively investigated, monitored and regularly reassessed. Diagnostic tests based on new technologies and real-time surveillance tools based on microbiology laboratory data are promising approaches to detect known food-borne infections and decipher new ones. Studies of the microbiota and its relationships with dietary patterns are also worth being conducted. Keywords: Africa, bacteria, food, food-borne, fungus, IHU Mediterranée Infection, infections, Mediterranean Basin, virus, zoonosis

Background The prevalence of pre-treatment drug resistance (PDR) to non-nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) agents is increasing in sub-Saharan Africa, which may decrease the effectiveness of efavirenz-based antiretroviral therapy (ART) programs. However, due to recent safety concerns, there has been hesitancy to replace efavirenz-based ART with dolutegravir in women of reproductive potential. Our objective was to evaluate whether PDR testing for women not initiating dolutegravir-based ART would be a cost-effective strategy to address the challenges posed by PDR. Methods We developed an HIV drug resistance model that simulates the emergence and transmission of resistance mutations, calibrated to the Kenyan epidemic. We modeled three care strategies for PDR testing among women not initiating dolutegravir-based ART: no PDR testing, PDR testing with a low-cost point mutation assay, known as oligonucleotide ligation assay (OLA), and PDR testing with consensus sequencing. Using a health sector perspective, this model was used to evaluate the health outcomes, lifetime costs, and cost-effectiveness under each strategy over a 15-year time horizon starting in 2019. Findings OLA and CS PDR testing were projected to have incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICER) of $10,741/QALY gained and $134,396/QALY gained, respectively, which are not cost-effective by national income standards. Viral suppression rates among women at 12 months after ART initiation were 87·8%, 89·0%, and 89·3% with no testing, OLA testing, and CS testing, respectively. PDR testing with OLA and CS were associated with a 0.5% and 0.6% reduction in incidence rate compared to no PDR testing. Initial PDR prevalence among women was 13.1% in 2019. By 2034, this prevalence was 17·6%, 17·4%, and 17·3% with no testing, OLA testing, and CS testing, respectively. Interpretation PDR testing for women is unlikely to be cost-effective in Kenya whether one uses a low-cost assay, such as OLA, or consensus sequencing. Funding National Institutes of Health, Gilead Sciences.

Genetic diversity is greater in Africa than in other continental populations. Genetic variability in genes encoding drug metabolizing enzymes may contribute to the high numbers of adverse drug reactions reported in Africa. We reviewed publications (1995–April 2016) reporting frequencies of known cytochrome P450 (CYP) variants in African populations. Using principal components analysis (PCA) we identified CYP alleles of potential clinical relevance with a marked difference in distribution in Africa, compared with Asian and Caucasian populations. These were CYP2B6*6, CYP2C8*2, CYP2D6*3, CYP2D6*17, CYP2D6*29, CYP3A5*6, and CYP3A5*7. We show clearly that there is greater diversity in CYP distribution in Africa than in other continental populations and identify a need for optimization of drug therapy and drug development there. Further pharmacogenetic studies are required to confirm the CYP distributions we identified using PCA, to discover uniquely African alleles and to identify populations at a potentially increased risk of drug-induced adverse events or drug inefficacy., Highlights • Greater diversity in CYP450 distribution in Africa vs Europe or Asia was demonstrated. • CYP alleles with a marked difference in distribution in Africa were identified. • CYP alleles that may be uniquely African were highlighted. • These data may help to identify regions at a greater risk of adverse drug reactions. Genetic diversity is greater in Africa than in other populations, yet in clinical therapeutics and drug development Africa is often treated as a homogenous, single entity. Genetic diversity in cytochrome P450 (CYP) genes may contribute to high numbers of adverse drug reactions reported in Africa. Reports on polymorphisms in drug metabolizing enzymes in African populations are limited. Our study demonstrates greater genetic diversity in CYPs in Africa and identifies CYP alleles with markedly different distribution in Africa compared with other populations. Our data can help identify African regions at potentially greater risk of adverse drug reactions or drug inefficacy.

Highlights • Update of an analysis used to synthesise data on childhood immunisation in Africa. • PubMed and Africa Wide databases were searched from January 2011 to September 2017 for articles on childhood immunisation. • There was a remarkable increase in immunisation output from 2011 to 2017 compared to the previous decades. • Most studies focused on the EPI and a majority of the studies were generated by Nigeria and South Africa. • There is need for collaboration between high and low research generating countries to foster research on the continent., Background Strengthening immunisation programmes in Africa remains a key strategy of improving vaccine coverage. Research plays a vital role in the design and implementation of strategic immunisation plans for improving vaccination coverage, in turn providing context specific evidence to inform policy and practice. We therefore updated an evidence map describing the types and quality of available literature on childhood immunisation in Africa from 2011 to 2017. Methods PubMed and Africa Wide databases were searched for English studies on childhood immunisation in Africa published from January 2011 to September 2017. Studies had to be conducted in humans and the reported information needed to be on either: vaccines; immunisation programmes; immunisation policies; or epidemiology of vaccine preventable diseases targeted by Expanded Programme on Immunisation vaccines. Results Out of 5567 studies retrieved, 797 studies from 165 journals met the inclusion criteria. During 2011–2017, 42 African countries contributed to research on childhood immunisation. Most studies were carried out in multiple countries (15.1%). Five countries contributed 41% of the total research output. Nigeria and South Africa contributed the highest proportion of studies at 12% and 11.4% respectively. The quantity of research output increased progressively from 2011 to 2015 after which there was a significant decline. Conclusion There was a remarkable increase in childhood immunisation research in the period 2011 to 2017 when compared to the initial assessment. However, the reason for decline in research output from 2015 requires further investigation. Most childhood immunisation research was still generated by five countries as previously observed, highlighting the critical need for strategic investment in research capacities and improved collaboration between countries in Africa.

This paper studies the dynamics of labor productivity convergence and technology catch-up within Africa, shedding light on two important and inter-related issues that are central to Africa's growth: (i) convergence of relative productivity among African countries and (ii) the role of technological change and technological catchup in driving productivity change across and within African countries. We do this by using a nonparametric method to estimate an African production frontier. Productivity change in Africa is decomposed into two components: technological change and technological catch-up. Our results show that Botswana and Mauritius are the only two countries in Africa that have converged to the productivity as well as the efficiency level of the frontier. This successful convergence is driven more by technological catch-up and less by technological change. We explore the special role of technological catch-up by decomposing it into within-sector convergence, between-sector convergence and initial specialization using a structural model (Shift and Share catch-up decomposition). The results highlight the special role of structural change in closing the productivity gap with the frontier. This paper contributes to recent evidence suggesting that countries can climb up the income ladder at a faster rate through a two-pronged transformation - i.e., structural change and technological catch-up.

Objective Antimicrobial stewardship is one of the strategic objectives of the WHO global action plan on antimicrobial resistance. This paper sought to review the extent of implementation of antimicrobial stewardship programmes (ASPs) in African countries and the reported outcomes. Methods We searched five electronic databases, including PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane library, African Journal Online, CINAHL and Google scholar for papers published between 1990 and March 2019. We combined the names of countries in the five regions of Africa with antimicrobial stewardship terms. Studies of any design, employing any stewardship strategies were included. The quality of included studies was assessed using the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) quality assessment tool for before and after studies. Results Of 1752 titles identified, 13 studies met the criteria for inclusion. Seven of the studies were conducted in South Africa, three in Kenya and one each in Sudan, Tanzania and Egypt. Eleven studies were of high quality with low risk of bias. The included studies mainly assessed the outcome using process measures and these were associated with improved compliance with antibiotic guidelines, appropriateness of prescribing, reduction in antibiotic use and cost savings. Decrease in rate of surgical site infections and nonsignificant change in mortality and 30-day readmission rate were reported in two studies respectively. Conclusion Findings of this review show the paucity of data on implementation of ASPs in African countries. Although the continent is faced with challenges which impact on effective implementation of ASPs, the successes reported in the included studies show that other African countries can implement these programmes.

It is a well-established practice of many Sub-Saharan African (SSA) governments to aid entrepreneurs within both the formal and informal sectors to enhance their performance and growth. Unfortunately, there is no agreed method by which governments can differentiate between entrepreneurs and target them with the appropriate promotion policies. Thus, despite the good intentions, entrepreneurship policy initiatives have been incorrectly targeted, poorly implemented, and without the desired results, since different entrepreneurs may require different forms of assistance. Some scholars have suggested that without a context-specific classificatory guide, policymakers are unlikely to be accurate in their assessment of the growth capabilities of prospective candidates for specific promotion initiatives and this can explain some of the policy failures. This observation has motivated the present paper. Our objective is to provide a framework that helps identify the different contextual dimensions influencing formal and informal enterprise creation processes in SSA. It is a well-established practice of many Sub-Saharan African (SSA) governments to aid entrepreneurs within both the formal and informal sectors to enhance their performance and growth. Unfortunately, there is no agreed method by which governments can differentiate between entrepreneurs and target them with the appropriate promotion policies. Thus, despite the good intentions, entrepreneurship policy initiatives have been incorrectly targeted, poorly implemented, and without the desired results, since different entrepreneurs may require different forms of assistance. Some scholars have suggested that without a context-specific classificatory guide, policymakers are unlikely to be accurate in their assessment of the growth capabilities of prospective candidates for specific promotion initiatives and this can explain some of the policy failures. This observation has motivated the present paper. Our objective is to provide a framework that helps identify the different contextual dimensions influencing formal and informal enterprise creation processes in SSA.

Highlights • This paper evaluates and quantifies the short-term impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on stock markets performance in Africa. • We employ a novel Bayesian structural time series approach. • Stock markets performance in Africa have significantly reduced during and after the occurrence of the COVID-19, usually between -2.7 % and -20 %. • The COVID-19 pandemic has restrictive effects on stock markets performance in African economies., This paper evaluates and quantifies the short-term impact of the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) on stock market performance in thirteen (13) African countries, using daily time series stock market data spanning 1st October 2019 to 30th June 2020. We employ a novel Bayesian structural time series approach (a state-space model) to estimate the relative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on stock market performance in those countries. Generally, our Bayesian posterior estimates show that, in relative terms, stock market performances in Africa have significantly reduced during and after the occurrence of the COVID-19, usually between -2.7 % and -21 %. At the heterogeneous level, we find that 10 countries have their stock markets significantly and adversely affected by the COVID-19, whereas the remaining 3 countries see no significant impact (or a rather short-lived negative significant impact) of the COVID-19 pandemic on their stock markets. We find that, within our sample period, there is almost no chance that the COVID-19 pandemic would have positive effects on the stock market performance in Africa. Our findings contribute to the discussion and research on the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic by providing empirical evidence that the pandemic has restrictive effects on stock market performance in African economies.

Graphical abstract Food- and water-borne diseases (FWBD) are among climate and environmental sensitive infectious diseases. Climate change can highly exacerbate FWBD through vulnerable water systems., Highlights • Food- and water-borne diseases (FWBD) are a major cause of mortality and morbidity. • Africa counts 91 million people falling ill and 137,000 dying per year by FWBD. • Climate change could increase FWBD through bad water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). • Floods’ vulnerability maps of drinking water systems are important for prevention. • Appropriate WASH interventions can significantly contribute in reducing FWBD under climate change., This paper provides a view of the major facts and figures related to infectious diseases with a focus on food-borne and water-borne diseases and their link with environmental factors and climate change. The global burden of food-borne diseases for 31 selected hazards was estimated by the World Health Organization at 33 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) in 2010 with 40% of this burden concentrated among children under 5 years of age. The highest burden per population of food-borne diseases is found in Africa, followed by Southeast Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean sub-regions. Unsafe water used for the cleaning and processing of food is a key risk factors contributing to food-borne diseases. The role of quality and quantity of water to the general burden of infectious diseases deserves attention, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, as its effects go beyond the food chain. Water-related infectious diseases are a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide, and climate change effects will exacerbate the challenges for the public health sector for both food-borne and water-borne diseases. Selected case studies from Africa and Asia show that (i) climate change extreme events, such as floods, may exacerbate the risks for infectious diseases spreading through water systems, and (ii) improvements related to drinking water, sanitation and hygiene could result in a significant reduction of intestinal parasitic infections among school-aged children. There is a need to better anticipate the impacts of climate change on infectious diseases and fostering multi-stakeholder engagement and multi-sectoral collaborations for integrated interventions at schools, community and household levels. The paper calls for giving priority to improving the environmental conditions affecting food-borne and water-borne infectious diseases under climate change.

This paper discusses how the internationalization of the Brazilian mining corporation Vale S.A, particularly its incursion into Mozambique, has given rise to transnational contestation efforts to resist extraction, from below and along a South-South axis. It does so by approaching the politics and practices of mobilization of the International Articulation of those Affected by Vale (AV), paying special attention to the ties forged between Mozambican and Brazilian civil society. This paper contends that the AV’s transnational activism and mobilization strength is context-dependent and defined by given political opportunities, which affect actors’ capacity and propensity to mobilize against Vale. Focusing on the determinants shaping the AV’s engagement in contentious politics, this paper analyzes which political opportunities have contributed to its establishment, how resources were mobilized to pursue transnational collective action and to push for change, and to which extent shifting political and economic circumstances in Brazil and Mozambique have affected mobilization prospects. This paper provides a critical, bottom-up perspective on the outward expansion of Vale as a Southern mining multinational and contributes to the literature on resistance to extractivism, exploring such dynamics in a transnational and South-South configuration.

Background: The prevalence of type 2 diabetes (t2dm) in Africa is increasing due to increase in associated risks factors such as unhealthy eating, obesity and physical inactivity. Diet monitoring is an important component in the management of t2dm to aid and prevent progression and complications. Research on dietary assessment in Africa is currently gaining interests and this paper aims to review the dietary assessment methods used with people living with t2dm. Methods: The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, Global Health and Web of Science databases were searched using keywords to identify studies that assessed the diet of people living with type-2 diabetes in Africa. The keywords were those related to the concepts: t2dm, dietary assessment, Africa and nutrient intake. We excluded papers not written in English, studies without a quantitative dietary assessment and studying a specific food, studies done among Africans but in developed countries, studies done among children and studies that measured neither energy intake or body mass index. Result: Search yielded 132 papers after duplicates were removed. This reduced to 41 after the title and abstract screening and further to 10 after the full text screening. The included papers were based in six African countries: Algeria, Morocco, Uganda, Ghana, Cameroon and South Africa. The 24-hour dietary recall was the most common dietary assessment method used in 8 studies and two studies used the estimated food diaries. Five studies did not use a country-specific food composition table. Eight used a researcher-entered online dietary analysis software for nutrient intake estimation, out of which 7 contained the food database of a different country. Two studies estimated nutrient intake using a statistical tool and paper-and-pen. None of the dietary assessment methods used in the studies was validated in this patient group. Conclusion: Limited evidence was available on the measurement of diet in patients with t2dm in Africa. There is need to improve the dietary assessment methods in Africa to prevent the progression and complication of t2dm.

Summary This paper explores the challenges for analysis of urbanization which can arise from insufficiently rigorous definition of what is “urban”. Policy makers and investors still use the ideas of “rural” versus “urban” and increasingly assume that the pace of urbanization in African countries is a measure of positive economic structural change. However most urban definitions do not incorporate economic characteristics. In Africa widely differing urban population thresholds and administrative factors are the most common criteria. The thresholds are often so low that many rural settlements are also defined as “urban” or they may be included on population density criteria, meaning the apparent pace of urbanization is inflated unrealistically. These issues are exemplified in this paper through detailed examples drawn from Kenya. It uses a range of sources including official census data and urban data published by Africapolis, as well as aerial images of rural and urban settlements in Kenya. It demonstrates how the use of population density criteria has inflated Kenyan urban data by the incorporation of very large numbers of rural people and explains how this can lead to entirely misleading interpretations of local and national urban and migration trends. Errors in urban figures can therefore have serious policy implications. It is argued that such errors can be reduced by not relying on a single criterion to define “urban” or by triangulating data on rural and urban settlements with other relevant information.

As the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation, the core value of protected areas (PAs) is to maintain an area’s natural conditions (both day and night) and to restrict human-caused disturbances to biology and the environment. Although the value of PAs has been universally recognized, light pollution within them is worsening as a result of the widespread use of artificial illumination devices. Previous studies have focused on light pollution in PAs and evaluated light radiation using nighttime light imagery. However, given the scale and span of these studies (national scale and over short periods), PA light pollution research should be advanced further. In this paper, we conducted long-term (1992–2018) monitoring and evaluation of light pollution in African PAs using aligned multi-sensor NTL data. The results showed that 1) Africa PAs were impacted by increasingly severe artificial lights during 1992–2018, with all three light indices showing an accelerating increasing trend. 2) The number of light-polluted PAs also rapidly increased, with more than 80% of PAs experiencing aggravated light pollution as of 2018. Different types of PAs had heterogeneous light pollution, which penetrates indiscriminately into all PA regulation levels. 4) Light pollution in African PAs was divided into three types, including outside invasion, internal sources, and mixed pollution. 5) Human activity intensity surrounding the PAs was highly correlated with light pollution within them, with a maximum effect distance of approximately 245 km. This paper provides new approaches for understanding the patterns of light pollution within PAs, and is a valuable reference for future PA planning.

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link. This paper evaluates the potential benefits, drawbacks and ethical risks of cloud computing for African countries in the context of information communication technologies for development (ICT4D). The paper argues that the capability approach, incorporating development ethics, provides a useful framework for considering the ethics of cloud computing in Africa. Coupled with global and intercultural ethics perspectives, both provide a rich human-centred view of the technology's benefits, drawbacks and ethical risks. Focussing on the transformational benefits and features of cloud computing for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and the health sector, the paper highlights potential ethical risks that are cause for concern. The paper concludes that while cloud computing has considerable potential for advancing development through the enhancement of capabilities, there remain huge challenges in its efficient, effective and ethical use. As a result, ethical risks related to equity, ownership, dependency, privacy, trust and security that reflect ‘unfreedoms’ and ‘capability deprivations’ may consequently have an impact on the technology's potential as an information communication technology for development.

Land tenure remains one of the most critical factors determining equity under REDD+, as we demonstrated through our previous article, ‘Roots of inequity: how the implementation of REDD+ reinforces past injustices”. Githiru responded to this paper, with some apparent challenges to both the empirical basis and theoretical arguments, that we had put forward. In this rebuttal, we demonstrate that there were no empirical differences between our original paper and Githiru’s response that had bearing on our findings, but that there are substantial differences in our interpretations of legality and equity, and consequently divergence about who can expect to benefit from REDD+. In a context where land ownership has historically and presently involved processes of dispossession, marginalization and even evictions, this rebuttal illustrates the complexity of the dominant discourse on land tenure and benefits under REDD+ and shows how social safeguards will need to take historical context and people’s current entitlements and agency into account, if equitable outcomes are to be defined and realized. Land tenure remains one of the most critical factors determining equity under REDD+, as we demonstrated through our previous article, ‘Roots of inequity: how the implementation of REDD+ reinforces past injustices”. Githiru responded to this paper, with some apparent challenges to both the empirical basis and theoretical arguments, that we had put forward. In this rebuttal, we demonstrate that there were no empirical differences between our original paper and Githiru’s response that had bearing on our findings, but that there are substantial differences in our interpretations of legality and equity, and consequently divergence about who can expect to benefit from REDD+. In a context where land ownership has historically and presently involved processes of dispossession, marginalization and even evictions, this rebuttal illustrates the complexity of the dominant discourse on land tenure and benefits under REDD+ and shows how social safeguards will need to take historical context and people’s current entitlements and agency into account, if equitable outcomes are to be defined and realized.

Plastic particles are small micro and nano range materials internationally produced for industrial applications or as a result of the breakdown of larger plastics. The accumulation of plastic particles varies spatially and temporally, with locations, hydrodynamic conditions, environmental pressure, time, and anthropogenic factors accounting for the disparities in dispersal and distribution. The accelerating global release of plastic particles into the environment seems unending, with long-term consequences for water quality, biodiversity, biological conservation, and human health. In this paper, we review the formation, presence, and toxicity of plastic particles in water, land, and air. Plastic wastes and plastic particles are increasing in abundance every year with increased consumption and rise in the global population. These materials are easily transported over long distances and become ubiquitous in their distribution on land, water, and air with unknown and unproven ecological and human health risks. Notwithstanding the potential threats to ecological health, literary records of plastic particle contamination of environmental media in Africa are very scanty. Managing environmental waste plastics and plastic particles and ensuring effective intervention policies and practices requires an understanding of plastic particles sources, transport, and fate, through regional and international collaboration, and interdisciplinary research. In consideration of the potential threats of plastic particles to ecological functions and human health risks, we recommend specific regulation of microplastics in consumer products. The information contained in this paper adds to the growing body of knowledge in the study of micro- and nano-plastic particles worldwide but with particular reference to developing countries.

Summary This paper introduces a Special Section on Chinese and Brazilian engagements in African agriculture. The paper asks if a new paradigm for development cooperation is emerging, and argues that we must move beyond the simplistic narratives of either “South–South” collaboration or “neo-imperial” expansion of “rising powers” to look at the dynamic and contested politics of engagement, as new forms of capital and technology enter African contexts. Historical experiences in Brazil and China, as well as domestic political and economic debates, affect how interventions are framed, and by whom, and so influence what technologies are chosen, which investments are funded, and who gets trained. There are both political and economic drivers at the heart of these choices, but these are not uniform or uncontested, either in Brazil and China or in Africa. The Special Section argues for a focus on the encounters on the ground, moving beyond the broader rhetoric and generic policy statements. A key feature of Brazilian and Chinese engagements in African agriculture is the role of state–business relations in shaping and steering development, suggesting new forms of developmentalism. The paper concludes that there is a growing opportunity for learning from the Brazilian and Chinese experience, as this will be a long-run feature of African agricultural development.

SummaryThe growing involvement of the Chinese state and business in Africa has generated significant debate about China’s Africa strategy and the benefits for Africa’s development. What is the nature of Chinese state capitalism in Africa? This study examines Chinese state–business relations and argues that China’s involvement in Africa is more complex than often portrayed. It aims to build a closer understanding of the diverse factors that influence the Chinese state–business relations as it is implemented in Africa. This paper focuses on how state–business interactions influence agricultural development outcomes, using six case-studies from Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It explores the question of how far the state can control business and direct development by identifying the key relationships that influence the decision-making processes of state and business actors within China and its African engagement. The paper challenges the conventional wisdom of homogenized, unitary relations. It argues that these relations are, in practice, heterogeneous, as a result of the state being disaggregated into a multiplicity of provincial relations and central state agencies, and tensions arising between commercial market and political interests. The active role of African governments in agricultural schemes is also affecting outcomes. China’s engagement is multivariate, involving a multiplicity of agencies, operating at different levels, structures, and processes with sometimes contrary interests and goals. The findings of an analysis of six state–business projects in the agricultural sectors of Zimbabwe and Mozambique suggest that where agriculture is concerned, a wide range of Chinese agencies are involved, with businesses being driven by either market forces or national state interests, which together make outcomes less open to generalization.

Summary Agricultural Technology Demonstration Centre (ATDC) has been considered as an alternative model to pursue sustainability of Chinese foreign aid to African countries in the new era. This paper attempts to examine the ATDC scheme, particularly focus on the knowledge construction at macro level of design and the knowledge encounter at micro level of daily operation based on the case studies in Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. Our study finds multiple facets of the ATDC, i.e., the cleavage between the macro-level of policy design and micro level of implementation realities; the interplay between knowledge and politics, and appearance of possible alternative development pathways stimulated by ATDCs in African countries. The paper argues that even though the ATDC is a technology-centered scheme, it is inevitably a social and political process in implementation, resulting in the discontinuity of the policy results. With a whole set of ideas and imaginaries being delivered, frustrated, and negotiated, the ATDC creates a very different vision to the established CG system, or the western bilateral aid programs. As an embodiment of a “traveling technocratic rationality”, the ATDCs are important sites for negotiations over knowledge and politics, and the meanings of aid, investment, and development, as part of the wider playing out of China’s engagement in Africa.

Although there has been a growing body of research on the detrimental effects of electronic waste (e-waste) in emerging economies, this fails to capture a complete picture of the subject. The purpose of this paper is to address this deficit in our understanding by developing a unified perspective of the effects of e-waste. The paper advances three main perspectives (i.e. the positive, detrimental and the unified perspectives) of the effects of e-waste in emerging economies. These perspectives unify the existing scattered streams of research on the subject to offer more robust explanations of the effects of e-waste in developing countries. Through an illustrative case of an emerging economy, the paper demonstrates that contrary to the perceived view that e-waste from advanced economies to developing countries is detrimental; some sectors such as the second-hand market, aftermarket and repair industry have flourished. The paper outlines a range of strategies for countries that can be adopted to develop and enhance environmental sustainability.

A recurring concern in genomics research is the possibility that it could lead to stigma for participants, their families and the population groups they belong to. Little evidence exists to explain how and when this ought to be a concern in genomics research in Africa whilst there is growing international evidence drawing into question the direct link between stigma and genetics. In this paper, we interrogate practical instances from African genomics research where stigma was identified as a concern in an attempt to nuance and refine accounts of when stigma should be considered as an ethical issue. The paper describes examples involving gendered blame, polygamy, beliefs in supernatural disease causation and sensitive information about group lineage. We propose that the concern may not be about stigma so much as broader research-related harm, including for instance reputational harm to population groups. Furthermore, we propose to shift the analytical gaze from establishing causal relationships to exploring the intersection of genomics with pre-existing stigma. Finally, we emphasize the importance of ensuring genomics researchers are culturally competent, meaning able to recognise when cultural factors impact on the possibility that genomics research could cause harm.

While there is now broad consensus that innovation is a key driver of productivity growth, debates about the state’s role in promoting innovation remain polarised between two competing analytical and ideological paradigms. The first is neoliberalism, which confines the state to correcting market failures, ensuring competition and supporting the innovative force of the private-sector. Drawing on the developmental state phenomenon, the second calls for a strong and visionary state to drive innovation by targeting industries for investment and protecting firms until they are ready to face competition. The literature broadly falls within these camps, identifying innovation as a market- or state-driven process. This paper challenges both, arguing that there are multiple pathways to innovation, many of which represent a messier middle ground. The case of Kenya, which has become a hotbed for mobile money innovation since launching its pioneering M-Pesa service in 2007, is used to make this argument. Neoliberal and statist accounts fail to explain this story, which needs to be framed in relation to underlying power relations that span this divide. The M-Pesa success has played out within a highly-particularistic and patronage-based political context, whereby the interests of key groups within Kenya’s political settlement have crystallised to shield M-Pesa's parent company Safaricom, whose ownership structure and strategic partnerships draw in elites from across the political spectrum, from competition. This has afforded Safaricom space to innovate with M-Pesa, engendering a form of ‘developmental patrimonialism’ within which it has become a vehicle for rents to be centralised and deployed within strategic industries according to a long-term vision, with profits parcelled back to elites through generous dividend pay-outs. Concluding, the paper calls for more nuanced political economy understandings of the drivers of innovation, and mobile money adoption in particular.

This paper assesses whether health insurance is successful in improving health. More specifically, it investigates whether a same health insurance scheme has differentiated impacts on children depending on the way it is implemented and on the characteristics of the beneficiaries. To do so, I analyze the case of Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme that provides free coverage for children and has decentralized operations. I exploit the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey of 2011 and I use propensity score matching to account for selection in the scheme. The study finds that, even though the NHIS is successful in improving health outcomes among insured children in Ghana, gains are not shared equally across regions. To understand this regional heterogeneity, mechanisms are investigated. The positive impact of health insurance is concentrated among the lower-income households in regions with a high quality of public health care. Further evidence points to the importance of health care utilization to explain these results. This paper sheds a new light on the mixed results of the literature on the impact of health insurance on health outcomes. It provides an understanding of the sources of the heterogeneous impact of a National Health Insurance Scheme and highlights the importance of context and implementation as drivers of its effectiveness. Such evidence is relevant for both the evaluation and monitoring of existing health care schemes and for the implementation of new large-scale public policies., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

This paper assesses the extent to which mineral rich African countries enable the creation of public geoinformation for enhancing sustainable mining in policy contexts. The paper reviews accessible works and searches databases of industry, governments, civil society, academia, and international organizations. Focus is on 23 major producer countries of globally relevant minerals across Africa. The paper finds a disconnect between mining sector policy regimes and the desire to achieve sustainable development, lack of deliberate policy provision for the adoption and usage of geoinformation to enhance Free, Prior Informed Consent and public participation in mineral resource development projects. Out of the 23, only 2 countries (9%) have expressed the need for geoinformation in mining policies; as an input to public debate and data-driven decision making. Only 3 countries (13%) have set parameters for buffering around environmental and social variables. Out of these 3, only 2 have explicit parameters delineating exploration and mining areas. By not requiring public geospatial data, the implications are existence of poor benefit sharing, poor understanding of environmental risks, and a lack of integrated land use planning in resource-rich African countries. Hence, policy-oriented recommendations include expanding awareness on the value of and enhancing access to geoinformation, establishing paragraphs on geoinformation in Country Mining Visions, and strengthening local capacity for handling these data. Mineral-rich African countries must optimize benefits derivable from emerging Earth Observation technologies and associated spatial data for measuring contributions of the mining sector to specific SDGs.

O vírus da imunodeficiência humana/síndrome da imunodeficiência adquirida (VIH/Sida) e uma das principais ameaças à vida humana, sendo que a vulnerabilidade da mulher é incontestável, principalmente em contextos desfavorecidos. Na África subsaariana as mulheres são as mais afetadas pelo VIH/Sida, numa proporção de infeção 4 vezes maior do que nos homens. Assim, é necessário aumentar o conhecimento dos fatores psicossociais e sociocognitivos ligados ao género, cultura e biologia que colocam a mulher em maior risco para o VIH/Sida. A literatura sugere que fatores como a vitimização, características da relação, problemas de saúde mental, história de cárcere e prostituição, nível de conhecimentos sobre a doença, crenças e competências relacionadas com a prática do sexo seguro, e a autoeficácia exercem influência sobre os comportamentos sexuais de risco para a infeção pelo VIH. A compreensão e análise destes fatores são essenciais no planeamento de estratégias interventivas mais realistas. O presente artigo apresenta uma revisão da literatura acerca dos fatores psicossociais e sociocognitivos que vulnerabilizam a mulher para o VIH/Sida, particularmente a mulher africana. São também levantadas questões de investigação que decorrem da análise da literatura neste domínio., HIV/AIDS is a major threat to human life and the vulnerability of women is undeniable, especially in disadvantaged settings. In sub-Saharan Africa, women are the most affected by HIV/AIDS, in a proportion of infection four times higher than men. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to increase knowledge of which psychosocial and socio-cognitive factors may be related to gender, culture and biology thus placing women at greater risk for HIV/AIDS. The literature suggests that factors such as victimization, characteristics of the relationship, mental health problems, history of prison and prostitution; knowledge about HIV, beliefs and skills related to safe sex practices, and self-efficacy influence sexual risk behaviors linked to HIV infection. Examining these factors is essential to plan more realistic intervention strategies. This paper presents a literature review on the psychosocial and socio-cognitive factors that contribute to women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, particularly African women. The paper also addresses research questions that stem from the review of the literature in this field.

In complex mixed crop-livestock systems with limited resources and biomass scarcity, crop residues play an important but increasingly contested role. This paper focuses on farming systems in the semi-arid areas of Zimbabwe, where biomass production is limited and farmers integrate crop and livestock activities. Conservation Agriculture (CA) is promoted to intensify crop production, emphasizing the retention of surface mulch with crop residues (CR). This paper quantifies the associated potential economic tradeoffs and profitability of using residues for soil amendment or as livestock feed, and explores alternative biomass production options. We draw on household surveys, stakeholder feedback, crop, livestock and economic modeling tools. We use the Trade-Off Analysis Model for Multi Dimensional Impact Assessment (TOA-MD) to compare different CR use scenarios at community level and for different farm types: particularly the current base system (cattle grazing of maize residues) and sustainable intensification alternatives based on a CA option (mulching using maize residues ± inorganic fertilizer) and a maize– mucuna (Mucuna pruriens) rotation. Our results indicate that a maize–mucuna rotation can reduce trade-offs between CR uses for feed and mulch, providing locally available organic soil enhancement, supplementary feed and a potential source of income. Conservation Agriculture without fertilizer application and at non-subsidized fertilizer prices is not financially viable; whereas with subsidized fertilizer it can benefit half the farm population. The poverty effects of all considered alternative biomass options are however limited; they do not raise income sufficiently to lift farmers out of poverty. Further research is needed to establish the competitiveness of alternative biomass enhancing technologies and the socio-economic processes that can facilitate sustainable intensification of mixed crop-livestock systems, particularly in semi-arid environments.

This paper addresses the chances and challenges of humanitarian logistics in Sub-Saharan Africa with a special view on the application of single-board computers – such as the Raspberry Pi – in combination with sensor networking. In this connection the paper deals with the following questions: Which special circumstances in and challenges for Sub-Saharan Africa need to be considered? How can humanitarian logistics contribute to enhance the supply of people in need with food and medicines? Are Raspberry Pi or other single-board computers and their integration into sensor networks adequate solutions for humanitarian logistics and the supply of food and medicines in Sub-Saharan Africa?

This paper is concerned with the relationship between safety and mobile phones with particular reference to Sub-Saharan Africa; and looks at a range of geographical contexts: non-violent, conflict and post-conflict situations. The main part of the paper reports on recent findings of extensive field-work into the use of mobile phones in 11 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The findings are important partly because from a welfare view, it is use rather than mere adoption that generates actual benefits to consumers. What the survey finds is that use of the mobile phone is mainly for safety-related purposes and that the countries that fare highest in terms of usage are drawn from the richest and poorest members of the sample. In explaining these results I draw heavily on the relationships and interactions between poverty, inequality and crime. For example, the dominance of Southern African countries is ascribed to their exceptionally high levels of inequality, which, in turn, are due partly to the unequal effects of resource abundance.

The turn of the 21st Century saw the eight international development goals pertaining to human development, environment sustainability and development of global partnerships being established. This was an outcome of the Millennium Summit of the United Nations with all 189 member States of the UN and 23 international organizations agreeing to achieve these goals by 2015. The present paper is an attempt to bring to light, as an outcome of review of related literature, some of the emerging issues that touch upon the continent of Asia and Africa. The paper focuses on the study of ten of the most populated nations in the region – which presently represents more than 50% of the total population (53%) and has just little over 12% of the world's land area, accounting for nearly 25.8% of nominal GDP and 29.3% of GDP (PPP). The focus of the study is to highlight the current top five issues in each nation and frame a future agenda based on such an analysis. The paper will therefore propose a common pool of emerging and proposed goals to address the most populated regions of the world.

From non-aligned movement to the Buenos Aires Plan of Action, and from Accra Agenda to the Busan declaration, global aid architecture has been continuously evolving. There has been an increased global realisation for development cooperation, and thus south-south cooperation initiatives which incorporates inclusive partnerships, sectoral-approach and multi-stakeholder orientation also intensified. Besides DAC donors, the global South now relies on its own ability for mutual cooperation among the 150-plus countries which constitutes it. Some of the key Southern donors include India, China and Saudi Arabia, among others, who understand south-south cooperation as a partnership among equals based on solidarity, and not typically a donor-recipient relationship. In case of India, there is no denying the fact that the way India involves in providing development assistance to countries in Asia and Africa, suggests that there exists an Indian model of Aid too. This model, as proposed in this paper, is based on a holistic approach which arguably encompasses economic cooperation (including infrastructure, aid-for-trade), humanitarian assistance & community development, education & capacity building and technical assistance. These parameters of cooperation have largely revolved around improving climate for trade and investments which gives a desired sustainability to the Indian model of Aid. The paper explains this proposed model in the light of India's trade and investments cooperation in sub-regional identities in Africa (e.g. ECOWAS, SADC etc.), and its engagements in select Asian LDCs including Afghanistan, Myanmar and others. The paper also suggests the way ahead and would be beneficial for the proposed development partnership administration department in the MEA.

The African economy provides an investment opportunity for International players both in terms of procuring natural resources and opening up a potential one billion consumer market. Along with the vast investment potential, on the downside firms face challenges that come from investing into nations with corporate governance, infrastructure and regulatory environments that are not as conducive for investments as found in developed nations. In this paper, we study Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in the form of cross border acquisitions made by Indian firms in Africa during the 2002 to 2010 time frame. We report on the growth of Indian investments into Africa, nature of investments during this period and short time cumulative abnormal returns (CARs). We select two large deals that were subsequently withdrawn, to understand the nature of issues that come up while Indian firms invest in Africa. The paper's findings provide possible avenues of partnerships through investment in Africa and the challenges associated with the same.

Despite vaccination being one of the most effective public health interventions, there are persisting inequalities and inequities in immunisation. Understanding the differences in subnational vaccine impact can help improve delivery mechanisms and policy. We analyse subnational vaccination coverage of measles first-dose (MCV1) and estimate patterns of inequalities in impact, represented as deaths averted, across 45 countries in Africa. We also evaluate how much this impact would improve under more equitable vaccination coverage scenarios. Using coverage data for MCV1 from 2000-2019, we estimate the number of deaths averted at the first administrative level. We use the ratio of deaths averted per vaccination from two mathematical models to extrapolate the impact at a subnational level. Next, we calculate inequality for each country, measuring the spread of deaths averted across its regions, accounting for differences in population. Finally, using three more equitable vaccination coverage scenarios, we evaluate how much impact of MCV1 immunisation could improve by (1) assuming all regions in a country have at least national coverage, (2) assuming all regions have the observed maximum coverage; and (3) assuming all regions have at least 80% coverage. Our results show that progress in coverage and reducing inequality has slowed in the last decade in many African countries. Under the three scenarios, a significant number of additional deaths in children could be prevented each year; for example, under the observed maximum coverage scenario, global MCV1 coverage would improve from 76% to 90%, resulting in a further 363(95%CrI:299-482) deaths averted per 100,000 live births. This paper illustrates that estimates of the impact of MCV1 immunisation at a national level can mask subnational heterogeneity. We further show that a considerable number of deaths could be prevented by maximising equitable access in countries with high inequality when increasing the global coverage of MCV1 vaccination.

Objective this paper addresses the experiences of a group of young black teenage mothers looked after by the State, most of whom were also either migrants or asylum seekers. The paper explores the experience of discovery of pregnancy, attempts to seek professional help and the eventual decision to continue with the pregnancy. Design an interpretative study with in-depth interviews. Settings interviews were carried out in the participants' homes and focussed on their experiences of pregnancy decision-making. Participants 15 young women (aged 16–19), from black minority ethnic groups, with a history of care (past or present), currently pregnant or mothers of a child no older than two years of age. Findings all the pregnancies were unexpected: eight of the informants conceived as a result of rape and seven while in a relationship. All the young women chose motherhood over abortion despite their complex social and pregnancy background. Conclusions the importance of social positioning of migrants in terms of the cluster of negative aspects and environmental disadvantage generally experienced by most immigrants in the host country is raised in this paper. Care practices of pregnant women with complex social factors were little observant of woman-centred care approaches.

Global engagement between schools and colleges of pharmacy in the United States and Africa is increasing. For a balanced and fruitful engagement, sensitivity towards the cultural and clinical needs of the people and professionals of the African region is critical. In this paper, we have divided the discussion into Southern, East, Central, and West Africa. General information about Africa, with unique aspects for individual subregions and countries, will be introduced. Stereotypes and misconceptions about the region and the people will also be discussed, along with recommendations for culturally sensitive engagement for pharmacy and other health care practitioners when hosting members from, or visiting this region. The paper is a resource for schools and colleges of pharmacy who are currently engaged or considering future outreach opportunities in Africa.

The objective of this paper is to improve understanding of the market for Islamic finance in Africa. Specifically the paper provides a mapping of Africa-based Islamic finance providers, quantifies the amount of foreign Islamic funding received by Africa and compares performance of African Islamic and conventional banks. We find that there are significant cross country variations in the way Islamic banking has been developed in Africa and in the type of services offered. Our empirical findings also support the superior efficiency of Islamic banks and suggest that Islamic banking could be beneficial for Africa.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions per person from urban waste management activities are greater in sub-Saharan African countries than in other developing countries, and are increasing as the population becomes more urbanised. Waste from urban areas across Africa is essentially dumped on the ground and there is little control over the resulting gas emissions. The clean development mechanism (CDM), from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol has been the vehicle to initiate projects to control GHG emissions in Africa. However, very few of these projects have been implemented and properly registered. A much more efficient and cost effective way to control GHG emissions from waste is to stabilise the waste via composting and to use the composted material as a soil improver/organic fertiliser or as a component of growing media. Compost can be produced by open windrow or in-vessel composting plants. This paper shows that passively aerated open windrows constitute an appropriate low-cost option for African countries. However, to provide an usable compost material it is recommended that waste is processed through a materials recovery facility (MRF) before being composted. The paper demonstrates that material and biological treatment (MBT) are viable in Africa where they are funded, e.g. CDM. However, they are unlikely to be instigated unless there is a replacement to the Kyoto Protocol, which ceases for Registration in December 2012.

Textbooks could be a cheap and efficient input to primary school education in Africa. In this paper, we examine the effects of textbooks on student outcomes and separate between direct effects and externalities. Using the rich data set provided by the ‘Program on the Analysis of Education Systems’ (PASEC) for five Francophone, sub-Saharan African countries, this paper goes beyond the estimation of direct effects of textbooks on students' learning and focuses on peer effects resulting from textbooks owned by students' classmates. Using nonparametric estimation methods, we separate the direct effect of textbooks from their peer effect. The latter clearly dominates but depends upon the initial level of textbook availability.

The paper summarises a literature review into waste management practices across Africa as part of a study to assess methods to reduce carbon emissions. Research shows that the average organic content for urban Municipal Solid Waste in Africa is around 56% and its degradation is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. The paper concludes that the most practical and economic way to manage waste in the majority of urban communities in Africa and therefore reduce carbon emissions is to separate waste at collection points to remove dry recyclables by door to door collection, compost the remaining biogenic carbon waste in windrows, using the maturated compost as a substitute fertilizer and dispose the remaining fossil carbon waste in controlled landfills.

Indoor air pollution from solid fuel use is a significant risk factor for acute lower respiratory infections among children in sub-Saharan Africa. Interventions that promote a switch to modern fuels hold a large health promise, but their effective design and implementation require an understanding of the web of upstream and proximal determinants of household fuel use. Using Demographic and Health Survey data for Benin, Kenya and Ethiopia together with Bayesian hierarchical and spatial modelling, this paper quantifies the impact of household-level factors on cooking fuel choice, assesses variation between communities and districts and discusses the likely nature of contextual effects. Household- and area-level characteristics appear to interact as determinants of cooking fuel choice. In all three countries, wealth and the educational attainment of women and men emerge as important; the nature of area-level factors varies between countries. In Benin, a two-level model with spatial community random effects best explains the data, pointing to an environmental explanation. In Ethiopia and Kenya, a three-level model with unstructured community and district random effects is selected, implying relatively autonomous economic and social areas. Area-level heterogeneity, indicated by large median odds ratios, appears to be responsible for a greater share of variation in the data than household-level factors. This may be an indication that fuel choice is to a considerable extent supply-driven rather than demand-driven. Consequently, interventions to promote fuel switching will carefully need to assess supply-side limitations and devise appropriate policy and programmatic approaches to overcome them. To our knowledge, this paper represents the first attempt to model the determinants of solid fuel use, highlighting socio-economic differences between households and, notably, the dramatic influence of contextual effects. It illustrates the potential that multilevel and spatial modelling approaches hold for understanding determinants of major public health problems in the developing world.

Background: Perinatal mental health disorders are recognised as an important public health issue in low-income countries as well as in developed countries. This paper reviews evidence on the prevalence and risk factors of maternal mental health disorders in African women living in Africa. Methods: A systematic review of the literature was conducted. Studies were mainly located through computerised databases, and additionally through hand searching references of identified articles and reviews. Thirty-five studies, with a total of 10,880 participants, were identified that reported prevalence rates of maternal psychological health in eight African countries. Results: Depression was the most commonly assessed disorder with a weighted mean prevalence of 11.3% (95% CI 9.5%-13.1%) during pregnancy and 18.3% (95% CI 17.6%-19.1%) after birth. Only a small number of studies assessed other psychological disorders. Prevalence rates of pre- and postnatal anxiety were 14.8% (95% CI 12.3%-17.4%) and 14.0% (95% CI 12.9%-15.2%), respectively; and one study reported the prevalence of PTSD as 5.9% (95% CI 4.4%-7.4%) following childbirth. Lack of support and marital/family conflict were associated with poorer mental health. Evidence relating sociodemographic and obstetric variables to mental health was inconclusive. Limitations: Most studies included in this review were cross-sectional and measures of mental health varied considerably. Conclusions: This paper demonstrates that maternal mental health disorders are prevalent in African women, and highlights the importance of maternal mental health care being integrated into future maternal and infant health policies in African countries. 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This special issue of Social Science and Medicine contains a set of papers that were presented at the 30th Annual Spring Colloquium of the Center for African Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and held on April 24 2004. Focusing on gender agency and empowerment the colloquium brought together an interdisciplinary group of researchers to interrogate issues concerning HIV/AIDS in Africa. Together the papers elucidate the role of poverty and economic deprivation in HIV transmission as complex regionally specific involving different scales (global to local) and manifesting through migration gender and cultural politics. It has long been recognized that differences in health levels across gender and socioeconomic standing are mainly a result of inequality resulting from social and economic health determinants. As such the social cultural economic political ethnic gender and environmental factors are just as important as the biological factors when attempting to find solutions or devise strategies to combat disease. Consequently linking both the biomedical sciences with the social sciences in our approaches to public health is critically important. Incorporating integrated cross-disciplinary and multi-scalar approaches may allow for better comprehension of disease dynamics and produce more effective intervention strategies. The papers in this volume highlight the social science aspects of HIV/AIDS and emphasize that solutions based on the natural sciences alone are inadequate to stem the tide. AIDS in Africa represents a crucial arena where there is a need for the natural and social sciences to come together join forces and effectively tackle this disease. (excerpt)

Purpose - This paper has put a demand-side empirical structure to the hypothesis that foreign aid volatility adversely affects choices to lifelong learning in recipient countries.Design/Methodology/Approach - Lifelong learning is measured as the combined knowledge acquired during primary, secondary and tertiary educational enrollments. Three types of aggregate foreign aid volatilities are computed in a twofold manner: baseline standard deviations and standard errors (standard deviations of residuals after first-order autoregressive processes). An endogeneity robust dynamic system GMM empirical strategy is employed.Findings - The findings broadly show that foreign aid volatility does not adversely affect the demand-side choices of lifelong learning in Africa.Practical Implications - As a policy implication, when faced with aid uncertainty, the demand for education would increase. This may be explained by the need for more self-reliance in order to mitigate income risks or/and the use of education as means of copping with uncertainty. Moreover, the findings indirectly confirm a stream of the literature sustaining that when faced with uncertainty in external financial flows, countries may recourse to promoting human resource development through lifelong learning and knowledge economy as a competitive advantage. This may also explain why countries which have acknowledged scarcity in external financial flows from natural resources have done relatively better compared to their natural resource-rich counterparts. Originality/Value - This paper has provided demand-side empirics to a hypothesis that could substantial influence policy making.

The fashioning of stone inserts for composite tools by blunting flakes and blades is a technique usually associated with Late Pleistocene modern humans. Recent reports from two sites in south central Africa (Twin Rivers and Kalambo Falls) suggest that this backed tool technology originated in the later Middle Pleistocene with early or "archaic" Homo sapiens. This paper investigates these claims critically from the perspective of the potential mixing of Middle and Later Stone Age deposits at the two sites and the possible creation of misleading assemblages. The review shows that backed tools form a statistically minor, but technologically significant feature of the early Middle Stone Age of south central Africa. They first appear in the Lupemban industry at approximately 300 ka and remain an element of the Middle Stone Age technological repertoire of the region. Comparisons are made with early backed tool assemblages of east Africa and with the much younger Howiesons Poort industry of southern Africa. The paper concludes that Lupemban tools lack the standardization of the Howiesons Poort backed pieces, but form part of a regionally distinctive and diverse assemblage of heavy and light duty tools. Some modern-like behaviours appear to have emerged by the later Middle Pleistocene in south central Africa.

This scoping review synthesises previous research on caregivers' experiences and perspectives of caring for a child with a mental health or neurodevelopmental condition while living in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). 35 studies done across 15 LMICs were included in this Series paper. Most studies were done in the Africa region. Child and adolescent mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions were perceived by caregivers to have both biomedical and traditional or spiritual causes and help-seeking was aligned to these explanatory beliefs. Caregivers commonly described reduced quality of life, which they attributed to their children's mental or neurodevelopmental condition, and additional reports of family disruption, caregiver psychological distress, and financial hardship. To strengthen mental health outcomes of young people, better mental health promotion information for caregivers is required along with improved engagement with communities and increased sensitivity to caregiver wellbeing and needs when developing interventions for children and adolescents.

The Ali (2013, EB) findings on the nexuses among institutions, finance and investment could have an important influence on policy and academic debates. This paper relaxes his hypotheses on the conception, definition and measurement of finance and institutions because they are less realistic to developing countries to which the resulting policy implications are destined. We dissect with great acuteness the contextual underpinnings of financial development dynamics and elucidate why the Acemoglu & Johnson (2005) justification provided for the measurement of property rights institutions (PRI) is lacking in substance. Using updated data (1996-2010) from 53 African countries, we provide more robust evidence on the substitution of institutions and finance in investment. Results under many baseline and augmented scenarios are not consistent with the underlying paper. Justifications for the differences in findings are discussed. As a policy implication, the Ali (2013, EB) findings for countries with poor financial systems may not be relevant for Africa.

This paper develops an empirically-relevant framework (a) to examine whether or not the African business environment hinders or promotes the knowledge economy (KE), (b) to determine how the KE which emerges from such an environment affects economic growth, and (c) how growth in turn relates to the ‘inclusive development’ of 53 African countries during the 1996-2010 time period. The framework provides a modest guide to policymaking about, and further research into, such relationships. We implement the framework by building a three-stage model and rationalizing it as five interrelated hypotheses. To allow greater concentration on the issues that are themselves already complex, our model is very simple, but clear. For example, we make neither an attempt to evaluate causality nor to test for it, even though we suspect the links to be multi-directional – opportunity costs are everywhere. Instead we focus on fundamental relationships between the dynamics of starting business and doing business as expressed in the state of KE, and through it to the inclusive development via the economic growth of those countries. Estimation results indicate that the dynamics of starting and doing business explain strongly a large part of variations in KE. The link between KE and economic growth exists, but it is weak, and we provide plausible reasons for such a result. Despite the weak association between KE and economic growth, KE-influenced growth plays a very important role in inclusive development. In fact, growth of this kind has stronger effects on inclusive development and by implication on poverty reduction, than some of conventional controls in this study such as FDI, foreign aid, and even private investment. There is clearly room for further research to improve the results, but just as clearly practical policy is best served by not neglecting the relationships examined in this paper.

Reconciling the two dominant development models of the Washington Consensus (WC) and Beijing Model (BM) remains a critical challenge in the literature. The challenge is even more demanding when emerging development paradigms like the Liberal Institutional Pluralism (LIP) and New Structural Economics (NSE) schools have to be integrated. While the latter has recognized both State and market failures but failed to provide a unified theory, the former has left the challenging concern of how institutional diversity matter in the development process. We synthesize perspectives from over 150 recently published papers on development and Sino-African relations in order to present the relevance of both the WC and BM in the long-term and short-run respectively. While the paper provides a unified theory by reconciling the WC and the BM to complement the NSE, it at the same time presents a case for economic rights and political rights as short-run and long-run development priorities respectively. By reconciling the WC with the BM, the study contributes at the same to macroeconomic NSE literature of unifying a development theory and to the LIP literature on institutional preferences with stages of development. Hence, the proposed reconciliation takes into account the structural and institutional realities of nations at difference stages of the process of development.

Purpose – This paper investigates the effect of foreign aid on governance in order to extend the debates on foreign aid and to verify common positions from Moyo's 'Dead Aid', Collier's 'Bottom Billion' and Eubank's 'Somaliland'. The empirical evidence is based on updated data from 52 African countries for the period 1996-2010. Design/methodology/approach – An endogeneity robust instrumental variable Two-Stage-Least Squares empirical strategy is employed. Findings – The findings reveal that development assistance deteriorates economic (regulation quality and government effectiveness) and institutional (corruption-control and rule of law) governance, but has an insignificant effect on political (political stability, voice and accountability) governance. While, these findings are broadly in accordance with Moyo (2009) and Collier (2007) on weak governance, they neither confirm the Eubank (2012) position on political governance nor the Asongu (2012) stance on the aid-corruption nexus in his debate with Okada & Samreth (2012). Practical implications – The use of foreign aid as an instrument to influence the election and replacement of political leaders in Africa may have insignificant results. It is time to solve the second tragedy of foreign aid and that economists and policy makers start rethinking the models and theories on which foreign aid is used to influence economic, institutional and political governance in recipient countries. Originality/value – The paper extends the debate on foreign aid and institutions in Africa in the light a plethora of recent studies in the aid literature.