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The majority of households in the sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA) region cook with solid fuel and other polluting fuels like kerosene, and women in this region spend more than 4 hr of their productive time in cooking activities with such energy sources. Such time input in cooking has a high cost on the labor market outcome of women. This study examines the long‐term relationship between cooking technology usage and women's labor market outcomes in 45 SSA countries for the period 2000–2017. The results show that cooking technology usage improves the female labor force participation rate, and reduces the labor force participation gap and female unemployment rate. This finding is consistent even when subjected to a battery of robustness checks. The study also finds some heterogeneous effects in the relationship by the economic structure of the sampled countries.

This paper examined some personality factors that promote entrepreneurial activities across business sectors in emerging economies. Specifically, it identified the most crucial personality factor in each sector, and the most prominent in each economy. We proposed that by examining these factors across sectors, and in two emerging economies, personality factors that enhance entrepreneurial activities would be industry specific and different. A total of 1200 questionnaires (650 in Lagos, Nigeria and 550 in Johannesburg, South Africa) were randomly and consecutively administered in both economies. Descriptive and Inferential Statistics were used to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics showed the frequency of personality factors adopted in each sector while Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to identify the most crucial personality factor(s) in each sector. The research findings suggest that some personality factors are more crucial than others. Gender was the most crucial personality factor in all the selected business sectors in Nigeria, while entrepreneurial motive/passion was the most crucial personality factor in South Africa. However, the pooled analysis showed that family, age, and educational status are among the crucial personal factors that enhance entrepreneurial activities in both economies. We concluded that similarities exist in the personality factors that enhance entrepreneurial activities in some sectors of both economies, but variations exist in the most crucial personality factors that enhance entrepreneurial activities in both economies. We, therefore, propose several extensions of this study.Keywords: Entrepreneurial activities, Personality factors, Business sectors, Emerging economies

This study examined the adoption of improved post-harvest technology for cassava processing and its impacts on welfare of Smallholder cassava starch processors. The study relied mainly on cross-sectional data collected through a survey conducted in the forest and guinea savanna zones of Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used in selecting a sample frame of five hundred and seventy (570) cassava starch processors. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, logit model and the propensity score matching method. Smallholder cassava starch processing in Nigeria is mostly a female enterprise. The average age of the processors was 48 years, with an average household size of six. The decision to use improved technology is explained by number of income earners in the household, years of processing experience, cost of acquiring technology and the capacity of technology. This study found a positive and significant impact of improved post-harvest technology on output and income of smallholder cassava starch processors. Therefore, designing mechanisms to help promote use of improved technology among small-scale processors by developing affordable technologies appears to be a rational policy instrument to improve cassava starch processors welfare. Key words: cassava processing, improved technologies, output, income, Nigeria JEL: C21, D13, O33, Q12 Acknowledgement : Acknowledgments The study is an output of the Cassava Web Project funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft f r Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. The Research Fellowship offered by the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Ibadan, Nigeria to the first author is gratefully acknowledged. The research is supported by CGIAR Program on Humidtropics and the Roots, Tubers and Bananas (RTB).

Aflatoxin M1 (AF M1), a hydroxylated metabolite of AF B1, is an important toxin that can contaminate the milk of lactating mothers. A correlation study was conducted to determine the relationship between AF M1 content of breast milk, dietary exposure to AF B1 and socioeconomic status of lactating mothers in the three Senatorial districts of Ogun State, Nigeria. Equal amounts of breast milk (20 ml) and food rations (40 kg) obtained from 50 volunteer lactating mothers and eighty-two frequently consumed food commodities in the preceding month were used for the study. The level of contamination of the foods by AF B1 was low (0.16-0.33 μg/kg) and differed significantly (p0.05) across the state but did not exceed the EU limit of 2 μg/kg. The occurrence level of AF B1 was however high (93.75-94.45%) and was more pronounced in Ogun East Senatorial district (94.45%). Eighty-two percent of the breast milk was contaminated with AF M1 (3.49-35 ng/l) and 16% exceeded the EU limit of 25 ng/l while a 100% occurrence risk was recorded in Ogun Central Senatorial district. The socioeconomic status of the mothers also significantly influenced their dietary exposure and exposure risk of the sucklings to AF M1.

Background: There is an increasing incidence of irrational drug use worldwide. The drug prescription pattern in Nigeria is characterised by inappropriate drug use which has led to increasing expenditure and loss of patient confidence in the health sector. This has led to calls to improve prescription patterns in Nigerian hospitals.Materials and Methods: a descriptive cross sectional study was conducted from May 17 2016 to August 16 2016. The case files of 621 patients from outpatient department of the Lagos State University teaching Hospital were analyzed and compared with the WHO prescription indicator criteria using SPSS16.Results: There were 2020 drugs prescribed. An average of 3.25 (±1.60) drugs was prescribed per patient. The antibiotics prescription rate was 26.89% with 47.10% of medications prescribed as generics and 89.45% from the essential drugs list. The injection prescription rate was 0.84%. Analgesics were the most frequently prescribed medications with prescription rate of 50.89%Conclusion: Polypharmacy, low use of generic medications and over prescription of antibiotics is still a problem in this facility. There is need to educate health workers especially doctors on rational drug use.Keywords: Prescription rate, WHO Facility Indicator, Rational Drug Use, Essential Drugs List, Generic Drugs

A major development issue in Nigeria is unemployment, despite a plethora of economic policies to guide labour absorption and utilisation in the country. Some major reasons for this unemployment challenges have been hinged on the level of human capital development as well as other socio-economic issues. Using the Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach, a quantitative analysis of the effect human capital in stimulating employment or otherwise was assessed in Nigeria for the period 1970-2014. It was discovered that the level of human capital was not sufficient to stimulate employment or reduce unemployment in Nigeria. Besides, it was discovered that population growth is really not the challenge for employment in Nigeria especially if human capital can be harnessed productively, and channelled towards viable and rewarding sectors of the economy.

The experiment was carried out to investigate the cost-­‐benefit of replacing maize with rice husk supplemented with enzymes in the diet of arbor acres broilers. The experimental design was a 2×4 factorial combination of two dietary level of rice husk (0 or 25%) with four levels of different enzymes 0E (without enzyme 0ppm), 100E (100ppm of Nutrase xyla), 150E (150 ppm of Roxazyme G), or 350E (350ppm of Grindazyme). Rice husk was added at the expense of maize in the control diet and each experimental diet was tested during a 56-­‐day feeding trial in triplicate. One hundred and ninety-­‐two (192) one-­‐day old unsexed Arbor acres chicks were used in the trial. Each of these was undertaken in the presence of no enzyme 0E (0ppm) or with different types of commercial enzymes at recommended level, which are 100E (100ppm of Nutrase xyla), 150E (150ppm of Roxazyme G), and 350E (350ppm of Grindazyme). Cost of each ingredient was used to calculate the total cost; there were reductions in the cost of raising 1Kg of Arbor acre broiler on supplementation of the rice husk diets with commercial enzymes. The 25% replacement of maize with rice husk supplemented with commercial enzymes has no detrimental effect on the performance of the birds; rather the saving cost was associated with improved weight gain. The inclusion of rice husk supplemented with any of the enzymes in the diets reduced the cost of producing broilers and hence increased profit.

The roots of Plumbago zeylanica (Plumbaginaceae) and Uvaria chamae (Annonaceae) have been used in folklore medicine in the management of sickle-cell disease (SCD) in South-West Nigeria. Using both crude methanol extract and its aqueous fraction, in vitro antisickling activities of these plant parts were evaluated using p-hydroxybenzoic acid and normal saline as positive and negative controls, respectively. Phytochemical screening of the investigated plant specimens revealed the presence of flavonoids, saponnins, alkaloids, tannins, cardiac glycosides free and combined anthraquinones. Extracts/fractions of P. zeylanica had a significantly higher (p < 0.05) antisickling activity at the tested concentrations of 10.0, 1.0 and 0.1 mg/ml. Therefore, the use of these plants by the traditional medical practitioners in the treatment of SCD in Ogun State, Nigeria is justified. The implication of these resultsis in defining the role of each plant specimen in traditional recipes for SCD management and drug development is presented.Keywords: Antisickling activity, phytochemicals, Plumbago zeylanica, sickle cell disease, Uvaria chamae

Post-operative pain is best managed by a multi-disciplinary team approach. An extensive review of the literature indicated that little is known about the roles of surgeons, anaesthetists, and pharmacists regarding post-operative pain management in Ghana. Therefore, this study was undertaken in order to fully understand how health professionals perceive their roles and the challenges that influence their decisions about post-operative pain management. A qualitative approach with a focused ethnographic design was employed involving eleven in-depth individual interviews. Purposive sampling approach was employed. The study was conducted at a tertiary hospital in Accra, Ghana. The study revealed that surgeons and anaesthetists practised pre-emptive analgesia by administering intra-operative analgesia, giving nerve blocks, and infiltrating surgical wounds. Sometimes, epidural analgesia and perfusers were used for patients who could afford them, particularly if they were expected to experience severe post-operative pain. Challenges reported by all the participants related to inadequate personnel, opioid effect and availability, inadequate training and collaboration, and effects of organisational culture were identified. It was concluded that effective collaboration among health professionals could enhance post-operative pain management. There is a need for enhanced commitment, in order to provide more effective post-operative pain management.Keywords: Qualitative research, health team, surgery, and ethnography.

SETTING Private and public tuberculosis (TB) treatment centres in Lagos State, Nigeria. OBJECTIVE To assess the contribution of private health care providers to TB and TB-HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) case finding in Lagos State. DESIGN A retrospective review of programme data submitted to the Lagos State TB and Leprosy Control Programme in 2011 by public, private for-profit (PFP) and private not-for-profit (PNFP) health care providers. RESULTS A total of 8425 TB cases were notified by 31 private (11 PFP and 20 PNFP) and 99 public health facilities in Lagos State. Overall, the private facilities were responsible for 10.3% (866/8425) of the total TB cases notified. The proportion of TB patients tested for HIV was respectively 86.2%, 53.1% and 96.5% among public, PFP and PNFP facilities. Overall, 22.4% of the TB patients were HIV-positive. The HIV positivity rate among public, PFP and PNFP facilities was respectively 23.8%, 7.8% and 9.9%. Uptake of cotrimoxazole preventive therapy was respectively 69.6%, 25% and 38.2% among public, PFP and PNFP facilities, while that of antiretroviral therapy was respectively 23.8%, 8.3% and 9.1% in public, PFP and PNFP facilities. CONCLUSION There is a need to scale up collaboration with the private sector, and particularly PNFP health providers.

The study investigated hearing loss among school age children in Ibadan, Nigeria. An expo - factoresearch design was adopted and three hundred pupils were selected through purposive random sampling method forthe study. Two validated research instruments were used. Three research questions were answered and onehypothesis was tested. The data collected was analysed using percentage, Pearson product moment correlation andanalysis of variance. The result revealed no significant impact of parents socio-economic status on the affectedchildren (r=0.005; p> 0.05), (r= -0.073; p> 0.05) and significant differences among hearing losses of pupils fromlow, medium and high population densities areas (F=66.869; df= 2,297; p< 0.05), (F=14.279; df= 2,297; p< 0.05).The findings also revealed mild, moderate and moderate-severe types of hearing losses among the affected children.The study recommended the establishment of formidable and functional hearing testing centre, in every localgovernment headquarters to detect children with hearing loss. Also, hearing assessment should be made mandatoryin the Universal Basic Education policies as prerequisite to school entrance.