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We examine the effects of socio-environmental change on personality in Mali in three ways, using data from a longitudinal two-wave (1994, 2004) survey conducted in rural Mali. Firstly, we compare the between-wave personality stability of Anxiety, Self-confidence, Mastery/Fatalism, and Authoritarianism with that in USA, Japan, Poland, and Ukraine. Secondly, we examine socio-economic hardship and political instability in pre-industrial Mali. Thirdly, we examine patterns of psychological reaction to political and social change during the study period. Our findings have implications for comparisons and generalizations across times and cultures about the contribution of socio-environmental conditions to over-time change in personality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study, which received the support of the Development and Co-operation Management of the Swiss Confederation in the frame of the Socio-Sanitary Support Program Mali-Switzerland, proceeded from February to March 2004. The goal was to evaluate the impact of a workshop of formation of the prescribers on the Improved Traditional Phytomedicines (ITP), carried out in October 2001, on the consumption of the ITP in the medical structures of the District of Kadiolo. The study required the data-gathering of consumption, starting from the cards of stock of the years 2001, 2002 and 2003 of the Distributor Warehouse of the Reference Health Center and of the Pharmacies of the Community Health Centers. To evaluate the appreciation of the ITP, the investigations were carried out near the prescribers and the users. The overall consumption of ITP in CSRéf and 16 CSCom of the District knew a progressive increase, while passing from 2 565 480 F CFA in 2001 to 4 307 760 F CFA in 2003. The consumption of ITP during the year 2003 was of 27.83 F CFA per capita. The ITP in general were well appreciated by the prescribers and the consumers. Various projections of the consumption data recorded in Kadiolo allowed considering the potential market of the ITP currently available in Mali with a value ranging between 414 and 560 millions of F CFA.

The survey has been carried out in the context of the project "Traditional Practices and Primary Health Care", developed by the Traditional Medicine Department (DMT) of the INRSP and the Swiss Ngo Antenna Technologies, with the support of Aidemet Ngo. The objective was to evaluate the knowledge, attitudes and practices of traditional healers on uncomplicated and severe malaria, in the perspective of collaboration between traditional and modern medicine for the optimal care of the critical cases. The investigation has been conducted from January to February 2003 in the health areas of Kendié (Bandiagara District, Mopti Region) and Finkolo (Sikasso District and Region). The interviews concerned in total 79 traditional healers, 9 of which were women. The survey showed that the traditional healers have a good knowledge of the symptomatology of uncomplicated and severe malaria, and their diagnosis corresponds with that of the health workers who do not have access to laboratory analyses. On the other hand, the traditional etiology doesn't always correspond with the modern one, even if the traditional healers mention, among the causes of malaria, the mosquito bites. Most treatments were based on plant substances. We identified 66 medicinal species in total. The majority of them had already been studied for anti-plasmodial activity. We therefore investigated 8 of these plants, which had not previously been thoroughly studied. Extracts of different parts of these plants were tested on standard chloroquine-resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum; the most active plants were Argemone mexicana, Securinega virosa, Spondias mombin and Opilia celtidifolia, with IC50 ranging from 1.00 to 4.01 microg/ml.