MEMBERSHIP TO INNOVATION PLATFORMS AND GENDER IN OWNERSHIP OF PRODUCTIVE ASSETS IN THE SAVANNAS OF WEST AFRICA

Access to productive assets is a major issue in the gender empowerment discourse. Asset accumulation is a pre-condition for economic empowerment, and sustainable accumulation of assets is key to upward mobility beyond survival, and towards economic empowerment. The objective of this study was to examine the role that participation in the Integrated Agricultural Research for Development (IAR4D)\u2019s Innovation Platform \u201cIP\u201d \u2013 (social capital) play in empowering rural women to acquire productive assets using the case of the sub-Saharan Africa Challenge Programme (SSA-CP). We utilised panel data from baseline and midline data obtained from the Kano-Katsina-Maradi Pilot Learning Site (KKM PLS) of the SSA CP in West Africa. The data were obtained from twelve IPs of the three Task Forces (TFs) that made up the KKM PLS of the SSA CP. Altogether, the analysis involved 600 households in the PLS. Both descriptive analysis and the probit regression models showed that women who were inferior to men in productive asset ownership at the inception of the project improved with participation in the innovations of the project, in terms of human asset, input resource, durable business asset and household good.The value of women\u2019s asset index was 21.78 compared to that of men at 18.33 at the end of the project. Probit regression results suggest that membership to IP, female education level, age of female spouse and household size are determinants of asset ownership by women in the study area. The results confirm that social capital in the form of membership of IP enhances accumulation of productive assets for women.L\u2019acc\ue8s aux ressources de production est un probl\ue8me majeur dans les discours sur l\u2019autonomisation des femmes. L\u2019accumulation des biens est un pr\ue9-requis pour l\u2019autonomisation \ue9conomique, et l\u2019accumulation durable des biens est \ue9ssentielle pour une mobilit\ue9 sociale au del\ue0 de la subsistance, et pour une automisation \ue9conomique. L\u2019objectif de cette \ue9tude \ue9tait d\u2019examiner le r\uf4le que la participation \ue0 la Plate-forme d\u2019Innovation \u201cIP\u201d en Recherch\ue9 Agricole Int\ue9gr\ue9e pour le D\ue9velopppement (IAR4D)- (Capital social) joue dans l\u2019automisation des femmes en milieu rural pour acqu\ue9rir des biens de production en se basant sur le cas du programme des d\ue9fis de l\u2019Afrique Sub-Saharienne (SSA-CP). Nous avons utilis\ue9 les donn\ue9es de base et les donn\ue9es de la ligne m\ue9diane venues du site Pilot d\u2019apprentissage de Kano-Katsina-Maradi (KKMPLS) de SSA en Afrique de l\u2019Ouest. Les donn\ue9es \ue9taient obtenues des douze IPs des trois groupes de travail (TFs) qui formaient les KKMPLS de SSA CP. Ensemble, l\u2019analyse implique 600 m\ue9nages dans les PLS. L\u2019analyse descriptive et les mod\ue8les de r\ue9gression de Probit \ue0 la fois ont montr\ue9 que les femmes qui \ue9taient inf\ue9rieures aux hommes dans l\u2019acc\ue8s aux ressources de production au d\ue9but du projet se sont vues am\ue9lior\ue9es avec la participation aux innovations du projet, en termes des ressources humaines, intrants, actif commercial durable et bien familial. La value de l\u2019indice d\u2019acc\ue8s aux biens des femmes \ue9tait 21,78 compar\ue9e \ue0 celle des hommes qui \ue9tait de 18,33 vers la fin du projet. Les r\ue9sultats de la r\ue9gression de Probit sugg\ue8rent que l\u2019appartenance \ue0 l\u2019IP, le niveau d\u2019\ue9ducation de la femme, l\u2019\ue2ge de la femme et la taille du m\ue9nage sont les d\ue9terminants d\u2019acc\ue8s aux propri\ue9t\ue9s par les femmes dans le mileu d\u2019\ue9tude. Les r\ue9sultats confirment que le capital social en forme d\u2019appartenance aux IP augmente l\u2019accumulation des propri\ue9t\ue9s productives des femmes

Acute toxicity of nile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) juveniles exposed to aqueous an ethanolic extracts of Ipomoea aquatica leaf

ABSTRACT: The differential acute toxicity of aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Ipomoea aquatica leaf on Nile Tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus were carried out under laboratory conditions. The LC 50 after 96hr of exposure for aqueous and ethanolic extracts of Ipomoea aquatica were 2.659g/L and 0.196g/L respectively. These values showed that ethanolic extract of Ipomoea aquatica was more toxic than its aqueous extract. Signs of agitated behaviours, respiratory distress and abnormal nervous behaviors including eventual deaths were observed in exposed fish. Control fish neither died nor exhibited any unusual behaviour. The randomized analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that there were significant differences (P<0.05) in the quantal response (mortality) of O. niloticus to aqueous and ethanolic extracts of I. aquatica at 24hrs, 48hrs, 72hrs and 96hrs of exposure period. It was investigated that leaf of Ipomoea aquatica has piscicidal property and can be put into use in the control and management of fish ponds to eradicate predators by farmers

Reducing mental illness stigma in healthcare settings: Proof of concept for a social contact intervention to address what matters most for primary care providers

© 2020 Elsevier Ltd Initiatives for integration of mental health services into primary care are underway through the World Health Organization\u27s mental health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) and related endeavors. However, primary healthcare providers\u27 stigma against persons with mental illness is a barrier to success of these programs. Therefore, interventions are needed to reduce stigma among primary healthcare providers. We developed REducing Stigma among HealthcAre ProvidErs (RESHAPE), a theoretically-grounded intervention that draws upon the medical anthropology conceptual framework of “what matters most.” RESHAPE addresses three domains of threats to what matters most: survival, social, and professional. In a proof-of-concept study, mental health service users and aspirational healthcare providers (primary healthcare providers actively incorporating mental health services) were trained to co-facilitate the RESHAPE intervention embedded within mhGAP training in Nepal. Two trainings with the RESHAPE anti-stigma component were held with 41 primary healthcare providers in Nepal. Evaluation of the training included four focus groups and 25 key informant interviews. Stigmatizing attitudes and role play-based clinical competency, assessed with the ENhancing Assessment of Common Therapeutic factors tool (ENACT), were evaluated pre-training and followed-up at four and 16 months. The study was conducted from February 2016 through June 2017. In qualitative interviews, primary healthcare providers described changes in perceptions of violence (survival threats) and the ability to treat mental illness effectively (professional threats). Willingness to interact with a person with mental illness increased from 54% pre-training to 81% at 16 months. Observed clinical competency increased from 49% pre-training to 93% at 16-months. This proof-of-concept study supports reducing stigma by addressing what matters most to healthcare providers, predominantly through mitigating survival and professional threats. Additional efforts are needed to address social threats. These findings support further exploration of service user and aspirational figure involvement in mhGAP trainings based on a “what matters most” conceptual framewor

Reducing mental illness stigma in healthcare settings:Proof of concept for a social contact intervention to address what matters most for primary care providers

Initiatives for integration of mental health services into primary care are underway through the World Health Organization’s mental health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) and related endeavors. However, primary healthcare providers’ stigma against persons with mental illness is a barrier to success of these programs. Therefore, interventions are needed to reduce stigma among primary healthcare providers. We developed REducing Stigma among HealthcAre ProvidErs (RESHAPE), a theoretically-grounded intervention that draws upon the medical anthropology conceptual framework of “what matters most.” RESHAPE addresses three domains of threats to what matters most: survival, social, and professional. In a proof-of-concept study, mental health service users and aspirational healthcare providers (primary healthcare providers actively incorporating mental health services) were trained to co-facilitate the RESHAPE intervention embedded within mhGAP training in Nepal. Two trainings with the RESHAPE anti-stigma component were held with 41 primary healthcare providers in Nepal. Evaluation of the training included four focus groups and 25 key informant interviews. Stigmatizing attitudes and role play-based clinical competency, assessed with the ENhancing Assessment of Common Therapeutic factors tool (ENACT), were evaluated pre-training and followed-up at four and 16 months. The study was conducted from February 2016 through June 2017. In qualitative interviews, primary healthcare providers described changes in perceptions of violence (survival threats) and the ability to treat mental illness effectively (professional threats). Willingness to interact with a person with mental illness increased from 54% pre-training to 81% at 16 months. Observed clinical competency increased from 49% pre-training to 93% at 16-months. This proof-of-concept study supports reducing stigma by addressing what matters most to healthcare providers, predominantly through mitigating survival and professional threats. Additional efforts are needed to address social threats. These findings support further exploration of service user and aspirational figure involvement in mhGAP trainings based on a “what matters most” conceptual framewor