Malaria, burden, HIV, Poor countries, Research Infrastructure, Tazania

Developing countries carry 90% of the global burden\ud of disease. Infections such as malaria and HIV are\ud debilitating their economies by killing the young and\ud economically productive workforce. Research is essen­\ud tial for health development, yet less than 10% of the\ud annual global expenditure on health research is\ud allocated to addressing developing countries' prob­\ud lems.1 Poor countries must face this challenge seriously.\ud It is essential that they create strong national research\ud infrastructures so that they can define priorities for\ud health research priorities; influence national, regional,\ud and global health agendas; and lobby for a more equi­\ud table allocation of resources. This paper discusses\ud some of the barriers to establishing coordinated health\ud research programmes in developing countries and\ud describes how Tanzania has developed a new research\ud model to try and overcome these

Variation of Proximate Contents in Selected Marine Fish from Tanzanian Coast due to Seasonality and Processing Methods

The effect of seasonality (wet and dry seasons) and processing treatments (frying and boiling) on proximate composition of selected fish species (Alectis ciliaris, Lethrinus harak, Rastrelliger kanagurta and Siganus canaliculatus) from Tanzania marine waters were assessed. The proximate composition of fish was proved to be altered by the fish feeds, salinity, geographical location, seasons and processing methods. Therefore, the fish samples were purposively collected from four selected locations (Tanga, Bagamoyo, Dar es Salaam and Mtwara) and treated as appropriately. Proximate parameters were determined using AOAC standard methods. The proximate contents varied with changing seasons in all the fish species. Crude protein and lipid contents increased in wet season while moisture and ash contents increased in dry season. The effect of changing seasons in proximate contents was significant (p < 0.05) except in ash. Frying process had a significant effect (p < 0.05) on proximate contents in the fish species than boiling process except in ash. The derived model accurately predicted the extent of variation of proximate contents with both dry and wet seasons and processing treatment in particular frying. However, it failed to predict the extent of variation of lipid, crude protein and moisture with boiling treatment. Further research is needed to establish the extent of variations of proximate contents due to other processing methods such as steaming and microwaving

Reducing child undernutrition through dietary diversification, reduced aflatoxin exposure, and improved hygiene practices: the immediate impacts in central Tanzania

Open Access Article; Published online: 28 Nov 2019The study aimed to quantify the immediate effects of dietary diversification, food safety, and hygiene interventions on child undernutrition in four rural villages in Kongwa district of central Tanzania. One hundred mothers with their children of less than 24 months old were recruited for this study. The difference-in-difference (DID) method was used to assess the effects of intensive intervention through a learning-by-doing process on the topic of aflatoxin free diversified food utilization and improved hygiene practices. Periodic anthropometric measurements were conducted on the 0th, 7th, 14th, and 21st days, and DID estimator showed the significant and positive average marginal effects of the intervention on Z-Scores being 0.459, 0.252, and 0.493 for wasting, stunting, and underweight, respectively. Notably, at the end of the study, the mean aflatoxin M1 level in urine samples decreased by 64% in the intervention group, while it decreased by 11% in the control group. The study provides quantitative evidence on intensive 21-day training for mothers incorporating integrated technologies yielded positive impacts on their children’s nutritional outcomes

Smallholder Farmers’ Practices and Understanding of Climate Change and Climate Smart Agriculture in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania

Adverse effects of climate change and variability remain to be a major threat to smallholder farmers and rural livelihoods. It posed a challenge of developing innovative technologies to improve rural livelihoods, environmental conservation and ensuring adoption of such technologies. Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is used as a mitigation and adaptation option to reduce the negative impacts of climate change and improve agricultural productivity. To achieve the desired objectives, CSA requires a complete package of practices that increase productivity and income, build resilience and reduce green gas emission.  However, adoption is largely dependent on farmers’ understanding, preferences and their capacity and willingness to practice. The study explores smallholder farmers’ understanding of climate change impacts and their proclivity on climate smart agricultural practices. In engaging with smallholder farmers, a range of methods was used, including focus group discussions (FGD), key informant interviews (KI), household questionnaire survey and field observations. Results indicate that less than half (26%) of smallholder farmers interviewed have low knowledge on climate change in the study area, however, they are adapting and coping with the impacts of climate change. The low knowledge, coupled with the low ability to effectively adapt to the impacts of climate change, might have contributed to reduced agricultural yields.  Developing appropriate and feasible climate smart and resilient agriculture practices, is a pre-requisite towards improving food security and income to smallholder farmers. The study suggests the need to consider appropriate and sustainable local-based technologies to increase production. The local-based knowledge and technologies are cost effective, easy to adopt and can be easily out-scaled to other communities within the region. We conclude that the availability of improved local-basedtechnologies alone is not a sufficient condition to bring about the change and transformation among smallholder farmers. Effective institutions and sustained policy support play a significant role in the adoption of CSA practices. There is an urgent need for scientists and users to co-produce the climate information and CSA practices so as to ensure action-oriented recommendations. Therefore, establishing an enabling local environment, including by supporting strong and innovative rural institutions, to increase the uptake of good practices are indispensable. Keywords: Climate change, climate smart agriculture, Southern Highland, smallholder farmers and perceptio

Historical environmental change in Africa drives divergence and admixture of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes: a precursor to successful worldwide colonization?

Article PurchasedIncreasing globalization has promoted the spread of exotic species, including disease vectors. Understanding the evolutionary processes involved in such colonizations is both of intrinsic biological interest and important to predict and mitigate future disease risks. The Aedes aegypti mosquito is a major vector of dengue, chikungunya and Zika, the worldwide spread of which has been facilitated by Ae. aegypti's adaption to human-modified environments. Understanding the evolutionary processes involved in this invasion requires characterization of the genetic make-up of the source population(s). The application of approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) to sequence data from four nuclear and one mitochondrial marker revealed that African populations of Ae. aegypti best fit a demographic model of lineage diversification, historical admixture and recent population structuring. As ancestral Ae. aegypti were dependent on forests, this population history is consistent with the effects of forest fragmentation and expansion driven by Pleistocene climatic change. Alternatively, or additionally, historical human movement across the continent may have facilitated their recent spread and mixing. ABC analysis and haplotype networks support earlier inferences of a single out-of-Africa colonization event, while a cline of decreasing genetic diversity indicates that Ae. aegypti moved first from Africa to the Americas and then to Asia. ABC analysis was unable to verify this colonization route, possibly because the genetic signal of admixture obscures the true colonization pathway. By increasing genetic diversity and forming novel allelic combinations, divergence and historical admixture within Africa could have provided the adaptive potential needed for the successful worldwide spread of Ae. aegypti

Risk of imported malaria infections in Zanzibar: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Zanzibar has made substantial progress in malaria control with vector control, improved diagnosis, and artemisinin-based combination therapy. Parasite prevalence in the population has remained around 1% but imported infections from mainland Tanzania contribute to sustained local transmission. Understanding travel patterns between mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar, and the risk of malaria infection, may help to control malaria importation to Zanzibar. METHODS: A rolling cross-sectional survey linked to routine reactive case detection of malaria was carried out in Zanzibar between May 2017 and October 2018. Households of patients diagnosed with malaria at health facilities were surveyed and household members were tested for malaria using rapid diagnostic tests and a sub-sample by quantitative PCR (qPCR). Interviews elicited a detailed travel history of all household members who had travelled within the past two months, including trips within and outside of Zanzibar. We estimated the association of malaria infection with travel destinations in pre-defined malaria endemicity categories, trip duration, and other co-variates using logistic regression. RESULTS: Of 17,891 survey participants, 1177 (7%) reported a recent trip, of which 769 (65%) visited mainland Tanzania. Among travellers to mainland Tanzania with travel destination details and a qPCR result available, 241/378 (64%) reported traveling to districts with a 'high' malaria endemicity and for 12% the highest endemicity category was 'moderate'. Travelers to the mainland were more likely to be infected with malaria parasites (29%, 108/378) than those traveling within Zanzibar (8%, 16/206) or to other countries (6%, 2/17). Among travellers to mainland Tanzania, those visiting highly endemic districts had a higher odds of being qPCR-positive than those who travelled only to districts where malaria-endemicity was classified as low or very low (adjusted odd ratio = 7.0, 95% confidence interval: 1.9-25.5). Among travellers to the mainland, 110/378 (29%) never or only sometimes used a mosquito net during their travel. CONCLUSIONS: Strategies to reduce malaria importation to Zanzibar may benefit from identifying population groups traveling to highly endemic areas in mainland Tanzania. Targeted interventions to prevent and clear infections in these groups may be more feasible than attempting to screen and treat all travellers upon arrival in Zanzibar

Malaria elimination in Zanzibar: where next?

In 2018, Zanzibar developed a national malaria strategic plan IV (2018-2023) to guide elimination of malaria by 2023. We assessed progress in the implementation of malaria activities as part of the end-term review of the strategic plan. The review was done between August and October 2022 following the WHO guideline to assess progress made towards malaria elimination, effectiveness of the health systems in delivering malaria case management; and malaria financing. A desk review examined available malaria data, annual work plans and implementation reports for evidence of implemented malaria activities. This was complemented by field visits to selected health facilities and communities by external experts, and interviews with health management teams and inhabitants to authenticate desk review findings. A steady increase in the annual parasite incidence (API) was observed in Zanzibar, from 2.7 (2017) to 3.6 (2021) cases per 1,000 population with marked heterogeneity between areas. However, about 68% of the detected malaria cases were imported into Zanzibar. Malaria case follow-up and investigation increased from <70% in 2017 to 94% and 96% respectively, in 2021. The review noted a 3.7-fold increase of the health allocation in the country's budget, from 31.7 million USD (2017/18) to 117.3 million USD (2022/23) but malaria allocation remained low (<1%). The varying transmission levels in the islands suggest a need for strategic re-orientation of the elimination attempts from a national-wide to a sub-national agenda. We recommend increasing malaria allocation from the health budget to ensure sustainability of malaria elimination interventions

Preliminary Evaluation of Slaughter Value and Carcass Composition of Indigenous Sheep and Goats from Traditional Production System in Tanzania

The aim of the pilot study was to evaluate slaughter characteristics and carcass composition of indigenous long fat tailed sheep and Small East African goats purchased from the auction markets slaughtered at 1.5 to 2 yrs of age and 20 kg to 25 kg live weight. The animals were slaughtered according to halal standard procedures. The left half carcasses were jointed into eight wholesale joints, and dissected into muscles, fat and bone, which were weighed separately. Sheep had greater (p<0.05) slaughter BW (22.29 kg vs 20.50 kg) and empty BW (20.17 kg vs 18.67 kg) than goats (p<0.05). Dressing percentages were lower (p<0.001) in sheep than goats when carcass weight was expressed as percentage of slaughter BW (42.31% and 47.15%) and empty BW (46.75% and 51.79%). Sheep carcasses had lower (p<0.001) proportion (66.18% vs 71.64%) of muscles and higher (p<0.001) proportion of fat (7.41% vs 3.44%) than goat carcasses. Sheep had proportionally lighter (p<0.001) shoulder (18.89% vs 22.68%) and heavier (p<0.05) proportion of chump (7.916% vs 6.76%) and main rib (8.12% vs 7.07%). Sheep had more (p<0.001) muscles in the leg (28.83% vs 27.08%) and main rib (7.62% vs 6.36%) than goats. Sheep had less (p<0.001) muscles (20.28% vs 23.56%) in shoulder joints when expressed as percentage of total muscle of carcasses. It is concluded that there are differences in sheep and goat both in terms of carcass and joint yields and composition. The present study also implies that there is need to consider setting different meat cuts and prices for these cuts when one takes into account the differences in muscle distribution within joints in sheep and goats