Are interventions for improving the quality of services provided by specialized drug shops effective in sub-Saharan Africa? A systematic review of the literature.

PURPOSE: We set out to determine effectiveness of interventions for improving the quality of services provided by specialized drug shops in sub-Saharan Africa. DATA SOURCES: We searched PubMed, CAB Abstracts, Web of Science, PsycINFO and Eldis databases and websites for organizations such as WHO and Management Sciences for Health. Finally, we searched manually through the references of retrieved articles. STUDY SELECTION: Our search strategy included randomized trials, time-series studies and before and after studies evaluating six interventions; education, peer review, reorganizing administrative structures, incentives, regulation and legislation. DATA EXTRACTION: We extracted information on design features, participants, interventions and outcomes assessed studies for methodological quality, and extracted results, all using uniform checklists. RESULTS OF DATA SYNTHESIS: We obtained 10 studies, all implementing educational interventions. Outcome measures were heterogeneous and included knowledge, communication and dispensing practices. Education improved knowledge across studies, but gave mixed results on communication between sellers and clients, dispensing of appropriate treatments and referring of patients to health facilities. Profit incentives appeared to constrain behaviour change in certain instances, although cases of shops adopting practices at the expense of sales revenue were also reported. CONCLUSION: Evidence suggests that knowledge and practices of pharmacies and drug shops can be improved across a range of diseases and countries/regions, although variations were reported across studies. Profit incentives appear to bear some influence on the level of success of interventions. More work is required to extend the geographical base of evidence, investigate cost-effectiveness and evaluate sustainability of interventions over periods longer than 1 year

Optical diffraction for measurements of nano-mechanical bending

Micromechanical transducers such as cantilevers for AFM often rely on optical readout methods that require illumination of a specific region of the microstructure. Here we explore and exploit the diffraction effects that have been previously neglected when modeling cantilever bending measurement techniques. The illumination of a cantilever end causes an asymmetric diffraction pattern at the photodetector that significantly affects the calibration of the signal in the popular optical beam deflection technique (OBDT). Conditions for optimized linear signals that avoid detection artifacts conflict with small numerical aperture illumination and narrow cantilevers which are softer and therefore more sensitive. Embracing diffraction patterns as a physical measurable allows a richer detection technique that decouples measurements of tilt and curvature and simultaneously relaxes the requirements on the alignment of illumination and detector. We show analytical results, numerical simulations and physiologically relevant experimental data demonstrating the usefulness of these diffraction features. We offer experimental design guidelines and identify and quantify possible sources of systematic error of up to 10% in OBDT. We demonstrate a new nanometre resolution detection method that can replace OBDT, where Frauenhofer and Bragg diffraction effects from finite sized and patterned cantilevers are exploited. Such effects are readily generalized to arrays, and allow transmission detection of mechanical curvature, enabling in-line instruments. In particular, a cantilever with a periodic array of slots produces Bragg peaks which can be analyzed to deduce the cantilever curvature. We highlight the comparative advantages over OBDT by detecting molecular activity of antibiotic Vancomycin, with an RMS noise equivalent to less than $2.5 \mu M$ (1.5 nm), as example of possible multi-maker bio-assays.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

INFLUENCE OF WOMEN PARTICIPATION IN GROUP ACTIVITIES ON EMPOWERMENT OF COMMUNITIES: A CASE OF KAJIADO NORTH SUB COUNTY, KENYA.

The activities that women participate in through their groups influence the empowermentof communities. Women participation refers to the act of women getting involved in thevarious entrepreneurial processes or activities through their groups that would either bringeconomic, social and political changes to their lives, their families and ultimately theircommunities. This paper aimed at examining the Influence of women participation ingroup activities in Kajiado North Sub County, Kajiado County in Kenya. The studyobjectives were; To establish the influence of women participation in financial activities onthe economic empowerment of communities; to assess the influence of women participationin political activities on the empowerment of communities; to assess the influence of womengroups participation in environmental conservation activities on the empowerment ofcommunities and to establish the influence of women participation in trainings on theempowerment of communities. The target population consisted of women drawn from 378groups registered in Kajiado North Sub County; 5 Uwezo fund coordinators; 6 ministrystaff/government officials and 5 National Government Constituency Development Fund(CDF) and Women Enterprise Fund (WEF) officials. Data was gathered usingquestionnaire and interview guides and organized into themes according to studyobjectives. Findings indicated that; community empowerment is influenced by womengroup participation in income generating activities as indicated by 73.9% of therespondents, political activities as   indicated by 60.8%, environmental conservationactivities as indicated by 58.7% as well as training activities as indicated by 48.5% of therespondents. Given that women play a major role in the family and communitydevelopment, this study recommends that the government should upscale womeninvolvement in entrepreneurial activities as this has a direct effect on communityempowerment and general development of the country.