Debating Africa : BBC's documentary "Heart & soul - return to Zanzibar"

This issue of ISJ carried another article in the irregular series "Debating and Documenting Africa", the first one having been published in volume 1, number 2 (June 2008). This issue carries a discussion between Katy Hickman, Senior Producer at BBC World Service Religion and Ethics and Prof. Abdul Sheriff, formerly Professor of History at the University of Dar es Salaam and Director of Zanzibar Museums and the author of forthcoming titles, Dhow Cultures of the Indian Ocean: Cosmopolitanism, Commerce and Islam and The Early Dhow Culture in the Indian Ocean: From the Periplus to the Portuguese. The context of this debate is BBC Radio’s "Return to Zanzibar" programme in their series, Heart & Soul. Setting the scene is Katy Hickman’s contact with Prof. Sheriff in which she enclosed an early outline of the programme. This is followed by Prof. Sheriff’s response which raises various key issue of relevance to the study of Africa. This is followed by Katy Hickman’s response which explains how the final version was influenced by points raised by Prof. Sheriff. Also included is a later piece by the presenter of the programme, Yasmin Alibhai-Brown. While not part of this discussion, the latter is included to provide the presenter’s perspective. All these provide a look behind the scene on debates that take place before programmes are made and bring out the key role that historians, researchers and academicians can, and need to play, in social communications. ISJ’s Editorial Board re-presents this debate to stimulate further discussion

The availability of acute care resources to treat major trauma in different income settings: a self-reported survey of acute care providers

Introduction: Injury and violence is a neglected global health problem, despite being largely predictable and therefor preventable. This study aimed to indirectly describe and compare the availability of resources to manage major trauma between high income, and low- to middle-income countries, as self-reported by delegates at the 2016 International Conference on Emergency Medicine held in Cape Town, South Africa. Materials and methods: A survey was distributed to delegates at the International Conference on Emergency Medicine 2016, Cape Town to achieve the study aim. The survey instrument was based on the 2016 NICE guidelines for the management of patients with major trauma. It captured responses from participants working in both pre- and in hospital settings. Responses were grouped according to income group (either high income, or low- to middle-income) based on the responding delegate’s nationality (using the World Bank definition for income group). A Fisher’s Exact test was conducted to compare delegate responses Results: The survey was distributed and opened by 980 delegates, of whom 392 (40%) responded. A total of 206 (53%) respondents were from high-income countries and 186 (47%) were from low- to middle-income countries. Responders of this self-reported survey described a significant discrepancy between the resources and services available to high income countries s and low- to middle-income countries to adequately care for major trauma patients both pre- and in-hospital. Shortages ranged from consumables to analgesia, imaging to specialist services, pre-hospital to in-hospital. Discussion: Resource restriction is a major concern in the care for major trauma patients in low- to middle-income countries. Current accepted reference standards does not take the resource restrictions that apply to the vast majority of the world’s injured patients into account. More research is required to describe the problem of resource restrictions in low to middle-income countries, and then working out how to overcome it

Problems facing water supply and sewage

Problems facing water supply and sewag

Sustaining quality by control of industrial discharges

Sustaining quality by control of industrial discharge

Promotion of healthier behaviours through school children

Studies carried out worldwide have shown that provision of safe water and sanitation facilities can only optimize a reduction of water and sanitation related diseases if sustainable changes in hygiene behaviour are achieved. Adoption of new behaviour is a difficult task in itself. The major objective of the Water and Sanitation Extension Programme (WASEP) is to significantly reduce diarrhoeal incidence in partner villages located in northern Pakistan. In order to achieve its objective, WASEP has been striving hard to bring about behavioural changes at grass-roots level, in addition to assisting communities to establish safe water and sanitation facilities. One of the most important initiatives towards this end has been the promotion of healthier behaviour through primary schools. This paper will describe and share the need, development and implementation, impact, and issues related to this initiative in the context of northern Pakistan

Evoluția și etica eugeniei

În acest articol încerc să argumentez opinia că, așa cum este definită eugenia, este foarte dificil de făcut o diferențiere clară între știință (medicină, ingineria genetică) și eugenie. Și de stabilit o linie peste care ingineria genetică nu ar trebui să treacă, conform unor norme morale, juridice și religioase. Atâta timp cât acceptăm ajutorul geneticii în găsirea unor modalități de combatere a cancerului, diabetului sau HIV, acceptăm în mod implicit și eugenia pozitivă, conform definiției actuale. Și atâta timp cât acceptăm screening-ul genetic, și intervenții asupra fătului nenăscut, sau avortul, acceptăm în mod implicit și eugenia negativă. În plus, la nivel de guverne, deși oficial eugenia este repudiată, ea a fost legalizată în foarte multe țări până de curând, și încă mai este acceptată și legalizată, chiar dacă în forme mai subtile, și în prezent. În Introducere definesc termenul și modurile de clasificare. Urmează Istoria eugeniei pornind din perioada antică, introducerea eugeniei de Francis Galton, practica eugeniei ca politică de stat în diverse țări, și eugenia actuală (eugenia liberală). Analizez apoi diverse probleme ridicate de Etica eugeniei liberale, și am dezvoltat o secțiune aparte pentru Viitorul eugeniei, cu accent pe proiectul genomului uman. În final, în secțiunea Concluzii expun opiniile personale cu privire la practica actuală a eugeniei. Am folosit ca surse principale de investigație articolele lui Kenneth M. Ludmerer, ”American Geneticists and the Eugenics Movement: 1905-1935”, Kathy J. Cooke, ”Duty or Dream? Edwin G. Conklin's Critique of Eugenics and Support for American Individualism”, Jonathan Anomaly, ”Defending Eugenics”, John R. Harding Jr. ”Beyond Abortion: Human Genetics and the New Eugenics”, Michael Boulter, ”Bloomsbury Scientists”, Chapter Title: The rise of eugenics, 1901–14, Michael Ruse and Edward O. Wilson, ”Moral Philosophy as Applied Science” și Goering, Sara, "Eugenics"

Interrogating an african approach to maritime boundary delimitation between adjacent coastal states under Article 83(1) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Bachelor of Laws Degree, Strathmore University Law SchoolA natural prolongation of a State's boundary envisioned by the 1945 Truman Declaration favoured a unilateral approach to maritime delimitation proclaiming that 'coastal States have an entitlement to neighbouring seabed areas whether they are in a position to vindicate the claim or not'. 1 Although an attractive form of appropriation of the common heritage of mankind,2 the Declaration is in no way reflective of the dynamics of Third World States, landlocked, and geographically disadvantaged States, unlike Article 83( 1) of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (herein UNCLOS).3 One of the major concerns that was brought to the fore at The Third United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS III) was the initial lack of participation by the newly independent Third World States in the delimitation of maritime boundaries. This study shall evaluate whether the application of Article 83( 1) by international institutions in respect of adjacent coastal African States is indicative of a common African approach to the delimitation of the continental shelf. This study recommends that the regime of international law ought to be more receptive of the effects of equity as demonstrated by international institutions discussed herewith, especially in the adoption of equitable principles in achieving a just global standard. Even though the African approach strives for an equitable standard, those coastal States that prefer (based on their relevant circumstances) the adoption of one of the various technical methods, can employ it through peaceful negotiations and international adjudication

Hyaluronic acid as an accessory scaffold and carrier for growth factors in bone healing

BACKGROUND: Cells, growth factors (GFs), and scaffold are three essential factors for tissue engineering. Our previous studies suggested that multiple applications of human amnion growth factors (AGF) into osseous defects could “mimic in-utero” growth. However, micro-gaps still exist between the scaffold and recipient tissue. We hypothesized that hyaluronic acid (HA) could act an accessory scaffold and gradually release active components of AGF and improve bone healing. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Calvaria from 50 7–9-day old CD1 neonatal mice were harvested, and a 2 mm defect punch made in each one. A type I collagen membrane with AGF alone or with HA at different concentrations applied over the defect. The culture medium was changed every 2-3 days and collected for alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and protein analysis. RESULTS: A single dose of AGF combined with 0.125% HA increased cellular infiltration into the defect area more than AGF with no HA or a lower concentration of HA (0.0625%). A single dose of AGF with HA can improve bone healing. CONCLUSION: A single dose of AGF with HA as an extra scaffold and a carrier can achieve bone formation like multiple dosages of AGF and reduce the number of clinical applications needed