Harnessing social media for promoting tourism in Africa: an exploratory analysis of tweets

Tourism has the potential to be the engine of a country’s economic development. Some developing countries, especially those in Africa, rely on tourism for their citizens’ employment. Consequently, the rise and fall of their unemployment rates are closely associated with that of tourist numbers. Hence, they need to constantly find ways to promote their cultural heritage in order to attract more tourists. Some of the key promotion tools are social media such as Twitter and an investigation to understand the nature of tweets about cultural heritage institutions is an important undertaking. However, investigations into the nature of tweets about African cultural heritage are non-existent. Our research aims to shed some light on the broad characteristics of tweets about African cultural heritage. We also identify possible implications and suggest potential strategies for tourism organizations, operators, and other stakeholders in their use of Social Media in general and Twitter in particular

Prevalence and Predictors of Pap Smear Cervical Epithelial Cell Abnormality among HIV-Positive and Negative Women Attending Gynecological Examination in Cervical Cancer Screening Center at Debre Markos Referral Hospital, East Gojjam, Northwest Ethiopia

Background: Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer related death among women in developing countries. Cervical cancer is preceded by cervical surface epithelial cell abnormalities (ECA) which can be detected by Pap smear test. Simultaneous human papillomavirus and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection increases cervical cancer. Data on the prevalence and predictors of ECA among women in Ethiopia is limited. Hence, we aimed to determine the prevalence and associated factors of ECA among women. Methods: A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted among HIV+ and HIV- women attending gynecological examination in cervical cancer screening center at the Debre Markos referral hospital. The study subjects were stratified by HIV status and systematic random sampling method was used to recruit study participants. Cervical smears were collected for Pap smear examination. Logistic regression analysis was employed to examine the possible risk factors of cervical ECA. Results: A total of 197 HIV+ and 194 HIV- women were enrolled in the study. The overall prevalence of cervical ECA was 14.1 % of which the prevalence of atypical squamous cells undetermined significance (ASCUS), low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (SIL), high grade SIL, squamous cell carcinoma and ASC, cannot exclude high grade SIL (ASCH) were 5.1, 3.8, 4.1 and 1.0 %, 0.0 % respectively. Significantly higher prevalence of ECA (17.8 %) was observed among HIV+ women (COR 1.9, 95 % CI: 1.1 − 3.4, p = 0.036) as compared to HIV-women (10.3 %). Multiple sexual partnership (AOR 3.2, 95 % CI: 1.1 − 10.0, p = 0.04), early ages of first sexual contact (\u3c15 \u3eyears) (AOR 5.2, 95 % CI: 1.5 − 17.9, p = 0.009), parity greater than three (AOR 10.9, 95 % CI: 4.2 − 16.8, p \u3c 0.001) and long term oral contraceptive pills (OCP) use (AOR 11.9, 95 % CI: 2.1 − 16.7, p = 0.02) were significant predictors of prevalence of ECA. Conclusions: Cervical ECA is a major problem among HIV-infected women. Lower CD4+ T-cell counts of below 350 cells/μl, HIV infection, multiple sexual partnership, early age at first sexual contact, parity greater than three and long term OCP use were significant predictors of prevalence of ECA. Strengthening screening program in HIV+ women should be considered

Bacterial isolates and their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern among patients with external ocular infections at Borumeda hospital, Northeast Ethiopia

Background: Bacteria are major cause of ocular infections and possible loss of vision. The emergence of antimicrobial resistant bacteria increases the risk of treatment failure with potentially serious consequences. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of bacterial isolates and their antimicrobial susceptibility pattern among patients with external ocular infections. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among 160 patients with external ocular infections at Borumeda hospital, Northeast Ethiopia. Socio-demographic and clinical data were collected using structured questionnaire. External ocular specimens were collected using sterile swabs and inoculated on MacConkey agar, Chocolate agar and Blood agar culture Medias. Presumptive isolates were further identified by a series of biochemical tests. The antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of the isolates were determined by disk diffusion method. Result: The overall prevalence of bacterial pathogens among external ocular samples was 59.4 %. The majority of the isolates (93.7 %; 89/95) were Gram positive and the other 6.3 % (6/95) Gram negative bacteria. The proportion of coagulase negative Staphylococci among the Gram positive bacterial isolates was 53.7 % (n = 51/95). All Gram positive isolates were susceptible for vancomycin but 67.4 % (n = 60/95) of them were resistant against amoxicillin. Moreover, drug resistance to tetracycline, norfloxacylin, ceftriaxone and ciprofloxacin were observed among Gram negative bacteria isolates. Conclusion: The prevalence of bacterial pathogens among external ocular samples was high and the predominant isolate was coagulase negative Staphylococci. Exceptionally high amoxicillin resistance was observed among Gram positive bacterial isolates that may dictate to conduct drug susceptibility test routinely.Birtukan Shiferaw, Baye GelawEmail author, Abate Assefa, Yared Assefa and Zelalem Addi

Diffusion of Scientific Knowledge in Agriculture: The Case for Africa

Paper discussing the diffusion of scientific knowledge on agriculture for Africa. Using exploratory research method, this paper set out to investigate existing knowledge diffusion models and their limitations, available best practices, and the potential to infuse translational research as a way to augment extension service programs in SSA agricultural practices

Partnership for Enhancing Developing Countries' Capacity in Participating in Global Knowledge Production and Use

Poster discussing a partnership for enhancing developing countries' capacity in participating in global knowledge production and use. This poster highlights some of the contributing factors that enhance the capacity of African institutions to play active roles in the current global knowledge economy (in terms of information and knowledge creation, access, use and reuse)

Moodle for Professional Development to Agricultural Extension Professionals in Africa: Workshop

Presentation for the International Association of Agriculture Information Specialists (IAALD) World Congress. The authors discuss the Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment (Moodle) software package and its use for professional development to agriculture extension professionals in Africa

Content Divide: Africa and the Global Knowledge Footprint Sponsored by: SIG/III

This paper discusses Africa and the global knowledge footprint

Determinants of default to fully completion of immunization among children aged 12 to 23 months in south Ethiopia: unmatched case-control study

Introduction: Immunization is a cost effective interventions of vaccine preventable disease. There is still, 2.5 million children die by vaccine preventable disease every year in developing countries. In Ethiopia, default to fully completion of child immunization is high and determinants of default to completions are not explored well in the study setting. The aim of the study was to identify determinants of default to fully completion of immunization among children between ages 12 to 23 months in Sodo Zurea District, Southern Ethiopia. Methods: Community based unmatched case-control study was conducted. Census was done to identify cases and controls before the actual data collection. A total of 344 samples (172 cases and 172 controls) were selected by simple random sampling technique. Cases were children in the age group of 12 to 23 months old who missed at least one dose from the recommended schedule. Bivariable and multivariable binary logistic regression was used to identify the determinant factors. Odds ratio, 95%CI and p - value less than 0.05 was used to measure the presence and strength of the association. Results: Mothers of infants who are unable to read and write (AOR=8.9; 95%CI: 2.4, 33.9) and attended primary school (AOR=4.1; 95% CI:1.4-15.8), mothers who had no postnatal care follow up (AOR=0.4; 95%CI: 0.3, 0.7), good maternal knowledge towards immunization (AOR= 0.5; 95% CI: 0.3, 0.8) and maternal favorable perception towards uses of health institution for maternal and child care (AOR= 0.2; 95% CI: 0.1, 0.6) were significant determinant factors to default to fully completion of immunization. Conclusion: Working on maternal education, postnatal care follow up, promoting maternal knowledge and perception about child immunization are recommended measures to mitigate defaults to complete immunization.Pan African Medical Journal 2016; 2

International Conference on Knowledge Management

The 17th International Conference on Knowledge Management was held in the historic city of Potsdam, Germany. Since the conference was among the first post-pandemic face to face conferences, the overall theme of the 17th edition of the ICKM conference rightly focused on “Knowledge, Uncertainty and Risks: From individual to global scale” at different levels of analysis and agency. This document highlighted one of the panels and the panelists argue that open access to scholarly knowledge production should be the modus operandi in the time and age we live in. Open access to knowledge is critical not just to accelerate advances in finding solutions to societal issues, but also to meet the growing expectations around higher education institutions’ social responsibilities in times of uncertainties

Revisiting the Evolving Landscape of Open Access and Scholarly Communication

Presentation at the 2018 Annual Conference of the Association for Library and Information Science Education. This presentation contains questions and topics of discussion for the panelists