Policy, finance and technology in livestock development in sub-Saharan Africa: Some critical issues

Examines the role and importance of the livestock subsector of Africas' agricultural sector, its performance over the last two decades, the constraints which limit its development and the progress being made in solving theese constraints

Availability of Adequately Iodized Salt at Household Level and Associated Factors in Dire Dawa, Eastern Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, Iodine Deficiency Disorder has been recognized as a serious public health problem for the past six decades. In 2011, an estimated 12 million school-age children were living with inadequate iodine, and 66 million people were at risk of iodine deficiency. One out of every 1000 people is a cretin mentally handicapped, due to a congenital thyroid deficiency, and about 50000 prenatal deaths are occurring annually due to iodine deficiency disorders. Only 5.7% of the households were using iodized salt in Dire Dawa city Administration, which is below the legal requirement.This study assessed availability of adequately iodized salt at household level and associated factors in Dire Dawa town, East Ethiopia. Community based cross-sectional study was carried out among households in Dire Dawa town during March 16-26, 2015. Multistage sampling technique was used. Data were collected using a pretested and structured questionnaire by a face-to-face interview technique. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were performed to check associations and control confounding. A total of 694 participants were participated. The availability of adequately iodized salt (≥15 parts per million) in the study area was 7.5% (95% CI; 5.6-9.5). Multivariate result showed that health information about iodized salt (AOR=8.96, 95% CI; 4.68-17.16) (p=0.03), good knowledge about iodized salt (AOR=9.23, 95% CI; 3.34-25.5) (p=0.01) and using packed salt (AOR=3.99, 95% CI; 1.48-10.73) (p=0.006) were associated with availability of adequately iodized salt at household level. Availability of adequately iodized salt at household level was very low. Hence, households should be sensitized about importance of iodized salt and its proper handling at the household level

Dairy marketing in Ethiopia: Markets of first sale and producers' marketing patterns

This study is part of a larger study on dairy marketing in Ethiopia, and concentrates on the producers'end of the marketing chain. Specifically, the markets of first sale used by dairy producers were identified and the marketing patterns of three categories of dairy producers (intra-urban, peri-urban and peasant) were investigated. The study was carried out on a sample of 173 dairy producers between February and July 1986, using structured questionnaires. Fresh-milk sales averaged between 0.5 and 6 litres per lactating cow per day, with intra-urban and peri-urban producers specialising in fresh-milk sales. Most of the fresh milk was sold to catering and government institutions in Addis Ababa from which net profits of EB 0.63 and EB 0.66/litre, respectively, were obtained. Peasant producers sold milk, butter and cheese, as specialised enterprise milk collection centre sold more milk and less butter and cheese than those far away. High net profits was identified as an important motive guiding the choice of sales outlet

Cattle milk and meat production and marketing systems and opportunities for market-orientation in Fogera woreda, Amhara region, Ethiopia

This study was conducted in Fogera woreda, South Gondar Zone of the Amhara National Regional State in northwestern Ethiopia in 2005/06. The aim was to characterize cattle milk and meat production and marketing systems, identify the major constraints and provide development interventions for more market-orientation. Twelve kebeles were randomly selected (five from the Fogera plains and seven outside the plains) based on their potential for cattle milk and meat production. A total of 480 households were sampled from these kebeles and focus group discussion, personal observations and administration of semi-structured questionnaires on milk and meat production practices were employed. Only 12 (2.52%) of the respondents were female-headed households. About 98.8% of cattle milk and meat production was based on traditional husbandry using indigenous cattle breeds. The Fogera cattle is the major breed used and is mainly found in the Damote, Sendeye and Tigre mender villages. The main feed resources in the woreda are communal grazing land and crop residues of teff, rice, finger millet, barley, wheat, chickpea, field pea and maize. The communal grazing land currently accounts for about 9602.4 ha; out of which 3418.5 ha (35.6%) is infested by a noxious weed known as Asracantha longifolia (amykila). Over a period of two years, large area of communal grazing land has been transformed into crop farms, mainly to rice production, and this has apparently created severe feed shortage in the woreda. Flooding of the plains during the wet season from Gumara and Rib rivers further reduced the availability of grazing land. In addition, large number of animals are trekked from the highlands of Fogera and adjacent woredas of Dera and Estie to the plains during the dry season and this has resulted in inter-breeding of the Fogera cattle breed with highland zebus and has exacerbated the feed shortage. Rice husk, a by-product from rice polishers, is becoming an important feed resource. On average, about 35 kg of rice husk is produced from a quintal of rice. The major water resources are wells (48.8%), rivers (47.2%), lake (3%), ponds (2.3%) and tap water (0.2%). Cattle are watered once a day. Trypanosomiasis, facioliasis and schistosomiasis are the most prevalent diseases

Rheological Characteristics of Municipal Thickened Excess Activated Sludge (TEAS): Impacts of pH, Temperature, Solid Concentration and Polymer Dose

Rheological characterization of sludge is known to be an essential tool to optimize flow, mixing and other process parameters in wastewater treatment plants. This study deals with the characterization of thickened excess activated sludge in comparison to raw primary sludge and excess activated sludge. The effects of key parameters (total solid concentration, temperature, and pH) on the rheology and flow behavior of thickened excess activated sludge were studied. The rheological investigations were carried out for total solid concentration range of 0.9–3.7 %w/w, temperature range of 23–55 °C, and pH range of 3.6–10.0. Different rheological model equations were fitted to the experimental data. The model equations with better fitting were used to calculate the yield stress, apparent, zero-rate, infinite-rate viscosities, flow consistency index, and flow index. The decrease in concentration from 3.7 to 3.1 %w/w resulted in a drastic reduction of yield stress from 27.6 to 11.0 Pa, while a further reduction of yield stress to 1.3 Pa was observed as solid concentration was reduced to 1.3 %w/w. The viscosity at higher shear rate (>600 s−1) decreased from 0.05 Pa·s down to 0.008 Pa·s when the total solid concentration was reduced from 3.7 to 0.9 %. Yield stress decreased from 20.1 Pa down to 8.3 Pa for the Bingham plastic model when the temperature was raised from 25 to 55 °C. Activation energy and viscosity also showed decreasing trends with increasing temperature. Yield stress of thickened excess activated sludge increased from a value of 6.0 Pa to 8.3 Pa when the pH was increased from 3.6 to 10.0. The effect of polymer dose on the rheological behavior of the thickening of excess activated sludge was also investigated, and the optimum polymer dosage for enhanced thickener performance was determined to be 1.3 kg/ton DS

Tale of 22 cities: utilisation patterns and content of maternal care in large African cities

Introduction Globally, the majority of births happen in urban areas. Ensuring that women and their newborns benefit from a complete package of high-quality care during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period present specific challenges in large cities. We examine health service utilisation and content of care along the maternal continuum of care (CoC) in 22 large African cities. Methods We analysed data from the most recent Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) since 2013 in any African country with at least one city of ≥1 million inhabitants in 2015. Women with live births from survey clusters in the most populous city per country were identified. We analysed 17 indicators capturing utilisation, sector and level of health facilities and content of three maternal care services: antenatal care (ANC), childbirth care and postnatal care (PNC), and a composite indicator capturing completion of the maternal CoC. We developed a categorisation of cities according to performance on utilisation and content within maternal CoC. Results The study sample included 25 326 live births reported by 19 217 women. Heterogeneity in the performance in the three services was observed across cities and across the three services within cities. ANC utilisation was high (>85%); facility-based childbirth and PNC ranged widely, 77%–99% and 29%–94%, respectively. Most cities showed inconsistent levels of utilisation and content across the maternal CoC, Cotonou and Accra showed relatively best and Nairobi and Ndjamena worst performance. Conclusion This exploratory analysis showed that many DHS can be analysed on the level of large African cities to provide actionable information about the utilisation and content of the three maternal health services. Our comparative analysis of 22 cities and proposed typology of best and worst-performing cities can provide a starting point for extracting lessons learnt and addressing critical gaps in maternal health in rapidly urbanising contexts

Tale of 22 cities: utilisation patterns and content of maternal care in large African cities

Globally, the majority of births happen in urban areas. Ensuring that women and their newborns benefit from a complete package of high-quality care during pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period present specific challenges in large cities. We examine health service utilisation and content of care along the maternal continuum of care (CoC) in 22 large African cities. We analysed data from the most recent Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) since 2013 in any African country with at least one city of ≥1 million inhabitants in 2015. Women with live births from survey clusters in the most populous city per country were identified. We analysed 17 indicators capturing utilisation, sector and level of health facilities and content of three maternal care services: antenatal care (ANC), childbirth care and postnatal care (PNC), and a composite indicator capturing completion of the maternal CoC. We developed a categorisation of cities according to performance on utilisation and content within maternal CoC. The study sample included 25 326 live births reported by 19 217 women. Heterogeneity in the performance in the three services was observed across cities and across the three services within cities. ANC utilisation was high (>85%); facility-based childbirth and PNC ranged widely, 77%-99% and 29%-94%, respectively. Most cities showed inconsistent levels of utilisation and content across the maternal CoC, Cotonou and Accra showed relatively best and Nairobi and Ndjamena worst performance. This exploratory analysis showed that many DHS can be analysed on the level of large African cities to provide actionable information about the utilisation and content of the three maternal health services. Our comparative analysis of 22 cities and proposed typology of best and worst-performing cities can provide a starting point for extracting lessons learnt and addressing critical gaps in maternal health in rapidly urbanising contexts