Electoral Preferences among Multi-ethnic Voters in Africa

Inter-marriage is transforming Africa’s ethnic landscape. In several countries on the continent more than a fifth of all marriages now cut across ethnic lines. As a result, there is a growing population of multi-ethnic citizens who descend from diverse family lineages. The growth of Africa’s mixed population has the potential to affect politics in a variety of potentially far-reaching ways. In this paper we focus on one possible implication by examining the electoral preferences of multi-ethnic voters in contexts where ethnic bloc voting is commonplace. Drawing on survey data from Malawi and Kenya, we find that mixed individuals are less likely to support the party associated with their stated ethnic group, relative to mono-ethnics. We outline several possible explanations related to identity measurement, the link between identities and preferences, and social networks

Symptoms and Stereotypes: Perceptions and Responses to Covid-19 in Malawi and Zambia

A large literature documents Covid-19’s health and economic effects. We focus instead on its political impact and its potential to exacerbate identity divisions, in particular. Psychologists argue that contagious disease increases threat perceptions and provokes policing of group boundaries. We explore how insider-outsider status and symptoms of illness shape perceptions of infection, reported willingness to help, and desire to restrict free movement of an ailing neighbor using a phone-based survey experiment administered three times in two neighboring African countries during different stages of the pandemic: Malawi, from May 5 to June 2, 2020 (n = 4,641); Zambia, from July 2 to August 13, 2020 (n = 2,198); and Malawi again, from March 9 to May 1, 2021 (n = 4,356). We study identities that are salient in Malawi and Zambia but have not induced significant prior violence, making our study a relatively hard test of disease threat theories. We find that symptoms more strongly shape perceptions and projected behavior than insider-outsider status in both countries and across time, suggesting that there are limits to the ability of pandemics to independently provoke identity politics de novo

Elections in the time of covid-19: the triple crises around Malawi’s 2020 presidential elections

In June 2020, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Malawians went to the polls and voted to replace the incumbent government. Much like other natural disasters, the Covid-19 pandemic and accompanying economic and political shocks had the potential to shake voters’ confidence in the government, reduce turnout, and/or reduce support for the incumbent if voters associated them with the ills of the pandemic. In this paper, we examine the extent to which the Coronavirus pandemic influenced Malawi’s 2020 elections. We consider how fear of infection and economic distress affected citizens’ trust and confidence in President Mutharika’s government, their willingness to turn out to vote, and their choices at the polls using data collected pre- and post-Covid. We find that fears about the virus and its economic impact did influence trust and confidence in the government to handle Covid but had little to no effect on either abstention or vote choice

Two 'transitions': the political economy of Joyce Banda's rise to power and the related role of civil society organisations in Malawi

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Review of African Political Economy on 21/07/2014, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03056244.2014.90194

Maternal and fetal outcomes in pregnant patients with lupus nephritis

Background: Pregnancy in a woman with lupus nephritis (LN) carries a high risk of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. This study aims to analyze the effect of LN on maternal and fetal outcomes and lupus activity.Methods: In a single-center, cross-sectional observational study at national hospital Kandy, 32 pregnancies in 23 women with biopsy-proven LN between 2007 and 2019 were analyzed retrospectively.Results: Mean age at pregnancy was 28.4 years (SD=4.8, range 19–38 years). In six women, LN developed during pregnancy, 17 patients were already diagnosed with LN when they became pregnant. A renal biopsy performed 4.6 (SD=3.8) years before pregnancy, showed diffuse LN in 18 (78.3%) and focal LN in 5 (21.7%) cases. At conception, most patients were in complete (43.8%) or partial (21.9%) remission. Therapeutic abortion was performed in 8 pregnancies (indications: renal flares in 5, pre-eclampsia in 3) at a mean period of amenorrhea (POA) of 16.8 weeks (range 8-28 weeks). Spontaneous fetal loss occurred in one pregnancy. Among 23 live births, there were four pre-term deliveries (0.05) between LN histological type, initial clinical presentation and treated hypertension with fetal outcome. No case of neonatal lupus or congenital heart block was noted. During pregnancy, there were five (15.6%) renal flares and two acute kidney injury cases; all were reversible. Eight patients (25%) developed PIHConclusions: Pregnancy induced hypertension is a more commonly encountered complication in pregnancies with lupus nephritis. The fetal outcome is unfavorable in pregnancies with renal flares.

Greater male variability in daily energy expenditure develops through puberty

There is considerably greater variation in metabolic rates between men than between women, in terms of basal, activity and total (daily) energy expenditure (EE). One possible explanation is that EE is associated with male sexual characteristics (which are known to vary more than other traits) such as musculature and athletic capacity. Such traits might be predicted to be most prominent during periods of adolescence and young adulthood, when sexual behaviour develops and peaks. We tested this hypothesis on a large dataset by comparing the amount of male variation and female variation in total EE, activity EE and basal EE, at different life stages, along with several morphological traits: height, fat free mass and fat mass. Total EE, and to some degree also activity EE, exhibit considerable greater male variation (GMV) in young adults, and then a decrease in the degree of GMV in progressively older individuals. Arguably, basal EE, and also morphometrics, do not exhibit this pattern. These findings suggest that single male sexual characteristics may not exhibit peak GMV in young adulthood, however total and perhaps also activity EE, associated with many morphological and physiological traits combined, do exhibit GMV most prominently during the reproductive life stages

Greater male variability in daily energy expenditure develops through puberty

There is considerably greater variation in metabolic rates between men than between women, in terms of basal, activity and total (daily) energy expenditure (EE). One possible explanation is that EE is associated with male sexual characteristics (which are known to vary more than other traits) such as musculature and athletic capacity. Such traits might be predicted to be most prominent during periods of adolescence and young adulthood, when sexual behaviour develops and peaks. We tested this hypothesis on a large dataset by comparing the amount of male variation and female variation in total EE, activity EE and basal EE, at different life stages, along with several morphological traits: height, fat free mass and fat mass. Total EE, and to some degree also activity EE, exhibit considerable greater male variation (GMV) in young adults, and then a decrease in the degree of GMV in progressively older individuals. Arguably, basal EE, and also morphometrics, do not exhibit this pattern. These findings suggest that single male sexual characteristics may not exhibit peak GMV in young adulthood, however total and perhaps also activity EE, associated with many morphological and physiological traits combined, do exhibit GMV most prominently during the reproductive life stages

Gender, Deliberation, and Natural Resource Governance: Experimental Evidence from Malawi

Tropical deforestation is estimated to cause about one-quarter of anthropogenic carbon emissions, the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions after fossil fuel combustion. Deforestation is also catastrophic for the communities that depend on tree harvesting for the livelihoods and who suffer the consequences of natural disasters linked to deforestation (e.g., mudslides). Avoiding the over-harvesting of communal forests in Malawi and other developing countries is particularly difficult because community members face enormous incentives to over-harvest. As a result, between 1972 and 1992, Malawi’s total forest cover fell from 47 percent of total land cover to 20 percent. Our research asks whether and how including women in deliberative bodies around communal forest governance affects participatory forest management practices. This question is of particular relevance in Malawi, where women are formally required to occupy either half or one-third of the positions on Malawi’s key land administration institutions, including land tribunals and customary land committees – but these requirements are often loosely enforced if at all. Women also face many informal barriers to accessing information and fully participating in decision making due to gender and family norms, despite the fact that – as the primary gatherers and users of natural resources – their participation is crucial for change in resource utilization. Our research thus has implications relevant to key stakeholders in Malawi’s local authorities who have the ability to more strictly enforce existing quotas

Stigma, Trust, and procedural integrity: Covid-19 testing in Malawi

An emerging consensus in public health views testing for Covid-19 as key to managing the pandemic. It is often assumed that citizens have a strong desire to know their Covid-19 status, and will therefore take advantage of testing opportunities. This may not be the case in all contexts, however, especially those where citizens perceive stigma associated with the Covid-19, have low trust in health institutions, and doubt the procedural integrity of the testing process. This article explores willingness to receive a free Covid-19 test via a vignette experiment (conjoint design) embedded in a phone survey conducted in Malawi in May 2020. The experiment varied test provider (public clinic versus international health organization), proximity to illness, and reassurance of confidentiality. We find that Malawians expect higher uptake of testing in their community when the international health organization offered the test rather than a public clinic, an effect we attribute to higher trust in the organization and/or perceptions of greater capacity to ensure procedural integrity. The confidentiality reassurance did not substantially alter beliefs about the privacy of results, but did increase doubts about the willingness of community members to get tested in a public health clinic. Our findings suggest the importance of considering the demand side of testing in addition to well-known challenges of supply