Media Law and Journalism in Post-Colonial Africa - The Case of The Gambia - Regulating Press Freedom: A Political Economy of Journalism in The Gambia

This dissertation explores how journalists operate under repressive legal and regulatory frameworks, focusing especially on The Gambia, an African country that, like others on the continent, has a contemporary legal and regulatory landscape shaped by its colonial past. It addresses wider issues of debate relating to the political economy of journalism by investigating the relationship media has with state control, ownership and press freedom. Studies from political economy scholars such as McChesney (2008), Sousa and Fidalgo (2011), Murdock and Golding (2000), John and Silberstein-Loeb (2015), Schejter and Yemini (2016) have all recognised how law and regulation can facilitate or impede news production and journalistic responsibilities. However, while political economy analyses of journalism have focused on its regulation, they rarely have a close engagement with the law. To address this gap, I bring approaches from legal research to journalism studies to show how a legal analysis of laws applicable to the practices of journalists in The Gambia can further our understanding of how such instruments are used to control media ownership and suppress press freedom. To do this, I use an innovative, interdisciplinary methodology that brings tools from the field of law to media and cultural studies, synthesising doctrinal research alongside interviews. Through interviews with Gambian journalists I also explore how they make sense of such laws and find ways to navigate such a repressive legal framework that is inimical to media freedom. From this primary research, I show that the legal and regulatory framework of the media in The Gambia is tied to the country`s colonial heritage. It reveals significant political and economic constraints of The Gambia`s private press, and how the pro-government news media, particularly the state owned enjoys more support and dominance. I find that journalism practice in The Gambia is compounded with political repression and legal uncertainties, where court decisions against journalists are inconsistent with international human rights standards. I demonstrate that while Gambian journalists struggle to access information, particularly from the government, there was a culture of self-censorship due to fear of legal repression. However, they have also made radical responses through alternative journalism practices in order to evade such a restrictive legal framework. I argue that the law plays an integral part in shaping the political economy of journalism, particularly in post-colonial countries such as The Gambia. I demonstrate how journalism in The Gambia is entangled in a complex legal framework, which constrains its independence and make the claim for legislative reforms that are consistent with international human rights standards. I show that there needs to be a greater engagement with the law and legal instruments in order to further understand its political economy

The effect of live attenuated influenza vaccine on pneumococcal colonisation densities among children aged 24-59 months in The Gambia: a phase 4, open label, randomised, controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Influenza and other respiratory viruses promote Streptococcus pneumoniae proliferation in the upper respiratory tract. We sought to investigate for what we believe is the first time, the effect of intranasal live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) on nasopharyngeal S pneumoniae density in a low-income to middle-income country population with high pneumococcal carriage rates. METHODS: In an open-label, randomised, controlled trial in The Gambia, 330 healthy children aged 24-59 months were randomly assigned 2:1 to receive one trivalent LAIV dose at enrolment (day 0, intervention) or at the end of active follow-up (day 21, control). The investigator team were initially masked to block size and randomisation sequence to avoid allocation bias. Group allocation was later revealed to the investigator team. The primary outcome was PCR-quantified day 7 and 21 pneumococcal density. Asymptomatic respiratory viral infection at baseline and LAIV strain shedding were included as covariates in generalised mixed-effects models, to assess the effect of LAIV and other variables on pneumococcal densities. The study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02972957, and is closed to recruitment. FINDINGS: Between Feb 8 and April 12, 2017, and Jan 15 and March 28, 2018, of 343 children assessed for eligibility, 213 in the intervention group and 108 in the control group completed the study and were included in the final analysis. Although no significant differences were seen in pneumococcal carriage or density at each timepoint when comparing groups, changes from baseline were observed in the LAIV group. The baseline S pneumoniae carriage prevalence was high in both LAIV and control groups (75%) and increased by day 21 in the LAIV group (85%, p=0·0037), but not in the control group (79%, p=0·44). An increase in pneumococcal density from day 0 amounts was seen in the LAIV group at day 7 (+0·207 log10 copies per μL, SE 0·105, p=0·050) and day 21 (+0·280 log10 copies per μL, SE 0·105, p=0·0082), but not in the control group. Older age was associated with lower pneumococcal density (-0·015 log10 copies per μL, SE 0·005, p=0·0030), with the presence of asymptomatic respiratory viruses at baseline (+0·259 log10 copies per μL, SE 0·097, p=0·017), and greater LAIV shedding at day 7 (+0·380 log10 copies per μL, SE 0·167, p=0·024) associated with higher pneumococcal density. A significant increase in rhinorrhoea was reported in the LAIV group compared with the control group children during the first 7 days of the study (103 [48%] of 213, compared with 25 [23%] of 108, p<0·0001), and between day 7 and 21 (108 [51%] of 213, compared with 28 [26%] of 108, p<0·0001). INTERPRETATION: LAIV was associated with a modest increase in nasopharyngeal pneumococcal carriage and density in the 21 days following vaccination, with the increase in density lower in magnitude than previously described in the UK. This increase was accelerated when LAIV was administered in the presence of pre-existing asymptomatic respiratory viruses, suggesting that nasopharyngeal S pneumoniae proliferation is driven by cumulative mixed-viral co-infections. The effect of LAIV on pneumococcal density is probably similar to other respiratory viral infections in children. Our findings provide reassurance for the use of LAIV to expand influenza vaccine programmes in low-income to middle-income country populations with high pneumococcal carriage. FUNDING: Wellcome Trust

Media Law and Journalism in Post-Colonial Africa - The Case of The Gambia - Regulating Press Freedom: A Political Economy of Journalism in The Gambia

This dissertation explores how journalists operate under repressive legal and regulatory frameworks, focusing especially on The Gambia, an African country that, like others on the continent, has a contemporary legal and regulatory landscape shaped by its colonial past. It addresses wider issues of debate relating to the political economy of journalism by investigating the relationship media has with state control, ownership and press freedom. Studies from political economy scholars such as McChesney (2008), Sousa and Fidalgo (2011), Murdock and Golding (2000), John and Silberstein-Loeb (2015), Schejter and Yemini (2016) have all recognised how law and regulation can facilitate or impede news production and journalistic responsibilities. However, while political economy analyses of journalism have focused on its regulation, they rarely have a close engagement with the law. To address this gap, I bring approaches from legal research to journalism studies to show how a legal analysis of laws applicable to the practices of journalists in The Gambia can further our understanding of how such instruments are used to control media ownership and suppress press freedom. To do this, I use an innovative, interdisciplinary methodology that brings tools from the field of law to media and cultural studies, synthesising doctrinal research alongside interviews. Through interviews with Gambian journalists I also explore how they make sense of such laws and find ways to navigate such a repressive legal framework that is inimical to media freedom. From this primary research, I show that the legal and regulatory framework of the media in The Gambia is tied to the country`s colonial heritage. It reveals significant political and economic constraints of The Gambia`s private press, and how the pro-government news media, particularly the state owned enjoys more support and dominance. I find that journalism practice in The Gambia is compounded with political repression and legal uncertainties, where court decisions against journalists are inconsistent with international human rights standards. I demonstrate that while Gambian journalists struggle to access information, particularly from the government, there was a culture of self-censorship due to fear of legal repression. However, they have also made radical responses through alternative journalism practices in order to evade such a restrictive legal framework. I argue that the law plays an integral part in shaping the political economy of journalism, particularly in post-colonial countries such as The Gambia. I demonstrate how journalism in The Gambia is entangled in a complex legal framework, which constrains its independence and make the claim for legislative reforms that are consistent with international human rights standards. I show that there needs to be a greater engagement with the law and legal instruments in order to further understand its political economy

Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on viral hepatitis services in sub-Saharan Africa

International audienc

High burden and seasonal variation of paediatric scabies and pyoderma prevalence in The Gambia: A cross-sectional study. Main study dataset.

Scabies is a WHO neglected tropical disease common in children in low- and middle-income countries. Excoriation of scabies lesions can lead to secondary pyoderma infection, most commonly by Staphyloccocus aureus and Streptococcus pyogenes (group A streptococcus, GAS), with the latter linked to acute post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis (APSGN) and potentially rheumatic heart disease (RHD). There is a paucity of data on the prevalence of these skin infections and their bacterial aetiology from Africa