Nutritient flow scenarios for sustainable smallholder faming systems in southwestern Burkino Faso : food security and better livelihoods for rural dryland communities

The report presents a study on nutrient flows of agricultural livelihood systems dominated by smallholder farms in South-western Burkina Faso. The material flow analysis of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium provides a detailed picture of current nutrient flows within, in to, and out of smallholder farms. Such a picture allows quantifying material potentials for sustainable intensification, that is, increasing the ratio of crop yield to mineral fertilizer inputs. Finally, in the pursuit of indicators for sustainable intensification, we propose combining indicators derived from material flow analysis with indicators of socio-economic nature to move from material potential assessments to sustainability assessments. The combination is informed by the criticality concept, a concept which denotes how important a specific material resource is to an anthropogenic system. Based on an existing criticality determination methodology for metals, we sketch the criticality indicator set for the case of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium and smallholder farms. Further research should include increasing temporal boundaries to capture cycles longer than a year, the applied temporal boundary in this study. A multi-scale study including villages and landscapes could provide additional insights on the role of water bodies or future .industrial activities in nutrient cycling. In turn, the multi-scale MFAs would provide the necessary indicator values to assess nutrient criticality not only at the smallholder farm level, but also at the village and landscape level. Finally, the material flows could be further characterized with respect to gender, cost/benefits, etc

When I receive the SMS, it is a sign of love: Symbolic Connotations of SMS messages for People living with HIV in Burkina Faso

Mobile health (mHealth) has gained considerable interest recently due to its potential to improve health outcomes in developing countries with high outreach yet low costs. Several studies have explored the use of short message service (SMS) reminders to improve antiretroviral (ARV) retention and adherence, with mixed results. The majority of these studies has a quantitative nature and employs randomized designs, which do not provide further qualitative insights about other possible impacts of the messages. Based on the qualitative assessment of an SMS intervention in Burkina Faso, which complemented a (quantitative) Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT), we show that beyond the functional role of improving ARV retention and adherence, SMS messages can also play important symbolic roles in offering psychosocial support to people living with HIV (PLHIV) and improving their perception of life. Concomitantly, we show that sufficient (ICT) literacy skills cannot be taken for granted in resource-poor settings. Yet, regardless of (ICT) literacy skills, the symbolism of care was perceived. Furthermore, we highlight the importance of complementing quantitative evidence of mHealth interventions with qualitative assessments

Towards assessing the resource criticality of agricultural livelihood systems

Despite the many advantages of sustainable intensification (SI), the level of adoption of SI practices in African smallholding farms is still very low, highlighting the need for adequate methods for monitoring farm sustainability. Research on SI and related poverty alleviation strategies focus either on the “problems” or on the “solutions” for agricultural livelihood systems (ALS) with separate sets of indicators developed accordingly. Bridging the two approaches, we propose an indicator set to assess the criticality of a resource to ALSs in order to support smallholders, decision-makers, and practitioners in the process of SI. The set indicates what problems an ALS faces in the form of resource supply risks and the ALS’s ability to successfully cope with such problems, i.e., how resilient it is to these supply risks. We apply the ALS criticality approach (ALSCA) to macronutrients in three different ALS types in the village cluster of Pontieba, Ioba Province, Burkina Faso. Two criticality indicators are highlighted. First, the three ALS types are not facing equal nitrogen supply risks, when the latter is informed by depletion time. The depletion time indicates the time until which a resource stock is depleted at the current mining rate. The average depletion time of soil nitrogen stocks ranges from some 10 to 165 years. Second, the reliance on own resources is an indicator measuring resilience to supply restriction. In Pontieba, regardless of macronutrient, reliance on own nutrients never surpasses 50% when ALS averages are considered. The study showed that the ALSCA can contribute to the implementation of SI practices through support at four levels: 1) providing a holistic view on the ALS to avoid problem-shifting and enable prioritization, 2) providing options to reduce resource criticality, 3) mutual learning between ALSCA practitioners and smallholder farmers through knowledge integration, and 4) facilitating policy coherence from local to national levels thanks to the ALSCA’s applicability on different scales

Adaptation and biomedical transition of people living with HIV to antiretroviral treatment in Burkina Faso

This article examines the adaptation and biomedical transition of people living with HIV (PLHIV) to antiretroviral treatment (ART) in Burkina Faso. The study employs a representat

A Systematic Review of Mobile Phone Interventions (SMS/IVR/Calls) to Improve Adherence and Retention to Antiretroviral Treatment in Low-and Mid

The use of mobile health technologies (mHealth) to ameliorate HIV care has considerably risen in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) since 2010. Yet, the discrepancies in the results of accompanying studies warrant an updated and systematic consolidation of all available evidence. We report a systematic review of studies testing whether text/image messages, interactive voice response reminders, or calls promote adherence and retention to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in LMICs. We systematically compiled studies published in English until June 2018 from PubMed/Medline, Web of Science, WHO database, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, and manual search. We used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) 2009 and used frequency analysis to assess reported findings. In total, we compiled 35 published articles: 27 completed studies and 8 protocols. Among the main 27 studies, 17 examine adherence, 5 retention, and 5 both measures. Results indicate that 56% report positive and statistically significantly impacts of mHealth on primary outcomes, the remaining 44% report insignificant results. While 41% of studies found a positive and significant effect for adherence, only 12% improved retention. The evidence shows ambiguous results (with high variability) about the effectiveness of mobile phone-assisted mHealth interventions to boost adherence and retention to ART. The literature also points to short follow-up periods, small samples, and limited geographical coverage. Hence, future research should focus on evaluating longer interventions with more patients spread across wider areas to address whether mHealth can be effectively used in LMICs

The role of responsive heterogeneity in sub-Saharan smallholder farming sustainability: socio-economic and biophysical determinants of mineral and organic fertilizers used in South Western Burkina Faso

Sustainable soil nutrient management (SNM) is important for improving soil resources and food security in sub-Saharan African countries. Inherent livelihood diversity may lead to differences in household behavior in the adoption of SNM practices, thus challenging policy interventions uniformly implemented. This study aims at exploring the responsive heterogeneity in household behavior in the adoption of fertilizer use by farmers. Determinants of fertilizer uses were analyzed across different farm types. These farm types were identified from farm-household data collected in six villages in the South Western of Burkina Faso using the Sustainable Livelihood Framework. Using multilinear and binary logistic models, determinants of mineral, organic and combined mineral-organic fertilizer uses were analyzed. The results revealed that the determinants of SMN adoption include not only common determinants to whole sampled population (income, household size, access to roads and cereal areas), but also specific determinants to farm types (small ruminants, animal power, educational level and access to agro-training). This finding suggests that policy interventions will not be effective if the responsive heterogeneity in SNM adoption behavior is not taken into account. The study recommends the use of the presented framework, as an approach, to identify functional farm types to be considered in SNM policies

Data and supplementary material: Adaptation and Biomedical Transition of People Living with HIV to Antiretroviral Treatment in Burkina Faso

This article examines the adaptation and biomedical transition of people living with HIV (PLHIV) to antiretroviral treatment (ART) in Burkina Faso. The study employs a representat