Influence of Permissive Parenting Style on Forms of Delinquent Behaviour Among Secondary School Students in Butere Sub- County, Kenya

Delinquent behaviour amongst Secondary School students continue to increase, not only in Kenya but world over thus hindering effective learning by students leading to poor academic performance in National Examinations. The study sought to determine the influence of permissive parenting style on forms of delinquent behaviour among Secondary School students in Butere Sub-County, Kenya. The study was based on the Parenting Models theory. The study adopted a correlational research design which allowed the researcher to describe different events, experiences, or behaviours and look for links between them. Study data was collected using a questionnaire and an interview schedule. Population of the study comprised of 2797 form two students, 30 deputy principals and 30 teachers in charge of guidance and counselling in secondary schools in Butere Sub-county. The study sample comprised 338 students selected using simple random sampling, 10 deputy principals and 10 teachers in charge of guidance and counselling. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in data analysis. Study findings revealed a statistically significant and  positive relationship between permissive parenting style and forms of delinquent behaviour among secondary school students in Butere Sub-County.  The study recommended that family systems need to be strengthened so as to provide the communal counselling services for both parents and youth and to promote family education related to child upbringing hence reduce delinquency. Keywords: Permissive, Parenting Style, Delinquency, Students DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-19-05 Publication date:July 31st 201

Determinants of health related quality of life (HRQoL) of adults in a public sector HAARTprogram in Botswana

ABSTRACT Introduction The advent of potent anti-retroviral agents for HIV treatment has resulted in marked decrease in deaths. Health workers now have to ensure that their patient’s physical, social, and psychological well-being is optimized. This study used a validated tool to measure Health Related Quality of Life concepts amongst HIV patients in a public treatment program. The main objective of this research was to establish factors that are associated with poor quality of life of these patients with the purpose of using this information as a basis for determining who would require individualized medical care and attention. Materials and methods The study is set at Bontleng Clinic in Gaborone, Botswana. The study questionnaire consisted of two parts: part one for collecting data on sociodemographic, illness and treatment related factors, and part two was the Medical Outcomes Study – Short Form tool used to obtain data on quality of life concepts. Two groups of participants were interviewed: ART-Naïve (n=90) and ARTExperienced (n=110). The study protocol had ethical approval from both the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and the Ministry of Health in Botswana. iv Results A smaller proportion of ART-experienced participants reported various disease symptoms as compared to those participants who were ART-naïve. Statistically significant differences were noted for: weight loss (25% vs 77%), diarrhoea (3% vs 11%), cough (19% vs 39%), and night sweats (24% vs 43%) for ART experienced and ART Naïve patients respectively. CD4 counts and HB levels were also significantly higher in patients on HAART. The overall QoL summary score was significantly higher (better) in the ART-experienced (mean score 53 out of 100) compared to the ART-naïve group (mean score 47 out of 100). Therefore being on ART favoured a higher QoL score. However, changes in the three laboratory indices of CD4 count, Hb level, and viral load had no statistical significant association with HRQoL scores. Multiple regression identified only five factors as being associated with better QoL scores. These factors were to do with the absence of the following disease symptoms: weight loss, diarrhoea, night sweats, and feet pains; as well as absence of recent hospitalisation. Discussion The study patients do respond well to HAART with significant improvements in all dimensions of QoL. This is in keeping with findings from other populations. In assessing these patients at the initiation of HAART, and at subsequent visits, one must take into account any history of recent hospital admission, history of weight loss, and most importantly presence/absence of various disease symptoms. Conclusions and recommendations Symptoms, regardless of the underlying cause: be it due to HIV disease itself or drug side effects; greatly impact patients’ quality of life. Efforts should be made to include the assessment of symptoms in the continuum of care of HIV patients. The introduction of newer potent anti-retroviral agents with fewer side effects should also favour the beneficial impact of HAART

Influence of Authoritarian Parenting Style on Forms of Delinquent Behaviour Among Secondary School Students in Butere Sub- County, Kenya

Forms of delinquent behaviour amongst secondary school students continue to increase thus hindering effective learning by students leading to poor academic performance in national examinations. The study sought to determine the influence of Authoritarian parenting on forms of delinquent behaviour among secondary school students in Butere Sub-County. The study was based on the Parenting Models theory. It adopted a correlational research design which allowed the researcher to describe different events, experiences, or behaviours and look for links between them. Study data was collected using a questionnaire and an interview schedule. Population of the study comprised of 2797 form two students, 30 deputy principals and 30 teachers in charge of guidance and counselling in secondary schools in Butere Sub-county. The study sample comprised 338 students selected using simple random sampling, 10 deputy principals and 10 teachers in charge of guidance and counselling. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in data analysis. Study findings showed that there was a statistically significant and positive relationship between Authoritarian parenting style and forms of delinquent behaviour among secondary school students in Butere Sub-County.  The study recommended that parents consider spending quality time with their children in order to monitor them for any signs of forms of delinquent behaviour, and inculcating in them desirable societal values. Family systems need to be strengthened so as to provide the communal counselling services for both parents and youth and to promote family education related to child upbringing. Keywords: Authoritarian, Parenting Style, Delinquency, Students DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-19-01 Publication date:July 31st 201

Responding to cholera outbreaks in Somalia in 2017–2019

Background: Somalia reported repeated cholera outbreaks between 2017 and 2019. These outbreaks were attributed to multiple risk factors which made response challenging. Aims: To describe lessons from the preparedness and response to the cholera outbreaks in Somalia between 2017 and 2019. Methods: We reviewed outbreak response reports, surveillance records and preparedness plans for the cholera outbreaks in Somalia from January 2017 to December 2019 and other relevant literature. We present data on cholera-related response indicators including cholera cases and deaths and case fatality rates for the 3 years. Qualitative data were collected from 5 focus group discussions and 10 key informant interviews to identify the interventions, challenges and lessons learnt from the Somali experience. Results: In 2017, a total of 78 701 cholera cases and 1163 related deaths were reported (case fatality rate 1.48%), in 2018, 6448 cholera cases and 45 deaths were reported (case fatality rate 0.70%), while in 2019, some 3089 cases and 4 deaths were reported in Somalia (case fatality rate 0.13%). The protracted conflict, limited access to primary health care, and limited access to safe water and proper sanitation among displaced populations were identified as the main drivers of the repeated cholera outbreaks. Conclusions: Periodic assessment of response to and preparedness for potential epidemics is essential to identify and close gaps within the health systems. Somalia’s experience offers important lessons on preventing and controlling cholera outbreaks for countries experiencing complex humanitarian emergencies

Machine Natural Language Translation Using Wikipedia as a Parallel Corpus: A Focus on Swahili

A Project Report Submitted to the School of Science and Technology in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Master of Science in Information Systems and TechnologyThe government of Kenya has undertaken an ambitious project to equip children with laptops and tablets for the purposes of facilitating electronic based learning. This initiative can only bear fruit provided that there is content relevant to the studies being undertaken. Many Kenyans learn English as a second language. Swahili or other African languages is the mother tongue. Therefore, with content in Swahili, a better and deeper understanding of subject matter takes place. Much of the academic content already exists albeit in English. Therefore, translating this content is the most practical method of getting the content in Swahili. This is especially so since the content is not necessarily new, but just needs to be interpreted. There already exist machine translation engines, such as Microsoft Translator and Google Translate, which aim to make this task easier. However, African languages are generally under-represented in these engines. The translation results they produce are comparatively inaccurate when it comes to translating content to African languages. They are even more inaccurate when translating academic type of content. This can largely be attributed to the source of data used to train the translation engines. Many machine translation engines make use of corpora made up of phrases that are found in every day speech, into which academic terms are not adequately incorporated. Wikipedia, an on-line crowd sourced encyclopedia, offers very good sources of data for purposes of translation works. This study has shown that using Wikipedia as a corpus can provide a viable source of data for academic related translations and specifically so when it comes to African languages. Therefore, this project modeled an English to Swahili translation engine that uses Wikipedia as a source of translation corpus data. As an emphasis, this study did not set out to create yet another translation engine altogether, but to just improve on, and complement, a small aspect of the current existing engines. The approach that was used was to compare same language articles in Wikipedia and build a parallel corpus which is then used to create a translation database. It is worth noting that Wikipedia on its own cannot provide a comprehensive data set for any machine translation engine. As proof of concept this model shows English to Swahili translations and presents preliminary results here. Indeed, further work is required for more accurate output alignment and combining the output to ensure fluency and accuracy. This study was further motivated by the directive of the Communications Authority of Kenya that aims towards having at least 60% of the media content being local. This content therefore needs to be translated into local languages for presentation purposes. The study proposes a solution that can be scaled to learn and translate other local languages. Finally it is worth noting that Kenya, like many other developing countries, imports numerous products from foreign countries. Many of these products have their labels and instructions written in these foreign languages, more-so English. This poses a potential threat to consumers who do not understand these languages for example in the case of medical drugs

A Survey of Application of Information Systems in Marketing Function Decisions a Case Study of Noro Nordisk A-S Middle East and Africa Regional Office

A Research Project Report by Buliva Morris A., Submitted to the Chandaria School of Business in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Master of Business Administratio

Cholera prevention, control strategies, challenges and World Health Organization initiatives in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: A narrative review

The resurgence of cholera is presenting unusual challenges in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR), where it is considered endemic in nine-member states. The risk of a cholera outbreak spreading to non-endemic countries remains high. We discuss the regional trends of cholera, regional burden, and challenges with a focus on World Health Organization (WHO) initiatives in the region that could be useful in preventing and controlling the disease in similar contexts. Despite significant progress in the control of cholera worldwide, the disease continues to be a major public health problem across the region, where it constitutes both an emerging and re-emerging threat. Recurring cholera outbreaks are an indication of deprived water and sanitation conditions as well as weak health systems, contributing to the transmission and spread of the cholera infection. We note that despite the challenges in eliminating cholera in the region, effective implementation of the proposed WHO EMR Strategic framework, among other measures, could sustain the region's cholera prevention, preparedness, and response needs

Reproductive health voucher program and facility based delivery in informal settlements in Nairobi: A longitudinal analysis

Introduction: In Kenya, the maternal mortality rate had ranged from 328 to 501 deaths per 100,000 live births over the last three decades. To reduce these rates, the government launched in 2006 a means-tested reproductive health output-based approach (OBA) voucher program that covers costs of antenatal care, a facility-based delivery (FBD) and a postnatal visit in prequalified healthcare facilities. This paper investigated whether women who bought the voucher for their index child and had a FBD were more likely to deliver a subsequent child in a facility compared to those who did not buy vouchers. Methods and Findings: We used population-based cohort data from two Nairobi slums where the voucher program was piloted. We selected mothers of at least two children born between 2006 and 2012 and divided the mothers into two groups: Index-OBA mothers bought the voucher for the index child (N = 352), and non-OBA mothers did not buy the voucher during the study period (N = 514). The most complete model indicated that the adjusted odds-ratio of FBD of subsequent child when the index child was born in a facility was 3.89 (p \u3c 0.05) and 4.73 (p \u3c 0.01) in Group 2. Discussion and Conclusion: The study indicated that the voucher program improved poor women access to FBD. Furthermore, the FBD of an index child appeared to have a persistent effect, as a subsequent child of the same mother was more likely to be born in a facility as well. While women who purchased the voucher have higher odds of delivering their subsequent child in a facility, those odds were smaller than those of the women who did not buy the voucher. However, women who did not buy the voucher were less likely to deliver in a good healthcare facility, negating their possible benefit of facility-based deliveries. Pathways to improve access to FBD to all near poor women are needed

Crude Odds Ratios for a facility based delivery (FBD) of the subsequent children by voucher purchase status.

<p>Standard error in parentheses*** p<0.01, ** p<0.05, * p<0.1</p