Do Women’s Parliamentary Representation Increase Government Health Spending in Sub-Saharan Africa?

It is widely recognized in the literature that the increased political participation of marginalized sections of the population allows their interests to be taken into account in public policies. At the same time, in Sub-Saharan Africa, the percentage of women parliamentarians rose from 12.1% in 2000 to 24% in 2019. Likewise, health systems are characterized by public underfunding, limited accessibility of health services, and relatively weak maternal and child health indicators. This article evaluates the effect of women’s parliamentary representation on government health spending in a sample of 39 sub-Saharan African countries over the period 2000-2017. The estimates made with fixed effects method, random effects method and panel-corrected standard errors method reveal that government health expenditure increases with the proportion of seats in parliament occupied by women. Therefore, this study advocates for the increase of women participation and representation in political and decision-making spheres. Keywords: Women political participation, health, government health spending, panel data, sub-Sahara Africa DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-18-09 Publication date:September 30th 202

Enjeux des agrocarburants au Burkina Faso : le cas du Jatropha curcas L.

Le regain de tension sur les marchés énergétiques et agricoles depuis l'année 2007 a sensiblement modifié les perspectives macro-économiques pour les pays pauvres importateurs, endettés et non autosuffisants. Il a conduit à renouveler quelque peu les priorités stratégiques des gouvernants et des développeurs en matière de développement agricole (WBR 2008) et d'aménagement territorial. Parallèlement, les scenarii prospectifs mettant en exergue le renforcement de la variabilité climatique, aussi bien spatiale que temporelle, dans des écosystèmes fragilisés et vulnérables, ont conduit un ensemble d'acteurs institutionnels à s'intéresser plus avant aux potentialités offertes par les plantes agro-énergétiques, quitte à céder à un certain emballement médiatique et politique. En la matière, il faut toutefois distinguer les effets d'annonce, les souhaits exprimés et les réalités de terrain. Dans ce domaine, une plante agroénergétique se distingue plus particulièrement - le Jatropha curcas L. - même si certains experts et développeurs réfléchissent aux opportunités offertes par d'autres cultures (maïs, canne à sucre, tournesol,...). Ce dernier a très rapidement été paré de nombreuses vertus de la part de ses promoteurs - restauration des sols marginaux, amélioration de la fertilité, reboisement des terres dégradées, promotion de la sécurité foncière, lutte contre la divagation animale, diversification des activités génératrices de revenu dans une optique de lutte contre la pauvreté, valorisation phytosanitaire et thérapeutique -, tandis que d'autres acteurs (médias et ONG) en dressaient un tableau beaucoup plus critique, voire outrancier, sur fond de concurrence éventuelle avec l'objectif de sécurisation alimentaire des populations rurales

Personality and personality disorders in urban and rural Africa: results from a field trial in Burkina Faso

When conducting research in different cultural settings, assessing measurement equivalence is of prime importance to determine if constructs and scores can be compared across groups. Structural equivalence implies that constructs have the same meaning across groups, metric equivalence implies that the metric of the scales remains stable across groups, and full scale or scalar equivalence implies that the origin of the scales is the same across groups. Several studies have observed that the structure underlying both normal personality and personality disorders (PDs) is stable across cultures. Most of this cross-cultural research was conducted in Western and Asian cultures. In Africa, the few studies were conducted with well-educated participants using French or English instruments. No research was conducted in Africa with less privileged or preliterate samples. The aim of this research was to study the structure and expression of normal and abnormal personality in an urban and a rural sample in Burkina Faso. The sample included 1,750 participants, with a sub-sample from the urban area of Ouagadougou (n = 1,249) and another sub-sample from a rural village, Soumiaga (n = 501). Most participants answered an interview consisting of a Mooré language adaptation of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory and of the International Personality Disorders Examination. Mooré is the language of the Mossi ethnic group, and the most frequently spoken local language in Burkina Faso. A sub-sample completed the same self-report instruments in French. Demographic variables only had a small impact on normal and abnormal personality traits mean levels. The structure underlying normal personality was unstable across regions and languages, illustrating that translating a complex psychological inventory into a native African language is a very difficult task. The structure underlying abnormal personality and the metric of PDs scales were stable across regions. As scalar equivalence was not reached, mean differences cannot be interpreted. Nevertheless, these differences could be due to an exaggerated expression of abnormal traits valued in the two cultural settings. Our results suggest that studies using a different methodology should be conducted to understand what is considered, in different cultures, as deviating from the expectations of the individual's culture, and as a significant impairment in self and interpersonal functioning, as defined by the DSM-5

What four decades of earth observation tell us about land degradation in the Sahel?

The assessment of land degradation and the quantification of its effects on land productivity have been both a scientific and political challenge. After four decades of Earth Observation (EO) applications, little agreement has been gained on the magnitude and direction of land degradation in the Sahel. The large number of EO datasets and methods associated with the complex interactions among biophysical and social drivers of ecosystem changes make it difficult to apply aggregated EO indices for these non-linear processes. Hence, while many studies stress that the Sahel is greening, others indicate no trend or browning. The different generations of sensors, the granularity of studies, the study period, the applied indices and the assumptions and/or computational methods impact these trends. Consequently, many uncertainties exist in regression models between rainfall, biomass and various indices that limit the ability of EO science to adequately assess and develop a consistent message on the magnitude of land degradation. We suggest several improvements: (1) harmonize time-series data, (2) promote knowledge networks, (3) improve data-access, (4) fill data gaps, (5) agree on scales and assumptions, (6) set up a denser network of long-term field-surveys and (7) consider local perceptions and social dynamics. To allow multiple perspectives and avoid erroneous interpretations, we underline that EO results should not be interpreted without contextual knowledge

Une forte saisonnalité du climat et de la phénologie reproductive dans la forêt du Mayombe : l’apport des données historiques de la Réserve de Luki en République démocratique du Congo

In Africa, the reproductive phenology of tropical trees is mostly annual and regular. This study documents the intra- and inter-annual reproductive phenology of trees in the Mayombe forest, from historical data on the Luki Reserve in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Reproductive diameter, which is a key parameter for forest management but is largely unknown for many timber species, was also documented for the most abundant species in the dataset. Phenological monitoring of 3,642 trees belonging to 158 species and 39 families was conducted in the Luki Reserve every 10 days from 1948 to 1957. Circular statistics were used to test the synchronicity of phenological events among trees, both at the community level, i.e. for the forest as a whole, and individually for 87 species, which included 35 well-represented species (n >= 20 trees), 16 commercial species and 36 other species. Logistic regressions were used to determine the diameter (minimum and regular) of these species on fruiting. Reproductive phenology for the majority of the trees and the species is largely seasonal, annual and regular (81.6%, 71 species). The peaks for flowering are more abrupt than the fruiting peaks and more spread out over time, although the timing of flowering and fruiting is significantly aggregated. Most of the trees and species bloom from December to February, during the short dry season, but flowers and fruits can be observed throughout the year within the community. Only 13 species showed a significant relationship between diameter and reproduction, including seven canopy species, five understory species and one light-demanding species. For these 13 species, the average minimum reproduction diameter was 17.3 cm

Biological status and dietary intakes ofiIron, zinc and vitamin A among women and preschool children in rural Burkina Faso

Background Food-based approaches such as biofortification are meant to sustainably address micronutrient deficiencies in poor settings. Knowing more about micronutrient intakes and deficiencies is a prerequisite to designing and evaluating interventions. Objective The objectives of the study were to assess biological status and dietary intakes of iron, zinc and vitamin A among women and children aged 36-59 months in rural Burkina Faso and to study relationships between intake and status to better inform future food-based interventions. Design A cross-sectional survey was carried out in two rural provinces of Burkina Faso on a random cluster sample of 480 mother-child pairs. Dietary data was obtained by 24-hour recalls repeated on a random sub-selection of 37.5% of subjects to allow calculation of nutrient's probability of adequacy (PA). Biomarkers were measured on a sub-sample of 180 mother-child pairs. Blood samples were analyzed for hemoglobin, serum ferritin, soluble transferrin receptors (sTfR), C-reactive protein, alpha-1-glycoprotein, serum zinc concentration (SZnC) and retinol. For each micronutrient the relationship between biomarker and dietary intake was investigated by multiple linear regression models accounting for inflammatory biomarkers. Results Mean PA for iron, zinc and vitamin A was 0.49, 0.87 and 0.21 among women and 0.61, 0.95 and 0.33 among children, respectively. Prevalence of anemia, corrected low serum ferritin and high sTfR was 37.6%, 4.0% and 77.5% among women and 72.1%, 1.5% and 87.6% among children, respectively. Prevalence of low SZnC and corrected low serum retinol was 39.4% and 12.0% among women and 63.7% and 24.8% among children, respectively. There was a tendency for a positive relationship between vitamin A intakes and serum retinol among women (beta = 0.0003, P = 0.06). Otherwise, no link was found between micronutrients biomarkers and intakes. Conclusion Our study depicted different images of micronutrient deficiencies when based on dietary intakes or biomarkers results, thus highlighting the need for more suitable biomarkers and more precise measures of absorbable micronutrient intakes at the individual level. It thus points to challenges in the design and evaluation of future biofortification or other food-based interventions in rural areas of Burkina Faso

Modeling of an electrically driven droplet generator

An electrohydrodynamic model for the simulation of droplet formation, mo- tion and detachment in an electrically driven droplet generator is introduced. The nu- merical approch is based on the coupled solution of the multiphase flow problem with the charge continuity equation. A conduction-convection model, taking into account con- ductive, capacitive and convective currents in the fluid, describes the charge relaxation phenomena in the moving liquid. The charge received by the droplets during acceleration by an external electric pulse is an important parameter influencing dynamics of droplets in the pressure chamber. The model is illustrated with simulations of detachment of high conductivity acetone droplets and low conductivity n-pentane droplets

Deployment of a security assurance monitoring framework for telecommunication service infrastructures on a VoIP system

In today's world, where most of the critical infrastructures are based on distributed systems, security failures have become very common, even within large corporations. A system with security loopholes can be damaging for companies, both in terms of reputation and finances, while customers are reluctant to use such systems. In that respect, providing stakeholders with quantifiable evidences that the countermeasures deployed on the system are operating adequately is an important step towards better control of security failures for network administrators on one hand, and an increase in end users' trust in using these systems on the other. It is in that perspective that BUGYO, a methodology to assess the security of telecommunication networks and services in terms of assurance levels, was proposed to address the shortcomings of existing security assurance and risks management methodologies in measuring, documenting and maintaining security assurance of telecommunication services. In this paper, we provide an overview of the BUGYO methodology and we demonstrate its applicability (mainly with respect to the specification of assurance metrics) on a VoIP service infrastructure based on open source components

Effect of balanced energy-protein supplementation during pregnancy and lactation on birth outcomes and infant growth in rural Burkina Faso: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Introduction: Adequate nutrition during pregnancy is crucial to both mother and child. Maternal malnutrition can be the cause of stillbirth or lead to poor birth outcomes such as preterm delivery and small-for-gestational-age newborns. There is a probable positive effect of providing pregnant women a balanced energy-protein (BEP) food supplement, but more evidence is needed. The MIcronutriments pour la SAnte de la Mere et de l'Enfant (MISAME) III project aims to improve birth outcomes and infant growth by testing a BEP supplement during pregnancy and lactation in rural Burkina Faso. This paper describes the study protocol. Methods and analysis: MISAME-III is a four-arm individually randomised efficacy trial implemented in six rural health centre catchments areas in the district of Hounde. Eligible pregnant women, aged between 15 and 40 years old and living in the study areas, will be enrolled. Women will be randomly assigned to one of the four study groups: (1) prenatal intervention only, (2) postnatal intervention only, (3) prenatal and postnatal intervention or (4) no prenatal or postnatal intervention. The intervention group will receive the BEP supplement and iron/folic acid (IFA) tablets, while the control group will only receive the IFA tablets following the national health protocol. Consumption will be supervised by trained village women on a daily basis by means of home visits. The primary outcomes are small-for-gestational age at birth and length-for-age z-score at 6 months of age. Secondary outcomes will be measured at birth and during the first 6 months of the infants' life. Women will be enrolled from October 2019 until the total sample size is reached. Ethics and dissemination: MISAME-III has been reviewed and approved by the University Hospital of Ghent and the ethics committee of Centre Muraz, Burkina Faso. Informed consent will be obtained. Results will be published in relevant journals and shared with other researchers and public health institutions