Factors that negatively influence consumption of traditionally fermented milk (Mursik) among preschool children (1-5 years old) in Kapseret location -Uasin Gishu county, Kenya

Traditionally fermented milks are widely consumed in various countries of sub-Saharan Africa and a number of health benefits to human beings are attributed to them. However, available studies show that children less than 5 years old consume milk mainly as fresh milk or when added to tea or porridge. Therefore, information on consumption of traditionally fermented milk by children is scanty, yet factors hindering its consumption have rarely been studied. The objective of this study was, therefore, to establish factors, which negatively influence consumption of Mursik, a traditionally fermented milk product from the Kenyan Rift Valley, Uasin Gishu County. This will have a positive impact on its consumption and hence increased nutritional status and health among children. The study sought to determine average weekly household mursik production, quantity and the extent of consumption by children less than five years and their association with sociodemographic and economic characteristics of households. A cross-sectional descriptive study involving 383 Kalenjin households was conducted within Kapseret location in August 2013. Structured questionnaires and a focused group discussion (FGD) question guide were the main instruments of data collection. The baseline survey showed that only 32% of households fed their children mursik and they fed a mean quantity of 250 ml per week or 12 kg annually. Education level of respondents (χ2 = 0.116, P= 0.025), household mursik production levels (χ2 = 0.1311, P=0.001) and respondents’ nutrition knowledge of mursik (χ2 =0.154, P=0.005) negatively influenced mursik consumption among pre-school children. Results further indicated that although a majority (86.4%) of respondents had average nutrition knowledge of mursik, the application of these nutrition concepts was lacking. This might be due to socio-economic factors, cultural beliefs, attitudes and/or negative perceptions among respondents of mursik consumption by young children. There seems to be urgent need for a well-designed nutrition intervention program, sensitizing mothers and the population in general on the importance of traditionally fermented milk (mursik) for children and as a transition food that is locally available, affordable and culturally acceptable.Key words: Mursik, Lactic acid bacteria (LAB), probiotic, Preschoolers, Focus groupdiscussion (FGD), Households (HHs

Use of Clinical Supervision Cycle in the Assessment of Teacher Trainees in Physical Education in Kenya: A Study of Teacher Colleges in Rift-Valley Zone

The neglect of primary school physical education calls for effective supervision of pre-service teachers for them to engage in effective teaching when they graduate. The purpose of this research was to investigate the use of clinical supervision of pre-service teachers in physical education during teaching practice assessment. Clinical Supervision Model by Cogan and Goldhammer guided the study. Mixed-methods approach and descriptive survey research design were used. There were 233 respondents who took part in the study comprising student teachers, tutors and physical educators. Simple random, stratified and systematic samplings were used. Tools used were questionnaire, interview guide and observation schedule. Data was analysed using descriptive and inferential (?2) statistic. It emerged that the clinical supervision cycle was not used in the supervision of teacher trainees. The study concluded that the trainees were denied appropriate supervision. The study recommends that the Directorate of Quality Assurance and Standards (DQAS) initiate the use of Clinical Supervision Cycle in assessment in Kenya. Key words - Clinical supervision, physical education, pre-service teacher, supervisor, teaching practice (TP), teacher trainee

Teaching of Physical Education Course as a Fundamental Right of Students in Secondary Schools in Kenya: A Study of Bomet District

The purpose of this study was to assess the gap in policy between the promise and reality in physical education in secondary schools in Bomet District - Kenya. The objective was to establish the extent to which the teaching of physical education formed a fundamental right for students in secondary schools. Biological Sciences Curriculum Study model guided the study. This study utilized descriptive survey method of research. Sampling designs used were simple random, purposive and stratified random sampling. Questionnaire, interview guide and observation schedules were used to collect data and a total of 281 respondents took part in the study. Data analysis was done using descriptive and inferential statistics. It was found that the students were denied their right to be educated physically in secondary schools in Bomet District. This research recommends that the Directorate of Quality Assurance should deploy specialist physical educators to district levels that are responsible for the periodic supervision and evaluation of physical education in secondary schools. Key word: Physical educatio

Livestock feed production and marketing in Central and North Rift Valley Regions of Kenya

Availability and access to feed resources are important constraints to livestock productivity in East Africa. This study examined the production and marketing of livestock feeds in Central and North Rift regions in Kenya. Looking at existing fodder value chains to assess constraints and opportunities using the value chain approach, a rapid reconnaissance survey was conducted in which 93 actors were interviewed along the value chain in November 2010. Fodder marketing takes place at two levels: location (a cluster of 2-3 villages) and district. Trading at location level involved input sellers, producers selling directly to rural retailers, rural consumers, or if they were near major district towns, to wholesalers. District level trading involved traders who sourced for fodder outside the district and retailed to wholesalers in major consumer markets within districts and to a lesser extend retailed in local areas. Service providers such as transporters and feed processors operated at all levels. Input providers comprised of agrovet and general retail shops. Traders comprised of individual traders and cooperative societies. Feed trading is seasonal commonly occurring during the dry season with seasonal price variations at all levels. Feed price have increased by about 15% within the past year. In all the sites, local feed markets are dominated by livestock keepers selling excess fodder. There are few “specialized” fodder sellers, i.e. non livestock keepers who grew fodder as a source of income. Commonly traded feeds in the dry season were Rhodes grass, maize stovers, oat straws and Lucerne hay that were preferred due to longer storage period. Others forages were Napier grass and roadside harvested grass. Most traded fodder had low gross margins (GM) although foodfeed crops such as oats, sweet potato, etc tended to have higher GM. Actors reported an increasing demand for purchased fodder although they all operated in uncoordinated manner. Cooperative societies played a key role in linking buyers and sellers, stimulating demand and providing credit. Lack of input capital is perceived as a major constraint more than lack of market because demand for feed is strong during the dry season. This study concludes that there is need to promote feed marketing as a package alongside feed conservation, feed processing as well creating platform for that provide linkages for all actors to operate in coordinated way. Processing of feed is important to reducing bulkiness and handling costs hence easy storage and transportation. Provision of market information to producers and buyers is important to enhance and improve feed marketing systems

The Structured Operational Research and Training Initiative (SORT IT), second workshop using the national tuberculosis routinely collected program data

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Bacterial Communities Are Less Diverse in a Strepsipteran Endoparasitoid than in Its Fruit Fly Hosts and Dominated by Wolbachia

Microbiomes play vital roles in insect fitness and health and can be influenced by interactions between insects and their parasites. Many studies investigate the microbiome of free-living insects, whereas microbiomes of endoparasitoids and their interactions with parasitised insects are less explored. Due to their development in the constrained environment within a host, endoparasitoids are expected to have less diverse yet distinct microbiomes. We used high-throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to characterise the bacterial communities of Dipterophagus daci (Strepsiptera) and seven of its tephritid fruit fly host species. Bacterial communities of D. daci were less diverse and contained fewer taxa relative to the bacterial communities of the tephritid hosts. The strepsipteran’s microbiome was dominated by Pseudomonadota (formerly Proteobacteria) (> 96%), mainly attributed to the presence of Wolbachia, with few other bacterial community members, indicative of an overall less diverse microbiome in D. daci. In contrast, a dominance of Wolbachia was not found in flies parasitised by early stages of D. daci nor unparasitised flies. Yet, early stages of D. daci parasitisation resulted in structural changes in the bacterial communities of parasitised flies. Furthermore, parasitisation with early stages of D. daci with Wolbachia was associated with a change in the relative abundance of some bacterial taxa relative to parasitisation with early stages of D. daci lacking Wolbachia. Our study is a first comprehensive characterisation of bacterial communities in a Strepsiptera species together with the more diverse bacterial communities of its hosts and reveals effects of concealed stages of parasitisation on host bacterial communities

Language in tuberculosis services: can we change to patient-centred terminology and stop the paradigm of blaming the patients?

The words 'defaulter', 'suspect' and 'control' have been part of the language of tuberculosis (TB) services for many decades, and they continue to be used in international guidelines and in published literature. From a patient perspective, it is our opinion that these terms are at best inappropriate, coercive and disempowering, and at worst they could be perceived as judgmental and criminalising, tending to place the blame of the disease or responsibility for adverse treatment outcomes on one side-that of the patients. In this article, which brings together a wide range of authors and institutions from Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe and the Pacific, we discuss the use of the words 'defaulter', 'suspect' and 'control' and argue why it is detrimental to continue using them in the context of TB. We propose that 'defaulter' be replaced with 'person lost to follow-up'; that 'TB suspect' be replaced by 'person with presumptive TB' or 'person to be evaluated for TB'; and that the term 'control' be replaced with 'prevention and care' or simply deleted. These terms are non-judgmental and patient-centred. We appeal to the global Stop TB Partnership to lead discussions on this issue and to make concrete steps towards changing the current paradigm

Workload Indicators Of Staffing Need Method in determining optimal staffing levels at Moi Teaching and Referal Hospital

Background: There is an increasing demand for quality healthcare in the face of limited resources. With the health personnel consuming up to three quarters of recurrent budgets, a need arises to ascertain that a workforce for any health facility is the optimal level needed to produce the desired product. Objective: To highlight the experience and findings of an attempt at establishing the optimal staffing levels for a tertiary health institution using the Workload Indicators of Staffing Need (WISN) method popularised by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Geneva, Switzerland. Design: A descriptive study that captures the activities of a taskforce appointed to establish optimal staffing levels. Setting: Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH), Eldoret, Kenya, a tertiary hospital in the Rift Valley province of Kenya from September 2005 to May 2006. Main outcome measures: The cadres of workers, working schedules, main activities, time taken to accomplish the activities, available working hours, category and individual allowances, annual workloads from the previous year\'s statistics and optimal departmental establishment of workers. Results: There was initial resentment to the exercise because of the notion that it was aimed at retrenching workers. The team was given autonomy by the hospital management to objectively establish the optimal staffing levels. Very few departments were optimally established with the majority either under or over staffed. There were intradepartmental discrepancies in optimal levels of cadres even though many of them had the right number of total workforce. Conclusion: The WISN method is a very objective way of establishing staffing levels but requires a dedicated team with adequate expertise to make the raw data meaningful for calculations. East African Medical Journla Vol. 85 (5) 2008: pp. 232-23

Mobile phones in the diffusion of knowledge and persistence in inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa

The success of inclusive development strategies in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda depends substantially on the adoption of common inclusive development policies among nations. Building on the relevance of a knowledge economy in the post-2015 development agenda, this study models the feasibility of common policies for inclusive human development in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). More specifically, we investigate the complementary role of knowledge diffusion in the inclusive benefits of mobile phone penetration in SSA from 2000 to 2012 by employing the Generalised Method of Moments. Knowledge diffusion variables include educational quality, innovation and Internet penetration. The main finding is that inclusive human development is persistently conditional on mobile phones in knowledge diffusion. Moreover, countries with low levels of inclusive human development are catching-up their counterparts with higher development. Policy implications are discussed with particular emphasis on how to leverage common knowledge economy initiatives for inclusive developmen