Basic Pensions and Poverty Reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper investigates the role of basic pensions in alleviating poverty in sub- Saharan Africa. Using the most recent Senegalese household income-expenditure data survey, we construct scenarios of universal and means-tested basic pension schemes with different generosity levels. Simulations indicate that basic pension benefits have sizeable impact on poverty reduction amongst households, with elderly members, which translates into large decreases in aggregate poverty measures. The paper also analyzes the fiscal costs of basic pensions and shows that these are fiscally affordable as long as pension levels are reasonable. This suggests that basic pension programs could be financially sustainable in sub-Saharan African.

Fertility and Child Occupation: Theory and Evidence from Senegal

This paper analyzes household fertility and child occupation decisions in a risky environment. Fertility decisions are made fi?rst, when only the distribution of shocks is known. When shocks are realized and fertility is ?xed, parents adapt by allocating children?s occupations, i.e. school, paid work and domestic chores. Fertility is decreasing with the shock probability and increasing with parental permanent income. Households facing an adverse shock make more use of child labor and send fewer children to school, unless the total number of children is small. These predictions are tested with data from the Senegalese SEHW (2003) following this two-step methodology. A Poisson model estimates the number of children with classical instruments and household-level information on shock distribution, con?rming the theory?s predictions on fertility. A multivariate Tobit model estimates the determinants of children occupations, including the occurrence of shocks and accounting for the endogeneity of fertility. The number of children increases (decreases) the probability of child specialization (multiple activities). Shock-related variables have an adverse e¤ect on schooling.Fertility; education; child labor; shocks

The effects of migration on children's activities in households at origin: Evidence from Senegal

This paper examines the repercussions of international migration on children?s time allocation in households at origin. We focus on children of age 7 to 12 and distinguish three activities: market work, French school attendance, and enrollment in Medersa (Arab/Islamic traditional school). In our analysis, we account for heterogeneities in migration constraints considering differences in migration destinations and the number of migrants within households. We instrument for migration using policy and governance facets in destination countries, precisely France, Spain, and Italy. Results show that ? after controlling for endogeneity ? migration has a positive and significant impact on enrollment in French curriculum school. However, once we account for the destination of the migrant, this positive and significant impact is only verified in households with migrants in Europe. We also note that when the number of migrants within a household increases, children of age 7 to 12 are less likely to attend French school and they are more likely to be involved in paid work activities. We draw evidence from the 2009 Senegalese household survey on migration and remittances (Enquête Ménage sur la Migration et les Transferts de Fonds).International migration; Child Labour; Education; Time allocation; Left-behind; Senegal

Is migration a good substitute for education subsidies ?

Assuming a given educational policy, the recent brain drain literature reveals that skilled migration can boost the average level of schooling in developing countries. This paper introduces educational subsidies determined by governments concerned by the number of skilled workers remaining in the country. The theoretical analysis shows that developing countries can benefit from skilled emigration when educational subsidies entail high .fiscal distortions. However when taxes are not too distortionary, it is desirable to impede emigration and subsidize education. The authors investigate the empirical relationship between educational subsidies and migration prospects, obtaining a negative relationship for 105 countries. Based on this result, the analysis revisits the country specific effects of skilled migration upon human capital. The findings show that the endogeneity of public subsidies reduces the number of winners and increases the magnitude of the losses.Population Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Access to Finance,International Migration,Emerging Markets

Hunger and Food Insecurity in Nairobi's Slums: An assessment using IRT models'

Although linked to poverty as conditions reflecting inadequate access to resources to obtain food, issues such as hunger and food insecurity have seldom been recognized as important in urban settings. Overall, little is known about the prevalence and magnitude of hunger and food insecurity in most cities. Yet, in sub-Saharan Africa where the majority of urban dwellers live on less than one dollar a day, it is obvious a large proportion of the urban population must be satisfied with just one meal a day. This paper suggests using the one- and two-parameter item response theory (IRT) models to infer a reliable and valid measure of hunger and food insecurity relevant to low income urban settings, drawing evidence from the Nairobi Urban Health and Demographic Surveillance System (NUHDSS). The reliability and accuracy of the items are tested using both the Mokken Scale Analysis and the Cronbach test. The validity of the inferred household food insecurity measure is assessed by examining how it is associated with households? economic status. Results show that food insecurity is pervasive amongst slum dwellers in Nairobi. Only one household in five is food secure, and nearly half of all households are categorized as ?food insecure with both adult and child hunger?. Moreover, in line with what is known about household allocation of resources, evidence indicates that parents often forego food in order to prioritize their children. (229 words)Food insecurity; Hunger; Sub-Saharan Africa; Slum; Nairobi

Autonomic Management using Self-Stabilization for Hierarchical and Distributed Middleware

International audienceDynamic nature of distributed architecture is a major challenge to avail the benefits of distributed computing. An effective solution to deal with this dynamic nature is to implement a self-adaptive mechanism to sustain the distributed architecture. Self-adaptive systems can autonomously modify their behavior at run-time in response to changes in their environment. This capability may be included in the software systems at design time or later by external mechanisms. Our paper describes the self- adaptive algorithm that we developed for an existing middleware. Once the middleware is deployed, it can detect a set of events which indicate an unstable deployment state. When an event is detected, some instructions are executed to handle the event. We have designed a simulator to have a deeper insights of our proposed self-adaptive algorithm. Results of our simulated experiments validate the safe convergence of the algorithm

Workshop on mobile laboratories deployed in the Ebola outbreak in West-Africa 2014-2015

First paragraph: Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a haemorrhagic fever caused by Ebola virus (EBOV) with high infectivity and mortality. EBOV is an enveloped, single-stranded, and negative-sense RNA virus belonging to the Filoviridae family. In contrast to the genus Marburgvirus which contains one single species, the genus Ebolavirus contains 5 species: Zaire ebolavirus (ZEBOV), Sudan ebolavirus (SUDV), Taï Forest ebolavirus (TAFV), Bundibugyo ebolavirus (BDBV) which are pathogenic for humans, and Reston Ebolavirus (RESTV) which infects non human primates. EBOV was first discovered in 1976 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and simultaneously in Sudan. Since 1976, EVD has appeared sporadically in DRC, Sudan, Gabon, Uganda, and Congo, with small to large outbreaks and lethality ranging from 50 to 100% with about 2500 cumulative cases until 2013

An outbreed mouse model of yellow fever for study of pathogenesis and development of vaccines and therapeutics

Yellow fever (YF) is a mosquito-borne viral disease that is endemic in several African and South American countries. YF virus (YFV) causes subclinical infections with mild and non-specific symptoms, to severe, potentially lethal illness with jaundice, hemorrhage, and renal failure. Despite the existence of safe and efficient vaccines, epidemics continue to occur, mostly in Africa where the burden of YF is estimated to represent 1.7 million annual cases and up to 80,000 deaths per year. Moreover, emergence of YF has been reported in new, previously unaffected areas, because of the introduction of the mosquito vectors into these lands. There is no effective therapy against YFV infection but licensed vaccines are available, which are derivatives of a live attenuated strain that was first developed in 1937. These vaccines are currently being used in vaccination program in endemic countries and for travelers visiting these regions. They provide a long-lasting immunity against all the known genotypes of YFV. Although very rare, there are reports of serious adverse effects associated with these vaccines. One major drawback of YF vaccines is their preparation that is based on culture on embryonated eggs, a fastidious and lengthy process that limits the capacity to produce high volumes of stocks needed to respond to recurring epidemics and to prepare for a potential major outbreak. An effective therapy and new types of vaccine that can support rapid scale up is needed for efficient management of YF in the future. The best available animal models to enable these endeavors are currently non-human primates (NHP) in which YF cause a disease similar to human infection of YF. However, the cost of NHP studies is a limit to preclinical studies, in particular in the most affected areas of the globe. There are a few mouse models of YF. However, these models consist of genetically-deficient rodents that are not best suited to replicate the disease and to accurately evaluate new vaccines or therapies. We have developed a mouse model of YFV infection based on the Swiss Webster outbred strain. We have tested several epidemics isolates and identified strains that, when administrated by the intraperitoneal route, caused an acute infection leading to death. Interestingly, these YFV strains are lethal only when prepared from mouse organs and not when cultured on cell lines. We used this model to test the efficacy of the 17D YFV vaccine strain in protecting mice against lethal challenge showing that the model can be used to evaluate new YF vaccines and therapies

Quantitative real-time PCR detection of Zika virus and evaluation with field-caught mosquitoes

BACKGROUND Zika virus (ZIKV), a mosquito borne flavivirus is a pathogen affecting humans in Asia and Africa. ZIKV infection diagnosis relies on serology-which is challenging due to cross-reactions with other flaviviruses and/or absence or low titer of IgM and IgG antibodies at early phase of infection- virus isolation, which is labor intensive, time consuming and requires appropriate containment. Therefore, real-time RT-PCR (rRT-PCR) is an appealing option as a rapid, sensitive and specific method for detection of ZIKV in the early stage of infection. So far, only one rRT-PCR assay has been described in the context of the outbreak in Micronesia in 2007. In this study, we described a one step rRT-PCR for ZIKV which can detect a wider genetic diversity of ZIKV isolates from Asia and Africa. RESULTS The NS5 protein coding regions of African ZIKV isolates were sequenced and aligned with representative flaviviruses sequences from GenBank to design primers and probe from conserved regions. The analytical sensitivity of the assay was evaluated to be 32 genome-equivalents and 0.05 plaque forming unit (pfu). The assay was shown to detect 37 ZIKV isolates covering a wide geographic in Africa and Asia over 36 years but none of the 31 other flaviviruses tested showing high analytical specificity. The rRT-PCR could be performed in less than 3 hours. This method was used successfully to detect ZIKV strains from field-caught mosquitoes. CONCLUSION We have developed a rapid, sensitive and specific rRT-PCR for detection of ZIKV. This assay is a useful tool for detection of ZIKV infection in regions where a number of other clinically indistinguishable arboviruses like dengue or chikungunya co-circulate. Further studies are needed to validate this assay in clinical positive samples collected during acute ZIKV infection