The Relationship between Nutrition and Health: The Present Situation in Africa

Africa is a continent where hunger (= undernutrition in energy and protein) is still a major problem. The aim of this report is to find the target countries in Africa of which the population is most likely to be undernourished or even starving. For this purpose, the African countries are arranged into five categories according to the nutritional status of each country. The main criterion for adequate nourishment is the fulfillment of the minimum energy and protein requirements, which are estimated by studying the population distribution. From this classification, the following results are obtained: 17% of the countries have excess caloric supplies; 20% have available more than 90% of their requirement, with an adequate supply of protein; 25% are deficient in calories but adequate in protein; 10% are deficient in protein but adequate in calories, and the remaining 6% are deficient in both protein and calories. The diets in Egypt, Cameroon, Mali, Congo and Zaire, each of which is representative of one of the above mentioned categories, are examined for their composition of essential nutrients, i.e. calories, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals. The nutritional situation of a particular country is compared with its morbidity and mortality rates. The result of this investigation is that protein deficiency alone is not the major nutritional problem of the African continent. The problem is rather that there is not sufficient food available to fulfill the energy requirements

Nutrition Status - Rural and Urban Kenya

The paper presents a detailed nutritional analysis in the context of the food intake levels of various income groups in rural and urban Kenya. Nutritional surveys covering the majority of the population are not feasible and perhaps not necessary. The main contributions of this study are to provide an overall nutritional picture of Kenya and in particular identify the target groups within the overall population for whom in depth nutritional surveillance may be necessary

Food Consumption Pattern - Rural and Urban Kenya

This paper presents a detailed analysis of the food consumption pattern of various income groups in rural and urban Kenya. Specific food consumption surveys covering a major proportion of the population in Kenya have not been carried out. However, a wealth of information on food consumption has been collected in the 1974/75 Integrated Rural Survey and the 1977 Urban Food Purchasing Survey. This survey data together with other information in Kenya has been used to obtain the food consumption baskets for various income groups in rural and urban Kenya. The study is particularly useful in identifying the groups of the rural and urban population whose food intake levels are inadequate. The paper contains a large amount of data that is useful for the identification of target groups in the context of production, distribution and pricing and consumption policies to be investigated within the context of a Food and Agricultural planning model of Kenya

Limits and Consequences of Agriculture and Food Production: A General Methodology for the Case Studies

This paper is one of a series in which the limits and consequences of agricultural production over a long time horizon are explored. A paper by Jaroslav Hirs (forthcoming) provides a general overview of the relationships between agricultural production technologies, resource use, and the environment. Whether the food and agriculture system will be able to meet current and future world agricultural demands is identified as the central question which motivates our examination of these relationships. In other words, what are the important relationships between these areas which will affect the stability and sustainability of the food and agricultural system in the long run. The paper also argues that the analysis must be performed on a national or regional level in the form of case studies because of the location specific nature of some of the key inputs. The purpose of the present paper is to formulate a general methodology to ensure that the case studies are comparable with one another. Comparability is understood to have elements of both similarity and dissimilarity. To be comparable, the various case studies must be similar in their general outline. That is they must view the problem from the same perspective, and address a similar set of questions. Use of a common modeling approach may further facilitate comparisons. At the same time it is both possible and expected that differences in detail and emphasis will be present within each particular study. Nonetheless, while it is recognized that each region or nation that will make up an individual case study has some unique features, we believe that all share sufficient common aspects to profit from following a common general methodology. In order to facilitate the outlining of a general methodology, this paper will be divided into three main sections. A definition and classification section, a section on questions to be addressed, and a section dealing with the proposed recursive dynamic model. The definition and classification section is designed to give a working definition of the region modeled, linkage with the rest of the economy and each of the three aspects of the agricultural system on which the case studies will focus. The questions section lists, by each aspect, various questions, in general and in particular, that the case studies are expected to answer. The modeling section outlines in block form the proposed model

National and Regional Implications of Targeting the Conservation Reserve

Within the Conservation Reserve (CR) program, a change in program criteria could reduce the amount of erosion material entering our nation\u27s waterways. The inclusion of land adjacent to water bodies, flowing streams, and river waterways may reduce erosion from these lands and improve water quality. These buffer strip areas, removed from production and placed in the reserve with a vegetative cover, would limit sedimentation and act to prevent upland erosion materials from reaching waterway channels, thus enhancing the programs\u27 environmental benefits. This paper analyzes the economic benefits of including buffer strups as eligible CR land, and it reviews the problems of identifying such areas

Atomic Transport in Dense, Multi-Component Metallic Liquids

Pd43Ni10Cu27P0 has been investigated in its equilibrium liquid state with incoherent, inelastic neutron scattering. As compared to simple liquids, liquid PdNiCuP is characterized by a dense packing with a packing fraction above 0.5. The intermediate scattering function exhibits a fast relaxation process that precedes structural relaxation. Structural relaxation obeys a time-temperature superposition that extends over a temperature range of 540K. The mode-coupling theory of the liquid to glass transition (MCT) gives a consistent description of the dynamics which governs the mass transport in liquid PdNiCuP alloys. MCT scaling laws extrapolate to a critical temperature Tc at about 20% below the liquidus temperature. Diffusivities derived from the mean relaxation times compare well with Co diffusivities from recent tracer diffusion measurements and diffsuivities calculated from viscosity via the Stokes-Einstein relation. In contrast to simple metallic liquids, the atomic transport in dense, liquid PdNiCuP is characterized by a drastical slowing down of dynamics on cooling, a q^{-2} dependence of the mean relaxation times at intermediate q and a vanishing isotope effect as a result of a highly collective transport mechanism. At temperatures as high as 2Tc diffusion in liquid PdNiCuP is as fast as in simple liquids at the melting point. However, the difference in the underlying atomic transport mechanism indicates that the diffusion mechanism in liquids is not controlled by the value of the diffusivity but rather by that of the packing fraction

Development of Agricultural Market and Trade Policies in the CEE Candidate Countries.

This synthesis report focuses on the evolution of agricultural market and trade policies in the Central and Eastern European (CEE) candidate countries in the period 1997 to 2001. The developments were crucially influenced by (OECD, 2000a): ⢠the situation in world agricultural markets; ⢠the overall macroeconomic development in the countries considered; ⢠the prospective EU accession; ⢠bringing domestic agricultural policy in line with the Uruguay Agreement on Agriculture (URAA). High 1997 agricultural prices on world commodity markets were followed by a marked depression in 1998. With the exemption of milk products this trend continued in 1999. Likewise the economic and financial crisis in Russia had a considerable impact on agricultural policies. It hit the regions´ exports resulting in a decline in industrial as well as agricultural output1. Thus, compared to the previous years most of the CEE candidate countries experienced a slow down or even negative rates of growth in their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 1998 and 1999. In addition those countries felt increased budgetary pressures. Agricultural market and trade policies largely reacted to these developments. Border protection was increased in many countries in 1998. This was combined in some cases with export subsidies, and ad hoc producer aids to mitigate the adverse effects. The prospect of EU accession also had an influence on the agricultural policy design in the region with many countries implementing EU-type policy instruments. Thus, the importance of per hectare and per head payments increased in the region, quota like measures were implemented in some countries and as part of this development Estonia introduced tariffs for agro-food imports. Finally, many countries also continued to adjust their policies to comply with their commitments agreed to in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Despite these general tendencies there are also differences in the development of agricultural policies between the various CEE candidates. Chapter 2 therefore provides an overview of the changes of agricultural market and trade policies in each of the 10 accession countries. It addresses the policy issues market access (e.g. tariffs, special safeguard measures), export subsidies (value and quantities) and domestic support (intervention policies, direct payments, input subsidies, production quotas). Chapter 3 provides a brief assessment of recent policy developments in the region in the light of EU accession and WTO commitments. The development of prices and values, e.g. export subsidies, agricultural support expenditure, were presented in the background papers provided by the country experts in current prices in national currencies. In this synthesis report they are in addition converted in Euro. This firstly allows for a better comparison among the CEE candidate countries as well as between those countries and the EU. Some of the accession countries still suffer from high inflation and thus a strong depreciation of their currency. Thus secondly, the conversion to Euros allows the comparisons to be made in real terms.Industrial Organization, International Development, Productivity Analysis,

Survey on the clinical trial results achieved in Brazil comparing praziquantel and oxamniquine in the treatment of mansoni schistosomiasis

A random, double-blind, parallel group clinical trial program was carried out to compare praziquantel, a recently developed anti-helmintic drug, and oxamniquine, an already established agent for treating mansoni schistosomiasis. Both drugs were administered orally as a single dose, on the average, praziquantel 55 mg/kg and oxamniquine 16 mg/kg BWT. The diagnosis and the parasitological follow-up lasting for a minimum of six months, were based on stool examinations according to Kato/Katz technique. A patient was considered cured if all results were negative and if he had performed at least three post-treatment controls, each one comprising three stool examinations. The finding of a single S. mansoni egg in any stool examination indicated, a therapeutical failure. A total of 267, cases were treated with praziquantel and 272 with oxamniquine. The two groups were homogeneous in regard to patients, age, clinical form of the disease, risk of reinfection and worm burden, relevant factors in the therapeutical response. The incidence and severity of untoward, effects were similar in both groups but abdominal distress and diarrhoea were more frequently reported under praziquantel and dizzines under oxamniquine (p 0.05). Amongst the noncured aptients a reduction of 88.6% and 74.6% in the mean number of eggs/g of feces Was seen following the treatment with praziquantel and oxamniquine, respectively (p < 0.05). In conclusion, in spite of their different chemical, pharmacological and toxicological profiles as well as mechanisms-of-action, inclusively praziquantel already had proved to be 100% active against S. mansoni strains resistant to oxamniquine, both drugs showed comparable tolerance and therapeutical efficacy