Food Self-Sufficiency and Partnership in Agricultural Production in Ghana. A case study of the Fievie Rice Project

Abstract Poverty eradication and food security issues are central to most international development policies and developing countries including Ghana. International and national policies encourage investments in the agricultural sector, as a major means to reduce poverty and ensure food security. Lands in Sub-Saharan Africa have been declared empty and unutilized, which makes Africa the best corridor for such agricultural investments. However, large tracts of land acquisition through outright sale or long term lease with little or no compensation is in turn generating tension and conflicts at the local contexts where such agricultural projects take place. The central focus of this study is to explore how partnership between foreign investors and community members affects agricultural productivity and its implications for food self-sufficiency at the national and local contexts in Ghana. The trajectory of most of the agricultural investment projects have ended in tragedy due to lack of a good working relationship between land owners and users on the one side, and investors on the other side. Some of these investments also have international market targets (biofuel production) and do not benefit the local people directly. Using the Fievie rice project as a case study, my fieldwork reveals that, the community used its land as a tool to enter into partnership with the investor company (Global Agric-Development Company). The community is entitled to 2.5% of the gross income of the project and reserves the right to take back the land within three months of non-production. An out-grower programme has been developed for some community members. However, there is a shift in attention from the main staple crop (maize) to rice production for the participants. Also, labourers of the rice project (with meagre wages) are abandoning their farmlands due to the time and energy demands of the project. The people are allowed to glean on the rice farm. There was enormous dietary transformation in Fievie from akple to rice. Drawing on phenomenological and political ecology approaches as tools of analysis, I argue that, the Fievie rice participatory project, only works to an extent and to the advantage of people with power and the affluent in the global structure, at the detriment of the less advantaged. Also, local people's interests, meaning and values ascribed to food were not considered, prior to the commencement of the project. Although rice has become available to the people, it is transforming their culturally significative diet; akple. Additionally, the rice project might have boosted national food security, however, it is at the same time generating, maintaining and improving [existing] social, economic and political inequalities within the local structure. It further works to cripple existing self-reliance efforts of subsistence farmers. I argue that, the Fievie partnership is significant in controlling conflicts and land grabs, yet, it is a novel configuration of capitalism, and not a suitable tool for development.Master i Master of Philosophy in Anthropology of DevelopmentSANT355MASV-SAD

Sexuality and sexual health education in children with disabilities

Sexuality is a core aspect of being human involving various physical, cognitive, emotional and social aspects. Children with disabilities are sexual beings too. They experience sexual development and changes as they grow and have sexual feelings, desires and needs just like their non-disabled peers. Unfortunately, their sexuality is often not accepted or addressed, because of which many do not receive sexual health education either at home or in school. They lack the knowledge required to develop a healthy sexual identity, thereby increasing their vulnerability to experience negative sexual outcomes. Research consistently shows that individuals with disabilities are at greater risk of sexual abuse, exploitation, unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases

Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), is diagnosed as persistently elevated pressures in the pulmonary arteries. It is a severe disease that requires early diagnosis and treatment as it can be life-threatening if not treated promptly and adequately. The initial presenting signs and symptoms such as lethargy, malaise, and exercise intolerance can be vague, making it difficult to diagnose. Also, doctors at centers that specialize in treating PAH are the only ones who can properly diagnose the condition and initiate disease-targeted therapy. There are different types of PAH; the World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes 5 groups of pulmonary hypertension (PH), and they are (1) PAH, (2) PA due to left heart disease, (3) PH due to lung disease, or hypoxia, (4) chronic thromboembolic PAH, and (5) PH with unclear multi-factorial means. Also, the WHO recognizes 4 functional classes of PH. Functional Class I is considered to be the mildest form of the disease, and class IV is the most severe. The condition is complex and leads to right heart failure, causing a more complicated clinical syndrome that affects multiple organs, including the heart, liver, brain, and kidney

GREEN PRACTICES FOR SURGICAL UNITS

The study aimed to identify leading practices to promote environmentally friendly and efficient efforts in surgical healthcare. Despite widespread enthusiasm for going green in the U.S. economy, little information is available to inform the medical community on the effort. We explore safe and efficient strategies for hospitals and healthcare providers to protect the environment while delivering high-quality care. As part of the study design, we performed a systematic review of the literature using relevant Pubmed search terms and surveyed a panel of hospital managers and CEOs of healthcare organizations pursuing green initiatives. Recommendations were itemized and reviewed with each panelist for a consensus agreement. At the end, we identified forty-three published articles and obtained interview data from the 7-member expert panel. Five green recommendations for surgical practices were identified: (1) OR Waste Reduction and Segregation; (2) Environmentally Preferable Purchasing; (3) Energy Consumption Management; (4) Pharmaceutical Waste Management; (5) Reprocessing of Single Use Medical Devices. We concluded that the medical community has a large opportunity to implement green practices in surgical units. These practices can have significant benefits to both the healthcare community and the environment

FUNCTIONALIZATION OF FLUORINATED SURFACTANT TEMPLATED SILICA

Surfactant templating provides for the synthesis of ordered mesoporous silica and the opportunity to tailor the pore size, pore structure, particle morphology and surface functionality of the silica through the selection of synthesis conditions and surfactant template. This work extends the synthesis of nanostructured silica using fluorinated surfactant templates to the synthesis of organic/inorganic composites. The effect of fluorinated surfactant templates (C6F13C2H4NC5H5Cl, C8F17C2H4NC5H5Cl and C10F21C2H4NC5H5Cl), which have highly hydrophobic fluorocarbon tails, on functional group incorporation, accessibility, and silica textural properties is examined and compared to properties of hydrocarbon surfactant (C16H33N(CH3)3Br, CTAB) templated silica. Hydrocarbon (vinyl, n-decyl and 3-aminopropyl) and fluorocarbon (perfluoro-octyl, perfluorodecyl) functional group incorporation by direct synthesis is demonstrated, and its effects on silica properties are interpreted based on the aggregation behavior with the surfactant templates. Silica materials synthesized with CTAB possess greater pore order than materials synthesized with the fluorocarbon surfactants. The incorporation of the short vinyl chain substantially reduces silica pore size and pore order. However, pore order increases with functionalization for materials synthesized with the fluorinated surfactant having the longest hydrophobic chain. The incorporation of longer chain functional groups (n-decyl, perfluorodecyl, perfluoro-octyl) by direct synthesis results in hexagonal pore structured silica for combinations of hydrocarbon/fluorocarbon surfactant and functional groups. The long chain of these silica precursors, which can be incorporated in the surfactant micelle core, affect the pore size less than vinyl incorporation. Synthesis using the longer chain fluoro-surfactant (C8F17C2H4NC5H5Cl) template in ethanol/water solution results in highest incorporation of both n-decyl and the fluorocarbon functional groups, with a corresponding loss of material order in the fluorinated material. Matching the fluorocarbon surfactant (C6F13C2H4NC5H5Cl) to the perfluoro-octyl precursor did not show improved functional group incorporation. Higher incorporation of the perfluoro-octyl functional group was observed for all surfactant templates, but the perfluoro-decyl silica is a better adsorbent for the separation of hydrocarbon and fluorocarbon tagged anthraquinones. Incorporating a reactive hydrophilic functional group (3-aminopropyl) suggests further applications of the resulting nanoporous silica. Greater amine incorporation is achieved in the CTAB templated silica, which has hexagonal pore structure; the order and surface area decreases for the fluorinated surfactant templated material