Effects of Climate Change on Soil and Water Resources: A Review

This review paper presents an overview of global impacts on soil and water resources as consequence of change in climate and summarizes the measures/adaptation options to minimize the risk. There is a strong scientific consensus that the earth’s climate has changed and will continue to change as human activities increase the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. World population is increasing day by day and at the same time soil and water resources is threatened due to natural resource degradation and climate change. The recent IPCC report has clearly stated that warming of the climate system is unequivocal and it is very likely” caused by natural and human activities. Numerous scholars reported that climate change affects hydrological cycle or water cycle components, especially precipitation, evapotranspiration, temperature, stream flow, ground water and surface runoff. A change in climate can alter the spatial and temporal availability of soil and water resources. These changes will result in increased floods and drought, which will have significant impacts on the soil and water resource availability. Soils are complicatedly linked to the climate system through nitrogen, the carbon, and hydrologic cycles. Because of change in climate soil processes and properties will affected. Along with changes in temperature, climate change will bring changes in global rainfall amounts and distribution patterns. And since temperature and water are two factors that have a large influence on the processes that take place in soils, climate change will therefore cause changes in the world’s soils. Water resources management can help to counter balance effects of climate change on stream flow and water availability until a certain level. This review paper starts with highlighting the studies on the impacts of climate changes on soil and water resource mainly due to change in temperature and rainfall. The impacts of climate change on soil and water resources are highlighted, and respective studies on hydrological responses to climate change are examined. Finally the paper concludes by outlining possible adaptation options in the realm of climate change impacts on soil and water resources. Keywords: Climate change, Soil and water resources, hydrological Cycle, soil processes and Propertie

Sero-epidemiological study on Maedi-Visna in selected areas of Ethiopia

The study was conducted to verify the existence of Maedi-Visna virus infection (Ovine Progressive Pneumonia- OPP) in exotic sheep breed in selected areas of Ethiopia. ELISA and Hematoxylin & Eosin (HE) staining techniques were employed to examine the serum and tissue samples respectively. ELISA test of serum samples showed 88%, 19%, 10%, 6%, and 0.8% infection rate for Debre Berhan sheep breeding center, and Arsi, Bale, North Omo and Gurage zones respectively. At necropsy 11% (4/36) of the sheep examined had characteristic gross pathological lung lesions of Maedi/OPP and 33% (12/36) indicated the presence of the disease through histopathological examinations. The major histopathological findings were peribronchial and interstitial lymphocytic infiltrations and/or follicle-like aggregations, interstitial connective tissue proliferation, hyperplasia of the smooth muscles in the ducts of terminal bronchioles and alveoli. The present findings provide a clear evidence for the dissemination of Maedi-Visna virus following the distribution of exotic rams from the breeding and multiplication center. Therefore, survey in other areas is also required to have broad picture of the disease in the country which will help to design a practical control strategy of the disease at the national level. Keywords: Ethiopia, exotic sheep breeds, maedi-visna, sero-epidemiolog

Bovine Hydatidosis in Eastern Part of Ethiopia

A cross-sectional study was conducted on bovine hydatidosis from November 2010 to March 2011 with the aims of investigating its occurrence, risk factors and economic losses in Dire Dawa municipality abattoir. The study revealed 20.05% occurrence of hydatidosis based on the postmortem examination of1536 cattle. Age related infection was significant as older animals were more infected (P<0.05, x2 = 27.496).Among the lungs, liver, heart, spleen and kidneys examined in each carcass, the cysts were distributed in the lungs and livers only. Out of 1852 cysts, 1340 (72.3%) were found in liver while512 (27.7%) in lungs. Five hundred and twenty (53.94%) of 964 hydatid cysts were small, while268 (27.80%) medium and 176 (18.25%) large. These cysts were further characterized as fertile (80.08.7%), sterile (17.3%) and calcified (2.85%) and 53.7% of fertile cysts were viable. Based on the study, the direct economic loss was estimated to be 23,876 Ethiopian Birrs. Presence of hydatid cysts in edible organs has great public health significance as consumption of undercooked/raw meat is still in practice in many parts of Ethiopia.Keywords: Abattoir, Bovine, Carcass, Cysts, Hydatidosis, Eastern Ethiopia

Preview of Camel (Camelus dromedarius) hides marketing and challenges in Eastern Africa

Camel production in the world has continued taking a centre stage in livestock economics and food security. More conspicuously is the prominence of Camel hide production for specialized leather artifacts worldwide. Of Interest has been the growth of the Camel milk, meat and hide industry in Eastern Africa. Previous areas that had not registered Camel slaughter particularly in the urban and peri-urban areas have become areas of interest with gradual increase demonstrated in this study. However the decline in prices worldwide, poor production technique, inadequate policy and legal frame work and disincentives have been a ‘bottleneck’, in the rapid and potential wealth creating Camel hide industry in Eastern Africa. Indeed with appropriate strategy the potential is rife for the development of the Industry, if appropriate interventions are developed for the cited challenges. The increase of camel meat in urban environment is an indicator that the industry is poised to grow even further. Thus the urgency to attend to the evolving needs is equally critical by all the stakeholders, core or no-core

Bibliography on HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia and Ethiopians in the Diaspora: The 2013 Update

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Bibliography on HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia and Ethiopians in the Diaspora: The 2011 Update

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Programmatic correlates of maternal healthcare seeking behaviors in Ethiopia

Background: Considerable improvement in maternal healthcare use has been observed since the inception of the health extension program (HEP) in Ethiopia in 2003.Objective: This paper evaluates the influence of HEP outreach strategies on maternal healthcare use.Method: Cross-sectional survey of 2,916 women with children 0 to 11 months from Amhara, Oromiya, Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s, and Tigray regions, obtained between December 2008 and January 2009, were analyzed using regression models to assess the impacts of HEP strategies on maternal health outcomes.Result: The analyses found that communities (i.e., kebeles) with relatively high prevalence of model families, higher rate of household visits by health extension workers, and higher rate of household visits by voluntary community health workers were associated with improved antenatal care use, tetanus toxoid vaccination coverage, and receiving postnatal care visits; but the strategies were not associated with deliveries attended by health professionals.Conclusion: Although the impacts of HEP strategies on maternal healthcare use were statistically significant, they were not optimum to reach the maternal mortality reduction targets of the government of Ethiopia. The HEP needs to review and strengthen its community based strategies in order to reach its goals. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 2010;24 Special Issue 1:92-99