A Comparison of United States Network Television News Coverage of Sub-Sahara Africa Before and After the 1975-76 Angola Conflict

The proposition that American network television news coverage of sub-Sahara Africa increased substantially after the 1975-76 Angola conflict is examined in this study of the responsiveness of television to changing news values at the international level. News coverage for two thirty-month periods before and after the Angola conflict is compared using data derived from the Television News Index and Abstracts. The study finds that network news coverage of sub-Sahara Africa increased from 0.36 per cent of total news time before the Angola conflict to 4.46 per cent after, indicating that network news coverage is a reflection of the intensity of United States government activity at the international level

A DESCRIPTION AND EVALUATION OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS FOR HEALTH MANPOWER IN NIGERIA

A descriptive study of the current educational programs of selected health personnel in Nigeria was made in 1986. Data on the content of educational programs was obtained from personal communication with the Heads of the various institutions and from their published materials (catalogs, course outlines and program descriptions). Adequacy of these programs was judged in the light of current health problems and needs of the population. Evaluation was based on the following criteria: (a) Selection of students to maximize their usefulness in the provision of health care. (b) Relevance of the curriculum to the tasks the trainee will be called upon to perform. (c) Types of courses that focus on community health needs. Using official reports, the health situation in the country was described to give a relative priority of health services. Findings indicate the following: (1) Health conditions in Nigeria are related to a high prevalence of illness and disease, unsanitary living conditions, a high ratio of infant mortality and a shortage of public health services. Priority needs for improvement call for attitudinal and environmental changes. (2) All health training programs have improved the relevance of education to community health needs by strengthening practical field experience, and teaching those courses which focus on disease prevention. (3) Prospective nurses and community health workers are selected on the basis of a number of personal and intellectual characteristics, but academic performance alone is the criterion for medical students. (4) The curriculum in the medical school needs to be restructured to cut back on time devoted to enriching the medical background . Basic sciences need better integration with hospital work. (5) Managerial and organization courses have been well incorporated into the nursing and community health workers\u27 curricula. (6) There is a marked overlap in the tasks the community health workers are expected to perform. This causes some redundancy in having four separate categories of these health personnel

SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE DISTRIBUTION OF DRACUNCULUS MEDINENSIS (GUINEA WORM DISEASE) AND SUGGESTED METHODS FOR CONTROL, IBARAPA, NIGERIA, 1982 (AFRICA)

A population-based cross-sectional survey of socio-environmental factors associated with the prevalence of Dracunculus medinensis (guinea worm disease) was conducted in Idere, a rural agricultural community in Ibarapa, Oyo state, Nigeria, during 1982. The epidemiologic data were collected by household interview of all 501 households. The environmental data were collected by analysis of water samples collected from all domestic water sources and rainfall records. The specific objectives of this research were to: (a) Describe the prevalence of guinea worm disease in Idere during 1982 by age, sex, area of residence, drinking water source, religion and weekly amount of money spent by the household to collect potable drinking water. (b) Compare the characteristics of cases with non-cases of guinea worm in order to identify factors associated with high risk of infection. (c) Investigate domestic water sources for the distribution of Cyclops. (d) Determine the extent of potable water shortage with a view to identifying factors responsible for such shortage in the community. (e) Describe the effects of guinea worm on school attendance during 1980/1982 school years by class and location of school from piped water supply. The findings of this research indicate that during 1982, 31.8 percent of Idere\u27s 6,527 residents experienced guinea worm infection, with higher prevalence of infection recorded in males in their most productive years and females in their teenage years. The role of sex and age to risk of higher infection rate was explained in the context of water related exposure and water intake due to dehydration from physical occupational actitives of subgroups. Potable water available to residents was considerably below the minimum recommended by WHO for tropical climates, with sixty-eight percent of water needs of the residents coming from unprotected surface water which harbour Cyclops, the obligatory intermediate host of Dracunculus medinensis. An association was found between periods of relative high density of Cyclops in domestic water and rainfall. Impact of guinea worm infection on educational activities was considerable and its implications were discussed, including the implications of the research findings in relation to control of guinea worm disease in Ibarapa