Social and Spill-Over Benefits as Motivating Factors to Investment in Formal Education in Africa: A Reflection around Ghanaian, Kenyan And Rwandan Contexts.

This study examined the social and spill-over benefits as motivating factors to investment in formal education in selected countries in Africa. The paper had three objectives, namely) to profile the key statistics of formal schooling; ii) examine the formal education and iii) link national goals of education with expectations in Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda. The major contention of the paper is that investment in education is not a matter of random choice but rather an imperative led by the fact that education holds returns and externalities to the largest society.  Authors reviewed theory of human capital, local and international publications on social and spill over benefits of education focusing on Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda. The analysis of government policies and other publications from these three African nations have shown that education is considered as a key sector in these developing nations. Nevertheless, the researchers found out that mostly only primary and secondary education are distinctively accorded considerable public financial resources which might be associated with the countries limited financial ability, competitive needs, national and global trends. However, the fact that Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda strive to become democratic, self-reliant and middle income nations by conquering long terms set visions in which caliber manpower, welfare, self-employment, reduced social inequalities, increase in average income, knowledge based society, ICT driven and sustainable economy are key characteristics; it is imperative to invest substantially in TVET and higher education. It is also recommended that Ghana, Kenya and Rwanda put in place strong institutions that objectively, effectively and rationally ensure the efficient use of all available resources towards maximum educational outputs (265 words). Key words: Social Benefits, Spill-over Benefits, Private Cost, Social Cost, Private Rate of Returns, Education, Cost- Best Analysis in Education, Africa, Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda

Establishment of Adult Reference Values For Some Biochemical Analytes in A Rwandan Population

Objectives: To establish the reference values for some routinely performed biochemical analytes in CHUK.Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study.Settings: National Center for Blood Transfusion, Rwanda and Kigali University Teaching Hospital,  Laboratory Department. This study was conducted during the period between 15th September 2014 and 23rd February in 2015.Subjects: Blood donors donating blood at National Center for Blood Donation, and recruited by mobile teams across the country.Results: Median (Reference values:2.5th and 97.5th percentiles) for male and female respectively: Bilirubin Direct,3.9(2-6.9) and 3.9(2.6-6.5) μmol/L; Bilirubin Total,10.3(4.8-21.6) and 10.4(5.9-17.3) μmol/L; Aspartate Aminotransferase, 27.8(16.1-49.2) and 26.7(16.8-45.1) U/L;Urea,3.2(1.3-5.8) and 3.1(1.4-5.2)mmol/L; Glucose, 5.0(3.2-7.7) and 4.6(3.1-6.7) mmol/L; Total Proteins, 76.8(68.2-87.7) and 76.9(66.6-85.7)g/L; Albumin, 46.4(39.7-55.5) and 46.7(40-54.5) g/L; Alanine Aminotransferase,  17.1(7.2-36.2) and 16.0(7.3-33.9) U/L; Gamma Glutamyltransferase, 20.3(8-75.6) and 21.1(7.1-63.3) U/L; Alkaline Phosphatase, 74.3(43.8-145.7) and 73.5(50.3-135.4) U/L; Creatinine, 84.4(65.2- 107.1) and 81.1(62.5-98.6) μmol/L; Sodium, 139.0(134.5-145.5) and 141.0(134.5-146.5) mmol/L; Potassium, .4.4(3.7-5) and 4.3(3.5-5.0) mmol/L; Chloride, 95.7(89.9-104.2) and 99.3(90.6-103.1) mmol/L;  Magnesium, 0.9(0.7-1.0) and 0.9(0.7-1) mmol/L; Phosphate, 1.1(0.8-1.5) and 1.2(0.7-1.6) mmol/L.Conclusion: The results of our study on Clinical Chemistry parameters are similar to those published in other African countries, with variations due to the diet and geographical location. This study has shown that a strict adherence to reference ranges developed from industrialised countries could qualify many healthy Rwandans as pathological cases, and also exclude them from participating in clinical trials. Compared to other reference ranges established, reference values in our study presented remarkably low levels of urea which may be due to the diet low in proteins generally in Rwandan population

Socio-Economic and Governance Conditions Corresponding to Change in Animal Agriculture: South Dakota Case Study

Understanding sustainable livestock production requires consideration of both qualitative and quantitative factors in a temporal and/or spatial frame. This study adapted Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to relate conditions of social, economic, and governance factors to changes in livestock inventory across several counties and over time. This paper presents an approach that (1) identified factors with the potential to relate to a change in livestock inventory and (2) analyzed commonalities within these factors related to changes spatially and temporally. This paper illustrates the approach and results when applied to five counties in eastern South Dakota. The specific response variables were periods of increasing, no change, or decreasing beef cattle, dairy cattle, and swine inventories in the specific counties for five-year census periods between 1992 and 2017. In the spatial analysis of counties, stable beef inventories and decreasing dairy inventories related to counties with increasing gross domestic products. The presence of specific social communities related to increases in county swine inventories. In the temporal analysis of census periods, local governance and economic factors, particularly market price influences, were more prevalent. Swine inventory showed a stronger link to cash crop markets than to livestock markets, whereas cattle market price increases associated with stable inventories for all animal types. Local governance tools had mixed effects for the different animal types across space and time. The factors and analysis results are context-specific. However, the process considers the various socio-economic processes in livestock production and community development applicable to agricultural sustainability questions in the Midwest and beyond

Effectiveness of rapid diagnosti test for Malaria diagnosis in children under 15 years of age of Nchelenge District in the Luapula Province

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Socio-Economic and Governance Conditions Corresponding to Change in Animal Agriculture: South Dakota Case Study

Understanding sustainable livestock production requires consideration of both qualitative and quantitative factors in a temporal and/or spatial frame. This study adapted Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) to relate conditions of social, economic, and governance factors to changes in livestock inventory across several counties and over time. This paper presents an approach that (1) identified factors with the potential to relate to a change in livestock inventory and (2) analyzed commonalities within these factors related to changes spatially and temporally. This paper illustrates the approach and results when applied to five counties in eastern South Dakota. The specific response variables were periods of increasing, no change, or decreasing beef cattle, dairy cattle, and swine inventories in the specific counties for five-year census periods between 1992 and 2017. In the spatial analysis of counties, stable beef inventories and decreasing dairy inventories related to counties with increasing gross domestic products. The presence of specific social communities related to increases in county swine inventories. In the temporal analysis of census periods, local governance and economic factors, particularly market price influences, were more prevalent. Swine inventory showed a stronger link to cash crop markets than to livestock markets, whereas cattle market price increases associated with stable inventories for all animal types. Local governance tools had mixed effects for the different animal types across space and time. The factors and analysis results are context-specific. However, the process considers the various socio-economic processes in livestock production and community development applicable to agricultural sustainability questions in the Midwest and beyond.This article is published as Welles, Jacqueline S., Noelle Cielito T. Soriano, Freda Elikem Dorbu, G. M. Pereira, Laura M. Rubeck, Erica L. Timmermans, Benjamin Ndayambaje et al. "Socio-Economic and Governance Conditions Corresponding to Change in Animal Agriculture: South Dakota Case Study." Sustainability 13, no. 19 (2021): 10682. DOI: 10.3390/su131910682. Copyright 2021 by the authors. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Posted with permission