Household food security and dietary diversity in different agro-ecological zones in Western Kenya

Poster presented at Tropentag 2014. International Conference on Research on Food Security, Natural Resource Management and Rural Development. "Bridging the Gap between Increasing Knowledge and Decreasing Resources" Prague (Czech Republic) Sep 17-19 2014

Nutritional status, dietary diversity and morbidity among infants and children aged 6-23 months in rural Western Kenya

Poster presented at International Congress Of Tropical Paediatrics 2014. Nairobi (Kenya), 24-27 Aug 201

The theory of planned behaviour in exploring dietary diversity practices among mothers in informal settlements in Kenya

One of the leading causes of malnutrition, which contributes to morbidity and mortality in children, is lack of dietary diversity. Despite remarkable  improvement in exclusive breastfeeding in Kenya, there are still poor dietary diversity practices among children aged 6-24 months. Limited studies  have applied the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) to examine the factors that influence dietary diversity practices in informal settlements in  Kenya. The objective of this qualitative study was to explore behavioral, normative, control beliefs, intention, and dietary diversity practices, based  on the TPB. The study sites were Kibera in Nairobi, Manyatta A in Kisumu, and Kaptembwo in Nakuru. Participants were 64 mothers of children aged  6-24 months selected using purposive sampling. Nine focus groups, each comprising of 5-10 mothers were conducted and the data analyzed  using thematic analysis. Using a focus group guide, based on the TPB, mothers described salient beliefs regarding their attitude, subjective norms  and perceived control of dietary diversity. Analysis of the data showed that some mothers had intended to introduce solid foods at six months.  However, barriers such as mother not feeding well, baby’s hunger, perceived insufficient breast milk production, and return to work led to earlier  introduction of foods. Most mothers indicated their intention to give a variety of foods to their children but were hindered by barriers such as  poverty/inadequate money, non-availability of food at home, and inadequate knowledge about complementary feeding. Friends, health  professionals, fathers, neighbours and friends were cited as most salient referents that influenced the dietary diversity practices. The most  frequently provided starchy foods were chappatis, mandazis, potatoes, rice, weetabix, porridge, and ugali. In conclusion, the results indicate that  mothers had positive attitude towards dietary diversity. The ‘significant others’ who mostly influenced dietary diversity practices were health  professionals, fathers, and friends. Future interventions need to target mothers' perceived childfeeding responsibilities, influence subjective norms,  and increase parents' perceived control over child feeding.&nbsp

Atherogenic Risk Assessment among Persons Living in Rural Uganda

Background. Hypertension and dyslipidemia are independent risk factors for coronary heart disease and commonly coexist. Cardiovascular risk can be reliably predicted using lipid ratios such as the atherogenic index, a useful prognostic parameter for guiding timely interventions. Objective. We assessed the cardiovascular risk profile based on the atherogenic index of residents within a rural Ugandan cohort. Methods. In 2011, a population based survey was conducted among 7507 participants. Sociodemographic characteristics, physical measurements (blood pressure, weight, height, and waist and hip circumference), and blood sampling for non fasting lipid profile were collected for each participant. Atherogenic risk profile, defined as logarithm base ten of (triglyceride divided by high density lipoprotein cholesterol), was categorised as low risk (0.24). Results. Fifty-five percent of participants were female and the mean age was 49.9 years (SD± 20.2). Forty-two percent of participants had high and intermediate atherogenic risk. Persons with hypertension, untreated HIV infection, abnormal glycaemia, and obesity and living in less urbanised villages were more at risk. Conclusion. A significant proportion of persons in this rural population are at risk of atherosclerosis. Key identified populations at risk should be considered for future intervention against cardiovascular related morbidity and mortality. The study however used parameters from unfasted samples that may have a bearing on observed results

Integrated Nutrient Management: Concepts and Experience from Sub-Saharan Africa

In Africa, 28 percent of its landmass, 874 Mha, is potentially suitable for agricultural production. Of the potentially suitable agricultural land, 34 percent comprises arid and semiarid lands (ASAL) that are too dry for rainfed agriculture. The semiarid regions have a shortened length of growing period (75-129 days) compared to the subhumid (180-269 days), and the humid (>270 days) zones. The dynamics of agroecosystems show that the farming systems practiced have gone through diverse changes from traditional shifting farming systems to permanent and intensified arable and mixed farming systems. The changes are coping strategies to respond to the environment, and its changing biophysical and socioeconomic circumstances..

Predicting intercrop competition, facilitation, and productivity from simple functional traits

Open Access ArticleContext Recent meta-analyses demonstrate that intercropping can increase the land use efficiency of crop production by 20–30 % on average, indicating a strong potential contribution to sustainable intensification. However, there is substantial variability around this average: individual studies range from half to double the land productivity of monocrops. Legume-cereal intercrops and intercrops with high temporal niche separation tend to be more productive than the average, but these two combination types are not always suitable. There is a need to explore other possibilities to achieve productive intercrops. Research question We explored whether two simple functional traits involved in radiation use, plant vegetative height and specific leaf area (SLA), could be used to predict intercrop productivity. Height and SLA together are associated with key plant life-history and resource economy strategies determining competitiveness and tolerance of competition, especially with regard to light, and could therefore be expected to underpin overyielding in intercrops. Methods In the first year of our study, we grew crops as monocrops at one site in Kenya and measured their height and SLA. In the second year, we grew crops in monocrop, intercrop, and single plant treatments at two sites in Kenya and one site in Nigeria. Together, these treatments allowed us to identify whether each intercrop combination overyielded or underyielded, and whether any overyielding was driven by facilitation and/or differences in inter- vs intraspecific competition. We then related the strength of these interactions to the two traits. Results We found that intercrop grain yields varied in relation to the height and SLA of each species in the intercrop, but together these traits explained less than a third of variation in intercrop land equivalence ratios (LER). More variation could be explained by allowing for the effect of site, suggesting that the two traits interact with site conditions to determine yield. Biomass LERs responded differently to grain LERs, suggesting that plasticity in resource allocation in response to intercropping conditions may further influence yields. Conclusions Our study found some evidence that combining species with traits indicating contrasting responses to competition (an avoidant species with a tolerant species) could increase resource use complementarity and thus intercrop overyielding. However, it was clear that other factors (such as additional traits, or the trait by site interaction) are needed to refine our understanding of intercrop productivity. Implications A trait-based framework has potential to predict intercrop productivity, but simple measures of height and SLA alone are insufficient

Managing soil organic carbon in tropical agroecosystems: evidence from four long-term experiments in Kenya

In sub-Saharan Africa, maize is one of the most important staple crops, but long-term maize cropping with low external inputs has been associated with the loss of soil fertility. While adding high-quality organic resources combined with mineral fertilizer has been proposed to counteract this fertility loss, the long-term effectiveness and interactions with site properties still require more understanding. This study used repeated measurements over time to assess the effect of different quantities and qualities of organic resource addition combined with mineral nitrogen (N) on the change of soil organic carbon (SOC) contents over time (and SOC stocks in the year 2021) in four ongoing long-term experiments in Kenya. These experiments were established with identical treatments in moist to dry climates, on coarse to clayey soil textures, and have been conducted for at least 16 years. They received organic resources in quantities equivalent to 1.2 and 4 t C ha−1 yr−1 in the form of Tithonia diversifolia (high quality, fast turnover), Calliandra calothyrsus (high quality, intermediate turnover), Zea mays stover (low quality, fast turnover), sawdust (low quality, slow turnover) and local farmyard manure (variable quality, intermediate turnover). Furthermore, the addition of 240 kg N ha−1 yr−1 as mineral N fertilizer or no fertilizer was the split-plot treatment. At all four sites, a loss of SOC was predominantly observed, likely because the sites had been converted to cropland only a few decades before the start of the experiments. Across sites, the average decline of SOC content over 19 years in the 0 to 15 cm topsoil layer ranged from 42 % to 13 % of the initial SOC content for the control and the farmyard manure treatments at 4 t C ha−1 yr−1, respectively. Adding Calliandra or Tithonia at 4 t C ha−1 yr−1 limited the loss of SOC contents to about 24 % of initial SOC, while the addition of sawdust, maize stover (in three of the four sites) and sole mineral N addition showed no significant reduction of SOC loss over the control. Site-specific analyses, however, did show that at the site with the lowest initial SOC content (about 6 g kg−1), the addition of 4 t C ha−1 yr−1 farmyard manure or Calliandra with mineral N led to a gain in SOC contents. The other sites lost SOC in all treatments, albeit at site-specific rates. While subsoil SOC stocks in 2021 were little affected by organic resource additions (no difference in three of the four sites), the topsoil SOC stocks corroborated the results obtained from the SOC content measurements (0–15 cm) over time. The relative annual change of SOC contents showed a higher site specificity in farmyard manure, Calliandra and Tithonia treatments than in the control treatment, suggesting that the drivers of site specificity in SOC buildup (soil mineralogy, soil texture, climate) need to be better understood for effective targeting management of organic resources. Farmyard manure showed the highest potential for reducing SOC losses, but the necessary quantities to build SOC are often not realistic for smallholder farmers in Africa. Therefore, additional agronomic interventions such as intercropping, crop rotations or the cultivation of crops with extended root systems are necessary to maintain or increase SOC.</p

Data resource profile: network for analysing longitudinal population-based HIV/AIDS data on Africa (ALPHA Network)

The Network for Analysing Longitudinal Population-based HIV/AIDS data on Africa (ALPHA Network, http://alpha.lshtm.ac.uk/) brings together ten population-based HIV surveillance sites in eastern and southern Africa, and is coordinated by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM). It was established in 2005 and aims to (i) broaden the evidence base on HIV epidemiology for informing policy, (ii) strengthen the analytical capacity for HIV research, and (iii) foster collaboration between network members. All study sites, some starting in the late 1980s and early 1990s, conduct demographic surveillance in populations that range from approximately 20 to 220 thousand individuals. In addition, they conduct population-based surveys with HIV testing, and verbal autopsy interviews with relatives of deceased residents. ALPHA Network datasets have been used for studying HIV incidence, sexual behaviour and the effects of HIV on mortality, fertility, and household composition. One of the network’s substantive focus areas is the monitoring of AIDS mortality and HIV services coverage in the era of antiretroviral therapy. Service use data are retrospectively recorded in interviews and supplemented by information from record linkage with medical facilities in the surveillance areas. Data access is at the discretion of each of the participating sites, but can be coordinated by the network

Prevalence of severe mental distress and its correlates in a population-based study in rural south-west Uganda

BACKGROUND: The problem of severe mental distress (SMD) in sub-Saharan Africa is difficult to investigate given that a substantial proportion of patients with SMD never access formal health care.This study set out to investigate SMD and it's associated factors in a rural population-based cohort in south-west Uganda. METHODS: 6,663 respondents aged 13 years and above in a general population cohort in southwestern Uganda were screened for probable SMD and possible associated factors. RESULTS: 0.9% screened positive for probable SMD. The factors significantly associated with SMD included older age, male sex, low socio-economic status, being a current smoker, having multiple or no sexual partners in the past year, reported epilepsy and consulting a traditional healer. CONCLUSION: SMD in this study was associated with both socio-demographic and behavioural factors. The association between SMD and high risk sexual behaviour calls for the integration of HIV prevention in mental health care programmes in high HIV prevalence settings