Assessment of change management processes on the implementation of the trade information portal by Kenya Trade Network Agency (KenTrade)

A Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Masters of Business Administration at Strathmore University Business SchoolIn today’s globalized and digitized trading environment, governments have been keen to ensure that trade barriers are significantly reduced through Information Technology solutions. Though these solutions adopted have reduced barriers to doing business, increased transparency and improved and access to information for citizens, these governments have had to spend resources such as time and money on change management. The purpose of the study was to assess the change management process on the implementation of the trade information portal by KenTrade. To achieve this, the study adopted Kotter’s model and focused on three specific objectives: to determine the effect of preparing for change, establishing the effect of managing change and assessing the effect reinforcing change on staff of on the implementation trade information portal by KenTrade. The study adopted a descriptive research design. In this study the target population was eight government agencies based in Nairobi County. The study assessed staff perspective on change management process on the implementation of the trade information portal using a questionnaire. Results indicated that as much as preparing for change, managing change and reinforcing change were necessary on implementation of the trade information portal, they needed to be carried out sufficiently and without partiality for success of effective implementation of the trade information portal. These results are expected to enhance policy, practice and academia and contribute positively to implementation of projects within government

Role of Performance Management System on Service Delivery, Case Study of Kakamega County General Hospital, Kenya

Researchers world over have concentrated their efforts on challenges affecting the public health sector. Many of their findings show that these problems include high vacancy rates and attrition. They highlight that these results from poor conditions of work and funding. This is the same case in Kenya. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of performance management system on service delivery. It was to specifically examine the role of performance target setting on service delivery in public hospitals in Kenya. The study was conducted at Kakamega county General Hospital, Kenya. The researcher adopted a descriptive case study design. Three hundred (300) permanent health workers were targeted. Stratified random sampling technique was used to categorize the population into respective stratum consisting of Doctors, Nurses, and Clinical Officers, Laboratory Technologists /Technicians, dentists and Pharmacists. Simple random sampling and purposive sampling techniques were employed to pick the respondents who participated in the study. A closed-ended questionnaire was the main instrument used to collect data. Instrument Validity and reliability was found through SPSS to be to be 0.82 and 0.97 respectively. Data collected was analyzed using (SPSS). SPSS provided both qualitative and quantitative analysis. From qualitative analysis frequencies and percentages were obtained. Quantitative analysis provided correlation and regression coefficients. This assisted in identification of the significant level of the relationship. From the study 49.2% of the respondents agreed with statements on service provided.31.4% were undecided while 19.4% disagreed. This implied that services delivery at the hospital were not quality as expected. However correlation results reveal that performance target setting has a strong significance positive relationship at r=0.544, p=0.000 hence p<0.005 with service delivery

p16INK4a/Ki-67 dual stain cytology for cervical cancer screening in Thika district, Kenya

Background: The identification of suited early detection tests is one among the multiple requirements to reduce cervical cancer incidence in developing countries. Methods: We evaluated p16INK4a/Ki-67 dual-stain cytology in a screening population in Thika district, Kenya and compared it to high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) DNA testing and visual inspection by acetic acid (VIA) and Lugol’s iodine (VILI). Results: Valid results for all tests could be obtained in 477 women. 20.9 % (100/477) were tested positive for HR-HPV DNA, 3.1 % (15/477) had positive VIA/VILI and 8.2 % (39/477) positive p16INK4a/Ki-67 cytology. Of 22 women that showed up for colposcopy and biopsy, 6 women were diagnosed with CIN3 and two with CIN2. All women with CIN2/3 were negative in VIA/VILI screening and positive by HR-HPV DNA testing. But HPV was also positive in 91.7 % (11/12) of women with normal histology. p16INK4a/Ki-67 cytology was positive in all 6 women with CIN3, in one of the two CIN2 and in only 8.3 % (1/12) of women with normal histology. Conclusions: p16INK4a/Ki-67 cytology is an interesting test for further studies in developing countries, since our findings point to a lower fraction of false positive test results using p16INK4a/Ki-67 cytology compared to HPV DNA testing in a Kenyan screening population. VIA/VILI missed all histology-proven CIN2/3

A Smart phone based application for early detection of pregnancy complications in Kenya

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Mobile Telecommunications and InnovationLack of adequate information and timely response to pregnancy complications during prenatal care is a major cause of maternal mortality in Kenya. More women are dying from pregnancy and childbirth related causes such as pre-eclampsia, obstructed labor, infections, hemorrhage and high blood pressure. New expectant mothers usually face a lot of problems in seeking professional medical advice on trivial issues which they face at different stages of pregnancy. This is because of the delay in detecting risks before pregnancy, hence affecting correct and timely decision making which is at certain times crucial and could lead to preventable deaths. The discipline of mhealth has been gaining ground as mobile device penetration rates grow rapidly, increasingly prompted by plunging hardware and cellphone usage costs. This has led to development of mhealth applications for text and appointment reminders and as such mobile phones present a unique opportunity to provide, a multilingual communication that is easily delivered between an expectant mother and a health care provider.In this study, we propose an expert system incorporated on a mobile phone to detect complications for expectant mothers in pregnancy. The system determines whether a mother has maternal risks and recommends prenatal care advice based on the condition of the expectant mother.The application was sent online to 15 mothers in Nairobi County. They were sent installation instructions and guided on how to use it. The application was able to give sixty percent correct prediction on the mother’s state. The respondents determined that using a mobile phone to assist in early detection of risks at birth gave correct prediction ensuring the expectant mothers were able to seek medical attention

Studies on the role of inanimate surfaces and hands in the spread of hepatitis A virus and their chemical disinfection.

Hepatitis A (HAV) continues to be a serious problem for human health. The present study was designed to (a) assess the vehicular role of human hands and environmental surfaces in the spread of HAV; (b) evaluate the efficacy of chemical disinfectants and handwashing agents to eliminate HAV from inanimate and animate surfaces; and (c) determine the efficacy of alkaline glutaraldehyde reuse against HAV and other microorganisms. Pressure and friction were found to significantly affect HAV transfer between hands and inanimate surfaces (F = 33.98; p 0.05) irrespective of the mode of transfer used. No statistically significant interaction was observed between mode of transfer and pressure or friction. The findings of this phase of the study suggest that human hands and inanimate surfaces may play an important role in the direct as well as indirect spread of HAV. HAV disinfection was assessed on experimentally-contaminated metal disks. No virus was transferred from disks treated with a 3% solution of Virkon. None of the eleven handwashing agents examined, however, was able to reduce the infectivity titer of HAV and PV to an undetectable level. The least reduction in HAV titer was shown by an unmedicated soap (77.96 $\pm$ 7.17%), while the highest level of reduction was given by Bacti-Stat Medicated Soap (92.04 $\pm$ 4.02%). Samples of 2% alkaline glutaraldehyde were collected over the 14-day reuse period from two manual and one automatic bath used for the disinfection of flexible bronchoscopes and gastrointestinal endoscopes at a neighboring hospital. The number of instruments put through each bath during the 14-day cycle was recorded. The broad-spectrum germicidal activity of the disinfectant lasted only up to six days. This suggests a review of alkaline glutaraldehyde reuse in the disinfection of semi-critical instruments such as flexible fiberoptic endoscopes. These findings should help in understanding the genesis of HAV outbreaks more clearly and in designing better measures for their prevention and control. (Abstract shortened by UMI.

Water-Borne Bacterial Pathogens in Surface Waters of Nairobi River and Health Implications to Communities Downstream Athi River

ABSTRACT The quality of surface water in Nairobi River and the adjacent river Athi was assessed to ascertain whether it meets local and international microbiological standards for safe human consumption. Standard bacteriological techniques were used to describe bacteria content from water samples collected from the two confluent sources. The waters were highly contaminated with human pathogenic bacteria. The most dominant bacteria in combined waters of the two rivers was Escherichia col