IMPACT DE LA ROUTE BITUMÉE BONDOUKOU-BOUNA SUR L’INSTABILITÉ DES COMMUNAUTÉS PAYSANNES AU NORD-EST DE LA CÔTE D’IVOIRE: LE CAS DES PAYSANS LOBI

This article deals with the issue of the instability of Lobi peasants in the north-east of Côte d'Ivoire. This problem has been delt with the colonial and post-colonial administration unsuccessfully. But since the opening of the Bondoukou-Bouna tarred road which is 166 kilometers long in 1997, deep changes have occurred in the Lobi peasants commutement. It is about their progressive stabilization. The cultural commutement realities are becoming an obstacle and as a result it is developing into an economic and commercial situation. They are no more moving or commuting. This sedentarization about the tarred road takes part in the transformation of the agricultural space, food security and the emergence of developing large market towns

IMPACT POLITIQUE ET TERRITORIAL DE LA ROUTE BITUMÉE BONDOUKOU-BOUNA AU NORD-EST DE LA CÔTE D’IVOIRE

The weakness of the public investments in the north-east of Côte d'Ivoire has made this region the most deprived and marginalized area of the country. Isolated from the other part of the country, the north-eastern, especially the region of Bouna is regarded as no man's land, a penitentiary, a prison for the recalcitrant civil servants. Due to the numerous problems of development faced, the region differed completely from the other regions of the country. The populations of this area had feeling that they were not member of the nation in construction. But, since 1997, when the government has tarred the road from Bondoukou to Bouna, the population’s feeling of being member of the nation has increased. From them, this tarred road is an evidence of their citizenship. It has not only reinforced their feeling of being member of the nation but it has also permitted to bring local governance to the doorsteps of the people and enhance decentralization process in the region. It is a political road, a road of national unity, food security and economic defence road in that political context influenced by the concept of " ivoirité "

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Infrastructures de transport et accessibilité géographique des populations rurales aux équipements sanitaires urbains dans la zone dense de Korhogo (nord de la Côte d’Ivoire)

Base of the company and the economy of Côte d’Ivoire, rural populations are confronted with difficulties of mobility and access to the urban health facilities. The purpose of this study is to analyze the barriers with mobility and the access to this equipment of rural populations in the dense zone of Korhogo located in north of Côte d’Ivoire. The analysis is articulated in two points. The first point reveals an unequal space distribution of rural populations and health facilities. The second shows an obvious under-equipment of the zone in road infrastructures of quality. The insufficiency of the roads, the inefficiency of the means of transport and the medical under-equipment are realities which put the rural ones in a vulnerability medical situation. The conjunction of these factors, in a context of poverty worsened by nearly ten years of political and military crisis, considerably limited the access of rural populations of health care

Optimization of Dockounou Manufacturing Process Parameters

The present study aimed to determine optimum values of the process factors to obtain a standard method of preparation with best quality of dockounou. Several samples of dockounou were prepared with different proportions (75 to 95%) of senescent plantain, cooking time, fermentation time and temperature of oven. Sensorial characteristics of the samples were investigated. Optimal values (scores) of both boiled and baked dockounou prepared with maize or rice flour were identified through tasters’ evaluation. Hence, the best scores were recorded with 90 and 85% of plantain paste proportion, respectively with maize and rice flours. Concerning cooking time, optimal values were registered at 60 minutes with maize-dockounou, and at 75 minutes with rice-dockounou flour. About fermentation time, the best sensorial characteristics were obtained at 4 hours for rice or maize-dockounou, but at 0 hours for the boiled rice one. Results revealed moreover that 160 °C would be the optimal baking temperature. The optimized maize-dockounou would be better than the rice one on sensorial basis. Optimized maize-dockounou uses a larger quantity of plantain paste than optimized rice dockounou. This optimized dockounou uses shorter fermentation time than the traditional one. In general, the optimized dockounou is better than the traditional. It presents better characteristics and is more appreciated. Thus, optimized-dockounou is a real opportunity to convert rejected senescent plantains into foodstuff to help to feed the populations. That could be a way of food security

Pepfar 3.0's HIV testing policy in Cote d'Ivoire (2014 to 2018) : fragmentation, acceleration and disconnection

Introduction HIV Testing and Counselling (HTC) remains a key challenge in achieving control of the HIV epidemic by 2030. In the early 2010s, the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (Pepfar) adopted targeted HTC strategies for populations and geographical areas most affected by HIV. We examine how Pepfar defined targeted HTC in Cote d'Ivoire, a country with a mixed HIV epidemic, after a decade of expanding HTC services. Methods We explored the evolution of HTC strategies through the Country Operational Plans (COP) of Pepfar during its phase 3.0, from COP 14 to COP 17 (October 2014 to September 2018) in Cote d'Ivoire. We conducted an analysis of the grey literature over the period 2014 to 2018 (Budget & Target Report, Strategic Direction Summary, Sustainability Index and Dashboard Summary, ). We also conducted a qualitative study in Cote d'Ivoire (2015 to 2018) using in-depth interviews with stakeholders in the AIDS public response: CDC/Pepfar (3), Ministry of Health (3), intermediary NGOs (7); and public meeting observations (14). Results Since the COP 14, Pepfar's HIV testing strategies have been characterized by significant variations in terms of numerical, geographical and population targets. While the aim of COP 14 and COP 15 seemed to be the improvement of testing efficacy in general and testing yield in particular, COP 16 and COP 17 prioritized accelerating progress towards the "first 90" (i.e. reducing the proportion of people living with HIV who are unaware of their HIV). A shift was observed in the definition of testing targets, with less focus on the inclusion of programmatic data and feedback from field actors, and greater emphasis on the use of models to estimate and disaggregate the targets by geographical units and sub-populations (even if the availability of data by this disaggregation was limited or uncertain); increasingly leading to gaps between targets and results. Conclusions These trials and tribulations question the real and long-term effectiveness of annually-revised, fragmented strategies, which widen an increasing disparity between the realities of the actors on the ground and the objectives set in Washington