Investigation of Over the Counter Diagnosis and Drug Dispensation in Chemists A Case Study in Thika District, Kenya (An Observational Study)

Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are medicines that may be obtained directly by a consumer without a prescription from a healthcare professional, as compared to drugs sold to consumers possessing a valid prescription. In many countries, Kenya included, these drugs are often located on the shelves of stores like any other packaged product. Some drugs may be legally classified as OTC but may only be dispensed by a pharmacist after an assessment of the patient's needs and/or the provision of patient education. OTC drugs are capable of being misused, abused especially where inappropriate drugs and incorrect dosages are given which may lead to short and long-term negative effects. The major concern surrounds the correct diagnosis and the appropriateness of the dispensed drugs and information provided to the consumers. This study focused on the OTC drugs in chemists. It was important to know why people opt for OTC drugs instead of the prescribed drugs. To meet this objective, an observational study was carried out in Thika District of Kenya to determine why patients prefer the OTC drugs to prescribed drugs. The results showed that the cost of prescription, source of diagnosis information, source of prescription information, amount of income of the respondent and previous experience on the same similar symptoms were determinants of buying OTC drugs. Education levels, age, place of residence, occupation and hospital type near the respondent were the covariates.  The results of this study have enabled the researcher to come up with recommendations to the Ministries of Medical Services and that of Public Health on the best policies to use in dispensing OTC drugs

Influence of Selected Factors on the Choice of Capital Structure of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Kiambu County, Kenya

This study is on the effect of selected factors influencing the capital structure of small and medium size enterprises in Kiambu County, Kenya. SMEs play a pivotal role towards the achievement of the broad goals outlined in vision 2030 and are critical drivers towards making Kenya an industrialized country with high quality of life for its citizens. The study observes that despite their significance, past statistics indicate that 3 out of 5 SMEs fail within the first few months of operation and those that continue 80 per cent fail before the fifth year; it is therefore necessary to eliminate the many constraints facing these small businesses for Kenya to become an industrialized state by the year 2030. The objectives of the study were to determine the effect of firm size, information availability, purpose of finance, cost of finance, and collateral requirement on the capital structure of SMEs in Kiambu County. The study findings will assist Government planners in understanding how to come up with policies that will help the SMEs sector in raising affordable capital as this will have a great impact on the country’s economic growth; financiers will benefit from the findings by developing a better understanding of the factors that influence the capital structure of SMEs. In addition, the findings from the study will contribute to knowledge about financing decisions of SMEs. The study was guided by pecking order theory, credit rationing theory, the agency theory, and the life cycle approach. This study utilized descriptive research design, employing survey methods. The population of interest are the 889 SMEs in Kiambu County registered in the Kiambu Business Directory. The study used proportionate sampling by utilizing a sample of 268 respondents, determined by Fisher’s formula. The data were collected from interview schedules using questionnaires. Descriptive and inferential statistics (Pearson’s correlation and regression). Data were presented in figures and percentages on pie charts and frequency distribution tables for easier interpretation.  The study findings indicated that the size of the business influenced the capital structure of the firms to great extent (33.6%) and to greatest extent (33.6%) respectively compared with those who were not sure at 18.7%. Availability of information influenced choice of capital structure to a great extent (36.2%) and to greatest extent (45.5%) respectively.  The purpose of the finance influenced choice of capital structure to a great and greatest extent according to 39.9% and 47.8% of the respondents. Personal savings were generally recommended for SMEs with 22.0%, 29.1% and 48.9% of the respondents indicating average, high and very high recommendation. Family and friends borrowing got mixed recommendation with 23.5% and 24.3% of the respondents indicating low and high recommendation respectively, compared with 45.1% who gave average recommendation. Finally, the research sought to test the hypotheses in order to fulfill the objectives of the study by using Pearson’s correlation and regression model and applying t-test to test for the significance in the relationship. All of the null hypotheses were rejected on the basis that the significance of the t-statistic was 0.000 which was less than p-value 0.05 set for the study. Therefore, all the selected factors had an impact on the choice of capital structure for SMEs in Kiambu County. Keywords: Capital Structure, Small and Medium Enterprise

Assessing water availability under pastoral livestock systems in drought-prone Isiolo District, Kenya

Water availability / Water demand / Surface water / Groundwater / Wells / Salinity / Livestock / Grazing / Land use / Water supply / Drainage / GIS / Databases / Cost recovery

Anti-Malarial Activity and Toxicological Effect of Combined Corymbia Citriodora, Maytenus Senegalensis and Warbugia Ugandensis as Used in Traditional Medicine in Kenya

Malaria is majorly caused by Plasmodium falciparum resulting in thousands of deaths every year. In Africa, it is a key contributor to the disease burden notable in the disability adjusted life years (DALYs). About 243 million individuals are at a risk of contracting the disease and a higher rate of deaths are observed in children under the age of five. Conventional drugs are available at a subsidized rate but the rising problem is the resistance of the plasmodium parasite to these drugs. Hence, there is an urgent need for the development of new and alternative therapeutics for treatment of malaria. In some regions in Kenya, parts of locally available plants are harvested and used for treating malaria. It is estimated that locally, 30% of the population relies on traditional medicine for treating various ailments due to the lack of infrastructure and accessible medical facilities especially in the rural areas. Warbugia ugandensis, Maytenus senegalensis and Corymbia citriodora are amongst the plants used in herbal medicine for the treatment of malaria. However, their combinatorial antimalarial efficacy and safety is yet to be determined hence the aim of this study. The plants were harvested from their natural habitats and transported to the Centre of Traditional Medicine and Drug Research (CTMDR) at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), Nairobi. Antimalarial properties of single and combined extracts were analyzed against Plasmodium berghei in vivo. Cytotoxic properties of the plants were carried out against the vero cell-lines in vitro by the MTT assay. Acute oral toxicity was conducted according to the OECD protocol. Effective concentration (ED50), cytotoxicity concentration (CC50) and median lethal dose (LD50) were derived. The result indicated that the combination of M. senegalensis: W. ugandensis (1:1) had the most antimalarial activity at ED50 of 1.05mg/kg whereas among the single plants W. ugandensis had the highest antimalarial activity (ED50 of 3.3mg/kg). The combinations of C. citriodora: M. senegalensis: W. ugandensis (1:1:1), C. citriodora: M. senegalensis: W. ugandensis (1:0.5:1) and C. citriodora: M. senegalensis: W. ugandensis (0.5:1:0.5) showed cytotoxicity concentration (CC50) of 101.47±3.17 µg/ml, 213.55±3.47 µg/ml and 575.80±31.40 µg/ml respectively. All the plants combinations showed no cytotoxic effects. The synergistic antimalarial properties of combined C. citriodora: M. senegalensis, C. citriodora: W. ugandensis and M. senegalensis: W. ugandensis were confirmed as the extracts showed SFIC indexes of 0.67, 0.83 and 0.28 respectively. All the plant extracts demonstrated LD50 above 2000 mg/kg with no adverse effects hence recognized as safe. This study confirms the safety and antimalarial activities of these plants and justify their use in herbal medicine practices. The results of this study sets the precedence for the development of an antimalarial herbal formulation that is less toxic and more affordable.Keywords: Anti-Malarial Activity, Toxicological Effect, Traditional Medicine DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/12-22-04 Publication date: November 30th 202

Digital literacy: The quest of an inclusive definition

Forces of globalisation and economic competition enhanced by, among others, the digital technologies, are radically transforming the social context. Digital technologies are characterised by a powerful and pervasive Internet as well as the related information and communication technologies. Globalisation is facilitated by the universally accessible, reliable and inexpensive communication assisted by these digital technologies. However, there is growing and valid scepticism regarding the digitally influenced socio-economic emancipation. This scepticism is mainly driven by a lack of understanding of digital literacy as a holistic process of creating the necessary social, economic and political changes within a given context. The understanding of digital literacy therefore needs to join a number of seemingly divergent views of digital technology when dealing with these technologies’ benefits in socio-economic emancipation. This understanding of digital literacy should therefore be shaped and focused more on understanding how digital literacy impacts the poor and marginalised, especially in looking at the socio-economic welfare of these marginalised sections of the society. This article discusses digital literacy by firstly looking at the shortcomings of the available definitions and approaches and then recommends a socio-economic development-orientated definition. The article brings to the fore the most critical digital literacy issues for socio-economic development. These issues are important; they ensure that digital literacy is not viewed in isolation, but rather in terms of its outcomes and consequences, especially with regard to socio-economic development

Impact of Sociocultural factors on adoption of modern technologies in beekeeping projects among women groups in Kajiado County- Kenya

Sociocultural factors can have various impacts in projects during different project phases. These impacts can be either negative or positive. It is important for project implementers who target adoption of technology among people who hold onto certain cultures to understand what their clients believe and consider effective as well as acceptable. This research focused on sociocultural factors influencing adoption of modern technologies in beekeeping projects with particular focus to women beekeeping groups in Kajiado County in Kenya. The objective of the study was to establish the sociocultural factors that influence adoption of modern beekeeping technologies. The target population for this research was the beekeeping women groups in Kajiado County where a sample size of 116 respondents were drawn. The study employed the use of personal interviews, questionnaires, observation guides and key informant interview guides to collect data from the targeted respondents. The collected data was coded and entered into SPSS (version 21) for analysis. The findings of the study revealed that sociocultural factors have a positive and negative influence on adoption of beekeeping technologies. The factors identified were sex of the household head, marital status, size of the house hold, size of land and cultural beliefs. This conclusion confirmed the study carried out by the Kenya Beekeepers Association (K.B.A., 2005) which suggested that some of the sociocultural factors affecting adoption of new technologies could besex of household, marital status and size of the household among others. &nbsp

Approaches for enhancing information sharing between government and communities in Western Cape

The Western Cape Provincial Government uses digital intermediaries to facilitate information sharing between individuals, communities and the government. Digital intermediaries are shared facilities where communities can visit and have access to information and communication technology (ICT) and the internet. Communities benefit economically, socially and politically by using free access to ICT and the internet from intermediaries’ facilities to share information with the government. There seem to be disparities between the roles of the different stakeholders in information sharing. These disparities often result in poor communication between the government and communities, and also poor government services delivery

Community-directed treatment of lymphatic filariasis in Kenya and its role in the national programmes for elimination of lymphatic filariasis

We conducted a prospective, cross-sectional study to examine and compare treatment coverage of lymphatic filariasis by the health system (HST) and a health system implemented, community-directed treatment for the control of lymphatic filariasis (ComDT/HS) in 44 randomly selected villages in coastal Kenya. Demographic information on the villages and peripheral health facilities to guide design and implementation was obtained from a situation analysis phase of this study. A series of interactive training sessions on basic biology of lymphatic filariasis, concept and philosophy of ComDT/HS were given to members of the District Health Management Team (DHMT), peripheral health staff, community leaders and community drug distributors (CDDs) prior to ivermectin distribution. An intensive sensitization process of the community by the trained peripheral health staff and community leaders followed before selection of the CDDs. Quantitative and qualitative data for evaluation of the study were collected by coverage surveys of randomly selected households, focus group discussions and interviews, immediately after the drug distribution. Treatment coverage of all eligible persons was 46.5 and 88% in HST and ComDT/HS villages, respectively, P < 0.001. In comparing treatment coverage by the two study arms in relationship to the distance from a health facility, coverage among HST and not ComDT/HS villages was influenced by distance. In Kenya, ComDT/HS can effectively be implemented by the regular health system and can attain coverage levels compatible with the global filariasis elimination goal. African Journal of Health Sciences Vol. 13 (1-2) 2008: pp. 69-7

Utilisation of priority traditional medicinal plants and local people's knowledge on their conservation status in arid lands of Kenya (Mwingi District)

Mwingi District lies within the Kenyan Arid and Semiarid lands (ASALs) in Eastern Province. Although some ethnobotanical surveys have been undertaken in some arid and semiarid areas of Kenya, limited studies have documented priority medicinal plants as well as local people's awareness of conservation needs of these plants. This study sought to establish the priority traditional medicinal plants used for human, livestock healthcare, and those used for protecting stored grains against pest infestation in Mwingi district. Further, the status of knowledge among the local people on the threat and conservation status of important medicinal species was documented. This study identified 18 species which were regarded as priority traditional medicinal plants for human health. In terms of priority, 8 were classified as moderate, 6 high, while 4 were ranked highest priority species. These four species are Albizia amara (Roxb.) Boiv. (Mimosacaeae), Aloe secundiflora (Engl. (Aloaceae), Acalypha fruticosa Forssk. (Euphorbiaceae) and Salvadora persica L. (Salvadoraceae)

Household biochar production and use by smallholder farmers in Kenya

About 40% of the world population lack access to clean cooking fuels. In rural sub-Saharan Africa the majority of people prepare their meals with firewood on open three stone fires. Biochar-producing microgasification cookstoves provide an opportunity to reduce fuel consumption and reduce the indoor air pollution in the cooking area, while use of biochar in soils sequesters carbon and increases agricultural yields, thereby improving livelihoods, especially for women. This paper presents findings from transdisciplinary research that started with long-term biochar field trials established in 2006. During recent years this research has involved 150 farming households at 3 locations in Kenya that produce biochar in locally manufactured GASTOV Top-lit Updraft (TLUD) gasifier cookstoves and use the biochar in their own fields. Fuel use, indoor concentrations of CO, CO2 and PM2.5 in cooking areas, and biochar production potential was measured in 75 households during cooking of a common Kenyan meal. The produced biochar was used in field trials with maize (Zea mays) and kale (Brassica oleracea) comparing biochar to normal farming practices, at biochar doses of 1-10 t ha-1. Findings from one of the sites, in Kwale County, show that for cooking a meal, on average 18 % of fuel was saved compared to the three stone open fire. In addition, 200 g biochar were produced which corresponded to 16.5% of the biomass used. Concentrations of CO and PM2.5 were reduced by 57 and 79 %, respectively. Fuel use was dominated by the wood types neem (Azadirachta indica) and casuarina (Casuarina equisetifolia), but a large variety of wood types were used by the households. Yield increases of maize in Kwale correlated positively with biochar dose. For the 20 farmers that finalized the trials in the first season, yields increased from 0.9 Mg ha-1 in the control plot to 4.4 Mg ha-1 in average in the biochar-amended plots. In addition to presentation of data on biochar production, we present data on biochar quality and use from all three sites. Implications and prerequisites for long-term success and upscaling will be discussed. This research contributes to knowledge on adoption of improved cookstoves by investigating how biochar production can be an additional incentive for cookstove uptake. Furthermore, it contributes to the understanding of biochar production potential in African rural areas. This case study shows that biochar systems in rural Africa can contribute to climate change mitigation. Biochar technology can at the same time help to solve the problems with energy and food security that farmers are facing, and thereby contribute to sustainable development