State policy framework and entrepreneurial outcome in Sierra Leone

Abstract. The outcome of youth entrepreneurship in developing economies is impacted by something much more acute than the lack of entrepreneurial competence and finance: The legitimacy of the state policy framework and its compatibility with the entrepreneur’s expectations. This study investigates youth entrepreneur’s legitimacy judgments about the current state policy framework in Sierra Leone. The purpose of this study is to understand the legitimacy of the state policy framework and its implication on youth entrepreneurship through an empirical study; and to propose an adapted framework of the linkage between state policy, legitimacy, and entrepreneurial outcome. The study adopts a qualitative approach in evaluating the congruence between the state policy and entrepreneurial outlook in Sierra Leone. Data were obtained through extensive interviews with participants from three groups: The Ministry of Youth Affairs and its Commission, Sierra Leone Opportunity for Business Operation, and devoted youth entrepreneurs. The data were coded manually and analyzed using the Gioia method to complement a comprehensive literature review of entrepreneurship and legitimacy. The findings of this study show that youth entrepreneurs perceived the current state policy as non-legitimate, due to lack of awareness about the functions of various policy organizations, political commitments to specific communities, and limited access to existing entrepreneurial resources. However, it also provides suggestions on how to ensure that policy actions and activities are legitimate and compatible with the entrepreneur’s expectations. The country already has a suitable policy framework designed to support the actions and activities of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and its Commission that must be compatible with the entrepreneur’s expectations. There are also extensive entrepreneurial resources that must be easily attainable and accessible to all youth entrepreneurs. Sierra Leone also needs a policy that affects the entrepreneur’s attitude towards policymakers to reduce the stigma of apprehensive youth attitude. The result of this study provides a suitable angle to evaluate entrepreneurship and identify other factors that strengthen the effectiveness of entrepreneurship research in developing economies

Surveillance on the frontline of the COVID-19 response in Sierra Leone

As a surveillance officer in Northern Sierra Leone, Abass Kamara reflects on the experience of mounting a rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic from the frontline. In his conversation with Luisa Enria, he emphasises personal apprehensions, the social and political implications of the pandemic on his border District and the deep-rooted challenge of gaining citizens’ trust

Full Database Reconstruction with Access and Search Pattern Leakage

The widespread use of cloud computing has enabled several database providers to store their data on servers in the cloud and answer queries from those servers. In order to protect the confidentiality of data in the cloud, a database can be stored in encrypted form and all queries can be executed on the encrypted database. Recent research results suggest that a curious cloud provider may be able to decrypt some of the items in the database after seeing a large number of queries and their (encrypted) results. In this paper, we focus on one-dimensional databases that support range queries and develop an attack that can achieve full database reconstruction, inferring the exact value of every element in the database. We consider an encrypted database whose records have values from a given universe of $N$ consecutive integers.Our attack assumes access pattern and search pattern leakage. It succeeds after the attacker has seen each of the possible query results at least once, independent of their distribution. If we assume that the client issues queries uniformly at random, we can decrypt the entire database with high probability after observing $O(N^2 \log N)$ queries

The Melbourne Shuffle: Improving Oblivious Storage in the Cloud

We present a simple, efficient, and secure data-oblivious randomized shuffle algorithm. This is the first secure data-oblivious shuffle that is not based on sorting. Our method can be used to improve previous oblivious storage solutions for network-based outsourcing of data

Low efficacy of the combination artesunate plus amodiaquine for uncomplicated falciparum malaria among children under 5 years in Kailahun, Sierra Leone.

OBJECTIVE: In 2004, Sierra Leone adopted artesunate plus amodiaquine as first-line antimalarial treatment. We evaluated the efficacy of this combination in Kailahun, where a previous study had shown 70.2% efficacy of amodiaquine in monotherapy. METHODS: Method and outcome classification of the study complied with WHO guidelines. Children 6-59 months with uncomplicated malaria were followed-up for 28 days. PCR genotyping was used to distinguish recrudescence from reinfection. Reinfections were reclassified as cured. RESULTS: Of 172 children who were referred to the study clinic, 126 satisfied inclusion criteria and were enrolled. No early treatment failures were reported. The day 14, efficacy was 98.2% (95% CI: 93.8-99.8). Of 65 recurrent parasitaemias analysed by PCR, 17 were recrudescences. The PCR-adjusted day 28 efficacy was 84.5% (95% CI: 76.4-90.7). All true failures occurred in the last 8 days of follow-up. Of 110 children who completed the 28-day follow-up, 54 (49.1%) experienced a novel infection. CONCLUSION: The efficacy of this combination was disappointing. The high reinfection rate suggested little prophylactic effect. In Kailahun a more efficacious combination might be necessary in the future. The efficacy of AS + AQ needs to be monitored in Kailahun and in the other regions of Sierra Leone

Changes in Serum Electrolytes and Lipid Profile in Diabetes Subjects in Freetown Sierra Leone

Background: Measurement of blood electrolytes level and lipid profile usually give good indications of the disease progression in a number of non communicable diseases. Objective: To investigate the effect of diabetes on electrolyte and lipid status of male and female diabetics in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Subjects and Methods: Serum concentrations of electrolytes and lipids in one hundred and twenty (120) adult diabetics attending some diagnostic centers in Freetown Sierra Leone were measured and compared with those of one hundred and twenty (120) non-diabetic individuals. Results: Total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triglycerides and coronary heart disease (CHD) risk ratio in diabetic patients were significantly higher (

CHALLENGES IMPEDING THE ADOPTION OF E-PROCUREMENT BY PUBLIC SECTOR ORGANISATIONS (MINISTRIES, DEPARTMENTS AND AGENCIES) IN SIERRA LEONE – A SURVEY

The introduction and adoption of public procurement and e-procurement processes as recommended by donor organisations for governments of developing and/or under-developed countries has not achieved the intended objective of value for money. The human and material resources poured into building the capacities of countries like Sierra Leone could be considered as one of the steps of achieving the milestone i.e. value for money. The objective of this study is to examine the factors affecting e-procurement in organizations taking into consideration three factors including the value of e-procurement, e-procurement capability and e-procurement models. Data was collected through the use of a questionnaire targeted at procurement practitioners and Specialists and Heads of government ministries, departments and agencies using convenience sampling which is one of the methods of non-probability sampling. Descriptive statistical analysis techniques were employed for data analysis. Findings from the study revealed that a vast majority of the respondents believe that inadequate or limited capacity, credit facility or credibility and rigid laid-down rules of public procurement procedures and processes are the impediments responsible for the adoption and implementation of e-procurement in Sierra Leone. The paper recommends that the Government of Sierra Leone should put the necessary ICT infrastructure in place, review the current procurement act and adopt the implementation of e-procurement in order to achieve value for money.  Article visualizations

Diagnostic accuracy of PAT-POPS and ManChEWS for admissions of children from the emergency department

Background The Pennine Acute Trust (PAT) Paediatric Observation Priority Score (PAT-POPS) is a specific emergency department (ED) physiological and observational aggregate scoring system, with scores of 0–18. A higher score indicates greater likelihood of admission. The Manchester Children’s Early Warning System (ManChEWS) assesses six physiological observations to create a trigger score, classified as Green, Amber or Red. Methods Prospectively collected data were used to calculate PAT-POPS and ManChEWS on 2068 patients aged under 16 years (mean 5.6 years, SD 4.6) presenting over 1 month to a UK District General Hospital Paediatric ED. Receiver operating characteristics (ROC) comparison, using STATA V.13, was used to investigate the ability of ManChEWS and PAT-POPS to predict admission to hospital within 72 h of presentation to the ED. Results Comparison of the area under the ROC curve indicates that the ManChEWS ROC is 0.67 (95% CI 0.64 to 0.70) and the PAT-POPS ROC is 0.72 (95% CI 0.68 to 0.75). The difference is statistically significant. At a PAT-POPS cut-off of ≥2, 80% of patients had their admission risk correctly classified ( positive likelihood ratio 3.40, 95% CI 2.90 to 3.98) whereas for ManChEWS with a cut off of ≥Amber only 71% of patients were correctly classified ( positive likelihood ratio 2.18, 95% CI 1.94 to 2.45). Conclusions PAT-POPS is a more accurate predictor of admission risk than ManChEWS. Replacing ManChEWS with PAT-POPS would appear to be clinically appropriate in a paediatric ED. This needs validation in a multicentre study

COMMERCIAL DRINKING WATER QUALITY AND SAFETY IN BO CITY, SIERRA LEONE

Many people who lack reliable access to a quality and safe drinking water source in or near the home rely on commercial drinking water products, such as machine-filled sachet water, that may be of variable quality.A participatory geographic information system was used in conjunction with distribution point and vendor census in the study area to identify a total of 36 water sources across Bo city that  are used for commercial water production.  These include 6 water sources and the production facilities for 10 brands of machine-filled factory-produced water sachets as well as the 10 sources and finished samples for 10hand-tied plastic-bagged water producers. Water samples from all 16 water sources and 20 commercial water products purchased from randomly-selected retail outlets and street vendors were tested for microbiological and physicochemical properties. Workers at all of these facilities were also interviewed about their knowledge and practices.All of the machine-filled sachet waters were free of microbial contamination, but several of the hand- tied water sachets, all filled from unlined local wells, and had coliform bacteria.  Both machine-filled sachet water and hand-tied sachet water had pH levels that were below the World Health Organization’s recommended range. Water with acidic pH can cause corrosion of the metal pipes used with wells and can release those potentially harmful minerals into drinking water. Water factory workers used a variety of water treatment methods to purify their products; hand-tied sachets generally used only cloth filters to purify the water and often stored water in open containers. Improved quality of commercial water products would improve health in Sierra Leone.