Subjective well-being, disability and adaptation: a case study from rural Ethiopia

In many developing countries poor infrastructure – including sanitation and health facilities – exposes the population to high risks of disability. Low standards of health and safety at work and at home, coupled with political, ethnic, and domestic violence, also contribute to raising the risk of becoming physically disabled. The effect of physical disability on people’s lives is likely to be worse than in developed economies because of the reliance on physical labour for income generation – for example, in farming. Higher levels of national income and technological capability may also enable societies to make the investments required to enable disabled individuals to be productively employed. Finally, since formal social insurance is usually lacking in developing countries, the effect of disability on welfare is expected to be higher as disabled people must rely on social networks that have limited capacity to pool risks

Literacy Practices and Schooling: A Case Study from Mozambique

A novel approach to the assessment of literacy is used to tackle the issue of effectiveness of years of schooling. The dichotomy inherent in the literacy rate is rejected in favor of a " practice-based" approach, which considers literacy as a multifaceted phenomenon as advocated in anthropological and economic research. Primary data collected in the poorest region in Mozambique suggest that years of schooling have a differentiated impact on acquired literacy practices of adults. Results that are robust to different specifications are reported. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd

Prevalence of syphilis in pregnancy in Addis Ababa

Objective: To assess the extent of syphilis seropositivity in pregnant women, identify the risk factors associated with it and re-evaluate the need for routine antenatal care screening for syphilis.Design: Prospective cross-sectional study.Setting: Three teaching hospitals of Addis Ababa University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.Subjects: A total of 410 pregnant women attending antenatal care from April 1997 to September 1997 were included in the study. Subjects were excluded from the study if they were registered prior to the study period.Main outcome measures: Seropositivity for syphilis, and socio-demographic factors related to it.Results: Among the study population, twelve women (2.9%) were positive for Venereal Disease Research Laboratory (VDRL). The study showed that the seropositive women were more likely to be those with lesser income

Structure and Regeneration Status of Gedo Dry Evergreen Montane Forest, West Shewa Zone of Oromia National Regional State, Central Ethiopia

This study was conducted on Gedo Dry Evergreen Montane Forest in West Shewa Zone of Oromia National Regional State, 182-196 km west of Addis Ababa (Finfinne). The objective of the study was to determine structure and regeneration status of Gedo Forest. All trees and shrubs with Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) ≥ 2 cm were measured for height and diameter. The density of tree species in Gedo Forest decreases with increasing height and DBH classes. The forest is characterized by high density of trees in the lower class than in the higher. Three layers (lower, middle and upper) of tree were identified from the study of vertical stratification of Gedo Forest following the International Union for Forestry Research Organization (IUFRO) classification scheme. The regeneration status of selected woody species was assessed as well as the forest was compared with five dry evergreen forests of Ethiopia. Based on the result of the study, research on the soil seed bank, population dynamics and ecology of endemic species were recommended.Keywords: Dry evergreen montane forest; Gedo Forest; Phytogeographical; Compariso

HIV self-testing practices among Health Care Workers: feasibility and options for accelerating HIV testing services in Ethiopia

Introduction: HIV is still an enormous global burden and it is also causing loss of huge health care workers (HCWs) on the already limited human resource capacity in health care services in Sub-Saharan Africa. Variety of methods of accelerating HIV testing is required to increase the rate of HIV testing and expand treatment services. Therefore, this study was aimed to find out the prevalence, feasibility and options of HIV self-testing practices in Ethiopia. Methods: A cross-sectional study design triangulated with qualitative method was conducted from February to May, 2012. The data was collected using a semi-structured pretested questionnaire and in-depth interview, at government and private health centers or clinics and hospitals. During the data collection all the available healthcare workers (HCWs) which encompass the internship students including: Medical, Health Officer, Nurses, Midwives and Laboratory students, and health professionals working in the selected health institutions were involved.Results: A total of 307 HCWs were included in the analysis and we found that 288(94.4%) of them were ever tested for HIV, of which majority 203 (70.5%) were tested by themselves though 244(80%) of the HCWs had motivation or interest to be tested by themselves. Generally, of the ever tested only 85(29.5%) were tested by the help of health care providers/counselors other than self. Regarding the place where the HCWs had the test, majority 136 (69.4%) tested by themselves at the health facility and the rest were tested at their home, office, market and church. The main reason stated for self-testing was the need for confidentiality for the test result, which was mentioned by 205(82%). Moreover, 35(14.0%) claims lack of time to access the ordinary counseling and testing services. Conclusion: This study depicts high rate of HIV self-testing practice among HCWs. This shows that HIV self-testing can be considered as one pillar to increase the HIV-testing services and a means for the HIV prevention and control policy, through increasing HIV testing uptake and awareness of HIV status. However, the implementation may require the role of different stakeholders and decision makers with further study to extend the options.Key words: HIV, VCT, self-test, health care workers, Ethiopi

Effect of substrates on the yield, yield attribute and dietary values of oyster mushroom (pleurotus ostreatus) in the pastoral regions of Northern Ethiopia

Dry areas are vulnerable to climate change and are commonly hit by drought, which makes the inhabitants to rely on food aid. Mushroom cultivation is a profitable agribusiness that can improve the economic and food status of farmers in dry areas as an alternative technology. Research on the effect of substrates on the yield, yield attributes and dietary values of oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) was conducted to identify the best substrates. The experiment included 23 treatments with three replications. The substrates were sawdust, rice straw, cottonseed hull & maize cob with 100%, 75%, 50% and 25% combination ratios. The substrates were chopped, moisturized and filled into 40 cm X 60 cm polyethylene bags and sterilized for one hour at 100 oC. The substrates were cooled and inoculated with 75g mushroom spawn, and were kept in a dark place to enhance mycelium growth. The substrates were transferred to a growing room, with full light, lower temperature and higher relative humidity for fructification after mycelium growth was completed. Data on yield attributes, fresh yield and dietary values were collected and analyzed. The fruiting bodies were picked after 22 - 35 days of inoculation. The treatments had significant effect on the number of days for mushroom growth, stalk length, pileus diameter and number of fruiting body, fresh yield, biological efficiency and dietary values (P < 0.05). All consumers significantly preferred mushroom grown on 100% maize cob substrate. The 100% cottonseed hull substrate gave the highest profit (133.25US$ 100kg-1 substrate). The study concluded that 100% cottonseed hull substrate was the best substrate for oyster mushroom production at small-scale level. It was also the best nutritive source of substrate for oyster mushroom growth. Mushroom grown on a 100% maize cob substrate was a tasty and protein rich mushroom. Therefore, producers should be encouraged to use this substrate for maximizing the yield, for changing the agricultural wastes into food in the form of mushroom and for improving their livelihood. Oyster mushroom could play a pivotal role in supporting the food self-sufficiency, hence it should be included as a component of food security assurance strategy for the country.Key words: mushroom, substrates, yield, pastoral, dietary value, agricultural waste, livelihoo

Synthesis and characterization of CdS/UiO-66/Ag3PO4 nanocomposite for photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange under visible light irradiation

Single, binary and ternary nanomaterials were synthesized by precipitation, solvothermal, simple solution and impregnation methods to serve as photocatalysts. The crystal structure, morphology, band gap energy, functional groups and optical properties of these materials were characterized by XRD, SEM-EDX, UV-Vis, FTIR, and PL instrumental techniques, respectively. Photocatalaytic degradation performances of all the as-synthesized photocatalysts were investigated under visible light irradiation using MO as a model organic pollutant. The photocatalytic degradation performances of all the photocatalysts were evaluated on aqueous solution of the model pollutant dye as well as on a real sewage sample solution collected from Bahir Dar Textile Share Company. Results suggested that the optimized ternary nanocomposite photocatalyst exhibited a relatively higher efficiency towards the photodegradation of both the methyl orange (MO) dye solution (90%) and the real sewage sample solution (71.2%). The effect of operational parameters such as pH (4), initial dye concentration (10 mg/L) and photocatalyst load (0.2 g/L) in MO dye degradation were investigated by using the ternary CdS/UiO-66/Ag3PO4 (R4) nanocomposite.                     KEY WORDS: Metal-organic frameworks, Nanocomposite, Ternary system, Photocatalysts, Methyl orange   Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2020, 34(3), 571-588. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v34i3.1

Modelling SDG scenarios for Educational Attainment and Development. CESDEG: Education for all Global Monitoring Report (EFA-GMR)

The scenarios of educational expansion underlying the population projections presented here result from a further refinement of the education model presented in Lutz et al. (2014). In summary, we project the share of the population ever reaching or exceeding a given attainment level. This is done seperately by country, and gender, but with ‘shrinkage’ within a Bayesian framework (with weakly informative priors). The mean expansion trajectories are modelled as random walks with drift (and potential mean reversion) and independent noise at a probit-transformed scale. The trend parameters are estimated based on reconstructed attainment histories, and extrapolated, subject to additional and some exogenously imposed convergence within regions and between females and males. Under the target scenarios, SDG targets are treated as ‘future data’ (in other words, target trajectories are modeled looking back from 2030 under the assumption that the target will have been met), with a potential trend break in 2015. Limitations shared with all existing global projections of educational development include the fact that in the absence of a detailed theoretical basis, they are forced to rely heavily on statistical extrapolations. For example, there is little consensus on whether “higher education is the new secondary education” (as claimed by Andreas Schleicher of OECD), or is fundamentally different from lower levels of schooling (e.g. in terms of institutional framework, its role in the life cycle, economic returns. In addition, global projections can necessarily not account in a satisfactory manner for idiosyncratic policy changes or shocks. In addition, the specific modelling choices outlined above imply a number of trade-offs. Using highest school attainment as the underlying measure solves many problems associated with historic enrolment data by allowing the consistent reconstruction of time series of attainment from relatively recent cross-sectional data, but comes with challenges of its own. While nevertheless preferable overall, the principal disadvantage of attainment measures deserves mention, namely the relatively long time lag with which outcomes can be observed. Late attainment is common in many developing countries, so that attainment cannot safely be assumed to be ‘final’ until several years above the typical graduation age

A Dynamic Sorghum (Sorghum Bicolor (L.) Moench) diversity Management in Situ and Livelihood Resilience in South and Central Tigray Region, Ethiopia

Sorghum is an important crop for the south and central parts of Tigray Region of Ethiopia. To assess the level of sorghum diversity, two zones, namely South and Central Tigray were selected and eighteen villages in three woredas, Alamata, Raya-Azebo and Tanqua-Abergelle, were surveyed. A total of 93 randomly selected farmers were interviewed using a structured questionnaire that elicited information on socioeconomic aspects of households, sorghum plots, the number and types of farmers’ local varieties grown in the area, variety characteristics, seed exchange systems and seed flow together with selection criteria’s as well as seed selection process and management. A total of 165 collections belonging to 31 locally named sorghum varieties were retrieved and stored at Mekelle University. High diversity in terms of landrace richness were found the Alamata area (Margalef = 2.92; Menhinick = 1.66) followed by Raya-Azebo (Margalef = 2.61; Menhinick = 1.46) and Tanqua-Abergelle was found to be less diverse in terms of number of named varieties (Margalef = 1.40; Menhinick = 1.0). Diversity estimated based on evenness indices showed that Tanqua-Abergelle has the highest diversity (Shannon =0.86; Brillouin index = 0.86) followed by Raya-Azebo (Shannon =0.85; Brillouin index = 0.85). The lowest evenness was found in Alamata woreda (Shannon =0.77; Brillouin index = 0.77). Based on the varietal richness and use values, four sites (villages) that could serve as seed repositories were identified. The result of the econometric analysis indicated that a combination of factors, such as year of schooling, labour equivalence, tropical livestock unit, and number of parcels were the most important determinants that affect significantly the intra-specific diversity. The regression analysis indicates the positive linkage between land fragmentation and landrace richness. The increase in diversity over temporal scale of ten years found in this study revealed that the level of genetic erosion needs numerical evidence to substantiate. The socioeconomic factors that affect varietal diversity and possible conservation and incentive strategies are discussed. Key words: Sorghum, Diversity, Seed flow, Genetic erosion, Resilienc