Correlates of Behavior Management Strategies Among Learners With Autistic Spectrum Disorders In Primary Schools In Western Kenya

Practitioners handling learners with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) often feel ill-prepared to effectively manage this disorder.  Quite often, when faced with cases of challenging behaviour, teachers use coping strategies which may be counter-productive. This paper reports the findings of a study that sought to determine factors that influence practitioners’ choice of behaviour management strategies among learners with ASDs in primary schools in Western Kenya. An exploratory analysis set out to determine the practitioners’ perception of challenging behaviour and its influence on the choice of management strategies. The findings of the study revealed that practitioners training, work experience, collaboration and networking with other professionals, staffing levels, and support received from parents of children with ASDs played a significant role in the choice of strategies in management of behaviour presented by learners with ASDs. Key words: Challenging behavior, Practitioners, Teachers, Autistic Spectrum Disorde

Enhancement of Grassland Production Through Integration of Forage Legumes in Semi-Arid Rangelands of Kenya

Livestock production in semi-arid rangelands of Kenya is limited by the seasonal quantity and quality of fodder. Kirkman & Carvalho (2003) stated that these inter- and intra-seasonal quality and quantity fluctuations result in nutrient deficits that severely limit livestock production potential. The objective of this experiment was to study the effect of three forage legumes on the production of natural pastures in semi-arid rangelands of Kenya

Examining the Relative Impact of Drivers on Energy Input for Municipal Water Supply in Africa

This study examines supply-side and demand-side drivers of municipal water supply and describes how they interact to impact energy input for municipal water supply in Africa. Several key compound indicators were parameterized to generate cluster centers using k-means cluster analysis for 52 countries in Africa to show the impact of water supply–demand drivers on municipal water supply and associated energy input. The cluster analysis produced impact scores with five cluster centers that grouped countries with similar key compound indicators and impact scores. Three countries (Gambia, Libya, & Mauritius) were classified as outliers. Libya presented a unique case with the highest impact score on energy input for raw water abstraction, associated with largescale pumping from deep groundwater aquifers. Multivariate analysis of the key indicators for 20 countries in sub-Saharan Africa that are either water-secure or water-stressed illustrate the relative impact of drivers on energy input for municipal water supply. The analytical framework developed presents an approach to assessing the impact of drivers on energy input for municipal water supply, and the findings could be used to support planning processes to build resilient drinking water infrastructure in developing countries with data challenges

Paraoxonase1 Genetic Polymorphisms in a Mixed Ancestry African Population

Paraoxonase 1 (PON1) activity is markedly influenced by coding polymorphisms, Q/R at position 192 and M/L at position 55 of the PON1 gene. We investigated the frequencies of these polymorphisms and their effects on PON1 and antioxidant activities in 844 South African mixed ancestry individuals. Genotyping was done using allele-specific TaqMan technology, PON1 activities were measured using paraoxon and phenylacetate, oxidative status was determined by measuring the antioxidant activities of ferric reducing antioxidant power and trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity, and lipid peroxidation markers included malondialdehyde and oxidized LDL. The frequencies of Q192R and L55M were 47.6% and 28.8%, respectively, and the most common corresponding alleles were 192R (60.4%) and 55M (82.6%). The Q192 was significantly associated with 5.8 units’ increase in PON1 concentration and 15.4 units’ decrease in PONase activity after adjustment for age, sex, BMI, and diabetes, with suggestion of differential effects by diabetes status. The PON1 L55 variant was associated with none of the measured indices. In conclusion, we have shown that the Q192R polymorphism is a determinant of both PON1 concentration and activity and this association appeared to be enhanced in subjects with diabetes

A practical guide for collecting farmers socio-economic and agronomic data: an AfSIS Project field protocol

One of the aims of the AfSIS (Africa Soil Information Service) project is to document farmers’ characteristics and practices to determine their ability to engage in effective soil and crop management. This document outlines how agronomic surveys are integrated with knowledge of farmers’ condition, wealth, status, access to knowledge, and access to markets, using pre-designed questionnaires and field surveys, and including the use of Global Positioning System-based field surveys and Geographic Information Systems

Assessing Future Water Demand and Associated Energy Input with Plausible Scenarios for Water Service Providers (WSPs) in Sub-Saharan Africa

This study examined the current state of water demand and associated energy input for water supply against a projected increase in water demand in sub-Saharan Africa. Three plausible scenarios, namely, Current State Extends (CSE), Current State Improves (CSI) and Current State Deteriorates (CSD) were developed and applied using nine quantifiable indicators for water demand projections and the associated impact on energy input for water supply for five Water Service Providers (WSPs) in Kenya to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach based on real data in sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, the daily per capita water-use in the service area of four of the five WSPs was below minimum daily requirement of 50 L/p/d. Further, non-revenue water losses were up to three times higher than the regulated benchmark (range 26�63). Calculations showed a leakage reduction potential of up to 70 and energy savings of up to 12 MWh/a. The projected water demand is expected to increase by at least twelve times the current demand to achieve universal coverage and an average daily per capita consumption of 120 L/p/d for the urban population by 2030. Consequently, the energy input could increase almost twelve-folds with the CSI scenario or up to fifty-folds with the CSE scenario for WSPs where desalination or additional groundwater abstraction is proposed. The approach used can be applied for other WSPs which are experiencing a similar evolution of their water supply and demand drivers in sub-Saharan Africa. WSPs in the sub-region should explore aggressive strategies to jointly address persistent water losses and associated energy input. This would reduce the current water supply-demand gap and minimize the energy input that will be associated with exploring additional water sources that are typically energy intensive

Patient safety in developing countries: retrospective estimation of scale and nature of harm to patients in hospital

OBJECTIVE: To assess the frequency and nature of adverse events to patients in selected hospitals in developing or transitional economies. DESIGN: Retrospective medical record review of hospital admissions during 2005 in eight countries. SETTING: Ministries of Health of Egypt, Jordan, Kenya, Morocco, Tunisia, Sudan, South Africa and Yemen; the World Health Organisation (WHO) Eastern Mediterranean and African Regions (EMRO and AFRO), and WHO Patient Safety. PARTICIPANTS: Convenience sample of 26 hospitals from which 15,548 patient records were randomly sampled. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Two stage screening. Initial screening based on 18 explicit criteria. Records that screened positive were then reviewed by a senior physician for determination of adverse event, its preventability, and the resulting disability. RESULTS: Of the 15,548 records reviewed, 8.2% showed at least one adverse event, with a range of 2.5% to 18.4% per country. Of these events, 83% were judged to be preventable, while about 30% were associated with death of the patient. About 34% adverse events were from therapeutic errors in relatively non-complex clinical situations. Inadequate training and supervision of clinical staff or the failure to follow policies or protocols contributed to most events. CONCLUSIONS: Unsafe patient care represents a serious and considerable danger to patients in the hospitals that were studied, and hence should be a high priority public health problem. Many other developing and transitional economies will probably share similar rates of harm and similar contributory factors. The convenience sampling of hospitals might limit the interpretation of results, but the identified adverse event rates show an estimate that should stimulate and facilitate the urgent institution of appropriate remedial action and also to trigger more research. Prevention of these adverse events will be complex and involves improving basic clinical processes and does not simply depend on the provision of more resources

Perceived risks of infection, hospitalization, and death from COVID-19 at the Equator: Ecuador and Kenya

Objectives: This study''s goal was to determine the perceived risks of infection as well as the perceived risks of hospitalization and death from COVID-19 in Ecuador and Kenya. It also assessed the factors associated with the risk-related perceptions. Methods: Cross-sectional studies with samples from the adult populations in both countries were conducted to assess the perceived risks of contracting COVID-19. Data were collected online using the Qualtrics platform from samples of 1, 050 heads of households ages 18 years or older in each country. Three statistical analyses were conducted: summary statistics, correlation, and linear regression. Results: The average perceived risks of COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and death in the Kenyan sample were 27.1%, 43.2%, and 17.2%, respectively, and the values for the Ecuadorian sample were 34%, 32.8%, and 23.3%, respectively. The Pearson''s correlation coefficients between the risk measures in each country were less than 0.38. Risk measures were associated with several sociodemographic variables (e.g., income, gender, location) but not age. Conclusions: The perceived risks of COVID-19 infection, hospitalization, and death in Kenya and Ecuador were significantly higher relative to the statistics reported; however, no strong association existed between perceived risk and age, which is a key factor in adverse health outcomes, including death, among COVID-19 infected individuals

Predictors of failed attendances in a multi-specialty outpatient centre using electronic databases.

BACKGROUND: Failure to keep outpatient medical appointments results in inefficiencies and costs. The objective of this study is to show the factors in an existing electronic database that affect failed appointments and to develop a predictive probability model to increase the effectiveness of interventions. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted on outpatient clinic attendances at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore from 2000 to 2004. 22864 patients were randomly sampled for analysis. The outcome measure was failed outpatient appointments according to each patient's latest appointment. RESULTS: Failures comprised of 21% of all appointments and 39% when using the patients' latest appointment. Using odds ratios from the mutliple logistic regression analysis, age group (0.75 to 0.84 for groups above 40 years compared to below 20 years), race (1.48 for Malays, 1.61 for Indians compared to Chinese), days from scheduling to appointment (2.38 for more than 21 days compared to less than 7 days), previous failed appointments (1.79 for more than 60% failures and 4.38 for no previous appointments, compared with less than 20% failures), provision of cell phone number (0.10 for providing numbers compared to otherwise) and distance from hospital (1.14 for more than 14 km compared to less than 6 km) were significantly associated with failed appointments. The predicted probability model's diagnostic accuracy to predict failures is more than 80%. CONCLUSION: A few key variables have shown to adequately account for and predict failed appointments using existing electronic databases. These can be used to develop integrative technological solutions in the outpatient clinic