Assessment of relationship between management policies and transfer of skills: A case of public secondary school heads in Nyeri County, Kenya

Despite heavy investments in training and development, low-quality education standards and challenges in management practices have been a sticky problem in the Kenyan education sector. Organization Theory guided the main aim of this study in establishing the relationship between management policies and transfer of skills for public secondary school headteachers in schools management. The study adopted a descriptive research design. Questionnaires were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data. Data were analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. The study population comprised 226 headteachers.  A mixture of stratified random sampling and census study was adopted in sampling 69 respondents. The results established that management policies explained a 23.4% variation in the transfer of skills for school heads. ?1 = 0.536 and p-value = 0.000 (p<0.05) indicated that management policies had positive and significant effects on transfer of skills. The study established that unsupportive policies like the Students Council, two centers of power, strict policies, and lack of inclusivity in policy formulation adversely affected school heads in implementing learned skills. The study recommends fair representation of all categories of education stakeholders in policies review and formulation to alleviate challenges associated with management policies to enhance the transfer of skills. The Government should address the issue of two centers of power in the public basic education sector. The paper sought to call the attention of the professional development trainers to exercise follow-ups to assess post-training behavioral outcomes in the context of organizational climate

Spatial models for the rational allocation of routinely distributed bed nets to public health facilities in Western Kenya

BACKGROUND: In high to moderate malaria transmission areas of Kenya, long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) are provided free of charge to pregnant women and infants during routine antenatal care (ANC) and immunization respectively. Quantities of LLINs distributed to clinics are quantified based on a combination of monthly consumption data and population size of target counties. However, this approach has been shown to lead to stock-outs in targeted clinics. In this study, a novel LLINs need quantification approach for clinics in the routine distribution system was developed. The estimated need was then compared to the actual allocation to identify potential areas of LLIN over- or under-allocation in the high malaria transmission areas of Western Kenya. METHODS: A geocoded database of public health facilities was developed and linked to monthly LLIN allocation. A network analysis approach was implemented using the location of all public clinics and topographic layers to model travel time. Estimated travel time, socio-economic and ANC attendance data were used to model clinic catchment areas and the probability of ANC service use within these catchments. These were used to define the number of catchment population who were likely to use these clinics for the year 2015 equivalent to LLIN need. Actual LLIN allocation was compared with the estimated need. Clinics were then classified based on whether allocation matched with the need, and if not, whether they were over or under-allocated. RESULTS: 888 (70%) public health facilities were allocated 591,880 LLINs in 2015. Approximately 682,377 (93%) pregnant women and infants were likely to have attended an LLIN clinic. 36% of the clinics had more LLIN than was needed (over-allocated) while 43% had received less (under-allocated). Increasing efficiency of allocation by diverting over supply of LLIN to clinics with less stock and fully covering 43 clinics that did not receive nets in 2015 would allow for complete matching of need with distribution. CONCLUSION: The proposed spatial modelling framework presents a rationale for equitable allocation of routine LLINs and could be used for quantification of other maternal and child health commodities applicable in different settings. Western Kenya region received adequate LLINs for routine distribution in line with government of Kenya targets, however, the model shows important inefficiencies in the allocation of the LLINs at clinic level

Combining school-catchment area models with geostatistical models for analysing school survey data from low-resource settings: Inferential benefits and limitations

School-based sampling has been used to inform targeted responses for malaria and neglected tropical diseases. Standard geostatistical methods for mapping disease prevalence use the school location to model spatial correlation, which is questionable since exposure to the disease is more likely to occur in the residential location. In this paper, we propose to overcome the limitations of standard geostatistical methods by introducing a modelling framework that accounts for the uncertainty in the location of the residence of the students. By using cost distance and cost allocation models to define spatial accessibility and in absence of any information on the travel mode of students to school, we consider three school catchment area models that assume walking only, walking and bicycling and, walking and motorized transport. We illustrate the use of this approach using two case studies of malaria in Kenya and compare it with the standard approach that uses the school locations to build geostatistical models. We argue that the proposed modelling framework presents several inferential benefits, such as the ability to combine data from multiple surveys some of which may also record the residence location, and to deal with ecological bias when estimating the effects of malaria risk factors. However, our results show that invalid assumptions on the modes of travel to school can worsen the predictive performance of geostatistical models. Future research in this area should focus on collecting information on the modes of transportation to school which can then be used to better parametrize the catchment area models

INCIDENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF INSECT PESTS IN RAIN-FED WHEAT IN EASTERN AFRICA

Insect pests are some of the major constraints limiting yield of wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.) in East Africa. The objective of this study was to determine the species composition and distribution of insect pests, and their natural enemies associated with wheat in Eastern Africa. A survey was conducted in farmers\u2019 fields in Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda during 2013 and 2014 cropping season. Wheat fields along roadsides were randomly selected at approximately 2 to 10 Km intervals, and in each field, several wheat plants in a cross diagonal line were examined for presence or absence of insect pests and associate natural enemies. Also, the type of insect was identified to species level and in situ population counts recorded. In Ethiopia, only 39% of the fields were infested by tef epilachna, Chnootriba similis Thurnberg (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae); while the remaining wheat fields were free of insect infestation. The Russian Wheat Aphid (RWA), Diuraphis noxia Kurdijumov (Hemiptera: Aphididae), was the most prevalent insect pest of wheat in Kenya and Uganda. The maximum number of RWA per tiller was 58 in Kenya and 38 in Uganda. Moreover, in Kenya the rose wheat (grass) aphid ( Metopolophium dirhodum Walker), oat-bird-cherry aphid ( Rhopalosiphum padi Walker) and corn leaf aphid ( R. maidis Fitch) were prevalent, though at low densities ranging, from 0.1 to 9 per tiller. The greenbug ( Schizaphis graminum Rondani) and the green stink bug ( Nezara viridula L.) were recorded only in Uganda. The general aphid predators Cheilomenes spp., spiders, lacewings and the parasitoid Aphidius spp. were the natural enemies of aphids found in Kenyan wheat. However, the density of these natural enemies was too low to bring the aphid population to a level that causes economic damage.Les insectes nuisibles d\u2019insecte sont certaines des contraintes importantes limitant la production de bl\ue9 ( Triticum aestivum L.) \ue0 Afrique de l\u2019est. L\u2019objectif de cette \ue9tude \ue9tait de d\ue9terminer la composition d\u2019esp\ue8ces et la distribution d\u2019insectes nuisibles d\u2019insecte et de leurs ennemis naturels associ\ue9s au bl\ue9 dans l\u2019Afrique de L\u2019est. Une enqu\ueate a \ue9t\ue9 accomplie dans les champs de fermiers en \uc9thiopie, Kenya et Ouganda pendant 2013 et 2014 en coupant la saison. Les champs de bl\ue9 le long des accotements de route ont \ue9t\ue9 au hasard choisis aux intervalles d\u2019environ 2 \ue0 10 kms et dans chaque champ, plusieurs usines de bl\ue9 \ue0 une ligne diagonale f\ue2ch\ue9e ont \ue9t\ue9 examin\ue9es pour la pr\ue9sence ou l\u2019absence d\u2019insectes nuisibles d\u2019insecte et associent des ennemis naturels. Aussi, le type d\u2019insecte a \ue9t\ue9 identifi\ue9 au niveau d\u2019esp\ue8ces et dans les comptes d\ue9mographiques situ enregistr\ue9s. En \uc9thiopie, seulement 39 % des champs \ue9taient infested par tef epilachna, Chnootriba similis Thurnberg (les col\ue9opt\ue8res : Coccinellidae); pendant que les champs de bl\ue9 restants \ue9taient sans infestation d\u2019insecte. Le Puceron de Bl\ue9 russe (RWA), Diuraphis noxia Kurdijumov (Hemiptera : Aphididae), \ue9tait l\u2019insecte nuisible d\u2019insecte le plus qui pr\ue9vaut de bl\ue9 au Kenya et \ue0 l\u2019Ouganda. Le nombre maximum de RWA par barre \ue9tait 58 au Kenya et 38 en Ouganda. De plus, au Kenya l\u2019est mont\ue9 du bl\ue9 (l\u2019herbe) le puceron ( Metopolophium dirhodum le Promeneur), le puceron rouge cerise d\u2019oiseau d\u2019avoine ( Rhopalosiphum padi le Promeneur) et le puceron de feuille de grain ( R. maidis Fitch) \ue9tait qui pr\ue9vaut, bien qu\u2019aux densit\ue9s basses variant, de 0.1 \ue0 9 par barre. Les greenbug ( Schizaphis graminum Rondani) et le vert puent l\u2019insecte ( Nezara viridula L.) a \ue9t\ue9 enregistr\ue9 seulement en Ouganda. Les pr\ue9dateurs de puceron g\ue9n\ue9raux Cheilomenes spp., les araign\ue9es, lacewings et le parasitoid Aphidius spp. \ue9taient les ennemis naturels de pucerons trouv\ue9s dans le bl\ue9 k\ue9nyan. Pourtant, la densit\ue9 de ces ennemis naturels \ue9tait trop basse pour apporter la population de puceron \ue0 un niveau qui provoque le dommage \ue9conomique

Attempts to identify Cassava Brown Streak Virus in western Democratic Republic of Congo

Open Access ArticleRoot necrosis similar to those of the cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) were observed on cassava in western provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR.Congo) in the early 2000’s. However molecular laboratory diagnosis were not able to detect any causative agent responsible for the attacks, hence, the disease related to these symptoms was named CBSD-like disease. In order to assess the distribution and the incidence of the CBSD-like disease, surveys were carried out in four western provinces, comprising, Kwango and Kwilu, Sud Ubangi, Kinshasa and Kongo Central. CBSD-like disease was observed in all surveyed provinces on the basis of root symptoms because foliar symptoms were different to those of the documented cases of CBSD in other parts of east Africa. CBSD-like disease incidence was high in Kongo Central and Sud Ubangi, exceeding an average of 50 %, but low in Kwango and Kwilu (32.8%) and in Kinshasa (19.1%). During the surveys, cassava leaf samples were collected for lab identification of the causal agent. PCR diagnosis was done on these samples using primers specific for the two known CBSVs. All samples tested negative with no amplification of DNA fragments of the correct size. Thus, further analysis on the causative organism is needed using Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) approaches. NGS approaches will help also to identify the causative organism in other Central Africa countries (Angola, Congo-Brazzaville and Gabon) where such cassava root necrosis have been reported or are suspected

Comparison of the prevalence and characteristics of inpatient adverse events using medical records review and incident reporting

Background. Information on adverse events (AEs) in hospitalised patients in developing countries is scanty.Objective. To compare the magnitude and characteristics of inpatient AEs in a tertiary, not-for-profit healthcare facility in Kenya, using medical records review and incident reporting.Methods. Estimation of prevalence was done using incidents reported in 2010 from a random sample of medical records for hospital admissions. Nurse reviewers used 18 screening criteria, followed by physician reviewers to confirm occurrence. An AE was defined as an unexpected clinical event (UE) associated with death, disability or prolonged hospitalisation not explained by the disease condition. The kappa statistic was used to estimate inter-rater agreement, and analysis was done using logistic regression.Results. The study identified 53 UEs from 2 000 randomly selected medical records and 33 reported UEs from 23 026 admissions in the index year. The prevalences of AEs from medical records review and incident reports were 1.4% (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.9 - 2.0) and 0.03% (95% CI 0.012 - 0.063), respectively. Compared with incident reporting, review of medical records identified more disability (13.2% v. 0%; p=0.03) and prolonged hospital stays (43.4% v. 18.2%; p=0.02).Conclusions. Review of medical records is preferable to incident reporting in determining the prevalence of AEs in health facilities with limited inpatient quality improvement experience. Further research is needed to determine whether staff education and a positive culture change through promotion of non-punitive UE reporting or a combination of approaches would improve the comprehensiveness of AE reporting

A rapid and reproducible picture of open access health facility data in Africa to support the COVID-19 response

Background: Open data on the locations and services provided by health facilities in some countries have allowed the development of software tools contributing to COVID-19 response. The UN and WHO encourage countries to make health facility location data open, to encourage use and improvement. We provide a summary of open access health facility location data in Africa using re-useable code. We aim to support data analysts developing software tools to address COVID-19 response in individual countries. In Africa there are currently three main sources of such data; 1) direct from national ministries of health, 2) a database for sub-Saharan Africa collated and published by a team from KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme and now hosted by WHO, and 3) The Global Healthsites Mapping Project in collaboration with OpenStreetMap. Methods: We searched for and documented official national facility location data that were openly available. We developed re-useable open-source R code to summarise and visualise facility location data by country from the three sources. This re-useable code is used to provide a web user interface allowing data exploration through maps and plots of facility type. Results: Out of 53 African countries, seven provide an official open facility list that can be downloaded and analysed reproducibly. Considering all three sources, there are over 185,000 health facility locations available for Africa. However, there are differences and overlaps between sources and a lack of data on capacities and service provision. Conclusions: We suggest that these summaries and tools will encourage greater use of existing health facility location data, incentivise further improvements in the provision of those data by national suppliers, and encourage collaboration within wider data communities. The tools are a part of the afrimapr project, actively developing R building blocks to facilitate the use of health data in Africa

Spatial and spatio-temporal methods for mapping malaria risk: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Approaches in malaria risk mapping continue to advance in scope with the advent of geostatistical techniques spanning both the spatial and temporal domains. A substantive review of the merits of the methods and covariates used to map malaria risk has not been undertaken. Therefore, this review aimed to systematically retrieve, summarise methods and examine covariates that have been used for mapping malaria risk in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). METHODS: A systematic search of malaria risk mapping studies was conducted using PubMed, EBSCOhost, Web of Science and Scopus databases. The search was restricted to refereed studies published in English from January 1968 to April 2020. To ensure completeness, a manual search through the reference lists of selected studies was also undertaken. Two independent reviewers completed each of the review phases namely: identification of relevant studies based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, data extraction and methodological quality assessment using a validated scoring criterion. RESULTS: One hundred and seven studies met the inclusion criteria. The median quality score across studies was 12/16 (range: 7-16). Approximately half (44%) of the studies employed variable selection techniques prior to mapping with rainfall and temperature selected in over 50% of the studies. Malaria incidence (47%) and prevalence (35%) were the most commonly mapped outcomes, with Bayesian geostatistical models often (31%) the preferred approach to risk mapping. Additionally, 29% of the studies employed various spatial clustering methods to explore the geographical variation of malaria patterns, with Kulldorf scan statistic being the most common. Model validation was specified in 53 (50%) studies, with partitioning data into training and validation sets being the common approach. CONCLUSIONS: Our review highlights the methodological diversity prominent in malaria risk mapping across SSA. To ensure reproducibility and quality science, best practices and transparent approaches should be adopted when selecting the statistical framework and covariates for malaria risk mapping. Findings underscore the need to periodically assess methods and covariates used in malaria risk mapping; to accommodate changes in data availability, data quality and innovation in statistical methodology

Greenhouse Gas fluxes from Selected Soil Fertility Management Practices in Humic Nitisols of Upper Eastern Kenya

We quantified soil Carbon dioxide (CO2), Methane (CH4), and Nitrous oxide (N2O) fluxes five soil fertility management practices (Inorganic fertilizer (Mf), maize residue + Inorganic fertilizer (RMf), Maize residue + Inorganic fertilizer + goat manure (RMfM), maize residue + Tithonia diversifolia + goat manure (RTiM), and a Control (CtC)) in Kenya's central highlands using a static chamber method from March 2019 to March 2020. The cumulative annual soil CH4 uptake ranged from -1.07 to -0.64 kg CH4-C ha-1 yr-1, CO2 emissions from 4.59 to 9.01 Mg CO2-C ha-1 yr-1, and N2O fluxes from 104 to 279 g N2O-N ha-1 yr-1. The RTiM produced the highest CO2 emissions (9.01 Mg CO2-C ha-1 yr-1), carbon sequestration (3.99 Mg CO2- eq ha-1), yield scaled N2O emissions (YSE) (0.043 g N2O-N kg-1 grain yield), the lowest net global warming potential (net GWP) (-14.7 Mg CO2-eq ha-1) and greenhouse gas intensities (GHGI) (-2.81 Kg CO2-eq kg-1 grain yield). We observed average maize grain yields of 7.98 Mg ha-1 yr-1 under RMfM treatment. Integrating inorganic fertilizer and maize residue retention resulted in low emissions, increased soil organic carbon sequestration and high maize yields

In vitro and in vivo antileishmanial efficacy of a combination therapy of diminazene and artesunate against Leishmania donovani in BALB /c mice

The in vitro and in vivo activity of diminazene (Dim), artesunate (Art) and combination of Dim and Art (Dim-Art) against Leishmania donovani was compared to reference drug; amphotericin B. IC50 of Dim-Art was found to be $2.28 \pm 0.24 \mu$ g/mL while those of Dim and Art were $9.16 \pm 0.3 \mu$ g/mL and $4.64 \pm 0.48 \mu$ g/mL respectively. The IC50 for Amphot B was $0.16 \pm 0.32 \mu$ g/mL against stationary-phase promastigotes. In vivo evaluation in the L. donovani BALB/c mice model indicated that treatments with the combined drug therapy at doses of 12.5 mg/kg for 28 consecutive days significantly ($p < 0.001$) reduced parasite burden in the spleen as compared to the single drug treatments given at the same dosages. Although parasite burden was slightly lower ($p < 0.05$) in the Amphot B group than in the Dim-Art treatment group, the present study demonstrates the positive advantage and the potential use of the combined therapy of Dim-Art over the constituent drugs, Dim or Art when used alone. Further evaluation is recommended to determine the most efficacious combination ratio of the two compounds.Comment: 4 Pages, 3 Figure