Knowledge and strategies of controlling plagiarism at the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

This paper presents findings of a study conducted at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) Tanzania concerning academic staff and students’ knowledge of plagiarism. The study investigated forms of plagiarism practiced and prevention strategies used. Questionnaires were used to collect data from students and academic staff. In contrast to academic staff, students were found to have insufficient knowledge on plagiarism despite the existence of various strategies for awareness creation on the problem. The results study has revealed various plagiarism forms practiced at the University, as well as prevention measures used. The study ends with a set of strategies to control plagiarism, in addition to e existing initiatives

The state of social media usage to fight malnutrition among children under the age of five years in Tanzania

This study has evaluated how Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre (TFNC), a government institution overseeing nutrition, uses social media to enhance the nutrition literacy of caregivers and parents of children under the age of five years. The study contributes to knowledge on how Tanzania’s resource-constrained health sector’s nutrition communication can benefit from social media by answering the following research questions: Which social media platforms and features does TFNC use to share nutrition knowledge pertaining to children under the age of five years? What kinds of nutrition knowledge pertaining to children under the age of five years does TFNC share on social media? How is nutrition knowledge pertaining to children under the age of five years posted on TFNC social media pages packaged? And, how frequently is nutrition knowledge pertaining to children under the age of five years repeated on TFNC social media pages? These questions have been answered from a social-behavioral change communication perspective that has combined the Media Ecology Theory and the Theory of Planned Behavior. This quantitative study has gathered data on TFNC’s social media activities (posts containing nutrition knowledge pertaining to children under the age of five years) between May 2020 to April 2023. The posts were manually extracted from the center’s pages into Microsoft Excel for coding before exportation to SPSS version 20 for analysis. The study has found that TFNC actively uses Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube to share nutrition knowledge on its pages and video format is the most used. The shared educative nutrition knowledge during the observed period, the use of social media features in sharing the knowledge, and the frequency of repeating nutrition messages are limited. Overall, the center’s nutrition social media-based knowledge-sharing needs improving to optimally contribute to nutrition literacy pertaining to children under the age of five years

The state of social media usage to fight malnutrition among children under the age of five years in Tanzania

This study has evaluated how Tanzania Food and Nutrition Centre (TFNC), a government institution overseeing nutrition, uses social media to enhance the nutrition literacy of caregivers and parents of children under the age of five years. The study contributes to knowledge on how Tanzania’s resource-constrained health sector’s nutrition communication can benefit from social media by answering the following research questions: Which social media platforms and features does TFNC use to share nutrition knowledge pertaining to children under the age of five years? What kinds of nutrition knowledge pertaining to children under the age of five years does TFNC share on social media? How is nutrition knowledge pertaining to children under the age of five years posted on TFNC social media pages packaged? And, how frequently is nutrition knowledge pertaining to children under the age of five years repeated on TFNC social media pages? These questions have been answered from a social-behavioral change communication perspective that has combined the Media Ecology Theory and the Theory of Planned Behavior. This quantitative study has gathered data on TFNC’s social media activities (posts containing nutrition knowledge pertaining to children under the age of five years) between May 2020 to April 2023. The posts were manually extracted from the center’s pages into Microsoft Excel for coding before exportation to SPSS version 20 for analysis. The study has found that TFNC actively uses Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube to share nutrition knowledge on its pages and video format is the most used. The shared educative nutrition knowledge during the observed period, the use of social media features in sharing the knowledge, and the frequency of repeating nutrition messages are limited. Overall, the center’s nutrition social media-based knowledge-sharing needs improving to optimally contribute to nutrition literacy pertaining to children under the age of five years