Collective action in space: assessing how collective action varies across an African landscape

This paper develops and applies a new approach for analyzing the spatial aspects of individual adoption of a technology that produces a mixed public-private good. The technology is an animal insecticide treatment called a “pouron” that individual households buy and apply to their animals. Private benefits accrue to households whose animals are treated, while the public benefits accrue to all those who own animals within an area of effective suppression. A model of household demand for pourons is presented. As a private good, household demand for the variable input depends upon output price, input cost, and household characteristics. Input costs for pouron treatments include both the market price of the pourons and the transaction costs that the household must incur to obtain the treatments. Demand also depends upon the way that each household expects its neighbors to respond to one's own behavior. Free-riding is expected in communities with no tradition or formal organization to support collective action. Greater cooperation is expected in communities that have organizations that reward cooperative behavior and punish deviant behavior. Data for estimation of the model were collected for all of the 5,000 households that reside within the study area of 350 square kilometers in southwest Ethiopia. Geographic reference data were collected for every household using portable Geographic Positioning System units. GIS software was used to generate spatial variables. Variables for distance from the household to the nearest treatment center and number of cattle-owning neighbors within a 1-kilometer radius of the household were created. The density of cattle-owning neighbors was used as a measure of the potential benefits from cooperation; this variable was expected to have a positive effect on household pouron demand in communities able to support effective collective action and a negative effect in communities not able to support effective collective action. A set of community binary variables was interacted with the density variable to capture differences between communities. The results confirm the importance of the household-level variables. The results also indicate large differences in ability to cooperate between local administrative units. Everything else equal, the areas least able to cooperate were located farthest from the treatment center, were ethnically heterogenous, and had a different ethnic composition than areas around the treatment centers.

An ecological study on rodents of natural vegetation and farm lands in Siltie, Central Ethiopia

An ecological study on species composition, distribution, relative abundance and habitat association of rodents was conducted in Siltie natural vegetation and nearby farmlands during July 2008 - March 2009. Five habitat types, three from natural and two from agricultural fields were randomly selected based on representation of the main vegetation zones. In each habitat type, one representative grid was selected for live trapping. In addition, rodents were also snap-trapped from these habitats. A total of 562 captures was made in 2940 live-trap nights and 87 in 1200 snap-trap nights. Species of small mammals trapped were Mastomys natalensis (33.3%), Arvicanthis dembeensis (23.0%), Mastomys erythroleucus (12.1%), Stenocephalemys albipes (8.4%), Desmomys harringtoni (6.0%), Mus mahomet (5.9%), Tatera robusta (5.1%), Lophuromys flavopunctatus (2.8%), Rattus rattus (2.5%) and Arvicanthis niloticus (0.9%). The trap success varied significantly from habitat to habitat. Population density of rodents was high in the bush land and forest habitats. Plant matters were the most common food items revealed from the stomach contents of snap-trapped individuals. A. dembeensis, M. Mahomet, D. harringtoni and M. natalensis were recorded as major pests in the study area. Breeding was seasonal for most of the species trapped. The number of embryos varied both within and among species.An ecological study on species composition, distribution, relative abundance and habitat association of rodents was conducted in Siltie natural vegetation and nearby farmlands during July 2008 - March 2009. Five habitat types, three from natural and two from agricultural fields were randomly selected based on representation of the main vegetation zones. In each habitat type, one representative grid was selected for live trapping. In addition, rodents were also snap-trapped from these habitats. A total of 562 captures was made in 2940 live-trap nights and 87 in 1200 snap-trap nights. Species of small mammals trapped were Mastomys natalensis (33.3%), Arvicanthis dembeensis (23.0%), Mastomys erythroleucus (12.1%), Stenocephalemys albipes (8.4%), Desmomys harringtoni (6.0%), Mus mahomet (5.9%), Tatera robusta (5.1%), Lophuromys flavopunctatus (2.8%), Rattus rattus (2.5%) and Arvicanthis niloticus (0.9%). The trap success varied significantly from habitat to habitat. Population density of rodents was high in the bush land and forest habitats. Plant matters were the most common food items revealed from the stomach contents of snap-trapped individuals. A. dembeensis, M. Mahomet, D. harringtoni and M. natalensis were recorded as major pests in the study area. Breeding was seasonal for most of the species trapped. The number of embryos varied both within and among species

Bovine Hydatidosis in Eastern Part of Ethiopia

A cross-sectional study was conducted on bovine hydatidosis from November 2010 to March 2011 with the aims of investigating its occurrence, risk factors and economic losses in Dire Dawa municipality abattoir. The study revealed 20.05% occurrence of hydatidosis based on the postmortem examination of1536 cattle. Age related infection was significant as older animals were more infected (P<0.05, x2 = 27.496).Among the lungs, liver, heart, spleen and kidneys examined in each carcass, the cysts were distributed in the lungs and livers only. Out of 1852 cysts, 1340 (72.3%) were found in liver while512 (27.7%) in lungs. Five hundred and twenty (53.94%) of 964 hydatid cysts were small, while268 (27.80%) medium and 176 (18.25%) large. These cysts were further characterized as fertile (80.08.7%), sterile (17.3%) and calcified (2.85%) and 53.7% of fertile cysts were viable. Based on the study, the direct economic loss was estimated to be 23,876 Ethiopian Birrs. Presence of hydatid cysts in edible organs has great public health significance as consumption of undercooked/raw meat is still in practice in many parts of Ethiopia.Keywords: Abattoir, Bovine, Carcass, Cysts, Hydatidosis, Eastern Ethiopia

Drug Treatment Program Ownership, Medicaid Acceptance, and Service Provision.

The Institute of Medicine noted that effective substance abuse treatment (SAT) programs integrate individual therapeutic approaches with transitional/ancillary services. In addition, research suggests that type of ownership impacts SAT services offered and that Medicaid plays a key role in SAT access. Data from the National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services for the years 2000 and 2002–2006 were used to examine relationships among SAT program Medicaid acceptance, program ownership, and transitional/ancillary service accessibility. Multivariate logistic regression models controlling for state- and program-level contextual factors were used to analyze the data. Nonprofit SAT programs were significantly more likely to offer transitional/ancillary services than for-profit programs. However, programs that accepted Medicaid, regardless of ownership, were significantly more likely to offer most transitional/ancillary services. The data suggest that Medicaid may play a significant role in offering key transitional/ancillary services related to successful treatment outcome, regardless of program ownership type

Bibliography on HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia and Ethiopians in the Diaspora: The 2006 Update

No Abstract. The Ethiopian Journal of Health Development Vol. 21 (1) 2007: pp. 70-9

Bibliography on HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia and Ethiopians in the Diaspora: The 2013 Update

No Abstrac

Bibliography on HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia and Ethiopians in the Diaspora: The 2011 Update

No abstract

Agricultural extension reform in Africa: Insights and lessons from livestock disease control in South-West Ethiopia

Agricultural extension systems across Africa are under great pressure to become more efficient and effective. Whereas proposals abound as to what African governments should do in order to achieve these goals, those addressing how they might do so are rare. The literature still offers little guidance as to specific factors and processes that likely influence development and diffusion of agricultural technologies in given circumstances. This paper addresses this gap by analysing the outcome of a multi-year, farmer-centred intervention to control trypanosomosis a devastating livestock disease transmitted by tsetse flies carried out by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in South-West Ethiopia. While not conceived as such at the time, this intervention emerges, in retrospect, as a real-world experiment in decentralised private provision of a traditional public extension activity. The nature of the control technology and several biophysical and socio-economic characteristics of the region selected for control combined to produce a self-reinforcing process key to the success of the initiative. The intervention suggests that it is the demand-side of agricultural extension systems that matters the most, and that in most cases, an 'organised articulation of demand' will be required. The internal logic of that 'articulation' is the exact reverse of that driving privatisation and decentralisation of extension systems. That logic also differs significantly from that guiding 'demand-led, farmer-participatory' approaches to extension reform

Nonlinear approaches in testing PPP : evidence from Southern African Development Community

In this paper two nonlinearity tests are employed: the nonparametric test developed by Brock, Dechert and Scheinkman - known as the BDS test and the Fourier stationarity test. The BDS non-linearity test detects whether the independent and identically distribute (iid) assumption of the time series used in the analysis holds true or not while the Fourier approximation mimics a wide variety of breaks and other types of nonlinearities. Both tests confirm the non-linear nature of real exchange series in SADC. The result from the Fourier stationary test further provides strong evidence of an OCA among the 11 SADC countries included in this study.Economic Research Southern Africa (ERSA).http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecmod2017-08-31hb2016Economic