Modelling malaria transmission dynamics in irrigated areas of Tana River County, Kenya

Development of irrigation schemes is usually associated with escalation of the malaria problem. Mathematical models can be used to explain the effects of irrigation on malaria transmission dynamics. This study aimed at developing and validating a one-host one-vector deterministic model made up of a mosquito population sub-module and disease transmission sub-module. Model parameters were obtained from the literature. Data covering the year 2013 were collected and these included the amount of irrigation water per unit area of irrigated land, rainfall, temperature and prevalence of malaria from the local hospitals. The Fuzzy distribution function was used to relate rainfall and irrigation patterns with oviposition and mortality rates of acquatic stages of mosquitoes. The model was fitted to malaria prevalence data obtained from the local hospitals by varying the parameters of the Fuzzy distribution function. Parameter values that gave the least variance between predicted and observed prevalence were used. The model was implemented in MS Excel using difference equations.The model fitted the data well and predicts an upsurge in the number of malaria cases 2-3 months after the rains or active irrigation. The model could be used to predict the prevalence of malaria in this area enabling decision makers to implement appropriate control measures in good time. Data from non-irrigated areas and covering a longer period of time should be collected for more rigorous model validation and simulation of the effectiveness of various the interventions

Epidemiology of malaria in irrigated parts of Tana River County, Kenya

Irrigation schemes introduced in areas of high malaria endemicity often amplify malaria burden especially if no mitigation or adaptation measures are implemented (Renshaw et al., 1998). Thias study was conducted in Bura and Hola irrigation schemes in Tana River County to (i) understand the knowledge, attitude and practices of the community in relation to malaria control and transmission, (ii) determine malaria prevalence and the associated risk factors of infection and (iii) develop and validate a transmission model for analyzing the effects of irrigation on malaria burden. A cross sectional survey was conducted in 48 households where 160 people were screened for malaria parasites using Rapid Diagnostic Test. A deterministic model was developed and validated using field data. The community demonstrated good knowledge on causes, symptoms, transmission and control of malaria. The main malaria control measure was use of bed nets where one net was shared by two people. Only 12% of the households practice environmental management to control malaria. Treatment of malaria was mainly based on Artemether-lumefantrine (AL) which is freely available in the government health facilities. The prevalence of malaria was 5% with the clinical records showing a declining trend of malaria cases. Households located ≤5kms to the nearest facility had lower risk of malaria infection (OR=0.104, p-value=0.013) than those located >5kms. Household size was also associated with malaria infection (OR=1.685, p-value=0.022). The model predicted the observed prevalence data. The high usage of bed nets and AL could have led to the observed decrease in malaria prevalence despite the intensification of irrigated agriculture. The model developed could be used to predict the prevalence of malaria in this area enabling decision makers to implement appropriate control measures in good time

Anti-Inflammatory and Anti-Diarrhoeal Activities of a Steroidal Indoxyl

The anti-inflammatory and antidiarrhoeal activities of 3β-Hydroxy-16, 17-seco-16-nor-5-androsten-15-(2-indoxyliden)-17-oic acid (I) are reported. After intraperitoneal administration, compound (I) gave an ED50 of 9.5 mg/kg using the carrageenan induced rat paw oedema anti-inflammatory assay method. Indomethacin had an ED50 of 5.8 mg/kg in this assay. Compound (I) and indomethacin caused comparable and dose-dependent varying degrees of delay in diarrhoea and also significantly reduced net colonic water flux into the colon of rats induced by castor oil. Key words: Steroidal Indoxyl, Anti-Inflammatory, Antidiarrhoeal. East and Central African Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Vol.6(2) 2003: 26-2

Support, networks, and relationships: Findings from a mixed-methods evaluation of a mentorship programme for early career women researchers in sexual and reproductive health and rights

Low research output among women researchers in health research has been linked to inadequate mentorship opportunities for early career women researchers and particularly in sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) field. Mentorship has been recognized as a contributor to strengthening research capacity and as beneficial for both mentors and mentees. Women researchers oftentimes experience negative impacts of organizational and structural gender inequities related to formal and informal mentoring. In 2020, the UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction at WHO launched a mentorship programme for early career SRHR women researchers from low- and middle-income countries. The programme sought to provide professional skill-building, promote and share networking opportunities, and offer support in navigating personal and professional life. We conducted a convergent parallel mixed-methods evaluation of the 2020 pilot programme, which included 26 participants, through an online survey and semi-structured in-depth interviews (IDIs). Data collection occurred between March and May 2022. Nineteen responded to the online survey (12 mentees, 7 mentors) and 11 IDIs (7 mentees, 4 mentors) were completed. Based on a preliminary framework, we used deductive and inductive methods to identify six themes: views on mentorship; reasons for applying and expectations of participation in the programme; preferred aspects of programme implementation; challenges with the programme implementation; perceived lasting benefits of the programme; and recommendations for improvement. All participants found the initial training useful, most discussed work-life prioritization throughout the mentorship relationship, and most planned to continue with the relationship. There appear to be ample benefits to mentorship, especially when planned and implemented in a structured manner. These attributes can be particularly beneficial when they are conceived as a two-way relationship of mutual learning and support, and especially for women at the start of their research careers as they navigate structural gender inequities

Estrogenic and Anti-Inflammatory Activities of a Steroidal Indoxyl

The estrogenic and anti-inflammatory activities of 3-methoxy-16, 17-seco-16-norestra-1,3,5-trien-15-(2'-indoxyliden)-17-oic acid is reported. After intraperitoneal administration, the dose of this compound required to reduce swelling of the rat paw by 50% (ED50) was 14.1 mg/kg using the carrageenan-induced rat paw oedema anti-inflammatory assay method. Indomethacin had an ED50 of 3.2 mg/kg in this assay while dexamethasone had an ED50 of 1.7 mg/kg. The estrogenic activity of the compound after intramuscular administration in rats was 0.72 relative to diethylstilbestrol, when the two compounds were assayed at three dose levels of 1.0, 0.3 and 0.1 mg/kg. Key Words: Steroidal indoxyl, synthesis, estrogenic, anti-inflammatory East and Central African Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Vol.5(3) 2002: 44-4

Talent Management and Employee Performance: Growing Young Colleges to Well Established Organization

With the increasing competition for highly skilled talent, creating an open and innovative culture, aligned with what matters most to employees, will provide the organisation with the competitive edge to retain and attract the talent necessary to achieve organizational goals. The best practices critical to retaining talent include providing career development opportunities, leadership who can articulate core messages and live them every day, trust-based relationships with managers founded on open communication and feedback, and giving employees a voice in the business along. For organizations to succeed in today’s rapidly changing and increasingly competitive marketplace, intense focus must be applied to aligning human capital with corporate strategy and objectives. The study adopted a comparative research design to enable the researcher describe certain features that he is likely to be interested in. The main focus was on growing young Colleges to well established organization with the aim of investigating the relationship that exists between talent management and employee performance. The objective of the study was to explore whether their exist a correlation between talent management and employees performance in the organization. This study will be useful to the various stakeholders in the human resource department in establishing a clear criterion in dealing with workforce in the organization. The research will be conducted using a survey design approach due to the benefits occurred from it, like easy of evaluation, it saves time and resources which makes it cheap to adopt. The research will also adopt a probability sampling method where simple random sampling technique will be instituted .The data collection methods will include use of interviews and questionnaires. The data collected will be analyzed and presented in a way of table and pie charts. Highly demanding business environment makes it imperative for the organizations to build competence in the form of superior intellectual capital.The talent has to be spotted, carefully nurtured and most importantly preserved. KEYWORDS: Competition, Talent Management and Employee performanc

Analysis of Marketing Communication Tools and Sales Performance in Business Organizations in Kenya. A Case of Public Service Bus Companies in Mombasa.

Marketing communication tools are a fundamental part of a company’s marketing efforts and they include all the messages and media used to communicate with the target market with the intention of increasing product sales. This research project focussed on the analysis of marketing communication tools and sales performance in business organizations. It focussed on the case of public service bus companies operating in Mombasa with a fleet of ten (10) or more buses. It was conducted between March 2014 and June 2014. The study aimed to determine the effects of Advertising, to evaluate the effects of sales promotions, to examine the effects of personal selling and to analyse the effects of Public Relations on the Sales performance of Public service bus companies in Mombasa. It relied on primary and secondary sources of data to provide insights that helped to answer the research questions. The study was based on the Diffusion of innovations theory and The Hierarchy of effects model as its theoretical frameworks. The Descriptive research design was used and Data was collected through personally administered questionnaires. The target population was twenty one (21) bus companies operating in Mombasa and respondents were their Marketing and operational managers. A census of the target population was done and data analysis of the data collected by questionnaires was done using SPSS software. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis was used to describe the findings after which presentation was done using tables and pie charts. Findings showed there is a positive relationship between Advertising budgets and ticket sales because an increase in Advertising budgets led to an increase in ticket sales. The respondents strongly agreed that Advertising and Sales promotions affect the sales performance of the bus companies in Mombasa to a very great extent, Personal selling moderately affects the sales performance while Public Relations was found to have the lowest effect on the sales performance. The study concluded that Advertising and Sales Promotion affect sales performance of the bus companies the most, Personal selling affects sales to  a moderate extent while Public Relations has a very low impact on the sales performance of bus companies in Mombasa. The study recommended that the bus companies should develop creative Adverts that emphasise the benefits or unique selling points of the companies’ offers as well as widening the scope of the media used while Sales Promotions should only be used when there is a decline in demand. For personal selling, company employees who deal with customers should be trained in aspects of customer service to affect customer interactions and sales positively. The bus companies should also participate more in Public Relations activities such as Exhibitions and open days to enhance public awareness of the companies and their services or offers. KEYWORDS: Marketing Communication Tools. Sales Performance and Public Bus Servic

An Investigation of Factors Affecting Implementation of Strategic Plans on Registered Non-Govermental Organizations Located at Imenti North District

Strategy implementation skills are not easily mastered, unfortunately. In fact, virtually all managers find implementation the most difficult aspect of their jobs- more difficult than strategy formulation. Managers themselves report that less than half the plans resulting from these efforts are ever implemented. The ability to implement strategies is one of the most valuable of all managerial skills (Higgins, 2004). Non Governmental Organizations are not an exception. In fact, implementation of the planned strategies is one of their major challenges towards achieving their objectives. The purpose of this study was to investigate on the factors affecting implementation of strategic plans in the registered Non-Government Organization located at Imenti North District. The objectives of the study were (a) To find out if organization structure influences implementation of strategies in the registered NGO’s located at Imenti North District (b)to establish if organization culture influences implementation of the strategies in the registered NGO’s located at Imenti North District, (c)to determine if organizational leadership influences implementation of strategies in the registered NGO’s located at Imenti North District and to establish if training and reward influences implementation of strategies in the registered NGO’s located at Imenti North District. The researcher used a survey research design, with a target population of 94 employees in total. From the target population the researcher stratified each organization as a stratum on itself. Then, the researcher collected a sample of 40% from each stratum by a method of simple random sampling. The selected sample was issued with a questionnaire that had both open-ended questions that allowed more information and views of the respondents and closed ended questions  that ensured the respondents are on track of the relevant information. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics and so frequencies were determined and presented in form of tables and figures. KEYWORDS: Strategic Plans and Non-Governmental Organization