Challenges Facing School Children in Rural Zimbabwe: A Case of Tyunga and Luunga Wards of Binga District

The article provides insight over the challenges facing school children in rural Zimbabwe. A case is drawn from schools in Tyunga and Luunga wards of Binga district. A global overview is given to create a deep understanding of the phenomenon under review. There is rising concern over the hiking challenges bedeviling children in rural areas amidst interventions to improve conditions. Challenges range from economic, environmental, social and sanitation/ health based. The research further provides a revelation of the causes of the challenges which impinge success of school children. The causes are from various angles with others occurring in vicious cycle. Measures put in place by the community to curb the challenges are not spared in this article. A brief highlight is given on the legislation supporting the protection of children. At the end the article gives the recommendations to redress the challenges, together with the need for future study. Hence forth, this paper aims to deeply explore and share the sorrowful circumstances children in Binga are exposed to. Education in itself is a key development driver that, when children get disturbed the development of the country is much demobilized. Such current issues therefore need to be shared on a global scale for the duty bearers to turn their attention to the children in rural remote areas per se. Hence from there on researchers and authorities are tasked to turn their eyes to such apartments so as to gain enough mileage in bringing sustainable development in Africa. Keywords: Children, challenges, rural, child protection, sustainable development

An investigation into the relationship between surface concrete resistivity and chloride conductivity test

Includes bibliographical references.The chloride conductivity test (CCT) is a South African-developed Durability Index (DI) test used for the evaluation and quantification of the quality of concrete cover. It is also used as an input parameter for service life prediction (SLP) of RC structures in the marine environment, using a modified version of Crank’s solution to Fick’s second law of diffusion. The surface concrete resistivity test is an electrochemical test that has a good correlation with the concrete chloride diffusion process. The surface concrete resistivity test is used as a quick way to determine the durability of concrete. The purpose of this study was to provide an in-depth literature review on surface concrete resistivity and investigate its use for the design and prediction of durability in RC structures. The study also compared and contrasted surface concrete resistivity with CCT, using results from previous work, in terms of their application in the design of RC structures. Thereafter, the study investigated the relationship between surface concrete resistivity and CCT. The study was carried out by comparing laboratory and field surface concrete resistivity with CCT results. Then, corrosion initiation periods (CIP’s) and diffusion coefficients were estimated using Mackechnie’s (1996) CCT SLP model as well as surface concrete resistivity models by Andrade (2004) and Baroghel-Bouny et al. (2009). Input parameters for the model such as surface concrete resistivity and CCT results were based on measurements from a previous study. It was found that moisture gradients, chloride contamination and temperature gradients easily influence concrete electrical resistivity testing done in-situ. The input parameters for the surface concrete resistivity models were restricted to laboratory results. The analysis revealed that for blended cement concrete, w/b ratio has a greater influence on chloride conductivity than binder type. It was observed that using a different binder type has a greater influence on surface concrete resistivity at a high w/b ratio than a low one. In addition, decreasing the w/b ratio for GGBS concrete is more effective than decreasing it for FA concrete in influencing the surface concrete resistivity. Andrade’s surface concrete resistivity SLP model resulted in similar CIP values as the CCT model for CEM I only concrete and slag concrete at 0.40 w/b. A constant links the diffusion coefficients from surface concrete resistivity and CCT models. An inverse relationship was found between surface concrete resistivity and the diffusion coefficient calculated from the CCT SLP model

Economic shocks, poverty and household food insecurity in urban Zambia: an ethnographic account of Chingola

Includes bibliographical references.Research on poverty and food insecurity in sub-Saharan Africa has tended to focus on rural households and urban areas known to have concentrations of low-income households. However, consequences and effects of the recent global economic crisis such as retrenchment coupled with increasing food and fuel prices have played a major role in generating many newly poor households. The economic crisis came at a time when most developing countries were still struggling with impoverishment mainly caused by Structural Adjustment Programs (SAP). SAPs laid bare the acute vulnerability of the urban dwellers to the slightest addition al shock such as economic shocks or high food prices. In view of these effects, this study was conducted in Chingola in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia to examine the impact of economic shocks on the food security of middle class households in urban areas. Focusing on one aspect of the economic shock (retrenchments), the thesis shows how once middle class households in Chingola perceived, experienced and grappled with retrenchment in the context of increasing urban poverty and high food prices. The central thesis is that due to the rising pattern of urban risk, it is not only the rural or structural urban poor that are vulnerable to food insecurity but middle class urban households too. The study employed a mixed-method approach, which took place in two main sequential data collection phases - the quantitative component served as a basis for the sampling of cases for the qualitative component. The findings revealed that food security of the retrenched households was compromised by the economic crisis with approximately 7.4 % food secure, 4.2% mildly food insecure, 19 .1 % moderately food insecure and 69 .3 % severely food insecure. A compounding factor was that there were insufficient social protection services by government and NGOs to assist households to increase resilience to food insecurity. To survive, households employed close to thirty different strategies and tactics such as letting their houses, limiting their consumption and engaging in lucrative but unlawful activities - illegal mining, prostitution and theft. In light of these findings, the study makes a contribution to urban development and specifically to the emerging field of urban food security as it departs from the more traditional focus on the ‘old poor’ by giving specific attention to previously middle income households’ food security in the context of widespread economic shocks within the formal economy. Furthermore, it contributes to the debate on retrenchment literature by providing new information, for example, on how urban dwellers deal with shocks and the mechanisms used to help them survive in a globalised environment. Lastly, the study contributes to literature on the livelihoods of Copperbelt residents as very few scholars have explored the lives of the residents since the implementation of SAPs and the subsequent economic decline in the area

Assessing palliative care needs in children with HIV and cancer: the case of children attending University teaching hospital in Zambia

Includes bibliographical referencesBackground: WHO has been advocating for provision of palliative care for all who need it according to needs and context. Though significant advances have been achieved in providing palliative care for adults in Sub Saharan Africa, very little progress has been made in providing paediatric palliative care. Coverage of paediatric palliative care services have remained low and there is lack of evidence on child specific palliative care needs and tools for assessing these needs. This study tested applicability of some tools for assessing palliative needs in children in the Zambian context and reports palliative care needs of children and their families attending the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka, Zambia Methodology: This was a mixed study with quantitative and qualitative components. The quantitative component assessed and applied 2 new research tools for assessing palliative care needs in children attending University teaching hospital in Lusaka, Zambia. The tools assessed included the Needs Evaluations questionnaire (NEQ) and the paedsQL4 questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha was used to determine reliability while factor analysis was used to identify relevant factors. Focus group discussions were conducted with selected group of parents/legal guardians of children. In-depth interviews were conducted with key informants. All participants were purposely selected to take part in the study and were informed about the voluntary nature of the study. Results: The NEQ and the paedsQL4 questionnaires were both found to be reliable for assessing palliative care needs for children in the Zambian context (Cronbach's alpha >0.8). Generally there were very high need gaps across all hospital wards with 15/23 items having need gap of >50%. Overall the largest need gap was in the information domain. The HIV ward had least need gap with only 8/23 items having a need gap of > 50%. Results from the paedsQL4 showed that there were significant mean differences across the three categories of patients in all domains of functioning with oncology patients performing worst. In physical functioning domain, the items showed that 6/7 items had significant mean differences (p<0.05).Confirmatory factors analysis showed that 2 items were loading highly on the physical functioning factor. These were running and participating in sports (0.896).In the emotional functioning domain, 2 items loaded highly on factor analysis, feeling sad (0.842 and angry (0.666).In the social functioning domain, highest loading were in 2 items, both related to making friends. In the school domain missing school to go to hospital loaded highly on factor analysis (0.842) followed by difficulty paying attention in class (0.716) Qualitative results supported findings from quantitative data. Several needs were highlighted by the parents/guardians and health workers. The major family needs focused on economic/financial and bereavement support. Most families were referred to the UTH from very far off places without any form of support. In line with quantitative findings, there was high demand for information for families which health workers did not adequately provide. One major barrier identified to provision of palliative care was poor coordination of services with most patients missing out on services which were already available. While social workers were available, poor funding negatively affected this service. There were very few trained health workers in palliative care. Pain management remained poor with many clinicians still not comfortable to prescribe stronger analgesia such as morphine for severe pain. Conclusion: This study applied two quantitative tools for assessing palliative care needs in Children. The results showed that the tools were fairly reliable and applicable in the Zambian context. The findings indicate huge needs gap for child palliative care services in Zambia. The major family needs were economic and bereavement support. There was high demand for information for families which health workers did not adequately provide. Pain control remained sub-optimal especially for children with cancer. One major barrier identified to provision of palliative care was poor coordination of services

Tuberculosis, HIV, food insecurity, and poverty in rural Zambia : an ethnographic account of the Southern province

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 162-184).The thesis is based on fieldwork conducted in Pemba/Batoka in the Southern part of Zambia between September 2006 and July 2007. The core approach of fieldwork was case studies of nine people (four women and five men) who were suffering from TB, and their households; and a comparative sample of seven households that did not have a TB patient. The participatory methods included time lines, seasonal calendars, observation and semi-structured interviews. The main aim of all methods was to find out how the nine TB patients experienced life in a wider social context, the problems they faced within their households in terms of food security and accessing both TB and HIV treatment