Inspiring a Shared Vision: Getting all the Teachers in the Bandwagon

Effective organizations have often been associated with the kind of leadership practice exercised in such organizations. When schools are not performing well, the blame is usually put on the principal who is the leader of the school. This study explored the relationship between secondary school Principals’ transformational leadership practice of inspiring a shared vision and students’ academic performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE).  The study was carried out in Nairobi County, Kenya. Stratified sampling process was used to ensure that both public and private schools in Nairobi were captured in the study.  Leadership behaviour was measured using the Leadership Practices Inventory-(“Self” and “others”). Correlational research design was employed in data analysis. Pearson correlations were used to establish if there was a relationship between transformational leadership characteristics and academic performance. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test if a relationship existed between selected demographic characteristics and the interaction of leadership characteristics of principals’ and students’ academic performance. To test relationships between principals’ ratings and teachers’ ratings, ratings of male principals and female principals, t-test was used. Results indicated a positive correlation of “Inspiring a shared vision”. It was recommended that secondary school principals should exhibit transformational leadership of inspiring a shared vision   in order to succeed in today’s changing world of educational leadership. Keywords: Transformational leadership, inspiring a shared vision, secondary school principals, teachers, academic performanc

Characterisation of productivity and diseases affecting dairy goats in smallholder systems of Greater Thika Region, Kenya

The current cross-sectional study aimed at characterising the productivity and diseases affecting dairy goats kept by smallholder farmers in three sub-counties in Thika Region, Kenya. Standard questionnaires were administered to 240 farmers through face-to-face interviews and the outputs were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The farmers mainly kept crosses of Toggenburg (45.9 %), Kenyan Alpine (29.5 %) and Saanen (17.4 %) dairy goats. The average dairy goat flock size was 4.5 (range 1–23) and 77.5 % of the goats were kept for production of milk for domestic consumption. The average milk production per goat per day was 1.26 litres (range 0.5 to 3.5 litres) and was significantly (p 0.05) associated with sub-county of origin, main occupation of the owner, breed, and lactation stages. Goats were mainly fed on napier grass, maize stovers, natural grass and hay; and these feeds did not influence (p 0.05) the milk production levels. The farmers identified helminthosis (84.6 %), pneumonia (32.9 %), coccidiosis (25.8 %) and mastitis (25 %), as the most prevalent goat diseases. In conclusion, the study showed that dairy goat farming in greater Thika Region was characterised by low-input with an objective of provision of milk for home consumption. The observed challenges of low milk productivity and diseases should be addressed by the local extension workers through training on improved husbandry, nutrition and health management of the dairy goats

Understanding and acting on the developmental origins of health and disease in Africa would improve health across generations.

Data from many high- and low- or middle-income countries have linked exposures during key developmental periods (in particular pregnancy and infancy) to later health and disease. Africa faces substantial challenges with persisting infectious disease and now burgeoning non-communicable disease.This paper opens the debate to the value of strengthening the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) research focus in Africa to tackle critical public health challenges across the life-course. We argue that the application of DOHaD science in Africa to advance life-course prevention programmes can aid the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, and assist in improving health across generations. To increase DOHaD research and its application in Africa, we need to mobilise multisectoral partners, utilise existing data and expertise on the continent, and foster a new generation of young African scientists engrossed in DOHaD

Development of a small and sick newborn clinical audit tool and its implementation guide using a human-centred design approach newborn clinical audit process and design.

Clinical audits are an important intervention that enables health workers to reflect on their practice and identify and act on modifiable gaps in the care provided. To effectively audit the quality of care provided to the small and sick newborns, the clinical audit process must use a structured tool that comprehensively covers the continuum of newborn care from immediately after birth to the period of newborn unit care. The objective of the study was to co-design a newborn clinical audit tool that considered the key principles of a Human Centred Design approach. A three-step Human Centred Design approach was used that began by (1) understanding the context, the users and the available audit tools through literature, focus group discussions and a consensus meeting that was used to develop a prototype audit tool and its implementation guide, (2) the prototype audit tool was taken through several cycles of reviewing with users on real cases in a high volume newborn unit and refining it based on their feedback, and (3) the final prototype tool and the implementation guide were then tested in two high volume newborn units to determine their usability. Several cycles of evaluation and redesigning of the prototype audit tool revealed that the users preferred a comprehensive tool that catered to human factors such as reduced free text for ease of filling, length of the tool, and aesthetics. Identified facilitators and barriers influencing the newborn clinical audit in Kenyan public hospitals informed the design of an implementation guide that builds on the strengths and overcomes the barriers. We adopted a Human Centred Design approach to developing a newborn clinical audit tool and an implementation guide that we believe are comprehensive and consider the characteristics of the context of use and the user requirements

Scripts and analyses for polygyny in ant-plants

This zipped folder contains scripts and analyses for Boyle et al., Polygyny does not explain the superior competitive ability of dominant ant associates in the African ant plant, Acacia (Vachellia) drepanolobium

Data from: Polygyny does not explain the superior competitive ability of dominant ant associates in the African ant-plant, Acacia (Vachellia) drepanolobium

1. The Acacia drepanolobium (also known as Vachellia drepanolobium) ant-plant symbiosis is considered a classic case of species coexistence, in which four species of tree-defending ants compete for nesting space in a single host tree species. Coexistence in this system has been explained by trade-offs in the ability of the ant associates to compete with each other for occupied trees versus the ability to colonize unoccupied trees. 2. We seek to understand the proximal reasons for how and why the ant species vary in competitive or colonizing abilities, which are largely unknown. 3. In this study, we use RADseq derived SNPs to identify relatedness of workers in colonies to test the hypothesis that competitively dominant ants reach large colony sizes due to polygyny, i.e., the presence of multiple egg-laying queens in a single colony. 4. We find that variation in polygyny is not associated with competitive ability; in fact, the most dominant species, unexpectedly, showed little evidence of polygyny. We also use these markers to investigate variation in mating behavior among the ant species, and find that different species vary in the number of males fathering the offspring of each queen. Finally, we show that the nature of polygyny varies between the two commonly polygynous species, Crematogaster mimosae and Tetraponera penzigi: in C. mimosae, queens in the same colony are often related, while this is not the case for T. penzigi. 5. These results shed light on factors influencing the evolution of species coexistence in an ant-plant mutualism, as well as demonstrating the effectiveness of RADseq-derived SNPs for parentage analysis

Understanding and acting on the developmental origins of health and disease in Africa would improve health across generations.

Data from many high- and low- or middle-income countries have linked exposures during key developmental periods (in particular pregnancy and infancy) to later health and disease. Africa faces substantial challenges with persisting infectious disease and now burgeoning non-communicable disease.This paper opens the debate to the value of strengthening the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) research focus in Africa to tackle critical public health challenges across the life-course. We argue that the application of DOHaD science in Africa to advance life-course prevention programmes can aid the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, and assist in improving health across generations. To increase DOHaD research and its application in Africa, we need to mobilise multisectoral partners, utilise existing data and expertise on the continent, and foster a new generation of young African scientists engrossed in DOHaD

High prevalence of vaccine‐preventable anal human papillomavirus infections is associated with HIV infection among gay, bisexual, and men who have sex with men in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract Background Human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is associated with anal cancers and is more prevalent in gay, bisexual, and men who have sex with men (gbMSM), partly due to their vulnerability to HIV infection. Baseline HPV genotype distributions and risk factors can inform the design of next‐generation HPV vaccines to prevent anal cancer. Methods A cross‐sectional study was conducted among gbMSM receiving care at a HIV/STI clinic in Nairobi, Kenya. Anal swabs were genotyped using a Luminex microsphere array. Multiple logistic regression methods were used to identify risk factors for four HPV outcomes (any HPV, any HR‐HPV, and 4‐ and 9‐valent vaccine‐preventable HPVs). Results Among 115 gbMSM, 51 (44.3%) were HIV‐infected. Overall HPV prevalence was 51.3%; 84.3% among gbMSM living with HIV and 24.6% among gbMSM without HIV (p < 0.001). One‐third (32.2%) had HR‐HPV and the most prevalent vaccine‐preventable HR‐HPV genotypes were 16, 35, 45, and 58. HPV‐18 was uncommon (n = 2). The 9‐valent Gardasil vaccine would have prevented 61.0% of HPV types observed in this population. In multivariate analyses, HIV status was the only significant risk factor for any HPV (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]:23.0, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 7.3–86.0, p < 0.001) and for HR‐HPV (aOR: 8.9, 95% CI: 2.8–36.0, p < 0.001). Similar findings were obtained for vaccine‐preventable HPVs. Being married to a woman significantly increased the odds of having HR‐HPV infections (aOR: 8.1, 95% CI: 1.6–52.0, p = 0.016). Conclusions GbMSM living with HIV in Kenya are at higher risk of anal HPV infections including genotypes that are preventable with available vaccines. Our findings support the need for a targeted HPV vaccination campaign in this population

Recruiting the social contacts of patients with STI for HIV screening in Lilongwe, Malawi: process evaluation and assessment of acceptability

OBJECTIVES: To explore acceptability of recruiting social contacts for HIV and STI screening in Lilongwe, Malawi. METHODS: In this observational study, three groups of “seed” patients were enrolled: 45 HIV-infected STI patients, 45 HIV-uninfected STI patients, and 45 community controls, who were also tested for HIV as part of the study. Each seed was given five coupons and asked to recruit up to five social contacts to the STI clinic. Seeds were told the programme for contacts would include HIV testing, STI screening, and general health promotion. Seeds were asked to return after one month to report on the contact recruitment process. Seeds received $2 for each successfully recruited contact. RESULTS: Eighty-nine seeds (66%) returned for one-month follow-up with no difference between the three seed groups (p=0.9). Returning seeds reported distributing most of their coupons (mean=4.1) and discussing each feature of the programme with most contacts—HIV testing (90%), STI screening (87%), and health promotion (91%). Seeds reported discussing their own HIV status with most contacts (52%), with a lower proportion of HIV-infected seeds discussing their HIV status (22%) than HIV-uninfected seeds (81%) or community seeds (64%) (p<0.001). Contact recruitment did not vary with socioeconomic status. CONCLUSIONS: Most seeds distributed all coupons and reported describing all aspects of the programme to most contacts. STI patients are able to act as health promoters within their social networks and may be a critical link to increasing STI and HIV status awareness among high risk groups