Fundamental Rights not so Fundamental? Critique of the Supreme Court Judgment in Law Association of Zambia v. the Attorney General

The article discusses the constitutionality of sections 5 and 6 of the Public Order Act of Zambia. The Law Association of Zambia had unsuccessfully argued in the High Court of Zambia that the sections violated section 20 (Freedom of expression) and 21 (Freedom of assembly) of the Zambian Constitution. The Supreme Court of Zambia upheld the decision of the High Court and held that the sections did not violate sections 20 and 21 of the constitution and were constitutional. This article argues that the Supreme Court decision is wrong and falls short of effectively protecting citizen’s rights of peaceful assembly and expression. It argues that the Supreme Court failed to realise that section 5 (6) fundamentally operates as a limitation on the constitutional rights of citizens to peaceful assembly and expression

Fundamental Rights not so Fundamental? Critique of the Supreme Court Judgment in Law Association of Zambia v. the Attorney General

The article discusses the constitutionality of sections 5 and 6 of the Public Order Act of Zambia. The Law Association of Zambia had unsuccessfully argued in the High Court of Zambia that the sections violated section 20 (Freedom of expression) and 21 (Freedom of assembly) of the Zambian Constitution. The Supreme Court of Zambia upheld the decision of the High Court and held that the sections did not violate sections 20 and 21 of the constitution and were constitutional. This article argues that the Supreme Court decision is wrong and falls short of effectively protecting citizen’s rights of peaceful assembly and expression. It argues that the Supreme Court failed to realise that section 5 (6) fundamentally operates as a limitation on the constitutional rights of citizens to peaceful assembly and expression

Partition distribution of selected organochlorine pesticides in water, sediment pore water and surface sediment from uMngeni River, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract: Organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) were analysed in surface water, pore water and surface sediment samples collected from the uMngeni River, which is one of the largest rivers in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Liquid-liquid extraction was used to extract the analytes from water and pore water samples and soxhlet extraction was used to extract sediment samples with subsequent florisil clean-up and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Twelve selected OCPs were analysed and their total concentrations were found to range from 8.04–21.06 ng/mL, 36.06–188.43 ng/mL and 148.17–554.73 ng/g in unfiltered surface water, unfiltered pore water and surface sediment (dry weight (dw)), respectively. The results indicated that the concentrations of these selected pesticides were far higher in sediment (72%) than in pore water (25%) and water (3%). The most polluted sites were Northern Wastewater Treatment influent (NWTI) for water (Σ12OCP = 19.41 ± 1.43 ng/mL) and Northern Wastewater Treatment effluent (NWTE) for pore water (Σ12 OCP = 166.23 ± 7.16 ng/mL) and sediment (Σ12 OCP = 495.21 ± 32.38 ng/g). The most abundant individual OCPs and their average concentrations in general in the river were p,p′-DDE in unfiltered water (1.62 ±0.22 ng/mL) and unfiltered sediment pore water (17.09 ±7.96 ng/mL), and endrin in surface sediment (55.57 ± 19.01 ng/g, dw)

The Journey to R4D: An institutional history of an Australian Initiative on Food Security in Africa

Internal Revie

Indicators to complement global monitoring of safely managed on-site sanitation to understand health risks

Halfway through the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) period, there has been little research on the criteria for monitoring safely managed sanitation under SDG target 6.2. For reporting against SDGs, global indicators are necessarily limited and exclude many safety aspects from a public health perspective. Primary survey data from 31,784 households in seven countries in Asia and Africa were analysed, comparing estimates of safely managed on-site sanitation based on global indicators with five complementary indicators of safety: animal access to excreta, groundwater contamination, overdue emptying, entering containments to empty and inadequate protection during emptying. Application of additional criteria reduced the population with safely managed sanitation by 0.4–35% for specific indicators, with the largest impact due to the risk of groundwater contamination, animal access, and containments overdue for emptying. Combining these indicators across the service chain, excluding transport and treatment, found almost three-quarters of on-site systems currently assessed as safely managed with global indicators were considered unsafe based on complementary indicators. A more comprehensive assessment of safety of on-site sanitation can be achieved through these indicators, which could be integrated into national monitoring systems and used to inform sanitation investments that address local health-related risks

Experience and Challenges from Clinical Trials with Malaria Vaccines in Africa.

Malaria vaccines are considered amongst the most important modalities for potential elimination of malaria disease and transmission. Research and development in this field has been an area of intense effort by many groups over the last few decades. Despite this, there is currently no licensed malaria vaccine. Researchers, clinical trialists and vaccine developers have been working on many approached to make malaria vaccine available.African research institutions have developed and demonstrated a great capacity to undertake clinical trials in accordance to the International Conference on Harmonization-Good Clinical Practice (ICH-GCP) standards in the last decade; particularly in the field of malaria vaccines and anti-malarial drugs. This capacity is a result of networking among African scientists in collaboration with other partners; this has traversed both clinical trials and malaria control programmes as part of the Global Malaria Action Plan (GMAP). GMAP outlined and support global strategies toward the elimination and eradication of malaria in many areas, translating in reduction in public health burden, especially for African children. In the sub-Saharan region the capacity to undertake more clinical trials remains small in comparison to the actual need.However, sustainability of the already developed capacity is essential and crucial for the evaluation of different interventions and diagnostic tools/strategies for other diseases like TB, HIV, neglected tropical diseases and non-communicable diseases. There is urgent need for innovative mechanisms for the sustainability and expansion of the capacity in clinical trials in sub-Saharan Africa as the catalyst for health improvement and maintained

Determinants of antibody persistence across doses and continents after single-dose rVSV-ZEBOV vaccination for Ebola virus disease: an observational cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus (rVSV) vaccine expressing the Zaire Ebola virus (ZEBOV) glycoprotein is efficacious in the weeks following single-dose injection, but duration of immunity is unknown. We aimed to assess antibody persistence at 1 and 2 years in volunteers who received single-dose rVSV-ZEBOV in three previous trials. METHODS: In this observational cohort study, we prospectively followed-up participants from the African and European phase 1 rVSV-ZEBOV trials, who were vaccinated once in 2014-15 with 300 000 (low dose) or 10-50 million (high dose) plaque-forming units (pfu) of rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine to assess ZEBOV glycoprotein (IgG) antibody persistence. The primary outcome was ZEBOV glycoprotein-specific IgG geometric mean concentrations (GMCs) measured yearly by ELISA compared with 1 month (ie, 28 days) after immunisation. We report GMCs up to 2 years (Geneva, Switzerland, including neutralising antibodies up to 6 months) and 1 year (Lambaréné, Gabon; Kilifi, Kenya) after vaccination and factors associated with higher antibody persistence beyond 6 months, according to multivariable analyses. Trials and the observational study were registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (Geneva: NCT02287480 and NCT02933931; Kilifi: NCT02296983) and the Pan-African Clinical Trials Registry (Lambaréné PACTR201411000919191). FINDINGS: Of 217 vaccinees from the original studies (102 from the Geneva study, 75 from the Lambaréné study, and 40 from the Kilifi study), 197 returned and provided samples at 1 year (95 from the Geneva study, 63 from the Lambaréné, and 39 from the Kilifi study) and 90 at 2 years (all from the Geneva study). In the Geneva group, 44 (100%) of 44 participants who had been given a high dose (ie, 10-50 million pfu) of vaccine and who were seropositive at day 28 remained seropositive at 2 years, whereas 33 (89%) of 37 who had been given the low dose (ie, 300 000 pfu) remained seropositive for 2 years (p=0·042). In participants who had received a high dose, ZEBOV glycoprotein IgG GMCs decreased significantly between their peak (at 1-3 months) and month 6 after vaccination in Geneva (p0·05). Neutralising antibodies seem to be less durable, with seropositivity dropping from 64-71% at 28 days to 27-31% at 6 months in participants from the Geneva study. INTERPRETATION: Antibody responses to single-dose rVSV-ZEBOV vaccination are sustained across dose ranges and settings, a key criterion in countries where booster vaccinations would be impractical. FUNDING: The Wellcome Trust and Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking