Black November (2012) and its social-change potential: reactions from the audience

This article examines, through multiple film screenings and Focus Group Discussions, the potential of Black November (2012) to initiate social change in the 20th anniversary of Ken Saro-Wiwa’s death. Current research on African film is skewed towards broad representations of urban and rural lives, thus making the reception of indigenous popular films an understudied area. Virtually absent in African film scholarship is the reception of the films as agents of potential social change. The nexus between popular films and social change is examined here in the aftermath of failed formalized processes of conflict resolution. Recent popular film reception studies (Krings and Okome, 2013) have transnational foci, which focus on African emigrants’ conditions of life in foreign localities. The paper, therefore, evaluates the impact of popular films on viewers and how they interpret the film as being instrumental in changing oppressive situations in the Niger Delta. It deploys the theory that the arts function as peace-builders and tools for social change among conflicting parties (Shank & Schirch, 2008) in the light of the Niger Delta struggles, particularly those championed by Ken Saro-Wiwa, which are revisited two decades after his internationally-condemned murder. Findings include that Black November cannot function in isolation to produce social change but must work within a broad framework of strategies serving the same goal. // Cet article examine, à travers différentes projections de film et des Groupes de discussion thématiques, le potentiel de Black November (2012) pour initier un changement social au 20ème anniversaire de la mort de Ken Saro-Wiwa. La recherche actuelle sur le film africain est biaisée se concentrant sur des représentations larges des vies urbaines et rurales, si bien que la réception de films populaires autochtones est un domaine sous étudié. La façon dont les films potentiels agents de changement social sont reçus est virtuellement absente comme thème de la recherche sur les films africains. Le lien entre les films populaires et le changement social est examiné ici suite à l’échec de processus formalisés de résolution de conflit. Des études récentes se penchent sur la réception des films cette attention est transnationale. Ces études se concentrent sur les conditions de vie des émigrés africains dans des régions étrangères. L’article évalue par conséquent l’impact des films populaires sur les spectateurs, la façon dont le film est interprété, et son caractère instrumental pour modifier des situations d’oppression dans le Delta du Niger. La théorie qu’il déploie est que les arts fonctionnent comme des constructeurs de paix et des outils de changement social parmi des parties en conflit à la lumière des luttes dans le Delta du Niger, en particulier celle défendue par Ken Saro-Wiwa, qui sont revisitées une vingtaine d’années après son meurtre internationalement dénoncé. On a découvert que Black November ne peut pas fonctionner de façon isolée pour produire un changement social mais doit fonctionner dans un cadre plus vaste de stratégies visant le même objectif

Emerging viral threats in Gabon: health capacities and response to the risk of emerging zoonotic diseases in Central Africa

Emerging infectious diseases (EID) are currently the major threat to public health worldwide and most EID events have involved zoonotic infectious agents. Central Africa in general and Gabon in particular are privileged areas for the emergence of zoonotic EIDs. Indeed, human incursions in Gabonese forests for exploitation purposes lead to intensified contacts between humans and wildlife thus generating an increased risk of emergence of zoonotic diseases. In Gabon, 51 endemic or potential endemic viral infectious diseases have been reported. Among them, 22 are of zoonotic origin and involve 12 families of viruses. The most notorious are dengue, yellow fever, ebola, marburg, Rift Valley fever and chikungunya viruses. Potential EID due to wildlife in Gabon are thereby plentiful and need to be inventoried. The Gabonese Public Health system covers geographically most of the country allowing a good access to sanitary information and efficient monitoring of emerging diseases. However, access to treatment and prevention is better in urban areas where medical structures are more developed and financial means are concentrated even though the population is equally distributed between urban and rural areas. In spite of this, Gabon could be a good field for investigating the emergence or re-emergence of zoonotic EID. Indeed Gabonese health research structures such as CIRMF, advantageously located, offer high quality researchers and facilities that study pathogens and wildlife ecology, aiming toward a better understanding of the contact and transmission mechanisms of new pathogens from wildlife to human, the emergence of zoonotic EID and the breaking of species barriers by pathogens

Does introduction of thresholds in decision aids benefit the patient?: Comparison between findings-based and threshold-based diagnostic decision aids.

PURPOSE: To assess how different diagnostic decision aids perform in terms of sensitivity, specificity, and harm. METHODS: Four diagnostic decision aids were compared, as applied to a simulated patient population: a findings-based algorithm following a linear or branched pathway, a serial threshold-based strategy, and a parallel threshold-based strategy. Headache in immune-compromised HIV patients in a developing country was used as an example. Diagnoses included cryptococcal meningitis, cerebral toxoplasmosis, tuberculous meningitis, bacterial meningitis, and malaria. Data were derived from literature and expert opinion. Diagnostic strategies' validity was assessed in terms of sensitivity, specificity, and harm related to mortality and morbidity. Sensitivity analyses and Monte Carlo simulation were performed. RESULTS: The parallel threshold-based approach led to a sensitivity of 92% and a specificity of 65%. Sensitivities of the serial threshold-based approach and the branched and linear algorithms were 47%, 47%, and 74%, respectively, and the specificities were 85%, 95%, and 96%. The parallel threshold-based approach resulted in the least harm, with the serial threshold-based approach, the branched algorithm, and the linear algorithm being associated with 1.56-, 1.44-, and 1.17-times higher harm, respectively. Findings were corroborated by sensitivity and Monte Carlo analyses. CONCLUSION: A threshold-based diagnostic approach is designed to find the optimal trade-off that minimizes expected harm, enhancing sensitivity and lowering specificity when appropriate, as in the given example of a symptom pointing to several life-threatening diseases. Findings-based algorithms, in contrast, solely consider clinical observations. A parallel workup, as opposed to a serial workup, additionally allows for all potential diseases to be reviewed, further reducing false negatives. The parallel threshold-based approach might, however, not be as good in other disease settings