From defiance to engagement: An evaluation of Shell’s approach to conflict resolution in the Niger Delta

In the course of the lengthy era of military rule in Nigeria, the Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Ltd (Shell) enjoyed robust protection from the State, a scenario that largely left the unrelenting demands of the Niger Delta peoples unheeded. Over the last decade, however, Shell has gradually become responsive to the inevitable need of getting involved in State and non-State initiatives for finding sustainable peace in the Niger Delta region. At formal and informal levels, these initiatives are becoming evident although challenges remain. This essay proceeds from the premise that the Niger Delta conflict is not interminable. Extrapolating from the various efforts made by Shell towards resolving its conflicts with the peoples of the Niger Delta, this essay accentuates some of the missing links between top-down efforts and bottom-up initiatives in building sustainable peace in the region. Drawing from learned  experiences of Shell’s successes and failures as well as of Nigeria’s power relations and institutional architecture, this essay contends that while compensatory gestures could play a major role in the resolution of conflicts, that approach alone cannot guarantee conflict resolution and reconciliation in the Niger Delta. The overarching outcome of this evaluation is an attempt at identifying the entry points of concerted conflict resolution strategies, with practical focus on the short-, medium- and long-term attainment of peace

Mainstreaming women, equating men: Charting an inclusionary approach to transformative development in the African decade for women

A great deal of legal and policy foundation has been laid for promoting gender mainstreaming in development and, since the 1995 International Women’s Conference in Beijing, there have been serious attempts to implement this strategy at various levels. Plausible as the concept may be, this article contends that the status of women can only be advanced through gender mainstreaming strategies that are adapted to each specific culture, place and political context. Following the African Union’s declaration of 2010-2020 as the African Decade for Women, some critical questions engage the dominant ideas of gender equality and mainstreaming in the continent’s ongoing development initiatives. Should men be integrated into development programming and policies relating to women? How can male integration be made most beneficial to the goal of transformative development in Africa? Highlighting relevant normative and institutional interventions, the article demonstrates how an inclusionary approach to gender mainstreaming for development in Africa resonates in such areas as education, sexual and reproductive health, fatherhood and families, work and economy, conflict resolution and domestic violence

Lessons from the pandemic: new best practices in selecting molecular diagnostics for point-of-care testing of infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa

Introduction: Point-of-care molecular diagnostics offer solutions to the limited diagnostic availability and accessibility in resource-limited settings. During the COVID-19 pandemic, molecular diagnostics became essential tools for accurate detection and monitoring of SARS-CoV-2. The unprecedented demand for molecular diagnostics presented challenges and catalyzed innovations which may provide lessons for the future selection of point-of-care molecular diagnostics. Areas Covered: We searched PubMed from January 2020 to August 2023 to identify lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic which may impact the selection of point-of-care molecular diagnostics for future use in sub-Saharan Africa. We evaluated this in the context of REASSURED criteria (Real-time connectivity; Ease of specimen collection; Affordable; Sensitive; Specific; User-friendly; Rapid and robust; Equipment free; and Deliverable to users at the point of need) for point-of-care diagnostics for resource-limited settings. Expert Opinion: The diagnostic challenges and successes during the COVID-19 pandemic affirmed the importance of the REASSURED criteria but demonstrated that these are not sufficient to ensure new diagnostics will be appropriate for public health emergencies. Capacity for rapid scale-up of diagnostic testing and transferability of assays, data, and technology are also important, resulting in updated REST-ASSURED criteria. Few diagnostics will meet all criteria, and trade-offs between criteria will need to be context-specific

Management of Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) in Children: Clinical Practice Guidelines by the Paediatrics Association of Nigeria (PAN)

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Executive summary of the KDIGO 2022 Clinical Practice Guideline for Diabetes Management in Chronic Kidney Disease:an update based on rapidly emerging new evidence

The Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) 2022 Clinical Practice Guideline for Diabetes Management in Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) represents a focused update of the KDIGO 2020 guideline on the topic. The guideline targets a broad audience of clinicians treating people with diabetes and CKD. Topic areas for which recommendations are updated based on new evidence include Chapter 1: Comprehensive care in patients with diabetes and CKD and Chapter 4: Glucose-lowering therapies in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) and CKD. The content of previous chapters on Glycemic monitoring and targets in patients with diabetes and CKD (Chapter 2), Lifestyle interventions in patients with diabetes and CKD (Chapter 3), and Approaches to management of patients with diabetes and CKD (Chapter 5) has been deemed current and was not changed. This guideline update was developed according to an explicit process of evidence review and appraisal. Treatment approaches and guideline recommendations are based on systematic reviews of relevant studies and appraisal of the quality of the evidence, and the strength of recommendations followed the “Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation” (GRADE) approach. Limitations of the evidence are discussed, and areas for which additional research is needed are presented

Executive summary of the 2020 KDIGO Diabetes Management in CKD Guideline:evidence-based advances in monitoring and treatment

THE KIDNEY DISEASE: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) Clinical Practice Guideline for Diabetes Management in Chronic Kidney Disease represents the first KDIGO guideline on this subject. The guideline comes at a time when advances in diabetes technology and therapeutics offer new options to manage the large population of patients with diabetes and chronic kidney disease (CKD) at high risk of poor health outcomes. An enlarging base of high-quality evidence from randomized clinical trials is available to evaluate important new treatments offering organ protection, such as sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists. The goal of the new guideline is to provide evidence-based recommendations to optimize the clinical care of people with diabetes and CKD by integrating new options with existing management strategies. In addition, the guideline contains practice points to facilitate implementation when insufficient data are available to make well-justified recommendations or when additional guidance may be useful for clinical application. The guideline covers comprehensive care of patients with diabetes and CKD, glycemic monitoring and targets, lifestyle interventions, antihyperglycemic therapies, and self-management and health systems approaches to management of patients with diabetes and CKD

Mind the gap? Civil society policy engagement and the pursuit of gender justice: critical discourse analysis of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in Africa 2003–2015

This article presents critical discourse analysis of state and civil society organisations’ efforts to implement the gender mainstreaming goals set out in the United Nations’ Beijing Declaration. It is argued that the latter represents a generational opportunity to apply a Feminist Political Economic Framework to development in Africa. However, the research findings show how current practice falls short of the sought-after participative democratic model of mainstreaming. Instead, analysis reveals significant differences in state and civil society organisations’ policy framing, issues over conceptual clarity and a disjuncture in state and civil society prioritisation of key gendered issues such as poverty, economic inequality and conflict resolution. This matters because it indicates that the capacity of the civil sphere to act as a political arena from which NGOs may challenge the traditionally male-dominated power structures is being undermined by a ‘disconnect’ between state and civil society as they pursue contrasting agendas