Ethnobotanical study of cultivated yellow nutsedge, (Cyperus esculentus L.) in Burkina Faso

The yellow nutsedge, Cyperus esculentus L. is an herbaceous species whose tubers are the edible parts. The tubers are very popular with children, and can be eaten raw, fried or after processing into a drink (Horchata). However, it does not exist in Burkina, a centralized collection and studies on the genetic variability, the socio-cultural and economic aspects of this species. In order to identify the morphotypes and to welcome the peasant knowledge on the management of the, yellow nutsedge, a prospection followed by collection of tubers were carried out in the main areas of production of this crop. A total of 22 villages in eight districts were visited and 108 accessions of tubers were collected. It emerges from this study that the cultivation is mainly practiced by women (97% of farmers). The cultivated yellow nutsedge is adapted to drought and to several types of soil. In addition, farmers classify the tubers according to their shape and size. Thus, the spherical tubers are qualified as "small tubers the non-spherical tubers as" large tubers. The number of tubers produced per foot varies from 20 to 60. Farmers use phenotypic characters, sexual dimorphism and ethnicity to name accessions for sweet peas. Vernacular names and methods of producing yellow nutsedge vary by region and ethnicity. According to the respondents, 84.34% think that the nut is of Burkinabé origin, 9.26% Ghanaian, 1.85% from Mali and 5.35% have no answers. There is great diversity in local knowledge and accessions collected in Burkina.Keywords: Ethnobotany, tubers, accessions, morphotypes

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

The impact of health warnings in the fight against smoking in Burkina Faso

La consommation de la cigarette constitue de nos jours un problème de santé publique. L’OMS a mis plusieurs outils à la disposition des Etats, dont les avertissements sanitaires pour lutter contre le tabagisme. Au Burkina Faso, l’avertissement sanitaire actuel en vigueur est sous forme textuelle de petite taille. La littérature en marketing social s’est intéressée à l’impact des avertissements sanitaires textuels et visuels sur les réactions affectives, cognitives et conatives des fumeurs et des non-fumeurs. Des divergences existent toujours sur l’efficacité des avertissements sanitaires de façon générale et de façon particulière, ceux qui suscitent des émotions négatives. Aussi très peu de recherches ont été réalisées sur des individus non-lettrés. Partant de ces constats, la présente thèse s’est fixée pour objectif de tester l’impact sur les fumeurs et les non-fumeurs, de l’avertissement sanitaire textuel actuel en vigueur au Burkina Faso et des 72 nouveaux avertissements sanitaires visuels proposés par l’OMS pour les pays africains. Nous avons mené une étude qualitative à travers des entretiens individuels. Les résultats indiquent que l’avertissement sanitaire textuel actuel a peu d’impact sur les réactions affectives, cognitives et les intentions comportementales des fumeurs et des non-fumeurs. En revanche, les avertissements sanitaires visuels ont plus d’impact sur les fumeurs et les non-fumeurs comparativement à l’avertissement sanitaire textuel. Les avertissements sanitaires qui suscitent plus d’émotions négatives (peur) ont plus d’impact sur l’intention comportementale des fumeurs et des non-fumeurs. Une étude quantitative a ensuite été réalisée pour comparer l’avertissement sanitaire textuel actuel en vigueur au Burkina Faso à 4 nouveaux avertissements sanitaires visuels choisis parmi les 72, à l’issue de l’étude qualitative. Les résultats de l’étude quantitative vont dans le sens de ceux de l’étude qualitative. A l’exception de la variable « lecture », le niveau d’instruction des fumeurs (lettré ou non-lettré) n’exerce pas une influence sur l’impact des avertissements sanitaires. Le sexe et la tranche d’âge des individus n’ont pas aussi d’effet significatif sur l’impact des avertissements sanitaires. La présente thèse contribue à enrichir la littérature sur les avertissements sanitaires dans les pays en développement et sur des cibles non-lettrées. Sur le plan de la santé publique, nos résultats suggèrent l’apposition des avertissements sanitaires visuels sur les paquets de cigarettes au Burkina Faso pour la lutte contre le tabagisme.Smoking cigarettes is nowadays a public health issue. The World Health Organization has made several tools available to the States, including health warnings for nicotinism. In Burkina Faso, the current health warning in force is in small size textual form. Social marketing literature has focused on the impact of textual and visual health warnings on the affective, cognitive and conative responses of smokers and non-smokers. Divergences still exist on the effectiveness of health warnings in a general way and particularly, those which arouse negative emotions. Thus, very little research has been carried out on illiterate individuals. Based on these observations, the present thesis aims to test the impact on smokers and non-smokers, of the current textual health warning in force in Burkina Faso and the 72 new visual health warnings proposed by the WHO for African countries. We conducted a qualitative study through individual interviews. The results show that the current textual health warning has little impact on the emotional, cognitive and behavioral intents of smokers and non-smokers. But, visual health warnings have a greater impact on smokers and non-smokers compared to the textual health warning. Health warnings that cause more negative emotions (fear) have more impact on the behavioral intent of smokers and non-smokers. A quantitative study has then been carried out to compare the current textual health warning in force in Burkina Faso with 4 new visual health warnings selected from the 72, following the qualitative study. The quantitative study’s results are in line with those of the qualitative study. With the exception of the « reading » variable, smokers’ level of education (literate or non-literate) does not influence the impact of health warnings. Gender and age range of individuals do not also have a significant effect on the impact of health warnings. This thesis helps to enrich the literature on health warnings in developing countries and on non-literate people. In terms of public health, our results suggest the addition of visual health warnings on cigarette packets in Burkina Faso to fight against smoking

Participation, coopération et développement : le cas du réseau des caisses populaires du Burkina Faso

La gestion participative constitue de nos jours un outil de plus en plus utilisé dans les organisations pour amener les travailleurs à s'identifier à l'entreprise et, par ce fait même, accroître sa productivité. Dans les organisations coopératives, l'importance de la participation relève non seulement du souci de garantir la rentabilité économique mais surtout de la nécessaire application d'un principe de base qui est la démocratie coopérative. Malgré l'importance qui lui est accordée, la mise en application de la participation fait souvent face à des obstacles qu'il faut nécessairement surmonter. La présente étude vise dans un premier temps à identifier, dans le contexte du Burkina Faso, les principaux paramètres qui affectent les attitudes de participation dans les caisses populaires. Dans un deuxième temps, elle se propose de dégager des voies d'action dont l'application entraînera une meilleure implication des membres dans l'orientation et dans la gestion des caisses populaires. Pour accomplir ce travail, nous nous sommes appuyé sur un cadre d'analyse à quatre dimensions. Ce sont la satisfaction des besoins et attentes des membres, le système de récompense, le système gestionnaire et les caractéristiques personnelles. Ce modèle a été testé auprès de quarante-six dirigeants et douze gestionnaires de caisses populaires. D'une façon générale, les résultats issus de cette étude nous ont permis de mettre en évidence un certain nombre de facteurs qui ont une influence significative sur les attitudes de participation dans les caisses populaires: - insuffisance des activités d'éducation et de formation pour les membres, les dirigeants et les employés; - inexistence d'un mécanisme adapté de communication et d'information; - poids des Unions sur les caisses de base caractérisé par l'absence, d'une part, de mécanisme de consultation des membres et, d'autre part, par la détermination unilatérale des services offerts dans les caisses populaires; - faible implication des caisses dans leur milieu et faible diversification des services; - inadéquation de la démarche d'implantation et de développement des caisses populaires; - absence de récompense pour la participation. À la lumière des faiblesses décelées tout au long de l'étude, cinq recommandations ont été formulées. La première invite à la restructuration des services d'appui du RCPB pour tenir compte de sa double qualité de Mouvement et d'Institution financière. La deuxième va dans le sens de l'amélioration de la démarche d'implantation et de développement des caisses. La troisième vise à améliorer le style de leadership. La quatrième recommandation préconise l'utilisation des médias (radio, télévision) comme moyen d'information et de formation des membres et du grand public. La cinquième et dernière recommandation invite le Réseau à s'impliquer dans les activités d'alphabétisation en faveur des membres

Frequency and Mortality Risk Factors of Acute Ischemic Stroke in Emergency Department in Burkina Faso

Objective. To determine the prevalence of ischemic stroke deaths and their predictive factors in the Emergency Department at Yalgado Ouedraogo University Teaching Hospital (YOUTH). Methodology. This was a retrospective study with an analytical and descriptive focus over a period of three years from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2017. Results. During the study period, 302 acute ischemic stroke patients with a mean age of 62.2±14.26 years were included. Atrial hypertension was the most common vascular risk factor in 52.5%. On admission, 34.8% of patients had loss of consciousness. The mean time to perform brain CT was 1.5 days. The average length of stay was 4 days. Electrocardiogram, echocardiography, and cervical Doppler were not performed during hospitalization in ED. The mortality rate was 39%, respectively, 37.6% in male and 41.6% in female. The mean age of patients who died in ED was 63.6±13.52 years. Hypertension was the most common vascular risk factors in 54.2% of death. After logistic regression, the predictors of death were past history of heart disease, consciousness disorders, hyperthermia, hyperglycemia on admission, poststroke pneumonia, and urinary tract infection. Conclusions. Acute ischemic stroke was frequent in Emergency Department with high mortality rate. The mortality risk factors were the same than those found in literature. This higher mortality can be avoided by early diagnosis and an adequate management