“Women’s Three Bodies”: An Anthropological Perspective on Barriers to Safe Abortion Services in Kibera Informal Settlements, Nairobi, Kenya

Background: Abortion remains a critical determinant of maternal morbidity and mortality in Kenya. Recent studies on induced abortion estimated an annual abortion incidence of 48 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age, which is higher than other East African countries. In 2010, the Kenyan Constitution widened the provisions under which women qualified for safe abortions. However, majority of women still seek abortion services from unqualified providers. Using an interpretive, meaning-centered approach, this study aims to explore the barriers to safe abortion services in Kibera informal settlements, Nairobi Kenya.Subjects and Method: This was a cross-sectional study encompassing both qualitative and quantitative research methods. We used different sampling techniques (convenient, purposive and snow ball methods) to recruit our study participants (n=55). Quantitative data was collected using a survey questionnaire and data was analyzed by SPSS version 21. Qualitatively, data was collected using Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), Key Informant interviews and case study narratives. This involved note taking and audio recordings, which were transcribed verbatim and thematically analyzed using QSR Nvivo 21 software.Results: This study revealed that women’s decisions to procure abortion are influenced by a myriad of complex factors: a multiplicity of meanings regarding abortion, as provided by the law or as dictated by cultures or religion. Women’s access to safe abortion services were also determined by their ability to afford the procedure and to identify and reach a health care provider who offered the services.Conclusions: Legal access to abortion does not simultaneously ensure access to safe abortion services. Policy makers and health promoters need to work towards changing the socio-economic and religious forces that hamper access to safe abortions. Safe and affordable abortion services to women in Kenya including post abortion care need also be ensured.Keywords: barriers, access, safe abortion, KenyaCorrespondence: Edna Nyanchama Bosire, MRC/Wits Developmental Pathways for Health Research Unit (DPHRU), School of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. 27 St Andrews Road, Parktown, Johannesburg, South Africa. Email: [email protected]. Telephone: 011 717 2383.Journal of Maternal and Child Health (2019), 4(2): 97-109https://doi.org/10.26911/thejmch.2019.04.02.0

The piggery business: Strengthening the financial and management capacities of pig producers in Uganda

Irish Ai

Feeding dairy cattle: a manual for smallholder dairy farmers and extension workers in East Africa

This booklet is designed to guide extension workers and possibly smallholder dairy farmers through the basics of feeding dairy animals. It includes essential background information as well as practical advice and suggestions. By better understanding how a cow digests its food, the importance of providing a balanced diet, how nutritional needs vary at different stages of the animal's life and how different types of feed can meet these needs, dairy farmers will be able to get the most benefit from their investment and keep their valuable animals healthy and productive

Economic losses associated with respiratory and helminth infections in domestic pigs in Lira district, Northern Uganda.

This study sought to quantify direct economic losses due to respiratory and gastrointestinal (GI) helminth infections in domestic pigs in Uganda. In a longitudinal study design with repeated measures, farm visits were made at 2 month intervals from October 2018 to September 2019. Weaner and grower pigs (n = 288) aged 2-6  months from 94 farms were sampled. The pigs were monitored for growth and screened for exposure to four important respiratory pathogens: porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2), porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSv), Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (M. hyo), Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (App) using ELISA tests. Farm management practices were recorded and used to generate management level scores. Treatment expenses incurred were recorded throughout the study. A mixed effects model was fitted to quantify effects of respiratory and helminth infections on average daily weight gains (ADGs), with farm and pig as random effects. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine differences in mean treatment costs by farm management standard. Financial losses were estimated from average carcass dressing percentage, ADG reductions during fattening (200  days). Results showed a grower pig in a given farm exposed to PRRSv and Ascaris spp. had significantly lower ADG by 17.10 gr/day and 16.80 grams/day respectively, compared to a similar unexposed pig (p < 0.05). Mean treatment costs per pig declined significantly with increase in management standard scores (MSS), from USD 1.13 per pig in MSS 1 (poor management) farms to USD 0.95 for MSS 3 (better management) farms (p < 0.05). We show that monetary losses due to PRRSv and Ascaris spp. infection amounted to USD 6.6 ± 2.7 and 6.50 ± 3.2 (Mean ± SEM) per pig, respectively during 200 days of fattening. This study strengthens evidence that improving management practices to reduce infections mitigates economic losses. To guide interventions, further studies are required to unravel the full extent of indirect economic losses

Questioning private good driven university-community engagement : a Tanzanian case study

This study examined the motives underpinning involvement in community engagement by academics. The broader context of the study is the idea of universities as actors for and contributors to the public good, especially through community engagement. Engaging with communities is associated with the historical social mandate of universities, and is generally framed as a way through which universities participate in addressing pressing social, economic, and moral challenges that confront communities and society at large. However, as illustrated in this study, university-community engagement is also being framed in ways which, though not necessarily antithetical to the pursuit of the public good, treat it as an occasional, peripheral, ‘add on’ activity, geared towards advancing the private interests and benefits of academics. The study illustrates this framing and practice using a case study of community engagement in an African university. The study highlights transactional forms of community engagement, which are at odds with its transformative potential with respect to the public good. We argue that for university-community engagement to become an effective mechanism for advancing the public good, there is a need for universities, and individual academics, to rethink the undergirding principles and values of community engagement and put in place the requisite institutional support to drive community engagement as an institutionalised practice, towards genuine engagement with communities.http://link.springer.com/journal/107342022-01-15hj2021Education Management and Policy Studie

University as regional development agent : a counterfactual analysis of an African University

The contribution of universities to regional development has in the last few decades gained significant currency. Inter alia, this contribution has been through steered national, regional, and institutional policies aimed at enhancing national development, good governance, human capital creation and innovation in an increasing knowledgedependent economy, and through the universities‟ core technologies of teaching and research. Based on empirical findings from an African case study, this paper argues that other forms of contributions to regional development exist, which are neither from deliberate efforts nor steered by direct policies. This article proposes new forms of contributions termed „unintended contributions‟, in which universities become growth poles by virtue of being located in a particular region. Using the counterfactual and „export and import substitution‟ methods of analysis, this study shows the various ways in which a rural university in Cameroon has „contributed to regional development as a „growth pole‟.http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/raer202017-06-30hb2016Occupational Therap

The scholarship of university-community engagement : interrogating Boyer's model

Albeit with different conceptualisations, the engagement between universities and external communi- ties continues to gain significant currency. While the emphasis has been on more socio-economic relevance in a period of significant financial constraints and a changing clientele, a more significant area of engagement has been on promoting the scholarship of engagement towards regional/local development. The praxis and outcomes of community engagement continues to be surrounded by strong debate on issue such as its impact on the core functions of the university, teaching and research. This article sheds light on the community engagement practices from a case-study university in Africa. Using Ernest Boyer’s proposed scholarship of engagement model as a framework, findings provide evidence that, different contextual specificities affect the way university-community engagement practices evolve. The methodology involved an analysis of primary and secondary data collected through interviews with policy and academic staff. The article concludes with an argument that the success of university-community engagement in fostering social and economic development significantly relates to how much the practices of engagement is foregrounded in the universities’ core policy and practice. But also on how much academic scholarship draws on engagement activities. The challenge lies in ensuring this balance.Norwegian Research Development Agency, NORAD.http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ijedudev2017-07-31hb2016Education Management and Policy Studie