Can asymmetries account for the empirical failure of the Fisher effect in South Africa?

This paper investigates whether unobserved asymmetries can account for irregularities in the Fisher effect for the exclusive case of South Africa. This objective is attained by investigating unit roots within a threshold auto-regressive (TAR) models and estimating a threshold vector error correction (TVEC) models for the data. The empirical analysis depicts significant long-run Fisher effects whereas such effects are deficient with regards to the short-run. These results improve on those obtained in preceding studies for South Africa, in the sense of being closely emulated with the original hypothesis as presented by Fisher (1907).South Africa, Fisher effect, Inflation, Interest Rates, Threshold Co-integration

Should home-based HIV testing and counseling services be offered periodically in programs of ARV treatment as prevention? A case study in Likoma (Malawi).

To reduce HIV incidence, prevention programs centered on the use of antiretrovirals require scaling-up HIV testing and counseling (HTC). Home-based HTC services (HBHTC) increase HTC coverage, but HBHTC has only been evaluated during one-off campaigns. Two years after an initial HBHTC campaign ("round 1"), we conducted another HBHTC campaign ("round 2") in Likoma (Malawi). HBHTC participation increased during round 2 among women (from 74 to 83%, P < 0.01). New HBHTC clients were recruited, especially at ages 25 and older. Only 6.9% of women but 15.9% of men remained unreached by HBHTC after round 2. HIV prevalence during round 2 was low among clients who were HIV-negative during round 1 (0.7%), but high among women who received their first ever HIV test during round 2 (42.8%). The costs per newly diagnosed infection increased significantly during round 2. Periodically conducting HBHTC campaigns can further increase HTC, but supplementary interventions to enroll individuals not reached by HBHTC are needed

The Influence of Packaging and Brand Equity on Over-The-Counter Herbal Medicines in Kumasi, Ghana

In today`s competitive business environment, packaging and brand equity provide a competitive advantage to a firm which may increase and maintain its market share. However, the role of packaging in supporting the brand equity is relatively new in the over-the-counter pharmaceutical market and currently, there is a lack of empirical research to uncover its significance in this product segment. This paper seeks to investigate the impact of packaging on brand equity through the mediating effect of dimensions of brand equity in the over-the-counter drug market in Kumasi metropolis. Based on Aaker`s customer-based brand equity model, eight hypotheses were formulated and tested through structural equation modelling. Using systematic sampling, data was collected through survey questionnaires from a sample of 348 consumers who patronize in herbal medicines from herbal stores in Kumasi Metropolis. The study found that packaging significantly contributes to support brand equity of plant medicines through the mediating effect of brand awareness, brand association and brand loyalty. These results indicate that brand managers in the plant medicine industry need to consider packaging as an important brand-building tool in their marketing strategy to enhance brand equity in the over-the-counter pharmaceutical market. This will enh0ance their competitive distinctiveness in the over-the-counter market.&nbsp

The Link between Brand Equity and Loyalty: Evidence from Traditional Medicine Market in Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana

Abstract: Building a vibrant brand in a highly competitive market is of strategic importance as it provides greater loyalty which generates large market share and decreases competitive pressure on a firm. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence on the role of brand equity in supporting the formation of loyalty in the traditional medicine market. The aim of this research is to investigate the impact of brand equity on loyalty in the traditional medicine market. Based on the dimensionality of Aaker`s brand equity framework, four research propositions were put forward and evaluated by using structural equation modelling. The study relied on a sample of 348 customers who buy herbal medicines from the traditional medicine market in Kumasi metropolis. The study established that perceived quality, brand association and awareness significantly contribute to enhance the value of the brands which in turn, creates loyalty in the traditional medicine market in the Kumasi Metropolis. Recognizing the strategic importance of loyalty to the success of a firm, traditional health practitioners should direct their efforts towards developing perceived quality, brand association and awareness to enhance the value of their brands to support loyalty in the Kumasi traditional medicine market

Effect of complementary feeding of lipid-based nutrient supplements on appetite in 6- to 18-month-old rural Malawian children : a randomised controlled trial

Background: Undernutrition in children is still widely prevalent in Malawi and elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. In most developing countries, high prevalence of undernutrition is attributed to inadequate dietary intakes among other causes. Reduced appetite in children has been shown to markedly contribute to low dietary intakes. Some studies have documented improvements in child appetite following supplementation with various micronutrients, some of which, are contained in Lipid-based Nutrient Supplements (LNS). As such LNS hold a promise to improve appetite in children. Objective: The objective was to test the hypothesis that infants and young children receiving complementary foods supplemented with LNS from 6 to 18 months of age would have lower proportion of days with anorexia reports than infants and young children receiving no supplements. Data and methods: The present study is a sub-set of the International Lipid-based Nutrient Supplements (iLiNS) DYAD-M trial in which 869 pregnant women were randomly assigned to receive either LNS, Multiple Micronutrients (MMN) or Iron Folic Acid (IFA) in rural Malawi. Children born to these women formed the sample size for the present study. Children born to women in LNS group, received two sachets of LNS-20gM (20g of LNS) daily from the age of 6 to 18 months while those born from women in either IFA or MMN received no supplements. Independent sample t-test was used in order to compare the proportion of days during which anorexia was reported between the intervention and control groups. Results: Maternal and infant baseline characteristics were comparable between the intervention and the control groups. The mean (SD) proportion of days during which anorexia was reported throughout the entire follow-up period were 3.21 (14.65) % and 3.66 (15.9) % in the intervention and control groups respectively (difference -0.45%, 95% CI -0.45 to -0.08, P=0.02) The difference (95% CI) in mean proportions of days with anorexia reports between LNS and control groups for age intervals of Week 27-39, Week 40-52, Week53-65 and Week 66-78 were -0.14% (95% CI -0.86 to 0.58), -0.47% (95% CI -1.26 to 0.32), 0.01% (95% CI -0.72 to 0.72) and -1.15% (95% CI -1.84 to -0.47) respectively. However, this result was statistically significant only in the oldest age interval (P=<0.001). Furthermore, adjustment of the analyses for various selected baseline variables such as maternal age, education, primiparity, maternal Body Mass Index (BMI), and household asset index; did not markedly alter the results. Conclusion: Provision of SQ-LNS to IYC in resource-insecure settings during early life yields modest improvements in appetite as evidenced by a decrease in the prevalence of anorexia. This study also suggests that the effect of SQ-LNS in improving child appetite gets significant as the children grow older

Investigation of Methods and Motives for Water Theft in A Suburb Township

Theft of water from water urban authorities is fast growing to a level of severe concern with the perpetrators moving several steps ahead of water utility companies. Consequently, counter-measures that are in tandem with the ever-changing business environment are greatly desired to empower water utility companies with effective methods to prevent the ever-growing water theft challenges.  To ascertain the significance of the methods used to steal water, a study was undertaken in one of the suburbs of Blantyre in Malawi. A questionnaire survey was employed to elicit data on the methods used for stealing water and the motivations behind the thefts.  The results indicated that the most prevalent method for stealing water was bursting pipes followed by vandalizing. Poor service was the most compelling reason behind water theft from the water utility company. The severity indices for the constructs used to steal water in this study can be used to design intervention frameworks for water utility companies. Additionally, iso-theft-index maps can be produced for suburb areas where water utility companies have water distribution networks to guide surveillance operations. Keywords: water theft methods, non-revenue water, challenges, Malawi DOI: 10.7176/JEES/12-8-04 Publication date:August 31st 202

Inhibitory geostatistical designs for spatial prediction taking account of uncertain covariance structure

The problem of choosing spatial sampling designs for investigating an unobserved spatial phenomenon S arises in many contexts, for example in identifying households to select for a prevalence survey to study disease burden and heterogeneity in a study region D. We studied randomised inhibitory spatial sampling designs to address the problem of spatial prediction whilst taking account of the need to estimate covariance structure. Two specific classes of design are inhibitory designs and inhibitory designs plus close pairs. In an inhibitory design, any pair of sample locations must be separated by at least an inhibition distance δ. In an inhibitory plus close pairs design, n − k sample locations in an inhibitory design with inhibition distance δ are augmented by k locations each positioned close to one of the randomly selected n − k locations in the inhibitory design, uniformly distributed within a disc of radius ζ. We present simulation results for the Mat´ern class of covariance structures. When the nugget variance is non-negligible, inhibitory plus close pairs designs demonstrate improved predictive efficiency over designs without close pairs. We illustrate how these findings can be applied to the design of a rolling Malaria Indicator Survey that forms part of an ongoing large-scale, five-year malaria transmission reduction project in Malawi

Adaptive geostatistical design and analysis for prevalence surveys

Non-adaptive geostatistical designs (NAGDs) offer standard ways of collecting and analysing geostatistical data in which sampling locations are fixed in advance of any data collection. In contrast, adaptive geostatistical designs (AGDs) allow collection of geostatistical data over time to depend on information obtained from previous information to optimise data collection towards the analysis objective. AGDs are becoming more important in spatial mapping, particularly in poor resource settings where uniformly precise mapping may be unrealistically costly and the priority is often to identify critical areas where interventions can have the most health impact. Two constructions are: singleton and batch adaptive sampling. In singleton sampling, locations xi are chosen sequentially and at each stage, xk+1 depends on data obtained at locations x1,…,xk. In batch sampling, locations are chosen in batches of size b>1, allowing each new batch, {x(k+1),…,x(k+b)}, to depend on data obtained at locations x1,…,xkb. In most settings, batch sampling is more realistic than singleton sampling. We propose specific batch AGDs and assess their efficiency relative to their singleton adaptive and non-adaptive counterparts using simulations. We then show how we are applying these findings to inform an AGD of a rolling Malaria Indicator Survey, part of a large-scale, five-year malaria transmission reduction project in Malawi

Effect of provider-initiated testing and counselling and integration of ART services on access to HIV diagnosis and treatment for children in Lilongwe, Malawi: a pre- post comparison

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The HIV prevalence in Malawi is 12% and Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH), in the capital Lilongwe, is the main provider of adult and paediatric HIV services in the central region. The Lighthouse at KCH offers opt-in HIV testing and counselling (HTC) for adults and children. In June 2004, Lighthouse was the first clinic to provide free antiretroviral treatment (ART) in the public sector, but few children accessed the services. In response, provider-initiated HIV testing and counselling (PITC) and an ART clinic were introduced at the paediatric department at KCH in Quarter 4 (Q4) 2004.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We analysed prospectively collected, aggregated data of quarterly reports from Q1 2003 to Q4 2006 from HTC centre registers, ART registers and clinic registrations at the ART clinics of both Lighthouse and the paediatric department. By comparing data of both facilities before (Q1 2003 to Q3 2004), and after the introduction of the services at the paediatric department (Q4 2004 to Q4 2006), we assessed the effect of this intervention on the uptake of HIV services for children at KCH.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overall, 3971 children were tested for HIV, 2428 HIV-infected children were registered for care and 1218 started ART. Between the two periods, the median (IQR) number of children being tested, registered and starting ART per quarter rose from 101 (53-109) to 358 (318-440), 56 (50-82) to 226 (192-234) and 18 (8-23) to 139 (115-150), respectively. The median proportion of tested clients per quarter that were children rose from 3.8% (2.7-4.3) to 9.6% (8.8 to 10.0) (p = 0.0009) and the proportion of ART starters that were children rose from 6.9% (4.9-9.3) to 21.1% (19.2-24.2) (p = 0.0036). The proportion of registered children and adults starting ART each quarter increased similarly, from 26% to 53%, and 20% to 52%, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Implementation of PITC and integration of ART services within the paediatric ward are likely to be the main reasons for improved access to HTC and ART for children at KCH, and can be recommended to other hospitals with paediatric inpatients in resource limited settings with high HIV prevalence.</p