How can social protection programmers or social safety nets contribute to strengthening small-scale farmers’ resilience to food insecurity : an analysis of households in rural Malawi

Small-scale farmers are essential players in achieving food and nutrition security and sustainable livelihoods for the world. 84% of the worlds’ estimated 608 million farms are small-scale farms (family farms), operating less than 12% of the agricultural land yet manage to produce a third 35% of the world’s food. However, the disproportionate effects of climate change are much more affecting these small-scall farmers; threatening the goal to achieve food and nutrition security. Increasing their resilience to climate change can help strengthen these small-scale farmers and achieve food and nutrition security starting from a household level. However, to do achieve this, it should be noted that social programmers and safety nets need to be context-sensitive, paying attention particular attention to the different factors (particularly from the lowest level household level) that threaten the small-scale farmers and food security. The goal of this study was to understand the complex realities on the ground through the exploration of differentiated vulnerabilities, capabilities, and challenges of rural Households in Malawi. The knowledge produced can then be used to make policy recommendations that can contribute to strengthening small-scale farmer’s resilience to climate change and food and nutrition security. The study was carried out in 5 Malawi districts (Dowa, Kasungu, Mchinji, Mzimba, and Rumphi). Data was collected in total from 1118 households out of the selected 11 extension planning areas. The study established that small-scale farmers’ households are different in characteristics and demographics and that gender inequality still exists in rural Malawi. The figures showed that selected districts are dominated by male-headed households and that they have more access to resources compared to their male counterparts. The study also showed that there are household differences in terms of food security, female-headed households are more vulnerable to food and nutrition than male-headed households. Moreover, the study revealed that households use different coping strategies, however, there are some which are more commonly used than others, such as reducing food portions at mealtimes and reducing the number of meals per day. The paper then concludes that to strengthen the small-scale farmers, policymakers and programmers should create targeted programs and policies that respond and are sensitive to these household differences.M-I

TRANSNATIONAL ACTORS AND POLICY DIFFUSION: IDEATIONAL PATHWAYS TOWARDS SUCCESSFUL DISABILITY POLICY DIFFUSION IN SOUTHERN AFRICA

Focusing on disability, this study examines the role of transnational actors in policy diffusion. Specifically, the study seeks to explain the contrast between transnational actors’ failure in disability policy diffusion in Southern Africa, and their success in domesticating Millennium Development Goals as a transnational framework of development policy. I focus on Millennium Development Goal 3 (i.e., Promotion of Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women) to draw contrasts and parallels between the two policy areas. Theoretically, this study is built on a constructivist paradigm that stresses the importance of ideas, social meanings, and cultural identities in policy design and implementation. The study contrasts this paradigm with the dominant institutional approach to policy diffusion, which focuses on the mediating role of political institutions in funneling transnational influence. In so doing, the study hypothesizes that the constructivist paradigm offers a more efficacious approach to transnational disability policy diffusion than the traditional, political-institutional approach. Methodologically, the study focuses on southern Africa and uses Malawi and Zambia as its case studies. The choice of these two cases was informed by several factors of analytical significance, among them: shared colonial legacies; close social and political ties; and similarities and diversities among their ethnic groups that sometimes spill over their borders. In addition, the two countries have important economic diversities that have a bearing on the demographic spread and the socio-cultural make up of their populations. The qualitative empirical analysis draws on content analysis and on 48 semi-structured interviews from government officials, transnational actors, and activists in disability and gender policies in Malawi and Zambia as its main data sources. The interviews were conducted from April 18 to August 30, 2018, in Lusaka (Zambia) and Lilongwe and Blantyre (Malawi). The main goal of the interviews was to compare how transnational actors, in collaboration with on-the-ground civil society allies, orchestrated policy diffusion in the attainment of MDG 3 against their strategies in disability policy diffusion. It is also in this study’s interest to investigate possible political and ideological contestations between neocolonial Western-centric agendas and autonomous African ideational domains. This project adds to the large body of literature that relies on the role of ideas in explaining policy change as well as stability. The study, particularly Chapter 3, which outlines the theoretical framework, also adds to the important debate about how ideas engender political power, ideological contestations as well as institutional and policy autonomy

Antenatal and postpartum immunological markers levels in women with HIV infection and malnutrition in a low resource setting: A pilot study

Supplemental Material for Antenatal and postpartum immunological markers levels in women with HIV infection and malnutrition in a low resource setting: A pilot study by Panashe Chandiwana , Privilege T Munjoma, Arthur J Mazhandu, Lovemore R Mazengera, Benjamin Misselwitz, Sebastian Jordi, Bahtiyar Yilmaz and Kerina Duri in European Journal of Inflammation</p

The University of Zimbabwe College of Health Sciences (UZ-CHS) BIRTH COHORT study: rationale, design and methods.

BACKGROUND Commencing lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART) immediately following HIV diagnosis (Option B+), has greatly improved maternal-infant health. Thus, large and increasing numbers of HIV-infected women are on ART during pregnancy, a situation concurrently increasing numbers of HIV-exposed-uninfected (HEU) infants. Compared to their HIV-unexposed-uninfected (HUU) counterparts, HEU infants show higher rates of adverse birth outcomes, mortality, infectious/non-communicable diseases including impaired growth and neurocognitive development. There is an urgent need to understand the impact of HIV and early life ART exposures, immune-metabolic dysregulation, comorbidities and environmental confounders on adverse paediatric outcomes. METHODS Six hundred (600) HIV-infected and 600 HIV-uninfected pregnant women ≥20 weeks of gestation will be enrolled from four primary health centres in high density residential areas of Harare. Participants will be followed up as mother-infant-pairs at delivery, week(s) 1, 6, 10, 14, 24, 36, 48, 72 and 96 after birth. Clinical, socio-economic, nutritional and environmental data will be assessed for adverse birth outcomes, impaired growth, immune/neurodevelopment, vertical transmission of HIV, hepatitis-B/C viruses, cytomegalovirus and syphilis. Maternal urine, stool, plasma, cord blood, amniotic fluid, placenta and milk including infant plasma, dried blood spot and stool will be collected at enrolment and follow-up visits. The composite primary endpoint is stillbirth and infant mortality within the first two years of life in HEU versus HUU infants. Maternal mortality in HIV-infected versus -uninfected women is another primary outcome. Secondary endpoints include a range of maternal and infant outcomes. Sub-studies will address maternal stress and malnutrition, maternal-infant latent tuberculosis, Helicobacter pylori infections, immune-metabolomic dysregulation including gut, breast milk and amniotic fluid dysbiosis. DISCUSSION The University of Zimbabwe-College of Health-Sciences-Birth-Cohort study will provide a comprehensive assessment of risk factors and biomarkers for HEU infants' adverse outcomes. This will ultimately help developing strategies to mitigate effects of maternal HIV, early-life ART exposures and comorbidities on infants' mortality and morbidity. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrial.gov Identifier: NCT04087239 . Registered 12 September 2019

Thermal fluid network model for a prismatic block in a gas-cooled reactor using FLOWNEX

MIng (Nuclear Engineering), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015Very High Temperature Reactors are complex reactors and various system codes have been developed to design different aspects such as neutronics, thermal hydraulics etc. Flownex is one of the system codes and it has been used to model the flow and heat transfer for a pebble fuel element and pebble-bed reactor. Although Flownex has been used to model the High Temperature Test Reactor, the prismatic block was modelled in a simplified manner. The aim of this study was to develop a more integrated model for a single block. A one sixth block was modelled in Flownex and the results were validated by comparing the results with results obtained using the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code STAR-CCM+. The conduction heat transfer through the prismatic blocks containing the fuel elements in a Very High Temperature Reactor is of crucial importance for the proper operation of the reactor under normal operating conditions and upset conditions. In this study, a model developed in a system code, Flownex is discussed. The model comprised of a collection of 1-D solid conduction heat transfer, convection heat transfer and pipe elements that were arranged in such a manner to represent the heat transfer and fluid flow in the prismatic block using a network approach. The validity of the model was investigated by comparing the heat transfer and temperature distribution in the block for various scenarios with the corresponding values obtained using a detailed CFD model of one twelfth of a prismatic block. Cubical and triangular block verification cases were conducted in Flownex and the results were validated by STAR-CCM+. The results were very comparable; however one issue has to be addressed. The one sixth integrated prismatic block was then modelled for a steady state and the results were also comparable. The outlet helium temperatures predicted by the STAR-CCM+ model was 542.94 C, at the same time the Flownex model predicted 542.98 C. Although the Flownex model did not provide the same detail as the STAR-CCM+ model the agreement between the results obtained with the two codes was satisfactory. Based on these findings it was concluded that Flownex could be used to build a representative integrated network model for a prismatic block reactor.Master