Resettlement Revisited: The Post-Resettlement Assessment in Biftu Jalala Resettlement Site

Ethiopia had been facing a series of food shortages in history. In addressing this problem, the country has developed and been exercising arrays of development polices and strategies, among which resettlement is one to be mentioned. Resettlement programmes undertaken by different regimes of Ethiopia, therefore, have a declared objective of improving the life of the rural people affected by drought-induced famines, land degradation, among others by taking them into unutilized but potentially productive and risk free lands. The general objective of this paper was to examine the post resettlement socioeconomic and environmental situation at Biftu Jalala Settlement site. Mixed research methodology, with both primary and secondary data sources, was employed. The study brought to light that the resettlement site that was identified as idle and unutilized spot was found not to be as such and it has been used by small number of farmers who still are called the ‘old settlers’. The promise to provide re-settlers with sufficient amount of cleared farmland was not realized because of the scarcity of farm land available at the destination. There were huge losses of forest and other natural resources compared with the pre resettlement time. The re-settlers were provided with no education and advice about environmental degradation. It was observed that collective facilities were put in place by the government for use by re-settlers but the majority was found with limited capacity. The shared agreement among all the respondents was that their current livelihood situation is by far better than the former one and they do not dream to return to their origin. It is recommended that where resettlement is inevitable, detailed research, imaginative planning, concerned institutional building, participation of resettlers and receiving communities, and proper preparation should be made. Keywords: post-resettlement, assessment, re-settlers, origin, destination, Biftu Jalal

The Role of Regulatory and Customary Institutions to Access Farmland by Rural Youth in Rural Sidama and Gedeo: The Case of Dara and Wenago Weredas, SNNPR, Ethiopia

The right to use and/or control over land is central to the lives of rural populations where the main sources of livelihoods are derived from land. Access to land may not be easily understood outside of institutional settings as they are influential factors and land is also a natural asset in which its access is filtered through institutions. This article, therefore, explores the role of customary and statutory institutions and their contributions to ensure access of rural youth to farmland in the context of Gedeo and Sidama. Qualitative and quantitative data were triangulated by taking both youth and key informants as the main sources of information. The findings of the study show a somewhat ‘pessimistic’ picture to shed light on the hitherto neglected role of informal institutions to support the formal ones in land and related matters. Customary and regulatory institutions were observed ‘conflicting’ as they deal with the already scarce land, both of them have their own conditions, as the former is negotiated  and the latter commanded through the rules of the game. It is the  contention of this paper that both customary and statuary institutions should work in harmony and show a certain level of flexibility to reap the benefits of formal laws and the advantage of informal institutions that are already embedded in the society. Thus, identifying some sort of common interest in between seems essential to avert role confusion between customary and statutory institutions to own, manage and use land as well as to look for non-farm options for the youth as land is getting scarce.Key words: Rural youth, Access to land, Customary/regulatory institutions,Sidama, Gede

Excellence in Agronomy 2030 - Use Case term sheets - May 2021

The Excellence in Agronomy 2030 (EiA 2030) Initiative aims at developing and delivering agronomy at scale solutions based on demand from scaling partners. Such demand is then formulated and operationalized around Use Cases

Direct detection and characterization of foot-and-mouth disease virus in East Africa using a field-ready real-time PCR platform

Effective control and monitoring of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) relies upon rapid and accurate disease confirmation. Currently, clinical samples are usually tested in reference laboratories using standardized assays recommended by The World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). However, the requirements for prompt and serotype-specific diagnosis during FMD outbreaks, and the need to establish robust laboratory testing capacity in FMD-endemic countries have motivated the development of simple diagnostic platforms to support local decision-making. Using a portable thermocycler, the T-COR™ 8, this study describes the laboratory and field evaluation of a commercially available, lyophilized pan-serotype-specific real-time RT-PCR (rRT-PCR) assay and a newly available FMD virus (FMDV) typing assay (East Africa-specific for serotypes: O, A, Southern African Territories [SAT] 1 and 2). Analytical sensitivity, diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of the pan-serotype-specific lyophilized assay were comparable to that of an OIE-recommended laboratory-based rRT-PCR (determined using a panel of 57 FMDV-positive samples and six non-FMDV vesicular disease samples for differential diagnosis). The FMDV-typing assay was able to correctly identify the serotype of 33/36 FMDV-positive samples (no cross-reactivity between serotypes was evident). Furthermore, the assays were able to accurately detect and type FMDV RNA in multiple sample types, including epithelial tissue suspensions, serum, oesophageal–pharyngeal (OP) fluid and oral swabs, both with and without the use of nucleic acid extraction. When deployed in laboratory and field settings in Tanzania, Kenya and Ethiopia, both assays reliably detected and serotyped FMDV RNA in samples (n = 144) collected from pre-clinical, clinical and clinically recovered cattle. These data support the use of field-ready rRT-PCR platforms in endemic settings for simple, highly sensitive and rapid detection and/or characterization of FMDV

Diabetes mellitus in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: admissions, complications and outcomes in a large referral hospital.

SETTING: The Black Lion Referral Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. OBJECTIVE: To document indications for admission, complications and outcomes of patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) admitted between 2010 and 2013. DESIGN: A descriptive retrospective study using medical files. RESULTS: Of 8048 admissions, 523 (6.5%) had DM; of these, 418 medical records were retrieved: 301 (72%) patients had type 2 and 104 (28%) type 1 disease, with male sex (62%) and older age (median age 60 years) being features of type 2 disease. Main admission diagnoses for type 2 disease were diabetic foot ulcer (39%) and cardiovascular disease (21%); for type 1 disease, it was diabetic ketoacidosis (62%). Hypertension, neuropathy, nephropathy, retinopathy and diabetic foot accounted for 85% of the 756 existing complications. Overall in-patient mortality was 21%. Of the 89 deaths, 77 occurred among patients with type 2 disease; the main indications for admission were diabetic foot ulcer/gangrene and cardiovascular disease. CONCLUSION: DM, especially type 2 DM, is an important cause of admission to Ethiopia's largest referral hospital. Many patients had already developed disease-related complications at admission, and mortality was high. There is a need to improve awareness about and care for DM in Ethiopia

Scaling of cardiac morphology is interrupted by birth in the developing sheep Ovis aries.

Scaling of the heart across development can reveal the degree to which variation in cardiac morphology depends on body mass. In this study, we assessed the scaling of heart mass, left and right ventricular masses, and ventricular mass ratio, as a function of eviscerated body mass across fetal and postnatal development in Horro sheep Ovis aries (~50-fold body mass range; N = 21). Whole hearts were extracted from carcasses, cleaned, dissected into chambers and weighed. We found a biphasic relationship when heart mass was scaled against body mass, with a conspicuous 'breakpoint' around the time of birth, manifest not by a change in the scaling exponent (slope), but rather a jump in the elevation. Fetal heart mass (g) increased with eviscerated body mass (Mb , kg) according to the power equation 4.90 Mb0.88 ± 0.26 (± 95%CI) , whereas postnatal heart mass increased according to 10.0 Mb0.88 ± 0.10 . While the fetal and postnatal scaling exponents are identical (0.88) and reveal a clear dependence of heart mass on body mass, only the postnatal exponent is significantly less than 1.0, indicating the postnatal heart becomes a smaller component of body mass as the body grows, which is a pattern found frequently with postnatal cardiac development among mammals. The rapid doubling in heart mass around the time of birth is independent of any increase in body mass and is consistent with the normalization of wall stress in response to abrupt changes in volume loading and pressure loading at parturition. We discuss variation in scaling patterns of heart mass across development among mammals, and suggest that the variation results from a complex interplay between hard-wired genetics and epigenetic influences

Pattern and Outcome of Chest Injuries at Bugando Medical Centre in Northwestern Tanzania.

Chest injuries constitute a continuing challenge to the trauma or general surgeon practicing in developing countries. This study was conducted to outline the etiological spectrum, injury patterns and short term outcome of these injuries in our setting. This was a prospective study involving chest injury patients admitted to Bugando Medical Centre over a six-month period from November 2009 to April 2010 inclusive. A total of 150 chest injury patients were studied. Males outnumbered females by a ratio of 3.8:1. Their ages ranged from 1 to 80 years (mean = 32.17 years). The majority of patients (72.7%) sustained blunt injuries. Road traffic crush was the most common cause of injuries affecting 50.7% of patients. Chest wall wounds, hemothorax and rib fractures were the most common type of injuries accounting for 30.0%, 21.3% and 20.7% respectively. Associated injuries were noted in 56.0% of patients and head/neck (33.3%) and musculoskeletal regions (26.7%) were commonly affected. The majority of patients (55.3%) were treated successfully with non-operative approach. Underwater seal drainage was performed in 39 patients (19.3%). One patient (0.7%) underwent thoracotomy due to hemopericardium. Thirty nine patients (26.0%) had complications of which wound sepsis (14.7%) and complications of long bone fractures (12.0%) were the most common complications. The mean LOS was 13.17 days and mortality rate was 3.3%. Using multivariate logistic regression analysis, associated injuries, the type of injury, trauma scores (ISS, RTS and PTS) were found to be significant predictors of the LOS (P < 0.001), whereas mortality was significantly associated with pre-morbid illness, associated injuries, trauma scores (ISS, RTS and PTS), the need for ICU admission and the presence of complications (P < 0.001). Chest injuries resulting from RTCs remain a major public health problem in this part of Tanzania. Urgent preventive measures targeting at reducing the occurrence of RTCs is necessary to reduce the incidence of chest injuries in this region