Analysis of Factors Affecting Use of Pre-Emergence Wheat Herbicides in Kenya

Agrochemicals are used principally to control weeds and pests in agriculture. Wheat production in Kenya has not been sufficient despite concerted efforts by agrochemical companies to market agrochemicals to farmers. The study aimed at establishing the determinants of use of pre-emergence wheat herbicides among the wheat farmers in Kenya. The study was conducted in Uasin Gishu County. Stratified random sampling was used to sample 164 wheat farmers. Data collection was done using a well structured questionnaire administered to the wheat farmers. Logit regression technique was used to determine the association between determinants of use of pre-emergence wheat herbicides among the wheat farmers. The results show that education level, land tenure, average income, extension services, market information and credit access variables were statistically significant. The study recommended improvement of extension services to wheat farmers and increased accessibility of credit facilities by financial institutions at affordable prices. It is also necessary to have further research on how extension services can enhance wheat production. Keywords: Herbicides, Pesticides, Pre-emergence DOI: 10.7176/JESD/10-6-12 Publication date:March 31st 201

APPLICATION OF MARKOV CHAIN MODEL IN CAREER PROGRESSION OF UNIVERSITY ACADEMIC STAFF: A Case Study of the Moi University-Eldoret, Kenya.

The use of Mathematical models for manpower planning has increased in recent times for better manpower planning quantitatively both in public and private sectors. In respect of organizational management, numerous previous studies have applied Markov chain models in describing title or level promotions, demotions, recruitment, withdrawals, or changes of different career development paths to confirm the actual manpower needs of an organization or predict the future manpower needs. The movements of staff within the grades or job group levels called transitions are usually the consequences of promotions or transfers between segments or wastage and recruitment into the system. In this study we determined and compared the transition rates of the academic staff of science and art faculties, the expected time taken before one attains the highest academic rank, and the absorption rates in the university. The data was collected from Moi University- Eldoret and the grades or job groups were: Tutorial Fellow, Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor, and full Professor. The study established that the transition rates are high at the Tutorial fellow and lecturer levels in both science and art with 67.09% and 86.31% and 86.00% and 97.53% respectively within the first ten years of employment. But it was low at 50% at senior lecturer and associate professor in the faculty of science and 63.51% and 88.69% for the same ranks in the faculty of arts. . It took academic staff 19.51 years and 22.74 years in science and art respectively to attain the rank full professor. Keywords: Jobgroups, transitional rate, markov chain,absorption rate,expectatio

The Effects of Financial Intermediaries on the Economic Growth in Kenya: (A Case Study of Mombasa County)

The main objective of the study is to investigate intermediation efficiency and productivity in the financial intermediaries sector in the post liberalization period in Kenya in relation to the growth of Mombasa County. The study is motivated by the fact that though the banking sector constitutes a large part of the financial system in Kenya, little is known about its intermediation efficiency and productivity status. Further banks are awash with liquidity despite private sector credit demand indicating some inefficiency in the intermediation process in Kenya. The research employed descriptive research design using simple random sampling which enables every member of the population to have an equal and independent chance of being selected as respondents and also simplest, most convenient and bias free selection method. The data was collected by use of questionnaire thereafter analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative techniques. The results show that though the banks were not fully efficient in all respects, they performed fairly well during the period under study. Banks still have reason and scope to improve performance by improving their technology, skills and enlarging their scale of operations so as to be fully efficient. Based on the main conclusions, policies encouraging competition, products diversification to advance loans, risks minimization through increased capital regulation and privatization of some banks are generally recommended

Effectiveness of SMS messaging for diarrhoea measurement:a factorial cross-over randomised controlled trial

Background: Text messaging systems are used to collect data on symptom prevalence. Using a text messaging system, we evaluated the effects of question load, question frequency, and financial incentive on response rates and reported infant diarrhoea rates in an infant diarrhoea survey. Methods: We performed a factorial cross-over randomised controlled trial of an SMS surveying system for infant diarrhoea surveillance with treatments: financial incentive (yes/no), question load (1-question/3-question), and questioning frequency (daily/fortnightly). Participants progressed through all treatment combinations over eight two-week rounds. Data were analysed using multivariable logistic regressions to determine the impacts of the treatments on the response rates and reported diarrhoea rates. Attitudes were explored through qualitative interviews. Results: For the 141 participants, the mean response rate was 47%. In terms of percentage point differences (ppd), daily questioning was associated with a lower response rate than fortnightly (− 1·2[95%CI:-4·9,2·5]); high (3-question) question loads were associated with a lower response rate than low (1-question) question loads (− 7·0[95%CI:− 10·8,-3·1]); and financial incentivisation was associated with a higher response rate than no financial incentivisation (6·4[95%CI:2·6,10·2]). The mean two-week diarrhoea rate was 36·4%. Daily questioning was associated with a higher reported diarrhoea rate than fortnightly (29·9[95%CI:22·8,36·9]); with little evidence for impact by incentivisation or question load. Conclusions: Close to half of all participants responded to the SMS survey. Daily questioning evoked a statistically higher rate of reported diarrhoea, while financial incentivisation and low (1-question) question loads evoked higher response rates than no incentive and high (3-question) question loads respectively. Trial Registration: The protocol was prospectively registered on ISRCTN on the 20th of March 2019 under number ISRCTN11410773

Challenges Facing the Use and Adoption of Mobile Phone Money Services

Abstract The Mobile phone banking idea was initially born out of the intention to reach the unbanked rural poor. However, there still existed mobile phone money service divide, highly skewed against the rural poor population. This paper was therefore seeking to explore challenges facing mobile phone money services. Qualitative research technique was used. Further, both primary and secondary data was used. The study was conducted in Homa Bay region in Kenya, using ethnography research design. The study established that mobile phone money use and adoption had numerous challenges that had hindered it. Most affected by the challenges were the mobile phone money users and potential users from the rural poor communities. Some of the challenges included lack of national ID cards by potential users, few mobile phone money agents, inadequate cash and e-floats by the agents, awareness and lack of information on how to access and operate certain features in mobile money platform, as well as language barrier

Human rhinovirus spatial-temporal epidemiology in rural coastal Kenya, 2015-2016, observed through outpatient surveillance

Background Human rhinovirus (HRV) is the predominant cause of upper respiratory tract infections, resulting in a significant public health burden. The virus circulates as many different types (~160), each generating strong homologous, but weak heterotypic, immunity. The influence of these features on transmission patterns of HRV in the community is understudied. Methods Nasopharyngeal swabs were collected from patients with symptoms of acute respiratory infection (ARI) at nine out-patient facilities across a Health and Demographic Surveillance System between December 2015 and November 2016. HRV was diagnosed by real-time RT-PCR, and the VP4/VP2 genomic region of the positive samples sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis was used to determine the HRV types. Classification models and G-test statistic were used to investigate HRV type spatial distribution. Demographic characteristics and clinical features of ARI were also compared. Results Of 5,744 NPS samples collected, HRV was detected in 1057 (18.4%), of which 817 (77.3%) were successfully sequenced. HRV species A, B and C were identified in 360 (44.1%), 67 (8.2%) and 390 (47.7%) samples, respectively. In total, 87 types were determined: 39, 10 and 38 occurred within species A, B and C, respectively. HRV types presented heterogeneous temporal patterns of persistence. Spatially, identical types occurred over a wide distance at similar times, but there was statistically significant evidence for clustering of types between health facilities in close proximity or linked by major road networks. Conclusion This study records a high prevalence of HRV in out-patient presentations exhibiting high type diversity. Patterns of occurrence suggest frequent and independent community invasion of different types. Temporal differences of persistence between types may reflect variation in type-specific population immunity. Spatial patterns suggest either rapid spread or multiple invasions of the same type, but evidence of similar types amongst close health facilities, or along road systems, indicate type partitioning structured by local spread

Untangling the Relationship Between Antiretroviral Therapy Use and Incident Pregnancy: A Marginal Structural Model Analysis Using Data From 47,313 HIV-Positive Women in East Africa

BACKGROUND: Scale-up of triple-drug antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Africa has transformed the context of childbearing for HIV-positive women and may impact pregnancy incidence in HIV programs. METHODS: Using observational data from 47,313 HIV-positive women enrolled at 26 HIV clinics in Kenya and Uganda between 2001 and 2009, we calculated the crude cumulative incidence of pregnancy for the pre-ART and on-ART periods. The causal effect of ART use on incident pregnancy was assessed using inverse probability weighted marginal structural models, and the relationship was further explored in multivariable Cox models. RESULTS: Crude cumulative pregnancy incidence at 1 year after enrollment/ART initiation was 4.0% and 3.9% during the pre-ART and on-ART periods, respectively. In marginal structural models, ART use was not significantly associated with incident pregnancy [hazard ratio = 1.06; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.99 to 1.12]. Similarly, in Cox models, there was no significant relationship between ART use and incident pregnancy (cause-specific hazard ratio: 0.98; 95% CI: 0.91 to 1.05), but effect modification was observed. Specifically, women who were pregnant at enrollment and on ART had an increased risk of incident pregnancy compared to those not pregnant at enrollment and not on ART (cause-specific hazard ratio: 1.11; 95% CI: 1.01 to 1.23). CONCLUSIONS: In this large cohort, ART initiation was not associated with incident pregnancy in the general population of women enrolling in HIV care but rather only among those pregnant at enrollment. This finding further highlights the importance of scaling up access to lifelong treatment for pregnant women

Safety profile of the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine in infants and children: additional data from a phase III randomized controlled trial in sub-Saharan Africa

A phase III, double-blind, randomized, controlled trial (NCT00866619) in sub-Saharan Africa showed RTS,S/AS01 vaccine efficacy against malaria. We now present in-depth safety results from this study. 8922 children (enrolled at 5-17\xC2\xA0months) and 6537 infants (enrolled at 6-12\xC2\xA0weeks) were 1:1:1-randomized to receive 4 doses of RTS,S/AS01 (R3R) or non-malaria control vaccine (C3C), or 3 RTS,S/AS01 doses plus control (R3C). Aggregate safety data were reviewed by a multi-functional team. Severe malaria with Blantyre Coma Score \xE2\x89\xA42 (cerebral malaria [CM]) and gender-specific mortality were assessed post-hoc. Serious adverse event (SAE) and fatal SAE incidences throughout the study were 24.2%-28.4% and 1.5%-2.5%, respectively across groups; 0.0%-0.3% of participants reported vaccination-related SAEs. The incidence of febrile convulsions in children was higher during the first 2-3 days post-vaccination with RTS,S/AS01 than with control vaccine, consistent with the time window of post-vaccination febrile reactions in this study (mostly the day after vaccination). A statistically significant numerical imbalance was observed for meningitis cases in children (R3R: 11, R3C: 10, C3C: 1) but not in infants. CM cases were more frequent in RTS,S/AS01-vaccinated children (R3R: 19, R3C: 24, C3C: 10) but not in infants. All-cause mortality was higher in RTS,S/AS01-vaccinated versus control girls (2.4% vs 1.3%, all ages) in our setting with low overall mortality. The observed meningitis and CM signals are considered likely chance findings, that - given their severity - warrant further evaluation in phase IV studies and WHO-led pilot implementation programs to establish the RTS,S/AS01 benefit-risk profile in real-life settings