Infanticide in Senegal : results from an exploratory mixed-methods study

Este artículo presenta una investigación formativa sobre la práctica del infanticidio, el asesinato intencional o negligencia fatal de un niño menor de un año de edad. Nuestra hipótesis es que la ley del aborto en Senegal, una de las más restrictivas del mundo, contribuye directamente a la incidencia de infanticidio. Realizamos una encuesta cuantitativa a 1016 mujeres en edad reproductiva que viven en Senegal, y entrevistas en profundidad con una submuestra de 28 participantes. Los datos de la encuesta cuantitativa fueron analizados para describir las frecuencias, los medios y los rangos de los datos clave de las variables del resultado. Los datos cualitativos se analizaron utilizando la teoría fundamentada modificada para identificar temas clave en los datos. La conciencia de infanticidio fue moderadamente alta (60.3%) en la muestra de la encuesta, y fue principalmente obtenido a través de la experiencia personal, rumores y / o medios de comunicación. Los participantes describieron dos amplias categorías de infanticidio, incluido el infanticidio pasivo por abandono del lactante, en comparación con el infanticidio por asfixia, ahogamiento u otros medios. Los participantes vieron explícitamente el infanticidio como una resultado directo de las severas restricciones legales sobre el aborto en Senegal, así como las poderosas normas sociales que dicte lo que se considera aceptable frente a la maternidad inaceptable en el país. Los hallazgos apoyan la hipótesis de que las leyes y políticas sobre el aborto contribuyen a la ocurrencia de infanticidio en Senegal, y sugieren la necesidad de investigación adicional y específica para comprender mejor este asunto, y cómo se pueden utilizar los resultados para informar a la reforma política.https://doi.org/10.1080/26410397.2019.162411

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century