The impact of civil war on forest wildlife in West Africa: Mammals in Gola Forest, Sierra Leone

Human conflicts may sometimes benefit wildlife by depopulating wilderness areas but there is evidence from Africa that the impacts tend to be negative. The forested states of West Africa have experienced much recent human conflict but there have been no assessments of impacts on the wildlife. We conducted surveys of mammals in the 710-km2 Gola Forest reserves to assess the impact of the 1991-2001 civil war in Sierra Leone. Gola is the most important remaining tract of lowland forest in the country and a key site for the conservation of the highly threatened forests of the Upper Guinea region. We found that Gola has survived well despite being in the heart of the area occupied by the rebels. We recorded 44 species of larger mammal, including 18 threatened, near-threatened and endemic species, accounting for all species recorded in pre-war surveys and adding several more (African buffalo Syncerus caffer nanus and water chevrotain Hyemoschus aquaticus). Populations of primates were healthy with little evidence of decline. Duiker detection rates were low and further work is required to confirm their numbers as they include five species endemic (or near endemic) to the Upper Guinea region, three of which are threatened. However, the population of African forest elephants Loxodonta cyclotis has collapsed, with only a few individuals remaining from c. 110 in the mid 1980s. We conclude that peacetime pressures from the bushmeat trade, clearance for agriculture, logging and mining are likely to be far greater for Gola than the pressures from the civil war

Treatment seeking, access to care and child health: Evidence from the Taabo health and demographic surveillance site (HDSS) in Côte d’Ivoire

Background: Despite substantial progress over the last two decades, under-five mortality remains high in many African settings. Current estimates suggest that Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of reducing under-5 mortality (U5MR) to levels below 25 deaths per 1000 live births by 2030 will not be achieved in sub-Saharan Africa. In countries with high under-five mortality, further improvements in child mortality will only be possible if essential health services become available and accessible for those most in need. Access is a complex concept. Even if there is easy access to health facilities and an adequate supply of services, the extent to which specific populations access these services depends on the livelihood of the household, the community, and the wider society. Half of all under-five deaths are neonatal deaths many of which could be prevented through improved antenatal care (ANC). Access to adequate health care in remote areas, including prenatal and post-natal health services, as well as delayed attendance of health facilities have been identified as key determinants of the continued high burden of under-five mortality in these settings. Child mortality and its underlying factors vary substantially across and within countries. Thus, a local understanding of under-five mortality and its relation with treatment seeking and access to care is important in the development of local sustainable intervention strategies aiming to reduce the continued high burden of under-five mortality. Goal and specific objectives: The overall objective of this PhD project was to identify effective ways to improve health service access and child health in low and middle-income country settings in general, and in the Taabo health and demographic surveillance system (HDSS) in Côte d’Ivoire in particular. To address this general objective, we pursued three specific aims. First, we aimed to identify the most critical household and community characteristics influencing treatment seeking for under-five children. Second, we assessed whether the construction of additional health facilities can improve treatment seeking and child health outcomes. Third, we assessed whether access to essential antenatal services as well as maternal and child health can be improved through community programmes. Methods: The thesis pursued three complementary approaches to address key challenges in health care access and delivery. For the first aim, we used prospectively collected data from 736 non-fatal and 82 fatal cases reports of under-five children during the year 2017 from the Taabo HDSS. Caregivers of children with a recent non-fatal illness episode residing in the Taabo health district, south-central Côte d’Ivoire were interviewed using a social autopsy questionnaire. For the second aim, we used detailed demographic surveillance data obtained from the Taabo HDSS. Since 2009, the Taabo HDSS has been continuously monitoring a population of over 40,000 inhabitants by reporting vital events such as pregnancies, births, deaths, and migration through surveillance rounds. We used panel data from the HDSS covering all children under age five born in the HDSS between 2010 and 2018. Between 2010 and 2018, four new health facilities were constructed within the Taabo HDSS area with the ambition to reduce distance and travel times to health facilities, and ultimately to improve health outcomes. We conducted a quasi-experimental study assessing the impact of newly constructed facilities. For the third aim, we conducted a three-arm cluster Randomized Control Trial (cRCT) to assess the effectiveness of two complementary strategies in increasing iron and folic acid supplementation and malaria chemoprophylaxis coverage among pregnant women. We randomly assigned 39 clusters to the control group, 39 clusters to the information group, and 40 clusters to the information plus home delivery of iron and folic acid (IFA) supplements group. Trial participants were pregnant women who were at least 15 years old and in their first or second trimester. The interventions consisted of an information package, designed to increase uptake of essential antenatal services through targeted information, and an information plus home delivery intervention, designed to provide both information and immediate access to supplements and chemoprophylaxis. Through an end line survey within the first two weeks after delivery, we assessed the relative effectiveness of each intervention. Results: In this primarily rural part of Côte d’Ivoire, treatment seeking was largely directed towards modern medicine. In non-fatal cases, modern treatment seeking was associated with child-specific factors (age, relationship with caregiver), caregiver education, and household proximity to the nearest health facility as well as clinical signs such as fever, severe vomiting, inability to drink, convulsion, and inability to play. In fatal cases, modern healthcare was sought only for signs of lower respiratory disease. The lack of awareness regarding disease-related clinical danger signs were identified as the potential barriers to accessing health care. The results of our quasi-experimental study showed that local provision of new health facilities declined the average distance to the nearest health facility. However, this decline did not improve neonatal survival outcome or maternal health services utilization. Positive impacts were found for post-neonatal infant mortality, which was reduced by 46%. Our intervention trial suggest that community-based programs can improve compliance with IFA supplementation and malaria chemoprophylaxis during pregnancy. High compliance with Sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) treatment was sufficient to largely remove the risk of malaria infection. Increased compliance with standard IFA supplementation was insufficient to address the high prevalence of postpartum anemia in the study setting. Conclusion: The findings presented here from a primarily rural part of Côte d’Ivoire suggest that a large proportion of caregivers seek modern care for their under 5-year-old children, but that some mild and severe illness cases continue to remain untreated. Interventions promoting prompt healthcare seeking and the recognition of danger signs may help improve treatment seeking in rural settings of Côte d’Ivoire, and can potentially help further reduce under-five mortality. Our study suggests that local construction of new health centers in a mainly rural part of south-central Côte d’Ivoire may have only relatively limited impact on healthcare utilization and overall population health. More research will be needed to better understand the somewhat limited impacts seen in this study as well as to identify the health infrastructure needed more generally for improving health outcomes in this setting. The results from our trial suggest that combining information with direct home delivery of supplements and hemoprophylaxis can increase compliance with IFA supplementation and malaria prevention and reduce the risk of malaria infection. However, more powerful interventions are likely needed to address the high burden of anemia in this population

Potential of mango (Mangifera indica L.) seed kernel as a feed ingredient for poultry : a review

Mango (Mangifera indica) is an important fruit crop grown in the tropics mostly for its pulp. Mango seed, which represents between 20-60% of the fruit, has limited food or industrial use in most producing countries and is therefore wasted. The kernel contained in the seed (mango seed kernel: MSK) is a good source of carbohydrates (58-80%), contains moderate quantities of proteins (6-13%) and fat (6-16%). The protein of MSK has a good essential amino acid profile and its oil is a good source of stearic and linoleic acids. However, despite these attributes MSK contains a number of anti-nutritional factors (e.g. tannins, phytate, cyanide, antitrypsin, oxalate and saponins) which limit its utilisation in poultry diets. Amongst these factors, tannins are largely responsible for the poor nutritional value of MSK. Several processing methods have been used to reduce the concentration of anti-nutritional factors in MSK and improve its utilisation by poultry. The following paper reviews the composition (nutrients and antinutrients) of MSK, recommendations for its use in poultry diets and processing methods to enhance its utilisation by poultry

DYNAMIQUE SPATIALE DES RESSOURCES NATURELLES EXPLOITÉES DANS LA COMMUNE RURALE DE WATENI (CERCLE DE SIKASSO AU MALI)

Wateni is one of the 703 rural communes in Mali. Its geographical situation makes it part of southern Mali in Sikasso Region. In this location, it benefits by a simple relief and a climate limited by the isohyets 1000 mm in the south and 800 mm in the north. Under this climate called north Malian Sudanese the population perform various production activities. The exploitation of natural resources caused by the practice of different activities constitutes a factor engaging the area into dynamics. Thus, our work aims at the knowledge of the pace and the extent of the natural resources dynamics on the one hand, and on the other hand at the present agrarian landscape figured and its effects on the agricultural productions. For that an exploitation of landsat images has been done. These images were of 1984; 1999 and 2006. Their treatment, classification the files conversion into shape format on ENVI software, the files transformation on MapInfo have enabled to realize maps of occupancy mode at each of the dates; The extracted information revealed enough availability of resources. As far as the exploitation of the important resource potential is concerned. The agricultural production is thought of as a priority activity. Its space registration accounts for a slow dynamics of resources and the shaping of a fragmented and segmented agrarian landscape. This results in production that do not satisfy the consumer needs of the production units. To face up to production in deficit and the problems of developpement, a restructuring of eagrarian landscape can be initiated by the local conucillors through reallocation operation

Analyse des déterminants d’instrumentation du pilotage de la masse salariale en contexte PME Maliennes

Cette étude porte sur l’analyse du lien entre l’instrumentation du pilotage de la masse salariale et les facteurs de contingence. Elle part du postulat selon lequel la construction d’un système de contrôle exige en général une approche sur-mesure (Giraud et al, 2005). Nous avons recours à l'approche méthodologique mixe, combinant l’étude qualitative et quantitative. La démarche adoptée est hypothéticodéductive. La posture épistémologique adoptée est positiviste. La taille de l’échantillon se compose de 15 dirigeants pour l’étude qualitative et 75 PME pour l’étude quantitative. Partant des tests du Khi-deux et d’Anova, la recherche démontre que le pilotage de la masse salariale dans les PME maliennes est effectivement instrumenté. Nonobstant, on remarque la présence d’un mode de régulation informel alternatif associé au système de pilotage de certaines d’entre elles. Le système de pilotage de la masse salariale dans ces unités, intègre des outils tels (bilan social ; tableau de bord RH ; budget des charges du personnel, système de GPEC) dont le choix dépend à la fois des facteurs de contingence structurelle (chiffre d’affaires) et comportementale (niveau d’étude, et formation de base du dirigeant). Dans l’ensemble, les facteurs de contingence comportementale montrent plus d’effet statistiquement significatif sur le choix des outils de pilotage, comparés aux facteurs de contingence structurelle

Utilisation of cassava products-copra meal based diets supplemented with or without Allzyme SSF by growing pullets

The utilisation of cassava root-leaf meal (CRLM) and copra meal with or without enzyme by growing pullets was investigated. A total of 180 six week-old Shaver 579 pullets (549.79 ± 0.39 g/bird) were allotted to 12 floor pens containing 15 birds each. A commercial grower diet (control) and 2 diets based on CRLM and copra meal with or without added Allzyme® SSF (test diets) were fed each to 4 replicate pens in a completely randomized design. Growth performance, age at first egg, feed cost of rearing and the count of floor primary feathers formed the major response criteria. Birds fed the control commercial diet consumed more feed and gained more weight (P0.05) between the control and enzyme supplemented CRLM groups. There was no dietary effect (P>0.05) on the weight of the first egg among the 3 groups. Feed cost of rearing was reduced (P0.05) between the two test diets as well as between the enzyme supplemented and the control diets. It was concluded that CRLM and copra meal can be used as major energy and protein sources respectively in growing pullets’ diets. Enzyme supplementation may however, be needed to maintain performance of the birds

Bayesian Modelling of Tuberculosis Risk Factors in South Africa 2014

Background: Although the number of deaths has declined since 2007, Tuberculosis (TB) continues to be the number one cause of death in South Africa. To create a country free of TB, there is need for continued research to explore models that will provide the Department of Health with new interventions.Aim: This study was aimed at identifying the risk factors of active self-reported TB prevalence for South Africa in 2014.Methods: The Frequentist Logistic Regression (FLR) approach was applied on a sample of 19213 individuals taken from the National Income Dynamics Survey (NIDS) wave data. Bayesian analysis with non-informative priors were used to model Wave 1 to 3 data and elicitation of the obtained posterior density parameters by averaging done to obtain the informative priors used to model wave 4. The wave 4 results obtained under the two estimation approaches were compared as well as the results for non-informative and informative priors.Results: The findings show that self-reported TB prevalence is higher than the reported 1%, Human Immuno Deficiency Virus (HIV) remains a major threat to TB and Eastern Cape is the province mostly affected by TB with Limpopo recording the least prevalence. Poor living conditions and lower socio-economic conditions continue to be drivers of TB whilst English illiteracy, lack of Secondary/Tertiary education, alcohol consumption, marital status, gender and age groups also influence TB progression to disease. FLR yielded similar results to Bayesian with non-informative priors whilst the results are more precise for informative priors.Conclusion: This study identified individuals and communities at risk of developing active TB disease in South Africa

Pauvreté, genre et stratégies de survie des ménages en Côte d'Ivoire

Does the increasing of women-headed households mean the feminization of poverty ? The present research aims at verifying this hypothesis in the specific context of Côte d'Ivoire. In this respect, it joins a utilitarian approach of poverty and has appeal to the equivalence scales - to seize the differences of size and composition of the households. The analyses put in evidence the fragility of the correlation between gender and poverty in Côte d'Ivoire. Poverty affects indifferently the households steered by men as well as those depending economically on a woman, in spite of the social discrimination that undergo, generally, these last ones in terms of incomes and jobs. In fact, the study reveals that beyond the sex of the household's head, lack of active persons on the labour market turns out to be a determining factor of the households' poverty in Côte d'Ivoire. In this context, the work of the secondary women constitutes one of the major articulations of the strategies of survival, in particular in the men-headed households. The analyses are based on the exploitation of the data taken from the Côte d'Ivoire living standard surveys, conducted in 1995 and covering the whole territory. (Full text in French)

Response of shaver brown laying hens to different feeding space allowances

Three hundred 18 week-old Shaver Brown pullets (1,477.40±7.41 g) were allotted to 5 treatment groups containing 3 replicates of 20 pullets each. The treatments consisted of five feeding space allowances (FSA): 5.60, 8.40, 11.20, 14.00 and 16.80 cm/bird. Data were collected on feed consumption, weight change, egg production and feed conversion ratio (feed: dozen eggs) for a period of 20 weeks (18 to 38 weeks of age). All data collected were subjected to analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and significant differences reported at 5% probability. Mean feed consumption, body weight change and egg weight were not significantly affected by FSA. Pullets given access to FSA of 11.20, 14.00 and 16.80 cm/bird laid the first egg at a significantly younger age compared to those given 5.60 and 8.40 cm/bird. Hen-day egg production (HDP) and egg mass increased with increasing FSA up to 14.00 cm/bird. Hen-day production did not differ between the groups given 8.40 and 16.8 cm/bird. Groups given 5.60 cm/bird consumed more feed per dozen egg produced. The lowest feed consumption per dozen eggs was recorded on 11.20 and 14.00 cm FSA per bird. These results suggest that keeping the feeding space between 11.00 and 14.00 cm/hen will improve flock uniformity and reduce cost of egg production of Shaver Brown hens in the study area

Factors affecting the utilisation of cassava products for poultry feeding

SHORT supply and high cost of traditional ingredients affect efficientlivestock productionglobally. This has driven interest in alternative cheap materials mostly products of agro-industrial processing to replace traditional feed ingredients. Products such as discarded roots, leaf, peel and pulp are wasted or dumped in landfills in many developing regions, which could replace part of the expensive feed ingredients in livestock feeding. Cassava (Manihotesculenta Crantz) processing emitsseveral products such as peel, pulp and leaves. The sebeneficial cassava products are underutilised and more investigation is warranted to improve its utilisation, reduce feed cost and environment sustainability. Cassava peel, pulp and leaves are potential cheap feed ingredients for poultry feeding. However, these products may contain anti-nutritional factors such as cyanogenic glucosides which affect their maximum utilisation in poultry feeding. Several factors such as cultivar, stage of maturity, cyanide levels and processing methods affect the utilisation of cassava products in poultry diets. Several processing techniques have been used to reduce cyanogenic glucosides concentration to safe levels and enhance the utilisation of the products in poultry diets. This paper discusses the anti-nutritional factors affecting cassava utilisation, processing methods to reduce cyanide levels and future of cassava products for poultry feeding