La financiación de la educación superior en áfrica subsahariana

Las instituciones de educación superior de África subsahariana se enfrentan a las mayores dificultades económicas del mundo. Los principales escollos son una tasa de matriculación en alza, un descenso de los recursos gubernamentales y la inflación. Este texto explora las perspectivas históricas en el contexto de la financiación, examina las dinámicas internas y externas que afectan a la financiación y analiza el creciente avance de la generación de recursos y la diversificación de éstos, así como el ámbito de la gestión de fondos para la educación superior. El documento también examina la expansión de las instituciones de educación superior privadas en el continente.Peer Reviewe

Learning from returnee Ethiopian migrant domestic workers: a qualitative assessment to reduce the risk of human trafficking.

BACKGROUND: International migration has become a global political priority, with growing concern about the scale of human trafficking, hazardous work conditions, and resulting psychological and physical morbidity among migrants. Ethiopia remains a significant "source" country for female domestic workers to the Middle East and Gulf States, despite widespread reports of exploitation and abuse. Prior to introduction of a "safe migration" intervention, we conducted formative research to elicit lessons learned by women who had worked as domestic workers abroad. The aim of the study was to identify realistic measures future migrants could take to protect themselves, based on the collective insights and experience of returnees. METHODS: We conducted a qualitative assessment among returnee domestic labour migrants in Amhara Region, Ethiopia, an area considered a "hotspot" for outmigration. We conducted in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with a total of 35 female returnees, exploring risk and protective factors experienced by Ethiopian women during domestic work abroad. We used thematic content analysis to identify practical messages that could improve prospective migrants' preparedness. RESULTS: Returnees described the knowledge and skills they acquired prior to departure and during migration, and shared advice they would give to prospective migrants in their community. Facilitators of positive migration included conforming to cultural and behavioural expectations, learning basic Arabic, using household appliances, and ensuring safety in employers' homes. Respondents also associated confidence and assertiveness with better treatment and respect, and emphasized the importance of access to external communication (e.g. a mobile phone, local sim card, and contact details) for help in an emergency. Following their own challenging or even traumatic experiences, returnees were keen to support resilience among the next wave of migrants. CONCLUSIONS: There is little evidence on practices that foster safer migration, yet attention to human trafficking has led to an increase in pre-migration interventions. These require robust evidence about local risk and protective factors. Our findings identify knowledge, skills, attributes and resources found useful by returnee domestic workers in Amhara region, and have been used to inform a community-based programme aiming to foster better decision-making and preparation, with potential to offer insights for safer migration elsewhere

Level of immunization coverage and associated factors among children aged 12–23 months in Lay Armachiho District, North Gondar Zone, Northwest Ethiopia: a community based cross sectional study

BACKGROUND: Immunization against childhood disease is one of the most important public health interventions with cost effective means to preventing childhood morbidity, mortality and disability. However, complete immunization coverage remains low particularly in rural areas of Ethiopia. This study aimed to assess the level of immunization coverage and associated factors in Lay Armachiho District, North Gondar zone, Northwest Ethiopia. A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in March, 2014 among 751 pairs of mothers to children aged 12–23 months in Lay Armachiho District. A two stage sampling technique was employed. Logistic regression analysis was carried out to compute association between factors and immunization status of children. Backwards stepwise regression method was used and those variables significant at p value 0.05 were considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Seventy-six percent of the children were fully immunized during the study period. Dropout rate was 6.5% for BCG to measles, 2.7% for Penta1 to Penta3 and 4.5% for Pnemonia1 to Pnemonia3. The likelihood of children to be fully immunized among mothers who identified the number of sessions needed for vaccination were higher than those who did not [AOR = 2.8 (95% C1 = 1.89, 4.2)]. Full immunization status of children was higher among mothers who know the age at which the child become fully immunized than who did not know [AOR = 2.93 (95% CI = 2.02, 4.3)]. Taking tetanus toxoid immunization during pregnancy showed statistically significant association with full immunization of children [AOR 1.6 (95% CI = 1.06, 2.62)]. Urban children were more likely to be fully immunized than rural [AOR = 1.82 (95% CI = 1.15, 2.80)] and being male were more likely to be fully immunized than female [AOR = 1.80 (95% CI = 1.26, 2.6)]. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION: Vaccination coverage was low compared to the Millennium Development Goals target. It is important to increase and maintain the immunization level to the intended target. Efforts should be made to promote women‘s’ awareness on tetanus toxoid immunization, when the child should start vaccination, number of sessions needed to complete immunization, and when a child become complete vaccination to improve immunization coverage through health development army and health professionals working at antenatal care, postnatal care and immunization units

International Clinical Trial Day and clinical trials in Ethiopia and Africa

Low income countries like Ethiopia are underrepresented in clinical research. As a major public commitment to clinical research, Ethiopia celebrated the International Clinical Trial Day (ICTD) for the first time on 20 May 2014 under the auspices of Addis Ababa University. The motto for the day was ‘Clinical Trials for Excellence in Patient Care’. The celebration offered an opportunity to inform academic staff, researchers, students and the leadership about clinical trials being conducted and to discuss the future of clinical trials in the country. Although clear challenges to the conduct of trials abound, clinical trials registered from Ethiopia in trial registration databases is increasing. Cross-country collaborations, international funding support, motivation of academic staff to conduct clinical trials and the commitment and engagement of the leadership in research are all improving. The overall impact of clinical trials is also encouraging. For example, some of the trials conducted in Ethiopia have informed treatment guidelines. However, administrative capacity, research infrastructure as well as financial support remain weak. There is a need for enhanced university-industry linkage and translation of research findings into locally relevant evidence. Ethiopia, as well as the whole of Africa, has an unparalleled opportunity to lead the way in clinical trials, given its prospect of development and the need to have locally relevant evidence for its growing population. In this commentary we reflect on the celebration of ICTD, the status and opportunities for conducting clinical trials and the way forward for facilitating clinical trials in Ethiopia and Africa

Substance-related disorders treatment service in a general hospital in Ethiopia: Experience, challenges and opportunities

According to the latest global burden of diseases report, substance related disorders (SRDs) remain important risk factors for disability and premature mortality. The subSaharan Africa region has a long history of substance use, but this was mainly limited to alcohol, tobacco, cannabis, and khat. Recently, use of hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin is on the rise. This paper highlights the current status of SRDs in Ethiopia. Alcohol, khat and tobacco are the three substances commonly misused in Ethiopia. Evidence based interventons for SRDs for low and middle-income countries (LMICs) and the challenges of setng up SRD service, and applicaton of these interventons in Ethiopia, a country of more than 100 million people and the second largest in Africa afer Nigeria with rising SRDs, is presented. It also highlights the successes, opportunites and innovatve approaches undertaken. A descriptve summary of cases seen in the SRD treatment center, and outcomes of detoxifcaton is also presented. Lessons learnt in this process have the potental to inform other similar services in LMICs.Keywords: Alcohol, Drugs, Ethiopia, Low and Middle Income, Services, Substance, subSaharan Afric

Short communication: Assimilation efficiency in two herbivores, Oreochromis niloticus and larvae of Imbrasia belina: a comparison

The abilities of two herbivorous animals (Oreochromis niloticus and the larva of Imbrasia belina) to digest and absorb nutrients (Assimilation efficiency) from their guts were studied. Oreochromis niloticus mainly feeds on phytoplankton and the larvae of I. belina feeds on leaves of Mophane (Colophospermum mophane) and Morula (Sclerocarya birrea) trees. The amount of organic matter in the diet of fish (100-600 mg/g D.W.) and assimilation efficiency (8-43%) were variable and an increase in the level of organic matter in the diet of fish resulted in an increase in assimilation efficiency. The organic matter in the diet of O. niloticus can only be increased when the fish ingests more algae and this improved lyses of algal cells. The organic content in the diet of the larvae was consistently high (>900 mg/g D.W.) but assimilation efficiency was not always high. The highest assimilation efficiency for the larvae was 36 ± 3.3% and the lowest was 13.2 ± 3.2%. In this study, it has been shown that the amount of organic matter in the diet and larval age are factors that could limit assimilation efficiency in fish and larvae, respectively. The proportion of cellulose material, indigestible organic matter, in the food is another constraint for both animals. As a result, both animals have only achieved about 40% maximum efficiency. Thus, more studies to understand how these and other factors affect assimilation efficiency are essential to improve production of these animals in aquaculture and larviculture. Key words/phrases: Assimilation efficiency, Imbrasia belina, lepidoptera, Oreochromis niloticus, saturniidae SINET: Ethiop. J. Sci Vol.26(1) 2003: 73-7

Girma Y. Getahun: Advanced Amharic Lexicon: a Supplement to Concise Amharic–English Dictionaries

Review 

Retrospective study of childhood experiences of persons with disabilities and high achievement profiles in Ethiopia

Abstract: An attempt was made to examine early psychosocial home and school conditions of persons with disabilities and high achievement and resilient personality qualities. The subjects were persons with hearing, visual, and motor impairments. Structured and semi-structured questionnaire and focus-group discussions were employed for collecting field data. Over 82% of the participants reported that they had a conducive psychosocial home environment in their early childhood development which was manifested in the form of mutual understanding, affection, acceptance, and provision of back-up support. A t-test result also revealed no statistically significant differences (α = 0.05) across the different disability groups. Furthermore, high correlation coefficient (r = 0.89) but no statistically significant differences (α = 0.05) were found between early psychosocial experience of the participants and their current home interaction. It is suggested that the quality of early familial psychosocial support for children with disabilities play a vital role for their subsequent achievement and success in life. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 1999;13(3):195-204

Assessment of Factors Associated with Workplace Violence against Nurses among Referral Hospitals of Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia

Background: Workplace violence is a serious occupational risk for global workforce and healthcare workers are at greater risk of violence than other service workers. However, no studies have been investigated about this phenomenon in Ethiopia. Objective: to assess the prevalence and predictors of workplace violence against nurses working in referral hospitals of Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia.Method: Facility based cross sectional study was conducted among nurses working in all referral hospitals of Oromia Regional State, Ethiopia. Two hundred fifteen (215) nurses were selected by simple random sampling technique. Data were collected using pre-tested questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS software version 16. Binary and multiple logistic regressions were used to see factors associated with workplace violence.Result: Out of 203 nurses participated in the study, 168(82.2%) of the nurses have experienced workplace violence during the previous 12 months.  Among these 81.8%, 9.9%, 47.3%, and 23.2% had history of verbal abuse, sexual harassment, bulling/mobbing and physical violence respectively within the past 12 months. Nurses working in inpatient departments were 4 times more likely to experience workplace violence than those who did not (AOR=4.326, 95% C.I., 1.594, 11.739. Clients who wait long for service above the recommended time were 3 times more likely to create workplace violence than those who did not (AOR=2.960, 95% C.I.1.214, 7.217). Conclusion and recommendation: Most of the nurses (82.8%) have experienced workplace violence in the last 12 months. However majority of them (83.9%) did not report the incidents of workplace violence. Keywords: prevalence, predictors, workplace violence, nurses, referral hospitals, Ethiopi