Assessing distribution of impacts of improved water supply in Singida, Tanzania

This study was carried out in five villages of Singida Town Council in September 2003. Its aim was to explore the distribution of WSS impacts. While a wide range of positive impacts are associated with improved water supply and sanitation (WSS) services, they do not happen automatically, and are not equally shared amongst members of a community. Therefore the intention was to determine factors that influence the distribution of the impacts to increase understanding of serviceimpacts links in order to facilitate maximization of WSS impacts on improving quality of life. The findings reinforces that the degree to which beneficiaries of a WSS services reap potential benefits is subject to the design, implementation and ongoing management of the services and highlight four practical areas for consideration

Water sector reforms in Tanzania: is it enough to take us to the MDGs?

This paper outlines GoT proposed plans and mechanisms for achieving sector targets focusing on investment in RWSS sub-sector. The paper links the proposed plans and mechanisms with issues raised in sector Public Expenditure Reviews (PER) and highlight challenges requiring immediate attention as part of the reform process

Preventing ethics dumping: the challenges for Kenyan research ethics committees

Ethics dumping is the practice of undertaking research in a low- or middle-income setting which would not be permitted, or would be severely restricted, in a high-income setting. Whilst Kenya operates a sophisticated research governance system, resource constraints and the relatively low number of accredited research ethics committees limit the capacity for ensuring ethical compliance. As a result, Kenya has been experiencing cases of ethics dumping. This article presents 11 challenges in the context of preventing ethics dumping in Kenya, namely variations in governance standards, resistance to double ethics review, resource constraints, unresolved issues in the management of biological samples, unresolved issues in the management of primary data, unsuitable informed consent procedures, cultural insensitivity, differing standards of care, reluctance to provide feedback to research communities, power differentials which facilitate the exploitation of local researchers and lack of local relevance and/or affordability of the resultant products. A reflective approach for researchers, built around the values of fairness, respect, care and honesty, is presented as a means of taking shared responsibility for preventing ethics dumping

Arsenic speciation in edible alga samples by microwave-assisted extraction and high performance liquid chromatography coupled to atomic fluorescence spectrometry

Twelve commercially available edible marine algae from France, Japan and Spain and the certified reference material (CRM) NIES No. 9 Sargassum fulvellum were analyzed for total arsenic and arsenic species. Total arsenic concentrations were determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) after microwave digestion and ranged from 23 to 126 μg g−1. Arsenic species in alga samples were extracted with deionized water by microwave-assisted extraction and showed extraction efficiencies from 49 to 98%, in terms of total arsenic. The presence of eleven arsenic species was studied by high performance liquid chromatography–ultraviolet photo-oxidation–hydride generation atomic–fluorescence spectrometry (HPLC–(UV)–HG–AFS) developed methods, using both anion and cation exchange chromatography. Glycerol and phosphate sugars were found in all alga samples analyzed, at concentrations between 0.11 and 22 μg g−1, whereas sulfonate and sulfate sugars were only detected in three of them (0.6-7.2 μg g−1). Regarding arsenic toxic species, low concentration levels of dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) (<0.9 μg g−1) and generally high arsenate (As(V)) concentrations (up to 77 μg g−1) were found in most of the algae studied. The results obtained are of interest to highlight the need to perform speciation analysis and to introduce appropriate legislation to limit toxic arsenic species content in these food products

Kubou ni buka : na veitalanoa e so mai Noca Ositerelia / ka vola Rev. Meli Tukai.

Title in English: The smoke signal.; Electronic reproduction. Canberra, A.C.T. : National Library of Australia, 2012.Na kubou ni buk

I talanoa e so ma [i.e. mai] Noca Ositerelia / sa vola ko Rev. Meli Tukai.

Title in English: Account of North Australia.; Electronic reproduction. Canberra, A.C.T. : National Library of Australia, 2012

Services and supply chains: The role of the domestic private sector in water service delivery in Tanzania

Private water vendors provide a means by which households without an individual piped connection to the utility network access water across tanzania’s capital city —dar es Salaam. Perhaps surprisingly, the most expensive water originates from a public utility tap. this is because the water is transported by vendors, and the long supply chain translates into substantial mark-up on price. In terms of quality, users of transported water cannot be classified as having access to ‘safe’ water, as defined in millennium development goal (mdg) terms. This is mainly to do with the fact that quality is not monitored between the source and the end user. Households in dar es Salaam describe that much of the borehole water is too salty to drink, and they therefore prefer — and pay a premium for — utility water delivered by mobile vendors. Paradoxically, then, the poorest end users pay a higher price for water that does not qualify as safe or ‘improved’. This raises questions about the conceptual accuracy of present definitions of ‘access’ to safe drinking water. Policy intervention is urgently required to address the inequality in access to safe water. Ultimately, comprehensive coverage by a responsive public provider is required. Meanwhile, immediate options include: 1) Support for the private sector. This could include providing finance to strengthen small-scale piped networks and treatment to improve water quality; 2) Support for community provision. This approach may provide water more cheaply than private vendors with less rent extraction; and 3) Learning from the private sector. Where low-income areas lack piped water infrastructure, an option is for the utility to provide water via its own tankers so that quality could be assured and revenue would reach the utility, and possibly fund future infrastructure investments