Suicide in Kenyan Universities

This study examines the prevalence of suicidal thinking, planning, attempts and self-harm and the associated psychological stressors in two Kenyan universities. The participants are undergraduate university students aged (18 -29) years. A convergent mixed method study design was adopted to collect data. Self-administered questionnaire and focus group discussions were carried out among 431 students and six university counselors participated in a three rounds delphi survey. The study instruments were adopted from the Suicide Assessment Five-Step Evaluation & Triage (SAFE-T), Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Assessment Tool (NSSI-AT) and Emerging Adult Stress Inventory (EASI). A multivariate analysis (MANOVA) was performed. The prevalence rate of suicidal thinking was 17.1%, suicidal planning 5.9%, suicidal attempts 7.8% and self-harm 5.5%. Female students and private university students had high prevalence for all suicidal behaviors. Feeling hopeless and depressed, financial difficult, feeling anxious, family conflicts and academic challenges were psychological stressors compelling emerging adults to suicidal behaviors. The prevalence for suicidal behaviors were similar to that found in other studies carried out in other countries. Suicidal behaviors are associated with mental illness symptoms. This should be taken into account by peers, parents and university counselors to prevent and intervene for suicidal behaviors

Suicide in Kenyan Universities

This study examines the prevalence of suicidal thinking, planning, attempts and self-harm and the associated psychological stressors in two Kenyan universities. The participants are undergraduate university students aged (18 -29) years. A convergent mixed method study design was adopted to collect data. Self-administered questionnaire and focus group discussions were carried out among 431 students and six university counselors participated in a three rounds delphi survey. The study instruments were adopted from the Suicide Assessment Five-Step Evaluation & Triage (SAFE-T), Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Assessment Tool (NSSI-AT) and Emerging Adult Stress Inventory (EASI). A multivariate analysis (MANOVA) was performed. The prevalence rate of suicidal thinking was 17.1%, suicidal planning 5.9%, suicidal attempts 7.8% and self-harm 5.5%. Female students and private university students had high prevalence for all suicidal behaviors. Feeling hopeless and depressed, financial difficult, feeling anxious, family conflicts and academic challenges were psychological stressors compelling emerging adults to suicidal behaviors. The prevalence for suicidal behaviors were similar to that found in other studies carried out in other countries. Suicidal behaviors are associated with mental illness symptoms. This should be taken into account by peers, parents and university counselors to prevent and intervene for suicidal behaviors

Suicidal Behaviors Among Emerging Adults in Kenyan Universities

This study examined the prevalence of suicidal thinking, planning, attempts, and self-harm and the associated psychological stressors in two Kenyan universities. The participants were undergraduate university students aged (18 -29) years. A convergent mixed-method study design was adopted to collect data. Self-administered questionnaires and focus group discussions were carried out among 431 students and six university counselors participated in a three-round Delphi survey. The study instruments were adopted from the Suicide Assessment Five-Step Evaluation & Triage (SAFE-T), Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Assessment Tool (NSSI-AT), and Emerging Adult Stress Inventory (EASI). A multivariate analysis (MANOVA) was performed. The prevalence rate of suicidal thinking was 17.1%, suicidal planning 5.9%, suicidal attempts 7.8%, and self-harm 5.5%. Female students and private university students have a high prevalence of all suicidal behaviors. Feeling hopeless and depressed, financial difficulty, feeling anxious, family conflicts, and academic challenges were psychological stressors compelling emerging adults to suicidal behaviors. The prevalence of suicidal behaviors was like that found in other studies carried out in other countries. Suicidal behaviors are associated with mental illness symptoms. This should be considered by peers, parents, and university counselors to prevent and intervene in suicidal behaviors

Innovations in Climate Risk Management: Protecting and Building Rural Livelihoods in a Variable and Changing Climate

We argue that more effective management of climate risk must be part of the response of the international agriculture community to the double crisis of persistent poverty and a changing climate. The most promising opportunities to adapt to climate change involve action on shorter time scales that also contributes to immediate development challenges. Climate risk management (CRM) combines systematic use of climate information, and technology that reduces vulnerability and policy that transfers risk. The cost of climate risk comes both through damaging extreme events and through forfeited opportunity in climatically-favorable years. Effective CRM therefore involves managing the full range of variability, balancing hazard management with efforts to capitalize on opportunity. We discuss several innovations for managing climate risk in agriculture, which have not yet been fully mainstreamed in international agricultural research-for-development. First, effective rural climate information services enable farmers to adopt technology, intensify production, and invest in more profitable livelihoods when conditions are favorable; and to protect families and farms against the long-term consequences of adverse extremes. Second, information and decision support systems synthesize historic, monitored and forecast climate information into forms that are directly relevant to institutional decisions (planning, trade, food crisis response) that impact farmer livelihoods. Third, innovations in index-based insurance and credit overcome some of the limitations of traditional insurance, and are being applied to pre-financing food crisis response, and to removing credit constraints to adopting improved technology. We present a typology of CRM interventions around the concept of dynamic poverty traps

Non-Participation in Child Health Days or Routine Immunization Services among Children under 5 Years of Age—Somaliland 2012

After two decades of conflict, Somalia remains a fragile state where large scale displacement and inadequate access to functioning health services have left children vulnerable to morbidity and mortality from vaccine preventable disease: a survey was conducted to better understand the reasons for non-vaccination among children in Somaliland.Labaatan sano oo burbur ah kaddib, Soomaaliya waxay ahayd dowlad nugul, taasoo keentay in ay adkaato in la gaarsiiyo daryeel caafimaad caruurata, xaaladdaasina waxa dhallaanka ka dhigtay in ay u nuglaadaan cudurka jadeecada iyo geerida cudurrada leh tillaal kahortag: waxaa la sameeyey baaritaan ku saabsan sababaha keenay in dhallaanka Somaliland ay u waayeen gargaarka xagga tallaalaka.Dopo due decenni di conflitto, la Somalia rimane uno stato fragile in cui gli spostamenti su larga scala e un accesso inadeguato ai servizi sanitari hanno lasciato i bambini vulnerabili alla morbilità e la mortalità per malattie a prevenzione vaccinale: è stata condotta un'indagine per approfondire i motivi del mancato ricorso alla vaccinazione tra i bambini in Somaliland

Do clinicians adhere to practice guidelines? A descriptive study at a referral hospital in Kenya

Background: Clinical guidelines when implemented correctly have shown to improve disease outcomes. This study describes utilization of Kenya National guidelines in managing ante partum haemorrhage (APH) in 3rd trimester.Objective: To describe adherence to clinical guideline in management of antepartum haemorrhage at Garissa Provincial General Hospital Design: Crossectional mixed methods studySetting: Garissa Provincial General HospitalSubjects: Medical records of patients managed for APH between 2002 and 2012 and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) of Health workers.Results: 36.1% of the cases assessed were managed with strict adherence to guidelines. 90% of health care workers had high levels of awareness of the existence of guidelines and sited utilization challenges attributed to resource inadequacies.Conclusion: Clinicians are skilled on APH guidelines, but adherence levels are still low. Therefore, continuous appraisal of clinical practices, availing equipment, facilities and supplies to reinforce adherence is recommended

Aspects determining the risk of pesticides to wild bees: risk profiles for focal crops on three continents.

In order to conduct a proper risk assessment of pesticides to bees, information is needed in three areas: (i) the toxicity of the pesticide; (ii) the probability of bee exposure to that pesticide; and (iii) the population dynamics of the bee species in question. Information was collected on such factors affecting pesticide risk to (primarily wild) bees in several crops in Brazil, Kenya and The Netherlands. These data were used to construct ?risk profiles? of pesticide use for bees in the studied cropping systems. Data gaps were identified and potential risks of pesticides to bees were compared between the crops. Initially, risk profiling aims to better identify gaps in our present knowledge. In the longer term, the established risk profiles may provide structured inputs into risk assessment models for wild and managed bees, and lead to recommendations for specific risk mitigation measures.Edição dos Proceedings of the 11 International Symposium Hazards of Pesticides to Bees, Wageningen, nov. 2011