The Role of Community Radio in Development of the Rural Poor

More than 850 million people in developing countries are excluded from a wide range of information and knowledge, with the rural poor in particular remaining isolated from both traditional media and new information and communication technologies, which would improve their livelihoods and development pattern (FAO, 2001). Considering the sociocultural and geographical structure of rural, remote people community radio has been found more effective and inclusive medium to provide unbiased information and knowledge among the masses (Gumucio 2001). The aim of this article is to analyze the contribution of community radio to the development of deprived rural people in various parts of world in general and Kenya in particular. The analysis indicates that the community radio movement has created grassroots-level participation and horizontal circulation of ideas among the deprived rural communities, which are necessary pre-conditions to democratization of communication and redistribution of power. The article has also looked at the Community Radio ownership models in various parts of the world and made some policy suggestions for its sustainability especially in Kenya and East Africa at large. Keywords: Community radio, democratization of communication, horizontal circulation, grassroots-level participatio

The Role of Females in the Folk Media Industry of Nambale Sub County, Busia, Kenya

Folk media such as tales, songs, rituals, and drama, serves a descriptive, as well as prescriptive role, by unswervingly depicting societal and cultural norms. Chauvinistic portrayals sanction the marginality of Nambale Sub County women, particularly when these reflect prevailing gender responsibilities and expectations. However, contests over identity and representation are as ancient as unwritten history. An extensive exploration of various folk media productions from Nambale offers a wide range of role models for women; some of which depict female agency in exacting circumstances. Further, females as narrators, singers, actors, protagonists, and the primary audience accompanied with few men and children act as both custodians and creators of Nambale Sub County culture. The legitimacy of folk media such as tales and songs arises from their foundation in everyday sense experiences. Supplementary, the consistency of folk media types sanctions their legitimacy despite the selectivity in appropriation of cultural patterns. Further, while most Namable folk media forms portray women as less assertive, less ethical and often indecisive if not dependent on male folk; women nurture future generations and, through folktales, foster norms and values that maintain communities. Further, self-determined protagonists offer models of strategic, resourceful, daring, and visionary females. Whereas folktales reflect and sanction the subordination of women in society, most Nambale men maintain a protective stance toward mothers, while disparaging femininity. Keywords: Kenya; folk media; gender and female agency; social norms; texts; cultural conduits; cultural identity; self-determined learning DOI: 10.7176/NMMC/82-04 Publication date: August 31st 201

Stratified Outcome Evaluation of Peritonitis

Background: The heterogeneity of disease severity in peritonitis makes outcome prediction challenging. Risk evaluation in secondary peritonitis can direct treatment planning, predict outcomes and aid in the conduct of surgical audits. Objective: To determine the outcome of peritonitis in patients stratified according to disease severity at the Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH). Design: Prospective descriptive cross sectional survey. Methods: Seventy patients were consecutively enrolled within 24 hours of operation for peritonitis between December 2007 and April 2008. To stratify patients according to severity, Mannheim Peritonitis Index (MPI) scores were calculated using the following risk variables: age, sex, preoperative duration, organ failure, sepsis source, malignancy, character and extent of exudate. The main outcome on follow up was complications. Secondary outcomes were length of hospital stay and mortality for different MPI scores. Results: Fifty six males and 14 females (M:F=4:1) were analysed. The mean age was 32.17 years (age range 13-59 years). Forty six (65.7%) had generalised peritonitis, 15(21.4%) had 2-3 quadrant peritonitis while 9(12.9%) had focal peritonitis. Common sources of peritonitis were perforations of appendicitis (31.4%), duodenal ulcer (22.9%) and ileum (18.6%). Patients who complicated had a mean MPI of 26.9 compared to those who did not (22.8) (p=0.018). Morbidity rates increased with rising MPI scores (31% for MPI <21, 54.2% MPI 21-29, 64% MPI >29). The risk of death was double for patients with an MPI ≥26. Hospital stay was 14 days for the whole group but 22 days for those who developed complications. ROC curve analysis showed a predictive power of 0.916 with a sensitivity of 88.9% and specificity of 85.2% at MPI of 29 points.Conclusion: MPI scores related with outcomes of peritonitis and can be used in prognosticating early outcome in patients with surgical peritonitis at KNH.Key Words: Peritonitis, Outcome stratification, Mannheim peritonitis inde

Social Media as Amedium of Crisis Communication Amongst University Campuses in Kisii County

Social media gives the ability to communicate quickly and effectively, revolutionizing the manner in which people communicate and gather information about stories and topics that are of interest to them. With the right tools in place, social media can play an important role in crisis communication. The use of social media in crisis communication has become common in the current digital age. The manifestation of social media usage is in the rapid growth and popularity of such social media platforms such as facebook, bandoo, flicker, twitter and whatsApp. As such this paper examined the applications of social media platforms in crisis communication in university management. The analysis targeted employees from different university campuses in Kisii County. The study sampled 108 employees of university campuses in Kisii County. Quantitative data that was collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics while qualitative data was examined and reported basing on various themes. Data indicated that various social media platforms are in use by the university campuses in their crisis communication. Whatsapp was noted to be the most used social media by the university campuses in Kisii County. As a tool for mobile devices, WhatsApp has several capabilities such as portability, ability to share several message formats such as graphics and geographical location, ability to send voice notes and ability to broadcast one message to many recipients. This makes it attractive to the majority of the users. Keywords:Crisis Communication, social media, digital age, telecommunication firms, crisis; crisis communication; whatsApp. DOI: 10.7176/NMMC/96-05 Publication date:May 31st 202

Influence of Inventory Control Practices on Procurement Performance of Public Hospitals in Trans Nzoia County

Hospitals procure almost all the products that they use for both pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical purposes, food items, cleaning agents among others. A significant amount of hospitals’ expenditure goes to purchasing of these items. However, poor inventory control of these products lead to loss, misuse, lack of accountability and poor management of these products. This study looked at the relationship between inventory control practices and procurement performance of public hospitals in Trans Nzoia County with regards to use of economic order quantity, safety stock ordering, first-in-first-out and inventory audit. The main objective of this study was to assess the influence of inventory control practices on procurement performance of public hospitals in Trans Nzoia County. A survey research design was used in this study. The study was conducted in public hospitals in Trans Nzoia County which comprised of Kitale County Hospital, Mt. Elgon Hospital and six sub-county hospitals (Endebes, Kwanza, Cherang'any, Saboti, Kapsara and Matunda Sub-County Hospitals). The study employed census as the sampling technique. The sample size for this study was 47 respondents comprising of heads of departments of procurement and stores, their assistants as well as employees working in those departments. A structured questionnaire was used for collecting data. The research instrument was pretested at Kapenguria County Referral Hospital and Chepararia sub-county hospital; West Pokot County. Collected data was analyzed using statistical package SPSS. Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression were used for inferential analysis. The study found out that the use of economic order quantity had significant influence on procurement performance of public hospitals in Trans Nzoia County. However, EOQ did not take into account changing consumer demand and seasonal changes in inventory costs. Safety stock ordering had significant influence on procurement performance of public hospitals in Trans Nzoia County. Hospitals always had safety stocks of its inventories. Safety stock ordering absorbed the variability of customer demand and was used to protect the hospital from stock-outs caused by inaccurate planning. High level of safety stock ordering led high customer satisfaction. However, high level of safety stock ordering led to high holding costs for the hospitals. FIFO had a positive significant influence on procurement performance of public hospitals in Trans Nzoia County. FIFO resulted in a higher ending inventory and lower cost of inventory. Inventory audit had a positive significant influence on procurement performance of public hospitals in Trans Nzoia County. Inventory audit ensured timely and adequate identification and evaluation of inventories and enabled the hospitals evade risks associated with stock such as unnecessarily high stock levels. The study recommended that hospitals should find a complementary inventory control practice to the use of EOQ which takes take into account changing consumer demand and seasonal changes in inventory costs

Fiscal decentralization in Kenya: a case of the Constituency Development Fund in Nambale Constituency - its effectiveness and sustainability on education projects

Magister Artium (Development Studies) - MA(DVS)This study aims to establish the effectiveness and sustainability of Kenya's Constituency Development Fund as a fiscal decentralized initiative aimed at poverty reduction. The study focuses on the contribution of CDF on education and how this has brought about changes related to increased access to education, better education facilities and improved performance. The study also seeks to highlight prime factors such as participation in decision making as necessary for the implementation of the CDF, while also highlighting those factors that hinder the effective and sustainable implementation of the program.South Afric

An Analysis of the Factors Affecting Public Participation in Environmental Impact Assessment: Case Study of Selected Projects in Nairobi City County, Kenya

Public Participation (PP) is an integral part in the EIA process and it is enshrined in the Constitution of Kenya. The overall objective of the study is to evaluate the factorsthat affect public participation in EIA process among selected projects in Nairobi City County. The specific objectives of the study were to evaluate how socio- economic, behavioral and political factors affect PP in EIA process. Two theories that were used in this study included OECD active participation framework and CLEAR participation model. The study adopted descriptive research design. The researcher targeted five projects from 53 on- going projects in Nairobi County. The population of the study included 105 respondents (100 participants and 5 project proponents). That is 20 respondents from each project. The researcher used questionnaires (participants) and interviews guides (project proponents) to collect data. Data collected was both quantitative and qualitative. The findings revealed that the level of education affects public participation in projects. Language used during meetings could either encourage/ discourage effective communication hence have an effect on participation. Employment status tend to affect how public participate in EIA process. The level of trust between the government and public tends to affect how the public will come out to participate in government projects when called upon. Politicians had an influence on public participation in government projects. The study recommends regularly awareness by National Environment Management Authority about EIA process and the public should change their attitude towards participation in government projects

An Exploratory Descriptive Study of Antimicrobial Resistance Patterns of Staphylococcus Spp. Isolated from Horses Presented at a Veterinary Teaching Hospital

Background Antimicrobial resistant Staphylococcus are becoming increasingly important in horses because of the zoonotic nature of the pathogens and the associated risks to caregivers and owners. Knowledge of the burden and their antimicrobial resistance patterns are important to inform control strategies. This study is an exploratory descriptive investigation of the burden and antimicrobial drug resistance patterns of Staphylococcus isolates from horses presented at a veterinary teaching hospital in South Africa. Methods Retrospective laboratory clinical records of 1027 horses presented at the University of Pretoria veterinary teaching hospital between 2007 and 2012 were included in the study. Crude and factor-specific percentages of Staphylococcus positive samples, antimicrobial resistant (AMR) and multidrug resistant (MDR) isolates were computed and compared across Staphylococcus spp., geographic locations, seasons, years, breed and sex using Chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests. Results Of the 1027 processed clinical samples, 12.0% were Staphylococcus positive. The majority of the isolates were S. aureus (41.5%) followed by S. pseudintermedius(14.6%). Fifty-two percent of the Staphylococcus positive isolates were AMR while 28.5% were MDR. Significant (p \u3c 0.05) differences in the percentage of samples with isolates that were AMR or MDR was observed across seasons, horse breeds and Staphylococcus spp. Summer season had the highest (64.3%) and autumn the lowest (29.6%) percentages of AMR isolates. Highest percentage of AMR samples were observed among the Boerperds (85.7%) followed by the American saddler (75%) and the European warm blood (73.9%). Significantly (p \u3c 0.001) more S. aureus isolates (72.5%) were AMR than S. pseudintermedius isolates (38.9%). Similarly, significantly (p \u3c 0.001) more S. aureus (52.9%) exhibited MDR than S. pseudintermedius (16.7%). The highest levels of AMR were towards β-lactams (84.5%) followed by trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (folate pathway inhibitors) (60.9%) while the lowest levels of resistance were towards amikacin (14.%). Conclusions This exploratory study provides useful information to guide future studies that will be critical for guiding treatment decisions and control efforts. There is a need to implement appropriate infection control, and judicious use of antimicrobials to arrest development of antimicrobial resistance. A better understanding of the status of the problem is a first step towards that goal

Geographic distribution of Staphylococcus spp. infections and antimicrobial resistance among dogs from Gauteng Province presented at a veterinary teaching hospital in South Africa.

The objective of this study was to investigate spatial patterns of staphylococcal infections and resistance patterns of clinical isolates from dogs from Gauteng province in South Africa. Data from records of 1,497 dog clinical samples submitted to a veterinary teaching hospital between 2007 and 2012 were used in the study. Spatial empirical Bayesian smoothed risk maps were used to investigate spatial patterns of staphylococcal infections, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), and multidrug resistance (MDR). Moran’s I and spatial scan statistics were used to investigate spatial clusters at municipal and town spatial scales. Significant clusters of staphylococcal infections were identified at both the municipal (Relative Risk [RR]=1.71, p=0.003) and town (RR=1.65, p=0.039) scales. However, significant clusters of AMR (p=0.003) and MDR (p=0.007) were observed only at the town scale. Future larger studies will need to investigate local determinants of geographical distribution of the clusters so as to guide targeted control efforts