Economic evaluation of improved grain storage technology in Tanzania

United States Agency for International Developmen

Economic evaluation of improved grain storage technology in Tanzania

United States Agency for International Developmen

Cytotoxic Screening of Some Tanzania Medicinal Plants

East and Central African Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences Vol.6(3) 2003: 52-5

Mammea-type coumarins from Mammea usambarensis Verdc.

Phytochemical investigations of Mammea usambarensis resulted into the isolation a δ-tocotrienol (1) and five known mammea-type coumarins (2–6). Their structures were determined by NMR, IR, and LC-MS spectroscopic methods and by comparison of their spectral and physical data with those reported previously in the literature. The presence of these compounds is consistent with the compound classes reported from other members of the genus Mammea. Compound 6 is isolated from the Mammea genus for the first time. This is the new source of mammea-type coumarin compounds while the chemotaxonomic significance of this investigation is summarized

The hepatitis C cascade of care in people who inject drugs in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

The World Health Organisation has recently called for hepatitis C virus (HCV) elimination and has identified people who inject drugs (PWID) as a key population to scale‐up screening and linkage to care. This study reports the cascade of care for HCV in PWID attending the largest opioid substitution treatment (OST) clinic in Dar‐es‐Salaam, Tanzania. Between February 2011 and March 2016, HCV serology for all PWID registered at the Muhimbili National Hospital OST clinic, Dar‐es‐Salaam were obtained from records. In 2015 consecutive HCV‐seropositive PWID were invited to undergo a clinical evaluation including epidemiological questionnaire, liver stiffness measurement (Fibroscan) and virological analysis (HCV RNA viral load and genotyping). During the study period, 1,350 persons registered at the OST clinic: all had a HCV serology including 409 (30%) positive results. Among the HCV‐seropositive individuals, 207 (51%) were active attenders and 153 (37%) were enrolled for clinical assessment: 141 (92%) were male, median age: 38 years (IQR 34‐41), and 65 (44%) were co‐infected with HIV; 116 patients (76%) had detectable HCV RNA, with genotypes 1a (68%) and 4a (32%); 21 (17%) had clinically significant fibrosis (≥F2) and 6 (5%) had cirrhosis (F4). None were offered HCV treatment. Chronic hepatitis C among PWID enrolled in the OST centre in Dar‐es‐Salaam is frequent, but its continuum of care is insufficient; integration of HCV diagnosis and treatment should form a part of OST intervention in PWID in Tanzania

In-field evaluation of Xpert® HCV viral load fingerstick assay in people who inject drugs in Tanzania

Background Although novel hepatitis C (HCV) RNA point-of-care technology has the potential to enhance diagnosis in resource-limited settings, very little real-world validation of their utility exists. We evaluate the performance of HCV RNA quantification using the Xpert® HCV Viral Load Fingerstick assay (Xpert® HCV VL Fingerstick assay) as compared to the WHO pre-qualified plasma Xpert® HCV viral load assay among people who inject drugs (PWID) attending an opioid agonist therapy (OAT) clinic in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. Methods Between December 2018 and February 2019 consecutive HCV seropositive PWID attending the OAT clinic provided paired venous and finger-stick samples for HCV RNA quantification. These were processed on-site using the GeneXpert® platform located at the Central tuberculosis reference laboratory. Results A total of 208 out of 220 anti-HCV positive participants recruited (94.5%) had a valid Xpert® HCV VL result available; 126 (61%; (95% CI 53.8-67.0) had detectable and quantifiable HCV RNA. 188 (85%) had paired plasma and finger-stick whole blood samples; the sensitivity and specificity for the quantification of HCV RNA levels were 99.1% and 98.7% respectively. There was an excellent correlation (R2=0.95) and concordance (mean difference 0.13 IU/mL, (95% CI -0.9 to 0.16 IU/mL) in HCV RNA levels between plasma samples and finger-stick samples. Conclusion This study found excellent performance of the Xpert® HCV VL Fingerstick assay for HCV RNA detection and quantification in an African-field setting. Its clinical utility represents an important watershed in overcoming existing challenges to HCV diagnosis, which should play a crucial role in HCV elimination in Africa

Rain-Fed Farming System at a Crossroads in Semi-Arid Areas of Tanzania: What Roles do Climate Variability and Change Play?

Positive changes, like adopting drought resistant crop varieties, in the rain-fed farming system (RFFS) in response to climate variability and change enhance system’s ability to support people’s living as opposed to negative changes, like lack of pastures, which put the system at risk of failure in supporting the living. Using participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and household survey, this paper examined the roles of climate variability and change in triggering changes in RFFS. Specifically, the paper: (i) assessed dominant crop and livestock farming system; (ii) assessed the change element of crop and livestock production systems; and (iii) examined factors for the changes in RFFS. A random sample of 388 households was used. Qualitative data analysis was done through content analysis. Binary logistic regression was used to assess factors that explain changes on RFFS. The results showed that dominant crops were different in each village. Secondly, some changes in crop varieties and in livestock grazing arrangements were noted in response to climate variability and change. Unlike the hypothesis (P>0.05), the results demonstrated that warming (ß = -10.61, Wald = 36.26, P ? 0.001) showed highest significant impact on likelihood of adopting new crop varieties relative to other factors. Similarly, drought (ß = 2.16, Wald = 6.82, P ? 0.009) showed highest impact on the likelihood of changing a grazing place. Yet, the changes were constrained by factors like natural resources protective policies, failure of crop varieties to withstand warming and drought, and poor land use management. Therefore, the RFFS was at a crossroads with implications on system sustainability and livelihoods. The government and private interventions should support farmers and agro-pastoralists to manage risks related to the changes in RFFS in response to climate variability and change. Keywords: Climate change, agro-pastoralism, livelihoods, semi-arid, Tanzani

Antimalarial activity, Plasmodium berghei, traditional medicines

Aqueous ethanol (80%) extracts of six plants used traditionally for treatment of malaria, Vepris glomerata (F.Hoffm.) Engl (Rutaceae), Maranthus floribunda (Bak.) F.White (Chrysobalanaceae), Strophanthus eminii Asch. & Pax ex Pax (Apocynaceae), Cassia abbreviata Oliv. (Leguminosae) and Caesalpinia bonducella L. Fleming (Fabaceae) were screened for antimalarial activity to establish validity of their claims. The extracts exhibited antimalarial activity in the 4-day Peter’s suppressive antimalarial assay in mice inoculated with red blood cells parasitized with Plasmodium berghei. The extracts gave ID50 values of 42.8, 111.0, 639.3 and 1560 mg/kg body wt for C. bonducella, C. abbreviata, T. furialis and S. eminii, respectively. The ID50 values for V. glomerata and M. floribunda were above 2400 mg/kg body wt, above which point solubility was a problem. All the tested extracts were innocuous to the mice, up to 2400 mg/kg body wt, suggesting they may be safe for short-term use

Potential opportunities and challenges of deploying next generation sequencing and CRISPR-cas systems to support diagnostics and surveillance towards malaria control and elimination in Africa

Recent developments in molecular biology and genomics have revolutionized biology and medicine mainly in the developed world. The application of next generation sequencing (NGS) and CRISPR-Cas tools is now poised to support endemic countries in the detection, monitoring and control of endemic diseases and future epidemics, as well as with emerging and re-emerging pathogens. Most low and middle income countries (LMICs) with the highest burden of infectious diseases still largely lack the capacity to generate and perform bioinformatic analysis of genomic data. These countries have also not deployed tools based on CRISPR-Cas technologies. For LMICs including Tanzania, it is critical to focus not only on the process of generation and analysis of data generated using such tools, but also on the utilization of the findings for policy and decision making. Here we discuss the promise and challenges of NGS and CRISPR-Cas in the context of malaria as Africa moves towards malaria elimination. These innovative tools are urgently needed to strengthen the current diagnostic and surveillance systems. We discuss ongoing efforts to deploy these tools for malaria detection and molecular surveillance highlighting potential opportunities presented by these innovative technologies as well as challenges in adopting them. Their deployment will also offer an opportunity to broadly build in-country capacity in pathogen genomics and bioinformatics, and to effectively engage with multiple stakeholders as well as policy makers, overcoming current workforce and infrastructure challenges. Overall, these ongoing initiatives will build the malaria molecular surveillance capacity of African researchers and their institutions, and allow them to generate genomics data and perform bioinformatics analysis in-country in order to provide critical information that will be used for real-time policy and decision-making to support malaria elimination on the continent