Farm Households’ Food Insecurity and their Coping Strategies in Arsi Negelle District, Oromia Region

This paper argues that understanding farm households’ perceptions of food security, food security status, its causes and coping strategies across wealth status and agro-ecology are prerequisites to improve food security status and coping ability. The study is based on data collected from Arsi Negele District in 2009. Both quantitative and qualitative research approaches were used. Indicators of wealth status considerably vary across Kebeles. Overall, households and community representatives felt residents are getting poorer and food insecure overtime. Female headed households were overrepresented in the poor category. Even though difference was observed in the conceptualization of food security across Kebeles, many informants relate food security to sufficiency of own produce. Of the studied households, 84.2% have experienced food shortage. Drought, variable rain, high prices of crops, rapid population growth and its associated diminishing landholding, poor work behavior and poor saving traditions were identified as the main perceived causes of food insecurity. Unlike the recent past years, the impact of drought and variable rainfall were complemented by price escalation to worsen food security situation. To minimize risks and overcome food shortage, households employed panoply of strategies (at a time and sequentially). However, households in different wealth categories employed different strategies. The relatively affluent households cope by their own, while the indigent rely mainly on fellow households, food aid and sale of environmental resources.Key words: Farm households, Food insecurity perception, coping strategies, Arsi Negel

Assessing Dangerousness Amidst Racial Stereotypes: An Analysis of the Role of Racial Bias in Bond Decisions and Ideas for Reform

The problems of mass incarceration in the United States and its burdens on the economic and social well-being of local communities, counties, and states have received increased attention and have spurred conversations on prison and jail reform. More recently, reform efforts have appropriately focused on the bond system and the role of pretrial detention in fueling jail and prison overcrowding. The bond process presents a unique opportunity for reform because defendants at this stage are presumed innocent and, as the Supreme Court has affirmed, these defendants possess fundamental rights to liberty and a presumption towards pretrial release. Yet jurisdictions, such as Cook County, Illinois, overwhelmingly rely on monetary bonds and other restrictive measures to condition or deny a defendant’s release, causing many defendants to remain behind bars for months and even years awaiting trial. As recent research reveals, the use of pretrial detention disproportionately affects black defendants who are more likely to receive higher bond amounts and more restrictive conditions than white defendants facing similar charges. Meaningful bond reform, therefore, must address the role of racial bias in contributing to disparate detention outcomes for black defendants. Bond decisions are particularly susceptible to implicit bias because they often require judges to make quick, on-the-spot, complex, and predictive decisions about a defendant’s threat to the community and likelihood to reappear in court. These decisions occur when judges have very limited information about the individual defendant, leading to a misguided reliance on racial stereotypes. Effective bond reform should include the increased use of unsecured bonds instead of monetary bail as a more reliable and less restrictive means to ensure the defendant’s return to court and community safety. Jurisdictions should also demand more accountability and transparency from bond judges by requiring publicly available data on bond court practices and jail admissions. Reform efforts should further require judges to undergo training on implicit bias and the proper use of risk-assessment instruments to more fairly and accurately evaluate the risks a defendant poses if released to avoid relying on inaccurate racial stereotypes

Flow Regime Classification and Hydrological Characterization: A Case Study of Ethiopian Rivers

The spatiotemporal variability of a stream flow due to the complex interaction of catchment attributes and rainfall induce complexity in hydrology. Researchers have been trying to address this complexity with a number of approaches; river flow regime is one of them. The flow regime can be quantified by means of hydrological indices characterizing five components: magnitude, frequency, duration, timing, and rate of change of flow. Similarly, this study aimed to understand the flow variability of Ethiopian Rivers using the observed daily flow data from 208 gauging stations in the country. With this process, the Hierarchical Ward Clustering method was implemented to group the streams into three flow regimes (1) ephemeral, (2) intermittent, and (3) perennial. Principal component analysis (PCA) is also applied as the second multivariate analysis tool to identify dominant hydrological indices that cause the variability in the streams. The mean flow per unit catchment area (QmAR) and Base flow index (BFI) show an incremental trend with ephemeral, intermittent and perennial streams. Whereas the number of mean zero flow days ratio (ZFI) and coefficient of variation (CV) show a decreasing trend with ephemeral to perennial flow regimes. Finally, the streams in the three flow regimes were characterized with the mean and standard deviation of the hydrological variables and the shape, slope, and scale of the flow duration curve. Results of this study are the basis for further understanding of the ecohydrological processes of the river basins in Ethiopia

Extending Adjuvant Endocrine Therapy for 10 Years: A Mixed-Methods Analysis of Women's Decision Making in an Online Breast Cancer Forum

An additional 5 years of treatment with adjuvant hormonal therapy, to complete 10 years of medication, is recommended to reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence. Yet professionals and patients should balance this benefit against side effects and toxicities. Little is known about women's decision making regarding persistence with extended endocrine therapy. In this study, we collected data from a UK online breast cancer forum to analyse patterns of persistence and its associated factors. A mixed-methods exploratory sequential design was used, with a qualitative analysis of text (n = 61 individuals) informing the development of a quantitative instrument to statistically analyse the prevalence of the findings (n = 130). Our findings identified three different groups of women who had to make decisions regarding persistence with treatment: those about to complete 5 years of therapy, those who decided to extend treatment, and those who were initially prescribed 10 years. Factors affecting persistence were, lack of self-efficacy in managing side effects, lack of reassurance about individual risk of recurrence, and impact on quality of life. Interventions such as training of healthcare professionals including risk communication, medication reviews by clinical pharmacists, and re-planning of services in follow-up care, should better support women's needs in extended hormonal therapy

Correspondence regarding 'Assefa Y, et al., BMC Health Services Research. 2011; 11 (1):81 and 2014; 14(1):45': The Positive-Deviance approach for translating evidence into practice to improve patient retention in HIV care.

The purpose of this correspondence is to describe how the positive-deviance approach can be used to translate evidence into practice, based on successive studies conducted in Ethiopia. In earlier studies, it was identified that retention in antiretroviral treatment care was variable across health facilities; and, seeking compliance across facilities, a framework was developed based on the practices of those positive-deviant health facilities, where performance was noted to be markedly better. It was found that the positive deviance approach was effective in facilitating the transfer of innovative practices (using different mechanisms) from positive-deviant health facilities to negative-deviant health facilities. As a result, the variability in retention in care across health facilities narrowed over time, increasing from 83 to 96% in 2007/8 to 95-97% in 2013/14. In conclusion, the positive-deviance approach is a valuable tool to translate evidence into practice, spread good practices, and help achieving universal health coverage