Joint-liability borrowing decisions under risk: Empirical evidence from rural microfinance in Ethiopia

This paper investigates borrowing decisions of rural households from a microfinance in Tigray, Ethiopia using household panel data on 5 years and a dynamic panel probit model. The theoretical model takes two types of risk involved in joint-liability lending explicitly into account: risk of partner failure and the risk of losing future access to credit. Empirical results show that these risks are important in explaining borrowing decisions. Another finding is that the probability of repeat-borrowing is higher than the probability of new participation, with possible implications that perceived joint-liability threats deter participation and easing stringent punishments might help poor households’ access to credit.Microfinance, risk, dynamic panel probit, Financial Economics,

Adolescents' health service utilization pattern and preferences: Consultation for reproductive health problems and mental stress are less likely

No Abstract Available Ethiop.J.Health Dev. Vol.19 (1) 2005: 29-3

Accuracy of physicians in diagnosing HIV and AIDS-related death in the adult population of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Background: The lack of cause of death information is the main challenge in monitoring the effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing HIV and AIDS-related deaths in countries where the majority of deaths occur at home. Objective: To evaluate the accuracy of physician reviewers of verbal autopsies in diagnosing HIV and AIDS-related deaths in the adult population of Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Methods: This study was done within the context of a burial surveillance system in Addis Ababa. Trained interviewers completed a standard verbal autopsy questionnaire and an independent panel of physicians reviewed the completed form to assign cause of death. Physicians’ review was compared to a reference standard constructed based on prospectively collected HIV-serostatus and patients’ hospital record. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated to validate the physicians’ verbal autopsy diagnoses against reference standards. Results: Physicians accurately identified AIDS-related deaths with sensitivity and specificity of 0.88 (95% CI: 0.80 - 0.93) and 0.77 (95% CI: 0.64 - 0.87), respectively. Generally, there was high level of agreement (Cohen’s Kappa Statistic (K > 0.6) between the first two physicians with some yearly variations. In 2008 and 2009 there was an almost perfect agreement (K > 0.80). Conclusion: This study demonstrated the agreement level between two independent physicians in diagnosing AIDS-related death is very high and thus using a single verbal autopsy coder is practical for programmatic purposes in countries where there is critical shortage of doctors

Political interview

Paraphrasing, reading between the lines and objectivit

Development Projects to Improve Maternal and Child Health: Assessing the Impact

Berhane discusses a new study in PLoS Medicine that evaluated the effect of improved water access in rural Ethiopia upon birth rate and child malnutrition

Mechanistic studies on xanthine oxidoreductase enzymes

In humans, the xanthine oxidoreductase enzymes are known to catalyze the final two steps of purine metabolism by converting hypoxanthine successively to xanthine and uric acid. Xanthine oxidoreductase also metabolizes a wide variety of drugs in vivo, and activates a number of antiviral prodrugs of clinical importance. Therefore, understanding the reaction mechanism of this enzyme is of prime importance in furthering our understanding of enzyme-drug interactions. In order to provide a greater understanding on the reaction mechanism, theoretical and enzymatic spectroscopic experimental approaches have been utilized. The theoretical approaches were used to elucidate the electronic structure and geometry of the reductive-half reaction. During the initial stage of catalysis, the substrate bound tetrahedral complex was expected to be transformed to the product bound intermediate by passing through the tetrahedral transition state. The transition state structures were modeled and characterized by one imaginary negative frequency that were stabilized by energies ranging between 0.33 - 19.0 kcal/mol. The Mulliken atomic charge and Mayer bond order profiles were provided, respectively, for selected atoms and the bonds associated with them. Based on the electronic structure and bonding descriptions, the re-allocation of an electron on Mo-center was proposed to take place through an inner-sphere mechanism, with concomitant transfer of a proton or formal hydride transfer from the substrate carbon to the active site sulfido terminal. The formation of stable intermediate, in the presence of lumazine and bovine milk xanthine oxidase, was described by spectral bands centered at 650 nm. Similar spectral bands were also detected, in the presence of an electron acceptor (2, 6 — dichlorophenolindophenol, DCIP-), when the enzymes (bmXOR, wild type RcXDH, or RcXDH-Glu232Ala mutant) were reacted with lumazine. Finally, the enzymes were shown to exhibit variable activities and steady-state kinetic parameters when the reactions between the same substrates and enzymes were probed using the Amplex/H2O2 and DCIP-/O2•- assay methods. The variation in activities and steady-state kinetic parameters were then proposed to be due to the factors that affected the affinity and product release stages of the catalytic cycle

Financial Performance of Cooperatives in Enderta Woreda, Tigray Region, Ethiopia

A cooperative society is an economic entity organized by people who having common interest, through pooling reasonable capital they have, so that they would be able to share the results with their fellow members and where members’ democratic participation is highly expressed. The development movement of cooperatives in Ethiopia shows different ups and downs. This was mainly due to different socio – economic policies followed by the Country under different Governments. Finance is the driving power that rotates the wheels of business. Financial management has a profound impact on business efficiency of an enterprise. In a cooperative enterprise a sound financial planning and proper management is the most vital requirement for success of a business enterprise. The general objective of this study is to measure the financial performance of cooperatives in the Enderta Woreda and to recommend appropriate and reliable monitoring in management practice. The numbers of cooperatives in the Enderta Woreda that obtain legal personality were totally 56 Primary Cooperatives and 1 Multipurpose Cooperative Union and their status had increased from time to time. In analyzing the financial performance of the cooperatives in the Woreda, ratio analysis and focus group discussion were used. On the basis of the results of the ratio analysis, the researcher has found that the financial performance of the cooperatives was not highly encouraging. The liquidity ratio in the three years period was fluctuating and most of the time was below the norm. The gross profit margin of the cooperatives showed positive amount at fluctuating rate. The focus group discussion showed that the perception of the cooperative members on their role was positive .From the discussion and analysis, the main reasons for the poor financial performance of the cooperatives in the Woreda were inefficient management skill, significant part of the total capital employed was in the form of borrowed capital, non-availability of adequate quantity and quality of raw materials at reasonable prices and at the right time, competition from outside the cooperative sector, lack of manpower with relevant expertise and professional qualification, lack of clear accounting system for all the cooperatives, and that financial statements of all the cooperatives were not prepared at the end of the fiscal year. Based on these findings the following recommendations are forwarded: • The cooperatives shall issue additional shares to increase self- financing. • The cooperatives shall launch market surveys and adjust production to correspond market needs by diversifying their products. • A new recruitment policy shall be formulated by the government. • The cooperatives shall develop a policy of profitability. Finally, since cooperatives play an important role in furthering the process of economic development in developing countries like Ethiopia, researchers shall make further research undertakings

Evaluation of Agronomic Practices for Striga Controlling Management on Sorghum (Sorghum Bicolor L.) Crop Yield in Raya valley, Northern Ethiopia

Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth (Scrophulariacae), which is aggravated by the inherent low soil fertility, recurrent drought and continuous cereal monoculture, is one of the major production constraints in the sorghum growing regions of Ethiopia. Thus, an experiment on evaluation of agronomic practices for Striga controlling management on sorghum was conducted in 2016 and 2017 cropping seasons to determine the appropriate Striga controlling management practice under rain fed conditions. Treatments (T) comprised (T1) farmers’ practice (no fertilizer and intercropping) as a control; (T2) compost (at10 ton ha-1); (T3) intercropping with Mungbean variety (N-26); (T4) inorganic fertilizer (at 41kg N ha-1 and 46 kg P2O5 ha-1); (T5) 50% compost + 50% inorganic fertilizer; (T6) 50% compost + intercropping; (T7) 50% inorganic fertilizer + intercropping; (T8) 50% compost + intercropping + 50% inorganic fertilizer rate; (T9) Striga resistant sorghum. These treatments were laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications. According to the current results, the maximum average grain yield (4640.40 kg ha-1) and total biomass (10879.60 kg ha-1), head weight (93.54 g), and plant height (164.16 cm) were recorded prominently in plots treated with inorganic fertilizer. The combination of compost and inorganic fertilizer also gave remarkable grain (4537.80 kg ha-1) and biomass yields (10592.60 kg ha-1). Moreover, Striga population reduced due to application of inorganic fertilizers (0.95 Striga m-2). A significant reduction was also observed when plots were treated with the combination of compost and inorganic fertilizer (1.17Striga m-2). Similarly, as compared to farmers’ practice (2.37 Striga m-2), low number of Striga m-2(1.24) was recorded from resistant sorghum variety (Gubiye). Based on economic analysis, application of 50% compost + 50% inorganic fertilizers gave optimum marginal rate of  return (MRR) (165.66%), which was above the minimum rate of return (100%). Generally, this experiment showed that productivity of sorghum is considerably higher when farmers use integrated soil fertility management options. This is, therefore, integrated use of 50% compost and 50% inorganic fertilizers should be recommended for farmers as they were affordable options for increasing sorghum yields with improving soil fertility in the small-scale farming systems of the study area. Furthermore, integrated use of organic and inorganic fertilizers proved to be highly effective in terms of reducing Striga incidence both in terms of reduced seed density in the soil and decreased infection in sorghum. Keywords: Agronomic practices, Sorghum, Striga, Yield, Yield components DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/10-1-04 Publication date: January 31st 202

Public Health Optimism in the New Millennium

No AbstractsThe Ethiopian Journal of Health Development Vol. 21 (2) 2007: pp. 109-11