Disability and Rehabilitation in Late Colonial Ghana

This paper analyzes disability and economic rehabilitation in late colonial Ghana (the Gold Coast), focusing particularly on a program for African soldiers between 1943 and 1947. The project, which attempted to reintegrate the rehabilitees into the existing workforce, failed within a few years of its inception. I argue that its failure occurred for three reasons: urban economic hardship, the rehabilitees’ peasant backgrounds and the colonial doctrine of community development. Reinforcing this analysis is the fact that after independence, the Ghanaian government reversed the colonial conditions and achieved much better success

Institutions and governance of communal rangelands in South Africa

The creation of local institutions with a mandate over land access and control is seen as a prerequisite for successful decentralisation of land tenure and effective local resource management in sub-Saharan Africa. However, with land tenure reform in South Africa currently at a state of legislative impasse, real uncertainty now exists over land rights and governance of rangeland in many communal areas. This paper draws on case study material from Eastern Cape province to illustrate how this ongoing uncertainty has resulted in the operation of a range of traditional authority and civil society institutions in different communal areas with varying degrees of legitimate authority over land administration and highly variable performance in managing rangeland resources. Collective management of rangeland resources seems most difficult in environments where land rights are contested because of the coexistence of traditional leaders and civil society institutions. On this basis an approach to tenure reform is advocated, which vests all powers over local land administration in democratically elected and accountable civil society institutions. Some successful examples of this already exist and might serve to guide policy formation, which must be flexible enough to accommodate collective management approaches that emphasise cooperation both within and between communities.Keywords: common property, land tenure, natural resource management, traditional leadersAfrican Journal of Range & Forage Science 2013, 30(1&2): 77–8

Balance de las reformas agrarias en África bajo los gobiernos de partido único (1945-1980)

The African continent today has the largest percentage of the world’s rural population: two out of every three inhabitants of Africa south of the Sahara. But it contrasts the fact that it is also the place on the planet where hunger, malnutrition and poverty manifest themselves most clearly and where so-called food sovereignty is far from being achieved. Therefore, the analysis of agrarian policies, and more specifically of the reform policies of agrarian structures (systems of property and land tenure) can help to understand the causes of this contrast. The agrarian reforms of this continent that took place between 1945 and 1980 are studied. Our conclusion is that a first balance of the agrarian reforms implemented in those years allows us to point out that the deficient agrarian structures in the newly born African states were not solved. The agrarian question in Africa remained pending.El continente africano tiene hoy el mayor porcentaje de población rural del mundo: dos de cada tres habitantes del África al Sur del Sáhara. Pero contrasta el hecho de que sea también el lugar del planeta donde el hambre, la desnutrición y la pobreza se manifiestan de manera más patente y donde la denominada soberanía alimentaria está lejos de conseguirse. Por tanto, el análisis de las políticas agrarias, y más concretamente de las políticas de reforma de las estructuras agrarias (sistemas de propiedad y tenencia de la tierra) pueden ayudar a comprender las causas de ese contraste. Se estudian las reformas agrarias de este continente que han tenido lugar entre 1945 y 1980. Nuestra conclusión es que un primer balance de las reformas agrarias implementadas en esos años nos permite señalar que no se solucionaron las deficientes estructuras agrarias en los recién nacidos Estados africanos. La cuestión agraria en África siguió pendiente

Epidemic History and Evolutionary Dynamics of Hepatitis B Virus Infection in Two Remote Communities in Rural Nigeria

BACKGROUND: In Nigeria, hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has reached hyperendemic levels and its nature and origin have been described as a puzzle. In this study, we investigated the molecular epidemiology and epidemic history of HBV infection in two semi-isolated rural communities in North/Central Nigeria. It was expected that only a few, if any, HBV strains could have been introduced and effectively transmitted among these residents, reflecting limited contacts of these communities with the general population in the country. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Despite remoteness and isolation, approximately 11% of the entire population in these communities was HBV-DNA seropositive. Analyses of the S-gene sequences obtained from 55 HBV-seropositive individuals showed the circulation of 37 distinct HBV variants. These HBV isolates belong predominantly to genotype E (HBV/E) (n=53, 96.4%), with only 2 classified as sub-genotype A3 (HBV/A3). Phylogenetic analysis showed extensive intermixing between HBV/E variants identified in these communities and different countries in Africa. Quasispecies analysis of 22 HBV/E strains using end-point limiting-dilution real-time PCR, sequencing and median joining networks showed extensive intra-host heterogeneity and inter-host variant sharing. To investigate events that resulted in such remarkable HBV/E diversity, HBV full-size genome sequences were obtained from 47 HBV/E infected persons and P gene was subjected to Bayesian coalescent analysis. The time to the most recent common ancestor (tMRCA) for these HBV/E variants was estimated to be year 1952 (95% highest posterior density (95% HPD): 1927-1970). Using additional HBV/E sequences from other African countries, the tMRCA was estimated to be year 1948 (95% HPD: 1924-1966), indicating that HBV/E in these remote communities has a similar time of origin with multiple HBV/E variants broadly circulating in West/Central Africa. Phylogenetic analysis and statistical neutrality tests suggested rapid HBV/E population expansion. Additionally, skyline plot analysis showed an increase in the size of the HBV/E-infected population over the last approximately 30-40 years. CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest a massive introduction and relatively recent HBV/E expansion in the human population in Africa. Collectively, these data show a significant shift in the HBV/E epidemic dynamics in Africa over the last century

Contractual dependencies: Disability and the bureaucracies of begging in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

One of the most conspicuous livelihood strategies for physically disabled people in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, is a particular style of begging known locally as “doing documents.” Confronted with the stigma of begging, disabled beggars create documents in an attempt to legitimize and regulate begging through formalization and bureaucracy, presenting their relationship with donors as NGO fund‐raising and government tax‐collecting. The dynamics of petitioning for these “contractual dependencies” provide a nuanced perspective on desired dependencies: dependencies can be presented in multiple ways, and people consider some dependencies more legitimate and valuable than others. Recipients are not passive but play a defining role in shaping these relationships, seeking a balance between proximity and desired distance to patrons.Economic and Social Research Council Cambridge Home and EU Scholarship Scheme Trinity College, Cambridg

... Theses de dyspnoea

pro Doctoris in arte Medica gradu & privilegiis obtinendis: Publice examinandas proponit Michael Griscovius Anclamensis Pomeranus. Ad II. diem AugustiEnth. 40 ThesenDiss. med. Basel, 160