Can market-based approaches to technology development and dissemination benefit women smallholder farmers? A qualitative assessment of gender dynamics in the ownership, purchase, and use of irrigation pumps in Kenya and Tanzania

Rural household economies dependent on rainfed agriculture are increasingly turning to irrigation technology solutions to reduce the effects of weather variability and guard against inconsistent and low crop output. Organizations are increasingly using market-based approaches to disseminate technologies to smallholder farmers, and, although women are among their targeted group, little is known of the extent to which these approaches are reaching and benefiting women. There is also little evidence on the implications of women’s use and control of irrigation technologies for outcomes, including crop choice and income management. This paper reports findings from a qualitative study undertaken in Tanzania and Kenya to examine women’s access to and ownership of KickStart pumps and the implications for their ability to make major decisions on crop choices and use of income from irrigated crops. Results from sales-monitoring data show that women purchase less than 10 percent of the pumps and men continue to make most of the major decisions on crop choices and income use. These findings vary by type of crop, with men making major decisions on high- income crops such as tomatoes and women having relatively more autonomy on crops such as leafy vegetables. The study concludes that market-based approaches on their own cannot guarantee access to and ownership of technologies, and businesses need to take specific measures toward the goal of reaching and benefiting women

A qualitative assessment of gender and irrigation technology in Kenya and Tanzania

Rural household economies dependent on rain-fed agriculture are increasingly turning to irrigation technology solutions to counter weather variability, and guard against low crop yields. Organizations too are using market-based approaches to disseminate technologies to smallholder farmers, and although women are among their target group, little is known of the extent to which these approaches are reaching and benefiting them. There is also scant evidence about the implications for crop choice and income management if these new irrigation technologies are used and controlled by women. This article reports the findings of a qualitative study undertaken in Tanzania and Kenya to examine women’s access to and ownership of irrigation pumps, and the implications on their ability to make major decisions on crop choices and use of income from irrigated crops. Results from sales monitoring data showed that less than 10 percent of the pumps are being purchased by women, and most of the major decisions on crop choices and income use continue to be made by men. These findings vary from type of crop, with men making major decisions concerning high-income crops such as tomatoes, and women commanding relatively more autonomy over crops such as leafy vegetables. The study recommends further research to find out whether market-based approaches on their own can guarantee women access to and ownership of technologies, and the specific measures that need to be taken by businesses to achieve the goal of reaching and benefiting women

Development and Implementation Challenges of a Quality Assured HIV Infant Diagnosis Program in Nigeria Using Dried Blood Spots and DNA Polymerase Chain Reaction

Nigeria has one of the highest HIV burdens as well as mother-to-infant transmission rates in the world. A pilot program using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based testing of dried blood spot (DBS) specimens was implemented to enable early identification of HIV-infected infants and timely referral and linkage to care. From February 2007 to October 2008, whole blood was collected by finger prick to prepare DBS from infants <18 months presenting in six public mother-and-child health facilities in Lagos, Nigeria. The DBS were tested using the Roche Amplicor HIV-1 DNA Test, v1.5. To monitor laboratory testing quality, all of the PCR-positive and 10% of the PCR-negative DBS were retested by the same method at another reference laboratory. Three hundred and sixty-five randomly selected infants were screened using HIV rapid tests (RT) according to the national algorithm and RT-negative and PCR-positive specimens were also tested using Genscreen enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (EIA) (Bio-Rad, France). The turnaround time (TAT) from sample collection, testing, and dispatching of results from each health facility was monitored. A total of 1,273 infants with a median age of 12.6 weeks (1 day to 71.6 weeks) participated in the program and 280 (22.0%) were PCR positive. HIV transmission levels varied greatly in the different health facilities ranging from 7.1% to 38.4%. Infants aged 48 to 72 weeks had the highest level of PCR positivity (41.1%). All PCR-positive specimens were confirmed by retesting. The mean turnaround time from DBS collection to returning of the laboratory result to the health facilities was 25 days. Three infants were found to be HIV antibody negative by rapid tests but were positive by both PCR and the fourth generation EIA. The DBS-based PCR program accurately identified all of the HIV-infected infants. However, many programmatic challenges related to the laboratory and TAT were identified

Historical epidemiology of hepatitis C virus in select countries-volume 4

Due to the introduction of newer, more efficacious treatment options, there is a pressing need for policy makers and public health officials to develop or adapt national hepatitis C virus (HCV) control strategies to the changing epidemiological landscape. To do so, detailed, country-specific data are needed to characterize the burden of chronic HCV infection. In this study of 17 countries, a literature review of published and unpublished data on HCV prevalence, viraemia, genotype, age and gender distribution, liver transplants and diagnosis and treatment rates was conducted, and inputs were validated by expert consensus in each country. Viraemic prevalence in this study ranged from 0.2% in Hong Kong to 2.4% in Taiwan, while the largest viraemic populations were in Nigeria (2 597 000 cases) and Taiwan (569 000 cases). Diagnosis, treatment and liver transplant rates varied widely across the countries included in this analysis, as did the availability of reliable data. Addressing data gaps will be critical for the development of future strategies to manage and minimize the disease burden of hepatitis