Falling oil prices and sustainable energy transition: Towards a multilateral agreement on fossil-fuel subsidies

Fossil-fuel subsidies are economically inefficient and harmful for the environment yet efforts to phase them out at the national and international levels have not been effective. The existing international legal framework is too weak and fragmented to support this process and an international agreement is essential. This paper explores the challenges and prospects of, and avenues for negotiating a binding multilateral agreement on phasing out fossil-fuel subsidies. The paper posits that the Friends of Fossil-Fuel Subsidy Reform are in a position to take the lead and that the ball is in the court of the World Trade Organization

Predictors of suboptimal CD4 response among women achieving virologic suppression in a randomized antiretroviral treatment trial, Africa

Background: A subset of HIV-1 infected patients starting highly active antiretroviral treatment (HAART) experience suboptimal CD4 response (SCR) despite virologic suppression. We studied the rate of and risk factors for SCR among women starting HAART in the ACTG A5208 study conducted in 7 African countries. 741 HAART-naive women with screening CD4 count <200 cells/μL were randomized to start HAART with Tenofovir/Emtricitabine plus either Nevirapine or Lopinavir/Ritonavir. Methods: This analysis includes the 625 women who remained on-study through 48 weeks without experiencing protocol-defined virologic failure. We defined SCR as < 100 CD4 cells/μL increase from baseline and absolute CD4 cell count < 350 cells/μL, both at 48 weeks after HAART initiation. Results: The baseline characteristics for the 625 women prior to HAART initiation were: median age 33 years, screening CD4 count 134 cells/μL, and HIV-1 RNA 5.1 log10 copies/mL; 184 (29%) were WHO Stage 3 or 4. Seventy one (11%) of these 625 women experienced SCR. Baseline factors independently associated with increased odds of SCR included older age, lower HIV-1 RNA, positive Hepatitis B surface antigen, and site location. At 96 weeks, only 6% of the SCR group had CD4 ≥ 350 cells/μL compared with 67% in the non SCR group. Conclusion: After starting HAART, 11% of women with virologic suppression through 48 weeks experienced SCR. These patients were also less likely to achieve CD4 ≥ 350 cells/μL by 96 weeks. The underlying causes and long term clinical implications of SCR deserve further investigation. Trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT0008950

An Overview on the Rise of Antimicrobial Resistance and Its Potential Threat in the Control of Diseases in Developing Countries

The introduction of antimicrobial agents was a breakthrough health intervention that helped save millions of lives around the world and that provided a sense of control on the part of clinicians over host pathogen interactions. Despite the concrete advances in prevention and treatment of infectious diseases, there has been a parallel surge in resistance to antimicrobials that is seriously compromising the gains made over the past century. There are many other factors which contribute to the rising incidence of resistance in human pathogens.  These factors include liberal availability of antimicrobials in some countries and societal factors such as the increasing number of immunosuppressed individuals, unnecessary antimicrobial use caused by patient demands for antimicrobial treatment of viral infections, the changing population age structure, and an increase in institutional care environments such as day care centers, nursing homes and hospitals. In animals, frequent and overdose use of antibiotics as a growth promoters is the dominant cause of antimicrobial resistance. The impact of drug resistance has been causing a severe effect in the control and prevention of diseases in both human beings and livestock. Acknowledging the underlying mechanisms such as inappropriate use of antibiotics in humans and the agricultural applications of antibiotics for growth promotion and prophylaxis is a first and essential step to contain global antimicrobial resistance. However, it is also critical to consider in parallel the broad social, economic and political drivers and ethical significance of antimicrobial promotion in developing countries. Moreover, these socio-ethical factors constitute tangible targets against which public policy interventions can be developed to remedy growing concerns over the spread of antimicrobial resistance. Keywords: Antibiotics, Antimicrobial resistance, Developing countries, Human, Livestoc

Municipal Solid Waste Management and Characterization in Aksum and Shire-Endaslassie Towns, North Ethiopia

The municipal solid waste (MSW), generated from different activities in the township and city areas is a subject of deep concern for its proper management. The improper management of the MSW is a major cause for water, air and soil pollution. Despite some progress, municipal solid waste (MSW) still poses pressure on Aksum and Shire Endaslassie towns and remains one of the major challenges in environmental management. This study mainly focuses on the technical and regulatory arrangements and characterization of municipal solid waste in both Aksum and Shire Endaslassie towns to identify strategies to improve the present situation. The data for the study was collected through measurement, direct observation and by preparing questionnaires and through discussion together with the experts. The solid waste generation rate (GR), uncompacted density, and weight percentages of combustible and incombustible materials were determined based on the collected data. The results show that the average GR and uncompacted density were 0.54 and 0.49 kg/capital/day and 362.5kg/m3 and 355kg/m3 for Aksum and Shire Endaslassie town respectively. The composition of the waste generated in Axum town is dominated by food wastes, grasses and leaf characterized as ‘decomposable’ (36%) followed by plastic (21%), Ashes (17%) and Paper and cardboard contributed 8%. In the same manner the composition of the waste generated in Shire Endaslassie is predominantly food wastes, grasses and leaf characterized as ‘decomposable’ (43%) followed by Ashes and dusts (21%), plastics (8%), and Paper and cardboard contributed 7%. The remaining waste, including metals, glass, rubber/leather, textiles, and others accounted for less than 18% and 21% for both Axum and Shire Endaslassie towns respectively. The analysis also indicated that solid waste management capacity for both cases was under stress due to different reasons. Currently, the overall technical arrangement, including storage and discharge, collection and transport, and disposal, is still in poor condition, which leads to environmental and health risks. Finally, it is recommended that these problems should be solved in an integrated manner by improving legislation, environmental education and solid waste management facilities so as to reduce the risk on environmental and public health. Keywords: Solid waste, characterization, generation rate, disposal, solid waste managemen

Assessing Water Supply Coverage and Water Losses from Distribution System for Planning Water Loss Reduction Strategies (Case Study on Axum town, North Ethiopia)

Problems in provision of adequate water supply to the rapidly growing urban population in developing countries are increasing dramatically. Moreover, reduction of non-revenue water remains one of the major challenges facing many water utilities in Ethiopia in general and Axum water supply system in particular. This study mainly focuses on the status of water supply coverage and water losses in Axum town using statistical analysis and Water audit software. A statistical analysis was applied to analyse the current water supply coverage of the entire town and to develop distribution coverage map using Arc GIS software. Water meter test was conducted for samples from each size of meters installed in the distribution system of the town in order to quantify the water loss through meters of under registration. Water audit software was also used to analyze water loss components and the efficiency of the system was evaluated using different performance indicators. Discussions were made with Local experts’ to support the quantitative analysis. From the result of the analysis, it was observed that the average daily per capita water consumption of the town is 12.8 litre/person/day. Thus, nearly 75% of the entire town population is getting water less than the basic service level and the average in-house or yard connection of the town is 27%. Besides, the total water loss in Axum water supply system is high enough up to 39.1% of the system input volume and about 8.84% of the total system loss is mainly due to meter under registration. In general, the low water supply coverage of the town was highly influenced by the availability of water. However, the main reasons for the high loss of water in Axum water supply system are the present way of water network management with ad-hoc maintenance and insufficient financial resources of the utility. Thus, it is necessary to identify the losses encountered in the water supply system so as to take remedial actions in reducing the water loss more significantly. Key words: water supply coverage, non-revenue water, water supply system, water audit software, performance indicator, meter under registration

Phytoplankton community structure and cyanobacterial blooms in reservoirs in the semi-arid highlands of Tigray, Ethiopia

Ethiopia is the third largest country in Africa with an area of over one million km2. It is one of the most populous countries in Africa (probably second), with more than 80 million inhabitants. The Ethiopian highlands represent about 43% of the country but support about 88% of the population. The highlands account for 95% of the regularly cropped land, more that 70% of the livestock population, and 90% of the economic activities of the country. They are considered to be amongst the most degraded lands in Africa by some authors. Rain fed agriculture is the main stay for most farmers. The frequent rainfall anomalies suggest that there are recurrent periods of drought every 3- 5 years in the northern parts of Ethiopia and every 6-8 years over the whole country. Part of the variability in the seasonal and annual rainfall across time and space is known to be associated with the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon. The conditions in Tigray are worse. Extreme spatial and temporal variation in rainfall is characteristic for this region. To tackle the problem associated with the rain fall pattern, several small reservoirs have been constructed over the last two decades. Given the population intensity and long history of agriculture in the highlands of Ethiopia, massive erosion linked to land degradation is a prominent problem. This is expected to bring excessive nutrient to the reservoirs. And many of the reservoirs are expected to be characterized by high nutrient loads and phytoplankton blooms, including cyanobacteria blooms. This has indeed observed in a field survey of reservoirs, most of them suffer from heavy blooms of cyanobacteria. In this study we started with a field survey of a set of 32 shallow semi-arid sub-tropical reservoirs in the highlands of Tigray, Ethiopia. This survey was carried out in both the wet and dry season to capture seasonal variations of phytoplankton communities and associated environmental variables. We assessed seasonal variation Summary 240 in more details by monitoring eight selected reservoirs (sub sets of the 32 reservoirs) on a monthly basis during a whole year. We also carried out field enclosure experiments in an effort to better understand the trophic structure of the reservoirs and identify mechanisms that potentially lead to cyanobacterial blooms. First we tested the impact of fish on abiotic conditions in the water column as well as the dynamics of phytoplankton species composition and cyanobacteria biomass. In the second experiment we assessed the potential top-down effects of zooplankton on the phytoplankton communities including the toxic cyanobacteria. The studied reservoirs were characterized by high nutrient concentrations and high turbidity. Most of the reservoirs harbor the riverine fish Garra. Overall, the local phytoplankton richness was low with most reservoirs dominated by a single genus of cyanobacteria (mostly Microcystis), chlorophytes, euglenophytes, cryptophytes or dinophytes. Similarly the bacterial community richness in the studied reservoirs was also low. Lower bacterial taxon richness was encountered in reservoirs with Microcystis blooms than bacterial communities in reservoirs without blooms. High altitude reservoirs were more nutrient-rich and associated with high abundances of green algae, euglenophytes or cyanobacteria other than Microcystis. Microcystis was associated with high pH in the rainy and high conductivity in the dry season. Additional factors correlated with Microcystis biomass were Daphnia biomass and possibly altitude and fish biomass. Environmental factors explained the bacterial community composition differently among season. Percentage contribution of Microcystis to the total phytoplankton biomass and copepod biomass showed significant association with the bacterial community composition in the wet season whereas variation in bacterial community composition was associated with total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), oxygen, the number of cattle frequenting the Summary 241 reservoir, and fish biomass in the dry season. Pronounced temporal variation was observed for both biotic and abiotic variables in our study systems. This variation involved both the intra-annual and interannual variations. For the intra-annual variation, the main limnological changes were associated with seasonal differences in rainfall, while also water temperature differed strongly between winter (sub-tropics) and the rest of the year. We observe two minima for phytoplankton biomass: one in winter and a more pronounced one during August. We also observed two main bloom periods for cyanobacteria: one in September-October and a more pronounced one in May-June. Seasonal variation in total phytoplankton and cyanobacterial biomass was, however, not significant. The first field enclosure experiment was the experiment with fish. The results of this experiment showed that the presence of Garra in general increased the amount of suspended matter, nutrient concentrations (total nitrogen and total phosphorus), phytoplankton and to some extent also Microcystis biomass (including the proportion of Microcystis in the phytoplankton community), and reduced water transparency. The second experiment was carried out to study the effect of zooplankton grazing on phytoplankton community structure, including the relative abundance of toxic cyanobacteria. From this experiment top-down regulation by zooplankton was observed for some of the phytoplankton taxa, including Anabaena, Euglenoids, Chlorophytes and Cryptomonads, whereas the impact of the presence of zooplankton on Microcystis and Peridinum biomass was limited. From the same experiment we observed negative correlation between Anabaena and calanoid copepods and Daphnia carinata. We also detected microcystin from all experimental units in the second experiment; and higher concentrations were detected in the treatment with than without zooplankton. Summary 242 We draw some important associations from the field observations and field enclosure experiments for Microcystis in our system. The results indicate an inter-play between bottom-up (possibility of Microcystis affecting the zooplankton composition) and top-down (zooplankton grazing) regulating the Microcystis. Negative association between Microcystis and Daphnia has been observed mainly from the field survey and to some extent the enclosure experiments with fish and fishless treatment demonstrated a top-down regulation. From these results we can conclude that the zooplankton grazing can not fully regulate Microcystis. But, the possibility remains, and is in fact quite realistic, that Daphnia also control Microcystis, mainly at lower biomasses of Microcystis until it reaches a certain biomass and Microcystis “escapes” potential control by zooplankton after which it may poison the major grazer zooplankton due to the high densities. Based on our results of the present study, we put some general suggestions and recommendations for sustainable utilization, maintaining the ecological integrity of the reservoirs and protecting water quality deterioration. The recommendations follow in the following statements. 1) Cyanobacterial monitoring and survey for hazardous effects to assess if the toxins of the organisms are translated into problems of animal or human health should be set-up. 2) Reduction of nutrient loading and sediment input to the reservoirs to curb the eutrophication of the reservoirs. Catchment treatment with reforestation and setting up of exclosures can serve the purpose. 3) Reduction of cattle trampling by restricting cattle access to the reservoirs at selected sites of the reservoir. 4) Reduction of fish (mainly Garra). Here we recommend the use of methods to reduce the riverine fish with a high level care to protect the reservoirs from unpredictable consequences like the introduction of exotic fish

Molecular Characterization, Adaptation and Attenuation of Locally Isolated and Vaccinal Strain of Infectious Bursal Disease Virus for Development of Vero Cell-Based Infectious Bursal Disease Vaccine in Ethiopia

Infectious Bursal Disease (IBD) or Gumboro Disease is one of the most common diseases of commercial poultry in Ethiopia.Vaccination is the principle method to control the disease. Currently, NVI is producing IBD vaccine by using standard strains of IBDV on primary chicken embryo blast in Ethiopia.  But the production of live attenuated IBD vaccine from locally isolated IBDV stain provides high protection for chickens against field IBDV strains. IBD vaccine production on primary chicken embryo blast is also very laborious, time consuming and economically costy. However, production of live attenuated IBD vaccine using Vero cell can solve these issues. The present study was initiated to propagate, adapt, and attenuate both locally isolated and commercially available IBDV strains in the vero cell lines for development of an effective Vero cell-based IBD vaccine in Ethiopia. Locally isolated and LC-75 vaccinal strain IBDVs were successfully adapted and attenuated in Vero-cell line in NVI and molecularily characterized. The IBDV virus strains were attenuated by further serial passages and pathogenicity test at specific passages were conducted in breeder chickens free from antibodies against IBDV to evaluate the loss of virulence in the virus during passaging on Vero cell line. Vero cell could be used as a model to study the growth of kinetic of the IBDV isolate and the Vero adapted attenuated virus should be further studied for possible adoption as a candidate for an attenuated IBD vaccine development. Keywords: Chicken, Immunosuppression, Infectious bursal disease, Infectious Bursal Disease Virus, Isolation, Molecular characterization, Vaccination, Vero cell