Socio-economic empowerment of communities by grassroots organizations: the case of the harambee self help groups in Kenya

This paper contributes to the discourse on grassroots organizations by providing details of research on traditional Harambee Self Help Groups (SHG) in Kenya in the light of social enterprise and third sector discourses. Data for this study were provided by the provincial administration of Riruta Location in Nairobi, Kenya. The location archives were comprised of self-help group registration forms, constitutions, details of dispute processes, correspondence, proposals and minutes. The study found that increases in SHG resource mobilization activities, organizational meetings, governmental recognition (registration), membership and village outreach had a significant positive influence on the number of economic empowerment activities. Decreases in networking and increases in challenges faced by the SHGs had a negative influence on their activity. This study attempts to equate the Harambee SHGs with social enterprises, studies their entrepreneurial dynamic within the Kenyan third sector and examines their historical and current contribution to the country

Survival of Theileria parva in its nymphal tick vector Rhipicephalus appendiculatus under laboratory and quasi natural conditions

Groups of nymphal Rhipicephalus appendiculatus Muguga, having a mean of 1 or 9 Theileria parva Muguga-infected salivary gland acini per tick, were kept under quasi-natural conditions at an altitude of 1950 m or 20°C at a relative humidity of 85% in the laboratory and their survival and infection prevalence and abundance determined over time. Theileria parva infections for both categories of ticks survived in the nymphal ticks for 50 or 26 weeks post salivary gland infection under quasi-natural or laboratory conditions respectively. There was a distinct decline in infections in the more heavily infected nymphae under both conditions of exposure, reflecting an apparent density dependence in parasite survival. Nymphal ticks having an average infection level of 1 infected salivary gland acinus per tick, survived for up to 69 or 65 weeks post-repletion under quasi-natural or the laboratory conditions respectively. Nymphae having an average infection level of 9 infected salivary gland acini per tick survived for a similar duration under each of the 2 conditions. The infection level of 9 infected salivary gland acini per tick did not seem to significantly affect the survival of the tick vector compared to those having an average of 1 infected salivary gland acinus per tick

Controlled synthesis of TiO2 hierarchical nanofibre structures via electrospinning and solvothermal processes : photocatalytic activity for degradation of methylene blue

The present article describes a new titanium oxide‐based (TiO2) photocatalyst that shows promise for acceleration of dye degradation. A hierarchical TiO2 nanostructure comprising nanorods on‐nanofibres has been prepared using a sol&ndash;gel route and electrospinning. Calcination of electrospun nanobre mats was performed in air at 500 &deg;C. The TiO2 nanofibre surface was then exploited as a &lsquo;seeding ground&rsquo; to grow TiO2 nanorods by a solvothermal process in NaOH. The nanofibres had a diameter of approximately 100 nm while the nanorods were evenly distributed on the nanofibre surface with a mean diameter of around 50&ndash;80 nm. The hierarchical nanostructure showed enhanced photocatalytic activity when compared to pure TiO2 nanofibres. This improved efficiency in degrading methylene blue through the photocatalytic process was attributed to the larger specific surface area of the TiO2 nanostructures, as well as high surface‐to‐volume ratio and higher reactive surface resulting in enhanced surface adsorption and interfacial redox reaction.<br /

Population surveys of Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus) in the Murchison Falls National Park, Victoria Nile, Uganda

1. A 12-month-long survey (April 2013 to March 2014) for Nile crocodiles (Crocodylus niloticus) was conducted&nbsp;along a section of the Victoria Nile/Ramsar site of Murchison Falls National Park, in order to update the historic&nbsp;information on crocodile populations in the area, locating nesting areas, determining seasonality patterns and&nbsp;habitat use, and assess the current abundance and the population size trends since the 1960s. The methods&nbsp;employed included visual encounter surveys, transect counts and opportunistic methods, by using boats.2. In general, there were diurnal and seasonal fluctuations in the number of crocodile sightings. The crocodile&nbsp;sightings peaked between the months of June and August, with the highest mean number of sightings encountered&nbsp;on any single day being 67 (in July 2013), and the second peak was between January and March with &nbsp;the highest mean of 118 recorded in January 2014. The second peak also coincided with the crocodile breeding &nbsp;season. This clearly shows that the distribution of the sub-population sampled followed a climatic regime.3. Crocodiles were observed most frequently in water (37%). Grassy banks, islands, river mouths and sandy&nbsp;banks constituted about 47% of the habitats utilised by the crocodile population. Although basking was the&nbsp;most frequent type of activity performed by crocodiles (50%) over the entire survey period, their key activities&nbsp;varied significantly from month to month. Nesting was very visible during the last quarter of the year and the&nbsp;first quarter of the New Year.4. There was a clear decline of the abundance of crocodiles in this population between 1960s and nowadays.&nbsp;This declining trend was obvious also taking into account the various survey methodologies employed over the&nbsp;decades

Factors affecting the population dynamics of Theileria parva in rhipicephalid ticks

A series of experiments were carried out to investigate some of the poorly understood aspects of the life cycle of Theilefid parva in its rhipicephalid tick vectors. The first series of experiments established that nymphae infected as larvae develop lower levels of infection compared to adults infected as nymphae, while female ticks develop higher infections than males. It was shown that the period of development of sporoblasts into mature sporozoites took on average four days in the nyrnphal ticks compared to five days in the adult ticks. Infection levels developing in different tick instars or sexes appeared to be related to the number and position of type III salivary gland acini. The second series of experiments established that there were considerable differences in the vector competence of different stocks of Rhipicephalus appendiculatus and R. zambeziensis for the transmission of Muguga and Boleni stocks of Yheileria parva. Finally the study established that survival of infected R. appendiculatus and the T parva they harboured was longer under quasi-natural climatic conditions compared to all the laboratory conditions examined. Basically, infection levels in the ticks did not affect the duration of survival of the ticks, however, survival of the parasite appeared to be influenced by the intensity of infection in the tick as the parasites diminished more rapidly in ticks having high infections than in those having low infections. Nymphae and the parasites they harboured survived for shorter periods compared to the adult ticks and their infections. Data generated from these series of experiments will be used to develop quantitative models of T parva dynamics in the tick vectors. The relative importance of the factors influencing the levels of infection developing in the tick vector were analysed statistically by the logistic and Poisson regression. Factors found to play a significant role included tick instar or gender, tick stock, parasite stock, the ambient climatic conditions in which infected ticks survived and the day of tick repletion after infection of the bovine host. Individually, the bovine host or its piroplasm parasitaernia were found to be poor predictors of infection levels developing in the salivary glands of the tick vector. However, when piroplasm parasitaernia was included in a model lacking the days post-repletion variable, the bovine host factor became significant

An integrated approach towards vulnerability assessment of climate-change induced sea level rise along the Kenyan coast

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.Currently, 48% and 71% of the infrastructure for Mombasa and Lamu respectively falls within the Low Elevation Coastal Zones (LECZ) of less than 10m thus highlighting their extreme vulnerability under the pessimistic sea-level-rise (SLR). Based on the primary objective of assessing the impacts of climate-change-induced SLR for the two island cities, this study finds that by the end of this century, close to 50% of Mombasa Island and almost 71% of Lamu Island fall under threat of inundation from SLR enhanced storm surges of a one storm surge in 100 years. The study objectives were to assess initial SLR vulnerability levels for the Kenyan coast, analyse status quo vulnerability perceptions and awareness, co-produce mitigation and adaptation policy options and produce an integrated vulnerability assessment atlas and manual for SLR along coastal cities, with participatory processes as a key component. SLR scenario modelling using GIS techniques (and guided by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change IPCC) under two SLR scenarios of Regional Concentration Pathways (RCP 2.6 and RCP 8.5), was applied to estimate the spatial extent, population, and infrastructure under threat. Participatory Action Planning (PAR) based on a mini-charrette was used to analyse status quo perception and awareness of SLR and related impacts followed by co-creation of adaptation and mitigation strategies. Under RCP 2.6 (optimistic-scenario) the simulation findings indicate that exposure level to the 1:100 storm surge for Mombasa County at 4m elevation falls between 433,300 and 2.5 million people and over US$9.1 billion in assets exposed by 2090. Under RCP 8.5 (pessimistic-scenario) for Lamu, the exposure level of between 37,200 and 480,400 people and over US$ 648 million in infrastructure/assets is exposed by 2090. Under increased urbanization, vulnerability for both Mombasa and Lamu increases to over 2.6 million inhabitants and US$14.5 Billion and US$ 1.2 Billion respectively by 2090 under RCP 8.5. The participatory process showed improvement in the awareness of SLR impacts by participants in both islands and thus constituted the basis of co-production of adaptation and mitigation strategies as well as finalisation of the vulnerability atlases of the island cities. Keywords: Sea-level-rise, vulnerability assessment, climate change, Kenyan coast and coastal planning.GR201

Phytochemical analysis of the selected five plant extracts

Herbal medicine is still the mainstay of about 75 - 80% of the whole population, and the major part of traditional therapy involves the use of plant extracts and their active constituents. Plants were collected, identified, dried then extracted using hexane, Dichloromethane/methanol and water. Identification assays to test the presence of various chemical constituents were carried out. The five plants were: Sonchus luxurians, Ocimum americanum, Bridelia micrantha, Croton megalocarpus and Aloe secundiflora. The Phytochemical screening of the compounds present in the plant extracts were; alkaloid, glycosides, Saponins, reducing sugar, Steroid, Flavones and Catecholics. The most common compound in all the plant extracts was Catecholics. Steroids are used in medicine to treat many diseases. The Plant extracts can be possible candidates for drug development. Keywords: Herbal medicine, Phytochemical compounds, Traditional therapy, Plant extract

Induction of humoral immune response to multiple recombinant Rhipicephalus appendiculatus antigens and their effect on tick feeding success and pathogen transmission

BACKGROUND: Rhipicephalus appendiculatus is the primary vector of Theileria parva, the etiological agent of East Coast fever (ECF), a devastating disease of cattle in sub-Saharan Africa. We hypothesized that a vaccine targeting tick proteins that are involved in attachment and feeding might affect feeding success and possibly reduce tick-borne transmission of T. parva. Here we report the evaluation of a multivalent vaccine cocktail of tick antigens for their ability to reduce R. appendiculatus feeding success and possibly reduce tick-transmission of T. parva in a natural host-tick-parasite challenge model. METHODS: Cattle were inoculated with a multivalent antigen cocktail containing recombinant tick protective antigen subolesin as well as two additional R. appendiculatus saliva antigens: the cement protein TRP64, and three different histamine binding proteins. The cocktail also contained the T. parva sporozoite antigen p67C. The effect of vaccination on the feeding success of nymphal and adult R. appendiculatus ticks was evaluated together with the effect on transmission of T. parva using a tick challenge model. RESULTS: To our knowledge, this is the first evaluation of the anti-tick effects of these antigens in the natural host-tick-parasite combination. In spite of evidence of strong immune responses to all of the antigens in the cocktail, vaccination with this combination of tick and parasite antigens did not appear to effect tick feeding success or reduce transmission of T. parva. CONCLUSION: The results of this study highlight the importance of early evaluation of anti-tick vaccine candidates in biologically relevant challenge systems using the natural tick-host-parasite combination

Hospitalization Events Among Sickle Cell Anemia Patients at Homabay County Referral Hospital, Western Kenya

Approximately 700,000 new cases of sickle-cell anemia (SCA) occur annually in the world with 60%-80% dying before their 5th year birthday. SCA patients often experience hospitalization events including admissions for pain and vaso-occlusive crisis, infections and blood transfusions. However, limited studies have evaluated these events to improve comprehensive care programs. A descriptive cross-sectional study design was adopted on 227 SCA patients receiving healthcare between January 2017 and December 2017 at Homabay County Referral Hospital, Western Kenya. A complete enumeration sampling technique was used, and data was collected from hospital medical records. A total of 167 (73.57%) SCA patients were admitted to the hospital, 64 (38.32%) had pain and vaso-occlusive crisis (PVC), 47 (28.14%) malaria infection and others had combination of infections or conditions. SCA patients with malaria had increased chance of admission (12.86% CI; 5.36-30.85%. P value &lt;0.0001) and blood transfusions (11.67% CI; 5.27-25.82%, P value &lt;0.0001). In addition, less than 20% were given drugs at the time of discharge suggesting unavailability of drugs. PVC is the leading cause of hospitalization and malaria infection prolong the period of admission and increases blood transfusions among SCA patients. The study provides important information on the need for improved care for PVC and enhanced malaria intervention among SCA patients. Key words: SCA, Vaso-occlusive crisis, hospitalization events and blood transfusion