Leadership and Personal Danger in African Politics

1993 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 657-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. Wiseman
Keyword(s):  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Political Leader ◽  
African Politics ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Acute Form ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Over Time

To be a political leader in many parts of the world is to follow an extremely hazardous and insecure occupation. In addition, in sub-Saharan Africa, but elsewhere as well, the element of personal danger exists in a particularly acute form. Althought the extent to which this is true varies considerably not only from place to place but also over time, the evidence of the past 30 years clearly suggests that there are remarkably few states in which an individual could contemplate embarking on a career in politics free from the dauger of incurring severe personal penalties at some stage.

scholarly journals The impact of African-trained neurosurgeons on sub-Saharan Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. E4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Karekezi ◽  
Abdeslam El Khamlichi ◽  
Abdessamad El Ouahabi ◽  
Najia El Abbadi ◽  
Semevo Alidegnon Ahokpossi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
National Income ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
World Federation ◽  
Neurosurgical Procedures ◽  
Ct Scanner ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact

OBJECTIVESub-Saharan Africa (SSA) represents 17% of the world’s land, 14% of the population, and 1% of the gross domestic product. Previous reports have indicated that 81/500 African neurosurgeons (16.2%) worked in SSA—i.e., 1 neurosurgeon per 6 million inhabitants. Over the past decades, efforts have been made to improve neurosurgery availability in SSA. In this study, the authors provide an update by means of the polling of neurosurgeons who trained in North Africa and went back to practice in SSA.METHODSNeurosurgeons who had full training at the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS) Rabat Training Center (RTC) over the past 16 years were polled with an 18-question survey focused on demographics, practice/case types, and operating room equipment availability.RESULTSData collected from all 21 (100%) WFNS RTC graduates showed that all neurosurgeons returned to work to SSA in 12 different countries, 90% working in low-income and 10% in lower-middle-income countries, defined by the World Bank as a Gross National Income per capita of ≤ US$995 and US$996–$3895, respectively. The cumulative population in the geographical areas in which they practice is 267 million, with a total of 102 neurosurgeons reported, resulting in 1 neurosurgeon per 2.62 million inhabitants. Upon return to SSA, WFNS RTC graduates were employed in public/private hospitals (62%), military hospitals (14.3%), academic centers (14.3%), and private practice (9.5%). The majority reported an even split between spine and cranial and between trauma and elective; 71% performed between 50 and more than 100 neurosurgical procedures/year. Equipment available varied across the cohort. A CT scanner was available to 86%, MRI to 38%, surgical microscope to 33%, endoscope to 19.1%, and neuronavigation to 0%. Three (14.3%) neurosurgeons had access to none of the above.CONCLUSIONSNeurosurgery availability in SSA has significantly improved over the past decade thanks to the dedication of senior African neurosurgeons, organizations, and volunteers who believed in forming the new neurosurgery generation in the same continent where they practice. Challenges include limited resources and the need to continue expanding efforts in local neurosurgery training and continuing medical education. Focus on affordable and low-maintenance technology is needed.

Inscriptions are Texts Too

2005 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 185-197
Author(s):  
David Henige
Keyword(s):  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Potential Prey ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ur Iii ◽  
Terra Incognita ◽  
Fields Of Study ◽  
South Arabia ◽  
The World ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Epigraphic Evidence

Epigraphic evidence is a virtualterra incognitafor Africanists; few of our sources have come down to us from the past quite so directly. This is in contrast to many other parts of the world, where dealing with inscriptions falls squarely within historians' purview. Where such evidence exists, it tends to exist in very large quantities. For example, for Ur III dynasty, of circumscribed length and extent (2112-2004 BCE, southern Mesopotamia) at least 50,000 texts have been published and tens of thousands more are known to exist. Even larger numbers exists for what is now India, although admittedly covering both a much larger area and a much longer period of time. One estimate is that more than 90,000 have been discovered. Nearly everything we think we know about the Maya civilization is derived from the numerous stelae that have been discovered there. The same applies to the pre-Islamic political entities in south Arabia. And so on. In contrast, the materials included in the work under review represent almost the entire corpus for sub-Saharan Africa.This embarrassment of riches outside Africa involves another embarrassment as well. Despite heroic efforts, many of these inscriptions—a majority for some areas—are attracting dust rather than scrutiny; as a result many of the interpretations built on the edited and published ones are potential prey to the evidence in those as yet unexamined.The so-called epitaphs of Gao have not wanted for study—study carried out largely by French orientalists looking for sources more congenial to their first fields of study, but harking back to Heinrich Barth, who at least had the excuse of being unaware of the inscriptions. The present work escapes thisfaute de mieuxaspect; its author has been at work on them for nearly forty years and did not come to them from a sense of misplaced desperation.

African Politics: A Very Short Introduction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Political Violence ◽  
African State ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Politics ◽  
African Continent ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
State And Society ◽  
The World ◽  
Sub Saharan

African Politics: A Very Short Introduction explores how politics is practised on the African continent, providing an overview of the different states and their systems. It considers the nature of the state in sub-Saharan Africa and why its state structures are generally weaker than elsewhere in the world. Exploring the historical and contemporary factors that account for Africa’s underdevelopment, it also analyses why some African countries suffer from high levels of political violence while others are spared. Unveiling the ways in which African state and society actually function beyond the formal institutional façade, this VSI discusses how external factors—both inherited and contemporary—act upon the continent.

scholarly journals Book reviews: Robert Guest (2004) “The Shackled Continent: Power, Corruption, and African Lives”

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 13
Author(s):  
Tadele Zemede Wubayehu
Keyword(s):  
Property Rights ◽  
Development Process ◽  
Resource Curse ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Tribal Politics

Over the past two decades, extreme poverty has been decreasing in all regions of the world except for sub-Saharan Africa. This attracted the attention of many scholars and policymakers from Africa and other continents of the world to study and understand the reason why Africa has remained so poor. As a result, many scholars have advanced many reasons for poverty and underdevelopment on the continent.  However, no consensus is reached among scholars for poverty and underdevelopment of Africa. 'The shackled continent' is one of the books that has attempted to explain the reasons why Africa has remained so poor. The main of this paper was to critically review the book. The shackled continent has critically analyzed and identified many hobbles that have affected the development process in Africa.  In this regard, the author assumption is that Africa has remained so poor as a result of several factors which includes failures of leadership, tribal politics, bad governance, impacts of AIDs, resource curse, lack of transparent property rights, ethnic strife, corruption, frequent military coups, and development assistance failures. Guest admits that these reasons to some extent contribute to the Africans' development challenges. However, arguably failures of leadership are the main reason for underdevelopment in Africa. The author argues that global capitalism is merely a solution to Africa's problems. This book has many strengths as well as weaknesses.

scholarly journals The Position of Sub-Saharan Countries in the World Economy

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (33) ◽  
pp. 5-16
Author(s):  
Boris Baumgartner
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Educational System ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
World Economy ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
World Export ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract Most of the countries of sub-Saharan Africa belong to the most underdeveloped and poorest countries in the world economy. This region consists of forty-nine countries but at world GDP, world export, world import and inflow of foreign direct investment share only by small percent. There are some positive facts in the recent history of sub- Saharan Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa has grown faster than the world economy in the past ten years. The predictions are also positive. There is an expectation of another growth till the 2020. If the sub-Saharan countries want to keep the growth in the future they have to invest to infrastructure, in educational system, in research and science to make their economies more competitive.

scholarly journals Two centuries of spreading language loss

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Gary F. Simons
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Language Loss ◽  
The Past ◽  
World Regions ◽  
The World ◽  
Global Spread ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Visual Depiction

This paper presents a visual depiction of the global spread of language loss over the past two centuries. This is done via a series of world maps (from 1795 to the present by 25-year intervals) in which each country is colored to represent the percentage of its indigenous languages that had died by that year or were doomed to die since they were no longer being used by children. A major finding is that the current rate of language loss is 9 per year, or one every 40 days—a far cry from the widely cited, “One language dies every 14 days.” Nevertheless, the rate of language loss is increasing and is on a trajectory to reach that level by the middle of the next century. An investigation of trends by world regions shows that the rate of language loss has already peaked in the Americas and Australia, remains relatively low in sub-Saharan Africa, and is accelerating sharply in the rest of the world.

scholarly journals Global trends in incidence and mortality of neonatal encephalopathy due to birth asphyxia and trauma

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (Supplement_4) ◽  
Author(s):  
K Lau
Keyword(s):  
Birth Asphyxia ◽  
Case Fatality ◽  
Premature Death ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Neonatal Encephalopathy ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
The Past ◽  
Incidence And Mortality ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Background Neonatal encephalopathy due to birth asphyxia and trauma is a leading cause of premature death and long-term disability as estimated by the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 study. To evaluate comparative improvements in prevention and survival, this analysis evaluated GBD 2017 mortality to incidence (MI) ratios as a proxy for case fatality over time, location, and socio-demographic status. Methods We derived estimates of cause-specific mortality and incidence at birth from GBD 2017, calculating MI ratios of neonatal encephalopathy in children <1 year. We analyzed temporal, geographic, and socio-demographic trends in incidence, mortality, and MI ratio. Results Neonatal encephalopathy incidence shows little change over time, with global incidence in children under one essentially the same in 2017 (1,996 cases per 100,000 (1,334-2,912)) and 1990 (1,996 cases per 100,000 (1,331-2,926)). Regions show the same trend, though a large difference exists between the highest and lowest regional incidence, with incidence in Central Sub-Saharan Africa over 20 times higher than in Australasia. Over the same period, MI ratios for neonatal encephalopathy have decreased across all regions. Model input data represented 52 countries for prevalence and 145 countries for mortality, with notable data sparsity in Africa and Eastern Europe. Conclusions Case fatality of neonatal encephalopathy, as approximated by MI ratio, has declined worldwide over the past three decades, but incidence has shown little change. This suggests treatment of neonatal encephalopathy has improved, but more research is needed on risk factors in order to increase prevention. Continued work is also needed to reduce disparities in incidence and mortality between countries with different levels of SDI. Improving data coverage in lower SDI regions will be critical to accurately monitor progress toward reducing inequity. Key messages Neonatal encephalopathy is a leading cause of premature death and disability. Incidence of neonatal encephalopathy has changed little since 1990, indicating more work is needed on prevention. Case fatality of neonatal encephalopathy can be approximated by the mortality to incidence ratio, and has declined worldwide over the past three decades, suggesting improvements in treatment.

scholarly journals Biological beetle small cell (Aethina tumida: Nitidulidae: Coleoptera )

2019 ◽  
pp. 408-435
Author(s):  
Alhashami. A. Agleyo
Keyword(s):  
Small Cell ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Aethina Tumida ◽  
Small Hive Beetle ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Exotic Pest ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Bee Colonies ◽  
Very High

Small hive beetle (SHB) Aethina tumida (Order Coleoptera، Family Nitidulidae ) is an exotic pest of honeybee colonies، native to Sub-Saharan Africa. It has been found in several of the world over the past few decades. Adults are small، their color ranges from reddish-brown to dark brown (almost black) ، and its life cycle passes through four stages، egg، larva and adult after pupping period in the soil. The beetles are attracted to a number of odors from bee colonies، and can multiply to huge numbers within infested colonies where it eat brood، honey and pollen. In certain conditions، the (SHB) destroys combs and cause comb damage and honey spoilage through feeding and defecation. If beetle infestation is very high and uncontrolled، they ultimately destroy colonies or cause them to abscond.

New Insights into Malaria Pathogenesis

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 315-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher A. Moxon ◽  
Matthew P. Gibbins ◽  
Dagmara McGuinness ◽  
Danny A. Milner ◽  
Matthias Marti
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Plasmodium Falciparum ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
The Past ◽  
Human Parasite ◽  
Parasite Plasmodium ◽  
The World ◽  
Public Health Threat ◽  
Parasite Plasmodium Falciparum ◽  
Sub Saharan

Malaria remains a major public health threat in tropical and subtropical regions across the world. Even though less than 1% of malaria infections are fatal, this leads to about 430,000 deaths per year, predominantly in young children in sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, it is imperative to understand why a subset of infected individuals develop severe syndromes and some of them die and what differentiates these cases from the majority that recovers. Here, we discuss progress made during the past decade in our understanding of malaria pathogenesis, focusing on the major human parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

scholarly journals The Economic Consequences of Conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (221) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiangming Fang ◽  
Siddharth Kothari ◽  
Cameron McLoughlin ◽  
Mustafa Yenice
Keyword(s):  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Social Spending ◽  
Economic Costs ◽  
Cumulative Impact ◽  
The Past ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Over Time

Sub-Saharan Africa has been marred by conflicts during the past several decades. While the intensity of conflicts in recent years is lower than that observed in the 1990s, the region remains prone to conflicts, with around 30 percent of the countries affected in 2019. In addition to immeasurable human suffering, conflicts impose large economic costs. On average, annual growth in countries in intense conflicts is about 2.5 percentage points lower, and the cumulative impact on per capita GDP increases over time. Furthermore, conflicts pose significant strains on countries’ public finances, lowering revenue, raising military spending, and shifting resources away from development and social spending.

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