scholarly journals Status of white-necked picathartes – another reason for the conservation of the Peninsula Forest, Sierra Leone

Oryx ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 155-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hazell S. S. Thompson

A survey of the Western Area Peninsula Forest in Sierra Leone in 1990 located eight breeding sites of the white-necked picathartes–a striking endemic West African forest bird threatened with extinction. Several breeding sites were in areas of fairly intense human activity and in danger of imminent destruction. Subsequent observations revealed successful breeding in 1990 and unsuccessful attempts in 1991. This population is probably only just viable. The discovery of Jentink's duiker–Africa's rarest duiker–in the same forest in 1988 and the presence of three threatened primate species prompted calls for urgent conservation action. The precarious status of the white-necked picathartes population provides another compelling reason for such action.

Since vector control began in 1975, waves of Simulium sirbanum and S. damnosum s.str ., the principal vectors of severe blinding onchocerciasis in the West African savannas, have reinvaded treated rivers inside the original boundaries of the Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa. Larviciding of potential source breeding sites has shown that these ‘savanna’ species are capable of travelling and carrying Onchocerca infection for at least 500 km northeastwards with the monsoon winds in the early rainy season. Vector control has, therefore, been extended progressively westwards. In 1984 the Programme embarked on a major western extension into Guinea, Sierra Leone, western Mali, Senegal and Guinea-Bissau. The transmission resulting from the reinvasion of northern Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso has been reduced by over 95%, but eastern Mali has proved more difficult to protect because of sources in both Guinea and Sierra Leone. Rivers in Sierra Leone were treated for the first time in 1989 and biting and transmission rates in Sierra Leone and Guinea fell by over 90%. Because of treatment problems in some complex rapids and mountainous areas, flies still reinvaded Mali, though biting rates were approximately 70% lower than those recorded before anti-reinvasion treatments started. It was concluded that transmission in eastern Mali has now been reduced to the levels required to control onchocerciasis.


Author(s):  
Daniel Bailey ◽  
Jane Shallcross ◽  
Christopher H. Logue ◽  
Simon A. Weller ◽  
Liz Evans ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Maggie Dwyer

Soldiers in Revolt examines the understudied phenomenon of military mutinies in Africa. Through interviews with former mutineers in Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, and The Gambia, the book provides a unique and intimate perspective on those who take the risky decision to revolt. This view from the lower ranks is key to comprehending the internal struggles that can threaten a military's ability to function effectively. Maggie Dwyer's detailed accounts of specific revolts are complemented by an original dataset of West African mutinies covering more than fifty years, allowing for the identification of trends. Her book shows the complex ways mutineers often formulate and interpret their grievances against a backdrop of domestic and global politics. Just as mutineers have been influenced by the political landscape, so too have they shaped it. Mutinies have challenged political and military leaders, spurred social unrest, led to civilian casualties, threatened peacekeeping efforts and, in extreme cases, resulted in international interventions. Soldiers in Revolt offers a better understanding of West African mutinies and mutinies in general, valuable not only for military studies but for anyone interested in the complex dynamics of African states.


1993 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 173-184 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robin Law

This paper draws attention to an ambitious project in the publication of source material for the precolonial history of West Africa, which has recently been approved for inclusion in the Fontes Historiae Africanae series of the British Academy. In addition to self-promotion, however, I wish also to take the opportunity to air some of the problems of editorial strategy and choice which arise with regard to the editing and presentation of this material, in the hope of provoking some helpful feedback on these issues.The material to be published consists of correspondence of the Royal African Company of England relating to the West African coast in the late seventeenth century. The history of the Royal African Company (hereafter RAC) is in general terms well known, especially through the pioneering (and still not superseded) study by K.G. Davies (1957). The Company was chartered in 1672 with a legal monopoly of English trade with Africa. Its headquarters in West Africa was at Cape Coast (or, in the original form of the name, Cabo Corso) Castle on the Gold Coast, and it maintained forts or factories not only on the Gold Coast itself, but also at the Gambia, in Sierra Leone, and at Offra and Whydah on the Slave Coast. It lost its monopoly of the African trade in 1698, and thereafter went into decline, effectively ceasing to operate as a trading concern in the 1720s, although it continued to manage the English possessions on the coast of West Africa until it was replaced by a regulated company (i.e., one open to all traders), the Company of Merchants Trading to Africa, in 1750.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lili Wang ◽  
Jianhai Yin ◽  
Canjun Zheng ◽  
Samuel Juana Smith ◽  
Esther Ngegba ◽  
...  

Sierra Leone is a highly endemic area for malaria, and the implementation of the National Malaria Strategic Plan (2016–2020) has reached its midpoint in 2018. To provide more specific guidance for interventions in the future, a household-based cross-sectional survey was conducted to elucidate the knowledge, awareness and practices regarding malaria and malarial control measures among the general public. Three communities (Grafton, Jui, and Kossoh) in the Western Area Rural District that were in close proximity to Sierra Leone's capital city of Freetown were included. Households were randomly selected and interviewed with a structured questionnaire covering malaria infection, diagnosis, treatment and prevention, as well as knowledge of malaria prevention. As a result, a total of 262 qualified questionnaires were included. The average cost for meals per day is ~30,000 Leones in each household. The rate of awareness, indicated by reporting having heard of malaria, was 98.1% (257/262), and 86.6% (227/262) of the respondents knew that mosquito bites are the main route of transmission. In addition, 80.9% (212/262) of the respondents sought health advice or treatment for the illness, and a similar percentage of respondents had been tested for malaria, mostly with rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs). A high demand for long-lasting insecticidal nets (72.1%) matched the serious shortage (61.8%, 162/262), and of the households that reported a lack of nets, 66 had children younger than 5 years old. In conclusion, public awareness of malaria prevention is high, based on this survey, although there was a limited use of preventive measures in these three communities and the malaria burden was still high. Therefore, the public's knowledge of malaria should be sustained and reinforced, and the distribution and use of malaria prevention measures should be promoted to supprt the achievement of the planned objectives.


Author(s):  
Ulrike Gut

This chapter describes the history, role, and structural properties of English in the West African countries the Gambia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, Nigeria, the anglophone part of Cameroon, and the island of Saint Helena. It provides an overview of the historical phases of trading contact, British colonization and missionary activities and describes the current role of English in these multilingual countries. Further, it outlines the commonalities and differences in the vocabulary, phonology, morphology, and syntax of the varieties of English spoken in anglophone West Africa. It shows that Liberian Settler English and Saint Helenian English have distinct phonological and morphosyntactic features compared to the other West African Englishes. While some phonological areal features shared by several West African Englishes can be identified, an areal profile does not seem to exist on the level of morphosyntax.


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