Health-2000: An Integrated Large-scale Expert System for the Hospital of the Future

1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (02) ◽  
pp. 92-94
Author(s):  
S. F. Boyom ◽  
D. A. Asoh ◽  
C. Asaah ◽  
F. Kengne ◽  
S. Y. Kwankam

Abstract:Decision making and management are problems which plague health systems in developing countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa where there is significant waste of resources. The need goes beyond national health management information systems, to tools required in daily micromanagement of various components of the health system. This paper describes an integrated expert system, Health-2000, an information-oriented tool for acquiring, processing and disseminating medical knowledge, data and decisions in the hospital of the future. It integrates six essential features of the medical care environment: personnel management, patient management, medical diagnosis, laboratory management, propharmacy, and equipment management. Disease conditions covered are the major tropical diseases. An intelligent tutoring feature completes the package. Emphasis is placed on the graphical user interface to facilitate interactions between the user and the system, which is developed for PCs using Pascal, C, Clipper and Prolog.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1158
Author(s):  
Cecilia M. Onyango ◽  
Justine M. Nyaga ◽  
Johanna Wetterlind ◽  
Mats Söderström ◽  
Kristin Piikki

Opportunities exist for adoption of precision agriculture technologies in all parts of the world. The form of precision agriculture may vary from region to region depending on technologies available, knowledge levels and mindsets. The current review examined research articles in the English language on precision agriculture practices for increased productivity among smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa. A total of 7715 articles were retrieved and after screening 128 were reviewed. The results indicate that a number of precision agriculture technologies have been tested under SSA conditions and show promising results. The most promising precision agriculture technologies identified were the use of soil and plant sensors for nutrient and water management, as well as use of satellite imagery, GIS and crop-soil simulation models for site-specific management. These technologies have been shown to be crucial in attainment of appropriate management strategies in terms of efficiency and effectiveness of resource use in SSA. These technologies are important in supporting sustainable agricultural development. Most of these technologies are, however, at the experimental stage, with only South Africa having applied them mainly in large-scale commercial farms. It is concluded that increased precision in input and management practices among SSA smallholder farmers can significantly improve productivity even without extra use of inputs.


Author(s):  
Jane J. Aggrey ◽  
Mirjam A. F. Ros-Tonen ◽  
Kwabena O. Asubonteng

AbstractArtisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) in sub-Saharan Africa creates considerable dynamics in rural landscapes. Many studies addressed the adverse effects of mining, but few studies use participatory spatial tools to assess the effects on land use. Hence, this paper takes an actor perspective to analyze how communities in a mixed farming-mining area in Ghana’s Eastern Region perceive the spatial dynamics of ASM and its effects on land for farming and food production from past (1986) to present (2018) and toward the future (2035). Participatory maps show how participants visualize the transformation of food-crop areas into small- and large-scale mining, tree crops, and settlement in all the communities between 1986 and 2018 and foresee these trends to continue in the future (2035). Participants also observe how a mosaic landscape shifts toward a segregated landscape, with simultaneous fragmentation of their farming land due to ASM. Further segregation is expected in the future, with attribution to the expansion of settlements being an unexpected outcome. Although participants expect adverse effects on the future availability of food-crop land, no firm conclusions can be drawn about the anticipated effect on food availability. The paper argues that, if responsibly applied and used to reveal community perspectives and concerns about landscape dynamics, participatory mapping can help raise awareness of the need for collective action and contribute to more inclusive landscape governance. These findings contribute to debates on the operationalization of integrated and inclusive landscape approaches and governance, particularly in areas with pervasive impacts of ASM.


2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (6) ◽  
pp. 500-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Kelcey ◽  
Zuchao Shen ◽  
Jessaca Spybrook

Objective: Over the past two decades, the lack of reliable empirical evidence concerning the effectiveness of educational interventions has motivated a new wave of research in education in sub-Saharan Africa (and across most of the world) that focuses on impact evaluation through rigorous research designs such as experiments. Often these experiments draw on the random assignment of entire clusters, such as schools, to accommodate the multilevel structure of schooling and the theory of action underlying many school-based interventions. Planning effective and efficient school randomized studies, however, requires plausible values of the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and the variance explained by covariates during the design stage. The purpose of this study was to improve the planning of two-level school-randomized studies in sub-Saharan Africa by providing empirical estimates of the ICC and the variance explained by covariates for education outcomes in 15 countries. Method: Our investigation drew on large-scale representative samples of sixth-grade students in 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and includes over 60,000 students across 2,500 schools. We examined two core education outcomes: standardized achievement in reading and mathematics. We estimated a series of two-level hierarchical linear models with students nested within schools to inform the design of two-level school-randomized trials. Results: The analyses suggested that outcomes were substantially clustered within schools but that the magnitude of the clustering varied considerably across countries. Similarly, the results indicated that covariance adjustment generally reduced clustering but that the prognostic value of such adjustment varied across countries.


The Lancet ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 390 (10114) ◽  
pp. 2803-2859 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Akua Agyepong ◽  
Nelson Sewankambo ◽  
Agnes Binagwaho ◽  
Awa Marie Coll-Seck ◽  
Tumani Corrah ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 395-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt Kandel

ABSTRACTRising competition and conflict over land in rural sub-Saharan Africa continues to attract the attention of researchers. Recent work has especially focused on land governance, post-conflict restructuring of tenure relations, and large-scale land acquisitions. A less researched topic as of late, though one deserving of greater consideration, pertains to how social differentiation on the local-level shapes relations to land, and how these processes are rooted in specific historical developments. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Teso sub-region of eastern Uganda, this paper analyses three specific land conflicts and situates them within a broad historical trajectory. I show how each dispute illuminates changes in class relations in Teso since the early 1990s. I argue that this current period of socioeconomic transformation, which includes the formation of a more clearly defined sub-regional middle class and elite, constitutes the most prominent period of social differentiation in Teso since the early 20th century.


2017 ◽  
pp. 19-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wondwosen Tamrat ◽  
Daniel Levy

Ethiopia’s private higher education (PHE) sector is the largest or second largest in sub-Saharan Africa, however a mix of enabling and restrictive policies have let PHE play a limited role in key respects. This article surveys the current landscape and asks important questions regarding the future of PHE.


2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 412-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Comfort Mshelia ◽  
Gillian Lê ◽  
Tolib Mirzoev ◽  
Samuel Amon ◽  
Ambrose Kessy ◽  
...  

Action research (AR) can be an effective form of ‘on the job’ training. However, it is critical that AR cycles can be appropriately recorded in order to contribute to reflection and learning. One form of recording is for coresearchers to keep a diary. We found no previous literature describing the use of diaries in AR in sub-Saharan Africa. We therefore use this paper to reflect on how diaries were used by district health management teams in the PERFORM project. We share five lessons from our experience. First, it is important to foster ownership of the diary by the people who are responsible for filling it in. Second, the purpose of keeping a diary needs to be clear and shared between researchers and practitioners from the very beginning. Third, diaries should be allowed to evolve. Fourth, it is a challenge for busy practitioners to record the reflection and learning processes that they go through. Last, diaries on their own are not sufficient to capture reflection and learning. In conclusion, there is no best way for practitioners to keep a diary; rather the focus should be on ensuring that an AR recording process (whether diary or otherwise) is locally owned and complements the specific practice setting.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document