scholarly journals Patterns of rabies cases in South Africa between 1993-2019, including the role of wildlife

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Koeppel ◽  
Ockert van Schalkwyk ◽  
Peter Thompson
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Probability Model ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Rapid Decline ◽  
Wildlife Species ◽  
Suricata Suricatta ◽  
The North ◽  
Yellow Mongoose ◽  
Poisson Space

Rabies is a global viral zoonosis endemic to South Africa, resulting in fatal encephalitis in warm blooded animals, including humans. The loss of human lives and economic losses in rural areas through loss of livestock are substantial. A review was conducted of all confirmed rabies cases in South Africa from 1993 to 2019, with a total of 11 701 cases identified to species level to assess the wildlife plays in the epidemiology of rabies. A spatiotemporal cluster analysis using a discrete Poisson space-time probability model, accounting for underlying estimated dog and livestock densities, identified 13 significant clusters (p<0.05). These included four long-term clusters lasting more than 8 years in duration and seven short term clusters lasting less than 2 years, with the remaining two clusters being of intermediate length. Outside of these endemic clusters, wildlife outbreaks in the remainder of South Africa were often less than one and a half years in duration most likely due to the rapid decline of wildlife vectors, especially jackals associated with rabies infection. Domestic dogs accounted for 59.8% of cases, with domestic cats (3.2%), livestock (21.1%) and wildlife (15.8%) making up the remainder of the cases. Yellow mongoose (Cynictis penicillate) was the most frequently affected wildlife species, followed by bat-eared fox (Otocyon megalotis), black-backed jackal (Canis mesomelas), meerkat (Suricata suricatta) and aardwolf (Proteles cristatus). Rabies in wildlife species followed different spatial distributions: black-backed jackal cases were more common in the north-western parts of South Africa, yellow mongoose cases more frequent in central South Africa, and bat-eared fox and aardwolf cases were more frequent in southern and western South Africa. Clusters often spanned several provinces, showing the importance of coordinated rabies control campaigns across administrative boundaries, and high-risk areas were highlighted for rabies in South Africa.

scholarly journals Ethnoveterinary Knowledge and Biological Evaluation of Plants Used for Mitigating Cattle Diseases: A Critical Insight Into the Trends and Patterns in South Africa

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mompati V. Chakale ◽  
Mulunda Mwanza ◽  
Adeyemi O. Aremu
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Biological Activities ◽  
Biological Evaluation ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Agricultural System ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Cattle Diseases ◽  
Gastrointestinal Problems

Cattle farming is a traditional agricultural system that contribute to the rural economic, social and cultural values of the communities. Cattle as common with other livestock, are affected by many diseases that cause mortality and economic losses. In many rural households, the use of plants and associated knowledge are popular for managing cattle diseases especially in areas experiencing challenges with conventional veterinary medicine. Evidence on the documentation of indigenous knowledge and biological evaluation of plants used against cattle diseases remain understudied and fragmented. The aim of the review is to collate and analyse the ethnoveterinary knowledge and biological evaluation of plants used against cattle diseases in South Africa. Different scientific databases were systematically explored to extract data from 37 eligible studies. A total of 310 medicinal plants from 81 families used to treat 10 categories of cattle diseases across seven (7) provinces in South Africa. Leguminosae (Fabaceae), Compositae (Astereceae), Asparagaceae, and Xanthorrhoeaceae were the most frequently used plant families. Common plant parts used were leaves and roots. Twenty-seven (27) combination remedies involving 2–6 plants were identified as treatment regimes against cattle diseases. Common preparation methods were infusion and decoction while the administration mode was predominantly unspecified (52%) while oral and topical contributed 26 and 22%, respectively. In terms of diseases, the most treated ones were general systems infection, reproduction disorders and gastrointestinal problems. Currently, an estimated 21% of the 310 plants have been evaluated for diverse biological activities using relevant bioassays related to cattle diseases. Antibacterial activity remained the most studied biological activity. Evidence from the review revealed the significance of ethnoveterinary medicine against cattle diseases especially in rural areas of South Africa. Nevertheless, the use of plants for cattle diseases among other ethnic groups, particularly in the Northern Cape and Western Cape, remain under-studied.

scholarly journals Health-service utilization by pregnant women in the greater Mafikeng- Mmabatho district

Curationis ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
C.F. Pretorius ◽  
M. Greeff
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Pregnant Women ◽  
Service Utilization ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Health Service Utilization ◽  
Maternity Services ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
North West Province

Since the implementation of free maternity services in South Africa from 1994, more maternity services were provided (SA, 1994: 73). These services are however inaccessible to many pregnant women in the rural areas, leading to sub-optimal antenatal health service utilization. Another problem that emerged, is deterioration in antenatal health service rendering throughout the country, as well as a lack of guidelines for the mobilization of pregnant women in order to promote optimal antenatal health service utilization (ANHSU) in the North West Province. The mentioned problems were the reasons for undertaking this research.

scholarly journals “New” rural settlements – former urban-type settlements

2019 ◽  
pp. 18-34
Author(s):  
A. S. Chuchkalov ◽  
A. I. Alekseev
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Rural Population ◽  
Urban Population ◽  
Census Data ◽  
Rapid Decline ◽  
Rural Settlements ◽  
Far North ◽  
The North ◽  
Type Settlement ◽  
Average Population Size

Since the 1920s, when the notion of urban-type settlement (UTS) was introduced in Russia, and until the 1980s the number of UTSs was constantly increasing. But since the 1990s, their rapid decline began, and by 2019 more than a third of them were transformed into rural settlements. In this article, the authors try to find out what the new villages the former UTSs are; where they are located; what their functions (largely lost) are, and what the specific features of their population are. From 1989 to 2010, the processes of transformation of UTSs into rural settlements administratively increased rural population of Russia by 2.4 mln people and held back the growth of the urban population share, which increased only slightly from 73.4 to 73.7%. When comparing the census data of 1989 and 2010 in many regions, the administrative ruralization radically changed the dynamics of the population: instead of a real decrease in the number of rural residents, Census-2010 showed the increase of rural population. Former UTSs are losing population more rapidly than the rural areas of their municipal districts, and the most intensive outflow is in logging settlements, centers of construction and colonies-settlements. The average population size of the former UTSs is minimal in the North of European Russia and the Far North, and maximum in the European South and in the Ural-Volga area, where the former UTSs-district centers are mostly concentrated, in which change of their status was purely formal.

scholarly journals Protective behaviours and secondary harms from non-pharmaceutical interventions during the COVID-19 epidemic in South Africa: a multisite prospective longitudinal study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guy Harling ◽  
Francesc Xavier Gómez-Olivé ◽  
Joseph Tlouyamma ◽  
Tinofa Mutevedzi ◽  
Chodziwadziwa Whiteson Kabudula ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal Study ◽  
Prospective Longitudinal ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Pharmaceutical Interventions

ABSTRACTBackgroundIn March 2020 South Africa implemented strict non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to contain Covid-19. Over the subsequent five months NPIs were eased in stages according to national strategy. Covid-19 spread throughout the country heterogeneously, reaching rural areas by July and peaking in July-August. Data on the impact of NPI policies on social and economic wellbeing and access to healthcare is limited. We therefore analysed how rural residents of three South African provinces changed their behaviour during the first epidemic wave.MethodsThe South African Population Research Infrastructure Network (SAPRIN) nodes in Mpumalanga (Agincourt), KwaZulu-Natal (AHRI) and Limpopo (DIMAMO) provinces conducted longitudinal telephone surveys among randomly sampled households from rural and peri-urban surveillance populations every 2-3 weeks. Interviews included questions on: Covid-19 knowledge and behaviours; health and economic impact of NPIs; and mental health.Results2262 households completed 10,966 interviews between April and August 2020. By August, self-reported satisfaction with Covid-19 knowledge had risen from 48% to 85% and facemask use to over 95%. As selected NPIs were eased mobility increased, and economic losses and anxiety and depression symptoms fell. When Covid-19 cases spiked at one node in July, movement dropped rapidly, and missed daily medication rates doubled. Economic concerns and mental health symptoms were lower in households receiving a greater number of government-funded old-age pensions.ConclusionsSouth Africans reported complying with stringent Covid-19 NPIs despite the threat of substantial social, economic and health repercussions. Government-supported social welfare programmes appeared to buffer interruptions in income and healthcare access during local outbreaks. Epidemic control policies must be balanced against impacts on wellbeing in resource-limited settings and designed with parallel support systems where they threaten income and basic service access.

An evaluation of dog rabies control in Limpopo province (South Africa)

2011 ◽  
Vol 139 (10) ◽  
pp. 1470-1475 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. T. SABETA ◽  
G. C. MKHIZE ◽  
E. C. NGOEPE
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Genetic Analysis ◽  
Rabies Virus ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Health Hazard ◽  
Limpopo Province ◽  
Domestic Dogs ◽  
The North ◽  
Rabies Control ◽  
Rabies Virus Strain

SUMMARYRabies is a prevalent and re-emerging disease in South Africa particularly in rural areas with high human densities. Outbreaks are frequently reported in the north and eastern parts of this country, probably an indication of inadequacy in the control of the disease. Following the 2005/2006 outbreak in Limpopo, we undertook an analysis of case surveillance data and genetically characterized 18 rabies viruses, all recovered from domestic dogs. Although rabies prevalence gradually declined annually from 2007, dog rabies still remains a public and veterinary health hazard in this region. Sylvatic rabies cycles are maintained by the black-backed jackal species in specific ecological conditions in the northwest of the province (Waterberg area), unlike in the north and east (Vhembe and Mopani districts, respectively), where spillover of infection between dogs and jackals is likely to predominate. Genetic analysis demonstrated that the rabies virus strain currently circulating within dog populations in Limpopo province is the same variant responsible for the 2005/2006 rabies outbreak. However, residual foci probably exist hence the observed sporadic outbreaks. These data further underline the value of continuous and sustainable dog immunization in controlling rabies.

scholarly journals Accelerated nutrition transition in the North West Province of South Africa: results from the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology (PURE-NWP-SA) cohort study, 2005 to 2010

2018 ◽  
Vol 21 (14) ◽  
pp. 2630-2641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edelweiss Wentzel-Viljoen ◽  
Sarie Lee ◽  
Ria Laubscher ◽  
Hester H Vorster
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Energy Intake ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Nutrition Transition ◽  
Nutrient Intakes ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
North West Province ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

AbstractObjectiveSouth Africa (SA) is in the midst of a health transition characterized by a quadruple burden of diseases and a nutrition transition. The existing nutrition transition in SA, accompanied by the coexistence of under- and overnutrition in the population, motivated the present study. Its objectives were to measure and report the changes in nutrient intakes of rural and urban black Africans over time to assess the impact of urbanization and modernization of lifestyles on dietary intakes and non-communicable disease (NCD) risk.DesignThe PURE-NWP-SA study recruited 2000 black South African volunteers aged 35–70 years in 2005, of which detailed nutrient intakes from 1858 participants were available. In 2010 nutrient intakes of a cohort of 1154 participants were measured.ResultsMedian energy intake increased over time. In 2010, rural participants consumed the amount of energy (men 9·7 MJ/d; women 9·1 MJ/d) that urban participants consumed in 2005 (men 9·9 MJ/d; women 9·0 MJ/d). The nutrition transition was characterized by increases in the percentage of energy from animal protein, total fat (rural men and women), saturated (not urban women) and monounsaturated fat, as well as added sugar. Despite the higher energy intake, not all the participants met total micronutrient needs in 2010.ConclusionsThe PURE nutrient intake data confirmed that the nutrition transition in the North West Province of SA is extremely rapid in rural areas. The shift towards higher energy intakes, an animal food-based diet, higher intakes of fat and lower intake of fibre, at the cost of lower plant protein and starchy food intakes, could increase the risk of NCD.

scholarly journals Tourism implications and challenges in Musina municipality: a case of the Big tree nature reserve and adjacent tourism ventures; Limpopo

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Azwindini Isaac Ramaano
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Rural Communities ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Nature Reserve ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Limpopo Province ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The North ◽  
Tourism Enterprises ◽  
Vhembe District

PurposeThis study evaluates tourism implications and challenges around the Big Tree Nature Reserve with its adjacent tourism ventures and entities in Musina Municipality, Limpopo Province, in South Africa.Design/methodology/approachData got compiled by interviews and questionnaires in addition to focus group discussions and physical observation.FindingsThe study revealed many challenges associated with tourism undertakings around the Big Tree Nature Reserve and its nearby tourism entities. The benefits of tourism were not efficiently tapped into by the local communities within and around the study area. The factors contributing to the poor state of tourism running got delineated by the findings of the study. Hence, there was a potential obligation for a turnaround effective tourism strategy to improve tourism enterprises to benefits local communities within the area.Originality/valueMusina Municipality is one of the remote regions in the North of Limpopo Province, in South Africa. It also has impoverished rural communities akin to many rural areas within the continent. Despite the mentioned, it considerably covers a mostly tourism-orientated area within the Vhembe District.

Why Has There Been No People’s Power Rebellion in North Korea?

2018 ◽  
pp. 1-34
Author(s):  
Andrew Jackson
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
North Korea ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Information Control ◽  
Al Jazeera ◽  
The North ◽  
New Information ◽  
Effective System ◽  
The Right

One scenario put forward by researchers, political commentators and journalists for the collapse of North Korea has been a People’s Power (or popular) rebellion. This paper analyses why no popular rebellion has occurred in the DPRK under Kim Jong Un. It challenges the assumption that popular rebellion would happen because of widespread anger caused by a greater awareness of superior economic conditions outside the DPRK. Using Jack Goldstone’s theoretical expla-nations for the outbreak of popular rebellion, and comparisons with the 1989 Romanian and 2010–11 Tunisian transitions, this paper argues that marketi-zation has led to a loosening of state ideological control and to an influx of infor-mation about conditions in the outside world. However, unlike the Tunisian transitions—in which a new information context shaped by social media, the Al-Jazeera network and an experience of protest helped create a sense of pan-Arab solidarity amongst Tunisians resisting their government—there has been no similar ideology unifying North Koreans against their regime. There is evidence of discontent in market unrest in the DPRK, although protests between 2011 and the present have mostly been in defense of the right of people to support themselves through private trade. North Koreans believe this right has been guaranteed, or at least tacitly condoned, by the Kim Jong Un government. There has not been any large-scale explosion of popular anger because the state has not attempted to crush market activities outright under Kim Jong Un. There are other reasons why no popular rebellion has occurred in the North. Unlike Tunisia, the DPRK lacks a dissident political elite capable of leading an opposition movement, and unlike Romania, the DPRK authorities have shown some flexibility in their anti-dissent strategies, taking a more tolerant approach to protests against economic issues. Reduced levels of violence during periods of unrest and an effective system of information control may have helped restrict the expansion of unrest beyond rural areas.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document