scholarly journals Perceptions about Epilepsy in the Limpopo Province of the Republic of South Africa

Curationis ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
ML Mangena-Netshikweta
Keyword(s):  
Central Africa ◽  
Limpopo Province ◽  
Physical Contact ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Evil Spirits ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Devil ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Epileptic Fits

In rural African communities, there are widespread beliefs that epilepsy is due to possession of bewitchment by evil spirits or the devil. There is also a belief that the transmission of the disease is by physical contact, such as by saliva (Osuntokun 1990:106). In central Africa, as well as in Sub-Saharan Africa, epilepsy is attributed to the presence of a lizard in the brain, and epileptic fits occur whenever the lizard moves ( Haddock 1993:118 ; Nyame 1997:143 ). Such perceptions toward epilepsy and a person with epilepsy, in indigenous Africa, are invariably unfavourable and unfounded as they reflect mythical beliefs about the disease.

Conflicts in Biafra, Katanga and Cabinda as a result of the geopolitical legacy of colonialism

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (10-3) ◽  
pp. 238-246
Author(s):  
Olga Dzhenchakova
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Economic Factor ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Impact

The article considers the impact of the colonial past of some countries in sub-Saharan Africa and its effect on their development during the post-colonial period. The negative consequences of the geopolitical legacy of colonialism are shown on the example of three countries: Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of Angola, expressed in the emergence of conflicts in these countries based on ethno-cultural, religious and socio-economic contradictions. At the same time, the focus is made on the economic factor and the consequences of the consumer policy of the former metropolises pursuing their mercantile interests were mixed.

Women in Gabon

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire H. Griffiths
Keyword(s):  
Central Africa ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Women ◽  
Female Population ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Tropical Woods ◽  
New Research ◽  
Export Revenue

Gabon, a small oil-rich country straddling the equator on the west coast of Africa, is the wealthiest of France’s former colonies. An early period of colonization in the 19th century resulted in disease, famine, and economic failure. The creation of French Equatorial Africa in 1910 marked the beginning of the sustained lucrative exploitation of Gabon’s natural resources. Gabon began off-shore oil production while still a colony of France. Uranium was also discovered in the last decade of the French Equatorial African empire. Coupled with rich reserves in tropical woods, Gabon has achieved, since independence in 1960, a higher level of export revenue per capita of population than any other country in sub-Saharan Africa in the postcolonial era. However, significant inequality has characterized access to wealth through paid employment throughout the recorded history of monetized labor. While fortunes have been amassed by a minute proportion of the female population of Gabon associated with the ruling regime, and a professional female middle-class has emerged, inequalities of opportunity and reward continue to mark women’s experience of life in this little-known country of West Central Africa. The key challenge facing scholars researching the history of women in Gabon remains the relative lack of historical resources. While significant strides have been made over the past decade, research on women’s history in Francophone Africa published in English or French remains embryonic. French research on African women began to make a mark in the last decade of colonization, notably with the work of Denise Paulme, but then remained a neglected area for decades. The publication in 1994 of Les Africaines by French historian Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch was hailed at the time as a pioneering work in French historiography. But even this new research contained no analysis of and only a passing reference to women in Gabon.

scholarly journals COMPLICATIONS OF PREGNANCY AMONG ADOLESCENTS AND ADULT MOTHERS TREATED IN A PUBLIC HOSPITAL, THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA: A RETROSPECTIVE COMPARATIVE STUDY

2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 140-146
Author(s):  
Siti Khuzaimah Ahmad Sharoni ◽  
Alieu Sekou Konneh
Keyword(s):  
Adolescent Mothers ◽  
Pregnancy Complications ◽  
Public Hospital ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Eligibility Criteria ◽  
Chi Square ◽  
Chi Square Test ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Retrospective Comparative Study

Complications of pregnancy remain a serious threat in Sub-Saharan Africa despite efforts to minimise maternal mortality due to pregnancy complications, and achieve the Millennium Development Goal 5. This is a retrospective study to determine the most common pregnancy complications among adolescents compared to adults treated in a public hospital from 2015 to 2018. The researcher applied a convenience sampling method in selecting the medical records. The instrument used was adapted from previous studies and data were analysed with descriptive and chi-square test for the inferential statistics. A total of 1,265 patients met the eligibility criteria and 540 (42.7%) were adolescents. Low birth weight (n=478, 88.5%) and preterm delivery (n=496, 91.9%) were common among babies born to adolescent mothers. Pregnancy-related complications among adolescent mothers showing the prevalence of anaemia, hypertension, and malaria were 494 (84.9%), 149 (56.2%) and 193 (62.1%) respectively. Gestational diabetes was found to be high among adult mothers (n=98, 74.8%). Among adolescent mothers, the prevalence of eclampsia was 62 (78.5%) and hemorrhage 61 (53.0%). The prevalence of Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) was high among adolescent mothers (n=252, 80.5%). Comprehensive strategies are needed to keep girls in schools and to raise awareness and develop campaigns about using contraception properly to reduce the incidence of adolescent pregnancy as well as to minimise the incidence of pregnancy-related complications.

scholarly journals First Report of East African Cassava Mosaic Begomovirus in Nigeria

Plant Disease ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 398-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. O. Ogbe ◽  
G. I. Atiri ◽  
D. Robinson ◽  
S. Winter ◽  
A. G. O. Dixon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Central Africa ◽  
Mosaic Disease ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Cassava Mosaic Disease ◽  
Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay ◽  
East African ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Manihot Esculenta Crantz ◽  
Cross River State ◽  
Sub Saharan

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is an important food crop in sub-Saharan Africa. One of the major production constraints is cassava mosaic disease caused by African cassava mosaic (ACMV) and East African cassava mosaic (EACMV) begomoviruses. ACMV is widespread in its distribution, occurring throughout West and Central Africa and in some eastern and southern African countries. In contrast, EACMV has been reported to occur mainly in more easterly areas, particularly in coastal Kenya and Tanzania, Malawi, and Madagascar. In 1997, a survey was conducted in Nigeria to determine the distribution of ACMV and its strains. Samples from 225 cassava plants showing mosaic symptoms were tested with ACMV monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) in triple antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (1). Three samples reacted strongly with MAbs that could detect both ACMV and EACMV. One of them did not react with ACMV-specific MAbs while the other two reacted weakly with such MAbs. With polymerase chain reaction (2), the presence of EACMV and a mixture of EACMV and ACMV in the respective samples was confirmed. These samples were collected from two villages: Ogbena in Kwara State and Akamkpa in Cross River State. Co-infection of some cassava varieties with ACMV and EACMV leads to severe symptoms. More importantly, a strain of mosaic geminivirus known as Uganda variant arose from recombination between the two viruses (2). This report provides evidence for the presence of EACMV in West Africa. References: (1) J. E. Thomas et al. J. Gen. Virol. 67:2739, 1986. (2) X. Zhou et al. J. Gen. Virol. 78:2101, 1997.

scholarly journals Remittances and the Brain Drain: Evidence from Microdata for Sub-Saharan Africa

2018 ◽  
Vol 55 (7) ◽  
pp. 1455-1476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Bredtmann ◽  
Fernanda Martínez Flores ◽  
Sebastian Otten
Keyword(s):  
Brain Drain ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Brain

scholarly journals Recurrent Collection of Drosophila melanogaster from Wild African Environments and Genomic Insights into Species History

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 627-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quentin D Sprengelmeyer ◽  
Suzan Mansourian ◽  
Jeremy D Lange ◽  
Daniel R Matute ◽  
Brandon S Cooper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Demographic History ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Model Organism ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Wilderness Areas ◽  
Southern Central ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Improved Model

Abstract A long-standing enigma concerns the geographic and ecological origins of the intensively studied vinegar fly, Drosophila melanogaster. This globally distributed human commensal is thought to originate from sub-Saharan Africa, yet until recently, it had never been reported from undisturbed wilderness environments that could reflect its precommensal niche. Here, we document the collection of 288 D. melanogaster individuals from multiple African wilderness areas in Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. The presence of D. melanogaster in these remote woodland environments is consistent with an ancestral range in southern-central Africa, as opposed to equatorial regions. After sequencing the genomes of 17 wilderness-collected flies collected from Kafue National Park in Zambia, we found reduced genetic diversity relative to town populations, elevated chromosomal inversion frequencies, and strong differences at specific genes including known insecticide targets. Combining these genomes with existing data, we probed the history of this species’ geographic expansion. Demographic estimates indicated that expansion from southern-central Africa began ∼13,000 years ago, with a Saharan crossing soon after, but expansion from the Middle East into Europe did not begin until roughly 1,800 years ago. This improved model of demographic history will provide an important resource for future evolutionary and genomic studies of this key model organism. Our findings add context to the history of D. melanogaster, while opening the door for future studies on the biological basis of adaptation to human environments.

No Longer Overlooked and Undervalued? The Evolving Dynamics of Endogenous Educational Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

2006 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
RICHARD MACLURE
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Educational Research ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Research Capacity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Research Networks ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Local Research

Multilateral donors like the World Bank and bilateral agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the British Department for International Development exert a great deal of influence in international educational development — particularly in sub-Saharan Africa — both in the programs they fund and the types of research they engage in. In this article, Richard Maclure investigates educational research in Africa and juxtaposes research done by large, exogenous, Western, results-oriented organizations with research performed by smaller, endogenous, local researchers aided by local research networks. Maclure argues convincingly that research that falls into the exogenous "donor-control" paradigm far too often is irrelevant to the African educational policy context and does little to develop local research capacity. The cases of two African research networks — the Educational Research Network of West and Central Africa and the Association for the Development of Education in Africa—are presented as exemplars of organizations that promote an alternative type of research that is endogenous, relevant to policy and the process of policymaking, and controlled by Africans. Maclure concludes with a call for increased support for and development of these types of networks, and for the development of the long-term solution to educational research in Africa — the university.

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