Navigating the Prevailing Challenges of the Nigerian Power Sector

The entire value chain of the Nigerian power sector (the production, transmission and distribution sector) is bedeviled with numerous challenges. Challenges that hamper and make the seventh sustainable development goal only a mirage. This paper aims to take a panoramic view of the Nigerian power architecture, outlining the challenges of the various stakeholders (The Generation Companies, The Transmission Company of Nigeria, The National Control Center, The Distribution Companies, The Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc, The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, The Gas producers, The Nigerian Gas Company and the consumers) with the goal of providing a roadmap of solutions; solutions to light up the African largest economy and invariably guarantee her socio-economic development.

Agenda-setting of tobacco control policy in Iran: a retrospective policy analysis study

Background The prevalence of tobacco use, especially hookah, has increased in Iran In recent years, particularly among young people and women, and the age of onset of use has decreased. Tobacco use is the fourth leading risk factor for non-communicable diseases in Iran. These issues cause concerns in the country and led to the present study on tobacco control agenda-setting in Iran over a 30-year timeframe. Methods We conducted this retrospective analytical study to investigate process analysis in Iran using Kingdon’s multiple-streams framework (MSF). We collected the data using semi-structured interviews with key informants (n = 36) and reviewing policy documents (n > 100). Then, we analyzed the policy documents and in-depth interviews using the document and framework analysis method. We used MAXQDA 11 software to classify and analyze the data. Results Iran’s accession to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) opened a window of opportunity for tobacco control. The policy window opens when all three streams have already been developed. The adoption of the comprehensive law on the national control and campaign against tobacco in the Islamic Consultative Assembly in 2006 is a turning point in tobacco control activities in Iran. Conclusions The tobacco control agenda-setting process in Iran was broadly consistent with MSF. The FCTC strengthened the comprehensive plan for national control of tobacco as a policy stream. However, there are several challenges in developing effective policies for tobacco control in the Iranian setting.

Characterizing Mobility Patterns of Forest Goers in Southern Lao PDR using GPS Loggers.

Background In the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), forest-going populations are considered high-risk populations for malaria and are increasingly targeted by national control programs’ elimination efforts. A better understanding of forest-going populations’ mobility patterns and risk associated with specific types of forest-going trips is necessary for countries in the GMS to achieve their objective of eliminating malaria by 2030. Methods Between March and November 2018, as part of a focal test and treat intervention (FTAT), we recruited 2,904 forest-goers in southern Lao PDR. A subset of forest-goers carried an “i-Got-U” GPS logger for roughly two months, configured to collect GPS coordinates every 15 to 30 minutes. The utilization distribution (UD) surface around each GPS trajectory was used to extract trips to the forest and forest-fringes. Trips with shared mobility characteristics in terms of duration, timing and forest penetration were identified by a hierarchical clustering algorithm. Then, clusters of trips with increased exposure to dominant malaria vectors in the region were further classified as high-risk. Finally, we used gradient boosting trees to assess which of the forest-goers’ socio-demographic and behavioral characteristics best predicted their likelihood to engage in such high-risk trips. Results A total of 122 forest-goers accepted carrying a GPS logger resulting in the collection of 803 trips to the forest or forest-fringes. Six clusters of trips emerged, helping to classify 385 (48%) trips with increased exposure to malaria vectors based on high forest penetration and whether the trip happened overnight. Age, outdoor sleeping structures and number of children were the best predictors of forest-goers’ probability of engaging in high-risk trips. The probability of engaging in high-risk trips was high (~33%) in all strata of the forest-going population. Conclusion This study characterized the heterogeneity within the mobility patterns of forest-goers and attempted to further segment their role in malaria transmission in southern Lao People’s Democratic Republic (PDR). National control programs across the region can leverage these results to tailor their interventions and messaging to high-risk populations and accelerate malaria elimination.

Soil Transmitted Helminths and Plasmodium falciparum Co-infections among School Children in Bugesera District, Rwanda: Implications for National Control Programs

Soil Transmitted Helminths and Plasmodium infections are ubiquitous with morbidity and mortality within the tropical and subtropical regions. However, the extent and consequences of STH-Plasmodium co-infection at different spatial scales are poorly understood. This study aimed at determining the prevalence of Soil Transmitted Helminths and Plasmodium coinfection, and, the impact thereof among school children in Bugesera District of Eastern Rwanda. Study Design: Cross Sectional Survey Place and Duration of Study: The survey was conducted in Bugesera district, Eastern Rwanda, between May and December 2020. Methodology: The survey was conducted among children between ages 5 and 18 years, across 21 randomly selected primary schools. Stool samples were collected and screened for soil transmitted helminths using Kato-Katz, while finger-prick blood samples were examined under the microscope to determine Plasmodium infection. Results: Overall the prevalence of A. lumbricoides, T. trichiura, Hookworm and P. falciparum was 4.43%, 0.76%, 0.16% and 3.15% respectively. On the other hand, 36.15% were co-infected with A. lumbricoides and P. falciparum. Surprisingly, the coinfection was higher 41.79%, (P<0.001) in girls than the overall coinfection prevalence. Conclusion: Helminthiasis and malaria remain dominant, in spite of the continuing and tremendous national control programs. The strikingly surprising higher prevalence of A. lumbricoides-P. falciparum co-infection in girls calls for additional investigations.

BODIES AND DATA: THE DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY OF THE INDIAN STATE

In February 2019, the Government of India released a draft e-commerce policy that boldly proclaimed, “India and its citizens have a sovereign right to their data,” (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, 2019) a right that could not extend to non-Indians. The draft policy was one of many in recent years that have mandated data localization, protectionism or other measures of greater national control over the digital economy in India. These actions are widely read as a nation-state asserting its sovereignty in the digital realm against the power of US-based global tech firms. They are sold in geopolitical terms, a digital sovereignty that challenges digital colonialism. I argue that the Indian state’s project of digital sovereignty must also be understood as biopolitical. I connect the Indian state’s regulation of the digital economy, exemplified by the 2019 draft of the e-commerce policy to its regulation and control of bodies, specifically through the biometric ID, Aadhaar, and its proliferating uses. I read these state actions collectively as a process through which the Indian state is engaged in altering what it is to be sovereign and its subject. When “digital” appends sovereignty, it is not merely a new terrain upon which to exert power, nor is it an unbridled force that the state must contend with, it is the means through which the Indian state enacts its project(s) of domination.

A Data Calibration Method of Micro Air Quality Detector Based on LASSO Regression and NARX Neural Network Combined Model

Studies have shown that there is a certain correlation between air pollution and various human diseases, especially lung diseases, so it is very meaningful to monitor the concentration of pollutants in the air. Compared with the national air quality monitoring station (national control point), the micro air quality detector has the advantage that it can monitor the concentration of pollutants in real time and grid, but its measurement accuracy needs to be improved. In this paper, the measurement data of the micro air quality detector is calibrated with the help of the LASSO regression and NARX neural network combination (LASSO-NARX) model using the data measured by the national control point. First, correlation analysis is used to test whether the correlation between the concentration of air pollutants and its influencing factors is significant. Second, LASSO regression is used to give the quantitative relationship between pollutant concentration and various influencing factors. Third, the predicted value of each pollutant concentration in the LASSO regression model and the measurement data of the micro air quality detector are used as input variables, and the LASSO-NARX model is constructed using the NARX neural network. Finally, several indicators such as Root Mean Square Error, goodness of fit, Mean Absolute Error and Relative Mean Absolute Percent Error are used to compare various air quality models. The results show that the prediction results of the LASSO-NARX model are not only better than the LASSO model alone and the NARX model alone, but also better than the commonly used multilayer perceptron and radial basis function neural network. The LASSO-NARX model performed equally well on the training set and test set, indicating that the model has excellent generalization capabilities. Using this model to calibrate the measurement data of the micro air quality detector can increase the accuracy by 61.3% to 91.7%.

An Overview of Current Approaches and Challenges to the Control of Endemic Infectious Cattle Diseases in Albania

Agriculture is an important production sector in Albania that makes a significant contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP) and employment. The livestock sector contributes more than half of the agricultural GDP. The Albanian cattle population represents 50% of the total livestock units and accounts for 85% of the national milk production, the rest being supplied by small ruminants. Cattle productivity, health and welfare are hindered by infectious diseases, some of which are also transmissible to humans (zoonosis). The aim of this manuscript is to provide an overview of the control of selected regulated and non-EU regulated cattle diseases in Albania and to highlight specific challenges for the Albanian cattle industry. The most important infectious cattle diseases in Albania for which national control and eradication strategies are in place are bovine brucellosis, bovine tuberculosis, and anthrax, which are all zoonotic. Additionally, lumpy skin disease recently emerged in the Balkan region and is currently subject to controls. Most of the available funds and European Union support are allocated to the control of EU regulated zoonotic diseases. For control of non-EU regulated cattle diseases, no funds are available resulting in the lack of national control programmes (CPs). Based on research, clinical investigations and laboratory results, several non-EU regulated cattle infectious diseases appear endemic in Albanian dairy farms. While no national CPs exist for any of them, regional initiatives are available on a voluntary basis to control infectious bovine rhinotracheitis and bovine viral diarrhea. In the voluntary CPs, there is no monitored requirement to prove disease freedom of purchased animals and to re-evaluate the herd's free status after the introduction of animals into a herd. Data on animal movements that are routinely collected could potentially be used to control the risk of purchase, but quality needs to be further improved to increase its usefulness in disease CPs. This overview aims to collate existing information on the CPs implemented in Albania and to evaluate these to highlight gaps and threats in disease control, as well as opportunities and strengths through a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis, with the goal of providing a framework for the future implementation of animal disease control measures in Albania.

Prevalence of intestinal schistosomiasis in pre-school aged children: a pilot survey in Marolambo District, Madagascar

School-aged children (SAC) have a considerable burden of intestinal schistosomiasis in Madagascar yet its burden in pre-school aged children (PSAC) is currently overlooked. To assess the at-risk status of PSAC, we undertook a pilot epidemiological survey in June 2019 examining children (n = 89), aged 2–4-years of balanced gender, in six remote villages in Marolambo District, Madagascar. Diagnosis included use of urine-circulating cathodic antigen (CCA) dipsticks and coproscopy of stool with duplicate Kato-Katz (K-K) thick smears. Prevalence of intestinal schistosomiasis by urine-CCA was 67.4% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 56.5–77.2%) and 35.0% (95% CI: 24.7–46.5%) by K-K. The relationship between faecal eggs per gram (epg) and urine-CCA G-scores (G1 to G10) was assessed by linear regression modelling, finding for every increment in G-score, epg increased by 20.4 (6.50–34.4, P = 0.006). Observed proportions of faecal epg intensities were light (78.6%), moderate (17.9%) and heavy (3.6%). Soil-transmitted helminthiasis was noted, prevalence of ascariasis was 18.8% and trichuriasis was 33.8% (hookworm was not reported). Co-infection of intestinal schistosomiasis and soil-transmitted helminthiasis occurred in 36.3% of PSAC. These results provide solid evidence highlighting the overlooked burden of intestinal schistosomiasis in PSAC, and they also offer technical guidance for better surveillance data for the Madagascan national control programme.

Global Control of African swine fever. A GF-TADs initiative – 2020 annual report

The current African swine fever epizootic is a major global crisis, directly and indirectly impacting the pig industry and rural communities worldwide. In 2019, FAO and the OIE designated ASF as a global priority transboundary animal disease under the GF-TADs, and in July 2020 they released a jointly developed programme to control the disease worldwide – ‘Global Control of African Swine Fever: A GF-TADs Initiative’ (The Global Initiative). In 2020, ASF virus continued to spread and the COVID-19 pandemic impacted field activities. However, global, regional and national stakeholders strove to maintain momentum in the control of ASF, in line with the objectives of the Global Initiative. Despite difficulties, some countries managed to eliminate the disease from their territories, indicating that ASF control is feasible with current tools. The Global Initiative identifies coordination at regional and global levels as key to enhancing national control programmes. It allows countries with similar socio-economic and epidemiological situations to share information, challenges and best practices, and to discuss regional solutions and approaches to enhancing control.

Clinical cholera surveillance sensitivity in Bangladesh and implications for large-scale disease control

Introduction A surveillance system that is sensitive to detecting high burden areas is critical for achieving widespread disease control. In 2014, Bangladesh established a nationwide, facility-based cholera surveillance system for Vibrio cholerae infection. We sought to measure the sensitivity of this surveillance system to detect cases to assess whether cholera elimination targets outlined by the Bangladesh national control plan can be adequately measured. Methods We overlaid maps of nationally-representative annual V. cholerae seroincidence onto maps of the catchment areas of facilities where confirmatory laboratory testing for cholera was conducted, and identified its spatial complement as surveillance greyspots, areas where cases likely occur but go undetected. We assessed surveillance system sensitivity and changes to sensitivity given alternate surveillance site selection strategies. Results We estimated that 69% of Bangladeshis (111.7 million individuals) live in surveillance greyspots, and that 23% (25.5 million) of these individuals live in areas with the highest V. cholerae infection rates. Conclusions The cholera surveillance system in Bangladesh has the ability to monitor progress towards cholera elimination goals among 31% of the country's population, which may be insufficient for accurately measuring progress. Increasing surveillance coverage, particularly in the highest risk areas, should be considered.