This document presents the findings of a modelling study that examined in detail the costs and benefits of tuberculosis (TB) screening plus TB preventive treatment (TPT) in four countries – Brazil, Georgia, Kenya and South Africa – which may serve as examples for other settings with a similar epidemiological context. …
Malaria is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in early childhood, yet its consequences for health and education during the school-age years remain poorly understood. The researchers examined the effect of intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) in reducing anaemia and improving classroom attention and educational achievement in semi-immune schoolchildren in …
Children living in areas of high malaria transmission rapidly acquire immunity to malaria in early childhood; by the time they reach school age, the risk of clinical attacks and death has reduced.However, many school-aged children continue to harbour asymptomatic parasitaemia, which can cause anaemia.4 Although malaria might have an adverse …
When agricultural researchers visit farms in order to gather information for their research programmes, farmers rarely get proper feedback. Research information on scientific concepts such as soil fertility and nutrient balances is often considered too abstract for them. Researchers in Kenya returned to farmers to discuss their results in the …
Climate change is often seen as a global problem demanding global solutions. But for poor people hit hard by the impacts, climate change is a not a boardroom abstraction, but day-to-day reality. Faced with local shifts in weather patterns and natural resources, they are forced to find ways of coping …
concerns over a possible attack of Ug99 on wheat crops in Pakistan is soaring high. But officials in the country have said the globetrotting infectious wheat fungus has not reached croplands there. "There is no such threat now as harvesting has already begun in Sindh and Punjab provinces. However, if …
pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline is recalling its malaria drug Lapdap and has discontinued development of another malaria drug, Dacart, saying the drugs can lead to anaemia in some patients. Experts say the move is a setback to fight the disease. On February 29, Glaxo said its clinical trials had found that …
ngos have come to the assistance of female candidates contesting Kenya's general elections by helping them deal better with the media. Only18 of the 222 legislators in the country's last parliament were women, and only nine of these won their seats: the others were nominated to parliament. The initiative is …
For years the global malaria effort has been asking for more resources.Now the field needs to figure out a systematic strategy for spending the money effectively.
Halfway between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole in an archipelago called Svalbard, three enormous caverns have been blasted 130 m into the permafrost. Called the doomsday vault, it will be a Noah's Ark of food in the event of a global catastrophe. Among the world's 45,000 …
US farmers appeal for commercial hemp farming Two farmers in the US state of North Dakota are appealing against a lower court's decision over commercial hemp farming. The lawsuit aims to end the US Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA's) ban on state-regulated commercial hemp farming. Those advocating the ban on hemp …
Non-motorised transport (NMT) is central to the issue of sustainable transportation. Among the more arguably important aspects of NMT that are sometimes overlooked are bicycle transportation development and accompanying policy reform.Given the fact that the majority of the world
Substantial biological diversity exists on lands outside protected areas and its survival depends on the goodwill of people who own those lands. To ensure that these landowners contribute to biodiversity conservation efforts in mutually beneficial partnerships, it is important to understand their socio-economic backgrounds and historical heritage, their land-use patterns …
A 10-million-year-old jaw bone recently unearthed in Kenya may have belonged to a new species, which is the last common ancestor of gorillas, chimpanzees and humans. A team of researchers from Kenya and Japan found the jaw fragment in volcanic mud flow deposits in northern Kenya. The jaw, with incisor, …
In a bizarre mishap, about 10,000 wildebeest drowned at a bend in Kenya's Mara river in the last week of September. Conservationists say the deaths, which occurred over several days, have wiped out about one per cent of the total species population. Although wildebeests die in large numbers during their …
Tata Chemicals is getting considerable stick from conservation groups and environmentalists in Africa over its plan to set up a soda ash facility jointly with the Tanzanian government. It is being feared that the venture, for which a memorandum of understanding has been signed, may drive the world's rarest bird
Of late, Chinese products have come under severe criticism worldwide. The us toy company Mattel Inc recently recalled 19 million Chinese-made toys, because the toys contained lead paint. The recall is the second in a month. Mattel also recalled millions of toys made with small, powerful magnets that pose a …
New research says the Nile tilapia can fight mosquitoes carrying malaria. The edible fish, Oreochromis niloticus, is commonly farmed and consumed in Africa's Kenyan highlands. Though larva-eating fish have been used for over a century in mosquito control, the Nile tilapia has not been tested for widescale use in such …
Africa's largest slum, has got a radio station. A five-story apartment building at the edge of Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya recently sprouted a new antenna
