Regional Disease Vector Ecology Profile: North Africa

DTIC Science & Technology

2000-05-01

personnel at risk of infection. Rift Valley Fever ( RVF ), caused by a Phlebovirus, was restricted to sub-Saharan Africa until a 1977 epidemic in...Egypt resulted in an estimated 18,000 human cases . The principal vector during the epidemic was Culex pipiens. RVF virus is capable of infecting...Another epi zootic occurred in Egypt during 1993-94 and involved 4,000 human cases. The current enzootic status of RVF virus in Egypt and other

Health Human Capital in Sub-Saharan Africa: Conflicting Evidence from Infant Mortality Rates and Adult Heights

PubMed Central

Akachi, Yoko; Canning, David

2011-01-01

We investigate trends in cohort infant mortality rates and adult heights in 39 developing countries since 1960. In most regions of the world improved nutrition, and reduced childhood exposure to disease, have lead to improvements in both infant mortality and adult stature. In Sub-Saharan Africa, however, despite declining infant mortality rates, adult heights have not increased. We argue that in Sub-Saharan Africa the decline in infant mortality may have been due to interventions that prevent infant deaths rather than improved nutrition and childhood morbidity. Despite declining infant mortality, Sub-Saharan Africa may not be experiencing increases in health human capital. PMID:20634153

Generating High Resolution Climate Scenarios Through Regional Climate Modelling Over Southern Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ndhlovu, G. Z.; Woyessa, Y. E.; Vijayaraghavan, S.

2017-12-01

limate change has impacted the global environment and the Continent of Africa, especially Southern Africa, regarded as one of the most vulnerable regions in Africa, has not been spared from these impacts. Global Climate Models (GCMs) with coarse horizontal resolutions of 150-300 km do not provide sufficient details at the local basin scale due to mismatch between the size of river basins and the grid cell of the GCM. This makes it difficult to apply the outputs of GCMs directly to impact studies such as hydrological modelling. This necessitates the use of regional climate modelling at high resolutions that provide detailed information at regional and local scales to study both climate change and its impacts. To this end, an experiment was set up and conducted with PRECIS, a regional climate model, to generate climate scenarios at a high resolution of 25km for the local region in Zambezi River basin of Southern Africa. The major input data used included lateral and surface boundary conditions based on the GCMs. The data is processed, analysed and compared with CORDEX climate change project data generated for Africa. This paper, highlights the major differences of the climate scenarios generated by PRECIS Model and CORDEX Project for Africa and further gives recommendations for further research on generation of climate scenarios. The climatic variables such as precipitation and temperatures have been analysed for flood and droughts in the region. The paper also describes the setting up and running of an experiment using a high-resolution PRECIS model. In addition, a description has been made in running the model and generating the output variables on a sub basin scale. Regional climate modelling which provides information on climate change impact may lead to enhanced understanding of adaptive water resources management. Understanding the regional climate modelling results on sub basin scale is the first step in analysing complex hydrological processes and a basis for

Realizing Universal Health Coverage in East Africa: the relevance of human rights.

PubMed

Yamin, Alicia Ely; Maleche, Allan

2017-08-03

Applying a robust human rights framework would change thinking and decision-making in efforts to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and advance efforts to promote women's, children's, and adolescents' health in East Africa, which is a priority under the Sustainable Development Agenda. Nevertheless, there is a gap between global rhetoric of human rights and ongoing health reform efforts. This debate article seeks to fill part of that gap by setting out principles of human rights-based approaches (HRBAs), and then applying those principles to questions that countries undertaking efforts toward UHC and promoting women's, children's and adolescents' health, will need to face, focusing in particular on ensuring enabling legal and policy frameworks, establishing fair financing; priority-setting processes, and meaningful oversight and accountability mechanisms. In a region where democratic institutions are notoriously weak, we argue that the explicit application of a meaningful human rights framework could enhance equity, participation and accountability, and in turn the democratic legitimacy of health reform initiatives being undertaken in the region.

Impact of climate change upon vector born diseases in Europe and Africa using ENSEMBLES Regional Climate Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caminade, Cyril; Morse, Andy

2010-05-01

Climate variability is an important component in determining the incidence of a number of diseases with significant human/animal health and socioeconomic impacts. The most important diseases affecting health are vector-borne, such as malaria, Rift Valley Fever and including those that are tick borne, with over 3 billion of the world population at risk. Malaria alone is responsible for at least one million deaths annually, with 80% of malaria deaths occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. The climate has a large impact upon the incidence of vector-borne diseases; directly via the development rates and survival of both the pathogen and the vector, and indirectly through changes in the environmental conditions. A large ensemble of regional climate model simulations has been produced within the ENSEMBLES project framework for both the European and African continent. This work will present recent progress in human and animal disease modelling, based on high resolution climate observations and regional climate simulations. Preliminary results will be given as an illustration, including the impact of climate change upon bluetongue (disease affecting the cattle) over Europe and upon malaria and Rift Valley Fever over Africa. Malaria scenarios based on RCM ensemble simulations have been produced for West Africa. These simulations have been carried out using the Liverpool Malaria Model. Future projections highlight that the malaria incidence decreases at the northern edge of the Sahel and that the epidemic belt is shifted southward in autumn. This could lead to significant public health problems in the future as the demography is expected to dramatically rise over Africa for the 21st century.

Apartheid medicine. Health and human rights in South Africa.

PubMed

Nightingale, E O; Hannibal, K; Geiger, H J; Hartmann, L; Lawrence, R; Spurlock, J

Human rights and health care under apartheid in South Africa were studied. Human rights violations, such as detention without charge or trial, assault and torture in police custody, and restriction orders, have had devastating effects on the health of persons experiencing them. These violations have occurred in the context of a deliberate policy of discriminatory health care favoring the white minority over the black majority. South Africa's medical societies have had mixed responses to the health problems raised by human rights violations and inequities in the health care system. The amelioration of health care for all and prevention of human rights violations depend on ending apartheid and discrimination and greater government attention to these problems.

Humans thrived in South Africa through the Toba eruption about 74,000 years ago

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smith, Eugene I.; Jacobs, Zenobia; Johnsen, Racheal; Ren, Minghua; Fisher, Erich C.; Oestmo, Simen; Wilkins, Jayne; Harris, Jacob A.; Karkanas, Panagiotis; Fitch, Shelby; Ciravolo, Amber; Keenan, Deborah; Cleghorn, Naomi; Lane, Christine S.; Matthews, Thalassa; Marean, Curtis W.

2018-03-01

Approximately 74 thousand years ago (ka), the Toba caldera erupted in Sumatra. Since the magnitude of this eruption was first established, its effects on climate, environment and humans have been debated. Here we describe the discovery of microscopic glass shards characteristic of the Youngest Toba Tuff—ashfall from the Toba eruption—in two archaeological sites on the south coast of South Africa, a region in which there is evidence for early human behavioural complexity. An independently derived dating model supports a date of approximately 74 ka for the sediments containing the Youngest Toba Tuff glass shards. By defining the input of shards at both sites, which are located nine kilometres apart, we are able to establish a close temporal correlation between them. Our high-resolution excavation and sampling technique enable exact comparisons between the input of Youngest Toba Tuff glass shards and the evidence for human occupation. Humans in this region thrived through the Toba event and the ensuing full glacial conditions, perhaps as a combined result of the uniquely rich resource base of the region and fully evolved modern human adaptation.

Regional Variation in Travel-related Illness acquired in Africa, March 1997–May 2011

PubMed Central

Han, Pauline V.; Vincent, Peter; von Sonnenburg, Frank; Cramer, Jakob P.; Loutan, Louis; Kain, Kevin C.; Parola, Philippe; Hagmann, Stefan; Gkrania-Klotsas, Effrossyni; Sotir, Mark; Schlagenhauf, Patricia

2014-01-01

To understand geographic variation in travel-related illness acquired in distinct African regions, we used the GeoSentinel Surveillance Network database to analyze records for 16,893 ill travelers returning from Africa over a 14-year period. Travelers to northern Africa most commonly reported gastrointestinal illnesses and dog bites. Febrile illnesses were more common in travelers returning from sub-Saharan countries. Eleven travelers died, 9 of malaria; these deaths occurred mainly among male business travelers to sub-Saharan Africa. The profile of illness varied substantially by region: malaria predominated in travelers returning from Central and Western Africa; schistosomiasis, strongyloidiasis, and dengue from Eastern and Western Africa; and loaisis from Central Africa. There were few reports of vaccine-preventable infections, HIV infection, and tuberculosis. Geographic profiling of illness acquired during travel to Africa guides targeted pretravel advice, expedites diagnosis in ill returning travelers, and may influence destination choices in tourism. PMID:24655358

Regional, Continental, and Global Mobility to an Emerging Economy: The Case of South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Jenny J.; Sehoole, Chika

2015-01-01

This study examined mobility within the understudied region of southern Africa and particularly, the factors that drive and shape educational migration toward South Africa as a regional, continental, and global destination. Based on a survey administered to international students across seven South African universities, the findings revealed…

Hantaviruses in Africa.

PubMed

Witkowski, Peter T; Klempa, Boris; Ithete, Ndapewa L; Auste, Brita; Mfune, John K E; Hoveka, Julia; Matthee, Sonja; Preiser, Wolfgang; Kruger, Detlev H

2014-07-17

This paper summarizes the progress in the search for hantaviruses and hantavirus infections in Africa. After having collected molecular evidence of an indigenous African hantavirus in 2006, an intensive investigation for new hantaviruses has been started in small mammals. Various novel hantaviruses have been molecularly identified not only in rodents but also in shrews and bats. In addition, the first African hantavirus, Sangassou virus, has been isolated and functionally characterized in cell culture. Less is known about the ability of these hantaviruses to infect humans and to cause diseases. To date, no hantavirus genetic material could be amplified from patients' specimens collected in Africa. Serological studies in West Africa, based on a battery of screening and confirmatory assays, led to the detection of hantavirus antibodies in the human population and in patients with putative hantavirus disease. In addition to this overview, we present original data from seroepidemiological and field studies conducted in the Southern part of Africa. A human seroprevalence rate of 1.0% (n=1442) was detected in the South African Cape Region whereas no molecular evidence for the presence of hantavirus was found in 2500 small animals trapped in South Africa and Namibia. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Chromite Ore from the Transvaal Region of South Africa

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

In 2001, EPA finalized a rule to to delete both chromite ore mined in the Transvaal Region of South Africa and the unreacted ore component of the chromite ore processing residue (COPR) from TRI reporting requirements.

Potential for Zika virus introduction and transmission in resource-limited countries in Africa and the Asia-Pacific region: a modelling study.

PubMed

Bogoch, Isaac I; Brady, Oliver J; Kraemer, Moritz U G; German, Matthew; Creatore, Maria I; Brent, Shannon; Watts, Alexander G; Hay, Simon I; Kulkarni, Manisha A; Brownstein, John S; Khan, Kamran

2016-11-01

As the epidemic of Zika virus expands in the Americas, countries across Africa and the Asia-Pacific region are becoming increasingly susceptible to the importation and possible local spread of the virus. To support public health readiness, we aim to identify regions and times where the potential health, economic, and social effects from Zika virus are greatest, focusing on resource-limited countries in Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. Our model combined transportation network analysis, ecological modelling of mosquito occurrences, and vector competence for flavivirus transmission, using data from the International Air Transport Association, entomological observations from Zika's primary vector species, and climate conditions using WorldClim. We overlaid monthly flows of airline travellers arriving to Africa and the Asia-Pacific region from areas of the Americas suitable for year-round transmission of Zika virus with monthly maps of climatic suitability for mosquito-borne transmission of Zika virus within Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. An estimated 2·6 billion people live in areas of Africa and the Asia-Pacific region where the presence of competent mosquito vectors and suitable climatic conditions could support local transmission of Zika virus. Countries with large volumes of travellers arriving from Zika virus-affected areas of the Americas and large populations at risk of mosquito-borne Zika virus infection include India (67 422 travellers arriving per year; 1·2 billion residents in potential Zika transmission areas), China (238 415 travellers; 242 million residents), Indonesia (13 865 travellers; 197 million residents), Philippines (35 635 travellers; 70 million residents), and Thailand (29 241 travellers; 59 million residents). Many countries across Africa and the Asia-Pacific region are vulnerable to Zika virus. Strategic use of available health and human resources is essential to prevent or mitigate the health, economic, and social

Human Norovirus prevalence in Africa: a review of studies from 1990 to 2013.

PubMed

Kabue, Jean Pierre; Meader, Emma; Hunter, Paul R; Potgieter, Natasha

2016-01-01

To assess the contribution of Human Norovirus to diarrhoeal diseases in Africa. We conducted a systematic review of the PubMed and EMBASE databases for published articles of Human Norovirus in Africa between 1990 and 2013. Data were extracted from selected studies and analysed. A total of 208 eligible studies were identified, of which 55 (from 19 countries) met the inclusion criteria. Many cases were of sporadic gastroenteritis (70.9%) in children (82%), 65.4% of which were seen in an outpatient setting. Over half (59.4%) of the affected children were under 5 years of age. The pooled prevalence rate of Human NoV was 11% (95% CI 8-14%), and the meta-analysis indicated significant heterogeneity between the studies. However, the conditional negative binomial regression could not clearly find the factors affecting the Human NoV prevalence rates reported. A close relationship was found between Human Norovirus strains from environmental and clinical samples. Unreported sporadic gastroenteritis cases of Human Norovirus are common in Africa. Most are community-associated infections. Possible environmental transmission routes have been documented. Combined environmental and clinical studies are required for targeted actions to control transmission of Human Norovirus in Africa. Systematic surveillance of Human Norovirus is needed to measure the burden of Norovirus-induced gastroenteritis in Africa and support any requirements for vaccine development. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Out of Africa: the importance of rivers as human migration corridors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramirez, J. A.; Coulthard, T. J.; Rogerson, M.; Barton, N.; Bruecher, T.

2013-12-01

The route and timing of Homo sapiens exiting Africa remains uncertain. Corridors leading out of Africa through the Sahara, the Nile Valley, and the Red Sea coast have been proposed as migration routes for anatomically modern humans 80,000-130,000 years ago. During this time climate conditions in the Sahara were wetter than present day, and monsoon rainfall fed rivers that flowed across the desert landscape. The location and timing of these rivers may have supported human migration northward from central Africa to the Mediterranean coast, and onwards to Europe or Asia. Here, we use palaeoclimate rainfall and a hydrological model to spatially simulate and quantitatively test the existence of three major rivers crossing the Sahara from south to north during the time of human migration. We provide evidence that, given realistic underlying climatology, the well-known Sahabi and Kufrah rivers very likely flowed across modern day Libya and reached the coast. More unexpectedly an additional river crossed the core of the Sahara through Algeria (Irharhar river) and flowed into the Chotts basin. The Irharhar river is unique, because it links locations in central Africa experiencing monsoon climates with temperate coastal Mediterranean environments where food and resources were likely abundant. From an ecological perspective, this little-known corridor may prove to be the most parsimonious migration route. Support for the Irharar as a viable migration corridor is provided by its geographic proximity to middle Stone Age archaeological artefacts found in North Africa. Our new, highly novel approach provides the first quantitative analysis of the likelihood that rivers occurred during the critical period of human migration out of Africa. Simulated probability of surface water in North Africa during the last interglacial and the location of tools and ornaments from the Middle Stone Age.

First Evaluation of the CCAM Aerosol Simulation over Africa: Implications for Regional Climate Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horowitz, H.; Garland, R. M.; Thatcher, M. J.; Naidoo, M.; van der Merwe, J.; Landman, W.; Engelbrecht, F.

2015-12-01

An accurate representation of African aerosols in climate models is needed to understand the regional and global radiative forcing and climate impacts of aerosols, at present and under future climate change. However, aerosol simulations in regional climate models for Africa have not been well-tested. Africa contains the largest single source of biomass-burning smoke aerosols and dust globally. Although aerosols are short-lived relative to greenhouse gases, black carbon in particular is estimated to be second only to carbon dioxide in contributing to warming on a global scale. Moreover, Saharan dust is exported great distances over the Atlantic Ocean, affecting nutrient transport to regions like the Amazon rainforest, which can further impact climate. Biomass burning aerosols are also exported from Africa, westward from Angola over the Atlantic Ocean and off the southeastern coast of South Africa to the Indian Ocean. Here, we perform the first extensive quantitative evaluation of the Conformal-Cubic Atmospheric Model (CCAM) aerosol simulation against monitored data, focusing on aerosol optical depth (AOD) observations over Africa. We analyze historical regional simulations for 1999 - 2012 from CCAM consistent with the experimental design of CORDEX at 50 km global horizontal resolution, through the dynamical downscaling of ERA-Interim data reanalysis data, with the CMIP5 emissions inventory (RCP8.5 scenario). CCAM has a prognostic aerosol scheme for organic carbon, black carbon, sulfate, and dust, and non-prognostic sea salt. The CCAM AOD at 550nm was compared to AOD (observed at 440nm, adjusted to 550nm with the Ångström exponent) from long-term AERONET stations across Africa. Sites strongly impacted by dust and biomass burning and with long continuous records were prioritized. In general, the model captures the monthly trends of the AERONET data. This presentation provides a basis for understanding how well aerosol particles are represented over Africa in

Chikungunya: Its History in Africa and Asia and Its Spread to New Regions in 2013-2014.

PubMed

Zeller, Herve; Van Bortel, Wim; Sudre, Bertrand

2016-12-15

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is transmitted by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes and causes febrile illness with severe arthralgia in humans. There are 3 circulating CHIKV genotypes, Asia, East/Central/South Africa, and West Africa. CHIKV was first reported in 1953 in Tanzania, and up until the early 2000s, a few outbreaks and sporadic cases of CHIKV were mainly reported in Africa and Asia. However, from 2004 to 2005, a large epidemic spanned from Kenya over to the southwestern Indian Ocean region, India, and Southeast Asia. Identified in 2005, the E1 glycoprotein A226V mutation of the East/Central/South Africa genotype conferred enhanced transmission by the A. albopictus mosquito and has been implicated in CHIKV's further spread in the last decade. In 2013, the Asian CHIKV genotype emerged in the Caribbean and quickly took the Americas by storm. This review will discuss the history of CHIKV as well as its expanding geographic distribution. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com.

Human ecology and behaviour in malaria control in tropical Africa

PubMed Central

MacCormack, C. P.

1984-01-01

Since about 250 BC, human modification of African environments has created increasingly favourable breeding conditions for Anopheles gambiae. Subsequent adaptations to the increased malaria risk are briefly described and reference is made to Macdonald's mathematical model for the disease. Since values for the variables in that model are high in tropical Africa, there is little possibility that simple, inexpensive, self-help primary health care initiatives can control malaria in the region. However, in combination with more substantial public health initiatives, simple primary health care activities might be done by communities to (1) prevent mosquitos from feeding on people, (2) prevent or reduce mosquito breeding, (3) destroy adult mosquitos, and (4) eliminate malaria parasites from human hosts. Lay methods of protection and self-care are examined and some topics for further research are indicated. Culturally appropriate health education methods are also suggested. PMID:6335685

Regionalizing Africa: Patterns of Precipitation Variability in Observations and Global Climate Models

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Badr, Hamada S.; Dezfuli, Amin K.; Zaitchik, Benjamin F.; Peters-Lidard, Christa D.

2016-01-01

Many studies have documented dramatic climatic and environmental changes that have affected Africa over different time scales. These studies often raise questions regarding the spatial extent and regional connectivity of changes inferred from observations and proxies and/or derived from climate models. Objective regionalization offers a tool for addressing these questions. To demonstrate this potential, applications of hierarchical climate regionalizations of Africa using observations and GCM historical simulations and future projections are presented. First, Africa is regionalized based on interannual precipitation variability using Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS) data for the period 19812014. A number of data processing techniques and clustering algorithms are tested to ensure a robust definition of climate regions. These regionalization results highlight the seasonal and even month-to-month specificity of regional climate associations across the continent, emphasizing the need to consider time of year as well as research question when defining a coherent region for climate analysis. CHIRPS regions are then compared to those of five GCMs for the historic period, with a focus on boreal summer. Results show that some GCMs capture the climatic coherence of the Sahel and associated teleconnections in a manner that is similar to observations, while other models break the Sahel into uncorrelated subregions or produce a Sahel-like region of variability that is spatially displaced from observations. Finally, shifts in climate regions under projected twenty-first-century climate change for different GCMs and emissions pathways are examined. A projected change is found in the coherence of the Sahel, in which the western and eastern Sahel become distinct regions with different teleconnections. This pattern is most pronounced in high-emissions scenarios.

The Emerging Role of the Republic of South Africa as a Regional Power

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-04-07

effect national power. It is written from the perspective that South Africa, even with its past of racial separation and minority rule, is overcoming...facing these issues head-on, has overcome racial diverseness, and is developing into a leading regional role. South Africa is transforming. Since 1994...that effect national power. It is written from the perspective that South Africa, even with its past of racial separation and minority rule, is

The origin and dispersion of human parasitic diseases in the old world (Africa, Europe and Madagascar).

PubMed

Nozais, Jean-Pierre

2003-01-01

The ancestors of present-day man (Homo sapiens sapiens) appeared in East Africa some three and a half million years ago (Australopithecs), and then migrated to Europe, Asia, and later to the Americas, thus beginning the differentiation process. The passage from nomadic to sedentary life took place in the Middle East in around 8000 BC. Wars, spontaneous migrations and forced migrations (slave trade) led to enormous mixtures of populations in Europe and Africa and favoured the spread of numerous parasitic diseases with specific strains according to geographic area. The three human plasmodia (Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax, and P. malariae) were imported from Africa into the Mediterranean region with the first human migrations, but it was the Neolithic revolution (sedentarisation, irrigation, population increase) which brought about actual foci for malaria. The reservoir for Leishmania infantum and L. donovani--the dog--has been domesticated for thousands of years. Wild rodents as reservoirs of L. major have also long been in contact with man and probably were imported from tropical Africa across the Sahara. L. tropica, by contrast, followed the migrations of man, its only reservoir. L. infantum and L. donovani spread with man and his dogs from West Africa. Likewise, for thousands of years, the dog has played an important role in the spread and the endemic character of hydatidosis through sheep (in Europe and North Africa) and dromadary (in the Sahara and North Africa). Schistosoma haematobium and S. mansoni have existed since prehistoric times in populations living in or passing through the Sahara. These populations then transported them to countries of Northern Africa where the specific, intermediary hosts were already present. Madagascar was inhabited by populations of Indonesian origin who imported lymphatic filariosis across the Indian Ocean (possibly of African origin since the Indonesian sailors had spent time on the African coast before reaching Madagascar

MERS coronaviruses from camels in Africa exhibit region-dependent genetic diversity.

PubMed

Chu, Daniel K W; Hui, Kenrie P Y; Perera, Ranawaka A P M; Miguel, Eve; Niemeyer, Daniela; Zhao, Jincun; Channappanavar, Rudragouda; Dudas, Gytis; Oladipo, Jamiu O; Traoré, Amadou; Fassi-Fihri, Ouafaa; Ali, Abraham; Demissié, Getnet F; Muth, Doreen; Chan, Michael C W; Nicholls, John M; Meyerholz, David K; Kuranga, Sulyman A; Mamo, Gezahegne; Zhou, Ziqi; So, Ray T Y; Hemida, Maged G; Webby, Richard J; Roger, Francois; Rambaut, Andrew; Poon, Leo L M; Perlman, Stanley; Drosten, Christian; Chevalier, Veronique; Peiris, Malik

2018-03-20

Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) causes a zoonotic respiratory disease of global public health concern, and dromedary camels are the only proven source of zoonotic infection. Although MERS-CoV infection is ubiquitous in dromedaries across Africa as well as in the Arabian Peninsula, zoonotic disease appears confined to the Arabian Peninsula. MERS-CoVs from Africa have hitherto been poorly studied. We genetically and phenotypically characterized MERS-CoV from dromedaries sampled in Morocco, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Ethiopia. Viruses from Africa (clade C) are phylogenetically distinct from contemporary viruses from the Arabian Peninsula (clades A and B) but remain antigenically similar in microneutralization tests. Viruses from West (Nigeria, Burkina Faso) and North (Morocco) Africa form a subclade, C1, that shares clade-defining genetic signatures including deletions in the accessory gene ORF4b Compared with human and camel MERS-CoV from Saudi Arabia, virus isolates from Burkina Faso (BF785) and Nigeria (Nig1657) had lower virus replication competence in Calu-3 cells and in ex vivo cultures of human bronchus and lung. BF785 replicated to lower titer in lungs of human DPP4-transduced mice. A reverse genetics-derived recombinant MERS-CoV (EMC) lacking ORF4b elicited higher type I and III IFN responses than the isogenic EMC virus in Calu-3 cells. However, ORF4b deletions may not be the major determinant of the reduced replication competence of BF785 and Nig1657. Genetic and phenotypic differences in West African viruses may be relevant to zoonotic potential. There is an urgent need for studies of MERS-CoV at the animal-human interface. Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

The Evolution of Human Genetic and Phenotypic Variation in Africa

PubMed Central

Campbell, Michael C.

2010-01-01

Africa is the birthplace of modern humans, and is the source of the geographic expansion of ancestral populations into other regions of the world. Indigenous Africans are characterized by high levels of genetic diversity within and between populations. The pattern of genetic variation in these populations has been shaped by demographic events occurring over the last 200,000 years. The dramatic variation in climate, diet, and exposure to infectious disease across the continent has also resulted in novel genetic and phenotypic adaptations in extant Africans. This review summarizes some recent advances in our understanding of the demographic history and selective pressures that have influenced levels and patterns of diversity in African populations. PMID:20178763

The Levant versus the Horn of Africa: Evidence for Bidirectional Corridors of Human Migrations

PubMed Central

Luis, J. R.; Rowold, D. J.; Regueiro, M.; Caeiro, B.; Cinnioğlu, C.; Roseman, C.; Underhill, P. A.; Cavalli-Sforza, L. L.; Herrera, R. J.

2004-01-01

Paleoanthropological evidence indicates that both the Levantine corridor and the Horn of Africa served, repeatedly, as migratory corridors between Africa and Eurasia. We have begun investigating the roles of these passageways in bidirectional migrations of anatomically modern humans, by analyzing 45 informative biallelic markers as well as 10 microsatellite loci on the nonrecombining region of the Y chromosome (NRY) in 121 and 147 extant males from Oman and northern Egypt, respectively. The present study uncovers three important points concerning these demic movements: (1) The E3b1-M78 and E3b3-M123 lineages, as well as the R1*-M173 lineages, mark gene flow between Egypt and the Levant during the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic. (2) In contrast, the Horn of Africa appears to be of minor importance in the human migratory movements between Africa and Eurasia represented by these chromosomes, an observation based on the frequency distributions of E3b*-M35 (no known downstream mutations) and M173. (3) The areal diffusion patterns of G-M201, J-12f2, the derivative M173 haplogroups, and M2 suggest more recent genetic associations between the Middle East and Africa, involving the Levantine corridor and/or Arab slave routes. Affinities to African groups were also evaluated by determining the NRY haplogroup composition in 434 samples from seven sub-Saharan African populations. Oman and Egypt’s NRY frequency distributions appear to be much more similar to those of the Middle East than to any sub-Saharan African population, suggesting a much larger Eurasian genetic component. Finally, the overall phylogeographic profile reveals several clinal patterns and genetic partitions that may indicate source, direction, and relative timing of different waves of dispersals and expansions involving these nine populations. PMID:14973781

Lost Horizons: The Humanities in South Africa (Part 1)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vale, Peter

2008-01-01

Politics chartered the development of the Humanities in South Africa. Under the apartheid system three separate traditions--English-speaking, Afrikaner and Homeland--co-existed, albeit uneasily, in separate institutional forms. As apartheid crumbled in the 1980s, the Humanities, by drawing the three traditions together, established a growing voice…

Attributing Climate Conditions for Stable Malaria Transmission to Human Activity in sub-Saharan Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheldrake, L.; Mitchell, D.; Allen, M. R.

2015-12-01

Temperature and precipitation limit areas of stable malaria transmission, but the effects of climate change on the disease remain controversial. Previously, studies have not separated the influence of anthropogenic climate change and natural variability, despite being an essential step in the attribution of climate change impacts. Ensembles of 2900 simulations of regional climate in sub-Saharan Africa for the year 2013, one representing realistic conditions and the other how climate might have been in the absence of human influence, were used to force a P.falciparium climate suitability model developed by the Mapping Malaria Risk in Africa project. Strongest signals were detected in areas of unstable transmission, indicating their heightened sensitivity to climatic factors. Evidently, impacts of human-induced climate change were unevenly distributed: the probability of conditions being suitable for stable malaria transmission were substantially reduced (increased) in the Sahel (Greater Horn of Africa (GHOA), particularly in the Ethiopian and Kenyan highlands). The length of the transmission season was correspondingly shortened in the Sahel and extended in the GHOA, by 1 to 2 months, including in Kericho (Kenya), where the role of climate change in driving recent malaria occurrence is hotly contested. Human-induced warming was primarily responsible for positive anomalies in the GHOA, while reduced rainfall caused negative anomalies in the Sahel. The latter was associated with anthropogenic impacts on the West African Monsoon, but uncertainty in the RCM's ability to reproduce precipitation trends in the region weakens confidence in the result. That said, outputs correspond well with broad-scale changes in observed endemicity, implying a potentially important contribution of anthropogenic climate change to the malaria burden during the past century. Results support the health-framing of climate risk and help indicate hotspots of climate vulnerability, providing

Regional Projections of Extreme Apparent Temperature Days in Africa and the Related Potential Risk to Human Health

PubMed Central

Garland, Rebecca M.; Matooane, Mamopeli; Engelbrecht, Francois A.; Bopape, Mary-Jane M.; Landman, Willem A.; Naidoo, Mogesh; van der Merwe, Jacobus; Wright, Caradee Y.

2015-01-01

Regional climate modelling was used to produce high resolution climate projections for Africa, under a “business as usual scenario”, that were translated into potential health impacts utilizing a heat index that relates apparent temperature to health impacts. The continent is projected to see increases in the number of days when health may be adversely affected by increasing maximum apparent temperatures (AT) due to climate change. Additionally, climate projections indicate that the increases in AT results in a moving of days from the less severe to the more severe Symptom Bands. The analysis of the rate of increasing temperatures assisted in identifying areas, such as the East African highlands, where health may be at increasing risk due to both large increases in the absolute number of hot days, and due to the high rate of increase. The projections described here can be used by health stakeholders in Africa to assist in the development of appropriate public health interventions to mitigate the potential health impacts from climate change. PMID:26473895

Regional and Global Aspects of Aerosols in Western Africa: From Air Quality to Climate

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chin, Mian; Diehl, Thomas; Kucsera, Tom; Spinhime, Jim; Palm, Stephen; Holben, Brent; Ginoux, Paul

2006-01-01

Western Africa is one of the most important aerosol source regions in the world. Major aerosol sources include dust from the world's largest desert Sahara, biomass burning from the Sahel, pollution aerosols from local sources and long-range transport from Europe, and biogenic sources from vegetation. Because these sources have large seasonal variations, the aerosol composition over the western Africa changes significantly with time. These aerosols exert large influences on local air quality and regional climate. In this study, we use the Goddard Chemistry Aerosol Radiation and Transport (GOCART) model to analyze satellite lidar data from the GLAS instrument on the ICESat and the sunphotometer data from the ground-based network AERONET taken in both the wet (September - October 2003) and dry (February - March 2004) seasons over western Africa. We will quantify the seasonal variations of aerosol sources and compositions and aerosol spatial (horizontal and vertical) distributions over western Africa. We will also assess the climate impact of western African aerosols. Such studies will be applied to support the international project, Africa Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) and to analyze the AMMA data.

Taking forward the World TB Day 2016 theme 'Unite to End Tuberculosis' for the WHO Africa Region.

PubMed

Ntoumi, Francine; Kaleebu, Pontiano; Macete, Eusebio; Mfinanga, Sayoki; Chakaya, Jeremiah; Yeboah-Manu, Dorothy; Bates, Matthew; Mwaba, Peter; Maeurer, Markus; Petersen, Eskild; Zumla, Alimuddin

2016-05-01

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a global emergency, with an estimated 9.6 million new TB cases worldwide reported in 2014. Twenty-eight percent of these cases were in the World Health Organization (WHO) Africa Region, where the annual case detection rate was 281 per 100000 population-more than double the global average of 133 per 100000. Of the 9.6 million people who developed TB, an estimated 1.2 million (12%) were HIV-positive, and the Africa Region accounted for 74% of these cases. Three million people with TB remain undiagnosed and untreated. Globally, an estimated 480000 had multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB). Whilst of the African countries, only South Africa has reported a high prevalence of MDR-TB, it is likely that all of Sub-Saharan Africa has an unreported high load of drug-resistant TB. Tragically, in 2014, only 48% of individuals diagnosed with MDR-TB had successful treatment and an estimated 190000 people died of MDR-TB. Of the global TB funding gap of US$ 0.8 billion, the largest funding gap was in the Africa Region, amounting to US$ 0.4 billion in 2015. The MDR-TB pandemic in particular now threatens to devastate entire regions and may fundamentally alter the life-expectancy and demographic profile of many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The theme designated for this year's World TB Day, March 24, 2016, is 'Unite to End TB'. From the Africa Region, there is an urgent need to seriously address the political, economic, and social factors that influence host-Mycobacterium tuberculosis interactions and result in disease. Recent political and funder initiatives that provide renewed hope for the alleviation of Africa's TB and TB/HIV problems are discussed. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Out of Africa: modern human origins special feature: explaining worldwide patterns of human genetic variation using a coalescent-based serial founder model of migration outward from Africa.

PubMed

DeGiorgio, Michael; Jakobsson, Mattias; Rosenberg, Noah A

2009-09-22

Studies of worldwide human variation have discovered three trends in summary statistics as a function of increasing geographic distance from East Africa: a decrease in heterozygosity, an increase in linkage disequilibrium (LD), and a decrease in the slope of the ancestral allele frequency spectrum. Forward simulations of unlinked loci have shown that the decline in heterozygosity can be described by a serial founder model, in which populations migrate outward from Africa through a process where each of a series of populations is formed from a subset of the previous population in the outward expansion. Here, we extend this approach by developing a retrospective coalescent-based serial founder model that incorporates linked loci. Our model both recovers the observed decline in heterozygosity with increasing distance from Africa and produces the patterns observed in LD and the ancestral allele frequency spectrum. Surprisingly, although migration between neighboring populations and limited admixture between modern and archaic humans can be accommodated in the model while continuing to explain the three trends, a competing model in which a wave of outward modern human migration expands into a series of preexisting archaic populations produces nearly opposite patterns to those observed in the data. We conclude by developing a simpler model to illustrate that the feature that permits the serial founder model but not the archaic persistence model to explain the three trends observed with increasing distance from Africa is its incorporation of a cumulative effect of genetic drift as humans colonized the world.

Evolution of human-driven fire regimes in Africa

PubMed Central

Archibald, Sally; Staver, A. Carla; Levin, Simon A.

2012-01-01

Human ability to manipulate fire and the landscape has increased over evolutionary time, but the impact of this on fire regimes and consequences for biodiversity and biogeochemistry are hotly debated. Reconstructing historical changes in human-derived fire regimes empirically is challenging, but information is available on the timing of key human innovations and on current human impacts on fire; here we incorporate this knowledge into a spatially explicit fire propagation model. We explore how changes in population density, the ability to create fire, and the expansion of agropastoralism altered the extent and seasonal distribution of fire as modern humans arose and spread through Africa. Much emphasis has been placed on the positive effect of population density on ignition frequency, but our model suggests this is less important than changes in fire spread and connectivity that would have occurred as humans learned to light fires in the dry season and to transform the landscape through grazing and cultivation. Different landscapes show different limitations; we show that substantial human impacts on burned area would only have started ∼4,000 B.P. in open landscapes, whereas they could have altered fire regimes in closed/dissected landscapes by ∼40,000 B.P. Dry season fires have been the norm for the past 200–300 ky across all landscapes. The annual area burned in Africa probably peaked between 4 and 40 kya. These results agree with recent paleocarbon studies that suggest that the biomass burned today is less than in the recent past in subtropical countries. PMID:22184249

The 'medical humanities' in health sciences education in South Africa.

PubMed

Reid, S

2014-02-01

A new masters-level course, 'Medicine and the Arts" will be offered in 2014 at the University of Cape Town, setting a precedent for interdisciplinary education in the field of medical humanities in South Africa. The humanities and social sciences have always been an implicit part of undergraduate and postgraduate education in the health sciences, but increasingly they are becoming an explicit and essential component of the curriculum, as the importance of graduate attributes and outcomes in the workplace is acknowledged. Traditionally, the medical humanities have included medical ethics, history, literature and anthropology. Less prominent in the literature has been the engagement with medicine of the disciplines of sociology, politics, philosophy, linguistics, education, and law, as well as the creative and expressive arts. The development of the medical humanities in education and research in South Africa is set to expand over the next few years, and it looks as if it will be an exciting inter-disciplinary journey.

A Narrative Review on the Human Health Effects of Ambient Air Pollution in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Urgent Need for Health Effects Studies

PubMed Central

Coker, Eric; Kizito, Samuel

2018-01-01

An important aspect of the new sustainable development goals (SDGs) is a greater emphasis on reducing the health impacts from ambient air pollution in developing countries. Meanwhile, the burden of human disease attributable to ambient air pollution in sub-Saharan Africa is growing, yet estimates of its impact on the region are possibly underestimated due to a lack of air quality monitoring, a paucity of air pollution epidemiological studies, and important population vulnerabilities in the region. The lack of ambient air pollution epidemiologic data in sub-Saharan Africa is also an important global health disparity. Thousands of air pollution health effects studies have been conducted in Europe and North America, rather than in urban areas that have some of the highest measured air pollution levels in world, including urban areas in sub-Saharan Africa. In this paper, we provide a systematic and narrative review of the literature on ambient air pollution epidemiological studies that have been conducted in the region to date. Our review of the literature focuses on epidemiologic studies that measure air pollutants and relate air pollution measurements with various health outcomes. We highlight the gaps in ambient air pollution epidemiological studies conducted in different sub-regions of sub-Saharan Africa and provide methodological recommendations for future environmental epidemiology studies addressing ambient air pollution in the region. PMID:29494501

A Narrative Review on the Human Health Effects of Ambient Air Pollution in Sub-Saharan Africa: An Urgent Need for Health Effects Studies.

PubMed

Coker, Eric; Kizito, Samuel

2018-03-01

An important aspect of the new sustainable development goals (SDGs) is a greater emphasis on reducing the health impacts from ambient air pollution in developing countries. Meanwhile, the burden of human disease attributable to ambient air pollution in sub-Saharan Africa is growing, yet estimates of its impact on the region are possibly underestimated due to a lack of air quality monitoring, a paucity of air pollution epidemiological studies, and important population vulnerabilities in the region. The lack of ambient air pollution epidemiologic data in sub-Saharan Africa is also an important global health disparity. Thousands of air pollution health effects studies have been conducted in Europe and North America, rather than in urban areas that have some of the highest measured air pollution levels in world, including urban areas in sub-Saharan Africa. In this paper, we provide a systematic and narrative review of the literature on ambient air pollution epidemiological studies that have been conducted in the region to date. Our review of the literature focuses on epidemiologic studies that measure air pollutants and relate air pollution measurements with various health outcomes. We highlight the gaps in ambient air pollution epidemiological studies conducted in different sub-regions of sub-Saharan Africa and provide methodological recommendations for future environmental epidemiology studies addressing ambient air pollution in the region.

Learning about War and Peace in the Great Lakes Region of Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bird, Lyndsay

2007-01-01

Two-thirds of the world's conflicts are in Africa. In particular, the Great Lakes region (Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Tanzania) continues to see conflicts that are complex, extreme and seemingly intractable. By exploring the narrative experiences of those most affected by the conflicts in the region--specifically…

Out of Africa: modern human origins special feature: middle and later Pleistocene hominins in Africa and Southwest Asia.

PubMed

Rightmire, G Philip

2009-09-22

Approximately 700,000 years ago, Homo erectus in Africa was giving way to populations with larger brains accompanied by structural adjustments to the vault, cranial base, and face. Such early Middle Pleistocene hominins were not anatomically modern. Their skulls display strong supraorbital tori above projecting faces, flattened frontals, and less parietal expansion than is the case for Homo sapiens. Postcranial remains seem also to have archaic features. Subsequently, some groups evolved advanced skeletal morphology, and by ca. 200,000 years ago, individuals more similar to recent humans are present in the African record. These fossils are associated with Middle Stone Age lithic assemblages and, in some cases, Acheulean tools. Crania from Herto in Ethiopia carry defleshing cutmarks and superficial scoring that may be indicative of mortuary practices. Despite these signs of behavioral innovation, neither the Herto hominins, nor others from Late Pleistocene sites such as Klasies River in southern Africa and Skhūl/Qafzeh in Israel, can be matched in living populations. Skulls are quite robust, and it is only after approximately 35,000 years ago that people with more gracile, fully modern morphology make their appearance. Not surprisingly, many questions concerning this evolutionary history have been raised. Attention has centered on systematics of the mid-Pleistocene hominins, their paleobiology, and the timing of dispersals that spread H. sapiens out of Africa and across the Old World. In this report, I discuss structural changes characterizing the skulls from different time periods, possible regional differences in morphology, and the bearing of this evidence on recognizing distinct species.

Africa and Discovery: Human Rights, Environment, and Development.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hitchcock, Robert K.

1993-01-01

Contends that, in the past 30 years, a dramatic upsurge has taken place in activities designed to promote human rights for indigenous peoples around the world. Asserts that, in the case of Africa, attention generally has been concentrated on socioeconomic rights, such as health care, sufficient water, food, and shelter. (CFR)

Agricultural Adaptations to Climate Changes in West Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guan, K.; Sultan, B.; Lobell, D. B.; Biasutti, M.; Piani, C.; Hammer, G. L.; McLean, G.

2014-12-01

Agricultural production in West Africa is highly vulnerable to climate variability and change and a fast growing demand for food adds yet another challenge. Assessing possible adaptation strategies of crop production in West Africa under climate change is thus critical for ensuring regional food security and improving human welfare. Our previous efforts have identified as the main features of climate change in West Africa a robust increase in temperature and a complex shift in the rainfall pattern (i.e. seasonality delay and total amount change). Unaddressed, these robust climate changes would reduce regional crop production by up to 20%. In the current work, we use two well-validated crop models (APSIM and SARRA-H) to comprehensively assess different crop adaptation options under future climate scenarios. Particularly, we assess adaptations in both the choice of crop types and management strategies. The expected outcome of this study is to provide West Africa with region-specific adaptation recommendations that take into account both climate variability and climate change.

Human Dispersal Out of Africa: A Lasting Debate

PubMed Central

López, Saioa; van Dorp, Lucy; Hellenthal, Garrett

2015-01-01

Unraveling the first migrations of anatomically modern humans out of Africa has invoked great interest among researchers from a wide range of disciplines. Available fossil, archeological, and climatic data offer many hypotheses, and as such genetics, with the advent of genome-wide genotyping and sequencing techniques and an increase in the availability of ancient samples, offers another important tool for testing theories relating to our own history. In this review, we report the ongoing debates regarding how and when our ancestors left Africa, how many waves of dispersal there were and what geographical routes were taken. We explore the validity of each, using current genetic literature coupled with some of the key archeological findings. PMID:27127403

Tectonics, orbital forcing, global climate change, and human evolution in Africa: introduction to the African paleoclimate special volume.

PubMed

Maslin, Mark A; Christensen, Beth

2007-11-01

The late Cenozoic climate of Africa is a critical component for understanding human evolution. African climate is controlled by major tectonic changes, global climate transitions, and local variations in orbital forcing. We introduce the special African Paleoclimate Issue of the Journal of Human Evolution by providing a background for and synthesis of the latest work relating to the environmental context for human evolution. Records presented in this special issue suggest that the regional tectonics, appearance of C(4) plants in East Africa, and late Cenozoic global cooling combined to produce a long-term drying trend in East Africa. Of particular importance is the uplift associated with the East African Rift Valley formation, which altered wind flow patterns from a more zonal to more meridinal direction. Results in this volume suggest a marked difference in the climate history of southern and eastern Africa, though both are clearly influenced by the major global climate thresholds crossed in the last 3 million years. Papers in this volume present lake, speleothem, and marine paleoclimate records showing that the East African long-term drying trend is punctuated by episodes of short, alternating periods of extreme wetness and aridity. These periods of extreme climate variability are characterized by the precession-forced appearance and disappearance of large, deep lakes in the East African Rift Valley and paralleled by low and high wind-driven dust loads reaching the adjacent ocean basins. Dating of these records show that over the last 3 million years such periods only occur at the times of major global climatic transitions, such as the intensification of Northern Hemisphere Glaciation (2.7-2.5 Ma), intensification of the Walker Circulation (1.9-1.7 Ma), and the Mid-Pleistocene Revolution (1-0.7 Ma). Authors in this volume suggest this onset occurs as high latitude forcing in both Hemispheres compresses the Intertropical Convergence Zone so that East Africa

U.S. National Security Interests in Africa and the Future Global War on Terrorism (GWOT): A Proposal to Create an African Regional Combatant Command and a Regional African Special Operations Command

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-09-01

distributed. The final recommendations concluded that the geographical boundaries of USPACOM would include the entire Indian Ocean to the east coast of...strategically be located within the sub-region of West Africa or East Africa. 15. NUMBER OF PAGES 94 14. SUBJECT TERMS US National Interests...should strategically be located within the sub-region of West Africa or East Africa. vi THIS PAGE

Revolution and Journalism Higher Education in the Middle East/North Africa Region

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schafer, Shaun T.

2012-01-01

The disruptions brought by the Arab Spring revolutions in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region in 2010-2011 created a series of personal and professional challenges for those involved in higher education in journalism in the region. This research uses narrative inquiry to examine the impact revolution had on a group of educators in the MENA…

Cervical cancer in sub-Saharan Africa: an emerging and preventable disease associated with oncogenic human papillomavirus.

PubMed

Mboumba Bouassa, R S; Prazuck, T; Lethu, T; Meye, J F; Bélec, L

2017-02-01

Highly oncogenic human papillomavirus (HPV) infections are responsible for 7.7 % of cancers in developing countries, mainly cervical cancer. The incidence of this emerging cancer is steadily increasing in sub-Saharan Africa, with more than 75,000 new cases and close to 50,000 deaths a year, a toll further increased by HIV infection. According to the World Health Organization, cervical cancer will kill more than 443,000 women per year worldwide by 2030, nearly 90 % of them in sub-Saharan Africa. This increase in cervical cancer incidence in Africa is now counteracting the progress made by African women in reducing maternal mortality and increasing longevity. Nevertheless, cervical cancer is a potentially preventable noncommunicable disease that can be averted or halted by primary (vaccination), secondary (early diagnosis of situations at risk), and tertiary (early diagnosis of proven cases of cervical neoplasia) prevention. The close links between HIV and HPV justify linking cervical cancer prevention, screening, and management programs with AIDS programs as part of the "90-90-90" initiative of the UNAIDS, both nationally and regionally. Innovative strategies based on effective, rapid, inexpensive, and mobile screening tools, including at best molecular biology as well as vaccination and awareness programs, should be rapidly implemented and evaluated in sub-Saharan Africa.

Whole blood pathogen reduction technology and blood safety in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review with regional discussion

PubMed Central

Agbor, Gabriel; Asongalem, Emmanuel; Tagny, Claude; Asonganyi, Tazoacha

2016-01-01

Background Despite vast improvements in transfusion services in sub-Saharan Africa over the last decade, there remain serious concerns on the safety and adequacy of the blood supply across the region. Objective This review paper ascertains the role of pathogen reduction technology (PRT) in improving blood safety and supply adequacy in the region. Method The state of blood safety in sub-Saharan Africa was reviewed. Meetings, seminars and correspondence were undertaken with key clinicians, scientists and professional bodies in the region, including the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Africa, to examine the suitability of PRT for improving the safety of whole blood transfusion, a prevalent transfusion format in the region. Results Existing literature suggests that combining PRT with current blood safety measures (such as serology) would improve the safety and adequacy of the blood supply for transfusions in sub-Saharan Africa. This was echoed by the findings of the stakeholder meetings. Conclusion Following a detailed appraisal of two leading PRT systems, the Mirasol® PRT System and the Cerus S-303 System, we suggest that companies conduct comprehensive toxicological evaluation of the agents used for PRT and publish this in the scientific literature. We also recommend that the safety and efficacy of these technologies should be established in a randomised clinical trial conducted in sub-Saharan Africa. PMID:28879109

Human origins: Out of Africa

PubMed Central

Tattersall, Ian

2009-01-01

Our species, Homo sapiens, is highly autapomorphic (uniquely derived) among hominids in the structure of its skull and postcranial skeleton. It is also sharply distinguished from other organisms by its unique symbolic mode of cognition. The fossil and archaeological records combine to show fairly clearly that our physical and cognitive attributes both first appeared in Africa, but at different times. Essentially modern bony conformation was established in that continent by the 200–150 Ka range (a dating in good agreement with dates for the origin of H. sapiens derived from modern molecular diversity). The event concerned was apparently short-term because it is essentially unanticipated in the fossil record. In contrast, the first convincing stirrings of symbolic behavior are not currently detectable until (possibly well) after 100 Ka. The radical reorganization of gene expression that underwrote the distinctive physical appearance of H. sapiens was probably also responsible for the neural substrate that permits symbolic cognition. This exaptively acquired potential lay unexploited until it was “discovered” via a cultural stimulus, plausibly the invention of language. Modern humans appear to have definitively exited Africa to populate the rest of the globe only after both their physical and cognitive peculiarities had been acquired within that continent. PMID:19805256

Epidemiology of Leptospirosis in Africa: A Systematic Review of a Neglected Zoonosis and a Paradigm for 'One Health' in Africa.

PubMed

Allan, Kathryn J; Biggs, Holly M; Halliday, Jo E B; Kazwala, Rudovick R; Maro, Venance P; Cleaveland, Sarah; Crump, John A

2015-01-01

Leptospirosis is an important but neglected bacterial zoonosis that has been largely overlooked in Africa. In this systematic review, we aimed to summarise and compare current knowledge of: (1) the geographic distribution, prevalence, incidence and diversity of acute human leptospirosis in Africa; and (2) the geographic distribution, host range, prevalence and diversity of Leptospira spp. infection in animal hosts in Africa. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we searched for studies that described (1) acute human leptospirosis and (2) pathogenic Leptospira spp. infection in animals. We performed a literature search using eight international and regional databases for English and non-English articles published between January 1930 to October 2014 that met out pre-defined inclusion criteria and strict case definitions. We identified 97 studies that described acute human leptospirosis (n = 46) or animal Leptospira infection (n = 51) in 26 African countries. The prevalence of acute human leptospirosis ranged from 2 3% to 19 8% (n = 11) in hospital patients with febrile illness. Incidence estimates were largely restricted to the Indian Ocean islands (3 to 101 cases per 100,000 per year (n = 6)). Data from Tanzania indicate that human disease incidence is also high in mainland Africa (75 to 102 cases per 100,000 per year). Three major species (Leptospira borgpetersenii, L. interrogans and L. kirschneri) are predominant in reports from Africa and isolates from a diverse range of serogroups have been reported in human and animal infections. Cattle appear to be important hosts of a large number of Leptospira serogroups in Africa, but few data are available to allow comparison of Leptospira infection in linked human and animal populations. We advocate a 'One Health' approach to promote multidisciplinary research efforts to improve understanding of the animal to human transmission of leptospirosis on the African

Data on strategically located land and spatially integrated urban human settlements in South Africa.

PubMed

Musakwa, Walter

2017-12-01

In developing countries like South Africa processed geographic information systems (GIS) data on land suitability, is often not available for land use management. Data in this article is based on a published article "The strategically located land index support system for humans settlements land reform in South Africa" (Musakwa et al., 2017) [1]. This article utilities data from Musakwa et al. (2017) [1] and it goes on a step further by presenting the top 25th percentile of areas in the country that are strategically located and suited to develop spatially integrated human settlements. Furthermore the least 25th percentile of the country that are not strategically located and spatially integrated to establish human settlements are also presented. The article also presents the processed spatial datasets that where used to develop the strategically located land index as supplementary material. The data presented is meant to stir debate on spatially integrated human settlements in South Africa.

Evolutionary history and dynamics of dog rabies virus in western and central Africa.

PubMed

Talbi, Chiraz; Holmes, Edward C; de Benedictis, Paola; Faye, Ousmane; Nakouné, Emmanuel; Gamatié, Djibo; Diarra, Abass; Elmamy, Bezeid Ould; Sow, Adama; Adjogoua, Edgard Valery; Sangare, Oumou; Dundon, William G; Capua, Ilaria; Sall, Amadou A; Bourhy, Hervé

2009-04-01

The burden of rabies in Africa is estimated at 24,000 human deaths year(-1), almost all of which result from infection with dog rabies viruses (RABV). To investigate the evolutionary dynamics of RABV in western and central Africa, 92 isolates sampled from 27 African countries over 29 years were collected and sequenced. This revealed that RABV currently circulating in dogs in this region fell into a single lineage designated 'Africa 2'. A detailed analysis of the phylogeographical structure of this Africa 2 lineage revealed strong population subdivision at the country level, with only limited movement of virus among localities, including a possible east-to-west spread across Africa. In addition, Bayesian coalescent analysis suggested that the Africa 2 lineage was introduced into this region of Africa only recently (probably <200 years ago), in accordance with the timescale of expanding European colonial influence and urbanization, and then spread relatively slowly, perhaps occupying the entire region in a 100 year period.

Developing High-resolution Soil Database for Regional Crop Modeling in East Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, E.; Ines, A. V. M.

2014-12-01

The most readily available soil data for regional crop modeling in Africa is the World Inventory of Soil Emission potentials (WISE) dataset, which has 1125 soil profiles for the world, but does not extensively cover countries Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in East Africa. Another dataset available is the HC27 (Harvest Choice by IFPRI) in a gridded format (10km) but composed of generic soil profiles based on only three criteria (texture, rooting depth, and organic carbon content). In this paper, we present a development and application of a high-resolution (1km), gridded soil database for regional crop modeling in East Africa. Basic soil information is extracted from Africa Soil Information Service (AfSIS), which provides essential soil properties (bulk density, soil organic carbon, soil PH and percentages of sand, silt and clay) for 6 different standardized soil layers (5, 15, 30, 60, 100 and 200 cm) in 1km resolution. Soil hydraulic properties (e.g., field capacity and wilting point) are derived from the AfSIS soil dataset using well-proven pedo-transfer functions and are customized for DSSAT-CSM soil data requirements. The crop model is used to evaluate crop yield forecasts using the new high resolution soil database and compared with WISE and HC27. In this paper we will present also the results of DSSAT loosely coupled with a hydrologic model (VIC) to assimilate root-zone soil moisture. Creating a grid-based soil database, which provides a consistent soil input for two different models (DSSAT and VIC) is a critical part of this work. The created soil database is expected to contribute to future applications of DSSAT crop simulation in East Africa where food security is highly vulnerable.

mtDNA variation predicts population size in humans and reveals a major Southern Asian chapter in human prehistory.

PubMed

Atkinson, Quentin D; Gray, Russell D; Drummond, Alexei J

2008-02-01

The relative timing and size of regional human population growth following our expansion from Africa remain unknown. Human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diversity carries a legacy of our population history. Given a set of sequences, we can use coalescent theory to estimate past population size through time and draw inferences about human population history. However, recent work has challenged the validity of using mtDNA diversity to infer species population sizes. Here we use Bayesian coalescent inference methods, together with a global data set of 357 human mtDNA coding-region sequences, to infer human population sizes through time across 8 major geographic regions. Our estimates of relative population sizes show remarkable concordance with the contemporary regional distribution of humans across Africa, Eurasia, and the Americas, indicating that mtDNA diversity is a good predictor of population size in humans. Plots of population size through time show slow growth in sub-Saharan Africa beginning 143-193 kya, followed by a rapid expansion into Eurasia after the emergence of the first non-African mtDNA lineages 50-70 kya. Outside Africa, the earliest and fastest growth is inferred in Southern Asia approximately 52 kya, followed by a succession of growth phases in Northern and Central Asia (approximately 49 kya), Australia (approximately 48 kya), Europe (approximately 42 kya), the Middle East and North Africa (approximately 40 kya), New Guinea (approximately 39 kya), the Americas (approximately 18 kya), and a second expansion in Europe (approximately 10-15 kya). Comparisons of relative regional population sizes through time suggest that between approximately 45 and 20 kya most of humanity lived in Southern Asia. These findings not only support the use of mtDNA data for estimating human population size but also provide a unique picture of human prehistory and demonstrate the importance of Southern Asia to our recent evolutionary past.

Climate Predictors of the Spatial Distribution of Human Plague Cases in the West Nile Region of Uganda

PubMed Central

MacMillan, Katherine; Monaghan, Andrew J.; Apangu, Titus; Griffith, Kevin S.; Mead, Paul S.; Acayo, Sarah; Acidri, Rogers; Moore, Sean M.; Mpanga, Joseph Tendo; Enscore, Russel E.; Gage, Kenneth L.; Eisen, Rebecca J.

2012-01-01

East Africa has been identified as a region where vector-borne and zoonotic diseases are most likely to emerge or re-emerge and where morbidity and mortality from these diseases is significant. Understanding when and where humans are most likely to be exposed to vector-borne and zoonotic disease agents in this region can aid in targeting limited prevention and control resources. Often, spatial and temporal distributions of vectors and vector-borne disease agents are predictable based on climatic variables. However, because of coarse meteorological observation networks, appropriately scaled and accurate climate data are often lacking for Africa. Here, we use a recently developed 10-year gridded meteorological dataset from the Advanced Weather Research and Forecasting Model to identify climatic variables predictive of the spatial distribution of human plague cases in the West Nile region of Uganda. Our logistic regression model revealed that within high elevation sites (above 1,300 m), plague risk was positively associated with rainfall during the months of February, October, and November and negatively associated with rainfall during the month of June. These findings suggest that areas that receive increased but not continuous rainfall provide ecologically conducive conditions for Yersinia pestis transmission in this region. This study serves as a foundation for similar modeling efforts of other vector-borne and zoonotic disease in regions with sparse observational meteorologic networks. PMID:22403328

Africa burning: A thematic analysis of the Southern African Regional Science Initiative (SAFARI 2000)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Swap, Robert J.; Annegarn, Harold J.; Suttles, J. Timothy; King, Michael D.; Platnick, Steven; Privette, Jeffrey L.; Scholes, Robert J.

2003-07-01

The Southern African Regional Science Initiative (SAFARI 2000) was a major surface, airborne, and spaceborne field campaign carried out in southern Africa in 2000 and 2001 that addressed a broad range of phenomena related to land-atmosphere interactions and the biogeochemical functioning of the southern African system. This paper presents a thematic analysis and integration of the Journal of Geophysical Research SAFARI 2000 Special Issue, presenting key findings of an intensive field campaign over southern Africa in August and September of 2000. The integrating themes deal with surface emissions characterization; airborne characterizations of aerosols and trace gases; regional haze and trace gas characterization; and radiant measurements by surface, aircraft, and remote sensing platforms. Enhanced regional fuel loads associated with the moist La Niña phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle produced above average biomass burning emissions, which consequently dominated all other aerosol and trace gas emissions during the dry season. Southward transport of a broad plume of smoke originating in equatorial Africa and exiting off the east coast toward the Indian Ocean (the river of smoke) is attributed to unusual synoptic airflows associated the ENSO phase. New and revised biogenic and pyrogenic emission factors are reported, including a number of previously unreported oxygenated organic compounds and inorganic compounds from biomass combustion. Emission factors are scaled up to regional emission surfaces for biogenic species utilizing species specific and light-dependent emission factors. Fire scar estimates reveal contradictory information on the timing of the peak and extent of the biomass-burning season. Integrated tall stack coordinated measurements (between ground, airborne and remotely sensing platforms) of upwelling and downwelling radiation in massive thick aerosol layers covering much of southern Africa yield consistent estimates of large

Regional Climate Change Impact on Agricultural Land Use in West Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmed, K. F.; Wang, G.; You, L.

2014-12-01

Agriculture is a key element of the human-induced land use land cover change (LULCC) that is influenced by climate and can potentially influence regional climate. Temperature and precipitation directly impact the crop yield (by controlling photosynthesis, respiration and other physiological processes) that then affects agricultural land use pattern. In feedback, the resulting changes in land use and land cover play an important role to determine the direction and magnitude of global, regional and local climate change by altering Earth's radiative equilibrium. The assessment of future agricultural land use is, therefore, of great importance in climate change study. In this study, we develop a prototype land use projection model and, using this model, project the changes to land use pattern and future land cover map accounting for climate-induced yield changes for major crops in West Africa. Among the inputs to the land use projection model are crop yield changes simulated by the crop model DSSAT, driven with the climate forcing data from the regional climate model RegCM4.3.4-CLM4.5, which features a projected decrease of future mean crop yield and increase of inter-annual variability. Another input to the land use projection model is the projected changes of food demand in the future. In a so-called "dumb-farmer scenario" without any adaptation, the combined effect of decrease in crop yield and increase in food demand will lead to a significant increase in agricultural land use in future years accompanied by a decrease in forest and grass area. Human adaptation through land use optimization in an effort to minimize agricultural expansion is found to have little impact on the overall areas of agricultural land use. While the choice of the General Circulation Model (GCM) to derive initial and boundary conditions for the regional climate model can be a source of uncertainty in projecting the future LULCC, results from sensitivity experiments indicate that the changes

The Burden of Human Papillomavirus Infections and Related Diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa

PubMed Central

De Vuyst, Hugo; Alemany, Laia; Lacey, Charles; Chibwesha, Carla J.; Sahasrabuddhe, Vikrant; Banura, Cecily; Denny, Lynette; Parham, Groesbeck P.

2014-01-01

Despite the scarcity of high quality cancer registries and lack of reliable mortality data, it is clear that human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated diseases, particularly cervical cancer, are major causes of morbidity and mortality in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Cervical cancer incidence rates in SSA are the highest in the world and the disease is the most common cause of cancer death among women in the region. The high incidence of cervical cancer is a consequence of the inability of most countries to either initiate or sustain cervical cancer prevention services. In addition, it appears that the prevalence of HPV in women with normal cytology is higher than in more developed areas of the world, at an average of 24%. There is, however, significant regional variation in SSA, with the highest incidence of HPV infection and cervical cancer found in Eastern and Western Africa. It is expected that, due to aging and growth of the population, but also to lack of access to appropriate prevention services and the concomitant human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic, cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates in SSA will rise over the next 20 years. HPV16 and 18 are the most common genotypes in cervical cancer in SSA, although other carcinogenic HPV types, such as HPV45 and 35, are also relatively more frequent compared with other world regions. Data on other HPV-related anogenital cancers including those of the vulva, vagina, anus, and penis, are limited. Genital warts are common and associated with HPV types 6 and 11. HIV infection increases incidence and prevalence of all HPV-associated diseases. Sociocultural determinants of HPV-related disease, as well as the impact of forces that result in social destabilization, demand further study. Strategies to reduce the excessive burden of HPV-related diseases in SSA include age-appropriate prophylactic HPV vaccination, cervical cancer prevention services for women of the reproductive

Implications of Nubian-Like Core Reduction Systems in Southern Africa for the Identification of Early Modern Human Dispersals

PubMed Central

Phillips, Natasha

2015-01-01

Lithic technologies have been used to trace dispersals of early human populations within and beyond Africa. Convergence in lithic systems has the potential to confound such interpretations, implying connections between unrelated groups. Due to their reductive nature, stone artefacts are unusually prone to this chance appearance of similar forms in unrelated populations. Here we present data from the South African Middle Stone Age sites Uitpanskraal 7 and Mertenhof suggesting that Nubian core reduction systems associated with Late Pleistocene populations in North Africa and potentially with early human migrations out of Africa in MIS 5 also occur in southern Africa during early MIS 3 and with no clear connection to the North African occurrence. The timing and spatial distribution of their appearance in southern and northern Africa implies technological convergence, rather than diffusion or dispersal. While lithic technologies can be a critical guide to human population flux, their utility in tracing early human dispersals at large spatial and temporal scales with stone artefact types remains questionable. PMID:26125972

Epidemiology of Leptospirosis in Africa: A Systematic Review of a Neglected Zoonosis and a Paradigm for ‘One Health’ in Africa

PubMed Central

Allan, Kathryn J.; Biggs, Holly M.; Halliday, Jo E. B.; Kazwala, Rudovick R.; Maro, Venance P.; Cleaveland, Sarah; Crump, John A.

2015-01-01

Background Leptospirosis is an important but neglected bacterial zoonosis that has been largely overlooked in Africa. In this systematic review, we aimed to summarise and compare current knowledge of: (1) the geographic distribution, prevalence, incidence and diversity of acute human leptospirosis in Africa; and (2) the geographic distribution, host range, prevalence and diversity of Leptospira spp. infection in animal hosts in Africa. Methods Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines, we searched for studies that described (1) acute human leptospirosis and (2) pathogenic Leptospira spp. infection in animals. We performed a literature search using eight international and regional databases for English and non-English articles published between January 1930 to October 2014 that met out pre-defined inclusion criteria and strict case definitions. Results and Discussion We identified 97 studies that described acute human leptospirosis (n = 46) or animal Leptospira infection (n = 51) in 26 African countries. The prevalence of acute human leptospirosis ranged from 2 3% to 19 8% (n = 11) in hospital patients with febrile illness. Incidence estimates were largely restricted to the Indian Ocean islands (3 to 101 cases per 100,000 per year (n = 6)). Data from Tanzania indicate that human disease incidence is also high in mainland Africa (75 to 102 cases per 100,000 per year). Three major species (Leptospira borgpetersenii, L. interrogans and L. kirschneri) are predominant in reports from Africa and isolates from a diverse range of serogroups have been reported in human and animal infections. Cattle appear to be important hosts of a large number of Leptospira serogroups in Africa, but few data are available to allow comparison of Leptospira infection in linked human and animal populations. We advocate a ‘One Health’ approach to promote multidisciplinary research efforts to improve understanding of the animal to human

H3ABioNet, a sustainable pan-African bioinformatics network for human heredity and health in Africa

PubMed Central

Mulder, Nicola J.; Adebiyi, Ezekiel; Alami, Raouf; Benkahla, Alia; Brandful, James; Doumbia, Seydou; Everett, Dean; Fadlelmola, Faisal M.; Gaboun, Fatima; Gaseitsiwe, Simani; Ghazal, Hassan; Hazelhurst, Scott; Hide, Winston; Ibrahimi, Azeddine; Jaufeerally Fakim, Yasmina; Jongeneel, C. Victor; Joubert, Fourie; Kassim, Samar; Kayondo, Jonathan; Kumuthini, Judit; Lyantagaye, Sylvester; Makani, Julie; Mansour Alzohairy, Ahmed; Masiga, Daniel; Moussa, Ahmed; Nash, Oyekanmi; Ouwe Missi Oukem-Boyer, Odile; Owusu-Dabo, Ellis; Panji, Sumir; Patterton, Hugh; Radouani, Fouzia; Sadki, Khalid; Seghrouchni, Fouad; Tastan Bishop, Özlem; Tiffin, Nicki; Ulenga, Nzovu

2016-01-01

The application of genomics technologies to medicine and biomedical research is increasing in popularity, made possible by new high-throughput genotyping and sequencing technologies and improved data analysis capabilities. Some of the greatest genetic diversity among humans, animals, plants, and microbiota occurs in Africa, yet genomic research outputs from the continent are limited. The Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) initiative was established to drive the development of genomic research for human health in Africa, and through recognition of the critical role of bioinformatics in this process, spurred the establishment of H3ABioNet, a pan-African bioinformatics network for H3Africa. The limitations in bioinformatics capacity on the continent have been a major contributory factor to the lack of notable outputs in high-throughput biology research. Although pockets of high-quality bioinformatics teams have existed previously, the majority of research institutions lack experienced faculty who can train and supervise bioinformatics students. H3ABioNet aims to address this dire need, specifically in the area of human genetics and genomics, but knock-on effects are ensuring this extends to other areas of bioinformatics. Here, we describe the emergence of genomics research and the development of bioinformatics in Africa through H3ABioNet. PMID:26627985

Impacts of regional land-grab on regional hydroclimate in southeastern Africa via modeling and remote sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maksimowicz, M.; Masarik, M. T.; Brandt, J.; Flores, A. N.

2017-12-01

Land use/land cover (LULC) change directly impacts the partitioning of surface mass and energy fluxes. Regional-scale weather and climate are potentially altered by LULC if the resultant changes in partitioning of surface energy fluxes are significant enough to induce changes in the evolution of the planetary boundary layer and its interaction with the atmosphere above. Dynamics of land use, particularly those related to the social dimensions of the Earth System, are often simplified or not represented in regional land-atmosphere models or Earth System Models. This study explores the role of LULC change on a regional hydroclimate system, focusing on potential hydroclimate changes arising from timber harvesting due to a land grab boom in Mozambique. We also focus more narrowly at quantifying regional impacts on Gorongosa National Park, a nationally important economic and biodiversity resource in southeastern Africa. After nationalizing all land in 1975 after Mozambique gained independence, complex social processes, including an extended low intensity conflict civil war and economic hardships, led to an escalation of land use rights grants to foreign governments. Between 2004 and 2009, large tracts of land were requested for timber. Here we use existing tree cover loss datasets to more accurately represent land cover within a regional weather model. LULC in a region encompassing Gorongosa is updated at three instances between 2001 and 2014 using a tree cover loss dataset. We use these derived LULC datasets to inform lower boundary conditions in the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. To quantify potential hydrometeorological changes arising from land use change, we performed a factorial-like experiment by mixing input LULC maps and atmospheric forcing data from before, during, and after the land grab. Results suggest that the land grab has impacted microclimate parameters in a significant way via direct and indirect impacts on land-atmosphere interactions

Biogeography and climatic change as a context to human dispersal out of Africa and within Eurasia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

van der Made, Jan

2011-06-01

The dispersal of the genus Homo occurred against a background of continuous environmental change. Here, dispersals of large mammals through the Levantine Corridor and into Western Europe and Java are studied and compared to existing records of climatic change and dispersals of early humans and lithic industry. The first human dispersal (with Oldowan lithic industry) out of Africa, around or shortly before 1.8 Ma may have been triggered by biological evolution and increased social organisation, rather than environmental change. After that event, increasing aridity led to decreased faunal exchange between Africa and Eurasia and may have isolated the human populations of Africa and Africa. Southern (Java) and Eastern Asia (China) also seem to have been isolated. Human dispersal into Western Europe may have been limited by closed environments in Central Europe until about 1.2 Ma ago, when faunal dispersal into Europe suggests the cyclic spread of open environments to the west. Acheulean technology originated in Africa, some 1.6-1.5 Ma ago, but its dispersal into Eurasia may have been obstructed by an arid Southwest Asia, until broadly about 0.9 Ma ago, when faunal exchange suggests that the area became temporarily less dry. By 0.6-0.5 Ma ago it reached Europe.

Strengthening human genetics research in Africa: report of the 9th meeting of the African Society of Human Genetics in Dakar in May 2016.

PubMed

Ndiaye Diallo, R; Gadji, M; Hennig, B J; Guèye, M V; Gaye, A; Diop, J P D; Sylla Niang, M; Lopez Sall, P; Guèye, P M; Dem, A; Faye, O; Dieye, A; Cisse, A; Sembene, M; Ka, S; Diop, N; Williams, S M; Matovu, E; Ramesar, R S; Wonkam, A; Newport, M; Rotimi, C; Ramsay, M

2017-01-01

The 9th meeting of the African Society of Human Genetics, in partnership with the Senegalese Cancer Research and Study Group and the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) Consortium, was held in Dakar, Senegal. The theme was Strengthening Human Genetics Research in Africa. The 210 delegates came from 21 African countries and from France, Switzerland, UK, UAE, Canada and the USA. The goal was to highlight genetic and genomic science across the African continent with the ultimate goal of improving the health of Africans and those across the globe, and to promote the careers of young African scientists in the field. A session on the sustainability of genomic research in Africa brought to light innovative and practical approaches to supporting research in resource-limited settings and the importance of promoting genetics in academic, research funding, governmental and private sectors. This meeting led to the formation of the Senegalese Society for Human Genetics.

The State of Humanities in Post-Apartheid South Africa--A Quantitative Story

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pillay, V.; Yu, K.

2010-01-01

This article depicts the state of Humanities in post-apartheid South Africa by examining HEMIS enrolment and graduation data from 1999 to 2007. It demonstrates that although the decline in student enrolment and graduation in Humanities has not been severe; read in the context of substantial growth of all other disciplines, Humanities is in a…

Twenty-three years (1993-2015) of homicide trends in the Transkei region of South Africa.

PubMed

Banwari, Meel

2018-01-01

Background Transkei is regarded as a rural part of South Africa. It was one of the black homelands where rigorous apartheid was practised. The incidence of firearm-related deaths used to be very high, but after the implementation of the Firearm Control Act in 2002, the trend changed. However, the murder rate is still a major public-health problem in this region of South Africa. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate 23 years (1993-2015) of homicide trends in the Transkei region of South Africa. Method A review of records of medico-legal autopsies performed at Mthatha Forensic Pathology Laboratory from 1993 to 2015 was undertaken. Results Between 1993 and 2015, the number of autopsies performed on people who had died unnatural deaths was 24,693. The records of 12,618 (51%) autopsies on victims of homicide between 1993 and 2015 were available for study. The average rate of murder was 85/100,000 of the population in this region. Of these deaths, on average 34/100,000 were caused by sharp-edged instruments, 30/100,000 by gunshot wounds and 21/100,000 by blunt trauma. The rate of murder of males was significantly higher than that of females, with a ratio of 5.7:1, and over the period of 23 years covered by this study, the incidence was highest (30.5/100,000) in the young age group between 21 and 30 years. Conclusion The rate of homicide is very high in the Transkei region of South Africa. It needs urgent intervention to curb unnecessary deaths.

Impact of regional climate change on human health

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patz, Jonathan A.; Campbell-Lendrum, Diarmid; Holloway, Tracey; Foley, Jonathan A.

2005-11-01

The World Health Organisation estimates that the warming and precipitation trends due to anthropogenic climate change of the past 30years already claim over 150,000 lives annually. Many prevalent human diseases are linked to climate fluctuations, from cardiovascular mortality and respiratory illnesses due to heatwaves, to altered transmission of infectious diseases and malnutrition from crop failures. Uncertainty remains in attributing the expansion or resurgence of diseases to climate change, owing to lack of long-term, high-quality data sets as well as the large influence of socio-economic factors and changes in immunity and drug resistance. Here we review the growing evidence that climate-health relationships pose increasing health risks under future projections of climate change and that the warming trend over recent decades has already contributed to increased morbidity and mortality in many regions of the world. Potentially vulnerable regions include the temperate latitudes, which are projected to warm disproportionately, the regions around the Pacific and Indian oceans that are currently subjected to large rainfall variability due to the El Niño/Southern Oscillation sub-Saharan Africa and sprawling cities where the urban heat island effect could intensify extreme climatic events.

Impact of regional climate change on human health.

PubMed

Patz, Jonathan A; Campbell-Lendrum, Diarmid; Holloway, Tracey; Foley, Jonathan A

2005-11-17

The World Health Organisation estimates that the warming and precipitation trends due to anthropogenic climate change of the past 30 years already claim over 150,000 lives annually. Many prevalent human diseases are linked to climate fluctuations, from cardiovascular mortality and respiratory illnesses due to heatwaves, to altered transmission of infectious diseases and malnutrition from crop failures. Uncertainty remains in attributing the expansion or resurgence of diseases to climate change, owing to lack of long-term, high-quality data sets as well as the large influence of socio-economic factors and changes in immunity and drug resistance. Here we review the growing evidence that climate-health relationships pose increasing health risks under future projections of climate change and that the warming trend over recent decades has already contributed to increased morbidity and mortality in many regions of the world. Potentially vulnerable regions include the temperate latitudes, which are projected to warm disproportionately, the regions around the Pacific and Indian oceans that are currently subjected to large rainfall variability due to the El Niño/Southern Oscillation sub-Saharan Africa and sprawling cities where the urban heat island effect could intensify extreme climatic events.

Receptor modelling and risk assessment of volatile organic compounds measured at a regional background site in South Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jaars, Kerneels; Vestenius, Mika; van Zyl, Pieter G.; Beukes, Johan P.; Hellén, Heidi; Vakkari, Ville; Venter, Marcell; Josipovic, Miroslav; Hakola, Hannele

2018-01-01

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can have significant impacts on climate and human health. Certain VOCs are proven to be carcinogenic and toxic, which can affect human health directly and indirectly. In order to develop climate change reduction strategies and to assess the impacts of VOCs on human health, it is crucial to determine the sources of VOCs, which can be emitted from biogenic and anthropogenic sources. The aim of this study was to perform source apportionment using positive matrix factorisation (PMF) analysis on VOC data collected at a regional background location affected by the major sources in the interior of South Africa, which include the western- and eastern Bushveld Igneous Complex, the Johannesburg-Pretoria metropolitan conurbation, the Vaal Triangle, the Mpumalanga Highveld and also a region of anti-cyclonic recirculation of air mass over the interior of South Africa. In addition, a risk assessment study was also performed in view of the major source regions affecting Welgegund in order to quantify the impacts of anthropogenic VOCs measured at Welgegund on human health. Measurements were conducted at the Welgegund measurement station located on a commercial farm approximately 100 km west of Johannesburg for a period of more than two years. PMF analysis revealed ten meaningful factor solutions, of which five factors were associated with biogenic emissions and five with anthropogenic sources. Three of the biogenic factors were characterised by a specific biogenic species, i.e. isoprene, limonene and 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol (MBO), while the other two biogenic factors comprised mixtures of biogenic species with different tracer species. The temporal factor contribution for the isoprene, limonene and MBO factors correlated relatively well with the seasonal wet pattern. One anthropogenic factor was associated with emissions from a densely populated anthropogenic source region to the east of Welgegund with a large number of industrial activities, while

New Technology Tools for Human Development? Towards Policy and Practice for Knowledge Societies in Southern Africa.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Johnson, Phyllis

2002-01-01

Explores the interface of technology and education for human development in southern Africa. Uses the case of Mozambique to describe the challenges presented by the global marketplace and local policy. Outlines the vision of the New Partnership for Africa's Development Centre (SARDC) to reduce the digital divide for Africa. (CAJ)

Geophagia in Transkei region of South Africa: case reports.

PubMed

Meel, B L

2012-12-01

Soil has been eaten by humans under various names all over the world. It was used as a spread on the bread instead of butter in Austria known as 'mountain tallow' and in German known as 'stone butter'. Earth is tasty in various countries, termed as 'American earth', 'Earth of Samos' and 'Nishapoor earth', continues to make geophagia habit. To highlight the problem of geophagia in the Transkei region of South Africa. First, one is (XM) of a 35 years woman who divulges her history of geophagia at Sinawe Center. She consumed fresh earthworm dig-out soil after smelling it. This has happened in her first pregnancy in her first trimester. The second, one is an adult women 55-years; she had consumed red bricks for last 15 years. It is not related with her pregnancy. She keeps bricks close her bed and eats when she feels to eat. She used to complain abdominal pain and off and on loose motions. She had bladder stones, which passed through urethra. The history of geophagia, mechanism of craving for soil, and associated cultural belief has discussed in this case report. There is geophagia in the Xhosa community is prevalent and socially accepted.

Emergence of modern human behavior: Middle Stone Age engravings from South Africa.

PubMed

Henshilwood, Christopher S; d'Errico, Francesco; Yates, Royden; Jacobs, Zenobia; Tribolo, Chantal; Duller, Geoff A T; Mercier, Norbert; Sealy, Judith C; Valladas, Helene; Watts, Ian; Wintle, Ann G

2002-02-15

In the Eurasian Upper Paleolithic after about 35,000 years ago, abstract or depictional images provide evidence for cognitive abilities considered integral to modern human behavior. Here we report on two abstract representations engraved on pieces of red ochre recovered from the Middle Stone Age layers at Blombos Cave in South Africa. A mean date of 77,000 years was obtained for the layers containing the engraved ochres by thermoluminescence dating of burnt lithics, and the stratigraphic integrity was confirmed by an optically stimulated luminescence age of 70,000 years on an overlying dune. These engravings support the emergence of modern human behavior in Africa at least 35,000 years before the start of the Upper Paleolithic.

Detection of Rickettsia aeschlimannii and Rickettsia africae in ixodid ticks from Burkina Faso and Somali Region of Ethiopia by new real-time PCR assays.

PubMed

Tomassone, L; De Meneghi, D; Adakal, H; Rodighiero, P; Pressi, G; Grego, E

2016-10-01

In the framework of cooperation for development projects in Burkina Faso and Ethiopia, we collected ixodid ticks from cattle, small ruminants and camels. We optimized new TaqMan Probe real-time PCR assays to detect Rickettsia aeschlimannii and Rickettsia africae OmpA gene in the collected samples. Rickettsia africae was identified in 75.0% Amblyomma variegatum (95%CI: 56.6-88.5), while R. aeschlimannii in 24.0% Hyalomma truncatum (95%CI: 9.4-45.1) and 50.0% H. rufipes (95%CI: 29.9-70.0) collected from cattle in different provinces throughout Burkina Faso. Ticks from the Libaan zone, Somali Region of Ethiopia, were also infected by R. africae (28.5% prevalence in Amblyomma gemma, 95%CI: 14.7-46.0) and R. aeschlimannii (27.0% H. truncatum, 95%CI: 5.0-62.9; 88.3% H. rufipes, 95%CI: 60.5-99.3). All tested ticks were adults. The developed diagnostic tools were highly sensitive and enabled us to rapidly classify R. aeschlimannii and R. africae, which were identified in Burkina Faso and in the Somali Region of Ethiopia for the first time. Further studies are needed to assess the zoonotic risk and prevalence of infection in local human populations, who have high contact rates with ticks and their animal hosts. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Early modern human diversity suggests subdivided population structure and a complex out-of-Africa scenario

PubMed Central

Gunz, Philipp; Bookstein, Fred L.; Mitteroecker, Philipp; Stadlmayr, Andrea; Seidler, Horst; Weber, Gerhard W.

2009-01-01

The interpretation of genetic evidence regarding modern human origins depends, among other things, on assessments of the structure and the variation of ancient populations. Because we lack genetic data from the time when the first anatomically modern humans appeared, between 200,000 and 60,000 years ago, instead we exploit the phenotype of neurocranial geometry to compare the variation in early modern human fossils with that in other groups of fossil Homo and recent modern humans. Variation is assessed as the mean-squared Procrustes distance from the group average shape in a representation based on several hundred neurocranial landmarks and semilandmarks. We find that the early modern group has more shape variation than any other group in our sample, which covers 1.8 million years, and that they are morphologically similar to recent modern humans of diverse geographically dispersed populations but not to archaic groups. Of the currently competing models of modern human origins, some are inconsistent with these findings. Rather than a single out-of-Africa dispersal scenario, we suggest that early modern humans were already divided into different populations in Pleistocene Africa, after which there followed a complex migration pattern. Our conclusions bear implications for the inference of ancient human demography from genetic models and emphasize the importance of focusing research on those early modern humans, in particular, in Africa. PMID:19307568

Has Rift Valley fever virus evolved with increasing severity in human populations in East Africa?

PubMed

Baba, Marycelin; Masiga, Daniel K; Sang, Rosemary; Villinger, Jandouwe

2016-06-22

Rift Valley fever (RVF) outbreaks have occurred across eastern Africa from 1912 to 2010 approximately every 4-15 years, most of which have not been accompanied by significant epidemics in human populations. However, human epidemics during RVF outbreaks in eastern Africa have involved 478 deaths in 1998, 1107 reported cases with 350 deaths from 2006 to 2007 and 1174 cases with 241 deaths in 2008. We review the history of RVF outbreaks in eastern Africa to identify the epidemiological factors that could have influenced its increasing severity in humans. Diverse ecological factors influence outbreak frequency, whereas virus evolution has a greater impact on its virulence in hosts. Several factors could have influenced the lack of information on RVF in humans during earlier outbreaks, but the explosive nature of human RVF epidemics in recent years mirrors the evolutionary trend of the virus. Comparisons between isolates from different outbreaks have revealed an accumulation of genetic mutations and genomic reassortments that have diversified RVF virus genomes over several decades. The threat to humans posed by the diversified RVF virus strains increases the potential public health and socioeconomic impacts of future outbreaks. Understanding the shifting RVF epidemiology as determined by its evolution is key to developing new strategies for outbreak mitigation and prevention of future human RVF casualties.

Review of Early Childhood Policy and Programs in Sub-Saharan Africa. World Bank Technical Paper No. 367, Africa Region Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Colletta, Nat J.; Reinhold, Amy Jo

Children in Sub-Saharan Africa face the greatest challenges to healthy development of any region in the world. This report presents reviews of 11 Early Childhood Development programs, studied to define financial and institutional conditions necessary to sustain early intervention efforts. Interviews and existing documentation from governmental and…

Impacts of Climate Change on Malaria Transmission in Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eltahir, E. A. B.; Endo, N.; Yamana, T. K.

2017-12-01

Malaria is a major vector-borne parasitic disease transmitted to humans by Anopheles spp mosquitoes. Africa is the hotspot for malaria transmission where more than 90% of malaria deaths occur every year. Malaria transmission is an intricate function of climatic factors, which non-linearly affect the development of vectors and parasites. We project that the risk of malaria will increase towards the end of the 21st century in east Africa, but decrease in west Africa. We combine a novel malaria transmission simulator, HYDREMATS, that has been developed based on comprehensive multi-year field surveys both in East Africa and West Africa, and the most reliable climate projections through regional dynamical downscaling and rigorous selection of GCMs from among CMIP5 models. We define a bell-shaped relation between malaria intensity and temperature, centered around a temperature of 30°C. Future risks of malaria are projected for two highly populated regions in Africa: the highlands in East Africa and the fringes of the desert in West Africa. In the highlands of East Africa, temperature is substantially colder than this optimal temperature; warmer future climate exacerbate malaria conditions. In the Sahel fringes in West Africa, temperature is around this optimal temperature; warming is not likely to exacerbate and might even reduce malaria burden. Unlike the highlands of East Africa, which receive significant amounts of annual rainfall, dry conditions also limit malaria transmission in the Sahel fringes in West Africa. This disproportionate risk of malaria due to climate change should guide strategies for climate adaptation over Africa.

Mental health nurses in South Africa's public rural primary care settings: a human resource crisis.

PubMed

De Kock, Johannes H; Pillay, Basil J

2016-01-01

South Africa is a middle-income country with serious socioeconomic risk factors for mental illness. Of its population of 52 million, 53% live below the poverty line, 24% are unemployed and 11% live with HIV/AIDS, all of which are factors associated with an increased burden of neuropsychiatric disease. The negative social implications due to the mortality caused by AIDS are immense: thousands of children are being orphaned, increasing the risk of intergenerational mental illness. Ensuring sufficient mental health human resources has been a challenge, with South Africa displaying lower workforce numbers than many low- and middle-income countries. It is in South Africa's public rural primary healthcare (PRPHC) areas where access to mental healthcare services, especially medical prescribers, is most dire. In 1994, primary healthcare (PHC) was mainstreamed into South Africa's public healthcare system as an inclusive, people-orientated healthcare system. Nurses provide for the majority of the human resources at PHC level and are therefore seen as the backbone of this sector. Efforts to decentralize mental healthcare and integrate it into the PHC system rely on the availability of mental health nurses (MHNs), to whom the task of diagnosing mental illness and prescribing psychotropic medications can be shifted. The goal of this situation analysis was to fill knowledge gaps with regard to MHN human resources in South Africa's PRPHC settings, where an estimated 40% of South Africa's population reside. Both primary and secondary data were analysed. Primary data was collected by inviting 160 (98%) of South African rural hospitals' clinical heads to participate in an interview schedule regarding mental health human resources at their institutions. Primary data were collated and then analysed using descriptive quantitative analysis to produce lists of MHNs per institution and per province. Secondary data was obtained from an extensive literature review of MHNs in South Africa

Has Rift Valley fever virus evolved with increasing severity in human populations in East Africa?

PubMed Central

Baba, Marycelin; Masiga, Daniel K; Sang, Rosemary; Villinger, Jandouwe

2016-01-01

Rift Valley fever (RVF) outbreaks have occurred across eastern Africa from 1912 to 2010 approximately every 4–15 years, most of which have not been accompanied by significant epidemics in human populations. However, human epidemics during RVF outbreaks in eastern Africa have involved 478 deaths in 1998, 1107 reported cases with 350 deaths from 2006 to 2007 and 1174 cases with 241 deaths in 2008. We review the history of RVF outbreaks in eastern Africa to identify the epidemiological factors that could have influenced its increasing severity in humans. Diverse ecological factors influence outbreak frequency, whereas virus evolution has a greater impact on its virulence in hosts. Several factors could have influenced the lack of information on RVF in humans during earlier outbreaks, but the explosive nature of human RVF epidemics in recent years mirrors the evolutionary trend of the virus. Comparisons between isolates from different outbreaks have revealed an accumulation of genetic mutations and genomic reassortments that have diversified RVF virus genomes over several decades. The threat to humans posed by the diversified RVF virus strains increases the potential public health and socioeconomic impacts of future outbreaks. Understanding the shifting RVF epidemiology as determined by its evolution is key to developing new strategies for outbreak mitigation and prevention of future human RVF casualties. PMID:27329846

Private sector, human resources and health franchising in Africa.

PubMed Central

Prata, Ndola; Montagu, Dominic; Jefferys, Emma

2005-01-01

In much of the developing world, private health care providers and pharmacies are the most important sources of medicine and medical care and yet these providers are frequently not considered in planning for public health. This paper presents the available evidence, by socioeconomic status, on which strata of society benefit from publicly provided care and which strata use private health care. Using data from The World Bank's Health Nutrition and Population Poverty Thematic Reports on 22 countries in Africa, an assessment was made of the use of public and private health services, by asset quintile groups, for treatment of diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections, proxies for publicly subsidized services. The evidence and theory on using franchise networks to supplement government programmes in the delivery of public health services was assessed. Examples from health franchises in Africa and Asia are provided to illustrate the potential for franchise systems to leverage private providers and so increase delivery-point availability for public-benefit services. We argue that based on the established demand for private medical services in Africa, these providers should be included in future planning on human resources for public health. Having explored the range of systems that have been tested for working with private providers, from contracting to vouchers to behavioural change and provider education, we conclude that franchising has the greatest potential for integration into large-scale programmes in Africa to address critical illnesses of public health importance. PMID:15868018

Private sector, human resources and health franchising in Africa.

PubMed

Prata, Ndola; Montagu, Dominic; Jefferys, Emma

2005-04-01

In much of the developing world, private health care providers and pharmacies are the most important sources of medicine and medical care and yet these providers are frequently not considered in planning for public health. This paper presents the available evidence, by socioeconomic status, on which strata of society benefit from publicly provided care and which strata use private health care. Using data from The World Bank's Health Nutrition and Population Poverty Thematic Reports on 22 countries in Africa, an assessment was made of the use of public and private health services, by asset quintile groups, for treatment of diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections, proxies for publicly subsidized services. The evidence and theory on using franchise networks to supplement government programmes in the delivery of public health services was assessed. Examples from health franchises in Africa and Asia are provided to illustrate the potential for franchise systems to leverage private providers and so increase delivery-point availability for public-benefit services. We argue that based on the established demand for private medical services in Africa, these providers should be included in future planning on human resources for public health. Having explored the range of systems that have been tested for working with private providers, from contracting to vouchers to behavioural change and provider education, we conclude that franchising has the greatest potential for integration into large-scale programmes in Africa to address critical illnesses of public health importance.

The environmental context of human evolutionary history in Eurasia and Africa

PubMed Central

Elton, Sarah

2008-01-01

to negotiate, but their exploitation was accomplished by archaic and/or anatomically modern humans independently in Africa and south-east Asia. Complex social behaviour and material culture also allowed modern humans to reach some of the most hostile regions of the globe, above the Arctic Circle, by the late Pleistocene. This, with colonization of the Americas and Australasia, established Homo sapiens as a truly cosmopolitan species. PMID:18380862

The environmental context of human evolutionary history in Eurasia and Africa.

PubMed

Elton, Sarah

2008-04-01

negotiate, but their exploitation was accomplished by archaic and/or anatomically modern humans independently in Africa and south-east Asia. Complex social behaviour and material culture also allowed modern humans to reach some of the most hostile regions of the globe, above the Arctic Circle, by the late Pleistocene. This, with colonization of the Americas and Australasia, established Homo sapiens as a truly cosmopolitan species.

Large-scale shear velocity structure of the upper mantle beneath Africa and surrounding regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Legendre, Cédric; Meier, Thomas; Lebedev, Sergei; Friederich, Wolfgang; Egelados Working Group

2010-05-01

The automated multimode waveform inversion technique developed by Lebedev et al. (2005) was applied to available data of broadband stations in Africa and surrounding regions. It performs a fitting of the complete waveform starting from the S-wave onset to the surface wave. Assuming the location and focal mechanism of a considered earthquake as known, the first basic step is to consider each available seismogram separately and to find the velocity perturbations that can explain the filtered seismogram best. In a second step, each velocity perturbations serves as a linear constraint in an inversion for a 3D S-wave velocity model of the upper mantle. We collected data for the years from 1990 to 2006 from all permanent stations for which data were available via the data centers of ORFEUS, GEOFON and IRIS, and from others that build the Virtual European Seismological Network (VEBSN) as well as all available African stations. Just recently we were also able to add the data recorded by the temporary broadband EGELADOS network in the southern Aegean. This represents a huge dataset with all available stations in Africa and surroundings regions. The resulting models exhibit an overwhelming structural detail in relation to the size of the region considered in the inversion. They are to our knowledge the most detailed models of shear wave velocity currently available for the African upper mantle and surroundings. Most prominent features are an extremely sharp demarcation of the Dead Sea Rift System. Narrow high velocity regions follow the Hellenic arc and the Ionian trench toward the north. Low velocity zones are found at depths around 150 km in the Middle East region. The hotspots in North Africa are also clearly imaged.

Human Responses to Climate Variability: The Case of South Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oppenheimer, M.; Licker, R.; Mastrorillo, M.; Bohra-Mishra, P.; Estes, L. D.; Cai, R.

2014-12-01

Climate variability has been associated with a range of societal and individual outcomes including migration, violent conflict, changes in labor productivity, and health impacts. Some of these may be direct responses to changes in mean temperature or precipitation or extreme events, such as displacement of human populations by tropical cyclones. Others may be mediated by a variety of biological, social, or ecological factors such as migration in response to long-term changes in crops yields. Research is beginning to elucidate and distinguish the many channels through which climate variability may influence human behavior (ranging from the individual to the collective, societal level) in order to better understand how to improve resilience in the face of current variability as well as future climate change. Using a variety of data sets from South Africa, we show how climate variability has influenced internal (within country) migration in recent history. We focus on South Africa as it is a country with high levels of internal migration and dramatic temperature and precipitation changes projected for the 21st century. High poverty rates and significant levels of rain-fed, smallholder agriculture leave large portions of South Africa's population base vulnerable to future climate change. In this study, we utilize two complementary statistical models - one micro-level model, driven by individual and household level survey data, and one macro-level model, driven by national census statistics. In both models, we consider the effect of climate on migration both directly (with gridded climate reanalysis data) and indirectly (with agricultural production statistics). With our historical analyses of climate variability, we gain insights into how the migration decisions of South Africans may be influenced by future climate change. We also offer perspective on the utility of micro and macro level approaches in the study of climate change and human migration.

Distance from sub-Saharan Africa predicts mutational load in diverse human genomes.

PubMed

Henn, Brenna M; Botigué, Laura R; Peischl, Stephan; Dupanloup, Isabelle; Lipatov, Mikhail; Maples, Brian K; Martin, Alicia R; Musharoff, Shaila; Cann, Howard; Snyder, Michael P; Excoffier, Laurent; Kidd, Jeffrey M; Bustamante, Carlos D

2016-01-26

The Out-of-Africa (OOA) dispersal ∼ 50,000 y ago is characterized by a series of founder events as modern humans expanded into multiple continents. Population genetics theory predicts an increase of mutational load in populations undergoing serial founder effects during range expansions. To test this hypothesis, we have sequenced full genomes and high-coverage exomes from seven geographically divergent human populations from Namibia, Congo, Algeria, Pakistan, Cambodia, Siberia, and Mexico. We find that individual genomes vary modestly in the overall number of predicted deleterious alleles. We show via spatially explicit simulations that the observed distribution of deleterious allele frequencies is consistent with the OOA dispersal, particularly under a model where deleterious mutations are recessive. We conclude that there is a strong signal of purifying selection at conserved genomic positions within Africa, but that many predicted deleterious mutations have evolved as if they were neutral during the expansion out of Africa. Under a model where selection is inversely related to dominance, we show that OOA populations are likely to have a higher mutation load due to increased allele frequencies of nearly neutral variants that are recessive or partially recessive.

African leaders' views on critical human resource issues for the implementation of family medicine in Africa.

PubMed

Moosa, Shabir; Downing, Raymond; Essuman, Akye; Pentz, Stephen; Reid, Stephen; Mash, Robert

2014-01-17

The World Health Organisation has advocated for comprehensive primary care teams, which include family physicians. However, despite (or because of) severe doctor shortages in Africa, there is insufficient clarity on the role of the family physician in the primary health care team. Instead there is a trend towards task shifting without thought for teamwork, which runs the risk of dangerous oversimplification. It is not clear how African leaders understand the challenges of implementing family medicine, especially in human resource terms. This study, therefore, sought to explore the views of academic and government leaders on critical human resource issues for implementation of family medicine in Africa. In this qualitative study, key academic and government leaders were purposively selected from sixteen African countries. In-depth interviews were conducted using an interview guide. All interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed. There were 27 interviews conducted with 16 government and 11 academic leaders in nine Sub-Saharan African countries: Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda. Respondents spoke about: educating doctors in family medicine suited to Africa, including procedural skills and holistic care, to address the difficulty of recruiting and retaining doctors in rural and underserved areas; planning for primary health care teams, including family physicians; new supervisory models in primary health care; and general human resource management issues. Important milestones in African health care fail to specifically address the human resource issues of integrated primary health care teamwork that includes family physicians. Leaders interviewed in this study, however, proposed organising the district health system with a strong embrace of family medicine in Africa, especially with regard to providing clinical leadership in team-based primary health care. Whilst these

A Spring Forward for Human Evolution in East Africa?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cuthbert, M. O.; Ashley, G. M.

2014-12-01

The current consensus is that humans evolved in Africa and then migrated in waves to other parts of the world starting as early as 2 Ma. The climate was both cooling and drying. One of the major unknowns connected with human survival in this climatically turbulent environment is the availability of resources, particularly water. A growing body of geological evidence shows an association between springs, stone tools and hominin fossils at a number of sites in the East African Rift System (EARS) during a critical period for hominin evolution (from 1.8 Ma). The springs may have been vulnerable to climate variability, thus the role that groundwater availability may have played in human evolution and migration to other continents is not known. Using palaeogeological reconstruction and groundwater modelling of the paleo-catchment of one such EARS site, Olduvai Gorge (3°S), we show how spring discharge was likely linked to climate variability of annual to Milankovitch cycle timescales. Under decadal to centennial timescales, spring flow would have been relatively invariant providing good water resource resilience through long droughts. For multi-millennial periods, modelled spring flows lag groundwater recharge by 100s to 1000 years. Our results show how groundwater would have provided 'drought proof' water supply and habitats during arid phases as potable surface water from rivers or lakes became increasingly scarce. Localized groundwater systems are likely to have been widespread within the EARS providing refugia and intense competition during dry periods. Thus, springs and associated wetlands may have been important factors in natural selection and evolution, as well as a vital resource during dispersal within and out of Africa. While further exploration is needed to test the geographical extent of groundwater use by early humans, we propose that groundwater flow systems produced in the EARS played a significant role in the evolution and dispersal of early humans.

Multidrug-Resistant Salmonella enterica Serotype Typhi, Gulf of Guinea Region, Africa

PubMed Central

Baltazar, Murielle; Ngandjio, Antoinette; Holt, Kathryn Elizabeth; Lepillet, Elodie; Pardos de la Gandara, Maria; Collard, Jean-Marc; Bercion, Raymond; Nzouankeu, Ariane; Le Hello, Simon; Dougan, Gordon; Fonkoua, Marie-Christine

2015-01-01

We identified 3 lineages among multidrug-resistant (MDR) Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi isolates in the Gulf of Guinea region in Africa during the 2000s. However, the MDR H58 haplotype, which predominates in southern Asia and Kenya, was not identified. MDR quinolone-susceptible isolates contained a 190-kb incHI1 pST2 plasmid or a 50-kb incN pST3 plasmid. PMID:25811307

Managing the human component of fire regimes: lessons from Africa

PubMed Central

Archibald, Sally

2016-01-01

Human impacts on fire regimes accumulated slowly with the evolution of modern humans able to ignite fires and manipulate landscapes. Today, myriad voices aim to influence fire in grassy ecosystems to different ends, and this is complicated by a colonial past focused on suppressing fire and preventing human ignitions. Here, I review available evidence on the impacts of people on various fire characteristics such as the number and size of fires, fire intensity, fire frequency and seasonality of fire in African grassy ecosystems, with the intention of focusing the debate and identifying areas of uncertainty. Humans alter seasonal patterns of fire in grassy systems but tend to decrease total fire emissions: livestock have replaced fire as the dominant consumer in many parts of Africa, and fragmented landscapes reduce area burned. Humans alter the season and time of day when fires occur, with important implications for fire intensity, tree–grass dynamics and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Late season fires are more common when fire is banned or illegal: these later fires are far more intense but emit fewer GHGs. The types of fires which preserve human livelihoods and biodiversity are not always aligned with the goal of reducing GHG concentrations. Current fire management challenges therefore involve balancing the needs of a large rural population against national and global perspectives on the desirability of different types of fire, but this cannot happen unless the interests of all parties are equally represented. In the future, Africa is expected to urbanize and land use to intensify, which will imply different trajectories for the continent's fire regimes. This article is part of the themed issue ‘The interaction of fire and mankind. PMID:27216516

A quantitative assessment of groundwater resources in the Middle East and North Africa region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lezzaik, Khalil; Milewski, Adam

2018-02-01

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is the world's most water-stressed region, with its countries constituting 12 of the 15 most water-stressed countries globally. Because of data paucity, comprehensive regional-scale assessments of groundwater resources in the MENA region have been lacking. The presented study addresses this issue by using a distributed ArcGIS model, parametrized with gridded data sets, to estimate groundwater storage reserves in the region based on generated aquifer saturated thickness and effective porosity estimates. Furthermore, monthly gravimetric datasets (GRACE) and land surface parameters (GLDAS) were used to quantify changes in groundwater storage between 2003 and 2014. Total groundwater reserves in the region were estimated at 1.28 × 106 cubic kilometers (km3) with an uncertainty range between 816,000 and 1.93 × 106 km3. Most of the reserves are located within large sedimentary basins in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, with Algeria, Libya, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia accounting for approximately 75% of the region's total freshwater reserves. Alternatively, small groundwater reserves were found in fractured Precambrian basement exposures. As for groundwater changes between 2003 and 2014, all MENA countries except for Morocco exhibited declines in groundwater storage. However, given the region's large groundwater reserves, groundwater changes between 2003 and 2014 are minimal and represent no immediate short-term threat to the MENA region, with some exceptions. Notwithstanding this, the study recommends the development of sustainable and efficient groundwater management policies to optimally utilize the region's groundwater resources, especially in the face of climate change, demographic expansion, and socio-economic development.

Water, plants, and early human habitats in eastern Africa.

PubMed

Magill, Clayton R; Ashley, Gail M; Freeman, Katherine H

2013-01-22

Water and its influence on plants likely exerted strong adaptive pressures in human evolution. Understanding relationships among water, plants, and early humans is limited both by incomplete terrestrial records of environmental change and by indirect proxy data for water availability. Here we present a continuous record of stable hydrogen-isotope compositions (expressed as δD values) for lipid biomarkers preserved in lake sediments from an early Pleistocene archaeological site in eastern Africa--Olduvai Gorge. We convert sedimentary leaf- and algal-lipid δD values into estimates for ancient source-water δD values by accounting for biochemical, physiological, and environmental influences on isotopic fractionation via published water-lipid enrichment factors for living plants, algae, and recent sediments. Reconstructed precipitation and lake-water δD values, respectively, are consistent with modern isotopic hydrology and reveal that dramatic fluctuations in water availability accompanied ecosystem changes. Drier conditions, indicated by less negative δD values, occur in association with stable carbon-isotopic evidence for open, C(4)-dominated grassland ecosystems. Wetter conditions, indicated by lower δD values, are associated with expanded woody cover across the ancient landscape. Estimates for ancient precipitation amounts, based on reconstructed precipitation δD values, range between approximately 250 and 700 mm · y(-1) and are consistent with modern precipitation data for eastern Africa. We conclude that freshwater availability exerted a substantial influence on eastern African ecosystems and, by extension, was central to early human proliferation during periods of rapid climate change.

Earthquake Hazard and Risk in Sub-Saharan Africa: current status of the Global Earthquake model (GEM) initiative in the region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ayele, Atalay; Midzi, Vunganai; Ateba, Bekoa; Mulabisana, Thifhelimbilu; Marimira, Kwangwari; Hlatywayo, Dumisani J.; Akpan, Ofonime; Amponsah, Paulina; Georges, Tuluka M.; Durrheim, Ray

2013-04-01

Large magnitude earthquakes have been observed in Sub-Saharan Africa in the recent past, such as the Machaze event of 2006 (Mw, 7.0) in Mozambique and the 2009 Karonga earthquake (Mw 6.2) in Malawi. The December 13, 1910 earthquake (Ms = 7.3) in the Rukwa rift (Tanzania) is the largest of all instrumentally recorded events known to have occurred in East Africa. The overall earthquake hazard in the region is on the lower side compared to other earthquake prone areas in the globe. However, the risk level is high enough for it to receive attention of the African governments and the donor community. The latest earthquake hazard map for the sub-Saharan Africa was done in 1999 and updating is long overdue as several development activities in the construction industry is booming allover sub-Saharan Africa. To this effect, regional seismologists are working together under the GEM (Global Earthquake Model) framework to improve incomplete, inhomogeneous and uncertain catalogues. The working group is also contributing to the UNESCO-IGCP (SIDA) 601 project and assessing all possible sources of data for the catalogue as well as for the seismotectonic characteristics that will help to develop a reasonable hazard model in the region. In the current progress, it is noted that the region is more seismically active than we thought. This demands the coordinated effort of the regional experts to systematically compile all available information for a better output so as to mitigate earthquake risk in the sub-Saharan Africa.

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR): A neglected tropical disease in Maghreb region of North Africa and its threat to Europe.

PubMed

Baazizi, Ratiba; Mahapatra, Mana; Clarke, Brian Donald; Ait-Oudhia, Khatima; Khelef, Djamel; Parida, Satya

2017-01-01

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) is a contagious disease listed by the World Organisation for Animal health (OIE) as being a specific hazard. It affects sheep, goats, and wild ungulates, and is prevalent throughout the developing world particularly Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. PPR has been targeted for eradication by 2030 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the OIE, after the successful eradication of the related disease, rinderpest in cattle. PPR was first reported in 1942 in the Ivory Coast in Western Africa and has since extended its range in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa posing an immediate threat of incursion into Europe, South East Asia and South Africa. Although robust vaccines are available, the use of these vaccines in a systematic and rational manner is not widespread, resulting in this devastating disease becoming an important neglected tropical disease in the developing world. We isolated and characterized the PPR virus from an outbreak in Cheraga, northern Algeria, during October 2015 by analyzing the partial N-gene sequence in comparison with other viruses from the Maghreb region. As well as sequencing the full length viral genome and performing real-time RT-PCR on clinical samples. Maximum-likelihood and Bayesian temporal and phylogeographic analyses were performed to assess the persistence and spread of PPRV circulation from Eastern Africa in the Maghreb region of North Africa. Recent PPR outbreaks in Cheraga, in the northern part of Algiers (October 2015) and North-West Morocco (June, 2015) highlight that PPRV has spread to the northern border of North Africa and may pose a threat of introduction to Europe. Phylogeographic analysis suggests that lineage IV PPRV has spread from Eastern Africa, most likely from the Sudan 2000 outbreak, into Northern Africa resulting in the 2008 Moroccan outbreak. Maximum-likelihood and Bayesian analysis shows that these North African viruses cluster closely together

Origin of Clothing Lice Indicates Early Clothing Use by Anatomically Modern Humans in Africa

PubMed Central

Toups, Melissa A.; Kitchen, Andrew; Light, Jessica E.; Reed, David L.

2011-01-01

Clothing use is an important modern behavior that contributed to the successful expansion of humans into higher latitudes and cold climates. Previous research suggests that clothing use originated anywhere between 40,000 and 3 Ma, though there is little direct archaeological, fossil, or genetic evidence to support more specific estimates. Since clothing lice evolved from head louse ancestors once humans adopted clothing, dating the emergence of clothing lice may provide more specific estimates of the origin of clothing use. Here, we use a Bayesian coalescent modeling approach to estimate that clothing lice diverged from head louse ancestors at least by 83,000 and possibly as early as 170,000 years ago. Our analysis suggests that the use of clothing likely originated with anatomically modern humans in Africa and reinforces a broad trend of modern human developments in Africa during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. PMID:20823373

Tracking Enrolments and Graduations in Humanities Education in South Africa: Are We in Crisis?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yu, K.; Pillay, V.

2011-01-01

In this article we respond to the perceived crisis in humanities education in South Africa which posits firstly that large numbers of students are leaving this field and that secondly, the value of a humanities education has declined. To do this we track the enrolments and graduation rates in humanities at both undergraduate and postgraduate…

Genetic Origins of Lactase Persistence and the Spread of Pastoralism in Africa

PubMed Central

Ranciaro, Alessia; Campbell, Michael C.; Hirbo, Jibril B.; Ko, Wen-Ya; Froment, Alain; Anagnostou, Paolo; Kotze, Maritha J.; Ibrahim, Muntaser; Nyambo, Thomas; Omar, Sabah A.; Tishkoff, Sarah A.

2014-01-01

In humans, the ability to digest lactose, the sugar in milk, declines after weaning because of decreasing levels of the enzyme lactase-phlorizin hydrolase, encoded by LCT. However, some individuals maintain high enzyme amounts and are able to digest lactose into adulthood (i.e., they have the lactase-persistence [LP] trait). It is thought that selection has played a major role in maintaining this genetically determined phenotypic trait in different human populations that practice pastoralism. To identify variants associated with the LP trait and to study its evolutionary history in Africa, we sequenced MCM6 introns 9 and 13 and ∼2 kb of the LCT promoter region in 819 individuals from 63 African populations and in 154 non-Africans from nine populations. We also genotyped four microsatellites in an ∼198 kb region in a subset of 252 individuals to reconstruct the origin and spread of LP-associated variants in Africa. Additionally, we examined the association between LP and genetic variability at candidate regulatory regions in 513 individuals from eastern Africa. Our analyses confirmed the association between the LP trait and three common variants in intron 13 (C-14010, G-13907, and G-13915). Furthermore, we identified two additional LP-associated SNPs in intron 13 and the promoter region (G-12962 and T-956, respectively). Using neutrality tests based on the allele frequency spectrum and long-range linkage disequilibrium, we detected strong signatures of recent positive selection in eastern African populations and the Fulani from central Africa. In addition, haplotype analysis supported an eastern African origin of the C-14010 LP-associated mutation in southern Africa. PMID:24630847

Genomic and cranial phenotype data support multiple modern human dispersals from Africa and a southern route into Asia

PubMed Central

Reyes-Centeno, Hugo; Ghirotto, Silvia; Détroit, Florent; Grimaud-Hervé, Dominique; Barbujani, Guido; Harvati, Katerina

2014-01-01

Despite broad consensus on Africa as the main place of origin for anatomically modern humans, their dispersal pattern out of the continent continues to be intensely debated. In extant human populations, the observation of decreasing genetic and phenotypic diversity at increasing distances from sub-Saharan Africa has been interpreted as evidence for a single dispersal, accompanied by a series of founder effects. In such a scenario, modern human genetic and phenotypic variation was primarily generated through successive population bottlenecks and drift during a rapid worldwide expansion out of Africa in the Late Pleistocene. However, recent genetic studies, as well as accumulating archaeological and paleoanthropological evidence, challenge this parsimonious model. They suggest instead a “southern route” dispersal into Asia as early as the late Middle Pleistocene, followed by a separate dispersal into northern Eurasia. Here we test these competing out-of-Africa scenarios by modeling hypothetical geographical migration routes and assessing their correlation with neutral population differentiation, as measured by genetic polymorphisms and cranial shape variables of modern human populations from Africa and Asia. We show that both lines of evidence support a multiple-dispersals model in which Australo-Melanesian populations are relatively isolated descendants of an early dispersal, whereas other Asian populations are descended from, or highly admixed with, members of a subsequent migration event. PMID:24753576

Climatic controls on Later Stone Age human adaptation in Africa's southern Cape.

PubMed

Chase, Brian M; Faith, J Tyler; Mackay, Alex; Chevalier, Manuel; Carr, Andrew S; Boom, Arnoud; Lim, Sophak; Reimer, Paula J

2018-01-01

Africa's southern Cape is a key region for the evolution of our species, with early symbolic systems, marine faunal exploitation, and episodic production of microlithic stone tools taken as evidence for the appearance of distinctively complex human behavior. However, the temporally discontinuous nature of this evidence precludes ready assumptions of intrinsic adaptive benefit, and has encouraged diverse explanations for the occurrence of these behaviors, in terms of regional demographic, social and ecological conditions. Here, we present a new high-resolution multi-proxy record of environmental change that indicates that faunal exploitation patterns and lithic technologies track climatic variation across the last 22,300 years in the southern Cape. Conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum and deglaciation were humid, and zooarchaeological data indicate high foraging returns. By contrast, the Holocene is characterized by much drier conditions and a degraded resource base. Critically, we demonstrate that systems for technological delivery - or provisioning - were responsive to changing humidity and environmental productivity. However, in contrast to prevailing models, bladelet-rich microlithic technologies were deployed under conditions of high foraging returns and abandoned in response to increased aridity and less productive subsistence environments. This suggests that posited links between microlithic technologies and subsistence risk are not universal, and the behavioral sophistication of human populations is reflected in their adaptive flexibility rather than in the use of specific technological systems. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Education and Primitive Accumulation in Sub-Saharan Africa.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Emoungu, Paul-Albert N.

1992-01-01

The 1988 World Bank report on education in sub-Saharan Africa overstates the regional "crisis" in educational quality and recommends unrealistic strategies, ignoring the fact that basic human needs such as education are unmet because political elites corruptly privatize much of the wealth generated by their nations' economies. (SV)

Managing the human component of fire regimes: lessons from Africa.

PubMed

Archibald, Sally

2016-06-05

Human impacts on fire regimes accumulated slowly with the evolution of modern humans able to ignite fires and manipulate landscapes. Today, myriad voices aim to influence fire in grassy ecosystems to different ends, and this is complicated by a colonial past focused on suppressing fire and preventing human ignitions. Here, I review available evidence on the impacts of people on various fire characteristics such as the number and size of fires, fire intensity, fire frequency and seasonality of fire in African grassy ecosystems, with the intention of focusing the debate and identifying areas of uncertainty. Humans alter seasonal patterns of fire in grassy systems but tend to decrease total fire emissions: livestock have replaced fire as the dominant consumer in many parts of Africa, and fragmented landscapes reduce area burned. Humans alter the season and time of day when fires occur, with important implications for fire intensity, tree-grass dynamics and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Late season fires are more common when fire is banned or illegal: these later fires are far more intense but emit fewer GHGs. The types of fires which preserve human livelihoods and biodiversity are not always aligned with the goal of reducing GHG concentrations. Current fire management challenges therefore involve balancing the needs of a large rural population against national and global perspectives on the desirability of different types of fire, but this cannot happen unless the interests of all parties are equally represented. In the future, Africa is expected to urbanize and land use to intensify, which will imply different trajectories for the continent's fire regimes.This article is part of the themed issue 'The interaction of fire and mankind. © 2016 The Author(s).

Impact of dynamical regionalization on precipitation biases and teleconnections over West Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gómara, Iñigo; Mohino, Elsa; Losada, Teresa; Domínguez, Marta; Suárez-Moreno, Roberto; Rodríguez-Fonseca, Belén

2018-06-01

West African societies are highly dependent on the West African Monsoon (WAM). Thus, a correct representation of the WAM in climate models is of paramount importance. In this article, the ability of 8 CMIP5 historical General Circulation Models (GCMs) and 4 CORDEX-Africa Regional Climate Models (RCMs) to characterize the WAM dynamics and variability is assessed for the period July-August-September 1979-2004. Simulations are compared with observations. Uncertainties in RCM performance and lateral boundary conditions are assessed individually. Results show that both GCMs and RCMs have trouble to simulate the northward migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone in boreal summer. The greatest bias improvements are obtained after regionalization of the most inaccurate GCM simulations. To assess WAM variability, a Maximum Covariance Analysis is performed between Sea Surface Temperature and precipitation anomalies in observations, GCM and RCM simulations. The assessed variability patterns are: El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO); the eastern Mediterranean (MED); and the Atlantic Equatorial Mode (EM). Evidence is given that regionalization of the ENSO-WAM teleconnection does not provide any added value. Unlike GCMs, RCMs are unable to precisely represent the ENSO impact on air subsidence over West Africa. Contrastingly, the simulation of the MED-WAM teleconnection is improved after regionalization. Humidity advection and convergence over the Sahel area are better simulated by RCMs. Finally, no robust conclusions can be determined for the EM-WAM teleconnection, which cannot be isolated for the 1979-2004 period. The novel results in this article will help to select the most appropriate RCM simulations to study WAM teleconnections.

EHDI Africa: advocating for infants with hearing loss in Africa.

PubMed

Swanepoel, DeWet; Störbeck, Claudine

2008-01-01

Children with hearing loss who happen to reside in Africa deserve the chance to develop according to their potential as much as their peers living in more affluent regions. This leaves a moral obligation to pursue ways of initiating, developing,and growing early hearing detection and intervention services in Africa. For these reasons, the first EHDI Africa international conference was held in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2007 (13-14 August). The theme was 'Building bridges in Africa: Early childhood development for children with hearing loss'. This special issue contains several reports from the EHDI Africa conference.

What factors might have led to the emergence of Ebola in West Africa?

PubMed

Alexander, Kathleen A; Sanderson, Claire E; Marathe, Madav; Lewis, Bryan L; Rivers, Caitlin M; Shaman, Jeffrey; Drake, John M; Lofgren, Eric; Dato, Virginia M; Eisenberg, Marisa C; Eubank, Stephen

2015-01-01

An Ebola outbreak of unprecedented scope emerged in West Africa in December 2013 and presently continues unabated in the countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. Ebola is not new to Africa, and outbreaks have been confirmed as far back as 1976. The current West African Ebola outbreak is the largest ever recorded and differs dramatically from prior outbreaks in its duration, number of people affected, and geographic extent. The emergence of this deadly disease in West Africa invites many questions, foremost among these: why now, and why in West Africa? Here, we review the sociological, ecological, and environmental drivers that might have influenced the emergence of Ebola in this region of Africa and its spread throughout the region. Containment of the West African Ebola outbreak is the most pressing, immediate need. A comprehensive assessment of the drivers of Ebola emergence and sustained human-to-human transmission is also needed in order to prepare other countries for importation or emergence of this disease. Such assessment includes identification of country-level protocols and interagency policies for outbreak detection and rapid response, increased understanding of cultural and traditional risk factors within and between nations, delivery of culturally embedded public health education, and regional coordination and collaboration, particularly with governments and health ministries throughout Africa. Public health education is also urgently needed in countries outside of Africa in order to ensure that risk is properly understood and public concerns do not escalate unnecessarily. To prevent future outbreaks, coordinated, multiscale, early warning systems should be developed that make full use of these integrated assessments, partner with local communities in high-risk areas, and provide clearly defined response recommendations specific to the needs of each community.

What Factors Might Have Led to the Emergence of Ebola in West Africa?

PubMed Central

Alexander, Kathleen A.; Sanderson, Claire E.; Marathe, Madav; Lewis, Bryan L.; Rivers, Caitlin M.; Shaman, Jeffrey; Drake, John M.; Lofgren, Eric; Dato, Virginia M.; Eisenberg, Marisa C.; Eubank, Stephen

2015-01-01

An Ebola outbreak of unprecedented scope emerged in West Africa in December 2013 and presently continues unabated in the countries of Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. Ebola is not new to Africa, and outbreaks have been confirmed as far back as 1976. The current West African Ebola outbreak is the largest ever recorded and differs dramatically from prior outbreaks in its duration, number of people affected, and geographic extent. The emergence of this deadly disease in West Africa invites many questions, foremost among these: why now, and why in West Africa? Here, we review the sociological, ecological, and environmental drivers that might have influenced the emergence of Ebola in this region of Africa and its spread throughout the region. Containment of the West African Ebola outbreak is the most pressing, immediate need. A comprehensive assessment of the drivers of Ebola emergence and sustained human-to-human transmission is also needed in order to prepare other countries for importation or emergence of this disease. Such assessment includes identification of country-level protocols and interagency policies for outbreak detection and rapid response, increased understanding of cultural and traditional risk factors within and between nations, delivery of culturally embedded public health education, and regional coordination and collaboration, particularly with governments and health ministries throughout Africa. Public health education is also urgently needed in countries outside of Africa in order to ensure that risk is properly understood and public concerns do not escalate unnecessarily. To prevent future outbreaks, coordinated, multiscale, early warning systems should be developed that make full use of these integrated assessments, partner with local communities in high-risk areas, and provide clearly defined response recommendations specific to the needs of each community. PMID:26042592

Validation of the regional climate model MAR over the CORDEX Africa domain and comparison with other regional models using unpublished data set

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prignon, Maxime; Agosta, Cécile; Kittel, Christoph; Fettweis, Xavier; Michel, Erpicum

2016-04-01

In the framework of the CORDEX project, we have applied the regional model MAR over the Africa domain at a resolution of 50 km. ERA-Interim and NCEP-NCAR reanalysis have been used as 6 hourly forcing at the MAR boundaries over 1950-2015. While MAR was already been validated over the West Africa, it is the first time that MAR simulations are carried out at the scale of the whole continent. Unpublished daily measurements, covering the Sahel and more areas up South, with a large set of variables, are used as validation of MAR, other CORDEX-Africa RCMs and both reanalyses. Comparisons with the CRU and the ECA&D databases are also performed. The unpublished daily data set covers the period 1884-2006 and comes from 1460 stations. The measured variables are wind, evapotranspiration, relative humidity, insolation, rain, surface pressure, temperature, vapour pressure and visibility. It covers 23 countries: Algeria, Benin, Burkina, Canary Islands, Cap Verde, Central Africa, Chad, Congo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan and Togo.

Regional Climate Change Hotspots over Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anber, U.

2009-04-01

Regional Climate Change Index (RCCI), is developed based on regional mean precipitation change, mean surface air temperature change, and change in precipitation and temperature interannual variability. The RCCI is a comparative index designed to identify the most responsive regions to climate change, or Hot- Spots. The RCCI is calculated for Seven land regions over North Africa and Arabian region from the latest set of climate change projections by 14 global climates for the A1B, A2 and B1 IPCC emission scenarios. The concept of climate change can be approaches from the viewpoint of vulnerability or from that of climate response. In the former case a Hot-Spot can be defined as a region for which potential climate change impacts on the environment or different activity sectors can be particularly pronounced. In the other case, a Hot-Spot can be defined as a region whose climate is especially responsive to global change. In particular, the characterization of climate change response-based Hot-Spot can provide key information to identify and investigate climate change Hot-Spots based on results from multi-model ensemble of climate change simulations performed by modeling groups from around the world as contributions to the Assessment Report of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). A Regional Climate Change Index (RCCI) is defined based on four variables: change in regional mean surface air temperature relative to the global average temperature change ( or Regional Warming Amplification Factor, RWAF ), change in mean regional precipitation ( , of present day value ), change in regional surface air temperature interannual variability ( ,of present day value), change in regional precipitation interannual variability ( , of present day value ). In the definition of the RCCI it is important to include quantities other than mean change because often mean changes are not the only important factors for specific impacts. We thus also include inter annual

Human Heredity and Health (H3) in Africa Kidney Disease Research Network: A Focus on Methods in Sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Osafo, Charlotte; Raji, Yemi Raheem; Burke, David; Tayo, Bamidele O; Tiffin, Nicki; Moxey-Mims, Marva M; Rasooly, Rebekah S; Kimmel, Paul L; Ojo, Akinlolu; Adu, Dwomoa; Parekh, Rulan S

2015-12-07

CKD affects an estimated 14% of adults in sub-Saharan Africa, but very little research has been done on the cause, progression, and prevention of CKD there. As part of the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) Consortium, the H3Africa Kidney Disease Research Network was established to study prevalent forms of kidney disease in sub-Saharan Africa and increase the capacity for genetics and genomics research. The study is performing comprehensive phenotypic characterization and analyzing environmental and genetic factors from nine clinical centers in four African countries (Ghana, Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Kenya) over a 5-year period. Approximately 4000 participants with specified kidney disease diagnoses and 4000 control participants will be enrolled in the four African countries. In addition, approximately 50 families with hereditary glomerular disease will be enrolled. The study includes both pediatric and adult participants age <1 to 74 years across a broad spectrum of kidney diseases secondary to hypertension-attributed nephropathy, diabetes, HIV infection, sickle cell disease, biopsy-proven glomerular disease, and CKD of unknown origin. Clinical and demographic data with biospecimens are collected to assess clinical, biochemical, and genetic markers of kidney disease. As of March 2015, a total of 3499 patients and controls have been recruited and 1897 had complete entry data for analysis. Slightly more than half (50.2%) of the cohort is female. Initial quality control of clinical data collection and of biosample and DNA analysis is satisfactory, demonstrating that a clinical research infrastructure can be successfully established in Africa. This study will provide clinical, biochemical, and genotypic data that will greatly increase the understanding of CKD in sub-Saharan Africa. Copyright © 2015 by the American Society of Nephrology.

Quantification of uncertainties related to the regional application of a conceptual hydrological model in Benin (West Africa)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bormann, H.; Diekkrüger, B.

2003-04-01

A conceptual model is presented to simulate the water fluxes of regional catchments in Benin (West Africa). The model is applied in the framework of the IMPETUS project (an integrated approach to the efficient management of scarce water resources in West Africa) which aims to assess the effects of environmental and anthropogenic changes on the regional hydrological processes and on the water availability in Benin. In order to assess the effects of decreasing precipitation and increasing human activities on the hydrological processes in the upper Ouémé valley, a scenario analysis is performed to predict possible changes. Therefore a regional hydrological model is proposed which reproduces the recent hydrological processes, and which is able to consider the changes of landscape properties.The study presented aims to check the validity of the conceptual and lumped model under the conditions of the subhumid tree savannah and therefore analyses the importance of possible sources of uncertainty. Main focus is set on the uncertainties caused by input data, model parameters and model structure. As the model simulates the water fluxes at the catchment outlet of the Térou river (3133 km2) in a sufficient quality, first results of a scenario analysis are presented. Changes of interest are the expected future decrease in amount and temporal structure of the precipitation (e.g. minus X percent precipitation during the whole season versus minus X percent precipitation in the end of the rainy season, alternatively), the decrease in soil water storage capacity which is caused by erosion, and the increasing consumption of ground water for drinking water and agricultural purposes. Resuming from the results obtained, the perspectives of lumped and conceptual models are discussed with special regard to available management options of this kind of models. Advantages and disadvantages compared to alternative model approaches (process based, physics based) are discussed.

The southern route "out of Africa": evidence for an early expansion of modern humans into Arabia.

PubMed

Armitage, Simon J; Jasim, Sabah A; Marks, Anthony E; Parker, Adrian G; Usik, Vitaly I; Uerpmann, Hans-Peter

2011-01-28

The timing of the dispersal of anatomically modern humans (AMH) out of Africa is a fundamental question in human evolutionary studies. Existing data suggest a rapid coastal exodus via the Indian Ocean rim around 60,000 years ago. We present evidence from Jebel Faya, United Arab Emirates, demonstrating human presence in eastern Arabia during the last interglacial. The tool kit found at Jebel Faya has affinities to the late Middle Stone Age in northeast Africa, indicating that technological innovation was not necessary to facilitate migration into Arabia. Instead, we propose that low eustatic sea level and increased rainfall during the transition between marine isotope stages 6 and 5 allowed humans to populate Arabia. This evidence implies that AMH may have been present in South Asia before the Toba eruption.

Monitoring vegetation dynamics with medium resolution MODIS-EVI time series at sub-regional scale in southern Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dubovyk, Olena; Landmann, Tobias; Erasmus, Barend F. N.; Tewes, Andreas; Schellberg, Jürgen

2015-06-01

Currently there is a lack of knowledge on spatio-temporal patterns of land surface dynamics at medium spatial scale in southern Africa, even though this information is essential for better understanding of ecosystem response to climatic variability and human-induced land transformations. In this study, we analysed vegetation dynamics across a large area in southern Africa using the 14-years (2000-2013) of medium spatial resolution (250 m) MODIS-EVI time-series data. Specifically, we investigated temporal changes in the time series of key phenometrics including overall greenness, peak and timing of annual greenness over the monitoring period and study region. In order to specifically capture spatial and per pixel vegetation changes over time, we calculated trends in these phenometrics using a robust trend analysis method. The results showed that interannual vegetation dynamics followed precipitation patterns with clearly differentiated seasonality. The earliest peak greenness during 2000-2013 occurred at the end of January in the year 2000 and the latest peak greenness was observed at the mid of March in 2012. Specifically spatial patterns of long-term vegetation trends allowed mapping areas of (i) decrease or increase in overall greenness, (ii) decrease or increase of peak greenness, and (iii) shifts in timing of occurrence of peak greenness over the 14-year monitoring period. The observed vegetation decline in the study area was mainly attributed to human-induced factors. The obtained information is useful to guide selection of field sites for detailed vegetation studies and land rehabilitation interventions and serve as an input for a range of land surface models.

What motivates use of community-based human immunodeficiency virus testing in rural South Africa?

PubMed Central

Upadhya, Devesh; Moll, Anthony P; Brooks, Ralph P; Friedland, Gerald; Shenoi, Sheela V

2016-01-01

Despite substantial progress in implementing human immunodeficiency virus testing, challenges remain in achieving widespread uptake particularly in rural resource-limited settings. We sought to understand motivations for human immunodeficiency virus testing in a community-based human immunodeficiency virus testing programme in rural South Africa. We conducted a questionnaire survey in participants undergoing voluntary human immunodeficiency virus testing within an ongoing community-based integrated human immunodeficiency virus/TB intensive case finding programme at congregate rural settings. Participants responded to a six-item non-mutually exclusive motivations survey which included the topics of feeling ill, recent HV exposure, risky lifestyle, illness in a family member, and pregnancy. Among 2068 respondents completing the survey, 1393 (67.4%) were women, median age was 40 years (IQR 19–56), and 1235 (59.7%) were first time testers. Among all testers, 142 (6.9%) were human immunodeficiency virus-positive with median CD4 count 346 (IQR 218–542). Community-based testing for human immunodeficiency virus is acceptable and meets the needs of community members in rural South Africa. Motivations for human immunodeficiency virus testing at the community level are complex and differ according to gender, age, site of community testing, and human immunodeficiency virus status. These differences can be utilised to improve the focus and yield of community-based human immunodeficiency virus screening. PMID:26134323

Human amplification of drought-driven fire in tropical regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tosca, Michael

2015-04-01

The change in globally-measured radiative forcing from the pre-industrial to the present due to interactions between aerosol particles and cloud cover has the largest uncertainty of all anthropogenic factors. Uncertainties are largest in the tropics, where total cloud amount and incoming solar radiation are highest, and where 50% of all aerosol emissions originate from anthropogenic fire. It is well understood that interactions between smoke particles and cloud droplets modify cloud cover , which in turn affects climate, however, few studies have observed the temporal nature of aerosol-cloud interactions without the use of a model. Here we apply a novel approach to measure the effect of fire aerosols on convective clouds in tropical regions (Brazil, Africa and Indonesia) through a combination of remote sensing and meteorological data. We attribute a reduction in cloud fraction during periods of high aerosol optical depths to a smoke-driven inhibition of convection. We find that higher smoke burdens limit vertical updrafts, increase surface pressure, and increase low- level divergence-meteorological indicators of convective suppression. These results are corroborated by climate model simulations that show a smoke-driven increase in regionally averaged shortwave tropospheric heating and boundary layer stratification, and a decrease in vertical velocity and precipitation during the fire season (December-February). We then quantify the human response to decreased cloud cover using a combination of socioeconomic and climate data Our results suggest that, in tropical regions, anthropogenic fire initiates a positive feedback loop where increased aerosol emissions limit convection, dry the surface and enable increased fire activity via human ignition. This result has far-reaching implications for fire management and climate policy in emerging countries along the equator that utilize fire.

Education and language: A human right for sustainable development in Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babaci-Wilhite, Zehlia; Geo-JaJa, Macleans A.; Lou, Shizhou

2012-10-01

Pre-colonial Africa was neither an educationally nor a technologically unsophisticated continent. While education was an integral part of the culture, issues of language identification and standardisation which are subject to contentious debate today were insignificant. Children learned community knowledge and history by asking questions instead of being taught in a hegemonic alien language. This article argues that education and development should take place in a broader context of human rights, and explores the links between three areas often dealt with separately, namely: language, education and development. The authors of this paper demonstrate that changing the face of the multi-dimensionalities of poverty within societies is possible only when education is constructed in a rights perspective over the favoured colonial languages, which are not an integral part of the culture and resources of a community. The authors make a distinction between the right to education and rights in education, the latter of which are found to be more significant for the challenges Africa faces. It is argued here that the elements of Amartya Sen's "threshold" conditions for inclusion in human rights and self-development in education are essential, and that a more promising architecture of education would include what the authors term meta-narrative frameworks, i.e. interrelated policies. The authors contend that the neoliberal commodification of the knowledge sector has only exacerbated human rights and capabilities deprivation - which encompasses both human and income poverty.

Ages for the Middle Stone Age of southern Africa: implications for human behavior and dispersal.

PubMed

Jacobs, Zenobia; Roberts, Richard G; Galbraith, Rex F; Deacon, Hilary J; Grün, Rainer; Mackay, Alex; Mitchell, Peter; Vogelsang, Ralf; Wadley, Lyn

2008-10-31

The expansion of modern human populations in Africa 80,000 to 60,000 years ago and their initial exodus out of Africa have been tentatively linked to two phases of technological and behavioral innovation within the Middle Stone Age of southern Africa-the Still Bay and Howieson's Poort industries-that are associated with early evidence for symbols and personal ornaments. Establishing the correct sequence of events, however, has been hampered by inadequate chronologies. We report ages for nine sites from varied climatic and ecological zones across southern Africa that show that both industries were short-lived (5000 years or less), separated by about 7000 years, and coeval with genetic estimates of population expansion and exit times. Comparison with climatic records shows that these bursts of innovative behavior cannot be explained by environmental factors alone.

Simulating malaria transmission in the current and future climate of West Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamana, T. K.; Bomblies, A.; Eltahir, E. A. B.

2015-12-01

Malaria transmission in West Africa is closely tied to climate, as rain fed water pools provide breeding habitat for the anopheles mosquito vector, and temperature affects the mosquito's ability to spread disease. We present results of a highly detailed, spatially explicit mechanistic modelling study exploring the relationships between the environment and malaria in the current and future climate of West Africa. A mechanistic model of human immunity was incorporated into an existing agent-based model of malaria transmission, allowing us to move beyond entomological measures such as mosquito density and vectorial capacity to analyzing the prevalence of the malaria parasite within human populations. The result is a novel modelling tool that mechanistically simulates all of the key processes linking environment to malaria transmission. Simulations were conducted across climate zones in West Africa, linking temperature and rainfall to entomological and epidemiological variables with a focus on nonlinearities due to threshold effects and interannual variability. Comparisons to observations from the region confirmed that the model provides a reasonable representation of the entomological and epidemiological conditions in this region. We used the predictions of future climate from the most credible CMIP5 climate models to predict the change in frequency and severity of malaria epidemics in West Africa as a result of climate change.

Diagnosis of human fascioliasis in Arusha region, northern Tanzania by microscopy and clinical manifestations in patients.

PubMed

Lukambagire, Abdul-Hamid Settenda; Mchaile, Deborah N; Nyindo, Mramba

2015-12-23

Human fascioliasis (HF) is a zoonotic disease that has been identified in many countries worldwide. This report concerns the identification and clinical management of cases of human fascioliasis in the suburbs of Arusha city, northern Tanzania in 2013. Fascioliasis is included among the WHO's Neglected Tropical Diseases as a plant transmitted trematode infection. Human fascioliasis has not been described before in the East Africa region, including Tanzania. Patients presenting at a primary healthcare centre in Arusha Region, northern Tanzania provided fresh stool samples for routine ova and parasite screening (saline and iodine preparations). Subsequent stool samples were preserved in 5 % formalin in saline and subjected to ether sedimentation for examination. Out of 1460 patients, 305 (21 %) were diagnosed positive for fascioliasis based on the demonstration of brownish, oval eggs with inconspicuous opercula in stool. Two distinct egg sizes were identified; large 170-212.5 by 115-150 μm (mean 194.5 by 130.5 μm) and smaller eggs 120-150 by 87.5 - 112.5 μm (mean 138.8 by 101 μm). Clinically, patients presented with fever (39 - 40 °C) and abdominal pain. Some patients had pruritis around the mouth and their lips were swollen. 3 patients were treated and cured with single dose Triclabendazole. The remaining 302 patients were treated with Nitazoxanide and 122 (40 %) were cleared of infection with a single course. Snails of the genus Lymnaea were found in the surroundings. This report serves to remind medical professionals in East Africa that HF is a probable differential diagnosis in patients presenting with similar symptoms. It is possible to diagnose fascioliasis by light microscopy although specific antigen tests are required for confirmation. Human fascioliasis however, has not been described or reported in Tanzania before and begs further investigation.

Sensitivity of the atmospheric water cycle to corrections of the sea surface temperature bias over southern Africa in a regional climate model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weber, Torsten; Haensler, Andreas; Jacob, Daniela

2017-12-01

Regional climate models (RCMs) have been used to dynamically downscale global climate projections at high spatial and temporal resolution in order to analyse the atmospheric water cycle. In southern Africa, precipitation pattern were strongly affected by the moisture transport from the southeast Atlantic and southwest Indian Ocean and, consequently, by their sea surface temperatures (SSTs). However, global ocean models often have deficiencies in resolving regional to local scale ocean currents, e.g. in ocean areas offshore the South African continent. By downscaling global climate projections using RCMs, the biased SSTs from the global forcing data were introduced to the RCMs and affected the results of regional climate projections. In this work, the impact of the SST bias correction on precipitation, evaporation and moisture transport were analysed over southern Africa. For this analysis, several experiments were conducted with the regional climate model REMO using corrected and uncorrected SSTs. In these experiments, a global MPI-ESM-LR historical simulation was downscaled with the regional climate model REMO to a high spatial resolution of 50 × 50 km2 and of 25 × 25 km2 for southern Africa using a double-nesting method. The results showed a distinct impact of the corrected SST on the moisture transport, the meridional vertical circulation and on the precipitation pattern in southern Africa. Furthermore, it was found that the experiment with the corrected SST led to a reduction of the wet bias over southern Africa and to a better agreement with observations as without SST bias corrections.

Massive Open Online Courses for Africa by Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oyo, Benedict; Kalema, Billy Mathias

2014-01-01

Africa is known for inadequate access to all sorts of human needs including health, education, food, shelter, transport, security, and energy. Before the emergence of massive open online courses (MOOCs), open access to higher education (HE) was exclusive of Africa. However, as a generally affordable method of post-secondary education delivery,…

Vegetation-climate feedback causes reduced precipitation in CMIP5 regional Earth system model simulation over Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Minchao; Smith, Benjamin; Schurgers, Guy; Lindström, Joe; Rummukainen, Markku; Samuelsson, Patrick

2013-04-01

Terrestrial ecosystems have been demonstrated to play a significant role within the climate system, amplifying or dampening climate change via biogeophysical and biogeochemical exchange with the atmosphere and vice versa (Cox et al. 2000; Betts et al. 2004). Africa is particularly vulnerable to climate change and studies of vegetation-climate feedback mechanisms on Africa are still limited. Our study is the first application of A coupled Earth system model at regional scale and resolution over Africa. We applied a coupled regional climate-vegetation model, RCA-GUESS (Smith et al. 2011), over the CORDEX Africa domain, forced by boundary conditions from a CanESM2 CMIP5 simulation under the RCP8.5 future climate scenario. The simulations were from 1961 to 2100 and covered the African continent at a horizontal grid spacing of 0.44°. RCA-GUESS simulates changes in the phenology, productivity, relative cover and population structure of up to eight plant function types (PFTs) in response to forcing from the climate part of the model. These vegetation changes feedback to simulated climate through dynamic adjustments in surface energy fluxes and surface properties. Changes in the net ecosystem-atmosphere carbon flux and its components net primary production (NPP), heterotrophic respiration and emissions from biomass burning were also simulated but do not feedback to climate in our model. Constant land cover was assumed. We compared simulations with and without vegetation feedback switched "on" to assess the influence of vegetation-climate feedback on simulated climate, vegetation and ecosystem carbon cycling. Both positive and negative warming feedbacks were identified in different parts of Africa. In the Sahel savannah zone near 15°N, reduced vegetation cover and productivity, and mortality caused by a deterioration of soil water conditions led to a positive warming feedback mediated by decreased evapotranspiration and increased sensible heat flux between vegetation and

Human bony labyrinth is an indicator of population history and dispersal from Africa

PubMed Central

Ponce de León, Marcia S.; Koesbardiati, Toetik; Weissmann, John David; Milella, Marco; Reyna-Blanco, Carlos S.; Suwa, Gen; Kondo, Osamu; Malaspinas, Anna-Sapfo; White, Tim D.; Zollikofer, Christoph P. E.

2018-01-01

The dispersal of modern humans from Africa is now well documented with genetic data that track population history, as well as gene flow between populations. Phenetic skeletal data, such as cranial and pelvic morphologies, also exhibit a dispersal-from-Africa signal, which, however, tends to be blurred by the effects of local adaptation and in vivo phenotypic plasticity, and that is often deteriorated by postmortem damage to skeletal remains. These complexities raise the question of which skeletal structures most effectively track neutral population history. The cavity system of the inner ear (the so-called bony labyrinth) is a good candidate structure for such analyses. It is already fully formed by birth, which minimizes postnatal phenotypic plasticity, and it is generally well preserved in archaeological samples. Here we use morphometric data of the bony labyrinth to show that it is a surprisingly good marker of the global dispersal of modern humans from Africa. Labyrinthine morphology tracks genetic distances and geography in accordance with an isolation-by-distance model with dispersal from Africa. Our data further indicate that the neutral-like pattern of variation is compatible with stabilizing selection on labyrinth morphology. Given the increasingly important role of the petrous bone for ancient DNA recovery from archaeological specimens, we encourage researchers to acquire 3D morphological data of the inner ear structures before any invasive sampling. Such data will constitute an important archive of phenotypic variation in present and past populations, and will permit individual-based genotype–phenotype comparisons. PMID:29610337

Human bony labyrinth is an indicator of population history and dispersal from Africa.

PubMed

Ponce de León, Marcia S; Koesbardiati, Toetik; Weissmann, John David; Milella, Marco; Reyna-Blanco, Carlos S; Suwa, Gen; Kondo, Osamu; Malaspinas, Anna-Sapfo; White, Tim D; Zollikofer, Christoph P E

2018-04-17

The dispersal of modern humans from Africa is now well documented with genetic data that track population history, as well as gene flow between populations. Phenetic skeletal data, such as cranial and pelvic morphologies, also exhibit a dispersal-from-Africa signal, which, however, tends to be blurred by the effects of local adaptation and in vivo phenotypic plasticity, and that is often deteriorated by postmortem damage to skeletal remains. These complexities raise the question of which skeletal structures most effectively track neutral population history. The cavity system of the inner ear (the so-called bony labyrinth) is a good candidate structure for such analyses. It is already fully formed by birth, which minimizes postnatal phenotypic plasticity, and it is generally well preserved in archaeological samples. Here we use morphometric data of the bony labyrinth to show that it is a surprisingly good marker of the global dispersal of modern humans from Africa. Labyrinthine morphology tracks genetic distances and geography in accordance with an isolation-by-distance model with dispersal from Africa. Our data further indicate that the neutral-like pattern of variation is compatible with stabilizing selection on labyrinth morphology. Given the increasingly important role of the petrous bone for ancient DNA recovery from archaeological specimens, we encourage researchers to acquire 3D morphological data of the inner ear structures before any invasive sampling. Such data will constitute an important archive of phenotypic variation in present and past populations, and will permit individual-based genotype-phenotype comparisons. Copyright © 2018 the Author(s). Published by PNAS.

Analysing regional climate change in Africa in a 1.5 °C global warming world

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weber, Torsten; Haensler, Andreas; Jacob, Daniela

2017-04-01

At the 21st session of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris, a reaffirmation to strengthen the effort to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 °C was decided. However, even if global warming is limited, some regions might still be substantially affected by climate change, especially for continents like Africa where the socio-economic conditions are strongly linked to the climatic conditions. Hence, providing a detailed analysis of the projected climate changes in a 1.5 °C global warming scenario will allow the African society to undertake measures for adaptation in order to mitigate potential negative consequences. In order to provide such climate change information, the existing CORDEX Africa ensemble for RCP2.6 scenario simulations has systematically been increased by conducting additional REMO simulations using data from various global circulation models (GCMs) as lateral boundary conditions. Based on this ensemble, which now consists of eleven CORDEX Africa RCP2.6 regional climate model simulations from three RCMs (forced with different GCMs), various temperature and precipitation indices such as number of cold/hot days and nights, duration of the rainy season, the amount of rainfall in the rainy seasons and the number of dry spells have been calculated for a 1.5 °C global warming scenario. The applied method to define the 1.5 °C global warming period has been already applied in the IMPACT2C project. In our presentation, we will discuss the analysis of the climate indices in a 1.5 °C global warming world for the CORDEX-Africa region. Amongst presenting the magnitude of projected changes, we will also address the question for selected indices if the changes projected in a 1.5 °C global warming scenario are already larger than the climate variability and we will also draw links to the changes projected under a more extreme scenario.

West Nile virus lineage 2 as a cause of zoonotic neurological disease in humans and horses in southern Africa.

PubMed

Venter, Marietjie; Swanepoel, Robert

2010-10-01

West Nile virus (WNV) is widely distributed in South Africa, but since a few cases of neurological disease have been reported from this region, endemic lineage 2 strains were postulated to be of low virulence. Several cases of nonfatal encephalitis in humans as well as fatal cases in a foal, dog, and ostrich chicks have, however, been associated with lineage 2 WNV in South Africa. The pathogenesis of lineage 2 WNV strains was investigated using mouse neuroinvasive experiments, gene expression experiments, and genome sequence comparisons which indicated that lineage 2 strains that are highly pathogenic exist. To determine whether cases of WNV were being missed in South Africa, horses with fever and neurological disease were investigated. Several cases of WNV were identified, all associated with severe neurological disease, 85% of which had to be euthanized or died. All cases positive by RT-PCR were shown to belong to lineage 2 WNV by DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. Two cases of occupational infection were investigated, including a case of zoonotic transmission to a veterinarian who performed an autopsy on one of the horses as well as a laboratory infection after a needle stick injury with a neuroinvasive lineage 2 strain. Both resulted in neurological disease. Cytokine expression was investigated in the second case to assess the immunopathogenesis of WNV. Collectively, these studies suggest that lineage 2 WNV may be significantly under estimated as a cause of neurological disease in South Africa.

Lower Silurian `hot shales' in North Africa and Arabia: regional distribution and depositional model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lüning, S.; Craig, J.; Loydell, D. K.; Štorch, P.; Fitches, B.

2000-03-01

Lowermost Silurian organic-rich (`hot') shales are the origin of 80-90% of Palaeozoic sourced hydrocarbons in North Africa and also played a major role in petroleum generation on the Arabian Peninsula. In most cases, the shales were deposited directly above upper Ordovician (peri-) glacial sandstones during the initial early Silurian transgression that was a result of the melting of the late Ordovician icecap. Deposition of the main organic-rich shale unit in the North African/Arabian region was restricted to the earliest Silurian Rhuddanian stage ( acuminatus, atavus and probably early cyphus graptolite biozones). During this short period (1-2 m.y.), a favourable combination of factors existed which led to the development of exceptionally strong oxygen-deficiency in the area. In most countries of the study area, the post-Rhuddanian Silurian shales are organically lean and have not contributed to petroleum generation. The distribution and thickness of the basal Silurian `hot' shales have been mapped in detail for the whole North African region, using logs from some 300 exploration wells in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. In addition, all relevant, accessible published and unpublished surface and subsurface data of the lower Silurian shales in North Africa and Arabia have been reviewed, including sedimentological, biostratigraphic and organic geochemical data. The lowermost Silurian hot shales of northern Gondwana are laterally discontinuous and their distribution and thickness were controlled by the early Silurian palaeorelief which was shaped mainly by glacial processes of the late Ordovician ice age and by Pan-African and Infracambrian compressional and extensional tectonism. The thickest and areally most extensive basal Silurian organic-rich shales in North Africa occur in Algeria, Tunisia and western Libya, while on the Arabian Peninsula they are most prolific in Saudi Arabia, Oman, Jordan and Iraq. The hot shales were not deposited in Egypt, which was a

AgMIP: New Results from Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia Regional Integrated Assessments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosenzweig, C.

2014-12-01

AgMIP conducted the first set of comprehensive regional integrated assessments of climate change impacts on smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia led by researchers from the regions themselves. The project developed new methods integrating climate, crop, livestock and economic models to conduct climate change impact assessments that characterize impacts on smallholder groups. AgMIP projections of climate change impacts on agriculture are more realistic than previous assessments because they take agricultural development into account. Using the best available data and models, the assessments directly evaluated yield, income, and poverty outcomes including the effects of adaptation packages and development pathways. Results show that even with agricultural development, climate change generally will exert negative pressure on yields of smallholder farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Without adaptation, climate change leads to increased poverty in some locations in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia compared to a future in which climate change does not occur. Adaptation can significantly improve smallholder farmer responses to climate change. AgMIP expert teams identified improved varieties, sowing practices, fertilizer application, and irrigation applications as prioritized adaptation strategies. These targeted adaptation packages were able to overcome a portion of detrimental impacts but could not compensate completely in many locations. Even in cases where average impact is near zero, vulnerability (i.e., those at risk of loss) can be substantial even when mean impacts are positive.

Human trafficking, labor brokering, and mining in southern Africa: responding to a decentralized and hidden public health disaster.

PubMed

Steele, Sarah

2013-01-01

Many southern African economies are dependent on the extractive industries. These industries rely on low-cost labor, often supplied by migrants, typically acquired through labor brokers. Very little attention has so far been paid to trafficking of men into extractive industries or its connection with trafficked women in the region's mining hubs. Recent reports suggest that labor-brokering practices foster human trafficking, both by exposing migrant men to lack of pay and exploitative conditions and by creating male migratory patterns that generate demand for sex workers and associated trafficking of women and girls. While trafficking in persons violates human rights, and thus remains a priority issue globally, there is little or no evidence of an effective political response to mine-related trafficking in southern Africa. This article concludes with recommendations for legal and policy interventions, as well as an enhanced public health response, which if implemented would help reduce human trafficking toward mining sites.

Were Rivers Flowing across the Sahara During the Last Interglacial? Implications for Human Migration through Africa

PubMed Central

Coulthard, Tom J.; Ramirez, Jorge A.; Barton, Nick; Rogerson, Mike; Brücher, Tim

2013-01-01

Human migration north through Africa is contentious. This paper uses a novel palaeohydrological and hydraulic modelling approach to test the hypothesis that under wetter climates c.100,000 years ago major river systems ran north across the Sahara to the Mediterranean, creating viable migration routes. We confirm that three of these now buried palaeo river systems could have been active at the key time of human migration across the Sahara. Unexpectedly, it is the most western of these three rivers, the Irharhar river, that represents the most likely route for human migration. The Irharhar river flows directly south to north, uniquely linking the mountain areas experiencing monsoon climates at these times to temperate Mediterranean environments where food and resources would have been abundant. The findings have major implications for our understanding of how humans migrated north through Africa, for the first time providing a quantitative perspective on the probabilities that these routes were viable for human habitation at these times. PMID:24040347

Projection of temperature and heat waves for Africa with an ensemble of CORDEX Regional Climate Models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dosio, Alessandro

2017-07-01

The most severe effects of global warning will be related to the frequency and severity of extreme events. We provide an analysis of projections of temperature and related extreme events for Africa based on a large ensemble of Regional Climate Models from the COordinated Regional climate Downscaling EXperiment (CORDEX). Results are presented not only by means of widely used indices but also with a recently developed Heat Wave Magnitude Index-daily (HWMId), which takes into account both heat wave duration and intensity. Results show that under RCP8.5, warming of more than 3.5 °C is projected in JFM over most of the continent, whereas in JAS temperatures over large part of Northern Africa, the Sahara and the Arabian peninsula are projected to increase up to 6 °C. Large increase in in the number of warm days (Tx90p) is found over sub equatorial Africa, with values up to more than 90 % in JAS, and more than 80 % in JFM over e.g., the gulf of Guinea, Central African Republic, South Sudan and Ethiopia. Changes in Tn90p (warm nights) are usually larger, with some models projecting Tn90p reaching 95 % starting from around 2060 even under RCP4.5 over the Gulf of Guinea and the Sahel. Results also show that the total length of heat spells projected to occur normally (i.e. once every 2 years) under RCP8.5 may be longer than those occurring once every 30 years under the lower emission scenario. By employing the recently developed HWMId index, it is possible to investigate the relationship between heat wave length ad intensity; in particular it is shown that very intense heat waves such as that occurring over the Horn of Africa may have values of HWMId larger than that of longer, but relatively weak, heat waves over West Africa.

Predicting human age using regional morphometry and inter-regional morphological similarity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xun-Heng; Li, Lihua

2016-03-01

The goal of this study is predicting human age using neuro-metrics derived from structural MRI, as well as investigating the relationships between age and predictive neuro-metrics. To this end, a cohort of healthy subjects were recruited from 1000 Functional Connectomes Project. The ages of the participations were ranging from 7 to 83 (36.17+/-20.46). The structural MRI for each subject was preprocessed using FreeSurfer, resulting in regional cortical thickness, mean curvature, regional volume and regional surface area for 148 anatomical parcellations. The individual age was predicted from the combination of regional and inter-regional neuro-metrics. The prediction accuracy is r = 0.835, p < 0.00001, evaluated by Pearson correlation coefficient between predicted ages and actual ages. Moreover, the LASSO linear regression also found certain predictive features, most of which were inter-regional features. The turning-point of the developmental trajectories in human brain was around 40 years old based on regional cortical thickness. In conclusion, structural MRI could be potential biomarkers for the aging in human brain. The human age could be successfully predicted from the combination of regional morphometry and inter-regional morphological similarity. The inter-regional measures could be beneficial to investigating human brain connectome.

Men's exposure to human rights violations and relations with perpetration of intimate partner violence in South Africa.

PubMed

Gupta, Jhumka; Reed, Elizabeth; Kelly, Jocelyn; Stein, Dan J; Williams, David R

2012-06-01

Despite widespread apartheid-related human rights violations (HRV) and intimate partner violence (IPV) in South Africa, research investigating the influence of HRV on IPV perpetration is scarce. This study analysed data from the South Africa Stress and Health Study, a cross-sectional survey conducted from 2003 to 2004 with 4351 South Africans examining public health concerns associated with apartheid. Analyses were restricted to men who had ever been married or had ever cohabited with a female partner. Logistic regression was used to examine associations between experiences of HRV and lifetime physical IPV perpetration. A total of 772 South Africa men met the study criteria (389 liberation supporters and 383 government supporters). Adjusted logistic regression analyses indicated that among liberation supporters, a significant association existed between experiencing major HRV (AOR 2.40, 95% CI 1.20 to 4.81), custody-related HRV (AOR 6.61, 95% CI 2.00 to 21.83), victimisation of close friends/family members (AOR 3.38, 95% CI 1.26 to 9.07) and physical IPV perpetration. Among government supporters, a significant association was observed between experiencing HRV (AOR 2.99, 95% CI 1.34 to 6.65) and victimisation of close friends/immediate family (AOR 5.42, 95% CI 1.44 to 19.02) and IPV perpetration. This work indicates the importance of men's experiences with HRV with regard to IPV perpetration risk. Future work is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying the observed relationships, particularly regarding mental health and gender norms as suggested by current literature, in order to inform interventions in South Africa and other regions affected by politically motivated conflict.

Complete Khoisan and Bantu genomes from southern Africa

PubMed Central

Schuster, Stephan C.; Miller, Webb; Ratan, Aakrosh; Tomsho, Lynn P.; Giardine, Belinda; Kasson, Lindsay R.; Harris, Robert S.; Petersen, Desiree C.; Zhao, Fangqing; Qi, Ji; Alkan, Can; Kidd, Jeffrey M.; Sun, Yazhou; Drautz, Daniela I.; Bouffard, Pascal; Muzny, Donna M.; Reid, Jeffrey G.; Nazareth, Lynne V.; Wang, Qingyu; Burhans, Richard; Riemer, Cathy; Wittekindt, Nicola E.; Moorjani, Priya; Tindall, Elizabeth A.; Danko, Charles G.; Teo, Wee Siang; Buboltz, Anne M.; Zhang, Zhenhai; Ma, Qianyi; Oosthuysen, Arno; Steenkamp, Abraham W.; Oostuisen, Hermann; Venter, Philippus; Gajewski, John; Zhang, Yu; Pugh, B. Franklin; Makova, Kateryna D.; Nekrutenko, Anton; Mardis, Elaine R.; Patterson, Nick; Pringle, Tom H.; Chiaromonte, Francesca; Mullikin, James C.; Eichler, Evan E.; Hardison, Ross C.; Gibbs, Richard A.; Harkins, Timothy T.; Hayes, Vanessa M.

2013-01-01

The genetic structure of the indigenous hunter-gatherer peoples of southern Africa, the oldest known lineage of modern human, is important for understanding human diversity. Studies based on mitochondrial1 and small sets of nuclear markers2 have shown that these hunter-gatherers, known as Khoisan, San, or Bushmen, are genetically divergent from other humans1,3. However, until now, fully sequenced human genomes have been limited to recently diverged populations4–8. Here we present the complete genome sequences of an indigenous hunter-gatherer from the Kalahari Desert and a Bantu from southern Africa, as well as protein-coding regions from an additional three hunter-gatherers from disparate regions of the Kalahari. We characterize the extent of whole-genome and exome diversity among the five men, reporting 1.3 million novel DNA differences genome-wide, including 13,146 novel amino acid variants. In terms of nucleotide substitutions, the Bushmen seem to be, on average, more different from each other than, for example, a European and an Asian. Observed genomic differences between the hunter-gatherers and others may help to pinpoint genetic adaptations to an agricultural lifestyle. Adding the described variants to current databases will facilitate inclusion of southern Africans in medical research efforts, particularly when family and medical histories can be correlated with genome-wide data. PMID:20164927

Coal and peat in the sub-Saharan region of Africa: alternative energy options?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Weaver, J.N.; Landis, E.R.

1990-01-01

Coal and peat are essentially unused and in some cases unknown in sub-Saharan Africa. However, they might comprise valuable alternative energy sources in some or all of the developing nations of the region. The 11 countries considered in this appraisal reportedly contain coal and peat. On the basis of regional geology, another five countries might also contain coal-bearing rocks. If the resource potential is adequate, coal and peat might be utilized in a variety of ways including substituting for fuelwood, generating electricity, supplying process heat for local industry and increasing agricultural productivity. -from Author

A Regional Model Study of Synoptic Features Over West Africa

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Druyan, Leonard M.; Fulakeza, Matthew; Lonergan, Patrick; Saloum, Mahaman; Hansen, James E. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

Synoptic weather features over West Africa were studied in simulations by the regional simulation model (RM) at the NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies. These pioneering simulations represent the beginning of an effort to adapt regional models for weather and climate prediction over West Africa. The RM uses a cartesian grid with 50 km horizontal resolution and fifteen vertical levels. An ensemble of four simulations was forced with lateral boundary conditions from ECMWF global analyses for the period 8-22 August 1988. The simulated mid-tropospheric circulation includes the skillful development and movement of several African wave disturbances. Wavelet analysis of mid-tropospheric winds detected a dominant periodicity of about 4 days and a secondary periodicity of 5-8 days. Spatial distributions of RM precipitation and precipitation time series were validated against daily rain gauge measurements and ISCCP satellite infrared cloud imagery. The time-space distribution of simulated precipitation was made more realistic by combining the ECMWR initial conditions with a 24-hr spin-up of the moisture field and also by damping high frequency gravity waves by dynamic initialization. Model precipitation "forecasts" over the Central Sahel were correlated with observations for about three days, but reinitializing with observed data on day 5 resulted in a dramatic improvement in the precipitation validation over the remaining 9 days. Results imply that information via the lateral boundary conditions is not always sufficient to minimize departures between simulated and actual precipitation patterns for more than several days. In addition, there was some evidence that the new initialization may increase the simulations' sensitivity to the quality of lateral boundary conditions.

Phylogenetic evidence that two distinct Trichuris genotypes infect both humans and non-human primates.

PubMed

Ravasi, Damiana F; O'Riain, Mannus J; Davids, Faezah; Illing, Nicola

2012-01-01

Although there has been extensive debate about whether Trichuris suis and Trichuris trichiura are separate species, only one species of the whipworm T. trichiura has been considered to infect humans and non-human primates. In order to investigate potential cross infection of Trichuris sp. between baboons and humans in the Cape Peninsula, South Africa, we sequenced the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region of adult Trichuris sp. worms isolated from five baboons from three different troops, namely the Cape Peninsula troop, Groot Olifantsbos troop and Da Gama Park troop. This region was also sequenced from T. trichiura isolated from a human patient from central Africa (Cameroon) for comparison. By combining this dataset with Genbank records for Trichuris isolated from other humans, non-human primates and pigs from several different countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa, we confirmed the identification of two distinct Trichuris genotypes that infect primates. Trichuris sp. isolated from the Peninsula baboons fell into two distinct clades that were found to also infect human patients from Cameroon, Uganda and Jamaica (named the CP-GOB clade) and China, Thailand, the Czech Republic, and Uganda (named the DG clade), respectively. The divergence of these Trichuris clades is ancient and precedes the diversification of T. suis which clustered closely to the CP-GOB clade. The identification of two distinct Trichuris genotypes infecting both humans and non-human primates is important for the ongoing treatment of Trichuris which is estimated to infect 600 million people worldwide. Currently baboons in the Cape Peninsula, which visit urban areas, provide a constant risk of infection to local communities. A reduction in spatial overlap between humans and baboons is thus an important measure to reduce both cross-transmission and zoonoses of helminthes in Southern Africa.

Phylogenetic Evidence That Two Distinct Trichuris Genotypes Infect both Humans and Non-Human Primates

PubMed Central

Ravasi, Damiana F.; O’Riain, Mannus J.; Davids, Faezah; Illing, Nicola

2012-01-01

Although there has been extensive debate about whether Trichuris suis and Trichuris trichiura are separate species, only one species of the whipworm T. trichiura has been considered to infect humans and non-human primates. In order to investigate potential cross infection of Trichuris sp. between baboons and humans in the Cape Peninsula, South Africa, we sequenced the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region of adult Trichuris sp. worms isolated from five baboons from three different troops, namely the Cape Peninsula troop, Groot Olifantsbos troop and Da Gama Park troop. This region was also sequenced from T. trichiura isolated from a human patient from central Africa (Cameroon) for comparison. By combining this dataset with Genbank records for Trichuris isolated from other humans, non-human primates and pigs from several different countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa, we confirmed the identification of two distinct Trichuris genotypes that infect primates. Trichuris sp. isolated from the Peninsula baboons fell into two distinct clades that were found to also infect human patients from Cameroon, Uganda and Jamaica (named the CP-GOB clade) and China, Thailand, the Czech Republic, and Uganda (named the DG clade), respectively. The divergence of these Trichuris clades is ancient and precedes the diversification of T. suis which clustered closely to the CP-GOB clade. The identification of two distinct Trichuris genotypes infecting both humans and non-human primates is important for the ongoing treatment of Trichuris which is estimated to infect 600 million people worldwide. Currently baboons in the Cape Peninsula, which visit urban areas, provide a constant risk of infection to local communities. A reduction in spatial overlap between humans and baboons is thus an important measure to reduce both cross-transmission and zoonoses of helminthes in Southern Africa. PMID:22952922

Regional assessment of the hydropower potential of rivers in West Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kling, Harald; Stanzel, Philipp; Fuchs, Martin

2016-04-01

The 15 countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) face a constant shortage of energy supply, which limits sustained economic growth. Currently there are about 50 operational hydropower plants and about 40 more are under construction or refurbishment. The potential for future hydropower development - especially for small-scale plants in rural areas - is assumed to be large, but exact data are missing. This study supports the energy initiatives of the "ECOWAS Centre for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency" (ECREEE) by assessing the hydropower potential of all rivers in West Africa. For more than 500,000 river reaches the hydropower potential was computed from channel slope and mean annual discharge. In large areas there is a lack of discharge observations. Therefore, an annual water balance model was used to simulate discharge. The model domain covers 5 Mio km², including e.g. the Niger, Volta, and Senegal River basins. The model was calibrated with observed data of 410 gauges, using precipitation and potential evapotranspiration data as inputs. Historic variations of observed annual discharge between 1950 and 2010 are simulated well by the model. As hydropower plants are investments with a lifetime of several decades we also assessed possible changes in future discharge due to climate change. To this end the water balance model was driven with bias-corrected climate projections of 15 Regional Climate Models for two emission scenarios of the CORDEX-Africa ensemble. The simulation results for the river network were up-scaled to sub-areas and national summaries. This information gives a regional quantification of the hydropower potential, expected climate change impacts, as well as a regional classification for general suitability (or non-suitability) of hydropower plant size - from small-scale to large projects.

Late Pleistocene shifts in Northeast African hydroclimate and the Out-of-Africa migration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tierney, J. E.; deMenocal, P. B.; Zander, P. D.

2016-12-01

The major "Out-of-Africa" migration of modern humans is hypothesized to have occurred ca. 60,000-80,000 yr BP, with populations crossing the Red Sea via either the Bab al Mandeb strait or the Sinai Peninsula. The role of climatic and environmental pressures in driving the migration has long been a topic of debate. While paleoclimate data from southern East Africa generally show evidence for climatic instability during the Out-Of-Africa interval, no data has been available from northeast Africa, the region from which haplogroup L3, the most common parental lineage for humans outside Africa, dispersed. Here we present leaf wax hydrogen isotope data measured in a marine sediment core that provide a clear picture of how Northeast African climate has varied during the past 200,000 years. The data show that wet periods are generally in-phase with Northern hemisphere summer insolation, with MIS 7a emerging as the wettest "African Humid Period" of the last 200 ka. Interestingly, Stages 5e, 5c, and 5a are comparably wet. Last glacial aridity does not begin in earnest until ca. 75 ka, with an abrupt drop out of mesic Stage 5 conditions followed by a descent into very dry conditions during Stage 4. The timing of this wet-to-dry transition compares well with the estimated timing of Out-of-Africa migration from genetic data, suggesting that climatic deterioration could have been an impetus for early humans to leave northeast Africa.

The palaeoecological context of the Oldowan-Acheulean in southern Africa.

PubMed

Ecker, Michaela; Brink, James S; Rossouw, Lloyd; Chazan, Michael; Horwitz, Liora K; Lee-Thorp, Julia A

2018-05-21

The influence of climatic and environmental change on human evolution in the Pleistocene epoch is understood largely from extensive East African stable isotope records. These records show increasing proportions of C 4 plants in the Early Pleistocene. We know far less about the expansion of C 4 grasses at higher latitudes, which were also occupied by early Homo but are more marginal for C 4 plants. Here we show that both C 3 and C 4 grasses and prolonged wetlands remained major components of Early Pleistocene environments in the central interior of southern Africa, based on enamel stable carbon and oxygen isotope data and associated faunal abundance and phytolith evidence from the site of Wonderwerk Cave. Vegetation contexts associated with Oldowan and early Acheulean lithic industries, in which climate is driven by an interplay of regional rainfall seasonality together with global CO 2 levels, develop along a regional distinct trajectory compared to eastern South Africa and East Africa.

Science and Technology Education Newsletter, No. 7, September 1976. A Supplement to the Bulletin of the Regional Office of Science and Technology for Africa. "Special Issue" Environmental Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ibukun, Olu, Ed.

This publication is a collaborative effort between the science and education sections of UNESCO and particularly between UNESCO Regional Office for Science and Technology for Africa (Nairobi) and the UNESCO Regional Office for Education in Africa (Dakar). Articles in this issue focus on Africa: (1) The Belgrade Charter - A Guide to Environmental…

Co-movement of Africa's equity markets: Regional and global analysis in the frequency-time domains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boako, Gideon; Alagidede, Paul

2017-02-01

This paper examines regional and global co-movement of Africa's stock markets using the three-dimensional continuous Morlet wavelet transform methodology. The analyses which are done in segments investigate co-movements with global markets; bilateral exchange rates expressed in US dollars and euro; and four regional markets in Africa. First, we find evidence of stronger co-movements broadly narrowed to short-run fluctuations. The co-movements are time-varying and commonly non-homogeneous - with phase difference arrow vectors implying lead-lag relationships. The presence of lead-lag effects and stronger co-movements at short-run fluctuations may induce arbitrage and diversification opportunities to both local and international investors with long-term investment horizons. The findings also reveal that some African equity markets are, to a degree, segmented from volatilities of the dollar and euro exchange rates. Thus, inferring that, ceteris paribus, international investors may diversify their portfolio investments across those markets without worrying about the effects of currency price volatility.

Integrated Assessment by the People: Insights from AgMIP Regional Teams in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Antle, J. M.

2017-12-01

AgMIP has developed innovative protocol-based methods for regional integrated assessment (RIA) that can be implemented by national researchers working with local and national stakeholders (http://www.agmip.org/regional-integrated-assessments-handbook/). The approach has been implemented by regional teams in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. This presentation first summarizes novel elements of the AgMIP RIA methods, and their strengths and limitations, based on their application by AgMIP researchers. Key insights from the application of these methods for climate impact and adaptation in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are presented. A major finding is that detailed, site-specific, systems-based analysis show much more local and regional variation in impacts than studies based on analysis of individual crops, and provide the basis for analysis of multi-faceted technology and policy options to facilitate the transition to sustainable and resilient development pathways. The presentation concludes with observations about advancing integrated assessments carried out by and for national and local researchers and stakeholders.

MENA 1.1 - An Updated Geophysical Regionalization of the Middle East and North Africa

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Walters, B.; Pasyanos, M.E.; Bhattacharyya, J.

2000-03-01

This short report provides an update to the earlier LLNL paper entitled ''Preliminary Definition of Geophysical Regions for the Middle East and North Africa'' (Sweeney and Walter, 1998). This report is designed to be used in combination with that earlier paper. The reader is referred to Sweeney and Walter (1998) for all details, including definitions, references, uses, shortcomings, etc., of the regionalization process. In this report we will discuss only those regions in which we have changed the boundaries or velocity structure from that given by the original paper. The paper by Sweeney and Walter (1998) drew on a varietymore » of sources to estimate a preliminary, first-order regionalization of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), providing regional boundaries and velocity models within each region. The model attempts to properly account for major structural discontinuities and significant crustal thickness and velocity variations on a gross scale. The model can be used to extrapolate sparse calibration data within a distinct geophysical region. This model can also serve as a background model in the process of forming station calibration maps using intelligent interpolation techniques such as kriging, extending the calibration into aseismic areas. Such station maps can greatly improve the ability to locate and identify seismic events, which in turn improves the ability to seismically monitor for underground nuclear testing. The original model from Sweeney and Walter (1998) was digitized to a 1{sup o} resolution, for simplicity we will hereafter refer to this model as MENA 1.0. The new model described here has also been digitized to a 1{sup o} resolution and will be referred to as MENA1.1 throughout this report.« less

The African Genome Variation Project shapes medical genetics in Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gurdasani, Deepti; Carstensen, Tommy; Tekola-Ayele, Fasil; Pagani, Luca; Tachmazidou, Ioanna; Hatzikotoulas, Konstantinos; Karthikeyan, Savita; Iles, Louise; Pollard, Martin O.; Choudhury, Ananyo; Ritchie, Graham R. S.; Xue, Yali; Asimit, Jennifer; Nsubuga, Rebecca N.; Young, Elizabeth H.; Pomilla, Cristina; Kivinen, Katja; Rockett, Kirk; Kamali, Anatoli; Doumatey, Ayo P.; Asiki, Gershim; Seeley, Janet; Sisay-Joof, Fatoumatta; Jallow, Muminatou; Tollman, Stephen; Mekonnen, Ephrem; Ekong, Rosemary; Oljira, Tamiru; Bradman, Neil; Bojang, Kalifa; Ramsay, Michele; Adeyemo, Adebowale; Bekele, Endashaw; Motala, Ayesha; Norris, Shane A.; Pirie, Fraser; Kaleebu, Pontiano; Kwiatkowski, Dominic; Tyler-Smith, Chris; Rotimi, Charles; Zeggini, Eleftheria; Sandhu, Manjinder S.

2015-01-01

Given the importance of Africa to studies of human origins and disease susceptibility, detailed characterization of African genetic diversity is needed. The African Genome Variation Project provides a resource with which to design, implement and interpret genomic studies in sub-Saharan Africa and worldwide. The African Genome Variation Project represents dense genotypes from 1,481 individuals and whole-genome sequences from 320 individuals across sub-Saharan Africa. Using this resource, we find novel evidence of complex, regionally distinct hunter-gatherer and Eurasian admixture across sub-Saharan Africa. We identify new loci under selection, including loci related to malaria susceptibility and hypertension. We show that modern imputation panels (sets of reference genotypes from which unobserved or missing genotypes in study sets can be inferred) can identify association signals at highly differentiated loci across populations in sub-Saharan Africa. Using whole-genome sequencing, we demonstrate further improvements in imputation accuracy, strengthening the case for large-scale sequencing efforts of diverse African haplotypes. Finally, we present an efficient genotype array design capturing common genetic variation in Africa.

The African Genome Variation Project shapes medical genetics in Africa.

PubMed

Gurdasani, Deepti; Carstensen, Tommy; Tekola-Ayele, Fasil; Pagani, Luca; Tachmazidou, Ioanna; Hatzikotoulas, Konstantinos; Karthikeyan, Savita; Iles, Louise; Pollard, Martin O; Choudhury, Ananyo; Ritchie, Graham R S; Xue, Yali; Asimit, Jennifer; Nsubuga, Rebecca N; Young, Elizabeth H; Pomilla, Cristina; Kivinen, Katja; Rockett, Kirk; Kamali, Anatoli; Doumatey, Ayo P; Asiki, Gershim; Seeley, Janet; Sisay-Joof, Fatoumatta; Jallow, Muminatou; Tollman, Stephen; Mekonnen, Ephrem; Ekong, Rosemary; Oljira, Tamiru; Bradman, Neil; Bojang, Kalifa; Ramsay, Michele; Adeyemo, Adebowale; Bekele, Endashaw; Motala, Ayesha; Norris, Shane A; Pirie, Fraser; Kaleebu, Pontiano; Kwiatkowski, Dominic; Tyler-Smith, Chris; Rotimi, Charles; Zeggini, Eleftheria; Sandhu, Manjinder S

2015-01-15

Given the importance of Africa to studies of human origins and disease susceptibility, detailed characterization of African genetic diversity is needed. The African Genome Variation Project provides a resource with which to design, implement and interpret genomic studies in sub-Saharan Africa and worldwide. The African Genome Variation Project represents dense genotypes from 1,481 individuals and whole-genome sequences from 320 individuals across sub-Saharan Africa. Using this resource, we find novel evidence of complex, regionally distinct hunter-gatherer and Eurasian admixture across sub-Saharan Africa. We identify new loci under selection, including loci related to malaria susceptibility and hypertension. We show that modern imputation panels (sets of reference genotypes from which unobserved or missing genotypes in study sets can be inferred) can identify association signals at highly differentiated loci across populations in sub-Saharan Africa. Using whole-genome sequencing, we demonstrate further improvements in imputation accuracy, strengthening the case for large-scale sequencing efforts of diverse African haplotypes. Finally, we present an efficient genotype array design capturing common genetic variation in Africa.

The impact of human conflict on the genetics of Mastomys natalensis and Lassa virus in West Africa.

PubMed

Lalis, Aude; Leblois, Raphaël; Lecompte, Emilie; Denys, Christiane; Ter Meulen, Jan; Wirth, Thierry

2012-01-01

Environmental changes have been shown to play an important role in the emergence of new human diseases of zoonotic origin. The contribution of social factors to their spread, especially conflicts followed by mass movement of populations, has not been extensively investigated. Here we reveal the effects of civil war on the phylogeography of a zoonotic emerging infectious disease by concomitantly studying the population structure, evolution and demography of Lassa virus and its natural reservoir, the rodent Mastomys natalensis, in Guinea, West Africa. Analysis of nucleoprotein gene sequences enabled us to reconstruct the evolutionary history of Lassa virus, which appeared 750 to 900 years ago in Nigeria and only recently spread across western Africa (170 years ago). Bayesian demographic inferences revealed that both the host and the virus populations have gone recently through severe genetic bottlenecks. The timing of these events matches civil war-related mass movements of refugees and accompanying environmental degradation. Forest and habitat destruction and human predation of the natural reservoir are likely explanations for the sharp decline observed in the rodent populations, the consequent virus population decline, and the coincident increased incidence of Lassa fever in these regions. Interestingly, we were also able to detect a similar pattern in Nigeria coinciding with the Biafra war. Our findings show that anthropogenic factors may profoundly impact the population genetics of a virus and its reservoir within the context of an emerging infectious disease.

Population Genomics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Ethiopia Contradicts the Virgin Soil Hypothesis for Human Tuberculosis in Sub-Saharan Africa

PubMed Central

Comas, Iñaki; Hailu, Elena; Kiros, Teklu; Bekele, Shiferaw; Mekonnen, Wondale; Gumi, Balako; Tschopp, Rea; Ameni, Gobena; Hewinson, R. Glyn; Robertson, Brian D.; Goig, Galo A.; Stucki, David; Gagneux, Sebastien; Aseffa, Abraham; Young, Douglas; Berg, Stefan

2015-01-01

Summary Colonial medical reports claimed that tuberculosis (TB) was largely unknown in Africa prior to European contact, providing a “virgin soil” for spread of TB in highly susceptible populations previously unexposed to the disease [1, 2]. This is in direct contrast to recent phylogenetic models which support an African origin for TB [3, 4, 5, 6]. To address this apparent contradiction, we performed a broad genomic sampling of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Ethiopia. All members of the M. tuberculosis complex (MTBC) arose from clonal expansion of a single common ancestor [7] with a proposed origin in East Africa [3, 4, 8]. Consistent with this proposal, MTBC lineage 7 is almost exclusively found in that region [9, 10, 11]. Although a detailed medical history of Ethiopia supports the view that TB was rare until the 20th century [12], over the last century Ethiopia has become a high-burden TB country [13]. Our results provide further support for an African origin for TB, with some genotypes already present on the continent well before European contact. Phylogenetic analyses reveal a pattern of serial introductions of multiple genotypes into Ethiopia in association with human migration and trade. In place of a “virgin soil” fostering the spread of TB in a previously naive population, we propose that increased TB mortality in Africa was driven by the introduction of European strains of M. tuberculosis alongside expansion of selected indigenous strains having biological characteristics that carry a fitness benefit in the urbanized settings of post-colonial Africa. PMID:26687624

Population Genomics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Ethiopia Contradicts the Virgin Soil Hypothesis for Human Tuberculosis in Sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Comas, Iñaki; Hailu, Elena; Kiros, Teklu; Bekele, Shiferaw; Mekonnen, Wondale; Gumi, Balako; Tschopp, Rea; Ameni, Gobena; Hewinson, R Glyn; Robertson, Brian D; Goig, Galo A; Stucki, David; Gagneux, Sebastien; Aseffa, Abraham; Young, Douglas; Berg, Stefan

2015-12-21

Colonial medical reports claimed that tuberculosis (TB) was largely unknown in Africa prior to European contact, providing a "virgin soil" for spread of TB in highly susceptible populations previously unexposed to the disease [1, 2]. This is in direct contrast to recent phylogenetic models which support an African origin for TB [3-6]. To address this apparent contradiction, we performed a broad genomic sampling of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Ethiopia. All members of the M. tuberculosis complex (MTBC) arose from clonal expansion of a single common ancestor [7] with a proposed origin in East Africa [3, 4, 8]. Consistent with this proposal, MTBC lineage 7 is almost exclusively found in that region [9-11]. Although a detailed medical history of Ethiopia supports the view that TB was rare until the 20(th) century [12], over the last century Ethiopia has become a high-burden TB country [13]. Our results provide further support for an African origin for TB, with some genotypes already present on the continent well before European contact. Phylogenetic analyses reveal a pattern of serial introductions of multiple genotypes into Ethiopia in association with human migration and trade. In place of a "virgin soil" fostering the spread of TB in a previously naive population, we propose that increased TB mortality in Africa was driven by the introduction of European strains of M. tuberculosis alongside expansion of selected indigenous strains having biological characteristics that carry a fitness benefit in the urbanized settings of post-colonial Africa. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Regional Model Nesting Within GFS Daily Forecasts Over West Africa

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Druyan, Leonard M.; Fulakeza, Matthew; Lonergan, Patrick; Worrell, Ruben

2010-01-01

The study uses the RM3, the regional climate model at the Center for Climate Systems Research of Columbia University and the NASA/Goddard Institute for Space Studies (CCSR/GISS). The paper evaluates 30 48-hour RM3 weather forecasts over West Africa during September 2006 made on a 0.5 grid nested within 1 Global Forecast System (GFS) global forecasts. September 2006 was the Special Observing Period #3 of the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA). Archived GFS initial conditions and lateral boundary conditions for the simulations from the US National Weather Service, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration were interpolated four times daily. Results for precipitation forecasts are validated against Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) satellite estimates and data from the Famine Early Warning System (FEWS), which includes rain gauge measurements, and forecasts of circulation are compared to reanalysis 2. Performance statistics for the precipitation forecasts include bias, root-mean-square errors and spatial correlation coefficients. The nested regional model forecasts are compared to GFS forecasts to gauge whether nesting provides additional realistic information. They are also compared to RM3 simulations driven by reanalysis 2, representing high potential skill forecasts, to gauge the sensitivity of results to lateral boundary conditions. Nested RM3/GFS forecasts generate excessive moisture advection toward West Africa, which in turn causes prodigious amounts of model precipitation. This problem is corrected by empirical adjustments in the preparation of lateral boundary conditions and initial conditions. The resulting modified simulations improve on the GFS precipitation forecasts, achieving time-space correlations with TRMM of 0.77 on the first day and 0.63 on the second day. One realtime RM3/GFS precipitation forecast made at and posted by the African Centre of Meteorological Application for Development (ACMAD) in Niamey, Niger

Homo naledi and Pleistocene hominin evolution in subequatorial Africa

PubMed Central

Berger, Lee R; Hawks, John; Dirks, Paul HGM; Elliott, Marina; Roberts, Eric M

2017-01-01

New discoveries and dating of fossil remains from the Rising Star cave system, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa, have strong implications for our understanding of Pleistocene human evolution in Africa. Direct dating of Homo naledi fossils from the Dinaledi Chamber (Berger et al., 2015) shows that they were deposited between about 236 ka and 335 ka (Dirks et al., 2017), placing H. naledi in the later Middle Pleistocene. Hawks and colleagues (Hawks et al., 2017) report the discovery of a second chamber within the Rising Star system (Dirks et al., 2015) that contains H. naledi remains. Previously, only large-brained modern humans or their close relatives had been demonstrated to exist at this late time in Africa, but the fossil evidence for any hominins in subequatorial Africa was very sparse. It is now evident that a diversity of hominin lineages existed in this region, with some divergent lineages contributing DNA to living humans and at least H. naledi representing a survivor from the earliest stages of diversification within Homo. The existence of a diverse array of hominins in subequatorial comports with our present knowledge of diversity across other savanna-adapted species, as well as with palaeoclimate and paleoenvironmental data. H. naledi casts the fossil and archaeological records into a new light, as we cannot exclude that this lineage was responsible for the production of Acheulean or Middle Stone Age tool industries. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.24234.001 PMID:28483041

Astronomy Landscape in Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nemaungani, Takalani

2015-01-01

The vision for astronomy in Africa is embedded in the African Space Policy of the African Union in early 2014. The vision is about positioning Africa as an emerging hub for astronomy sciences and facilities. Africa recognized the need to take advantage of its natural resource, the geographical advantage of the clear southern skies and pristine sites for astronomy. The Pan African University (PAU) initiative also presents an opportunity as a post-graduate training and research network of university nodes in five regions of Africa and supported by the African Union. The Southern African node based in South Africa concentrates on space sciences which also includes astronomy. The PAU aims to provide the opportunity for advanced graduate training and postgraduate research to high-performing African students. Objectives also include promoting mobility of students and teachers and harmonizing programs and degrees.A number of astronomy initiatives have burgeoned in the Southern African region and these include the Southern Africa Largest Optical Telescope (SALT), HESS (High Energy Stereoscopic System), the SKA (Square Kilometre Array) and the AVN (African Very Long Baseline Interferometer Network). There is a growing appetite for astronomy sciences in Africa. In East Africa, the astronomy community is well organized and is growing - the East African Astronomical society (EAAS) held its successful fourth annual conference since 2010 on 30 June to 04 July 2014 at the University of Rwanda. Centred around the 'Role of Astronomy in Socio-Economic Transformation,' this conference aimed at strengthening capacity building in Astronomy, Astrophysics and Space Science in general, while providing a forum for astronomers from the region to train young and upcoming scientists.

The heritage of pathogen pressures and ancient demography in the human innate-immunity CD209/CD209L region.

PubMed

Barreiro, Luis B; Patin, Etienne; Neyrolles, Olivier; Cann, Howard M; Gicquel, Brigitte; Quintana-Murci, Lluís

2005-11-01

The innate immunity system constitutes the first line of host defense against pathogens. Two closely related innate immunity genes, CD209 and CD209L, are particularly interesting because they directly recognize a plethora of pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Both genes, which result from an ancient duplication, possess a neck region, made up of seven repeats of 23 amino acids each, known to play a major role in the pathogen-binding properties of these proteins. To explore the extent to which pathogens have exerted selective pressures on these innate immunity genes, we resequenced them in a group of samples from sub-Saharan Africa, Europe, and East Asia. Moreover, variation in the number of repeats of the neck region was defined in the entire Human Genome Diversity Panel for both genes. Our results, which are based on diversity levels, neutrality tests, population genetic distances, and neck-region length variation, provide genetic evidence that CD209 has been under a strong selective constraint that prevents accumulation of any amino acid changes, whereas CD209L variability has most likely been shaped by the action of balancing selection in non-African populations. In addition, our data point to the neck region as the functional target of such selective pressures: CD209 presents a constant size in the neck region populationwide, whereas CD209L presents an excess of length variation, particularly in non-African populations. An additional interesting observation came from the coalescent-based CD209 gene tree, whose binary topology and time depth (approximately 2.8 million years ago) are compatible with an ancestral population structure in Africa. Altogether, our study has revealed that even a short segment of the human genome can uncover an extraordinarily complex evolutionary history, including different pathogen pressures on host genes as well as traces of admixture among archaic hominid populations.

Men’s exposure to human rights violations and relations with perpetration of intimate partner violence in South Africa

PubMed Central

Gupta, Jhumka; Reed, Elizabeth; Kelly, Jocelyn; Stein, Dan J; Williams, David R

2011-01-01

Background Despite widespread apartheid-related human rights violations (HRV) and intimate partner violence (IPV) in South Africa, research investigating the influence of HRV on IPV perpetration is scarce. Methods This study analysed data from the South Africa Stress and Health Study, a cross-sectional survey conducted from 2003 to 2004 with 4351 South Africans examining public health concerns associated with apartheid. Analyses were restricted to men who had ever been married or had ever cohabited with a female partner. Logistic regression was used to examine associations between experiences of HRV and lifetime physical IPV perpetration. Results A total of 772 South Africa men met the study criteria (389 liberation supporters and 383 government supporters). Adjusted logistic regression analyses indicated that among liberation supporters, a significant association existed between experiencing major HRV (AOR 2.40, 95% CI 1.20 to 4.81), custody-related HRV (AOR 6.61, 95% CI 2.00 to 21.83), victimisation of close friends/family members (AOR 3.38, 95% CI 1.26 to 9.07) and physical IPV perpetration. Among government supporters, a significant association was observed between experiencing HRV (AOR 2.99, 95% CI 1.34 to 6.65) and victimisation of close friends/immediate family (AOR 5.42, 95% CI 1.44 to 19.02) and IPV perpetration. Conclusion This work indicates the importance of men’s experiences with HRV with regard to IPV perpetration risk. Future work is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying the observed relationships, particularly regarding mental health and gender norms as suggested by current literature, in order to inform interventions in South Africa and other regions affected by politically motivated conflict. PMID:21148138

Two Distinct Yersinia pestis Populations Causing Plague among Humans in the West Nile Region of Uganda.

PubMed

Respicio-Kingry, Laurel B; Yockey, Brook M; Acayo, Sarah; Kaggwa, John; Apangu, Titus; Kugeler, Kiersten J; Eisen, Rebecca J; Griffith, Kevin S; Mead, Paul S; Schriefer, Martin E; Petersen, Jeannine M

2016-02-01

Plague is a life-threatening disease caused by the bacterium, Yersinia pestis. Since the 1990s, Africa has accounted for the majority of reported human cases. In Uganda, plague cases occur in the West Nile region, near the border with Democratic Republic of Congo. Despite the ongoing risk of contracting plague in this region, little is known about Y. pestis genotypes causing human disease. During January 2004-December 2012, 1,092 suspect human plague cases were recorded in the West Nile region of Uganda. Sixty-one cases were culture-confirmed. Recovered Y. pestis isolates were analyzed using three typing methods, single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), and multiple variable number of tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) and subpopulations analyzed in the context of associated geographic, temporal, and clinical data for source patients. All three methods separated the 61 isolates into two distinct 1.ANT lineages, which persisted throughout the 9 year period and were associated with differences in elevation and geographic distribution. We demonstrate that human cases of plague in the West Nile region of Uganda are caused by two distinct 1.ANT genetic subpopulations. Notably, all three typing methods used, SNPs, PFGE, and MLVA, identified the two genetic subpopulations, despite recognizing different mutation types in the Y. pestis genome. The geographic and elevation differences between the two subpopulations is suggestive of their maintenance in highly localized enzootic cycles, potentially with differing vector-host community composition. This improved understanding of Y. pestis subpopulations in the West Nile region will be useful for identifying ecologic and environmental factors associated with elevated plague risk.

Improving regional health care in West Africa using current space systems and technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jemison, Mae C.; Thomas, J. Segun

1992-01-01

This paper discusses the issues involved with establishing an integrated satellite health network in West Africa based on currently available technology. The system proposed makes use of a central national facility capable of transmitting and receiving voice/data and video signals from the entire country. Regional, field and local facilities provide timely epidemiologic information, sharing of medical expertise through telemedical consultations, enhance optimized resource distribution and build a framework for telecommunications for the entire country.

Improving regional health care in West Africa using current space systems and technology

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jemison, Mae C.; Thomas, J. S.

1992-01-01

This paper discusses the issues involved with establishing an integrated satellite health network in West Africa based on currently available technology. The system proposed makes use of a central national facility capable of transmitting and receiving voice/data and video signals from the entire country. Regional, field and local facilities provides timely epidemiologic information, sharing of medical expertise through telemedical consultations, enhances optimized resource distribution and builds a framework for telecommunications for the entire country.

Thinking regionally: narrative, the medical humanities and region.

PubMed

Waddington, Keir

2015-06-01

Drawing on multiple literatures from history, geography, anthropology, sociology and literature, this essay asks questions about what we mean by region and why narratives of region should matter to the medical humanities. The essay surveys how region can be used as a lens of analysis, exploring the various academic approaches to region and their limitations. It argues that regions are dynamic but also unstable as a category of analysis and are often used uncritically by scholars. In encouraging scholars working in the medical humanities to be aware that regions are not simple objective or analytical boxes, the essay shows how an awareness of region helps challenge metropolitan whiggism and ideas of core and periphery to give a more prominent place to hinterlands, market towns and rural environments. Furthermore, the essay considers how incorporating region into our understanding of illness can offer new insights. It demonstrates the need for scholars to be attuned to the narratives constructed around regions, suggesting that regions can be viewed as discursive formations that provide a frame for understanding both collective and personal ideas of, and responses to, health and illness, disease and healing, to create what Megan Davies calls a more nuanced 'intellectual cartography'. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Cholera outbreaks in Africa.

PubMed

Mengel, Martin A; Delrieu, Isabelle; Heyerdahl, Leonard; Gessner, Bradford D

2014-01-01

During the current seventh cholera pandemic, Africa bore the major brunt of global disease burden. More than 40 years after its resurgence in Africa in 1970, cholera remains a grave public health problem, characterized by large disease burden, frequent outbreaks, persistent endemicity, and high CFRs, particularly in the region of the central African Great Lakes which might act as reservoirs for cholera. There, cases occur year round with a rise in incidence during the rainy season. Elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa, cholera occurs mostly in outbreaks of varying size with a constant threat of widespread epidemics. Between 1970 and 2011, African countries reported 3,221,050 suspected cholera cases to the World Health Organization, representing 46 % of all cases reported globally. Excluding the Haitian epidemic, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 86 % of reported cases and 99 % of deaths worldwide in 2011. The number of cholera cases is possibly much higher than what is reported to the WHO due to the variation in modalities, completeness, and case definition of national cholera data. One source on country specific incidence rates for Africa, adjusting for underreporting, estimates 1,341,080 cases and 160,930 deaths (52.6 % of 2,548,227 estimated cases and 79.6 % of 209,216 estimated deaths worldwide). Another estimates 1,411,453 cases and 53,632 deaths per year, respectively (50 % of 2,836,669 estimated cases and 58.6 % of 91,490 estimated deaths worldwide). Within Africa, half of all cases between 1970 and 2011 were notified from only seven countries: Angola, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Nigeria, Somalia, Tanzania, and South Africa. In contrast to a global trend of decreasing case fatality ratios (CFRs), CFRs have remained stable in Africa at approximately 2 %. Early propagation of cholera outbreaks depends largely on the extent of individual bacterial shedding, host and organism characteristics, the likelihood of people coming into contact with

Spatial phylodynamics of HIV-1 epidemic emergence in east Africa

PubMed Central

Gray, Rebecca R.; Tatem, Andrew J.; Lamers, Susanna; Hou, Wei; Laeyendecker, Oliver; Serwadda, David; Sewankambo, Nelson; Gray, Ronald H.; Wawer, Maria; Quinn, Thomas C.; Goodenow, Maureen M.; Salemi, Marco

2009-01-01

Design We sought to investigate the evolutionary and historical reasons for the different epidemiological patterns of HIV-1 in the early epidemic. In order to characterize the demographic history of HIV-1 subtypes A and D in east Africa, we examined molecular epidemiology, geographical and historical data. Methodology We employed high-resolution phylodynamics to investigate the introduction of HIV-1A and D into east Africa, the geographic trends of viral spread, and the demographic growth of each subtype. We also used geographic information system data to investigate human migration trends, population growth, and human mobility. Results HIV-1A and D were introduced into east Africa after 1950 and spread exponentially during the 1970s, concurrent with eastward expansion. Spatiotemporal data failed to explain the establishment and spread of HIV based on urban population growth and migration. The low prevalence of the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo before and after the emergence of the pandemic was, however, consistent with regional accessibility data, highlighting the difficulty in travel between major population centers in central Africa. In contrast, the strong interconnectivity between population centers across the east African region since colonial times has likely fostered the rapid growth of the epidemic in this locale. Conclusion This study illustrates how phylodynamic analysis of pathogens informed by geospatial data can provide a more holistic and evidence-based interpretation of past epidemics. We advocate that this ‘landscape phylodynamics’ approach has the potential to provide a framework both to understand epidemics' spread and to design optimal intervention strategies. PMID:19644346

Africa Section. Regional Activities Division. Papers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

International Federation of Library Associations, The Hague (Netherlands).

Papers on the role and services of African libraries and the education of African librarians, which were presented at the 1983 International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) conference, include: (1) "The Information Sector in the Economic Development of Africa: The Potential Role for Libraries," in which Benzies Y. Boadi…

Phylogeography of Rift Valley Fever Virus in Africa Reveals Multiple Introductions in Senegal and Mauritania

PubMed Central

Faye, Ousmane; Diallo, Mawlouth; de Oliveira, Juliana Velasco C.; Zanotto, Paolo M. A.; Sall, Amadou Alpha

2012-01-01

Rift Valley Fever (RVF) virus (Family Bunyaviridae) is an arthropod-borne RNA virus that infects primarily domestic ruminants and occasionally humans. RVF epizootics are characterized by numerous abortions and mortality among young animals. In humans, the illness is usually characterized by a mild self-limited febrile illness, which could progress to more serious complications. RVF virus is widespread and endemic in many regions of Africa. In Western Africa, several outbreaks have been reported since 1987 when the first major one occurred at the frontier of Senegal and Mauritania. Aiming to evaluate the spreading and molecular epidemiology in these countries, RVFV isolates from 1944 to 2008 obtained from 18 localities in Senegal and Mauritania and 15 other countries were investigated. Our results suggest that a more intense viral activity possibly took place during the last century compared to the recent past and that at least 5 introductions of RVFV took place in Senegal and Mauritania from distant African regions. Moreover, Barkedji in Senegal was possibly a hub associated with the three distinct entries of RVFV in West Africa. PMID:22539961

The Growth of Neurosurgery in East Africa: Challenges.

PubMed

Santos, Maria M; Qureshi, Mubashir M; Budohoski, Karol P; Mangat, Halinder S; Ngerageza, Japhet G; Schöller, Karsten; Shabani, Hamisi K; Zubkov, Micaella R; Härtl, Roger

2018-05-01

As the second of 3 articles in this series, the aim of this article is to provide readers with an understanding of the development of neurosurgery in East Africa (foundations), the challenges that arise in providing neurosurgical care in developing countries (challenges), and an overview of traditional and novel approaches to overcoming these challenges and improving health care in the region (innovations). Recognizing the challenges that need to be addressed is the first step to implementing efficient and qualified surgery delivery systems in low- and middle-income countries. We reviewed the major challenges facing health care in East Africa and grouped them into 5 categories: 1) burden of surgical disease and workforce crisis; 2) global health view of surgery as "the neglected stepchild"; 3) need for recognizing the surgical system as an interdependent network and importance of organizational and equipment deficits; 4) lack of education in the community, failure of primary care systems, and net result of overwhelming tertiary care systems; 5) personal and professional burnout as well as brain drain of promising human resources from low- and middle-income countries in East Africa and similar regions across the world. Each major challenge was detailed and analyzed by authors who have worked or are currently working in the region, providing a personal perspective. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Environmental Gap Analysis to Prioritize Conservation Efforts in Eastern Africa

PubMed Central

van Breugel, Paulo; Kindt, Roeland; Lillesø, Jens-Peter Barnekow; van Breugel, Michiel

2015-01-01

Countries in eastern Africa have set aside significant proportions of their land for protection. But are these areas representative of the diverse range of species and habitats found in the region? And do conservation efforts include areas where the state of biodiversity is likely to deteriorate without further interventions? Various studies have addressed these questions at global and continental scales. However, meaningful conservation decisions are required at finer geographical scales. To operate more effectively at the national level, finer scale baseline data on species and on higher levels of biological organization such as the eco-regions are required, among other factors. Here we adopted a recently developed high-resolution potential natural vegetation (PNV) map for eastern Africa as a baseline to more effectively identify conservation priorities. We examined how well different potential natural vegetations (PNVs) are represented in the protected area (PA) network of eastern Africa and used a multivariate environmental similarity index to evaluate biases in PA versus PNV coverage. We additionally overlaid data of anthropogenic factors that potentially influence the natural vegetation to assess the level of threat to different PNVs. Our results indicate substantial differences in the conservation status of PNVs. In addition, particular PNVs in which biodiversity protection and ecological functions are at risk due to human influences are revealed. The data and approach presented here provide a step forward in developing more transparent and better informed translation from global priorities to regional or national implementation in eastern Africa, and are valid for other geographic regions. PMID:25855968

HIV and tuberculosis in prisons in sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Telisinghe, Lilanganee; Charalambous, Salome; Topp, Stephanie M; Herce, Michael E; Hoffmann, Christopher J; Barron, Peter; Schouten, Erik J; Jahn, Andreas; Zachariah, Rony; Harries, Anthony D; Beyrer, Chris; Amon, Joseph J

2016-09-17

Given the dual epidemics of HIV and tuberculosis in sub-Saharan Africa and evidence suggesting a disproportionate burden of these diseases among detainees in the region, we aimed to investigate the epidemiology of HIV and tuberculosis in prison populations, describe services available and challenges to service delivery, and identify priority areas for programmatically relevant research in sub-Saharan African prisons. To this end, we reviewed literature on HIV and tuberculosis in sub-Saharan African prisons published between 2011 and 2015, and identified data from only 24 of the 49 countries in the region. Where data were available, they were frequently of poor quality and rarely nationally representative. Prevalence of HIV infection ranged from 2·3% to 34·9%, and of tuberculosis from 0·4 to 16·3%; detainees nearly always had a higher prevalence of both diseases than did the non-incarcerated population in the same country. We identified barriers to prevention, treatment, and care services in published work and through five case studies of prison health policies and services in Zambia, South Africa, Malawi, Nigeria, and Benin. These barriers included severe financial and human-resource limitations and fragmented referral systems that prevent continuity of care when detainees cycle into and out of prison, or move between prisons. These challenges are set against the backdrop of weak health and criminal-justice systems, high rates of pre-trial detention, and overcrowding. A few examples of promising practices exist, including routine voluntary testing for HIV and screening for tuberculosis upon entry to South African and the largest Zambian prisons, reforms to pre-trial detention in South Africa, integration of mental health services into a health package in selected Malawian prisons, and task sharing to include detainees in care provision through peer-educator programmes in Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and South Africa. However, substantial additional investments are

Images of Africa: A Case Study of Pre-Service Candidates' Perceptions of Teaching Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Hannah

2017-01-01

As much as the history and study of Africa have been incorporated into social studies curricula, Africa is still a region that is prone to misperceptions and misconceptions. Social studies teachers could provide students with an alternative image, but what if they only perpetuate misperceptions of Africa? This case study examines preservice…

Review of the status and control of foot and mouth disease in sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Vosloo, W; Bastos, A D S; Sangare, O; Hargreaves, S K; Thomson, G R

2002-12-01

valuable resource in the arid and semi-arid regions of Africa, with increasing marginalisation of human populations living there.

A seasonal agricultural drought forecast system for food-insecure regions of East Africa

USGS Publications Warehouse

Shukla, Shraddhanand; McNally, Amy; Husak, Gregory; Funk, Christopher C.

2014-01-01

 The increasing food and water demands of East Africa's growing population are stressing the region's inconsistent water resources and rain-fed agriculture. More accurate seasonal agricultural drought forecasts for this region can inform better water and agricultural management decisions, support optimal allocation of the region's water resources, and mitigate socio-economic losses incurred by droughts and floods. Here we describe the development and implementation of a seasonal agricultural drought forecast system for East Africa (EA) that provides decision support for the Famine Early Warning Systems Network's science team. We evaluate this forecast system for a region of equatorial EA (2° S to 8° N, and 36° to 46° E) for the March-April-May growing season. This domain encompasses one of the most food insecure, climatically variable and socio-economically vulnerable regions in EA, and potentially the world: this region has experienced famine as recently as 2011. To assess the agricultural outlook for the upcoming season our forecast system simulates soil moisture (SM) scenarios using the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrologic model forced with climate scenarios for the upcoming season. First, to show that the VIC model is appropriate for this application we forced the model with high quality atmospheric observations and found that the resulting SM values were consistent with the Food and Agriculture Organization's (FAO's) Water Requirement Satisfaction Index (WRSI), an index used by FEWS NET to estimate crop yields. Next we tested our forecasting system with hindcast runs (1993–2012). We found that initializing SM forecasts with start-of-season (5 March) SM conditions resulted in useful SM forecast skill (> 0.5 correlation) at 1-month, and in some cases at 3 month lead times. Similarly, when the forecast was initialized with mid-season (i.e. 5 April) SM conditions the skill until the end-of-season improved. This shows that early-season rainfall

The 2014 Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa highlights no evidence of rapid evolution or adaptation to humans.

PubMed

Li, Xingguang; Zai, Junjie; Liu, Haizhou; Feng, Yi; Li, Fan; Wei, Jing; Zou, Sen; Yuan, Zhiming; Shao, Yiming

2016-10-21

Following its immergence in December 2013, the recent Zaire Ebola virus (EBOV) outbreak in West Africa has spread and persisted for more than two years, making it the largest EBOV epidemic in both scale and geographical region to date. In this study, a total of 726 glycoprotein (GP) gene sequences of the EBOV full-length genome obtained from West Africa from the 2014 outbreak, combined with 30 from earlier outbreaks between 1976 and 2008 were used to investigate the genetic divergence, evolutionary history, population dynamics, and selection pressure of EBOV among distinct epidemic waves. Results from our dataset showed that no non-synonymous substitutions occurred on the GP gene coding sequences of EBOV that were likely to have affected protein structure or function in any way. Furthermore, the significantly different dN/dS ratios observed between the 2014 West African outbreak and earlier outbreaks were more likely due to the confounding presence of segregating polymorphisms. Our results highlight no robust evidence that the 2014 EBOV outbreak is fast-evolving and adapting to humans. Therefore, the unprecedented nature of the 2014 EBOV outbreak might be more likely related to non-virological elements, such as environmental and sociological factors.

Dermatophytosis in northern Africa.

PubMed

Nweze, E I; Eke, I

2016-03-01

Infections caused by dermatophytes are a global problem and a major public health burden in the world today. In Africa, especially in the northern geographical zone, dermatophytic infections are being reported at an alarming rate. This is mostly because of some local but unique cultural practices, socioeconomic and environmental conditions, lack of reliable diagnostic personnel and facilities and ineffective treatment. Interestingly, the pathogen spectrum and the clinical manifestation are most times different from what is seen in other continents. Several epidemiological studies have been performed on the incidence and aetiology of dermatophytoses in northern Africa. However, there is currently no review article with up-to-date information on the relevant findings reported so far in this region. This information is necessary for clinicians who treat dermatophytic infections all over the world since agents of dermatophytes are no longer restricted because of the rapid mobility of humans from one part of the world to another. Moreover, the epidemiology of dermatophytoses is known to change over time, thus requiring the update of information from time to time. A review of relevant studies published on dermatophytoses in northern Africa is presented. This covers all of old Sudan, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco. © 2015 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

The impact of regional climate change on malaria risk due to greenhouse forcing and land-use changes in tropical Africa.

PubMed

Ermert, Volker; Fink, Andreas H; Morse, Andrew P; Paeth, Heiko

2012-01-01

Climate change will probably alter the spread and transmission intensity of malaria in Africa. In this study, we assessed potential changes in the malaria transmission via an integrated weather-disease model. We simulated mosquito biting rates using the Liverpool Malaria Model (LMM). The input data for the LMM were bias-corrected temperature and precipitation data from the regional model (REMO) on a 0.5° latitude-longitude grid. A Plasmodium falciparum infection model expands the LMM simulations to incorporate information on the infection rate among children. Malaria projections were carried out with this integrated weather-disease model for 2001 to 2050 according to two climate scenarios that include the effect of anthropogenic land-use and land-cover changes on climate. Model-based estimates for the present climate (1960 to 2000) are consistent with observed data for the spread of malaria in Africa. In the model domain, the regions where malaria is epidemic are located in the Sahel as well as in various highland territories. A decreased spread of malaria over most parts of tropical Africa is projected because of simulated increased surface temperatures and a significant reduction in annual rainfall. However, the likelihood of malaria epidemics is projected to increase in the southern part of the Sahel. In most of East Africa, the intensity of malaria transmission is expected to increase. Projections indicate that highland areas that were formerly unsuitable for malaria will become epidemic, whereas in the lower-altitude regions of the East African highlands, epidemic risk will decrease. We project that climate changes driven by greenhouse-gas and land-use changes will significantly affect the spread of malaria in tropical Africa well before 2050. The geographic distribution of areas where malaria is epidemic might have to be significantly altered in the coming decades.

21st Century African Philosophy of Adult and Human Resource Education in Southern Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mutamba, Charlene

2012-01-01

This paper will attempt to define a philosophy of adult education for the purpose of workforce development in Southern Africa. The different influences such as Ubuntu and communalism, indigenous education, diversity western philosophy, globalization and technology are explored in the context of the Southern African region.

Genetics and recent human evolution.

PubMed

Templeton, Alan R

2007-07-01

Starting with "mitochondrial Eve" in 1987, genetics has played an increasingly important role in studies of the last two million years of human evolution. It initially appeared that genetic data resolved the basic models of recent human evolution in favor of the "out-of-Africa replacement" hypothesis in which anatomically modern humans evolved in Africa about 150,000 years ago, started to spread throughout the world about 100,000 years ago, and subsequently drove to complete genetic extinction (replacement) all other human populations in Eurasia. Unfortunately, many of the genetic studies on recent human evolution have suffered from scientific flaws, including misrepresenting the models of recent human evolution, focusing upon hypothesis compatibility rather than hypothesis testing, committing the ecological fallacy, and failing to consider a broader array of alternative hypotheses. Once these flaws are corrected, there is actually little genetic support for the out-of-Africa replacement hypothesis. Indeed, when genetic data are used in a hypothesis-testing framework, the out-of-Africa replacement hypothesis is strongly rejected. The model of recent human evolution that emerges from a statistical hypothesis-testing framework does not correspond to any of the traditional models of human evolution, but it is compatible with fossil and archaeological data. These studies also reveal that any one gene or DNA region captures only a small part of human evolutionary history, so multilocus studies are essential. As more and more loci became available, genetics will undoubtedly offer additional insights and resolutions of human evolution.

South Africa

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

This true-color image of South Africa was acquired on May 14, 2000, by NASA's Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, or MODIS. The image was produced using a combination of the sensor's 250-m and 500-m resolution visible wavelength bands. As part of the opening ceremony to begin the joint U.S.-South Africa SAFARI Field Experiment, NASA presented print copies of this image as GIFts to Dr. Ben Ngubane, Minister of Arts, Science and Technology, and Honorable Advocate Ngoaka Ramathlodi, Premier of the Northern Province, South Africa. The area shown in this image encompasses seven capital cities and a number of the region's distinctive geological features can be seen clearly. Toward the northern (top) central part of the image, the browns and tans comprise the Kalahari Desert of southern Botswana. The Tropic of Capricorn runs right through the heart of the Kalahari and the Botswanan capital city of Gaborone sits on the Limpopo River, southeast of the Kalahari. Along the western coastline of the continent is the country of Namibia, where the Namib Desert is framed against the sea by the Kaokoveld Mountains. The Namibian capital of Windhoek is obscured by clouds. Looking closely in the center of the image, the Orange River can be seen running from east to west, demarcating the boundary between Namibia and South Africa. On the southwestern corner of the continent is the hook-like Cape of Good Hope peninsula and Cape Town, the parliamentary capital of South Africa. Running west to east away from Cape Town are the Great Karroo Mountains. The shadow in this image conveys a sense of the very steep grade of the cliffs along the southern coast of South Africa. Port Elizabeth sits on the southeasternmost point of South Africa, and a large phytoplankton bloom can be seen in the water about 100 miles east of there. Moving northward along the east coast, the Drakensberg Mountains are visible. The two small nations of Lesotho and Swaziland are in this region, completely

The New Regionalism in Sub-Saharan Africa: More Than Meets the Eye? Policy Brief No. 20

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldstein, Andrea

2002-01-01

Following independence in sub-Saharan Africa in the 1960s, traditional integration strategies produced disappointing results in most instances, as they started with very modest levels of intra-regional trade, marked differences in income and industrialisation levels and diffuse fiscal weakness. They also had a strong protectionist bias, trying to…

Acute arboviral infections in Guinea, West Africa, 2006.

PubMed

Jentes, Emily S; Robinson, Jaimie; Johnson, Barbara W; Conde, Ibrahima; Sakouvougui, Yosse; Iverson, Jennifer; Beecher, Shanna; Bah, M Alpha; Diakite, Fousseny; Coulibaly, Mamadi; Bausch, Daniel G; Bryan, Juliet

2010-08-01

Acute febrile illnesses comprise the majority of the human disease burden in sub-Saharan Africa. We hypothesized that arboviruses comprised a considerable proportion of undiagnosed febrile illnesses in Guinea and sought to determine the frequency of arboviral disease in two hospitals there. Using a standard case definition, 47 suspected cases were detected in approximately 4 months. Immunoglobulin M antibody capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and plaque-reduction neutralization assays revealed that 63% (30/47) of patients were infected with arboviruses, including 11 West Nile, 2 yellow fever, 1 dengue, 8 chikungunya, and 5 Tahyna infections. Except for yellow fever, these are the first reported cases of human disease from these viruses in Guinea and the first reported cases of symptomatic Tahyna infection in Africa. These results strongly suggest that arboviruses circulate and are common causes of disease in Guinea. Improving surveillance and laboratory capacity for arbovirus diagnoses will be integral to understanding the burden posed by these agents in the region.

Acute Arboviral Infections in Guinea, West Africa, 2006

PubMed Central

Jentes, Emily S.; Robinson, Jaimie; Johnson, Barbara W.; Conde, Ibrahima; Sakouvougui, Yosse; Iverson, Jennifer; Beecher, Shanna; Bah, M. Alpha; Diakite, Fousseny; Coulibaly, Mamadi; Bausch, Daniel G.

2010-01-01

Acute febrile illnesses comprise the majority of the human disease burden in sub-Saharan Africa. We hypothesized that arboviruses comprised a considerable proportion of undiagnosed febrile illnesses in Guinea and sought to determine the frequency of arboviral disease in two hospitals there. Using a standard case definition, 47 suspected cases were detected in approximately 4 months. Immunoglobulin M antibody capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and plaque-reduction neutralization assays revealed that 63% (30/47) of patients were infected with arboviruses, including 11 West Nile, 2 yellow fever, 1 dengue, 8 chikungunya, and 5 Tahyna infections. Except for yellow fever, these are the first reported cases of human disease from these viruses in Guinea and the first reported cases of symptomatic Tahyna infection in Africa. These results strongly suggest that arboviruses circulate and are common causes of disease in Guinea. Improving surveillance and laboratory capacity for arbovirus diagnoses will be integral to understanding the burden posed by these agents in the region. PMID:20682888

Social context of human immunodeficiency virus transmission in Africa: historical and cultural bases of east and central African sexual relations.

PubMed

Larson, A

1989-01-01

The literature relating to the social context of sexual relations in East and Central Africa has several implications for the heterosexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Colonially created cities in the region still discriminate economically and socially against women. Rapid urbanization is occurring, but migrants maintain strong ties with rural areas. Traditional attitudes towards marriage and sexuality affect urban behavior in the extent of marital stability, the frequency of polygyny, and the emotional bond between spouses. Ethnic groups in Kampala and Nairobi exemplify the cultural foundations of two forms of sexual relations found in the region, one characterized by prostitution and the other by small circles of interchanging lovers. The first results in a more rapid spread of HIV through the urban population and outwards into rural areas. Each pattern exerts unique constraints on behavioral change and requires different prevention campaigns.

The dominant Anopheles vectors of human malaria in Africa, Europe and the Middle East: occurrence data, distribution maps and bionomic précis

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background This is the second in a series of three articles documenting the geographical distribution of 41 dominant vector species (DVS) of human malaria. The first paper addressed the DVS of the Americas and the third will consider those of the Asian Pacific Region. Here, the DVS of Africa, Europe and the Middle East are discussed. The continent of Africa experiences the bulk of the global malaria burden due in part to the presence of the An. gambiae complex. Anopheles gambiae is one of four DVS within the An. gambiae complex, the others being An. arabiensis and the coastal An. merus and An. melas. There are a further three, highly anthropophilic DVS in Africa, An. funestus, An. moucheti and An. nili. Conversely, across Europe and the Middle East, malaria transmission is low and frequently absent, despite the presence of six DVS. To help control malaria in Africa and the Middle East, or to identify the risk of its re-emergence in Europe, the contemporary distribution and bionomics of the relevant DVS are needed. Results A contemporary database of occurrence data, compiled from the formal literature and other relevant resources, resulted in the collation of information for seven DVS from 44 countries in Africa containing 4234 geo-referenced, independent sites. In Europe and the Middle East, six DVS were identified from 2784 geo-referenced sites across 49 countries. These occurrence data were combined with expert opinion ranges and a suite of environmental and climatic variables of relevance to anopheline ecology to produce predictive distribution maps using the Boosted Regression Tree (BRT) method. Conclusions The predicted geographic extent for the following DVS (or species/suspected species complex*) is provided for Africa: Anopheles (Cellia) arabiensis, An. (Cel.) funestus*, An. (Cel.) gambiae, An. (Cel.) melas, An. (Cel.) merus, An. (Cel.) moucheti and An. (Cel.) nili*, and in the European and Middle Eastern Region: An. (Anopheles) atroparvus, An. (Ano

IFLA General Conference 1988. Division of Regional Activities. Sections on: Asia and Oceania; Africa; Latin America and the Caribbean; Australia.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

International Federation of Library Associations, The Hague (Netherlands).

The eight papers in this collection focus on library activities in various geographical regions, e.g., Asia, Oceania, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Western Australia: (1) "Future Approaches and Prospects of Computerised Information Network among the Countries of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)" (Abdullah…

Partaking in the global movement for occupational mental health: what challenges and ways forward for sub-Sahara Africa?

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

There is an ongoing global movement for the entrenchment of occupational mental health as an integral part of occupational health and safety schemes. Aside from being a fundamental human right issue, this move has been demonstrated to be of cost-benefit in terms of workplace productivity and general economic growth. Despite being among the regions most prone to the human and economic repercussions of work-related mental health problems by reason of her socio-economic circumstance; sub-Sahara Africa is yet to fully plug into this movement. With a view to make recommendations on the ways forward for sub-Sahara Africa, this paper examines the current state of and the barriers to effective occupational mental health policy and practice in the region. PMID:22958579

Why Africa matters: evolution of Old World Salvia (Lamiaceae) in Africa

PubMed Central

Will, Maria; Claßen-Bockhoff, Regine

2014-01-01

Background and Aims Salvia is the largest genus in Lamiaceae and it has recently been found to be non-monophyletic. Molecular data on Old World Salvia are largely lacking. In this study, we present data concerning Salvia in Africa. The focus is on the colonization of the continent, character evolution and the switch of pollination systems in the genus. Methods Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference were used for phylogenetic reconstruction. Analyses were based on two nuclear markers [internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and external transcribed spacer (ETS)] and one plastid marker (rpl32-trnL). Sequence data were generated for 41 of the 62 African taxa (66 %). Mesquite was used to reconstruct ancestral character states for distribution, life form, calyx shape, stamen type and pollination syndrome. Key Results Salvia in Africa is non-monophyletic. Each of the five major regions in Africa, except Madagascar, was colonized at least twice, and floristic links between North African, south-west Asian and European species are strongly supported. The large radiation in Sub-Saharan Africa (23 species) can be traced back to dispersal from North Africa via East Africa to the Cape Region. Adaptation to bird pollination in southern Africa and Madagascar reflects parallel evolution. Conclusions The phenotypic diversity in African Salvia is associated with repeated introductions to the continent. Many important evolutionary processes, such as colonization, adaptation, parallelism and character transformation, are reflected in this comparatively small group. The data presented in this study can help to understand the evolution of Salvia sensu lato and other large genera. PMID:24966353

Downscaling Reanalysis over Continental Africa with a Regional Model: NCEP Versus ERA Interim Forcing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Druyan, Leonard M.; Fulakeza, Matthew B.

2013-01-01

Five annual climate cycles (1998-2002) are simulated for continental Africa and adjacent oceans by a regional atmospheric model (RM3). RM3 horizontal grid spacing is 0.44deg at 28 vertical levels. Each of 2 simulation ensembles is driven by lateral boundary conditions from each of 2 alternative reanalysis data sets. One simulation downs cales National Center for Environmental Prediction reanalysis 2 (NCPR2) and the other the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts Interim reanalysis (ERA-I). NCPR2 data are archived at 2.5deg grid spacing, while a recent version of ERA-I provides data at 0.75deg spacing. ERA-I-forced simulations are recomrp. ended by the Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX). Comparisons of the 2 sets of simulations with each other and with observational evidence assess the relative performance of each downscaling system. A third simulation also uses ERA-I forcing, but degraded to the same horizontal resolution as NCPR2. RM3-simulated pentad and monthly mean precipitation data are compared to Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) data, gridded at 0.5deg, and RM3-simulated circulation is compared to both reanalyses. Results suggest that each downscaling system provides advantages and disadvantages relative to the other. The RM3/NCPR2 achieves a more realistic northward advance of summer monsoon rains over West Africa, but RM3/ERA-I creates the more realistic monsoon circulation. Both systems recreate some features of JulySeptember 1999 minus 2002 precipitation differences. Degrading the resolution of ERA-I driving data unrealistically slows the monsoon circulation and considerably diminishes summer rainfall rates over West Africa. The high resolution of ERA-I data, therefore, contributes to the quality of the downscaling, but NCPR2laterai boundary conditions nevertheless produce better simulations of some features.

Assessing the link between Atlantic Niño 1 and drought over West Africa using CORDEX regional climate models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adeniyi, Mojisola Oluwayemisi; Dilau, Kabiru Alabi

2018-02-01

The skill of Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment (CORDEX) models (ARPEGE, CCLM, HIRHAM, RACMO, REMO, PRECIS, RegCM3, RCA, WRF and CRCM) in simulating the climate (precipitation, temperature and drought) of West Africa is determined using a process-based metric. This is done by comparing the CORDEX models' simulated and observed correlation coefficients between Atlantic Niño Index 1 (ATLN1) and the climate over West Africa. Strong positive correlation is observed between ATLN1 and the climate parameters at the Guinea Coast (GC). The Atlantic Ocean has Niño behaviours through the ATLN indices which influence the climate of the tropics. Drought has distinct dipole structure of correlation with ATLN1 (negative at the Sahel); precipitation does not have distinct dipole structure of correlation, while temperature has almost a monopole correlation structure with ATLN1 over West Africa. The magnitude of the correlation increases with closeness to the equatorial eastern Atlantic. Correlations between ATLN1 and temperature are mostly stronger than those between ATLN1 and precipitation over the region. Most models have good performance over the GC, but ARPEGE has the highest skill at GC. The PRECIS is the most skilful over Savannah and RCA over Sahel. These models can be used to downscale the projected climate at the region of their highest skill.

Modification and implementation of NCCN guidelines on lymphomas in the Middle East and North Africa region.

PubMed

Bazarbachi, Ali; Azim, Hamdy A; Alizadeh, Hussain; Aljurf, Mahmoud; Barista, Ibrahim; Chaudhri, Naeem A; Fahed, Zahira; Fahmy, Omar A; Ghavamzadeh, Ardeshir; Khalaf, Mohamed H; Khatib, Sami; Kutoubi, Aghiad; Paydas, Semra; Elayoubi, Hanadi Rafii; Zaatari, Ghazi; Zawam, Hamdy M; Zelenetz, Andrew D

2010-07-01

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, cancer has many epidemiologic and clinical features that are different from those in the rest of the world. Additionally, the region has a relatively young population and large disparities in the availability of resources at diagnostic and treatment levels. A critical need exists for regional guidelines on cancer care, including those for lymphoid malignancies. A panel of lymphoma experts from MENA reviewed the 2009 version of the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) on Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and Hodgkin Lymphoma and suggested modifications for the region that were discussed with the United States NCCN Lymphoma Panels. This article presents the consensus recommendations.

IFLA General Conference, 1986. Regional Activities Division. Session on Africa, Asia and Oceania, and Latin America. Papers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, The Hague (Netherlands).

Papers on regional activities in Africa, Asia and Oceania, and Latin America which were presented at the 1986 IFLA general conference include: (1) "Appropriate Technology for Libraries in Developing Countries" (Peter N. Chateh, Cameroon); (2) "The Impact of Information Technology on Libraries in Thailand--Present and Future…

Trials and projects on cervical cancer and human papillomavirus prevention in sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Adefuye, Peter O; Broutet, Nathalie J; de Sanjosé, Silvia; Denny, Lynette A

2013-12-29

Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer morbidity and mortality in women in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), accounting for about 50,000 deaths annually. Until recently, cytology was the gold standard for screening and prevention of cervical cancer. This method of screening has not been successful in SSA due to a lack of human, financial and material resources and poor health care infrastructure. It is estimated that less than 5% of at risk women have ever being screened. In the past two decades alternative approaches to cytology for cervical cancer screening have been evaluated in low- and medium-income countries. Visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) and/or Lugol's iodine (VILI) have been shown to have adequate sensitivity, although low specificity, in a number of cross-sectional research and demonstration projects. Visual inspection methods require minimal resources, are technologically accessible, and are feasible for screening for precancerous lesions. Linking screening with VIA/VILI to treatment with cryotherapy may enable screening and treatment to take place in one visit, but this is likely to result in large numbers of women being subjected to unnecessary treatment. A number of studies have shown that cryotherapy is not associated with significant side effects or complications and is well tolerated. Creating the infrastructure for screening of older women is considered desirable, despite the limitations of visual inspection methods as screening tests. Understanding the role of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection in the etiology of cervical cancer and the discovery of HPV rapid test kits, as well as the development of vaccines against the HPV oncogenic types, have created new opportunities for prevention of cervical cancer. Trials and projects have established (and are still ongoing) the feasibility of using these molecular tests for screening. The ultimate in prevention method is primary prevention, offered by the advent of prophylactic vaccines

The 'Out of Africa' Hypothesis, Human Genetic Diversity, and Comparative Economic Development

PubMed Central

Ashraf, Quamrul; Galor, Oded

2013-01-01

This research argues that deep-rooted factors, determined tens of thousands of years ago, had a significant effect on the course of economic development from the dawn of human civilization to the contemporary era. It advances and empirically establishes the hypothesis that, in the course of the exodus of Homo sapiens out of Africa, variation in migratory distance from the cradle of humankind to various settlements across the globe affected genetic diversity and has had a long-lasting effect on the pattern of comparative economic development that is not captured by geographical, institutional, and cultural factors. In particular, the level of genetic diversity within a society is found to have a hump-shaped effect on development outcomes in both the pre-colonial and the modern era, reflecting the trade-off between the beneficial and the detrimental effects of diversity on productivity. While the intermediate level of genetic diversity prevalent among Asian and European populations has been conducive for development, the high degree of diversity among African populations and the low degree of diversity among Native American populations have been a detrimental force in the development of these regions. PMID:25506083

Pathogen-Host Associations and Predicted Range Shifts of Human Monkeypox in Response to Climate Change in Central Africa

PubMed Central

Thomassen, Henri A.; Fuller, Trevon; Asefi-Najafabady, Salvi; Shiplacoff, Julia A. G.; Mulembakani, Prime M.; Blumberg, Seth; Johnston, Sara C.; Kisalu, Neville K.; Kinkela, Timothée L.; Fair, Joseph N.; Wolfe, Nathan D.; Shongo, Robert L.; LeBreton, Matthew; Meyer, Hermann; Wright, Linda L.; Muyembe, Jean-Jacques; Buermann, Wolfgang; Okitolonda, Emile; Hensley, Lisa E.; Lloyd-Smith, James O.; Smith, Thomas B.; Rimoin, Anne W.

2013-01-01

Climate change is predicted to result in changes in the geographic ranges and local prevalence of infectious diseases, either through direct effects on the pathogen, or indirectly through range shifts in vector and reservoir species. To better understand the occurrence of monkeypox virus (MPXV), an emerging Orthopoxvirus in humans, under contemporary and future climate conditions, we used ecological niche modeling techniques in conjunction with climate and remote-sensing variables. We first created spatially explicit probability distributions of its candidate reservoir species in Africa's Congo Basin. Reservoir species distributions were subsequently used to model current and projected future distributions of human monkeypox (MPX). Results indicate that forest clearing and climate are significant driving factors of the transmission of MPX from wildlife to humans under current climate conditions. Models under contemporary climate conditions performed well, as indicated by high values for the area under the receiver operator curve (AUC), and tests on spatially randomly and non-randomly omitted test data. Future projections were made on IPCC 4th Assessment climate change scenarios for 2050 and 2080, ranging from more conservative to more aggressive, and representing the potential variation within which range shifts can be expected to occur. Future projections showed range shifts into regions where MPX has not been recorded previously. Increased suitability for MPX was predicted in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Models developed here are useful for identifying areas where environmental conditions may become more suitable for human MPX; targeting candidate reservoir species for future screening efforts; and prioritizing regions for future MPX surveillance efforts. PMID:23935820

A human economy: A ``third way'' for the future of young people in the Middle East and North Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zaalouk, Malak

2014-06-01

This paper looks at the vulnerability of today's youth worldwide, with a particular focus on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), where the proportion of citizens aged 12-24 is particularly high at one-third of the total population. Cursed with poor education and few work opportunities, the youth unemployment rate has risen to 50 per cent in this region. There is a consequent lack of participation at all levels, and a large number of youth are showing symptoms of low self-esteem, frustration, anger and unrest. After discussing the outcomes of years of an inhuman economic system on a global level, this article points to a more humane and empowering path. The author argues that, instead of continuing with profit-oriented capitalism or relying on the informal sector, the co-operative way represents a third alternative to existing economic sectors within the dominant contemporary economic system. The article analyses the many benefits of this path for the realisation of a humane economy. In so doing, it touches on issues of equity and social protection. Finally, the article outlines what needs to be done if this is to be a viable solution for a human economy. While giving many examples of successful co-operative enterprises worldwide, the author singles out the MENA region as one which could also benefit from the new trends outlined.

Ethics review of health research on human participants in South Africa.

PubMed

van Wyk, Christa

2010-06-01

In terms of South African legislation, all health research on human participants must be submitted to an accredited research ethics committee for independent ethics review. Health research covers a broad spectrum of research, including clinical trials. This article sets out the ethical-legal framework for the functioning and composition of such committees. It also deals with the newly created National Health Research Ethics Council, which registers and audits health research ethics committees. Special attention is given to the conduct of clinical trials. In conclusion, it is submitted that the National Health Act, the Draft Regulations Relating to Research on Human Subjects, and two sets of ethical guidelines adopted by the Department of Health provide a much needed and coherent ethical-legal framework for research in South Africa.

Spatiotemporal analysis of the effect of climate change on vegetation health in the Drakensberg Mountain Region of South Africa.

PubMed

Mukwada, Geoffrey; Manatsa, Desmond

2018-05-24

The impact of climate change on mountain ecosystems has been in the spotlight for the past three decades. Climate change is generally considered to be a threat to ecosystem health in mountain regions. Vegetation indices can be used to detect shifts in ecosystem phenology and climate change in mountain regions while satellite imagery can play an important role in this process. However, what has remained problematic is determining the extent to which ecosystem phenology is affected by climate change under increasingly warming conditions. In this paper, we use climate and vegetation indices that were derived from satellite data to investigate the link between ecosystem phenology and climate change in the Namahadi Catchment Area of the Drakensberg Mountain Region of South Africa. The time series for climate indices as well as those for gridded precipitation and temperature data were analyzed in order to determine climate shifts, and concomitant changes in vegetation health were assessed in the resultant epochs using vegetation indices. The results indicate that vegetation indices should only be used to assess trends in climate change under relatively pristine conditions, where human influence is limited. This knowledge is important for designing climate change monitoring strategies that are based on ecosystem phenology and vegetation health.

Molecular epidemiology of 58 new African human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1) strains: identification of a new and distinct HTLV-1 molecular subtype in Central Africa and in Pygmies.

PubMed Central

Mahieux, R; Ibrahim, F; Mauclere, P; Herve, V; Michel, P; Tekaia, F; Chappey, C; Garin, B; Van Der Ryst, E; Guillemain, B; Ledru, E; Delaporte, E; de The, G; Gessain, A

1997-01-01

To gain new insights on the origin, evolution, and modes of dissemination of human T-cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-1), we performed a molecular analysis of 58 new African HTLV-1 strains (18 from West Africa, 36 from Central Africa, and 4 from South Africa) originating from 13 countries. Of particular interest were eight strains from Pygmies of remote areas of Cameroon and the Central African Republic (CAR), considered to be the oldest inhabitants of these regions. Eight long-term activated T-cell lines producing HTLV-1 gag and env antigens were established from peripheral blood mononuclear cell cultures of HTLV-1 seropositive individuals, including three from Pygmies. A fragment of the env gene encompassing most of the gp21 transmembrane region was sequenced for the 58 new strains, while the complete long terminal repeat (LTR) region was sequenced for 9 strains, including 4 from Pygmies. Comparative sequence analyses and phylogenetic studies performed on both the env and LTR regions by the neighbor-joining and DNA parsimony methods demonstrated that all 22 strains from West and South Africa belong to the widespread cosmopolitan subtype (also called HTLV-1 subtype A). Within or alongside the previously described Zairian cluster (HTLV-1 subtype B), we discovered a number of new HTLV-1 variants forming different subgroups corresponding mainly to the geographical origins of the infected persons, Cameroon, Gabon, and Zaire. Six of the eight Pygmy strains clustered together within this Central African subtype, suggesting a common origin. Furthermore, three new strains (two originating from Pygmies from Cameroon and the CAR, respectively, and one from a Gabonese individual) were particularly divergent and formed a distinct new phylogenetic cluster, characterized by specific mutations and occupying in most analyses a unique phylogenetic position between the large Central African genotype (HTLV-1 subtype B) and the Melanesian subtype (HTLV-1 subtype C). We have

Genetic Variation and Adaptation in Africa: Implications for Human Evolution and Disease

PubMed Central

Gomez, Felicia; Hirbo, Jibril; Tishkoff, Sarah A.

2014-01-01

Because modern humans originated in Africa and have adapted to diverse environments, African populations have high levels of genetic and phenotypic diversity. Thus, genomic studies of diverse African ethnic groups are essential for understanding human evolutionary history and how this leads to differential disease risk in all humans. Comparative studies of genetic diversity within and between African ethnic groups creates an opportunity to reconstruct some of the earliest events in human population history and are useful for identifying patterns of genetic variation that have been influenced by recent natural selection. Here we describe what is currently known about genetic variation and evolutionary history of diverse African ethnic groups. We also describe examples of recent natural selection in African genomes and how these data are informative for understanding the frequency of many genetic traits, including those that cause disease susceptibility in African populations and populations of recent African descent. PMID:24984772

Ambient aromatic hydrocarbon measurements at Welgegund, South Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jaars, K.; Beukes, J. P.; van Zyl, P. G.; Venter, A. D.; Josipovic, M.; Pienaar, J. J.; Vakkari, V.; Aaltonen, H.; Laakso, H.; Kulmala, M.; Tiitta, P.; Guenther, A.; Hellén, H.; Laakso, L.; Hakola, H.

2014-07-01

Aromatic hydrocarbons are associated with direct adverse human health effects and can have negative impacts on ecosystems due to their toxicity, as well as indirect negative effects through the formation of tropospheric ozone and secondary organic aerosol, which affect human health, crop production and regional climate. Measurements of aromatic hydrocarbons were conducted at the Welgegund measurement station (South Africa), which is considered to be a regionally representative background site. However, the site is occasionally impacted by plumes from major anthropogenic source regions in the interior of South Africa, which include the western Bushveld Igneous Complex (e.g. platinum, base metal and ferrochrome smelters), the eastern Bushveld Igneous Complex (platinum and ferrochrome smelters), the Johannesburg-Pretoria metropolitan conurbation (> 10 million people), the Vaal Triangle (e.g. petrochemical and pyrometallurgical industries), the Mpumalanga Highveld (e.g. coal-fired power plants and petrochemical industry) and also a region of anticyclonic recirculation of air mass over the interior of South Africa. The aromatic hydrocarbon measurements were conducted with an automated sampler on Tenax-TA and Carbopack-B adsorbent tubes with heated inlet for 1 year. Samples were collected twice a week for 2 h during daytime and 2 h during night-time. A thermal desorption unit, connected to a gas chromatograph and a mass selective detector was used for sample preparation and analysis. Results indicated that the monthly median (mean) total aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations ranged between 0.01 (0.011) and 3.1 (3.2) ppb. Benzene levels did not exceed the local air quality standard limit, i.e. annual mean of 1.6 ppb. Toluene was the most abundant compound, with an annual median (mean) concentration of 0.63 (0.89) ppb. No statistically significant differences in the concentrations measured during daytime and night-time were found, and no distinct seasonal patterns were

Why Africa matters: evolution of Old World Salvia (Lamiaceae) in Africa.

PubMed

Will, Maria; Claßen-Bockhoff, Regine

2014-07-01

Salvia is the largest genus in Lamiaceae and it has recently been found to be non-monophyletic. Molecular data on Old World Salvia are largely lacking. In this study, we present data concerning Salvia in Africa. The focus is on the colonization of the continent, character evolution and the switch of pollination systems in the genus. Maximum likelihood and Bayesian inference were used for phylogenetic reconstruction. Analyses were based on two nuclear markers [internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and external transcribed spacer (ETS)] and one plastid marker (rpl32-trnL). Sequence data were generated for 41 of the 62 African taxa (66 %). Mesquite was used to reconstruct ancestral character states for distribution, life form, calyx shape, stamen type and pollination syndrome. Salvia in Africa is non-monophyletic. Each of the five major regions in Africa, except Madagascar, was colonized at least twice, and floristic links between North African, south-west Asian and European species are strongly supported. The large radiation in Sub-Saharan Africa (23 species) can be traced back to dispersal from North Africa via East Africa to the Cape Region. Adaptation to bird pollination in southern Africa and Madagascar reflects parallel evolution. The phenotypic diversity in African Salvia is associated with repeated introductions to the continent. Many important evolutionary processes, such as colonization, adaptation, parallelism and character transformation, are reflected in this comparatively small group. The data presented in this study can help to understand the evolution of Salvia sensu lato and other large genera. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Disentangling regional trade agreements, trade flows and tobacco affordability in sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Appau, Adriana; Drope, Jeffrey; Labonté, Ronald; Stoklosa, Michal; Lencucha, Raphael

2017-11-14

In principle, trade and investment agreements are meant to boost economic growth. However, the removal of trade barriers and the provision of investment incentives to attract foreign direct investments may facilitate increased trade in and/or more efficient production of commodities considered harmful to health such as tobacco. We analyze existing evidence on trade and investment liberalization and its relationship to tobacco trade in Sub-Saharan African countries. We compare tobacco trading patterns to foreign direct investments made by tobacco companies. We estimate and compare changes in the Konjunkturforschungsstelle (KOF) Economic Globalization measure, relative price measure and cigarette prices. Preferential regional trade agreements appear to have encouraged the consolidation of cigarette production, which has shaped trading patterns of tobacco leaf. Since 2002, British American Tobacco has invested in tobacco manufacturing facilities in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa strategically located to serve different regions in Africa. Following this, British America Tobacco closed factories in Ghana, Rwanda, Uganda, Mauritius and Angola. At the same time, Malawi and Tanzania exported a large percentage of tobacco leaf to European countries. After 2010, there was an increase in tobacco exports from Malawi and Zambia to China, which may be a result of preferential trade agreements the EU and China have with these countries. Economic liberalization has been accompanied by greater cigarette affordability for the countries included in our analysis. However, only excise taxes and income have an effect on cigarette prices within the region. These results suggest that the changing economic structures of international trade and investment are likely heightening the efficiency and effectiveness of the tobacco industry. As tobacco control advocates consider supply-side tobacco control interventions, they must consider carefully the effects of these economic agreements and

Regional nitrogen budget of the Lake Victoria Basin, East Africa: syntheses, uncertainties and perspectives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhou, Minghua; Brandt, Patric; Pelster, David; Rufino, Mariana C.; Robinson, Timothy; Butterbach-Bahl, Klaus

2014-10-01

Using the net anthropogenic nitrogen input (NANI) approach we estimated the N budget for the Lake Victoria Basin in East Africa. The NANI of the basin ranged from 887 to 3008 kg N km-2 yr-1 (mean: 1827 kg N km-2 yr-1) for the period 1995-2000. The net nitrogen release at basin level is due primarily to livestock and human consumption of feed and foods, contributing between 69% and 85%. Atmospheric oxidized N deposition contributed approximately 14% to the NANI of the Lake Victoria Basin, while either synthetic N fertilizer imports or biological N fixations only contributed less than 6% to the regional NANI. Due to the low N imports of feed and food products (<20 kg N km-2 yr-1), nitrogen release to the watershed must be derived from the mining of soil N stocks. The fraction of riverine N export to Lake Victoria accounted for 16%, which is much lower than for watersheds located in Europe and USA (25%). A significant reduction of the uncertainty of our N budget estimate for Lake Victoria Basin would be possible if better data on livestock systems and riverine N export were available. Our study indicates that at present soil N mining is the main source of nitrogen in the Lake Victoria Basin. Thus, sustainable N management requires increasing agricultural N inputs to guarantee food security and rehabilitation and protection of soils to minimize environmental costs. Moreover, to reduce N pollution of the lake, improving management of human and animal wastes needs to be carefully considered in future.

The monetary value of human lives lost due to neglected tropical diseases in Africa.

PubMed

Kirigia, Joses Muthuri; Mburugu, Gitonga N

2017-12-18

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are an important cause of death and disability in Africa. This study estimates the monetary value of human lives lost due to NTDs in the continent in 2015. The lost output or human capital approach was used to evaluate the years of life lost due to premature deaths from NTDs among 10 high/upper-middle-income (Group 1), 17 middle-income (Group 2) and 27 low-income (Group 3) countries in Africa. The future losses were discounted to their present values at a 3% discount rate. The model was re-analysed using 5% and 10% discount rates to assess the impact on the estimated total value of human lives lost. The estimated value of 67 860 human lives lost in 2015 due to NTDs was Int$ 5 112 472 607. Out of that, 14.6% was borne by Group 1, 57.7% by Group 2 and 27.7% by Group 3 countries. The mean value of human life lost per NTD death was Int$ 231 278, Int$ 109 771 and Int$ 37 489 for Group 1, Group 2 and Group 3 countries, respectively. The estimated value of human lives lost in 2015 due to NTDs was equivalent to 0.1% of the cumulative gross domestic product of the 53 continental African countries. Even though NTDs are not a major cause of death, they impact negatively on the productivity of those affected throughout their life-course. Thus, the case for investing in NTDs control should also be influenced by the value of NTD morbidity, availability of effective donated medicines, human rights arguments, and need to achieve the NTD-related target 3.3 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 3 (on health) by 2030.

Clinical correlates of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders in South Africa.

PubMed

Joska, John A; Fincham, Dylan S; Stein, Dan J; Paul, Robert H; Seedat, Soraya

2010-04-01

Human immunodeficiency virus-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) occurs globally and across different genetic clades of the virus. However, few studies have examined HAND in South Africa, despite the prevalence of HIV in this region of the world, and the predominance of clade C. The present study examined the relationship between a number of demographic and clinical variables in a sample of 536 patients attending HIV clinics in South Africa. HAND was present in 23.5% of the sample and was associated with older age, a low educational level among those with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol abuse among those with many months since diagnosis. These results suggest that HAND is common among patients in South Africa, and is associated with clinical variables such as PTSD and alcohol abuse. This underlines the impact of HIV on the nervous system and the importance of screening for co morbid mental health conditions.

AIDS in Africa. ILO launches campaign on HIV / AIDS in the world of work.

PubMed

1999-01-01

This article presents the proceedings of the regional workshop on HIV/AIDS and its social and labor impact in Africa conducted by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in Pretoria. According to the Pretoria report, HIV/AIDS had become a human tragedy in Africa. It affects the health and development of the region and threatens the social and economic growth of almost all sub-Saharan African countries. It is considered to be the single most important impediment to social progress to many countries in Africa. Thus, the primary goal of the ILO, which is promoting opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity, is threatened by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. However, several activities have taken place in response to the need for the prevention and control of the disease. In addition, the report calls for efforts to create an enabling environment for people living with the disease involving governments, employers' and workers' organizations. It noted that the ILO could provide assistance in the adoption of laws and regulations to protect the rights of these people with regards to the access of health insurance, employment, education, as well as labor administration, productivity and the informal sector.

Ecosystem variability and early human habitats in eastern Africa.

PubMed

Magill, Clayton R; Ashley, Gail M; Freeman, Katherine H

2013-01-22

The role of savannas during the course of early human evolution has been debated for nearly a century, in part because of difficulties in characterizing local ecosystems from fossil and sediment records. Here, we present high-resolution lipid biomarker and isotopic signatures for organic matter preserved in lake sediments at Olduvai Gorge during a key juncture in human evolution about 2.0 Ma--the emergence and dispersal of Homo erectus (sensu lato). Using published data for modern plants and soils, we construct a framework for ecological interpretations of stable carbon-isotope compositions (expressed as δ(13)C values) of lipid biomarkers from ancient plants. Within this framework, δ(13)C values for sedimentary leaf lipids and total organic carbon from Olduvai Gorge indicate recurrent ecosystem variations, where open C(4) grasslands abruptly transitioned to closed C(3) forests within several hundreds to thousands of years. Carbon-isotopic signatures correlate most strongly with Earth's orbital geometry (precession), and tropical sea-surface temperatures are significant secondary predictors in partial regression analyses. The scale and pace of repeated ecosystem variations at Olduvai Gorge contrast with long-held views of directional or stepwise aridification and grassland expansion in eastern Africa during the early Pleistocene and provide a local perspective on environmental hypotheses of human evolution.

Ecosystem variability and early human habitats in eastern Africa

PubMed Central

Magill, Clayton R.; Ashley, Gail M.; Freeman, Katherine H.

2013-01-01

The role of savannas during the course of early human evolution has been debated for nearly a century, in part because of difficulties in characterizing local ecosystems from fossil and sediment records. Here, we present high-resolution lipid biomarker and isotopic signatures for organic matter preserved in lake sediments at Olduvai Gorge during a key juncture in human evolution about 2.0 Ma—the emergence and dispersal of Homo erectus (sensu lato). Using published data for modern plants and soils, we construct a framework for ecological interpretations of stable carbon-isotope compositions (expressed as δ13C values) of lipid biomarkers from ancient plants. Within this framework, δ13C values for sedimentary leaf lipids and total organic carbon from Olduvai Gorge indicate recurrent ecosystem variations, where open C4 grasslands abruptly transitioned to closed C3 forests within several hundreds to thousands of years. Carbon-isotopic signatures correlate most strongly with Earth’s orbital geometry (precession), and tropical sea-surface temperatures are significant secondary predictors in partial regression analyses. The scale and pace of repeated ecosystem variations at Olduvai Gorge contrast with long-held views of directional or stepwise aridification and grassland expansion in eastern Africa during the early Pleistocene and provide a local perspective on environmental hypotheses of human evolution. PMID:23267092

Africa's Expanding Population: Old Problems, New Policies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goliber, Thomas J.

1989-01-01

Sub-Saharan Africa faces a historic challenge: to achieve economic and social progress while experiencing extraordinary population growth. With an estimated 1989 population of 512 million, the 42 countries of sub-Saharan Africa have the highest birth and death rates of any major world region. Throughout the region, population has outstripped…

Update on HIV-1 diversity in Africa: a decade in review.

PubMed

Lihana, Raphael W; Ssemwanga, Deogratius; Abimiku, Alash'le; Ndembi, Nicaise

2012-01-01

HIV-1 strains have diversified extensively through mutation and recombination since their initial transmission to human beings many decades ago in Central Africa in the first part of the 20th Century (between 1915 and 1941). The upward trend in global HIV-1 diversity has continued unabated, with newer groups, subtypes, and unique and circulating recombinants increasingly being reported, especially in Africa. In this review, we focus on the extensive diversity of HIV-1 over a decade (2000-2011), in 51 countries of the three African geographic regions (eastern and southern, western and central, and northern Africa) as per the WHO/UNAIDS 2010 classification. References for this review were identified through searches of PubMed, conference abstracts, Google Scholar, and Springer Online Archives Collection. We retrieved 273 citations, of which 200 reported HIV-1 diversity from Africa from January, 2000 to August, 2011. Articles resulting from these searches and relevant references cited in those articles were reviewed. Articles published in English and French were included. There has been a high diversity of HIV-1 in its epicenter, west-central Africa. A few subtypes, namely, A (A1, A2, A3, A4, A5), C, CRF02_AG, and D accounted for about 85% of new infections. Subtype A and D have been stable in East Africa; C in southern Africa; A, G, CRF02_AG, and CRF06_cpx in western Africa; and subtype B and CRF02_AG in northern Africa. Recently a new putative group, designated P, was reported to be found in two Cameroonians. The regional distributions of individual subtypes and recombinants are broadly stable, although unique/circulating recombinant forms may play an increasing role in the HIV pandemic. Understanding the kinetics and directions of this continuing adaptation and its impact on viral fitness, immunogenicity, and pathogenicity are crucial to the successful design of effective HIV vaccines. There is need for regular monitoring and review updates, such as the one

Ground-based Instrumentations in Africa and its Scientific and Societal Benefits to the region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yizengaw, Endawoke

2012-07-01

Much of what we know about equatorial physics is based on Jicamarca Incoherent Scattering Radar (ISR) observations. However, Jicamarca is in the American sector where the geomagnetic equator dips with a fairly large excursion between the geomagnetic and geodetic equator. On the other hand, in the African sector the geomagnetic equator is fairly well aligned with the geodetic equator. Satellites (e.g. ROCSAT, DMSP, C/NOFS) observations have also indicated that the equatorial ionosphere in the African sector responds differently than other sectors. However, these satellite observations have not been confirmed, validated or studied in detail by observations from the ground due to lack of suitable ground-based instrumentation in the region. Thus, the question of what causes or drives these unique density irregularities in the region is still not yet fully understood, leading the investigation of the physics behind each effect into speculative dead ends. During the past couple of years very few (compared to the land-mass that Africa covers) small instruments, like GPS receivers, magnetometers, VHF, and VLF have been either deployed in the region or in process. However, to understand the most dynamic region in terms of ionospheric irregularities, those few instruments are far from enough. Recently, significant progress has been emerging in securing more ground-based instrument into the region, and thus three ionosondes are either deployed or in process. In this paper, results from AMBER magnetometer network, ionosonde, and GPS receivers will be presented. By combining the multi instrument independent observations, this paper will show a cause and effect of space weather impact in the region for the first time. While the magnetometer network, such as those operated under the umbrella of AMBER project, estimates the fundamental electrodynamics that governs equatorial ionospheric motion, the GPS receivers will track the structure and dynamics of the ionosphere. In addition

[Hydatidosis in Africa in 1996: epidemiological aspects].

PubMed

Develoux, M

1996-01-01

Hydatidosis is hyperendemic in most north African countries and in several areas of East Africa. The cycle of infestation involves dogs, ruminants and man. While sheep and goats appear to be the most common domestic intermediate, camels appear to act as the intermediate in some parts of North and East Africa. Hydatidosis is considered to be essentially rural but urban cycles have been reported in North Africa. During the last decade, echotomographic, and serologic screening for human hydatidosis were carried out in Tunisia and in nomadic populations from East Africa. These surveys have provided reliable accurate prevalence data showing that hydatidosis is a major public health problem in these areas. The highest worldwide incidence in man is in the Turkana district of Kenya. This high incidence is related to promiscuity between humans and dogs in Turkana. A pilot program to control hydatid disease was started in Turkana over 10 years ago. For unknown reasons human infestation is rare in West and Southern Africa despite the presence of hydatidosis in cattle.

Human body region enhancement method based on Kinect infrared imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Lei; Fan, Yubo; Song, Xiaowei; Cai, Wenjing

2016-10-01

To effectively improve the low contrast of human body region in the infrared images, a combing method of several enhancement methods is utilized to enhance the human body region. Firstly, for the infrared images acquired by Kinect, in order to improve the overall contrast of the infrared images, an Optimal Contrast-Tone Mapping (OCTM) method with multi-iterations is applied to balance the contrast of low-luminosity infrared images. Secondly, to enhance the human body region better, a Level Set algorithm is employed to improve the contour edges of human body region. Finally, to further improve the human body region in infrared images, Laplacian Pyramid decomposition is adopted to enhance the contour-improved human body region. Meanwhile, the background area without human body region is processed by bilateral filtering to improve the overall effect. With theoretical analysis and experimental verification, the results show that the proposed method could effectively enhance the human body region of such infrared images.

Drivers of facility deliveries in Africa and Asia: regional analyses using the demographic and health surveys.

PubMed

Diamond-Smith, Nadia; Sudhinaraset, May

2015-01-16

In the past few decades many countries have worked to increase the number of women delivering in facilities, with the goal of improving maternal and neonatal health outcomes. The purpose of this study is to explore the current situation of facility deliveries in Africa and Asia to understand where and with whom women deliver. Furthermore, we aim to test potential drivers of facility delivery at the individual, household, and community-level. Demographic and Health Survey data collected since 2003 from 43 countries in Africa and Asia is explored to understand the patterns of where women are delivering. We look at patterns by region and wealth quintile and urban/rural status. We then run a series of multi-level models looking at relationships between individual, household and community-level factors and the odds of a woman delivering in a facility. We explore this for Asia and Africa separately. We also look at correlates of delivery with a trained provider, in a public facility, in a private facility, with a doctor and in a hospital. The majority of women deliver in a facility and with a provider; however, about 20% of deliveries are still with no one or a friend/relative or alone. Rates of facility delivery are lower in Asia overall, and a greater proportion of deliveries take place in private facilities in Asia compared to Africa. Most of the individual level factors that have been found in past studies to be associated with delivering in a facility hold true for the multi-country-level analyses, and small differences exist between Asia and Africa. Women who deliver in private facilities differ from women who deliver in public facilities or at home. Most women in Africa and Asia are delivering in a facility, and drivers of facility delivery identified in smaller level or country specific studies hold true in multi-country national level data. More data and research is needed on other drivers, especially at the country-level and relating to the quality of care and

Impact of land use changes on surface feedbacks in sudanian region of West Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cohard, J. M.; Galle, S.; Mamadou, O.; Peugeot, C.; Seghieri, J.; Kounouhewa, B.; Awanou, N. C.

2014-12-01

In West Africa, surface atmosphere exchanges have been found to impact both regional and local features of the Monsoon. At local scale the spatial patterns of Evaporative Fraction can drive the trajectories of mesoscale convective systems. Under Sudanian climate a mean of ~80% of the precipitation return to atmosphere through evapotranspiration but this important amount and its dynamics may vary with the vegetation cover. In consequence, any land use or climate changes can lead to modifications on the surface feedbacks and thus on both the atmospheric and the continental water cycle. In West Africa, Sudanian regions are submitted to a ~3% demographical increase per year, which leads to regular deforestation to the benefit of cultivated areas. This study aims at quantifying the changes in evapotranspiration regime caused by such a land use change under Sudanian climate. Within the framework of The AMMA-CATCH observatory, energy and water vapor fluxes were investigated in west Africa since 2007. Herein, a pluri-annual (2007 - 2010) energy budget of a clear forest and a cultivated area located in northern Benin are analysed. Results show that evapotranspiration rates over the sudanian forest are higher than those of cultivated area, because of agricultural practice and water availability for trees. After harvest, the residual vegetation is burned to bring nutriment to soil and to clean the landscape around the villages. Thus, during the dry season, the cultivated areas are bare. At the same time, a significant evapotranspiration is measured over the forest area despite the lack of precipitations. The deep root system of such vegetation allow the trees to get access to water during the dry season. During the rainy season, a significant difference in evapotransiration rates are also observed. These differences lead to a large deficit of water vapor that returns to the atmosphere and will significantly change the continental water cycle when forests will be replaced by

Variability and trends of local/regional scale surface climate in northern Africa during the twentieth century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Djomou, Zéphirin Yepdo; Monkam, David; Woafo, Paul

2014-08-01

Four regions are detected in northern Africa (20° W-40° E, 0-30° N) by applying the cluster analysis method on the annual rainfall anomalies of the period 1901-2000. The first region (R1), an arid land, covers essentially the north of 17.75° N from west to east of the study zone. The second region (R2), a semiarid land with a Sahelian climate, less warm than the dry climate of R1, is centred on Chad, with almost regular extension to the west towards Mauritania, and to the east, including the north of the Central African Republic and the Sudan. The region 3 (R3), a wet land, is centred on the Ivory Coast and covers totally Liberia, the south part of Ghana, Togo, Benin and the southwest of Nigeria. The fourth region (R4), corresponding to the wet equatorial forest, covers a part of Senegal, the Central Africa, the south of Sudan and a part of Ethiopia. An analysis of observed temperature and precipitation variability and trends throughout the twentieth century over these regions is presented. Summer, winter and annual data are examined using a range of variability measures. Statistically, significant warming trends are found over the majority of regions. The trends have a magnitude of up to 1.5 K per century. Only a few precipitation trends are statistically significant. Regional temperature and precipitation show pronounced variability at scales from interannual to multi-decadal. The interannual variability shows significant variations and trends throughout the century, the latter being mostly negative for precipitation and both positive and negative for temperature. Temperature and precipitation anomalies show a chaotic-type behaviour in which the regional conditions oscillate around the long-term mean trend and occasionally fall into long-lasting (up to 10 years or more) anomaly regimes. A generally modest temporal correlation is found between anomalies of different regions and between temperature and precipitation anomalies for the same region. This

Dermatophytes and dermatophytosis in the eastern and southern parts of Africa.

PubMed

Nweze, E I; Eke, I E

2018-01-01

Dermatophytosis is currently a disease of global importance and a public health burden. It is caused by dermatophytes, which attack and grow on dead animal keratin. Dermatophytes belong to three genera, namely, Epidermophyton, Microsporum, and Trichophyton. The predominant clinical forms and causative agents vary from one region of the world to another. Poor socioeconomic status, high population densities, and poor sanitary conditions are some of the factors responsible for the high prevalence of dermatophytosis in many developing countries, which include countries in southern and eastern Africa, the focus of this review. To the best of our knowledge, there is currently no review article on published findings on dermatophytosis in the eastern and southern parts of Africa. This information will be of interest to the medical and research community since the world has become a global village. This review covers published research findings in eastern and southern regions of Africa until this date. The countries covered in the current review include Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Malawi, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Botswana. T. violaceum is the most common human etiological agent in all the countries under review with prevalence ranging from 56.7% to 95%, except for Madagascar (M. langeronii, reclassified as M. audouinii), Uganda (M. gypseum) and Malawi (M. audouinii). Tinea capitis was the most clinical type, followed by tinea corporis. Etiological agents of animal dermatophytoses were variable in the countries where they were reported. Major risk factors for dermatophytoses are age, climatic, and socioeconomic factors. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The International Society for Human and Animal Mycology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

West Africa land use and land cover time series

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cotillon, Suzanne E.

2017-02-16

Started in 1999, the West Africa Land Use Dynamics project represents an effort to map land use and land cover, characterize the trends in time and space, and understand their effects on the environment across West Africa. The outcome of the West Africa Land Use Dynamics project is the production of a three-time period (1975, 2000, and 2013) land use and land cover dataset for the Sub-Saharan region of West Africa, including the Cabo Verde archipelago. The West Africa Land Use Land Cover Time Series dataset offers a unique basis for characterizing and analyzing land changes across the region, systematically and at an unprecedented level of detail.

Analyzing Regional Climate Change in Africa in a 1.5, 2, and 3°C Global Warming World

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weber, T.; Haensler, A.; Rechid, D.; Pfeifer, S.; Eggert, B.; Jacob, D.

2018-04-01

At the 21st session of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP21) in Paris, an agreement to strengthen the effort to limit the global temperature increase well below 2°C was decided. However, even if global warming is limited, some regions might still be substantially affected by climate change, especially for continents like Africa where the socio-economic conditions are strongly linked to the climatic conditions. In the paper we will discuss the analysis of indices assigned to the sectors health, agriculture, and infrastructure in a 1.5, 2, and 3°C global warming world for the African continent. For this analysis an ensemble of 10 different general circulation model-regional climate model simulations conducted in the framework of the COordinated Downscaling EXperiment for Africa was investigated. The results show that the African continent, in particular the regions between 15°S and 15°N, has to expect an increase in hot nights and longer and more frequent heat waves even if the global temperature will be kept below 2°C. These effects intensify if the global mean temperature will exceed the 2°C threshold. Moreover, the daily rainfall intensity is expected to increase toward higher global warming scenarios and will affect especially the African Sub-Saharan coastal regions.

Smoking prevention and cessation in the Africa and Middle East region: a consensus draft guideline for healthcare providers--executive summary.

PubMed

Ali, Ahmed Yousif M; Safwat, Tarek; Onyemelukwe, Geoffrey; Otaibi, Moh'd Amin Al; Amir, Ashraf A; Nawas, Yousef N; Aouina, Hichem; Afif, Moulay Hicham; Bolliger, Chris T

2012-01-01

Despite the abundance of scientific evidence confirming the health consequences of smoking and other forms of tobacco use, the tobacco epidemic remains an important public health problem and by 2030 it is predicted that more than 80% of tobacco deaths will be in developing countries. In Africa and the Middle East, many local factors contribute to the initiation and maintenance of tobacco use. Although efforts to reduce the mortality and morbidity associated with smoking and tobacco dependence are underway, there is a need for guidance on how to utilize appropriate tobacco control policies and psychology- and pharmacology-based therapies to counter tobacco dependence as recommended by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). A group of tobacco cessation experts from public health services and/or academic institutions in Africa and the Middle East participated in a series of four meetings held in Cairo, Cape Town, and Dubai between May 2008 and February 2011 to develop a draft guideline tailored to their region. This article provides the background to the development of this draft smoking cessation guideline and discusses how the recommendations can be implemented and progress monitored to promote both primary prevention and cessation of tobacco use within our countries. The draft guideline for Africa and the Middle East provides an important resource in combating the devastating effects of tobacco use in these regions which can be further localized through engagement with local stakeholders in the countries of the region. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

The African Genome Variation Project shapes medical genetics in Africa

PubMed Central

Gurdasani, Deepti; Carstensen, Tommy; Tekola-Ayele, Fasil; Pagani, Luca; Tachmazidou, Ioanna; Hatzikotoulas, Konstantinos; Karthikeyan, Savita; Iles, Louise; Pollard, Martin O.; Choudhury, Ananyo; Ritchie, Graham R. S.; Xue, Yali; Asimit, Jennifer; Nsubuga, Rebecca N.; Young, Elizabeth H.; Pomilla, Cristina; Kivinen, Katja; Rockett, Kirk; Kamali, Anatoli; Doumatey, Ayo P.; Asiki, Gershim; Seeley, Janet; Sisay-Joof, Fatoumatta; Jallow, Muminatou; Tollman, Stephen; Mekonnen, Ephrem; Ekong, Rosemary; Oljira, Tamiru; Bradman, Neil; Bojang, Kalifa; Ramsay, Michele; Adeyemo, Adebowale; Bekele, Endashaw; Motala, Ayesha; Norris, Shane A.; Pirie, Fraser; Kaleebu, Pontiano; Kwiatkowski, Dominic; Tyler-Smith, Chris; Rotimi, Charles; Zeggini, Eleftheria; Sandhu, Manjinder S.

2014-01-01

Given the importance of Africa to studies of human origins and disease susceptibility, detailed characterisation of African genetic diversity is needed. The African Genome Variation Project (AGVP) provides a resource to help design, implement and interpret genomic studies in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and worldwide. The AGVP represents dense genotypes from 1,481 and whole genome sequences (WGS) from 320 individuals across SSA. Using this resource, we find novel evidence of complex, regionally distinct hunter-gatherer and Eurasian admixture across SSA. We identify new loci under selection, including for malaria and hypertension. We show that modern imputation panels can identify association signals at highly differentiated loci across populations in SSA. Using WGS, we show further improvement in imputation accuracy supporting efforts for large-scale sequencing of diverse African haplotypes. Finally, we present an efficient genotype array design capturing common genetic variation in Africa, showing for the first time that such designs are feasible. PMID:25470054

The Consortium for NCD Prevention and Control in Sub-Saharan Africa (CNCD-Africa): from concept to practice.

PubMed

Amuyunzu-Nyamongo, Mary; Owuor, Jared O; Blanchard, Claire

2013-12-01

CNCD-Africa was established in July 2009 in response to and in recognition of the continuously increasing burden of diseases such as injuries, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health in low- and middle-income countries, and specifically in countries of sub-Saharan Africa. CNCD-Africa aims to comprehensively address specific and common objectives while building capacity in the region to prevent and control NCDs. With support from key partners and funders, and a keen interest in opportunities to address NCDs from health promotion and equity perspectives, the Consortium has excelled in four key areas: convening; knowledge generation and sharing; advocacy; and networking. However, the path to successful and sustainable efforts remains laden with challenges and barriers. Retaining interest of network partners through flagship efforts and continued efforts to ascertain support from local and international partners with interest in NCDs across the region remain essential to CNCD-Africa core activities. A key lesson learnt from the early years of CNCD-Africa is that existing regional platforms can and should be used to showcase what is being done locally, and to share best practices and best-buys. In addition, partnerships and stakeholder involvement have been key for CNCD-Africa and are essential to NCD action. Sustaining such partnerships requires incentives for the various partners to keep actively involved in NCD action. This can be achieved through joint inception, project planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Another ingredient for success seems to be innovative financing for NCD efforts, which is possible through the establishment and sustaining of regional and global partnerships that are robust, locally relevant and respond to country needs.

Psychology and modern life challenges: the 2nd Middle East and North Africa Regional Conference of Psychology, Amman, Jordan, 2007.

PubMed

Knowles, Michael; Sabourin, Michel

2008-04-01

The Second Middle East and North Africa Regional Conference of Psychology was held in Amman from 27 April - 1 May 2007 under the Royal Patronage of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah and the auspices of the International Union of Psychological Science, the International Association of Applied Psychology, and the International Association of Cross-Cultural Psychology. It was hosted by the Jordanian Psychological Association whose President was Dr. Asaad Zuby. The President of the Conference and the Local Organizing Committee was Dr. Adnan Farah, the Chair of the Scientific Program Committee was Dr. Mohammad Rimawi, and the Chair of the Regional Advisory Committee was Dr. Marwan Dwairy. The Conference succeeded in attracting participants from 28 countries, including 15 from the Middle East and North Africa region. The Scientific Program explored ways and means to promote the role of psychology in meeting life challenges at regional and international levels. The Conference concluded with the signing of a formal Declaration which called upon governments, academic and professional institutions and organizations, non-governmental organization and other civil society groups, and the United Nations, to work together and to make every possible effort individually and collectively to achieve these goals.

Climate Change in Africa: Impacts and Effects on the Inhabitants of the Lake Chad Region.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abubakar, B.; Tahir, S. M.; Olisa, O.

2009-05-01

The Department of Energy and Climate Change defined climate as the average weather experienced over a long period. This includes temperature, wind and rainfall patterns. The climate of the Earth is not static, and has changed many times in response to a variety of natural causes. Due to human activities in emmiting green house gases has resulted the Earth to get warmed by 0.74°C over the last hundred years. Around 0.4°C of this warming has occurred since the 1970s. Climate is now one of the major phenomenon threatening lives and humanity in general since the beginning of industrial revolution. Climate exerts a profound influence on the lives of poor populations in the Lake Chad region of Africa who depend on fishing and crop cultivation for livelihood and sustenance, who are unprotected against climate-related diseases, who lacked secure access to water and food and who are vulnerable to hydro meteorological hazard. The effects of climate change on the study area are many and include diminishing resources and conflicts over the available limited water resources. The Lake Chad region is a fragile area with high climate variability and extremes of weather. As this inland water is used for domestic and agricultural purposes, salt mining, as well as transportation by Nigerians, Nigeriens, Chadian and Cameroonians, it is an area of trans-boundary water conflicts. This paper examines the part played by climate change in the decline of fishery resources and livelihood activities in the Lake Chad region. Data from field studies, structured interview and secondary sources show that fish catches and livelihood activities have declined tremendously in recent times due to several factors including overexploitation and increasing demands on the aquatic resources. Findings from the study show that droughty periods have resulted in the reduction of open lake water surface from about 25,000 km2 in 1973 to less than 2,000 km2 in the 1990s. This has led to the diminishing aquatic

Silent Epidemic of Depression in Women in the Middle East and North Africa Region

PubMed Central

Eloul, Liyam; Ambusaidi, Aamal; Al-Adawi, Samir

2009-01-01

Background: As the world is being gripped by economic depression, international psychological epidemiologists have amassed evidence to suggest that psychological depression and its variants are becoming leading contributors to the global burden of disease with the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region being no exception. Aim: The main aim of the present discourse, based on a review of the available literature, is to discuss critically whether women in the MENA region have a higher rate of psychological depression than those in other parts of the globe. Result: From the present synthesis, it emerges that the rate of depression may not be necessarily unique to the region. Conclusion: Although no society has totally overcome the marginalisation and lack of empowerment of women, in order to come to grips to this complex issue more vigorously designed epidemiological studies, using taxonomies that are standardised for cross-cultural populations, are needed to quantify the psychological functioning of women. PMID:21509269

Incidence of female homicide in the Transkei sub-region of South Africa (1993-2015).

PubMed

Meel, Banwari

2018-05-01

Female homicide is very complex and difficult to research. Xhosa women are poor, illiterate and live in a rural area where they are exposed to a number of risks to their lives. The previous apartheid regimen broke the fabric of the family value system in this region and this came on top of a traditional patriarchal view of women as little more than property. Women are most vulnerable in this traumatised society. To study the incidence of female homicide in the Transkei sub-region of South Africa. A record review was undertaken of all medico-legal autopsies performed from 1993 to 2015 at Mthatha Forensic Pathology Laboratory. In total, 26 972 autopsies were performed on victims of unnatural death between 1993 and 2015. Of these, 6091 (22.58%) were cases of unnatural death among females. Homicide accounted for 1865 (30.61%) of these deaths. The average rate of female homicide during the study period was 12.5 per 100 000. The rate of homicide decreased from 14.25/100 000 (1993) to 9.19/100 000 (2015). The average rate of death was 4.93/100 000 as a result of the use of firearms, 3.75/100 000 for stab injuries and 3.70/100 000 for blunt trauma. The rate of murder was highest (6.55/100 000) in the young age group between 11 and 40 years. Despite a one and half time decrease in the rate of female homicide in the last 23 years (1993-2015) in the Transkei sub-region of South Africa, it is still three times higher than the worldwide rate. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

High Seroprevalence of Human Herpesviruses in HIV-Infected Individuals Attending Primary Healthcare Facilities in Rural South Africa

PubMed Central

Schaftenaar, Erik; Verjans, Georges M. G. M.; Getu, Sarah; McIntyre, James A.; Struthers, Helen E.; Osterhaus, Albert D. M. E.; Peters, Remco P. H.

2014-01-01

Seroprevalence data of human herpesviruses (HHVs) are limited for sub-Saharan Africa. These are important to provide an indication of potential burden of HHV-related disease, in particular in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected individuals who are known to be at increased risk of these conditions in the Western world. In this cross-sectional study among 405 HIV-infected and antiretroviral therapy naïve individuals in rural South Africa the seroprevalence of HHVs was: herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) (98%), herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) (87%), varicella zoster virus (VZV) (89%), and 100% for both Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV). Independent factors associated with VZV seropositivity were low educational status and having children. Lack of in-house access to drinking water was independently associated with positive HSV-1 serostatus, whereas Shangaan ethnicity was associated with HSV-2 seropositivity. Increasing age was associated with higher IgG titres to both EBV and CMV, whereas CD4 cell count was negatively associated with EBV and CMV IgG titres. Moreover, IgG titres of HSV-1 and 2, VZV and CMV, and CMV and EBV were positively correlated. The high HHV seroprevalence emphasises the importance of awareness of these viral infections in HIV-infected individuals in South Africa. PMID:24914671

Regional fuel load modeled for two contrasting years in central and southern Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hely, C.; Dowty, P. R.; Alleaume, S.; Caylor, K. K.; Shugart, H. H.

2001-12-01

Fuel load has been modeled for southern hemisphere Africa for the 1991-92 and 1999-2000 growing seasons. The 1991-92 year was generally dry due to a strong El Nino event in contrast to the particularly wet year of 1999-2000. The method integrates site-level process modeling with 15 day AVHRR NDVI data. The site model was used to simulate landscape light-use efficiency (LUE) at a series of sites in the Kalahari region ranging from evergreen woodland to arid shrubland. This site-level LUE is extrapolated over the southern African region with gridded tree cover data and gridded rainfall. The predicted net primary production (NPP) is allocated into the different fuel types (grass, litter, twigs) using empirical based relationships. The model results are compared with field measurements of fuel load at a number of sites. The results will be used for modeling of biomass burning emissions.

The nexus between forest fragmentation in Africa and Ebola virus disease outbreaks

PubMed Central

Rulli, Maria Cristina; Santini, Monia; Hayman, David T. S.; D’Odorico, Paolo

2017-01-01

Tropical forests are undergoing land use change in many regions of the world, including the African continent. Human populations living close to forest margins fragmented and disturbed by deforestation may be particularly exposed to zoonotic infections because of the higher likelihood for humans to be in contact with disease reservoirs. Quantitative analysis of the nexus between deforestation and the emergence of Ebola virus disease (EVD), however, is still missing. Here we use land cover change data in conjunction with EVD outbreak records to investigate the association between recent (2004–2014) outbreaks in West and Central Africa, and patterns of land use change in the region. We show how in these EVD outbreaks the index cases in humans (i.e. spillover from wildlife reservoirs) occurred mostly in hotspots of forest fragmentation. PMID:28195145

The nexus between forest fragmentation in Africa and Ebola virus disease outbreaks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rulli, Maria Cristina; Santini, Monia; Hayman, David T. S.; D'Odorico, Paolo

2017-02-01

Tropical forests are undergoing land use change in many regions of the world, including the African continent. Human populations living close to forest margins fragmented and disturbed by deforestation may be particularly exposed to zoonotic infections because of the higher likelihood for humans to be in contact with disease reservoirs. Quantitative analysis of the nexus between deforestation and the emergence of Ebola virus disease (EVD), however, is still missing. Here we use land cover change data in conjunction with EVD outbreak records to investigate the association between recent (2004-2014) outbreaks in West and Central Africa, and patterns of land use change in the region. We show how in these EVD outbreaks the index cases in humans (i.e. spillover from wildlife reservoirs) occurred mostly in hotspots of forest fragmentation.

Mapping mHealth (mobile health) and mobile penetrations in sub-Saharan Africa for strategic regional collaboration in mHealth scale-up: an application of exploratory spatial data analysis.

PubMed

Lee, Seohyun; Cho, Yoon-Min; Kim, Sun-Young

2017-08-22

Mobile health (mHealth), a term used for healthcare delivery via mobile devices, has gained attention as an innovative technology for better access to healthcare and support for performance of health workers in the global health context. Despite large expansion of mHealth across sub-Saharan Africa, regional collaboration for scale-up has not made progress since last decade. As a groundwork for strategic planning for regional collaboration, the study attempted to identify spatial patterns of mHealth implementation in sub-Saharan Africa using an exploratory spatial data analysis. In order to obtain comprehensive data on the total number of mHelath programs implemented between 2006 and 2016 in each of the 48 sub-Saharan Africa countries, we performed a systematic data collection from various sources, including: the WHO eHealth Database, the World Bank Projects & Operations Database, and the USAID mHealth Database. Additional spatial analysis was performed for mobile cellular subscriptions per 100 people to suggest strategic regional collaboration for improving mobile penetration rates along with the mHealth initiative. Global Moran's I and Local Indicator of Spatial Association (LISA) were calculated for mHealth programs and mobile subscriptions per 100 population to investigate spatial autocorrelation, which indicates the presence of local clustering and spatial disparities. From our systematic data collection, the total number of mHealth programs implemented in sub-Saharan Africa between 2006 and 2016 was 487 (same programs implemented in multiple countries were counted separately). Of these, the eastern region with 17 countries and the western region with 16 countries had 287 and 145 mHealth programs, respectively. Despite low levels of global autocorrelation, LISA enabled us to detect meaningful local clusters. Overall, the eastern part of sub-Saharan Africa shows high-high association for mHealth programs. As for mobile subscription rates per 100 population, the

Why sub-Saharan Africa lags in electronic health record adoption and possible strategies to increase its adoption in this region

PubMed Central

Odekunle, Florence Femi; Odekunle, Raphael Oluseun; Shankar, Srinivasan

2017-01-01

Poor health information system has been identified as a major challenge in the health-care system in many developing countries including sub-Saharan African countries. Electronic health record (EHR) has been shown as an important tool to improve access to patient information with attendance improved quality of care. However, EHR has not been widely implemented/adopted in sub-Saharan Africa. This study sought to identify factors that affect the adoption of an EHR in sub-Saharan Africa and strategies to improve its adoption in this region. A comprehensive literature search was conducted on three electronic databases: PubMed, Medline, and Google Scholar. Articles of interest were those published in English that contained information on factors that limit the adoption of an EHR as well as strategies that improve its adoption in sub-Saharan African countries. The available evidence indicated that there were many factors that hindered the widespread adoption of an EHR in sub-Saharan Africa. These were high costs of procurement and maintenance of the EHR system, lack of financial incentives and priorities, poor electricity supply and internet connectivity, and primary user’s limited computer skills. However, strategies such as implementation planning, financial supports, appropriate EHR system selection, training of primary users, and the adoption of the phased implementation process have been identified to facilitate the use of an EHR. Wide adoption of an EHR in sub-Saharan Africa region requires a lot more effort than what is assumed because of the current poor level of technological development, lack of required computer skills, and limited resources. PMID:29085270

Evaluating Spatial Interaction Models for Regional Mobility in Sub-Saharan Africa

PubMed Central

Wesolowski, Amy; O’Meara, Wendy Prudhomme; Eagle, Nathan; Tatem, Andrew J.; Buckee, Caroline O.

2015-01-01

Simple spatial interaction models of human mobility based on physical laws have been used extensively in the social, biological, and physical sciences, and in the study of the human dynamics underlying the spread of disease. Recent analyses of commuting patterns and travel behavior in high-income countries have led to the suggestion that these models are highly generalizable, and as a result, gravity and radiation models have become standard tools for describing population mobility dynamics for infectious disease epidemiology. Communities in Sub-Saharan Africa may not conform to these models, however; physical accessibility, availability of transport, and cost of travel between locations may be variable and severely constrained compared to high-income settings, informal labor movements rather than regular commuting patterns are often the norm, and the rise of mega-cities across the continent has important implications for travel between rural and urban areas. Here, we first review how infectious disease frameworks incorporate human mobility on different spatial scales and use anonymous mobile phone data from nearly 15 million individuals to analyze the spatiotemporal dynamics of the Kenyan population. We find that gravity and radiation models fail in systematic ways to capture human mobility measured by mobile phones; both severely overestimate the spatial spread of travel and perform poorly in rural areas, but each exhibits different characteristic patterns of failure with respect to routes and volumes of travel. Thus, infectious disease frameworks that rely on spatial interaction models are likely to misrepresent population dynamics important for the spread of disease in many African populations. PMID:26158274

Recruitment and Selection Strategies in Optometric Education towards Addressing Human Resource Disparities in Sub-Saharan Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moodley, V. R.; Loughman, James; Naidoo, K. S.

2015-01-01

The dire need for eye care services and a dearth of human resources (HR) in sub-Saharan Africa motivated the setting up of new optometry programmes. However, to make a meaningful impact, geographical, gender, economic and educational disparities must additionally be addressed. A qualitative study utilizing purposive sampling to select academic…

Ecosystem carbon stocks of mangroves across broad environmental gradients in West-Central Africa: Global and regional comparisons.

PubMed

Kauffman, J Boone; Bhomia, Rupesh K

2017-01-01

Globally, it is recognized that blue carbon ecosystems, especially mangroves, often sequester large quantities of carbon and are of interest for inclusion in climate change mitigation strategies. While 19% of the world's mangroves are in Africa, they are among the least investigated of all blue carbon ecosystems. We quantified total ecosystem carbon stocks in 33 different mangrove stands along the Atlantic coast of West-Central Africa from Senegal to Southern Gabon spanning large gradients of latitude, soil properties, porewater salinity, and precipitation. Mangrove structure ranged from low and dense stands that were <1m in height and >35,000 trees ha-1 to tall and open stands >40m in height and <100 ha-1. Tremendous variation in ecosystem carbon (C) stocks was measured ranging from 154 to 1,484 Mg C ha-1. The mean total ecosystem carbon stock for all mangroves of West-Central Africa was 799 Mg C ha-1. Soils comprised an average of 86% of the total carbon stock. The greatest carbon stocks were found in the tall mangroves of Liberia and Gabon North with a mean >1,000 Mg C ha-1. The lowest carbon stocks were found in the low mangroves of the semiarid region of Senegal (463 Mg C ha-1) and in mangroves on coarse-textured soils in Gabon South (541 Mg C ha-1). At the scale of the entirety of West-Central Africa, total ecosystem carbon stocks were poorly correlated to aboveground ecosystem carbon pools, precipitation, latitude and soil salinity (r2 = ≤0.07 for all parameters). Based upon a sample of 158 sites from Africa, Asia and Latin America that were sampled in a similar manner to this study, the global mean of carbon stocks for mangroves is 885 Mg C ha-1. The ecosystem carbon stocks of mangroves for West-Central Africa are slightly lower than those of Latin America (940 Mg C ha-1) and Asia (1049 Mg C ha-1) but substantially higher than the default Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) values for mangroves (511 Mg C ha-1). This study provides an improved

Ecosystem carbon stocks of mangroves across broad environmental gradients in West-Central Africa: Global and regional comparisons

PubMed Central

Bhomia, Rupesh K.

2017-01-01

Globally, it is recognized that blue carbon ecosystems, especially mangroves, often sequester large quantities of carbon and are of interest for inclusion in climate change mitigation strategies. While 19% of the world’s mangroves are in Africa, they are among the least investigated of all blue carbon ecosystems. We quantified total ecosystem carbon stocks in 33 different mangrove stands along the Atlantic coast of West-Central Africa from Senegal to Southern Gabon spanning large gradients of latitude, soil properties, porewater salinity, and precipitation. Mangrove structure ranged from low and dense stands that were <1m in height and >35,000 trees ha-1 to tall and open stands >40m in height and <100 ha-1. Tremendous variation in ecosystem carbon (C) stocks was measured ranging from 154 to 1,484 Mg C ha-1. The mean total ecosystem carbon stock for all mangroves of West-Central Africa was 799 Mg C ha-1. Soils comprised an average of 86% of the total carbon stock. The greatest carbon stocks were found in the tall mangroves of Liberia and Gabon North with a mean >1,000 Mg C ha-1. The lowest carbon stocks were found in the low mangroves of the semiarid region of Senegal (463 Mg C ha-1) and in mangroves on coarse-textured soils in Gabon South (541 Mg C ha-1). At the scale of the entirety of West-Central Africa, total ecosystem carbon stocks were poorly correlated to aboveground ecosystem carbon pools, precipitation, latitude and soil salinity (r2 = ≤0.07 for all parameters). Based upon a sample of 158 sites from Africa, Asia and Latin America that were sampled in a similar manner to this study, the global mean of carbon stocks for mangroves is 885 Mg C ha-1. The ecosystem carbon stocks of mangroves for West-Central Africa are slightly lower than those of Latin America (940 Mg C ha-1) and Asia (1049 Mg C ha-1) but substantially higher than the default Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) values for mangroves (511 Mg C ha-1). This study provides an

Vegetation-climate feedback causes reduced precipitation and tropical rainforest cover in CMIP5 regional Earth system model simulation over Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, M.; Smith, B.; Samuelsson, P.; Rummukainen, M.; Schurgers, G.

2012-12-01

We applied a coupled regional climate-vegetation model, RCA-GUESS (Smith et al. 2011), over the CORDEX Africa domain, forced by boundary conditions from a CanESM2 CMIP5 simulation under the RCP8.5 future climate scenario. The simulations were from 1961 to 2100 and covered the African continent at a horizontal grid spacing of 0.44°. RCA-GUESS simulates changes in the phenology, productivity, relative cover and population structure of up to eight plant function types (PFTs) in response to forcing from the climate part of the model. These vegetation changes feed back to simulated climate through dynamic adjustments in surface energy fluxes and surface properties. Changes in the net ecosystem-atmosphere carbon flux and its components net primary production (NPP), heterotrophic respiration and emissions from biomass burning were also simulated but do not feed back to climate in our model. Constant land cover was assumed. We compared simulations with and without vegetation feedback switched "on" to assess the influence of vegetation-climate feedback on simulated climate, vegetation and ecosystem carbon cycling. Both positive and negative warming feedbacks were identified in different parts of Africa. In the Sahel savannah zone near 15°N, reduced vegetation cover and productivity, and mortality caused by a deterioration of soil water conditions led to a positive warming feedback mediated by decreased evapotranspiration and increased sensible heat flux between vegetation and the atmosphere. In the equatorial rainforest stronghold region of central Africa, a feedback syndrome characterised by reduced plant production and LAI, a dominance shift from tropical trees to grasses, reduced soil water and reduced rainfall was identified. The likely underlying mechanism was a decline in evaporative water recycling associated with sparser vegetation cover, reminiscent of Earth system model studies in which a similar feedback mechanism was simulated to force dieback of tropical

Images of Africa: A Report on What American Secondary School Students Know and Believe about Africa South of the Sahara.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Beyer, Barry K.; Hicks, E. Perry

"Project Africa" surveyed selected seventh- and 12th-grade students in 24 states to determine (1) the specific nature of their images of Africa south of the Sahara, both before and after any formal study of this region, and (2) the types and accuracy of the students' knowledge about the region and its peoples. In one survey, students…

SERVIR-Africa: Developing an Integrated Platform for Floods Disaster Management in Africa

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Macharia, Daniel; Korme, Tesfaye; Policelli, Fritz; Irwin, Dan; Adler, Bob; Hong, Yang

2010-01-01

SERVIR-Africa is an ambitious regional visualization and monitoring system that integrates remotely sensed data with predictive models and field-based data to monitor ecological processes and respond to natural disasters. It aims addressing societal benefits including floods and turning data into actionable information for decision-makers. Floods are exogenous disasters that affect many parts of Africa, probably second only to drought in terms of social-economic losses. This paper looks at SERVIR-Africa's approach to floods disaster management through establishment of an integrated platform, floods prediction models, post-event flood mapping and monitoring as well as flood maps dissemination in support of flood disaster management.

Conservation conflicts across Africa.

PubMed

Balmford, A; Moore, J L; Brooks, T; Burgess, N; Hansen, L A; Williams, P; Rahbek, C

2001-03-30

There is increasing evidence that areas of outstanding conservation importance may coincide with dense human settlement or impact. We tested the generality of these findings using 1 degree-resolution data for sub-Saharan Africa. We find that human population density is positively correlated with species richness of birds, mammals, snakes, and amphibians. This association holds for widespread, narrowly endemic, and threatened species and looks set to persist in the face of foreseeable population growth. Our results contradict earlier expectations of low conflict based on the idea that species richness decreases and human impact increases with primary productivity. We find that across Africa, both variables instead exhibit unimodal relationships with productivity. Modifying priority-setting to take account of human density shows that, at this scale, conflicts between conservation and development are not easily avoided, because many densely inhabited grid cells contain species found nowhere else.

Lightning fatalities in the Transkei sub-region of South Africa.

PubMed

Meel, B L

2007-04-01

Lightning is a particularly unsettling product of bad weather. It kills more people than other natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes, but, because lightning usually kills people one at a time, it tends to be an underrated hazard. High risk groups are uneducated, unsheltered and rural people. This study was carried out to determine the incidence of lightning fatalities in the Transkei sub-region. It is a review of records between 1993 and 2004 from the medico-legal autopsies at Umtata General Hospital (UGH). During the study period there were 10,860 autopsies performed on those who died of trauma and other unnatural circumstances which included 151 (1.4%) lightning fatalities. This represents 0.31 deaths per million per year. The highest (0.5/million) was in 1999, and the lowest (0.13/million) in 1997. The age of the victims ranged from 1 to 82 years, with a mean of 22 years. Males and females were almost equally represented (50%). The highest number of deaths (26.5%) was in the age group of 11 to 20 years, and the lowest number (2.7%) in the age group of 70+ years. There is a high incidence of lightning fatalities in the Transkei sub-region of South Africa. People need to be educated to disregard the myths of lightning strike.

Institutional frameworks for management of epizoonotic emergencies in six countries in the Eastern Africa region: a situational analysis.

PubMed

Bazeyo, W; Mayega, Roy W; Nabukenya, I; Keyyu, J; Mamuya, S; Tabu, S J; Senna, L; Mohammad, M; Rugigana, E; Alingi, A; Mapatano, M; Kiguli, J; Orach, C G; Burnham, G; Killewo, J

2013-06-01

The Eastern Africa region is a hot-spot for epidemics of emerging zoonotic diseases ('epizoonotics'). However, the region's capacity for response to epidemics of zoonotic origin has not been documented. This paper presents a multi-country situational analysis on the institutional frameworks for management of zoonotic epidemics in the Eastern Africa region. A multi-country assessment of 6 country teams was conducted (Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia, DRC and Rwanda). It involved a review of records and interviews with key informants from agencies with a stake in the management of zoonotic and disasters in general in the respective countries. Qualitative data were analyzed for key emerging themes. There are many socio-cultural risk factors to epidemic prone zoonotic diseases in the region. Countries have varying levels of preparedness for zoonotic emergencies. All 6 countries have a framework for disaster management. However, technical response to epidemics is managed by the line sectors, with limited Inter-sectoral collaboration. Some sectors were disproportionately more prepared than others. Surveillance systems are mostly passive and inadequate for early detection. All 6 countries have built reasonable capacity to respond to avian influenza, but not other zoonotic emergencies. Most countries lack personnel at the operational levels, and veterinary public health services are ill-facilitated. There is need to strengthen veterinary public health services at all levels, but with a 'one health' approach. There is also need to establish 'risk-based surveillance' hot spots for zoonotic epidemics and to build community resilience 'epizoonotic' diseases.

Many human accelerated regions are developmental enhancers

PubMed Central

Capra, John A.; Erwin, Genevieve D.; McKinsey, Gabriel; Rubenstein, John L. R.; Pollard, Katherine S.

2013-01-01

The genetic changes underlying the dramatic differences in form and function between humans and other primates are largely unknown, although it is clear that gene regulatory changes play an important role. To identify regulatory sequences with potentially human-specific functions, we and others used comparative genomics to find non-coding regions conserved across mammals that have acquired many sequence changes in humans since divergence from chimpanzees. These regions are good candidates for performing human-specific regulatory functions. Here, we analysed the DNA sequence, evolutionary history, histone modifications, chromatin state and transcription factor (TF) binding sites of a combined set of 2649 non-coding human accelerated regions (ncHARs) and predicted that at least 30% of them function as developmental enhancers. We prioritized the predicted ncHAR enhancers using analysis of TF binding site gain and loss, along with the functional annotations and expression patterns of nearby genes. We then tested both the human and chimpanzee sequence for 29 ncHARs in transgenic mice, and found 24 novel developmental enhancers active in both species, 17 of which had very consistent patterns of activity in specific embryonic tissues. Of these ncHAR enhancers, five drove expression patterns suggestive of different activity for the human and chimpanzee sequence at embryonic day 11.5. The changes to human non-coding DNA in these ncHAR enhancers may modify the complex patterns of gene expression necessary for proper development in a human-specific manner and are thus promising candidates for understanding the genetic basis of human-specific biology. PMID:24218637

Multiple Introductions and Recent Spread of the Emerging Human Pathogen Mycobacterium ulcerans across Africa

PubMed Central

Meehan, Conor J.; Eddyani, Miriam; Affolabi, Dissou; Phanzu, Delphin Mavinga; Eyangoh, Sara; Jordaens, Kurt; Portaels, Françoise; Mangas, Kirstie; Seemann, Torsten; Marsollier, Laurent; Marion, Estelle; Chauty, Annick; Landier, Jordi; Fontanet, Arnaud; Leirs, Herwig; Stinear, Timothy P.; de Jong, Bouke C.

2017-01-01

Buruli ulcer (BU) is an insidious neglected tropical disease. Cases are reported around the world but the rural regions of West and Central Africa are most affected. How BU is transmitted and spreads has remained a mystery, even though the causative agent, Mycobacterium ulcerans, has been known for more than 70 years. Here, using the tools of population genomics, we reconstruct the evolutionary history of M. ulcerans by comparing 165 isolates spanning 48 years and representing 11 endemic countries across Africa. The genetic diversity of African M. ulcerans was found to be restricted due to the bacterium’s slow substitution rate coupled with its relatively recent origin. We identified two specific M. ulcerans lineages within the African continent, and inferred that M. ulcerans lineage Mu_A1 existed in Africa for several hundreds of years, unlike lineage Mu_A2, which was introduced much more recently, approximately during the 19th century. Additionally, we observed that specific M. ulcerans epidemic Mu_A1 clones were introduced during the same time period in the three hydrological basins that were well covered in our panel. The estimated time span of the introduction events coincides with the Neo-imperialism period, during which time the European colonial powers divided the African continent among themselves. Using this temporal association, and in the absence of a known BU reservoir or—vector on the continent, we postulate that the so-called "Scramble for Africa" played a significant role in the spread of the disease across the continent. PMID:28137745

Learning from our apartheid past: human rights challenges for health professionals in contemporary South Africa.

PubMed

Baldwin-Ragaven, L; London, L; De Gruchy, J

2000-01-01

Central to South Africa's democratic transformation have been attempts to understand how and why human rights abuses were common under apartheid. In testimony to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission evidence has emerged of a wide range of past complicity in human rights abuses by health professionals and their organisations. This has presented a major challenge to the health sector to develop ways to operationalize a commitment to human rights in the future. This paper argues that only after a process of self-reflection, both personal and institutional, which enables a thorough and accurate analysis of why things went so wrong, can the health sector effectively move forward. The authors' perspective draws on the submission to the TRC Health Sector Hearings by the Health and Human Rights Project in 1997, which provides a systemic and case-based analysis of the health sector's role in human rights abuses under apartheid. However, human rights responses have to take account of a changing national and global terrain in which human rights issues are no longer as morally absolute as previously encountered, and in which seemingly insuperable resource constraints, inimical economic policies, and the demobilization of civil society, are serious obstacles. Moreover, the politics of transformation has generated expediencies that threaten to rewrite history in ways that fundamentally cheapen human rights. To address this contradiction, the authors propose a set of objectives that places accountability of health professionals in a human rights framework. These objectives are intended to give substance to the main tasks facing the health sector--to develop and infuse the capacity to recognise and integrate both the 'new' and traditional human rights dilemmas, and to effect personal and institutional transformation. A matrix is presented, linking these objectives to key role players in the health sector and identifying activities specific for each role player. As the health

The episode of genetic drift defining the migration of humans out of Africa is derived from a large east African population size.

PubMed

Elhassan, Nuha; Gebremeskel, Eyoab Iyasu; Elnour, Mohamed Ali; Isabirye, Dan; Okello, John; Hussien, Ayman; Kwiatksowski, Dominic; Hirbo, Jibril; Tishkoff, Sara; Ibrahim, Muntaser E

2014-01-01

Human genetic variation particularly in Africa is still poorly understood. This is despite a consensus on the large African effective population size compared to populations from other continents. Based on sequencing of the mitochondrial Cytochrome C Oxidase subunit II (MT-CO2), and genome wide microsatellite data we observe evidence suggesting the effective size (Ne) of humans to be larger than the current estimates, with a foci of increased genetic diversity in east Africa, and a population size of east Africans being at least 2-6 fold larger than other populations. Both phylogenetic and network analysis indicate that east Africans possess more ancestral lineages in comparison to various continental populations placing them at the root of the human evolutionary tree. Our results also affirm east Africa as the likely spot from which migration towards Asia has taken place. The study reflects the spectacular level of sequence variation within east Africans in comparison to the global sample, and appeals for further studies that may contribute towards filling the existing gaps in the database. The implication of these data to current genomic research, as well as the need to carry out defined studies of human genetic variation that includes more African populations; particularly east Africans is paramount.

Institutional Research in Emerging Countries of Southern Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East and North Africa: Global Frameworks and Local Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lange, Lis; Saavedra, F. Mauricio; Romano, Jeanine

2013-01-01

This chapter presents a synthesis of the conceptualization and practice of institutional research (IR) in higher education (HE) in emerging countries across Southern Africa, Latin America and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions. The chapter contextualizes the growing need for IR in these regions, identifies problems and challenges…

Continuity of Microblade Technology in the Indian Subcontinent Since 45 ka: Implications for the Dispersal of Modern Humans

PubMed Central

Mishra, Sheila; Chauhan, Naveen; Singhvi, Ashok K.

2013-01-01

We extend the continuity of microblade technology in the Indian Subcontinent to 45 ka, on the basis of optical dating of microblade assemblages from the site of Mehtakheri, (22° 13' 44″ N Lat 76° 01' 36″ E Long) in Madhya Pradesh, India. Microblade technology in the Indian Subcontinent is continuously present from its first appearance until the Iron Age (~3 ka), making its association with modern humans undisputed. It has been suggested that microblade technology in the Indian Subcontinent was developed locally by modern humans after 35 ka. The dates reported here from Mehtakheri show this inference to be untenable and suggest alternatively that this technology arrived in the Indian Subcontinent with the earliest modern humans. It also shows that modern humans in Indian Subcontinent and SE Asia were associated with differing technologies and this calls into question the “southern dispersal” route of modern humans from Africa through India to SE Asia and then to Australia. We suggest that modern humans dispersed from Africa in two stages coinciding with the warmer interglacial conditions of MIS 5 and MIS 3. Competitive interactions between African modern humans and Indian archaics who shared an adaptation to tropical environments differed from that between modern humans and archaics like Neanderthals and Denisovans, who were adapted to temperate environments. Thus, while modern humans expanded into temperate regions during warmer climates, their expansion into tropical regions, like the Indian Subcontinent, in competition with similarly adapted populations, occurred during arid climates. Thus modern humans probably entered the Indian Subcontinent during the arid climate of MIS 4 coinciding with their disappearance from the Middle East and Northern Africa. The out of phase expansion of modern humans into tropical versus temperate regions has been one of the factors affecting the dispersal of modern humans from Africa during the period 200–40 ka. PMID

Study of Regional Volcanic Impact on the Middle East and North Africa using high-resolution global and regional models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Osipov, Sergey; Dogar, Mohammad; Stenchikov, Georgiy

2016-04-01

High-latitude winter warming after strong equatorial volcanic eruptions caused by circulation changes associated with the anomalously positive phase of Arctic Oscillation is a subject of active research during recent decade. But severe winter cooling in the Middle East observed after the Mt. Pinatubo eruption of 1991, although recognized, was not thoroughly investigated. These severe regional climate perturbations in the Middle East cannot be explained by solely radiative volcanic cooling, which suggests that a contribution of forced circulation changes could be important and significant. To better understand the mechanisms of the Middle East climate response and evaluate the contributions of dynamic and radiative effects we conducted a comparative study using Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory global High Resolution Atmospheric Model (HiRAM) with the effectively "regional-model-resolution" of 25-km and the regional Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model focusing on the eruption of Mount Pinatubo on June 15, 1991 followed by a pronounced positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation. The WRF model has been configured over the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The WRF code has been modified to interactively account for the radiative effect of volcanic aerosols. Both HiRAM and WRF capture the main features of the MENA climate response and show that in winter the dynamic effects in the Middle East prevail the direct radiative cooling from volcanic aerosols.

A meta-analysis of telemedicine success in Africa

PubMed Central

Wamala, Dan S.; Augustine, Kaddu

2013-01-01

The use of information and communication technologies (ICT) tools to improve the efficiency of professionalism at work is increasing every time under the dynamic digital environment. Tools such as telemedicine, tele-education, and health informatics have of late been incorporated in the health sector to enable easy access to essential services, for example, in medical areas from referral centers by the patients on one hand and enabling the doctor to doctor consultations for the benefit of patients. Unfortunately, observations indicate dearth efforts and commitment to optimize use of the tools in the majority of the countries south of the Sahara. Sub-Saharan Africa has been left almost behind the rest of the world in terms of development going through decades of economic exploitation by especially the west through its natural and human resources. These factors, ethnic conflicts and endless wars have continued to ruin sub-Saharan Africa’s socio-economic development. Information was obtained through a network of telemedicine practitioners in different African countries using internet communication, through E-mail and reviewing existing literature of their activities. This information was compiled from representative countries in each African region and the previous authors’experiences as telemedicine practioners. Most of these countries have inadequate ICT infrastructure, which yet creates sub-optimal application. Sub-Saharan Africa, made up of 33 of the 48 global poorest countries has to extend its ICT diffusion and policy to match the ever developing global economy. In some countries such as Ethiopia and South Africa there is significant progress in Telemedicine while in countries such as Burkina Faso and Nigeria the progress is slow because of lack of political support. Almost all reference to Africa is made in due respect to sub-Saharan Africa, one with big social, economic, and political problems with resultant high morbidity and mortality rates. This also

Potential for Zika virus introduction and transmission in resource limited countries in Africa and Asia-Pacific: A modeling study

PubMed Central

German, Matthew; Creatore, Maria I.; Brent, Shannon; Watts, Alexander G.; Hay, Simon I.; Kulkarni, Manisha A.; Brownstein, John S.; Khan, Kamran

2016-01-01

Summary Background As the epidemic of Zika virus expands in the Americas, countries across Africa and the Asia-Pacific region are becoming increasingly susceptible to the importation and possible local spread of the virus. To support public health readiness, we aim to identify regions and times where the potential health, economic, and social effects from Zika virus are greatest, focusing on resource-limited countries in Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. Methods Our model combined transportation network analysis, ecological modelling of mosquito occurrences, and vector competence for flavivirus transmission, using data from the International Air Transport Association, entomological observations from Zika’s primary vector species, and climate conditions using WorldClim. We overlaid monthly flows of airline travellers arriving to Africa and the Asia-Pacific region from areas of the Americas suitable for year-round transmission of Zika virus with monthly maps of climatic suitability for mosquito-borne transmission of Zika virus within Africa and the Asia-Pacific region. Findings An estimated 2·6 billion people live in areas of Africa and the Asia-Pacific region where the presence of competent mosquito vectors and suitable climatic conditions could support local transmission of Zika virus. Countries with large volumes of travellers arriving from Zika affected areas of the Americas and large populations at risk of mosquito-borne Zika virus infection include, India (67 422 travellers arriving per year; 1·2 billion residents in potential Zika transmission areas), China (238 415 travellers; 242 million residents), Indonesia (13 865 travellers; 197 million residents), Philippines (35 635 travellers; 70 million residents), and Thailand (29 241 travellers; 59 million residents). Interpretation Many countries across Africa and the Asia-Pacific region are vulnerable to Zika virus. Strategic use of available health and human resources is essential to prevent or mitigate

Water, plants, and early human habitats in eastern Africa

PubMed Central

Magill, Clayton R.; Ashley, Gail M.; Freeman, Katherine H.

2013-01-01

Water and its influence on plants likely exerted strong adaptive pressures in human evolution. Understanding relationships among water, plants, and early humans is limited both by incomplete terrestrial records of environmental change and by indirect proxy data for water availability. Here we present a continuous record of stable hydrogen-isotope compositions (expressed as δD values) for lipid biomarkers preserved in lake sediments from an early Pleistocene archaeological site in eastern Africa—Olduvai Gorge. We convert sedimentary leaf- and algal-lipid δD values into estimates for ancient source-water δD values by accounting for biochemical, physiological, and environmental influences on isotopic fractionation via published water–lipid enrichment factors for living plants, algae, and recent sediments. Reconstructed precipitation and lake-water δD values, respectively, are consistent with modern isotopic hydrology and reveal that dramatic fluctuations in water availability accompanied ecosystem changes. Drier conditions, indicated by less negative δD values, occur in association with stable carbon-isotopic evidence for open, C4-dominated grassland ecosystems. Wetter conditions, indicated by lower δD values, are associated with expanded woody cover across the ancient landscape. Estimates for ancient precipitation amounts, based on reconstructed precipitation δD values, range between approximately 250 and 700 mm·y−1 and are consistent with modern precipitation data for eastern Africa. We conclude that freshwater availability exerted a substantial influence on eastern African ecosystems and, by extension, was central to early human proliferation during periods of rapid climate change. PMID:23267102

Planning, Plumbing, or Posturing? Explaining the Weakness of Human Resource Development Structures and Policies in South Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Allais, Stephanie; Marock, Carmel; Ngcwangu, Siphelo

2017-01-01

In South Africa, a national peak structure, the Human Resource Development Council, led by the Deputy President and consisting of key Cabinet Ministers, senior leaders from organised labour and business, community representatives, professional bodies and experts from research and higher education, was established to enable high-level coordination…

Human mobility prediction from region functions with taxi trajectories.

PubMed

Wang, Minjie; Yang, Su; Sun, Yi; Gao, Jun

2017-01-01

People in cities nowadays suffer from increasingly severe traffic jams due to less awareness of how collective human mobility is affected by urban planning. Besides, understanding how region functions shape human mobility is critical for business planning but remains unsolved so far. This study aims to discover the association between region functions and resulting human mobility. We establish a linear regression model to predict the traffic flows of Beijing based on the input referred to as bag of POIs. By solving the predictor in the sense of sparse representation, we find that the average prediction precision is over 74% and each type of POI contributes differently in the predictor, which accounts for what factors and how such region functions attract people visiting. Based on these findings, predictive human mobility could be taken into account when planning new regions and region functions.

Human mobility prediction from region functions with taxi trajectories

PubMed Central

Wang, Minjie; Sun, Yi; Gao, Jun

2017-01-01

People in cities nowadays suffer from increasingly severe traffic jams due to less awareness of how collective human mobility is affected by urban planning. Besides, understanding how region functions shape human mobility is critical for business planning but remains unsolved so far. This study aims to discover the association between region functions and resulting human mobility. We establish a linear regression model to predict the traffic flows of Beijing based on the input referred to as bag of POIs. By solving the predictor in the sense of sparse representation, we find that the average prediction precision is over 74% and each type of POI contributes differently in the predictor, which accounts for what factors and how such region functions attract people visiting. Based on these findings, predictive human mobility could be taken into account when planning new regions and region functions. PMID:29190708

Bayesian analyses of Yemeni mitochondrial genomes suggest multiple migration events with Africa and Western Eurasia.

PubMed

Vyas, Deven N; Kitchen, Andrew; Miró-Herrans, Aida T; Pearson, Laurel N; Al-Meeri, Ali; Mulligan, Connie J

2016-03-01

Anatomically, modern humans are thought to have migrated out of Africa ∼60,000 years ago in the first successful global dispersal. This initial migration may have passed through Yemen, a region that has experienced multiple migrations events with Africa and Eurasia throughout human history. We use Bayesian phylogenetics to determine how ancient and recent migrations have shaped Yemeni mitogenomic variation. We sequenced 113 mitogenomes from multiple Yemeni regions with a focus on haplogroups M, N, and L3(xM,N) as these groups have the oldest evolutionary history outside of Africa. We performed Bayesian evolutionary analyses to generate time-measured phylogenies calibrated by Neanderthal and Denisovan mitogenomes in order to determine the age of Yemeni-specific clades. As defined by Yemeni monophyly, Yemeni in situ evolution is limited to the Holocene or latest Pleistocene (ages of clades in subhaplogroups L3b1a1a, L3h2, L3x1, M1a1f, M1a5, N1a1a3, and N1a3 range from 2 to 14 kya) and is often situated within broader Horn of Africa/southern Arabia in situ evolution (L3h2, L3x1, M1a1f, M1a5, and N1a1a3 ages range from 7 to 29 kya). Five subhaplogroups show no monophyly and are candidates for Holocene migration into Yemen (L0a2a2a, L3d1a1a, L3i2, M1a1b, and N1b1a). Yemeni mitogenomes are largely the product of Holocene migration, and subsequent in situ evolution, from Africa and western Eurasia. However, we hypothesize that recent population movements may obscure the genetic signature of more ancient migrations. Additional research, e.g., analyses of Yemeni nuclear genetic data, is needed to better reconstruct the complex population and migration histories associated with Out of Africa. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Land Cover Mapping for the Development of Green House Gas (GHG) Inventories in the Eastern and Southern Africa Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wakhayanga, J. A.; Oduor, P.; Korme, T.; Farah, H.; Limaye, A. S.; Irwin, D.; Artis, G.

2014-12-01

Anthropogenic activities are responsible for the largest share of green house gas (GHG) emissions. Research has shown that greenhouse gases cause radioactive forcing in the stratosphere, leading to ozone depletion. Different land cover types act as sources or sinks of carbon dioxide (CO2), the most dominant GHG.Under the oversight of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) the Eastern and Southern Africa (ESA) region countries are developing Sustainable National GHG Inventory Management Systems. While the countries in the ESA region are making substantial progress in setting up GHG inventories, there remains significant constraints in the development of quality and sustainable National GHG Inventory Systems. For instance, there are fundamental challenges in capacity building and technology transfer, which can affect timely and consistent reporting on the land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) component of the GHG inventory development. SERVIR Eastern and Southern Africa is a partnership project between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Regional Center for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD), an intergovernmental organization in Africa, with 21 member states in the ESA region. With support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), SERVIR ESA is implementing the GHG Project in 9 countries. The main deliverables of the project are land cover maps for the years 2000 and 2010 (also 1990 for Malawi and Rwanda), and related technical reports, as well as technical training in land cover mapping using replicable methodologies. Landsat imagery which is freely available forms the main component of earth observation input data, in addition to ancillary data collected from each country. Supervised classification using maximum likelihood algorithm is applied to the Landsat images. The work is completed for the initial 6 countries (Malawi, Zambia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Botswana, and

Human demography and reserve size predict wildlife extinction in West Africa.

PubMed Central

Brashares, J S; Arcese, P; Sam, M K

2001-01-01

Species-area models have become the primary tool used to predict baseline extinction rates for species in isolated habitats, and have influenced conservation and land-use planning worldwide. In particular, these models have been used to predict extinction rates following the loss or fragmentation of natural habitats in the absence of direct human influence on species persistence. Thus, where direct human influences, such as hunting, put added pressure on species in remnant habitat patches, we should expect to observe extinction rates higher than those predicted by simple species-area models. Here, we show that extinction rates for 41 species of large mammals in six nature reserves in West Africa are 14-307 times higher than those predicted by models based on reserve size alone. Human population and reserve size accounted for 98% of the observed variation in extinction rates between reserves. Extinction occurred at higher rates than predicted by species-area models for carnivores, primates and ungulates, and at the highest rates overall near reserve borders. Our results indicate that, where the harvest of wildlife is common, conservation plans should focus on increasing the size of reserves and reducing the rate of hunting. PMID:11747566

Regional co-variability of spatial and temporal soil moisture-precipitation coupling in North Africa: an observational perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Petrova, Irina Y.; van Heerwaarden, Chiel C.; Hohenegger, Cathy; Guichard, Françoise

2018-06-01

The magnitude and sign of soil moisture-precipitation coupling (SMPC) is investigated using a probability-based approach and 10 years of daily microwave satellite data across North Africa at a 1° horizontal scale. Specifically, the co-existence and co-variability of spatial (i.e. using soil moisture gradients) and temporal (i.e. using soil moisture anomaly) soil moisture effects on afternoon rainfall is explored. The analysis shows that in the semi-arid environment of the Sahel, the negative spatial and the negative temporal coupling relationships do not only co-exist, but are also dependent on one another. Hence, if afternoon rain falls over temporally drier soils, it is likely to be surrounded by a wetter environment. Two regions are identified as SMPC hot spots. These are the south-western part of the domain (7-15° N, 10° W-7° E), with the most robust negative SMPC signal, and the South Sudanese region (5-13° N, 24-34° E). The sign and significance of the coupling in the latter region is found to be largely modulated by the presence of wetlands and is susceptible to the number of long-lived propagating convective systems. The presence of wetlands and an irrigated land area is found to account for about 30 % of strong and significant spatial SMPC in the North African domain. This study provides the first insight into regional variability of SMPC in North Africa, and supports the potential relevance of mechanisms associated with enhanced sensible heat flux and mesoscale variability in surface soil moisture for deep convection development.

The Menengai Tuff: A 36 ka widespread tephra and its chronological relevance to Late Pleistocene human evolution in East Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blegen, Nick; Brown, Francis H.; Jicha, Brian R.; Binetti, Katie M.; Faith, J. Tyler; Ferraro, Joseph V.; Gathogo, Patrick N.; Richardson, Jonathan L.; Tryon, Christian A.

2016-11-01

The East African Rift preserves the world's richest Middle and Late Pleistocene (∼780-12 ka) geological, archaeological and paleontological archives relevant to the emergence of Homo sapiens. This region also provides unparalleled chronological control for many important sites through tephrochronology, the dating and correlation of volcanic ashes as widespread isochronous markers in the geological record. There are many well-characterized Pliocene-Early Pleistocene tephras that are widespread across East Africa. A comparable framework is lacking for the Middle and Late Pleistocene; a period characterized by spatially and temporally complex patterns of climate change, as well as the emergence of modern Homo sapiens and the dispersal of this species across and out of Africa. Unraveling relationships among these spatial and temporally complex phenomena requires a precise chronology. To this end we report the Menengai Tuff, a widespread volcanic ash produced by the large-scale caldera-forming eruption in Kenya and 40Ar/39Ar dated to 35.62 ± 0.26 ka. Geochemical characterization of 565 glass shards from 36 samples by wavelength-dispersive electron probe microanalysis show the Menengai Tuff was deposited over >115,000 km2 and is found in the Baringo, Chalbi, Elmenteita, Nakuru, Olorgesailie, Turkana, and Victoria basins, all of which preserve rich Late Pleistocene paleoenvironmental and archaeological archives. Correlation and dating of the Menengai Tuff demonstrate that it is the most widespread tephra and largest eruption currently known from the Late Pleistocene of East Africa. As such, it is a valuable marker in establishing a Late Pleistocene chronology for paleoclimatic, archeological, and paleontological records relevant to the study of human evolution.

Prevalence, determinants and systems-thinking approaches to optimal hypertension control in West Africa

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background In West Africa, hypertension, once rare, has now emerged as a critical health concern and the trajectory is upward and factors are complex. The true magnitude of hypertension in some West African countries, including in-depth knowledge of underlying risk factors is not completely understood. There is also a paucity of research on adequate systems-level approaches designed to mitigate the growing burden of hypertension in the region. Aims In this review, we thematically synthesize available literature pertaining to the prevalence of hypertension in West Africa and discuss factors that influence its diagnosis, treatment and control. We aimed to address the social and structural determinants influencing hypertension in the sub-region including the effects of urbanization, health infrastructure and healthcare workforce. Findings The prevalence of hypertension in West Africa has increased over the past decade and is rising rapidly with an urban-rural gradient that places higher hypertension prevalence on urban settings compared to rural settings. Overall levels of awareness of one’s hypertension status remain consistently low in West African. Structural and economic determinants related to conditions of poverty such as insufficient finances have a direct impact on adherence to prescribed antihypertensive medications. Urbanization contributes to the increasing incidence of hypertension in the sub-region and available evidence indicates that inadequate health infrastructure may act as a barrier to optimal hypertension control in West Africa. Conclusion Given that optimal hypertension control in West Africa depends on multiple factors that go beyond simply modifying the behaviors of the individuals alone, we conclude by discussing the potential role systems-thinking approaches can play to achieve optimal control in the sub-region. In the context of recent advances in hypertension management including new therapeutic options and innovative solutions to expand

Occurrence of aflatoxins in human foodstuffs in South Africa

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Loetter, L.H.; Kroehm, H.J.

1988-02-01

Aflatoxins are toxic metabolites of Aspergillus spp and have been reported as contaminants in a number of foodstuffs, namely corn, rice, peanuts, and cereals. In the Republic of South Africa, aflatoxin levels in human foodstuffs are limited to a maximum of 10 ..mu..g/kg for the total and 5 ..mu..g/kg for aflatoxin B/sub 1/. During 1985 and 1986, samples of sorghum beer, sorghum cereal, peanuts, peanut butter and maize meal were purchased from supermarkets in Johannesburg and analyzed for aflatoxins. A total of 414 samples were analyzed during the survey. In 1985, roughly a third of the samples were contaminated withmore » aflatoxins, with no levels in excess of the legal limit. In 1986 the percentage of contaminated samples rose significantly, but the levels of contamination remained low, with only one sample exceeding the legal maximum.« less

Identification of dust source regions and dust emission trends across North Africa and the Middle East using MISR satellite observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Y.; Kalashnikova, O. V.; Garay, M. J.; Notaro, M.

2017-12-01

Global arid and semi-arid regions supply 1100 to 5000 Tg of Aeolian dust to the atmosphere each year, primarily from North Africa and secondarily from the Middle East. Previous dust source identification methods, based on either remotely-sensed aerosol optical depth (AOD) or dust activity, yield distinct dust source maps, largely due to the limitations in each method and remote-sensing product. Here we apply a novel motion-based method for dust source identification. Dust plume thickness and motion vectors from Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) Cloud Motion Vector Product (CMVP) are examined to identify the regions with high frequency of fast moving-dust plumes, by season. According to MISR CMVP, Bodele depression is the most important dust source across North Africa, consistent with previous studies. Seasonal variability of dust emission across the North Africa is largely driven by climatology of wind and precipitation, featuring the influence of Sharav Cyclone and western African monsoon. In the Middle East, Iraq, Kuwait, and eastern Saudi Arabia are identified as dust source regions, especially during summer months, when the Middle Eastern Shamal wind is active. Furthermore, dust emission trend at each dust source are diagnosed from the motion-based dust source dataset. Increase in dust emission from the Fertile Crescent, Sahel, and eastern African dust sources are identified from MISR CMVP, implying potential contribution from these dust sources to the upward trend in AOD and dust AOD over the Middle East in the 21st century. By comparing with various dust source identification studies, we conclude that the motion-based identification of dust sources is an encouraging alternative and compliment to the AOD-only source identification method.

Perpetration of gross human rights violations in South Africa: association with psychiatric disorders.

PubMed

Stein, Dan J; Williams, Stacey L; Jackson, Pamela B; Seedat, Soraya; Myer, Landon; Herman, Allen; Williams, David R

2009-05-01

A nationally representative study of psychiatric disorders in South Africa provided an opportunity to study the association between perpetration of human rights violations (HRVs) during apartheid and psychiatric disorder. Prior work has suggested an association between perpetration and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but this remains controversial. Subjects reported on their perpetration of human rights violations, purposeful injury, accidental injury and domestic violence. Lifetime and 12-month prevalence of DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 4th edition) disorders were assessed with Version 3.0 of the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI 3.0). Socio-demographic characteristics of these groups were calculated. Odds ratios for the association between the major categories of psychiatric disorders and perpetration were assessed. HRV perpetrators were more likely to be male, black and more educated, while perpetrators of domestic violence (DV) were more likely to be female, older, married, less educated and with lower income. HRV perpetration was associated with lifetime and 12-month anxiety and substance use disorders, particularly PTSD. Purposeful and DV perpetration were associated with lifetime and 12-month history of all categories of disorders, whereas accidental perpetration was associated most strongly with mood disorders. Socio-demographic profiles of perpetrators of HRV and DV in South Africa differ. While the causal relationship between perpetration and psychiatric disorders deserves further study, it is possible that some HRV and DV perpetrators were themselves once victims. The association between accidental perpetration and mood disorder also deserves further attention.

Multiple Introductions and Recent Spread of the Emerging Human Pathogen Mycobacterium ulcerans across Africa.

PubMed

Vandelannoote, Koen; Meehan, Conor J; Eddyani, Miriam; Affolabi, Dissou; Phanzu, Delphin Mavinga; Eyangoh, Sara; Jordaens, Kurt; Portaels, Françoise; Mangas, Kirstie; Seemann, Torsten; Marsollier, Laurent; Marion, Estelle; Chauty, Annick; Landier, Jordi; Fontanet, Arnaud; Leirs, Herwig; Stinear, Timothy P; de Jong, Bouke C

2017-03-01

Buruli ulcer (BU) is an insidious neglected tropical disease. Cases are reported around the world but the rural regions of West and Central Africa are most affected. How BU is transmitted and spreads has remained a mystery, even though the causative agent, Mycobacterium ulcerans, has been known for more than 70 years. Here, using the tools of population genomics, we reconstruct the evolutionary history of M. ulcerans by comparing 165 isolates spanning 48 years and representing 11 endemic countries across Africa. The genetic diversity of African M. ulcerans was found to be restricted due to the bacterium's slow substitution rate coupled with its relatively recent origin. We identified two specific M. ulcerans lineages within the African continent, and inferred that M. ulcerans lineage Mu_A1 existed in Africa for several hundreds of years, unlike lineage Mu_A2, which was introduced much more recently, approximately during the 19th century. Additionally, we observed that specific M. ulcerans epidemic Mu_A1 clones were introduced during the same time period in the three hydrological basins that were well covered in our panel. The estimated time span of the introduction events coincides with the Neo-imperialism period, during which time the European colonial powers divided the African continent among themselves. Using this temporal association, and in the absence of a known BU reservoir or-vector on the continent, we postulate that the so-called "Scramble for Africa" played a significant role in the spread of the disease across the continent. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution.

A landslide susceptibility map of Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Broeckx, Jente; Vanmaercke, Matthias; Duchateau, Rica; Poesen, Jean

2017-04-01

Studies on landslide risks and fatalities indicate that landslides are a global threat to humans, infrastructure and the environment, certainly in Africa. Nonetheless our understanding of the spatial patterns of landslides and rockfalls on this continent is very limited. Also in global landslide susceptibility maps, Africa is mostly underrepresented in the inventories used to construct these maps. As a result, predicted landslide susceptibilities remain subject to very large uncertainties. This research aims to produce a first continent-wide landslide susceptibility map for Africa, calibrated with a well-distributed landslide dataset. As a first step, we compiled all available landslide inventories for Africa. This data was supplemented by additional landslide mapping with Google Earth in underrepresented regions. This way, we compiled 60 landslide inventories from the literature (ca. 11000 landslides) and an additional 6500 landslides through mapping in Google Earth (including 1500 rockfalls). Various environmental variables such as slope, lithology, soil characteristics, land use, precipitation and seismic activity, were investigated for their significance in explaining the observed spatial patterns of landslides. To account for potential mapping biases in our dataset, we used Monte Carlo simulations that selected different subsets of mapped landslides, tested the significance of the considered environmental variables and evaluated the performance of the fitted multiple logistic regression model against another subset of mapped landslides. Based on these analyses, we constructed two landslide susceptibility maps for Africa: one for all landslide types and one excluding rockfalls. In both maps, topography, lithology and seismic activity were the most significant variables. The latter factor may be surprising, given the overall limited degree of seismicity in Africa. However, its significance indicates that frequent seismic events may serve as in important

The Influence of the Regional Hadley and Walker Circulations on Precipitation Patterns over Africa in El Niño, La Niña, and Neutral Years

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Oliveira, Cristiano Prestrelo; Aímola, Luis; Ambrizzi, Tércio; Freitas, Ana Carolina Vasques

2018-02-01

This study focuses on the differential impacts of the positive (El Niño), negative (La Niña), and neutral phases of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on precipitation over Africa during DJF and JJA, evaluated through changes in the regional Hadley and Walker Circulations. Identification of the Hadley and Walker Cells was done using stream function mass transport calculations of ERA-Interim reanalysis data from 1979 to 2014. Analysis of the spatial pattern of precipitation anomalies shows that during DJF, El Niño (La Niña) negatively (positively) impacts precipitation over the African continent. During JJA, El Niño (La Niña) influences precipitation variability over the Sahel region, producing positive (negative) anomalies. Negative precipitation anomalies associated with El Niño (DJF) over southern Africa are linked to a strengthening in subsidence of the descending branch of the regional Hadley Cell, and during JJA the negative precipitation anomalies over the Sahel are associated with a weakening of the ascending branch of the regional Hadley Cell. During La Niña events in DJF, there is a tendency toward increased convection in southern Africa, associated with a stronger ascending branch and weaker descending branch of the regional Hadley Cell. During La Niña events in JJA, positive precipitation anomalies over the Sahel are associated with an intensification of the ascending branch of the regional Hadley Cell north of the equator.

Ecology and geography of human monkeypox case occurrences across Africa.

PubMed

Ellis, Christine K; Carroll, Darin S; Lash, Ryan R; Peterson, A Townsend; Damon, Inger K; Malekani, Jean; Formenty, Pierre

2012-04-01

As ecologic niche modeling (ENM) evolves as a tool in spatial epidemiology and public health, selection of the most appropriate and informative environmental data sets becomes increasingly important. Here, we build on a previous ENM analysis of the potential distribution of human monkeypox in Africa by refining georeferencing criteria and using more-diverse environmental data to identify environmental parameters contributing to monkeypox distributional ecology. Significant environmental variables include annual precipitation, several temperature-related variables, primary productivity, evapotranspiration, soil moisture, and pH. The potential distribution identified with this set of variables was broader than that identified in previous analyses but does not include areas recently found to hold monkeypox in southern Sudan. Our results emphasize the importance of selecting the most appropriate and informative environmental data sets for ENM analyses in pathogen transmission mapping.

Seasonal availability of edible underground and aboveground carbohydrate resources to human foragers on the Cape south coast, South Africa.

PubMed

De Vynck, Jan C; Cowling, Richard M; Potts, Alastair J; Marean, Curtis W

2016-01-01

The coastal environments of South Africa's Cape Floristic Region (CFR) provide some of the earliest and most abundant evidence for the emergence of cognitively modern humans. In particular, the south coast of the CFR provided a uniquely diverse resource base for hunter-gatherers, which included marine shellfish, game, and carbohydrate-bearing plants, especially those with Underground Storage Organs (USOs). It has been hypothesized that these resources underpinned the continuity of human occupation in the region since the Middle Pleistocene. Very little research has been conducted on the foraging potential of carbohydrate resources in the CFR. This study focuses on the seasonal availability of plants with edible carbohydrates at six-weekly intervals over a two-year period in four vegetation types on South Africa's Cape south coast. Different plant species were considered available to foragers if the edible carbohydrate was directly (i.e. above-ground edible portions) or indirectly (above-ground indications to below-ground edible portions) visible to an expert botanist familiar with this landscape. A total of 52 edible plant species were recorded across all vegetation types. Of these, 33 species were geophytes with edible USOs and 21 species had aboveground edible carbohydrates. Limestone Fynbos had the richest flora, followed by Strandveld, Renosterveld and lastly, Sand Fynbos. The availability of plant species differed across vegetation types and between survey years. The number of available USO species was highest for a six-month period from winter to early summer (Jul-Dec) across all vegetation types. Months of lowest species' availability were in mid-summer to early autumn (Jan-Apr); the early winter (May-Jun) values were variable, being highest in Limestone Fynbos. However, even during the late summer carbohydrate "crunch," 25 carbohydrate bearing species were visible across the four vegetation types. To establish a robust resource landscape will require

Genome-wide analyses of HTLV-1aD strains from Cape Verde, Africa.

PubMed

Zanella, Louise; Pina-Araujo I, Isabel de; Morgado, Mariza G; Vicente, Ana Carolina

2016-09-01

We characterised and reported the first full-length genomes of Human T-cell Lymphotropic Virus Type 1 subgroup HTLV-1aD (CV21 and CV79). This subgroup is one of the major determinants of HTLV-1 infections in North and West Africa, and recombinant strains involving this subgroup have been recently demonstrated. The CV21 and CV79 strains from Cape Verde/Africa were characterised as pure HTLV-1aD genomes, comparative analyses including HTLV-1 subtypes and subgroups revealed HTLV-1aD signatures in the envelope, pol, and pX regions. These genomes provide original information that will contribute to further studies on HTLV-1a epidemiology and evolution.

Disentangling the relative effects of bushmeat availability on human nutrition in central Africa.

PubMed

Fa, John E; Olivero, Jesús; Real, Raimundo; Farfán, Miguel A; Márquez, Ana L; Vargas, J Mario; Ziegler, Stefan; Wegmann, Martin; Brown, David; Margetts, Barrie; Nasi, Robert

2015-02-02

We studied links between human malnutrition and wild meat availability within the Rainforest Biotic Zone in central Africa. We distinguished two distinct hunted mammalian diversity distributions, one in the rainforest areas (Deep Rainforest Diversity, DRD) containing taxa of lower hunting sustainability, the other in the northern rainforest-savanna mosaic, with species of greater hunting potential (Marginal Rainforest Diversity, MRD). Wild meat availability, assessed by standing crop mammalian biomass, was greater in MRD than in DRD areas. Predicted bushmeat extraction was also higher in MRD areas. Despite this, stunting of children, a measure of human malnutrition, was greater in MRD areas. Structural equation modeling identified that, in MRD areas, mammal diversity fell away from urban areas, but proximity to these positively influenced higher stunting incidence. In DRD areas, remoteness and distance from dense human settlements and infrastructures explained lower stunting levels. Moreover, stunting was higher away from protected areas. Our results suggest that in MRD areas, forest wildlife rational use for better human nutrition is possible. By contrast, the relatively low human populations in DRD areas currently offer abundant opportunities for the continued protection of more vulnerable mammals and allow dietary needs of local populations to be met.

Disentangling the relative effects of bushmeat availability on human nutrition in central Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fa, John E.; Olivero, Jesús; Real, Raimundo; Farfán, Miguel A.; Márquez, Ana L.; Vargas, J. Mario; Ziegler, Stefan; Wegmann, Martin; Brown, David; Margetts, Barrie; Nasi, Robert

2015-02-01

We studied links between human malnutrition and wild meat availability within the Rainforest Biotic Zone in central Africa. We distinguished two distinct hunted mammalian diversity distributions, one in the rainforest areas (Deep Rainforest Diversity, DRD) containing taxa of lower hunting sustainability, the other in the northern rainforest-savanna mosaic, with species of greater hunting potential (Marginal Rainforest Diversity, MRD). Wild meat availability, assessed by standing crop mammalian biomass, was greater in MRD than in DRD areas. Predicted bushmeat extraction was also higher in MRD areas. Despite this, stunting of children, a measure of human malnutrition, was greater in MRD areas. Structural equation modeling identified that, in MRD areas, mammal diversity fell away from urban areas, but proximity to these positively influenced higher stunting incidence. In DRD areas, remoteness and distance from dense human settlements and infrastructures explained lower stunting levels. Moreover, stunting was higher away from protected areas. Our results suggest that in MRD areas, forest wildlife rational use for better human nutrition is possible. By contrast, the relatively low human populations in DRD areas currently offer abundant opportunities for the continued protection of more vulnerable mammals and allow dietary needs of local populations to be met.

Deposition of acidifying species in the Waterberg region of South Africa and the potential for stream chemistry impacts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Piketh, S.; Curtis, C.; Pienaar, K.; Khuzwayo, L.; van Zyl, P. G.; Conradie, E.

2016-12-01

South Africa is rich in natural resources that include large deposits of coal. As a result more than 90% of the energy in the country is generated by 13 coal fired power stations located on the Highveld region. Over the past 7 years South Africa has experienced severe power shortages which has resulted in the approval of two new mega coal fired power stations each with a 4800 Mw generating capacity. One of these power stations is at Lephalale in the Waterberg. This region is largely dominated by a natural to semi-natural landscape, but some areas have acid sensitive sub-soils (pH < 5.5) rendering their headwater streams vulnerable to acidification. There are only three other important sources of emissions close to Lephalale, a second coal fired power station, a char plant and domestic coal combustion. In an attempt to determine baseline conditions of air pollution, deposition and stream chemistry impacts prior to the commissioning of the new PS the following measurements have been undertaken, ambient concentrations of SO2, NOx, NH3 and O3 (at seven sites since 2010), rain water chemistry ( at one site for 2015 and 2016) and headwater stream vulnerability (2015 and 2016). Concentrations of sodium (Na+), ammonium (NH4+), potassium (K+), calcium (Ca2+), magnesium (Mg2+), nitrate 21 (NO3-), chloride (Cl-), sulphate (SO42-) in the rain water will be presented and compared to other long term sites around South Africa. Total deposition of S and N will in the Lephalale region will be presented. At least 30 acid-sensitive headwater streams, many with low pH <6 and low acid neutralizing capacity that are extremely sensitive to acid deposition inputs have been identified. Future deposition in the area of acidifying species will be modelled by including emissions from the new Power station and estimates of the potential impact will be assessed.

Mapping and analyzing urban growth in West Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adhikari, P.; de Beurs, K. M.

2014-12-01

Africa has experienced the highest urban growth (~3.5% per year) in the developing world. West Africa in particular has seen significant urban growth mainly driven by the high natural population growth rate and the increasing percentage of population moving to urban areas. Urban growth in West Africa is expected to continue in decades to come. This study uses Landsat data at five different time steps (1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, and 2010) to map four cities from four different eco-regions of West Africa since the early 1970s. The selected four cities, Kumasi in Ghana, Abuja in Nigeria, Tahoua in Niger and Ouagadoughou in Burkina Faso, are some of the fastest growing cities in the region. We selected the cities in the following ecoregions: Eastern Guinean Forest, Guinean Forest-Savanna Mosaic, Sahelian Acacia Savanna and West Sudanian Savanna. We hypothesize that urban growth in West Africa is different compared to the other parts of the world primarily due to the dependency of about 60 percent of active labor force on subsistence agriculture in the region. As agriculture productivity is dependent on favorable climatic conditions (i.e., good rainfall, suitable temperature), any variability in climate impends the livelihood of subsistence farmers triggering the movements of more people towards the cities. Therefore, studying urban growth based on ecoregions help to better explain the urban development in West Africa. After mapping the urban areas, this study makes a comparative analysis of the temporal and spatial pattern of the urban growths across the ecoregions in West Africa.

Similarities between Salmonella Enteritidis isolated from humans and captive wild animals in South Africa.

PubMed

Smith, Anthony M; Ismail, Husna; Henton, Maryke M; Keddy, Karen H

2014-12-15

Salmonella is well recognized as an aetiological agent of gastrointestinal and diarrhoeal disease. Salmonella enterica serotype Enteritidis (Salmonella Enteritidis) is one of the commonest serotypes associated with foodborne illness. In South Africa, we compared Salmonella Enteritidis strains isolated from humans with gastroenteritis and strains isolated from captive wild animals, between June 2011 and July 2012. Bacteria were phenotypically characterized using standard microbiological techniques. Genotypic relatedness of isolates was investigated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) analysis. a diversity of 27 PFGE patterns amongst 196 human non-invasive isolates was shown; two PFGE patterns predominated and accounted for 74% of all human isolates. Human isolates showed a 12% prevalence rate for nalidixic acid resistance. Animal isolates from 5 different sources were investigated. With the exception of an isolate from a ground hornbill, all animal isolates (jaguar, crocodile, lion and poultry) showed PFGE pattern matches to a human isolate. Animal isolates showed susceptibility to all antimicrobial agents tested, with the exception of nalidixic acid resistance in isolates from the lion and poultry source. Our data showed similarities between Salmonella Enteritidis strains isolated from humans and captive wild animals, suggesting a probable common source for strains from humans and animals.

The Influence of European Pollution on Ozone in the Near East and Northern Africa

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Duncan, B. N.; West, J. J.; Yoshida, Y.; Fiore, A. M.; Ziemke, J. R.

2008-01-01

We present a modeling study of the long-range transport of pollution from Europe, showing that European emissions regularly elevate surface ozone by as much as 20 ppbv in summer in northern Africa and the Near East. European emissions cause 50-150 additional violations per year (i.e. above those that would occur without European pollution) of the European health standard for ozone (8-h average greater than 120 micrograms per cubic meters or approximately 60 ppbv) in northern Africa and the Near East. We estimate that European ozone pollution is responsible for 50 000 premature mortalities globally each year, of which the majority occurs outside of Europe itself, including 37% (19 000) in northern Africa and the Near East. Much of the pollution from Europe is exported southward at low altitudes in summer to the Mediterranean Sea, northern Africa and the Near East, regions with favorable photochemical environments for ozone production. Our results suggest that assessments of the human health benefits of reducing ozone precursor emissions in Europe should include effects outside of Europe, and that comprehensive planning to improve air quality in northern Africa and the Near East likely needs to address European emissions.

The Challenges and Relevance of Exploring the Genetics of North Africa's "Barbary Lion" and the Conservation of Putative Descendants in Captivity.

PubMed

Black, Simon A

2016-01-01

The lions of North Africa were unique in ecological terms as well as from a human cultural perspective and were the definitive lions of Roman and Medieval Europe. Labelled "Barbary" lions, they were once numerous in North Africa but were exterminated by the mid-20th century. Despite subsequent degeneration of the Atlas Mountain ecosystem through human pressures, the feasibility of lion reintroduction has been debated since the 1970s. Research on the long-established captive lion collection traditionally kept by the sultans and kings of Morocco has enabled selective breeding coordinated across Moroccan and European zoos involving a significant number of animals. Molecular genetic research has recently provided insights into lion phylogeny which, despite previous suggestions that all lions share recent common ancestry, now indicates clear distinctions between lions in North, West, and Central Africa, the Middle East, and India versus those in Southern and Eastern Africa. A review of the evolutionary relevance of North African lions highlights the important challenges and opportunities in understanding relationships between Moroccan lions, extinct North African lions, and extant lion populations in India and West and Central Africa and the potential role for lions in ecosystem recovery in those regions.

Fine-Scale Human Population Structure in Southern Africa Reflects Ecogeographic Boundaries

PubMed Central

Uren, Caitlin; Kim, Minju; Martin, Alicia R.; Bobo, Dean; Gignoux, Christopher R.; van Helden, Paul D.; Möller, Marlo; Hoal, Eileen G.; Henn, Brenna M.

2016-01-01

Recent genetic studies have established that the KhoeSan populations of southern Africa are distinct from all other African populations and have remained largely isolated during human prehistory until ∼2000 years ago. Dozens of different KhoeSan groups exist, belonging to three different language families, but very little is known about their population history. We examine new genome-wide polymorphism data and whole mitochondrial genomes for >100 South Africans from the ≠Khomani San and Nama populations of the Northern Cape, analyzed in conjunction with 19 additional southern African populations. Our analyses reveal fine-scale population structure in and around the Kalahari Desert. Surprisingly, this structure does not always correspond to linguistic or subsistence categories as previously suggested, but rather reflects the role of geographic barriers and the ecology of the greater Kalahari Basin. Regardless of subsistence strategy, the indigenous Khoe-speaking Nama pastoralists and the N|u-speaking ≠Khomani (formerly hunter-gatherers) share ancestry with other Khoe-speaking forager populations that form a rim around the Kalahari Desert. We reconstruct earlier migration patterns and estimate that the southern Kalahari populations were among the last to experience gene flow from Bantu speakers, ∼14 generations ago. We conclude that local adoption of pastoralism, at least by the Nama, appears to have been primarily a cultural process with limited genetic impact from eastern Africa. PMID:27474727

Assessing sustainable biophysical human-nature connectedness at regional scales

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dorninger, Christian; Abson, David J.; Fischer, Joern; von Wehrden, Henrik

2017-05-01

Humans are biophysically connected to the biosphere through the flows of materials and energy appropriated from ecosystems. While this connection is fundamental for human well-being, many modern societies have—for better or worse—disconnected themselves from the natural productivity of their immediate regional environment. In this paper, we conceptualize the biophysical human-nature connectedness of land use systems at regional scales. We distinguish two mechanisms by which primordial connectedness of people to regional ecosystems has been circumvented via the use of external inputs. First, ‘biospheric disconnection’ refers to people drawing on non-renewable minerals from outside the biosphere (e.g. fossils, metals and other minerals). Second, ‘spatial disconnection’ arises from the imports and exports of biomass products and imported mineral resources used to extract and process ecological goods. Both mechanisms allow for greater regional resource use than would be possible otherwise, but both pose challenges for sustainability, for example, through waste generation, depletion of non-renewable resources and environmental burden shifting to distant regions. In contrast, biophysically reconnected land use systems may provide renewed opportunities for inhabitants to develop an awareness of their impacts and fundamental reliance on ecosystems. To better understand the causes, consequences, and possible remedies related to biophysical disconnectedness, new quantitative methods to assess the extent of regional biophysical human-nature connectedness are needed. To this end, we propose a new methodological framework that can be applied to assess biophysical human-nature connectedness in any region of the world.

Escalation and Resolution of Border Disputes and Interstate Conflicts in Africa: The Malawi-Tanzania Case

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-01

struggle in the region. They cause relentless strife, including refugee problems, environmental degradation, deforestation , small arms proliferation...human and natural resources, extreme poverty and hunger abound on the continent.”42 Furthermore, a snapshot of Africa reveals deforestation , fast...Malawi, while Tanzania is disadvantaged . Since players selfishly attempt to maximize their outcomes, via ‘maximin theorem,’ the outcome is BD that

Rabid epidemiologies: the emergence and resurgence of rabies in twentieth century South Africa.

PubMed

Brown, Karen

2011-01-01

This article discusses the history of rabies in South Africa since the early twentieth century. It argues that rabies is a zoonotic disease that traverses rural and urban spaces, that transfers itself between wild and domestic animals and remains a potential threat to human life in the region. Scientists discovered an indigenous form of rabies, found primarily in the yellow mongoose, after the first biomedically confirmed human fatalities in 1928. Since the 1950s canine rabies, presumed to have moved southwards from across the Zambezi River, has become endemic also. South Africa is home to a comparatively large number of rabies strains and animal carriers, making it a particularly interesting case study. Environmental changes during the colonial and apartheid periods have helped to explain the increase in rabies cases since the mid-twentieth century. Moreover, developments in the biological and ecological sciences have provided insights into why the rabies virus has become endemic in certain wildlife species.

Rare earth elements upon assessment of reasons of the geophagy in Sikhote-Alin region (Russian Federation), Africa and other world regions.

PubMed

Panichev, Alexander M; Popov, Vladimir K; Chekryzhov, Igor Yu; Seryodkin, Ivan V; Stolyarova, Tatiana A; Zakusin, Sergey V; Sergievich, Alexandr A; Khoroshikh, Pavel P

2016-12-01

Rocks eaten by wild animals on the Bolshoy Shanduyskiy kudur in the Sikhote-Alin region (Russian Federation) are zeolite-clay mineral complexes-products of weathering of zeolitized vitric tuffs of rhyolite composition, deposited in aqueous medium within the volcanic caldera of about 55 million years ago. By composition of rock-forming oxides, the tuffs refer to high-potassium calc-alkaline series. In trace elements of most favorite kudurites of the Bolshoy Shanduyskiy kudur, there are significantly increased contents of most of rare earth elements (2-5 times in comparison with surrounding rocks). The results of our analysis of geological and geochemical data on kudurs and kudurites in another part of the Sikhote-Alin, as well as on other regions of the world (particularly, in Africa and Indonesia), taking into account new data on the prevalence of rare earth elements in living matter and their medical and biological properties, enable us to consider the version of causal connection of the geophagy with rare earth elements.

Markets, Climate Change and Food Security in West Africa

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, Molly E.; Hintermann, Beat; Higgins, Nathaniel

2009-01-01

West Africa is one of the most food insecure regions of the world. Sharply increased food and energy prices in 2008 brought the role of markets in food access and availability around the world into the spotlight, particularly in urban areas. The period of high prices had the immediate consequence of sharply increasing the number of hungry people in the region without boosting farmer incomes significantly. In this article, the interaction between markets, food prices, agricultural technology and development is explored in the context of West Africa. To improve food security in West Africa, sustained commitment to investment in the agriculture sector will be needed to provide some protection against global swings in both production and world markets. Climate change mitigation programs are likely to force global energy and commodity price increases in the coming decades, putting pressure on regions like West Africa to produce more food locally to ensure stability in food security for the most vulnerable.

A vectorial capacity product to monitor changing malaria transmission potential in epidemic regions of Africa

USGS Publications Warehouse

Ceccato, Pietro; Vancutsem, Christelle; Klaver, Robert; Rowland, James; Connor, Stephen J.

2012-01-01

Rainfall and temperature are two of the major factors triggering malaria epidemics in warm semi-arid (desert-fringe) and high altitude (highland-fringe) epidemic risk areas. The ability of the mosquitoes to transmit Plasmodium spp. is dependent upon a series of biological features generally referred to as vectorial capacity. In this study, the vectorial capacity model (VCAP) was expanded to include the influence of rainfall and temperature variables on malaria transmission potential. Data from two remote sensing products were used to monitor rainfall and temperature and were integrated into the VCAP model. The expanded model was tested in Eritrea and Madagascar to check the viability of the approach. The analysis of VCAP in relation to rainfall, temperature and malaria incidence data in these regions shows that the expanded VCAP correctly tracks the risk of malaria both in regions where rainfall is the limiting factor and in regions where temperature is the limiting factor. The VCAP maps are currently offered as an experimental resource for testing within Malaria Early Warning applications in epidemic prone regions of sub-Saharan Africa. User feedback is currently being collected in preparation for further evaluation and refinement of the VCAP model.

Organochlorine pesticide levels in Clarias gariepinus from polluted freshwater impoundments in South Africa and associated human health risks.

PubMed

Barnhoorn, I E J; van Dyk, J C; Genthe, B; Harding, W R; Wagenaar, G M; Bornman, M S

2015-02-01

There are increasing concerns regarding the safe human consumption of fish from polluted, freshwater impoundments. The aim of this study was to analyse the muscle tissue of the sharptooth catfish Clarias gariepinus for selected organo-chlorine pesticides (OCPs) and to perform a human health risk assessment using a standard protocol described by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). Fish were collected from the polluted Roodeplaat-(RDPD), Rietvlei-(RVD) and Hartbeespoort (HBPD) Dam impoundments located in the north-eastern regions of South Africa. GC-MS analyses showed levels of various OCPs in fish muscle samples from all three impoundments. For fish collected from the RDPD, p,p'-DDE, endosulfan, lindane and β- and δ-HCH were the most prevalent OCPs detected, while p,p'-DDE and endosulfan were the most predominant in fish from the RVD. Lindane and β- and δ-HCH were the main OCPs detected in fish from the HBPD. Dieldrin was the only OCP detected at concentrations for which a cancer risk and a hazard index above the acceptable risk levels were estimated. This was the case for fish from both the RDPD and RVD impoundments. No toxic risk was estimated should fish from the HBPD be consumed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

H3Africa: current perspectives

PubMed Central

Mulder, Nicola; Abimiku, Alash’le; Adebamowo, Sally N; de Vries, Jantina; Matimba, Alice; Olowoyo, Paul; Ramsay, Michele; Skelton, Michelle; Stein, Dan J

2018-01-01

Precision medicine is being enabled in high-income countries by the growing availability of health data, increasing knowledge of the genetic determinants of disease and variation in response to treatment (pharmacogenomics), and the decreasing costs of data generation, which promote routine application of genomic technologies in the health sector. However, there is uncertainty about the feasibility of applying precision medicine approaches in low- and middle-income countries, due to the lack of population-specific knowledge, skills, and resources. The Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) initiative was established to drive new research into the genetic and environmental basis for human diseases of relevance to Africans as well as to build capacity for genomic research on the continent. Precision medicine requires this capacity, in addition to reference data on local populations, and skills to analyze and interpret genomic data from the bedside. The H3Africa consortium is collectively processing samples and data for over 70,000 participants across the continent, accompanied in most cases by rich clinical information on a variety of non-communicable and infectious diseases. These projects are increasingly providing novel insights into the genetic basis of diseases in indigenous populations, insights that have the potential to drive the development of new diagnostics and treatments. The consortium has also invested significant resources into establishing high-quality biorepositories in Africa, a bioinformatic network, and a strong training program that has developed skills in genomic data analysis and interpretation among bioinformaticians, wet-lab researchers, and health-care professionals. Here, we describe the current perspectives of the H3Africa consortium and how it can contribute to making precision medicine in Africa a reality. PMID:29692621

The financial cost of doctors emigrating from sub-Saharan Africa: human capital analysis.

PubMed

Mills, Edward J; Kanters, Steve; Hagopian, Amy; Bansback, Nick; Nachega, Jean; Alberton, Mark; Au-Yeung, Christopher G; Mtambo, Andy; Bourgeault, Ivy L; Luboga, Samuel; Hogg, Robert S; Ford, Nathan

2011-11-23

To estimate the lost investment of domestically educated doctors migrating from sub-Saharan African countries to Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Human capital cost analysis using publicly accessible data. Sub-Saharan African countries. Nine sub-Saharan African countries with an HIV prevalence of 5% or greater or with more than one million people with HIV/AIDS and with at least one medical school (Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe), and data available on the number of doctors practising in destination countries. The financial cost of educating a doctor (through primary, secondary, and medical school), assuming that migration occurred after graduation, using current country specific interest rates for savings converted to US dollars; cost according to the number of source country doctors currently working in the destination countries; and savings to destination countries of receiving trained doctors. In the nine source countries the estimated government subsidised cost of a doctor's education ranged from $21,000 (£13,000; €15,000) in Uganda to $58,700 in South Africa. The overall estimated loss of returns from investment for all doctors currently working in the destination countries was $2.17bn (95% confidence interval 2.13bn to 2.21bn), with costs for each country ranging from $2.16m (1.55m to 2.78m) for Malawi to $1.41bn (1.38bn to 1.44bn) for South Africa. The ratio of the estimated compounded lost investment over gross domestic product showed that Zimbabwe and South Africa had the largest losses. The benefit to destination countries of recruiting trained doctors was largest for the United Kingdom ($2.7bn) and United States ($846m). Among sub-Saharan African countries most affected by HIV/AIDS, lost investment from the emigration of doctors is considerable. Destination countries should consider investing in measurable training for source countries and strengthening of their

The financial cost of doctors emigrating from sub-Saharan Africa: human capital analysis

PubMed Central

Kanters, Steve; Hagopian, Amy; Bansback, Nick; Nachega, Jean; Alberton, Mark; Au-Yeung, Christopher G; Mtambo, Andy; Bourgeault, Ivy L; Luboga, Samuel; Hogg, Robert S; Ford, Nathan

2011-01-01

Objective To estimate the lost investment of domestically educated doctors migrating from sub-Saharan African countries to Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Design Human capital cost analysis using publicly accessible data. Settings Sub-Saharan African countries. Participants Nine sub-Saharan African countries with an HIV prevalence of 5% or greater or with more than one million people with HIV/AIDS and with at least one medical school (Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe), and data available on the number of doctors practising in destination countries. Main outcome measures The financial cost of educating a doctor (through primary, secondary, and medical school), assuming that migration occurred after graduation, using current country specific interest rates for savings converted to US dollars; cost according to the number of source country doctors currently working in the destination countries; and savings to destination countries of receiving trained doctors. Results In the nine source countries the estimated government subsidised cost of a doctor’s education ranged from $21 000 (£13 000; €15 000) in Uganda to $58 700 in South Africa. The overall estimated loss of returns from investment for all doctors currently working in the destination countries was $2.17bn (95% confidence interval 2.13bn to 2.21bn), with costs for each country ranging from $2.16m (1.55m to 2.78m) for Malawi to $1.41bn (1.38bn to 1.44bn) for South Africa. The ratio of the estimated compounded lost investment over gross domestic product showed that Zimbabwe and South Africa had the largest losses. The benefit to destination countries of recruiting trained doctors was largest for the United Kingdom ($2.7bn) and United States ($846m). Conclusions Among sub-Saharan African countries most affected by HIV/AIDS, lost investment from the emigration of doctors is considerable. Destination countries should

The Impact of Adult Mortality on Primary School Enrollment in Northwestern Tanzania. Africa Region Human Development Working Paper Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ainsworth, Martha; Beegle, Kathleen; Koda, Godlike

The AIDS epidemic is making orphans out of many African children and threatens to reverse hard-won gains in raising school enrollments. The average gross primary enrollment ration (GPER) the number of children enrolled as a percent of the total number of children of school age was only 77% for Sub-Saharan Africa in 1996. The countries are hard-hit…

Regional Climate Response to Volcanic Radiative Forcing in Middle East and North Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stenchikov, G.; Dogar, M.

2012-04-01

We have tested the regional climate sensitivity in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) to radiation perturbations caused by the large explosive equatorial volcanic eruptions of the second part of 20th century, El Chichon and Pinatubo occurred, respectively, in 1982 and 1991. The observations and reanalysis data show that the surface volcanic cooling in the MENA region is two-three times larger than the global mean response to volcanic forcing. The Red Sea surface temperature appears to be also very sensitive to the external radiative impact. E.g., the sea surface cooling, associated with the 1991 Pinatubo eruption, caused deep water mixing and coral bleaching for a few years. To better quantify these effects we use the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory global High Resolution Atmospheric Model (HIRAM) to conduct simulations of both the El Chichon and Pinatubo impacts with the effectively 25-km grid spacing. We find that the circulation changes associated with the positive phase of the arctic oscillation amplified the winter temperature anomalies in 1982-1984 and 1991-1993. The dynamic response to volcanic cooling also is characterized by the southward shift of the inter-tropical convergence zone in summer and associated impact on the precipitation patterns. Thus, these results suggest that the climate regime in the MENA region is highly sensitive to external forcing. This is important for better understanding of the climate variability and change in this region.

Variability of the recent climate of eastern Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schreck, Carl J., III; Semazzi, Fredrick H. M.

2004-05-01

The primary objective of this study is to investigate the recent variability of the eastern African climate. The region of interest is also known as the Greater Horn of Africa (GHA), and comprises the countries of Burundi, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania.The analysis was based primarily on the construction of empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) of gauge rainfall data and on CPC Merged Analysis of Precipitation (CMAP) data, derived from a combination of rain-gauge observations and satellite estimates. The investigation is based on the period 1961-2001 for the short rains season of eastern Africa of October through to December. The EOF analysis was supplemented by projection of National Centers for Environmental Prediction wind data onto the rainfall eigenmodes to understand the rainfall-circulation relationships. Furthermore, correlation and composite analyses have been performed with the Climatic Research Unit globally averaged surface-temperature time series to explore the potential relationship between the climate of eastern Africa and global warming.The most dominant mode of variability (EOF1) based on CMAP data over eastern Africa corresponds to El Niño-southern oscillation (ENSO) climate variability. It is associated with above-normal rainfall amounts during the short rains throughout the entire region, except for Sudan. The corresponding anomalous low-level circulation is dominated by easterly inflow from the Indian Ocean, and to a lesser extent the Congo tropical rain forest, into the positive rainfall anomaly region that extends across most of eastern Africa. The easterly inflow into eastern Africa is part of diffluent outflow from the maritime continent during the warm ENSO events. The second eastern African EOF (trend mode) is associated with decadal variability. In distinct contrast from the ENSO mode pattern, the trend mode is characterized by positive rainfall anomalies over the northern sector of

Emigration dynamics in Sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Adepoju, A

1995-01-01

The introduction to this description of emigration dynamics in sub-Saharan Africa notes that the region is characterized by intensive migration caused by such factors as population growth, negative economic growth, ethnic conflict, and human rights abuses. The second section of the report discusses the fragmentary and incomplete nature of data on international migration in the region, especially data on conventional migration. Section 3 looks at demographic factors such as high population growth, illiteracy levels, HIV seroprevalence, and urbanization which lead to high unemployment and emigration. The fourth section considers the effects of the rapid expansion of education which is outstripping the absorptive capacity of the economies of many countries. Unemployment is a serious problem which is projected to become worse as increases in employment opportunities continue to lag behind increases in output. Sections five, six, and seven of the report describe relevant economic factors such as per capita income, income distribution, the economic resource base, and economic development; poverty; and the effects of economic adjustment programs, especially on employment opportunities and wages in the public and private sectors. The next section is devoted to sociocultural factors influencing migration both on the micro- and the macro-levels, including the influence of ethnicity and ethnic conflicts as well as the domination of leadership positions by members of minority groups. The political factors discussed in section 9 include women's status, repressive regimes, political instability which leads to underdevelopment, and the policies of the Organization of African Unity which broadened the definition of refugees and set inviolable borders of member states identical to those inherited upon independence. Section 10 outlines ecological factors contributing to migration, including the decline in acreage of arable land, soil deterioration, poor land management, and the

Comparative SWOT analysis of strategic environmental assessment systems in the Middle East and North Africa region.

PubMed

Rachid, G; El Fadel, M

2013-08-15

This paper presents a SWOT analysis of SEA systems in the Middle East North Africa region through a comparative examination of the status, application and structure of existing systems based on country-specific legal, institutional and procedural frameworks. The analysis is coupled with the multi-attribute decision making method (MADM) within an analytical framework that involves both performance analysis based on predefined evaluation criteria and countries' self-assessment of their SEA system through open-ended surveys. The results show heterogenous status with a general delayed progress characterized by varied levels of weaknesses embedded in the legal and administrative frameworks and poor integration with the decision making process. Capitalizing on available opportunities, the paper highlights measures to enhance the development and enactment of SEA in the region. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Implementation of Information Communication Technology in the Teaching/Learning Process for Sustainable Development of Adults in West Africa Sub Sahara Region

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nwobi, Anthonia; Ngozi, Ugwuoke; Rufina, Nwachukwu; Ogbonnaya, Kingsley A.

2016-01-01

This study examines the implementation of information technology in the teaching/learning process for sustainable development of adults in West Africa Sub Sahara Region (WASSR). Three research questions and two hypotheses guided the study. The population for the study was 3071 participants and instructors drawn from 10 education centres that were…

The Importance of Regional Economic Communities and Anchor States for Determining AFRICOM’s Receptivity in Sub Saharan Africa

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-02-13

international trade and investment. From 2001 through 2011, Sub-Saharan Africa possessed four out of the world’s ten quickest growing economies . By 2007...together to largely encompass the geography of the future East African Community ( EAC ) REC. While colonial administrators leveraged regionalism to ease...emerging African nations had a “sparse population, small internal market, limited infrastructure, new and fragile borders, economies vulnerable to

Sensitivity of Boreal-Summer Circulation and Precipitation to Atmospheric Aerosols in Selected Regions: Part I Africa and India

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sud, Yogesh C.; Wilcox, Eric; Lau, William K.

2009-10-23

Version-4 of the Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS-4) General Circulation Model (GCM) was employed to assess the influence of potential changes in aerosols on the regional circulation, ambient temperatures, and precipitation in four selected regions: India and Africa (current paper), as well as North and South America (companion paper). Ensemble-simulations were carried out with the GCM to assess the aerosol direct and indirect effects, hereafter ADE and AIE. Each simulation was started from the NCEP-analyzed initial conditions for May 1 and was integrated through May-June-July-August of each year: 1982-1987 to provide an ensemble set of six simulations. In the firstmore » set, called the baseline experiment (#1), climatological aerosols were prescribed. The next two experiments (#2 and #3) had two sets of simulations each: one with 2X and another with 1/2X the climatological aerosols over each of the four selected regions. In experiment#2, the anomaly regions were advectively restricted (AR), i.e., the large-scale prognostic fields outside the aerosol anomaly regions were prescribed while in experiment#3, the anomaly regions were advectively Interactive (AI) as is the case in a normal GCM integrations, but with the same aerosols anomalies as in experiment #2. Intercomparisons of circulation, diabatic heating, and precipitation difference fields showed large disparities among the AR and AI simulations, which raised serious questions about the AR assumption, commonly invoked in regional climate simulation studies. Consequently AI simulation mode was chosen for the subsequent studies. Two more experiments (#4 and #5) were performed in the AI mode in which ADE and AIE were activated one at a time. The results showed that ADE and AIE work in concert to make the joint influences larger than sum of each acting alone. Moreover, the ADE and AIE influences were vastly different for the Indian and Africa regions, which suggest an imperative need to include them

Determinants of antiretroviral therapy coverage in Sub-Saharan Africa

PubMed Central

Hoque, Mohammad Zahirul

2015-01-01

Among 35 million people living with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in 2013, only 37% had access to antiretroviral therapy (ART). Despite global concerted efforts to provide the universal access to the ART treatment, the ART coverage varies among countries and regions. At present, there is a lack of systematic empirical analyses on factors that determine the ART coverage. Therefore, the current study aimed to identify the determinants of the ART coverage in 41 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. It employed statistical analyses for this purpose. Four elements, namely, the HIV prevalence, the level of national income, the level of medical expenditure and the number of nurses, were hypothesised to determine the ART coverage. The findings revealed that among the four proposed determinants only the HIV prevalence had a statistically significant impact on the ART coverage. In other words, the HIV prevalence was the sole determinant of the ART coverage in Sub-Saharan Africa. PMID:26664812

First highlights of the Dynamics-Aerosol-Chemistry-Cloud Interactions in West Africa (DACCIWA) field campaigns

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liousse, C.; Knippertz, P.; Flamant, C.; Adon, J.; Akpo, A.; Annesi-Maesano, I.; Assamoi, E.; Baeza, A.; Julien, B.; Bedou, M.; Brooks, B. J.; Chiu, J. Y. C.; Chiron, C.; Coe, H.; Danuor, S.; Djossou, J.; Evans, M. J.; Fayomi, B.; Fink, A. H.; Galy-Lacaux, C.; Gardrat, E.; Jegede, O.; Kalthoff, N.; Kedote, M.; Keita, S.; Kouame, K.; Konare, A.; Leon, J. F.; Mari, C. H.; Lohou, F.; Roblou, L.; Schlager, H.; Schwarzenboeck, A.; Toure, E. N.; Veronique, Y.

2016-12-01

The EU-funded project DACCIWA (Dynamics-Aerosol-Chemistry-Cloud Interactions in West Africa) is investigating the relationship between weather, climate, air pollution and health in southern West Africa. The air over the coastal region of West Africa is a unique mixture of natural and anthropogenic gases, liquids and particles, emitted in an environment, in which multi-layer cloud decks frequently form. These exert a large influence on the local weather and climate, which has never been studied in detail over West Africa: this information is currently not included in the majority of weather and climate models. For the first time, the entire chain of impacts of natural and manmade emissions on the West African atmosphere was investigated in a coordinated field campaign. As part of this campaign, three research aircraft (Falcon 20, Twin Otter and ATR) based in Lomé (Togo) flew targeted 50 missions over West Africa from 27 June to 16 July 2016. In that campaign also, three highly instrumented measuring sites inland were set up with weather balloons launched several times a day across the region. The main objective was to build robust statistics of cloud properties in southern West Africa in different chemical landscapes (background state, ship/flaring emissions, polluted megacities, agricultural and forest areas, dust from the Sahel/Sahara). In addition, DACCIWA scientists working on measurements of urban emissions, air pollution, and health have set up four urban sites in Abidjan (Cote d'Ivoire) and Cotonou (Benin) focusing on main specific regional combustion sources (domestic fires, traffic and waste burning). Long-term measurements of gases and particles and census of hospital admissions for respiratory diseases were started in January 2015 and will continue until March 2017 to determine the links between human health and air pollution. Intensive measurement periods took place in July 2015, January 2016, and July 2016 (a final one is planned for January 2017) in

South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

Pale green vegetation and red-brown deserts dominate this MODIS image of Namibia (left), Botswana (upper right), and the Republic of South Africa (bottom) acquired on June3, 2002. In central Namibia the mountainous terrain of Namaqualand is sandwiched between the Namib Desert on the Atlantic Coast and the Kalahari Desert to the interior, where white dots mark the location of small, impermanent lakes and ponds. Namaqualand is home to numerous rare succulent plants that can survive on the region.s scant rainfall as well as fog that blows in off the ocean. Namaqualand extends south of the Orange River, which runs along the border of Namibia and South Africa and into that country.s Northern Cape region. The Orange River extends almost all the way back through the country, and where it makes a sharp southward dip in this image (at lower right), it runs through the Asbestos Mountains, names for the naturally-occurring asbestos they contain. In southwestern South Africa, high plateaus, such as the Great Karoo become mountain ridges near the coast, and the city of Cape Town is visible as a grayish area of pixels on the north shores of the horseshoe-shaped False Bay at the Cape of Good Hope. Credit: Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

International Spread of MDR TB from Tugela Ferry, South Africa

PubMed Central

Beaton, R. Kate; Lessells, Richard J.; John, Laurence; Ashworth, Simon; Kon, Onn Min; Williams, O. Martin; Supply, P.; Moodley, P.; Pym, Alexander S.

2011-01-01

We describe a death associated with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and HIV infection outside Africa that can be linked to Tugela Ferry (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa), the town most closely associated with the regional epidemic of drug-resistant tuberculosis. This case underscores the international relevance of this regional epidemic, particularly among health care workers. PMID:22099091

Legal rights, human rights and AIDS: the first decade. Report from South Africa 2.

PubMed

Cameron, E

1993-01-01

A broad range of coercive measures has been considered internationally and applied in some countries in the interest of controlling the spread of HIV. Although a couple such measures are on the books in South Africa, they have never been invoked and will soon be officially repealed. There is, however, a problem in South Africa with the violation by health care workers, employers, and others of individuals' rights to dignity, privacy, and autonomy. The exaggerated and undue fear that doctors and other health workers have of being infected by patients with HIV has led to widespread and gross human rights abuses in clinical management and treatment. Abuses include the refusal of treatment, testing patients for HIV without their informed or any consent, insisting upon HIV testing devoid of diagnostic or therapeutic justification, and widespread breaches of confidentiality. Persons with AIDS and HIV are also denied access to their fair share of national resources. This latter phenomenon is likely to become the principal form of human rights abuse, with racism and class differences exacerbating the problem. The practice is proliferating and takes many forms including pre-employment HIV testing; exclusionary discrimination in insurance; discrimination between HIV and other life-threatening conditions in corporate medical, pension, and provident funds; and the discriminatory denial of fair and adequate health care to people with HIV or AIDS. Discrimination of all kinds, however, retards preventive efforts. Public health therefore demands the recognition and enforcement of individual human rights and that structures of discrimination be eliminated. Human rights protection may, by limiting the effect of discrimination, play a significant part in fighting the epidemic. Protective measures could include enacting legislation to prohibit pre-employment testing, legislation to regulate the provision of insurance and to prohibit or regulate pre-insurance HIV testing and the

Energy consumption habits and human health nexus in Sub-Saharan Africa.

PubMed

Hanif, Imran

2018-05-22

This study explores the impact of fossil fuels consumption, solid fuels consumption for cooking purposes, economic growth, and carbon emissions on human health, with a key emphasis on the occurrence of tuberculosis and the high mortality rate in Sub-Saharan Africa. For its practical insights, the study develops a system Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) for a panel of 34 middle- and lower-middle-income countries from 1995 to 2015. The study adopts a flexible methodology to tackle endogeneity in the variables. The robust results report that the use of solid fuels (charcoal, peat, wood, wood pellets, crop residues) for cooking purposes and the consumption of fossil fuels (oil, coal, gas) are significantly increasing the occurrence of tuberculosis. In addition, the results highlight that the consumption of both solid fuels and fossil fuels has adverse affects on life expectancy by increasing the mortality rate in Sub-Saharan African countries. Results report that renewable energy sources like sun, wind, and water (all with potential to prevent households from direct exposure to particulate matters and harmful gases) as well as a rise in economic growth serve as helping factors to control the occurrence of tuberculosis and to decrease the mortality rate. Moreover, the use of renewable energy sources is serving to lessen emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxides, and particulate matters, which can ultimately decrease the mortality rate and extend the life expectancy in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Assessing existing drought monitoring and forecasting capacities, mitigation and adaptation practices in Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nyabeze, W. R.; Dlamini, L.; Lahlou, O.; Imani, Y.; Alaoui, S. B.; Vermooten, J. S. A.

2012-04-01

Drought is one of the major natural hazards in many parts of the world, including Africa and some regions in Europe. Drought events have resulted in extensive damages to livelihoods, environment and economy. In 2011, a consortium consisting of 19 organisations from both Africa and Europe started a project (DEWFORA) aimed at developing a framework for the provision of early warning and response through drought impact mitigation for Africa. This framework covers the whole chain from monitoring and vulnerability assessment to forecasting, warning, response and knowledge dissemination. This paper presents the first results of the capacity assessment of drought monitoring and forecasting systems in Africa, the existing institutional frameworks and drought mitigation and adaptation practices. Its focus is particularly on the historical drought mitigation and adaptation actions identified in the North Africa - Maghreb Region (Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia) and in the Southern Africa - Limpopo Basin. This is based on an extensive review of historical drought experiences. From the 1920's to 2009, the study identified 37 drought seasons in the North African - Maghreb Region and 33 drought seasons in the Southern Africa - Limpopo Basin. Existing literature tends to capture the spatial extent of drought at national and administrative scale in great detail. This is driven by the need to map drought impacts (food shortage, communities affected) in order to inform drought relief efforts (short-term drought mitigation measures). However, the mapping of drought at catchment scale (hydrological unit), required for longer-term measures, is not well documented. At regional level, both in North Africa and Southern Africa, two organisations are involved in drought monitoring and forecasting, while at national level 22 organisations are involved in North Africa and 37 in Southern Africa. Regarding drought related mitigation actions, the inventory shows that the most common actions

Human rabies deaths in Africa: breaking the cycle of indifference.

PubMed

Dodet, Betty; Tejiokem, Mathurin C; Aguemon, Abdou-Rahman; Bourhy, Hervé

2015-01-01

The current outbreak of Ebola virus disease has mobilized the international community against this deadly disease. However, rabies, another deadly disease, is greatly affecting the African continent, with an estimated 25 000 deaths every year. And yet, the disease can be prevented by a vaccine, if necessary with immunoglobulin, even when administered after exposure to the rabies virus. Rabies victims die because of neglect and ignorance, because they are not aware of these life-saving biologicals, or because they cannot access them or do not have the money to pay for them. Breaking the cycle of indifference of rabies deaths in humans in Africa should be a priority of governments, international organizations and all stakeholders involved. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Science and ethics of human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome controversies in Africa.

PubMed

Brewster, David

2011-09-01

The human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) epidemic in Africa has raised important ethical issues for both researchers and clinicians. The most notorious controversy has been related to the zidovudine (AZT) trials in Africa in the late 1990s, in which the control groups were given a placebo rather than an effective drug to prevent vertical transmission. This raised concerns in the sponsoring country about exploitation of subjects, injustice and an ethical double standard between donor countries and resource-poor settings. However, the real double standard is between clinical practice standards in Western versus African countries, which must be addressed as part of the increasing global inequity of wealth both between countries and also within countries. There are important limitations to ethical declarations, principles and guidelines on their own without contextual ethical reasoning. The focus on research ethics with the HIV epidemic has led to a relative neglect of ethical issues in clinical practice. Although the scientific advances in HIV/AIDS have changed the ethical issues since the 1990s, there has also been progress in the bioethics of HIV/AIDS in terms of ethical review capability by local committees as well as in exposure to ethical issues by clinicians and researchers in Africa. However, serious concerns remain about the overregulation of research by bureaucratic agencies which could discourage African research on specifically African health issues. There is also a need for African academic institutions and researchers to progressively improve their research capacity with the assistance of research funders and donor agencies. © 2011 The Author. Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health © 2011 Paediatrics and Child Health Division (Royal Australasian College of Physicians).

Child mortality and poverty in three world regions (the West, Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa) 1988-2010: Evidence of relative intra-regional neglect?

PubMed

Pritchard, Colin; Keen, Steven

2016-12-01

Poverty kills children. This study assesses the relationship between poverty and child mortality rates (CMRs) in 71 societies from three world regions to determine whether some countries, relative to their region, neglect their children. Spearman rank order correlations were calculated to determine any association between the CMR and poverty data, including income inequality and gross national income. A current CMR one standard deviation (SD) above or below the regional average and a percentage change between 1988 and 2010 were used as the measures to assess the progress of nations. There were positive significant correlations between higher CMRs and relative poverty measures in all three regions. In Western countries, the current CMRs in the USA, New Zealand and Canada were 1 SD below the Western mean. The narrowest income inequalities, apart from Japan, were seen in the Scandinavian nations alongside low CMRs. In Asia, the current CMRs in Pakistan, Myanmar and India were the highest in their region and were 1 SD below the regional mean. Alongside South Korea, these nations had the lowest percentage reductions in CMRs. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the current CMRs in Somalia, Burkina Faso, Sierra Leone, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola were the highest in their region and were 1 SD below the regional mean. Those concerned with the pursuit of social justice need to alert their societies to the corrosive impact of poverty on child mortality. Progress in reducing CMRs provides an indication of how well nations are meeting the needs of their children. Further country-specific research is required to explain regional differences.

Prediction, Assessment of the Rift Valley Fever Activity in East and Southern Africa 2006–2008 and Possible Vector Control Strategies

PubMed Central

Anyamba, Assaf; Linthicum, Kenneth J.; Small, Jennifer; Britch, Seth C.; Pak, Edwin; de La Rocque, Stephane; Formenty, Pierre; Hightower, Allen W.; Breiman, Robert F.; Chretien, Jean-Paul; Tucker, Compton J.; Schnabel, David; Sang, Rosemary; Haagsma, Karl; Latham, Mark; Lewandowski, Henry B.; Magdi, Salih Osman; Mohamed, Mohamed Ally; Nguku, Patrick M.; Reynes, Jean-Marc; Swanepoel, Robert

2010-01-01

Historical outbreaks of Rift Valley fever (RVF) since the early 1950s have been associated with cyclical patterns of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon, which results in elevated and widespread rainfall over the RVF endemic areas of Africa. Using satellite measurements of global and regional elevated sea surface temperatures, elevated rainfall, and satellite derived-normalized difference vegetation index data, we predicted with lead times of 2–4 months areas where outbreaks of RVF in humans and animals were expected and occurred in the Horn of Africa, Sudan, and Southern Africa at different time periods from September 2006 to March 2008. Predictions were confirmed by entomological field investigations of virus activity and by reported cases of RVF in human and livestock populations. This represents the first series of prospective predictions of RVF outbreaks and provides a baseline for improved early warning, control, response planning, and mitigation into the future. PMID:20682905

Resource-Sharing and Self-Reliance in Southern Africa.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lungu, Charles B. M.

1987-01-01

Discusses the need for a regional information network in southern Africa to provide policy makers with access to needed information and reduce dependence on foreign advisers. The progress of the Southern Africa Documentation and Information System is described, and future trends and possible difficulties are identified. (CLB)

Tracing the route of modern humans out of Africa by using 225 human genome sequences from Ethiopians and Egyptians.

PubMed

Pagani, Luca; Schiffels, Stephan; Gurdasani, Deepti; Danecek, Petr; Scally, Aylwyn; Chen, Yuan; Xue, Yali; Haber, Marc; Ekong, Rosemary; Oljira, Tamiru; Mekonnen, Ephrem; Luiselli, Donata; Bradman, Neil; Bekele, Endashaw; Zalloua, Pierre; Durbin, Richard; Kivisild, Toomas; Tyler-Smith, Chris

2015-06-04

The predominantly African origin of all modern human populations is well established, but the route taken out of Africa is still unclear. Two alternative routes, via Egypt and Sinai or across the Bab el Mandeb strait into Arabia, have traditionally been proposed as feasible gateways in light of geographic, paleoclimatic, archaeological, and genetic evidence. Distinguishing among these alternatives has been difficult. We generated 225 whole-genome sequences (225 at 8× depth, of which 8 were increased to 30×; Illumina HiSeq 2000) from six modern Northeast African populations (100 Egyptians and five Ethiopian populations each represented by 25 individuals). West Eurasian components were masked out, and the remaining African haplotypes were compared with a panel of sub-Saharan African and non-African genomes. We showed that masked Northeast African haplotypes overall were more similar to non-African haplotypes and more frequently present outside Africa than were any sets of haplotypes derived from a West African population. Furthermore, the masked Egyptian haplotypes showed these properties more markedly than the masked Ethiopian haplotypes, pointing to Egypt as the more likely gateway in the exodus to the rest of the world. Using five Ethiopian and three Egyptian high-coverage masked genomes and the multiple sequentially Markovian coalescent (MSMC) approach, we estimated the genetic split times of Egyptians and Ethiopians from non-African populations at 55,000 and 65,000 years ago, respectively, whereas that of West Africans was estimated to be 75,000 years ago. Both the haplotype and MSMC analyses thus suggest a predominant northern route out of Africa via Egypt. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

West Africa

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

With its vast expanses of sand, framed by mountain ranges and exposed rock, northwestern Africa makes a pretty picture when viewed from above. This image was acquired by the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), flying aboard NASA's Terra spacecraft. The Canary Islands can be seen on the left side of the image just off Africa's Atlantic shore. The light brown expanse running through the northern two thirds of the image is the Sahara Desert. The desert runs up against the dark brown Haut Atlas mountain range of Morocco in the northwest, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the semi-arid (light brown pixels) Sahelian region in the South. The Sahara, however, isn't staying put. Since the 1960s, the desert has been expanding into the Sahelian region at a rate of up to 6 kilometers per year. In the 1980s this desert expansion, combined with over cultivation of the Sahel, caused a major famine across west Africa. Over the summer months, strong winds pick up sands from the Sahara and blow them across the Atlantic as far west as North America, causing air pollution in Miami and damaging coral reefs in the Bahamas and the Florida Keys. The white outlines on the map represent country borders. Starting at the top-most portion of the map and working clockwise, the countries shown are Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Fasso, Nigeria, Mali (again), and Algeria. Image by Reto Stockli, Robert Simmon, and Brian Montgomery, NASA Earth Observatory, based on data from MODIS

The reach of human health risks associated with metals/metalloids in water and vegetables along a contaminated river catchment: South Africa and Mozambique.

PubMed

Genthe, Bettina; Kapwata, Thandi; Le Roux, Wouter; Chamier, Jessica; Wright, Caradee Y

2018-05-01

Anthropogenic pollution was identified as an environmental problem of concern when, in 2008, dozens of crocodiles died in the Olifants River catchment near the border of South Africa and Mozambique. Given the close proximity of households to the river and their making use of river water, we aimed to determine to what extent water pollution has an impact on health of indigent communities in South Africa and Mozambique in the catchment area. Water and vegetable samples were collected from the study areas. Biota samples were washed with double de-ionized Milli-Q water and freeze-dried. Heavy metal analyses in water and vegetables were done by means of Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy. Metal concentrations were applied in a human health risk assessment to estimate health risks. Mean concentrations of antimony, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, mercury, molybdenum, nickel and selenium in water samples from South Africa exceeded the World Health Organization guidelines for safe levels of intake. Only iron exceeded the recommended guidelines in water samples from Mozambique. Metals/metalloids were found in lower concentrations at Mozambique sites downstream of South African sites. In vegetables, uranium was between 10 and 20 times above safe guidelines in South Africa and between 3 and 6 times in Mozambique. Arsenic in water samples posed the highest cancer risk. Even with a reduction in the metal concentrations in river water from South Africa to Mozambique, the potential to cause adverse human health impacts from direct use of polluted river water is evident in both countries. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Early diagnosis and treatment of ankylosing spondylitis in Africa and the Middle East.

PubMed

Rachid, Bahiri; El Zorkany, Bassel; Youseif, Ehab; Tikly, Mohammed

2012-11-01

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is the prototype for spondyloarthritis primarily affecting young men. Geographic and ethnic variations exist in the prevalence and severity of AS and relate to the wide disparity in the frequency of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B27, a major genetic risk factor. The strength of the disease association with HLA-B27 is lower in most Arab populations (25-75 %) than in Western European populations (>90 %), and there is no association in sub-Saharan Africa, where the prevalence of HLA-B27 is <1 %. Other epidemiologic differences between European and African populations are the apparent later age at presentation in sub-Saharan Africa, and the high rate of spondyloarthropathies associated with human immunodeficiency virus infection. Diagnosis of AS is often delayed 8-10 years; potential reasons for the delay in Africa and the Middle East include low awareness among physicians and patients, the requirement for radiographic evidence of sacroiliitis for diagnosis, and limited access to magnetic resonance imaging in some countries. Treatment should be initiated early to prevent or reduce skeletal deformity and physical disability. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are effective first-line treatment and anti-tumor necrosis factor-α drugs are indicated for patients who have an inadequate response to first-line therapy. In Africa and the Middle East, such treatments may be precluded either by cost or contraindicated because of the high prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection. Research is sorely needed to develop cost-effective tools to diagnose AS early as well as effective, inexpensive, and safe treatments for these developing regions.

Regional Meeting of Experts on Environmental Education in Africa, Brazzaville, People's Republic of the Congo, 11-16 September 1976. Final Report.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, Paris (France). Environmental Education Section.

This is the final report on the background and proceedings of the Regional Meeting of Experts on Environmental Education in Africa, convened by UNESCO with the collaboration of the University of Brazzaville. This meeting was one of five similar ones held throughout the world as a follow-up to the UNESCO Conference held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.…

Genetic Heterogeneity in Algerian Human Populations

PubMed Central

Deba, Tahria; Calafell, Francesc; Benhamamouch, Soraya; Comas, David

2015-01-01

The demographic history of human populations in North Africa has been characterized by complex processes of admixture and isolation that have modeled its current gene pool. Diverse genetic ancestral components with different origins (autochthonous, European, Middle Eastern, and sub-Saharan) and genetic heterogeneity in the region have been described. In this complex genetic landscape, Algeria, the largest country in Africa, has been poorly covered, with most of the studies using a single Algerian sample. In order to evaluate the genetic heterogeneity of Algeria, Y-chromosome, mtDNA and autosomal genome-wide makers have been analyzed in several Berber- and Arab-speaking groups. Our results show that the genetic heterogeneity found in Algeria is not correlated with geography or linguistics, challenging the idea of Berber groups being genetically isolated and Arab groups open to gene flow. In addition, we have found that external sources of gene flow into North Africa have been carried more often by females than males, while the North African autochthonous component is more frequent in paternally transmitted genome regions. Our results highlight the different demographic history revealed by different markers and urge to be cautious when deriving general conclusions from partial genomic information or from single samples as representatives of the total population of a region. PMID:26402429

The H3Africa policy framework: negotiating fairness in genomics

PubMed Central

de Vries, Jantina; Tindana, Paulina; Littler, Katherine; Ramsay, Michèle; Rotimi, Charles; Abayomi, Akin; Mulder, Nicola; Mayosi, Bongani M.

2015-01-01

Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) research seeks to promote fair collaboration between scientists in Africa and those from elsewhere. Here, we outline how concerns over inequality and exploitation led to a policy framework that places a firm focus on African leadership and capacity building as guiding principles for African genomics research. PMID:25601285

Human health improvement in Sub-Saharan Africa through integrated management of arthropod transmitted diseases and natural resources.

PubMed

Baumgärtner, J; Bieri, M; Buffoni, G; Gilioli, G; Gopalan, H; Greiling, J; Tikubet, G; Van Schayk, I

2001-01-01

A concept of an ecosystem approach to human health improvement in Sub-Saharan Africa is presented here. Three factors mainly affect the physical condition of the human body: the abiotic environment, vector-transmitted diseases, and natural resources. Our concept relies on ecological principles embedded in a social context and identifies three sets of subsystems for study and management: human disease subsystems, natural resource subsystems, and decision-support subsystems. To control human diseases and to secure food from resource subsystems including livestock or crops, integrated preventive approaches are preferred over exclusively curative and sectorial approaches. Environmental sustainability - the basis for managing matter and water flows - contributes to a healthy human environment and constitutes the basis for social sustainability. For planning and implementation of the human health improvement scheme, participatory decision-support subsystems adapted to the local conditions need to be designed through institutional arrangements. The applicability of this scheme is demonstrated in urban and rural Ethiopia.

The Challenges and Relevance of Exploring the Genetics of North Africa's “Barbary Lion” and the Conservation of Putative Descendants in Captivity

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

The lions of North Africa were unique in ecological terms as well as from a human cultural perspective and were the definitive lions of Roman and Medieval Europe. Labelled “Barbary” lions, they were once numerous in North Africa but were exterminated by the mid-20th century. Despite subsequent degeneration of the Atlas Mountain ecosystem through human pressures, the feasibility of lion reintroduction has been debated since the 1970s. Research on the long-established captive lion collection traditionally kept by the sultans and kings of Morocco has enabled selective breeding coordinated across Moroccan and European zoos involving a significant number of animals. Molecular genetic research has recently provided insights into lion phylogeny which, despite previous suggestions that all lions share recent common ancestry, now indicates clear distinctions between lions in North, West, and Central Africa, the Middle East, and India versus those in Southern and Eastern Africa. A review of the evolutionary relevance of North African lions highlights the important challenges and opportunities in understanding relationships between Moroccan lions, extinct North African lions, and extant lion populations in India and West and Central Africa and the potential role for lions in ecosystem recovery in those regions. PMID:27656310

Review of Remote Sensing Needs and Applications in Africa

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brown, Molly E.

2007-01-01

Remote sensing data has had an important role in identifying and responding to inter-annual variations in the African environment during the past three decades. As a largely agricultural region with diverse but generally limited government capacity to acquire and distribute ground observations of rainfall, temperature and other parameters, remote sensing is sometimes the only reliable measure of crop growing conditions in Africa. Thus, developing and maintaining the technical and scientific capacity to analyze and utilize satellite remote sensing data in Africa is critical to augmenting the continent's local weather/climate observation networks as well as its agricultural and natural resource development and management. The report Review of Remote Sensing Needs and Applications in Africa' has as its central goal to recommend to the US Agency for International Development an appropriate approach to support sustainable remote sensing applications at African regional remote sensing centers. The report focuses on "RS applications" to refer to the acquisition, maintenance and archiving, dissemination, distribution, analysis, and interpretation of remote sensing data, as well as the integration of interpreted data with other spatial data products. The report focuses on three primary remote sensing centers: (1) The AGRHYMET Regional Center in Niamey, Niger, created in 1974, is a specialized institute of the Permanent Interstate Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel (CILSS), with particular specialization in science and techniques applied to agricultural development, rural development, and natural resource management. (2) The Regional Centre for Maiming of Resources for Development (RCMRD) in Nairobi, Kenya, established in 1975 under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the Organization of African Unity (now the African Union), is an intergovernmental organization, with 15 member states from eastern and southern Africa. (3) The

Inner Core Tomography Under Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Irving, J. C. E.

2014-12-01

Hemispherical structure in the inner core has been observed using both normal mode and body wave data, but the more regional scale properties of the inner core are still the subject of ongoing debate. The nature of the vertical boundary regions between the eastern and western hemispheres will be an important constraint on dynamical processes at work in the inner core. With limited data available, earlier inner core studies defined each boundary using one line of longitude, but this may not be a sufficient description for what could be one of the inner core's most heterogeneous regions. Here, I present a large, hand-picked dataset of PKPbc-PKPdf differential travel times which sample the inner core under Africa, where the proposed position of one hemisphere boundary is located. The dataset contains polar, intermediate and equatorial rays through the inner core, and the presence of crossing raypaths makes regional-scale tomography of the inner core feasible. I invert the data to find regional variations in inner core anisotropy under different parts of Africa, and present both anisotropy and voigt isotropic velocity variations of this important portion of the inner core.

High Prevalence of Rickettsia africae Variants in Amblyomma variegatum Ticks from Domestic Mammals in Rural Western Kenya: Implications for Human Health

PubMed Central

Maina, Alice N.; Jiang, Ju; Omulo, Sylvia A.; Cutler, Sally J.; Ade, Fredrick; Ogola, Eric; Feikin, Daniel R.; Njenga, M. Kariuki; Cleaveland, Sarah; Mpoke, Solomon; Ng'ang'a, Zipporah; Breiman, Robert F.; Knobel, Darryn L.

2014-01-01

Abstract Tick-borne spotted fever group (SFG) rickettsioses are emerging human diseases caused by obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacteria of the genus Rickettsia. Despite being important causes of systemic febrile illnesses in travelers returning from sub-Saharan Africa, little is known about the reservoir hosts of these pathogens. We conducted surveys for rickettsiae in domestic animals and ticks in a rural setting in western Kenya. Of the 100 serum specimens tested from each species of domestic ruminant 43% of goats, 23% of sheep, and 1% of cattle had immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to the SFG rickettsiae. None of these sera were positive for IgG against typhus group rickettsiae. We detected Rickettsia africae–genotype DNA in 92.6% of adult Amblyomma variegatum ticks collected from domestic ruminants, but found no evidence of the pathogen in blood specimens from cattle, goats, or sheep. Sequencing of a subset of 21 rickettsia-positive ticks revealed R. africae variants in 95.2% (20/21) of ticks tested. Our findings show a high prevalence of R. africae variants in A. variegatum ticks in western Kenya, which may represent a low disease risk for humans. This may provide a possible explanation for the lack of African tick-bite fever cases among febrile patients in Kenya. PMID:25325312

Mapping the zoonotic niche of Lassa fever in Africa

PubMed Central

Mylne, Adrian Q. N.; Pigott, David M.; Longbottom, Joshua; Shearer, Freya; Duda, Kirsten A.; Messina, Jane P.; Weiss, Daniel J.; Moyes, Catherine L.; Golding, Nick; Hay, Simon I.

2015-01-01

Background Lassa fever is a viral haemorrhagic illness responsible for disease outbreaks across West Africa. It is a zoonosis, with the primary reservoir species identified as the Natal multimammate mouse, Mastomys natalensis. The host is distributed across sub-Saharan Africa while the virus' range appears to be restricted to West Africa. The majority of infections result from interactions between the animal reservoir and human populations, although secondary transmission between humans can occur, particularly in hospital settings. Methods Using a species distribution model, the locations of confirmed human and animal infections with Lassa virus (LASV) were used to generate a probabilistic surface of zoonotic transmission potential across sub-Saharan Africa. Results Our results predict that 37.7 million people in 14 countries, across much of West Africa, live in areas where conditions are suitable for zoonotic transmission of LASV. Four of these countries, where at-risk populations are predicted, have yet to report any cases of Lassa fever. Conclusions These maps act as a spatial guide for future surveillance activities to better characterise the geographical distribution of the disease and understand the anthropological, virological and zoological interactions necessary for viral transmission. Combining this zoonotic niche map with detailed patient travel histories can aid differential diagnoses of febrile illnesses, enabling a more rapid response in providing care and reducing the risk of onward transmission. PMID:26085474

Astronomical Theory of Early Human Migration (Milutin Milankovic Medal Lecture)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Timmermann, Axel; Friedrich, Tobias

2017-04-01

archaeological evidence. The human dispersal model simulates multiple prominent migration waves of Homo sapiens across the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant region around 106-94, 89-73, 59-47 and 45-29 thousand years ago. These waves were caused by earth's axis wobble and its corresponding changes in climate seasonality and resulting large-scale shifts in vegetation in tropical/subtropical regions. Such shifts opened up green corridors between Africa, the Sinai and the Arabian Peninsula, enabling Homo sapiens to leave Northeastern Africa and migrate into Asia, Europe, Australia and eventually into the Americas. The model also simulates a complex pattern of human dispersal out of Africa and back flow into Africa, that challenges the more unidirectional away-from-Africa perspective that is still very prevalent in anthropology and some genetic studies. Paleo-genetic reconstructions indicate that the first exodus out of Africa must have occurred around 70-60 thousand years ago. In contrast, our computer simulations and paleo-climate data show that northeastern Africa experienced one of its most severe long-term droughts during this time. The resulting large desert areas would have been an impenetrable natural border for early human migration. More research needs to be done to help reconcile and synthesize genetic, archaeological, climatological and anthropological data.

A Variable-resolution Surface Wave Dispersion Study of Eurasia, North Africa, and Surrounding Regions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pasyanos, M E

This paper presents the results of a large-scale study of surface wave dispersion performed across Eurasia and North Africa. Improvements were made to previous surface wave work by enlarging the study region, increasing path density, improving spatial resolution, and expanding the period range. This study expands the coverage area northwards and eastwards relative to a previous dispersion analysis, which covered only North Africa and the Middle East. We have significantly increased the number of seismograms examined and group velocity measurements made. We have now made good quality dispersion measurements for about 30,000 Rayleigh wave and 20,000 Love wave paths, andmore » have incorporated measurements from several other researchers into the study. A conjugate gradient method was employed for the group velocity tomography, which improved the inversion from the previous study by adopting a variable smoothness. This technique allows us to go to higher resolution where the data allow without producing artifacts. The current results include both Love and Rayleigh wave inversions across the region for periods from 7 to 100 seconds at 1{sup o} resolution. Short period group velocities are sensitive to slow velocities associated with large sedimentary features such as the Caspian Sea, West Siberian Platform, Mediterranean Sea, Bay of Bengal, Tarim Basin, and Persian Gulf. Intermediate periods are sensitive to differences in crustal thickness, such as those between oceanic and continental crust or along orogenic zones and continental plateaus. At longer periods, fast velocities are consistently found beneath cratons while slow upper mantle velocities occur along rift systems, subduction zones, and collision zones such as the Tethys Belt. We have compared the group velocities at various periods with features such as sediment thickness, topographic height, crustal thickness, proximity to plate boundaries, lithospheric age and lithospheric thickness, and find significant

Comparison of rainfall products over Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Le Coz, Camille; van de Giesen, Nick

2017-04-01

There are many rainfall products available, some of them are global and others have been developed specifically for Africa or another region. They are based on different methods and use different sources of data. All these products have different advantages and limitations and they are suitable for different purposes, like climate or drought monitoring. They can be divided in three categories: the gauge-only products, the satellite-based products and the reanalyses products. These different types of products are compared through literature study in order to find their strengths and weaknesses. The performance of each product varies from region to region, the behaviour of a product can be very different over two separate regions. The gauge-only products are dependent on the gauge coverage which is poor in many regions of Africa. The performance of the satellite-based products are influenced by several factors such as the orography, the rainfall regime and the gauge density (for the ones using them). The reanalyses products are outperformed by the other products but can be improved through downscaling.

Comparing the regional epidemiology of the cassava mosaic and cassava brown streak virus pandemics in Africa.

PubMed

Legg, J P; Jeremiah, S C; Obiero, H M; Maruthi, M N; Ndyetabula, I; Okao-Okuja, G; Bouwmeester, H; Bigirimana, S; Tata-Hangy, W; Gashaka, G; Mkamilo, G; Alicai, T; Lava Kumar, P

2011-08-01

The rapid geographical expansion of the cassava mosaic disease (CMD) pandemic, caused by cassava mosaic geminiviruses, has devastated cassava crops in 12 countries of East and Central Africa since the late 1980s. Region-level surveys have revealed a continuing pattern of annual spread westward and southward along a contiguous 'front'. More recently, outbreaks of cassava brown streak disease (CBSD) were reported from Uganda and other parts of East Africa that had been hitherto unaffected by the disease. Recent survey data reveal several significant contrasts between the regional epidemiology of these two pandemics: (i) severe CMD radiates out from an initial centre of origin, whilst CBSD seems to be spreading from independent 'hot-spots'; (ii) the severe CMD pandemic has arisen from recombination and synergy between virus species, whilst the CBSD pandemic seems to be a 'new encounter' situation between host and pathogen; (iii) CMD pandemic spread has been tightly linked with the appearance of super-abundant Bemisia tabaci whitefly vector populations, in contrast to CBSD, where outbreaks have occurred 3-12 years after whitefly population increases; (iv) the CMGs causing CMD are transmitted in a persistent manner, whilst the two cassava brown streak viruses appear to be semi-persistently transmitted; and (v) different patterns of symptom expression mean that phytosanitary measures could be implemented easily for CMD but have limited effectiveness, whereas similar measures are difficult to apply for CBSD but are potentially very effective. An important similarity between the pandemics is that the viruses occurring in pandemic-affected areas are also found elsewhere, indicating that contrary to earlier published conclusions, the viruses per se are unlikely to be the key factors driving the two pandemics. A diagrammatic representation illustrates the temporal relationship between B. tabaci abundance and changing incidences of both CMD and CBSD in the Great Lakes region

Human rights violations and smoking status among South African adults enrolled in the South Africa Stress and Health (SASH) study.

PubMed

Dutra, Lauren M; Williams, David R; Gupta, Jhumka; Kawachi, Ichiro; Okechukwu, Cassandra A

2014-03-01

Despite South Africa's history of violent political conflict, and the link between stressful experiences and smoking in the literature, no public health study has examined South Africans' experiences of human rights violations and smoking. Using data from participants in the nationally representative cross-sectional South Africa Stress and Health study (SASH), this analysis examined the association between respondent smoking status and both human rights violations experienced by the respondent and violations experienced by the respondents' close friends and family members. SAS-Callable SUDAAN was used to construct separate log-binomial models by political affiliation during apartheid (government or liberation supporters). In comparison to those who reported no violations, in adjusted analyses, government supporters who reported violations of themselves but not others (RR = 1.76, 95% CI: 1.25-2.46) had a significantly higher smoking prevalence. In comparison to liberation supporters who reported no violations, those who reported violations of self only (RR = 1.56, 95%CI: 1.07-2.29), close others only (RR = 1.97, 95%CI: 1.12-3.47), or violations of self and close others due to close others' political beliefs and the respondent's political beliefs (RR = 2.86, 95%CI: 1.70-4.82) had a significantly higher prevalence of smoking. The results of this analysis suggest that a relationship may exist between human rights violations and smoking among South Africa adults. Future research should use longitudinal data to assess causality, test the generalizability of these findings, and consider how to apply these findings to smoking cessation interventions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

IFLA General Conference, 1992. Division of Regional Activities: Section on Africa; Section on Asia/Oceania; Section on Latin America and the Caribbean. Papers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, London (England).

Seven papers delivered at the 1992 International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions annual meeting relating to regional activities are presented. These papers deal with library issues in Africa, Asia and Oceania, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The papers are: (1) "Designing National Information Policies in African: Process…

The role of climate and out-of-Africa migration in the frequencies of risk alleles for 21 human diseases.

PubMed

Blair, Lily M; Feldman, Marcus W

2015-07-14

Demography and environmental adaptation can affect the global distribution of genetic variants and possibly the distribution of disease. Population heterozygosity of single nucleotide polymorphisms has been shown to decrease strongly with distance from Africa and this has been attributed to the effect of serial founding events during the migration of humans out of Africa. Additionally, population allele frequencies have been shown to change due to environmental adaptation. Here, we investigate the relationship of Out-of-Africa migration and climatic variables to the distribution of risk alleles for 21 diseases. For each disease, we computed the regression of average heterozygosity and average allele frequency of the risk alleles with distance from Africa and 9 environmental variables. We compared these regressions to a null distribution created by regressing statistics for SNPs not associated with disease on distance from Africa and these environmental variables. Additionally, we used Bayenv 2.0 to assess the signal of environmental adaptation associated with individual risk SNPs. For those SNPs in HGDP and HapMap that are risk alleles for type 2 diabetes, we cannot reject that their distribution is as expected from Out-of-Africa migration. However, the allelic statistics for many other diseases correlate more closely with environmental variables than would be expected from the serial founder effect and show signals of environmental adaptation. We report strong environmental interactions with several autoimmune diseases, and note a particularly strong interaction between asthma and summer humidity. Additionally, we identified several risk genes with strong environmental associations. For most diseases, migration does not explain the distribution of risk alleles and the worldwide pattern of allele frequencies for some diseases may be better explained by environmental associations, which suggests that some selection has acted on these diseases.

Pleistocene North African genomes link Near Eastern and sub-Saharan African human populations.

PubMed

van de Loosdrecht, Marieke; Bouzouggar, Abdeljalil; Humphrey, Louise; Posth, Cosimo; Barton, Nick; Aximu-Petri, Ayinuer; Nickel, Birgit; Nagel, Sarah; Talbi, El Hassan; El Hajraoui, Mohammed Abdeljalil; Amzazi, Saaïd; Hublin, Jean-Jacques; Pääbo, Svante; Schiffels, Stephan; Meyer, Matthias; Haak, Wolfgang; Jeong, Choongwon; Krause, Johannes

2018-05-04

North Africa is a key region for understanding human history, but the genetic history of its people is largely unknown. We present genomic data from seven 15,000-year-old modern humans, attributed to the Iberomaurusian culture, from Morocco. We find a genetic affinity with early Holocene Near Easterners, best represented by Levantine Natufians, suggesting a pre-agricultural connection between Africa and the Near East. We do not find evidence for gene flow from Paleolithic Europeans to Late Pleistocene North Africans. The Taforalt individuals derive one-third of their ancestry from sub-Saharan Africans, best approximated by a mixture of genetic components preserved in present-day West and East Africans. Thus, we provide direct evidence for genetic interactions between modern humans across Africa and Eurasia in the Pleistocene. Copyright © 2018 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.

An early and enduring advanced technology originating 71,000 years ago in South Africa.

PubMed

Brown, Kyle S; Marean, Curtis W; Jacobs, Zenobia; Schoville, Benjamin J; Oestmo, Simen; Fisher, Erich C; Bernatchez, Jocelyn; Karkanas, Panagiotis; Matthews, Thalassa

2012-11-22

There is consensus that the modern human lineage appeared in Africa before 100,000 years ago. But there is debate as to when cultural and cognitive characteristics typical of modern humans first appeared, and the role that these had in the expansion of modern humans out of Africa. Scientists rely on symbolically specific proxies, such as artistic expression, to document the origins of complex cognition. Advanced technologies with elaborate chains of production are also proxies, as these often demand high-fidelity transmission and thus language. Some argue that advanced technologies in Africa appear and disappear and thus do not indicate complex cognition exclusive to early modern humans in Africa. The origins of composite tools and advanced projectile weapons figure prominently in modern human evolution research, and the latter have been argued to have been in the exclusive possession of modern humans. Here we describe a previously unrecognized advanced stone tool technology from Pinnacle Point Site 5-6 on the south coast of South Africa, originating approximately 71,000 years ago. This technology is dominated by the production of small bladelets (microliths) primarily from heat-treated stone. There is agreement that microlithic technology was used to create composite tool components as part of advanced projectile weapons. Microliths were common worldwide by the mid-Holocene epoch, but have a patchy pattern of first appearance that is rarely earlier than 40,000 years ago, and were thought to appear briefly between 65,000 and 60,000 years ago in South Africa and then disappear. Our research extends this record to ~71,000 years, shows that microlithic technology originated early in South Africa, evolved over a vast time span (~11,000 years), and was typically coupled to complex heat treatment that persisted for nearly 100,000 years. Advanced technologies in Africa were early and enduring; a small sample of excavated sites in Africa is the best explanation for any

Speleothem evidence for the greening of the Sahara and its implications for the early human dispersal out of sub-Saharan Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

El-Shenawy, Mohammed I.; Kim, Sang-Tae; Schwarcz, Henry P.; Asmerom, Yemane; Polyak, Victor J.

2018-05-01

Although there is a consensus that there were wet periods (greening events) in the Sahara in the past, the spatial extent and the timing of these greening events are still in dispute, yet critical to our understanding of the early human dispersal out of Africa. Our U-series dates of speleothems from the Northeastern Sahara (Wadi Sannur cave, Egypt) reveal that the periods of speleothem growth were brief and restricted to the interglacial Marine Isotope Stages MIS 5.5, MIS 7.3, and the early MIS 9 with a remarkable absence of the Holocene deposition of speleothems. These growth periods of Wadi Sannur cave speleothems correspond to periods of high rainfall and spread of vegetation (green Sahara). Distinct low δ18O values of speleothems indicate a distal moisture source that we interpret to be the Atlantic Ocean. These two lines of evidence from the Wadi Sannur speleothems thus suggest that maximal northward shifts in the West African monsoon system occurred during the growth periods of the speleothems, leading to greening of the Sahara, facilitating human migration into Eurasia. The periods of speleothem growth at Wadi Sannur cave are contemporaneous with important archeological events: (1) the earliest occurrence of the Middle Stone Age assemblages and Homo sapiens in North Africa (Jebel Irhoud), suggesting wide spread of greening conditions over the East-West transect of the Sahara, (2) the sharp technological break between the Acheulo-Yabrudian and the Mousterian industries, and (3) the arrival of Homo sapiens in Levant, indicating a key role of the Sahara route in early human dispersal out of Africa.

Wall-papering Fog: How the United States’ Africa Command (AFRICOM) Can Counter the Threat of Radical Islamic Fundamentalism in North Africa

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-05-22

of the primary issues that AFRICOM will have to address in North Africa such as governmental structure, finance reform, the disputed Western Sahara...will have to address in North Africa such as governmental structure, finance reform, the disputed Western Sahara region, the availability of equal...30 Finance Reform ......................................................................................................................... 32

The environmental context for the origins of modern human diversity: a synthesis of regional variability in African climate 150,000-30,000 years ago.

PubMed

Blome, Margaret Whiting; Cohen, Andrew S; Tryon, Christian A; Brooks, Alison S; Russell, Joellen

2012-05-01

We synthesize African paleoclimate from 150 to 30 ka (thousand years ago) using 85 diverse datasets at a regional scale, testing for coherence with North Atlantic glacial/interglacial phases and northern and southern hemisphere insolation cycles. Two major determinants of circum-African climate variability over this time period are supported by principal components analysis: North Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) variations and local insolation maxima. North Atlantic SSTs correlated with the variability found in most circum-African SST records, whereas the variability of the majority of terrestrial temperature and precipitation records is explained by local insolation maxima, particularly at times when solar radiation was intense and highly variable (e.g., 150-75 ka). We demonstrate that climates varied with latitude, such that periods of relatively increased aridity or humidity were asynchronous across the northern, eastern, tropical and southern portions of Africa. Comparisons of the archaeological, fossil, or genetic records with generalized patterns of environmental change based solely on northern hemisphere glacial/interglacial cycles are therefore imprecise. We compare our refined climatic framework to a database of 64 radiometrically-dated paleoanthropological sites to test hypotheses of demographic response to climatic change among African hominin populations during the 150-30 ka interval. We argue that at a continental scale, population and climate changes were asynchronous and likely occurred under different regimes of climate forcing, creating alternating opportunities for migration into adjacent regions. Our results suggest little relation between large scale demographic and climate change in southern Africa during this time span, but strongly support the hypothesis of hominin occupation of the Sahara during discrete humid intervals ~135-115 ka and 105-75 ka. Hominin populations in equatorial and eastern Africa may have been buffered from the

African and Asian perspectives on the origins of modern humans.

PubMed

Clark, J D

1992-08-29

The ways in which the cultural evidence - in its chronological context - can be used to imply behavioural patterning and to identify possible causes of change are discussed. Improved reliability in dating methods, suites of dates from different regional localities, and new, firmly dated fossil hominids from crucial regions such as northeast Africa, the Levant, India and China, are essential for clarification of the origin and spread of the modern genepool. Hominid ancestry in Africa is reviewed, as well as the claims for an independent origin in Asia. The cultural differences and changes within Africa, West and South Asia and the Far East in the later Middle and early Upper Pleistocene are examined and compared, and some behavioural implications are suggested, taking account of the evolutionary frameworks suggested by the 'multiregional evolution' and 'Noah's Ark' hypotheses of human evolution. A possible explanation is proposed for the cultural differences between Africa, West Asia and India on the one hand, and southeast Asia and the Far East on the other. The apparent hiatus between the appearance of the first anatomically modern humans, ca. 100 ka ago, and the appearance of the Upper Palaeolithic and other contemporaneous technological and behavioural changes around 40 ka ago, is discussed. It is suggested that the anatomical changes occurred first, and that neurological changes permitted the development of fully syntactic language some 50 ka later. The intellectual and behavioural revolution, best demonstrated by the 'Upper Palaeolithic' of Eurasia, seems to have been dependent on this linguistic development - within the modern genepool - and triggered the rapid migration of human populations throughout the Old World.

Diagnosis and predictive molecular analysis of non-small-cell lung cancer in the Africa-Middle East region: challenges and strategies for improvement.

PubMed

Slavik, Tomas; Asselah, Fatima; Fakhruddin, Najla; El Khodary, Ahmed; Torjman, Fairouz; Anis, Elia; Quinn, Martin; Khankan, Azzam; Kerr, Keith M

2014-11-01

The identification of tumor biomarkers provides information on the prognosis and guides the implementation of appropriate treatment in patients with many different cancer types. In non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), targeted treatment plans based on biomarker identification have already been used in the clinic. However, such predictive molecular testing is not currently a universally used practice. This is the case, in particular, in developing countries where lung cancer is increasingly prevalent. In September 2012 and November 2013, a committee of 16 lung cancer experts from Africa and the Middle East met to discuss key issues related to diagnosis and biomarker testing in NSCLC and the implementation of personalized medicine in the region. The committee identified current challenges for effective diagnosis and predictive analysis in Africa and the Middle East. Moreover, strategies to encourage the implementation of biomarker testing were discussed. A practical approach for the effective diagnosis and predictive molecular testing of NSCLC in these regions was derived. We present the key issues and recommendations arising from the meetings. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Phylogeographic Reconstructions of a Rift Valley Fever Virus Strain Reveals Transboundary Animal Movements from Eastern Continental Africa to the Union of the Comoros.

PubMed

Maquart, M; Pascalis, H; Abdouroihamane, S; Roger, M; Abdourahime, F; Cardinale, E; Cêtre-Sossah, C

2016-04-01

Major explosive outbreaks of Rift Valley fever (RVF), an arthropod borne zoonotic disease, occur in humans and animals with significant mortality and economic impact across continental Africa and the Indian Ocean region (Madagascar, the Comoros archipelago). Recently, sporadic human cases have been reported in Mayotte and Grande Comore, two islands belonging to the Comoros archipelago. To identify the hypothetical source of virus introduction in an inter-epidemic or a post-epidemic period, a longitudinal survey of livestock was set up in Comorian ruminant populations, known to be susceptible hosts. The phylogeographic genomic analysis has shown that RVF virus (RVFV) detected in a zebu collected in Anjouan in August 2011 seems to be related to the last known epidemic of RVF which occurred in East Africa and Madagascar (2007-2009). This result highlights the fact that RVFV is maintained within local livestock populations and transboundary animal movements from eastern continental Africa to Indian Ocean islands likely result in RVFV crossover. © 2014 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Molecular epidemiology of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Africa: a systematic review

PubMed Central

Abdulgader, Shima M.; Shittu, Adebayo O.; Nicol, Mark P.; Kaba, Mamadou

2015-01-01

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections are a serious global problem, with considerable impact on patients and substantial health care costs. This systematic review provides an overview on the clonal diversity of MRSA, as well as the prevalence of Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL)-positive MRSA in Africa. A search on the molecular characterization of MRSA in Africa was conducted by two authors using predefined terms. We screened for articles published in English and French through to October 2014 from five electronic databases. A total of 57 eligible studies were identified. Thirty-four reports from 15 countries provided adequate genotyping data. CC5 is the predominant clonal complex in the healthcare setting in Africa. The hospital-associated MRSA ST239/ST241-III [3A] was identified in nine African countries. This clone was also described with SCCmec type IV [2B] in Algeria and Nigeria, and type V [5C] in Niger. In Africa, the European ST80-IV [2B] clone was limited to Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia. The clonal types ST22-IV [2B], ST36-II [2A], and ST612-IV [2B] were only reported in South Africa. No clear distinctions were observed between MRSA responsible for hospital and community infections. The community clones ST8-IV [2B] and ST88-IV [2B] were reported both in the hospital and community settings in Angola, Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, Madagascar, Nigeria, and São Tomé and Príncipe. The proportion of PVL-positive MRSA carriage and/or infections ranged from 0.3 to 100% in humans. A number of pandemic clones were identified in Africa. Moreover, some MRSA clones are limited to specific countries or regions. We strongly advocate for more surveillance studies on MRSA in Africa. PMID:25983721

Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in cattle from the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.

PubMed

Hlokwe, Tiny Motlatso; Said, Halima; Gcebe, Nomakorinte

2017-10-10

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the main causative agent of tuberculosis (TB) in human and Mycobacterium bovis commonly causes tuberculosis in animals. Transmission of tuberculosis caused by both pathogens can occur from human to animals and vice versa. In the current study, M. tuberculosis, as confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using primers targeting 3 regions of difference (RD4, RD9 and RD12) on the genomes, was isolated from cattle originating from two epidemiologically unrelated farms in the Eastern Cape (E.C) Province of South Africa. Although the isolates were genotyped with variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) typing, no detailed epidemiological investigation was carried out on the respective farms to unequivocally confirm or link humans as sources of TB transmission to cattle, a move that would have embraced the 'One Health' concept. In addition, strain comparison with human M. tuberculosis in the database from the E.C Province and other provinces in the country did not reveal any match. This is the first report of cases of M. tuberculosis infection in cattle in South Africa. The VNTR profiles of the M. tuberculosis strains identified in the current study will form the basis for creating M. tuberculosis VNTR database for animals including cattle for future epidemiological studies. Our findings however, call for urgent reinforcement of collaborative efforts between the veterinary and the public health services of the country.

On the transferability of RegCM4: Europe, Africa and Asia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Belda, Michal; Halenka, Tomas

2013-04-01

Simulations driven by ERA-interim reanalysis for CORDEX domains covering Europe, Africa and Asia have been performed using RegCM4 at 50 km resolution. The same settings are used in basic simulations and preliminary evaluation of model performance for individual regions will be presented. Several settings of different options is tested and sensitivity of selected ones will be shown in individual regions. Secant Mercator projection is introduced for Africa providing more efficient model geometry setting, the impact of proper emissivity inclusion is compared especially for Africa and Asia desserts. CRU data are used for the validation.

The H3Africa policy framework: negotiating fairness in genomics.

PubMed

de Vries, Jantina; Tindana, Paulina; Littler, Katherine; Ramsay, Michèle; Rotimi, Charles; Abayomi, Akin; Mulder, Nicola; Mayosi, Bongani M

2015-03-01

Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) research seeks to promote fair collaboration between scientists in Africa and those from elsewhere. Here, we outline how concerns over inequality and exploitation led to a policy framework that places a firm focus on African leadership and capacity building as guiding principles for African genomics research. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Genetic and archaeological perspectives on the initial modern human colonization of southern Asia.

PubMed

Mellars, Paul; Gori, Kevin C; Carr, Martin; Soares, Pedro A; Richards, Martin B

2013-06-25

It has been argued recently that the initial dispersal of anatomically modern humans from Africa to southern Asia occurred before the volcanic "supereruption" of the Mount Toba volcano (Sumatra) at ∼74,000 y before present (B.P.)-possibly as early as 120,000 y B.P. We show here that this "pre-Toba" dispersal model is in serious conflict with both the most recent genetic evidence from both Africa and Asia and the archaeological evidence from South Asian sites. We present an alternative model based on a combination of genetic analyses and recent archaeological evidence from South Asia and Africa. These data support a coastally oriented dispersal of modern humans from eastern Africa to southern Asia ∼60-50 thousand years ago (ka). This was associated with distinctively African microlithic and "backed-segment" technologies analogous to the African "Howiesons Poort" and related technologies, together with a range of distinctively "modern" cultural and symbolic features (highly shaped bone tools, personal ornaments, abstract artistic motifs, microblade technology, etc.), similar to those that accompanied the replacement of "archaic" Neanderthal by anatomically modern human populations in other regions of western Eurasia at a broadly similar date.

A new species of the Miniopterus schreibersii species complex (Chiroptera: Miniopteridae) from the Maghreb Region, North Africa.

PubMed

Puechmaille, Sebastien J; Allegrini, Benjamin; Benda, Petr; Gürün, Kanat; Srámek, Jan; Ibañez, Carlos; Juste, Javier; Bilgin, Rasit

2014-05-05

We used an integrative approach combining cranio-dental characters, mitochondrial and nuclear data and acoustic data to show the presence in the genus Miniopterus of a cryptic species from the Maghreb region. This species was previously recognised as Miniopterus schreibersii (Kuhl, 1817). Miniopterus maghrebensis sp. nov. can be differentiated from M. schreibersii sensu stricto on the basis of cranial characters and from mitochondrial DNA and microsatellite evidence. Although slight external morphological and acoustic differences were noted between the two species, these criteria alone did not allow reliable species identification from live animals. Based on the specimens identified morphologically and/or genetically, the distribution range of M. maghrebensis sp. nov. extends from northern Morocco to south of the High Atlas Mountains and northern Tunisia. The new cryptic species is found in sympatry with M. schreibersii s.str. near coastal regions of North Africa.

Epidemiology: Malaria in a warmer West Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caminade, C.; Jones, A. E.

2016-11-01

Malaria risk in West Africa is expected to fall (western region) or remain the same (eastern region) in response to climate change over the twenty-first century. This is primarily due to extreme temperature conditions projected under a high greenhouse gas emissions scenario.

A late Pleistocene refugium in Mediterranean North Africa? Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction from stable isotope analyses of land snail shells (Haua Fteah, Libya)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prendergast, A. L.; Stevens, R. E.; O'Connell, T. C.; Hill, E. A.; Hunt, C. O.; Barker, G. W.

2016-05-01

The late Pleistocene to Holocene archaeological record of North Africa is key to understanding the emergence of anatomically modern humans into West Asia and Europe, and the broadening of subsistence strategies in the shift from hunter-gatherer to pastoral-agricultural lifeways. Some contend that these developments were modulated by major shifts in climate and environment. Evaluation of this hypothesis requires the pairing of local and regional climate records with well-dated archaeological sequences. The Haua Fteah archaeological site in the Gebel Akhdar region of Libya provides a key site to test this hypothesis as the cave contains one of the longest and most complete sequences of human occupation in North Africa as well as abundant material for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. This study uses stable isotope analyses (δ18O and δ13C) of the terrestrial mollusc Helix melanostoma to construct a palaeoenvironmental framework for interpreting North African human-environment interactions from the Upper Palaeolithic to the Neolithic (∼30,000 to 5000 years ago). The land snail stable isotope records from Haua Fteah suggests that cool arid conditions in the cave peaked during marine isotope stage (MIS) 2. This stage was, however, only marginally drier than previous and subsequent stages and coincided with an increase in occupation density in the cave. This suggests that the Gebel Akhdar may have served as an environmental refugium from the more extreme aridity in the surrounding Sahara and arid coastal plains for Late Stone Age (LSA) populations in North Africa. Conditions became progressively wetter towards the Holocene. However, generally wetter conditions were interrupted by two arid episodes at c. 8.0 ka and 7.3 ka that appear to coincide with regional changes reflected elsewhere in the Mediterranean basin.

Assistance Focus: Africa

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

The Clean Energy Solutions Center, an initiative of the Clean Energy Ministerial, helps countries throughout the world create policies and programs that advance the deployment of clean energy technologies. Through the Solutions Center's no-cost Ask an Expert service, a team of international experts has delivered assistance to countries in all regions of the world, including Africa.

Opportunities for the power industry in South Africa

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lynch, R.W.; Pinkney, C.; Feld, L.

1996-11-01

South Africa is a country in the midst of transformation. Political changes within the country, and the ensuing empowerment of the black majority, have created a situation where dramatic improvements are needed in the country`s infrastructure in order to enable it to meet the needs of all its people over the coming decades. Largely as a result of the international embargo placed on South Africa during the apartheid era, the South African government became heavily involved in the country`s energy sector. This involvement included development of a synfuels program, price controls in the oil sector, monopolies in both upstream andmore » downstream oil sectors, and a strong centralized electric power company. In 1994, South Africa became the eleventh member of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), an organization which was established in 1980 to synchronize development plans for its member countries. SADC is presently working to formulate a regional energy development plan, and coordinate technical information exchanges and joint research needs. Each of the SADC nations have also begun to develop their regional electricity grids and other parts of their energy infrastructure to plan for the growing needs of the 500 million people who live in sub-Saharan Africa. South Africa, in particular, must make significant changes in each of its energy sectors in the near future, to keep up with its growing energy requirements. These changes translate to opportunity for the US Power Industry.« less

XVII International AIDS Conference: From Evidence to Action - Regional focus

PubMed Central

2009-01-01

This article summarizes the challenges, opportunities and lessons learned from presentations, discussions and debates addressing major policy and programmatic responses to HIV in six geographical regions: Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin America, Caribbean, and Middle East and North Africa. It draws from AIDS 2008 Leadership and Community Programmes, particularly the six regional sessions, and Global Village activities. While the epidemiological, cultural and socio-economic contexts in these regions vary considerably, several common, overarching principles and themes emerged. They include: advancing basic human rights, particularly for vulnerable and most at risk populations; ensuring the sustainability of the HIV response through long-term, predictable financing; strengthening health systems; investing in strategic health information; and improving accountability and the involvement of civil society in the response to AIDS. Equally important is the need to address political barriers to implementing evidence-based interventions such as opioid substitution therapy (OST), needle and syringe programmes (NSPs), comprehensive sexuality education for youth, and sexual and reproductive rights. Finally, these regional discussions emphasized the need for legislative and policy reforms related to structural barriers facing women and girls, MSM, IDUs, sex workers and migrant populations. PMID:19811672

The Africa South America Intercontinental Teleconnection.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cook, K. H.; Hsieh, J.-S.; Hagos, S. M.

2004-07-01

The influence of heating over Africa on the South American precipitation climatology, and the influence of South America on Africa, is examined through the application of GCM simulations with idealized boundary conditions and perpetual solstice (January and July) conditions.The presence of Africa is associated with a pronounced (up to 4 mm day-1) decrease in precipitation in Brazil's Nordeste region during austral summer. Low-level moisture divergence and dry-air advection associated with the downbranch of a Walker circulation induced by heating over southern Africa is amplified over the Nordeste due to the response of the land surface. The response is much smaller during austral winter due to differences in the heat source over Africa and a reduced sensitivity in the surface heat balance over tropical South America. Forcing from South America in January shifts the position of the South Indian convergence zone (SICZ) to the southwest over southern Africa in association with the formation of the South Atlantic convergence zone (SACZ). In July, a Rossby wave train generated over South America induces a response in the surface temperature of Africa that leads to stronger precipitation in central and western Africa.This study suggests a zonal mode of variability for South American and African circulation and precipitation fields. The resulting perturbations depend as much on land surface atmosphere interactions as on the direct forcing from the adjacent continent, and the mechanisms are highly nonlinear.

Mapping the zoonotic niche of Lassa fever in Africa.

PubMed

Mylne, Adrian Q N; Pigott, David M; Longbottom, Joshua; Shearer, Freya; Duda, Kirsten A; Messina, Jane P; Weiss, Daniel J; Moyes, Catherine L; Golding, Nick; Hay, Simon I

2015-08-01

Lassa fever is a viral haemorrhagic illness responsible for disease outbreaks across West Africa. It is a zoonosis, with the primary reservoir species identified as the Natal multimammate mouse, Mastomys natalensis. The host is distributed across sub-Saharan Africa while the virus' range appears to be restricted to West Africa. The majority of infections result from interactions between the animal reservoir and human populations, although secondary transmission between humans can occur, particularly in hospital settings. Using a species distribution model, the locations of confirmed human and animal infections with Lassa virus (LASV) were used to generate a probabilistic surface of zoonotic transmission potential across sub-Saharan Africa. Our results predict that 37.7 million people in 14 countries, across much of West Africa, live in areas where conditions are suitable for zoonotic transmission of LASV. Four of these countries, where at-risk populations are predicted, have yet to report any cases of Lassa fever. These maps act as a spatial guide for future surveillance activities to better characterise the geographical distribution of the disease and understand the anthropological, virological and zoological interactions necessary for viral transmission. Combining this zoonotic niche map with detailed patient travel histories can aid differential diagnoses of febrile illnesses, enabling a more rapid response in providing care and reducing the risk of onward transmission. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Way out of Africa: Early Pleistocene paleoenvironments inhabited by Homo erectus in Sangiran, Java.

PubMed

Bettis, E Arthur; Milius, Adrianne K; Carpenter, Scott J; Larick, Roy; Zaim, Yahdi; Rizal, Yan; Ciochon, Russell L; Tassier-Surine, Stephanie A; Murray, Daniel; Suminto; Bronto, Sutinko

2009-01-01

A sequence of paleosols in the Solo Basin, Central Java, Indonesia, documents the local and regional environments present when Homo erectus spread through Southeast Asia during the early Pleistocene. The earliest human immigrants encountered a low-relief lake-margin landscape dominated by moist grasslands with open woodlands in the driest landscape positions. By 1.5 Ma, large streams filled the lake and the landscape became more riverine in nature, with riparian forests, savanna, and open woodland. Paleosol morphology and carbon isotope values of soil organic matter and pedogenic carbonates indicate a long-term shift toward regional drying or increased duration of the annual dry season through the early Pleistocene. This suggests that an annual dry season associated with monsoon conditions was an important aspect of the paleoclimate in which early humans spread from Africa to Southeast Asia.

The Expansion of mtDNA Haplogroup L3 within and out of Africa.

PubMed

Soares, Pedro; Alshamali, Farida; Pereira, Joana B; Fernandes, Verónica; Silva, Nuno M; Afonso, Carla; Costa, Marta D; Musilová, Eliska; Macaulay, Vincent; Richards, Martin B; Cerny, Viktor; Pereira, Luísa

2012-03-01

Although fossil remains show that anatomically modern humans dispersed out of Africa into the Near East ∼100 to 130 ka, genetic evidence from extant populations has suggested that non-Africans descend primarily from a single successful later migration. Within the human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) tree, haplogroup L3 encompasses not only many sub-Saharan Africans but also all ancient non-African lineages, and its age therefore provides an upper bound for the dispersal out of Africa. An analysis of 369 complete African L3 sequences places this maximum at ∼70 ka, virtually ruling out a successful exit before 74 ka, the date of the Toba volcanic supereruption in Sumatra. The similarity of the age of L3 to its two non-African daughter haplogroups, M and N, suggests that the same process was likely responsible for both the L3 expansion in Eastern Africa and the dispersal of a small group of modern humans out of Africa to settle the rest of the world. The timing of the expansion of L3 suggests a link to improved climatic conditions after ∼70 ka in Eastern and Central Africa rather than to symbolically mediated behavior, which evidently arose considerably earlier. The L3 mtDNA pool within Africa suggests a migration from Eastern Africa to Central Africa ∼60 to 35 ka and major migrations in the immediate postglacial again linked to climate. The largest population size increase seen in the L3 data is 3-4 ka in Central Africa, corresponding to Bantu expansions, leading diverse L3 lineages to spread into Eastern and Southern Africa in the last 3-2 ka.

Mapping human resources for eye health in 21 countries of sub-Saharan Africa: current progress towards VISION 2020.

PubMed

Palmer, Jennifer J; Chinanayi, Farai; Gilbert, Alice; Pillay, Devan; Fox, Samantha; Jaggernath, Jyoti; Naidoo, Kovin; Graham, Ronnie; Patel, Daksha; Blanchet, Karl

2014-08-15

Development of human resources for eye health (HReH) is a major focus of the Global Action Plan 2014 to 2019 to reduce the prevalence of avoidable visual impairment by 25% by the year 2019. The eye health workforce is thought to be much smaller in sub-Saharan Africa than in other regions of the world but data to support this for policy-making is scarce. We collected HReH and cataract surgeries data from 21 countries in sub-Sahara to estimate progress towards key suggested population-based VISION 2020 HReH indicators and cataract surgery rates (CSR) in 2011. Routinely collected data on practitioner and surgery numbers in 2011 was requested from national eye care coordinators via electronic questionnaires. Telephone and e-mail discussions were used to determine data collection strategies that fit the national context and to verify reported data quality. Information was collected on six practitioner cadres: ophthalmologists, cataract surgeons, ophthalmic clinical officers, ophthalmic nurses, optometrists and 'mid-level refractionists' and combined with publicly available population data to calculate practitioner to population ratios and CSRs. Associations with development characteristics were conducted using Wilcoxon rank sum tests and Spearman rank correlations. HReH data was not easily available. A minority of countries had achieved the suggested VISION 2020 targets in 2011; five countries for ophthalmologists/cataract surgeons, four for ophthalmic nurses/clinical officers and two for CSR. All countries were below target for optometrists, even when other cadres who perform refractions as a primary duty were considered. The regional (sample) ratio for surgeons (ophthalmologists and cataract surgeons) was 2.9 per million population, 5.5 for ophthalmic clinical officers and nurses, 3.7 for optometrists and other refractionists, and 515 for CSR. A positive correlation between GDP and CSR as well as many practitioner ratios was observed (CSR P = 0

Mapping human resources for eye health in 21 countries of sub-Saharan Africa: current progress towards VISION 2020

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Development of human resources for eye health (HReH) is a major focus of the Global Action Plan 2014 to 2019 to reduce the prevalence of avoidable visual impairment by 25% by the year 2019. The eye health workforce is thought to be much smaller in sub-Saharan Africa than in other regions of the world but data to support this for policy-making is scarce. We collected HReH and cataract surgeries data from 21 countries in sub-Sahara to estimate progress towards key suggested population-based VISION 2020 HReH indicators and cataract surgery rates (CSR) in 2011. Methods Routinely collected data on practitioner and surgery numbers in 2011 was requested from national eye care coordinators via electronic questionnaires. Telephone and e-mail discussions were used to determine data collection strategies that fit the national context and to verify reported data quality. Information was collected on six practitioner cadres: ophthalmologists, cataract surgeons, ophthalmic clinical officers, ophthalmic nurses, optometrists and ‘mid-level refractionists’ and combined with publicly available population data to calculate practitioner to population ratios and CSRs. Associations with development characteristics were conducted using Wilcoxon rank sum tests and Spearman rank correlations. Results HReH data was not easily available. A minority of countries had achieved the suggested VISION 2020 targets in 2011; five countries for ophthalmologists/cataract surgeons, four for ophthalmic nurses/clinical officers and two for CSR. All countries were below target for optometrists, even when other cadres who perform refractions as a primary duty were considered. The regional (sample) ratio for surgeons (ophthalmologists and cataract surgeons) was 2.9 per million population, 5.5 for ophthalmic clinical officers and nurses, 3.7 for optometrists and other refractionists, and 515 for CSR. A positive correlation between GDP and CSR as well as many practitioner ratios was observed

Support from the relationship of genetic and geographic distance in human populations for a serial founder effect originating in Africa

PubMed Central

Ramachandran, Sohini; Deshpande, Omkar; Roseman, Charles C.; Rosenberg, Noah A.; Feldman, Marcus W.; Cavalli-Sforza, L. Luca

2005-01-01

Equilibrium models of isolation by distance predict an increase in genetic differentiation with geographic distance. Here we find a linear relationship between genetic and geographic distance in a worldwide sample of human populations, with major deviations from the fitted line explicable by admixture or extreme isolation. A close relationship is shown to exist between the correlation of geographic distance and genetic differentiation (as measured by FST) and the geographic pattern of heterozygosity across populations. Considering a worldwide set of geographic locations as possible sources of the human expansion, we find that heterozygosities in the globally distributed populations of the data set are best explained by an expansion originating in Africa and that no geographic origin outside of Africa accounts as well for the observed patterns of genetic diversity. Although the relationship between FST and geographic distance has been interpreted in the past as the result of an equilibrium model of drift and dispersal, simulation shows that the geographic pattern of heterozygosities in this data set is consistent with a model of a serial founder effect starting at a single origin. Given this serial-founder scenario, the relationship between genetic and geographic distance allows us to derive bounds for the effects of drift and natural selection on human genetic variation. PMID:16243969

Southern Africa Regional Office of Astronomy for Development: A New Hub for Astronomy for Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Siseho Mutondo, Moola

2015-08-01

A new Astronomy for Development hub needs innovative tools and programs. SAROAD is developing exciting tools integrating Raspberry Pi® technology to bring cost-effective astronomy content to learning centres. SAROAD would also like to report achievements in realising the IAU's strategic plan. In order to manage, evaluate and coordinate regional IAU capacity building programmes, including the recruitment and mobilisation of volunteers, SAROAD has built an intranet that is accessible to regional members upon request. Using this resource, regional members can see and participate in regional activities. This resource also forms the foundation for closer collaboration between SAROAD member countries. SAROAD has commenced with projects in the three Task Force areas of Universities and Research, Children and Schools and Public Outreach. Under the three Task Force areas, a total of seven projects have commenced in Zambia. A further two projects involve the collaboration of Zambia and other regional member countries in order to foster engagement with important regional astronomy facilities (e.g. SKA). SAROAD has identified the IAU’s International Year of Light and a starting point for offering regional support for IAU-endorsed global activities. SAROAD has set up a hub dedicated to regional events and activities about the International Year of Light. SAROAD has a database of regional authorities to enable contact with the region's decision makers and experts. SAROAD will hold an annual event which brings forum for astronomy for development. The creation of the database and the SAROAD Road show is a first step towards this goal. The SAROAD website has helped to advertise upcoming events for astronomy development and education; it is used to provide advice, guidance and information for astronomers in all countries in the Southern Africa. Fundraising is the primary goal for SAROAD in 2015 towards financial self-sufficiency by 2020. We report on the methods that work best

Human impact on wildfires varies between regions and with vegetation productivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lasslop, Gitta; Kloster, Silvia

2017-11-01

We assess the influence of humans on burned area simulated with a dynamic global vegetation model. The human impact in the model is based on population density and cropland fraction, which were identified as important drivers of burned area in analyses of global datasets, and are commonly used in global models. After an evaluation of the sensitivity to these two variables we extend the model by including an additional effect of the cropland fraction on the fire duration. The general pattern of human influence is similar in both model versions: the strongest human impact is found in regions with intermediate productivity, where fire occurrence is not limited by fuel load or climatic conditions. Human effects in the model increases burned area in the tropics, while in temperate regions burned area is reduced. While the population density is similar on average for the tropical and temperate regions, the cropland fraction is higher in temperate regions, and leads to a strong suppression of fire. The model shows a low human impact in the boreal region, where both population density and cropland fraction is very low and the climatic conditions, as well as the vegetation productivity limit fire. Previous studies attributed a decrease in fire activity found in global charcoal datasets to human activity. This is confirmed by our simulations, which only show a decrease in burned area when the human influence on fire is accounted for, and not with only natural effects on fires. We assess how the vegetation-fire feedback influences the results, by comparing simulations with dynamic vegetation biogeography to simulations with prescribed vegetation. The vegetation-fire feedback increases the human impact on burned area by 10% for present day conditions. These results emphasize that projections of burned area need to account for the interactions between fire, climate, vegetation and humans.

Foot-and-mouth Disease Transmission in Africa: Implications for Control, a Review.

PubMed

Tekleghiorghis, T; Moormann, R J M; Weerdmeester, K; Dekker, A

2016-04-01

In Africa, for the control of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), more information is needed on the spread of the disease at local, regional and inter-regional level. The aim of this review is to identify the role that animal husbandry, trade and wildlife have on the transmission of FMD and to provide a scientific basis for different FMD control measures in Africa. Review of literature, published reports and databases shows that there is more long distance spread of FMD virus serotypes within North, West, Central and East Africa than in southern Africa. In North, West, Central and East Africa migratory animal husbandry systems often related with search for grazing and water as well as trade are practiced to a greater extent than in southern Africa. In southern Africa, the role of African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) is more extensively studied than in the other parts of Africa, but based on the densities of African buffalo in Central and East Africa, one would assume that buffalo should also play a role in the epidemiology of FMD in this part of Africa. More sampling of buffalo is necessary in West, Central and East Africa. The genetic analysis of virus strains has proven to be valuable to increase our understanding in the spread of FMD in Africa. This review shows that there is a difference in FMD occurrence between southern Africa and the rest of the continent; this distinction is most likely based on differences in animal husbandry and trade systems. Insufficient data on FMD in wildlife outside southern Africa is limiting our understanding on the role wildlife plays in the transmission of FMD in the other buffalo inhabited areas of Africa. © 2014 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

Impacts of boundary condition changes on regional climate projections over West Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Jee Hee; Kim, Yeonjoo; Wang, Guiling

2017-06-01

Future projections using regional climate models (RCMs) are driven with boundary conditions (BCs) typically derived from global climate models. Understanding the impact of the various BCs on regional climate projections is critical for characterizing their robustness and uncertainties. In this study, the International Center for Theoretical Physics Regional Climate Model Version 4 (RegCM4) is used to investigate the impact of different aspects of boundary conditions, including lateral BCs and sea surface temperature (SST), on projected future changes of regional climate in West Africa, and BCs from the coupled European Community-Hamburg Atmospheric Model 5/Max Planck Institute Ocean Model are used as an example. Historical, future, and several sensitivity experiments are conducted with various combinations of BCs and CO2 concentration, and differences among the experiments are compared to identify the most important drivers for RCMs. When driven by changes in all factors, the RegCM4-produced future climate changes include significantly drier conditions in Sahel and wetter conditions along the Guinean coast. Changes in CO2 concentration within the RCM domain alone or changes in wind vectors at the domain boundaries alone have minor impact on projected future climate changes. Changes in the atmospheric humidity alone at the domain boundaries lead to a wetter Sahel due to the northward migration of rain belts during summer. This impact, although significant, is offset and dominated by changes of other BC factors (primarily temperature) that cause a drying signal. Future changes of atmospheric temperature at the domain boundaries combined with SST changes over oceans are sufficient to cause a future climate that closely resembles the projection that accounts for all factors combined. Therefore, climate variability and changes simulated by RCMs depend primarily on the variability and change of temperature aspects of the RCM BCs. Moreover, it is found that the response

Satellite Based Analysis of Wood Biomass and Fuelwood Sustainability in Senegal: Developing Approaches for Long-Term Monitoring in the SERVIR-West Africa Region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hanan, N. P.; Anchang, J.; Dieye, A. M.; Yero, K.; Tredennick, A. T.

2017-12-01

Rural populations in most of Africa are highly dependent on woody biomass (wood or charcoal) for cooking and heating. Many rural families gather wood locally, while urban populations often rely on small-scale commercial charcoal producers, who make charcoal in rural areas for transport to urban centers. Given that cooking is essential for conversion of inedible protein and carbohydrate substrates into edible food, fuelwood is an essential part of the food security puzzle for most African families. The SERVIR program is a partnership between USAID, NASA and regional institutions designed to enhance access to, and application of, earth observation data for economic development and natural resource management in less developed countries. In this paper, we report on a SERVIR West Africa collaboration to develop above-ground wood biomass estimates using moderate resolution ( 20 m) data from Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2 satellites, incorporating field data for calibration and validation, and using data retrieval and analysis workflows that can be replicated by SERVIR partners across the region. Using the country of Senegal as a test case, we analyze the spatial distribution of biomass stocks in relation to fuelwood demand to assess supply-demand patterns across scales from local (village), to district, regional and national scales.

On Expression Patterns and Developmental Origin of Human Brain Regions.

PubMed

Kirsch, Lior; Chechik, Gal

2016-08-01

Anatomical substructures of the human brain have characteristic cell-types, connectivity and local circuitry, which are reflected in area-specific transcriptome signatures, but the principles governing area-specific transcription and their relation to brain development are still being studied. In adult rodents, areal transcriptome patterns agree with the embryonic origin of brain regions, but the processes and genes that preserve an embryonic signature in regional expression profiles were not quantified. Furthermore, it is not clear how embryonic-origin signatures of adult-brain expression interplay with changes in expression patterns during development. Here we first quantify which genes have regional expression-patterns related to the developmental origin of brain regions, using genome-wide mRNA expression from post-mortem adult human brains. We find that almost all human genes (92%) exhibit an expression pattern that agrees with developmental brain-region ontology, but that this agreement changes at multiple phases during development. Agreement is particularly strong in neuron-specific genes, but also in genes that are not spatially correlated with neuron-specific or glia-specific markers. Surprisingly, agreement is also stronger in early-evolved genes. We further find that pairs of similar genes having high agreement to developmental region ontology tend to be more strongly correlated or anti-correlated, and that the strength of spatial correlation changes more strongly in gene pairs with stronger embryonic signatures. These results suggest that transcription regulation of most genes in the adult human brain is spatially tuned in a way that changes through life, but in agreement with development-determined brain regions.

On Expression Patterns and Developmental Origin of Human Brain Regions

PubMed Central

Kirsch, Lior; Chechik, Gal

2016-01-01

Anatomical substructures of the human brain have characteristic cell-types, connectivity and local circuitry, which are reflected in area-specific transcriptome signatures, but the principles governing area-specific transcription and their relation to brain development are still being studied. In adult rodents, areal transcriptome patterns agree with the embryonic origin of brain regions, but the processes and genes that preserve an embryonic signature in regional expression profiles were not quantified. Furthermore, it is not clear how embryonic-origin signatures of adult-brain expression interplay with changes in expression patterns during development. Here we first quantify which genes have regional expression-patterns related to the developmental origin of brain regions, using genome-wide mRNA expression from post-mortem adult human brains. We find that almost all human genes (92%) exhibit an expression pattern that agrees with developmental brain-region ontology, but that this agreement changes at multiple phases during development. Agreement is particularly strong in neuron-specific genes, but also in genes that are not spatially correlated with neuron-specific or glia-specific markers. Surprisingly, agreement is also stronger in early-evolved genes. We further find that pairs of similar genes having high agreement to developmental region ontology tend to be more strongly correlated or anti-correlated, and that the strength of spatial correlation changes more strongly in gene pairs with stronger embryonic signatures. These results suggest that transcription regulation of most genes in the adult human brain is spatially tuned in a way that changes through life, but in agreement with development-determined brain regions. PMID:27564987

Linking Climate to Incidence of Zoonotic Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (L. major) in Pre-Saharan North Africa

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bounoua, Lahouari; Kahime, Kholoud; Houti, Leila

Shifts in surface climate may have changed the dynamic of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) in the pre-Saharan zones of North Africa. Caused by Leishmania major, this form multiplies in the body of rodents serving as reservoirs of the disease. The parasite is then transmitted to human hosts by the bite of a Phlebotomine sand fly (Diptera: Psychodidae) that was previously fed by biting an infected reservoir. We examine the seasonal and interannual dynamics of the incidence of this ZCL as a function of surface climate indicators in two regions covering a large area of the semi-arid Pre-Saharan North Africa. Resultsmore » suggest that in this area, changes in climate may have initiated a trophic cascade that resulted in an increase in ZCL incidence.« less

Assistance Focus: Africa

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

The Clean Energy Solutions Center, an initiative of the Clean Energy Ministerial, helps countries throughout the world create policies and programs that advance the deployment of clean energy technologies. Through the Solutions Center's no-cost 'Ask an Expert' service, a team of international experts has delivered assistance to countries in all regions of the world. High-impact examples from Africa are featured here.

"Harnessing genomics to improve health in Africa" - an executive course to support genomics policy.

PubMed

Smith, Alyna C; Mugabe, John; Singer, Peter A; Daar, Abdallah S

2005-01-24

BACKGROUND: Africa in the twenty-first century is faced with a heavy burden of disease, combined with ill-equipped medical systems and underdeveloped technological capacity. A major challenge for the international community is to bring scientific and technological advances like genomics to bear on the health priorities of poorer countries. The New Partnership for Africa's Development has identified science and technology as a key platform for Africa's renewal. Recognizing the timeliness of this issue, the African Centre for Technology Studies and the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics co-organized a course on Genomics and Public Health Policy in Nairobi, Kenya, the first of a series of similar courses to take place in the developing world. This article presents the findings and recommendations that emerged from this process, recommendations which suggest that a regional approach to developing sound science and technology policies is the key to harnessing genome-related biotechnology to improve health and contribute to human development in Africa. METHODS: The objectives of the course were to familiarize participants with the current status and implications of genomics for health in Africa; to provide frameworks for analyzing and debating the policy and ethical questions; and to begin developing a network across different sectors by sharing perspectives and building relationships. To achieve these goals the course brought together a diverse group of stakeholders from academic research centres, the media, non-governmental, voluntary and legal organizations to stimulate multi-sectoral debate around issues of policy. Topics included scientific advances in genomics innovation systems and business models, international regulatory frameworks, as well as ethical and legal issues. RESULTS: Seven main recommendations emerged: establish a network for sustained dialogue among participants; identify champions among politicians; use the New Plan for African

Recently evolved human-specific methylated regions are enriched in schizophrenia signals.

PubMed

Banerjee, Niladri; Polushina, Tatiana; Bettella, Francesco; Giddaluru, Sudheer; Steen, Vidar M; Andreassen, Ole A; Le Hellard, Stephanie

2018-05-11

One explanation for the persistence of schizophrenia despite the reduced fertility of patients is that it is a by-product of recent human evolution. This hypothesis is supported by evidence suggesting that recently-evolved genomic regions in humans are involved in the genetic risk for schizophrenia. Using summary statistics from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of schizophrenia and 11 other phenotypes, we tested for enrichment of association with GWAS traits in regions that have undergone methylation changes in the human lineage compared to Neanderthals and Denisovans, i.e. human-specific differentially methylated regions (DMRs). We used analytical tools that evaluate polygenic enrichment of a subset of genomic variants against all variants. Schizophrenia was the only trait in which DMR SNPs showed clear enrichment of association that passed the genome-wide significance threshold. The enrichment was not observed for Neanderthal or Denisovan DMRs. The enrichment seen in human DMRs is comparable to that for genomic regions tagged by Neanderthal Selective Sweep markers, and stronger than that for Human Accelerated Regions. The enrichment survives multiple testing performed through permutation (n = 10,000) and bootstrapping (n = 5000) in INRICH (p < 0.01). Some enrichment of association with height was observed at the gene level. Regions where DNA methylation modifications have changed during recent human evolution show enrichment of association with schizophrenia and possibly with height. Our study further supports the hypothesis that genetic variants conferring risk of schizophrenia co-occur in genomic regions that have changed as the human species evolved. Since methylation is an epigenetic mark, potentially mediated by environmental changes, our results also suggest that interaction with the environment might have contributed to that association.

Asbestos-Related Disease in South Africa

PubMed Central

Braun, Lundy; Kisting, Sophia

2006-01-01

South Africa was the third largest exporter of asbestos in the world for more than a century. As a consequence of particularly exploitative social conditions, former workers and residents of mining regions suffered—and continue to suffer—from a serious yet still largely undocumented burden of asbestos-related disease. This epidemic has been invisible both internationally and inside South Africa. We examined the work environment, labor policies, and occupational-health framework of the asbestos industry in South Africa during the 20th century. In a changing local context where the majority of workers were increasingly disenfranchised, unorganized, excluded from skilled work, and predominantly rural, mining operations of the asbestos industry not only exposed workers to high levels of asbestos but also contaminated the environment extensively. PMID:16809596

Importance of bovine mastitis in Africa.

PubMed

Motaung, Thabiso E; Petrovski, Kiro R; Petzer, Inge-Marie; Thekisoe, Oriel; Tsilo, Toi J

2017-06-01

Bovine mastitis is an important animal production disease that affects the dairy industry globally. Studies have estimated the prevalence of this disease in approximately 30% of African countries, with the highest prevalence found in Ethiopia. This is despite the wide cattle distribution in Africa, and the largest number of dairy farms and herds in countries such as South Africa, Kenya and Uganda. Furthermore, the estimated financial losses due to direct and indirect impacts of bovine mastitis are lacking in this continent. Therefore, intensive research efforts will help determine the continent-wide economic impacts and advance careful monitoring of disease prevalence and epidemiology. Here, published cases supporting the occurrence and importance of bovine mastitis in certain regions of Africa are outlined.

Possible Climate Change/Variability and Human Impacts, Vulnerability of African Drought Prone Regions, its Water Resources and Capacity Building

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gan, T. Y. Y.; Qin, X.; Ito, M.; Hülsmann, S.; Xixi, L.; Liong, S. Y.; Disse, M.; Koivusalo, H. J.

2017-12-01

This review article discusses the climate, water resources and historical droughts of Africa, drought indices, vulnerability, impact of global warming and landuse to drought-prone regions in West, Southern, and Greater Horn of Africa, which have suffered recurrent severe droughts in the past. Recent studies detected warming and drying trends in Africa since the mid-20th century. Based on the 4th Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, and that of the 5th Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5), both northern and southern Africa are projected to experience drying such as decreasing precipitation, runoff and soil moisture in the 21st Century and could become more vulnerable to impact of droughts. The daily maximum temperature is projected to increase up to 8oC (RCP8.5 of CMIP5), precipitation indices such as total wet day precipitation (PRCPTOT) and heavy precipitation days (R10mm) could decrease, while warm spell duration (WSDI) and consecutive dry days (CDD) could increase. Uncertainties of the above long-term projections, teleconnections to climate anomalies such as ENSO and Madden Julian Oscillation which could also affect water resources of Africa, and capacity building in terms of physical infrastructure and non-structural solutions, are also discussed. Given traditional climate and hydrologic data observed in Africa are generally limited, satellite data should also be exploited to fill in the data gap for Africa in future.

Evidence that the Human Pathogenic Fungus Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii May Have Evolved in Africa

PubMed Central

Litvintseva, Anastasia P.; Carbone, Ignazio; Rossouw, Jenny; Thakur, Rameshwari; Govender, Nelesh P.; Mitchell, Thomas G.

2011-01-01

Most of the species of fungi that cause disease in mammals, including Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii (serotype A), are exogenous and non-contagious. Cryptococcus neoformans var. grubii is associated worldwide with avian and arboreal habitats. This airborne, opportunistic pathogen is profoundly neurotropic and the leading cause of fungal meningitis. Patients with HIV/AIDS have been ravaged by cryptococcosis – an estimated one million new cases occur each year, and mortality approaches 50%. Using phylogenetic and population genetic analyses, we present evidence that C. neoformans var. grubii may have evolved from a diverse population in southern Africa. Our ecological studies support the hypothesis that a few of these strains acquired a new environmental reservoir, the excreta of feral pigeons (Columba livia), and were globally dispersed by the migration of birds and humans. This investigation also discovered a novel arboreal reservoir for highly diverse strains of C. neoformans var. grubii that are restricted to southern Africa, the mopane tree (Colophospermum mopane). This finding may have significant public health implications because these primal strains have optimal potential for evolution and because mopane trees contribute to the local economy as a source of timber, folkloric remedies and the edible mopane worm. PMID:21589919

The Arabian Cradle: Mitochondrial Relicts of the First Steps along the Southern Route out of Africa

PubMed Central

Fernandes, Verónica; Alshamali, Farida; Alves, Marco; Costa, Marta D.; Pereira, Joana B.; Silva, Nuno M.; Cherni, Lotfi; Harich, Nourdin; Cerny, Viktor; Soares, Pedro; Richards, Martin B.; Pereira, Luísa

2012-01-01

A major unanswered question regarding the dispersal of modern humans around the world concerns the geographical site of the first human steps outside of Africa. The “southern coastal route” model predicts that the early stages of the dispersal took place when people crossed the Red Sea to southern Arabia, but genetic evidence has hitherto been tenuous. We have addressed this question by analyzing the three minor west-Eurasian haplogroups, N1, N2, and X. These lineages branch directly from the first non-African founder node, the root of haplogroup N, and coalesce to the time of the first successful movement of modern humans out of Africa, ∼60 thousand years (ka) ago. We sequenced complete mtDNA genomes from 85 Southwest Asian samples carrying these haplogroups and compared them with a database of 300 European examples. The results show that these minor haplogroups have a relict distribution that suggests an ancient ancestry within the Arabian Peninsula, and they most likely spread from the Gulf Oasis region toward the Near East and Europe during the pluvial period 55–24 ka ago. This pattern suggests that Arabia was indeed the first staging post in the spread of modern humans around the world. PMID:22284828

Vectors of rickettsiae in Africa.

PubMed

Bitam, Idir

2012-12-01

Vector-borne diseases are caused by parasites, bacteria, or viruses transmitted by the bites of hematophagous arthropods. In Africa, there has been a recent emergence of new diseases and the re-emergence of existing diseases, usually with changes in disease epidemiology (e.g., geographical distribution, prevalence, and pathogenicity). In Africa, rickettsioses are recognized as important emerging vector-borne infections in humans. Rickettsial diseases are transmitted by different types of arthropods, ticks, fleas, lice, and mites. This review will examine the roles of these different arthropod vectors and their geographical distributions. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Tribalism as a Foiled Factor of Africa Nation-Building

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Okogu, J. O.; Umudjere, S. O.

2016-01-01

This paper tends to examine tribalism as a foiled factor on Africa nation-building and proffers useful tips to salvaging the Africa land from this deadly social problem. Africans in times past had suffered enormous attacks, injuries, losses, deaths, destruction of properties and human skills and ideas due to the presence of tribalistic views in…

The YES Africa 2011 Symposium: A Key to Developing the Future Geoscience Workforce in Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nkhonjera, E.

2011-12-01

Africa is facing serious challenges in geoscience education. This has been as a result of absence of or very young/small Earth Science Departments in some universities (e.g., Mauritius, Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland, Malawi): Limited capacity (staff and equipment needed for practicals) to cope with the growing number of students, compounded by brain drain of academic staffs and the fact that current tertiary programmes do not seem to produce graduates suitable for the industry are some of the contributing factors to the challenges, (UNESCO-AEON Report, 2009). As such Earth Science studies in Africa have been one of the career paths that has not been promoted or highly preferred by many students. In January 2011, the YES Network African chapter was launched through the YES Africa 2011 Symposium that took place at the University of Johannesburg South Africa in Conjunction with the 23rd Colloquium of Africa Geology from the 08-14th January 2011. The YES Africa 2011 Symposium was organized by five YES African National networks from Southern, Central, Eastern and Northern Africa to bring young geoscientists from all regions of Africa together to present their research about African geoscience topics. The symposium also included roundtable discussions about increasing the involvement of youth's participation in geoscience issues in Africa, about how to increase the number of youths in African geosciences education university programs, and about how to promote geoscience careers to university students in Africa c. Roundtable discussions revealed that many African colleges and universities do not provide adequate infrastructure and resources to support the students studying in the department. As such, most students graduate with poor preparation for geoscience careers, having gained a theoretical understanding of geology, but not the practical application of the discipline. The recommendations from the YES Africa 2011 Symposium also highlighted on the best ways of

A political economy analysis of human resources for health (HRH) in Africa.

PubMed

Fieno, John Vincent; Dambisya, Yoswa M; George, Gavin; Benson, Kent

2016-07-22

Despite a global recognition from all stakeholders of the gravity and urgency of health worker shortage in Africa, little progress has been achieved to improve health worker coverage in many of the African human resources for health (HRH) crisis countries. The problem consists in how policy is made, how leaders are accountable, how the World Health Organization (WHO) and foreign donors encourage (or distort) health policy, and how development objectives are prioritized in these countries. This paper uses political economy analysis, which stems from a recognition that the solution to the shortage of health workers across Africa involves more than a technical response. A number of institutional arrangements dampen investments in HRH, including a mismatch between officials' tenure in office and program results, the vertical nature of health programming, the modalities of Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) in health, the structures of the global health community, and the weak capacity in HRH units within Ministries of Health. A major change in policymaking would only occur with a disruption to the political or institutional order. The case study of Ethiopia, who has increased its health workforce dramatically over the last 20 years, disrupted previous institutional arrangements through the power of ideas-HRH as a key intermediate development objective. The framing of HRH created the rationale for the political commitment to HRH investment. Ethiopia demonstrates that political will coupled with strong state capacity and adequate resource mobilization can overcome the institutional hurdles above. Donors will follow the lead of a country with long-term political commitment to HRH, as they did in Ethiopia.

Human Infection with Rickettsia felis, Kenya

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-07-01

fever ( RVF ) epidemic in the country. The North Eastern Province was severely affected by the 2 most recent RVF epidemics in the Eastern Africa region...89,000 human RVF infections occurred during the 1997-98 epidemic and > 300 acute cases occurred during the 2006-2007 epi- demic (9,10). Therefore...the surveillance was established to investigate whether acute RVF cases occurred during in- terepidemic periods. As part of this investigation. we

Quantifying the Worldwide Digital Divide: The Emergence of Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cottrell, Roger

2011-04-01

Africa is huge with over 1 billion people, speaking over 1000 languages, with huge rainforests and vast deserts. Yet as we shall show it badly lags behind the rest of the world in its Internet performance. This talk will show how we measure the Internet Performance. These measurements cover countries of the world containing over 99% of the world's Internet connected population. Using these measurements we illustrate the overall Internet performance for the world in particular for: throughput, losses, jitter, Round Trip Times, availability etc. We will demonstrate the performance trends for the last 13 years, in particular illustrating how Africa is not only behind all other regions and one to two decades behind developed regions, but worse is falling further behind. We also compare our results with the International Telecommunications Union's ICT Development Index (IDI) that measures the development for over 150 countries. We then focus on the promising emerging situation in Africa following the dramatic increases in performance due to submarine fibre connectivity that was driven partially by soccer's 2010 World Cup in South Africa. We conclude that despite the many challenges in Africa, there is promising potential for a dramatic improvement in the near future, but there is still a long way to go.

Genetic evidence and the modern human origins debate.

PubMed

Relethford, J H

2008-06-01

A continued debate in anthropology concerns the evolutionary origin of 'anatomically modern humans' (Homo sapiens sapiens). Different models have been proposed to examine the related questions of (1) where and when anatomically modern humans first appeared and (2) the genetic and evolutionary relationship between modern humans and earlier human populations. Genetic data have been increasingly used to address these questions. Genetic data on living human populations have been used to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the human species by considering how global patterns of human variation could be produced given different evolutionary scenarios. Of particular interest are gene trees that reconstruct the time and place of the most recent common ancestor of humanity for a given haplotype and the analysis of regional differences in genetic diversity. Ancient DNA has also allowed a direct assessment of genetic variation in European Neandertals. Together with the fossil record, genetic data provide insight into the origin of modern humans. The evidence points to an African origin of modern humans dating back to 200,000 years followed by later expansions of moderns out of Africa across the Old World. What is less clear is what happened when these early modern humans met preexisting 'archaic human' populations outside of Africa. At present, it is difficult to distinguish between a model of total genetic replacement and a model that includes some degree of genetic mixture.

Complex Patterns of Genomic Admixture within Southern Africa

PubMed Central

Petersen, Desiree C.; Libiger, Ondrej; Tindall, Elizabeth A.; Hardie, Rae-Anne; Hannick, Linda I.; Glashoff, Richard H.; Mukerji, Mitali; Fernandez, Pedro; Haacke, Wilfrid; Schork, Nicholas J.; Hayes, Vanessa M.

2013-01-01

Within-population genetic diversity is greatest within Africa, while between-population genetic diversity is directly proportional to geographic distance. The most divergent contemporary human populations include the click-speaking forager peoples of southern Africa, broadly defined as Khoesan. Both intra- (Bantu expansion) and inter-continental migration (European-driven colonization) have resulted in complex patterns of admixture between ancient geographically isolated Khoesan and more recently diverged populations. Using gender-specific analysis and almost 1 million autosomal markers, we determine the significance of estimated ancestral contributions that have shaped five contemporary southern African populations in a cohort of 103 individuals. Limited by lack of available data for homogenous Khoesan representation, we identify the Ju/'hoan (n = 19) as a distinct early diverging human lineage with little to no significant non-Khoesan contribution. In contrast to the Ju/'hoan, we identify ancient signatures of Khoesan and Bantu unions resulting in significant Khoesan- and Bantu-derived contributions to the Southern Bantu amaXhosa (n = 15) and Khoesan !Xun (n = 14), respectively. Our data further suggests that contemporary !Xun represent distinct Khoesan prehistories. Khoesan assimilation with European settlement at the most southern tip of Africa resulted in significant ancestral Khoesan contributions to the Coloured (n = 25) and Baster (n = 30) populations. The latter populations were further impacted by 170 years of East Indian slave trade and intra-continental migrations resulting in a complex pattern of genetic variation (admixture). The populations of southern Africa provide a unique opportunity to investigate the genomic variability from some of the oldest human lineages to the implications of complex admixture patterns including ancient and recently diverged human lineages. PMID:23516368

The enigma of yellow fever in East Africa.

PubMed

Ellis, Brett R; Barrett, Alan D T

2008-01-01

Despite a safe and effective vaccine, there are approximately 200,000 cases, including 30,000 deaths, due to yellow fever virus (YFV) each year, of which 90% are in Africa. The natural history of YFV has been well described, especially in West Africa, but in East Africa yellow fever (YF) remains characterised by unpredictable focal periodicity and a precarious potential for large epidemics. Recent outbreaks of YF in Kenya (1992-1993) and Sudan (2003 and 2005) are important because each of these outbreaks have involved the re-emergence of a YFV genotype (East Africa) that remained undetected for nearly 40 years and was previously unconfirmed in a clinically apparent outbreak. In addition, unlike West Africa and South America, YF has yet to emerge in urban areas of East Africa and be vectored by Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti. This is a significant public health concern in a region where the majority of the population remains unvaccinated. This review describes historical findings, highlights a number of disease indicators, and provides clarification regarding the natural history, recent emergence and future risk of YF in East Africa. Copyright (c) 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

An overview of monitoring and reduction strategies for health and climate change related emissions in the Middle East and North Africa region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abbass, Rana Alaa; Kumar, Prashant; El-Gendy, Ahmed

2018-02-01

This review assesses the current state of air pollution in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Emission types and sources in the region are identified and quantified to understand the monitoring, legislative and reduction needs through a systematic review of available literature. It is found that both health (e.g., particulate matter, PM; and heavy metals) and climate change (e.g., carbon dioxide and methane) emissions are increasing with the time. Regarding health emissions, over 99% of the MENA population is exposed to PM levels that exceed the standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO). The dominant source of climate change emissions is the energy sector contributing ∼38% of CO2 emissions, followed by the transport sector at ∼25%. Numerous studies have been carried out on air pollution in the region, however, there is a lack of comprehensive regional studies that would provide a holistic assessment. Most countries have air quality monitoring systems in place, however, the data is not effectively evaluated to devise pollution reduction strategies. Moreover, comprehensive emission inventories for the individual countries in the region are also lacking. The legislative and regulatory systems in MENA region follow the standards set by international environmental entities such as the WHO and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency but their effective reinforcement remains a concern. It is concluded that the opportunities for emission reduction and control could be best implemented in the road transportation sector using innovative technologies. One of the potential ways forward is to channel finance flows from fossil fuel subsidies to upgrade road transport with public transportation systems such as buses and trains, as suggested by a 'high shift' scenario for MENA region. Furthermore, emission control programs and technologies are more effective when sponsored and implemented by the private sector; the success of Saudi Aramco in supporting

The Soil Atlas of Africa: raising awareness and educate to the importance of soil

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dewitte, Olivier; Jones, Arwyn; Bosco, Claudio; Spaargaren, Otto; Montanarella, Luca

2010-05-01

available. These datasets will be useful for making broad distinction among soil types and provide general trends at the global and regional scales. The datasets will be made accessible for free downloading from the portals of the SOIL Action (http://eusoils.jrc.ec.europa.eu/) and the ACP Observatory for Sustainable Development (http://acpobservatory.jrc.ec.europa.eu). The Atlas links the theme of soil with rural development and, at the same time, supports the goals of the EU Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection in conserving a threatened natural resource that is vital to human existence. Not only climate change, but also desertification and loss of biodiversity are strongly affecting soils globally, making the "Soil Atlas of Africa" relevant to a much larger community of stakeholders involved in the implementation of the three "Rio-Conventions" and allowing to explore possible synergies among international multilateral agreements towards global soil protection.

'Africa Alive Corridors': Forging a new future for the people of Africa by the people of Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Felix Toteu, Sadrack; Malcolm Anderson, John; de Wit, Maarten

2010-11-01

' Africa Alive Corridors' (AAC) addresses major stewardship goals in Africa through a selection of 20 heritage Corridors (varying from 1000 to 4000 km in length and 50 to 100 km wide). These include more than 400 heritage nodes (World Heritage Sites, Biosphere Reserves, biodiversity hotspots, Geoparks, etc.). AAC tracks Africa's journey from around 4 billion years ago to the present day through these chronologically sequenced Corridors. And so, the 4-billion-year autobiography of the continent is told. It encompasses the geological, biological and anthropological/cultural history of Africa's 54 nations - a (hi-) story without borders. The wealth of scientific and biographical knowledge archived in this network of Corridors tells the story of continental drift, mega-geohazards, climate variability and change, and the origin and extinction of biodiversity; and includes our human roots, culture and spirituality, our impact on the Earth and our potential to influence its future. In telling this story of Africa, new research avenues will be discovered and new learning methodologies will be experienced and developed and shared. In this way, the AAC provide loci along which the eight UN-Millennium Development Goals may be readily and realistically achieved. In concert, they can form the basis for a new collective endeavour - of Pan African Earth Stewardship Science. In this, the final - 2010 - phase of IYPE (the International Year of Planet Earth), we aim to make a start at bringing the ' Africa Alive Corridors' into real-life context. Whilst the concept of the Corridors has been formulated and presented at various international forums—most recently in Africa at the launch of IYPE in Arusha, Tanzania, in May 2008—here we present in brief their conceptual framework, and summarize the rationale behind the selection of the 20 African Corridors. Then, we describe, for the first time, how the AAC concept might evolve. To achieve the latter, we focus on an exploratory

Diet, Genetics, and Disease: A Focus on the Middle East and North Africa Region

PubMed Central

Fahed, Akl C.; El-Hage-Sleiman, Abdul-Karim M.; Farhat, Theresa I.; Nemer, Georges M.

2012-01-01

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region suffers a drastic change from a traditional diet to an industrialized diet. This has led to an unparalleled increase in the prevalence of chronic diseases. This review discusses the role of nutritional genomics, or the dietary signature, in these dietary and disease changes in the MENA. The diet-genetics-disease relation is discussed in detail. Selected disease categories in the MENA are discussed starting with a review of their epidemiology in the different MENA countries, followed by an examination of the known genetic factors that have been reported in the disease discussed, whether inside or outside the MENA. Several diet-genetics-disease relationships in the MENA may be contributing to the increased prevalence of civilization disorders of metabolism and micronutrient deficiencies. Future research in the field of nutritional genomics in the MENA is needed to better define these relationships. PMID:22536488

Cost-effectiveness analysis of human papillomavirus vaccination in South Africa accounting for human immunodeficiency virus prevalence.

PubMed

Li, Xiao; Stander, Martinus P; Van Kriekinge, Georges; Demarteau, Nadia

2015-12-11

This study aims at evaluating the cost-effectiveness of a 2-dose schedule human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme of HPV and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) naïve 12-year-old girls, in addition to cervical cancer (CC) screening alone, in South Africa. The study aims to account for both the impact of the vaccine among girls who are HIV-positive (HIV+) as well as HIV-negative (HIV-) population. A previously published Markov cohort model was adapted to assess the impact and cost-effectiveness of a HPV vaccination programme in girls aged 12 years (N = 527 900) using the AS04-adjuvanted HPV-16/18 vaccine from a public payer perspective. Two subpopulations were considered: HIV- and HIV+ women. Each population followed the HPV natural history with different transition probabilities. Model input data were obtained from the literature, local databases and Delphi panel. Costs and outcomes were discounted at 5 %. Extensive sensitivity analyses were conducted to assess the robustness of the evaluation. Implementation of the AS04-adjuvanted HPV-16/18 vaccine in combination with current cytological screening in South African girls could prevent up to 8 869 CC cases and 5 436 CC deaths over the lifetime of a single cohort. Without discounting, this HPV vaccine is dominant over screening alone; with discounting, the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio is ZAR 81 978 (South African Rand) per quality-adjusted life years (QALY) gained. HPV vaccination can be considered cost-effective based on World Health Organization (WHO) recommended threshold (3 x gross domestic product/capita = ZAR 200 293). In a scenario with a hypothetical targeted vaccination in a HIV+ subpopulation alone, the modelled outcomes suggest that HPV vaccination is still cost-effective, although the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio increases to ZAR 102 479. Results were sensitive to discount rate, vaccine efficacy, HIV incidence and mortality rates, and HPV-related disease

Evaluation of a regional mineral dust model over Northern Africa, Southern Europe and Middle East with AERONET data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basart, S.; Pérez, C.; Cuevas, E.; Baldasano, J. M.

2009-04-01

A variety of regional and global models of the dust aerosol cycle have been developed since early 1990s. Dust models are essential to complement dust-related observations, understand the dust processes and predict the impact of dust on surface level PM concentrations. Dust generation and the parameterization of its deposition processes shows a high variability on spatial and temporal scales. It responds, in a non-linear way, to a variety of environmental factors, such as soil moisture content, the type of surface cover or surface atmospheric turbulence. Thus the modelling of this very complex process is a challenge. DREAM (Dust Regional Atmospheric Model; Nickovic et al., 2001) provides operational dust forecasts for Northern Africa, Europe and Middle East, as well as for the East-Asia regions. DREAM is operated and further developed in the Barcelona Supercomputing Center. DREAM is fully inserted as one of the governing equations in the NCEP/Eta atmospheric model and simulates all major processes of the atmospheric dust cycle. In order to implement new model versions for operational applications there is a need for extensive checking and validation against real observations. The present study focuses on the evaluation of forecasting capacity of the new version of DREAM by means of a model-to-observation comparison of the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) over Northern Africa, Southern Europe and Middle East for one year. The model provides 72h forecasts initialized at 12UTC of each day with outputs every 1 hour at horizontal resolution of about 1/3° and 24 z-vertical layers in the troposphere. Comparisons against 47 selected AERONET sites are used. Eight size bins between 0.1 and 10 µm are considered, and dust-radiation interactions are included (Pérez et al., 2006). Wet deposition scheme has been also improved. The simulation has been performed over one year (2004); statistics and time series for the model outputs and AERONET data are used to evaluate the ability of

Genetic and archaeological perspectives on the initial modern human colonization of southern Asia

PubMed Central

Mellars, Paul; Gori, Kevin C.; Carr, Martin; Soares, Pedro A.; Richards, Martin B.

2013-01-01

It has been argued recently that the initial dispersal of anatomically modern humans from Africa to southern Asia occurred before the volcanic “supereruption” of the Mount Toba volcano (Sumatra) at ∼74,000 y before present (B.P.)—possibly as early as 120,000 y B.P. We show here that this “pre-Toba” dispersal model is in serious conflict with both the most recent genetic evidence from both Africa and Asia and the archaeological evidence from South Asian sites. We present an alternative model based on a combination of genetic analyses and recent archaeological evidence from South Asia and Africa. These data support a coastally oriented dispersal of modern humans from eastern Africa to southern Asia ∼60–50 thousand years ago (ka). This was associated with distinctively African microlithic and “backed-segment” technologies analogous to the African “Howiesons Poort” and related technologies, together with a range of distinctively “modern” cultural and symbolic features (highly shaped bone tools, personal ornaments, abstract artistic motifs, microblade technology, etc.), similar to those that accompanied the replacement of “archaic” Neanderthal by anatomically modern human populations in other regions of western Eurasia at a broadly similar date. PMID:23754394

Numerical simulation of surface solar radiation over Southern Africa. Part 1: Evaluation of regional and global climate models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Chao; Morel, Béatrice; Wild, Martin; Pohl, Benjamin; Abiodun, Babatunde; Bessafi, Miloud

2018-02-01

This study evaluates the performance of climate models in reproducing surface solar radiation (SSR) over Southern Africa (SA) by validating five Regional Climate Models (RCM, including CCLM4, HIRHAM5, RACMO22T, RCA4 and REMO2009) that participated in the Coordinated Regional Downscaling Experiment program over Africa (CORDEX-Africa) along with their ten driving General Circulation Models (GCMs) from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 over SA. The model simulated SSR was thereby compared to reference data from ground-based measurements, satellite-derived products and reanalyses over the period 1990-2005. Results show that (1) the references obtained from satellite retrievals and reanalyses overall overestimate SSR by up to 10 W/m2 on average when compared to ground-based measurements from the Global Energy Balance Archive, which are located mainly over the eastern part of the southern African continent. (2) Compared to one of the satellite products (Surface Solar Radiation Data Set—Heliosat Edition 2; SARAH-2): GCMs overestimate SSR over SA in terms of their multi-model mean by about 1 W/m2 (compensation of opposite biases over sub-regions) and 7.5 W/m2 in austral summer and winter respectively; RCMs driven by GCMs show in their multimodel mean underestimations of SSR in both seasons with Mean Bias Errors (MBEs) of about - 30 W/m2 in austral summer and about - 14 W/m2 in winter compared to SARAH-2. This multi-model mean low bias is dominated by the simulations of the CCLM4, with negative biases up to - 76 W/m2 in summer and - 32 W/m2 in winter. (3) The discrepancies in the simulated SSR over SA are larger in the RCMs than in the GCMs. (4) In terms of trend during the "brightening" period 1990-2005, both GCMs and RCMs (driven by European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Reanalysis ERA-Interim, short as ERAINT and GCMs) simulate an SSR trend of less than 1 W/m2 per decade. However, variations of SSR trend exist among different references data

Climatology of Aerosol Optical Properties in Southern Africa

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Queface, Antonio J.; Piketh, Stuart J.; Eck, Thomas F.; Tsay, Si-Chee

2011-01-01

A thorough regionally dependent understanding of optical properties of aerosols and their spatial and temporal distribution is required before we can accurately evaluate aerosol effects in the climate system. Long term measurements of aerosol optical depth, Angstrom exponent and retrieved single scattering albedo and size distribution, were analyzed and compiled into an aerosol optical properties climatology for southern Africa. Monitoring of aerosol parameters have been made by the AERONET program since the middle of the last decade in southern Africa. This valuable information provided an opportunity for understanding how aerosols of different types influence the regional radiation budget. Two long term sites, Mongu in Zambia and Skukuza in South Africa formed the core sources of data in this study. Results show that seasonal variation of aerosol optical thicknesses at 500 nm in southern Africa are characterized by low seasonal multi-month mean values (0.11 to 0.17) from December to May, medium values (0.20 to 0.27) between June and August, and high to very high values (0.30 to 0.46) during September to November. The spatial distribution of aerosol loadings shows that the north has high magnitudes than the south in the biomass burning season and the opposite in none biomass burning season. From the present aerosol data, no long term discernable trends are observable in aerosol concentrations in this region. This study also reveals that biomass burning aerosols contribute the bulk of the aerosol loading in August-October. Therefore if biomass burning could be controlled, southern Africa will experience a significant reduction in total atmospheric aerosol loading. In addition to that, aerosol volume size distribution is characterized by low concentrations in the non biomass burning period and well balanced particle size contributions of both coarse and fine modes. In contrast high concentrations are characteristic of biomass burning period, combined with

Public Policy, Physical Education and Sport in English-Speaking Africa

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chepyator-Thomson, Jepkorir Rose

2014-01-01

Background: Physicality in human movement characteristic of indigenous sporting forms in Africa is grounded in a multitude of cultures. During the period of colonial Africa, there was the introduction of British sporting forms, policies, and practices in schools and society. It was through schools and missions that the colonists introduced sport…

The first Loranthaceae fossils from Africa

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Abstract An ongoing re-investigation of the early Miocene Saldanha Bay (South Africa) palynoflora, using combined light and scanning electron microscopy (single grain method), is revealing several pollen types new to the African fossil record. One of the elements identified is Loranthaceae pollen. These grains represent the first and only fossil record of Loranthaceae in Africa. The fossil pollen grains resemble those produced by the core Lorantheae and are comparable to recent Asian as well as some African taxa/lineages. Molecular and fossil signals indicate that Loranthaceae dispersed into Africa via Asia sometime during the Eocene. The present host range of African Loranthaceae and the composition of the palynoflora suggest that the fossil had a range of potential host taxa to parasitise during the early Miocene in the Saldanha Bay region. PMID:29780299

Vegetation-climate feedbacks modulate rainfall patterns in Africa under future climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Minchao; Schurgers, Guy; Rummukainen, Markku; Smith, Benjamin; Samuelsson, Patrick; Jansson, Christer; Siltberg, Joe; May, Wilhelm

2016-07-01

Africa has been undergoing significant changes in climate and vegetation in recent decades, and continued changes may be expected over this century. Vegetation cover and composition impose important influences on the regional climate in Africa. Climate-driven changes in vegetation structure and the distribution of forests versus savannah and grassland may feed back to climate via shifts in the surface energy balance, hydrological cycle and resultant effects on surface pressure and larger-scale atmospheric circulation. We used a regional Earth system model incorporating interactive vegetation-atmosphere coupling to investigate the potential role of vegetation-mediated biophysical feedbacks on climate dynamics in Africa in an RCP8.5-based future climate scenario. The model was applied at high resolution (0.44 × 0.44°) for the CORDEX-Africa domain with boundary conditions from the CanESM2 general circulation model. We found that increased tree cover and leaf-area index (LAI) associated with a CO2 and climate-driven increase in net primary productivity, particularly over subtropical savannah areas, not only imposed important local effect on the regional climate by altering surface energy fluxes but also resulted in remote effects over central Africa by modulating the land-ocean temperature contrast, Atlantic Walker circulation and moisture inflow feeding the central African tropical rainforest region with precipitation. The vegetation-mediated feedbacks were in general negative with respect to temperature, dampening the warming trend simulated in the absence of feedbacks, and positive with respect to precipitation, enhancing rainfall reduction over the rainforest areas. Our results highlight the importance of accounting for vegetation-atmosphere interactions in climate projections for tropical and subtropical Africa.

Convergent ethical issues in HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria vaccine trials in Africa: Report from the WHO/UNAIDS African AIDS Vaccine Programme's Ethics, Law and Human Rights Collaborating Centre consultation, 10-11 February 2009, Durban, South Africa

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Africa continues to bear a disproportionate share of the global HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria burden. The development and distribution of safe, effective and affordable vaccines is critical to reduce these epidemics. However, conducting HIV/AIDS, TB, and/or malaria vaccine trials simultaneously in developing countries, or in populations affected by all three diseases, is likely to result in numerous ethical challenges. Methods In order to explore convergent ethical issues in HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria vaccine trials in Africa, the Ethics, Law and Human Rights Collaborating Centre of the WHO/UNAIDS African AIDS Vaccine Programme hosted a consultation on the Convergent Ethical Issues in HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria Vaccine Trials in Africa in Durban, South Africa on the 10-11 February 2009. Results Key cross cutting ethical issues were prioritized during the consultation as community engagement; ancillary care obligations; care and treatment; informed consent; and resource sharing. Conclusion The consultation revealed that while there have been few attempts to find convergence on ethical issues between HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria vaccine trial fields to date, there is much common ground and scope for convergence work between stakeholders in the three fields. PMID:20211030

Convergent ethical issues in HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria vaccine trials in Africa: Report from the WHO/UNAIDS African AIDS Vaccine Programme's Ethics, Law and Human Rights Collaborating Centre consultation, 10-11 February 2009, Durban, South Africa.

PubMed

Mamotte, Nicole; Wassenaar, Douglas; Koen, Jennifer; Essack, Zaynab

2010-03-09

Africa continues to bear a disproportionate share of the global HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria burden. The development and distribution of safe, effective and affordable vaccines is critical to reduce these epidemics. However, conducting HIV/AIDS, TB, and/or malaria vaccine trials simultaneously in developing countries, or in populations affected by all three diseases, is likely to result in numerous ethical challenges. In order to explore convergent ethical issues in HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria vaccine trials in Africa, the Ethics, Law and Human Rights Collaborating Centre of the WHO/UNAIDS African AIDS Vaccine Programme hosted a consultation on the Convergent Ethical Issues in HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria Vaccine Trials in Africa in Durban, South Africa on the 10-11 February 2009. Key cross cutting ethical issues were prioritized during the consultation as community engagement; ancillary care obligations; care and treatment; informed consent; and resource sharing. The consultation revealed that while there have been few attempts to find convergence on ethical issues between HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria vaccine trial fields to date, there is much common ground and scope for convergence work between stakeholders in the three fields.

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in Africa.

PubMed

Adnams, Colleen M

2017-03-01

This review aims to summarize data published in the scientific literature and available on official websites on fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) in Africa. There is a paucity of published literature and evidence-based information on prenatal exposure to alcohol in the African continent and the majority of the continent's literature on FASD emanates from South Africa. A small number of scientific publications document FASD and drinking in pregnancy in other Sub-Saharan African countries and these findings provide evidence that FASD occurs across the continent. Further evidence shows that the world's highest reported rates of FASD occur in South Africa and that this confers a significant public health and neurodevelopmental disability burden on the region. There is an established body of epidemiological, diagnostic, neurobehavioral and neuroscientific knowledge from studies in South Africa. Universal and indicated case method preventions are effective in reducing maternal alcohol consumption in high-risk areas. Throughout Africa, a policy and service implementation gap exists that impedes translation of generated knowledge into effective prevention and intervention strategies. FASD is likely a widely occurring and largely unrecognized neurodevelopmental disability in Africa. A key future direction for global agencies and research partnerships is to collaboratively address evidence gaps and knowledge translation through scalable approaches and strategies that aim to ameliorate the burden of FASD in African and other countries.

Utilization of implantable defibrillators in Africa.

PubMed

Millar, R N Scott; Mayosi, B M

2003-01-01

Sub-Saharan Africa is dominated by diseases of poverty. HIV/AIDS affects 28.5 out of a total of 600 million in the region. South Africa is the only country in sub-Saharan Africa in which implantable cardiovertor defibrillators (ICDs) are implanted (0.8/million in 2001). Only 3 of the 35 new ICDs were implanted in state-funded public hospitals. The pacemaker implantation rate for South Africa was 41/million in 2001. Approximately 20% of the population consume 56% of the health care expenditure, mainly funded by Medical Insurance. A tax-funded state health care system serves the rest of the population, but is concentrated on improving sanitation and primary health care. Diversion of funds from academic tertiary hospitals has reduced specialised services, particularly cardiology and cardiac surgery, and has resulted in an exodus of skilled personnel to the private sector. In the rest of sub-Saharan Africa, tertiary health care is mainly privately funded. Cardiology and cardiac surgery is not widely available. Many countries are crippled by debt and chronic local conflicts. Only one state hospital (Groote Schuur, Cape Town) provides an electrophysiology (EP) service including catheter ablation and ICD implantation, and training in EP, by two electrophysiologists. EP services are available privately in 3 centres. No EP service exists in the rest of sub-Saharan Africa.

"Harnessing genomics to improve health in Africa" – an executive course to support genomics policy

PubMed Central

Smith, Alyna C; Mugabe, John; Singer, Peter A; Daar, Abdallah S

2005-01-01

Background Africa in the twenty-first century is faced with a heavy burden of disease, combined with ill-equipped medical systems and underdeveloped technological capacity. A major challenge for the international community is to bring scientific and technological advances like genomics to bear on the health priorities of poorer countries. The New Partnership for Africa's Development has identified science and technology as a key platform for Africa's renewal. Recognizing the timeliness of this issue, the African Centre for Technology Studies and the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics co-organized a course on Genomics and Public Health Policy in Nairobi, Kenya, the first of a series of similar courses to take place in the developing world. This article presents the findings and recommendations that emerged from this process, recommendations which suggest that a regional approach to developing sound science and technology policies is the key to harnessing genome-related biotechnology to improve health and contribute to human development in Africa. Methods The objectives of the course were to familiarize participants with the current status and implications of genomics for health in Africa; to provide frameworks for analyzing and debating the policy and ethical questions; and to begin developing a network across different sectors by sharing perspectives and building relationships. To achieve these goals the course brought together a diverse group of stakeholders from academic research centres, the media, non-governmental, voluntary and legal organizations to stimulate multi-sectoral debate around issues of policy. Topics included scientific advances in genomics innovation systems and business models, international regulatory frameworks, as well as ethical and legal issues. Results Seven main recommendations emerged: establish a network for sustained dialogue among participants; identify champions among politicians; use the New Plan for African

Challenges of Biobanking in South Africa to Facilitate Indigenous Research in an Environment Burdened with Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Tuberculosis, and Emerging Noncommunicable Diseases

PubMed Central

Christoffels, Alan; Grewal, Ravnit; Karam, Locunda A.; Rossouw, Catherine; Staunton, Ciara; Swanepoel, Carmen; van Rooyen, Beverley

2013-01-01

The high burden of infectious diseases and the growing problem of noncommunicable and metabolic disease syndromes in South Africa (SA) forces a more focused research approach to facilitate cutting-edge scientific growth and public health development. Increased SA research on these diseases and syndromes and the collection of associated biospecimens has ensured a plethora of biobanks created by individuals, albeit without the foresight of prospective and collective use by other local and international researchers. As the need for access to high-quality specimens in statistically relevant numbers has increased, so has the necessity for the development of national human biobanks in SA and across the Continent. The prospects of achieving sustainable centralized biobanks are still an emerging and evolving concept, primarily and recently driven by the launch of the H3Africa consortium, which includes the development of harmonized and standardized biobanking operating procedures. This process is hindered by a myriad of complex societal considerations and ethico-legal challenges. Efforts to consolidate and standardize biological sample collections are further compromised by the lack of full appreciation by national stakeholders of the biological value inherent in these collections, and the availability of high quality human samples with well-annotated data for future scientific research and development. Inadequate or nonexistent legislative structures that specifically regulate the storage, use, dispersal, and disposal of human biological samples are common phenomena and pose further challenges. Furthermore, concerns relating to consent for unspecified future uses, as well as access to information and data protection, are all new paradigms that require further consideration and public engagement. This article reviews important fundamental issues such as governance, ethics, infrastructure, and bioinformatics that are important foundational prerequisites for the

Genetic diversity of the human immunoglobulin heavy chain VH region.

PubMed

Li, Honghua; Cui, Xiangfeng; Pramanik, Sreemanta; Chimge, Nyam-Osor

2002-12-01

The human immunoglobulin heavy chain VH region is one of the most complex regions in the human genome. The high level of diversity of this region has been shown by a number of studies. However, because of the limitations of the conventional experimental methods, it has been difficult to learn the extent of the diversity and the underlying mechanisms. This review describes a number of new genetic approaches developed in the authors' laboratory. By using these approaches, significant progress has been made in assigning different VH sequences to their respective loci, in learning the diversity of gene segment number and composition among the VH haplotypes, and in learning VH gene segment organization in individual haplotypes. Information obtained toward this direction could help in understanding the mechanisms underlying VH region diversity and the biological impact of the VH region diversity.

Sensitivity experiments of a regional climate model to the different convective schemes over Central Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Armand J, K. M.

2017-12-01

In this study, version 4 of the regional climate model (RegCM4) is used to perform 6 years simulation including one year for spin-up (from January 2001 to December 2006) over Central Africa using four convective schemes: The Emmanuel scheme (MIT), the Grell scheme with Arakawa-Schulbert closure assumption (GAS), the Grell scheme with Fritsch-Chappell closure assumption (GFC) and the Anthes-Kuo scheme (Kuo). We have investigated the ability of the model to simulate precipitation, surface temperature, wind and aerosols optical depth. Emphasis in the model results were made in December-January-February (DJF) and July-August-September (JAS) periods. Two subregions have been identified for more specific analysis namely: zone 1 which corresponds to the sahel region mainly classified as desert and steppe and zone 2 which is a region spanning the tropical rain forest and is characterised by a bimodal rain regime. We found that regardless of periods or simulated parameters, MIT scheme generally has a tendency to overestimate. The GAS scheme is more suitable in simulating the aforementioned parameters, as well as the diurnal cycle of precipitations everywhere over the study domain irrespective of the season. In JAS, model results are similar in the representation of regional wind circulation. Apart from the MIT scheme, all the convective schemes give the same trends in aerosols optical depth simulations. Additional experiment reveals that the use of BATS instead of Zeng scheme to calculate ocean flux appears to improve the quality of the model simulations.

Rights of the Child in South Africa: Violence against Girls in South Africa.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benninger-Budel, Carin

This report to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child contains observations of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) concerning the application of the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child by the nation of South Africa. Noting that the Convention is the only "mainstream" human rights instrument that…

Climate, Environment and Early Human Innovation: Stable Isotope and Faunal Proxy Evidence from Archaeological Sites (98-59ka) in the Southern Cape, South Africa

PubMed Central

Keene, Petro; Gledhill, Andrew; Reynard, Jerome; Badenhorst, Shaw

2016-01-01

The Middle Stone Age (MSA) of southern Africa, and in particular its Still Bay and Howiesons Poort lithic traditions, represents a period of dramatic subsistence, cultural, and technological innovation by our species, Homo sapiens. Climate change has frequently been postulated as a primary driver of the appearance of these innovative behaviours, with researchers invoking either climate instability as a reason for the development of buffering mechanisms, or environmentally stable refugia as providing a stable setting for experimentation. Testing these alternative models has proved intractable, however, as existing regional palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental records remain spatially, stratigraphically, and chronologically disconnected from the archaeological record. Here we report high-resolution records of environmental shifts based on stable carbon and oxygen isotopes in ostrich eggshell (OES) fragments, faunal remains, and shellfish assemblages excavated from two key MSA archaeological sequences, Blombos Cave and Klipdrift Shelter. We compare these records with archaeological material remains in the same strata. The results from both sites, spanning the periods 98–73 ka and 72–59 ka, respectively, show significant changes in vegetation, aridity, rainfall seasonality, and sea temperature in the vicinity of the sites during periods of human occupation. While these changes clearly influenced human subsistence strategies, we find that the remarkable cultural and technological innovations seen in the sites cannot be linked directly to climate shifts. Our results demonstrate the need for scale-appropriate, on-site testing of behavioural-environmental links, rather than broader, regional comparisons. PMID:27383620