AbstractThe savannah ecosystem is influenced by seasonal fires that shape the landscape, with different fire intensities. The objective of this study is to assess the trend in fire intensity and the influence of the vegetation types. A linear regression model was employed to analyse the trend in fire intensity over the years. The results demonstrate a linear positive evolution of mean fire intensity over the years, with the highest fire intensity observed during the months of November to January. Woodland, shrub savannah and grassland areas exhibited high fire intensity, whereas wetland areas and forests displayed low fire intensity. Overall, remote sensing techniques can facilitate the monitoring of fire events, specifically fire intensity, in the savannah regions of West Africa, thereby aiding in the implementation of appropriate fire management plans.

The civil war in Côte d'Ivoire led to a hike in human disturbances and the extirpation of African lion Panthera leo from the Comoé National Park (CNP). After the war, many efforts have been made to restore this ecosystem and management is considering the reintroduction of lions. In a participatory management with people at the center of conservation, there is a need to discuss with communities the initiatives affecting their livelihoods. We assessed the acceptance of lion reintroduction by the local communities; through semi‐structured questionnaires to 307 volunteer participants in surrounding 23 villages. Most respondents had knowledge of lions from CNP (93%, n = 286). A generalized linear model (GLM) revealed that sex, profession, perceived benefits and risks, and an appreciation of the current management system are the main significant determinants for the acceptance of lion reintroduction in CNP. A large majority (73%, n = 223) were in favor of the lion reintroduction with significant variance among socio‐professional categories. The majority of respondents (81%, n = 250) acknowledged having coexisted with lions, with previous lion conflicts reported by 20% (n = 61), and a willingness to coexist in future by 74% (n = 227). More than 84% (n = 260) believed that there would be benefits associated with lion reintroduction to CNP and 53% (n = 162) believed that the potential benefits would be greater than the possible risks associated with lions. Most respondents (88%; n = 270) confirmed the possibility of taking precautions to prevent future lion attacks. While only 42% (n = 129) of respondents felt that current management was participatory, most of them felt that it was acceptable (83%; n = 254). Our data shows a large degree of lion support, positive perceptions and willingness to coexist with lion in future. These results form part of a fundamental step in the direction for ethical reintroduction, as described by the IUCN reintroduction specialist group. We recommend the improvement of the involvement of indigenous communities in potential reintroduction of lions, especially the pastoralists, and the sharing of any associated benefits.

Background Sub-Saharan African countries are the hardest hit by sickle cell disease (SCD). Several studies have demonstrated the remarkable efficacy of hydroxyurea (HU) in African sickle-cell populations. As a result, many specialists recommend widespread use of this drug in Africa to reduce the disease's high morbidity/mortality. Nevertheless, in those countries health insurance mechanisms do not exist or and many families affected by SCD do not have enough income to pay for the care. In addition to cost, frequent supply chain disruptions lead to low drugs availability. The cost of basic treatments for SCD and their actual availability in different African countries is not yet known. Yet this information is essential for guiding health policies or the action of non-governmental organizations, and for planning the cost of assistance that could be provided to these patients. The aim of this study was to determine the availability, frequency of supply disruptions and cost of basic treatments for SCDin sub-Saharan African countries. Methods A cross-sectional online international survey was carried out from 24 March to 08 May 2023 among health professionals from French-speaking sub-Saharan African countries following SCD patients and registered in the database of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Drep-Afrique. Participants completed questions covering the availability (on a scale from 0 (drug not available) to 10 (no availability concern) and the cost of basic drugs in their centres: HU, penicillin V, folic acid, morphine and vaccines. Results 120 health professionals, mainly physicians (91%), from 13 French-speaking Sub-Saharan African countries took part in this study. 58% of the participants worked in SCD referral centres and 36% in university hospitals. 91,000 homozygous SCD patients were reported as being followed in their centres. The median availability score for hydroxyurea and morphine were respectively 5 (IQR 3-8) and 5 (IQR 2-7), compared with 10 (IQR 10-10) for folic acid, 8 (IQR 4-10) for penicillin V, 3 (IQR 1-8) for anti-pneumococcal and 5 (IQR 2-8) for anti-meningococcal vaccines. Frequent supply chain disruptions were declared: 78% for HU, 77% for anti-pneumococcal vaccine, 66% for morphine, 45 % for Penicillin V, while they were rare for folic acid (8%). The median price of HU for one month's treatment of a 30 kg child (mean dose 20 mg/kg/day) was $19.3 (IQR 13.5- 25.3) and varied greatly from country to country (from $38 in Guinea to $10.1 in Togo (p=0.0002) (figure 1). The median price of pneumococcal vaccine was $35.3 (IQR 16.9- 58.7), and thant of meningococcal vaccine $31.4 (IQR 11- 57.5), also with significant differences between countries. The cost of pneumococcal vaccine was 1.6 times higher in centres where the supply chain disrupted than when there is no disruption (p=0.02). Conclusion This study shows that the cost of HU varies from one country to another in French-speaking Africa. Although not very high, it remains unaffordable for the most patients' families. For example, in 2023, the median monthly salary is 238 $ in the Democratic Republic of Congo (the country with the highest prevalence of SCD in the world with Nigeria), compared with a median monthly cost of HU of 25 $ in this country for a child in our study. The high cost of vaccines, beyond the first years of life when a free national program is available in most of African countries, is also a problem. In addition to cost, availability and frequent supply disruptions prevent regular intake of hydroxyurea and, to a lesser extent, of penicillin V. International solidarity and the governments of these countries should work to bring down the cost of hydroxyurea and improve the distribution circuit for these essential medicines.

Road construction work has a multitude of impacts on its host environment, and the effect of these impacts varies according to the areas it crosses. Taking these impacts into account from the earliest stages of project planning is the ideal approach pursued by planners to ensure that their plans not only take these impacts into account but also mitigate their effects as much as possible. Drawing up a project schedule that considers the impact of the work requires an in-depth understanding of its scale, spatial extent, and timing. In practice, however, such an understanding is difficult to achieve due to the complex and variable nature of impacts. To help project planners understand the impacts of a road project from the outset so they can better plan mitigation measures, we have developed a conceptual framework for four-dimensional Building Information Modeling (4D BIM) deployment that visualizes the most significant impacts on the project site’s surrounding environment in terms of their spatial extent and progression over time. By testing the method on a case study of a road improvement project in northwestern Quebec, the method shows that, compared with traditional 2D methods, the proposed 3D and 4D impact visualization modeling provides an integral perspective for visualizing and understanding spatial changes in project impacts over time and enables different possible project implementation variants to be evaluated with relative ease.

AbstractA rise in human disturbance in Comoé National Park (CNP) has led to lion (Panthera leo) extirpation. After the crisis, there have been numerous efforts to restore this ecosystem and CNP's management authority is considering reintroducing lions. This ideally requires an understanding of the earlier process of lion extirpation. We assessed the causes of lion extirpation through semi‐structured questionnaires to 307 volunteer participants in surrounding 23 villages. Respondents reported that lions were extirpated two decades ago (19.75 years ± 8.15). Bouna was the sector that lions seem to have disappeared first (mean = 23.61 years ± 9.14) and recently on Nassian and Téhini sectors (mean = 18.43 years ± 8.17 and 18.74 years ± 6.74 respectively). People identified civil war from 2002 as the main facilitator of lion extirpation (85%; n = 261), which led to the abandonment of CNP, and opened the way for all forms of anthropogenic pressures including illegal hunting and prey depletion (70%; n = 216), illegal gold mining (74%; n = 227), direct lion killing due to transhumance and human‐wildlife conflict (15%; n = 45), and wildfires (23%; n = 72). Historically, prey density curves show a progressive decrease with a drastic drop during the civil war period before a post‐crisis recovery from 2016 to 2022. We recommend intensifying CNP monitoring and local measures to limit anthropogenic disturbances and improve indigenous communities' involvement to ensure the success of potential lion reintroduction.

Abstract Health workers are increasingly harnessing mobile phones to develop their own solutions to work challenges. The mHEALTH-INNOVATE project aims to explore this topic further. In 2022, Healthcare Information for All organized an online discussion among health workers and other stakeholders to inform the project. Twenty-five people joined the discussion. Contributors’ descriptions of the varieties of mobile phone use tallied with previous research, including for communication with patients and colleagues. In addition, they described increased mobile phone use in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased need for communication, monitoring and reporting, including during lockdowns. Some solutions were health worker-initiated, including the establishment of WhatsApp groups. The discussion has helped develop a definition of informal mobile phone use.