City Of Bukavu Research Articles

Breast feeding and the growth and development of the infant

Milk production and infant growth were compared in 2 regions of Zaire: the highlands of Central Africa and the city of Bukavu. There were no statistical differences between the 2 groups in breastfeeding patterns or maternal prolactin levels. There were significant differences, however, in anthropometric characteristics and serum albumin levels. Urban women produced almost twice as much milk as women in rural areas. In terms of infant growth, a faltering in weight gain occurs at 3 months of age in rural areas as opposed to 6-7 months in the urban area. In addition, the 1st episode of diarrhea and of intestinal parasitosis occurred earlier in rural children than in their urban counterparts, most likely due to the earlier introduction of supplementary food in rural areas. Height remained well below the reference curve level from birth in the rural sample and from the 3rd month of life in the city. Finally, the serum albumin level remained strikingly low throughout infancy among rural children surveyed. Exclusive breastfeeding for the 1st 5-6 months of life is recommended to combat the exposure the infections and parasitosis conferred by early supplemental feeding.

Language and education policy in the multilingual city of Bukavu

The aim of this paper is to provide the reader with a profile of the linguistic and cultural diversity in Bukavu. Given the scant amount of information that is available on the language situation in the Republic of Zaire, an evaluation is first made of the language policy that has been followed in that country over the past 20 years and its impact on the overall educational system is assessed. The second part of the paper contains a preliminary account of the functions of the respective mother tongues (indigenous languages) as opposed to Swahili (a national language) and French in Bukavu. It is argued that the introduction of French as the medium of education creates an artificial dichotomy within the overall population and that this social cleavage could be countered by revised policy with regard to instruction in French. This conclusion would seem to be borne out by the results of the Communicativity Index as applied to a sample of the population of Bukavu