Countries In West Africa Research Articles

EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION OF BANK SURVIVAL AND AGRO-PRODUCTION ON ECONOMIC RESILIENCE

The interaction between bank survival and agro production was used to investigate the extent of economic resilience. To achieve the general objectives of the study times series, data from the world bank data base and macro trends .net was sorted for the independent variables (bank survival, agro-production and capital formation) and the dependent variable (economic resilience) from 2013 through 2021. Different statistical test was conducted through the aid of econometric views version 9.0. The study found that BASU, AGPR, and CAPF has an insignificant influence on ECRE but only CAPF seem to have a positive relationship with ECRE. The study recommended that government authorities should facilitate additions to the fixed assets of the economy plus net changes in the level of inventories. The study suggested amongst others that: the variables of the study for further research should include other factors like inflation, exchange rate so on that impacts economic resilience; the time frame for subsequent research should be adjusted to reflect contemporary events and comparative analysis should be embark on say empirical analysis between Nigeria and some other west Africa or Africa countries.

High risk fertility behaviour and health facility delivery in West Africa

BackgroundEvidence suggests that women who give birth in a health facility have lower odds of experiencing pregnancy complications and significantly reduced risk of death from pregnancy-related causes compared to women who deliver at home. Establishing the association between high-risk fertility behaviour (HRFB) and health facility delivery is imperative to inform intervention to help reduce maternal mortality. This study examined the association between HRFB and health facility delivery in West Africa.MethodsData for the study were extracted from the most recent Demographic and Health Surveys of twelve countries in West Africa conducted from 2010 to 2020. A total of 69,479 women of reproductive age (15–49 years) were included in the study. Place of delivery was the outcome variable in this study. Three parameters were used as indicators of HRFB based on previous studies. These were age at first birth, short birth interval, and high parity. Multivariable binary logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the association between HRFB and place of delivery and the results were presented using crude odds ratio (cOR) and adjusted odds ratio (aOR), with their respective 95% confidence interval (CI).ResultsMore than half (67.64%) of the women delivered in a health facility. Women who had their first birth after 34 years (aOR = 0.52; 95% CI = 0.46–0.59), those with short birth interval (aOR = 0.91; 95% CI = 0.87–0.96), and those with high parity (aOR = 0.58; 95% CI = 0.55–0.60) were less likely to deliver in a health compared to those whose age at first delivery was 18-34 years, those without short birth interval, and those with no history of high parity, respectively. The odds of health facility delivery was higher among women whose first birth occurred at an age less than 18 years compared to those whose age at first birth was 18-34 years (aOR = 1.17; 95% CI = 1.07–1.28).ConclusionHRFB significantly predicts women's likelihood of delivering in a health facility in West Africa. Older age at first birth, shorter birth interval, and high parity lowered women’s likelihood of delivering in a health facility. To promote health facility delivery among women in West Africa, it is imperative for policies and interventions on health facility delivery to target at risk sub-populations (i.e., multiparous women, those with shorter birth intervals and women whose first birth occurs at older maternal age). Contraceptive use and awareness creation on the importance of birth spacing should be encouraged among women of reproductive age in West Africa.

The impact of forest product collection and processing on household income in rural Liberia

Forests and trees can provide a means to alleviate poverty while simultaneously addressing climate change and other sustainability goals. However, empirical evidence on the income and livelihoods effects of collecting and processing forest products (including timber and non-timber forest products), remains limited. Evidence is especially sparse across multiple spatial scales within countries and in certain regions, such as West Africa. We respond to this knowledge gap by estimating the impacts of forest product collection and processing on smallholder household income and the spatial variability of impacts across counties and regional clusters in Liberia, the most forested country in West Africa. We applied endogenous treatment effect and multilevel mixed effects regression to survey data from a sample of 2983 forest proximate households across Liberia in 2019. Results show that the collection and processing of forest products increased household income by 139% with statistically significant variation across counties by 26%. Pathway analyses show that participation in such enterprises affected household income through both timber and non-timber forest products (NTFPs), with NTFPs having higher impacts at 167% compared to timber at 115%. This study demonstrates that involvement in the forest sector can significantly enhance rural incomes and suggests that forests may form a viable pathway to realize poverty alleviation and sustainability goals in Liberia, elsewhere in West Africa, and beyond.

A Cost–Benefit Analysis of Preparing National Veterinary Services for Transboundary Animal Disease Emergencies

The natural, accidental, or deliberate release of pathogens into livestock populations carries with it a range of consequences for society, from zoonotic disease outbreaks, to changes in food security and economic welfare. An important contribution to mitigating the risk of disease outbreaks comes from having well-prepared emergency response plans and agencies with the capacity to put those plans into operation. In the case of animal disease, national Veterinary Services (VS) take a central role. Unknown and uncertain events, such as if, when and where the next disease outbreak will occur makes economic decision-making a challenge. While the costs of preparing for emergencies can be quantified in a conventional manner, the scope, scale, and likelihood of benefits actually accruing are all subject to uncertainty. This study attempts to examine the costs and benefits of preparing national VS for animal disease emergencies, including natural, accidental, or deliberate release of pathogens. Data collected as part of the World Organisation for Animal Health’s Performance of VS program for countries in East and West Africa and South East Asia were used for estimating investment costs. A state-contingent approach is used to constrain the uncertainty space in terms of disease impact. The probability of a disease event occurring and the probability of that event being contained by emergency preparation are used to describe a frontier at which investment breaks-even in a variety of scenarios. An increased probability of breaking-even on investment was found with high livestock numbers per capita and increasing intensification in livestock production systems. The method and findings provide a means to understand the benefits of preparing for uncertain events and are aimed to further the dialogue around policy development for livestock disease emergencies in lower-income countries.

Environmental Flows Assessment Based on the Coupling of Water Level and Salinity Requirements for Maintaining Biodiversity: A Case Study from the Ouémé delta in West Africa.

The present study carried out on the Ouémé delta in West Africa, addresses the implementation of the BBM approach for the determination e-flows in a context of high data limitation. It also highlights the potential challenges for the implementation of the recommended e-flows in West Africa countries. To do this, we first established the current ecological status of the delta based on data collection, measurements and scientists' observations. Then, we formulated ecological objectives for e-flows based on the environmental management vision for the delta. And finally, we determined the water requirements for the sustainability of the biodiversity and ecosystem services using a simple 2D hydrodynamic model. The results indicate that 100 and 50% of the average natural flows are required respectively in low-water and high-water periods (3.4 billion m3 per year) to maintain the Ouémé Delta in its current environmental management class. This recommendation for e-flows allocation is in direct competition with the water requirements for the economic development of the delta, which is estimated to be over 3.0 billion m3 per year in the Master Plan for Water Development and Management. While it is clear that the establishment of e-flows recommendations must be accompanied by measures to limit the degradation of ecological habitats, it is even more clear that the economic development remained the main concern of policymakers. The integration of environmental flows into water resources management policies in developing countries requires linking water needs for economic development with water needs for the ecological sustainability of rivers and their associated ecosystems.

Code Switching as a Teaching and Learning Strategy: Opinions and Perceptions of University-Level Students of French as a Foreign Language (FFL) in Ghana

The ongoing debate on code switching (CS) in multilingual societies and Foreign Language (FL) classes is still relevant and worth considering. This linguistic phenomenon simply refers to altering from one language to another during speech and writing (Richards and Schmidt 2013). While some authorities propose that interactions between learners and instructors in the FL class be carried out only in the target language, other opinions favour a careful blend of both target and source languages. Ghana, a multilingual country in West Africa, adopted English as its official language during the colonial era. French was later introduced to promote regional integration among Ghana and her neighbours, especially since Ghana is greatly surrounded by francophone countries within the subregion (Gandolfi et al. 2021). French has since then been the second most widely taught FL in the country, with a presence in almost all stages of the Ghanaian academic trajectory. This multilingual position of Ghana makes it common to find elements of CS present in FL classrooms, where both instructors and learners occasionally resort to English for instructional conversations (Chachu 2016). This study focuses on university students’ perceptions of CS between English as the source language and French as a foreign language (FFL) during the instruction of the latter. Some frameworks for teaching and learning FFL in Ghana prefer that the language of instruction and interaction be limited to the target language only (Soku and Azanku 2015). The Common European Framework of References for Languages (CEFR) however, suggests the possible use of CS for purposes of instruction when there are favourable conditions (Council of Europe 2001). To identify the roles of CS and investigate FL students’ opinions on this, our data was gathered from classroom observations and questionnaires that had both Likert scale and open-ended questions. This was at the end of their first semester of studying university-level FFL. It was observed that CS plays a significant role in the understanding of linguistic concepts and greatly improves students’ engagement and participation in the FL class. Of the 36 respondents, 34 felt their academic needs were met when the language of instruction and interaction alternated between French and English. Twenty-nine students reported losing focus easily in the FFL class in instances where the medium of interaction was limited to French alone, while 26 reported feeling nervous whenever they were asked to only communicate in French. For metalinguistic aspects of the language, 33 students, constituting 91.7% were of the view that a careful blend of English and French could go a long way to aid their understanding and foster the learning of grammatical concepts. Generally, students attested to better retention of vocabulary in the target language when there was a good blend of both languages. It is recommended therefore that language instructors resort periodically to CS to ensure understanding and engagement from students. CS also helps learners have the opportunity to intervene with their limited linguistic structures when they are faced with linguistic challenges in the FL classroom. Click here to read the corresponding ISSOTL blog post.

Surviving the turbulence: a retrospective account of designed policies for mitigating the spread of COVID-19 in Ghana

ABSTRACT Several policies were designed during the COVID-19 pandemic to control the virus from spreading. However, little is known about the nature of the designed policies and how the citizens lived with the designed policies in Ghana. This paper attempts a retrospective exploratory account of the COVID-19 policies in Ghana through an amalgamation lens of design matrix and activity theory from 15 March to 10 July 2020. The population for the study was the COVID-19 policies adopted by Ghana. Out of 16 countries in West Africa with COVID-19 cases, Ghana was selected due to the online availability of its COVID-19 policies and the fact that the policies were in English. Content analysis was used to gather data on Ghana COVID-19 policies and innovative scenarios used for living with the designed policies. The results show that the designed policies adopted a top down approach and were difficult for the citizens to live with but most were adjusted later, which triggered social and economic challenges for the citizens and were to some extent mitigated by the government and the citizens through innovations. Therefore, the government should leverage ideas from the citizens and engage social designers in policy design through the proposed hybrid-designed model.

Assessing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and barriers to uptake in Sub-Saharan Africa

BackgroundDespite improved availability of COVID-19 vaccines in Sub-Saharan Africa, vaccination campaigns in the region have struggled to pick up pace and trail the rest of the world. Yet, a successful vaccination campaign in Sub-Saharan Africa will be critical to containing COVID-19 globally.MethodsHere, we present new descriptive evidence on vaccine hesitancy, uptake, last-mile delivery barriers, and potential strategies to reach those who remain unvaccinated. Our data comes from national high frequency phone surveys in six countries in East and West Africa with a total population of 415 million people. Samples were drawn from nationally representative samples of households interviewed in recent in-person surveys. Our estimates are based on a survey module harmonized across countries and are re-weighted to mitigate potential sample selection biases.ResultsWe show that vaccine acceptance remains generally high among respondents in Sub-Saharan Africa (between 95.1% and 63.3%) even though hesitancy is non-negligible among those pending vaccination. Many who are willing to get vaccinated are deterred by a lack of easy access to vaccines at the local level. Furthermore, social ties and perceptions as well as intra-household power relations matter for vaccine take-up. Among the unvaccinated population, radio broadcasts have widespread reach and medical professionals are highly trusted.ConclusionsOur findings highlight that creating a positive social norm around COVID-19 vaccination, messaging that leverages trusted and accessible information sources and channels, and more easily accessible vaccination sites at the community level are promising policy options to boost vaccination campaigns in the region and end the pandemic everywhere.

MULTI-PLATFORM MONITORING OF COASTAL EROSION AT A POCKET BEACH

As in many other regions of the world, coastal recession in West and Central Africa is the result of natural factors, anthropogenic factors, or both (Anthony et al., 2016; Luijendijk et al., 2018), and when it occurs, it may continue unless it is firmly addressed. Erosion along Ghana's coastline is endemic as in most of the Gulf of Guinea countries in West Africa. The current challenge is how to document and understand the dimensions of erosion despite limited human and logistical capacity. Regular monitoring of coastal areas is a prerequisite to evade any imminent erosive disaster within the coastal cities (Angnuureng et al., 2022). Data-driven decisions have remained more uncertain because most monitoring platforms are unable to capture events of a certain frequency. The main goal of this work is to test the feasibility of using multiple sources of remote sensing platforms to assess the dynamics of a pocket beach at Elmina in Ghana, as a showcase for local governance.

A Critical Review of the Demola Framework and Its Applicability in a Low-Income Economy: A Case Study of The Gambia

This paper critically reviews the appropriateness of the Demola Framework for adoption in a low-level income country. According to the World Bank, Low-income countries are developing countries with emerging markets or newly industrialized countries (Abubakar et al., 2019). The Demola framework has been developed and used in some European countries such as Finland, Germany, and Spain as a curriculum delivery approach for entrepreneurship education courses (De Carolis, 2019). The framework has been widely used in bridging the gap between the academia and industry, for example in an impact study conducted in Finland, it was established that due to the frameworks’ responsiveness to building synergies between students and industry, 7 polytechnics and other universities have adopted it as part of their curricula delivery approach (Catalá-Pérez et al., 2020). Based on these, its concepts are being tested in The Gambia, a country in West Africa where for the first time in the tertiary and higher education sector, a new policy decision has been rolled out to embed entrepreneurship training as part of the science, technology, and engineering education programme. This programme forms the first stage of a national development initiative to transform one of the public technical training institutions into a University of Applied Science Engineering and Technology that will be entrepreneurial and will be producing business minded graduates.

Assessment of agronomic performances of aromatic varieties in stations in the senegal river valley (vfs)

Senegal is one of the largest rice importing countries in West Africa with rice production that still fails to meet consumer demands. The State has made great efforts to make up for the deficit in local production by setting up the Program for the Acceleration of the Agricultural Cadence in Senegal (PRACAS) and the National Program for Self-sufficiency in Rice (PNAR), whose objective is to satisfy national demand with a halt in imports. To support this dynamic, the Senegalese Institute for Agricultural Research (ISRA) has revised these research activities with the introduction of a major selection component for new high-yielding rice varieties with good grain quality. It is within this framework, in partnership with BAYER, that the ISRA of Saint Louis is evaluating new varieties of hybrid rice. This study attempts to evaluate the behavior of new hybrid varieties according to two sowing methods in the Senegal River Valley. The material is composed of two hybrid varieties 6444 GOLD and TEJ GOLD and a control Sahel 108. The device is in split-plot with the sowing methods in large plots and the varieties in small plots. The effect of the sowing method on the behavior of the varieties was only noted to be significant on the cycle at maturity; the hybrids have longer cycles than the control Sahel 108 both in direct sowing and in transplanting. The varieties have different agronomic behaviors only on the weight of 1000 seeds, the length of the panicle and the duration of cycles at 50% flowering. The TEJ GOLD variety has a long panicle and a good grain load per panicle. The best performances such as very good tillering ability (6444 GOLD) and good panicle load (TEJ GOLD) were recorded in the hybrids. These hybrids would behave better in direct seeding in terms of yield, unlike the control Sahel 108. From the above, we can say that the introduction of these hybrid varieties could significantly increase rice production and productivity and contribute to achieve our self-sufficiency in rice.

Sustainable Development Goals: Therapeutic Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship Injelititis among West Africa Countries

This study analyzed therapeutic entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship injelititis among West Africa nations. The study adopted analytical cross-sectional studies and cross- sectional cohort design. With the aid of accidental sampling technique and quota sampling method, the population of 636 and sample size of 246 was determined using Slovin's formula as augmented by the Kish formula (1965) and supported by Krejcie and Morgan Table (1970) at 0.05 level of significance, whereas, 232 were deem fit after processing, retriever, coding and cleansing. The instrument was validated by experiential entrepreneurs and reliability was conducted using series and parallel approach with outcome of the Unbaised Reliability scale that was 0.927 (92.70%). Six research questions and six hypotheses were raised which was tested using logistic regression analysis and the KMO/Barllet’s test was utilized for the sampling adequacy for data appropriateness and sphericity respectively via SPSS 25 version. From the findings, clinical therapeutic entrepreneurship, non-clinical therapeutic entrepreneurship, relational therapeutic entrepreneurship, therapeutic entrepreneurship spirituality and integrated therapeutic entrepreneurship positively mitigate entrepreneurship injelititis among cohort of entrepreneurs. In conclusion, the apriori expectations were found to be positive outcomes among the sustainable development goals, therapeutic entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship injelititis. Hence, the regression model revealed that the alternate hypotheses were accepted, while the null hypotheses. Based on the findings and conclusion, this study contributes to the knowledge that spirituality/relational therapeutic entrepreneurship are hoped to mitigate injelititis in an enterprise towards achieving SDG. It could be recommended that integrated therapeutic entrepreneurship should be utilized to crush incompetency, cynicism and complacency in the enterprise. Also, the headship of

Can national productions replace imports in West African countries? Estimation of the Marshall–Lerner–Robinson condition (MLRC)

PurposeThis article examines if the national productions of West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU) countries can be substituted for the imports by testing MLRC in these countries.Design/methodology/approachThe Mundell–Fleming model (MMF) is the analytical framework adopted in this paper with import demand and export supply functions estimation borrowed to Thirlwall (1979). This study covers four countries in West Africa from 1990 to 2021. The estimation procedure used is an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration.FindingsThe findings reveal that there is a strong marginal propensity to import in the WAEMU countries. The hypothesis of a non-significant price effect on imports in the short-term is confirmed for several countries while only Togo satisfies the MLRC in the short and long run.Originality/valueThis study presents several originalities: (1) it evaluates MLRC with a clear analytical framework; (2) unlike other studies, this article quantifies the MLRC from a theoretical, econometric and empirical point of view; (3) this article presents the results country by country in order to reveal heterogeneity between countries; (4) this study adds to the Marshall–Lerner condition for the derivation of Robinson by considering a situation where initially the trade balance is not in equilibrium.

Proportion of Ugandans with pre-pandemic SARS-CoV-2 cross-reactive CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses: A pilot study.

The estimated mortality rate of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic varied greatly around the world. In particular, multiple countries in East, Central, and West Africa had significantly lower rates of COVID-19 related fatalities than many resource-rich nations with significantly earlier wide-spread access to life-saving vaccines. One possible reason for this lower mortality could be the presence of pre-existing cross-reactive immunological responses in these areas of the world. To explore this hypothesis, an exploratory study of stored peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from Ugandans collected from 2015-2017 prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (n = 29) and from hospitalized Ugandan COVID-19 patients (n = 3) were examined using flow-cytometry for the presence of pre-existing SARS-CoV-2 cross-reactive CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell populations using four T-cell epitope mega pools. Of pre-pandemic participants, 89.7% (26/29) had either CD4+ or CD8+, or both, SARS-CoV-2 specific T-cell responses. Specifically, CD4+ T-cell reactivity (72.4%) and CD8+ T-cell reactivity (65.5%) were relatively similar, and 13 participants (44.8%) had both types of cross-reactive types of T-cells present. There were no significant differences in response by sex in the population, however this may be in part due to the limited sample size examined. The rates of cross-reactive T-cell populations in this exploratory Ugandan population appears higher than previous estimates from resource-rich countries like the United States (20-50% reactivity). It is unclear what role, if any, this cross-reactivity played in decreasing COVID-19 related mortality in Uganda and other African countries, but does suggest that a better understanding of global pre-existing immunological cross-reactivity could be an informative data of epidemiological intelligence moving forward.

إمكانات السودان الاقتصادية وفرص الاستثمار فيه

This study aims to know the economic capabilities of Sudan and investment opportunities, as Sudan is distinguished from other countries by a distinct geographical location, linking the Arab countries in the north of the African continent, the Arab countries across the Red Sea, and the countries of East, Central and West Africa, as Sudan is bordering several countries. It is thus considered as a commercial traffic center for its geographical surroundings, and Sudan also has a vast area, and enjoys multiple climates, environments and agricultural systems that create conditions for the production of various agricultural crops, where there are many agricultural and animal products in which Sudan has a preferential advantage, as it is The global demand for it is high, such as wheat, cotton, gum Arabic, and meat, so its potential qualifies it to attract investors and businessmen, and the importance of this study emerges from several aspects, from the scientific point of view, despite the existence of studies that dealt with the experiences of some countries in encouraging and attracting investments, but it is still There is a need for more studies in this field, especially in light of the countries ’competition to attract foreign capital for investment. Therefore, this study is expected to constitute an addition in this field. As for the practical aspect: this study and its results are expected to be beneficial for those who have taken it. Economic decision states.

Vocabulary development and biliteracy in Yorùbá and English among young bilinguals

In Nigeria and other countries in West Africa, English, French, and Portuguese languages are acquired or learned and used alongside the indigenous languages for various communication purposes as applicable. Previous studies have noted that Yorùbá language does not have an equal usage as being critical for bilingual mastery attainment as the English language. This study examines literacy development patterns among typically developing Yorùbá-English bilingual children to further our understanding of oral and literacy proficiency. Based on qualitative methods, cross-sectional data were obtained. Oral and literacy data were acquired by interview, specialized wordlist, written texts, and pictorial objects. Children were purposively selected for a stratified assessment as representative of their literacy levels (3 aged 2-3, 4 aged 4-6, and 5 aged 7-10). All participants were ages 2 to 10 years and lived in Ilorin metropolis. Data were subjected to descriptive analysis. Based on experiments, for instance, if the stimulus are words, the results showed that the word frequencies in the two languages do not enjoy the same value outcome, English >> Yorùbá. Significant outcomes showed that literacy in English language is on the positive end of the spectrum while literacy in Yorùbá language is on the opposite end. Most of the children paid more attention to English tasks, hence performed above average. Using the different age groups and educational levels as a continuum, it was generally observed that literacy depends largely on a child’s cognitive alertness. The study concludes by linking the obvious gap in the initial observation to foundation lapses.

Nutritional health benefits of pearl millet

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) is a robust annual grass, usually 1.2–3.5 m tall. It is a staple cereal in India, and in some countries of west and southern Africa. Pearl millet (known as Bajra in Hindi, also known as sajjey in Kannada and 'Kambu' in Tamil). The largest producer are Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Hariyana. It has the capacity to produce a grain yield of 4-5 tonns per hectare. Being non-glutinous makes it a healthy option for people with a gluten allergy and celiac disease. They are power-packed with carbohydrates, essential amino acids, antioxidants, multiple vitamins like thiamine, riboflavin, folic acid, niacin, beta carotene, and minerals like iron, phosphorus, magnesium, and zinc and phytochemicals such as polyphenols and flavonoids. In this review, along with in the nutritional composition are discussed with the emphasis on the effect of processing on the nutrient and also discussed about health benefits.

An extreme value analysis of daily new cases of COVID-19 for sixteen countries in west Africa

We provide an extreme value analysis of daily new cases of COVID-19. We use data from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cabo Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo, covering a period of 37 months. Extreme values were defined as monthly maximums of daily new cases. The generalized extreme value distribution was fitted to them with two of its three parameters allowed to vary linearly or quadratically with respect to month number. Ten of the sixteen countries were found to exhibit significant downward trends in monthly maximums. The adequacy of fits was assessed by probability plots and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The fitted models were used to derive quantiles of the monthly maximum of new cases as well as their limits when the month number is taken to infinity.

The Global Monkeypox (Mpox) Outbreak: A Comprehensive Review.

Monkeypox (Mpox) is a contagious illness that is caused by the monkeypox virus, which is part of the same family of viruses as variola, vaccinia, and cowpox. It was first detected in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970 and has since caused sporadic cases and outbreaks in a few countries in West and Central Africa. In July 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a public-health emergency of international concern due to the unprecedented global spread of the disease. Despite breakthroughs in medical treatments, vaccines, and diagnostics, diseases like monkeypox still cause death and suffering around the world and have a heavy economic impact. The 85,189 reported cases of Mpox as of 29 January 2023 have raised alarm bells. Vaccines for the vaccinia virus can protect against monkeypox, but these immunizations were stopped after smallpox was eradicated. There are, however, treatments available once the illness has taken hold. During the 2022 outbreak, most cases occurred among men who had sex with men, and there was a range of 7-10 days between exposure and the onset of symptoms. Three vaccines are currently used against the Monkeypox virus. Two of these vaccines were initially developed for smallpox, and the third is specifically designed for biological-terrorism protection. The first vaccine is an attenuated, nonreplicating smallpox vaccine that can also be used for immunocompromised individuals, marketed under different names in different regions. The second vaccine, ACAM2000, is a recombinant second-generation vaccine initially developed for smallpox. It is recommended for use in preventing monkeypox infection but is not recommended for individuals with certain health conditions or during pregnancy. The third vaccine, LC16m8, is a licensed attenuated smallpox vaccine designed to lack the B5R envelope-protein gene to reduce neurotoxicity. It generates neutralizing antibodies to multiple poxviruses and broad T-cell responses. The immune response takes 14 days after the second dose of the first two vaccines and 4 weeks after the ACAM2000 dose for maximal immunity development. The efficacy of these vaccines in the current outbreak of monkeypox is uncertain. Adverse events have been reported, and a next generation of safer and specific vaccines is needed. Although some experts claim that developing vaccines with a large spectrum of specificity can be advantageous, epitope-focused immunogens are often more effective in enhancing neutralization.

Ease of doing business and investment among West African countries

AbstractThis study assessed the link between ease of doing business (EBD) and investment among 11 selected countries in West Africa covering 2006–2020. The study used the fixed‐effects estimator, the random‐effects estimator, the augmented mean‐group method, and the Half‐Panel Jackknife Wald‐type test. The study found a bidirectional relationship between the EBD and foreign direct investment (FDI) and a unidirectional relationship running from EBD to domestic investment. The findings further revealed that the EBD and national income have a strong influence in determining the level of domestic investment and FDI inflows, and that some indicators of EBD, such as the procedure for starting a business, access to credit facilities, tax, and security threats, discourage domestic investment and FDI inflows, in contrast to the influence of obtaining electricity and national income on investment. The study suggests that West African governments reduce taxes, ease the procedures and costs of starting a business and dealing with construction permits, and increase the availability of credit facilities at lower interest rates to promote investment in the region.