Francophone Countries In Africa Research Articles

Are the academic institutions of public health in Africa able to prepare graduates for UHC?

Abstract Background Current challenges facing the overburdened health systems warrant a review of public health training and development of the health workforce in Africa within the context of the envisioned global goal of universal health coverage (UHC). The integral components informing the relevance of public health education in the setting of UHC comprises the academic workforce, curriculum and institutional capacity. The aim of the study is to assess the capacity of African academic institutions of public health to address the requirements for UHC and sustainable development goals (SDGs), and to develop an institutional self-evaluation tool as part of an accreditation system. Methods Study design: this multi-phase study will employ mixed methods. Study setting: academic institutions of public health at Anglophone, Lusophone, Francophone countries in Africa. Study population: Heads/Deans of Departments/Schools of Public Health, education experts and/or content experts. Various sampling techniques will be employed per study phase. Phase 1 will use an electronic, secure, validated self-administered questionnaire and/or interview schedule to determine the academic workforce demographic characteristics, curriculum characteristics and institutional characteristics. Phase 2 will comprise a Delphi study to determine the items for a self-evaluation tool that will be piloted in Phase 3. STATA version 15 will be used for quantitative analysis and ATLAS.ti software for qualitative analysis. Conclusions The study findings are envisaged to produce a self-evaluation tool that can guide these institutions to align academic training and development in pursuit of realising the SDGs and implementation of UHC. Furthermore, the study findings will be shared with the Association of Schools of Public Health in Africa (ASPHA); and used to strengthen the regional institution capacities and networks of public health. Key messages Thorough systematic planning and preparation in public health education is vital for the successful implementation of UHC. The African region does not have an accreditation system for academic institutions of public health; and while this role can be fulfilled by ASPHA, evaluation tools are needed.

Studying Higher Education in Multi-Faceted Africa: For a Scientific Analysis of Sector Reforms

Students across the continent, for example in South Africa since 2015, have mobilised to protest the increase in university tuition fees, condemn the marketisation of education, and question the content and purpose of higher education (Botiveau 2016). In the Francophone countries of Africa, academic staff have attended a great many workshops aiming to reconfigure their study programmes according to the Licence (Bachelor)-Master-Doctorate (LMD) model, a process which entails calculating the nu...

Acceptability of coupling Intermittent Preventive Treatment in infants with the Expanded Programme on Immunization in three francophone countries in Africa

Intermittent preventive treatment in infants (IPTi) is a malaria control strategy currently recommended by WHO for implementation at scale in Africa, consisting of administration of sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP) coupled with routine immunizations offered to children under 1 year. In this study, we analysed IPTi acceptability by communities and health staff. Direct observation, in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted in Benin, Madagascar and Senegal during IPTi pilot implementation. Villages were stratified by immunization coverage. Data were transcribed and analysed using NVivo7 software. Communities' knowledge of malaria aetiology and diagnosis was good, although generally villagers did not seek treatment at health centres as their first choice. Perceptions and attitudes towards IPTi were very positive among communities and health workers. A misconception that SP was an antipyretic that prevents post-vaccinal fever contributed to IPTi's acceptability. No refusals or negative rumours related to IPTi coupling with immunizations were identified, and IPTi did not negatively influence attitudes towards other malaria control strategies. Healthcare decisions about children, normatively made by the father, are starting to shift to educated and financially independent mothers. Intermittent preventive treatment in infants is well accepted by providers and communities, showing a synergic acceptability when coupled with routine immunizations. However, a misconception that SP alleviates fever should be addressed when scaling up implementation.

Security systems in Francophone Africa

SummaryThis research report is a broad‐based study that seeks to understand the structural and developmental processes that characterise the security sector in Francophone Africa.Although each country has a distinct political history and tradition, similarities in the security apparatus, rooted in its inheritance from the colonial and post‐colonial periods, can be found between Francophone countries in Africa. In the former French colonies, there are similarities to the French security system which are very strong on the normative side, such as the legal and institutional framework or the defence and security actors. However, even if these Francophone African countries borrow a lot from an originally French security system in terms of the institutional design of their security apparatus, they deviate considerably from it in terms of daily practice.The issue at stake in this paper is to highlight the kind of institutional framework prevailing in this set of countries and the specific considerations that international assistance will have to take into account. The paper also analyses briefly the difference between Anglophone and Francophone security systems.Finally, it makes some recommendations that might assist the security sector reform policy agenda and donor and recipient responses to the security challenges faced in Francophone Africa.

Enjeux politiques de l’évaluation à cinq ans du Fonds mondial de lutte contre le sida, la tuberculose et le paludisme

The Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) was founded in 2002 in the context of increased political and financial commitments towards health and development, in the aftermath of the Millennium Declaration, and on track to implement the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). As of today, the institution has mobilized over 16 billion US dollars through its partnership, and spent over 8 billion dollars through 620 contracts in 140 countries for these three diseases. Principles at inception were to accelerate and expand HIV, TB, and Malaria prevention and awareness, care, and treatment related activities, in the poorest and the most affected countries worldwide, with a special emphasis on Africa, being the continent with the highest disease burden, especially with respect to HIV/AIDS and its dreadful social and economic consequences. In 2006, a Technical and Evaluation Reference Group was set up. This group responding to the GFATM Board in relation to the 5-year evaluation, defined the Terms of reference for the 5-year evaluation. Macro International, a firm based in Washington DC, was given the contract to conduct three studies over the period 2006-2009, looking at: (i) GFATM organizational effectiveness, (ii) partnerships at international and global levels, as well as systems effects, (iii) collective impact of the GFATM, the World Bank and (PEPFAR) funds on HIV, TB, and Malaria control. Twenty-five countries participated all together in the evaluation, out of which 18 in study area 3. Total budget for the evaluation amounted almost 17 million US dollars. This paper outlines: (i) the results of study areas 2 and 3 as well as the 5-year Evaluation Synthesis report, contents, and (ii) comments on the results and potential policy implications of the GFATM 5-year evaluation findings, as well as first responses prepared by the GF Secretariat shared at the GFATM Board meeting held in Ethiopia in November 2009. The evaluators raised the weaknesses of national health information systems, which limit the availability of reliable data and indicators that could be useful in assessing disease control impact as well as in monitoring the progress through management for result initiatives. Nevertheless, it can be shown that increased funding is linked to expansion of preventive interventions (including Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) and preventing mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT)) as well as treatment (ARV) activities, the quality of which could be improved and better monitored. Especially in Eastern Africa, malaria control has improved significantly, benefiting from additional funding. Health systems' weaknesses at district level, such as human resources, laboratory commodities, and medicine shortages, are major constraints to further expansion of services and impact of funds. Issues at stake are the following: (i) soundness of the GFATM assumptions at inception with respect to national disease control strategies, especially in relation to HIV prevention, (ii) whether it belongs to the GFATM to finance health systems strengthening to start with, (iii) GFATM systems effects, (iv) misfinancing in relation to disease burden, marginalized and vulnerable groups, (v) technical expertise identification, mobilization and financing, (vi) equity of access of funding, expertise and guidance, to francophone countries in Africa. Recommendations are made to bring the attention of the GFATM Board members prior to the Replenishment Conference to be prepared in March 2010 and held in October 2010.

Mali Médical Goes Global

Since 2005, EHP and other members of the African Medical Journal Editors Partnership Program (AMJEPP) have worked with counterpart African journals to increase the latter journals’ capacity and reach. Now Mali Medical, the African partner journal for EHP and the American Journal of Public Health, has taken a big step forward in getting its published research out to a worldwide audience by becoming the second of the African AMJEPP journals to be accepted for indexing in MEDLINE, the essential database for far-reaching distribution of biomedical information. African Health Sciences, the Ugandan partner journal for BMJ, was indexed prior to the formation of the AMJEPP. Due to the sustainability and capacity challenges typically faced by developing nations, the African journal partners have been hampered in their efforts to disseminate essential research information internally as well as internationally. The AMJEPP, currently funded by the National Library of Medicine and the NIH Fogarty International Center, pairs these journals with established journals in the United States and the United Kingdom that can offer guidance, training, and expertise (see “Global Collaboration Gives Greater Voice to African Journals,” EHP 113:A452–A454 [2005]). Thomas J. Goehl, EHP’s former editor-in-chief and one of the architects of the AMJEPP, sees MEDLINE acceptance as a highly promising opportunity for Mali Medical to move beyond the foundation it has established in local African countries and increase its presence internationally in biomedical research. “The editors and editorial board of Mali Medical have worked very diligently in developing the journal into one that has become a focus for the medical community in many francophone countries in Africa,” Goehl says. “With the inclusion of the journal in MEDLINE, the rest of the world will now have much easier access to the first-rate articles being published by Mali Medical.” Hui Hu, EHP’s international editor, agrees that making Mali Medical searchable on MEDLINE will allow it to be much more visible to the international audience. “This is a milestone step to the international community for Mali Medical,” she says. Adding to this increased visibility is Mali Medical’s recent inclusion in the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) Register, the world’s most comprehensive and authoritative registration source for the identification of serial publications. This will allow the journal to be cited, abstracted, and indexed more accurately. Keeping in step with EHP’s ongoing mission to make environmental health science literature available to the largest audience possible, especially to those in developing countries, the journal joined Online Access to Research in the Environment (OARE) in January 2007. An international public–private consortium sponsored by the UN Environment Programme and Yale University, OARE provides web access to more than 1,000 scientific journals to developing, low-income countries for free or minimal cost. For more information on OARE, visit http://www.oaresciences.org/.

De Sozaboy à Pétit Minitaire. Par-delà la traduction, les enjeux

Though « pidgin French » is now a language of its own in many Francophone countries in Africa, it is practically non-existent as a literary vehicle. The publication of Pétit Minitaire - the translation of Ken Saro-Wiwa’s Sozaboy into French - could perhaps help to change this situation. In the introduction to his novel, Saro-Wiwa stated that he used «rotten English » (« a mixture of Nigerian pidgin English, broken English and occasional flashes of good, even idiomatic English ») partly as an experiment to prove that it was a viable literary language. This is a significant statement for Francophone literature which, on the whole, seems to have been reluctant to cross the threshold of standard French. This paper discusses two basic issues. How can the translation of Sozaboy contribute to Francophone African literature and help to cross this threshold ? What are the limitations and the handicaps of this language as a literary medium ?

Implementing Technology in the Foreign Language Curriculum: Redefining the Boundaries between Language and Culture

This article reports a case study of the implementation of an innovative set of computer programs specifically designed to accompany a college level 1 French text. The computer materials were culturally based and included not only Parisian French speakers but also speakers from francophone countries in Africa and the Caribbean. The students' reactions were mixed. They complained that the culture lessons were unimportant and distracted from their learning the grammar rules and vocabulary. The study indicated that understanding college level students' beliefs about language learning is helpful if innovative language programs are to be successful.

Which Language for Teaching? The Cultural Messages Transmitted by the Languages Used in Education

This paper addresses the question of mother-tongue education of children, especially in francophone countries of Africa. It seeks to contribute to the debate on the integration of local languages into educational systems in multilingual settings by stressing the opposing cultural messages carried by official and indigenous languages. Schooling in Western languages has been a divisive failure, creating two social classes; a French-speaking intellectual elite, unable to convey its imported knowledge to the masses, and a rural underclass. The paper examines and evaluates the PROPELCA language-teaching experiment initiated in Cameroon during the 1980s, based on the principle of 'extensive trilingualism'. Mother-tongue education was preferred by the children, their intellectual development improved and they acquired knowledge more relevant to their daily lives. Examples of the discrepancies produced by Western schooling at both social and scientific levels are discussed and the linguistic creativity of the unschooled is highlighted. Local language as a means of communication is examined and confirmed as the best vehicle both for cultural heritage and for comprehension on a personal level. The paper concludes that the use of local languages within bilingual education enhances local culture and educational opportunities.

Management of resistance to pesticides in cotton pests

Abstract In recent years, nationwide insecticide resistance management (IRM) strategies in Zimbabwe, Egypt and Australia have successfully overcome existing resistance problems on cotton and prevented further outbreaks in some key pests. These strategies, which rely heavily on pragmatic assumptions regarding the efficacy of counter‐measures and the biology of the pest, relate little to theoretical models of resistance management whose tenets have so far not been experimentally appraised. These IRM strategies are compared with a simple but rigid programme used throughout Francophone countries of Africa that has successfully controlled the pest complex on cotton and increased yield without eliciting resistance in any pests. We examine the motivations, philosophies and logistics of these control programmes on cotton, and outline scope for improvements to existing and future IRM.

Librarianship in francophone West Africa

Since 1960, when many African states gained political independence, experts in African history, education, government, anthropology and sociology have been engaged in the comparative studies of the educational, social and political systems in the anglophone and francophone countries of Africa with differing rationalizations. Their common fundamental assumption has been that these former colonial territories were so much subjected to the cultural traditions of their former European colonizers that, after achieving independence, they have been unable to shed off completely the colonial influences on their social, educational and political institutions. Notwithstanding the serious efforts being made by the African countries to adapt their inherited educational systems to national needs, the colonial imprint remains virtually ineradicable. To highlight this view, Dr Lester Asheim, a noted American library educator, thus comments: