Research In sub-Saharan Africa Research Articles

Rural Communities, Development Policies and Social Sciences Practice: Advocacy for a Citizenship of Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

This work aims at restoring the importance of social sciences within African communities. It also aims at creating a sort of deep interest or devotion among African researchers leading them to go deep into local knowledge and get inspiration in order to develop theories adapted to the realities of their societies. It demonstrates in a practical way the usefulness of the social sciences in any development enterprise. Being true that rural African communities are laboratories where indigenous techniques are developed, then, African researchers must use appropriate approaches to analyze that social facts place them at the centre of any scientific action. They must go and meet the locals (African men) at their site of knowledge where creation and invention are made in order to produce scientific knowledge able to induce social transformation. The indigenization of research itself is a scientific approach dealing with cultural facts whose investigation tools must necessarily contribute to knowledge production directly usable for the targeted social group. Therefore this article is a plea for endogenous research that development policies often ignore.

Periodontitis and Rheumatoid Arthritis in sub-Saharan Africa, gaps and way forward: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

This review identified papers that described periodontitis and rheumatoid arthritis in sub-Saharan Africa. Only English language publications from January 2010 to December 2017 describing original research in sub-Saharan Africa on the association between periodontitis and rheumatoid arthritis were considered for this study. Published databases: PubMed, Science direct and Google scholar, were searched using terms "periodontitis", "rheumatoid arthritis" and "Sub-Saharan Africa" to generate a set of putative studies. Articles with data on both rheumatoid arthritis and periodontitis compared to controls were selected. Studies on the association of periodontitis with cardiovascular disease, arthritis or rheumatoid arthritis alone were excluded. Data were extracted, critically appraised, and analyzed using a random-effect Mantel-Haenszel meta-analysis on plaque index, gingival index, pocket depth and clinical attachment loss. Three publications were selected for the systematic review and 2 for the meta-analysis. Two studies were from Sudan, and one was from Burina Faso. There was a significant increase in pocket depth (mean difference: 0.31; 95% CI: 0.21, 0.41; N= 274; (p ≤ 0.001) and clinical attachment loss (mean difference: 0.47; 95% CI: 0.22, 0.75; N= 274; (p ≤ 0.001) in participants with rheumatoid arthritis compared to normal controls. Findings from these combined studies show a significant relationship between periodontal disease and rheumatoid arthritis with increased periodontal pocket depth and clinical attachment loss. They also highlight the need for additional work especially in the area of associating rheumatoid arthritis with P. gingivalis, the oral microbiome and treating periodontal diseases to help in the management of rheumatoid arthritis.

A Snapshot of Renewable Energy Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

Global concern over energy security and climate change has resulted in the need to adopt renewable energy technologies. The sub-continent of Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) has lagged in terms of renewable energy development and research, despite having great potential for renewable energy resources. We examined emerging trends in renewable energy research in peer-reviewed publications in-order to identify research gaps, research perspectives, current knowledge and development of renewable energy research over time. We used the bibliometric mapping approach to extract and map the most frequently used keywords. This approach was useful in providing a guideline for insights on current geographic and sectoral hotspots. Temporal analysis confirmed that renewable energy publications experienced a substantial growth with biomass energy publications being the most dominant for the study period. The bibliometric maps confirmed this finding as most of the terms pertained to biomass-related topics. It is notable that there has been a shift of the discussion from the traditional sources of biomass (firewood and charcoal) to modern bio-fuel crops in SSA. From this quantitative review it was evident that the key solutions to bridging development gaps for renewable energy in SSA are interconnected. Adequate research stems from sufficient funding that results in bridging technical gaps (in terms of skill and technology), and information (data and awareness). There is a need for a suitable policy framework backed by political will, enforcement and facilitative governance framework to channel the limited resources towards maximizing gains in renewable energy development in SSA.

The Genesis of Peri-urban Ethiopia: The Case of Hawassa City

Peri-urban areas present planning challenges of contemporary urbanisation and settlements in the Global South. Studies about peri-urban area tend to focus upon the Global North and Asia, while little has been done on sub-Saharan Africa. Available research in sub-Saharan Africa is largely confined to studying economic forces driving periurbanisation, land markets and informality. Few have explicitly examined the policy forces driving it. This article analyses the urbanisation and policy forces driving periurbanisation in Hawassa, Ethiopia. It scrutinises the city’s urbanisation policy and the nation’s land policy to find out how and why they are linked with the city’s periurbanisation processes. The analyses utilises primary data collected through household surveys, field observations and key informant interviews, which are complemented by secondary data from national legal and policy documents, and regional and city administration reports. The findings show that Hawassa’s periurbanisation is driven by policy forces emanating from annexation-based rapid urbanisation and the loopholes in the nation’s land policy.

The Progress of Tobacco Control Research in Sub-Saharan Africa in the Past 50 Years: A Systematic Review of the Design and Methods of the Studies.

Over one billion of the world’s population are smokers, with increasing tobacco use in low- and middle-income countries. However, information about the methodology of studies on tobacco control is limited. We conducted a literature search to examine and evaluate the methodological designs of published tobacco research in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) over the past 50 years. The first phase was completed in 2015 using PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials. An additional search was completed in February 2017 using PubMed. Only tobacco/smoking research in SSA countries with human subjects and published in English was selected. Out of 1796 articles, 447 met the inclusion criteria and were from 26 countries, 11 of which had one study each. Over half of the publications were from South Africa and Nigeria. The earliest publication was in 1968 and the highest number of publications was in 2014 (n = 46). The majority of publications used quantitative methods (91.28%) and were cross-sectional (80.98%). The commonest data collection methods were self-administered questionnaires (38.53%), interviews (32.57%), and observation (20.41%). Around half of the studies were among adults and in urban settings. We conclud that SSA remains a “research desert” and needs more investment in tobacco control research and training.

Navigating the rising metrics tide in the 21st century: which way for academic librarians in support of researchers in sub-Saharan Africa?

Academic librarians in sub-Saharan Africa, just like their counterparts in the rest of the world, are under pressure to provide relevant information services to satisfy varied client needs. Research administrators, grant offices, researchers, students and university managers, among others, are increasingly turning to academic librarians for information to meet their myriad research-related information and metrics needs. Sub-Saharan African countries’ emphasis on strengthening science, technology and innovation has exerted further pressure on information professionals and other stakeholders to develop and appropriately apply bibliometrics and altmetrics to inform decision-making and policy-formulation processes. Research output and impact metrics are not only quickly evolving but their volume has been unprecedented. This paper’s focus is the application of bibliometrics and altmetrics by academic librarians to support researchers in their respective universities. The paper argues that there is need for up-skilling or re-skilling the 21 st -century sub-Saharan African academic librarian to select and apply appropriate metrics, tools and strategies to support researchers as they execute their responsibilities. The paper offers possible areas of training for academic librarians.

Genomic Literacy and Awareness of Ethical Guidance for Genomic Research in Sub-Saharan Africa: How Prepared Are Biomedical Researchers?

Achieving the objectives of rolling out genomic research programs in sub-Saharan Africa depends on how prepared indigenous biomedical researchers are for this type of research. We explored the level of preparedness of biomedical researchers in a sub-Saharan African country using in-depth interviews to obtain data on their understanding of genomics and genomic research and assess their awareness of the scope of the country's code of health research ethics. Thirty biomedical researchers were interviewed. Only eight were familiar with concepts of genomics, a form of "genomic health literacy." The majority were not aware of the country's code of research ethics. This study showed that generally biomedical researchers were not genomic health literate, unaware of the code and its limitations as a source of ethical guidance for the conduct of genomic research. These findings underscore the need for educational training in genomics and creating awareness of ethical oversight for genomic research in sub-Saharan Africa.

Africana womanism as an extension of feminism in political ecology (of health) research

A feminist perspective within political ecology and political ecology of health considers gender dynamics in the use of environmental resources, labor division, and health inequalities. However, a feminist perspective may not adequately engender the perspectives of Africana women as many embrace their roles of the nurturer, protector and provider of their families. Africana womanism, an African theoretical perspective that is family-centered and focuses on women’s concerns only after the community’s needs are met, provides a different lens by which to conduct research in sub-Saharan Africa. However, in today’s (post-colonial) reality, Africana womanism cannot remain isolated. This forum paper focuses on the importance of including Africana womanist perspectives in political ecology and political ecology of health research by integrating African feminism and Black feminism, which are grounded in the multiple oppressions that Africana women historically and currently face. These multiple perspectives from Africana women will enable a better understanding of gender dynamics in sub-Saharan Africa and will enable Africana womanism to be used as an extension of feminism to account for a uniquely Africana perspective in future political ecology and political ecology of health research.

Collateral benefits: how the practical application of Good Participatory Practice can strengthen HIV research in sub-Saharan Africa.

IntroductionThe Good Participatory Practice (GPP): Guidelines for Biomedical HIV Prevention Trials, second edition (2011) were developed to provide clinical trial sponsors and implementers with a formal stakeholder engagement framework. As one of the largest African research institutes, Wits Reproductive Health and HIV Institute (Wits RHI) became an early adopter of GPP by implementing its principles within large‐scale national and regional clinical trials. This article examines Wits RHI's lessons learned from implementing GPP, its ongoing efforts to institutionalize GPP, and the yet to be realized potential in creating fully sustainable structures for meaningful stakeholder engagement in HIV prevention research, implementation science and beyond.DiscussionFor the past seven years, Wits RHI has undertaken both centralized leadership roles in implementing GPP across multi‐party regional research consortia as well as overseeing GPP for smaller investigator‐driven trials. Through this iterative roll‐out of GPP, key lessons have emerged. Obtaining upfront funding to support GPP activities throughout and between the research life cycle, and a trained multi‐disciplinary team of GPP practitioners have helped facilitate an enabling environment for GPP implementation. We further recommend formally integrating stakeholder engagement into study documents, including monitoring and evaluation plans with indicators and performance metrics, to assist teams to track and refine their GPP strategies. Finally, institutionalizing resources and supporting organization‐wide GPP along with ongoing support can help build efficiencies and maximize economies of scale toward a pragmatic and innovative application of the GPP Guidelines.ConclusionsThanks to a growing global network of GPP practitioners and a burgeoning GPP Community of Practice, there has been substantive progress in making GPP an integral component of clinical HIV prevention research. The Wits RHI experience highlights the possibilities and the challenges to translating the GPP principles into concrete practices within specific clinical trials and across a research institute. Realizing the full potential of GPP, including direct and indirect – ‘collateral benefits’ will require the collective buy‐in and support from sponsors, implementers and community stakeholders across the research field. As the HIV prevention research field expands, however, a more conscious and systematic implementation of GPP is timely.

Correction: Integrating wood fuels into agriculture and food security agendas and research in sub-Saharan Africa

Correction: Integrating wood fuels into agriculture and food security agendas and research in sub-Saharan Africa

Academics at three African universities on the perceived utilisation of their research

This article contributes to emerging knowledge on the utilisation of university research in sub-Saharan Africa. A survey was conducted comprising 463 academics at three African universities: the University of Ibadan (Nigeria), the University of Nairobi (Kenya) and the University of Rwanda. The study investigated the agreement between two measures of research utilisation and highlighted the types of research interactions associated with instances of perceived research utilisation, whilst taking into account the different categories of intended beneficiaries. The first measure, a single question, required the respondents to indicate to what extent the stated intended beneficiaries had utilised the research as planned. The second measure operationalised a stage model of research utilisation. Responses at the ‘upper end’ of both measures were labelled ‘true’ research utilisation. A percentage reduction in utilisation was observed when cross-tabulating the two measures – from 48 per cent who believed that research utilisation occurred to some extent (upper end of first measure), to 35 per cent who held the same opinion and who obtained above-average scores on the stage model of utilisation (upper end of second measure). For the subgroup at the upper end of both measures, the larger share of cases (54%) exemplified the instrumental utilisation of research. This subgroup was found to be involved in traditional academic research practices and participated in a number of outreach activities targeting non-academic audiences.

Integrating wood fuels into agriculture and food security agendas and research in sub-Saharan Africa

In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), food security can be influenced by many factors including farmer productivity, access to soil amendments, labor availability, and family incomes (just to name a few). In this paper, we suggest that an additional issue contributes to food insecurity and has been historically absent from the discussion, namely access to cooking energy, particularly for very low income, food insecure individuals. This paper examines the most recent literature that describes the central role played by wood fuels, in particular firewood and charcoal, as a vital, though controversial, source of fuel used by the vast majority of rural and urban sub-Saharan Africans. We explore the reality that although the health risks of collecting and using firewood and charcoal in traditional manners are real, policy makers, researchers, and donors need to address the sustainability and viability of the current fuel types used by the majority of people. We end the paper with a series of practical suggestions for improving the wood fuel systems as they currently exist in the region.

“I think the parent should be there because no one was born alone”: Kenyan adolescents’ perspectives on parental involvement in HIV research

Despite a pressing need for adolescent HIV research in sub-Saharan Africa, ethical guidance for conducting research among minor adolescents is lacking. One ethical issue is the degree to which parents should be involved in the research process. The existing discourse is predominantly speculative and focuses on negative consequences of parental involvement. We use empirical data to describe the perspectives of Kenyan adolescents on parental involvement in consent and disclosure of HIV test results within a research study context. We conducted two rounds of focus group discussions with 40 adolescents in western Kenya to ask about minor adolescent participation in HIV research. We analysed data using codes and matrices. Kenyan adolescents were largely in favour of parental involvement during the research process. Half felt adolescent minors should solicit parental consent to participate, and nearly all said parents should learn the HIV test results of adolescent minors in order to provide necessary support. From their perspective, involvement of parents in research extends beyond obtaining their consent to providing essential support for youth, regardless of HIV status, both during and beyond the research study. Ethical guidelines that prioritise adolescent autonomy in research must consider reasons to involve parents considered important by adolescents themselves, particularly in low-resource settings.

Mapping collaboration and impact of library and information science research in sub-Saharan Africa, from 1995 to 2016

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to map and visualise collaboration patterns and citation impact of the library and information science research in sub-Saharan Africa between 1995 and 2016.Design/methodology/approachData were extracted from the Thomson Reuters’ citation indexes using the name of the country in an advanced search platform. The search was limited to documents designated as articles. Data were analysed using the VosViewer software to obtain network maps and frequencies of occurrence.FindingsThe findings reveal that publication and citation impact of LIS research in sub-Saharan Africa has continued to grow since 1995; foreign countries have immensely contributed to the evolution and development of LIS research in the region; research collaboration occurs both regionally and internationally, with the latter being the most prominent; South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya are the most active participants in LIS research collaboration in the region; and that on average, international collaboration in LIS research in sub-Saharan Africa attracts more citations than other types of collaboration.Research limitations/implicationsThe study was limited to the data indexed in the Web of Science citation indexes and focused on sub-Saharan African countries only.Practical implicationsCollaboration is said to lead to increased research output and impact, hence the need for sub-Saharan African researchers and institutions to initiate strategies that will create conducive environments for research collaboration. There is need for collaborative ventures between LIS practitioners and educators as well as increased cooperation among LIS schools within and outside of sub-Saharan African countries. Partnerships involving students and programmes such as research fellowship, post-doctoral researchers as well as visiting researchers may complement any existing strategies that can be pursued to increase collaborative research in LIS in the region.Originality/valueThe paper, while drawing lessons from previous papers, adopted a variety of techniques to examine collaboration patterns and impact of LIS research over a longer period of publication time, i.e. 1995 to 2016, and a larger geographic scope.

Africa rising in an emerging world: an international marketing perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to highlight important contemporary themes in international marketing strategy from the perspective of Sub-Saharan African firms.Design/methodology/approachThe approach adopted is a review and synopsis of the existing body of research on international marketing research in Sub-Saharan Africa, and a discussion of the manuscripts included in the special issue.FindingsInternational marketing in Sub-Sahara Africa is growing steadily, driven largely by rapid changes in socio-economic and demographic characteristics of consumers in this market. The growing appetite of multinational enterprises to explore new growth opportunities on this continent and the increasing intra-Africa cross-border transactions is driving unique approaches to international marketing that are predicated on using non-traditional means to produce, communicate and distribute products and services.Research limitations/implicationsWhile the international marketing opportunities and challenges discussed in this paper are not exhaustive, the paper highlights important research themes that need consideration regarding international marketing research in Sub-Saharan Africa.Originality/valueThis introductory paper emphasizes the unique international business landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa and discusses its international marketing strategy implications. The paper further draws attention to a number of unanswered research questions that require additional research, and thus bring Sub-Saharan Africa to international marketing scholarly enquiry.

Evaluation of Telemedicine Systems User Satisfaction in Developing Countries

This article describes how in developing countries, the work on regulatory aspects of telemedicine systems and applications is still in infancy. During our literature review and on-site research in Sub-Saharan Africa, we could not point out any work on measuring the quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE or QoX) provided by the telemedicine systems, thus making it impossible to measure the overall level of system user satisfaction in Sub-Saharan Africa. Therefore, we conducted a qualitative and quantitative study to measure network QoS performance and end-user QoE perception of telemedicine systems using publicly accessible conversation tool Skype in Mali and Senegal. The results show that about 75% of the users were satisfied with the quality of teleconsultation service provided and 60% of the users have good impression on the network performance. Based on obtained results, we propose KPIs such as global QoS for measuring QoS and propose a mathematical formula to predict the corresponding QoE, since there exists a relationship between QoS and QoE.

Proliferation of low-cost sensors. What prospects for air pollution epidemiologic research in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Addressing the worsening urban air quality situation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is proving increasingly difficult owing to paucity of data on air pollution levels and also, lack of local evidence on the magnitude of the associated health effects. There is therefore the urgent need to expand air quality monitoring (AQM) networks in SSA to enable the conduct of high quality epidemiologic studies to help inform policies aimed at addressing air pollution and the associated health effects. In this commentary, I explore the prospects that the proliferation of low-cost sensors in recent times holds for air pollution epidemiologic research in SSA. This commentary is timely because most SSA governments do not see investments in air pollution control that requires assembling a network of sophisticated and prohibitively expensive instrumentation for AQM as necessary for improving and protecting public health. I conclude that, in a region that is bereft of air pollution data, the growing influx of low-cost sensors represents an excellent opportunity for bridging the data gap to inform air pollution control policies and regulations for public health protection. However, it is essential that only the most promising sensor technologies that performs creditably well in the harsh environmental conditions of the region are promoted.

Diabetes Academy Africa: training the next generation of researchers in sub-Saharan Africa.

Diabetes Academy Africa: training the next generation of researchers in sub-Saharan Africa.

The role of crop diversification in improving household food security in central Malawi

BackgroundThis paper concerns the role of crop diversification in improving household food security in central Malawi. In this country, the agricultural sector is dominated by smallholder farming and rain-fed food production systems that are facing increasing challenges from land degradation and declining soil fertility. Maize is the staple food crop, and as such, the majority of farmers grow it regardless of land suitability. This has led to what scientists have labeled as “maize poverty trap.” In the event of prolonged drought, maize fails thus leaving farmers food insecure. However, research in Sub-Saharan Africa has shown that crop diversification provides smallholder farmers with a diversity of diet, improves their income, and nutrition security. Due to increased cases of malnutrition and food insecurity, in the wake of climate change, government of Malawi has in the past few years intensified extension efforts for crop diversification.MethodsThe study is based on a sample of 271 randomly selected smallholder farming households from central Malawi. It investigates the influence of crop diversification and other household socioeconomic characteristics on the household Food Consumption Score and Household Food Insecurity Access Score. In our analysis, we rely heavily on a combination of ordinary least squares techniques and some descriptive statistics.ResultsOur results show that crop diversification, cattle ownership, access to credit and attaining of education have a positive and significant effect on the household Food Consumption Score. Precisely, crop diversification, cattle ownership and access to credit are all significant at 5% level, while education is significant at 10%. In addition, crop diversification and attaining of formal education by household head were found to have a negative and significant effect on Household Food Insecurity Access Score and were all significant at 1% level.Conclusion and policy recommendationBased on our study findings, we conclude that crop diversification is one viable option in smallholder farming that can ensure establishment of resilient agricultural systems that can contribute significantly to household food security. In terms of policy, the results imply that the current efforts by government of Malawi to intensify promotion of crop diversification should remain a priority policy direction due to the continued malnutrition and food insecurity threat. This is particularly so in this era of climate variability that poses an extra burden to farmers.

Looking back and moving forward: 50 years of soil and soil fertility management research in sub-Saharan Africa

ABSTRACTLow and declining soil fertility has been recognized for a long time as a major impediment to intensifying agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Consequently, from the inception of international agricultural research, centres operating in SSA have had a research programme focusing on soil and soil fertility management, including the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). The scope, content, and approaches of soil and soil fertility management research have changed over the past decades in response to lessons learnt and internal and external drivers and this paper uses IITA as a case study to document and analyse the consequences of strategic decisions taken on technology development, validation, and ultimately uptake by smallholder farmers in SSA. After an initial section describing the external environment within which soil and soil fertility management research is operating, various dimensions of this research area are covered: (i) ‘strategic research’, ‘Research for Development’, partnerships, and balancing acts, (ii) changing role of characterization due to the expansion in geographical scope and shift from soils to farms and livelihoods, (iii) technology development: changes in vision, content, and scale of intervention, (iv) technology validation and delivery to farming communities, and (v) impact and feedback to the technology development and validation process. Each of the above sections follows a chronological approach, covering the last five decades (from the late 1960s till today). The paper ends with a number of lessons learnt which could be considered for future initiatives aiming at developing and delivering improved soil and soil fertility management practices to smallholder farming communities in SSA.