Rural West Africa Research Articles

The Guinea Fowl

Several years ago, at a bush hospital in rural west Africa, a small boy was brought by his worried parents to see the visiting American physician. The child had begun coughing and wheezing during the previous week. Now, his every breath required great effort and resulted in a loud, wheezing, grating sound. Asthma and pneumonia were diagnosed without any trouble, and every available medication (aminophylline, steroids, antibiotics, epinephrine, β-blockers, intravenous fluid) was utilized. For five days, the 6-year-old child lay gasping with pleading eyes and whispered prayers. Nothing seemed to help, and oxygen and respirators were unknown in that part of the world. In a hospital where one nurse is responsible for 80 patients, IVs easily run dry at 2 AM. Even with a full hospital, the doctors come to the bedside two or three times each night to rewrite orders and to be sure that therapy is continuous. On

Ikpe migrant cocoa farmers of south-western Cameroon

Opening ParagraphThe causes of migration are a major theoretical issue in migration studies. Some writers, such as Udo, see migration as involving a permanent or semi-permanent change of residence. It is usually considered to be a rational, that is an economic, man's reaction to economic differentials between regions (Udo, 1978: 124). Hill adds that in rural West Africa the propensity to migrate does not necessarily correlate at all closely with population density as demographers and economists so often assume; it may be the result of lack of lucrative non-farming occupations, because farming is not regarded as ‘work’ by some West Africans (Hill, 1978: 25–6).

Factors affecting reliability in age estimation in rural West Africa: A statistical analysis.

Ages of the same individual in two rounds of a rural survey in Sierra Leone spaced at intervals of six to ten months, were recorded by similar census-type methods, but using different enumerators. Substantial age differences were noted between the two surveys. Simple linear regression analysis was used to identify factors related to the interviewer, the interviewee and the method of interviewing that contributed to these age differences. It was concluded that age errors will be reduced by interviewing individuals directly rather than through a third party (usually the household head), more careful recruitment and training of enumerators and by the gradual spread of education and age awareness in rural areas.

Factors Affecting Reliability in Age Estimation in Rural West Africa: A Statistical Analysis

Factors Affecting Reliability in Age Estimation in Rural West Africa: A Statistical Analysis

Infant foods as a potential source of diarrhoeal illness in rural West Africa

It is common practice in rural areas of The Gambia to prepare infant foods in quantities which are sufficient to meet the needs of the day rather than one meal. These are then stored at ambient temperatures for periods up to 12 hours for feeding to the child on demand The total viable counts and levels of Bacillus cereus, Clostridium welchii, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli were determined in 294 infant foods samples from nought to eight hours after preparation. The presence of Salmonella was determined in 10 g samples of food. In the first hour after preparation the proportion of foods dangerously contaminated was high during the rainy season, significantly more so than during the dry season. Foods not consumed fresh were very often hazardous and almost always so after 8 hours. This problem may be a causal factor in weanling diarrhoea which also shows marked seasonal variation in prevalence.

Integration of family planning and maternal and child health in rural West Africa

SummaryThere is controversy extending beyond that of whether family planning or population control measures should be promoted among various populations. Even when the decision has been made to provide family planning advice, information and service, debate often arises as to the best method of administering a family planning programme—whether to integrate it with maternal and child health (MCH) services, offer it post-partum, or provide it independently of all other health activities.The Danfa Comprehensive Rural Health and Family Planning Project, Ghana, is investigating the general problem of health service delivery, including family planning, and is doing so with a firm commitment to efficient management, staff training and supervisory maintenance. An established research design and ongoing evaluation efforts, including cost and functional analyses, are an integral part of the project. While it is believed that the integrated MCH/Family Planning approach will yield optimal results in family planning acceptance (as well as reduction in morbidity and mortality), other alternatives of health care and family planning service delivery are being evaluated.

Sanitation of Rural Areas in the Tropics

IN a Chadwick public lecture, delivered on October 25, on the sanitation of rural areas in the tropics and sub-tropics with special reference to housing, Prof. D. B. Blacklock expressed the view that rural sanitation in tropical and sub-tropical dependencies and possessions is gravely neglected. He touched on the subject of hygienic conditions in rural West Africa, but attention was directed chiefly to the present state of rural India. The chief part of the lecture dealt with housing in the rural areas, and Prof. Blacklock emphasised by suitable illustrations how diseases of various kinds come to be associated with types of houses showing special defects. These defects are either of site, of structure and material, or due to the habits of the inmates. A house-relation of many diseases in tropical and sub-tropical countries is Directly traceable to an origin in such defects; the removal of the known defects would largely eliminate those house-diseases, which seriously affect millions of people. To-day we have at our disposal in the shape of broadcasting a valuable method of impart ing the principles of village hygiene even to those who can neither read nor write. In addition to such educative methods, it is the duty of any Government which wishes to attain success in raising the standard of rural sanitation to undertake a further measure. This is the building, using local materials so far as is possible, of standard houses and villages at many accessible places in each province or even district as examples of hygienic construction. Demonstration villages kept up to the standard would exemplify to the villagers more vividly than other methods the dangerous defects of their own homes.