Hasil untuk "History of Africa"

I. Imam, Rufus Akinyemi

To cite: Imam I, Akinyemi R. Pract Neurol 2016;16:75–77. NIGERIA Nigeria, the ‘Giant of Africa’, with a land area of about 920 000 km, lies on the West African coast (figures 1–3). Its projected population in 2015 is 180 million, making it the most heavily populated African country, and the seventh most populous nation in the world. Nigeria comprises 36 states, with its administrative capital in Abuja. It has over 250 ethnic groups and languages, and its official language is English. Nigeria attained independence from Britain on 1 October 1960 and for much of its early history was governed by military regimes, interrupted by spells of democratically elected governments. Nigeria has, however, just had its longest phase of uninterrupted civilian rule, and, for the first time, a ruling party handed over power to an opposition party on 29 May 2015. Nigeria has the largest gross domestic product in Africa, and its economy, while relying heavily on the petroleum sector, also depends on agriculture and commerce. However, Nigeria spends <4% of its gross domestic product on health, and healthcare delivery is inadequate. This is reflected by a high infant mortality rate of 74/1000 live births, a maternal mortality of 560/100 000 live births and life expectancy of <53 years.

C. Robinson

M. Leach, R. Mearns, I. Scoones

Nathan Nunn, D. Puga, Ann Carlos et al.

Ahmed Azzam, Heba Khaled, Heba Mohamed Fayed et al.

Abstract Background MRSA represents a significant public health challenge, particularly in resource-constrained regions like Africa. A critical factor in its spread is the role of asymptomatic carriers, who not only facilitate transmission but also face a markedly higher risk of developing MRSA-related infections. Against this backdrop, the current meta-analysis provides a comprehensive evaluation of MRSA colonization rates, associated risk factors, and antibiotic resistance profiles across African populations. Methods A comprehensive literature search was conducted across African Journals Online, African Index Medicus, PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, and Web of Science from January 1, 2014, to January 1, 2025. Eligible studies reported on MRSA colonization rates, associated risk factors, or antibiotic resistance patterns within African populations. Results were presented as pooled prevalence or risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals, employing a random-effects model in R software (meta package). A p-value of < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The study followed the PRISMA guidelines throughout. Results Sixty-nine studies with 23,484 participants from 16 African countries were included. Subgroup analyses identified Healthcare Workers and hospitalized patients as having the highest pooled prevalence at 13.6% and 12.9%, respectively. Conversely, lower prevalence rates were observed among healthy community residents and children, at 4.1% and 4.7%, respectively. Among HCWs, Egypt reported the highest MRSA colonization rate at 18.1%. Key risk factors for MRSA colonization include a history of hospitalization (RR: 2.2), prior antibiotic use (RR: 1.4), diabetes mellitus (RR: 4.4), HIV with CD4 < 200 cells/µL (RR: 2.8), invasive procedures (RR: 4.8), and being a nurse compared to a physician (RR: 1.8), all with p < 0.05. Antibiotic resistance of MRSA was low for linezolid (2.7%) and vancomycin (5.9%), but higher for mupirocin (10.7%), clindamycin (23.6%), and Trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (38.9%). Conclusion MRSA colonization is a significant public health challenge in Africa, particularly among healthcare workers and hospitalized patients. Implementing targeted interventions for these high-risk groups can effectively reduce MRSA transmission and overall infection burden. Continuous monitoring is essential, especially given the resistance to mupirocin, a key antibiotic used for MRSA decolonization.

David Demitri Africa, Yuval Weiss, Paula Buttery et al.

Large language models are powerful but costly. We ask whether meta-learning can make the pretraining of small language models not only better but also more interpretable. We integrate first-order MAML with subset-masked LM pretraining, producing four LLama-style decoder-only models (11M-570M params), and evaluate it on a fundamental NLP task with many settings and real-world applications. Compared with vanilla training, our model (i) reaches the same loss up to 1.6x sooner, (ii) improves F1 on multilingual Universal NER under equal compute, and (iii) makes the training dynamics easy to read: first the network's representations fan out ("diversify") and later they collapse into a smaller, shared subspace ("compress"). This two-stage shift shows up as a rise-and-fall in both effective-rank curves and attention-head entropy. The same curves pinpoint which layers specialise earliest and which later reconverge, giving a compact, interpretable signature of meta-adaptation. Code, checkpoints and WandB logs are released.

Mubaraq Yakubu, Udunna Anazodo, Maruf Adewole et al.

In Africa, the scarcity of computational resources and medical datasets remains a major hurdle to the development and deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) tools in clinical settings, further contributing to global bias. These limitations hinder the full realization of AI's potential and present serious challenges to advancing healthcare across the region. This paper proposes a framework aimed at addressing data scarcity in African healthcare. The framework presents a comprehensive strategy to encourage healthcare providers across the continent to create, curate, and share locally sourced medical imaging datasets. By organizing themed challenges that promote participation, accurate and relevant datasets can be generated within the African healthcare community. This approach seeks to overcome existing dataset limitations, paving the way for a more inclusive and impactful AI ecosystem that is specifically tailored to Africa's healthcare needs.

Carmen Berta C. De Saituma Cagiza, Ilidio Cagiza

This study investigates the dynamic relationship between development finance institutions (DFIs), foreign direct investment (FDI), and economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) from 1990 to 2018, using a quantitative panel dataset of annual data for five SSA countries (Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, and Zimbabwe) and a fixed-effects model estimated in STATA. Specifically, the analysis examines whether DFIs enhance FDI inflows, thereby promoting economic growth and contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The findings indicate that although DFIs have a theoretically positive impact on FDI, this relationship is not statistically significant across the sample, suggesting contextual dependencies influenced by regional economic variations. The study also analyzes how economic growth, trade openness, inflation, political stability, and the rule of law influence this nexus, elucidating their roles in shaping investment climates. A sectoral analysis indicates that DFI investments in infrastructure, agribusiness, and finance significantly affect FDI, with infrastructure having the greatest impact owing to its foundational role in economic systems. This research contributes by linking DFIs with FDI in SSA in a panel setting, thus providing a framework for policymakers to strengthen institutional and macroeconomic conditions to optimize the impact of DFIs on FDI and, ultimately, on sustainable development. The findings underscore the need for targeted policies to address regional disparities and enhance DFI effectiveness in fostering sustainable growth.

Yakir Aharonov, Guy Hetzroni

This oral history interview provides Yakir Aharonov's perspective on the theoretical discovery of the Aharonov-Bohm effect in 1959, during his PhD studies in Bristol with David Bohm, the reception of the effect, the efforts to test it empirically (up to Tonomura's experiment), and some of the debates regarding the existence of the effect and its interpretation. The interview also discusses related later developments until the 1980s, including modular momentum and Berry's phase. It includes recollections from meetings with Werner Heisenberg, Richard Feynman, and Chen-Ning Yang, also mentioning John Bell, Robert Chambers, Werner Ehrenberg, Sir Charles Frank, Wendell Furry, Gunnar Källén, Maurice Pryce, Nathan Rosen, John Wheeler, and Eugene Wigner.

Sakhiseni Joseph Yende

Framed within the Sociomusicology Theory, this article argued that through the revival of Khoisan indigenous music, South Africa can promote social cohesion, bridging gaps between different ethnic groups and creating a more inclusive society. The Khoisan people, also known as Bushmen or San, are one of the oldest indigenous groups in Africa, and their music is an integral part of their identity and history. However, Khoisan indigenous music in South Africa has been forgotten and marginalised. This can be attributed to various factors including colonialism. In recent years, there has been a quest for revitalising the overlooked and marginalised Khoisan indigenous music in South Africa. Notwithstanding, minimal attention has been given to reviving the forgotten and marginalised Khoisan indigenous music in South Africa and this has become a matter of great concern. This article thus sought to understand the importance of reviving the forgotten and marginalised Khoisan indigenous music in South Africa. In this article, a qualitative content analysis was employed to successfully analyse the purpose of this paper. The findings demonstrated that the extinction of Khoisan indigenous music is attributed to various historical, social, and cultural factors, including colonialism, cultural assimilation, and modernisation. The paper concluded by affirming that the Khoisan indigenous music holds a deep cultural significance for the Khoisan people and South Africa as a whole. It serves as a potent vehicle for the expression and preservation of their great connection to nature, spiritual beliefs, and rich cultural history.

Emily F. Kerrison, Ron D. Ekers, John Morgan et al.

Recent observations of interplanetary scintillation (IPS) at radio frequencies have proved to be a powerful tool for probing the solar environment from the ground. But how far back does this tradition really extend? Our survey of the literature to date has revealed a long history of scintillating observations, beginning with the oral traditions of Indigenous peoples from around the globe, encompassing the works of the Ancient Greeks and Renaissance scholars, and continuing right through into modern optics, astronomy and space science. We outline here the major steps that humanity has taken along this journey, using scintillation as a tool for predicting first terrestrial, and then space weather without ever having to leave the ground.

Iñigo Gómara, Elsa Mohino, Teresa Losada et al.

West African societies are highly dependent on the West African Monsoon (WAM).Thus, a correct representation of the WAM in climate models is of paramount importance. In this article, the ability of 8 CMIP5 historical General Circulation Models (GCMs) and 4 CORDEX-Africa Regional Climate Models (RCMs) to characterize the WAM dynamics and variability is assessed for the period July-August-September 1979-2004. Simulations are compared with observations. Uncertainties in RCM performance and lateral boundary conditions are assessed individually. Results show that both GCMs and RCMs have trouble to simulate the northward migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone in boreal summer. The greatest bias improvements are obtained after regionalization of the most inaccurate GCM simulations. To assess WAM variability, a Maximum Covariance Analysis is performed between Sea Surface Temperature and precipitation anomalies in observations, GCM and RCM simulations. The assessed variability patterns are: El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO); the eastern Mediterranean (MED); and the Atlantic Equatorial Mode (EM). Evidence is given that regionalization of the ENSO-WAM teleconnection does not provide any added value. Unlike GCMs, RCMs are unable to precisely represent the ENSO impact on air subsidence over West Africa. Contrastingly, the simulation of the MED-WAM teleconnection is improved after regionalization. Humidity advection and convergence over the Sahel area are better simulated by RCMs. Finally, no robust conclusions can be determined for the EM-WAM teleconnection, which cannot be isolated for the 1979-2004 period. The novel results in this article will help to select the most appropriate RCM simulations to study WAM teleconnections.

Noorman Abdullah

The state of knowledge production and circulation – or what is framed as “relevant” knowledge within academic cultures of learning and teaching – is intimately tied to the global concept of what is “marketable”. Closely associated with this are opportunities for teaching and research funding, graduate scholarship awards, the employment of research and teaching staff and curriculum design. In Asia, the corporatisation of universities and their departments intensified in the 1990s and early 2000s. This stemmed from a complex interplay of historical and structural conditions and pressures, including the colonial legacy of cultural, intellectual and economic dependency. In this paper, the author argues that what is necessary in these contexts in Asia, in line with the call for what are now broadly termed “alternative discourses” from scholars such as Syed Farid Alatas and Vineeta Sinha, is the teaching of a social science tradition created and expanded by scholars who are guided by the selection of problems and relevance from within. In broad contours, alternative discourses refer to the theorising and conceptualisation of social science in Asia and elsewhere that emerged from dissatisfaction with mainstream Euro-American-oriented models, research agendas and priorities. More specifically, the article interrogates the focus on teaching and pedagogy, which has, among other things, resulted in a displacement of attention from issues that should be of crucial consideration to Asian societies.

George Horațiu BONTEA

One of the trickiest conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa has reopened as a result of the October 7 terrorist strikes. Open discussions were however halted by Hamas' unilateral strike, even though the two-state solution appeared increasingly likely with the Palestinian Authority serving as the future structural restructuring of #FreePalestine. The situation in the Gaza Strip caused a great deal of divisiveness in western public opinion in addition to internal conflicts and tensions. So, the purpose of this paper was to provide a poststructuralist analysis of the dominant academic viewpoints on the state of affairs between Israel and Palestine. The relationship between identity and foreign policy is examined in this study by utilising the primary methodological instruments of reflectivist international relations theory, including intertextuality, genealogy, discourse analysis, and deconstruction. They study both epistemological and ontological aspects because of the theoretical framework, and the narratives of "us and them" were and continue to be important components in the history and current circumstances of the Gaza Strip. The findings provide context for the significance of Hamas' rhetoric and the monopoly of power, as well as outlining the identitarian divide between Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

Maruf Adewole, Jeffrey D. Rudie, Anu Gbadamosi et al.

Gliomas are the most common type of primary brain tumors. Although gliomas are relatively rare, they are among the deadliest types of cancer, with a survival rate of less than 2 years after diagnosis. Gliomas are challenging to diagnose, hard to treat and inherently resistant to conventional therapy. Years of extensive research to improve diagnosis and treatment of gliomas have decreased mortality rates across the Global North, while chances of survival among individuals in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) remain unchanged and are significantly worse in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) populations. Long-term survival with glioma is associated with the identification of appropriate pathological features on brain MRI and confirmation by histopathology. Since 2012, the Brain Tumor Segmentation (BraTS) Challenge have evaluated state-of-the-art machine learning methods to detect, characterize, and classify gliomas. However, it is unclear if the state-of-the-art methods can be widely implemented in SSA given the extensive use of lower-quality MRI technology, which produces poor image contrast and resolution and more importantly, the propensity for late presentation of disease at advanced stages as well as the unique characteristics of gliomas in SSA (i.e., suspected higher rates of gliomatosis cerebri). Thus, the BraTS-Africa Challenge provides a unique opportunity to include brain MRI glioma cases from SSA in global efforts through the BraTS Challenge to develop and evaluate computer-aided-diagnostic (CAD) methods for the detection and characterization of glioma in resource-limited settings, where the potential for CAD tools to transform healthcare are more likely.

Ali Ebadi, Ebrahim Sahafizadeh

This literature review aimed to compare various time-series analysis approaches utilized in forecasting COVID-19 cases in Africa. The study involved a methodical search for English-language research papers published between January 2020 and July 2023, focusing specifically on papers that utilized time-series analysis approaches on COVID-19 datasets in Africa. A variety of databases including PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, and Web of Science were utilized for this process. The research papers underwent an evaluation process to extract relevant information regarding the implementation and performance of the time-series analysis models. The study highlighted the different methodologies employed, evaluating their effectiveness and limitations in forecasting the spread of the virus. The result of this review could contribute deeper insights into the field, and future research should consider these insights to improve time series analysis models and explore the integration of different approaches for enhanced public health decision-making.

Tobias O. Apinjoh, Vincent N. Ntui, Hanesh F. Chi et al.

The current guidelines for malaria prevention and control during pregnancy in Africa is predicated on the prevention of infection and/or disease through intermittent preventive treatment in pregnancy (IPTp), insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and effective malaria case diagnosis and management. Concerns that increasing SP resistance in some areas of SSA may have compromised IPTp-SP efficacy prompted this contemporaneous study, designed to assess the prevalence and risk factors of sub-microscopic infection in parturient women during the low transmission season in Mutengene, a rapidly growing semi-urban area in Southwest Region, Cameroon. Pregnant women originally reporting for the establishment of antenatal clinic care during the dry season were followed-up to term and their pregnancy outcomes recorded. About 2 ml of venous blood was collected for malaria diagnosis using PfHRP2/pLDH malaria rapid diagnostic kit and light microscopy. DNA was extracted from dried blood spots by the Chelex-100 method and the Plasmodium falciparum status detected by nested PCR amplification of the 18SrRNA gene using specific predesigned primers. Of the 300 women enrolled, the proportion of malaria parasite infected as determined by microscopy, RDT and PCR was 12.9%, 16.4% and 29.4% respectively, with 39.9% overall infected with P. falciparum by microscopy and/or RDT and/or PCR and a very low-density infection, averaging 271 parasites per microliter of blood. About 25.0% (68/272) of women who were negative by microscopy were positive by PCR (submicroscopic P. falciparum infection), with primigravidae and IPTp-SP non usage identified as independent risk factors for submicroscopic P. falciparum parasitaemia while fever history (aOR = 4.83, 95% CI = 1.28–18.22, p = 0.020) was associated with risk of malaria parasite infection overall. IPTp-SP use (p = 0.007) and dosage (p = 0.005) significantly influenced whether or not the participant will be malaria parasite negative or carry submicroscopic or microscopic infection. Although Infant birthweight and APGAR score were independent of the mother’s P. falciparum infection and submicroscopic status, infant’s birthweight varied with the gravidity status (p = 0.001) of the mother, with significantly lower birthweight neonates born to primigravidae compared to secundigravidae (p = 0.001) and multigravidae (p = 0.003). Even in holo-endemic dry season, there exists a large proportion of pregnant women with very low density parasitaemia. IPTp-SP seems to be relevant in controlling submicroscopic P. falciparum infections, which remains common in pregnant women, and are hard to diagnose, with potentially deleterious consequences for maternal and fetal health. Future studies should be carried out in hyperendemic malaria foci where the parasitemia levels are substantially higher in order to confirm the efficacy of IPTp-SP.

Alessandra Di Maio

The small island of Lampedusa, a key destination of the Central Mediterranean Route connecting Africa to Italy, offers a special observatory on the contemporary trans-Mediterranean odyssey of migrants, although often transformed into a “border spectacle.” Upon landing, migrants are stripped of their belongings, as these are impounded by the authorities. Such an act of dispossession is intended to deprive them of their histories, family ties and cultural identity. Photographer Mario Badagliacca has portrayed a selection of these lost and retrieved items in his work Fragments (2013). Each object reveals expectations, fears, desires, endurance, but cannot tell a full story. They are fragments of an open-ended narrative that requires to be framed and told, if we wish to gain a better understanding of the Black Mediterranean, its history, and consequences. What remains untold can only be imagined. Writer Maaza Mengiste imagines what lies behind two smudged photographs portrayed by Badagliacca. As always, the force of imagination provides signification, solidarity, and survival in the fractured history of the African Diaspora.

Sávio José Dias Rodrigues, Amanda Ribeiro Bezerra

Os estudos africanos e afro-brasileiros têm se consolidado como tema importante e como referência a se pensar novos espaços da geografia, sociologia, história, filosofia, dentre outras ciências humanas e naturais, também. A publicação da décima terceira edição da Kwanissa coloca a revista nesse contexto, de debates em torno das diversas disciplinas e do debate interdisciplinar.

Eric Buffetaut

The first fossil ostrich to have been named, by Milne-Edwards in 1869–1871, was <i>Struthio asiaticus</i>, a taxon based on a specimen collected by Colonel Colvin in the Siwaliks of India, consisting of associated postcranial elements (vertebrae, forelimb elements, a fragmentary tarsometatarsus and first phalanx of the third toe). Although it was described as least twice in some detail in the 19th century, the specimen has since then been interpreted in conflicting ways. A revision of the type material and its history shows that it came in all likelihood from the Siwaliks of present-day India, not Pakistan. The exact locality is unknown and the stratigraphic position of the specimen is uncertain (the frequent attribution to the Dhok Pathan Formation is not based on solid evidence). Contrary to what has sometimes been claimed, <i>Struthio asiaticus</i> was neither a small nor an especially large ostrich. It was apparently comparable in size with the modern <i>S. camelus</i>, but had slightly more robust cervical vertebrae and carpal bones. It seems to have been relatively short-toed. Because of the incompleteness of the material and uncertainties about its geological age, it is difficult to assess the place of <i>Struthio asiaticus</i> in the evolutionary history of the ostriches. Reports of <i>Struthio asiaticus</i> from Africa and north-eastern Asia are based on misinterpretations and should be discarded.