Search

Climate change and the adaptation to its negative impact not only rank high on the political agenda, they also open up afield for social research where anthropologists and social geographers can add valuable contributions. The paper outlines conceptually the challenges in conducting research on the adaptation to climate change by presenting the uncertainties with regard to climate modeling in the Ethiopian Highlands. The authors ask whether it is possible to empirically investigate the direct dependency between climate change and local adaptation strategies by referring to their own and other research projects in the study region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the excavation of monumental buildings at a site in Yeha, Ethiopia belonging to the D'MT Ethio-Sabaean culture that existed in the first millenium B.C. Topics include an investigation of a multi-storeyed, half-timber building; construction techniques used in the building, and their differences from others in South Arabia; and features such as horizontal assembled girders, propylons, pillars, and South Arabian lettering found at the site.

This article reports on the intercultural exchange that occurred during the visit of Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie to the island of Jamaica in April 1966. Several topics are discussed, including how Selassie's arrival in Jamaica caused many to convert to the Rastafari movement, including the musicians Rita Marley and Bob Marley, because they believed he was the "Black Messiah," how the Rastafari cult developed in Jamaica in the 1930s after Selassie's coronation, and how the herbal drug Marijuana is religiously connected to the Rastafari beliefs. Also mentioned is that the offspring of many African slaves in Jamaica looked up Emperor Haile Selassie, despite the fact that his country of Ethiopia did not abolish slavery until the 1930s.

Sera from 251 children living in endemic areas (Schistosoma mansoni or Schistosoma haematobium) and from 188 hospital outpatients in Ethiopia were evaluated for specific IgG4 antibodies reacting with Schistosoma mansoni adult worm antigen employing an enzyme-immunoassay. Patients with schistosomiasis (n = 140) possessed a significantly higher mean value of specific IgG4 antibodies than normal controls (n = 30) and individuals from different countries who had no schistosomiasis but are infected with other parasites (n = 114). Blood samples dried on filter paper were also acceptable in these test. The use of the test in diagnosis is compared and assessed with parasitological methods.

Of 1240 first-time consultations in the neuropsychiatric clinic of the Gondar College of Medical Sciences in an eleven-month period during 1985 and 1986, 152 patients came seeking relief from seizures. This paper deals with the origins and background of diagnostic, differential diagnostic, and therapeutic problems, and with problems of social rehabilitation. While in such a tradition-bound society certain hypotheses continue to have an unfavorable effect, there are unmistakable signs of positive change against a background of rapid social change. Conclusions are drawn for the better management of epileptic patients in developing countries.

For the large non-privileged population groups in developing countries and diet shows many deficiencies, often with major disturbances of health as a consequence. This is particularly true for the children. The monotony and the bulkiness of the traditional diet, the often sparse number of meals as well as periodic deteriorations of the food situation ("hungry season") all contributes to make the nutritional situation precarious. The vicious circle between PEM and infections contribute in a major way to the high mortality rate among preschool children in developing countries. In this paper a review is given of different nutritional deficiency diseases affecting children in the Third World. The practical illustrations derive mainly from Ethiopia. During the period between 1962-1975 there has been lively cooperation in the field of nutritional research between Ethiopia and Sweden.

On three separate occasions, the authors taught at Gondar School of Medicine, attached to the University of Addis Ababa. They found that the neurological group of patients was determined by geographical rather than specifically tropical conditions, and that the psychiatric syndromes resembled those here, considerably influenced, however, by traditional rural medicine. The paper makes observations on comparative psychopathology.