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The article presents an addendum to the position paper on the use of meningococcal conjugate vaccines (MMCV) in the African meningitis belt issued by the World Health Organization (WHO) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on Immunization at its meeting in September 2023. Topics include the WHO off-label recommendations for meningococcal vaccines and vaccination that apply to countries in the African meningitis belt and research priorities on the impact of Men5CV vaccine.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) describe a course of action to address poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all (https://sdgs.un.org/goals). More specifically, SDG 6 clarifies how water quality, quantity and access are crucial to human well-being, and yet human activities are compromising water resources through over-exploitation, pollution, as well as contributing to the spread of disease. Globally aquatic ecosystems are highly threatened and concerted efforts by governments and civil society to 'turn the situation around' are simply not working. Human-created problems require human-centred solutions and these require different ways of thinking and acting to those behaviour patterns that are contributing to the challenges. In this paper, we first consider causal approaches to attitude change and behaviour modification that are simply not working as intended. We then explore enabling responses such as citizen science and co-engaged action learning as more tenable alternatives. SDG 6 has a focus on clean water and sanitation for all. The SDGs further clarify how the extent to which this goal can be realized depends, to a large extent, on stakeholder engagements and education. Through stakeholder engagements and educational processes, people can contribute towards SDG 6 and the specific indicator and target in SDG 6.b - Stakeholder participation. Following a three-year research process, that investigated a wide range of participatory tools, this paper explores how the Stream Assessment Scoring System (miniSASS; www.minisass.org) can enable members of the public to engage in water quality monitoring at a local level. The paper continues to demonstrate how miniSASS can contribute to the monitoring of progress towards Sustainable Development Goal Target 6.3, by providing a mechanism for data collection indicator 6.3.2. miniSASS is proving popular in southern Africa as a methodology for engaging stakeholder participation in water quality monitoring and management. The technique costs very little to implement and can be applied by children and scientists alike. As a biomonitoring approach, it is based on families of macroinvertebrates that are present in most perennial rivers of the world. The paper concludes by describing how useful the miniSASS technique can be for addressing data gaps for SDG 6.3.2 reporting, and that it can be applied in most regions of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of research implicates inflammation as a potential pathway in the aetiology and pathophysiology of some mental illnesses. A systematic review was conducted to determine the association between parasitic infection and mental illnesses in humans in Africa and reviewed the state of the evidence available. The search focused on publications from Africa documenting the relationship between parasites from two parasite groups, helminths and protozoans, and four classifications of mental illness: mood affective disorders, neurotic and stress-related disorders, schizotypal disorders and unspecified mental illnesses. In the 26 reviewed papers, the prevalence of mental illness was significantly higher in people with parasitic infection compared to those without infection, i.e., 58.2% vs 41.8% (P < 0.001). An overall odds ratio found that the association of having a mental illness when testing positive for a parasitic infection was four times that of people without infection. Whilst the study showed significant associations between parasite infection and mental illness, it also highlights gaps in the present literature on the pathophysiology of mental illness in people exposed to parasite infection. This study highlighted the importance of an integrated intervention for parasitic infection and mental illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe an AI (Artificial Intelligence) that can “think like an African traditional doctor”. The system proposes to model and to use attitudes taken and concepts used by African traditional doctors when facing cases. It is designed to go deep into the concepts of African traditional medicine (ATM) by dealing with all the possible interpretations of those concepts, and to produce more much satisfying and accurate support for medical diagnosis and prescription than existing systems. Design/methodology/approach – To take into account the sometimes strange concepts used and attitudes taken by African traditional healers, including mystical considerations, the system relies on a deep ontology describing all those concepts and attitudes in a more computer readable manner allowing a multi-agent system to have full access to ATM knowledge. Ethnological inquiries, literary analysis and interviews of traditional doctors (the holders of African medicine knowledge) were performed to gather sufficient data to achieve the work. Findings – The paper addresses this question of how to build a practical large-scope computer-aided diagnosis and prescription system which can exploit deep descriptions of ATM concepts, including mystical considerations. The system also provides scientific interpretations to some concepts sometimes considered as mystical facts. It is a java web-based platform combined to a Java Agent Development framework multi-agent system accessing an ontology to provide its results. Research limitations/implications – Because of the origins of healers involved in this research (from Gabon and Cameroon, countries of Central Africa), the ontology and the collected data may lack generalizability in the African scope and then it is a prototype. Therefore, ATM experts all over the continent are encouraged to participate to improve and standardize the ATM ontology and to populate the knowledge base. On the other side, the system cannot give scientific explanations to all the mystical considerations in ATM, there still some facts which cannot be rationally explained for now. Practical implications – The paper demonstrates the practical usability of the implemented system on the diagnosis and the treatment of a patient case. Social implications – The research describes a system which once validated by traditional experts, will serve as a tool to assist them in their day-to-day diagnosis and prescription tasks and will also serve as a reference on ATM practices for all interested users. Originality/value – The paper provides an in-depth description of a computer-aided diagnosis system (CADS) that promotes indigenous technology from an African perspective. Comparing to the former systems identified in the literature, the proposed system is the first which deals with believes and mystical considerations in ATM, and also the first which provides a function to rank its results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces new methods for studying the prevalence of terrorism around the world and over time. Our analysis treats spatial prevalence of terrorism, the changing profile of groups carrying out the acts of terrorism, and trends in how many attacks take place over time. First, we use a time-evolving cluster analysis to show that the geographic distribution of regions of high terrorist activity remains relatively consistent over time. Secondly, we use new metrics, inspired by geometry and probability, to track changes in the distributions of which groups are performing the terrorism. We identify times at which this distribution changes significantly and countries where the time-varying breakdown is most and least homogeneous. We observe startling geographic patterns, with the greatest heterogeneity from Africa. Finally, we use a new implementation of distances between distributions to group countries according to their incidence profiles over time. This analysis can aid in highlighting structural similarities in outbreaks of extreme behavior and the most and least significant public policies in minimizing a country's terrorism. • Two decades of events from the Global Terrorism Database are studied. • Time-varying cluster analysis shows substantial geographic persistence of attacks. • Metrics from geometry and probability study compositional changes in perpetrators. • Time series analysis investigates trends in terrorism intensity over time. • Significant geographical patterns are revealed, particularly between Asia and Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose This paper aims to understand and explore the causal relationship of elements responsible for the macro vicious cycle of poverty in Guinea-Bissau, and discuss policies to break it.Design/methodology/approach The methodology used in this study is based on the system dynamics simulation paradigm.Findings Breaking the Guinean poverty cycle requires a multifaceted approach involving more resources and the building of several national capabilities. Traditional approaches tend to fail.Research limitations/implications Limitations come from the level of abstraction used in the model, which does not detail the processes for building specific capabilities and their interrelationships, and the necessary exclusion of variables that may have an impact in the process. Considering implications, the study models the evolution of human development index (HDI) in Guinea-Bissau, linking it to the economy and political sectors and allowing the simulation of different scenarios.Practical implications The study presents a critical stance towards common recommendations from international agencies, and it provides a blueprint for development of more effective public policies.Social implications Overcoming the poverty trap in sub-Saharan countries remains a challenge for the international community. The study aims at helping in the process of integrating different frameworks into a compact and manageable model.Originality/value The study contributes to the system dynamics and economic development literatures by presenting an integrative model of human development in Guinea-Bissau. There is no study in the system dynamics literature modelling the relationship of HDI to economy and political sectors while different and contradictory points of view characterize the economics literature, leaving well-meaning public officials in Guinea-Bissau at a loss of mental models to tackle the poverty trap in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the position of the World Health Organization (WHO) on yellow fever (YF) vaccines and combinations of vaccines against the disease that have an international public health impact. Topics covered include the intended users of the position papers, background information on YF and its vaccines and the critical importance of strong routine YF immunization programmes and mass vaccination campaigns in line with the WHO EYE Strategy for the prevention of YF outbreaks.

Secretariats are an increasingly common feature in Africa's transboundary river basin organizations (RBOs). Non-secretariat-based forms of transboundary RBOs nonetheless also exist, and such forms of cooperation have often functioned effectively. These realities drive questions about the rationale and role for secretariats. This paper employs two approaches to compare secretariat-based RBOs vis-à-vis RBOs without secretariats in Africa. First, we compared the degree to which five governance instruments, determined to enable effective transboundary water management, are contained in treaties creating secretariat-based RBOs versus treaties creating non-secretariat-based RBOs. Second, the costs and benefits of six African transboundary RBOs - three with secretariat and three without - were compared based on a survey of regular costs and volume and number of projects. Key findings are that RBOs with secretariats have achieved stronger governance and secured more investment than RBOs without secretariats. Costs associated with operating secretariats appear justified by their benefits. These findings help to lay an improved basis for selecting desired models of RBOs in Africa's transboundary basins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the private media company Nation Group, with information on preferences for print materials in East African countries such as Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. Topics include the percentage of Nation Group's revenues from newspapers; the cost of full-page newspaper advertisements in Kenya; and media companies' gradual preparation for digital media. Linus Gitahi of Nation Group comments on the newspaper business.

This paper sets the stage for this Special Issue covering a set of papers, which try to provide a cross-scale evaluation of the trade-offs and synergies evident among aquaculture, water quality and environment in the empirical context of 8 different countries from Asia and Africa. Having discussed the livelihood and policy significance of the issue of cross-scale trade-offs and synergies, this paper provides an eclectic review of literature to show how this issue has been insufficiently treated in past studies. With a brief overview and synthesis of the papers included in this Issue, this paper also indicates how they overcome the analytical, methodological, and data challenges so as to provide a cross-scale evaluation of the trade-offs and synergies in different empirical settings. After illustrating how the new research insights can be integrated into the public debates and policy processes, this paper concludes with the identification of future research and policy needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The uptake and acceptance of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology has increased since the early 1990s and public health applications are rapidly expanding. In this paper, we summarize the common uses of GIS technology in the public health sector, emphasizing applications related to mapping and understanding of parasitic diseases. We also present some of the success stories, and discuss the challenges that still prevent a full scope application of GIS technology in the public health context. Geographical analysis has allowed researchers to interlink health, population and environmental data, thus enabling them to evaluate and quantify relationships between health-related variables and environmental risk factors at different geographical scales. The ability to access, share and utilize satellite and remote-sensing data has made possible even wider understanding of disease processes and of their links to the environment, an important consideration in the study of parasitic diseases. For example, disease prevention and control strategies resulting from investigations conducted in a GIS environment have been applied in many areas, particularly in Africa. However, there remain several challenges to a more widespread use of GIS technology, such as: limited access to GIS infrastructure, inadequate technical and analytical skills, and uneven data availability. Opportunities exist for international collaboration to address these limitations through knowledge sharing and governance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The author offers his opinion on the relationship between African climate science and climate science in the rest of the world, including the lack of scientific papers published from African authors, Africans' input in climate change conferences and environmental degradation in Africa.

The article reports that the world where money rules the roost, funding democracy in Africa is often not only opaque and dull, but plays a huge role in the outcome of voting. It mentions that the gone are the days when in some African countries voters were offered the choice of picking a presidential or a parliamentary candidate on a ballot paper that carried just ruling-party candidates, or even worse, one candidate pitted against a symbol.

The economists agree that actually the African economies did take off. A further growth, however, needs investments. Attracting these investments is precisely one of the purposes of the African Union with her 54 Member States and of -- in a geographically more limited area -- the OHADA, the organization for the harmonization of business law in mainly French-speaking Africa. The originality of the OHADA consists in the adoption of uniform Acts, which apply in all 17 Member States. It is only fair to say that through these uniform statutes the influence of France and that of the French juridical culture are perpetuated in Africa. In this paper, the OHADA legislation is described, more specifically from the perspective of one of the Member States, namely the Democratic Republic of Congo, the former Belgian colony. An overview of the uniform Acts relating to the following commercial contracts is given: sale, arbitration agreement, carriage of goods by land, lease for professional purposes, lease of the management of a business, agency and brokerage, pledge, surety, and other guarantees. The uniform Acts modernize the outdated law of the Member States. Some of the introduced innovations are the Trade and Personal Property Credit Register and the Trustee for the guarantees. The French law as it stands in our days (including e.g. the trust-like device of the "fiducie") serves as a model, but so does the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (CISG) and the UNIDROIT Principles. The latter is not faithfully followed, though. For instance, the remedy of the anticipatory breach (provided for in the CISG) did disappear out of the revised uniform Act relating to the general commercial law. The unilateral avoidance for breach of contract (provided for in the UNIDROIT Principles), on the other hand, is only by exception allowed and the exceptional circumstances are not defined. The creditor must normally thus apply to the court for an order resolving the contract. The non-commercial special contracts continue to be regulated by the national law of each Member State. This can produce odd effects, so is the ownership of the goods sold transferred to the buyer at the very moment of the agreement of the contracting parties according to the Congolese Civil Code, while the ownership of the goods sold in Congo by commercial contract takes place at the moment of the delivery since the joining of the OHADA. In the present state of affairs, the general law of contracts (as opposed to the OHADA special rules for the different nominate contracts) remains also part of the national law of the Member States. Obviously, this has to change by all means, if one wants the harmonization of the commercial contracts. This article deals therefore also with a text that should become the cornerstone of the OHADA legislation, i.e., the preliminary draft on general contract law. It follows as close as possible the UNIDROIT Principles and there are good reasons for this, as explained by the draughts man professor M. Fontaine. Unfortunately, this draft is momentarily blocked off backstage by some lawyers steeped in the myth of the French legal culture. It may indeed seem hard to imagine, for instance, that the causa disappears! But then also does the consideration in the UNIDROIT Principles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Computational physics as a mode of studying the mathematical and physical sciences has grown world-wide over the past two decades, but this trend is yet to fully develop in Africa. The essential ingredients are there for this to happen: increasing internet connectivity, cheaper computing resources and the widespread availability of open source and freeware. The missing ingredients centre on intellectual isolation and the low levels of quality international collaborations. Low level of funding for research from local governments remains a critical issue. This paper gives a motivation for the importance of developing computational physics at the university undergraduate level, graduate level and research levels and gives suggestions on how this may be achieved within the African context. It is argued that students develop a more intuitive feel for the mathematical and physical sciences, that they learn useful, transferable skills that make our graduates well-sought after in the industrial and commercial environments, and that such graduates are better prepared to tackle research problems at the masters and doctoral levels. At the research level, the case of the African School Series on Electronic Structure Methods and Applications (ASESMA) is presented as a new multi-national modality for engaging with African scientists. There are many novel aspects to this School series, which are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

An essay is presented on reasons due to which economists failed to notice economic growth in Africa. It states that methods adopted by economists contain flaws as they used variables such as high dependence on financial aid and budget deficit by making reference to a seminal paper by economist by Robert J. Barro. It states that economists used subtraction approach which explained lack of growth in Africa with respect to lack of governance.

The article discusses the decline in scientific innovation in Africa. Africa's share of world science have been declining and bibliometric studies show that sub-Saharan Africa's share of world scientific papers dropped from one percent to 0.7 percent in 1996. Many of the scientific institutions are fragile and susceptible to the vagaries of political and military events and suffer because of lack of clarity and articulation of science governance issues. The British model of colonial science led to the establishment of botanical gardens in many colonies as sites to conduct plant and other related research. The French approach to colonial science was different. Research had to be done through the mediation of institutions based in Paris.

Gross human rights violations are often amongst the main causes of armed conflicts. More of these abuses occur during the armed conflict itself. It is widely believed that punishing the crimes that occurred during a conflict constitutes one of the essential measures of effective conflict resolution and post-conflict peace-building. However, when no decisive victory is achieved by any party and the conflict must hence be resolved through negotiations, warlords who are responsible for some of these crimes refuse to agree on any ceasefire except on the condition of an amnesty. The main aim of this article is to find an answer to the dilemma created by this situation : achieve peace and ensure justice for the victims altogether. This paper deals with this tricky issue, focusing on three specific African countries : Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to safe, sufficient and affordable water in rural Africa will not increase unless sustainable financing strategies are developed which ensure the sustainability of existing water services. There is a strong need for international donors and national governments to confront the true costs associated with sustained service provision in order to develop practicable long-term financing mechanisms. This paper presents a systematic approach that can be applied to determine the overall cost of service delivery based on respective cost estimates for operation and maintenance, institutional support, and rehabilitation and expansion. This can then be used to develop a tariff hierarchy which clearly indicates the cost to water users of different levels of cost recovery, and which can be used as a planning tool for implementing agencies. Community financing mechanisms to ensure sustained payment of tariffs must be matched to specific communities and their economic characteristics; a blanket approach is unlikely to function effectively. Innovative strategies are also needed to ensure that the rural poor are adequately served, for which a realistic, targeted and transparent approach to subsidy is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the cooperation of China and Africa to encourage development as of November 2006. African leaders gathered in Beijing with their Chinese counterparts for the first summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and its Third Ministerial Conference. A series of events that speak of the China-Africa relations are cited. The said events include the release of China's first policy paper on Africa.

The article reports that following the signing of a long-awaited peace agreement between the government and southern Sudanese rebels, the possible lifting of the U.S. sanctions and investment by foreign oil companies looks increasingly probable. With the putting of pen to paper between the Sudanese government and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army to a comprehensive peace deal, comes the hope of a new era for Africa's largest country. A significant factor that has played a pivotal role in the conflict is Sudan's comprehensive oil and gas reserves, much of which is found in the country's southern regions.

Summarizes series of conference papers related to women's health as of June 2001. `Women and AIDS: A Call for Action'; `The Population Action International Report Card 2001,' `Adolescent Reproductive Health in Africa'; `The Gambia: Assessment of Maternal Nutritional Status.'

The article discusses about Africans choosing partners from other ethnic groups mentioning statistics from a paper published and views of researchers that younger generation are more likely to disregard ethnic barriers .

The article discusses the politics involved with reproductive health. A decade ago, the world's leaders met in Cairo at the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). There, they crafted a plan to achieve "reproductive health and rights for all" by 2015. That plan was wide-ranging--from more contraception and fewer maternal deaths to better education for girls and greater equality for women. The ICPD plan also aimed to change the way those at the sharp end of making policy and delivering services thought about reproduction. It wanted to move away from a focus on family planning (and, by extension, government policies on population control) towards a broader view of sexual health, and systems and services shaped by individual needs. Over the past week, hundreds of government officials, public-health experts and activists met in London to mark the anniversary of the ICPD and to take stock of progress towards achieving its goals. On paper, that progress has been impressive. Governments around the world have introduced legislation that reflects the ICPD's aims. But when it comes to turning policy into practice, "mixed success" is the verdict of a report card just released by Countdown 2015, a coalition of voluntary bodies involved in the field. According to the United Nations' Population Fund (UNFPA), 61% of married couples now use contraception, an 11% increase since 1994. This has helped push global population growth down from 82m to 76m people a year over the past decade. But in some places--particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and parts of Asia--birth rates remain high. Few poor countries have earmarked enough of their budgets to meet their citizens' reproductive-health needs. Nor have donors lived up to expectations.

The author reports that experiments are being conducted to determine how to keep African elephants away from farmers' crops. The author mentions a paper he read that pointed out that elephants feel the ground with their trunks and have a blind spot out of range from both eyes and trunk. Stringing a wire along the ground confuses the elephants and could be a solution to the problem.

Addresses the issue of African governments' efforts to suppress the region's press. Journalists who have been sanctioned for published articles; Papers banned from being published in the country; Countries that have implemented restrictions on journalists.

Mentions court papers filed by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) about two alleged conspirators in the August 1998 Kenya embassy bombing. Identification of Haroun Fazil and Mamdouh Salim as the alleged conspirators; Role of a US spy in the Kenya cell of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network in providing information in the FBI complaint.

The article focuses on Chinese foreign aid in Africa. Topics covered include the vulnerability to misuse of Chinese aid by local leaders since the recipient states are the ones asking for aid, how Chinese aid is contributing to geographic inequalities within recipient countries according to AidData and a paper which found that Chinese aid increased the competition among donors which forced donors to lower conditionality and offering fewer conditions attached to aid.

The article discusses Africans are leaving their fields, but not flowing into factories. It mentions an increase in gross domestic product (GDP) in sub-Saharan Africa and decrease in Income per person. It also mentions decrease in proportion of Africans employed in agriculture in Africa. It also mentions a new paper by Cornelia Startiz and Lindsay Whitfield from Roskilde University in Denmark, describe how government has encouraged Asian apparel exporters to open factories in industrial parks.

The article focuses on a notice to ban plastic bags issued by Judi Wakhungu, Kenyan Cabinet secretary for Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources on February 28, 2017. Topics include the plastic bag ban for commercial and household packaging, importance of consumer health safety, and East African Wild Life Society's (EAWLS) commitment to promote the conservation and proper use of environment and natural resources in the country.

The article deals with the Mauritanian powder-glass Kiffa beads. It is believed that the manufacture of Kiffa beads commenced during the nineteenth century due to a revival of centuries-old Mauritanian traditions. Although no ancient beads resembling Kiffas have been found at archaeological sites or excavations, the process is said to originate from Tichitt.

The article focuses on research suggesting initiatives channeling more money into girls' education in Africa are not sufficient to end gender inequality in education. It states one of the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals is by 2015 to eliminate gender disparity in education at all levels. It mentions a paper by Martina Björkman-Nyqvist found the attendance of girls in rural Ugandan schools decreased more than boys during droughts as they were put to work due to reduced income.

In a paper published 20 years ago this week in "Science," Luc Montagnier of the Pasteur Institute in Paris announced that he had isolated the virus that causes AIDS. Now, after a priority dispute with Robert Gallo, an American researcher who claimed to have discovered it independently, and who called it HTLV-3, it has become more familiar under its compromise moniker, the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV. In the decades since Dr Montagnier's paper, HIV has run riot. The latest report on the epidemic, issued on May 13th by the Global HIV Prevention Working Group, a committee of the great and good, reiterated how bad things are. If nothing changes, the world faces 45m new infections between now and 2010. And what needs to change, naturally, is that more money must be spent on prevention. In 1986 a second AIDS-causing agent, now known as HIV-2, was isolated by Dr Montagnier's laboratory. And an important aspect of this virus's spread has just been elucidated in a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Unlike HIV-1, which seems to be a chimpanzee virus that leapt the species barrier to infect people, HIV-2 came from a monkey called the sooty mangabey. Its spread coincided with Guinea-Bissau's war of independence from Portugal, which began in 1963 and went on until 1974. War, with its attendant movement of armies of sexually active young men, provides an ideal climate for the spread of a virus such as HIV-2.

The article claims that the total research output of Africa is equal in volume only to that of the Netherlands, according to the "Global Research Report on Africa," released by Thomson Reuters subsidiary Evidence. Figures show that the total research output of the 44 African countries is about 27,000 papers a year. The report identified South Africa as the outstanding research leader, followed by Egypt and Nigeria. Countries with collaborative links due to their historical, cultural and linguistic ties were also identified in the report.

The article offers news briefs in Africa. It cites the proposed drastic revision of the defence agreement of the country with African governments by French president Nicolas Sarkozy. President of the Defence White Paper Jean-Claude Mallet asserts the confronting threats faced from the group of top-level civic servants. Further, it introduces the assistance of the signed Abu Dhabi base agreement on the downgrading Djibouti.

The article focuses on the critical role that the U.S. Navy will play as the new U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) cements its mission in Africa. According to the author, the U.S. Navy has launched a new mission called the Africa Partnership Station (APS), which is designed to build maritime safety and security in the continent. He added that according to a Navy white paper, APS will contribute to the development, economic prosperity and security ashore.

This article presents an interview Huang Zequan, executive chairman of the China Society for Research on African Issues in China, on the issue of promoting China-Africa relations. Zequan describes the background to the issuance of the China's African Policy paper. He also states the significance of the document and the future of China-Africa relations.

The article focuses on the emergence of Africa as a favored destination for foreign investment. Higher oil prices have led to unprecedented wealth being accumulated in the Middle East region. But unlike the 1970s boom when the cash was unerringly deposited in western markets or spent on their treasury paper, one of today's favoured investment destinations is Africa. There are a number of very good reasons for this trend. Firstly there are already strong trade links between the continent and Middle East evidenced by the number of African airlines that fly freight and passenger services to the Gulf. Secondly, there are traditional cultural affinities, stretching back over many centuries and certainly before European colonisation came to Africa. Dhows from the Arabian Gulf have been using the seasonal monsoon winds to trade down the east coast of Africa since time immemorial.

This article reports that an administrator for a network of elementary and secondary schools in Israel, Ardie Geldman offers starkly different advice to students who see a stray paper bag or an odd-looking piece of litter near any of their buildings: Avoid it and notify authorities immediately. Those precautions, and others like them, have taken on renewed relevance for school officials in Israel and other countries in the weeks since a 52-hour hostage standoff at a school in southern Russia resulted in the deaths of more than 330 people, about half of them children. The horrific incident underscored the vulnerability of schools around the world, where the scope of security varies greatly, school leaders and private consultants say. It has also prompted administrators to re-evaluate the safeguards on their campuses, a task that has become familiar to them in the wake of terrorist incidents in recent years, some of them affecting students. In Africa, the chief worry among many school leaders is not armed intruders but the risk that girls will be sexually assaulted heading to or from schools. INSET: Man Detained in Iraq With U.S. Guide on School Crisis Plans.

Reports on the paper by University of the West Indies Professor Rex Nettleford on the need for African Caribbeans to explore their African heritage, as presented at the 25th Sir Winston Scott Memorial Lecture in Barbados in 2000. Need for Caribbeans to accept that Africa contributed to the region's historical development; Need for Barbadians to learn their African heritage; Profile on Nettleford.

The article focuses on researcher Marcella Alsan's paper "The Effect of the Tsetse Fly on African Development," published in a 2015 issue of "American Economic Review," which examines how the tsetse fly impacted where Africans were able to settle throughout history.

Presents excerpts of the paper `Equality for Women in Employment' by Guy Mhone concerning the situation of women workers in Africa. Contents of the book; Description of women workers' disadvantage in Africa; Features of the so-called feminization of poverty.

The article discusses a paper from the researcher Sarah Feakins, published in the periodical "Geology" of the University of Southern California, that suggests that human ancestors did not learn to walk upright due to the transformation of forest environments into African savannas.

Like so many highly trained young women these days, Elizabeth Scharpf has choices. She could be working in a Manhattan office tower with her Harvard Business School classmates, soaring through the ranks as a banker or business executive and aspiring to become a senator or a C.E.O. someday. After all, there's no question that women around the world enjoy opportunities that simply didn't exist a few decades ago. Yet the women exerting the greatest pressure for change often aren't the presidents and tycoons but those toiling further down the pyramid, driven by a passion to create a better world. And in particular, a better world for women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the fiscal and monetary policy situation affecting the foreign exchange rate transactions in Africa. It states that the financial market has been strong and the paper rate transactions has increased. The strategy of purchasing Old Mutual (OM) shares in Harare and selling to Johannesburg benefits South Africa, as it enables them to raise cash used for the payment of electricity.

Provides information on several academic journals. "Research Papers in Education: Policy and Practice," which contains articles on the death of the comprehensive school; "Comparative Education," which contains articles on citizenship education in African democracies; "Educational Studies," which contains articles on how the presence of girls affects the achievement of boys.

Reports that China and the United Nations Development Program has signed a project paper to set up the China-Africa Business Council. Role of the council; Support provided by the council for trade and investment activities in Cameroon, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania.

This article discusses the recent social actions of Great Britain's Prince Harry. Prince Harry arrived in Lesotho Feb. 13 to continue his year of travels--just after British papers put heat on the King of Clubs for wild nights drinking and dancing at London's hot spots. The next two months should keep Harry out of the gossip columns: He will be helping single African mothers with AIDS.

Reports that Irish Africa campaigner and rock musician Bob Geldof has persuaded British Prime Minister Tony Blair to set up a commission on Africa to coincide with Great Britain's chairing of the Group of Eight industrial countries and its presidency of the European Union in 2005. Presentation of papers to the Commission by renowned economists and political scientists with the aim of compiling as hard-hitting a report as that produced by German chancellor Willy Brandt's Commission on Third World Development in 1980; Objectives of the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals.

The article focuses on the launch of the African Governance Report IV titled "Measuring Corruption in Africa - the International Dimension Matters," by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). It says that the report reverberates the Panama Leaks which confirmed offshore banking and secret financial transactions of world leaders. It mentions the role of illicit financial flows (IFFs) in the leak of documents.