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Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate on managing market risk and financial performance, experience from microfinance institutions (MFIs) in Kenya. Design/methodology/approach This study used positivism philosophy and used explanatory non-experimental research designs. The targeted population was all the 13 registered deposit-taking MFIs in Kenya and a census approach was used. The study used secondary data which was collected and analyzed from microfinance Institutions annual audited financial reports for the period between 2014 to 2018. This study was anchored on two theories, namely, resource-based value theory and extreme value theory. Findings The results indicated that interest rate and financial leverage risk had a positive significant effect on the financial performance of MFIs in Kenya. Foreign exchange risk was found to have a negative significant effect on the financial performance of MFIs. However, inflation rate risk was found to have no significant effect on the financial performance of MFIs. Research limitations/implications This study recommended that the chief executive officers of MFIs should use the mechanism of identifying market risk variables, especially Interest rate, financial leverage and foreign exchange risks to enable them to put the necessary measures to mitigate those risks and enhance the financial performance of MFIs in Kenya. Originality/value This study is unique as it touches the microfinance industry which has a steady fast growth in assisting accessibility of financial services to small and medium enterprises. Most of the previous study concentrated on other industry in the financial sector.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to establish the effect of ISO 9001 implementation on the performance of organizations in Kenya. It specifically targeted organizations listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) which is the leading securities exchange in East Africa. Design/methodology/approach – The survey made use of web content analysis to collect data from these organizations’ web sites. Data were collected on net profit, turnover and net assets over a four-year period (2010-2013). The research used statistical data analysis to investigate the association between ISO 9001 implementation and performance. Findings – Results of the survey reveal that ISO 9001 certification influenced return on net assets of the organizations thereby influencing their performance. There was significant differences in net asset value among organizations with ISO 9001 certification and those that did not possess the certification. On profit and revenue, there were no significant differences between the ISO 9001 certified and non-certified organizations. Research limitations/implications – The research findings are limited to those organizations listed in the NSE and may not be generalized to other organizations. The study is further limited by the number of organizations participating in the study which was 20. Practical implications – The findings of the study provide justification for adoption of ISO 9001 standard in organizations in all key sectors of the Kenyan economy for sustained quality management practices. The ISO 9001 certified companies will enhance their quality management practices to achieve the successes documented in this paper while those yet to embrace the standards will draw lessons from such successes which may offer them compelling arguments to adopt them. Originality/value – Since the adoption and uptake of ISO certification in Kenya over a decade ago, no study has been carried out that directly relates ISO certification to organizational performance. This study will thus be useful as a starting point in documenting the ISO standard’s impact.

Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) bears the heaviest burden of the HIV epidemic. Health workers play a critical role in the scale-up of HIV programs. SSA also has the weakest information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure globally. Implementing interoperable national health information systems (HIS) is a challenge, even in developed countries. Countries in resource-limited settings have yet to demonstrate that interoperable systems can be achieved, and can improve quality of healthcare through enhanced data availability and use in the deployment of the health workforce. We established interoperable HIS integrating a Master Facility List (MFL), District Health Information Software (DHIS2), and Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) through application programmers interfaces (API). We abstracted data on HIV care, health workers deployment, and health facilities geo-coordinates. Over 95% of data elements were exchanged between the MFL-DHIS and HRIS-DHIS. The correlation between the number of HIV-positive clients and nurses and clinical officers in 2013 was R2=0.251 and R2=0.261 respectively. Wrong MFL codes, data type mis-match and hyphens in legacy data were key causes of data transmission errors. Lack of information exchange standards for aggregate data made programming time-consuming.

Bacteraemia is a leading cause of morbidity in sickle cell anaemia (SCA), but information from studies in Africa is limited. We evaluated 890 admissions from 648 SCA patients at a tertiary hospital in Tanzania. Bacteraemia was present in 43 admissions (4·8%); isolates included Staphylococcus aureus (12/43; 28%), non-Typhi Salmonella (9/43; 21%), Streptococcus pneumoniae (3/43; 7%) and Salmonella Typhi (2/43; 5%). Compared to SCA patients without bacteraemia, SCA patients with bacteraemia had significantly lower haemoglobin [71 g/l vs. 62 g/l, odds ratio 0·72 (95% confidence interval 0·56-0·91), P < 0·01]. Further exploration is needed of the relationship between anaemia and bacterial infections in SCA in Africa.