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In 2010, UNESCO listed the Kafa Biosphere Reserve (KBR) in southwest Ethiopia based on the concept of landscape multifunctionality and the need to reconcile local community values and needs with co...

Qualitative research is not just the study of words and meaning: researchers should also provide a critical reflection on theoretical or practical problems in the research process. This practical n...

The Alpha Ridge-Mendeleev Rise (AMR) is the major bathymetric feature in the Amerasia Basin of the Arctic Ocean. Its tectonic history is controversial due to its remote location in ice covered wate...

Women in rural and semi-urban Kafa Zone, Ethiopia are being encouraged to give birth in health facilities rather than at home. Using an earlier 2007 study as a comparison point, this study explored the role of Health Extension Workers (HEWs) in referring women to health centres for birth. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 HEWs and 6 health workers in May and June 2014. The results show that women prefer birth attendants they know, including HEWs, and not to go to health centres or the hospital except for emergencies. The ambulance service linking rural communities with health facilities works better in some areas than others. To improve maternal health, HEWs need better support at the community level. Inefficiencies in the referral system should be addressed.

This article explores the application of key informant research to examine barriers and facilitators to maternal health services in rural and pastoralist Ethiopia. The key informants were health extension workers (HEWs) who assist women with birth preparedness and facilitate timely referral to health centres for birth. While women encounter many barriers to giving birth in health facilities, where HEWs are supported by their communities and health centre staff, they can effectively encourage women to travel to health centres to give birth with skilled birth attendants rather than at home with unskilled relatives or traditional birth attendants.

In this qualitative study, I used an ethnographic approach to provide an understanding about the place of birth in rural and semiurban Kafa Zone, Ethiopia. I interviewed women about birth at home and asked what would happen if there were serious problems and a woman was taken to a health facility. The development of health services aimed at reducing maternal mortality implies that the place of birth must change from home to health facility, but the distance from international policy to its implementation is vast and the pathway is not a direct, linear route.

This article explores three NGO projects that assemble and distribute clean birthing kits in Ethiopia. It contrasts the government's health strategy that aims to increase skilled birth attendance, with local realities as most women in rural and remote settings give birth at home, often in unhygienic conditions, and without skilled assistance. Many health facilities are also unable to provide hygienic conditions for birthing women. The findings indicate that clean birth kits have assisted the NGOs to effectively promote clean delivery at home or in health facilities, and to encourage antenatal care, and early referral to emergency obstetric and new-born care.

This paper is a condensed version of a report on the preliminary results of a research cruise under the direction of the U. S. Geological Survey, on board the United States Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star to Northwind Ridge and Canada Basin of the Western Arctic Ocean, during the period August 16‐September 15, 1993. Major objectives of the cruise were to: survey the geology of the North‐wind Ridge and Canada Basin; determine whether radionuclide contamination from disposal of solid and liquid nuclear wastes by the former Soviet Union in the Kara and Barents seas had penetrated the North American Arctic; acquire sediment cores in support of research on the history of glaciation in the region; and gain a better understanding of water structure and currents, sea‐ice physics, and sediment and nutrient transport.