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Helminth control at the national level is currently based on mass drug administration (MDA) programs. Perception of the MDA programs for helminth control by the affected populations influences compliance and future designs of the programs. We determined the perception of Zimbabwe's National Helminth Control Program (2012-2017) with a specific focus on schistosomiasis in the school children treated with praziquantel, schoolteachers and village health workers (VHW). The study enrolled 409 children from Grades 6 and 7 who had the full benefit of the 6 years of MDA from 2012 to 2017. Thirty-six schoolteachers and 22 VHW serving the schools were also recruited. A structured questionnaire developed in English, translated into the local language Shona, and validated prior to the study was administered to the children and the adults. The questions focused on the perceived impact on health, school attendance and performance and Knowledge Attitudes and Practice (KAP) among the school children. Data were captured electronically on android platforms using the Open Data Kit. Overall, 84% of the children responded that their awareness of schistosomiasis (transmission, disease, treatment and infection avoidance) had improved because of participating in the MDAs. Of the 151 children self-diagnosed with schistosomiasis, 74% reported that their health had improved following treatment with praziquantel. This included resolution of haematuria, painful urination, sore stomach, tiredness and falling asleep during class lessons. The children and teachers reported improvements in both pupil school attendance and performance at school while the VHW and teachers reported an increase in health-seeking behaviour amongst the school children for schistosomiasis treatment in-between MDAs. The majority of VHW (96%) reported improvement in handwashing behaviour, schistosomiasis awareness (96%) and treatment uptake (91%) within the communities where the school children belonged. However, only 59% of the VHW reported improvement in toilet use while only 50% of the VHW reported improvement in clean water use within their communities. This study indicated that the surveyed children perceived the MDA program had improved their health, school attendance, school performance and awareness of schistosomiasis. The VHW also perceived that the MDA program had improved the community KAP.

Background: Pain is the most common presenting complaint in patients visiting a healthcare facility. Healthcare professionals need adequate knowledge of pain to be able to manage it effectively. Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the pain knowledge and attitudes of the 2018 final-year medical students at the University of Cape Town (UCT). Setting: This study was conducted by the Department of Anaesthesia and Perioperative Medicine in the Faculty of Health Sciences, UCT, South Africa, with final-year medical students. Methods: Unruh’s Modified Pain Knowledge and Attitudes (MPKA) questionnaire was utilised to collect data in a cross-sectional survey using an Internet-based electronic format. Results: A total of 104 students out of 232 students in the class (44.8%) participated in the study. The total median score on the MPKA questionnaire was 46 (interquartile range [IQR] 44–50.5) out of 57, or 80.7% (IQR 77.2–88.6%). The participants performed worst in the section on the pharmacological management of pain with median scores of 6 (IQR 4–8) (55%) correct out of 11 questions. Conclusion: Pain knowledge, especially with regard to the pharmacological aspects of pain management, has some important deficiencies in these final-year medical students. It appears that the undergraduate curriculum and teaching thereof would benefit from a review of the pain curriculum.

Safeguarding is rapidly rising up the international development agenda, yet literature on safeguarding in related research is limited. This paper shares processes and practice relating to safeguarding within an international research consortium (the ARISE hub, known as ARISE). ARISE aims to enhance accountability and improve the health and well-being of marginalised people living and working in informal urban spaces in low-income and middle-income countries (Bangladesh, India, Kenya and Sierra Leone). Our manuscript is divided into three key sections. We start by discussing the importance of safeguarding in global health research and consider how thinking about vulnerability as a relational concept (shaped by unequal power relations and structural violence) can help locate fluid and context specific safeguarding risks within broader social systems. We then discuss the different steps undertaken in ARISE to develop a shared approach to safeguarding: sharing institutional guidelines and practice; facilitating a participatory process to agree a working definition of safeguarding and joint understandings of vulnerabilities, risks and mitigation strategies and share experiences; developing action plans for safeguarding. This is followed by reflection on our key learnings including how safeguarding, ethics and health and safety concerns overlap; the challenges of referral and support for safeguarding concerns within frequently underserved informal urban spaces; and the importance of reflective practice and critical thinking about power, judgement and positionality and the ownership of the global narrative surrounding safeguarding. We finish by situating our learning within debates on decolonising science and argue for the importance of an iterative, ongoing learning journey that is critical, reflective and inclusive of vulnerable people.

Disasters result from the interactions of hazards and vulnerability conditions. Considering the perspectives of survivors of a disaster event is critical for reducing the progression of vulnerability conditions. The Mbire community in Zimbabwe is facing increasing threats from recurring high- and low-magnitude floods that manifest themselves in the disruption of livelihoods and destruction of crops and infrastructure. This study, therefore, explored the perspectives of flood survivors on vulnerability to floods and examined their vulnerability-reduction measures. Using an interpretivist approach to knowledge generation, a sample of 51 research participants provided data through interviews, a focus group discussion and field observations. Results showed that shortage of land, flood-based farming practices, poverty and climate change, amongst others, are the key drivers of the smallholder farmers’ vulnerability to floods. The most affected groups of people include women, children and the elderly. To reduce their vulnerability, the smallholder farmers mainly rely on traditional flood-proofed structures built on stilts, dual home system and indigenous flood forecasting. The study proposes six policy implications to reduce vulnerability to floods. These include diversifying rural livelihoods beyond the farming sector, investment in irrigation infrastructure, increasing access to financial resources, constructing human settlements away from floodplains, enforcing environmental laws regarding flood-based farming and community education on the long-term negative impacts of recession farming. The implementation of these policy recommendations can contribute to community resilience to flood disasters.

Abstract Water scarcity threatens the sustainability of irrigated cotton production in many regions around the world. Consequently, there is a critical need to identify and test strategies that optimize water use for cotton production. This 4‐yr study evaluated the effects of three irrigation treatments (full irrigation [FI], reduced irrigation [RI] at 75% of FI, and no irrigation [NI]) on cotton yield, fiber quality, and irrigation water use efficiency (IWUE) at a field that relies on groundwater for irrigation in west‐central Oklahoma. Compared with FI, lint and seed yields did not change significantly under RI. The reductions in lint and seed yields were significant at 64 and 65% under NI, respectively, compared with FI. No significant differences in fiber quality were observed among the irrigation treatments. In addition, reducing irrigation application improved the IWUE of lint and seed by 9 and 8%, respectively. Based on these findings, reducing groundwater extraction by 25% appears to be an effective strategy to achieve water conservation while limiting negative impacts on yield quantity and quality for cotton production in west‐central Oklahoma.

Setting. Zimbabwe is a high tuberculosis (TB) burden country, with an estimated prevalence of 344/100,000 population. Though prisons are known high-prevalence sites for TB, the paucity of data affects the quantification of the disease and treatment outcomes in these settings. We measured the prevalence of TB disease and treatment outcomes among inmates at two major prisons in Harare, Zimbabwe. Design. A cohort study using programmatic data was undertaken to assess TB diagnostic cascade in one of the study prisons for 2018. Treatment outcomes among male inmates with TB were assessed over a period of four years, in two study prisons. Results. A total of 405 (11%) inmates with presumptive TB were identified, and 370 (91%) of these were evaluated for TB, mostly using rapid molecular testing of sputum specimens. Twenty-five inmates were diagnosed with TB resulting in a prevalence of 649/100,000 population. Of these, 16 (64%) were started on treatment. Nine (36%) were lost to follow-up before treatment initiation. From 2015 to 2018, 280 adult male inmates with TB were started on treatment. Of these, 212 (76%) had pulmonary disease that was bacteriologically confirmed. Almost all (276/280, 99%) had known HIV status, 65% were HIV-infected, and 80% of these were on antiretroviral treatment. The TB treatment success rate (cured or treatment completed) was recorded for 209 (75%) inmates, whilst 14 (5%) died and 11 (4%) were lost to follow-up. The frequency of unfavourable treatment outcomes (death, lost to follow-up, and not evaluated) was higher (54%) among inmates≥60 years than those in the age group of 45-59 years (17%). Conclusion. The findings revealed a threefold burden of TB in prisons, compared with what is reported by national survey. To decrease transmission of TB bacilli, it is essential to promote efforts that address missed opportunities in the TB diagnostic cascade, prompt treatment initiation, and ensure that tracking and documentation of treatment outcomes for all inmates are intensified.

Background: Global concerns about financial literacy have heightened following the 2007–2008 global financial crisis during which it became apparent that lack of financial literacy was one of the factors that contributed to detrimental financial decision making. This recognition shows that poor financial decisions have a harmful overspill impact on financial and economic stability in a country. Complex financial markets call for exceptional levels of financial competence to enable individuals and business people to make intelligent choices among competing financial products. The study was conducted in two provinces of Zimbabwe, namely, Harare and Mashonaland Central Province among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) who were in operation. Aim: The study sought to ascertain the level of financial literacy among SMEs business owners and to identify factors that influence the financial literacy levels. The research will give an insight on the state of preparedness of SMEs to participate in highly complicated financial markets. This adds to the existing scarce literature in sub-Saharan Africa on financial literacy levels among SMEs. Setting: The study was conducted among SMEs who reside in two provinces of Zimbabwe namely Harare Province and Mashonaland Central province. Methods: A quantitative cross-sectional research design was employed, with data collected by means of a questionnaire administered to a sample of 384 SMEs in Harare and Bindura districts. Results: Findings revealed lower levels of financial literacy among SMEs. The main variables influencing financial literacy levels were interest rates and inflation. Conclusion: The study concludes that financial literacy among SMEs is low, and hence there is a need to introduce financial literacy education among small business owners. It is recommended that measurement of financial literacy be extended to different population cohorts to provide baseline data on which policies can be crafted.

Trypanosoma brucei glutaredoxin 2 (Grx2) is a dithiol glutaredoxin that is specifically located in the mitochondrial intermembrane space. Bloodstream form parasites lacking Grx2 or both, Grx2 and the cytosolic Grx1, are viable in vitro and infectious to mice suggesting that neither oxidoreductase is needed for survival or infectivity to mammals. A 37 °C to 39 °C shift changes the cellular redox milieu of bloodstream cells to more oxidizing conditions and induces a significantly stronger growth arrest in wildtype parasites compared to the mutant cells. Grx2-deficient cells ectopically expressing the wildtype form of Grx2 with its C31QFC34 active site, but not the C34S mutant, regain the sensitivity of the parental strain, indicating that the physiological role of Grx2 requires both active site cysteines. In the procyclic insect stage of the parasite, Grx2 is essential. Both alleles can be replaced if procyclic cells ectopically express authentic or C34S, but not C31S/C34S Grx2, pointing to a redox role that relies on a monothiol mechanism. RNA-interference against Grx2 causes a virtually irreversible proliferation defect. The cells adopt an elongated morphology but do not show any significant alteration in the cell cycle. The growth retardation is attenuated by high glucose concentrations. Under these conditions, procyclic cells obtain ATP by substrate level phosphorylation suggesting that Grx2 might regulate a respiratory chain component.

Theoretical debates and literature on E-E efforts in Africa have largely focussed on understanding how and why interventions on HIV and AIDS are effective in influencing behaviour change among target communities. Very few studies have sought to investigate and understand why a substantial number of targeted audiences resist the preferred readings that are encoded into E-E interventions on HIV and AIDS. Using cultural studies as its conceptual framework and reception analysis as its methodology, this study investigated and accounted for the oppositional readings that subaltern black South African youths negotiate from Tsha Tsha, an E-E television drama on HIV and AIDS in South Africa. Results from the study show that HIV and AIDS messages in Tsha Tsha face substantial resistances from situated youth viewers whose social contexts of consumption, shared identities, quotidian experiences and subjectivities, provide critical lines along which the E-E text is often resisted and inflected. These findings do not only hold several implications for E-E practice and research, they further reflect the utility of articulating cultural studies and reception analysis into a more nuanced theoretical and methodological framework for evaluating the ‘impact’ of E-E interventions on HIV and AIDS.

The traditional approach to modeling productive efficiency assumes that technology is constant across the sample. However, farms in different regions may face different production opportunities, and the technologies they employ may differ due to environmental factors. Therefore, rather than using a traditional stochastic frontier model in such cases, a stochastic meta-frontier (SMF) analysis is recommended to account for environmental factors between regions. It follows that differences in environmental factors between the upland and lowland regions in Anambra State, Nigeria, may result in farmers producing rice under different production and environmental conditions. Using the SMF model, this study, for the first time, determines technical efficiency (TE) and technological gap ratios (TGRs) of rice production from the upland and lowland regions in the Awka North Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria. Our data are from a cross-section sample of randomly selected rice farmers. Results reveal that lowland regional rice producers are on average, significantly more technically efficient (91.7%) than their upland counterparts (84.2%). Additionally, mean TGRs associated with lowland rice farmers are higher (92.1%) than their corresponding upland producers (84.7%). While the upland rice producers are less technically efficient and further away from their full potential, results indicate that both sets of farmers do not use advanced technologies to match the industry’s potential. We suggest that agricultural policy should focus on providing regionally specific technologies, such as improved rice varieties that fit the working environment of the lagging area, to help rice farmers improve their resource efficiency and minimize technological gaps.

Although there are chemotherapeutic efforts in place for Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), there is a need for novel strategies (including natural products) to manage T2DM. Fucoidan, a sulphated polysaccharide was extracted from Ecklonia radiata. The integrity of the fucoidan was confirmed by structural analysis techniques such as FT-IR, NMR and TGA. In addition, the fucoidan was chemically characterised and tested for cell toxicity. The fucoidan was investigated with regards to its potential to inhibit α-amylase and α-glucosidase. The fucoidan was not cytotoxic and inhibited α-glucosidase (IC50 19 µg/mL) more strongly than the standard commercial drug acarbose (IC50 332 µg/mL). However, the fucoidan lacked potency against α-amylase. On the other hand, acarbose was a more potent inhibitor of α-amylase (IC50 of 109 µg/mL) than α-glucosidase. Due to side effects associated with the use of acarbose, a combination approach using acarbose and fucoidan was investigated. The combination showed synergistic inhibition (>70%) of α-glucosidase compared to when the drugs were used alone. The medicinal implication of this synergism is that a regimen with a reduced acarbose dose may be used, thus minimising side effects to the patient, while achieving the desired therapeutic effect for managing T2DM.

The paper examines the structure and performance of the textiles and clothing sectors in Zimbabwe. Based on firm level data, it examines the challenges and factors behind the resilience of the two sectors. It shows that increased flexibility, reduced capacity utilisation, modernisation of production systems and production incentives were among the most important factors exploited by firms to remain in business. It shows the main hindrance as macroeconomic instability that caused raw materials and skills shortages. It concludes that the sectors still have comparative advantage that can be exploited in a stable economy. The challenge is that the longer the current crisis goes unresolved, the more likely it is that the sectors will lose all the potential comparative advantage, implying that firms that have survived the crisis since 1997 may eventually be forced to shut down. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-13 are key factors in the pathogenesis of bronchopulmonary mycosis induced in mice by infection with Cryptococcus neoformans. Both cytokines use the IL-4 receptor alpha-chain (IL-4Ralpha). In this study, we investigated the role played by IL-4Ralpha expression in susceptibility to pulmonary C. neoformans infection. IL-4Ralpha-/- mice were extremely resistant. To characterize the effect of IL-4Ralpha expression level on disease outcome, we generated IL-4Ralpha+/- first-generation (F1) mice. IL-4Ralpha+/- mice showed intermediate levels of IL-4Ralpha expression, in contrast to higher levels in wild-type mice and no expression in IL-4Ralpha-/- mice, indicating biallelic expression of the gene for IL-4Ralpha (Il4ra). Concomitant with intermediate IL-4Ralpha expression, F1 mice showed intermediate susceptibility associated with altered Th2/Th17 cytokine production, decreased immunoglobulin E levels, and reduced allergic inflammation. This indicates a gene-dosage effect of IL-4Ralpha expression on susceptibility to bronchopulmonary mycosis. These data provide the basis for novel therapies antagonizing IL-4Ralpha in Th2-related pulmonary infection and possibly also in asthma. Copyright © 2008 Infectious Diseases Society of America [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines OpenStreetMap data quality at different stages of a participatory mapping process in seven slums in Africa and Asia. Data were drawn from an OpenStreetMap-based participatory mapping process developed as part of a research project focusing on understanding inequalities in healthcare access of slum residents in the Global South. Descriptive statistics and qualitative analysis were employed to examine the following research question: What is the spatial data quality of collaborative remote mapping achieved by volunteer mappers in morphologically complex urban areas? Findings show that the completeness achieved by remote mapping largely depends on the morphology and characteristics of slums such as building density and rooftop architecture, varying from 84% in the best case, to zero in the most difficult site. The major scientific contribution of this study is to provide evidence on the spatial data quality of remotely mapped data through volunteer mapping efforts in morphologically complex urban areas such as slums; the results could provide insights into how much fieldwork would be needed in what level of complexity and to what extent the involvement of local volunteers in these efforts is required.

Fucoidans are complex polysaccharides derived from brown seaweeds which consist of considerable proportions of L-fucose and other monosaccharides, and sulphated ester residues. The search for novel and natural bioproduct drugs (due to toxicity issues associated with chemotherapeutics) has led to the extensive study of fucoidan due to reports of it having several bioactive characteristics. Among other fucoidan bioactivities, antidiabetic and anticancer properties have received the most research attention in the past decade. However, the elucidation of the fucoidan structure and its biological activity is still vague. In addition, research has suggested that there is a link between diabetes and cancer; however, limited data exist where dual chemotherapeutic efforts are elucidated. This review provides an overview of glucose metabolism, which is the central process involved in the progression of both diseases. We also highlight potential therapeutic targets and show the relevance of fucoidan and its derivatives as a candidate for both cancer and diabetes therapy.

While climate change threatens global food security, health, and nutrition outcomes, Africa is more vulnerable because its economies largely depend on rain-fed agriculture. Thus, there is need for agricultural producers in Africa to employ robust adaptive measures that withstand the risks of climate change. However, the success of adaptation measures to climate change primarily depends on the communities’ knowledge or awareness of climate change and its risks. Nonetheless, existing empirical research is still limited to illuminate farmers’ awareness of the climate change problem. This study employs a Bayesian hierarchical logistic model, estimated using Hamiltonian Monte Carlo (HMC) methods, to empirically determine drivers of smallholder farmers’ awareness of climate change and its risks to agriculture in Zambia. The results suggest that on average, 77% of farmers in Zambia are aware of climate change and its risks to agriculture. We find socio-demographics, climate change information sources, climate change adaptive factors, and climate change impact-related shocks as predictors of the expression of climate change awareness. We suggest that farmers should be given all the necessary information about climate change and its risks to agriculture. Most importantly, the drivers identified can assist policymakers to provide the effective extension and advisory services that would enhance the understanding of climate change among farmers in synergy with appropriate farm-level climate-smart agricultural practices.

The entertainment–education (E-E) strategy in development communication has been widely described as the panacea to development challenges in Africa. However, despite its growing application on the continent, E-E is still argued to be inhibited from contributing meaningfully toward development efforts. E-E interventions are argued to be hamstrung by their failure to embrace theoretical advances in development communication and E-E scholarship and for remaining rooted in the modernization paradigm. Using the social change paradigm as its framework, this article assesses the notions of development, change, communication, audiences, and education that underpin the conceptualization and design of Tsha Tsha , an E-E television drama that uses a novel cultural approach to address issues surrounding HIV and AIDS in South Africa. The data informing the study were gathered through a Focused Synthesis Approach and analyzed using qualitative content analysis. The study’s findings show that significant efforts have been made by Tsha Tsha ’s producers to bridge E-E practice and contemporary development communication and E-E scholarship. The data analyzed in the study show that Tsha Tsha ’s notions of development, change, education, communication, and audience have been significantly remoored in line with the core tenets of the E-E for Social Change paradigm. The implications of the study are that more engagement and synergies need to be cultivated between E-E practitioners and development communication and E-E scholars if E-E’s full potential, in contributing to development challenges on the continent, is to be realized.

Background: Maternal mortality is higher and skilled attendance at delivery is lower in the slums of Nairobi (Kenya) compared to Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). Lower numbers of public health facilities, greater distance to facilities, and higher costs of maternal health services in Nairobi could explain these differences. Objective: By comparing the use of maternal health care services among women with similar characteristics in the two cities, we will produce a more nuanced picture of the contextual factors at play. Design: We use birth statistics collected between 2009 and 2011 in all households living in several poor neighborhoods followed by the Nairobi and the Ouagadougou Health and Demographic Surveillances Systems (n=3,346 and 4,239 births). We compare the socioeconomic characteristics associated with antenatal care (ANC) use and deliveries at health facilities, controlling for demographic variables. Results: ANC use is greater in Nairobi than in Ouagadougou for every category of women. In Ouagadougou, there are few differentials in having at least one ANC visit and in delivering at a health facility; however, differences are observed for completing all four ANC visits. In Nairobi, less-educated, poorer, non-Kikuyu women, and women living in the neighborhood farther from public health services have poorer ANC and deliver more often outside of a health facility. Conclusions: These results suggest that women are more aware of the importance of ANC utilization in Nairobi compared to Ouagadougou. The presence of numerous for-profit health facilities within slums in Nairobi may also help women have all four ANC visits, although the services received may be of substandard quality. In Ouagadougou, the lack of socioeconomic differentials in having at least one ANC visit and in delivering at a health facility suggests that these practices stem from the application of well-enforced maternal health regulations; however, these regulations do not cover the entire set of four ANC visits.

Optimization of cotton irrigation termination (IT) can lead to more efficient utilization and conservation of limited water resources in many cotton production areas across the U.S. This study evaluated the effects of three IT timings on yield, fiber quality, and irrigation requirements of irrigated cotton in southwest Oklahoma during three growing seasons. The results showed cotton yield increased with later IT dates, but this response was highly dependent on the amount and timing of late-season precipitation events. Only a few fiber quality parameters were significantly different among treatments, suggesting a more limited impact of IT on fiber quality. When averaged over the three study years, the lint yield was significantly different amongst all treatments, with an average increase of 347 kg ha−1 from the earliest to the latest IT. Additionally, the seed yield and the micronaire were similar for the two earlier IT treatments and significantly smaller than the values under the latest IT treatment. The differences in fiber uniformity and strength were also significant amongst IT treatments. Strong positive relationships were found between yield components and average late-season water content in the root zone. Lint and seed yields plateaued at an average late-season soil matric potential of about −30 kPa and had a quadratic decline as soil moisture depleted. When benchmarked against the latest IT treatment, the earlier IT treatments achieved average reductions of 16⁻28% in irrigation requirement. However, this water conservation was accompanied with considerable declines in yield components and micronaire and smaller declines in fiber length, uniformity, and strength.

The purpose of the article is to trace the development of student unionism in Zimbabwe.On the basis of a discussion of the nature of the university, the article argues that becausethe university environment tolerates and promotes academic freedom and liberal values, itprovides an environment conducive to critical thought and oppositional politics, while theuniversity quite often itself becomes the target for student attack. Student representationduring the pre-independence period in Zimbabwe sought to engage the institution in itseffort to re-order society at a time of racial struggle and class conflict. After independence,student representation was in support of government efforts to create a better Zimbabweand to consolidate the gains of independence. However, after the first decade ofindependence, the relationship between students and government soured due to students’opposition to the one-party system as well as the University of Zimbabwe AmendmentBill, among other issues. This article thus documents and analyses the relationship betweenstudents and government with reference to three periods and two key moments: the 1973protests against racial discrimination in the pre-independence phase and the post-1990developments in Zimbabwean national and university politics.

The aim of this article is to shed some light on patterns of and major motives for the adoption of different types of disruptive learning innovations by Unisa academics. To realise the aim of the study, the following questions were addressed: What are the reasons for adopting disruptive learning innovations? What is the level of interaction with disruptive innovations? What training do Unisa academics require on disruptive innovations? A qualitative approach was adopted by conducting focus group interviews with 76 Unisa academics. The data was analysed using open and axial coding, where dominant themes from the discussions were identified and discussed in detail. The findings show that the interaction of Unisa lecturers with different technologies varied from technology to technology. The study also found that disruptive innovations play a pivotal role in opening avenues and collapsing the transactional distance in an ODL institution. Some lecturers lack skill in using some technology, which is a cause for concern. Therefore, lecturers need to be trained in using technology and develop a good understanding of it to improve teaching and learning.

Artisanal small-scale mining (ASM) has devastating impacts on the environment, such as deforestation, over-stripping of overburden, burning of bushes and use of harmful chemicals like mercury. These environmental impacts are a result of destructive mining, wasteful mineral extraction and processing practices and techniques used by the artisanal small-scale miners. This paper explores the ecological problems caused by ASM in Mzingwane District, Zimbabwe. It seeks to determine the nature and extent to which the environment has been damaged by the ASM from a community perspective. Interviews, questionnaires and observations were used to collect qualitative data. Results indicated that the nature of the mining activities undertaken by unskilled and under-equipped gold panners in Mzingwane District is characterised by massive stripping of overburden and burning of bushes, leading to destruction of large tracts of land and river systems and general ecosystem disturbance. The research concluded that ASM in Mzingwane District is an ecological time bomb, stressing the need for appropriate modifications of the legal and institutional frameworks for promoting sustainable use of natural resources and mining development in Zimbabwe. Government, through the Ministry of Small Scale and Medium Enterprises, need to regularise and formalise all gold mining activities through licensing, giving permanent claims and operating permits to panners in order to recoup some of the added costs in the form of taxes. At the local level, the Mzingwane Rural District Council (MRDC) together with the Environmental Management Agency (EMA) need to design appropriate environmental education and awareness programmes targeting the local community and gold panners.

Over the past decade disasters have increased both in complexity and multiplicity, worseningthe plight of vulnerable communities the world over. Many communities have devised copingmechanisms to mitigate the impact, but communities such as Muzarabani in Zimbabweremain susceptible to disasters. This article seeks to analyse whether the coping measuresapplied make the communities safe from or vulnerable to disasters. Information was obtainedthrough interviews, questionnaires and observations from four villages in Chadereka in theMuzarabani district. The results of this study indicated that households, government andnon-governmental organisations have come up with different mitigation strategies, suchas growing crops along river beds, livestock production, raised granaries and doorsteps,flood evacuation shelters and other emergency services. Research revealed that althoughviable, some of the strategies increased the community’s vulnerability. This article thereforerecommends sustainable utilisation of resources, and collaborative efforts to address the rootcauses, dynamic pressures and unsafe conditions in order to reduce the vulnerability of poorcommunities to natural disasters.