313 research outputs found
African journalism: A journey of failures and triumphs
Get PDFIntroduction
The 1990s remain epochal in the transformation of African journalism. This period coincides with the adoption of political pluralism in many African countries, an era that was attended by the broader liberalisation of African economies. The media sector, once dominated by the state, was finally opened to private enterprise. As a consequence, both the broadcast and print media sectors have since witnessed an unprecedented expansion with numerous radio and TV stations as well as newspapers set up across the continent. Examples across the continent show staggering growth. In Kenya, from just three TV stations and handful of print media in the 1990s, by 2012 the country had 301 radio stations, 83 TV stations, 20 monthly magazines, 6 dailies and 11 regular weeklies (Status of Media Survey Report, May, 2012). In Nigeria, in the print media sector alone, there were more than 100 national and local regular newspaper titles in 2012(Mapping Digital Media: Nigeria Report, 2012). In Uganda, the radio sector saw an explosion of FM radio stations in the late 1990s and today, these can be found in some of the remotest parts of the country. While the picture might be mixed in various pockets of the continent, the phenomenal growth of the media sector in general in the continent is certainly not overstated
#Whatwouldmagufulido? Kenyaâs digital âpracticesâ and âindividuationâ as a (non)political act
Get PDFThe ubiquity of new media technologies in many parts of Africa today and the celebratory narratives with which their adoption is routinely discussed in the continent often firmly silence some important questions. Among these is new media technologiesâ inherent capacity to also exclude, neuter or appropriate âpopularâ voices. This article attempts to explore this paradox. Focusing on Web 2.0 applications, more specifically Twitter, and using Kenya as a case study, the article explores the emergent expressive cultures new media technologies have incubated in the country. It argues that they âdisruptâ the ânormalâ thus creating important pockets of âindisciplineâ which variously challenge and confront power, and very often from the margins- but only partly. For while digital technologies enable and encourage public participation in âpopularâ conversations about self, community and nation through practices such as âindividuationâ, the article also explores how these possibilities are constrained by problematic material conditions that render claims of popular inclusion and participation in these digital spaces fundamentally tenuous
Baseline study on condom usage, safe sexual practices and sexually transmitted diseases among men and women aged 15-60 years in Orange Farm, South Africa 2002: A retrospective analysis
Get PDFAbstract:
Background:
The global estimated adult and child deaths from HIV/AIDS in 2006 were 2.9 million and
those living with HIV stood at 39.5 million. Of the HIV deaths, 72% (2.1 million) occurred in
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Two thirds (63%) of all adults and children with HIV globally
live in, with its epicenter in Southern Africa. One third (32%) of all people with HIV globally
live in Southern Africa and 34% of all deaths due to AIDS in 2006 occurred there.
In South Africa, a total of 5.5 million people, including 240,000 children younger than 15
years, were living with HIV in 2005. HIV data gathered in the countryâs antenatal clinic
surveillance system suggest that HIV prevalence has not yet reached a plateau. There is
a continuing trend nationally in HIV infection levels among pregnant women attending
public antenatal clinics: from 22.4% in 1999 to 30.2% in 2005 (a 35% increase).
Aim:
The aim of this study was to assess sexual practices, the prevalence of condom usage
and sexually transmitted diseases, and their associations among 930 men and women
aged 15-60 years in Orange farm South Africa.
Objectives:
1. To determine condom usage among males and females aged 15â60 year old.
2. To determine the number of new partners, short-term partners and unprotected
sexual acts in this particular age group of men and women.
3. To assess the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases in this age group.
4. To assess the relationship between sexual practices and sexually transmitted
diseases in this community.
Methods:
The project was a secondary data analysis of a population-based, cross-sectional study
was conducted in Orange Farm, South Africa in 2002. The original study involved 930
men and women respondents. A two-stage random sampling technique was used to
select households. A self-weighting random sample of twenty households was chosen
from clusters of 15 households. All men and women aged 15 to 60 years, who slept in the
selected households the night before the study teamâs visit, were eligible for inclusion in
the study. The main focus of this secondary study was to analyze the baseline data
collected for the level and risk factors for sexually transmitted diseases in this age group.
All 930 men and women were included in the analysis.
Results:
The risk factor under consideration viz: condom usage was not optimal, and the
prevalence of sexually transmitted disease is high in this population with HIV prevalence
at 21.8%. Women in the age-group 15-24 years were disproportionately more affected by
HIV in this community as compared to men. Among the HIV positive respondents, 61.8%
had at least single or over 2 non-spousal partners in the last year. At the time of the
interviews, 34.7% had never used condoms and 84.3% did not use condoms in any of the
sexual episodes of the last month.
Conclusion:
An important goal is to practice partner reduction and to encourage especially those who
are single to use condoms consistently. Further qualitative research on sexual behaviours
involving focus group discussions, in-depth interviews or participant observation should be
conducted in this community to complement the quantitative methods. They produce
results that directly represent how people feel and provide information on behaviour
through the observation of events and activities
Stirring whispers: fictionalising the 'popular' in the Kenyan Newspaper
Get PDFPhD - ArtsPopular fiction columns have been among the most resilient and versatile of the newspaper sub-genres in Kenya. Since the 1970s, these columns have remained a permanent feature in the Kenyan newspapers. Among the most popular of these
columns is Whispers, a satirical column written by one of Kenyaâs most talented writers of the 1980sâ90s decades, Wahome Mutahi. At a time when the state had all but monopolised public sites of expression in the country, Whispers kept the
Kenyan popular media porous, opening up spaces for the discussion of social and political issues that could only be âwhisperedâ. This study gives a detailed discussion of this column against the historical dynamics of post-independence Kenya. I examine how Whispers became a public space where Kenyaâs postcolonial existence, in its many contradictory faces was constantly interrogated. I argue that this column provided its readers certain âmoments of
freedomâ; it was a site where the limits of social and political taboos were boldly tested. In Whispers, people could heartily laugh at authority, and at themselves, but ultimately reflect on the reasons for their laughter. By providing such a space for self-reflection and for the critique of society, I argue that the Kenyan newspaper became an important site of cultural production especially in the 1980s through the 1990s. The introductory parts of this thesis attempt a theorisation of the âpopularâ and later trace the emergence of popular fiction as a category of critical literary exegesis in Kenya. I examine the beginnings and growth of popular fiction, focusing mainly on the role of the popular press. The median chapters examine how the Kenyan newspaper provides the space within
which popular fiction interfaces with journalism to constitute âpublicsâ, by drawing on popular cultural resources to mediate contemporary and topical issues. The thesis gives a detailed reading of the cultural forms that offer subject
populations interpretive frameworks within which to make sense of their world.
The last part of the thesis continues this discussion with an analysis of how the âpopularâ mediates questions of power in postcolonial Kenya
Africa and the Covid-19 Information Framing Crisis
Get PDFAfrica faces a double Covid-19 crisis. At once it is a crisis of the pandemic, at another an information framing crisis. This article argues that public health messaging about the pandemic is complicated by a competing mix of framings by a number of actors including the state, the Church, civil society and the public, all fighting for legitimacy. The article explores some of these divergences in the interpretation of the disease and how they have given rise to multiple narratives about the pandemic, particularly online. It concludes that while different perspectives and or interpretations of a crisis is not necessarily wrong, where these detract from the crisis itself and become a contestation of individual and or sector interests, they birth a new crisis. This is the new crisis facing the continent in relation to the pandemic
Time series modeling of tourist accommodation demand in Kenya
Get PDFTourism is a very important sector in the world economy and contributes significantly to foreign exchange earnings. Earnings from tourism in Kenya increased annually from Kenya Shillings 24.3 billion in 2001 to 73.7 billion in 2010 (ROK, 2012). The number of tourists coming into the country increased from 1,146,102 in the year 2003 to 1,822,885 in the year 2011. The major tourist zones in Kenya are: Nairobi, Beach, Mombasa, Coast Hinterland, Maasailand, Nyanza basin, Western, Central and North (ROK, 2012). These can further be reduced to three: Nairobi, Coastal and Others. Tourism in Kenya relies on many other sectors and industries, one of which is the hotel and accommodation. In order to enable these related industries match the specific accommodation needs for the tourists arriving in the country, there is needed a model that can forecast the accommodation demands by the tourists. This will make it possible for the hotel industry players to respond in good time to the anticipated changes in demand over time and also to maximize returns on investments. Seasonal variations are important in tourism and hospitality demands. The Box-Jenkins models for time series analysis allow the analyst to forecast future values of a series with only the past periodâs data, without having some related variableâs data (Shumway and Stoffer, 2011). The authors therefore focused on the Box-Jenkins models to generate a forecasting model using quarterly data on bed occupancy by tourists visiting Kenya from 1974 to 2011. The SARIMA (1,1,2)(1,1,1)[4] model was found to be suitable for forecasting future quarterly demand on tourist accommodation in Kenya. This model shall therefore be useful to the tourism and related industries in forecasting future demands and maximize their returns on investment. Keywords: Tourist Accommodation Demand, Kenya Tourism Accommodation, Tourism Accommodation Modelin
The Influence of Macro-Economic Factors on Foreign Direct Investment Flows in Kenya for The Period Of 2002-2013
Get PDFForeign Direct Investments (FDI) are imperative for the long-term economic development of global economies as they result to capital creation, technology transfer, competition enhancement and employment creation. Consequently, macroeconomic outcomes resulting from the monetary and fiscal policiesare postulated to influence the FDI. This paper investigates the effect of inflation, real interest rate, real exchange rate, and development expenditure on FDI flows in Kenya between 2002 and 2013 using a regression model and correlation analysis.We find a positive relationship between development expenditure and FDI and a negative relationship between the real interest rate, inflation, and the real exchange rate on FDI. The implications of these findings are that policy makers should focus on controlling inflation and interest rates and maintaining stable exchange rates to enhance FDI flows
The Benefits of research partnerships to the community at KEMRI/Walter Reed Project
Get PDF9TH Annual ethics conference. Theme : Bioethics medical, legal, environmental and cultural aspects in healthcare ethics at STRATHMORE UNIVERSITY, 25-26 OCTOBER 2012.Ethical Principles on Human Subject Protection in
Clinical Research revolves around Autonomy,
Beneficence and Justice.
Beneficence requires that the benefits to research
participants are maximized as you minimize the risk
Thereâs need to enhance health, healthcare and general
well being of communities participating in research
Background well being of communities participating in research. Many local communities in developing countries have
limited access to basic healthcare making them
vulnerable and open to undue influence.
Without collaborative partnership, strong interest and
investment by government, research results may not
influence policy making decisions and allocation of
scarce healthcare resources.
The KEMRI/Walter Reed Project a collaborative
research program has conducted clinical trials for over
20 years in Kenya. During this period its objectives have included working
with partners to maximize research benefits in the
community in which it works by effectively utilizing the
available resources to address local health needs
Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome in a premature dizygotic female twin: a case report
Get PDFBeckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome is a congenital disease that is rare and has low prevalence worldwide. It presents classically with features of macroglossia, abdominal wall defects (omphalocele), and macrosomia at birth. Other typical manifestations include facial nevus simplex, ear lobe abnormalities (creases and/or pits), transient hypoglycemia, and renal abnormalities seen on ultrasound. We report a case of a female preterm infant of twin gestation presenting at our level 4 hospitalâs newborn unit with typical features of the syndrome. We aimed to create further awareness on the diagnosis in secondary health institutions and management of common features and complications of the syndrome. There is a paucity of pictorial evidence of morphology and literature related to the syndrome in an African child and this case report aims to improve that. No case has been previously reported in the Kenyan setting
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