ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 vaccines provide a high degree of protection against severe disease, hospitalisation, and death. However, no vaccine claimed 100% effectiveness and it is expected that a small proportion of vaccinated individuals may develop a breakthrough infection due to individual differences, virus variants and other factors. We conducted an epidemiological investigation and analysis of an imported case who had finished four doses of vaccination, and in order to provide a relevant reference for regular epidemic prevention and control in the post-pandemic era.
ABSTRACT
Background: COVID-19's restrictive measures have significantly affected our health, work and social relationships. As yet, less attention has been given to the changes in sex life. Aim: This study investigates people's satisfaction with sex life in Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Methods: A cross-sectional survey of the general population (18 years and over) was conducted, from 1st to 18th July 2020, in 17 municipalities in Kinshasa and several measures were used: Quality of life MANSA, EQ-5D-3L, UCLA Loneliness;PHQ-9;GAD-7. Prior to conducting data analysis, diagnostic tests for our data were performed to assess distribution, variance and multicollinearity. Descriptive statistics, bivariate correlation and multiple regression analysis were used. Results: Sex life satisfaction increases from young adults aged 18- 35 to those aged 36-55 and then there is a decrease from ages 56-69. After controlling for socio-demographic factors, sex life satisfaction was positively associated with the number and quality of people's friendships (B=0.30, p=0.01) and people's relationships with their families (B=0.32, p=0.03). People who feel lonely have lower sex life satisfaction (B=-0.15, p=0.01). Conclusion: People's quality of their friendships and family relationships are important for their sexual well-being. Healthcare providers and policymakers should consider people's quality of friendships and family relationships when planning to improve the sexual well-being of people in DRC.
ABSTRACT
Iron and zinc are important minerals in humans in sub Saharan Africa, whose deficiency is known as "hidden hunger" due to the lack of recognised symptoms in the early stages. Although iron deficiency is the most prevalent, zinc is also involved in inhibition of replication of viruses, including the corona virus (COVID-19). In North Kivu and South Kivu provinces where more than 50% of common bean is produced and consumed in Democratic Republic of Congo, 36% and 47% of preschool children are anemic due to iron deficiency. This paradox is mainly due to insufficiency of iron-rich foods. The aim of this study is to characterise 59 iron and zinc biofortified varieties together with six local varieties of common bean for a potential selection programme in Butembo town in the Democratic Republic of Congo. We focused on 15 qualitative and five quantitative parameters. The qualitative parameters were helpful to distinguish the different morphotypes and for cluster analysis. In addition to the descriptive statistics, the quantitative data were used for Pearson correlation and for principal component analysis, PCA. Qualitative parameters enabled grouping of the study genotypes into 14 morphotypes according to the aspect and colour of the seed coat, the colour around the hilum and the size of seeds. Clustering grouped the 65 genotypes into 12 clusters with the most similar genotypes grouped in the same cluster. Quantitative parameters showed that the study genotypes were dissimilar (P=0.00). A positive correlation was obtained between the days to flowering and the days to maturity (P<0.05) and between the number of pods per plant and the days to flowering. A strong correlation was found between the number of pods per plant and seeds per pod (P<0.01). In contrast, a negative correlation was observed between the 100 seed weight and the number of seeds per pod. The PCA represented on two perpendicular axes showed 64.1% of the total variance of which the 42.3% is explained by the first axis and 21.8% by the second axis. Overall, the study genotypes are morphologically and quantitatively different and thus can be used in a selection programme.
ABSTRACT
PurposeThe present article aims to determine the factors that explain the intention to adopt electronic commerce among women traders in a developing country like Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during a health crisis period.Design/methodology/approachThis study was conducted in the DRC, in Bukavu Town. A convenience sample of 282 respondents consisting of solely women entrepreneurs (importing traders) in Bukavu Town was selected and the structural equation model was used to test the research hypotheses resulted from Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour.FindingsThe finding results showed that only the factors attitude towards electronic commerce adoption and subjective norms which predict women traders' intention to adopt electronic commerce. The analysis shows that about 38.9% of the variation in the dependent variable is explained by the above variables.Originality/valueFew studies have presented technology and electronic commerce adoption as resilience of women entrepreneurs in a time of crisis, despite the abundance of the review literature on adoption. This study provides a new approach to assist women entrepreneurs as well as researchers in understanding the drivers of electronic commerce adoption factors in the DRC.
ABSTRACT
Malaria is an endemic disease in a true sense. It is an acute febrile disease caused due to the parasite Plasmodium. However, unlike COVID-19, it failed to raise an international concern or gain the scientific limelight. Most of the 200 million globally affected by malaria, half of them are from Africa. Four of the nations, Nigeria (25%), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (11%), Mozambique (5%), and Uganda (4%), account for half of the world's malaria burden and is the leading cause of illness and death. In 2019, an estimated 5-6 million people died of malaria - most of them are young children in sub-Saharan Africa. Many of the countries affected by malaria have the lowest economic status. In the malaria-endemic region, the most vulnerable groups are young children and pregnant women. The costs of malaria are enormous to individuals, families, communities, societies, and nations. After a struggle for three decades, the much-awaited malaria vaccine, RTS, S (brand name Mosquirix), was finally launched;but it came with its controversies and allegations. This review explored the different angles of this disease, the vaccine development, and the emerging debates.
ABSTRACT
Objective: To understand the epidemiological characteristics and explore source of infection of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases imported through an inbound air flight from Kenya to Guangzhou, China.
ABSTRACT
Building a robust healthcare system is dependent on infection prevention and control (IPC), which is also essential during pandemics. In late 2020, a multi-country assessment was conducted, and it revealed serious issues that need to be fixed. Poor infection prevention and control (IPC) infrastructure and practices during the Ebola outbreaks in West Africa in 2014 to 2015 and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2019 resulted in high numbers of health-care worker infections and decreased use of health services because of people's fear of transmission. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) created a baseline set of IPC criteria for COVID-19 based on their experience with Ebola in an effort to facilitate quick IPC advancements at healthcare facilities serving people impacted by violence and displacement. The main tenets of this basic package for IPC are on personnel and responsibility, expertise and application, and resources and infrastructure. The administered facilities by IRC perform better generally than those by MOH and other partners, it is crucial to mention. The reason for this discrepancy is that IRC can more readily make modifications in facilities that it directly maintains than in facilities that it merely supports. This should show that even under the most challenging situations, it is possible to put appropriate IPC procedures in place. Members of the World Health Assembly (WHA) decided to enhance WASH services in healthcare facilities in four resolutions that were enacted in 2019. 2 Member states likewise urged nations to improve IPC, particularly in the WASH industry, in order to guarantee the greatest standards of universal healthcare. IPC is still given too little priority despite these international agreements.
ABSTRACT
Background: In DR Congo, South Kivu is among cities most affected by Covid 19 with its dense population and common mass movement. This study aimed at investigating the population behavior and practices during the spread period of Corona in South Kivu, East of Democratic Republic of Congo. Subjects dan Method: A cross-sectional analytical study was undertaken in South Kivu province and included 800 hundred individuals. The survey questionnaire was designed and comprised information on independent variables including socio-demographic and socioeconomic parameters, travel history of individuals, and person's history of COVID-19 comorbidity factors. These data were used to explain the dependent variable which was the population behavior and practices which was linked to the COVID-19 positivity or negativity. A rapid test of the COVID-19 antigen for people suspected of having cough and fever followed by RT-PCR tests was conducted. Statistical analyses were performed under R, version 3.5.1.
ABSTRACT
The Democratic Republic of Congo recorded its first case of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the country on March 10th, 2020. The pandemic arrived in a country that was simultaneously battling its 10th Ebola outbreak, Yellow fever, and ongoing conflict. In other to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 with a health system already under severe pressure from other infectious diseases, the national government declared a state of health emergency, and a nationwide lockdown. Although these measures were instituted to mitigate the outbreak and help maintain an overburdened health system, it also contributed to an increase in anxiety, fear of economic down-turn and a worsening precarious situation, creating a confluence of disaster, conflict and disease. Using both qualitative and secondary sources for data gathering, this study analyses all factors involved in understanding conflict, disease and disaster in the Democratic Republic of Congo by analyzing government responses, top down measures and external interventions, revealing issues of police brutality, human rights and gender inequality. The study also discovered disaster coping mechanism employed by people living in the Kivu's and how these coping mechanisms are helping to maintain hope and mental sanity in a precarious conflict state.
ABSTRACT
The Covid-19 pandemic has had significant health, social and economic impacts throughout the world, affecting already disadvantaged groups more severely than others. Refugees were in many cases particularly affected due to their often-limited access to healthcare, their often-restricted rights to work, and their exclusion from most government social protection programmes - programmes that have come to the fore as key mechanisms to respond to the Covid-19 crisis. In recent years international discourse has moved towards the inclusion of refugees in government social protection systems and greater coherence between humanitarian and development interventions and national policies and strategies. This paper considers the effectiveness of Covid-19 social protection responses for refugees, emerging lessons (drawing primarily from four case studies) and whether the crisis and its response holds potential for a longer-term shift in social protection and humanitarian support to refugees. This paper reviews the evidence on: * the inclusion of refugees in government-led social protection responses to Covid-19, with a focus on the emergency interventions implemented as part of the Lisungi project in the Republic of Congo and the Ingreso Solidario in Colombia, and * the alignment or integration of international humanitarian and development actors' cash assistance to refugees and government social protection responses - focusing on the National Aid Fund's (NAF's) collaboration with humanitarian and development actors in Jordan and the UNHCR-implemented cash transfer in Pakistan. Findings from the four case studies paint a mixed picture of crisis response effectiveness. The interventions mostly experienced delays and challenges to timely implementation. In Pakistan and Republic of Congo, the majority of target beneficiaries only received payments more than six months after the first lockdowns were implemented. The absence of existing registries was one of the main reasons for this slow delivery. In Colombia and Jordan, timelines were shorter thanks to the pre-existing social registries, and, in the case of the latter, the NAF's use of tools developed by - or in partnership with - international humanitarian and development actors. Coverage of refugee populations was relatively low across the board, but more so for government responses covering refugees alongside the host population than for international humanitarian interventions targeting refugees. In the Republic of Congo, coverage of refugee households is about 8% - although numbers are expected to rise when the intervention is rolled out in areas with higher concentration of refugee populations - while in Colombia only 3% of displaced Venezuelans have accessed the Ingreso Solidario programme. Refugee coverage among programmes implemented by international humanitarian and development actors was relatively higher, particularly in Jordan where UNICEF had a pre-existing large-scale programme. While funding constraints can partly explain some of the difficulties in covering larger shares of refugee populations, our case studies also highlighted administrative and legal challenges to access. In all four country case studies the benefit amount was the same for citizens as it was for refugees - either because government responses provided flat rates to all beneficiaries, or because international humanitarian actors intentionally aligned benefit values with those of government responses to avoid social tensions. Anecdotal evidence from three of the four case studies highlighted that these benefit values were not adequate in meeting the needs of refugees - as these were identified as higher than those of nationals. This is one of the trade-offs between inclusion in/alignment with government responses and providing effective and tailored support for refugees. In sum, the challenges to the effectiveness of responses covering or targeting refugees relate to: * the rights that refugees hold in host countries (such as the support they are entitled to receive) * the lack of sound foundations
ABSTRACT
Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is currently facing two major infectious disease outbreaks: Covid-19 and Ebola Virus Disease (EVD). We highlight large differences in the socioeconomic impact of these two outbreaks. The data come from a phone survey that we conducted in May 2020 with 456 households and 144 small firms from a megacity and a rural commune in the province of Nord Kivu. While 3,000 EVD cases and 2,000 EVD deaths were confirmed since August 2018, self-reported impacts of EVD on revenues, access to food and behaviour were limited. In contrast, only 43 Covid19 cases were reported as of May 30th but respondents reported sizable effects on livelihoods, especially in the large urban hub, and in part driven by substantial job losses. Our results show that different infectious disease outbreaks can have very different effects, largely unrelated to case numbers of the disease. Moderately virulent but highly transmissible viruses such as Covid-19 can trigger a steep economic downturn, especially in areas with high economic interconnectedness, reflecting both national and international policies to contain the pandemic.