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Climate change is expected to affect the livelihood of rural farmers in South Africa particularly the smallholder farmers, due to their overwhelming dependence on rain-fed agriculture. This study examines smallholder farmers' perception of climate change, the adaptation strategies adopted and factors that influences their adaptive decisions. The unit of data collection was household interview and focus group discussion. Climate data for the Olifants catchment (1986–2015) were also collected to validate farmers' perception of climate change with actual climate trend. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics, Mann–Kendall trend, Sen's slope estimator and multinomial logit regression model. Results revealed that smallholder farmers are aware of climate change (98%), their perception of these changes aligns with actual meteorological data, as the Mann–Kendall test confirms a decreasing inter-annual rainfall trend (−0.172) and an increasing temperature trend (0.004). These changes in temperature and precipitation have prompted the adoption of various adaptation responses, among which the use of improved seeds, application of chemical fertilizer and changing planting dates were the most commonly practised. The main barriers to the adoption of adaptation strategies were lack of access to credit facility, market, irrigation, information about climate change and lack of extension service. The implication of this study is to provide information to policy-makers on the current adaptation responses adopted by farmers and ways in which their adaptive capacity can be improved in order to ensure food security.

The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic has not only caused fear and uncertainty in the education systems across the globe, but it brought about a fundamental paradigm shift in the mode of teaching and learning. Higher education drastically transitioned to remote/ online delivery even for the students who had enrolled for face-to-face mode of teaching and learning. The paper is premised in the context of a developing country that such a drastic change could have widened the digital divide between students from privileged homes and those from disadvantaged families as students did not receive adequate technological training and to even acquire the necessary electronic devices. Consequently, the study sought to establish the levels of adaptation to remote teaching and learning by university students herein referred to as pre-service teachers. Following a quantitative research design, an online questionnaire survey was administered to 157 pre-service teachers enrolled in a Life Sciences Methodology module at a South African university. Data was analysed using SPSS version 26 and descriptive statistics, exploratory analysis of the questionnaire constructs and One-Way ANOVA tests were conducted to compare pre-service teachers` perceptions, experiences and preparedness. The results showed that the disparities and inequalities that exist in different South African contexts in which pre-service teachers hail from, dictated their levels of adaptations to remote teaching and learning. Those from disadvantaged backgrounds were less adapted as they struggled more when it comes to acquisition of electronic gadgets and connectivity to facilitate remote learning compared to those from advantaged backgrounds. This study affirms the call for education institutions and governments to rethink ways of closing the gap between the poor and the rich in education in terms of resource and other support mechanisms.

Hypertension has become a major public health challenge and a crucial area of research due to its high prevalence across the world including the sub-Saharan Africa. No previous study in South Africa has investigated the impact of blood pressure risk factors on different specific conditional quantile functions of systolic and diastolic blood pressure using Bayesian quantile regression. Therefore, this study presents a comparative analysis of the classical and Bayesian inference techniques to quantile regression. Both classical and Bayesian inference techniques were demonstrated on a sample of secondary data obtained from South African National Income Dynamics Study (2017–2018). Age, BMI, gender male, cigarette consumption and exercises presented statistically significant associations with both SBP and DBP across all the upper quantiles [Formula: see text]. The white noise phenomenon was observed on the diagnostic tests of convergence used in the study. Results suggested that the Bayesian approach to quantile regression reveals more precise estimates than the frequentist approach due to narrower width of the 95% credible intervals than the width of the 95% confidence intervals. It is therefore suggested that Bayesian approach to quantile regression modelling to be used to estimate hypertension.

The present study employs the Technology Acceptance Model to explore secondary school teachers’ perceptions towards acceptance of tablet devices in their teaching practice in the classroom. A questionnaire was completed by (N=80) secondary school teachers from South Africa, and the constructs related to technology acceptance were measured along with demographic variables. Results revealed that there were no statistically significant differences in teachers’ perceptions towards acceptance of tablets in their teaching practice across gender, age and teaching experience. The findings also showed that the perceived usefulness construct has a high negative response towards the acceptance of tablets in their teaching practice. However, the findings also revealed that the perceived ease of use, attitude towards use, and behavioural intention are directly significant factors in teachers’ perceptions towards accepting tablet devices in their teaching practice.

Background: High blood pressure, medically known as hypertension is the major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) and premature death globally. The aim of the present study was to explore possible interactions amongst systolic blood pressure`s (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure`s (DBP) risk factors in South Africa. Methods:A retrospective study was conducted using data acquired from the South African National Income Dynamics Study Wave 5, Household Survey which was carried out in 2017-2018.A final data set of 21 180 adults was utilized for data analysis. An application of the hierarchical group-lasso approach to detect interactions between SBP`s and DBP`s risk factors and classical quantile regression analysis were performed in this study. Results: By using only upper quantilesbody mass index (BMI), age, race, never exercised, and the following nine interactions: BMI and age, BMI and gender male, age and never exercised, gender male and race African, race coloured and depression some or little of the time, BMI and cigarette consumption, age and race white, gender male and employment status, never exercised and cigarette consumptionwere found to be significantdeterminantsof hypertension in South Africa. Conclusion: The evidence of this study suggests that it is ideal to consider interactions amongst risk factors when modelling hypertension. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol. 21 No. 04 October’22 Page : 772-781

The food security and nutrition of millions of people around the world are currently being threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic, which is an evolving health and human crisis (Onyenweaku et al. 2019). Hundreds of millions of people were already suffering from hunger and malnutrition before the COVID-19 pandemic, and unless immediate action is taken, there could be a global food emergency (FAO 2020). In the future, the combined effects of COVID-19 itself, as well as corresponding control Background: The food security and nutrition of millions of people around the world is currently being threatened by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, an evolving health crisis.Aim: To evaluate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on nutrition and health of adults in Calabar, especially after the hard lockdown.Setting: Online cross-sectional survey in Calabar, Nigeria.Method: After sample size determination, an online questionnaire was designed, contentvalidated by nutrition experts and piloted on 20 respondents. The questionnaire link was circulated for 6 weeks (April-May, 2021). The questionnaire was structured to gather socioeconomic data, lifestyles of the participants (especially younger adults) and changes in dietary intake and health. Descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlation were used to define the proportion of responses for each question and check for association. Results:No glaring nutrition or health problems was observed in the surveyed population (385 respondents), but many (50%) earned very low monthly income (< 50 000 naira). A drop in finances seemed to have indirectly caused a decrease in food consumption post-lockdown. A strong association between age and health risks was observed; similarly, alcohol intake was significantly affected by income and age. Conclusion:The pandemic caused many changes in people's dietary habits and lifestyles, including financial setbacks. Apparently, education and proper enlightenment play a major role in food choices (despite limited resources), thus ensuring adequate nutrition and reducing health risks in the face of a pandemic. Contribution:This study has affirmed the efficacy of nutrition education and proper awareness in ensuring healthy dietary choices, optimal health and reduced risks of diseases.

Hypertension is one of the crucial risk factors for morbidity and mortality around the world, and South Africa has a significant unmet need for hypertension care. This study aims to establish the potential risk factors of hypertension amongst adults in South Africa attributable to high systolic and diastolic blood pressure over time by fitting panel quantile regression models. Data obtained from the South African National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS) Household Surveys carried out from 2008 to 2018 (Wave 1 to Wave 5) was employed to develop both the fixed effects and random effects panel quantile regression models. Age, BMI, gender (males), race, exercises, cigarette consumption, and employment status were significantly associated with either one of the BP measures across all the upper quantiles or at the 75th quantile only. Suggesting that these risk factors have contributed to the exacerbation of uncontrolled hypertension prevalence over time in South Africa.