Introduction this paper examines the acceptability of HIV self-testing (HIVST) by students in a university in the DRC and identifies factors associated with uptake of HIVST. Methods a cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 290 students from Kikwit University. Data were summarized using proportions and predictions of acceptability of HIVST by logistic regression. Results the average age of students was 22.5 years, with the majority of the students being male (57%). Just over half the students sampled, reported being sexually active (51.8%). One hundred and sixty four (75%) reported that they had one sexual partner and fifty-six (25%) two or more sexual partners in the past year. Sixty-six percent had used condoms during their last sexual encounter. The acceptability of HIVST was high (81.4%) and 66.1% of students stated that they would confirm the self-test at a local health facility. The knowledge about the importance of the self-test (OR 5.02; 95% CI:1.33-18.88; p=0.017), the perception that counseling pre and post-test were important (OR 2.91; 95% CI:1.63-5.19; p < 0.0001) and the willingness to realize the test with a partner (OR 2.46; 95% CI:1.43-4.23; p=0.034) were factors associated with HIVST. Conclusion the acceptability of HIVST was high and therefore its implementation is feasible in our country. However, prior to implementation, additional factors such as cost; access of HIVST; false reassurance of the test; missed early infections in the window period, limited counseling and linkage to care options, need to be considered.

ingwe R., 2016. Crowdsourcing-based geoinformation, disadvantaged urbanisation challenges, sub-Saharan Africa: Theoretical perspectives and notes. Quaestiones Geographicae 36(1), Bogucki Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Poznań, pp. 5-14, 1 fig. abstRact: Scholars and practitioners concerned with geoinformation, cyber-cartography, development studies, and other subjects increasingly explore crowdsourcing and its huge advantages for development. Some have advocated it for adoption/promotion by government as a means of citizen engagement. The objective of this article is to increase the appreciation of the contribution that crowdsourcing can make towards resolving challenges associated with disadvantaged urbanisation in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). We review urban challenges of SSA and three practices of crowdsourcing: volunteered geographic information (VGI), Citizen Science (CS), and Participatory Mapping (PM). Then we examine problems associated with the advocacy for government adoption of those practices in SSA. We argue that civil society collaboration with an international governmental organisation (IGO) instead of government promises a better way of adopting and promoting them. This suggestion is based on the fact that work related to this strategy is carried out by a global coalition of civil society, the UN-NGLS. This strategy promises a more rapid way of taking advantage of fast-tracking public engagement in the economic region, SSA.

Abstract. This paper reports results of geodemographic-spatial analyses of physical health-care facilities in Nigeria's 36 states and federal capital. Apart from facilitating understanding of the interaction between health facilities and population sizes and their characteristics in the states, the geodemographic-spatial analyses proved useful in ranking shares of health facilities in Nigeria's states/territory. The findings show distributions (per capita shares) of various health-care facilities in the following states: highest shares of public (primary and secondary) health facilities and fair share of tertiary facilities in Kogi; lowest per capita shares of public and private primary health care facilities in Ebonyi; highest per capita share of private health facilities in Nasarawa (primary), Anambra (secondary) and Oyo (tertiary); highest total private health facilities of all levels due to the large number of its private primary health facilities in Nasarawa. The results show how the policies of governments and private organizations providing health services responded to health needs of state populations and highlight areas requiring further research. The policy implications of the study include the need to apply geodemographic and spatial analyses as part of the criteria for determining policy for providing or allocating health facilities in the states/territory.

Public and private investments in educational institutions as a means of catalysing economic growth has been recognized a veritable strategy for developing human capital, increasing productivity and competitiveness at various regional levels. Nigeria’s multiplicity of cultural groups whose political sensitivity to (in)equality in the sharing of nationally pooled resources has been a source of conflicts including the 1967-70 civil war, presents an ideal scenario for understanding the extent of balance or otherwise of tertiary educational opportunities across the national landscape. This has not been sufficiently addressed in the academic literature. This article reports findings of a study of the provision of degree-awarding tertiary educational institutions (TEIs) by governments and private entities in Nigeria’s sub-national regions. Geo-demographic-spatial and description analyses were used to analyze secondary data. We found among others that: the numbers of TEIs provided in the sub-national regions (geo-political zones and their constituent states) have not been determined by the population size of the sub-national regions (state/territory); highest concentration/localisation of TEIs were in Nigeria’s South-West geo-political zone. It is argued that the full government financing of education implemented in the former (South) Western Region about half a century ago (since the 1950s) laid the foundation for creating critically needed human capital mass that has continued to regenerate in multi-dimensional strategies for establishing more TEIs thereby promoting regional development in the present South-West Region thereby contrasting with Nigeria’s other geo-political regions.

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