The Zoological Society of London was founded in 1826 by Stamford Raffles and established the London Zoo in Regent’s Park two years later in 1828. for scientific study. By the early 1860s, the zoo grounds covered 40 hectares with many fine flowers and ornamental trees, The predecessor of the zoological garden is the menagerie, which has a long history from the ancient world to modern times. The oldest known zoological collection.
Most living animal species are in the Bilateria, a clade whose members have a bilaterally symmetric body plan. The Bilateria include the protostomes—in which many groups of invertebrates are found, such as nematodes, arthropods, and molluscs—and the deuterostomes, containing both the echinoderms as well as the chordates, the latter containing the vertebrates. Life forms interpreted as early animals were present in the Ediacaran biota of the late Precambrian. Many modern animal phyla became clearly established in the fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion, which began around 542 million years ago. 6,331 groups of genes common to all living animals have been identified; these may have arisen from a single common ancestor that lived 650 million years ago.
The Zoological Society of London was founded in 1826 by Stamford Raffles and established the London Zoo in Regent’s Park two years later in 1828. for scientific study. By the early 1860s, the zoo grounds covered 40 hectares with many fine flowers and ornamental trees, The predecessor of the zoological garden is the menagerie, which has a long history from the ancient world to modern times. The oldest known zoological collection.
Most living animal species are in the Bilateria, a clade whose members have a bilaterally symmetric body plan. The Bilateria include the protostomes—in which many groups of invertebrates are found, such as nematodes, arthropods, and molluscs—and the deuterostomes, containing both the echinoderms as well as the chordates, the latter containing the vertebrates. Life forms interpreted as early animals were present in the Ediacaran biota of the late Precambrian. Many modern animal phyla became clearly established in the fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion, which began around 542 million years ago. 6,331 groups of genes common to all living animals have been identified; these may have arisen from a single common ancestor that lived 650 million years ago.
The Zoological Society of London was founded in 1826 by Stamford Raffles and established the London Zoo in Regent’s Park two years later in 1828. for scientific study. By the early 1860s, the zoo grounds covered 40 hectares with many fine flowers and ornamental trees, The predecessor of the zoological garden is the menagerie, which has a long history from the ancient world to modern times. The oldest known zoological collection.
Most living animal species are in the Bilateria, a clade whose members have a bilaterally symmetric body plan. The Bilateria include the protostomes—in which many groups of invertebrates are found, such as nematodes, arthropods, and molluscs—and the deuterostomes, containing both the echinoderms as well as the chordates, the latter containing the vertebrates. Life forms interpreted as early animals were present in the Ediacaran biota of the late Precambrian. Many modern animal phyla became clearly established in the fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion, which began around 542 million years ago. 6,331 groups of genes common to all living animals have been identified; these may have arisen from a single common ancestor that lived 650 million years ago.
The Zoological Society of London was founded in 1826 by Stamford Raffles and established the London Zoo in Regent’s Park two years later in 1828. for scientific study. By the early 1860s, the zoo grounds covered 40 hectares with many fine flowers and ornamental trees, The predecessor of the zoological garden is the menagerie, which has a long history from the ancient world to modern times. The oldest known zoological collection.
Most living animal species are in the Bilateria, a clade whose members have a bilaterally symmetric body plan. The Bilateria include the protostomes—in which many groups of invertebrates are found, such as nematodes, arthropods, and molluscs—and the deuterostomes, containing both the echinoderms as well as the chordates, the latter containing the vertebrates. Life forms interpreted as early animals were present in the Ediacaran biota of the late Precambrian. Many modern animal phyla became clearly established in the fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion, which began around 542 million years ago. 6,331 groups of genes common to all living animals have been identified; these may have arisen from a single common ancestor that lived 650 million years ago.
Preparations for the 4th African Conference of Science Journalists to be held from November 16 to 19, 2020 in Kisumu, Kenya are on high gear. The event is being organised by the Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (MESHA).
“We are making very good progress with a target of hosting 300 delegates from about 30 countries in Africa and from other parts of the world to the bi-annual event,” said Ms Violet Otindo, Chairperson of MESHA.
Registration for the Conference will open on June 30, 2020 and the Conference registration fee has been put at $500 per delegate with students paying $120. Government officials will be charged $220 with university lecturers paying $200. Those sponsoring speakers to pay for them $325 for them to also participate in the Conference. More information about the Conference will be available from March 1 on MESHA website www.meshascience.org.
According the Local Organising Committee, organisations have opportunities to sponsor participants, organise workshops, make presentations, or organise field trips at the event to get in touch with the Conference Director at info@meshascience.org or meshascience@gmail.com for further details on partnerships. A few pre-conference field visits will be conducted in June.
The first two days of the Conference will be dedicated to field visits. Technical presentations will be made on day three with training for scientists and journalists being done on the last day of the event.
In a nutshell, the program will look like this; Nov 15 – Arrival; Nov 16 and 17 – Field trips; Nov 18 – Technical presentations; Nov 19 – Skill building (training scientists and journalists on how to relate with each other etc). The theme for the conference is Gender and delivery of science in Africa.
But why Kisumu? Kisumu is a beautiful lakeside city located at a hub of the western Kenya tourism circuit. The city is barley four hours drive to the source of River Nile which is cheaply accessible by bus at a cost that does not surpass $20. An hour drive away is the beautiful Kakamega Forest. Time, they say, has stood still for the Kakamega Forest, a remnant of the rain forest that stretched all across Central Africa. This beautiful forest is home to various mammals and, bird watching, hiking and rock climbing can be enjoyed here in the serenity of the forest that time forgot.
On your way to Kakamega, are the mysterious Crying Stones of Illesi. It is an important landmark on the near the road to Kisumu barely 45 minutes away. The rock formation resembles a solemn head falling on weary shoulders.
To the south lies the mystical Lake Simbi Nyaima. Located close to Kendu Bay town, Lake Simbi is a tiny Crater Lake measuring about one kilometres in radius. It is a mere one hour drive from Kisumu.
That all these and many more happen around Kisumu City is amazing. MESHA is already in touch with some tour agents who can undertake a day’s visit to the various touristic locations.
Those who love birds even more, should be ready to spare two hours’ drive to the Great Rift Valley on the east side of Kisumu, to witness the spectacular ornithologist’s paradise that is Lake Nakuru National Park. Stories of various research projects being done in western Kenya are amazing.
Kisumu is home to multitudes of research on HIV. The area boasts of the large Lake Victoria Basin currently home to over 50 projects on climate change and environment. Dairy farming and three large irrigation schemes make Kisumu the perfect venue for this conference.
Farming is the most important economic sector in Kenya, although less than 8 percent of the land is used for crop and feed production, and less than 20 percent is suitable for cultivation.
Kenya is a leading producer of tea and coffee, as well as the third-leading exporter of fresh produce, such as cabbages, onions and mangoes. Small farms grow most of the corn and also produce potatoes, bananas, beans and peas. Kisumu is also known for its fisheries, a sector that is full of stories for journalists from far and wide.
Scientists have hailed the Media for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (MESHA) for providing them with an opportunity to learn basics in journalism saying the training is a milestone in improving the interaction between experts and journalists.
This orientation on journalism was part of sessions for a three –day Kenya Science Journalists Congress organized by MESHA at Sai Rock Hotel in Mombasa, Kenya.
The facilitator, Christine Nguku from the Media Council of Kenya, shared basic journalism skills which included news values and writing techniques. The facilitator also provided a chance to other journalists to share their experiences in covering science, more importantly how they deal with scientists.
Among others journalists complained about scientists’ tendency to use technical terms saying this was confusing not only to reporters but the public as well. Others blamed the experts for being mean with information.
On their part, scientists said they were skeptical of journalists because they seemed more focused on negative stories and twisted facts deliberately for their own reasons.
While the two – scientists and journalists seemed to disagree, later on in the session a good number of scientists confessed that the orientation was worthwhile adding that they now have a better understanding of journalism.
“This training has been very helpful. Some of us are usually skeptical of journalists. This interaction helps build trust. Once there is trust, it is easy to share information because you know that you are dealing with the right person. We thank MESHA for this opportunity,” said Dr. Nina Wambiji an official from Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute.
“I got to learn a lot at the congress. Particularly the need to communicate the knowledge we generate in a simplified form that the audience can receive and probably act where necessary,” said Dr Dorah Chao Kilalo of the University of Nairobi.
Beyond sharing notes, the scientists had a practical session to write a news story of their choice ranging from an opinion piece, commentary, feature story and hard news story.
Paul Ngaruiya from the Pests Control Board found the practical exercise more appealing and eye-opening. He said: “We need to share information with the public and our understanding of journalism helps to know how we can deal with journalists”.
This year’s congress pulled on one table journalists from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Malawi. MESHA (www.meshascience.org) has since announced that next year’s indaba will take place in Kisumu from November 16 to 19, 2020. Last year’s annual science journalists meeting took place in Nairobi – meaning in three years’ time the congress will have taken place in all the three cities in Kenya.
Beryl Atieno, a middle-aged TB survivor who hails from Rarieda in Siaya County, had no idea that she had contracted the infectious disease when she started ailing in March 2017.
Atieno was not coughing and therefore had no reason to suspect she had tuberculosis even though she had other signs and symptoms like high fever, loss of appetite, loss of weight among others for one week.
To her surprise, she was diagnosed with TB when she went for screening at the local Madiany Hospital and immediately put on treatment for 6 months under close surveillance until she was cured completely.
“As a TB survivor at first I thought it was normal ailment and I had no reason to imagine that I had contracted it. However after my diagnosis I followed my prescriptions to the letter until now that I am well,” Atieno says.
Just like Atieno, there are a number of people who suffer in silence because of ignorance about tuberculosis, an airborne infectious disease.
There are two types of clinical manifestation of tuberculosis, the most common one being the pulmonary TB which affects the lungs and the second type being extra pulmonary TB which affects all the body organs apart from hair and nails.
TB still remains in the top 10 causes of death worldwide according to World Health Organization.
In Siaya County, Western Kenya, the high TB burden has been attributed to poor health seeking habits among residents who are prone to contracting the infectious disease.
According to the county Tuberculosis and Leprosy Coordinator, Mrs. Mary Wambura, the County records about 2,000 to 2,500 TB patients yearly, placing it among top ten most heavily burdened by the disease in Kenya.
She says that Siaya is also ranked position three in the number of TB patients who have developed Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) TB. She adds that since 2012 the county has recorded 82 of such patients.
“This high incidence of TB related disease is unacceptable and the society need to have a positive behaviour change in curbing the spread of the airborne disease,” the coordinator advised.
Wambura mentioned that it is very costly to treat MDR TB and revealed that the Kenya spends up to Ksh 2.1 million treating one MDR TB patient “Patients who have contracted TB should adhere to normal TB treatment to avoid escalating to other stage which become expensive and difficult to treat,”
she advises. In the fight to end TB, the coordinator announced that the county health facilities are currently administering one anti -TB drug called Isoniazid to children under five years who stay with TB patients as a measure to prevent them from contracting the disease.
However, she regrets that some parents and guardians still fail to bring their young ones to get the drug hence putting them at high risk of infection.
“Once infected, children get subjected to traditional medicine and other nonmedical means and in the long run they end up dying without being treated for TB,” she regretted.
The health department has also innovated a TB active case finding stamp that helps in identifying and screening TB patients who visit health facilities in the county.
According to the Centre for Health Solutions Technical Adviser on TB in Siaya, Mr. Duncan Barkebo, the TB stamp contain four questions that will be used to screen all patients who seek medical attention in the health facilities.
Barkebo mentioned that the TB active case finding stamps have been distributed to all health facilities within the county so that all the patients get to be screened for the disease.
He regretted that Siaya County has been losing 10 per cent of TB patients every year due to late diagnosis and by the time they start treatment, their immune system is usually very low to respond to the treatment being administered to them.
“This stamp innovation is one of its kind in Kenya and this will ensure no patient is left out in TB screening since the stamp contains four crucial question that will guide clinicians in identifying patients who have contracted the disease early enough for treatment,” Barkebo added.
In 2017 the county recorded 1,700 patients with TB, unfortunately 170 people out of the number died due to late diagnosis.
This, Mr. Barkebo says is unacceptable since it is way beyond the National TB program’s acceptable percentage of less than 5 percent mortality on TB.
TB coordinator Wambura further revealed that the county has 155 TB centres spread across the six subcounties where individuals diagnosed with TB can get treatment.
Ms Rose Kaberia, a survivor of MDR TB strain, addresses MESHA journalists during a past media training on infectious diseases
There are effective machines to detect TB by use of sputum and they can be found at Siaya County Referral Hospital, Madiany, Bondo, Matibabu in Ukwala, Ambira and Yala sub county hospitals.
Wambura mentions, “With the machines in place in major health facilities within the six sub counties, locals can seek services closer to them unlike in the past where they had to travel long distances.”
Many people still think that patients who have TB are automatically infected with HIV/AIDS, a notion Mrs. Wambura is discarding saying its false and further advised residents to seek TB testing early as a preventive measure to avoid developing MDR TB.
“The stigma on TB is still high since most patients fear going for testing thinking that they are going to be associated with HIV/AIDS and other customary which are faults, “she mentioned.
Kenya is among countries with the highest TB burden in the world with a prevalence rate of 291 cases per 100, 000 people.
This has greatly been contributed by the high poverty levels in the country estimated at 45.2 per cent through poor nutrition, overcrowding, alcohol and substance abuse and poor access to health care services.
Ms Rose Kaberia, a survivor of MDR TB strain, addresses MESHA journalists during a past media training on infectious diseases