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Research paper
Social construction of climate change and adaptation strategies among Senegalese artisanal fishers: Between empirical knowledge, magico-religious practices and sciences
African Atlantic countries are among the most vulnerable to global climate change (CC). Artisanal fishers are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of environmental change on the fisheries on which their livelihoods depend. Although the authors found that most fishers accept…
Research paper
Rural-to-urban migration, kinship networks, and fertility among the Igbo in Nigeria
This paper presents ethnographic data to suggest that fertility behavior in contemporary Igbo-speaking Nigeria cannot be understood without taking into account the ways in which rural and urban social and demographic regimes are mutually implicated and dialectically constituted.
Research paper
Right tool, wrong “job”: Manual vacuum aspiration, post-abortion care and transnational population politics in Senegal
The “rightness” of a technology for completing a particular task is negotiated by medical professionals, patients, state institutions, manufacturing companies, and non-governmental organizations. This paper shows how certain technologies may challenge the meaning of the “job” they are designed to…
Research paper
Rewriting abortion: deploying medical records in jurisdictional negotiation over a forbidden practice in Senegal
This study explores how medical providers deploy medical records in boundary work over the treatment of complications of spontaneous and induced abortion in Senegal, where induced abortion is prohibited under any circumstance.
Research paper
Revisiting Tropes of Environmental and Social Change in Casamance, Senegal
The chapter examines paddy rice cultivation in Casamance, southern Senegal, amid broader contemporary contestations about environmentally induced migration.
Research paper
Responsibility, repair and care in Sierra Leone’s health system.
Central to the workings of a hospital are the technical and bureaucratic systems that ensure the effective coordination of information and biological materials of patients across time and space. In this paper, which is based on ethnographic research in a…
Research paper
Relational (im)mobilities: a case study of Senegalese coastal fishing populations
This article applies a climate mobilities lens to a qualitative case study of an urban Senegalese fishing community, characterised by its ‘micro-mobilities’ as much as by its international migration. The author argues that (im)mobilities are neither fixed nor all-encompassing but…
Research paper
Rebel Recruitment and Migration: Theory and Evidence From Southern Senegal
The authors investigate whether the threat of recruitment by rebel groups spurs domestic and international migration, showing that individuals who fit the recruitment profiles of rebel groups are more likely to leave and be sent away by their families. The…
Research paper
Reaching the end goal: Do interventions to improve climate information services lead to greater food security?
Through household surveys, focus group activities, and participant observation, this research investigates linkages between CIS, uptake of CSA practices, and household food security through investigation of four research sites, two in Senegal and two in Kenya. Through household surveys, focus…
Research paper
Qualitative exploration of health system response to COVID-19 pandemic applying the WHO health systems framework: Case study of a Nigerian state
Health systems have an important role in a multi-sector response to pandemics, as there are already concerns that COVID-19 will significantly divert limited health care resources. This study appraised the readiness and resilience of the Nigerian health system to the…
Research paper
Progress in the face of cuts: a qualitative Nigerian case study of maintaining progress towards universal health coverage after losing donor assistance
In the coming years, about a dozen middle-income countries are excepted to transition out of development assistance for health (DAH) based on their economic growth. This anticipated loss of external funds at a time when there is a need for…
Problems endure despite policies: Urban livelihoods after forced displacement
This chapter considers issues related to urban development-caused forced displacement and resettlement and the legal and policy approaches developed to address them to assess what difference national and international policies and guidelines have made to the outcomes of urban forced…
Private sector engagement in the COVID-19 response: experiences and lessons from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Senegal and Uganda
The COVID-19 pandemic has overwhelmed health systems and precipitated coalitions between public and private sectors to address critical gaps in the response. We conducted a study to document the public and private sector partnerships and engagements to inform current and…
Preserving the pot and water: a traditional concept of reproductive health in a Yoruba community, Nigeria
Within the background of the outcome of the 1994 Cairo Conference, this paper describes a traditional conceptualization of prenatal care in a Nigerian community and draws their implication for effective delivery of reproductive health services in the area.
Political Economy Analysis of Forced Displacement in Casamance, Senegal
This report describes research on dynamics of displacement due to armed conflict in Casamance, Senegal. It finds that historical policies, inequality, marginalisation, weak governance and entrenched poverty have conspired to foster continued impoverishment and arrested development in displacement affected communities,…
Political distrust and the spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria
This study explores the impact of political distrust on the spread of COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria.
Policy response to COVID-19 in Senegal: power, politics, and the choice of policy instruments
The objective of the paper is to understand how Senegal formulated its policy response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The response was rapid, comprising conventional policy instruments used previously for containing Ebola.
Perspectives on polio and immunization in Northern Nigeria
Through the efforts of the global campaign to eradicate poliomyelitis, polio cases have declined worldwide, from 35,251 cases in 1988, to 1449 cases as of 28 October 2005. However, confirmed cases of wild polio virus continue to be reported from…
Patronage, per diems and the “workshop mentality”: the practice of family planning programs in southeastern Nigeria
This article examines the ways in which family planning program personnel in Nigeria appropriate population program resources and models of social change to suit local priorities.
Patronage, partnership, voluntarism: Community-based health insurance and the improvisation of universal health coverage in Senegal
The turn towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in the past decade raises the question of the role of the state, following years of state withdrawal and a fragmented approach to public health. Senegal introduced its version of UHC, Couverture Maladie…
Past horrors, present struggles: the role of stigma in the association between war experiences and psychosocial adjustment among former child soldiers in Sierra Leone.
We examined the role of stigma (manifest in discrimination as well as lower levels of community and family acceptance) in the relationship between war-related experiences and psychosocial adjustment (depression, anxiety, hostility and adaptive behaviors).
Participating in a vaccine trial for COVID-19 in Senegal: trust and information
This research aims to understand the level and determinants of people’s willingness to participate in a vaccine trial for COVID-19 in Senegal.
Overlaps and Disconnects in Reproductive Health Care: Global Policies, National Programs, and the Micropolitics of Reproduction in Northern Senegal
This article explores three arenas of contemporary discourse about reproductive health and family planning. Using Senegal as a case study, it highlights the significant overlaps and disconnects among global reproductive health policy, national priorities and programs, and the biopolitics of…
Non-use of modern contraceptives among women in humanitarian contexts: evidence from a qualitative study in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria.
The continuing conflict situation in Nigeria have created over 2 million displaced persons. In 2019, women and children accounted for about 80% of the internally displaced population in the country. Displacement increases the need for reproductive health services. This study…
Neoliberal Reform and Health Dilemmas
In this article, the author traces the links among neoliberalism, regional ecological decline, and the dynamics of therapeutic processes in rural Senegal. By focusing on illness management in a small rural community, the article explores how economic reform is mediated…
Negotiating Intersecting Precarities: COVID-19, Pandemic Preparedness and Response in Africa
This article shares findings on COVID-19 in Africa across 2020 to examine concepts and practices of epidemic preparedness and response. Amidst uncertainties about the trajectory of COVID-19, the stages of emergency response emerge in practice as interconnected.
Modern marriage, men’s extramarital sex, and HIV risk in southeastern Nigeria
For women in Nigeria, as in many settings, simply being married can contribute to the risk of contracting HIV. This article considers men’s extramarital sexual behavior in the context of modern marriage in southeastern Nigeria. The results indicate that the…
‘Mobile transmigrants’ or ‘unsettled returnees’? myth of return and permanent resettlement among Senegalese migrants
Based on ethnographic research conducted among Senegalese migrants in the home country and in Italy, this paper demonstrates the existence, the logics, and functioning of a transmigrant movement made of people who are regular ‘comers and goers’ between Africa and…
Metrics of Survival: Post-Abortion Care and Reproductive Rights in Senegal.
Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Senegal between 2010 and 2011, the author demonstrates how health professionals have deployed indicators such as number of women and abortion type treated in government hospitals to demonstrate commitment to global mandates on reproductive…
Men’s experiences of pregnancy and childbirth in Sierra Leone: Reexamining definitions of “male partner involvement”.
In recent decades, global health researchers and policy makers have advocated for men’s increased involvement in pregnancy and childbirth with the goal of improving maternal health outcomes. However, such approaches often fail to account for the culturally valid and gendered…
Malevolent ogbanje: recurrent reincarnation or sickle cell disease?.
The Igbo of Nigeria believe that everyone is ogbanje (reincarnates) but malevolent ogbanje differ from others in being revenge-driven, chronically ill and engaging in repeated cycles of birth, death and reincarnation. This study examined culturally defined symptoms of 100 children…
Local disease-ecosystem-livelihood dynamics: reflections from comparative case studies in Africa
This article explores the implications for human health of local interactions between disease, ecosystems and livelihoods. Five interdisciplinary case studies addressed zoonotic diseases in African settings: Rift Valley fever (RVF) in Kenya, human African trypanosomiasis in Zambia and Zimbabwe, Lassa…
Lessons learned from engaging communities for Ebola vaccine trials in Sierra Leone: reciprocity, relatability, relationships and respect (the four R’s)
Building trust and engaging the community are important for biomedical trials. This was core to the set up and delivery of the EBOVAC-Salone and PREVAC Ebola vaccine trials in Sierra Leone during and following the 2014–2016 West African Ebola epidemic.…
‘Latent’ surplus populations and colonial histories of drought, groundnuts, and finance in Senegal
This article draws on Marx’s concept of ‘latent’ surplus populations to trace out and explain parallels between IBAI and colonial interventions in Senegal’s groundnut basin. Approaching the question in this way, the article highlights the long-run historical co-production and interdependence…
Keeping People in Place: Political Factors of (Im)mobility and Climate Change
We delve into the socio-cultural and economic nature of (im)mobilities as they interact with political forces, specifically by exploring international bilateral agreements (Senegal) and a relocation program (Vietnam).
‘It’s raining stones’: stigma, violence and HIV vulnerability among men who have sex with men in Dakar, Senegal
In Dakar, Senegal, a study conducted by researchers from Cheikh Anta Diop University, the Senegal National Council Against AIDS, and the Horizons Program elicited quantitative and qualitative data about the needs, behaviours, knowledge, and attitudes of men who have sex…
