W2B021T
Malaria defies global eradication effort
Malaria, one of the killer diseases in tropical countries, is making a tremendous upsurge. The disease had defied global effort to eradicate it. Now, Tanzania health experts are taking a number of measures to combat both mosquitoes and malaria. <name/> of the Tanzania School of Journalism (TSJ) reports.
HEALTH researchers in Tanzania are using fish, herbs, bacteria and chemicals in a bid to fight malaria, which affects million of people every year in Tropical countries. 
Health experts say, malaria is increasing; weakening the people and causing miscarriages. Last year the disease killed 2,183 persons in Tanzania, says Health Minister Professor Philemon Sarugi. But the number is believed to be higher as some people in remote rural areas die before reaching the health centres or hospital.
Because of the trend, a war against malaria and the disease carrying female Anopheline mosquitoes is picking momentum.
At Amani Medical Research Centre in Tanga Region, trials have been made using fish to eat mosquito larvae. The experts have identified: Nothabranchius palmsquisti, an annual fish specie which can move unimpeded in the paddy fields, to eat larvae.
It lays eggs which are unaffected by the dry weather, and during rainy season, hatch fish to devour larvae in ponds, swamps or any polluted stagnant waters.
A locally grown herb neem or scientifically Azidaracha indica has been tried to kill malaria parasites.
The herb, locally called Muarobaini, is efficacious, scientists say. Already people in the rural areas pick its leaves, boil and swallow the bitter juice to cure themselves of malaria.
"This research will undergo further trials at Amani by Tanzanian scientists," says Professor Wenceslous Kilama, Director General of the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR)
Professor Kilama says that efforts are under way to eliminate mosquitoes in the sewage systems and septic tanks, using bacteria.
A specie of bacteria called Bacillus Thuringiensis has been identified to rid the Anopheline larvae which develop to form mosquitoes spreading malaria and filariasis. Another type of bacteria known as Bacillus sphaericus has also been identified, to fight Culex larvae, whose adult mosquitoes carry filariasis. Filuriasis leads to elephantiasis swelling of legs) and hydroceles swelling of scrotum which are common in adults in coastal Tanzania, and are not due to drinking coconut juice as is popularly believed.
Researchers say the bacteria can be reared in large numbers in local laboratories.
When bacteria multiply in stagnant waters, the mosquitoes also eat the bacteria, which attack internal organs of mosquito larvae, eventually causing death. This checks the mosquito population, hence slashing vectors for malaria or filariasis.
Mosquitoes are carriers of malaria when they bite a person with infected blood. They take in plasmodia, the malarial parasites, which are reproduced inside the mosquito and passed on when the mosquito bites another person.
Inside the mosquito the parasite develops and passes to a person as sporoxoites which enters the liver and multiply to form merozoites.
These later attack the red blood cells. Further development takes place inside the red blood cells, leading to a stage that can infect mosquitoes.
Similarly, filarial larvae swallowed by an Anopheline or Culex female mosquito develop into a stage which can infect a person.
For children and pregnant women whose body defence against malaria is low, a combination of drugs - chloroquine and proguanil- is being studied as a prevention.
Future trials are planned using a Chinese medicine, Artemether annua, for people suffering from malaria resistant to the commonly used anti-malarials like chloroquine.
The Tanzanian researchers are also assessing their earlier findings using permethrin and lambdacyhalothrin (ICQN) to kill mosquitoes.
A bed net or cloth curtain impregnated with permethrin kills mosquitoes for three months. The chemical is unlike burning mosquito coils or indoor spraying which have to be used every night. In most areas in Tanzania two <-/treatment> of bed nets are enough to give year round protection.
But as the mosquito nets cost between 2,500-3,000/- most people cannot afford to buy them. The researchers say sisal or nylon fibres for curtains treated with permethrin can serve the purpose. They say the fibres are locally made and cheap.
However, because sisal fibres are flammable, further research is planned to improve the fibres to serve as curtains.
A just completed report on ICON spraying for indoor walls shows a success. In the words of Professor Kilama:" It's highly effective against mosquitoes inside the human dwellings and relatively safe for human beings."
The NIMR is waiting for the health ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO) to study the ICON report which may be adopted for future mass community use. 
Biological means best for water weed control
Spread of water Hyacinth - '<ea_>Magugu maji<ea/> ' is one of the major problems facing residents around lake Victoria. In this article our Special Correspondent, <name/> reports its effects and suggest ways that could be used to combat the plant.
WHEN the water hyacinth weed first appeared in Tanzania along the Pangani River in 1957 people regarded it as a new type of flower because of its good looking, bell-shaped leaves.
Even in later years when the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) was planning to construct a hydro-power station along the river, they ignored it. They did not even consult experts or any literature to ascertain its real effect.
However, the feeling was completely different when the weed invaded Lake Victoria in the late 1980s. Within a short period of its appearance, the plant had transformed itself into a real hazard to aquatic life in the famous water body.
The weed has spread quickly to all three countries bordering the lake, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya, thereby causing a lot of harm to the marine eco-system, says professor Phillip Bwathondi, the Director General of the Kunduchi based Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute (TAFIRI).
Currently Uganda is the most affected country followed by Tanzania. The plant has been less <-/viscious> in Kenya, the researcher has observed.
On the part of Tanzania, Professor Bwathondi says the weed infestation is more pronounced in Mwanza region followed by Mara with Kagera least infested.
Professor Bwathondi attributes the low infestation in Kagera as being due to existence of rough waves, beach configuration and the wind pattern which he cited as one of a major weed dispersal agent.
Among the hazards caused by the weed is the shortage of clean water in areas using lake water for human consumption. The weed clogs the water pumps placed at the lake shore thus stopping the delivery of the utility to the consumers.
Water infested by hyacinth has also proved to be of unpleasant taste, Professor Bwathondi notes, adding that loose particles from the plant makes water surrounding it to lose its natural, good taste.
A study conducted by health experts in Mwanza has shown that water hyacinth provides a better breading location for bacteria causing bilharzia.
According to the experts' report, the existence of the weed has increased bilharzia cases by 30 to 40 per cent around the lake.
Another research conducted among children in the same area indicated that about 68 per cent of them were infected by the disease.
This percentage is much higher than what the situation was before the invasion of the weed.
Explaining further the effects of the plant, professor Bwathondi who has done extensive research on it says the fish content in Lake Victoria has gone down as the weed affects fish breading.
He says the plant normally carpets the surface of the lake shore, where there is a lot of oxygen, thus making it difficult for the young fish to survive.
The weed is also hazardous to tourism industry in the lake region. It prevents beaches and lake shore from being used for swimming and other water sports, says Dr. Geoffrey Howard, coordinator for Eastern Africa Wetlands Conservation Programme.
Effective measures to curtail the spread of the weed will have to be devised if further destruction of marine life in Lake Victoria will have to be prevented, the conservator has suggested.
Several measures have been proposed to halt the spread of the weed. These include mechanical means, manual and chemical alternatives.
Although chemicals have been used to kill the weed in other countries, the method might not sound environmentally in a developing country like Tanzania which does not have adequate equipment to monitor the chemical side effects, says Dr. Gregory Njau, the Chairman of the Environmental Association of Tanzania (ENATA).
Mechanical means may be also used but studies have indicated that the method is not cost effective in Tanzania, Dr. Njau has noted.
For a complete removal of the weed at lower cost and without pronounced side effects Bwathondi has suggested the use of biological control which has been used elsewhere with a lot of success.
He says the introduction of weevils scientifically known as 'Neochentina Eichhornial' or 'Neochentina Bruchi' in water infested with hyacinth in Uganda has tremendously curtailed the spread of the plant.
The weevils which have a life cycle of three months and greater capability of multiplication in a short time, breed and feed on the hyacinth, and in so doing, destroy the plant.
While waiting for the weevils to be planted in the lake, Professor Bwathondi has suggested that manual means should be used. He says the technique has been used in Musoma, especially in Majita area with commendable outcomes.
While implementing curative measures to eradicate the problem, preventive measures must also be undertaken at the same time, wetlands expert Dr. Geoffrey Howard has suggested.
He said researches conducted in Mwanza have shown that in places where industrial wastes are heavily discharged in the lake, the weed grows with abundance.
While the normal height of the plant is one foot, in areas with such discharges the weed has been found to grow up to one and a half metres, he says.
It is against these grounds that Dr. Howard has advised industrialists not to dump wastes which stimulate weed growth in the lake. 
W2B022T
Turning to cheaper biogas 
MICROBIOLOGISTS at the University of Dar es Salaam have discovered a symbiosis between a ciliate, Nyclotherus ovalis, and methanogenic bacterial which are now being cultivated in <-/fermetators> to convert organic matter into biofuel.
The two micro-organisms are found in the hindgut of cockroaches, omnivorous insects that eat almost any organic material, including cellulose. Thousands of methanogenic (methane-producing) bacteria are found within a single ciliate cell.
Professor Huub Gijzen of the Microbiology Unit says: "The symbiosis forms a complete machinery for conversion of the biomass into biofuel."
The discovery is good news in a world where reserves of fossil fuel continue to decline, leaving biomass as the most important potential <-/resourse> for producing renewable energy and chemicals.
Cellulose is a substance made of linked glucose units forming the main part of plant material and being one of the most abundant bio-polymers on earth.
Biomass conversion technologies, therefore, essentially centre on the utilisation of cellulose which has to be broken down to glucose, a simple sugar which is the basic raw material for the microbial production of energy and chemicals.
But the current development of economic biofuel production is hampered by the slow rate of the breakdown process of cellulose and also the production cost of the enzymes involved is too high.
Biologists at the University of Dar es Salaam say this bottleneck calls for closer attention to anaerobic fermentation by mixed cultures of appropriate micro-organism (both cellulolytic and non-cellulytic) to provide a means of converting organic material.
Professor Gijzen and his colleagues have discovered a great potential in the application of micro-organisms from some natural cellulolytic ecosystem such as the rumen of hindgut of termites or cockroaches in the breakdown and subsequent fermentation of biomass to biofuels (methane or ethanol).
Many different biofuels and chemicals could be produced from cellulosic biomass by microbial conversion.
Those that can be produced fermentatively include volatile fatty acids, butane-diol, <-/ecetone>, hydrogen, ethylene, glycerol acetic acid and others.
The micro-biologist says some natural <-/enaerobic> ecosystems (for example, the forestomach of ruminants or the hindgut of termites) may be high-rate natural digesters for cellulose.
He has already demonstrated that loading rates in some natural ecosystems and in the rumen-derived anaerobic digester were about 30 to 100 times as high as those reported for conventional methane reactors.
Such ecosystems might be useful in developing an economically attractive process for biomass conversion, the fermentation pattern being shifted to get desired end-products by using different co-cultures of <-/enaerobes> or by modifying reactor conditions. 
Ozone level dips lowest 
THE amount of protective ozone in the atmosphere over Antarctica dipped to its lowest level ever recorded, the U.S. Space Agency (NASA)said last week.
Scientists using NASA's total ozone mapping spectrometre (toms) observed ozone levels as low as 110 dobson unites - a measure of the number of ozone molecules per square centimetre.
"The minimum ozone on October 6, 1991, is the lowest we have ever seen with the toms instrument in its 13-year record of data," said Arlin Krueger, a scientist with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
As of October 1, the lowest level of ozone seen by toms was 127 dobson Units, NASA said.
Ozone, a molecule made up of three oxygen atoms, acts as a shield against solar ultraviolet radiation which can raise the risk of cancer in humans and threaten food crops.
While research has blamed man-made chlorine compounds and other chemicals for ozone depletion, the extreme dip in this year's Antarctic ozone cannot be attributed solely to chemical processes, NASA said.
The scientists said that weather can cause fluctuations inside a chemically produced ozone hole, which typically is observed from late August through mid-November. 
The Moshi pesticide plant saga 
TWO Tanzanian chemists have warned that the 4.2bn/- Moshi pesticides plant being constructed by the National Chemical Industries (NCI) here will cause serious damage to the environment and human life.
"If you don't listen to us the environment in Moshi would be different in years to come", warned Dr Michael A. Kishimba, a senior lecturer in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Dar es Salaam.
Dr Kishimba and his colleague, Dr George L. Mhehe who is head of the Department of Chemistry at the University said this week that pesticides plants all over the world are built in sparsely populated areas and near lakes or oceans where poisonous effluents could be easily disposed into.
The university chemists, here analysing the environmental effects of the plant on behalf of the Journalists' Environmental Association of Tanzania (JET), made their observations during the Kilimanjaro Regional Development Committee (RDC) meeting at the Moshi Municipal council hall.
The plant, which is being built in the densely populated Moshi municipality near Karanga River, will be producing 3,000 tonnes of blue copper a year, 3,000 tonnes of insecticides, including Lindane, Endosulfan, Aldrin and Diedrin a year, and 1,500 tonnes of herbicides a year.
The chemists shared worries expressed by several Moshi residents that some of the highly toxic  chemicals, including Hydrochloric acid, to be produced by the pesticides plant could escape treatment process and become environmentally hazardous and dangerous to human life.
"Even the industrialised world has failed to maintain such technologically complicated plants. How could a Third World country (like Tanzania) be efficient enough to have a sustainable maintenance of a pesticides plant taking into account of problems like accidents and lack of spare parts in case of breakdowns", questioned Dr. Mhehe.
And the Moshi Municipal authorities insisted before the meeting chaired by the Kilimanjaro Regional Commissioner, Ndugu Samwel Sitta, that construction of the plant, which began four years ago, has not been authorised by the council pending a convincing project write-up outlining precautions against environmental pollution.
"They (NCI) are constructing the plant by force," said one municipal official, adding that the NCI had even ignored a stop order issued on April 5, 1989.
The stop order, which was distributed at the meeting, stated: "You are hereby ordered to stop all construction and any associated works on the said plots (Number 32-44 block JJJ Section III Moshi Municipality) until you have obtained a building permit (Cap. 101, Sect. 3,4) from this Council".
The Moshi Municipal Council officials said the NCI had only been issued with building permits for a godown and staff housing, and not for the pesticides plant.
Meanwhile, the Minister for Industries and trade, <ea/>Ndugu Cleopa Msuya, who is a member of the RDC representing his Mwanga <-/Constitutency>, said his Ministry will set-up a consultancy team of scientists to inspect precaution measures taken by the pesticides plant.
<ea/>Ndugu Msuya said the government recognised worries expressed by different quarters, adding that the government could not build a plant that would endanger human life and the environment.
The minister said investigations will be made to find out whether the NCI has built the plant without a valid building permit. "Stern measures will be taken if there will be some sort of irresponsibility," he cautioned.
<ea/>Ndugu Msuya also asked the Kilimanjaro Regional Authorities to find out whether the Moshi <-/Municpal> council authorities had issued the permit or not and take necessary measures. 
Hermaphroditism In a pig 
Hermaphrodite is the name applied to an animal which exhibits both male and female reproductive organs. In most cases the organs are so defective that it is difficult or impossible to differentiate them into male or female.
<-/Hermaphoroditism> is the condition. Whereas hermaphroditism can occur in any of the livestock species, it is most often seen in pigs and cattle.
An observation in a pig herd has shown that out of 190 piglets born alive over a period of one and half years, two piglets exhibited hermaphroditic conditions. This is about 1.1 % occurrence.
At birth and during the growing period, the hermaphrodite showed no definite external reproductive organs; instead, there was a small body (clitoris) bearing a sharp nail, above an opening (orifice) through which the animal urinated, at the position where normally the vulva would have been located. The portion below the orifice was a thick and hard growth (rudimentary penis).
The pig was one of a litter of seven piglets (3 males and 4 <-/femalecons>) born on 19.9.90. It was slaughtered on 7.5.91. aged 228 days (7.6 months) and yielded 28 kg dressed carcass.
The animal grew normally without showing any abnormal behaviour or health condition, up to the age of 208 days (7 month when for three days it became sexually excited, mounted and harassed its penmates. It had to be kept separately in its own pen.
For four days before it was slaughtered it passed blood-stained urine and a small amount of blood was noticed at the end of urination. Furthermore there was a considerable distension of the abdomen giving the appearance of a pregnant filt (young female). For these two observations, the animal had to be <-/slaungtered> on the 7th May, 1991.
Post-mortem Findings
The uterus, particularly the horns were full distended with liquid. The bladder contained blood and its mucous membrane was <-/hoemorrhagic>. There were three poorly developed <-/overies> one on the left and two on the right side of the uterus. Both left and right testicles in the abdomen were well developed; the uterus ended and opened into the urethra. The urethra was in two parts: the one representing the female urethra from the bladder and opening into the part representing the male urethra. The <-/lumem> of the male urethra was abnormally large.
The urethra opened externally between the clitoris and the rudimentary penis. 
W2B023T
Serengeti Lions hit by CDV
A mysterious disease has struck the lions in the Serengeti National Park in Arusha Region, killing about 80 of them. Our Correspondent, <name/>, was recently in Arusha where he talked to research scientists on the epidemic which might threaten the largest lion prides in the world.
A mysterious disease, which scientists have identified as "canine distemper virus" (CDV), has struck the lion population in the Serengeti National Park in Arusha Region.
At least 21 of them have been confirmed to have died from the virus given the laboratory analysis carried out locally and abroad.
About 64 other lions, which have been observed regularly in the past years, have disappeared and are presumed to have been killed by the viral disease which could be threatening the world's largest remaining population of the king of the jungle.
American scientists, Dr. Craig Packer and Dr. Melody Roelke who have been collecting blood and tissue samples from the animals, said in Arusha recently that the disease may have killed more lions than is known.
"Of the 250 or so study animals we have been following, perhaps a third have been wiped out by what we've found out to be distemper and many more are sick," they said.
CDV was originally a domestic dog disease, they said. But this was the first time that the virus is confirmed to have attacked cat-family animals like the lions.
The virus causes convulsions, muscle twitching, depression, loss of appetite, later resulting in severe neurological symptoms and death.
The dying lions observed were unable to stand because of severe convulsions and one animal repeatedly turned in tight circles, Dr. Roelke said.
"Others showed signs of persistent  twitches and facial contortions while some jerked and flailed their paws when they  relax", she added.
Prides of lions in the Serengeti have been under intensive study for almost 30 years now. But it was at the beginning of this year that bodies of dead lions were seen by researchers. Initially, the cause of the death was elusive.
According to Dr. Roelke, between February and May, this year, eight lions in the southern part of the park were observed with severe neurological disorders followed by death or disappearance.
A close observation by the monitoring team has found that 84 of the 250 lions regularly monitored were missing and could have been wiped out by the distemper.
Intensive investigation was initiated by the Tanzania National Parks (TANAPA) since April, this year, after first reports of the outbreak appeared in the foreign press. TANAPA manages Serengeti and several other game parks in the country.
Veterinarians led by Dr: Roelke attached to the Serengeti Wildlife Research Centre collected blood and tissue samples from 60 lions and sent them for study to several universities in Tanzania, the United States and Switzerland.
According to her, preliminary studies found canine distemper virus was the primary disease agent, accounting for 87 per cent of the victims examined.
"Fifty-two of the 60 lions (or 87 per cent) had high levels of CDV anti-bodies in their blood and many of the examined  tissues showed microscopic evidence of CDV viral particles", she added
The analysis, however, ruled out rabies and feline <-/leaukemia> virus as possible causes. "It should be stressed here that CDV is not at all related to FIV or feline immuno-deficiency virus which affects small domestic cats", she went on.
One interesting thing is that CDV has never been documented before in a wide range of cat-family animals like the lions. The American scientist says this is significant.
CDV, she explained, is morbillivirus, that is a group of viruses that include rinderpest and measles.
It primarily affects members of the dog, hyena, viverid and mustelid families where it causes serious respiratory, intestinal and neurological diseases, often with high mortality.
Dr. Roelke believes that CDV outbreak the big cat-family animals could be as recent as last year when deaths of lions after "severe neurological symptoms" were first noted.
Canine distemper, the scientist argued, got its name because it is a common viral ailment in dogs, wolves and foxes and now has turned to big cats which, besides the lions, could extend to tigers, leopards, <-/raccoons>, skunks and other animals of this family.
Scientific records have shown that the disease almost wiped out the endangered black-footed ferret in Wyoming in the United States a decade ago.
But Dr. Packers, a University  of Minnesota Behavioural Ecologist who has been studying prides of lions in Tanzania since 1978, said the Serengeti lions could have been exposed to CDV as long ago as 1980.
Relating the blood samples collected between 1985 and 1991, the researcher said almost 37 per cent of the animals sampled showed anti-body <-/titers> to CDV and that most of the exposed animals were at least five-year olds.
"This suggests that these lions had endured an outbreak five years previously. By 1991, none of the lions showed CDV anti-bodies. Thus none would have been able to resist the virus", he explained.
The argument was strengthened by reports that CDV was confirmed among the domestic dogs surrounding the Maasai-Mara Game Park in Kenya in 1991.
The Maasai Mara Game Park in south-western Kenya borders the Serengeti National Park and animals of both parks migrate to either side depending on the seasons. "The Serengeti lions would have been highly susceptible to the disease", Dr. Packer further said. 
Despite the baffling deaths of the animals, TANAPA officials have allayed rears of mass deaths, saying the mortality in the study area peaked during  January and February, this year and that since then reported deaths are scanty.
"The lions mortality was high in January and February, 1994, but it has declined drastically since May", said TANAPA Director-General Lotta Melamari.
Whereas 19 and 20 animals with proven CDV were reported dead in January and February, respectively, only four deaths have been reported since the middle of April.
Available information from long-term monitoring of lions in the Serengeti has shown the animal population dynamics which have demonstrated peak and lower levels, <ea/>Ndugu Melamari said.
"The inference to these drops in population is not much different to what has been observed this year", he told journalists, hinting that the disease may come under control through natural means.
It is estimated that about 3,000 lions roam the Serengeti plains. Dr. Packer said if the infection pattern would behave the way it was, then he would not be worried on the lions' population going down.
Unlike elephants or rhinos, lions breed rapidly ", he pointed out. He believes that they could recover within a few years even from a 40 to 50 per cent drop in population.
"It is a large <-/nough> population that I think can take a hit like this," Dr. Packer observed. 
Bailing out the local fishermen
Every time something is said about improved fishing methods it is the big concerns that are mentioned. The local fisherman goes unnoticed. But is there really no way he can be fished out of his problems? In this write-up the Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology hints on how this can be done based on a presentation made by L.B.Nhwani of the Tanzania Fisheries Research Institute to the Third Annual Seminar organised by the Commission. 
Tanzania is richly endowed with vast resources in the fisheries sub-sector of the agricultural and natural resources sector. She has a 800 km coastline with 64,000 square kms of Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and inland waters which cover an area of 61,000 square kms which constitute 6.5 % of Tanzania's total area, and include Lake Victoria, Lake Tanganyika and Lake Nyasa. There are numerous minor lakes, reservoirs, dams, rivers and swamps. In 1989, fish production in the inland waters was estimated to be 327,500 tonnes and from the marine waters it was 50,240 tonnes.
The fish found in the marine waters include the <mackerels>, carangidae, the sardines, <-/sardinellla>, sharks, and rays. The inland waters have Lates Nicolatus, the Nile perch, Oreochromis niloticus, the Nile tilapia, Rastineobola Argentea, the indigenous sardine locally called "<ea/>dagaa". Stolothrissa tanganiace and Engraulicypris sardella, the sardines, and the Oreochromis shiranus, the tilapias, to mention but a few.
The population around the lakes <-_constitute><+_constitutes> 7.1 million people which is 31 per cent of Tanzania's total (1988) census. Most of these people live in the rural areas and in 1989, there were 62,800 fishermen fishing in the inland freshwaters and only a meagre 15,500 fishing in the Indian Ocean. Contributing only 4 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product of Tanzania, this is but a fraction of the contributions made by the other sections of the agricultural sector.
Besides being an important source of animal protein to a rapidly growing section of the Tanzanian population, fish and fish products are becoming an important element of the non-traditional exports from Tanzania and provide earnings in hard currency.
Thus there is a great potential for the substantial increase in fish production and marketing. However, a number of constraints exist which result in the unattainability of the same. Fishing is mainly done using canoes, which are dug out or planked. The size of the canoes varies from 2-20 metres depending on locality and most of the fishing vessels are propelled by paddles and sails. Only 3.4 per cent are motorised. The limited access to fishing inputs such as fishing gear, engines and spares which are highly priced means that many, if not most fishermen cannot afford to acquire these inputs.
There is also the lack of cooling and processing facilities which result in high post-harvest losses which serve to limit fish production and to discourage private traders from entering into the fish-marketing business.
Many fishing communities are isolated by poor road networks and hence reliable transport to the main consuming areas is a problem.
The reliance on a very limited range of fish-capture techniques limits the yields, the fishing range and the potential for income generation. The low income levels of the fishermen and the lack of access to credit reinforce the tendency to use a limited range of fishing equipment. The average inland Fisherman earns about T.shs 15,000 a month, while the coastal fisherman earns about T.sh 21,000 a month; while improved boats and <-/gears> cost a minimum of T.sh 600,000 and this excludes the cost of the engine.
There is also an inefficient <-/extention> service to <-_content><+_contend> with. This a usually blamed on the cumbersome dichotomous structure and organisation of the fisheries administration, coupled with the lack of transport, equipment and effective training programme of the <-/extention> staff.
In order to enable artisanal fishermen to increase their catches and process the fish properly, to obtain high quality products which have a long lasting shelf life and sale at satisfactory prices at distant markets, a number of strategies could be used. Our fishermen could be provided with credit to purchase improved outputs such as boats, fishing gear and motors.
Fishermen and fish traders could also be trained in methods to increase fish catching and processing technology, fish marketing and the management of small businesses to increase their ability in their fields relevant to them.
The fisheries administration could also be restructured such as to remove the present dichotomy in which different levels of fisheries management are under different ministries. Under this arrangement, the Director of Fisheries is unable to control the activities of the <-/extention> staff. It would then be easily strengthened so that <-/extention> staff would be able to disseminate modern methods of fishing, fish-handling, processing and marketing.
The Government of Tanzania has consistently endeavoured to promote the contribution of fisheries to the national welfare.
This is reflected in the fisheries policy which has sought to link the objectives of rapid equitable economic growth with the emphasis on public management. Now the government has a chance to show its <-/committment> through its support of the small scale fishing sector as an element of the objective of self-reliance and food self-sufficiency, increased employment especially in rural areas and enhanced export earnings. 

W2B024T
Trachoma control is a community challenge 
TRACHOMA, an infectious disease of the eye, could be prevented at any stage of its "sliding down slope" that leads to blindness. Final goal of trachoma control, as Correspondent <name/> reports from Dodoma, is to enable people live safely and far from the slope.
CONSTANT rubbing of the unturned eyelashes on the cornea causes white eyelid scarring that produces loss of vision and blindness.
It is the micro-organism known as "chlamydia trachomatics" that spreads the infectious disease from one person to another.
Trachoma grading card indicates different stages of the disease that starts with the spreading of the disease, followed by active trachoma (repeated infections) and the scarring of the eyelid.
Severe scarring causes trichiasis, which later causes corneal opacity before a person loses his vision and becomes blind.
At each stage of the sliding slope, it is possible for the community to prevent the disease that leads to blindness.
Several national and international institutions and NGOs in the country have been occasionally involved in mobilizing the public to prevent trachoma spread.
In Dodoma region, where Trachoma and other associated disease are rampant, there have been several such institutions and NGOs actively engaged in the intervention and surveillance.
Financially supported by international NGOs, the Kongwa Trachoma Project (KTP) has under the umbrella of the Central Eye Health Foundation (CEHEFO) done a commendable job in identifying, surveillance and intervention of the stigma.
Financed by the American-based Hellen Keller International, KTP had since been offering preventive and curative eye services to about 20 villages in the region.
Again supported by the Johns Hopkins University of America, KTP has since 1986 been undergoing a Trachoma research in about 10 villages of Kongwa district.
The following are the extracts of this reporter's interview with two Trachoma research experts from Johns Hopkins University on the KTP survey programme.
Professor Sheila West, Johns Hopkins University Lecturer and KTP Principal Investigator.
Kongwa Trachoma Project was started in 1986 with the aim of trying to get a better treatment plan for the villages.
Up to now we have been using tetracycline eye ointment for treating trachoma, which is applied two times a day for at least six weeks.
There has been a big problem in complying with this prescription as women do not like it and the children, as well, do not like it. So during our survey, we started a new drug called," <punct> Azithromycin which you give to a patient once and that's it. The new drug seems to be very effective for trachoma mass treatment, as we managed to wipe out the disease in the entire village of Msunjilile. We found that the disease was gone, but now it is coming back again as people went out of the village and mixed with others of other villages.
We, however, found that it was important during the treatment with antibiotic for people to continue with the face washing to keep the disease away. This is what we learnt from this phase, of KTP in which we dwelt long is studying the disease in children.
KTP in collaboration with the primary eye care and Johns Hopkins University have since 1986 been carrying out trachoma survey and found that it was important to have hygiene in the villages.
So we established KTP which was to work with the village people themselves to improve face washing. The mothers, traditional healers, traditional birth attendants, local leaders and influential people all teamed up to discuss how to improve hygiene.
We started off during the survey in 20 villages, then we did the intervention in eight villages and in two villages with he new drug prescription.
After working with several villages we found that Trachoma impact was declining with just simple hygiene programme.
KTP also did some work to train eye nurses in lid and best trachoma surgeries and how to identify trachoma cases by using the World Health Organisation (WHO) approved training scheme.
We are now finishing up work on what is the best treatment for trachoma, and it will be up to KTP under Dr. Bright Mmbaga to implement the curative and sustain the preventive programmes. We, however, hope that WHO Committee on Trachoma will recommend for the countries with such programmes may receive the drugs free of charge.
That is what we are working for so that people like KTP and the central Eye Health Foundation (CEHEFO) can treat in the villages.
We have said now it is high time to look at the "<ea/>Wazee" to identify problems they faced and what is the best strategy to help them maintain sight.
So the next phase of our KTP, which will start early in <-/Ma>, next year, we will be studying vision impairment in the old people in the villages.
This phase two project will be known as Kongwa Glaucoma Project (KGP), which is expected to do be carried out in the villages for four to six months.
We have to experience in working with the "<ea/>Wazee" it will depend, it might take us longer than that of children.
Since there has been no good glaucoma survey in any part of Africa to date, this will be the first one to look at glaucoma in terms of how it affected vision on the sight.
Our goal will be to find people with glaucoma early so that we can prevent blindness from glaucoma.
We are hopeful that KGP will be brought to Dodoma as most of its funds will come to CEHEFO to support <-/tearm> and activities in Kongwa.
Johns Hopkins University in American has already endorsed for the financial support, what is remaining is finalization of CEHEFO modalities with the Ministry of Health of Tanzania.
Mr. Mathew Lynch, a former KTP Director and now a first-year Ph.D. student in International Public Health faculty of the Johns Hopkins University has this to say.
"We in KTP have recently been charting out a strategy of determining where trachoma is in a village at a different time in Musunjilile village of Kongwa district.
The charting by using satellite <-_equipments><+_equipment>, is a way for us to be able to see in special terms how trachoma is spread.
Our current findings is that trachoma is spread through flies and direct contacts of people.
Trachoma is easily spread, especially among children who slept close to each other, child-to-child, child-to-cloths and cloths-to-child.
Women are especially vulnerable to trachoma as they spend so much time with children.
Children with Trachoma normally have red and sticky eyes and sometimes running noses.
If the discharge contains the trachoma germ, it easily passes onto fingers and clothes.
Trachoma is usually found in rural areas where there is a severe lack of water and good hygiene had to keep up in dry climate and environment.
We are also interested in knowing the trend of flies that went to the eyes of children after being bred in cow manure or cowsheds.
It is very clear in the villages that some houses have a lot of flies, and those houses are generally the ones that have diseases.
In marking them, we want to prove so and if the disease spread from one house to a house. It is important for us to figure out how the mechanics of trachoma works.
It takes a lot of computer power and a lot of time to prepare the chart, which would help us get the findings of the survey. It also takes time to take all the points of a village and link them to trachoma transmission.
We are not planning to make a map but rather a computerized diagram of the trachoma spread.
The diagram will definitely enable KTP to learn more about trachoma as we know very little about it. We are again looking at the risk factors for trachoma which in children appeared to be unclean faces and flies around the houses."