This study examines outward-looking foreign direct investment (FDI) and the determinants of four highly indebted low-income countries in East Africa. To achieve the stated objective, the study ...utilizes the pooled mean group (PMG) approach for panel data encompassing the period from 1990 to 2022. Additionally, bound testing and the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model are applied to analyze time series data from individual countries within the sample. The panel PMG/ARDL estimation suggests that both market size and exchange rate have a significant positive impact on FDI inflows, both in the short run and the long run. Specifically, the time series analysis using ARDL estimation reveals that market size has a positive and significant impact on FDI inflows for both Rwanda and Tanzania, both in the long run and the short run. Furthermore, the association between the labor force and FDI inflows is positive only in the long run for Rwanda, while for Tanzania, it shows a positive association in both the short run and the long run. In terms of the availability of natural resources, the analysis indicates a positive impact in the short run but a negative association with FDI inflows in the long run, with the exception of a positive association with Rwanda in the long run. Additionally, external debt has a positive and significant impact on FDI inflows for Kenya, both in the short run and the long run. Based on the findings, the study recommends that policymakers should focus on policies and strategies that promote market expansion and create a larger consumer base. This can be achieved through initiatives such as market development programs, trade agreements, and regional cooperation.
The study examines the financial distress situation and its determinants in insurance sectors in Ethiopia. To achieve study objectives, revised Altman's 2000 is adopted to measure the financial ...distress situation. The study adopted an explanatory research design with an arrangement of secondary data analysis via document analysis, quantitative approach, and deductive method of inquiry. The study used panel data from ten insurance companies over the study period 2010/11-2020/21. Descriptive and regression analyses were performed to analyze the data using STATA 14. Econometric model estimation procedures and multiple regression assumptions were tested accordingly. The random effect regression result revealed that firm-specific factors (liquidity and profitability) have a significant positive association, whereas firm size significantly negatively impacts financial distress. While the random effect regression result also proposed inflation has a positive and significant association with financial distress. However, firm-specific factors (revenue growth and leverage) have positive and negative, respectively, and macroeconomic factors (Gross Domestic Product) have positive but statically insignificant to the financial distress situation of insurance sectors in Ethiopia.
Insurance company managers and shareholders should be conscious of the effect of intellectual capital efficiency and its components on financial performance. The purpose of this study is to examine ...the role of intellectual capital efficiency and its components on the financial performance of insurance companies. To achieve study objectives Modified value-added intellectual coefficient is adopted to measure the effect of intellectual capital efficiency. The study adopted an explanatory research design with an arrangement of secondary data analysis via document analysis, quantitative approach, and deductive method of inquiry. Panel data was used with a sample of 14 insurance companies from 2012-2022. Descriptive and regression analyses were performed to analyze the data using STATA version 15.0. Econometric model estimation procedures and multiple regression assumptions were tested accordingly. The random effect regression result revealed that the value-added intellectual capital and its component human capital and capital employed efficiency have a positive significance association with financial performance. Whereas, relational capital efficiency and structural capital efficiency do not have a significant contribution to the financial performance of insurance sectors in Ethiopia. The findings of this study contribute to the theoretical and practical understanding of the relationship between intellectual capital efficiency and financial performance in the context of insurance companies in Ethiopia.
Emergence of antimalarial drugs and insecticides resistance alarms scientists to develop a safe and effective malaria vaccine. A pre-erythrocytic malaria vaccine called RTS,S has made great strides.
...The review was aimed to assess the safety of the candidate malaria vaccine RTS,S with AS01 and AS02 adjuvants using data from Phase I-III randomized controlled clinical trials (RCTs).
This systematic review was conducted based on PRISMA 2020. Regardless of time of publication year, all articles related with safety of RTS,S, RCTs published in the English language were included in the study. The last search of databases, and registry was conducted on 30 May, 2022. Pubmed, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, Wiley Online Library, and Clinical trials.gov were thoroughly searched for accessible RCTs on the safety of RTS,S malaria vaccine. The studies were screened in three steps: duplicate removal, title and abstract screening, and full-text review. The included studies' bias risk was assessed using the Cochrane risk of bias tool for RCTs. This systematic review is registered at Prospero (registration number: CRD42021285888). The qualitative descriptive findings from the included published studies were reported stratified by clinical trial phases.
A total of thirty-five eligible safety studies were identified. Injection site pain and swelling, febrile convulsion, fever, headache, meningitis, fatigue, gastroenteritis, myalgia, pneumonia, reactogenicity, and anemia were the most commonly reported adverse events. Despite few clinical trials reported serious adverse events, none of them were related to vaccination.
Most of the adverse events observed from RTS,S/AS01 and RTS,S/AS02 malaria vaccines were reported in the control group and shared by other vaccines. Hence, the authors concluded that both RTS,S/AS01 and RTS,S/AS02 malaria vaccines are safe.
Diabetes mellitus prevalence has reached epidemic levels despite the existence of contemporary treatments. People thus started looking at the possible therapeutic value of natural therapies. Crushed ...shoot tips of
(Amaryllidaceae) are mixed with water in Ethiopia to treat diabetes, yet this practice is not well supported by science.
In this experiment, mice models were used to verify the blood sugar and lipid-lowering benefits of solvent fractions of
shoot tips.
In a single-dose treated Streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic model, mice were randomly grouped into eleven categories which include diabetic negative control, diabetic positive control, and 9 diabetic treatment groups. In repeated daily doses treated STZ-induced model, Mice were divided into 6 groups which included normal and diabetic negative control (TW80), diabetic positive control (5 mg/kg glibenclamide), and three diabetic treatment groups 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg). Finally, blood glucose, lipid level, and body weight were examined.
In the single-dose treated diabetic model, there was a significant blood glucose reduction at 200 and 400 mg/kg doses of aqueous fraction and glibenclamide starting from the sixth-hour post-administration unlike ethyl acetate and chloroform fraction compared to baseline and negative control. In repeated daily dose-treated diabetic mice, all three doses (100, 200, and 400 mg/kg of aqueous fraction) resulted in a substantial reduction (
< .001) in blood glucose compared to baseline and negative control on the seventh day and 14
day. Besides the AQF shows improvement in lipid levels and body weight parameters.
The results of the study demonstrated that
shoot tip fractions have the greatest potential to lower blood sugar and lipid levels, supporting conventional claims for the treatment of diabetes.
Background
Child marriage is a harmful traditional practice, which compromises children of their childhood and threatens their lives and health. In Ethiopia, 58% of women and 9% of men get married ...before the age of 18 years. Surprisingly, parents in the Amhara region make marriage promises of their children before they are even born, which will hinder the region from attaining the Sustainable Development Goal of ending child marriage. Thus, this study aimed to assess the trends, determinants, and future prospects of child marriage in the Amhara region of Ethiopia.
Methods
A repeated cross-sectional study was conducted using four consecutive nationally representative Ethiopian demographic and health surveys (2000–2016). A logit-based multivariate decomposition analysis for a non-linear response model was fitted to identify factors that contributed to the change in child marriage over time. Statistical significance was declared at a
p
-value of < 0.05. The child marriage practice in the Amhara region by the year 2030 was also predicted using different forecasting features of Excel.
Results
The trend of child marriage over the study period (2000–2016) decreased from 79.9% (76.7, 82.8) to 42.9% (39.1, 46.9), with an annual average reduction rate of 2.9%. Approximately 35.2% of the decline resulted from an increase in the proportion of women who attained secondary and above-secondary education over the two surveys. A decrease in the proportion of rural women and a change in the behavior of educated and media-exposed women also contributed significantly to the decline in child marriage. The prevalence of child marriage in the Amhara region by the year 2030 was also predicted to be 10.1% or 8.8%.
Conclusion
Though there has been a significant decline in child marriage in the Amhara region over the past 16 years, the proportion is still high, and the region is not going to eliminate it by 2030. Education, residence, and media exposure were all factors associated with the observed change in child marriage in this study. Therefore, additional efforts will be required if child marriage is to be eliminated by 2030, and investing more in education and media access will hasten the region's progress in this direction.
