Browsing by Author "Ombaka, Ochieng 2"

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Livestock farmers perceptions on the relevance of natural licks in Igambang’ombe Division, Tharaka-Nithi County, Kenya
(2014-05) Nderi, Onesmus Munene 1,*; Musalia, Levi Mugalavai 1; Ombaka, Ochieng 2
A survey covering 12 Sublocations in Igambang’ombe Divsion and involving 72 respondents was conducted to ascertain perceptions on the relevance of natural licks. Household survey, focus group discussions and direct observations were employed. A structured questionnaire which had been subjected to face validity with a reliability coefficient of 0.84 was used to collect data, and analysed using SPSS for percentages, standard deviation and ANOVA. The relationship betweeen demographic characteristics of farmers and their perceptions on the relevance of natural licks was explored. Majority of livestock farmers were male (61.1%), aged 21 to 40 years (41.7%), had Primary education (52.8%), monthly income below Kenya shillings 5000 (75%), earned income from mixed farming(88.9%) and had farming experience of ≥ 10 years (72.2%). Farmers preferred animals licking at the natural sites (62.5%), and obtained information through traditional practices (87.5%). Natural licks are available (63.9%) and are perceived to improve digestion (77.8%), increase milk production (56.9%), provide minerals (81.9%) and medicinal value (48.6%) to the animals. The licks are sold (63.9%) at Kenya shillings 40 per 2 Kilograms(40.1%). There was no statistically significant difference in perceptions between men and women, educated and uneducated farmers. Farmers believed that natural licks are relevant.
The role of treatment and counselling in an HIV/ AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis Model. An analysis of HIV/AIDS and Malaria
(2015-11) Okongo, Mark O. 1; Ombaka, Ochieng 2
HIV/AIDS remains one of the leading causes of death in the world with its effects most devastating in Sub Saharan Africa due to its dual infection with opportunistic infections especially malaria and tuberculosis. This study presents a co infection deterministic model defined by a system of ordinary differential equations for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The HIV/AIDS malaria co infection sub model is analyzed to determine the conditions for the stability of the equilibria points and assess the role of treatment and counseling in controlling the spread of the infections. This study shows that treatment of malaria a lone even in the absence of HIV/AIDS, may not eliminate malaria from the community therefore strategies for the reduction of malaria infections in humans should not only target malaria treatment but also the reduction of mosquito biting rate. The study showed that counseling is the most sensitive parameter in the spread of HIV/AIDS-malaria co infections, therefore effective counseling strategy is very useful in controlling the spread of the HIV/AIDS and malaria co infections. The study further showed that ARV treatment and counseling for HIV/AIDS infectives have no effect on the spread of malaria. Finally the HIV/AIDS malaria model undergoes backward bifurcation which is favoured by the occurrence of high mosquito biting rate.