Scientists at the Kenya Medical Research Institute in Kisumu are racing against time to find out whether malaria is a risk factor for severe covid-19 infection. This comes in the wake of increased covid-19 cases reported in the lakeside counties. As Mashirima Kapombe reports, the 18-month study will be critical in how covid-19 cases are managed in malaria endemic regions.

Scientists at the Kenya Medical Research Institute, KEMRI are carrying out a study that could provide relief from malaria for pregnant mothers. The researchers are seeking to find out anti-malarial drugs are safe for pregnant women in their first trimester.

Zuhura is one of the estimated 48 percent of people living with HIV in the Lake Victoria region who had not been diagnosed due to the area's severe shortage of health care resources. She received HIV testing and counseling services provided by ICAP's FIKIA ("to reach" in Swahili) project, and after discovering that she was HIV positive, received follow-up counselling and psychosocial support from Anisia, a FIKIA community outreach volunteer. Just one week later, she enrolled in care. This focused outreach and fast turnaround between testing and linkage to care is thanks to FIKIA’s unique partnership with the Regional and Council Health Management Teams, which work with ICAP to bring health care directly to communities through a model called CTC (Care and Treatment Center) outreach. The project has had such an impact in Kagera, where over 53,000 people received testing between October 2017 and March 2018 and more than 3,000 were identified as HIV positive, that other nearby regions have sought to match their success.

The Nepal Seed and Fertilizer (NSAF) project facilitates sustainable increases in Nepal’s national crop productivity, income and household-level food and nutrition security, across 20 districts, including five earthquake-affected districts. NSAF promotes the use of improved seeds and integrated soil fertility management technologies along with effective and efficient extension, including the use of digital and information and communications technologies.

The Ethiopian Soil Information System (EthioSIS) project has covered 748 woredas and 62 confluence points, and gathered hundreds of thousands of soil samples from the entire country to develop 22 different soil property maps and fertilizer recommendations for each region. In addition, the later field survey approach will help to generate bio-physical map of the country. This comprehensive soil assessment is required to achieve an ambitious goal to map the country’s soil and compile in-depth soil fertility information, which could be eventually be used to well inform the fertilizer policies and recommendation and promote significantly higher crop yields.

The new Soil Intelligence System (SIS) for India will help the states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha rationalize the costs of generating high-quality soil data and build accessible geospatial information systems based on advanced geostatistics. The SIS initiative will rely on prediction rather than direct measurements to develop comprehensive soil information at scale. The resulting data systems will embrace FAIR access principles — findable, accessible, interoperable, and reproducible — to support better decision-making in agriculture.