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The objective of the study was to investigate the association between outdoor and indoor air pollution sources and atopic eczema among preschool children in South Africa. A cross-sectional design, following the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) Phase III protocol, was applied. The study was conducted in Mabopane and Soshanguve Townships in the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa. A total population of 1844 preschool children aged...

In 2022, South Sudan was ranked as the world’s most vulnerable country to climate change and the one most lacking in coping capacity. Furthermore, it is also one of the world’s most politically fragile nations. The country is facing challenges related to riverine flooding, including four consecutive years of floods (2019-2022) that have displaced hundreds of thousands of people and left many struggling to access food. Flood extent and frequency mapping based on remote...

Climate change can enhance extreme weather conditions thereby significantly influencing change in precipitation patterns. This results in change to both rainfall intensity and distribution in many parts of the world. The increase in rainfall intensity triger hazards such as flooding and geohazards such as landslides. The impact and scale of flooding hazards are well evaluated and documented. However, geohazards from extreme weather events are not well documented in many developing countries...

South Africa has one of the most productive and diverse agricultural economies in Africa. Consequentially, it is the leading pesticide user in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Western Cape is a dominant agricultural region in South Africa, making it particularly vulnerable to pesticide pollution. After application, pesticides can be transported to rivers, potentially causing adverse ecological and human health effects. Thus, there is an urgent need to understand the sources and risk of aquatic...

Countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have some of the highest levels of child malnutrition, with more than one-third of children under five in the region characterized as chronically undernourished. High reliance on subsistence farming, poor adoption of irrigation technologies, and variable climate conditions make populations in SSA highly vulnerable to malnutrition during droughts. We use anthropometric data for 520,734 children under the age of five from 34 countries in SSA collected...

Climate change significantly threatens food security, particularly in low-income countries heavily reliant on subsistence and rainfed agriculture. Most existing empirical literature has examined the impacts of climate variability and extremes on undernutrition and agricultural outputs independently. There is a lack of studies exploring the causal pathway from climate change to agricultural shocks and their consequent nutritional and health impacts.In this study, we investigate the extent to...

Mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) dominate rainfall and its extremes in most parts of West Africa, frequently producing flash floods that result in major damage and loss of life. As West African storms are already intensifying, these effects are expected to become more frequent and severe under climate-change and rapid urban expansion. To help mitigate these impacts, the NFLICS (Nowcasting FLood Impacts of Convective storms in the Sahel) project has co-developed a prototype nowcasting...

On 8th September 2023, the Al Haouz province in Morocco was struck by a strong earthquake of 6.8 Mw. The mainshock was generated by a reverse fault with an ENE-WSW orientation, as suggested by the derived focal mechanism.   To obtain preliminary information of a seismic event, and to characterize the associated seismotectonic framework, in the last decades, the combination of field geology with satellite observations is becoming gradually more frequent. In particular, the DInSAR...

Improving understanding and awareness of risks associated with natural hazards among the population at risk and DRR managers is essential for achieving the objectives of the Sendai Framework. This is particularly crucial in contexts where natural hazard risk knowledge is scarce and poorly disseminated, while the frequency of disasters and the severity of their impacts are high. Highly interactive, educational games are an engaging method for exposing players to disaster risk situation by...

This article examines the impacts the pandemic learning environment had on student learning and wellness, and how rethinking higher education (HE) design could bolster the improved student well-being. In the wake of Covid-19, academia is searching for some “normalcy” which requires a critical review of the suitability of current structures, as policy design struggles with the possibilities of a hybrid approach to pedagogic delivery. The body of knowledge on blended/hybrid learning design...

This study explores one aspect of the macro-atmospheric phenomenon of amplified climate change that is causing significant micro manifestation challenges in one of the most fragile ecosystems on earth, sub-Saharan Africa. The micro manifestation of desertification impacts humans, flora, and fauna all of whom already struggle to survive in these areas. Desertification in turn effects ecotourism. Desertification is a type of land degradation in which biological productivity is reduced and...

Education is a fundamental right and plays an important role in development (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 2020). However, in Hodon District, Somalia, traditional practices and cultural beliefs significantly influence educational opportunities available, particularly for marginalized groups like girls (Abdullahi & Said, 2012; Ahmed, 2000). Somalia has a rich cultural heritage shaped by diverse traditions that form societal norms, though some perpetuate...

Abstract.The comprehension of a process variability mode and its causing factors may help decision- makers for preventive and mitigation purposes. Indeed, modelling of water erosion variability and soil loss rates estimation seem crucial in regions where this process may have serious consequences that adversely affects countries sustainable development and agricultural production. Under impact of climate changes, several previous studies deal with aggressiveness of soil erosion dynamic...

Background. Role stress is linked to reduced work performance, diminished organizational commitment, increased intention to leave a job, and negative physical and mental health effects. Given the significant implications of role stress, researchers have sought to understand and quantify the concept. The Role Conflict and Ambiguity (RCA) scales are widely utilized in job stress research as the predominant measurement tools. They were originally conceptualized as consisting of two independent...

Earthquake catalog is a key element in seism hazards. However, it may be contaminated by non-natural earthquake sources. Hence,This study aims to discriminate natural and non-natural earthquakes through machine learning techniques and spatio-temporal distribution of the events. First, we propose a Convolutional Neural Network based on spectrograms to perform the waveform classification. It is targeted to applications in Madagascar. The approach consists of three main steps: (1)...

One of the biggest strengths of parametric drought insurance products is that they can trigger payouts independently from observed losses (and expensive loss assessments), potentially increasing the speed of payouts and lowering premiums. To support low-income countries in formulating policies and developing instruments aimed at enhancing their financial resilience against drought, the World Bank’s Crisis and Disaster Risk Finance (CDRF) team and DHI are developing a novel drought...

Rift volcanoes worldwide present significant hazards to people from eruptions but also provide resources such as geothermal energy. Aluto volcano in the Ethiopian rift is a hotspot for geothermal power exploitations, despite significant periods of deformation in the last 15 years. Various geophysical imaging methods have been applied to Aluto to obtain a detailed 3D image of the hydrothermal reservoir and the location, geometry, and size of possible magma bodies. However, the models give a...

To comprehensively manage the impacts from hazards and disasters, a nuanced understanding of the systemic nature of risks is needed. The effects of natural hazards, climate change and other human-generated shocks transcend borders, sectors and systems, highlighting the interconnected nature of risks. The lack of resilience in one sector can propagate risks across multiple other sectors, and interventions in response can generate trade-offs and unintended negative consequences leading to...

During the 20th century and continuing into the present, significant warming was observed due to the emission of greenhouse gases, primarily CO2 and CH4, into the atmosphere. The sixth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimates a warming of 1.1°C above 1850-1900 in 2011-2020. As climate warming continues to reshape atmospheric conditions and trigger extreme weather events such as drought, forest fires, and floods. The intricate relationship between...