A continent-wide effort and solidarity at curbing COVID-19 pandemic: the Africa task force for novel coronavirus (AFTCOR) infection prevention and control technical working group's experience.

A continent-wide Africa Task Force for Coronavirus with its six technical working groups was formed to prepare adequately and respond to the novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Africa. This research in practice article aimed to describe how the infection prevention and control (IPC) technical working group (TWG) supported Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) in preparedness and response to COVID-19 on the continent. To effectively address the multifaceted IPC TWG mandate of organizing training and implementing rigorous IPC measures at healthcare service delivery points, the working group was sub-divided into four sub-groups-Guidelines, Training, Research, and Logistics. The action framework was used to describe the experiences of each subgroup. The guidelines subgroup developed 14 guidance documents and two advisories; all of which were published in English. In addition, five of these documents were translated and published in Arabic, while three others were translated and published in French and Portuguese. Challenges faced in the guidelines subgroup included the primary development of the Africa CDC website in English, and the need to revise previously issued guidelines. The training subgroup engaged the Infection Control Africa Network as technical experts to carry out in-person training of IPC focal persons and port health personnel across the African continent. Challenges faced included the difficulty in conducting face-to-face IPC training and onsite technical support due to the lockdown. The research subgroup developed an interactive COVID-19 Research Tracker on the Africa CDC website and conducted a context-based operation and implementation research. The lack of understanding of Africa CDC's capacity to lead her own research was the major challenge faced by the research subgroup. The logistics subgroup assisted African Union (AU) member states to identify their IPC supply needs through capacity building for IPC quantification. A notable challenge faced by the logistics subgroup was the initial lack of experts on IPC logistics and quantifications, which was later addressed by the recruitment of professionals. In conclusion, IPC cannot be built overnight nor can it be promoted abruptly during outbreaks of diseases. Thus, the Africa CDC should build strong national IPC programmes and support such programmes with trained and competent professionals.

Varietal differences influence arsenic and lead contamination of rice grown in mining impacted agricultural fields of Zamfara State, Nigeria.

In Zamfara state, Nigeria, rice is cultivated in fields contaminated with Pb (lead) from artisanal and illicit mining activities. Rice grown in such contaminated agricultural areas risks not only Pb contamination but also contamination from other toxic elements, like arsenic (As); co-contamination of Pb and As in rice cultivated in mining impacted areas has been previously reported and rice is a hyperaccumulator of As. A field study was conducted with ten different commonly-cultivated Nigerian rice varieties in the mining-impacted farmlands of Dareta village, Zamfara State. The aim was to determine the optimal rice variety for cultivation on these contaminated farmlands; an optimal variety would have the lowest contaminant concentrations and highest essential elements concentrations in the rice grains. A total of 300 paired soil and rice plants were collected. The mean As and Pb concentrations in paddy soils were 0.91 ± 0.82 mg kg-1 and 288.5 ± 464.2 mg kg-1, respectively. Mean As (30.4 ± 15.1 µg kg-1) content in rice grains was an order of magnitude lower than the Codex recommendation of 200 µg kg-1 (for milled rice) while the Pb content in all the rice varieties (overall mean of 743 ± 327 µg kg-1) was approximately four times higher than the Codex recommendation of 200 µg kg-1. Contrary to previous studies, a negative correlation was observed between As and Pb in rice grains across all the varieties. Rice variety Bisalayi was the variety with the lowest Pb transfer factor (TF = 0.08), but the average Pb concentration in rice grain was still above the Codex recommendation. Bisalayi also had the highest TF for iron. Variety ART_15, which had the lowest As uptake (TF = 0.10), had the highest TF for essential elements (magnesium, potassium, manganese, zinc, and copper). In areas of Pb contamination, Bisalayi rice may therefore be a suitable variety to choose for cultivation.