Using Routine EMR Registration on a National Scale for Evaluating the Impact of HIV and ART on Childbirth in Burundi.

A number of international studies have reported that HIV+ mothers under ART on average deliver babies that have low birth weight (LBW), are smaller (LBH) and are more often premature [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. These 3 elements are well known risk factors for neonatal mortality. In our study we wanted to assess the actual status of such supposed HIV and ART related neonatal mortality risks in Burundi by taking advantage of the country's large scale EMR implementation. A total of 64,682 birth records were extracted from EMRs in 17 hospitals for the period between January 1, 2018 and October 31, 2022. After quality control for missing or impossible data, 54,180 records were retained for the study. This study demonstrated that the use of ART during HIV+ pregnancies has no statistically significant impact on risk factors for neonatal mortality in Burundi. The study also indicates that the HIV prevalence among pregnant women in Burundi who give birth in a hospital is more than twice as high as expected based on the official figures. It was also demonstrated that an explanation for this finding cannot be found in a possible concentration of HIV+ deliveries in the hospital environment. The availability of large-scale implementation of structured electronic health records brings numerous new possibilities for population research based on routinely registered health data in a low-resource country like Burundi.

Prevalence and associated risk factors assessment of bovine fasciolosis in the Imbo Region, Burundi.

Fasciolosis is a zoonosis that limits the productivity of ruminants worldwide, but there is a lack of information on its occurrence in Burundi. Therefore, this study aimed to fill the information gap by determining the prevalence and risk factors associated with bovine fasciolosis in the Imbo Region of Burundi. Two prevalence studies were conducted in parallel in the five communes of the five provinces in the Imbo region. In the first study, a total of 426 fecal samples were collected from randomly selected cattle farms and microscopically examined to determine Fasciola egg burden. Survey data on cattle husbandry were collected from owners of these cattle and analyzed to determine the risk factors for bovine fasciolosis. In the second study, 467 cattle were randomly selected in abattoirs and their livers were examined postmortem to determine liver fluke burdens. Data were entered separately into Microsoft Excel and analyzed using R software. The overall prevalence of bovine fasciolosis was 47.7% (42.9-52.4, 95% CI) for microscopic examination and 33.2% (28.9-37.5, 95% CI) for postmortem examinations. The majority of positive cattle (60.6%) had light intensity infections as determined by eggs per gram of feces (epg). Postmortem examinations corroborated these results and indicated that 80% of cattle had light intensity infections. Chi-square analysis showed a statistical association with the presence of bovine fasciolosis and the age, sex, and origin of cattle and the practices of cattle owners (P < 0.05).

Heterogeneous effects of socio-economic and cultural factors on fertility differentials in Burundi and Morocco during their fertility transition periods: a retrospective, cross-sectional and comparative study.

Introduction: few studies have examined the factors influencing fertility differentials and the variation in their effects in countries with different socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds and different fertility transition paces. To address this gap, our study sought to first identify the factors that influenced fertility differentials in Morocco and Burundi during their fertility transition periods, and then to compare the effects of these factors between the two countries. Methods: using data from the 2003-4 Morocco and 2010 Burundi Demographic and Health Surveys, bivariable and multivariable Poisson regression analyses offset by the natural logarithm of the women´s age were performed to identify the socioeconomic and cultural factors that influenced fertility differentials in Morocco and Burundi during their fertility transition. Results: our main findings showed that the total number of children ever born ranged from 0 to 17 with a mean of 2.71 ± 2.89 in Burundi and from 0 to 16 with a mean of 1.88 ± 2.80 in Morocco. In Burundi, both socioeconomic and cultural factors like rural residence adjusted incident rate ratio (AIRR) = 1.159, 95% CI: 1.103 - 1.217, P=0.020), women´s illiteracy (AIRR=1.465, 95% CI: 1.241- 1.729, P <0.001) and agricultural profession (AIRR=1. 332, 95% CI: 1.263 - 1.401, P = 0.004), household poverty (AIRR= 1.381, 95% CI: 1.223 - 1.431, p<0.001), infant mortality (AIRR= 1.602, 95% CI: 1.562 - 1.643, p<0.001), early marriage (AIRR= 1.313, 95% CI: 1.264 - 1.364, p<0.001), lack of knowledge of any contraceptives (AIRR= 1.263, 95% CI: 1.125 - 1.310, p = 0.003) and failure to use modern contraceptives (AIRR= 1.520, 95% CI: 1.487 - 1.611, p<0.001) were associated with high number of children ever born. However, in Morocco socioeconomic factors like residence place, women´s agricultural profession and household poverty were not significant. In this country, women´s illiteracy (AIRR=1.428, 95% CI: 1.315 - 1.551, P <0.001), lack of access to mass media (AIRR= 1.241, 95% CI: 1.108 - 1.375, p = 0.006), infant mortality (AIRR=1.222, 95%CI: 1.184 - 1.361, p<0.001), early marriage (AIRR1.481, 95% CI: 1.435 - 1.529, p<0.001), lack of knowledge of any contraceptives (AIRR1.508, 95% CI: 1.409 - 1.613, p<0.001) and failure to use modern contraceptives (AIRR1.745, 95% CI: 1.627 - 1.863, p<0.001) were associated with high fertility but with different effects than in Burundi. Conclusion: the evidence from this study suggests that interventions to accelerate the fertility transition processes in Burundi and many other countries with slow fertility transitions should be designed and implemented according to each country's local context.

Determinants of the unmet needs for information, education and communication on sexual health among single youths in Burundi.

The prevalence of HIV/AIDS among young people aged 15-24 in urban areas is at least 12 times higher among girls than boys in Burundi, while it is twice as high in Rwanda. The gap between the two countries could be narrowed if Burundi's single young people were provided with sufficient information about their sexual health through appropriate channels. The aim of this study was to examine the social and individual "determinants" of unmet needs for sexual health information, education and communication (IEC) among unmarried young boys and girls aged 15-24 in Burundi, using data from the 2016 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). Data were analyzed at the bivariate level using cross-tabulations and chi-squared tests, and at the multivariate level using binary logistic regression methods. According to the results of the study, the 'determinants' of the phenomenon studied are, for both sexes, the size of the household, the age of the youths, their level of education, their knowledge of where to take the HIV/AIDS test and their region of residence; only in the case of boys do we find, in addition, the age of the head of the household, his level of education and the adolescents' exposure to the media; similarly, only in the case of girls do we find their economic activity and their perception of HIV/AIDS. Multisectoral IEC actions on sexual health for young people should therefore be strengthened in Burundi.

Au Burundi, en milieu urbain, la prévalence du VIH/SIDA est, chez les jeunes de 15-24 ans, au moins douze fois plus élevée chez les jeunes filles que chez les jeunes garçons, alors qu'au Rwanda elle est deux fois plus élevée. L'écart entre les deux pays serait réduit si les jeunes célibataires burundais recevaient suffisamment d'information sur leur santé sexuelle par des canaux appropriés. L'objectif de cette étude était de chercher au Burundi, chez les jeunes garçons et filles célibataires âgés de 15-24 ans, les « déterminants ¼ sociaux et individuels des Besoins Non Satisfaits (BNS) en Information, Education et Communication (IEC) en santé sexuelle à partir des données de l'Enquête Démographique et de Santé (EDS) de 2016. Ces dernières ont été analysées, au niveau bivarié, en recourant aux tableaux croisés et tests de chi-deux, et, au niveau multivarié, en recourant aux méthodes de régression logistique binaire. A en croire les résultats de l'étude, dans les deux sexes, les « déterminants ¼ du phénomène étudié sont la taille du ménage, l'âge du jeune, son niveau d'instruction, sa connaissance de l'endroit où faire le test de VIH/SIDA et sa région de résidence ; seulement, chez les garçons, on retrouve en plus l'âge du chef de ménage, son niveau d'instruction et l'exposition aux médias ; de même, seulement, chez les filles, on retrouve leur activité économique et leur perception du VIH/SIDA. Les actions multisectorielles d'IEC en santé sexuelle concernant les jeunes devraient alors être renforcées au Burundi.

One sample-three new species: an example of species richness of the genus Symplecis Förster, 1869 (Hymenoptera, Ichneumonidae: Orthocentrinae) in Burundi.

Three new orthocentrine species of the genus Symplecis Förster, 1869 are described and illustrated: S. aperta sp. n., S. glabroscutum sp. n. and S. kibiraensis sp. n. These species were all found in one sample collected by Malaise trap in Kibira National Park (Burundi) demonstrating potentially high species richness of the genus in the Afrotropics compared with other regions.

Time series and power law analysis of crop yield in some east African countries.

We carry out a time series analysis on the yearly crop yield data in six east African countries (Burundi, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda) using the autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model. We describe the upper tail of the yearly crop yield data in those countries using the power law, lognormal, Fréchet and stretched exponential distributions. The forecast of the fitted ARIMA models suggests that the majority of the crops in different countries will experience neither an increase nor a decrease in yield from 2019 to 2028. A few exceptional cases correspond to significant increase in the yield of sorghum and coffee in Burundi and Rwanda, respectively, and significant decrease in the yield of beans in Burundi, Kenya and Rwanda. Based on Vuong's similarity test p-value, we find that the power law distribution captured the upper tails of yield distribution better than other distributions with just one exceptional case in Uganda, suggesting that these crops have the tendency for producing high yield. We find that only sugar cane in Somalia and sweet potato in Tanzania have the potential of producing extremely high yield. We describe the yield behaviour of these two crops as black swan, where the "rich getting richer" or the "preferential attachment" could be the underlying generating process. Other crops in Burundi, Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda can only produce high but not extremely high yields. Various climate adaptation/smart strategies (use of short-duration pigeon pea varieties, use of cassava mosaic disease resistant cassava varieties, use of improved maize varieties, intensive manuring with a combination of green and poultry manure, early planting, etc) that could be adapted to increase yields in east Africa are suggested. The paper could be useful for future agricultural planning and rates calibration in crop risk insurance.

Potential of indigenous plants seed extracts of Anisophyllea boehmii and Aframomum sanguineum from Burundi to protect against oil oxidation.

The objective of seed extracts from Anisophyllea boehmii and Aframomum sanguineum were to evaluate their ability to stabilize against oxidation of oils exposed to sunlight on one hand and subjected to high temperatures on the other hand. Determination of the peroxide value (PV) showed that the extracts had reduced the oxidation of sunflower oils. After 8 weeks of sunlight exposure, the concentration of 265.45 mg/l of A. boehmii extract showed a PV of 30.78 meq O2/kg, 67.4 mg/l extract of A. sanguineum had a PV of 42.75 meq O2/kg while the oils without extracts had a very high PV (125.06 meq O2/kg). Heating of the oils to 180°C for 8 hours was found, with A. boehmii extract (265.45 mg/l), to have a PV of 29.66 meq O2/kg, with that of A. sanguineum, while the PV of the oils without extract reached 50.66 meq O2/kg. In the light of these results, the seeds of A. boehmii and A. sanguineum contain antioxydant compounds, which, once extracted, can be used for many purposes in the food processing, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.

Spatial distribution and predictive factors of antenatal care in Burundi: A spatial and multilevel baseline analysis for the third burundian demographic and health survey.

INTRODUCTION: The use of antenatal care by pregnant women enables them to receive good pregnancy monitoring. This monitoring includes counseling, health instructions, examinations and tests to avoid pregnancy-related complications or death during childbirth. To avoid these complications, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends at least four antenatal visits. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify predictive factors of antenatal care (ANC) among women aged 15 to 49 years and its spatial distribution in Burundi. METHODS: We used data from the Second Burundi Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). A Spatial analysis of ANC prevalence and Mulitlevel logistic regressions of determinants factors of ANC with a medical doctor were done. The ANC prevalence was mapped by region and by province. In unsampled data points, a cluster based interpolation of ANC prevalence was done using the kernel method with an adaptive window. Predictive factors of ANC were assessed using Mulitlevel logistic regressions. The dependent variable was antenatal care with a medical doctor and the explanatory variables were place of residence, age, education level, religion, marital status of the woman, household wealth index and delivery place of the woman. Data processing and data analysis were done using using Quantum Geographic Information System (QGIS) and R software, version 3. 5. 0. RESULTS: The ANC prevalence varied from 0. 0 to 16. 2% with a median of 0. 5%. A highest predicted ANC prevalence was observed at Muyinga and Kirundo provinces' junction. Low prevalence was observed in several locations in all regions and provinces. The woman's education level and delivery place were significantly associated with antenatal care with a medical doctor. CONCLUSION: Globally, the ANC prevalence is low in Burundi. It varies across the country. There is an intra-regional or intra-provincial heterogeneity in term of ANC prevalence. Woman's education level and delivery place are significantly associated antenatal care. There is a need to consider these ANC disparities and factors in the design and strengthening of existing interventions aimed at increasing ANC visits.