African Region

The African Region is the WHO Region with the highest burden of tropical diseases. It is estimated that 80-90% of total clinical malaria cases (300-500 million) and malaria-related deaths (1.5-2.7 million) occur in Africa and about 55 million people are at risk of human African trypanosomiasis. Plague remains a public health problem in several countries, with around 1000 cases and 100 deaths yearly, and several countries in Central and Eastern Africa experience a high prevalence of onchocerciasis. Schistosomiasis and relapsing fever also add to the burden of tropical diseases, although they are endemic in more limited areas. 

Chemical control is the most widely practised method for vector and pest control in the Region. However, appropriate pesticide use is hampered, inter alia, by the lack of capacity, coordinated mechanisms and funding for the registration, purchase, application and quality control of products absence of effective systems for monitoring use and lack of implementation of existing rules and regulations. 

Malaria vector control accounts for 80-90% of total pesticide use for public health purposes. Residual spraying uses the greatest volume of insecticides. However, the treatment of mosquito nets and other materials with pyrethroid inseetieides is becoming an additional important method for personal protection and reduction of transmission of malaria. 

DDT continues to be the pesticide most used in malaria vector control programmes in the Region with no significant decrease in overall quantities, although in some countries use has declined considerably. The introduction of insecticide-treated mosquito nets and the replacement of DDT by synthetic pyrethroids for indoor residual spraying have contributed to an increase in the public health use of pyrethroids. 

In West Africa, the Onchocerciasis Control Programme is a major user of insecticides. More than 300000 litres of larvicides are applied each year. The use of organophosphorus compounds has progressively reduced, while that of bacterial larvicides has increased and now constitutes more than 50% of the total quantity of larvicides used in the Programme. 

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Gum Arabic (GA) or Acacia gum is an edible biopolymer obtained as exudates of mature trees of Acacia Senegal and Acacia seyal which grow principally in the African region of Sahe in Sudan. The exudate is a non-viscous liquid, rich in soluble fibers, and its emanation from the stems and branches usually occurs under stress conditions such as drought, poor soil fertility, and injury (Williams Phillips, 2000). 

More than 120 oxide-containing minerals have been identified, mainly from the Central and South African regions, but only a few of these minerals have any economic value. Some of the most important copper oxide minerals are listed in Table 19.1. 

African Regional Industrial Property Organization (ARIPO), 78 198 African trypanosomiasis... 

Malaria is a mosquito-borne disease caused by a parasite. The first symptoms of malaria tend to occur after the incubation period. The incubation period in most cases varies from 7 to 30 days. Symptoms include fever, chills and flulike illness. Malaria is commonly encountered in Sub-Saharan and African regions. 

The North African region in general and Algeria in particular are considered as one of the sunniest in the world according to many recorded data and satellite observations. 

Malaria is a devastating disease caused by protozoan parasites from the genus Plasmodium. While reported cases of malaria decreased by 50% between 2000 and 2010, 216 million cases and almost 700,000 malaria-related deaths were reported in 2010 (1). In addition, 86% of these malaria deaths claimed the lives of children under 5 years of age. The African Region continues to bear the brunt of the malaria burden with an estimated 81% of all reported malaria cases. In general, tropical and subtropical regions have the greatest rates of malaria transmission as the climate in these regions supports development of the mosquito vector. 

The life cycle of Plasmodium requires two vectors for completion. The definitive hosts are female mosquitoes from the genus Anopheles. Anophelesgambiae and Anopheles funestus are two such definitive hosts in the African Region, while Anopheles darlingi transmits malaria in South and Central America (6-8). The second host is a vertebrate that may be a bird, reptile, or small mammal. The malaria species listed above are all able to utilize humans as a vertebrate host. 

The following reflections are mainly oriented to the agricultural development in the East African region. Nevertheless many of the observations and conclusions become a general validity. 

The African Regional Industrial Property Organization (ARIPOI has a central registry in Harare, Zimbabwe, which examines patent applications and notifies member states on favourable examinations. 

Capone, D. G. (1996). Coral reef ecosystems in the context of the marine nitrogen cycle. In Current Trends in Marine Botanical Research in the East African Region (Bjork, M., Semesi, A. K., Pederson, M., and Bergman, B., eds.). SIDA, Marine Science Program, SAP-EC, Uppsala, Sweden, pp. 61-76. 

There are a number of other regional patent application systems in operation. In Africa, two regional systems operate the African Regional Industrial Property Organization (ARIPO), formed in 1976, and the African Intellectual Property Organization (OAPI), formed in 1962. These systems have 11 and 15 member states, respectively. In the Middle East, the Gulf Cooperation Treaty operate to provide protection in six countries (for example, Saudi Arabia and The United Arab Emirates), and the Eurasian Patent System operates to provide protection in nine countries of the former Soviet Union, including Russia. 

Vaccines have an exemplary safety record, with a benefit that is immeasurable. With today s risk-averse society and heightened awareness, vaccine safety attracts intense scrutiny, particularly in the case of preventative vaccines, which are given to healthy adults, infants, and children. The safety benefit ratio is skewed heavily toward safety and as many infectious diseases are not prevalent today, many people may not perceive the benefit. In fact, in recent years, there has been a shift toward a risk benefit for the individual, and as a result of certain alleged safety issues, there has been a reduction in vaccinations, (e.g., Japan and DTP vaccines, MMR in UK, polio in African regions) this will ultimately lead to decreased herd immunity, and the prevalence of certain diseases may return. Thus, the need to ensure safety is of utmost importance. It should be noted that the risk benefit may differ slightly for therapeutic vaccines. However, the emphasis on safety remains. 

Monekosso, G.L. Eighth Report on the World Health Situation African Region, WHO Brazzaville, 1994 2, 2-37. 

Despite these important discoveries, African Amaryllidaceae remains untapped specially in the southern African region. Few species have been investigated for their biological activity mostly in Sonth Africa and Egypt and to a lesser extend in Kenya and Nigeria. Information from other parts of the continent are sparse or lacking. 

In recognition of the cmcial role African traditional medicine plays in health care delivery in Africa, in 2001, the Regional Strategy on Traditional Medicine for WHO African region was adopted. The Regional Strategy aims at promoting the development and institutionalization of traditional medicine into the public health care system. Furthermore, in 2001, the Summit of African Heads of States declared 2001-2010 the Decade for African Traditional Medicine. 

Fig. 1. Sedimentary records of pre-rift sequences in the northeastern Brazil and adjacent African regions. Modified from Szatmari et al. (1987), and Ponte Asmus(1976, 1978).

The African region has the highest morbidity of tropical diseases -between 80 to 90 % of the total number of clinical malaria cases (300-500 min. people), with 1.5-2.7 min deaths, and 55 min people at risk of trypanosomiasis as well. 

The ascidian fauna of southern Africa are poorly known and the 145 species presently described are thought to represent only a small fraction of the overall ascidian biodiversity [3]. Not unexpectedly, common Pacific and Atlantic fouling species e.g. Cystodytes delechiajei, Clavellina lepadiformis, Didemnum listerianum and Ciona intestinalis frequent harbours in the southern African region [3]. 

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