The Granger causality test is used to examine the effects of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO), the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) on global dry/wet conditions. The results show robust relationships between dry/wet conditions and the ocean states, as assessed through a multi-index (standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index and standar...

[1] New waveform tomographic evidence displays a narrow plume‐like feature emitting from the top of the large African low‐velocity structure in the lower mantle. A detailed SKS wavefield is assembled for a segment along the structure’s southern edge by combining multiple events recorded by a seismic array in the Kaapvaal region of southern Africa. With a new processing technique that emphases m...

As a result, 14 countries in East and Southern Africa were identified as priority countries and initiated programmes to expand the provision of male circumcision (Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe).2 The Central African Republic was subsequently identified as a high priority country for VMMC pr...

BACKGROUND Globally, access to occupational health and safety (OHS) by workers has remained at very low levels. The organization and implementation of OHS in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Botswana has remained at suboptimal levels. Inadequacy of human resource capital, training, and education in the field of OHS has had a major negative impact on the improvement of worker access to such s...

The HIV-1 subtype C accounts for an important fraction of HIV infections in east Africa, but little is known about the genetic characteristics and evolutionary history of this epidemic. Here we reconstruct the origin and spatiotemporal dynamics of the major HIV-1 subtype C clades circulating in east Africa. A large number (n = 1,981) of subtype C pol sequences were retrieved from public databas...

The disease, Heartwater, caused by the Anaplasmataceae E. ruminantium, represents a major problem for tropical livestock and wild ruminants. Up to now, no effective vaccine has been available due to a limited cross protection of vaccinal strains on field strains and a high genetic diversity of Ehrlichia ruminantium within geographical locations. To address this issue, we inferred the genetic di...