AngloGold Ashanti is an international gold mining company that has recently implemented an information security awareness program worldwide at all of their operations. Following the implementation, there was a normal business need to evaluate and measure the success and effectiveness of the program. A measuring tool that can be applied globally and that addressed AngloGold Ashanti’s unique requ...

Background: There is a renewed interest in job satisfaction among healthcare workers including nurses in Africa and the West African sub-region due to the perception that global shifts in the internal structures and employment practices are inducing changes in the ties that bind employees to their job. Therefore, it is necessary to examine various studies in order to establish ...

Introduction An epidemic of ebolavirus in West Africa, which was first identified in March 2014, is now the largest Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak on record. On 8 August 2014, the WHO declared the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). As of 4 September 2014, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria have reported 3,707 cases (2,106 confir...

The termites and mud-dauber wasps of West Africa build earthen structures in which their eggs and larvae develop. This paper examines how these insect earths are understood and used in West Africa, focusing on their direct consumption (geophagy) and medicinal qualities. Existing research reveals these earths to be enriched in minerals otherwise lacking in the diets of the region, and suggests t...

provide information ranging from the morphology and uses of plant species to the history of plant exploration and the European discovery of Africa. The RBG Kew has contributed historical material, including maps and papers from David Livingstone’s South East Africa Expedition Papers and over 2,000 sheets of Africa-related material from the Director’s Correspondence covering early botanical expl...

Phylogenetic reconstruction, divergence time estimations and ancestral range estimation were undertaken for 66% of the Afrotropical freshwater crab fauna (Potamonautidae) based on four partial DNA loci (12S rRNA, 16S rRNA, cytochrome oxidase one [COI], and histone 3). The present study represents the most comprehensive taxonomic sampling of any freshwater crab family globally, and explores the ...

The evolution of yellow fever virus over 67 years was investigated by comparing the nucleotide sequences of the envelope (E) protein genes of 20 viruses isolated in Africa, the Caribbean, and South America. Uniformly weighted parsimony algorithm analysis defined two major evolutionary yellow fever virus lineages designated E genotypes I and II. E genotype I contained viruses isolated from East ...

BACKGROUND The ability to connect breeding, stopover and wintering locations of populations of migratory birds greatly enhances our understanding of the phenomenon of migration and improves our chances of effectively conserving these species. Among Palearctic-Afrotropical migratory species, aerial insectivores like the house martin (Delichon urbicum) are sensitive to factors influencing the ava...

Lassa fever is an acute viral zoonotic illness caused by Lassa virus, an arenavirus known to be responsible for a severe haemorrhagic fever characterised by fever, muscle aches, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and, chest and abdominal pain. The virus exhibits persistent, asymptomatic infection with profuse urinary virus excretion in the ubiquitous rodent vector, Mastomys natalensis. Lassa fever i...

BACKGROUND Sub-Saharan Africa is the continent with the highest prevalence of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Genotype 2 HCV is thought to have originated from West Africa several hundred years ago. Mechanisms of transmission remain poorly understood. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS To delineate mechanisms for HCV transmission in West Africa, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of individ...