The University of Kara (abbreviated UK) is the second university in Togo after the University of Lomé. Located in the city of Kara, it was established by a presidential decree on 21 January 1999, and opened on 23 January 2004.
To sustain vegetable production and enhance food supply, farmers increasingly rely on intensive pesticide use, raising significant public health and environmental concerns. This study characterized pesticide use patterns in vegetable farming, with emphasis on the prevalence of Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs), associated risks, and farmer practice profiles in Togo and Kenya, and identified determinants of safe or unsafe behaviors. A total of 219 farmers (162 in Togo and 57 in Kenya) were surveyed using a semi-structured questionnaire and respondent-driven sampling. Phytosanitary practice typologies were assessed through Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) followed by hierarchical clustering. The results revealed the use of 157 distinct pesticide products, with Togo recording the highest diversity (105 products, 66.9
Climate change (CC) is a major environmental externality that threatens households in developing countries, especially where adaptive capacity is limited. Expanding financial inclusion (FI) through decentralized financial services and digital finance can strengthen households’ ability to cope with climate-related shocks. This study analyzes the effect of FI on household resilience to CC in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Using cross-sectional data from 51,044 households in 37 countries, we estimate a fractional probit model with country fixed effects and an instrumental-variable extension to address endogeneity. Sensitivity tests are performed to account for biases linked to regional population size. The results show that FI significantly enhances overall household resilience to CC, with particularly strong effects for women and rural households. By considering a three-pillar resilience framework, the results indicate the need for a more cautious and context-sensitive approach to FI in climate resilience policies. While FI improves households’ coping and adaptive capacities, it has a statistically significant negative effect on transformative capacity, suggesting that expanded access to financial services alone may reinforce existing structural constraints if complementary reforms are neglected. This pattern is consistent across gender and rural–urban groups. These findings suggest that expanding digital financial services, particularly in rural areas, should be complemented by targeted financial education, climate-responsive financial products, and institutional support to avoid deepening structural vulnerability. Strengthening FI alongside complementary reforms can enhance household resilience while supporting sustainable development in SSA.
Background School canteens play a central role in the school food environments and influence children's nutritional status and eating habits. They are key settings for the promotion of healthier and more sustainable dietary behaviors. Methods This systematic review examines impacts of school canteens on children's nutrition and their eating behaviors, based on published evidence. The sanitary and nutritional quality of meals served in school canteens were also assessed. The literature search was performed in PubMed and ScienceDirect databases from inception to the search date. Retrieved hits underwent rigorous screening by two reviewers in order to identify relevant articles Results In several countries, school canteens face challenges regarding nutritional and hygiene quality. Some canteens fail to meet sanitary standards, and meals are often nutritionally imbalanced with, high contents of saturated fat, sugar, and salt, and low in essential micronutrients. The impact of school canteens on the nutritional status of children is difficult to quantify but it is clear that the presence of nutrients such as saturated fatty acids, sugar and salt combined of micronutrients decreases the potential for children to have a nutritional status. Regarding children's eating behavior, most studies underlined the fact that school canteens are key settings for the nutritional education of children toward healthier and sustainable behaviors. Conclusions Overall, the implementation of school canteen programs should take into consideration the necessity to provide good quality meals but also the opportunity to provide nutritional education and sustainability awareness to children as childhood habits-are more likely to persist into adulthood.
Climate shocks increasingly threaten Africa’s economic and institutional stability, yet their indirect effects through social sectors such as health remain insufficiently understood. Guided by political economy and welfare theory, this study examines how climate-induced disruptions affect access to healthcare, public or institutional trust, and the broader risk of social unrest and attitude towards coups d’état support across African countries. The analysis uses cross-sectional data from 53,176 households across Africa and applies an ordered probit model with country fixed effects to account for country size and population structure. Climate shocks notably drought and flood events, significantly reduce access to healthcare services and erode public trust in health governance systems. Diminished health access and declining institutional confidence further increase the likelihood of social unrest and coup events, serving as key mediating channels through which environmental stress contributes to political instability. Strengthening climate-resilient health infrastructure, decentralizing public health financing, and investing in highly exposed regions are essential policy responses. Enhancing social protection and institutional credibility can help break the destabilizing feedback loop between environmental shocks, welfare declines, and political unrest.
Background: Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp. is an important vital crop in the diet of populations, whose productivity is declining due to the pressure of pests, including Aphis cracivora Koch (Homoptera: Aphididae). To combat these pests, farmers use synthetic chemical products, which are highly toxic to human health and useful entomofauna. To remedy these problems and find alternative to these synthetic chemical pesticides, this study aims to evaluate the efficacy of a formulation based on the essential oil of E. globulus on A. craccivora. Methods: The test was realised in the field using the Fischer experimental design with five replicates. Each replicate consisted of three treatments with the E. globulus essential oil formulation at different concentrations (0.1, 0.5 and 1%), a positive control (treatment with the synthetic insecticide K-optimal (Acetamiprid-Lamdacyhalothrin)) and an untreated plot. A. craccivora population dynamics and pod yield were the parameters evaluated during the experimentation. Result: The essential oil of E. globulus formulation, at a concentration of 1% reduced considerably the density of A. craccivora population (4.8±0.12 aphids per plant) and induce a higher yield in terms of number of pods (12.42±1.16 pods per plant) compared to the untreated plot (48.2±1.02 aphids per plant; 6.325±0.33 pods per plant). Statistical analysis showed that the effect of the formulation based on 1% of E. globulus essential oil was similar to the synthetic insecticide effect.
