Browsing by Author "Ringo, J. J."

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Access and challenges of health facilities amongst agro-pastoralist communities in Handeni district, Tanzania
(Journal of Population and Social Studies, 2018-01) Ringo, J. J.; Bengesi, K. M. K.; Mbago, M. C. Y.
This study examines high incidence of under-five mortality among agro-pastoralists resulting from lack of access to healthcare facilities. A proportional sampling method was adopted, and descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were used in data analysis. The results revealed low dependence of agro-pastoralists on formal healthcare facilities, which could be explained by prevalence of informal healthcare facilities in villages where they reside. Education, income, accessibility, and duration of stay in a particular area accounted for the choice of healthcare facilities. Level of education and income determined preference for formal health facilities, possibly due to influence of education on understanding benefits of treatment in formal health facilities and income to meet associated costs. Accessibility of health facility influenced the decision to patronize formal health facilities. This was evident in villages which were connected to reliable road networks. Additionally, the length of time one resides in a particular area played a role in adhering to traditional values influencing the choice of informal healthcare facilities. The government and private sector should invest in rural road networks and promote education among agro-pastoralists on importance of using formal healthcare facilities and rational use of household income to improve accessibility to formal health facilities.
Gender Determined Roles and Under-Five Mortality among Agro-Pastoralist Communities in Handeni District, Tanzania
(Institute for Population and Social Research, Mahidol University, 2018) Ringo, J. J.; Bengesi, K. M. M.; Mbago, M. C. Y.
This paper explored gender determined roles and their impact to under-five mortalityin the study area. Across-sectional research design was used to collect data from 160 agro-pastoralist households using a simple random sampling technique.Data were collected in August, 2016in Handeni District, Tanzania mainly througha questionnaire-based survey. Descriptive statistics showed households prevalenceof under-five mortality 12 months prior to the survey for Kibaya, Msomera, Malezi and Kilimilang’ombe villages to be 24.6%, 24.6%, 31.6% and 19.2%, respectively. Binary logistic regression analysis showed that timely household decision, control of household income and equal involvement of household members in the subsistence farming had significant influence on reduction of household under-five mortality. The influence was atβ=-0.071, p = 0.000, odd ratio = 0.931, β= -1.828, p = 0.032, odd ratio = 0.674 and β= -1.013, p = 0.022, odd ration = 0.362respectively.The study findings indicate that women involvement in household decision making and use of household income contribute to the reduction of under-five mortality. It is also the same when subsistence farming is considered as a role for all household members rather than considering it as a women’s role alone. Government, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders should create awareness campaigns in form of seminars and workshops on gender equality in agro-pastoralist communities.This paper recommends further studies to explore roles of culture on household power dynamics and their implication to under-five mortality.
Health seeking behaviour and incidence of under-five mortality in Agro-Pastoralist Communities In Handeni District, Tanzania
(MOCU, 2019) Ringo, J. J.
This paper explores health seeking behaviour and its influence on households’ incidences of under-five mortality among agro-pastoralists. The study used a cross-sectional research design whereby a structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 160 agro-pastoralist households. Correlation analysis results showed existence of an association between cultural values, traditional practices, socioeconomic factors and health seeking behaviour. Logistic regression results showed mother’s age, number of children in household and masculinity had significant influences on a household’s health seeking behaviour. Further, the logistic results showed that mother’s age and traditional treatment attendance had significant influences on household’s experience of under-five mortality. The findings showed that the variables influenced individual households to seek treatment from traditional rather than modern health facilities. It is therefore recommended that Health Officials and Community Development Officers should create awareness and promote health services among agro-pastoralists. In addition, the Government and other stakeholders are argued to further educate agro-pastoralists and other rural dwellers to abandon cultural practices and values which contribute to poor health seeking behaviour and lead to higher households’ incidence of under-five mortality
Influence of cultural dimensions on under-five mortality among agro-pastoral communities in Handeni district, Tanzania
(Sokoine University of Agriculture, 2018) Ringo, J. J.
Despite efforts devoted to reduce under-five mortality, it has been observed that the reduction trend is not reaching the targeted goals hence the need to explore the possible constraints. The overall objective of the study was to examine the influence of cultural dimensions on under-five mortality among agro-pastoral communities in Handeni District, Tanzania. The specific objectives were to assess health services utilisation in the study area, to examine the influence of cultural dimensions on household power dynamics, to examine influence of household health care seeking behaviour on incidence of under-five mortality and to examine gender determined roles and their influence on the health of under-five year’s among agro-pastoral communities. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire from 160 randomly selected agro-pastoralist households. The findings showed high availability of informal health facilities in the study area as well as high preference to informal health facilities by agro-pastoralists due to logistical and traditional reasons. Lack of permanent road and education affected access to formal health facilities which are concentrated at the district headquarters. It was observed that increased years of stay in the study area strengthened adherence to traditional and cultural values which favored use of informal health facilities than formal ones. It was found that 83.1% and 78.1% of the households’ decisions on selling household livestock and crops, respectively were made by male household heads. Women involved in selling livestock and crops were 10.6% and16.3%, respectively. This suggest that agro-pastoralist traditional life style in the study area favors men more than women as women are isolated from household decision making and deprived of authority over household resources and income. In turn, this tendency affects women and their children, particularly under-five years. On health care seeking behaviour the result for binary logistic regression showed that mother’s age (β = -0.430) at p < 0.05, number of children in household (β = -0.082) at p < 0.01 and masculinity (β = -1.014) at p < 0.05 were the main variables influencing health care seeking behaviour and consequently under-five mortality. Cultural values which favour inequality in household income use were also found to influence under-five mortality through health care seeking behaviour among agro-pastoralists. Furthermore, it was found that household decision making had negative and significant influence on health of under-five children (β = - 0.071) at p < 0.001, which implies that timely household decision contributes to the reduction of household incidence of under-five mortality. Control of household income had a negative and significant influence on the health of under-five years children (β = -1.828) at p < 0.05 indicating that participatory decision on the use of household income contributed to the increase of household incidence of under-five mortality. The same applies to participation in subsistence farming which had a negative and significant influence on the household health of under-five children (β = -1.013) at p < 0.05, a condition which contributed to the reduction of under-five mortality among agro-pastoral communities. This is because subsistence takes more time and had low production. The study recommends awareness creation campaigns to be done on the relevance of using formal health facilities as well as establishment of formal health facilities within the study area. Moreover, efforts should be made to ensure all villages are connected to reliable roads to improve access to the health facilities. However, necessary efforts should be made through Government and non-Governmental organizations to minimize influence of cultural values and traditional practices which facilitate unequal participation in household decision making and resource use. These have direct and indirect influence on the health of under-five children. In this view, urgent efforts are needed to assist in promoting health care seeking behaviour from informal to formal health facilities hence contribute towards reduction of under-five mortality. Lastly, participation of men and women in household decision making and control of household income should be encouraged among agro-pastoral communities. This will give women more time to care for children and facilitate timely treatment hence contributes to the improvement of their health.
International Land deals and rural poverty reduction in Kisarawe District, Coast Region, Tanzania
(Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA), 2014, 2014) Kabote, S. J.; Niboye, E. P.; Ringo, J. J.
Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques, this chapter examines processes and impacts of International Land Deals in Kisarawe District. Three focus group discussions encompassing 30 participants and 17 key informants were involved. A survey of 180 small-scale farmers who were heads of households or spouses also participated in the study. Qualitative data were analyzed used content analysis techniques whereby quantitative data were summarized using Statistical Package for Social Science. Results showed that the process of land leasing to the British Sun-Biofuel Tanzania Limited were top down. Secondly, the employment opportunity created by the investor though improved household income was not sustainable and so smallscale farmers bounced back into poverty. Thirdly, despite a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the investor and Kisarawe District, there were no mechanisms to ensure effective implementation of the deal as a result the win-win situation was not attained and that the deal exacerbated rural poverty among small-scale famers.