This article summarizes the results of an intervention study with approximately 4,000 Zambian children, in which risk of helminth infection and related health problems were ameliorated with medication and micronutrient and vitamin supplementation. The results of this intervention were tracked with a newly developed cognitive assessment battery for Zambian school children in Grades 3-7. The quantification of cognitive functioning manifested after the intervention indicated treatment-related improvements in the cognitive skill of following instructions. This skill is fundamental to success in school. It constitutes an important indicator of resilience in overcoming difficulties related to growing up and being educated under the pressure of the multiple risk factors characteristic of the developing world.

Ethical approval and consent. This study was approved by the Human Subjects Committee of the Yale University Institutional Review Board (Protocol #0410000155). The study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Written and signed informed consents were collected from all participants; informed consent for children's participation was received from their parents/caregivers.

This paper sought to describe the basic tenets of the concept of intelligence among Tonga parents of rural Zambia. Most researchers presume that what western schooling teaches and measured by intelligence tests is universal and fostered by all cultures around, therefore, failure to succeed in both constitutes non-intelligent behavior. Others argue that, although the concept of intelligence is universal, what each culture considers intelligent behavior is unique to the prevailing socioeconomic and cultural conditions. Using the realist ethnography method, eight parents were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire to provide narratives of both their lived childhood experiences and expectations of their children during and after school. The study revealed that Tonga parents make a clear distinction between being intelligent (kuba amaanu) and being unintelligent (kubula maanu). Being intelligent (kuba amaanu) is however, framed based on four core concepts – kumvwa (to follow instructions), kutumika (to be responsible), kusyomeka (to be trustworthy), and kucenjela (to be clever) – framed based on concepts of maanu (which may also be defined as cognition) and busongo (wisdom) constitute intelligent behavior.

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