Volatile oils extracted by hydrodistillation from six plant species growing in the Kenyan coast, Croton pseudopulchellus Pax, Mkilua fragrans Verdc. (Annonaceae), Endostemon tereticaulis (poir.) Ashby, Ocimum forskolei Benth., Ocimum fischeri Guerke and Plectranthus longipes Baker (Labiateae), were evaluated for repellency on forearms of human volunteers against Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto. All oils were found to be more repellent (RC50 range = 0.67-9.21 x 10(-5) mg cm(-2)) than DEET (RC50 = 33 x 10(-5) mg cm(-2)). The individual components of the oils were identified by GC-MS and GC co-injections with authentic standards.The repellency of 15 of the main constituents of the different oils (which had not been previously assayed) was evaluated. Although some of these showed relatively high individual repellencies, none was comparable to the parent essential oils. Partial synthetic blends of selected constituents with moderate or relatively high individual repellency against the vector were also assayed. Four of these exhibited activities comparable to or higher than those of the corresponding parent oils, indicating interesting blend effects in the repellent action of the oils against the mosquito. The implication of these results in the utilization of the plants is discussed.

Background: The current malaria control strategy of WHO centres on early diagnosis and prompt treatment using effective drugs. Children with severe malaria are often brought late to health facilities and traditional health practitioners are said to be the main cause of treatment delay. In the context of the Rectal Artesunate Project in Tanzania, the role of traditional healers in the management of severe malaria in children was studied.

BackgroundDiarrhea is known to be the major cause of mortality in children aged less than five years old. Although mortality from diarrheal disease is decreasing globally, morbidity is not. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of diarrhea among under-fives and assess knowledge on causes of diarrhea among adults in Mkuranga district Tanzania.MethodsInterviews with heads of households and observations were the methods of data collection employed by this study.ResultsThe prevalence of diarrhea in children below the age of five years as reported by heads of households was 6.1% and most affected were children in age groups 12 – 17 and 18 – 23 months (11.6% and 15.8% respectively; p – value 0.001). The rate of diarrhea incidence was 1 episode per 10 children per week. The mean duration of diarrhea illness was 1.7 days. Most under-fives had diarrhea for one (38.1%) or two (24%) days. Respondents in the 4th least poor quintile were more likely to have comprehensive knowledge on causes of diarrhea compared to respondents in the 1st poorest quintile. Male respondents were two times more likely to have comprehensive knowledge than female respondents. Respondents with comprehensive knowledge on causes of diarrhea were less likely to have poor hand-washing practice and more likely to have received water, hygiene and sanitation education. Under-fives in age group 12 – 17 months and those from households with reported poor hand washing practice were more likely to experience diarrhea episodes.ConclusionAlthough prevalence of diarrhea reported in this study is low, the one week incidence is moderately high but less severe. Majority of household respondents had inadequate knowledge on causes of diarrhea and poor hand-washing practice. There is a need to provide WASH education to improve their knowledge on causes of diarrhea and hand washing practice.

Keywords:Tanzania Water and health Household water treatment and safe storage Point of use Boiling User preferences Willingness to pay a b s t r a c t Almost half of all deaths from drinking microbiologically unsafe water occur in Sub-Saharan Africa. Household water treatment and safe storage (HWTS) systems, when consistently used, can provide safer drinking water and improve health. Social marketing to increase adoption and use of HWTS depends both on the prices of and preferences for these systems. This study included 556 households from rural Tanzania across two low-income districts with low-quality water sources. Over 9 months in 2012 and 2013, we experimentally evaluated consumer preferences for six "low-cost" HWTS options, including boiling, through an ordinal ranking protocol. We estimated consumers' willingness to pay (WTP) for these options, using a modified auction. We allowed respondents to pay for the durable HWTS systems with cash, chickens or mobile money; a significant minority chose chickens as payment. Overall, our participants favored boiling, the ceramic pot filter and, where water was turbid, PuR™ (a combined flocculant-disinfectant). The revealed WTP for all products was far below retail prices, indicating that significant scale-up may need significant subsidies. Our work will inform programs and policies aimed at scaling up HWTS to improve the health of resource-constrained communities that must rely on poorquality, and sometimes turbid, drinking water sources.

The antiplasmodial, anti-trypanosomal and anti-leishmanial activity of 25 plant extracts obtained from seven Tanzanian medicinal plants: Anncka (Enanta) kummerae (Annonaceae), Artemsa annua (Asteraceae), Pseudospondas mcrocarpa (Anacardiaceae), Drypetes natalenss (Euphorbiaceae), Acrdocarpus chloropterus (Malpighiaceae), Maytenus senegalenss (Celastraceae) and Neurautanena mts (Papilonaceae), were evaluated n vtro against Plasmodum falcparum K1, Trypanosoma bruce rhodesense STIB 900 and axenic Leshmana donovan MHOM-ET-67/82. Out of the 25 extracts tested, 17 showed good antiplasmodial activity (IC 50 0.04-5.0 µg/ml), 7 exhibited moderate anti-trypanosomal activity (IC 50 2.3-2.8 µg/ml), while 5 displayed mild anti-leishmanial activity (IC 50 8.8-9.79 µg/ml). A. kummerae, A. annua, P. mcrocarpa, D. natalenss, M. senegalenss and N. mts extracts had good antiplasmodial activity (IC 50 0.04-2.1 µg/ml) and selectivity indices (29.2-2,250 µg/ml). The high antiplasmodial, moderate anti-trypanosomal and mild anti-leishmanial activity make these plants good candidates for bioassay-guided isolation of anti-protozoal compounds which could serve as new lead structures for drug development.