PurposeThe objective of this project is to study the willingness to pay (WTP) for health insurance (HI) of individuals working in the informal sector in Sierra Leone, using a purposely-designed survey of a representative sample of this sector.MethodsWe elicit the WTP using the Double-Bounded Dichotomous Choice with Follow Up method. We also examine the factors that are positively and negatively associated with the likelihood of the respondents to answer affirmatively to joining a HI scheme and to paying three different possible premiums, to join the HI scheme. We additionally analyze the individual and household characteristics associated with the maximum amount the household is willing to pay to join the HI scheme.ResultsThe results indicate that the average WTP for the HI is 20,237.16 SLL (3.6 USD) per adult but it ranges from about 14,000 SLL (2.5 USD) to about 35,000 SLL (6.2 USD) depending on region, occupation, household and respondent characteristics. The analysis of the maximum WTP indicates that living outside the Western region and working in farming instead of petty trade are associated with a decrease in the maximum premium respondents are WTP for the HI scheme. Instead, the maximum WTP is positively associated to being a driver or a biker; having secondary or tertiary education (as opposed to not having any); the number of pregnant women in the household; having a TV; and, having paid for the last medical requirement.ConclusionsIn summary, the various analyses show that a premium for the HI package could be set at approximately 20,000 SLL (3.54 USD) but also that establishing a single premium for all individuals in the informal sector could be risky. The efficient functioning of a HI scheme relies on covering as much of the population as possible, in order to spread risks and make the scheme viable. The impact of the various population characteristics raises the issue of how to rate premiums. In other words, setting a premium that may be too high for a big proportion of the population could mean losing many potential enrollees and might have viability consequences for the operation of the scheme.

The free amino acid (FAA) concentration of rice is becoming an increasingly important grain quality factor because of its apparent influence on the organoleptic acceptability of cooked rice. To determine the variability of this character among rice cultivars the FAA profiles of 49 cultivars were determined using Pico-Tag method. Among these 13 cultivars were selected to determine variation in FAA accumulation pattern after 24-hour germination treatment. The results show significant variation in the concentrations of total as well as individual FAAs among cultivars. There were also significant differences between indica-and japonicatype cultivars in the concentrations of some FAAs. The ratio of the total concentration of aspartate-derived to glutamate-derived FAAs (A/G ratio) evaluated for the japonica group (0.68) was significantly lower than that for the indica group (1.07). This suggests that typically, japonica-type rice grains tend to accumulate more Glu-derived than Asp-derived FAAs. Other results show a decline in the A/G ratios of both groups in response to germination treatment, with the indica group exhibiting a more rapid response. These results appear to suggest key differences in the FAA accumulation patterns of japonica-and indica-type rice grains especially with respect to the contents of aspartate-derived and glutamate-derived amino acids.

The current health care financing system in Sierra Leone is unsustainable and poses challenges ranging from increased in out of pocket health care expenditure to accessibility problems, particularly in rural areas where living standards are low and health care facilities are scarce. This paper investigates whether privately financed health Insurance can improve the accessibility to formal health care in Sierra Leone and mitigate the effects of OOPs on poor households. To do so, we estimate the Willingness To Pay (WTP) for health insurance among informal sector workers in Sierra Leone using a Discrete Choice Experiment approach. Eight informal sector activities were selected namely-petty trading, subsistence farming, commercial bike riding, cattle rearing, fishing, tailoring, mining and quarrying. A random effect logit model is used to estimate households' WTP for an improvement in coverage, choice of health care provider and a reduction in waiting time. Our study reveals that households were WTP more to have better attributes (better coverage, less waiting time) and to go to a faith-based provider. Our findings also suggest that location-rural versus urban-matters in determining the WTP since urban households were WTP more for health insurance than their rural counterparts,

This report presents findings from the baseline assessment of International Rescue Committee's (IRC) Girl Empower (GE) program in Nimba County, Liberia. GE seeks to help 13 to 14 year-old girls make healthy life choices and decrease their risk of sexual abuse. The program centers on weekly meetings between girls and trained local mentors, during which the girls learn about life skills and financial literacy. GE also holds monthly discussion groups for participants' caregivers, and trains local health and psychosocial care providers on how to improve and expand services for survivors of gender-based violence. This baseline report is part of a cluster-randomized controlled trial, which aims to assess the program's impact 24 months after baseline.21 percent of the baseline sample of 13-14 year-old females reported having previously had sex. Within this group, 29 percent indicated that their first sexual act was nonconsensual. Among all GE girls, 37 percent reported having experienced sexual violence of some type, such as being physically forced to have sex, non-physically pressured (coerced/ persuaded) to have sex, someone unsuccessfully attempting to have sex with them, and being touched in a sexual way.The levels of nonconsensual first sex and any experience of nonconsensual sex are at the high end of the range reported by the UNICEF Violence against Children Surveys (VACS) in Swaziland, Tanzania, Kenya and Zimbabwe. As the VACS reporting is for (a variety of ) age ranges, each of which is higher than that in this study, the levels of sexual violence reported here are very high in comparison.

Understanding the genetic diversity among accessions and germplasm is an important requirement for crop development as it allows for the selection of diverse parental combinations for enhancing genetic gain in varietal selection, advancement and release. The study aimed to characterize 183 provitamin A cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) accessions and five Sierra Leonean varieties using morphological traits, total carotenoid content and SNP markers to develop a collection for conservation and further use in the cassava breeding program. Both morphological parameters and 5634 SNP markers were used to assess the diversity among the provitamin-A cassava accessions and varieties. Significant differences were observed among the accessions for most of the traits measured. The first five PCs together accounted for 70.44% of the total phenotypic variation based on yield and yield components among the 183 provitamin-A cassava accessions and five Sierra Leonean varieties. The present study showed that provitamin-A cassava accessions in Sierra Leone have moderate to high diversity based on morphological and molecular assessment studies. The similarity index among the 187 and 185 cassava accessions grouped them into 6 and 9 distinct clusters based on morphological and molecular analyses, respectively. A significant positive, but low correlation (r = 0.104; p \ 0.034), was observed between the two dendrograms. The results obtained will serve as a guide and basis of germplasm management and improvement for total carotenoid content, yield and African cassava mosaic disease resistance in Sierra Leone.