Welcome to AfricArXiv
This initiative showcases UbuntuNet's commitment to fostering knowledge sharing, collaboration, and accessibility within the African research community. With AfricArxiv, researchers across the continent have a dedicated platform to disseminate their findings, making them accessible to a global audience. By facilitating open access to scholarly work, UbuntuNet Alliance plays a pivotal role in advancing the principles of open science, enhancing research visibility, and driving innovation across Africa.
Communities in AfricArxiv
Select a community to browse its collections.
- The general repository is open for individual submissions by researchers, librarians and research administrators.
- Showcase of project activities, presentations, and scholarly contributions curated by the AfricArXiv initiative.
- A Rapid Grant Fund to address research questions and implement science engagement activities associated with COVID-19
- An initiative to support the development of a harmonised quality assurance and accreditation system at institutional, national, regional and Pan-African continental level.
- Facilitating knowledge sharing and collaboration among institutions, researchers, and educators within the Ubuntunet Alliance network.
Recent Submissions
Review of Advancements in Hyperspectral Imaging for Low-Light Environments
(2024-10-14) Baston, George
Advancements in low-cost hyperspectral imaging for low-light environments represent a significant leap forward in imaging technology, blending spectroscopy with advanced imaging capabilities to provide detailed analyses of material composition and characteristics. Traditionally, hyperspectral imaging has been an expensive and complex field, primarily utilized in remote sensing, environmental monitoring, and medical imaging. However, recent innovations have focused on reducing costs and enhancing accessibility, making it feasible for a broader range of applications, including portable devices like smartphones, UAVs, and DIY systems. Significant advancements include the development of on-chip computational hyperspectral imaging frameworks, which integrate broadband filtering materials directly onto imaging sensors, and hyperspectral lightfield cameras that combine hyperspectral and 3D analysis capabilities. These technologies improve light throughput and spatial-temporal resolution, thus enabling high-quality imaging even with lower-cost components. Quanta image sensors (QIS) have further enhanced low-light performance by utilizing high-speed readout and photon-number-resolving capabilities, proving particularly useful in medical diagnostics and environmental monitoring. Applications of these advancements are vast and varied. In agriculture, hyperspectral imaging facilitates precision farming by detecting crop stress and optimizing yield. In environmental monitoring, it allows for the detailed observation of vegetation health and water quality. The technology also plays a critical role in food quality control and biomedical imaging, where it provides non-destructive methods to assess food safety and diagnose diseases at an early stage. Despite these promising developments, several challenges remain. The complexity and cost of hyperspectral systems, along with the need for advanced data processing and storage capabilities, are significant hurdles. Issues such as spectral and spatial resolution, noise sensitivity, and data management continue to require sophisticated solutions and further research. Nonetheless, the ongoing advancements in sensor design, algorithm development, and machine learning integration hold promise for overcoming these challenges and expanding the scope and utility of hyperspectral imaging in various fields.
Exploring the implementation of the TIME Home Learning programme and learning trajectories of 5- to 7-year-olds: Introduction to the TIME study
(2024-06) von Blottnitz, Magali
This is the first in a series of learning briefs that explore the implementation of the TIME Home Learning programme and the learning trajectories of 5- to 7-year-olds. This brief focuses on key elements of the programme, and also on the design of a study to explore how it is embedded in the ecosystem and lived in practice.
Empowering African Researchers: Building Data and Coding Skills with The Carpentries
(2024-10-10) Trusler, Angelique
Empowering African Researchers: Building Data and Coding Skills with The Carpentries - AfricArXiv Open Science Webinar Series 2024
Advocating for Preprint Sharing in Rwanda
(2024-09-24) Dine , Roseline Dzekem; Sindayigaya, Patience; Okafor, Izuchukwu; Lawan Adamu, Nuhu; Shitindo, Mercury
Advocating for Preprint Sharing in Rwanda - AfricArXiv Open Science Webinar Series 2024
Rethinking the Evidence on COVID in Africa
(2024-10-18) Bejon, Philip; Agweyu, Ambrose; Oyier, Isabella; Hamaluba, Mainga; Kamuya, Dorcas; Kinyanjui, Sam; Barasa, Edwine
The COVID pandemic was predicted to cause substantial mortality in Africa. However, experiences from many countries in Africa were notable for a striking absence of overwhelmed hospitals, and for low reported mortality. The marked contrast with the overwhelmed hospitals and high mortality seen in Europe and other high income settings was regarded as “puzzling” or a “paradox”. We reflect on possible explanations for this paradox with particular reference to observations made “on the ground” in Kenya.
We identify sufficient evidence to reject many potential explanations for the differing epidemiology in Africa. Longitudinal surveillance using antibody assays suggested that viral transmission was widespread and rapid. These data contradict explanations such as: an impact of climate on virus droplets; enhanced air circulation in rural settings; or stringent and effective public health interventions against infectious spread. We acknowledge resource limitations on surveillance of severe disease in hospitals and registration of deaths, but nevertheless identify sufficient evidence to exclude hidden hospital surges, and to exclude a hidden substantial death rate outside hospital.
Population age structure is an important but incomplete explanation of the epidemiology. The simplistic calculation of multiplying infection-fatality rates by the Kenyan population age structure implies a figure substantially higher than the observed excess deaths, and the calculation is further misleading because the infection fatality rates were derived from settings where the health system capacity mitigated the risk of death. Multiplying infection-hospitalization rates by the age structure of the Kenyan population predicts over a million hospital admissions, which would have been well beyond the surge capacity of the Kenyan healthcare system, and incompatible with the data showing that substantial hospital surges were not seen.
We found a very high prevalence of asymptomatic infection in routine data as well as in longitudinal studies with active surveillance. Taking this together with the lack of hospital surges, the low mortality estimates, and the evidence against reduced viral transmission, we conclude the primary explanation for the “paradox” is reduced susceptibility to symptomatic disease among populations in Africa.
There is an opportunity to further study pre-pandemic immunity and other potential mechanisms for the reduced susceptibility to severe COVID in Africa. Given our incomplete understanding of the mechanisms associated with reduced susceptibility to severe COVID, we should not be complacent about health security in Africa, and should prioritize the rapid acquisition of data on the ground to guide future pandemic responses.