Patrick Mbullo Owuor

Northwestern University | NU · Department of Anthropology

Do-It-Yourself assistive technologies (DIY-ATs) that can be designed, fabricated, or customized by non-technical individuals can enable people with disabilities and their community members to create and customize their own technological solutions. DIY-ATs may better fit user needs than mass-produced alternatives. Recently, researchers have started...

BACKGROUND:In the last two decades, Kenya’s development agenda has focused on Vision 2030’s aim of transforming the country into an industrialised, modern-middle-income state. To fulfill this desired economic growth, the government has emphasised infrastructure improvement, a move that has prompted heavy borrowing, especially from China. Despite th...

Geogenic fluoride contaminates the water of tens of millions of people. However, many are unaware of the fluoride content due in part to shortcomings of detection methods. Biosensor tests are a relatively new approach to water quality testing that address many of these shortcomings but have never been tested by non-experts in a “real-world” setting...

Unlabelled: Undernutrition contributes to up to 45% of deaths globally in children <5 years, with an optimal time for intervention before 24 months of age. Breastmilk microbiome helps establish the infant intestinal microbiome and impacts infant intestinal and nutritional health. Inadequacies in breastmilk composition such as low vitamin A contrib...

Water security requires not only sufficient availability of and access to safe and acceptable quality for domestic uses, but also fair distribution within and across populations. However, a key research gap remains in understanding water security inequality and its dynamics, which in turn creates an impediment to tracking progress towards sustainab...

The DREAMS (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored, Safe) Initiative works to reduce HIV infection among adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) through prevention interventions including Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). Pamoja CBO in Kisumu, Kenya implemented DREAMS. We describe PrEP initiation and persistence in 549 AGYW who starte...

Fisheries resources face a confluence of socio‐ecological challenges, the resolution of which requires interdisciplinary scientific information for sustainable utilization and management. The present study assessed gaps and challenges in Lake Victoria fisheries resources management for better research focus, policy formulation and improved governan...

Objectives We aim to evaluate the impact of moringa leaf powder on maternal and infant nutrition, milk output, and intestinal health. Methods This was a single-blinded cluster-randomized controlled trial of 20g of moringa in corn porridge versus porridge alone taken daily for 3 months by exclusively breastfeeding women of term infants (>36 weeks g...

People with disabilities in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) have limited access to digital assistive technologies (ATs). Most ATs in LMICs are manufactured elsewhere and are expensive and difficult to maintain. Do-It-Yourself Assistive Technologies (DIY-ATs) designed, customized, and repaired by non-technical users offer exciting direction...

Childhood undernutrition contributes to up to 45% of deaths in children under age 5. Moringa oleifera (moringa) leaves are nutrient dense and promote breastmilk production. We performed a systematic review assessing the impact of moringa leaf supplementation in humans and animals on the outcomes of iron, vitamin A status, the measures of growth, an...

Household survey data from 27 sites in 22 countries were collected in 2017–2018 in order to construct and validate a cross-cultural household-level water insecurity scale. The resultant Household Water Insecurity Experiences (HWISE) scale presents a useful tool for monitoring and evaluating water interventions as a complement to traditional metrics...

Background While the introduction of HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) as an HIV prevention strategy has allowed women to exercise more control over the reduction of HIV transmission rates, adolescent girls and young women in Sub-Saharan Africa continue to experience higher rates of HIV infections and bear the greatest disease burden. Understandi...

Background Food insecurity (FI) is common globally and can have lifelong consequences. However, few studies have longitudinally examined how FI varies across gestation and the postpartum period (“the first 1000 days”); none have explored this in sub-Saharan Africa or in the context of HIV. Objective To assess the prevalence and covariates of FI in...

In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a set of public guidelines for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) prevention measures that highlighted handwashing, physical distancing, and household cleaning. These health behaviors are severely compromised in parts of the world that lack secure water supplies, particularly in low- and mi...

Background: While the introduction of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) as an HIV prevention strategy has allowed women to exercise more control over the reduction of HIV transmission rates, adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in Sub-Saharan Africa continue to experience higher rates of HIV infections and bear the greatest disease burden. Und...

We convened a workshop to enable scientists who study water systems from both social science and physical science perspectives to develop a shared language. This shared language is necessary to bridge a divide between these disciplines' different conceptual frameworks. As a result of this workshop, we argue that we should view socio-hydrological sy...

Billions of people globally, living with various degrees of water insecurity, obtain their household and drinking water from diverse sources that can absorb a disproportionate amount of a household's income. In theory, there are income and expenditure thresholds associated with effective mitigation of household water insecurity, but there is little...

Objectives: Food and water insecurity have both been demonstrated as acute and chronic stressors and undermine human health and development. A basic untested proposition is that they chronically coexist, and that household water insecurity is a fundamental driver of household food insecurity. Methods: We provide a preliminary assessment of their...

Water sharing between households could crucially mitigate short‐term household water shortages, yet it is a vastly understudied phenomenon. Here we use comparative survey data from eight sites in seven sub‐Saharan African countries (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, and Uganda) to answer three questions: Wit...

The participatory design, fabrication and customization of assistive technology can be an empowering experience for users with disabilities and their caregivers and teachers. These inherently creative activities can bring together multiple stakeholders and facilitate ongoing dialogues among them. We utilized a Do-It-Yourself assistive technology (D...

There is rapidly evolving literature on water insecurity in the general adult population, but the role of water insecurity during the vulnerable periods of pregnancy and postpartum, or in the context of HIV, has been largely overlooked. Therefore, we conducted an exploratory study, using Go Along interviews, photo-elicitation interviews, and pile s...

Our ability to measure household-level food insecurity has revealed its critical role in a range of physical, psychosocial, and health outcomes. Currently, there is no analogous, standardized instrument for quantifying household-level water insecurity, which prevents us from understanding both its prevalence and consequences. Therefore, our objecti...

Integration of Delphi method with focus group discussions. (PDF)

Scree plot showing cut-off point for retained scale factors using parallel analysis. (PDF)

Description of model fit indices and thresholds used in evaluating scale development results. (PDF)

Scree plot showing cut-off point for retained scale factors using exploratory factor analysis (Geomin Oblique Rotation). (PDF)

Delphi questions on household water insecurity. (PDF)

Initial and final household water insecurity scale items for use among postpartum women in Kenya. (PDF)

The role of indoor air pollutants and their association with anemia are not fully understood. Therefore, we examined if cleaner cooking fuel (electricity/biogas/natural gas) was associated with less risk of anemia than fuel mix (i.e., charcoal, kerosene) or biomass (i.e. wood, straw, shrubs, crop residue) among women in Ghana. Data were drawn from...

Our ability to measure household-level food insecurity has revealed its critical role in a range of physical, psychosocial, and health outcomes. Currently, there is no analogous, standardized instrument for quantifying household-level water insecurity, which prevents us from understanding both its prevalence and consequences. Therefore, our objecti...

Background: Livestock can promote resilience in low-income communities through a number of pathways. Livestock development programs seek to amplify these benefits but often fail to consider the costs to intended beneficiaries or the effect of prevailing gender norms. Objective: To explore perceptions of livestock ownership among female smallhold...

We compared the concentrations of Escherichia coli quantified with Colilert(™) and the compartment bag test (CBT) in source water and household stored drinking water (SDW) in 35 households in western Kenya. We also investigated the associations of the perceptions of organoleptic properties and overall quality with ≥ 1 MPN/100 mL E. coli in SDW. Par...

Technology specifically designed for people with disabilities is important in lowering boundaries to education, employment and basic life needs. However, the growth of a vibrant tech sector in Kenya has had little effect on the prevalence of digital assistive technology in the country. In this chapter, the authors report on initial explorations und...

Water insecurity (WI) is a serious and worsening problem worldwide, but its role in health outcomes among people living with HIV or pregnant women is unknown. We assessed experiences of WI in a cohort of 323 pregnant Kenyan women of mixed HIV status. The majority (77.7%) had at least one experience of WI in the previous month; it was associated wit...

Background. Kenyan antiretroviral (ART) guidelines encourage treatment buddies (TBy) to maximize treatment adherence. This study examined the effect of TBys on clinic attendance in men and women on ART. Methods. This retrospective cohort study included all adult patients initiating ART from August 2007 to December 2011 at four health facilities in...