Wales Singini

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Mzuzu University

Although Lake Kanyaboli provides a sanctuary for fish species that are considered extinct (e.g., Oreochromis esculentus, Oreochromis variabilis and Haplochromis spp.) in Lake Victoria, comprehensive data on species diversity and abundance are lacking. This study, conducted over a year (February 2020 to February 2021), addressed this gap by assessin...

Sub-Saharan Africa is facing an expected doubling of human population and tripling of food demand over the next quarter century, posing a range of severe environmental, political, and socio-economic challenges. In some cases, key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are in direct conflict, raising difficult policy and funding decisions, particularl...

Aim: Helminth infections result from poor sanitation. We evaluated the effect of helminth infections on HIV disease progression through the monitoring of 2 outcomes: (1) plasma HIV-1 RNA Viral load (V/L) and (2) Cluster of Differentiation (CD4+) T-lymphocyte count amongst helminth-HIV-1 co-infected persons. We hypothesized that (1) concurrent helmi...

Aim: Irrespective of co-trimoxazole prophylaxis, diarrhea among HIV-exposed infants (HEI) and people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) remains unacceptably high. We aimed to determine the combined effect of improved water supply interventions and co-trimoxazole prophylaxis on frequency and severity of diarrhea among HEI and PLWHA. Methods: Using key...

Helminth infections result from either ingestion or contact with contaminated fecal matter. To date, there is insufficient evidence as to whether helminths have influence on HIV-1 specific immune responses as literature results are indeterminate. We evaluated the effect of helminth infections on HIV disease progression through the monitoring of 2 o...

Helminth infections result from either ingestion or contact with contaminated fecal matter. To date, there is insufficient evidence as to whether helminths have influence on HIV-1 specific immune responses as literature results are indeterminate. We evaluated the effect of helminth infections on HIV disease progression through the monitoring of 2 o...

Background: Owing to their detachment from urban areas, people living in rural areas of Malawi are on the receiving end of health services and socio-economic benefits. The study therefore explored how Malawians living in these areas are adhering to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) containment measures and the factors that affect the COVID-19 fi...

Irrespective of co-trimoxazole prophylaxis, diarrhea among HIV-exposed infants (HEI) and people living with HIV (PLWHA) remains unacceptably high. We aimed to determine the combined effect of improved water supply interventions and co-trimoxazole prophylaxis on frequency and severity of diarrhea among HEI and PLWHA. Using key search terms of safe s...

Constant exposure to poor water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) contribute to environmental enteric dysfunction; a disorder that is frequently implicated as a cause of linear growth failure. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of WaSH on linear growth amongst children aged 0-59 months. We reviewed fourteen (14) studies retrieved from AMED, CINAHL, DOA...

Constant exposure to poor sanitation contribute to the environmental enteric dysfunction-a disorder that is frequently implicated as a cause of linear growth failure. We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WaSH) interventions on linear growth amongst children aged 0-24 months. We reviewed fourteen studies retrieved fro...

Factors influencing the spatio-temporal dynamics of plankton communities in small tropical lakes are not well-understood. This study assessed plankton communities in response to spatial (six sampling sites) and seasonal (wet vs. dry seasons) changes in environmental variables in Lake Kanyaboli, a small satellite lake on the northern shores of Lake...

Background Unsafe sanitation disproportionally affects the most vulnerable groups in society such as HIV-exposed infants (HEI) and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Whilst there is emerging body of evidence on benefits of integration of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH) and HIV/AIDS, experiences from sub-Saharan Africa has shown that there is...

Small water bodies are the most threatened freshwater habitat types because of the large ratio between their size and the catchment they drain. In this study, we assessed the current and historical changes in the physical, chemical, and biological variables of Lake Kanyaboli, which is a satellite lake on the northern shores of Lake Victoria in west...

The need for high-iron-containing animal protein products that are safe, cheap, and suitable for dietary diversification within rural communities presents a development challenge in Malawi. Although fish drying is widely practised, the drying of high-iron-containing goat meat is not well established. In this study, techniques for drying goat meat w...

The Sustainable Development Goals on water and sanitation offer an opportunity for Malawi to examine new approaches to improving and sustaining rural household sanitation coverage by the year 2030. This paper assessed the impact of training rural pit latrine masons as sanitation entrepreneurs and the role of sanitation marketing. The paper used a t...

Management of healthcare waste in low- and middle-income countries lacks a straightforward solution, especially where rural health services are provided. The purpose of our case study was to explore the knowledge and practices of health surveillance assistants operating at rural village health clinics in Ntcheu District, Malawi, with regard to the...

The study was conducted to assess catch composition and economic analysis of monofilament and multifilament under-meshed gillnets (Ngongongo) from March to April 2018 around Likoma Island, Lake Malawi. Catch efficiency for targeted fish species in monofilament gillnets showed that catch per unit effort (CPUE) was three times higher than that of mul...

Global environmental changes have negatively affected many food systems while the demand for food has continued to rise. An urgent need exists to identify other sustainable means of producing food. This is a case in Malawi, where capture fisheries and agriculture are not supplying sufficient food. Fish farming food systems by communities who rely o...

Community-led total sanitation (CLTS) is a common method for promoting sanitation in low-income settings. This cluster-randomized trial evaluated an intervention to improve inclusion of people with disability in CLTS through training facilitators. A qualitative study examined intervention acceptability. The trial included 171 disabled people (78 co...

A 2 × 2 factorial experiment was conducted to determine the effect of varying stocking density and crude protein level on growth performance of the African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fry reared in (1 × 1 × 1 m3, L × W × H) tanks for 40 days. African catfish fry weighing 0.01 g/fish were randomly distributed into 12 tanks at either 80 fish/m3 or 1...

In 2010, the global burden of foodborne diseases was 33 million Disability-adjusted life years, and 40 % of this burden was for children under 5 years old (Havelaar et al. 2015). Our study site was informal public markets within Mzuzu, Malawi, visited between September and December 2015, during the dry season. From these markets, fresh vegetables,...

There is an old notion that taste of fish caught from Chia Lagoon is different from fish in the adjacent Lake Malawi - two water bodies separated by a sand bar and connected by a short river. This study attempted to determine if this perception could be explained by the type of food in the two water bodies. Proximate composition of fish from the tw...

Cowpea is an important source of food and income for small scale farmers in Uganda. Production is, however, affected by both biotic and abiotic stresses. Drought stress has recently emerged as a serious concern due to the effects of climate change. This study was therefore undertaken to estimate the general and specific combining ability effects of...

Moisture stress is a challenge to cowpea production in the drought prone areas of eastern and north eastern Uganda, with yield losses of up to 50% reported. Genotypes grown by farmers are not drought tolerant. This study was therefore, undertaken at Makerere University Agricultural Research Institute Kabanyolo to identify cowpea genotypes tolerant...

The study evaluated changes in chemical, physical, microbial quality of solar tent dried and open sun dried Diplotaxodon limnothrissa fish species from Malembo landing site after 9 weeks of storage at ambient temperature. The shelf life of solar tent dried and open sun dried Diplotaxodon limnothrissa fish species was estimated at 7 and 3 weeks resp...

The Sustainable Development Goals will challenge low-and middle-income settings to look at new approaches for rural sanitation. In 2013, Mzuzu University, in partnership with United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Malawi, started a low-cost latrine program in rural areas using the corbelled latrine design supported by locally owned sustainable bus...

Worldwide, improved sources of drinking water are still lacking for 663 million people. With Malawi as a case study, we aim to address the scarcity of data available to understand the full cost and options of drinking water at a regional level covering both urban and rural areas. We studied options in the northern region of Malawi under the followi...

Due to the overexploitation of Chambo (Oreochromis species), other species such as Utaka (Copadichromis species) have become important part of Lake MalaAµi, Nkhatabay fishery. The shift to Copadichromis species has put the stocks on danger of being overexploited just as was the case with Chambo (Oreochromis species). The study was therefore conduct...

The study was conducted to determine the spawning rate of Malawian Tilapia, Oreochromis shiranus bred in hapas placed in ponds at Malawi's National Aquaculture Centre (NAC). The experiment was carried out during the reproduction cycle of November to March 2014. Two strains compared were improved strain from fifth (F5) generation brooders which were...

A study was conducted to compare the growth potential of Tilapia rendalli at three different stocking densities, using different rearing facilities. T. rendalli fry of 0.9±0.1g average weight were stocked in tanks and hapa-in-ponds at the stocking density of 30, 60 and 90 fry/m 3. Locally made feed (CP-18%) was administered at 5% body weight three...

Bolero community in Malawi, like most rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa, is very vulnerable to climate variability and change because of its reliance on local biological diversity, ecosystem services, cultural and religious landscapes as source of sustenance and well-being. For this reason, a study was conducted to forecast climate change pat...

The project aims at contributing to increased fish production in rural communities of Mpamba in Nkhatabay district of Malawi. The aim is being achieved through developing quality affordable feed from locally available ingredients, evaluating production economics associated with the development of feed, and assessing and evaluating market chains of...

The aquaculture sector in Malawi contributes two percent to nation's fish production. Availability of affordable quality feed is one of the most important problems that hamper aquaculture growth in Malawi. This study, therefore, aimed at investigating the nutritive value of locally available plant feedstuffs that can be used to produce a quality an...