| Abstract | Volume 2, Number 2 of Journal of African Development Studies has selected four articles. They were selected after we had gone thorough a stringent evaluation. The selected papers capture topical issues of interest to scholars, practicing managers and policy makers in Africa.
The First article of the volume is written by Isaac. M. Nyamweno and Jeremiah N. Ayonga. It is mounted to assess the status of Addis Ababa City with regard to accessibility of workplace and other public places to persons with physical disabilities, with a view to influencing change in the built environment. Public buildings transport and telecommunication sector, learning institutions and hospitality industry were the target of this research. The article has found out that Addis Ababa is home to about 273,825 persons with disabilities and most (70%) of work and public places are inaccessible despite high degree of awareness among the service providers. Anti-exclusion policies and proclamations are scattered in various official documents but there is no comprehensive national policy on disability. On-going disability programs focus mainly on rehabilitation and little attention is paid to physical accessibility. This article proposes innovative options to achieve accessibility including: formulation of national policy on disability, zoning of storey buildings, review of curricula for professionals, attitude change, budgeting, mainstreaming disability, benchmarking.
Mr. Ujoh, Infatimehin & Alaci, in the second article of this volume have discussed about features characterizing most urban centers in developing countries. The existence of a dual settlement pattern; the main city, and slum settlements are some of the futures. The article explains that expansion of slum settlements create ecological and environmental problems which include poor hygienic conditions due to lack of proper waste disposal infrastructure, inaccessibility to safe drinking water, susceptibility to diseases outbreak due largely to poor ventilation and hygiene, regular floods, rapid deforestation within and around the settlements, land degradation, excessive air, surface and ground water pollution. This study examined the expansion of slum settlements along the north-eastern entry/exit route of Abuja in Nigeria. The area represents a sprawling ?conurbation' of slum settlements stretching (rather continuously) along either sides of the entry/exit route. The analysis showed a rapid expansion of slum area from 31.52 km2 to 104.51 km2 in 2000 and 2006, respectively. In view of the environmental problems noticed in the study area vis-is the observed pattern of expansion, recommendations were made to ensure environmental sustainability in this part of the world
Ignatius A. Madu, in the third article analyzed the pattern of rural household access to improved water supply in Nigeria. The article, with relevant data obtained from the Core Welfare indicator Questionnaire Survey Nigeria, 2006, analyzed by both descriptive statistics and cluster analysis. Access to water supply was calculated as the percentages of households with less than 30 minutes to reach the nearest drinking water supply while the states were grouped according to the magnitude of access using hierarchical cluster analysis. The results show lower access to water supply. The article has also highlighted a policy implication which includes the need for the involvement of rural communities in water supply development.
In the fourth article of this volume, Yinebeb Tizazu, has investigated whether HIV/AIDS education is incorporated in the secondary school curriculum. The author analyzed critically selected textbooks as part of curriculum analysis. Textbooks were analyzed against the elements of HIV/AIDS education set by WHO (2000). Furthermore, classroom observation was made to analyze the mode of delivery of HIV/AIDS education by the existing contents. The result revealed that the textbooks of secondary school curriculum were ill-equipped with the essential elements of HIV/AIDS education in a way they can bring about the necessary behavioral changes on the part of the learners. Moreover, the existing contents have been geared towards more of the cognitive aspect than that of affective one. The article has indicated that the delivery of the contents of HIV/AIDS education in the curriculum was leading students to recall pieces of information than creating meaningful interaction or learning about HIV/AIDS in the classroom. Yinebeb emphasized in his article that there need to be an integrated effort among HIV/AIDS clubs, Medias and classroom learning so as to make HIV/AIDS education attractive and exciting to the students.
Finally we continue to appreciate the help of the Ethiopian Civil Service College for the financial support, and the many peer reviewers and editors who have helped evaluate manuscript and make sure they are of the highest possible quality.
The Editor-in-Chief
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