ABSTRACT Introduction Labour and delivery are the shortest and most critical period during pregnancy and childbirth because most maternal deaths arise from complications during delivery. In subSaharan Africa skilled delivery coverage is about 46.5%. In Ghana skilled delivery was 45.6% in 2009 and 73 % in 2014 and that of Upper West Region was 53% in 2011 and 63.7% in 2014. This study assessed the factors that account for the low utilization of skilled delivery by pregnant women in the Wa Muni...
ABSTRACT The surge in new cases of HIV infection has assumed significant global concern. The increase has resulted in high trends of patients on anti-retroviral treatment in hospitals, particularly in Sub-Sharan Africa including Ghana where more than 300,000 people are currently on ART. Even though targets, policies and efforts are being implemented to improve patients’ adherence and continuance stay in care, HIV incidence is increasing in Ghana, especially among youth. This problem has bee...
ABSTRACT Background Stillbirths are more common than the death of a baby after birth and remained a serious public health issue in the developing world. Although stillbirths are preventable, there has been a sharp increase in the rate of stillbirths in the Tamale Metropolitan area of Northern Ghana in the last couple of years. Majority of the causes and risk factors remained unknown. This study was conducted to assess the sociodemographic, obstetric and maternal medical related determinants o...
ABSTRACT Background Violence in the healthcare environment is an underreported and a persistent issue that has been endured so long by healthcare providers. Violence against healthcare providers are increasing at an alarming rate around the world. Currently, little is known about violence against healthcare providers in Ghana, yet this information is essential to the success of effective healthcare delivery. The study sought to investigate the form of violence, victims, perpetrators and the ...
ABSTRACT Background: Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women worldwide. Early detection has an important role on prevention of breast cancer. Early detection is achieved through breast cancer screening. Objective: To assess the knowledge of breast cancer and breast cancer screening practices, and evaluate the health beliefs of the female clinicians in the Ga West and Ga South municipal hospitals. Method: This is a cross sectional study in two municipal hospitals in the...
ABSTRACT Background Nitric oxide (NO) is a potent vasodilator synthesized by endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) enzyme of the vascular endothelial cells and plays a significant role in the regulation of vascular homeostasis by attenuating leukocyte adhesion to the endothelium. Nitric oxide levels are found to be low in Sickle cell disease (SCD) patients. The eNOS gene polymorphism has been implicated. Moreover, very scanty data with conflicting findings exist in theliterature on the ass...
ABSTRACT Background Quality of service at the antenatal clinic is a key success factor in healthcare delivery in hospitals in Ghana. So, the assessment of clients‟ level of satisfaction with quality antenatal care is crucial upon which improvement of health service delivery can be undertaken periodically. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the satisfaction of clients with the quality of antenatal care at Korle – Bu teaching hospital. Method The study was a cross-sectional survey em...
ABSTRACT The perception that an individual forms about a thing affects that individual’s behaviour and attitude towards that thing. The District Mutual Health Insurance Schemes in Ghana are a new way o f financing health care in the country. The need to sustain these newly introduced schemes by improving and sustaining quality o f health care services under them is extremely important. However, there is a dearth o f knowledge on subscribers’ perception o f the quality o f health care serv...
ABSTRACT Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a serious public health issue. Leptin, a peptide hormone produced by the adipocytes is very important in the regulation of food and energy. Increased Leptin concentrations are seen in CKD, and have been observed to trigger further complications such as cardiovascular diseases with significant mortality. Despite the interrelationship between leptin and CKD, and their associated adverse health outcomes, the precise role of leptin in hypertens...
ABSTRACT Vine-browning and die-back disease (anthracnose disease) is a major constraint and a predominant disease in all yam producing areas especially, in Africa. The disease reduces photosynthetic area of infected yam plants resulting in severe yield loss. Farmers and Agricultural Extension Agents in the Nkwanta-North and Krachi-West districts of the Volta Region have recently reported high incidence of the disease on their farms. A study was, therefore, conducted from January, 2012 to June...
ABSTRACT Malaria is a parasitic disease infecting millions of people on the globe annually, especially children less than five years of age and pregnant women. It is caused by any of the human malaria parasites including; Plasmodium falciparum, malariae, vivax and ovale of which Plasmodium falciparum is the most dangerous and dreaded malaria parasite. According to Ghana Health Service (GHS) health facility data, malaria is the number one cause of morbidity, accounting for about 38% of all out...
ABSTRACT Background: Occupational hearing loss is a general term used to describe hearing loss that occurs in work environments. Noise and industrial chemicals such as organic solvents are two main toxic acoustic disturbance and substances that can have adverse effects on the auditory system and consequently induce hearing loss. This is corroborated by experimental studies on both animal and human which confirm ototoxic effects of industrial organic solvents and noise. Worldwide, several indu...
ABSTRACT Background: There is increasing concern about self-medication during pregnancy in many low resource countries. Notwithstanding its adverse impact on pregnancy, in Wa municipality, pregnant women still engaged in the practice of self-medication. The aim of this study was to investigate the perception and practice of self-medication among pregnant women in Wa Municipality. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 3 health centers of Wa Municipality from May to June 2017. S...
ABSTRACT Background: Open air burning of e-waste produces smoke, fumes and toxic gases such as furans, dioxins, brominated flame retardants and metallic dust which are deleterious to human health. High environmental and biological levels of heavy metals have previously been reported among e-waste workers at Agbogbloshie. However, no study has been conducted to investigate the effect of these contaminants on the respiratory function of the e-waste workers. Objective: The primary objective of t...
ABSTRACT Background: Mining activities are a high prevalence of certain diseases compared to nonmining areas as a result of the environmental and social changes that create conditions that favor disease emergence over time. Over the years, most research on gold mining areas in Ghana have been from an economic perspective, with few looking into gold mining-related disease prevalence. This study is aimed to identify new diseases that emerge as a result of mining activities and exposures to haza...