ABSTRACT Patient safety culture is a fundamental determinant of patient safety. Keeping patients safe ensures the wellbeing of the citizenry which translates into economic productivity. Infrastructural and human resource deficit in Africa and Ghana calls for more attention in the area of patient safety culture. As part of getting better outcomes for patients, the Ghana Health Service patient chatter was developed to guide both patients and health workers to achieve good patient care outcomes....
ABSTRACT Background: The National Health Insurance Scheme is a financial arrangement that enable citizens of Ghana to access health care service without having to pay at the point of service delivery. This somehow ensures an improvement in the quality of basic health rendered to the people. Health insurance schemes are thus seen as viable alternatives in providing more sustainable and equitable health delivery system in countries. To improve fairness in the provision of health care and provid...
ABSTRACT Background: Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) for the first six months after birth has been recommended by the WHO as the best infant feeding strategy. Despite this, studies carried out in Ghana among singletons indicate low EBF rates. Data on EBF rates among twin infants in Ghana remain limited and the EBF rate among twins is hypothesized to be low. Objectives: The study sought to identify factors associated with EBF among Ghanaian infants particularly, twins. The duration of EBF among ...
ABSTRACT Unsuccessful attempts at securing NHIS accreditation do not prevent a facility from providing services to the general public. Knowledge on how well these facilities perform during the accreditation process is therefore needed to inform policy on improving quality of healthcare delivery. The study was a cross sectional quantitative review of NHIS accreditation data on all private health care providers who applied to the NHIA for accreditation from July 2009 to July 2012, with the purp...
A B S T R A C T Reduction of infant and maternal mortality is a part of the WHO/UNICEF goals set in 1991 to be achieved by the year 2000. Maternal and infant mortality can be reduced by ensuring favourable outcome of pregnancy. This study sought to assess the effects of nutrition and health habits of pregnant women on pregnancy outcome. A total of 502 pregnant women attending ante-natal clinics in the Greater Accra region participated in an epidemiological study, which involved a study of foo...
ABSTRACT The objective of the study was to investigate the factors that influence mothers’ utilization of health services for supervised delivery in the Lower Manya Krobo District. A cross-sectional study was made. The study involved the administration of structured questionnaires to collect information from 350 women with children under one year in the Lower Manya Krobo district. In-depth interviews were carried out with service managers (Midwives) and community leaders. A combined multi-s...
ABSTRACT Expanded Programme on Immunisation is one of the health intervention that holdout the prospect of reducing infant and childhood mortality in developing countries. In Ghana efforts are being made to folly immunise all children against the six childhood killer diseases. Unfortunately access to and utilisation of the services by the children remains poor in many districts. The Ashanti Akim North district for instance recorded dropout rate of 29% in 1999. This dropout rate is unacceptabl...
ABSTRACT Tuberculosis threatens public health all over the world and affects persons mostly in their productive lives. The proportion of cases with successful treatment outcome is a key indicator to assess the effectiveness and performance of any Tuberculosis Control Programme. Effective treatment is a major element in reducing the transmission of infection and ultimately achieving elimination of the disease. The study was conducted to determine factors associated with treatment outcome and t...
ABSTRACT Background: Promoting the use of contraceptives, particularly in developing countries has been widely noted as an imperative intervention as it has proven to reduce maternal and child mortalities, avert unintended pregnancies and control population explosion. In spite of the enormous benefits of contraceptive use, the uptake still remains low in most developing countries. The objective was to describe the factors influencing modern contraceptive use among reproductive age women in th...
ABSTRACT Background: Adolescents constitute the majority of the world’s population and are faced with sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues. The inability of young people to access /SRH services is attributed to challenges such as privacy and unconducive environment even at facilities that target them. As a result, the Ghana Health Service, the primary implementer of health activities in the country introduced the You Must Know (YMK) mobile application to provide young people privacy ...
ABSTRACT The widespread use of Insecticide Treated Nets (ITN) has contributed to the reduction in malaria cases highlighting its effectiveness in reducing malaria transmission. With the decline in donor funding in the supply of nets, the focus is being given to the question of how to sustain these successes, particularly the improvement in field durability in LongLasting Insecticidal Nets (LLIN).This study explored household’s perception of the end of useful life of ITNs and practices towar...
ABSTRACT Background: Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women in both high-resource and low-resource countries. According to WHO Global Burden of Disease, 2004, breast cancer accounts for 16% of all female cancers with majority (69%) of breast cancer deaths occurring in developing countries. Although breast cancer incidence rate is said to be increasing worldwide, little is known about the determinants of the disease in Africa and currently, there is no data available on br...
ABSTRACT Four hundred and twenty-four consecutive umbilical cords of babies delivered at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital were studied along side some birth variables. This research was to first of all, find whether there were any possible correlations between any pair of variables. Secondly, whether any variant of the cord could have any clinical significance. The umbilical cord measurements were made using a tape measure and the results statistically analysed using the Statistical Package for...
ABSTRACT Background The introduction of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has made HIV/AIDS a chronic disease rather than a deadly one and hence the need for Health Related Quality of Life Assessment (HRQoL). Due to the increase in the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the Greater Accra Region, there has been the need to carry out this study to assess health related quality of life and its determinants among infected persons in the region. Objectives The main objective of the study was to assess factors t...
ABSTRACT The purpose of the study is to explore and record experiences of mothers who lost their babies during delivery. Fourteen mothers in the Accra Metropolis were recruited, through purposive sampling, interviewed in English, Ga or Akan languages, using a semistructured interview guide and analysed through content analysis. News of stillbirth and observing the dead babies is a painful experience for mothers; they mourn in unique ways based on their faith and or beliefs. Mourning in excess...