ABSTRACT Introduction Smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB+) remains the main contributor of total TB burden in Ghana. One untreated PTB+ patient can transmit infection to up to 15 persons in a year. However, the average duration between onset of symptoms and the initiation of TB treatment is unknown in the region though necessary to be targeted and reduced in an effort to reduce transmission of TB in our health facilities and community. The study evaluated the timeliness and factors th...
ABSTRACT Background: Worldwide an estimated four million babies die in the first 4 weeks of life (the neonatal period), however almost all of these deaths (99%) occur in low- and middle-income countries, and about half of the deaths occur at home(Lawn, Osrin, Adler, & Cousens, 2008). Neonatal mortality contributes to 60% of the under-five mortality in Brong Ahafo. It is among the regions in Ghana with the highest under-five mortality rate. According to the demographic and health survey repor...
ABSTRACT Background: Multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has not been given the necessary attention in Africa and particularly Ghana where incidence of TB and risk factors are high. Nearly 600,000 new MDR/RR-TB clients with 240 000 deaths reported worldwide. Regionally, Africa accounted for 25% of the reported clients. However, Ghana reported a total of 528 MDR-TB with 63 (10.3%) deaths from 2012 to 2018. Of these cases, 44 (13.6%) were reported in Brong Ahafo Region over the same perio...
ABSTRACT Background: Hepatitis B virus and HIV infections are endemic in sub-Saharan Africa where 22.9 million individuals are estimated to be infected with HIV and nearly 50 million people are chronic HBV carriers. Due to similar routes of transmission, co-infections with the two viruses are common. Hepatitis B being severely infectious and found in HIV-positive patients, could pose more serious health problems. In Ghana, the prevalence of HBV infection is estimated at 15% of the adult popul...
ABSTRACT Introduction: Low birth weight is the weight of the newborn measured immediately after birth and is less than 2500 grams. The global prevalence of LBW is 15.5 percent, which amounts to about 20 million LBW infants born each year. A high proportion (96.5%) of LBW babies are born in developing countries (Wardlaw, T., Blanc, A., Zupan, J., & Ahman, E. 2005). In Ghana, the recent incidence of LBW infants was estimated at 160 per 1000 births and has not witnessed any reduction in the last...
ABSTRACT Background: Pneumonia kills more children under-five than AIDS, malaria and measles combined and yet has received far less attention. Each year, more than two million children under-five die of pneumonia in the developing world, compared to an estimated 800,000 children who die from malaria and around 300,000 children under-five who die from AIDS. In Ghana, pneumonia is one of the leading causes of death of under-five mortality and morbidity. Most mothers or care givers do not recogn...
ABSTRACT Background: Childhood overweight and obesity is being noted as a serious public health concern and contributes to 2.6 million deaths globally. Overweight and obesity once established in infancy persist through childhood and adulthood leading to an increase in the risk of Non-communicable diseases. The study was conducted to determine and compare the prevalence and factors associated with overweight and obesity among private and public primary school children in the Sekondi-Takoradi M...
ABSTRACT Introduction: More than ever, the use of complementary and alternative medicine for the management of diabetes mellitus has become a major public health challenge. Globally, the prevalence of this practice varies from 17% to 72.8%. Even though it is common practice among diabetes mellitus patients in Ghana also, its local prevalence is unknown. However, the use of CAM among persons living with diabetes mellitus is known to be associated with some sociodemographic factors, the severit...
ABSTRACT Background Malaria in pregnancy is a public health problem especially in sub-Saharan Africa. “Intermittent Preventive Treatment in pregnancy using Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine” (IPTpSP) is one of the proven interventions for preventing malaria in pregnancy. The WHO policy on IPTp-SP recommends a universal coverage of four or more doses per pregnancy. However, in 2014, only 17% of eligible pregnant women received three or more doses of IPTp-SP in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana. Mala...
ABSTRACT Background Challenges associated with early diagnosis of Buruli ulcer disease (BUD), an infection caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans (M. ulcerans) is a major setback in public health and disease control. Lack of simple, convenient, rapid and sensitive diagnostic procedures, readily available to rural endemic communities has hampered control efforts. Improving the sensitivity of simple diagnostic methods such as microscopy for AFB detection constitutes a crucial effort in this directi...
ABSTRACT Introduction Contraceptive uptake can accelerate the achievement of not only the four Millennium Developments Goals( MDGs) that are directly related to reproductive health, but can also help in the elimination of poverty and hunger as well as environmental sustainability. Despite these benefits, modern contraceptive uptake among reproductive women, in Ghana is still below the national target of 51 %. The Northern Region has one of the lowest contraceptive uptake in the country over ...
ABSTRACT Introduction Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is one of the leading infectious killers worldwide. An estimated 34.2 million people worldwide were living with HIV in 2011 with about 60% of the HIV infections occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Testing to know an individual‟s HIV status is a key intervention to the prevention and early management of cases. These notwithstanding, an estimated 50% of persons living with the virus have not tested for HIV. The introduction of rapid HIV test k...
ABSTRACT Background: Malaria remains a leading public health problem in about 97 nations worldwide. Throughout the world, about 214 million new malaria cases are reported every year and over three billion persons are at risk of malaria. Approximately 90% of all malaria deaths occur in Africa. Africa continues to shoulder the heaviest burden of malaria cases. Global demands for natural resources is fueling land use, saddled with unsatisfactory environmental burden in developing countries. We ...
ABSTRACT Introduction: Effective case management involving prompt parasitological diagnosis and treatment with Artemisinin-based Combination Therapy (ACT) has been recognized as the cornerstone of malaria control strategies. Despite Ghana‟s adoption of these recommendations, malaria accounts for 66 % of all OPD cases in Tolon District which is higher than the regional average. This puts doubts in malaria diagnosis and treatment practice. This study therefore sought to assess malaria diagnos...
ABSTRACT The recently observed decrease in cases of malaria achieved through the effective management and control of the disease has been a motivation to strive towards attaining the millennium goal of elimination and eradication of the disease. Asymptomatic infections also referred to as the parasite 'reservoir hosts' which could be microscopic or submicroscopic infections has been implicated in malaria transmission and therefore has become a targeted parasite population for malaria eliminat...