ABSTRACT Lymphatic filariasis (LF) is one of the seven neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as controllable and potentially eliminable with effective interventions. It is a vector borne parasitic infection transmitted by mosquitoes which belong to the Anopheles, Culex, Aedes, Mansonia, Coquillettidia and Ochlerotatus genera. The nematode parasites responsible for causing the disease are Wuchereria bancrofti, Brugia malayi and Brugia timori. Thes...
ABSTRACT Hypertension is a major and preventable risk factor for cardiovascular diseases Khomas region has a hypertension prevalence of 57%, which is the highest in Namibia. Cardiovascular diseases related mortality is the highest among adults in Namibia. No analytical studies have been done to determine risk factors for hypertension in Namibia. We conducted a study to determine lifestyle and socio-demographic factors associated with hypertension in Khomas region. We conducted an un-matched ...
Abstract Undernutrition as a problem in sub-Saharan Africa is a strong indicator of retarded growth, and leads to more than 30% of deaths in children under five annually (Mtambo, Katoma, & Kazembe, 2016). Namibia has almost twice the percentage of moderately undernourished children and three times the percentage of severely undernourished children than what is expected for a country with its level of economic development (Sengupta & Syamala, 2013). Undernutrition is a physical state whereby ...
ABSTRACT Cervical Cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer related deaths in women worldwide. These deaths are unnecessary, as there is evidence that Cervical Cancer is preventable and treatable if detected early and managed effectively. Human Papilloma virus (HPV) is a well-known cause of Cervical Cancer with HPV genotypes 16 and 18 are responsible for 70% of all Cervical Cancer worldwide. However, there are other risk factors. Current estimates indicate that every year 527,624 women a...
ABSTRACT Background: Ghana’s maternal mortality ratio is one of the highest in the world. To achieve significant reduction in maternal mortality there is a need to go beyond analyzing mortality and explore the risk factors of maternal morbidity. Studying severe maternal morbidity enables faster quantitative analysis and makes it possible to obtain in-depth information on the affected woman herself. The research was conducted therefore to determine factors contributing to severe maternal mor...
ABSTRACT Introduction: Livestock production in northern Ghana is vital in the food security and economic development of the people. The development of this sector is hindered by preventable livestock diseases. Outbreaks of Anthrax and other diseases of public health importance have been reported in Northern Region and have become endemic. To date, no comprehensive study has been conducted to know the risk of Anthrax Outbreaks in the region and the region continues to experience persistent unp...
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 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 ...