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 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...
ABSTRACT Background Placental malaria (PM) poses life-threatening complications to pregnant women as they are at increased risk of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Despite several interventions put in place to reduce malaria in pregnancy in Ghana, latest studies in the northern part revealed one out of every two pregnant women delivering in a hospital have PM. The study determined the proportion of women with PM in the Upper West Regional Hospital (UWR) and its associated fa...
ABSTRACT Background: Mercury is commonly used in Artisanal Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) to amalgamate gold. Mercury use in ASGM is a global public health problem, since it is the world’s fastest source of mercury contamination. Mercury is toxic even at low concentration and exposure is of great concern since it is a potent neurotoxicant. Mercury poisoning among small scale gold miners has been observed in many small scale gold mining regions across the world. ASGM is a rapidly growing in...
ABSTRACT Introduction Influenza is a major cause of morbidity and mortality globally especially during pandemics. For this reason countries have set up surveillance systems to continually monitor Influenza like illnesses (ILI) for early detection of outbreaks and rapid response. However, in sub-Saharan Africa, specifically Ghana where medication can be purchased over the counter, it is more likely that people might have taken some antipyretics before reporting to the health facility. This...
ABSTRACT Background: There has been a reduction in HIV and AIDS associated morbidity and mortality since the introduction of antiretroviral therapy. However, in contrast to the developed world, very little is documented about the influence of Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART) on the Quality of Life of HIV patients in developing countries. In Ghana Quality of Life is rarely assessed. This highlights an important gap in the assessment of the health status of HIV and AIDS affected p...
ABSTRACT Introduction: Human Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease of man caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) complex. The rate of decline in incidence of the disease is low due to the emergence of Multi-Drug Resistance tuberculosis (MDR-TB). The numerical contribution of bovine tuberculosis (BTB) to the general tuberculosis burden is unknown. Herdsmen, livestock workers, and veterinarians are at high risk of contracting BTB. There are information about BTB infection in cattle and...
ABSTRACT Background: In 2009, when the UNAIDS called for the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (MTCT) by 2015, Ghana was found to be one of 20 countries accounting for 80% of the global burden of prevention of MTCT (PMTCT). MTCT is the main source of pediatric HIV, accounting for over 90% of cases worldwide. This study contributes to the assessment of Ghana‟s performance towards achieving the elimination of MTCT. The study described the coverage and outcomes of the PMTCT in...
ABSTRACT Background: Tuberculosis (TB) affects persons mostly in their productive lives. Ghana relies on passive case finding strategy to detect TB which has resulted in low case detection. Female rural urban migrants (“Kayayei”) have poor health care seeking habits and prevalence of TB among them is unknown. Kayayei may lack basic knowledge about TB which could contribute to their healthcare seeking behavior resulting in low TB case detection. Objective: To determine PTB prevalence r...
ABSTRACT Background Fasciolosis is one of the most important helminth infection of ruminant livestock and caused by Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica. Clinically, disease is usually characterized by weight loss, anaemia and hypoproteinaemia. Fascioliasis has also been recognized as re-emerging and widespread zoonotic disease affecting millions of people worldwide and many more are at the risk of infestation. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2015 to Ma...
ABSTRACT Background Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) poses a challenge to the health of the populace. Food producing animals (FPA) are major reservoirs for food-borne pathogens, which may be resistant to critically needed antimicrobials in human and veterinary medicine. Contamination of raw meat with Escherichia coli (E. coli) strains may occur during slaughter and sale. The presence of E. coli that have the ability to produce extended spectrum beta lactamase (ESBL), affect treatment outcomes ...
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 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 Introduction An increased number of survivors have emerged from the 2014 West African Ebola Virus Disease outbreak. Fifty percent of survivors have reported a combination of physical and psychological symptoms termed Post-Ebola Syndrome. However, these physical and psychological symptoms reported by survivors during convalescence is not well understood. This is due to the high case fatality rates of previous outbreaks, fewer patients surviving and the existence of limited literatur...