ABSTRACT Background: Every cell in the body depends on the thyroid hormones for regulation of their metabolism. About 5-10% of thyroid nodules are suggested to be malignant. Many philosophies explain myoma growth through different pathways and most make mention of estrogen as a contributor. Estrogen is known to have influence on thyroid function, and suspected to have a role in formation of thyroid nodules. Estrogen receptors have been found in normal and neoplastic thyroid tissue and have in...
ABSTRACT Background: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a common haemoglobinopathy that is acquired by inheriting the defective gene from both parents. In recent years, it has become an important public health issue among people of African descent especially those in Sub-Saharan Africa. In Ghana, SCD occurs in almost 1 in 50 (2%) of all births annually. The disease is characterised by chronic haemolytic anaemia, vaso-occlusion and inflammation. These events increase the resting energy expenditure o...
ABSTRACT Background: Type II Diabetes (T2D) has been on the rise in recent times all over the world with the worst upsurge occurring in developing countries. In developing countries such as Ghana about half of diabetics are undiagnosed. This high number is found to be associated with the poor utilization of health services which is key in detecting hidden diseases. Health seeking behaviour is found to be directly associated with incidence and prevalence of diseases such that it ensures early ...
ABSTRACT Introduction: Yellow fever is a viral hemorrhagic fever transmitted primarily by the Aedes aegyptii mosquito and is characterized mainly by fever and jaundice. It is endemic in Africa and South America. The possibility of eradicating yellow fever is quite remote but a drastic of disease burden can be attained through vaccination of populations living in or visiting places considered to be high-risk areas in endemic countries. The WHO surveillance case definition for a suspected...
ABSTRACT Introduction The Millennium Development Goal targets for sanitation seems unachievable by the 2015 deadline. Therefore, the 2010-2015 Joint Monitoring Programme strategy requires sustainable and continued efforts at all levels to improve this. However, there are data challenges and limitations from existing Monitoring and Evaluation (M & E) survey tools. In most developing countries such as Ghana, data collection is traditional paper based. However, mobile phone use and access is hig...
ABSTRACT Background: Ghana’s increased use of technology has resulted in massive generation of electronic wastes in the country. These wastes contain toxic chemicals which are injurious to human health, yet there is only little information on how these wastes are managed at the informal level in the country. This study, therefore, investigated the informal level e-waste processing activities at Agbogbloshie and described its associated working conditions. Methods: The study used a descripti...
ABSRACT Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) has been identified to be a leading cause of early death among People Living with HIV (PLHIV) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and HIV has emerged as one of the key factors hindering global TB control. In SSA, although there are many HIV/TB intervention programmes, structural, contextual and individual factors prevent targets from being met. In Ghana, collaborative HIV/TB services have been incorporated into health services since 2007. However, targets are n...
ABSTRACT Introduction Onchocerciasis is one of the debilitating neglected tropical diseases that manifests in blindness at later stages. Ivermectin has been proven to clear microfilariae and is therefore being distributed in endemic communities. Adherence to ivermectin treatment is a major challenge in the implementation of the community directed treatment strategy. Some individuals do not adhere to the bi-annual treatment accounting for the continuity of onchocerciasis transmission. Objectiv...
ABSTRACT Caring for children who live with epilepsy can be very demanding, difficult and stressful burden for parents. Caregiver crisis and coping strategies adopted by parents of children living with epilepsy was explored to ascertain the crisis parents faced, the meaning they ascribed to epilepsy and caregiving and the resources at their disposal using the ABC-X family stress model as a guiding framework. A qualitative descriptive-exploratory approach was adopted for the study. Participants...
ABSTRACT Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) have become major players in Community Development Agenda and perform intermediary roles between donors and intended beneficiaries. Unfortunately, highly publicized corruption scandals are discovered in literature often associated with the activities of NGOs especially in developing countries. To sanitize the aid delivery chain, NGOs are required to be accountable to donors (upward accountability) and beneficiaries (downward accountability). Howe...
ABSTRACT Background: Malaria remains a significant source of morbidity and mortality in Ghana. The AngloGold Ashanti mining company in Obuasi in the Ashanti Region of Ghana concerned about the threats malaria poses to its operations instituted a comprehensive malaria control programme including Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) in 2006. This district wide intervention against malaria needs to be evaluated and this report presents such analysis of the effect of the intervention on malaria parasit...
ABSTRACT Background: Benign prostatic hyperplasia is a well-known and commonly diagnosed urological condition in the aging male population, which affects over 50% of men in their 60s and increased to 90% by the age of 85 years. The condition is normally accompanied by lower urinary tract symptoms that impacts negatively on the quality of life. Upon all the problems that BPH cause in the life of men, the exact aetiology is unknown. Several mechanism have been mentioned that contribute to the p...
ABSTRACT Background: The 21st century has witnessed more efficacious and effective health interventions than ever, yet the proportion of effective coverage of these interventions remain poor. The interconnectedness of the health system is central for an effective delivery of interventions. Delivering malaria interventions to achieve desired health system effectiveness has remained a challenge without the understanding of the contribution of each building block indicator to effectiveness. Effi...
ABSTRACT Decentralisation is extensively adopted as a mechanism to perk up democratic procedure of governance and the integrity and competence of scarce resource allotment. While the objectives and the key principles of decentralisation such as subsidiarity are illustrious, attempts to execute them have not always been flourishing. This study aimed at empirically evaluating the link between decentralisation and environmental sustainability in the Obuasi Municipality of Ghana. The study adopte...
ABSTRACT Cassava bagasse and its extracted cellulose fibres have seen frequent application mostly in the packaging industry as reinforcement material in plastic composites development. However, the material properties such as the mechanical properties of the single elementary cassava cellulose fibres have not been examined and reviewed literature does not show its potential use in the development of tissue engineering scaffolds for cell culture. The study, therefore, characterized the mechani...