ABSTRACT Background: Breastfeeding has been established as the gold standard of infant feeding, and exclusive breastfeeding is recommended for the first six months of a child’s life. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) less than 40% of children globally are exclusively breastfed up to six months. The practice of exclusive breastfeeding in Ghana is estimated at 52% and that of professional working mothers is about 10.3%. This study therefore sought to find out the support prof...
ABSTRACT Background: Tuberculosis has become a global burden and of public health importance. Health care workers in developing countries are highly susceptible to workplace associated TB infection due to the long hours spent with patients who have undiagnosed or untreated TB cases, poor infection control measures and poor isolation of TB cases in health care facilities. Objective: To assess the implementation of tuberculosis infection control measures among health care workers at the Great...
ABSTRACT Rapid diagnostic tests for malaria (RDTs) carry the hope that malaria treatment can be prompt, accurate and cost-effective. However, malaria rapid tests can achieve this goal only if they give accurate results comparable to those recommended by World Health Organization, and if health workers apply treatment according to test results. The study evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of malaria rapid tests in routine field settings and the implications for the test-based management of ma...
ABSTRACT Background: Good nutrition in the formative years is very important for optimal growth and development of children. Feeding practices in the early stages of a child’s life are very critical as they set the pace for good growth if done optimally and could also affect the child negatively all through life if done sub-optimally. Feeding practices are variables of a child that are determined by a number of factors including; exclusive breastfeeding, timing of introduction of solid fo...
ABSTRACT Background: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a chronic genetic blood disorder common among people of African descent. The disease places nutritional burden among affected individuals which affect their nutritional status. The aim of the study was to determine the dietary intake and nutritional status of children with sickle cell disease and determine the associations of severity of illness with dietary intake and nutritional status. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was carried out ...
ABSTRACT Family planning is a useful strategy to improve quality of life and help people to alleviate poverty. The need for partners to agree on the type of method to use, is critical in achieving this goal. A simple, cost-effective, low risk and easy to use method is the Standard Days Method (SDM) of Natural Family Planning. However, this method is least practised in the Lawra Municipality of the Upper West Region of Ghana. This study examined the determinants of the use of the Standard Da...
ABSTRACT Community participation in health is seen as a very effective but challenging implementation approach to health service delivery and has been of great interest among health care policy planners and implementers. It is a system approach that aims at enhancing accessibility and the utilization of health services at the community level. Whilst the beginning of the idea and conceptual development of community participation are fundamentally attributed to large multinational health inst...
ABSTRACT Nurses have legal and professional responsibilities toward patients to promote a high standard of care. However, in the course of performing the duty of care owed to the patient, omissions and breaches may result. Nurses ought to have the requisite knowledge about the legal responsibilities to ensure adherence to professional standards. This study sought to assess the perception of nurses about their legal duti...
ABSTRACT Xylopic acid (XA), the major constituent of the fruit of Xylopia aethiopica has shown several pharmacological properties. Consequently, the fruit is being used in the preparation of food. Traditionally, the plant is used to treat several diseases and it has been formulated into a nasal drop despite the lack of information about its safety, food-drug interaction, and other pharmacokinetic properties. Therefore, this study investigated the antiplasmodial effect of XA on P. falciparum, ...
ABSTRACT Although nursing education has evolved over the years to better prepare nurses for quality nursing care, the standards of nursing care is still dwindling in Ghana. Studies have shown that improving the quality of nursing care will require the application of the nursing process in patient care. The Nursing Process is a systematic scientific approach to direct nurses in caring for patients effectively. This study sought to explore the application of the nursing process and the qualit...
ABSTRACT Background: Access and utilization to skilled delivery care is key and critical to lessening maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. The Akatsi South District of the Volta Region continue to experience stunted improvement in the utilization of skilled delivery with average coverage of 40% as against 65% national estimate. The main aim of the study was to determine the factors related to the utilization of skilled delivery services in the Akatsi South District of the Volta Reg...
ABSTRACT Stress is the body's way of responding to any form of demand placed on it. Job stress is experienced in relation to the day-to-day work required of nurses. Examination of stress is necessary because work stress is associated with fair or poor physical and mental health as well as a reduction in overall performance levels. This study was carried out to assess the prevalence of stress among nurses, identify the facility related factors contributing to stress and the coping mechanisms a...
ABSTRACT Many disease conditions have either lingered or resulted in death largely because drugs have been irrationally used in their management or treatment in developing countries. Malaria is one of such diseases which have featured in numerous mortality reviews especially in Ghana in the most vulnerable population, children. This study sought to assess how drugs are rationally used in the treatment of Malaria. It also sought to identify the types of anti-malarials used in the management of...
ABSTRACT Background Globally, anaemia remains a severe public health concern among women of reproductive ages including pregnant women in developing countries like Liberia. Anaemia can be attributed to nutritional deficiency resulting from factors such as inadequate or poor dietary intake, food insecurity, infections. Poor dietary diversity also leads to increased micronutrient deficiencies. Nevertheless, there is limited documentation of anaemia prevalence and dietary diversity among pregnan...
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 heaviest burden of malaria cases. Global demands for natural resources is fueling land use, saddled with unsatisfactory environmental burden in developing countries. We condu...