ABSTRACT Globally, children are believed to have strong value especially among African societies. Therefore, the inability to bear children is a stressful situation that affects women socially, and psychologically, and puts them in a serious life crisis. Women with infertility have different experiences which vary from one country to the other including Nigeria, and that determine their psychosocial health. However, little is known about women`s experiences of infertility in Zamfara state. Th...
ABSTRACT Background Globally over 195 million pre-school children are vitamin A deficient, whilst in Ghana, it was estimated that 72 % of pre-school children are vitamin A deficient. Periodic administration of high dose vitamin A capsules is currently used as a prevention strategy, but this requires appropriate healthcare infrastructure and is donor dependent, hence may not be sustainable if donor support is withdrawn. Inadequate dietary intake of vitamin A-rich foods is a major etiological f...
ABSTRACT The peri-urban community of Prampram is characterized by filthy and choked open drains, indiscriminate waste disposal and open defecation. Waste handlers engage in different types of activities such as sweeping, collection, transportation and disposal with little or no personal protection and thus are often confronted with serious public health problems related to their work. The purpose for this study was to assess the different degrees of health risks associated with different acti...
ABSTRACT Background: The availability of skilled care during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period ensures the best chances of delivering a healthy infant with no complication to the mother. Huge disparities in health exist between urban and rural dwellers but recent research has shown that the urban poor sometimes have worse maternal health outcomes than rural dwellers. Community-based interventions have been shown to foster interactions between pregnant women and health care prov...
ABSTRACT Accommodating patients‘ preference for nurses‘ gender in health care is vital in the provision of patient centred care and ensuring patient satisfaction and better health outcome. The study aimed at exploring patients‘ preference for nurses‘ gender in nursing care at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi. Rooted in the Rational Choice Theory, the study adopted and used the qualitative exploratory descriptive design. Participants were recruited using purposive sampling te...
Abstract It has been established that radionuclides accumulates during mining and mineral ore processing, leaching into water bodies and thus increases naturally occuring radioactive materials (NORM) concentration levels. In this work, theoretical and experimental methods have been used to study radionuclides transport and fate in groundwater systems at the Newmont Akyem Goldmine in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Radiation doses from radionuclides in groundwater have been modeled by considering...
ABSTRACT A comprehensive immunological survey of malaria in rural and urban populations in Ghana is reported. Sera from Ghanaians resident in Ghana and Ghanaian students resident in the United Kingdom and Germany, pregnant women, blood donors and from patients with acute malaria, nephrotic syndrome, tropical splenomegaly, Burkitt's lymphoma, schistosomiasis, onchocerciasis and tuberculosis were included. Control sera were obtained from healthy adult Caucasians, Caucasians with connective tiss...
ABSTRACT Introduction: Mother-to-Child-Transmission (MTCT) of HIV is a global health problem. Recent advances in the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) program have provided the means to drastically reduce infant mortality associated with HIV/AIDS. Quality HIV testing and counselling (HTC) is an important gateway to PMTCT services and concerted effort has been made by the National AIDS/STI Control Program (NACP) to scale up the provision of antenatal HTC in Ghana. Some concern...
ABSTRACT It has been shown that disclosure of status to children living with HIV has a beneficial effect on health outcomes in children living with HIV. In most sub-Saharan African nations, however, the prevalence of disclosure remains low, leading to poor compliance or adherence and adverse psychological results in these children. This study explored the disclosure experiences among caregivers of children living with HIV and the influence of disclosure on health outcomes in both children and...
ABSTRACT Introduction: Understanding the determinants and perceptions of overweight (OV) and obesity (OB) using both quantitative and qualitative approaches is important due to their association with other chronic diseases. Objective: To identify the sociodemographic determinants of OV and OB and explore the perceptions of Ghanaian women about OV and OB. Methods: Data on sociodemographic characteristics and anthropometry (weight, height, percent body fat) were collected on 799 biological moth...
ABSTRACT The study explored the experiences of People Living with Epilepsy (PLWE) in the Accra Metropolis. The study aimed at describing the beliefs that PLWE have about the disease, their coping strategies and health outcomes. A descriptive-exploratory design was employed and the Leventhal‘s common sense model was used to guide the study. Participants were purposively sampled and saturation was achieved at the 13th participant. Face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted and data were ...
ABSTRACT Buruli ulcer disease (BU) is a skin disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. Currently, Buruli ulcer has been reported in over 30 countries, the subtropical regions of Asia, in Latin America, in the Western Pacific region and in Eastern and Central Africa. Even though it has been reported in other continents, West Africa is the region most affected. It is one of the neglected tropical diseases and second commonest disease caused by Mycobacterium in Ghana and third globally. Suhum-Kr...
ABSTRACT Postoperative recovery is an integral part of the surgical experience. In Ghana, there is inadequate evidence about postoperative recovery experiences after abdominal surgery. This study explored these experiences using the conceptual framework of operationalisation of postoperative recovery developed by Allvin and others in 2009. An exploratory descriptive qualitative approach was used. Eligible participants aged 18 to 63 years were recruited from Volta Regional Hospital, Ho. There ...
ABSTRACT Having a child is an essential part of every marriage especially in a typical Ghanaian society where children are required for the continuity of lineage. Child adoption provides an alternative for having children and can be used to meet the needs of women who are unable to produce their own children. The purpose of this study was to explore the factors influencing child adoption among women with infertility in the Bawku Municipality. The study was a qualitative research with an explo...
ABSTRACT Background: Knowledge of the nutritional composition of foods is absolutely indispensable for proper diet therapy and dietetic counselling. Cow hide (wele), cow intestines, cow tripe, and cow foot serve as special delicacies in Ghana, but the nutritional composition of these animal products are either missing in the Ghanaian food composition tables or have not been updated for over 40 years. Furthermore, the Ghana food composition tables do not have any information on the fatty acid ...