ABSTRACT Background Open Defecation remains a very big health and environmental hazard in many developing countries in Africa. About 2.4 billion people globally still lack access to improved sanitation and about 946 million practice open defecation, meanwhile in Ghana 27% of the Ghanaians engage in open defecation due to lack of latrines and many share sanitation facilities leading to prevalence of diseases related to sanitation such as diarrhea, literature reflects gaps in. This study theref...
ABSTRACT Background: Child undernutrition and poor childcare still remain a great concern in Ghana. Maternal employment has increased rapidly due to the demand of increased household income thus giving mothers a double burden of responsibility as income earners and primary child caregivers. These multifaceted roles by mothers could adversely affect the nutritional status and the overall health status of the child. Objective: To assess the relationship between maternal employment, child care a...
ABSTRACT Hypertension is one of the leading causes of cardiovascular diseases and premature mortality in the world. It is also a leading cause of death and disability causing 13.5% of the world’s premature death and 6% disability. Hypertension is commonly seen amongst sedentary workers like bank employees. In Ghana, it is common knowledge that most people are not even aware of their blood pressure, hence their inability to monitor and control it. The purpose of this study was to assess work...
ABSTRACT Introduction: Adolescence has been described as a transitional period between childhood and adulthood and falls within the ages of 10 to 19 years. It is a critical stage of life characterized by rapid biological, emotional and social development. Youth friendly centers were created to offer adolescent/youth friendly services globally. These centers are to be accessible, acceptable, equitable and effective to ensure full patronage by adolescents. This study was to determine adolescent...
ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION: The intended and continued use of contraceptives is critical for attaining individual reproductive health goals and the prevention of unintended births that may be subject to induced abortions. Women who eventually overcome barriers and adopt a contraceptive method, encounter challenges that result in discontinuation, switching, or method failure. The occurrence of discontinuation for reasons other than the desire to conceive or switching to less effective methods, plac...
ABSTRACT Most often, newborns are considered to be a source of joy to the family especially their mothers. However, the survival of these babies depends on the kind of care they receive. Therefore, mothers try as much as possible to provide the best of care for their babies and the cultural beliefs and practices of the mothers play a vital role in shaping child care attitudes. The Theory of Planned Behaviour guided this study to explore indigenous newborn care (INC) practices among primiparou...
ABSTRACT Post-operative pain (POP) is a global phenomenon of concern, associated with Genito-urinary surgeries and has multidimensional effect. The study aimed at exploring the POP experiences of men after urological surgery at Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. The qualitative exploratory-descriptive design was used with twelve (12) participants purposively sampled. One-on-one interviews were conducted with a semi-structured interview guide and audiotaped. The interviews were transcribed verbatim a...
ABSTRACT Background: Ghana grapples with high maternal mortality ratios in spite of interventions to accelerate the reduction of maternal mortality. A substantial number of studies have been done to determine the causes of maternal mortality at the national and institutional levels. In Ghana, fewer studies have addressed the factors associated with maternal deaths. Aim: The aim of the present study was to ascertain the demographic factors and obstetric factors associated with the timing of ma...
ABSTRACT The Buruli ulcer disease is assuming public health importance in many countries apart from Ghana, prompting the establishment of a Global Buruli Ulcer Initiative by the World Health Organization (WHO) in early 1998. The disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans infection has been reported throughout the tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. In Africa, several countries particularly in western, eastern and central parts of the continent have reported cases of the disease. One...
ABSTRACT Background: Cognitive dysfunction, presenting as learning and memory impairment, is a common manifestation in many chronic diseases, including depression, epilepsy and Alzheimer’s disease. It could also be present without any known underlying medical condition. Till date, no drug has shown convincing efficacy in improving learning and memory deficits in these conditions although some medicinal plants are demonstrating promising effects. The aim of the study was to investigate the e...
ABSTRACT Background: Epidemiological transitions characterized by increasing urbanization and changing lifestyle factors have resulted in an increase in the incidence of non-communicable diseases, especially cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in sub-Saharan Africa. The WHO country profile for Ghana shows that 18% of deaths in 2010 were as a result of CVD. In Africa more than 40% (and up to 50%) of adults in many countries are estimated to have high blood pressure. Other risk factors such as obesit...
ABSTRACT In Ghana and other countries of the developing world, men are very influential in deciding whether their partners visit the antenatal clinic (ANC) or not or they deliver in a health facility or not. Generally, there is a high ANC coverage in Offinso and Ghana at large. But as a result of lack of male support during ANC, some pregnant women are not able to deliver at health facilities. This necessitated the conduct of this study to explore the influence of male support during ANC on t...
ABSTACT Having a trained birth attendant at every delivery has been identified as the single most important way of reducing maternal mortality. However most women do not patronise supervised delivery services even where they are available. Among the reasons given for this state of affairs is the high cost of accessing the services. Supervised delivery in this district was estimated at 37% in 1998, which falls below the national figure of 44%. The actual cost to a woman for accessing this serv...
ABSTRACT Background: Viral Haemorrhagic fevers (VHF) are among the important public health emergencies of international concern as defined by the International Health Regulations (2005). They are associated with occurrence of major epidemics with high case-fatality rates. The emergence and re-emergence of VHF is a growing concern worldwide. The recent outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in the sub region exposed many weaknesses in the disease surveillance and response systems in Africa due ...
ABSTRACT This study was intended to find the social and environmental factors that affect the prevalence o f schistosomiasis in two rural communities in the Asuogyaman District. The study was conducted in response to a felt need by the District Health Administration. A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted, using both quantitative and qualitative methods. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire to interview young people aged 10-20 years on their knowledge, attitude and p...