ABSTRACT Background: The opening of a Bone Marrow Transplant centre at the Greater Accra Regional hospital, the first centre in Ghana, provides an opportunity for caregivers to access the option of Bone Marrow Transplant as a cure to sickle cell disease. Since it is a new service, it is important to estimate how much caregivers are willing to pay for it. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine caregivers’ willingness to pay for Bone Marrow Transplant as a cure to Sickle Cell...
ABSTRACT Background: Growth Monitoring and Promotion (GMP) is a preventive programme that targets the reduction of malnutrition in children in the early periods of their lives. GMP targets the caregiver and family decisions for positive child growth outcomes and has a great potential to contribute to improving child survival if well implemented. For a GMP programme to achieve its intended objective, the following conditions need to be met; proper implementation of GMP activities by skilled he...
ABSTRACT Introduction: In the past two decades, maternal mortality ratio in Ghana has been on the decline but rather at a slow pace. Patronage of skilled birth assistance is still met with skepticism and this brings about gaps in maternity care. Pregnant women still seek care from the informal health sector while evidence suggests that some pregnant women changed their regular antenatal care provider during ANC and delivery. However, factors that influence continuity of care and the reasons ...
ABSTRACT The study sought to assess pre-hospital management of diarrhoea and factors affecting it among caregivers with children under five at the PML Children Hospital in the Greater Accra Region. Diarrhoea remains one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality among children under five at PML Children Hospital despite the undeniable success of interventions such as ORT, appropriate drug therapy, optimal breastfeeding practices over the years. Proper home management can reduce morbid...
ABSTRACT Introduction: Evidence indicates that antenatal care coverage in Ghana is high and encouraging, however gap still exists in the continued use of public health facilities. Many pregnant women seek care from other different sources apart from the formal public health facility. This study sought to examine the knowledge of antenatal care use, to examine the socio – cultural factors that affected the use of Public Health antenatal care services, and also to determine alternative ante...
ABSTRACT Background Many adults with sickle cell disease (SCD) complain of significant exercise intolerance despite the health benefits in exercise. Most children with SCD also miss out on the important benefits of exercise because of unsubstantiated fears that it might be harmful in their condition. Several factors could contribute to exercise limitation in these patients. The six-minute walk test (6MWT) is a standardized test use to measure a person’s exercise tolerance. It is being incr...
ABSTRACT Id: Men's involvement in maternal health is highly recommended as one of the 15 to improve maternal and newborn health. However, there have been challenges in is objective. The aim of this study is therefore to identify the factors affecting men's It in maternal health at the Kpone-Katamanso district so as to inform policy makers on interventions to actively involve men in maternal healthcare. rhe stud y design was a cross sectional survey. S imp Ie random samp ling techniques was l...
ABSTRACT Background: Buruli ulcer (BU) is commonly found in waterlogged areas, and its prevalence is high among farmers, especially rice farmers, illegal miners (galamsey) and children who engage in fishing activities (Huygen et al., 2013). Public health interventions for all diseases including Buruli ulcer, seek to persuade cases to report to the health facility early, as this will potentially reduce the cost of treatment and prevent disabilities. Unfortunately, most BU affected individuals...
ABSTRACT Background: Research involving human participants presents a number of key ethical challenges. In the context of health-related research, it is globally recognized that there is the need to protect human participants from the risks that may be posed by various research activities. These risks may be social, psychological, emotional, and physical. One of the key safeguards to protecting human participants from research-related risks is the role of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) o...
ABSTRACT Religious noise pollution is gradually becoming rampant and a nuisance in most residential areas in Ghana. This study set out to assess the levels of religious noise produced in some selected communities in the Ashaiman Municipality. A Geographical Positioning System (GPS) was used to obtain the coordinates of the churches and mosques and the distances of 50 m, 100 m, 150 m and 200 m away from the churches/mosques. Noise exposure zones were then mapped using ARCGIS 10.1 software an...
ABSTRACT The main aim of this study was to establish patients/family and healthcare practitioners’ perception on palliative care as alternative to dialysis in the treatment of End Stage Kidney Disease (ESKD) in Kumasi Metropolis. A descriptive qualitative with phenomenological overtone research design was used for this study. A purposive sampling technique was used to obtain 17 participants (8 health care practitioners, 6 patients and 3 family members) out of 30 healthcare practitioners and...
ABSTRACT Promoting Clinical Governance among health facilities is critical for healthcare quality improvement. It also ensures transparency, effective risk management and provides educational opportunities for health workers. The main aim of this study was to assess clinical governance and its effect(s) on perceived hospital performance among health workers in Psychiatric hospitals in Ghana. Both qualitative and quantitative research approaches and cross-sectional survey were adopted for the...
ABSTRACT Background: Prevalence of metabolic syndrome in adolescents is increasing in the wake of the obesity epidemic among children and adolescents. There is paucity of data on the prevalence of metabolic syndrome among adolescents in Ghana. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of predictors of metabolic syndrome in adolescents using cost effective noninvasive methods, and its associations with sociodemographic factors and physical activity. Method: A cross sectional stud...
ABSTRACT Introduction: Low back pain (LBP) is a clinical condition which is becoming common among working population worldwide, including, Ghana. However, the lack of data on its prevalence and associated risk factors among EMTs in Ghana limits efforts to mitigate the effects on these group of workers. Objective: This study therefore sought to determine the prevalence and factors associated with low back pain among EMTs in Greater Accra Region. Methods: The study was cross sectional in desig...
ABSTRACT Background: Good nutrition in the early years of life is very crucial for the growth and development of children. Most of the eating and health behaviours developed in the early years of life are likely to persist into adulthood. Food choice is a complex behaviour that is influenced by multiple factors such as environmental, personal and biological factors. Parents, particularly mothers have powerful influence over children’s early food experiences. However, no systematic research...