ABSTRACT Background Perinatal mortality rate (PNMR)in developing countries, particularly sub-saharan Africa and Ghana is unacceptably high. Most perinatal mortalities (PNM) occur among women referred for obstetric complication. Maternity referral system (MRS) challenges limit access to emergency obstetric care (EmOC) needed to prevent maternal and perinatal mortalities. Despite the importance of MRSs, they have been understudies and under researched. This study thus sought to find factors ass...
ABSTRACT Diabetes mellitus (DM) has become one of the most common chronic diseases globally, and it has assumed an epidemic status in the past few decades especially in low and middle income countries. The most frequent form is Type 2 diabetes which represents more than 85% of cases; other forms are Type 1 (10%) and Gestational diabetes (5%). Type 2 diabetes is a progressive disease associated with an increased risk of developing several complications which include; cardiovascular diseases, d...
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...
ABSTRACT Reporting of notifiable diseases is essential for control and prevention of outbreak of diseases. In Nigeria, reporting of Notifiable Diseases by health workers has not been adequately documented. This study was conducted to assess health workers knowledge, practices, and factors influencing disease reporting in urban and rural communities in Oyo State, Nigeria. A cross-sectional survey was carried out among the 210 health workers who were responsible for disease reporting at their h...
ABSTRACT Background: Anaemia is a health problem that is associated with a decrease in the volume of red blood cells as well as reduction in the mean haemoglobin concentration in the blood. Haemoglobin is responsible for carrying oxygen to tissues and organs in the body. Anaemia can be a particularly serious problem for pregnant women, leading to premature delivery and low birth weight. Iron deficiency anaemia is the most common micronutrient deficiency, and anaemia is often described as an ...
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 The World Health Organization (WHO) having recognized Buruli ulcer disease as an important cause of human suffering introduced treatment guidelines of a new protocol of 8-week initial therapy of intramuscular streptomycin and oral rifampicin in 2005. Although there has been some level of success in the treatment of Buruli ulcer with this new antibiotic protocol, some patients do not respond favourably as expected. Also, the response to chemotherapy of BU lesions including large ulcer...
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 Background: In Africa, infectious diseases continue to be a major health problem because many of the national surveillance systems have scarce resources at their disposal and struggle to ensure timely detection or an effective response to disease outbreaks. To address this issue, in 1998 the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa approved the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) strategy for strengthening infectious disease surveillance and response capac...
ABSTRACT Background: Hepatitis is a disease defined by the inflammation of the liver and it is characterized by the existence of inflammatory cells in the tissues of the liver leading to fibrosis or cirrhosis. Viral hepatitis has become a global public health threat affecting millions of people yearly, causing disability and mortality. There are an estimated five hundred million people who are chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) or Hepatitis C virus (HCV). Reliable data is requi...
ABSTRACT Introduction Hyperbilirubinemia (jaundice) is the yellowish coloration of the skin, sclera of the eyes and the mucosa due to excess bilirubin in the blood. All age groups are susceptible to jaundice, but neonates are particularly at risk. Annually, neonatal jaundice affects about 60% of the 130 million babies born worldwide. Severe Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia (SNHB) and Chronic Bilirubin Encephalopathy (CBE) are complications with neonatal jaundice that can have fatal outcome. About ...
ABSTRACT This study aims to find out factors associated with antimalarial drug resistance in some selected areas in Ibadan.
ABSTRACT Microsoft Abigail Brago Ofosuhene1, 2,, Kenu1, E Afari1, F. Wurapa1, S. O. Sackey1, D. Ameme1, P. Nortey1. F. Anto1 1Ghana Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Legon. 2Ghana Health Service, Accra, Ghana. Background: World Health Organization (WHO) define hypertension as a systolic blood pressure (BP) equal or above 140mmHg and/or diastolic BP equal to or above 90mmHg. Hypertension is a dominant risk factor of cardiov...
ABSTRACT Background: Despite reducing from 451 in 2007 to 350 in 2010 per 100,000 live births, Ghana has a high maternal mortality rate. NMCP target for IPTp2 is 80%, Ghana‟s coverage was 64.4% in 2011.This contrasts with 84.7% ANC attendance coverage for at least 4 visits. Northern Regional IPTp2 coverage is lower than the national average at 51.2%. In Gushegu 44% registered pregnant women received IPTp2 in 2013. Low IPTP coverage is a threat to reducing malaria incidence and maternal mort...
ABSTRACT HIV/AIDS is one of the most challenging pandemic globally. More than two-thirds of adults infected with HIV live in Sub-Saharan Africa. Adherence to Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) is a key factor that determines the success or failure of treatment, while non-adherence is a major cause of HIV drug resistance and subsequent immunological and clinical failure. Social support is a significant resource for individuals undergoing stress, and has been found to improve adherence among patie...