ABSTRACT Background: Promoting the use of contraceptives, particularly in developing countries has been widely noted as an imperative intervention as it has proven to reduce maternal and child mortalities, avert unintended pregnancies and control population explosion. In spite of the enormous benefits of contraceptive use, the uptake still remains low in most developing countries. The objective was to describe the factors influencing modern contraceptive use among reproductive age women in th...
ABSTRACT Background: Adolescents constitute the majority of the world’s population and are faced with sexual and reproductive health (SRH) issues. The inability of young people to access /SRH services is attributed to challenges such as privacy and unconducive environment even at facilities that target them. As a result, the Ghana Health Service, the primary implementer of health activities in the country introduced the You Must Know (YMK) mobile application to provide young people privacy ...
ABSTRACT The widespread use of Insecticide Treated Nets (ITN) has contributed to the reduction in malaria cases highlighting its effectiveness in reducing malaria transmission. With the decline in donor funding in the supply of nets, the focus is being given to the question of how to sustain these successes, particularly the improvement in field durability in LongLasting Insecticidal Nets (LLIN).This study explored household’s perception of the end of useful life of ITNs and practices towar...
ABSTRACT Background: Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women in both high-resource and low-resource countries. According to WHO Global Burden of Disease, 2004, breast cancer accounts for 16% of all female cancers with majority (69%) of breast cancer deaths occurring in developing countries. Although breast cancer incidence rate is said to be increasing worldwide, little is known about the determinants of the disease in Africa and currently, there is no data available on br...
ABSTRACT Background The introduction of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has made HIV/AIDS a chronic disease rather than a deadly one and hence the need for Health Related Quality of Life Assessment (HRQoL). Due to the increase in the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the Greater Accra Region, there has been the need to carry out this study to assess health related quality of life and its determinants among infected persons in the region. Objectives The main objective of the study was to assess factors t...
ABSTRACT Objective: The study is aimed at determining the household treatment cost of breast cancer and the cost coping strategies of patients at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study involving use of the cost of -illness method to estimate the direct, indirect and intangible costs and the cost coping strategies used by patients and their households during breast cancer treatment at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. Data was collected from the breast can...
ABSTRACT From the early 1980s utilization at outpatient services at government health facilities declined considerably, of which the Kintampo Health Centre was a typical example. The main focus of this study was therefore, to find out the factors that influence utilization at the Kintampo Health Centre. The study was descriptive. Questionnaire and available routinely collected data from health institutions were used. Sampling was purposive and adults above 19 years were interviewed. The findi...
ABSTRACT In spite of numerous interventions to improve male involvement in antenatal care, male involvement is still low in Ghana. At the same time, little research has focused on the factors that influence male involvement in antenatal care. This study therefore sought to examine the factors that influence male involvement in antenatal care using the Shai Osudoku as a case study. A total of 302 men, aged 20 and 60 years, who have children aged 5years or below at their last birthday were rand...
ABSTRACT Background: Injectable contraceptives are the most used form of contraception in Ghana. Its introduction was faced with misconceptions, doubt and disbelief. DMPA-IM is the first choice of injectable administered by service providers in health care centres in Ghana. DMPA-SC is a subcutaneous form of injectable that can be self-administered. Socio-cultural values and factors affect patient’s willingness to accept and access self-administered hormonal contraceptives. Objective: The ob...
ABSTRACT Background: Preterm births are the single greatest direct cause of neonatal deaths, responsible for 35% of the world's 3.1 million deaths a year. Preterm deliveries in Ghana is unacceptably higher than that of global estimates. An understanding of the placental morphological characteristics is essential for advancing our knowledge of the cause and mechanisms through which placental characteristics influence preterm births as well as identifying pregnancies at risk of these adverse pe...
ABSTRACT Background: Hysterectomy, the surgical removal of the uterus, is a frequently performed gynaecological surgical procedure worldwide. However, hysterectomy is associated with some complications and in a few instances fatal consequences. A woman after hysterectomy loses her reproductive ability, the ability to menstruate, in addition to a few minor complications and occasional major complications. Setting: This study was done at the department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the Korle...
ABSTRACT Rational use of drugs is one of the major priority issues in health systems worldwide. Analysing prescriptions is fundamental to evaluating rational use of drugs in health facilities. Irrational prescribing in Lawra district is a concern to health care delivery (DDHS personal communication, 2009). Some of the reasons identified include: Inadequate personnel and middle to low level staff such as community health officers, nurses and medical assistants are the main prescribers (DDHS Pe...
ABSTRACT Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) has been well established as the primary cause of cervical squamous intraepithelial lesion/cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and invasive cervical cancer. More than 100 genotypes of HPV have been identified and 40 types are sexually transmitted. Cervical cancer is the fourth most common cancer among women worldwide and about 85% of the cases occur in developing countries. In Ghana, cervical cancer ranks as the first most frequent cancer among w...
ABSTRACT The study was conducted in the Accra Metropolitan Area of the Greater Accra Region. It is the National as well as the Regional Capital. In many developing countries lack of appropriate slaughtering facilities and practices go to affect the end product available for consumption. One abattoir, the Accra Slaughter House in James Town was built about 70 years ago during the colonial rule as a small facility to serve the comparatively small area. It had since not seen any further developm...
ABSTRACT Background: Parent-child communication regarding sexual and reproductive health has the potential to reduce adolescent sexual risk-taking behaviours; yet parents find it difficult to discuss sexual issues with their children. In particular, parents fail to communicate with their adolescent children on sensitive issues of sexuality, like sexual intercourse, condom use, puberty, STIs, and physical development, but rather do so on less sensitive ones such as the effects of HIV. Communic...