ABSTRACT Background: Malaria remains a major cause of illness and death globally especially in malaria endemic countries. With substantial increase in funding for malaria control programs, countries in Sub Sahara Africa scaled up delivery of insecticide treated bed nets to households, increasing number of households owning ITNs and expectation of reduced malaria. ITN was identified as a verified useful and cost-effective tool for malaria prevention through consistently use by beneficiaries. H...
ABSTRACT Background: Mental illnesses attract a lot of stigma. However schizophrenia is one of the most stigmatized mental conditions because of its perceived dangerousness and unpredictability. The stigma experienced by persons with schizophrenia can hinder help-seeking behaviours further exacerbating their condition. It is therefore important to find out the experiences of stigma among the family and persons with schizophrenia in order to come up with intervention to stop such behaviours in...
ABSTRACT Introduction: Preterm births are deliveries that occur before 37 completed gestational weeks with its lower cut off limit of viability varying based on the geographic location. Preterm births may be as a consequence of obstetric interventions from fetal or maternal indications or spontaneous preterm labor with no apparent precursors. This study sought to determine the outcomes of preterm infants managed at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) and the fac...
ABSTRACT Stroke remains the leading cause of serious, long-term neurologic impairment and functional disability. Stroke affects the quality of life of its survivors. This study seeks to determine factors influencing the quality of life of stroke patients in order to promote maximal health related quality of life (HRQOL) improvements in these patients. The objective of the study is to determine the factors influencing the quality of life of stroke patients attending Tema General Hospital This ...
ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is known to result in 700,000 deaths each year worldwide, mostly in low and middle income countries. Currently, Ghana faces a double disease burden from communicable and non-communicable diseases, coupled with poor monitoring of antibiotic use and weak regulatory systems. There is also a lack of capacity to link results of laboratory diagnostic tests to sale of medicines as well as uncontrolled veterinary use of antibiotics, compounding the ...
ABSTRACT Malaria and anaemia continues to be a burden in the Hohoe Municipality of the Volta region of Ghana. In 2006, two cross- sectional studies were carried out in thirty communities among children under five years in the municipality in June and November to determine the prevalence of malaria and anaemia. This formed the baseline malaria and anemia prevalence in the municipality. After this study, insecticide treated nets (ITNs) and Artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACTs) were intro...
ABSTRACT Background: Adolescents are experiencing early maturity and are therefore engaging in early sexual initiation; which exposes them to negative outcomes such as unintended pregnancy, unsafe abortions, STIs, among others. Identifying the drivers of early intercourse among adolescent is key in developing interventions targeting adolescent sexual and reproductive health. Objective: This study examined factors influencing early sexual initiation among adolescents aged 15 to 19 years in Gha...
ABSTRACT Background: The commonest occurring cancer among women worldwide is breast cancer. In addition, it is the principal cause of mortalities in women resulting from cancer (O’Mahony et al, 2013). Statistics show that one out of nine women, will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime (Torre et al, 2015). There is 95% survival rate if the disease is detected early (Seer, 2008). Early detection can be achieved through the adoption of screening practices (Tavafian et al, 2009). ...
ABSTRACT Introduction: Adolescent pregnancies are high risk obstetric occurrences. Antenatal care (ANC) provides opportunities to recognize and treat obstetric complications, enhancing the pregnancy outcomes for mothers and babies. Objective: The purpose of the study is to identify factors influencing adolescents' utilization of ANC services in Amenfi West. Methods: A quantitative, cross-sectional, descriptive research design was adopted, using structured questionnaire to collect data. Purpos...
ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Malaria remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in malaria endemic countries. About 3.2 billion people, nearly half of the world's population are at risk of malaria but children under five years of age and pregnant women are at higher risk of severe illness due to lowered immunity. In Ghana, Malaria tops Out Patients Department (OPD) reported cases. According to Ghana Health Service (GHS) reports malaria kills 3 children every day and accounted for about 38.1 % ...
ABSTRACT It is very important to assess adherence to ARTs to understand why treatment fail. However, measurement of adherence especially in the clinic setting is very difficult as there is no single method that best measures it. The main objective of this study was to measure adherence to ART among HIV patients (PLWHA) at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH) using, pill counts and Self-report and also to identify factors that contributes to optimal adherence. The design was a cross sectional...
ABSTRACT Background: Male involvement in reproductive health and family planning intervention is key for successful outcome; however, most family planning programmes have been mainly women centered. Meanwhile, males are also key decision makers in the African setting. This study assessed the level of knowledge of males in postpartum family planning, determined the proportion of males involved in postpartum family and determined the factors that were associated with male involvement in postpar...
Abstract Background: Data required to estimate cause of death, disease, and death pattern are rare in sub-Saharan Africa. These data are vital for targeting, monitoring, and evaluating health interventions. Objective: To determine the cause of death of children under five years in the Nutrition Links Study, implemented in the Upper Manya Krobo District in the Eastern region of Ghana . Design: Data used were generated from verbal autopsy interviews conducted for key informants related to 30 ch...
ABSTRACT One of the components of the Primary Health Care concept is the provision of essential drugs. Drugs form an important part of any health care delivery system to the extent that most people in Ghana associate the quality of care to the availability of drugs. To help improve the quality of care provided by the Ministry of Health(MOH) facilities in the district, Dormaa District Health Management Team(DHMT) established a District Medical Stores(DMS) in 1996. The study was carried out to ...
ABSTRACT Introduction: Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Ghana ranks second in the prevalence of glaucoma globally. Glaucoma poses a considerable economic burden on its patients since victims have to be on treatment for the rest of their lives. The cost of managing glaucoma increases as the disease progresses. Only few studies have been conducted to estimate the cost of managing glaucoma. This study therefore aims to determine the economic burden of glaucoma o...