ABSTRACT Background: Tuberculosis has become a global burden and of public health importance. Health care workers in developing countries are highly susceptible to workplace associated TB infection due to the long hours spent with patients who have undiagnosed or untreated TB cases, poor infection control measures and poor isolation of TB cases in health care facilities. Objective: To assess the implementation of tuberculosis infection control measures among health care workers at the Great...
ABSTRACT Rapid diagnostic tests for malaria (RDTs) carry the hope that malaria treatment can be prompt, accurate and cost-effective. However, malaria rapid tests can achieve this goal only if they give accurate results comparable to those recommended by World Health Organization, and if health workers apply treatment according to test results. The study evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of malaria rapid tests in routine field settings and the implications for the test-based management of ma...
ABSTRACT Background: Good nutrition in the formative years is very important for optimal growth and development of children. Feeding practices in the early stages of a child’s life are very critical as they set the pace for good growth if done optimally and could also affect the child negatively all through life if done sub-optimally. Feeding practices are variables of a child that are determined by a number of factors including; exclusive breastfeeding, timing of introduction of solid fo...
ABSTRACT Community participation in health is seen as a very effective but challenging implementation approach to health service delivery and has been of great interest among health care policy planners and implementers. It is a system approach that aims at enhancing accessibility and the utilization of health services at the community level. Whilst the beginning of the idea and conceptual development of community participation are fundamentally attributed to large multinational health inst...
ABSTRACT Background: Access and utilization to skilled delivery care is key and critical to lessening maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality. The Akatsi South District of the Volta Region continue to experience stunted improvement in the utilization of skilled delivery with average coverage of 40% as against 65% national estimate. The main aim of the study was to determine the factors related to the utilization of skilled delivery services in the Akatsi South District of the Volta Reg...
ABSTRACT Many disease conditions have either lingered or resulted in death largely because drugs have been irrationally used in their management or treatment in developing countries. Malaria is one of such diseases which have featured in numerous mortality reviews especially in Ghana in the most vulnerable population, children. This study sought to assess how drugs are rationally used in the treatment of Malaria. It also sought to identify the types of anti-malarials used in the management of...
ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Morinda citrifolia Linn (Noni), a shrub originating in tropical Asia or Polynesia, has been extensively used in folk medicine and has been reported to have a broad range of health benefits including combating cancer, infection, arthritis, diabetes, asthma, hypertension and pain. Noni juice has also been proven to have a high antioxidant activity. The use of Noni is fast gaining grounds in Ghana. Fertility in humans is very important as it ensures the continuous existence o...
ABSTRACT Stigma complicates the prevention and control of HIV worldwide as it adversely affects the care seeking practices among People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). In Nigeria HIV stigmarelated practices experienced by PLWHA have not been adequately investigated. This study therefore focused on HIV-related stigma, discrimination and coping mechanisms among PLWHA receiving treatment at the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, Nigeria. The study was a cross-sectional survey. Systematic r...
Abstract Background: Interest in the reproductive health of adolescents continues to grow throughout the world. Few studies had explored the reproductive health knowledge, sexual behavior and experience of sexual coercion among secondary school students in North Eastern states of Nigeria. The objectives of this descriptive survey were to collect data to plan appropriate interventions that meet the reproductive health knowledge, service and skills needs of students in Bauchi, Borno and Gombe s...
ABSTRACT Many women lose their lives annually during childbirth and a high proportion of the deaths happen in Sub Saharan Africa. Consequently, maternal mortality remains a pressing issue and poor person- centered maternity care contributes both directly and indirectly to it. Personcentered Maternity Care (PCMC) is defined as maternity care that is deferential and responsive to the needs, values and preferences of prospective mothers. Growing evidence suggests that quality of maternal care re...
ABSTRACT Background: HIV/AIDS was discovered as far back as 1981; however, a cure for it is yet to be found. The only remedy currently is to manage using Antiretroviral Therapy (ART). Standard ART consists of the combination antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to suppress the HIV virus and stop the progression of HIV disease. ART can limit transmission of HIV. Non-adherence to ART is a growing concern to clinicians, healthcare systems, and other stakeholders. Objective: To determine the factors associ...
ABSTRACT Leprosy is a disabling disease that has struck fears into humans for thousands of years. The World Health Organization targeted the disease for elimination by the year 2000 and many countries adopted strategies for its elimination as a public health problem. One major obstacle to achieving this objective is the stigma associated with the disease. The Upper West Region was the only region in Ghana, with all its five districts that had not achieved the elimination target of one case pe...
ABSTRACT The use of modern contraceptives is still a challenge in many low income countries like Ghana. Amidst the low level of uptake of contraceptive use and increasing teenage pregnancies in the Northern region of Ghana, few studies have addressed the reasons why adolescents refuse to use modern contraceptive and go ahead to engage in unsafe sex. A cross-sectional study design was used. Well-structured close and open ended questionnaire was used to collect data on proportion of adolescents...
ABSTRACT Background: Hypertension is a chronic asymptomatic disease condition which affect every part of the world and has no respect for age and often, increases with age. The Objective of this study was to estimate the economic burden of hypertension among patients attending Nsawam Government Hospital in the Nsawam- Adoagyiri Municipality of the Eastern Region, Ghana. Method A descriptive cross sectional Cost of Illness (COI) survey which relied on quantitative data was conducted among 202 ...
ABSTRACT Introduction: Family planning remains a key strategy for population management and national development. Family planning plus (FP+) is a package of interventions that have been jointly identified by GHS and the Reducing Maternal mobidity and mortality (R3M) consortium for Family Planning service uptake improvement especially long acting and permanent methods. Objective of study: The study seeks to conduct an assessment of the implementation of family planning plus project using a cas...