ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Adequate infant feeding enhances growth, overall health and survival of infants in the early years of life and throughout the life cycle. Maternal health care services offer mothers education on infant feeding and care. Effective counselling, knowledge and attendance of caregivers to child welfare clinics is a major route towards optimal infant feeding. As Ghana seeks to achieve optimal universal health for all mothers and children through targeted policy making, this ...
ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Sierra Leone has one of the worst maternal health indices among other countries, and it is also one of the countries with the lowest human development index. Majority of the causes of maternal morbidity and mortality can be prevented by means of utilization of adequate antenatal care, institutional delivery and skilled birth attendants. However, utilization of Maternal Health Care (MHC) services is generally low in the country. There is an alarming shortage of skilled Hea...
ABSTRACT Background: Drug use is a global public health issue and transcends cultural boundaries. Substance use and their accompanying disorders have consequences for people's mental, physical and environmental health. Drug addiction is a contributing factor to poor dental health among drug addicts. There is documented disability and comorbidity associated with drug use, nevertheless, majority of these people have never been treated and others don’t continue treatment when they start. This...
ABSTRACT Background: HBV infection remains one of the highly infectious diseases that can be contracted by HCW’S through needle pricks, sharp related injuries, and splash of blood or body fluids into the eyes or mucus membranes and other human activities like unprotected sexual intercourse. Nurses are known to be a high risk group for the infection but nursing students are even at the greatest risk of the infection due to their inexperience. Despite these facts above, the prevalence and th...
ABSTRACT Background: Globally, one major feature of markets is the generation of all manner of waste – animal waste, waste from food products sold, human waste, among others. To prevent negative occurrences as diseases and food poisoning, sanitation at markets must be adequately addressed. Objectives: The study aimed at assessing the knowledge, attitudes and practices of sanitation and health of market users at the Agbogbloshie market in Accra, Ghana. It explored three objectives as follow...
ABSTRACT This study was conducted to examine the factors that contribute to the utilization of HIV Testing and Counselling among the youth of Fanteakwa District of Ghana in light of the health belief model. The study involved 424 youths between the ages of 15 - 24 in the Fanteakwa District in the eastern Region of Ghana. The quantitative approach was used in the study using the Health Belief Model. The multi-stage sampling technique was adopted for the study involving the simple random sampli...
ABSTRACT Background: Diabetes is a key public health challenge that is approaching epidemic proportion worldwide. Utilization of care services among persons diagnosed with diabetes helps in early detection of diabetic retinopathy and also, allows for timely intervention. Evidence shows that the utilization of eye care services among patients living with diabetes, in Ghana is low. Objective: To determine factors associated with utilization of eye care services among patients with diabetes, att...
ABSTRACT Background: The burden of malaria in mobile populations is still less documented in subSaharan Africa. This study determined the prevalence of malaria among hawkers and long distance truck drivers in the Greater Accra region of Ghana. Method: A cross-sectional study using consecutive sampling method between June and July 2016 in Accra and Tema was used. The study population was Hawkers who roam in the street and long distance truck drivers. RDTs and two thick blood smears were made f...
ABSTRACT Background: Non-adherence to topical anti-glaucoma medication is associated with worse clinical outcomes which can have negative impacts on therapeutic choices by clinicians. Additionally, variations in dosing patterns whether it is missed doses, mistimed doses, or overdosing can lead to less lowering of IOP (intraocular pressure) and/or an increase in side effects that diminish the tolerability of the therapy. This survey seeks to determine the factors that influence non-adherence t...
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 Prostate cancer is rated the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among men in the world and in Ghana, the most frequently diagnosed cancer among men. Studies have identified low awareness and lack of knowledge, perceptions, and negative attitudes toward PC as barriers to screening for PC and thus early detection of the disease. This has resulted in the disease been diagnosed at advanced stages which have no better treatment outcomes. This cross sectional descriptive study e...
ABSTRACT Introduction: Cervical cancer affects the cervix of women. It is the second most common cancer in women worldwide (WHO, 2012). Cervical cancer is often caused by the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) and is sexually transmitted. The general risk factors for cervical cancer include early age of first intercourse, multiple sexual partners, high parity, Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), cigarette smoking and immuno-suppression. This disease can be prevented and often cured if early interven...
ABSTRACT Ticks are important vectors and reservoirs for many zoonotic pathogens worldwide. Some African countries including Ghana have reported tick-borne infections like Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever, however, there is scarce data on the tick vector in Ghana. This study was aimed at determining the distribution, abundance of tick species and preferred sites of attachments in six selected study sites. Ticks were collected from cattle in two ecological zones in Ghana (Guinea Savannah and Co...
ABSTRACT Introduction: Overweight and obesity, which can be described as the accumulation of excessive body fat has become a major public health problem. Overweight and obese individuals also attract a lot of stigma which results in discrimination. This study was designed to determine perceptions and stigmatization in relation to overweight and obesity among women of reproductive age in the Ghanaian setting. Method: The study employed a descriptive cross sectional study design and used a mixe...
ABSTRACT Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) remains an important cause of human suffering and death. The impact of Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) on TB, drug resistant TB (DR-TB) and the implications for TB control, has been acknowledged as a major public health challenge. The influence of HIV/TB co-infection in the development of DR-TB has not yet been fully investigated in this part of the world. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the role of HIV/TB co-infection in the...