ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of the implementation of electronic government in Ghana

Poverty and lack of access to technology continues to pose a perpetual threat to Africa’s e-government implementation program. While significant progress in e-government has been chalked, huge disparities remain within and among African countries. This study examines the implementation progress of e-government in Ghana’s ministries and agencies. Based on Gartner’s maturity stage of e-government, underpinned by a quantitative approach, surveys were conducted in 182 government agencies. Findings of the study showed that e-government resources are available and used to facilitate e-government activities in government ministries and agencies. However, Public sector organizations are still plagued with infrastructural, economic and legal challenges and human resources in the development of e-government. It recommended that the Ghana’s government should expand the use of online services by adopting a more citizen-centric approach to promote e-government planning and implementation in infrastructure, law, human capacity.

Source: UG
Evaluation of the international standardized 24-h dietary recall methodology (GloboDiet) for potential application in research and surveillance within African settings

Background: Collection of reliable and comparable individual food consumption data is of primary importance to better understand, control and monitor malnutrition and its related comorbidities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), including in Africa. The lack of standardised dietary tools and their related research support infrastructure remains a major obstacle to implement concerted and region-specific research and action plans worldwide. Citing the magnitude and importance of this challenge, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC/WHO) launched the "Global Nutrition Surveillance initiative" to pilot test the use of a standardized 24-h dietary recall research tool (GloboDiet), validated in Europe, in other regions. In this regard, the development of the GloboDiet-Africa can be optimised by better understanding of the local specific methodological needs, barriers and opportunities. The study aimed to evaluate the standardized 24-h dietary recall research tool (GloboDiet) as a possible common methodology for research and surveillance across Africa. Methods: A consultative panel of African and international experts in dietary assessment participated in six e-workshop sessions. They completed an in-depth e-questionnaire to evaluate the GloboDiet dietary methodology before and after participating in the e-workshop. Results: The 29 experts expressed their satisfaction on the potential of the software to address local specific needs when evaluating the main structure of the software, the stepwise approach for data collection and standardisation concept. Nevertheless, additional information to better describe local foods and recipes, as well as particular culinary patterns (e.g. mortar pounding), were proposed. Furthermore, food quantification in shared-plates and -bowls eating situations and interviewing of populations with low literacy skills, especially in rural settings, were acknowledged as requiring further specific considerations and appropriate solutions. Conclusions: An overall positive evaluation of the GloboDiet methodology by both African and international experts, supports the flexibility and potential applicability of this tool in diverse African settings and sets a positive platform for improved dietary monitoring and surveillance. Following this evaluation, prerequisite for future implementation and/or adaptation of GloboDiet in Africa, rigorous and robust capacity building as well as knowledge transfer will be required to roadmap a stepwise approach to implement this methodology across pilot African countries/regions. © 2017 The Author(s).

Source: UG
An evaluation of the level of human disturbance to waterbirds at Mole National Park in Ghana

Anthropogenic activities including recreation were known to cause disturbances to waterbirds in their natural habitat. The Mole National Park, which is considered the largest and oldest in Ghana, attracted significant number of tourists over the years, and consequently induced pressures and disturbances to waterbirds. Thus, there is a need to study the human-wildlife interactions and conflicts. This study established the species list of waterbirds at Mole between August 2015 and February 2016, assessed the nature and levels of human disturbance to the birds and determined the alert and flight initiation distances of selected species. A total of 29 waterbird species were recorded of which White-faced Whistling Duck was the most abundant. At a flush rate of 2.5 per hour with each flush lasting 34.0 s, waterbirds at the park spend 85.0 s/h as a result of flushing of which only 17.6 s/h was attributed to human disturbance. Majority of the flushes (70.5%) were caused by indeterminate factors but the potential adverse impact of human induced flushing and the need to minimize or prevent increased rates in the park was indicated by birds perceiving disturbance from tourist/staff to be of the same risk as predation. It was recommended that a setback distance based on the longest Alert Distance (120.8 ± 31.9 m) and Flight Initiation Distance (32.7 ± 23.8 m), both of which were recorded for the Grey Heron, should be considered in the management of the park’s wetlands. © 2018, Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature.

Source: UG
Evaluation of the malaria surveillance system – Adaklu District, Volta Region, Ghana, 2019

Objectives: We evaluated the malaria surveillance system in Adaklu District of the Volta Region of Ghana to determine if the system was meeting its objectives and assessed its usefulness and attributes. Study design: Descriptive cross-sectional design was used in evaluating the surveillance system. Methods: We interviewed stakeholders using a semi-structured questionnaire on case detection and reporting. We assessed the system attributes using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated guidelines for evaluating public health surveillance systems. We extracted and reviewed malaria surveillance data from the District Health Management Information System 2. Summary statistics and direct content analysis were per formed on quantitative and qualitative data respectively. Results: Of the 80,441 suspected malaria cases recorded in Adaklu District from 2014 to 2018, 47,917 (59.6%) cases were confirmed. The system was meeting its objective of detecting malaria cases and monitoring trends in the population however, the system missed an epidemic in August 2016. Data generated from the surveillance system is used by the NMCP to aid in the distribution of logistics such as LLINs, RDT test kits, and track malaria control progress in the district. Staff at all levels were able to detect, confirm, treat and report malaria. All sub districts/health facilities reported to the district and reports were all accurate and timely. The predictive value positive was 62.9%. Conclusions: The malaria surveillance system in Adaklu District was useful and meeting its set objective of monitoring trends of malaria in the population. It was simple, flexible, acceptable and representative; however, the system was not detecting epidemics. The District Health Management Team should set alert and epidemic thresholds to help detect promptly epidemics of malaria in the district.

Source: UG
Evaluation of the psychometric properties of two scales of work–family conflict among Ghanaian employees

This study examines the psychometric properties of Carlson, Kacmar, and Williams’ (2000) multidimensional scale of work–family conflict and Matthews, Kath, and Barnes-Farrell's (2010) abbreviated version of the instrument in Ghana. Five hundred and forty-one (541) employees selected from different organizations responded to structured questionnaires administered in English. Results from confirmatory factor analysis supported the six-dimensional factor structure of Carlson et al.’s (2000) measure. The instrument was found to have good internal consistency, adequate convergent validity and discriminant validity, as well as invariance of factor structure across gender. The results also supported the two-dimensional factor structure of Matthews et al.’s (2010) abbreviated version of the work–family conflict scale. The dimensions of work–family conflict on the abbreviated measure correlated strongly with respective dimensions of the original multidimensional version. Latent mean comparisons suggested that men reported more work–family conflict than women on both measures. The study demonstrates the applicability of both the six-dimensional work–family conflict scale and the abbreviated work–family conflict measure for research in Ghana. © 2017 Western Social Science Association

Source: UG
Evaluation of the psychometric properties of two scales of work–family conflict among Ghanaian employees.

This study examines the psychometric properties of Carlson, Kacmar, and Williams’ (2000) multidimensional scale of work–family conflict and Matthews, Kath, and Barnes-Farrell’s (2010) abbreviated version of the instrument in Ghana. Five hundred and forty-one (541) employees selected from different organizations responded to structured questionnaires administered in English. Results from confirmatory factor analysis supported the six-dimensional factor structure of Carlson et al.’s (2000) measure. The instrument was found to have good internal consistency, adequate convergent validity and discriminant validity, as well as invariance of factor structure across gender. The results also supported the two-dimensional factor structure of Matthews et al.’s (2010) abbreviated version of the work–family conflict scale. The dimensions of work–family conflict on the abbreviated measure correlated strongly with respective dimensions of the original multidimensional version. Latent mean comparisons suggested that men reported more work–family conflict than women on both measures. The study demonstrates the applicability of both the six-dimensional work–family conflict scale and the abbreviated work–family conflict measure for research in Ghana.

Source: UG
Evaluation of the quality constructs of a tax management system based on DeLone and McLean IS success mode

We presented a novel method to analyze the impact tax management systems have on users (individual impact) in this study. The interrelationship among the three information system (IS) quality constructs is examined. The study is based on the evaluation undertaken in this paper of DeLone and Mclean’s (D & M) model. Quantitative data are gathered from a related Ghanaian enterprise. The structural equation modelling of partial least squares was utilized to model the system quality, information quality, and service quality. The result of the study shows that the three quality constructs of the D & M model positively influence the users of a tax management system (individual impact). The results also show that there is a significant positive interrelation among the IS quality constructs.

Source: UG
Evaluation of the quality of artemisinin-based antimalarial medicines distributed in Ghana and Togo.

This study, conducted as part of our overall goal of regular pharmacovigilance of antimalarial medicines, reports on the quality of 132 artemisinin-based antimalarial medicines distributed in Ghana and Togo. Three methods were employed in the quality evaluation – Basic (colorimetric) Tests for establishing the identity of the requisite Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), semi-quantitative TLC assay for the identification and estimation of API content and HPLC assay for a more accurate quantification of API content. From the basic tests, only one sample totally lacked API. The HPLC assay, however, showed that 83.7% of the ACTs and 57.9% of the artemisinin-based monotherapies failed to comply with International Pharmacopoeia requirements due to insufficient API content. In most of the ACTs, the artemisinin component was usually the insufficient API. Generally, there was a good correlation between the HPLC and SQ-TLC assays. The overall failure rates for both locally-manufactured (77.3%) and imported medicines (77.5%) were comparable. Similarly the unregistered medicines recorded a slightly higher overall failure rate (84.7%) than registered medicines (70.8%). Only two instances of possible cross-border exchange of medicines were observed and there was little difference between the medicine quality of collections from border towns and those from inland parts of both countries.

Source: UG
An Evaluation of the Quality of Democracy of Ghana

This paper assessed the quality of Ghana’s democracy along eight dimensions of democratic quality. The empirical basis of the study is information from 80 interviews and secondary sources. The evidence showed that there are intra-dimension and inter-dimension differences, in Ghana’s democratic quality performance and the dimensions do not co-vary. It also found that there is a gap between the demand for democracy and the supply of it. It further established that the causes of the democratic quality deficits are both internal and external. These findings speak of democratic backsliding and democratic careening in the literature – where the political involvement of citizens is limited to voting which is declining in quality, while they are ignored between elections, and they have little possibility of controlling corruption, or abuse of citizens’ rights or misgovernment; and where democracy is such that it lurches, swerves, sways, and threatens to tip over. Suggestions for resolving the democratic deficits are proffered, failing to implement which, Ghana’s fledgling democracy, which has shown signs of deterioration, will worsen.

Source: UG
Evaluation of the rural response system intervention to prevent violence against women: findings from a community-randomised controlled trial in the Central Region of Ghana

Background: Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects one in three women globally and undermines women’s human rights, social and economic development, and health, hence the need for integrated interventions involving communities in its prevention. Objective: This community-randomised controlled trial evaluated the Rural Response System (RRS) intervention, which uses Community Based Action Teams to prevent IPV by raising awareness and supporting survivors, compared to no intervention. Methods: Two districts of the Central Region of Ghana were randomly allocated to each arm. Data were collected by repeated, randomly sampled, household surveys, conducted at baseline (2000 women, 2126 men) and 24 months later (2198 women, 2328 men). The analysis used a difference in difference (DID) approach, adjusted for age and exposure to violence in childhood. Results: In intervention communities, women’s past year experience of sexual IPV reduced from 17.1% to 7.7% versus 9.3% to 8.0% in the control communities (DID = −9.3(95%CI; −17.5,−1.0), p = 0.030). The prevalence of past-year physical IPV among women in the intervention communities reduced from 16.5% to 8.3% versus 14.6% to 10.9% in the controls (DID = −4.2(−12,3.6), p = 0.289). The prevalence of severe IPV experienced by women reduced from 21.2% to 11.6% in intervention versus 17.3% to 11.4% in controls (DID = −3.7(−12.5,5.1), p = 0.408). The direction of impact of the intervention on violence perpetrated by men was more towards a reduction but changes were not statistically significant. Emotional IPV perpetration was significantly lower (DID = −15.0(−28.5, −1.7), p = 0.031). Women’s depression scores and reports of male partner controlling behaviour significantly also reduced in the intervention arm compared to those in the control arm (DID = −4.8(−8.0,−1.5), p = 0.005; DID = −2.7(−3.3,−1.0), p = 0.002, respectively). Conclusion: Our findings indicate that the RRS intervention reduced women’s experiences of IPV, depression, and partner controlling behaviour and some evidence of men’s reported reductions in the perpetration of IPV. The RRS intervention warrants careful scale-up in Ghana and further research.

Source: UG
Evaluation of the sentinel surveillance system for influenza-like illnesses in the Greater Accra region, Ghana, 2018

Background Influenza-like Illness (ILI) is a medical diagnosis of possible influenza or another respiratory illness with a common set of symptoms. The deaths of four schoolchildren, during a pandemic influenza outbreak in December 2017 in Ghana, raised doubts about the ILI surveillance system’s performance. We evaluated the ILI surveillance system in the Greater Accra region, Ghana, to assess the system’s attributes and its performance on set objectives. Methods CDC guidelines were used to evaluate the data of the ILI surveillance system between 2013 and 2017. We interviewed the surveillance personnel on the system’s description and operation. Additionally, routinely entered ILI data from the National Influenza Center provided by the six sentinel sites in Accra was extracted. We sampled and reviewed 120 ILI case-investigation forms from these sites. Surveillance activities were examined on system’s performance indicators, each being scored on a scale of 1 to 3 (poorest to best performance). Results All population and age groups were under ILI surveillance over the period evaluated. Overall, 2948 suspected case-patients, including 392 (13.3%) children under-five were reported, with 219 being positive for influenza virus (Predictive value positive = 7.4%). The predominant influenza subtype was H3N2, recorded in 90 (41.1%) of positive case-patients. The system only met two out of its four objectives. None of the six sentinel sites consistently met their annual 260 suspected case-detection quota. Samples reached the laboratory on average 48 hours after collection and results were disseminated within 7 days. Of 120 case-investigation forms sampled, 91 (76.3%) were completely filled in. Conclusions The ILI surveillance system in the Greater Accra region is only partially meeting its objectives. While it is found to be sensitive, representative and timely, the data quality was sub-optimal. We recommend the determination of thresholds for alert and outbreak detection and ensuring that sentinel sites meet their weekly case-detection targets.

Source: UG
Evaluation of the tuberculosis surveillance system in the Ashaiman municipality, in Ghana

Introduction Tuberculosis (TB) was the leading cause of death from an infectious illness globally with an estimated 10.4 million new cases and 1.4 million deaths in 2015. In Ghana, from the 2013 TB prevalence survey conducted by the National Tuberculosis Control Programme, the incidence is estimated as 165 per 100,000 population and a mortality rate of 7.5 per 1,000 infected people. The Tuberculosis surveillance system is part of the general framework of the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response. This evaluation was to assess whether the system is meeting its set objectives, assess its usefulness and describe its attributes. Methods The TB surveillance system of the Ashaiman municipality was evaluated using Centre for Disease Control and Prevention updated guidelines for evaluating public health surveillance systems 2006. Records review from 2014 to 2016 was done to assess objectives of the system and surveillance data source of 2016 was used to assess attributes. Interviews were conducted at the various levels using semi-structured questionnaire and data analysis done with Epi info 7 and Microsoft Excel to run frequencies and percentages. Results The surveillance system is well structured with standardized data collection tools. The system was found to be useful, though it just partially met its objectives. It was also found to be simple, flexible and fairly stable with average timeliness. It had low acceptability and is not geographically representative. It had low sensitivity of 45/100,000 and a low predictive value positive of 6.6%. Conclusion The surveillance system was found to be useful but partially met its objectives. There is the need to improve the sensitivity, predictive value positive timeliness and acceptability.

Source: UG
Evaluation of the Use of Electronic Resources by Agricultural Research Scientist In Ghana: A Study of the Food Research Institute and Animal Research Institute

The study evaluated the use of e-resources among agricultural research scientist in Ghana. Data was collected from 48 (70.6%) out of 68 scientists at the Food Research (FRI) and Animal Research (ARI) Institutes of the of the council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CRIS), Ghana. The results showed a very high (97.9%) level of awareness and use of e-resources among the research scientist whose preferred places of accessing e-resources were their offices and the library (60%). The scientist were most satisfied with the full text databases (73.0%) and e-journal (81.3%) but reported problems of slow access speed (58.3%), high subscription fees and frequent power outages. There was no significant difference in access to and use of e-resources between the scientist from ARI and FRI (P=0.05). The study recommended that budgetary allocation for e-resources facilities in agricultural libraries should be improved since scientist are known to have preference for electronic than print resources.

Source: UG
An Evaluation of Toxicity and Mutagenicity of Sphenocentrum jollyanum

This study was designed to evaluate the toxicity of S. jollyanum using Fischer 344 male rats and the genotoxic effect of the alcoholic extract of the roots. In experiment 1, haematological, serum biochemical and histopathological parameters were determined after 30, 60 and 90 days of oral administration. Experiment 2 involved determinations of total hepatic cytochrome P-450 content. Pentobarbitone induced sleeping times was measured in experiment 3. These are indices of organ specific toxicity or potential for drug interactions. The mutagenic potential was assessed by reverse mutation test using Salmonella typhimurium TA97, TA98, TA100 and TA102 tester strains in experiment 4. There were no significant differences found in most of the hematological, serum biochemical parameters and organ/body weight ratio. No abnormality of any organ was found during histopathological examination and no mutagenicity evidence was detected in any of the mutagenic tests. It, however, caused a significant increase in cytochrome P-450 which correlates well with the decreased pentobarbitone induced sleeping times. The results showed that the no-observed adverse- effect level (NOAEL) of S. jollyanum extract (SJE) was >1000 mg kg-1 body weight per day in rats, which can be regarded as virtually non-toxic. In conclusion, SJE had no overt organ specific toxicity but demonstrates a potential for drug interactions via cytochrome P-450-mediated metabolism in the rat.

Source: UG
Evaluation of two novel Ziehl-Neelsen methods for tuberculosis diagnosis

The Bacteriology Department aims to improve the quality of life first for Ghanaians and the world at large by conducting research into bacterial diseases of public health importance to Ghana and globally. In addition to working on enteric pathogens and sexually transmitted diseases, the department’s current main focus is on the two most important mycobacterial diseases of public health importance to Ghana, namely Buruli ulcer (BU) and tuberculosis (TB).

Source: UG
evaluation of vigabatrin as monotherapy in newly diagnosed partial seizures in childhood.

Fifty-three childreen with newly diagnosed partial epilepsies received GVG monotherapy (mean 44/mg/kg/day). After a mean follow up time of 16,5 months, 26 childreen (49%) were seazures-free, 18 (33,9%) had a decrease in seizure frequency and 9 childreen (16,9%) had unchanged seizure frequency. Side effects were reported in 22 childreen (41,5%) and included weight gain, increased appetite and restlessness.

Source: UG