ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Hiv risk-reduction measures among Adolescents in junior high schools in the Kumasi metropolis, ghana

This is a cross sectional study among Junior High School (JHS) students randomly selected from 10 public educational circuits in the Kumasi Metropolis, Ashanti Region, Ghana. A total of 300 students and 18 teachers were randomly selected in selected schools and interviewed using a standardised questionnaire and interview guide respectively. The objective of the study was to examine the reproductive health and HIV/AIDS related knowledge base and experiences of students in Junior High School and also determine the level with which education on reproductive health and HIV/AIDS are managed by the school management. Nine percent of students in JHS had ever had sex, 18.5% of which was done with persons 5-10 years older than the students. There was no association between the student’s having ever had sex and the sex of the student (chi = 0.02, p = 0.89); persons who pay fees (chi = 5.57, p=0.35); student working for money (chi = 1.08, p=0.29) and type of work engaged by the student for income (chi = 0.59, p = 0.874). JHS students who were engaged in the use of hard drugs were 8 times (OR = 8.41, chi = 10.03, p = <0.00) more likely to have ever had sex than their counterparts. Sixty three percent of JHS students who have ever had sex did not use a condom. JHS students have not heard about: male condom (24.7%); STDs (13.3%); HIV/AIDS (4.7%). Organisation of educational sections on reproductive health and HIV/AIDS in the schools are irregular and unplanned since there is no policy guidelines to streamlined these activities. It is concluded that JHS students in the Kumasi Metropolis exhibits negative sexual behaviour that pose a great risk in terms of vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, STDS and other reproductive health problems. It is recommended that intensification of education by Teachers, GES, Ghana AIDS Commission, MOH/GHS and other stakeholders could assist in reducing these risks.

Source: KNUST
Homogenizing coordinates through the use of the active CORS1 in Ghana

In this study, the course towards determining the homogeneous three-dimensional (3D) coordinates of the newly established active Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS), based on ITRF2014 in Ghana, is revealed. The aim is to address coordinate inconsistencies and inhomogeneity in the published positions of the new active CORS in Ghana. In order to attain homogeneity, the coordinates of two primary control points, GCS 305 and GCS 306, were obtained using AUSPOS online services via email. These were subsequently used as reference stations to compute the position of the LISAG_KUMASI CORS. Adjustments to the position coordinates were performed using Topcon Tools v8.2.3 software at a 1mm standard deviation. The adjusted coordinates of LISAG_KUMASI were used as the reference points to compute the positions of the LiSAGNet CORS in differential mode by using 24 hour data for 11 consecutive days. The GPS data covered DoY 284 to DoY 295 in 2021. The final positions of the CORS, computed by this approach, indicate some differences from the officially published coordinates of the same CORS, confirming the suspicion of inhomogeneity in the source coordinates used in determining the coordinates of the local CORS. Furthermore, a test network, consisting of five COR stations, was designed and used to address the coordinate inconsistencies in the officially published coordinates. Using the officially published coordinates as reference inputs, the ROVER I station was fixed by three different CORSs, thus resulting in average coordinate variabilities of 2.78m and 0.80m in the northing (N) and easting (E) directions, respectively. Through substitution, the coordinates computed in this study as reference inputs, namely, the ROVER I station, were fixed by the same three CORSs, thus resulting in a coordinate variability of 0.002m and 0.006m in the northing (N) and easting (E) directions, respectively. The analysis revealed inconsistencies and inhomogeneity in terms of the officially published coordinates. It is, therefore, recommended that the officially published coordinates of the CORS be replaced by the adjusted homogeneous and consistent values determined through the approach adopted in this study.

Source: KNUST
Homosexuality and the youth in the catholic church: A case study in the Ejisu municipality

ABSTRACT Homosexuality is gradually becoming a controversial issue in Ghana today. Homosexuals are demanding to be given equal rights and treatment as heterosexuals in the Ghanaian society. Human rights organisations are claiming that all laws that discriminate against people on the basis of their sexual orientation, violates human rights. However, many nations globally, including Ghana, still maintain laws that discriminate against homosexual acts. In Ghana today, homosexuality is an illegal and ethical subject is attracting diverse opinions. Whilst some Western countries recognize homosexuality as legal and provide free movement as well as resident permits for same-sex couples, homosexuality is repressed, criminalized and forbidden in Ghana. A bill to criminate homosexuality in Ghana is before the Ghanaian Parliament for consideration. However, there has been an intense debate among Ghanaians on whether to legalize homosexuality or not. Homosexuality is common among the youth especially in boarding schools. Meanwhile most of them are Christians with some belonging to the Roman Catholic Church. As already mentioned, homosexual acts are illegal in Ghana for now, hence their acts are hidden and it is a problem to deal with especially, among the youth as peer pressure plays very important role in their decision making. This study aims at exploring the attitude of the youth in the Roman Catholic Church in the Ejisu Juaben Municipality towards homosexuality. A qualitative study is employed to investigate why the youth, engage in homosexuality, the Church’s pastoral role towards the youth in the Church concerning homosexuality and also to assess the views of the youth on the effects of homosexuality. The study further contributes to the current debate on homosexuality from the reactions of the Ghanaian youth in particular in relation to the global dimension.

Source: KNUST
Home birth without skilled attendants despite millennium villages project intervention in Ghana: insight from a survey of women’s perceptions of skilled obstetric care

Background: Skilled birth attendance from a trained health professional during labour and delivery can prevent up to 75 % of maternal deaths. However, in low- and middle-income rural communities, lack of basic medical infrastructure and limited number of skilled birth attendants are significant barriers to timely obstetric care. Through analysis of self-reported data, this study aimed to assess the effect of an intervention addressing barriers in access to skilled obstetric care and identified factors associated with the use of unskilled birth attendants during delivery in a rural district of Ghana. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted from June to August 2012 in the Amansie West District of Ghana among women of reproductive age. Multi-stage, random, and population proportional techniques were used to sample 50 communities and 400 women for data collection. Weighted multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with place of delivery. Results: A total of 391 mothers had attended an antenatal care clinic at least once for their most recent birth; 42.3 % of them had unskilled deliveries. Reasons reported for the use of unskilled birth attendants during delivery were: insults from health workers (23.5 %), unavailability of transport (21.9 %), and confidence in traditional birth attendants (17.9 %); only 7.4 % reported to have had sudden labour. Other factors associated with the use of unskilled birth attendants during delivery included: lack of partner involvement aOR = 0.03 (95 % CI; 0.01, 0.06), lack of birth preparedness aOR = 0.05 (95 % CI; 0.02, 0.13) and lack of knowledge of the benefits of skilled delivery aOR = 0.37 (95 % CI; 0.11, 1.20). Conclusions: This study demonstrated the importance of provider-client relationship and cultural sensitivity in the efforts to improve skilled obstetric care uptake among rural women in Ghana

Source: KNUST
Hospital Waiting Time and Demand for Malaria Care. A Case Study of the Kumasi Metropolis in Ghana

According to Acton (1975) time cost in seeking health care has been increasing in recent times as a proportion of total cost due to the rising opportunity cost of time, and as out – of pocket money price decreases due to the spread of insurance. Van den Boom (2004) estimated that consulting a doctor takes on average four hours, and costs eight times more than self-medication in Ghana. Long waiting times tend to impose a time cost on consumers, which causes people to reduce demand for health care or look for alternative care (Grossman, 2000, Blundell & Windmeijer, 2000).This study was undertaking to determine the influence and effect of waiting time on the demand for health care from the hospital for malaria treatment. Multinomial logit and binary logit models were used in the estimation of the demand for health care for malaria, and the effect of waiting time on the demand for health care. The study found that the direct effect of waiting time on demand for health care for malaria for a sample population of 540 respondents in the Kumasi metropolis was negative, and the margin of change shows that increase in waiting time by 1 hour reduces demand for health care by 17%. Also, given longer waiting time; people are influenced to use health insurance to demand health care at free cost than paying cash, and also people demand health care from public hospitals than private hospital. The study recommends for waiting times to be reduced at the hospitals by increasing supply and capacity of operation of hospitals. Also the categories of people with higher opportunity cost time ( higher income earners and people employed) are to be advised to adopt preventive lifestyles by using treated mosquito nets, keeping clean environments, eating good to avoid frequent malaria attacks.

Source: KNUST
Hospitality Products Centre, Accra

The progress and development of this country, depends on so many economic factors including the tourist industry. Tourism is the 3 highest income-generating venture of Ghana. Thus the Government of Ghana is making special efforts on supporting and enhancing the tourist industry for a better Ghana. In order to achieve this, the Ghana Tourist Board has come up with policies to upgrade the standard of hotels and restaurants in the country. This is achieved by the annual inspection of these facilities, which house tourists. It has thus been realised that these places lack the required quality of hospitality products, which meet international standards. Reason being that quality products are hard to come by on our local market and if available agencies are scattered, making it difficult to insist on a certain quality of service to be provided throughout the year. Thus availability of these diverse items of hospitality products at a centre would serve to curb the problem of non-availability and laws and standards can be enforced better/improved service successfully. But, then there would be the need for public education on the use of quality products, rate of replacement, need for stacking etc. to ensure constant maintenance of quality services especially in the hospitality industry. From time to time, new products come onto our local markets and are available for exhibition when fairs related to the said products are held time and again at the Ghana International Trade Fair Centre. The exhibition of hospitality products enlightens the public on new products available on our markets. Most high rated 5-3 star hotels import most of their products from America, France etc., because of the quality of products and standard of source they want to maintain, but if they get regular supply of what they need on the local market without the hustle of going through clearing goods at the ports and transporting them, but rather place an order anytime and it would be delivered, they would patronise. Thus there is the need to make available products on our local markets, and due to this, a private entrepreneur has thought of having a hospitality products centre, which would only store for supply but also display products. Other agencies would be allowed to exhibit specific and new products they have on temporary basis when the need arises. This centre would serve to help the tourist industry improve on standards that meet the international level/standard. Hence tourism would further be boosted.

Source: KNUST
Hospice Design, Bosomtwi, Eastern Region, Ghana.

Architecture is essentially the art of reconciliation. It involves resolving specific and general demands of its users within a projected image of three dimensional forms. Caring for the dying has become a problem in this post modem society. Death usually invokes a variety of negative and destructive emotions, isolations, fear (of the unknown, of pain, of leaving loved ones behind and of needs not met), uncertainty and loss of control. This is what the hospice movement international have worked hard to deal with. In principle, hospice attempts to identify and satisfy each terminal patient's unique needs through the training of nurses, volunteers, and family members to care for the individual spiritual, physical and socially.

Source: KNUST
A house of refuge for street children, Accra

One of the more depressing “signs of the times” is the ever increasing numbers of street children that roam the streets of Accra. There are two categories of such children- those who live permanently on the street, and those who have homes but come out on the streets to sell or do some kind of income generating work during the day. Presently there are about 10,000 such children in Accra, and about 50% live permanently on the street. With the high level of urbanization and its resultant rural-urban migration and high school dropout rate, this number is likely to soar within the next 4-5 years, and if not checked, Ghana will be in the same situation as America, Cairo and other countries in the worlds. The House of Refuge, operated by the Catholic Action for street Children (CAS), an organisation off the Catholic Church of the Arch diocese of Accra, was founded in 1993 as part of an answer to this study carried out by the Dept of Sociology of the University of Ghana. This study showed that many of these children needed help some quite badly. It showed that the children (most of them within the ages of 7-20 years) cannot be taken of f the street, since that will push them into violence, theft and crime; neither can they be pushed to school immediately since most of them have never been to school or have dropped out due to financial or other reasons. To this effect the House of Refuge was set up to reorient the children by providing among other things, educational (formal and non-formal) and job opportunities. Presently the Refuge operates in flat in Jamestown, Accra, where it receives an average of 60 children a day. Sometimes as many as 100 children a report at the Refuge a day This has called for immediate action to provide a permanent House of Refuge to cater for the needs of the children whose numbers keep growing day by day.

Source: KNUST
Household cost of chronic kidney disease care among patients seeking health care at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital

Background: Chronic Kidney Disease is currently pandemic. Across the globe, CKD has catastrophic effects not only on the sufferers of this medical condition but also on their households being it financially, socially and emotionally. The burdensome nature of the disease leave in its wake great deal of financial and psychological distress particularly at the household level. This study sought to estimate the household cost of chronic Kidney disease to enable relevant stakeholders manage the burden it places on patients, their caregivers and the society so as to improve their lives. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from 13th February 2019 to 21st of May 2019 among 224 people with Chronic Kidney Disease between the ages of 14 to 91 years who were receiving health care at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital. Participants were interviewed using a structured questionnaire and secondary data obtained from hospital records. The variables were analyzed using STATA software. Sensitivity analyses was also done for cost estimates to determine the robustness of the data collected. Results: The mean cost per person per month for patients with CKD Stage I-V excluding ESRD on dialysis are GH C 493.71(USD 94.04), GHC 485.42(USD 92.19), GHC 447.01(USD 85.14), GHC 547.57(USD 104.30), and GH C 763.88 (USD 145.50) respectively. For patients with ESRD on dialysis however, the mean cost per person per month was very substantial with an estimated cost of GH C 2882.84(USD 549.11).However, the overall household cost among CKD patients seeking care at KATH was GH C1121.42 (USD 213.60) with GHC 983; USD 187.32(87.70%) being for direct cost whilst GHC 137.98; USD 26.28(12.3%) accounted for overall indirect cost. Majority of patients (74.56%) had monthly income of not more than GH C1, 000(USD 190.50) but relative to the overall household cost of GH C1121.42 (USD 213.60), it implies that most patients incurred a cost of more than 100% of their monthly income to be able to seek CKD care. Patients spent averagely not less than 5.20 hours anytime they visit the hospital to receive CKD care and this contributes to loss of productive working hours. Conclusions: The household cost of chronic kidney disease care was highest in patients with Stage V CKD especially for those on dialysis as compared to pre-dialysis patients. The household cost being it economic or social cost has significant implication on the health care and quality of life of patients living with CKD and their households. It is therefore suggested that all appropriate stakeholders be actively involved in the creation and execution of policies and cost-effective strategies to avoid and manage chronic kidney disease in our setting

Source: KNUST
Household Cost of Seeking Diabetic Healthcare in the Tano North District of the Brong Ahafo Region

Background: Diabetes Mellitus is now a pandemic. Globally it exerts a huge toll on sufferers and their households both financially and emotionally. The chronicity and complexity of the disease leads to diverse financial and psychological stress especially at the household level. This study sought to estimate the household cost of diabetes mellitus to aid stakeholders forge a better and more effective remedial course in ensuring that diabetic patients and their households live a longer and better life. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted from July to October, 2013 among 424 diabetic patients aged between 12 and 80 years who attended the Specialized Diabetes Clinic at St. John of God Hospital in the Tano North District of the BrongAhafo Region, Ghana. Participants were interviewed using a structured questionnaire and secondary data was reviewed from hospital records. The variables for the study were analyzed at the univariate, bivariate and multivariate levelsat 95% confidence interval in STATA software. Sensitivity analyses for the cost estimates were done to ascertain the robustness of the data. Results:The mean household cost of seeking diabetic health care was GH¢ 146.70 (USD 58.64) (SD=79.78)monthly, per diabetic patient out of which the meandirect cost constituted about 92.16% [GH¢ 135.10 (USD 54.04); (SD= 79.59)] (which forms about66.3% of the mean income [GH¢250.45 (USD 100.18); (SD=65.06)] of each patient). Cost of preparation of special diet formed the highest component [GH¢108 (USD 43.2)] of the mean direct cost of seeking diabetic health care. The mean indirect cost constituted about 7.84% [GH¢ 11.50 (USD 4.6) (SD=5.42)] of the mean household cost permonthfor each diabetic patient. Losses due to productivity were mainly due to the time spent by patients when seeking diabetic healthcare (mean number of hours spent out of work was 15.74 (SD= 7.83). Household cost of seeking diabetic health care per patient could increase by about 7.7% per annum assuming the discount rates of: 3%, 5% and 7% and the current inflation rate of 13.5% (excluding any inflationary changes). Conclusion: The household cost; both financial and non- financial of diabetes mellitus is significant, accounting for more than two- thirds of the household’s incomeand has adverse implications on the healthcare and quality of life of the diabetic patient and his household. It is therefore recommended that all stakeholders actively get involved in forging a remedial course.

Source: KNUST
Household Access to Water and Sanitation Facilities: A Case Study of the Offinso South Municipality

Good water and sanitation promote good health and enhances national development. This study was conducted in Offinso South Municipality to investigate the challenges households faced in accessing good drinking water and sanitation facilities. The study depended on primary data collected from the field through questionnaire administration and secondary data from the Offinso South Municipal Assembly. Water samples were collected for three consecutive months from hand-dug well, pipe-borne water from GWCL, mechanised boreholes, spring and river for water quality analyses. The results revealed that only 29.9% of the households have access to pipe-borne water with greater majority (40%) depending on mechanised boreholes for drinking water. The low income earners spend more of their income on water (30%) than the high income earners (15%). The results also indicated that only 20% of the households have access to good sanitation in their homes whereas a greater majority of the household (80%) use pit latrine outside their homes. It is therefore recommended that the Municipal Assembly must focus on extending pipe-borne water to the communities and also educate households to provide toilets in their homes.

Source: KNUST
Household perceptions and their implications for enrolment in the National Health Insurance Scheme at Sekyere South District

The health status of people indicates the wellbeing of the populace from spiritual being to the flesh. Millions of people in developing countries all over suffer from preventable health problems such as communicable diseases and complication of childbirth because they are simply poor. Healthcare financing in Ghana from 1950 up to 1966 was in line with the socialist philosophy of Dr. Nkrumah. Under the National Liberation Council healthcare was being paid by the individual but currently health care financing in Ghana is the National Health Insurance Scheme. Health insurance is increasingly recognized as a hopeful tool for financing equitable healthcare in low income countries. In addressing financial constraints for the poor and improve equity in access to care, Ghana passed the National Health Insurance law in 2003 which mandated the establishment of District-wide mutual health insurance schemes. The study seeks to assess households‘ perception and its implication on enrolment in the NHIS. The population of the study comprises of households in sekyere south district who subscribe to the NHIS. The study is conducted on a total 464 households and stratified and purposive sampling techniques are used in selecting respondent. Finding reveals that treatment provided by NHIS is effective for recovery and cure of sickness. There are challenges of inadequate doctors, lack modern medical infrastructure and lack of confidence in the scheme. There is a perception of good and quality service to the people in the district, and accessibility as and when one needs a service. The study recommended intensified education, training for official, drug availability and prompt payment of claims.

Source: KNUST