ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Child development in rural Ghana: Associations between cognitive/ language milestones and indicators of nutrition and stimulation of children under two years of age

OBJECTIVES: Two studies aimed to assess the provision of nutrition and psychosocial stimulation in the home and to examine associations between mental development and nutrition and stimulation using a validated measure of development milestones. METHODS: The first study consisted of secondary analyses of health and nutrition data from 1081 mother-child pairs (the children aged 0–12 months) and their households in Ghana’s Eastern Region. For the second study, the Ghana Milestones Measure, consisting of items assessing cognitive and language development, was used to assess child development in a subsample (N = 330) of Study 1 participants one year later (children 10–24 months of age). This measure was mother-reported and had been validated in a separate community in Ghana. Correlation and linear regression analyses were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: Family assets and maternal education were identified as key factors of the family context. Both variables were positively associated with preventive health practices (r = 0.08 to 0.13, p < 0.0001 to 0.01), and dietary diversity (r = 0.15, p = 0.0001 to 0.0006), and negatively associated with maternal depressive symptoms (r = −0.19 to −0.12, p < 0.0001). Taller children had higher receptive (standardized beta = 0.16; p = 0.04) and expressive (0.21; 0.003) language, but not cognitive (0.15; 0.07) milestone scores, and psychosocial stimulation was positively associated with all three milestones (receptive = 0.13, p = 0.01; expressive = 0.21, p < 0.0001; and cognitive = 0.24, p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Our study provides the first validated measure of children’s language and cognitive development in Ghana, finding associations with nutrition and stimulation. The Ghana Milestones Measure can be used to assess and help promote children’s mental development.

Source: UG
Child discipline practices in Ghanaian homes

Aim This study sought to identify and discuss the major issues and emerging practices in child discipline in Ghanaian homes. Subject and methods Using the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey Round 4 dataset drawn from a nationwide sample of 8156 households, the analysis took into consideration the hierarchical structure of the data to provide in-depth analysis of the drivers and risk factors of child discipline in Ghana. Specifically, the study looked at the relationship between the key response variable and covariates investigated, along with the responses and context in which the measurements were done. Results Contextual effects on the variations in household responses across the different levels of the data structure were significant at the regional level, but not at the residence level (urban/rural settings). Conclusion There was strong evidence that household wealth index and number of children aged 2–14 in a household have a significant influence on household approval for the use of physical discipline in child upbringing.

Source: UG
Child domestic Labour in (Accra) Ghana: A child and gender rights issue?

Child domestic labour is one of the widespread and exploitative forms of child labour in the world today. However, the ubiquity of child/adolescent (domestic) labour, together with the perception that such work-especially in relation to girls is important training for later life, normalises such work and renders it invisible. Child domestic labour is thus, largely feminised as almost 90 percent of the children are girls. Many domestics work for long hours with no rest or remuneration, and are subjected to verbal, physical and in some instances sexual abuse in the households of their employers. The conditions under which many child domestics live and work, undermines and threatens many basic rights of children. is paper highlights the child and gender-based rights that are actually or potentially denied child domestic workers in order to influence policy development and implementation, as well as advocacy for and on behalf of children. © 2011 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden.

Source: UG
Child feeding knowledge and practices among women participating in growth monitoring and promotion in Accra, Ghana

Abstract Background Child undernutrition and poor feeding practices remain a concern in Ghana. The Growth Monitoring and Promotion (GMP) programme seeks to empower mothers to provide appropriate child care. Although the program has been implemented in Ghana for over four decades, little is known about its impact on child feeding outcomes. The current study assessed the association between GMP exposure and mothers' child feeding knowledge and practices in the Accra Metropolitan Area (AMA), Ghana. Methods A cross-sectional survey of 199 mother-child pairs accessing child welfare services in six public health facilities in the AMA was conducted. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data on respondent characteristics and child feeding knowledge; a 24-hour dietary recall tool was used to record child feeding practices. Linear regression analysis was used to determine the association between mothers' exposure to GMP and their knowledge and practices on child feeding. Results Seventy four percent of mothers had not missed any scheduled child welfare clinic sessions. Over 60% of mothers knew the appropriate age of introduction of foods; 86% also gave correct response regarding minimum number of times their child should be fed daily. About 81% of children less than 6&#160;months were exclusively breastfed in the preceding 24&#160;hours, although 36% had received water since birth. Forty two percent of children 6&#8211;23 months received dietary diverse meals while 64% were fed the required number of times in a day. Overall, only 32% of children 6&#8211;23 months received a minimum acceptable diet in the preceding 24&#160;hours. A higher GMP exposure was positively associated with feeding knowledge scores among mothers with children below 6&#160;months (p&#8201;&lt;&#8201;0.05). Conclusion Although most mothers were knowledgeable about recommendations, feeding practices were suboptimal, especially complementary feeding. GMP exposure was associated with feeding knowledge only among mothers with children less than 6&#160;months. Strengthening of feeding counselling focused on children above 6&#160;months is recommended.

Source: UG
Child feeding knowledge and practices among women participating in growth monitoring and promotion in Accra, Ghana

Child undernutrition and poor feeding practices remain a concern in Ghana. The Growth Monitoring and Promotion (GMP) programme seeks to empower mothers to provide appropriate child care. Although the program has been implemented in Ghana for over four decades, little is known about its impact on child feeding outcomes. The current study assessed the association between GMP exposure and mothers' child feeding knowledge and practices in the Accra Metropolitan Area (AMA), Ghana.

Source: UG
Child Fostering And School Attendance In West Africa Over Time.

Informal fostering arrangements can relieve pressure on parents and promote social mobility for children from poor households in sub-Saharan Africa. However, the motivation of host households to invest in fostered children would determine the extent of the benefits. This study uses Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) data on children 6–12 years with both parents alive in five West African countries (Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone and Togo) to assess the relationship between foster status and school attendance in two time periods: 2005–2006 and 2017–2018. Multilevel logit regressions are used to estimate the likelihood of ever attending school. The results indicate that the likelihood of attending school for fostered children relative to non-fostered chil dren was negative and statistically significant in 2017–2018 but was not different in 2005–2006. Further, the negative association between foster status and school attendance was larger for children in richer households in both time periods. These findings highlight the need for further research to provide insight into the dynamics of fostering children to higher socioeconomic status households.

Source: UG
Child labour in Ghana: Implications for children's education and health

Drawing on Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory, this study investigated child labour experiences of children in Ghana. Using a qualitative research approach, in-depth interviews were conducted with 25 participants who were purposively selected. Data collected were analyzed thematically and the findings indicated that reasons why children engaged in child labour included poverty, parental absence, and poor enforcement of educational and child labour laws. The findings further revealed that children's engagement in selling on the highway could negatively affect their health and education. Based on the findings, we recommend that there should be effective implementation of educational and child labour laws in order to mitigate this menace.

Source: UG
Child labour, future earnings and occupation choice: evidence from Ghana

Purpose The prevalence of child labour continues to feature prominently on the agenda of many sub-Saharan African countries. The problem remains critical despite existing laws and other legislative instruments that have been put in place to address the situation. The purpose of this paper is to examine a critical consequence of child labour, that is, its effect on future earnings and occupational choice. Design/methodology/approach The most recent round of the Ghana Living Standards Survey is used for this purpose. In addition to the Heckman model, the study employs propensity score and nearest neighbour matching techniques to account for the possible self-selection in engaging in child labour activities. Also, the multinomial logit model was employed to determine the choice of occupations of people who were engaged in child labour. Findings Results indicate that early labour market entry significantly reduces future earnings, possibly due to lower human capital accumulation. These results remain robust with different estimators. Additionally, results from the second objective show that child labour increases the odds of choosing low-skilled occupations. Originality/value In Ghana, the negative consequences of child labour on educational attainment have been well documented. Less, if at all, studied are the long-term consequences of child labour, particularly on future economic status.

Source: UG
Child marriage in Ghana: Who cares?

Child marriage is one of the major social problems that have attracted attention in recent times. The practice denies children the opportunity to develop their human capital potentials to participate fully in society, and also constitutes a violation of the rights of children to freely and fully consent to the choice of a spouse. Consequently, many institutions and organizations have rolled out several initiatives and interventions to help fight against the practice. This study aimed at mapping out institutions responding to the menace of child marriage in Ghana and examining the effectiveness and challenges of their initiatives and interventions. The researchers used purposive and snowballing sampling techniques to select eleven institutions working in the area of child marriage and engaged them in in-depth interviews to gather relevant information for the study. The findings show that, many institutions are variously, directly and indirectly, responding to the practice of child marriage in the country. These institutions offer variety of initiatives which can technically be classified as preventive, protective, promotive and transformative interventions. One major weakness identified from the various initiatives is the lack of a specific national policy direction to support and coordinate the initiatives and interventions.

Source: UG
Child morbidity and mortality following vitamin A supplementation in Ghana: time since dosing, number of doses, and time of year

Objectives. The impact of large, dose vitamin A supplementation given at intervals of 4 months on child mortality and morbidity was examined according to the time interval since dosing, number of doses received previously, and time of year. Methods. Two double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trials of large doses of vitamin A administered at intervals of 4 months were conducted in adjacent populations in northern Ghana. Results. While vitamin A supplementation significantly reduced the overall incidence of severe illnesses (especially diarrhea with dehydration), clinic attendances, hospital admissions, and mortality, there was no evidence that the impact of each dose of vitamin A was related to the number of doses the child had received previously. There was no evidence that the effectiveness of the supplement waned over the 3 to 5 months between doses. The impact on mortality did not differ significantly by the month in which the supplement had been given. Conclusions. In the study population, there was no evidence that an interval between doses of less than 4 months would have had a greater impact on severe morbidity or mortality, and the effectiveness of supplementation did not vary by time of year.

Source: UG
Child sexual abuse in Ghana: A multi-methods exploratory study

Using a qualitative multi-methods approach, this study explored the offence, survivor and perpetrator characteristics, and the lived experiences of child and adolescent survivors of child sexual abuse (CSA) in Ghana. We analysed the contents of local media reports of CSA cases from January 2015 to December 2020 in Ghana, after which we conducted semi-structured interviews involving five female child and adolescent survivors of CSA. The media content analysis identified 529 eligible reports involving female (n = 516) and male (n = 13) survivors aged 11–18 who knew the perpetrators. The perpetrators were all-male youth and middle-aged adults employed in low-income status occupations. Defilement was the most reported sexual offence; the survivors were more likely to come from single-parent families experiencing poverty and economic hardship. The perpetrators employed multiple methods to coerce and elicit compliance from their victims: confidence approaches, violence (blitz methods) and gifts. content analysis showed that most of the survivors attributed their victimisation to family poverty and dysfunctional parent-child relationships. These findings underscore the need to develop prevention strategies that empower young women and males to identify, escape or avoid (potential) sexual predators and encourage reporting and disclosure of CSA victimization to formal support institutions.

Source: UG
Child Sexual Abuse: Parents Perspectives In The Accra Metropolis

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is one of the major threats to child survival. The concept of primary child sexual prevention is now being advocated by Child protection advocates. This study explored the perspective of parents on child sexual abuse prevention in the Accra Metropolis, using the ecological model as an organizing framework. A qualitative exploratory design was used to elicit responses from fifteen parents in Child protection Unit of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. Each participant was interviewed for 30 minutes to one hour using a semi structured interview guide. All interviews were audiotaped with permission from the participants and transcribed verbatim. Thematic content analysis was used to analyze the data. Results from the analyses indicated that, the participants were able to discover four main types of sexual abuse in the study, the shared experiences of the parents ranged from absolute shock to thoughts of killing the abuser. Though some of the participants had assumed that their children were safe from child sexual abuse and probably too young to understand or appreciate sex education and the existence of the child sexual abuse phenomenon, almost all the participants have come to the realization after the sexual abuse incidence. Educating their children on child sexual abuse prevention became their priority. The active involvement of religious organizations was a strong recommendation in preventing child sexual abuse. Following the incidence of CSA, the participants admitted to adopting various coping strategies in dealing with the impact of the CSA on their children including out of court settlements, counselling and spiritual support, legal redress and family support. It was evident that, most parents lacked the skills sets in talking to their children on their sexual organs and adopted various names to refer to them. Some also did not know how to preserve exhibits to enhance their case in court. Some participants strongly advocated that, parents should endeavor to bond with their children more closely and spend time with them. Furthermore, monitoring and controlling the programmes children watch on television will greatly assist in preventing child sexual abuse. Finally, the role of the Police Service as well as the Judicial Service in the dispensation of Justice was recommended. These findings have implications for nursing education, nursing practice, future research and policy formulation.

Source: UG
The child survival impact of the Ghana Essential Health Interventions Program: A health systems strengthening plausibility trial in Northern Ghana

Background The Ghana Health Service in collaboration with partner institutions implemented a five-year primary health systems strengthening program known as the Ghana Essential Health Intervention Program (GEHIP). GEHIP was a plausibility trial implemented in an impoverished region of northern Ghana around the World Health Organizations (WHO) six pillars combined with community engagement, leadership development and grassroots political support, the program organized a program of training and action focused on strategies for saving newborn lives and community-engaged emergency referral services. This paper analyzes the effect of the GEHIP program on child survival. Methods Birth history data assembled from baseline and endline surveys are used to assess the hazard of child mortality in GEHIP treatment and comparison areas prior to and after the start of treatment. Difference-in-differences (DiD) methods are used to compare mortality change over time among children exposed to GEHIP relative to children in the comparison area over the same time period. Models test the hypothesis that a package of systems strengthening activities improved childhood survival. Models adjusted for the potentially confounding effects of baseline differentials, secular mortality trends, household characteristics such as relative wealth and parental educational attainment, and geographic accessibility of clinical care. Results The GEHIP combination of health systems strengthening activities reduced neonatal mortality by approximately one half (HR = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.28,0.98, p = 0.045). There was a nullincremental effect of GEHIP on mortality of post-neonate infants (from 1 to 12 months old) (HR = 0.72; 95% CI = 0.30,1.79; p = 0.480) and post-infants (from 1 year to 5 years old) -(HR = 1.02; 95% CI = 0.55–1.90; p = 0.940). Age-specific analyses show that impact was concentrated among neonates. However, effect ratios for post-infancy were inefficiently assessed owing to extensive survival history censoring for the later months of childhood. Children were observed only rarely for periods over 40 months of age. Conclusion GEHIP results show that a comprehensive approach to newborn care is feasible, if care is augmented by community-based nurses. It supports the assertion that if appropriate mechanisms are put in place to enable the various pillars of the health system as espoused by WHO in rural impoverished settings where childhood mortality is high, it could lead to accelerated reductions in mortality thereby increasing survival of children. Policy implications of the pronounced neonatal effect of GEHIP merit national review for possible scale-up.

Source: UG
Child Training at Odorkor

This essay Child Training in Odorkor is the product of an investigation I conducted in that area. The aim of this investigation is to find out how the inhabitants of the village train their children who are going to be the future generation of the village. The contents of this essay was collected from the inhabitants of the village. The chief Nii Tawia provided the history of the place, Madam Akofia Abekan a fetish priestess and also a native midwife, Madam Dora Koranteng, Akunye. Ataa Awudu and other parents were other informants. I had talks with adolescent boys and girls and children whom I watched at work and play. This essay mainly describes how the children of Odorkor are trained and only in the conclusion have I given my own opinions

Source: UG
Child Training in Agogo

This essay is written about Child Training in Agogo. Place is a village in the Ashanti Akim District on the northern side of Kumasi about forty miles from the latter. A1so, it is eighteen miles away from konongo, a gold mining town on The Accra-Kumasi Railway line. Agogo is situated on the kintampo-Xoforidua range of mountains and thus its climate is the village is more or less surrounded by hil18 and, there is a clear view of it obtainable from the Government Rest house on one of these hills, on the northern side.

Source: UG
Child Training in Agomenya

The original home of the Adangmes is said to have been at same, an island south of the River Niger, locally known as Ogun, After wandering in the Yoruba Country and at Dahomey, they were eventually crossed the Volta at Hume. In crossing they were helped by ''Agorkpa'' whom they alleged to be a man but traditional meaning being 'the truck of the Agor Palm.

Source: UG
Child training in an African Society, Vakpo, Togoland under U.K.I, West Africa

Historical Background: Vakpo, a village in British Togoland, is situated ten miles South of Kpandu on the Accra-Kete Krachi road, the people .of Vakpo were among the group of people, who once settled at Notsie, about three hundred years ago. The town of Notsie was situated between Lome and Atakpame and the present position in the French territory is still believed to be the old site of this ancient town. Because of ' incessant invasions of their territory by neighbouring peoples and resulting warfane , the Ewes built a strong wall of eight feet high and three feet wide round Notsie. Visitors to the present town of Notsie say that the remains of the wall still stand up to the present day. These Ewes,who lived at Notsie, had a cruel chief. He ruled h is people badly. I.t is said that this chief Agokoli" ordered all the old men to be killed so that he could .have his own way in ruling his people •. At one time too, he asked the people to use clay in making a long rope. The Ewes did not know what to do about this re quest and 60 they decided to ask the chief to give them a specimen. A delegation was accordingly sent to the chief. Ohief Agokoli regarded this move as an act of insubordination on the part of his people and so flamed up in rage. He therefore tightened up his reins of government and treated the people so cruelly that many of the divisions decided to run away and found their own settlements.

Source: UG
Child Training in Apam

Apam is bounded on the North by Gomua Assin, on the South by the Atlantic Ocean, on the East by Efutu Along the sea-board it is about three miles from Mumford and about nine miles from Winneba. Tradition has it that the original settlers of Apam were the Kpeshi tribe, and Apam was named after the Sekumo Lagoon. They were forced to desert this area by invading forces of Fantis from the West. This is said to have taken place during the 15th century.

Source: UG