ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Multi-TheoryModel and Predictors of Likelihood of Accepting the Series of HPV Vaccination: A Cross-Sectional Study among Ghanaian Adolescents

HPV vaccines are e cacious in preventing HPV related cancers. However, the vaccination uptake in Ghana is very low. Studies that utilize theoretical frameworks to identify contributory factors to HPV vaccination uptake in Ghana are understudied. We used multi-theory model (MTM) constructs to predict initiation and completion of HPV vaccination series in Ghanaian adolescents. Adolescents (n = 285) between the ages of 12 and 17 years old were recruited from four selected schools in Ghana to participate in the cross-sectional study. Linear regressions were used to analyze the data. Most participants were female (91.2%) and senior high school students (60.0%). Many of the participants had neither heard about HPV (92.3%) nor HPV vaccinations (95.4%). Significant predictors of adolescents’ likelihood of getting the first dose of HPV vaccination were perceived beliefs and change in a physical environment (p < 0.001), with each variable accounting for 6.1%and 8.8% of the variance respectively. Significant predictors of adolescents’ likelihood of completing HPV vaccination recommended series were perceived beliefs, practice for change, and emotional transformation (p < 0.001), with each variable accounting for 7.8%, 8.1%, and 1.1% of the variance respectively. Findings underscore important opportunities for developing educational interventions for adolescents in Ghana to increase the HPV vaccination uptake.

Source: UG
A multicenter evaluation of diagnostic tools to define endpoints for programs to eliminate bancroftian filariasis

The Department of Parasitology conducts research into parasitic diseases of public health importance with the overall goal of reducing their transmission and the heavy disease burden that they impose on affected populations. The Department maintains focus on parasitic diseases in general. These include major diseases such as malaria, and others listed under the Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTD) control initiative such as, lymphatic filariasis, onchocerciasis, schistosomiasis, soil-transmitted helminthiasis, trypanosomiasis and leishmaniasis.

Source: UG
Multicentre studies of insecticide-treated durable wall lining in Africa and South-East Asia: Entomological efficacy and household acceptability during one year of field use

The Epidemiology Department contributes to the mission of the institute through basic and applied epidemiological research on, but not limited to, malaria and other diseases of public health importance. It is also home to the Social Science Unit of the Institute, including the Health Support Centre for HIV/AIDS and other communicable and noncommunicable health problems.

Source: UG
Multicomponent Photocatalytic-Dispersant System for Oil Spill Remediation

In the present work, the potential application of a fabricated halloysite nanotubes-Ag-TiO2 (HNT-Ag-TiO2) compo site loaded with a binary surfactant mixture made up of lecithin and Tween 80 (LT80) in remediating oil spillages was examined. The as-prepared Ag-TiO2 that was used in the fabrication of the HNT-Ag-TiO2-LT80 composite was characterized by X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, UV−vis and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, CV analyses, and SEM-EDX. The synthesized composite was also characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The synthesized composite was active in both the UV and visible light regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The oil-remediating potential of the as-prepared composite was examined on crude oil, and aromatics and asphaltene fractions of crude oil. The composite was able to reduce the surface tension, form stable emulsions and smaller oil droplet sizes, and achieve a high dispersion effectiveness of 91.5%. A mixture of each of the crude oil and its fractions and HNT-Ag-TiO2-LT80 was subjected to photodegradation under UV light irradiation. The results from the GC-MS and UV−vis analysis of the photodegraded crude oil revealed that the photocatal composite was able to photodegrade the crude oil, aromatics, and asphaltene fractions of crude oil with the formation of intermediate photodegradation products depicting that the HNT-Ag-TiO2-LT80 has a potential as an oil spill remediation material.

Source: UG
Multidimensional Child Poverty in Ghana: Measurements, Determinants, and Inequalities

Early childhood deprivations and inequalities have social and economic implications in adulthood and thus, their elimination is essential for child development. However, child-level estimates of poverty are rare in low income countries. Using data from two recent rounds of the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, we measure the extent and sources of childhood deprivations in Ghana and examine subgroup differentials in child poverty. In addition, we examine the child quality-quantity by estimating the causal relationship between number of children and child poverty. Finally, we assess the sources of rural-urban inequalities in child poverty. We find that despite declining incidence and intensity of multidimensional child poverty, significant subgroup differentials persist in Ghana. The findings of the paper reveal that living standards is the main contributor to multidimensional poverty in early childhood in Ghana. Our findings also confirm a significant causal relationship between child quality and quantity in Ghana, there exist a positive relationship between the number of children and the intensity of child poverty in Ghana. Finally, we find that rural-urban inequalities in child multidimensional poverty in Ghana are attributable to differences in observed maternal and household characteristics between rural and urban areas. The persistence of subgroup disparities in child poverty may be detrimental to achieving equitable and inclusive growth in the country. There is the need for considerations of equity, fairness and social justice in the distribution and development of social services and economic infrastructure to ensure even distribution of social and economic opportunities and promote social mobility across groups.

Source: UG
Multidisciplinary care results in similar maternal and perinatal mortality rates for women with and without SCD in a low-resource setting

In Africa, the maternal mortality rate in sickle cell disease (SCD) is ~10%. Our team previously demonstrated an 89% decrease in mortality rate in a before-and-after feasibility study among women with SCD living in low-resource setting in Ghana. In the same cohort including additional participants with and without SCD, we used a prospective cohort design to test the hypothesis that implementing a multidisciplinary care team for pregnant women with SCD in low-resource setting will result in similar maternal and perinatal mortality rates compared to women without SCD. We prospectively enrolled pregnant women with and without SCD or trait and followed them up for 6-week postpartum. We tested the newborns of mothers with SCD for SCD. We recruited age and parity matched pregnant women without SCD or trait as the comparison group. Maternal and perinatal mortality rates were the primary outcomes. A total of 149 pregnant women with SCD (HbSS, 54; HbSC, 95) and 117 pregnant women without SCD or trait were included in the analysis. Post-intervention, maternal mortality rates were 1.3% and 0.9% in women with and without SCD, respectively (P = 1.00); the perinatal mortality rates were 7.4% and 3.4% for women with and without SCD, respectively (P = 0.164). Among the mothers with SCD, ~15% of newborns had SCD. Multidisciplinary care of pregnant women with SCD may reduce maternal and perinatal mortality rates to similar levels in pregnant women without SCD in low-resource settings. Newborns of mothers with SCD have a high rate of SCD.

Source: UG
Multidrug Resistant Enteric Bacterial Pathogens in a Psychiatric Hospital in Ghana: Implications for Control of Nosocomial Infections

Enteric bacteria are commonly implicated in hospital-acquired or nosocomial infections. In Ghana, these infections constitute an important public health problem but little is known about their contribution to antibiotic resistance. The aim of the study was to determine the extent and pattern of antibiotic resistance of enteric bacteria isolated from patients and environmental sources at the Accra Psychiatric Hospital. A total of 265 samples were collected from the study site including 142 stool and 82 urine samples from patients, 7 swab samples of door handle, and 3 samples of drinking water. Enteric bacteria were isolated using standard microbiological methods. Antibiograms of the isolates were determined using the disc diffusion method. Overall, 232 enteric bacteria were isolated. Escherichia coli was the most common (38.3%), followed by Proteus (19.8%), Klebsiella (17.7%), Citrobacter (14.7%), Morganella (8.2%), and Pseudomonas (1.3%). All isolates were resistant to ampicillin but sensitive to cefotaxime. The resistance ranged from 15.5% to 84.5%. Multidrug resistance was most prevalent (100%) among isolates of Proteus and Morganella and least prevalent among isolates of Pseudomonas (33.3%). Multidrug resistance among enteric bacteria at the study hospital is high and hence there is a need for screening before therapy to ensure prudent use of antibiotics. © 2017 Kwabena O. Duedu et al.

Source: UG
Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria on the Mobile Phones and Computer Keyboards of Healthcare University Students in Ghana

Globally, mobile phones and computers (laptops and desktops) are indispensable part of human lives for communication, entertainment, and educational purposes. However, there are concerns about the increasing risk of bacterial contamination and antibiotic resistant trends from the surfaces of these devices. ,is study aims to assess bacterial contamination of mobile phones and computer keyboards and their resistant profile at the University of Ghana, Korle-Bu Campus, Accra. ,is was a cross sectional study conducted from March to June 2017 with 240 swabs collected from the surfaces of mobile phones and computer keyboards used by healthcare students. Swabs were cultured on MacConkey, blood, and mannitol salt agar. Bacteria identification was performed with a standard bacteriological method. A total of 91 bacterial isolates were obtained from the devices, and they were tested against 9 commonly used antibiotics by the Kirby–Bauer disc method. ,e study revealed mobile phones and computer keyboards had contamination levels of 83.3% and 43.3%. Bacteria isolated included Staphylococcus epidermidis (25.4%), Klebsiella spp. (12.9%), Staphylococcus aureus (9.2%), Escherichia coli (6.7%), Pseudomonas spp. (5.4%), Enterobacter cloacae (2.1%), and Enterobacter spp. (1.7%). Overall, 91 bacterial isolates were highly resistant to ampicillin (96.7%) and tetracycline (75.8%) and moderately resistant to chloramphenicol (49.5%) with lower resistance to cefotaxime (18.7%), ceftadizime (14.2%), ciprofloxacin (25.3%), and gentamycin (24.7%). Additionally, 45.1% of isolates were multidrug resistant. Findings from this study revealed mobile phones and computer keyboards of healthcare students in the university were contaminated with pathogenic bacteria. Hence, frequent hand hygiene and disinfection of mobile phones and computer keyboard surfaces is encouraged to minimize the spread of resistant bacteria pathogens.

Source: UG
Multidrug-Resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae Isolates from Healthy Ghanaian Preschool Children

Streptococcus pneumoniae is the cause of high mortality among children worldwide. Antimicrobial treatment and vaccination are used to control pneumococcal infections. In Ghana, data on antimicrobial resistance and the prevalence of multidrug-resistant pneumococcal clones are scarce; hence, the aim of this study was to determine the antibiogram of S. pneumoniae recovered from Ghanaian children younger than six years of age and to what extent resistances were due to the spread of certain sero- and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) types. The susceptibility of 115 pneumococcal isolates, recovered in a previous study, to six antimicrobials was determined by disk diffusion test. Overall, 90.4% of isolates were intermediate penicillin resistant, 99.1% were trimethoprim resistant, 73.0% were tetracycline resistant, and 33.9% were sulfamethoxazole resistant. Low resistance was recorded for erythromycin (2.6%) and cefotaxime (5.2%). Overall, 72.2% of isolates were resistant to penicillin (I or R) and at least two other antimicrobials. MLST of 20 isolates showing resistance to at least four antimicrobials revealed a high diversity documented by 16 different clones, none of which had previously been associated with multidrug resistance. The resistances found may have emerged due to nonprudent antimicrobial use practices and there is a need to monitor and promote prudent antimicrobial usage in Ghana.

Source: UG
Multienvironment Evaluation of Tannin-Free Photoperiod-Insensitive Sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench) for Yield and Resistance to Grain Mold in Senegal

Combining resistance to grain mold with high grain yield in tannin-free white-grained photoperiod-insensitive sorghum is of major interest for farmers in Senegal. In this study, GGE biplot analysis was used to assess the performance, adaptability, and stability of eleven sorghum parental lines and their hybrid combinations for yield and grain mold resistance under Senegalese environments. Eleven inbred lines along with their 22 hybrid combinations and one check were evaluated across three sites during the 2015 and 2016 rainy seasons under natural grain mold infestation. (e results of this study showed strong genetic variability among studied genotypes for all measured traits. (e highly significant G× E interaction effects for grain yield and panicle grain mold rating score (PGMR) indicated that both traits are influenced by genetics and to some extent by environment. Broad-sense heritability computed was high for all these traits except PGMR, showing a high environmental pressure on this later. (e study showed that grain mold pressure in the studied sites decreased following a South-North gradient similar to the rainfall pattern, with the south region wetter, explaining the high disease pressure in Darou and Sinthiou Maleme contrary to Bambey. (e GGE biplot analysis performed showed that the first two principal components explained 85.84% of the total variation of GGE sum of squares for grain yield. (e which won-where view of the GGE biplot for grain yield showed that the hybrid HB16 was the most adapted for Bambey area. (e ranking of genotypes based on both yield performance and stability showed that HB16, HB5, HB21, HB18, and HB7 were the best hybrids combining high grain yield, high stability performance, and tolerance to grain mold disease across the test environments. (These hybrids outperformed the best yielding inbred line P29 (2196.7 kg ha−1 ) with grain yield advantages ranging 17–60%. (erefore, these hybrids could be recommended to farmers in order to improve sorghum yield in Senegal.

Source: UG
A Multilevel Analysis of Regressors of Access to Improved Drinking Water and Sanitation Facilities in Ghana

People’s access to quality water and sanitation resources significantly improves their health. Using the 2014 Ghana DHS dataset, multilevel robust Poisson regression modelling was performed to investigate the factors that enhance Ghanaian households’ access to improved sources of drinking water and toilet facilities. The results indicated that household head and household socioeconomic factors have significant effects on access to improved sources of drinking water and toilet facilities, and this varies from one community of residence to another. The following households had a higher probability of having access to improved sources of drinking water: female-headed households, households with heads who had at least attained middle-school-level education, urban households, and nonpoorest households. Correspondingly, the following households were more likely to have access to improved toilet facilities: female-headed households had a higher chance of access, as well as those whose heads had at least middle-school-level education, were at least 35 years old, or were currently married, rural households, households with a minimum of seven members, and households who attained at least middle wealth status. In their efforts to increase citizens’ access to improved water and sanitation facilities, the government and other development organizations should develop citizens’ wealth-creation capacities and enable their attainment of formal education.

Source: UG
Multilevel Modeling of Factors that Influence Mathematics Achievement in Ghana: A Secondary Analysis of TIMSS 2007 and 2011

The purpose of this study was to examine which student, teacher, and principal variables best explained the performance of the population of Grade 8 students in Ghana. This study was necessitated by the consistent low performance of Ghana's grade eight students in TIMSS since 2003. Ghana, as a country, ranked second last, second last, and last for the 2003, 2007, and 2011 TIMSS assessments. A probability sample of Grade 8 students in a probability sample of schools participated in the TIMSS 2007 (5,294 students nested within 162 schools) and 2011 (7,323 students nested within 160 schools). The students responded to the mathematics achievement test for which a matrix item and student matrix sampling design was used. The students, teachers, and principals responded to their respective questionnaires. Since the students were selected from classes that were nested within schools, HLM analyses were used to analyze the data. However, only one class was selected from each school in each year. Consequently, 2-level HLM analyses were conducted. Prior to the analyses, the maximum likelihood with expectation maximization (EM) algorithm was employed to replace all the missing values at both the student level and teacher/principal level for both 2007 and 2011,and exploratory factor analyses conducted for clusters of similar items in the three questionnaires to reduce the number of predictor variables. The final numbers of variables were 40 student and 40 teacher/principal variables in 2007, and 15 student and 37 teacher/principal variables in 2011. The final parsimonious HLM model contained 20 student variables and five teacher/principal variables which accounted for 27% of the student variance and 51 % of the teacher/principal variance in 2007; the corresponding numbers for 2011 were nine, seven, 20%, and 54%. The change in the number of variables in the final models for the two years is due to changes made in the questionnaires. These changes precluded comparing the 2007 and 2011 results other than to say the variance explained at the student level and at the teacher/principal level were similar in each year (approximately 20% at the student level and 54% at the teacher/principal level). Taken together, it was concluded that lack of proper preparation of teachers in rural areas, questionable school climate and safety, emphasis on lower rather than higher thinking skills, inconsistent use of homework, failure to engage students in their learning, lack of progress of girls, lack of students' interest and confidence in mathematics, and students' lower educational aspiration contributed to Ghana's low performance on the TIMSS 2007 and 2011 assessments. Implications for practice and recommendations for research are provided.

Source: UG
Multilingual family. - Letunk, Novisaad (Sarbia)

Mother tongue, first language or native language? In English these are the terminologies used for the Hungarian word “anayanyelv”. In Hungarian, mother tongue, first language and native language describe the same thing in most cases. In a multilingual family the languages can characterize both the father’s and mother’s country. Through a language one can study the culture and tradition of a nation, as well as his or her own family. A child who knows both the father’s and mother’s languages may have two “motherlands’. This can expand his or her understanding of the world and their international social interactions, especially in situations where the parents come from different continents. In this article we assess a Ghanaian-Hungarian family where the children can speak three languages paying attention to the advantage and disadvantages of multilingualism in such families. We also stress on the efforts needed to raise children in multilingual families.

Source: UG
Multilingual validation of the questionnaire for verifying stroke-free status in West Africa

Background and Purpose - The Questionnaire for Verifying Stroke-Free Status (QVSFS), a method for verifying stroke-free status in participants of clinical, epidemiological, and genetic studies, has not been validated in low-income settings where populations have limited knowledge of stroke symptoms. We aimed to validate QVSFS in 3 languages, Yoruba, Hausa and Akan, for ascertainment of stroke-free status of control subjects enrolled in an on-going stroke epidemiological study in West Africa. Methods - Data were collected using a cross-sectional study design where 384 participants were consecutively recruited from neurology and general medicine clinics of 5 tertiary referral hospitals in Nigeria and Ghana. Ascertainment of stroke status was by neurologists using structured neurological examination, review of case records, and neuroimaging (gold standard). Relative performance of QVSFS without and with pictures of stroke symptoms (pictograms) was assessed using sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value. Results - The overall median age of the study participants was 54 years and 48.4% were males. Of 165 stroke cases identified by gold standard, 98% were determined to have had stroke, whereas of 219 without stroke 87% were determined to be stroke-free by QVSFS. Negative predictive value of the QVSFS across the 3 languages was 0.97 (range, 0.93-1.00), sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value were 0.98, 0.82, and 0.80, respectively. Agreement between the questionnaire with and without the pictogram was excellent/strong with Cohen k=0.92. Conclusions - QVSFS is a valid tool for verifying stroke-free status across culturally diverse populations in West Africa. © 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.

Source: UG
Multilingualism and language policies in the African context: lessons from Ghana

Africa is a highly multilingual continent; the languages are diverse and numerous. Even though Maho ( 2004) suggests that there are 1441 languages in Africa, Simons and Fennig ( 2018) have a much higher fi gure of 2143 living languages. They suggest that 198 of the languages are institutional, 538 are developing, while 1018 are vigorous. 255 of the languages can be categorized as in trouble, and 134 are dying. It is clear, given the number of languages in active use, that multilingualism is rife on the continent. The multilingual situation in Africa has often been viewed as the premise for disunity and an impediment to development. This situation provided the premise for the ‘ Against All Odds ’ Asmara Declaration on African languages and the subsequent celebra- tion of the International Year of Languages with the Bamako International Forum on Mul- tilingualism by the Academy of African Languages in 2009. In spite of these e ff orts, Africa still struggles with the process of unearthing its head from the proverbial sand into which it is buried, in relation to acknowledging that multilingualism, if properly harnessed, is a blessing rather than a curse. De fi nitions of multilingualism are still very much strapped to the idea of languages as autonomous units because these enable us to concentrate on the broad politics of ethnolinguistic di ff erence and diversity within the nation-states. Trudell ’ s (2009) plenary in Bamako provided the impetus for a continued discussion on what multi- lingualism entailed and its prospects for the continent.

Source: UG