ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Canonical discriminant analysis of Rotylenchulus reniformis in Alabama

The reniform nematode, Rotylenchulus reniformis, infests over 300 plant species worldwide and over the last two decades it has emerged as a major cotton pest in the southeastern United States. Nine locations in Alabama and one location in Mississippi were selected for study of R. reniformis. Thirteen morphometric measurements were made on 20 male and 20 female nematodes from each population. The sex and location interaction was significant (P < 0.005) for all traits except total body length (P = 0.29) and the derived ratio trait a (body length / maximum body width, P = 0.06). Canonical discriminant analysis effectively separated the 10 sampling locations into three distinct groups; among them, Group 1 and 3 were distinct with an intermediate group (Group 2) differentiating in the middle. Furthermore, both female and male R. reniformis based on the morphometrics measured here adhered to this metrics-based grouping. Belle Mina (Limestone County, AL), Huxford (Escambia County, AL), and Mississippi State University, MSU (Oktibbeha County, MS) locations were separated from the remaining seven locations based on the large positive CAN1 centroid means. Eight out of 13 traits had high phenotypic correlations (r > 0.80) with CAN 1 for both sexes. Anal width and length of the hyaline portion of the tail measurement accounted for a significant amount (r > 80%) of the variation in total and sex-based canonical structure. Occurrence of the three non-overlapping morphometric groups in cotton-growing fields in close proximity (250 mile radius) suggests a greater biological variation in this species than expected. Cotton cultivars with differential resistance and soil types are among the major factors to be tested for further delineating the causes of morphometric variation in R. reniformis.

Source: UG
Capacity assessment of selected health care facilities for the pilot implementation of Package for Essential Non-communicable Diseases (PEN) intervention in Ghana

INTRODUCTION: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) continue to pose threats to human health and development worldwide. Though preventable, NCDs kill more people annually than all other diseases combined. The four major NCDs namely cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes and cancers share common modifiable risk factors. In order to prevent and control NCDs, Ghana has adopted the World Health Organisation Package for Essential NCD (WHO-PEN) intervention, to be piloted in selected districts before a nationwide scale-up. We assessed the capacity of these facilities for the implementation of the WHO-PEN pilot.METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional health facility-based survey using a multistage sampling technique. We collected data on human resource, equipment, service utilization, medicines availability and health financing through interviews and observation. Descriptive data analysis was performed and expressed in frequencies and relative frequencies.RESULTS: In all, 23 health facilities comprising two regional hospitals, three district hospitals, nine health centres and nine Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) compounds from three regions were surveyed. All the hospitals had medical officers whilst 4 (44.4%) of the health centres had physician assistants. Health financing is mainly by the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). None of the health facilities had spacers and only one health centre had oxygen cylinder, glucometer and nebulizer.CONCLUSION: Gaps exist in the human resource capacity and service delivery at the primary care levels, the focus of WHO-PEN intervention. Adequately equipping the primary health care level with trained health workers, basic equipment, medications and diagnostics will optimize the performance of WHO-PEN intervention when implemented.

Source: UG
Capacity building for implementation research: a methodology for advancing health research and practice

Background Implementation research is increasingly being recognised as an important discipline seeking to maximise the benefits of evidence-based interventions. Although capacity-building efforts are ongoing, there has been limited attention on the contextual and health system peculiarities in low- and middle-income countries. Moreover, given the challenges encountered during the implementation of health interventions, the field of implementation research requires a creative attempt to build expertise for health researchers and practitioners simultaneously. With support from the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, we have developed an implementation research short course that targets both researchers and practitioners. This paper seeks to explain the course development processes and report on training evaluations, highlighting its relevance for inter-institutional and inter-regional capacity strengthening. Methods The development of the implementation research course curriculum was categorised into four phases, namely the formation of a core curriculum development team, course content development, internal reviews and pilot, and external reviews and evaluations. Five modules were developed covering Introduction to implementation research, Methods in implementation research, Ethics and quality management in implementation research, Community and stakeholder engagement, and Dissemination in implementation research. Course evaluations were conducted using developed tools measuring participants’ reactions and learning. Results From 2016 to 2018, the IR curriculum has been used to train a total of 165 researchers and practitioners predominantly from African countries, the majority of whom are males (57%) and researchers/academics (79.4%). Participants generally gave positive ratings (e.g. integration of concepts) for their reactions to the training. Under ‘learnings’, participants indicated improvement in their knowledge in areas such as identification of implementation research problems and questions. Conclusion The approach for training both researchers and practitioners offers a dynamic opportunity for the acquisition and sharing of knowledge for both categories of learners. This approach was crucial in demonstrating a key characteristic of implementation research (e.g. multidisciplinary) practically evident during the training sessions. Using such a model to effectively train participants from various low- and middle-income countries shows the opportunities this training curriculum offers as a capacity-building tool.

Source: UG
Capacity building through comprehensive implementation research training and mentorship: an approach for translating knowledge into practice

Abstract Background Implementation research (IR) is increasingly gaining popularity as the act of carrying an intention into effect. It is thus an important approach to addressing individual practices, policies, programmes and other technologies to solving public health problems. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) continue to experience public health problems which could be addressed using implementation research. These countries however fall behind prioritizing implementation research due to the disorganized approach used to providing knowledge about the value and scope of implementation research. This paper seeks to explain steps taken to resolve this by capacity strengthening activities through a comprehensive implementation research training and mentorship programme which was informed by needs assessment. Methods The roll-out of the comprehensive implementation research training and mentorship was done in phases, including engaging the implementation research community through TDR Global, competency building for programme officers and ethical review board/committee members, and practical guidance to develop an implementation research proposal. The Bloom taxonomy guided the training whilst the Kirkpatrick Model was used for the evaluation of the effectiveness of the capacity building. Results The findings identified critical areas of mentors and how mentorship should be structured and the most effective ways of delivering mentorship. These findings were used to develop a mentorship guide in IR. The mentorship guidance is to be used as a check-tool for mentoring participants during trainings as part of the package of resources in implementation research. It is also to be used in equipping review board members with knowledge on ethical issues in implementation research. Conclusion The approach for providing comprehensive implementation research training and mentorship for programme personnel has provided an opportunity for both potential mentors and mentees to make inputs

Source: UG
Capacity constraints on local government environmental policies in Ghana

This book examines how different countries define and address environmental issues, specifically in relation to intergovernmental relations: the creation of institutions, the assignment of powers, and the success of alternative solutions. It also investigates whether a systemic view of the environment has influenced the policy-making process. The broad perspective adopted includes a detailed analysis of seventeen countries in six continents by scholars from a range of disciplines – economics, political science, environmental science and law – thus producing novel material that moves away from the conventional treatment of decentralisation and the environment in economic literature.

Source: UG
Capacity for optimal performance of healthcare supply chain functions: competency, structural and resource gaps in the Northern Region of Ghana

Purpose – The study drew on capacity framework around the individual, organisational, health system and wider context to explore gaps in health supply chain (HSC) workers capacity and competency to perform supply chain (SC) functions and the lessons for workforce development. Design/methodology/approach – A mixed-method study was conducted across the Northern Region of Ghana. Qualitative data were collected from in-depth interviews with 34 key SC managers at the regional, district and facility levels. A semi-structured questionnaire was administered through the RedCap mobile app to 233 core HSC workers and non-core workers (clinicians with additional responsibilities in SC). Data were managed and analysed inductively and deductively for themes. Findings – Weak knowledge and competency in SC functions attributed to poor training exposure and organisational support for capacity building, undermined the capacity to perform basic SC functions, especially by the non-core category. The policy and regulatory environment of the HSC marketplace were described as fluid and with complexity of demands. Both worker categories, therefore, requested functional, technical, managerial and customer care competencies to anticipate and manage complexities. Structural characteristics of the health system giving narrow decision space to HSC workers cascaded the capacity for innovation and initiative and promoted frustrations among mid-level managers. Infrastructural deficits and shortfalls in operational resources scaled back the capacity to efficiently manage inventory and ensure that commodities reach clients in good quality

Source: UG
Capacity for scaling up nutrition: a focus on pre-service training in West Africa and a Ghanaian case study.

The 2013 Lancet series on maternal and child nutrition is identified and advocated for improved institutional and human capacity in nutrition towards scaling up nutrition (SUN) in countries with high stunting rates. Of the fifty-four countries with high burden of child undernutrition who have committed to the SUN movement, thirty-six are in Africa. In the present paper, the academic platform of the SUN movement in Ghana presents an overview of nutrition pre-service capacity in West Africa with a focus on Ghana. The present paper is based on the findings of a sub-region-wide assessment of degree programmes in nutrition in West Africa, plus another report on pre-service nutrition capacity in diploma awarding nursing and nutrition programmes in Ghana. Although there is inadequate evidence on pre-service nutrition training in the sub-region, the two reports provide useful evidence for action, including inadequate number and distribution of pre-service nutrition training programmes, low nutrition graduate output, poor quality of the programme curriculum and instruction, and sub-optimal capital investment. The present paper calls for urgent action to improve pre-service nutrition capacity building as a critical step towards SUN in West Africa.

Source: UG
Capacity issues in primary health care implementation: examples from Ghana

Abstract Purpose – Resources as well as the capacity to employ them judiciously may well be the key to the attainment of the SDGs and other related health goals through primary health care (PHC). Within this PHC framework, however, the source of resources for PHC as well as the systems for managing these associated resources remain unclear, complex and lack substantive integration systems of implementing ministries, departments and agencies (both local and international) in Ghana. These issues are addressed by this study. Design/methodology/approach – The framework approach to thematic analysis was used to analyse qualitative data collected from key PHC managers in Ghana selected purposively from the national, regional and district levels. Data were collected through in-depth interviews specially designed in line with the study objectives. The study was also governed by the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research which provided ethical clearance for the study. Findings – As per Alma Ata’s recommendation, PHC in its purest form is a resource dense activity with farreaching implications on individuals and communities. Without adequate resources, PHC implementation remained merely on paper. Findings show that the key capacities required for PHC implementation were finance, human resource, technology and logistics. While significant cases of shortages and inadequacies were evident, management and maintenance of these capacities appeared to be another significant determinant of PHC implementation. Additionally, the poor allocation, distribution and sustainability of these capacities had a negative effect on PHC outcomes with more resources being concentrated in capital towns than in rural areas. Research limitations/implications – This study has significant implications on the way PHC is seen, implemented and assessed not in Ghana but in other developing countries. In addition to examining the nature and extent of capacities required for PHC implementation, it gives significant pathways on how limited resources, when properly managed, may catalyse the attainment of the PHC goals. Subsequently, PHC implementation will profit from stakeholder attention and further research into practical ways of ensuring efficiency in the allocation, distribution and management of resources especially considering the limited resources available and the budding constraints associated with the dependency on external stakeholders for PHC implementation. Originality/value – This study is part of a series on PHC implementation in Ghana. Quite apart from putting core implementation issues into perspective, it presents first-hand information on Ghana’s PHC implementation journey and is thus relevant for researchers, students, practitioners and the wider public. Keywords Developing countries, Community based interventions, Primary health care Paper type Research paper

Source: UG
Capital structure and firm performance: Agency theory application to Mediterranean aquaculture firms

The study uses firm level panel data to determine performance-leverage relationships among Mediterranean aquaculture production firms in Croatia, Italy, Spain, France and Greece. A stochastic frontier production function is used to determine and define performance through firm level efficiency estimates. The multilevel internal instrument variable approach is employed to identify the causal relationships between performance and leverage. Our results show that technical efficiency has been increasing across all firms over the period 2008–2016. The agency-cost hypothesis holds such that lever age has an inverted U-shaped relationship with performance. This implies that leverage increases with efficiency, but efficiency begins to decrease at sufficiently higher levels of lever age. The reverse relationship confirms the franchise-value hypothesis, which states that firms with high efficiency will try to protect the value of their high income by holding more equity capital. Implications for the results are drawn for the Mediterranean region.

Source: UG
Capital, Class, and Belonging in Africa

Beginning in the late 1950’s, independent African states like other ex-colonized societies in the rest of the Third World, embarked on state-led social provisioning to mitigate the systematic deprivation wrought by colonialism and to meet what Paul Zeleza calls the triple promise of independence – decolonization, democracy and development. With varying degree, the immediate post-colonial state in Africa took on the provision of education, healthcare, water, public transportation and employment through the establishment of import substitution industries (ISIs). The ISIs were established and or capitalized with loans from International Finance institutions (IFIs) - principally the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). A host of structural inequalities - from unequal terms of trade to lopsided international and local power arrangements meant that many of the ISIs were in crisis by the middle of the 1970’s. Having incurred large amounts of debt and larger debt servicing costs, many African states again turned to the IFIs for further loans. In return, they were forced to undergo severe cuts to crucial public services like education and healthcare and privatize strategic state owned enterprises and parastatals. The cumulative social outcome was mass impoverishment and the reversals of gains against preventable diseases and illiteracy. Consequently, the informal sector experienced a boom as a source of livelihood. Migration to neighbouring countries and those far afield became commonplace. In the context of state withdrawal from social provisioning, those in power increasingly adopted a posture of help relative to ordinary people. Prior-existing and new lines of social demarcations were heightened in order to entrench the new power relations. Traditions of eternal difference were invented to gain and consolidate (in the case of the powerful), and cope with the effect of power (on the part of ordinary people). Drawing on instances from Nigeria and South Africa this paper traces the role of capital in social differentiation in Nigeria and South Africa and the implications of such demarcations on class formation and class relations and the instrumentalization of identity and belonging in contestations over resources. The paper is situated at the intersection of the movement of global capital and the ordering of society, polity and culture. It identifies potentials for counter movement in formations solidarity of ordinary people involved in contradictory struggles for livelihood, security and cultural integrity.

Source: UG
CAPITATION IN HEALTHCARE FINANCING IN GHANA

OBJECTIVE: To analyse implementation of the pilot study of the per capita system of healthcare financing in Ghana in 2012 for a determination of the likelihood of realising the inherent theoretical benefits when the system is rolled out nationally.DESIGN AND SETTING: First, publicly available information on how the pilot unfolded is presented, followed by the reaction of the health authorities to these developments. We then analysed accrued evidence on costs and developments vis-à-vis the theoretical benefits.RESULTS: It would appear that preparation for the pilot exercise could have been handled better. Concerns include i) the low level of both education and awareness of the capitation system among healthcare subscribers and primary care providers; ii) confusion about service provider to whom subscribers had been assigned for the capitation period; and iii) service providers not understanding differences between capitation financing and financing under the Ghana diagnostic Related Grouping; and iv) some indication of cost savings.CONCLUSION: Cost savings may be available nationally. This is important because cost containment is the driving force behind the introduction of the capitation system.

Source: UG
The Capture of Institutional Autonomy by the Political Elite and Its Impact on Academic Freedom in African Universities

Although the cradle of university education is traced to Africa, modern university education in Africa emanated from European systems which set the tone for their replication on the continent through colonialism. For ideological and other reasons, African universities were subjected to significant violations of their institutional autonomy after independence, which trickled down to affect academics and students alike and thereby violated academic freedom generally. One major area where the abuses centred was the appointment of political leaders to occupy the high echelons of university management and to run the universities as political organs of the one-party systems in vogue at the time. Discussion of this subject has mainly centred on critiquing the excesses of immediate post-colonial governments, sometimes with no linkage to academic freedom. Where academic freedom is introduced into the discourse, the key components of the concept of academic freedom are not clearly delineated and discussed in a manner that links one component to the other. This paper aims to fill this gap. It does so by developing a theoretical framework for academic freedom which is used to analyse and categorise violations of academic freedom under its five pillars--institutional autonomy, self-governance, tenure, individual rights and freedoms for academics, and individual rights and freedoms for students. The paper also examines the factors responsible for the violations of academic freedom and their impact on the evolution of higher education in Africa.

Source: UG
Capturing Dioclea Reflexa Seed Bioactives on Halloysite Nanotubes and pH Dependent Release of Cargo against Breast (MCF-7) Cancers In Vitro

In this work, optimization parameters were developed to capture plant metabolites from Dioclea Reflexa (DR) seed ex-tracts onto halloysites nanotubes (HNTs). A one-step pool of the crude extracts at neutral pH from the HNT lumen failed to elicit a reduction in breast cancer, Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 (MCF-7) cell viability. However, the pH-dependent elution of metabolites revealed that the acidic pH samples exhibited profound antiproliferative effects on the cancer cells compared to the basic pH metabolites using both trypan blue dye exclusion assay and 3-(4,5- dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) viability test. pH~5.2 samples demonstrated by half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 0.8 mg and a cyclic voltammetry oxidation peak potential and current of 234 mV and 0.45 A, respectively. This indicates that the cancer cells death could be attributed to membrane polarization/depolarization effects of the sample. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) studies confirmed that the plant metabolites affected breast cancer apoptotic signaling pathways of cell death. The studies proved that plant metabolites could be captured using simplified screening procedures for rapid drug discovery purposes. Such procedures, however, would require the integration of affordable analytical tools to test and isolate individual metabolites. Our approach could be an important strategy to create a library and database of bioactive plant metabolites based on pH values.

Source: UG