ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Can a nurse-led community-based model of hypertension care improve hypertension control in Ghana? Results from the ComHIP cohort study

Objectives To evaluate the effectiveness of the Community-based Hypertension Improvement Project (ComHIP) in increasing hypertension control. Setting Lower Manya Krobo, Eastern Region, Ghana. Participants All adult hypertensive community members, except pregnant women, were eligible for inclusion in the study. We enrolled 1339 participants, 69% of whom were female. A total of 552 had a 6-month visit, and 338 had a 12-month visit. Interventions We report on a package of interventions where community-based cardiovascular disease (CVD) nurses were trained by FHI 360. CVD nurses confirmed diagnoses of known hypertensives and newly screened individuals. Participants were treated according to the clinical guidelines established through the project’s Technical Steering Committee. Patients received three types of reminder and adherence messages. We used CommCare, a cloud-based system, as a case management and referral tool. Primary outcome Hypertension control defined as blood pressure (BP) under 140/90 mm Hg. Secondary outcomes: changes in BP and knowledge of risk factors for hypertension. Results After 1 year of intervention, 72% (95% CI: 67% to 77%) of participants had their hypertension under control. Systolic BP was reduced by 12.2 mm Hg (95% CI: 14.4 to 10.1) and diastolic BP by 7.5 mm Hg (95% CI: 9.9 to 6.1). Due to low retention, we were unable to look at knowledge of risk factors. Factors associated with remaining in the programme for 12 months included education, older age, hypertension under control at enrolment and enrolment date. The majority of patients who remained in the programme were on treatment, with two-thirds taking at least two medications. Conclusions Patients retained in ComHIP had increased BP control. However, high loss to follow-up limits potential public health impact of these types of programmes. To minimise the impact of externalities, programmes should include standard procedures and backup systems to maximise the possibility that patients stay in the programme.

Source: UG
Can action research strengthen district health management and improve health workforce performance? A research protocol

Introduction: The single biggest barrier for countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to scale up the necessary health services for addressing the three health-related Millennium Development Goals and achieving Universal Health Coverage is the lack of an adequate and well-performing health workforce. This deficit needs to be addressed both by training more new health personnel and by improving the performance of the existing and future health workforce. However, efforts have mostly been focused on training new staff and less on improving the performance of the existing health workforce. The purpose of this paper is to disseminate the protocol for the PERFORM project and reflect on the key challenges encountered during the development of this methodology and how they are being overcome. Methods: The overall aim of the PERFORM project is to identify ways of strengthening district management in order to address health workforce inadequacies by improving health workforce performance in SSA. The study will take place in three districts each in Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda using an action research approach. With the support of the country research teams, the district health management teams (DHMTs) will lead on planning, implementation, observation, reflection and redefinition of the activities in the study. Taking into account the national and local human resource (HR) and health systems (HS) policies and practices already in place, 'bundles' of HR/HS strategies that are feasible within the context and affordable within the districts' budget will be developed by the DHMTs to strengthen priority areas of health workforce performance. A comparative analysis of the findings from the three districts in each country will add new knowledge on the effects of these HR/HS bundles on DHMT management and workforce performance and the impact of an action research approach on improving the effectiveness of the DHMTs in implementing these interventions. Discussion: Different challenges were faced during the development of the methodology. These include the changing context in the study districts, competing with other projects and duties for the time of district managers, complexity of the study design, maintaining the anonymity and confidentiality of study participants as well as how to record the processes during the study. We also discuss how these challenges are being addressed. The dissemination of this research protocol is intended to generate interest in the PERFORM project and also stimulate discussion on the use of action research in complex studies such as this on strengthening district health management to improve health workforce performance.

Source: UG
Can an Enterprise System Persuade? The Role of Perceived Effectiveness and Social Influence

This study provides an interpretation to empirically explain and predict use continuance intention of students towards an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. A research model based on the information system continuance, the social identity theory, and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology was adopted and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The analysis uncovered important roles that perceived effectiveness and social influence play in explaining the intention of students to continue using the ERP. Further, the model demonstrated how primary task support contributes to perceived effort, which helps in explaining perceived effectiveness of the system. Computer-human dialogue support significantly contributes to perceived credibility, primary task support and perceived social influence. Social identification of the students significantly predicts perceived social influence. Research related to continuous usage of an ERP system is viable, as it enables designers and developers building more persuasive enterprise and socially influencing systems. © Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018.

Source: UG
Can convergence of agricultural sciences support innovation by resource-poor farmers in Africa? The cases of Benin and Ghana

The article introduces the IJAS special issue on the Convergence of Sciences (CoS) research programme that took place in Benin and Ghana between 2002 and 2006. CoS sought to develop pro-poor pathways of science. Starting initially from the assumption that science impact could be improved by developing farm technologies that are appropriate for the circumstances of resource-poor farmers, the nine researchers soon ran into the very limited windows of opportunity that the farmers face. Improving productivity at the farm level is thwarted by limited access to markets, infrastructure, inputs, credit and services, and by cheap imports. Farmers have no political clout, and agriculture is a source of rent for a host of actors including local and national governments. In these conditions, poverty reduction requires institutional change rather than participatory technology development. All nine researchers tried in their own way to deal with the institutional dimension. This special issue reports on these attempts. The introductory article provides background and context for understanding the institutional issues involved. © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Source: UG
Can ENSO help in agricultural decision-making in Ghana?

Rainfall variability has become a major agricultural issue in sub-Saharan Africa, especially since crop production is mainly rainfed. Irrigation technologies are expensive and their implementation is slow. Many researchers now believe that some understanding of the causes of rainfall variability would lead to measures that could be used to investigate reduction in total rainfall and/or drought effects. © 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Source: UG
Can Gender-Targeted Employment Interventions Help Enhance Community Participation? Evidence from Urban Togo

The Participatory Development (PD) approach aims at improving the quality of governance by empowering local populations. Particularly for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), PD is regarded an opportunity to help shift from unjustified centralization to more decentralized forms of governance. Yet, PD projects are frequently fraught with undesired effects of elite capture which critics ascribe to insufficient appreciation of local context. Our study adopts a sequential quantitative–qualitative mixed method approach to broaden the empirical foundation needed for context sensitive project design. By exploring the effects of gender and employment on community participation we contribute to narrowing two research gaps: First, political science research on female participation in SSA has mostly focused on participation in national-level processes. Second, while development economics literature has devoted much attention on effects of female employment on intra-household bargaining, it has so far omitted the question what this means for the empowerment of women beyond the household, that is in the public life of their communities. Analyzing original survey data of over 1,300 respondents, collected across four urban municipalities in Togo, we find that unemployment negatively impacts community participation. Specifically, we show that this effect is mainly driven by female unemployment and establish self-efficacy driven by norm perception as the causal link between female employment and participation. Complementing our quantitative findings with data from 98 qualitative interviews, we show that employment constitutes an important psychological resource that enables women to overcome multiple discrimination barriers to community participation. However, this effect is stronger for women in a formal employment situation than for those working in less formalized settings. We conclude that gender-targeted employment interventions can help to increase community participation. We recommend that such efforts should not fixate on the creation of female job opportunities but also seek to strengthen the role of female informal workers in local political processes.

Source: UG
Can Gender-Targeted Employment Interventions Help Enhance Community Participation? Evidence from Urban Togo

The Participatory Development (PD) approach aims at improving the quality of governance by empowering local populations. Particularly for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), PD is regarded an opportunity to help shift from unjustified centralization to more decentralized forms of governance. Yet, PD projects are frequently fraught with undesired effects of elite capture which critics ascribe to insufficient appreciation of local context. Our study adopts a sequential quantitative–qualitative mixed method approach to broaden the empirical foundation needed for context sensitive project design. By exploring the effects of gender and employment on community participation we contribute to narrowing two research gaps: First, political science research on female participation in SSA has mostly focused on participation in national-level processes. Second, while development economics literature has devoted much attention on effects of female employment on intra-household bargaining, it has so far omitted the question what this means for the empowerment of women beyond the household, that is in the public life of their communities. Analyzing original survey data of over 1,300 respondents, collected across four urban municipalities in Togo, we find that unemployment negatively impacts community participation. Specifically, we show that this effect is mainly driven by female unemployment and establish self-efficacy driven by norm perception as the causal link between female employment and participation. Complementing our quantitative findings with data from 98 qualitative interviews, we show that employment constitutes an important psychological resource that enables women to overcome multiple discrimination barriers to community participation. However, this effect is stronger for women in a formal employment situation than for those working in less formalized settings. We conclude that gender-targeted employment interventions can help to increase community participation. We recommend that such efforts should not fixate on the creation of female job opportunities but also seek to strengthen the role of female informal workers in local political processes. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd

Source: UG
Can Gender-Targeted Employment Interventions Help Enhance Community Participation? Evidence from Urban Togo.&quot;

The Participatory Development (PD) approach aims at improving the quality of governance by empowering local populations. Particularly for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), PD is regarded an opportunity to help shift from unjustified centralization to more decentralized forms of governance. Yet, PD projects are frequently fraught with undesired effects of elite capture which critics ascribe to insufficient appreciation of local context. Our study adopts a sequential quantitative–qualitative mixed method approach to broaden the empirical foundation needed for context sensitive project design. By exploring the effects of gender and employment on community participation we contribute to narrowing two research gaps: First, political science research on female participation in SSA has mostly focused on participation in national-level processes. Second, while development economics literature has devoted much attention on effects of female employment on intra-household bargaining, it has so far omitted the question what this means for the empowerment of women beyond the household, that is in the public life of their communities. Analyzing original survey data of over 1,300 respondents, collected across four urban municipalities in Togo, we find that unemployment negatively impacts community participation. Specifically, we show that this effect is mainly driven by female unemployment and establish self-efficacy driven by norm perception as the causal link between female employment and participation. Complementing our quantitative findings with data from 98 qualitative interviews, we show that employment constitutes an important psychological resource that enables women to overcome multiple discrimination barriers to community participation. However, this effect is stronger for women in a formal employment situation than for those working in less formalized settings. We conclude that gender-targeted employment interventions can help to increase community participation. We recommend that such efforts should not fixate on the creation of female job opportunities but also seek to strengthen the role of female informal workers in local political processes.

Source: UG
Can marriage (re)produce and legitimize sexual violence?: A phenomenological study of a Ghanaian patrilineal society

Marital sexual violence occurs in Ghana, where women and men are socialized to believe marriage confers unlimited sexual access to women's bodies. Consequently, marriage is used to legitimize sexual violence and rape. Ghana's legislative instrument covering domestic violence has been determined by Ghanaian sociocultural norms that mute sensitivity to marital sexual violence. In particular, the research to date provides limited accounts of the nature of marital sexual violence in the context of women's gendered experiences. To begin to uncover the nature of marital sexual violence in Ghana, we used a feminist-informed phenomenological approach to describe the experiences of sexual violence among Ghanaian married women in the Eastern Region of Ghana. Our qualitative semi-structured interviews of 15 ever-married women show that sexual experience in marriage is influenced by gendered and social expectations of women's sexual submission and childbearing role. Participants believed that marriage confers promises of unlimited sexual availability regardless of the wife's nonconsent, and the husband's infidelity is often blamed on the wife. Most narrated incidents of non-consensual sex were accompanied by physical aggression and emotional abuse. Although the participants preferred to seek help from informal sources, including family and friends, almost all favoured the criminalization of marital rape to check the institution of marriage which encourages a husband's unlimited sexual access to his wife in the absence of the wife's explicit consent. These findings create an awareness of the existence of marital rape and the need to develop multiple strategies for addressing this problem.

Source: UG
Can mass drug administration of moxidectin accelerate onchocerciasis elimination in Africa?

Epidemiological and modelling studies suggest that elimination of Oncho cerca volvulus transmission (EoT) throughout Africa may not be achievable with annual mass drug administration (MDA) of ivermectin alone, particu larly in areas of high endemicity and vector density. Single-dose Phase II and III clinical trials demonstrated moxidectin’s superiority over ivermectin for prolonged clearance of O. volvulus microfilariae. We used the stochastic, individual-based EPIONCHO-IBM model to compare the probabilities of reaching EoT between ivermectin and moxidectin MDA for a range of ende micity levels (30 to 70% baseline microfilarial prevalence), treatment frequencies (annual and biannual) and therapeutic coverage/adherence values (65 and 80% of total population, with, respectively, 5 and 1% of sys tematic non-adherence). EPIONCHO-IBM’s projections indicate that biannual (six-monthly) moxidectin MDA can reduce by half the number of years necessary to achieve EoT in mesoendemic areas and might be the only strategy that can achieve EoT in hyperendemic areas. Data needed to improve modelling projections include (i) the effect of repeated annualand biannual moxidectin treatment; (ii) inter- and intra-individual variation in response to successive treatments with moxidectin or ivermectin; (iii) the effect of moxidectin and ivermectin treatment on L3 development into adult worms; and (iv) patterns of adherence to moxidectin and ivermectin MDA. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Challenges in the fight against neglected tropical diseases: a decade from the London Declaration on NTDs’.

Source: UG
Can NGOs make a difference? Revisiting and reframing a 20-year debate

The article seeks to connect the vibrant debates in the Nordic region on NGOs and the aid system with the international comparative debates on NGOs and development alternatives. It argues for a reformulation of the international debate on NGOs and development alternatives to address the foundational questions related to the formative role and structural impact of the international aid system on NGOs and their roles. This reformulation moves the discussions further and enables analyses that provide understanding of the actual and potential role of NGOs to transform development processes.

Source: UG
Can parentage analysis facilitate breeding activities in root and tuber crops?

Controlled pollination in root and tuber crops is challenging. Complex ploidy, cross-incompatibility, erratic flowering patterns, outcrossing, etc., limit the efficiency of breeding progress in these crops. Half-sib breeding that involves random pollination among parents is a viable method to harness genetic gain in outcrossing crops that are problematic for performing planned and controlled pollination. The authenticity of resulting progenies from the half-sib breeding is essential to monitor the selection gain in the breeding program. Parentage analysis facilitated by molecular markers is among the available handy tools for crop breeders to maximize genetic gain in a breeding program. It can help to resolve the identity of half-sib progenies and reconstruct the pedigree in the outcrossing crops. This paper reviews the potential benefits of parentage analysis in breeding selected outcrossing root and tuber crops. It assesses how paternity analysis facilitates breeding activities and the ways it improves genetic gain in the root and tuber breeding programs. Conscious use of complementary techniques in the root and tuber breeding programs can increase the selection gain by reducing the long breeding cycle and cost, as well as reliable exploitation of the heritable variation in the desired direction.

Source: UG
Can poor neighbourhoods be correlated with crime? Evidence from urban Ghana.

The subject of crime and poverty has long been of interest in the field of crime studies. Consequently, many studies in criminology have explored the extent to which crime correlates with poverty and the mechanisms that facilitate this relationship. Based on a household survey and a qualitative study conducted in different socio-economic neighbourhoods in four key cities (Accra, Kumasi, Sekondi-Takoradi, and Tamale), this paper explores the extent to which crime and poverty can be correlated in urban Ghana. This is interesting given the fact that limited studies have been undertaken on the subject of crime and poverty in urban Ghana, although a large body of literature exists on urbanization. The paper reveals that low-class and high-class neighbourhoods were assessed to be relatively safe compared with middle-class neighbourhoods—a conclusion that contradicts broad findings in the criminology literature. The relative safety of low-class neighbourhoods compared with middle-class neighbourhoods is attributed to strong social cohesion and the presence of guardianship at all times of the day in poor neighbourhoods. However, the findings of the paper also suggest a relationship between poverty and crime for specific crimes such as sexual and property offences, in line with the literature. The study recommends that crime prevention measures be place-specific and that urban planning in Ghana recognize in practical terms that a built-up environment can facilitate as well as prevent crimes.

Source: UG
Can Rural-Urban Migration into Slums Reduce Poverty? Evidence from Ghana.

Recent evidence indicates that the increasing levels of poverty in urban areas in Ghana are partly attributed to net migration of poor people to cities. However, evidence of the linkages between urbanisation, rural-urban migration and poverty outcome is mixed. In the light of the rapid pace of urbanisation and the resulting pressure on public facilities, policy prescription has largely occupied itself with attempts to curb rural-urban migration. There is a widely held perception – as emphasised in a number of policy documents – that rural-urban migration cannot lead to positive outcomes for migrants, their areas of origin, or destination. Recent poverty reduction strategies and urban policies tend to focus on the negative aspects of migration and little support is provided for rural-urban migrants in Ghana. Yet, the relationship between rural-urban migration and poverty reduction is not adequately understood nor explored.

Source: UG