ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Factors influencing the prevalence of disabilities among children - under 15 years (a case study in the Akwapim South District)

One challenging problem to the socio-economic development of Ghana is the increasing prevalence of disability in human populations. Several disabled persons who could not be gainfully employed resort to alms begging in the streets of the cities, sometimes becoming a public nuisance. The adverse effects of disability are numerous, such that more national efforts are needed to curtail the condition or minimize its incidence. A strategy in this regard is to identify the causes of disability or the factors which influence these causes, and combat them. This study was carried out to determine factors influencing the prevalence of disabilities among children in the Akwapim South District in the Eastern Region and to make recommendation(s) on how to address these factors. A descriptive cross-sectional study which used structured questionnaire to collect relevant data from one hundred and fifty (150) sampled population and thirty (30) identified mothers (respondents) with disabled children from three sub-districts was used. Questions were designed to obtain information on the association of disabilities to several identified factors. The data obtained suggest that the factors could be as variable as reported in literature. Two major factors however stand out clearly, and they are illness and injuries (accidents) during the pre-school period. The effect of poverty is also apparent but more indirect. There are also possible contributions by lack of education, which puts the women in low income group and deprive them of the knowledge on antenatal care, infections and other problems during pregnancy, the use of drugs including alcohol during pregnancy and attempted abortion. Mother’s age at the time of delivery of the disabled child did not seem to be a contributing factor here, since most of the women were below the age of 35 years. Many cases of disability could have been reversed if the mothers had had knowledge of how they develop or had adequate knowledge on the normal developmental stages of a child. Which means lack of knowledge on these processes is a possible factor. Based on the findings of the study the following recommendations are made to improve the situation: > Health education and promotion programmes in the District should be intensified to improve pre-natal care and child welfare. > Essentially parents should be educated on the developmental stages in children, emphasizing the problems that may occur. > Issues related to antenatal clinic visits and drug use during pregnancy should all be critically considered > Issues related to formal education and good employment opportunities should also be discussed

Source: KNUST
Factors influencing the return to fertility after contraceptive discontinuation among contraceptive ever-users in the Accra Metropolitan Area, Ghana

Although more women in Ghana are opting for more reliable modern methods of family planning- trends in contraceptive use for married women (15-49 years) show an increase from 5% in 1988 to 17% in 2008 (GSS/GHS/ORC Macro 2009), the family planning acceptor rates in Ghana have fallen from 33.8% in 2008 to 31.1% in 2009 to as low as 23.5% in 2010 (GHS, 2010). Fear of adverse effects on subsequent fertility following reversible contraceptive use is an important concern for a number of women. Women explain that the fear of delayed return to fertility and even in some cases “infertility” after contraceptive use prevents them from using a long-acting method or taking up a family planning method, even after a service provider has been consulted. This study aimed to assess the factors influencing return to fertility as measured by the time to pregnancy after discontinuing contraception. The influences of the factors were assessed before and after adjustment for the individual and lifestyle characteristics. A Cox regression analysis was performed to estimate the influence of background and lifestyle characteristics on return to fertility among the women in this study. The probability to conceive after discontinuing a contraceptive method does not differ with respect to age, number of children, body mass index, history of gynecological disease, alcohol intake, secondary smoking, type of contraceptive and the duration of contraceptive usage. As such, the issue of fear of side effects’ particularly future infertility, which can lead to contraceptive discontinuation should be a key point addressed during counseling for contraceptive use. Service providers should be educated and updated on the relationship between different socio-economic, demographic and lifestyle factors and return to fertility, such that they can provide adequate information to clients.

Source: KNUST
Factors influencing the uptake of Intermittent Preventive Treatment (Sulfadoxine Pyrimethamine) among Pregnant Women in the East Mamprusi Municipality in the Northern of Ghana.

Background; Malaria is an enormous public health problem affecting pregnant women, young children and adults, even though many awareness creation has been done on malaria in pregnancy but women in developing countries are still dying as a result of malaria in pregnancy and this necessitated for the research on factors influencing the uptake of intermittent preventive treatment (IPTp-SP) among pregnant women in East Mamprusi Municipal as it appears policy makers are not prioritizing malaria in pregnancy as a key condition that needs attention. Objectives: To assess the factors influencing the uptake of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine among pregnant women in East Mamprusi Municipality. Methods; Convenient sampling was employed in interacting with 310 pregnant women solely to solicit the views on IPTp uptake as the ultimate goal of the study. Results: Approximately eighty-nine percent of the respondents have heard about Intermittent Preventive Treatment (IPT-SP) and significant percent of respondents representing about ninety –six also received education on malaria in pregnancy as well as a reasonable percent of Ninety-six respondents also linked the transmission of malaria to mosquito bites. In addition to these, a significant percentage of about sixty-three percent perceived that taking of SP safeguards a pregnant woman from malaria as well as about sixty percent of respondents also suggested SP should be continued to be given to pregnant women in various clinics during Ante-natal care. It is also clear that about forty-six percent of respondents mentioned that they were not able to take IPT at each visit as a result of stock out of SP within the Municipality.

Source: KNUST
Factors influencing the selection of procurement methods for construction works in Ghana

Procurement according to the Aqua Group, (1999) is the procedure whereby goods and services are obtained or acquired from other sources which attracts some fee. The importance of selection of a procurement method has been pointed out by (Chan, 1996), who found out that the procurement method selected can influence the time performance of construction projects. The main intent of this study was to examine the various factors that influence the selection of the methods for procurement of works in Ghana. To achieve this goal, the study wanted to attain the research objectives, which are: to identify the various procurement methods frequently used for works in Ghana, to identify the key stakeholders who participate in the selection of procurement methods for works, and to identify the factors which are considered when deciding on the method of procurement to use for works. A review of literature identified six (6) procurement methods frequently used for construction projects in Ghana i.e. NCT, ICT, Two-Stage tendering, RFQ, Restricted tendering and Single Source. Seven (7) factors were also identified as having the tendency to persuade the method of procurement that will be considered for selection in construction projects in Ghana. These factors were speed, estimated value of the project, flexibility in accommodating design changes, quality specification, complexity of project, security reasons and tendency for disputes and arbitration. The strategy and method used was a questionnaire survey and a descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation), non-parametric chi-square, cross-tabulation and frequency analysis with percentages were used to do the analysis. The study revealed that NCT method was frequently used for construction projects in Ghana. It was also observed that, there were seven (7) most significant factors that has an influence on the method of procurement to select for a project and also “the estimated value of the project” seem to have a strong influence on the method of procurement to be selected for a project. In conclusion, the NCT and RT were the most dominant methods used and both are deemed to be competitive. It is therefore highly recommended that the key stakeholders involved in the method selection for use should consider carefully all the available procurement methods for works; study them, analyze their pros and cons to know their effect on the project. They should also critically look at the selection criteria of the method to be adopted and know how it will effectively help the project. Lastly, the client’s project performance criteria must be established and match against the performance outcomes of the various methods to be considered before selecting it for the project.

Source: KNUST
Factors influencing the use of Anaemia Prevention Strategies among Pregnant Women attending antenatal clinic in the Bunkpurugu-Nakpanduri District

The occurrences and prevalence of anaemia in Ghana remains a worrying phenomenon to the public health. It is endemic in all the regions of the country and affects so many pregnant women. The World Health Organization has put in place some measures to help prevent anaemia during pregnancy, which requires countries including Ghana to integrate into their antenatal care. This study aimed at determining the factors influencing the use of anaemia prevention strategies among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic in BunkpuruguNakpanduri District. The study adopted a crossed sectional study design and sampled three hundred and sixty (360) pregnant women as the participants using simple random sampling technique. Quantitative research method was adopted for the study and questionnaires were used in gathering data. The collected data was analysed quantitatively by the use of Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS version 20). Results revealed good knowledge and use of anaemia prevention strategies such as insecticide-treated net, use of iron supplements to the infant, food mix with nutrients and so on among pregnant women. The study also finds most of socio-cultural and health related factors such as attitude of health workers and availabilities of anaemia strategies among others to have no negative effects with regards to the use of anaemia prevention strategies. However, the study found a significant relationship between distance to health facilities and the use of anaemia prevention strategies. The study recommends more health facilities to be built in the district since distance to health facilities is found to have a significant association with the use of anaemia prevention strategies. The study also recommends more health education to be made about the important of using anaemia prevention strategies in study since some were having no knowledge on it

Source: KNUST
Factors influencing the use of national competitive tendering method for procurement of works: the case of Sekyere South District Assembly

The Central Government in its quest to mitigate infrastructure development deficits in the country has mandated District Assemblies to carry out construction works. The Public Procurement Act, 2003 ( Act 663), was therefore passed to harmonise public procurement processes in the public service, secure judicious, economic and efficient use of state resources, and furthermore, ensure that public procurement is fair, transparent and non-discriminatory manner while promoting a competitive Local industry. However in reality this rarely occurs for various reasons. Hence, the study was to examine factors that influence the use of national competitive tendering method for procurement of works focusing on the case of Sekyere South District Assembly with the view to identify strategies to improve upon it. Descriptive research design was employed. While quantitative approach was adopted. Purposive sampling technique was used with a sample size of 20. The questionnaire technique was employed as the research instrument for the study. Among the findings, the researcher identified controls of competition, non compliance with provisions of the law, payment difficulties and delays, political influences and interference with duties of procurement officials. The study recommends among others, an independent Procurement Unit, procurement decision-making by trained professionals, sensitization and training stakeholders, reliable and adequate funding for projects, routine checks on procurement process, decentralize PPA and minimize political influence.

Source: KNUST
Factors influencing the utilisation of antenatal care services in the Manhyia sub-metro, Kumasi

Antenatal care allows for the management of pregnancy, detection and treatment of complications, and promotion of good health. The objective of the sought to investigate the factors that influenced the utilization of antenatal care services, factors preventing pregnant women from accessing Antenatal Care Services as well as the quality of care rendered to women who access Antenatal Care facilities. Health institutions for the study were clustered into three; public health facilities, private hospitals and private maternity homes. A simple random technique was used to select the respondents for the study. 79% of the respondents asserted that ANC services was the care given to women before birth with 16.9% indicating they heard about ANC from friends and visited the centre for services in the late first trimester. 34.6% heard about ANC upon a visit to a health institution. 28.9% of the respondents visited the facility very often but said they were not given a pleasant reception at the facility. 23.4% of the respondents attended the facility very often and described the overall services provided as fair. However some of them were of the opinion that attitudes of some care givers was cold and this could serve as a potential de-motivating factor for utilising ANC services. The study recommended that staff of the health facilities should improve their interpersonal skills with their clients and receive them warmly since it forms part of maximizing their satisfaction.

Source: KNUST
Factors influencing treatment compliance in type 2 diabetes mellitus clients at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital diabetic clinic.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a life-long advancing metabolic disorder delineated by an increase in blood glucose level. One of the three major types of diabetes is type 2 diabetes and it’s the most common type. In this condition there is a high level of sugar (glucose) in the blood as a result of absolute or relative deficiency of insulin hormone. Available evidence suggests that, vigorous management of type 2 diabetes mellitus can reduce the morbidity and mortality of the disease by decreasing the chronic complications that come along with it. However, research suggests that compliance to therapy is low among clients with type 2 DM. As a result, the study aimed at assessing the factors that influence compliance to treatment in clients with type 2 diabetes at the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH) Diabetic Center. Descriptive cross-sectional study design was used to conduct the study and the study population included type 2 diabetes mellitus clients who visited the diabetic clinic of Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital during the period of the study. Data were gathered using structured questionnaire and systematic random sampling technique was adopted to administer the structured questionnaire to 400 diabetic patients. The data were entered into Microsoft Access 2013 and was transported to Stata version 12.0 for analysis. Statistical significant was set at 0.05 xiv Majority of the respondents (99.0%) acknowledged the fact that type 2 DM can be managed by treatment compliance with medications, diet planning, exercises, monitoring and injury prevention management. Also, most of the clients mentioned factors such as accessibility of KATH (28.5%), registration with NHIS (94.3%), medications covered by NHIS (62.2%), ability to afford medications not covered by the NHIS (26.1%) as perceived factors influencing treatment compliance. Finally, there was a significant relationship between socio-demographic characteristics such as educational level of the respondents and their compliance to diet (pvalue= 0.03), medication (0.01) and injury prevention (p-value=0.03). Also the relationship between occupational status of the diabetics (p-value=0.01) as socio-demographic characteristic and compliance to medication was statistically significant. Accessibility of KATH, registration with NHIS, medications covered by NHIS, clients’ ability to afford medications not covered by NHIS were found to be factors influencing treatment compliance from the perspective of clients. Therefore, the need to create support fund by the support organizations to assist diabetes patients in the purchase of non-insured medications.

Source: KNUST
Factors influencing the uptake of intermittent preventive treatment (sulfadoxine pyrimethamine) among pregnant women in the East Mamprusi Municipality in the Northern Region of Ghana

Background: Malaria is an enormous public health problem affecting pregnant women, young children and adults, even though many awareness creation has been done on malaria in pregnancy but women in developing countries are still dying as a result of malaria in pregnancy and this necessitated for the research on factors influencing the uptake of intermittent preventive treatment (IPTp-SP) among pregnant women in East Mamprusi Municipal as it appears policy makers are not prioritizing malaria in pregnancy as a key condition that needs attention. Objective: To assess the factors influencing the uptake of sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine among pregnant women in East Mamprusi Municipality. Methods: Convenient sampling was employed in interacting with 310 pregnant women solely to solicit the views on IPTp uptake as the ultimate goal of the study. Results: Approximately 90% of the respondents have heard about Intermittent Preventive Treatment (IPT-SP) and significantly 96.4% of respondents also received education on malaria in pregnancy. Moreover, 96.3% of respondents linked the transmission of malaria to mosquito bites. On the whole, about 50.8% of the pregnant women knew that failure to take SP during pregnancy can put the health of the mother and the unborn baby in danger. In addition to these, 63% of respondents perceived that taking of SP safeguards a pregnant woman from malaria as well as about 60% of respondents also suggested SP should be continued to be given to pregnant women in various clinics during Ante-natal care. About 46% of respondents mentioned that they were not able to take IPT at each visit as a result of stock out of SP within the Municipality. Conclusion: Ninety –six percent agreed that Nurses give Health talk on malaria and almost same percent knew that malaria is transmitted by mosquito bites. However few barriers like weakness, Dizziness, Scent of SP and above all stock out of SP in the municipality were some of the issues respondents mentioned interfere in uptake of IPT. Therefore, the municipal health directorate should ensure regular supply of SP to health facilities within the East Mamprusi Municipality.

Source: KNUST
Factors Influencing the Utilisation of Family Planning Services in Kwabre District, Ghana

In a cross sectional study to assess the potential barriers to the utilization of family planning services among women in fertility age ( WIFA), 400 women from 6 communities in three sub-districts aged 15 – 49 years were selected by systematic sampling technique and then interviewed using structured questionnaire. The findings of the study revealed that most of the women have high level of knowledge about contraceptive but this does not translate into the use of modern contraceptives. Most of the respondents (122) (30.5%) were aware of at least three methods of contraception while 47 (4.7%) were aware of seven to nine contraceptive methods. Also 367 (91.7%) of the respondents knew at least two contraceptive methods. It also came out that these women have access to family planning services but the quality of the services offered is quite low in terms of availability of different contraceptive methods. The most common contraceptive methods available were contraceptive pill, contraceptive injection and the condom. Besides, the fertility preference expressed by most of the respondents was high since as much as 300 (75%) wanted between 4 – 6 children in their entire life. An improvement in the quality of service offered, increase public education on high fertility and integrating family planning services with other services are recommended for increase contraceptive use.

Source: KNUST
Factors influencing treatment outcomes of Patients with Diabetes and Hypertension at the Ejisu Government Hospital in Ejisu, Ashanti Region, Ghana

Diabetes and Hypertension prevalence accounts for more than two-thirds of all medical admissions in Ghana. This necessitates the exploratory factors that affect the treatment outcomes of these conditions. The aim of this study is to determine factors that influence treatment outcomes of patients with Diabetes or Hypertension at the Ejisu Government Hospital. A facility based descriptive cross-sectional study design was carried out on 423 patients, aged ≥18 years who visited the diabetic clinic at Ejisu Government Hospital at least once in a month and were diagnosed of Diabetes and or Hypertension a year or more ago, using a structured questionnaire. Stata 14.0 was used to analyze collected data with results presented in tables. Poisson logistic regression was used to determine the association between the demographic variables indicated in this study to determine which variables influenced treatment outcome. There were 71% of patients with their glucose score in the normal range (4.4-8.8mmol/l) on the day of interview whiles 6.13% patients were severely hypertensive (≥160/≥100mmHg) on the day of interview. According to Morisky’s adherence scale, 68.04% of patients had low adherence; 285 patients reported getting their medications all the time whereas 384 patients agreed to the belief that their medication could be managed. Patients with family history of diabetes had nearly fifty-seven percent [OR = 0.57; 95% CI = 0.32-1.00; p=0.05] chance of experiencing positive treatment outcomes. Also, patients with family history of hypertension, were fifty percent less likely [OR = 0.5; 95% CI = 0.31-0.98; p=0.04] to report positive treatment outcome. All other socio-demographic factors [age≥70 {0.73; 95% CI= 0.13-1.38; p=0.15}, gender {OR=0.52; 95% CI= 0.15-1.81; p=0.30}, marital status {OR=1.45; 95% CI=0.86-2.45; p=0.16} and employment status {OR=0.34; 95% CI=0.12-0.98; p=0.44}] did not influence treatment outcomes for diabetes and similarly for Hypertension. Family history of patients with Diabetes and Hypertension influence treatment outcomes negatively

Source: KNUST