ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Outcome of pregnancy in patients with systemic lupus erythematosis at Korle-bu Teaching Hospital

Objective: To study maternal and fetal outcomes in Ghanaian women with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Methods: Retrospective study of pregnancies in women with SLE in a single centre in Ghana. Results: The mean age was 30.1 years and all were nulliparous. Two out of the seven pregnancies were in disease remission at the time of booking. Nephritis without renal impairment was present in 7 pregnancies (6 women). One woman developed intrapartum eclampsia. Two women had secondary antiphospholipid syndrome (APS). Two suffered early fetal losses and one late fetal loss at 32 weeks. All three who lost their fetus had uncontrolled hypertension. Six had mild flares mainly joint pains during pregnancy. There was no maternal mortality. The median gestational age at delivery was 38 weeks (range, 16 to 40 weeks) and the mean birth weight was 3017 g; the median Apgar scores were 8 and 9 at 1 and 5 minutes of life, respectively. There were no cases of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). There were no cases of congenital heart block or neonatal lupus. Conclusion: Good pregnancy outcomes are possible in women with SLE even in resource poor settings. . All pregnancies should still be considered high risk and be managed jointly between the obstetricians, the perinatologists and the rheumatologists, in particular, those with renal involvement and hypertension. Long term follow up of a larger cohort is needed.

Source: UG
Outcomes in adults and children with end-stage kidney disease requiring dialysis in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review

Background The burden of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) in sub-Saharan Africa is unknown but is probably high. Access to dialysis for ESKD is limited by insufficient infrastructure and catastrophic out-of-pocket costs. Most patients remain undiagnosed, untreated, and die. We did a systematic literature review to assess outcomes of patients who reach dialysis and the quality of dialysis received. Methods We searched PubMed, African Journals Online, WHO Global Health Library, and Web of Science for articles in English or French from sub-Saharan Africa reporting dialysis outcomes in patients with ESKD published between Jan 1, 1990, and Dec 22, 2015. No studies were excluded to best represent the current situation in sub-Saharan Africa. Outcomes of interest included access to dialysis, mortality, duration of dialysis, and markers of dialysis quality in patients with ESKD. Data were analysed descriptively and reported using narrative synthesis. Findings Studies were all of medium to low quality. We identified 4339 studies, 68 of which met inclusion criteria, comprising 24 456 adults and 809 children. In the pooled analysis, 390 (96%) of 406 adults and 133 (95%) of 140 children who could not access dialysis died or were presumed to have died. Among those dialysed, 2747 (88%) of 3122 adults in incident ESKD cohorts, 496 (16%) of 3197 adults in prevalent ESKD cohorts, and 107 (36%) of 294 children with ESKD died or were presumed to have died. 2508 (84%) of 2990 adults in incident ESKD cohorts discontinued dialysis compared with 64 (5%) of 1364 adults in prevalent ESKD cohorts. 41 (1%) of 4483 adults in incident ESKD cohorts, 2280 (19%) of 12 125 adults in prevalent ESKD cohorts, and 71 (19%) of 381 children with ESKD received transplants. 16 studies reported on management of anaemia, 17 on dialysis frequency, eight on dialysis accuracy, and 22 on vascular access for dialysis Interpretation Most patients with ESKD starting dialysis in sub-Saharan Africa discontinue treatment and die. Further work is needed to develop equitable and sustainable strategies to manage individuals with ESKD in sub-Saharan Africa. Funding None. © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license

Source: UG
Outcomes of a postexposure prophylaxis program at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Ghana: A retrospective cohort study

The risk for occupational exposure to HIV is a serious public health problem that is well characterized in the developed world, but less so in the developing countries such as Ghana. This study was undertaken to examine the characteristics of occupational exposure to HIV and the utilization of a risk assessment system (RAS)-based postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) among health care workers (HCWs) and health care students (HCSs) in the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH). During the study period (January 2005-December 2010), a total of 260 and 35 exposures were reported by HCWs and HCSs, respectively. Ward attendants reported the highest incidence rate of 6.46 of 100 person-years (P-Y). The incidence of high-risk exposures was 0.33 of 100 P-Y (n = 65); 60.0% occurred during a procedure of disposing of a needle and 24.6% during a cannula insertion. A total of 289 of the 295 individuals were administered PEP, of which 181 (62.6%) completed the 6-month follow-up testing schedule and none sero-converted. This shows that with a good RAS in place, it is possible to deploy an effective PEP program in a typical African teaching hospital like the KBTH in Accra, Ghana. © SAGE Publications.

Source: UG
Outcomes of acute kidney injury in children and adults in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review

Background: Access to diagnosis and dialysis for acute kidney injury can be life-saving, but can be prohibitively expensive in low-income settings. The burden of acute kidney injury in sub-Saharan Africa is presumably high but remains unknown. We did a systematic review to assess outcomes of acute kidney injury in sub-Saharan Africa and identify barriers to care. Methods: We searched PubMed, African Journals Online, WHO Global Health Library, and Web of Science for articles published between Jan 1, 1990, and Nov 30, 2014. We scored studies, and all were of medium-to-low quality. We made a pragmatic decision to include all studies to best reflect reality, and did a descriptive analysis of extracted data. This study is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42015015690. Findings: We identified 3881 records, of which 41 met inclusion criteria, including 1403 adult patients and 1937 paediatric patients. Acute kidney injury in sub-Saharan Africa is severe, with 1042 (66%) of 1572 children and 178 (70%) 253 of adults needing dialysis in studies reporting dialysis need. Only 666 (64%) of 1042 children (across 11 studies) and 58 (33%) of 178 adults (across four studies) received dialysis when needed. Overall mortality was 34% in children and 32% in adults, but rose to 73% in children and 86% in adults when dialysis was needed but not received. Major barriers to access to care were out-of-pocket costs, erratic hospital resources, late presentation, and female sex. Interpretation: Patients in these studies are those with resources to access care. In view of overall study quality, data interpretation should be cautious, but high mortality and poor access to dialysis are concerning. The global scarcity of resources among patients and health centres highlights the need for a health-system-wide approach to prevention and management of acute kidney injury in sub-Saharan Africa. © 2016 Olowu et al. Open Access article distributed under the terms of CC BY.

Source: UG
Outdoor Education to Promote Mentoring and Youth Leadership Skills in Ghana

Mentoring and outdoor education in one form or the other have been features of African societies from time immemorial. In the traditional setting for example, children are guided by their elders in the course of their daily activities to acquire the necessary skills ' and competencies for life. More importantly, future heads of clans and chiefs are mentored or coached in the courts of older ones. In contemporary times mentoring has become much more formalised and specific strategies are used to achieve mentoring goals. The Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service both recognize the relevance of school clubs for achieving the goals of Education for All (EFA). For the purpose of this paper, outdoor education is mainly viewed through the operations of youth clubs in Ghana, such as Girls Guides. These youth clubs are typically formed and managed in schools; though some of them such as the church-based ones may be described as community youth clubs. There are other civic action clubs which also tend to operate at the community level, especially environmental conservation clubs. Leadership grooming is taken very seriously in these clubs. They tend to adopt the 'growth through challenge' philosophy of Erikson (1968), which is designed to empower the youth through experiences in the outdoors under the guidance of a leader/mentor. It is quite clear that the clubs' survival and success are closely linked to voluntary giving of time and other resources by allies, drawing attention to one of the important aspects of mentoring, namely, social mobilization. What these clubs do and how their reach can be extended in Ghana as a whole, is the subject of this paper.

Source: UG
Outgrower schemes and value chains: Gendered employment in the blue skies agriculture model

Current debates on agriculture investments in Africa have shifted a little from the Malthusian and Boserupian schools of thought to model interrogation. But, these contemporary narratives also do little linkage between the value chain systems and its livelihood impacts for men and women. Drawing on qualitative interviews, the study explores the gendered segmentation and segregation of work in Ghana's largest fruit processing company, Blue Skies and its outgrower farms. The study found that whilst a significant number of outgrowers were men, the absence of women in the outgrower scheme is compensated for by their dominant presence on the farms and the factory. The study concludes that though the business model practised by Blue Skies is a good one, two significant caveats exist: casualization of labour and the sheer absence of women in the outgrower scheme which have gendered implications for livelihood outcomes and security.

Source: UG
Overbank sediments as appropriate geochemical sample media in regional stream sediment surveys for gold exploration in the savannah regions of northern Ghana

Conventional stream sediment sampling in which sediments are taken from the active channels during reconnaissance regional geochemical surveys in gold exploration has over the years failed to delineate prospective target zones in northern Ghana, where the relict is flat. Whereas the technique has been successful in the south western Ghana, which is characterised by moderate to high relief, generally the savannah north is associated with low relief, commonly with flat topographies and generally decoupled stream channels. Geochemical comparison of active stream and overbank sediments in this study demonstrate that active stream channels may contain contaminated materials of recent origin, but overbank sediments, except for the uppermost horizons, represent alluvial regolith of earlier depositional cycles over time. Based on gold value repeatability, composite samples taken from the overbank sediment layers were relatively less erratic and are considered to be an appropriate geochemical medium in delineating potential regional gold targets for follow up. The results show that overbank sediment sampling can be used as a cost-effective method to define broad anomalous zones; and the technique must be considered useful during reconnaissance geochemical surveys in the savannah regions. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Source: UG
Overcoming the Challenges of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): A Systematic Review Approach

ABSTRACT The study presents the results of a comprehensive review conducted between 2005-2020 to identify enterprise resource planning (ERP) challenges, discover the divisions in which these challenges can be clustered, and provide general strategies to resolve these challenges. The study also found 25 categories that can be classified into ERP challenges. Sixty-five ERP challenges were identified based on the reviewed literature, of which 18 were not provided with adequate solutions as to how to resolve them, and the related solutions as mentioned in the reviewed literature are presented in-depth. The result will help both academics and practitioners involved with how to resolve ERP system challenges.

Source: UG
Overcoming the challenges of small ruminant feeding in the tropics: An opportunity to sustainable livelihoods

Small ruminants are second only to poultry in their importance in the farming systems of West Africa. In Ghana over 50% of the rural households are known to keep goats. For majority of sheep and goats keepers who are primarily crop farmers, small ruminants provide a means to diversify and sustain their livelihoods. Notwithstanding its importance, small ruminant production is constrained by several challenges among which feeding is widely recognised as a major one. Traditionally, the major challenge with feeding of small ruminants had been the seasonal decline in feed availability associated with the dry season. However, in recent times other challenges are emerging among which are urbanisation and increasing area of land for crop production. Urbanisation and population growth are creating an increasing demand for food. To respond to this, more land which hitherto was used for grazing animals is being put under crops, thus pushing animal production to marginal lands. This paper looks at how these events affect feed availability to ruminant livestock, coping strategies of farmers and some technologies available for adoption to help mitigate the effects of these challenges. Key words: Small ruminants, feeding, challenges, sustainable, livelihoods.

Source: UG
Overnutrition and associated factors among adults aged 20 years and above in fishing communities in the urban Cape Coast Metropolis, Ghana

Objective The study aimed to highlight the determinants of overnutrition (overweight plus obesity) in fishing communities and establish if these were the same as reported elsewhere in Ghana. Design Cross-sectional study. Setting The study was conducted in Idun, Ola and Duakor fishing communities in Cape Coast, Ghana. Subjects Adults (n 252) aged 20 to 50 years. Results Results showed that 32 % of participants were overweight/obese (BMI ≥ 25·0 kg/m 2). Participants' mean age was 31·7 (sd 1·0) years, they had 13·7 (sd 8·1) mean years of formal education, their median monthly income was $US 7·4 (interquartile range $US 3·3, 20·0) and their median daily energy intake was 7·3 (interquartile range 5·3, 9·8) MJ. Significant associations (P &lt; 0·05) were found between BMI and gender, age, years of education, fat intake and marital status. Females were almost eight times more likely to be overweight/obese than males (adjusted OR = 7·7; 95 % CI 3·6, 16·4). Persons aged ≥40 years were about six times more likely to be overweight/obese than those aged 20-29 years (adjusted OR = 6·1; 95 % CI 2·6, 14·1). Married people were nearly three times more likely to be overweight/obese than singles (adjusted OR = 2·8; 95 % Cl 1·4, 5·7). People with more than 13 years of formal education (adjusted OR = 0·3; 95 % CI 0·1, 0·9) and people with &gt;30 % fat contribution to daily energy intake (adjusted OR = 0·3; 95 % CI 0·1, 0·6) had reduced odds of being overweight/obese. Conclusions Overnutrition was prevalent in the fishing communities and associated with factors such as age, gender, marital status, educational status and fat intake. © The Authors 2012.

Source: UG
Overview and future research needs for development of effective biocontrol strategies for management of Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel (Diptera: Tephritidae) in sub-Saharan Africa

Infestation of fruits by native and invasive fruit flies causes significant economic losses. In most cases, incidence of ‘regulated’ dangerous fruit flies in orchards results in restrictions on export of fruits from such places to international markets. Unfortunately, use of insecticides applied on foliage and fruits does not kill the fruit-to-soil stages of fruit flies. However, diverse biological control agents (BCAs) do so. Thus, prevalence of native and invasive fruit flies in orchards will require that a combination of BCAs is included in integrated pest management (IPM) programmes. In the case of Bactrocera dorsalis Hendel and other economically important fruit flies found in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), use of classical biocontrol approach involves concomitant releases of two exotic parasitoids (Fopius arisanus Sonan and Diachasmimorpha longicaudata Ashmead). These non-native wasps may have complemented the indigenous parasitoids in combination with application of entomopathogenic fungi (EPFs) and conservation of predatory ants (Oecophylla longinoda Latreille, with O. smaragdina) in fruit fly IPM plans. Consequently, some levels of decline in fruit infestation have been observed. Although interspecific interactions between BCAs against several insect pests have produced varying results, including threatening the survival of other BCAs, the prevalence of B. dorsalis in orchards across SSA requires further research to investigate effects of coalescing biocontrol approaches in IPM strategies. Therefore, future research into combining parasitoids, EPFs and entomopathogenic nematodes, in addition to conservation of predatory ants (O. longinoda, O. smaragdina and others) in IPM plans may improve the effectiveness of currently used strategies for the management of fruit-infesting tephritids. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.

Source: UG
An overview of health forecasting.

Health forecasting is a novel area of forecasting, and a valuable tool for predicting future health events or situations such as demands for health services and healthcare needs. It facilitates preventive medicine and health care intervention strategies, by pre-informing health service providers to take appropriate mitigating actions to minimize risks and manage demand. Health forecasting requires reliable data, information and appropriate analytical tools for the prediction of specific health conditions or situations. There is no single approach to health forecasting, and so various methods have often been adopted to forecast aggregate or specific health conditions. Meanwhile, there are no defined health forecasting horizons (time frames) to match the choices of health forecasting methods/approaches that are often applied. The key principles of health forecasting have not also been adequately described to guide the process. This paper provides a brief introduction and theoretical analysis of health forecasting. It describes the key issues that are important for health forecasting, including: definitions, principles of health forecasting, and the properties of health data, which influence the choices of health forecasting methods. Other matters related to the value of health forecasting, and the general challenges associated with developing and using health forecasting services are discussed. This overview is a stimulus for further discussions on standardizing health forecasting approaches and methods that will facilitate health care and health services delivery. © 2012 The Japanese Society for Hygiene.

Source: UG
Overview of preparedness and response to COVID-19 in Ghana

Most research activities involve the use of molecular methods such as regular PCR (PCR), quantitative PCR (Q-PCR), genomic sequence and analysis using different software, genetic engineering, probe hybridization techniques, biological and molecular cloning, evaluation of immune markers for laboratory diagnosis of infections, serological assays involving the use of rapid tests, ELISA-based evaluations and immunofluorescent assay techniques.

Source: UG
Overweight And Hypertension Among College Of Health Sciences Employees In Ghana

Healthcare workers, by their greater access to information, are expected to have less risk of obesity, hypertension, and other health outcomes often linked to lifestyles. However, there is limited evidence on the practices and the status of personnel who work in the healthcare setting regarding hypertension and overweight in Ghana. The current study tests the hypothesis that overweight and hypertension rates, as well as related risk factors among staff and faculty of the College of Health Sciences (CHS), The University of Ghana will be more positive than the lay public. In June and July 2009, a cross-sectional self-completed survey was administered to 141 male and female faculty and staff of the College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, in Accra. A representative sample was selected by proportionate random sampling from all seven academic and research units of the CHS. Anthropometry and blood pressure measurements were taken with questionnaire data on lifestyle, dietary history, and socio-demographic variables. Overweight and obese were diagnosed as BMI >25 and >30 kg/m2 , respectively. Abdominal adiposity was estimated as a waist-hip ratio >0.80 (females) or >0.95 (males). Hypertension was diagnosed as diastolic or systolic blood pressure > 140 or 90 mm Hg, respectively. The mean age of respondents was 40.5 + 10.8 years; 43% were overweight, including 13% obese. More than one-third of overweight respondents did not report an overweight body image. Abdominal adiposity and hypertension rates were 25% and 34%, respectively. Low rates of regular physical activity (25%) and consumption of fruits and vegetables (40%) were observed. Overweight (OR=3.83; p<0.01) and central adiposity (OR=4.8; p<0.01) were associated with a significantly increased risk of hypertension. Being married was a significant predictor of overweight (p<0.05), abdominal adiposity (p<0.05), and hypertension (p<0.05). The study concludes that working in a healthcare environment or being a health worker does not diminish your risk of being overweight and having hypertension. It is, therefore, recommended that interventions addressing overweight and hypertension should place attention more on environmental modifications rather than awareness creation.

Source: UG