ghanaopendata/ghanaian-research-english huggingface dataset:
Malaria: Epidemilogy and herbal treatment options in some selected areas of Central region of Ghana

Incidence of malaria in the Central Region of Ghana was investigated to determine age group and sex vulnerability as well as the parasite species distribution, haemoglobin status of patients and herbs used in treating the disease. Four Hospitals were used as study centers namely, Cape Coast District Hospital and the University of Cape Coast Hospital constituting the coastal zone; Saint Francis Xavier Hospital at Assin Foso and Our Lady of Grace Hospital at Breman Asikuma forming the forest zone. Microscopic examination of thin blood smears of the patients examined revealed high malaria incidence rates of 34.4% and 26.9% of coastal zone and forest zone respectively. Generally, children up to 10 years old and females were more vulnerable to the disease. In the forest zone, older females were more vulnerable. Plasmodium falciparum was the most prevalent malaria parasite (>90%) infecting people in the region. Few cases of P. malariae, P. ovale and mixed infection of P. falciparum+ P. malariae were recorded. P. vivax was not encountered. The most predominant erythrocytic stage identified was trophozoites (92.1 %) and few (7.9%) gametocytes and schizonts observed. The haemoglobin levels of patients decreased with increase m parasitaemia and subsequently anaemia with haemoglobin levels <llg!dL. A total of 89 plant species distributed into 41 families was documented as anti malaria plants in the region. Among these, 60 species in 36 families were mentioned for the first time as anti malaria plants. All the plants recorded in this study were reported to be abundant except one species.

Source: UCC
Male Involvement in Maternal Health Care at Anomabo, Central Region, Ghana

Background. Globally, male involvement in maternal health care services remains a challenge to effective maternal health care accessibility and utilization. Objective. This study assessed male involvement in maternal health care services and associated factors in Anomabo in the Central Region of Ghana. Methods. Random sampling procedures were employed in selecting 100 adult male respondents whose partners were pregnant or had given birth within twelve months preceding the study. Pearson ChiSquare and Fisher’s exact tests were conducted to assess the association of sociodemographic and enabling/disenabling factors with male involvement in maternal health care services. Results. Some 35%, 44%, and 20% of men accompanied their partners to antenatal care, delivery, and postnatal care services, respectively. Male involvement in antenatal care and delivery was influenced by sociodemographic (partner’s education, type of marriage, living arrangements, and number of children) and enabling/disenabling (distance to health facility, attitude of health workers, prohibitive cultural norms, unfavourable health policies, and gender roles) factors. Conclusion. The low male involvement in maternal health care services warrants interventions to improve the situation. Public health interventions should focus on designing messages to diffuse existing sociocultural perceptions and health care provider attitudes which influence male involvement in maternal health care services.

Source: UCC
Male predisposition to severe COVID-19: Review of evidence and potential therapeutic prospects

The severe form of COVID-19 has significant sex disparities, with high fatalities commonly reported among males than females. The incidence of COVID-19 has also been higher in males compared with their female counterparts. This trend could be attributed to a better responsive and robust immune system in females. Cytokine storm is one of the pathophysiological features of severe COVID-19, and it occurs as a result of over-activation of immune cells leading to severe inflammation and tissue damage. Nevertheless, it is well modulated in females compared to their male counterparts. Severe inflammation in males is reported to facilitate progression of mild to severe COVID-19. The sex hormones, estrogens and androgens which exist in varying functional levels respectively in females and males are cited as the underlying cause for the differential immune response to COVID-19. Evidence abounds that estrogen modulate the immune system to protect females from severe inflammation and for that matter severe COVID-19. On the contrary, androgen has been implicated in over-activation of immune cells, cytokine storm and the attendant severe inflammation, which perhaps predispose males to severe COVID-19. In this review efforts are made to expand understanding and explain the possible roles of the immune system, the sex hormones and the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) systems in male bias to severe COVID-19. Also, this review explores possible therapeutic avenues including androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), estrogen-based therapy, and ACE inhibitors for consideration in the fight against COVID-19.

Source: UCC
Male predisposition to severe COVID-19: Review of evidence and potential therapeutic prospects

The severe form of COVID-19 has significant sex disparities, with high fatalities commonly reported among males than females. The incidence of COVID-19 has also been higher in males compared with their female counterparts. This trend could be attributed to a better responsive and robust immune system in females. Cytokine storm is one of the pathophysiological features of severe COVID-19, and it occurs as a result of over-activation of immune cells leading to severe inflammation and tissue damage. Nevertheless, it is well modulated in females compared to their male counterparts. Severe inflammation in males is reported to facilitate progression of mild to severe COVID-19. The sex hormones, estrogens and androgens which exist in varying functional levels respectively in females and males are cited as the underlying cause for the differential immune response to COVID-19. Evidence abounds that estrogen modulate the immune system to protect females from severe inflammation and for that matter severe COVID-19. On the contrary, androgen has been implicated in over-activation of immune cells, cytokine storm and the attendant severe inflammation, which perhaps predispose males to severe COVID-19. In this review efforts are made to expand understanding and explain the possible roles of the immune system, the sex hormones and the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) systems in male bias to severe COVID-19. Also, this review explores possible therapeutic avenues including androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), estrogen-based therapy, and ACE inhibitors for consideration in the fight against COVID-19

Source: UCC
The man was of a different clay: interrogating masculinities in selected African novels

From the mid-1980s, studies on men and masculinities have seen a steady growth. Literary studies have applied the theory of masculinities in research and come up with interesting findings that prove art forms as a true reflection of society (Ennin, 2013, 2014; Sam, 2016). Similarly, as texts that were produced in or about true African places, the novels selected in this research present more than just their narrative content. These texts talk about issues of masculinities germane to the African man by showing how men remain men, and the ever-changing configuration of what it means to be a man. I show in this research, how men perform their masculinities based on changes in setting and social status. This research argues that setting and social status are huge determinants in the way men act, and shows how men try to align themselves to social constructs of masculinities to their detriment. Setting and social status are therefore used to show how men endeavor to adhere to such social constructs and what the negative effects of such attempts to adhere reveal about the workings of masculinity.

Source: UCC
Management accounting practices and financial performance of manufacturing firms within the Volta Region, Ghana

Management accounting practices are increasingly gaining dominance in modern business environments due to their ability to improve financial performance. However, this assertion remains unclear within the scope of Ghana’s manufacturing industry with particular focus on firms within the Volta region. In view of this, the effects of management accounting practices (MAPs) on manufacturing firms’ financial performance were investigated in the region. Using the PLS-SEM approach, the study specifically investigated the individual effects of bookkeeping, cost management, quality cost analysis and internal audit on financial performance. The quantitative approach, explanatory research design, structured questionnaires and the behavioural theory of a firm were all employed. The study processed valid data set of 123 via IBM SPSS Statistics (v. 26) and Smart-PLS. Based on the PLS-SEM output, the study revealed that all the four management accounting practices had significant positive effects on financial performance. It was concluded that cost management has the strongest significant effect on financial performance; thus, concluding that implementing these practices would lead to improvements in the financial performance of manufacturing firms in the Volta region. The study recommended that policy makers including government bodies, agencies and management of the manufacturing firms should strengthen their management accounting practices in the manufacturing industry in other to promote financial performance.

Source: UCC
Management accounting practices and performance of manufacturing firms in the Kumasi Metropolis

This study explored the management accounting practices among manufacturing firms in the Kumasi Metropolis and examined the impact of its adoption on firm performance. The benefits firms derive from implementing management accounting practices, factors that affected the extent of use of management accounting practices and the relationship between the use of management accounting practices and firm performance are discussed in the study. A questionnaire was administered to 150 manufacturing firms in the Kumasi metropolis which elicited 105 use able responses. The results show that costing system, budgetary system, performance evaluation system and strategic management accounting are the key management accounting practices adopted by manufacturing firms within Kumasi metropolis. Also, the key benefits associated with management accounting practices of manufacturing firms in Kumasi can be seen from the following areas: planning the future strategies, tactics and operations, controlling current activities, measuring and evaluating performance, optimizing the use of firm’s resources, reducing subjectivity in the decision making process and improving internal and external communication. It is evident that key determinants of the extent of adoption of management accounting practices include market competition, characteristics of the accounting staff, owner/manager participation and changes in technology.Overall performance of selected manufacturing firms in Kumasi metropolis is relatively high. It is therefore recommended that management accounting practices in the manufacturing firms in Kumasi should be strengthened to enhance performance.

Source: UCC
Management Accounting Practices and Sustainability Performance of Manufacturing Firms in Ghana

This study was designed to assess the relationship between Management Accounting Practices (MAPs) and sustainability performance (SsP) of manufacturing firms in Ghana. The study also investigated the moderating roles of IT adoption, CG and OC in the link between MAPs and SsP. The positivist philosophical paradigm, quantitative research approach, explanatory research design, and cross-sectional study design were employed for the study. Questionnaire was designed to obtain data from managers of 266 manufacturing firms and Smart PLS-SEM was used to analyse the data. The study found significant positive relationships between CS and FP, DSS and EP, DSS and SP, PMS and EP, PMS and SP, as well as SMAP and EP. All other individual first order direct relationships were not significant. Secondly, the study also found a significant positive moderating role of IT adoption in the link between PMS and FP. Thirdly, CG was found to have a positive significant moderating effect in the connection between PMS and EP. Fourthly, CG was found to have a negative significant moderating effect in the link between DSS and EP. However, OC played no moderating role in the MAPs and SsP nexus. The study concludes that, manufacturing firms should implement CS (like variable costing), DSS (like customer profitability analysis), PMS (like variance analysis, and ratio analyses) and SMAP to boost their SsP. They must also implement IT adoption skills and PMS to enhance their FP. Last but not least, they should resource their audit committees as well as implement PMS to boost EP.

Source: UCC
Management and Care of Malnourished Children: Gaps in their Knowledge Levels of Final-Year Community Health Nursing Trainees

Abstract Objective: Community Health Nurses are usually the first to identify malnourished children in the community and refer them to the hospital. Therefore, they should have adequate knowledge about malnutrition in children and be conversant applying WHO’s protocol for managing malnutrition. Hence, the aim of this study was to examine the knowledge levels of final-year community health nursing trainees regarding the causes, signs and symptoms, management and prevention of malnutrition in children. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study in which 200 final-year trainees completed a self- administered questionnaire. Results: Generally, trainees’ knowledge about the causes and prevention of malnutrition in children was good. However, their knowledge levels on the management of malnutrition in children were poor. Majority (91%) of the respondents did not know that the first step during the stabilization phase is to prevent hypoglycemia in malnourished children. Again, majority (69%) of the respondents did not know that iron should not be given to malnourished children during the stabilization phase. Most (66.0%) of the respondents did not know that children with severe acute malnutrition should be assessed for appetite, medical complications and oedema. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that there are gaps in nursing students’ nutritional knowledge in the management of malnutrition in children. Findings from this study demonstrate the need to update and strengthen the content of the nutrition curriculum by including specific pediatric nutrition courses or topics in the training of community health nurses.

Source: UCC
Management and Care of Malnourished Children: Gaps in their Knowledge Levels of Final-Year Community Health Nursing Trainees

Objective: Community Health Nurses are usually the first to identify malnourished children in the community and refer them to the hospital. Therefore, they should have adequate knowledge about malnutrition in children and be conversant applying WHO’s protocol for managing malnutrition. Hence, the aim of this study was to examine the knowledge levels of final-year community health nursing trainees regarding the causes, signs and symptoms, management and prevention of malnutrition in children. Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study in which 200 final-year trainees completed a self- administered questionnaire. Results: Generally, trainees’ knowledge about the causes and prevention of malnutrition in children was good. However, their knowledge levels on the management of malnutrition in children were poor. Majority (91%) of the respondents did not know that the first step during the stabilization phase is to prevent hypoglycemia in malnourished children. Again, majority (69%) of the respondents did not know that iron should not be given to malnourished children during the stabilization phase. Most (66.0%) of the respondents did not know that children with severe acute malnutrition should be assessed for appetite, medical complications and oedema. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that there are gaps in nursing students’ nutritional knowledge in the management of malnutrition in children. Findings from this study demonstrate the need to update and strengthen the content of the nutrition curriculum by including specific pediatric nutrition courses or topics in the training of community health nurses.

Source: UCC
Management and Control of Childhood Tuberculosis In Southern Ghana

ABSTRACT The WHO has called for commensurate attention to childhood TB. However, there is limited research evidence to inform context-specific policies and implementation. Therefore, this study explores the management and control of childhood TB in Ghana. Data were obtained from 31 health providers and 35 primary caregivers for TB-infected children from 15 health facilities in five regions in Ghana. Using the Normalisation Process Model and Salutogenic theory as frameworks, qualitative analyses were done using QSR Nvivo 12 plus. The study found that childhood TB management and control practices in the selected health facilities were largely consistent with recommended practices, though several challenges such as the absence of paediatricians to conduct sputum induction procedures such as gastric lavage exist. Treatment interruption after the intensive phase and contact tracing difficulties were also pronounced. Service providers and primary caregivers are favourably disposed to the idea of partial integration of childhood TB management into child welfare clinics. To improve the management and control of childhood TB, service providers recommended among other things; getting childhood TB firmly on the public health agenda, improving childhood TB active case finding (ACF), and addressing loss to follow-up. Childhood TB exerts considerable negative psychosocial impacts on primary caregivers, TB-infected children, and their households at large. The theoretical frameworks provided a broader understanding of the contextual issues. The National TB Control Programme and the GHS should consider partial integration of childhood TB services into child welfare clinics and provide psychosocial support to primary caregivers.

Source: UCC
Management and coping strategies of hypertensive patients seeking treatment at Brong Ahafo Regional hospital, Sunyani

The purpose of this study was to explore the management and coping strategies of hypertensive patients seeking treatment at Brong Ahafo Regional Hospital, and to examine participants’ experiences of living with the condition. A mixed method design was used and all 508 consenting patients were selected for the quantitative aspect, and 16 were conveniently sampled for the qualitative one. Instruments (questionnaire and in-depth interview guide) derived from five pre-existing ones were used for data collection. The questionnaire yielded reliability coefficient between 0.73 and 0.80. Multiple linear regression, binary logistic regression and interpretative phenomenological analysis were employed for the data analysis. The results revealed a high patients’ perception on quality of care (90.4%), while the participants used task-oriented (TOC) [58.5%], emotion-oriented (EOC) [49.6%] and avoidance (AC) [36.5%] coping strategies. Almost all the patients were not compliant with their treatment regimen, except for physical activity (79.5%). Multiple linear regression analysis showed that AC, TOC and EOC were predictors of the current BP level [F (3,117) = 12.390 and p = 0.000]. Binary logistic regression indicates that age (χ2 = 4.29, p = 0.04), education (χ2 = 7.15, p = 0.03), marriage (χ2 = 5.16, p = 0.02), employment (χ2 = 7.45, p = 0.01) and religion (χ2 = 7.29, p = 0.01) predicted significantly compliance to treatment. Phenomenological data revealed that participants experienced good treatment at the Hospital, however, there were concerns of side effects of medications, poor pharmaceutical services and long waiting time. Management of BAR Hospital needs to encourage patients to develop and implement measures that improve coping skills and compliance

Source: UCC
Management Control Systems and Performance of State-owned Enterprises in Ghana

The influence of the Management Control Systems (MCS) on firms' strategies and performance has been explored in many studies in the past decades. Drawing on Simon's levers of control framework, this study adds a perspective to the existing literature by examining the relationships between four MCS uses and the performance of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs) in Ghana and exploring how knowledge management and psychological empowerment mediate these relationships. Data was gathered through a survey of middle-level managers in a cross-section of SOEs in Ghana. The data were analysed using the partial least squares (PLS) approach to structural equation modelling. The results indicate that the diagnostic uses of budgets have direct and significant positive relationships with SOEs performance. In contrast, beliefs, boundary systems and the interactive uses of budgets had no direct effect on performance. The result showed that all the four uses of MCS have a direct and significant influence on knowledge management and employee psychological empowerment. In addition, the results revealed that the diagnostic uses of a budget are partially mediated by knowledge management and employee psychological empowerment; the rest of MCS (beliefs systems, boundary systems, and the interactive uses of budgets) are fully mediated by knowledge management psychological empowerment. The study contributes to the literature in many ways. First, the study provides insights into the importance of the diagnostic uses of control, revealing that SOEs place a relatively high premium on the traditional monitoring and evaluation role of management controls. Second, the findings extend the MCS literature by providing evidence that suggests that intermediate variables mediate the impact of MCS on performance. Third, the study contributes to knowledge about the importance of MCS in knowledge practices and empowering employees and managers, highlighting the need to examine the different shades of autonomy that generate psychological empowerment and determine each control's specific roles for the various forms of autonomy. Fifth, it provides evidence of the complementary roles of the four MCS, especially in relation to knowledge management and psychological empowerment in hybrid organisations such as SOEs.

Source: UCC
Management dilemma of hepatocellular carcinoma in pregnancy: a case report

Hepatocellular carcinoma is rarely associated with pregnancy and when it does there is poor prognosis for both the mother and the baby There is paucity of evidence for best practice in hepatocellular carcinoma in pregnancy especially in the background of cirrhosis and decompensation. We present a 36-year-old gravida 5 para 4 at 27 weeks gestation with hepatocellular carcinoma and main complaint of abdominal pain. She had chronic hepatitis B infection with hepatocellular carcinoma on a cirrhotic background. There were both clinical and laboratory features suggestive of liver decompensation. The pregnancy outcome was a fresh stillbirth with mother alive. This case report highlights the management dilemma of hepatocellular carcinoma in pregnancy on the background of decompensated liver cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis B infection

Source: UCC