Background Access to healthcare for speech and hearing impaired clients can be difficult against ... more Background Access to healthcare for speech and hearing impaired clients can be difficult against the backdrop that healthcare providers are inadequately trained to work with Deaf clients whose primary mode of communication is sign language. Therefore, this study sought to explore communication experiences of deaf people and barriers affecting their access to healthcare in Hohoe municipality in Volta region of Ghana. Method: For this quantitative and qualitative cross-sectional study 40 participants were recruited through snowball sampling technique. Quantitative data was obtained through administration of semi-structured questionnaire to sixteen (16) willing participants. The information was triangulated with three (3) focus group discussions. The statistical software Epi Info version 7 and Stata version 11 was used to analyze the quantitative data and presented in graph and tables. Thematic analysis was adopted for analyzing the qualitative data. Findings: Majority (93%) of the stu...
Introduction. Proper nutrition during pregnancy is important for the wellbeing of the mother and ... more Introduction. Proper nutrition during pregnancy is important for the wellbeing of the mother and foetus and supports health during pregnancy, delivery, and breastfeeding. However, there are little data on nutritional knowledge and dietary intake among adolescents who are pregnant in Ghana. Hence, the study assessed the nutritional knowledge and eating habits of this vulnerable group in the Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipality, Ghana. Methods. The study was cross-sectional and employed a multistage sampling technique to select 423 participants. The study was conducted between October and November 2019. A statistical software was used to analyse data and employed Pearson’s chi-square and logistics regression to assess associations between the outcome and predictor variables. A p value <0.05 at a 95% confidence interval was considered statistically significant. Results. Less than half (44.9%) of the pregnant adolescents have high nutritional knowledge. About 19.4% of them have good eating ...
Background: Infant and young child nutrition has been engaging the attention of scientists and go... more Background: Infant and young child nutrition has been engaging the attention of scientists and governments over the years. Their feeding practices comprise both breastfeeding as well as complementary feeding which have major role in determining the nutritional status of the child, therefore, there has been a well-established link between malnutrition and infant feeding. Children are the future of the world and yet the most vulnerable population, with some 6.6 million children dying before their fifth birthday globally. Studies have shown that poor breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices, coupled with high rates of morbidity from infectious diseases are the primary causes of malnutrition and death in the first two years of life. Ketu-North district noted that even though nutrition and health programmes were in place, breastfeeding coverage has been between 53% in 2013 and 69% in 2015. This study sought to assess mothers or caregivers adherence to Infant and Young Child Feed...
Background Malaria is a preventable disease that causes huge morbidity and mortality in malaria-e... more Background Malaria is a preventable disease that causes huge morbidity and mortality in malaria-endemic areas, especially among children and pregnant women. The malaria control programme focuses on the prevention of mosquito bites using insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and mosquito aerosol sprays and coils, as well as prevention of severe disease among those infected through prompt and adequate treatment. The success of the malaria control programme in Ghana is dependent on the malaria prevention practices of people in the community. Therefore, this study evaluated the malaria prevention practices of participants in four districts of the Volta Region of Ghana. Methods This was a cross-sectional study conducted in Ketu South, Nkwanta South, Hohoe Municipality and Ho West districts of the Volta Region of Ghana. Questionnaire were administered to adults who consented to each household visited. Questions were asked on the socio-demographics and malaria prevention practices of the househo...
Introduction: Vitamin A is essential for immune function, vision, reproduction, and cellular comm... more Introduction: Vitamin A is essential for immune function, vision, reproduction, and cellular communication. Insufficient amounts of vitamin A decreases children’s ability to resist diseases and increases risks for childhood deaths, hospital stay, and missed school days. Two annual doses of vitamin A supplementation (VAS) for children 6-59 months, with a coverage threshold of 70% as recommended by UNICEF in settings with high deficiency. Methodology: For this cross-sectional study, we assessed nutrition knowledge of vitamin A among caregivers with children 6-59 months and coverage of VAS in the South Dayi District, Volta Region, Ghana, using structured questionnaires. Child health records were reviewed to determine immunization and vitamin A supplementation status of the children. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences SPSS (version 20.0) at 95% confidence intervals. Result: A total of 418 caregiver-child pairs participated in this study and health recor...
Background Children need good nutrition to develop proper immune mechanisms and psychosocial matu... more Background Children need good nutrition to develop proper immune mechanisms and psychosocial maturity, but malnutrition can affect their ability to realize this. Apart from the national demographic and health survey, which is carried out every 5 years, there have not been enough documented studies on child breastfeeding and weaning practices of caregivers in the Volta Region. We, therefore, examined child breastfeeding and weaning practices of mothers in the Volta Region of Ghana. Methods A sub-national survey method was adopted and a semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 396 mothers and their children. Descriptive and inferential statistics comprising frequency, percentage, chi-square, and logistic regression were employed in analysing the data. We defined exclusive breastfeeding as given only breast milk to an infant from a mother or a wet nurse for six months of life except drops or syrups consisting of vitamins, minerals, supplements, or medicines on medica...
Background. There are laws to enforce the universal iodization of salt to check the consequences ... more Background. There are laws to enforce the universal iodization of salt to check the consequences of iodine deficiency in Ghana. These laws are to ensure that there are production and sales of iodized salt in the country. Yet, the availability of iodized salt in the county's households is still not encouraging, with data indicating that 93.8% of children have urine iodine <100 μg/dl. Hence, the study investigated the iodine content of salt in retail shops and knowledge of iodized salt among retailers in the Wa East District. The study will help the informed decision on strengthening and enforcing laws to achieve the universal salt iodization and the consumption of adequate iodized salt.Method. The study was a descriptive cross-sectional survey. We used a questionnaire to collect quantitative data from participants and a rapid field test kits to determine the iodine content of salt. STATA version 14.2 was used to analyse data. Chi-squared and logistic regression models were use...
An anomaly (deviant objects, exceptions, peculiar objects) is an important concept of the analysi... more An anomaly (deviant objects, exceptions, peculiar objects) is an important concept of the analysis. The volume and velocity of the data within many systems makes it difficult to detect and process anomalies for Big Data in real-time. Many anomaly detective systems count on the historical data for detecting behaviors’. Considering it as a problem to financial institutions in Ghana, the researcher proposed robust anomaly detection framework. The proposed frame work defines Spark stream, as part of Spark ecosystem, which stream data in real-time. Also, the proposed framework data model was build using SVM, Linear regression and Logistic regression as a package found in Spark MLlib. Additionally, the proposed framework was explained clearly to be implemented in real systems for financial institutions.
Background Access to healthcare for speech and hearing impaired clients can be difficult against ... more Background Access to healthcare for speech and hearing impaired clients can be difficult against the backdrop that healthcare providers are inadequately trained to work with Deaf clients whose primary mode of communication is sign language. Therefore, this study sought to explore communication experiences of deaf people and barriers affecting their access to healthcare in Hohoe municipality in Volta region of Ghana. Method: For this quantitative and qualitative cross-sectional study 40 participants were recruited through snowball sampling technique. Quantitative data was obtained through administration of semi-structured questionnaire to sixteen (16) willing participants. The information was triangulated with three (3) focus group discussions. The statistical software Epi Info version 7 and Stata version 11 was used to analyze the quantitative data and presented in graph and tables. Thematic analysis was adopted for analyzing the qualitative data. Findings: Majority (93%) of the stu...
Introduction. Proper nutrition during pregnancy is important for the wellbeing of the mother and ... more Introduction. Proper nutrition during pregnancy is important for the wellbeing of the mother and foetus and supports health during pregnancy, delivery, and breastfeeding. However, there are little data on nutritional knowledge and dietary intake among adolescents who are pregnant in Ghana. Hence, the study assessed the nutritional knowledge and eating habits of this vulnerable group in the Ledzokuku-Krowor Municipality, Ghana. Methods. The study was cross-sectional and employed a multistage sampling technique to select 423 participants. The study was conducted between October and November 2019. A statistical software was used to analyse data and employed Pearson’s chi-square and logistics regression to assess associations between the outcome and predictor variables. A p value <0.05 at a 95% confidence interval was considered statistically significant. Results. Less than half (44.9%) of the pregnant adolescents have high nutritional knowledge. About 19.4% of them have good eating ...
Background: Infant and young child nutrition has been engaging the attention of scientists and go... more Background: Infant and young child nutrition has been engaging the attention of scientists and governments over the years. Their feeding practices comprise both breastfeeding as well as complementary feeding which have major role in determining the nutritional status of the child, therefore, there has been a well-established link between malnutrition and infant feeding. Children are the future of the world and yet the most vulnerable population, with some 6.6 million children dying before their fifth birthday globally. Studies have shown that poor breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices, coupled with high rates of morbidity from infectious diseases are the primary causes of malnutrition and death in the first two years of life. Ketu-North district noted that even though nutrition and health programmes were in place, breastfeeding coverage has been between 53% in 2013 and 69% in 2015. This study sought to assess mothers or caregivers adherence to Infant and Young Child Feed...
Background Malaria is a preventable disease that causes huge morbidity and mortality in malaria-e... more Background Malaria is a preventable disease that causes huge morbidity and mortality in malaria-endemic areas, especially among children and pregnant women. The malaria control programme focuses on the prevention of mosquito bites using insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) and mosquito aerosol sprays and coils, as well as prevention of severe disease among those infected through prompt and adequate treatment. The success of the malaria control programme in Ghana is dependent on the malaria prevention practices of people in the community. Therefore, this study evaluated the malaria prevention practices of participants in four districts of the Volta Region of Ghana. Methods This was a cross-sectional study conducted in Ketu South, Nkwanta South, Hohoe Municipality and Ho West districts of the Volta Region of Ghana. Questionnaire were administered to adults who consented to each household visited. Questions were asked on the socio-demographics and malaria prevention practices of the househo...
Introduction: Vitamin A is essential for immune function, vision, reproduction, and cellular comm... more Introduction: Vitamin A is essential for immune function, vision, reproduction, and cellular communication. Insufficient amounts of vitamin A decreases children’s ability to resist diseases and increases risks for childhood deaths, hospital stay, and missed school days. Two annual doses of vitamin A supplementation (VAS) for children 6-59 months, with a coverage threshold of 70% as recommended by UNICEF in settings with high deficiency. Methodology: For this cross-sectional study, we assessed nutrition knowledge of vitamin A among caregivers with children 6-59 months and coverage of VAS in the South Dayi District, Volta Region, Ghana, using structured questionnaires. Child health records were reviewed to determine immunization and vitamin A supplementation status of the children. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences SPSS (version 20.0) at 95% confidence intervals. Result: A total of 418 caregiver-child pairs participated in this study and health recor...
Background Children need good nutrition to develop proper immune mechanisms and psychosocial matu... more Background Children need good nutrition to develop proper immune mechanisms and psychosocial maturity, but malnutrition can affect their ability to realize this. Apart from the national demographic and health survey, which is carried out every 5 years, there have not been enough documented studies on child breastfeeding and weaning practices of caregivers in the Volta Region. We, therefore, examined child breastfeeding and weaning practices of mothers in the Volta Region of Ghana. Methods A sub-national survey method was adopted and a semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data from 396 mothers and their children. Descriptive and inferential statistics comprising frequency, percentage, chi-square, and logistic regression were employed in analysing the data. We defined exclusive breastfeeding as given only breast milk to an infant from a mother or a wet nurse for six months of life except drops or syrups consisting of vitamins, minerals, supplements, or medicines on medica...
Background. There are laws to enforce the universal iodization of salt to check the consequences ... more Background. There are laws to enforce the universal iodization of salt to check the consequences of iodine deficiency in Ghana. These laws are to ensure that there are production and sales of iodized salt in the country. Yet, the availability of iodized salt in the county's households is still not encouraging, with data indicating that 93.8% of children have urine iodine <100 μg/dl. Hence, the study investigated the iodine content of salt in retail shops and knowledge of iodized salt among retailers in the Wa East District. The study will help the informed decision on strengthening and enforcing laws to achieve the universal salt iodization and the consumption of adequate iodized salt.Method. The study was a descriptive cross-sectional survey. We used a questionnaire to collect quantitative data from participants and a rapid field test kits to determine the iodine content of salt. STATA version 14.2 was used to analyse data. Chi-squared and logistic regression models were use...
An anomaly (deviant objects, exceptions, peculiar objects) is an important concept of the analysi... more An anomaly (deviant objects, exceptions, peculiar objects) is an important concept of the analysis. The volume and velocity of the data within many systems makes it difficult to detect and process anomalies for Big Data in real-time. Many anomaly detective systems count on the historical data for detecting behaviors’. Considering it as a problem to financial institutions in Ghana, the researcher proposed robust anomaly detection framework. The proposed frame work defines Spark stream, as part of Spark ecosystem, which stream data in real-time. Also, the proposed framework data model was build using SVM, Linear regression and Logistic regression as a package found in Spark MLlib. Additionally, the proposed framework was explained clearly to be implemented in real systems for financial institutions.
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