Foreign Students’ Experience in Ghana

The study was to determine foreign students’ experience in Ghanaian tertiary institutions with the primary objectives of empirically; Determining the demographic characteristics of foreign students in Ghana Determining how their overall perception and attitude influence their behavioural intentions. Data was collected from a total of 351 students selected purposely from six tertiary institutions in Ghana using questionnaire. The results of the study indicate that Ghana is an emerging destination for foreign education particularly among African countries. A total 38 different nationalities are pursuing university education in Ghana. The current study shows that feedback from lecturers, quality of teaching access to lecturers and professionalism of support staffs are perceived to be the most important variables influencing foreign students’ satisfaction and that the overall perception and attitude that a foreign student develops towards a host country is a function of the student’s institutional experience and country experience. Overall the students were generally satisfied with the experience in Ghana and in Ghanaian tertiary institutions. Key words: Foreign students, Ghana, institutional experience, country experience, behavioural intention

Dietary Diversity, Body Mass Index and Haemoglobin Concentration of Health Students in a Public University in Ghana

Background: Tertiary students are known to have poor dietary habits and at risk of iron deficiency anaemia. The aim of this study was to assess the dietary diversity of Allied Health students and determine its relationship with haemoglobin (Hb) concentration and body mass index (BMI). Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out among 96 health students in the University of Ghana. A stratified systematic sampling technique was used to select the participants and a structured questionnaire used to obtain demographic and socioeconomic information. Weight and height were measured, and BMI determined. Dietary diversity (DD) was assessed using the WHO/FAO guidelines. Haemoglobin concentration was measured using a portable hemocue 301+ analyser. Linear regression was used to determine the relationship between the DDS and Hb concentration, and BMI of the students. Level of significance was set at p < 0.05.Results: Mean age and BMI of the students were 21.8±1.7 years and 22.7±4.3kg/m2 respectively. The mean DDS and Hb concentration were 4.68±1.40 and 12.6±1.3g/dl respectively. More than half (58%) of the students had moderate DD. Approximately forty percent (40.6%) of the students were anaemic. There was a strong positive correlation between BMI and DDS (r= +0.810, p= 0.434).  Conclusion: These findings suggest a high prevalence of anaemia among the students, with half of them having a moderate DDS.  There is a need for regular screening to identify and treat students with low haemoglobin concentrations. Although not significant there was a positive correlation between Hb concentration, BMI and Dietary Diversity score. Keywords: dietary diversity, haemoglobin concentration, body mass index DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/12-16-01 Publication date:August 31st 202

LCA applied to perennial cropping systems: a review focused on the farm stage

International audienc

Macrophage susceptibility to infection by Ghanaian Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex lineages 4 and 5 varies with self-reported ethnicity

BackgroundThe epidemiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) lineage 5 (L5) infections in Ghana revealed a significantly increased prevalence in Ewes compared to other self-reported ethnic groups. In that context, we sought to investigate the early phase of tuberculosis (TB) infection using ex vivo infection of macrophages derived from the blood of Ewe and Akan ethnic group volunteers with MTBC L4 and L5 strains.MethodsThe study participants consisted of 16 controls, among which self-reported Akan and Ewe ethnicity was equally represented, as well as 20 cured TB cases consisting of 11 Akans and 9 Ewes. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were isolated from both healthy controls and cured TB cases. CD14+ monocytes were isolated and differentiated into monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) before infection with L4 or L5 endemic strains. The bacterial load was assessed after 2 hours (uptake) as well as 3 and 7 days post-infection.ResultsWe observed a higher capacity of MDMs from Ewes to phagocytose L4 strains (p < 0.001), translating into a higher bacillary load on day 7 (p < 0.001) compared to L5, despite the higher replication rate of L5 in Ewe MDMs (fold change: 1.4 vs. 1.2, p = 0.03) among the controls. On the contrary, within macrophages from Akans, we observed a significantly higher phagocytic uptake of L5 (p < 0.001) compared to L4, also translating into a higher load on day 7 (p = 0.04). However, the replication rate of L4 in Akan MDMs was higher than that of L5 (fold change: L4 = 1.2, L4 = 1.1, p = 0.04). Although there was no significant difference in the uptake of L4 and L5 among cured TB cases, there was a higher bacterial load of both L4 (p = 0.02) and L5 (p = 0.02) on day 7 in Ewe MDMs.ConclusionOur results suggest that host ethnicity (driven by host genetic diversity), MTBC genetic diversity, and individual TB infection history are all acting together to modulate the outcome of macrophage infections by MTBC

Stakeholder collaboration in climate-smart agricultural production innovations: insights from the Cocoa industry in Ghana

Although collaboration is vital in addressing global environmental sustainability challenges, research understanding on stakeholder engagement in climate-smart production innovation adoption and implementation, remains limited. In this paper, we advance knowledge about stakeholder collaboration by examining the roles played by stakeholders in scaling up ecological sustainability innovations. Using the illustrative context and case of green cocoa industry in Ghana, the analysis identified three distinctive phases of stakeholder engagement in ecological sustainability innovations implemented from 1960-2017. We highlight defining periods of ecological challenges encompassing the production recovery sustainability initiative phase solely driven by the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD)–a governmental body responsible for production, processing and marketing of cocoa, coffee and sheanut. During the period, major initiatives were driven by non-governmental organisations in collaboration with COCOBOD to implement the Climate-Smart agriculture scheme in the cocoa sector. The findings have implications for cocoa production research and stakeholder collaboration in environmental innovations adoption