IMPACTS OF THE NORTHEAST DAIRY COMPACT ON NEW ENGLAND RETAIL PRICES

Northeast Dairy Compact impacts were estimated for Boston and Hartford retail prices using an econometric model. Asymmetric speeds of adjustment to farm price increases and decreases were found; however, tests indicated that retail prices do return to the same level following equal farm price increases and decreases. Model forecasts suggested no structural changes occurred during the out-of-sample period, July 1996 through June 1998. Simulations with and without the Compact predicted lower retail fluid milk price impacts than actual July 1997 changes. These predicted impacts separate the effects of farm price changes on retail prices from possibly confounding effects.Demand and Price Analysis,

Returns to Tilapia Fish Farming in Ghana – Implications for Tilapia Pooled Investment Vehicles

In Ghana, the private sector’s response to financing constraints associated with aquaculture investment has been to employ Pooled Investment Vehicles (PIVs). Unfortunately, several of these PIVs faced insolvency with huge losses to investors as returns promised investors turn out to be unrealizable. The premise of this study is that such insolvency problems occur mainly because of the lack of reliable data on likely returns and risk associated with Tilapia farm investments. This study improves on the “single value” profitability estimates of previous studies by performing Value at Risk (VaR) analyses on estimated farm-level returns, and 5,000 Monte Carlo simulation trials of the NPV to examine distribution of the long term returns to Tilapia farms. Results indicate that 99 percent of farms surveyed recorded positive net returns with an average return of 36 percent per cycle or 72 percent per annum. The VaR result suggests that there is a 5 percent chance that short-term returns in Tilapia farming would fall below 20 percent level per 6-month cycle. Further, 80 percent of the farms included in the study recorded positive NPV. The simulation produced Average NPV of 4026 Ghana cedis and IRR of 24 percent per cycle. This implies that offering more than 48 percent returns per annum to investors results in negative NPVs that lead to insolvency

Examining Antenatal Health Literacy in Ghana

Purpose To explore Ghanaian pregnant women's understanding and recognition of danger signs in pregnancy, birth preparedness and complication readiness, and their understanding of newborn care. Design An exploratory, qualitative study design was used. Methods Data were gathered through six focus group discussions with 68 pregnant women attending antenatal care at a busy urban hospital in Ghana. Qualitative and descriptive data were analyzed using SPSS version 21. Health literacy was used as the guiding framework to analyze the qualitative data. Data were analyzed in the content domains of (a) understanding and recognition of danger signs in pregnancy, (b) preparedness for childbirth, (c) understanding and recognition of danger signs in the newborn, and (d) appropriate and timely referral. Findings Women in this study identified danger signs of pregnancy and in the newborn, but had difficulty interpreting and operationalizing information they received during antenatal care visits, indicating that health education did not translate to appropriate health behaviors. Cultural beliefs in alternative medicine, lack of understanding, and prior negative encounters with healthcare professionals may have led to underutilization of professional midwives for delivery and health services. Conclusions Women in this study exhibited low health literacy by incorrectly interpreting and operationalizing health education received during antenatal care. With limited health literacy, pregnant women cannot fully comprehend the scope of services that a health system can provide for them and their families. Clinical Relevance Achieving the greatest impact with limited time in antenatal care is a challenge. Since antenatal care is widely available to pregnant women in Ghana, it is vital to reexamine the way antenatal education is delivered. Pregnant women must receive health information that is accurate and easy to understand in order to make informed health choices that will improve maternal and child health.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109308/1/jnu12094.pd

Effects of sachet water consumption on exposure to microbe-contaminated drinking water: household survey evidence from Ghana

There remain few nationally representative studies of drinking water quality at the point of consumption in developing countries. This study aimed to examine factors associated with E. coli contamination in Ghana. It drew on a nationally representative household survey, the 2012?2013 Living Standards Survey 6, which incorporated a novel water quality module. E. coli contamination in 3096 point-of-consumption samples was examined using multinomial regression. Surface water use was the strongest risk factor for high E. coli contamination (relative risk ratio (RRR) = 32.3, p < 0.001), whilst packaged (sachet or bottled) water use had the greatest protective effect (RRR = 0.06, p < 0.001), compared to water piped to premises. E. coli contamination followed plausible patterns with digit preference (tendency to report values ending in zero) in bacteria counts. The analysis suggests packaged drinking water use provides some protection against point-of-consumption E. coli contamination and may therefore benefit public health. It also suggests viable water quality data can be collected alongside household surveys, but field protocols require further revision

Enhancing Environmental Integrity in the Northern Savanna Zone of Ghana: A Remote Sensing and GIS Approach.

Land degradation has become the hallmark of developing countries whose livelihoods are directly tied to the land such as engaging in agriculture. In Ghana land degradation is an environmental challenge to farming communities as such the need to investigate the complex nature of the problem in worse affected regions of Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions. Methods used to investigate land degradation in these regions are analysis of satellite imagery, modelling of desert hazard indicators in ArcGis 9.3 software and interview of farmers using focus group discussion. Findings of the study show three main risk levels of land degradation and desertification such as high, moderate and low risks. The study concluded by proposing suitable sites for woodlot development to address land degradation and desertification problems in the study regions. Key words: Land degradation, desertification, land cover change, woodlots, risk levels

Measuring Coverage in MNCH: Validating Women’s Self-Report of Emergency Cesarean Sections in Ghana and the Dominican Republic

Background: Cesarean section is the only surgery for which we have nearly global population-based data. However, few surveys provide additional data related to cesarean sections. Given weaknesses in many health information systems, health planners in developing countries will likely rely on nationally representative surveys for the foreseeable future. The objective is to validate self-reported data on the emergency status of cesarean sections among women delivering in teaching hospitals in the capitals of two contrasting countries: Accra, Ghana and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic (DR). Methods and Findings: This study compares hospital-based data, considered the reference standard, against women’s self-report for two definitions of emergency cesarean section based on the timing of the decision to operate and the timing of the cesarean section relative to onset of labor. Hospital data were abstracted from individual medical records, and hospital discharge interviews were conducted with women who had undergone cesarean section in two hospitals. The study assessed sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value of responses to questions regarding emergency versus non-emergency cesarean section and estimated the percent of emergency cesarean sections that would be obtained from a survey, given the observed prevalence, sensitivity, and specificity from this study. Hospital data were matched with exit interviews for 659 women delivered via cesarean section for Ghana and 1,531 for the Dominican Republic. In Ghana and the Dominican Republic, sensitivity and specificity for emergency cesarean section defined by decision time were 79% and 82%, and 50% and 80%, respectively. The validity of emergency cesarean defined by operation time showed less favorable results than decision time in Ghana and slightly more favorable results in the Dominican Republic. Conclusions: Questions used in this study to identify emergency cesarean section are promising but insufficient to promote for inclusion in international survey questionnaires. Additional studies which confirm the accuracy of key facility-based indicators in advance of data collection and which use a longer recall period are warranted

A framework for healthcare interventions to address maternal morbidity.

The maternal health agenda is undergoing a paradigm shift from preventing maternal deaths to promoting women's health and wellness. A critical focus of this trajectory includes addressing maternal morbidity and the increasing burden of chronic and noncommunicable diseases (NCD) among pregnant women. The WHO convened the Maternal Morbidity Working Group (MMWG) to improve the scientific basis for defining, measuring, and monitoring maternal morbidity. Based on the MMWG's work, we propose paradigms for conceptualizing maternal health and related interventions, and call for greater integration between maternal health and NCD programs. This integration can be synergistic, given the links between chronic conditions, morbidity in pregnancy, and long-term health. Pregnancy should be viewed as a window of opportunity into the current and future health of women, and offers critical entry points for women who may otherwise not seek or have access to care for chronic conditions. Maternal health services should move beyond the focus on emergency obstetric care, to a broader approach that encompasses preventive and early interventions, and integration with existing services. Health systems need to respond by prioritizing funding for developing integrated health programs, and workforce strengthening. The MMWG's efforts have highlighted the changing landscape of maternal health, and the need to expand the narrow focus of maternal health, moving beyond surviving to thriving

Commodification, Sexuality and Choice Among School Children in A Ghanaian Community: The Consequences for Teaching, Learning and Life Chances

This paper explores the phenomenon of early sexual practices among young schoolchildren in Ghana through the lens of the ability of young people in two peri-urban communities to make better or productive moral and ethical judgements that enable the sustenance of opportunities for education, learning and life chances. Using a questionnaire, interviews, conversations and observations, it reckons the schoolchildren’s reasoning and consciousness in determining their attitudes towards choices concerning early sexual practices and in their indulgence or otherwise. It argues that schoolchildren’s attitudes and behaviour are shaped by social philosophies including empiricism, solipsism, economism and commodification in a complete departure from the ways of knowing that obtained in society a generation ago. The consequences of such a radical change from the traditionalism of a generation ago is the development of a nihilistic attitude guiding their moral and ethical choices which are nevertheless detrimental to their own development into personhood and the development of their future opportunities through education, learning and life chances

Contemporary issues in women’s health

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135368/1/ijgo184.pd