Mental Health Service in Ghana: a Review of the Case

Mental health care in Ghana has been fraught with several challenges leading to stagnant growth in mental health service delivery and in some cases a severe depreciation in the nature of care. The Government of Ghana pays little or no attention to mental health care in the country, a situation that has led to poor service delivery in the three major psychiatric hospitals in Ghana. The implementation of the Ghana Mental Act of 2012 has also been faced with major challenges with no significant progress being made. This studytherefore sought to review and document the development of mental health care services in Ghana. Specifically, the study examined the various legislations on mental health that have been enacted in Ghana since 1900; investigated the implementation of the current Mental Health Act of Ghana; found out whether the Ghanaian government has prioritise mental health services in the country and assessed the challenges and problems that confronted mental health services in Ghana since 1900.The study concludes that, since 1888 efforts have been made by various governments to legislate the provision of mental services in Ghana. However, these legislations have not always protected the rights and interest of the mentally ill

Ebola Haemorrhagic Fever in Africa: a Necessary Highlight

The purpose of this commentary is to re-evaluate the historic and scientific facts on Ebola haemorrhagic fever and the role of the International community, especially Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in stemming the tide. It rehashes the argument on causes and prevention and draws attention of readers to emphasize the need for establishment of airport, sea port and border health posts with well drilled and efficient health professionals to be able to test, detect and quarantine persons with Ebola and treat them to prevent the spread of the disease from infected persons to primary or first contacts and secondary contacts. Significantly, countries in the West African sub-region are alarmed by the potential spread of the disease to countries that have hitherto been free of the disease. The potential global threat of the disease has been analysed and measures to be taken by countries within the West-African sub-region have been emphasized. This notwithstanding, does the declaration of countries as Ebola-free suggest the last of it

Nutritional habits and food consumption pattern of fishing communities around Lake Kainji, Nigeria

The findings are presented of a nutrition survey carried out in the framework of the Nigerian-German Kainji Lake Fisheries Promotion Project in March/April 1995. The major aim of the study was to obtain closer information on the food habits and food consumption patterns of the fishing population, especially the quantification of fish and small fish in particular, consumed at the household level. A standardized questionnaire was used to collect relevant information on demographic, education and occupational profiles; the information was collected in 39 villages in the southern sector of Kainji Lake. (PDF contains 75 pages

External electric field effect on electron transport in carbon nanotubes

Electronic transport properties of carbon nanotubes are studied theoretically in the presence of external electric field E(t) by using the Boltzmann's transport with constant relaxation time. An analytical expression for the current densities of the nanotubes are obtained. It is observed that the current density-electric field characteristics of the CNs exhibit total self-induced transparency and absolute negative conductivityComment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Perceptions of educators on ICT integration into the teaching and learning of economics

This study explored educators’ perceptions of the integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) into the teaching and learning of Economics. Guided by an interpretive paradigm this qualitative study used a case study design. The purposively selected sample comprised eight Economics teachers, selected from four public Secondary Schools, located in KwaZulu Natal (Umlazi district). Data were collected using three instruments (semi-structured interviews, observations, and document review). From the findings, it emerged that teachers had the positive perception that ICT integration positively affects the teaching and learning of Economics and it promotes the teaching of Economics. However, the findings also showed that teachers face challenges in integrating ICT when teaching Economics. Contrariwise, the findings further revealed that some teachers, due to the lack of ICT skills, perceive ICT integration as a waste of time and thus, they remain attached to the traditional teaching methods, which hinder the use of ICT in teaching Economics. Based on the findings, the study recommends that teachers should be workshopped to enhance their ICT skills, there should be school-based ICT specialists to promote ICT integration in teaching, and also the education system should make ICT subjects compulsory from grade R- to grade 12, so that both teachers and learners get used to ICT gadgets

Effect of cement grade and fineness of slag on the early age to medium term properties of binary blends

The hydration and microstructural evolution of cementitious materials are dependent on both the mineralogical and physical attributes of the constituent materials. This paper ascertains the influence of constituent materials’ fineness on hydration and the evolution of mechanical properties of CEM I-slag composite cements. The clinker to supplementary cementitious material ratio was maintained at 50:50 and the sulphate content kept constant in all mixes. Compressive strength development was followed over time, with hydration followed by isothermal calorimetry and chemical shrinkage. Results from these techniques show that, for a given clinker, a more finely ground slag was consistently superior to a coarser slag. Furthermore, calorimetry revealed that the intensity of alite hydration and the secondary peak attributable to participation of aluminates from slag in hydration were also greater when using a finer slag. Finely ground clinker also accelerates slag hydration. The early age strengths in the binary blends were weaker than the control specimens, but this was offset beyond 7 days when using finer slag blends. Blending of higher grade CEM I (52.5R) and fine slag also yielded comparable early age strength to a CEM I- 42.5R mix

Students' views on mathematics in single-sex and coed classrooms in Ghana

In this study, we investigated students’ views on themselves as learners of mathematics as a function of school-by-sex (N = 2034, MAge = 18.49, SDAge = 1.25; 12th-grade; 58.2% girls). Using latent variable Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), the measurement and structural equivalence as well as the equality of latent means of scores across single-sex and coed schools were tested. Findings regarding the latent mean differences revealed that girls in single-sex schools had significantly higher mathematics self-confidence than did students’ in coed schools. Girls in coed schools had significantly lower mathematics self-concepts than did boys in single-sex, girls in single-sex and boys in coed schools. Girls in single-sex schools had significantly higher family encouragement than students’ in all other school types. Moreover, a more complex dynamics were found on the teacher quality variate. This paper argues for a deeper understanding of sex-school interaction and of possible causes of students’ views on mathematics.Peer reviewe

TIMSS data in an African comparative perspective : Investigating the factors influencing achievement in mathematics and their psychometric properties

Relationships among motivational constructs from the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS 2011) were investigated for eight-graders in all the five participating African countries, representing 38,806 (49 % girls). First, we investigated the psychometric properties (factor structure, reliabilities, method effect, and measurement invariance---country and gender) of the mathematics motivational constructs across the five educational systems. There was empirical support for the multidimensionality of the construct and the TIMSS 2011 motivational construct was largely invariant across cultures. Furthermore, a series of confirmatory factor analyses revealed that there is a need to control method effects associated with negatively worded items in the measurement model. There was support suggesting that in many cultures responses to negatively worded items are systematically different. The factor structures and reliabilities (i.e., confidence and the like mathematics scales) were affected by negatively worded items. Second, the relationships between the constructs, achievements and background variables such as parental education, gender and students' educational aspirations were investigated. We identified several significant relationships between self-belief and mathematics achievement. Differences in the latent mean achievement and the motivational construct were similar to those that have been described in the literature as "paradoxical" and "perplexing". Nations with high mathematics achievement seem to have students with more negative mathematics self-belief. Some results extend, whereas others refute the findings of previous research. For instance, the relationship between students' mathematics confidence and mathematics achievement was lower than the relationship between the value of mathematics and achievement in some countries and it was the reverse in others. However, consistent with cultural stereotypes, boys rated their mathematics competence higher than girls. The findings are discussed with reference to implications for cross-cultural research and practice.Peer reviewe