The Psychological Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Health Workers at the Primary Level in the Greater Accra Region

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic had a negative impact on lives and livelihoods since its outbreak in the health sector. Health workers in Ghana have been at increased risk of contracting the virus due to their close contact with infected patients and some have become ill or died as a result, placing a significant mental and emotional burden on healthcare workers in Ghana. Objectives: This study examines the psychological impact of COVID-19 on primary healthcare workers in the Greater Accra Region. Methods: The study adopted a cross-sectional design. Data were collected using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-Item (GAD-7) scale, Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and Impact Event Scale 6 (IES-R) to evaluate the mental health conditions of 97 healthcare workers providing healthcare services in health centres and health posts (called CHPS zones) in the Greater Accra Region. Results were presented using Frequencies, Percentages, and univariate and multivariate logistic regression. Results: Overall, the majority of health workers were depressed (71.1%) in relation to COVID-19. 59.8% and 50.6% had psychological stress and anxiety respectively at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Family avoidance, alcohol, and role (CHO, public health nurse and other categories) were significantly associated with anxiety, depression, and stress in health workers at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: Generally, approximately half of the workers at the primary levels felt depressed, anxious, or felt stressed about COVID-19. Family avoidance, alcohol and role (CHO, public health nurse and other categories) were significantly associated with anxiety, depression and stress in health workers at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a need for the health system to recognize the presence of these adverse psychological effects in primary health workers and take pragmatic steps to address them. Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic, Health workers, Anxiety, Stress, Depression, Psychological impact, Ghana Health Service. DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/112-01 Publication date: December 31st 202

Complementary feeding and the early origins of obesity risk:A study protocol

Introduction The rise in the prevalence of childhood obesity worldwide calls for an intervention earlier in the life cycle. Studies show that nutrition during early infancy may contribute to later obesity. Hence, this study is designed to determine if the variation in complementary feeding practices poses a risk for the development of obesity later in life. A mixed methods approach will be used in conducting this study.Methods and analysis The target participants are infants born from January to June 2015 in the South East Asia Community Observatory (SEACO) platform. The SEACO is a Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) that is established in the District of Segamat in the state of Johor, Malaysia. For the quantitative strand, the sociodemographic data, feeding practices, anthropometry measurement and total nutrient intake will be assessed. The assessment will occur around the time complementary feeding is expected to start (7 Months) and again at 12 months. A 24-hour diet recall and a 2-day food diary will be used to assess the food intake. For the qualitative strand, selected mothers will be interviewed to explore their infant feeding practices and factors that influence their practices and food choices in detail.Ethics and dissemination Ethical clearance for this study was sought through the Monash University Human Research and Ethics Committee (application number CF14/3850-2014002010). Subsequently, the findings of this study will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals, national and international conferences

Tourism Information Packaging and Promotion, the GIS Approach--the Case of Jomoro District of Ghana

The importance of tourism to the economic development of countries cannot be overemphasized. All activities involved in tourism are based on information, so it is largely an information product. In spite of the immense benefits to be derived, the industry has not received the needed boost in terms of investments. This is because information about tourists’ sites are not properly organized, packaged and marketed. Most of the information about the industry is in text form which does not contain the basic information that tourists and investors require in order to make informed decisions. The research seeks to study and explore the use of ICT to packaging tourism information using GIS with the view to enhancing tourism information packaging, promotion and development in Ghana using the Jomoro district as a case study. It further seeks to explore how GIS technology can be used for tourism data acquisition, compilation, storage, construction and output for presentation in map form with text embedded in them, in order to enhance tourism promotion and development in the country

Microbiological studies of cockroaches from three localities in Gaborone, Botswana

Cockroaches have become the most common pests in a majority of households in Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana Their presence has always raised safety concerns, especially as carriers of food-borne pathogens and food-spoilage organisms. To address the safety issues, bacteriological investigations were carried out on cockroaches trapped from the kitchens and toilets of three localities in Gaborone, households in Botswana. The bacterial, total spore forming, Bacillus cereus, coliforms and E. coli counts from the surfaces of cockroaches were estimated using bacteriological media. Aerobic and facultatively anaerobic bacteria from the fecal pellets were isolated and characterized. Specialized mediawere used for culturing pathogens. 67 %, 22.2 % and 28.6 % of the cockroaches trapped in the kitchen from Central/Broadhurst, Old Naledi and Tlokweng, respectively, had aerobic plate counts of > 106 CFU/cockroach. The cockroaches trapped from the toilets had higher counts than kitchens. Sporeformers were present in most samples though in lower numbers. However, Bacillus cereus was only found in some of the cockroaches at much lower numbers. As much as 70– 98.3% of the cockroaches had coliforms; but, E. coli was only found in 5–6.5% of the cockroaches at > 103 CFU/cockroach. 70 species of bacteria representing 37 genera were isolated from the surface and fecal pellets. Even though the majority of the bacteria that were isolated from the surfaces were Gram negative thosefrom the pellets were mostly Gram positive. The most common and abundant species belonged to Pseudomonas and Serratia, with members of the Enterobacteriaceae following. In the pellets, species of Bacillus were predominant, but, there were some members of Enterobacteriaceae. Pathogens like Salmonella, Shigella and B. cereus were isolated. Opportunistic pathogens like species of Pseudomonas, Klebsiella and Vibrio and food spoilage bacteria such as species of Enterobacter, Citrobacter, Escherichia, Erwinia, and Pseudomonas were also found. Proper care in disposal of food remnants and overall cleanliness at the householdsprevents cockroaches from foraging in the kitchen and toilet

EXCITATION OF BREATHER (BION) IN SUPERLATTICE

soliton E s i.e Eb = 2B s sxa.v. We noted that the breather's rest energy is less than that required to excite a soliton