Access to Improved Sanitation Facilities and Female School Attendance: A study of Savelugu Municipality of Ghana

The study investigates the extent to which access to adequate and improved sanitation influence school attendance of female students in public senior high schools in the Savelugu municipality of Ghana. A cross sectional survey design using both qualitative and quantitative methods was used to collect data in Savelugu Senior High School and Pong-Tamale Senior High School, all in the Savelugu Municipality. A total of 345 female students and two headmasters and six assistant headmasters from the two senior high schools were interviewed. The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The study established that the availability of improved and adequate sanitation facilities was significant in determining the extent of use, and school attendance of females in such schools. The study established that lack of privacy and insecurity caused by substandard sanitation facilities contributed to female student absenteeism. The study further revealed that the availability of improved sanitation facilities could account for 38.3% percent of the change in the level of sanitation use and its impact on female school attendance. We recommend that school management teams should ensure adequate provision of improved sanitation facilities in every public senior high school as part of efforts to improve female students school attendance

Assessment of Newspaper Circulation and Readership in Northern Ghana

There is a widespread concern that the print newspaper industry across the world and in Ghana particularly faces an uncertain future and a long-term decline in readership and circulation due to the prevalence of internet mediated News websites, making print newspapers obsolete in their present format. This paper is an assessment of the circulation and readership of printed newspapers in the northern regional capital, Tamale. It investigates preferred News sources among newsreaders and examines consumption pattern of newspapers in the metropolis. It discussed the challenges the print media industry faces in the wake of News websites’ proliferation in the Ghanaian media landscape. The paper is based on exploratory research design. It sampled four leading print newspapers in Ghana (Daily Graphic, Daily Guide, Ghanaian Times and Business and Financial Times) as reference points for data collection. Four newspaper vendors who vend these newspapers in the metropolis were sampled through simple random sampling. The paper finds a sharp decline in circulation and readership of printed newspaper in the metropolis in favour of internet powered News websites. The paper concludes that although newsreaders prefer sourcing News online, they still find the traditional printed media as the most credible and reliable sources for News. The paper recommends that the traditional print media take advantage of the reach of internet powered platforms to create online presence and ensure that they innovate to get newsreaders subscribe to their brands since print newspaper readership is gradually declining in the metropolis

Influence of salicylic acid and potassium nitrate on plant height and flowering time of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) under varying salinity and drought-induced stresses

This study was conducted to examine the effects of Salicylic acid (SA) and Potassium nitrate (KNO3) on plant height and flowering time of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) under induced stresses of salinity, drought and combined salinity and drought. Three watering regimes namely; normal, moderate and severe were used. For salinity stress, 50 mM NaCl, 100 mM NaCl, 150 mM NaCl and combination of water and salinity regimes were used. 50 μm KNO3 and 50 μm SA were separately applied to plants under water, salinity and combined water and salinity stresses. The mean plant height at 100 mM salt concentration were 42.29 cm for KNO3, 42.27 cm for SA, compared with 40.98 cm for control (F = 2.73; P ≤ 0.008). In combined severe watering and 150 mM NaCl treatment, flowering time was 57 DAP (days after planting) compared to 34 DAP in control plants. When KNO3 and SA were applied to severe watering and 150 mM NaCl combined stress induced plants, flowering time was 51 DAP and 53 DAP for KNO3 and SA treated plants respectively. In conclusion, the exogenous application of plant growth regulators such as SA and KNO3 reduce impact of water stress on groundnut and effectively improve yield

Dengue:a growing risk to travellers to tropical and sub-tropical regions

Dengue is op dit moment wereldwijd de meest voorkomende door muggen overgedragen virale infectieziekte.Door de klimaatverandering en andere factoren is het verspreidingsgebied van de vector, de Aedes-mug, de laatste decennia sterk toegenomen.Dengue is endemisch in bijna alle (sub)tropische delen van de wereld; dit betekent dat 40% van de wereldbevolking risico loopt besmet te worden met het denguevirus.Het beloop van dengue kan variëren van een asymptomatische infectie of een ongedifferentieerd ziektebeeld met koorts (klassieke dengue of ‘dengue fever’) tot ernstige, soms fatale, vormen van ziekte zoals hemorragische koorts (‘dengue hemorrhagic fever’, DHF) en het dengue-shocksyndroom (DSS).Gezien de beperkte mogelijkheden van preventie is de verwachting dat de incidentie van dengue de komende jaren verder zal toenemen.Ook in gebieden waar dengue niet endemisch is zullen zorgverleners steeds vaker patiënten met dengue in hun praktijk tegenkomen.Dengue is currently the most common arboviral infection worldwide. Due to global climate change and other factors, the vector of the virus - the Aedes mosquito - has spread considerably over the past decades. Dengue is endemic in almost all tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world; meaning that approximately 40% of the world population is at risk of acquiring a dengue infection. The clinical features of dengue vary from a non-specific febrile illness (dengue fever) to at times fatal serious conditions such as dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS). Considering the limited possibilities of prevention it is anticipated that the incidence of dengue will increase in the future. It is expected that health-care providers in non-endemic regions will encounter dengue-infected patients with increasing frequency in their practices.</p

Validation of the Emergency Department-Paediatric Early Warning Score (ED-PEWS) for use in low- and middle-income countries:A multicentre observational study

Early recognition of children at risk of serious illness is essential in preventing morbidity and mortality, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This study aimed to validate the Emergency Department-Paediatric Early Warning Score (ED-PEWS) for use in acute care settings in LMICs. This observational study is based on previously collected clinical data from consecutive children attending four diverse settings in LMICs. Inclusion criteria and study periods (2010–2021) varied. We simulated the ED-PEWS, consisting of patient age, consciousness, work of breathing, respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, heart rate, and capillary refill time, based on the first available parameters. Discrimination was assessed by the area under the curve (AUC), sensitivity and specificity (previously defined cut-offs &lt; 6 and ≥ 15). The outcome measure was for each setting a composite marker of high urgency. 41,917 visits from Gambia rural, 501 visits from Gambia urban, 2,608 visits from Suriname, and 1,682 visits from Tanzania were included. The proportion of high urgency was variable (range 4.6% to 24.9%). Performance ranged from AUC 0.80 (95%CI 0.70–0.89) in Gambia urban to 0.62 (95%CI 0.55–0.67) in Tanzania. The low-urgency cut-off showed a high sensitivity in all settings ranging from 0.83 (95%CI 0.81–0.84) to 1.00 (95%CI 0.97–1.00). The high-urgency cut-off showed a specificity ranging from 0.71 (95%CI 0.66–0.75) to 0.97 (95%CI 0.97–0.97). The ED-PEWS has a moderate to good performance for the recognition of high urgency children in these LMIC settings. The performance appears to have potential in improving the identification of high urgency children in LMICs.</p