The role of child protection professionals in enhancing parenting among immigrants in Gothenburg: the perspectives of child protection professionals in Gothenburg

This study documented the role that child protection professionals play in enhancing parenting in Gothenburg – Sweden. It sought to answer three research questions, namely: what expectations do child protection professionals hold about parenting? What difficulties do immigrant parents in Gothenburg face? And what services are put in place to help immigrant parents to bring up their children in a way acceptable in Sweden? The qualitative research approach was used. Seven (7) child protection professionals were selected through a snowball sampling technique. A face-to- face interview was conducted to collect data from five (5) child protection professionals at Social Services and two (2) from a Resource Centre. Two groups of professionals working with the Social Services and a Resource Center (names withheld for ethical reasons) – were found to play important roles in child protecting in Gothenburg. They play investigative and care roles respectively and approach work differently – although they have a common goal towards child protection. The professionals have expectations about parenting which helps them to describe good parenting. They include showing love, handling disagreement and showing commitment to children. These expectations reflect consciousness about the new conceptions of childhood while meeting them, indicates practice of authoritative parenting – good parenting practice – that seldom leads to contacts with the child protection system. Professionals are conscious of three categories of challenges faced by parents whom they engage. They include “difficulty in meeting high parental standards and “relational challenges” - which were found common to both Swedish and non-Swedish parents. A third-category challenge involving individual and structural challenges was found to be specific to immigrant parents. It was found that although immigrants experience specific and/or multiple challenges, immigrant-specific services hardly exist (apart from language and cultural interpreters). This was mainly because professionals are not allowed to see differences but needs and seem to be solving structural challenges at the individual level. Child protection professionals perform important roles in parenting through the available services. However, the special needs of African immigrants need to be considered in order to provide them with services that specifically meet their needs

Characterization of the Sneathia amnii Cytotoxin and its Potential Role in Health Disparities Affecting Women of African Ancestry

Women of African descent are more likely to develop bacterial vaginosis (BV) and bear twice the risk of preterm birth and the increased risk of other pregnancy complications. Sneathia amnii is a pathogenic anaerobe found in the female urogenital tract that is associated with adverse outcomes such as preterm birth, BV, and chorioamnionitis. S. amnii has been found at a greater prevalence in the vaginal microbiota of women of African ancestry, which links it to a potential role in the disparities observed in health outcomes for these women. S. amnii encodes the cytopathogenic toxin A (CptA), an exotoxin that perforates fetal membranes and lyses red blood cells. This study seeks to determine which domain of the cytotoxin (N or C-terminal) is responsible for the cytotoxic and hemolytic activity. Our work has revealed that the C-terminal domain is involved in binding to some host cell surface receptors and that the N-terminal domain is the pore-forming domain. Our work also found evidence that the C-terminal binding domain can competitively inhibit the cytolytic activity of full-length CptA, which suggests that the toxin binds to a specific receptor and that binding is saturable. Advances in our understanding of CptA and S. amnii pathogenicity will lead to a more educated approach to therapeutic intervention and may reduce health disparities in gynecologic and obstetric complications associated with the vaginal microbiome

Internal Quality Assurance: Does It Exist in Ghanaian Nurses Training Colleges?

This study examined the internal quality assurance practices of Ghanaian Nurses Training Colleges. The research design was a descriptive case study in which the researcher in-depth interviewed five teachers who were key informants with regards to the topic that was studied. Their responses were transcribed, analyzed manually and presented in a narrative form. The findings indicated that the current internal quality assurance practices of Ghanaian Nurses Training Colleges concentrated on students’ admissions, teaching and learning, examination moderation and students   assessments. Recommendations were made for Ghanaian Nurses Training Colleges to broaden the coverage of their current internal quality assurance practices to include post-assessment moderation, student evaluation of teachers, student evaluation of courses and learning facilities. Keywords: Internal quality assurance, nurses, practices

A Regional Comparative Analysis on The Role of Electoral Politics in the Decline of Africa\u27s Public Sector

The early post-independence periods saw Africa have efficient Public Sector Institutions. Over a decade, there seems to be a decadent in the public sector. The study examines the regional analysis of government effectiveness in Africa. The study uses data given by the World Bank\u27s Governance Indicator from 55 African countries from 2002 to 2018. The study uses Panel Regression Analysis Model of Random Effects and Pooled Ordinary Least Squares to assess government effectiveness in the five regions of Africa. The findings indicate that Southern African countries performed best as compared to its counterpart regions, followed by North Africa. However, East, West and Central African countries had low scores on government effectiveness. The results imply that electoral politics and political interference hurt the performances of public institutions on the continent

Home and school literacy practices in africa: listening to inner voices

The voices of the main stakeholders in literacy and schooling – pupils and parents – have seldom been given adequate space in studies of school and classroom discourse in sub-Saharan Africa. The present paper attempts to redress this imbalance by presenting the voices of pupils from a multilingual urban primary school in Ghana and of parents from a rural bilingual school in Zimbabwe. The Ghanaian study highlights challenges associated with using an unfamiliar language, English, as the medium of instruction, selective teacher treatment in the classroom that leaves some children lacking confidence to participate and the strong influence of the home environment and other socio-economic conditions. The Zimbabwean study highlights what happens when parents are allowed a voice in their children\u27s education. It is argued that pupil and parent perspectives can validate the findings of existing research, deepen our understanding of classroom interaction and, in some cases, challenge conventional wisdom

Trace metal levels of the Odaw river sediments at the Agbogbloshie e-waste recycling site

The lack of appropriate infrastructure and legislation regarding the proper way of handling ewastes has encouraged informal recycling as in the case of the Agbogbloshie e-waste site. The burning and dumping of these wastes at the bank of the Odaw River eventually end up in the river. To ascertain the level of trace metal contamination in the Odaw River, 15 sediment samples collected from five different locations were analyzed for their trace metals. The locations were chosen to represent areas near to heavy e-waste activities and areas with no apparent ewaste activities, and analysis carried out using Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry. The results indicated that mean concentrations of the trace metals (Cu, Cd, Pb, Fe, Cr and Ni) were highest at locations near burning and dumping sites (L1 and L2 respectively). This was attributed to the result of e-waste activities and the configuration of the river. With the exception of Cu and Cd at L1, the rest of the metals were below the recommended Canadian interim sediment quality guideline (ISQG) while none was above the Probable Effect Level (PEL), an indication that the levels of trace metal contamination were below the concentration at which frequent adverse effects are expected to occur. The results have confirmed that e-waste recycling activities along the banks of the Odaw River contribute to the contamination of the river.Keywords: E-waste, sediment, metal, contamination, recyclin

Basic Design, a Needed Foundation for Designing a Successful Garment: A Case Study of Dressmakers in the Ho Municipality, Volta Region, Ghana

To facilitate the design process in every art form, there are certain guidelines that all professional designers should use. These are known as elements and principles of design. This study is a survey carried out to assess the knowledge of dressmakers about basic design in the Ho Municipality of Ghana. Sixty dressmakers were randomly sampled for the study. A combination of questionnaires and purposive interview were used to collect data for analysis. It was found out that all the dressmakers had an idea about only one element of design, which is, line. Lack of formal education in fashion design was a major contributive factor to their knowledge deficit. The study concludes that, basic design has a positive impact on the designer’s performance and therefore serves as an important tool used to attain competitive advantage in the fashion design industry. Keywords: Dressmaker, fashion designer, design, basic design, design element, design principle

Compliance of Financial Management Regime in Ghanaian Local Government

The study investigates the budgeting, accounting and reporting practices of Metropolitan, Municipal and District assemblies (MMDAs) in Ghana and the extent to which these practices conform  with financial regulations and laws, specifically the Local Government Act 1993 (Act 462) and the Financial Memorandum of MMDAs, (2004). The study relied on the survey design in the collection of the relevant data. The data was collected through self-administered questionnaires to 20 MMDAs purposively selected. This was supplemented by structured interviews and observations. The result shows an average level of total compliance with financial laws and regulations index of 12.33 (representing 82.2%). Moreover, the study establishes that there is no significant difference among MMDAs regarding their level of compliance with the laws. The findings also suggest that there is no significant association between number of accounting staff and level of compliance with financial laws and regulations.  The study concludes that the assemblies’ compliance to budgeting, accounting and reporting provisions is encouraging, even though total compliance is ideal. Key words: Financial management, Budgeting and budgetary control, Compliance index, Accounting and reporting, MMDAs in Ghana