CHILDREN AS CARERS: AN EXPLORATION OF THE LIVED EXPERIENCES OF YOUNG CARERS IN ABURI, GHANA

Key words: Young carers, caring roles, care receivers, benefits, Ghana In Ghana, the family plays a major role in providing support for the elderly and other vulnerable members such as persons with disabilities and those suffering from physical illness. Though children play crucial roles in providing care to familial members in Ghanaian society, there is little or no research and policy response concerning young carers in Ghana. Young carers are children who provide regular care and support to family members such as parents, siblings, and grandparents as a result of illness, disability, mental issues, or substance abuse. The caring roles provided by young carers range from personal care, which entails toileting, bathing, lifting, among others. It also involves sibling care, domestic chores, emotional care, household management, financial matters, and medical or nursing care. Studies evidenced that the caring roles can have a significant impact on their health, education, social, and emotional well-being. However, this category of children seems to have been overlooked in the discourses on children’s rights in Ghana. Therefore, using a qualitative research design, specifically, phenomenology, the study explored the experiences of eight young carers who were purposively selected in Aburi, Ghana, with the aim of giving insight on the phenomenon to enable stakeholders identify, recognize, and provide support structures for young carers. Employing a thematic approach in analyzing the data gathered, the findings of the study indicated that young carers in Ghana provided similar caring roles as those in other countries. The caring roles provided included domestic care, personal care, medical care, and financial support. However, the absence of organized social welfare systems, unavailability of household appliances, such as washing machine in many homes in Ghana, coupled with the difficulty in accessing basic social amenities such as water, and electricity, make the caring roles exceptionally burdensome and worsen the physical, mental, social, and psychological well-being of young carers in Ghana. Also, the findings showed that the caring roles had adverse outcomes on young carers’ education. Some of the negative outcomes included lateness, absenteeism, poor academic performance, lack of concentration in class, among others. Further, it was discovered that young carers received support from relatives, neighbors, peers, and the church. However, they receive no form of support from the school because the school authorities and teachers were unaware of their caring roles at home. The study therefore, recommends among other things that the government through the Ghana Education Service should come out with a policy to ensure that schools identify, recognize, and support young carers to enable them to excel in school. Again, the government, through the Ministry of Gender, Children, and Social Protection should provide financial support to young carers and their families to alleviate the financial burden they face

Neonatal bloodstream infections in a Ghanaian Tertiary Hospital:Are the current antibiotic recommendations adequate?

Abstract Background Diagnosis of bloodstream infections (BSI) in neonates is usually difficult due to minimal symptoms at presentation; thus early empirical therapy guided by local antibiotic susceptibility profile is necessary to improve therapeutic outcomes. Methods A review of neonatal blood cultures submitted to the microbiology department of the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital was conducted from January 2010 through December 2013. We assessed the prevalence of bacteria and fungi involved in BSI and the susceptibility coverage of recommended empiric antibiotics by Ghana Standard Treatment guidelines and the WHO recommendations for managing neonatal sepsis. The national and WHO treatment guidelines recommend either ampicillin plus gentamicin or ampicillin plus cefotaxime for empiric treatment of neonatal BSI. The WHO recommendations also include cloxacillin plus gentamicin. We described the resistance profile over a 28-day neonatal period using multivariable logistic regression analysis with linear or restricted cubic splines. Results A total of 8,025 neonatal blood culture reports were reviewed over the four-year period. Total blood culture positivity was 21.9 %. Gram positive organisms accounted for most positive cultures, with coagulase negative staphylococci (CoNS) being the most frequently isolated pathogen in early onset infections (EOS) (59.1 %) and late onset infections (LOS) (52.8 %). Susceptibility coverage of early onset bacterial isolates were 20.7 % to ampicillin plus cefotaxime, 32.2 % to the combination of ampicillin and gentamicin, and 71.7 % to cloxacillin plus gentamicin. For LOS, coverage was 24.6 % to ampicillin plus cefotaxime, 36.2 % to the combination ampicillin and gentamicin and 63.6 % to cloxacillin plus gentamicin. Cloxacillin plus gentamicin remained the most active regimen for EOS and LOS after exclusion of BSI caused by CoNS. For this regimen, the adjusted odds of resistance decreased between 12-34 % per day from birth to day 3 followed by the slowest rate of resistance increase, compared to the other antibiotic regimen, thereafter until day 28. The trend in resistance remained generally unchanged after excluding data from CoNS. Multidrug resistant isolates were significantly (p-value <0.001) higher in LOS (62.4 %, n = 555/886) than in EOS (37.3 %, n = 331/886). Conclusions There is low antibiotic susceptibility coverage for organisms causing neonatal bloodstream infections in Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital when the current national and WHO recommended empiric antibiotics were assessed. A continuous surveillance of neonatal BSI is required to guide hospital and national antibiotic treatment guidelines for neonatal sepsis

Projected impacts of sowing date and cultivar choice on the timing of heat and drought stress in spring barley grown along a European transect

Publisher Copyright: © 2022Barley is one of the most important cereals for animal and human consumption. Barley heading and grain filling are especially vulnerable to heat and drought stress, which are projected to increase in the future. Therefore, site-specific adaptation options, like cultivar choice or shifting sowing dates, will be necessary. Using a global climate model ensemble and a phenology model we projected spring barley heading and maturity dates for 2031–50 for climatically contrasting sites: Helsinki (Finland), Dundee (Scotland) and Zaragoza (Spain). We compared the projected future heading and maturity dates with the baseline period (1981–2010) and described corresponding heat and drought stress conditions and how they were affected by adaptation options, i.e. shifting the sowing date by + /- 10–20 days, choosing early or late heading cultivars or combining both adaptation options, with agroclimatic indicators. At all sites and sowing dates, heading and maturity in 2031–50 occurred earlier (up to three weeks with earliest sowing) than in the baseline period. Along the European transect, the projected heading and grain filling periods were hotter than under baseline conditions but advancing heading alleviated heat stress notably. Different indicators signaled more severe drought conditions for 2031–50. At Helsinki, delayed heading periods were exposed to less drought stress, likely because the typical early summer droughts were avoided. At Zaragoza, fewer, yet more intense, rainfall events occurred during grain filling of the early cultivars. Only under scenario RCP4.5, heading and grain filling periods at Dundee were slightly wetter for the early cultivars. Our study provides a unique overview of agroclimatic conditions for heading and grain filling periods projected for 2031–50 along a climatic transect and quantifies the effects of different adaptations for spring barley. The approach can be extended by coupling the agroclimatic indicators with crop modelling.Peer reviewe

Physicians' knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions concerning antibiotic resistance:a survey in a Ghanaian tertiary care hospital

Abstract Background Understanding the knowledge, attitudes and practices of physicians towards antibiotic resistance is key to developing interventions aimed at behavior change. The survey aimed to investigate physicians’ knowledge and attitudes towards antibiotic resistance in a tertiary-care hospital setting in Ghana. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional respondent-driven survey using a 40-item, anonymous, voluntary, traditional paper-and-pencil self-administered questionnaire among 159 physicians at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital. Single and multi-factor analysis were conducted to assess the study objectives. Results The survey was completed by 159 of 200 physicians (response rate of 79.5%). Of physicians, 30.1% (47/156) perceived antibiotic resistance as very important global problem, 18.5% (29/157) perceived it as very important national problem and only 8.9% (14/157) thought it as a very important problem in their hospital. Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus was the most known about antibiotic resistant bacteria of public health importance followed by extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae, carbapenem resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) and vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE). In multiple logistic regression analysis, senior physicians were nearly 3 times more likely to know about CRE than junior physicians. The odds of knowing about VRE increased over 4.5 times from being a junior to becoming senior physician. Among junior physicians, age had no associated effect on their knowledge of VRE or CRE. Conclusions Physicians in this survey showed variable knowledge and perceptions on antibiotic resistance. Introducing educational programs on antibiotic resistance would be a useful intervention and should focus on junior physicians

Female Enrolments in STEM in Higher Education: Trend Analysis from 2003 – 2018: KNUST as a case study

Tertiary education in Ghana has experienced rapid growth in accessibility and participation. It is evident that Ghana has made some positive and impressive progress towards increasing access to education and narrowing gender gaps at the pre-tertiary education levels, yet these developments have not translated commensurately in higher education level. This study investigates the effectiveness of the directives and the Vice-Chancellors\u27 initiatives introduced and designed to increase female students\u27 enrolment at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). The study used enrolment data from KNUST, the university’s initiatives and directives on female enrolments, KNUST recorders, online articles, publications and ministry of higher education website. The authors provide descriptive and critical trend analysis in females\u27 share of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) enrolments in Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi-Ghana, for sixteen years. Results show that the directives and interventions geared towards the realisation of the increase in numbers of female enrolment have a positive effect on increasing enrolment of female students at the University. However, the data shows that the proportion of female students is still low in the Physical Sciences and Engineering disciplines compared to males though they outnumber the males in the Health Sciences

Female Enrolments in STEM in Higher Education: Trend Analysis from 2003 – 2018: KNUST as a case study

Tertiary education in Ghana has experienced rapid growth in accessibility and participation. It is evident that Ghana has made some positive and impressive progress towards increasing access to education and narrowing gender gaps at the pre-tertiary education levels, yet these developments have not translated commensurately in higher education level. This study investigates the effectiveness of the directives and the Vice-Chancellors\u27 initiatives introduced and designed to increase female students\u27 enrolment at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). The study used enrolment data from KNUST, the university’s initiatives and directives on female enrolments, KNUST recorders, online articles, publications and ministry of higher education website. The authors provide descriptive and critical trend analysis in females\u27 share of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) enrolments in Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi-Ghana, for sixteen years. Results show that the directives and interventions geared towards the realisation of the increase in numbers of female enrolment have a positive effect on increasing enrolment of female students at the University. However, the data shows that the proportion of female students is still low in the Physical Sciences and Engineering disciplines compared to males though they outnumber the males in the Health Sciences