A pattern for global policy: Excursion into the causes and implications of migration (African/European perspectives).

According to the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, in 2010 there were 200 million international migrant workers and their families. This figure excludes over 15 million refugees, those whose movement across a border has been forced by fear of persecution or violence. Labour migration is not simply from developing to developed countries.  It is on record that some 60% of migrants live in developing countries. The number of African migrants attempting to enter Europe has increased remarkably during the past few years. For instance, in 2005, 22,939 illegal migrants were registered on the Italian Island of Lampedusa and between January and August, 2006, 14,567 newcomers arrived. Again in 2005, 11,781 African illegal migrants arrived at Spanish Canary Islands. Europe has therefore been perceived as immigrant continent. The causes are conflicts, the slowdown in economic growth and significant unemployment in Africa. This immigration from African countries have come to be perceived as a burden and even a threat to economic growth, social coercion, cultural coherence and security of the West. The purpose of this paper is to provoke discussions by exploring the causes and implications of migration in order to design more suitable migration policies in the 21st century. It was found out that violence and poverty were usually considered the push factors of Africans migration to Europe. Also, restrictive policies, anti-immigrant public discourse and dehumanizing treatments that accompanied them contributed to the marginalization and emotional isolation  of African immigrants in Europe. African governments are to explore avenues that could speed up  their  socio-economic, political and technological developments and must control illegal emigration from their continent. European protectionist and restricted trade policies must be regulated and international relations agreements, mutual calibrations and negotiations must be established between Europe and Afric

Ensuring Content Representativeness: Perceptions of Senior High School Teachers in Ghana

For a meaningful classroom assessment to be feasible, teachers must ensure adequate content representativeness when crafting their items. The study sought to find out the perceptions of senior high school teachers on how well they ensure content representativeness in their classroom assessment procedures in Ghana. Underpinned by the theory of validity, the study used the qualitative research approach. The purposive sampling procedure was used to select a sample of 25 participants for the study. The interview guide was used to collect data for the study. The data was analysed manually using the thematic approach. The results of the study revealed that senior high school teachers least ensure content representativeness in their assessment procedures because they fail to develop and use a table of the test specification. In furtherance to this, the study showed that senior high school teachers do not consult measurement experts or curriculum planners to thoroughly judge the items the teachers craft in ensuring content representativeness. It is recommended among others that there should be the need for educating teachers on what table of a test specification is, and how to develop and use it

“AMPE” Exercise Programme Has Positive Effects on Anthropometric and Physiological Parameters of School Children: A Pilot Study

BACKGROUND: Projection of the effectiveness of house-hold physical activity may be a vital tool to improve active lifestyle. Although ampe is a common house-hold recreational physical activity among all population groups especially school children in Ghana, no empirical evidence of its effects on the anthropometric and physiological parameters of the children. This pilot study examined the effect of ampe exercise programme on the anthropometric and physiological parameters of school children.METHODS: Purposive and stratified sampling techniques were applied to recruit 78 school children (ages of 9 to 12, mean age of 10.65±0.94 years). The participants attended 40 minutes of ampe exercise program three times per week, for four weeks consecutively. Body mass index, waist circumference, hip circumference, waist-to-hip ratio; % body fat, diastolic blood pressure, systolic blood pressure and heart rate were measured prepost training.RESULTS: Ampe exercise programme produced positive effects on all parameters. Body weight (0.31%) and body mass index (0.58%) decreased significantly (P<0.05). Systolic blood pressure (3.15%), diastolic blood pressure (1.92%) and heart rate (2.13) significantly improved (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Ampe exercise programme is effective as paediatric obesity house-hold intervention to provide the impetus for active lifestyles of school children

Single nucleotide polymorphisms in LCAT may contribute to dyslipidaemia in HIV-infected individuals on HAART in a Ghanaian population

© 2020, The Author(s). Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is known to cause lipid abnormalities such as dyslipidaemia in HIV-infected individuals. Yet, dyslipidaemia may not independently occur as it may be worsened by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) and lipoprotein lipase (LPL). This case–control study was conducted in three-selected hospitals in the Northern part of Ghana. The study constituted a total of 118 HIV-infected participants aged 19–71 years, who had been on HAART for 6–24 months. Dyslipidaemia was defined based on the NCEP-ATP III criteria. HIV-infected individuals on HAART with dyslipidaemia were classified as cases while those without dyslipidaemia were grouped as controls. Lipid profile was measured using an automatic clinical chemistry analyzer and genomic DNA was extracted for PCR (GeneAmp PCR System 2700). Overall, the prevalence of dyslipidaemia was 39.0% (46/118). High levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), total cholesterol (TC), and reduced levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were observed in all cases. A total of 256 selected PCR amplicons comprising 137 LPL (exons 3, 5 and 6) and 119 LCAT (exons 1, 4, and 6) were sequenced in 46 samples (Inqaba Biotech). Six (6) clinically significant SNPs were identified in exons 1 and 4 for LCAT whereas 25 non-clinically significant SNPs were identified for LPL in exons 5 and 6. At position 97 for LCAT exon 1, there was a deletion of the nucleotide, ‘A’ in 32.5% (13/40) of the sampled population while 67.5% (27/40) of the sample population retained the nucleotide, ‘A’ which was significantly associated with dyslipidaemic outcomes in the study population (p = 0.0004). A total of 25 SNPs were identified in exons 5 and 6 of LPL; 22 were substitutions, and 3 were insertions. However, none of the 25 SNPs identified in LPL exon 5 and 6 were statistically significant. SNPs in LCAT may independently contribute to dyslipidaemia among Ghanaian HIV-infected individuals on HAART, thus, allowing genetic and/or functional differential diagnosis of dyslipidaemia and creating an opportunity for potentially preventive options

Lipid profile, cardiorespiratory function and quality of life of postmenopausal women improves with aerobic exercise

Objective: Menopause is characterized by physiological changes with increased risk of obesity, dyslipidemia and decreased quality of life (QoL). Despite the plethora of reports on the alleviating effect of exercise on climacteric symptoms, there is little documentation of this lifestyle intervention among Ghanaian menopausal women. This study examined the effect of aerobic exercise on lipid profile, cardiorespiratory function and QoL among menopausal women. Methods: Eighteen sedentary postmenopausal women between 45 to 75 years were randomly assigned to experimental (EG, n=8) and control (CG, n=10) groups. The EG received moderate intensity aerobic exercise training for eight weeks, three times a week while the CG observed normal daily activities. Blood pressure, resting heart rate, BMI, and lipid profile were measured and QoL assessed using the Utian QoL questionnaire at weeks 0 and 9. Results: After 8 weeks, the EG demonstrated significant decrease in cardiovascular risk ratio by 6.5L% and a non-significant decrease in LDL by 11.9L%. The CG showed significant increase in systolic BP by 3.2%L and a non-significant increase in LDL and cardiovascular risk by 14.9L% and 9.4L% respectively. QoL significantly improved in the EG group compared to CG after the 8 weeks. Conclusion: The health and QoL of participants in EG was significantly better than the CG at the end of the experiment. Aerobic exercise decreases cardiovascular disease risk in postmenopausal women and shows potential impact on lipid profile and health QoL. Proactively sponsored aerobic exercise programmes geared towards healthy living of postmenopausal women in Kumasi, Ghana are recommended

Looking back and moving forward: 50 years of soil and soil fertility management research in sub-Saharan Africa

Article purchased; Published online: 02 Nov 2017Low and declining soil fertility has been recognized for a long time as a major impediment to intensifying agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Consequently, from the inception of international agricultural research, centres operating in SSA have had a research programme focusing on soil and soil fertility management, including the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). The scope, content, and approaches of soil and soil fertility management research have changed over the past decades in response to lessons learnt and internal and external drivers and this paper uses IITA as a case study to document and analyse the consequences of strategic decisions taken on technology development, validation, and ultimately uptake by smallholder farmers in SSA. After an initial section describing the external environment within which soil and soil fertility management research is operating, various dimensions of this research area are covered: (i) ‘strategic research’, ‘Research for Development’, partnerships, and balancing acts, (ii) changing role of characterization due to the expansion in geographical scope and shift from soils to farms and livelihoods, (iii) technology development: changes in vision, content, and scale of intervention, (iv) technology validation and delivery to farming communities, and (v) impact and feedback to the technology development and validation process. Each of the above sections follows a chronological approach, covering the last five decades (from the late 1960s till today). The paper ends with a number of lessons learnt which could be considered for future initiatives aiming at developing and delivering improved soil and soil fertility management practices to smallholder farming communities in SSA

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Adult learners’ use of social media at the university of Ghana

AbstractThis study explores adult learners’ use of social media as a complement to the Sakai Learning Management System (E-learning) at the Accra Learning Center of the University of Ghana. E-learning thrives on the use of modern social networking applications, including smartphones, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google. This study ascertained the use of social media platforms by adult learners to acquire rich knowledge and skills. Exploratory and interpretive case study designs were used within the qualitative paradigm. Convenience sampling was employed to select the study area (Accra Learning Center), and a simple random sampling technique was used to select the interview participants for the study. Interviews were conducted to collect insightful experiences from 34 adult learners regarding the use of social media in their studies. The principles of research ethics and data credibility were followed throughout the study. Interpretivist philosophy that asserts idiographic explication was employed to interpret the interview data. It emerged that the application of social media encourages self-directed learning and research among adult learners. The study recommends that regular orientations be held for adult learners to explore the good side of social media more in their lifelong learning drive

Impact of flooding on microbiological contamination of domestic water sources: a longitudinal study in northern Ghana

Flooding is the most frequent natural hazard globally, but evidence of its impact on domestic water point contamination remains limited. This study aimed to assess dam-related flooding’s impact on microbiological contamination of rural water points and to evaluate agreement of satellite-derived flood maps with ground-based observations of water point flooding. Fieldwork took place in two Ghanaian districts frequently flooded following dam overspill. Fifty-seven water points were tested for bacterial parameters during and immediately after flooding. Forty water points were resampled in the dry season, with the remainder having run dry. Ground-based observations of flooding were compared with three satellite-derived flood maps. Boreholes were less contaminated than wells or surface waters (geometric mean E. coli = 20.2, 175.6, and 590.7 cfu/100 ml, respectively). Among groundwater points, a Wilcoxon signed-rank test indicated significantly greater median E. coli and thermotolerant coliform contamination during flooding (p = 0.025 and p < 0.001, respectively), but Shigella, salmonella, and intestinal enterococci counts were not significantly different between seasons. In contrast, among surface water points, E. coli, Shigella, and Salmonella counts were significantly greater in dry season samples (p < 0.005 for all parameters), possibly reflecting a “concentration” effect. Satellite-derived flood maps had no or low agreement with ground-based observations of water point flooding. Although groundwater quality deteriorated during and after flooding, surface waters were the most microbiologically contaminated in both seasons. The greatest public health risk thus occurred where households switched to surface water collection during or following flood season. Flood risk should be assessed before borehole installation and existing flood-prone boreholes remediated to mitigate population exposure to contaminated water

Education dimensions relevant to successful electronic levy mobilization in resource-rich yet poor countries in Africa

First and foremost, the study explored why countries in Africa are rich in natural resources yet resort to e-levy legislation for more revenues. In addition, the study investigated dimensions of education needed to facilitate successful mobilization of e-levy revenue in resource -rich yet poor countries in Africa. Qualitative exploratory design, semi-structured interviews, judgmental and snowball sampling techniques were used for the study. Twelve (12) scholars from US (N = 3), Uganda (N = 3) Canada (N = 3), Ghana (N = 3) were interrogated. The paper was guided by the natural resource-cursed and social learning theories. Thematic analyses were used to analyse the data. It was found that although African countries are rich in natural resources yet they face challenges generating revenue from natural resources due to mismanagement, poor leadership and weak governance. They also find it difficult to mobilize revenues from e-levy too because of the informal nature of the economy, lack of financial inclusion, corruption, the disinterest of the public in the e-levy legislation as well as inadequate education on the e-levy concept. But the advanced economies are successful in generating revenue from e-levy. Proactive leadership and governance in managing natural resources, addressing mismanagement, and dealing with corruption and its negative effects are required to make things happen in Africa. African economies need to be more formalised and financial inclusion deepened. Proper accounting of state revenues to the citizenry must be enforced. E-levy education, civic education, digital literacy, ethics and legal education, can significantly contribute to the success of e-levy revenue generation in Africa