IBPP Research Associates: Ghana

This article - Political Lessons Inside a Taxi Cab -- Straight Talk - from William Fayorsey discusses political discourse in a taxi in Ghana as reported in The Ghanaian Times. It is currently available via GhanaWeb (https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/POLITICAL-LESSONS-INSIDE-A-TAXI-CAB-STRAIGHT-TALK-9595), and it may be accessed there. In the event that the above document has been removed, please contact GhanaWeb through their Feedback form (https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/feedback.php?url=www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/sitemap.php) for more information

Economy, kinship and fertility among the Ga of southern Ghana

This thesis was digitised by the British Library from microfilm. You can acquire a single copy of this thesis for research purposes by clicking on the padlock icon on the thesis file. Please be aware that the text in the supplied thesis pdf file may not be as clear as text in a thesis that was born digital or digitised directly from paper due to the conversion in format. However, all of the theses in Apollo that were digitised from microfilm are readable and have been processed by optical character recognition (OCR) technology which means the reader can search and find text within the document. If you are the author of this thesis and would like to make your work openly available, please contact us: [email protected]

Strengthening African Engagement with the Global HIV/AIDS Establishment: Lessons and Strategies for Future Action

This research effort has been made possible thanks to the efforts and the collaboration of many people—too many to mention individually. They generously dedicated their time and attention, provided much needed encouragement, and facilitated the difficult process of gathering knowledge and information.In particular, we would like to acknowledge the time and attention of the various National AIDS Control organizations and other government agencies, civil society organizations, universities and research institutions, and UN and other international development partners, especially UNAIDS

HIV counseling and testing among men in the University of Ghana: Implications for gender-based HIV and AIDS prevention interventions

HIV counseling and testing (CT) is one of the key strategies in the prevention and control of HIV and AIDS in Ghana. Although condoms remain a significant tool in the prevention of sexual transmission of HIV, they are often not used consistently or correctly due to some patriarchal beliefs resulting from the typical male roles that call for men and boys to be tough, aggressive, sexually dominant, and risk taking. What is more, the utilization of CT services among men is generally low. We therefore conducted a quantitative study of 600 men (median age = 22 years) to determine HIV counseling and testing among men in the University of Ghana. Overall, CT use among men was 19%. Of those who used CT, 84% did so voluntarily. The major barriers to CT use among men were due to 'non regular use of a condom', 'don't want to know', and 'fear of receiving an HIV positive test result'. Results however revealed that age of respondents had a significant influence on HIV counseling and testing among men (p<0.05). Key words: Human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, Human immunodeficiency virus counseling and testing, voluntary human immunodeficiency virus counseling and testing, University of Ghana, men

Cultural eactors constraining the introduction of family planning among the Kassena-Nankana of Northern Ghana

This study presents a focus group investigation of reasons why women in a rural, Sahelian community are reluctant to adopt family planning even when convenient services are made freely available. First, women opting to practice contraception must do so at considerable risk of social ostracism or familial conflict. Implementing individual preference is something that must be done without the support of others. Second, few women view personal decisions about contraceptives as theirs to make. Women and children are the property of the corporate family-kin and community militate against reproductive control. Third, although children are highly valued for a variety of economic, social, and cultural reasons, mortality risks remain extremely high. Low fertility imposes the unacceptable risk that a woman will have no surviving children at the end of her reproductive life. Taken together, these findings attest to the inadequacy of service strategies focused on the contribution of distribution, individual agency, or personal choice. Outreach should also build a sense of community legitimacy for the program, collective health action, and traditional leadership support for family planning behavior.fertility contraception family planning Ghana barriers to contraceptive use traditional reproductive motives

Lay health worker experiences administering a multi-level combination intervention to improve PMTCT retention

Abstract Background The recent scale-up of prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services has rapidly accelerated antiretroviral therapy (ART) uptake among pregnant and postpartum women in sub-Saharan Africa. The Mother and Infant Retention for Health (MIR4Health) study evaluates the impact of a combination intervention administered by trained lay health workers to decrease attrition among HIV-positive women initiating PMTCT services and their infants through 6 months postpartum. Methods This was a qualitative study nested within the MIR4Health trial. MIR4Health was conducted at 10 health facilities in Nyanza, Kenya from September 2013 to September 2015. The trial intervention addressed behavioral, social, and structural barriers to PMTCT retention and included: appointment reminders via text and phone calls, follow-up and tracking for missed clinic visits, PMTCT health education at home visits and during clinic visits, and retention and adherence support and counseling. All interventions were administered by lay health workers. We describe results of a nested small qualitative inquiry which conducted two focus groups to assess the experiences and perceptions of lay health workers administering the interventions. Discussions were recorded and simultaneously transcribed and translated into English. Data were analyzed using framework analysis approach. Results Study findings show lay health workers played a critical role supporting mothers in PMTCT services across a range of behavioral, social, and structural domains, including improved communication and contact, health education, peer support, and patient advocacy and assistance. Findings also identified barriers to the uptake and implementation of the interventions, such as concerns about privacy and stigma, and the limitations of the healthcare system including healthcare worker attitudes. Overall, study findings indicate that lay health workers found the interventions to be feasible, acceptable, and well received by clients. Conclusions Lay health workers played a fundamental role in supporting mothers engaged in PMTCT services and provided valuable feedback on the implementation of PMTCT interventions. Future interventions must include strategies to ensure client privacy, decrease stigma within communities, and address the practical limitations of health systems. This study adds important insight to the growing body of research on lay health worker experiences in HIV and PMTCT care. Trial registration Clinicaltrials.gov NCT01962220