Private Sector Participation in the Provision of Quality Drinking Water in Ghana's Urban Areas: Are People Willing to Pay?

Access to clean drinking water is not only a fundamental human right, but also claims a big stake in economic growth, poverty reduction and sustainable development. With an increase in population, rapid urbanization and increasing income levels, the demand for water outstrips public water supply in developing countries. As a result, private water production has been promoted in developing countries to achieve greater efficiency and expansion in order to supplement public water supply. This study used the contingent valuation method to survey households in three cities in Ghana to estimate their willingness to pay in a bid to evaluate a policy of better water supply for urban areas in Ghana. It was found that more than 80% of the respondents favour some form of private sector engagement in water quality improvement. Also, the mean willingness to pay for water quality improvement is about GH¢13.42 (US$12) per month. Given the mean household monthly water bill of GH¢10.82, these results indicate that there is demand for water quality improvement and the general view is that private sector engagement is likely to provide these services. However, the same policy measure will marginalize the poor in terms of access to water. Therefore, private sector participation in water delivery, with a corresponding complementary government programme to promote access to water among low income households, would deliver the double dividends of water quality and universal access, which characterize the debate on private sector engagement in water provision in Ghana

ACUTE OTITIS EXTERNA AS SEEN AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA TEACHING HOSPITAL, ENUGU.

Aim: is to evaluate clinical features of AOE diagnosed in and to update the previous study from our facility.Methods: A prospective, clinical and laboratory study in a tertiary health facilityResults: A total of 3793 consecutive patients that attended the otorhinolaryngology clinics of the university of Nigeria teaching hospital Enugu during the period under study were assessed for clinical diagnosis of otitis externa. A total of 155 ears from127 patients were diagnosed clinically and confirmed by microbial studies as having acute otitis externa. There were 66 males and 61 females out of the 127 patients seen.71 ears had only bacteria isolated from the culture of their ear swab specimens, 28 fungus only and, 32 ears had both bacterial and fungal isolates while 24 ears had no isolates of microbes of the 3793 patients assessed.Conclusions: Acute otitis externa is a common disease in Enugu  with no gender biasand there were three times more cases of bacterial otitis externa than fungal otitis externa.

Selection of Optimum Pouring Conditions for Improvement of Aluminum Alloy Castings in Ghana

It has been discovered that the pouring conditions (temperature of the molten aluminum alloy and pouring speed) have adverse effects on the mechanical properties of the cast aluminum alloy, either directly or indirectly. This paper develops a model to predict the effect of pouring conditions on the mechanical properties of the cast Aluminum alloy. In this work a 22 factorial design was applied to investigate the effects of temperature of the molten aluminum alloy and pouring speed on three mechanical properties, namely; the hardness, ultimate tensile strength, and elongation. The developed models were used to select optimum pouring conditions for the improvement of the Aluminum alloy in manufacturing companies in Ghana. The study revealed that increasing the pouring conditions causes the hardness to decease as well as the ultimate tensile strength, and elongation. Also, the two - factor interaction effect of the pouring speed and temperature of the molten aluminum alloy on hardness is significant as the interaction effect decreases with increase in hardness but has insignificant effect on the elongation and the ultimate tensile strength. It is established that the optimal pouring conditions to improve the mechanical properties for the production of the Aluminum alloys are 2 cm/s for the pouring speed and 700 ℃ for the temperature of the molten aluminum alloy producing a hardness of 61 HB, ultimate tensile strength of 115 N/mm2 and 17 %   elongation

Patient Waiting Time: A Case Study of the Medical Outpatient Department of Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center

Studies of patient waiting time are scarce in low-income countries. Significant consequences of long patient waiting times, such as reduced healthcare seeking behaviours, indicate that minimising patient waiting time should be prioritised in low-income settings. Several short and long-term intervention strategies to combat the effects of patient waiting time and improve overall efficiency are based on the analysis of patient waiting time at the Medical Outpatient Department of Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center

Patient Waiting Time: A Case Study of the Medical Outpatient Department of Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center

Studies of patient waiting time are scarce in low-income countries. Significant consequences of long patient waiting times, such as reduced healthcare seeking behaviours, indicate that minimising patient waiting time should be prioritised in low-income settings. Several short and long-term intervention strategies to combat the effects of patient waiting time and improve overall efficiency are based on the analysis of patient waiting time at the Medical Outpatient Department of Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center

Gonad development in Midas cichlids and the evolution of sex change in fishes

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87055/1/j.1525-142X.2011.00490.x.pd

Progesterone vaginal ring: Results of a three-country acceptability study

Global and national policies have refocused attention on postpartum family planning as an important component of ensuring healthy outcomes for women and babies. The progesterone vaginal ring (PVR) is used to extend the contraceptive effectiveness of lactational amenorrhea among breastfeeding women. Clinical trials have proven the PVR to be safe and effective; it is currently registered in eight Latin American countries. There is a need to assess acceptability prior to introduction into country programs, and the Population Council conducted PVR acceptability studies in Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal. This report represents the results from a pooled analysis of data from the three countries. Information was collected from various stakeholders to evaluate factors influencing acceptability, including PVR users, health care providers, partners, and community members. The PVR was found to be an acceptable method of contraception in Kenya, Nigeria, and Senegal and we can extrapolate that it will be just as acceptable in other developing countries. There is widespread community support for the product, and it is feasible to integrate it into existing health systems

Use of Organic Binders to Enhance Defluoridation and Pathogen Removal Efficiency of Diatomaceous Earth-Based Ceramic Filters

The use of diatomaceous earth, DE, ceramic membranes in water purification has been in existence for centuries. However, the DE-based membranes are brittle, ineffective in the defluoridation, and disinfection of water. The aim of this work is to improve the mechanical strength, water defluoridation, and filtration efficiency of DE-based ceramic membrane using organic binders; Abelmoschus esculentus, Aloe vera, and Basella alba. The ceramic membranes were fabricated from DE-powder and plant-based organic binders with a ratio of 2:1 by mass. The dried samples were fired at 700.0 to 1150.0 °C. The fabricated membranes were then made to filter water contaminated with Escherichia coli, Rotavirus, and sodium fluoride. The results showed the DE-powder was characterized by 87.5%; 4.0% and 89.6; 2.9% silica and aluminum oxides for DE-A and DE-B respectively. Basella alba binder showed the highest content of organic matter and formed the strongest membranes with the highest efficiency. Basella alba was able to improve the modulus of rupture, defluoridation, and virus removal efficiency of the DE-B membranes by 84.8%, 30.9%, and 40.3% respectively. DE-B-powder plus Basella alba are potential materials in ceramic membranes as they were able to defluoridate by 89.2% and remove Rotavirus by 98.3% from water