An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the MCA Rural Banks Computerization and Interconnectivity Project Implementation: A Comparative Case Study of Amanano and Odotobri Rural Bank Limited

The aim of this research project is to addresses the effectiveness of the MCA Rural Banks Computerization and Interconnectivity project to the rural banks. This study will provide an exploratory look at the challenges surrounding the computerization project implementation and how the system administrators, Managers and staff of Amanano and Odotobri Rural Bank in particular perceive them.Collation of the relevant data is followed by a discussion of the challenges emanating from the computerization project that impedes on the effectiveness of the process. After analyzing the relevant information, it became apparent that there are three primary results, which are shown here. The first is that, strategic planning for the computerization project is fundamental and key to the ultimate effectiveness of MCA computerization project. Planning with regard to the acquisition of equipment for the computerization project has proven to be a difficult accomplishment regardless of the type of rural bank. Secondly, training and sensitization of the staff on information technology has proven to be a major factor in effective implementation of the project. This trend speaks directly to the lack of training and the difficulties rural banks face during the computerization of their banks. Finally, it is shown that the expertise level of staff with regard to Information Technology has proven to be a contributing factor to the effectiveness of the computerization implementation process. Keywords: Information and Communication Technology, IT Planning, Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), IT Procurement, IT implementation, RCB, ARP Apex Ban

Climate Change Adaptation Mainstreaming at the Sub- National Level Development Planning: A Case of the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA), Ghana

Climate change has been recognised as a key development issue in sub-Saharan Africa. This might be explained by the region’s peculiar vulnerabilities that could be related to climate change. Climate change is expected to significantly affect food security, increase flooding and droughts in specific areas of the sub-region, affect the production of major export cash crops in Africa and affect the economies and livelihoods with the resultant negative impact on poverty reduction. One major way to offset or reduce the impact of climate change is climate change adaptation mainstreaming in the development planning process. This will acknowledge the expected development challenges posed by climate change and to fashion out strategies to deal with the impacts of climate change. This paper assesses climate change adaptation mainstreaming measures in the development planning process of the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA) in Ghana. The research focuses on two Medium-Term Development Plans (MTDP) of the Metropolitan Assembly. The objective is to assess the climate change resilient readiness and adaptation at the sub-national level and to draw local policy makers’ attention of the consequences of ignoring climate change realities. Keywords: Ghana, Climate Change, Adaptation, Local Level Development Planning, Resilience, ainstreamin

Beyond OralDigital: Ghanaian Electronic Literature as a Paradigm for African Digital Textuality

This dissertation speaks to a massive dearth of research in African electronic literature (African e-lit), a discipline that boasts a growing number of works but little scholarship. With African literature incorporating digital technology into its creative process, and with electronic literary criticism focusing on areas outside its predominantly western cannon, African e-lit positions itself as an important area of scholarly endeavor. After considering the implications of placing African e-lit as the direction in which both African literature and electronic literature take, this dissertation looks at three different genres of African e-lit in the context of oral literature. There are analyses of examples of concrete poetry, conceptual poetry, and mobile video games, all from Ghana. Ultimately, the aim of this project is to ascertain the ways in which oral tradition influences the nature, form, and shape of African electronic literature

Prospects and Challenges of Implementing a Sustainable National Health Insurance Scheme: The Case of the Cape Coast Metropolis, Ghana

Accessibility to health services is a major development problem facing sub-Saharan African countries. The prevalence of poverty and unemployment is a major hindrance to making health services accessible to the population especially the poor. Many development theories have been on how to make basic services affordable and accessible to the poor. The World Development Report 2004 focuses on making services work for the poor. The government of Ghana introduced nationwide National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) with the aim of providing health insurance and making health services accessible and affordable to the average Ghanaian. The ‘cash and carry system’ that existed before the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme made health services quite inaccessible to the poor. The ‘cash and carry system’ compelled patients to pay for the cost of health services before they were given the desired medication. The poor resorted to self-medication with its accompanied complications and problems. The overall objective of the study was to assess the contribution of the NHIS to health care delivery in the country and examine the sustainability challenges of the scheme. The study revealed that the NHIS has assisted in increasing Out-Patients-Department (OPD) attendance, reduction of self medication and made health services more assessable to the poor. It was however, observed that for a sustainable national health insurance scheme to be achieved, issues such as maintaining and expanding the client base, regular payment of the services providers and ensuring the requisite institutional capacity should be given the deserved attention. Keywords: Affordable, Cape Coast, Ghana, Health Insurance, premium, sustainabl

Modelling Default Risk of Borrowers: Evidence from Online Peer to Peer Lending Platforms in Australia

Peer to Peer lending has the capacity to transforming the mass banking industry worldwide but credit risk modelling remains the core challenge of the platform. The general objective of this study is to analyse the credit default risk of borrowers of Peer to Peer online lending platform based in Australia. Specific objectives include the following; To identify the loan information applicants provide to request for a loan facility,Using RateSetter.com published data on loans to predict the likelihood of credit risk of the platform. In this article, we employed binary logistic regression model to assess the likelihood of loan default. Based on the mathematical approach and the nature of dependent variable, we grouped variables into categorical, numerical-continuous as well as binary. The dependent variable is dichotomous whilst real-life dataset was retrieved from a popular and competitive online lending platform based in Australia from 2014-2017. We identified that early repayment, no mortgage tenant; car, debt consolidation, investment, major events, professional services, 3-year loan duration, 4-year loan duration, interest rate and income have significant influence on borrowers’ likelihood to default. Our empirical coefficients suggest that, there is 83.4% likelihood of borrowers default rate and hence recommended a critical examination of borrowers’ information presented to the platform. This paper fulfills the need to examine the credit information provided by loan applicants. Similarly, it endeavors to predict the possibility of borrowers default risk and the reasons contributing to online lending credit default risk. Keywords: Credit Risk, Peer To Peer Online Lending, Binary Logistic Regression DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/10-2-0

Genotype × Environment Interaction: A Prerequisite for Tomato Variety Development

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is the second most important vegetable crop in the world due to its high level of nutrition particularly in vitamins and antioxidants. It is grown in several ecologies of the world due to its adaptability and ease of cultivation. Besides field conditions, tomatoes are grown in controlled environments which range from hydroponics and simple high tunnel structures to highly automated screen houses in advanced countries. However, the yield and quality of the fruits are highly influenced by the environment. This results in unpredictable performances in different growing environments in terms of quality, a phenomenon known as genotype by environment (G × E) interaction which confounds selection efficiency. Various approaches are employed by plant breeders to evaluate and address the challenges posed by genotype by environment interaction. This chapter discusses various field and controlled environments for growing tomatoes and the effect of these environments on the performance of the crop. The various types of genotype × environment interactions and their effect of the tomato plant are discussed. Finally, efforts are made to suggest ways and methods of mitigating the confounding effects of genotype × environment interaction including statistical approaches

Joint effect of water and sanitation practices on childhood diarrhoea in sub-Saharan Africa

Background: Diarrhoea remains the major cause of morbidity and mortality of children under five years in Africa. Several studies have shown that inadequate and unsafe water, lack of sanitation, and poor hygiene practices are complex issues for different pathogens and accountable for the occurrence of diarrhoea diseases. We assessed the combined effect of household’s source of drinking water and type of toilet facility and residential wellbeing on the incidence of childhood diarrhoea in 33 Sub-Saharan Africa countries while accounting for relevant compositional and contextual factors. Methods: The 2010–2019 datasets from the Demographic and Health Surveys were drawn for analyses. The outcome variable used in this study was the incidence of childhood diarrhoea. Three negative log-log generalized linear regression models were then sequentially fitted to the data to examine the joint effect of household water and sanitation practices on child diarrhoea. The results were presented using crude odds ratios (CORs) and adjusted odds ratios (AORs) at 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Using ArcGIS software, maps were design to unveil the spatial distribution of key variables. Findings: Approximately 16% of the 307,741 mothers interviewed reported an incidence of diarrhoea disease among children under-five years in their households. The results showed that a household depending on an unimproved source of drinking water and with an unimproved type of toilet facility was not significantly associated with childhood diarrhoea. However, those with improved drinking water but an unimproved type of toilet facility had higher odds of reporting childhood diarrhoea (AOR = 1.020, 95% CI = 1.003-1-036) compared to those in households with both improved source of drinking water and type of toilet facility. Across the geographical regions, Eastern (aOR = 1.102, 95% CI = 1.084–1.120) and Central Africa (aOR = 1.102, 95% CI = 1.083–1.121) were more likely to experience child diarrhoea. Conclusion: Water and sanitation practices such as the source of drinking water and toilet facility, and geographic region had significant effects on childhood diarrhoea in sub-Saharan Africax. The findings suggest the need for multi-sectoral actions that recognise the geo-spatial and temporal characteristics identified in the study through regional to national policies. Water and sanitation community-based interventions that seek to improve equitable access to safe water and sanitation in the sub-region should be intensified

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation