Reflections on intellectual property benefit-sharing in employment situations in Ghana

Among the key justifications for protecting intellectual property rights (IPRs) is that they incentivise and reward human creativity and innovation. The incentive/reward rationale is expected to foster a culture of innovation across jurisdictions and to provide sufficient motivation for further research and innovation. In this thematic report, the author explores the practical relevance of the incentive/reward justification for intellectual property (IP) protection in situations of employment. The author argues that in employment situations under Ghanaian law, the employer enjoys the economic benefits of the fruits of mental exertion to the detriment of the employee; the party actually engaged in the enterprise of creating IP materials receives insufficient incentives. This reality, the author argues, undermines the practical relevance of the core justification for IPRs protection.CA2016www.wits.ac.za/linkcentre/aji

Impact of corporate orientation of information technology adoption in the United States forest products industry

This study aims to contribute to addressing the gap that exists in determining the role an organization’s internal operations play in information technology (IT) adoption in organizations. In particular, this research stems from investigating the relationship between company success at adopting information technology systems (the Internet) in the United States forest products industry (specifically, the lumber sector) and the extent to which organizational orientation within the industry supports the development. Following an extensive literature review, a conceptual model that represents the synthesis of information technology adoption-marketing orientation influences is developed. (This study does not infer that a company can acquire only one orientation at any one time). The United States forest products industry has traditionally been perceived as being production-oriented by many researchers. Marketing orientation, however, is a relatively new phenomenon that is gradually seeping into the way the industry does business as a result of competition, technology advancement, and the changing needs of consumers. Consequently, a number of propositions are tested and managerial and research recommendations are put forward. Overall, this research finds that email and the World Wide Web are the two most popular internet-based applications used by companies in the lumber industry. A positive relationship exists between factors of Internet adoption (extent of Internet application, user participation, perceived ease of use by user, perceived usefulness by user, and adoption diffusion by company) and “perceived company effectiveness of Internet adoption” under high and low marketing orientation, with a higher rate of increase in high marketing orientation than low marketing orientation

Mixed methods study to develop the content validity and the conceptual framework of the electronic patient-reported outcome measure for vascular conditions.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to describe the stages undertaken to generate the items and conceptual framework of a new electronic personal assessment questionnaire for vascular conditions. DESIGN: A mixed methods study: First a survey of vascular clinicians was completed to identify the most common conditions treated in vascular clinics and wards. Quantitative systematic reviews were done to identify validated patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) for direct inclsuion in the new instrument. However, due to scarcity of validated PROMs, the items of the new instrument were mainly based on a large qualitative study of patients and systematic reviews of the qualitative evidence . This was followed by a quantitative clinicians' consensus study and, finally, a qualitative face validity study with patients. PARTICIPANTS: Vascular patients participated in the primary qualitative study and the face validity study. In the qualitative study, 55 patients were interviewed, and for the face validity, 19 patients gave feedback. Twelve clinicians completed the survey and 13 completed two cycles of the clinicians' consensus study. RESULTS: The items and scales in the electronic personal assessment questionnaire for vascular conditions (ePAQ-VAS) were generated based on the results of five systematic reviews evaluating existing PROMs for possible inclusion in ePAQ-VAS, five systematic reviews of qualitative evidence, a primary qualitative study involving 55 patients and clinicians' input. One hundred and sixty-eight items were initially generated, of which 59 were eliminated by the expert panel due to repetition. The instrument was divided into one generic and three disease-specific sections (abdominal aortic aneurysm, carotid artery disease and lower limb vascular conditions). In each section, items were grouped together into putative scales. Fifty-five items were grouped across eight scales; the remaining items were kept as individual items, because of relevance to service users. CONCLUSIONS: This multidimensional electronic questionnaire covers the most common vascular conditions. This is particularly important for patients presenting with mixed symptoms or multiple conditions. This tool captures symptomatology, health related quality of life (HRQoL) and other clinically relevant data, such as experience with services and comorbidities

Cost effectiveness of option B plus for prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in resource-limited countries: evidence from Kumasi, Ghana.

BackgroundAchieving the goal of eliminating mother-to-child HIV transmission (MTCT) necessitates increased access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV-infected pregnant women. Option B provides ART through pregnancy and breastfeeding, whereas Option B+ recommends continuous ART regardless of CD4 count, thus potentially reducing MTCT during future pregnancies. Our objective was to compare maternal and pediatric health outcomes and cost-effectiveness of Option B+ versus Option B in Ghana.MethodsA decision-analytic model was developed to simulate HIV progression in mothers and transmission (in utero, during birth, or through breastfeeding) to current and all future children. Clinical parameters, including antenatal care access and fertility rates, were estimated from a retrospective review of 817 medical records at two hospitals in Ghana. Additional parameters were obtained from published literature. Modeled outcomes include HIV infections averted among newborn children, quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), and cost-effectiveness ratios.ResultsHIV-infected women in Ghana have a lifetime average of 2.3 children (SD 1.3). Projected maternal life expectancy under Option B+ is 16.1 years, versus 16.0 years with Option B, yielding a gain of 0.1 maternal QALYs and 3.2 additional QALYs per child. Despite higher initial ART costs, Option B+ costs $785/QALY gained, a value considered very cost-effective by World Health Organization benchmarks. Widespread implementation of Option B+ in Ghana could theoretically prevent up to 668 HIV infections among children annually. Cost-effectiveness estimates remained favorable over robust sensitivity analyses.ConclusionsAlthough more expensive than Option B, Option B+ substantially reduces MTCT in future pregnancies, increases both maternal and pediatric QALYs, and is a cost-effective use of limited resources in Ghana

Incidence of advanced cutaneous malignant melanoma in the UK: a systematic review

Objectives: Cutaneous melanoma (CM) is one of the most aggressive forms of skin cancer. In 2008, CM was found to be the sixth most common cancer in the UK. The aim of this review was to systematically identify patients with advanced CM, limited to stage IIIc and stage IV disease. Methods: Literature searches were undertaken in the Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, CINAHL and EMBASE between December 2010 and March 2011. Webpages of the Office of National Statistics, Cancer Research UK and the Welsh Cancer Intelligence and Surveillance Unit were also scanned. A narrative synthesis was undertaken due to the heterogeneity of included studies. Results: Three observational studies were identified. One study was in East Anglia, England while the remaining two were in Scotland. Both studies in Scotland estimated that 2% of all melanoma patients had advanced CM at the time of diagnosis. It was also noted that, in East Anglia, the incidence of stage IV CM decreased from 0.42 to 0.13 per 100,000 population per year between 1991 and 2004. The review highlighted the challenges in identifying patients with advanced CM from available data. Conclusions: This review highlighted the lack of, and the need for primary studies to estimate the incidence of advanced CM in the UK. Defining this subgroup of patients is important for identifying patients for targeted treatment. We suggest that researchers must clearly define this population of patients in future studies

Review on the Role of Underutilized Crops in Achieving Food Security in Ghana: Implications for Policy

Food security globally is constrained by several factors including the heavy reliance on very few key staple crops. In Africa over dependence on a few major crops remain a major challenge due to its potential impact and contribution to food security. This review explores the potential contribution of underutilized crops to the attainment of food security. The paper also explores the relevance of a specific policy provision that promotes the use of underutilized crops. In Ghana the challenge of food insecurity still remains a major concern, particularly in the three northern regions. The 2009 Comprehensive Food Security & Vulnerability Analysis (CFSVA) report revealed that food insecurity in Ghana is a challenge particularly in the areas most prone to adverse weather conditions, such as floods and droughts, which are also the poorest regions of the country. In Ghana, as in many African countries considerable attention has not been given to the impact of underutilized crops and plant species on food security. This is evidenced by the 2013 Accra Statement for a food secure Africa report, which identified most countries in Africa, including Ghana, as pursuing agricultural and food policies based on a limited number of crops or staples such as maize and rice. The review showed that Ghana currently lacks a comprehensive policy, on the use of underutilized crops. A specific policy that will ensure the promotion and use of underutilized crops in Ghana, is suggested

Factors Affecting Spatial Differences in Health Outcomes

This study sought to establish the impact of the disparities between Metropolitan, Micropolitan and Non-Core communities on life expectancy. The study also assesses the impact of individual behavioral choices and certain social variables and county level policies one the life expectancy in a county. A simple mean comparison analysis is employed to establish the differences in life expectancy across the various levels of the urban hierarchy in 1,553 counties in the United States. An ordinary least squares model is used to tease out the relationship between specific individual choice factors; smoking habits, obesity and exercise habits and socio-economic factors; medicare dollar per enrollee, income segregation in the county, social capital index of the county, percentage of the population foreign born in the county and the unemployment rate in 2000 and life expectancy. This study also estimates the effects of each correlate at various levels of the urban hierarchy. The study concluded that the effects of both individual choice factors and socio-economic variables differ greatly across the various levels of rurality. This study adds to the existing body of knowledge on the subject of longevity and also assists policy makers in formulating health and economic policies that target these geographic areas

Genotypic and epidemiological characterization of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in Ghana

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a public health challenge. In 2013, TB was estimated to have caused 9 million incident cases of which 1.1 million were co infected with HIV and 1.5 million deaths worldwide. For the effective control of TB, the use of simplified diagnostic tools for case detection diagnosis of drug resistant TB and understanding the effects of comorbidities such as HIV on the prevalence of TB is paramount. Ghana, housing six of the seven phylogenetic lineages of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) with high TB/HIV prevalence provides a unique opportunity to study and better understand the dynamics of TB. In the context of TB control, we studied the level of drug resistance using phenotypic drug susceptibility testing (DST) and correlated the DST results with patient treatment outcome (Chapter 3). We found a low rate of multidrug-resistant (MDR)-TB rate (1.9%), high isoniazid (INH) mono resistance (15%) and the dependence of treatment outcome on the susceptibility to rifampicin (RIF). For the rapid diagnosis of MDR cases, we further evaluated the accuracy of a molecular base diagnostic tool (Genotype MTBDRplus) and compared it with the gold standard phenotypic DST method (Chapter4). We found 100% correlation for detection of both MDR and RIF mono resistance and 83% for INH mono resistance. The remaining 17% INH resistance detected by standard phenotypic DST but not Genotype MTBDRplus are likely due to molecular mechanisms whose targets are not interrogated by Genotype MTBDRplus. The high overall sensitivity and the relative short turn- around time of Genotype MTBDRplus makes it a valuable addition to diagnostic algorithm in Ghana. The control of TB also depends on understanding the patterns and dynamics of TB transmission to reduce source of infection. Existing tools for studying transmission such as MIRU-15 used for routine molecular epidemiological studies have been shown to exhibit varying discriminatory power among the different human-associated MTBC lineages. We established a robust and cost-effective PCR based reduced but lineage-specific set of MIRU-VNTR loci with high discrimination power in the main MTBC circulating in Ghana (Chapter 5). This assay will help identify risk factors that enhance transmission and patient groups at increased risk of developing TB. In addition, this assay can be used to differentiate between exogenous re-infection from true relapse cases SNP- based genotyping and spoligotyping established that M. africanum (MAF) still causes 20% of all TB cases in Ghana (Chapter 6 and 7). Reasons for the restriction of MAF to West Africa have eluded researchers for many years. Using retrospective isolates, we provide for the first time plausible reason why MAF is restricted to parts of West Africa. We showed a significant association between MAF and the Ewe ethnic group. This association was confirmed using prospective isolates and supports possible host pathogen co-evolution inn TB. In addition, we observed a strong association between MAF2 and HIV co-infection supporting the notion that MAF might have a lower virulence compared to other MTBC in human

CULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY OF DIPO PUBERTY RITE AND ITS ASSOCIATED HIV RISKS IN THE LOWER MANYA KROBO MUNICIPALITY IN GHANA

Dipo is a puberty rite performed for adolescent girls with an average of 18 years and above into adulthood in Lower Manya Krobo Municipality. Dipo rite inculcates cultural values into the initiates and preserves cultural heritage. However, the reduction in age and nudity associated with the practice could put initiates at high risk of STDs including HIV transmission. The purpose of the study was to examine the cultural sustainability of Dipo and associated HIV risk in the Lower Manya Krobo Municipality in Ghana. A purposive sampling technique was used to select participants and interviewed them with the guide of an interview schedule. The findings of the study revealed that risk factors of HIV transmission include cultural, social, individual, and institutional risks. The study also found that cultural sustainability indicators associated with Dipo puberty rites include cultural heritage, vitality, diversity, locality, eco-resilience, and eco-education and civilization. While cultural heritage, vitality, diversity, locality and eco-education, and civilisation were found to sustain Dipo rite, eco-cultural resilience poses a risk of HIV transmission. The implication of this finding is that the performance of Dipo rite is a worthy cultural practice. It is recommended that innovative ways should be adopted to sustain the rite and reduce its associated HIV risk.  Article visualizations