Religiosity and condom use with casual sex partners in Ghana

Level of religiosity is an indicator of the degree of involvement of people in religious beliefs/activities and a measure of attitudes to sexual-related activities, such as casual sex or using condoms to avert unplanned pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections. This paper uses nationally representative cross-sectional data collected in 2011/2012 to examine the relationship between religiosity and the likelihood of engaging in casual sex and condom use in Ghana. A sample of 4,168 males and females was used to assess sexual activities and condom use with casual sexual partner using binary logistic regression analysis. The study was based on the Reference Group Theory which suggests that religious teachings often dictate the sexual behaviors/attitudes of individuals and was informed by the fact that most conventional religions discourage pre-marital sex and adultery. The study examined how religiosity expressed by individuals impacts casual sex, which is considered a form of adultery. An attempt was made to discover if religiosity impacts condom use as a form of protection against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections and unplanned pregnancy. The results indicate that persons who attend religious meetings more than once a week are less likely to have a casual sexual partner compared to others who attend occasionally or less frequently. No differences between groups with lower level of religiosity are apparent. The level of religiosity did not affect condom use among those who have sex, when other variables are controlled for. Differences in age, sex, level of education, rural/urban residency and marital status are statistically related to condom use with a casual sex partner. The paper concludes that condom use with a casual sex partner may not largely depend on how religious or otherwise one may be, but rather on the individual’s risk perception based on a person’s socioeconomic status, particularly with respect to a person’s level of education

Barriers to formal healthcare utilisation among poor older people under the livelihood empowerment against poverty programme in the Atwima Nwabiagya District of Ghana

Abstract: Background: Even though there is a growing literature on barriers to formal healthcare use among older people, little is known from the perspective of vulnerable older people in Ghana. Involving poor older people under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme, this study explores barriers to formal healthcare use in the Atwima Nwabiagya District of Ghana. Methods: Interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with 30 poor older people, 15 caregivers and 15 formal healthcare providers in the Atwima Nwabiagya District of Ghana. Data were analysed using the thematic analytical framework, and presented based on an a posteriori inductive reduction approach. Results: Four main barriers to formal healthcare use were identified: physical accessibility barriers (poor transport system and poor architecture of facilities), economic barriers (low income coupled with high charges, and non-comprehensive nature of the National Health Insurance Scheme [NHIS]), social barriers (communication/language difficulties and poor family support) and unfriendly nature of healthcare environment barriers (poor attitude of healthcare providers). Conclusions: Considering these barriers, removing them would require concerted efforts and substantial financial investment by stakeholders. We argue that improvement in rural transport services, implementation of free healthcare for poor older people, strengthening of family support systems, recruitment of language translators at the health facilities and establishment of attitudinal change programmes would lessen barriers to formal healthcare use among poor older people. This study has implications for health equity and health policy framework in Ghana

The Social and Reproductive Health Implications of Independent North-South Child Migration in Ghana

Independent north-south migration of children has become a strategy inresponse to widespread poverty in Northern Ghana. Children migrate independently of their parents and other relations to southern cities, cocoaproducing areas and mining towns. The majority of these migrants are females, often with little or no education. In the cities they work mainly as kayayei or head porters at the main market centres and lorry parks. With some of them living virtually on the streets and in kiosks, in front of shops and in uncompleted buildings, the migrant kayayei are exposed to physical, environmental, sexual and reproductive health risks, notwithstanding the valuable services they provide and from which they make a living. This paper examines this emerging phenomenon using a 2005 survey of 451 north-south independent child migrants in Accra and Kumasi to highlight the social and reproductive health implications of the movement of these youngsters to southern Ghanaian cities and towns. Using both quantitative and qualitative analytical techniques, the paper finds among other things that while some of the child migrants reduce their poverty by migrating to southern cities and towns, others return home with unplanned pregnancies and sometimes terminal illnesses which render their migration socio-economically unproductive

Mobile Worlds: Choice at the Intersection of Demographic and Environmental Change

Research on environmental change has often focused on changes in population as a significant driver of unsustainability and environmental degradation. Demographic pessimism and limited engagement with demographic realities underpin many arguments concerning limits to growth, environmental refugees, and environment-related conflicts. Re-engagement between demographic and environmental sciences has led to greater understanding of the interactions between the size, composition, and distribution of populations and exposure to environmental risks and contributions to environmental burdens. We review the results of this renewed and far more nuanced research frontier, focusing in particular on the way demographic trends affect exposure, sensitivity, and adaptation to environmental change. New research has explained how migration systems interact with environmental challenges in individual decisions and in globally aggregate flows. Here we integrate analysis on demographic and environmental risks that often share a root cause in limited social freedoms and opportunities. We argue for a capabilities approach to promoting sustainable solutions for a more mobile world